AN: Hello readers! I have returned with the last chapter to close out this span of original ones I've done so far. Big Spider will be starting soon after this (most likely during Chapter 38) so I hope you enjoy it.

For all waiting on an update on "Asher," sorry for how long it's taking for the next chapter to come out. There will hopefully be at least one soon, but finals week is quickly approaching so I've been swamped with a ton of work as of late. Thankfully and frighteningly, my semester ends next week on Wednesday, so I will hopefully get to it after that.

Well with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

As always, 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:)


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 36: A Long-Awaited Meeting, Kikyou and Silas

2 years ago…

October 1st, 3:30PM

Yoshikawa pounded her foot onto the gas as she sped through the streets of Academy City from her Lab, in order to make it to Asher as quickly as possible after learning that she had found Himari…

Dead at her home after school.

She had just gotten off the phone with Yomikawa who told her she would be getting Anti-Skill to the esper's house personally, putting her a little at ease for some reason or another.

She had moved on to call Asher to keep her mind working through things in an attempt to keep up her composure. But after calling her around 5-10 times, she was not picking up.

"Damn i-it Zierdan. Please pick up." Yoshikawa cursed, bringing one of her hands to bite down on one of her nails nervously. "I n-need you to answer."

Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes, both a symbol of her sadness and frustration for the situation from knowing what had possible happened to her friend. She found herself both in shock but not surprised since Himari had nearly foretold her own death, naming off a few candidates that would potentially do something like this to someone in such a high position in the research field. No matter how high or influential you were, if you encroached or threatened someone else's agenda, it increased your risk of getting eliminated from the equation.

Even though it could be anyone that could've done it, one name kept on filling her mind as she had her thumb hovering over the button to call him. It was shaking in some form of fight of wills, finding herself against and for doing it since Himari had told her not to jump to conclusions so early if her death were to happen so suddenly.

She knew she was going to arrive to a scene where the crime was framed to deceive those trying to figure out who it was, but she knew better.

'He wouldn't do something like this. He may be an egotistical asshole, but Silas would never do something to probably the one person he actually shows true affection for.' Yoshikawa thought in an effort to convince herself that what she was thinking was wrong.

As she pulled up to the house, she had barely even put her car into park before basically jumping out of it and running into the house. She ignored the blood splatter on the wall and ran through the main hallway, wildly looking around in an effort to find Asher somewhere in there.

She didn't have to look for long, though, when she arrived to the kitchen, stopping in her tracks when her eyes saw Himari's still form as her blood was caked on the marble tiles. It had even started to dry, meaning there was probably little hope that Heaven Canceller could save her no matter what he did since she was already gone. The woman's blue eyes in which always longed to see more and more of what she could in anything that she did, hardened to hide her vulnerabilities but also softened to those she allowed inside her heart, were all lost in her lightless, dilated grey pupils.

Her eyes narrowed before they widened when she heard something off from the corner, turning around and seeing Asher propped up against the wall just across from her mother's body. Even though her eyes were cracked open, it was almost like she seemed to be semi-conscious or some part of her nearly unconscious from there being barely any light in her eyes.

"Mom….M-Mom…" Asher mumbled almost too low for her to hear.

"Zierdan!" Yoshikawa said in some form of relief as she ran up and kneeled down to her level. When she didn't get a response or a reaction from the esper, some concern began to fill her chest as she shook her shoulders gently. "Zierdan, hey say something to me!"

"M-M…om…I'm….s-sorry." Asher simply mumbled out to no one in particular as she stared off into space where her mother had yet to move from. "S-Sorry…th-that I…that w-we didn't save y-you…We're sorry that we somehow put you…i-in harm's way…because…bec-because…"

Her head began to droop downwards slightly as Yoshikawa quickly prevented it from happening, causing Asher to let out a weak moan in response. When she did, she felt how cold but also how sweaty she was at the same time, seeing her skin beginning to pale as time passed with her being pushed further into some type of daze.

It didn't take long for her to realize that Asher was going into or has already gone into shock, making the situation even more stressful as she could also die if it wasn't treated in a timely manner.

Yoshikawa moved over slightly in order to break Asher's line of sight from seeing Himari's body, cupping the sides of her face with her hands as she tried to get her eyes to meet with hers.

"Zierdan, focus on me." She said slowly.

It took some pressing, but Asher's dull blue eyes finally acknowledged that she was there.

"Mi-Miss Yoshikawa? Wh-What are y-you…." Asher barely got out as she jumped slightly in surprise. She tried sitting up straighter only to get lightheaded instantly, moaning as it almost felt like the remaining energy in her body had been used up in that small movement. "D-Dang i-it. Why do I f-feel so weak all of the sudden?"

Before Yoshikawa could answer her, the light completely faded from her eyes as she slumped forwards, with Yoshikawa catching her.

"Hey, kid? Zierdan!?" Yoshikawa called out, only hearing incoherent mutterings on her shoulder.

'Damn it, her blood pressure is probably beginning to drop.'

She let out a small curse as she quickly put Asher onto her back, hastily carrying her off to the outside where Anti-Skill had finally arrived.

"Kikyou!" Yomikawa called out as she ran up to her. Her eyes widened when she saw the partially conscious Asher on her back.

"Shock." Yoshikawa stated before Yomikawa could ask anything. "I'm going to go take her to the hospital not too far from here. To mentally prepare yourself though, Himari is sitting in the kitchen with a gunshot wound somewhere on her body."

Yomikawa nodded as her eyes fell slightly. "After this, I'll be sure to come up there as soon as I can."

"Okay I'll be sure to send you updates."

As soon as Yomikawa ran into the house with her other squad members, Yoshikawa quickly got over to her car and gently sat Asher down in the front passenger seat. She buckled her in and leaned her chair back before her body decided to tip forwards, closing her door and running over to the driver's side. She quickly put the car into ignition and pressed down onto the gas towards the Hospital within School District 7.

After a while, she heard a weak laugh from next to her. She looked over and saw that it was Asher, though at the same time she knew it wasn't the same one from a few moments ago, seeing some red among the blue streaks in her hair.

"I think I'm starting to see why Asher likes you so much." Asher said with her tone shifted slightly, looking over at Yoshikawa with a tired smirk. "You're so illogical that even I can't figure you out."

"Well, I guess I'll take that as a compliment." Yoshikawa sighed with a laugh as her eyes turned back to the road. "If you're here, that probably means Zierdan was actually going to into shock if my theory about you is correct. You're out here in an effort to delay its effects, aren't you?"

Asher didn't automatically answer that, letting out a sigh as she turned away to look out the window. "You could say that. I'm not going to confirm or deny it, though."

"I think it's enough that you said that much. The way you're acting now is a stark contrast to how you usually are, last week specifically." Yoshikawa remarked. "Since we have some time, would you like to explain that to me?"

Silence fell between them for a time, before the smirk faded off of Asher's face. "Not if it's for that deranged psychopath who's more interested in his ego than his own stepdaughter." She hissed as the look in her tired eyes turned cold. "Asher called him first, and he didn't even bother to pick up the phone."

"If that's the only stipulation then I'm happy to take it no questions asked. I don't have a particular liking to him either. Though unlike me who tries her best to show it at times, you seem to like him. Well, his trials at least."

"To be honest, I don't know if I can give you any more than you probably already have guessed by now. It's also kind of something I've only begun to figure out this last week. After that drug you and our mother gave us to stabilize our AIM Diffusion field, it's almost like my perspective on others and myself has gotten…I guess confusing." Asher explained. "Before this, all I saw my job was to protect Asher from all this emotional and physical pain she carries inside of her herself basically 24/7 that only got worse when she started these trials. I don't remember when I was created, but when I was, I tried my best to stabilize the Redshift side of her ability and her emotions. But then, when our wavelength gradually moved to pick up more redshift than blueshift, it was almost like we yearned for that rush because it was something we hadn't ever felt before but felt just right that we did at the same time..."

"Even if I'm centered more in emotions in comparison to Asher who is more centered in logic, I still struggle to know what I want." She continued as her face fell ever so slightly. "But I knew what she wanted and that was enough for me. I don't care if she sees me as something evil or malicious whenever I take over. Just knowing that I can take the brunt of her pain is enough for me. But…"

"It aides in making you unstable, which makes Zierdan unstable at the same time right?" Yoshikawa summed up, with the esper next to her nodding her head.

"Yeah. A part of me wants to stop her, convince her that what she's doing is misguided. But, there's a larger part of me and some of her that doesn't want it to stop, just addicted and craving the feeling each and every time it happens and pushes her to want it too. It may hurt, but that pain from that device is worth it if we actually get to feel something and know that it has a purpose. With that purpose being twisted due to how different our perspectives are. And…it's honestly starting to tear our psyche apart in a way, along with our personal realities."

"That's both concerning but sadly not surprising if that's the case." Yoshikawa remarked. "Well, for the time being, what name do you want to go by."

Asher's eyes widened before she looked away. "It doesn't matter what you call me. I'm technically still Asher Zierdan. You could say that I'm just a different side of her personality wise, while Asher takes the other side."

"Translation: you take after Asher and have hardly any creativity to come up with a name for yourself, correct?" Yoshikawa summed up, seeing redness appear on Asher's face as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "It's okay. You shouldn't be so embarrassed to admit it. And a name will help me differentiate the both of you better."

"Tch, shut up and ju-just drive, Yoshikawa." She stuttered. "Mine might not be as bad as Asher's, but I also have motion sickness so if you want your front seat to survive this trip, I'd suggest putting your focus on driving than pestering me."

As silence fell between them, a sigh went through the car as Asher turned to look back over at Yoshikawa. "Sky," she said. "I don't know if I want it permanently, but just use it as a place holder for now."

"Why'd you pick that name specifically? Not saying I don't like it, I'm just curious." Yoshikawa asked amusedly as she turned another corner.

"I don't know. I guess since Asher has a particular liking to clouds, it was the first thing to pop into my head that was connected to them."

Yoshikawa nodded at that, seeing a light blush on Sky's face out of the corner of her eye.

"Okay, Sky it is then."


July 25th, 7:00PM

A Lab Somewhere in Academy City…

Yoshikawa was sitting at her desk staring at a picture located in front of her where she saw her and Himari Asher's smiling faces. She was usually not a sentimental type of person, but it only seemed right for her to have it as a reminder of how she looked like then versus the way she had found her at her home that day with Asher in such disarray that her body went into full-on shock.

If Asher hadn't called before she fell into that state of deliriousness, there was no telling if anyone else would have been able to get there in time before the shock symptoms grew into something she wouldn't have been able to recover from.

She let out a sigh after a while, raising up from her desk as she began turning off the computers in front of her in preparation for her leaving to go to the Prison Facility in the district that housed the man known as Silas Wright. The same man that she had still yet to even try to forgive after everything he did to her, to Himari, to Asher, and basically to this entire city. Some part of her still blamed herself for failing to act quick enough to stop him, though, coming just short after she had been knocked unconscious for a time when Silas had realized she was onto him.

She had never seen such a crazed look in his eyes before that moment as he always kept up his composure even in the tensest of situations. If they had barely light in them before, his gray eyes were practically soulless then, filled with nothing but obsession over something he ignored the potential risks of and only wanted to reap the awards he believed he would have gained.

That experiment had nearly caused her to hesitate to accept the current one she was doing, especially with the subject matter having an indirect but also big connection to Asher herself due to the person closest to her.

But…

You could say her internal naivety or what she dubbed or pushed the blame towards couldn't allow her to do so, also seeing it as another opportunity to become a sort of mentor in a way to the current Level 5 that is being evaluated for a Level 6 shift as he is the only one now that could become one stably.

She was nearly done with getting all of her things in order before she heard the door open from behind her. It didn't even cause her to pause for a second as she had a good idea of who it could have been.

"Hey." He simply stated as he walked in.

"Hey, Accelerator." Yoshikawa replied as she looked over her shoulder at the first ranked Level 5 esper in Academy City.

He was currently sporting his usual look: a black t-shirt, jeans and black shoes. His red eyes pierced even more so due to his short white hair, wearing a fairly calm expression in contrast to how he usually acts towards those outside of here. It seemed she had some sort of quality that allowed her to get close to Level 5s pretty easily, already have befriended two of them in just a period of about 4 years.

Accelerator looked around in some confusion as he saw Yoshikawa gathering her things as if she was going somewhere.

"Are you actually going to leave this place early for once?" He questioned as he crossed his arms.

"For now, at least. I may or may not come back here after I go take care of something that requires my attention." Yoshikawa responded as she walked towards the doors to leave.

Accelerator nodded his head and began to follow right behind her. "What is it? Does it involve the next trial or something?"

"No, it doesn't have to do with that at all." Yoshikawa replied as she looked over at him and sent a smile his way. "I have to deal with something that involves another trouble child of mine. Believe me, I would rather be here than where I'm going to now, but it's for a friend and that girl that I have to."

Accelerator let out an annoyed scoff at something she had basically implied in a way towards him. "Tch, I wouldn't happen to also fall into the category of a 'trouble child of mine' right?"

For her own amusement she decided not to verbally answer him, only letting out a chuckle as his red eyes narrowed in her direction.

"You are such damn piece of work, Yoshikawa."


One hour later…

School District 17 Prison Facility

"No." Yoshikawa simply stated as she walked out of the car.

"But Kikyou I-"

"For the last time, no Aiho." Yoshikawa said again as she raised her hand in Yomikawa's direction.

They had just arrived at the prison facility for Yoshikawa's arranged meeting with Silas. Yomikawa had pressed and pressed her friend to allow her to be in the room with them, with Yoshikawa being completely against it each and every time.

"You can't be in there if you want an actual genuine response from Silas of all people." Yoshikawa stated as they walked inside. "I'm probably the only one he knows that his mind games don't really work on. So, he probably won't try as hard as he normally does when it comes to other people. If you're in there, all he's going to sit there and do is aggravate you. "

Yomikawa bit back a retort before letting out a sigh. "Alright, fine." She conceded. "I'll just keep an eye on the camera feed instead then."

She knew that she could probably try harder, but she could tell that even that could possibly not be enough with how unnaturally headstrong and determined Yoshikawa was to do this.

"Thank you." Yoshikawa said before her eyes fell slightly. "I don't want to watch anyone else hurt because of that jerk."

Yomikawa automatically laid a comforting hand on her shoulder as a showing of silent support. She knew how unbelievably hard this probably was for her, honestly feeling bad that she had convinced her to come here. But she hoped that maybe talking to Silas would help her in some ways as well, since she was having about as hard of a time moving on as Asher was, internally berating herself that she hadn't stopped something that she had no control over. Unlike Asher, however, she was somewhat concerned that she hadn't even been able to grieve the loss of her friend and mentor, something that the woman herself still had yet to find the reason behind why she just couldn't after all these years.

After a couple moments of silence, Yoshikawa let out a sigh as she raised one of her hands to lay softly onto Yomikawa's.

"Let's go now, Aiho. I want to get this over with, so my entire night isn't completely ruined." Yoshikawa said, seeing Yomikawa nod in her direction as she led her straight to the interrogation room.

Yoshikawa waited in there for a while, before feeling her face instantly darken when she heard the door open again, looking up and seeing Silas sitting on the other side of the glass from her. He still hadn't changed in terms of anything in his appearance from the last time she saw him two years ago, only seeing the wheelchair as a new accessory that was well earned as he deserved losing just something after that day.

Uncharacteristically, he didn't even try to talk to her when he entered, almost actually looking ashamed for once in his life that Yoshikawa had a hard time narrowing down if it was actually genuine. It may be weird to see, but he tended to just let his guard down when it came to being around her and formerly Himari, somehow always being able to see something else behind the arrogance he put on 99.99% of the time.

Making it still the all the more shocking even after all of these years to know that he was responsible for killing both of Asher's parents for some irrational goal of controlling this city when he should've known that would've been impossible.

"Kikyou," Silas said after a while, clasping his hands onto the table in front of him. "I'm glad you came here today. So thank-"

"Don't," Yoshikawa interjected, cutting him off. "I am not here for you at all Silas or even myself. I am here for Zierdan so that you can stop using her as some sort of sacrificial pawn whenever it feels right for you to."

"Now we both know some part of that is a lie." Silas said almost whimsically as he smirked in her direction. "The only reason Yomikawa isn't here is because you're trying to get some real answers out of me if I'm not mistaken."

Yoshikawa didn't verbally respond to that. To be honest she didn't have to, knowing somewhere inside herself that Silas was right no matter how much it annoyed her.

Silas let out a chuckle before he leaned back into his wheelchair almost in an effort to get comfortable in some way. "Well I have a proposition for you to hopefully get what we both want out of this." He raised one of his fingers in her direction. "If you allow me to go first and ask you one question, I'll give you my word that I'll answer at least 2 question as well as I can. A third or fourth one could occur, though the pattern would have to continue as I don't know if I'll be able to be truthful without getting something such as that in return."

Yoshikawa let out a sigh, leaning her head over into her hand. "Deal." She simply remarked.

Silas's eyes widened in something that could've been seen as some sort of surprise at how quickly she agreed to this. His face faded to a serious one, hardened by some sort of desire to learn something that he had always had a hard time figuring out and knew that the woman in front of him had the answers.

"Well for my question," He began, with some light actually able to reach his gray eyes. "I want to know how Himari found out about the true nature of the experiment."

"Wow, you're still on that?" Yoshikawa questioned as she crossed her arms. "I'd say the answer is pretty obvious how that happened: She wasn't as oblivious or stupid as you thought her to be."

Silas almost looked like he grimaced from hearing the coarseness of her words, letting out a small breath before he continued on. "I know the time frame. I just want to know the event that led to her being able to unravel my plans as quickly as she did. And considering you were one of the ones she trusted the most, I know you were probably there as well, weren't you?"

Yoshikawa's eyes narrowed before she conceded, putting one of her hands down towards the table as her eyes hardened. "It was on the night that you decided that it was the best idea to leave your step-daughter on the floor of your lab, basically overdosed on adrenal after you tried waking her up forcefully when she collapsed in exhaustion. You should've realized that was signature sign of an esper who has overworked their ability too much. And with that on top of those trials with that device, her AIM Diffusion was unstable to the point where she would've been killed by it if it wasn't fixed in a timely manner..."

She thought back to that night after Himari came over to her house in search of her daughter.

The night where the beginning of the end for Project WaveInflux came sooner than anyone had anticipated.


2 years ago…

September 22nd, 6:00PM

Wright Industries Research Facility 7

Yoshikawa turned off the car as she quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, looking over and seeing Himari do the same beside her.

"Are you sure this is where you tracked Zierdan's phone signal?" Himari asked, looking over at her with blue eyes that were layered in concern.

Yoshikawa nodded. "Yeah this is the last place that it pinged to the closest satellite in the area. But I don't know why she's here so late considering the trials are usually earlier in the day on the weekends."

They ran in as quickly as they could, swiping left and right through the security gates before coming to the main room where the trials were usually held. They looked through the window that allowed those to see into some of the large room, with Himari finding her daughter first as she felt a pit fall in her stomach when she had.

"Oh no, Zierdan!" Himari shouted as she took off inside, so loud and emotionally driven that it almost surprised Yoshikawa so much that she had been almost too stunned to follow.

When she made it to where Asher was, however, she nearly had the same response.

There were massive pools of blood surrounding the girl as she laid on her stomach, with her body shaking so much that it almost looked like she was on the brink of convulsing. She was moaning loudly in some type of agonizing pain, pale as a sheet as her temperature had risen to the point that even her own gravity field failed at being able to cool her off.

"Hey, Zierdan. Please sweetie, wake up." Himari said softly after she had put Asher's head into her lap, softly shaking her in an effort to arouse her.

The only response she got after a while was some low gags that came for her throat, immediately sitting her up as more blood fell onto the floor to the point that it was alarming.

Yoshikawa looked around for something, anything that would give some evidence of what had happened here, before finding multiple canisters located near where they had found Asher moments before. She immediately knew what they were for and let out a small curse as she brought one over for Himari to see.

"I think she has or is close to overdosing on this adrenal, Himari. Silas usually gets her to take this if she starts to tire too early into the trials. We need to somehow flush it out of her system before her body can't handle the prolonged high concentration of it. I've counted at least 10 of these, meaning she could possibly have enough to where her body could shut down at any moment."

Himari thought on that for a while as her eyebrows began to crinkle in some sort of thought. "I honestly think there's more to that than an overdose, Kikyou." Himari stated. "It's almost like her body is turning against itself, with the amount of blood on the floor being a sign of its severity."

Something immediately clicked inside of Yoshikawa's head when she said that.

Something that had been a concern of hers ever since she had started doing this project.

"Do you think it's possible that it's a rare but early sign of a severe form of RSPK Syndrome?" She asked as she saw Himari pick up Asher into a bridal carry, with her arms dangling limply in the air.

"Possibly. But that would mean even if we flush out whatever is in her system, it won't do much if she'll just end up losing control of her ability. She's not in any shape to even try and deal with the strain of it." Himari said as they ran off back towards the car, with Yoshikawa leading the way to open any doors in front of them. "If we can stop by one of my lab spaces, I might have something that could stabilize her."

Yoshikawa nodded in her direction as they made it to the front doors of the facility, immediately running over to the car and opening the passenger door for Himari to sit in the back with Asher as she went to the driver's side and sped off. She didn't even have to ask where she needed to go as she had already had an idea of the location.

Himari knew this and decided to put all of her energy in being concerned for Asher who had started to stir in her lap, seeing a notable amount of pain coming over her face as her shakes grew worse and worse.

"Nnnnngh, ring….ringing. R-R….inging. A-Always…i-in my head. I c-can't…W-We can't…e-escape it…Pl-Please…st-stop. M-Make it….st-stop…ngghhhhh." Asher moaned constantly at that moment, with Himari laying a hand on the back of her neck to where she steadily began to relax.

"Shhhh, it's alright." Himari comforted. "Go back to sleep."

It had been a long time since Himari had held her daughter this close to her, not realizing until that now how much she had actually missed doing this. She softly glided her fingertips through Asher's hair, sending her deeper into a semi comfortable slumber as her loud moans became closer to incoherent mumbles.

"I'm sorry, Zierdan, that I left you alone all this time." Himari whispered softly as a few tears went down her face. "I know I've been a bad mother to you, and I don't have any excuses for my actions. I promise, however, that I'm going to do all I can to make it up to you so pl-please fight hard enough to allow me to help."

Yoshikawa heard all of this, looking at her friend and Asher with a downcast look in the rearview mirror. She knew that no matter what she said, it wouldn't make her feel better. But they both knew that Silas had manipulated her into believing that Asher didn't need or probably want her in her life after her Ryo Asher's death, using Himari's grief of the situation to put the blame on Asher and her own inability to stop it from happening.

Ever since she had gotten to know Asher, she could tell that it wasn't true. Even if they hadn't been with each other for such a long time, she could tell that Asher loved her mother greatly and just didn't understand why her absence in her life left such a hollow feeling in her chest.

Left her feeling like her love was not reciprocated by the one person she so desperately wanted it from…

What was happening in the back seat behind Yoshikawa was a good example as any though.

That Himari had felt the same all this time, but just as Asher was, she was manipulated in not allowing herself to show it.


A little while later…

School District 7 Hospital

They ran into one of the labs within the hospital, with Himari setting Asher gently down on one of the medical beds.

"It's going to take me a couple of minutes to get this ready." Himari said in haste. "Please keep an eye on her."

Yoshikawa nodded, watching Himari's back until she left the room. She let out a sigh before she stiffened when she heard Asher gagging again, rolling her on to her side as she left another pile of mess on the floor.

"Jeez, dying of blood loss is starting to look more of a possibility in comparison to the overdose. How much did that idiot give you to make your body react like this?" Yoshikawa said aloud.

Unlike the times before she did this, it almost looked like Asher was beginning to rouse from her dazed slumber, attempting to sit up as Yoshikawa pushed her back down.

"M-MK….I n-need….M-MK." Asher mumbled as tears fell from her eyes. "Sh-She'll stop it….she'll stop the n-noise. Th-The agonizing n-noise."

She continuously said this and tried her best to fight Yoshikawa off of her, with the woman herself somewhat confused on who she was calling for.

"Hey, Zierdan you're okay. You just need to relax and everything will be alright." Yoshikawa reassured.

Asher's eyes began to crack open, with Yoshikawa smiling at the sight. She was about to say something else before it somehow became hard for her to take in a breath, looking down and seeing Asher 's hand clasped tightly around her neck.

The blues of her eyes that had just been there shifted into a vibrant red as a massive smirk grew on her face in response. She unsteadily rose up to her feet, showing off her strength as she held Yoshikawa off the floor with the use of her gravity to lessen its hold around her body.

"Z-Zierdan, sn-snap out of it." Yoshikawa strained. "I-It's me, K-Kikyou Yoshikawa. Y-You're safe and you're not in any so-sort of danger."

She stiffened when Asher began to laugh almost manically as her tone shifted to something that she had gotten fairly familiar with during the last year of the trials.

Knowing that the person in front of her was not the usual Asher she spoke to.

"Ahahahaha! If you're trying to speak to Asher, she's currently out of commission and can't hear you. Control has been given to me completely for once and I don't have any sort of respect or appreciation of what you're currently trying to do. How can I trust that you're actually trying to help and not kill us?"

Before Yoshikawa could answer, "Asher" propelled her across the room, painfully smacking her into a wall hard enough to force a wince from her lips.

"Oh hell, who am I kidding? It wasn't logical of me to say that since I wouldn't believe a single word that came from your mouth." She said darkly as she began to slowly approach. "I'm not as naïve or illogical as Asher is to constantly fall for your tricks, acting like you care about her when you're just doing what your job requires you to do. I'm done watching from the sidelines and seeing her constantly beat herself up or blame who she is for why no one genuinely likes her! Scrapping up her sanity over…and over and OVER AGAIN , where I have to trade places with her to make sure she doesn't snap and go insane because of the strain it has on our mind. But I'm done, I will get her to see why destroying everything and anything in this stupid city is what she wants! And why that girl isn't worth ANYTHING to hold her back from doing so!"

Yoshikawa was shocked to see that this was currently happening, mostly from witnessing that this personality had this much control over Asher as she didn't even see a semblance of the girl at all.

Damn it, I was worried that this could potentially happen at some point. Yoshikawa thought as she bit down on her cheek.

I was right, her AIM diffusion field is probably destabilizing to the point where she's drawing too much redshift waves at a time right now. This side of her was already unstable before, but now it's almost like she views everything as her enemy.

After a couple moments, Asher stopped in her tracks and stiffened up in some type of pain, letting out a harsh shout as she clutched onto the sides of her head.

"AAAGHHHH! What's happening to me!? Why do-does everything just….HURT!?" She screamed. "It hurts….ithurtsithurtsITHURTS!"

It was heartbreaking to hear, but it sounded like Asher's voice had shifted to how it normally was. She rose up to her feet and carefully walked towards her as she saw one of Asher's red eyes overtaken with blue.

"I-I feel wrong….N-Not right like I'm about to sp-split apart. ApartapartApart!" Asher mumbled to herself as she grabbed onto her arms and looked down to the ground. "Nghhh, damn it, make it st-stop…S-Someone… ANYONE, just make the noise go away f-for once. Please make it stop going off in my he-head! AAGGHHHHH!"

"Zierdan, calm down!" Yoshikawa warned, seeing the esper's panicked eyes meet with her gaze. "You're going to be okay. Your mother went off to make something that will hopefully make you feel better."

"Miss Yoshikawa, really? Sh-She came here? W-When…nrgh…When di-did she-NGH!" Asher strained before wincing harshly as she grasped her head. Hysterical laugh began to come out of her mouth as her skin paled even further than it currently was, so much so that her veins were starting to become visible. "Ahehehahahahah! Screw that woman! Sh-She has never tried to help Asher before so what's so special about it now!? You think I'm going to easily fall for the fact that she actually cared about us all this time, after basically throwing us away as if we were NOTHING to her!?"

Asher stiffened yet again as the blue returned in her eyes before she shut them in pain. Yoshikawa watched on as she walked over to a wall, immediately running over there as she saw her beginning to purposely pound her forehead against it.

"Hey Stop that!" Yoshikawa said sternly, guiding her over to the center of the room before Asher pushed her away from her.

"Get your dirty hands off me, Yoshikawa!" Asher shouted before switching again and again from what it seemed like as incoherent mumbles came from her lips as if body couldn't keep up with the constant shifting of her personalities.

It's almost like they're fighting for control over Zierdan's body. Her brain must be confused and can't decide which wavelength it should attract, leaving her even more mentally unstable.

She knew that they were running out of time, hearing her starting to ramble to herself as a sign of her condition beginning to spiral downwards. It wasn't long, however, before she heard someone run into the room from behind her, looking over and seeing Himari inject something into Asher's chest.

Asher staggered back as soon as she did, with her arms going completely slack at her sides as she looked up at the both of them. Her eyes faded to their natural blues as she tried her best to say something. She wasn't able to, though, before her eyes rolled back into her head, with Yoshikawa getting to her the quickest to catch her before she hit the ground.

She had gone from conscious to unconscious in a matter of seconds, hearing loud pants coming from her mouth before she began to relax in her hold after a while. She wasn't shaking as much as she had been before, using one of her hands to feel her pulse dropping to a comfortable pace.

"Whew, you came right in the nick of time." Yoshikawa said in relief as she looked over at the older woman beside her. "Is that the experimental drug that you've started running human trials on."

"Yeah, I've been testing it for a long while now. So, I had a pretty good feeling it would work without any major side effects." Himari explained, bringing her hand to caress her daughter's face in which Asher unconsciously leaned into as she relaxed even more.

She looked down at her for a long while, before looking over at Yoshikawa with a downcast expression. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I doubted you before this. I didn't think that Silas would go this far with the trials. And have little care on what it's doing to Zierdan in the process."

"It's okay. I may not understand what it's like being in a marriage with someone else, but I do understand why you may value what they say over others during certain times." Yoshikawa said as she laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. After placing Asher into Himari's lap, she rose up to her feet and looked down at her with a sincere smile. "I'll go get Heaven Canceller so we can start the process of getting the adrenal out of her system. Your drug seems to have worked reduce most of her life-threatening symptoms, but it's still probably a good idea to get it taken care of."

Before she could leave, Himari called her to get her attention. When she turned, she saw a small shadow fall on Himari's face as she looked down at Asher.

"Kikyou, when you come back and we know for sure that Zierdan is alright, I think I'm ready to hear what you have to say regarding Project WaveInflux." Himari said coldly, looking over at Yoshikawa with ice layered inside of her blue eyes.

"I want you to tell me everything that Silas has been trying to hide from me."


Present…

After Yoshikawa was done, she felt some sort of anger come out nowhere when she heard one of Silas's patented dismissive sighs for a girl that wasn't even here to receive it.

"Thought so. Always knew that girl's weak will would lead to my downfall someday." Silas sighed.

He stiffened when he heard a loud pound go throughout the room as he looked over at the usually relaxed and laid back woman he had known for years now almost shaking in some sort of anger as she glared in his direction.

"Are you seriously going to blame Asher for not only passing out in exhaustion from you pushing her over and over again in those damn trials of yours, BUT also because she nearly had an overdose on the very drug you injected into her system?" Yoshikawa questioned in a huff, crossing her arms. "You are so deluded from your own arrogance that it's almost funny. Pushing blame towards a child who believed that her stepfather actually wanted to help her than himself when he knew he wasn't going to."

Silas didn't have any sort of response to this, just letting out a scoff as he looked away from her.

After taking a moment to regain her composure, Yoshikawa let out a sigh. "My turn, though I don't even know I want to hear your excuses for this after what you just said." She said as she looked down at the table her arms were leaning against. "But I want you to tell me why you decided to kill both Ryo and Himari. I know that there's more than you just wanting to keep Asher to yourself and ruin her by having her witness both of them."

"Well, Ryo is fairly simple: any sort of trying to get Asher's ability to its fullest potential would have been thwarted by him. Yes, I can say that he was smart in some respects, but he didn't have the tact or drive to be considered an actual researcher in my eyes. He was too soft and overly emotional in a field that shouldn't have any of the sort. I was able to tolerate him time and time again until I couldn't overlook it any longer when he began tainting the one woman who should have been with me instead of him. So, I decided to show him how powerless a Level 0 like him was in the face of my intellect and power." He finished.

"So, you were basically jealous of him." Yoshikawa sighed, raising up a finger as soon as he was going to make a retort. "That's just how I see it. Nothing you're going to say is going to change that especially if you're going to attempt to argue with me. I will not allow you avoid not telling me why you killed Himari Asher for almost no reason at all."

Silas went silent as his lips ran a thin line, almost shifting to the point of nervousness in his chair as he tried his best not to make any eye contact with her.

"I had to." He simply said with a downcast expression. "I had to be the one to do it or someone else would have been the last thing she saw of this world. She was stepping on too many toes at trying to stop WaveInflux from continuing on that someone higher than me had me convinced that her elimination was needed. It would allow us to take hold of the research she had done over the years, as well as free reign over what we wanted to do regarding Zierdan's GravShift. Other than my goal of wanting a Level 6 esper, there were other things regarding the experiment that people were taking note of to use somehow in the future, with that woman on top of it all. But, even to this day, no one has any clue where Himari hid her things, almost like she knew it was going to happen at some point."

"Who was it?" Yoshikawa asked immediately, only met with silence when Silas wouldn't answer her. "Silas, tell me who wanted her dead right now before you wish you were."

"I can't…"

"WHY NOT!?" Yoshikawa pressed as she quickly raised up from her chair, walking over and slamming her hand on the very crack that Asher had made the time she had come here some days ago.

Silence fell into the room as Yoshikawa stood there with her forehead laying on the glass, with Silas seeing her gritting down hard on her teeth in an effort to restrain herself.

He hadn't ever in his life seen her this angry, even on the day when she forced him to reveal what he had done to Asher after she had escaped his research facility. He was surprised that Yomikawa hadn't come in by now from this current showing.

After a while, Yoshikawa's hand went slack at her side as she blankly stared at the ground below her.

"Silas, why can't you tell me?" Yoshikawa weakly pleaded. "You know me, I'm not going to go off and find who it is and spite them. I ju-just want to know why one of the people I looked up to for years on end died so pointlessly and knew it going to happen to her."

Silas only answered back with silence, causing Yoshikawa to slump her head forwards before she got her stuff and promptly started to leave the room. That was before she heard a name come from Silas's lips that caused her body to stiffen, looking back at him wide eyed.

"Are you serious?" Yoshikawa said under her breath. "That would mean that she's…"

"Even if you somehow found proof of aiding in the conspiracy of murder or murder for hire when it comes to her involvement, none of the courts would probably have the nerve to actually convict her." Silas sighed. " She's basically untouchable because of that geezer…unless she makes a mess that not even his name could help clean up."

Yoshikawa took note of that, turning away from him with her hand on the knob in front of her. "Before I go, tell me this: Did you cheat on Himari with that woman? Is that how she was able to convince you into doing what you did, knowing your ability would allow you to not leave any DNA evidence at the scene?"

"Well, if you want my answer to that, you're going to have to answer another one of my questions Kikyou." Silas stated almost instantly with a smirk. "Do you have enough patience to humor me at least a little while longer?"

Yoshikawa didn't hesitate for a second to walk out the door, basically slamming the door right in his face from afar for her response.


A little while later…

After locking Silas back into his cell and getting his word that custody of Asher would go over to her without any kind of fuss, Yomikawa went through the building in search for her longtime friend.

She had to hold herself back from rushing in there so many times, seeing such moments from Yoshikawa that were so surprising that she could tell that it even surprised Silas as well.

She came to the restroom located on the first floor where she heard a constant rush of water from a sink inside. She walked in and hid behind the corner as she saw Yoshikawa splash her face multiple times before she stopped as she leaned herself onto the sink even further.

"I don't even know why asked him that? Of course, he cheated, no questions asked." Yoshikawa said under her breath. "He may have loved her. But that doesn't mean he had any drive to be completely faithful towards her. He's such a smug a-asshole."

When she heard how shaky that last line was, Yomikawa made her presence known as she walked over there to stand next to Yoshikawa.

"Are you doing okay?" Yomikawa asked.

It took that a minute to register with Yoshikawa before she wiped her eyes really quick, looking over at Yomikawa with a smile that she knew wasn't genuine.

"Yeah I'm alright." Yoshikawa replied as she began to walk past the woman. "Just being in the same room as that jerk is enough to tire out anyone."

Before she got too far, Yomikawa grasped her arm, pulling her back into an embrace. Yoshikawa sat there stunned at first before she let out a couple laughs under breath.

"Wh-What's this for, Aiho?" Yoshikawa asked.

Yomikawa didn't even have to answer as she felt wetness collecting on her shirt, hearing the woman's laughs slowly turning into soft cries as she pressed her face deeper into her chest.

"It may be wrong for me to say." Yomikawa began as she tightened her hold around Yoshikawa. "But it's about time you did this. I was starting to get worried."


Tokiwadai Dormitory

The door to Asher's room was opened by Shirai as Misaka helped Asher inside as she groaned softly under her breath.

After making it through the talk over most of Asher's past earlier, Misaka thought it would be a good idea to go to the Pasticceria Manicagni after they had walked Uiharu and Saten back to their dorms.

So she, Shirai, and Asher did, with the Electromaster saying that she would pick up the bill and that all of them could get anything they wanted.

Not realizing the extent of Asher's stress that would compel her to take her up on the offer.

It started off with 1 slice, then went on to 5 slices of chocolate cake. When it got to her 10th piece, Misaka tried her best to get Asher to stop, but the esper told her that she was fine and would only have just a couple more pieces after that.

At her 15th, Misaka and Shirai had made the mistake of leaving the esper by herself when they both had to use the restroom, coming back and seeing that in total Asher had eaten…

About 20-25 slices of cake.

Something that Asher herself was currently regretting immensely as she had never felt so sick to her stomach until that moment that even teleporting with Shirai seemed better in comparison.

When Misaka had gently laid her onto her bed, Asher let out a long groan just from the small movement that it did below her, with her face turning an even darker shade of sickly green.

"W-Why did I do this?" Asher groaned. "I would rather sit in a car than feeling what I feel right n-now."

Even though Misaka and Shirai would feel inclined to usually laugh at the esper when she did this, they had never seen her this bad before, both wearing looks of notable concern on their faces.

"Z, I told you not to eat that much." Misaka sighed, rubbing her temple with one of hands, only being answered with another groan.

"Is there anything we can do?" Shirai asked.

Asher was about to respond before she felt her stomach lurch out of nowhere, with the teleporter realizing this when she saw her raise up quickly and teleported her to the bathroom where unfathomable sounds began to come from inside there.

"I should've seen this coming. Of all the places for me to take her when she's stressed out." Misaka stated as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Her logic always somehow disappears into thin air when chocolate becomes involved."

"You shouldn't blame yourself at all Sissy…" Shirai reassured.

"I'm trying not to." Misaka replied as she sat down on Asher's bed and crossed her legs. "Zierdan is old enough to make her own decisions. She's technically even older than me, but stress and anxiety can always cloud her judgment in the worst ways possible."

It was a long while before Asher stumbled out of the bathroom, with Misaka and Shirai right there to catch her before she faceplanted.

"Th-Thanks you two." Asher strained, not even able to lift up her head. "S-So…rry that you have…t-to deal with me like this."

"It's fine Zierdan." Shirai stated as they slowly walked her over to her bed, with Misaka humming next to her in agreeance.

"Just try to get some rest. You'll hopefully feel better in the morning." Misaka said warmly.

Asher didn't even have any energy to reply back, already having her eyes closed as soon as her head hit the pillow. Misaka laughed a little from seeing it, automatically reaching down and silencing her Amps and brought the cover up to the esper's shoulders.

Even if it ended with her friend doing something that she would probably say was illogical for someone else to do, Misaka was proud that Asher had finally allowed herself to confide her past to someone else other than her or others like Yomikawa or even Shokuhou. She knew it had been hard on her, considering she had just a hard of a time filling up the gaps that were naturally in her damaged memory. But she knew that this was the first step for the both of them to finally move past what happened during WaveInflux.

As she smiled down at Asher, she was surprised when she felt Shirai wrap her arms around her, looking down and seeing her face stuffed into her uniform.

"I'm sorry Sissy if I disappointed or hurt you with my behavior before." Shirai said glumly. "I just couldn't keep my anger in check for how Zierdan just causally degrades anything involving her well-being."

"It's okay, silly. You didn't necessarily upset me or was I ever disappointed in you." Misaka replied as she reciprocated the hug. "I understand why you got angry with her. I'm not all that happy whenever she does that either, but there are times where I know it's coming from a dark place from what happened in her past. The best thing you and even Zierdan need to do is allow yourselves to communicate before you both go and explode on each other."

Shirai nodded her head, feeling Misaka pull her back as she looked up and saw the Electromaster's smile down at her.

"Well, let's go ahead and go back to our room before the Head Resident finds us here." Misaka recommended as she laid a hand on her shoulder. "From what Uiharu said, you also have something important to tell me, that a certain someone doesn't need to know yet, right?"

Shirai immediately perked up when she heard that, smiling brightly as she quickly nodded her head in response. She teleported them off to their room in order for her to tell the Electromaster the good news.


Word Count of Chapter: 9336 |Page Count: 17 pages |Reviews: 162 | Followers: 94 |Favorites: 77


And with that, the span of original chapters comes to an end to go back to the events of Railgun, where the next chapter will be a brief pause in the action as I'm planning to do the swimsuit photo-op for it before we get into Big Spider most likely in Chapter 38.

I hope you enjoyed them where I'll leave you with two questions...

The first is who do you think the mystery woman was that pushed Silas to kill Himari? (It may or may not be an easy guess but I just want to see who you guys come up with)

And lastly, should "Sky," the name that Asher's other personality took on, stay with that name or should it be changed? I had a hard time coming up with one, with that one being the result of my own creativity failing on me. I may make a poll of some of the names you guys come up with if you say it should be changed (probably around 7-8) either by the next chapter or the one after it:)


Review Replies

Blankow: Hmmm, you're right, Zierdan has about as many connection points as Touma does. I didn't notice the total extent until the list you gave which probably could continue on even further at some point as she has strong connections to both the science, magic, and even dark side of Academy City. Kind of ironic for a character about as lazy and quiet Asher can be any given time.

It's kind of easy to forget or overlook at times how WaveInflux affected Misaka even though she didn't physically go through the trials Asher did. Sisters is definitely going to be more nightmare fuel added to her plate, I just wonder which one is worse: Nearly killing her best friend with her own hands or Witnessing someone else killing identical clones of her? Sisters would probably come out on top due to the sheer number of sisters there are, but then again Misaka would have never forgiven herself if Asher had actually died because of her or her inability to convince her not to sacrifice herself.

The very reason that Misaka seems to be alone in the canon timeline is the very reason why I made Asher for this story. Before getting Shirai as her roommate, I don't think she really had anyone to call her friend or even genuinely want to talk to her and not because she's the Railgun. I hoped that with Asher's character, it would give her at least one person that she can both trust and empathize with since they both were more or less alienated from their peers after becoming Level 5 espers.

It may have been a brief appearance, but Accelerator has finally made it into the story, probably earlier than anyone would have guessed. Hopefully we'll get to Sisters at some point at least before the Chapter 50 mark.

Thanks!


LostNeko120: The roller coaster of emotions may have continued on in this chapter, but I'm going to do my best to stop it at least for the chapter after this as I'm pretty sure the swimsuit photo-op is a must after all that has happened during these last few chapters


velvetsthetic:

Chapter 34

Yeah, even if they've gotten better since they first met, Asher and Kuroko still aren't the best at communication when they're actually mad at each other. Hopefully that'll slowly change after what happened during the last chapter.

Chapter 35

Misaka and Asher have been through enough already, I don't think I could bring myself to make Asher forget Misaka for a second time. After 35 chapters, character development has finally paid off to where the normally closed off Asher has finally allowed herself to open up to those close to her. Though, it did lead her to seeing the logic in eating 20-25 slices of cake in one sitting without having much thought on what was going to happen after she did.

You're probably righ. It would be an odd pair, but I could definitely see Asher and Misaka Worst teaming up on Accelerator. I would say it would probably be even more funny if Asher's other personality also joined in.


Jintolin:

Chapter 33

'It' is another great way to describe Silas, since the only form of humanity he values is himself. There's only probably one thing he actually regrets doing in his life, which sadly doesn't involve any of the abuse he did to Asher as he blames everything about her for his own justification for what he's doing.

You were actually right that some part of the reason for Himari's elimination was due to her attempts at closing WaveInflux. Some more of her morals and overall personality will probably be seen more in "Asher" than in this story since she is dead within the present of the timeline. She was known in the research field for being able to desensitize herself to the situation and only have a one set mind at finishing her research. Meaning, she could have been all for some of the projects she was the head of but also see that some were needed for the sake of either research or the well-being of the city.

Comedy/fluff will hopefully return during the next chapter.

Chapter 34

Another reviewer actually brought it to my attention that Misaka's trauma from WaveInflux was being neglected to some extent, with that nightmare sequence hopefully granting a picture of how much it really did affect her. Unlike Asher at times, she has been able to make some pretty sturdy walls around her emotions to which nothing dark or negative can escape it easily. Which is probably why it was easy for even me to forget to include her own troubles involving it, since the only person who would search for anything wrong regarding it would be Asher. She usually gets away by waving off her own troubles, but due to everything involving Saten, Asher has gained some drive to at least call her out when she sees it now.

The imminent clash between two polar opposites was sadly too much for Saten's voice of reason on both sides to cool down by herself. They may have become closer friends, but both of them still struggle at communicating with the other sometimes that still ends up with them having an actual argument with each other. Asher did basically turn herself off, where Shirai noticed but couldn't understand what led to it happening.

Chapter 35

Congrats for finally being able to catch up all the way :D

Yeah, it was finally time to start showing the full extent of what happened to Asher after WaveInflux and the coma it put her in. It'll probably be given more overtime since it is a prime reason for why Misaka keeps her trauma hidden from others as she has been able to practice it for all these years. Misaki's words may have been hurtful involving that choice she gives her, but due to Touma, she understands what its like to be forgotten by someone else that was close to her. It may put her in the impossible position of choosing whether to get Asher back versus sparing Asher of everything that had happened in her life, but Misaki's ultimatum could also be something that she's trying to decided on what she should do as well, since has grown to both like and care about Asher in her own way.

Yomikawa was a must to even try to mend the small divide of Asher's and Shirai's relationship. She knows what it's like to be on the side of Asher trying to hide things from her.

No matter how these events would have turned out, Saten was always going to be the one to comfort Asher. It is both showing Asher that there are more people in her life that value her other than Misaka, and it shows Misaka that she doesn't always to have to be the one to do that.

Concentration is one of the limits that comes with Asher's ability. You could say that makes her power both undefinable and definable at the same time due to how much some of her other weaknesses such as her sound sensitivity can limit the bounds of her concentration.

Sappy Asher is probably one of the best sides of Asher as it's probably some of the rare times that she allows herself to express her emotions. She also can't hide them since her "illogical face" tends to heat up whenever she doesn't want it to.

Even though Asher finally allowed herself to confide to her friends, it sadly led to her stress eating on chocolate cake, so much so that she nearly sent herself back to the hospital for how much she ate.

Asher would probably be the one to see the logic in her clones actually having emotions in comparison to her suppressed ones. Some part of her would maybe also like it to see herself actually being able to enjoy life versus always battling the demons of her past.


sniperassin0: Thank you!:)


Ghost of Los Angeles: Aw thanks! You're going to end up giving me a big head with all these compliments.

Hmmmmm, I'll think about the idea of the Railgang having some more involvement in the Sisters' arc as this is probably the 2nd time someone has commented on it. Misaka having a breakdown would probably show them a side of Misaka that they normally never see since she always tries to hide it from them. Though the thought of Kuroko learning about the Sisters' sends chills down my spine.


Thanks for the reviews!

-PurpleClover99