Lying on the ground and watching Gwyn and Cinder fly at each other, I am utterly enthralled. One leaves a bright burning afterimage, the other, a trail of water; painting a glorious tableau of fire and water. Unable to look away, I find myself mouthing, “Whoa!”

“I see you’ve been hiding many things from me, Cinder,” Gwyn says with a smile.

Cinder remains silent.

*Clash!*

The stunning visual becomes punctuated by the percussive sound of the weapons colliding, and the ensuing hiss of searing water rings in my ears for a moment, before a sudden shockwave of air blasts me back against the ground. Water and fire arc out from the strike, barely missing me where I lie.

As their weapons make contact, the blue shimmer on Cinder focuses upwards and Gwyn releases Smold, letting it absorb the block so that he can land sooner, and quickly lunges forward, catching Cinder in the stomach with his knee before Cinder’s feet can touch the ground. Cinder goes crashing into the wall, sliding down to a sitting position, the Waterhawk clattering to the ground at his side. When Cinder raises his gaze, Gwyn taunts, “Nothing to say?” Gwyn breaks eye contact with Cinder to look at us with his trademark smirk.

“Damn it! Get away from them!” Cinder shouts and reaches his hand towards us, the other grasping for the fallen tomahawk.

Gwyn ignores Cinder and spins to roundhouse-kick over me, hitting Ramsey across the chest. Gwyn presses forward, the momentum of his attack forcing Ramsey into Maka into Anaea and sending all three flying into the nearby wall to his right.

“Hahaha! The time has come to release the shackles set upon Tiesa!” Gwyn turns to me, his eyes blown wide in madness.

“Damn it! Maka, Anaea, are you both ok?” Ramsey coughs out, pain affecting his voice from absorbing the brunt of the kick.

“I think I’ll be ok,” Anaea gasps, struggling to breathe from absorbing most of the impact with the wall. “I just need a moment to catch my breath.”

“Maybe… b-but what’s going on with Professor Gwyn?” Maka asks, disorientation lacing his voice.

“He played us for fools. That’s what’s going on…” Ramsey hits the wall to his side in anger. “How could I have been so blind?”

“Huh? No.” Standing up in a panic, Maka begins to hop around blindly while holding his ears close to his chest. “No! No! No! There’s gotta be some mistake!” he says, his voice lilting at the end almost like a question.

“Please stop this, Master… All can be forgiven…” Cinder pleads as he stands.

“Forgiveness?!” Gwyn scoffs as he catches Smold and glares at Cinder. “What makes you think I need forgiveness?” Gwyn smirks. “Do you really think you’re different from me? Ha! Don’t make me laugh.” Gwyn steps over me, walking over to confront Cinder, with his sword in one hand pointing down to the side, and his empty hand pointing accusingly towards Cinder’s chest. “Stop trying to act like some self-righteous crusader. It’s very unbecoming for you.” Gwyn’s smile creeps further across his face as he raises his hands to emphasize how unavoidable his point is and says, “Deep down, you and I are one and the same…” Gwyn resumes pointing at Cinder with his empty hand, “and don’t you forget it.”

“Shut up…” Cinder closes his eyes.

“What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.” Gwyn leans in towards Cinder, “Listen, Cinder. Who was the one that taught you everything you know? Who was the one you trusted, and believed in ‘til the end? Who was the one that raised you?” Gwyn’s smile turns sinister. “It was me… and I don’t remember raising a liar.”

“Yeah… what you say may very well be true, but time is forever changing, right, Master?” Cinder meets Gwyn’s stare with his own impassioned gaze. “The boy you once knew is all grown up. And after reexamining everything, I’ve come to know what a true demon looks like,” Cinder almost spits the word, and at that moment something clicks in my brain.

“Oh, you don’t say?” Gwyn closes his eyes, still smiling.

“Argh!” I call out, feeling numbness in my legs, holding me in place. “How could you?!” I shout and slam my fists into my legs, spurring myself to action. “Dammit. I’ve been such a fool.” Standing up, I glare at Gwyn. “So you’re the reason for the Ashen spreading?!” I start running towards him, “Answer me, Gwyyyn!!!” He continues to look at Cinder, not reacting at all to my charge. “Don’t ignore me!” I shout as I crouch and go in with a right hook.

Gwyn swiftly dodges me, spinning as he tosses Smold into the air. “Out of my way…” Gwyn complains as his foot comes out of his spin, flying right toward my face.

“Oh crap!” I exclaim and kick my foot down, flipping into the air and landing on Gwyn’s leg. “Kekeke!”

“Tsk! You were always the fast one, eh, Fukai?” Gwyn snarls, pulling his leg back and me along with it, his arm darting out to catch me by the throat. His movements are so fast I can’t follow him as he seems to blink from one position to the next. His other arm casually reaches out and catches Smold. “I need you to wait your turn, young Fukai. To see what happens to those who betray me. Don’t worry, I’ll get to you soon enough…” Gwyn looks over at Cinder and smiles, “Now, back to my lesson.”

“Shut up, Gwyn! Like I care about that! I’m just here to kick your ass, idiot!” I exclaim, my voice choked by his iron grasp.

I hear Ramsey whisper, “Idiot!” and facepalming in the background, though that may just be my imagination as I just blew all my oxygen saying that.

“Oh… is that so?” Gwyn pulls me closer to him and whispers into my ear, “Do you know why you could never beat me, young Fukai?” Gwyn smiles. “It’s because you lack the conviction to act on your ambitions.”

“Huh?” I gasp, staring at Gwyn. His words catch me off guard and he suddenly releases my neck. Reflexively, I take a deep breath as I fall, but then his fist connects with my stomach, sending me flying with my lungs feeling like they’ve split on the sides. I notice my ears ringing a bit and then I collide with a stone wall, adding another layer of pain and ringing.

“Now, wait there like a good boy, and I’ll get to you later.”

“Fukai!” Anaea shouts. “I’m coming!”

“Anaea, don’t!” Ramsey grabs ahold of Anaea’s arm. “It’s too dangerous!”

“But Fukai…!” Anaea cries out.

“I know! But when have you known Fukai to go down so easily?!” Then, quieter, drawing my eyes to him with his sudden change of tone, says in just above a whisper, “Don’t worry about him, he’d never forgive me if I let you get hurt trying to save him.”

Anaea silently nods her head while looking at me.

“Dammit… I…” Forcing my eyes open, I try to take in the room but everything is blurry. “This isn’t good… I’m… losing c…” I slap myself in the face to stay awake. “Damn you, Gwyn,” I gasp, unable to do more than try to catch my breath.

“Professor Gwyn, please stop! This isn’t you!” Anaea pleads with Gwyn, hoping her words might bring back the kind professor we all knew.

“You’re wasting your time, Anaea. Gwyn was never the person you thought him to be,” Cinders says tightly.

“Oh… and you are?” Gwyn slowly makes his way towards Cinder.

“No… I’m just as guilty.” Cinder reaches out to his Waterhawk, grabbing it as he stands. He gives it a good yank and up from the water trail below it comes the other Waterhawk. He deftly catches the second and settles into a fighting stance. “I hate to admit this, but I am no different from you. I turned a blind eye. Biding my time; waiting for an opportunity. After all this time, watching all the horrible things you’ve done, I can only hope I can still be forgiven.”

“Speak for yourself, I need no forgiveness.” Gwyn suddenly throws Smold at Cinder, the blade spinning end-over-end. Cinder leans backward, dodging the blade, and I hear the air crackle as Gwyn appears behind Cinder, catching the blade and immediately swinging it down towards Cinder.

Cinder whips his Waterhawks up, crossing them in front of his neck and catches Smold’s blade in the crooks, where the heads of his Waterhawks meet the handles. “Geyser!” Holding Smold tightly between his Waterhawks, Cinder jumps his feet into the trail of water left by the Waterhawk, which surges in volume and intensity. It lifts Cinder up off the ground and even pulls Gwyn off his feet, spinning them both through the air.

As Gwyn growls and rips Smold free of the Waterhawks, Cinder hurls one of them at Gwyn and makes the symbols for air and fire, “Compound! Repositioning Combustion!” Gwyn deflects the Waterhawk, sending it flying into the wall above Fukai’s head, and smirks at Cinder as they both quietly land, the small motes of fire again forming and dying in the air around him.

After a shared moment, both slide purposefully into battle stances.

Gwyn twirls Smold back in a downward arc, “Fire Wall,” and as he raises it to point at Cinder, a wall of blue fire appears on the ground following the tip and shoots out towards Cinder. Gwyn then slips into the flame to disappear.

“Tsk… still have that smirk, I see.” Cinder dodges the flames with a side-flip, hearing a slight whirling sound from the flames behind him as he turns to see a spinning Gwyn strike down towards him. Cinder, realizing he doesn’t have time to dodge again, snaps his fingers. The falling sparks crackle and red-gold flames spread out from each of them as they swap places and Gwyn’s momentum and swing drive Smold into the ground. As gravity begins to pull Cinder back to the ground, he, now with the striking advantage, brings down his remaining Waterhawk.

Gwyn quickly releases Smold, slams his palms together and strikes the ground with his left hand. “Ooh, you’re too slow, Cinder! Re! Stone Lance!” From the middle of the stone floor, a large stone pillar drives diagonally up into Cinder, knocking him back. “Fire Wall!” With his right hand he pulls Smold out, drags the tip along the ground leaving a burning trail as he spins and swings Smold in an upward arc, sending a wall of flames spiraling up the pillar that breaks it into large pieces. “I’m going to need your full attention…” Gwyn advises Cinder as he leaps up from piece to piece, charging above Cinder and leaping high off the last one with Smold held above him in both hands, “if you hope to survive this!” and strikes Cinder back down to the ground through his block.

Cinder gasps after crashing, his Waterhawk spinning along the ground away from him. Cinder rolls over to his hands and knees, breathing heavily and coughing up blood as the blue shimmer around him flickers. “Full attention, huh?”

“Come on, Cinder, you’re making this too easy,” Gwyn, still in the air but starting to descend, taunts and sticks his manacled hand out to his side. “Reappear.” The five spectral orbs and the spectral chain reappear leading to the same giant spectral cannon floating next to him. “Now die!” Gwyn shouts as the cannon fires.

Cinder snaps his fingers, swapping places with Gwyn. “How’s this for full attention!”

“Shit!” Gwyn exclaims and turns his head towards the blue-flamed cannonball flying towards him. Faced with the full power of his own attack, he is unable to dodge the scorching explosion of earth and blue-flames and is knocked to his back on the ground, the stone cracking around him.

As Cinder starts to descend, he snaps his fingers again, swapping with me and grabs his Waterhawk. “Floating?” I say, entirely caught off-guard.

Cinder snaps his fingers, swapping places with me again and yanks his Waterhawk up, summoning the other through and in one smooth motion, catches it and throws both of his Waterhawks down at Gwyn, pinning his robes to the ground. I alight on the ground as Cinder quickly connects his thumb and ring finger together. “Re! Fire Pulse!” Falling fast now, Cinder drives his palm into Gwyn’s chest, sending a pulse of flames through him. “This is it, Master!”

“Aaahh!” Gwyn screams as the explosive force rips through his entire body. As the smoke and dust clear, Cinder sees Gwyn’s smirking face looking up at him and Gwyn says, “Just kidding!” Cinder grabs his Waterhawks and flips backwards. “I’m very impressed, Cinder.” Gwyn stands up without a scratch on him, though the manacle is gone and a slow wave passes through the faint orange shimmer around his body. “I’ve been wondering, Cinder… why?”

“…Why what?” Cinder grits his teeth and mutters, staring at Gwyn.

“I was certain we both shared the same dreams. So, why did you betray me?” Gwyn cocks his head to the side, his ever present smile fading.

Cinder in turn smiles a little. “It’s because we’re so similar. If I had to say, it was what you did six years ago, with the Flying Dragon village. I could understand what you were doing, but I couldn’t become what you wanted me to be. So I made a promise to myself,” Cinder’s smile grows. “When we first met, you saw something in me that reminded you of yourself,” Cinder stands tall with resolve. “But the truth is, what you really saw was the younger you, before everything changed,” Cinder takes a fighting stance. “The thing is, Master, we may have started in the same place, but our paths did not stay the same.”

“I see…” Gwyn’s smile returns.

Coming out of my shocked silence, I demand of Ramsey while shaking him, “Th-this is bad! This is bad! What’s going on here?!”

“Calm down, Maka. Let me think… hmmm…” Ramsey’s expression contorts, his lips tightening and his eyebrows meeting in the middle as his eyes squint.

Displeased with his inadequate response, I continue to wildly shake Ramsey. “Think faster! Think faster!”

Ramsey’s expression flashes with irritation for a moment before settling back into one of desperate thought.

“I think we need to escape…” Anaea glances at Gwyn and Cinder, concern marring her features as their fighting resumes. “And this may be our only chance to do so,” she states quietly.

“Exactly, Anaea!” My ears droop as shame finds me again. “B-but w-what about Cinder?!” I reply, concern for my friend distracting me from my panic.

“I know!” Anaea shouts, clearly frustrated with herself. “But what can we do in this situation?” Anaea starts to tremble.

“Anaea…” Ramsey says.

“I’m sure Fukai’s mom would believe what we have seen.” Anaea looks back at me and Ramsey, trying to put a brave smile on her trembling face.

“I hate to admit this, but Anaea’s right.” Ramsey walks over to Anaea and puts his hand on her shoulder, “The fact of the matter is, we are holding Cinder back. I’m sure he is waiting for us to make it to safety, and that’s why he’s struggling.” Ramsey assesses the situation while looking for an opportunity.

“Wow! Really?! Now you guys want to leave?!” I exclaim, my ears standing up as I take a firm stand. “But not when, umm… I don’t know, like, all this time I’ve been saying so?!”

Ramsey and Anaea are speechless.

*BOOOOM!*

“Cinder!” I exclaim, struggling to get up. “Dammit, Gwyn!”

Cinder’s hands are scrabbling for purchase against the ornate stone wall as he struggles against Gwyn’s grip pinning him to the wall. His feet dangling just above the stone floor, Cinder kicks out trying to dislodge the grip that is mercilessly choking the life out of him.

“Dammit, why?” Hot tears of frustration begin to fall down my face, “Why am I so weak?”

As Cinder continues to struggle, Gwyn leans over and whispers into his ear. “Don’t worry,” Gwyn’s face contorts into a sinister smile, “when you’re gone, I’ll be sure to take care of the rest of them. So please, die knowing that you are a failure.” Gwyn reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a dagger.

“Move…” I say to myself.

Cinder looks down at the dagger as tears began to flow from his eyes.

“Move,” I command myself as I begin to stand.

“Fukai, no!” I hear Anaea call out to me. Looking over, I see her waving to me to follow her and the others as they start to make their way out of the room.

“Oh, do you remember this?” Gwyn puts the dagger up to Cinder’s cheek, his voice crooning, “This old thing is a souvenir.”

“I-If they can do that, so can I!” I slowly begin to connect my thumb and ring finger together, “I think this is right.”

“Now visualize,” I hear an echoing woman’s voice whisper in my ear.

I turn my head in shock towards the familiar voice, “Is that you?” Not finding anyone, I look down at my shaking hands and close my eyes. “Visualize.” Playing back everything I’ve witnessed so far behind my closed eyelids, I begin to visualize what I want to happen. The sound of flesh and cloth ripping tears my focus away. My eyes open wide to the horrific scene of Gwyn releasing the knife, the blade buried in Cinder’s belly.

“GWWWYYYNNN!!” I scream, rage racing through my veins.

Ramsey grabs hold of both Maka and Anaea by the arm and begins running in earnest, “We have to go, guys, now!” Ramsey yells.

Gwyn turns and notices Anaea, Maka, and Ramsey heading back out of the room. A dangerous spark of anger flashes in Gwyn’s eyes and then he throws Cinder across the room at them. They stop running as Cinder’s limp body is sent crashing into the wall nearby, half-burying itself beneath the rubble that falls down from the impact.

“Where do you think you’re going, Ramsey?” Gwyn asks, his smile now gone, replaced with a predatory gaze.

“*Cough!* *Cough!!*” Cinder coughs deeply and then wheezes, “I’m sorry guys… Damn, don’t worry about me, you kids have a lot to live for… so…” Cinder begs, tears streaking down through the dust on his face, “so don’t waste your life on someone that’s cut from the same cloth as him. I’m truly sorry for everything.”

“Do you think if they forgive you it will ease your guilty conscience? What rubbish.” Gwyn taunts as he starts to walk towards Ramsey, Maka, and Anaea. “Now, let’s finish this.”

“Gwyn! Like hell I’ll let you near my friends!!” I shout, the fire in my veins pooling in my hands. “Visualize!” An image of the Red Wolf wreathed in a goldish flame appears in my mind. “Re!” I shout as my voice echoes across the room.

Gwyn is startled and looks over at me, “Huh?”

“Fiery Wolf Fists!” I shout as flames swirl around my hands.

Gwyn smiles, “Young Fukai, you never cease to amaze me.” His face contorts again as bloodlust pours from his eyes. “Yes, that’s it! Come at me with everything you have!”

“This feeling…” I say, looking at the flames swirling around my hands. “Grandpa… could this be what you were telling me about?”