Agis took the lead as the trio fled back through the halls of the church, no longer bothering with rooftops or sneaking or subtlety. didn’t bother to sneak over the roofs this time. They haphazardly shoved their way past shocked acolytes and screaming clerics and kept running even after they’d reached the streets outside, ignoring the shouts from surprised pedestrians. They didn’t stop running until they reached the alleyway where the horses were waiting.

“I half expected they’d have run away by now,” said Corvina.

Anne could see why Corvina was surprised. It seemed like the horses weren’t tied up to anything. Maybe her rescuers had been in too much of a hurry to worry about things like that. But anyway, somehow the horses hadn’t gone anywhere. They were waiting patiently, looking at the trio with mild curiosity.

“If the other two had tried anything, Iramus would have kept them in line,” said Agis. He patted his horse with a subdued smile.

Corvina shook her head in a bemused way but didn’t argue. “Come on,” she said. She swung herself up onto her horse and then reached down, holding her hand out to Anne. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” said Agis. “Anne, you should take Iramus.”

Anne watched Agis closely again, trying to work out what he was feeling. But the serious look on his face wasn’t giving anything away.

Anne suddenly remembered that Agis was late thirties. It had only been mentioned once in the book. And that wasn’t that old for an elf, but nevertheless… For the first time since she’d known him Anne thought he kind of looked his age. He wasn’t some goofy, naive kid. He was an adult man. Well, elf. And a prince at that.

“You want me to take Iramus?” asked Anne. “Are you sure? He’s your horse. I know how much you love him.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” said Agis. “He’s the swiftest steed in the world. I trust him to see you to safety. I have to go back anyway. The assassin might need help.”

Corvina withdrew her hand, shifting back in her saddle. “Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked. She was poker-faced, but Anne could sense the nervousness in her voice. “We barely escaped with our lives just now. And whatever else is true, Eva was your friend. Do you really want to keep fighting her?”

“Not really,” said Agis. “And not just because she scares the shit out of me. But I can’t just abandon someone who chose to help us when they didn’t have to. It wouldn’t be right.”

It was the noble thing to do. Anne could try to tell him that they would need him on the road, or argue that the assassin would be fine on their own, or even try to undermine his confidence and tell him he could never win against Eva in a fight. All of that might even be true. But none of those things would change his mind. For all his insecurities, Agis lived up to the ideals of an honorable prince when it really mattered.

And what’s more, Anne actually agreed with him. She didn’t want Agis to get hurt, but she didn’t think Rain deserved to die, either. And it felt wrong to leave an ally behind like that. If Anne had any skills as a fighter whatsoever she might be trying to do the exact same thing.

It was almost ironic, how similar Anne and Agis were, at times. It was a big part of why they’d gotten along so well as siblings.

Even if they weren’t really siblings at all.

Anne nodded, sullenly, a huge knot of guilt tangling up her insides. “I get it,” she said to him, not able to meet his eyes. “Just… don’t get killed.”

Agis grinned and for a moment he seemed young again. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m basically immortal anyway.”

Anne smiled back, wanly, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. The day before she would have hugged him goodbye, but she couldn’t be sure he would want that anymore.

“Goodbye, Anne,” said Agis, turning to leave. But he turned back. “Wait, actually, what’s your real name?”

“Still just Anne,” said Anne.

“What, really?” asked Agis.

“Yeah, I just, um… happened to have the same name as her, I guess.”

“Huh. Go figure…” said Agis, staring blankly into the middle distance for a moment. He looked slightly troubled. “How long were you…?” He shook his head. “No, I shouldn’t waste any more time. But you’re going to have to answer a lot of questions the next time I see you.”

“Of course,” said Anne, nodding. Then she asked the question that she was scared to know the answer to. “So does that mean you don’t… hate me, then?”

Agis shrugged. “I don’t really know how I feel about anything right now. I don’t have time to think about that. But whoever you are, I don’t think you deserve whatever it was Eva had planned for you. So for Goddess’ sake, get on Iramus and get the hell out of here.”

“Right, yeah, I guess we should do that.”

“…see you later, then,” said Agis.

Agis had scrambled away back up onto the rooftops and out of sight before Anne could even climb into the saddle. (It took a few attempts.) And as soon as she was up there, she regretted it.

Anne knew next to nothing about riding a horse, and she really didn’t like the look Iramus was giving her. He was craning his neck to the side to look back at her with a baleful stare that seemed to say ‘You’re not my master. I’m over 600 pounds of pure muscle, I have teeth like massive grindstones, and I’m smarter than you, too. You may think I’m just a dumb animal, but you wouldn't stand a chance against me in a battle of wits, so don’t even think about trying anything funny, like telling me what to do or where to go.”

Not that Anne would know how to tell a horse what to do anyway. She had a vague sense that the words “yeehaw” and “whoa” might be involved. And maybe she was supposed to kick the horse’s side or something.

Anne would never dare kick Iramus. At this point she just had to hang on for dear life and hope that Iramus would intuitively sense what Agis wanted him to do and just kind of follow Corvina on his own once she got going.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ride with me?” asked Corvina, who had been watching all this with a look of concern. She was perched so gracefully on the back of her own horse, like it was the most natural and comfortable place for her to be.

“No, I’m okay,” said Anne, vaguely trying to figure out how she was supposed to hold the reins by just holding them in different positions and seeing if anything felt right. None of it felt right.

Corvina didn’t look convinced. “If you’re sure… are you ready, then?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” said Anne.

Corvina nodded, then spurred her horse on and it took off at a gallop.

Thankfully, Iramus did follow, although Anne wasn’t used to how… unsteady it felt on the back of a galloping horse. She wrapped her arms around Iramus’ neck and desperately tried not to get flung off.

Eva was fully dragging her left leg as she limped along now, systematically cauterizing each of her wounds with a flash of magic.

Each flash brought searing, white-hot pain and it was all she could do not to scream each time. But she couldn’t afford to lose any more blood.

Or mana, for that matter. Eva had never been precious about her mana, but she’d spent more mana tonight than she had in the last five years combined. It was reckless, dangerous even, to spend that much mana this fast. But the blood loss would kill her faster.

And so what if the magic was dangerous? Eva didn’t want to live in this world without Anne, anyway. She wouldn’t even be bothering to cauterize the wounds if she didn’t feel like there was still a chance she could find a way to bring Anne back. Eva would bring Anne back or she would die trying. Those were the only two possible options. Anything else was… unthinkable.

Eva stumbled and caught herself against one of the walls. When she pushed herself back up again, she left a smear of blood on the stones.

She wasn’t sure where the assassin had gone, but Eva knew he couldn’t be doing much better than she was. The assassin had gotten in a lot of small hits, but he was still afraid to use his magic to its full potential. When Eva hit, she hit much harder.

Eva carefully began walking back down the stairs to the lab, taking each step slowly and deliberately.

Why? thought Eva, a thought that had plagued her repeatedly for… she didn’t remember how long anymore. Every moment without Anne felt like an eternity. Why would she abandon me? Did someone force her to? Did she have some hidden purpose, some greater goal that would serve to save the world? Was the world even worth saving without Anne in it? What gave this world a right to go on existing without Anne?

And that traitor of an elf… why would he side with the impostor? If Eva ever saw him again, she would kill him.

Eva made it to the bottom step and painstakingly picked her way across the destroyed lab with one singular goal in mind.

The warp gate.

Luckily, it looked largely undamaged by the fight. It should still be functional.

Eva no longer had the strength to teleport fully under her own power. Not a long distance, anyway. Not without taking some serious time to rest and recover. But the warp gate should allow her to remove herself from this situation without too much trouble.

This attempt had been a failure. But if Eva could get away and take a moment to regroup herself, then… she could find another way. She would find another way. This was not the end.

Eva reached inside, into her tattered soul, and sent a few fluttering threads of power towards the gate.

Rain, who had been nursing their wounds and watching from the shadows, waiting for a moment when Eva’s attention was fully turned elsewhere, took this moment to attack.

They launched themselves forward with one final burst of magic, weapons ready.

There was a scream. And a crash. And a flash of multi-colored light.

By the time Agis arrived in the lab it was all over. He searched everywhere—under overturned tables, through piles of discarded paper, inside of side cupboards. He even went back out into the rest of the abandoned wing and searched every room and corridor until he got so lost he ended up right back in the lab again.

But no matter where he looked, he could see no sign of the assassin or Eva. Or even… either of their bodies. They were just… gone.

Just like his sister…

No, there was no time for that right now.

Agis pushed those thoughts away and spent some time examining the lab itself more closely, trying desperately to find any information about what in the world was happening with any of this. But none of the books made any sense to him, and Eva’s handwriting was so bad that he couldn’t even read her notes, and he was too scared to try touching any of the mysterious liquids or magic items.

Agis sat down on a relatively clear patch of floor and put his head in his hands.

He had entirely run out of ways to distract himself. There were no battles for him to take part in, no one he could save, nothing to stop him from thinking about the fact that his sister wasn’t his sister, and his oldest friend was now his enemy, and… he was alone. For the first time in many years, he was truly alone.

Anne had thought that the loneliness and sorrow had made Agis look older, but they made Agis feel much younger; like a child again, living in the elven palace full of nothing but wide empty halls and brothers who’d ignored him.

Anne, the original Anne, his half-sister, had been the first person to ever make Agis feel a bit less alone. And he had loved her dearly since the first day they’d met.

But… Agis also couldn’t deny that Anne had been a bit more fun lately. There were a lot of stressful things going on, but ever since they’d first gone to the capital, Agis had been having such a good time, hanging out with his sister (not his sister) and all the new friends they were making, even the shitty human prince. It was maybe the happiest he’d ever been.

And he hated himself for even having that thought. And he hated Eva for telling him the truth. And he hated everyone else for not telling him the truth. And he wasn’t even sure he knew what the truth was—he was so confused. And he missed his sister. And he missed the person who wasn’t his sister. And he was so full of incandescent grief that it felt like his whole body was made just of grief and nothing else.

“Shit, I shouldn’t have let her take Iramus,” said Agis, fighting against the tears that were threatening to fall. “I could really use a friend right now.”

Agis didn’t know what a warp gate was, but even if he had, he wouldn’t have seen any evidence of it in the lab. The uncontrolled explosion of magic had shattered it into so many pieces of such a minuscule size that even a skilled magic-user wouldn’t have been able to detect that such an object had ever stood in this space.

It was like the gate had never existed at all.