Heat rolled against Selene's skin. She was back in the forge, laboring over iron and metal. She saw the rusted anvil next to her, the glowing fire, and the mirror across from her. She stood perfectly still as if bound by rope. She waited for the agonizing pain of Arthur's belt, for the buckle to tear open the scarred skin of her back. She struggled to free herself from the restraints, frantic to get away from the pain.

She heard the stretch of the leather as he tightened his fist and raised the belt over his head. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but no sound came out. All she could hear was the crackling of the fire below the forge. She wasn't even sure she was breathing.

The belt came down, tearing open her shoulder. Agony spread through her, spider webbing down from where the buckle had touched. She arched her back in pain, trying desperately to get away. Something was keeping her trapped and if she didn't get free, she knew she would die. She bucked and kicked like a wild animal that had been cornered. Her lungs convulsing as the pain kept her from drawing in air.

He lashed out again, this time hitting her other shoulder. She fell to the ground, only able to see the familiar stone floor. She tried to get a glimpse of him, but she couldn't turn. It was as if she had been paralyzed, trapped in her own body.

"Don't look at me. Don't look and see what you did, how you left our corpses out to rot and fester."

She could feel herself sobbing as her wounds throbbed, her body shaking and her breath coming out in gasps. She knew if she turned around, she would see something that once was human, but not anymore. She'd turn to see a monster, an undead demon.

The scene faded, everything turning to mist as it was blown away by an unknown wind. Selene watched as the landscape reformed into a forest.

The trees were ablaze in green fire, their wood screaming as they were burnt away to charred blackness. Selene lay on the ground, still on her side and bound. The heat was still as intense as the forge and sweat poured down her brow. She could do nothing as she watched the demon rise from the smoke and turn to her.

Its body still glowed green, fire licking at its bones. The green flame curled up from the corners of its mouth, forming a fanged smile. That haunting smile.

Smoke filled her lungs and she coughed, her eyes watering. She blinked away the tears, struggling to see what was happening.

It held a girl in its grasp, not Lily. This girl's hair was shorter than Lily's and white. She was limp in the demon's grip, her head rolling to the side as he turned to face Selene. The girl's face was blurry through the smoke and ash, but it soon came into focus.

Selene's heart jumped as she beheld herself in its grasp.

Bruises covered her face, swelling her eyes and lips. Cuts covered her body as well, some still bleeding and staining the torn clothes that barely covered her. Her body swung freely in the demon's grip as if she were already dead. But Selene could just make out the faint rises and falls of her chest as she choked on her own blood.

"You and I are one and the same. Ending all we touch and leaving a trail of bodies and sorrow behind."

Selene tried to speak, to beg the demon to kill her and end the misery that clutched her. Still, no sound came out.

The only thing she could do was watch as the demon waved a hand and Selene's clone bucked and screamed until her skin burned away to reveal the girl that had broken her.

Lily now hung in the demon's clutches. Her hair covering her face as her head hung forward. Bruises covered her body as well, painting her pale skin yellow, red, and blue.

This is my damnation.

Selene thought it fitting for what she hadn't done. She had the power to save the people she had known, but she didn't. She clenched her teeth, begging for it to stop.

End me. Please. I can't watch.

No one answered her plea. The world stayed silent as she was plunged into her own hell. She watched helplessly as Lily was burned away once more, nothing left of her but ashes. When they covered Selene's body once more, she let herself fall down and down. They filled her lungs and she choked, her lungs seizing.

Then it changed for the final time.

She was again under the bear, dying slowly as her body shut down. It was dark, so very dark. No one was coming. Maybe it would end here. Would the Angels bless her with blissful rest? A darkness that had no beginning and no end.

No. They wouldn't.