Chewie and Chouji were just a mile north of Home. Walking though a patch of trees and rocks that was the closest to a 'forest' the Wyoming desert had to offer.
"Where did they say she was?", Chewie asked.
"I don't have a single clue Chewie.", Chouji answered. He stopped to light a cigarette. "They just said she was hanging out here somewhere."
"I can't imagine where. I've been out here a ton of times and have never seen anyone that's not a drone or doll. Or a place where they could hide, let alone live.", Chewie argued.
"Well can't we just use the hivemind of something?", Chouji offered.
"I don't think she's a butterfly.", Chewie answered. "So we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."
Chewie paused for a second and searched the surroundings. Looking for footprints, disturbed foilage, garbage, anything that might determine that someone was living in the area. Chouji just watched. This was going to take a while. But then he got an idea.
"HEY RENE!", Chouji belted. "GET OUT HERE WE NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"
Chewie turned and looked at Chouji in a bit of shock at the sudden yelling spree. Then he just rolled his eyes.
"Well now that we've told the entire desert where we are. I'm sure we'll find something. Don't know if we'll survive in this terrain but hey, you won't know until you try right?", Chewie sarcastically said. He kept ranting for a few more minutes. Then they both heard the the familiar clicking of a weapon. A shotgun to be exact. The two slowly turned around and each had a scary view of the double barrel that was pointed directly at them. Behind it was Rene.
Rene was fairly new to the butterflies. She had heard the rumors and bits of stories about them on the internet. She figured it was just some kind of crack fanfiction. An odd bit of writing that everyone was pretending to be real. Afterwards though, her days seemed to be getting shorter. Her nights staying dark a little longer. And what started as a simple story she read on the internet, became something much worse. Something that was only really theorized about. A creature that seemed to be at the core of all these events. All the symptoms were there. The coughing fits, the paranoia, the lapses in time.
This couldn't be real.
Until she stumbled upon Home.
One evening she had lost track of time and found herself running home from her school library. Only to be met by the abomination. It's appearance wasn't so terrifying as was its existence. For this thing to be real. To be standing in front of her. That was what made her run. She ended up doubling back and running between two fences that made a narrow walkway between the suburban yards. Eventually she tripped and landed on the ground. When she got up she saw the tall building that was Home. The rising moon was just enough to light the edges of the immense building.
She walked around the outside a few times, unable to find any doors or windows. Eventually she walked off trying to find shelter for the night. But she ended up running away from something worse than the common coyotes of the desert. The thing that has chased her back home was not chasing her here. Suddenly she heard a strange noise.
A song.
As she ran toward the music the monster seemed to stay back.
Feeling less panicked she slowed down to catch her breath when the ground collapsed and dropped her into a hidden sanctum. The music was very loud here. She got up and dusted herself off to find the source. The moonlight streaming in gave her something to see with. On the opposite side of this place was a little blinking red light. Following it she could see the faint image of a tape player. It was blasting a recording of a piano played tune. She didn't recognize it. When she stopped the tape the entire place lit up. Lights went on, computers started up and she found herself in a mini laboratory. Despite everything, the oddest thing she found was a shelf by itself. With nothing but a large set of headphones, tapes, a ton of AA batteries and an old fashioned walkman.
Now Rene stood there with her headphones on. Blasting some Bob Dylan from the walkman. Pointing a gun at Chewie and Chouji. Both of them held up their hands. She had them at point blank range.
"Woah, woah.", Chewie started. "We're not going to hurt you."
Rene was clearly spooked. It didn't matter that she couldn't hear a thing they were saying. She still had never used a gun before. And it was noticeable. She was shaking a bit and occasionally changing her sight from one to the other.
"Are you Rene?", Chewie asked.
Rene kept her stance. Not responding to the question. Chewie tried to walk toward her. She aimed low and accidently pulled the trigger. Chewie lept back. Chouji quickly dark misted to her side and pulled the shotgun out of her hands. Rene, terrified fell down and looked up at him. Her eyes were almost pleading for help. Chouji unloaded the gun, and put his cigarette out. Then he looked right at Rene and pointed to his ears.
"Take. Off. Your. Headphones. We. Just. Want. To. Talk.", He elaborated. Rene complied and stopped the tape.
"Are you proxies?", Rene asked.
Chouji looked at her oddly. "Proxies?", he laughed. "Nope, we're something much worse. We're butterflies! BOOGDIE BOOGDIE!" Chouji motioned a faux creepy pose and continued to laugh.
"Quit scaring the girl", Chewie insisted. He turned to Rene and offered a hand up. "My name is Chewie. This is Chouji. We heard you we're out here." Rene cautiously took his hand. Chewie helped her up. Rene had a look of relief on her face. As if she had finally found what she was looking for.
"Butterflies. Finally.", she started. "Quick! We need to get inside. It's not safe right now. It's too hot, and too bright." Rene ran off past a few rocks, she doubled back only to yell, "Bring the gun!" to Chouji. The two butterflies followed Rene to a wall of boulders. She knocked on one a few times and it revealed a doorway into the rock.
"Come on! Quick! It's on a timer.", Rene insisted. Chouji and Chewie ran in and Rene followed. Moments later the doorway closed.
Inside was Rene's adopted home. A single room, larger than average. A rather clean and comfortable spot considering where it was. The once clean walls were filled with various drawings and sketches. Another had a cot with a box for a bedside table. The other walls were filled with various labwork and said materials. A single table resided in the middle of the room. The general workstation for the place. The ceiling was just an inch or so taller than Chewie. Over all this room was very much an elaborate hole in the ground.
"Did you build all of this?", Chewie asked.
"Nope. Found it this way.", Rene answered.
Chouji examined all the sketches on the wall. They were mostly black and white. Filled with various rantings and rough edges.
"So do you have them?", Rene asked.
"Have what?", Chewie questioned.
"The vials? The ones Zander got from Help3r.", Rene pressed.
Chewie looked at her oddly. "How did you know about that?"
"Hivemind.", she simply responded.
Chewie looked at her in surprise. "So, you're a butterfly too then?"
"I'm honestly not sure. But I've been hearing you guys a lot lately. Lots going on. Now give them to me and I'll test them.", Rene said.
Chewie wasn't sure what to make of this. But since Chouji and him had been sent out to find this scientific butterfly that Izzie kept seeing. They figured it was a good idea to keep the vials handy. Seeing as how they may be able to figure out exactly what exactly Help3r was testing. He handed over the vials. Rene quickly scooped them up and got to work.
"I'm not sure how long this will take. You might want to make yourselves comfortable.", Rene said. Seeing as how there was no other place but the cot to sit down on, Chewie opted to just stand.
"Hey Chewie, come here.", Chouji called.
Chewie walked over to the drawing wall Chouji had been studying.
"You see this?", Chouji motioned.
There were drawings of everyone on the wall. Every butterfly had their own drawing. And around this were various other scrawlings. Ones that looked like Help3r. Others that were sketches of the dolls and drones. But one corner of the wall was black with ink. A tall figure. With no face. And tentacle like appendages that spread from its back and out among the other nearby drawings. Both of them looked at each other. A new threat was apparently just outside their doorstep now. A new respect for Rene had come over them. Her behavior had all the earmarks of someone who was being stalked by Slender Man. They didn't know for how long this had been going on. But under the circumstances she seemed pretty together with that kind of stress around her.
"Chewie!", Rene exclaimed. She was suddenly right next to the two men and nearly scared the hell out of them.
"Yeah Rene?", Chewie hesitantly asked.
"Can I have a sample of your blood please?", Rene asked.
"Uh.....no?", Chewie answered.
"I need it to check something.", Rene offered. "Come on Chewie I only need a little bit."
"Testing against the stuff in the vial huh?", Chewie insinuated.
"Yes.", Rene agreed.
Chewie sighed, "Alright." He didn't like it but he understood why. "Just, don't make me regret this."
Many hours went by while Rene tested. Chewie and Chouji sat next to each other on the hard floor. Sometimes quiet, sometimes talking. They kept most of their words and thoughts to themselves. They still weren't quite sure about Rene's condition.
"Oh wow.", Rene finally offered.
"What's up?", Chouji asked.
"This is....it's strange.", Rene retorted.
Chewie and Chouji walked over to Rene. She stood aside and offered for them to look at the mini TV screen next to a microscope.
"Okay so this is your blood Chewie." The screen showed deep rich purple corpuscles and platelets. They seemed to be elongated and mildly warped. What was on the slide looked a lot like blood but the color was completely off. Rene replaced the current slide with another under the scope.
"And this is what was in your vial." The two looked the same.
"Now this is was was in Dox's vial." Rene switched slides again. The screen showed a dark red version of what they had just seen. But it looked much more normal than the Chewie's blood.
"I'm think it's safe to assume that your blood is in this your labled vial, and so is Dox's in his. But this is where it gets really weird."
Rene removed the slide of Dox's sample and placed Mesay's sample under the microscope. The TV shined a bright blue. The corpuscles were almost transparent looking and very smooth.
"This is from Mesay's vial.", Rene explained. "All three are different but Dox's vial is the only one with normal looking blood.", Rene continued. "I also took a sample of my own blood. It looks just like Chewie's. Yours would probably be the same Chouji."
"So what does this mean then?", Chouji asked.
"Well it's only a theory but I bet that the butterflies' blood is all the same. Somehow by being butterflies we are all slightly altered. Which would also explain the strange abilities and such. Maybe that's also why..." Rene trailed off. Her mind going into theory upon theory. Chewie and Chouji were trying to get their heads around the whole thing. This wasn't just an ability. This was a real part of them. This was in their blood. And if it changed their blood. Who knows what they any of them really were now. Rene was still going off on tangents when Chewie finally interrupted.
"Rene!", Chewie hollared. "If Dox's blood is normal. Then would that make him not a butterfly anymore?"
Rene thought for a second. "Well I suppose so. He has normal human blood, different from yours or mine. So yeah, I guess he's just a normal person now."
"That might explain why he can't understand us now.", Chewie continued.
"And why I couldn't get into Home.", Rene offered.
"What do you mean?", Chewie asked.
"When I first got here, I couldn't get into Home. I found it but I couldn't get inside. I bet I was a normal human too at the time.", she paused. "Hey! I bet I can come into Home now!"
"And that's why Help3r hasn't attacked Home directly. He can't get in. He's not one of Roivas' butterflies.", Chewie concluded.
"Hey Chewie?", Chouji started. "If Rene couldn't get into Home because she wasn't a butterfly, then what will happen to Dox now that he's in Home but not a butterfly anymore?"
Chewie thought of this for a second. Then recognized Dox's recent problems. Non-butterflies aren't allowed inside of Home. Dox is no longer a butterfly.
"We need to get Dox out of Home.", Chewie said out loud. "Rene we need to get you to come with us. Get us out of here and we'll take you back."
Rene's face lit up. She was ecstatic that she would finally get to go inside of Home. She would finally be able to feel safe and secure again. Surrounded by friends. By family. The three rushed out of the underground room and hurried back. Rene's comforting thoughts would be short lived. Dox was in trouble.
They all were.
Now Rene stood there with her headphones on. Blasting some Bob Dylan from the walkman. Pointing a gun at Chewie and Chouji. Both of them held up their hands. She had them at point blank range.
"Woah, woah.", Chewie started. "We're not going to hurt you."
Rene was clearly spooked. It didn't matter that she couldn't hear a thing they were saying. She still had never used a gun before. And it was noticeable. She was shaking a bit and occasionally changing her sight from one to the other.
"Are you Rene?", Chewie asked.
Rene kept her stance. Not responding to the question. Chewie tried to walk toward her. She aimed low and accidently pulled the trigger. Chewie lept back. Chouji quickly dark misted to her side and pulled the shotgun out of her hands. Rene, terrified fell down and looked up at him. Her eyes were almost pleading for help. Chouji unloaded the gun, and put his cigarette out. Then he looked right at Rene and pointed to his ears.
"Take. Off. Your. Headphones. We. Just. Want. To. Talk.", He elaborated. Rene complied and stopped the tape.
"Are you proxies?", Rene asked.
Chouji looked at her oddly. "Proxies?", he laughed. "Nope, we're something much worse. We're butterflies! BOOGDIE BOOGDIE!" Chouji motioned a faux creepy pose and continued to laugh.
"Quit scaring the girl", Chewie insisted. He turned to Rene and offered a hand up. "My name is Chewie. This is Chouji. We heard you we're out here." Rene cautiously took his hand. Chewie helped her up. Rene had a look of relief on her face. As if she had finally found what she was looking for.
"Butterflies. Finally.", she started. "Quick! We need to get inside. It's not safe right now. It's too hot, and too bright." Rene ran off past a few rocks, she doubled back only to yell, "Bring the gun!" to Chouji. The two butterflies followed Rene to a wall of boulders. She knocked on one a few times and it revealed a doorway into the rock.
"Come on! Quick! It's on a timer.", Rene insisted. Chouji and Chewie ran in and Rene followed. Moments later the doorway closed.
Inside was Rene's adopted home. A single room, larger than average. A rather clean and comfortable spot considering where it was. The once clean walls were filled with various drawings and sketches. Another had a cot with a box for a bedside table. The other walls were filled with various labwork and said materials. A single table resided in the middle of the room. The general workstation for the place. The ceiling was just an inch or so taller than Chewie. Over all this room was very much an elaborate hole in the ground.
"Did you build all of this?", Chewie asked.
"Nope. Found it this way.", Rene answered.
Chouji examined all the sketches on the wall. They were mostly black and white. Filled with various rantings and rough edges.
"So do you have them?", Rene asked.
"Have what?", Chewie questioned.
"The vials? The ones Zander got from Help3r.", Rene pressed.
Chewie looked at her oddly. "How did you know about that?"
"Hivemind.", she simply responded.
Chewie looked at her in surprise. "So, you're a butterfly too then?"
"I'm honestly not sure. But I've been hearing you guys a lot lately. Lots going on. Now give them to me and I'll test them.", Rene said.
Chewie wasn't sure what to make of this. But since Chouji and him had been sent out to find this scientific butterfly that Izzie kept seeing. They figured it was a good idea to keep the vials handy. Seeing as how they may be able to figure out exactly what exactly Help3r was testing. He handed over the vials. Rene quickly scooped them up and got to work.
"I'm not sure how long this will take. You might want to make yourselves comfortable.", Rene said. Seeing as how there was no other place but the cot to sit down on, Chewie opted to just stand.
"Hey Chewie, come here.", Chouji called.
Chewie walked over to the drawing wall Chouji had been studying.
"You see this?", Chouji motioned.
There were drawings of everyone on the wall. Every butterfly had their own drawing. And around this were various other scrawlings. Ones that looked like Help3r. Others that were sketches of the dolls and drones. But one corner of the wall was black with ink. A tall figure. With no face. And tentacle like appendages that spread from its back and out among the other nearby drawings. Both of them looked at each other. A new threat was apparently just outside their doorstep now. A new respect for Rene had come over them. Her behavior had all the earmarks of someone who was being stalked by Slender Man. They didn't know for how long this had been going on. But under the circumstances she seemed pretty together with that kind of stress around her.
"Chewie!", Rene exclaimed. She was suddenly right next to the two men and nearly scared the hell out of them.
"Yeah Rene?", Chewie hesitantly asked.
"Can I have a sample of your blood please?", Rene asked.
"Uh.....no?", Chewie answered.
"I need it to check something.", Rene offered. "Come on Chewie I only need a little bit."
"Testing against the stuff in the vial huh?", Chewie insinuated.
"Yes.", Rene agreed.
Chewie sighed, "Alright." He didn't like it but he understood why. "Just, don't make me regret this."
***
"Oh wow.", Rene finally offered.
"What's up?", Chouji asked.
"This is....it's strange.", Rene retorted.
Chewie and Chouji walked over to Rene. She stood aside and offered for them to look at the mini TV screen next to a microscope.
"Okay so this is your blood Chewie." The screen showed deep rich purple corpuscles and platelets. They seemed to be elongated and mildly warped. What was on the slide looked a lot like blood but the color was completely off. Rene replaced the current slide with another under the scope.
"And this is what was in your vial." The two looked the same.
"Now this is was was in Dox's vial." Rene switched slides again. The screen showed a dark red version of what they had just seen. But it looked much more normal than the Chewie's blood.
"I'm think it's safe to assume that your blood is in this your labled vial, and so is Dox's in his. But this is where it gets really weird."
Rene removed the slide of Dox's sample and placed Mesay's sample under the microscope. The TV shined a bright blue. The corpuscles were almost transparent looking and very smooth.
"This is from Mesay's vial.", Rene explained. "All three are different but Dox's vial is the only one with normal looking blood.", Rene continued. "I also took a sample of my own blood. It looks just like Chewie's. Yours would probably be the same Chouji."
"So what does this mean then?", Chouji asked.
"Well it's only a theory but I bet that the butterflies' blood is all the same. Somehow by being butterflies we are all slightly altered. Which would also explain the strange abilities and such. Maybe that's also why..." Rene trailed off. Her mind going into theory upon theory. Chewie and Chouji were trying to get their heads around the whole thing. This wasn't just an ability. This was a real part of them. This was in their blood. And if it changed their blood. Who knows what they any of them really were now. Rene was still going off on tangents when Chewie finally interrupted.
"Rene!", Chewie hollared. "If Dox's blood is normal. Then would that make him not a butterfly anymore?"
Rene thought for a second. "Well I suppose so. He has normal human blood, different from yours or mine. So yeah, I guess he's just a normal person now."
"That might explain why he can't understand us now.", Chewie continued.
"And why I couldn't get into Home.", Rene offered.
"What do you mean?", Chewie asked.
"When I first got here, I couldn't get into Home. I found it but I couldn't get inside. I bet I was a normal human too at the time.", she paused. "Hey! I bet I can come into Home now!"
"And that's why Help3r hasn't attacked Home directly. He can't get in. He's not one of Roivas' butterflies.", Chewie concluded.
"Hey Chewie?", Chouji started. "If Rene couldn't get into Home because she wasn't a butterfly, then what will happen to Dox now that he's in Home but not a butterfly anymore?"
Chewie thought of this for a second. Then recognized Dox's recent problems. Non-butterflies aren't allowed inside of Home. Dox is no longer a butterfly.
"We need to get Dox out of Home.", Chewie said out loud. "Rene we need to get you to come with us. Get us out of here and we'll take you back."
Rene's face lit up. She was ecstatic that she would finally get to go inside of Home. She would finally be able to feel safe and secure again. Surrounded by friends. By family. The three rushed out of the underground room and hurried back. Rene's comforting thoughts would be short lived. Dox was in trouble.
They all were.
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