Santi hated Tim.  No, she<span style="font-style: italic">loathed</span>him.<br/><br/>She slowly felt herself coming back together.  She was still trapped inside him, still felt no need to breathe, and still felt like her limbs were missing, as well as her skin and pretty much everything else that made her human.  But she was coming back together... her body was regrowing.<br/><br/>She had no idea whether she was doing it, though, or Tim.  She'd tried to put her will into her Healing, to fight the effects Tim's body was having on her flesh, but she couldn't tell if it had worked, or was working, or what.  If she was the one making herself regrow, that was<span style="font-style: italic">one</span>good thing that would have come out of this... some actual control of her healing.  But otherwise... otherwise, Sam had been wrong.  Santi wasn't the most advanced of the two of them as he'd suggested, even though she'd been able to heal Shari and Tim had not.  Tim had eaten her, melted her into crap in his intestines, and if he was the one rebuilding her, then she was inferior to him in every way.<br/><br/>Rebuilding her.  Fuck.  She was going to look like that...<span style="font-style: italic">thing </span>that had come out of Tim's body.  Sven.  She was going to look like Tim.  She didn't<span style="font-style: italic">want</span>to look like Tim.  Not one fucking<span style="font-style: italic">bit.</span>She was Santi, and no one else, damn it!!!<br/><br/>She didn't know if she was the one doing it or Tim was, but she continued trying to control her healing.  Trying to regrow inside him if necessary, but to regrow as<span style="font-style: italic">herself</span>.  To keep her black hair, to keep her green eyes... and even more importantly, to keep her thoughts and memories as her own.  He had no right to see her friends... her family.  She didn't want him to hurt them too.  She'd seen what he did to "family."  After all, he'd called her his sister.  Evil psychotic little fuck.<br/><br/>Deep inside, she knew now that to some extent he'd been telling the truth, but for the moment she refused to let go of her rage.  Even if all his victims were somehow conscious once absorbed, like she had been when<span style="font-style: italic">nearly</span>absorbed, he still ended their lives.  She didn't want to be part of him, or enjoy it as he had suggested they did.  Maybe her healing only protected her mind.  Otherwise maybe once he'd swallowed her she would have obeyed his mind and happily decided she wanted to stay inside him...<br/><br/>"Ah... ow..." Tim winced as she gave a particularly violent attempt to heal herself and struggle.  "That kinda feels... really... unpleasant..."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">I hope it hurts like fucking Hell!</span>She countered spitefully.<span style="font-style: italic">Let me out NOW!</span>She fought even harder.<br/><br/>"KYAH!"  He gasped.  She<span style="font-style: italic">felt</span>him wince again, and grimace in pain.<span style="font-style: italic">Felt</span>him in a way that was as shocking and frighteningly intriguing as it was alien.  "Santi, I already told you!  This is all about trust!  How can you expect me to reconstitute your body if you keep squirming and fighting!"  He took a deep breath.  She felt his chest move, his lungs above her fill with air... yet she felt her own body still.  Even though she was coming back together, she was still stuck feeling what he was.  It scared her... but fascinated her, too, in a way she didn't want to let herself consider too deeply.  She had a really bad feeling that though it had been brief, the slight close contact between Tim and Sven before would have left her conflictingly terrified and aroused... had she still had enough flesh of her own to arouse.<br/><br/>But...<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Trust?!</span>  How <span style="text-decoration: underline">dare</span> you talk about <span style="text-decoration: underline">trust?!</span>  I trusted you before, and you <span style="text-decoration: underline">ate me!</span>  I will <span style="text-decoration: underline">never </span>trust you!</span><br/><br/>"Huh... gonna be a good half an hour to get a perfect copy of you, anyway." He continued to rub his stomach.  She felt it from within and from without.  "Then we can talk about me letting you out.  Since I didn't hurt anybody, you know?"<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Oh, you fucked up bastard.  Didn't hurt anybody?!  You <span style="text-decoration: underline">killed...</span></span><br/><br/>Sam finally looked up.  "I'm very disappointed in you, Tim."<br/><br/>Santi froze in her struggles in amoment.  She hated it, loathed it, but for a moment she let herself use the contact between her mind and Tim's body.  For a moment she allowed herself to see through his eyes.  And there, sitting on the ground, rubbing the back of his head, was Sam.  Alive.  And staring unhappily back at her... no, at Tim...<br/><br/>Tim puffed his cheeks and looked away cutely.  She couldn't see Sam anymore; she jerked her mind back out of his senses.  "I'm sorry I conked you, Sam."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Bullshit.  You're fucking smug as all Hell about catching him by surprise,</span>she countered angrily.  However suddenly things were a little different.  Sam wasn't dead.  He visibly had a headache, but he wasn't dead...<br/><br/>"It's not just that.  You're never going to earn her trust like this."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Fucking got that right!</span><br/><br/>"The best way TO earn someone's trust is to have them at your mercy and then show them you wouldn't hurt them!  She's coming out just fine!" He replied.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">The hell I am,</span>she retorted.<span style="font-style: italic">If I come out looking at <span style="font-weight: bold">all</span> like you, I'll be anything but <span style="font-weight: bold">fine</span>, you sick freak!</span><br/><br/>"And you came out just fine until you were dropped on your head."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Hey, good one, Sam!</span><br/><br/>"Could you get me some Advil?"  She felt Tim's immobile, growing form, from within and without again, as he tried to stand up.  "You know what, don't worry about it, I'll get it."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Bring the whole bottle,</span>Santi warned darkly.<span style="font-style: italic">When I get out of here Tim's gonna need it.  And Shari will be <span style="font-weight: bold">beyond</span> needing it.</span><br/><br/>She was pissed.  But those last words... she didn't mean them as much as she had before.  But she closed her mind to Tim's somehow, letting him believe she was sincere.  And after doing that, upon being struck by a thought, she tried to say the words again.  Only with Tim's mouth instead of her own.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Bring the Whole bottle, Sam,</span>She said, trying to will Tim's mouth to say the words.<span style="font-style: italic">Tim's going to need them when I get out of here.</span>