"....." Vincent was silent as he heard this.

"Syraene..." he muttered.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Very well." he said to Ashley, before looking at Lindsay.

"I'm going to test you." he told him, causing Lindsay to nod in response.

-Later-

Vincent stood at the door to Kalin's home, and sighed.

"All right." he said, ringing the doorbell.

"I don't." Vincent replied, entering the home.

"But these are unique circumstances." he told her.

"I'm here to speak with two people." he said.

"The first one is Syraene." he informed her.

"...and the second one is Jenkins." he went on.

"I need to start learning some of the whole story as to what is going on at the Fyrane manor."

Vincent just nodded.

"Very well." he said.

He then made his way to the den, and sat down in one of the chairs.

'Right.' he thought.

'Casey probably won't like what I have to say after this.' he went on.

Syraene seemed to trust Chris... and he trusted the dark elf implicitly.

But he was still confused and annoyed at what was going on.

Vincent just shook his head.

"I didn't know about it until now." he said.

"Casey informed me of it." he went on.

"And 'freak', you say?" he asked.

"Heh." he chuckled.

"...yeah... yeah, that's about right." Chris said quietly as he entered the room.

".......Jenkins." Vincent greeted him, venom in his tone.

Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" he asked.

Chris sighed and responded by lifting up his shirt and showing the wound on his chest.

"...good lord." Vincent said quietly. "That... I was unaware she was even capable of inflicting wounds of that calibre." he commented.

"She is." Chris responded.

With that, the three of them started to talk, but it was mostly Chris giving Vincent a truncated version of his life story, but getting all the important parts in.

"...so you're completely free of Vanessa's control, and Lindsay is helping you try and find out who you are." Vincent said. "Is that correct?" he asked.

"It is." Chris confirmed.

"And you believe him?" Vincent then asked Syraene.

Chris just sighed.

"I'm not asking for anyone to accept me." he said.

"Heaven and Hell knows that you're all within your rights to ignore me." he went on.

"But... but Dr. Fyrane has been showing that... if I can prove to be someone good... to be who I could have been without Vanessa or my sister... then maybe even someone like ME has a right to live." he told Vincent.

"....." Vincent was silent, before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Casey is NOT going to like this." he said.

"Like what?" Chris asked.

"The fact that I actually agree with you two." Vincent muttered.

Vincent just groaned.

"She might." he said.

"I'm sorry." Chris apologised. "This is all my fault." he said further.

"No." Vincent replied.

"You have blame in this, yes, but it's not ALL your fault." he told him.

"This is just so many different things coalescing together to make the perfect storm, so to speak." he continued.

"I still don't like you. And I can never forgive you for what you did to Madison." he then told him further. "But... I must learn to not be shackled to the past. I need to try and move on, as hard as it may be." he went on.

"...and part of that is acknowledging that you have a right to try and have the life you were denied."

"Is her concern valid?" Vincent asked Chris.

"I don't know." Chris replied.

"All she's known is who I used to be. How can I blame her for thinking that way?" he asked rhetorically.

"Just because someone says they're different, and that they've changed, doesn't mean they have." he went on.

"And you have." Vincent stated.

"I like to think I'm on the road to trying to begin to make up for my past." Chris responded.

"I don't think I ever can. I've done too much, scarred too many, but maybe I can show that the Christopher Jenkins that people once knew is long gone. And is never coming back."

"......" Chris was silent, before thinking about it.

"I... hm." he mumbled.

"I suppose that... IS an option." he admitted.

"It is." Vincent agreed.

"But is that running away from my past?" Chris asked. "Like, does that show that I'm really, actually, a coward, and can't face up to what I did, so I hide behind a new name?" he asked further.

"...I don't pretend to be a psychologist, or a psychiatrist." Vincent chimed in. "But Christopher Jenkins was ruined a long time ago. He never had his chance to be who he was, and a long sordid history of use and abuse may have ruined that completely." he said.

"You're already starting a new identity. A fresh start, once can say. So a new name might be just what you need to help YOU remove the shackles keeping you attached to your past." he went on.

"Believe me, it's hard to believe such words coming out of my mouth, towards yourself, feels extremely strange. But I can see that the things you did in your past were... well... an extension of Vanessa's claws." he then sighed.

"It wouldn't be right to have you bare the full burden of her sins." he finished.

"...." Chris was silent for a moment, before nodding.

"I'll consider it." he said. "And bring it up with Dr. Fyrane." he added.

Vincent just sighed in response.

"...no. No, there isn't." he said.

"I... came to find out what's going on, and I found out what's going on." he reasoned.

"I just... never in my wildest dreams thought that it would be something like THIS." he admitted.

"And Casey isn't going to like this, I won't lie to her." he went on.

"Regardless, I'll be leaving now." he said.

"And YOU." he said to Chris, before pausing.

"Never mind." he muttered. "I'm sure you've heard the whole 'thin ice' stuff from everyone else." he reasoned. "No need for me to chime in on that repetitive chorus."