Schindler stood tall, erect, and looking down upon his daughter with a look of hatred and disgust. She was worthless to him. Rogue, however, was trying so desperately to get him to back away, to calm down his passion and anger. He was sure to do something he regretted. It was then that Claudia probed deeper, finding each thread that joined Schindler and Rogue, the connections that made them work so well together.

First it was the threads that allowed Rogue and Schindler to communicate. In an instant, Schindler no longer heard his bird’s nagging voice to stop. Eyes snapped to Claudia. This was her doing. She was the only one capable of such madness. Claudia, stop! I DEMAND YOU STOP! He was filling with fear. He knew what she was doing and he hated it. He wanted to protect Rogue, but he didn’t know how.

It was then that he felt the absence of her emotions. By now, she was nothing but a bird sitting atop his shoulder. He could feel her tensing, her talons clawing into his shoulders as she tried to resist whatever it was that Claudia was doing. In a split second, Schindler was lunging at his daughter, teeth bared and prepared to rip her apart. Legs were kicking, hoping that he kicked the wind out of her. But she remained in some kind of trance…some kind of angry, sick trance.

It was when she ripped apart the love he had for Rogue that Schindler felt the most damage. His heart began to burn at first, a nasty burn that was somewhat like heartburn. The pain only intensified as she continued to rip the two apart. It went from a burn to an ache and from an ache to a full on pain. An exasperated scream left his lips as he felt the final attachments broken. Rogue fell to the ground in a lifeless heap as Schindler struggled to hold on against the pain that coursed through his veins. Unable to stand it any longer, he felt to the ground with a heavy thud. His breathing stopped, and his body grew lifeless just as Claudia’s eyes opened.

But something happened shortly thereafter. Instead of dying completely, the body of Schindler began to stir. Gold dust surrounded Rogue, ushering her to her afterlife whilst wrapping itself around Schindler. His body was lifted my legs that seemed to move on their own accord. As the dust continued to circle him, his body settled into a relaxed stance. And then, the dust disappeared while red eyes finally opened to stare at the filly in front of him.

There was nothing that could quite describe the feelings that coursed through the stallion’s blood. For one, he was confused. Where was he? Who was he? Who was this? But before he could speak, there was a voice in the back of his mind…a voice belonging to a female, a female named Rogue. He wasn’t sure who Rogue was, or even that she existed. It had to be a figment of his imagination. His name was Gabriel, at least according to the voice. And then, just as the voice came, it left his conscious. No matter how hard the stallion tried, he could not find it again. It was like it was her last earthly act…it was her final goodbye.

Looking at the filly, he watched her closely. He seemed to stand there silently, trying to figure out who she was and where he was standing. It was like he had just been plopped here. And then, the pain in his shoulder caused him to turn to assess the damage. On his shoulder were bleeding, oozing stab wounds from what appeared to be bird talons. Where had he a acquired this injury? It was here that the flashes began, the memories of a soul he didn’t possess. He began to see visions, visions from an aerial view…from a bird. Where these memories? He couldn’t be certain. Looking to the filly again, he asked her. Where am I? No longer were the tones full of hatred or anger. They were nothing but confused. This was definitely not Schindler. This was a new stallion born of a new kind of soul.