Tess gasped, tears welling in her eyes, her hand covering her mouth trying to stifle her cries. "Oh! Oh, no!" she whispered, her body shaking as the realization crashed down on her. "No, no, no, no," she slowly fell to the ground, her hands clutching her head.

"Lass, what's the matter?" Destru asked, concerned. He clutched at the bars, his stomach dropping at her reaction.

"Destru, please forgive me," she wept, looking up at him. She looked so helpless and lost. "I-I didn't know. They always glamour Tom's face on them. I didn't believe him." Tess couldn't continue her explanation as she dissolved into more tears. She'd never forgive herself.

"Lass," Destru took Tess' chin and gently made her look at him, his face confused. He looked over Tess with worried eyes. He had made a pledge to take care of Rune when his parents had passed, was he okay? "What happened?"

"I-I killed Rune," she finally whispered, her hands trembling as she reached for Destrus hand. "A-and I ate his heart." Tess dissolved into more tears as Destru pulled back from her, an appalled look on his face. "Matera wanted me to practice for the new moon ritual where I'll become a siren permanently."

Destru was conflicted, he wanted to feel bad for Tess, but she had killed Rune without a second thought. Tess lay at the bottom of the iron bars, sobbing, begging for forgiveness. Crying harder as the silence became longer. Destru looked her over once more. Her skin was shimmery like the other sirens, streaks of blonde dotting her previously raven black hair. Did she have the teeth too? "You've started becoming a siren," Destru stated. His look growing cold as the realization of Runes' loss swept over him.

"I didn't know what to do," Tess gasped out, her tears becoming too much. She looked up to see the disappointment in Destru's eyes. Sorrow filled her, making her chest hurt. She felt sick to her stomach. "I couldn't find a way out, and I was so scared." Tess looked back at the ground, Destru's disappointment in her was too much for her to bear. Her lip trembled as she thought of all the bad things Destru was most likely thinking about her. "I'm so sorry Destru," she finally whispered, staring at the ground, hugging herself to try and make herself feel better.

She shivered as the rest of the crew stared at her in disbelief, waiting for their captain to make the next move. They knew how much he had cared for Rune. They couldn't imagine the grief that he was going through at losing him. Especially at the hands of someone he had considered his friend.

"You should go," Destru finally whispered. He didn't trust himself to say anything else. He had a lot to process.

Tess shrank back at the harshness of Destru's words. She glanced up with tearfilled eyes, her face shimmering with the tears she had cried already. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her body trembling as she got up. She looked into the cell one more time, before rushing away, her face in her hands. Afraid of the tears that were already escaping her, landing on the ground as she returned to her room.

Destru stared after her, a broken man. The trail of her tears shimmering in torchlight, as he sank to the ground. He sat in silence, staring out into nothing, tears quietly making their way down his face, as memories of the young pup played through his head. He would never be able to fulfill his promise to him.

-----

Tom gasped in pain as he was dragged back to his cell. A troll had him by an arm and the rest of him was pulled carelessly behind it. After Matera was finished talking with him, she had put him in a room filled with goblins. She had him magically paralyzed, then told him to defend himself. He did not know what she meant by "defend himself", since he had no way of doing that. The goblins had fun as they turned him into a mass of purple and blue bruises and cuts.

Finally, he was thrown back into his cell. He groaned as his body protested at the contact of stones. "Wilkie, are you okay?" Destru called from his cell, his voice hoarse from his previously shed tears. There had been a few hours break between Tess' visit and Tom's return. Most of the crew had mourned Rune's loss, but Destru wasn't sure if he'd ever be finished.

Tom forced himself to roll over to face him. He thought that a rib or two might be broken. Why were humans so fragile? "I'll survive," he gasped out, gritting his teeth against the fresh wave of pain.

"What happened?" Destru asked, seeing the pain he was in, trying to cast his own pain aside to help Tom through his own..

"I found Rune," Tom coughed, a bit of red spitle escaped his mouth. His throat had become raw from his cries of pain earlier. "It was too late, though."

"I heard," Destru replied quietly, not looking towards anyone. He fought off another round of tears.

Tom lifted his head in surprise, closing his eyes when he got a head rush. "How do you know?" he finally gasped out. He was going to faint, his mind was trying to fade to black.

"The Lass came down here," Destru explained, filling Tom in on Tess' visit.

"They all wear my face?" Tom asked, once Destru was done explaining what had happened.

"That's what she said," Destru agreed.

"That's messed up."

"It also gives us a good idea of what will happen at the new moon ritual," Destru pointed out, trying to keep his mind from thinking of Rune. They needed to figure this out, so they could mourn him properly. "Since all Tess' victims have had your face glamoured onto them. We can assume that you're the sacrifice at the ritual."

Tom stayed silent for a few minutes before shakily sitting up. "Well, I hope I can talk her out of it when the time comes."