Gwen ended her story and looked up at the faces around her. Stein, Marie, and Spirit all looked both astonished and also slightly confused. There were a lot of holes in Gwen's story which was not surprising since there are a lot of holes in Gwen's memories from the time. Gwen clenched her hands, which had started shaking during her story, into fists and waited for the torrent of verbal abuse she was sure would come. But, to Gwen's surprise, the room remained silent. The trio just stared not knowing what to do or say. After all, what do you do when you find out someone you care about went on a killing spree a few days ago? The silence was suffocating. Gwen was starting to wish they'd do something, say something, anything!
Stein was the first to break the silence. "Gwen, what happened after Nygus and Sid found you?"
Gwen took a deep breath, but couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with her brother. "They took me to a hotel where they had rented a room nearby. Nygus helped me clean myself up. I really was a mess." Gwen's mind flashed back to the sight of her in the hotel's bathroom mirror. She hadn't even recognized the woman in the reflection that stared back at her. Gore had coated her arms and face making a drastic contrast between her skin which had turned a ghastly white. No silver was visible in her hair for it was so saturated with blood that it was a deep crimson. She could remember looking in that mirror and only being able to think, "What did I do?"
"Gwen…," Stein's voice brought Gwen back to the present and she continued, forcing herself to rid her mind of emotion in an attempt to ease the turmoil raging inside her.
In a monotone voice she went on, "After that we took a small jet here to Death City. Sid and Nygus didn't say much on the way. They just gave me something to eat and said that the reaper wanted to talk to me and would explain as much as he could when we got to the DWMA. It took us less time than I thought it would get to Death City. Apparently we were in Birmingham, Alabama though the last I checked I was in Atlanta. When we got to the DWMA they sent me to the reaper's weird, little room where he explained to me all that they knew about my maddened adventures. My killing spree began in Atlanta and I worked my way to Birmingham. It took me two days to get to Birmingham and I stayed there for five days. Homicides are fairly common in Birmingham so it took them longer to find me there than it should have. In the week that I was gone they suspect I killed approximately ten people and ate the souls of three which is apparently enough to cause you to start developing into a kishin-egg, but not enough to turn you into one though I theorize that that varies from person to person."
"Wait, what do you mean by "developing into a kishin-egg"?" Spirit asked.
Staring at the wall, Gwen answered in a flat voice, "I believe that in the process of becoming a kishin-egg a person will develop certain abilities to help them hunt souls. For example, I have developed a strong soul perception ability and increased speed and strength." Gwen's words quivered at the end of her last sentence. She couldn't take this anymore. Reliving her nightmare by talking about was causing madness to break through her dispassionate façade. Shuddering, she suppressed a wave of insane giggles fighting to burst free. "No. I can't lose control, not again. Remember why you have to stay sane. Tell them, tell Frankie. Tell Frankie why it's so important that you hold on. Tell him so you can focus on it, make it real." She hadn't wanted to acknowledge what would happen if she was consumed by the madness again, but now she had to. Anything to help prevent what will happen if she can't stay sane.
The others in the room were all deep in thought trying to process everything Gwen had told them. The only person who even had the slightest idea of the struggle going on inside Gwen was Stein. After all, he was Gwen's older brother and knew all of her tells. Needless to say, when Gwen suddenly broke her static posture and turned around in her seat to look at her brother with frantic eyes everyone but Stein jumped.
"Frankie, I can't fall into madness again. The reaper said that if I lose it again then the academy is going to be after my soul and he isn't going to send students after it. He's going to send you. He thinks you're the only one who could take me in a fight if I'm ever truly gone. I can't make you do that Frankie!" Gwen was becoming hysterical as the madness closed in on her. The wavelength given off by the newly revived kishin was causing her mind to go into turmoil and she didn't know how much more of it she could take.
Seeing his sister's distress, Stein quickly got up and left the room. He returned a few seconds later with a sedative filled syringe in hand. Coming up beside Gwen, he pricked her neck with the syringe and injected its contents returning the favor that Gwen had given him earlier that day. Stein was in shock as he put his sister to sleep. All he could think about was the very likely possibility that he would have to kill his little sister.
Gwen felt the small sting of the syringe that was quickly followed by warm darkness surrounding her. She sent a quit thank you to her brother as she fell into unconsciousness.
Little background information on Gwen: Gwen lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a sensei and teaches martial arts to both young kids and adult students. Many of her adult students are part of the Atlanta police force which is currently trying to track her down for suspected homicide. One of the homicide victims is a young police officer and one of Gwen's five black belt students.
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