Hahaha... This chapter is shorter than any of the other ones, and I do not plan on them being this short ever again. But with the advice of someone else, I decided to do it this way.

Not Strange, Just Different

Chapter 11 The Evil of False Reality

Spirit stood there, watching his partner drown in the madness. Stein began to move the scalpel that was hanging from his fingers, and started twirling it slightly. His eyes were glued on Spirit, and Spirit didn't like this very much. He hated the way he was staring at him with the eyes of a lunatic. He wouldn't stop. He just kept staring as he laughed, slightly gasping for air every now and then.

Spirit had no idea about what he should do. He knew that, obviously, Stein was dangerous at the moment. Any little thing could trigger him, set him off, and he could attack. He had to be careful and make sure he didn't do anything that would cause that. He needed to at least get him back to the house, maybe then he could calm down. He didn't know if that would happen even if he was at the house, but he figured it was better than having him be out where he could get to people.

Stein felt intoxicated, suffocated, and a little light headed. It was all he could do to stay on his feet, and all he could do to not charge at Spirit. The subconscious part of his mind was still slightly sane, and that's what kept him back. Before his subconscious was insane, and it fought with the sane part. But now the madness dominated, and he struggled to keep himself from becoming completely lost.

He was shaking slightly, his hands trembled. The only reason why the scalpel hadn't fell out of his hands from the tremors was the grip he had on it. He wanted to carve into the boy's skin; he wanted to see the beautiful liquid pour out of the incisions. He wanted to tear apart tissue, muscle, anything, everything. His lips stayed curved up, although that was the opposite of what he wanted.

To Stein, everything had begun spinning. It sent chills through his body, it made him feel dizzy, and his head felt as light as air. When he felt this lightness rush over his body, he tried his best to plant his feet into the ground. He felt even more light headed, and more insane giggles poured out. He would almost sound like he was choking at times; this was the result of trying to hold it back.

Spirit could see how hard he was trying. Just by looking at him, and hearing him, he could tell that he was doing everything possible to keep himself back. He honestly felt bad for his partner. He hated that he had to go through this, for no other kid ever had to. He watched, pained by all of it.

"Hey, Stein. Just calm down," Spirit said this, and Stein's faced looked slightly of anger.

"Why?" he asked this in a way that made it seem as if he felt he was being accused of something.

"I don't want you to hurt anyone." Spirit made sure to make his voice sound calm, and quiet. He had to be careful that he didn't aggravate him, so he also made sure to make himself look as friendly as possible.

Before Stein could respond, everything stopped spinning. Spirit was no longer Spirit, but Stein's father whom he had not seen in years. The tall figure stood in front of him, grinning. He was wearing the clothes that surgeons wear while preforming operations, along with the typical surgical mask and latex gloves. The only reason why Stein could tell he was grinning was that it was so large that it extended out of the mask. His father was also covered in blood.

He was laughing, much like Stein had been. For the first time in quite a while, Stein was quiet. He just stood there totally transfixed, eyes clouded by madness. He didn't move or make a sound, and this confused Spirit. He stood there for a minute and watched him. He tried to move forward to Stein, but the minute he did this the gray and bloody haired boy snarled at him, and his face was instantly filled with absolute hatred.

Spirit was confused by this sudden aggression, but had no time to think of what had set him off. Stein went after Spirit, and had him pressed against the nearest tree, scalpel right to his face.

"This is all your fault!" Stein screamed at the illusion.

"What?" Spirit asked with complete confusion showing in his voice. Stein didn't hear Spirit, but heard his father's voice speaking to him.

"You are the reason this is happening!" Stein couldn't have possibly been any louder, or any more angered. His father laughed at him, so he pull the boy's head back and slammed it into the tree. Spirit winced.

"What are you talking about?" Pain weakened Spirit's voice, and he was starting to become scared of the maniac that stood in front of him.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I know you haven't forgotten. It just killed you from the minute it was all over," Stein said this, but at a lower volume. However, the same great amount of hatred dripped from him. Stein had his face up close to his father's, and clenched his teeth. Spirit could see his eyes, they looked almost dazed.

"Stein, you have to tell me. What is going on?" Stein just ignored him, and there was a brief pause before anything else happened. Spirit tried to slip out of Stein's grasp, but it did nothing.

Stein's father kicked his son, and Stein released Spirit. He stood and looked at his father with blurry vision. Spirit was confused as to why he just let him go for no reason, but he certainly did not pass the opportunity to move away from the tree. Spirit held his arms out in front of him slowly, and started circling Stein very carefully.

"It's okay, Stein. I'm not going to hurt you." Stein heard this come from his father instead. Stein went into a short fit of giggles at hearing this.

"How could you expect me to believe such a lie? You've already scarred me once. What makes you think I'd believe you wouldn't do it again?" He laughed a little more, and Spirit just tried to make sense of it all.

Spirit continued to circle Stein until he got to a position where he wasn't right in the course of a tree. Stein heard his father start laughing, so he ran at him, trying to grab onto his throat. Spirit ducked and ran behind Stein. Stein still saw his laughing father in front of him, but when he tried to wrap his hands around his throat, he turned into smoke and disappeared. His mind was too lost to comprehend that he hadn't been there, so he turned to search for him.

He was now standing where Spirit was, so he charged at him. Spirit moved out of the way in the wrong direction, for he was now right in front of a tree. Stein just grabbed onto the boy's neck; he thought it was a death grip, but in reality he was just touching it. He put the scalpel that was covered in now dried blood right up to Spirit's face.

"I am going to cut your eyes out, slice them in two. Then I'll cut out your heart. I'll shove my blade into you, twist and turn it, then pull it back out slowly..." At the end of saying this, Stein's voice dissolved into a fit of berserk laughter. Spirit started trembling, as he saw no way to get away from him. Then he thought of something.

Spirit brought his arm up slightly, and it transformed into a blade. Stein was practically hunched over Spirit, so when the blade formed, it was an inch away from slicing into his nose, the tip of the blade almost touching his forehead. Stein stopped laughing, but he looked at Spirit through the hair that covered most of his face, and a wicked grin formed.

"If I had something a little bigger, I would butcher you." Stein said this in a light tone, the grin never failing to remain. For the first time he saw it was Spirit, but that didn't change his desire in the slightest. He brought a trembling hand up to Spirit's face, but when he did that Spirit knocked his hand back, causing the scalpel to release from his grip.

He had to make sure Spirit didn't get away. He shot his wavelength into the boy. Something was different. Spirit had felt his wavelength before, and this wasn't it. This was more twisted, evil, and drenched in madness. He felt the wavelength penetrate through his body, and it felt so dirty. He cringed and let out a short scream while Stein grabbed his scalpel and gripped onto it so hard Spirit thought his fingers would snap.

Stein turned to face Spirit. His hair was still covering most of his face, his insane eyes showing through. His grin seemed to get wider, if that was even possible. Spirit could barely move, from both the pain of his partner's twisted wavelength blasting through him, and fear. He started trembling, and when Stein saw this, he started giggling again.

He began walking slowly over to Spirit, with a very eerie look about him. The closer he got, the more Spirit shook, and the more Stein laughed. As he inched forward, his giggles started turning more insane and berserk. He was now standing directly in front of Spirit, and his laughter had turned into a maniacal fit of hysteria.

He loomed over top of Spirit, who was almost paralyzed in shock, and pulled his arm back. He thrust it forward.

Ha! Looks like you're just going to have to wait to see what happens. ^_^