This chapter contains mentions of death, emotional trauma, sexual assault, and other disturbing themes. Please read with caution.

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''I miss you, darling.''

______

''Let me go—'' Amelie tossed and turned in his grip, her whole body twisting, ''I need to go back. I need to help him—''

''You can't!'' Theodore held onto her, tightening the hold of her figure as she shoved, pushed, wrenched to get herself loose, ''You can't go back there! It's too bloody dangerous. They almost caught you—''

''He killed them, he killed two of them in their own castle, Teddy. They will kill him, they—'' She was hyperventilating now, feeling as if her insides lit on fire, ''He'll die if we don't save him—''

Tears rolled down her cheeks, uncontrollably and her chest strained. Amelie couldn't breathe.

''He won't, love. He won't die. They still need him, they still need him to find you—'' He was holding her solid, even if she didn't want to, Theo's arms around her shaking frame was the only thing stopping her from shattering to pieces, ''He'll be back, I promise.''

''You can't promise that!'' She cried out, ceasing from prying him away from her, ''He won't make it. They'll kill him, and I can't—''

''Look at me,'' Theo said softly as he gently let go of her, moving his palms up to cup her jaw, ''Look at me, Amelie. Listen—''

She tried. Indeed she tried to listen, but the ache bolting through her veins caused her to feel sick — nauseous almost.

''It's Malfoy,'' He whispered, stroking her chin with the pad of his thumbs, ''It's Malfoy, Amelie. He said he'd be back, and he will. He always finds his way back.''

That earned her attention, her trembling limbs calmed, and her body caved into him, ''He always finds his way back to me....'' She breathed, shockingly, her head in a clouded mess, ''But what if he doesn't? What if we just left him there to die—''

''He wouldn't let us stay,'' His knees bruised along the floor, ''He would never let you stay to watch that. You know he wouldn't.''

''I don't care—'' Amelie's head tipped to his chest, her knees dragged up in his lap as her dress spilled messily around them, ''I don't care if he wouldn't let me stay. We left him. We abandoned him to die!''

Theo closed his eyes, inhaling so sharply that it stung his lungs, and he prepared to tell her what Malfoy wished he'd do.

''He won't,'' It was a pained pause in his talking, ''He won't die because he wanted this to happen. It was his plan all along.''

Jolting in his lap, Amelie's eyes leveled his, and disbelief grew upon her, ''What are you—''

Huffing out loudly. Theodore shook his head, knowing just how much he would be breaking her heart for telling the truth.

''How do you know she heard us talking about the masquerade? And why do you want to leave when she's aware of it?'' Theodore frowned, his face held in an utter grimace, not clear as to why Draco in any lifetime wished that Amelie attended that ball, ''I won't agree to that, Malfoy. It's way too dangerous. She can't get out of there if she's caught. They'll—''

Draco's eyes bored through his, and a slight shift in the darkened pupils hewed Theo off. Realizing that he wasn't asking.

Lowering his voice, Draco whispered within the walls of the bathroom, ''She needs to understand that her mother isn't there. There's no way in hell the Dark Lord is keeping Athena in that castle. She fooled him for years, he wants her to himself, and he wants her to suffer—''

''What does that have to do with Amelie?'' Theo yelled in a whisper, rising furious, ''I won't put her life on the line for you to prove a bloody point. Besides — they'll most likely be expecting her. They will catch her and when they do—''

Draco slammed his fist into the tile wall, nearly cracking it, ''They will be expecting me, Theodore. Me, not her. They know I'd never let her go there.''

''And yet, here we are, discussing how you want to trick her into going—''

Groaning out, annoyingly, Malfoy cocked his head, ''I'm not bloody tricking her into doing anything, but she needs to be there. Amelie needs to be there, and she needs to see it for herself — that her mother isn't held there. Otherwise, she'll be running off a night when both of us doesn't have a clue, and she'll get herself even more hurt, killed even.''

Pinching his eyes shut for a second, he took a hurtful breath. Only the thought of her being harmed shattered him, ''There will be hundreds of people there tonight, she'll be safe in the crowd, and the Dark Lord won't recognize her, but if she runs off, you need to call on me, and I'll—''

''You're out of your damn mind, you understand that, right?'' Theodore heaved, his chest tightened, ''And then what? I take her there, keep an eye on her while she looks around in the caste, and then what, Malfoy? Does she leave? Comes home here and pretends as if nothing happened? When she understands that Athena isn't there, what stops her from sneaking out tomorrow? Looking for another safe house?''

''There's where I need you to stop her, Nott,'' Draco's jaws clenched firmly. Gritting his teeth and exhaling, ''Because I will get caught.''

Scowling at the blond, he rose a brow, ''What are you on about—''

''They need to capture me because they'll take me to where her mother is imprisoned. They have a place where they keep all the dangerous inmates, and they'll take me there. It's the hardest place to escape,''

Regretting his decision to do this already, Draco looked away, out the door and straight at his heart, lying tucked in between the sheets.

''This is bigger than all of us, Nott. Her mother stabbed her, she pushed a bloody knife into her stomach, and believe me — I loathe her more than any of us, but we need her back. She knows something. I think she has the way to kill the Dark Lord without the kid being harmed.''

''Draco, think about this, it's not worth it if Amelie gets hurt—''

''She won't,'' He stated, cooly, ''I'll be there, and I'll protect her. You can tell her when you return here, but she needs to see me get caught. Her reaction needs to be real. They can't understand that I'm letting myself being caught, then they'll kill me on sight.''

''It's not—'' Theodore peered down at the floor, ''We can't do that to her. She'll be heartbroken if she thinks she can't save you, even if so for a minute.''

''We have to. It's the only way for me to locate her mother. It won't take more than a day until I'm back, and I'll tell her all about it, I promise, but it has to be done this way.''

''So tell me if I'm wrong — you want to fool Amelie into going to that ball, and you want her to search the castle even if you know her mother won't be there. Then you want her to see you get caught only for you to fool the Death Eaters to take you to the same location as her mother, even if you can't be sure that they indeed take you there? Why can't we just tell her and make her go—''

''Because she'll never settle for that. If she knows about what I plan to do, getting myself caught — she'll never let me leave that bed.''

''So? Don't leave the bloody bed, Draco. Don't leave her?'' Theo blurted out the words, trying to keep up with this himself, ''If this isn't proof enough of you being a complete maniac, Malfoy. I don't know what is.''

Both of them hushed at the sound of Amelie turning around in her sleep, resting heavily after explaining to them what happened in the cabin.

''So what if I am a maniac?'' Draco spat harshly, ''I don't care. I need this to end. I need this to be over with, so I can be with her, freely without all of this and if finding her mother is the answer to that, then so be it — no matter how it's done.''

He shifted slightly, backing away from the brunet, ''You owe her this, Nott. You're lying to her about your little trips to that castle. This is the least you can agree on.''

Battling the idea within his mind for minutes, Theo unwillingly nodded. He knew the methods Draco used to earn his way through this life, but even if he could be vile. He'd never put Amelie at risk without owning a way to fix it.

Theodore simply had to trust him.

''Fine,'' He breathed unsteadily, ''But she can't be put at risk. I can't have her injured, Malfoy. That can't happen again. Her body is weak as it is after the stabbing.''

Scoffing, the blond strode past him into the room he shared with the girl, ''If you think I'd ever do anything that could get her hurt, you clearly don't know me.''

_____

''So he did that on purpose?'' Amelie whispered, her knees hugged to her chest as she sat in the window, on the ledge of it. She moved over the floor as Theodore told her everything Draco had planned, ''He got himself caught willingly?''

Theo swallowed the pain he felt as it ached wildly within, ''He did,'' He mumbled, leaning against the wall next to her, ''He needs to find your mother.''

''They will kill him,'' She kept her low tone, peering out over the treetops as the night held dimmed on the other side of the glass, ''They will kill him. You didn't hear what he did to those Death Eaters. He ripped them apart, Teddy.''

''I didn't expect any less from him,'' He said, sternly now, ''They tortured him with a bloody sword, Amelie. While saying that they would force themselves on you. If that was me — I'd rip them apart too.''

She couldn't argue that. If someone treated either of the boys in the way she'd been handled in that cellar, how she was talked about — she'd most likely lose it as well.

''And what do I do now?'' She questioned, her airy note breaking through the hovering silence, ''Do I wait for him to come back? Do I look for him? It's been hours, Theo. It's been hours, and he's not back yet.''

''He will be,'' Shoving himself off the wood he was tipping against, he took a stride closer to the girl with dried tears stained across her cheeks. The skin of her arms was still covered in Malfoy's blood, ''He will be back, I promise. He thought this through, properly, every little detail of it—''

''Oh, so he counted on being tortured in that chamber?'' Her brows rested, and she was speaking evenly. Attempting to hold onto her sanity in all of the madness, ''He just figured he'd get himself tortured in front of me, so what — so that he'd be free to kill even more—''

''Don't question him,'' Theo stated, his hand gripping her shoulder as he gave it a comforting squeeze, ''Don't do that. I know you're upset that he did this without you knowing, but there's no reason for us to doubt him. He's not dumb, Amelie. He's not foolish, he's smart, and if he felt the need to do this, then he did, and it's our duty to trust him with it—''

''Our duty?'' Amelie raised her brows now, her mouth twitched disgracefully, ''It's our duty to what? Agree with him killing himself for us?''

''That's not what I said—''

Spinning around in her position, her legs hung over the ledge she was seated on, ''I don't doubt him, and I'm not mad at him. I just don't like the way he did this. I don't appreciate being fooled while he — yet again, puts himself on the line for me. It's as simple as that. I don't want to say this, Theodore, but finding my mother isn't worth it if he dies.''

Theodore coiled back, wide-eyed, staring at her now, ''Amelie, what are you—''

''I'm not going to lie,'' She said, her fingers grasping around the marble, ''I won't let him die for her. I won't let him die for any of this — I would never agree to what you two did, and that's not for my own safety but his, Teddy. He's been through enough, don't you see that?''

Her heartbeat swelled in her ears, ''There's barely anything left of him, nothing, and he keeps putting himself in danger for me,'' Sighing out, she felt tears brimming in the corner of her eyes, ''And it's all my fault. I did this. He was forced into my life to find her. If I just would've stayed clear of him, not being charmed so easily—''

''He would've been dead, right now,'' Theodore cut her short, crossing his arms over his chest, ''You can't say things like that just to hurt yourself, to make you feel at fault. This isn't your fault. Even if you stood against Malfoy a year ago — he still would've found a way into your life. He'd still be forced to search your mind and betray you, but the difference, Amelie....''

He pathed his palm up to her jaw, tilting her head back and looking at her, ''The difference is that if you didn't let him in, he wouldn't have made it. Then he would've died because you wouldn't have saved him. You saved him. Just like he saved you — you saved him, and without you, he wouldn't be here today. He'd still be forced to do all the horrible deeds he did for the Dark Lord, and he wouldn't have fought his way out of it.''

Tears rolled down her features again. She couldn't stop them.

''You can blame yourself all you want, but that won't change the fact that you indeed are all the good in his life, all his good days, all his happy memories,'' He leaned forward, and he pushed his lips into her forehead, kissing her gently, ''Think about that the next time you believe that you made his life worse. That you saved him, and he saved you. There isn't a thing stronger than that.''

"I can't live without him, Teddy. I don't want to....'' She melted right into his touch, her fingers landing on his arms as she grasped at his suit jacket, ''He can't leave me, he can't—''

Her voice leveled in a sob.

''He can't leave me,'' Shaking her head and looking up at Theodore, she pleaded, ''Promise me he won't leave me. Promise me we'll get him back—''

Nodding slowly, he wiped her tears away, ''He'll be back. He'll be back, Amelie. I promise.''

And god, how Theodore wished he could keep that word.

______

Three days.

Three days had passed since the masquerade, and Draco had yet failed to return.

The boy was nowhere to be found. Teddy and Narcissa took turns in visiting the castle, hoping that they'd catch someone spill the secret of where he was, but absolutely nothing — every day, both of them returned without a clue.

The Death Eaters were cautious around them. Not leaking any information of Malfoy's whereabouts when they knew that Narcissa and Theodore were present.

It was killing her. Amelie hadn't slept for days. Not once did she close her eyes longer than the mere second it took for her to blink.

She couldn't risk not being awake when he came back.

She tried to spend time with Atlas, occupying herself by playing with her brother out in the yard during the days and hoping that Draco would appear on the lawn out of nowhere.

He would always find his way back to her. She held onto that with everything she owned, but it began to fade from her mind.

It felt to her as if she was walking around in a nightmare, drifting through the days with no purpose. Nothing mattered to her when he wasn't here.

Draco had given himself up to find her mother, planning a scheme to be taken from her in order to end up at the same place Athena was captured, but she couldn't know if he did.

Amelie didn't know if he was alive or not. She didn't know anything. She was kept in the utter dark of a puzzle she didn't know if she'd be able to solve.

She began to master just how helpless Draco must've felt when she was gone. Every time she left without him knowing — how much it drowned him not being able to find her.

Anything carried more mercy than this, she believed. Even death would've been kinder than being unaware of her reason to live was still breathing, and she made a promise to herself, something she'd promised him before but never kept.

If she ever got him back, she'd never leave him again. Never would she run away, nor try to fix things on her own.

Thinking that she'd seen every type of evil this life could bring was a clear lie because this was worse than any torture could ever be.

Not only did the imagination of Draco not breathing anymore sore through her head, but the thought of what they were doing to him if he was still alive. How many sins they were pouring down onto him for keeping her safe — and there wasn't a thing she could do.

She was as helpless as ever.

Amelie laid on his side of the bed. Their bed. The bed they only managed to spend one night together in, and it felt like she was suffocating — like she couldn't breathe.

Like she didn't want to breathe.

Like her chest didn't heave until she was so lost for air that she held on to the tipping point of passing out — just then, at that moment, when her mind was ready to cave, and all she wished to do was to fade from this world — the daggers in her lungs stung, and the wind hit her.

Restlessly turning, she huffed out, and she pushed herself up on the mattress at the late hour. Nearly scared to fall asleep, she didn't want to wake up without Draco being here.

Amelie strolled her way out of their room, through the hallway until she reached the stairs, and she stepped down to the main floor.

Dimmed lights flickered through her home, and it was warm. The candles shining brightly made it feel safe — yet it had never felt so empty. So cold and meaningless.

Walking into the library, where she stayed all night, every night since he'd vanished, her feet stumbled up to the piano, and she placed her wand upon the inky coat of it.

She slipped down onto the bench, crossing her legs and lifting the lid up. Amelie traced her fingers over the keys, just like Draco had done the night she gave it to him.

The tones leaking from the instrument would've been heard as heavenly to anyone around, yet it was the most heartbreaking notes she'd ever listened to.

She cried again. Tears dropped from her eyes, and she didn't think it was possible to cry more than she already had.

Being as exhausted as she was, she was surprised that she hadn't turned numb. That she yet failed to give up and let herself fade away in her misery, but she could never do that.

Spite the feeling she carried so heavily within the fragile cage of her chest, the sense of him never coming back to her — the torch of him actually doing so, mastered.

Letting go of the keys, she sobbed out, tilting her head forward as her hair followed. She hid from the world, banned herself from existence, and she made herself tiny.

Crying on that bench for hours before her eyes finally earned the strength to flicker, she thought of it. Her worn mind overworking itself to remember all the things he'd done for her when she was the one in the wind, but she was weak.

Never had she been so weak. So frail that her mind wasn't working.

Looking out over the bookshelves, something caught her attention. Something she'd neglected in the missing of her heart, and she flung up, marching over the marble floor until she reached a shelf.

His diary.

The diary she gave him for Christmas so that they'd never feel apart.

After Draco allowed her to read it, the night before her memories were restored, she held onto it. She kept it safe, and she made sure that it was always close to them.

That little, leather-bound book meant the world to her, and she slipped down onto the floor, hugging her knees to her chest as she read what he said about her.

All the things he wrote he loved about her. All the reasons he missed her. All the time, he said he was hers, and she was his. Everything. Every little thing she read, over and over.

Drowning herself in the missing of him as she reached where she knew the end would be and just as she meant to turn the last page — it came across her that she didn't remember where her diary had gone.

If it was still in the Pucey residence, or if it had been thrown away to a place, she'd never been able to find it. Not that it mattered to her where it ended up. She didn't need it cause she always had him.

Her Draco.

''What are you doing?''

Amelie flinched, her body jolted off the ground as she habitually hid the diary behind her back — all her lost patterns, all the ways she learned to overcome with Draco seemed to be back when he wasn't.

''I'm sorry—'' She choked out, blinking quickly at the little boy standing in the doorway, ''Did I wake you?''

Atlas scratched his knuckles against his eyes, yawning lightly as he stepped up to her in his nightclothes. He could see the dried tears underneath her eyes and how sad his sister portrayed.

His head instantly fell to her stomach, ''I like when you play the piano,'' He mumbled, wrapping his arms around her, ''Draco played for me when you were tired and couldn't say goodnight. He said you were asleep, and I was sad, so he played for me.''

Feeling as the ache nearly turned immense within, she let the diary rest on a shelf, and she sheeted his messy curls with her hands, ''He's pretty great like that, isn't he?'' She felt a faint curl on her lips, ''He takes care of everyone.''

''I had a nightmare, and he read to me,'' Atlas yawned again. His body felt weighted around hers, ''I like him.''

''I do too,'' She whispered, ''I like Draco too.''

Atlas bent his head back, peering up at his sister from below, ''Then why isn't he here? If you like him so much?''

Her heart dropped, crashing in the pit of her stomach, and if she didn't know any better — she'd believe that someone ripped it out.

''He's coming back soon....'' Amelie's voice held thin, and her fingers combed through his locks, ''He'll be back any day now.''

''I miss him,'' He said, and he stretched up on his toes, meaning for her to lifting him, and she did. Amelie picked up her little brother as he wrapped his legs around her waist, ''Is that why you're crying all the time?''

The tips of his fingers brushed over the dark circles below her eyes, ''Because he's not here?'' Leaning his forehead to hers, he sighed, tiredly, ''I cry because mom isn't here sometimes. I miss mom and Draco.''

Amelie had to swallow the lump as it abused the back of her throat, doing everything she could not cry, ''Why aren't you sleeping?'' She asked, lowly, wanting to change the topic before it caused her to sob out, ''It's the middle of the night.''

''I was feeling lonely,'' His head tipped to her shoulder, his breathing slowed, ''I'm tired....''

Amelie gripped the diary and sheeted her arms around the boy firmly. She began walking back upstairs, ''You can sleep in my bed if you want?'' She hummed, feeling as he was falling asleep in her hold, ''So neither of us will be lonely.''

''I'd like that....'' Atlas gasped out, his arms hanging around her neck as he fell into the world of dreams in her embrace.

She placed him on her side of their bed, tucking him in properly and kissing his head before she laid down next to him, listening to the calming sound of his breaths echoing.

But her mind couldn't rest.

She couldn't stop thinking about that last page of that diary now resting on her nightstand. She, as quietly as she could — lifted it, flipping the pages, and as she did, it began to sore through her chest.

A strange sensation wavered her, almost causing her to throw the book away. It was pure evil — something so vile trying to reach her through it.

Scared as she was, she didn't hesitate to turn to the last page and how she wished she wouldn't have.

It made her whimper. It slammed the air out of her lungs, and she tried so hard to shut it out. That avowed sensation she'd felt at the masquerade a few days prior when she stumbled into that Death Eater she later watched Teddy interact with.

And suddenly. It made sense to her.

Her fingers shook as she traced the tips of them across the written words she'd failed to notice before, and it was the same letters he'd always tell her.

'I miss you, darling.'

That word — darling.

That specific word could be the death of her. It caused tears to pool and her chest to tighten because only one person called her that, and that person she believed was dead.

Yet, it made all sense in the world to her. The way he stole her diary from her the night both her and Draco was meant to die. The night she thought she'd escaped the darkness in her life.

Shooting a quick look across her shoulder, peering down at her sleeping brother, Amelie made sure not to wake him, and she prized that both Narcissa and Teddy were home, so if he would need anyone, he had them right here.

But she didn't. She didn't have the person she needed, and she craved to get him back.

Her feet were upon the floor, and she marched into the wardrobe, dragging her clothes on. She shouldn't be doing this. She knew that.

It was way past midnight, and there was a high chance of her getting caught, but she couldn't stall it.

Amelie needed to know if what she was looking at indeed turned out to be true and if it was — she wouldn't be surprised that he played a part in Draco not returning to her.

She'd do anything to have her Draco returned to her.

Her wand firmly gripped in her fist, and she inhaled sharply with the words that would bring her back to the castle.

To the person that would live to be either her gravest devil or her savior in this, nothing in between.

Amelie didn't know where to go — where she'd find the person she spent years to escape, but she couldn't falter now. So she marched across the yard in the moonlight as it shone bitterly on her.

She used to adore the moon when everyone was asleep, and she felt free, but she didn't anymore.

Aiming her weapon ahead of her, the diary in one hand as her wand shook in the other, she whispered a spell to make the entrance unlock, and it did, with a click.

Her footsteps mirrored along with the stone she stormed over, and this time — this time, she didn't hesitate. She didn't sneak through the corridors. She strode, without remorse. Not holding back.

All that blurred her head was Draco and how she'd happily die rescuing him.

Voices mumbled around her, but she managed to void them at all costs. Slipping down the stone-covered stairs to where she knew a known boy would be, she stopped. Her eyes narrowed in his, and he looked startled at the sight of her.

''Avery?'' Zabini frowned, pushing his palms into his desk and standing up, ''What the fuck are you—''

''I met you the other night. You apologized to me for being a horrible person, and you told me to protect Draco. I know that you don't remember, and that's because I took your memories away. I couldn't risk you telling anyone that I was here, but I need you now, Blaise. Draco needs you—'' She heaved, talking so fast that her throat burnt, ''I need you to tell me where they keep prisoners, the highly dangerous people.''

''Avery,'' Blaise shook his head, not understanding a thing she was spitting at him, ''I have no idea what you're on about—''

Pinching her eyes shut, she inhaled, and with that gasp, she traced her wand up to her head, humming inaudibly underneath her breath.

Along with those tiny words, she withdrew an icing light from her skull, letting it linger around the tip of her wand as before she marched up to his desk, fiddling with the vials on the wood and just as the light meant to slip into one of them — Amelie snapped her fingers and the swirl of blaze, turned into a pearly liquid.

''Drink—'' She handed it to him, nodding towards the small flask, ''It will make it all so much clearer, drink.''

Blaise looked at her, wide-eyed and shocked. Not once in his life had he seen her like this as he dubiously took the vial from her, and he pathed it up to his lips.

Pouring the silver fluid down his throat in one go. He didn't blink. He didn't doubt her, he knew she'd have the upper hand with him, and he simply did as told.

Zabini didn't have anything to lose.

Coughing out, roughly he bent over his desk, gripping the edges of it as he breathed heavily, ''What the—''

He stilled. His limbs sinking into his mind. Blaise remembered. He recalled the night of the masquerade, when she had snaked her way down into the cellar he was seated in, and the talk they had, ''I see....'' He muttered, displeased that they'd toyed with his head, ''I don't know what you want from me, I can't—''

''I suppose Theodore and Narcissa have been here, asking you questions?'' Amelie snapped, her voice impatient, ''And I guess you're aware of Draco being missing?''

Zabini nodded slowly as a pained dash showed in his pupils, ''I heard.''

''I think I know how to get him back, but I need your help. I need to find someone, and I believe he would be locked up, somewhere in here where he can't escape,'' She said, confidently, her shoulders straightened, ''Draco needs this, Blaise. He's in danger, and he needs us—''

''Fuck—'' Rushing his hands across his short-cut hair, locking them behind his neck, he nodded rapidly, ''Fine, I'll take you there, but then you need to leave, Avery. Even if he's missing right now — when he finds out you were here in the middle of the night, and I helped you, I'm dead.''

Blaise shot the cells a swift look. His skin layered in a thin coat of sweat as his head tipped towards the stairs, and he stormed ahead of her. Amelie blindly followed.

She didn't think anything of it. Only the fright of not getting to Draco in time haunted her.

''In here,'' Blaise gripped her arm, leading her into a different corridor, a darker one, ''And here—'' Rounding another corner, he stopped in front of two massive metal doors.

Feeling shivers as they stabbed down her spine, she looked at him. Her eyes crowded in fright, as did his. Zabini hadn't been down here before, not without guards and soldiers protecting him from the monsters inside.

If it were possible, her heart would've hammered out of her chest.

Hoping with everything she owned that she'd be wrong about this. That this wouldn't be what she thought it would.

If he indeed lived, just as she did — if he survived, he'd be here.

If they found him and brought him back to life, he'd be locked up in chains to keep track of him. He was the most immoral sadist, yet he could be Draco's ticket to freedom. Her chance to get her heart back, and she couldn't wait to have it beat in bearing with his again.

''Are you sure?'' Blaise licked his lower lip, easing the shuddering, ''If the person you're looking for is here, I can't save you.''

Gulping, her fingers tugging at the edges of her dress, she nodded, ''I'm sure.''

His hand closed around the handles, and he stepped back, opening the doors for her, and the screams echoing from inside tore through their ears.

''I'll wait here,'' He faltered, but she didn't. Amelie walked inside. Wincing back by the thud of the door slamming shut behind her.

Hearing the most skin-crawling sounds, Amelie sauntered past the cells. Limbs poking out from behind bars in the attempts to get a hold of her, but she was quick to pace her way through it.

Following the stinging feeling the diary in her hand brought, she stopped. Never had her body shaken as much as it did now.

Her eyes flickered, her breaths shallow as she felt the stare burning into her. Similar to how it had done at the masquerade.

A spooked mantle ghosted across her features as she turned to her left, her soul splitting from her body the instant her sight crossed the damned one.

Amelie was right.

''Darling...'' He grinned, ''Took you long enough.''

His hands grasping at the metal bars, and he leaned his forehead against it, raising a brow as he scanned her aghast self.

Her teeth shattered, her lips quivered as she parted them, and a frail breath escaped her strained throat.

''Adrian."

_____