Addendum 8: Remembrance of What Was Part 1

Here it is, after a 4 month hiatus, the next chapter of RoAD and the longest one to date. Fun fact, thanks to PPC I found out that I spoofed a classic novel with a similar title to this (and the next chapter). This wasn't intentional. I didn't know that novel existed until I read one of the more recent PPC chapters.

Just a heads up, this chapter is an OC focused on, centered on Rose and Muireann. Passing appearances from Touma (though not quite), Othinus, and Brunhild.

Also this chapter is being split into 2 parts, so the next chapter is also OC focused. I didn't really want it to pan out like that, but this chapter spiraled out of control in terms of length for me. I also think its bad for the reading experience if a chapter exceeds 50k words, this isn't like a normal book where you can place a bookmark and come back where you left off, FFN sorta has that function but it's all janky.

But since this is an OC focused chapter, I made it a serious one too and also tried spicing things up a bit with some ideas I had.

I'm also trying something new here, splitting up the chapter in segments denoted by a bold title. The lengths aren't standardized; they just take place in the sameish setting. This way I can refer to specific parts for ease of reading and callbacks. I'm particularly proud the last two sections of this chapter, "The Monster" and "Those Who Lurk in the Dark"

Anyways I hope you enjoy!

The Heart of Darkness

John was currently on the 10th floor of Touma's penthouse, he was looking at the small dream catcher in his hand, he wasn't sure who it was from, but he did know its purpose. The man tidied up his suit before walking over to the break area, he took a seat on one of the recliners and set the dream catcher on the coffee table beside him. The hunter then took a look at his watch, it was 2:30 am, he should be off work right now provided there weren't any emergencies that needed his attention.

Pretty much everyone else in the building, excluding night guards, were asleep. John placed his palm on his head and sighed, he then muttered something to himself. As if summoned, something emerged from the shadows beside him, something seemingly made of shadow and darkness itself. The hunter, however, was not surprised at this, he instead turned towards the entity casually and started conversing with it.

"Ah, so you're awake right now, thought it'll be around noon where you are. Look, I need your help right now, someone put these dream catcher in the rooms here. If I recognize the magic right, they're trying to spy on us by peering into our dreams. I need you to find the source, find out who put them out, and then disrupt the spell. So can you please do it?"

The entity then did something like a wave, "Don't worry John, Old Joe's got this."

"I hope you do, I'm going to take a one hour nap next to one of these. You should be able to link up with the rest of those dream catchers through my mind."

Elsewhere?

Muireann was currently sitting at a beach, she relaxed as she enjoyed the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore and the feel of the ocean breeze on her skin. She then noticed a set of clocks in the sand next to her, all placed in an open suitcase.

"Tch, I wish people wouldn't bloody litter around here." the selkie said as she stood up to pick up the case, however she noticed something off.

All the clocks were off, not only that, all the hands were moving at different paces, some spun too slowly with seconds becoming minutes, some spun too fast with hours becoming seconds, and the largest one had the time moving backwards. As the girl looked down at the clocks, a thought crossed into her mind.

"Wait, where am I anyways?" Muireann asked as she rubbed her head, "Last thing I remembered was going to bed…"

She trailed off as the scenery seemingly shifted around her, she was no longer at the unknown beach but her room. Not her room at Touma's penthouse, but her room back home in the UK. This caused the girl to slowly look around her as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"What's going on here? Am I back home? Celt are you here?" Muireann asked, calling out for her adopted mother, however no one answered back. She then muttered to herself, "I hope she's just holding a surprise for me, she might be in the living room."

The selkie then opened the door to the hall, it was dark, it seemed that the lights were out. Muireann cautiously peered into the darkness, if there was anything there it was clear she couldn't see it. So, despite her better judgement, Muireann walked into the hall and towards the living room. She was familiar enough with her home that she knew the layout even in the dark.

Eventually, the girl made her way into the living room, where she reached around the wall for the light switch. Upon flicking the lights on, she noticed no one there, perhaps her mom was out? It was then that Muireann noticed another strange thing, the world outside the living room window was pitch black.

"Is it night time? Celt should be home if it was." Muireann said as she walked closer to the window to get a better look at the outside world.

When Muireann got close, she realized that outside was so dark that she couldn't see anything, but for some reason she felt eyes looking back at her. Like there was something there, but she couldn't see it. Her thought was interrupted when she heard a dud right beside her, it nearly caused Muireann to flinch.

As she turned her head to the side, she realized it was the same case of malfunctioning clocks from before, "It's that case…wait did I bring it home, why is it here? Wait I wouldn't do that, I would've thrown the bloody thing away. I must be dreaming if I brought that home…wait am I?"

Muireann turned back towards the window, where she saw the darkness from the outside spreading into her living room. The sight of which caused the girl to stumble back in a mixture of surprise and horror. Despite the lights being on in the room, the darkness continued to spread and spread, ignoring the light in the room. In fact, the mere presence of the darkness caused the lights to start to flicker.

The girl started to crawl backwards, not wanting to turn away in fear of the entity entering her home(?) but also wanting to get away from said entity. She realized as more and more of it came in, that what she was staring at earlier was not the outside world but this entity. It's darkness seemingly coating the walls, floor and ceiling, its form like amorphous blob

And then, the lights went out, leaving the room in darkness, still Muireann could tell that the entity was there. Perhaps it was her innate sonar ability as a Selkie or perhaps it was due to instinctual fear, it didn't matter in the end, she knew it was there.

"W-What are you?" Muireann asked almost whimpering her words

Suddenly everything went still in response to her question and a voice, that of a middle aged man, came from the entity, "Wait, you can see me?"

"Well, it's dark so no, but I can tell you're there." replied Muireann

"That'll be your fault."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about? You're the one who made the lights go out with your mere presence." the girl started to calm down now that the entity seemed more…human

"Well, I can't do that here, this is your dream. You're responsible for the lights going out."

"What?" As if on cue, the lights in the living room(?) came back on. Still the entity's form was not clear to Muireann

"See, not my fault."

"Ok, ok, let's go back to the start," Muireann said as she got up "Can you answer my question. What are you?"

"Um…human." said the thing seemingly made of darkness

"No you're bloody not, what kind of human looks like you do?" the girl said pointing at the entity

"Alright I'll come clean, I'm a former vampire turned human."

Muireann then crossed her arms as she shot a look of incredulity at the entity, "You said that as if it explained anything, but it didn't."

"Ok more details then, I'm a vampire turned human, but before I turned human, willingly turned before you ask, I ripped out my heart and had it forged into a spiritual item. A sword specifically."

"And that's how you can do…whatever you did and take…whatever that form is?"

"It's a remnant of my former vampiric powers, I normally look like this," the entity seemingly expelled the darkness, revealing a dueling sword who's blade rippled with veins of shadow, "Though I suppose that I'm in your dream I should take a more presentable form."

Darkness and shadow then swirled around the sword, eventually forming into the shape of a man, one that looked vaguely like John. Though a lot of the features were obscured given that the form was pure black.

"Is that better?"

Muireann nodded slightly, "Yeah I suppose so, though I have more questions, you said I was dreaming?"

"Yep, you're having a lucid dream right now. That's how you're able to see me right now, I was roaming your subconscious as you dreamt."

"That's…creepy, so you can spy on people's thoughts without them noticing unless they know they're dreaming?"

"Yeah, I prefer not to use this ability of mine that much, but my son needs my help so I need to do this. Though, while we're on that topic, I think you should come with me during this lucid dream of yours."

"Why?" asked Muireann

"It's because I'm not the only one out there that can do this, and if you know that I'm here, you'll know when the others come. And if you know they're here, that means you're vulnerable to them. Being a half mythological creature and human makes you particularly valuable to someone out there, someone you don't want to meet that is."

"Vulnerable in what way? This is my dream, what could the others like you do?"

"Plenty of things, torment you in your own mind, put you in a coma, possess you while you sleep, and other such things. Though, I can help you out if you end up in all but one of those situations, that being if you die while lucid dreaming."

"You're saying that I can die dreaming? Like my body dies while dreaming?"

"No, not that, this version of you, the one right here able to see me right now dying. You dying here is the death of the subconscious and conscious mind, in short brain death." the entity said in a grim tone

"How do you know this?" Muireann asked nervously

The entity paused, his eyes drifting down out of shame, "I told you I used to be a vampire and this was my power."

"Oh…uh well, if you're a former vampire you should probably stay away from that vampire hunter we have around…assuming I'm still at the penthouse." Muireann said, awkwardly trying to change the subject

"Well, you are still in the penthouse to answer that question. As for the vampire hunter, I wouldn't worry about him, as I said, I'm human now and we're close."

"Close how?"

"I'm his father."

Dreams of the Selkie

"You're John's father?" asked Muireann

"Yep, Joseph Graham at your service." the man made of darkness said jokingly

"So, is John like half vampire or something?"

"No, he's not a dampyr or whatever you think a half vampire is. I became a human long before I had John or any of my children."

"Alright, so what-" Muireann was then interrupted by a strange sound coming from somewhere in her dream

"I think you should save the questions for later, it sounds like some of my former kin have noticed your mind. So we need to leave…now."

"Wait hold on, leave how, if this is my dream how can you-"

Muireann was cut off again, when darkness surrounded her giving her a feeling of weightlessness in the process. Then, for a minute or so, she felt as if she was being hurled through the air before being stopped and gently set down. All the while, Muireann was too shocked to say anything

The darkness then opened up, like a blooming flower, around her. Revealing a calm beach with some children playing in the distance.

"Sorry, for the sudden transport into someone else's dreamworld, but we can't really take any chances with my former kin. Being in another person's mind is a decent shield from them…wait, is that you over there?" Joseph said while pointing towards the group of children.

It seemed that there were not only children on the beach, but two adults as well, presumably the children's parents. One looked like a more mature Muireann, taller, curvier, and more confident in her stride. The other adult looked like a more mature Touma, though still retaining his spiky hair, this dream Touma has gotten a muscled frame and almost picturesque body.

"You know what I love dear?" asked the dream Touma

"Me?" replied the dream Muireann with a giggle

"Well, not only that. I love the sight of our children, playing happily with each other with no conflict."

This one short scene sent Muireann into a panic, she fell onto her knees, her face turning red like a cherry as she screamed out, "Oh God this is a nightmare! A terrible, terrible nightmare! Why have you taken me here!?"

"Well, I just took us to the nearest mind to hide in, it's not like I had the luxury of choice. Though that's strange, this still seems like your dream."

"Don't you dare imply this is my dream, I want nothing to do with Touma, or have his babies!"

"Uh, huh, yeah sure. Look if this really upsets you, it's still your dream isn't it? You can change it easily."

"Haha, yes I'll do that, I'll change it to me killing Touma in cold blood!" Muireann shouted "...I don't like what I just said."

Despite the proclamation the dream remained unchanging, causing old Joe to scratch his head in confusion.

"Ok, so maybe this isn't your dream? But it damn well sure seems like it."

"I know, it's Touma's dream! I knew it, he couldn't resist my charms and secretly wants me!"

"You changed your tune rather fast."

Suddenly, an elderly couple walked onto the beach and waved at the dream Muireann and Touma. The actual Muireann froze when she saw the two.

"How's my daughter and son in-law doing?" said the old man

"Oh just wonderful," replied the married dream Muireann and Touma in unison

"You know, I just can't thank you enough for saving us the Anglican Church and World War 3, I couldn't have asked for a better man to marry my daughter." chimed in the elderly woman

"And we both wanted you to know, we're proud of you Muireann!" the couple said in unison

As Joseph and the real Muireann watched the scene play out, old Joe finally broke the silence between the two. He pointed at the elderly couple before asking "Are those two your parents?"

However, Muireann ignored him, instead muttering to herself, "That's impossible, I didn't tell anyone about my parents yet or how I missed them after they died in world war 3. He shouldn't know about them. That means that this isn't his dream is it? If it is not his dream then who is it?"

"...I hope Rose doesn't work out her feelings of love like this." Joseph said with a deadpan look on his face

A few minutes later, Muireann seemed to have snapped out of her embarrassment induced lethargy and continued her conversation with Joseph.

"Ok, I'm still confused, you managed to take us to another person's dream while I'm dreaming but we're still in my dream, but it isn't my dream?"

"I'm just as confused as you," replied Joseph scratching his head, "In all my years of doing this I never seen anything like this happen. Regardless of that, it seems that my former kin aren't here so it should be safe for now at least."

"So we're both lost here, alright, but can you answer me why this place seems so bloody chaotic?" Muireann then pointed to the surrounding dreamscape, which was frankly a mess.

Among the scenery, some of the most notable was a seal holding a metal bat, a giant pot of spilled tea, and a dream version of Muireann who's hair had come to life and attempted to choke her.

"Oh yeah, all of this is normal, a good chunk of a person's dreamscape is a mess, it's just how the subconscious mind works I suppose. The only exceptions to this are memories and nightmares, for some reason nightmares are a bit more focused." explained Joseph

"So given the focus of that dream where me and Touma got married and had kids, that would mean it was a nightmare?"

"I mean, I suppose, but you have to keep in mind-"

"Ha! I knew it, I couldn't possibly be in love with the boy and his pretty face, it was probably my greatest nightmare."

"Well, in my experience, there's a bit more context to-"

"MY GREATEST NIGHTMARE!"

"Speaking of which, that nightmare seems to be still going?"

"Huh?"

Muireann turned to the nightmare again, this time she saw a man with shoulder length blonde hair, standing in the shadows on the beach.

"Ainmire?"

"Who's that?" asked Joseph

"It's a long story, but I saw him die with my eyes, why would my nightmare have him be here?"

The man beckoned to adult dream Selkie, he gave her a knife, and leaned forward towards her ear. Despite being some distance away and whispering, the actual Muireann could hear Ainmire just fine.

"That's a good Selkie, you follow the order of Nuada well, but how can I be sure you're really under the effects of that spell? I'll have to make you do something extreme to see. So how about you take this knife and kill your family, every single one of them. Your kids, your parents, and especially that hero that you call a husband."

Seeing his wife off to the side, the dream version of Touma walked over to her, standing behind the Selkie with a confused look on his face.

"Uh, honey? Is something wrong?" he asked unaware what was about to happen.

Dream Muireann then turned around, her eyes dull and lifeless as she coldly lifted her knife in the air, "I'm sorry honey, but I have to do what I'm told."

On the sidelines, the real Muireann tried to rush towards her dream self, but her shadow seemingly wrapped around her body, holding her in place.

"Don't touch them!" shouted Joseph, as he held his hand out, it seemed that he was controlling Muireann's shadow

It was a slaughter, everyone of Muireann's victims either stood still in shock or innocently asked what she was doing. They made no attempt to run, to hide, or to fight back, when it was done, their blood coated the sands of the beach and stained the waters of the coast.

"No…" the actual Muireann quietly whimpered

"Good," spoke Ainmire with a sadistic smile on his face, "Looks like the spell works, now you and I have some places to go to. After all, I have plans for you Muireann."

And with that, the two started to walk away from the bloody scene, conveniently they walked near the two bystanders of the gruesome nightmare. In a fit of desperate emotion, the real Muireann broke out of Joseph's hold, sending the man reeling back, the selkie then tried to make a grab at the dream.

"Wait no, snap out of it!" Muireann shouted

However, Joseph soon recovered and sent a tendril from the shadows, grabbing Muireann's ankle, followed by Joseph shouting, "Don't touch them! It's all fake, remember!"

So Muireann fell face first into the sand, having gotten uncomfortably close to Ainmire, however the two dream entities continued to walk away, though oddly enough Ainmire looked back as if wondering what had brushed his arm. Meanwhile, Joseph walked over to Muireann on the floor and offered his hand to help her up.

"I'm sorry for reacting like that," replied Muireann as she brushed sand off of herself

"No, no it's fine, this is your first time going through dreams like this, and besides, this must all seem so real to you."

"It really is," Muireann said while looking at her sand coated hand, "though I now have another question. You said that I shouldn't touch those two, why?"

"I don't know the exact specifics, but if you touch a dream entity while in another person's mind, they become aware and almost 'alive' in a way. Even though this seems like your dream, the oddity of all of this makes me want to avoid risks like that."

"I see, say, can I ask you something else?"

"What is it?"

"Can we leave this place? I…just don't want to be here anymore."

"I understand, I'll take you somewhere else then." replied Joseph before surrounding himself and Muireann in darkness.

Just like before, Muireann was overcome with a feeling of weightlessness and then a feeling of being flung through the air. However something was different, Muireann noticed something grabbing her from behind in the darkness. She tried to turn around to see what it was, only to gasp in horror.

"Joseph help!" the selkie cried out

An arm, that of a man's, had broken through the darkness surrounding the two and was firmly holding onto Muireann's shoulder. It tried to pull the Selkie out of the darkness and into the unknown dreamscape below, but Joseph, answering Muireann's cry for help, reached out several tendrils of shadow to keep her in.

Still, despite the best efforts of Joseph, Muireann felt herself slipping further and further away. The strength of whatever was grabbing her was just too great. Just as she was about to be pulled fully from the former vampire's darkness, she shouted out to him, a plea.

"Joseph, you need to stop Ainmire! He's the one doing this, he's-" and the Selkie was cut short as she was fully pulled away; she hoped that her short plea was enough to get Joseph to act.

But for now, Muireann herself was alone. Alone to face the horrors of the dream of a monster and a hunter…

The Valkyrie

Muireann found herself laying on the ground again, when she pulled herself up, she saw she was at some kind of ranch, there was fair amount of stencil and decoration strung up, a couple of tables and metal chairs setup on the grass, and a large banner hung on a barn shed that read "Happy Thanksgiving". The girl looked towards the horizon, she judged from the sun's position, that it was still early in the morning, so early in fact that she could see the light coming from the big house right next to the barn.

Having nowhere to go until Joseph finds her, or until she wakes up, Muireann decided to let herself into the house. She slowly opened the door only to be met by the smell of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hotcakes, and coffee…and the sound of two brothers talking.

"Clark, look you're overcooking the eggs, they're going to be rubbery at this rate." said a familiar voice to Muireann, it was the voice of John

"Ok, but I like my eggs a little more solid, I don't need that delicate curd and soft omelets that you usually make." replied the voice next to him which, given how similar they looked, Muireann assumed to be John's brother.

"These eggs aren't just for you though, they're for everyone." At this point, Muireann walked into the house to see the two men by the stove top cooking together.

"Fine, I'm not one to complain over my scrambled eggs being slightly underdone than how I like them. I'll get this plated up for everyone, I think you should check on Rose in the basement."

"Wait, why is Rose in the basement here? This house seems big enough to give 10 people their own room." Muireann said to herself

This being a dream, no one really heard Muireann. Still, John went over to the basement door, which was locked to further the confusion of Muireann, and he slowly walked down the stairs to the basement. To satiate her curiosity about how Rose's family treated her, Muireann followed John down to the basement, taking care not to touch him of course.

To her surprise, the locked basement door was not the only locked door to Rose as there was another sturdier looking metal door before the basement proper.

(What's with all this security?)

John grabbed one of the keys from a rack off the side, he then knocked on the door, shouting, "Hey Rose, are you awake in there."

Rose's groggy voice then came from the other side, "Ugh, yes I am, why do you two have to make so much noise in the kitchen? And why are you calling me up this early in the first place?"

"It's Thanksgiving today, that's why and I want you to join in on the celebrations…if you're feeling all better now that is." John said in a suspicious manner

"Yeah, I think I'm all better now." Rose replied nonchalantly

"Alright, now I'm gonna come in now and see for myself," John said before unlocking the metal door and slowly opening it.

Muireann noted to herself, after witnessing that short exchange.

(Hmm, oddly cautious for a man checking on his sister)

When John fully opened the door, Muireann finally got a full view of what the basement was like, it seemed like a normal room with stocked bookshelves, a bed, a door that presumably went to a bathroom, and other nicknacks that Rose presumably brought by herself. All, except one key detail, Rose had her arms and legs chained to the walls, there was enough slack and length to let Rose traverse most of the room easily, but the chains were just short enough to stop her from reaching the exit.

As John stepped into the room, he noted the lack of…violent reaction from Rose and breathed a sigh of relief, "It seems you really are all better now, let's get those chains off you."

"So…thanksgiving huh? I was out for that long wasn't I?" Rose asked calmly

"Yep, you missed a whole lot this November, in fact so much that I have to ask you a few things about that group you helped out." John replied as he began unlocking Rose's chains

"Oh…you dug into them didn't you?" Rose responded as a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead

"Don't worry about it, that whole situation is sorted by now, unless you want to turn yourself into the Anglican Church, we shouldn't have any problems from your bone marrow experiments. Though I may have a talk with you later about all that."

Muireann, having seen all of this, had a mixture of confusion and outrage at this whole thing, "What the bloody hell! Rose, why does your family have you locked and chained in the basement like this? Why are you acting so casually to this? What possible reason could they have to do this to you? I swear when I see Joseph or John again, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind."

Then, the memory began to shift and the environment fluctuated, probably because Rose found the next few hours boring and not worth remembering, but when the fluctuations stopped, Muireann found herself back outside to the Thanksgiving setup. This time, it was the afternoon, plates and plates of food were set up on the table, turkeys, potatoes, dressing, a whole myriad of dishes was laid out. To accompany this, a whole party of people were gathered around, some sitting down to eat, others standing around and converse. Even then, more and more people drove up to the ranch, it seems like the Grahams took this holiday seriously.

It was when a black suv pulled up the driveway that John called out to Rose, who was currently chowing down on a plate of food.

"Hey, Rose, Beatrice is here you wanna say hi to your stepmom?" the man shouted out.

Rose then lifted her head from her plate and looked at the black suv that had arrived. The Valkyrie saw a brown haired woman in her 40s wearing what looked like a military uniform, she then turned back towards her brother and shook her head before lowering her head in shame.

"Oh come on Rose, you know she doesn't hold it against you for what happened 12 years ago. Hell, I was there and you still talk to me…a lot."

"Yeah but you weren't exactly a victim." muttered Rose to herself

"Pretty sure you were indiscriminate in your actions." John replied, hearing his sister's ramblings.

"Well if it isn't the man who should've joined the Marines." Beatrice said as she walked towards John, offering her hand for a firm handshake, which John accepted.

"Yeah, you always says that Beatrice," the man replied

"And I always mean it, your talents were wasted in the Army, pretty sure you'd still be serving if you were in the best branch of the U.S Military."

"You and I both know that ain't true, I resigned after all."

"And Hell, I still wonder why, you'd be a Brigadier General by now if you stayed. I mean I'm a marine and I respect the hell out of you more than anyone even if you're an army guy, that alone says a lot."

"Well, you also did know me before I joined the army and became my stepmom." John said, shrugging his shoulders

"That was one day though, I may have met you there but I didn't know you until later. Although it was a crazy coincidence that I married into your family. Speaking of which, where's Clark, my honey bun, and my smaller honeybun?"

John chuckled before replying, "Well Clark saw your suv pull up and booked it into the house, dad's there as well, you know how he likes the dark, and Ryan's right over there, next to Rose."

Rose, upon hearing that last statement, looked to the right of her seat and saw her younger brother sitting there still wearing his oversized lab coat.

"You know this talk has been a long time coming sis," Ryan said in an almost foreboding tone.

"You! You sat there on purpose didn't you?" Rose sneered at her younger brother

"No, I just wanted to take a seat next to Jack?" Ryan said, pointing to the man on his right, who looked like a mix between John and Ryan, next to him.

"Hey sis, glad you're feeling all better now." Jack replied before going back to his meal

"You still saw this coming didn't you Ryan?" Rose said as she placed her hand on Ryan's shoulder, "You could've warned me but didn't."

"As I said, this talk was a long time coming, Rose."

"And what's stopping me from picking you up and hurling you as far as I can."

"Because, all I did was neglect to tell you where I was sitting, for a warrior like yourself, that's poor spatial awareness on your part."

"I was hungry!"

"You also keep avoiding my mom for some reason, even though there's no real good reason for doing so."

"Uh…it's bad memories." Rose said awkwardly

"You also know that throwing me like that would kill me as you're strong enough to throw me faster than the speed of sound, which by itself would at least shatter my bones."

"You're young! You have more cartilage in your body, thus more flexibility."

"You also didn't help me with my neurology thesis, even though you were in a position to help."

"I just started my residency at the time ok!"

"Finally…John and Beatrice are right there."

"Hi, Rose. How are you feeling?" asked Ryan's mom

"Hi, I…uh…I'm ok, if you're wondering." responded Rose as she awkwardly turned towards the military woman.

"Oh, that's good to hear, so…funny thing I found out at work this week. There was this terrorist group involved in a few high profile incidents this month, you may know them, they're called Gremlin." explained Beatrice

"I may know about them." Rose said as she fidgeted around nervously

"Well, we think they may have attacked a hospital in Finland, or some other Scandinavian country. I couldn't remember which one. Basically some suspiciously strong girls in a norse larping getup were seen ganging up on someone there. Now this just may be a coincidence, but all of those girls were identified as your test subjects-"

"You mean patients." interrupted Rose with her finger up

Beatrice continued, unflinching at Rose's defense, "No, I meant test subjects, how else would anyone describe your bone marrow transplant procedure as anything other than an experiment? Point being that they were your test subjects and underwent your procedure. Do you know anything about why they would attack this hospital?" Beatrice continued to press

"Umm…"

"Ok, I'm cutting the pretense, Rose, we know what you did for Gremlin." John chimed in, "I know you are a Norse pagan, but that girl calling herself Othinus…she wasn't actually Odin right?"

Rose simply looked at the ground, unable to make eye contact with her family, "I don't know, but I had a feeling. A slim feeling, but one nonetheless."

"I see," John continued. "So those artificial valkyries you helped make, they attacked this girl calling herself Brunhild, I'm wondering if that was related to your incident a few months ago."

"Wait, they attacked her?" Rose asked with a look of genuine confusion

"Alright that response basically confirms that you didn't have a hand in a lot of recent events, though Rose, you're still an accomplice in a terrorist group. Rose I know there's a lot of things that you've technically done that would leave you rotting in a jail cell for eternity, but those things were out of your control. This…this was deliberate, why did you help Gremlin?" John asked, as he gave Rose a look of concern.

"I think you know why…"

"Rose…you have us, we can help you, we've been helping you. Our solution may not be perfect but we're trying damnit. The moment we find a better way, you can bet your ass that we're going to try it. You don't need the help of this Gremlin."

"You don't get it John, I saw a perfect answer, an immediate way out and I had to take it. It's been 12 years since you took me from Alaska and everyday I feel like a part of myself is still in that cabin and everytime I get locked in the basement by you to protect me, to protect everyone, I get reminded of what kind of monster I truly am. So when Othinus came to me with an offer to fix it I took it, and if I had to take it and if given that choice again, I'd still say yes."

"...Fine then." replied John

"Huh?"

"It's your choice, if that's how you feel, then I can't stop you, not while you're in your right mind. I'm no saint Rose, I ain't in a position to judge what you did, nor can I ever understand the position you find yourself in. And in the end, I only agreed to stop the monster, not the person."

"I…thank you John."

"Still though, you owe Clark a new revolver after he stopped you."

"Oh yeah…that. Tell him I'm sorry."

"Tell him yourself, he's in the house."

As the scene went on, Muireann began to ponder the things she just heard, "Wait, is Rose willingly letting herself get chained in that basement? Also I didn't know she served that magic god before this whole craziness. Though I have to wonder what's so bad about Rose that she'd even let herself be confined like that. Also I think that nun might like this Thanksgiving thing with how much food is out here."

As the conversation faded into the background, Muireann's surroundings began to shift, the memory was changing again. However, after experiencing this a few times, the selkie seemed to be a lot more comfortable with the process now as she continued her thoughts.

"Hmm, what should I do though, should I just wait here until I wake up or go find Joseph, somewhere in there. Then again, that dream Ainmire seemed to come alive thanks to me. Thinking about it, Joseph seems to know what he's doing in regards to something like that, I shouldn't be worried…Wait, I could use this as an opportunity! If I can see memories like this, I can possibly find a weakness in everyone, especially that handsome boy Touma and assassinate him!"

Muireann looked around herself and saw that the memory had shifted to what looked like a European town, "First, I'll see what Rose's weaknesses are so whenever I need to deal with her, I'll know what to do!"

On the nearly barren streets of the town, walked a girl in a getup that, despite using modern clothes, looked vaguely like medieval armor, though the sword she carried around did help with appearances. As the girl continued to walk down the street, she seemed to notice the lack of people there despite it being broad daylight.

"Is this…a people clearing field?" she asked as she scanned the area, finally spotting a bulky girl in a gray hoodie emerging an alleyway, it was Rose, and she appeared to be carrying a spear.

"You're a pretty easy girl to find Brunhild, after that whole fake Gungnir incident I just had to experience your strength for myself." Rose stated as she pointed the top of the spear towards the Valkyrie-Saint.

"I don't know who you are, but if you know me, then you would know that around this time of the year my powers are at their peak, it would be foolish to fight me now."

"Oh I know that, that's the point, don't hold back."

Rose then dashed toward Brunhild with such force she left a crater in the road where she was standing. The Valkyrie-Saint in turn drew her sword and successfully deflected Rose's spear strike. Brunhild tried to counter attack while Rose was off balance but her sword swing was blocked.

She glanced towards Rose's arm, which was in the way of the sword, to find that she was using a steel buckler shield. Brunhild tried to push back against the shield with her sword, the full force of both her arms and her upper body behind the blade. However, Rose with just one arm was not only staying steadfast against the Valkyrie-Saint, but pushing her back as well.

Thinking on her feet, Brunhild side stepped Rose, causing the full Valkyrie to lose balance momentarily. Unable to bring the blade down in time, Brunhild instead opted to ram the hilt of her sword into Rose's chest, the force of which sent her flying back, leaving a large gash in the road in the process.

Rose chuckled at this exchange, she planted her spear into the ground, grabbed her hoodie and threw it off of herself like a cloak, revealing her clothes underneath. It was somewhat similar to Brunhild's, though instead of a bullet proof vest, Rose opted for thick clothing reminiscent of gambeson.

"Good, good, I knew you wouldn't be so weak as to die in the first exchange." Rose said with a sadistic smirk on her face

"You…you're a Saint? No…that battle lust, you're a Valkyrie aren't you?" Brunhild asked

Rose pulled her spear out of the ground, "Excellent deduction, shows that you're not just a meathead. Then again you'd be surprised how many Valkyries are smarter than they look. I guess it's the dumb blonde stereotype."

"But you're blonde too."

"I know, I'm speaking from personal experience, when you're…ugh forget it let's just fight."

With that, Rose launched herself at Brunhild again, having gotten a feel for her opponent, the Valkyrie-Saint had a better time keeping her balance against Rose. Though she was weaker physically than the full Valkyrie, she was more agile and faster. However, there was the issue of the weapon choice, Rose's spear had greater reach than Brunhild's sword, allowing her to keep Brunhild at a distance, and even if Brunhild were to get to close, the buckler shield provided a defense for Rose and a way to push the Valkyrie-Saint back.

This led to a series of exchanges where Brunhild would try to rush Rose down but be met either with a spear head or a shield coming towards her. Brunhild simply didn't have the means to take Rose down. Eventually enough time passed where the street they were fighting on was now a series of rubble and broken walls rather than stores and houses, a side effect of the two's fight.

The Valkyrie-Saint at this point was panting heavily, she was starting to get exhausted, utilizing her better speed over Rose was putting a tax on her body. Meanwhile, Rose herself was barely sweating, it seemed that alongside increased strength, she had better endurance as well. Rose knew this and was just playing it defensively at this point, letting Brunhild wear herself down. Brunhild wouldn't run either, so it was a losing fight until something changed.

That something came when a gunshot was heard, leading to Rose jumping back before getting hit. Where the bullet did hit though, it barely left a dent let alone a bullet hole, someone was using rubber bullets in a fight to the death.

"Who the hell-Clark!?" Rose exclaimed as she saw her brother walking down the street with the wind to his back, wearing a cowboy duster over his black shirt and khaki pants, twirling a revolver before he placed it into his holster, in his mouth was a lit cigar that he shortly spit and stomped out.

"An ally of yours? Just another one I have to take down then." noted Brunhild

"Lady, I just took a shot at her, not you. What makes you think I'm on her side right now?" snarked Clark

Brunhild's gaze darted between Clark and Rose as she spoke, "Well, you two seemingly know each other."

"He's my brother and I want to know what in the world he's doing here." replied Rose

"I'm here to stop you Rose." Clark spoke plainly

"Why? You don't seem to have a problem with me fighting people most of the time."

"I think it's obvious, you're losing control, you wouldn't just go out of your way to fight someone like this unless you were."

"Oh? Am I now and how do I prove otherwise?"

"You'd put away the weapons, apologize to Brunhild over here, come home with me, and not attack-" Rose then lunged at Clark, "-your brother."

Clark quickly pulled out an ornate pocket watch and pressed the button at the top. He seemingly disappeared from his position and reappeared elsewhere.

"Damnit, girl, why'd you have to make me do this?" Clark said as he unholstered his revolver and cocked the hammer back. Rose tried once again to attack her brother but Clark was ready this time, he unloaded the remaining 5 bullets of his revolver into Rose, each shot hitting its mark. Though it wasn't enough to completely stop the Valkyrie, it was enough to slow her down a little, allowing Clark to properly dodge and cause Rose to crash into a building.

Clark then looked at the pocket watch he brought out, its face was stopped but the face indicated there were 55 seconds until the next minute. He then turned towards Brunhild and shouted, "You!"

"Huh?"

"Are you running or fighting?" asked Clark to the Valkyrie-Saint

"I'm not a coward, I'm going to fight." Brunhild replied as Clark began reloading his revolver

"Good, I'm going to need your help."

"So you're not her ally? You two have an odd familial relationship."

"You don't even know the half of it, so can I count on you or not?"

"Why do you even need my help?"

"I'm not prepared for this, I don't have the means to stop her right now, nor can I let her run wild. You though, you have the strength to at least knock her out. So can I count on you or not?"

Rose then emerged from the rubble and lunged at Clark again, however, she was intercepted by Brunhild. Though Rose was blocking Brunhild's sword and preparing her spear to stab the Valkyrie-Saint, she was wide open to another shot by Clark. The shot gave Brunhild enough of an opening to headbutt Rose and send her flying again.

"So I take it that your answer is yes."

"Do you have a plan or are you just going to keep talking in the middle of a fight?"

"I can use my magic to draw her attention to me and not you, with that, I can create an opening for you to get a clean strike in. Don't worry by the way, I'm a hard man to kill."

"Is that seriously it-"

They were interrupted when Rose came at them again. Clark planted his feet into the ground, but his sister easily knocked him over. The man then tried to activate his pocket watch again but Rose was already bearing down on him. When Clark pressed the winder on the watch again, Muireann who was still observing the battle, saw what the pocket watch did.

While Rose and Clark were still moving around, Brunhild appeared to be frozen still, maintaining the same pose for a few seconds.

The man tried to use his revolver to get his sister off him, but Rose ended up crushing the barrel of the gun with her teeth. Clark looked at the ruined firearm with a mixture of fear and disgust at his sister. Things were looking frim for the gunslinger though, his primary weapon was disabled and his time stop effectively useless.

That was until Clark threw the watch to the side, reached into his duster and pulled out a taser. All the while, Rose was preparing to cave his skull in with her shield. However, instead of dodging the blow or blocking the strike, Clark just took the shield head on, quite literally stopping the shield with his head. Despite this, Clark seemed to be completely fine, unscathed even, from the bow.

The gunslinger then shoved his ruined revolver in his sister's face and pulled the trigger, since the barrel was crushed, it did not fire a shot, instead it exploded right in front of Rose. This stunned Rose long enough that her brother could stick the taser into her neck, causing her to writhe in pain for a few seconds.

The man then took this opportunity to dash towards his watch again and press the winder, the hands of the watch stopping just 2 seconds before the next minute, at which point time began to resume. Brunhild looked around, confused as to how the situation changed so rapidly.

"What…just happened?" asked the Valkyrie-Saint

"Really not the time to be asking questions right now." replied Clark

Rose then managed to dislodge the taser stuck in her neck, she grabbed the device and crushed it in her hand before snarling at her two opponents.

"You forget Clark, I'm your sister, I know your tricks and tactics. I know that without those spiritual items, you're nothing but a normal human."

"Perhaps you do, but just because you know about them doesn't mean you can counter them. Brunhild, I'm counting on you, get ready."

Then Rose experienced something strange and because this was her memory, something that Muireann is currently witnessing. Clark seemed to emanate something, not anything physical, but like an idea, almost like a taunt. It caused Rose to see Clark as her only opponent, making her seemingly forget about the Valkyrie-Saint. This caused Rose to charge at her brother once again, even when Clark tossed his time stopping pocket watch towards Brunhild.

It happened in an instant, Brunhild suddenly appeared beside Rose and, using her sword pommel, striked Rose's temple, causing her to stop mid charge. The Valkyrie keeled over…and blacked out.

"So, did you enjoy the show?" asked a childish voice from beside Muireann

"Eep!" Muireann jumped at the sudden question

"Don't worry I'm not here to hurt you."

Muireann turned to see the source of this voice, to see what appeared to be a six year old girl with blonde hair. She was wearing some kind of training gear, given the padding and gloves, and had a wooden sword strapped to her back.

"Who are you?" asked Muireann

"Oh me, I'm Rose, well really a part of Rose's mind. That's why I look like a six year old here." explained the six year old girl

"But, why didn't I see something like you in my mind?"

"Must be because I'm special, you see dad asked me if he could peer around my dreams one day and after he did, he noted that for some reason some of my memories were sectioned off in three distinct areas of my mind. And in each of those areas there seemed to be a six year old me wandering around. So here I am."

"Wait, that sounds like a symptom for a mental disorder."

"I think it is, but I'll have to check with the Rose in the lab coat for that one."

"Ok then…hey do you know how I can get out of here? I kinda want to see what my fellow maids are like in the head."

"I mean if you want to do that, I think you'd better wait until you wake up or wait until my dad inevitably comes around here. You can't exactly navigate to another person's mind without special powers unless someone with said special powers left a connection. And the only special connection I have is with my brother right now."

"Well I mean that works too, can I go there?"

"I thought you wanted to see what your fellow maids are like, not my brother."

"Oh I misspoke, when I said maids I meant coworkers."

The child Rose narrowed her eyes, "Right…well even if you wanted to, you'd still have to go through one the other Roses. And I'm going to be honest, they're kinda psychos."

"I mean, you aren't any better."

"What?" How can you say something like that, you never even met the other Roses yet." the little Rose protested

"I mean these are the memories in your section right? How come one of them includes you attacking your brother with the intent to kill for no reason?"

"That's just who I am, ok."

"That's really going to be your explanation?" the Selkie said with a look of incredulity on her face

"No really, it is. I really, really, REALLY, like fighting and sometimes I get a little excited and get too carried away."

"So is that why your family locks you in the basement, chained to the walls?"

"Oh no, that's for something else."

"That something else being?"

"Look, as I said, you're going to have to go to the other section if you want to get what you want." The little Rose said while pushing Muireann towards a door in the middle of nowhere, "Though, I have to warn you, once you get to the cabin in the snow covered forest…run."

And with that last statement, little Rose shoved Muireann through the door. After which, the Valkyrie wiped her forehead.

"I hope I didn't mess that up. Talking to people is way more stressful than combat. I'd be chewing my nails right now if these gloves that I'm wearing are real and not a part of my being."

The Doctor

As Muireann stumbled into the new area, she tried to turn around to go back through the door, "Hey wait, I wasn't done…talking."

However, when Muireann turned around, there was no door anymore, but rather the sterile halls of a hospital. She could hear screaming emanating from one of the operating rooms. Despite her better judgement, Muireann walked towards the operating room, noticing a distinct lack of people in the hospital along the way.

When Muireann got to the operating room, she opened its doors to see a blonde girl on the surgery table, tied down with leather straps. A doctor was busy cutting and rearranging the bones of the poor girl. The patient began to struggle against the restraints.

"Stop struggling, you're just going to make this take longer than it already is." said the surgeon, the voice revealing the person to be Rose.

Still, the girl, understandably, kept screaming and struggling. Rose then sighed, and proceeded to deliver a quick blow to the girl's head, knocking her out.

"Not to self: don't forget anesthesia next time. The movement makes it so much harder to perform the surgery."

Another person then entered the operating room, from the witch hat and cape, Muireann recognized her as Othinus. The magic god seemingly ignored the ongoing operation and talked to the surgeon.

"How is the latest batch of artificial valkyries coming along?"

"Good, despite a few hiccups I'm proceeding on schedule. They should be ready for combat tomorrow."

"Hmm, an acceptable performance on your end, once I regain my powers you shall be rewarded for your service."

"Hmph, no need to work on flesh like this and experiment with my knowledge of the human body. That itself is its own reward."

Muireann was in shock from that last statement, from her other memories it seemed that Rose was doing these unethical procedures out of necessity for something better. However, here with words spoken from her own mouth, Rose was admitting that she was doing it for the hell of it.

"Oh is that so? I thought you were aiding me for the promise of removing that curse you have." replied Othinus

Rose then seemingly blanked out for a bit before replying, "I…yes I did ask you that, then why did I…no matter, even if I'm doing this so you can remove my curse, I'm still enjoying the opportunity to work like this."

"Very well mortal, I'll leave you to your work then."

With that, Othinus left the operating table. After the magic god's exit, Rose then took out her phone and tried calling John.

"Damnit, pick up John, please tell me you're not in Russia yet." Rose then looked at the date on her phone, October 20th, of the previous year. A day after World War 3 had started . Panic began to set in as Rose tried calling John over and over again in the hopes that he'll pick up. Until finally, perhaps through an accident or desperation, Rose called a different contact, Clark.

"Hey sis, what are you doing calling me at this time?"

"Clark…I need your help, please come to Denmark, I'll give you the address I'm staying at through text. I think…I'm losing it."

"Rose, there's a war going on, with all the fighters, bombers, and air defense, there's not going to be a commercial flight from Academy City to Denmark. Or anywhere really, if this war goes the wrong way."

"Please…I need your help, John's not available."

"*sigh* I'll see what I can do."

And with that, Clark hung up, leaving Rose alone with her patient. Muireann noticed that Rose was having some sort of confusion, the look on her face, it looked like something was influencing her, begging her to do something way worse than what she already was doing. The doctor placed a hand on her forehead, trying to block the influence and continue her surgery.

If Muireann didn't think there was something wrong with Rose on a deeper level before, she thought so now. Though those thoughts would have to be put on hold as Muireann thought about her experience in WW3 as the dreamscape around her shifted.

Muireann's parents died in WW3, fighting for the Anglican Church as part of a deal. Now she learned that Rose's brother, John, was an active fighter in the war as well. She didn't know John's beliefs, who he worked for before Othinus, or if he had a side at all. It was a very real possibility, for Muireann at least, that John met Muireann's parents on the field of battle a few months ago, and killed them.

It was an implication that made her heart sink.

A wavy texture overcame the area as the scenery changed, when it was gone, Muireann recognized she was back at the Graham family ranch. This time in the living room as Rose sat on the couch, intently watching some anime movie.

Though Rose was different this time, she looked younger…and smaller. The selkie knew that Rose's bulk was muscle, she was a bodybuilder after all, but in this memory, she was thin, curvy, though still wearing a gray hoodie.

(John said that Rose started bodybuilding 2 years ago, judging by her size, it looks like this was before Rose took up that practice. She must be 16, maybe 15 years old, here.)

Muireann's eyes then shifted to the chest area, she noticed that Rose was rather well endowed, maybe even bigger than Muireann at this point despite being a similar age.

(huh, I wonder why I can't see them here but not now.)

Rose's eyes then lit up as the anime movie played, causing Muireann to turn around to see what made the Valkyrie so excited. In the movie, some really big buff guy with blonde spiky hair was currently demolishing the heroes. Double clotheslining a duo that charged him before kicking a green bug looking alien into the next scene.

"Hey Rose, are you watching that movie again? Aren't you supposed to be working on your sixth doctoral thesis or something?" Muireann turned around to see John walking into the house, arms full of groceries.

"It's my seventh one actually, besides I already finished it so I'm rewarding myself with a rewatch of this movie."

"How many times have you rewatched that movie, anyways? Thirty? Forty times? You're going to wear out the VHS at this rate. Also how can you rewatch something so many times and not get bored of it."

"Don't worry I saved it digitally, in fact it's that saved version that I'm watching right now. Also this movie speaks to me, that's why I watch it so much."

"Ok…whatever floats your boat-"

"You think I can get like him?"

"Like who?"

"That big guy on screen right now, destroying all the characters."

"In what way? Cause that's the villain of the movie you know."

"I mean, big like him. Like look at those arms, they're bigger than his head. I want arms like that!"

"I don't think that's really practical, I mean for starters you can already lift like 300 tons if you really tried, it'll be pretty hard to find weights that can challenge you?"

"You think that Clark can help? I mean he made those special chains for me, I think he'll have the skills to make something that heavy."

"Making something that can withstand that weight and actually making something of that weight are two different problems, Rose."

"It doesn't have to be something fancy, I mean a big enough block of concrete would work. I just need a strong enough grip to lift it."

"And where do you plan on putting these mega weights of yours?" John said while crossing his arms, "Dad is not going to like it if there's a massive block of concrete sticking out of the house."

"Of course I'm not going to put it in the house, that'll be stupid, I'm going to put it outside."

"Yeah, like that's a better idea, it'll be a nice conversation starter with our neighbors as to why we have massive blocks of concrete in our yard. That's just asking for people to find out about your nature."

"Then what do you propose John?"

"We dig a hole in the ground and place the weights there, with an access hatch so you can adjust them. Then we have Clark make some chains or wires and connect them above ground, maybe have him rig something up that can make the adjustments of weight easier. After that, you can use the weights for whatever exercise you want, if Clark is willing to make some custom setups for you. We can even rig this all inside, this way we don't raise any suspicions."

"Oh…you know this is why you're the smartest out of all of us. Only you can come up with something like one the fly."

"Pretty sure, half the family can do the same but-"

"Can you also share that magic recipe book you have too?"

"No, just no."

"What? Why? I could use some high protein food that I can make for myself."

"You showed me what your idol for doing this is. I may not be a doctor like you, but I know enough about the human body to know how muscles are formed. The first thing you're going to make are some of the healing recipes and a lot of them at that. I can already see it now in fact, you're going to work out, eat one of those healing meals and grow your muscles in like seconds and since you're fully healed, you can work out again. So rinse and repeat until, like a week later, you've gained a literal ton of muscle and grown so big you can't fit through doors anymore. Am I wrong in this assumption?"

Rose's face turned red at the accusation her brother put forth.

"Am I wrong, Rose?"

"...no. Wait, are you ok with me using steroids though?"

"Well, you're still a minor, so no. Maybe when you get the right age, and even then, as a doctor, you of all people should know the severe side effects of that stuff."

"Wait…John you gave me the perfect idea for my eighth Phd. I'm going to study organic chemistry to create a new type of drug with the positive effects of steroids with none of the side effects."

"Yeah and I'm going to create booze that can make gods drunk, I'm not going to stop you, but this seems like an unrealistic goal."

"Jokes on him, I figured that out last night thanks to the mini Tree Diagram my brother gifted me." A voice off the side of Muireann stated.

The Selkie jumped before yelling, "Bloody hell, can you stop doing that Rose?"

"How am I supposed to know, this is the first time we're talking isn't it?" the fragment of Rose's mind said.

As Muireann took a step back, she realized that this portion of Rose was different from the last one she talked to. She was still around 6 years old, but instead of basic training equipment, she was wearing a doctor's coat and a surgical mask, her hands were ordoned with sterile gloves, and a stethoscope hung around her neck.

"So you're the portion of Rose's mind responsible for these memories?" asked Muireann

"Yeah, I suppose I am, from your tone, it seems that my counterpart has talked with you already. The sane counterpart, that is, I don't believe you would survive an encounter with her."

"Who?"

Rose shrugged, "Eh you don't need to know. So why are you here in the first place?"

"Well, your dad told me that lucid dreaming for my kind was dangerous so he took it upon himself to protect me. Things went haywire and I'm stranded here. Do you know a way out, cause I'd rather not be here."

"What? Why wouldn't you want to stay here until my dad comes to pick you up?"

"No offense, but you seem like an absolute psycho and I want to get out of here." Muireann plainly stated

"Couldn't you tell me this in the real world?"

"No, because your real self is a 150 kilo bodybuilder superhuman and this you is a 6 year old."

"Tch, smart girl."

A door then showed up out of nowhere, this being a dream, Muireann learned not to question such happenings. The six year old doctor Rose, on the other hand, groaned in frustration. The door opened to reveal the other fragment of Rose's mind, the one dressed in training gear and armed with a wood sword.

"Hey is everything going fine over here, is that portion of my mind asking you to dissect you…uh…I forgot, we don't know your name."

"It's Muireann. So…Rose? Ok there's two of you now, do you two have any preference on how I refer to you?"

"You can call me Valkyrie Rose." said the Rose in training gear

"I guess, I'll be Doctor Rose." said the Rose in a doctor's coat.

"Ok that should make things less confusing. Valkyrie Rose, you said earlier that if I wanted to go to John's mind, I have to go through the other sections of your mind right?"

"Correct." replied Valkyrie Rose

"But why is that the case? Can't I just go there immediately?"

Doctor Rose then looked at her counterpart, "Do you want to explain it or should I?"

"No, no I've got this, I just need some time to think how best to explain our…condition."

"Isn't our condition medical at its core, although it was altered by magic. I would be the best one to explain." countered Doctor Rose

"You're also the worst at dealing with people." replied Valkyrie Rose

"Oh, like you're any better, we both know how we do with other people."

"Yeah and I'm saying, even with that in mind, you're the worst at dealing with people."

"I'm just straightforward and don't get sentimental. You're just jealous because I'm the one pushing us to greatness."

"Greatness? You mean unethical experiments and the ire of our family, it was your decision to work with Othinus when she was a terrorist!"

"And where did that lead us now? Othinus went legit, we have a prodigious job with great benefits, and as a bonus, most of our family is close should anything happen. What have you done? Gone off to fight a Valkyrie-Saint for no good reason."

"I'm the source of reason in our little partnership, which is REALLY saying something. If you had your way, we'd be sitting in jail for innumerable crimes against humanity. That's if we ever left our room in the first place as we'd be busy researching or working out."

"Oh is that what you think? If I had my way, we'd be award winning doctors that pioneered new advancements in the field. Meanwhile, if you had your way, we'd be in jail for getting into fights all the time!"

"I can control myself most of the time and follow a set of rules, you can't, even now I can tell you're thinking about examining that Selkie over there, see how she works. Even though she's our coworker."

(Man, this is really weird seeing aspects of someone's mind argue with themselves. I swear this has to be a mental condition.)

"Uh, so sorry to interrupt, but what about my question earlier?"

"Oh" both of the Roses said.

Valkyrie Rose then sighed before talking to her counterpart, "Ok I think it's best if I talk to you about that first."

"Fine, but what do we do with her for the time being?" asked Doctor Rose while crossing her arms

"She can continue to view our memories, but if she wants to leave, it's better if she knows what she's getting into. As we are now, we can't stop her from going there."

"Very well."

Valkyrie Rose then turned towards Muireann, "Hey, we're going to leave for a bit, feel free to view our memories, but please don't leave this section of our mind."

The two fragments of Rose's mind then walked through the door that Valkyrie Rose came out of, after they went through, the door evaporated like mist, leaving Muireann alone in the dreamscape once again.

The Girl From Alaska

Muireann was currently sitting down at a curb outside a convenience store, having lived in Academy City for a couple of weeks now, Muireann actually recognized the store. It was the one closest to a certain hospital a certain unfortunate boy frequented and judging by the dates on the newspapers, this was a recent memory. Still, she wondered why Rose's memory took her here.

That was until she saw Rose, wearing her casual hoodie, walking up the store.

"Ugh, that's the last time I use tofu to get all the protein I need…I wonder if this place has protein bars." the girl in the hoodie said before walking inside, although Muireann decided to stay outside for this memory.

Rose went over the snack aisle and grabbed half a dozen protein bars. Muireann wondered just how much food this girl went through, though it obviously wouldn't be as much as Index, with a body that big, Rose's appetite must be great. Just as the girl was going to head to the checkout, she realized something and froze in place.

(Damnit, this place doesn't have a self checkout, I have to talk to a store clerk? I thought this was Academy City, the most advanced place on the planet, shouldn't most of this stuff be automated?)

This being her memory, Rose's thoughts echoed through the area, allowing Muireann to hear it, even while outside the store.

(Ok, you got this Rose, all you have to do is to go up to the cashier and pay up.)

"Paying for something at the store shouldn't be THAT much of a struggle should it?" Muireann commented, flabbergasted at the girl's lack of social skills

Rose walked up to the counter and layed out the protein bars she grabbed, she then waited intently for the store clerk to respond. Every second that passed by caused Rose's anxiety to grow more and more.

(Oh no, did I do something wrong, why isn't he answering.)

Muireann, curious as to what was going on, got up from her spot on the curb and peaked inside the store. The selkie saw that the store clerk was visibly shaking with beads of sweat all over his face. It seemed that in her panic, Rose forgot that she was a rather large person wearing clothes not uncommon among delinquents. In fact, it was a wonder how the cashier didn't empty the register for the girl and beg her not be hurt.

(Damnit, this is going nowhere. I'll just leave some money on the counter and leave. Wait, how much do these bars cost again?)

The doctor quickly reached into her pocket to grab some cash, however it seems that Rose forgot which pocket was the one she kept her cash in. As a result, the girl ended up pulling out a boxcutter instead of money. The store clerk, upon seeing the perceived weapon, put his hands up in the air.

Rose then looked at her hand and flinched upon seeing herself brandish a small blade, she swiftly put away the tool. Though the store clerk didn't take this as a sign of peace, rather a sign that the girl had something much worse in store. To which he would be correct.

The girl in front of him then pulled out a small piece of paper, presumably Rose mistook it for a bill. However, it wasn't an ordinary paper, there was a rune inscribed on it that, upon being exposed to the air, caused the paper to fold into itself and transform into a spear within Rose's hand. The tip of the spear barely didn't reach the store clerk's throat, but with the shock of everything that had occurred, he ended up passing out.

"Oh no…" Rose said to herself as she vaulted over the counter to administer medical aid to the clerk.

Before the memory could show what happened after the clerk passed out, the dreamscape shifted again. It was back at the Graham family home, with what looked like an 8 year old Rose sitting at the dinner table with sheets of paper spread out in front of her. Sitting right next to her was a bandaged man, his features obscured by the bandages, though he wore a set of red tinted glasses and a thin black coat.

On Rose's side of the table were the times table and pages of basic problems, on the bandaged man's side, were textbooks on chemistry, microbiology, and chemical engineering. Though instead of paying attention to his own studies, the bandaged man instead tried to help Rose with hers.

"Ok, let's try this again, Rose, what's two times two?" said the man, he sounded vaguely like John with a softer voice.

"It's…four?" answered Rose, looking up to the man

The man started clapping, "Very good Rose, now what's two times three?"

"Uh…"

"Come one Rose, you can do this, what do you get when you put two sets of three together?"

"I…uh…I don't know…" Rose said as she put her hands on the side of her head

"Look, there's no shame in not knowing, we'll work through this together." said the man as he comforted the girl

A voice then rang out from down the hall, "Hey, Hank, I'm back with lunch. I've also got some stuff in the car I need help unloading."

The bandaged man then replied, "Ok I'll, come out in a second," Hank then turned back towards Rose, "Why don't we stop here and get something to eat first? You'll think better on a full stomach. Just stay here, I'll help Clark and we'll eat together."

Hank then left the room, leaving Rose all by herself. Though she didn't sit around doing nothing for the entire time, the girl, possibly out of curiosity, decided to open one of her brother's books. She flipped to a random page and tried reading it, after a minute she began to yawn and closed the book, instead looking to another one to satiate her curiosity.

This process went on for a few minutes until Rose came across the last book, a book on microbiology. As before, she opened the book to a random page and tried to read it, but this time she did not yawn and closed the book. Instead, Rose kept reading and reading, her pace accelerating to a pace faster than any kid would normally read.

However, her fervor was cut short when Hank and Clark came into the room with takeout boxes. Hank noticed his adopted sister reading one of his textbooks and patted her head.

"Oh Rose, these books are too advanced for you." said Hank

"Speaking of which, shouldn't you be focused on your own doctoral thesis instead of helping Rose with her times table?" asked Clark

"Eh, I'm already way ahead of schedule to get my Doctorate, as far as I'm concerned I can take things easy. When I finish my degree, I've got a nice position lined up at this place called Academy City as a junior researcher." Hank said as he was putting away all the papers and books

"You're getting a doctorate and you're only going to be a junior researcher? I'd expect something much higher positioned than that." said Clark as he was laying the takeout boxes on the diner table

"You don't know much about that place do you, Clark? It's a very high tech establishment, at least 30 years ahead of most of the world. Even as a junior researcher I'm going to be paid very well. From how things look, I'll pay off my tuition fees within a year, pay all my expenses, and still have a six figure sum to send home." Hank then opened one of the takeout boxes, revealing a stack of pancakes. He then started pouring syrup from one of the accompanied pouches before continuing, "Speaking of what we'll be doing in the future, you're about to turn 18 soon, you got any plans for the future?"

"Eh, I'm thinking about joining the Marine Corp."

"Military path, like John?"

"Not quite, I guess? I'm just not sure what to do with my life just yet and I think instead of staying home all the time, I go join a greater cause or something."

"Why not the Silver Moonlight Cabal, they say you have potential and are willing to take you on as a member?"

"I'm going to be honest Hank, I'm tired of all this magic stuff. We were only kids when those vampires tried to kill us. Ever since then, our lives have just been this spiraling mess of conspiracies and megalomaniacs. It's seemed to let up ever since Rose joined us, but to me that's just a sign to get out."

"And you're sure that the military is the best way to do that? You know John joined the army for a specific reason right?"

"I know, it's just…what else is out there? College, a day job, a trade school? None of those sound appealing right now, so that leaves the military." Clark said as he opened his own takeout box, a meal of chicken fried steak with home fries.

"Well, I guess it's your choice in the end, though I wonder how dad is going to fare trying to take care of Rose and Jack when we're gone."

"Jack's a good kid and Rose shouldn't be too much for dad to handle, though speaking of which…Rose you gonna eat?"

Clark leaned back in his chair to look under the table, there he found Rose hundled below, still reading the textbook Hank had.

"Aw look, she's still trying to read your textbook." Clark said, "Come on Rose, it's time to eat lunch, we know how angry you get when you're hungry, so I made sure to get all this food and bring it here while it's nice and hot."

Rose then looked up from the textbook and pleaded "But I want to read the book"

"Ok, but you need to eat." replied Clark "You can read the book later."

"Hmmph, but I want to read the book now and eat later."

"Rose, if you eat lunch now, we'll be able to go out for ice cream later." said Hank in a gentle tone.

"Can I get hot fudge on top?"

"Of course, Rose."

"Can I bring the book too?"

"Well, you can get the book dirty and I need a quick reference."

"Then I don't want ice cream!"

Hank then put his hand on his chin before continuing, "Hmm, I wonder if this will work. Rose if you don't eat then you'll get so hungry later that you'll want to eat the book, then you wouldn't be able to read it. Do you want that to happen?"

"No, I don't want that to happen! I'll go eat now." cried the girl

The memory then went hazy, time seemed to fast forward until it was night time. Hank remained at the table, working by a dimly lit lamp, he continued his studies. The man tried to get something from a nearby stack of books, but he realized what he needed wasn't there.

"Huh, where is that blasted textbook again?" he said to himself, getting up from his seat to start looking for the book in the dim light.

Though in the silence, he ended up hearing something faint coming from under the table. It sounded like…scribbling? Someone was definitely using a pencil one way or another, all this time it was probably masked by the man's own pen strokes. So Hank crouched down, taking the lamp with him to see who was down there.

To his surprise, he ended up finding Rose, eye's frantically darting from left to right, dark spots forming due to the lack of sleep. In front of her was the same textbook from before, but now there was also a stack of papers with the girl's hand rapidly writing a new page.

"Rose? What are you doing?" asked the man

"Huh?" the girl said as if snapping out of a trance, "Oh Hank, if you need the textbook, I've almost completed my notes on it."

"You seem…different Rose."

"Do I? Have I not shown interest in the book before?

"Yes, but… you didn't seem aware of it and you're using some surprising language for an 8 year old."

"Well I'm aware of it now. As for my wording I learned quite a few words from this book now, well I had to look up a dictionary for quite a few definitions, but that was all because I was reading this."

"What are those notes you're writing?"

"Oh that, it was just some things I thought were interesting and a few concepts I don't really know. I've come to the conclusion that the topics in the book are a bit advanced so some of the basics were just assumed. I think I need to do more research for a complete picture." Rose then grabbed the stack of papers and handed it to her brother, "Here, you can read them if you want."

Hank then started to flip through the pages, though his eyes were barely visible, the shifts in his face indicated they were widening more and more as he read. Eventually, he gave the papers back to Rose, jaw agape.

"How?" he asked

"What do you mean how?"

"Less than 24 hours ago you were struggling with your times table, now here you are grasping the concepts of microbiology. I've seen quite a lot of supernatural phenomena, but I've never seen something like this before."

"That microbiology textbook was just really interesting, so I read through it, of course I'd pick some stuff up."

"Rose, what's two times three?"

"Huh…" Rose said while counting her fingers.

"So math is still a struggle eh?"

"I'm trying ok? It's just that it's really abstract and difficult to visualize."

"It's simple, just imagine you have two sets of three, imagine they're ice cream scoops, pancakes, or cells."

Immediately after hearing the word "cells" Rose said, "Six."

"What?"

"Two sets of three cells is six cells in total."

"Ok…what's three times three, but imagine they're cells."

"Nine." the girl said quickly

"Twelve cells times Twelve."

"One hundred forty four." Rose answered again

Hank started to grow both amazed and concerned at what he was witnessing, still he went further.

"What's one hundred forty four cells divided by 3?"

"Forty Eight." again Rose answered quickly and correctly

"One thousand, eight hundred, and eighty one times seven hundred and sixty two."

"That's one million, four hundred thirty three thousand, three hundred, and twenty two."

Hank then grabbed his calculator to check the answer, when he found out that Rose was right, he put down the calculator and simply said to Rose, "You're a genius."

"So how do you like my memories, Muireann?" a voice echoed out

"Huh?" the Selkie said while looking around for the source of the voice

"Oh, you won't see me here, I'm in the last section of the mind and the other aspects won't let me leave." said the voice

"But you can still see and hear me?"

"That is correct, I heard all the conversations you had with my other aspects, and I know you want to leave this place. Now that they're away, I can help you get what you want."

"But the others said you were the craziest one of them all and spoke about you like some kind of monster. Why should I trust you?" asked Muireann

"Oh really? The mad scientist and the battle hungry warrior think I'm crazy" the voice said with some snark, "Really, it's because I'm the only normal one in the mind that THEY think I'm crazy. You know how they bicker, they both claim that they're the reason the real me is even functional at all, but in reality that's all my work."

"That makes sense I suppose but why wouldn't they let you leave your section of the mind?"

"Because in the end, they still care about me, the only normalcy in Rose, so they lock me up to protect me. I think they got it from my family. Still, even though I can't leave, I can give you a way to enter my section of the mind, the one you need to enter to leave."

A door suddenly appeared in front of Muireann, it opened revealing a snowy backdrop. Muireann hesitated a bit, pondering her options at the time. She didn't know how much time had passed in the real world and how long it was until she woke up. If she wanted to explore people's minds to learn they're weaknesses it'd probably be best if she hurried, waiting for the other aspects to return would just waste time.

"Come on, don't be shy, you're afraid of the cold or something?" the voice asked interrupting Muireann's train of thought

"Not at all." Muireann said as began stepping through the door.

A minute after she left, the two other aspects returned to find Muireann, and the door she stepped through was gone. Valkyrie Rose then fell to her knees.

"No, no, no, no, NO, we took too long, she already got her. We have to go help her!"

"You know we can't do anything, there's a reason we kept her locked up in the first place. Without dad here, I'm afraid she's on her own."

"Damnit!" Valkyrie Rose said, slamming the ground with her fist.

The Monster

Muireann found herself in a snowy forest at what looked to be early in the morning, the source of the voice from earlier was nowhere in sight…nor was the voice itself. Despite this, the scenery seemed stable, coherent, indicating it was a memory or a nightmare. However, all the memories of Rose involved the girl herself in some capacity and the location was oddly peaceful for a nightmare.

After a minute of searching around, Muireann eventually spotted a campsite nearby and made her way to it. She hoped to find someone around to explain what was going on, even if they were a memory or some horrifying nightmare Rose has.

But the place was vacant, there were only signs of people having been there before. The fire had burnt out, food was laid out with only a few bites taken, and a newspaper was placed on a nearby log. The Selkie took note of the newspaper and picked it up, hoping to find more information about what was going on. It was mostly mundane articles about the weather, stock market, sports, and other such happenings. Though at the very least she knew that the newspaper was dated 12 years in the past, and at least one headline caught Muireann's attention.

"Disappearances Around Tongass National Forest Continue to Rise!"

Out of curiosity, Muireann continued to read the article.

"Beginning in the middle of winter, travelers, tourists, and campers in the Tongass forest have begun to disappear without a trace. The number of disappearances has now reached thirty and no body has been recovered thus far. This alarming rate of disappearances is causing officials to consider shutting down traffic into the forest and calling the national guard.

Some believe that a bear has been attacking people given the signs of altercation at the last known locations of the missing. However experts and hunters in the area dismissed the idea, saying that bears do not attack in such a rapid succession. Others believe it may be a wolf pack but the leading expert on wolf behavior and acclaimed environmentalist Natasha Lupa has issued a statement that wolves do not hunt humans in such a manner. Meanwhile preliminary investigations indicate that the victims of these disappearances were stalked for some time before their disappearance.

To date, there have been nine confirmed survivors of these incidents and their eyewitness accounts, though consistent, prove to be inconclusive in helping officials find the missing people. Though investigators are considering it odd how each of the survivors keep murmuring about a little girl, they believe it is a type of hysteria brought about by a traumatic experience.

Officials have advised in the meantime to avoid the Tongass Forest area or to travel armed and with companions."

Muireann put the newspaper down, it probably had nothing to do with the scenery surrounding her, and was probably a mere coincidence. Though the girl did notice something after reading the newspaper.

A small set of footprints right beside a smooth trail, as if a kid was dragging something through the snow. What would a child be doing out here in the woods? Was this child Rose? Whatever the reason was and whoever it was, Muireann thought that following the trail would at least lead her somewhere with answers, so she followed the footprints.

After an uneventful half an hour, Muireann stumbled across a log cabin. The tracks indicated that whoever those footprints belonged to, went here. The girl walked up to a small window on the side of the cabin and tried to wipe it down to see inside.

"Damn, I can't see a thing, it must be blocked from the other side." Muireann said to herself

"Excuse me, is this your cabin?" asked a woman behind Muireann

"Can you stop trying to scare me…" Muireann trailed off as she turned around, the woman she was looking at wasn't Rose, but someone else. It was Rose's step mother, Beatrice, dressed in winter clothing though younger then when Muireann saw her in the Thanksgiving memory.

Muireann noted that before her echolocation ability, thanks to being a selkie, was now working, she could make out the contents of the forest and the woman in front of her by sound alone. It bothered her, before her echolocation not working was just a result of this all being a dream, but now, it implies that this is all too real now.

"No need to be alarmed, I was just passing through the area and noticed this cabin here. You know what it's all about?" Beatrice asked

"Huh no, I know just as much as you." Muireann said, tensing up at the situation and thinking to herself:

(How the hell does she see me, let alone talk to me. I haven't touched anyone here yet.)

"You can relax, you know, you're probably worried about the disappearances. No person can do that, it's probably an animal, and if it is an animal, I've come prepared." the woman said as she pushed away her jacket a little to reveal a holster with a pistol inside. "It's a Glock, 10mm, it looks tiny but it's enough to take down a bear and I even packed a few spare mags."

"Uh…thanks I guess."

Being someone familiar with the supernatural, Muireann wasn't exactly impressed with normal firearms, hence her awkward response.

"So, you see anything through that window?" asked Beatrice

"Nope, not a single thing, view is blocked from the inside." replied the Selkie

Beatrice started walking towards the front of the cabin, "Well I guess, we'll just have to try the front door."

"Wouldn't that be breaking in? Why do you even want to go in anyways?" Muireann said while following the woman

'Have you not been paying attention to the news girl? Thirty people are gone here, they're going to close off this entire forest soon. If someone is living there and hasn't left, they probably don't know and need to know asap."

Beatrice then made her way to the front door of the cabin, with Muireann standing just to the side. She tried turning the door handle, realized it was unlocked, and proceeded to open the door fully. There inside the dark interior of the cabin, the small silhouette of a little girl could be made out.

"What the fuck is a little girl doing by herself all the way out here?" Beatrice muttered to herself before calling out to the girl in the cabin, "Are you ok in there? My name's Beatrice, it's not safe here, we need to get you somewhere safe. It's ok, I'm a part of the marines, I can protect you if danger comes…where are your parents?"

The girl seemed to pay no heed to the woman calling out to her, it looked like the little girl was eating something, in response Beatrice tried stepping into the cabin. She took one step, only to realize there was something coating the floor of the cabin.

Beatrice took one, stepped back and took a look at the sole of her boot, "Oh god, is that blood? That looks like blood."

Muireann, despite all reason telling her not to, decided to look into the cabin herself. Her echolocation abilities allowed her to make out the contents of the cabin and she could smell something foul as well, but still she looked inside. She saw the silhouette of a little girl and the mouth of the silhouette moving…chewing. The Selkie then took a look at Beatrice's boot, she remembered the look from her own nightmare, that was definitely blood, coagulated blood.

"I think we should get out of here while we still can." Muireann told Beatrice

"As much as my body is telling me to run, I think I should at least take out my flashlight for a better look inside. We don't know what's the cause of this, the girl could just be a victim that needs help." the woman responded as she pulled a sturdy flashlight

When Beatrice turned the light on, the scene they saw in the cabin was not a pretty one, there was a lot of blood, gnawed bones, and gore, with a small blonde girl in the middle of it all. Muireann threw up within a few seconds of witnessing the scene, it was all in a dream but she still felt the sensation.

Beatrice on the other hand, swallowed her own spit as a bead of sweat went down her face. She was reminded of a time in the Gulf War, she had taken down a BMP with one of the new metal eater rifles supplied by Academy City. It was a long shot, 2000 meters, side on, where the vehicle where the armor was thinner. A lucky shot too, a bullet hit the ammo resulting in a cook off.

When she and her squad checked out the wreckage to confirm her kill, they had realized the BMP carried a whole squad of troops in its hold. Beatrice saw the human body distorted in ways she did not think possible before, it did not bother her at the time because it happened so fast they wouldn't have felt it and the people in that BMP, her enemies.

Here however, it was different, these were her countrymen, the way they died…slow, the only similarity was the state of the bodies, unrecognizable. The marine saw the probable culprit slowly turn towards her, she reacted by drawing her sidearm and opening fire. Beatrice unloaded the entire magazine of the pistol into the girl. Despite 10mm being a smaller bullet than .45 acp, 10mm has more energy and thus more power than .45 acp, it made for a decent bear defense weapon because of this. Many bush pilots in the Alaskan wilderness prefer a pistol chambered in 10mm just for such a purpose. A mag dump of such a pistol should be able to put down any bear in an experienced shooter's hands, let alone a human being.

Still the girl was alive, knocked down by the force of the bullets, but otherwise unfazed. Beatrice had seen things that had shrugged off small arms fire before, but those were tanks, vehicles, people in heavy suits of body armor. What laid in front of her, however, looked like a small girl in tattered clothes. Said girl, got up, looked at the marine, and growled in anger.

Beatrice threw the flashlight she still had in her off hand at the "girl", turned around and forced Muireann, who was still vomiting from the sight, onto her feet.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" shouted Beatrice towards the selkie

Muireann was practically dragged a few feet before she finally got the message and started running with Beatrice. The monster behind them slowly walked out of her cabin, she watched the two in front of her run away for a minute before letting out a feral roar and giving chase.

The marine, after a minute or two of running, looked behind her, both to look at her pursuer and the girl she had stumbled upon. Beatrice realized that Muireann was falling behind and the thing masquerading as a little girl was catching up, rather rapidly in fact. It made sense that the selkie would have trouble keeping up, she was a teenage girl and Beatrice, a full grown woman with military training.

Not being a heartless person, Beatrice loaded a new magazine into her pistol and took aim. Just as the monster was about to pounce on Muireann, the marine fired a round into the thing, causing it to stumble back. Another round was fired and the monster fell down in the snow, though this didn't keep it down for long, as a second after it was already getting up.

Muireann looked behind her, realized just how close she was to being caught and proceeded to run faster in order to keep up with the woman who just protected her. Despite this though, she still kept falling behind, the monster nearly catching up to her, and Beatrice saving her with a couple of well placed shots.

The selkie knew this wasn't a sustainable situation, Beatrice would eventually run out of ammo and the monster didn't seem to be tiring out anytime soon. That's when the girl spotted a frozen river bed overlooking a cliff, giving her an idea.

"Beatrice, I *huff* think we should split up *huff*." said Muireann

"What? Why?" replied the woman, keeping her breathing steady even while running

"That little girl *huff* will catch up to us eventually, if we split up *huff* and run in different directions, she'll *huff* follow one of us and give the other more time *huff* to escape."

"She'll go after you, she knows you're the slower one."

"Don't worry *huff* I have a plan."

"Fine then, but I'll try to draw her attention so she'll go after me."

The two split up with Beatrice opening fire to make the monster pay attention to her. As Muireann ran further towards the frozen river, the sounds of gunfire slowly got quieter and quieter, until it finally disappeared all together. Muireann then stopped and turned around, looking for signs of the monster pursuing her.

"Did I run far enough away to not hear the gunfire anymore or did I escape? That little girl didn't get Beatrice, did she? No, I know she's alive, I have to remember this is just some memory or nightmare, I can't get hurt in here unless I mess up." Muireann bent over and took a deep breath, "Where is the version of Rose responsible for this anyways? Usually they'll meet me by now."

Muireann was then violently tackled to the ground by the little girl, she was dragged several meters through the snow before coming to a stop. The little monster stood over the dazed Muireann.

"My, my, so many questions, such curiosity, maybe that's why you were so easily fooled." said the monster

The girl took a good look at her pursuer and realized she recognized her face, it was one she had seen before, two times in fact. Her pursuer all this time, was Rose.

"How are you-" Muireann said before getting cut off

"How am I hitting you? Well I'm not sure how it works myself, I never fully understood how this curse worked, but all I know is that you don't get to be a bystander anymore." Rose said while licking her lips.

A jagged piece of ice then formed in Muireann's right hand, she quickly swung it towards Rose. The ice shattered on impact with Rose's face, the monster simply smirked in amusement, before Muireann managed to push her with her left arm, getting Rose off of herself.

As Muireann stood up, Rose simply laughed, "Yes! Struggle more for me please! I think people always taste better when they've got adrenaline running through them."

(I hit her with ice earlier and my echolocation is working, it seems that my abilities work here.I should be able to get away once I reach the river.)

"Come on, what's your next move?" said Rose in a taunting fashion "I'll give you another shot for free, I know it's not going to do anything."

Instead of taking up Rose's offer, Muireann simply started running again. Rose, instead of sprinting after her like before, decided to take a more leisurely pace after the girl.

"I know there's a cliff and a river in that direction, you're just running towards a dead end." the girl said in a condescending fashion.

As such, Muireann actually didn't run into any trouble on the way to the cliff, Rose thought she had her cornered after all. When the selkie made it to the cliff edge, she looked down to confirm the presence of the river.

"Oh, that's a steeper drop than I thought." Muireann turned around towards the forest, "Though I've thought of that as well."

Rose's voice then echoed out from the forest, though with no sign of the girl herself to be seen, "You know, something I've missed about being a kid was just how small I was. I got to sneak around all sorts of places because people just wouldn't see me. But then again, I do like being big as well, growing up I noticed how I got stronger and stronger. My family had a tough time keeping me contained because of that. I guess I like working out, because I like that feeling of getting stronger, though I still miss that feeling of sneaking around too."

Muireann kept her eyes sharp, preparing for the time Rose would strike. Though the more Rose talked instead of attacking, the more Muireann grew nervous.

"Then Clark ended up making those special chains to contain me, no matter how hard I tried I could never break them, I can't even make a dent in them. That meant I can't do something like this anymore, hunting people like this, but now that you're here. I get to finally let loose and have some fun!"

"Damnit, just do something already you psycho." Muireann muttered through her teeth

"A little impatient are we? Well if you insist." Rose said before emerging from a snow mound and tackling Muireann off the cliff.

However, this was all part of the selkie's plan, as the two plummeted towards the earth, Muireann made sure to aim towards the frozen river and push Rose beneath her so that her body would smash the ice. When the two made impact, Rose's tiny body hit the ice, causing it to crater and crack, but not break fully. However, Muireann's body managed to make the ice shatter fully, causing her and Rose to sink into the frigid waters below.

Muireann, being a selkie, was able to transform into a seal. The frozen river and the waters it holds, they were her home territory. As Rose climbed out of the water, Muireann swam as fast as she could. The monster, dripping wet and irritated, saw her prey swimming away and followed on foot, running on top of the ice.

Despite becoming an animal suited to swimming in water, Muireann was still slower than Rose on foot, the monster gradually catching up to her. Rose then leaped in the air and punched the ice as she landed, her hand nearly caving in Muireann's seal skull. The river being a little shallow and frozen over, Muireann wasn't that far from the surface.

"A seal huh? I've always wanted to have some. Say do you still have human organs? I do love liver and kidneys…and hearts too." said Rose as she continued to chase after Muireann, her words reverberating across the ice and into the water.

Once again, Rose leaped into the air and tried punching through the ice to get to Muireann again. Rose missed again, but she nearly clipped one of Muireann's flippers.

"Eating seal meat is forbidden in my culture, you could be eating a selkie, therefore a person!" shouted Muireann in her seal form.

"I'm sorry, have I not made it clear enough that I'm a cannibal?" replied Rose "Do you really think I give a damn about your culture's faux pas? Didn't you see what I did? This is my memory, I'm a monster you idiot, the only reason you've made it this far was because I let you."

Rose made a third attempt to punch through the ice and get Muireann, this time her fist brushing against the seal's side.

"John said I liked playing with my food when I was young." said Rose, "You know what? He's right!"

As Rose made one more attempt to get Muireann, the selkie thought quickly.

(Damnit, I'm not going to reach the ocean anytime soon. She's going to get me at some point, I need to think of something quick! Wait, she climbed out of the water before following me, instead of getting me in the water. She must not have the best water wings.)

Muireann then made a sudden pitch up in the water, as Rose made impact with the ice, the selkie smashed through it. The force of the two making a sizable hole causes Rose to sink in the ice and Muireann to leap out.

Just before Muireann fell back into the water, she used her ice magic to refreeze the water. So instead of plunging into the water again, Muireann fell onto ice. The girl reverted to her human form and looked down at the ice. Rose was firmly trapped in the water.

Before Muireann could even breathe a sigh of relief, Rose's hand busted through the ice. She was trying to break a hole to climb out. However, Muireann was not having any of that and proceeded to freeze the water even more, causing the monster to be encased in even more ice. The selkie didn't even look to see if it slowed her down, she just made a break for it, if the ice held, then good. If the ice didn't hold, then she needed to use what time she had to get away. So Muireann ran and ran, eventually she ran far enough that she felt comfortable to turn around and check if Rose was chasing after her still.

"..." there was only silence, and this time it wasn't a feral little girl tackling Muireann breaking it.

Muireann then leaned on a tree, she took this time to catch her breath. She did something stupid, incredibly stupid. Instead of heeding the warnings of the other Rose aspects, she trusted the one version that the rest thought was crazy. Now she is stuck here until Joseph picks her up or she wakes up, whenever that is. Possibly chased the entire time by this monster residing within Rose's mind.

"I should probably keep moving, I'd like as much distance as possible between me and that thing." Muireann said before walking through the forest by herself.

Around 30 minutes later, Muireann came across a stretch of paved road. A little bit down the road from where she stood, Muireann could see smoke coming from a campfire. Normally, she wouldn't head towards there given that the last campsite she went to was vacant, but she heard something that changed her mind.

"That's why I prefer a metal eater rifle, anything smaller just isn't strong enough for those things." said a man

"Eh, I prefer a good old fashion service rifle, 5.56 is a lot more powerful than people give it credit for, especially with the right loads. Besides, when push comes to shove, going full auto is gonna save your skin. The more bullets down range the better." replied another man

"I prefer a submachine gun in that case, you get more capacity and even though its pistol caliber the longer barrel gives it enough power to do decent damage. Hey wait, is that a teenage girl up the road?" said a third man

Muireann had walked to the campsite at this point, it was a rather simple setup, four chairs surrounded a campfire with a couple of tents set up. Off to the side, there was a set of vehicles parked, a pickup truck and a van. Notably all three men at the camp were armed with firearms and dressed in some kind of winter camouflage gear.

"Hey what are you doing here girl? Are you lost?" said the bald man as he was getting up from his chair, on his shoulder was slung an assault rifle.

"Christ man, what does it look like, she's a minor out here alone and we're three grown ass men with guns." said the man, who had a rather long black beard and mullet, armed with a submachine gun "She's probably looking at us like we're about to kidnap her."

"Well, we're not. George, tell her she's not safe here with the disappearances and I dunno, give her a phone so she can call someone to pick her up." said a middle aged man with graying short hair and stubble on his chin.

"Why me? Why can't you do it Harrison?" asked the balding man

"Cause you're the one who called her, what the hell do you think?" snarked Harrison

"Uh, guys, she already walked to the campsite." said the bearded man

"Um…hi?" Muireann said awkwardly

The bearded man then noted "Wait, you're not wearing a jacket, you'll catch a cold girl. We got an extra jacket somewhere."

Harrison, the middle aged man, let out a hearty laugh causing the man to turn towards him, "Leon, you're ever the gentleman, even though your style of hair doesn't match it. Anyways, don't you notice our guest here isn't bothered by the cold?"

Leon, the bearded man, then turned back towards Muireann, "You're not warming up by the fire? Hell, you're not even shivering."

George, the bald man, then chimed in, "You must be special, aren't you?"

"She must have an immunity or resistance to the cold," said Harrison "Kind of like a reverse John."

(John? Is it the same John that's Rose's adoptive brother?) Muireann thought to herself

"Anyways, are you aware of the disappearances happening in this neck of the woods?" asked Harrison

"I've recently heard of them." Muireann said shaking slightly at the thought of her recent encounter

"...you're hiding something aren't you?" Harrison noted

"What?"

"I don't mean that you've got some ulterior motive or want to harm us. It's just that I know that look, the look of someone who's seen something bad, very bad. It's very slight, but I can see it."

"How do you know?" asked Muireann

"I see it every time I look in the mirror." Harrison said bluntly

Muireann remained silent, Harrison simply gestured at the empty chair by the campfire. Muireann took a seat, where Leon decided to pour a tin of coffee for the girl. The selkie took a sip, she never had coffee before, but the drink in her hands tasted bitter and somewhat sweet. She also heard that coffee helps keep a person awake, she then remembered the time when the far east Saint, Kazanki, drank too much of the stuff. Right now though, she was hoping the drink would wake her up.

"Five years ago," Harrison began, "I was camping with my wife out in the woods. Northern Utah, a beautiful place, my kids all recently moved out of the house, so that freed us for a nice vacation alone."

Harrison then clasped his hands and looked at the ground, "That's when it all happened, one night, I heard something, screaming. My wife's screaming, she had gone out at night for some reason, it didn't matter what for. All that mattered was that something got her and I just stayed in the sleeping bag, hoping that it would stop."

The man paused to look up at the girl sitting by him at the campfire, "I'm a fucking coward. When I grew up I was taught that a man is supposed to protect his family, and when it came time to prove that, I failed. The next morning, I found claw and bite marks by our camp, but no sign of my wife. I resolved to find her, after a few days I did find…not alive though."

Muireann then saw tears forming in the eyes of the middle aged man, "That day, I saw what had killed her…and I ran and it just…let me go. I was so pathetic that the thing didn't even see me as prey and it was right. When I went home, everyone thought I was crazy, my kids, my friends, my coworkers. They all said a pack of wolves got my wife, but I knew what I saw that day, it was no wolf…"

Harrison let out a sigh, "Now that I got that out there, maybe you could share what happened to you? If you're comfortable with it."

"...I saw the thing that's causing all the disappearances and I know where it lives." Muireann replied

"No shit you did?" said George, who was listening in, "We've been hunting whatever's been doing this for 2 weeks now. What does it look like, where is it?"

Before Muireann could answer, a motorcycle, with a sidecar, pulled up to the camp. It was parked by the spot with the two vehicles before a 17 year old boy, wearing a blue trench coat covered in a white camo covering, got off. Muireann looked at the new arrival and quickly realized, this was a younger John, the brother of Rose.

(Is this how John met Rose?)

"Hey guys, I got back from my early morning run. Who's the new girl?" asked the young John as he grabbed a shotgun from his sidecar, looking at Muireann

"Oh John," replied Leon, "This girl just stumbled onto the road and came to our camp. Craziest thing too, she knows where that monster sleeps."

"Is that so? Well lucky us."

"Yeah she was about to tell us where, isn't that right?" Leon said to Muireann

"Uh, yes, it was this-" Muireann said before getting cut off

"Hold on quiet for a second," John said as he raised his finger in the air

In the distance, the faint sounds of gunfire could be heard and it was getting closer and closer. Not too far from the camp, a flock of birds was being scared off from something getting too close.

"Sounds like a 10mm pistol," noted John "Too much moving for a simple firing range and it's too far in the boonies for a target course. Someone's fighting for their life out there."

"Shit, forget about the location right now, we need to help whoever that is out." said Harrison

"We can't just leave the new girl alone here," John pointed out. "I'll stay behind and guard her."

"Great idea John. George, Harrison, grab your piece we've got to move now."

And so the three men grabbed their guns and ran off in the direction of the gunfire, leaving John and Muireann alone at the campsite. John made sure that the three men were nowhere in hearing distance before checking his shotgun, and grabbing some spare shells and a can of gas from his motorcycle.

"I know you're not from here." said John as he banged on the can to make sure it was full

"W-What are you talking about?" asked Muireann

"This is a dream, it's all set in stone, yet here you are, an unknown factor."

"You know too?"

John reached into his coat and took out a flip light, looking at it sentimentally, "Yes, and before you ask, I'm not the real John, I'm a memory of the guy at this moment of time. Dad specifically gave me awareness so that I can guard this place. Which makes your presence here even more concerning for me."

Muireann stiffened up a little as John had put away the lighter and started to check the sharpness of his knife by whittling a wooden stick into a stake. He looked at the point of the stake, before placing the knife into the coat, and tossing the mini stake into Muireann's hand.

"Relax, I know you're not here to hurt Rose, in fact from the looks of it, it looks like you're pretty shaken up from Rose's nature."

"What the bloody hell is your sister?" asked Muireann

"She's a wendigo, here, you might need this later." John said while handing Muireann a flare

"A what?"

"It's a creature in Native American culture, which specific culture I'm not sure. What I am sure about is that something is infesting Rose's mind that makes her cannibalistic for a period of time. What's worse is that Rose is a born Valkyrie, if she was a Saint it would've been lucky as the very nature of Saints would've forced the wendigo in her into a permanent remission. As a Valkyrie though, the two natures don't fight but actually help strengthen each other."

"So…she's stronger than a s-"

"Yes."

Muireann was then filled with a sense of dread, but also a sense of how lucky she was to get away from Rose in the first place.

"You don't seem that worried." noted Muireann

"Don't worry what I said applies to the real Rose, this version of Rose is still a child and thus much weaker. Besides, I've fought quite a few things that put Saints to shame."

"Even now? With this 17 year old version of you?"

"Yep, Rose always looked up to me because in her mind, I was one of the only few people around that could actually stop her. Even when she grew up and became stronger, I still stopped her, that's because I never stopped improving myself. Though, I think there's a glaring question that needs to be answered."

"What would that be?"

"How the hell did you get here?"

"I…I was looking through your sister's memories and heard a voice that said to come here."

"Well first off, if I was the real John I'd punch you in the face for intruding on my sister's privacy. Second off, assuming you're not crazy, that means the wendigo part of Rose tricked you."

"She said she wasn't the crazy one in Rose's mind and that she was holding together everything."

"Lies all of it, if you saw Rose's memories you saw how smart she can be. Do you really think deception was beyond her?"

"I thought she was honorable or something." Muireann muttered.

"One part of Rose is, the rest are not. Let this be a lesson to you, no matter how monstrous something might be, it'll always have a brain. Even feral beasts can pull off clever tricks."

It was all making sense now, Rose was locked in the basement not because her family was a bunch of evil abusers, but because Rose herself was a danger to those around her. Otherwise, John, his brothers, and Joseph all worked hard to give Rose a fulfilling life whenever she didn't want to eat people. The scary thing in all of this is that Rose's shift to this monster was a subtle one and as monster Rose knew how to be subtle as Muireann experienced first hand.

"I'll…try to keep that in mind. So what happens now?"

"We get you out of here. You're in danger as long as you stay." John explained

"How and where to?"

"Well we can't take you back to the other portions of Rose's mind, that'll risk Rose having one of her cannibalistic bouts. So that leaves going to another mind entirely. I know dad set up a special connection between the real me and Rose, that's your only chance. And to do that we need to go to the log cabin again."

Muireann backed up a little, surprised at the idea,"Back to that place again?"

"Relax…actually no, keep yourself on guard. Think about things for a second, this whole place is based on Rose's memory. Don't you think this area is a little too detailed, down to Harrison's story?" asked John

"Yeah…but you weren't here for that story. But you're also just the memory of John at this time…if you know the story despite that and Harrison was detailed enough to tell it to me in the first place…" as Muireann trailed off her heart beat skyrocketed, she had come to a conclusion and she didn't like it.

"Good news is that Rose is definitely not in the cabin right now." explained John as he scanned the forest for any movement.

"Wait if this is all just Rose's memory, then how about that frozen river I ran into before?" asked the selkie

"The mind fills in blanks in some of the memories, it doesn't make the entire world, just the general area and where the person has been. Rose, having lived here before, must've been to that river at some point. If there were people there, then Rose must've seen them hanging out in that area. If there wasn't, then it's a possibility she wasn't there at the time, and there in fact may have been people there, but that's all irrelevant to this situation."

John then went to the back of the van and opened the rear doors, revealing a snowmobile inside. He began dragging the vehicle out of the back.

"You know how to drive one of these?" asked John

"I haven't even driven a car or motorcycle before, let alone this thing." replied Muireann

John stopped dragging the snowmobile and reached into his coat, he took out a pistol and tried handing it to Muireann, "You know how to use one of these?"

Muireann shook her head as she slowly backed away from the weapon.

"You are not going to make it easy, but fine then, I'll teach you the basics," John then started pointing at different parts of the pistol, "Trigger, pull this to fire. Safety, flip this if you want to fire. Magazine release, press it to eject the mag and put in a new one. If the slide locks back and you can see into the gun, you need to put a new magazine in and pull the slide. Firearm safety doesn't matter here, but try to conserve ammo, I've only got so much."

John then handed the pistol to Muireann before speaking again, "Now we have to move, help me drag this thing out of the van."

With the two of them working together, they managed to get the snowmobile out within a minute. John then took the gas can from earlier and began fueling the snowmobile.

"You hear see or anything out there?" asked John

"Uh, no." replied Muireann

"Good…" John then threw down the gas can and picked up his shotgun

The teenage version of the hunter then shot a random snow mound nearby, nothing happened. He shot another snow mound, again nothing happened. He shot another, and another, and another. John had shot 5 snow mounds when he turned his shotgun to one last mound and pulled a trigger.

click*

Rose then jumped out of the snow mound, a different one than the one that John was looking at, and charged at her brother. However, John simply racked the action on his shotgun again, turned towards his sister and opened fire.

He had intentionally loaded a dud into his shotgun to lure Rose out of her hiding spot, that's why he was shooting snow mounds, he knew Rose would get suspicious if John's shotgun was empty right away, but he also knew that Rose wouldn't be counting his shouts fully.

"You!" John said towards Muireann, "Get on the snowmobile, turn the key and pull the cord. Got it?"

Muireann simply nodded. The shot that hit the little monster and sent her flying towards a tree, she hit her back on the trunk before sliding to the ground, face grimacing in pain. John, meanwhile, slowly walked towards the girl while reloading his firearm, slowly and methodically. Everytime Rose tried to move, John stopped reloading and fired another shotgun shell at her.

John got close enough to the girl that he raised his shotgun and tried striking at her with the stock of his gun. However, Rose reacted just in time and dodged the attack, the gun stock instead hitting the tree, making it explode into splinters. She then tried grabbing onto John's shotgun, but the teenager managed to kick her out of the way.

The hunter aimed his shotgun at Rose again, but the girl glanced at a more vulnerable target, Muireann. John didn't take his eyes off of Rose, he simply fired again, but Rose made a mad dash towards the Selkie. She was faster than John and at this distance, he couldn't get another shot off without risking Muireann as well.

"Watch out, she's coming for you!" John shouted

Muireann looked up from the snowmobile, she had just pulled the cord and started the engine. When she saw Rose running at her, Muireann grabbed up the gas can John threw away and she held it up like a shield.

Rose's punch punctured the can easily, spilling the contents all over the area, including herself and Muireann. However, the punch fell just short of Muireann's face. Rose instead grabbed the selkie and threw her onto the ground and placed her foot on Muireann's throat.

"I know you're not the real John, not my real brother." said Rose as she turned towards the past version of John, "You're just a prison guard, made to keep me in here."

"You know why I do this, we've had this talk before. You're a danger that needs to be locked up, everytime I fail, you try to eat someone." replied John

"You're just a creation of my mind, you know you can't deny me forever. I'm a part of Rose just as the other two are. Everyone who's been here, you, dad, and those two loons, they know deep down that they can't get rid of me. I will feast again, maybe not today, not tomorrow, but eventually, I will find a way."

"Perhaps, but I'll be damned if I just let that happen."

John aimed his shotgun, but Rose raised her index finger and wagged it.

"Nuh, uh, ah, I see you so much as move your trigger finger, the girl's larynx is getting crushed like an apple."

John lowered his gun in response to that threat.

"That's good, much better, now we can sit back and relax as I tear this girl-"

A gunshot came from below Rose. While the monster was preoccupied with her brother, Muireann took the time to grab the gun John gave her and tried shooting Rose. However, Muireann missed despite her target literally being on top of her.

"You missed? How did you miss? I know I'm not as huge as my real self, but I'm right on top of you." Rose said baffled at Muireann's lack of marksmanship.

Though Muireann's shot missed, she ended up distracting Rose long enough for John to close the distance and use his shotgun as a club. The hunter swung the firearm at Rose's head, knocking her towards the vehicles, where she impacted the pickup truck. Her body denting the hull and flipping the vehicle on its side.

"Getting really tired of this," Rose said as she got up, tearing the punctured gas can off her arm, it was stuck after Muireann used it as a shield.

"I'll tell you the same thing I've told you a thousand times before, you want this to stop, you can just walk away." replied John

"Oh, you misunderstand, I love the violence part, the part I hate is you getting in the way of my food!" Rose charged, reading her arms to tear at Muireann, the attack ignoring John.

A flash of steel, followed by a splash of blood stopped the little girl. Rose had recoiled back from the sudden pain, she looked at the source of the pain, her right arm, and realized that there was a large gash there. She then looked at John and saw him brandishing a knife, dripping with blood, in one hand, while he lowered his shotgun in the other.

"Going to the knife already John? I thought you loved me?" Rose said mockingly, knowing full well that it wasn't her real brother in front of her.

"You know I don't play around with stuff like this."

John then flicked the knife, sending a splash of blood towards Rose's eyes. The girl raised her arm to block it, but the hunter had other tricks. John shot Rose with his shotgun, staggering her, he then threw his knife. It ended up piercing the arm Rose used to block the blood and dragged the girl to the overturned truck, pinning her to the exterior of the vehicle.

"Holy hell." Muireann muttered to herself she watched John fend Rose off with what she assumed were ordinary items. Even this younger version of the hunter moved with a certain amount of finesse and skill, every move was deliberate, planned out. If this was his performance back then, one could only imagine what he'll be like in the present.

"Stand back, you're coated in gasoline as well." John said to Muireann as he brought out his flip lighter.

The hunter then ignited the thing and threw it towards Rose, the fuel coating the monster igniting rapidly, causing her to writhe in panic. For safe measure, John unloaded a few rounds of buckshot in the fuel tanks of the pickup truck and van, adding fuel to the fire.

"Let's go, that won't stop Rose for long." John said as he walked towards the snowmobile

"Don't need to tell me twice, get me the hell out of here!"

Around 15 minutes later, Muireann and John were traveling through the forest in the snowmobile. The log cabin from before was in sight before the engine in the snowmobile began sputtering and eventually came to a stop.

"Fuck, there wasn't enough fuel to take us all the way." John cursed

Muireann pointed towards the cabin in the distance, "Well we almost made it anyways, the cabin is just over there."

The hunter then noticed a flock of birds taking flight behind them, and turned around. He got off the snowmobile and readied his shotgun, gesturing towards Muireann.

"You should run. Now."

"Why?" Muireann asked with a twinge of fear in her voice. She already had a guess why she should run, she just didn't want to be right.

"Rose is it won't be long until she'll be here. She can ignore me to get to you as you've seen before, so I can't buy you much time. When you get into the cabin, look for a mirror and step through. Now go!" John shouted as he headed towards Muireann's pursuer.

Muireann left with little choice, ran towards the cabin. In the distance, the sounds of gunfire echoed throughout the forest for a few seconds, before stopping all together. By the time Muireann got to the cabin, she turned around to check for any signs of Rose, only to see a little girl in the distance

The little girls and the selkie both saw each other and it was at that moment, Muireann knew she had no one left to turn to, nowhere to hide, and nowhere else to run except the mirror. She quickly turned around, holding back her vomit at the sight of gore covering the cabin, and began searching for the mirror.

It was dark, but Muireann being a selkie had echolocation abilities, alongside that, the flashlight Beatrice threw earlier was still in the cabin and still switched on, illuminating a small part of the structure. Still with these at hand, Muireann could not sense nor see a mirror anywhere. She sensed a desk with a box on it, a pair of chairs set up by a spent fireplace with two bodies set in them…

And a girl standing at the entrance.

Muireann turned around to face Rose, the little monster stepping forward, her movement accidentally bumping the flashlight on the ground, causing it to roll around. When it settled, the flashlight now shined on the chairs, causing Rose to pause.

A picture frame was hung on the wall, on it, a man, a woman, and a little girl at the center. They all had blonde hair, the man had eyes like Rose's eyes, the woman's face was structured just like Rose in the real world, and the girl in the center…Rose herself. On the chairs, where the bodies lay, one chair "mama" carved into it, and the other one had "papa" carved into it.

"Oh God." Muireann muttered to herself, the little monster in front of her, who was taunting and mocking before, was silent and unmoving.

The selkie made the first move, while forming a dagger of ice in one hand, she drew the pistol John gave her and opened fire. The gunfire spurred Rose into action, she rushed Muireann down before she could get 3 shots in, grabbed her, and threw her towards the desk.

Although this was a dream, Muireann could feel the pain of bones fracturing and muscle bruising from the impact. The selkie landed face down on the floor, while writhing in pain, Rose rolled her over. Muireann then stabbed at the little monster now standing over her, only for her hand to be caught in a vice-like grip by Rose. Muireann then tried to aim her gun at Rose, the thrown flashlight illuminating the little girl, but the selkie's echolocation picked something up.

When the selkie was thrown towards the desk, she ended up knocking over the box, causing it to open. Muireann's echolocation can't work through solid walls, so she didn't know what was in the box, but now that it was open, she knew what it was now.

A small hand mirror was stored there, it was now propped up by something the selkie did not want to think about as it belonged to a person. Still the mirror was out of reach, so Muireann turned the pistol towards the mirror, all the while thinking to herself:

(Please work, please work, please work.)

Muireann unloaded the last of the pistol's magazine at the mirror, shattering it into a dozen pieces. One of which landed close enough for her to grab. She threw the pistol at Rose and grabbed the shard. Rose, seeing this occur, tried to bring her foot down on Muireann's head.

"No!" shouted Rose as she tried to stop her prey from escaping

It was too late, Muireann was sucked into the mirror, leaving Rose's dreamscape.

The aspect of Rose stared at the mirror shared as it magically called it other pieces to reform itself. She then heard a knock on the wall of her cabin, causing her to turn her head towards the door.

It was John, looking at Rose, eyes filled with sorrow and pity. He did not attack, he did not adopt a defensive stance, he didn't even speak, he just stood there, his eyes meeting Rose's as they've done this a thousand times at this point.

"You know, I've heard about what you've done. The monsters you've hunted." Rose said to the memory of her brother, "After all this time I still wonder. Why didn't you kill me? Out of all the monsters you've faced, why am I different?"

John didn't have an answer, he simply didn't. This was not the real John after all, the answers did lie with him, but they weren't here.

Rose turned back towards the mirror, it was a toy mirror given to kids to play with. This particular one had a name attached to the frame, but whatever name it was, it was crossed out. Instead, written on the mirror itself, in blood, was the word "monster".

Those Who Lurk in the Dark

Muireann found herself on the bed she went to sleep in that night, however there was a familiar face sitting by her side. Though it was still dark and Muirean seemingly couldn't use her echolocation at the moment, her head might still be groggy, she could still recognize the outline of the face.

It was Celt, her adopted mother. Though she couldn't make out her green dress with golden designs, grassy eyes, or mint colored hair.

"Celt? What are you doing here?" asked Muireann

"Oh dear, your maid friends got worried about you when Joseph told them what happened in your dream. They tried their hardest to help you out, but you ended up sleeping for two days straight. When you were sleeping, they felt it was only right to call me, being your mother and all." the shadowed woman explained, "Though truth be told, you really worried me there. You were tossing and turning in your sleep like someone was trying to kill you."

"I…had a horrible nightmare Celt." Muireann tried to get up from her bed, but she stopped when she noticed something wooden and metal by her side.

(When did I bring a stick into my bedroom?)

"What's wrong dear?" asked the woman

"It's nothing, I guess my bed was getting stiff from me sleeping on it for so long." Muireann tried to brush off, "Can you turn on the lights, I can barely see anything."

"Oh sorry, dear, but your boss, one eyed Othinus, said that all lights are to be turned off for a ritual she's doing."

"And what of Ainmire, did Joseph beat him?" asked Muireann

"Ainmire is dead dear, you don't have to worry about him ever again."

"I see," Muireann said plainly, she felt the wooden stick by her side and realized it was sharpened into a stake. "And what about Touma?"

"Who's Touma?" asked the woman

Muireann then thrusted the tiny wooden stake into the woman's chest. The shadowy woman shrieked, her form fluctuating as she writhed in pain. As this happened, Muireann grabbed the metal object in her bed, it was a flare, it alongside the stake were given to her by the dream version of John earlier.

"Bloody, vixen, pretending to be my mum huh? Joseph told me about beings like you, beings like him trying to go after me. Looks like you didn't do your research, why would a magic god like Othinus need a ritual with the lights off, why would Celt be here in the first place, and most importantly of all, you don't know who Touma is!"

"I thought…you hated him. You said marrying him was your worst nightmare" said the shadowy entity.

"I…maybe…you know what, I was joking. In the end you messed up, you don't know who you're dealing with."

"Well, that makes two of us." said the entity

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really think this little twig would be enough to stop us?"

"Us?"

The room then dissipated, leaving Muireann floating around in a sea of darkness. It didn't feel like water, rather it felt like something was pulling at her from every direction, all of it canceling out, making Muireann feel weightless. Meanwhile the entity that pretended to be her adopted mom, seemingly melded with the darkness. It's form now indistinguishable from everything around the selkie. A symphony of voices then spoke from the darkness.

"You don't understand what we are, little girl. Joseph had long given up the majority of his power yet he still commands the darkness and molds the realm of dreams like clay. We are in our eternal prime and he is not here to protect you, we may alter your mind as we please. We first offered comfort, but we were rejected, now we resort to force."

Muireann then felt something squirm around her, forcing itself into her mind. She flailed about, trying to shoo whatever was out there away, but it did not relent. The selkie felt something trying to alter her, her memories, her personality, her very sense of being. She was currently resisting, but she didn't know how much longer she could last.

"You will make a great host for our power," the symphony said in unison. "Muireann Conan, magician, selkie, daughter, royalty, and tonight, vulnerable. You are perfect, with you, all mortals shall learn to fear the dark once again!"

Muireann slowly felt herself slipping away, she had to figure something out quickly lest she ends up as someone, or something completely unrecognizable to her current self. However, the darkness was consuming her.

(Darkness…dark. I need light!)

The girl then pulled the tab on the flare she had, lighting up the area immediately. She felt whatever was forcing itself into her mind retreat and the symphony of voices then hissed in response.

"A light, from the memory of Joseph's very own child!" the symphony hissed "No matter, it will sputter out soon anyways and you will be vulnerable once again."

As the area lit up, Muireann found herself on seemingly solid ground. She landed on her feet and looked around to get an idea of what to do now.

When Muireann looked to her left and right, close by she saw wolves, bears, and lions. Every single apex predator of the land prowling in the dark, ready to pounce at her. Further in the distance she saw giants and moving mountains, but the mountains seemingly moved in unison. Muireann shifted her gaze slightly up and saw inverted mountains, moving in a similar way.

They were not mountains, they were teeth.

Muireann then looked to the sky, near her, she saw birds of prey and carrion eaters, circling around her waiting for the light to go out and skewer her. Further up in the sky…no in space, the selkie saw a massive floating entity, its form incomprehensible to her, yet it blotted the entire sky with its body.

The more she stared at it, the more Muireann understood its immensity. After a minute, Muireann was imbued with the knowledge that it didn't just cover the sky, it blotted a galaxy's worth of distance. Yet Muireann kept staring and learned it was even bigger than that.

The girl soon shook herself out of it and looked below. There she found an ocean, familiar territory, but now filled with sharks, killer whales, and other giant sea creatures. Yet they all paled in comparison to what was deeper below.

A normally endless, bottomless void was filled with something and it was looking at Muireann.

Muierann looked back and saw the snow covered cabin in Rose's dreamscape, the monster that had chased her throughout staring at her. Daring her to come back or face the dangers that lay around her and ahead.

Finally, Muireann looked ahead to another dreamscape, John's dreamscape. With all other directions being death and demise, the only hope of survival for Muireann lay in what was in front of her.

And so Muireann ran, ran as fast as she could before the flare burnt out.

"Fool!" the symphony of voices said tauntingly "You think the hunter's mind will provide you safety, provide you comfort?"

Muireann ignored them as she kept running, praying to whatever deity was listening, she didn't care if it was Nuada, Othinus, or even Index. She prayed that she would make it to the dreamscape.

"We are those who lurk in the dark, what you see as danger we see as comfort and security. Join us and you will be the same! That man, he has witnessed the depths of depravity, he is strong enough to bear such things. You have seen how strong he is, are you sure you are as strong?"

Still, Muireann kept running. At this point, she almost made it to John's mind.

"Very well then, let it be known we offered a softer way. Whatever happens, and has happened to you, has been of your own accord." the symphony said before going silent

A light shined in Muireann's face, if she had eyes in this realm, it would've been blinding. The selkie blinked a few times before realizing that the light was the sun. She looked around and realized she was back on the Graham family ranch.

In the field, she saw 4 boys of varying ages playing a game of tag. An auburn haired woman stepped out of the house with a pitcher of lemonade and some cups.

"Boys, lemonade is ready!" the woman shouted cheerfully

The scene faded in the background as Muireann processed what happened. She fell to her knees and cried out in joy at having made it to safety, tears of joy streaming down her smiling face. A minute later, the tears continued but the smile had disappeared.

Muireann remembered what Joseph had told her, everytime Muireann was lucid dreaming, she would be vulnerable to those things in the dark. She got lucky this time, if she was found by one of those things before Joseph, who knows what would've happened to her. Not to mention being saved by Rose's memory of John, giving her those items.

The selkie then curled up on the ground, still crying. This was possibly going to be a normal occurrence to her and there was no definite safety. It did not matter if she was home, in Touma's penthouse, or in a Necessarius cell.

The realization was crushing, what hope was there in her sleep?

AN:

Wow that was a bummer ending, I hope the next chapter isn't depressing or horrifying in any way!

….The funny chapters continue after next chapter btw

Anyways, in "Those Who Lurk in the Dark" we catch out first glimpse of the vampires I'm injecting into the Toaru setting. Are those vampires the strongest of their kind, are they a special type, and how many were there actually in that void?

Those questions may or may not be answered later

Though another question is how Muireann managed to go into her own dream that somehow wasn't her own dream. You may already have the answer if you paid attention to the Between the Lines sections. Though if you haven't, by the end of this arc you'll get your answer.

Now for my thought process, this chapter started as a series of jokes that had me figuring out how to get to the joke in the first place. That led to the creation of Joseph. It also gave me an excuse to explore the backstories of my OCs.

Rose's backstory kinda just happened in my head I guess, I don't actually remember the reason why I have Rose the curse she has, but it led to some interesting ideas so I kept it. The split personality afterwards just came naturally from that. I suppose I made her like an inverse of Brunhild in some aspects, which is probably why I made them fight this chapter.

One thing I do remember was that John was always apart of the backstory and it's the reason Rose is adopted into the Graham family in the first place. Speaking of John, the next chapter is going to be about him. Though it's probably going to be shorter as I want to reveal his backstory piecemeal.

Though I'll pose a question for you readers, I've illustrated what kind of man John is and what he's capable of, though perhaps not his full abilities yet.

What kind of nightmares do you think a man like John would have?