Aberrant: Dead Rising - The Ashley Ultimatum! [Complete]

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

May 9th, Night, Following Simon Says

Holding the densely muscled figure of her cousin close, Ashley watched Simon and Hana walk away into the night, her amber-eyed gaze hard and closed. Hana was either spinning another tapestry of lies or actually telling the truth, and Simon was believing her or not. Regardless, if she and Hana were going to co-exist, there would have to be changes, concessions.

When Kristin had changed, her and her cousin's families had grown apprehensive, gravely concerned. So much so that they had decided to abandon her in their fear. Ashley had stayed for her cousin's sake, and she would never forgive their families for the necessity.

So she was willing to give Hana one more chance. She had changed too and it seem she hadn't had a friend or family to stand by her. Ashley frowned slightly. Maybe that's why she is grasping for Simon's attention. Fine, if he leaves, he's no different than any other 'adult'. It'll be me and my cousin again. We'll make it. Still, Hana's chance would have some stipulations.

"Come on, Kristy, let's go back to our room," Ashley suggested, patting her cousin's muscled back, then gently pulling her to her feet.

"Oh-okay." Kristin let herself be pulled up, then scrubbed at her eyes with a thick forearm. She was quiet as the two of them walked around the bulk of Violet's, heading for the back door. After a moment, she asked, "What about Hana? Even if she doesn't want to tell, is it really that bad?"

Ashley didn't answer until they went up the stairs and were back into their room. While Kristin changed into a button-down shirt that had belonged to her brother that she had taken to using as a nightshirt, Ashley began packing up Hana's things. She didn't pry and she packed Hana's stuff with sure skill, even adding a generous amount of their dwindling stock of food to the bag of clothes that Kristin had donated. She stacked the bag neatly by the door, then sat down on the bed that Hana was using, watching her cousin.

"I don't know how bad it can get, Kristy. Cuz, you know how strong you are, can you imagine how much damage you could cause if you didn't admit it?" Under Ashley's intent, amber eyes, Kristin thought about it, then nodded. She could have broken bones without trying.

Ashley smiled faintly at her cousin's nod. "Right. So, whatever Hana can do, she doesn't have to touch you even, and can affect more than one person at a time too. Just imagine how dangerous that could be, if she loses control. I'm willing to give her one more chance, but not if she doesn't admit what she is."

Ashley leaned back on her hands, studying her incredibly built cousin. Her plan would only work with Kristin's cooperation. "So, either, Hana comes clean, or she has to go. I'm not staying around someone that potentially dangerous who has little control, and I'm not letting her chase me - us away, either. What do say, Kristin?"

Kristin looked down at her hands, closing them into fists, watching the cords of muscles in her arms dance. She knew what she could do, remembered a test she had made in secret, lifting the pick-up right off the ground. And she remembered the terror in Ashley's voice when the darkness held her down. It wasn't a dream. Kristin met Ashley's gaze with determined eyes of jade, knuckles cracking at she tightened her fists even more.

"That's fair, Ash. We give something, she gives something. We're even trying to help her." Ashley's smile grew a little wider and she nodded. That's that, then.

Each setting on a bed, the cousins waited for their erstwhile room-mate to return and offer her The Ashley Ultimatum.

[Atomicweasel]

Simon and Hana walked back from the quarantine building together, crossing the camp through the almost complete darkness of night. The stars were covered in clouds, the moon a faint sliver. Hana held Simon's hand until they reached his tent.

"Why are we stopping?" Simon asked as Hana let go of him.

Hana giggled. "We're here. This is your tent."

"Oh. Right." Simon grinned winsomely at her. "I knew that. I just wanted to test you."

"Uh huh.." they both laughed.

"Good night, Miss Hana."

"Good night, Simon." With a parting smile, Hana turned and padded back into Violet's. The Paradise women were asleep by now, some of them turning and twisting fitfully, others snoring loudly or drooling into their pillows. Hana stole past them, careful to avoid stepping on any out-stretched limbs poking out from under blankets. She went quietly up the stairs and paused outside her shared room. Maybe they'll be asleep. Hana hoped. That would be best. She just didn't have another fight in her tonight. Hana held her breath and opened the door...

...she was quickly disappointed. Ashley sat on Hana's bed. Kristin sat on the cousins' bed. Both were very much awake. For a brief moment Hana felt a wild panic when she didn't see her back-pack and clothes bag stuffed by the corner of her bed, but before she could open her mouth to protest, she spotted them both neatly lined up by the door.

Hana stood still, looking from her bags to Ashley and then Kristin in turn. Her eyes seemed to take on a strange ageless quality, as Hana finally spoke. "Where am I s'posed to go?" She asked in a small, tired voice.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"That's entirely up to you, Hana," Ashley answered calmly, standing up and stopping several steps in front of Hana. There was no hate in Ashley's amber eyes, but there was a muted wariness and a determined certainty that was almost as frightening. Kristin stood up too, but stayed by her bed, looking uncomfortably regreful, but no less determined than her cousin. She mouthed 'sorry' behind Ashley's back.

"I'm willing to give you one more chance, Hana, just one, but there are stipulations." Ashley stepped up and placed her hands on the slight girl's shoulders, not threatening, but trying to impart how serious this was. "I won't stay around anyone who can do what you can do, who can't control themselves. It's simply too dangerous. And we won't be chased away either."

"So here are your choices. You will admit what you are and tell us what you can do. You will tell us what issues you're having so we can deal with them and help you as we can. I don't want to wake up to being strangled again." Ashley's hands tightened on Hana's shoulders, almost painful. "I think your control issues are stemming from all the effort you're making hiding yourself, your abilities, and that's really dangerous, Hana. Can you imagine how damage Kristin could do if she refused to admit how strong she is? An angered slap could kill someone, maybe."

Ashley stepped back and crossed her arms, staring at Hana intently, amber eyes unflinching from from her deep, deep blues. "So you can come clean, fully... or leave. Not just Violet's. The refuge. No more games. We even packed you some extra food in the bag of clothes we gave you. You desperation to hide makes you awfully sly, I'll grant. We aren't going to buy it anymore. Me and Kristin, we'll do our part to protect the Refuge too, even from a threat everyone else refuses to see, you understand Hana?"

Glancing pass Ashley, Hana watched Kristin chew on her lip nervously, but her hands were pressed flat against her bulging thighs. "We're really trying to help, Hana, honest. You don't want to hurt someone by accident, do you?" Ashley glanced over her shoulder at her cousin, then back at Hana, nodding decisively.

"Choose."

[Atomicweasel]

Hana let out a deep sigh. She looked down at the bags by the door again, then gazed glassily at Ashley. Briefly little specks of blackness formed in the piercingly dark blue of her eyes. And then Hana reached behind her to close the door. She sank down slowly, her back pressed against the door, until she was sitting on the floor. She drew her legs up and crossed her arms over her knees and turned her face to look away from Ashley and Kristin at the far wall. In profile, curled up against the door, Hana looked even younger. She seemed to be nothing more than a pretty little girl. It was a hard image to square with the icy tendrils of darkness, with the heavy and unnatural curtain of darkness, that had attacked the two cousins the night before. How, Hana’s forlorn expression seemed to ask, can you hold me to blame?

Choose. Just like that. Like it was that easy. Hana thought back to the long days and weeks and months on the road. She thought back to Marmac. She had endured all of it and come so far and finally found a place with people who could take care of her, where she could be safe. Or so it had seemed on that first night, in the warmth of the Humvee, and then later at Violet’s with the comforts of a hot shower and new clothes and, incredibly, pancakes. She was just a child here, someone to be looked after and watched over and protected. She didn’t have to fight or run or...hide. Simon had told her to accept her nature. But how could she? Everything was unraveling, her worst fears coming true...three people had already seen the thing inside of her, and it was only her second night. If anyone else found out, would they give her a choice, too? Hana didn’t think so.

“If I tell you what you think you want to know...” Hana ran her thumb over her wrist, feeling the threads of her friendship bracelet. “Then you have to promise me, both of you have to promise me, no one else is going to find out.” Her voice was tight and whisper soft, so that the girls had to strain to hear her. “It’s not like it is with Kristy. There’s something inside me...” Hana looked up at Ashley and Kristin. “You can’t ever tell. Not anyone. Promise me.”

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"I promise, Hana," Kristin piped up instantly, stepping up next to her cousin, lips attempting a reassuring smile, though there was a haunted cast to her large, jade eyes. "You make not think there's something scary inside me, but there is. Different than yours, but still there."

Ashley listened to her cousin, giving her thick shoulder a consoling pat, then met Hana's shadow-flecked eyes with ones of steady amber. The silent moment stretched, Hana's slight chest rising and falling with her agitated breaths, when, finally, Ashley nodded. She crouched down on her heels right in front of the tiny girl, arms across her knees.

"No one will find out from us, Hana," Ashley promised with firm sincerity. As Hana's eyes begin to brighten with a longing hope, Ashley held up a finger. "However... if... things start happening, bad things that seem like it could be you, I'll come to to you first, to give you a chance to explain. But if looks like you're losing control, I'll have to tell others too, to give them warning. You understand, right?"

Hana felt her chest tighten with anxiety at the thought of others knowing about her, but, maybe, Ashley was right. If she couldn't keep it inside, she didn't want to hurt someone by accident. Hana chew delicately on a lip, looking excruciatingly vulnerable, then gave Ashley a tiny nod. "Yes," Hana said, her voice barely audible.

Ashley gave Hana a very faint smile, giving her a supportive squeeze on the arm. "Very well. Then, if tell me everything and true, I'll also promise you this, Hana. If I think you're being treated unfairly for being... what you are, I'll stand by you. Even if they make you leave, I'll - we'll stick with you, right Kristin?" Ashley glanced at her cousin and Kristin nodded sharply, adding her hand to Ashley's, her grin growing easier.

Ashley turned back to Hana, lips firm with conviction. "So, we won't abandon you for being different, not like that. We know what's it like." Ashley smile faintly again, lips slightly teasing. "Now, if you turn out to be an utter bitch or an evil, conniving maniac... well, then things might change."

[Atomicweasel]

“Maybe I am evil.” Hana said uncertainly. She reached down to scratch at her left ankle, then looked up at Ashley, who still crouched next to her. “The first time it happened...the first time the darkness came up out of me, I was so scared. I didn’t know it was a part of me. I didn’t know what was happening. And it was everywhere and then I knew it had come out of me and I made it go back inside.”

“You act like it’s bad for me to hide it,” Hana went on, “but you don’t understand. It’s not like it is with the others. This...stuff inside me, Ashley, it’s only good for hurting people—get it?” Hana’s eyes had darkened as she spoke, the black stains spreading across her irises, but now Ashley watched as she bit her lip, and tensed. When Hana opened her eyes again they were simply blue once more. “That’s all it does, that’s all it ever wants, okay? It wants to hurt people and I don’t let it.”

Hana paused and looked guiltily down at her sneakers. “Except...sometimes I do.”

She felt the weight of silence from Ashley and Kristin, imagined them exchanging worried looks. “That’s why I need to hide it. Because I’m scared of what will happen if I let it back out. Maybe I can control it, but what if I can’t? And...what if I start liking it?” Hana swallowed back the lump in her throat. She couldn’t admit to Ashley and Kristin what she had admitted to Simon. That she already liked it. “I’m afraid, okay?” Hana lifted her head and then slowly stood up and walked to the window. Behind her Ashley straightened up and watched her. “I’m afraid of what I’ll do. I’m afraid of what I might become. Like Carlos...or that man at the prison.” Hana stared out into the deep dark night. “I don’t want to be like them.”

She turned around then and faced the cousins, lifting herself up onto the window sill. “I guess that’s pretty much all I’ve got to say.”

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"Then don't be like them." Ashley's voice was blunt, but not malicious. She folded her arms across her chest, her expression direct. "I think I'm gonna call bullshit here, Hana. You're not evil and the... the darkness doesn't want to hurt people. It doesn't want anything. It's you, not something inside you. Just like Kristin. Her muscles don't want anything, they just are. She's stronger than a bull, you make darkness. You both can do things you couldn't before, things no one can - almost no one, I guess - but you're still you."

Kristin chewed her lip, as if she didn't totally agree with her cousin, holding her hands behind her back, which made her muscled arms bulge and her full breasts jut proudly. But after a moment of painful contemplation, Kristin nodded, raising her arm and flexing a hard bicep. "It was Paradise that changed me, inside, not this."

Ashley nodded agreement with her cousin without taking her amber eyes off the slight girl on the window sill. "Your problem Hana, is that you're still a kid, but you've be given a powerful tool. Like a gun, with infinite bullets, and welded to your hand all the time. You should be afraid of it - it's dangerous and new still and you don't know everything it can do yet. But I'm sure it's good for more than hurtin'. A nail-gun, rather, instead of just a normal gun." Ashley smiled slightly and her eyes brightened with sympathy.

"Look, the darkness, it wants to come out when you're scared or angry right?"

Hana hunched her shoulders, ducking her head and looked at the taller girl through her dark lashes. "Yeeeah... Mostly," she admitted cautiously.

"Well, then." Ashley nodded as if that explained everything. "What's running through someone's head - even if he's not really thinking about it - when he's scared or angry and has a gun in his hand?"

"He shoots, she wants to shoot someone, the person hurting her or making her angry." Hana sat up straighter, hands gripping the sill tightly as she her deep blues eyes met Ashley's amber ones levelly.

"Right. That's a natural reaction. It's just most people can control themselves before they do something stupid, even if it's just putting the gun down." Ashley stepped forward, placing a hand on Hana's shoulder consolingly. If she was wary, she was hiding it well from Hana's eyes. "But you can't put the darkness, the 'gun', down, ever, Hana. And you can't ignore it either, that's dangerous to you and those around you. So you got learn to use it, when to shoot and when not." Ashley's mild grin turned wry as she ruffled Hana's inky hair. "You're not doing that bad, I think. I didn't notice the darkness rising when I went sorta wild there, a little while ago."

Ashley turned and leaned against the wall next to the window and Hana, looking down on the younger girl. "And I still think your darkness stuff is good for other things. You just never had the opportunity or the need to try. Like, your shadow tentacle things, they felt pretty solid, they held me down anyway. Could you use them to pick someone up, maybe out of a river if they were drowning or something? That's only off the top of my head - I'm sure I could think up other things to do with it too." Ashley's voice was encouragingly curious.

"You can try it on me, if you like," Kristin piped up after being silent while Ashley talked. "I'm strong and tough, I think I can handle whatever it is you got. Just in case, I mean." Kristin glided up to the other side of Hana, strong and smooth like a jungle cat. "I had to learn learn my new strength too. It wasn't hard, not really. But at first, I was a little afraid I might hug someone in two for real. I never did, but I did break a few axes until I learned to adjust. That's all you need, I bet, some practice, Hana. Then the darkness will do whatever you want."

[Atomicweasel]

“What?! No!” Hana exclaimed, alarmed, her eyes wide with disbelief. “I’m not going to try it on you, Kristy, are you crazy?” Hana’s eyes flicked from Kristin to Ashley and back. “Even if it doesn’t kill you, it would be awful. It would hurt you...or worse.” Hana shook her head adamantly and pushed away from the windowsill where she was hemmed in by Ashley and Kristin on either side. “It’s not a toy! I don’t get to just...play with it!” She stopped just past the edge of the cousins’ bed and turned to face them again. “You guys don’t understand,” Hana pled. “I’m not like Kristy is. The darkness in me...it’s not a gift and It’s not a muscle and it’s not a nail gun that I have to practice using. It’s...it’s like...” Hana’s hands expressed her frustration as she tried to put her thoughts into words. “It’s poison.”

“You just need to learn to control—“ Ashley started to say, but Hana swiftly interrupted her.

“No. I mean, I can stop it. If I try really hard, I can stop it.” Hana sat down on the bed, her shoulders slumped disconsolately. “But I have to fight it. I have to fight it all the time.”

“All the time?” Ashley exchanged a glance with Kristin and then went and sat beside Hana. Kristin joined her on the other side of the bed and placed a strong hand on Hana’s slumped shoulder.

“Well...almost all the time.” Hana amended. “Sometimes it sleeps.”

“There’s no it, Hana,” Ashley insisted, “there’s just you. You need to realize that and you need stop hiding from the truth.

Hana groaned and laid flat on the bed, pressing her palms into her eyes. “It’s not that simple, Ashley.”

“It is that simple.” Ashley looked down at her. “You’re scared and you’re trying to run from yourself.”

“I know what that’s like,” Kristin interjected, “trust me.”

Hana dropped her arms to her side and folded her palms over her midriff. Her legs hung limply over the edge of the bed. “What do you think would happen,” she asked Kristin and Ashley with forced calm, “if people found out about me? Why do you think I’m scared? Why do you think I hide it?”

“Hana—“

“No, listen. What would you do if...if a scorpion came in the room right now? You’d freak out.” Hana answered for both of her roommates before they could respond. “You wouldn’t give it food and clothes. You wouldn’t let it use the shower and make it pancakes and want to be its friend. If you had kids, you wouldn’t ask the scorpion to come over and babysit for you. You wouldn’t hug it or kiss it or try to sleep with it. You’d kill it. Or, if you were really nice you might sweep it out the door or something.”

“You’re not a scorpion, Hana.” Ashley grinned. She propped herself up on her elbow next to Hana and reached out to stroke Hana’s silky black hair and smooth it back from the girl’s troubled brow. “That’s just stupid. Besides, you told us. We didn’t try to hurt you or kill you or kick you out.”

“But you did!” Hana reminded Ashley with desperate urgency. “You jumped me and tried to beat me up and packed my bags for me—“

“That was cuz you lied to me, Hana.” Ashley said, scowling. “Look, let’s just forget all that. You need help learning to control your power and me and Kristy can help you.”

“Definitely.” Kristy nodded encouragingly. She took Hana’s hand and gave it a careful squeeze. “If I can do it, you can do it.”

“I don’t want to.” Hana said stubbornly. “I don’t want people to look at me funny or be scared of me. I just want to be like everyone else. I just want to try to have a normal life.” Even as she said it, Hana realized how ridiculous it must sound. A normal life? After Z-Day? Fat chance. She let out a long sigh and squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. “Can we just not talk about this right now?”

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Just before Hana closed her eyes, she saw the hurt expression on Kristin's face as she released Hana's hand and retreated to the other bed, feeling another emotional wince. Considering the way the blond teen looked, what she had already suffered, there was no way Kristin could ever have anything like resembling a 'normal life', ever again.

Ashley watched her cousin with compassion, then turned back to Hana. With a little urging, Ashley got Hana to rest her head on her lap and began brushing the tangles from her inky hair, the young girl murmuring softly at the firmly gentle tugs.

"Okay, Hana, we'll let it go for now. It must've been hard enough to say everything you did already. But we're going to talk about this again tomorrow, and the day after, and the next day. However long it takes." Ashley brushed her hair for several minutes more, then prodded at her shoulder. "Here, get up a bit, I have to get up."

Through heavy-lidded eyes, Hana raised her head so Ashley could get up, then watched her as she picked up the plastic waste basket. With a teasing little smile on her face, Ashley left the room. "I'll be back in a minute," the amber eyed young woman promised, as she left through the door.

With their room right next to the bathroom, and the doors open, Hana and Kristin could hear the water running and Ashley humming. A moment later, Ashley came back, the emptied waste basket filled with water. She set it down in front of the endtable separating the two beds, then gestured at it with an elaborate flourish, an amused smirk on her face.

"There! If you lose control again tonight while you're sleeping, Kristin or I will dump the bucket of water on ya. Then we'll tease you about wetting the bed. Consider this your first lesson in control. I'd prefer a spritz bottle, but the bucket will have to do." Ashley's smile was warm, her tone light and bantering, but Hana could still see the determined glint on her amber-brown eyes.

[Atomicweasel]

Hana couldn't help but laugh. "That's fair..." she giggled. "But, since nothing's going to happen, you won't get to..." The Asian teen lifted her legs and hips to better wriggle out of her jeans. She sat cross-legged on the bed and pulled her hoodie up and over her head, tossing it carelessly down on the floor over the jeans, and revealing a svelte and shapely little body with just the barest hint of babyfat. In panties and tee, Hana wormed her way under the covers, pulling them right up to her chin.

"Ashley..." Hana murmured from the bed, her eyes already closed again.

"Yeah?"

"You better not just pour that bucket on me and say you saw some dark or something." Hana warned.

"I probably won't." Ashley teased.

Hana cracked her eyes open to squint at Ashley.

"Maybe we should leave the light on, just to be safe."

"Okay." Hana agreed sleepily. As she let her drowsiness wash over her like a tide, tugging her deeper and deeper into sleep, Hana imagined that she held the darkness in her fist. If she held onto it strong enough it couldn't get out. She balled her hand up tight, squeezing hard...and that was how she finally fell asleep, face-down, her slender left arm half-raised, hand resting on her head, clenched into a fist.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Ashley watched the little girl fall asleep, hand fisted fiercely, and sighed with a tired smile. She didn't get everything she wanted from Hana, but it was a definite start, and it would have to do. She was pretty sure she had pushed her as hard as she could at the moment.

Ashley tucked the blanket around Hana a bit more, then turned to the other side of the room, beginning to strip down to sleep as well. Her eyes fell on Kristin, noting the way the over-sized, button-down shirt clung to her figure, outlining the perfect, mature blend of muscle and curves, her cousin's captivating jade greens staring back. It's not fair, a thought flared before Ashley quashed the spike of envy, knowing what Kristin's changes had cost her.

"It's not fair, you know," Kristin muttered, climbing under the covers. Ashley gave a start, hearing the echo of her own thoughts, as she joined her cousin beneath the blankets. "Hana can hide what she is. I'm... I'm always gonna be like this." Ashley felt the felt Kristin's firm, muscled bulk tense against her.

"Since Z-day, there has been little fairness, Kristy," Ashley consoled her cousin, straining against Kristin's inherent strength, trying to pull more of the blanket around herself. Her cousin didn't even notice the elbow she jabbed into her back. "Leggo, I need more of the blanket - thanks, cuz. Anyway, all we can do is get back up and keep going, 'kay?"

As Ashley murmured softly, slumber taking her, Kristin stayed awake, staring at the way. She didn't need as much as she used to and she was thinking about what Ash had said - Keep going... In Paradise, she had wished her body would stop repairing itself and just let her go. But now, she was out, and it wasn't her flesh that needed repairing.

It was a long night.