There was only silence. Neither had the heart to speak.

Jason and Jerome were sitting silently in the guest room downstairs, both of them seemingly lost in their own thoughts.

Jerome was the one to finally break the silence, his voice laced with sadness as he spoke. "So that's what happened... You guys didn't see any trace of the driver that hit him anywhere?"

Jason, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, shook his head. "Nothing."

Jerome sighed, shaking his head sadly. "Dammit! How could this have happened?!!?"

Jason didn't reply, instead lifting his head to look at Jerome, who had tears building up in his eyes, threatening to break free.

When Jerome had seen Ian's body, it was only moments before Jerome completely broke down in tears. He had fallen onto the wet concrete, his eyes wide as tears rolled down his face. Mitch had gone to comfort his best friend, but Jason insisted for him to get Ian upstairs. Mitch reluctantly did so, leaving Jason to deal with Jerome.

Jason had eventually calmed Jerome down, and the two of them went inside, the two moving into the guest room to avoid making noise. Jason had explained in full detail the events that followed after he left the house in his rage, from Mitch and Jason's discussion and discovering Ian's body.

When Jason had finished, the room became silent, the two saddened by their grief.

"The others are going to lose their minds when we tell them." Jason said sadly.

"Understatement of the century." Jerome said with a scoff. "Speaking of, where's Mitch? We need to figure out what we're going to say to the others."

"He's probably with Ian... if I had to guess." Jason said grimly. "We should leave him be. He went through a lot tonight. He deserves some rest..."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mitchell, wake up..."

Mitch groaned, a numb pain resonating in his head as the echoing voice reached him. Mitch slowly opened his eyes, and as he realized where he was, his eyes shot wide open in surprise.

He was once again in the black landscape, the familiar emptiness seeming to stretch on for forever. Mitch was sprawled out on the ground, but he quickly pushed himself onto his knees, his mangled wings fidgeting uncomfortably as he looked at the space around him.

Mitch narrowed his eyes as he let his gaze wander. He had expected to once again find himself in the black space, but something was definitely different.

Surrounding him were tall, slender columns made up of white light, reminding Mitch grimly of the larger ones he saw during his previous dreams in his chase after the golden light. This time however, the white columns didn't stretch infinitely into the black, but instead looped together a few meters above his head. Mitch also noticed that the columns were lined up so that Mitch couldn't slip in between them and just escape. It's like a cage... Mitch thought to himself with a shudder.

Also surrounding him from within the "cage" were his own white feathers, strewn here and there on the ground. The last thing Mitch noticed was that there was a glistening silver chain hanging from the top of the cage, dropping down and connected to a silver shackle around Mitch's right ankle. Mitch slowly stood, and tried to pull on the chain hanging above him. The chain was just long enough for Mitch to walk around his cage, drawing tight when Mitch tried to pull them from the white columns that it was connected to. Mitch scowled, his unbroken wing flapping angrily behind him.

"I see that you failed Mitchell."

Mitch jumped in surprise as he once again heard the echoing voice. He turned to see that standing just outside of the white columns was the light copy of himself, who was wearing a grim expression on his face. The copy seemed to have recovered from their previous fight, but the blood red light was gone from his eyes, replaced again with the same white light making up the rest of his body. There was also a small, misty ball of light hovering next to him, glowing a deep blue color.

"You!" Mitch said in surprise. "I thought that-"

"That I was dead? I told you, not even death is an escape for me, I cannot be killed." The light Mitch shook his head sadly, a scowl on his face. "But, it seems that, unlike me, death did fall upon one tonight."

Mitch's eyes widened and he felt a twisting feeling in his gut as he spoke, a sudden feeling of anger and grief coming over him. "What?! Are you talking about Ian?!?"

The copy continued, completely ignoring Mitch's question. "The Black-Haired Raven's destiny has been fulfilled. He has died, and now the dulled star will once again find his light, finally putting an end to all of this-"

"Can you actually tell be something useful dammit!" Mitch yelled, tears stinging in his eyes as he let the words spill out of his mouth in his anger. "If you had told me who the Black-Haired Raven was without all of this 'destiny' bull, than Ian would still be alive! This is all your fault!"

The light Mitch remained silent, and watched as Mitch fell onto his knees, letting tears fall down his cheeks as he let out a roar of grief, Mitch's wail echoing in the black space.

"He had to die. He needed to die." He continued, ignoring Mitch's pained sobs. "Aren't you happy now? All of the pain is over now. I told you that you couldn't save him, but you didn't listen. That is no one's fault but your own. Stop crying."

Mitch's head whipped toward the copy, a furious look in his eyes. "I know that it was my fault! I tried to save him, but..." Mitch let his voice trail off as let out another sob, letting his gaze fall onto the floor.

"You really do not understand." The light Mitch said sadly. "Your efforts didn't mean a thing. Take a look Mitchell."

The copy pointed to a space behind the crying Mitch, and with much reluctance, Mitch got to his feet and turned behind him, letting out a gasp of surprise.

Behind him was yet another cage, being made up of columns of blue light, and lying inside of the cage...

"Ian!" Mitch screamed, throwing himself at the columns of his own cage, poking his head from between them to call out to his friend.

Ian was lying on the floor of the blue cage, bearing the same broken neck and arm that he had in reality. Like Mitch, Ian was bound by a glistening chain, this time a shining gold, and instead of connecting to a shackle, it connected to a golden band around Ian's neck. There were also sleek black feathers on the floor of the cage, which were hardly distinguishable from the black floor. Mitch kept trying to call for him, but the more he called, the more imminent was the thought in his mind that Ian would never reply.

"Don't even bother. I can't hear you... I can't hear anything..."

Mitch felt his stomach twist as he heard a familiar voice echo from behind him. He once again turned to see that there was someone else standing next to the light Mitch, replacing the ball of blue light.

It was a copy of Ian.

The copy of Ian was made up of a deep blue light, which looked as though it were reflecting the night sky. It was wearing a hoodie made up of the same light, its eyes made up of bright purple lights. It's the one I saw in the mirror! Mitch thought, his eyes widening in disbelief as another realization came over him.

It's the one chasing the golden light.

The copy of Ian was frowning, looking at the dead body of the real version of himself. "I can't hear anything... see anything... feel anything..."

Mitch shook his head, gripping the sides of his head with his hands. "NO!"

Mitch suddenly ran toward the two copies, and reached to grab them through the bars of the cage, only to feel the chain restraining him pull tight, making him slam onto the ground.

Mitch looked up at the two copies with loathing in his eyes, but as he stared, he noticed that his vision was starting to become hazy, and a wave of drowsiness came over him. He turned his attention to the real Ian, whose body was lying motionless among the black feathers. Mitch used the last of his remaining strength to push himself to the end of his cage, facing Ian's cage, tears falling onto the ground under him.

"It isn't too late." The light copy of Ian said, his echoing voice resonating loudly and clearly in Mitch's mind, despite his slipping consciousness.

"You four can still save me."

And just as Mitch finally let himself drift into sleep...

He swore that he could see the real Ian's eyes shoot open.