AN: Hello readers!

I surprisingly don't have anything to say today, so I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Please leave a review on anything you liked, think I should work on, or just any questions in general! I enjoy reading them and I will answer them at the end of the next chapter:D

*Last Thorough Edit: 9/05/20*

For Grammar/Sentence/Structure Errors


Disclaimer: I do not own A Certain Scientific Railgun/Magical Index or any of its characters...the only things I own are:

1. My characters and

2. my ideas


Chapter 8: Hidden Memories, Dreams vs. Reality

Asher slowly woke up from where she was laying, sitting up as she held the front of her forehead due to it aching slightly. When she looked around, she found herself within a dark plane, alone and with no one in sight.

'What's going on here?' She thought to herself as she stoically looked around skeptically, rising up to her feet with her hands in her pockets.

'Why can't I remember getting here? The very last thing I remember is that Mikoto-'

Just then an intense ringing noise sounded within the landscape, assaulting heavily on her ears enough to cause her to cover them. When she did, that was when she realized that her Anti-Amps were gone, leaving her helpless to defend herself from the noise from her already sensitive ears.

"Nrgh…tch….w-where is that c-coming from?" She winced aloud as she bent down to her knees. "It feels l-like the s-sound is r-reverberating inside m-my h-head t-tch.. A-And I c-can't make i-it stop n-nrgh."

She tried using her ability to soften some of the noise, but that seemed to just make it worse as the sound ramped up enough to feel like is was splitting through her head.

"N-Nghghgh! D-Dang i-it. I-t's t-too much…I-I cant focus…" She winced as her forehead touched the ground with her writhing in pain.

'If I don't make it stop, my mind is going to reach its limit….I need to find something to keep centering my thoughts, or I'm going to end up losing a hold on them,' She thought before she froze, hearing a familiar voice…

"What's wrong, Zierdan?" The male voice asked aloud as he pressed a button to stop the noise, causing her eyes to widen. "Having a hard time remembering our time together during those last few weeks still?"

'N-No it can't be him….' Asher thought to herself, feeling herself shaking as she tried to raise her head to look at him.

'Miss Yomikawa told me that…..'

Before she could finish her thought, the button was pressed again, prompting the noise to come back with a vengeance as she laid on her side with her hands over her ears in pain.

"S-Stop Silas!" She shouted. "Please St-Stop!"

"But isn't this what you wanted?" He asked snidely turning up the volume, causing her to release another shout of pain. "Willingly doing my experiments in order to protect everyone around you by learning how to control part of that dangerous ability of yours? Don't you remember how that turned out?"

"I d-don't kn-know what you're-" Asher tried to say before hearing a shout of pain that she knew wasn't her own, but her eyes still widened from knowing who it was.

"D-Damn it….she's still not….tch…" The girl winced under her breath as Asher let go of her ears in shock at seeing the Electromaster scrapped and bruised from head to toe.

"N-No! Mi-Mikoto!" She yelled, seeing her best friend on the ground as she clutched her arm in pain about to be hit with an attack from an unknown origin.

She tried to rise to her feet before she felt someone pull on the back of her collar and send her flying onto the ground as she skid to a stop.

"Oh, now you want to go save her?" She heard the person ask as she struggled to look around for who it was. "You're the one who did this to her, Zierdan, but how would you know when you keep holding yourself back from trying to know that….it's such an illogical thing for you…for us to do! Mikoto deserved better than that!"

"No I'm not!" Asher shouted as she looked around. "I really can't…I honestly ca-"

Before she could get it out, she felt herself propelled to the other end of the space, crashing against a wall that appeared out of nowhere.

"Tch!" Asher winced as she slid down the wall and onto her side.

"You tried to kill her!" The voice yelled aloud. "Even though she was trying to save you from your illogical decision, you nearly killed her by allowing yourself to fall under its control, willingly! Why didn't you tell her before then!? Why did you allow yourself to go so far just because you were scared of yourself!?"

Asher tried to rise back to her feet until she couldn't when the gravity increased so much around her, sending her back to her knees.

"And then you did something that she still probably blames herself for even today. You convinced her. No! Told her that…The only way to save you, could completely wipe your memory or worse, just go on and kill you! Both of which nearly and basically happened!"

Asher's eyes widened at that before she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion when the pressure around her finally let up.

"Z? Hey Z…" Someone called her name but fell on deaf ears as Asher's mind felt like it was in utter chaos.

"S-Stop this…pl-please stop…I didn't mean to…I didn't want that to happen…" Asher said in almost a whisper as she rose up back to her knees, before feeling something hug her from behind.

"But why, Asher?" A voice that sounded so much like herself said in her ear almost trance-like, inducing a familiar haze to fall on her mind. "Didn't you just love feeling that way when I took the driver's seat to drive your emotions? Allowing yourself to finally let go and stop holding back on those who don't deserve it? Gave yourself a way to turn this city into ashes without any hesitation?"

"Zierdan come on, wake up!" Someone called out again as Asher's eyes started to fade into a red haze.

"I d-did…didn't I? I can hardly remember that day…but yeah…that's something I think I felt…" Asher mumbled to herself as a smirk slowly grew on her face with her personality shifting away from her usual nature. "It was such a rush and I didn't want it to stop. It was…so…exhilarating and honestly so great, I could hardly stand it from how amazing it felt…"

"Don't you want that to happen again?" The voice asked, luring her further and further away from her actual self. "Don't you want to redshift that far again, to attain such a power? A power that nearly got you to Level 6 with the assistance of that device? The same device used against you but indirectly gave you such power…"

"Ahahaha, do I? Is that even a question?" Asher said as she laughed slightly under her breath, smiling back at the voice behind her and seeing a mirror image of herself, the redness in hers and her own brightening. "Of course I would…why wouldn't I want a chance at something like that again?"

"Wake up, Zierdan!" The voice called out again, indirectly shifting her personality back completely as her eyes widened slightly.

'Wait why did I just… s-say that just now?' Asher thought to herself as her smirk faded just as quickly as it came, clutching the front of her face as the presence behind her seemed to fade away.

'No, I shouldn't…I-I couldn't have felt that way…But why did I say it so easily? That doesn't make any logical sense….'

'I don't…'

'I know I never…'

'Want to feel that way ever again…'

"Zierdan!" Someone called out again, but this time was able to cut through the haze enough for her to actually hear it.

"Who is that?" Asher asked aloud as her eyes faded back into blue, feeling the haze go away as her eyes began to close. "Who keeps calling me so loudly? Why are they calling me in the first place?"

"Hey come on, it's just a dream!"

'Oh, It is? Are…you su..re, Mik…oto?' Asher thought to herself as she felt everything beginning to fade away.

'If it is, then why?'

'Why did it feel so real?'


July 15th, 10:00AM

"Are you able to remember anything concerning the last day of Silas's attempt of finishing Project WaveInflux?"

Asher's eyes immediately opened at that thought as she quickly rose up from what she was laying against, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to catch her breath. When she felt someone touch her, she immediately flinched as she tried to back away until whoever it was tried to stop her from doing so.

"Hey Zierdan! It's me!" Misaka said as she looked at Asher's expression on her face, which almost reminded her of a deer caught in headlights. "It's just me so calm down…."

When Asher realized who it was, she let out a shaky breath to calm herself down, laying her head back against the wall next to her bed as she panted slightly with her eyes closed.

"Mi-Mikoto, when did you come in here?" She asked shakily as Misaka stood there with her arms crossed. "I'm fairly certain m-my door was locked last night. Meaning you most likely broke in here, which isn't the least bit legal if I remember correctly."

"I know what you're trying to do, and it isn't going to work." Misaka said with seriousness in her voice. "And you actually didn't lock your door last night, since I was able to get in here with just a twist of your doorknob."

"Meaning, Kuroko teleported in here to let you in before she left, right?" Asher asked with a small sigh as she felt her heart slowing down to a comfortable pace, cracking an eye open when Misaka stiffened up. "Since more specifically, you were the one who locked my door and considering I just woke up, I wouldn't have been able to unlock it for you."

"Again, this isn't about whether or not I broke in here, Zierdan!" Misaka said with annoyance in her voice. "This is more or less about you waking up in the panicked state you were just in. I thought you were about to have a full-on panic attack from how frightened you looked."

"Nothing is wrong with me, Mikoto. I think you're reading into this too much." Asher said as she tried to give her a stoic response, casually turning away from her. "I was just caught off guard by you, I guess…"

Silence went through the room, hearing nothing but Misaka letting out a heavy sigh and feeling her bed shift when she sat down in front of her.

"You guess, huh?" Misaka said with an unreadable emotion in her voice, looking back at Asher and seeing the troubled expression on her face that she was trying to hide.

"That's what likely happened," Asher said as she let out a sigh, positioning one of her hands to sit on the back of her neck.

"Zierdan, we both know that's not true…" Misaka said as her hand started to clench slightly, starting to lose her patience.

"It is and that is definitely the reason." Asher said with a shrug. "I must have been waking up by the time you came in here, so you must've flared my senses enough to warrant such a reaction."

"Zierdan Asher," Misaka said serious enough to get Asher to look over at her. "Stop. Lying to me. I am the last person you should even try to do it to…"

"I'm no-"

"Yes. You. Are." Misaka said with her eyebrows turned in anger, cutting her off. "You are deflecting, which is both a clear sign that something is bothering you and you want to keep it to yourself.

"That is not what's happening here," Asher said as she tried to keep her composure, feeling herself getting tense as time went on. "As I said earlier, I am fine, Mikoto. So, just drop it…"

"Alright, if this is how you want to play, then I'll play this game of yours." Misaka said darkly. "If that's what supposedly happened then…."

Misaka scooted close enough to put her hands on her shoulders, causing Asher to look directly into her eyes, sending back an expression to compete with Misaka's intensity…

"Then why did you scream out my name earlier in complete fear for whatever you were dreaming about?" She asked as her grip tightened, seeing Asher's eyes widen in slight shock, before she looked away. "Got anything to say about that? You probably thought I just got in here right? Or just ignoring the fact that I've probably been in here far longer than you think I have…."

"To be more specific, I've been in here for a while now, ever since that phone of yours started ringing multiple times with you not even going to answer it. So yes, I did have Kuroko teleport in here to open the door for me with the both of us finding you in here in a cold sweat, tossing and turning as you talked in your sleep with that being one of the loudest words out of all of it. With me unable to wake you up until just now, so… "

"Do you still want to try what you just completely failed at what you were doing just now, Zierdan?" Misaka finished, seeing something flash into Asher's eyes as she bit down on her lip, taking in a deep breath. "Because I can tell you for fact that you're going to lose each and every time right now."

After what seemed like forever at holding in her breath, Asher released it as she squeezed the back of her neck tightly.

"No…" She said in low a voice as her head hung down just a bit. "I don't. But I also don't want to go into it right now, so please just drop it Mikoto."

"You've been acting down and closed off basically after that phone call from yesterday." Misaka said as she looked over at her in concern, letting go of her shoulders. "Does that have anything to do with it?"

Asher remained silent at that question as her eyes narrowed slightly when a memory of her dream flashed in her mind.

["D-Damn it….she's still not….tch…" The girl winced under her breath as Asher let go of her ears in shock at seeing the Electromaster scrapped and bruised from head to toe.

"N-No! Mi-Mikoto!" She yelled, seeing her best friend on the ground as she clutched her arm in pain about to be hit with an attack from an unknown origin.]

"Y-Yes it does…" Asher stated shakily before bringing one of her hands to clutch the front of her face as she tried to collect her thoughts. "But please don't press any further. I already have to go to see that doctor today, and it's already putting me on edge. He already tried to press me for how much I can recollect after that procedure a few years ago, which I answered, but…it…. j-just brought back some memories and feelings to the surface that were not very pleasant to have after I got back to the dorm…"

"Why didn't you tell me that yesterday?" Misaka asked as a small shadow fell on Asher's face.

"I've been trying my best to ignore it and just…take it in stride, since it isn't logical to stay stuck in the past for too long…but…it seems that my subconscious had other plans." Asher continued as her stoic face fell somewhat. "E-Even when I can hardly remember some of it, something I don't know is a good or bad thing from the bit that I do…it was scary I guess is the word for it. It's scary to remember or see what I actually wanted to do to you and this city that day-"

Before she could finish what she was going to say, she felt her back get pressed into the wall behind her slightly as Misaka brought her arms around her and put her weight against her.

"This doctor's visit must be stressing you out if you're starting to ramble." Misaka said with a reassuring voice. "Along with that nightmare you apparently had…"

"You're the one who wanted to know." Asher replied as she laid her head on her shoulder. "Even though I tried numerous times to get you to change this lackluster subject. One that you know I hate talking about when it involves that entirely."

"Yeah I know," Misaka said as her expression fell slightly. "I understand why. Probably better than anyone ever could."

That day, Misaka thought to herself as she tightened her hold around Asher, remembering one of the girl's darkest moments when she completely broke mentally from the pressure of when Silas, her stepfather, had pushed her too far for his own gain.

I thought I lost her….

I thought she was gone completely from what he did to her….

["And why should I care about them and this city…Misaka…" Asher asked as she swayed slightly to the side with a wild smirk on her face. "They're the reason that my life has been a living hell….if it wasn't for this place, I would've lived a normal life without this stupid ability, my mother and father would still be alive….I would've never trusted the likes of Silas, and you would have never met the likes of me!"

"All I want is for everything to just disappear!" She continued as she clutched her head, her eyes glowing the most intense shade of red she had ever seen. "B-Burning to ashes or with everything just sent into oblivion! Just so I can be by myself and stop hearing all this damn noise coming through my head! It hurts…it hurt so much, and I just want it to go away! I want it to stop!"

"And you Misaka…you're getting in my way…you're getting in my way Misaka and that's what's pissing me off the most! I thought you cared but I'm not surprised…No one cares…no one has ever cared for what I want, and I now see that you're the same!

"How dare you…how dare you and others think I don't want this! I've wanted this for my entire life, and this power has opened my eyes to that very fact alone!

"You're so annoyingly naïve to think this isn't me…this always has and always will be in the eyes of everyone in this city and that naivety of yours is going to be the mistake that is going to end up costing you your life, as I will be the Calamity that brings this city to its knees whether you like it or not!]

Whatever I said could barely reach her, since she was enduring so many things at that moment…

She was in so much pain, emotionally and physically that she was completely overwhelmed by it entirely…so lost as her mind was clouded with voices of hate, vengeance, and destruction due to how unstable she became…could barely stand or gain a sense of balance of herself...

All because of that stupid device her heartless stepfather forcefully put in her head…

Trying to control her completely only to be turned on when she wasn't able to control herself anymore.

He always told her that she was danger to those around her and needed to learn how to control a part of her power that she normally avoided pushing too far, knowing how unstable emotionally it made her at times, convincing her to do his experiments to lower that risk, even though that was the power he wanted to control for himself….

From constantly doing that every day in and out for nearly 2 years, her personality gradually changed into something much colder, more aggressive, and I would say sadistic at times…

Something completely different from the usual caring and quiet girl I had gotten to know…

But something I recognized would happen if she redshifted too far. Almost like the way she acted during the day of that random bank robbery after we had met Saten and Uiharu.

Called by a name that has always followed her ever since that day.

["Please stop, I'm sorry!" He asked, before the gravity increased around him even more. "AHHHH!"

"Sorry what was that?" Asher asked as her eyes faded into a red hue, adjusting the Anti-Amps on her ears back around 0. "I can't hear you since you seem to be being forced into the pavement…."

"You're going to be sent into the depths of hell when I'm done with you. How stupid of you to even think you could fight someone like me….."]

But it was worse than that from how high her wavelength was starting to get passively around her, due to her waves growing stronger and stronger from those damn experiments…

She always knew how to balance herself out since she knew the downsides of that part of her ability, knowing that red shifting too high caused her brainwaves and electrical signals to be shifted enough to cause a change in her personality at times…

With these times always being stuck in that fog until she was able to snap herself out of it.

I know…

I know that I should have connected the dots after seeing it for such a long time.

I should have taken action at the slightest hint of something bad going on with me not doing it fast enough when it got worse during our first year at Tokiwadai, after her mother had died.

With her reassuring me that everything was okay…

That she was just having a hard time settling in a new school and environment…

And then…

That idiot drugged her or knocked her out after school that one day.

The day that we happened to get into a huge argument, in which she left school without me and I didn't attempt to follow…

Something that I regret doing ever since it happened…

He bound her, locked her from being able to leave her restraints to force her to go through so much agonizing pain, increasing her wavelength way too high that anyone else who would have gone through something like that would have probably died.

All that was on his mind was to force her personal reality to change enough to create a level 6 esper, completely messing up her brainwave patterns and electrical signals when that device was put into her brain with his ability in order for him to control her.

Not realizing that it did something so much worse: messed up her head enough to cause her personal reality to nearly split in two if nothing had been done to prevent it from doing so.

Nearly shattering her psyche and causing both a direct change and split in her personality that she couldn't even restrain or control anymore, feeling urges and feelings that she had never known to be inside of herself before.

Sending her in such a state that nearly destroyed this city, due to her losing control of both her blueshift and redshift abilities, nearly causing her to create a black hole into herself due to such hazardous increases still happening even after she escaped that lab….

It hurt…

It hurt me so much to see her like that….it hurt me so much more the state that she was in indirectly because of me at the end when I destroyed the device in her head with my electricity….

To now see her reliving it because she still is trying to remember most of it, or preventing herself from doing so...

From being haunted by it all…is just as painful…

"I'm sorry," Misaka said in a low voice, feeling herself shaking as Asher raised her head in surprise. "I'm so so sorry, Zierdan…"

For not being able to stop something, when you needed me the most…

Wait she was just fine a second ago. And now she seems upset for some reason, so what happened? Asher thought to herself as she hesitantly brought her hands to hug Misaka back, not knowing what else to do since she rarely ever got upset.

"What are you apologizing for?" Asher asked in confusion. "If it's for breaking into my room, then I wasn't being serio-"

"No, it isn't that…" Misaka said with Asher hearing an unreadable emotion in her voice. "It's…something else, but it's nothing you should be concerned about right now, alright?"

"Are…you sure? For some reason I'm having a hard time believing you." Asher asked skeptically as Misaka unwrapped her arms and raised herself up with a closed eyed smile on her face.

"Positive, I promise!" Misaka said cheerfully as Asher's eyes narrowed slightly, making her nervous. "Hey, why are you giving me that face, Z? It's not nice to stare…"

After a couple moments, Asher let out a sigh as she relaxed her expression.

"It's nothing," Asher said casually as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I was just thinking about something is all. Anyway, where did Kuroko run off to? She can't be next door, since she hasn't busted in here yet due to how long you've been in here already."

As Misaka readily answered that question, Asher still looked over at her skeptically with a stoic expression, taking note of the Electromaster's expression and tone.

When she said that….when she said that she was okay with that smile of hers just then, Asher thought to herself.

It was a front. I know it was one…

She's usually the only one I don't have a problem figuring out how she's feeling, due to how long we've known each other… since we can basically read each other like a book.

She knows that. She probably knows that more than I do but still tried to pass that off as her own…most likely due to knowing I tend to refrain from prying into things.

For a split second I wanted to ask…I really did but…

Based off how quickly I was able to change the subject just now, I don't know if that would be a great idea.

It would most likely make her sad again…which is something I want to avoid.

Since it's something that I dislike seeing, especially from someone like her.


A little while later…

While Asher was changing into her uniform after taking a shower, Misaka heard her phone start ringing on her desk.

"Hey Z!" Misaka called out, seeing Asher open the door as she was buttoning up her shirt and sending her a stoic glance. "Your phone is ringing."

"Who's calling me at this hour?" Asher asked aloud as she let out a sigh. "That was the reason you came in earlier, right? Meaning whoever it is called me much earlier…."

"You do know it's nearly 10:30 in the morning, right?" Misaka asked as she facepalmed, handing her the phone. "Not everyone wants to sleep all day like you do."

Asher looked down at the caller ID and went over to sit down with Misaka on her bed and accepted the call, putting the phone up to her ear.

"Go ahead Sat-"

"FINALLY, YOU PICKED UP THE PHONE, ASHER! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU FOR OVER AN HOUR NOW!" Saten yelled cheerfully loud enough that even Misaka heard her, laughing nervously when she looked over at Asher who was practically blown away at the volume directly in her ear.

"My poor ears…no one cares about my poor ears…" Asher said aloud with swirls in her eyes completely dazed, not noticing that Misaka reached over to take the phone in her hands and turned on the speaker.

"Hi Saten…." Misaka replied, looking over amusedly at Asher who had steam coming up from her head.

"Oh Hi Misaka!" Saten said in surprise. "What happened to Asher? I could've sworn she picked up the phone."

"Yeah she did, you're right about that." Misaka said with a nervous laugh. "But I think you just nearly broke her when you screamed into her ear before. She didn't have her Amps in her ears, so she sadly got you at full volume."

"Hehe, ohhh sorry about that…guess I came in a little too loud."

"T-That's an understatement." Asher said with a groan. "I don't think my brain has ever shorted-out that quickly. Is there a reason to warrant such noise this early in the morning?"

"It's not even that early, Zierdan." She heard Shirai say in the background. "Stop being overdramatic…"

"I love how you like to add your own input on something when the conversation doesn't even involve you, Kuroko." Asher said with an annoyed sigh. "Just because it's over the phone doesn't make it any less annoying…"

"Don't you two even start!" Misaka warned, cutting off Shirai from making a comeback. "Honestly, you two argue like the both of you are three years old."

"Says the girl who wears frog pajamas to bed…" Shirai said over the phone, causing Misaka's face to heat up as she started to growl in frustration.

"Who also collects Gekota figurines likes her life depends on it and sleeps with a teddy bear." Asher deadpanned, unfazed even when Misaka's hair began to spark slightly.

"You know what I love about the two of you!?" Misaka asked as her eyebrow twitched in anger, hearing Shirai let out a gasp as she came closer to the phone.

"Aw what is it that you love about me Sissy!? And whatever you do, don't hold back!" Shirai swooned, fanning the fire.

She's doing that on purpose, isn't she? Asher thought to herself, sweatdropping when she saw her phone nearly break from how much Misaka was clenching it.

"I know you're being sarcastic, MK, but I don't think my phone deserves to be broken from being angry at something you dislike being true." Asher said bluntly.

"GRRRR, the both of you just shut up!" Misaka said angrily. "Why is it that the you both try to team up against me when the mood strikes you!? It gets on my last nerve especially right after you're arguing like children!"

"We don't argue that much." Asher said with a sigh.

"I'd say it's more like a disagreement more than anything, Sissy…."

"What part of shut up do the both of you not understand!?" Misaka yelled as Saten laughed nervously in the background.

"Well it seems like I called at a bad time." Saten said as Asher grabbed the phone back from Misaka, getting it out of harms way.

I'll try to make this short, hopefully …."

"Do you need us for something?" Asher asked, ignoring the grumbles of frustration of the girl next to her.

"I really really need help on something and the only one we could come up with who likely could assist me is you, Asher." Saten replied as Asher looked down in slight surprise. "I'll hand the phone to Uiharu so she can explain the issue."

"Hi Asher and Misaka!" Uiharu said sweetly when the phone was given to her.

"Hey…/Hi Uiharu!" Asher and Misaka said respectively.

"Do you have something you need me to figure out?" Asher asked, hearing Uiharu hum as her answer.

"Yeah, so do you remember how Saten's eyebrows were written on with Jufuku Miho's marker yesterday?"

"Yeah I do," Asher said as Misaka leaned over to the phone a little.

"Were you able to get it removed this morning?" Misaka asked. "They surely would have figured out what is in it by now."

"You would think so, but that's sadly not the case…" Saten groaned sadly as Uiharu let out a few laughs under her breath.

"It apparently used a special ink made by a university in the 10th school district. And due to whatever was used for it being pretty strong, it won't come off for another week…" Uiharu replied hearing Asher let out a sigh.

"So from what I'm gathering from that, you want me to somehow figure out how to get it removed, right?" Asher questioned stoically, hearing Uiharu confirm on the other end. "And why do you think I can do something like that? Especially in the little time I have before I have to go somewhere at 2:30."

"Because you, Asher Zierdan, are my only hope." Saten said tearfully. "Shirai said that you're probably smart enough to figure out how to break down whatever it is. I don't want to have to go to school like this. I may die from embarrassment."

"Should've known she put you up to this." Asher said with a sigh. "You shouldn't believe everything Kuroko says. Or have blind faith in me for something like that."

"Oh come on Z," Misaka said as she nudged her shoulder. "What's the harm in at least trying? The only reason she recommended you for something like that is you are probably able to do it with little trouble at all."

After thinking on it for a couple moments, Asher let out a sigh as she rose up from her bed.

"Fine, I'll try my best but no promises…" Asher stated as she went to go put on her white socks and brown loafers, hearing Saten let out cheers of excitement.

"Aw thank you! You're the best Asher!" Saten cheered, causing Asher's cheeks to heat up slightly, hearing a few chuckles come from Misaka's mouth from seeing it.

"Yeah yeah no problem," Asher said casually as she scratched the back of her head. "Give me about 2 hours, and I should hopefully have something figured out. Just have Uiharu send me whatever is in it, and I'll see what I can do in the amount of time I have."

"Alright! Where should we meet up?" Saten asked as Asher pondered on it.

"If I get done before 12:50, I'll call either MK or Kuroko to see where you guys are. If it's after, then just call me to see my progress I guess." Asher replied.

"Okay! See you then, and thanks again!" Saten said as the call ended.

Asher went over to her bed to retrieve her Anti-Amps as Misaka promptly handed them over to her.

"Do you need any company on this adventure of yours?" Misaka asked amusedly.

"No, I'll be fine." Asher sighed after putting her Amps in her ears, looking over her shoulder and giving Misaka a bored expression. "It would just bore you to death anyway and give me some peace and quiet for once for a couple hours…"

"Uh-huh, right." Misaka said with a smile. "Well have fun, little science nerd!"

"Why is it that you always say that, Mikoto? It makes me feel a certain way every time you do." Asher said as her blush returned. "You have about the same grades as I do, meaning you're about as good in the subject as I am, 'Miss Child Prodigy', so it's not logical to single me out like that."

"Aw, you sadly can't give me that name without including yourself. You always ignore the fact that your intellect astounds most people when you use that energy of yours to show it." Misaka teased. "And even if we have the same grades, I'd say you're still a lot smarter than me when it comes to stuff like this. You usually refrain from showing it off until you need to with this being another one of your times to shine!"

"You're chipperness is too much for me sometimes." Asher said with a sigh as she laughed a little under her breath. "My intelligence may be above average in that respect concerning that subject, but you still don't have to call me by that name."

"What would be the fun in that then, Z?" Misaka asked as Asher walked out the door.

"It may be funny to you, but it's normally quite embarrassing for me." Asher said as she began to close the door. "I don't go around calling you a Gekota collector, even if I consider that as an unhealthy obsession of yours."

"Hey what do you mean by-" Misaka shouted as Asher closed the door.

As she walked down the hallway, she heard her name being called numerous times as Misaka beat on her door, somehow locked on the inside from the lock being stuck for some reason….

I should be safe to disengage it by the time I get outside, Asher thought to herself with her eyes glowing purple.

She'll forget about that in like 2 hours.

Or, at least I hope she does…


2 hours later…

Unsurprisingly after a couple hours of receiving what was in the permanent marker, Asher was somehow able to figure out how to negate some of the compounds used inside of it to allow for it to be removed fairly quickly.

"Well it seems you've outdone yourself yet again, Zierdan…" Asher sighed to herself, holding up a bottle of Saten's marker remover. "To think not much energy was used to make such a thing."

She had already called Shirai that she was done, in which she told her to meet her at Joseph's with the others, so she was currently on her way there.

After crossing in front of a side alley from next to her, she felt a familiar itch in the back of her brain that caused her to stop mid-step, prompting a sigh to come from her mouth.

"This is a surprise, whether it's good or bad remains to be seen I guess." Asher said as she sent a sideways glance towards the esper who had her back against the wall in the alley. "I don't really ever see you without that clique of yours these days. Though it is quite annoying how you never listen to me when I ask you to not use that ability of yours to tap into my mind without permission, Shokuhou…"

"Well well, if isn't Asher! it's nice to see you too." Shokuhou said as she stood off the wall and put her remote in her bag. "I'm about as surprised as you are. I would've expected you to be hovering around Misaka, not out here roaming around by yourself."

"Is there something you want other than trying to spark a reaction out of me? I'm not going to lose my patience that quickly with you if that's what you're trying to do. You know I have a lot more than Mikoto does but to say it's not starting to wear thin would be a lie…" Asher said bluntly, hearing Shokuhou let out a few laughs under her breath.

"As blunt as ever it seems," Shokuhou said as she put a hand on her hip. "Though you do seem sort of tense which is unusual to see on that stoic face of yours. Is it due to that appointment you have at the hospital today?"

"That's honestly none of your business, considering you stole that bit of info by taking a peek into my head." Asher said slightly irritated. "You already know it's not a great place to roam, but you still do it anyway."

"Oh come on, it's not like I used my full strength to go any deeper than I did." Shokuhou reassured, seeing Asher's eyes narrow. "Unlike Misaka, I can usually read your thoughts on the surface without much trouble. Though in terms of anything other than that, you're fairly similar in regard to her, due to that gravity field constantly around you disrupting my ability. Forcing myself to do anything more than that wouldn't be all that pleasant for the both of us, now would it?"

"Something you only seem to care for whenever it's in your best interests." Asher said with a sigh. "Now, I actually was on my way somewhere, so unfortunately I have to cut whatever this is short."

As she put her hands in her pockets and proceeded to leave, she felt someone grip her shoulder, looking and seeing Shokuhou right behind her.

"Hey wait a second," Shokuhou said as she saw Asher's stoic sideways glance, seeing something not usually in her usual gaze. "If you haven't guessed, I know the other reason that's making you tense as well, other than that visit with the doctor today."

She saw Asher's eyes widen in realization before turning her face from her.

"Shokuhou not now…." Asher warned.

"You know dwelling on it is going to just make it worse right?" Shokuhou continued, ignoring her request. "As well as doing what you're doing with coping with it. That dream of yours is a perfect example at how unhealthy it is from how much you're preventing yourself from trying to remember…"

"Misaki…" Asher requested again with an edge of anger in her voice, the air around them beginning to get heavy as the gravity picked up a little. "Drop this….If I barely even talked to Mikoto about it, why do you think I should feel more obligated to tell you instead? Whatever I dream about should be none of your concern."

"But like you said before, Zierdan…" Shokuhou said as she leaned into her ear. "It is, whenever it has my best interest in mind. If that strong mentality of yours is starting to deteriorate again, it wouldn't be all that fun for anybody including me. I would know probably better than anyone if that's the case, since I did piece that mind of yours back to what it is now."

"You really need to stop while you're ahead. My patience is really starting to wear thin with you. Thinner than it has been in a while, surprisingly." Asher said as she looked back as the blues of her eyes started to tinge purple. "Meaning If you keep this up…If you keep on trying to pry into my internal affairs when I just told you not to multiple times, we are going to end up having some issues. You know full well that I know that, so stop hanging it over me thinking I don't 24/7."

"Now now, no need to get hasty," Shokuhou said with smile as she held her arms up in defense. "I'm not trying to get into a fight with you. We both know how that would end, so what's the point in even trying?"

"You end up being so irritating nearly every time I talk to you…Always trying to push me for no reason at all and then backing off when you know I'm about to snap back at you." Asher sighed as she closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself down.

"It's things like this that remind me why you and Mikoto clash every time you see each other, just for that trait of yours alone. I just don't understand why you do it to me when I never actively comes towards as aggressive as she does when you get on her nerves, since I at least give you a couple warnings that you blatantly ignore most times."

"It's just how our relationship goes, I guess." Shokuhou said with a smile as Asher opened her eyes with irritation shining within them. "I'd say it's been like this since our 1st year at Tokiwadai, though you seem a lot more open to talk to me these days. I hardly ever got a word willingly from you, back then. So sorry if that ends up annoying you, since I just want to see something more come from you as you seem more open to it now."

"There's a better way to go about things you know…other than trying to test me, Shokuhou. I think I know what you're trying to do, but to stay it's downright infuriating is an understatement," Asher said as she began to walk away. "If you actually went about it the right way, there could be a chance that our conversations would start and end civilly for once one day…but now I'd say you're not my favorite person to be around, but at the same time not too intolerable to talk to on occasion."

After Asher went out of sight, Shokuhou let out a couple laughs under her breath as her face fell to the floor.

"I was testing you, but to say you know the reasons is a different story." She said aloud, thinking back to the few things she picked up from Asher's mind concerning her dream this morning.

["I d-did…didn't I? I can hardly remember that day…but yeah…that's something I think I felt…" Asher mumbled to herself as a smirk slowly grew on her face with her personality shifting away from her usual nature. "It was such a rush and I didn't want it to stop. It was…so…exhilarating and honestly so great, I could hardly stand it from how amazing it felt…"

"Don't you want that to happen again?" The voice asked, luring her further and further away from her actual self. "Don't you want to redshift that far again, to attain such a power? A power that nearly got you to Level 6 with the assistance of that device? The same device used against you but indirectly gave you such power…"

"Hahaha, do I? Is that even a question?" Asher said as she laughed slightly under her breath, smiling back at the voice behind her and seeing a mirror image of herself, the redness in hers and her own brightening. "Of course I would… why wouldn't I want a chance at something like that again?"]

"You're starting to remember more than you're letting on it seems. Even if you don't realize it yourself." She said with a sigh as she crossed her arms, biting down on one of her nails.

"Some of it may have been twisted there, but that was borderline what I got from you during our first year when you happened to be spiraling fairly quickly. Such thoughts that you probably hated having, but couldn't help but liking with those mood swings you had whenever your personality shifted at random. "

To say I'm having second thoughts on this head scan today is an understatement. The last time I did one, you had such an adverse reaction to it that the hospital nearly came down on the top of us when I pressed the wrong thing." She thought to herself.

I'm a little more comfortable with this one today, though, since that ability of yours will be more or less disabled for a time with that drug the doctor concocted, knowing you need to do this to make sure your thoughts aren't teetering in that direction, and to finish piecing that mind of yours together by taking a risk and breaking down those mental blocks you have…

"I'm probably not going to be your favorite person to talk to for a long while after today, since I did have a chance at warning you." Shokuhou said as she walked away to go over to the hospital.

"But it doesn't make a huge difference since I honestly don't care how you feel on the matter. I'm going out of my way to help you once again with something that even someone as lazy as you always tries to say you don't need it…"

"Even though you're the one who probably needs it the most out of anyone…"


Word Count of Chapter: 7830 |Page Count: 15 pages |Reviews: 23 | Followers: 31 |Favorites: 27


Review Replies

Blankow: Yeah, it is pretty sad as you learn about her past as that is the main reason as to why she doesn't actively express herself fully to most people that she doesn't know all that much. Mikoto and a few others (such as Yomikawa, Saten, Shirai, and Uiharu) are an exception to some degree with Kamijou and Shokuhou being rare exceptions right now.

I was hoping that most would understand it was Heaven Canceller from the get-go, since I didn't know what else to name him, other than that or 'Frog Face' as Misaka and the others like to call or refer to him on occasion.

And yes, Shokuhou or mental out is probably the perfect person to help Z with such a thing, even though her ways of going about it causes her to not like her all that much at times. I thought it would be a nice surprise to see her a little earlier than usual since she is another crucial point into helping Asher when she started to spiral form the strain of participating in her stepfather's experiment.

Kamikoto is also one of my favorite ships, which will be interesting to see how it goes with Z now in the picture. But due to the playful side of her nature, I see that Mikoto is very much at risk for her constant teasing about it as she sees their interactions.

Hmmmm, Accelerator x Z…

That sounds both interesting to see from Mikoto's and Last Order's perspectives and due to them surprisingly actually sharing some qualities…

But it's also quite scary as Asher has a way of casually knocking down people whit her sense of logic in some ways without meaning to, leaving me wondering if Accelerator could deal with such a thing while simultaneously having to deal with Last Order as well...

But even with that, into the shipping pool it goes:)


Bornkiller9: Yeah, I also took that away from the Level upper arc in terms of Saten being a Level 0. Even if she tries to not express it outwardly, Asher is starting to care about Saten to some degree since she kind of reminds her of Misaka, so she'll not be all that happy when she finds out about her using it (maybe to an extent of a fairly lengthy lecture coming from her:)

Hmmmm, now that I think about it, I think the Level Upper is a kind of drug in a way for espers due to its effects and side-effects of using it.

These next few chapters will give you some context over that experiment as a whole that unfortunately ended with unexpected results on his end. In terms with mental out, she is actually surprisingly being helpful in consideration towards Asher's overall well-being. She just goes about it in a way that Asher generally dislikes, almost comparable to Misaka's dislike for her from how she uses that ability of hers.

I wouldn't call what they have as rivals as Misaka's and hers are generally seen as or anywhere close to a friendship. I'd say it's more of an understanding, since Shokuhou understands Asher's character a little more than her understanding of Misaka due to actually being able to read her mind to some degree.


Addie101: I honestly can't wait for the Sister's arc either, as I'm trying my best not to rush to it :`). It's probably one of my favorite arcs in railgun, and with Asher involved it will be quite interesting to write how she reacts to it. And thanks!


-Thanks for your reviews!

Purpleclover99