Sorry for that wait I put you through! A few of you said you wanted to shoot me! O.O So, since I really couldn't find it in me to update anything else, I assumed it was best to do this one...

Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine! It never will be either!

It was different this time. The fire. It was brighter, hotter, and more hostile. It was looking for more victims to burn. It finished them off and was looking for more fuel. More deaths. More power.

It hurt.

It burned.

She cried as she struggled to move. He was heavy. They were heavy. It hurt. She wanted to collapse on the ground and cry. To give up. She coughed.

Why could she feel the pain? Why? Why, if it was only a dream? Why was it so painful?

The flames flared up in front of her. She screamed.

The flames hit her already damaged arm. It burned, it burned like hell.

She collapsed in a fit of coughs. The smoke was heavy. Suffocating.

Happy. Rhodey.

Tony.

Were they dead?

She was too weak to check. Too weak to move. To breathe.

The air was smoky and dry. The ground shook and spun beneath her fingers. Her vision blurred.

This was it. This was finally it. The fire was claiming its prey. It won.

.

.

.

"They're here!"

"Call the medics!"

"Careful, he hit his head."

"I know."

Blurry images of firemen filled her vision. The smoke was still heavy and flames didn't even seem to have slowed.

"We're here."

"We saved you."

.

.

.

But they didn't. They couldn't.

Tony wasn't there.

Pepper snapped awake.

She panted as if she'd been holding her breath. She felt breathless. That'd been one of the first times she'd woken herself up from the dreams. It felt at least a bit relieving.

Wait.

Where was she?

She looked around, scanning the room she was in. Was this even a room?

She was surrounded by either walls so white, she couldn't see them, or was just surrounded in white. Endless white. Everywhere. That had to be it.

She moved to sit up, but found herself unable to. She pressed her lips into a tight line and tried to force herself to at least do something, but really all she found herself doing, was grunting and making herself even more breathless.

Where was she?

It's been about a day since Rhodey last saw Pepper. She'd ran off saying she was going to find Tony. Had that meant she knew where he was? Did she find Tony? He didn't think much of it at the time, since when he tried following her, he only ended up getting lost. So he'd returned to where he was comfortable.

Though he wasn't comfortable. The idea of staying any longer at the mansion, disturbed him. But the thought alone that Tony had to be in the mansion somewhere, kept him calm. He didn't complain about how weird it all seemed to be.

It was the afternoon lunch, and it was Annie's first day back from whatever it was that came over her. Sim said it was her longest break. Rhodey and Howard both took it that it was the longest she'd been sick for. Annie still looked as pale as ever and her fingers shook noticeably when she poured drinks. She looked as if she'd lost a lot of weight as well.

"Where's m-miss Potts?" Annie questioned them, visibly trying to hide from Sim's glare.

"Haven't seen her since she ran off yesterday." Rhodey said, picking at his food.

Annie looked down. "My – I'm sorry."

"Don't be, she ran off looking for something."

Sim gave him a 'worried' look. "Oh dear, and she has not returned?"

Rhodey shook his head, really wanting to punch that smug look off his face. He took a deep breath. "No, but I'm sure she just had a rough day."

Howard nodded to no one in particular, and excused himself from the table. Rhodey wished he could go with him, but the instant he tried following him, Harriet and another servant walked over to him and asked him a few questions that would be rude not to answer.

So, he finished his food, even though all he wanted to do was go look for Pepper.

The redhead tugged against the invisible chains that had to have her tied down. Sweat dripped from her forehead and her face twisted in fear. Her breath was ragged and her skin was hot. Burning. Was there a fire?

Her eyes snapped open.

"A dream…Just a dream…" She wheezed through her gritted teeth.

Despite her hot skin, she could tell that it was actually quite cold. When she finally evened her breath, she shivered. It took her a few moments to realize that she was naked. When did that happen? She instantly wanted to curl up in a ball in case someone was in there with her. Too bad she couldn't hardly move.

She would notice it if someone was in there with her, wouldn't she? After all, the room or area was all white, she would notice it if someone was in the room with her, right?

Her head hurt like crazy. And she was having trouble remembering how she'd even got there. The last thing she remembered was hanging out with Rhodey somewhere, then she ran off somewhere.

She kept falling asleep, because for some reason, she was just super tired even when she just woke up. Which made her wonder if it was because of something that happened to her head…

Wait.

What happened to her head?

She focused on the pulsating pain that was the back of her head. It didn't feel at all like a natural headache. Not at all. She forced herself to think deeper, even if it made her head hurt a whole lot more.

Then she remembered.

And she instantly wanted to get out of there. Where ever 'there' was. She needed to find him. She had to find Tony. She heard him. She did. It wasn't a part of her imagination. It wasn't her mind just telling her what she wanted to here. She heard Tony.

Tony was there.

Howard wondered the halls of the mansion. He went up many sets of stairs and checked through many, many doors. He looked for secret doorways, and anything that seemed out of place. He was determined to find something. He had to.

It took him for what seemed like ever to even realize that his search was coming to a dead end. He'd searched what he was sure was every door in the mansion that wasn't locked. Each one leading to an empty room. Only occasionally occupied by a servant.

It was later, when Howard gave up his search (for the time being) that he went and joined Rhodey in the library.

"I don't understand where she went!" Rhodey said, frustrated.

"You said she was with you yesterday?" Howard asked. "Do you remember what she was saying?"

Rhodey shook his head, remembering the evening perfectly. "No, Pepper was really silent and all of a sudden she ran out that door," he pointed to a door on the other side of the library. "Yelling something about finding Tony."

He muttered the last part quietly as one of the servants passed by.

When Howard remained silent in thought, Rhodey stood up. "Should we try looking in that direction?"

Howard sighed, "Might as well."

He most likely already searched the area, but with a new set of eyes, he might find something new. So he led the way out the previously mentioned door.

They searched the halls, trying to avoid being spotted as much as possible. Only to come to the same conclusion as Howard had earlier. They were just about to go to the dining room when they were informed that dinner was done, but they heard a crashing sound coming from the top of the stairs.

They weren't the only ones that seemed worried. Several of the servants went scattering towards the stairs as well as themselves.

At the top of the stairs stood Sim, who looked as pissed as ever. He didn't even seem to notice the crowd he attracted. At his feet lay a broken vase, the glass scattered everywhere. In his hands, was a bloodied shard.

Their gazes fell on the form that kneeled next to the wall. Blood oozed through her fingers as she clutched at her face, hiding the harm done.

Annie.

The servants looked horrified at what they saw. Even Rhodey and Howard had been shocked into silence.

Sim panted heavily in his anger. He didn't even look to the others as he snapped, "What are you looking at!?" As he proceeded to kick Annie in the ribs.

"Stop it!" Rhodey cried out, moving to stop the crazy man. But a hand on his shoulder, stopped him. He looked over to find one of the older servants, a woman with greying brown hair, shaking her head. He could see her hand shaking.

"Don't" She whispered. "You'll only make it worse."

Sim spun around to face his crowd. "What!?" He shouted. "You like the show!?"

He smirked and forced Annie into a standing position. He raised the sharp glass shard over where Annie's heart would be.

"Should I cut her heart out?" He laughed. "What about her hands, should they come off?"

As he said that, he yanked her bloodied hands away from her face, revealing a large cut that went from the bridge of her nose, down to her jaw, barely missing her eye. Sim had the sharp shard of glass over her wrists.

"What do want?" Sim asked, "Maybe I should dissect the pretty, lady."

Rhodey wanted nothing more than to go punch the man, but he was armed with sharp glass. He'd have to have a more thought out plan. He could see Howard itching to do something to help as well.

Sim laughed. And held one of Annie's hand in one of his own. He fiddled around with each and every one of Annie's fingers. Before he quickly bent two of her fingers backwards.

Annie screamed.

Howard's blood ran cold.

Not because of the pain Annie must have gone through. Not because of the severity of the scream. Not even because this man – no this thing – had the audacity to do such a thing. No.

But because he knew her voice.

And it wasn't even female.

It was Tony.

Please don't hate me! I had to! Now I'm sure you guys are going to kill me! DX

So, besides that was it any good?

So, I would have had a few other things to post, but I was gone all of last week, I had to babysit for the whole day and almost the entire day on another day, plus it was my friends birthday yesterday. So I've been a bit busier than usual.

Fun Fact: I hate winter, but the summer heat always gives me stomachaches when the winter chill keeps my stomachaches at bay...

So first of all, I had this crazy idea, that we authors make a sort of 'joint' story. Like come up with a story line together then one author make a chapter, and the next author continues it...I dunno, stupid idea...It was just going through my head the whole weekend when i couldn't use my computer.

Oh and I made a DeviantART profile under the same name and I put up some pictures I drew...Just to put it out there... I had too, sorry :)

I need more people to vote on my poll on my profile, please? And thankyou?

Well, REVIEW and I hope you like it! I will most likely work on this again soon, but I'd like to work on Snow Storms or something.