I had slept great, last night was amazing, yes, I did kill Khione, but that rush of power, it felt good. No good was not the right word, perfect. Having more people around in my head is also fun. I stretched as I got ready for another day. We were still on a break before going to the shadow world. Lory already seemed to be awake and stared at me. I smiled at her, “Good morning my love,” I wanted to kiss her, but she turned away from me.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, not at all.”

“Okay, do you want breakfast?”

“You can do whatever you want.”

I got up and started making her wrap, Haley also slowly woke up. “Hey Munchkin, do you want an omelet? I can make one once this wrap is done.”

She yawned, “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Lory started making coffee, I looked at her, “please make one for me.”

She just glanced at me, “Go make your own coffee.”

“Sure? I guess?”

Haley looked at us, “Are you guys having a fight?”

Before I could answer, Lory replied, “No. We are fine.”

I looked at her, “Are you sure?”

She yelled, loudly, “Goddammit, Steve, just make the fucking food and wipe that smile off your face.”

Awkward silence fell in the house. Haley got up, “I am going to get some food at the café, dad, you can make me breakfast another day.”

Lory looked at her, “I am sorry, Munchkin, I did not mean to yell that hard.”

Haley packed some of her things and got dressed, faster than I have ever seen her get ready. “I am just going to leave now, you guys can, I don’t know, have a nice adult fight.”

Before either of us could answer, Haley had left. I looked at Lory, “Great, you chased our daughter away, was that truly necessary? What is even up with you?”

She pointed at me and even poked me, “What is up with me? I know what you did last night!”

“I just snuck off to the training grounds, and I tested out some of my new moves. If you somehow heard I let Eris have control, then sorry, I think she can be trusted.”

Lory growled at me and bared her sharp teeth. “I don’t give a fuck about that. I know what you did to Khione.”

All I could do is stare at her, “Look, I can explain.”

Lory came closer and I actually felt threatened. “Am I not enough for you?”

I held up my hands, “What, where is this coming from?”

“Funk told me he saw you sneak off with her, she undressed herself, and you started undressing too. You totally boned her!”

“No, I did not bone her, that is not even a nice word for that.”

Lory kept growling, “Did you do her?”

“No, I did not, I killed her. If Funk had kept watching, he could have seen me kill her!”

Lory gasped, “You promised me to not kill people anymore!”

“What? I killed everyone on Stratos Isle when my rage went wild.”

Lory shook her head, “That was different. This time, you choose to kill. How can I even know for sure, you are not lying right now?”

I stretched my hand, “Take my hand and I will show you.” She grumbled and did so, she squeezed hard enough for her nails to draw blood. I closed my eyes and took her to my mind space.

We ended up in the command center, where Angel is drinking a cup of coffee and looking at the screen. “Hello there, Lory, we are sorry if we angered you.”

Lory waved him away, “What the fuck is this, Steve?”

I gestured, “This is my command center, that is Angel.”

“Why is he just chilling here?”

I shrugged, “Someone needs to keep an eye on things. This machine is connected to my brain, I can rewatch all my memories.”

Lory gasped, “You can watch, everything, can the others watch everything too.”

“Yes.”

She growled at me, “Just show me what you want to show me.”

We walked into where everyone was supposed to be building, but it was early in the morning. J and Captain are playing a video game together. Eris is working on designing the fridge in the kitchen. I walked over to Eris, “Hello there, my friend, how are things going?”

She smiled, “I am working on the fridge, Captain does not like the white one, and Angel does not like the black one. Can you help with deciding later?”

“Of course, for now, Lory is visiting.”

Eris walked over to Lory and stretched her hand, “Hello Lory, I am not quite up to date with today’s events, I haven’t checked the command center since I woke up. I am sorry for my temper tantrum, Steve’s rage totally made my divine form go astray. He calmed me down and gave me some freedom. People forgave me.”

Lory looked around, “You mean, Steve forgave himself.” Eris twitched her hand, she wanted Lory to take it. Instead, Lory slapped her.

I gasped and Captain, along with J, were immediately alert. I stood in front of Eris, “You don’t slap her. She is a good friend of mine.”

Lory crossed her arms, “She is just you.”

“No, she is her own person.”

I looked at Eris, “You are bleeding, she used nails. Captain?”

He sighed and paused the game, then he walked over. He healed her wound, “There you go.” Captain looked at Lory, “You are a guest here, we all like you, but damn, be careful with the occupants please.” He walked back and sat down.

I hugged Eris, “We can talk about this later.”

Lory pulled me back, “Don’t hug another version of yourself in front of me, that is just creepy.”

I sighed, “She is not just a version of me, Eris’s soul is in there, her core is just her. Eris, are you fine?”

“Yeah, a bit shocked, I did not expect that.” She looked at Lory and shed a tear.

“Great, you have hurt her feelings, please Lory, fucking apologize to her.”

She stared at me, “What, you want me to fucking apologize?”

“Yes, you are a guest in our home.”

Lory grumbled, “Sorry, Eris.”

She nodded, “Maybe you can help with some design options, I am going to work on the fridge.”

I called out, “Where is Thanos?”

J pointed at a door, “He is working in the training dojo.”

I walked over to the door and opened the door. We walked through the door opening and I saw a huge training dojo. Thanos is working on a weapon stand. He turned around, “Hello boss, hello malady,” Thanos even bowed.

Lory sighed, “Yeah, yeah.”

I put my hand on his shoulder, “Are the barracks finished?”

He pointed at another door, “It is a work in progress. I asked our new visitor, and Eris, if they don't mind sleeping with the guys in the same room. They did not mind.” Thanos pointed at the other side, “There is the dark vault, J and I are going to work on the protections, later on”

Stolen novel; please report.

I smiled, “That sounds good, have all the dark mirrors been moved there?”

He nodded, “You'll inspect them when you have time, right?”

“Yes, where is Agent?”

Thanos looked around, “Most likely working on the shooting range.”

I nodded, “Lory wants to meet our new visitor, where is she?” Thanos pointed at a door, “Alright, keep up with the good work.”

We started walking towards the door and I knocked, “are you there, Khione?”

“Yes, come in, boss.”

We walked into the new room and snow was everywhere, Khione is working on an ice mountain. She walked over, “Khione reporting for duty, I have been making friends, and working on the new room, as you requested.”

“I hope to earn some of your trust by completing this project to your liking.”

Lory looked at her, “You have become another Steve?”

“I am Khione, but yes, we all share traits and quirks, I think it has to do with the flesh chamber. I really need to figure out who made me pick my nose.”

Of course, I knew who that was, I laughed, “That would be Eris, she likes to pick her nose when she is not doing anything.”

Lory shook her head, “You did not hump my husband?”

“No, he told me he was going to, then he totally went all assimilation on my ass. Like, I think he grabbed me by my ass.”

I sighed, “That is not helping Khione.”

Lory looked at me, “You swallowed her?”

Khione nodded, “I still remember it vividly.”

Lory looked at her, “So, now all your memories and feelings are gone?”

Khione shook her head, “No, I still feel deep regrets about some of the things I have done.”

“It is like this,” she started making a tree out of snow. “This is Steve, the main factor at this moment,” she wrote a one in the tree with snow.

She made a snow leave, “This is Captain, he used to be the main tree.” She wrote a two in the leave, “He is the second in command.” “If something happens to Steve, he is the one who will take over.” Khione made another leave, “This is an assimilated personality, Eris.” She wrote a three in the leave. “She is the third in command, god forbid something happens to Steve and Captain, she takes control.”

“Eris is still Eris, her body has been devoured and stored, I think the flesh chamber in Steve's soul is for storing our bodies. Her mind and soul, are connected to the tree. She has become a Steve leaf, as long as she is connected to Steve's soul. But inside, she is just Eris. Then we have Angel,” Khione made another snow leaf. “At a point in time, Angel was the main tree, now he is simply a personality that got stored as a leaf. Don’t ask me about the how and why, no one here is filling me in, we all have our own memories, in here, and of out there.”

I chuckled, “Get used to not being filled in.”

Khione nodded as she made another snow leaf. “Then we have the mysterious J, I have no clue what his deal is, he talks weird, but mostly he is silent. He never talks much, not even about his past.” Khione made another snow leaf, “And here we have Thanos. He is a powerful mage, but just like Captain, we are affected by the rune and our power is limited. We also have Secret Agent S. He is a direct snow leaf from the Steve tree, that is why Steve knows everything about him, but we don’t. This morning, he made some breakfast for me, and told me about a dictator he once killed. In turn, I told him about my dad.”

I grinned, “That is nice!”

She smiled, “Agent is nice. I think he has the hots for me. Never mind that. As you can see, we are all connected to the tree with branches. When Steve ate me, I thought I was getting lucky, but no. I think I should not have screwed him over with that Melin trick.” Khione made another snow leaf, “This is me, another assimilated personality, not crafted, but acquired. Steve can switch with us at will, but he can also make someone else the tree.” She made some leaves on the ground. “There are other mirrors, these are not connected to us. These are called dark mirrors.”

I nodded, “Yes, people that have been absorbed by the devil inside of me, or any of their personalities, like, most of these people stem from him.”

Khione gestured at the leaves on the ground, “These are all people who are waiting for something to happen. They all have been assimilated, but not connected. Steve is going to look into that, right?”

“Yes, I will, thank you for the explanation Khione, even though it is a very unusual metaphor.”

Lory looked at the tree. “I want to leave.”

I made a portal, “Alright, Lory.” She just left.

Khione looked at me, “Did I say something wrong, Steve?”

“No, I don’t think so, your explanation, along with the visuals, were on point.” I offered a hug, Khione shrugged and hugged me. I whispered, “sorry for doing that last night.”

She looked at me, “I was being a mean bitch to everyone. I guess, I had it coming, not that I like being dead, but I get it.” “At least, I have company.” I nodded, “I am going to check what is up with Lory.” I left through the portal.

As I went back, I assumed my normal form and continued finishing up the wrap. Lory sat down on the bed and crossed her arms. “Lory? Are we okay? Khione explained it to you.”

Lory got up and in my face, “No, we are not okay! You are totally not seeing the problem here. You are telling me you ate Khione! I don’t believe that.”

“But, you just saw her.”

“No, I saw what you wanted me to see.” She pointed at my head and started making circles, “This, your brain is soup! There is no Khione, there is no Eris, or whoever the fuck else is roaming in your brain. It is all just you, Steve. You are making up people as you go, but you don’t see it, they are all just you. There is only one you. That is Steve. You probably murdered Khione and felt guilty about it, then you did something with your wacky power to make a duplicate of her. Thinking it is really her. While her body is most likely somewhere in that pond.”

I gulped a few times and tried to keep my tears inside, trying to finish up her wrap. With calm words, despite her yelling at me, I spoke up, “These are real people in my mind. I am not some unstable, mentally ill dude that is making up fake people.”

Lory pointed at me, “Yes, you are, you are a psychotic mentally unstable person at this moment, you need to get rid of them and just become Steve again. If you really ate Khione, you probably liked it when you ate her, or whatever you call it. You absorbed her, and you liked it, maybe you are not the hero, but the monster, absorbing and killing people sounds very evil to me.”

I looked at her and started crying, “Here Lorraine, your wrap,” I threw it down on her plate with force and pickles flew around. “I hope you choke on it.”

Quickly, I walked away and Lorraine gasped, “Wait, I am sorry, I just realized what I said.”

I opened the door, and ignored Lorraine completely. I slammed it close with so much force, the door fell out of its sockets. Despite Lorraine talking, I ignored her and started walking down the street.