Everyone woke up in a damp cell, and they wanted to resume their nap, quite frankly.

Until Katie went and screamed.

"Quit your--" Lance started, only to find himself chained to a wall.

"This isn't good. She's got every damn right to scream." Anna said, shackled on the leftmost wall.

"Where's our weapons?!" Matt, who was chained on the wall opposite of Anna, asked. NoLegs was chained next to him, and he meowed.

"Up there." Katie answered, motioning with her jaw upwards because her wrists and ankles were shackled together. Her muzzle also had a shackle on it, though it did not stop her from speaking.

The humans looked up and their faces went white with shock.

The sword, the gunblade and blaster, and the bow and quiver all hung in chains from the ceiling.

Everyone noticed two torches in each corner opposite the wall that had the cell door. They barely illuminated the room even together because the flames were dying out.

"Great. We're gonna die." Katie hissed, apparently annoyed.

"Why say that?" Asked Anna.

"These chains keep us from using our skills and Overdrives. Meaning our captors can do whatever they want with us and we have no say in the matter!" Katie answered bluntly.

"You serious?" Asked Lance who began struggling fruitlessly.

Anna tried using Ivy. No results.

The door suddenly slammed open as a winged shadow stretched wider than Lance's arms suddenly caught the party's attention.

NoLegs meowed.

A tyrannical voice chuckled.

"I am glad to inform you fine souls that you shall be sent to the gallows on the very day of my wedding!" The shadow laughed before closing the door, thus darkening the world once more.

It didn't take long for Katie's eyeballs to become as big as dinner plates.

"You don't think...." Anna started.

Katie merely nodded, refusing to speak as if she already knew what was going on.

Then, a woman's cries of pain started hitting their ears from above. The screams grew more frantic as the hours passed by like a hot knife through butter.

Katie herself started jerking her body and screaming in pitch-perfect unison. Anna saw tears creep through her fur, Lance saw a rapidly-jerking form, and Matt saw a set of arms and legs trying to break free.

Lance glanced at Anna, and then Matt, the fear of death without revival scrawled in his very expression. He was truly afraid now.

Anna couldn't help but notice why Katie didn't like that one word...and the grim realization fox-girl experienced it first-hand began sinking into her soul...thus forcing her to sympathize. Her expression said she'd seen it too.

Matt simply lowered his head in defeat. There was no way out pounded itself into his head.

NoLegs meowed, his own eyes wide as he watched Katie's fruitless attempts to get out.

She suddenly was electrocuted as though the chains told her to stop struggling.

Katie curled up, her screaming having died down to hushed sobs as Natalie continued her screaming pleas for help from above.

The hours went by, but the screams were hushed.

The door opened once more, and in crawled three Beholders. One looked at Anna with malicious intent, another looked at Lance in hatred and the third glared at Matt. Katie was virtually ignored.

The one looking at Anna unchained the archer before she got taken into another room. The second gave Lance the Beholder equivalent of the middle finger and the third seemed to openly mock Matt.

The fiends left the room and the door slammed shut. Soon enough, it was Anna's turn to do the screaming. Pained cries that fruitlessly pleaded for mercy echoed into the darkness, unheard to all save for the party. The kitsune began struggling again...only to get the shock treatment once more. This time, she convulsed in pain as electricity coursed throughout her veins. Her bladder failed, making the pain that much worse.

The jerking body stopped. Katie had fainted from the pain she just received.

Anna's screams were cut short, and both men present feared the worst.

Silence. That was what greeted them.

Lance turned his head to Matt. The swordsman could tell that he was worried. They both wanted to exchange words, but those words were lost to both of them. They did, however, know what the other was trying to say.

The fires died.

Darkness.

"Verwechseln Sie diese Dunkelheit. Ich wünschte, ich wüsste, wie man aus diesem Leben." Lance said at last, breaking the silence for only a few short seconds.

"Say what? Dude, this isn't Germany." Matt commented.

"Confound this darkness." Lance translated with an audible sigh.

The door opened and into the room was tossed a soaking wet and sobbing Anna. She quickly got up and scampered off into a corner. She was soon in a fetal position, slowly rocking back and forth in pain.

The Beholders yanked Matt off the wall and carried him out of the room, leaving poor little NoLegs all alone. "I am not willing to lose my rectal hymen! Let me go, you stupid, perverse jerkwads!" Matt cried just before the door went and slammed shut.

Darkness.

Lance looked at Anna after allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He had....taken pity upon her. Given that he was the one who manned the Valkyrie and literally drove everyone into this predicament in a failed attempt to save Natalie, guilt also washed over him. The fact he killed millions before apparently wasn't enough!

The archer suddenly shot up, ran up, and clung to Lance; her face plastered with a frantic look.

They locked eyes for a good minute before Lance spoke, "I...I got everyone into this mess.... I-I guess it's my fault you got..." He lost the strength to finish that sentence.

"Don't say such things like that!" Anna snapped, eyes narrowing low. "We were just trying to do what was right! We can't let the world go into either chaos or ruin even after we die without being revived!" Tears streamed down her face, washing away some of the ick that was on her. Her voice became a saddened whisper, hands grabbing his collar with a death grip, "We cannot give up. Ever. No matter what. Do...do you understand me?"

Lance could only nod.

The door swung open and Matt was tossed in. He was out cold.. And now, it was Lance's turn with the Beholders.