A/N: Powerful music above. Feel free to listen.

A colossal, black cloud loomed above the Council Hall's ruins. When seeing it, Maeyune's breath escaped her, and dread filled her chest.

A silent voice reached out to Maeyune's mind. It was one of the familiar connections she had developed since childhood.

Trix's mind.

Only this time, an abnormal terror beset his voice. It was a tone she had never heard before.

Without hesitation, Maeyune dashed back toward the ground. She thought she heard Reo calling for her. But she had to reach the Council Hall. Something had speared fear into her heart, and she had to uncover the source.

She landed at the bottom of the hall's steps, yards away from the black mass that consumed the air. It was a heavy shroud of darkness. And it was moving, spreading to claim more of the area.

Why did it feel as if she had seen it before?

Her eyes found Trix and a few other soldiers standing at the top of the stairs. The dark smoke warped around them like arms, snakes.

Trix's skin had turned a gray shade and now displayed gruesome, dark veins. He clawed at his throat. He then met Maeyune's eyes, and his mouth staggered to form words. She listened to his mind.

It hurts.

She heard Benny's sobs.

Benny was on his knees, clutching himself as black smoke wafted around him. With horrified eyes, she saw the skin of his face begin to disintegrate.

But before she could react, before she could fight off the immeasurable shock that benumbed her senses, their skin melted, like wax on a dying candle.

She watched as their life forces disappeared in front of her silver eyes, watched as their bodies turned to ash.

She could no longer hear their cries. She could no longer feel their minds.

Their empty clothing fluttered to the ground.

She snapped.

"Trix!" she screamed. "Benny!"

In a panic, she sprinted up the steps. She did not get far. A golden light fell from the sky and landed beside her. A strong arm grabbed her by the waist, stopping her from entering the black fog.

With her dire need to save Trix and Benny, she took no notice of Reo. She fought against his hold.

"My friends are in there!" she cried, tears welling in her eyes.

"They're gone, Maeyune!"

She could hardly hear Reo's words. Her pulse deafened her ears and drowned out his voice.

The blackness stretched forth, eerily resembling an arm. Reo drew Maeyune backward and turned his body in front of her to protect her. The smoke stroked his forearm, pulling a hiss from his lips. He pushed them further back from the smoke's reach.

Maeyune's eyes caught his gold armor where the shadow had laid its kiss. It began to blacken.

"It will kill you!" he yelled at her.

In that moment, she beheld Reo's fixed stare. He watched the blackness with narrowed, calculating eyes.

He had seen it before.

With a heart-wrenching yelp, she tossed forth a shield to keep the black fog from advancing.

But as the darkness met her shield, both materials decomposed. She felt a severance in her life force as her shield was destroyed. It claimed a section of the fog with it, but more of the black continued to spread, closing the gap.

She threw another shield, and another, and another. And again, her energy dissipated into nothingness.

Reo gently tugged her back. Her mind drowning from dismay, she moved compliantly.

It was a long time before she comprehended his voice.

"We have to save city, Maeyune!" Reo was shouting.

She turned her head, in time to see the doors to the nearest underground shelter burst open. Frantic citizens darted into the street. A coil of black smoke trailed after them.

Maeyune stared as the smoke seized one of the Wobecks nearby. It wrapped the tall alien in a dark embrace. Soon after, the creature fell to the ground in a pile of armor and ash.

Her eyes widened. There.

That was where she had seen it before. In Nomenia. The same thing had happened to the captured Wobeck. Only now, the black smoke engulfed the city.

The smoke imprisoned several stray Iron Prophet members, and it devoured two trees that were planted at the corner of the city block. The results were the same: ash.

It destroyed all life.

"Get everyone out of the city!" Maeyune heard Reo yelling. He waved his hands in anger, directing the celestials near him to move the escaping citizens away from the smoke.

He turned away momentarily. With pain a blazing knife in her heart, her body exploded in silver light. It caught Reo by surprise. Her energy shoved him a far distance from her.

Releasing a furious scream, she drew in the full moon's power and granted its rampage through the streets.

Her power raged across the city.

Silver light oozed between the tendrils of darkness, conceiving violent silver and black serpents. Both her power and the smoke encountered an equilibrium, and the resulting balance destroyed both forces.

Maeyune felt the impact on her life force; the destruction of her energy stabbed like needles.

She cried out, determined to persevere. She continued, pouring out her soul until fatigue crippled her body.

Crumbling to her knees, she waited until the last ray of silver light diminished, until every ounce of black smoke had been annihilated. And when silence fell across the city, she ceased the flow of her power and fell forward on her hands.

Her shaking body fought desperately for air, her mind for clarity.

The skies were quiet. There were no more streaking aircrafts. Reo had either destroyed the remaining Wobeck ship alone, or it had made its escape.

After several long, torturous minutes, footsteps ran to her side.

"Mae?" Meera's small voice creaked.

Maeyune endeavored to breath. She glanced up, her glazed eyes finding Meera, Clover and Aerylis waiting for her.

After taking in the sight of the ash and scattered clothing across the street, Clover asked, "Where are Trix and Benny?"

Maeyune turned her face away. She gradually leaned back on her heels, her posture drooped. Her heart struggled to form the words.

"They're....they're gone," she croaked.

"That's not funny, Mae," Meera chided. Maeyune held the water celestial's eyes and made no reply.

Meera stumbled back. "W-what?" she rasped, eyes blinking rapidly.

Crazed laughter rang through the night. They all directed their gazes to three Iron Prophet soldiers who had managed to survive the terror. Two cowered away, but only one stood.

He guffawed in their direction.

"Death to the gods!" he bellowed, both fists raised in mock victory.

Fury cleaved Maeyune's chest. She rose calmly to her feet, all signs of anguish disappearing from her body.

Darkness found its way into her, and she welcomed it home.

"Maeyune-" Clover's alarmed voice cut short.

Maeyune cast forth the remainder of her energy. All three Prophet soldiers cried out, their hands snapping to their heads. They fell to their knees, and she drew their screams.

Blood trickled from their ears, their noses, and their mouths. It dripped from the corners of their eyes.

Reo, no longer in his golden ascension, rose from the ground where Maeyune had thrown him. His eyes first discovered the Iron Prophet soldiers, soundless screams trapped in their throats. He then turned his eyes on their assailant, and he gaped in horror.

Maeyune's silver aura had darkened. Her armor gave way to black, and her dragon headdress had transformed into the head of a hellish monster. Her skin converted to the color of coal.

And her eyes...

Reo shuddered.

Maeyune's eyes had turned entirely black.

He felt it. It was a stain in the fabric of space, an infection in the Moon God's life force: evil.

Clover and Aerylis stepped in front of Maeyune, maintaining a safe distance. Their faces were deathly white.

"Maeyune, you're killing them!" Clover yelled. "Stop!"

She didn't. She couldn't. She needed their souls. They had to be destroyed—slowly, painfully.

When the last spark of human life escaped the Prophet soldiers, only then did Maeyune return to human form. Black veins streamed across her pale skin, remnants of her dark energy.

Reo quickly crouched beside one of the three soldiers. For his own nerves, he pressed his fingers underneath the soldier's jaw.

"They're dead," he blurted. His eyes travelled to Maeyune. A frightening, black aura coated her body.

She made no response. She turned, withdrawing to sit on one of the Council Hall's front steps. Her head fell into her hands.

Reo started toward her. Aerylis extended an arm to stop him, her stance unyielding. He frowned at her, but the wind celestial shook her head.

She and Clover exchanged glances. It was brief, but Reo was sure he caught the hesitation that flitted between them.

Meera had retreated far from the group. She sat with her knees to her chest, her body rocking back and forth. She wept silently, her red cheeks shiny with tears.

Maeyune inhaled a slow breath. But it was useless. It was impossible now to remove the black stigma inside her. It was embedded into her human heart, anchored in the same place from which it had been born.

She had so carelessly unleashed her darkness again. And she did not know how long it would stay this time and interfere with her connection to Shivra's powers.

She squeezed her head in her hands. A tear escaped, and it stained the ashen concrete below her feet.

What have I done?