The thing that opens and closes suddenly smacks against the wall. Two zombies rush in and restrain Ulrich and Aelita, growling strange words. A shadow falls upon us.

"Hello, Jeremie."

"Oh, shit," Odd mutters.

"Geez, can't we ever get any peace around here? Lord." Aelita glares at the one restraining her.

"Ulrich, knock it off!" I yell, furious. The zombie turns and glares at me. "Why should I stop for a pitiful being like yourself?" I stop cold. How could I keep him from hurting others?

And then an idea strikes me.

The pane of clear light.

I slowly back away as he draws closer...closer...the white eyes narrow, glaring at me...water drips down my back.

"ENOUGH!" 'Ulrich' leaps onto me, his claws digging into my chest and pushing me to the floor. "Gah! Get off me!" I scream, struggling against the needles pricking my flesh...

His teeth tear into my skin...beyond my skin...ripping out a part of me that was not really there...a terrible screech echoes through my ears, making my bones rattle, my eyes roll into the back of my head.

It hurt, but the pain was more distant now...and something white had left my chest. Xana was screaming at me, but it was distant.

And then reality SMACKED ME LIKE A BRICK WALL!

"Noooooooo!!!" I howl, in agony. A black fountain spurts from the hole in my body, beginning to fix what had left. It stings, but at least I'm living. The zombies suddenly are gone.

Atilea. She might've gotten rid of them.

"Jeremie...what just happened?" Odd stammers, still lying on the floor where he had willingly fallen. Xana answers for me. "I was afraid of this. The other Ulrich has a share of Jeremie...a piece of his..." He stops.

"Well? A piece of what?!" Aelita demands, suddenly angry.

"Precisely one-half of Jeremie's soul is missing," Xana reports, with a strange tone of voice, as if he were angry. The word 'bitter' comes to mind.

A head pops into the room via the ceiling. "Oh, thank goodness! I did say the right words!" Atilea breathes, sinking to the floor. Aelita stares. "Who are you? Why do you look like me?!" Atilea smirks. "I am your clone. Made when Jeremie here cloned you from a hair. Came to Earth and died-now I'm stuck with this job."

"STUCK in this JOB?!" That was all it took. Aelita leaps onto Atilea and the two girls begin to fight, pulling hair and scratching at each other.

"Will you guys KNOCK IT OFF?!!" I scream, Xana's voice accompanying me. "I SWEAR! Right now...there is a...crisis..." My words run together.

"Oh, hell no..." Xana murmurs. "Hell no! No! Nono! This isn't happening! No! NONONOOOO!!!"

And like that, everything suddenly blurred together and became black-and-white. I felt the terrible emptiness in my soul suddenly become filled...with black, burning hatred. It begins to show by spreading beneath my skin...a brilliant red color...

And finally, all the worry in me bursts out in a colossal scream of horror.