Alright, so this chapter is crap... like, really, it's rushed, long, and really not that great at all. I know, like, nothing about psychiatrists and crap so... yeah...

Anyway, just to let you know, Katie's role in this story and the "She-Beast" is based on an old monster movie called "The She-Creature" about a hypnotist who was able to make a woman revert to a past life as a prehistoric sea creature (like a female version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon) so the basis of this story was, basically, making a girlfriend like that for Link. ^^;

Anyway, I hope you'll forgive me for this chapter and the MULTITUDE of reasons it sucks, because the chapters from here on will be much better, I swear.

(I don't own MvA. I just own Katie's She-beast form and Dr. Septimus, and I'll give them to Dreamworks if they want them. Well, maybe... .)

--Chapter 3--

Out of all the psychiatrists, Katie wondered to herself, did I have to get stuck with the one who looks like an old horror film reject?

It had been a week, and Katie continued to have the same dream almost every time she fell asleep. It was disconcerting, even to the normally brave young woman who had boldly gone to investigate when a giant fiery object fell from the sky. Finally, she had agreed to see a therapist, even going so far as to swallow her pride and ask Cuthbert for his psychiatrist's number. After getting the number--not an easy task when Cuthbert kept trying to convince her they should be a couple again--she called the doctor and made an appointment. Now she sat in his office, not on a couch, to her surprise, but in a comfortable chair, while he sat across from her.

This doctor, however, Dr. André Septimus, looked more like an old mummy than a doctor. He was considerably old--though Katie couldn't quite guess his age--with thin limbs, bony fingers and dried up, wrinkled skin. His hair was thin and snow-white, and his eyes were black. His face was thin, with a hooked nose and pointed chin, which reminded Katie of the old plastic witches her family used to decorate with at Halloween.

Still, she was paying by the hour so Katie didn't dwell on his looks. He had been nice enough, after introducing himself he offered her a seat and asked her what it was she wished to talk about, so she told him all about her dreams.

Folding his hands in his lap, Dr. Septimus listened intently, nodding every now and then as she related the dream to him. "That is all very interesting," he said at last, in a voice that reminded Katie of count Dracula, minus the accent. "And you say you actually feel cold during this dream?"

Katie nodded. "Yeah. It's weird, but I always wake up freezing."

Dr. Septimus nodded. "Well, Katie," he said, "I don't yet know what your dream means, but due to how vivid they are, I believe they may have to do with latent memories."

"Memories?"

Septimus nodded again. "I don't think you're actually feeling the cold n your dreams, but rather remembering the feeling."

"Doc, I've never felt that cold in my life."

"Maybe not that you remember," Septimus continued, "but I suspect these are repressed memories."

"Repressed…?" Dr. Septimus nodded and Katie was silent a moment. "So, how do I make them… unrepressed?"

Dr. Septimus stood up and walked to his desk, pulling a gold pocket watch from a drawer. "I'd like to try something," he said as he returned to his chair.

Katie looked at the watch and scoffed. "What are you going to do, hypnotize me?"

"Well… yes, as a matter of fact?"

Katie frowned and looked at the watch again. "Um, no, sorry, I didn't come here for a carnival trick…"

Dr. Septimus laughed. "On the contrary, Katie, hypnosis is a highly effective treatment for unlocking repressed memories. It's completely safe, and effective, I promise you."

Katie continued to frown a moment, but thought it over. Finally, she nodded her head. "Alright, Doctor, let's try it. But I'd better not wake up and think I'm a chicken or something."

Dr. Septimus laughed again and held the watch in front of her, letting it swing back and forth. "Alright, Katie, I want you to focus on the watch," he explained. Katie did as she was told and kept her eyes on the watch as it swung back and forth in front of her.

"You're feeling tired now," Septimus told her as he held the watch up before her eyes. "I want you to close your eyes and sleep…now."

Katie, despite her doubts about hypnosis, found her eyelids become much heavier as she looked at the watch, and when the doctor said "now" she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Dr. Septimus smiled to see the hypnosis working so far and looked at her as she slept. "Katie?" he called gently. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," Katie replied, though she was still asleep.

"Good. Now, Katie, I want you to go back a few years, so that we can find where the memories in your dream come from. Try going back a few years, do you see what you saw in your dream?"

Katie was silent a moment, frowning a bit before shaking her head. "No… I don't."

"Hmm… Try going farther back, maybe to your early teen years."

Katie was silent again and she shook her head. "No… I still don't remember…"

Dr. Septimus took down a few notes, slightly frustrated at the lack of results. "Alright, Katie, try farther back in your childhood."

Again, Katie was silent a moment before shaking her head.

Septimus sighed and scratched his chin in thought for a moment. "Alright, Katie, let's try this… why don't you go back as far as it takes until you remember?"

Katie slowly nodded her head and became silent once more. Several minutes passed by, but Katie said nothing. Septimus was beginning to wonder if he was wasting his time when Katie finally spoke up. "I'm back," she said, in a voice so soft Dr. Septimus almost missed it.

"What?" he asked. "Where are you?"

"In the water," Katie replied.

Finally, Septimus thought, we're getting somewhere. "How old are you, Katie, and why are you in the water?"

"I don't know how old I am," she replied, "but where else would I be but the water?"

This made the doctor curious, and he leaned forward in his chair. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I live here," she continued. "I'm hunting… there's a fish… I caught him! But now, there's something else… he wants the fish, but it's mine."

With an almost excited look, Septimus watched her face. "Katie…?"

Katie frowned in confusion. "Ka…tie…? What is a Katie?"

Now Septimus was truly excited. "Go a little farther ahead now," he said, "to when you became cold."

Katie frowned again. "It is colder…" she said, hugging herself. "Much colder… I'm with him, the one who wanted the fish… He's my friend now, and he's trying to keep me warm…" Her frown deepened, and she shook violently. "So cold… he's taking me to the surface, hoping to find someplace warm, but it's just as cold… I can't go on, but he won't listen… I just want to sleep, but he won't let me close my eyes."

Septimus nodded. "You can see him now, can't you?"

Katie nodded, a slight smile on her face. "Yes… he's there, just like always… but he seems so sad."

"What does this… this other person look like?"

"He… he's green, and covered in scales. He has a fin on has head… But he's fading. I can't hold on… everything's going black…"

Finally, Septimus sat up straight again. "Katie," he said, "that's enough. When I snap my fingers, you'll be back in the present and wake up. You won't remember what was said here. One… two…" Septimus snapped his fingers and Katie's eyes blinked open.

"Well?" she asked. "Did it work?"

Dr. Septimus paused a moment. "No," he lied, "I'm afraid I didn't discover anything."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Big surprise. No offence, Dr. Septimus, but I really don't think hypnosis is gonna get us anywhere."

Septimus suppressed a grin and nodded. "You may be right, Katie." He stood up. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today, but I'll pencil you in for another appointment next week." He walked to a cupboard nearby and found a bottle of pills which he brought to her and placed in her hand. "These are some very mild sleep aids," he told her. "I'd like you to take one every night before you go to bed.

Katie looked at the bottle of pills in her hand a moment. "I dunno… sleeping pills really aren't my thing."

"It's just until next week, Katie. I want to see if you still have these dreams when sedated, and it should also help you get some much-needed rest."

She thought about it another moment and shrugged her shoulders. "Alright… you're the doctor."

---

That night, Katie prepared for bed, dressing in pair of purple shorts and a black tank-top, and heading to her bedroom. As the doctor suggested, Katie took one pill before slipping under the covers. "A week of this won't be so bad, I guess," she told herself. "It's better than being stuck on antidepressants for life."

Pulling up the covers, Katie reached over to turn off the lamp on the nightstand by her bed and closed her eyes. Soon enough, she felt the drug take effect and fell asleep. As she slept, she was haunted by her dreams again, but this time it was much more vivid. Everything she saw she saw crystal clear, and she heard and felt everything as if it was real.

As the dream continued, her skin began to change color from its natural flesh tone to a pale blue, and her fingernails grew into long claws. A webbing grew between her fingers and toes, and her body suddenly thrashed, racked with pain as a tail grew from the base of her spine. Her teeth even began to change, growing longer and sharper. Her ears became like fish fins on either side of her head, and her hair turned from brown to dark blue. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, revealing themselves to have turned pure blue. Hissing in an animalistic way, Katie jumped from her bed, looking around as if she didn't recognize her surroundings, and she ran out of the room.

She found the living room window and forced it open before jumping out into the night air. She fell to the street below, landing on her feet unharmed before running off, looking as if she was frantically searching for something.

Luckily, there was no one on the streets of San Francisco that night, but still she ran, trying to find something, anything familiar. But there was nothing. She breathed heavily, as if frightened by the alien surroundings, but then she heard a strange whistling sound. She turned around, trying to locate the source of the noise. A few dogs barked, probably having heard the same sound.

Katie dropped down on all fours, her new claws digging into the concrete and leaving long scratch marks. Suddenly, she bolted in the direction the whistling had come from, running faster than she ever had before. She heard the whistle again and kept running until she came to a park.

She looked around, trying to find the source of the strange sound, when something hit her shoulder. She snarled in pain and turned to see a dart sticking out of her skin. She pulled it out, but already she began to feel drowsy again. She fell to the ground, her breathing becoming heavier as she struggled to stay awake. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was a man stepping out from the shadows, looking down at her with a smile…

---

She awoke again, but this time she was strapped to a table, in some kind of basement. She struggled against the restraints that held her down, growling, but it was no use.

"Glad to see you awake, my dear," a voice said from somewhere nearby, and she turned to see that man smiling at her. Had she been in her right mind, Katie would have recognized the morbid smile of Dr. Septimus.

"You must be wondering what's going on," he said, taking a seat in a chair nearby. "Well, let me explain. You, my dear, are a very rare creature indeed. Born a human, but with a very distinct genetic mutation, which somehow held the memories and characteristics of a creature that lived thousands of years ago."

Katie growled again. She couldn't understand Septimus at the moment, but she knew he had plans for her… plans she wouldn't like.

Septimus smiled again. "You could call it a case of reincarnation," he continued, "but that would be oversimplifying it. I've waited over fifty years to find someone like you, Katie, and now I finally have!" He stood up and approached her, touching her cheek softly. She snarled and snapped at his hand but he pulled back before he could be bitten and laughed. "Quite the feisty she-beast, aren't you?" he asked. He turned a crank below the table, causing it to tilt up until she was almost in a standing position. "Those pills I gave you," he explained, "aren't really sleeping pills. It's a formula I concocted years ago, designed to activate dormant genetic anomalies, in your case the genetic code of the creature you once were. I wondered if the change would be subtle, but I'm delighted to see there's nothing subtle about it." He laughed again and reached into his pocket, taking out the same pocket watch he had used earlier. He waved it in front of her eyes again, and she instinctually watched it swing back and forth.

"Listen to me very carefully," he told her, "you are now in my control. When you take the pill each night and change, you will come to me and do my bidding. Then the next morning, you will have no memory of the night before. Do you understand?" Katie slowly nodded her head and he smiled. "Good… Now when I snap my fingers, you will be completely under my control. One… two…" he snapped his fingers and Katie blinked. For once, she was calm.

Septimus undid the restraints, and turned to Katie. "Now," he said as she stood there, looking forward in a trance-like state, "what shall we do first, my loyal servant…?"

---

Again, sorry that chapter sucked.

A fun fact, though, Dr. Andre Septimus, the villain of this story (if you haven't guessed that by now) was inspired by the villain from "The Bride of Frankenstein," whose name was Dr. Septimus Pretorius. His first name, Andre, is based on the name of the original Fly, and was suggested by my friend Sarah. :)