More one-shots.

I don't own anything.

It was a slow spiral into madness.

The Resonance; the power that bound God Eaters together. How could a seemingly wonderful thing that had the potential to save lives be this harmful? This cruel? Obviously, no one had really thought what it would be like to experience the lives of multiple people just by touching them.

They really should have seen this coming.

Nothing had been out of the norm with Rin at first. He walked in and smiled to everyone, ready to do the daily work. But as the days went by, the signs began to show. They came in small ticks at first. Alisa's hand gesture here, and Lindow's relaxed slouch here. More than often, Rin would realize what he was doing and quickly stop doing it. They were harmless things, nothing worth noting.

But those ticks turned into mannerisms, which then turned into speech patterns. Rin became even more freaked out when he started to speak in Russian, a language he did not know all that well.

What's going on? What's happening to me?

It didn't help when he resonated with another God Eater, Brendan this time. He saw all of it. Brendan's life in the American Branch, some before it, his comrades dying. All of the fear, anger, grief, and shattered happiness. These emotions, these memories, were not his. They fell into the depths of his mind and churned the already roiling sea.

The memories that were no his threatened to swallow Yamada Rin whole.

Then came insomnia.

He couldn't sleep, his dreams haunted by images not of his own. Alisa's pain, Lindow's doubt, Brendan's guilt; the voices of faceless people who spoke to him with familiarity blended together in white noise. Screams of agony, angry curses, all of them.

Make it stop... Please...

By then, everyone saw the change in the First Unit Leader. The dark circles under is eyes and his lack of vibrance were dead signals. Kota approached him at one point to ask if he was oaky. When he went to touch the other's shoulder, Rin jerked away, "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

The outburst created a shocked silence. Rin's eyes were wide with primal fear, every single one of his muscles tense.

"R-Rin-san...?" one of the newer God Eaters asked. Wild eyes flickered about and Rin started to hyperventilate. Someone took a step forward and the sound sent him pounding out of the room. He ignored the yells of his name and kept going. Everything was wrong.

He wasn't Amamiya Lindow, he wasn't Amiella Alisa, He wasn't Bardell Brendan.

He was himself. He was Yamada Rin.

It began to rain above the Outer Ghetto and he still kept running. His boots splashed in puddles and water began to soak through his clothes. He didn't care. Eventually, he slowed in his flight until he came to a stop and fell limply to his knees. Glazed eyes looks down at the ground unblinkingly as the storm continued to roar.

"..."

He didn't know how long he stayed like that until someone came up to him.

"Rin..."

Rin craned his neck to look behind him. Lindow was standing there. Judging by how his breathing was heavier than normal, he must've been running. Rin couldn't move when the older man reached out to him. He waited for the pulse, the feeling of being drawn into like a wave dragging its hapless victim into the sea.

It didn't happen.

Rin blinked weakly as Lindow held him in a comforting embrace. The dams broke and tears spilled out.

It was welcome respite from the insanity within him.

End.