Afternoon, October 16th..

He stood on the front stoop before a large wooden door that was so dark it was almost black. Its finish and the golden lion's head knocker his hand was curled around glittered in the afternoon sunlight. He was about to knock it again when he heard 'It's open!!' shouted out of a few of the several open windows on that side of the house.

His face twisted up as his hand fell to the golden handle instead. He squeezed, pushed his way inside. The thick, warm air smelled heavily like cake and cookies.

"Timmy..? Timmy!! Is that you..? Boy, where've you been, this party was your idea and now you're sneakin' out!!"

He hugged the cardboard box to his chest, blinking owlishly. The voice was a woman's..she sounded annoyed. He stayed rooted to the spot, trying to decide what to do. He had been late with the package anyway, he could always just leave it and go..

Thundering footfalls from the floor overhead made him jump. His eyes followed them along the ceiling to the staircase he could see at the end of the long, narrow hall he was currently standing in.

"Tim--!! Omigod, you're not Timmy. Wooow, you look just like him," the girl said as she skidded to a stop in front of him, her outstretched arms falling to her sides. She laughed brightly and smiled up at him.

She was short, only coming up to the center of his chest. Her blond hair was long and impossibly straight, hacked in layers that framed her face. When her eyes opened, he couldn't really tell which part was the white and which was the iris. They were sharp, shiny and wide..and blue.

And blinking at him.

"Do I have something on my face..? Who are you?"

"A-ah, uh.."

"Leah, who is it?"

"Some random guy, Aunt Flo! Tall, orange hair, got this really weird scarf on that looks like it's supposed to belong on some girl..?"

"Oh, that's just Toby, he was supposed to bring a package yesterday from the church. He got a box?"

"Yeah..?"

He shook himself out of his daze. "Yeah..this..this was for him," he said nervously, wiggling the cardboard box at her. Leah took it and inspected the tape, he assumed, for any rips and tears. He rolled his lips back over his teeth before he smiled, turning on his heel.

The door opened in his face and he grunted as he caught it.

"I'm home!! Whoa-ho! Didn't see you there, Toby, man! Hey, thanks for the package. That's why you're here, right?" He nodded.

The young man in front of him was almost as tall as he was, but his hair and face were hidden by a ski cap and a colorful bandanna. The only things Toby could see were his eyes, narrow and pale just like Leah's. Now that he thought about it, he'd never seen his face before.. His black clothes were speckled with all colors of paint.

"Timmy, you know this guy?" Leah asked from behind him. Timmy stepped up into the entryway, his hands stuffed down into both his back pockets.

"Yeah, it's Toby, he brings a bunch of junk, I mean stuff, haha, from the church." Timmy patted himself down then swore under his breath. "I must've left my money upstairs. Stick around for a sec, okay? Have a cookie or six. Aunt Flo's cookies are awesome!" He took off down the hall, Leah narrowly avoiding him by plastering herself to the wall, the box held up above her head.

"Well okay.." She jerked her head at Toby and started down the hall too. "I'm Leah, sorry about the third degree, I don't have that many people staring at me all the time."

"That's a right lie and you know it, Leah!" came Aunt Flo's voice from the wide doorway Leah had stopped in. He shuffled uncertainly after her, his whole body cold, tingling with dread. He wanted to leave..he didn't want to stand there and wait. He hadn't ever taken a tip from these people before and he didn't want to start now.

The kitchen Leah entered was bright yellow, both from the sun and the paint on the walls. The counters and large round table were filled almost to their capacity with plates heaped with cookies and cake. There was flour in the air, it swirled around like dust.

Aunt Flo, a short woman with bushy garnet red hair stood at the sink, her hands under a quick running faucet.

"Ah, Toby," she said when she had turned, smiling at him. She grabbed a dishtowel and dried her hands, then her forehead, as she spoke. "Come and sit for a few minutes, have a cookie. And you've already met Leah, haven't you..? She's single~" Flo laughed as she held out a massive plate of cookies to him.

"AUNT FLO!!"

He smiled painfully, choosing one from the plate but simply looked at it.

"Lemme get a good look at you," Flo said, tilting her head and staring up into his face. "Oh my, that's why you look so different, your skin's smooth! All yer scars are gone, that's wonderful! How'd you do it? Does that mean Sister Matilda's back in town?"

"I got it!!" Toby sighed in relief, his shoulders sagging at Timmy's shout. His hand closed around the chocolate chip cookie, breaking it in half. He waved awkwardly at the two in the kitchen and swung around back out into the hallway, not letting them have a chance to stop him. Timmy tripped to a stop near him when he was halfway out the door.

"Here ya go. Thanks again man. You're not free later for the homecoming party we're having for Leah, are you?"

"Mmph.." Toby turned to accept the wad of bills Timmy was holding out for him, but his mouth dropped open.

Timmy's ginger hair was messy, a little too long..and too red. His smile looked more natural than Toby knew his did. The angles of his face were sharp, his nose straight. His eyes stood out against slightly tanned skin.

He could feel the color draining from his face. He snatched the money out of Timmy's hand and hurried out of the warm house without another word.

Leah was right.. He knew his own face, they looked alike. He pushed his hand up into his forehead as he walked.

Both people were in the same place, it couldn't have been any easier..

But he had thought..he would have had time to at least think..

Turning on any lights was out of the question.

He stood in the cramped entryway, rapidly blinking his eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the bright glow of the vial around his neck and the encroaching darkness all around him.

He stepped forward carefully, his ears burning in their heightened alert. Each rustle of his own clothing, each shuffled step..each stupid noise that his earrings made when they hit each other made him jump. His skin was alive, his hands shaking from adrenaline.

The small kitchen on his left was only full of moonlight. It spilled over the counters and large table like glowing milk. And the sitting room right across from it, on his right, was empty too. He gulped, held his breath, and kept going.

He wished now that he had been paying attention to how the inside of the house looked. But he couldn't have known that he would need to remember.

His reflection shown in the glass picture frames on either side of him as he sneaked down the hall. He clutched the blanket to himself to keep from jumping any more than he had. His head turned, glancing both ways when he reached the staircase. On his right was what looked like a sliding glass door, he couldn't tell where it led. On his left was simply darkness.

This house was small..

He held tightly to the railing as he made his way up..one stair at a time. And flinched when the wood squealed beneath him. Sweat beaded on his brow and palms. He almost sagged to his knees when nothing happened in the excruciatingly long seconds afterward..sighing up against the blanket when he'd cleared the staircase.

There was barely a second floor, with just enough space sectioned off by a waist high railing in front of the four doors on his left to make sure that the people that left those rooms wouldn't fall ten feet straight down.

Two of the doors were open, one was ajar..and one closed. He heard snoring.

He left the rolled up blanket on the railing..he could figure out how he wanted to move them later when they were actually dead.

The first door on the far right was a bathroom. He pushed the door next to it quietly inward, the snoring intensified. He squinted at the small, slender figure sprawled across the bed, her stick straight hair fanning in every direction, both arms and one leg hanging off the sides of the bed. Her face was turned away from him. He sighed silently in relief.

His knife made no sound as he pulled it from the sheath at his back and crept forward into the room. The plush carpet squished under the balls of his feet, muffling his steps.

He stood at the side of her bed, his hand tensed around the dagger's hilt and stared down at her.

She looked smaller than she had the day before..younger. He had never seen Lisa make such a relaxed face. Her chest rose and fell, she shifted in her position..her head lolled over to face him.

Her eyelashes were long..

He bent down in one swift movement. His left hand covered her mouth and nose. He felt her jerk under him, her eyes flying open and glinting the light of the vial. She kicked her legs, catching him in the front of his knee; her hands shot up, wrapped frantically around his arm.

His fingers curled hard into her face, he shoved his palm down until he felt the bone of her small nose snap.

He gouged a ditch in her throat, cutting off the smothered keening she was trying to make into a scream. Warm, copper smelling blood slicked his fingers over and over again as he plunged the dagger into the left side of her ribs.

He held it there..until the beating against the outside of his hand stopped, and her limbs flopped back down onto the mattress.

His breath left him in a quiet rush. That hadn't been so bad.

But now he had to make it look like it had been..

The next door he came to was wide open.

There were clothes bunched up and wrinkled on the floor, he navigated through them easily. His hand shook around the hilt of his knife, fingernails biting into his palm.

The young man on the bed was facing him, curled up under the blankets. His hair was like an explosion on the pillow. He had his hands clenched around its corners, but his face was relaxed. Toby stood, scowling down at him and the sound of his even breathing.

Was that how he looked when he slept.. Pathetic and small, maybe even a little scared.

He had been hating the sight of his own face for a while, but seeing it on someone else made his gut churn.

He raised his hand, bringing the knife down hard into the young man's ribs. One snapped under the force of the strike. Timmy's whole body jerked, his eyes and mouth opened wide into near perfect circles. He choked and sputtered.

Toby hoped he was mistaking the tears he saw in his eyes.

He had to make it look like a fight, or that something terrible happened.. Lisa had more skill than he did.. Toby grit his teeth, wrenching the knife free. The second he did, Timmy leaped from the bed with a strangled yell. His arms flailed, wrapping around Toby's waist. They both went down with a hard thud.

He didn't have time for this..

He'd been stabbed enough to know that Timmy was in unbearable pain. The sobs, shudders and grunts coming from him didn't tell him any different. He shoved his right knee up between Timmy's legs..he gagged and all the tension went out of his body. He shuddered against Toby, limp.

In a single, swift movement, Toby pinned him to the ground, the knife cutting down against his throat. Their eyes locked, the swinging light of the vial casting shadows over Timmy's terrified face.

"T-Toby..? Toby?! Is that you?! What are you doing here?! Why are you doing this?!"

He didn't say anything, and simply studied. He hated that look of fear on his own face..the tears that were pooling and streaming out of the corners of Timmy's eyes. Pain flickered through his expression every so often, it was mostly panic. Fear for his own life. Misunderstanding.

He hadn't cried out for help. But he wasn't fighting back either.. Even now, two seconds away from his own death, he just sat there and took it. And took it while he panicked, cried and let everything happen.

"Please..p-please don't.. DON'T KILL ME!!"

He growled and shoved his weight down into the blade on Timmy's throat. His yells ended in awkward gurgles and crimson sprouted up and around his hand. Flecks of warm blood hit him in the face..he didn't stop until he hit bone.

What's with you? What's with this negative process of thinking? This disgusting disregard for yourself and how others think of you? Are you always this much of an idiot?

"You're pathetic.." Toby hissed down at the dying man beneath him. His knife scraped against the hidden vertebrae of Timmy's neck. He sank the blade into his chest, his face, shoulders arms and gut.

Cutting, gouging, tearing, rending. Flesh and muscle caught under his fingernails. He slammed his fists repeatedly into any part of the young man he could reach. He forced each bone past its limit, relishing in the snaps and crunches. Blood continued to spatter his face and hands, stained his jeans where he was kneeling in it.

"You're worthless." He flipped the body over, punching, beating and dragging his dagger down from his shoulders to his waist. He hooked his arms around Timmy's legs, gradually applying pressure.

"I hate you.. I hate your stupid fear, and your stupid panic. And your goddamn ability to do nothing but sit there and whine.. And cry." His femur snapped with the sound of a dozen breaking eggs.

"Tonight is the end of this sh*t. I am not going to be you anymore.."

His head jerked up as yellow light spilled across the hallway outside the door. A long, but thick, shadow appeared..its footsteps shuffling. He stayed crouched, frozen, unblinking.

"Timmy..? You alright..? You sound like you've been having a--oh God, blood!! Timmy!!"

Flo's body blotted out the open doorway. Her hand smacked at the wall and light flared overhead. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see just how much blood there was, and how far it had spread. He probably looked like a monster.

"O-oh..m-..WHAT HAVE YOU D--!!"

Her head snapped back, wide open mouth filled with the dagger that he had thrown. Toby grabbed the back of the young man's neck, his fingers digging in deeply..and had risen to his feet by the time the elder woman had fallen.

That was something he hadn't expected..

He dragged the body from the room, pausing only to yank his dagger free of the woman's mouth. It came free with a squelch, and he turned his back on her so he didn't have to see her die.

He was almost done. Only a little bit more..

He made sure to grab the blanket he had left on the railing before entering Leah's room. Rolling them up tightly wasn't hard, it was like a bigger, bloodier burrito. He hoisted his burden onto his right shoulder and marched out of the house..sucking in a deep breath that smelled and tasted like copper.

It was still dark out. And as he adopted a hard, yoki forced run..he couldn't help but be glad that he wasn't hungry at all.

"Wake up, Toby."

It was an order, a hard one. Lisa's voice stabbed right through the fuzziness in his ears and head. He blinked his eyes open, grunting softly at the toe of the boot poking his left shoulder. It was like she was checking if he was dead..

He groaned and flipped over onto his back with the help of her foot. And immediately threw his arm over his eyes despite the pain that shot all the way down into his fingertips.

The sun was up.. He must have passed out. From what..the pain..? That was..pathetic.

"How..how long..?"

"Long enough." His dagger clattered down to the ground at his right. "I have now upheld my end of our agreement. I have left the dummies somewhere within this forest. As I am now prepared to leave, I thought it was in your best interests to inform you of this.."

He squeezed his eyes shut, his arm dragging down his face until he found the vial. He tried to unscrew it with one hand.

"Should the real you be discovered before our dummies, all of this work would mean little more than nothing. A waste of efforts. So rouse yourself. If you truly intend to stay behind, you must be aware of but one thing."

His hand trembled as he touched the vial to his mouth, sucking down two small drops..and sighed heavily in relief as he felt himself mending. The pain that gripped him started to fade. He didn't know that it had really been hurting so much.

"One thing.."

"You must live up to the ruse you and I have begun. To the eyes of the Organization, you must be nothing more than a smudged stain upon the earth; not even a mere remnant of what you once were."

He squinted up at her finally. He could only make out the fact that she was covered in something dark..a big splotch against the yellow and green light around them.

"What.."

"You cannot simply return to the life that you once knew." He sat up so quickly his head spun. Light stabbed his eyes when he gaped at her a second time. She turned sharply, her cloak swishing around her legs, boot heels clacking as she stepped down from the foundation and into the crispy grass surrounding them.

"You must suppress your yoki as much as possible. You must not return to those places you once knew, or associate with any such person that has any acquaintance with you."

"Wait--"

"You must be, for all intents and purposes, as dead and worthless as the mutilated corpses in this forest."

"Lisa..!"

She paused several feet away, her hooded head tilting. A crisp, cool breeze rushed between them. Dead leaves rained down in a diagonal shower.

"At least for some time. Enough for me to at least exit this city, and quite possibly this world."

He stumbled to his feet, his thumb closing over the mouth of the vial so it wouldn't spill.

He was relieved..

He hurried after her, swinging around to face her smaller frame. Her chin lifted, but still all he could see was the lower half of her face. He reached out to the top of her head with his free hand, thought better of it, and quickly wrapped her shoulders in a one armed hug.

"Thank you.. Mmph..!" He coughed and staggered back, his arm falling away from her. He flattened his palm over the spot on his gut where she had punched. "Katt..told me to thank you t--"

Lisa waved her fist dismissively. "I have no need for such things as gratitude, from you, or that woman. I did not do these things for that reason." She angled around him and kept moving in the direction she had started. He turned to watch her, his throat tightening with each step she took.

He blinked the sheen of moisture out of his eyes, and in that one second she was gone. The wind changed, combing the grass and leaves of the trees the other way..like she had never walked through them.

That was how it was supposed to be.. But how long would he have to stay away..

He gulped and fixed the vial back on the chain before he forgot.

It was his turn..to try and erase as much of himself as he could. And he was not going to screw it up.