Eddie had set up his own little aisle way, complete with an array of chairs for the "guests" and audience to sit in. At the end of the aisle, he'd propped up a mannequin to replicate the "bride," which was complete with even a wedding dress. Behind the "bride" was a wooden plank, which had a picture of an old Caucasian man nailed to it. Probably to replicate the "priest" for the wedding ceremony.

Kasha walked into the room, silently freaking the fuck out at the sight of the elaborated room. "Well, you've been busy." She commented, chuckling, as she slowly walked down the aisle.

Eddie was off to the side, aggressively wrapping a rope tightly around a man's corpse, tying it to one of the chairs. "Well, darling, what kind of Groom would I be if I didn't provide my beautiful wife with a place to hold our ceremony? I am going to take care of you, you know... And our children."

Kasha cringed. Children. Good god. She decidedly ignored that comment. "So, do you need any help?"

"With what?"

"You know, gathering an audience."

He frowned. "I know that I suggested that before, darling, but I've given it some more thought. I don't want you to be covered in blood on our wedding day. To be covered in the... Filth... Of other men." He growled, yanking the rope into a tight knot out of sudden anger at the very thought. He then cast a glance at Kasha, "You... Must be perfect for the wedding day."

Kasha frowned. But, despite her disgust at his sexist attitude, she decided to play it safe and just act in his favor. She'd lately stopped using the "facade" as much. Mostly because she was literally so sick of it that she couldn't portray it anymore, but also because she found that after that little... Discussion that her and Eddie had back in the gymnasium, that he'd now seemingly become slightly more tolerant of her naturally snarky personality.

"Aw, c'mon!" She pleaded. "I have nothing better to do. And, plus, I'd hate to see you doing all of the work for the ceremony by yourself. I promise I won't get the dress dirty. You don't need to draw blood from someone in order to kill them, after all..." She winked.

Eddie thought on it for a moment. He still didn't want her to, but she certainly had a way of convincing him. "... Fine. But if even a spec of dirt or blood gets on your beautiful dress..." He paused, making eye contact with her. "You'll be just another whore." He growled, narrowing his eyes.

Kasha shivered. But, nonetheless, she nodded. "Okay, that's fine. Fair enough. Just... Wait here. I'll bring in someone. Actually, perhaps I'll leave a few alive... Just so we can have some screamers." She grinned, turning to walk out of the door centered at the entrance of the aisle.

"NO!" Eddie yelled, grabbing a chair and flipping it over. "I will not allow any interruptions or... annoyances during the ceremony. Leave them all silent, darling. Please."

Kasha threw her hands up as she backed out of the room. "Okay, okay! Sheesh. No need to get all excited, bucko." She mumbled the last part rather quietly to herself as she turned around, disappearing into the darkness of the hallway.

It didn't take long for Kasha to find someone. A variant, with rashes and lesions all over his body so bad that they made Eddie's lesions look fabulous, dashed across the hall to dart into another room. Kasha watched him run, and smirked. First victim. She never thought that, for once, she would be the predator in this asylum. It was truly a surreal feeling. And, honestly, she hoped to keep it this way.

She ran down the hall, then ran into the room where her prey had run off into. She was surprised, however, to find that the variant had been expecting her. He waited next to the door, anticipating her entrance. And once she did enter, he slammed his fist into the side of Kasha's face.

Kasha, being taken by surprise, stumbled over before regaining her balance. That punch had actually hurt her far more than it should have, considering that she'd still been recovering from the numerous punches that Eddie had landed on her face previously.

"FUCK!" She yelled, rubbing her face. "Why does everyone in this god damned asylum insist on punching me in the fucking face? Are you kidding me? God, I'm so glad that I get to kill you." She commented, in complete annoyance as she felt her face throb.

"Y-You can try, you stupid bitch! You won't catch me!"

Kasha charged at the variant, who had fortunately for her made the stupid decision of perching himself right by a corner. She grabbed the variant by his shoulder and shoved him into the corner, kneeing him squarely in the groin not once, but three times. The variant's hands shot down to his groin, crying out in pain. But Kasha needed to shut him up. She clasped her hands tightly around his throat and began shaking him, her nails digging into the flesh of his neck, piercing the skin. He fought against her, kicking her legs with his own, and clawing at her arms. Within a couple of minutes, however, the variant's body went limp in Kasha's hands. "God, that could have gone a bit smoother." She commented, rubbing her sore cheek. Hopefully, Eddie wouldn't get mad about that.

Kasha grabbed the variant's lifeless corpse and flung him over her shoulder, lugging the heavy body out of the room. She made her way back into the ceremony room, huffing with the strain of carrying so much weight. "These fuckers are heavier than they look." She complained, slumping the corpse down into one of the chairs. Eddie, who had the rope coil, quickly walked over and started wrapping the rope around the body.

Kasha stood back, her arms crossed. "Why are you wrapping the rope around them? They're dead. They're not going anywhere."

"They not dead. They're... They're our witnesses." Eddie snapped, tying the knot. "They're... Asleep. And when they wake, we can't have them leaving before the wedding reception, now can we?" He kept his back to her as he fiddled with the rope.

Kasha felt a pang of pity wave through her. Eddie was too far gone. All of the therapy in the world would never be able to "fix" him at this point. He truly believed that these variants were still alive, somehow. Even though he himself had killed one of them.

Kasha remembered reading something on his patient file that matched this behavior. He'd mutilated all of those women and killed them, but he apparently denied that the women, his victims, were even dead at all.

It was clear to Kasha that his psychosis was very, very deeply rooted. More deeply than she'd originally thought. She shook her head, sighing. "... You're right, Eddie, they're just sleeping." She said, rolling her eyes. Even though, obviously, she knew that they weren't "sleeping."

Eddie then turned around to eye Kasha up and down, making sure that her dress hadn't been ruined during the scuffle with the variant. Not a spec of blood. Good. But then, his blue eyes wandered up to her face. He scowled. He approached Kasha, his hand lifting caress the side of her face. The expression on his face drastically contrasted his affectionate touch, however. He looked furious.

"Did he... Did he do this to you, darling? Did he touch you?" He growled, stroking her cheek with his hand.

"Yeah, he took me by surprise and managed to punch me. But, I just strangled him. So it worked out." She said it so casually. This place had changed her. For that, she was certain.

But Eddie's expression only seemed to darken. "You let him touch you?" He hissed, sheer malice in his voice. Kasha recognized that tone of his voice. He was on the verge of a mental blowout. Again. If Kasha didn't defuse him within the next couple of seconds, she would likely lose her life.

"No, honey! Of course not!" She started, wearing the facade once more. She needed it right now. "Why would I ever want any other man's touch? He attacked me, dear. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have allowed him to lay a finger on me."

Eddie's hand moved from stroking her swollen cheek to grasp at her throat, his fingers clamped tightly. Kasha gasped. "You try my patience, darling. Again and again, you let these men touch you. You want them to, don't you? You want their attention! What, is it me? I must not be good enough for you anymore, you filthy fucking SLUT!" Eddie gripped her throat tighter.

Oh, god. Not this again. For some reason, he seemed to favor strangling her. I mean, for fuck's sake, she'd only just survived nearly dying when he tried hanging her from the rafters. It was then that Kasha was reminded of that conversation that she'd had with him, shortly after she'd been saved by a stroke of miraculous luck. It seemed like Kasha had gotten through to him at that time...

She was started to get better an pacifying him.

Pacifying Eddie Gluskin was certainly an acquired skill. But, once you'd mastered it, he was fairly easy to defuse. He seemed to have a repetitive cycle of anger, anyway. The same things always got him going. As a psychologist, it was incredibly easy for Kasha to realize this.

Kasha brought her hand up and gently placed it on Eddie's forearm, stroking his arm affectionately as she made eye contact with him. "Eddie... Remember what I said: You are not your childhood traumas. Do not allow your traumas to control you." She said, once again reciting what she'd said back in her office to him. She spoke with a surprising softness to her voice. Kasha could be sweet when she tried to be.

Eddie paused, his grip loosening ever so slightly. "Shut up. SHUT UP!" He yelled, looking away. It was hard for Eddie to think through his blind rage. But, part of him knew that those words in particular would always hold weight. However, in his current state of mind, he legitimately couldn't rationalize his actions. He wasn't capable of rationalization anymore.

Kasha could tell that she'd gotten through to him. At least, slightly. She felt his grip loosen. So, she continued. "You don't want to kill me, Eddie. You'll regret it. You'll be alone, in a building filled with nothing full of ungrateful sluts. Remember what we talked about in the gymnasium? Have a clear mind, Eddie. You love me, right? We're already so close to having the ceremony... Have you ever held a ceremony before?"

That last question in particular stuck out to Eddie exceptionally. Have you ever held a ceremony before? The question rang through his head multiple times. He realized, then, that he'd never had one. None of those... Sluts had ever gotten this far with him. They always ran, they would always choose death over being with him. But this woman...

He let go of her throat, and turned his back on her. He began walking out into the hallway, his annoyance still obvious. He externally seemed to disregard most of her words, but internally, he thought them over. "Come, darling. We still have more guests to collect. We don't want them being late for the ceremony." His voice was still heavy with anger, and Kasha could hear him breathing in audible huffs through his nose.

Kasha, surprised, grabbed at her throat in disbelief. That worked? Shit, she was getting better at this! This was one of those instances where she was actually grateful for all of those agonizing years in college. Those years and her knowledge of the human psych had just saved her life. Again. She followed after Eddie, walking next to him. "Perhaps if we collect them together, you can keep their hands off of me. With you around, they won't be able to."

Eddie didn't respond. He was still fuming. He wasn't used to the whole "calming down" process. He was used to his normal routine: Get enraged, kill them, and hang them from the rafters. This, right here, was breaking his routine. And he felt incredibly uneasy about it. All he wanted to do was kill her.

But, each time he wanted to, and truly meant to, she somehow... Talked him out of it. Each and every time. Silently, Eddie cursed the loose knot of the rafter she'd been hanging from only an hour ago. If only she'd died hanging there... If only.

It was then that the both of them spotted a variant at the same time. Kasha looked at Eddie, then silently gestured with a nod of her head for him to go first. Kasha knew that Eddie needed to take out some pent up aggression. So, she'd let him have this one.

Eddie just needed to... Kill something. He would need to pretend that this variant was Kasha. He barreled down the hallway after the variant, who ran frantically for his life, shouting as he ran: "NO, NO! God, NO! Spare me!"

Kasha smirked as she watched Eddie haul ass after his new found prey. She simply walked behind him, looking onward at the scene. It was too bad that she didn't have any popcorn. Kasha watched as Eddie practically pounced on the poor bastard, and proceeded to violently thrash his fists into the man's face. Kasha finally caught up with them, watching with her hands on her hips. The man underneath Eddie clawed desperately at Eddie's face, fighting for his life. "GOD, NO! WHY?!" He howled, but Eddie decided then that he needed to be silenced. He took out his knife and stabbed him in the gut repeatedly... Or rather, excessively.

Eddie was pretending that the variant beneath him was Kasha. He needed to... He needed to release the craving somehow. He needed to. This woman had talked her way out of her death more than once now, and it was sincerely fucking with his head. Even though the variant had died as a result of Eddie's brutal beating, Eddie still continued to plunge his blade into the variant's corpse.

Kasha watched, frowning. She knew what he was doing. So, she remained silent. She let him do his thing. I mean... Whatever worked, right? Therapy was therapy. After enough stab wounds to reduce the variant's torso into a pulpy mess, Eddie finally rose, blood slathered all over his lower half. He turned to look at Kasha, the gleam of a sadist in his blue eyes. Kasha simply returned his gaze, her eyes blank and unphased. She'd become desensitized to all of this crap, honestly.

"Don't touch him, darling. He's... Messy. He'll get his filth all over you." Eddie said, huffing, his voice shaky. He grabbed the variant by his heels and began to drag him back to the ceremony room, the variants' intestines threatening to leak out.

Kasha walked with Eddie in silence. Then, she looked over at him. "Do you feel better now? Did that help?"

He didn't respond. To Kasha, that simply meant that he didn't want to acknowledge that he needed any kind of "help." He wanted to pretend like it never happened. And, Kasha was willing to bet money that he was going to pretend that his new victim was still alive when they got back into the ceremony room, too.

Once they'd returned, Eddie propped the corpse up in a chair. As a result, gravity made some of his intestines collapse out of his body. His large intestine hung out of him partially, slowly sliding down his leg. Eddie seemed to ignore it, and began wrapping the rope around him. "You're going to have to be quiet when the ceremony begins... We can't have you making such a mess throughout the entire thing." Eddie muttered in the corpse's ear, tying the knot.

God, this guy was so far gone. And, of course, Kasha was right with her predictions. He was pretending that the victim was still alive, regardless of the fact that his intestines were literally falling out.

"How many more guests should we be getting? Do you want to fill up the rest of the seats?" Kasha asked, looking at the ten or so empty seats left.

"I would like to, yes. We need a full house for such a momentous occasion, after all." He winked, then walked back out into the hallway. God, this was probably going to take a wile.

~/~

It seemed like an eternity had passed, but in reality, it had only been about two hours. Kasha had to let Eddie handle the rest of the guests. She didn't want to risk triggering him into yet another rage filled episode again. He liked killing far more than she did, anyway.

Kasha waited at the alter, the fake mannequin bride being pushed aside. Kasha took it's place. She felt incredibly awkward. She silently wondered how he was going to do all of this, seeing as... Well, they didn't have anything to actually play out a wedding ceremony with.

While she waited for Eddie to return with the last guest, she looked out into the sea of corpses with a slightly morbid smile. "Well, shit. I never imagined that my wedding would be like this. How... Creative. And fitting." She snickered to herself, hearing Eddie's heavy footsteps now clambering down the hall in echos. Shortly after, Eddie returned with the last corpse thrown over his broad shoulder. He quickly tied the last one to the remaining empty chair, then eagerly marched up to the makeshift alter.

He stood opposite of Kasha, a slightly crooked smile on his lesioned face. "I can't wait to tell my sisters about this shit over some drinks later." Kasha thought, smirking. She made eye contact with Eddie, who seemed to be figuring out how to go about this. He almost seemed nervous, honestly.

He looked at the picture of the "priest," then began speaking for the priest in an exaggerated voice. It seemed like Eddie had probably rehearsed this by himself a couple of times.

"We're gathered here today to celebrate the wedded union of Eddie Gluskin, and the beautiful Kasha Muller. We celebrate the communion and partnership of their now unified marriage..." Kasha spaced out, finding the entire speech dreadfully boring. But she did find Eddie's impersonation of the priest to be thoroughly amusing. She tried not to laugh. "... Do you, Kasha, take Eddie to be your dearly beloved husband?" Eddie said, his impersonation sounding more like a caricature.

It was time to use the facade again. She nodded, with a smile. "I do."

"Do you, Eddie, take Kasha to be your dearly beloved wife?" Eddie then shifted back to his normal, smooth voice. "I do."

He switched back to the priest's voice. "Then by my word of law, I now name you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Eddie then leaned in, and Kasha had to physically restrain herself from leaning away from him.

She still needed to play her part. If she ever wanted to see her sisters again, that is. Holy shit, she couldn't wait to tell them about all of this crazy crap. Kasha leaned towards Eddie, and their lips connected in a sweet kiss. Eddie's arms then wrapped around Kasha's waist, dipping her down slowly like he'd probably seen in those old, corny 1940s movies. He was literally acting out his fantasies right now.

Kasha's mind suddenly flashed back to that one time in Eddie's living space, when he'd decided to "test" her trust by having some fun with her neck... With his lips. She remembered the reaction that her body warranted, and how deeply it had concerned her at the time. Eddie's familiar chapped lips against hers again reminded her of the occasion. She was surprised by the romantic gesture of dipping her back like this. Slowly, he brought her back up.

Eddie felt happy, for once. He actually felt a sense of happiness, mostly because, for once, one of them hadn't run away. But also because now, he was thinking of a variety of different ways to kill her. Maybe he could hang her like an exceptional trophy in the gymnasium, in her wedding dress... She could be perched in the center, to stand out from the rest of the hanging corpses.

All the while, Eddie looked into Kasha's eyes affectionately. Despite plotting ways to kill her in his mind. "I love you, darling. Now... All that's left is the conception. The birthing is never easy, I know... But just try to endure." He hummed, kissing his new wife once more on the lips.

Kasha smiled, despite internally vomiting. "I love you too, honey. I can't wait to have your children." Oh my god. Out of everything that she had to force herself to say during her stay here, that had to be the worst. In truth, Kasha fucking despised children. The little brats...

Eddie then released his embrace and grabbed Kasha's hand in his, leading her back down the aisle. In Eddie's mind, every single corpse tied to those chairs was currently alive and applauding the two of them as they exited, throwing celebratory flowers at them. Kasha followed after him.

Eddie led her to his living space once again. But, this time, he'd... Re-arranged things. Kasha felt her stomach twist in disgust. He'd moved his already filthy mattress to the center of the room, and he'd managed to find a multitude of candles and arrange them around the room to create an "atmosphere." He'd also spread long dead, wilted flowers all around the mattress. Kasha looked at the scene before her with widened eyes.

Oh, god. Did he seriously intend on having sex with her? And knocking her up?

She... Fuck. She couldn't let this happen. She didn't want this.

Her nerves began to kick up again, and she could feel herself begin to shake with anxiety. Everything in her wanted to just bolt out of that god damned door and never look back. This little fantasy of his had gone too far.

Eddie practically yanked her into the room when her walking suddenly stunted at the doorway.

"I know you must be nervous, darling. You must be as eager as I am to consummate our love." He gestured to the mattress, wanting her to take a seat.

Oh, god.

No.

No.