As soon as they got back, they heard the sound of shattering glass. When Kidd opened the door, rather angrily, he saw Cameron kissing Alice-or trying to. Alice looked pissed. "Asshole, you made me drop my beer!"
"Sorry." He replied, backing off a little. He then saw Kidd and Brandon out of the corner of his eye. "Oh hey."
"You..." Brandon replied, his rage flaring. He charged at Cameron, tackling the madness manifestation to the floor. After a succession of punches, Brandon rose to his feet, dusting off his overshirt.
Alice simply scowled at the now broken bottle on the floor, it's contents spilled all over the place. "Now look at the mess I'm gonna' have to clean up!"
"Let the maids get it." Kidd replied.
"A little help, please?" Cameron asked, raising his hand into the air.
"Fuck off." Brandon growled, a sadistic tone in his voice. He then pulled out his flask and downed the all the contents in one chug.
"If I can move." He replied, attempting to stand up.
"Aren't you supposed to be the stronger one?"
"Yeah, but it still fucking hurts!" Cameron replied, rising to his feet. "Where's the broom?"
"I'll be right back." Alice said, running up to her room. Several minutes later she came down with a broom, a dustpan and... a frilly maid dress. "Put it on and I'll forgive you~!"
Cameron stared at Alice like she was batshit insane. "I ain't putting that shit on!" Cameron exclaimed, pointing at the dress.
"Don't make me force you to put it on." Alice replied, completely serious while Kidd just chuckled. Cameron stared at her wide-eyed. He then looked down in shame and took the dress. He headed to Alice's room and was back five minutes later. He kept his head down, unable to look up at the trio. Alice chuckled. "Clean it up, maid!" Cameron sadly took the broom and dust pan. He then cleaned up the mess without raising his head once. He then immediately rushed back to Alice's room and put his suit back on.
"Man, you should've went out fightin," Kidd said.
"She probably would've broken his kneecaps." Brandon chuckled, watching Cameron hang his head in shame.
"Well, a few minutes ago, he looked like he WANTED her to take his clothes off." Kidd replied with a chuckle.
"Pervs." Alice said.
"Not like that." Cameron said weakly, his pride smashed to bits.
"It's OK," Alice said. "You're not the first guy I've forced to crossdress." Brandon immediately broke out into laughter, nearly collapsing from his laughing fit. Alice just bit her lip, a little saddened. "I miss him." she whispered.
"He's probably in a better place now." Brandon said, attempting to overcome his laughing fit. Alice simply glared at him. "Sorry, sorry." Brandon said, calming down a bit.
She hissed at him before turning to Kidd. "I'll explain after you give me my medicine."
Brandon then went wide-eyed and glared menacingly at Kidd. "Don't you fucking dare." He growled, mustering every bit of menacing in him.
"OK, I won't," Kidd said. He turned to Alice. "It's in the basement. You know how to take it, right?" Alice nodded. "Go get it." Alice then ran through the basement door, locking it behind her.
Brandon chased after her, but stop dead as soon as he slammed into the door. "GODDAMNIT!" He yelled, slamming his balled fist against the door. He then wheeled around and stared Kidd directly in the eye. "YOU!" He exclaimed, the microscopic bit of insanity in his soul growing larger by the second.
"Believe me, I don't like it either, but we had to put the opium in it." Kidd said. "When she took it without it, she was in so much pain she couldn't move for days and pain medication just wouldn't work."
Brandon ground his teeth together, his rage boiling near its bursting point. "Have you exhausted every other possibility?" He growled, struggling to keep his rage in check.
"She wouldn't let us." Kidd replied.
Feeling that his rage was low enough, Brandon instantly began thinking hard. "Oxycodon? Morphine? Celecoxib?" Brandon asked, running off a list of prescription strength drugs.
"Like I said, they wouldn't work. Medication just doesn't effect her. There were only two options left, the opium or some surgeries that Stein assured would be VERY painful." Kidd replied.
"They couldn't be paired?" Brandon questioned, a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness causing his rage to begin rising again.
"That probably would have killed her," Kidd replied. "She's not human, remember? She's a Kishin. When they turn human, they're more fragile, both physically and mentally." Brandon gritted his teeth and balled his fists tighter, cursing the world for being such a cruel thing. To prevent his snapping against someone, he punched the door to the basement with all his strength, but surprisingly the door remained rigid. "If you're trying to break it down, it's not going to work. That door is made from steel and Tekchnomalagois. You can't break it." Kidd remarked.
"I wasn't trying to. I just needed to punch something, and would've rathered it not have been either of you two." He said lowly, gesturing at Kidd and Cameron.
"OK, but don't break you're hand... punching it." the reaper replied.
"I'm fine." Brandon replied, not even feeling the pain radiating from his hand. Cameron just wandered off towards the kitchen, hoping to drown his sorrow in booze.
"Get back here, Cameron." Kidd snapped, and, surprisingly, Cameron obliged, not even knowing it.
'Goddamnit it, Alice.' Brandon thought to his partner, gritting his teeth again.
'Fuck off,' she thought back.
'You know what this does to you. Why are you doing it then?" Brandon thought, the rage masking sorrow in his tone.
'So I won't hurt anyone like I did Alec.' she thought back.
He curled his fists even tighter in rage, most likely only a couple pounds off from breaking his fingers. 'Just...goddamnit.' He thought, clenching his eyes closed. At that moment, the door opened up on him. Alice looked calmer now and there was a small bandage on the inside of her arm. She wasn't as pale, either. Brandon opened his eyes and saw her before him. "I'm sorry." He said, looking down. She simply stared at him emotionlessly, much like how she was when they first met. Her posture was stiff and she seemed a bit tired. He then looked up and saw her state, looking deep into her seemingly lifeless eyes. "Alice? Hello?" Brandon asked, waving his hand in front of her face.
She glanced at Brandon and blinked. "Hello."
"Are you ok?" He asked, noticing the distant look in her eyes.
"I'm fine."
"Ok." Brandon said, still a bit worried about her.
"I'm tired." she stated. "I'm going to bed." She then went up to her room and locked the door.
Kidd raised an eyebrow. "It's not even twelve in the afternoon yet." Even though it was dark out, with a blood colored sky, it was only 10:34.
"Druggies usually fall asleep early because the drugs over excite their body, using up all its energy. Besides, painkillers stop the transition of neurotransmitters, so it also stops the flow of energy." Brandon explained, surprised Kidd didn't know this.
"Still, it's never happened to Alice before." Kidd replied, deep in thought.
"She was under a lot of added stress lately." Brandon said, remembering back to the last two weeks.
"That still shouldn't be happening." Kidd replied. "Tell me, has she been going through any changes while she was with you?"
"Um, if I remember correctly, she had her first period a while back." Brandon said, trying to remember back.
"Shit!" Kidd shouted. "That shouldn't have happened either!"
"Why not?" Brandon asked, knowing Kidd's outburst wouldn't lead to anything good.
"This means she's aging," Kidd replied. "The experiment me and Stein were planning was to see if we could turn a Kishin back into it's original form. For Wendigos, like Alice, that means turning them into Gods. Gods don't age."
"And she's aging." Brandon said, his eyes widening at his consolation. "That means she's going to become the equivalent of a 200 year old human." Brandon stated, knowing what would happen.
"Yes." Kidd replied. "That means she's going to die."