A Bitter Pill to Swallow
Chapter Three

'Truth'

"At the ninth twilight, the witch will be revived, and none will be left alive... Hmn."

Madaraki Fran was stood before the large, imposing portrait of Beatrice in the entrance hall. Her fingers were placed under her chin. Battler was beginning to recognize what that pose meant- she was deep in thought.

After scouring every inch of the rose garden, the guest house and the main mansion, declaring- for no real reason other than her personal satisfaction as a doctor- that all the Ushiromiyas and their servants were dead, Fran came to stand before the portrait of Beatrice the Golden Witch once more. As she read through the epitaph, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed slowly, as though she'd swallowed a lemon.

Battler, Beatrice and Ronove had accompanied Fran during her extensive search of Rokkenjima- just to, Beatrice said, assure Battler everyone (excluding Eva) was actually dead. Time on the game board had frozen, as per usual when Battler and Beatrice deigned to go there. However, despite the monochrome surroundings, Battler still flinched when he saw the mangled bodies littered around the mansion.

It hurt even more when Fran said, in her cool voice, after turning Maria's corpse over with her shoe, "Asphyxiation. Time of death- approximately... thirty-three hours ago. Ahh- at least the body's still intact."

When Battler came across Kyrie, her stomach gouged and her face deathly pale, he had to bite his lower lip to stop himself from crying out. He'd witnessed his relatives dying before, sure, but it had always been from a distance. Seeing their lifeless bodies, bent at awkward angles, so close he could touch them, was another thing altogether. He was beginning to feel queasy; and Fran's constant, unyielding analysis that yes, they really were dead, wasn't helping matters.

Battler squeezed his eyes shut, inhaled deeply, and forced himself to remain calm. After accepting Beatrice's 'plot twist' in this game, he didn't want- couldn't afford to- break down and cry, or shout, or- even worse, give in. He had to remain strong. Pretend it didn't affect him; even when it did- horribly so.

If he hadn't been upset, he wouldn't even have been human.

Then again, Fran had surveyed the corpses- touched them, turned them over, checked for a pulse when there was obviously none to be had- with little more than a vague glimmer of interest in her eyes. She seemed stoic, uncaring- although she was a doctor. She'd probably witnessed far worse injuries. That much was obvious when, following her thorough examination, she wiped her forehead with her sleeve, gave a sigh of relief, and declared, "well... All things considered, it wasn't that bad. Hehe~"

"...N-not 'that' bad?" Battler had asked, voice incredulous. He couldn't help himself- the words tore themselves out of his throat before he could cram them back in.

But... he simply couldn't believe how blasé Fran was about it. Even if she was a doctor, her actions were simply heartless.

In response to his question, Fran had nodded, and giggled softly.

"Yes~ If the victims were killed my 'magic', I'd have expected their deaths to be a little more fantastic. Heads split open like watermelons, innards spewed everywhere! That sort of thing. I'm disappointed. If I was a witch, I'd be a little more inventive."

And then Fran had pressed her fingertips together, tilted her head to one side, and beamed. Her smile was so refreshing, she seemed to sparkle; she could have advertised a new brand of soda in a bikini at the beach with an expression like that.

But it made Battler feel sick.

Maybe even more than the dead bodies did.

Fran gave more attention to Beatrice's epitaph then the dead bodies; and seemed more intent on checking through that than the actual corpses.

"This is kind of gruesome, huh?" Fran said, after she'd finished reading. "'And none shall be left alive...' How ghastly."

"So... You think that's worse than the actual bodies?" Battler asked.

He had to resist the urge to take her shoulders and shake her- he didn't know if Fran's body would hold together.

And wasn't she meant to be his 'ally'?

But she was so cruel. So distant.

She'd seemed eerily like Maria to begin with- but now, surrounded by dead bodies, Battler was beginning to see a very different side of this seemingly 'sweet' girl. Her appearance was deceptive; it was like popping a candy cane into your mouth, expecting it to be saccharine, but instead discovering the flavor was more bitter than balsamic vinegar.

"Well, I see dead bodies all the time," said Fran, in a matter-of-fact voice. "But rarely are murders carried out in accordance to something like this. It's horrible, really." She frowned and folded her arms. "The person who wrote this must be horrible."

"I'm glad you like my riddle so much, little Fran~ Gyahahahaha!"

"Oh yes- it's very interesting. And I intend to undermine it completely. Human lives shouldn't be wasted over something so trivial- it's just heart-breaking!"

And, with that declaration, tears began to bead in the corners of Fran's eyes again. She sniffled softly, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve.

"Um... there, there?" Battler said, voice stilted, as he reached forwards with unsteady hands to pat Fran on the head.

I get the feeling she's trying to upstage me and steal my sorrow...

I can't believe she cares that much, considering she looked at all the corpses like they were slabs of meat. No, not even that- she might as well have been looking at cauliflowers, for all the interest she showed. Where are these tears coming from, all of a sudden?

I suppose a girl's heart really is the biggest mystery to solve in this universe- and I don't think it plays fair by the Knox Decalogue.

When Fran's hands finally fell away from her face, all traces of sorrow were gone. Instead, she was smiling brightly- even more so than she had been before. It seemed her tears, coupled with her newfound happiness, had created some sort of angelic, rainbow-like expression. You'd hardly believing the sobbing Fran and the beaming one were the same person (apart from those hideous stitches, of course. Battler refused to believe there was another person in existence who looked like that).

"Ah! I'm alright!" Fran said. "I just got a little emotional there. But it's all fine now~ Hehe~"

Then, displaying the same painted smile like a matryoshka doll, Fran turned to Beatrice.

"This might sound a little strange, 'cause I'm going to undermine your magic and all so I guess that makes us rivals, buuutt..." Fran paused to draw breath, then continued. "I was wondering if you could help me out here?"

In response to Fran's request, Beatrice summoned her pipe from thin-air, and held it to her lips. Then, she tilted her head, and began to cackle.

"Oh? What's this? What help could you possibly need from me, I wonder?"

"It would be too difficult operating on these bodies the way they are. I wouldn't be able to run about quickly enough to treat all these people in separate locations- I mean, I could modify my legs in a few hours, but I don't want to waste supplies," Fran explained. As she spoke, something seemed to light up in her face. Maybe it was passion. "Couldn't you gather all the corpses- excluding Miss Eva, I'll deal with her myself- in this area here, underneath your portrait? That'd be a big, big help!"

"Under my portrait? Rea~allly?" Beatrice asked, grinning. "Why ever so? Wouldn't anywhere else do?"

"No." Fran's voice was solid, unshakable- as strong as a brick wall. "I want to perform this operation underneath your watchful eyes, Miss Golden Witch. I want to defy your epitaph and your magic in the room with the strongest presence of 'you'- if you understand." And then she tilted her head to one side, and smiled. "Will that be a problem?"

"Ahaha- of course not," Beatrice smirked. A grin split across her face like an unflattering scar- an open sore. Her mouth seemed to be filled with far too many teeth; sharp and glimmering, like shards of glass. "I like a person with a bit of spirit! If you think you have the backbone to stand against me, I'll take great delight in breaking it in two and making you a cripple. I'll gladly accept any challenge, though! Gyahahaha!"

Fran's expression did not flicker throughout Beatrice's speech. Instead, she smiled pleasantly, like a summer's day.

"Good. Now. You could move the corpses for me by magic, correct?"

"Correct."

"But I don't want you to." Suddenly, Fran's face lit up, like a Christmas tree. "Can't you use your goat butlers? They sound so cool..."

"...Cool?" Beatrice quirked a brow. "You do realize you're talking about a much esteemed witch's furniture, correct? And you have the audacity to call them 'cool'?"

"Well." Fran shrugged. "I'm sorry to offend you, but from a researcher's point of view, I can't let the chance to see a new organic life form pass me by! I'd be a failure in my profession if I did that! So..." Fran's eyes widened, and she clasped her hands at her front, blinking winsomely at Beatrice. "Please? Pleaasee?~ I'll slash the cost of this extensive surgery in half if you do that!"

"Cost?" Battler asked. "I thought you said it was free."

"Free for you, maybe," said Beatrice, idly taking a puff of her pipe. Battler frowned, as an acrid-smelling smoke began to drift from it; he'd always assumed the pipe was for show, rather than any practical use. Mainly, Beatrice used it to hit him around the head, or point at things dramatically. "But as the one who summoned her and requested her services, I still have to pay Miss Madaraki."

"Even though you're the 'much esteemed, highly feared Golden Witch, Beatrice the Endless?'" Battler asked, his fingers making little 'quoety' marks as he spoke Beatrice's title.

"Indeed. That is the way of the world- even for creatures like us," Ronove said. He smiled easily. "No matter where you are, Battler, money is important."

"Especially for somebody like me~" said Fran, beaming. "My services don't come cheap, y'know? I have to make a living somehow- I have so very many friends to care for- like Okita and Adorea- and then the surgeries themselves are pretty expensive... So my charges are quite reasonable, really. Hehehe~"

Beatrice seemed to ponder Fran's request for a while, before she gave another demented smile that put Battler in mind of a shark.

"Of course, of course. If you want to see my faithful furniture so much, I'll indulge you; and efficient, frightening specimens they are, too. I trust you'll be most impressed by them."

"I hope so!"

Beatrice put her pipe to her lips once more, and exhaled another cloud of foul-smelling smoke. Then, before Battler's eyes- Fran gave an appreciative 'ooh~', as though she were watching a play- the smoke began to take the form of several goat-headed men, their eyes bright red and bloodthirsty. At Beatrice's command, they inclined their heads towards her, bowing.

"Ooh, wow!" Fran exclaimed brightly, skipping round the assembled group of goat butlers like a girl in a zoo. Giggling, she placed her hands behind her back, leaning forwards, staring intently into the faces of Beatrice's third-rate, one-hit KO furniture. They were more for show really- although, there were thousands of them, so even though they had a low defense, they could easily overpower any enemy.

"Ah~ Amazing! I could make something like this quite easily," Fran murmured, prodding at one of the goat butlers experimentally. Her eyes were almost as big as dinner plates- shining with wonder. She continued to stare at the goat butlers as though they weren't horrible, hellish abominations that fed on human flesh- and Battler supposed Fran didn't know that, but she was still braver than him, to get so close to them and keep smiling. The more she examined them, the wider her smile grew, until it almost rivaled Beatrice's in terms of creepiness.

Fran may have been enthralled at Beatrice's failed science experiments, but Battler was disturbed by them. He could still remember them crowding around him, claws digging at his flesh, pulling him apart- the sound of limbs cracking, breaking, pain, screaming, blood splattering the floor in criss-crossing, spider web patterns...

Darkness.

Battler shuddered. He didn't even have the time to try and repress it.

On shaking legs, he took a step back.

"Well then," said Fran, after her curiosity had been sated, "shall we begin the first stage of the operation? If you would," she directed this at the attentive goat butlers, "please gather up the corpses of the various Ushiromiyas and their servants, and bring them back here.

"... ...Oh!" She exclaimed, as an afterthought- although it was a tad too late, the goat butlers already bounding off, eager to follow commands like brainless zombies, "be careful! I don't wanna replace parts 'cause you guys broke them!"

But Fran's words were lost on her servants.

"Humph." She sighed, her lower lip jutting out slightly. "They may look cool, but their general intelligence leaves a little to be desired, hmn?"

"D-don't insult my furniture like that, you foolish child."

"She has a point though. Pu ku ku~" Ronove grinned, his gloved fingers pressed elegantly against his lips. "Monstrous creatures may look impressive, but having a good brain is equally essential if they are to be truly useful."

Beatrice rounded on Ronove, her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed.

"Stop picking sides! It's so unfair!"

And, even though Battler's nerves were still shaken, he couldn't help but smile. Just a little.

"Alright. That's everyone present and accounted for, save Miss Eva."

Fran stood before a pile of corpses, hands folded, a small smile on her face. The corpses had been dumped unceremoniously on the floor, as a bored teenager would throw away litter on the sidewalk; their bodies had hit the ground with sickening thumps as the goat butlers deposited them, despite Fran's instructions to 'be careful'. Now, they lay in a heap, some limbs twisted at impossible angles, heads lolling, like dolls. They'd all stopped bleeding; most of the wounds had scabbed over, dark red. Even so, their eyes were all wide with fear (save Jessica's, who still had that bandage round her head, stained with blood), and their mouths were all open in silent screams. Maria's body, so small and fragile, was buried between Rosa's (that gaping hole in her throat made Battler flinch) and Natsuhi's, whilst Rudolf was face-forward, Kyrie spread across him. Jessica was curled up on her side in the shape of a comma, Shannon sprawled next to her- and Battler found he couldn't identify the positions of each and every person because bile had begun to rise to his throat, and he had to clap a hand to his mouth to stop himself from being physically sick.

Horrible.

So... horrible...

But Battler didn't think his vocabulary was extensive enough to really describe how vile, how disgusting, how putrid the scene before him really was.

With everybody there, heaped up like dead leaves or debris in a junk yard, the true cruelty of Beatrice's game hit Battler.

All those people were dead.

It made everything seem more real. It was easy to distance himself from the murders- the murders of his family and friends- when sat in the metaworld, drinking tea and playing at being the hero. When the corpses were a little closer at hand, however- the stench of death clinging to his nostrils and hanging about the room- Battler couldn't pretend it was 'only a game'; he simply couldn't.

It was too real.

The tears beading at the corners of his eyes were real, and the sickness at the pit of his stomach was real- so did it matter, honestly, if these people were only 'pieces'? The feelings they inspired in Battler were all genuine.

Faced with the bleak truth, Battler was beginning to wonder whether Fran really could save all those people. It looked impossible.

Maybe that Beatrice's new strategy; give him false hope, and then take it away.

Battler narrowed his eyes.

If that was the case, he'd never forgive her. First, she'd toyed with his family, then his heart- and now his hope.

Useless... Maybe this is all useless.

Battler himself- 'piece Battler', rather- was lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling, his eyes empty. The sight was enough to send chills down Battler's spine; it was like looking into a mirror, to find a zombie staring back at you, ashen skin and a gaping mouth. He had to turn away at that- and he didn't care if it made him look weak.

"Two Ushiromiya Battlers, huh?" Fran asked tactlessly, as she bent down on her knees. She reached forwards, jabbing piece Battler's cheek with her finger. Battler, even though his back was turned, thought he heard a squelching noise- and wondered what, exactly Fran was doing. "Do you have a twin, Battler? The resemblance is uncanny."

"Don't trouble yourself with details like that. It's just part of our game," said Beatrice.

"Hmn. It seems like a rather cruel and unusual game to me, to watch one's self die," said Fran, getting to her feet and wiping her hands on her skirt. "But oh well!" She was back to smiling. "I don't really understand these things- all I care about is saving everyone."

"A noble attitude indeed," said Ronove.

"Now!" Fran said, clapping her hands. "Almost all the preparations are necessary- save a few."

"You mean Eva?" asked Beatrice.

Fran nodded. "That, too, but there is something else. Hehe~" She giggled sheepishly (like there wasn't a mountain of corpses behind her, rotting, screaming- in Battler's mind, still dying), and bumped a fist against her head gently, in a 'cute' motion. "It's a little embarrassing asking you for help all the time, but I can't operate on all these people without any supplies. If I were at my lab it'd be no problem, but I'm going to need anesthetic, iodine, nutrients, something to monitor brain activity and a heartbeat-" Fran rattled off an extensive list of things she'd need, counting them on the fingers of her hand. "Unlike 'magic', I can't miracles out of thin-air, you see?"

At the end of her lengthy list Battler's head was reeling, but Beatrice merely nodded, and said 'of course.'

With a click of her fingers, a host of golden butterflies shimmered into existence around the room, taking various forms. Battler was unfamiliar with most of the objects that phased into existence. A lot of it looked like medical equipment, but most of it was unlike anything Battler had ever seen- and, to further compound his confusion, he'd only been to the hospital a few times before.

He wondered if any of the equipment was futuristic technology. There were strangely-colored liquids in glass jars, too, and various scalpels and pointed objects used for cutting and slicing which- Battler was vaguely disturbed to note- would make perfect murder weapons.

But Fran said she wasn't going to murder anybody.

She was going to help him.

Really...?

"Ooh, thank you! Thank you!" Fran beamed, spinning round the room to look at all the 'gifts' Beatrice had left her. She giggled, giddy as a young girl who'd come down on Christmas day to find presents overflowing from under the tree. "There's one more thing though- hehe~"

"And what would that be?" Beatrice asked.

"Can you summon Adorea for me, please?~"

Battler was half-afraid to ask- but he felt he had to.

Whatever 'Adorea' was, it couldn't be worse than the corpses.

"...Adorea?"

"She's my... accomplice, I guess," Fran explained, that unfitting smile frozen on her face. "I guess you could call her my furniture?- you guys like using that word. I don't wanna feel left out! Hehehe~ But, anyway, she obeys me, and I'm her 'Master', so I suppose it works. But she's also really helpful when it comes to my surgery. I'd be really grateful."

In response to Fran's request, Beatrice swept her hand in an elegant arc through the air. A cloud of butterflies appeared in a glittering, shimmering throng, before taking the form of (Battler braced himself, for whatever horrific creature served as Fran's 'right hand man'- or woman, as it were)...

A young, pale-skinned lady.

At first glance, she seemed fairly normal- especially compared to Fran. She was fairly tall (taller, even, than Battler), and wore a simple white dress the same color as her skin. She had long black hair that hung about her shoulders- a stark contrast to her papery skin.

At second, third and fourth glance, however... it was obvious there was something wrong with her.

Her whole body- even her face- was covered in bandages.

What those bandages covered, exactly, Battler didn't want to know.

"Yay!~ Adorea!~" Fran said in a sing-song voice, reaching up on her tip-toes and stretching out her arm so she could pat the taller, silent, more reserved woman on the head. As she stretched, her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth- and, obviously taking pity on her short master, Adorea bent down on one knee so Fran could better pat her head, like a cat.

"Fran," said Adorea. Her voice was muffled slightly through the heavy bandages round her mouth, but she sounded soft, refined. Ladylike. "May I ask what is happening?"

"Oh, sure, sure- my bad!~" Fran said cheerily, turning to stab her finger at the people surrounding them. "That's the 'Golden Witch', Beatrice. She's the one who brought me here. And these are the goat butlers- who are gonna make themselves scarce soon; they'll never match up to my creations, I fear~ And this human-shaped butler is Ronove, and apparently he's a demon, and this-" she turned to Battler, "-is Ushiromiya Bahh~ttler! He's got a funny hairstyle, and speaks kinda weird, too! Fufufu!~ Oh, and these are the corpses." Fran gestured behind her. "You don't need to greet them, 'cause they're dead and stuff."

Battler noticed, with a vague sense of irritation- dulled slightly by his feelings of nausea around the corpses- that Fran had taken to adding extra, unnecessary emphasis to his first name, like Beatrice did. He scowled. Was his name really that funny? Well, yes, he knew it was; years of being teased by other kids at school had shown him that. But it really did get old. His name was a burden, a curse; he had to wonder what that old bastard had been thinking when he'd picked that name. Most likely, he'd flipped open an English dictionary, closed his eyes and picked a random word.

Well, it could be worse.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Adorea, inclining her head to the assembled people.

"My, your furniture is very polite," said Beatrice appraisingly, folding her arms. "Not at all like mine... Humph."

"Pu ku ku ku~ I wouldn't want to bore you, Milady."

"Ha." Beatrice rolled her eyes. "Suuure."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not trading Adorea in," said Fran, clinging to Adorea's arm, limpet-like. "She's waaay too useful! And how could a mother part with her child?"

"A mother?" Battler tilted his head to one side. Fran might have had some attachment to Adorea, but the pale-skinned, bandaged woman seemed to be far older than Fran.

"I put her together myself~"

"Ah..." And then, Battler frowned. "Wait, what?"

A rather disturbing image of Fran came to mind, cutting open the bodies of people and taking parts, stitching them together into an army of 'friends' to keep her company... Was Adorea one such experiment? Was that what Fran did when she couldn't save people- she merely 'recycled' them into something else that could live?

Battler was beginning to feel ill again. He didn't want Maria or Shannon or Jessica- or, hell, anyone- to be hacked up, limbs removed, organs cut out, and turned into 'Adorea Mark Two.'

"Alright!" Fran declared, folding her arms. "I've got everything sorted. I should be able to begin the operation. I just to find Miss Ushiromiya Eva."

"But Eva's still alive. Why would you-?" Battler began, but Fran's voice cut through his. It was more commanding than usual.

"Now, now, Battler, you'll find out soon enough," said Fran, waving a hand at him dismissively. "Me'n Adorea will go and retrieve Eva- you said she was in the basement of the hidden mansion, Kuwadorian, right?- whilst you guys can go back to your 'metaworld' place and eat cookies and sip cups of tea." Winking, Fran began to roll up her sleeves, and struck a dramatic pose that could've been lifted straight out of a superhero in a shounen manga. "I can handle the rest!"

And, as Fran declared this- the monotone, black and white coloring of the 'game board' faded away.

Time unfroze.

And a new game started.

Ushiromiya Eva, the new head of the Ushiromiya family, sat, trembling, in the basement of Kuwadorian. She'd always dreamed of succeeding Kinzo as the head, ever since she was a little girl- but she'd never assumed, in even her worst nightmares, that to obtain her father's gold and prestige she'd have to sacrifice her family.

George...

And Hideyoshi...

Trembling, her body racked with sobs and shivers that just wouldn't stop, Eva curled up into herself, pressing her body together as though she were trying to fold herself away into nonexistence. Even so, despite her best abilities to stop thinking (don't think about their lifeless eyes, there's no heartbeat, blood, so much blood, metal stakes and how could you, how could you? Didn't you say you would spare my family?) she couldn't. She'd always had a wild imagination- that was what fuelled her desire to become to head. That was what helped her solve the epitaph, find the gold.

And... kill her family...?

Eva always thought her mind was her greatest asset. Now, it was fast becoming her worst enemy. If she could, she would have clawed it out of her skull- ground it under her heel, into the dirt, to stem those horrible, horrible thoughts- memories- paranoid worries, because who on earth was that little girl with the high-pitched laugh and the crazy eyes?

Was it her?

Another part of her?

Or... was she a delusion?

I-I'm... not the culprit... right?

She would never... George... And Hideyoshi...

Her son.

Her husband.

But if she wasn't the killer, then why was she the only one left alive?

Eva could hardly think anymore. Her gloved fingers clawed at her hair, hoping pain would stop the tears, stop her thoughts, stop her- but it only drew another series of agonized sobs from her mouth, that sounded so truly pathetic she bit down on her own tongue to shut up, shut up. She bit down too hard, and felt blood fill up in her mouth.

Her shoulders sagged.

Pathetic.

She was the head of the great Ushiromiya family- her wildest dream had come true- but what did she have to show for it?

An island full of corpses.

She was the only survivor.

Her dreams had come true... but at what price?

The gold meant nothing- being the head of the family meant nothing- if she couldn't gloat about it to Rosa, Rudolf, Krauss (how she hated Krauss). She'd wanted to laugh at them, jeer- but, deep down, she cared about them too. She would have split the money. She would have... She wasn't so petty and heartless she'd have deprived her own siblings- her own flesh and blood- of their rights.

...And she'd wanted to celebrate with George. With her husband.

She didn't want them all dead...

None of them. Not even the servants.

H-how could she have killed anyone?

But Eva knew what they would say- if, indeed, she managed to survive. Fingers would point at her- the only survivor. Logically, she had to be the killer. That was what everybody would say. They'd think she'd killed George. Hideyoshi. Krauss and Natushi and Jessica and Rudolf and Kyrie and- and- and all of them. Drunk on ambition, mad with power, she'd killed them all to obtain the inheritance.

But she hadn't.

Hadn't she thought before, if she did turn to murder, she would have done it skillfully? Not... Not like that. She would never have stabbed Rosa's neck with the fence, or strangled poor Maria, or... O-or...

Well.

She never would have killed anyone anyway- it was only speculation.

Or... was this punishment for that cruel speculation? Divine punishment?

The gold was cursed- Eva realized that.

The gold meant nothing, not anymore- emotionless, unfeeling lumps of gold couldn't comfort her, or cure the illness that plagued her. It couldn't bring them back. Nothing could...

"Oh, I don't know about that. I wouldn't be so hasty as to say 'nothing could'. Hehe~"

Eva's eyes widened. Her head snapped upwards. Who was it? It sounded like a young girl's voice- Maria? Or maybe that deranged, younger version of herself, who'd claimed, with a biiig smile, to have murdered Hideyoshi; murdered him and enjoyed it, because her dream wasn't to get married.

That girl with the cruel smile and insane laugh was another part of Eva- perhaps a more honest incarnation of her- and she only cared for herself.

But the girl who had spoken was not Maria (how could it have been? Maria was dead).

And it wasn't the younger, crueler, alter-ego of Eva, either (of course, that was an impossibility too- that girl didn't exist; couldn't exist outside of Eva's guilty thoughts and her own skull).

It was much, much worse.

The girl was fairly short in stature, and had very pale skin. Her eyes were wide, seemingly innocent, and she had very long, cornflower blonde hair.

And a multitude of nightmarish stitches all across her skin.

Trailing behind the bride of Frankenstein was a very tall, graceful woman, with skin so white she looked like a Yuki Onna- a snow woman- from ancient legends. Her body was bound with bandages, even her face, and her hair was black.

And then there came the goat-headed men in butler attire- six or seven of them- with mad, red eyes that glinted with bloodlust.

It was at that moment Eva became convinced she'd lost her mind.

She reached out for the rifle next to her, but her fingers were numb and clumsy from the cold- and she knew, from the frantic beating of her heart and the shaking of her body, that it was too late, anyway. She was fighting a losing battle (why did she bother to fight at all?)

In one swift, fluid motion, one of the goat-headed monsters knocked her weapon away and pinned her against the wall, fingers round her neck.

Eva didn't know why she struggled, when it was clearly pointless. These nightmarish delusions were too strong; and anyway, how could she hope to win against monsters that (surely) existed only within her own head? But Eva didn't relent. The head of Ushiromiya family would not give up without a fight!...

As the last leader, she had to remain strong.

Even when she felt like crying.

"Oh my~" said the stitched-up girl softly, walking over to Eva. She looked... a little sad, maybe. Her eyes were downcast. "Mrs- oops... Hehe." She giggled softly. "Miss, rather. Miss Ushiromiya Eva, the 'you' I knew in the future... Was rather more prideful than this. Obviously upset, yes, and maybe a little unbalanced, but... Very haughty. And strong. And admirable."

What did she mean, the 'Eva' in the future?

Eva didn't know.

She supposed it didn't matter- not when she'd already gone insane.

"Well." The strange girl sighed softly, and pulled something out of her coat pocket. It seemed to glimmer, even though the lights were turned off- which further convinced Eva this was an illusion. It was a hypodermic needle with a wicked, pointed tip. "I suppose it doesn't matter too much. You'll be reunited with your family soon enough. Make sure you thank Battler- his resolve is touching, and his love for you guys brings tears to my eyes~ Oh, it's so adorable!"

Those words really struck a chord in Eva's fear-ravaged brain. Her eyes widened, and from her cracked lips fell a mumble of, "m-my family...? George...?"

"Yep," the strange girl smiled, popping the 'p' in yep as though it were a chewing gum buble. Then, she winked. "I don't tell lies. And I'm very, very good at what I do. So, Miss Ushiromiya... If you'll just relax." She held up the needle. "This'll knock you out for a few hours. Don't resist it, and it won't hurt you. It may sting a little, though..."

Eva didn't scream- not even when the needle sunk into the unprotected flesh of her wrist.

She was dying, she was sure of it.

And, as she blacked out, she was left with a rather happy thought.

She was going to see her family again.

"Phew!" Fran let out a sigh of exhaustion, as the goat butlers deposited Eva's limp body onto the floor alongside the other corpses. "What a pain."

Then, a small smile crossed her face.

"Well. At least all the fetching and carrying's done now. Ahhh!~" She sighed, arcing her body like a cat, popping the taught muscles in her back. "This island's too big- all this running around is such a paaaiinn. I'm a researcher, not a deliveryman. Woman. Whatever." She stuck out her tongue. Then, she began to fish around for the protective clothing Beatrice had so kindly left behind; she didn't want to get blood on her clothes. Fran knew Veronica would complain if she got clumsy; bloodstains were hell to remove. She didn't want to get her hair dirty, either; the hair was a woman's pride and joy! She tied it up deftly, cramming it under a surgical cap.

Then, she grinned- though the grin was hidden behind her mask.

"I suppose the real operation begins now!~ Fufufu!~"

And, with a rather eerie laugh, extra hands began to sprout from her sides- far, far too many arms- until she looked like some kind of demented, stitched-together human spider. And every one of those extra limbs had been designed to save lives. Because when it came to surgery as complex as this, one pair of hands wasn't enough.

Fran made her way over to Eva, her extra hands moving of their own accord to pick up scalpels, thread, some of the bottles of liquid- and one of them took Adorea's arm, tugging the graceful woman along behind her.

"This shouldn't be too difficult," said Fran, pushing George over onto his back. With precision, she began to cut into his neck, watching as crimson beaded around her silver blade. "Brain activity has ceased in these bodies- but Miss Eva is alive. If I can link several corpses together, using Miss Eva's brain as a power source, it should be enough to jolt several of them back to life... I've done that before. But not on a large scale like this... I don't want Miss Eva's brain to burn out; it's one thing linking two people, but quite another when it gets into double digits. In any case, I'll have to try! Battler's relying on me!"

"I respect your enthusiasm."

"Thank you, Adorea~ Hehe~ I might need you for spare parts, so don't go away, alright?"

"As always, I'll remain by your side."

"Good!~" Fran flexed her arms. She was focusing primarily on severing George's head from his body; however, her other hands were working on the corpses of Hideyoshi and Kumasawa at the same time (Fran really wasn't too fussy who worked on, as long as the job got done). Her scalpels dug into flesh, hacking away at it like a child would carve faces in a Halloween pumpkin- but she moved with skill and dexterity, her eyes narrowed as she concentrated, turning her head to focus on the various corpses to ensure she wasn't making a mistake.

"Rosa might be a pain; the hole through her neck looks pretty nasty," Fran muttered, casting her eyes about the room. "And the old man- he's pretty badly burned. Looks like brain activity stopped a while ago. He's been dead a lot longer than the others- and fried into a crisp, too. Urghh. Ah... Hmn. But Ushiromiya Battler- it looks like, out of all the assembled corpses, he's been dead the shortest amount of time... Maybe I could... Hmn..." Fran jumped up, crossing her room excitedly, and knelt down before Battler. "I've got it!"

"Got what?"

"I won't need to hook everyone up to Eva after all- not if I can preserve a few more of these fresher bodies. Hmn." She prodded at Battler dubiously. "Looks like he's been shot in the stomach... If he's going to be a host, he needs to be perfect. Adorea, open slot thirty-three!"

"As you wish."

As per Fran's request, Adorea began to peel off the bandages that wound around her stomach. As the clean linen dropped to her feet, the flat expanse of Adorea's stomach was revealed- with a large, slivery zipper running through it. Adorea tugged on the zip, pulling it open, the serrated teeth flashing in an evil smile, as organs- 'spare parts'- were revealed, grey in color but surrounded in a viscous red liquid. One of Fran's arms reached into the hollow of Adorea's stomach, her fingers squelching around in the mess of meat and guts- and if Adorea felt pain she did not show it- as Fran slowly removed various organs, her other hands pulling up Battler's shirt and making incisions across his body.

Fran was going to do this.

She knew she could.

"Let's begin this operation."

a.n: And anybody familiar with Franken Fran knows how this will end (i.e. not very XD) A pretty Fran-heavy chapter here, the next one will not be so~ It's actually a chapter I'm really looking forward to writing XD
Also, Adorea/Ronove.
Best pairing ever XDD (I just got a weird idea XD~ oh dear o:)

~renahhchen xoxo