Ryan scrambled to crawl away as Patrick pushed himself back up like an animal. His yellow eyes were wild as they locked onto Ryan.

"Give it back!" He demanded before leaping again. He collided with Ryan, sending them both to the loose soil. Patrick was quicker to regain his balance and easily pinned Ryan to the ground.

"Patrick!" Ryan cried out as Patrick pressed down on his limbs. "Please!"

Patrick snarled at him. He jerked his head towards the hand that gripped the key's cord.

"After I finish his, your soul is next!" He roared. He lifted his hand to snatch the cord, but he was blocked by a sudden brightness.

Feathers. Ryan could only see bright feathers before his eyes.

As quickly as they appeared, the feathers curved in a swipe towards Patrick.

Patrick was thrown backwards. His figure flew down the corridor, eventually crashing to the ground with a puff of dust to follow.

The feathers pulled back. Ryan turned to see Spencer flickering off to his side. Huge wings stretched from his back like a second set of arms. When the angel caught sight of him, he gestured down the hall. "Run! I'll hold him off!" His face contorted in pain as he flickered in and out of sight again.

"Spencer!" Ryan called out. He rose to his feet and attempted to reach out to him.

"Run!" Spencer repeated. The wing closest to Ryan flicked, sending a gust of wind pushing him down the corridor. "You have to destroy it!"

"No!" Patrick was back up. He advanced towards the two but, true to his word, Spencer stretched his wings across the hall to halt his movement forward. Spencer's wings fluttered with the impact, but remained in tact as a barrier.

Ryan stepped back. He didn't want to leave Spencer. He still had so much to say. He needed to apologize. He needed more time.

Ryan turned away just as Spencer cried out in pain. He was going to start running, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he spun back around.

Spencer was on the ground, curled up and holding onto a wing as Patrick stood with a fistful of feathers in his hand. He looked ready to strike again.

"Hey!" Ryan yelled. He held the key out in front of him, "Hey!"

Patrick's head jerked up. His yellow eyed narrowed as he looked at Ryan.

"Thought you wanted this." Ryan said, bouncing the cord to make the key jiggle.

Patrick snarled. He dropped the feathers in his hand, which floated gently down next to Spencer. The angel looked to Ryan with pleading eyes through his pain, urging him to run.

"Well?" Ryan ignored the look. He focused on Patrick. "Come get it."

Patrick began moving forward.

"Fuck." Ryan stumbled back before spinning into a run. He hadn't thought this far ahead. He had just wanted to help Spencer, and now he had a friend hyped up on possession juice chasing him. He didn't even know where he needed to go.

The roar behind him was insensitive to just move forward.

The smooth wall of doors had given away to the jagged walls he had seen when first waking up in hell. It felt like they wanted to reach out and grab him as he ran.

His feet pounded against the soil, sending clouds of dust behind him as he ran. He kept a tight grip on the cord that held the key, but he could feel the cording squirming in his hand. He forced himself to ignore it and keep moving forward.

Behind him, Patrick's footsteps boomed. It was like an entire army was chasing after Ryan.

"You can't keep running from me!" Patrick yelled.

"You won't keep running." The voice echoed in Ryan's head.

The cord slithered up Ryan's arm with lightning speed and tangled itself around his neck. He gasped in a breath of air before the other end of the cord wrapped around his legs. He cried out as his course twisted, sending him in a collision course with the jagged wall. Jabs of stone dug into and scrapped across his skin as his body slid along it.

Ryan plummeted to the ground, gasping for breath. The cord tightened as a shadow fell over where Ryan lay.

"Just give in." Ryan's eyelids fluttered as the voice echoed in his head. "After all of the pain you've caused... All the souls you lost."

The cord loosened, giving Ryan the opportunity to suck in a gasp of air.

Patrick kneeled in front of him. His yellow eyes glowed as he cocked his head at Ryan.

"You can end the suffering."

Patrick grabbed hold of Ryan's wrist. He lifted it from the ground and twisted it into Ryan's view. The red of the key's eyes spread to the area around its skull. It pulsated, emitting waves of vibrancy that stretched to encase the two of them. Ryan found himself unable to look away.

"I... I can end the suffering." Ryan repeated. The cord further loosened its grip.

"No more pain."

The image of the torn photo from the key's box flashed across Ryan's vision. The pain of it stabbed into his chest all over again. Ryan wanted to forget the past... He wanted to destroy the past. Nothing could be left.

"I can take it from you." The voice cooed as the image faded from Ryan's sight. The red glow of the key grew brighter. "I can take it from everyone you hurt."

"Everyone?.." Ryan felt dizzy. The way red glow pulsated made his eyes want to cross; it was hard to keep them focused.

"Everyone." Patrick lowered his arm.

Though disoriented, Ryan looked up at him. The yellow of his eye was specked across their natural hue. His voice was back to normal as well, pulling Ryan into every word with how soft he spoke.

"Just let go, Ryan." Patrick urged. He held his hand on top of Ryan's. "Everything can be undone."

Ryan smiled. "Undone." He laughed, but his smile quickly fell.

Undone.

Undo the pain that brought them here. Undo the weeks of sorrow that felt like it burrowed into his soul before injecting poison straight into his heart. Undo the pitiful attempts at cheering him up. Undo the eggshell conversations.

It could undo so much...

"It's a fresh start." Patrick continued. "No pain. No past. No more thinking of him."

Him.

He could let him go. Isn't that what Spencer had wanted him to do? Let him go?

Ryan shut his eyes. The image of the picture was back again... But it was different. It was the original copy, before it was damaged. Ryan could see himself smiling over it as he spoke silent words to someone.

Ryan watched the memory, like an episode of your favorite show that you don't recall. Ryan watched as he entered the memory's view. He smiled at the picture too. He said something that made Ryan laugh before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. Then, they pinned to the wall of photos together. Hand in hand.

The memory faded and Ryan was left with darkness. He didn't even remember that moment until now. The photo only has the memory of a tearful takedown and pain... But there had been a time where it had another feeling attached to it. Ryan had buried it under his hurt and grief... What else had he locked away to try and forget? Could he let that go before trying to find it?

"Let go." Patrick's voice was layered again. The soothing spell of his soft words cracked. Ryan's brow furrowed as he slowly opened his eyes. It was still so red around them.

Ryan looked down at his arm. The cord of the key had wrapped around his wrist before pulling away from his palm to where the key sat in the dust. Patrick's fingers were on it, causing his entire figure to glow as red as the key.

"It can fix everything." Patrick's layered voice hissed.

Ryan looked at Patrick's glowing red skin. "Everything?" He repeated, too afraid to see what color may have consumed Patrick's eyes.

"Everything!" It was a roar of excitement that caused Ryan to flinch. His legs shrunk up, but his knee was met by the jagged wall. Instant pain ran through his body.

"Okay!" Ryan gasped. He moved his legs back and shakily pushed himself up from the ground. "Okay..."

A strange mixture of noises came from Patrick. Something between a squeal of delight and screams of agony.

"It's eyes!" It encouraged, "Look into it's eyes!"

"Eyes." Ryan repeated. The key was still facedown in the dust. Patrick's fingers still grazed it where it sat. "Can I have some space, please?"

Patrick growled. It was a moment before he reluctantly pulled away. He stepped back, but not far.

Ryan gulped.

As he raised his hand from the soil, he thought of the picture again. This time, however, he was surrounded by friends. Patrick stood in front of them with a camera as Pete kept pulling faces to make them break smiles and start laughing. The feeling of that night swept over Ryan. Love. Fun. Belonging. All feelings attached to him... But also attached to his friends.

Ryan let out a slow breath. He knew what he needed to do.

He raised his arm so that the key dangerously in front of his face. "Let go." He said as the key's face began to slowly spin towards him. The reds of its sockets were as bright as headlights. Ryan shrunk away from the light as soon as it started to come into his view. "How about I let go of you!"

He yanked his arm to the side before slamming it against the wall with as much force as he could muster.

There was a clang of metal when the key collided.

He cried out in pain as some of the jagged edges pierced through his arm. He couldn't pull his arm away.

A louder wail echoed the halls, making his ears ring.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" The voice screamed in his head, bringing tears to his eyes. "HOW?"

"No!"

Through his tears, Ryan saw Patrick fall to the ground. He dug at the soil before shakily picking up a small, circular object. "Speak to me!" He demanded the object, "Speak!"

A full body shiver overtook Patrick and he froze. It didn't even look like he was breathing.

"Pat?" Ryan croaked, trying to blink away the tears from the pain in his arm and the screaming in his head.

The object dropped from Patrick's hands. A second later, Patrick crumpled like a marionette who's strings had been cut.

"Patrick!" Ryan yelled. He pulled at the wall, but his arm wouldn't detatch. "Please!" He begged as more tears fell from his eyes. "Please..."

Ryan suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. The next attempt to bring his arm from the wall was a success. He fell to the ground. He looked up to see Spencer kneeling next to him.

"I didn't find the fire..." He held his damaged arm, feeling dust and blood rub against his skin.

Spencer held out one of the feathers Patrick had ripped from his wings. "It looks like you didn't have to." He said as he brought the feather down against Ryan's arm.

A sigh of relief escaped him. The feather was cool against his wounded skin. When Spencer pulled away, the feather was gone. Ryan pulled his hand away too, seeing his skin unscathed. He looked at Spencer, who smiled.

"Ryan, whatever you did," he pointed to the dirt beside Ryan, "It worked."

Ryan turned to his side. There were small chunks of metal littering the ground. The cord of the key was gone completely. "How did I..." He reached out to one of the pieces. It was the end of the key that would fit into a lock. When he touched it, he didn't feel anything. No warmth. No chill. Just metal. He pulled his hand away and looked back at Spencer. "I think I let go."

Spencer nodded. "In your own way, I think you did."

A soft groan carried over to where they sat. "Patrick!" Ryan cried out, turning immediately and crawling toward his friend.

Ryan pulled Patrick into his arms, brushing hair away from his face. Patrick was still unconscious, but his mouth moved just slightly.

Spencer crouched beside them. "I'm not sure how much he'll remember from this..." He brought out another feather and rested it on Patrick's forehead. "Possessions are hard to gauge, especially with something so ancient... If it stays and he chooses not to remember, it may just fade over time." They watched as the feather melted into Patrick's skin. He inhaled and exhaled loudly before his head rolled towards Ryan and a more peacefully expression crossed over his face.

"What about Pete?" Ryan asked, looking down at Patrick's soft expression. "Will we even be able to get him back?"

Spencer nodded. "With the key broken, Pete should be put back from where he was taken. Its deal wasn't sealed so it has to give back."

"Will he remember?"

"No. He wasn't influenced the same way you and Patrick were. He was taken a different way so, when he wakes up, it will either be an empty dream or nothing at all." Spencer replied. He was quiet for a moment before adding, "I can make you forget, Ryan."

Ryan looked at Spencer. "You can?"

Spencer nodded, though he wouldn't look directly at Ryan. "Everything about the key and here. If you give me the word, I can make you forget any of it ever happened."

Ryan looked down. The part of the key that connected the lock pick to the skull was at his side. He carefully pulled one arm away from Patrick and picked it up. "I think I'm done trying to forget." He said, holding the piece tightly in his hand. He looked back up at Spencer, who looked at him with curiosity. "Besides... This time I'm actually able to say goodbye."

A tear ran down Spencer's cheek as smiled. "It was good to have you see me again."

"Until we meet again." Ryan smiled.