Vengeance II

I'm feeling... better today... I suppose.

So, I guess I'll tell you about what happened.

The Second, Harold and I worked out a plan to get at The Rake. Finding it wouldn't be hard apparently. In fact The Second seemed rather adamant that it would be more than willing to let us find it. Or at least let him and I find it. Apparently it hates him and it loves it when people try to get revenge. According to The Second it finds it much more fun to kill vengeance seekers. So, finding it wouldn't be the problem. The problem would be killing it. Without the pocket Watch only The Brute had any real chance of putting it down for good since The Second's powers were limited. It was a little depressing knowing that I'd have no real role in this plan short of possibly a distraction. I really really wanted to be the one to end The Rake's life, or existence or whatever, but I guess that's not really impossible. Without the pocket watch I'm just an average human with weird dreams.

So, first step let the Rake know we're coming for it at which point it will likely hole up somewhere and wait for us.

That part was easy. The Second went on a killing spree finding and massacring a number of The Rake's servants. I wasn't aware The Rake had servants until now. They'd never really featured in any of my dreams before. Anyway the murders sent a message loud and clear and The Rake responded with a massacre of it's own. It brutally slaughtered a family in a town near here. It was a response telling us where it was. There was another massacre near the first one. Police think it's a serial killer and I guess technically it is. So, we knew where he was and we were prepared to go get him. The Second called in his proxy group and pinpointed where The Rake was likely to be hiding out.

The plan was The Second and his proxies would fight The Rake. They wouldn't win, but they hoped they could at least weaken it enough that Harold and The Brute could finish the job. The Proxies led the way. They had guns and little else. I'm not actually sure they knew what they were after and that they were committing suicide by following the orders they were given. It's possible though. Servants can be incredibly, stupidly loyal from what I've seen.

I was given a gun as well and we waited. I wasn't too surprised, but a little disturbed when the first sound was a scream of pain and probably death before the sound of gun fire erupted. That's when The Second and I were supposed to go in. Technically I wasn't ever really supposed to go in anytime. The Second didn't much care what I did, but I chose to go in with him. I refused to just do nothing. The place was a house. Currently for sale and unowned. It was two stories and a basement with three bedrooms. A nice place, it was a shame after what happened there it's unlikely it would sell.

We found the bodies of two of the proxies on the middle floor and gunfire was coming from upstairs. I would of expected the basement, but apparently not. We rushed upstairs to see two halves of a proxy fly out of the bedroom at the top of the stairs and the gunfire ceased shortly after. The Second summoned one of those black knives that he'd used against Muffin and rushed into the master bedroom and I followed. Bodies were strewn around the room and The Rake was holding the last one in the air impaled through the gut on it's claws. It tossed it aside as The Second rushed it and his knife was caught by one of the claws as the other slashed at The Second's face. The Second seemed to vanish and then was behind The Rake and managed to stab the knife into The Rake's throat who reacted simply by roaring angrily and tossing itself backwards, smashing him against a wall. I took this opportunity to fire three rounds into it's chest.

I should probably inform you here. I'm not a violent person. I won't kill another human being or most animals. Or I guess I mostly try not to. That does not mean I don't know how to kill things. When I was with The Ordeal they taught me how to shoot. Theo and I would do target practice on occasion for fun. Regardless of whether I wanted to or not The Ordeal thought it important I knew how to fight in case I needed to. It was a skill all The Ordeal members were taught. So, The Rake being a horrific monster and knowing my bullets wouldn't kill it I had no problem hitting it in the chest. The Rake let out an angry howl and completely forgot about the Second instead coming barreling towards me. I emptied the remainder of my 8 bullet clip into it's face doing little, but piss it off and then flung myself backwards out of the room in an attempt to dodge I landed on my back, watched as it hit the door frame with it's shoulder's barely slowing as it broke through and then was hit against the wall with a force like a train by The Brute. I took this opportunity to reload.

The Brute held The Rake against the wall as The Rake struggled to get free. The contest didn't last long before The Rake managed to push The Brute back and then seemed to try and disappear apparently not liking the odds anymore. However as it began to disappear either into it's domain or into the Godsway whichever The black knife still embedded in it's neck began to glow and The Rake let out a howl as black electricity began to arc over it's body. It howled and The Second tackled it from the side brought it to the ground and stabbed two more knives into it's body before being slammed against the wall. It managed to get up and turn to catch The Brute's next attack. The Brute's arms met The Rake's claws and they stood tensed against each other. The black coloured electricity continued arcing through The Rake's body as it continued trying to escape. They stood locked in a frozen struggle for a few moments before The Rake began pushing The Brute back. It took a step forward forcing The Brute back and so I shot it in the leg. It's leg buckled and The Brute surged back forward tossing The Rake to the ground and then held it down by the arms and slammed it's head into The Rake's. What was possibly lava began to pour from The Brute's hands burning away The Rake's arms as it began to shriek in pain and hopefully, fear.

It's arms were soon engulfed in flames and melted away from it's body at which point The Brute lifted it's arms and then brought them down still dripping lava onto The Rake's face. Repeatedly raining lava covered hammer blows on The Rake's face until eventually The Rake stopped struggling. By that point however The Rake also didn't have much of a head. The Second carefully moved to examine The Rake's body as The Brute sat atop his defeated opponent triumphantly. The Second nodded to me.

The Rake was dead.

I wasn't sure how to feel.

I was happy that The Rake was dead. I didn't feel wrong about killing it. I still felt hollow though. Unsatisfied. I didn't feel like I had actually avenged Lisa in this way. Her killer was dead, but we weren't done.

Unfortunately before I could formulate my thoughts on the matter anymore something bad happened. The Brute suddenly began I guess absorbing The Rake's power. The Second tried to stop him, but The Brute simply turned and grabbed him tossing him down the hallway and into the room at the opposite end of The Hall. Harold stepped up the stairs as The Brute finished absorbing The Rake's power and Harold pointed past me and The Brute leaped over me and bounded into the room after The Second.

"what the hell are you doing?" I asked horrified.

"Killing another monster," Harold answered casually.

"I order you to stop!" I ordered.

"What? You don't get to order me!" he responded angrily. I backpedaled quickly.

"Sorry! But don't do this!"

"Why not?"

"It's wrong,"

"How he's a monster!"

"But he helped us!"

"That doesn't stop him from being a monster,"

"Maybe it does,"

"How so?"

"Well what about you? You're pretty much just like him,"

"I am not! He kills indiscriminately to get what he wants. He sacrificed those proxies for this. He doesn't care about anyone, but himself! Even your girlfriend. The only reason he's bothered by her death is because it upset him,"

"The same goes for you," I answered and his eyes locked on mine with hatred. My mind desperately told me to backpedal again, but I didn't.

"What happened in the past doesn't count. I wasn't myself the-" he began, but I cut him off.

"-Were you yourself when you saved me from The Liar?" I asked.

"Yes and so what. I killed a monster, the same as I just did now and you aren't complaining about that. Is The Liar another special case like The Second apparently is,"  he asked with a sneer.

"No, but you didn't just kill The Liar. You killed Amy. The girl who's body The Liar was using. Don't pretend you didn't know that, she made a point of it. Your response was 'Don't care,'" I informed him.

He raised his head, "A host of The Dying Man is already dead it was a mercy kill," he responded.

"That's not true and you know it. The Liar doesn't decay her hosts or even damage their minds. Amy was just fine, buried inside of herself,"

"There was no way to rescue her anyway..." he responded though he sounded uncertain.

"There was. You know that too. You were watching what was happening. You knew about the fight going on back at The Ordeal. You probably knew about Richard. You might not have known that he could save her, but you didn't even try,"

"Alright, fine I fucked up!" He yelled at me, "but that doesn't change anything. This one is a monster and deserves it!"

"Maybe he does maybe he doesn't! It's not your place to decide who lives or dies and even if he does deserve to die, there's no reason to kill him now right after he helped us. You want to be a hero, use the power of The Brute to save humanity and fight back against The Fears. This isn't how a Hero should be," I countered.

He sagged, "What do you want me to do then? Just give up this power, start a protest?"

"No. Keep the power, but use it to protect people not just to kill those you decide deserve it,"

"What do you mean?"

"Well... We killed The Rake and you're probably strong enough to stand up to a Fear right?" He nodded, "Then help me get the pocket watch back. Help me fulfill my mission and I'll help you fulfill yours. Best part, I'll need you to help me kill The Faceless Bastard," I informed him. He smiled.

"I can definitely help with that," he responded then closed his eyes, "I've stopped The Brute and The Second has escaped. We should leave now," he said. I nodded.

We left together.

That was about two days ago now. I've been simultaneously making plans and thinking about Lisa.

I don't think I'll ever be over her and I don't know if I ever want to get over her. I do however know that I won't be satisfied at all until I've fully avenged her. The only way I know how to do that is to fulfill my mission.

As such we're going after The Wooden Girl and Ariadne and getting The Pocket Watch back.

"

Vengeance

It's been a while since I've posted anything and I hope you'll understand why. A lot has happened though and I should fill you in. We got to the hospital, Harold and I. What The Grotesque showed me turned out to be true. We arrived to find that Lisa had apparently passed away in the night. According to the doctor's her heart had just stopped. Now it's technically possible that The Rake had nothing to do with this. That is entirely possible. It's also not true. I know it... I know it in my heart and what happened later confirmed it.

I spent a day or so, just sitting around mourning and wondering what would happen to Lisa. I don't know if she has any family and she never had any real identification on her. I know her real name, but we checked her into the hospital initially as Lisa Siles and never really remembered to correct that, besides doing so would likely raise all kinds of questions.

Actually a rather humorous question popped into my head at one point. Amid all the heartbroken, depressed sobbing sometimes you get a few moments where something that's just absurd occurs and you have to laugh in between tears. In my case it was that despite being brought in with no identification and no money, the hospital didn't seem to care. I mean I have identification and a healthcare card so I wouldn't be a problem, but why did they continue caring for Lisa without cost. I did eventually get an answer to that and that's what I'm getting around to.

I kept myself to myself and Harold was nice enough to stay with me and so he was there when I made the decision to get revenge. I wasn't entirely sure how at the time, but I figured I had a Fear on my side so sure let's go fuck up The Rake to get revenge for Lisa. It was a stupid plan and probably would have been the end of my story very quickly if it wasn't for the fact someone was listening. As Harold tried to talk me down and explain that while The Brute is powerful it's not actually powerful enough to go toe to toe with any of the established Fears someone came and informed us they were and were willing to help.

That person being The Second.

See as I said I got an answer to my earlier question. After Archangel!Faceless injured Lisa, The Second got pissed and essentially broke off from the little alliance that had been arrayed against me. He had pulled some strings to get Lisa proper care and had covered the medical bills. At that time he still sought my death, but he didn't want Lisa hurt because of it. However with The Wooden Girl's betrayal I wasn't even a threat anymore and The Second had no personal desire for my death. However now that The Rake has killed Lisa The Second has a personal desire for The Rake's death and unfortunately this desire is not shared entirely by his other half who is apparently the same half kind of? The Slender Man basically gave him free reign to do what he wants, but with no help from his alternate self. A fact that The Slender Man has made sure everyone else in the Fear community knows. Therefore if The Second does attack The Rake it will apparently not be seen as a fight between The Slender Man and The Rake, but more like as if one of The Slender Man's agents just got it in his head one day to try and kill The Rake. The Slender Man will probably have to make some amends, but otherwise nothing would happen.

Basically with this scenario The Second had no chance. He has only about half of his normal power, a small group of Proxies with a grudge and that's it. However he feels working with Harold would at least give him a shot and so he is essentially enlisting Harold's help and by extension my help to kill The Rake.

Harold was much more on board with the idea now and we spent the rest of that day making plans.

I'd tell you the rest of what happened now, but I'm not really over Lisa's death and I doubt I ever will be and I don't feel well. I think I need a bit of rest. There's more to do soon anyway.

My greatest Nightmare

I had another grotesque Nightmare. It took me a while to gather up the courage to write anything afterwards. I woke up at 8:00 AM or so from my nightmare and just stayed in bed until now (Almost 1:00 PM) before I managed to bring myself to write anything or even get out of bed. It's stupid as every second I wait is more time before I find out what happened to Lisa... What really happened anyway...

That was what The Nightmare was. The Grotesque appeared in my dream and he was smiling.

"I see you're back in our world. That's good news for me. Couldn't mess with your dreams while you were in the city and I've greatly enjoyed our sessions. Today... or Tonight I should say I have something special for you. Let me answer the question currently on your mind. Then I was in the hospital. I was at Lisa's bedside. There were a bunch of Doctors standing around and Lisa seemed to be fine. The heart rate machine thing was beeping rhythmically and the doctors all seemed happy. I wondered at the time why The Grotesque was showing me this... until the Doctor's left. Lisa was doing well. She'd be fine in fact. That's the impression I got, but then I found out she wouldn't. The doctor's left and it was just me and her in the room. There were a number of beds, but only about 2 other patients both unconscious or asleep as well. There was a closet in the room and I found my attention suddenly drawn to it and a horrible premonition occurred to me. I began to cry and plead with The Grotesque not to show me this. Of course he didn't listen. The closet door opened and a clawed, beastly apparition stalked into the room. It was The Rake. It moved to the bed and the heart monitor began speeding up. Even comatose Lisa could feel The Rake's presence and she was panicking. It seemed to smile as it noticed this and it skittered onto the bed and rubbed a claw over her face.

"Be still now anomaly. Your nightmare has ended," The Rake whispered and the heart monitor began to slow and then flatlined. The nightmare ended then. Which is all it was... A nightmare... Just a nightmare. She can't be dead. Not like that. I'm gonna be arriving at the hospital soon and I'll see she's still alive...

Oh god please be still alive.

Ozymandias

So... I went out into the storm to see what was going on. Strong winds buffeted me and they were centered around what appeared to be a hole in the middle of the street. It was tiny barely a pinpoint, but very quickly it began to enlarge and soon clawed hands pushed through followed by tendrils of smoke that filtered out of the hole and then the head of The Brute pushed through and the hole widened into a sort of door and The entirety of The Brute stepped through with Harold following behind it. It glanced around hungrily and then it's eyes settled on her and it lunged only to be yanked back by means of the chain in Harold's hands.

"What are you doing here?" I asked and Harold smiled at me.

"Came to get you out," he answered.

"Oh well thanks... We should hurry then I'm pretty sure The City will-" I began and he cut me off.

"The City won't do anything. It's dead. All that's left here are the remnants of it. Nothing, but mindless ruins. The City disconnected itself from here when The Amalgam attacked. It came back for a bit to repay The Muffin Man, but it disconnected itself again later. This entire version of The Empty City is dead. Static. The Doors are set in their locations and only The Fears know where they are. The City is no longer unchanging and it no longer preys on people. It's simply old ruins," Harold explained.

"That... That doesn't seem right. It was providing for me. Normal, or dead cities can't do that," I argued.

"True. The city is dead, but in a sense it's powers remain to a degree. Someone either you, or The Fears, likely The Wooden Girl since she's the one behind you being here, used the remains of The Empty City's fluctuating nature to form whatever you desired. There is no mind left here, but The City can still change if someone else desires it to. It's like play-doh now, which in one way is good news as it's probably the only reason you're still alive, but in another way is bad news," He informed me.

"What's bad about it?" I asked.

"With The City dead and no servants of The City remaining there's only one source left for you to acquire it's essence for The Watch," He explained.

"You know about that?"

"Literally anything that is considered a Fear knows about that. Jack wasn't very careful about who got the message."

"Well fine... What's the one remaining source of The City's essence?"

"The Muffin Man. He contains within him The Essences of the The Empty City, The Slender Man, The Rake, The Wooden Girl, The Cold Boy, The Blind Man, EAT, The Plague Doctor and The Choir. Add to that The Convocation which you already have, The Archangel which you might have and The Dying Man and you have almost everything," he explained.

I sighed, "So at this point the only choice I have left is to kill one of my friends in order to complete this Key?" I asked.

He nodded, "Sorry."

"Is it actually worth it?" I asked.

"I think it is, but regardless of whether you think it is or not, The Wooden Girl probably knows The Muffin Man is the only source for The Empty City's essence as well, so whether at your hands or hers one of you is going to try and kill him for the essences he contains. Especially since The Wooden Girl would probably find it much easier to kill him and The Liar than to try and get it from The others who all oppose her plan and are actually currently pitted in battle with her now that as far as they know you're not a threat," He explained.

He was right of course. I sighed.

"Whatever I decide to do the first step is leaving here," I said.

He smiled, "Great. I'd be obliged if you stepped through first since it will likely close behind me and if we walk together The Brute is liable to try and take a bite out of you," he explained.

I did so. The other side of the door led to an alleyway and I stepped away from the door as Harold and The Brute came through at which point The Brute seemed to disappear into the ground again as the door closed behind them. I'm quite far away from The Hospital and my first step should probably be to go after The watch, but the first thing I told Harold is that he better get me to the hospital to find out how Lisa's doing. Harold got me a computer to type this post out, but it's not moveable. With any luck though I'll be able to get mine back from the hospital when we get there.

I really hope you're okay Lisa.

Good news, bad news.

Good news: I'm never gonna run out of food and never gonna not have access to a computer.

Bad News: I'm never getting out of here.

Every time I look around I find myself back at this street corner. The corner has within view: The Internet Cafe which takes only a toonie to get me access to my blog, a bank that seems to spit out toonies with a touch of a button and a grocery store that seems to restock every day. So, yeah not gonna die and not going to lose my internet access so I can keep you updated every day as I slowly age to death in this lonely street.

Something is happening... A storm appears to be growing and I can smell smoke. I... I guess I'll check it out... If I die at least I'll be out of here...

Betrayal

I went to see Sally at the new place. I found her suspended from the ceiling by strings. Strings crisscrossed the entire place like spiderwebs. I ran over to her and started trying to take her down when I felt a painful pinch on the back of my neck. I reached up and swatted a spider off of me and staggered back as she raised her head and grinned at me. The string's snapped and she fell to the ground, lowering her hand to the ground for the spider to crawl up onto her hand. "Don't worry it won't kill you," she told me as she went and retrieved her Didgeridoo case from the corner. She opened it and drew out the red spider dress and staff from within and proceeded to put on the dress as I managed to stumble back against the wall. My vision was getting blurry. "I could say I've actually grown a bit fond of you in our time together, which is the only reason I haven't killed you up till now and why I thought of a way to be rid of you without having to end your life. In fact two ways," she stated and then something slid out of the sleeve of her dress. It was The Pocket Watch.

"My mistress is a genius unlike the other fears. Sure if you release the creature it will probably destroy us. That's true, but if we kill you what will we do then? Take the watch and somehow try and stop The Man In Grey from taking it back and giving it to someone else just to do this all again? No. She figures that what The Fears should do is just take the pocket watch and release it themselves. The way she sees it if we release it it will probably be lenient on The Fears and merely go after Jack who none of us would have any hard feelings about seeing discomfited. The other's disagreed in their foolishness and were set on killing you. So, she'll carry her plan out by herself. Perhaps with even better results," Sally/Ariadne explained.

"Makes sense to me," I stated in a voice that to me sounded like someone who was seconds away from throwing up which was accurate, "What are you going to do with me now?"

"Well you get to choose. The first option. Join up? You'd make a wonderful Doll, I'm sure," she offered. I frantically shook my head which made me feel worse and I dropped to my knees, "Well then the other choice is that you go away somewhere were you can't become a problem for us ever again," she informed me. I tried to tell her that she could take her staff and go fuck herself with it and vow that I would find a way back and that I would kill her for this betrayal. However, it was at this point that I lost consciousness.

When I awoke I was in a city. There didn't seem to be anyone around. Ariadne, or whoever had actually brought me here since I doubt Ariadne would do it herself, had not seen fit to provide me with my laptop. Luckily there was an internet Cafe just up a side street. No one was there, but the computers worked and for just a single Toonie. I had internet access and amazingly, or at least it would be amazing if I didn't already figure out what was going on.  the internet browser loaded up my blog for me with me already signed in.

I'm pretty sure I'm in The Empty City... Or Silent Hill, but The Empty City seems more likely.

I figure I'm stuck here and I'll never find out whether Lisa is okay or not. I can't believe my story is going to end like this.

Release

I was allowed to leave today. Lisa is still being held here though. Which means I can't really leave this place as I

A. Won't leave without her.
B. Would not survive trying to move around on my own.

I rely on her for so much it's almost scary.

She's the one who fights, who finds resources and places to stay, to comfort me emotionally... She's the only reason I'm still alive at all. Sally hasn't been around since we were brought in. I remember her mentioning something about trying to find somewhere new for us to stay. There was a note from her with the... Er whatever the hospital version of a receptionist is. It was from Sally, but was apparently delivered by a man who I didn't recognize from the description given and who didn't give a name I recognized either. The note said that she had found a new place and that I should come to a certain address where she's made us a little home.

I'm writing this before going there as I just wanted to type something out now before I leave. I wanted to think of something other than what's going on, but it's not working.

Lisa is still alive, but that, "yet" epithet is starting to seem true. She has fallen again into unconsciousness and apparently "Complications" have arisen as the doctor's told me. I don't want to leave her side, but I can't stay. It's selfish, but I can't stand the idea of being here if she dies. I need to be somewhere else and have something else to do. So... I'm gonna go see Sally and then I'm gonna contact Muffin and gonna get him to help me get the Watch back.