Sera's POV
"Run!" I screamed at Cassian and Rust. "Get to the Flame chamber! I'll hold them off!"
"I'm not leaving you!" Cassian shouted back.
Uncle Damien laughed from across the room. "How touching. You'll die together. How romantic."
Fire erupted from my hands, creating a wall between us and Damien's soldiers. "GO! That's an order!"
Cassian hesitated, then grabbed my arm. "We fight together or we don't fight at all."
Rust stepped forward, its massive sword raised. "I will clear a path. Follow me."
The tin soldier charged at Damien's men like a battering ram. Soldiers flew in every direction. Cassian and I ran behind Rust, my fire keeping more soldiers back.
We made it to a staircase leading down, down into darkness. Rust slammed a massive stone door behind us, and I melted the edges with my flames to seal it shut.
"That won't hold them long," Cassian panted.
"It doesn't need to." Rust pointed down the stairs. "The Flame chamber is below. Once you enter, they cannot follow. Ancient magic protects it."
We ran down steps that seemed to go on forever. My lungs burned. My legs screamed. But I didn't stop.
Finally, we reached the bottom and burst into a huge underground chamber. In the center was a pedestal, and floating above it was a crystal that pulsed with golden light.
The heart-key. Rust's heart-key.
"Take it," Rust said quietly. "You freed me. It belongs to you now."
I walked slowly toward the pedestal, my hand reaching out. The moment my fingers touched the crystal, the world exploded into light and sound.
Memories flooded into my brain. Not my memories. Rust's memories.
I saw centuries of battles. Felt the weight of the sword. Experienced the cold emptiness of being controlled, forced to obey commands against my will.
Then I saw something that made my heart stop.
A memory from six months ago.
Rust standing outside my house in Thornwick. Holding torches. Uncle Damien's voice in its head: "Burn it. Kill everyone inside. Leave no survivors."
I watched through Rust's eyes as it threw the torches through the windows. As flames spread. As my parents' screams echoed through the night.
I saw my father trying to get out, trying to save us. Saw Rust block the door with its massive body.
Watched my parents burn alive.
The crystal fell from my hand and hit the stone floor with a sharp crack.
I stumbled backward, my whole body shaking. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. The images were seared into my brain forever.
"No," I whispered. "No, no, no..."
"Sera?" Cassian was beside me instantly. "What happened? What did you see?"
I turned to look at Rust. The tin soldier stood perfectly still, its golden eyes watching me.
"You," I said, my voice breaking. "You killed them."
Rust didn't move. Didn't try to defend itself. Just bowed its massive head.
"Yes."
That single word was like a knife to my heart.
"You started the fire that destroyed my home." My hands were shaking so badly I could barely control them. "You killed my parents. You're the reason they're dead."
"Yes," Rust said again, its voice barely above a whisper.
Cassian drew his dagger immediately, stepping between us. "Sera, get back. I'll—"
"I was forced to obey whoever held my heart-key," Rust interrupted, its eyes never leaving mine. "Lord Damien commanded me, and I had no choice. My body moved against my will. But..." Its voice cracked, sounding more human than I'd ever heard. "That doesn't excuse what I did. Your parents screamed. Begged for mercy. And I gave them none because I couldn't. I was a puppet. A weapon. A monster."
Fire exploded from my hands. Not controlled. Not careful. Pure rage in flame form.
The heat was so intense that Cassian had to step back. The walls around us started to glow red.
"Say the word," Cassian said, his face hard as stone. "And I'll destroy him. He deserves it."
He was right. Rust deserved to burn. To suffer like my parents had suffered.
I raised my hands, flames growing bigger and hotter. One word. That's all it would take.
But then I saw Rust's eyes. Those golden eyes that had been blue when it was controlled. Saw the pain there. The guilt. The absolute brokenness of someone who'd been forced to do horrible things.
I thought about the heart-key. About being controlled. About having your choices stolen.
Rust hadn't wanted to kill my parents. It had been a slave. A prisoner in its own body.
Just like I'd been a prisoner in my own house, trapped by Uncle Damien's lies.
Slowly—so slowly—my flames began to die down.
"You were controlled," I said, and each word hurt like pulling glass from a wound. "You had no choice."
"That doesn't bring them back," Rust said quietly.
"No. It doesn't." Tears streamed down my face. "My parents are still dead. I'm still alone. And nothing will ever change that."
"Then destroy me," Rust said, and it actually dropped to its knees. This massive, powerful creature kneeling before me like it was nothing. "I won't fight back. I don't deserve to exist after what I've done. End me, and at least your parents will have some justice."
I looked at the heart-key on the ground. If I picked it up, I could control Rust. Make it do whatever I wanted. Make it suffer.
Or I could destroy it completely.
Or...
I bent down and picked up the crystal. Rust tensed but didn't move.
"You're going to help us stop Damien," I said, my voice shaking but firm. "You're going to use that strength to protect people instead of hurt them. You're going to make sure no one else loses their parents the way I did." I looked directly into its golden eyes. "That's how you'll make this right. Not by dying. By living and doing better."
Rust stared at me like I'd just spoken a different language. "You... you're not going to destroy me?"
"I should want to," I admitted. "Part of me does. But you were a victim too. Damien used you like a weapon. He's the one who needs to pay."
"Sera," Cassian said softly, and when I looked at him, there was something like admiration in his eyes. "You're a better person than I am."
"I'm just tired of more death," I whispered.
Rust slowly stood up. "I will serve you for the rest of my existence. I swear it on whatever remains of my soul. I will protect you. Fight for you. Die for you if needed."
"I don't want you to die for me," I said. "I want you to help me save lives. Can you do that?"
"Yes." Rust's voice was thick with emotion I didn't know tin soldiers could feel. "Yes, I can."
A massive BOOM echoed from above. Damien's soldiers had broken through the sealed door.
"They're coming," Cassian said, raising his dagger.
"Let them come." I looked at the heart-key in my hand, then at Rust. "We have a tin soldier on our side now. And I'm done running."
We turned to face the stairs as footsteps thundered toward us.
Then something happened that changed everything.
The heart-key in my hand started glowing. Not the golden color it had been before. Red. Bright, blood red.
And Rust screamed.
Not a human scream. A sound of pure agony that made the entire chamber shake. The tin soldier collapsed, metal hands clutching its chest where the heart-key had been.
"What's happening?!" I shouted, trying to drop the crystal, but it was stuck to my hand like glue.
"The heart-key," Rust gasped between screams. "It's not... just for control... it's connected... to my life..."
The red glow got brighter. Hotter. The crystal started burning my palm, but I couldn't let go.
Cassian tried to pull it away from me, but an invisible force threw him across the room.
"If the heart-key... is destroyed..." Rust's voice was fading. "I die... but if it's corrupted... I become..."
"Become what?!" I screamed.
Rust looked up at me, and its golden eyes were turning black. Completely black, like pools of oil.
"A monster," it whispered.
Then its whole body started changing. Growing. Metal twisting and reshaping into something that looked less like a soldier and more like a nightmare with claws and fangs.
And it was looking at me like I was prey.
"Sera, RUN!" Cassian yelled.
But it was too late.
The thing that used to be Rust lunged straight for me, and I realized with horror what was happening.
The heart-key wasn't just corrupted.
It was corrupting me too.
My hands burst into flames, but they were the wrong color. Not orange or red.
Black. Pure black fire that felt cold instead of hot.
And I couldn't control it.
"What's happening to me?!" I screamed as the black flames spread up my arms.
From the stairs, I heard Uncle Damien's laughter getting closer.
"Oh, niece," his voice echoed. "Did you really think I'd let you have Rust without insurance? That heart-key has been cursed for months. The moment a Phoenix touched it, the curse would transfer. You're turning into exactly what I need you to be."
"What are you talking about?!"
Damien appeared at the bottom of the stairs, smiling his terrible smile.
"A vessel," he said simply. "The Eternal Flame won't accept me. But it will accept you—once you're empty. Once the curse burns away everything that makes you human and leaves only a shell for me to fill."
The black flames reached my chest. My heart felt like it was freezing solid.
No. No, this couldn't be happening.
Cassian was shouting something, but I couldn't hear him anymore. Couldn't hear anything except Damien's voice and the screaming of my own dying humanity.
"Don't fight it," Damien said gently, walking toward me. "In a few minutes, you won't even remember who you were. And then I'll finally have everything I've ever wanted."
The monster that used to be Rust roared and charged.
The black flames consumed my vision.
And the last thing I saw before darkness took me was Cassian's face, screaming my name.