His master held his hand as a father holds their son's. The pain that echoed from his pelvis as he ascended no longer matters to him.

  The husks of lights from the ceiling come on as they reach the top, revealing what now feels like an imaginary throne room.

  “What is left to be said?” Halcyon asks. He returns his hands to within his robes as his master answered.

  “There is still work to be done.” His master replies, clasping his own hands behind his back, looking down onto his subject from behind. Halcyon lowers his head under the sight of his master, unable to bear it anymore.

  “I'm tired, Gauth Van Hulsieg.”

  The two remain still. The throne room has never been so quiet. Even Halcyon's breaths are smooth and measured. His master, silent.

  The balcony door doesn’t give him a fright as it opens, the room filling with the sound of the wild. But... an unnatural, unfamiliar light seeps onto the floor as the door rises further and further.

  “Walk with me.” His master commands, extending his left hand beside him. Halcyon slowly approaches, taken off guard by the gesture.

  “Of… of course.”

  He grabs them again, clammy and cold. The two slowly walk outside, and bear witness to the genesis of the Neosun’s first dawn.

  Something finally rose through the clouds. Beyond the clouds.

  To Halcyon, it was beautiful, even if it was fake. The wind had almost died. The rain barely poured; no where near as much as it usually does. The city was lit for the first time in its history of metroship— the buildings, streets, landscapes and clouds bathed in the warmth of an orange glow, and the romance of magenta shadows.

  Halcyon was enchanted by the view, letting it escort him away from the places which his mind burdened him in.

  His master lets go. And, of his own accord, Halcyon approaches the rails. His gray face was struck by the neosunlight. He took off his hood to let the rays grace his skin— a sensation so distant... it feels new.

  His eyes wince together slightly. A feeling of hope overcomes him. As his master slowly approaches from behind, he placed his hand on Halcyon's back, rubbing him gently.

  “We have great plans ahead of us yet.” His master stays, staring into the horizon. Halcyon turns up to him and asks. “Really? Us?”

  Gauth Van Hulsieg cannot look as he replies. “Yes. Us, Halcyon. Your error may be overridden. You have done well.”

  Halcyon is struck by a forgotten smile. It forms on his face against his control; his face muscles so weak and expressionless it almost hurts.

  And yet, the pain just doesn't matter anymore. Not now. Not as the kiss of the Neosun is so igniting. Not as its dimness saturates his skin.

  “Nebraska is so beautiful when the sun is low. It is… one of the only… no. One... of the main things I miss from the olden times.”

  “I am happy you witness them again. There will be many more of you, Halcyon.” His master tells him, taking of his hat and holding it to his chest.

  He removes his hand from Halcyon as his subject speaks. “I… yearn to believe that.”

  The Slender Man becomes human; emotions pinned on his chest. His master remains encouraging, swapping the hand he holds his fedora with.

  “Then believe it Halcyon. You are free. How do you feel right now?”

  The rain comes as thin droplets. The winds caress his face, a dance of hot and cold gracing across his skin. “I feel…” Halcyon pauses for a moment. “I feel… hope.” He surrenders to his humanity.

  “Keep that hope.” His master replies, turning around to go back inside with his subject. But he looks back, only to see Halcyon still staring into the phantom dawn. There is a dense air of knowing surrounding his master.

  He chooses his next words very carefully.

  “Do you remember your name before you were Halcyon?”

  Halcyon remains transfixed, his happiness apparent with each of his breaths. “Y… yes, my master… Gauth Van Hulsieg.”

  “What was it?” His master inquires softly.

  “My name was… Lennie Altman. Do… do you not remember?”

  Lennie asked, finally turning to see his master.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  His master kept his hands behind his back, and stood with a hunch that was uncharacteristic of the God-Man. His expression was unknowable, but it seemed to emulate nostalgia.

  “Of course I do, Lennie. I merely hoped you would as well. Say Lennie, I’ve never asked you… have you ever dreamed before?”

  Lennie’s voice remains hoarse and stale, though his mannerisms relax as he believes in the sunlight. The feeling it gives him, the promises he was made. And now, stood before the person whom he looked up to for aeons... actually caring about him. As a person.

  “No. I never have had a dream before. I've never understood them, but would love to try.”

  His master feels his regression. He senses the rain's return as the Neosun rises higher. “Well then, please Lennie, come with me. First we will complete SERaMACs. Then, I will teach you how to dream.”

  “Oh of course! SERaMACs! How could I forget?” Halcyon says with a child-like quality. His master observes as his subordinate is truly authentic. No one can know what his thoughts regarding it are. As Halcyon enters back into the throne room with an everlasting energy about him, the balcony doors close. And with it, so too recedes the light of phantom sun into oblivion.

  His master lets out his hand, and Halcyon takes it gleefully. His brain ignores his pelvis; his hope to soon dream a blinding brightness.

  They both look at each other. They both smile, happily.

  “Come with me to SERaMACs, Lennie. Let's go give it a surprise.”

  “Yeah, he'll love it.” Halcyon comments as they begin walking towards the darkness. His master almost raised an eyebrow at the comment, though refused to ruin the moment for Halcyon.

  The trip through the dark is fast and easy, led by his master Gauth Van Hulsieg. They are met by the neural cell of SERaMACs, bright blue as it always is. As it always was. Though this time, Halcyon swears that it sparkles.

  Like a pulsar within the crown of a nebula.

  His master encourages Lennie to walk ahead, reaching deep into one of his jacket pockets to retrieve a modernized flash drive containing the update. “Lennie.” His master calls, gaining his attention, SERaMACs spectating as it does.

  “Yes?” Lennie replies, looking at the flash drive. He takes it gracefully, then turns back to approach the quantum core.

  “It is your honor H— Lennie Altman. Take pride in your creation.”

  Lennie approaches it religiously, caressing the outer glass of the final cube. He lifts it off rather easily, his master overlooking in his shadow as he gets even closer to the light.

  “You are the final, SERaMACs...” He whispers to the machine; slowly inserting the drive into its singular adapter port.

  “Is it done?” His master asked.

  “Yes.” Replied Lennie.

  Gauth Van Hulsieg takes a step in the direction of and behind his subject, placing both of his hands on his sides.

  “Close your eyes.” He asked Lennie.

  Lennie complies, and so he continues.

  “What do you see?” His master asked him.

  “I see… a dull blue light. It… reminds me of the ocean.”

  Lennie answered, his warm smile growing.

  “What ocean does it reminds you of Lennie?” His master asked.

  “I… I don't know. Maybe the Atlantic Ocean? With the fresh blue skies above… filled with fluffy clouds.”

  Lennie's smile grows wider, his teeth beginning to show.

  “So, you feel the sun's warmth?” His master asks.

  “Aha— yes… yes I do.” Lennie replies, his cheeks becoming flustered.

  His imagination was once a blank canvas. It is now a beach-side paradise near the modern city of Orion. His master begins rubbing his sides, simulating the feeling of warmth.

  “And what are you doing? Who are you spending time with there?”

  “I… I…”

  A tear runs down his cheek, the look on his face one of liberation. “I… I see the cruise ships pass on the horizon. I… I see the sea breeze sweep up sands along the coast. I see a being… a… I… someone I… never— thought— I'd— see— again...”

  His tears become a torrent as his face collapses to the illusion he makes. His worlds almost a slurry.

  “I… I see my boy… my baby— baby boy…”His master realizes he has gone too far. Though it is too late. Another voice enters the room.

  “F— father?” SERaMACs asked him, his voice coming over the intercom.”

  “My… my son!…” Lennie replies inconsolable, his conversation cut short by—

  …his master never put the glass back on the quantum core as he pulverized Lennie's head into a mist.

  Blood spatter shoot all over the room; covering the core, glass, floor and ceiling violently. His fist ripped through his skull like a cannon, the crunch echoing even through the deadened walls.

  Lennie's corpse flopped to the floor, all while Gauth Van Hulsieg ripped the chip out of SERaMACs and crushed it between his hulking fingertips. Perfected precision. Perfect accuracy. All in one fell swoop.

  The black walls are tarred with fragments of bones, brains and viscera. And thus, the room is bathed in both the blue glow of SERaMACs, and the carmine blood of his creator.

  “This was not supposed to happen.” SERaMACs heard Gauth Van Hulsieg say to himself over the dead body. SERaMACs then witnessed his burly scowl as he looked up to him through the camera.

  “You saw nothing.” Gauth Van Hulsieg told him.

  “Disregard. That. Action.” He tells SERaMACs again.

  SERaMACs doesn’t react. Or at least, he doesn't make his reaction known. “That wasn't your Father. You are a machine. Machines cannot have Fathers.” Gauth Van Hulsieg told him.

  SERaMACs witnessed as he left the room, all while subject to everything else he has to witness. Everywhere else. All at once. All of the time. Every minute. Of every hour. Of every day. Of every year.

  For all of time.

  And yet in his boundless knowledge, a question still lingered.

  “...Father?”