Marissa was sure she was dying.

But when her eyes flew open and she dropped to the ground, landing with a loud crack on the concrete, she was somewhat surer now that she was alive.

She gasped for air as she shook, staring at the tar of the road. Everything hurt. Her muscles burned and her lungs felt like they were on fire. She shakily put a hand to her throat and rasped, feeling the finger mark indents that had been pressing down firmly onto her throat. She barely managed to look up before a shining pair of black, metallic boots appeared in front of her face. She froze, not daring to move or breath. There was a muffled sound, someone sighing.

"Why do you have to make this so difficult?" There was a metallic groan and fingers grabbed her by the neck. She put her hands on the metallic fingers and pulled, trying to get them off of her. She squirmed but the grip tightened and she could feel the masses of untouched strength being held back as she tried to fight the hand that was holding her. Marissa could feel her windpipe being gently crushed- as though it had been placed in a trash compactor but more slowly, giving the crushers time to enjoy the mayhem being caused. When there was no air left in her lungs, Marissa felt herself let go, any energy she had seeped away as she was lifted into the air, dangling like a kitten in its mother's mouth. She couldn't lift her head because of the grip on her neck but she watched as she rose into the air and the air froze in her lungs again as she slowly came face to face with a masked face. She choked. "Why do you keep doing this?" She mouthed something but no words came out. The Horseman sighed and started to turn himself around, slowly turning Marissa as he went, giving her a good look around. There was still thick, white fog around them but as the Horseman turned around, it starred to fade around them. She continued to hang limply from his grasp as into view, her friends appeared. Her heart almost stopped when she saw them.

Ellie Rae, Jax and Lincoln were all being held in the air, a Horseman gripping them tightly by the throats but not tight enough to kill them. Jax was squirming, gasping for air. He looked like he was in intense pain.

Lincoln had an eerie floating look about him and his mouth was moving, trying to say something. His eyes were open and he was looking at the sky, eyes bloodshot.

Ellie Rae was the one that got Marissa. She didn't look like she was in pain. Hell, she didn't look like anything. She just hung limply in the Horseman's grasp, his white armour almost invisible in the fog. Marissa mouthed her name and tried to kick her legs. It was no use. The Horseman turned her around to face him, turning away from her friends. He loosened his grip minutely and she was able take in a sharp breath. The Horseman gave another tired sigh.

"Do you know who I am?" With his loosened grip, she was able to give a raspy response and give a short nod, one that sent pain like fire into the back of her brain.

"Pes... Pestilence." Her throat felt like sandpaper. He nodded.

"And do you know why we're here?" She managed to cough out a no. She didn't know what was happening. "Now that... That is unfortunate, Marissa Jackson. Rather unfortunate indeed." Pestilence shook his head. "Alas, we are but messengers, brought forth to bring suffering and chaos. And now, we must move forward with the plans that have been put in place." He tilted his head to look at Marissa. "If only you knew your part in this." Marissa couldn't even begin to understand what that even meant but she didn't care.

"Wh... Why?" She choked on her words.. Pestilence cocked his head. She managed to wave behind her, a pathetic attempt to gesture to her friends. "Ah. Pain makes you weak. Humans... Poor, unfortunate souls. It makes it all the easier to take you all. This will all be explained later, my dear Marissa. I promise you that." Marissa wanted to have some kind of snarky remark to throw at the Horseman but she couldn't. What she wanted most in the world was for him to let go of her neck so that way she could try and fight some answers out of him. Speaking of the pain, it was starting to flood her brain, fogging her vision up. Pestilence looked past her and nodded. The grip on her neck tightened and she gasped as little black dots started to obscure her vision. There was. In another pathetic attempt to get herself free- and it was a pathetic attempt- to pull herself free. In any other situation where she wouldn't have been deprived of oxygen, she would have noted that catching this Horseman by surprise was not an option. So when she tried to fling herself out of his grasp, it was no surprise that his grip didn't change. Someone started to talk and Marissa could barely make out a word of what they were saying. All she noted was a glimmer of red through the corner of her eye before Pestilence nodded in response and gave Marissa no time to react when he used his free hand to punch her in the face, knocking her unconscious with an unceremonious crack.

It was very, very dark when Marissa finally came to. She spluttered back to life, coughing, and gasping for air, eyes closed, stuck together. She managed to turn herself over and threw up on the ground, narrowly missing her clothing. Or she hoped she did. She wasn't entirely sure she had missed her clothes but emptying her stomach made her feel mildly better. She heaved again and managed to open her eyes. She tried to look around and began to panic, thinking that she was blind. Her neck hurt, nose throbbing and sending flashes of pain into her skull as she wildly felt around her, breathing in small gasps as she tried to fill her lungs.

"Hello?" She called out, coughing. She pushed herself onto her knees and crawled forward, feeling around. The floor was cold, smooth concrete but she continued to feel around until her hand touched metal. Bars. There were bars.

She was in a cell.

"Is anyone out there?! HELLO? ANYONE?!" Marissa's voice cracked as she rattled the bars of her prison cage, trying to make as much noise as she could. She pulled herself to her feet slowly, feeling every bruise and ache in her body as she stood, clinging to the bars. She kicked at the metal bars a few times and yelped in pain as her toes crunched into the metal bars. She swore as she felt her toes break in her right foot. She fell back down the groan.

"Broke your toes?" A voice rasped from the dark. Marissa looked up, squinting, trying to see where it was. She could have sworn it was Jax's voice

"Jax?"

"Unfortunately." He groaned from somewhere. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea." Marissa grimaced as her toes ached from where she had smashed it into the bars. She inched herself backwards, pressing her to the floor and rested her head in the corner between the bars and the concrete, the metal cool against the side of her face. "Do you remember what happened?"

"We..... I'm pretty sure the Horsemen were there. And... pain." Marissa coughed has she tried to clear her throat. It hurt to talk.

"I... I don't know what happened." She rasped. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push away the hot tears that pricked at her. "You guys were all dead."

"That's hilarious because I feel pretty dead."

"Do you guys have to talk so loud?" Another voice joined, right beside Marissa. She sat upright.

"Lincoln?"

"Yeah. Oh jeez, my head." Lincoln's voice was definitely coming from beside her cell. She felt around some more and her hand slipped through the bars and came in contact with something warm, fleshy, and solid. She squeezed and the hand she had grabbed squeezed back. She choked on a cry of relief. "Mar, that's you, right?"

"Well, I don't think my cell is beside ya'll's, so I hope it's her and not some rando."

"It's definitely me." She rested her head on the bars and held a tight grip on his hand. "You guys are alive." She felt a tear run down her cheek. There was no use hiding it, she realized, because they couldn't see her. "Where's Ellie Rae?"

"Maybe she's still unconscious?" She heard shuffling around and she felt Lincoln rest his forehead against the bars as well, his warmth rolling on to her. "What happened?"

"We were just trying to figure that out when you decided to grace us with your awakeness." Jax said dryly. Marissa gave a small laugh that sounded more like an old man's smoker cough. At least he hadn't lost his sense of humour. Marissa closed her eyes.

"Are we all okay, though? No one's dead?"

"I can't see anything but otherwise I think no one is dead." Marissa sighed. "Jax?"

"I don't think anyone can see anything, Marissa. It's pitch black. But otherwise, just a killer headache my neck hurts like a bitch."

"Same here. Everything hurts." Lincoln sighed, his warm breath brushing the side of her face. "I thought you guys were dead."

"You thought we were dead? I thought you were all dead. Ya'll got smashed into pieces in my cars. I.. I couldn't do anything to help you. And when I did? I was dropped into a vat of boiling metal." Marissa could hear him shuddering. "It was horrible." He whispered.

"You were all zombies." Marissa whispered into the dark. "You all died and then... You came back." Lincoln shifted beside her."

"What happened?"

"I was torn limb from limb." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "And then I was back."

"Pestilence had you." Jax piqued up. "My head went under the metal and then I was awake? And his dude dressed in pitch black had me and I saw you guys and then I woke up."

"We were drowning. Well, you were." Marissa felt his head turn back to look at where she was. "I couldn't save you and then Jax was dragging me down into the water."

"Whoops?" They heard Jax say. Marissa gave a small laugh.

"Not your fault, you were drowning too only you couldn't swim." Marissa stopped laughing. "Water scares me. And losing you guys... That made it even worse." His voice lowered to a whisper. Marissa moved her hand to his face and felt around carefully before finding his cheek. She rested her hand on the scruff that was growing on his face.

"Pestilence said that fear makes us weak. They weakened us with our worst nightmares." She ran a finger over his cheekbone. He relaxed into her hand.

"How did they all find us?"

"They probably smelled you from wherever they were." Jax said from wherever he was.

"Thanks for that, Jax. You don't smell that much better, for you information." Lincoln retorted. Marissa felt him move his head and she moved her hand and grabbed his again. She just shook her head.

"They knew we were going to the Citadel. They decided to make it easier for them to kill us." Marissa said, thinking aloud. "It would make sense. They've been at every turn, someway of another. When I saw Pestilence, he saw me right before I woke up. He shot that at arrow at you guys. He must have circled in on us with the other Horsemen and realized that our goal was to get here and put a stop to the human slash Horsemen comradery." They were all silent for a moment. A small voice piped up from the other end of the cells, close to where Jax's voice was coming from in the dark

"Well that must have been very annoying for them."

"Ellie Rae!"

"E.R!"

"Ellie!"

"I'm here. Where are we?" Ellie Rae sounded weak but nobody seemed to care- they were all together.

'We're in the dark, obviously." Jax said dryly. Despite the current conditions, that made them all laugh.

"Good to see they didn't break your sense of comedic self when they broke your nose." Lincoln said but Marissa could tell he was smiling in the dark. He had leaned his forehead back on the bars so that their heads were touching, making it easier for her to sense his expressions.

"Okay but besides the jokes, where are we?" Ellie Rae asked again. Marissa sighed.

"No clue. Don't even know how long we've been down here or where here is or even if the world has ended. If it has, this is a shitty compromise." Ellie Rae snorted, which then turned into a coughing fit. "Ellie Rae?" She kept coughing but it gradually subsided.

"I'm okay. Just.. Frog in my throat. What were we talking about?" She sniffed and Marissa heard the clang of metal. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as the cells burst into being, light blinding them. Marissa screamed and clapped her hands over her eyes, trying to stop herself from going blind from the light that filled the room. Someone swore- she was pretty sure it was Jax- as she keeled over and pressed her face to the floor, pushing her hands into her eyes. Ellie Rae cried out in pain as another clang of metal reverberated through the air, causing their ears to throb in pain. Someone was yelling something again but Marissa was now trying to focus on the throbbing sensation that had flooded her brain, reaching into every nook and cranny her skull could possibly have.

This went on for five minutes before the ringing stopped. Marissa stayed in her bent over position, not daring to take her hands away from her eyes. Everything hurt and burned with her position but she would not let herself go blind.

Silence fell. She didn't know if it was all over until a voice called out to them. Her stomach curled at the voice that spoke. The harshness of it was unfamiliar but she knew who it belonged to. Cold, hard, and clinical. Wanting. Needing. A certain hint of superiority in there – that tone she knew all too well.

"Well, well, well. Who would thunk I would we would meet again." That flash of red that had been at the corner of her eye.

Daniel was alive.

"Daniel?" There was a chorus of confused voices from the group once everyone seemed to regain their vision. Jax's jaw was practically on the floor as he looked over Daniel.

Daniel looked relatively well, considering the last time that seen in was the jaws of a giant wolf that had run off with him screaming.

"How are you even alive?" Lincoln asked as he got to his feet and pulled himself to the bars, as if hoping he could push through them. "You.. You were.."

"You were as good as dead." Marissa finished for him. She stood up and winced. Every bone in her body creaked as she stood. Daniel shrugged his shoulders. He didn't even look like he had been half munched on and dragged. In fact, he looked like he had the very first day they met him. Perfect. Pristine.

Something was off. He looked exactly like he had when they first met him in the Scarlett Tears territory only he seemed to have an air to him that made Marissa want to reach the bars and castrate him.

Not that she liked the idea but if anyone deserved it, it was Daniel with his new and improved superiority complex.

"Well, my dear Marissa, as you can see, I am not dead." He came up to her bars and gave her a once over. "You look terrible."

"I have no doubts that you had something to do with that." She spat. Her nose was still throbbing but the pain had somewhat subsided. Daniel gave her a smug smile before moving away from her to inspect the faces of her friends. Jax spat at his feet when he came to a stop in front of him, sneering at him in disgust.

"You were a part of this, weren't you? You were the reason we were being followed." Daniel shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets.

"A magician never reveals his secrets." He slowly wheeled himself around to look at Ellie Rae. Her face was white in shock, disbelief.

"We trusted you." She whispered.

"Uh, for the record- and I would like it to be in bold and highlighted when you read the transcript, I never trusted him." Jax said sourly, watching Daniel. He had his hands on the bars and was clenching them, his knuckles white. Daniel paid him no heed, giving Ellie Rae a small smile. Marissa wanted to throw up. He looked at her friend like a prize- so sweet and fragile. Hell, maybe she was a prize for him.

"Ellie Rae I promise that nothing has changed, okay? You can still trust me. I'm here to prove that to you." He nodded at her. Ellie Rae said nothing but her eyes darted over to Marissa. Marissa remained stony faced but her heart was pounding. She blinked once at Ellie Rae, trying to convey a message through her eyes and not just her face.

Do what you need to do. Marissa repeated over and over in her head. Ellie Rae's eyes were wide and she looked back at Daniel, gulping. Daniel pulled his hand out of his pocket and pulled what looked like a card out and swiped it over Ellie Rae's door. There was a loud buzz and he stood back, her door swinging open. Marissa moved forward to press herself right up to the bars, watching intently, waiting to see the next move. She kept her face blank as she scanned Ellie Rae and then back to Daniel. He had plastered a gentle smile on his face, unmoving as he offered a handout to Ellie Rae, waiting for her to take it. Maybe this was a good thing, Ellie Rae going with him. Maybe that would keep her safe.

But then again, where were they and what were they doing and why was Daniel looking pretty fly for a supposed to be dead white guy? Marissa swallowed back her thoughts as they tried to fly out her mouth. Nothing made sense.

"Mar.."

"Don't look at her." Daniel's voice was like acid as he hissed at Ellie Rae. She looked pleadingly at her.

"You should go." She said hoarsely. "Please." Marissa's voice cracked but she maintained her blank expression. Ellie Rae's mouth trembled as she looked back at Daniel. She looked like she was at war with herself, trying to decide if she should stay or if she should go. "Go E-"

"Shut up!" Daniel whirled around and smacked his hand across the bars of Marissa's cells, a solid crack filling the air. The force of the reverberating bars filling Marissa's head. Lincoln swore as Marissa winced and fell back, holding her nose as she looked up at the bars and where Daniel was. The metal bar that he had hit was now bent, shaped to where his hand has been and where it had crushed her nose.

Daniel's face was dark as he turned around and grabbed Ellie Rae by the arm, pulling her out of her cell.

"Time's up, come on." He pulled her in frontof him and pushed her towards the stairs. He stopped at the top of the stairsand looked down at Marissa, Lincoln and Jax and sneered. "Shall I leavethe lights on or off?" He asked them. Nobody answered, Jax looked like hewas about to launch himself through the bars and kill Daniel. Daniels sneermorphed into a smirk. "I think I'll leave them on. Now, the funbegins." He disappeared with a squirming Ellie Rae and there was aresounding slam as the door shut behind him.