"Amelia? Amelia." A sigh, "Amelia, open the door." Isabelle's voice came through the other side of my door. I was in my bed, covered by my blankets and didn't feel like moving. My head swam every time I moved a part of my body and my mind faded to and from consciousness.

"I'm coming in." Isabelle warned before she opened the door. An electrical pulse shot through my body as I instinctually jumped up into a fighting position. However, the moment I did that, a wave of dizziness followed by a striking pain entered my head as I fell back onto my bed with a groan.

A soothing hand found its way onto my forehead and I leaned into its touch. But to my dismay, the hand soon moved away. I grumbled before I tried to clear my mind enough for me to open my eyes and identify who it was.

Isabelle and Christopher crouched by my bed, both with worried expressions. "It's not a fever, but she's been acting like this since yesterday. And it's getting progressively worse." I managed to decipher Christopher's words through the jumbled mess of noise that was entering my mind.

Isabelle kept her gaze on me. She lifted a hand to stroke my hair as she sighed. "Poor Amelia." I heard her murmur under her breath. An alarm went off by my bed. It was an alarm to tell me when it was time for my virtual training.

The incessant beeping did nothing to help with my headache. I slammed a hand down on the alarm, letting it know that I was aware of the time and slowly stood up, swaying on my feet. Isabelle and Christopher stood on either sides of me, arms out ready to catch me if I tripped over my own feet.

I had blacked out for a few seconds at one point and I latched myself onto Christopher to keep myself standing. I kept a grip on him, while he had an arm around me to support me, the rest of the way to the virtual training room.

I almost threw myself onto the chair that I sat on for virtual training. I always felt a little better after my training sessions so I hoped that it would be the same in this case.

I didn't even register Isabelle placing the connectors on me. The next thing I knew, I was preparing to fight with another opponent. I welcomed my body's instinctual movements and the fight ended soon. I had begun to be more and more used to the new virtual training style. Entering and leaving the virtual training no longer hurt as much anymore.

I returned to reality. I sat in the chair, letting my mind clear from its fogginess. I let out a sigh. I can think now.

Isabelle walked in and helped me remove the connectors. "Are you feeling better now?" She asked.

I nodded and heaved another sigh, "a little." I leaned forwards in my seat and massaged my forehead with my thumbs.

"That was a really good fight. Your skills are really improving." Isabelle commented as she helped me up.

I frowned. "I... I don't remember what happened." I admitted. "I just know that I won."

Isabelle began to frown as well. "That's been occurring a lot too. You forgetting about the fights you have in your sessions."

I nodded, keeping a hand on my forehead as if it would sooth the pounding in my head.

"I wonder..." Isabelle began and trailed off. I glanced over at her. She had her eyebrows furrowed as if she was in deep thought.

"Isabelle?" I prompted, nudging her slightly.

This brought her out of her daze. "Hm? Oh, sorry. It's nothing I was just thinking about something." She shot me a small, distracted smile, before returning to the daze she was in.

I raised an eyebrow at her but let her be. We made it back to my room and I let myself fall onto my bed again. The throbbing may be better than it was in the morning but it was still painfully there.

Without saying another word, Isabelle let me be in my room. For the past few days, I gradually began to lock myself in my room when I wasn't doing my training sessions. I couldn't find the will or the strength to do anything else. When I was fighting, all my dizziness goes away... but I don't remember anything that had happened.

A part of me wanted to find out why I was feeling like this. But another part couldn't care less about why, but it only focused on trying to relieve the pain.

I heard my door open. I felt the urge to get into a fighting stance but I pushed that instinct down. I peeled one eye open to see who it was, and closed it after identifying the person. It was Christopher.

I felt the bed shift slightly as he took a seat at the edge of the bed. "You doing okay?" He asked.

I snorted in reply, "yes, everything's just peachy."

Christopher managed to stifle his chuckle but I still heard bits of it. "How can I help?"

I sighed before removing my hand from my forehead and shifted slightly so I was lying on my back. "Can you massage my head?"

Christopher shifted slightly before his fingers began to press down on my forehead gently, slowly beginning to massage it. His fingers felt cool to the touch so it felt much more soothing.

I let out another sigh, "Thank you."

Christopher smiled, "Of course." His smile turned into a playful grin, "After all, I am –"

"If you even try to say that you're in charge of me, injuries or otherwise, I swear I will kill you." I cut in, finding the energy to hit him lightly.

Christopher didn't even bother hiding his laughter this time. "Seeing how you are right now, I don't doubt that."

I scoffed at that. A comfortable silence surrounded us and I slowly began to fall asleep. The throbbing in my head had kept me up for most of the night so I barely got any sleep.

I woke up again when the alarm sounded, telling me it was time for my physical training. I slowly sat up. Christopher had already left and the throbbing in my head had calmed down quite a bit. I stretched before I made my way to the labs.

I greeted a few people along the way but made my way straight down to the weaponry room. Apart from the dagger that I always kept with me, I no longer brought any other weapons into the fight room for the training sessions.

I walked straight out into the fighting area and stood near the center of the room, waiting for my opponent to show up. He showed up not too long later and the buzzer sounded soon after.

I stayed still and just stared at my opponent. He made the first move and rushed towards me at an incredible speed. But I managed to dodge his attack by jumping away instinctively.

Then everything turned red.

Usually when my vision turns red, I lose sense of everything. It feels like I lose consciousness while not losing consciousness completely. But this time, I could see and feel what I was doing. But it was also like, unearthing a different side of me.

I heard the ending buzzer sound in the distance, but my attacks didn't stop. I continued to pummel my opponent. That was all that I was focused on, the action and the adrenaline.

"Amelia!" Multiple voices called out to me and ripped me out of my uncontrolled state. My vision returned to normal and I noticed the bloodied face of my opponent who I had not stopped punching even when the ending buzzer went off.

Multiple hands pulled me away from my opponent. Nothing else computed in my mind before I collapsed and blacked out.

When I woke up again, I was on a medical bed in a secluded area. Isabelle was in the process of dissembling the scan machine.

"You're awake!" Isabelle said when she noticed. "You went a little out of control during your session so we were told to put you in an isolated area for safety reasons."

I nodded in understanding and pushed myself to sit up. Isabelle shot me a smile before she started to move the scan machine out of the room. I leaned forward, supporting my weight by placing my elbows on my thighs, and smoothed my thumbs across my forehead.

Again, I couldn't remember a thing that had happened during the session. Except for one thing. Red.

I've noticed that a warning sign that I was about to lose a part of my memory was that my vision would turn red. Judging from what Isabelle said to me, I lose control during that period. I frowned. My headache was almost gone.

Did fighting help decrease the pain? Was the headache because I had too much energy that I wanted to release? I let out a sigh as I rubbed my forehead.

I got off the bed and began to head up to the main level, deciding to see Mrs. Miller about this. Isabelle and Christopher were on their way up as well. I shot them a questioning look.

"I have to deliver a report to Kimberly." Isabelle explained.

"I'm heading home." Christopher added.

I nodded. Mrs. Miller's office was close to the main door of the building so the three of us headed in the same direction.

As we approached her office, I noticed that she was talking with someone. As we got closer, I realized that the person she was talking to was Dillon.

Almost immediately, hatred flooded my system and red began to seep into my vision. I gritted my teeth and punched myself slightly, trying not to lose control of myself.

Both Isabelle and Christopher had stopped walking and were looking at me in worry. "Amelia?" Christopher questioned as he stepped towards me.

I kept a hand on my head trying to stop the red from completely taking over my vision. I swayed on my feet as I stepped away and began to head out of the building. "I need to clear my head."

"Christopher, follow her!" I vaguely heard Isabelle tell Christopher in a panicked voice.

I paid no heed as I rushed out of the building. I didn't even pay attention to where I was walking but I ended up in one of the smaller chains of alleyways within the Sector. I didn't even know where I was going, all I knew was that I had to keep control of myself.

Without realizing, I walked into someone. I swayed backwards but still managed to keep control over myself. I looked up to see who it was I had walked into and realized that I had been surrounded by several men. They're the remaining criminals who had escaped into Aestrea.

"You lookin' for a fight?" One of them said. I barely even glanced at him and kept my gaze on the ground. This seemed to have angered him as the next thing I knew, I had dodged a fist that he had swung at me.

Fighting while trying to keep myself under control put me at a disadvantage as I was soon slammed into the wall, and my vision turned red entirely.

Screams and cries of pain entered my ears. I could feel metal in my hand. I must have grabbed onto my dagger at one point. I knew I was completely destroying them.

It felt exhilarating.

I could hear peals of laughter spilling from my lips.

"Amelia, stop!" A voice managed to enter the chaotic mess of my mind. I paid no heed to it and continued my fun.

A hand shot out and grabbed onto my arm. I spun around and slashed across whoever dared to stop me.

Somehow, I managed to recognize the cry of pain. Christopher.

My self-control snapped back into place as the realization of what I had just done sank in. I dropped the dagger that I was holding and stumbled towards Christopher in shock. I watched his shirt slowly get soaked with his blood, shock freezing my brain.

I took a step towards him, hand stretching out, only to black out.

What have I done?

When I woke up again, I was on a familiar surface. I slowly sat up and stared at the blanket that was covering me. I smoothed a hand over it. I was in Christopher's room again. I heard a grunt coming from a corner of the room and looked over.

Christopher sat in a chair, wrapping a bandage around his abdomen. I could see hints of red bleeding through the bandages. The realization that I was the one who did that to me hit me like a pile of bricks.

Tears began to gather in my eyes before they slowly slid down my cheeks. "I'm sorry." I croaked out.

This caught Christopher's attention as he quickly finished bandaging himself before he made his way over to me.

"I'm so sorry. This was all my fault." I repeated, lifting my hands to wipe the tears spilling from my eyes, only for the dried tracks to be replaced by new ones.

"It wasn't your fault." Christopher tried to calm me down. He cupped my face with his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away falling tears.

"Yes, it was!" I pressed on.

"Amelia –"

"Why didn't you leave me in that alleyway. Why did you bring me back here? I hurt you. I hurt a lot of people. I –"

"Amelia –" Christopher continued to try to stop my oncoming rant.

"Why... why don't you hate me?" The tears began to flow faster.

"I'm a horrible person, I –"

Suddenly, a pair of lips landed on mine. Christopher cut me off, in a way that I didn't expect. He pulled away not too long later.

"You're not a horrible person. You're one of the strongest people I have ever met. Whatever is happening to you right now is not your fault, okay?" Christopher said in a small, yet forceful, voice.

I was frozen in place. His words barely registered in my mind. My stomach was doing somersaults and my pulse thumped like drums.

I didn't notice when another voice called for Christopher from outside his room, or when he had left the room. I felt my face begin to burn up as the electric tingle on my lips slowly begin to fade away. My mind was in a complete mess once again, but for a completely different reason.

And for the second time, I left the room by jumping out the window.