Johnny opened his eyes. Pine was gone. The warmth of his presence had disappeared again, leaving nothing but cold space and that terrible feeling of vulnerability. The chill wind swept along the stone walkways, peering into every crack and corner and probing with its cold fingers. And still, Nny didn't feel like he could move. He sat half-curled, leaning heavily against the stone wall. His ear was pressed to it, and inside he thought he could hear the pounding of boots. Without Pine, they would find him in an instant. Had they banished the unicorn again?

The cold was intense; so intense that it seemed to have leaked into his mind, nipping at the edges. Although his perception had numbed, Nny was sure that that was the fault of… that creature. And Pine was gone. The damned unicorn had abandoned him, when he could barely move without being wracked with pain, when he was most vulnerable to the attacks of those… doctors…

Bracing himself, willing his injured body and soul to hold together, Johnny struggled to his feet. He pressed hard against the wall, and stood there, shaking, for a long moment before he found himself able to slowly, very slowly, lean away from the supporting surface and balance on his own two feet. He wobbled, nearly falling again, but he managed to catch his balance. Putting a hand out to catch himself caused a rush of red in front of his eyes, but as he stood still it cleared a moment later. Slowly, painfully, he walked out across the stone courtyard. He was able to make it up a short flight of stairs, to the edge of a high patrol walk of the castle. Holding tightly to the top of the low wall, he leaned over.

Stark, frozen ground greeted his eyes, from much too far away. Not only that; the ground was steep, jagged in places, and sloped on a near straight incline into many treacherous valleys and crags. It looked almost like a mountain range, and a very thin layer of snow coated the entire landscape. No escape here. Not in his condition. He drew back from the wall.

"There he is!" he heard a voice shouting from one of the towers above. Johnny looked up, and his dull eyes glazed over. He was doomed; there was nothing more to it… Pine had abandoned him, and he could not defend himself. He fell back onto the stone platform at the top of the stairs, striking the cold rock painfully. His consciousness flickered, but even as the numbness began to creep up his limbs once more, he stayed aware.



Pine battled. Drawn once more into the astral realm in his vain attempt to keep the demon there, the unicorn fought the thing. It was powerful; so powerful that Pine feared for his victory and even more for his existence. It attacked from all sides; its many facets screamed at him from all around, everywhere he struck it retreated before lunging in from the opposite direction.

The energy that surrounded Pine trembled with fatigue, and still the unicorn struck mercilessly. He used his hooves and his horn to add thrust to his attacks, but though he was managing to keep the thing from laying a claw… or tentacle… or whatever it possessed, on him, he was not hurting it. Somehow he knew that negotiation was not an option. This thing would not bargain. It would torture and destroy, and it would get what it wanted.

Not hurting it, and not pushing it back, either. Alls he was doing was keeping its attention, and he could not do that indefinitely. But Pine could not think what else to do. Perhaps he could give Johnny time to… no. The human was recovering from being torn asunder and could barely think straight. Even without this thing poking into his thoughts.

The unicorn began to back up, and then remembered the ward. He was past it now. It wouldn't let him back either. There was nothing for him to do but keep the demon where it was; where it couldn't hurt Johnny anymore than it already had.



Nny heard the boots only faintly as they ran across the stone, sending shockwaves of sound and tremor through the ground to jar achingly in Johnny's head. He moaned, very softly, and when they surrounded him, the clatter finally ceasing, he did not hear the clicks of their guns nor their demands that he get to his feet.

Pine? Where are you, damn it…

Johnny yelled in pain as he was wrenched to his feet, and he felt the freezing wind bite, as it whipped through him, stealing tiny bits of his life and warmth with each pass. He didn't feel it when they hoisted his thin frame up and marched him back into the depths of the castle. He didn't feel it when they brought him back into that room, when they strapped him to the table, or when the light shone in his eyes. But he felt it when the doctor's elemental closed in on him, straddling him with its ugly presence, and leering into his mind. Nny struggled to get away from it, but he could not, there was nothing he could do to get rid of it. Not even that mind trick, whatever it had been, that had seemed to chase it off before. He tried to concentrate, but tearing agony in his head and deep inside of his being jarred his thoughts until they were nothing more than a confused scramble; a scramble that tried to scatter and cower in fear from the ugly feelings that were pressing in on him.

And the pain started again. A scream was ripped from Johnny's lungs, and it only hurt worse, but he couldn't stop. The pain kept coming, as did the screams that he could not seem to control.



It was out! Dr. Kasavin almost shouted in triumph, as his thin hands came to rest, hard, on the lifeless chest of Johnny's body. He kept his eyes closed, attempting to wrap his power around the soul that struggled, now, to be free, fought and screamed as it thrashed within his grip. He managed to hold it, even as his elemental moved in to help. It loomed in on the soul, howling at it, and wrapping its own hold around the doctor's. This soul wasn't going anywhere.

And then, something cold tickled at Dr. Kasavin's mind. He felt his 'grip' numb and weaken, and he felt that coldness infiltrating the soul. Johnny's soul seemed to scream even more, as the icy shadow wrapped around it, yanking it from the grip of the doctor, fudging his and his familiar's minds with clouded void, breaking through the ward, pulling back through it, and disappearing without a trace a moment later.

The soul was gone. The pale, lifeless corpse lay limply on the table, and Dr. Kasavin, staring unblinkingly, slowly moved his hands to unstrap it. Dead bodies didn't go anywhere by themselves.



Pine stood tall on the crest of a wave of energy. There was not even the semblance of solidity here, just energy that moved and rippled in thousands of colors and sensations. And before the unicorn, maybe off to the side a little, the energy twisted, beginning to roil in an unnatural and ugly way, as it colored darkly. This darker energy formed a swirling abyss in the center of the normal pattern of it. Lines of power criss-crossing along the patterns of energy stopped here, almost like they had been shorted out. Still others diverted well around it.

Pine had lost the battle. That, in itself, was not such a surprising thing; this being, whatever it was and whatever it's purpose, was much more powerful than he himself was. And there was something hungry about it. Something dark. A voracious essence, which no sustenance could satisfy. In its own mind, it must consume everything. It must infect everything, spread its disease until all of existence reeked of its own stink. Would it succeed? Probably not, but that didn't mean it would not take a good chunk of existence with it before it went.

Even now it wanted to spread its ugliness. For that was its essence, negativity. It fed on negative energy. And it fed on it through people like Johnny.

It was Johnny now that Pine could hear screaming. Despite the unicorn's sorrow that the creature had won, he could feel guilt over his inability to protect Nny. Pine knew his own limits, and he never expected to exceed them. He knew what he could do and he did it, and what he could not do he held no shame or self-pity over.

"I'm so sick of it… I hate this, Pine; I'm so fucking sick of it I would puke if I still had guts left to! Goddamned beast, you're so pure and so perfect, just making a laugh of shit like me. Though I suppose I deserve this, don't I? I've done so many horrible things; it was coming to me. With you being here to see me to that end, and rub it in. Fuck you, Pine, and good riddance. All you ever wanted was to keep me here! In the grip of this goddamn THING! So I'll keep living in agony, like the fucking loser I am!" The voice was hysterical, easily so.

It's not true, Johnny, Pine thought, but more to himself than in any form that the tortured soul could hear. Though if Nny were at all capable of logical though, he might realize it, he was not in a state to do so, and Pine would never blame him for it. But there was nothing the unicorn could do now. Pine lifted his muzzle to the swirling energy, turning his head to the dark roiling pit of the creature. Unicorns did not neigh; despite the resemblance to horses they had, but the sound that Pine made was more soulful than a neigh could be. It rang with sorrow and regret, but also of hope, love, and the promise that peace and balance would continue to be fought for. And turning away again, Pine galloped far across the rolling waves and ley lines of energy.