Blinding pain welcomed Nui into the next day. Her head pounded painfully as she slowly sat up, immediately rubbing her temples to try to calm her pounding headache. She did not remember much from the past two days, she realized as the pain slowly faded away. She looked around her surroundings, and found herself in a blood-soaked concrete corner, her hair saturated in the same red liquid. She was only clothed in her undergarments, soaked in blood as well. She could not remember how she got there, and what caused such a blood soak. When she tried to figure out what had happened, her memories were blank, or maybe she had simply arrived here for safety.

Nevertheless, it was not her problem. She slowly stood up, balancing on the wall as her legs collapsed, weak from obvious lack of use. It took her several tries to stand, and more to start walking. When she could stand and walk correctly, she walked toward the plain table in the concrete room, brushing back her hair, her hands coming back tinted in red. She did not question it, knowing that whatever happened did not matter now, and washed off the blood on her hands. The dusty mirror above her showed her bruised face, and the blood and soaked into her hair framing her head.

No memory came of how this happened, but she did not care anymore. She had work to do on Shinra-Kouketsu.

Her dress and accessories were laid out for her, ready for their wearer. She ran a hand gently over her dress, happy to see it again. Her eyepatch was also there and she gladly picked it up and secured it over her scarred left eye, adjusting her hair to make room for it. She would need a shower to get the blood out of her hair, which was of little inconvenience.

She had much to do, including seeing if her pet was ready for more training.

She was glad to go back to work, stitching together the pieces of the ultimate Kamui, sewing machines clicking around her. She pulled her current string up, catching it in her mouth and trimming it. She hummed silently as she worked, rounding her current piece of the Kamui, eyeing the hem for a moment before moving to the top, stitching together the last part of the piece, making sure nothing was wrong or crooked. The work continued on as normal, humming along with the sound of sewing machines working around the clock, Life Fibers lighting her work in a beautiful soft red glow.

She took a break after she moved the finished part on to the large stand she had created for it. She hadn't yet visited her pet, and she wondered if he was ready to start training again for when he would be deployed against Nudist Beach.

As she approached his door, she found herself stopping, doubting her next move.

Uneasiness, doubt, uncertainty. Not possible, she couldn't feel uneasy. She was just visiting him, checking in on her pretty pet so she could get him to training. There was no point to the emotion filling her. She pushed it away for the moment, glad that her body did as she told it.

She reached the door, pressing her hand against the cold metal door, and it did not respond. The door did not open, locked tight, a red light flashing on the panel beside it. She entered the code she knew would open it for her, but the stupid machine did not accept it, keeping her locked from her pet. She pounded her hands on the door for a moment, hoping that he would hear her and open the door from his side.

"Can you open the door, my pet?" She asked, hoping her voice would carry through the heavy door. She pressed her ear to the door, and heard shuffling on the other side. She hoped he would open the door, but she only heard more shuffling, and a heavy thump near the bottom of the door.

"Open the door, now." she demanded.

From the other side, she heard an answer. "I can't open it."

"You forgot a few words there, my pet~" Nui announced, "I know you can open this door."

She waited for an answer, but heard not a verbal response, but a vocal one. The muffled sound of crying came through to her ears. She did not understand the reaction, and pounded on the door once more. The crying continued, and Nui's uneasiness rose higher, making her question her methods. She stopped the pounding, and went down on her knees, hoping she was closer to him.

"Open the door, now."

"What happened to you?"

Nui started, not able to believe that he would ask such a pointless question. What happened to her? She was the same as usual; working on Lady Ragyo's Ultimate Kamui, keeping her pet in line, awaiting Ryuuko's return. Nothing had changed besides this weird uneasy feeling.

"What do you mean, silly? Nothing's happened to me. What I want to know is why you have stopped being my submissive pet."

"She changed you, didn't she?!"

Now she was just annoyed. "Make more damned sense, or I'm going to break in to that room and break you again. What the hell are you rambling on about?"

"Your stolen humanity."

Humanity...

Nui went silent for a moment, a barrage of broken memories and thoughts assaulting her mind. None of it made sense, none of it. The emotions contained within these shards did not make sense either. She was a Life Fiber being, not a weak human with emotions. She would never think about emotions, never feel them. She was as far away from humanity as Gamagoori was from Life Fibers.

But what about this uneasiness?

She shuddered. She wasn't human. It was a lie. A lie. A LIE! He was trying to get into her head, fill it with false words.

"You...make up the most hilarious stories!" Nui exclaimed, fighting back an uncontrollable mashup of swarming unknowns, "I was never human."

"You don't remember anything? Nothing from before?," Gamagoori shouted back, emotions choking his voice, "The torture Ragyo put you through! The lengths you went to protect me."

Nui scoffed. "Protect you from Lady Ragyo? She wouldn't hurt you as long as you were obedient, why would she hurt me?"

"Nui, please wake up! It's Ragyo that's the enemy, don't you care anym-"

Nui chuckled darkly, oh so maliciously. "You say her name with so much poison, and try to fill my head with weakness. I'm going to force this door open, and break you all over again so you understand the rules, pet."

It took her a while to break through the door, eventually getting Hououmaru to open it. She found her pet looking unlike himself, defeated, which did not suit a pet of hers. It was obvious he broke free again, and such rule breaking must be punished. He wasn't even wearing his collar! His behavior and emotions were pitiful and disgraceful. The blatant lies he told were the final straw.

He followed her like the obedient pet she knew, but that uneasy feeling from earlier returned when she looked back at him, and found him staring at her with a look. Hopeful? Disappointment? Anguish? It did not have a fixed point, but it made her very, very uneasy. More random flashes of broken memory hit her, but none of it still pieced together. None of it made sense, and all it did was make her feel more.

She growled under her breath, her hands tightening into fists. He was the reason behind all of this. He would be made to suffer.

The moment they were alone in the small room she had broken him first, she had him on the ground violently, leaning on one leg set near his face. Her gaze was as dark as shadow, angry as an inferno. She watched him squirm, but not drop his guard. She could see the emotions behind his eyes, and disgust filled her at the look he gave her. As if she would give mercy.

There is no mercy for traitors who don't understand their place.

"You are going to suffer."

He closed his eyes, and her smile grew darker. She moved her foot on the wall, and swung it back at his head, sending him grinding against the wall until he hit the floor. He slowly started to sit up when she slammed her foot down in to his ribs, not hard enough to break them but to bruise and bang them up easily. He hollered out in pain, but did not fight back, even when she grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, kneeling over him as she repeatedly slammed her left fist into him, mostly his face. Immediately imprints of her hits appeared on his face, blood splattering against his face.

"How dare you try to turn against Lady Ragyo?!" Nui shouted at him, spitting each word at him with every punch.

She saw red with each punch, watching Gamagoori simply submit to the beating. Her uneasiness came again, but it only made her want to beat it away. She paused for a moment and slammed his head against he concrete wall, hearing the cry of agony as his human skull threatened to crack against the hard stone. He tightened her grip on him, growling as she rose her fist again.

"YOU. PATHETIC. EXCUSE OF A PET!"

She locked the chain down on to its stake, testing if it would release and finding it satisfactory. He would sit here in the dungeon in his blood until she found him obedient and submissive like before. If it took torture on the levels when she captured him, she would go that far. His complete change was disturbing and would not be tolerated.

Her beating had knocked him out, marks and cuts along with blood covered his face and chest, but she did not care at the moment. Her pet must learn discipline once again. Once done with his ruined shirt, which she threw out of one of the windows in the halls, she walked calmly toward the Sewing Rooms again to continue her work as promised.

That feeling from earlier returned heavy, and she stopped to calm her beating heart. It was about ready to beat through her chest, it hurt. Why was she feeling like this? Emotions were not meant to be felt by Life Fiber beings like her. Emotions were pointless, weak points in a person, making anyone falter and stall in anything important.

This pain...it was...familiar...

'Nothing will stop me from being human now. He's right. I could be human if I chose.'

She gasped as her legs gave way, her body shaking as memories burned into her, words not her own spoken in her ear. She could not accept being human. She would never accept emotions as part of her. No one would make her believe the false accusations of her so-called 'humanity'. She was not human. She was not.

Her grabbed her chest as the pain in her chest grew. These memories, these vision, they were lies planted by her pet. She could never have accepted the words of humans calling her one of their own. She was raised a Life Fiber being, and will always be one. Nothing will change those facts. She would not listen to the manic ramblings of people meant to be Life Fiber snacks.

Why was this happening to her?

"Am I evil, am I so terrible?"

She could see Gamagoori walk up to her quickly, taking one of her hands and brushing away her tears with the other. She felt his fingers move against hers until they interlaced at his side, her sparkling eyes looking up at him as he spoke words she never expected to hear.

"I am starting to believe you are not, Nui."

"LIES. ALL OF THEM LIES!" she roared, standing up and facing the pain in her chest, "I DO NOT FEEL FOR HIM!"

She collapsed again as her mind threw more memories at her, her head pounding dangerously hard in sync with her heart. She grabbed her head with one hand, the other clutching her chest where her heart beat. This painful assault of memories that weren't hers crippled any attempt to move. She rode through the storm of her mind, fighting any persuasion to turn her human, struggling to fight through the seemingly never-ending flood of memory and visions. These false things slowly dug into her, her mind starting to weaken as they overpowered her.

"Nui, come up to the tower."

Her pain stopped as Lady Ragyo's voice chimed above her. Her mind relaxed and calmed, locking down whatever started the fire inside her body. Slowly she got back on to her feet, dusted off her dress, collected her fraying mind and started her walk toward the elevators. She had to look calm for her creator.

Lady Ragyo was stand beside her desk when Nui arrived at her office loft, playing absently with her rainbow spools of basting threads. Nui caught her attention without speaking, her steps into the office making her creator turn to her with a smile.

"Nui, it's good to see you awake. Are you feeling better?"

"Was a feeling bad before I woke up? Well, it doesn't matter now~" Nui told her, walking calmly up to her, sitting on her desk with a smile. Ragyo looked at her proudly, moving back around her desk and calling over Hououmaru to fetch Gamagoori, only to have Nui explain that she had caught him being disrespectful and failing to follow commands. She gained praise from Lady Ragyo for making him learn, but still sent Hououmaru to check on him to ensure he didn't contract anything or fall ill.

"Does the dress fit well?" Lady Ragyo asked, rounding around Nui once before standing in front of her, chin in hand. Nui looked down at her dress, returning to her feet and twirling around for a moment.

"Yes, of course it does! It feels softer then usual, but it feels better this way."

"Good, good. Now how was your pet?"

Nui giggled softly, leaning on the desk again. "Well he was locked in his room for one, and refused to open it for me! Then he went on rambling about me losing my humanity, overall so negative about us, so I decided to have Hououmaru open it for me, dragged him to his original home, and beat him hopefully back into submission. He passed out after a while, but I must give him props for staying awake for so long. I'm sure I cracked a rib or two, and left so many pretty marks on his face!"

Lady Ragyo patted the top of her head. "I knew you could handle such a pet. I will assume progress on my Kamui is going well?"

Nui watched Lady Ragyo turn to the glass windows. "Of course! If anything, it's ahead of schedule. Another part is on the stand today, so we should be ready to start final prep before final assembly."

"Good. I'm glad to see everything is well. Now, I will be returning to my meeting in Europe, which has extended out for a few weeks due to complications suddenly arising. I expect you to behave yourself while I am gone, and to make sure no more issues arise, I will be keeping Hououmaru here in case of emergencies."

"Yep. Maybe I can break in my pet again in time for your return."

Hououmaru knew she wouldn't find Gamagoori safe and sound but the open wounds and blood covering his face was far worse than originally thought. She kept her first aid supplies close to hand as she started to clean up the wounds, gently moving him to get to difficult areas. She carefully put a bunched up towel under his head to keep his already injured head from more injury, and went to grab of spool of binding thread to help heal his wounds when he grabbed her arm, his eyes heavy with exhaustion and anguish.

"Hououmaru..."

"Don't move. You could be concussed from Nui's assault." She instructed him, grabbing her threads and pressing a bundle against one large cut under his eye, letting the threads spread and connect to the wound, healing it as quickly as the weak Life Fibers could. Gamagoori calmly let her work at healing the damage to his face, snuffing out any reaction as best he could, but she knew the process of healing through Life Fibers was painful to a point.

She plucked each bundle as their work completed, and shut her case. Her eyes wandered to his chest, knowing that there was damage there, but did not want to push Gamagoori in the state he was in.

"Ragyo lied to her."

"To Nui?" Hououmaru prompted. He nodded gently, closing his eyes.

"She asked for no harm to come to me. Ragyo turned Nui back, and used a dirty loophole...to force Nui to become something she didn't want."

Hououmaru sat in silence.

"Seeing her forget everything...the complete wipe of her memory...hurts more then her attacks."

"Gamagoori..."

He ground his teeth as tears gathered again in his eyes. "And I don't understand why the worst pain is that she hates me again!"

Hououmaru understood, easily seeing what they could not. She kept her voice down for the moment, instead aiding him in sitting up as he made the move to, helping him lean against the wall without jarring his bruised ribcage too much. Hououmaru pressed to help him wrap them and help them heal. He adjusted once again and let Hououmaru work, fighting the urge to arch his back as she spread out the threads again to dig into him and start healing his bullied bones.

"Why don't you understand?" Hououmaru asked, piling several rolls of ace bandages out and plucking out several fasteners.

He looked conflicted for a moment. "I hated her, then each time I could free myself from her control, I found myself doubting what I saw. It must have been...the basting thread she put into me. I just knew she was better than what she was and...

"...and now I miss the real Nui. The human Nui really is, the person Ragyo refuses to let free."

Hououmaru started wrapping her ace bandages around his torso, careful as she moved one arm around the small of his back. He moved enough that she could successfully wrap it around him.

"How did you break free from Ragyo's reset mind stitching?" she asked softly, "And do not worry about her finding out. I meant what I told you. I'm trying to help and she will be gone for a few weeks.

"You realize that you quite possibly like her more than you think?"

Gamagoori looked down at Hououmaru for a moment as she fastened the last clip on the binders around him, plucking the Life Fiber threads slowly poking through them as they finished their work in his body.

"Then I'll accept those facts...and fight for Nui's safe return to me."