Dr. Stein stood outside the infirmary, mentally punching himself. How could Aya's condition have slipped past him so easily? He had known the moment she had a pulse again that she would likely have extreme PTSD, but he didn't realise just how unstable she was. Not until he got up close to her during her last episode. He couldn't get it out of his head: Aya's screams, the thrashing, but most of all, the look in her eyes. It was pure terror. Her hallucination had been more real than the people in front of her, and the thought of that alone frightened the madman. If she kept getting worse, who knew what she might wind up doing?

"Hey, Stein," Spirit called from down the hall, "Maka told me what happened. You okay?"

Stein shrugged, "She kicked me pretty hard, but I'll be fine."

"You know that's not what I mean."

The two men were silent for a moment before Stein finally whispered, "I shouldn't have done it."

Spirit stared at him. "What do you mean, 'I shouldn't have done it?' What shouldn't you have done?"

"I shouldn't have brought Aya back." Stein said it so softly, Spirit could barely hear him, as if any more than a whisper would make the thought real. "I knew that if I succeeded, she wouldn't be the same, that the stress and trauma would probably break her mind. Even so, I did it anyway and subjected her to a life of paranoia and madness just because I didn't want her to be dead!"

"Stein, stop it!" Spirit cut him off, "It's not like you wanted her to be messed up. She's your daughter, of course you wanted to bring her back! I guarantee she doesn't blame you for her condition."

"But it's my fault-"

"Oh, shut up! If you feel that guilty, then find a way to help her! You beat death, how hard could a mental illness be?"

Dr. Stein stuck an unlit cigarette in his mouth and twisted the giant bolt in his head absently. "I've been trying to figure it out, but I can't wrap my head around it. Every tiny improvement makes her worse. It doesn't make sense."

"You do know that sentence contradicts itself, right?"

"I know! That's the point. Whenever she calms down and gets stable again, she remembers something or hallucinates and winds up twice as unstable as she was before!"

"What's she been seeing? It might be a hint-"

"You think I haven't thought of that?" Stein snapped, "I know the things she sees are critical to her mental state, but just thinking about it triggers another episode, and I can't get anything out of her except riddles! I'd use that to get the answers I need to help her, but…"

"She's your daughter," Spirit finished for him, "I get it. The only way to fix her is so bad even you can't do it, huh?"

"Just not to Aya," Stein shook his head, "She's been through too much. I wouldn't have a problem doing it to anyone else."

"Right when I thought you had a conscience." The hall was still for a moment, until Spirit asked, "What about her mother? Would she know how to help?"

"I doubt it. She's dead."

"What happened to her?"

"Dunno. The girls showed up at my door when they were six, but their mother was long dead by then. Apparently, she died when they were infants. I've been wondering if her loss has anything to do with Aya's condition."

"That's tragic," Spirit lamented before noticing something. "Stein, you said your girls were six when they arrived, right?"

"I just said that. Why?"

"If their mother died when they were babies, what happened up until they found you?"

Aya's head was pounding and deafening droning of a thousand wasps filled her ears as she slowly regained consciousness. She groaned weakly as she shifted and flexed her stiff muscles, though the mattress she was on made it difficult to get comfortable.

"Aya? Are you awake?" Aya's eyes snapped open at the unexpected voice and she bolted upright, pushing herself as far away as possible, though her actions were greatly hindered by her restraints.

"Kid!" she gasped once she processed who it was. "What're you doing here?"

"I was just keeping an eye on you while you were out," he answered. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" Aya shouted right as he was getting up. She quickly retreated into a nervous whisper, "Don't leave me alone. They might come back!"

Kid looked around before asking, "Um… Who might come back?"

"I...I don't know," she admitted, "But it's the person who attacked me and Ana. They'll come back, I'm sure of it!"

"Why do you think that?"

Aya's eyes suddenly lost focus and she seemed to be staring right through Kid. "She always comes back. She said she'd find us and she did. She got my mom, then my sister, and soon she'll get me!" With each passing word, she sounded more and more panicked and deranged, which was only accentuated by her frenzied rocking.

"Aya?" Kid tried to get her attention, both to prevent another episode and to figure out why Aya switched from calling the unknown 'them' to 'she'. "Aya, snap out of it!" He grabbed her arm and shook her lightly, which seemed to bring her out of her trance. "Who is 'she?'"

Aya's eyes jumped from place to place like she was looking for something. "I don't know. I should know, but I don't. It's all somewhere in my head, I know, but when I try to remember, I start seeing things." Before he knew it, Aya had fallen back on the bed, giggling a creepy song of sorts. "Snakes, snakes, slither about. Into the shadows, where do you go? Report to your master but nobody knows. She'll come for you! She'll come for you! Cut up to bits then bitten to madness, whaddya do? Whaddya do?" Aya paused her ranting for a moment, staring directly into Kid's eyes and grinning in a way that sent chills down his spine. "Perhaps, Son of Death, she'll come for you too!" Once she finished, she erupted into a fit of giggles fit for a true madwoman. After a few minutes though, the laughter turned into sobs. "What the hell is wrong with me?!" she cried, "Why do I say these things?! It's like I can't even control my own head anymore!"

Kid wanted to comfort her somehow, but he was too bewildered by the spectacle at hand to speak.

"I can feel my sanity slipping away further and further away every day, but I can't stop it! This isn't like me. Why do I say these things? Why do I see things? What the hell is it that I'm seeing in the first place?!" Aya's weeping intensified. "I just want it to stop!"

"Aya…"

"Don't look at me, Kid," she snapped, "You don't want to look at me, right? I'm ugly now, aren't I?"

"W...What?" Did I hear her right? Since when was Aya the twin who cared about appearances?

"You think asymmetrical things are hideous abominations. You think I'm disgusting now that I'm not symmetrical anymore!"

"Aya, you're being ridiculous. I don't think you're ugly."

"Don't lie to me!" she yelled.

"I'm not lying! I don't care that you're not symmetrical! I don't think you're ugly and I know nobody else would think that either." In an effort to get through to her, Kid gently took hold of Aya's hand, hoping the contact would ground her mind a bit. "Trust me, Aya."

She flinched at first, and her muscles kept switching from contracted to relaxed as her brain tried to work out how to react. Eventually, she settled down and unwound. "My head hurts," she mumbled, "I'm gonna sleep it off. Could you grab me some water first though?"

Kid smiled, glad that she was somewhat back to normal. "No problem. You want anything to help you sleep? I can ask your dad or the nurse."

"No drugs. Just the water." She grumbled quietly as she settled herself back against her pillow, "Dad has me on enough meds as it is."

Kid filled up a glass and tipped it lightly against Aya's lips. "I'd undo your restraints and let you do this yourself, but Dr. Stein specifically told me not to," he apologised, though he was quickly forgiven with a tiny shrug of her shoulders.

"I don't get why," she mumbled between sips, "I'm not planning on going anywhere."

"I think it's more to make sure you don't hit anyone."

"I guess that makes sense." Aya yawned and settled herself against her pillow, "Would you stay with me while I sleep? I don't want to be alone."

Kid smiled. "Of course I will." You don't even have to ask.

"Wake up, lazy!" Aya woke up from her nap in the lab, blinking groggily after being shaken out of her nap. "Come on, Aya, get up!"

The gears in Aya's whirred out of control as she tried to figure out what was going on. She'd been sleeping soundly on the couch in the lab, though she didn't remember coming home. The entire room was tidier than she'd ever seen it in her life, and last time she checked, her old jacket she was wearing had been destroyed when she and Ana were attacked. Did dad make me a new one? Nah, he couldnt have. He's crap at making clothes. Wait... Me and Ana...

"Helloo, Earth to space cadet!" Like a miracle, there was Ana, waving her hand in front of Aya to get her attention, as if nothing had ever happened to her.

"Ana?"

"No, it's Crazy Aunt Meddie coming to get you," Ana joked, "Of course it's me. You really are out of it, aren't you?"

Aya bolted up and grabbed her supposedly dead twin, touching and inspecting her face, trying to figure out if she was just another hallucination.

"Aya, why ah yu shquishing mah faysh?"

Ana seemed solid enough, so Aya released her. "How are you not dead?"

"What're you talking about? You're still asleep, aren't you?"

Aya shook her head a few times, as if to rid herself of her confusion. "I must be. My dream just felt so real…"

"Well, come on. Mom said dinner was ready."

Aya's blood froze. "Mom said?"

"Yeah, she made your favourite," Ana chirped happily before turning around to see her sister as white as a sheet. "Aya, are you okay? You don't look so good."

Aya's voice shook, processing a phrase she didn't think she'd ever hear, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Just… I'm still waking up. In my dream… Nevermind." 'Mom said dinner was ready.' Their mother was alive?

"Aya?"

"Come on, girls! The stroganoff will get cold!" A woman called from the kitchen, her familiar, warm, subtle Russian accent bringing tears that bit at Aya's eyes.

Mom! Mom really is alive! All of those horrible things… Mom's death, our murder... Did it really not happen? Aya drew a sigh, more relieved than she'd ever been in her life. It was all just a dream. One long, horrible dream. Thank god. Ready to burst into tears at the prospect of seeing her mother again, Aya's voice quavered, "Coming, Mom!"

In Aya's dream, they'd never had a real family dinner. Their father was usually too busy to have a sit-down meal. Their mother was dead. The twins usually ate by themselves. Ana's favourite food had been fried rice, and Aya's was beef heart cooked in brown sugar. She'd never had stroganoff before.

But damn, it was delicious.

In between mouthfuls of beef, noodles, and sour cream, Aya stared at her mother. In her dream, reality, alternate universe, whatever it was, Aya had only ever seen her mother in dreams and when she was in the afterlife. But her face had always been somewhat hidden in shadow or behind a veil. In this world, at this table, her face was unobscured, and she was beautiful. Every feature radiated warmth and kindness and motherly love. She was the mother Aya had always wanted. She was so distracted by her long-dead mother that she barely noticed her father's empty seat.

"Where's Dad?" Ana asked casually.

"He's working late at the school again," their mother mused, "Always the workaholic, your father." She took a quick sip of her drink and grinned at the twins. "But since your father's not here, that means you can fill me in on all the juicy gossip you don't want him to know about! So what's been going on at school?"

"Oh, nothing much," Aya muttered, having no idea what was going on in this world.

Ana singsonged, "I beg to differ~"

Aya narrowed her eyes at Ana. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Rumour has it somebody finally got herself a boyfriend."

Aya came close to choking in surprise. "Woahwoahwoah, what?!"

"Aw, my little girl is growing up!" their mother cooed at the unexpected announcement.

"But it's not- No! Ana, what the hell? Who said that?"

"Let's see, Maka, Soul, Tsubaki," Ana counted on her fingers, "Liz and Patti, obviously… Pretty much everyone."

"No way," Aya protested, "Absolutely NO. WAY."

"Aya and Kid sittin' in a tree~"

"Quit being stupid, Ana," Aya snipped, "He doesn't like me and I don't like him. I'm like Dad. I don't even like people all that much." In the brief pause in conversation, something hissed, so quiet Aya almost passed it off as her imagination. "Please tell me one of you heard that."

Ana and their mother glanced worriedly at each other. "Honey, are you feeling alright? You seem a little… off."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aya muttered, unable to shake the uneasy prickle in her spine, "Just had a weird-" Aya shrieked as she looked back down at her food, only to meet the cold eyes of a black snake coiled up on her plate. The snake launched itself at Aya and wrapped itself tightly around her throat. She fell from her chair, struggling against it, choking, "Mom… Ana… Help me!" But they kept chatting as if nothing was wrong.

"They're dead, child," the snake hissed in her ear, "Your dear mother and sweet sister are dead because of you. They can never help you again." The snake coiled tighter and laughed thinly, "You're mine now!"

Once again, Aya awoke, adrenaline rushing through her body and the sound of rhythmic war drums pounding in her ears. She tugged at her restraints, her green eyes dilated and darting around the room, searching for the hissing black serpent lurking in the shadows. She glanced to the side at Kid, sound asleep in his chair.

Taking advantage of her chaperone's inattention, Aya began making her escape. The longer chains on the padded cuffs around her ankles made it easy to reach across the bed and use her toes to undo the buckle around her left ankle. She used her freed foot to do the same to the other cuff, then bent herself unnaturally and unbuckled her hands.

Completely free, she rushed over to the window, her bare feet making next to no noise against the tiles. Aya opened the window, and with a quick glance down to judge the distance, she jumped.

How she landed without injuring herself, she didn't know or care. Maybe she did hurt herself, but if that was the case, she didn't notice. Almost as soon as she hit the ground, Aya took off running. She ran in a panicked frenzy through Death City, fleeing the endless sinister hissing that only seemed to grow louder with each step she took.

Soon, wicked yellow eyes began peering out from every gutter and shadow, every dark window and storm drain. Aya ran harder, and black snakes started slithering after her from every roof, crack, and crevice she passed. She didn't know how long she'd been running or how far she'd gone, hell, she didn't even know where she was! But she pushed forward and sideways and any direction there weren't evil serpents, fighting the fatigue in her legs threatening to drop her to the ground.

Aya felt like she was drowning in her worst nightmare, fear and hissing and cold black scales all swirling together in the whirlwind of a shattered mind. The snakes quickly gained ground on her, almost snapping at her bloody bare heels. Desperate to get away, she dashed around hoping to find some refuge. She eventually stumbled upon a tiny door and dove through it without any thought and shut the door behind her. For a split second, all sound ceased. In the silence, she relaxed, then shrieked when the snakes outside began throwing themselves at the door trying to get in. Aya screamed and cried in the tiny, dark space, completely alone, trapped in her own nightmarish hallucination.

Author's Note: My sincerest apologies on how long it took for me to write this chapter. It's the end of my senior year in high school, and it's a little chaotic getting all my unruly ducks in a row. In any case, Aya is back in all her broken insanity. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know with the review box, and if you have any suggestions for the way I write or any ideas on where the story should go, I'd love to hear it!