see attached

http://somethingtoleavebehind.tumblr.com/post/10862852096

A reminder

What is it about dreams?  Coming out of nowhere like this...And leaving a sense of purpose in their wake.

I was once again in that forest in Indiana.  The Bleeding forest.  And that same sight met my eyes- the hooded figure, a glimpse of a mask underneath, seated on the stump.  Only this time he was facing me, and not pale at all.  I knew this had to be a dream, because he looked quite alive.  I stood there apprehensively.

"Don't look so nervous.  I'm not here to attack you or anything."  A sad wry smirk crossed his face, "I'm just...here."

I felt for the scabbard, pulled it off my back and held it out to him.  "Sorry," I said.  "I borrowed this."

Zero reached out hesitantly, his hand over the sword.  "Where'd you get that?  My blade was broken."

"I had it fixed."

His eyes were hard to see under that mask, but the look he gave me was piercing.  Not angry...curious, would be more like it. "Why?"

I tried my best to cast my mind back to the days before the fire, when I was full of reckless energy.  Well...using the term 'reckless' with relation to myself in the past tense still wouldn't be quite right.

"...I'd already made the questionable decision to retrieve it.  Might as well go all the way, right?" I grinned nervously.

Zero looked at the blade, obviously tempted.  He waved it off.  "Keep it then, bad memories for me."  Looking away, he asked, "So...does that mean I'm dead?"

"Yeah.  Few months now."

He was silent for a bit, processing that.  "I didn't...kill you, did I?" He sounded nervous.  I shook my head.

Zero nodded to me for a moment, then slowly stood up and walked around his stump.  "Trapped in a forest...blood of many...and out of options."  He sighed and looked up. "God, this sounds familiar."

He stepped back towards me. "So...what made you decide to go and loot my body?"  He grinned, perhaps appreciating the gallows humor.

I gave a weary chuckle.  "Hero worshipping kid, plus overconfidence, plus deep desire to actually get something done, plus 'oo, katana' = bad decisions."  He was quiet, and without really knowing why, I kept going.

"I've....changed quite a bit since then.  But for what it's worth I was glad to at least give your body a bit of a better resting spot."

He smiled. "Have you done well in your quest, then?"

I sighed.  "Well..."

He interrupted as if he were waiting for me to start listing my failures.  "No no no.  None of the bad stuff.  We're fighting agents of evil, there's bound to be problems.  I'm talking about standing up, fighting back, even if you can't always win."  He was looking right at me, I did my best to meet his gaze.

"We've got a monster at our throats, and every last person who steps on a Proxy's neck to spit in his nonexistent face....that's all any man CAN do."  Zero stepped forward and gave me a prod in the chest.   "You remember, you remember...that anyone that stands up and gives hope, even if he is falliable, you remember that this is what one man can do."

I think I understand why he was made a Sage.  He had a way with words, a simple sort of way.  But it reached your heart because of that.  What he said...it echoed my own beliefs so thoroughly.  That hope deep inside me that refuses to die, no matter how many of my friends and family fall.  To hear such words of encouragement from a man who once represented hope to the stalked, it was...well, inspiring.

All I could do was smile gratefully.  "Thanks.  I guess...I needed a reminder."

"Hey, don't I know it."  He motioned to the sword, "Nice to see you took it for good reasons, eh?  I guess I didn't totally destroy what I originally wanted."

"You didn't.  That hope still exists." I was able to say that confidently for the first time in months.

He nodded, then looked around, speaking again after a few moments. "Everywhere I look, I see shades of the past.  People are so worried about their failures.  Really, all they need is their humanity."

I listened intently.

"Failures make us human, but expecting us to be perfect...heroes even is another.  Remember where the want of a hero, of success leads to." He gave his sword another look.

I asked him the question that had been burning in me for who knows how long.  "What makes a hero?"

Zero laughed softly, "To do what you can.  To not take things lying down.  Sure you'll fail, plenty of times even.  But if you can make one good mark, save one person, change one thing,  you've thwarted destiny."   He motioned to me. "I know I can rest easier, knowing that I inspired one person to do good."

We smiled at each other.

And then I was awake, my eyes wet.

Whatever that was...I needed it.  Thanks.  Wherever you are, in what lies beyond death, I hope you're resting well.

Haven't had time to post

..Still don't, really.  I've been on the move for quite some time.

Three days after Rhodes and I fought...He caught up to me.  And this time he got the jump on ME.  Obstruction, the big guy, came busting right through the door of a cafe I was in.  In seconds both of the other customers and the woman behind the counter were on the ground, bruised.  And he strolled in.  Called nonchalantly that they should stay on the ground, and that he wouldn't be staying long.

Another person was with him- pale white hair and skin, green eyes.  Kind of pretty...Same eyes as Lia, after all. (<3)  Less pretty was her meat cleaver, which she was casually waving around while staring at me.

Rhodes...looked fine.  New suit, new hat, not even a mark on him.  What the fuck can kill him if a 100+ foot fall can't?

"Sorry, may I please have some tea?  Green, if you will.  Pour a cup for my young friend, too."

Believe it or not, Obstruction made the lady get up and pour us both a cup of tea.  Rhodes sat down across from me, grinning widely.

"So!  Care to give this another shot, or are you interested in a chat first?  I'm certainly DYING to know what you've been up to.  Haha.  Get it?"

Stupid asshole.  ...Although that was a pretty good one.

I remained silent.  The lady brought us our tea, then Obstruction threw her back on the ground.

"Oooh, the silent treatment.  Very tough and defiant.  You may want to consider being more polite with me, Konaa.  Your dear Hylo wouldn't know how to go on if her darling Juney wasn't going to be there for her again."

THAT made me laugh.  "Hylo's tougher than the two of us put together.  She's lost what I have and managed to not turn into a mopey idiot regarding it.  You really need to start threatening people who can't kick your ass."

He grinned.  "Like, oh, Nessa, for example?"

Geez, he knows how to shut a guy up, fast.  My face must have said it all, cause he looked delighted.  A chuckle came out of him.

"Poor you.  You'll really just carry that baggage for the rest of your life, won't you?"

I shrugged.  "We all have problems.  Some of us failed our friends.  Others have scalded faces."

He looked confused.   Okay, I'm just gonna mention: Don't hand someone who hates you a cup of hot tea.  It went straight into his face.  With a surprisingly high pitched yell he fell back, and I went into action.  Smoke bomb, out the door...Simple.  I ran into the alleyway and...

Not so simple.  Guess who was waiting for me.

Tall, dark, and Slender sure hasn't changed.  I know I've made this joke before, but where do you think he launders that suit?  Maybe Rhodes recommended a place or vice versa, cause HIS always seems spotless too.

Anyways.  I still felt pretty sick, even after I defied him the last time.  I'd take the goon squad over the boss any day, so I ran back.

They were gone.  ...What the fuck.  Rhodes, you really need to be a little less bi-polar with your desire to kill me.  Suddenly, NAW IT'S COOL WE DON'T NEED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A FLANKING MANUEVER?

Anyways...this past week and a few has been hard.  No sign of Rhodes, but...the other suited jackass seems to be back onto.  He shows up, I try to fight him, I get sick, I run.  After about four times I skipped to the running part...It's kind of impossible to fight him, or maybe you hadn't noticed.

Been goin' eastwards.  Maybe I'll see a few of you and

fuck it all he's outside.  Later.

Have fun storming the mansion

Picture the scene.  Colorado, full of mountains and trees.  We're focusing on one mountain particular, not too far from a nearby town.  And some ways up that mountain is an old mansion.  They say it's haunted, the ghosts of an unjustly slain family torment whoever stays within.

Granted, I didn't really care about that shit.  What lived in there was worse than any ghost.

I spent a full day staking the place out.  I couldn't get too close- Who knows what'd he do if he saw me hanging around?  From what I could see, it was a big place.  Three floors, kinda run down, decrepit.  Paint flaking off the walls, couple broken windows, etc.  More importantly, a front door and two side doors.  No back door.  It was up to me to make that one.

Nick suggested getting the police.  I checked out the local police station- small.  They wouldn't be too much help.  I was on my own for this one.  Like that was new to me.

I had a lot to think about.  How do I outsmart Rhodes?  He's faster, more clever, and has had a lot of time to prepare for me.  What's the answer?  An even more complicated scheme, weaving my own web around his?  I spent a lot of the past few days trying to think of a plan, incorporate what plan his might be...

Then I realized I'm an idiot.  And I should act like one.  Do the unexpected.  Rhodes wouldn't expect me coming in through the back.  Who would?  There's a solid wall.  It's just common sense you couldn't go through there.

Right.  Fuck common sense, you guys hear me?  We're dealing with the fucking Slender Man.  Fuck common sense square up the ass with a ten foot long halberd.

THAT colorful train of thought led to a construction contractor's warehouse, a knocked out employee, and a stolen piece of hardware.  Yeah, pretty illegal ain't it.  They've almost certainly retrieved it by now, though, so no harm done.  At least to them.

It's early in the morning, the sun is just rising over the hills.  The birds are singing, the old mansion proudly welcomes the sunlight...

And a tree in the lawn bursts into flames, and falls over.  Lots of noise, light, and smoke.  The perfect distraction.  I start the bulldozer and accelerate straight down the hill.  That old wall never had a chance, and I was in the foyer before I knew it.  I could hear someone yelling outside, but I didn't care.  I jumped out and ran upstairs.  Fancy-ass staircase, like everything else.  I heard typing.  Kicking open a door I see a scrawny little guy typing desperately at a computer.  Presumably this hacker, Shift.

Hacker he may be, fighter he is not.  I drew my gun on him and yelled at him to spill the beans.  He tried to lie and say there'd never been a prisoner.  It was easily enough to see through that lie, and I gave him a whack on the head for his trouble.

That was when he told me the truth.  Nessa had been here.  And she's dead now.  That freak..he raped her.  And burnt her body.  Shift said he...kept the ashes in an urn in his bedroom on the third floor.  Even he sounded disgusted talking about it.

More on...how I feel about that some other time.  I tried to get more out of him, like on who else he has helping him, but that question was unfortunately answered as a huge burly hand grabbed me from behind and slammed me into the doorframe.  This guy was HUGE.  I mean, he looked about six and a half feet, and he was wide and muscled as all hell.  He threw me against the staircase's railing.  Luckily and unluckily for me, it didn't break.  But it did hurt like fuck.  I tried to grab my gun but he kicked it aside.

I stabbed his foot and heard him growl- yeah, GROWL- with pain.  I took off running towards the corner, but suddenly a pale blue outline of a person appeared out of the wall next to me.  Then it formed into Shift.  I think he's like Hylo somehow- he can phase through solid matter.  I ran straight into him and stumbled back, right into the big guy's grasp.  This time I got slammed against the far wall.  Those bruises are gonna hurt for a while.

He pulled me back to do it again.  I looked up and saw one of those fancy lamps, like, with the squiggly metal bases, hanging out of the wall.  I kicked off of the burly guy and wrapped my legs around it, and twisted to avoid getting smashed a second time.  That surprised him enough to get him to lessen his grip, so reached up, grabbed the lightbulb out of the lamp, and smashed it into his face.  Not that it did much, but it gave me another second.

I jumped down, and ran past him, scooping up my gun (making sure to clock Shift on my way over!).  I turned around and shoot the big guy in the arm and shoulder.  He fell over, swearing in pain.  I turned to Shift, but he was already gone through the wall.  Pointing the gun back at the big guy, I asked him where Rhodes was.

Naturally, he pointed up.

Up the stairs.  At the grand bedroom I paused and reloaded before kicking the door down.  Empty.  Grand bed, several photos of himself, and...a red urn.  With that drawing of him she did besides it.  I...I'll admit, I spend about ten seconds just staring at it.  I managed to get that under control, though.

For his room, it was pretty bare bones.  Guess he kept the evil plans and shit somewhere else.  Or got rid of it before I showed up.  I went through his stuff and there was nothing.

Back out into the hallway, and I almost lost my life right then and there.  I just barely avoided the bullet that came at me from the side.  And that laugh.

"Oooh!  Close one, close one!  Come on, to the roof!  That's the best way to have a final climactic battle!  Oh, this is EXCITING, June, you have just no idea!"

I heard him scrambling up some more stairs.  Looking around the corner, I saw another staircase leading up into the sunlight.  As I ran forward, I threw a knife through the opening.  Good thing I did, too.  It was like a glass wall shattering, only the glass vanished the moment it hit the ground.  Who knows what that thing would have done.

Running up onto the roof, I immediately rolled forward to avoid the next shot- but it never came.  I looked up, at the figure silhouetted in the sunrise.  He laughed again.

"Come on, all this way for an anticlimax with guns?  That isn't how a final battle works at all, Konaa!  We fight man to man.  Come on, how does it sound?  Great, right?"

I didn't even bother dignifying this with a response and emptied my clip at him.  To no avail.  Every last bullet fell short of him in midair and hit the ground.  His laughter grew deranged.  Like, even for him.

"So sorry, but bullets won't work on this rooftop.  Mine too, as it happens.  You see, that wall you broke was the entrance to this Territory."

I can take a hint, I didn't try with the gun again.  Putting it back in the holster, I drew a couple knives instead and walked forward, the two of us circling each other.

"A Territory is normal space, twisted by the one who calls it, in this case, yours truly.  It's the sort of thing those in my profession can employ, and it's useful for keeping people trapped.  I set a Rule.  In this case...The Rule is rather potent, since I'm quite proficient in them.  The Rule is...No anticlimactic finish to this battle.  We fight it out, and to the winner goes the spoils!  Which...in this case is a mansion with very lowered property values.  A bulldozer?  Really?  Please tell me you don't want to be Cifer when you grow up."

I'd had enough of his smug face.  "Are you quite done babbling?  If we have to gut each other, so be it.  I just want you to die, so do us all a favor and get with the program!"

With that, we charged each other.  Lots of slashing, lots of hacking.  He was...inhumanly fast.  Before long I'd received several gashes without even dealing one.  Until I remembered that little note.  Do the unexpected.  I dropped my knives.  He blinked, and I sliced him across the chest with Zerosword in that instant.  Rhodes managed to jump back, though, so I didn't have my split psychopath.  That was a pretty nasty cut, though.  He looked shocked, and in pain.  And then...he laughed again.

It was sick.  It made me feel sick just hearing that noise.  There was nothing sane behind it.  It was a laugh that only the most twisted sense of humor could bring out.  "That's it that's it that's it!  Hurt me more.  You can actually hurt me!  This is great.  Fantastic!  I haven't felt pain in such a long time...I forgot how great it is!  Aaah...it's nothing to the great suffering I put poor dear Nessy through though."

I paused in spite of me.  I wanted to hear what he had to say.

His smile widened.  "Oh yeah, I took her in that way, alright.   I don't usually do that, but I tailor the torture to the victim, y'dig?  She was so fragile, so easily broken...psychologically and physically.  The most fun I've had in a looooong time.  Her crying face was like a work of art.  The sight of someone crushed beyond hope is truly beautiful!  And I have YOU to thank for it!"

I sputtered.  "Me!?  You're the monster who-"

"Ap ap ap.  You had your hand in this.  If you hadn't drawn her back into the community, I'd've never found her.  And never taken her, certainly, if she hadn't made that drawing, and you hadn't foolishly assumed she was safe.  So thanks for that, June!  Thanks a-"

I cut his arm off.  He staggered backwards, face white as a ghost.  Then...I got a horrible confirmation about his status as nonhuman.

Scaley, thick ropes, shot out of his wound.  They wrapped around themselves, and formed...into a snake.  He stood there, covered in blood, with a fucking snake with its own head for an arm.  I could only stare.  And I vocally wondered just what the hell he was.

"Oh, I'm still quite human.  Just because I happen to have a little friend in here with me doesn't change that!  Don't discriminate now."  And with that, he lunged.  The snake struck out of its own free will and he stabbed in a different direction.  I chose to roll again, slashing at his side as I got up, catching him.  I got a view of inside his body- more snakes.  Blood, organs, and more of those snakey ropes.  He began to laugh, again.

"This is PURE GOLD!  The Hero finds out, to his horror, the Evil Lord is more monster than man!  But he fights on regardless, to avenge the damsel who died valiantly!  What a story!  This cracks me up!  And yeah, you heard me.  Hero."

I had scowled at that mention of that word.  His eyes narrowed.  He smelled blood, metaphorically.  I'm sure literally he had plenty of blood to smell.

"Yeah, that's right...Whine about how no one should rely on you all you want.  Get as mad about being called a hero, about being compared to Juno, to something akin to a savior- it doesn't change the fact that you want to be one.  You want to save everyone!  That way you can convince yourself your parents didn't die in vain.  That way it can be worth it!"

I was shivering.  I should have kept attacking, but...he was getting to me.

"Cause you think you CAN be!  You always think, don't they treat me too much like a kid?  Haven't I saved people before?  I deserve respect!"  He stepped forward.

"Well Juney boy.  Here we are.  Come on.  Kill me.  Be the big hero.  Save the world, June!  Save the WORLD!"  He spread his arms (well, arm and snake) wide.  "Stab!  Right in the heart!  No way I could survive that, right!?  Make it worth it, boy!  MAKE IT WORTH IT!"

The sword dropped from my hand.  I felt tears running down my face.  It was too much.  He was right.  I really am a glory hound, no matter how much I try to deny it.  Do I really want to help people for the sake of it, or do I want to be seen as The Hero, that one missing part of Core Theory, the one who dies to save the world from the Slender Man?  He laughed again.

"Just as I thought.  You really don't have the guts.  Aaah well, if you'd tried it I would have gutted you anyway.  You really don't have the brains to deal with me, kid.  Always charging forward, never noticing the traps I set...Well, you did pretty well just now, but it's mainly cause you pussied out.  Oh well...We can't all be heroes, you know?" He reached up and started brushing hair out of his face.

And I looked up...and grinned.  "If you ask me, the real Hero...has already gone to ground."

He blinked.  "What?"

And I ran forward, and gave him a ramming blow with my shoulder.  Over the edge he went.  I looked over, saw him hit the ground, roll down the hill...and over the mountain edge.  It's...a long way down.  I could see the body, barely.  It wasn't moving.

I heard police sirens.  I gathered up my stuff and got out of the house, which was devoid of people, now.  Before I left, I smashed Nessa's vase.  I didn't...want what was left of her to be a memory of what he did to her.

And I made good my escape.  On the way down, I checked the body.  It had no pulse.  He wasn't breathing.  The snakes were gone.  It was...kind of disgusting.  Let's just say that between that fall and my cuts, he wasn't exactly winning the Miss Proxy Pageant anymore.

He's dead.  She's dead.  I'm not.

Not sure how to feel.  What about you guys?

He's leading me to him.

He'll regret it.

I think you'll know the result, one way or another, in a day or so.

Just a little longer now.

Nessa

Yesterday, Nessa made a post.  Containing a drawing of Rhodes.  Rhodes saw it, and came to hunt her down.  I started back towards the safe house at around the same time.  I was only a few hours away...

But it didn't turn out that simple.

I was in a nervous, impatient, panicked state.  After I got on my train I noticed five minutes later that we were behind schedule.  I opened the door and walked out- there was a crowd of people near the front.  Dragging a body out of the driver's car.

They were talking about insane delays, so I had to find another way.  But when I headed for the bus stop, Rise stood in my path.  I told her what was going on, she said she knew.  And that she couldn't let me get to Nessa.

I was stunned.  Rise, working for Rhodes?  But no, she denied it.  She reminded me that she only serves herself.  So why, then?  Why didn't she want me to stop him?  Here's what she said.

"As you know, your resistance to His influence is incredible.  You not only hid yourself from His sight for months, you completely shook Him off when He tried to control you.  I've noticed this, and tried my best to understand it.  And from what I can understand, you only resist Him when it is to save yourself.  That is what allows you to escape Him- your drive and self-preservation instinct.  This cannot happen so long as you're tied up in protecting someone else.  So I will ensure that factor is removed."

I starting shouting at her.  "So that's why you went after Fiona, too!?  Fuck you!  I don't want to save myself!  What the hell is the point of escaping from him if I can't save my friends!?"

"I'm making this choice for you."

That was when I lost it and charged her.  Knifed her arm and kicked her aside.  But I missed the bus...I had to wait for the next one.  And by the time I got to the safe house.

The door was unlocked and unbolted.  Nessa was gone.  Her phone and my laptop were still there.

There was a post written on it.

She was a girl who'd lost everything to this.  Like me.  When we met, we found hope in each other.  And she confided in me.  And I swore to protect everyone I could, including her.  She was hopeless without someone to help her...I wanted to save her, to keep her from falling further into despair.  And she relied on me to do that.

That was her mistake.  Relying on me.  No one should ever rely on me.  I'm a failure- a joke.  I couldn't even save someone that close to me.  Instead, she's dead...or worse.  I don't know.

Rhodes.  This is a message to you.  You may think you're a genius, and that I'll play into your hand no matter what I do.  And you may be right.  But I won't hesitate any longer.

You aren't human.  Whatever you are, it's not sane and rational.  You only live for the suffering of others.  Misery feeds you.  I've seen it.  You aren't even capable of feeling anything remotely related to humanity.  I'll make you pay for what you've done.

You can run, you can hide, you can fight, scheme, plot, kill, torture, maim, it won't matter.  I'll find you.  I won't rest until you've paid your dues for all the pain you've caused- and I'm betting that's no small amount.  I might have balked at this before..But not any longer.

Rhodes, I WILL kill you.

Managed to save someone.  Damn, it feels good.

I was scouting around when I ran smack into Rise.  Girl looks as unhealthy as ever.  She held up a finger, and led me three blocks downtown, before pointing at a guy in a hood.  A proxy.  I gave her a nod and we followed him for the next day or so,  out of the city, past a few towns, until we finally caught up last night. He had cornered three runners- they were all older than me and yet they looked like a bunch of frightened rabbits!  I judged from their lack of wounds that they were kind of new to this.

One proxy isn't really in the realm of difficulty for me after what I've been through.  He went to the hospital with a nasty sword cut to his side, nothing fatal.  Had to stop Rise from killing him, though- she's quite the trigger happy girl.  Knife happy.  Whatever.

Getting thanked was the weirdest feeling ever.  It hasn't stopped being weird, it felt all wrong when Fiona did it too.  They didn't really want to stick around, and I couldn't blame em- think Rise was scaring them.  But at least they're alive and still rollin'.

Maybe I can do this after all.

Oh, and I met up with Nessa only a few days after I got out of the labyrinth, she's in a safe place right now.  A base of sorts.  I really need to keep checking up on her, though, she cannot take care of herself.  yeah, you heard me. :p