The Wastelands

"You," growled out Shadow as he turned towards Lilia. "Why are you here? You should have been incapacitated."

And that was his mistake. Lilia heard the gun a second before Shadow staggered from the blow, his hand clutching his shoulder, blood seeping out through his fingers.

Statson cursed. "Damn."

That crazed look overcame Shadow's features. "I am done messing around." And he sent his Phantoms toward Statson and Rachel.

Silva, the griffin, took flight to intercept, breathing out life-energy. The Phantoms didn't have a chance, they were incinerated in seconds,

Shadow turned towards her in shock. She gestured for the humans to run. Statson took Rachel by the arm and pulled her to both their escape, but not before tipping his hat towards Lilia as a sign of respect. Since he was darn near hostile to her and the others, that gesture was pretty nice of him.

Rachel hesitated a little but let Statson drag her to safety.

Shadow didn't seem to mind. His whole attention was on Lilia. There was something in his eyes, something that wasn't there before. A crazed delight.

"You tricked me," he said. "That flute wasn't your medium."

"I didn't really trick you, you just assumed."Lilia smiled, laying her hands-on Silva's back. "But so what if I did, you didn't give me much of a choice, I needed time." Yes, thankfully, Sil and Va had arrived, or everything that was done before this moment would have been fruitless.

"Clever girl." Shadow praised. "But what makes you think I won't destroy your Medium now?" His eyes travelled to Silva.

"Silva is part of me, yes, and they exist because of my Medium. But that doesn't mean they are my Medium. Destroying them will do you no good." Lilia moved into a fighting stance. "Maybe if you fight me again, I might tell you."

Shadow laughed. "Oh, the confidence, where was that from before."

"Maybe I have grown a little," Lilia responded, half-jokingly.

"Let's see about that." Shadow made a gesture, and a flood of Phantoms came at her all at once.

Lilia and Silva separated with her fingers tips glowing, forming claws; Lilia began to slash and stab using her reflexes and strength to keep ahead of the Phantom bombardment. Meanwhile, Silva took off a lot of the pressure from Lilia. Both worked simultaneously to fight their way to get closer to Shadow, who was keeping his distance.

Then Shadow disappeared into his shadows, and Silva shouted in its mixed female/male voice. *Behind you!*

Lilia ducked; she felt Shadow passed her by and sliced up his face. Shadow stumbled back, blood pouring down his face. His Phantoms melt into the floor, allowing her to reunite with Silva.

Shadow wiped the blood away and stared with bewilderment at his bloodied hand, but before Lilia could move to attack, the Phantoms crawling right back out from the shadows.

"This is getting us nowhere. I need more power; can you deal with the Phantoms if you're separated?" Lilia asked Silva.

Silva gave her a 'What do you think?' look before nodding its regal-looking head in confirmation. Silva moved closer, towering over her by a foot, allowing Lilia to place her hand on Silva's side, drawing out their power into herself. Silva split back into their original forms. No, they were quite a bit smaller.

'Ah, so cute.'

*A game of chess would be great,* Sil chirped.

Lilia waved her hand in confirmation. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you want. Wait, chess, really? Maybe, I can get Bryson…" Sil stared intently, and Lilia g.r.o.a.n.e.d out in defeat. "Fine, anything you want."

After that, they moved to intercept the second wave of Phantoms. In their separated animal forms, they were much weaker, but they used their smaller size and quickness to distract them. Lilia could only roll her eyes at her mediums' antics. Hard to believe that they both were a part of her, their personalities were so different.

Shadow didn't seem to care about the antics of the little falcon and cat. His attention was focused only on Lilia.

"Not going after them?" asked Lilia with a raised eyebrow.

Shadow held his dagger forward. "This is more interesting."

Shadow threw his dagger, and Lilia barely had enough time to catch it. She felt a puff of wind from behind, and Lilia rolled out of the way as Shadow stabbed at the ground she once stood. Then Lilia tossed the dagger into a nearby Phantom.

She blocked Shadow's dagger-clad hands while kicking another Phantom in the head. She still felt like she was fighting an army. But now everything seemed crystal clear; she felt his every move coming with just sound. She let the environment itself tell her when to move and how he was coming at her. And she started to adapt to his movements, to make them her own.

Slowly but surely, she was clipping away at his defences, but Lilia knew she was going to run out of steam soon. Her hands were already shaking. Sil and Va contained two-thirds of her power, and Lilia was okay with that. She already could feel her control slipping, but Lilia needed to go this far, Shadow had to see her like this.

"I finally realized what you want from me," Lilia replied, she didn't stop fighting. If she stopped, then Shadow will take advantage, but she needed Shadow to hear her.

"What's that?" Shadow asked.

"At first, I thought you were just obsessed." Lilia flipped him into his Phantoms, which appeared like they were thinning out. "But when you told me that story, then everything became clear."

"Really."

"Because it started with that boy. Jace, you called him, right? It seemed that his family took you in, training you to be that boy's follower?" The Phantom tried to block her path, but Sil and Va took care of them. "And he betrayed you, and you lost control."

"Gee, you know how to listen. Good for you." Shadow stopped in front of Lilia, waiting.

Lilia breathed out before continuing, "You don't want a lover you want the same thing you had with that boy. But someone strong enough to stop you if you go too far, a collar as you will. For some reason, you fixated on me to be that someone."

"Yes, I did, but you disappointed me." He attacked with his dagger.

Lilia disarmed him. "I won't disappoint you again.

'In truth, Shadow is scared that he won't be able to stop, that he would destroy everything in sight, leaving him alone with only piles of bodies for company.'

Suddenly he pushed her back, doing some damage in return. But that push gave Lilia the opening she needed, and using her speed, Lilia slammed into him with her full strength. He flew into the compound wall. She followed through with a claw attack that left him no room to defend.

Before he could move, Lilia intercepted him, punching and kicking with no intention of stopping. She wouldn't stop, not until he realized that and said those words, even if it left him broken in pieces at her feet. She needed to show him that Lilia could be what he wanted.

"I yield," Shadow gasped out, just before her knee connected to his face. Lilia moved to a relaxed state, watching him warily, not putting her guard down yet. Shadow moved slowly and stiffly; not an inch of his body was left unmarked, but he finally moved to kneel position with his hand over his heart. "I am yours to command. Finally," he breathed out, relieved, before collapsing in a heap at her feet. He never lost that smile, but now he was relaxed. He had found what he was looking for.

Lilia smiled in return before collapsing as well. Her body was beyond exhausted. Sil and Va scurried closer and melted into her to not just feed her body but to heal her wounds and not only her tattoo, but her entire body began to glow.

Lilia glanced at Shadow. When he woke up, he had a lot of things to make up for. First was to fix her flute, because she really liked that thing