Well, I changed the story to the game section, and WOAH!

I can tag Zsasz to the story here! Haha XD Who knew?

I have gotten a bit more responses now that I'm in this category, so I think

I'll stick with it, I'm very happy :) I would love some more responses though,

tell me all what you think/want! I do take requests too, if you want one of your favorites in a story or one-shot :)

Enjoy and Reviews are, as always, lovely ~Echo


My Scarlet Dagger

Chapter 3:The Thread of Misery

Awaking to the bothering sound of her alarm clock, Ella groaned and sat up, smacking the beeping little annoyance to turn it off. Her dreams had been horrible; filled with killers and blood. She knew the idea of being Zsasz's new target had gotten to her, but she would never admit it out loud, her own pride wouldn't let her. Instead, she had decided to embrace this new "being a target for a murderer" lifestyle and decided she would take on Zsasz as a patient full-time. She did have to admit one thing, she may be as crazy as the patients to take on such a deadly task.

Hurrying, she showered, put her uniform on and tied her hair back in a loose ponytail with a few bangs on each side of her face. After leaving, she grabbed a muffin and cup of coffee from a store down the road from her house and continued to work. On the way she noticed the large white house on the corner had a for sale sign, it had been Jonathan's house. Knowing she would never visit her brother down the road again brought up pained feelings again, but she managed to smother them with her coffee as she pulled into work in her car.

"Hey Ella." Aaron said, opening her door for her. He had been drinking his coffee before his shift and had seen her pull in.

"Hello Aaron, thank you. How's everything?" She asked, walking inside beside him and giving him an extra muffin she had bought. He thanked her and started eating as they walked inside.

"Good for the most part, Zsasz got moved to a higher security room though." He said, sitting in the chair across from her desk as they walked in to her office.

"How come?" She asked, moving the files from her cabinet on to her desk.

"He was carving tally marks and words in to the wall with a knife he got from God knows where, we had to move him to a room with walls he can't carve in to. Of course we confiscated the knife too. A buddy of mine says he thinks he kept it under his bed, there was a small strap there where he could have strapped it in without anyone being able to see it." He responded, shaking his head in dismay.

"Great... he had a weapon. At least he was caught I guess. I'm going to monitor him today, I'm free from any sessions so I think it will be best to just spend my time in the courtyard and see how he acts with the other patients. That way if he gets the urge he can talk to me too, I don't mind either way." She said, taking some notes out that Dr. Young had wrote about Zsasz. She planned to read them as she sat out in the courtyard.

"Alright Ella, I'll keep an eye out for you on the balcony, signal me if there is anything wrong." He said, standing up. Ella nodded and smiled, waving him goodbye as she walked down the hall towards the courtyard. She was excited to be able to learn more about Zsasz without having to be enclosed in a room with him, especially after they had found a weapon on him. Sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, she settled in and began to read the notes. It was a bit early, the patients wouldn't be let out to roam free for about twenty minutes, so she had the time to get through some of Dr. Young's notes.

The notes began with Dr. Sarah Cassidy, the Doctor who was targeted by Zsasz first. She had tried to reason and get to know him, but he told her to him only his marks mattered. From there, it only spiraled further downwards. She mentioned that he had recently murdered twenty women. He had claimed to have "liberated" them from the torture of moving through the "daily grind."

Reading that note, Ella couldn't help remembering Zsasz's words to her. He had said she went through the daily grind... that he wanted to liberate her.

Reading further, Zsasz had frightened Dr. Cassidy with expressing his knowledge of her life. He knew her routine, her address, everything. He told her she was "waiting for something to happen." He said he could make her salvation happen. The thought made Ella shiver, Victor Zsasz had an easy access to her information, he wanted to be her "salvation."

Frightened by his knowledge of her information, Dr. Cassidy went on leave. Another doctor, Dr. Gretchen Westler, took over. Dr. Westler tried to reason with Zsasz, but he was unresponsive due to his need to get his "mark" from Dr. Cassidy. He even went as far as to attack a guard during a session with a knife he had somehow obtained.

After that incident, he was placed in isolation, but he soon escaped. Dr. Westler tried to warn Dr. Cassidy, but she was too late, and Dr. Cassidy was killed. Dr. Gretchen Westler took a leave of absence after, and she soon met the same fate.

At the end of the file, there was a small side note that the file left by Dr. Young was only a collection of the two doctor's notes, and she refused to take Zsasz as a patient. She made this file with notes and research for whoever was brave enough to take on Zsasz, and she planned to take a leave when he was assigned to her, in order to mourn for her two murdered friends. She labeled him as unstable, and not ready for new research.

"Reading my achievements doctor?" Ella jumped in surprise, looking up to see Zsasz in front of her, leaning over her with his crooked smile. "It's great isn't it? Two marks, two saved souls."

"No Victor, it isn't great. Those women didn't deserve to die." She said, watching him sit beside her on the bench, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. She turned a bit to look at him and crossed her legs, resting her notes and notebook on her lap to take her own notes.

"It's not what they did or did not deserve Doctor. It's... what they needed. I did not kill them, as you all love to put it. I liberated them, saved them. Why do you not understand?" He said, looking at her with frustration. "Why do you not understand that I want to save you?"

Looking at him, Ella realized something. She had been right, Zsasz was no mere serial killer. He held a passion for doing what he does just like anyone else does with their own passions. He thought it was his place to save people and the very people he was trying to save were punishing him for it by locking him away. He believed it was a sacrifice he had to make, he really believed he was helping. The thought that Victor Zsasz was more human then they all believed made her sad, but she had to be sure she was right. This realization made her want to cure him even more passionately, but there was no point chasing after a dream that wasn't real.

"Alright Victor." She turned to face him on the bench, keeping her legs crossed in front of her. He turned his head curiously, wondering about her seemingly renewed interest in him. "Make me understand. I don't want to die, but I at least can hear you out."

Zsasz was staring at her as if she was alien to him, no one had ever expressed interest before. Ella seemed to be a bit different, but he wasn't going to stop just because she was curious.

"The zombies...people, you all call them. They suffer each day, mindlessly shuffling through the day, falling in to misery. Nothing in this world matters, because there is nothing new. Every person is the same as the last. They suffer for years, do the same thing each day, grow old, die. A new person takes their job, does the same pattern. Each time, they are dreaming of something to happen, waiting there every afternoon alone, pondering when sweet death will take them away from it all. They are miserable for years. I... I quicken the process. I save them from this Hell on Earth and liberate them, just as they desired deep down. They wait for salvation, and I deliver it. I send them on to be free, but I am no better. Each day, these marks are my work. I use them to remind myself I am no higher power, and that saving souls creates a new sacrifice. I sacrifice my flesh and deal pain to myself to show myself that I am no better, I am just a savior who is doing the most I can before I realize my own salvation." He ended, his eyes looking off to the side. During his speech, his eyes had become lost, looking off in to nothing. Ella didn't know where he was, but in his mind he wasn't sitting beside her, his mind was somewhere far away from it all. His body had relaxed, and his crooked smile had relaxed into a small frown.

Leaning forward, Ella touched his arm softly, gaining his attention back a bit, his arm was warm and muscular beneath the soft touch of her finger tips. "Victor? Zsasz?" She said softly, smiling a bit when he fully looked at her again, his mind back with them. "I understand you Zsasz. You're trying to help, you see misery in everyone around you, perhaps you always have. But, if loneliness and the dull nature of life is what creates the misery, why can't excitement and love cure it?" She asked, her hand moving from him to rest on her leg. His eyes followed her hand, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.

"It may, but as humans we look for misery. We suspect our spouses are late because they're cheating, we look into the shadows, expecting a threat, we listen to sad songs and sit alone in the dark when we feel down. As humans, when a thread of sadness falls into our life, we take it and weave it into a rope, then a blanket, until we are finally wrapped in the sadness that was spawned from that one little thread of misery. It never stops, we never find true happiness. That's why, even when we have it all, we look for more, we wish for more, we...wait for more. I am what they are waiting for. I will cure them." He said, looking away. Ella leaned forward, touching the back of his hand with her own. His hand moved a bit in response but that was all.

"I think maybe in some ways you are right, humans will always ask for more, and will always turn a small negative into a large one. But, I think every human deserves a chance to break that cycle, or the world would be meaningless. If no person could realize this vicious cycle, there would be no point to try to stop it, because no one would realize the wrongness of it. Just the fact that you realize shows that a human has the ability to recognize and break this cycle, to find excitement and release their anxieties. I think you should give people a chance before you rip them from their life, I think you may find someone who will surprise you." She said softly. Victor Zsasz stared at her in surprise, he had never expected such words to come from her. The doctor did understand actually. He was impressed, but that was all. Turning his head and returning to his usual self, crooked smile and all, he stood up.

"Maybe you're right Doc, but I won't believe it until I see it. Not even I can break the cycle, and you say I am the only one to recognize the zombie nature of humanity. If I can't, how could someone else?" He said, turning away.

"You will be surprised Zsasz, it could be anyone and, I think you can break it." She said sincerely. Zsasz turned back, smiling almost sincerely without the crooked insane look he usually wore.

"Alright Doc, we'll see." He said, walking away and leaving her to sit and ponder. Ella labeled this outdoor session as a success, and took notes in her notepad. Though Zsasz didn't believe her, he had seemed to make it a challenge, like he wanted her to be right. Ella had a lot ahead of her, but this little success had erased any doubts within her, she would cure Victor Zsasz.