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Hera

"Oh..." Hera just starred at her feet as she began to think of a response. "Perhaps...I could join you? If you wouldn't mind, that is." The rebel's normal brazen bearing had faded into an uncharacteristic awkward shyness as she talked to Kirin.

Cody Lazarus

"I'm..." His hands crumbled back into fists. "...I'll be alright. I'm fine, everyone." He slowly stood up, removing his glasses and wiping his eyes. "Don't worry about me."

Kirin

"Not sure..." Kirin leaned against a wall, hands shoved into his pockets. "Maybe I'll just disappear. Not like I've got anywhere to go."

Part Three.

Cody Lazarus

He was outside, but he couldn't discern where exactly. When he blinked and focused again, he saw an orange sky in which he could see different things as he narrowed his eyes: rotating gears, ticking clocks, strings of code, mechanisms of all sorts. In a moment he realized.

This is... a reality marble.

In the mist he could still clearly make out Madeline's human face. She had his eyes. "I supposed this would make a suitable place."

"What are you doing?"

"Isn't it clear?" Mechanisms began sprouting around them, each with an intricate and unique design. "I'm setting up a battleground. You'll try to kill me if it means destroying the key, and that's all that seems to matter." A moment without speaking. "You know I'm right; don't try to argue with me."

Cody didn't have a response.

"This reality marble..." she stretched her arms, "It's my own- and yours, too; it's a treasury that holds all of our creations in the past, present and future. All of the potential in both of our minds, all in one place. The Gates of the Third Garden."

"Third... Garden?"

"There is a greater cycle overshadowing the cycle of the Sanctum Wars, Cody: The creation betrays the creator. First, there was Eden, the first garden. Eve turned her back on The Architect and brought forth the age of modern humanity. From this was born the second garden, Sanctum- the source of all magic. You were the next betrayer- you and the club faction, in your quest to destroy the Sanctum Key and turn your back on Ruler- your supplier. And now..." She opened her arms. "I am the third, and this garden is the third of its kind. I know that someday I, too, shall be betrayed... but that's inevitable. That is then. This is now."

"...So this is it, then." He stood tall. "I have to defeat you to stop the cycles- both of them."

"Do you have the nerve?"

"I have to." He walked to the side, eyes trained on her. Robin... Kiera... The Spades...

...Riza...

To all of you who've been taken from us on account of this war, I promise you. Even if it costs me myself... Even it it costs me my one child, I will make certain your death will not have been for nothing. This war ends here.

He reached for a blade sticking out in the sand. It morphed into a pitch-black gauntlet in his hand. Its design appeared to be a superior version of his makeshift weapon during his battle with Nick; clearly, something that in some timeline he developed to perfection.

Madeline reached for a weapon of her own- hers was white.

"Are you prepared?" The sanctum key gleamed radiantly around her neck.

Cody alone stood against her. "I'm ready when you are, Madeline."

"So naive." Her eyes narrowed with hatred. "Now is the time where you stop trying to be the hero, Cody. You will no longer hold my soul in chains." They gleamed with a harsh blue light, as mana pulsed through her body. "I will be free."

In a burst of wind and dislocated sand particles she was gone- and in the very next instant she was careening straight at him, a lance-type weapon in hand, with the air screeching at her side. As she struck Cody's shield the earth trembled in a disruptive shock-wave, and she was gone again- only to strike once more from a new angle.

Sparks and sand flew every which way as Madeline bolted in and out of the sky from every conceivable angle. With every strike, Cody weakened a little. After every attack, she learned a little more.

In this battle there were no servants, and no masters. Only two. Thus, ended the war to end all wars. There was no drawn out finale to behold in the Third Garden- only a quick exchange and a swift and abrupt end to the battle. Perhaps it was fitting, Cody thought, that Sanctum's final battle would be a disorganized and anticlimactic mess.

Eventually, his defenses were ripped open, and he staggered back. Madeline dived in, but for a moment- one soul-crushing moment- Madeline hesitated. Cody clasped his hands around her blade and cast a spell. Scan. The weapon was his, now. Morph. It shifted its form in Madeline's hand, crushing some of her bones as it grew sharp inward-facing protrusions around her forearm. She collapsed, screaming in pain, as he took a step back.

For one second, he prayed for forgiveness.

In the very next, he was holding a spear. On his end were his two hands, one of which was strewn with cursed command seals. The weapon's sharper end was a crimson red, shamelessly poised at the far-side of her neck.

There was a cracking noise, and the Sanctum Key was destroyed.

Cody carefully removed the spear, which was painted a horrific color on its end, and tossed it to the side. A thousand emotions ran through Madeline's face. The one Cody could make out above all was disbelief. She was the one who had hesitated in that moment; it was her own moral indecisiveness that destroyed her. As her lungs filled with blood, she wept louder than once thought possible.

"It's not fair." She was quiet. Cody could feel in her voice that she was weakened. "I... I..."

"I'm sorry." He whispered back. "I never wanted it to be this way, Madeline. This, all of this, was my fault. I've hurt you. I've done things to you that are unforgivable."

"Would you take it back?" The light was already leaving her eyes. "Would you undo it? Any of it?"

There was a brief hesitation in him. "No." She looked back- he was crying as well. "Never. That's my greatest fault. Given the chance I wouldn't have done it any differently."

"You're..." Her physical senses began to leave her. "You're heartless."

"I know." He put a hand on her shoulder. She was far too weak at this point to resist. With his other hand, he pressed two fingers to her mortal wound, upon which a small fragment of the key was lodged in. "But you're not."

"I have to go away, now." She was now numb. "I'm scared, Cody. I don't know what comes next."

Scan. He hadn't taken anything from the key at this point, he had only recorded an observation. "Neither do I, Madeline. If we meet again, in wherever it is we do go, don't hold back in whatever you do. Hurt me in whatever way you can. I can take it, knowing I deserve it. Then, maybe all of your hate-"

"I don't hate you." She stared blankly at the sky.

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows and took a closer look at her.

"If I were you, and you were me..." She held one hand outwards towards the sky. "If I were Madeline Lazarus the creator, and you were my creation Cody, I wouldn't have done it any differently."

"After all that, after what you've faced, do you really think so?"

"Yes." There was a small, crooked smile faced outwards. "After all, I'd have made a promise. For Henri, and for Riza. And for everyone. For my friends."

The sands and fire of the reality marble spiraled out of existence. They were in the lab.

"I take after you, Cody. You're a father of mine." She rested her hand on his cheek.

Her hand was warmed up by his tears, which were relentless. "M-Madeline..."

"Cheer up, Father. You've got friends who are counting on you." She smiled and closed her eyes, and in a flute's faint song her ashes were carried off into oblivion.

Cody Lazarus was alone in the old laboratory.

How do you do it?

Jack

He sipped from the wine bottle. A small string inside him pulled, "Something fishy, oh well." He took another drink.

"I hope they're alright, although I doubt I'll see em again." He held up the bottle, intoxicated, "This one's for you, lancer."