#496, formerly known under the title of "Adrenaline", was currently trying to get rid of their state of rage.

… Rage… actually seemed a bit off to him, If he had his way he'd be screaming about how he was really goat… riverdam.. fudgi-

His very lacklustre swear modifiers were abruptly cut off by having to vomit a few bottles worth of blood.

"Shipwreck."

…

How am I going to explain this?

As he walked, blood dripping by his feet, he saw flashes of images.

… getting caught by the guardhouse windows.

… Others finding his blood trail before he returns home.

… Dale noticing his clothes when he hides them in the lockers…

Then, one time:

"Mal. Need to talk?"

Wow. There was actually a way to explain this.

He tried to chuckle at how easy it appeared to be.

"Hey, Megan, willing to work with me here?"

… The bleeding halted.

Mal started running towards any small hill they could find, and sat down. It was a rather good day, despite all the rage they had been feeling about all this annoying overprotective control.

..

Damn period.

..

This was going to be a very weird day in the rankings of "coming out to your adopted parent with a secret."

… They decided to practice. It began with tightly grasping a few fingers.

"Hey, Dale." CRACK.

"You see, I noticed some weird things happening to me."

"You know, mood swings, tired as he-" UAAAGH.

… They had to pause after more violent puking.

"Well that's just-" CRACK -"peachy. Guess th-" CRACKKKK "-the indoctrination cues haven't fully gone-" CRACK "-away yet."

…

… "From the top. So… Dale. It turns out I can use a supernatural ability."

… Just… "Be Honest"? Really? That's all I need to do?

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

"If you show so, Megan."

With that, the spritely figure walked back to their hometown. They had a supervisor to answer to.

Their voice faded as they repeated the same few lines of introductions.

"…. So… Dale…."

No. I need to come up with something much better-

….

"Hiiii Dale."

They entered quickly through the door, closing as quickly, but quietly, as they could.

Oh. He's not here. I can get a change of clothes-

… The look of hopeful acknowledgment of their lucky day came out slowly-

Then the door slammed closed in a second with a rattle that shook the house. Mal spun around to see a large handprint embedded into the wood.

Well that plan went to an absolute shipwreck.

Dale stood, armoured, tired, and definitely well aware that they snuck out.

Again.

Mal started to speak, their smile twisting and very nearly falling open in dread, all the while they were clenching their arms in front of their chest. "So… Dale…"

"Malady Greenpath."

"Dale. I fu-"

Dale silently pointed to a small metal bucket. The figure darted towards it, expelling a small amount of blood into the container.

…

"Dale. Don't call me that."

"It's the best way to get a response out of you when you did something bad again."

…

"Now… What did you do?"

Mal despised their full name with a passion. Mostly because Alexander Megan Greenpath is somehow too weird of a name. The second and slightly more relevant fact is that they had first encountered Dale saying "What's your name" as "What's the problem."

This in itself is incredibly awkward to admit the mistake, because then it goes from "So, Dale. I didn't hear you." To "Sorry, Dale. My ears were broken and repaired with basically small holes in the side of my head formed in a scientific experiment that gave me significant brain reconstruction. Also, you mind waiting five hundred seconds and repeating that then?"

… and you can't really… explain that too well without seeming insane.

They tried once, taking multiple shots with Megan's support going through all the conversations in their head before Dale brought them to get medically examined for bleeding out while staring unfocused at a wall. You know, since it's absolutely normal human behaviour to have conversations with a dead girl from her transplanted parts of your combined brain. She was actually really useful to have about, but… see the recap of the previous point:

1 of 1: Too long to explain.

Thus, they were called Malady. He was only barely able to pretend to heal long enough to start speaking again before Dale introduced him to the rest of the town and got himself called Mal.

… He'd accept being asked any question, but NEVER what Mal stood for. They were currently deciding to take the easier way out and just call it a shortening of Megan-Alexander if they were ever asked.

But… before any of that would ever have a chance to happen… they had to come out to their adopted dad.