Valentina was reading until she smelled.. smoke? Looking out of the window, she screamed. Right in front of her, the opera house was burning! Running out of her room, she ran straight to the opera house and was being held back by Arno. "Let me go!" She screamed, swinging her fists at him. Then, she landed a punch on his face, sending him flying into a river and running inside. "Carmen..!" She said, going to the catacombs as the flames kept spreading. She flung door after door, her anxiety sky-rocketing tenfold.

The woman froze, finding her beloved with ease and holding her close to her body. "Carmen.. please wake up, my angel of death.. please.." she weakly begged, her icy eyes glittering like light December skies with unshed tears. That was then she took a good look at her girlfriend. Her mask was gone, her outfit was slightly torn and her hair was messed up. Gripping her tightly, she softly began to weep as some tears landed on the left side of her face. "Valentina.. run.." Rage and sadness washed over the blonde like a hurricane.

"No! Never! I'm never leaving you!" She screamed into the catacombs, her voice echoing though-out the halls as the flames reached closer and closer to where the two were. Looking towards her beloved phantom, she kissed her softly since she knew it was going to be their last kiss.. she placed herself beside her and firmly grasped her hand tightly, refusing to let her go. "Goodbye, Carmen.. I hope that our wishes of being reunited in the next life will come true.." she smiled sadly as unbeknownst to her, her necklace began to glow dimly.

"Funny, isn't it? After all these months of being together, we are going to die.. right here and now.. you know, you never hurt me like my previous lover did.. you loved me despite where I was working at.. that was then I wanted to marry you.. but, that's not will happen now will it? Heh, I'm sorry, my crimson phantom.. that I wasn't strong enough for you, I hope you will forgive me in our next life together." She whispered, closing her eyes as her necklace shined brightly and created a shield around the two lovers as the fire engulfed the room with it's bright orange, blood red and bright yellow flames.

Valentina could feel the smoke drown her senses as she blinked in and out of consciousness from the smoke inhalation. It burned her throat as her head swam. She heard the sounds of the door being busted down by axes and broken voices.

"Guys, there's two women here!"

"Come on, let's get them out of here!"

"Easy does it now.. let's get them loaded up into the ambulance Ms Argent called."

Julia.. she called the ambulance for them? She could feel herself being placed in a stretcher along with Carmen being also loaded into the second stretcher in the ambulance. She looked towards the woman and smiled softly. "Thank.. you.." she then passed out. She could feel the touches of the paramedics treating her burns that were fresh from the fire that somehow happened. She really didn't understand.. what happened and why was the building on fire? More importantly, who set the opera house on fire?

All she knew was that there was obviously somebody behind the fire.. while she was running to find her beloved before the flames could reach them, she could make out the remains of a Molotov cocktail and deduced quickly that it was that very weapon which was the mentioned cocktail. The question was who threw the fire-causing bottle? She didn't know what to make of it! But.. she knew that she had an idea about who the culprit was. She didn't want to open her eyes until she knew for certain that Carmen, her phantom.. her love..

She wanted to see her.. to make sure she was ok.. but, she knew she had to wait until she and her crimson phantom were at the hospital. Slightly opening one of her eyes, she reached out and grabbed her hand which had loosened during the ordeal. She closed her eyes again once she felt her lover's fingers gently grip hers, a silent plea for her not to leave her. Valentina complied with her request and held her hand, returning the favor. She would never let her die alone, leaving her in her solitude.

What kind of woman would she be if she left her alone? A heartless one.