AN: Kind of went out on a limb here, playing around with some speculation from the past and worked with some characters I've never really touched before.

And why is the Rev not listed as a character on here? I mean Simon Crocker I understand because he was a recent addition, but the Rev? I mean, he'sTHE REV!


Etiology: (n) In Pathology the study of the causes of diseases.


"She is the cause." Reverend Edmund Driscoll prodded his finger into the wrinkled picture, staring over at Simon Crocker with a scowl. "She is the cause of the cycle, and if we're ever going to free this town of the curse then we need to get rid of her."

"We've tried that," Simon pointed out.

"Oh we've Erased her before, yes," Edmund agreed. "But we need to finish her."

Simon smirked. "So that's why you want me," he said slowly, putting the pieces together. "You want me to deal with her."

"We both know what you can do, Simon," Edmund said. "You cure people. Cleanse their souls. Well her soul is the darkness that is keeping us all under. If you free her soul, then we won't have to worry about this repeating again in the future. We can continue our work knowing that it will be successful."

Simon drew the short knife from his belt and fingered it pensively. "So you think that if I'm the one to kill her, that this time she'll stay gone," he clarified.

"It's what your father believed as well," Edmund said. Simon fought to keep his surprise from showing.

"What do you know about my father?" Simon asked suspiciously.

"He fought for our cause as well," Edmund informed him solemnly. "He joined us the last time this woman was here, when her name was Sarah. And he died trying to rid this place of her filth." He leaned forward over the table pointedly and added, "She was the one who killed him."

The dagger slipped from Simon's grip and clattered loudly on the tabletop. He knew that his father had been murdered, but he had never been able to find out who had done it. He'd always assumed that one of his trading deals had gone badly. But this... "How do you know?"

Edmund smiled darkly. "Before he died he left this in my possession, to give to you when the time was right," he said and from inside his coat he drew an aged journal and passed it across the table. "He collected all of his notes in this, on the Troubles and his work against them. It should help you."

Simon flicked through the pages curiously. The entries dated back several generations, to his great-grandfather Rupert Crocker and a woman named Margaret. There were lists of Troubled families with annotations of Afflictions in the margins, some of the names scratched through with red ink and a date. Near the middle there was a roughly drawn sketch of some sort of maze, with a person standing at each of the four cardinal points.

And throughout the whole thing was the same face, the woman with the rounded cheeks and bright eyes and fierce stare. There were differences in them all, but there was no doubt that they were the same woman. The woman who now went by Lucy Ripley.

Toward the back were several blank pages, but just before that he found a letter addressed to him, written in his father's hand. It was short and to the point, telling him everything that the newly appointed reverend had just told him. Simon brushed his fingers over the signature at the bottom of the page, and then picked up the dagger he'd dropped.

Looking up, he met Reverend Driscoll's gaze and nodded. "I'll do it."