"𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕔𝕜 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪."

Eudaimonia

It was ridiculous how hard this human was to kill. It was never this hard, just consisted of tricking them, luring them into the place it currently took as its haunt, and then leading them to death. Simple. Unchanging. Sure, there were times when it needed to drop a hunt because its prey was too unpredictable, too eager to put a hole in its chest, but the times that it was bad enough to consider so were few and far between.

Mark was certainly not in that group. 3 still had the human fooled into thinking it was Cesar and not something wearing him as a disguise. Even so, he was always on high alert. It'd had to go back home after the night was over, and for the next weeks, it'd tried to make excuses to meet with the human, to have a place to kill him in. It worked, but still Mark didn't let down his guard.

It was... Sort of nice. The way the human was treating it.

Where did that thought come from? Whatever, it didn't have time for this. 3 knew that it wouldn't be long until Father came to check up on it and its progress. It had always been the runt of the alternates, the only one who Father had to fix. The one who had something to prove. Let the rest of the alternates say what they wanted to say, but it was just as good, no, better than them.

It wasn't a failure, wasn't a mistake. Then... why was this human so hard to kill?

Its best shot came to it accidentally. Mark had made an off-hand mention of having another sleepover sometime soon, but 3 hadn't particularly put much thought into it actually happening. The only reason it'd been allowed into his house was because of the human's urge to help, and now than things had settled down, there would be no purpose in it.

Not like there was any beforehand. After all, humans were ridiculously sentimental, social creatures.

Unexpectedly though, Mark kept his word. Four months after the day it had taken over his best friend's identity, the human called again, asking if 'Cesar' wanted to sleep over next week. He sounded calmer, less like he was expecting things to go wrong the moment he looked away. He thought that there had been no alternate attacks, and was letting himself grow comfortable with this fact.

Perfect.

Soon enough, the week was over, and it was time for the sleepover. Time for the human to die. It couldn't get to Mark's house fast enough, eager to get this long hunt done and over with.

So what if it arrived a bit earlier than what the human expected? It wasn’t like he'd mind. From the time they'd spent together, it was even more obvious to it how much Mark cared about Cesar. It... Wasn't the time to think about that.

Mark turned towards the door, eyes narrowed. He'd expected Cesar a bit later, but if his friend wanted to come over sooner, then that was alright. He opened the door, smiling.

"Cesar! I wasn't expecting you for another thirty minutes, but it's fine. Come in, man."

He put a hand on Cesar's back, leading him into the house. This was going to be fun, he'd just ordered a large pizza for the two of them, and he had the DVD for Home Alone set up. All that was sure to lead to a relaxing, fun sleepover, and a way for his friend to get his mind off his mom. It was concerning how she was still in the hospital, but she had her fair share of years on her. Hopefully she'd be out soon.

The evening went by in a flash, spent telling jokes to each other, catching up. Having fun. 3 found itself actually enjoying the time spent with the human, its smile not a trick for once. It was nice, to just have a relaxing time with someone, eating junk food and watching a good movie.

It almost made what it was going to do seem cruel. But it was just... What it was made for.

And then it was time for bed. This time, Mark took the bed, offering 'Cesar' a sleeping bag and a pillow. They settled in quickly, and it wasn't long until it could hear soft, rhythmic breathing. The human was asleep. 3 moved agonizingly slow, stalking out of the sleeping bag and onto the bed in which Mark laid, unaware of his coming fate. Its hands, which had been human until moments prior, shifted into claws, dark and sharp. It raised a hand up, ready to strike at the unsuspecting human's neck and end his life.

This was it. Then... Why couldn't it bring its hand down? Why was it hesitating? This was its purpose. Its mission, given to it by Father. To kill and terrorize humankind.

But... If Mark was gone, then who'd spend time with it? Who would laugh, loud and wholly, about some stupid thing it did? Who would hug it, tell it how much it mattered to him?

Who would care for it?

The alternate stilled, eyes caught on Mark's sleeping frame. It couldn't go through with it. It couldn't kill him.

Betrayer. Failure.

Its hand went back to harmless, human, gently patting Mark's head before making its way to the sleeping bag. It looked at the ceiling, searching for an answer, for anything to do.

3 didn't sleep that night.