Trigger Warning: by now you probably know the drill but this is a Preston chapter so mentions of blood, gore, torture, all that stuff.

Preston sat on a conjured chair next to Deciets unconscious body. He was frowning at the strange greyness that had spread up his leg and was now spreading up his hip, flakes falling off whenever he moved.

It was mildly concerning and he knew that he had a limited amount of time before he'd have to leave anyway but he planned on destroying Thomas before time ran out.

He didn't know if he would be able to come back a third time now they all knew about him and probably would have recovered by the time he was able to come back, so he needed to do this quickly and efficiently.

He felt a bout of dizziness hit him and groaned in annoyance. He had tried everything he could to keep all his pesky memories from returning but they always seemed to find a way back.

His vision blurred as he was sucked into a flashback.

*flashback*

A teenage Preston was in a forest practicing his duelling. He prided himself on his masterful ability to cut down his enemies and he also loved the way the blade sung as it sliced through the air.

He froze as he heard a familiar voice from nearby.

"Cayden! Are you in here?"

Preston turned around to see an almost identical teenager appear from the trees dressed in a bright shirt and jeans.

"Paxton, what brings you in here?" Preston asked.

The boy now identified as Paxton let out a small sigh. "Tristan is ignoring me again and I can't find Liam anywhere."

Preston sheathed his sword and walked closer to Paxton. "Do you want me to help you look?"

Paxton nodded. "I thought maybe he'd be watching you practice because he doesn't seem to be anywhere in the main mindspace."

Preston frowned at that. "That's unlike him. He rarely ventures too far because he knows how much we rely on him to get through to Tristan."

Paxtons expression was worried as they walked through the trees and Preston grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop.

"Don't worry, we'll find him. Just take a few deep breaths and calm down." Prestons voice was soft and comforting as he pulled Paxton in for a hug.

Paxtons face brightened up as he smiled at Preston. "Thanks Cayden, you always know what to say."

Preston smiled back and the two continued their journey out of the imagination forest.

They were walking towards the main mindspace when Preston froze and turned to look behind him. He could have sworn he heard a voice calling to him from the misty no man's land that surrounded the forest.

"What's wrong?" Paxton asked, having turned around to see why Preston had stopped.

"I thought I heard something." Preston murmured, his eyes scanning the mist warily. Eventually he pushed that thought away and continued towards the main mindspace.

As the two entered the mindspace a teenage boy in an immaculate school uniform appeared in front of them looking exhausted.

"I can't convince Tristan to do his work, he's too busy staring into space and we don't need another repeat of last week. I need Liam to help convince him."

"Uh, about that..." Paxton said, trying to keep his voice level.

The uniformed trait looked from him to Preston and took in their worried expressions. "What? What is it? Where's Liam?" he demanded.

"We can't find him. Paxton looked everywhere in the main mindspace but..." Preston tried to explain but he was shoved aside by the suddenly frantic trait.

"Somethings happened to him. He would never leave the main mindspace."

"Hugh, calm down." Paxton tried to say but Hugh let out a small growl "You don't get to tell me to calm down! Liam is missing and here you are having a lovely conversation with Cayden. Either help me look for him or stay out of my way!"

Hugh stormed off leaving Paxton speechless and Preston shaking his head.

"I.... I didn't mean to..." Paxton said in a quiet voice and Preston sighed "Don't blame yourself, he's just concerned for the person he loves. You know how protective of him he is. Once we find Liam he'll be fine."

Paxton shrugged "I guess. We should probably keep looking. The sooner we find Liam the sooner we can stop Tristan getting hurt again."

Preston frowned as he tried to think of where Liam could have disappeared to. "Hey Paxton, did Liam ever mention the secondary traits?" he asked and received a negative answer.

"Why do you ask?"

Preston started to walk back out of the main mind space. "What if he went to visit them? For all we know he could be friends with one of them."

Paxton was jogging to keep up with Preston pace and as they walked into the imagination forest the air felt heavy.

"Somethings not right." Preston whispered drawing his sword and looking around cautiously. "Stay close Pax, just in case."

Pax grabbed a hold of Preston shirt, fear clear on his face as they walked deeper into the forest.

There wasn't a hint of the creatures that usually frequented the forest floor and it seemed to be getting darker.

When they exited the imagination forest on the other side they let out small sighs of relief and continued towards a large grey door that lead to the area of the mind where the secondary traits lived.

They got to the door and Preston, who had put his sword back away, was about to open it when he heard something.

"Cayden! Hugh! Paxton! Help me!"

Paxtons eyes were wide as he also heard the familiar shout.

The two of them immediately sprinted towards the sound of the voice, not hesitating as they ran through the misty no man's land.

They came to a stop as they heard Liam voice from the opposite direction than they were running and before they could head towards it his voice came from somewhere else as well.

Preston closed his eyes and focused on trying to clear the mist but as it slowly dissipated he felt his heart sink.

Liam was nowhere to be found which meant that they were being tricked.

Suddenly there was an earth shattering scream from the other side of the forest and he wasted no time in running towards it, Paxton not far behind.

He skidded to a stop as he set eyes on a horrific scene.

Hugh was the one screaming and the reason for that was Liam.

The ground was streaked with blood and pieces of what Preston assumed to be flesh were strewn everywhere as if Liam had been ripped apart by some sort of wild animal.

The only non mangled part of Liam was his face which wasn't comforting at all because it probably meant the culprit wanted the body to be identifiable.

Hugh had fallen to his knees his face streaked with tears as he continued to scream, letting out all his horror and anger.

Paxton was vomiting and crying somewhere behind him but Preston couldn't tear his eyes away from the gore, his mind frozen as he tried to register that the mess had once been a talking, breathing living person who he considered a friend.

*end of flashback*

A few silent tears tracked down Prestons face as he was swamped with grief for his old friend who had died in such a horrific and violent way.

Anger suddenly coarse through him and he scrubbed the moisture from his face aggressively.

He had locked way his memories for a reason and they were not going to ruin everything he'd accomplished by throwing him off at inconvenient moments.

He was Preston now. Not weak little Cayden with his silly attachments.

As he forced away all the feelings the memory had brought back he suddenly had an evil idea. It seemed that memory had been good for something.

What better way to send a message than with a mutilated body?

He let out a deranged laugh and got to his feet with a small wince. It seemed as if he'd be using his hunting knife for more than just torture this time.

Uh oh! Seems like Preston is up to his usual tricks, even though he just had a flashback about a traumatic event from his past.

Let me know any theories you have about what could have happened to Liam and what you think will happen next.