After an hour of wallowing in my sadness, I decided to pull myself together. It hurt knowing Dimitri had been taken away from me but if I just sat here crying about it, then nothing could be done. I wiped my tears away, taking a few deep breaths before getting up.

Esther believes I can save Dimitri and if she believes I can, then I must be able to. I wanted to believe I could, but I just couldn't get myself to actually believe it. I just didn't think something like that could be possible. I know I've done a lot of things I used to think impossible. Things I could never have ever imagined doing. Things I could never think possible. But I just felt hopeless. I felt pathetic.

I already failed to stop Dimitri from surrendering himself to the Shadow. If I couldn't stop him then, then how am I supposed to get rid of this Shadow inside of him? At the thought of this, I felt like crying again. I just wanted to go to sleep and forget about this. I kind of wish I had never gained my memory back because this was too painful. And things would have been so much better if I didn't remember Dimitri. Dimitri was right. I should have listened to him. I'm so stupid.

I sat down again feeling like trying was completely pointless. I just wanted to give up. I wanted to give up so bad. But then there was this part of me, this small part of me that kept saying 'what if.' What if I can save him? What if there was a chance? What if there was a chance that I could bring him back?

And then another part of me kept telling me that Dimitri would never give up on us. If the roles were reversed, he'd try his damn hardest. He may have given up on himself, he may not have tried for himself, but he would never give up on me. Even now, everything he has done was because of me. He sent me back to Earth and erased my memories so I wouldn't feel pain. He surrendered himself so he couldn't hurt me. Everything he's done, no matter the faults with his decisions, were done for me. Because that's what he believed was right.

If he could ruin his own life and surrender himself to his biggest enemy, just to make sure he never accidentally hurts me, then I can damn well try to save him. I got up again and found my way to the door in the dark. Placing my hands on the door, I moved them around until I found the doorknob. Once I found it, I turned it knowing the door would be locked but it surprisingly wasn't. I was surprised but didn't question it for long.

I slowly and quietly opened the door, peeking outside, wincing as the bruises on my neck were really hurting. The hallways were empty and I couldn't hear anything. I had to find Devon. I needed him to help me through this.

As I walked out, I noticed I was in a hallway I didn't recognize. Dimitri's castle was huge, so I obviously hadn't have been everywhere. I noticed a couple more doors down the hallway, and decided to check for Devon there. I had a feeling he'd be there.

I quietly ran down to the first door, trying to open it but it was locked. Then I moved onto the next which ended up locked as well. Before I could move onto the third door, I felt someone yank me back by my hair, causing me to yelp. I felt warm breath washing over my neck before I got turned around to find Dimitri. Well not Dimitri exactly, but the Shadow inside Dimitri's body. "What are you trying to do?" He demanded causing me to glare at him. I wasn't going to let this Shadow win.

"Trying to get rid of you!" I spat back in anger, causing him to smirk at me.

"You can't get rid of me Isabella, no matter how hard you try. I don't understand why you're even trying at this point." He spoke with this dangerous glint in his eyes as he stared me down.

"I'm trying because I love Dimitri and I'll do everything I can to bring him back." I said causing him to cringe.

"Don't say that!" He demanded in anger as his hold on me tightened painfully.

"Don't say what?" I challenged. "That I love Dimitri? Well guess what? I do love him! What are you going to do about that?" I spat back causing him to yell at me angrily. He clearly didn't like the word love. I mean it all made sense since evil and darkness makes them stronger. So love and goodness would make them weaker. I don't think it can necessarily kill them off but it might help me a lot if I can weaken him so Dimitri can take over his own body again.

"Love, love, love. I love him more than anything in this world. And he loves me to-" The Shadow suddenly yanked my hair back hard in anger cutting me off mid-sentence, before delivering a couple hard punches to my face, causing me to cry out in pain. I heard a loud cracking noise and I was so sure it was my nose. Horrible pain exploded in my face, as he threw me down onto the ground. I fell down on my front, my face hitting hard against the hard floor. Many tears of pain slid down my face as I noticed blood dripping from my nose and mouth onto the ground.

The Shadow knelt down beside me, slipping out a knife. "I told you I'd make you wish you were dead, and that I had killed you instead of keeping you alive." He growled to my face before slipping my shirt up from my back and bringing the knife down onto my skin.

He cut a long line across my back, causing me to scream out in pain. He slowly dragged his knife along my skin, trying to draw the pain out as long as he could. I thrashed on the ground, which caused the knife to go in deeper. I cried out and tried to stop myself from moving too much as I was making this even more painful. And the pain was unbearable enough.

He soon pulled the knife away, laughing at the pain he had inflicted on me. He was enjoying every moment of this. "I'll give you a new scar every time you do something I don't like it." He leant down, whispering in my ear. I simply lay on the ground, with my eyes shut, crying out the horrible pain I was feeling. I was so sure my nose was broken, and that I had so many more bruises to deal with, as well as the huge cut across my back.

"Oh poor you, in so much pain. You know maybe if you had just listened to what I said, this wouldn't have happened." He said mockingly.

"Y-you still would h-have hurt me." I spoke through gritted teeth causing him to laugh at me.

"You're right. I would have. Isn't that hilarious?" He asked laughing really hard now, causing me to clench my fingers tight into fists as I tried to fight through this pain. That's what Esther said, didn't she? To fight through the pain. I had originally thought she meant emotional pain but I guess she meant physical as well.

The Shadow pulled me up and dragged me down the hallway, until we reached another room. I recognized it as Dimitri's torturing room. "Ah, my favourite room. I remember when I forced Dimitri to make a room hold all these torturing devices, where all the torturing should occur." He pulled me inside and pushed me down onto the chair. I cried out as my back came into contact with the hard chair.

The Shadow took some ropes and tied me down to the chair as I cried out and sobbed in all the pain I was feeling. I didn't think I could survive this any longer, but I had to. I had to do this for Dimitri.

The worst thing out of all this wasn't the pain. I'd have to say it was seeing the one person you love so much, treat you like this. I know it's not Dimitri who's doing it, but seeing the Shadows actions being portrayed through Dimitri's body hurts a lot.

"I hope you've learned your lesson for today." He said as he wrapped a cloth around my mouth, preventing him from hearing my screams and cries of pain. I closed my eyes as more and more tears slid down my face. Everything hurt. From my heart, to my back, to my neck to my face, to everything. Everything just hurt so much. Especially my heart.

I felt more hopeless than before. I literally had no idea on how to save Dimitri. I didn't know what to do at all. The horrible pain was making it hard to think and pay attention to other things.

****

The whole rest of the day, I sat in the chair, really hungry for food and wanting to drink some water too. My shirt was completely soaked in my blood, and the pain and blood loss was really making me lightheaded, along with having had no food.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds before I completely passed out, exhausted from the pain and blood loss.

I was sitting on the rocks at the edge of a cliff, simply looking off into the distance. I knew this was a dream, I could tell it was. I never wanted to wake up if this was a dream. Everything was calm and I didn't feel any pain. Any physical pain at least. The emotional pain was still there. But this was better than reality.

I suddenly felt someone wrap an arm around my back, and the other arm was placed underneath my legs. I was being lifted up bridal style into strong, warm arms. I looked up to find it was Dimitri.

My frown immediately disappeared and I started smiling brightly at the sight of Dimitri. He was so good looking and perfect. He smiled a soft smile down at me, before carrying me somewhere. He walked down the hill side of the cliff and laid me down on the lush, green grass.

He gazed down at me with so much love in his eyes, I started crying. I missed him so much. I wanted him back. But I knew that right now I needed to take in as much of dream Dimitri as I possibly could before this dream ended.

"I miss you so much." I sobbed as he wiped my tears away frowning. "Please come back to me."

"I'm right here Izzie. I'm right here." He said as he stroked my cheeks.

"You're only here in my dreams Dimitri." I said, tears freely falling down my face as I got up into a seating position. I moved in closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, our foreheads touching together. "I want you back, in real life. I want you with me." I said as Dimitri kissed my tears away.

"I'm still there Izzie. I'm not gone. I could never leave you even if I tried so hard to. I may be your dream Dimitri right now, but your real one is still there. Always there." He spoke softly, leaving soft kisses all over my face. I closed my eyes enjoying the feel of his soft lips on my skin before I opened them again to see him smiling down at me.

"Can you tell him to come back?" I asked, knowing it was stupid to say because this dream Dimitri wasn't actually real. I wasn't sharing a dream with Dimitri. This was just my own imagination conjuring things up. It was basically like I was talking to my inner conscience which was telling me what to do and how to get through this.

"I'm afraid I can't. Only you can bring him back Izzie. Only you. Save him Izzie. Save me. I know you can do it." He spoke with a small smile before he set me down onto the grass and got up.

"You're leaving?" I asked in panic. I didn't want him to leave me. I needed him. He couldn't leave right now. He nodded his head smiling down at me.

"But no! You can't!" I exclaimed just as the dream ended.

* * * * * * *