It burns.

Every movement shoots a searing hot pain throughout her body. She doesn't know what's going on, but she knows there's no point in fighting. So, she waits.

"Rory..." a voice rings out. Her head pounds and she can't tell where it's coming from. Her teeth clench together as what feels like fingers wrap around her throat, constricting and suffocating.

She tries to find the source of the voice, but her eyes are only met with darkness. She can't tell what's up and what's down and she doesn't know if she's standing or floating.

"It's time..." It rings out again. It's time..?

"Rory...Rory..," The voice has now turned into multiple voices. They whisper her name again and again, toppling over each other and jumbling together. It gets harder to breathe and she can feel something trickling down her face, unsure if it's sweat or tears.

What do you want?... What do you want?... What-

Rory shoots up from bed, gasping for air. Her heart pounds furiously against her chest and she has to hold it to keep it from spilling everywhere.

It's hard to catch her breath, the feeling of hands wrapping around her throat still lingering on her skin. She lets out a shiver. The whispers haven't completely faded yet, their incessant chanting continuing to echo in the back of her head.

Calm down...I need to calm down... They feed off fear, I can't let them get to me. Remember what Ayden taught you, deep breaths...

She knows she's in her room because it's hot as hell, her sticky skin clinging to the sheets and blankets encompassing her. It's dark, the only source of light comes from the moonlight streaming in from the crack in curtains and it's enough to see the shadows scurry back into the darkness and Yeah no, fuck this.

Rory closes her eyes and pictures a circle, a silver ring about the size of a fist. With every breath she takes in, it expands in slow rhythm, and with every exhale, it shrinks to its original size. When her heart falls in rhythm, she's back in her room again.

When she rises to get out of bed, the world starts spinning and she has to lean on the bedside table to keep balance. She stays like that for almost a minute before the wave passes.

"Bad dream?" Chimes a voice from the darkness, creating another onset of dread throughout the girl.

The moonlight casts just enough light to illuminate a form on the opposite side of the room. Though partially hidden, Rory can picture every detail. From the curve of his jaw and the constant smirk tugging at his lips, to his hollow cheeks and condescending turn of his sunken eyes.

"Fuck off," Rory mutters and rolls to turn away from the voice. When she does, she comes face to face with her unwanted guest, who a split second before was across the room. He now lies so close that Rory can feel the heat radiating off of him.

"You know, I can make this all stop," His voice drops to a whisper, gentle and warm. But Rory has heard it all before. She knows that there isn't an ounce of warmth behind that voice. She knows the threat those words hold.

"Did Hell run out of people to annoy?" She hisses again.

"You know you're always my first priority," He replies smoothly.

"Leave."

Asta chuckles, his breath tickling Rory's face. "As you wish, my darling," He says with a pout, unable to refuse a direct order, "Just know that I hate to see you like this. Rory is too exhausted to play any of his games right now, so she decides to go the silent route, which only continues to amuse the demon.

"Sweet dreams," Are his last words before Rory is once again alone in her room. She stares into darkness until it drives her slightly insane. Her body seems to be functioning normally again, but she can't fully relax. The nightmare has since faded, she could never recall them, but the effect it creates always lingers.

Rory never quite knows what to do at times like these. If she goes back to sleep the nightmares will just continue, but sometimes being awake only makes them more real. And now she doesn't want to think about it too hard, because that too makes them real.

Shifting to grab her phone from the table, She plugs in her headphones and puts them on, burying herself under the blankets despite how sticky her skin already was. Still not bothering to check any messages, Rory turns on the first song that appears on her playlist and turns it up loud enough to drown out the whispers.

The next time she opens her eyes, she immediately knows she overslept. She's not exactly sure at what point she fell asleep, but by the light sneaking in from the window and the shadows chanting, 'late,late,late', she knows that she needs to get going.

A quick glance at her phone tells her it died at some point in the night, which isn't surprising since she left music playing, but that is the least of her worries. Rory didn't feel rested at all and a migraine could be felt creeping in. Parts of her nightmare flash through her mind, but it's blurry and the more she tries to remember, the more she can't recall.

Slipping her headphones off, Rory crawls out of bed and heads into the bathroom. First, she peels the sweaty clothes off her body and then she hops into the shower. The cold water cools her burning skin, eliciting a sigh. Her face lifts towards the shower head and closes her eyes. She stands like this until her body is completely numb, and then she continues standing for a little longer.

A thought weighs in the back of the girl's mind and before she knows it, She's leaning out of the shower and grabbing something shiny from the sink counter.

Soon, the blade is pressing into the skin between Rory's hip and thigh leaving a thin red line that immediately gets washed away. It stings a little, but not enough to stop her from going for another swipe. It doesn't make her feel any better.

Turning off the water and stepping out of the shower, she takes a look at herself in the mirror. It's completely fogged over and she can't recognize herself, not that she ever could.

What am I even doing?

Not that she ever knew.