Hi, guys! So, I know the chapters are getting shorter, and I apologize for that, but at least I'm updating faster, right? Anyway, I actually really like this chapter, even though it's kinda... I dunno. Ok so I was reading the first chapter of Forgotten cuz memories y'know and I realized my writing has come a long way. Like... I don't even know but I think it's true. I don't have time to do a disclaimer, so I don't own A&A blah blah blah... Now, read on!

Our Reunion Is Interrupted

(Austin's P.O.V.)

It's all my fault. We're stuck in this stupid dungeon because of me. Ally's being tortured because of me and my stupidity. Seeing Sarah do…whatever she did to Ally literally killed me inside. The worst part was that I couldn't even do anything about it.

Sure, Ally says it's not my fault. But I think we both know it really is. There's surely something I could've done to get here faster. I was just too stupid to think of something. And now Ally's suffering the consequences. Yeah, I am, too. But that doesn't bother me. I deserve it for not saving her. Ally doesn't. I mean, what did she even do wrong?

Nothing. She did nothing wrong. I remember that this is all for Sarah's entertainment. And while I still think it's my fault, I know she made the mission impossible. But my life motto is 'Nothing is impossible.' Besides, if it wasn't for my stupidity last summer, Sarah wouldn't have bothered us in the first place. To think that this all started with a love song.

This all runs through my mind as I hug Ally. Suddenly, she steps away.

"Austin, this isn't your fault," she says. "We already went over this."

"How did you even-" I start.

"I can read you like a book," she replies. "Anyway, why are you blaming yourself?"

"Because I know there was some way to save you, but I didn't think of it in time. And now you're being tortured because of it. I'm sorry, Als," I tell her sadly. She grabs my arms.

"You don't need to apologize, because you did nothing wrong. I'm not mad or upset, and you shouldn't be either. Please be happy again," she says, shaking my arms slightly as she talks. I sigh.

"How can I be happy when I have to watch my girlfriend being tortured while not being able to do anything about it?"

"You have to remember that it'll get better." I nod and pull her into another hug. If I close my eyes, it almost feels like we're in the practice room. Ally steps away again. "What's on my leg?" she mutters to herself.

She reaches down and touches her leg, bringing her hand up red. I shut my eyes and wait for her to yell at me.

"Austin," she says calmly, "why am I looking at your leg soaked in blood?"

"Don't kill me," is all I say. Hey, she can be scary when she's mad, and I can tell she's mad.

"Did the shark bite you?" she asks. I nod slowly, opening one eye. "Why didn't you tell me?!" she exclaims. "You could be dying of blood loss!"

"I'm fine," I tell her quietly. "It doesn't even hurt."

"Austin, the shark tore off a huge chunk of your leg, and it doesn't even hurt?!" she shouts doubtfully.

"I'm not kidding, Als. I'm perfectly fine, really." Okay, it hurts a little, but if I say that, she'll start worrying. I don't need to add that to her already long list of things to stress about.

"I don't believe you, but I know you won't tell me the truth, so I'm not gonna push it. But if you die of blood loss, I'm gonna kill you."

"Yes, ma'am," I reply, saluting. She rolls her eyes.

Just then, two plates and two cups appear in front of us. My plate has a huge stack of chocolate chip pancakes on it. I grin and dive at the plate, chowing down on the pancakes.

"Austin, don't eat those!" Ally shouts. "What if they're poisoned?" I roll my eyes.

"I'm fine, Als. Stop worrying and eat your pickles." I give her the plate of pickles. She sighs and eats one. "See? Everything's perfectly-" I cut off and start twitching. I fall back on the ground, twitching and writhing.

"Austin!" Ally screams. I stop moving and my eyes close. "Austin?" Ally says. She starts shaking me. "No, you can't die on me, again! I need you! Austin, please!"

"Gotchya!" I exclaim, opening my eyes. Ally's mouth falls open, and I see a tear streaking down her face. I wipe it with my thumb. Then, she punches my shoulder. "Was that supposed to hurt?" I ask. She nods.

"How could you do that to me? You already died on me once! Why would you make me go through it again? I thought you were dead! I thought Sarah poisoned you! I didn't know what I was gonna do! What makes you think you can just-" I cut off her rambling with a kiss.

When we pull away, she glares at me.

"I'm still mad at you," she says. Another tear makes its way down her perfect cheek.

"Sorry," I say genuinely. "I promise I'll never die on you again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she replies. "Who knows when we'll break down here?" I shrug. Then, I take a drink from my cup. I start coughing.

"HOT!" I exclaim. I feel like fire is burning its way down my throat. I look in the cup and realize that I just drank liquid fire. What? Ally grabs my cup.

"Oh my gosh," she says. She concentrates on my injured leg. I follow her gaze and see that my leg is healing.

"What the heck is that stuff?" I ask.

"It can't actually be real," she mutters to herself. "There's just no way. How did Sarah even get to it? Ugh, she's so evil!"

"What're you talking about?" Ally sighs.

"Do you know any Greek mythology?" she asks. I give her a look. She rolls her eyes. "Well, in Greek mythology there's this deep pit called Tartarus where all the monsters go when they die, and-"

"So, it's like monster Heaven?" I ask.

"No," she replies. "Anyway, so there are five rivers in Tartarus. One of them is called the Plegethon."

"So?" I interrupt. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Don't interrupt and you'll find out," she says with annoyance. "Anyway, what flows in the Plegethon isn't water. It's fire."

"So I just drank fire?" I ask to confirm my suspicion.

"Yeah. Anyway-"

"How did that heal me though?" I interrupt again. She gives me a look. "Sorry," I apologize.

"The river flows in the Underworld-no, it's not the same as Tartarus-and the fire from it supposedly healed the injuries of tortured souls so they could endure more in the Fields of Punishment."

"Lovely," I remark. Ally nods. "So, what does this mean?" I ask her.

"Gosh, you're so clueless."

"That, I can agree with. I didn't even notice your obvious feelings for me." Ally rolls her eyes.

"Sarah's gonna make us drink the fire every day so we can endure more torture," she tells me.

"Oh, that actually makes sense," I say. "Sarah's thought of everything. She won't let us die till she's done with us." Ally nods.

"Everything's gonna be okay, though," she says confidently. Like always, I believe her. I nod.

"At least we're actually together," I say, pulling her in for another hug. She holds me tightly, and I smile.

Suddenly, Ally and I are blasted apart. Ally hits the concrete wall on her side and crumbles to the ground, her head bleeding.

"Ally!" I yell. I try to run to her, but a glass wall way thicker than the first one appears in my way.

"Austin, did you really think that you'd be able to have the upper hand? This is my turf, and I have supernatural powers. You can't win," Sarah says from behind me. I narrow my eyes and turn around. I storm up to her.

"I don't care!" I shout. "I'm not giving up. Now, go help Ally, or I'll.. I'll…" I trail off.

"You'll what?" Sarah asks, amused. I'm silent.

"Just, please help her," I say in a small voice. I know I sound weak, but this is Ally we're talking about. I need her to be okay. "Please," I repeat.

"I don't think I will," Sarah replies. "You broke my glass wall. Do you really think I would reward you with helping your girlfriend? If anything, I should hurt her even more as a punishment." My eyes widen.

"No! I'm sorry I broke your wall. I'll behave. I promise. Just please help Ally. Do whatever you want to me. Just make sure she's okay." Sarah laughs.

"I'm already gonna do whatever I want to you. I don't need to make sure Ally's okay for it. So I think I'm gonna leave her like that. You both deserve it." I look at Ally, and I see that blood from her head has drenched her shirt.

"But she's dying! The blood loss will be too high!"

"Oh, I guess that is a problem." Sarah sighs and snaps her fingers, and the blood stops flowing out of Ally's head. But she's still unconscious. "Well, Ally's torture is gonna start now, so goodbye!" Sarah says. She disappears and reappears on Ally's side of the wall. I watch as she uses her magic to make Ally hang by her feet above a pit of lava while the weak rope holding her up slowly descends toward the pit. I gulp. This can't end well.

This time around, Sarah didn't put the immobility (yes, I do know some big words) spell on me. Even though that doesn't help Ally in any way, it calms my nerves a bit. What also calms my nerves is the fact that I don't think Sarah's ready to kill us just yet. And while that isn't that great of an assumption to base my sanity on, I need to take what I can get.

I see Ally starting to stir. I hope she's not having a good dream-it's already gonna suck waking up. It'd be even worse if she was just coming from Austin-land, or something. Talk about a rude awakening.

Ally slowly opens her eyes, and I see her mouth open in a scream that I can't hear. She takes in her surroundings and starts struggling against the rope. Great, now we're both terrified. I watch as tears start to run down her face, and that's when I know she may not be as strong as I always thought she was.

I mean, she's still strong in a lot of ways. But I know that this isn't one of them. She can't handle this much fear and stress on top of all the pain. Ally locks eyes with me, and I can see not only the fear, but the goodbye in her eyes, as well. She's sending me a silent farewell, meaning she doesn't think she'll get out of this. We hold our staring contest for a while longer, but I don't ignore the fact that most of her hair is no longer visible because of how far the rope has lowered her into the pit.

Then, I see Ally's eyes change. She gets her 'I-have-an-idea' look. If she thought of a way to get out of this situation, I have to make it a point of telling her she's a genius later, if I ever get the chance.

Ally starts rocking her body back and forth. Luckily, she's not low enough that she would hit her head.

What is she doing? I think to myself. Her eyes are determined as she keeps swinging while hanging upside down from the rope. That's when I look up and realize the rope is starting to break.

"You're insane, Als," I mumble in awe at her idea. It's dangerous. She could possibly end up dead if she's in the wrong place when that rope breaks. But I have faith that she'll be okay.

Then, the rope breaks. Ally, who is still tied up at the arms and feet, comes flying towards me. I brace myself to catch her, but then I remember the wall between us. I watch as she slams into it and falls to the ground. This time, she stays conscious.

"Yes! That's my girl!" I exclaim, fist-pumping the air in triumph at Ally's little victory. She beat Sarah's plan, and Sarah doesn't look too happy about it. She storms over to Ally and has the nerve to slap her across the face. I gasp in surprise. Ally looks up at Sarah helplessly.

Sarah starts yelling at Ally and I see her wince at some of the things Sarah says. Then, she starts shaking her head frantically and more tears spill from her eyes. Sarah smirks and disappears, but Ally is still tied up.

I knock on the glass wall, trying to get Ally's attention. She turns to me, her big doe eyes glassy. We just kind of stare at each other, not sure what to do. Ally tries to untie herself.

After a few minutes she does, and she didn't even break eye contact with me. I'm not sure what we're doing, exactly, but I think it's something along the lines of trying to comfort each other. I miss having her in my head. I know that sounds weird, but I'm lonely without the constant feeling of Ally up there.

Austin? I hear in my head.

Ally?! I think back hopefully.

It's Piper, sorry. Man, it took forever to reach you! You have this huge mental block. Stupid Grandma Sarah thought of everything. I'm guessing you and Ally can't communicate anymore?

You guessed correct.

Ugh. It's gonna take a lot to give you back the communication, and even more to conceal it from Grandma, but I'm gonna try my best.

Thanks, Pipes. You're the best, I reply. At least I can hope for the communication back.

So, how're you holding up? She asks gently.

I'm fine, I tell her. I mean, I got bit by a shark but that stupid Plegethon fire water healed it.

Wow, how do you know about that? she asks.

Ally, we say at the same time.

So, how's Ally? I look at Ally's crying figure.

Not good, I reply. She was fine the first round, but this one got to her. We broke the glass that Sarah separated us with, but then she put it up again, and one thing led to another, and Ally ended up unconscious. When she woke up, she was upside down over a pit of lava. Piper gasps.

Did she fall in? I roll my eyes.

No, Piper. She swung the rope until it broke and flung her across the room. Then, Sarah started yelling at her and something she said made Ally cry, and so now she's crying again. She's terrified, Piper, and I can't do anything to comfort her.

I hate Sarah, Piper grumbles. Austin, I know it's hard seeing her like this. But to be honest, the thing Sarah said probably had to do with hurting you. There's honestly nothing worse for Ally than losing you. She lost you once when you lost your memory. She lost you again when you slipped into that coma. She lost you again when she got kidnapped-sorry 'bout that, by the way, but you know why I did it, even though I totally regret it now. Anyway, she lost you yet again when you died playing that dumb game.

You saw that? I ask, wincing.

I saw everything. By the way, if I give you the communication back, you have to promise to keep it PG. I chuckle.

Promise, I reply. But you might wanna make Ally promise, too. She's not as innocent as she seems.

So I've heard. Anyway, the point of my little speech is that the only way you can help her is to be strong. No matter how much pain Sarah causes you with the torture, do your best to hide it. If Ally sees you're okay, it'll give her strength and hope that she'll get through this, too.

But she's the optimistic one. She's the one who tells me everything will be fine when I think it won't.

And she's still the optimistic one. She can tell you everything will be okay, and she will mean it every time. But that doesn't mean she doesn't think anything bad will happen. I nod in understanding.I look at Ally again.

I just wish I could protect her somehow. Piper sighs.

Austin, you know Sarah wouldn't even think about having a situation where you could protect Ally in any way. Well, unless that was some sort of torture, which she'll probably come up with. And besides, Ally wouldn't let you protect her if it meant you could possibly get hurt. I sigh. I haven't taken my gaze off of Ally, even though it's physically hurting me to see her so broken. I know it'll only get worse from here. And I know that I'll probably be forced to see her in much worse conditions.

I know, I say.

Well, I think I better go while I still have the mental block weakened. Just keep trying to talk to Ally. I nod.

Okay. Thanks, Piper. Wish us luck.

Don't die on me, is all she says before her voice disappears.

Yup. Don't got anything to say, so if you liked the chapter, put HALLOWEEN in a review! If you kinda liked it, put THANKSGIVING in a review! If you hated it, put LABOR DAY in a review! Thanks for reading and please review! Love ya! *blows kisses*

~Maddie :)