In The Overworld
Cadenza stared wide eyed at the crumbled remains of the Nether portal. Her sky blue eyes wet with tears and wide with shock. Aphmau had sacrificed herself, to save her. Cadenza felt soft arms pulling her up, she recognized them to be Cloud's. "M'lady, what happened," her trusted guard asked. Cadenza didn't answer, she couldn't answer. She had just gotten her old friend back, after fifteen long years, Aphmau had come back, only to be gone again within the first week. Laurance would be devastated. Cadenza remembered Aphmau's final request to her. She asked her to tell Laurance that she had always loved him as the brother she never had. Cadenza would honor her request.
Vincent came running out of the forest, into the clearing which the Nether portal once stood. His armor had streaks of black blood dripping from it, most likely from the Shadow Souls. Vincent looked at the portal's remains, for a moment, his eyes were blank, then shock filled his crimson irises. "A Nether portal can only be closed from inside, and Aphmau isn't here, did she...?" Vincent questioned, as he helped his lord off of the ground.
Cadenza could only mutely nod, her eyes now squeezed shut, tears pouring down her face as her body was shaken by her sobs. Her wounds hurt, but they didn't sting as much as the pain in her heart. "Aphmau, please be okay," Cloud whispered his eyes staring blankly at the once active Nether portal. Cloud swung Cadenza's arm over his shoulders to help her walk. After a few seconds he realized that his companion wasn't following him. "Vincent, are you coming?" The Shadow Knight shook his head and replied, "One moment Cloud, I need to make sure that this Nether portal will never open again. I will be back by sundown."
"Oh great Lady Irene, please watch over her, guide her soul through the Nether and keep her safe from the shadows," Vincent whispered, "I am in your debt for saving my lord, please Aphmau, come out alive and untainted by the evils that lurk within the darkness of the fire realm." And he began his work to spread the pieces as far away as he could.
In The Nether
Aphmau lay on a stone alter, her arms and legs bound by chains. She was still in her armor, you had to be to become a Shadow Knight, and she appeared to be unconscious. Her sword lay by her side. Gene and Sasha walked over to her, the former of the two holding a long, curved, silver dagger that almost looked like a claw. "Wake her up," Gene told Sasha, who grumbled, but did as she was told. A swift punch to the gut had Aphmau awake and gasping for breath. Sasha didn't even feel the pain of her fist striking the hard metal of Aphmau's armor.
Her eyes went wide, as she realized where exactly she was. She faintly noticed that her wings were gone, but Aphmau really didn't care at the moment. She tried to struggle, only to find out that she was bound to a stone alter by heavy chains and that her wounds not only still hurt, but were continuing to bleed, long after they should have stopped, just as bad as when she got them. Then she remembered Laurance one telling her, "Wounds don't heal in the Nether, they bleed and bleed, never letting those who had been cut have a moment without that pain, but also never letting them die. Only older Shadow Knights know how to heal them."
"What do you want?" Aphmau yelled, her voice more angry that scared. "Tsk tsk, I would have thought that you would have guessed by now," Gene said as he walked over to his prisoner. His eyes were stone cold, yet they blazed with all the fire in the Nether. His gaze seemed to pierce Aphmau's very soul, and she would be lying if she said that his stare didn't scare her. And that was saying something considering the things that she had been through.
Gene placed the dagger against her throat. Aphmau sucked in a breath, but refused to plead with him. If she died today, he would not have the pleasure of knowing that she begged before him. Gene smirked at her. "Say goodbye to your humanity," He said. The Shadow Knight pulled his arm back to himself. Aphmau saw the bloody dagger before she registered the pain. The curved blade gleaming amber from the orange glow of the lava and the crimson tint of her blood on the blade.
That's when she felt her wound. Aphmau was on fire. She tried to scream, only for blood to pool from her mouth. Heavy tears ran down her face, but when she tried to blink them away, all she saw was red. Was she crying blood? Aphmau felt her strength leaver her and her head lolled to the side. The last things she saw before she fell into the void was the smirking face of Sasha and the blazing, yet cold and calculating eyes of Gene.