Slowly, we made our way up the countless flights of stairs. This tower has to be at least 20 stories tall, I think, but we trekked on. The steps ran in circles around the inner tower like a spiral. Finally, we arrive at the top. It was a single floor, and a single door stood in the middle of the long hall. Everyone lines up against the walls with Melena and I standing by the door. I place my ear by the door, in hopes of getting a gauge on what's going on in the room. The sound is faint, but I can hear Cadence speak with Dillon.
"What is this about, sister?" Dillon says
"You know what it is."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Do I have to spell it out for you? And after that shit you pulled?"
"What?"
"You thought I wouldn't find out?"
Melena spots what I am doing and approaches the door.
"What's going on?" She asks
"I don't know, they are yelling about something."
"Wait, wait!" Dillon yells in a panic.
He sounds like he is in trouble, but no one makes a move. Not until a thud is heard and suddenly a high-pitched scream blasts through the door. Melena and I stare at each other eye to eye. The same thought seems to pass through both our heads. We line up at the door and count down. Soul pops out from behind Melena and kicks own the door with one fell swoop and we all flood the room at once.
The room is a basic bedroom, comprising of a bed and small desk in the corner. A balcony sat at the end of the room overlooking the city. The first thing we spot is Dillon on the floor. He looks hurt and is unable to move due to the gun aimed at his head. Cadence stands over him, though to our surprise, she is the one holding the gun and she has two of them. Her left is aimed at Dillon. Her right, however, is aimed at Stella, who she also seems to have her focus on.
She turns her attention to us, still leaving her weapons aimed at Dillon and Stella.
"What is this, Cadence?" Melena asks.
She doesn't say a word, instead she looks around to Darrin and his men as they and I surround the room.
"Princess Cadence." Darrin says. "Put the weapon down, let's talk about this."
"What is this? Why are you here?" Cadence asks.
"We are just here to assess the situation. Just put the weapon down-."
"I don't answer to you!"
"Princess..."
"Is this your doing?" She asks Dillon.
"Cadence." I say to her.
"Demi? Why are you here?"
"I want to get to the bottom of things, ok? If we could just..."
"Why are you on their side? After all they have done to you."
"What?"
"It was all their fault, everything."
"Don't listen to her, Demi. She's lying!" Dillon pleads
"Shut up, Dillon!" She yells hitting him with her gun. Stella calls out to him, but Cadence still keeps her gun aimed at her. He groans in pain as he lays on the floor. Blood pours out from his forehead, spilling all over the floor and soaking into carpet nearby, staining it red. She turns her attention back to Stella.
"You have been lying since the beginning. I've known that since I've laid my eyes on you."
"What? No." She says. "You don't know anything."
"Ever since Demi told me of your companies' escapades, I did a little digging. Found some information referring to some jump testing you have been doing."
"You ordered me to do those tests."
"I told you to do specific tests. Never anything about manipulating jump parameters. That why that planet vanished into thin air, didn't it. The same one that attacked us on cloud."
"You...I..."
"You were trying to have us killed."
"My princess Stella?" Darrin asks, "Is this true?"
"N-No! She's lying."
"Darrin, don't listen to her." Melena says. "Cadence is lying to you."
"How do you know that?"
"I don't have definitive proof yet. But I need Cadence to clear up a few things for us."
"I don't need to do anything for you." Cadence yells.
"Cadence please." I said, "Lets talk this out."
"Why? She is the reason we are in this mess. She is the reason everything has gone to shit."
"Cadence."
"She is the reason our parents are dead and why you father died on Dekara."
In that moment my heart starts to beat out of my chest again, like before. This sense of danger overwhelms me, and all sound fades away into darkness. A light flies around the room again, the same as on Cloud before the shuttle attack. It flies in front of Cadence and lands on her right shoulder. This time I am confused. This thing used to represent danger, and while Cadence is dangerous, there is something that is setting off more alarms in my chest than normal. For a few moments, I run through my head for thoughts. Memories or something that can help me remember. Then I think back to Cadence's last statement, and everything clicks in an instant. The echo of danger grows exponentially, and I raise my weapon at her.
"It was you?" I ask.
Cadence just stares at me.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"It was you all along. You have been feeding everyone bad information for months or is it years actually?"
"Demi what are you talking about?" Melena asks.
"Think about it. The false information about Meklar, the wild goose chase we have been sent on this whole time. She has been trying to feed us this stuff for days, then seed in enough chaos to cause one of us to turn to her for guidance. Then when we are no longer needed, you kill us, right?"
Cadence doesn't say anything. Everyone looks around confused, except for Stella, who smiles. I think she is finally happy that someone is on her side.
"Was that your goal?" I continue, "To get one of us to kill her?"
She stands for a moment and looks around the room. Everyone is still aiming their guns at her, but she still remains calm. She then turns her attention to me.
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Me? I don't care what you think. I know this. I think you were the mystery benefactor for my father and his team. You fed that same bad information to him because you knew he was going to be killed while on a wild chase to nowhere."
I cock back the level, loading a round into the chamber and activate the holographic sights.
"You killed my father," I continued. "It was you all along."
Cadence still doesn't say a word. My heart still is beating insanely fast. Even though we have her surrounded, something still feels wrong. She looks up to the sky and takes a deep breath.
"So that's how it is, then."
Bam! She pulls the trigger of her right gun. Blood splatters all across the floor and it too stains the rug. Dillon cries, morning her loss before yelling with all his might, charging at Cadence yelling, "I'm going to fucking kill you!" She swats him back to the ground, landing next to Stella's lifeless body. She doesn't shoot, instead she turns around, and watches the sky warp and bend in off the balcony. With her back to us, she turns back around and smiles.
"Darrin. Kill them."
"Yes ma'am." He says, aiming his gun at me, "I am truly sorry for this."
"No, you are not."
"Shit, you're right. I'm not."
He pulls the trigger and fires, and all of hell breaks loose.