The look on Alexej’s face was priceless. It made Thana giggle with such utter delight that the lingering pain in her stomach and head that memory had caused were quickly forgotten. She could only hope that her grip on the manipulative asshole’s throat was half as tormenting.

“You are a supremely slimy bastard,” she said, as Alexej tried to wrestle himself free.

She barely even felt the pull of his hands on hers as she dragged him down to her face level. Grinning ear to ear, she growled at him, watched the growing desperation in his eyes. She did not know if she cared little enough about Lydia to kill the cocksucker right then and there.

“Eliza is dead, you fucking idiot, thanks for making me remember,” Thana informed him with a maddening smile. “You really have some balls to just spin together a convenient situation to blackmail me just because I can’t remember shit. In the first place, you must be really fucking desperate to take my words at my fighting announcement that I can’t remember shit at face value,” the manipulative Czech was slowly turning into a rather unhealthy shade of red. “But people who get stuck into the chamber don’t come out, so that woman behind me? She is just a random fucking old lady you stuck in a bed to trick me,” Thana laughed her anger out, the dots in her eyes spun so quickly it vibrated in her soul.

“We… can’t… apologize…” “…She… is… lost…” “Can she come back?” “Yes.” “Has she come back?” “No.” “Yes.” “Who is in control?” “False path and misleading by Anathema.” “The horror…” The faces provided nonsensical commentary. “…The last struggle failed, she has consolidated…” “…the…” “…h…” “…thema…” “Cry for the fallen, murder the living.”

Then they vanished one by one and melded together into the one face that was Cecylia. “Please, Eliza, she has to know I am sorry,” the face pleaded.

“Just shut up, you creations of my fractured sanity. If I was such a bitch to betray my own sister, I don’t need these memories or this name,” Thana growled, and the face disappeared forever. “So, this will be a nice clean start.” She grinned at Alexej now that the two of them were finally, truly alone.

After a moment of pause, she let go of his throat. The blonde guy collapsed on the ground. Coughing and gasping for air, he looked up just in time to see the blood mage’s foot crashing into his face.

Alexej rolled over the ground like a human bowling ball, crashing into a decorative flower pot in the corner of the room. Porcelain shattered, dirt spilled onto the floor, the information manipulator groaned in pain. “W-wait!” he panicked as Thana stepped after him and set a foot on his ribcage, nailing him against the floor.

She didn’t wait; instead, she pressed down harder, removing all air from his lungs but keeping herself in check just enough for the ribcage of the man to not burst under the pressure. “Sucks, doesn’t it, being helplessly nailed by a power you can’t fight against?” Thana asked tonelessly, watching the man struggle uselessly.

She relieved him just the slightest bit so he could breathe. “If you kill me…”

“…Then Lydia will get her hands full, yes, I know, you fucking idiot,” Thana interrupted. “I won’t kill you, not today.” Relief and terror quickly hushed over Alexej’s face.

“You made some crucial fucking mistakes,” the blood mage rolled her neck, it felt really stiff for some reason. “For a start, you reminded me of some shit I much rather had forgotten in the form of more than 70 years of constant pain. Then you actually made me remember something,” she took her foot of Alexej and grabbed him by the collar; “Thank you and fuck you for that.”

The horrible dissonance of what Cecylia did and what Thana would want to do in that situation was gripping at her mind with the uncertainty of the forgetful. What else had she forgotten? What was truly in these faces she couldn’t see?

‘How is it that I feel like a better person than she was back then,’ Thana thought, unable to think of herself as Cecylia. It was just too alien; this person she only had one memory of and that looked like her didn’t feel like her. Too much time had elapsed, too much had changed. Either way, she didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“Most importantly, you fucking asshole, you wanted me to betray the only people I care about,” Thana said, her grin disappearing completely. “Once this whole tournament is over, you better run as far away as you can and make sure your miserable ass never shows itself in front of me again, or I will tear you the fuck apart, starting with the bones in your fingers.”

With that final warning she tossed Alexej over her shoulder. It was a throw for which she actually used a fair bit of strength, and the result was every bit as satisfying as she had imagined.

In a shower of wooden splinters, Alexej broke through the door and crashed into the hallway. Whatever secrecy they had had would be lost in a few moments, and Thana didn’t care about talking to Alexej further anyhow. “Sorry that he got you involved in all of it, whoever the fuck you are,” Thana said towards the old lady who blissfully slept through the whole commotion.

Then the blood mage opened a window and simply jumped out and made a run for it. She was grinning widely. Whatever Cecylia had been, it was of no matter for her. She was a twisted, broken, brutal, impulsive and fully dysfunctional human being, but she would never sell out her friends like that girl had.

That wasn’t her, that wasn’t who she wanted to be, and if that was the person her memories would unveil, then her memories were best left untouched. Thana wanted to bicker with Rave. Thana wanted to annoy Lydia a bit. Thana wanted to beg Aclysia for a nice dessert. Thana wanted to sit next to John and watch crappy sitcoms.

She didn’t want to remember this Cecylia. At least she now knew that. And she had an answer for the Eliza question. The faces had given up. Despite how horrible the experience had been, Thana took the steps back home flying. All was well that ended well.

She arrived back at the mansion just in time to smell Aclysia cook something. Halfway done mincemeat and potatoes together with some greens where what caressed her nose, a stark contrast to the clinical, sterile smells she had just escaped from.

“Good noon, you fuckers!” she shouted once she entered the mansion and tapped inside.

“Don’t forget to clean your feet!” Aclysia’s voice came back from the kitchen. The blood mage rolled her eyes, running around barefoot had the disadvantage of picking up some dirt, which Aclysia didn’t like whatsoever.

‘How does that blanket-wearing, blank, bimbo blonde get away with this shit?’ Thana wondered as she brushed off her soles with warm water and then tapped into the living room. She made two light-footed steps, then a pirouette, and a few more tapping noises on the wooden floor later, she was in the kitchen.

“Is that a stew I smell today?” she inquired; “I like stew, correction, I fucking love food.”

“That I am aware of,” Aclysia informed her, opening the fridge after stirring the pot some more and then putting the lid on top. She reached into the marvel of technology that kept food cold and fresh and pulled out a pudding, “I made this for you upon Master’s request. He told me to tell you to not overdo it.”

“…Ehhhh,” Thana shrugged; “You know, I may or may not have overdone it earlier today.”

“He did further specify to give it to you anyway because he knew you would say that,” Aclysia sighed slightly. “From what I have read about psychological conditioning, that is a foolish decision.”

 “Pavlov is a dick, give me that pudding!” Thana demanded and found herself in the living room shortly thereafter.

“We were on a break!” the person on the screen shouted.

“You tell them, Ross,” Thana giggled eating the pudding. It felt very good to be able to do so without help; she used to accidentally bite off the heads of the spoons, so Momo took it upon her to feed them to Thana instead.

It was kind of working for her kink, but it also was pretty annoying. Anyhow, those times were over now. Every day she came closer to being just socially unacceptable instead of outright insane and out of control.

She had control over her strength now, the faces were gone, she felt happy and a scratching from inside her head… That last thing was not good, not good at all.

Thana hadn’t noticed it until now, having been mentally preoccupied, first by the rush of aggression and then when she was running back home by thinking about other things. Now that she was settled and not occupied, she felt it though.

It wasn’t a strong feeling, it wasn’t even bothering her, it was just there like the noise of a computer ventilator. In the background, not important at all, but now that she had noticed it, it was hard to ignore.

“How is the pudding, Thana?” Aclysia asked, standing in the doorframe. The scratching spiked for a moment, then it ceased. Had she just imagined it? Not entirely unlikely, not with the state of her mental condition. But just because it wasn’t actually there didn’t mean it wasn’t a problem.

“Yeah, it’s sweeter than usual, tastes awesome!” Thana answered.

“I am glad to hear so,” Aclysia softly smiled; “I switched up the recipe a bit. I concluded that you like sweet things.”

“Honestly, I just like everything that doesn’t taste like chemical super-garbage,” Thana answered. “But I sure as fuck won’t complain if you keep tossing sweets at me. As a matter fact: give me all of the fucking sweets, I want to drown in chocolate.”

“You may want to wait for that until after dinner. I also suggest taking a shower,” Aclysia looked at the clock. “It will take another 10 minutes for the stew to be done, but we won’t eat until Master returns from his current engagement with Nia.”

“Are they boning?” Thana asked.

“They have been,” Aclysia corrected; “The engagement was overdue. All women, if John wants them, should be with him.”

“Your worship of him is fucking creepy at times,” Thana pointed out.

“I live to serve my Master, it is the purpose I picked for myself,” the maid said with a bow. “I won’t force anyone to see it the same way, but John’s happiness is my highest aspiration.”

“…Well, as long as he gives me a good spanking, I don’t really fucking care what else he does,” Thana said. That was an understatement of what she wanted from John in every regard. Spanking hit the bare minimum of her masochistic desires, but even more importantly, she couldn’t imagine being left behind by John.

The Gamer was the only thing that gave her a good moral anchor. Someone who was willing to put up with all of her shit no matter how overbearing she got. She doubted the other girls would actually put up with her if it wasn’t for John, not because she thought that they were bad people but because… she was so utterly incomprehensible at times that she had no idea how John even managed to stomach her in the first place.

‘Must be because I am super fucking cute or something… maybe fucking crazy is awesome?’ she desperately tried to find a reason while quickly finishing up the pudding. “Okay, I will go take that shower. Can’t be that fucking bad of an idea.”