Through the white noise that rang loudly in her head, another familiar, yet unwelcome voice reached out to her. It would have done her good to ignore it, Rosalie believed, but as it sounded closer, she grimaced, back-peddaling almost immediately. “Get your hands off of me!” she screeched, blindly flailing against the force that drew her in without hesitation, enveloping her in their arms. She wished it was her father - that somehow through all of what she had seen, he was still around and would come to her rescue. Instead, she was left to cling onto someone else for comfort. Could she really trust him? His words were soothing enough, and his voice was different to the one she had heard earlier, but what made him different from the monster who mercilessly tore through her father like a thin piece of cloth?

Rosalie continued to fight against being held and as she did, the realised that her struggles only caused the hold on her to become tighter. She cried out, feeling no more different than a trapped animal, and she would have continued with her pleas if she hadn’t felt hands -that turned her gaze upwards- over her face, one sliding down her cheek in what seemed to be attempted comfort. Rosalie blinked a couple of times and found her stare returned by Gore, but she did not cease her flailing. “No more! Please..just let me go. I can’t do this anymore..” The girl’s hands were raised in resignation, but as the dragon continued to ask for her attention, her incessant begging slowly came to a stop. It was difficult to focus given how desperate and panicky she was, but who was around that she could rely on? Gore had saved her before and he was right: he hadn’t failed. As mad as she was at him for shouting at her earlier, this wasn’t the time to be holding grudges.

Through all her tears, what the girl did notice was that the pair of reptillian eyes that gazed back at her were different from the earlier. Before she actually had time to discern the details and make a confirmation, an eerie roar sounded behind her, coaxing her -none too kindly- to duck against the safest place at the moment and that was against the crimson dragon - real or not. She held onto him, looking up at him with silent questions that rang loud in her mind as he jumped away with her. She didn’t know what to say and she also didn’t particularly feel like talking at the moment. She was scared to. Gore had said that this was an illusion, false imaginings that only weakened the mind and broke the spirit. Was that true?

It felt as if she had been robbed of her sight, yet she still felt her dragon with her. He was close by - that much she was sure of. The girl thought about what the dragon had said, repeating his words slowly. “Not true.. to the realm.. we belong to.” [i]Meaning.. No.. It can’t be a dream.. can it?[/I] she continued in her head, hugging Gore to let him know she was still alive and with him. “You can’t.. really be here right now.. If it is a dream, how are we sharing it? How are you here?” 

The cogs in her head were turning now as she thought back to what had happened earlier with more clarity, beginning to realise something that she had forgotten. She had gone to sleep complaining of the dragon’s manners, true, but she had not found Setton, yet. She had simply ‘woken up’ to him being there for her with no memory in between of how she had met up with him again. There was no memory of it because, “it never happened.?..” Rosalie wiped her tears. She knew she was going to loathe herself for crying over spilt milk once she woke up.

Rosalie found Gore’s wrist and took it in her hands as she stepped away from him to be sure that he was still there and that she didn’t lose him in the dark. It didn’t stay pitch black for long, though, as everything around her began to light up. She blinked, raising an arm to shield her eyes as they adjusted and once they did, she found herself free to look around. Her gaze swept over Gore twice, noticing the numerous wounds that marked his skin. “Are..are you alright?” She asked. There was genuine concern on her face as she inspected a claw mark over his chest, grimacing slightly. It may have just been a dream, but it was too real for her to be comfortable with his given state. She rested a gentle hand on his arm.  “You, um.. said they were losing their control on this illusion, right?” Rosalie hesitated from time to time as she spoke, stepping closer to him as she heard the groans of animated corpses from somewhere behind. If what Gore deducted was true, then they wouldn’t have anymore problems, right? 

She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and felt her side for the knife she always kept with her. She didn’t think her fingers would meet anything, but when they brushed against the cool handle of the blade, she almost jumped for joy. 
[b]”You’ll never be able to leave..”[/b] There was that voice again. Rosalie hid behind Gore, but instead of keeping her gaze to the ground, she was looking for its source. It didn’t echo like it had the last time and it sounded closer. Much, much closer.
As she continued to scan her surroundings, the girl then noticed a faint shadow standing in front of them, growing slightly darker as it started to take shape and solid form, a person seemingly materialising right before her eyes as she continued to observe with wariness and curiosity on her features. It made Rosalie look back and forth between the newcomer and Gore, glaring at the duplicate dragon who couldn’t help but greet them with a dark smile and a flash of his fangs. She knew where it was going, but ended up taking a hesitant step forward to stand her ground.

[b]”I thought I’d just return this to you. He’s your father, isn’t he, mistress?”[/b] The dragon gestured but she dared not look away. It could have been another one of his tricks.
“You killed him..” Rosalie mumbled, biting her lip. “None of this is real.”
“And you’re right, dear.” At that tone of voice, the girl straightened, afraid to turn around but forced herself to while taking in a deep breath. She found Setton smiling at her while holding out his hand. “What you saw earlier wasn’t real either. Step away from the dragon.. he’s dangerous, you know.” Her father took another step closer but not as close so as to push her dragon into action. “That is only an example of what Gore is capable of if you continue to keep him. You’ve seen that when you first saw this ancient beast fight, didn’t you? The number of people he killed? There’s no telling when he’d finally snap and I don’t want my daughter anywhere near such a monster.” Setton sent a frigid stare Gore’s way. “He’ll kill you when you least expect it.”

Looking between the faces of  those who surrounded her, she slowly approached her father, movements slow and ponderous as she looked into her father’s eyes. She was reminded, at first, of the warmth and love she felt whenever around him, but also reminded of the glassy stare she had seen when that fire finally died out. Rosalie bit the inside of her cheek, steeling herself as she approached her father with a weak smile on her face. “Then..what about mum? Can we go and see her?”
“Yes, dear. You know I love your mother very much.” Setton smiled, beckoning her closer with arms held wide open. “We can be a family again.” He whispered lovingly in her ear when she embraced him with an apology that confused him. “Why are you-“ he began asking when a sharp, hot pain caught him in his shoulder, stunning him just long enough for him to receive a knee to his stomach that knocked the air out of him and forced him to fall into a crouch. 
“Don’t even try to be him.” She warned angrily as the world around them seemed to distort a few seconds before snapping back into place. It made her realise how fragile this ‘realm’ as Gore had called it, was. Her knife, that had belonged to her mother, was pointed toward him in a manner that only dared him to take a step toward her. 

_

The girl wore a somewhat quizzical expression, Aisen realised as he glared up at her from his position, despite her strong tone of voice. Looking into her eyes, he saw that she was still unsure of what to expect. This world that he had spun to ensnare them was a dream, yes, but bordered on reality as well. It was, in all truth, a double-edged blade of sorts; he was able to inflict pain but also have the same dealt to him given the chance that they figured it out. “Damn dragon.” He growled as he bit back a hiss of pain and annoyance, holding his arm in attempt to stem the flow of blood while forcing himself to his feet. 

The image that he held of Setton fell away at his command like shards of a mirror grinded to dust and he lurched forward to grab the girl by the wrist when she least expected him to move. What was the point of pretending to be her father for any longer? His hold on this dimension was slipping and time was quickly running out. He had only learnt the skill recently. It was a fair amount of time invested in learning it, but not long enough to master it. [i]Perhaps I was too hasty, Delna.. You were right about that.[/I] He thought to himself, calling the wisps of darkness to gather around his arm and hand, forming a claw shape over his finger tips and shielding his already injured arm from further damage as he then attempted to disarm her. Her struggles would be pointless in a few seconds, Aisen firmly believed. While he dealt with her, the duplicate Blood Dragon would be more than enough to keep Gore busy as already, the duplicate was running forward with this as a distraction.