"Everyone, wake up!!!" Suzu yelled, basically jumping off the walls. "We've got to go!" She ran from room to room, trying to wake up Eliza and Rue. 

Rue jumped up, letting out a screech as she was shaken awake. "AHHH!!! Oh... it's just you." She cleared her throat, getting out of the bed and giving her sister a reassuring smile. "I'll get ready." 

Eliza was on the fine line of sleepwalking and consciousness. "Why is Rue screaming...? Did Dazai break in? He's gonna kill my rats..." She then picked her head up, smiling. "Good morning." Odd. 

This was normal for Eliza, so the other two paid no mind to it. They had great teamwork, and were all able to get dressed, make their beds, breakfast, and text Dazai nonsense, still being early! 

"I will see you all soon! I do hope my performance will blow you away." With that, Suzu skipped backstage. 

Rue was greatly moved by Suzu's acting, but sadly couldn't remember the story after it was over. Her father and Dazai were both in the crowd... sitting near one another. That stressed her out to no end, almost too much. 

Suzu played a poor Irish girl named Aisling. She was desperately trying to make money from singing, to help get her sister whom is suffering from a critical illness medical attention. The sickly one, Cece, ended up dying happy anyway because her sister achieved the dream she always had of being famous. It was a moving story of love and loss.

Suzu's father came up to her after the show, giving her recognition and praise for her hard work. "You actually did it, good job." He smiled proudly. 

Rue was happy to see this. Suzu was being seen for her talents! What she wasn't happy to see was that Dazai and Atsushi were approaching at rapid speeds. 

"Who's the old man?" Dazai asked jokingly, playing with Rue's hair as he stood before her. 

Rue glared up at him. "That is my father." Her voice was quiet and small, it was always that way around her father. 

Her father seemed unamused by the comment, but was still polite. "Hello, young man. Nice to meet you. I assume you're her boyfriend...?" His gaze was observant and judging as he eyed Dazai. 

Dazai gave him a lazy smile. "Yeah." He stuck his hands in his pockets, never breaking eye contact with the other man. 

Atsushi stared in the background, becoming nervous. "That's Suzu's dad... he looks like someone important too." He thought to himself, his expression becoming more and more distressed. 

Suzu was still proud of herself, a big grin on her face. But she wasn't brainless! Far from it, she was amazing at reading the room. 

Eliza stood by, just watching. It appeared she didn't have not one thought in that pretty little head of hers. 

"Tell your stupid father you hate him and that Osamu is your new daddy." The voice of the younger Rue said in Rue's mind. It was almost like she was from a parallel world, one where everything was twisted up. 

Rue was startled by that. "Get out of my thoughts--!" She replied in her mind. "I will do no such thing. That sounds perverted anyway..." 

Then the other voice started ranting about how much she hated their father. "I hate him so much!! He is not related to me... I wish we weren't of the same blood. I want to murder him." 

Rue wanted these thoughts to leave, they were scaring her. "Please stop!!!" She whispered to herself. 

Dazai and her father were having a very passive aggressive conversation as this happened. 

"I can understand being a youngster in this situation would be confusing and stressful, but if you are going to stay with my daughter treat her kindly." Rue's father narrowed his eyes at Dazai. 

Dazai nodded. "Of course." 

There was something about him that made the older man's blood boil. Maybe it was the way he was so nonchalant, or the fact he was with his daughter. "How long have you been together?" 

"However far along her pregnancy is." Dazai wasn't even trying to look good. 

This was driving Rue over the edge. How could he be so careless!!? WHY?! Her mind was on overdrive, thinking of any and every way all could crumble in front of her eyes. 

"I-- I see." Her father was taken aback by this statement. 

Atsushi's eyes darted back and forth with Suzu's, spectating the tense interaction. 

"I should make that..." Eliza mumbled to herself, fully zoned out and in her own world now. 

Everybody had left the area, and now the other performers and such were cleaning up. Only the six of them stand there. 

It looked like Dazai and the sisters' father were having a staring contest now. 

"H-hey... how about we all go home to Eliza's apartment?" Rue suggested timidly, covering her mouth right after. She used the wrong wording. 

Her father turned to face her. "You lost your house?" He raised an eyebrow. 

Rue nodded, tears in her eyes. 

The man sighed. "How? Did you lose your job?" 

Rue nodded again, the tears streaming down her cheeks now. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose, scrunching his face up. "Alright, we'll go to her apartment..." He was so flabbergasted by everything. 

Eliza snapped out of her thoughts, leading the way to her car. "Let's go." Luckily, she had a six seat car, and had cleared out the very back row she always had full of stuff.

"U-um... can I come too? I'm a friend of Suzu's..." Atsushi shyly spoke up. He wasn't interested in being in the middle of drama, but thought he could maybe spend time with Suzu. "No, that was stupid!! I could just call or text her." He thought after the words came out of his mouth. 

Eliza nodded. "Sure, tiger boy." 

They all went into the car, Dazai sitting next to Rue in the back row, the sisters' father sitting between Atsushi and Suzu, and Eliza in the driver's seat. 

"You drive like an old ladyyyy." Dazai complained. "Can I drive?" He asked innocently. 

"NO!!" Everyone yelled at once. 

Dazai scoffed, then pouted in his seat like a child. "Why is everyone against little ol' me?" 

In the rear view mirror, Rue could very clearly see Mary staring at her, but she pretended she saw nothing of that sort. 

When they arrived, all but Suzu and Atsushi sat down on the couch together to talk. Those two scurried off to spend time with one another. 

"So, I would like to know how you both met." 

Rue froze at that question. No, she couldn't tell him!! No!!! She wouldn't.

Out of nowhere, Dazai began speaking. "Ohhhh, well we were at the bar and I asked her to commit a double suicide with me. She said yes, so I took her to my place." 

Rue covered her face, pulled her hair, and bit her nails while he spilled everything. "Nononononononononono..." She whispered under her breath. 

Her father noticed this behavior. "Stop that." 

She stayed still, looking down at her stomach. 

"We had the triplets that night. I remember being really drunk." He continued, clearly finding the memory of it funny. 

"Triplets?!!" 

Rue interjected, wanting to explain her reasoning. "I only did it to save his life! That's why I agreed. To the... suicide part of it. I was drunk too at the time of... that." She blurted out, her face red. 

Her father just stared back at her, not at all impressed by her thought process. "I understand you have a kind heart..." That was all he said. He had something else weighing on his mind aside from the bewilderment he was feeling from the absurdity of the situation. 

Eliza glared at Dazai disapprovingly while this went down. 

"I'm sorry to say it at a time like this, but your mother died from suicide." He admitted, hanging his head. "She had run out of the hospital after her heart attack, and got hit by a car. She did this on purpose." He was crying now. 

Rue's heart hurt to see her father cry that way, and it hurt even more to know why her mother really died. "Truly...?" She was crying as well. 

"I don't want you to feel the same pain I do." What he was really saying, was that he didn't want her with Dazai. "But I can't make you do anything. I can only guide you." 

Rue found this to be a win. She wasn't going to have Dazai ripped away from her. "I understand." Her mind was clouded with so many thoughts, it felt there were none at all. "May I be excused?" 

Her father nodded, and said one last thing before she left. "Think about what I told you." 

Rue went to the bathroom, where she always retreated. Blocking her way in was Mary and the strange other version of her holding hands.

".-- .... .- - / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -.-- --- ..- / -.. --- ..--.." Mary smirked, her tail whipping around behind her. 

In that moment, Rue couldn't understand anything. All that came out of the cat woman's mouth was... strange noises. "Why have you returned...?!" She had been convinced this person was of the past.

Suddenly Melanie was next to her, giving Rue a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Do not listen to Mary, or that corrupt version of you." She smiled, trying to calm her down. 

Rue wanted so bad to scream. Everything was happening all at once, attacking her all at one time. "What is this...? What do I do?"

"Do the right thing." Melanie said. 

"But I don't know what that is--!" Rue cried. Her head hurt, her chest hurt. "What does anything mean..." There was that feeling of doom, even worse than it already was. 

The alternate Rue held her gun up. "Kill Osamu, kill everyone in the house. I am alive, because I killed him. I am immortal. If you kill Osamu, you will be granted eternal life. Kill him, give him what he so desires. Eat him. Eat him. Eat him alive, even." There was a crazed look in her eyes, her words filled with a deranged kind of laughter. 

Mary grinned. "Kill yourself while you're at it, hm?" She cackled at her own joke, but she really did mean what she said. 

"No, I cannot. I must be strong--" 

"But you are not strong." Mary insisted. 

Rue inhaled sharply. "No... I can be." In her mind, she really didn't think herself to be strong. 

There were multiple voices telling her she was weak, overwhelming the poor woman. 

"This is not collecting myself as I had planned! Please, leave me be." Rue pleaded, wanting this nightmare to end. 

"You're so ugly, you know? You're dirty. You're dirty and disgusting. Nobody will ever forgive you. Nobody. You can't be forgiven." Mary came closer to Rue, her hands on her hips. "Nobody could ever love something as horrible as you." 

 Rue was sick to her stomach, too tired to protest now. "Alright..." 

At that moment, they all disappeared. The voices, gone. Nobody was standing with her in the hall. 

Meanwhile, the melodies were all together in the treehouse created years ago now.