I'm so horrible not updating this as much as I used to. I got caught up posting my novel. That and as my due date gets closer, my focus is shifting from writing to getting things ready for Victoria. I'll do my best to update more often ^^''

TW: none

Chapter 10-Ultraviolet (Kiri)

The day dragged on. Elsa had been excused from school until her injuries had healed so that was one less stressor for each alter. The teachers would email the lessons to Diane and all that needed to be done was print, complete, scan, and email back. That way grades didn't fall. Kiri sighed as she laid on her bed. How was she supposed to handle tomorrow's appointment? She had no clue about what had happened to put Elsa in the hospital. That was surely going to be the main topic. Asking Elsa wasn't an option, the girl was still comatose. And like hell she would ask Nassiri. All Kiri wanted to do with that alter was bury her at the bottom of the sea. Who else might know? Arcy had been asleep for a nap, Astra was with Kiri at the time. Maybe Anna or Aya? "Hey, Anna."

"What's up, Kiri?"

"Do you know what happened that made Elsa go to the hospital recently?"

"Sorta. I did see Nassiri messing around near the void area."

"What was she doing?" Anna hesitated. "It's okay to tell me. I won't think you're crazy or saw things."

Anna sighed, messing with her hair-inadvertently making Kiri do the same. "Well, she was reaching her hands in and moving them around. Kinda like she was playing with puppet."

Like a puppet? Is that how Nassiri co-fronted? Perhaps now that Astra was gatekeeper again, Nassiri wouldn't be able to do it anymore. Hopefully that hateful bitch was trapped in that black sub-conscious space. She rubbed her head and stared at the ceiling.

"Are we safe from her?"

Kiri sighed. "For now. I don't know if she'll come back or when."

"She's a real, uh, bitch, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is."

"Aya doesn't know about her, does she?"

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't. But it's for the best. The less who know about her, the better."

"Is there anything we can do?" Anna sounded nervous.

"Stay away from her. That's about it. And let me know if you ever see her. Got it?"

"No problem there. I hate her. I'd hit her with a frying pan if she didn't scare me so much."

Kiri couldn't help but chuckle. "Just be careful and let me handle Nassiri."

"Ugh, even her name sounds nasty."

Kiri shook her head and looked to the clock on the desk. It was only 6 p.m. She noticed a small stack of papers next to the hospital discharge folder. Curious, Kiri sat up and grabbed them. They were drawing Arcy had done. And from the looks of it, she had either heard or felt the fight with Nassiri. Hopefully the poor girl was alright. Suddenly drained of energy, Kiri closed her eyes for a nap. Shaking woke her up.

"Wake up! It's time to go."

It was Diane. "Huh? But I only closed for a few minutes…" Kiri looked to the clock. It was 9:23 a.m. "What the?! Did I really sleep over 12 hours? So sorry Diane. I guess I more tired than I thought."

"Still Kiri?"

"Yep. Do excuse me." She got up, grabbed a black dress from the closet and went in the bathroom. Kiri rushed to brush her hair, teeth and changed clothes. "Don't worry about breakfast. This is more important." She told Diane as she left the bathroom and Elsa's room. Diane followed behind Kiri as they went to the car. "Sorry for sleeping so long. Did I sleep through dinner, too?"

"Yeah but I figured I'd let you sleep. I have no idea what goes on in that inner world so you were probably too tired to eat anyway."

"I guess so. I'm surprised I slept so long. But I do feel better." As they got in the car and drove off, Kiri thought back to the last time she had actually slept for a full night. She tapped her nails, thinking. Was it 4 days ago? Maybe 5? No wonder she had just passed out after closing her eyes. "Oh crap, I forgot something."

"What's that?"

"There were some drawing Arcy did. I thought they could help us at the appointment."

"I'm ahead of you there. Dina had told me to bring all papers from the hospital stay. So I have the discharge papers and the drawings. Hopefully it'll help us a little."

"Yeah, especially since I have no clue about what happened the day Elsa was checked in."

"Is Elsa alright? Did you go to the inner world when you slept?"

Kiri looked out the window. "Uh, no, sorry. I'm guessing she's still in a coma. But I'm sure that she's safe."

"Alright," Diane sighed lightly.

Kiri felt bad that she couldn't do more for Diane at this point. An uneasy silence settled in the car as they drove on. The radio was just quiet background noise so neither of them would have to think too much about what they were heading into. But Kiri couldn't help thinking about it. She felt as though she had failed to keep Elsa safe and thus failed Diane and her purpose as an alter. Before Kiri had realized, they had arrived at the office. With a light sigh, Kiri got out and followed Diane in. They were checked in and called back within five minutes. Kiri felt a little awkward walking with crutches. It felt unnatural to have hard cushion under her armpit. Every now and then an ache in the back of her neck would distract her and she'd stumble on the crutches. IT was a good thing Dina's office was only a few feet down the hall. Kiri took the nearest chair and leaned the crutches against the wall beside her.

"Ah good, you seem to be recovering well." Dina smiled. "And who are we talking to today?"

"Kiri, Dina. I'm not the one in recovery, honestly. I walk fine on my own in the inner world. However, Elsa is still in a coma."

"I see. I had actually expected that. How are you coping with all this Diane?"

Diane rubbed her eyes and sat back in the other chair. "It's hard honestly. I thought if Elsa herself was in a coma, so would all the alters."

"Not necessarily, Diane. The way this disorder works is quite tricky. It's best to look at it as if there are multiple brains in one head. So if something happens to one brain, the others typically unaffected. Which is why giving medicine for D.I.D is so difficult. It won't work on everyone in the body."

"Although there is a bit of good news in this," Kiri interrupted Dina. The psychiatrist gave her a quizzical look. "The alter who caused Elsa to be in a coma is trapped in a much harder place to escape. I made sure of it."

"Is that what these are about?" Diane asked Kiri, referring to the drawings.

"I'd say so. Arcy must have heard the fight between me and Nassiri and drew it. But at least Nassiri is trapped for the moment."

"Tell me this Nassiri." Dina grabbed a pen and notepad.

"Well, she's the dangerous alter. I can't recall if I told you about her or not. But she's the one who wants nothing more than to cause confusion and pain to Elsa and the other alters. We had her locked away once but she managed to escape somehow. I'm hoping this latest entrapment will prove much more difficult to escape. She was co-hosting when Elsa was sent into a coma. Is it possible that Nassiri is in a coma now, as well?"

Dina finished writing and nodded. "Highly likely. Co-hosting upon coma can result in both core and alter going unconscious. But I wouldn't be sure. There's been no real way to test such a thing."

"I'll just go with maybe, then." Kiri rubbed her eyes.

"Kiri, were you around when the incident happened?"

"No, I wasn't. I was in the inner world."

"Alright. Diane, what did the police reports and witnesses tell you from that day?"

Diane leaned against the back of the chair. "Her principal called first, saying Elsa had blatantly left the campus. About 10 minutes later, from what the reports say, she was on the bridge. Witnesses reported that Elsa appeared terrified and to be arguing with herself and her body. A few noted that she seemed to sway before falling and clinging to the ledge. From there it was just that she fell in such a way she managed to avoid snapping her neck and spine on impact with the ground."

"Can I see the hospital papers?" Dina smiled as they were handed to her. "Hm, head injury, arm injury, contusions and lacerations, fractured ribs and displaced hips. OH? An additional note here. What did the doctor mean by odd speech pattern upon waking?"

"Oh. Well, Arcy fronted and that's what 'woke her up.' I managed to explain it to the doctor as her way of handling trauma." Diane explained. "The doctor didn't expect her to wake up so soon and neither did I."

"Poor Arcy. That must have been painful to come to front to. How did she deal with the hospital stay?"

"I made sure she was happy and taken care of. She drew these, which after hearing Kiri's side, seem to depict the fight that saved Elsa from Nassiri." Diane handed over the drawings as well. "How long will Elsa be in a coma for?"

Dina looked over the drawings. "Wow. Seems to be a bloody fight. But I do notice something. It goes from red and black hair fighting a pair of red and black wings to red and white wings fighting the red and black wings. Who is the red and white?"

"That would be Astrania." Kiri groaned, rubbing her forehead. "She's the gatekeeper and the guardian angel alter Elsa created. She's Nassiri's twin. I guess you could say the angel and devil on Elsa's conscience."

"Ah, a gatekeeper. Good. That will further ensure safety when people front."

"What's a gatekeeper?" Diane asked.

Dina smiled. "A gatekeeper is an alter that controls who fronts. It's an extra safety measure. Sometimes there's a gatekeeper and sometimes there isn't. But in this case, I'm glad there is. Kiri, how do you feel about what happened?"

"Honest truth?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Then do pardon my language, Diane. I feel that Nassiri is nothing more than a sick and twisted freak who needs to have her ginger head knocked off that bobble body of hers. She's a dangerous bitch and I'd love nothing more than to tear her apart. She has no grasp on what being an alter means!"

"Well, I'm afraid Kiri, that sometimes alters can turn out that way. Say she was formed when Elsa felt a huge surge of pain and hatred. It would all be filtered into a fragment and that fragment could grow into an alter the more it's fed. So in some cases, a dangerous alter can't help but be created."

"Just what she needs. Anyway to uncreate her?"

Dina stifled a laugh. "The only way to get rid of an alter is for the core to merge with that alter. There is no uncreating an alter." Dina looked to Diane. Were any medications prescribed such as painkillers or antibiotics?"

"Uh I think so. I believe I still have the prescriptions in my purse…" Diane rifled through her purse for a few seconds. "Ah here we go!" She handed the slips over to Dina.

"Alright, I'll just run these through and see if there's any possible reactions between these and Anna's medicine…" She typed the medication into the computer and red as the page came up. "Alright, looks like the ibuprofen and antibiotic don't have risk of reaction. That's good. Kiri, you say that Arcy heard the fight with Nassiri. Is I possible to speak to her?"

"I'm not entirely sure. She might be asleep and she might not be. I haven't been to the inner world since I came to front."

"hm, alright. Well, for now all we can do is keep an eye on Elsa as she recovers in the inner world. Kiri, I leave that to you. We can also ask the other alters if they know what happened-"

"Oh I almost forgot! I asked Anna if she knew what was going on. She saw Nassiri reaching into the void and pulling around like she was controlling a puppet. I'm guessing that's how Nassiri was able to force Elsa into what happened."

Dina wrote down more on the notepad. "It's quite possible. For now, all we can do is keep Elsa safe. Take the antibiotics daily, the pain medicine as needed. If Anna fronts, make sure she does the same and keeps to her prescription as well. For now, our session has run out. We'll meet again in two weeks at the same time. Is that alright, Diane?"

"It's far enough in advance for me to request off from work. Thanks, Dina."

"Not a problem. Kiri, I hope everything goes well for you and the others." Diane handed the prescription slips back to Diane as the two got ready to leave.

"So do I." Kiri groaned as she stood up and leaned on the crutches. Dina opened the door and let them out. So, Kiri was now on guard duty basically. She wouldn't go it alone, she'd get Astra to help as well. Now it was just a matter of physical recovery. All in time.

Man, almost 8 months pregnant and my back is just torture. Can't take medicine for it, too risky for the baby. But at least I'm almost done incubating this little buttmunch. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading/faving/following!