Current popular opinion (not sure if it's Word of Alex or not) says Carol will never be normal again without someone wishing it on the Skull heart. To me, that's just too cruel to her. I felt like trying a scenario that doesn't involve vicious cycles and all that jazz. Still, it sucks to be Carol.

All characters (except Nightingale) belong to Lab Zero Games (or Alex Ahad, not sure who owns the rights; I suspect it's Alex.)

BGM: Daybreak

Mid October.

Beep

It was the first sound her ears registered. Fuzzy, indistinct.

Beep

Blackness, numbness. The sound in the distance was all there was.

Beep

Clearer this time. She could make out the beginnings of voices.

Beep

"...ink she's waking up."

The light seared her eyes. Everything hurt. Arms. Legs. Head. Abdomen. Her chest particularly. She tried to speak, nothing came. A figure loomed over her

And she was back. Back in the pitch black lab with tubes sticking out of her, pumping her full of God knows what. The feeling of violation as that masked creep took over her body while she could do naught but watch...

She screamed.

"Help me! She's having a fit!"

Nothing

The next time wakefulness came, she took in her surroundings. Beige windowless walls, a simple wooden floor, white bedsheets, one female in a school uniform...

"Carol!"

Filia dived on her and embraced her. Carol's adled mind barely recognised this girl, but that slight bit was enough to know she was safe, "Oh Carol, I'm so sorry."

She struggled for recognition, "Fi-li-a..." Carol's voice box felt like it'd been rubbed with a cheese grater. Sounded like it too. The oxygen mask didn't help her communication difficulties.

"Everything's going to be alright. You're at the Black Egrets medical centre."

Black Egrets? They were the Canopy Kingdoms defence force, weren't they. What was she doing he...

Caverns. Filled with skulls. One narrowly misses her. The green haired girl charges through. The nurse..Valentine!...the bitch slices through several more allowing the big fellow to smash...The Skullgirl!

"Carol, what's wrong!?"

Bony spear flies. Filia can't dodge it. Must try. Then the pain. So much pain. The redheaded princess, "Someone get a goddam medic!" Filia screams.

"Carol! CAROL!"

The hospital room again. Carol's face had gone white. She was heaving, even with the mask. Filia looked dumbstruck for a couple of seconds before she caught onto what was about to happen, and produced a bucket. Carol ripped it out of her hands and proceeded to throw up copiously. After she'd stopped, they examined the contents; rather worrying amounts of red.

Filia looked distraught, "What's wrong with her? Why does she keep screaming?"

The orderly turned, "I wish I could say for certain. Probably flashbacks, though I've never seen such an extreme case." He adjusted the drip into Carol's arm, "Lab Zero through and through. Poor girl. She's lucky she's still alive. Those fits she has aren't doing her internal injuries any good either."

Carol couldn't hold it in any longer. Tears. She tried to keep it together ever since she'd regained her free will, but now the floodgates had opened. The abject misery could be held in no longer; she was broken. The meerest whisper, "...help."

Filia did the only thing she could think to do in the circumstances; she opened her arms. Carol fell into her hug. It was partly her fault Carol was in such bad shape. Marie had been after Filia from the get-go, so she thought acting as a distraction would create an opening for someone else. Too bad she got herself beaten up by Marie's shadows. A bone spear would have finished her off had Carol not thrown herself in the way and been impaled instead. It was fortunate it was just through the shoulder; had it been anywhere half important, after all the neglect it could have finished her off...

Unheard in the cacophony, the door opened. Ileum regarded the scene. It was only on the Princess' goodwill that she was even allowed here, though Lab Eight had fought with distinction alongside the Black Egrets against Bloody Marie. Ben had told her of the girl after his own encounter with her and her slipping away. She'd found her again just outside Maplecrest several days later, screaming at the heavens. Ileum had been there to calm her down and give her a home, however temporary. She wasn't going to sit back now when the girl needed her. As far as Ileum was concerned, Carol was family; Valentine had found that out the hard way...

"Carol..."

Carol looked up, "Aunt Isla..." Ileum took a seat and hugged her too; Ileum and little Maisie had taken quite a shine to Carol, to the point where Ileum had let Carol use her real name.

"Carol, you're part of our family. Even if you're turned away everywhere else, you'll always have a home with us."

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

The Skull Heart could maintain its existing undead army alone, but it needed a Skullgirl to raise new ones. Parasoul had ordered the Heart be contained and sealed rather than destroyed; if they had it where they could always keep an eye on it, it could prove to be better in the long run. It was worth trying something different anyway, and the undead hordes at least could be destroyed. Hence why Sienna 'Squigly' Contiello still walked the earth.

"No, come on in Squigly" Filia said.

She walked in carrying a tray of tea, smiling. "Would you be interested in a cup, miss Carol?" She sniffed, then shook her head. Filia said "I really don't think that's a good idea. She's just...errm..." She gestured to the bucket.

"Ah, I see. Well, would you like one instead Filia?" She nodded. Squigly set the tray down and began pouring.

"How's Patricia?" Filia asked Ileum.

Ileum shook her head, "Doctors don't know when, or even if, she'll wake up. Her prosthetics were all totalled by the Skullgirl, and with no Dr Avian, we've no means of replacing them." The Skullgirl's final defeat had been at Peacock's hands. Despite being barely functional by that point after so long fighting Marie alone and getting her clock cleaned, she still had the foresight to jam a George into one of the now myriad holes in the Skullgirl's body, blowing them both up, and costing Peacock what was left of her artificial limbs. Patricia had been able to say farewell to her friend before she burned up, and promptly fell into a coma, the damage finally proving too much for her. Given her current circumstances, whether or not her waking up was a good thing was open to debate.

Squigly sighed, "A pity. I only knew her briefly, but she was a big help to me against the Medici..."

While the name meant something, Filia's amnesia prevented from from feeling anything for her grandfather Lorenzo, and from what little she'd heard he'd had it coming for a long time.

Squigly had first met Filia not long after first waking up, and investigating the renewed undead activity. They had travelled together briefly, despite the animosity their parasites exhibited. Unfortunately, they were seperated in an undead horde. With no sign of the Skullgirl, and with no leads, she decided she could spare the time to deal with the Medici who had ended her life so cruelly. It was here that she broke up a fracas between Miss Fortune and Peacock. With all three having a common enemy, they reluctantly agreed to team up to bring the empire crashing down.

His bodyguards routed by the trio, they had made it to his main offices, and a 3 vs 3 with Otomo, Cerebella and Black Dahlia ensued. Peacock had smashed Otomo in next to no time, his arsenal easily outshone by Peacock's hijinks. He had lost his lower body to one of her holes closing on his waist, before Tommy fell on him, crushing what was left.

Cerebella had put up a decent fight against Fortune, but ultimately couldn't keep up with Fortune always contorting out of her throws and holds. She had been left with a heavily scarred face and a barely functional left eye after Fortune nearly gouged it out after an attempt at Excellebella was countered. Vitale had tried to make a run for it, but got kneecapped by Peacock before Fortune had her fun with him.

Squigly's fight against Dahlia was neither quick or clean. Squigly had been on the back foot for most of it, trying desperately to avoid the hail of bullets, while simultaneously being mindful of what the rest of them were doing. The turning point came with a trap. Leviathan had fired Inferno, which Dahlia predictably evaded. However, a Battle Opera from Squigly proved a sufficient distraction that she didn't notice the inferno boomerang back and blindside her, getting caught between two houses of pain, and her gun arm being shattered. Squigly could then afford to just keep her distance and wear her down till Leviathan was able to set her on fire. In trying to put it out, she blundered straight into a Draugen Punch, launching her clean out of the building and falling to her demise. Law Enforcement had recovered the body and confirmed it.

By this point, Lorenzo had tried to escape by helicopter, only for Peacock to Hole Idea him back into his office with a yank of her arm. Squigly totalled the helicopter to stop it making another attempt at a pickup. After pleading for his life, Squigly had him slung out of the window by Leviathan, intending to have him fall to his death. However, another Hole Idea from Peacock ended up warping him back into the office, and accidentally hanging him. His inner ears were shredded by Fortune's claws, Squigly ripped his tongue out, just for the sake of karma, and his eyes were poked out from the inside by Peacock, who then lobotomised him for good measure. The cigar and 'Eat At Joe's' sandwich board was just adding insult to injury. Squigly ensured the last thing he ever saw was her cutting the sutures over her mouth with his letter knife and grinning. He wouldn't be missed, regardless. On the plus side, Minette had been safely recovered, returning to Little Innsmouth with Fortune after everything had calmed down, and while Peacock had spent the night watching his collection of cartoons and B-movies, information Squigly had found in his extensive archives finally lead them, after rendezvousing with the Lab 8 survivors, to the Grand Cathedral of the Trinitists, and the Skullgirl. Good timing too, as Marie chose that moment to make her grand debut, tearing the Medici skyscraper out the ground and flinging it into New Meridian harbour. At the same time the Black Egrets and Filia had reached the same conclusion, and made their own way to the destination. Cerebella followed them, seeking vengeance for Vitale, but was forced to put it to one side to deal with Marie, and was forced to retreat from the Egrets when she made an attempt on Fortune in the aftermath.

While Squigly felt somewhat disquieted at the levels of barbarism she had fallen to, and that one of his relatives, who she'd grown quite fond of, had to find out all the gory details in such a manner, she could take a crumb of comfort that at least her parents and countless others could rest easy at last.

Parasoul herself walked in, "Excuse me. I understand that you're all concerned for this young lady, but she needs time to rest. The doctors think it best if you leave her be. I'm sorry.."

Squigly plumped Carol's pillow, before giving a wan smile and leaving, Ileum followed her out, "I'll be back soon" Filia was reluctant to leave, but acquiesced eventually, giving Carol a peck on the cheek as she left.

Once outside, Filia got Parasoul's attention. "What can we do?"

Parasoul looked serious, as usual. "Very little, I'm afraid. What Lab Zero did to her is far beyond our ability to treat. She's fortunate to be alive, but I can't see her having much of a life, if I'm brutally honest. I've seen the medical reports of the damage she's incurred, and the abridged version is she'll be crippled for life. So many badly healed breaks and bits of her musculature that just aren't there anymore, and that's before we get to the parasite problem. I've been through my files and I have contact details for her family..."

"I wouldn't bother," Ileum chipped in, "She's already seen them. It...went badly."

"I see. Well, in that case I'll shall have to make alternative arrangements for her future care. Now I have other matters to attend to. Do excuse me." After Parasoul departed, Filia and Ileum both weighed up their options; Filia went to get something to eat, while Ileum went to ensure the children were behaving.

Part 1 fin

A/N: Just to clarify, Maisie is meant to be the little girl from lab 8 with the Chun-Li style odango and club feet who's always with Ileum.

Found this out after initial publication; Valentine's cut alternate ending had her sealing the Skullheart, so it is possible.