"No... Not you... The black blood... Not you... Marie..." Stein's words were very slow and sluggish as he spoke in his sleep. Vivid dreams of things he didn't want to ever think about thundered in his subconcious.

He was falling... Falling into a river. His face was up toward the black and purple sky while his back was downward. His back would be what part of his body he would land on should he hit the water or ground. The same demonic creatures that always taunted him before were swirling around him, whispering. But the whispers were not the same. "You see? You can't hold it back now. You know that. Even when you had your precious Marie by your side, you still were not able to fight back."

"You're wrong! I was able to hold back plenty of times!" Stein screamed back at the demons as he continued falling. Anger was beginning to pour into him. His muscles clenched and tightened.

They all giggled insanely. "Oh, Stein. That may be true, but eventually, you will grow tired of this pointless game. In the end, we will take over. You will fall, and you will never get back up. You know this."

"No! I have a reason to keep fighting! So long as I have that reason, I will not fall! I will not be defeated!" Stein's chest felt as if it were about to burst from what he thought was lack of oxygen, and his gut had a ticklish feeling in it from the negative gravities from falling. He inhaled deeply and some of the bursting feeling in his chest went away. However, his clenched muscles were beginning to contract further, and sharp pains shot through them.

"What's your reason, Stein? Your precious little Marie?" The creatures' whispers were all taunting, menacing.

"Shut up! You already know!" His anger was now really starting to boil over. He wanted to rip something apart, destroy something. He wanted to dismember something with an ax or a chainsaw just so he could see blood fly everywhere... Now he seemed to be falling even faster.

"That's it, Stein... That is how you should be. Isn't this so much easier? Now you and your little Marie can dismember and bathe in your victims' blood under the moonlight together."

"What...? Marie would never do that! She isn't a monster!" Confusion seeped its way into Stein's head as his muscles continued to tremble with hot flashes of pain.

"Oh, really?" The whispers asked questioningly. Then, Stein heard it. He heard that voice, almost similar to a bird's chirp, call out to him. He was now so close to the river... Just a few more moments and he'll hit the water.

"Franken..." Marie's sweet voice rang in his ears.

"Marie!" Stein's head snapped to the left where he saw Marie, standing on a large floating grass mound. It was about twenty feet in diameter with a large oak tree with beautiful green leaves and a small creek running from a hollow at the bottom of the tree trunk and going down the grass until it spilled over the edge of the area and fell into the river.

"Franken, come back to me." Her words were so soothing, so sweet.

"Marie..." He whispered to himself. "I want to come back to you..." Then he was no longer falling. He was lying on his side, naked. The leg that he was not lying on was at a ninety degree angle, his knee coming toward him; His other leg was casually outstretched. He lay there, panting heavily with the blades of grass rubbing against his skin. Then he felt her touch, her soft hands carressing his upper arm, shoulder and neck.

She was sitting on her knees, bending over with her lips just millimeters from his ear."Shh... It's alright. I have you; nothing will happen to you now." Stein breathed in a sigh of relief. He was safe now, he was not falling anymore. At first, he felt somewhat awkward having her so close with him not wearing any clothing whatsoever. But that awkwardness soon faded away as he realized just what she had done for him. Marie stopped him from falling into the river of God knows what, and she soothed his spasming muscles, causing the hot flashes of pain to melt away.

"Marie..." Stein closed his eyes and took another breath through his nostrils. Then they returned.

"Stein... How much longer do you think this can last?" His eyes shot open as the whispers continued. "You've already infected her. How much longer will she be able to hold on to her own sanity?"

"What?" Stein picked his head up and stared at Marie in horror. Her face, her beautiful face... Was now distorted with the face of a Kishin. Her mouth grew into an overly large grin, baring what little teeth she had as saliva dripped down her chin. The once green leaves began turning a sickly reddish- green, the same color that his eyes were right after he pulls out of the madness. Then the creek caught fire as if it were gasoline and a cigarette were dropped in it. Stein sat up quickly, rapidly crawling away from something that should be Marie.

"Don't you get it? After you hurt her, after you almost killed her," The creatures added great emphasis to the word 'killed', "you infected her. You were trying to save her by giving her your own blood. But what is in your blood, Stein? What is taking over?"

Stein's eyes grew wider and his heart began beating rapidly. His mind began racing as tons of emotions began flooding into him: regret, self-disgust, pain, guilt. "What have I done...?"

"You saved her, though! She would have died if you had not given her your blood."

"That is not saving her!" Stein's eyes darted across the insane realm he was trapped in. The demonic creatures were now crowding around him, their voices creating a toxic mixture of whispers. All of the emotions flooding in, all of the whispers, knowing the fact that he had doomed the only person he had ever loved to utter destruction was too much.

Marie began limping directly to him, bubbly giggles radiating from her lips. This person, no, this thing was not Marie. This thing was something that his subconcious created, and the madness took that advantage and used it against him. Marie, no, it, was now quite close to him. It reached its hand out with trembling fingers; If it were to take just another step, it would be close enough to just barely touch his face.

The whispers kept calling out to him. They didn't stop, it was making the little ground he sat on shake. Soon, Stein felt movement in the grass, and he looked down to see it all crumbling away. The only thing that was keeping him from falling was now falling apart, and he was about to drop. A large chunk of dirt and grass- the grass he was sitting on- broke off, and he fell. In quick motion, he reached his arm up and grabbed a chunk of grass. It supported him for a few seconds, but it soon broke off and he began falling once more. Stein then felt his muscles clenching again, and he loathed the idea of the searing pain that would soon come.

"Marie!" He screamed out. He was now just a few feet away from the surface of the water... So close... Stein then felt the water just barely touch his bare skin.

He shot up from his bed, heart pounding with a cold sweat, and stood trembling in the corner. He looked around his dark room in confusion feeling very fortunate to have left his bedside table lamp on. Several minutes passed by, but to him it felt like all night, while he sunk into the corner. He fell to the floor, flinching at how cold it was against his skin. Wait... Why is it so cold? Stein looked down at his body. Where are my clothes...? His eyes slowly drifted around the dim room till he found black pants on on the floor just a few feet away from his bed.

Another few minutes passed by as he dwelled over his dream. It was so vived, so real. He could swear that he could actually hear Marie's voice, he could actually feel the pain of his muscles spasming. Then he remembered. I need to run the tests immediately. If she really does have black blood in her, I need to find a way to cure it or maybe even extract it somehow... But... How...?

Helloooo to all my readers. Sorry I haven't uploaded a chapter as fast as I usually do. I just started school today and I didn't have a chance to at all over the weekend. The chapters will now probably be uploaded on weekends. Anyway, what do you guys think this dream means? Could it actually be what you think it is? Or could it be just Stein's subconcious running wild again? Leave your creative ideas or opinions! Thanks for reading! :) -Mikshizels