Clary opened her eyes, only to find endless darkness. Where am I? Panicked, she quickly snapped her fingers to light the dark, only to find that her magic was so low she could not even make sparks, even less, light her fingers. Suddenly and without warning, the shadows around her started moving, circling her like predators. Clary, now without her magic, was as vulnerable as anyone, and just as frightened as anyone would be when faced with such things.

“Clary….” They whispered, and Clary had to clear her thoughts and lean in to hear them as they whispered her name over and over again. And then, just as suddenly as they had come, they left, and the air started to get thick. Clary suddenly felt the ground beneath her shake and open up, letting her fall into an endless pit.

---

Sarah cradled her head in her hands, breathing heavily as she watched Yuki struggle on the floor, thrashing about as if in pain. She felt the same pain, as the cord that kept them together was being pulled and torn. Sarah soon started screaming and having seizures, while Yuki was only half awake, his thrashing calming to a stop as his chest silently stopped going up and down. Sarah started sobbing and cradled him and kissed his fur, but it was no use; he was not able to be revived. Sarah felt the emptiness take over her and fell on the ground herself, drenched in cold sweat.

Ash sat on his bed, when suddenly there came screams from the room near his. He knew immediately whose it was, and scrambled to his feet, clutching his sword tightly. Starting to walk, Ash started to sprint towards where the noise was coming from, and then came another scream. Ash flinched and sped up; however, he felt something dreadful had happened already. And when he reached the Queen’s room, there was a stench of iron, coming from the crimson liquid that ran under her door. Drenched in sweat, Ash creaked open the door and something sprang at him. It was a blur, and, therefore, he could not identify the creature, but it went right over him and bolted out of the room. Ash got up, and the sight he saw would be etched forever in his mind; Victoria lay on the ground, out cold, with blood around her like a badly made dress.

Will woke with a gasp and glanced around wildly, when he saw Sarah smiling at him from the window of his bedroom back in his own world, and for a moment he thought that perhaps it was all a dream. He stood up, throwing the window open to reveal the familiar blond hair which gleamed in the moonlight, and the shining blue eyes. But when Will looked closer, he noticed something 'off,' as if a black dot on a white sheet.

She was slowly crumbling from reach, small pieces starting to fall from her as if she were dust in the wind.

Will reached for her hand, and Sarah gave him a distant smile, as if she really was far away, and her hand started to crumble as well, and then the rest of her was gone before Will could do anything more. Will felt a tear roll down his cheek, which was white as a sheet, and that was all he felt as the world went dark.

Clary’s eyes shot open in alarm, and she felt herself scream as she glanced around the familiar room in Victoria’s castle. But then she suddenly heard another shout, and several others, so she quickly wrapped the blanket around herself and stumbled towards the doorway, swinging the wooden door open.

She peered into the dark hallways, staring at the 2 other open doors which each had a shadowy figure standing in the doorway, glancing this way and that.

One called her over, and she walked towards the figure, in need of human comfort, and saw who it was: Will’s pale, alarmed face mirrored her own, his cheeks wet with tears.

He reached out and brushed his hand against her cheek and hair, his free hand hanging onto the wall for dear life. Will let out a long, shaky sigh, gripping Clary’s shoulders gently as if to make sure she was still there and not a ghost.

“I-It was horrible…Sarah. . . she was--she was gone…crumbled away…” Anyone else who might have heard him would have thought he was mumbling nonsense; but Clary, of course, understood at once and embraced him in the heat of the moment to calm him.

Footsteps started approaching, and Clary had to let go of Will with another soothing pat on his shoulder to turn around and see the second figure who had screamed.

Ash’s face was as white as a sheet, his silver hair in tangles.

“O-Oh. You are here.” Clary gaped at his venerable form, the only time she had seen him let down his guard so visibly.

“Did you have a nightmare like us?” Clary found herself asking, and it took the warrior a moment to answer:

“Victoria w-was…” Running out of words to speak aloud, Ash fell silent. Clary scrambled for words that would be comforting, and patted both their shoulders.

“Don’t worry. They were just nightmares.”

Sarah opened her heavy eyelids, eyeing the white, plain ceiling of her room. Suddenly remembering Yuki, she quickly stood up.

However, that was a dreadful move, for pain shot through her chest, where her heart was. She cried out in such agony and pain that one would weep for her.

Sarah quickly glanced around for any signs that Yuki was around; however, he was nowhere to be found. She could not stand up and search the house, because her legs were simply too weak to carry her, and besides, she already knew Yuki wouldn’t be anywhere.

He had perished as all Familiars do when the bond between them and their master is broken. Usually, the pain is not as great; but the more emotions are shared, the more pain when the bond is severed.

Sarah gripped her heart where it ached, weeping loudly, and pounding her fists on the wooden floor, shouting and choking on her repeated cries:

“Yuki…Oh, Yuki come back…Yuki please…Ash…bring Ash back to me. Bring him back…”

The end