I glanced around to try and find a way out while screaming Kaito's name.
"Kaito!" Within these walls, my voice was barely audible, as if the very sound was being absorbed just like everything else within this space.
My voice, my magic, my striving to live.
All I could do was look back at Kaito and bang on the dark wall that was beginning to thicken. I knew this was all on purpose. To provoke Kaito to lose it like what had happened to Connor, and even Finnick and me during the exams.
I wanted to think it was a trap of sorts. That someone was close and pulling the strings to trigger the darkness, but as the cold began to cling to my flesh, I was beginning to lose all hope. My banging suddenly slowed as I grew more sluggish by the second until I was using the wall to try and keep myself from collapsing to the ground.
All I could do was stare at Kaito, noticing the three dark beings fighting him with swords. I watched him slash through them, the girls who were once students like us. Now they were beings of the dead, controlled by the dark force that was fighting to swallow me whole.
Marianna? W...What do I do?
Her silence frightened me more, and I debated whether I'd been wrong and used. It took a few seconds before her presence returned to my mind.
Failure is needed. Submit to the darkness.
If...If I submit...I'll die. I'll become one of those things and be killed. I don't want to die. Not yet. We've come so far. Please don't let me die.
I felt like such a fool, helping the enemy who wished me dead because of the truth that may never get truly revealed. Would anyone know the true story? Would they be able to figure out the clues and find the true enemies hidden under our noses for years?
My ex best friend was a twin. Elisha was a twin. One side a villain. The other side a victim. Two sides of a coin separated in this new life but being forced to walk on the same path of self-destruction.
Time was slipping away from me, and what remained was the regret of not doing better. Not figuring out things faster. For seeing the lines and not what was in between. As my body grew frigid with the intense cold, tears left my eyes, which fought to remain open.
Kaito sliced the head of the last individual, ready to charge the remaining steps to reach me, but one mere look told him he was out of time.
We're both out of time.
Brianne.
The sound seemed to come from behind me, but I couldn't turn away until I mouthed just three words to Kaito. To say what needed to be said every time we parted ways.
Just in case we never returned to each other's side.
"I. Love. You." Three solid words with no voice to them. That ability was stolen from me, like the magic within, the energy around, and the beating of my heart that began to slow. The air in my lungs was floating away, and as the wall before me finally thickened to pure black, I remained in nothing but darkness.
Slowly, with the bits of magic that remained within me, I turned around and noticed the person standing in the middle of the dome.
A woman who looked like me. Orange locks, eyes that glittered with golden wonder, and an aura so dazzling it took all my attention. Her attire was older, vintage in the making and in all white.
I noticed a little girl clung to her leg, one who looked like me and yet had eyes that reminded me of Jax. She stared at me in wonder, her loving eyes pulling me into a trance as I fought for every bit of energy to get closer.
The woman had a golden chain around her neck, one that held a clear crystal quartz that seemed to reflect various colors even in this dome of black.
Marianna? Elsa?
The woman smiled and reached for my hand.
Trust. Submit. Failure is the only option. You. Will. Prevail.
Dragging my feet, I took the unsteady steps with the remainder of my strength. Step after step, until my hand that I realized was pure black fell onto her one of gorgeous peach while her body oozed white light.
I fell to my knees then, all the energy I had left leaving me. The little girl hugged me tightly as if it that