Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

To say that balancing Tabitha's split personality, which could rapidly shift with less than a moment's notice, was difficult could perhaps be the understatement of a century. To simply put, Zane had to manage his companions carefully. Withdrawing them at a time when Tabitha was sane.

Because if she was in her possessive and crazed state when Gwen, Eliza, and the others were around it would have resulted in the level of destructive jealousy that only an enraged deity could inflict upon the earth.

So, because of this, Zane was constantly on his vigil around Tabitha. The more sane side of her began to realize throughout their journey together that what Zane had told her was the truth The gaps in her memories between her shifts in personality, as well as the new location which she found herself every time she entered a state of sanity was more than enough evidence to support the theory that she had two split personalities that did not share memories.

Because of this, Zane and Tabitha began engaging in conversations about her other self whenever they had the time to do so. It took nearly three months for the woman to broach the conversation, but when she did, Zane did not hold back.

They spoke while sharing a meal together over an open fire which they had dug in a pit within the wilderness of East Asia. They had long since moved beyond the borders of China and were now in the Southern Portion of the continent.

Vietnam had become the location that Zane and Tabitha found themselves in. Within the city of Hanoi, they had quickly found themselves scaring off the local Horde King. As the two of them reaped the rewards by hunting down and eliminating the horde, she left behind.

Gaining the benefits that came with such a bounty with rather gleeful expressions. It was ultimately after doing this that the two of them shared the first conversation about Tabitha's other personality, which she broached with a sensitive tone in her voice, still refusing to admit she believed Zane's tale, even if she had wholeheartedly bought into the idea by this point.

"So tell me…. What is she like?"

At first, Zane had no idea who Tabitha was speaking about. He was dining on the heart of an awakened human from the area that he had slain earlier in the day. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he was quick to ask for clarification on the matter, as the man had not expected that Tabitha would bring up the conversation about her other personality.

"Who? Gwen? She's more than friendly enough to let you know if you're curious…"

Tabitha looked at Zane as if he were an idiot, not guessing what she was thinking about, as if he should be able to read her mind. She was then quick to clarify, albeit with an embarrassed expression on her otherwise pretty face.

"No, I'm not talking about… Oh my god, I'm talking about you know… The one you call big sister?"

She still couldn't bring herself to outright say it. It was only then that Zane caught what the woman was trying to not so subtly tell him. Causing him to break out into laughter, which only served to further annoy Tabitha.

Seeing how she was about to become physically violent with him, Zane forcefully calmed himself before telling the woman the truth.

"Honestly? She's a fucking nut job…"

This was not exactly what Tabitha was expecting, as she gave Zane a mortified look that still conveyed her willingness to hear more about the subject. As a result, he sighed and rolled his eyes before explaining what he meant.

"Okay, I mean I honestly didn't know what you expected. You have two personalities that's pretty crazy, right? Well, at least you're sane, but she… From the moment she saw me she started calling me little brother, and tried to kill my companions, specifically Gwen and the other female ones because I guess she immediately became possessive towards me?

You know what I'm saying, right? She's a complete and total loon, who thinks I'm her little brother, and is violently possessive in that regard. Hell, the time I spent in your domain back in Seoul, she used to cling to me tightly, like you know… Anyway the point being is, she's a fucking nutjob like I said, and…"

Zane could see that Tabitha was staring at him as if he were a dead man. Clearly angered by his portrayal of her other personality. Which he was just being honest about. Though she may look at him like she wanted to eat his liver, it was clear she was pissed off at herself more than she was at him.

How could her other personality be so stupid? How could she not remember any of this? Just how much had the two of them done together that she didn't know about!?! Zane noticed she was in a rather chaotic state of mind, which was ironic considering this was the personality of Tabitha's that was always cool and collected and thus he clarified what he meant by his words.

"You're overthinking things. We haven't done that… She just likes to keep me next to her while I sleep as if I'm a teddy bear that's all…"

The moment that Tabitha realized her mind had instinctively strayed into inappropriate territory she slapped herself across the face. Which surprisingly did not create a disastrous effect upon the landscape, considering how much power she had.

Of course, there was just one problem with this… The moment she smacked herself, her personality forcefully switched to her other self who gazed upon Zane as if he had somehow escaped from her. Crossing the small distance between them so quickly that it was like she had teleported.

She hugged onto Zane's arm and stared at him with a deeply intimate gaze. Repeating the same words over and over again as she pushed the man to the ground.

"Little brother! Little brother! Little brother!"

Luckily for Zane he was able to slap some since back into the woman by doing the same thing she had done to herself, just barely having enough power to force the change. Or else they would have crossed a line that she personally found to be unacceptable.

The result of this, however, was a deeply embarrassed Tabitha when she realized her mind had gone blank for the briefest of moments, and yet during that time she found herself straddling Zane in an inappropriate position.

She quickly scurried off after screaming, thankfully not hitting Zane as he was pretty damn sure that even in his current state of his body could not take the impact. As a result, he took a sip from the drink he had with him and shook his head, silently complaining himself to what his life had become ever since he first got this powerful protector.

"How much longer is this going to last?"