Through their bond, his agreement resounded, his strength flowing into her as he tightened his embrace.You were right, he murmured back.
The words struck Doom harder than any weapon. The cracks widened.
We lost each other,Flash said, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw.
The darkness splintered.
We found each other again,Lechuza finished, just before his mouth claimed hers, a collision, a reunion, a vow. It was the seal on a choice made long ago and remade in this moment. As their lips met, the bond between them flared, not with the brilliant gold and blue of before, but with the pure, white-hot light of creation. Doom reached for it one final time, but the connection remained untouched, a star going supernova in the assassin's grasp. The creature had nothing left to grip, nothing left to corrupt.
The darkness shattered, fragments dissolving into the restored air of the Veil. Doom ceased to exist, erased not by a weapon, but by a truth it could never comprehend.
The silence that followed felt impossibly clean.
Then Lechuza felt her.
Eva.
The familiar signature struck her through the bond like a knife. Across the battlefield, beyond the ruins of Doom, a lone figure stood waiting. Lechuza's heart sank. “How touching.” Her tone was dry, flat. She smiled. The expression carried no warmth. No victory. No joy. It was the smile of someone who had been dead for a very long time and finally found a reason to keep moving. "I think I'll kill him first," she said softly, her gaze shifting to Flash. "Then you can watch him die again."
"That's an old, outdated narrative. We're changing that story now."
The bond tightened immediately, and Flash shapeshifted back to eagle form and took to the skies.This is your fight, babe. I'll be right here if you need me.The thought resonated withinher, a steady presence above. Behind her, the brotherhood held position, the golden bond remaining strong, every one of them close enough to reach if she needed them.
For the first time, something real flashed across Eva's face. Pain. "Is it? That's my story. My beloved dies in front of me in my dreams, my nightmares. It's followed me from hell and back, and still he's lost to me. That should have been your fate, too."
The great horned owl exploded outward from Eva's human form. Feathers erupted into the air, talons extended, and the massive bird launched upward on silent wings.
Lechuza answered instantly. Her own transformation rolled through her body. Bones shifted, feathers burst from skin, and the white owl climbed into the night. They collided above the battlefield, the impact sounding like two falling trees striking each other. Talons locked, beaks snapped, and the two owls tumbled through open air. Lechuza felt every ounce of Eva's rage, the endless grief of a soul trapped inside a war she no longer understood.
Eva's beak struck, tearing a gash along Lechuza's wing. A sharp, searing pain shot through her, and she felt the warm trickle of blood matting her feathers.
They broke apart. Eva climbed, and Lechuza followed, the fight carrying them higher and higher until the battlefield became a scattering of lights beneath them.
You abandoned me,Eva screamed. The accusation struck harder than the talons. Lechuza rolled beneath another attack, but Eva's claws raked across her back, slicing through feathers and into flesh. Lechuza cried out, the pain a white-hot brand against her skin.
No. I chose the vow,Lechuza said.
That’s a lie. In the end, you chose Flash.The words echoed through the night, a truth she hadn't fully realized until this moment.I chose the man I loved over the vow,Eva snarled.
Lechuza stopped climbing. The white owl hovered as the great horned circled, her own blood dripping onto the Veil below.Loving Flash is how the vow was kept. You chose vengeance over your husband and the vow,Lechuza screamed through their bond.Eva, love has no place in vengeance! One is connection. The other is destruction.
The admission stunned Eva. For one brief second, the attack faltered. Lechuza felt the truth settle through her. She had spent so much of her life trying to avoid choosing anyone, trying to stay detached, trying to stay safe. Eva represented the road she never took, the road where grief became identity, where loss became purpose, where love became a prison.
Eva screamed, and the attack came wild and desperate. Lechuza folded one wing, and the great horned owl swept past her. The opening appeared, one chance, one strike. Lechuza's talons flashed silver beneath the stars, entering cleanly. They sank deep into Eva's chest, piercing through feathers and muscle.
Eva froze. The great horned owl shuddered, then the transformation collapsed. The great dark hunter, nothing but what was made of human suffering, fell from the sky.
Lechuza caught Eva gently in her talons, her own wounds screaming in protest. With massive sweeps of her wings, their descent slowed as the battlefield rushed upward beneath them. Lechuza landed gently, folding down, her white feathers melting away until she was once again human. Eva looked up at her, the fury gone, the grief gone, only exhaustion remaining. Blood stained Lechuza's hands and arms, her back a throbbing map of pain.
"Oh, God, you’re right. I chose destruction both for myself and everything around me. I was so lost. Can you forgive me?"
"Yes, I understand your pain and your grief. I lived it, I relived it, and I let it go…for him…for us," Lechuza blinked,wincing as the movement pulled at her torn back. "You were never my enemy. But the vow is all. We can’t forsake it."
The corruption surrounding Eva cracked, thin fractures of light spreading across her skin. Tears filled her eyes. For the first time since Lechuza had known her, Eva looked haunted.
"I was so tired," Eva whispered. "It made me an easy target for him. I see that now."
"Yes."
