We ended up staying in the house Hodek had chosen before; however strange and painful it might've felt to sleep less than a block from my old house, I wasn't going to argue now. Though he didn't say anything about it, he seemed more irritated at me than during our argument after leaving the base. I couldn't place exactly why, and that gave me even more of a horrible feeling.

We slept in the basement, squeezing ourselves into respective corners near the stairs. It was a relief to have this much space but still be under shelter, in case somebody came around and we had to leave fast. It was only around the middle of our second night that I started feeling disconcerted, and it was only the third that I woke up in a cold sweat and turned to see Hodek walking out.

He seemed to be muttering to himself, but there was a strangely "real" quality to it, if that makes any sense. It was like he truly believed he was talking to someone else, like they were leading him out of the house. I stood up to follow him, but froze in place when I caught sight of another person standing beside him. Their clothes were identical to mine, and so was their hair, shoes, I could even make out my own voice in the otherwise silent darkness. I caught my breath and looked at my hands. They were definitely still there; this wasn't some out-of-body experience. Without thinking about what it might do, I broke out of the stillness and reached out to grab Hodek's shoulder. He whirled around, eyes widened even further than usual, and swatted me away instinctively.

"That's not me," I half-whispered. He looked back and forth between me and whoever this imposter was, a look of horror dawning on his face, and without so much as another look at other-me drew his knife and sliced their head off. Their entire body seemed to disintegrate, and all the color in their form faded to pure black as they poured, clothes and all, onto the ground like a mound of sand.

"I said never again, and I meant that, dammit!" Hodek said to himself, covering his mouth with his free hand. He looked beyond horrified, though I had a feeling that it didn't have anything to do with the fact that he was watching a copy of me crumble to the ground.

"You really are no fun, Jeffrey. I mean, even somebody smarter than you would've been more entertaining."

That voice scraped my spine and I took an automatic step back. Angus.

"But you don't have your brains to offer, no. You're just stubborn."

"If you find me that boring, then why don't you leave me alone?" Hodek whispered, still looking down at the now fading pile of dust on the floor. It was like he was almost afraid of talking back at this point. Or simply tired. Angus laughed, an awful sound that shouldn't reach the worst of ears.

"I'm afraid I can't do that now, old friend. Or should I say, old friends?"

"You've disappointed me so much, Masquerade."

That didn't come from Hodek. And it definitely wasn't Angus talking anymore, either. I turned around, my heart in my throat, but saw nothing. I knew that voice. I only wished I wasn't hearing it now, of all the times.

"Leave me alone. Both of you. Whatever you're going to say, i-it won't work."

"How can you be so sure of that? How can you be so sure of yourself, of this man you call your...'partner,' over your own family?"

"You're not..."

I choked on the words before I could spit them out.

What are you doing? What were you just about to say?! This is beneath you. Apologize to your Elder, right now.

Now, that was me. I looked at my feet and took in tiny, shallow breaths.

"Please. Go," I managed to say, my voice shaking. The silence that followed almost convinced me for a moment that they had left, but then I heard a deep, irritated sigh.

"I only wished to help you, Masquerade. I really did. You were so lost, and you belonged to us. You've known your dear brothers and sisters for longer than you can recall, and yet you're letting him tell you what is right and wrong, true and false?" The disgust in her voice was palpable. I flinched at the words, not knowing why they felt so wrong.

Think for yourself for once, dammit!

"...I belonged with you, not to you."

She didn't respond, which gave me more time to find the faults in her statements. I took a step forward, growing annoyed.

"You took me underground when I was ten. I remember what happened perfectly."

My heartbeat quickened when she stayed silent yet again. I took another step, narrowing my eyes as I replayed the last thing she'd said in my mind.

"And Hodek hasn't told me what's right and wrong, he tells me how he truly feels. He does it to protect me." I glared at the ceiling, knowing that even if the Elder could see me all around, I'd be reaching her like this.

"And he does it better than you ever did."

I couldn't tell for the life of me after that realization whether my Elder was furious at me, or confused, or just kept her mouth closed out of pure shock. Strangely, I didn't feel regret for any of what I'd said in that moment. Not after a few seconds, not a minute, not one bit for all the time it took for her to speak again.

"Hm," she began in an exceedingly, would you look at that tone. She didn't sound angry, which I found both strange and frightening.

"Well, if that's how it is...I suppose I'll just have to accept it," she said with an odd, almost forced air of defeat. "There is nothing I can say to make you come back to the base. If you're going to reject your family—"

"I don't reject the family," I interrupted, feeling mild surprise that she didn't just continue over me. "I reject you. If you really cared for me, you wouldn't be working with that demon. He tried to make me kill my only friend, more than once, and you wouldn't have cared as long as it meant I came back to you! You know..." I caught my breath, feeling as if I would collapse any second. "...you were never my mother, but I'm glad it stayed that way, because you're not a very good one."

There was yet another long, dreadful silence. I heard my words echoing around the room, playing on repeat in my head.

"...but, Masquie, what makes you think I can't force you to return to us?" Elder let out a tiny laugh. "No, sorry. I could always force you, you know that. What makes you think I won't?"

"I'll fight," I said without a second thought. "My Elder, I was going to try and find you. I wanted to see for myself what had changed, why you were acting so different. Why you all of a sudden wanted Hodek to stay, why you didn't seem to care at all that Jade was dead because of your invention." I looked at my feet, at the calluses on my hand, the scar on my wrist, and finally I reached up to graze the mark on my neck. The mark that my bow tie had left when I was searched by police and paramedics, seven years ago.

"But I can't. Because I know what will happen once I reach you, and it's not worth it. Maybe it's best if I don't know why you do the things you do. Maybe all I needed to know was that Anni, Birthday, Event, me, everyone...to you, they're just tools. They might not be as happy as before, with you gone and Anniversary as just some replacement, but then again, you never really left. You're still controlling them. You're still..."

I couldn't seem to talk anymore. At first, I thought I was holding myself back, but when I opened my mouth to try and speak again, nothing came out. The Elder sighed.

"You know, I thought I might like you better without all of your questions and irritating curiosity. But thinking and speaking for yourself like this, not even giving your Elder the benefit of the doubt?"

Something started ringing loudly in my ears, and I held my head and sank to my knees. It seemed that Hodek was on the verge of doing the same.

"Perhaps you would be better off simply not thinking at all."

I tried to at least scream, but it felt like something was pinching my throat closed. What the fuck?!

Someone grabbed my shoulder, and I started before realizing it was Hodek. The corners of his mouth looked like they were about to split and make his "smile" a fresh wound again. His eyes scanned the air for any traces of the Elder or Angus, but found nothing as far as I could see. That only seemed to make him angrier.

"If I ever catch you in my sight, you're dead. Head chopped off, limbs hacked to pieces, tongue sliced in half and eyes gouged out dead. Understand?"

"Whatever you say, 'Hodek.' Bless your heart; you couldn't even finish off my Altaris yourself. How well do you think you'll fare..."

The ringing grew louder and more painful, until I thought my skull was going to split open.

"...against someone who really knows how to use her power?"

"Get out!" He yelled.

"And don't you even think this means I can't still do what I please. Just because lovely Miss Schröder and I have a deal doesn't mean that I can't continue wreaking havoc, getting inside your head, making you do the most horrid things for my own amusement. And, Masquerade..."

I didn't dare look up. I squeezed my eyes shut, still clutching my head, trying to make the awful noise go away. But something lifted my chin, and when I cautiously opened one eye I was faced with a pitch black void from which no light seemed able to escape.

"Keep up the good work."

"Wh-what?" I said.

"What?" Hodek said, his voice fading, drowned out by a soft hum that had started to replace the ringing. Before I could ask any further questions, it all disappeared and I was back in the basement, Hodek catching me as I fell back.

Can I talk again...?

"Max."

I said nothing.

"Max. Max, are you okay?" The words came out choppily, like he had to muster everything he could just to get them out one at a time. "God...I should have known. I should have expected this, I should know him better, I should have figured out right away that it wasn't you—"

"I can't believe I did that," I muttered to myself, though I could barely raise my voice above a whisper. "I just...talked back to the Elder, I said all those things to her, she nearly killed me...!"

"I don't think she was aiming to kill you exactly."

"Well, then what was she going to do?" I asked, my voice shaking. He didn't answer me, and I didn't get the feeling that it was because he didn't know. It was almost like he was afraid to say it. I let it go for the time being; I already had another question on my mind.

"...has he done that before?"

With the other stretch of silence that followed, I turned back to him, shifting myself so that I could stand up properly if I needed to. A look of confusion and shame crossed his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Has he pretended to be me?"

"...yeah. Uh, he has." Hodek averted his eyes, and his hands started twitching. "That fucking...I swear, I'll find a way to kill him. I don't care if he's a demon, or a ghost, or whatever the hell he is, I'll do it somehow. I can't keep living like this. I can't keep letting him..." he trailed off, gaze shifting back to me.

"Alright, buddy. Time for another promise."

"What? Um, sure, I guess. What is it...?"

"Promise me you won't wake up until sunrise. And if you do, don't even think about leaving this place until I'm awake, too."

For some reason, hearing that reassured me. It told me that even though things were falling apart, and we didn't have a plan, that he was at least trying to come up with one. I took a deep breath and let it out, concentrating on the night air filling my lungs.

"That, I can do."

"Promise?" The amount of desperation in his eyes struck me oddly. I nodded, letting my fingertips brush over his for a sense of stability.

"Promise."