Chapter 25

"You are just as pathetic as your worthless mother. Fine, if zis is what you desire zen so be it." With his words he sent a wave of pure energy hurtling towards you. Let the battle begin…

Jumping to your left you narrowly avoided being hit with one of the energy balls sent flying towards you. It collided with the ground, leaving behind a hole about two feet wide in its wake. He didn't give you much time to assess the situation before continuing his assault. Each time he attacked you barely had enough time to dodge and it seemed he was getting faster with each energy ball.

"You could 'ave 'ad it all if you 'ad simply chosen me."

You scoffed before extending your claws and charging towards the man trying to kill you. You felt a spark of hope ignite in your chest as the tips of your claws made contact with his arm but the hope wasn't long lived. Thrusting his palm into the center of your chest he sent you flying backwards. Out of the corner of your eye you watched as a white blur ran behind you before you landed on something soft and warm. Ille stared intently at you as you stood up and nodded his large head when he realized you were fine.

"After I kill you mon amour I will tear all the people you love to pieces and bathe in their blood."

"I won't let that happen!" Snarling at the cocky man you charged at him once more. Before you could reach him something wrapped around your ankles and pulled you down to the ground. Struggling to free yourself of the invisible bonds you didn't notice Nameless saunter over to you. He stomped his foot into the middle of your back, causing you to cry out in pain when you felt something break. He ground his foot around before lifting you up into the air and keeping you suspended with your arms stretched out to the sides. Ille lunged at him but was cut off by an energy ball to the side. The crunching sound of most of his ribs breaking filled your ears, your own whimpers mixing with his pained howl.

"You really are pathetic. Even (M/N) was able to fight me. I think you need to be punished before I finally release you from this life." You watched in fear as he conjured a cat-o-nine tails whip and played with it in his hands before smiling sadistically at you. Walking oh so slowly to you his cruel smile grew until he was behind you, out of view.

"Leave her alone!" Ciel's enraged voice broke through the tension.

"Oh do you not like what I am doing?" You could practically hear the malice in his voice. After what seemed like hours of waiting for the bite of the whip you watched as Nameless walked in front of you towards the protective dome, your body floating through the air behind him. "Seeing as you seem to care so very much about this disgusting woman you can watch closely as I punish her and know that zere is nozing you can do to stop me. You are all completely powerless against me." It went unnaturally quiet as Nameless circled around you, cracking the whip in the air a few times to scare you. Ignoring him you studied the faces of your friends. Bard was punching the dome trying to get out to help you, Finny was crying into Mey-Rins' shoulder as she stared at you in shock, Ciel was on his knees, horror etched onto his features, and Sebastian's eyes had reverted back to the pink demon colour –you could feel his fury radiating from him from where you were stuck midair.

"I'm so sorry you guys'." Nameless laughed coldly at you before snapping the whip against your back. The metallic tang of blood filled your mouth as you bit your lip in an attempt to keep your screams inside. Not satisfied with your reaction he cracked the whip against you once, twice, three more times. After the third time you couldn't stop the blood curdling screams anymore. The feeling of your flesh being ripped away from your back was one of the worst things you had ever felt before. Warm blood was running down your broken body at a steady pace. Your eyes were screwed shut so that you didn't see the helpless looks on everyone's faces. By the time Nameless had stopped whipping you, you were drifting in and out of consciousness. Opening your eyes slowly you saw blood had flown off of the whip and landed on the protective barrier and there was a pile of vomit beside Finny.

"Is zere anyzing you would like to say before I end you?" Nameless caressed your face with a blood covered hand. You felt the red liquid coat your cheek and you pulled away, trying to look defiant.

"Why?" You croaked out, your voice hoarse from all the screaming.

"Why what?" He tilted his head to the side, similar to how a curious child would.

"Why are you doing this? What did you want with my mom?"

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Power. I wanted her power for my own."

"There's more to it than that. Tell me!" You could feel your life beginning to slip away with each passing second.

"How dare you speak to me like zat!"

The glint in his eye didn't go unnoticed by you and you chuckled quietly. "Ahh so that's it!"

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You loved her didn't you? But she didn't love you back. She was happy with William and you just couldn't handle that. You call me pathetic yet you're just a love sick moron who never stood a chance."

"Watch your mouth you insolent brat!" His hand connecting with your cheek only made you laugh louder, more insanely.

"Let me guess, you thought I was your second chance? Pff hahaha. What are you anyway? Witches can't be male so that rules that out. I'm guessing you're nothing more than a demon."

Nameless took a deep breath to calm himself before staring deep into your eyes. "I see no 'arm in telling you now. I used to be 'uman. I 'ad a wife and I zought we were in love, until I found 'er in bed with my older brozer. I was 'eartbroken until I found someone who promised to 'elp me. By the time I found out what they intended to do to 'elp me it was too late. For years my soul was tortured and molded into what it is now. I was turned into a demon zat much is true. 'Owever, the process to turn me into this involved the sacrifice of a witch and her soul was combined with my own. So yes I am a demon but I possess the soul of a witch deep wizin me. Was zere anything else you would like to know my pet?"

Instead of answering, you pulled back your head and spit in his face, a faint cocky smirk present on your face. Nameless growled angrily before thrusting his hand into your chest and pulling out your still beating heart. His maniacal laughter drowned out your whispered words. "Nos alligant animas nostras non tam me currunt, nos ita vivere, ut ego te mihi dare animam suam.(1)"

His laughter stopped abruptly as thin black chains shot out from the empty cavity in your chest and began piercing various points of his body. The sounds of your friends screams were drowned out as the magic holding you in place fizzled away and you collapsed to the ground. A weak smile formed on your face when you saw Nameless writhing around on the ground in pain before black spots overtook your vision.

Gregoire's Memories (Everyone is speaking French but I'm only writing in English so I don't have to translate everything)

Harsh sunlight forced you to squint your eyes in annoyance as you took in your surroundings. An old looking, modest sized cottage sat nestled in a field of lush green grass with a pen holding pigs off to the left. The door to the cottage slammed open and a laughing woman ran out, her long blonde hair flying out behind her. A familiar looking man chased close behind her, his laughter mixing with hers. The happy couple continued the chase for a few more minutes until Gregoire caught her around her waist and captured her lips in a loving kiss.

"I never loved you any more than I do, right this second. And I'll never love you any less than I do, right this second (2). I love you Adelaide." The loving interactions between the two was enough to make you want to throw up. Scoffing, you turned around and started to walk away.

The brightness of the sunlight began to fade away as the scene changed. Now you found yourself standing inside of a sparsely decorated bedroom with three others, two of which were lying on the bed underneath the covers while Gregoire stared at the scene with a look of betrayal plastered on his face.

"A-adelaide? Frederic? What is going on here?" The heartbroken man took a slow step backwards.

"Gregoire my love I am so sorry, I did not want you to find out this way." The guilty woman pleaded as she moved as far away from the man in bed beside her.

"Why? And why with my only brother? What have I done to hurt you so badly that you would do this to me?"

"Is it not obvious brother? She obviously prefers me over you." Frederic sneered at his younger brother as he wrapped an arm around the cheating woman's shoulders and brought her closer.

"No matter what has happened. No matter what you've done. No matter what you will do. I will always love you. I swear it (3)." The last thing you saw before it all faded away were the tears streaming down Gregoires' face…

As the new scene took form you noticed that you were now standing in a loud and dirty tavern. Most of the people inside were as drunk as they could be, yelling and slurring their words. Scanning the faces in the room it didn't take long to find the person you were looking for. Sitting alone at a table in the far corner of the room was the man whose memories you were enjoying, although he was looking awful. His long brown hair was hanging limp around his face, greasy and frizzled, his face was covered by a scraggly looking beard, and his clothes were filthy and torn. Walking closer your nose was assaulted by the smell of alcohol and sweat. Examining him closer you saw that his lifeless grey eyes were blood shot and full of nothing.

"Tremoille, I presume?" A honey-like voice made you look up to see one of the most beautiful women standing beside you, staring down at the man with a look of amusement and disgust clear in her crystal blue eyes. You couldn't stop the small twinge of jealousy you felt as you eyed her up and down. She stood straight up, her full chest pushed out and quite visible as he cloak had fallen open. Long, silky, dark brown hair cascaded down her shoulders and accentuated her flawless tanned skin. Full pink lips pulled back in a heartless smirk showing off her white teeth. She turned her head in your direction and it looked like she was staring deep into your soul as she sent you a playful wink. Reeling back, all of the colour drained from your face. Holy fuck can she see me?

"What do you want? Can't you see I am busy right now?"

"It seems as though you do not want my help, oh well. I would have thought that you would like for all of your pain to disappear but it seems I am mistaken. I shall take my leave." The cunning woman turned to leave with a large smile on her face as she counted down to three wordlessly.

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Can you really help me?"

"I am the only one who can help you now."

"What is your name?"

The female ran her fingers through her luscious hair before answering, "Catherine Monvoisin (4), at your service."

Reality

As the memories faded reality came crashing down around you. Coughing harshly blood sprayed out of your mouth as an agonizing pain spread through your chest. Looking down you saw the hole in your chest start healing at an incredible pace. Gritting your teeth you looked up and saw Nameless convulsing on the ground, his skin begging to bubble and melt away. You watched in fascination as his skin slowly melted off, and then his muscles, and finally his bones until there was nothing left except a pile of blood and mush. Once there was nothing left of the man that used to be you stood up, wincing as the rest of your wounds healed themselves. A new dark feeling came over you and you stood motionless until Ciel called out to you.

"(Y/N), are you alright? Please let us out now." It was silent for a moment before you broke out in psychotic laughter. Your yellow-green eyes faded to black as you slowly turned your attention to the group. The fear was weighing in the air so thick that you could almost taste it. "(Y-Y/N)?"

Sluggishly your feet made their way to your friends, a crazed smile on your face. Extending one clawed hand out you tried reaching through the barrier, only to have the magic stop you. Frowning, you gazed into everyone's terrified faces before howling in rage and trying to tear through the barrier. Mey-Rin, Finny, and Bard were cowering in fear while Sebastian stood in front of Ciel protectively. A dainty hand was placed on your shoulder and you spun around ready to attack. Your mouth fell open in shock when you saw the woman in front of you.

"Hello again. It has been a very, very long time." Catherine smiled.

"You! I mean, what are you talking about? We've never met before." Snapping coldly you pushed her hand off of you.

"Not officially, but I saw you when I first met Gregoire."

"So you were looking at me. But how did you see me?"

"It is one of my specialties to see the unseen." Clasping her hands in front of her she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Why are you here?"

"I knew of what was to come the second I first saw you so I knew of the events that would unfold here."

"That doesn't answer my question, why are you here?"

"Simple. Because right now I am the only chance you have to return to normal. You feel it, I know you do. It is a darkness unlike what you already possess and it will only get worse. When you cast your spell you not only saved your own life while taking his but you also took in his own tortured soul along with the soul of the witch he sacrificed. If you do not accept my help you will eventually kill all of your friends along with your mate and I do not think that is what you want."

She was right, you could feel yourself changing into something much worse than you had thought possible. "How can you help?"

"That is the tricky part. I know a spell that will set things right with you, however…"

"What? What is going to happen?"

A look of sincere regret clouded Catherine's features. "By using the spell you will be taken back to your own time, back to the place where this all started for you."

"But what about everyone here? I can't just leave them!"

"I understand how you feel but this is your only choice if you do not want to become like he was."

"Why should I trust you? You're a witch just like me, so what are you getting out of this?" Narrowing your eyes you scrutinized the woman.

Catherine was silent as she reached into the pocket of her cloak and pulled out an old piece of paper. Handing it to you she watched you as you read. "This was the last letter (M/N) sent me. She explained what was happening with Gregoire and how she was leaving. She never knew that I was responsible for his creation. So I do not get anything out of helping you (Y/N) but I do get the chance to repent for what I have done."

"Will I ever be able to come back?"

She went quiet again, "It may be possible with your power but I cannot say for sure, I am sorry."

"Please think about this (Y/N), you cannot leave me like this. I love you." Ciels' voice cracked as he begged you to stay.

Glancing at your friends one last time you nodded solemnly, "Let's do this." Ignoring the shouted protests from Ciel and the others you turned back to the other witch.

"You made the right decision." She began chanting something under her breath and the air seemed to constrict around you, cutting off your oxygen. As she finished chanting she stepped towards you and you caught the gleam of something shiny before you felt a painful stinging sensation run across your neck. With the lack of oxygen and the blood loss from the slit in your throat it wasn't long before you slipped away.

Bind our souls to make us one so from me you cannot run, make us one so I may live from you to me your life you give.

Quote from Beautiful Creatures (Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl)

Quote from Defiance (C.J Redwine)

Catherine Monsoivin was an actual 'witch'