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"Poor boys...such distress radiating off of them."

"Which one am I handling?"

"The one covered in blood. He doesn't know the damage he can do now. Any unsettled temper is the end of many more lives." She said, reading the trail of their souls.

"And I thought Whisper was bad."

"Oh she is. But him...he's got his own curse now..."

"What about his friend?"

The demon thought.

"I can take him. We've been needing more helpers in tune with their manipulation anyway."

"Then it's settled. Thanks Lotus." Void patted Lotus’s shoulder.

"It's my pleasure, Void, I've missed you."

"I'm sure." Void tucked her hair behind her ear.

“I’m sorry I was out of it for so long, and for Aster blasting you out of my head.”

“No hard feelings, Sire. Whisper said you had been there since I had last visited, which meant it took you almost a year in demon time to find where this signal was. We were just worried about an attack happening while you were out of commission. Time just about passes the same as Earth on that Moon, so it felt like only days. How did you pinpoint this one, anyway?” 

“They had been doing weaker rituals for days beforehand. It wasn’t until tonight, when I felt a very resentful Monster wake up, that I knew where to look. I followed it, and meant to stop it, but I felt there was nothing I could do that wouldn’t disrupt something, like I was meant to let this happen. So, I did, and here we are. I probably would have taken the wrong one without help though.”

Lotus looked at the sleeping boys in thought, “This may be one of the conscious beasts Whisper mentioned.” 

“They’re asleep…”

“No,” Lotus laughed, “I mean this attack was very swift. No one was hurt besides two, and when you briefed me while waiting for this to end, you said there were six people here. Not to mention, nothing outside of this house is upturned.”

“Meaning?” 

“Feral Monsters won’t plan, they just attack. From the sounds of it, this Monster was conscious enough to know who to kill, and then stop.”

“So, there’s a possibility that whatever is in that boy is just as cognitive as he is…”

Lotus nodded stiffly.

Void sighed, grumbling about responsibility and babysitting, "Let's get them out of here before they wake up, yeah?"

Lotus nodded again.

Void took Aaron in his arms, and Lotus threw Reece over her shoulder.

"See you in another year." Lotus joked before disappearing in a red haze with Reece.

Instead of beginning his walk to the nearest open portal- since summoning his own or going through the common ones were more dangerous with this human, Void placed the sleeping boy down on the bed. 

What do we actually do with him? Void asked inwardly.

‘Apparently, we take him with us. But, we can’t do that.’ Stephen responded with a sigh.

‘We can’t?’ Aster asked.

‘We barely know how this entire thing works. We got lucky to find Monsters like Whisper and Lotus first. This one…this is completely different.’ Stephen explained.

Couldn’t we ask them for help? Whisper mentioned that it would be beneficial to have conscious Monsters on our side on the off-chance of a bigger, more coordinated attack. Should that not include the ones that feed into their chaos more?

Everything was still for long moments. Void stood near the bed, watching the boy laying on it closely. 

He’s hurt.

‘So?’

‘So it’s possible he’ll be agitated when he wakes up, especially if we’re leaving him.’ 

More moments of still silence. Void could hear sirens in the far distance.

‘I don’t like either of you.’ Stephen suddenly mumbled.

I’m guessing Aster convinced you?

‘It used such a childish manipulation tactic, that’s what it did.’

‘Just reminded him how alone we were at our beginning. This boy doesn’t deserve that.’

‘That is so conniving of you though! Our situations are not the same, and you know that.’

‘Yet you see us in him, and it scares you. We can teach him to control it.’

‘You know that’s not how things work.’

‘We’ve never tried.’

‘Aster-’

Argue later, he’s waking up.

Aaron groaned, scrunching his face up. It took him a second to open his eyes, which felt crusted, making him wince at the slight pull.

Confusion swept over him as he realized he was lying down on Shane’s bed. Shouldn’t he be in jail or something by now?

He took a second to glance around. The lights were still on, making it easier to see, though he practically flew when he noticed a lanky dark figure standing near the bed, looming over him.

His first instinct was to scream, which he did, scrambling to get away from whatever that thing was.

Void stood confused as he watched the boy stumble to get away from him. This was a Monster? It ran and cowered like a human! There was no way this was the same thing that killed those two kids.

‘No agitation.’ Stephen commented.

‘Probably because we are scarier.’ Aster quickly countered.

“Wh-Wha-What are you?” Aaron asked, pushing himself closer to the door to make a run for it, “And why are you naked?!”

Void looked down at their body and sighed. Pinching a certain point on his chest and pulling, clothes covered his body.

“Better?”

The boy nodded timidly.

“To answer your question, I am a Monster. Same as you.” Void answered.

“Monster…? Monster, no….I’m no Monster…”

‘Trickery or loss of memory?’

Trauma block, maybe. It’ll come back to him eventually. Void offered.

“Are you sure?” Void looked around the room with splattered blood and other body matter. 

A ripped apart boy was still rotting in the doorway to the bathroom.

Void walked over to the body, “What happened here?” He met Aaron’s scared eyes.

“I-I don’t know, I just…I just woke up,” he said quickly. The way the boy quickly averted his eyes said otherwise.

‘Interesting.’

Void only hummed. He walked over to the door, causing Aaron to flinch violently. 

‘Fear of punishment. He never forgot.’ Aster noted.

‘So either trickery, or lack of acceptance that he’s changed.’ Stephen concluded.

“I will not hurt you, little Monster, not if I can help it.” Void assured, as he reached for the door handle.

Despite his calm words and more than docile actions, Aaron still breathed heavily.

“Then…what are you going to do with me?” Aaron timidly asked.

“I was told to take you to my home. I think it will benefit you to stay with us. You’re…not exactly the same as you were an hour ago.” Void explained as he walked out of the room.

Following the stench of blood, and used to navigating the dark, he walked easily toward where the murdered girl had been placed.

“Huh,” his eyes lit up in amusement at the sight of her own intestines hanging her from a light in the living area, “now that is the mark of a Monster. Your doing, yes?”

He turned to where Aaron stood almost paralyzed. The boy covered his mouth in horror and sobbed.

“I can’t…I didn’t know! I didn’t do this! Why would I do this?!” 

“Who did if not you?” Void pushed carefully.

“Something…s-something possessed me. S-Something from the m-mirror!” 

‘Possession, of course. Monsters with that ability emit stronger signals.’

‘So he wasn’t in control. He probably thinks that means he and the Monster are separate.’

“Hm…can you show me?”

Aaron glanced at him in disbelief, “What?”

“Can you show me where you were possessed?”

The boy turned around and stumbled blindly up the stairs, back toward the room, and stepped over the dead body in the bathroom’s doorway.

“Here…in here.” 

Void looked around at the mess in curiosity, and a bit of pride.

If this monster was on their side, he’d feel much better.

‘I’m not feeling anything.’

“The entity that was with you seems to not be here at present, which means I can’t take you home until it comes back. Do you mind calling it back?”

Aaron looked mortified, “Y-You want me to call back the thing that killed two people? No fucking way! Y-You’re not s-serious!”

“It won’t hurt you.”

“How are you so sure?”

“These people you-”

“Not me.” He emphasized.

“...Right…these people it murdered…what did they do to you?” Void asked, kicking the mangled body a bit.

“Nothing that hadn’t been done to me before…they were bullies disguised as friends. They just wanted me to summon whatever was in there. I was scared, and in retaliation to my fight, I was stabbed. I think I hit my head against the counter.”

“I’m amazed you’re moving around. Though that may be with the Monster’s help.” Void chuckled, “Were you bleeding when you summoned it?”

“I don’t know…probably? The lights were off, I couldn’t really see.”

So there’s definitely a blood tie, which means we can’t extract this Monster.

“My guess is whatever you summoned latched onto you through your blood and pain, and went after the ones who caused it.” Void concluded.

Aaron wanted to agree, but, “They weren’t the ones who caused me pain…Reece was. He stabbed me”

“Reece?”

“He was…he was here with me, I-” Aaron looked back into the room as if to spot the boy.

“Oh, the boy we found you with. How peculiar.”

“What, th-that’s not normal?”

“Not for this Monster, no… If Reece was the one to cause you pain, he should have been the only one to die.”

‘Why would it kill these two and not the ring leader?’ Stephen inquired.

“Did these two have any connection to this Reece?” Void asked out loud.

‘I can’t believe we’re playing detective when authorities are probably on their way.’

Would you rather we blindly take him back to The Abyss? 

“They were his friends…lackies, more like. Uma…th-the girl, she was an instigator. Roland…” Aaron gestured to the boy at Void’s feet, “He did most of the dirty work. Reece just said the words, mostly.” he spoke in a low, dismissive tone.

“What is your name?”

“Aaron…” he answered.

“Well, Aaron, I think this Monster that possessed you only carried out a dark desire of your own. Instead of targeting the one who hurt you, you hurt him in ways he couldn’t forget, because you never forgot.” Void pieced together, looking at the mess once more.

“With that being said, this Monster is likely lurking, waiting until this pain you harbor festers up again, and it can use it to wreak more havoc. I think it’s best if you come with me.”

Before Aaron could answer, a voice called out.

“Hello? Aaron? Are you still here?”

Void looked at the boy with furrowed brows.

“Who is that?”

“I-I think Wendell? I’m not sure…”

“Aaron? Where are you?”

“Sh-She’s in the house!” 

“Well, let’s go meet her.” Void pushed.

Aaron looked at the Monster skeptically before leading the way toward his friend’s voice.

“Wendell?” Aaron called back.

“Aary?” 

They met halfway on the stairs, both spooking each other.

“Oh my god…you’re covered in blood, I-...What did you do? How? Your stab wound-”

“I didn’t do this, okay? I didn’t! Something took control of me, it killed Roland and Uma, I would never do this. I can’t even feel my wounds…”

The boy worked to unwrap the tarnished bandages around his head and stomach, only to choke when he saw that there was no puncture there.

He ran a hand across his stomach again and again as if it would appear back where it was.

“You have no idea how relieved I am that you’re not hurting anymore, but Aaron, the police are down the street. Someone decided to call the cops only after all the screaming had stopped. They’re questioning Shane right now. It gave me time to slip away and tell you; you have to run!” 

“But-”

“She’s right,” Void interrupted, causing Wendell to gasp in fright. She hadn’t noticed him a few paces up.

“Who’s this?!”

“I don’t know, he showed up when I woke up again.”

“You were knocked out?!” Wendell fretted.

“I can make sure he stays out of trouble.” Void redirected, “I just need you to reconnect with that entity, and we can get you out of trouble, Aaron.”

“Entity?” Wendell repeated.

“Too much to explain.”

Aaron looked between them, scared and lost.

“I don’t know how to call it back to me!”

“It will respond to your distress, now, I’m sure. Maybe…maybe I just need to put you in danger then.” Void theorized.

He grabbed the boy by his shirt and threw him over the stair railing, jumping down after him with the full intent to slice him through the chest.

Before Aaron hit the ground, he whipped around and kicked Void, stunning his momentum. They tumbled down across from each other. A nasty snarl came from Aaron, and Void knew that was the Monster that had possessed him.

‘Easier than I thought.’

Without wasting time, he opened a portal and blasted Aaron through it, releasing a sigh, picking himself up.

He turned back to see the girl gripping the stair’s railings with pale knuckles.

“He will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

She only nodded silently, and Void took that as his cue to leave.

“Wait,” Wendell called, and Void turned to her.

“Will I be able to see him again?”

Void took a bit to think about it, “When he’s stable enough to control the Monster, I’ll bring him back.”

“How long will that take?”

“That all depends on him.” With that, Void walked through the portal, leaving Wendell to face the police that had just arrived.