They're glares settled like weights on me. This was my own doing and by God they were gonna make me pay for what i’ve done. Sorry wasn't enough, not for these people, not for these creatures. I held my tongue and inched further back towards the wall.

“Do you have nothing to say, author?” his voice was hard until the last word, he was mocking me a long smile stretching from ear to ear. He chuffed when I refused to answer. “Well, I think we all can say. I've fricken had enough.”

I shuddered at the low rumble of his voice, Aran was kind enough to spare me once, but after his second arc, I still didn't fix his ending. Not like he wanted. He flicked fire into his palms, his eyes egniting with red light and his dark wings flared at his sides.

“Aran,” I forced a smile and raised my hands in surrender. “I do-

“leave her alone.” I almost melted as his voice broke the tension. Reysio stepped out from the crowd, Kieran, Teniase, a few others followed him to stand in front me.

“She took everything from me! Hell, she probably did you too.” he laughed, he’d gone mad being trapped in that prison for so long and now that he’d been freed he sure wasn't gonna be swayed easy. “Look at you, covered in scars and wounds, your broken Reysio, I'm broken, we are all broken because of her.”

I winced at his words, he wasn't wrong. I had single handedly wrote them into existence and single handedly destroyed their lives, they're families, their worlds. “I-” whatever I was trying to say left as soon as the sound fell from my mouth.

“Personally I think we outta leave her be. Let her wallow in the quilt of what she's done.” my heart stopped.

Not her, of all them, she would be the problem. “Strike.” I whispered her name as she pushed Aran aside and towered over Reysio.

He stayed silent for awhile, his tail flicking in a gentle sway beside him. “then why are you here?” he asked plainly, pinning his ears.

The gas mask covering her scarred face reflected Reysio’s cold blue eyes, he was starting at me through that reflection. “I’m sorry.” I finally whispered to him. He knew I cared about every single one of them, whether they wished me dead or not.

He nodded and stepped into the crowd. “You all are forgetting who created you, who gave you those horrible scars and painful memories.” My mouth dropped open.

I thought he was on my side.

“What?” Aran chuffed, “that's why we’re here.”

Reysio stared, still his eyes remained unreadable. “Your also forgetting why she created the stories she did. She wrote our strife so we and others could appreciate our joys, our lives, and our very existence.”