He was left alone in his cell after they found him. After all the trouble Pine had supposedly been causing, Johnny hadn't thought they would leave him alone… but then again; Pine was gone now. Cast far away. Nny felt a sickening feeling creep into his gut… when they decided to come back for him, he would be at their mercy. Totally. Hate rose inside of him, coupled with frustration at his own helplessness.

"You don't have to be," a voice whispered at his side. Nny jumped, stumbling to his feet from the hard bench he'd been sitting on.

"Don't have to be what," he snarled, not even phrasing it as a question. He longed for his knife, but even as he did he knew it would be useless against… whatever this thing was. It felt like that cloud again, closing in on him. Johnny's breath quickened involuntarily, as he sought to escape the overbearing presence.

It seemed to want to only circle him, and he could see its leering grin and shining eyes. Not with his own eyes, but somehow, he could still see it, and there wasn't any way to make it leave. It just closed in, its cold aura freezing the already drafty winds that whipped into the cell. Panic began to clog Johnny's mind, the ugly presence of the being seeping into his awareness in a way he did not like at all. And then, it spoke.

"Johnny," it said. "You know what they are, don't you? They're not a bunch of selfish bastards… you know that. They're what you want to be. They're cold… they're machines. They have power and they don't have anything in the way."

Nny said nothing… he just wanted the thing to go away. To leave him to his own misery, and not add its own. He tried not to feel, it was true, but the fear that was knotted in a lump inside of him slowly began to boil into rage. How dare these things… he did not feel he owed them any respect, none at all. The lust to kill was pumping through his veins, and he could not figure out anyway to channel or express it. Against an intangible being? What could he do? Sit there and stew and that was about it, so he figured.

"Get the hell out of here... now," Johnny hissed at the creature, detesting it, and hating it with all his might. He willed it to be gone, he willed it to die, he willed it to be a lot of adverse things. And then it was gone. Nny stood there, warily, shivering in the cold breeze as he felt his rage simmer down and drain away. The presence did not return, and Johnny collapsed onto the bench with a bleak sigh.



How well in place were they? Was it enough? Dr. Kasavin had his eyes tightly shut, to feel rather than see, to be rather than live. Walls of energy, erected around the entire castle, flowed and pulsed with a psychically visible light. It was not a white light, but a deep, solid mix of red and black. That would fight off any entrance from astral beings… particularly that unicorn.

Time and experiments had been lost because of that unicorn. And in no small amount. The project would have to wait at least two more years, now, before being introduced to the public. The original speculation of the directors' board had been nineteen months from this week, but that also had counted on everything going smoothly.

But the doctors' minds were not on revenge. They were on efficiency; doing whatever was needed to keep things from interfering, but never did they go out of their way to punish anyone. Things merely needed to be kept under control.

There was only one problem with this new ward… it would prevent other astral beings from wandering in to watch, and possibly deciding to help. They had need of the aid of such creatures, in some cases, both to hold energy in place and help to harness it. Many of them were very old and had lifetimes of practice in such things, so could hold things much more securely than the human doctors could. These beings were essential to their practice, and without them, things would go even slower.

Dr. Kasavin and the others would have to project onto the astral to find them. A strong shield along with them would allow only who they chose to follow them back. That was a lot of wasted time to spend in the astral looking for ideal candidates. Really, the unicorn had slowed down this project by forcing them to cut off their resources.

He finished carefully checking every strand and corner of the ward, and he could feel the minds of the other doctors checking as well. Finally, when he was satisfied with its status, he withdrew and opened his eyes. They nearly closed again in a red haze. Good thing he was sitting down… he was exhausted. It had been a long, hard spell, setting up that ward, and it would have to be renewed every few days, ideally. The unicorn was too powerful to take chances with; they'd all felt it.

For now, Dr. Kasavin closed his eyes to rest… he'd go back to work on that patient of his later.



When he awoke, Nny couldn't feel his limbs. It was very nice, for a short moment, the chill sharpened his mind and dulled his body. But then the tingling started, when he tried to move, and he groaned as he sat up. It was much too cold in here… he was definitely going to be losing some extremities if this kept up. His mind strayed to the creature that had come to pester him, and he shivered. Tucking both hands between his knees to try and warm them, Johnny hunched over on the bench and tried not to think.

Within a few minutes, he felt the presence returning, but he could not find the energy to push it away again. He wasn't even sure how it had happened the first time. Despair clutched at him this time; he'd never be rid of these things…

"Go away," he said weakly, shocked to hear how pathetic his own voice sounded.

"But Johnny," the voice whispered, as the presence closed in around him. Nny winced and drew back against the stone wall. "You're doing so well! You don't need that unicorn, you see?"

"Go away," he repeated, though his voice wavered and the command ended up having very little force behind it. The creature closed in even more, and Johnny felt another desperate scream working its way up from his lungs. He managed to hold onto it, shaking with the effort.

"I can teach you. You can be like them."

"Go away…" Johnny's voice shook noticeably, desperation in his eyes.

"No, don't let those emotions take you over, dear boy. Focus. Focus on getting rid of me, if you want, but I'd suggest you focus on… more important things…" The creature moved still closer, the oppressiveness of its aura clamping down on the human that cowered in front of it.

I can't focus, Johnny thought to himself. Not with this… thing… here…



Dr. Kasavin woke to the eager flittings of one of his familiars. The creature slid around the room, its shining gaze and ugly grin pushing its way into the doctor's mind in its excitement.

He felt only a little more rested… he'd have to sleep tonight. Dr. Kasavin turned his attention to the creature. "What is it?" he said, his tone completely devoid of emotion.

"Your patient, Anth, your patient," cackled the creature, its energy twisting and bobbing up and down. "He can be one of you. He wants to be. I know he does. And he has it! He can be it!"

Dr. Kasavin stared for a long moment at the creature. Unlike a human in the same situation, the familiar's enthusiasm did not diminish and it did not become self-conscious. It simply waited, bouncing, that leering grin flashing in the doctor's mind. Dr. Kasavin did not know if he completely trusted the being's knowledge of his patient's desires; he himself could not know them unless he knew the person in question very well.

Finally he sighed, dropping one emaciated hand onto the arm of his chair. "Fine," he said quietly. "I'm going to sleep tonight… do what you want with the boy, just don't torture him too much." The familiar grinned in assent, and Dr. Kasavin felt its energy dashing eagerly down the hall. Walking over to the bed in the corner, the doctor lay down and immediately drifted into a deep sleep.



Jason Cross stood outside the cell door, looking in at the man that sat hunched over on the bench. Even the guards had felt the power that was being erected around the castle, and it was making them nervous. What were the doctors trying to do now? Jason glanced downwards at the wool blanket that he held over one arm. He wasn't supposed to… but, perhaps the doctors had only forgotten, since most of them were resting now, after whatever ritual they'd done. If they were going to leave this man… Johnny… alone in here for so long, they had to at least provide for him. It wouldn't do them any good to find a frozen corpse in the morning, would it?

Finally coming to something of a justification of his actions, Jason thrust the blanket through the bars of the door, watching it fall to the floor. "Use this," he said. "It's cold out tonight." With that, Jason turned and walked off down the hall, listening to the loud pounding of his own boots against the stone floor.



Johnny did not look up upon hearing the boots approach and stop outside of his cell. He was quite beyond caring what they did to him… he knew he couldn't stop it, he knew there was no way to avoid it. He'd sunk so low; now, into despair that he didn't even feel like he could fight it. This was not an unfamiliar feeling. Nny had spent most of his remembered life trying to salvage what was left of him after that… wall thing… had… well, whatever it had done to him. Even now, he wasn't quite sure. Sometimes he worried that it was still there; that it was still manipulating him. And what had he been told?

"You've no place here, as you belong to something else." Or had that all been a dream? Frustration gnawed at Nny's mind. What the hell was it that he belonged to? Did it have something to do with that thing behind the wall? That demon had owned him, for a while… he thought he was free of it, but he realized that he really had no way to be sure.

Think of it, he said to himself mockingly. Wouldn't it be great to have enough power to be sure… to be set… to know if something like that was there and be able to get rid of it.

The soft sound of cloth dropping to the floor got his attention, and he looked up to see a woolen blanket lying in a heap there. Nny got to his feet, swaying and nearly falling over from the sudden motion. Shivering with cold, he reached out, grabbed the blanket, and pulled it tightly around his thin body. Much better… they must be planning to keep him here for a bit longer, if they were supplying him.



Pine stood tall among the waving grass, scenting along the colorful light and energy that drifted past him every which way. The astral realm could often look like the physical one, but it was less… constant. The unicorn had been hanging around the vicinity he knew the castle to be in, but he could not get back there. He didn't even know exactly where to find it. Usually, just envisioning a place would allow him to project there, but it was not working now. Because of the ward they'd set.

But there was something else here now. Something ugly. Something so cold, and yet so powerful, that should it get a hold of you, you had better hope… well, that for some reason it might relent. Even Pine was fearful, when he felt that presence on the wind. It almost seemed like it, too, was circling the castle. He sensed an easiness about it. The feeling that it could break through that ward whenever it wanted to; and was only holding off now because it so pleased.



Johnny's shivering finally ceased, as he sat curled on the wooden bench, wrapped tightly in the wool blanket. He felt the illusion of safety, for a moment, at least until he felt the oppressive cloud move back into his cell…

"Get out of here!" he nearly shouted. He would've jumped up, but his legs were still too numb, so he drew back on the bench instead. "Goddamn it! I can't be free from anything can I?" The oppressive cloud seemed to falter, and Johnny, wild-eyed, kept up the attack. "You fucking bastard! Sniveling around after the first hapless soul that comes into this god- forsaken castle of yours; just trying to make me miserable, to feed some depraved little need of your own!" The urge to leap at the thing, tear it to pieces with his bare hands, was very strong, but he struggled to force it down. There was no doing that to this being. But when he calmed slightly, he noticed it was gone. Johnny sighed deeply. Thank god that still worked…

"DAMNIT!" he screamed suddenly, leaping to his feet. "FUCK OFF!" His rage was met only with a delighted cackle.

Dr. Kasavin rose before the sun did, and immediately, he checked the ward. A couple other doctors were already checking it, and reinforcing it a bit, so he left it alone and went to get breakfast; a small pill. It was high- energy stuff, supplemented by IVs when needed. Finishing that, Dr. Kasavin sent for Jason Cross.

The doctor noted that the security guard in question paused at the door to his room, steeling himself before pushing it open and stepping in. Dr. Kasavin frowned. What had he been up to? The signals told him nothing drastically wrong, just a minor thing that the guard felt nervous about.

"Jason Cross," the doctor said. Jason looked up at him and nodded in acknowledgement. "Bring Johnny to me." The guard quickly left, and Dr. Kasavin sank back into his chair. He felt something amiss… though he wasn't sure what. He remembered allowing the familiar to deal with Johnny last night… would he regret it? He didn't think the creature could do too much, and indeed he could tell, from its storm-cloud ball of energy that circled the room, that it had not done anything it was too pleased with.

When Johnny entered with Jason, every nerve of Dr. Kasavin's went alert, and he sat straight up in his seat. Giving the guard a steely-eyed glance to send him off, the doctor turned his full attention to the boy in front of him. Johnny stood just inside the door, his thin frame tense, his fiery gaze defiant. The creature stayed well away from him, cowering near the back wall.

"My, what happened to you?" Dr. Kasavin attempted to inject some kindness into his cold voice, but it didn't work very well; it came out more mocking than anything else. And Johnny obviously thought so too, the way his eyes blazed. But the boy didn't speak, so Dr. Kasavin reached out with a hand of power to pull over him.

He was quite surprised by the violent counterattack that Johnny hit him with. It was nothing he couldn't deal with, of course, but that one spear of hateful energy, aimed straight for the doctor's own, was pure and solid in its passion. What on earth had that familiar been doing? But one psychic glance at the creature told the doctor that the creature had had nothing to do with Johnny's current state of mind. A wide smile stretched across the doctor's face.

"Attempting to fulfill what your friend could not? Holding up his pure legacy?" Dr. Kasavin stood slowly and walked towards Johnny, who reflexively backed up a step. "Fighting me, are we?" His voice dropped to a low croon as he continued forward. Fear was visible on the boy's face now. Good.

"The unicorn is gone." Dr. Kasavin's voice turned to something resembling a hiss, like water poured over red-hot coals. "He can't help you anymore. You are a weak, pathetic, human."

"Just like you," Johnny growled, and mingled with the fear on his face was contempt and loathing.

"Oh no, my dear boy…I have gone beyond. I'm not like those others that you can push around. How does it feel to be helpless, hmm?"

"It's nothing new," the boy snapped in return. Dr. Kasavin felt another slash of energy aimed his way, and he deftly blocked and dissipated it. He leaned down so that his face was mere inches from his patient's.

"I'm glad you're used to it," the doctor said, his voice dripping with derision.



Johnny had to fight to keep himself calm. Stay focused, stay under control, keep a handle on the situation and everything around you… but it was amazing how hard it was, when faced with the situation. It was plain to see that the attacks he was throwing at this man were being resisted easily. That was discouraging, but the surety of the doctor was even worse. He was right; he did know more… he knew what he was doing…

No, don't think like that, Johnny told himself. You could do it now. You could bring that knife up, right through his stomach, before he has time to move. He can't stop a physical attack with those psychic mind powers, can he? You don't have a knife, imbecile.

But it was too much to take when the doctor leaned down into his face. Johnny felt crowded, overwhelmed, like he was being suffocated by the very energy and presence of the robed bastard. Anger and frustration hit him again, dissolving his concentration. These humans had done it. They'd done what Nny wanted to do… but how? No time for that now. Johnny spun, driving his elbow into the doctor's gut and darting out from between him and the door.

Though the man took the hit, he recovered very quickly, and as Johnny turned his head for one moment, he found himself caught in a suffocating cloud more horribly intense than the last, and it was then that he screamed. No… he was caught again, he was at the mercy of these freaks once more… why had they had to banish Pine. No matter what, Nny thought with what little coherent thought he still retained, he'd never be able to hold off this kind of attack. Goddamn it…

He felt his consciousness fading, and he tried to cling to it, but it slipped like water from his grasp. He remembered thinking that it was all over now.