Disclaimer: I do not own any part of My Candy Love, it all belongs to ChiNoMiko. Except for Stephanie, who is mine.

"Nathaniel?" Stephanie called out, louder this time. She could no longer see more than five feet in front of her. "Nathaniel? Nathaniel?" she called out again, her voice turning frantic. When had she lost him? Why hadn't she paid attention? "Nathaniel!" she yelled, but was met only with silence. She started to shiver, not only because it was getting chilly, but because she was scared. Scared of the dark. She hated the dark. She was terrified of it.

She looked around, rubbing her arms as she tried to remember where she'd come from, hoping to retrace her steps. But it was too dark: she couldn't see a thing.

A sudden rustling noise made her jump, and she whipped around, panicking as she tried to find the source of the sound. Was it a bear? She'd heard Castiel mentioning that there were some in the forest. But surely he hadn't been serious? She heard the rustling again, closer this time, and choked out a soundless scream. There was a hooting in the distance; a little further off, there was the sound of a bug being crushed. And was that a wolf that she heard howling?

The rustling stopped, and suddenly all was quiet. Tears welled up in her eyes; maybe from the relief that the noises had stopped, or maybe because it was suddenly so much creepier without them. She turned in a circle, glancing around frantically, willing herself to calm down, to realize that there were no monsters, that it was just her. Just her.

The thought only pained her even more.

And, suddenly, there the figure stood, not two feet away, looking just as she had Stephanie's entire life. Stephanie stood frozen as her mother strode towards her, almost gliding. No, Stephanie thought, backing away slowly, Stop it, it's just another illusion. It's not real. Stop it. Stop it.

"Stephanie," her mother said in a soothing voice, smiling happily, the only way Stephanie had ever liked her to smile. "Stephanie, sweetie, I missed you so much. Where have you been? When we get home, I'll make you a warm cup of tea. And soup! I know how much you love it when I make soup."

Stephanie sobbed, the tears running uncontrollably down her cheeks. She knew this wasn't real. She was seeing things. But seeing her mother again, without stress, acting like a mother truly should, was too much. Why couldn't she have always been like this?

And then her mother grimaced, her eyes full of anger. Stephanie froze, choking on the sob that had been about to escape her. She knew that look. She hated that look. She'd seen it way too often.

"Why did you do it?" she shrieked, "Why did you leave us? Why did you leave me? I loved you, and you... You left me to to die! How could you, you worthless girl, you good-for-nothing, you cold-hearted piece of trash! How could you?!"

Stephanie turned and ran. Away from the illusion, from her mother crying angrily, degrading her, calling her names no mother should ever call her daughter. She ran, sobbing and crying and moaning as she tried to get away from it all, to find a place to hide. She'd never been good at running away, only ever good at hiding, hoping fervently that her problems would float past her. But where could she hide? Where? In this dark forest, where there were monsters just lying in wait to jump on her and slit her throat. Where? Her lungs were ripping apart, her legs were lead, but still she kept running, her tears blurring her vision, her ears deaf to even her own cries and screams of terror.

There it was, the knife that she'd held, its blade buried in the rock to her left.

And there, in the distance, she could see her old house, her old farmhouse, being ripped to shreds, the roaring wind and pouring rain destroying it completely.

She tripped, falling face-first into a puddle of murky water. She scrambled up, wiping at her face, coughing, crying, and started to run again. She scratched her leg on the corner of a sharp rock, a stinging pain shooting up her leg, but Stephanie was unaware of it. She ran straight into a tree: her surroundings spun around her, and she collapsed onto her knees, trying to stop the dizziness. She staggered up to stand, trying to make sense of things, to sort her thoughts. She was Stephanie Handler, 17 years old. Her parents were dead, and she was lost in a forest in the dark. She was alone.

Alone.

Completely alone.

She shrieked as she heard a rustling sound next to her. Something grabbed her arm: she screamed, trying to pull away, but too weak to do so. The person was saying something, but Stephanie couldn't hear them, nor see them through her blurred vision: she thrashed violently, willing them to let go.

"Let go of me!" she screamed through her sobs, "Get away! Let go, let go! Stop! I didn't do it on purpose, I didn't do anything! Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She was a blubbering mess now, losing feeling in her arms and legs, her energy seeping out of her. A faraway voice called out: "Stephanie? Hold on, Stephanie, just hold on tight, we're going back." Was that... Dajan...?

"Dajan..." she rasped, reaching out with her arm, and feeling something warm engulf her hand. Warmth. It felt so nice.

Stephanie was barely conscious as she was dragged back to the starting point by Dajan. She could just barely make out hurried scuffling, worried voices trying to shake her back to reality. Someone was inspecting her leg; others were calling her name. Someone came to stand in front of her.

"Stephanie? Oh, God..." Was that Nathaniel?

"She's fine. Just dirty," Dajan replied.

"...Can I take her?"

"Go ahead," Dajan replied, leaning Stephanie gently into someone's arms. Yes, it was Nathaniel. It smelt like him. Stephanie cracked her eyes open just a little, trying to make out his face.

"Nathaniel...?" she mumbled, and he leaned in closer so that their noses were nearly touching.

"Stephanie? Thank goodness, you're okay... We're going to call the hospital, don't worry."

No, she thought, Not the hospital. Don't send me back there. Anywhere but that horrible place. But her thoughts were quickly wiped out by unconsciousness.

...

"Stephanie?!"

Agatha rushed into the hospital room and threw herself onto Stephanie, who was sitting up in her bed. She stiffened at Auntie's touch, but relaxed slowly into the hug. It was early morning, around six o'clock, and Stephanie had just woken up. She didn't have any bad injuries, just a scratch on her leg and a bump on her head from having run into the tree, along with a few a small bruises. She was fine, she repeated whenever a nurse asked her, she was ready to leave. But the doctors insisted that she should stay for an extra couple of hours. Stephanie was fine. She'd be even better once she got the hell out if this place.

Auntie sat down next to her, holding her hand and stroking it softly. Stephanie struggled to smile: she didn't want Auntie to worry about her over something so small.

"I'm fine," she repeated once again, though the words were starting to feel stale in her mouth. Auntie smile worriedly.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so glad you're okay," she said, her voice cracking slightly, "They called me and said you were in the hospital, but they didn't expand on it, and, and..."

"It's okay, Auntie," Stephanie reassured as soothingly as she could, "I just got lost at the orienteering race. I'm okay now, see?"

"But, to think, you were alone, in the dark, in the middle of the forest... Oh, Stephanie, you must have been so, so scared... I know how much you hate the dark," Auntie sniffled softly, and Stephanie felt her throat constrict. She swallowed her tears and squeezed her aunt's hand comfortingly.

"It's fine," Stephanie said softly, "I'm fine. It's fine. I'm okay. I'm fine."

The tears slid slowly down her cheek: she wiped at her face, but she couldn't stop them. Auntie leaned Stephanie's head onto her shoulder and didn't say anything. Stephanie was so grateful for Auntie being there: no one else would willingly let her cry on their shoulder like this, no one else understood how to calm her down, no one else took such good care of her. Auntie took so much time out of her own to care for Stephanie, always putting Stephanie's needs before her own, and Stephanie took it all for granted. This thought only made her cry harder. That illusion had told the truth: she was selfish, a coward, a good-for-nothing...

"I love you, Stephanie," Agatha whispered into her hair, and Stephanie sobbed.

"T-Too much.. Y-You.. too m-much, love me... t-too much..." she blubbered. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve any of this. She should have died in that hurricane instead of her parents.

"I love you," Agatha repeated, "I love you, I love you, I love you..."

I love you, too. But I don't deserve it on your part.

A/N: Scary/melodramatic chapter for you guys... Because, you know, I'm an asstard... Some fluff in the next chapter (I hope...)! :D Please REVIEW, and thanks for reading.

...No, I'm serious, review. No one has done it for the past three chapters, and I'm feeling kind of neglected... (lol, I'm a self-centered little bitch.) Again, thank you so much for reading.