The young girl ran through the woods, an enraged pout on her childish face. Why did they have to travel away from their home? Why must they pack up and leave? Where was Father? Those thoughts beat through the 9 year olds skull, driving her forward through the forest and into the field of yellow and pink wild flowers. 

The girl let out a haughty stubborn huff, kicking the flowers as she came to a stop. Suddenly an odd feeling descended upon her, an incredibly potent feeling of wrongness. She had to get out of here, something bad was going to happen. The flowers would no longer be yellow and pink soon. The feeling stayed but the child only paid it half mind, instead she placed her focus in the desperate angry voice calling out to her. "Kittiana Calypso Youngblood! You will come here right now!"

"No!" The insolent child yelled back swiftly turning her back on her mother as she ran into the field, out of breath and huffing. She did not have her daughter's gifts of speed and endurance. "This is not up for debate. You will return to our house and continue packing up your things. We must go."

Kitty whipped around, glaring at the woman she looked strikingly like. If Kitty ever reached middle age she would be the spitting image of the woman before her, aside from her eyes. Kitty had the expressive blue eyes of her father, not the fiercely intelligent eyes emerald eyes of her mother. "But why? Why must we leave?" 

Vasila sighed, "I can't explain it to you now but I will if you come back darling." The woman spoke softly as she approached her daughter, but the girls red singlets bounced as she turned her head and began to run. 

The feeling of wrongness grew stronger and stronger still, something bad was going to happen. And that it did. About five seconds of running later Kitty heard her mother scream like shed never heard her scream before. Whipping around Kitty saw why her mother was screaming and began to scream too. "Mother!"

A monstrous creature had her mother in its grasp, the thing towering over her as it gripped her mothers throat in one massive hand while the other had burst through her stomach. Unlike usual the blood that sprayed the flowers red did not make the young girl hungry, it only made her feel helpless and terrified. 

The creature said nothing, not even bothering to glance at Kitty even as her mother threw up a magical shield to protect her daughter. Kitty banged against it even though it stung, screaming and wailing like the child she was as she watched the creatures maw dig into her mothers neck and the hand pulled from her stomach and started to rip her apart piece by piece. She screamed for five minutes before the shield vanished along with the light in her eyes. 

Kitty didn't care about the creature as she ran forward, clutching the largest chunk of her mothers body as she sobbed. That was then the creature looked down upon her, looking at her as if she were an insect. An insect not even worthy of a boot. Then it turned and walked away, even as Kitty glared at its back with a hatred no child should possess. 


Then her surroundings darkened a new scene began to unfold.

As far as her eyes could see there was nothing, just scorching sunlight and desert. There was a strange sense of familiarity about this lonely place. Aurora knelt down to touch the sand just to check this was reality. The grains of sand trickled through her fingers, this was real. There was an overwhelming silence and a surging, disgusting feeling of insignificance that rose through her body like a wave. In the glare of the sun's unavoidable gaze she noticed the distant hum of a vehicle approaching. 

Thank god. Aurora thought to herself as the car approached. At first she walked towards it but then she ran, as fast as she could she ran towards that car terribly afraid that it wouldn't see her. She tried to scream but not a sound escaped her lips, only the hum of the car's engine as the wheels kicked up dust. As she reached the path of the car it came to a screeching halt, desert dust encased the car in a orange glow as it settled back on the ground. 

Aurora stood motionless, still in the path of the car, as the doors swung open. She reached to rest her hands on her revolvers, but her holster was empty. She felt for Amanir on her back but there was nothing. The four figures that emerged from the car were faceless, each one identically blank in expression. The awful beings had white coats, long and clinical, with an all to familiar triangular symbol of the ONI embroidered on their sleeves. At the sight of the symbol Aurora entered a frenzied panic, she turned to start running but felt her legs beginning to sink into the sand. 

The ground beneath her suddenly lost all tangibility and within seconds she was consumed up to her waste in crushing sand. She clawed at the ground to escape from the sink hole, she tried to scream  but the four figures continued to the back of the car, still expressionless. When the reemerged, two of them carried a man with a bag covering his head, he was kicking and attempting to break free. They set him down just yards away from the sink hole that had almost reached Aurora's shoulders, the pressure of the sand beginning to crush her entire body. When the bag was lifted from his head an all too familiar face stared at Aurora, it was her father's eyes that met her desperate stare. She felt the sharp twist of grief as though a knife had struck her in the heart. One of the white coat men retrieved a pistol from the front glove compartment and took a point blank shot at her father's head. His body toppled over and blood rippled out onto the sand. 

Now, Aurora, almost unable to breathe was gasping to escape the sink hole. The men walked over to her and grabbed both her flailing arms. They dragged her with an inhuman strength as she kicked and resisted with all her might. It was pointless, they dragged her writhing body from the hole and past he corpse of her father, his blood smearing through her hair as she was lugged across the sand. They forced her head first into the car, two of them dragging her arms and the others clasping her ankles. She felt that whatever waited for her in that car was certainly the end. 

The door slammed shut. There was darkness.

War raged over the fields on Earth, Demons and Angels spilling the blood of every race as they clashed in their eternal hatred for one another. Amidst the forces of Heaven were the old heroes; Kitty, Aaron, Gavin, Cat, David, Ven, Panda. Dan's friends. Yet he was not by their side at that moment, instead waiting by the borders of his own realm; Purgatory. There he waited for only a few more moments before ripping open the veil between worlds. Suddenly countless souls shot out to join the fray of battle, eating away at both Heaven and Hell's forces from the middle. 

"What the..." Panda looked to the source of the new army, directing everyone else's attention to it.
"Dan?" Kitty spotted him stepping out from the portal, returning her gaze and walking towards the group.
His bullets came in fast, hitting shields conjured by Kitty and Panda. The others moved forward, Ven shifting into his wolf form to gain the advantage of speed. All of them were somewhat hesitant to face Dan all of a sudden, but they could see already he wasn't here to be friends again. 

Their personal battle raged on for several minutes, with Dan conjuring any weapon he needed by the combination of his blue demonic magic and the energy provided by Purgatory. So far the scene was unfolding just as it had before. It wasn't the first time he'd relived this defeat in his dreams, but he was over it by now. 
"Bastard!" Panda came from his side with her scythe, sending several swift slices in an attempt to take his attention. It worked just enough for Kitty to lunge in behind him, sending her sword straight through his back. The others quickly followed, dealing enough damage to beat Dan down to the ground.

That was how they had defeated him that day. But this time it was different.

Dan disappeared, revealing they had expended their power upon an illusion. In the blink of an eye there was now a fiery blue sword through Kitty's back, allowing only one final breathe to escape her mouth before it was clogged by blood. Her body fell to the floor before the others who turned to face Dan.

Panda reacted first, bursting forward in a surge of shadow energy. She had been one of the few people strong enough to defeat him usually, but in this version of events she was effortlessly deflected and sent off balance. Her head detached from her shoulders with a swift slice of Dan's sword, leaving it to roll before him. His eyes scanned the group, awaiting the next strike.

Ven and Cat at the same time, approaching from two angles to try and catch him off-guard. It did not work. His form split into two; one corporal and the other made entirely of blue flame. Both of them acted with tremendous skill, parrying the incoming blows and delivering one final sentence to the both of them. He was too powerful for them all now. As his body returned into one form, a large ball of energy gathered in his hand which he thrust down at the floor. An explosion hurled outwards; burning everything and everyone left in the battlefield with blue and white flames.

As the smoke and dust settled only Dan stood remaining. Each and every one of his friends and their futures laying dead around him. He looked down at his curled fists, relishing in the moment of his victory. He felt...

Empty.

He had won this time. His annoying brother, his troubling romance, his 'friends'. He'd defeated them as he'd tried so many times before. He should have been ecstatic. But he wasn't. There was something wrong. Half of his life spent in anger and rage at everyone he knew; now it was over. He could rule everything.

"Impressive," An old voice came from behind. Dan shot around to see it's equally aged face, unfamiliar yet still recognisable by presence. Nozdormu. "You did the one thing I couldn't."

"Guess that makes you worse than me." A cruel grin formed on his father's lips.

Natasha was jogging on a treadmill when Sebastian approached her. They were both out of armour. Sebastian wore a tank top, some 3-quarter length shorts and nothing else. Natasha was wearing her usual gym clothes, her slightly tanned skin was glistening with sweat and her short, almost shoulder-length blonde hair was tied back. Normally he would know not to interrupt her during exercise, except when he had something important to relay to his team.

"Nat-"
"Get on with it." She cut in sharply.
Sebastian stared at her for a moment, she hadn't even looked at him. "The Captain's given us the R&R. We've cleaned up most of the mess, anything's that's left will be dealt with tomorrow if-"
"Acknowledged." She cut in yet again. A few seconds passed as Sebastian looked at her, then around the gym, then right back at her. "Anything else?"
Sebastian took a deep breath. "Listen, uh, I don't mean to sound crazy or nothing but-"
"But?"
"Have you been... seeing things?" This time Natasha did look at him, but she wore an expression a mother wears when her child has done something extremely stupid or gotten himself into trouble.
"Get some sleep Sebastian," was her reply before she took her eyes off him. Sebastian opened his mouth to say something before deciding against it and let out a sigh. He left the gym without saying a word and walked towards his room. They had recently been stationed on Abor, operating from its primary military base in light of reports of Insurrectionist activity taking place in the planet's dense jungles. For the last few weeks, Fireteam Aqua had successfully neutralized several illegal weapons caches as well as eliminated key leaders of the organization. As such, it relieved him to be informed that their efforts were paying off. Whatever remained should be dealt with tomorrow, he thought.

Sebastian sighed as he laid down on his bed inside his 4x4 meter bedroom. In the darkness, his mind went back to the things he saw... or thought he did. Things moving out of the corner of his eye, strange figures in the bathroom reflection that disappeared as soon as he blinked.
Perhaps it was just the... fact that he was so...tired. Yeah... that made sense... maybe all he needed was.... some...... sleep..

Sebastian awoke with a start. Something was wrong. Something didn't feel right. He looked around. He was still in his room but it was much... darker. No, it wasn't just that. It took him a moment to realise it but there was a low droning coming from outside his room. From outside the door. The door. Sebastian got up and walked over to it. It was slightly dented inwards and there were small spaces between its sides and the door frame, as if something had slammed against it from the inside. Sebastian quickly scanned around for his pistol; nowhere to be found. With little choice, he slipped his fingers between the small spaces behind the door and with a grunt, ripped the rest of the large metallic door off its hinges and tossed it aside. He quickly stepped out into the hallway, lights flickering on and off. And that's when the smell of rotten flesh hit him.

"Mierda..." He cursed as he screwed up his face. However his eyes widened when he saw that the walls were covered in blood and.. bits of flesh and bone. "What the fuck.." He walked down the hallway, on high alert to see if whatever caused this was still around. He needed to find Natasha and Valeryie. Regroup and ascertain the situation. Wait, what was that?

Sebastian stopped and listened. Whispering. Long, drawn out whispering echoing throughout the hallways, silent but just loud enough to be heard over the drumming. It stopped. He began to walk. And then it started again. They almost sounded... agonized. Where were they coming from, he wondered as he looked around. He continued to walk as he tried to pinpoint the source. A minute or two passed when it hit him. He had been so concentrated on finding out what happened that he failed to realise the obvious..

He wasn't in the military base. He was in a military base, but he did not recognise these hallways at all. They were of similar design and his room was the only familiar thing about it strangely enough. But it was as if someone took the base on Arbor and rearranged its corridors. Something happened, but what? Where was everyone? Where was he?

Aurora felt a sharp prick in her neck as a syringe penetrated her skin. She had no idea what kind of poison the faceless figures had injected into her, what kind of toxin was now swirling around in her blood, she grew weaker. Then she lost consciousness. 

When she awoke she was in a white room, a harsh white light shone in her face. She tried to sit up and look at where she was but found that her hands and feet were bound to the table on which she lay like a dead woman on the slab at a mortuary. She relinquished her right to shout for help, she knew it was futile. She still had a sharp throbbing in her neck where the injection had gone in. She could see no one else in the room and yet felt strangely like she was not alone. She was being observed like a criminal in interrogation, they were watching her she knew it. 

She wrestled with the clasps that bound her wrists and ankles, managing to writhe free. That was strangely easy, she thought to herself, too easy. She stood shakily to her feet, her legs were feeble and her head was heavy with the after-effects of whatever chemical was in her body. She made for the bolted door, pulling it and finding it unlocked. Too easy, came a voice at the back of her mind. Her hair was matted with her father's blood still clinging and congealed in her golden locks. Her wrists were a raw red where the figures had grabbed and pulled at her skin. 

She entered a clinical looking corridor, there was no one around. It looked like some sort of abandoned medical lab or experiment facility, there was an old ONI logo faded on the wall. She fumbled down the corridor, her legs kept faltering and she had to grab the walls for support. At the end of the corridor a set of stern double doors looked as though they led to the outside. 

As she limped towards the doors the sound of footsteps came from behind her. At first they moved slowly with a prowling, predatory beat, and then they grew in tempo and pace. She was being pursued but she daren't look behind her, she couldn't as her gaze was fixed on the doors that now seemed to grow further and further away. She felt her legs growing heavy, her whole body floating upwards and suspended in the air, she couldn't run. They were coming closer, gaining on her, the sound of multiple footsteps like the beating of a drum in some kind of satanic ritual. She tried to conjure any sort of magic but nothing happened, the light inside her had been extinguished. 

Then she hit the floor. The drumming stopped. She fell with an almighty and silencing thud. She crawled to her feet, this time she could run. As she neared the doors she released she could not push it open. In desperation she turned to find an alternate exit. There was only a single figure approaching her down the corridor, silent and lumbering. He held his head in pain as blood trickled from the bullet hole between his eyes. His reanimated corpse moved like a marionette mockingly using her father's likeness. Her father's dead eyes were fixed on her as chunks of brain dribbled to the floor like butchers meat. 

With every inch of strength she could find Aurora fell back against the doors, this time they opened and she fell backwards.

"The fuck are you doing here?" Dan shot a confused and angry glare at his father, quickly following with another question. "Where am I?" 
"The Hallowed Realm." Nozdormu answered bluntly. "You're living your worst fears so that the spirits here can claim your soul. Quite frankly I'm flattered to be a part of it." He half sighed, looking around at the bodies of all Dan's friends. "Did you really fear becoming worse than me? Or do you just fear being weak?"
"Weak? I killed them all. I could kill you." Dan raised his sword hand, only to realise there was no longer any weapons on him. Despite this he lunged forward with a punch, but Nozdormu only had to step back, allowing Dan to fall down to the floor. He suddenly felt frail and without energy, not even enough to stand again.

"We haven't got time for this, it won't be long before they'll conjure some other nightmare for you." His father gestured into the distant darkness. "There's a door that'll take you to some other poor souls trapped here. It'll be quite the reunion I believe." He turned his head back. "But the nightmare wont be over. Even together this realm will just merge all of your fears and darkness together. It won't be easy, but you can't let these things take your soul."
"And who are you to lecture me on not letting people capture my soul?" Dan retorted, feeling his father was being quite hypocritical in fact.
"Well," Nozdormu tilt his head with a smile as he turned to leave into the shadows. "We all escape some day, don't we?"

Before Dan could question it his father was gone. Now all that remained was the bodies and the door. Wanting to spend no more time than needed here he forced himself up and to the exit, pushing heavily against it so that he stumbled through the other side.

Sebastian had managed to roughly pinpoint the direction from which the whispering was emanating. The floor was cold, but also wet and slippery from all the blood covering it in large and small pools. Sebastian even had to shake off a few bits of flesh sticking to his feet, trying not to let his personal disgust get the better of him in this situation. 'Need to find a pair of fucking boots..' He thought to himself as he turned left and found himself in a small lobby.

The room was rectangular in shape and featured a desk on the far end. The tube lights on the ceiling were dimmed, some even hanging from it. The wall behind the desk was cracked and the computer screen on the desk was toppled over with papers scattering the area on top of and around it, all of it was stained in red. To the right of the desk was the beginning of another corridor leading somewhere else. On the right side of the lobby were a bunch of sofas and seats for visitors to sit down. Many of them were flipped over with chunks of the furniture having been ripped out and caked in blood. Towards the left of the lobby were two entrances to two separate restrooms: male and female. Sebastian stepped into the lobby and looked around. He listened closely for a few seconds and again pinpointed the whispering. It was coming from one of the restrooms. He grabbed a fire extinguisher off the floor and walked into the men's restroom.

The whispering had stopped as soon as he entered. A few doors to some of the cubicles were left open and toilet paper was scattered around the tiling in a mess. Sebastian cautiously stepped around any puddles of liquid he could see on the floor, blood or not. He took a few moments to look around, seeing nothing. This didn't seem right. The dim light flickered and suddenly a feeling of uneasiness rose in his chest. He missed something. What did he missed?

"Where were you?" A female's voice called.

He quickly turned towards the sinks. All the mirrors were covered in blood except one - which featured a large circular crack. Sebastian looked at his distorted reflection in it for a moment, and was almost taken aback by what looked back at him. He looked normal. But there was something standing behind him. He turned around twice as fast and found... nothing. He looked back at the mirror again just in time for the it  to shatter outwards as something from behind the wall breached it with immense force, sending shards of glass towards his face. Sebastian stepped back and instinctively moved an arm up to protect himself before feeling something grip his throat. He quickly lowered his defense a little and found an arm protruding from the gap in the wall towards him, the fingers on its hand wrapped around his neck. The arm was covered in blood and its flesh was rotting to the point where Sebastian could see the bone underneath.

He gripped the wrist of the arm with his free hand and tried to wrestle free of its grip. But it was strong, impossibly strong. He started to choke as the grip tightened. Whatever this was, it was going to crush his windpipe. But he wouldn't let that happen so easily. Tightening his grip on the wrist, he raised his other hand that still held the fire extinguisher and brought it down on the arm. A sick and loud slapping sound emitted from the point of contact as the impact caused blood to fly off the arm and paint the tiling around him. He brought the fire extinguisher up again and repeatedly brought it back down on the arm until the limb snapped. Whatever was on the other side let out an inhuman shriek and the hand around his throat went limp. He ripped it off and threw it away with a gasp, before making for the exit.

Whatever it was, it was in the ladies' restroom. As he came out into the lobby, he saw a fresh trail of blood leading from the ladies' restroom towards the other corridor near the desk. Wasting no time, he bolted towards the corridor, eager to hunt down this thing and find out whatever it was.

Kitty stumbled and panted as she ran through the maze, what should have been emerald hedges were tall dark violet vegetation dripping with various poisonous berries that should not have been there. Mistletoe, Holly Berries, Jerusalem Cherry, Ivy Berries, and various others. As Kitty ventured further into the maze, moving blindly with survival being her only thought, she could feel that whatever this place was it was draining her magic. It had taken almost every drop of her magic just to push out an illusion spell, sending several different mirror version of herself throughout the maze to make her attackers split up. 

But there was still one chasing her, although she didn’t quite know who it was. Just then Kitty tripped over a root and fell, arms going up to try and catch something or break her fall. Another mistake. Just then, fire the color of sapphires shot where her head had been, and brushed against her arms. Kitty let out a pained scream as the fire burned her skin. A laugh she knew well seemed to echo in the current path she was on. Now she knew who was chasing her. 

Kitty scrambled to her feet and started running again, but the paths just seemed to get longer and more convoluted, pain making her dizzy as she clutched her burned arms. Little did she know she was actually drawing closer to the door in the center, the maze trying to stop her by messing with her mind and making her perceive the maze differently. But the demon chasing her seemed to grow tired of that. 


Blue fire blasted into her back, eliciting a high pitched pained scream as Kitty was pushed through a hedge as her back burned and blistered. Kitty was in the center of her maze, and briefly she was glad for the fact that none of the others had found her yet. But instinctively she knew they would find her eventually, even if it wasn’t in the maze. 

Looking up Kitty saw the door, its handle actually turning and a creak sounding that was like music to Kitty’s ears. Kitty began to crawl over to it, but was stop when a boot planted itself in the middle of her burned back with force. “Argh!” Kitty let out pained wails as the foot dug around on her back, disturbing the charred flesh and allowing blood to stain his shoes. “Pathetic. Honestly. Why I even bothered to give you a second glance is beyond me. Why would I look at a creature so weak and delusioned with anything other than contempt and disgust?” Kitty was flipped over onto her back, staring up at a person she would have hugged or kissed happily or would have affectionately called a dumb ass.

Daniel Almis looked down at Kitty with a crooked smile, malicious glee and hatred gleaming in his eyes as he seemed to relish in the kill he was about to make. Sapphire fire curled along his skin, and even though that fire hadn’t met her skin for a third time yet, she could still feel its burn. Reaching down, he picked Kitty up by the throat, squeezing until she choked and gasped and clawed at his hand even though the fire dancing there burned her fingertips. 

Reaching out as he held Kitty about a foot above the ground, her legs kicking uselessly, he placed a burning hand on the side of her face. The scream Kitty let out was choked, the acrid smell of burning flesh filling the air as Dan retracted his hand and grinned at the palm-shaped burn mark on Kitty’s face. “You always acted so high and mighty towards me. Like you deserved a prize for being my ‘last believer’.” Dan let out a laugh, only releasing his grip just slightly so Kitty could get in some air so he could continue. The wrongness was even stronger now as Kitty choked and gasped, a small voice in her head screaming that wasn’t Dan. He wouldn’t do this to her. Would he? 

“But you’re pathetic. You think you can save me from my darkness? You can’t even save yourself!” Dan tightened his grip again, slapping Kitty across the face as she uselessly continued to struggle as black spots yet again formed in the corners of her vision. “But then again, you never had a chance to save yourself did you? A witch in the Daegmar line with the blood of the most powerful family of vampires to live running through your veins.  All that darkness...No matter what you do you’ll always be dark. You’ll always be a monster.” Dan snarled in her face and Kitty could only gape like a fish in reply, trying desperately to get air. Reaching out she tried to claw out his eyes, his arms, but it was like she couldn’t reach far enough. “I’m growing tired of this, damn the others. I will be the one to take your life.”

For an eternity it felt like Aurora was suspended in a temporal space of nothingness. Perhaps she was hanging there for a kind of hellish eternity. Her eyes opened slowly and she strained as they adjusted to make out any objects in the dim light of her new surroundings. There was no sound but the occasional drip of water, the place was a damp, long corridor. 
"Hello?" She shouted, for the first time a crackled version of her voice actually emerged from her lips, she was glad to have her voice back. Looking down she realised she was still in a white gown down to her ankles, a drab straight jacket looking thing. She stood up and looked around, there was no door behind her where she had entered, only more sprawling corridor. 

Barefoot she moved slowly down the narrow passage, she tried her hardest to make no sound, she did not know what faceless ghouls waited to apprehend her this time. "Hello?!" She shouted again, this time her voice coming back to its full strength. "Wonder if they having fucking showers in this place." She said outloud as she ran her fingers through her dry and bloodied hair. She tried once again to summon magic to her hands and light her path but there was nothing, she felt empty. 


One last time she screamed, "Is anybody here?". Then she saw the silhouette of a man at the end of the corridor. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Fucking hell that's creepy." Dan backed away at the sight of a half-dead looking hospital patient. The girl stopped some distance away after asking if anyone was there. "Yeah, me." He replied, looking around to make sure there was no one else. "And you are?" If he was going to be tortured by visions trying to scare him he might aswell play along to see if there was any clues to escape. "Happen to know the way out?"

He refused to turn his back to the girl, instead glancing around for any signs of exit. There were four doors in immediate sight before the corridor stretched into the darkness. Two of those doors were already open and the other two sealed shut. "Maybe one of these?" Dan approach the right-hand one, placing his hand on the handle before twisting it open to peer inside. 

"Hello?" He called out to the maze on the other side.

Sebastian turned the corner and peered down the corridor. The blood trail seemed to run the length of it but then continued onto one of the walls as if the creature had decided to climb along it. Either way, the trail disappeared around the left, presumably leading into another corridor.

'This place is all corridors.. fucks sake..' Sebastian thought to himself as he followed the trail. He turned the corner and looked down the corridor to the left. The blood trail seemed to track back onto the floor and then stretch all the way to the far end, before trailing up a set of elevator doors and into an open vent in the ceiling.

"You gotta be kidding me.." He said as he ran up to the doors and looked up into the vent. A few drops of blood fell down from the vent onto his face and he quickly backed away, wiping his face off with his bare arm. "Man I fucking hate this.."

He looked back down the corridor from where he just came. Nothing but the blood trail, a few scratches on the walls and his own red footprints from walking around in pools of blood. He sighed and turned back to the doors, walked up to them and dropped the fire extinguisher before pressing the fingers on both of hits hands into the point where the two doors met. He pressed harder until his fingers squeezed into the meeting point, pushing the doors back a bit until he slipped his fingers deeper into the newly made gap. Sticking his elbows out, he gritted his teeth and wrenched the doors open, forcing them outwards.

The elevator shaft was dark and empty, with only some of the cables, those that hadn't been snapped and plunged into the darkness below, lining the shaft along the sides. Sebastian looked back at the fire extinguisher behind him, shook his head and then turned and jumped out into the shaft. He flew across the open space and shot his hand out, grabbing onto one of the cables. He looked around and noticed that the shaft was wider than he expected. A second set of closed elevator doors were located right next to the first, with another set of cables right opposite them.

Using his strength, he threw himself off the cable he was grabbing onto and quickly latched onto one of the second bundle of cables holding on with both hands. He twisted and faced the second set of doors, took a few quick breaths, placed his foot against the wall behind him and vaulted off it with as much strength as possible. His sudden burst in velocity, added onto his weight allowed him to slam right through the two doors, allowing him to barely land on his feet and steady himself. He looked around, and that's when he saw the vent cover there on the floor in front of him but... no blood trail.

And that's when he came to a realisation, but it was too late. He felt a pair of hands grab his head and just as he was about to react, he was lifted into the air really fast and swung into the ceiling. His nose cracked before he dropped back down and hit the floor hard. He groaned as he shook the dizziness off and then it came into focus. The thing, only it looked so familiar.

"Nat...?" There was no mistake. It was her face but, it couldn't be her. There was another face, Valeryie's right next to hers. They were both joined to a body - a twisted amalgamation of his two squad-mates. One body barely covered in any cloth, with eight limbs sticking out of it from different angles like some sort of deformed spider. Both of their faces were in pained and furious expressions, their mouths twisted open and their eyes completely white. One of the arms sticking out of their body was missing its hand, but it still managed to remain stuck to the ceiling using its four feet and three hands.

The appearance of this creature put Sebastian into shock so much so that he even forgot to get up, and left himself vulnerable. The creature jumped down onto him, pinning him down with its weight and some of its limbs. Sebastian wished he still had the fire extinguisher on him as the creature used its spare limbs to tear at his chest and throat. Sebastian threw his arms up in defense as the creature shrieked, with both of its mouths into his face as it viciously tried to rip him apart.

Kitty’s lungs screamed for air and in that moment she knew she was going to die, this demon was going to choke the life out of her. But then she heard a voice, a voice she recognized because she had heard it no more than a second ago. “Hello?” The voice seemed to draw the demon’s attention, causing it to look towards the door instead of at Kitty and it loosened its grip slightly. Kitty took that chance as she sucked in a gulp of air, then brought her foot back and aimed for the jewels.

Daniel dropped her with a howl, and she hit the floor with a jarring thud that had her yelping in pain again as her back stung and smarted. For some reason she wasn’t healing as she should be. Her vision was doubling, so she couldn’t quite make out who or what she was looking at as she looked at the door and what was peeking out of it. But her sense of smell had not failed her. She knew that scent. Dan. Not the demon behind her.

For a brief moment Kitty had clarity, and she dug through her near empty reserves to that little puddle of power she had left. Kitty looked back at the absolutely furious looking demon that was stalking towards her again, blue fire coming off him in waves as the scent of hell fire and dog started to draw closer. Avalon was nearing. She would never be able to face them both.

Aiming a palm at the oncoming demon instead of fire shooting from her palms she shot a bolt of heavily condensed arcane energy at the demon, drawing a sound of pain from it. Only briefly did Kitty stop to survey the damage she had caused the creature. The bolt had shredded half its face off, ivory bone and sinewy muscle was exposed with bits of skin hanging off the sides. That was even more terrifying. “You bitch! I’ll kill you!” He snarled and Kitty balked, just barely able to get to her feet and make a dash towards the door.

Kitty had just managed to shove whoever was in the doorway back into a hallway when a shot rang out, and Kitty let out a yelp as she felt it shred through her leg, causing her to fall forward onto the hallway floor as blood began to pool. The bullet had missed femoral artery by a hair. Kitty glanced back towards the door, seeing the half faced demon with a glowing pistol in each hand and a canine sounding growl beginning to echo behind him. “Shut the door! Shut the fucking door!” Kitty rasped, her voice barely audible as her throat screamed. Kitty’s power was completely drained now, if the people on the other side of the door broke through they’d be screwed.

Aurora was relieved to hear the figure talk back, this meant he wasn't one of the faceless villains from her previous nightmare. "Aurora, and no I'm not entirely sure where or when we are." She said as he asked her name, she wasn't about to go overshadkng but she thought he should at least know her first name. "And your name is?" She asked. 

As the man reached to open a door Aurora stood back, the last thing she wanted was to be thrown back into a nightmarish reality. She wished that Aaron would find her back at Santori and try and wake her from all this, that is if her body was even still there. As soon as the door swung open she heard a familiar fiery voice, this could only be one person. Kitty. As the flame haired woman fell through the door with a deafening scream of pain, Aurora ran to answer her pleas and shut the door. It slammed shut in the face of the adversary on the other side, angered scratches came from the other side before settling into quiet. 

Kitty had taken a shot to the leg, blood oozing from the wound. Aurora tore a shred of material from the bottom of her white patients gown, using it to tie up Kitty's leg wound. 

"I'm afraid that's the extent of my medical knowledge." She said before her attention was drawn to a forth door that seemed to have manifested on the opposite wall.

"Dan," He replied bluntly, just before he spotted Kitty and... himself... through the door. Before he knew it they were piled up messily in the corridor, with Aurora slamming the door shut again. "Kitty?" His voice obviously held confusion, but he soon understood and echoed his father's words before. "Quite the reunion..." Dan stood and brushed himself off, before turning promptly to the fourth and final door. "If Ven's behind this door then this truly is a nightmare."

He reached for the handle and turned it, this time peering in more carefully as to not to draw the attention of any more mirror-Dans. Instead of seeing himself or a maze, there was endless corridors that seemed to belong in a military base of sorts.
"Fuck it," Dan sighed, before shouting out again. "Hello?"

Sebastian ran as fast as he could. His blood was full of adrenaline and he was already panting despite his superhuman conditioning, something that he would have considered very out of the ordinary if he wasn't being chased by...

Natasha and Valeryie.. that couldn't be them could it? It had their faces. Is that what happened here... what happened to everyone in the base. Did he get lucky? More and more thoughts raced through Sebastian's mind as he ran left and right and down bloody hallways that all looked the same. He wasn't brave anymore. That thing, it took all of his training, all of his integrity away from him. It almost reminded him of...

A high pitched screech rang out from somewhere far behind him, vibrating through the corridors and his body. It sounded like two women combined with some sort of dying animal produced such a screech, but the very sound of it shook Sebastian to his core. Not only because it reminded him of whose' faces that creature wore, but also because it tugged at one of his old, irrational childhood fears.

His mind went back to his friends. Natasha and Valeryie, that really was them. Their faces, their bodies mixed together in a sick amalgamation. They were gone. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't them. Did the Insurrectionists attack the base? Was it some sort of bio weapon? They couldn't have could they.. or perhaps they were working on something in secret, something he had never seen before... but why did he feel a sense of familiarity with the creature?

"Hello?" Came a voice somewhere near. Sebastian stopped in his tracks and looked back. The creature was still after him, he could hear the scraping and stabbing of its hands and feet against the walls and floor as it relentlessly pursued him. He had barely managed to get it off him, especially after it appeared to grow massive claws out of the end of its limbs in an attempt to cut him to pieces. Luckily all it got was his shirt.

The voice definitely didn't come from back there, so there was no point stopping here. Sebastian turned and started to run again just as the creature appeared at the far end of the hallway. He turned right and that's when he saw it. An open door at the end with a man standing on the other side - a way out. Sebastian didn't give it a second thought, there wasn't time to. He quickly increased his pace and full-on sprinted down the hallway and only just registered the puddle of blood right at his feet before he slipped on it and fell on his stomach, sliding across the floor, through the door and right into the man standing on the other side of the door.

The creature pursuing him only just appeared at the end of the corridor, spotted the door and with a rage-filled scream, charged towards them. Sebastian quickly flipped over and launched himself up, slamming the door shut with a swing from his arm. He then stood up properly and took a step back. A second or two passed before a barrage of claws sliced through the door, and the slightly muffled, furious screeching could still be heard as the door violently.

"Shit..." Sebastian panted as he took a few more steps back and looked around. And that's when he got a proper look at them. There was no mistake, he recognised the man he collided with as Dan... the fugitive. He frowned as he recognised him, clenching his fist.
"You..." He stopped when he realised there were others with them. This face he definitely recognised.
"Kitty... what are you-" It was then he got a good look at the third person. A zombie in a hospital gown. "Kitty look out! Behind you!"

Kitty did not speak for several moments, instead she scooted her body back in the direction of the wall until her back met it and from there she was able to pull her injured leg towards her. “I thank you Aurora but...you are correct that your medical knowledge is...deplorable.” Kitty undid the hasty tie the fae had made, grimacing as she looked at the wound. There were burns surrounding the hole in her leg, and she knew it had not been a clean shot. She would have to dig the bullet out. 

Kitty clenched her jaw as she steeled herself, then shoved her fingers into the wound to dig out the bullet. It only made her bleed faster as a little puddle formed beneath her leg, but the damage the bullet could cause if left was greater. Eventually Kitty got it out, looking at it as if offended. It was stained a dark crimson and mangled but faint blue symbols etched into the bullet, that was currently smoking, seemed to draw disgust from Kitty. “I forgot how much I hated your pistols.” The raspy bit words were intended for Dan, but she still hadn’t turned to look at him as she threw the bullet away. 

“I don’t know what this place is but it’s cutting off my connection to fire, my magic, my healing abilities...I don’t know how long I’ve been here but I reckon as I continue to stay here my other ‘gifts’ will fail as well.” Kitty drawled before she did a proper tourniquet with the cloth from Aurora, pushing herself to stand by leaning heavily on the wall. “I reckon its also the same for you two, or you would have lit up this hall like you were the sun,” She said this as she looked to Aurora, “and you would be using magic to leave this place.” This she directed to Dan, finally looking at him.

Kitty didn’t quite know it but she was still shaking slightly, the fear that had assaulted her beyond that door was still gripping her tight. The anger in her eyes was thin and false, an expression Kitty so rarely wore lurking beneath. Fear. The wound vampire still had yet to make a rude sarcastic quip, the one about Aurora’s medical skills didn’t count. “Yes Daniel, because poking your head through another random door is quite intelligent. Bravo. Definitely proved that you are in fact a gargantuan idiot.” There it was. 

After that though Kitty offered no other barbs, instead looking around the corridor with a slightly jumpy expression as she regarded everything with paranoid carefulness. Her fears were still fresh on her skin, watching her mother die and the helplessness, the helplessness that was further embellished upon in that coffin, then having all that power at her fingertips and still failing in her revenge. But after that her truer darker fears had come out to play. Fear of losing to the darkness and slaughtering her friends and family, or the distinct fear of having them realize the monster in their midst and come to finally destroy her. 

Kitty was staring into nothing with an uncharacteristically uneasy expression, when a figure suddenly burst from the door and bashed into Dan. She snapped back into focus and her eyes narrowed with a predatory precision as she looked down at whoever had bashed into Dan, not caring about the creature she could hear and smell clawing its way towards the door. However she relaxed when she realized it was just Sebastian. Kitty stayed silent and just watched as Sebastian sprung up and slammed the door shut, then took notice of all of them.

Kitty rolled her eyes when he looked at Dan first, frowning and clenching his fist, the action forcing an exasperated sigh from Kitty as Sebastian turned to her. “Lovely to grace us with your presence Seb. And please, do forgo trying to quarrel with Dan. We get it, what he did pissed you off but we are currently in a place thriving on our fears so our best course of action is to stick together.” Kitty’s voice had a slightly icy edge to it, and her forehead throbbed as a laugh echoed. But it hadn’t been in her mind as usual, it was distant but definitely in the area. Corsetta. 

“She doesn’t look her best but she's completely harmless Sebastian, her name is Aurora. She’s an academy student.” Now there was a slightly fearful edge to her voice, as she looked around and teetered between her toes and heel in a skittish motion. “We need to go. I can hear her.” Kitty hissed, directing her statement at Dan whom she figured would know what she meant and swiftly turned but only came face to face with a nightmare at the end of the hall.

It was Corsetta, but she wasn’t in her typical visage. The typical visage being a mirror of Kitty with snow white skin, black hair, and red eyes with madness reflected in them. No, this was a visage only Kitty and perhaps Dan when he was in his Celestial form had seen. Black liquid dripped down from where her eyes should have been but were now empty sockets. Some more liquid oozed from between her teeth and dripped out of her mouth, which was stretched open and her teeth clenched together in a cheshire grin. On her chest, she wore with pride a trophy - Aaron's face. His eyes were missing and the entire face was littered with scars and covered in blood and more of the black liquid. “Aww what’s a matter Kitty? Don’t wanna play? Or is the fact that I’m not a mouse too daunting for you?” Her voice was the exact same as Kitty’s but held an eerie edge to it that was steeped in ice and madness. “Get out of here.”  She hissed to her friends, shoving them behind her as she limped forward.

She could stall Corsetta long enough for them to get away, looking back at them with a look of desperate fury as she jerked her head in the direction of the other end of the hall where it cornered into another hall. Another hall that was starting to disappear, most likely with the intent to trap them there. “Go! I’ll find another door.” She hissed, she could feel it welling in her veins. The wrongness, it was trying to put the dark fury and power back in her veins, trying to incite the monster so it could be seen by her friend’s eyes. Then it would most likely yank the power back and leave her vulnerable once more.

Clearly the Valor Santori needed a better advertising campaign as no one seemed to have heard of Aurora's new promotion to galactic protector. Now the four of them stood, bewildered in the corridor as Kitty began to experience some kind of episode. As she yelled at the others to run Aurora didn't hesitate, she could tell by the fury and desperation in her voice that she needed them to leave for their own safety. 

She ran down the corridor, an overwhelming sense of guilt for leaving Kitty, but she knew that the woman had meant what she said. Heading in what she thought was a forward direction Aurora battled through the increasing darkness of the corridor. The passageway seemed to narrow and the ceiling became lower until she was all but crawling through a claustrophobic space. It felt like she was crawling for an eternity and when she finally emerged from the other side she was disoriented to say the least. 

The forest she found herself in was the most disturbing place she had ever witnessed. Just the aura of the air was deeply unsettling, the sky above was a dull mixture of brown, black and grey. The ground was decaying and the trees were gnarled and resembled the bones of long decomposed corpses. 

This must be the true hallowed realm.

Whilst Kitty made her quips and explained the situation to Sebastian, Dan eagerly eyed the corridor up and down. His usual magical senses were being hindered by something, yet he still tried to see if there was any dark magic he could work his way around. This place, however, held a magic even he had not seen before. He began pacing, running through all of the knowledge he had obtained in the celestial realm to try and see if he could remember any parts detailing an escape from this nightmarish curse. There was nothing coming to mind.

"Corsetta?" Dan replied to Kitty's sudden outburst of fear, but his question was answered as the figure came down the hall. "You can't-" He was about to reach out and stop Kitty from facing the vision, but his hand stopped upon a finely pressed suit. Nozdormu stood in his way, shaking his head. With a gulp Dan retracted his hand, going silent for a moment without moving. To the others it would just appear he had second thoughts, but Dan knew what he was being told.

After snapping out of his motionlessness he turned to run, following Aurora through the corridors until they both squeezed their way out into the forest. There he stumbled out, resting himself on a nearby tree.
"Usually running doesn't make me that tired," He tried to regain his breath, looking around the twisted treelines. "This place is draining us. The faster we get out the less we lose. This way." His head gestured forward, suggesting they persevere through the forest.

"We need to find our fears and face them. Defeating them must be the way out."
"Learning quickly." Nozdormu quipped from beside a tree, startling Dan for a moment, yet not causing him to stop. The vision of his father merely disappear in the distance as they continued into the rolling fog...

"Thriving on our fears? The hell are you talking about? Where the hell are we?!" Sebastian replied hysterically. He was still recovering from the sight of his friends being twisted and mangled and mutated into that... whatever the hell that thing was. But as he looked around and examined his new surroundings, he realised that he was no longer in the base. It didn't make any sense either, it was as if he had just stepped through a portal.

'Thrives on fears...' he thought. His mind instantly flashed back to the vivid memory of the fight against Sam'anar. During the battle, the Celestial had attempted to kill them by setting them up in simulation worlds based on their previous experiences or fears. Perhaps this was something similar... or perhaps it was the same thing? Could other Celestials do this.

It made sense to him now, above all else he really did care for Natasha and Valeryie. They were his closest friends despite what they may think... and he didn't want them to die. Not after losing half the team ten years ago, not after feeling what he felt then. The overwhelming sense of helplessness and failure wasn't something he wanted to have to fight against ever again. A relaxing sensation washed over him, knowing now that his friends were still alive somewhere. That what he had faced was nothing more than a product of his own mind.

Before Kitty could answer any of his questions, Kitty cut in, claiming to hear someone.
"What, who?" Sebastian asked but his question was soon answered by the appearance of what looked like a heavily mutated Corsetta, and tied to her chest was the face of Aaron-157.

Instantly, a flood of emotion hit his chest. He couldn't control it, it just came to him and he was helpless to fight against it despite his disciplinary training. Scenes of Aaron's death flashed in front of him as his mind forcefully replayed what he saw ten years ago. Aaron on his knees, smoke coming off his heavily damaged armour that was also leaking blood, his visor cracked. A final shot to his throat dropping him dead. Sebastian shook his head hard, attempting to free himself of these hallucinations.

Kitty ordered them to run, but Sebastian knew he couldn't leave his friend behind.
"To hell with that," Sebastian replied through gritted teeth, he shook his head a few more times and rubbed his eyes, preparing himself for battle. "I'm staying." Images of the flashback were still flashing through his mind, but he did his best to dismiss them as he concentrated on Corsetta. It was then he heard something from behind him, heavy footsteps dragging themselves across the ground towards him.

Sebastian spun around and his heart dropped when he came face-to-face with Aaron. But he appeared as he was seconds before his death. His armour smoldering from plasma hits, smoke rising off the plates and breaches and cuts in the suit leaked blood profusely. His visor was cracked, partially revealing a slightly blackened skull underneath. Aaron's bionic arm on the right was mangled and shaped into a scythe. He slowly limped towards Sebastian, who was frozen in shock.

As the apparition closed distance a few more paces, Sebastian snapped out of it and began to mentally remind himself that this was just another product of his fears. 'This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real' he mentally repeated to himself again and again. But this only caused the apparition to suddenly increase its speed, practically sprinting towards him and raising it's scythe arm, ready to strike.

Kitty didn't bother to glance back when Dan and Aurora fled, part of her knew Dan had considered staying for a moment but something had changed his mind but she couldn't dwell on what. What she did dwell on was the fact that Sebastian had stayed and was currently about to get sliced and diced by a shade of Aaron that froze her blood in her veins. Then she looked back at Corsetta who was also lunging towards her. In a quick movement she grabbed Sebastian's arm, pulling him back with her against the wall so Corsetta instead slammed into Aaron. "Come on!" She hissed at Sebastian, starting to pull him down the opposite end of the hall.

Kitty turned a sharp corner, still pulling Sebastian along with her until he was moving on his own and at that point she would let go. She hadn't even noticed that her leg had healed, as had the burns on her face and back. She could still feel that dark wrong power pushing at her, that familiar but also slightly alien feeling of rage also beginning to buzz through her veins again. Little tidbits of the power were seeping in, giving her tiny boosts of her abilities back. 

"There! A door!" Kitty shouted, looking at the door that was so achingly close by. She didn't think it strange that Aaron and Corsetta hadn't caught up by now. In truth her mind was scrambled, thought processes turning foggy, her emotions eroding at her intelligence a bit. Kitty threw open the door, throwing herself through it and not stopping to look if Sebastian had followed behind. Her skin itched, felt too tight, wrong. 

Kitty rolled as she hit the ground, ending in a crouch as she took in her surroundings with vaguely wild eyes. The sky was a muted version of brown, black, and gray, giving it an apocalyptic vibe and heightened the unsettling aura of the place. The ground was slightly squishy and there wasn't any grass, the ground looked as if it were in a permanent state of decay. Quickly glancing around, she was unsettled by the gnarled trees that were comparative to long decomposed corpses. The place even smelled like death. Glancing back behind her Kitty checked for Sebastian, then took off in a run again. Unbeknownst to her, she had landed on the opposite side of the forest from Aurora and Dan. 

She got decently far before she felt the heat of fire dance along her back, a sapphire fireball missing her by a hair. The fireball slammed into a tree and a bone-chilling wail echoed through the forest as the tree was consumed by flames, the bright color shining like a beacon almost in the forest. Overhead Dan and Aurora a figure in white with blindingly blonde hair flew with incredible speed above their heads, leaving them be for the time being simply because it had its sights already set on a prey. 

"Kitty~" A creepy raspy voice attempted a sing song tone, Corsetta traipsing in beside the Demon Dan that still only had half it's face intact. Kitty didn't stop to make a quip or make a stand, she turned and tried to run in the opposite direction only to have a white blur smack into her with enough force to send her into a tree, break it in half, then slam into another tree and slide down as her vision doubled and tripled. Pushing herself to her feet she swayed, only to be knocked back as a fist slammed into her nose and broke it. 

Kitty shook her head, focusing on the pain so it would bring her out of the fog as another fist descended upon her. This time she dodged the fist, ducking down which also had her narrowly avoiding being pistol whipped by one of Dan's pistols. Kitty stumbled back as she took in the sight of a furious Jaya in front of her with Blightslayer in hand. "Filthy murderer." She spat, then lunged forward at Kitty who very narrowly dodged and Jaya's blade slammed into the tree instead. Again the tree wailed but this time it was so loud that Kitty wailed with it, clasping her hands over her ears as she felt blood run down the sides of her neck. 

Kitty was so disoriented she didn't see the leg swing out, knocking her on her ass and jarring her head again. Kitty's control on forcing the dark wrong power out was fraying, her mind was so jumbled and her senses so disoriented by the onslaught. Flipping over onto her stomach, narrowly avoiding a boot that would have crushed her throat in a second, she began trying to crawl away only to scream as two shots rang out and buried themselves in the back of her knees which halted her movement. 

A hand grasped the back of her neck, harshly yanking her up as she let out a scream of pain as she felt blood drip down her legs. "You thought you could beat your demons love?" A guttural voice reminiscent of Dan's hissed in her ear, just as she felt another bullet rip through her right shoulder. "You'll lose. You'll give in to that darkness, you know you will. Then you'll kill us all and you'll be happy to do it, you'll choke on our blood only because you're laughing with glee. You're a monster wearing sheepskin." A shot shredded through her left shoulder. "You've played with fire for so long, the only reason you don't burn is because you burn everything you touch instead. Do you remember what it felt like to slide that blade into my back? I do." Dan threw her at a tree, her head knocking against it and rattling her brain as she looked up at him utterly helpless. 

His foot met her ribs with sickening cracks several times, breaking several of them before he stepped aside as a tentacle of black lava shot out and wrapped around her neck. It hoisted her up and held her a foot off the ground against the tree as she twitched and struggled and gasped for air. Corsetta walked up to Kitty, a smile painted on her oozing lips as she chuckled. "Jaya sweetheart, why don't you go make sure Sebastian hasn't fallen far behind." She cooed and Jaya nodded her head and took off, "N-No..." Kitty was barely able to push the plea from her lips before the tentacle tightened around her throat. 

"Such an interesting being..." Corsetta pressed a hand to Kitty's chest and she screamed as slight pressure was applied to her broken ribs, "Two souls..in one body. This is going to be delicious." Corsetta's hand stopped over Kitty's heart, then began to apply pressure and dug her nails into Kitty's skin as she screamed and thrashed. Corsetta was going to rip her heart out. 

Kitty had two options, give into the dark wrong power that was still trying to flood her veins, or die.

Aurora and Dan continued through the forest, the sky above was blackening as they advanced closer to what Aurora assumed was the epicentre of this hell. After a while of walking in silence Aurora stopped and looked at her surroundings. 
"I swear we've been past this exact tree before." She spoke to Dan as she walked up to the tree and traced her hand over a familiar symbol, kind of like a star, that they had seen carved in the wood of a tree several hours ago. She remembered the contorted and menacing branches of this particularly sinister tree, "We've been walking in circles." She concluded kicking the trunk of the tree and sinking down to the floor at its base. "How the hell are we going to get out of here?" She shouted at Dan but knowing he did not have the answer, how could they face their fears if they were trapped in a never ending loop?

As she sat at the base of the tree in the silence wasteland a sound caught her attention. The snapping of twigs from somewhere in the oblivion sounded as if something was moving towards them, stalking them. From the darkness that surrounded them she waited for something to emerge, before realising that the thing hunting them was the darkness itself. It was not hunting for Daniel Almis but for her and only her. Her fear was not a particular threat but instead the encroaching darkness and the predator that it could harbour, waiting to snatch little girls from their beds and rip them from their families. This darkness had followed her all her life, waiting in the dark recesses of her mind to ambush her and drag her away.

She stood up on her shaky legs, as the wall of darkness began to surround her she could no longer see Dan or the forest, this was her last battle, she knew that.

"Aurora?" Dan half-called out, suddenly aware that the girl was no longer nearby or at all in sight. He paced around the nearby trees, finding no signs of her leaving by foot or any other means. "Why do girls always end up disappearing on me." His attempt to keep spirits high was in vain, as a sudden loneliness swept over him. Not only was he alone in this forest, but also in his present situation outside of the hallowed realm. Even after escaping prison, he could not be seen near Kitty or any of his friends, his own daughter wanted him dead. There was very little for him, yet he could not escape that life. If he died...

Finally his true fear unravelled itself. The Shadow Queen. A dark figure stood by the nearest tree which caused Dan to startled, backing himself up to another trunk. 
"Why do you run from me, Daniel." It goaded him, trying to lure him into the Shadow Realm. If that happened once and for all his soul would be hers. He could not allow that. If she gained enough power everyone he loved with perish. "You can't run." The voice continued. As quiet as whispers yet as familiar as his own.

The one thing he was unable to defeat properly was now barring him from leaving this nightmare...

Sebastian struggled to keep up with Kitty. For some reason his superhuman stamina was failing him. The situation was akin to being in a nightmare and not having the strength to do anything while you experience it. Perhaps that was also a fear of his that he just simply hadn't acknowledged.

"Kitty wai-" He began to say before stopping to breath and pant. "Wuh-wait.." His calls were in vain though, and he helplessly watched as she disappeared further into the thicket of dead trees. Sebastian bent over and grabbed his knees, breathing in and out slowly. He closed his eyes and focused on the specific fear that was causing his predicament. He instilled faith in himself, faith that he was capable of getting through this. He was well trained, he knew he was brave. He had defied death many times. He could do this.

A wave of relief washed over him as his breathing returned to normal. He started to feel more healthy, more... fit. He stood up straight and looked around.
"Kitty..." He then ran into the direction that he had last seen her. He briefly halted to a stop as he heard several shots ring out from somewhere far in direction he was facing. The feeling of worry took over him, worry for one of his best friends and what might have happened to her. Sebastian once again took off in the direction in front of him in a full-on sprint.

He soon reached a clearing in which the barren ground stretched out in all directions for several hundred meters, surrounded from all sides by the forest. A series of flashes could be seen on the far side, within the thicket of dead trees, and Sebastian could just about make out some humanoid shapes.

Suddenly, something shot up from the soil underneath him. An armoured hand wrapped around his right ankle, tripping him over and causing him to fall to the ground. He quickly brought his arms forward to protect his face and landed on his forearms. He looked back at whatever grabbed him just in time to see the ground in that spot rising. The zombified remains of Aaron-157 rose up fully, covered in dirt with some larger chunks rolling off his heavily damaged armour. Sebastian's ankle was still held in his left hand. He attempted to pull himself away, to twist it from his grip but to no avail.

With an inhuman growl, Aaron pulled his ankle so hard that it lifted him off the ground, spun him 180 degrees and threw him across the field. Sebastian landed on his back on the soil with a soft thud. He quickly rolled back and stood up, facing his attacker. He couldn't help it either. Every time he looked at Aaron... it was like his brain wouldn't let him act. He knew the zombie was a threat but... it was Aaron. The very man he looked up ever since he joined Fireteam Aqua.

As Aaron got closer, Sebastian tried his best to shake all these thoughts from his head. No, it wasn't Aaron. It was only a product of his mind. His guilt. His... fear... that he would never measure up to being the brilliant leader he was. That he would get his friends - Natasha and Valeryie killed. That he would have to witness it happening again just as he did for Bruce, Bobby and Aaron.

The zombie raised its scythe arm and swung it down. Sebastian only just managed to push himself out of the way, but in doing so he tripped and fell to the ground again. Aaron turned to face him and began lumbering towards him again.
'I need to get a hold of myself' he thought. 'I need to fight it... I need to fight against this..' The scythe came down again and Sebastian again barely rolled out of the way as it dug into the dirt that was underneath him half a second ago. Sebastian quickly rolled, stood up and delivered a powerful uppercut underneath Aaron's helmet. A crushing pain burst out across his entire hand and Sebastian quickly fell back a few steps, eyes widened. He looked down at his hand. It was heavily bruised and two of his larger knuckles were cracked. He then realised that he was becoming weak again.

The thoughts he was having... it was as if his physical capabilities depended on him keeping it together internally. He only did barely dodge those attacks after all. And just then, another swipe was thrown at him, this time aimed sideways at his neck. Sebastian again just barely retreated back a few more steps to avoid getting hit, but it seemed that the zombie was getting faster and stronger. It relentlessly advanced and threw a multitude of attacks at him in several attempts to slice Sebastian to pieces.

At the same time, Sebastian tried to keep himself focused. Tried to make reason out of the jumbled mess that were the fears in his head. He deduced that whatever this place was, the things it produced from his fears only grew stronger the more he succumbed to them and paid them thought. And the more he thought about them and allowed himself to feel them, the weaker he got.

All the while, Sebastian was completely unaware by the fact that an enraged Jaya was very close to joining the one-sided fight, her Blighslayer ready in her hand...

Kitty could feel Corsetta's claws pressing deeper into her flesh, and she coughed out blood that sizzled and then froze when it dripped onto the lava tentacle still tight around her throat. So badly she wanted to resist, to not be overcome by the darkness, but she was fighting a losing battle. She could feel the darkness encroaching on her soul, it wouldn’t be long now. Corsetta was going slowly with killing her for a reason. She wanted her to break. 

So she did.

Kitty’s vision went red and a brutal forbidden rage thrummed through her veins, filling her with strength and power beyond her wildest dreams. Her hands moved up, latching onto the lava tentacle around her throat and pulled it off as easily as if it were just a bug that landed on her skin. Then her hand latched around Corsetta’s wrist, delighting in the look of surprise on the monster's face as she pulled her hand from her chest. The wound healed over almost instantly.

Kitty glanced down at her hand, except it didn’t look like her hand. The limb was covered in black snake skin, veins glowing like lava and her nails looked the same except they were at least two inch long claws. Kitty reckoned the rest of her body was the same, but for some reason that didn’t bother her. It only made her smile. With just a flick of her hand, she broke Corsetta’s wrist. Then while she was still surprised by Kitty’s actions, she brought her foot up and slammed it into Corsetta’s chest, sending her several feet away and into a tree. 

The Demon Dan rushed forward at her, pistols aimed and firing at her but every shot just went right on through. Wounds healed in seconds and each bullet only threw her into more of a frenzy, and she sidestepped him easily. Somehow as she turned a sword had materialized in her hands, the same one she had jabbed into his back all those years ago. As she spun around him the sword moved with her, and it met its mark in his back, driving straight through to his heart. 

Kitty left the sword there in his back, watching as he fell to the ground with a thump and blood pooled around him. She felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. Turning she came face to face with another Demon. Dakora. Kitty was the one to rush forward this time and Dakora sidestepped Kitty, but Kitty knew Dakora’s fighting style so she ducked just as a foot swung over her head. Making a fist, Kitty brought her hand back and slammed it into her breast plate. Dakora went flying back into a tree and Kitty moved quickly after her. 

Kitty kept a struggling Dakora pinned to the tree, one clawed hand grabbed hold of her hair and wrenched her head aside. Burying her face into Dakora’s throat, Kitty began to feed violently and savagely. Her sharp teeth tore through her throat and her hand tugged at Dakora’s hair so violently, she ripped her head right off from her body. Kitty spat out some of the blood in her mouth, although some of it dripped down her chin and stained her clothes. She dropped Dakora’s head just as a howl ripped through the air. Avalon. 

The hellhound came barreling toward her, a trail of fire in her wake. A thrum of feral excitement burned through Kitty’s veins and just before Avalon made contact with Kitty, she jumped up into the air. She landed on the hound’s head and didn’t even give her a chance to try and shake her off before Kitty slammed her clawed hand into the top of Avalon’s head. The creature roared in anger and pain, but Kitty was only getting started. Black fire curled down Kitty’s arm, and rushed straight from her hand and into the wound Kitty had inflicted upon Avalon. The hound dropped to the ground writhing and howling in pure agony as its limbs began to freeze yet burn from the inside, until eventually she stilled. There was a crack, and a bright flash. Lightning. Temperance.

Kitty didn’t even hesitate, pulling her hand from Avalon’s hand and turning around fire leaped from her hands towards the figure with pale blonde hair. But someone else jumped in the way. Diana. There wasn’t even a chance for her to scream before the fire froze and burned her, the black ice then being shattered as pure electricity ripped through it. Kitty simply side stepped the blast, shooting off another bout of fire that hit its target this time. 

Kitty continued on like that, ripping Aaron to pieces, freezing Sebastian’s limbs one by one before ripping them off. She killed them all. Except one. Corsetta. She had saved the best for last. Corsetta was grinning like the mad woman she was when Kitty turned to her, and she didn’t even move as Kitty began to stalk towards her. She didn’t even fight back when Kitty pushed her against a tree, something that should have concerned her. But all she felt was a desire to kill, to destroy. Kitty plunged her hand into Corsetta’s chest, wrapping her hand around her heart and looking up at Corsetta’s face. 

Suddenly Corsetta had eyes, and Kitty could see her reflection inside of them. Black snakeskin with glowing lava veins, every tooth was sharpened to a blood stained point, her eyes were blood red with slitted pupils and the whites of her eyes were now black, lava for hair, and she was absolutely covered in blood. 

She looked like a monster. 

The dark rage and power started to drain from Kitty’s veins and the monstrous appearance started to fade when she suddenly felt a hand around her arm, and she focused on Corsetta again as she grinned with bloodstained teeth. “Monster.” She choked out, just before she made Kitty rip out her head with a yank of her hand on Kitty’s arm. Kitty stumbled back from her slumping body, dropping the black heart as the power and the monstrous appearance faded completely, leaving her drained. Kitty dropped to her knees, looking around her at the dead bodies, promptly turning to the side and retching for several minutes before turning forward again and beginning to sob. 

Slowly, the dead began to rise, all hissing the same thing. “Monster.” “Monster.” “Monster.” Kitty covered her ears and continued to sob, but she could still hear their voices drilling into her skull causing her to cry out in despair and agony. Then suddenly it was quiet, and the scent of blood had lessened. Kitty took her hands away from her ears as the wind blew gently, bringing her the scent of sage and lilacs. Kitty looked up sharply, blood flying from her hair at the quick movement. 

Standing before her was a picture perfect copy of herself, aside from the fact that this person was older and instead of Caribbean blue eyes, she had emerald green ones. Her mother. Vasilia Youngblood. “Poor thing,” Vasilia murmured, her voice was like music to Kitty’s ears, her tone was comforting and pure. “Mama…” Kitty whimpered softly, tears welling in her eyes and spilling down her blood stained cheeks again. Vasilia came closer to Kitty, her face kind and sympathetic. “The whole game is rigged against you. They ask you to fight for them and then condemn you as a monster for having blood on your hands. Hush now. It’s alright. You’re safe with me my little fairy.” Reaching down, Vasilia wiped the bloody tears from her daughter's face before cupping her cheek. Kitty closed her eyes and leaned into her mother’s touch, a shuddering sigh escaping from her. Then her hand slipped from Kitty’s face and her eyes opened again, panic taking over her features as she expected her mother to now snap at her like the others. Instead she held out her other clean hand, that kind sympathetic smile on her face. “You need only take my hand, the pain will stop my little fairy. I promise.” 

Kitty began to reach for her mother’s hand.