Just a Dream

Karma groaned, her eyes fluttering. She didn't know where she was, but it looked... odd. Abandoned. and it smelled like it was underground.

She was cold.

Her stomach was moving about as if it were trying to break free of her, and she whimpered. It hurt.

As if in reply to her pain, he appeared above her. Karma looked up at him, her eyes widening.

Cobalt.

"Colbie...?" She groaned. "You're... you're dead..."

"He couldn't kill me, Karma. You know that." Cobalt grinned at her, happily almost. "I just became intangible when he tried to burn me, then invisible so he thought he'd gotten me."

"Where did you go? You... you just vanished."

"I had an important mission that had to go down secretly in Italy. I couldn't come and tell you about it without putting you in danger."

"Colbie..." Her eyes filled with tears of their own accord. "I thought... I thought you'd left me...."

"I would never leave you, Karma. Don't you know that?" His face transformed eerily, as if suddenly a demon had come and taken residence. "I would never leave you of my own accord."

"What... what are you saying?"

"I was taken from you Karma." He said, his face a mask of hate. "That half-breed took me from you, and you forgave him."

"Arsen didn't..."

"He KILLED me Karma!" Cobalt screeched. "HE KILLED ME! AND YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND AS IF IT WAS FINE WITH YOU!"

Karma gasped, her tears overflowing. "I... I..."

"You what?" He growled. "You love him?! you?! do you even know what love is?!" Karma whimpered, but he went on, grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the little cot that served as her bed. "Once you threw your lot in with them you abandoned me!"

"No!"

"You are no longer fit to be called a wetboy, or even an assassin!"

"Colby please!"

He dragged her upstairs, pulling out a knife as he did so. He put it to her throat, growling as he dragged her into the bright sunlight of the street. The entire block was in ruin, burned to the ground by the looks of it. In the distance was the appearance of a throne, but there was only one. The other laid charred before them.

"Where is your demon now, Karma?" He hissed. "Running things alone now that you've been compromised! Never fall in love! It's Wetboy rule number one!"

"No... no..."

"You were never good enough for him!"

"Stop it!" her voice was drenched in desperation, her body trembling with sudden cold.

His voice morphed into Rhys's, and the knife pressed into her neck.

"Arsen wouldn't be around long enough to actually marry or take care of you," he murmured in her ear, "He wouldn't even lower himself to your standards away. You're not good enough for a demon, you know. He could have anyone he wants,"

"And that someone isn't you."

The knife moved quickly, flashing in the sunlight, and Karma fell back into the welcoming dark of unconciousness.

Karma rose out of unconsciousness to the bright sunlight of a summer day.

She was hot.

Eyes fluttering open, she saw that her cot was strung up between two trees at the edge of the lake at Hogwarts, and that the Giant Squid, who on days like these would be sunbathing, was nowhere in sight.

"There you are, Half Fang!"

She swung her feet off the cot and looked in the direction of the voice, a smile spreading across her face at the sight of him.

Arsen.

"Hothead!" she greeted happily, her eyes taking in the sight of his shirtless form. He seemed to only be wearing shorts.

"What are you doing way over there? Come on! I promised you we'd swim today!"

Swim?

"You can't swim, hothead!" she teased, laughing as she stood to her feet. He'd come to a stop next to her, and wrapped her into his arms in greeting, placing a sweet kiss on her lips.

"I can too swim! I'm the best swimmer around!" He smiled, his blue eyes glistening. "Come on, Half-fang! I won't let you drown!"

A little doubtful, Karma let him take her hand and lead her to the edge of the water. She pulled him back before he stepped in though, her eyes searching his face.

"This isn't funny, Arsen. You can't swim. You're water intolerant, remember?" She was starting to get worried about him, questioning his sanity.

"What on earth are you talking about, Karma? I'm the best swimmer around!" As if to demonstrate, he took both of her hands in his and stepped backwards into the lake. Karma searched his face once more, looking for any traces of pain, but there was none. "Are you alright, half-fang?"

"I'm fine." She said with a small smile, letting him lead her deeper into the water. "What are we supposed to be doing in here, exactly?"

"We're going Squid hunting!" He said happily. "Here." He let go of one of her hands and smiled gorgeously at her. "Take a deep breath!"

With a giggle she complied, diving under the water with him.

She slipped back into unconciousness with a smile on her face.

She was cold.

Karma's eyelids fluttered, and she was in the abandoned underground place again.

She looked around, confused, slowly sitting up.

"Hello?" she called. "Hello?"

"sis!"

Jet appeared next to her, looking relieved. "You're alive! I was so worried..."

"What happened?"

Jet paused, emotions flashing across his face faster than she could follow them. "You don't want to know."

"Jet...."

"Trust me Karma. I shouldn't tell you."

"Well...." She trailed off, her eyes running over the place again. "Where are we?"

"You're with your boyfriend." Jet said bitterly. "He took you back home with him."

"Why?"

Jet stayed silent, looking at her with something close to sorrow.

"What's wrong, Jettie?" she asked softly, worried now. "What..."

"You'll know when you wake up." He said softly. "I had to come see you."

"What... what are you talking about...?"

"I... I won't see you again, Karma. I'm sorry."

"You're leaving me?" He winced at her words, his eyes immensely sad. She felt her heart drop down into her stomach. "Jet... you can't leave me. You're the last family I have..."

"I'm so sorry, Karma." He said softly. "I didn't do it on purpose. I... I'd never leave you... not on my own accord..."

Karma's eyes widened. "Did... Did..." She didn't want to say it.

"No. No he wouldn't do that to you. Not again." She felt a brief relief, but it quickly melted into anxiety.

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere you can't follow. Not yet." He smiled sadly and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back tightly, tears falling from her eyes quickly and shamelessly. His hold around her tightened too, and if she could have, she would have held him like that forever.

She felt, at the back of her mind, the start of her decent into unconciousness again.

"NO! WAIT I WANT TO..."

"Don't fight it, Karma." Jet said softly. "It's for the better..."

"No, Jet... please..."

He kissed her sweetly on the forehead, tears in his eyes now. "You're the very best sister anyone could have asked for." He smiled. "I'm sure Arsen will take care of you, now that I can't..."

"Jet..." The darkness was starting to creep into the edges of her vision now, but she was fighting it with everything she had. "Jet..."

"You'll be fine without me." He promised.

"No..."

"You'll be fine."

She couldn't fight the darkness any longer.

She was warm.

Karma sat up in her cot, her eyes sweeping over the familiar decor of the Slytherin Common Room. It was located in the back corner, near the entrance to the girl's dormitory. She stood, her eyes confused.

"Have a nice nap, beautiful?"

Arsen's head popped up over the back of the couch, and he grinned at her, his red eyes sparkling.

She smiled at him, a bit sadly, walking over to the couch, her eyes on the ground. "I guess so..."

He pulled her close to him, and she wrapped her arms around his waist, loving the feel of him close to her. He kissed her gently on the forehead, and rested his chin on her hair. "What's wrong, Half-fang?"

She shrugged one shoulder, hiding her face from him.

He pulled up her chin gently, red eyes meeting brown. "You can tell me."

She stayed silent.

He sighed, and took her hand, leading her over to the common room fire. "I promised you we'd do this, remember?" he said softly. He sat in the fire, pulling her with him and onto his lap. She curled into him, sighing, her eyes on the flames around them.

"Arsen..." She murmured. "I love you." She told him softly.

The world went dark.

Karma was cold.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around confusedly. Where was she now?

"Pay attention now, Halffang." Came a voice.

"Hothead...?" She asked, sitting upward. "Hothead? Is that...?"

He appeared before her, his eyes bright orange and furious. She shrunk away from him instinctively. It was only Pyro, but it made her insides curl. She searched herself for Kama, but her other half was gone.

"You recognize me, I hope." He said with a dark chuckle. "It honors me that you fear me as you do not my boy."

Karma blinked. He spoke oddly. "What do you want?" She asked, trying to sound tough and failing miserably.

"I want you to bring my girl forward, this time, and leave yourself inside."

"Kama?" She asked. "I... I don't know where she..."

"SILENCE!" He yelled.

She shrunk away from him, her eyes wide with fright. "I'm sorry! I don't control her! I can't... I can't..."

"You will bring her forward, and you will let me talk to her. I know you have her locked up inside you. I know it."

"I don't..."

"SILENCE!"

She cowered backwards, slipping off of the bench that served as her bed. She watched him warily.

"As possessive as we demons are, it doesn't mean I can't hurt you." He growled. "I could hurt you, and Arsen would be none the wiser. I'd heal you after, and you wouldn't tell him a thing, would you Half-fang?" the nickname came out sick and twisted, causing her to shudder in fright. "So I suggest you go get Kama. Now."

She closed her eyes and founght with herself, looking for that other side that had always been there and finding...

Nothing.

"Pyro... please... I... I want to talk to Arsen..."

"And I want to talk to Kama. So you're either going to give me what I want, or you'll never see your boyfriend again."

"You can't do that!"

Pyro smirked slowly, the demon influence transforming him into a apparition of pure terror. Karma whimpered.

"I can do it. And I will. Now give me my Kama!"

Karma shivered and closed her eyes again, welcoming the darkness. She didn't know if she was going unconscious or if Kama was taking over, but either way it was an escape.