#aaaagghh

We see Kaitlyn being tormented in her mind, by the Pierce alternate who infected her. Something I found interesting was that Kaitlyn clearly saw him as a tormenter, who only sought to scare her, yet he was trying to WARN her. He said "Cut it off" clearly referring to her infection, and when it spread too much, we saw what happened. It seems like the Pierce in Kaitlyn's nightmares, didn't want her to become an alternate, and tried to warn her of what she needed to do to prevent that. He was trying to HELP.

This has caused me to wonder if the Pierce Head Spider was actually Pierce at one point, but he was taken over by the infection. We learned that when someone is wounded by an alternate, they can get an infection that slowly takes over them, turning them into another alternate. Perhaps when someone is killed by an alternate, their corpse becomes infected, and the person they were before is trapped in this twisted version of themselves, unable to know peace.

We also learned that the alternates appear to have some kind of hive-mind, allowing more powerful alternates to control the others. As in the final battle Kaitlyn, despite being an alternate, is still trying to protect her friends, but the big alternate in the crater tries to control her. She resists, with verbal encouragement from Aphmau and Travis, but the control is hard to fight, and for a lot of the battle she is frozen in place.

I now have a theory, that the Pierce who haunted Kaitlyn, was the real Pierce, reaching out through the psychic connection between alternates, in an attempt to save her from becoming like him. Warning her to cut of the infected leg before it's too late. Unfortunately, Kaitlyn doesn't listen, believing him to be a nightmarish hallucination who only seeks to torment her further. As a result, the infection consumes her, like it did to Pierce.

Another thing shown in this episode, was that alternates who were once human are in a constant state of agony. Which is tragic and horrifying, and makes me wonder if there are more alternates like Kaitlyn, who aren't actually evil, but are in so much pain they can barely control themselves... This also shows Kaitlyn's strength of will, considering she maintained control of herself in this state, and barely wavered when the big alternate tried to take over.

In the midst of falling leaves and crickets chirping, a clearing with a large tree emerged to Dee. He had been looking for a certain someone for a while, his boots damp from dew covered grass. Fierce sat beneath the maple, letting the leaves fall on her head. She was unmoving, staring ahead at a body of water shimmering under the moonlight.

“There you are..” Dee murmured, his offwhite jacket rustling against branches as he pushed through to take a seat beside her. “I wanted to talk to you, but you disappeared, it worried me.”

Fierce acknowledged his arrival, feeling his gaze. It struck her, she felt an all too intense amount of guilt.

She remembered his annoyance, disappointment even, when she'd explain that MEG had called her in for yet another extermination. Almost all their hangouts were halted abruptly by a phone call.

It weighed on her, she thought about it daily. Thought about how awful he felt sitting alone in his once bright room from her smile alone: turned desolate.

“Hey, are you alright? You’re spacing out again.” Dee's quiet voice brought her back, and another thing that hit were tears. They stung the corners of her eyes, remorse filled. There were days that she wished that job was never even picked up.

A breeze wafted between them, carrying fresh air and momentarily distracting her sorrow. Dee lifted Fierce’s hands, his touch reverent. “I’m not forcing you to talk, but I'd wish we can. I just want to resolve whatever conflict we have going on.”

He took a deep breath to calm his growing nerves, shaking subtly from it.

Fierce opened and closed her mouth a few times, finding words hard to discover again. A frog croaked nearby, the water disturbed by a leap in.

Fierce felt like the water. Uneasy, uncertain even. She feared even the smallest mishap in wording could lead to more hopeless disappointment from the one she cared for most.

“I'm.. Sorry.” Barely above a whisper, she already felt as though it took all her energy to say just two words. The tears were approaching rapidly again, blurring her vision in a thin film.

“I'm so.. So sorry my job is doing this to us.”

Dee's expression melted into deep concern, letting go of her hands to instead put his own on her shoulders. The weight comforted her, but she knew that this brewing negative feeling was inevitable.

“I don't want to go in there everyday.” She choked out, looking down to hide her now tear stained face. “Please.. Please don't be angry with me.”

For a moment, Dee didn't understand. He never felt even an ounce of distaste towards her, of anything he wanted to lash out at whoever runs this utterly sick company.

“Fierce, why would you say that?”

She sniffled, feeling uncomfortably warm all of a sudden. It felt like her body had been engulfed in flames. It overwhelmed her senses. “You always looked upset when I had to leave, I feel awful for it.”

Fierce felt arms around her. Dee's cold touch brought her back to her senses, the fire slowly inching away.

“I would never be angry with you, not over this. You can't control it.”

Dee spoke firmly, resting his chin on her shoulder. “In my perspective, I felt the need to have whoever forces you to do this fired.. Or something. Anything. Anything to help you.”

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and finally she grinned. The night went back to feeling cool, she could finally focus on all the ambiance around her. She could feel the wind blowing leaves on and off of her body. The sickening butterflies were washed away by tranquility.

Dee pulled away just enough to gaze at her again, pressing his forehead against hers. A piece of his hair escaped the tied back look, settling across her scalp.

“Are you able to get some time off..? You have told me they let you take a week each month before.”

“Definitely, we need time without the constant worry about entities.”

“..Yeah.”

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⭐️ End ⭐️

I love this art I did aaaa