Prompt: Write about your OTP. But, instead of a cute fluffy one-shot with rainbows and sparkles and a 'happily ever after' . . . Fck it up. Kill one of them off. Make one of them cheat on the other with the other's best friend. Make. Me. Cry. Be the evil author you know you are on the inside.

Biana was beautiful when she slept, Linh thought dreamily as she drifted through the place in between slumber and consciousness.

Well, Biana was always beautiful, she amended. Biana was beautiful when she spoke and when she smiled and when she yelled and when she held your hand. But she was also beautiful when she slept. Maybe the most beautiful, because she wasn't all dressed up in her makeup and fancy clothes. (Not that Linh didn't like Biana's makeup and fancy clothes. She did. They were endearing. But she was beautiful without them, too.)

Linh could feel herself sinking deeper into sleep and she let go willingly, gladly, joyfully, images of Biana surrounding her on all sides. Biana singing, Biana laughing, Biana braiding her hair and dancing in the rain. Biana's eyes, her grin, her scars.

Sweet, flower-scented dreams spun through Linh's mind, making her ever-so-slightly dizzy. Biana and Linh leaping through fields and valleys, cuddling and kissing. Biana's glittery pink nails, clutching Linh's hands and squeezing so that it hurt, just a little bit, just enough to make her realize she was dreaming.

Linh could feel herself waking up, the slightest bit. "Stoppit," she mumbled. She didn't want to wake to any kind of reality. She wanted to stay in the happy, sweet-smelling dreamworld forever.

But then she heard Biana's voice. "Wake up, sweetheart. It's morning."

"Mmm," she groaned, blinking her eyes open to see Biana smiling down at her. "Five more minutes?"

"No, Linh, it's time to wake up now," Biana told her, something pushy in her voice. It was annoying when Biana was pushy, Linh decided, sleepiness making her cranky.

She frowned. "Bi, my head hurts," she complained, already knowing what Biana's answer would be.

"I'm sorry about that, sweetie," Biana sympathized.

"Wha? But..."

That wasn't what Biana said. Not when Linh complained. When Linh complained, Biana always laughed and said, "Glad it's not me," in her cute, teasing way. She didn't apologize, not when it was a little thing like a headache.

And she didn't call Linh 'sweetie', or 'sweetheart'. She called her 'baby'.

Linh's head spun, making it near-impossible for her to articulate any of her thoughts. Her whole body felt strongly heavy, and she realized with a mild amount of concerns that there was something hard and cold digging into the back of her head. "Bi?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Biana asked, and there was definitely something wrong in her tone. It was strangely urgent, like she was trying to tell Linh something telepathically. But . . . Biana wasn't a Telepath. She was a Vanisher.

Linh's head hurt. She couldn't remember what she was going to say. "Nevermind."

Biana's beautiful face morphed into a frown. Linh was surprised to hear her voice quiver when she said, "O-okay."

But then she looked at Biana, really looked. Her wavy brown hair was down, tumbling around her shoulders freely without the slightest hint of decoration. Her face was full of yesterday's makeup. And above her head . . .

"Bi. Where are we?"

Because that wasn't Biana's bedroom, where Linh last remembered being, with its light pink ceiling and sticker hearts and over-the-top chandelier. No, this ceiling was white and bland, with nothing to adorn it but rows of claustrophobic fluorescent lightbulbs.

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. But the more Linh came to realize that, the more her head buzzed.

"We're at home, sweetie," Biana said tightly, and there was a definite edge to her words now. She was trying to communicate something, and Linh knew she had to realize what it was. But she was barely keeping herself awake, now, and the world was spinning.

As she drifted away, she just barely registered a low voice growling, "Unacceptable, Miss Vacker." And the rest of his words blurred into her dreams...

When she woke up, she was woozy and sore, and Biana was nowhere to be found. Linh appeared to be in a cavernous hall, tied to some sort of chair. In front of her stood an unfamiliar man, wearing a black Neverseen cloak.

A chill ran through her. "Wh- what's going on?"

The man chuckled, and his voice was the same as the one she had heard the last night, whispering about sedatives and melders. "Hello, Miss Song. Are you wondering where your little friend is?"

She glared at him. "What did you do to her?"

He smiled knowingly. "Oh, nothing. Would you like her to be brought in?"

Linh swallowed the bile that rose up in her throat. "I . . . "

Another chuckle. "Alright."

And then Linh could only watch dazedly as a huge tub rolled into the room as if with its own accord. Inside, she could see Biana, tied to a pole on the bottom, bound by ropes and cuffs. "Linh!" she cried, and her hair was a mess, and Linh was crying now. "Linh, I'm sorry. They were holding a melder to your head, I couldn't let you know anything was wrong!"

"It's okay," Linh said quietly, and her voice was dry and clear. "It's okay, Bi." She looked the man in the eyes, unwavering. "What do you want?"

Chuckle number three. If she wasn't tied up, she would have given Chuckles the middle finger. "Look around you. What do you think I want, Miss Song?"

She rolled her eyes and looked back at Biana. Biana, tied to the bottom of the tub, unable to move. Biana . . .

No. No. No way.

Chuckles chuckled yet again. "I see you've realized, Miss Song. You really don't want to drown her, do you?"

She stared at him, horror snaking its way inside of her. "No. I won't do it. Anything but that."

He smiled. "Really, Miss Song? Anything?"

And that was then they wheeled in Tam.

Linh was sobbing now. She tried to shoot water at Chuckles, but only hit a mirror, and an echoing voice informing her that there were no other options, and a million goblin throwing stars aimed at each of them if she refused to comply. She could hear Biana and Tam crying her name, but tuned out their words. She couldn't do this.

Biana or Tam?

Girlfriend or brother?

It killed her, doing this. The choice was murdering everything inside of her, but she wasn't going numb. Tears were streaking her vision, everything blurred by the water that she loved.

She already knew, of course.

No matter what she and Biana had, no matter how much she loved the girl, Tam would always come first.

So she looked Biana in the eye, and she willed herself to stay strong, and she said simply, "I'm sorry."

And Biana said, "Linh."

And then she went limp: sedated. Linh would never know what she was going to say: "I forgive you?" "Take Tam instead?" Maybe it would have changed things.

But instead, she could feel the water building up inside of her, and it exploded into the room, covering the world and it was all hell and she could hear screaming but maybe it was just her and she only had one thought as her mind broke into pieces:

Biana is beautiful when she drowns.