My face paled as I turned towards the door, where his now crimson eyes pierced my soul as he made slow steps towards me. In the blink of an eye, his body seemed to vanish into a black, misty air that almost teleported right in front of me. His hands were wrapped around my throat and I clawed at them as I was pressed further onto the bed sheets.

"W-What are you d-doing?" I said.

"How much did you read?" Nikolai's voice was cold and chilled me to the bone. I knew that he was going to know that I had read that book, his diary I could only assume it was.

"Enough of it to know not to trust you!" I said, lifting my knee up to his stomach. I gave it a good jab as I twisted my body, unfurling my wing enough to slap in the face with it. When his grip had loosened slightly, I brought my fist back and slammed it as hard as I could into the side of his face. He was caught off guard momentarily and I scooted back, falling off of the bed onto my back. I groaned as I could feel a bruise forming as my wings hit the hard surface and rolled on the floor to push myself off of the ground with my hands. However, as soon as I got up by hair was harshly grabbed and pulled up as my head was forced up. Nikolai yanked my head back forcing my head up to look at him. My wings flapped violently against him before he threw both of our bodies to the ground, pinning both of my arms above my head. I wriggled as I tried to escape, but he was stronger than me.

"And to think that I gave you that freedom just for you to go and waste it snooping around my house. I guess I can't trust you after all." Nikolai let out a dark chuckle as we were teleported away to some place that I could only assume was deep beneath his house. It looked like some sort of dungeon with some mossy and dirty stones making up the walls as well as the floor. I barely recognized when Nikolai no longer was on me, until I heard a 'click!'

Familiar silver chains were wrapped around my wrists, cooling them to the touch. Attached to them was another chain that connected to the wall, trapping me in here.

"You know, I thought I could trust you. Stupid on my part, hm? Well, now you can just wait here while I go down to Shibuya." Nikolai left and my heart was beating out of my chest. I felt trapped, as if the walls of the cell were closing in on me as he left and shut the reinforced door, locking it in place. There were no window, with the exception of the one on the door, that allowed for food or something to be slid through. There were even crossed iron bars above it. The chains only gave my a 5 feet radius walking space; Not enough to walk to the door. The only other thing in the room was a pile of random strands of hay, with an old, ragged, and possibly lice ridden cloth in the corner. It seemed as if someone had been in here recently.

A drop of water fell on my nose and I looked up to see a crack in the ceiling, where drops of water fell at an unsteady rate. The room was dark too, with the exception of a wall torch that I couldn't reach either, and light that peeked in through the tiny window on the door. The chains around my wrist bound them together tightly and I knew that struggling against them would only make it worse. I slid down the wall as I sat down on the stone next to the pile of stringy hay. I picked some of it up, braiding it together.

I wasn't too sure how much time had passed, but all of the hay had been braided neatly into a long braid. I turned towards the wall, where the chains on me were connected, and saw it was connected to a chain loop that was on the wall like an arch. Grasping the chain firmly, I tugged on it, and pulled as hard as I could. The chain didn't budge, but it didn't harm me either. I let go and groaned in annoyance. Grabbing the braided hair, I whipped it in the direction of the wall torch, catching it on fire. I yelped and let go of the hay as it quickly burned to ashes, the flame flickering as it ran towards me. It burned the end of the hay and caught the hem of my skirt. I panicked and beat on the flame with my hand, stinging it, but putting the flame out nonetheless. That section of my skirt was now black and charred. I blew on the ashes, sending them into the air, which made me cough into my elbow. Sniffling, I leaned my head on the stone wall and hugged my knees close to my chest. My white wings stood out in the darkness, and wrapped around my body. Resting my head on my knees, I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

~

Huh?

I looked around and saw that I was in WildKat. Joshua was talking to Mr. Hanekoma, seeming upset about something.

"But he can't just take her like that! I can't contact her. Hell, I can't even sense her presence anywhere! I will make sure that Nikolai regrets ever showing his face again! " Joshua shouted, his face darkening slightly. My eyes widened at him using what most people for some reason consider a cuss word. I had never heard him talk like that but my face heated up anyway, seeing how he was talking about me. Joshua was never one to get angry, especially over someone like me. There's nothing special about me. I'm just some angel who originally was sent to observe Shibuya. That's all.

"Josh. I know. I'm just as upset as you are, but I can't go there, and you know that. There's nothing I can do," Mr. Hanekoma said, frowning as he closed his eyes and rubbed his neck. He walked up to Joshua and set a hand on his shoulder, only for Joshua to shrug it off. I walked in front of him, waving my arms frantically as well.

"I'm right here! Don't worry!" I said. Neither of them seemed to hear me and continued to talk.

"... But, I can," Joshua said, looking like he had regained his composure. He turned his back and stared away from Mr. Hanekoma.

"I suppose but it would be complicated. Send them a letter and go if you want to. Save her. I received word from someone that Nikolai has her at his house." Mr. Hanekoma leaned on the counter and looked down at Joshua, being much taller than him.

"... Well, then I'm off. Can't leave my dear there now can I?" Joshua disappeared after that, leaving just Mr. Hanekoma in the cafe. He sighed and looked up.

"You better save her Josh. I would say be careful, but that seems to be the thing you can never learn to do," he said.

This should just be a dream, right? It's not real.... Or is it?

No, don't be stupid. It is a dream. No one can really see me anyway.

"Why?! Why does this have to happen to me?! He's right in front of me and he can't see me!" I angrily slammed my fists down on the counter, sending the paper that was sitting on it up in the air for a second before it floated to the ground. Surprised, I yanked my hands away and held them to my chest. Mr. Hanekoma bent down and picked it up. He set it on the counter on top of a pile of other papers.

"That's weird," he mumbled. Just as he was about to turn away, I flicked the paper stack, making it slide, and send more papers to the floor. I had to hold in a giggle as he bent down and picked them up, bewildered at what was making that happen.I went up to Mr. Hanekoma and set my hand on his shoulder. His body shuddered as he turned towards where I was standing behind him. "Huh? Is someone there?" I looked at the papers in his hand and yanked one out of his hand. He picked it up and set them all on the counter. I leaned in towards his ear, and tried communicating a message to him, like I had on the first day Nikolai had taken me.

"I'll wait for him."

~

I bolted awake, panting. That couldn't have been real. Why was I even trying? Joshua wasn't coming for me and I need to stop fantasizing it. Tears welled in my eyes as I buried my head in my hands. No one was coming for me. That was a dream, not some kind of vision of the present. My powers technically could allow that, but I was certain that Nikolai would've blocked that.

Just like he had with everything else. I rubbed my eyes as I leaned on my arms, unfurling my wing slightly to look at the door. Nothing had moved in here. I shouldn't get my hopes up. I felt like a balloon, that was soaring higher, and higher into the sky, when suddenly, I was popped. Deflated, I floated back down to Earth as I lay there, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to do anything.

Useless.

That's all I am, right?

But they're coming for you...

"And that could just be my imagination," I mumbled, before cracking a smile as a single tear fell from my left eye. "I must be crazy, talking to myself like this. I'm not this desperate."

My mouth fell back into a straight line, as I let my wing wrap around me again. I ran my fingers over the smooth, and soft feathers, watching the way they seemed to sway back and forth, in a very slow motion. They barely even moved, and you could only see it if you paid really close attention. My eyes glanced towards the chain and I tugged on it again, harder this time. Still no budge. I slammed my fist on the ground, and saw two red eyes watching me from the shadows of the room. I froze as my heart started to beat faster. The thing in the shadows scurried across the floor towards me and I screamed, before scrambling to my feet. What ran past my feet, and into a small crack in the wall was a rat, as black as midnight. I let out a sigh of relief as I saw that it wasn't Nikolai or anyone like that.

"It was just a rat," I said, sitting back on the floor again. Just as I was about to fall back asleep, a loud explosion from upstairs caught my attention. A familiar voice made my heart skip a beat.

"Where is she?"