Thalia heard it before she could even move.
Leah's scream tore through the mist, cutting deeper than any wound Thalia had taken. It wasn't just pain—it was something breaking, something collapsing from the inside out. The kind of sound no one should ever make, the kind that didn't belong to the body alone but to something far more fragile.
"NO! STOP.....PLEASE! I DIDN'T!"
The words came in fragments, jagged and desperate, echoing unnaturally as if the mist itself was repeating them, stretching them, feeding on them. Thalia felt the sound hit her chest like a physical force, her breath catching as something cold and suffocating spread through her ribs.
"I DIDN'T KILL YOU....! PLEASE.....!"
It wasn't just a scream.
It carried something.
Something wrong.
Thalia's fingers tightened against the ground beneath her, digging into the roots as her entire body trembled. Her muscles refused to obey, pain locking her in place, but her mind; her mind was already moving.
"…Leah…"
Another scream followed, sharper this time, higher, breaking into something almost unrecognizable.
"GET AWAY FROM ME! STOP!"
That was enough.
Pain didn't matter anymore.
Fear didn't matter.
Nothing mattered except that voice.
Thalia forced her body to respond.
Her arms shook violently as she pushed herself up, every muscle screaming in protest. Blood ran down from the cuts on her arms, slicking her skin, making her grip unstable. Her vision swayed as she rose unsteadily to her feet, the world tilting around her.
But she didn't stop.
One arrow clenched tightly in her hand, her fingers slipping slightly against the shaft as blood coated her grip.
Then she ran.
Every step felt like her body was tearing itself apart from the inside, her legs threatening to give out beneath her weight, but she pushed through it. She forced each movement, each breath, each heartbeat, driving herself forward with a desperation that burned hotter than the pain.
Through the mist;
Through the shifting dark;
She saw them.
Leah.
Suspended.
Held.
The creature's hand wrapped tightly around her throat, lifting her slightly off the ground. Leah's body jerked weakly, her movements no longer sharp or controlled, but fading; slipping away.
"No…" Thalia whispered, her voice breaking under her breath.
She pushed harder.
Faster.
Closing the distance.
Leah didn't see her.
Or couldn't.
Her eyes were unfocused, her body trembling as if something inside her was being torn apart.
Thalia reached her.
Her free hand shot forward;
Grabbing Leah's arm.
The moment their skin touched;
Reality broke.
Thalia's vision fractured violently, splitting into something else entirely. The mist disappeared, the ground vanished, and for a brief, terrifying second—
She wasn't there anymore.
She was somewhere else.
Inside.
Inside Leah.
The voices hit her all at once.
"…you killed us…"
"…you are death…"
"…I died because of you…"
They weren't distant.
They were everywhere.
Inside her head, inside her chest, clawing through her thoughts with a suffocating force that made it impossible to breathe.
Images flickered around her.
Henry.
Broken.
His chest torn open, blood pouring endlessly.
Frauner.
Eyes bleeding, smile twisted into something wrong.
Mauris.
Half-formed, dissolving, yet still watching her.
All of them;
Looking at her.
Accusing.
Thalia gasped sharply, her body locking as the fear flooded into her mind. It wasn't hers. It didn't belong to her. But it crushed her all the same, dragging her down into that same endless darkness Leah was trapped in.
"No..!"
Her voice tore through her throat as she forced herself to hold on.
Because something else was there too.
Something real.
Leah's arm.
In her hand.
Cold.
Weak.
Fragile.
The nightmare and reality overlapped, flickering over each other like a broken reflection. One moment she was surrounded by the accusing dead, the next she could feel the weight of Leah's body, the tension in her muscles, the faint, fading life still clinging to her.
Thalia gritted her teeth, her entire body shaking as she forced herself to focus.
"Leah! Come back!"
The glow shifted.
It spread.
Thalia felt it now.
Not just saw it.
Thin strands of light began to pull from Leah's body;
threading through her, passing through her arm where their skin touched.
And then....
It reached Thalia.
Her breath hitched violently as she felt something being drawn out of her. A deep, hollow pull, like something essential was being taken piece by piece.
"…no…"
The sensation intensified, her vision darkening at the edges as her strength began to slip.
And then....
A voice.
Faint.
Broken.
"…Thalia…"
Her heart stopped.
Henry.
But not right.
Distorted.
"…don't… let it…"
The words glitched, tearing apart mid-sound, dragged into something deeper, something wrong.
Thalia's grip tightened instinctively around Leah's arm.
"No… I'm not listening…"
Her voice dropped.
Focused.
Grounded.
She forced her eyes open wider, dragging herself out of the pull, out of the collapsing nightmare trying to swallow her whole.
The creature stood in front of her.
Real.
That was real.
Not the voices.
Not the illusions.
That.
Her fingers tightened around the arrow.
With a surge of strength she didn't know she had left, Thalia lifted her other hand and drove the arrow forward.
Straight into the creature's arm.
The one holding Leah.
This time;
It went in.
Deep.
The resistance broke.
The arrow pierced through its limb, sinking into something that finally yielded.
The creature screamed.
A violent, distorted sound that tore through the mist, shaking the space around them.
Its grip faltered.
Just enough.
Thalia didn't hesitate.
She pulled Leah hard.
The hold broke.
And suddenly;
They fell.
Both of them.
From mid-air.
Thalia wrapped her arm around Leah instinctively, pulling her close as gravity took hold. Her body twisted mid-fall, turning so she would take the impact.
They hit the ground hard.
Pain exploded through her back, knocking the air from her lungs, but she didn't let go. Her grip tightened around Leah, holding her close, shielding her without even thinking.
For a second;
Everything stopped.
Then Thalia's eyes snapped forward.
The portal.
It was barely there now.
A flicker.
Unstable.
Shrinking rapidly.
Dying.
Her chest tightened.
No time.
No second chance.
Thalia forced herself up again, ignoring the way her body screamed in protest. Her arms trembled as she shifted her grip, pulling Leah slightly upright.
Leah barely responded.
Her body was weak.
Fading.
"Leah…" Thalia whispered, her voice breaking slightly.
Then she made the decision.
With everything she had left;
Every last fragment of strength;
Thalia pushed her.
Hard.
Sending Leah's body forward, toward the collapsing light.
"GO!"