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As soon as Keiji caught enough breath, he tried to calm her fears. "N-no. N-Not you. Th-Th-The water." He shivered, half with fear, half with the cold water evaporating off of him.

'What was frighting about water?! What was frighting about water?...'
Keiji shivered from memories and the cold air. "M-my clan.... S-s-so much blood.... S-s-so much screaming..... S-s-so much death....." He fell silent, his hair plastered to his forehead and tears mingling with the water on his face as he held his legs to him.

All Keiji could do was shake as images flashed through his mind. Terrible images of death and destruction.
'Good Boy.'
'Shut up. Get out of my head.'
'You don't tell us what to do. WE tell YOU what to do. Now kill her.'
Toshi did his best to keep the shocked confusion from his face, 'What?! Why?!'
'We don't have to have a reason. We gave you an order, now follow it.'
He didn't really want to kill Meishka. It had nothing to do with the bond that was beginning to form between her and Keiji; he had killed many whom he had become friends with. 'And if I don't?' His patience with the owners of the voices was just growing thin. They had no right to go back on their agreement.
The voice just grew silent in answer to his question.
Moments felt like hours, but were mere seconds timed by the tears falling down Keiji's face.

'Just get back to work and kill her. You can stop your fake tears, the dead don't care what lies you tell them, so why waste your time coming up with lies to tell her.'
'No.'
'No?!?!' The voice was furious at this blatant defiance.
'No. I will not kill her.' She could have been a stranger for all he cared. He was just tired of listening to them. They had no more bargaining chips to offer him for his service.
'You WILL obey us!'
'No, I won't.'
'So be it.'
The voices screamed in his brain, consuming his mind and body in pain. Not even Toshi could keep his cover in such immense pain and he screamed out, clutching his head, closing his eyes against the searing colors piercing his vision. Then everything went black.

Still unconscious, Toshi stood. "If he won't do it, we will!" He charged at Meishka, fists flying.

He blindly charged at her. The voices were too distracted to continue their attack on him, but they still controlled his body, trying to kill Meishka. He saw everything as if it was a play performed before him, he had seen one once, but had no time for such trivial things.
'Why was this man attacking her? That man is me? Who am I? Why am I trying to kill her?'
The questions came slowly, the answers, never. His mind seemed to lag and he found himself faced with memories he had never seen before. Did these belong to one of his past identities?
'No. This was you. This is your past.' A voice emerged from his memories, was that... Is that.... Could she still be alive??
Strange visions floated through his mind, some of joy, many of pain. This was his life before. Before They came and stole his life.

His body continued to punch and kick, pushing her back towards the water.

Nightmarish images from the past invaded the darkness of his sleep. The rune kept the voices from returning, but nothing could save him from his past.