I hunched in due to the chill on my cheek and my hands grasped normal fabric. Didn’t even notice having been unravelled, mild discomfort was what brought it to my attention. I lamented the loss of perfect ambient warmth.

I saw two shiny specs facing me from the other side of the room. I was used to being discarded after use, and normally that was preferable. However, this time I felt like crawling back onto his lap. It was odd to have all this distance after spending hours intertwined.

It was dark outside the window but still loud outside, which told me it wasn’t all that late yet. The house itself stood eerily still. Completely unlike it was housing ten other people.

I sat up, licking dry lips with sandpaper. Was delighted to find glowing pot by the bedside again. I reached for it eagerly and gulped down. Felt like haven’t had a drink for days, which was not far off. Splitting headache only seconded the notion. Whilst food could be optional, I should take care to ingest water regularly. It was dead of winter for fuck’s sake. There was no fathomable reason to go thirsting.

Nor apparently, hunger. Familiar shapes sat on the bedside surface. I devoured the stuffed the bun right after setting down the rejuvenating light source.

Also, there was a yet another coin on the ledge. Significance of it stung me something bitter. Shouldn’t I be the one paying monster anyway? Was my dumb idea and the request.

I didn’t touch the newest denomination. The kids will pocket this one and put to good use. Military men in the lab seemed extremely thrilled by the sight of shiny metal, which revealed it was indeed valuable. How all those smart people overlooked I could barely produce urine at the time was beyond me.

Finished chewing, licked my revived lips and tried again, “Where’s everybody?”

“Asleep.”

I picked up the other meat bun and saw it missing a chunk. Stared at it dumbly. Surely monster wasn’t the one to sample local delicacies. Sluggish mind barely bothered to turn the cogs, but it got there eventually. Of course these kids wouldn’t pass by a chance to eat.

“They’re… okay?”

“Yes. One will be aware upon waking unless you want something done about it.”

I sighed so deeply my lungs might as well be bottomless. Being a puppet master with power to cause brain damage was not something I aspire to be. “This is fine for now,” I gritted out. Was it? Even keeping them asleep was enforcing my will upon my former friends. It wasn’t for their sake. I just didn’t want to deal with the fall out.

Rubbed my temples and snapped my head up, remembering rest of the issues which were to arrive with dawn. There was whole night still, but to me it felt like long enough time has passed. Intensive staring into dark corners did indeed reveal shadows which shouldn’t yet be.

I grabbed mostly empty jug and rushed to the nearest torpid figure. A woman. In fact, the same one Ruby had rescued from being taken along with me. I perked up to ask, but my blossoming good spirits were rudely crushed. “She is empty,” demon stated absolutely matter-of-factly.

I plopped backwards on my ass, one arm going around the knees and the other pulling the hair away from the face. This was no surprise - I already knew they’d be severely damaged. I guess I didn’t believe it. Still hoped. However, the way demon said it made me realise there was nothing of the person left. If woken, this shell wouldn’t be same girl desperately afraid of fire. Girl who wouldn’t smoke no matter how fashionable it was because she was afraid of matches and ember. She’d often cough because she’d refuse to get close to heating if we used flame. This form, who even was this? Just some stranger who’d never tried paying us for odd cup of tea or boiling water. Potentially happy, unrelated individual. I lamented loss of a friend. Regardless of this looking like her, it was not.

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This was so unfair.

What was the point of him getting shot, then? And me - taken? What if I remained paralysed with fear whilst her and some other no-longer-restorable person would have died somewhere far away instead? The rest wouldn’t have been hurt. City wouldn’t have been wiped. Small choice which ruined so many lives.

I moved lantern to see who else would be completely lost to time, dreading to see an empty red head. Each new face caused pang of grief, but none were him. Here my feelings turned into pure horror. Not even a scrap would be recovered? It wouldn’t matter if he didn’t remember me, I did. And I still owed him so much.

“Is this all?” my voice cracked upon the demand.

“No. By the morning there will be four others.”

“If you already have them and they’ll have zero recollections, what’s the delay?”

“I still need to make sure the creations know speech and have understanding of common interactions.”

Rubbed my face and felt like going back to sleep.

“Moreover, most notable experiences aren’t entirely lost due to their repeat prevalence. Families. Sentimental items. Violence. Pain. Fears. I need your guidance incorporating fragments of those. We can work on emulating whatever personalities you want them to have as well.”

“Ufff…” I breathed out everything I had but the problems didn’t run out along with the air. This was not any better. Having no concrete memory besides some massive trauma? Did I really want the girl to have irrational fear of stove without context? Wouldn’t clean slate be better?

Who was I to decide any of this?

I tossed around in bed some more, pondering about propriety of all this. Another terrifying thought which was persistently knocking onto forefront of my cognition was that I didn’t know her name. No matter how hard I tried to recall, or imagine how I must have called all those times before, nothing came up. I knew that I knew, but beneath that conviction was an empty space. What other things I thought I remember just fine for that to be wrong?

Citrine is going on about her day assuming everything’s in order too. And yet she’s far less combative and dare I say, reliable now. Before, harsh-featured teenager would have stood by Dentist’s side with shoulders squared ready to fend off trouble quite physically.

I was just like them. Copy with erroneous contents. A mere recreation - twice over.

Was this why Great Nervous System Slumbering In The Depths lost his shit when snail barfed me up? Without wanting to, I understood some of it now. Be it a pet, toy or spectacle of a person, I did die there. Got mangled and corrupted.

“Was this part of your plan? Showing me how defective the copies are.”

“Simply telling you would have sufficed,” bottomless pit of patience pointed out and was of course correct. Even I started noticing flaws inside of myself. This entire puppetry was unnecessary, unless as a leverage.

I’m all that’s left. He could be genuinely trying to make amends, please me. After all, happy people don’t go razing everything in line of sight. And it was but a minor gesture of favour from one such as him.

Was it minor though? Little showed on this red-eyed appendage, so I couldn’t really judge about the stress this exercise could be causing, but the task was taking him days. Absurdly short amount of time to revive someone in my opinion, but nobody asked me. Everybody already knew it would be even quicker had godlike being not been injured.

Anyway. None of this was bringing me any closer to solving my dilemmas. This was far too big for my small frame. I’ll definitely need help.

“Please wake Citrine and Tom,” I asked and hoisted myself up to go downstairs and have a difficult introductory conversation, then another in-depth one about fates of the hunched husks. Perhaps throw more coal into the pit somewhere along the way. It was chilly.

Out in the common room everybody lay haphazardly strewn across the furniture and floors. Citrine was shaking somebody to awaken, but that was beyond her capabilities. Tom still sat where he’s been passed out and observed the mayhem quietly. Having sight hadn’t changed this man much.

“They’re okay,” I said lightly gripping panicking girl’s shoulder.

“But… No! Dancy screamed s’thing ‘bout monsters, then errybody became like this! Should we…”

“It’s all fine,” I assured, squeezing her clammy hand in both of mine. “I’ll explain everything. This time for reals. Let’s go and sit down.” I pulled her up and stunned woman followed wordlessly. I saw my former buddies exchange loaded glances. They were both scared shitless and ready to choke me out at any sign of danger. I turned away and fussed with smouldering coals until they covered new ones.

“Wha’s going on?” Citrine’s patience frayed first.

“You two are already aware that the blondey isn’t all human. The thing is, he’s completely something else.”

“He’s a monster?!” Citrine mouthed wide-eyed. Whether it was disbelief, fear or both I couldn’t be sure.

I shrugged and nodded as if this was an everyday occurrence. No biggie. Just a friendly neighbourhood’s bogeyman. Keep these people focused, “What he is is largely unimportant. He’s helping.”

“Why?” Tom’s words were sharp cut and to the point.

Yeah, let’s not get into the conversation where all of this was monster’s fault. “Because I asked,” I answered as vaguely as I could, but that unsurprisingly to all prompted another why. “I’m still hoping to meet Ruby,” I explained plainly.

“Where is he? Is he still coming?” They both asked simultaneously. The important questions answers to which I didn’t have. Or did I? There won’t be a better time to face reality. I rubbed my face and nursed sudden urge to stick my head into the fire.

“Chances are low, and even if that happens he’ll probably be injured beyond recognition.”

“These bodies are brand new, are they not?” Tom’s unspoken disbelief was tangible like the ground on which I sat. Quiet man figured out bits and pieces for himself and was attempting to catch me in a lie. If only his suspicions were correct, things would be easier.

I tapped finger to my temple, “In here. Turns out, restoring body is simple. Not so much when there’s nothing left to work with.” I let that sink in until their faces started betraying forming questions. I cut that off at the root, “That’s where your help is necessary. There are new people, but their heads are far too vacant… I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean?”

I went on explaining the conundrum. They sort of got it, but I still saw aplenty disbelief on the shadowy faces. Or was it the fool’s hope? They wanted their friends back, and that seemed to be far too attainable. My incomprehensible babble was in the way. I pondered, but there was nothing else to say besides inviting them upstairs.