[edited: 25/01/2018]

"Remy!"

"Remy!"

Someone was whispering her name, but the sound was distant, as though she was on one side of a tunnel and the source of the voice on the other. She tried to ignore it, too wrapped up in the darkness to force herself out of it, but the voice was growing increasingly irritating and increasingly louder.

She groaned in response, hoping that it would be enough to quieten whoever was calling her, but they still continued.

"Wake up, Remy. Wake up."

Was she asleep? She didn't know. She attempted to open her eyes, but her eyelashes felt as though they were stuck together. Her wrists did too, she realised now, and her legs were cold and damp. She could hear water splashing somewhere if she listened closely enough, and it reminded her of the times she had sat in the small alcoves on the beach. It reminded her of home.

"Please, Remy."

Slowly, her eyes opened and she found that she was in a cave, though this one seemed much bigger than she remembered. It was darker, too, for there was no opening in view. She was trapped.

"Thank God," someone breathed from beside her, and she looked to find Sarah peering back at her, a mixture of relief and worry on her face.

"Sarah?" she questioned, her voice thick, as though she had been sleeping for hours. Then, she realised just how worried she had been about her friend and all the reasons why and she straightened up dizzily. "Sarah, I'm so sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn't have come here, I should never have let Maksim push me through the portal. This is all my fault. I'm so, so sorry."

"Slow down," she said calmly and wrapped her cold fingers around Remy's trembling hands as best she could with bound wrists. "It's not your fault. I know that you never wanted this to happen."

"I tried to look for you as soon as I found out you were here, but they wouldn't let me give him the key." Remy was well aware of just how delirious she sounded, trying to speak faster than her mouth her would allow, but there were so many things that she hadn't told Sarah. It was almost a relief to be able to tell her now. She had missed having a friend. "They wouldn't let me find you, and then I tried on my own, but before I could-"

"Remy!" Sarah sounded exasperated, her brown eyes wide in bewilderment. "It's okay. Calm down. Please."

She inhaled and nodded, noticing that her body was shivering from the cold as she pulled her legs to her chest. Then, she remembered why she had been brought here in the first place and her hands scrambled to find the key around her neck. Much to her surprise, it was still there, hot and vibrating against her chest as though reassuring her.

"They didn't take it," she whispered to herself.

"He said he couldn't," Sarah said, causing Remy to frown. "He didn't say why."

"I am sure that I did not need to," another voice answered, and its owner emerged from the shadows. Ackmard, of course, with Elthar close behind him. "You are well aware of what happened last time I tried to take it from you."

"Some would take that as a hint that perhaps it doesn't belong to you," Remy spat back, anger bubbling in her blood and the pit of her stomach. She had never hated anybody before, not even her father for leaving. She hated Ackmard, though, for imprisoning Sarah and hurting the people in Astracia, for betraying Maksim and threatening her own safety so many times. "For a dark warlock, you're not very intelligent."

"Nor are you," he snarled back, and his magic hit her so that she flew to the opposite corner of the cave. Her back hit the uneven walls so that she was winded, and when she finally pulled herself to her knees, she realised that she was surrounded by black fire. The smoke choked her and stung her eyes. She could barely see Ackmard through the flames. Barely. There was still his smug, disembodied face floating above the darkness. "You should know better than to insult me, little mortal girl. It does not make you brave or clever. It does not make you worthy of my brother."

"Do you think I care?" she shouted, wincing as she stood up again. "I will never be worthy of your brother anyway. He's made that clear enough already."

"I am glad," he smirked. "It was wrong of him to ever pretend otherwise."

Before Remy could respond, the flames grew higher until they reached the ceiling and the stalactites above her crumbled to the floor. She gasped and covered her hand to her mouth, the fumes unbearable. She could almost feel herself rotting each time she inhaled the toxic smoke.

Her head was pounding. She couldn't breathe. Someone was calling her name, but she couldn't answer, couldn't see who it was. Sarah?

It didn't matter. There was nothing else she could do but let the darkness take her again, and take her it did.

She could still feel the key burning a hole in her skin when she collapsed to the floor.