A/N: IMPORTANT: After July the 21st the updates between each chapter will possibly be worse than what they currently are (which is generally once a week if I'm feeling up to it). This is because I will be on an exchange program to the United States for a year. All the same, I will be trying to update on a regular base so everybody should be happy.

Other than that, everything's good. Oh, and Devilish Kurumi I was actually considering bringing Devi back in, in this chapter. Love Devi, can't write a fic without her.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that are owned by Jhonen Vasquez. Because I'm not him, bless his soul. But I do own any character's you don't recognize, such as my original character.

Warning: Wow. I don't know. This contains violence and swearing… And probably some other things that I haven't thought of just yet.

It was Wednesday night.Johnny stared at Danielle as she wrote out her homework, occasionally eating her dinner of rice and tin tomato soup, which was by her side on the floor. They were currently doing division in mathematics at school, and the girl was drawing dots and circling them. Apparently that was how they did it those days. Johnny couldn't remember how he was taught basic division, but he figured using a calculator would be simpler. Of course, telling that to her wouldn't result in much being as students weren't allowed a calculator until they hit middle school. Still, it seemed like a sensible idea to Johnny.

Crossing her legs as she drew another circle around some of the messy circles, Danielle raised her head and sighed.

'Johnny?' she asked quietly. The male nodded, acknowledging her yet-to-be-said question. Danielle continued after a pause. 'Why don't you have any friends?'

The male was caught off-guard at the question. He had thought she would ask something about homework, or at least about why he had made rice instead of spaghetti. But asking why he had no friends… well, that was something else entirely.

'I don't associate myself with people all that often, I suppose' he replied. 'I don't like the human race. There are too many pricks out there that don't deserve companionship, particularly mine. And those I find to be deemed worthy, those who don't piss me off one way or another… well, I generally screw things over with them.'

Danielle nodded her head, accepting the answer. The house was quiet, although there was an occasional creak from downstairs which Johnny had told her was simply 'the house settling'. Frankly, Danielle thought it sounded more like a cat being run over by a truck and then being stamped on by some rebellious teenager who then had his leg clawed to pieces by said cat. She turned back to her division, answered another question, before speaking once again.

'Don't you ever get lonely, though? I couldn't imagine going a day without talking to Todd.'

Johnny was pleased Squee had taken a liking to Danielle. The poor kid had it tough; from what he had picked up during their one-sided conversations by the windowsill, the boy's only other friend was apparently the son of Satan who had more or less forced himself upon Squee. And Danielle; well, she seemed more like the kid who would sit in the back of the class, asking why circles had no corners during English. But to answer her question…

'Well, no. I like being alone. The company of others isn't something I strive to achieve everyday. I detest society with its close-minded views and opinions, much like I hate the courtroom TV shows on TV. It's useless, nobody should have to put up with it.'

'Do you not strive for my company then?' Danielle asked, her question seeming almost amusing coming from a seven-year-old. She rolled onto her back, reaching over for her doll. 'Do you detest my company? Am I just like those people who watch Doctor Phil in hopes that one day I'll find the answer to all my questions, such as why a third of the child population will become diabetic?'

'You sound too old,' Johnny sighed. Danielle had barely stayed with Johnny for two months- three, at the tops- and already she was beginning to speak like him. It couldn't be normal. She had even begun to pick up his mannerisms. She only ate once a day- that was more than Johnny, but it couldn't be healthy- and she had begun to sleep for barely five hours a night. The night before Johnny had decided to go for a two AM walk. And before he got out the door Danielle was at his heels, pulling on her sneakers. They returned at seven AM and Danielle promptly packed her bag and went to school. She looked exhausted when she came home, but she still kept up her happy mood. She had received nine out of ten for her spelling test, and Johnny stuck it on the kitchen wall with a thumbtack he found under the kitchen sink. His kitchen was being overrun with high-test scores and Principal awards. Danielle certainly had a good brain in her head, and Johnny couldn't help but feel it was because of him. When he first met her, she was shy and meek. Although she still appeared introverted she was speaking up a lot more.

There was a pause in the conversation, and Danielle spun Lola around in her hands. 'Johnny…' she began again. Johnny rested his elbows on his knees, moving in his spot on the up-turned crate.

'Yes…?'

Danielle paused, lowered her doll, and sat up. She turned, fixed her homework into a pile, placed it in her folder that she kept her schoolwork in, and turned to her adoptive father.

'Do you… hear things?' She seemed uncertain as she spoke, somewhat nervous as she said her last two words. Johnny raised a brow, and straightened his back.

'I beg your pardon?'

'I asked if you hear things… Things that you know shouldn't be there but are. Like… voices, kind of.' She paused, and stood up, picking up her things as she did so. Walking over to the next crate, she set her things upon, and crossed back to her dinner. Johnny watched her the entire time, eyebrows narrowing. Danielle began to eat again, chewing the rice thoughtful.

'Why do you ask, Danielle?' he asked slowly, finally.

Swallowing her mouthful, she began another, looking up at him as she chewed. 'Well, sometimes… I hear things in my head. I mean, they seem to be in my head, but they seem very real… Like someone's talking to me.' Before Johnny could reply, the girl continued. 'I used to pretend Lola would talk to me, but now I feel like she is, even when I pretend she isn't. That seems okay, because Lola is… well, Lola. But there's this other voice…' Danielle trailed off, and stirred her soup with the back of her fork. 'It isn't Lola- not that I know the other voice is Lola, mind you, but I think it is- anyway, the other voice is meaner…'

Anxiously, Johnny rubbed his hands together, and watched the girl from his perch on the crate. 'What do they say?' he murmured, wondering if Danielle even heard. When she asked him to repeat, he did so. 'I said what do they say to you?'

'Oh…' Danielle frowned, and seemed to think about the question. 'Well Lola, she's nicer. You know, she just praises me if I do something good, and occasionally she even helps me in my spelling tests- she helped me spell government in the test today… And she tells me to be good, and behave and everything… But the other voice…' Danielle squinted, her expression growing somewhat pale. 'He tells me to do bad things, and be mean. Sometimes they sound if they're in competition with one another, each trying to pull me in two different directions… One tells me to be good and the other tells me to be bad. Understand?'

The man nodded, hands folded in his lap. 'When did you start hearing them?' He sounded like a psychiatrist, trying to pull answers out of her. He hated psychiatrists. They were too nosy and tried to get their fingers onto anything that would solve questions that their training couldn't. There was a medical explanation for everything, like the story of the man who cried after he was dead. It was a retarded nervous system reaction or something along those lines.

The girl paused, before replying. 'When you showed me that toy…'

Johnny quirked a brow. 'I beg your pardon?'

'That fat toy- the one with the burger. He had a really weird grin on his face, and he was really short… It was just last Monday. Remember?'

Johnny finally recalled the memory. 'Ah, Reverend Meat.' At Danielle's questioning look, Johnny began to elaborate. 'He's a Bub's Burger Toy. A wanker, really, but he's fun to argue with. That is, if you can win.'

Danielle stared at the man, before coming to a realisation. 'You can hear them too! The voices! You can hear voices just like me! Why didn't you tell me?' The girl seemed almost excited at the prospect of someone hearing said voices just like her. Although the voices were new- barely three days- they had filled her head like a wildfire in a forest. Not a pleasant experience, but at least now she had someone to cope with. Todd- she seemed fonder of calling him by his real name, instead of his sobriquet- was her friend. She didn't want to lose it because she was hearing something other than a child's fantasy land voice of their favourite toy being real.

Johnny halted at Danielle's understanding of his lack of sanity, and nodded. 'Well, yes, I do, but unlike you I'm not very excited about it.'

'I never said I was either,' Danielle retorted. 'I just thought it was nice to realise I wasn't alone with it.'

'Well you haven't suffered with it for very long. Maybe it'll go away soon. If it does, all the better, and if it doesn't… well, we'll put up with it when that happens.' Johnny appeared to be muttering to himself, and Danielle just watched him, wordlessly. Catching her staring gaze, Johnny cleared his throat, and glanced at the clock on the wall. 'It's ten past eleven, you should go to bed.'

Danielle raised an eyebrow, but moved to pick up her dinner. Johnny cut her off, told her to leave it, and get ready for bed instead. The girl just sighed, nodded, picked up her homework and doll and walked off. As soon as she left the room, and he could hear her bedroom door close, Johnny let out a bellow of a curse.

'I'm going to fucking get you for this, Meat!' he cried after the yell.

Aw, and why is that, Johnny-poo?

'Because she is a little girl! A formerly sane little girl, I must add. She doesn't need the added pressure of childhood with being insane!'

The Reverend chuckled somewhere in the corner of his mind. Oh please, she was never sane. Lola told me, she figured it out.

'Lola?' Johnny paused in his words, glancing around the room as if he was ready to see the said doll walking through the door. 'You mean Barbie doll Lola? She really is talking to Danielle?'

But of course! Meat cried inside his mind, as if ecstatic about the idea. You can never trust anything in your world, Nny. I thought you would have learnt that by now.

Johnny watched as Danielle walked away from his home next to Squee as they left for school together. It was nice to see the two together. It was almost like a childhood romance, the two giggling over something one of them said. Johnny doubted immensely anything like a romance would erupt between the two, but it was amusing to think of the idea, anyway.

As he walked away from the window, he bit down on fist. A possibly insane Danielle wasn't a grand idea. Hs insanity was something wanted to keep for himself. He wasn't being selfish- he was being selfless. Just like he wanted to protect Squee from it, he wanted to Danielle from it. Grabbing his trenchcoat and car keys, he rushed outside and into his car.

The drive to the apartment building went by quickly. Or perhaps that was because he had driven through three traffic lights and ran over five pedestrians- namely an old lady and two police officers. The other two Johnny couldn't tell but one of them had almost turned his car over. He pulled up with a screeching halt in the parking lot, barely remembered to pay his parking ticket, and ran upstairs. It now was only a matter of finding the right door. Going over the hazy instructions he had been told in his head, he finally found the right door number. After his rapid, loud knock on the door, it was soon opened slowly.

'Johnny, what the hell are you doing here?' Devi screeched at the sight of her attempted murderer.

'And a good day to you, too.' Johnny hissed icily in response. Devi uttered something in reply, and was about to shut the door when Johnny slipped his foot in the doorway. 'Before you close the door in my face I need you help. Badly.'

Glancing down at the foot, which halted her from closing the door any further, the woman bit her lower lip. 'And we couldn't do this over the phone, because…?'

'Ah, the phone. It's just too impersonal, don't you think?' When Devi didn't seem convinced, Johnny continued. 'I needed to get out of the house, all right? Now will you let me in, the neighbours will start to complain.'

'They can complain all they want, Johnny, I'm not letting you in.' Devi replied defiantly. Growing agitated, Johnny gripped the door firmly, pressing his forehead.

'We can do this the easy way, which would involve no violence and you keeping your life, or the hard way, which would involved me kicking down the door and jamming my foot up your ass and using your head as a door stop. Now choose, and I suggest you choose the former because I'm not in the mood to slice anyone up today, namely you.'

There was barely a pause, and Devi stepped away from the door. Johnny smiled gratefully, pushed the door open, and entered the apartment. Closing the door behind him, he headed towards the sofa, and sat down, staring up at the female. The stared at each other for a minute, before Johnny interrupted the silence.

'I need your help.'

Devi nodded, and placed her hands on her hips. 'Yes, you already said that. And with what may I ask?'

Johnny sighed, and for a moment Devi felt a flash of curiosity. But it was soon gone and she wished the man were out of her house.

'I need help with Danielle.'

Devi remembered the phone call between the two months ago, and slowly began to nod. 'I see. What's wrong with her now? She's still alive so that must be a good thing.'

Johnny laughed, and gave a quick nod. 'I know. It's a brilliant thing, really. But… there's one small problem that's keeping things from peachy keen.'

Her curiosity growing, Devi took a step forward. 'And that is?'

Glancing over at her, the man pressed his lips together, turning them into a thin, white line. 'She's going insane.'

The woman's mouth opened slightly, her eyes growing wide. 'You mean, insane like you which is murderous insane, or insane as in normal insane.'

Johnny stood up, causing Devi to take a step back. 'There's a difference between the two? Devi, she's going nuts. And not the good roasted kind, she's hearing voices at age seven! Who knows what she'll be doing when she's twice her age!' Johnny screeched.

'So what do you want me to do?' Devi shrieked back. 'I ain't her fucking mother!'

Johnny smacked his head, and tapped his foot on the ground. 'I don't know, I thought you might have been of some help. Maybe talk to her, Christ, I don't know.' He turned, and began to retreat to the front door, passing Devi on the way. Devi looked at the ground as she heard Johnny pause. A seven-year-old girl was meant to worry about boy cooties, not her impending insanity.

'Alright, alright.' She mumbled. 'I'll see what I can think up. Call me tomorrow or something, I'll see if I can fix Danielle's brain.'

Johnny grinned as he opened the door, and looked over his shoulder. 'Thanks.' He said quickly, before flittering out the apartment, the door slamming shut behind him. Devi watched the door swing shut, and she methodically approached it, swung the locks in place, and moved towards the sofa. She smoothed down the spots where Johnny had sat upon it. Although he appeared light, he could still make an imprint in the cushioning.

She had told Johnny to ring her tomorrow. If he did, then she had better have thought something up. And if he didn't, then it was best she still had thought of something to do about the child. Insane children shouldn't be walking about. Why hadn't Johnny taken her to a professional? Devi barely had an art degree, let along a medical one. Why was she suddenly the expert?

I must be the only person he knows, she suddenly thought. It was probably right- sad, but right. And that just made the burden on her shoulders to fix Danielle all the more heavier. At that realisation, Devi yelled the one thing that sprung into her head.

'FUCK'

A/N: Wow, long chapter. Love me. My back hurts. I'm not quite sure why I ended it like that. Maybe it's the fact I should be asleep because I can barely register what I'm writing. Every second word is a spelling mistake. Wow. I spelt 'register' 'regester'. I know better than that.

Review, please, and make this all the worthwhile.