Shattered Stars

24.12 - Bargaining

They saw her walk away, he began to breathe heavily. She put her arms around him and hugged him. His hands were shaking, their breaths were visible in the air. The two of them didn't know what to do. She felt a shock go through her body. He had unknowingly begun to run electricity though his body. She moved away from him roughly as the electricity almost kept her stuck to him.

"Look, it'll be okay... I know what happened was rough, and I honestly have no place to speak since I wasn't there, but don't let this consume you..." she told him, still holding on to his arm.

Her hand was covered with a translucent orange energy which protected her from his energy.  He took in a deep breath and the electricity stopped.

"...We can't just let her go. She'll be killed." he stated, looking down the hall.

"She's strong, just like he was. I can tell that much." she reassured him, her gaze fixed on the ground.

He turned his head slightly towards her, he wasn't satisfied with that.

"But we can protect her. I... can protect her." he said. "With all this power I now have I can take care of those who can't always." he continued while holding his hands in front of him.

She noticed the orange color on his hoodie was more vibrant than before.

"Argos." she called out, not yelling, not scolding. This called his attention and he looked over at her.

She caught a good look at his eyes. Her body emitted the same protective aura from before without her doing anything. She moved one foot back.

"W-what?! What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her change in behavior.

She looked in a mirror behind him and saw a pitch black figure with two white eyes. Suddenly all the lights and candles in the castle went out. All she could see were two white dots in front of her. Everything was quiet, she tried speaking but not a sound came out.

She quickly tried making fire from her hand, yet, she was unable to. She looked back up at the two dots, no a grim was formed stretching from cheek to cheek.

"W-What's wrong Tori?" the figure spoke using Argos's voice.

She moved back, trying to activate any of her powers and knocked a chair over. Nothing was working, the figure was getting closer.

"Aww, that's no way to act when a friend approaches you, Tori." the figure spoke out again. This time, its voice was distorted. Tori's back was against a wall now as it approached slowly.

Her vision had adjusted to the darkness just a bit, so she booked it out of the room, not giving it any chance to get closer. She hit her arm on the way out and held it with the other. She continued to run through the darkness.

"Why don't you get it Tori? I'm just trying to help you." the figure spoke as if right behind her. She quickly turned her head back, it wasn't there.

Lightning struck nearby again, the light filled a hallway for split second. She saw a glimpse of two ways she could go, she decided to go left. The surrounding air began to get cold, she looked outside, and it was pitch black as well. Clouds covered the sky and snow fell from above. She saw a room, she ran into it without thinking. She closed the door behind her softly and immediately looked for something to hide behind.

She put her hands all over the walls and furniture trying to figure out exactly what everything was. Her breathing was heavy and fast, her heartbeat was intense. It was cold, yet she was sweating. She found a closet, she quickly walked into it and put her arms around herself. She closed her eyes, she was shaking.

Complete silence...

...

...

Something was off...it was too quiet and it was still dark. She heard one small noise somewhere she didn't wanna hear anything from. It was a small chuckle, one of those chuckles from laughter that you're holding in. She slowly looked up...