I am aware that most asian cultures don't really have the same concepts in psychology as in western culture. However I don't have the energy or resources to look up the different names for disorders in Japanese so let's just say I'm taking artistic liberties.

Also, sorry for the long wait. For some reason I have a hard time looking at my writing again after I complete a draft, so I haven't been able to edit this chapter for almost a whole year. I don't know what kind of emotional blockage is preventing me from doing so. Is it stage fright? Whatever it is, I'm getting better.

To make up for the long time it took to post this new chapter, I'm going to go ahead and unleash my "Sweet but Normie" yugioh AMV on youtube. I was originally going to wait until the Kaiba chapter came out before posting that video (because I know people are going to have questions. Like, what do I mean Kaiba has NPD? It gets explained in the Kaiba chapter later), but honestly I think I've been hoarding it for too long. You can have it now. My youtube channel is called River Vines so you can look it up.

About a week later, the day finally came for Ryou to visit the therapist. He sat in the waiting room, feeling nervous.

There was a clock on the wall that was ticking very loudly. Ryou anxiously glanced at it, noticing that there were still ten minutes left before his therapy session was supposed to start. He wondered if this was a good idea after all.

"Having second thoughts, yadonoushi?" the Spirit said.

Ryou inwardly groaned. Sometimes sharing a mind-like with someone else could be so inconvenient. He could hardly have a moment to himself without the Spirit eavesdropping on his thoughts.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just worried. What if I accidentally tell the therapist something I shouldn't?" Ryou said through the mind-link.

"It's not too late to back out and go home," the Spirit suggested.

"I'm not backing out for such a trivial reason! You know it took a lot of effort to set up this appointment!" Ryou scowled.

Even so, Ryou's anxiety continued to eat at him as the minutes ticked away. His thoughts were racing as he sat there consumed by apprehension and dread. He couldn't resist but ask, "Hey Spirit, do you ever think I'm too honest for my own good?"

"Sometimes," the Spirit said.

"I have gotten better at lying recently, haven't I?"

"If by lying you mean avoiding confrontation so that the truth doesn't slip out, then yes."

Ryou sighed. He pondered whether he really should just go home, but he knew that if he did he would regret it.

"Well, you know therapists are bound by rules of confidentiality. We can sue her for violating those rules if need be," the Spirit chimed in. "And worst case scenario, I can give her a penalty game."

"Absolutely not! No penalty games!"

"I know penalty games have a bad reputation for making people go insane, but they don't always have to serve as punishment. Low-level penalty games can be harmless, sometimes even benign. If you say something you immediately regret, I can just erase the last few seconds or minutes from her memory, and she won't notice."

Benign. Benign. It took a few seconds for Ryou to fully process those words, but it eventually sank in. "Penalty games can be benign?" he marveled. "Can you, like, cure a person's depression with a penalty game?

"I'm not sure. Maybe. I've never tried."

"How about curing blindness?"

"Possibly. It depends on the cause of the blindness."

"What about curing cancer?"

"No, because cancer is biological. Penalty games only affect the mind."

Just then, a woman came out of the office. "Ryou Bakura?" she called out.

Ryou immediately stood up. "Yes, that's me!"

"Come right in," the woman said, gesturing towards the door in invitation.

"Yes, of course. Thanks," Ryou said aloud. Towards the Spirit he said, "We'll talk more about this later. When we get home, you need to teach me how to give out penalty games."

Ryou went into the office and sat down on the couch. The therapist sat down in a chair in front of him.

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Airi," the therapist said. "We spoke on the phone and you said the reason you wanted to come to therapy was because you have DID, correct?"

"Yes, but first I'd like to say that I don't want an official diagnosis for DID. I want answers but I don't want anything written down on paper."

"Of course. I remember you did say that when we spoke on the phone. Definitely can do. So why don't we start out with what your goals are for therapy. Most people with DID would want to work on integration. Is that what you're interested in?"

"Oh no, I don't want to fuse together with my alter, and he definitely wouldn't want that either. We'd prefer to be separate beings."

"Integration can include fusion, but it doesn't have to. Each system is different. Perhaps you would prefer a resolution, that is you'd prefer to work on cooperation with your alter to live as a team?"

"Oh yes! That sounds much better! We'd much prefer that," Ryou said.

Airi wrote something down in her notebook. "So how many known alters do you have, including yourself?"

"Two. I'm the host, he's my protector. He used to be my persecutor but he's reformed."

"Is there a name you'd prefer to be called?"

"I'm fine with both Ryou and Bakura. My friends use both names for me interchangeably. But when they talk about my alter, they always call him Bakura, and sometimes Yami Bakura."

"Yami? As in 'dark?'"

"Yes, my friend group uses the term 'Yami' to describe alters with darker, edgier personalities to distinguish them from the hosts. Like with my friend Yugi, there's a regular Yugi and Yami Yugi. The regular Yugi is the host who does normal things such as going to school, and Yami Yugi comes out to save the day when he's in danger. Same thing applies for me and my alter."

"That's a creative way to name alters. I haven't heard of anyone doing that before."

"Actually it's only my friends who call him Yami Bakura. When I talk to my alter I don't call him that. Usually I call him 'Spirit,' because that's what he is. He's a three-thousand year old spirit from Ancient Egypt."

"It's interesting that you have a friend who's in the same situation as you. You must be close."

Ryou nodded delightfully. "We are! I look up to Yugi a lot. He's really good at games. In fact, he's won two major Duel Monsters tournaments!"

"Are you talking about Yugi Mutou? The King of Games? That Yugi?"

"Have you heard of him?"

"He's famous. I've seen him on TV. I never would've guessed the King of Games has DID."

"Oh yeah, it's actually Yami Yugi who does all the dueling in the tournaments. He's the one who did the work to earn the title of King of Games. They tend to get along with each other better than me and the Spirit. Yami Yugi has always been a protector since the beginning, whereas the Spirit started out as my persecutor, and then he reformed and became a regular protector."

"That's fantastic! Seems like you've already been working towards healthy multiplicity on your own. Could you explain how he changed from being a persecutor to a protector?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story." Ryou paused to think about how to tell the story without talking about the Millennium Items. "About a year ago, I still didn't know I had an alter. Whenever he fronted without my knowledge he used to do horrible things to my friends, and it got so bad that I had to change schools. That's why I transferred to Domino City. Then when I made new friends at my new school, he tried to do the same thing to my new friends that he did to my old friends, only this time I became co-conscious while he was doing it. I fought back and managed to regain control, and from that day forth I refused to allow him to front again. Now, I'd rather not say exactly what it is he was doing to my friends, if that's okay with you."

"That's alright. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Ryou breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now where was I? Oh right. A couple of months later my friend Yugi got invited to participate in the Duelist Kingdom tournament, and my other friend Jounouchi decided to join the tournament as well. The rest of our friend group tagged along in order to cheer them on. While we were there, we got trapped in an underground cave, and the Spirit offered to help us get out if I let him front again. So I did, and ever since then he's been helping me and my friends when we're in trouble. Secretly, of course."

"Secretly?"

"None of my friends know he's reformed. They still think he's evil, so they're still afraid of him. And they think he's dormant. They don't know I've been letting him front from time to time."

"That sounds like a heavy burden to keep secret from your friends. Wouldn't it be easier to tell them so you can have their support?"

"We were waiting for the right moment to tell them. In fact, we did tell the regular Yugi. But then the Battle City tournament happened, and everyone including Yugi thinks he's evil again. Did you watch the Battle City tournament?"

"Of course, I watched the whole thing on TV. In fact, I saw you on TV. You were in the finals, weren't you?"

"Oh my god you recognized me?" Ryou buried his face in his hands. "It wasn't actually me dueling, it was my alter."

"He has quite the…bombastic personality."

"He does, and it's quite embarrassing. Did you see how he acted on live television? Think about how this affects my reputation! People are going to think I'm crazy!"

"I felt that his performance on TV was quite entertaining and enjoyable to watch. I'm sure there were plenty of people who liked it."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "I've been getting more fans than usual at school, it's true. Though it's not really what I want. But anyways, there was a lot of stuff that happened during Battle City that most people don't know about. You see, there was a murderer who wanted to kill Yugi. His name is Malik. He entered the Battle City tournament so that he could get close to Yugi for a chance to kill him, so the Spirit worked as a double agent and pretended to work together with Malik in order to keep Yugi safe. But the Spirit's act was too convincing while pretending to be the villain, and all my friends think he was trying to help Malik kill Yugi for real. So we're back to square one."

Airi's eyes widened as she heard Ryou speak. "Are you serious?" she said in shock.

"Yeah, it's too bad, isn't it? I hate having to keep secrets from my friends."

"No, not that. I mean the murderer. Why did he want to kill Yugi?"

"Oh, actually the person he wanted to kill was Yami Yugi. He didn't have any real beef with the regular Yugi, however they share a body so it's not like he can kill one without killing the other. As to why he wanted to commit murder, it's kind of a complicated story but I'll summarize it. Malik has DID too, and his alter - whom we call Yami Malik - killed his father. But the regular Malik didn't remember it happening, and in order to shield him from the guilt of killing his own father, his siblings allowed him to believe that it was Yami Yugi who committed the murder."

"Is Malik still dangerous?"

"No, not anymore. He's reformed now. After he learned the truth about what actually happened, he repented for his actions and became Yugi's friend."

"Really? That's unexpected."

"Mmm-hmm, that's Yugi for you. He tends to make friends with a lot of his enemies. That's why I admire him."

"Also you say the murderer's name is Malik? You can't be talking about Malik Ishtar? The runner up in the Battle City tournament?"

It suddenly occurred to Ryou that he might've overshared. In hindsight it probably wasn't a good idea to give away Malik's name.

"Um…yes, that's him." Ryou stared at the ground, fidgeting nervously. "Um…you're not going to tell anyone about this, are you?"

"Not unless I have reason to believe that you're in danger of being hurt or hurting others. You're sure Malik isn't dangerous anymore?"

"Yeah, he's getting therapy and he's researching DID just like me. He's a good friend. In fact, he's the only friend I have who knows that the Spirit's been reformed. I'm sort of hoping they could become good friends, considering they're both ex-villains and all."

Airi simply nodded. Though there were a couple of things she didn't understand. "How on earth did Malik attempt murder without anyone noticing? Especially considering Yugi Mutou is a famous public figure, anyone who attempts to murder him should've made national news."

"Well, the methods in which Malik attempted murder were technically legal. He did it in ways no one would notice. You know how when you play Duel Monsters using Duel Discs, the players feel actual pain when being attacked by monsters? Malik was able to use that to his advantage. The pain of getting hit with a God Card's attack can be intense enough to cause a player to be hospitalized, or even die."

"I see. So Malik's plan was to hit Yugi with a God Card's attack in the hopes that the shock would cause him to die."

"Something like that," Ryou replied in a low voice. In truth there was a lot more to it than that, but there was no way to explain it without talking about the Millennium Items.

"That's awful. Kaiba Corp shouldn't have invented Duel Discs with the ability to cause that amount of pain on the players. There should be safety laws against it."

"Yes, that's what everyone's been saying."

"In fact, you were one of those players who got badly injured because of those Duel Discs. I saw that moment on TV when you were hit by a God's attack and were hospitalized. That looked incredibly scary."

"Oh yeah, that did happen." Ryou laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. "I actually almost died from that attack, but luckily my Yami saved me."

Airi nodded thoughtfully. "I was confused about what was happening the first time I watched it. You looked so well put-together one moment, and then all of a sudden you were kneeling on the floor clutching your arm in pain. About five minutes later you stood up and were fine again. It's almost like you…"

"Switched personalities? Yeah, that's exactly what happened."

"Did you switch out by accident?"

"That was no accident. Malik did that on purpose. I mentioned before that my Yami pretended to team up with Malik. He promised to help Malik collect all the God Cards, and in order to do that he had to defeat Yugi in a duel. So right before Yugi launched his attack with Slifer, Malik did something to trigger a switch between me and my Yami. Now, I don't want to say exactly what he did, because that's a bit too personal, but the point is he did it deliberately, and I was dragged to the front at the worst possible time. If Yugi were to attack with Slifer while I was fronting, the shock of the attack would've cost me my life, which meant Yugi couldn't attack."

"He used your life as a shield."

"Yes, and my arm was injured at the time, so I was in a lot of pain. Then my Yami took control again because he couldn't risk us dying. He has a much higher pain tolerance than I do, so he can survive Slifer's attack. I highly doubt Yugi would've attacked me anyway, but it's nice to know he cares."

"How did you get that arm injury in the first place?" Airi asked.

"Oh, we got attacked by some Rare Hunters earlier that day."

"What are Rare Hunters?"

"They're a group of criminals who steal rare cards from duelists off the streets."

"You mean you were mugged?"

"Yes, but it's okay. My Yami fought them off and we didn't lose any cards."

"But you were injured really badly."

"It's not his fault. We were outnumbered ten to one. It could've been a lot worse. I'm grateful to him for getting us out of there with just one injury."

"You should be more careful. Both of you."

"I know."

The room became uncomfortably silent. Ryou glanced at the clock and realized the time. "Oh shoot, half the session's already over and I haven't even gotten to talk about what I originally came to therapy for."

"Alright then tell me, what did you come here for?"

"The main reason I'm here today is because I'm worried about my alter. He's been self-harming inside the soulroom…or headspace, whatever you want to call it. I know most people with DID call them headspaces or inner worlds, and sometimes bedrooms, but in my circle of friends we call them soulrooms. Because, like, I don't have a bed in my room. It makes no sense to call it a bedroom."

"And you can call it whatever you want. Do whatever works for you.

"Right. So, both my alter and I each have our own soulrooms where we go when we're not fronting, and he hangs out in my soulroom a lot. For some reason he doesn't allow me inside his room, so I don't know what it looks like. I asked him why, and he said it's too dangerous for me to go in there, plus it's really boring and I wouldn't like it. But that only makes me more curious, because how can something be both dangerous and boring at the same time? Anyways, one time when I went into my soulroom I saw him in there cutting himself with a knife and then drinking the blood. He said he does that really often because he enjoys it and he's bored, and he doesn't seem to be concerned about it. In fact he made me feel like I was overreacting when I said he needed to seek professional help. I'm not overreacting, am I? I mean I know he's not doing it to our physical body but I don't know, it just seems like a cause for concern."

"You are right to be concerned. Would your alter like to come out so that I can talk to him about it?"

Ryou shook his head. "He doesn't want to talk to you. In fact he didn't want to come to therapy at all. It took a lot of convincing to get him to allow me to come here today, on the condition that I do all of the talking so that he doesn't have to."

"That's alright. He doesn't have to come out if he doesn't want to. Buying stress balls and cutting the foam is very similar in texture to skin. You could try that."

"That's a good idea! Can you write that down somewhere so I don't forget?"

"I have a spreadsheet of alternatives to self-harm. I can email them to you."

"That would be great. Could you do that right now?"

"Yes, I can do that right now. It should only take a few minutes. Let me get on my computer,"Airi said as she stood up and went to her desk. She logged onto her computer. "What's your email?" she asked.

As Ryou began spelling out his email, the Spirit let out a low, derisive chuckle. "That was fast, wasn't it? We could've looked up alternatives to self-harm on our own. We didn't have to come here to get it. I told you therapy was a waste of time."

Ryou didn't reply to that.

When Airi was done sending the email, she went back to her chair and sat down again. "Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"Um, well…" Ryou rubbed the back of his neck nervously. The truth is, there were many more reasons why he wanted to come to therapy that he didn't tell the Spirit about. Might as well get the hard part over with. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay, here goes. I think my Yami might have a personality disorder."

"Which one?"

"ASPD."

"Antisocial personality disorder?"

"Yes, I've been doing research about it behind his back. It is the most badly stigmatized disorder in existence, which is why I didn't want him to know I was thinking he might have it. I didn't want him to think I was doubting his character or thinking badly about him. I'm just worried about him. I want to do what I can to help."

"It is understandable for you to be concerned. ASPD is a personality disorder, and like any personality disorder we should look at his behaviors over time. Has he displayed symptoms like megalomania, a lack of remorse and empathy, having a reckless disregard for his own safety or the safety of others, repeatedly breaking the law, irritability, being impulsive…"

Ryou nodded nervously. "Yes, all of those are true."

"Manipulative behavior, superficial charms and glibness, untruthfulness and insincerity…"

"Eh? I don't know about those. Are you saying he might be lying to me about some things?"

"I'm not saying he is. I'm just listing symptoms."

"I don't want to accuse him of such things without any proof. Just because he has ASPD doesn't mean I shouldn't trust him. Right?"

"Well, manipulation isn't always a bad thing. A lot of people use manipulation or support it without realizing, because it doesn't fit into their warped, demonic meaning of the word. People use manipulation to avoid hurting people's feelings constantly."

Ryou smiled in relief. "Good, that's what I wanted to hear. There is a reason why I chose you as my therapist. It's because on the website, it said that you work with people who have ASPD and NPD. I wanted to ask you what real ASPD people are like. You have met real ones, haven't you? You can tell me what real ones are like."

"Yes, I work with lots of clients who have ASPD or NPD, or both. It's very common to have both."

"Can I ask you what they're like? Obviously you can't give out any names or personal details, but what can you tell me about them?"

"Well, in my experience, people with ASPD and NPD have trouble communicating with the world. The way they interact with the world makes them feel foreign and alien."

"How so?"

"Imagine if you're blind and everyone else thinks you're a bad person for being blind, so you constantly have to pretend you have the same sight as everybody else. Because people don't understand what empathy actually is. Empathy and compassion are not the same thing. You don't need to have empathy to be compassionate."

"You don't?"

"No. Empathy is just your emotions. You know how when you see someone in pain, you cringe and sometimes have to look away? Because you feel empathy. A person without empathy can see someone in pain and not feel anything at all. There's no emotional reaction. However, even someone without empathy can still choose to help the person in pain."

"That's compassion?"

"Yes. Compassion is the actions you take. It's the choice to be kind regardless of how you feel on the inside. Sometimes people with high empathy don't practice much compassion, and sometimes people with low empathy can be the kindest, most compassionate people on Earth because they've been working so hard on it. And although it is true that some people with ASPD or NPD can be abusive, the same goes for everyone else. Anyone can be abusive regardless of if you're mentally ill or not."

"Hmm." Ryou tilted his head in thought. "I don't think my alter has any interest in being the most compassionate person on Earth. He's definitely gotten better than before, but I don't think he'd ever go that far."

"He doesn't have to, nor should he be expected to. Some low empathy people do end up being the kindest, which is great for them, but it shouldn't be a requirement. It's okay to just be okay. Obviously he can't expect to get any praise for just doing the bare minimum, but low empathy people should never feel like they have to overcompensate for their lack of empathy with more compassion. It's just not fair to them, especially when empaths aren't typically held to the same standards."

"I think doing the bare minimum would already make him better than a lot of people. I do have more questions though. How does ASPD originate? There's so much conflicting information out there. The most common thing being said is that psychopaths are born and sociopaths are made. Is there truth in that?"

"No, that's fundamentally impossible. ASPD is the result of a combination of both genetics and environment, not just one or the other. You can be genetically predisposed to develop personality disorders, but in order for it to develop you have to also undergo lots of extreme childhood trauma. The vast majority of people with ASPD do not develop it later in life but somewhere in childhood or teenage years. In underage people it would be called Conduct Disorder, or CD, as ASPD is not diagnosable until you turn eighteen. CD does not always turn to ASPD but ASPD always starts off as CD."

"What's the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath anyway?"

"No one knows because they have no official definitions. It's like the difference between being bisexual and pansexual. What's the difference? No one knows for sure. It depends on who you ask. Different people use these terms differently. Some people say psychopaths are the high-functioning ones who are more likely to be able to hold jobs and have healthy relationships, some people say sociopaths are the high-functioning ones and that psychopaths are low-functioning. Keep in mind that functioning labels can be harmful though."

"Makes sense. Like with autism, right?"

"Yes. There are many similarities between ASPD and autism."

"I think it's pretty obvious at this point that I'm autistic," Ryou said. "I've been denying it, but I can't any longer. What you said about empathy makes a lot of sense. Is it a common thing for autistic people to have really, extremely high empathy?"

"Yes, that can happen. The term for that is hyperempathy."

"In that case, that describes me perfectly. I've always had extremely high emotional reactions to every little thing, since I was a child. It can be hard to deal with, though at the same time I am proud of it. On the one hand I can be naive and easily taken advantage of, but on the other hand hyperempathy acts like a radar for danger. I can tell if a person is dangerous to interact with from just five minutes of conversation, and I can also tell who would make a good friend."

Airi nodded. "If you were to try to describe what empathy is like to someone without it, how would you describe it?"

"Hmm. I don't know. It feels like I'd be trying to describe the concept of sight to a blind person, or the concept of sound to someone who's deaf. Empathy is…uh…" Ryou scratched his head. "It's like when I interact with someone, and I can automatically sense their personality, beliefs, and backstory without even trying. For me I don't even have to think hard about it. I just automatically see who they are, and I couldn't block it even if I tried."

"Right, but somebody without empathy wouldn't be able to see automatically. They have to use other cues to determine how to act in every social situation, things like hand gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and whatnot. It can put them at a disadvantage, but there are benefits too. It's often said that blind people are better at seeing using their other senses, so they can sometimes be more perceptive in other ways."

"Yeah, and I think the same goes for hyperempathy. There are benefits and drawbacks. Although I'm great at reading people, the emotions I get from social interactions can be so heightened that it's overwhelming to my senses. Sometimes it makes me scared to go out and meet new people. Because I get hurt so easily."

"So if you want to use the light and darkness motif, lacking empathy is like being in the dark and lacking sight. But on the other hand, hyperempathy is like having extremely sensitive eyesight, as if your pupils are always dilated and letting in too much light. Just like how too much light can hurt your eyes, too much empathy can hurt your mind."

"I like that metaphor," said Ryou. "I've been thinking, I know I said I didn't want to be professionally diagnosed with anything, but maybe I actually do want to be diagnosed with autism, and ADHD too while I'm at it. I still don't want DID or ASPD on paper, but I think being diagnosed with a few developmental disabilities might help me out, especially when it comes to getting help with schoolwork."

"We can look into that. I have to ask, however, does your alter also exhibit traits of autism and ADHD?"

"I don't think so? I'm not sure. But why do you ask?"

"Both autism and ADHD are neurological disorders, which means they're connected to the structure of the brain, the spinal cord, and nervous system. Therefore they would follow the 'All or None' principle when being diagnosed in conjunction with DID. The brain's neurology cannot change during a switch between alters. In order for you to be autistic, your alter has to also be autistic. If not, then you are merely 'autism-presenting.' That's why it's called 'All or None.' Either all alters are autistic or none of them are."

"Wait what? He's allowed to be ASPD for real, but I'm not allowed to be autistic? That's not fair!"

"It is possible he has autism too. It's extremely common to be both autistic and ASPD at the same time, considering the fact that autistic kids are more likely to be abused than allistic kids, which makes them more likely to develop personality disorders and dissociative disorders." Airi wrote something down in her notebook. "If you want, I have the ability to diagnose you with ADHD. But if you want an autism diagnosis you would have to seek a neurologist. I don't have the credentials for that."

"Can you help me get one?"

"I'll see what I can do, but unfortunately there are very few of them in Japan. You would have to travel quite far away from Domino City to visit one."

Ryou sighed, thinking about all the extra work and trouble it was going to take to get the diagnosis he wanted. "I'll take the ADHD diagnosis for now. Someday I'll meet with a neurologist for autism, but right now I'm overloaded with schoolwork, plus an art project that I have to complete for my father's museum." He looked at the clock. "I think it's time for me to go."

"Yes, the session is over."

Ryou stood up and bowed. "Thank you for your help today. I look forward to meeting you again next week."

"Me too. I have a feeling we'll work well together."

On his way out, Ryou thought hard about what the therapist had said. If ASPD could only develop as a result of extreme amounts of childhood trauma, what kind of childhood could the Spirit have had? What awful things could've happened to him that caused him to develop ASPD in the first place?

It was Yugi's destiny to help the Pharaoh get his memories back. For him it was easier, because the Pharaoh's past probably wasn't as traumatic. Ryou felt like it was his responsibility to help the Ring Spirit get his memories back too, but was that really the best idea knowing the horrors that awaited them? What if there were things in the Spirit's past that were better to just remain buried?

In the end, it would be the Spirit's decision if he wanted his memories back or not. There was plenty of time to decide. Whatever choice the Spirit made, Ryou vowed he would be supportive all the way.

Terms and Definitions

Co-fronting = the experience of more than one alter being in control of the body at the same time.

Co-conscious = the experience of more than one alter being present and aware (but not necessarily being aware of the same things).

Integration = a long process of breaking down dissociative barriers. Can include fusion or resolution, or a combination of both. Alters can start out dissociated and distance, and integration brings them closer together.

Fusion = a state where alters have joined together so completely that they no longer feel separate. (Note: do not compare it to fusion from Steven Universe, because it's not like that at all. Alters do not become a new person when they fuse. They're still the same as they've always been; it's just that they no longer feel separate. Both alters are still present, simply joined as one.)

Final Fusion = when all alters are fused and have a unified sense of self.

Resolution = smooth cooperation between alters.