Sashalene doesn’t remember much. She barely even remembers her own name. What she does remember perfectly well, is how she died. Everything about that seems crystal clear. The only foggy part is what her friends look like. Their faces more precisely. Their faces were blurred and she couldn’t make out any details. Still, even if she doesn’t remember their faces, she remembers that they played a big part in her death. They were her “murderers” to say. AT least, that is how she thinks of them.

She tried to reason with herself that they didn’t mean to, but all reasoning failed. It was only after a bit more trying not to recall what happened to her was when Sashalene looked around. She was in black. That is all she could think of when she looked around. There was nothing but darkness. Everything was black. That doesn’t mean that there was nothing there. If Sashalene squints closely, she could make out black ledges. It would seem the entire place she is in is composed of squares and rectangles. No spheres, triangles, or diamonds. Only cubes. It was odd, to say the least. Yet the oddest thing about this place is that Sashalene didn’t feel afraid. In fact, she felt comfort in the darkness. She instinctively knew that the darkness was trying to comfort her, trying to protect her.

With her safety mostly assumed to be safe, Sashalene went back to her own thoughts, desperately trying to piece together who she was in life all while avoiding the memories of her death, which was becoming harder and harder to do. Still, Sashalene wasn’t one for giving up. She was called stubborn by her friends, though in a good way. Here was no different.

My n-name is Sashalene. I’m four-, no, nineteen years old before I died. I liked the snow. I w-was Ru-r-....Rassian! I was Rassian. My friends were Berry, Massie, and Sidney. Together we formed the Gals Gang! ….Yay….

Sashalene stopped thinking about her friends. Those memories were too painful. After a bit of waiting, or for how long since she has long lost track of time, Sashalene let out a sigh. It was time to confront the big one.

My death.

My friends and I were walking down an alley when we were attacked by thugs. We were about to escape and run to the police station which was right around the corner when the big bald guy grabbed Massie. She told us to run and we did, but I turned to help her anyway. When I got there, the big guy looked like he was raping Messie. In my rage, I charged and punched him in the face. After that, I don’t know how, but I was thrown through a brick wall. Maybe it was weakened but I was now right by the police station. I happened to overhear the guy at the counter tell my friends that nothing is wrong and that what they saw was probably their imagination. That was when I passed out. But before I did, I know that my friends saw me bloodied against the window.

When I came to, I was lying in a jail cell in the police station. After a while, the thugs from before came in and...and….

Sashalene took a deep breath, shutting her eyes tightly. Still, no matter how hard she tried, the feeling and pain she felt from being raped still remained. She remembered every single moment. After recovering her thoughts, Sashaene decided it would be best to quickly move on to other memories.

After they were done, I passed out again. When I came to, I was in a different cell. There, Massie visited me. I was confused and asked her what happened. She gave me a weird look, then proceeded to...torture me with a cow prod with a blank expression on her face.

Sashalene broke off again and put her hands over her mouth, trying to resist the urge to vomit. Tears were coming in a steady stream out of her eyes and down her cheeks. The darkness pressed in, gently reassuring her with black tendrils.

No. No No No NO NO! It Isn’t What It Looks Like! She had to have been forced to do that to me. But then why did the other two? No. Berry was crying when she did it! Y-yeah….Besides, I was k-killed s-shortly afterwards by a police officer...or a fake one. Beat up and shot in the head. I-I think there was a r-raid going on. Which means I was killed to make sure there were no loose ends. So I was th-

Sashalene stopped thinking and stared blankly at her hands. Her hands were pure black and deformed, her fingers shaped like and probably were claws. Her eyes slowly looked at her right arm, then the black. The ‘black’ of her hands spiraled off, sinking into her now grey skin before arriving at her elbows. Her feet and legs were the same, her feet deformed to make claws and her legs a dark grey color. She checked her hair and felt a shiver run down her spine. Her hairstyle was still the same, being split down the middle, but there were no bands holding it in place. That and her hair was messy and longer than it was. But the biggest change was its color. It was pitch black, like her claws and feet. All of the black on her was darker than the darkness around her. She ran her tongue through her mouth and was surprised when she felt all of her teeth were changed. All of them were sharp fangs or canines. Finally, she put her hands in front of her eyes to get a closer look at them when she noticed that there was a faint red glow on them. It didn’t take a genuis to realize that her eyes were glowing red. Then, to top it all off, a black spiny sharp tail whipped into view, the end of the tail ending in a black blade.

And with that, something snapped in Sashalene’s mind.

Monster. I’m a monster.

Sashalene started sobbing, then started laughing and sobbing. A manic and grief-filled smile formed on her face, showing her terrible white teeth. Tears were streaming nonstop from her eyes yet never fell down, disappearing before they hit her chin. The red glow of her eyes increased, and Sahsalene let out a yell full of sorrow, only the yell came out as a terrible screech belonging to a creature of nightmares. If anything heard it, they instantly turned around and ran away. Anything but one.

Monster. I’m a monster. And my friends...yeah, my friends. They got out, didn’t they. No. I just know they got out. This Was Their Plan All Along! HAHAHAHAH! To Think That I Risked My Life For Massie. She probably wasn’t even being raped! The entire station was against me. My friends. The Police! EVERYONE!

But I’ll show them. Oh yes, I’ll show them. Ahh ha hah ha hah! I’ll most definitely get out of here and show them. I’ll kill them all, one by one until they suffered worse than I have.

Sashalene either didn’t notice or didn’t care, but the grey of her skin was slowly disappearing until only black remained. The red of her eyes grew brighter and brighter, and the tip of her claws on her hand turned bright glowing red. A crazed smile formed and the darkness around her changed. It was her own, rising like a sharp cloud from her. She started laughing, her laughing growing louder and louder until Sashalene let out a roar.

….and out of nowhere, after who knows how long, a purple portal opened in front of Sashalene who was curled up and muttering to herself in a crazed tone. Out from the purple portal came someone with brown hair and wearing a white plain smiling mask with two lights of purple visible from the mask’s eye sockets. The newcomer spoke, with a strange somewhat British accent.

“Oh. Hi. Care to have a little chat?”

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The strange mask-wearing girl got out of the portal. They were wearing strange clothes, looking like a cosplay of an adventurer from an RPG game. A short dark red cape, dark red chest plate, light brown outfit, and dark brown shorts. To top it off, the person had dark grey boots.

Sashalene gave the girl one look, then blinked and gave her an even longer one, before shaking her head from the longing in her eyes and was gone in the blink of an eye. The newcomer instantly jumped to the right, avoiding the extremely fast claw strike of Sashalene. The tips of her claws left red marks in the air before disappearing. Sashalene was unfazed by her attack missing and simply pounced again. Her feet were developed to make her an expert at going on and fighting on all fours. She fought like an animal but without the wild blindness of their attacks.

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The girl once again jumped to her right but instead of stopping, she jumped up high in the air, avoiding Sashalene’s tail as she flew by. When the girl landed and turned to face Sashalene, Sashalene was sitting on all fours on top of a large black rectangular platform. The newcomer cocked her head before clicking her tongue and pointing finger guns at Sashalene.

“Ahh! You can create those, can’t you? Nice.”

Sashalene gave the stranger a weird look before giggling. It took her a moment to realize she was laughing and quickly stopped. Sashalene growled and glared at the stranger but didn’t attack. Instead, her mind started working at an ultra fats pace on how to kill the intruder she has. When a plan was formed, her smile turned crazed yet again and she disappeared from sight, moving too fast to see. The girl instantly got on guard again. She swiftly pulled out a sheathed short sword and blocked the claw strike from Sashalene, who looked visibly shocked. That shock only lasted for a moment as Sashalene went on all fours and using her tail as a pole, twirled around and kicked at the stranger. The stranger jumped back in the nick of time then jumped to her left as Sashalene’s tail came down like a whip, nearly slicing her in two. But that was all a part of Sashalene’s plan. Before the girl could react, a black square tower came out of nowhere and smashed into her and sent her flying...or would have if not for the arm she managed to get up in time. She wobbled but didn’t fall down.

Sashalene frowned for a second before darting to the left of the stranger then jumped right in front of her, letting out a manic laugh, her tail wagging and waving in the air behind her.

The stranger only cocked her head.

“Jeez. You’re having fun. Guess you like fighting, huh?”

Sahsalene’s tail stopped wagging and she slowly stood up, giving the stranger a once over.

“Here. Let me show you something.”

Sashalene didn’t give the stranger the chance to do anything. Instead, she charged her, darting to the left of the stranger hoping to attack her blindspot. Sashalene’s eyes widened and before she got there, she darted back in front of the stranger, a couple of meters away. Unfortunately, the stranger had predicted this and the next second Sashalene felt something cut her left cheek and felt a sting of pain, even as her cheek reformed itself. Then came the loud bang.

In the left hand of the stranger was a simple silver-colored pistol. The girl brought the gun close to her head then turned and blew the smoke coming out of the barrel of the pistol. She then opened her free hand and in a flash of purple, a brown-hilted short sword appeared in her hand.

“See? Pain.”

Sashalene narrowed her eyes. The stranger put away her weapons and raised her hands.

“I just want to talk.”

A cloud of black rose from Sashalene’s skin.

“Ah. Okay. I see. Have a nice day.”

Sashalene lunged forward while at the same time, more black pillars and towers rose from the ground and charged at the stranger. The stranger sighed as she dodged and ducked under the pounce of Sashalene and her tail and jumped off the wall of a black square pillar rushing towards her onto the wall of a nearby rising black tower.

“Welp. Guess I’ll wait for you to tire out a little bit.”

Using her short sword to stay on the rising black tower, the girl calmly assessed her situation. Black pillars were charging at her so if she stayed still for too long, she’ll be crushed. The Trauma below her was running on all fours, running steadily up and going around and around the black pillar, gaining on her below.

“Welp, this is a Monday.”

The girl had brown and black gloves on and out of those gloves came metal claws. They dug into the pillar she was on and sheathed her short sword. She then started climbing the tower in a similar manner to Sashalene, only much slower. She avoided a few of the pillars and jumped onto one and started running on two legs. Sashalene jumped on the black pillar she was in a second afterwards and, running the same as she did before, kept up the chase. When she was near the stranger, she sped ahead of her and vaulted herself up to be right in front of her. Instead of stopping, the stranger continued running, and then…

….patted Sashalene on the head.

“This isn’t me being mean or anything but you are pretty skilled, aren’t you?”

Sashalene froze, then started purring. She hasn’t felt the touch of someone in so long. The black square pillars and towers stopped moving and the darkness coming out of Sashalene wavered then died down.

“Hey, sorry about hurting you earlier but I wanted to prove a point. Can you let me explain my point instead of threatening to kill me?”

Sashalene lowered her tail from the stranger’s neck.

“You think you’re a monster, right?”

Sashalene nodded, albeit slowly.

“Well, why are you a monster?”

Sashalene paused. She...actually, why did she think she was a monster? Well, it was because of how she looks.

“Looks don’t make someone a monster. Not even way of thinking. Actually, monsters are actually a full-fledged race!”

The stranger put her hand on Sashalene’s shoulder.

“And you felt pain before, didn’t you? Even if you don’t feel pain, you’re capable of reasoning, of loving. You’re still you, aren’t ya?”

The stranger chuckled, seemingly finding something funny in what she said. To Sashalene, she was comprehending what the stranger was saying greedily. It was then Sashalene spoke, her voice cracked and dark as well as hoarse from who knows long of not speaking out loud.

“....But, I can’t. I have nowhere to go anymore. I’m dead.”

“Do you honestly think that your world is the only world there is? There are millions of worlds out there. You can have another chance.”

The stranger’s carefree tone turned serious.

“No matter what anyone says, you still deserve to exist. Even if you are something different, you are still you. Besides, if someone gives you too much of a hard time, just kill em!’

The stranger grabbed Sashalene’s hand and tapped one of her clawed fingers.

“I mean, you’re more than capable. And if you’re in a pinch, I’ll be there to help.”

Sashalene met the stranger’s weird purple eyes. During most of the battle, they didn’t appear through her mask. Now they did. They were similar to her own but they held no malice, only friendship.

“W-why are you d-doing this. What do you have to gain!?”

The stranger shrugged before letting out a sad chuckle.

“To be honest, I’m just feeding my own twisted ego. I can’t stand seeing you guys suffer and I feel honestly better if I can help you guys. I’m not like those prince or hero types in stories, I’m just an egotistical funny trusty gal.”

The girl made an L above her head and struck a pose, causing Sashaleen to giggle, before lending Sashaleen a hand.

“Come with me. I have others I have helped back at my home. I can’t promise you complete safety as no such thing exists but, I can promise you friendship and help. Currently, I think you need a little more excitment than this nice but old place can offer. What do you say?”

Sashaleen met the eyes of the stranger again, and a faint blush made its way on her face. Her appearance was different than before. Her skin went back to being grey but now her hair was a mix of black and brown. Two bright pink ribbons formed on her hair, and although fake, they made her hairstyle look real. Finally, a brown pupil formed in her pure red eyes. She looked more like herself.

With a smile full of relief, Sashaleen took the hand of the stranger, putting her trust in someone again since a long long time ago. Even with the mask on, Sashaleen could tell the smile on her mysterious savor grow.

“Well then,” the stranger said, pulling her up and opening a purple portal behind her, “my name is Annie Cappucheno. What’s yours?”

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When someone dies with a lingering regret, they become ghosts or spirits. When someone dies with a hate, confusion, and suffering through and through….

….

….

….they become a Trauma. Traumas are beings whose very existence near a world will cause its collapse. Traumas are extremely hard to deal with, let alone kill. If injured enough, a Trauma will melt back to the darkness and reform. If on the verge of death, Traumas will gain in power and become significantly harder to harm. If any Traumas form, they are to be dealt with if they can be. If not, they are to be refrained from having any contact with any world or being.

….

….Only I don’t agree with that. Aren’t Traumas beings too? They can talk, reason, have fun, cry, eat, sleep, get hurt. Just because something is dangerous doesn’t mean they have to be treated as mere threats. Traumas were just like you. That is why I am on a mission…

….a mission to make sure that Traumas can live together and have a normal life. That is my mission. So even if I am putting my life on the line every time I deal with them, I won’t stop. Everyone deserves to have freedom, and no one has the right to take that away.