"So, he made a lot more progress than the dread doctors ever did," stated Parrish without conviction.

"That he did, and he still does. I've never met anybody so ambitious, other than him I mean," Euriella added, she seemed very proud and happy to be counting her father's achievements to Parrish, so much so that she didn't even seem so interested in watching the hellhound die anymore. She was looking away, at a random spot on the wall, deep into her contemplations and memories of the apprentice.

"What else did he manage to make?" he asked.

"I asked you that question first. C'mon! Can't you take a little guess?" she taunted.

"I am not really in the mood, nor am I in the position to be playing guessing games, in case you haven't noticed,"

"You're angry, I can tell. You despise what I stand for, but you can never truly hate me, can't you? That, I can feel,"

Parrish lowered his head and bit his bottom lip fiercely; he knew she was right; he just couldn't understand why. For a moment he thought that it could have been because of their supernatural nature, but she was also right when she said he despised it.

"You died once before, haven't you?" her words made him raise his eyes back to her figure, "This time feels different to you, doesn't it? It's a lot scarier when you get the time to think about your demise,"

"I have been in a situation like this before," he said.

"I know you have. Only this time, you know you're going to die, you've seen it, haven't you?"

She was ruthless, with her words only, she didn't need to act; everything she'd said to him seemed to cut him deep, to hurt his soul, he wasn't sure if it was because she was right on more than one occasion, or if it was his downright fear controlling him.

He noticed that he could no longer feel nor move the lower half of his body; he thought there was a positive side to that since... He could no longer feel the pain either, but he quickly snapped out of that and his desire to live took over. He shut his eyes tight, in an attempt to activate his powers, he tried and tried, pushed himself to the limits. Alas, nothing came of it.

"You don't know when to quit, do you? Not that I expected you to, I just... I know you won't be able to save yourself, and I also know that nobody is coming for you either so, might as well..."

Her words were suddenly drowned by a familiar voice; he knew that scream very well, he'd heard it so many times before, "Lydia?" he muttered.

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There was a moment of anticipation when he'd expected Euriella to say something, to comment on what they'd just heard, to carry on with her insultes perhaps? But none of that happened; the silence kept on choking the small space he was confined into, until...

"I think I've missed the sight of you," a new but somehow again familiar voice reached his ears, "I just wish I could have gotten to see you in a better shape than this one," she finished her sentence.

Parrish struggled to lift his head towards her, but when he did and finally managed to see her face, he felt something he thought he'd never feel again, not after that night; hope, "Meredith?" he choked out.

"Why are you so surprised to see me? I never really left this place," she stated.

"Why not?" he asked whenever his shivering body allowed him to spit letters out of his mouth.

"I'll explain everything but first, maybe we should get out of here,"

"I can't, I..." he opened with that sentence to try and explain to her the fact that he couldn't feel let alone move his legs but, he was pleasantly surprised when he managed to wiggle his foot away from its original place.

"You can get up now," she said, almost like she knew what was on his mind.

He slowly started to hoist himself out of that painful position, his skin gradually regaining its colors back. When he managed to stand somewhat upright, Meredith walked closer to him and put his arm around her shoulder for a bit of help.

"This way," she said as she began to lead him in a specific direction.

He noted that the walls that had been trapping him had vanished, the way for them was clear. They were back in the lugubrious hallways of Eichen; along the way he tried to not put much of his weight onto her.

"So, how are you still here?" he asked unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

"You could say that people who die in places like these, in the circumstances that we died in, don't really get a peaceful passing, nor a peaceful rest," she explained.

"So, you were stuck here, all this time?"

"I wouldn't say stuck, I'd say I am more of a settler, but if you see things like that...,"

"I never felt your presence, in all these years," he said.

"You can't feel my presence for I'm already dead, you'll only see or hear from me when I want you to,"

"So, you came for me?" he wondered.

"Naturally, I heard the call of a friend, so I came," she stated.

"You heard Lydia's scream,"

"It wasn't just a scream; it was a call for help," she corrected.

"She knew you were here?"

"I am not sure of that, but I think she's not alone so, I am not worried about her,"

He carried on, asking questions and listening to her answers attentively, being occasionally surprised at some. He thought there was so much out there that he didn't know of, that he didn't see; so much of that world that he'd been thrown into only a few years prior.

"We're here," she brought him out of his thoughts when they were only a few feet away from a door.

"Meredith, thank you," he believed he shouldn't forget to thank her, she came to his rescue, even though she was no longer part of their world, she didn't need to do that at all, yet she did.

"No worries," she said, she paused for a moment before adding,"And Parrish, I truly am sorry for your loss,"

He was caught off guard with her last statement, he didn't immediately understand what she meant until, they both went through that door they neared. When he laid eyes on them again, he felt his heart skip a beat, he sensed his throat drying. He wasn't ready to see them again, not that he thought he could ever be ready to see them like that again.

His colleagues, still hanged, dead... At the same spot where he'd left them before.