Kyle stared at Abby's body.

No, wait, that came out wrong. Why did he always seem to think about nonsense in the middle of stressful situations? He was faced with an enemy unlike anything he'd faced before, inhabiting the body of a friend. Well someone he knew, anyway. They'd only known each other for a few days, but one thing he'd learned was that monster attacks had a way of speeding up friendships.

"Well we can fight her now," Tanya said, chewing her thumbnails. "But anything we do to her body will...wow this sounds wrong. If we hurt her she actually gets hurt."

"I've figured that out already," Kyle sighed. "I'm still trying to figure out what to do. I've never had to fight a friend before."

"What are you talking about?" The thing in Abby's body cocked their head curiously. Her voice was like a chorus of buzzing flies trying to sing in a church choir. "They've tried to kill you seven or eight times."

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"What?" Kyle blinked. "I don't... WHO'S tried to kill me seven or eight times? I don't think any individual thing we've fought has tried to kill me that many times."

The creature in Abby's body paused.

"Oh," it finally said. "The future. Time is so strange in your realm, in its straight little lines. Sometimes when a future is very strong I can get mixed up. How interesting. It means you haven't fought in the tournament yet. You haven't even faced the dragon. And that means you haven't built your greatest weapon yet. You are far less dangerous than I thought."

"We're dangerous enough," Tanya said.

"Not to me," the thing insisted. "Not here. Not in the realm of dreams and ideas. I am an idea, you merely have them. You don't belong in this place. You're wrapping yourself up in shares you recognize. I can only speak with you because I am inhabiting the shell of one of you."

"But why?" Kyle asked. "Why do you want to kill people at all?"

It cocked Abby's head and stared at him.

"Well!?" Kyle demanded.

"Don't bother," Tanya shook her head. "It doesn't understand the question. The idea that it might not kill people would never occur to it."

"But I do not have to kill you," the thing said. "We find ourselves stalemated, for now. I could possibly kill you, but doing so would harm me. You could possibly kill me, in this body, but that would harm your friend. And I would also not like harm to come to Abby, if it can be avoided. She reminds me....of a girl. In the memories of the wandering grudge.

"So let us both lose. I will leave this house, take the grudge with me, find a new home. I won't be your problem anymore. And you will leave me alone to continue my existence in peace. I will..."

Kyle shot forward and put his hand through Abby's chest.