Another day, another demon.
Hope you enjoy, I believe it will be a fun experience for all.

Dauntless

Aiden could feel his eyelids weakening as he stands in front of the apartment door. The task of avoiding sleep far more tedious now than it had been in the past. Part of him wants to think his strange nightmares are trying to call him back. Like some mourning specter beckoning strangers to their immediate demise.

But he is ignoring that part.

Then again, he is back at the strange fortune teller's apartment, smelling the organic scents of herbs and spices waft delicately from beyond the door.

"I can't believe I'm here again…" he speaks to himself. It would be around the point where someone would say why he is. A joke, most likely. However, there is no one. After his latest dream, the isolation and empty silence almost feels like a sin.

He knocks on the door, counting the beats of pause before it cracks open. He doesn't know what he expected the woman to do. When her dark eyes catch him, she merely smiles, pushing the door open wider before speaking, "I knew you'd be back, Fox."

"I would rather you didn't mock me," Aiden says coolly, "I just want to know what is going on."

"I know. You are a restless soul, Fox. You seek answers to questions you struggle to understand…" she moves away, leaving the door opened as she saunters deeper into the home.

Aiden follows, shutting the door behind him. The room is very much the same, save the different scent. He travels into a small den, Kia residing casually in one of the chairs. Sitting in the one next to her, he asks, "Why am I having these dreams?"

"Why do you think, Fox?" She questions immediately, as if she was waiting for him to ask what he did.

Aiden thinks again about his last dream, Emotionless speaking about it as a simple event brought about by his feelings.

"I think I've just been through a lot…" He decides to admit, "I think it is just…"

"Stress?" Kia finishes, playing idly with a small dream catcher, "Perhaps. That is the most logical reason. Have you ever considered the opposite?"

"Why would I consider something illogical?" Aiden asks despite his own inner nagging to truly consider it.

"You're here, aren't you? Seeking guidance on that which is unfamiliar…" Kia points out, resonating Aiden's thoughts, "We are all, by nature, illogical, Fox. We work to build a life of complete emotional satisfaction through the choices we make. The way we reach said goal may be questionable…but perhaps you were at balance before you fell…and your soul is simply trying to rehabilitate its injury. Can you consider this?"

The hacker finds it hard to. Can she really describe a soul reconstructing itself after loss 'simple'? It seems pretty complicated and unorthodox to him.

Regardless, Aiden answers, "…I suppose I can consider that…"

"Good." Kia smiles gently, "Tell me about your dream."

He goes into his story, Kia relentless in knowing every detail. He gives it to her, recalling every sense of his experience with Emotionless. When he finishes, the clairvoyant nods once, seeming transfixed on the tale, "This is something I have seen before, if you can believe that, Fox," she says, "And I can say that your journey is one you must understand yourself."

"What does that even—"

"I can, however, try and predict your next occurrence…" She ponders, watching him carefully, "What is your strongest, most important emotion?"

The Vigilante leans back on the chair, silent for the longest time. What is his most important emotion? People think he has none at all. Then again, he sometimes doesn't. It is easy to detach himself from reality, sometimes for longer than he anticipates.

Kia notices the man's struggle, speaking up again, "You need not lie, I will not judge you."

"Believe me when I say I don't care what you think about me," Aiden says roughly out of his frustration.

"Your first dream…your first clone was that of a man who has nothing to lose: a merciless and unforgiving being who felt wronged in some way."

"He is Restless…" Aiden mumbles, mostly to himself, but speaks louder as he continues, "He is my hatred…but he didn't like being that way. He only thinks it's necessary."

Kia nods in agreement, "Restless, as you call him, must be that which corrupts you the most, your deepest desires for…"

"Justice." Aiden finishes as she did for him before. He pitches the bridge of his now, shutting his eyes, "Can we continue?"

"Your second twin, Emotionless, needs no description, I believe," Kia says, finally setting the dream catcher aside, "Cold…calculating as you told me. He is your intelligence, reasoning and calm demeanor. He resonates you the most: externally."

I control the words you speak. If it wasn't for me, no one would fear you.

"Right…" Aiden looks back at Kia, "And I'm going to have another dream. Aren't I?"

"Yes…what did, ahem, Emotionless say? About others?"

"He said something about my other emotions. He called one Restless, my first dream I guess. Then Dauntless—"

"Dauntless?"

"Yes. Then…" Aiden trails off, the last one's name is Defenseless, but he finds himself not wanting to speak of that one. The word is testing enough.

"Are you often afraid, Fox?" Kia asks.

The hacker is relieved that she asks the question, pulling him from the thoughts before. He says, "No. I've never been afraid of that much."

"Then the answer is easy. Your next occurrence is that of your courageous persona. One that does not fear opposition."

It seems reasonable. The fearless side of himself seems like a more pleasant conversation that that of Emotionless as well. Aiden could feel his common sense waning as he thinks of conversations with himself in dreams. He wishes with burning passion that the dream would not occur, that this is all just pure coincidence.

He knows he will be wrong.

"Thank you," He says, standing, "You helped me, a lot." He heads back to the door.

"Fox…"

He stops, looking back over at Kia as she lifts herself from the chair. She looks at him with a serious gaze, "Be wary of this twin, Dauntless…for a man who is purely without fear also breathes without regret."

{Dream}_(*#% 996!_Location: Summer_{Dauntless}_Not-For-The-Faint-Of-Heart

When Aiden awakes he is bombarded by a barrage of mucky humidity. The heat pushes at his layered clothing, sizzling the concreate he laid on. He sits up, curious as he looks up at the cosmic sky dyed like burning torchlight; flared red, orange and gold. He hadn't woken in a replica of his bed, strangely enough. Then again, he really shouldn't question any of this anymore. This is his third mind bending adventure and he is determined not to fall for the manipulation.

He stands, noticing from the wicked flashes of wind that he is on the roof of a building. He walks toward the end, staring out at a red-tinted Chicago. It almost looks normal, not like the empty, icy realm that his Emotionless side wandered in.

Looking down he notices how tall the building is, the road and people walking along are barely visible. He begins to move back, only to run into someone. Assuming this to be his new twin he starts to turn but a hands grab his shoulders, shoving him off the edge of the building.

Aiden sucks in a breath as the world blurs, wind rushing past his ears as he hurtles toward the ground. With a sudden wave of panic he braces for impact, smashing into the roof of a car. His eyes shoot open, realizing they had been closed. He looks around, unhurt except for his manically beating heart. He sees the civilians have already retreated.

"It's a dream…it's a dream," He repeats as he hears another car get totaled beside his. The only difference being that the figure that rolls from the wreckage is laughing like a child that just got off a roller coaster. Aiden already knows who it is based on his outfit; dyed a crimson red, black scrawl running down the side of his back: Dauntless.

"God damn that is fun," His twin exclaims, picking his hat off the ground, "Never gets boring."

Aiden pulls himself off the car, feeling no sense of pain, "What the fuck was that for?" He asks his twin.

The man named Dauntless turns, a bizarre grin plastered on his face. It falls just a bit as he looks at Aiden, "What? You didn't think that was fun?"

"Well, considering I would have been dead if this were reality, no, no I did not think it was 'fun'," Aiden answers with narrowed eyes.

Dauntless laughs once, his grin returning, locking his hands behind his head, "Holy shit. So you're the whole picture then? Emotionless mentioned you."

Emotionless mentioned him? They can converse with one another? The hacker shakes his head slowly. This was a dream; there is some kind of universe. He didn't care, play along; get through it.

"What did he say?" Aiden asks with a raised eyebrow.

"He said you were a lost cause," He rolls his eyes, laughing, "I, for one, am impressed. Although you are a bit stiffer than I would have hoped."

"Must be Emotionless." Aiden attempts conversation, walking to him cautiously.

His twin thinks about the statement, nodding, "Yeah…yeah it is isn't it? Heh…I feel bad. He just doesn't get it. Then again, he's infinitely better than Defenseless." He rolls his eyes, heading down the street casually. Aiden follows beside him curiously.

"Defenseless…"

"Don't even worry about him."

"Well—"

"What did I say?" The twin speaks with a sudden sharpness, his eyes hardened as he looks at Aiden.

The hacker questions the abrupt escalation, but mutters, "Alright. So you're my fearless self."

Dauntless almost immediately reverts back to his grin, putting his hands in his pockets, "That's right. Without me you'd be afraid of your own shadow." He speaks with unbridled arrogance, even if it is true.

Aiden feels a sense of irritation, but also familiarity. The way this twin walks and speaks. It reminded him of someone very specific. He looks at Dauntless with a hardened face, "What is your opinion on morality?"

"Ooo, the serious question," The twin reverts to a more depressed tone, suddenly turning on his heels and walking across the street toward a parking lot, "Honestly, all those fancy morals and lessons are not what I need to worry about. There is a fine line between pleasure and pain, my friend. And I am not going to cross if for something as silly as regret."

"Oh my God, you're Jordi," Aiden mutters in realization as Dauntless steps onto the sidewalk, smirking back at Aiden.

"I'm afraid I'm not Jordi."

"Yes you fucking are. You're…" Aiden takes a deep breath, remembering what Kia had said. Her warning. If his twin feared nothing, then he didn't fear punishment, he didn't fear a broken heart or gut wrenching regret, "Forget it."

"Already forgotten, friend." He starts to turn, then stops, eyes meeting Aiden's, "Jordi is a despicable man, yeah, but does that really matter?"

"Yes…it does."

"How so? Wait…don't answer that," Dauntless smirks, "I get the feeling that you don't understand who the fuck you are."

"And you know, exactly? You're part of me, not the whole picture," Aiden is beginning to hate the smug expression on his twin, although it begins to fade at the hacker's defensive tone.

"Woah there, calm down," He says, just a rough, "Why are you so damn fragile? You are capable of so much yet you stop yourself. You're afraid. You fear judgment, don't you? That's the most ignorant thing to fear."

"You call me ignorant?" Aiden laughs, not even caring anymore, "Says the side of me blind to danger. Says the side of me that thinks he can do anything without consequence."

"Oh, please, don't start this with me. You don't want to piss me off," Dauntless narrows his eyes, "If you are talking about the Merlot job that wasn't just my idea. Emotionless had it all planned out and then you ran off, you messed it up."

The Merlot? It feels so long ago. That day everything fell apart. Everything had been set into motion.

"I guess I shouldn't be too pissed about it. I mean, without that I probably wouldn't be so damn prominent now, would I?" Dauntless laughs, it is an unstable sound, like some chemical about to blow, "You've never had to be so fearless until now."

Aiden watches the growing violence in his twin's green eyes. He steps back but Dauntless steps forward. The hacker raises an eyebrow, "What's with that look?"

"Oh…you know…I just don't like how much you've been questioning me. It's getting a bit annoying. Almost like you want to die."

"I've never wanted to die," Aiden says slowly, "But if you want to kill me go on ahead. The first dream already beat you to it. Maybe you can release some of that pent up bitchiness." He shouldn't say that, but he did, and he saw his twin's expression flare then harden.

"No…no I'm not going to kill you," Dauntless says almost joyously, a tinge of amusement in his voice, "But I've got an experiment. How about this: How many bones of yours can I break until you relent and wake up?"

There seems to be a flare in temperature as the twin says this, making the summer heat almost unbearable. Aiden stares, his heart beating faster, "Are you crazy? Nothing is going to hurt me here."

"Then there is nothing to fucking worry about, right? Right?" Dauntless moves closer but Aiden backs up, startled by the pure, malicious aura his twin exudes. He felt the need to fight back, the man is threating him, but he felt no weight on him, his baton isn't with him, neither is his phone or pistol.

"Why…I can't help but think you're afraid of me right now," Dauntless continues to goad as me moves faster, "Almost like you are useless without me. I didn't know it was possible to fear fearlessness."

Fearing fearlessness.

"I think you're crazy," Aiden claims, "But I am not afraid of you."

"I'm not crazy." Dauntless states, his tone shifting completely to seriousness, "I just have no regret."

"That seems like it would be a problem."

"It isn't for you. Is it?" Dauntless glares as Aiden hits a building's wall, "Now you are just contradicting yourself. You have no regrets. That's what makes your stronger. I fail to see why you can't understand that."

"There is more to it than that."

Dauntless smiles. A twisted expression, "You can enlighten me while I break you in half."

Aiden takes no time to second guess his next action of shoving his twin on the ground, taking off down the now abandoned street. The heat is intense, clawing at his skin and sensing. He stumbles, covering his eyes with his arm as a steam pipe explodes by him, smoke roaring through the musty air.

"You know, I always liked moving targets," His twin's voice calls from down the road, somehow heard over the steam, "It's more satisfying when you catch them and shatter their legs."

Aiden has never done that to anyone. At least not to that extent. Torture is something he could never take part in, unless it was necessary like with Maurice. Then again, he keeps failing to remember that this is Dauntless, a man with little to no sympathy or morality. Although, differing from Restless, he enjoyed the hell out of it.

He hears a beeping, seeing a grenade land close to him. He bolts down another alley as it explodes, taking a car with it. His thoughts wander somehow as he races down the strangely lengthened alleys. The first clone killed him, the second just walked away, and the third is mercilessly hunting him down. Maurice could be the first he thinks of, the first he chased down to the brink of his sanity.

If Aiden acted anything like this, that must have been terrifying.

As he runs back into the street he immediately ducks behind a car as bullets fly from just beyond, aimed at his legs. Right. Dauntless didn't want to kill him. Just slow him down.

"Damn, you run pretty fast," The clone comments somewhere close to Aiden's spot, "I hope you don't scream. You don't seem like the type but…then again…without me it must be hard to stop yourself."

Aiden grinds his teeth, getting very sick of his taunting attitude. Regardless he moves about the now abandoned cars. As he moves further he feels a distinct drop in temperature. Distinctly drastic.

He hears his clone growl, apparently feeling it as well, he speaks loud, deliberate, "Well someone feels the need to ruin my fun."

Whatever is ruining this fun, Aiden wants to get closer to it. He looks around, seeing Dauntless nowhere. He notices a store ahead, a toy store, frost covering the windows. He quickly darts toward it, almost immediately getting tackled to the hot asphalt. He just barely registers the familiar sound of his baton, grabbing his clone's wrist before he can use it. He rolls them both to the side, using all his strength to yank him by his arm into a car that's burning hot at this point. Dauntless shoves back, trying to regain control.

Aiden rips the baton from his hand, taking great speed in smacking the weapon across his twin's face before quickly stumbling away, breathing hard. Dauntless is already getting back up, blood slashed on his face. He laughs, laughs like he just escaped a mental hospital. His eyes are bright, livid, "You're going to regret that."

"I regret nothing," Aiden mocks, deadly quiet. He runs across the street and into the store. The suffocating heat retreats instantly into bitter cold. A very familiar cold. Frost and snow cake the stuffed animals and board games as he moves deeper in the store, wondering if he should have blocked the door.

"It'll take him a moment to get in here."

Aiden turns, a man, cloaked in white, sits on the register counter, Emotionless written on his sleeve.

So his inner demons can just traverse dreams and talk to one another? Whatever universe Aiden's mind created, he refused to try and understand it anymore. Instead he focuses on his past twin who plays with a stuffed lamb doll, icy enveloping the fur he touches. The toy rips at Aiden's heart, but certainly not sadness is portrayed on Emotionless, who looks at the doll as if it were a piece of paper or some other insignificant thing. He looks up at Aiden blankly, "I'll answer your first question. My appearance here must have been some cognitive reasoning in the brain to get to through your…situation."

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever…" Aiden's head swivels to the door as it resonates a loud bang.

"He'll break through eventually, even if it be by stubborn pride as his weapon," Emotionless says, "You'll have to break yourself from this realm. If not you may suffer brain damage."

"Am I seriously at risk for that?"

Emotionless shrugs, "Humans get put in mental asylums for illusions, you know. Don't let him catch you."

"Well what exactly am I supposed to do?"

Emotionless ponders this, tossing the lamb doll aside, "Use your reasoning, Culmination. How did you break from your dreams before?"

"I killed Restless," Aiden answers as the door bangs again, "And you just let me go."

"Well Dauntless won't kill you, but he won't let you go," Emotionless states, "Perhaps try the thing you know best."

Aiden looks down at the ice-covered floor, then back, "Kill him?"

"Yes. Hilarious isn't it?" Emotionless says dryly, stepping off the counter, "Defeating him could rip you from you dreaming state. So is getting caught although I'm sure you'd prefer the other option."

"I would," Aiden agrees, "But I don't have a weapon, and I don't think the baton is good enough."

Emotionless looks to Aiden with a condescending roll of the eyes, "Have you figured out yet that this is your hallucinations, Culmination? And a lucid one at that. You can manipulate your surroundings, from what I gather about that. How do you think I got here?"

His logical twin brings up a point Aiden sadly didn't consider. It is his dream, isn't it?

In a split second the door behind shatters, an explosion sending Aiden to the back of the store. As he regains himself he hears two identical voices, one sounding very displeased.

"You know you ruin all the fun, right?" He assumes it Dauntless, his voice like iron.

"Fun is just a means to gain some emotional pleasure. I don't need fun and neither do you. You need to do your job, not repress such stupid aggression."

He hears Dauntless scoff, "Spare me. I'll never get this chance again. It'll be funny, you can watch."

"I don't find anything funny. You'll hurt his logic."

"That won't happen! He'll just have a headache."

"You are a headache."

Aiden stifles a laugh before realizing he is listening to an argument between two versions of himself. He shakes his head violently, looking around. He sees the lamb doll Emotionless had thrown, slowly taking it as he hears Dauntless shove and shuffle through the frost and snow, Emotionless speaking something but is melts like ice in the sun.

Fearing fearlessness.

Without me you'd be afraid of your own shadow.

Aiden lifts up a pistol, colored white, but he doesn't notice. Dauntless stops as Aiden aims, standing.

"What the Hell are you doing?"

Aiden stares down his twin, "Have you ever thought that it is OK to be afraid sometimes?"

Dauntless, just before going completely insane, watches Aiden with an even gaze, his muscles relaxing, watching down the barrel of the weapon with courage absolute. He holds up his hands, smiling, "Can't say I have, friend."

"Maybe people are afraid of being afraid. That if they fear they are weak…" Aiden is babbling at this point. He focuses back on Dauntless, who slowly nods.

"Shoot," He commands, "Do it. I dare you."

Aiden sets his jaw, obeying his request.

{Hack}_8033_The Loop_{Pearce}_Beware-the-fire

Aiden rips himself from his sleep after hearing the gunshot, practically drenched in sweat. He moves off the bed, taking slow and relaxed breaths. For a few moments all he does is listen to the quiet humming of hard drives, running a shaking hand through his damp hair.

"Why does this happen to me?" Aiden mutters to no one in particular as he pulls himself up, shoving open the boxcar door and letting cool autumn air in. Whatever was going on in his head, it isn't going to end from the looks of it.

Dauntless is all that uncaring recklessness about him, the type that enjoyed the suffering and death he causes. Is that him? No. No it isn't. Only a part of him.

He grabs a jacket, walking out into the chill. He knew exactly where he needs to go.