Thirty minutes, Quinn had said before.

It couldn't be that long now, but Rhys felt time crawling as it never had before. In battle, there were sometimes moments when time seemed to lose all connection to reality and meaning, but this was nothing like that.

The Gech was taking long strides toward his fortress, yet the harbinger couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't enough.

He barely said a word to Quinn in the elevator. His fated looked as pale as her sister did after having heard Dolor's dying words.

They were both imagining Jos Gharo broken and at the mercy of the storm.

Quinn ran to the controls as soon as the doors rumbled open. Rhys looked at her shivering in the safest, warmest place in the harvester. He had believed that he was saving her, taking her back to Jos Gharo where she would be protected while he dealt with the traitors.

Now he wondered if he still had a fortress or if there was anyone left to deal with.

"Twelve minutes," Quinn called, rushing back to them where Rhys knelt beside Cassie's cold body.

Her pulse was almost nonexistent. The only sign of life was the warm breath misting on his metal armguard when he raised it to the young female's lips.

"Rhys?" Quinn asked, her voice breaking.

At the brink of losing everything, Rhys didn't want to tell her the truth. If he'd found someone in Cassie's condition under any other circumstances, he would have given the female the mercy of a quick death. Now he just groaned in response.

"I'm not sure if you should watch," he told Quinn as he opened the female's clothes, mindful not to tear anything since she'd need all the warmth she was going to get later.

"I'm staying," Quinn told him firmly, holding her sister's hand, kneeling down on the other side of the unconscious female.

"This will be bloody," Rhys warned her. "There are no healer tools here, at least not for this type of a procedure. I'm going to have to cut her. She'll be in pain. If she wakes, I will hurt her even more."

Quinn's lips were almost white from the cold and from how tightly she was pressing them together.

"It's okay," she said. "I can take it. If she wakes up, it's better if she sees me here with her."

Rhys had one more question, but never before had he hesitated before saying something.

"Quinn," he said, stopping for a second in his motions. "Has it ever occurred to you that Cassie might not want to wake from this? After everything she's been through, after all the damage her body has suffered. I know it's difficult, but I could make her passing as peaceful as a living being could get."

His fated was staring at him, her stormy eyes flashing with an array of emotions. The anger was prevailing, making her nearly seethe with rage, but there was something below that, too. Rhys was grateful to see that Quinn was actually thinking about what he'd said.

"This is the thing with Nayanors," Quinn replied then, her voice strong and determined. "You don't ask for anyone's opinions. I get that this horrible home world of yours has raised people who are primarily concerned with themselves, but I have seen you show empathy. I know you're capable of it.

"You think asking me that is a kindness. I think I have to hold myself back not to slap you in the face right now. If it were me, wouldn't you do everything in your powers to save me?"

"Like you said before," Rhys replied. "I wouldn't stop fighting until you drew your last breath."

"Then that's my answer," Quinn said. "We don't know Cassie's until she's better and can speak for herself. She needs to have that chance, Rhys. After everything she's been through... she has to get a say, too."

That was good enough for Rhys.

"I injected her with some boosters and inhibitors before," the harbinger said. "Some of them help dull the pain, but there is no anesthesia here. If she regains consciousness, she'll be in a world of pain."

"I understand," Quinn replied, leaning down to be ready. "I'll hold her if she wakes."

Rhys nodded. He drew a long, sharp dagger from a sheath on his hip. It was little more than a knife in his hands, meant to be used as a last resort in close combat battle when all other options had been exhausted.

He put the diadon down on the floor, onto the heavy coat which the young female was sleeping on. It was sharp and rough and long. The wound which could house that would have to be deep.

The first cut was somehow the worst. Rhys' dagger delved easily into the female's fragile body, piercing her ice-pale skin and sinking deeper with barely any resistance. The harbinger didn't even blink. He tried to recall everything he knew of human anatomy, similar but not the same as Nayanors'. If he harmed the female's lungs or heart, nothing in the galaxy could save her then.

The worrying part was the lack of blood, as if the body he was working on truly was dead already. If the female's heart had stopped pumping blood, it was over.

Quinn noticed that too. Rhys could hear her holding her breath as the dagger pierced deeper and long trails of red blood started running down Cassie's chest. The harbinger focused again, cutting his way through flesh that had to hold the diadon, feeling like he was doing a butcher's job.

The young female moved for the first time. Clear, petrified fear appeared into her wide eyes as her chapped lips opened and a long, broken scream ripped through the cold air.

"Cassie!" Quinn gasped, grasping her sister's hand. "Cassie, can you hear me!?"

Rhys didn't stop. The dagger cut without mercy. If it was a Nayanor warrior he had to save that way, it would have been easier. Their bodies were stronger, their skin thicker and the internal organs better protected. A human was so fragile.

He needed to make sure the diadon fit. If he let the sharp edges of the diadon cut their own path, he risked bleeding the female out before her body could heal itself.

Cassie's long, drawn-out scream came to an end. She looked around as if she didn't know where she was and what was happening, which was very likely.

"Cassie," Quinn whispered hurriedly. "If you can hear me, we're trying to save you. You have to be brave for me. Just hold on and everything will be okay!"

Rhys wondered if that was really true. He tried his best not to focus on the prospect that Jos Gharo was lost, but it was hard to force it out of his mind. The interior of the Gech was quickly becoming too much for Quinn. His fated barely noticed it, so concerned about her sister, but it wouldn't last.

One thing at a time. I have to save them here to be able to save them in the fortress.

Cassie's hand was clamped around Quinn's when Rhys ripped the dagger out, more forcefully than he would have liked, but there was so much blood already. The agony reflecting in the young female's eyes was starting to feel too much like he was torturing her instead of trying to save her life.

Rhys took the diadon and held it up in front of Cassie's eyes.

"Listen to me," he ordered roughly, having no time for pleasantries.

The deep, authoritative tone of his voice seemed to catch the female's attention even through the mist of pain she had be in. Her body was spasming like she'd lost all control of it and Rhys honestly doubted that she was fully aware of her surroundings. It wasn't Cassie trying to stay alive, it was her survival instinct.

"This will hurt," he said. "A lot. The more you scream, the more afraid you are, the worse it will be for you. The diadons react to the body's needs. It will burrow into you and try to fix it. If you make it believe you're losing your mind, it will believe you and combat that instead of the damage to your body.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but you need to calm down. You need to let the diadon heal you."

There was no response from the female. Rhys steeled himself and thrust the shining, bloody diadon into her chest.

Cassie howled in pain. The sound that came from her throat was inhuman. Rhys had never heard a person sound like that, not even on the battlefield. She ripped herself free from Quinn's grip and started clawing on her chest, trying to get the diadon out. Rhys caught her hands and forced them away from it, holding on through the female's thrashing.

To his surprise, Quinn stayed, whispering comforting words to her sister even when it was obvious she couldn't hear them. Rhys wasn't sure whether it helped or not, but they seemed to help Quinn. The horrified look in her eyes when Cassie had first cried out in pain had passed and become a firm refusal to give in to her own pain.

After half a minute of wild fighting, Cassie lost consciousness again.

Small mercies.

Rhys let go of her, instead pulling Quinn into his arms and holding her there as she finally allowed herself to cry. Her skin was cold to the touch and the tears froze solid on her face.

For the first time in his life, Rhys was afraid. The life of his fated, the female that he loved more than anything in the galaxy, depended on Jos Gharo still being a safe haven.

He was starting to think that he'd brought Quinn to Luminos to die. It was the absolute opposite of what the harbinger wanted for her, for them both.

"What –" Quinn breathed, gasping. "What is going on with her?"

She pulled back and Rhys let her sink to the floor, looking at the pale, bloody body of her sister. The harbinger cast the female a glance.

"This is the reason why females aren't fitted with the diadons the second you arrive on Luminos," Rhys said. "They are too powerful. Almost always, the female who receives a diadon can't stand the impact. It tries to boost the body to maximum efficiency, but it's too much for you. Even weaker Nayanors sometimes can't handle the implant."

"What do you think her chances are?" Quinn asked. "Honestly, Rhys. I want the truth."

The harbinger looked at the small female again. The diadon was pulsing roughly in her chest, but there was still no color on her face.

"If she survives until we get her to the fortress, she might live," he said. "We can do nothing else for her, other than get her to safety, although I have no idea how to get her through the pathway."

Quinn nodded, sniffing.

"I promised..." she said quietly. "I promised our mother that I'd keep her safe. Cassie was always such a bright child. My mother feared the world would not be kind to her."

Rhys listened, checking the dial that counted down the minutes until they reached Jos Gharo.

Quinn laughed mirthlessly.

"I don't think she foresaw Nayanors in her wildest nightmares," she admitted. "Everything bad I ever prepared for was for nothing. I looked after Cassie, thinking that the worst I had to deal with were bad boyfriends and people trying to take advantage of her.

"This... the storm... That asshole fated of hers. I let her down. I can't believe she tricked me the way she did when she pushed me into the escape pod instead of saving herself. My only thought was to get here and help her, but now it seems that my coming here is what may have gotten her killed."

Quinn quieted, looking down, shaking her head.

"You did nothing wrong," Rhys said, even surprising himself when he spoke.

He pulled his fated back into his strong embrace and made her look into his eyes. Rhys had no idea how to combat the guilt and sorrow there, but he couldn't stand seeing Quinn like that.

"None of what befell her is your fault," he stated firmly. "And she's not dead yet. I promise you that if she lives, I'll make sure no man will ever hurt her again, just like I would never let you come to harm."

Quinn stared at him, her breathing slowing down in the looming coldness.

"I know," she said at last, forcing conviction into her voice. "I believe you. I have to. If there is a happy ending for us, it's worth fighting for it."

Rhys agreed.

"I swear," he said, kissing Quinn deeply and lovingly. "I will make everyone who hurt you pay for this with their lives –"

The Gech came to a sudden halt, stopping right in its tracks. The motion rocked them apart and they both jumped to their feet, rushing to the view screen.

The sight left them speechless.

In the midst of the storm and the darkness, there was an inferno of fire. Rhys stared at what stood in the middle of the colorful flames.

The two halves of what had once been the main gate of Jos Gharo.