Erin's POV

"Foolish girl," the Phantom said, the rage showing through his voice, "You think you can defeat me?!"

I was too exhausted to speak as was breathing heavily. Pink strands of hair were falling in my sweaty face as I sat tiredly on the castle ground. The throne of the Phantom was before me.

"Father," I breathed, "I will never turn to your ways. No matter... how hard to try to break me..." I was too tired to finish my sentence, "You lose, Father."

"Erin, you've forgotten something about me," he said, "I am far more powerful than you, and if I must change you through force, then so be it."

"You wouldn't," I spat.

"Watch me." He raised his arms toward me, and a cloud of black surrounded me, stinging my skin. Tears filled my eyes as I clenched my teeth in pain. My knuckles were white as the mist brought me higher into the air. I struggled to break free, but the mist had me. It stabbed through my chest and seemed to be pulling something out of me.

"NnghAAAHHH!!" I screamed as it pulled and tugged. My hands were shaking as my original white attire began to change to the color of the mist. I was turning into him. A true phantom.

"Your righteousness shall be changed to darkness! You belong to ME!" the Phantom screamed. New power surged through me, energizing me and filling me with power.

I was lowered back to the ground, a new person dressed in black with a different soul.

"How do you feel?" the Phantom asked. I grinned.

"Better than ever."

I had a new realization of whose side I was on. What had I been doing this entire time? The Phantom was my father, and maybe if it weren't for the mortals my sisters would still be alive! A feeling of vengeance came over me, and the only way to relieve it would be to carry out my father's will. Maybe my mother would still be alive had she not been such a naïve believer. I had to serve my father; I was his only chance now. It was just me and him.

"Now, go," he ordered, "Seek your vengeance. Use this to locate them." He threw me a ring that had a red ruby on it. I put it on my finger and admired it. It had sort of an enchanting glow to it.

"And how will this help?" I asked.

"It contains magic inside and it will grant you powers to find them wherever they go," the Phantom said, "You'll understand once you need to use it. What do you think?"

"I think I can live with that," I said as I let light reflect off the many sides of the gem.

I made my way out of the Phantom realm through a portal back to the portal hallway. I observed each of the portals; there were too many to count all in different colors casting a soft glow on the floor. Shimmering matter swirled through them, and now I had to decide which one to go through.

"Alright, where are you?" I said softly. Just the thought of them made my blood run cold.

I felt a power run from my finger into my eyes. I looked down at the ring. It emitted a dark red glow. It must have been doing something to help me.

Then, appearing like holograms, were Jesse, Aiden, Katcha, Maya, and Lukas. They appeared to talk together for a little while, then went in different directions.

Looking at them first filled me with anger, but then seeing Lukas reminded me of something. Almost as if I was remembering that we used to be friends. I slowly floated in closer, curiosity written on my face.

"Now, we should choose our next world carefully," he had said, "We can't have anyone else... We've just gotta make sure it's not too dangerous."

I could feel my magic dimming as the memories washed over me. I closed my eyes, shook my head quickly, and floated back up.

"He helped kill your sister," I reminded myself, "That's right."

I waited a little while longer before they called each other over to a portal lined with dirt and had purple matter inside.

"Maybe this is it?" Jesse said. They shrugged and walked through.

"So that's where they went," I smiled. I looked back down at my ring, which was slowly dimming down once the holograms left. This should be easy.

I floated into the portal after them. They would be mine.

Maya's POV

"Oww...!" I said, lifting myself up from the cold, snowy ground, "Did anyone get hurt?"

"I'm g-good," Lukas said as he carefully lifted himself from the snow. His yellow hair was littered with white specks.

"Petra!" Jesse exclaimed, "How's Petra?"

"Augh... here," Petra's muffled voice said softly.

"THE HORSES!" Juniper screamed, "THEY'RE GONE!" Sheldon sighed.

"And if they weren't scared away already..." he pointed his hands to Juniper.

"Everybody, let's calm down," Darling shushed, "Maybe the horses will come back to us?"

"They will when Juniper stops shouting," Dan rolled his eyes. He paused. "Wait a minute!" He threw his bag on the ground and out of a small pocket he lifted a small, wooden flute. He played a few notes and put it away.

"What was tha—" Juniper whispered, "Wait, what?! I can't... I can't..."  Dan smirked.

"Now I'll just need a different analogy for the horses not coming back," he said.

"You're kidding me, right??" Juniper angrily whispered. Dan put a hand to his ear.

"Hey, you wanna speak up a little? I can't hear you."

Juniper growled.

"Guys, come on..." Petra said weakly. She shakily lifted herself out of the snow.

"Petra... are you...?" Lukas began, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said. She looked pale and sickly and she was clutching her side as if she was in pain, "I just had a panic attack and was thrown off a horse. Of course I might not... look well."

"You think you've got it bad?!" Juniper whispered, "I can't talk!"

"Juniper!" Darling scolded, "You're fine."

"I will be once Dan fixes me!"

Dan began whistling as if he didn't hear her.

"Let's just walk back from here," Jesse said, "We'll get this figured out later."

"What if we split up?" Lukas suggested, "Maybe a couple of us could walk back with Petra while the rest follow the horses?"

"Lukas, are you serious?" I asked, "Splitting up is always a bad idea! I vote we stay together! Don't you know what happens when a group splits up?"

"Kid, what's your name?" Dan asked.

"Maya."

"Look, Maya," he said, "Petra isn't in any condition to be walking around out here."

Petra coughed and shuddered, proving his point.

"Okay, fine," I said, "But how about I walk back with her?"

"That would be okay," Darling said, "How about you and Lukas go, since you're friends and all."

"Okay," Petra said softly, "Thanks."

"Jesse, you'll be okay?" Lukas asked.

"Yeah. Stay at the castle until we come back. We don't want you coming looking for us and getting lost," she said.

"We'll meet you back at the castle; stay safe," Sheldon said.

Lukas offered his cloak to Petra since she didn't have one. We wrapped an arm around her back and began our trek through the snow back to the castle.

We had been walking back for a while when Lukas piped up.

"Man, it seems like the castle is much further away on foot than on horse."

"Yeah, Lukas, are you sure we're headed the right way?" I asked.

"Well, I think so. I paid attention on the way here and we've been headed the right way so far, but I'm starting to not recognize things," he said.

"I don't like saying this, but honestly I really need to just rest," Petra said.

"I think that'd be okay, if we can find you someplace to lay down," Lukas said.

"No!" I protested, "Hypothermia! It's below freezing right now, and resting could be dangerous!"

Lukas sighed.

"You think you can go a little further?" he asked.

"I don't feel like it, but yeah, I'll do it," Petra said.

"You don't think you got what Aiden has, do you?" I asked, "Are you hot?"

"I'm freezing cold right now," Petra said.

"How do you feel?" Lukas asked.

"Tired," said Petra, "And weak. I don't like it at all. It just started after the last panic attack."

Remember when Darling told us it was safe to bring people out of dead character land as long as their death didn't interfere with the story? I was beginning to hypothesize that bringing Petra back was a mistake. Maybe her panic attacks and fatigue was a product of her dying as a part of the story. I didn't want to say it just then, right in front of her. The thought still scared me, though.

"Come on," Lukas said, "Let's just keep walking. We'll be back soon."

We continued our walk for a while, but when the sun began to set we started to panic. The temperature was slowly climbing down, and we couldn't afford to be out here for too much longer.

"I don't understand," Lukas said, his lips starting to discolor, "We should be back by now! We w-went the same way and everything!"

"Well, apparently we did s-something wrong!" I said, my teeth chattering from the cold.

"What about if w-we make a fire?" Petra suggested.

"Ah, I like that idea," Lukas said. His arms were wrapped around himself in an attempt to stay warm.

"We should find shelter," I said, readjusting my cape so it would cover me better, "It would be safer that way."

We looked around until we managed to find a very small cave, although I wasn't sure if it could really be considered one. It was more of an indentation in a large rock, but it would have to do.

"Find some wood so we can start a fire," Lukas told me as he helped Petra sit down," I've got Petra."

"Oh, sure, leave getting firewood to the girl," I said. He lowered his eyebrows at me.

"Fine! I'll go!" I said, leaving to the outside. The bitter wind pulled my hair and burned my face, but all I hoped was that we could just make the best of this.

Aiden's POV

"Phew, Aiden, your armpits are sweating so hard, it's enough to fill a well in Africa."

"Katcha..." I groaned, "Please stop. I'm trying to sleep."

"Hold on, hold on," she said, "You're more sweaty than a dyslexic person on a countdown!"

"My head hurts."

"One more! You're so sweaty, when you walk outside, kids want to run around in you!"

"What the heck?"

"No, no, because kids run around in sprinklers... and you're sweating so it's like you're—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Can you just go... somewhere else?"

"Fine, if that's how you want it. You're so mean, Herobrine averts his eyes at you!"

"Where are you getting all of these?"

"Fine, I'll go. How about I go see how Petra's doing? They've been gone for a while now..."

I suddenly remembered that Petra had just been kidnapped and began to worry. No one that I knew of had shown back up at the castle, so I was getting really concerned for how they were doing.

"Yes. Please do that."

With that, Katcha flew out of the room.