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There was a long, tense period of time where Maebe and her horseman self did not actually fight. They just.. took each other in. They walked around each other, eyes raking every inch of the other they could take in. Curiosity was etched in the Horseman's face, and suspicion was warring in Maebe's. Their faces were identical, like warped twins, but their bodies..

"Your skin looks strong." The horseman told her, finally pulling out her weapon and smiling a little too sweetly for Maebe's tastes. "Perhaps it will fit me well.

That was enough DNW for Maebe. Thaw was summoned twirling in her hands, placed firmly between her and the horseman. She did not smile.

"Then come and get it."

He first remembered the fear. Red eye. It was spreading, and if he wasn't careful it was going to--

Follow him. There was something there already, in the Dusk he now found himself in. Dawson blinked once, the shield appearing on his arm almost without a thought. An infected hunter? A monster? His fingers shook with uncertainty still. No, he realized, as the large figure coalesced, its fists seemingly as large as his head. Horseman.

Christ, was he going up against a Dragon Ball Z character or something? Dawson almost gulped as he eyed the creature, knowing before he even opened his mouth that talking to it was useless. Not only did it have a very deadly looking war ax in its hands, but it was bursting with muscles. Even the pouch forming at its stomach looked solid as a wall. Syn called it a challenge; Dawson called it a suicidal choice.

But he thought he saw bright hair in the distance--

"Eyes on me, little hunter," the horseman said with a vicious grin. "Did they send you as bait to distract me? Or do your comrades forsake you so they can escape?"

"Whuh...?" Dawson raised his shield. "Dude, I'm just here outta nowhere, okay, I wasn' invadin'--:"

The ax nearly knocked him off the ground like a tee ball. Syn snarled in his head as he found his feet again and fended off the next swing as best he could, barely keeping up.

The horseman's eerily gold eyes gleamed. "I see they brought me a stupid one. Very well. You will serve as a warm up."

Dawson couldn't help but growl himself as he swung his shield like an oversized spear.

And there was Maebe, standing a few feet from where that giant body had fallen, just in time to crouch down and get a good, solid look at it. She whistled low, under her breath, before brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"Mm. Boy am I glad I didn't get your guy." She was mostly referring to the fact that he looked like a brick wall, but in the back of her mind, Maebe wasn't sure whether she would have kicked his a** or fallen in love. Because damn, son.

She hadn't made that connection, but she should have. Of course this horseman had Dawson's face. That was why she couldn't stop looking at it. "Yeah, my dance partner looked like someone had chopped my head off and slammed it down on the body of a mummy. Pretty gross, if you ask me."

She finally moved to walk to him, her lips twitching in a slow, sarcastic smile as she reached out to tweak a lock of his hair. "Beige isn't even my color."

"No." She shuddered; an automatic response to the word clone. Did not need to think about that now. "Those weren't clones. They were just alternate reality. Like in the video games, but in our head. All of this is, I'm guessing."

It felt so much more comfortable to relate the mind ******** they witnessed on a normal basis as just some kind of scientifically explained digital phenomenon. She'd take Virtual Reality over hallucination anyday.

"Somehow, I doubt fog can have a home base. But it could have just taken over the island. If.. that's even it." She bit her lip, visibly uncomfortable with being so clueless. "We should find everybody else. We're stronger in numbers." And smarter.

Eventually, America remembered to summon her weapon in turn, but what followed turned into a big tussle of punching, shoving, and kicking. It was a dirty and low down regular a** human fight, and if America got a few decent hits in, the other was well...really ******** vicious? They were someone used to fighting, like...really used to it. After several minutes, they were both wide eyed and panting, the other America's hands were twisted into the Real Deal's hair.

"You're weak."

"You smell gross, did you just eat a bunch of garlic?"

Dawson nodded in understanding. Video games was definitely a better way of putting things. He took hold of her hand before he could stop to think about it, and for once Maebe would see him afraid, even as he tried to hide it. He did better in numbers, with someone telling him what to do and when to do it. Out there in the foggy unknown...It was too empty, too full of whispers. He hadn't been on a difficult mission like this in a while.

"You ever been on a mission with Insanity like this before?" he asked, to try and fill that silence.

At some point though, the voice in her head, the quiet one that was always watching, told her her was ready to do some real damage. Which, well that sounded better than the current slap fight, like way.

"So this was nice but," moving away from the other girl, America swung the chain at the other in an unexpectedly sharp motion. "I'm living in the shadow of too many people right now to bother with another, especially a small one like yours."

A ball of fire shot out from the arcing ball, and engulfed the other girl.

"Cool!"