My mouth tasted of metal and…salt (?) when I awoke the very next morning. My tongue felt too large for my mouth and dry, like a fucking desert had soaked up every morsel of water and spittle that I possibly had. My head also felt like a bitch, like someone was tearing away at it with a hammer, but durable for the most part.

It was after a moment that I noticed someone was knocking at the damn door. I staggered out of bed, nearly taking the comforter with me, and reached my door with minimal damage. I cursed under my breath as I opened it, and then rubbed my dry throat in pain from the sudden grating noise that my poor vocal cords weren't ready to produce.

"Good morning, Lovino," I looked at Dr. Amra blankly, wondering if he was going to give me my medication this morning, but mostly because I was still disoriented.

Fuck, lights are bright!

"Are you ready to have your cast removed?" He asked pleasantly, and I gawked in fucking surprise.

"Uh," was my brilliant fucking response, "Isn't it supposed to be tomorrow?"

"No, it's today." Dr. Amra corrected me, confused at my inability to remember the correct date that my cast would be taken off on.

"No," I argued, getting angry, "It's the twenty-first; my cast gets taken off the twenty-second."

"Lovino," I looked at the doctor, analyzing him for any deception, "It is the twenty-second, no joke."

"What. The. Fuck?" I grate out, my voice cracking from being dry, damn it! Not because I was internally panicking or anything!

"Don't worry, you're probably just disoriented from the sedatives we administered yesterday. Disorientation and forgetfulness are common side-effects, no need to panic." He tried to soothe, lightly touching my shoulder in reassurance.

I nodded my acceptance, and followed the doctor to the infirmary to have my cast taken off. I was excited at the prospect of finally being free to move my wrist, while another part reminded me that I would be in physical therapy for a while, and that forgetting a whole day was high on the weird scale no matter if I was drugged or not.

Dr. Amra went about collecting the necessary tools for the procedure, such as a power saw, which was pretty nerve-wracking. So, I fucking got attached to my cast! It's been there a while and…it's signed by the Powell's.

I lightly caressed the signatures, following each loop and curve, the spots where the ink blotted, the little hearts, and read the messages that wished me a swift recovery and the ones that poked fun at my injury. The cast was like a memento to me, of happier times when I finally found a place to call home. I hoped that Dr. Amra wouldn't have to ruin the inscriptions to get the cast off. I didn't want to lose the very few precious physical memories I had of them, because I was a coward. I didn't have the strength to give them up, I doubted I ever would. I loved them, damn it!

I wiped away the unshed tears when Dr. Amra walked back in, almost worried about something. Not wanting this unease to distract the man, which could lead to an unfortunate accident where the saw eats my arm, I decided to question him.

"Oi, is something wrong?" I prayed that he had done the procedure before, that he wasn't a newbie in the art of cast removing, and that his worry was something small or personal.

"My assistant was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago to watch the procedure," I filled in the blanks: someone was getting fired or scolded for being late.

Thankful that it was just the human error for being late, I underwent the procedure with little worry. Dr. Amra even tried to avoid damaging the signatures to the best of his ability, assuring me that some hot glue or tape would help preserve some of the messages he couldn't avoid.

He carefully lifted my forearm and hand out. I grimaced at how scrawny and fucking disgusting it looked. It was bonier than my other wrist and significantly dirtier. I washed the weird gunk off at the sink, making sure to use plenty of soap, which smelled like flowers. It was pleasant, damn it! I also decided that I was thirsty enough to drink from the sink, the cup of water Dr. Amra gave to me before the procedure was not enough.

It was after I had thoroughly scrubbed my forearm clean did I notice something that was fucking odd. "The fuck is this strange mark?" I called back, analyzing the strange sun-like symbol. It seemed to almost be burned into my skin, or maybe like an old scar was a better description. It was at the half-way point between my wrist and elbow, and a brownish-white against my olive skin (even if my forearm was several shades lighter than the rest of me).

The doctor didn't touch the mark, and stood a good foot or two away, looking uncomfortable and solemn.

Before I could question it more, I heard a strange bouncy noise coming from farther away, steadily growing louder and louder. The door burst open and I witnessed one of the curses of Mother Nature that most men would find attractive, a large-breasted girl. Strangely enough, that platinum haired bastard from yester-I mean a couple days ago came to mind. They had nearly the same hair colour and she also spoke with a Slavic accent that I was unfamiliar with.

"I'm so sorry, Doctor! I thought today was the twenty-first," she cried, her breasts bouncing as she moved, which explained the strange noises I'd been hearing for the last minute.

"It's alright, Katyusha, you're too late to watch the procedure, but Lovino still needs to be healed." Dr. Amra instructed her, nodding towards me.

She nodded, a breast nearly taking her out when she did, and turned to me. I tried to keep my eyes on her face, but those boobs were fucking distracting and kept bouncing! Jesus Christ, I know a lot of girls with large chests, but none that actually enter the room VIA sound waves before they do!

"Hello, Lovino, I'm Katyusha," she introduced, "I'm an assistant nurse here and a part-time patient. Right now, I'm going to heal your wrist in order for a swifter recovery."

She gently wrapped her hands around my scrawny wrist. I was surprised to note that her hands were warm and almost soft despite being calloused. She closed her eyes in concentration, mumbling something that sounded like a chant, and then a strange light began to cover her hands and my wrist.

I was fucking caught off guard by this, and tried to pull away.

"No, it's okay, I won't hurt you." I slowly calmed down, but still kept a wary eye on her, just in case.

It wasn't even a minute before she released my wrist, and I was fucking amazed at the results. My wrist wasn't so bony anymore, nearly the same size as my other wrist, and the tones now matched. However, the same scar-like mark was still there, untouched.

I caught Katyusha looking at it while fingering the sleeve of her white coat, and finally pulled it up as if to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. This allowed me to clearly see that she had the same mark I did.

I was fucking confused again, and knew that it couldn't have been a coincidence, it was too strange, damn it! "Where did you get that mark?" I nearly whispered, part of me wanting to keep Dr. Amra from butting in or becoming suspicious. I glanced over at him briefly, making sure he was still at the sink before looking back at her imploringly.

"W-well, I-I don't know, it was there when I woke up today." Katyusha replied, albeit nervously, "I also thought it was yesterday, my mouth tasted funny, and I have this awful headache that won't go away, but I shouldn't worry about that when there's so much work to be done."

I absorbed the information, and promptly shut her out when she started babbling on about work. This couldn't be a coincidence, I'm sure, but then what the hell happened to us? My thoughts drifted back to Lukas and Arthur's warning, remembering what they had said: "We are isolated, unless we have roommates, and they have the upper hand. These strange occurrences have always happened on the same two nights each year, and when the next day arises there have been a few that have forgotten the day, and could not remember what they were doing last."

Holy shit fuck! This could be what they all had tried to warn me about! Damn it, I was too fucking stupid to listen to their worries seriously! Sure, I was apprehensive, but what did that do for me? A steaming heap of shit, that's what!

"Lovino, are you alright?" Dr. Amra approached me cautiously, probably wondering if I was going to have a panic attack or some shit. I've done all of it before around these people: fainting, visions, throwing up, panic attacks, screaming and yelling, having Romano unleashed (though not on purpose), and crying.

Damn it, I'm a real embarrassment to myself!

I took a few breaths, reminding myself that maybe this was all or dream or that it was going to be alright because a) this really could just be a scar b) if it wasn't just a scar then I could ask Lukas or Arthur about it, and c) I'm still alive, which had to count for something.

"Yeah, it's just strange to have that damn thing off," I hoped I sounded convincing to him, because I didn't even believe myself.

He didn't say anything, just nodded almost sadly, and handed me some medication to take. "You may still experience some stiffness as a side-effect, but these may be minimal as Katyusha has accelerated the healing process by almost a year. If stiffness persists for more than four hours, please alert one of the staff immediately."

"Also, you should take the rest of the day off. Please, don't strain yourself or your wrist. Katyusha's gift may seem to have healed you, but injuries like yours are still subject to caution as any amount of stress or damage could fracture it again."

I nodded as Dr. Amra gave alternatives for the day, reminding me to play it safe. I left after that, heading straight for the cafeteria to have a late breakfast-early lunch.

I stared down at the strange mark, absently wondering how the fuck it got imprinted on my arm when I had a cast covering it up until twenty minutes ago. I poked it, surprised to find that the skin was soft, like the mark wasn't even there. I moved my arm around, lifting it up to stare at the thing. I fucking near tripped and walked into a wall when I noticed the mark was more prominent in the dark, the outlines almost brighter. I re-exposed it to the florescent lighting, and the mark became barely noticeable.

"Lovino, watch out for the-"I looked up, saw Bella and some-was that Lars?-blond (male, as fucking expected with this common trend shit) before tripping over a fucking cat. The fuck with these cats everywhere!

Before I fell on my face, the blond guy-yep, Lars-grabbed my arm (the one without the mark) and steadied me. I, being such a grateful person, glared angrily at him, because that was embarrassing, damn it!

"Thanks, bastard," I huffily replied, wrenching away from him.

He stood there and just nodded coolly, which pissed me off more for some reason.

"Lovi, are you alright?" Bella asked as she came over to stand before me.

I nodded, not bothering to make up an excuse. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"That isn't your-"the blond started, but Bella cut him off.

"Lars, be nice!" she scolded, then turned to me with a smile, "Don't worry about my brother, you know how he is, and he acts just like you around strange boys."

"I am not (fucking) like him!" we both shouted in opposition. Once we realized the sync, we glared at each other before turning away with our arms crossed indignantly.

Bella giggled at us, "What are you doing out here, Lovino?"

I shrugged, my anger diminishing when I turned back to Bella. "You didn't answer my question: why are you here?"

Bella fidgeted a bit, "Well, I woke up really disoriented and Lars wants me to go see Dr. Amra, though I'm sure it's nothing serious." She gave the man a pointed look, which he ignored by looking away from her.

I grabbed her arm then and pushed up her sleeve, praying that I was wrong, but it sounded too similar to my own experience. Lars grabbed me from behind and threw me against the wall, holding me there.

"Lars, stop, please!" Bella cried, latching onto one of his arms.

The fucking scarf-bastard looked over at her, and she stared back. "Let him go, now."

He begrudgingly let me go, jerking away. He looked at Bella then, as if waiting for her to respond. She remained stern and wagged her finger at him, scolding him for attacking me.

"Bella, I need to talk with you, alone." The scarf bastard glared at me, which pissed me off, but I had more important shit to worry about, damn it!

She nodded, "Alright. Lars, I'm going to go with Lovino to see Dr. Amra, okay?"

Lars just casted her a look before walking back down the hall whence he came.

Bella punched me harshly in the arm. "The hell was that for?"

She pursed her lips at me, "You don't suddenly grab a girl to push up her sleeve, Lovi. I thought I taught you better than that."

I nearly winced at the look she was giving me and the scar on my ankle pulsed once in reminder of that lesson. "I-I'm sorry," I only stuttered because-well, fuck it!

"I was looking for something like this," I stated, showing her the mark on my arm.

Her face seemed to blank then. She pushed up the rest of her sleeve and there it was-an identical mark. "Oh, Lovi, I'm so sorry." I was nearly thrown back into the wall when she hugged me, god damn she had a grip!

"I don't need to break a fucking rib again!" I grumbled, but gingerly patted her back. I had no idea why this bitch was apologizing and I shoved it off as another mystery of women.

As soon as her tears were there they were gone again. She grabbed both my wrists and started to drag me down the hall, "I know someone who can help fill in some of the missing pieces."

"Who?" I lamely asked.

She smiled, "My roommate, Natalya. I can see her in our room still."

I didn't bother asking her how she knew. I always knew that she was different, and she had no problem with it. Her power came to her naturally and was something hard to really pinpoint. Remote viewing, that's what she termed it one day to me. It had been years ago, after we had become friends and happened to be chilling out at some stupid druggy party that was a loud of shit.

Bella lived in the east wing in room five, which wasn't anything special, but the room certainly was. It was huge and had four sections indicated by four beds. Each of the areas looked well lived in and personalized, especially the one with the lanky girl who Bella happily called out to.

"Natalya, I knew you were still here!"

The platinum blonde didn't bother putting down her magazine when she replied, "What is it this time?"

"Oh, don't be like that!" Bella pouted. "Natalya, this is Lovino-"

"I remember. He's the DID* who fucked up that Rickerson bastard." She blandly stated before looking to meet my eyes, "Nice job on that."

I simply shrugged, not exactly proud, but Natalya turned her attention back to Bella, "What do you want?"

"Can you use your memory recollection on us?" Bella asked.

I blinked, but let it go when Natalya blankly stared at the other girl, "Why?"

"You remember this morning, and Lovino had the same problem! We also have these!" She showed Natalya the mark on her arm and indicated for me to as well.

"Was there anyone else I should know about who has the same mark?" Natalya asked with a roll of her eyes,

I cut Bella off, "Yeah, Katyusha has one too."

The girl jumped up and grabbed my arms-fuck, what is with these girls and having bruising grips?-and shook me a bit, "Katyusha, big-breasts, short platinum hair, that Katyusha?"

"I didn't think there was more than fucking one!" I snapped, pushing her arms off me.

She paused, emotions splashing across her face before disappearing into contained anger. "Both of you sit on the bed, now."

We didn't bother arguing and followed her directions. I was a little nervous, but only because I had no fucking idea how her ability worked! For all I knew, she needed some blood to throw into a damn cup to read my tea leaves or some shit!

Natalya grabbed her desk chair and pulls it over in front of us before sitting down. She looked at Bella and holds out her hand, waiting. The darker blonde sticks out her arm for her to take, which Natalya does. She places one hand on Bella's mark and then closes her eyes.

We sat in silence for a moment, waiting for something to happen. I didn't know what to expect, but Natalya talking in some strange trance voice like she was high on drugs was not it.

"There's hair, long and dark. It comes at you silently, one of the last things you see before a dark room. There's a symbol there, but your mind is too disoriented, possibly from the drugs administered earlier that day, to make out what it fully looks like. The symbol is the focal point, and there are voices…chanting? It's hard to make out. Pain, a searing pain on your arm, right here…" she pauses then for another moment, her eye lids fluttering before narrowing, "Red-there's blood, not just yours…there's something watching you, then pain here again."

I watch the exchange in awe. Natalya broke out into a sweat and she bit her jaw, her face morphing into a grimace. She let go of Bella with a short gasp and breathed shallowly for a moment before she calmed herself. She held up her hand for Bella to stop fretting and let her be for a moment.

"Let's get this over with," she finally stated, and held her hand out to me. I nervously let her take my arm. Her hands were a bit cold, but when she closed her eyes and touched the mark they warmed up.

It was the same as before. She started talking once her eyes started fluttering, "He's there, Romano as you dubbed him, but only after the drugs and a-a…shot? It's too hard to make out, your consciousness started slipping over to him. There's pain…and blood where the mark is...and an eye, watching." She seems to freeze for a moment and tried to pull away, but can't. Her eyes flutter uncontrollably and she starts to cry, "Fire, it's everywhere! I'll go, I'll go look for them, don't worry…Mommy, daddy?"

I wrenched myself away from her and her eyes suddenly open, glassy and opaque. The violet-blue hue they once were was watered down and milky, and she was both there and not. She cried out, her right arm extending forwards in a panic, and then the episode was gone. She merely blinked and her eyes were back to normal.

She put her arm down, but retained eye contact with me. I didn't know what to say or do, so I just looked back at her quietly. Her frightened and horrified expression morphed back into her controlled blank one, and she turned away to look at Bella.

"Your memories are hazy from the administered drugs, but from what I could see, you both experienced much of the same things. However, Bella was taken more forcefully, while you" she glanced over at me briefly, "were drugged heavily. The pill they gave you fucked you over enough that Romano was half in control, mostly due to the pain you were experiencing."

"Wait, what the fuck do you mean?" I interrupted, and she glared at me in response for a brief few seconds.

"Did I stutter, idiot? Romano came out of the back of your consciousness because you were too fucked up to defend yourself, but they didn't make it easy for him. You could probably remember it all, if he wanted you too." She started, but I felt a tug at the back of my mind, and then a book on her nightstand was thrown across the room.

I gritted my teeth and willed Romano away, and then mumbled an apology. Natalya shrugged it off, "My brother has done worse."

"The marks seem to be a part of something larger, but I can't tell what exactly. However, you both are involved. As you know, this has happened to various individuals over the past four-five years. I can't say why or how it happens, but those marks are permanent." Natalya finished, and might have said more if there wasn't a knock at the door.

"Bella," Natalya stated. The girl got up and headed to answer the door without complaint.

I stood up, but Natalya caught his arm, "I saw what happened to them, to your parents when you were younger. It wasn't an accident." She whispered the last part to me, leaning in closer to make sure she wasn't overheard.

I froze, my eyes were wide and I slowly turned to look at her. Her eyes pierced me-she was serious. Oh my god, she wasn't kidding!

"No, no…that-"she cut me off with a curt, "midnight tomorrow, your room."

"Natalya, Kievan Rus is here to give you your medication." Bella called.

I look to the door where a man with short white hair was standing passively with a faint smile on his face. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but you didn't take your medication this morning, Natalya."

Natalya shifted, but did not respond.

"Lovino, I think we should go now." Bella suddenly stated after a long pregnant pause.

"Yeah, bye, Natalya," I lamely said before following Bella out the door.

Once we were down the hall she sighed heavily. I looked over at her with a raised fucking brow because that shit back there was tense as fuck. "The hell was that about?"

"Kievan Rus is her counselor. Natalya is on medication for various reasons, not just to contain her powers. When she doesn't take it Kievan comes to check on her to make sure she isn't experiencing severe withdrawal or undergoing a psychosis episode." Bella then gave me a serious look, "Natalya is completely harmless though-most of the time. The medication they initially gave her made her increasingly unstable and has had lasting effects on her mind."

"Glad to know she isn't a psychopath without reason," I casually responded. Bella gave me a scolding frown, but left it alone as I did get what she was saying.

"Well, it's almost lunchtime, so I can probably slip back into the populace without needing a note. What are you going to do?"

"Grab something to go and then go to my room for awhile. I might skip dinner." She grabbed my arm worriedly, "Are you alright? Did Natalya say something?"

"No," I lied. "I'm just tired is all."

She nodded in understanding while letting go of my arm, "If you say so, but, Lovi, I'm here if you ever need to talk. It can be like old times again, when we used to hang out and go to those dumb parties just to piss off Lars."

"And you wonder why we stopped getting along," I muttered, remembering how Lars and I used to get along until Bella started hanging out with me more and more.

"Hey, I already explained to him that you weren't interested in me!" She argued, "Besides, he does like you, it's just that he doesn't know how to react around you because of…Romano, you know?"

I sighed in defeat because I didn't fucking blame the guy. Romano was unpredictable and might break through at some point; Lars was just being a good brother and looking out for his sister. I would have done the same thing.

I nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Back in my room, I sat down on the bed and stared at the mark on my arm, but my thoughts are elsewhere. What did Natalya mean when she said it wasn't an accident? She saw the memory of how his parents died, oh my god, she knew.

I couldn't process this and, needing a distraction, I took out my violin. My Nonno had once helped me compose a piece for the cello and, still remembering the melody, I had worked to replicate it on the violin. I've been recomposing it for the past year, but I still can't remember what the title was or why everything about it made me want to cry.

I took up the instrument and the bow after taking out the music sheets, and then I began to play.

*DID=Disassociate Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder.

New Characters:

Natalya-Belarus

Lars-Netherlands

Kievan Rus is just himself, but he has a twin (Scandinavia).