She dreamt that she was back with Azreal. She dreamt that they were sitting and chatting, just like they always used to do. Just laughing and enjoying each other's presence. Just another old day.

Azreal was never really her brother, but she liked to think of him as one. She could tell him anything and he would just sit and listen, never judge. He was only a few months younger, but Azreal always called her big sis just for the fun of it. They were just two people, but each other was all they had. Rhya had abandoned her family. She was never abused per say, but she couldn't stand the empty house with a father that was never home and the mother who lived far away, never quite understanding her pain.

"Hey Rhya," Azreal started. "Why do you hang out with me?" Rhya looked over the green fields, pondering over the question.
"I guess it's because you have nobody, and I have nobody, so you can kinda understand where I'm coming from." Rhya replied. Azreal nodded, looking over the fields. Yep. Just another day.
Then the dream became sour. She was at the League of Angels, where Azreals mutilated body was being drug through the halls by the grave digger, without ceremony or remorse. Just the bloody, broken body leaving a trail of thick blood behind him.

Rhya supposed that's where the madness had started to emerge. She tried to cope with Azreal dying. But she had nobody. She tried calling home, but father was always tired and mother wouldn't understand the nature of her loneliness. She tried reaching out, but the people she interacted with left her burned and hurt. The madness first started lurking at that point.

Who gives a fuck about Azreal anyway?

Why not just kill the bloody idiots for treating me like dirt?

Or would I rather sit in the dirt and cry?

Rhya's response was the later-she would rather hide her emotions rather than lash out at others for them. After all, it wasn't their fault she became too attached to Azreal. She'd just have to suffer and move on.
But she couldn't move on. The madness started to become overwhelming, to the point where she had to lock herself in her room right after class just so no one would see.

Fuck, why don't I just die?

Why don't I just run away?

Why don't I just kill everything?

Why can't I?

What's holding me back?

I could kill everybody if I wanted.

I'm not the strongest meister…

But I'm definitely one of the cleverest.

That's why Rhya had to leave. One day she woke up and there was Thia, the girl who pretended to be her friend, lying mutilated on her floor. She wasn't dead, she was still coughing up blood, but she stared at Rhya with horror.

"Wh-Wh-Why?" She choked, trying to keep the gash in her neck to stop bleeding. "Fucking whore… Not having Azreal to fuck must be giving you withdrawal, right? Wait till Shinigami-sama hears about this…" Thia started to get up, but Rhya's eyes were already wide with disbelief, but a laugh had risen from her throat.

"Say that again you dying piece of shit" Rhya said, in a voice that wasn't her own. "Call me a slut again, I dare you." Thia looked at her dead in the eye, a venomous gleam to them.

"You're not just a slut; you're the fucking village bicycle." Thia hissed. Rhya had lost it. She walked over to Thia, with almost a skip in her step, smashing Thia's face with her boot.

"You think you're so strong, Thia" Rhya muttered. "Yeah, I know all about your poison blood…If I touch any of it, it melts through skin like acid, right? Well guess what little miss," Rhya had pulled out a bat at this point, "I'll just make sure the blunt trauma isn't enough for you to spit your filthy blood at me." She swung the bat right at Thia's gut, not even hesitating. She tried to cough up more blood, aiming right for Rhya, but Rhya was swifter, shoving the boot right in front of her mouth. Thia's eyes went wide with panic, trying to get air but suffocating against the thick rubber sole of the shoe. Rhya's eyes went wider, the laughing louder.

"That's right! Die you little piece of shit! I'm not afraid of you!" Rhya screamed. "I'm not going to take any of your shit any more, got that? From now on, you're my bitch, and you better listen well. Cuz if you cross my path again, I swear I won't hesitate to kill you on the spot." With that, Rhya kicked Thia in her temple, knocking her unconscious again. Rhya stood there, blood rushing, laughing with pure happiness. She shook everywhere. God what a rush!
What are you doing?!

You could have killed her!

You can't just do this!

Don't you hear me?!

At all?

Rhya woke up with a jolt, sweat running down her forehead. She hoped she wouldn't have another dream like this, not tonight, but she couldn't predict when her nightmares would ever happen. After confronting Kidd like that, she had hoped to sleep off all the stress of the night before. Apparently she couldn't run from her past for that long.

She got up, slowly, trying not to think about what awaited at her at school. Shun would be by her side, trying to get her to tell about her past. Ran would probably try to get her involved in a Spartoi plot she didn't want to get involved with, like going to Europe. Scar would probably look at her from the corner of her eye, wondering if they would ever hang out with the pathetic attempt she tried to win her over with earlier. Kaido wouldn't look at her, but he'd know enough to know she was madder than the Joker on acid. Everyone else would stare at her, the random new student that got into a coma from the famous Black Star less than a week of being at school, refusing to meet anyone's eye, barely looking at the people she had to suppress the urge to slaughter from her madness.

You're afraid of me? How sweet. I'm very flattered.

"Shut it" Rhya growled. If only she hadn't been so blind. If she had noticed that this thing had a mind of its own earlier, she wouldn't have hurt countless people, she wouldn't have done any of the things she wish she hadn't.

Yeah, but then again; you, clever? You should've seen that as a complete joke!

Rhya closed her eyes, getting dressed as quickly as she could. She was tired of being harassed of this thing. She had to find a way to get rid of it, soon. Typical things that released stress didn't help. She was talented at stringed instruments, but playing music didn't help. Neither did listening to Eisbrecher or Oomph!. Video games only made it subside for a moment, until the very last Pokémon died from a stupid critical hit, then she'd just go into another rampage. No, she had to do something complicated. She had to learn exactly how it emerged, perhaps then she could learn how to get rid of it.

You're joking, right? Have you even SEEN Stein? He's had years to battle his madness, but he hasn't even come close. What makes you think you have a chance of getting rid of me? You're mine to toy with, get used to it.

Rhya opened her eyes, looking in the mirror. Dark circles under her eyes, as usual. She sighed and covered them with foundation, looking at the clock. It was almost time to get going. She closed the lid to her make up when there was a knock at the door.

"Hey, I know you're in there girly." The loudest, most obnoxious voice yelled. Rhya turned around, unamused. It could only be Black Star. She trudged to the door, swinging it open.

"What?" Rhya hissed. Black Star stared at her, almost shocked.

"Jeez, what's with the sudden transformation from shy and reserved to hostile and vicious?" Black Star jeered. "Anyway, have you seen Ran? I figured she went to a friend's house after Kidd took away the Spartoi, but she hasn't been at any of the houses I've been to so far."

"She's not here." Rhya sneered. "Why would she come over here anyway?" Black Star stared at her for a moment, peered his head inside the door for a second, looked around, and then looked back at Rhya.

"But…this is the only house I haven't checked yet." Black Star said, almost quietly. "If she's not here…then where the hell is Ran?"

After Black Star's sudden appearance in the middle of class, the lesson was cut short so the staff could devote their undivided attention to finding Ran and Demi. Rhya breathed, trying to calm herself.

Calm down… you weren't angry at Black Star. It was the madness. You couldn't have done anything to prevent her from disappearing, nor should you be upset that Black Star suspects you in the back of his mind. Don't worry, calm down, calm down…

NOT LIKELY!

Rhya groaned, resting her head in her arms. So close, yet so far away. She looked around her. Everyone was chatting with someone else. Julia and Myrady were going back and forth making cracks at each other, while Scar sat on her desk, chatting with Kaido about various topics that peaked her interest lately. Shun sat behind her, asleep as usual. Myrady smiled and slowly scooted over, taking a marker and beginning to draw over his face. Shun didn't notice, he continued to sleep as if nothing was going on.

How can everyone be so calm? Rhya wondered. Ran and Demi have been kidnapped by who knows what, Haley and Keiran had been in the infirmary all morning, and so far no one has even come into the room. How can they be ok? How?

Because they're not as weak as you are. They don't burden themselves with the trivial nonsense you do. They're not pathetic. But you are.

Rhya gripped her fists, about to cry. But it was right, wasn't it? She was on the verge of tears just from a stupid voice inside her head while everyone else was enjoying themselves while their friends may be in danger. She must've been weak. What other explanation was there?

"Rhya Aoyama and Shun Jezek." A calm, cold voice rang out. Every one instantly silenced and looked to the front. Rhya quickly wiped away the tears that were about to emerge and looked up at the front. It was a man with white hair with a giant screw in his head, stitches all over his face and on his coat.
"I know you're both here, so why don't you two just come with me." He chimed, almost cheerfully. Myrady shook Shun awake, not taking her eyes off the man for a second. Shun jolted awake, trying to clear his vision while a mini version of the male reproductive organ sat on his cheek. He looked at Rhya, then to the front, where the man was. He almost fell out of his seat.

"Rh-Rhya, um….he called both of us, didn't he?" Shun asked. Rhya nodded, standing up slowly. She walked down the steps over to the strange man. Shun followed her, but much more slowly.

"Ok, so what do you need us for?" Rhya asked, trying not to add attitude in her voice. The man looked down at her, his glasses shining to the point where she couldn't see his eyes. It was unsettling.

"I'm here to take you to my office, and I'm going to teach you how to control your madness." The man replied. Rhya froze. It felt like a thousand different jolts of electricity were running through her body all at once, almost making her dizzy. Her vision blurred for a moment.

Control your madness

Control madness

Madness

The class knows

The class heard

The class KNOWS…

The class was behind her muttering between themselves. Rhya was frozen where she stood, almost on the verge of tears for the second time. Her secret…the one thing she tried to keep hidden…and this man just SAYS IT LIKE ITS NO BLOODY BIG DEAL.

That's it.

He let slip the biggest secret she has ever had like it wasn't even a huge deal

Keep going.

He couldn't just do that, not to her, WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS?!

YES!

"Aaaaaaaaaaand I'm going to stop you right there." The man concluded. Rhya looked up at him again, poised to attack, but no defense could've prevented her from being knocked out by the hand that lurched from nowhere.

Rhya blinked her eyes open, feeling the cool dry air around her. She could smell the sharp smell of anesthetic to the point where she could taste it. She looked around, slowly. She was in a laboratory, surrounded by various glass jars filled with different organs and fetuses of various species. She looked around and saw the man sitting with Shun, twirling a scalpel in his hand.

"Who…the HELL…do you think you are…" Rhya groaned, trying to get on her feet. She fell instantly, gripping onto the steel table she was laying on. Shun stood up, questioningly, as the man leaned back in his chair to see better.

"Well, I'm actually Professor Stein, but authority wise, I'm Professor Stein." He called. "Sorry about all the anesthesia, you weren't looking too sane for a moment." Rhya shot him a glare.

"I MEAN…" Rhya hissed, regaining her balance. "What gave you the right to let loose to the whole DAMNED CLASS about MY FUCKING SECRET?!" Stein smiled, chuckling to himself.

"I had to see just how bad the madness had gotten, which from the looks of it it's regaining in strength. Relocating has delayed it, but it's definitely still there." Stein mused. "How fascinating."

"I'm not your test subject!" Rhya lashed, throwing some random metal object at him.

"Rhya, do you not realize this is the only man on the entire planet that's more insane than you right now?" Shun implored, a trace of worry crossing his face. "That's really not good Rhya, because Stein is batshit on a normal day…"

"But today isn't one of those days, Shun." Stein declared, jumping out of his chair. "Kidd had put a rush order on your appointment with me, but unfortunately I only have a few days out of the month I'm not trying to dissect someone, and the dates are rather unpredictable-"

"I don't CARE!" Rhya cried out, her eyes watering already. "You ruined EVERYTHING! You ruined my only chance at a normal life! You ruined it! Just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut-"

"No Rhya, YOU ruined your chance" Stein snapped. "Because you kept your mouth shut for too long. You should've told someone the madness was back as soon as you realized, because you're already to the point where it's regaining control." Rhya stared at him resentfully, but didn't deny what he said. She had kept it secret. What was she supposed to do? Let everyone think she was exactly like this lunatic? She shot a glance to Shun, almost angrily. However that's not the look she got back. The look she got back was one full of worry, of concern, of caring devotion.

She dared to think it, but it looked like the look someone has when-

"Alright! Let's get started!" Stein declared, raising his arms in the air. "We better get started right now, or else Ran and Demi won't ever get rescued!"

"Let's start off by catching Shun up to speed, shall we?" Stein inquired, sitting back in his wheelie chair of doom. Rhya stared at him for a long, hard moment.

"Say that last part again?" Rhya asked, finally sober enough to stand normally.

"Well, I was just mentioning how we should talk to Shun about-"

"Not that you idiot." Rhya snapped. "About Ran and Demi." Stein set his chin on the back of his chair, rocking nonchalantely.

"There will be enough time for that later," Stein dismissed. "But for now we need to explain to Shun the nature of your madness." Rhya's eyes darted to Shun again. That damned look again. Worry, concern, but so much fucking adoration, to the point that it broke Rhya's heart with happiness, because she knew what that look meant way too well, and she never wanted him to stop looking at her like that, but he would if he knew, he'd never look at her with that look again.

"No." Rhya asserted, looking down. "Let's not do that. You can show me how to control my madness without him having to know."

"No Stein, tell me." Shun insisted. Rhya shot him a look of disbelief. He wasn't looking at her anymore.

No, please look back at me, please look at me, or else you'll never look at me again-

"Rhya, calm down." Stein reassured. "Shun will only know the basics, I won't release the full details-"
"But you and I both know the basics are still extremely horrifying." Rhya hissed. Stein looked at Rhya, then at Shun.

"Well, I'm going to leave this decision up to Shun." Stein started. "We have 3 options. One, I tell her story with the details I find necessary. Two, we knock Rhya unconscious and get the full story directly from her madness, without censorship and unabridged. Three, I dissect both of you." Shun and Rhya's face both went completely full of horror.

"Knock me OUT-?"

"I can't choose between any of those, especially the last one!"

"Any one of those would tell him way too much! (Except the dissection I guess, but it's not happening anyway!)"

"Shut UP, both of you." Stein demanded, only raising his voice slightly. It was enough to hush them both into submission though. Stein redirected his attention to Shun.

"It's your choice, Shun. Which one is it?" Stein inquired, leaning forward with interest. Silence. No one dared to talk, nor did they dare to breathe. Finally, Shun exhaled, relaxing only slightly.

"I'd rather have option one," Shun answered. Rhya lowered her glance, refusing to meet anybody's eyes. She couldn't, not during this. Stein gave a small smile, standing up out of his chair.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tricked you like that, but we were going to do option two this entire time despite what either of you said. That being said, Rhya will be unconscious in just a moment, if you don't mind waiting." Stein announced, kicking the floor with his shoe. Before Rhya could work out what happened, or remember what option two even was, she was out cold, slumping down to the floor.

"RHYA!" Shun yelled, jumping out of his seat to run to her. Stein shot his arm out in front of Shun, forcing Shun back. Shun shot Stein a deadly venomous glare. "I SWEAR TO LORD DEATH STEIN, MOVE YOUR GOD DAMNED ARM!" Stein shot him a glare back, but this time it was a lot more menacing, definitely more threatening.

"I shot her with a huge chunk of my soul wavelength, Rhya's going to be unconscious no matter what you do." Stein hissed. "But you don't seem to realize that when I did that part of my madness was shot at her as well, so when her madness wakes up, there's no telling how powerful she'll be. So for your own goddamned SAFETY, sit your skinny ass back down." Shun gritted his teeth, wishing desperately that he could so something to prevent him from harming Rhya. But he was just a weapon. He couldn't do anything.

"Hehehehehe…god, she picked a real loser, didn't she?"

Shun stood frozen, a chill going down his back. It was Rhya's voice. But it was twisted and dark. His partner, his partner that miraculously came to him…but it wasn't her at all…

He looked over and saw Rhya on her feet, but in a position that looked like she was a puppet held up by bits of string. Rhya's head tilted down, making Rhya look at Shun straight in the eye.

"You heard me. Man, I thought Rhya was the worm, but you've definitely set the standard to a whole new low-"

"How about you tell us your name first." Stein intervened, pushing Shun back into the chair. Shun's entire body was shaking, from shock, terror, anger, sadness- he didn't know. Rhya tilted her head to Stein.

"How about…Asyl. Never really had a name. But Asyl has a certain ring to it, you know?" Rhya laughed sickly, twistedly. No, Shun couldn't refer to this thing in front of him as Rhya anymore. It was Asyl, a different creature altogether.

"Could you possibly tell us how you emerged and gained power?" Stein questioned, taking a step forward. Asyl did the opposite and stepped back. Stein sighed. "You can be as gruesome and as horrific as you want, we won't intervene." Stein added, taking a step back. Asyl looked at Stein quizzically, but smiled.

"Sure…I don't see why not." Asyl replied. "But even your madness won't be able to stand this for long, Frank N Stein."

"My love didn't tell me who I was going to be infecting, just that it was going to be someone they had been cultivating to have a perfect soul for madness. Isolated, weak, anxious- they had been influencing every pain and torture she had endured until I came along. My love had made sure that her family was isolated from her, from the tiny little influences he has control over. He even mutilated her friend's body just for her, the lucky gal. When I came along I didn't even have a mind of my own yet, I was just a shadow planted in her head to hiss in her ear now and then. But my love didn't expect how easily she would give in to it. Instead of fighting back, she LENT me more space! Isn't that weird? Anyway, pretty soon I had a pretty snug place in her head, every day I got to twist and morph her thoughts and make her madder. Eventually my love asked me to try to change one of her actions. Like instead of turning right to turn left. I didn't think I was nearly powerful enough to do something like that, but it was my LOVE, he's my everything, I can't possibly fail him.

So I decided I was going to do something much more drastic than just changing an action. I was going to change her actions. Plural this time. See, if I just change one little thing, sure the madness would progress, but my love has really high hopes for this body, I couldn't disappoint him. So I decided that I was going to take the little bitch Thia and knock the living shit out of her, just for fun. I blacked out halfway through, I never realized how much energy it took to control someone's actions, but after Rhya woke up I was able to influence everything she did after that. Did you know Thia was in the infirmary for a YEAR after that?! That was me! God it was such a rush! I mostly blugered her, I couldn't let her spit that acid blood at me, but at one point I got brave and I sliced the artery in her neck open. There was so much blood, her own poison blood ended up eating at her own skin! God you should've heard how terrified she was! I made sure she didn't die, I didn't want to go overboard, after all my love would be upset if I killed her. But ahh! It was so much fun! What's that dirty look for? Oh, just wait! It gets even better!

After that episode Rhya was at her breaking point. She locked herself in her room every possible moment she was allowed to (pathetic little shit), but I was able to control her now, like I was part of her mind. I'd take over sometimes, pick a random student that I thought looked like a nice target, and I'd drag them out into the woods behind the school and torture them. Most of the time Rhya couldn't remember, she was so horrified by what I was doing she kinda was just dropped off the face of the brain by then. I tortured a total of 12 students before the teachers were sniffing on my trail. Rhya knew it too, so she made a run for it, horrified by what was happening to her. My love was so elated. He couldn't believe how perfectly this was turning out!

After that I had to leave the body for a while; Love wanted me to help with some torture and stuff, apparently two perfectly good captives had gotten away a couple years prior and the lackeys were having a lot of problems trying to find new specimens. That's when Rhya decided to get clever and run off. But obviously she wasn't that smart. I already had to search for the two captives that had escaped, and guess what! There she was, along with the one eyed girl and the boy we skinned the eyes off of! God, it was almost too perfect, like a puppy running back home to its master. It was hard to get back in control of the body, but hell, you just helped me out immensely Stein! I'll be able to take that 'Scar' girl back to the torture rooms, and since the blind boy just got attacked by my love's pet, he'll be easy picking for the ravens, if you know what I mean, hehehehehehe!"

Shun stared at Asyl, horrified. This was major. This was HUGE. THIS is what the Spartoi were in over their heads about. And Rhya…no wonder she never spoke a word, this was horrific, this was terrible.

But thank god, it wasn't Rhya.

"What are you looking like that for?" Asyl hissed. Shun shot his eyes back up at Asyl. Her face was twisted, angry. "Why are you RELIEVED?! You should be horrified! Your little girlfriend almost tortured a girl to death, and she was part of the plan that involved your friends getting their eyes taken out! Doesn't that just make you sick?!" Shun stared at Asyl. Looking at her now, she hardly seemed horrifying. Why did this Asyl care what he thought about? Why was it important?

"No…because it was you that did those things, Asyl, not Rhya." Shun replied, almost calmly.

Asyl flung herself at Shun, almost like a monster. Stein stepped in front of him, taking hold of her hands, swung her around and flung her across the room. There was a loud crash and thousands of bottles fell off their shelves, causing liquid and glass to fly everywhere. Stein swung his head to Shun.

"Go get Evans and Maka, NOW." Stein yelled. "Tell them what you heard, I'll take care of her!"

"But Rhya!" Shun called out. Asyl hissed in the background, starting to stand again.

"I won't kill her, but I can't promise that she won't spend some time in the hospital." Stein admitted. "But you need to leave, now!" In a split second Asyl launched herself at Stein again, snarling like a demon, but Stein was just keeping her out of arms length as he palmed her in the side. There was a moment of lightning, but no reaction from Asyl. She smiled, laughing menacingly now. Shun ran out of the building, horrified. This had to be stopped. Something had to be done, and he couldn't do it, he was so powerless, he couldn't help Stein, he couldn't protect Rhya, he couldn't do anything but run.

And that made him sick to his stomach.

"You said Stein and Rhya were fighting in here, right?" Maka asked, wielding Evans in his scythe form.

"It's not RHYA!" Shun yelled, still panicked and angry.

"Alright alright!" Evans snapped. "But they're fighting in here, right?"

"Yeah, Stein told me to get you two, I don't have time to explain right now-"

"I think you will, since I don't hear anybody fighting." Maka replied.

Shun stood completely still. There wasn't any sound in the air. The moon wasn't even laughing. There was only the sound of himself breathing. No sound of Asyl, no sound of Stein, no sound from Rhya. The last one terrified him the most.

"Wait, what's that?" Shun asked. The three of them noticed all at once. There was a soft chuckling, quiet and soft, coming from the room. Shun felt a stone drop in his stomach.

Oh god no, Asyl won, Asyl has Rhya, oh no oh no-

"God you idiot, that's just Stein." Evans groaned, transforming back into his human form. "We were drug all this way for nothing? God, that's so uncool-"

"Soul, shut up for a minute." Maka snapped. "Yeah it is Stein, but something isn't right. We need to go inside."

"Are you serious Maka? Stein has been mad from the day we met him! Let's just leave!" Soul insisted. Maka shot him a glare.

"Ok Soul, so if nothing's wrong then why are there black thorns around Stein's soul that weren't there before? The same black thorns I told you were around Rhya's, explain that Soul." Maka snapped. "Something's not right, we have to look into this, especially with everything that's happened-"

"Help me!" a voice yelled. The three of them all jumped to attention, any bickering that seemed to be important diminishing in a moment. The three of them ran inside, almost trying to push each other out of the way, but nothing could've prepared them for what they saw.

Rhya was in the middle of the room, her clothes half torn, half of her body covered in blood, with medical tools in her hands. Stein was laying on the floor, his wool shirt torn off, deep surgical gashes all across his body. He was chuckling, but it seemed as if he was trying to refrain from laughing too much from the pain of his injuries. Rhya stared down in horror at Stein, tears falling from her face.

"Someone help me," She choked. "It's happened again."