The warmth was gone. The spark was gone. The love was gone.

And the reality finally broke through her mind like glass.

Blaze wasn't coming back.

A quiet, strangled sound left her throat. Not a scream. Not a sob.

Just a breath of pure devastation.

Her mate was dead. Her heart was gone. And the only remaining piece of the life they built - their son - was screaming in terror somewhere beyond those walls.

Her claws curled until blood leaked from her palms. ``...Laziel...''

She said it like a prayer. Like a promise. Like a curse.

She forced herself up.

Her muscles shook. Her ribs throbbed with every breath. Her legs barely held her.

But she rose anyway. Because she had to. Because Blaze couldn't. Because their son was all that remained of the stupid idiot who dragged himself into her life and refused to leave.

Flames stirred at her feet - small at first - little pink flickers, the same color as Blaze's soulfire.

She didn't notice.

She was too broken to see the miracle waking beneath her skin.

The flames rose higher. Pink shifted to gold. Gold shifted to white. White deepened into molten magenta.

Loona's grief became fuel. Her heartbeat became a conduit. Her blood became a battleground of Heaven and Hell.

Then came the wings.

They formed behind her in slow, heavy breaths. Two pairs laced in black and red

with white-gold veins threading through them like molten celestial steel. They unfurled with a sound like cracking stone and shattering stars.

Loona didn't feel it.

Her hair began to bleach from the roots downward - grey dissolved into a brilliant, burning white. Strands lifted in the air as if reaching for something beyond this world.

She didn't notice.

The flames surrounded her legs - curled around her torso - spilled from her shoulders - until she was a pillar of silent, rising power.

She still didn't feel it. All she feels is that her son is alone.

Her voice was quiet when she spoke next. Barely a whisper. Barely humane. ``...Blaze... I'm sorry...'' The flames grew higher. ``...I'll get our boy back...'' The wings sharpened, glowing brighter. ``...and they will fucking pay.''

Her eyes  -  still full of tears  -  burned with a steady, silent fury. She stepped away from Blaze's body.

The realm trembled.

Her shadow stretched across the stone  -  reshaping itself into something monstrous, divine, hellbound, and unstoppable. Her grief became armor. Her rage became purpose. Her love became power.

She started to walk.

Slow. Deliberate. Every step heavier than the last. She left a trail of flickering soulfire in her wake - unseen, unfelt - but it grew brighter with every heartbeat. Far ahead, the twisted realm where her son was taken pulsed with faint violet light.

Loona's wings flared behind her. Her hair glowed like a burning halo. Her footsteps echoed like war drums. The twins were going to regret this. Every second of it. She had one purpose now:

Bring Laziel home. And make the monsters who took him wish they never existed.

Loona's march became a storm.

Her bare feet left burning prints across the stone. The soulfire around her burned pink, magenta, red, gold  -  too many colors at once, all bleeding into one another, rising in violent waves she barely understood.

Her clothing had long since burned away, reduced to ash and memory. She looked down at herself  -  the wings, the fire, the white-hot glow of her hair  -  and a harsh, humorless laugh breaks out of her throat.

``What the fuck...''

She smirked. Because it didn't matter...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*