Something hard came into Zina’s face as she saw her father lying dead on the stones. And then with a fury Kerrigan had never seen from her, she screamed at the top of her lungs, and every single person on the square froze to stone. She held them in her grasp. Not differentiating between friend or foe. They were all just there. The people who had led her father back into a battle that would take his life.

Kerrigan couldn’t even blink. She watched as Zina’s great power rippled from her in such a force. Then, Kerrigan felt around the shape of the magic to her spirit beyond it, and she dropped out of the physical.

Zina was hunched over, sobbing onto her father’s figure. The feelings she couldn’t process in reality couldn’t be contained here. She’d frozen the outside world, only to try to come to grips with what was in front of her.

Kerrigan came to her feet and put her hand on Zina’s back. She gasped and jumped away from Kerrigan.

“You don’t understand,” Zina cried.

“No, I can’t. I lost a parent before I could feel the sting of their absence. But I know what it is to be abandoned by someone you love. I know how it can fester and burrow deep until you feel like you can never touch that place within you. And I know it’s harder to move on, harder to see them as people who made choices, than it is to just be angry.”

Zina wiped her tears. “He lied to me about my mother. He lied, and now, he’s gone. I’ll never get those years back.”

“You’re right. What he did was wrong. There’s no excuse, but there’s a reason. He wanted to protect you. He might not have been the best father. In the end, he made the choice he thought would hurt you the least. He did that because he loved you.”

“I know,” Zina finally said, looking so small in that moment. “He wanted this fight. He wanted it.”

“Mei took this final battle from him. Maybe you should honor him by ending it.”

Zina nodded, tears forming rivulets down her cheeks, and then held her hand out. “Let’s end it then.”

They came back into reality together. Zina released her magic in a rush, and everyone collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. She held her head high above the lot of them and magically projected her voice.

“Your king is dead. Lay down your weapons and surrender, or you will find no mercy,” Zina said, her voice reaching far beyond the walls of the square to the soldiers out into the field.

The Fae before them shook with terror at her ferocious power and laid down their arms. They fell to their knees in surrender. Dishonorable for their people, but better than every single person dying.