(3rd-Person Narrator: Joanna Edwards)

Clear Aqua did not hesitate to slap the living crap out of Joanna Edwards. She rudely barged in on Joanna's fleeting memories and brought her back into a new fantasy world. 2 more days spent on caring for what seemed to be a perfectly fine patient did not help Joanna's case. Especially when she had to be fed and... "cleaned up" so to speak.

However, this was not the reason behind Clear Aqua's actions, as Aurea are "always" justified. If Joanna had x-ray and hawk-like vision, which she does not, she would see smoke pluming in gray waves off in the distance. Already, the attack on Auream Regulam began just at sundown. The prophecy of the Dark Times was revealed to be true! So, should she continue to sleep through this in her deep "meditative" state, surely Joanna would die!

But remember, Joanna has a terrible personality. That's why when she was hit, she swung back in self-defense. Now, it's admirable to react in such a way so quickly, if you include that Joanna overcame her trauma of being submissively beaten. Yet grabbing Clear Aqua and smacking her bloody was excessive, if you factor in that it's a boosted 4th rank versus a 3rd rank. Disregarding the childlike and delicate frame Clear Aqua had, Joanna swung her fists methodically.

When Joanna finally became aware of her actions and truly woke up, she found a hunk of mashed flesh in front of her. Clear Aqua's nurse uniform was stained with the blood gushing from her disfigured face. Joanna took the liberty of throwing up to her side and hiding under her blanket to deny reality like Joanna did in her childhood. Apparently, she killed a person unconsciously. It was like a second sense... almost like her unwavering mother standing above bleeding James.

Joanna continued to dry heave and cry to herself, but this was an emergency situation. So obviously, Stormy Wind, the mother, arrived at the worst timing to check on her daughter. Shocked at the results of the situation, Stormy Wind's adult figure walked over slowly to check on Clear Aqua. After verifying her vitals were still there, she continued healing her with an ethereal glow of Mana. When questioned about what happened, Clear Aqua explained the situation in quiet croaks and muffled sobs, to which Stormy Wind got furious over.

Take our hospitality, would you? Insult our intelligence, would you? Soil our sheets and clothing, would you? Don't do anything, would you? Disregard our warnings, would you? Try to kill my daughter, WOULD YOU?

Stormy Wind left and dragged the unwilling Clear Aqua along. At least one of them still kept principle by wanting to save another life. But since Clear Aqua was safe and cleaned up, there was no need to help a vicious Aurea outcast. It should have been expected from someone from Expert Island. If you were not killed maintaining Meteoros, you became part of the madness.

Meanwhile, Joanna was contemplating suicide once again. Rethinking the situation, Clear Aqua did slap her a lot... but they were "gentle" ones. An innocent girl, perhaps a nurse, trying to get her patient to wake up for some medicine! After all, BOOP infected everyone and this nurse should have treated many other patients in her own ill condition.

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Joanna did not realize she was abandoned and thought the rustling noise in front of her was another nurse, in grief. In her mind, Joanna pictured the girl picked up in the arms of maybe a coworker, or even a best friend. Leaving the deranged patient, she slammed the door. It would only be soon before they had their revenge, possibly ripping her open or locking Joanna up forever. Only the most morbid and nonsensical reasoning could ever come from her brain.

At midnight, Joanna pulled off her blanket and stared at the pool of blood spreading across the floor. Next to it was splashes of her puke. Getting off the bed, Joanna walked to the bathroom to clean herself up. She used the toilet, washed up, and changed clothes. But she could not get rid of the smell of blood from her body. When Joanna looked at the various medicinal containers sitting on a shelf, she had an idea to deal with all this guilt that built up inside of her heart.

Why not overdose before the consequences of her actions catch up to her? Joanna was in another world and separated from Tompkins. He was the only thing left to keep her living. And now he was most likely dead, considering she barely made it and only lucky enough to survive.

Everyone else died or disappeared in the depressing story of her life. Tragedies were the normal occurrence and today, she herself had gone too far. End it before anymore suffering happens, Joanna thought. The cold embrace of death is all that you can look forward to.

Why did she not think of the possibility of healing magic? Of finding new love? Of atoning for her actions and explaining herself? Of why she was so strong? Of why Clear Aqua was being so urgent? It's because she's close-minded, pig-headed, and pessimistic, that's why! Don't question or even underestimate the unobservant and idiotic qualities of Joanna!

*Cough* *Cough*

Ahem.

So enough covering up... I mean introspection.

Joanna drank and ate all the medicine around her. But discovering there were no apparent effects, she sighed. Of course, fate would not let her go so soon and away from the limelight. Bypassing the mess on the floor, Joanna went to confront her destiny. She opened the exit... only to discover an empty hallway.

It appeared to Joanna that she was quarantined... not surprising how ill she was before. She was Ground 0 of the outbreak, after all. No one stayed in the various rooms along the hall. Since BOOP wouldn't kill her fast enough, she'd do it herself: one container after another. And so, wasteful of these now priceless pills and concoctions, Joanna used them.

She walked freely throughout the stone "hospital" and took whatever she saw. One would eventually be enough to kill her. So, she explored through offices, research labs, operation rooms, other patient rooms, and various others. One had even had an indoor garden, with some colorful, yet poisonous-looking plants. All of it went into her belly.

After scouring the entire hospital, Joanna managed to go through every single one somehow. Finally, she shuffled her body, with an abnormally bulging abdominal region, to the entrance waiting room. Joanna dropped in front of the entrance doors, as the morning "Sun" dawned upon a new day. The substances inside of her threatened to be puked out at last. It was surprising that she didn't before, seeing how much of what she ate tasted disgusting, slimy, and downright wrong.

Her journey was over. Laying flat on her face, her body began convulsing wildly. Vomit spewed out her mouth, leaving herself in a pus green and moldy black puddle. Copious globs of hideous goo covered her from top to bottom. Although her consciousness left her, inside her body, the cores desperately tried to stabilize her condition. They were autonomously absorbing an unbearable amount of energy and infusing it at such an extremely efficient rate.