Time was a nebulous concept.

It flowed and dipped, swirling and spun around those who observed it.

To Gwyn time was now a halting slideshow that only showed snippets of her world. Incomprehensible conversations and sights crawled past her as she squirmed in pure agony, her skull pulsed like a nail had been driven through it.

The sounds of violence and screaming faded into the background as her mind spiraled into pained distress.

Bile spewed from her bloody lips onto the waterlogged floor.

The strong familiar hands of Cécilia cradled her, preventing her from wrecking her split scalp even more. Blood was matting her hair and pooling onto the tiles until someone placed a towel to the back of her head.

The pain must have been enough to make her black out as when she refocused she was in the ginger haired girl's arms, being jostled as she was being carried to a stretcher.

Cécilia's face was pinched as she hovered over Gwyn.

The scene changed before her again.

Now she was no longer in the gym but in the school’s clinic. Her back was pressed up against someone else, a nurse. Her skull was numb now and occasionally she’d feel a tug on her skin as the nurse was stitching her up.

A warmth in her hand made her look over with only her eyes as she was held in position by the nurse behind her.

Marion was nearby watching both Gwyn and a heated conversation in front of them. Tatiana and Myra were having a tense standoff, their words were loud in the room but Gwyn was only able to catch the occasional words as they argued in her dizziness.

The nauseous from blood-loss was ever present.

“...I should expel you as well….she has a fractured orbital socket…I don’t know what came over Sarah…never been this violent.”

Tatiana seemed close to punching the principal, her fists were already bloody. “Not violent?! She hit Gwyn with a...needs stitches…”

“...why…keep an eye….concussion…”

The two’s agitated conversation was beginning to fade in and out of her hearing, she could barely take in what they were saying.

Gwyn felt a prick on her arm, she sluggishly looked over and saw the nurse depress a syringe into Gwyn’s arm. The world started to blur even further and become muddy.

The nurse smiled beautifully at Gwyn “just a mild painkiller, you might be a little sleepy.”

Her mouth felt like it had been stitched shut and her eyes became heavier than mountains, she tried desperately to call out to Marion but she just drifted off into a deep slumber instead.

The last sight she had was of a name tag that read “Hopeful”.

Time once again moved forwards like a syrup.

This time she watched a clouded dream, in it a girl lay paralyzed in bed, bound tight by the sheets. Into this dark room a fuzzy pink blob crawled on stick-like legs tipped with sharp hooves, they tapped a rhythm as it stalked upon the frozen girl.

‘Click, Click, Click.’ went the hooves.

The twisted creature of pink malice loomed over the girl, Gwyn was unable to warn her in the dreamlike state.

She was just an observer in the moment.

It appraised the green-haired girl like it was picking over a slab of meat, a tender clawed hand stroked the girl's face and lips before it trailed down to clenched around her wrist. It withdrew a glinting mosquito from its pocket and stabbed it into the seized arm.

Again Gwyn was unable to shout to the poor child strapped to the bed by the loving fabrics.

The long mosquito drank deeply upon her sweet nectar, drawing a line of red and gray into itself.

Gwyn was too numb to continue her calls and warnings, her mind a fog.

A buzzing like laughter erupted from the creature as it smiled a crooked smile and stole something from the captured girl, taking something that was hers. Gwyn couldn’t tell what had been taken but she knew deep down that it was important to the unconscious child.

Her vision of the room swayed and when she refocused that fuzzy form had sauntered away. It spoke something foul into the air but it was lost in the haze of the dream that cloaked Gwyn’s mind.

As she drifted back to sleep all she could hear was that awful clicking of hooves.

‘Click, Click, Click.’

----------------------------------------

As her mind clarified she found herself staring up at an unfocused white ceiling that loomed above her. As she looked about the room a dull pulse of agony radiating from the back of her head caused her to hiss in pain, reaching up she felt along the soft fabric of a bandage wrapped around it.

The noise of pain awoke the lump that had been resting heavily on her legs, making numb. The blurry form jumped in shock before exclaiming “Gwyn! You’re awake!” from the voice she guessed it was Tatiana.

She tried to reply but her mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton and all that escaped was a raspy cough.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Tatiana quickly rushed to help Gwyn, holding up a cold glass of water for her to drink and fetching her green framed glasses from the bedside table. They had unfortunately sustained damage in the form of scratches, luckily it was only on the frame and not the lens themself.

She did have a spare but these were Marion’s gift.

The room that she saw now that it had focused around her was a familiar sight of the school’s clinic, it hadn’t been that long since she was here last as it had been when she had twisted her ankle.

“What happened?” Gwyn croaked once her parched throat was quenched.

“You’ve only been unconscious for a few hours, Sarah Schell hit you in the back of the head with a security baton,” Tatiana clenched the bedsheets in anger, “she hasn’t woken up yet to explain herself or where she got it.”

Gwyn raised an eyebrow, forgetting the pain that would cause “what happened to her?” she winced afterwards.

Tatiana blushed as she looked away “I may have hit her, repeatedly. She did look like she was going to kill you after all, so I won’t apologize.”

Sarah Schell was the daughter of the Schell media empire’s founder. Gwyn struggled to recall even meeting or talking with her let alone pissing her off enough for a brutal assault.

As the shy girl was the daughter of a media mogul, she should have been smart enough to know not to get into trouble or expelled.

“Why would she hit me?”

Tatiana shrugged in undirected anger “who knows, I didn’t think she was the type, far too timid.”

Gwyn winced as her head pulsed with agony once more, she reached up to hold her head.

“You had to have seventeen stitches.” Tatiana stopped Gwyn from itching her wound, as the bandage felt too tight against her skull.

The only reason she could think that Sarah would attack her is if she was made to do it by the cabal, perhaps they had something on her or her parents. They wouldn’t know until she woke up.

But why was she attacked anyway, to kill her or just to separate her from her friends?

“Has anyone been in here while I was asleep?” She had a half remembered dream of some heeled creature.

“Just us and the nurses, why?” Tatiana shook her head as she answered.

Gwyn listened.

Outside the door the nurses strolled by on heels that were clicking like hooves.

“Click, Click, Click.”

“Wasn’t one of the prints around the grave a woman's heels” Gwyn had a feeling of dread roiling in her stomach.

Tatiana looked at the door and she too listened to heels clicking away “yeah.”

The vulnerable girl in the hazy dream had been Gwyn, one of their enemies had been alone in the room with her. They had stood over her and in her dream she had the distinct impression they had taken something from her, there was only one thing they would want.

With a feeling of fearful trepidation she attempted to pull up her system menu.

Error Nano-machines critically low Additional class abilities suspended

They had it, the prototype or at least a part of it.

Gwyn didn’t need to say a word, a single frightened glance towards her told Tatiana all she needed to know.

They needed to talk to Sarah now and find out why she attacked Gwyn, they also needed to know who that nurse was before it was too late.

----------------------------------------

Sarah Schell looked like a mouse to Gwyn, the newly awakened girl was bundled up in her blankets trying to block out the world. Far from a barbarous villain who’d go around smacking people while they are unaware. Gwyn doubted this girl could even hurt a fly.

Yet she was the one who cracked Gwyn one upside the head.

The evidence of such a crime lay in the swollen cheek and eyelid that was surrounded by mottled bruises, according to the doctor her orbital socket had cracked under Tatiana’s fist.

Tatiana hadn’t gotten away free either as she had broken her fingers too, they had been wrapped in a cast during Gwyn's sleep. That was most likely when the nurse snuck through.

“She hasn’t said a word since she woke up.”

Gwyn turned to Myra who had accompanied the group, she was making sure nothing happened to Sarah. Multiple security guards were stationed around the room and nobody was allowed in without her saying so. Gwyn was only let in to see her with the principal in tow, Tatiana had been told to wait outside the room.

Taking a deep breath Gwyn entered, Sarah immediately flinched as her lone eye met with Gwyn’s pair. The smaller girl started to instantly tear up before she began blubbering.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Gwyn was taken aback as the now snotty girl just repeated herself.

“Uhh, I just wanted to ask why?” Gwyn asked more awkwardly than she expected to, “why did you hit me and where did you get the baton?”

She was tempted to use her Charming Request but with the system in a precarious state she didn’t want to risk it, instead she just tried to replicate the feeling and tone she got when it was used.

Sarah sniffled as she tried to stop hiccuping “I..I..I..don’t know…I was just in..in…in…my dorm and then there was blood and Ta..Ta..Tatiana was hitting me and it..it..it hurt!” She finally managed to get her words out as she sucked in air.

“Wait, you don’t know?” Gwyn was puzzled.

“No! I was just in my room getting ready for bed then I think I heard a knock at my door. After that I was in the locker and you were hurt. Why would I do that?” Sarah hiccuped as she began crying again “I didn’t want to hurt anyone but they’re saying I did it!”

“What about the baton?” Gwyn asked once Sarah had calmed down.

“What baton?” Sarah seemed to be genuinely confused, either she was a magnificent actor or, as Gwyn suspected, had no clue what was going on.

Sarah sullenly looked with her one unswollen eye at Gwyn before turning to the principal “Am I going to be expelled?” The girl sounded so heartbroken it made even Gwyn feel sorry for her despite the lump on the back of her head.

Principal Godheart gazed at the girl before her, no longer just Myra in the stretching moment “we’ll have to see, there may be extenuating circumstances.”

Without another word they left the hurting girl to her sobbing.

“So, what did she say?” Tatiana asked as soon as the door had closed behind them.

“She didn’t remember.” Gwyn informed her as they started to leave.

Tatiana huffed “a likely story.”

“I believe her, she seemed truly distraught about the whole thing,” Gwyn pondered what that could mean, “I think she was hypnotized or something.”

It seemed ridiculous to her but it would explain what just happened, if they had even a sample of the system they could have done it. Gwyn’s own coercion ability worked in a slight mind control fashion so why wasn’t there something more powerful out there.

She shuddered, whoever this was now had the rest of Gwyn’s system.

Time was running out, they had to find them and fast.