Firstly I'd just like to thank all of you guys that have read and enjoyed this story, it means a lot to me. And I'm sorry it's taken me a while to update, but I couldn't think of how to start this chapter for the life of me! I'll try and update this story regularly. Promise.

"I can't kill you," Bloom gasped, stepping back in shock.

"You have to Bloom!" Cathy grabbed the fairy's wrists. "Please! Just do it! Everyone I knew is dead, there's nothing left for me if I live. And even if you let me go, I have no power to defend myself. Someone will get me, and they'll make it as painful as possible. Please," she locked her dark eyes with Bloom's blue ones pleadingly, "your friends depend on you as much as I do. You have no idea what could be happening to them right now."

Two things snapped at once. Helia's conscience and the barrier containing him. Helia leapt on top of his other self, pulling the black hair back so hard he felt he could snap his neck easily if he wanted to. But first he wanted to cause this… thing a world of pain.

"How… fucking… dare… you!" He punctuated each word with a powerful punch to the jaw. The imposter struggled to break free beneath his grasp whilst Flora looked on, completely baffled. Another powerful blow to his ribs, a left hook to the nose, and a right hook to the arm… the motions repeated themselves until the other Helia could predict his moves and was able to throw the real Helia off. Purposely, he rolled on top of the real Helia so Flora couldn't tell which one was which.

"Flora! Help!" Flora's head shook frantically, unable to decide which one was the real Helia. They were so alike, from their cobalt eyes to their graceful motions. She was torn.

"I can't get out," she called back lamely.

Both faces turned to her before turning back on eachother, perfectly synchronised. It was unbelievably strange. It appeared that whatever one Helia did, the other did also – at the exact same time. One swung their arm to the others ribs, the other did the same. One swerved to the left, the other did the same. The only way any of this could be sorted out was if Flora intervened, and for the time being she was strapped down to the side of a cliff.

"Help me," she wept, hoping with all of her heart that someone would.

Tecna's mind was racing a mile a minute with various plots. Use electrical energy to manipulate Musa's powers, leaving her vulnerable and disposable. Flora will be easily swayed – convince her you need help, get her on her own, and finish her off. Stella won't put up a fight, after Layla's death she won't want to be responsible for another. Now for Bloom… ow!

Tecna took a step back. She couldn't see anything suspicious, just the end of the forest. Cautiously, her hand pawed the air infront of her until it met with a smooth surface almost an arm's length away. Using her detection powers, she was able to highlight the barrier infront of her, which was as high as the treetops and stretched out as far as Tecna could see. The neon-coloured cuboid was transparent, but Tecna had a feeling that she couldn't see what was really inside. And she began to question whether she really wanted to know. Shrugging her shoulders, she headed in a different direction and lifted the spell, leaving the barrier invisible to the naked eye.

Stumbling through a sharp thicket, Tecna came across a set of strange footprints leading into the very thick of the forest. Curiosity got the better of her so tentatively, the pink-haired girl stepped forward, hiding behind trees as she did so. The prints were fresh, created about an hour or so ago. If she didn't find whatever, or whoever, the prints belonged to within the next ten minutes or so, she'd move on.

"It must be around here somewhere," Tecna thought aloud to herself as she clambered over a large boulder blocking her path. The grey skies shone very little light, so Tecna had to strain her eyes to take in her surroundings. There wasn't much; tree, another tree, bush, yet another tree, a really big tree, another bush, rocks… on and on.

A scream. A deafening, high pitched scream, coming from Tecna's right. She surged forward, desperately trying to find the source of the sound, when she collided with another figure.

"Run!" The green-haired girl gripped Tecna's shoulders, shaking her manically back and forth. Before Tecna could reply, the girl had stumbled forward and started running in the opposite direction, away from whatever she had seen.

Being the inquisitive person she is, Tecna ignored the girls warning, and went straight into the belly of the beast.

Nabu was struggling through the undergrowth of the forest, casually pulling vines apart only to have them grow back even thicker. He used the last of his magic to create a path for him to follow, only for it to be hidden in a matter of seconds by a dense wall of vines. "Not helping," he growled.

With no other option, he began to scale the tightly-woven barrier of greenery, growing closer to the tip of the branch of a tree. Once he was close enough to grab hold, he hauled himself onto the branch and crouched down carefully to take in his surroundings. Everything he saw was covered in the same thick green vines, as if they were trying to hide something.

He leapt carelessly from branch to branch, tree to tree, trying to avoid the vines as much as possible. Every now and again, one would wind itself around one of his ankles and catch him off-guard, but the forest was so dense that the chances of plummeting to the ground without being able to grab onto something was incredibly slim. He remembered back on Tides where he was taught how to balance on the narrowest of pillars that protruded from the sea of Andros. His only motivation then was to not fall in the sea and be snapped up by some kind of monster. Now, all he had going for him was to keep moving forward. He was repeating the phrase in his head when something caught his eye. Long, dark hair flowed gently in the breeze, snagging every now and again on loose twigs or leaves. Nabu jumped forward back into the vines he had put so much effort into climbing, to see if he had imagined what he saw. To his horror, he was right.

Hanging from a particularly compact barricade of forestation, with a thin vine cutting into his neck, was Palis.

Fauna's legs buckled beneath her as she reached the specific point where the forest changed to desert. It was sudden, as if a line was drawn dividing where the sand shifted gently under the weight of a creature, and the grass that blanketed the ground of the forest. She hugged her knees and rocked on her side, unable to form words over her sobs.

"Fauna, what happened?" Miran sprinted towards his girlfriend and skidded to his knees before he reached her. "Look at me!"

Fauna sniffed loudly and tried to explain herself, but more throaty cries tumbled out, replacing an explanation she so badly wanted to give him. When Miran realised she was too upset to speak, he pulled her into a tight embrace, silently promising himself he wouldn't let go.

"That thing… the thing you said got those other Specialists… I saw it. It's…" Fauna's sentence was broken off by a rough gurgling sound building up in her throat.

"Shh, I know," Miran soothed as his hand combed through her wavy green hair.

"It was horrible! Its claw swung out at me, and I thought I was going to die… then I saw the pink-haired girl going towards it when I ran away… I know they're supposed to die, but I couldn't let her go! I couldn't! No one deserves that!"

"It's okay," he shushed gently. "It's all going to be okay…"

"You're lying," Fauna hiccupped once she'd regained control of her voice. "Everything's not okay! This is the total opposite of okay! This is the worst thing that could ever happen!"

"No it's not," Miran murmured.

"Yes it is!"

"No, the worst thing that could ever happen would be losing you." Fauna looked up at her boyfriend, the one who had been so loyal and protective.

"Really?"

"Really," he smiled. "We've come this far, I'm not gonna let you go without a fight."

"I love you," Fauna whispered. It was all she could manage through the lump expanding in her throat.

"I love you, too."

Musa's joints were screaming out in pain as she sprinted further into the undergrowth of the forest. The foliage was growing thicker the more she ran, but her legs refused to stop. Small rocks flew into the air as the ground beneath her feet shook violently every few seconds. Musa dared to turn her head, and saw that the creature she was running from was drawing nearer.

A sharp claw swept swiftly through the air where her head had just been and cut through the tangled vines. If she hadn't ducked in time, she would have been decapitated. This only encouraged Musa to pick up speed and charge through the path the beast had made, before it closed up again. She hoped that the vines would close quickly enough so the monster would be trapped, but luck wasn't on her side. The creature leapt above her head and landed with a loud thump on the moist ground infront of Musa, making her change direction. The beast spun round and chased her again. It reminded Musa of the time she took down a Minotaur in the halls of Alfea, when Riven had come to her rescue…

Riven.

Musa stopped abruptly in her path. She turned slowly to face the creature, who was readying for an attack. Musa let her arms fall limply to her sides, and closed her eyes. I'll see you soon Riven.

The beast raised one of its giant paws, extending a particularly sharp, curved claw. Musa braced herself to feel the slice of the claw hack off her own head.

It didn't come.

Bloom paced the forest floor hurriedly, debating whether or not it was safe to trust the witch. If she had it in her to kill someone. If she wanted Cathy dead in the first place. Bloom had experience with witches, and not one – with the exception of Mirta – had shown her any kindness. How could she trust Cathy to be any different from the others? That's when she realised that she already knew the answer. "What do I have to do?"

Cathy's body relaxed, and for the first time in a while, she was smiling. "Whatever you want. Just make it quick and painless."

"I don't know how," Bloom blushed, suddenly embarrassed.

"What about the Dragon Fire?"

"It's not designed to kill, and I don't have any weapons."

Cathy pursed her lips thoughtfully. "You could strangle me?"

Bloom shook her head. "It'd take too long. I don't want to hurt you, and I have to get to my friends."

"I understand." Cathy ran a hand nervously through her hair, contemplating whether or not she really wanted to go through with this. But then she remembered that she didn't have much to lose. "Can I make this any easier on you?"

Bloom thought of her own motivation. "Where's Sky?"

"I don't know," Cathy confessed. "I only told you I knew where he was because I wanted to use it as leverage. I don't know if he's safe, or…"

"You lied to me?" Cathy nodded slowly. "How can I trust you? How can I trust you about any of this? My friends could be dying, and all you're doing is stalling!"

"It's my job! Anastasia left me here to die. She took all of my energy! I have nothing left! Nothing! I don't want to live! What's the point if you have no one left to live for? Everyone I know, everything I ever knew, they're gone! It's all gone!" Just then, the witch did something she vowed she'd never do, especially infront of a fairy. She fell to her knees and cried.

"But…"

"Just do it. Please."

Deep in the forest, haunted by the memories of his friends, Timmy stalked towards the cliff side feeling more alone than ever. It had dawned on him that he would never see Riven or Layla again. There wouldn't be anyone to call him 'Mainframe' or tease him when he struggled to participate in a conversation to do with extreme sports. He wouldn't have the strong-headed, independent princess to point him in the right direction when he didn't have the nerves to tell Tecna something important about their relationship. In different ways, those two people had toughened him up to be a proper man, and had taught him lessons he'd never forget. How could he live without them?

What upset him further was the realisation that he was losing Tecna, too. Timmy didn't know what was going on in that head of hers, which was odd because usually he knew exactly what Tecna was thinking, but it troubled him. Tecna's strange behaviour had made the Specialist paranoid and distrustful of his girlfriend. When she threatened to kill the girls, she couldn't be serious. Tecna was always so logical, so level-headed and in control of any situation. It was so unlike her to lose her cool like that. Timmy knew his Tecna was intelligent, funny, kind, beautiful… but this place had turned his Tecna, the Tecna he loved more than anything else in the world, into a monster.

Deep down, Tecna was still that intelligent person. Timmy knew she was. She could think of multiple solutions to get herself out of a sticky situation. And this is what worried Timmy the most, because if this new Tecna was as smart as his, then nothing could be done to stop her.

"I should turn back," Timmy sighed. He was about to do so when a distinctive scream sounded from the cliff side. Someone was in danger.

"Nabu!"

"Stay down!" he commanded, holding the fairy to the ground. The beast was drawing nearer, infuriated by the interruption.

"Let me go!" Musa struggled out of Nabu's hold, kicking and biting as best as she could under the circumstances. He ignored her and pushed her further into a tight group of vines, hoping the monster wouldn't cut them down to reveal their hiding place. He crawled on his knees and elbows towards the trunk of a tree for refuge. Musa was in front, and was forced to head the same way. Turning back wasn't an option; Nabu would only force her onwards again. And there was no other way to turn.

"Can this thing climb?"

"No. It relies on cutting things down."

"Okay," Nabu stopped mid-crawl, "we have to climb up the vines. There's a tight cluster not far ahead, but it's going to be hard. Are you ready?"

"No."

Nabu pretended she'd said otherwise. "Okay, let's go!"

The pair made it to a break in the vines where, as Nabu promised, was a wall of tightly-woven vines that formed a makeshift ladder. Nabu waited for Musa to climb first before grabbing onto the vines himself. He hauled himself up with ease and climbed quickly until he was right next to Musa, who was starting to shake with fear.

"There's something there," she whispered, daring to unhook one hand to point upwards. Nabu followed the direction of her finger and saw two elongated ovals rocking side to side. He knew exactly what – or rather who it was, but he wasn't going to scare Musa by telling her the truth.

"Ignore it, keep climbing."

Musa obeyed and scaled up the barrier, aiming for the closest branch. Nabu was about to swing to the side to join her when the shing sound of a knife slicing through flesh echoed around the treetops above him. Nabu shut his eyes tightly, but he could still feel the whoosh of the body falling past him, and the thump when it landed on the ground. And he knew there and then that he'd never forget the piercing screech of Musa's scream. "Nabu! Nabu it's here! Nabu!"

The sorcerer was snapped back to reality in an instant and scurried towards Musa, determined to reach her before the creature did. The vines were still rebuilding, and every now and again Nabu would accidentally grab onto one that was loose, causing him to slip. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he swung towards Musa using a vine that was still intact, narrowly missing the snout of the beast before him. Musa was already perched on the branch, ready to climb upwards for cover. Nabu heaved his body next to hers, adjusted his grip on the side of the wide trunk and shuffled upwards to the next branch. Musa followed.

"Who was that?" Musa cried, her eyes glassing over with tears.

"Palis," Nabu whispered.

He spotted his cousin's bloody torso lying on the ground. The creature that was so focused on them a second ago had taken interest in something Nabu couldn't see from so high up, so instead he focused on the little details of his surroundings. Its fur was black, thick and bristly and the claws were curved like yellow opaque phantoblades, only much longer and probably deadlier. He only had to look to his right to see the rest of his cousin, still suspended from the roped vine. He avoided turning that way at all costs.

"I'm sorry," Musa sniffed. Nabu wasn't sure if she was talking about her constant crying, trying to get herself killed, or Nabu's loss. In the end he shook his head. "He was a good man."

"The best," Nabu agreed. "Layla's going to be devastated when she finds out."

Musa's head snapped round, her sorrow replaced with irritation in a flash. "Nabu, Layla's not coming back."

"She is, I'm sure of it-"

"No," Musa told him firmly, "Layla's not coming back. Layla is dead. Stop pretending like everything's okay, because it's not! Riven and Layla are gone, and no matter how much you say otherwise, they're still gonna be dead! There's nothing we can do!"

"But she must be alive," Nabu choked.

"She's gone, Nabu. I know it's hard, believe me, but it's the truth. The more you kid yourself, the more it's going to hurt."

"But it's unnatural for someone to sense another person's wellbeing…"

"Unless you love them," Musa finished, tears refilling her eyes. She looked at Nabu, who had silvery streaks staining his cheeks. Nabu extended his arms to embrace Musa, and the two shared a warm hug filled with loss and regret, of the things they forgot to, and never could say to their loved ones, who were long gone. The way Nabu held Musa reminded her of how her father Ho-Boe would hug her to show her how proud he was. She realised she'd never get to do that again, which made her cry even harder. "Nabu, I'm so sorry."

Nabu shook his head. "This isn't over."

You have no idea how many times I had to re-write this chapter until I was satisfied. Seriously. Oh well, the good news is that my writer's block has disappeared (for now) and I should have another chapter up in a day or two.