Knock knock knock!

"Nobody's home!" Oscar called out. He never glanced up from his bottles, if the visitor was someone he knew, they'd know what to do.

The door opened anyway, and footsteps entered the house. Oscar payed no attention. Then another pair of feet followed. And another. And another.

This finally caught the Craftsman's attention. He set the bottles down, stood still, and listened...

Nothing. Oscar reached for a necklace on the wall beside him, but before he could reach it, a sharp blade scraped the back of his neck.

Oscar cried out and gripped his scruff as he stumbled away, knocking the necklace onto the ground. He spun around and stared at the figure in the corner of the room. Dare smiled at the crimson blood dripping off the end of his dagger.

"That felt good," he wandered forwards and wiped the blood on Oscar's sleeve. "It's been a while since I've torn the flesh of another," Dare whispered.

"D-Dare," Oscar stared at him in feigned disbelief. His constant nervous behavior did not betray the fact that he already knew Dare had been freed. "How... when did you-"

"Oh, you know," Dare waved the blade casually, narrowly missing Oscar's face more than once. "I've been out of commission for a few years. I just felt a little... stuck, if you know what I mean. Finally got my foot out the door a couple of days ago,"

"What do you want from me?" Oscar demanded, turning to his workbench in search of a bandage. "I can't make you invincible. I can't travel through time. And I definitely can't make anyone fall in love with you. Other than that, name it,"

"I want Scary," Dare whispered, stepping close to Oscar and hissing in his ear. "I want to finish what I failed to do, eighty years ago,"

"So Scary is free too?" Oscar asked, allowing a hint of hope to sneak into his tone. "I haven't seen him,"

Dare observed the Craftsman carefully, eventually concluding that Oscar was telling the truth. He straightened up, and turned to the door. "We'll be sticking around, so don't get your hopes up. Skelitin will be dead the moment his face enters my line of sight,"

"I won't be telling you if I see him," Oscar replied calmly. He found a potion among his possessions, and took a sip. The bleeding stopped, but the cut remained.

Dare watched the effect, before nodding slowly. "I expected as much. You always were a team player. Weren't you, Oscar?"

Oscar faced his old friend, and new enemy, for several seconds. But he turned away, telling Dare that he was no longer worth a reply.

Dare sighed, and turned to go, but something caught his eye on the workbench. A spot of jet black.

In a split second he crossed the room and seized the tuft of hair from the counter. He knew it anywhere. The smell as he lifted it in his palm. The feel as he attempted to crush it into nothingness in his fist.

"You said you hadn't seen him," Dare growled, letting the hair fall to the floorboards.

"See who?"

"Don't lie to me, Oscar," Dare snapped, leaning up against the table and grabbing a random potion off of the shelf. "We know he was here,"

"Who was here?" Oscar asked.

Lutherious, Ava, and Red entered the room, behind Oscar.

"Here's an idea," Red flicked her curly red hair out of her face, and made her way around the skinny man. She leaned against Dare's shoulder and stared at Oscar with scorching red eyes. "Why don't you tell us?" She replied softly.

Dare looked at Red, slightly confused by her proximity, but she did not move away. She kept her lightly freckled nose an inch from his, until he turned back to look at Oscar. "Who did you just get a visit from, old friend?"

"I, long ago, ceased being your friend, Dare," Oscar replied evenly. "It was a far more lethal position than I cared to hold,"

Dare stood up so fast that Red was tossed back against a shelf. He stepped forward and punched Oscar across the face, hard enough to knock him over.

Oscar held his jaw and looked up at Dare. "You're crazy," he whispered.

"Turns out that eighty years with your head frozen in place will do that to you!" Dare howled with laughter.

Then he choked. His hand swung and he sliced open his own forehead with the dagger, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead, he screamed and flipped a table on top of Lutherious.

"No!" Oscar reached his hand out, and covered his mouth in horror.

Potions crashed and hissed as they mixed together on top of the wizard. Lutherious screamed for help, and Ava ran forwards, but Dare threw out his arm and stopped her. He stared at Lutherious, intrigued, as his body contorted. Boiling blood began melting his skin and organs from the inside, and eventually, there was nothing left. Except for steaming, thick, liquid, and scorched human bones.

For a moment, everyone was quiet. Dare, with blood pouring from the gash across his face, turned to the others with a smile. "Leave us," he whispered.

Ava rushed from the room, furious. And Red followed her a little more hesitantly. Dare looked at Oscar.

"What was that?" He asked the Craftsman.

"A monstrosity," Oscar shivered, his world shook by the hideous death that took place in his home. "The mixture of all the wrong things, creating liquid evil. Evil burns and destroys everyone it touches," he glared at Dare through tears "As it will, you"

"Make it again," he whispered.

"Never," Oscar whispered back.

Dare held up his hand, and a ghostlike whisp surrounded his fist, shaping itself into a paw with claws out. He swung his hand and tore through Oscar's arm. Oscar cried out.

"Change your mind?" Dare asked, sliding his tongue over his teeth.

"Burn in Hell," Oscar spat.

Dare stood up. "I'm disappointed in you Oscar," he pulled a wand out of his sleeve.

Oscar stared at the weapon. "Who's wand is that?"

"It's mine," Dare informed him. "Eighty years gives you a lot of time to look inside of yourself. Find what you can do... Learn what you can't do," he pointed the wand at a shelf of jars and blew it up, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

Oscar dragged himself up against the corner of the room, covering himself from the flying shards. "So it is true," he caught his breath "You can teach yourself the magic you haven't harnessed," ... And the only person who knew how to do it, was the lunatic before him.

Dare smiled. "There you are. Your life's goal has been accomplished," he turned and pointed the wand at Oscar. "And just in time, too,"

After a blast of light, the only thing left of Oscar Casset, were some ashes in a smoldering corner.

Dare stared at the corner blankly... then choked. He slammed his fist through the wall and tears poured from his eyes, as he stared at the spot Oscar had once been. He screamed and shot a ghostlike wave across the room with his arm, and shattered every piece of glass in the room. He struggled to breathe, and began clawing at his chest, scratching through his skin with his fingernails. Then he stood up straight... and smiled.

Red peaked into the room. "What happened?"

Ava roared past her and looked at the corner. "You imbecile!" She slapped Dare across the face. "You were told to apprehend Casset,"

"I did," Dare smiled. "He's not going anywhere,"

Ava held up her hand to smack him again, but Dare caught the back of her neck and brought her very close. He leaned forwards, until less than an inch sperated their faces. "Hit me again. I will disembowel you slowly and carefully, and I will keep you alive until after I'm finished so that you feel every stroke of my blade,"

"You wouldn't dare," Ava sneered.

"You'd be surprised what I'd dare. It's in my name," Dare whispered.

Ava rolled her eyes at him.

"Keep rolling your eyes," he smiled, releasing her. "Maybe you'll find a brain back there,"

Ava looked like she wanted to fight, but Red couldn't blame her for changing her mind.

Red knew that she personally could take him, but her father might've been right. Maybe he truly had no conscience left. And that would make the fight far more dangerous.

Red clenched tight to the small vial in her bag. That also meant her task would be harder than she'd assumed.

She couldn't have felt more proud when Life himself had given her a personal task on this mission. One of utmost secrecy and importance. She didn't truly know what was in the vial, or why she had to get Dare to drink it without his knowledge. But you didn't need to understand Life. You just needed to trust him.

"How do you suggest I do this, without him finding out?" Red had asked.

"Sneak it in his food. Do it while he's sleeping. Seduce him. It doesn't matter. Just do it secretly, before three days are over," Life replied, scraping his staff along the dirty ground. "This is greatly important, Flannery," he added. Then he dismissed her. "Get it done,"

Red had watched Dare throughout their journey, and noticed several things. For one, he inspected his food and often threw it away and made something of his own, with absolutely no explanation.

Two, he never seemed to sleep. Every time Red woke up in the night and grabbed the vial, Dare was either awake, or nowhere to be found.

And three, what has become the most evident: he had no emotions.

Sure he laughed, and smiled, and lost his temper regularly, but... call her crazy... those didn't look like emotions. They looked like fits of hysteria, and pain. He looked like an animal... and he looked like he was dying.

Over their journey, his skin had grown paler, and his eyes were turning brown instead of red like hers. He was also losing weight, his muscle was shrinking and he was growing slim. He looked more like a beanstalk than a threat, now.

But anyone with nothing to lose, and no morals, was a threat. No matter how much they weighed.

Red looked at Dare. "Now we go back?"

Dare stared at her. "Now we find Scary Skelitin,"

Ava paled. "No. No! NO!," She yelled. "That is not our task! That was the task for Rivet, Jake, and Snakeye. We've finished our task," her voice dripped with sarcasm as she said "finished".

"Rivet and company were told to hunt down Simon. Not Scary," Dare informed her. "And you're right, our job is done. Now I'm moving onto the next task,"

"I'm leaving," Ava flipped her short blond hair in Dare's direction and walked to the door.

Dare waved his hands and created a ghostlike pistol with his sorcery, which he loaded and pointed at her head.

"I can break your skull with the flick of a finger," he informed her back. "Take another step. I'll enjoy this,"

Ava looked him in the eye, then looked at Red. She shook her head. They both knew he was dead serious.

"This is kidnap, you know," Ava stared at him.

Dare only smiled. "We're villains, Ava. Who's going to fault me?"

He waved away the weapon like smoke, and made his way out of the house.

"He's going to kill us before the end of this," Ava muttered to Red, as they followed him.

Red merely nodded. Though she couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to this. If they were missing something right in front of them, something important...

That night, as they sat in the woods, Red rested against the tree she planned to sleep in. She watched Dare's back, debating how to feed him the vial. But her thoughts eventually drifted.

How was it possible for a person to be that uncaring? To have that level of indifference as he watched another human lose their life. And what did he want? What were his goals to come out of this fight?

People like Dare always wanted something. There was a reason he was going after Scary. And she wanted to know what.

Red touched her forearm. A bite mark. A souvenir of the last time she'd demanded information from him. Maybe this time would be different...

Red made her way over to Dare, where he was standing against a tree, studying the dirt on the ground.

"What's the plan, chief?"

Dare glanced back at her. "Find Scary. It's pretty self explanatory,"

"And, uh, why aren't we just leaving that to Rivet and Jake?" she asked, hesitantly. Sure, she was curious. But not curious enough to risk her arm being used as a human kabob again.

"And Snakeye," Dare reminded her. "Because those idiots can't do anything right. They're liars, cheaters, and murderers. And that's all they'll ever be,"

Red looked up at him, confused. Jake had always talked about his family history. He gloated about their victories, and cursed their enemies. He thought she'd find it attractive. But he never mentioned killing anyone... "Who did they kill?"

Dare opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, his jaw went slack and his eyes glazed over, and Dare fell backwards.

Red jumped forward and caught his head before it hit the ground. "Dare?" She called, alarmed. Did she miss her chance? Did Dare die because she hadn't given him the vial yet? She reached into her bag and took hold of the jar, just as Dare sat up.

Red yelped, then sighed in relief. "You scared me,"

Dare rubbed his head, "Uh, yeah. I scared me, too," he chuckled. A real chuckle.

Red stared at him. Something was different. Dare no longer moved like a puppet barely held up by strings. His eyes were dark brown. His skin what pale. He was looking at the world like he was seeing it for the first time. He looked... human.

Dare looked at her, and smiled. A shy, little, corner of the mouth smile, instead of his full fledged, teeth and fangs, wolf grin. His bang fell into his eyes. "Sorry about that. Hope I didn't scare you. I don't know what happened," he said. His voice was soft, and sincere.

Dare rubbed his forehead, slightly confused. "Ouch!" He yelped as he touched the cut he'd delivered to himself, way back in Oscar's cabin.

"Oh, be careful!" She pulled his hand away. Then she looked Dare in the eyes, kneeling next to him on the ground. "You know, I didn't panic, but I'm slightly panicking right now,"

"Really?" Dare looked at her through slightly watery eyes. He lowered his hand back into the dirt, to support his weight from behind. "Why?"

"I feel like any second you're just gonna lose it and bite me or something," she replied, pulling her knees up against her chest.

Dare laughed out loud, and Red couldn't help but smile, bewildered. "Bite you? I don't bite," he shook his head. Dare wiggled his feet out in front of him, as if he'd forgotten he could use them.

"You literally do," Red replied. This was the first real conversation she'd had with Dare. It was kind of fun.

"What? Name the last person I bit," he challenged Red, leaning close and pointing, as if queueing her answer.

"Me, on the way here," she held out her arm to show him the marks his teeth made on her, when she demanded to know what his plan was when they got to Oscar's.

Dare looked concerned. He lowered his finger, and gingerly held her arm to look at the mark. Red couldn't help but flinch when he touched her.

He noticed, and let go.

"I'm sorry," Dare told her in a soft whisper, staring at her. There was nothing but sincerity in his eyes.

There's definitely something wrong with him. Red thought to herself.

Dare suddenly grimaced and squeezed his eyes shut, gasping from the pain that erupted in his skull. He grunted and contorted, all the while squeezing his temples.

Red grabbed his arm. "Dare?" She whispered, alarmed.

Dare shoved her off and stood up, barely using the ground for support. "Step away quietly and I'll let you live," he grinned. His eyes were red again, and his voice was sinister.

Red stared at him. What the hell just happened? As confused as she was, Red still had mind enough to obey. So she slowly stood, and backed away.

"Run away," he sang, his voice wild. "Imma getcha!"

Red retreated back against the tree she'd claimed, and watched Dare return his gaze to the dirt.

He was a two faced monster. There was definitely something wrong with him... but which version was the right one, and which was the wrong one?

Which was the real Dare?