Dernier ─ Theo Raeken ²

04| UNORTHODOX AVENUE

❝It'll be quick, but it won't be painless.❞

➣

     EVERYTHING looks hazy the moment she fluttered her eyes open. Dim shaded lights, watery flatland, no sign of life at all around her. Everything tangled up in solitude as though the brunette had been sucked into the opaque. Her head felt as though she was clubbed with a gavel, circling endlessly and the soreness crawled out of the deepest part of her head towards the surface of the skull. Cassandra recalled the incident in the restroom before she passed out, an old woman and the voice of the intercom. It was truly obvious that she was as if were in the train station.

Massaging her temple slightly, Cassandra sat up. She had thought that she would wake up at home or in the hospital, but the minute she landed her brown eyes on what was in front of her, that's when she froze. Her eyes bulged out as she winced at the stinging pain inside her head, regretting the sudden reaction. Her head was thrown side to side, trying to convince herself that this is only some kind of illusion but much to her disappointment, it's all real.

"Three times you've visited the dark side of you, kid." The familiar voice filled the serenity around her. And perhaps this is the first time she would react like this, but Cassandra exhaled a sigh of relief at the unfamiliar familiarity in front of her. "You're quite brave now."

Cassandra stood up and walked closer to the giant cage, dismissing the pain inside her head. "What am I doing here?"

"You tell me." The creature replied calmly. "Your subconscious was the one who brought you here. However, you do have the intention to see me, correct?"

It was odd, this whole Cassandra and the Black Hound thing were completely odd, she admits. The youngest Argent still remembers vividly how much the creature wanted to possess her entire body so it can feel the freedom, but now, it was like it had been so long since it passed. Ever since Cassandra proved to the Black Hound that she deserves to live even though her actual self had been dead long time ago, the creature began to entrust its power to her, the one major thing the history most famous vicious Black Hound–Barghest had never done after the Wild Hunt. It was pretty obvious her pertinacity to protect her best friends had propel its twisted thoughts become more conscience, only for the brunette.

"Yes." Cassandra sighed softly, running a hand through her hair. "You must have known what was going on outside. Your former Masters–or current, I don't know for sure, but they're here in Beacon Hills. They abducted people, they erased people from reality and they also took–"

"Stiles Stilinski. A friend of yours."

Cassandra instantly fell in silence upon hearing his name mentioned. The feeling of longing, guilt, forlorn, all amalgamated into one entity inside her. The brunette doesn't know what she should do because usually Stiles was the one who always has a plan to deal with everything, she literally felt like a useless human being and at this point, she was willing to do anything to get to see his face again. And if in the process of the salvation she should die for him, she would never regret it.

Cassandra cleared her throat before speaking, "How can I save Stiles?"

"No." The voice was tight and firm. "You can't."

Her breath hitched as she swallowed, "Why not?"

"You are different than any of them, Cassandra, rather than any of your friends. But among them all, you're also the weakest."

"I–I don't understand."

"Your life depends on me, remember?" The Black Hound pointed out. "You will indeed survive past the portals, but then what? The Ghost Riders have an unusual portal, they will know anyone who passed through the portal. If you step in through the portal, there is no doubt that I will definitely live, but you? You are the Lost Soul, Cassandra. If the Ghost Riders find you, I'm not going to be apprehensive because I would get out of this playpen, but if I survived, you do know it means fatality for you."