Playing with Fire [COMPLETED]

33 ~ Mirage's help

I bash my fists against the door. I try to put my power into this, but my energy is spent. I don't know how I can get out of here, or where here is. But I keep raging. I keep screaming and hitting the door. Even when I tear my throat, even when I start to bleed, I keep going.

"Let! Me! Go!" I scream.

A weird sensation prickles at the back of my senses, and I turn, looking around.  But I'm still alone. What is this? I walk slowly over to the bed I had spent too much time on. I freeze when I sense the prickly feeling once more. I turn around again, looking all over the room I am trapped in.

There's something here.  "Hello?" I call. But there's no response. I sigh and sit down on the bed, coughing. My throat hurts too bad.

"Elorha ...."

"Ruin?" I call, looking around once more. But there is nothing. Of course there's nothing. I flop over on the bed, adjusting my wings so they drape over my body like a blanket.

Suddenly, Mirage appears before me.  I gasp, sitting upright, my eyes wide.

"They can't sense me," she says.  "But I can't be here long. They're looking to create a new sister to their fold."

"What? Who? Who's gonna be their new sister?" I whisper.

"Her name is Verunha. Do you remember her?"

My heart leaps.  I hadn't thought of Verunha in so long. But she was my childhood crush. I had the biggest crush on her for so long, but .... I thought she'd died from a blood sickness. I mean, I remember her mother grieving. Verunha was my friend. And I did have a crush on her at one point. But .... how is she alive now?

"Of course I remember her. Who are they making her?"

"Fear, Destruction, Time, and Erasmus's people are forging her. Using Pain's Lifeforge to create both Verunha, and Pain's new body.  But Verunha is going to be Wither. And the person that they're using to create Pain's new form .... oh, gods, Exie, they're using Concordia's body. They preserved it. They're using it to make Pain's new form."

"No...." I whisper.

Mirage nods.  "And Nafateri? I'm not sure, but .... they're doing something with her, too. I don't know about Mom, but I.... Exie, you need to stop them. Concordia needs to rest."

"I agree, but I can't do this alone," I say.  "Where's Ruin?"

"He's hurt," she says.  "He's trapped, like before. Exie, you need to choose. Do you save him, or our family?"

"What? No! I can't choose!" I cry.

"You must. Or else, we all die," she says, and then, the door behind her is thrust open.

Mirage fades, and Fear stands there, sneering at me.

"You fucking traitor!" I scream, and I run at him. Fear dodges my attack, but then, then, my fire explodes out of me in a flurry of golden flames. My skin tingles, my veins feel like they're live wires. Fear gasps, and my flames burn him in the face. He screams, and I run past him, sending my flames after him over and over again.

I run down the halls, following the faint pull of Ruin's connection with me.

Then, I hear slow clapping. And I turn around.

And come face to face with Pain, who is now inhabiting the body of my dead sister, Concordia.