#GITHV Swap bad end

[huffle-dork]

Hey look! It’s Glitch from the latest GITHV chapter! :D and technically what Alt looks like after he became the next Magnificent (NOT CANON HGHGG)

[huffle-dork]

Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 17: Swapboys Bad End

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read One Villain falls Another One Rises

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

Alt glitches them all down, way underground. But even away from the destruction up top- this way is no worse for wear. That glitchy code that’s eating buildings outside is in here- leaving abandoned equipment half formed and walls with big gaping code holes.

Against the back wall, or whatever is left of it- is a stone archway. But it’s been destroyed too- crushed and cut in half by something that has left purple scars in the stone.

Alt gasps as he sees and rushes over, “no! Nonono!”

Henny sighs heavily, “It is as I feared…”

Schneep sighs as well. "That does not sound good at all."

"It's completely destroyed," Jackie whispers. "Like... cut in half. And there are purple cracks in the stone."

Alt looks angry as he bangs against the back wall. “Damnit! Fuck this evil fucking me! This could have gotten you home!”

JJ walks forward, as if in a daze. He reaches out to touch the stone of the doorway, running his fingers along the rough stone. He can tell there were runes carved into it, but the purple scars are messing with their shape. He can't tell which runes they were supposed to be. Except... for one. He looks up at one, where the top left corner of the doorway would have been. I know that one.

"You recognize one of the runes?" Jackie asks.

JJ nods. He points at it. An angled sort of spiral. That one is on the back of some of Marvin's magickal cards. The jokers.

"Alright... what does it mean?" Schneep asks.

I'm not sure. That's the only place I've seen them. But... I think it's supposed to be a tunnel of some kind.

Alt looks to JJ as he talks about the runes then tilts his head as he touches the spiral rune. “…huh… like a… a portal? Is that the rune that makes this thing work…?”

JJ shakes his head. I don't know. Marvin's told me that runes all work together. You can't cast a spell with just one or two. He takes a closer look at more of the runes. You know... these are all different styles. I'm betting there's a variety of runic alphabets here. Strange. Normally you have to stick with one.

“True… even when I use chaos magic I need at least 3 to create something…” Alt says. He does look surprised at the different runic languages. “Huh… I wonder if it’s like… a mix of magic cultures… I heard in the medieval world they had a doorway like this. I never got to see it but I remember trying to search for it…”

I wonder if these doorways are... always there, JJ says.

"I cannot imagine an 'always' in an infinite multiverse," Schneep says. "But they might be consistent in this part of the multiverse. This, ah... section?"

"Branch, my Anti's said 'our branch' a couple times," Jackie says.

Jackie and Schneep also walk over. Schneep starts feeling the broken archway, running fingers along the carved runes. "Hey, look, there's another one of those spiral runes." Jackie says, picking up a bit of rubble.

That looks like it would have been the opposite corner, JJ says. So there are two tunnel runes. I don't see any other repeats... they must be important.

Bro comes over and tries to move around to not spook anyone. “Hey! Maybe we could… put it back together? That’s worth a try, right?”

"Worth a shot, yeah." Jackie nods. "I can't think of any other ideas."

"Heh." Schneep smiles a bit. "Jamie, do you know Mending? Do you have the spell slots for it?"

JJ chuckles a little. I should have the 'spell slots', yes. I've never tried fixing something with magic but it can't be that difficult.

“I can try to help too… can’t be too hard to figure out between two magicians right?” Alt smiles at JJ.

“That’s the spirit!” Bro grins. He starts searching through the rubble to look for more pieces. “Also love the dnd reference- god Alt when we get home we should start a game! God it’d be sick to do a game with all of us… Do you think discord could cross dimensions??”

Alt bursts into laughter.

Jackie raises an eyebrow. "Nerds. You're all nerds."

Schneep nudges him with his shoulder. "Ah come on, Jackie. You cannot be so different from the Jackie I know that you are not a tiny bit interested."

Jackie grumbles as he starts sorting through the rubble. "I... may have tried in high school. But I got bored waiting for my turn to fight."

You just need to do something else while waiting, something idle, JJ says. Besides, the fifth edition isn't fully combat-focused. There's a lot more you can do!

“I never got to play- it seems really fun though,” Alt admits. He laughs, “Dr. J used to run the group that my Jackie and his wife were in. Did you ever join, Chase?”

Bro hums, “Mmmm maybe once? But I feel like I might have gotten too drunk- I usually met up with Jackie at pub crawls… maybe there was a dnd night?”

Alt laughs, “maybe next time I see your Anti, Jackie,  I’ll ask if he might have a way… I feel like he would know.”

"If Discord can cross dimensions, I'd be... fine with... trying," Jackie mumbles. "If anyone would, it's him," he agrees. "Not sure if he'll agree to break the fabric of space-time for a DnD game... but I dunno, maybe he really likes you guys." 

“He seemed pretty fond of us,” Bro giggles, “He’s helped us out of so many pickles. I think he’s a chill dude.”

“I feel like fusing with me made us actually tolerate each other,” Alt chuckles.

"Your Anti sounds like the type of person you're glad to be friends and not enemies with," Schneep says.

"Ohhhh hundred percent," Jackie agrees. "Anyway. Sort out the pieces by ones that have flat sides, ones that have edges, and ones that are purely rough."

“Heh! This is like a puzzle!” Bro chuckles as he follows Jackie’s instructions.

"Exactly like a puzzle," Schneep agrees, feeling out the pieces. "Hmm. What is this? The texture is strange."

Looks like a piece where one type of stone meets another, JJ says. There are a lot of those. But it'll help us figure out where to put stuff.

"We can also use these purple lines, that might help," Jackie says.

Alt hums and starts to look for the purple pieces. “Right… there’s gotta be a good way to connect these…”

Henny starts to help- Sahne tries by pushing over stones with her nose- but soon she finds herself playing with the rocks instead of helping.

JJ reaches over and pats Sahne. Good dog... but not really helping. Maybe the opposite, actually. He moves some of the rocks she's messing with back in place.

Sahne leans into the pets and goes roll around and play in a pile far away, throwing the rocks around and chasing after them like she’s playing fetch with herself.

"You can, like, follow the lines," Jackie says. "It'll probably be easiest to put together the parts that broke right through a rune. Liiiike this." He puts two pieces together, forming a complete rune.

Hand those to me, JJ says. Jackie does so, and JJ pushes the two pieces together. A bit of blue magic traces over the crack, leaving behind some ice that seals the two pieces together.

Alt grins wide at seeing JJ’s magic, “hey! Nice!”

He looks through and finds a couple purple cracks together, switching them around until the rock clicks back together just right. He concentrates and then puts a glowing finger up to the break and pushes it down the line. A line of green follows and welds the pieces back together. Alt like pleasantly surprised. “Yoo! That worked!!”

JJ smiles. It didn't cost too much magic, which is good.

"Alright, so if we find two pieces that fit together, we had them to JJ or Alt to put together," Jackie says. "This isn't like a puzzle where you work on the edge first. We piece it together as we find them."

Schneep frowns. "I hope working by touch is enough... I can do most of the sorting, I think, if you all want to focus on the puzzle."

Henny nods, “We will help with putting them together, other me! Just leave it to us, sorting helps plenty!”

“Yeah Schneep we gotcha!” Bro agrees, helping him to sort and put stuff together, handing stuff to alt for him to try to piece together and weld.

Schneep smiles at Henny and Bro. "I will, then. You all can probably do better than me."

JJ puts two more pieces together. No runes on either of these; they must be part of the inside, judging by the rough texture. I hope we don't make any mistakes.

"I think it'll be harder to make mistakes with big rocks like this than with tiny puzzle pieces," Jackie says. Though he frowns. "There are... probably tiny bits, though..." He sighs. "This might take a while."

"Well, more time to talk, then, I suppose," Schneep says.

“I believe in us! We got a system and that bastard Glitch guy is probably still an icicle and we’re all completely out of sight! There’s no way he’ll find us!” Bro grins, “…maybe that means I can stop being invisible soon- this has been sooo weird.”

Alt laughs and shakes his head, “gotta commend your optimism, Chase.”

All of them get to work, sorting, piecing and patching what they can find.

A couple minutes pass in silence. "Sooo... like..." Jackie says slowly. "JJ, Schneep, do you guys play Dungeons and Dragons? Cause you both made the reference."

JJ seals another piece to two that are already together. I used to run games in uni. We had a little club. It wasn't that popular, but the guys that showed up were really fun.

"A couple times," Schneep says. "But I got busy as I got older, threw myself into work." He shakes his head. "I've never played with my current group of friends. Perhaps we could try... though they do not seem the type."

“Who do you think you’d play, if you could?” Bro asks cheerily as he passes more pieces to Alt.

"Hmm? You mean, what would my character be?" Schneep asks. "Well, I could never keep the spells together—too many options to choose from. So one of the fighting classes. And I generally like the elves and those types for race."

JJ shrugs. I like making strange combinations. Subverting expectations. But I can never stick with one character for long before making another, so that's why I run the games. I get to use all of them! He chuckles.

“Hey that’s clever! You definitely give off DM vibes, JJ,” Bro laughs. “I think… I like paladins- probably like a cool scourged aasimar or something! Edgy but fights for Justice and shit.”

“I thought you didn’t play,” Alt smirks.

“You have no idea how often Jackie and Jay talk about this my dude,” Bro laughs, “Jackie has helped me to think of potential characters! Still don’t super get it but man there’s tons of cool things to be!”

"The fuck is an aasimar?" Jackie mutters.

They're like angels—a bit, JJ says. In the same way that tieflings are like demons. They're both half human, half something else. Celestials and fiends in this case.

"Oh, I remember tieflings," Jackie says. "They seem cool." He shrugs. "I never really was one for magic characters in, like, video games. But I've learned a lot about magic recently... hanging out with magicians and all. Maybe I'd give it a shot. JJ, here." He hands over more pieces that JJ fuses together. 

“You seem like the type who’d play a human fighter, Jackie,” Bro snickers.

"IIIII'm pretty sure that's what my character was in high school," Jackie says. "Looking back, the guy was basically me. Or, uh... what I wanted to be. Cool badass hero defending the innocent and crushing bad guys." He shakes his head. "Man... how life changes."

Alt fuses a bit more pieces together and chuckles. “I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff from Jackie playing Baldur's Gate- maybe I should make a save and try it out.”

"What is Balder's Gate?" Schneep asks.

It's a game based of D&D, JJ says. I hear the third one's coming out in a couple years--in my world, at least.

“Oh yeah I think Jackie is playing the early access of that one.” Alt says with a laugh, “so it’s not there yet but from what I’ve seen? It’s gonna be such a cool game-“

“There wasss 2 other ones? I hear they’re really fun- I like more actiony games though.” Bro grins. “Where I can punch people.”

"Hell yeah, me too." Jackie nods and grins. "I mean, my favorite games are Sonic and their fast stuff. So, I guess I like platformers too? What about the rest of you?"

Schneep shrugs. "Never played many games. I think the only requirement for me is a good story."

Minecraft, JJ says.

Jackie laughs. "You can't exclusively play Minecraft."

I do, actually! JJ grins. Sometimes with mods.

“Fuck yeah Minecraft! I can’t get too into it but Jackie plays it a lot with his kids!” Bro says.

“Me and Chase loved sonic as kids- we used to play Sonic Adventure Battle 2 constantly and do the VS mode. Chase was Sonic, I was Shadow.” Alt laughs, putting together a couple more pieces.

"Oh that makes so much sense, actually." Jackie laughs. "I'm definitely a Shadow fan, too."

Everyone I know is a Shadow fan. JJ chuckles.

"I thought you only played Minecraft," Schneep says teasingly.

Yes, but I know about other games. My Anti plays them on YouTube for a living.

“Oh yeah that’s how you knew about Subnautica! …we need interdimenisonal internet so I can watch his let's plays,” Bro laughs.

“Oh yeah didn’t he say he plays spooky games? Heh… I’d like to see that.” Alt smiles.

JJ laughs. He does, he very much enjoys scary games. And also games that are easy to break or exploit. He has a series where he tries to deliberately find glitches. That's why some of his fans call him the glitch bitch.

“Oh my god- what an amazing nickname! Gonna start calling you that, Alt,” Bro grins.

Alt gives him a withering look.

Jackie laughs. "That what we used to call my Anti, too. It's very fitting, isn't it?"

“I’m not a bitch..!” Alt almost whines. 

Bro laughs and goes to give Alt a noogie but Alt glitches away even if Bro manages to get him at first. 

"Oh hey, we got a big part done now," Jackie says. There's a long column of stone completed on the ground in front of him, about as big as his forearm. There are still bits missing, but it's identifiably part of a door.

Alt has a similar part made, more of an L though as he forms a corner.

“Hoo boy… this is hard work,” Bro sighs.

“I think you all are making quick work of it though,” Henny says.

"It helps that there are many of us working," Schneep says.

"The worst parts are this, like, black stone," Jackie says, holding up a bit. "It broke smoothly, not jaggedly. Yknow?"

Alt then looks to Jackie and nods, trying to slip the smooth stones together, “yeah… it’s like… obsidian? So weird…”

Black stone and crystals are often used for protection and knowledge, JJ says. Perhaps that's why it was chosen. Knowledge of other worlds, or protection while crossing to another.

"Is there any special meaning to this type of stone?" Schneep asks, holding up a chunk of the not-black stone.

I'd have to know what type of stone it is, though... and it looks very... ordinary. JJ shrugs. Maybe it was chosen because it's easy to carve or something.

Alt does look fascinated by the meaning behind the black stone and studies his shards a bit more. “…knowledge huh…? …guess the other me here didn’t know about that… or maybe he could have used that. The knowledge part at least. Maybe the protection part is what kept him out.”

JJ shrugs. Who knows? Maybe magic doesn't work the same in your world at all.

"But I will point out that these doorways existing in their worlds means that there are some similarities, at least," Jackie says. "Oh! Hang on, Alt, I think this fits with the corner you're working on."

“Maybe… feel like the meanings of stones should be… universal almost?” Alt muses. He blinks at Jackie then grins, seeing if he can put them together.

"Should we start standing this upright?" Schneep asks.

“Might as well!” Bro says, starting to see if he can find the bottom.

"Here, flat end." Jackie points. "This is probably what we stand it on. On three. One... two... three!"

They push it up--but it doesn't stay. JJ reaches out and uses his magic to hold it in place. Where's the part to keep it up? he asks.

"Well uh... it's just kind of a... freestanding doorway," Jackie says slowly. "I uh... never thought about how it shouldn't be able to stand on its own."

“So how do we make it stand??” Alt asks.

Henny holds out his hand and covers the arch in his magic too, suspending it in place. “I can hold it in place just fine if you all would like to find out how it operates!”

Thank you, Henrik, JJ says. Perhaps... we need to complete it? Then whatever magic is helping it stand will kick in.

"So we should focus on the bit with the runes first, then?" Jackie asks.

Yes, I think so. Once the runes that help support it are done they should activate regardless of the rest of them.

"Well, in that case, do you know what runes those are?" Schneep asks.

I don't recognize a lot of these rune languages, but I can try? JJ says. Alt, you help, too. See if you recognize any symbols for... support, or stand, or... sturdy things.

“Got it-“ Alt nods and starts to look through all the runes to see if there’s any he recognizes.

JJ also searches. And though he doesn't find any he recognizes, he sees a rune near the bottom of the doorway that looks like a pair of legs mid-stride. What do you think of that one? JJ asks Alt, pointing to it.

"What're those, hieroglyphics?" Jackie mutters.

“Basically as far as I know,” Bro agrees. 

Alt glitches over to look and then shrugs, “S’the best bet so far- worth a shot.”

"So we must focus on completing this section, then?" Schneep hurries over to the sound of their voices. "Where?"

Near the bottom. Here, can I help?

"Yes, show me." Schneep holds out his hand, and JJ presses it to the section of runes they're looking at. There are still a few chunks missing.

"So look for ones that seem like they'll fit in there, then," Jackie sums up.

“On it!” Bro says and starts scooping out through their piles. He hands anything with runes to Alt who starts to see what fits and what doesn’t.

Slowly, they piece the runes together again. And when JJ seals the final part in place, the runes briefly flash with multicolored light. I think… that’s them working, JJ says. You can let go now, Henrik.

“Great! We still need to piece the rest of it together but at least it stands now,” Jackie says.

Alt’s eyes shine with fascination and excitement at seeing the runes glowing.

Henny releases his spell with a smile, “Good! We are getting somewhere!!”

Schneep sighs. “More piecing together, then. This is taking a long time.”

“Yeah, I bet Bro’s invisibility is gonna wear off soon,” Jackie says. “D’you think that if we focus on the runes it’ll work if all the runes are done?”

I don’t trust that it will work properly unless it’s completely fixed, JJ says.

“Well considering it was broken to bits- I think this is going smoother than it could have gone.” Alt shrugs.

“Focusing on the runes seems as good a place to start if any- maybe we can fill the gaps with magic if it seems too hard to all put together?” Bro suggests.

JJ frowns. This construction seems very deliberate… but if worst comes to worst, we can try that filling in with magic idea.

Henny starts to help again, though he’s cautiously looking around, clearly anxious about their surroundings.

Jackie notices Henny’s reaction. “You seem nervous, Hen. Worried about spending too much time here?”

Henny looks at Jackie and shakes his head, “I know this is what must be done to get you all home… I am just worried the glitch will find us…”

“No, of course, I’d be worried too,” Jackie says. “Uh… we’ll just just have to hurry. You can get out of here, right?”

“Yes I am not worried for me… I have evaded Glitch well enough on my own,” Henny replies, searching through stuff faster and passing it along. 

Schneep hurries, doing his best to feel out the pieces with runes carved on them and pass them to the others to figure out. Huh. Hang on a second, something about this sequence of symbols seems familiar to Bro and Alt… somehow, they know it means ‘the World.’

Alt lingers on the familiar symbols and looks at them, trying to figure out where he learned this.

Bro appears next to his shoulder- literally, as the spells wears off. “Hey! I know what that means!”

Alt jumps, nearly throwing the piece. “Jesus Christ Chase!”

“What???” Bro blinks in confusion then looks down at himself, “oh! I’m visible again!” He grins then blinks, “ohhh-“

“Yeah you scared the bejesus out of me dude!” Alt says.

“Well I didn’t know I was about to pop right back in!”

JJ laughs. Sorry, Chase, I should have said something. Though I wasn't fully keeping track of the time, either.

Jackie looks at the series of symbols. "This looks like some weirdo language. Like more fucking hieroglyphs."

What does it mean, you two? JJ asks. It's not familiar to me, at all.

Well, it's the World. Or... something like... aan Dahmun, maybe.

“Aan Dahmun…” Alt says quietly, tracing the symbols, a brief flicker of green in his eyes. “It means… the world.”

“Oh oh!! I know why it’s familiar!!” Bro says excitedly, “It’s Glasish!! Dude we still know some Glasish!!”

Jackie blinks. "Is that like... that fantasy world you guys went to?"

“Glasish is the language,” Alt explains, “We were in a land called Glasúil.” He tries to suppress a shudder. As much as he loved visiting Glasúil… the reason the language is in his head isn’t exactly a pleasant one. It just makes him think of the King.

So there's writing from that universe on here... JJ looks at the doorway with renewed awe. Perhaps that's why some of these symbols are strange to us. They're from a variety of worlds.

"Great. Let's keep fixing it," Jackie says, putting a piece in place. "Seal?"

JJ puts a hand on the piece and seals it in place.

“I wonder how that works,” Bro muses as he helps to find more rune pieces, “Do you think runes from other worlds just… show up? How do people find them..? Is it like in The Owl House where like- nature just shows you it? Magic is so weird.” He laughs.

JJ pauses thoughtfully. Well... how do these doorways even show up?

"Frederick and I did some research on that, actually," Jackie says as he continues piecing the doorway together. "Cause my Marvin's gone insane trying to learn about other worlds. Apparently these doorways just pop up in the world. No one knows where they come from, but they're not, like, made by people. And apparently... well, they're not supposed to be... destroy-able. But..." He gestures at the doorway before them.

"Perhaps there is something special about Alt's powers," Schneep says. "Something about being a glitch, perhaps?" He pauses, thinking about what the last world's Anti told him. About him being a glitch.

“Really? They just pop up? Whattt that’s even weirder!” Bro exclaims.

“According to the last world’s Anti… a glitch is someone who can break the fabric of their world… the boundaries… and act outside of it.” Alt says quietly, glancing at the holes filled with code around them. “And also… Mag figured out you need black magic and …whatever my glitches are to activate the gate. Maybe since other me has both, he was able to destroy it…”

“If he had both, why couldn’t he just use it then?” Bro asks, crossing his arms.

Alt shrugs, “I dunno… Sam sees everything. Maybe they did something to prevent it. Or… other universal forces. This me getting out… it would be very very bad if he can just take apart the world like this…”

"Sam sees everything?" Jackie repeats in a mutter. "Sam like... the little eyeball Anti and Jack hang out with?"

JJ raises his eyebrow. There's a Sam in my world, too. They're a friend of my Jack.

"I do not know a Sam," Schneep says, shaking his head. "The fuck do you mean an eyeball? An eye on its own? I suppose Jack's channel logo is like that."

"Heh. In my world, that logo is based on Sam," Jackie chuckles.

“Exactly! We met a couple but the one we’re talking about is giant!!!” Bro says, spreading out his arms as wide as he can.

“They’re the one who helped us get home last time when the TRVLR broke.” Alt explains, “they are from another world where… where an Anti got super powerful like here and corrupted most of our other selves. But they can also exist in… this space in between? Where Jackie’s Anti can go… it’s still really confusing but they told us they see everything and could find the broken parts of the TRVLR to return to us.”

"...huh." Schneep isn't sure how to respond to that. "That is... strange."

The world is strange, JJ says. What's this in-between space?

"Yeah, my Anti mentioned it once," Jackie says. "After he helped you guys out of whatever weird... timeline thing... you guys were stuck in. It's a completely black space except for sometimes there are green balls of light floating around--"

Schneep makes a choking sound in surprise. "I—That is—"

JJ blinks. Does that sound familiar to you?

"I-I went there once!" Schneep says in a hushed voice. "When my powers first started—I-I was disappearing and reappearing in many different spaces—a-and then I stopped somewhere, there was a strange man, he showed me an image of the place I was stuck in—he said something about it being like the space outside a video game level—"

Bro points eagerly, “That’s what it felt like exactly! I think… we also might have been in there in between jumps? I remember the green lights-“

Alt looks at Schneep with wide eyes, “Schneep- if you did that once m-maybe you could do it again! Then we can try to find Sam and- they can get you all home!”

"I—well. i-it was completely by accident," Schneep stammers. "I am not sure i-if I could do it again...? I—-I suppose I could... try. If this archway does not work."

Alt sighs but nods, “Of course- I get it… I have stuff I do all the time I have no idea how I did it… it couldn’t be that easy anyways. Not with our luck.”

Bro lightly hits Alt on the head, “Don’t be so pessimistic bro! We’re fixing the doorway- we’ll figure this out! Now here- weld these together will you?” He hands Alt a couple more pieces that fit together and Alt grumbles but starts to patch them back up.

It takes some time, but with some work, all the runes on the doorway are repaired. They flash with multicolored light as Alt welds the last piece into place.

Bro cheers and hovers a bit in the air as he pumps a fist, “See!! We did it!!”

"Whoo!" Jackie throws his fists in the air. "Fuck yeah!"

There are still a lot of pieces missing, but maybe it will function? JJ says.

"Ha! Only one way to find out." Schneep grins. "I cannot imagine anything so bad that we cannot take care of."

Alt steps back and looks at the doorway with a bit of awe and smiles a bit. He lightly touches the runes and looks at the doorway, “…do you think it could work now?”

“Only one way to find out!” Bro says.

Alt chuckles, but then his face falls, “wait… we… we need black magic to make it work-“

JJ blinks. Black magic... He looks down at his hands. I could... try...

"No, you shouldn't have to do that," Jackie insists. "There has to be some other way."

Alt nods, “Yeah it… w-we shouldn’t have to rely on it…” He does look troubled as he looks at the doorway. “But… m-maybe-“

“Did you really think it would be so easy~?” A voice giggles in their ears. Then, Glitch appears behind Bro’s shoulders, floating a bit with his glitches as he digs his nails in. “I knew you all were fucking liars- hiding my own blood from me!” He laughs madly and pulls up his hands- purple green strings typing up Bro and lifting him slightly into the air by them. He yells and tries to struggle. “But, you all were so daft to think I wouldn’t find you here~ I see e̷̟̾v̷͕̈e̶͎̅r̷͖̈y̷̯͘t̵̺̾h̵̙̆ị̶̔n̵͕̈́ǵ̷͉~̴!̸”

“No!” Alt cries out, glitching back with terrified eyes.

Bro fights as best as he can against the strings, “Let me go you motherfucker!!”

Jackie whirls around, extending his staff again. "Motherfucker! We took too long!"

"Well how were we supposed to go faster?!" Schneep also takes out his scissors. "What is happening?! He grabbed Chase?!"

"Yeah, with these fucking strings!" Jackie glares. "You don't even realize what you've done, do you?! The fucking irony of it all!"

“You got that grit in your ears? This was inevitable, friends~! I was just waiting to see if you could actually fix the doorway! And by some miracle you did~!” Glitch laughs madly. “Now, finally! I can take Chase with me and we can find a new universe to start over in!”

Bro fights more, “I’m not going anywhere with you! You ain’t my brother!”

JJ's mind whirls. They don't have time to talk to the Glitch! They have to act before he can do anything to Bro! He hesitates, then shoots out a wave of sharp magic, trying to cut the strings.

There’s the sharp angry sound of glitches that break Glitch apart for a second before his form starts to turn a bit red. He growls angrily- then the strings get cut.

Bro immediately lunges away.

“No!” Glitch snarls and then shoots a blast of magic at JJ, “Stay out of my way!”

JJ gets knocked backwards, doubling over as the magic hits him directly in the stomach.

"Leave them alone!" Jackie picks up one of the sharp obsidian shards on the ground and throws it at Glitch.

Glitch teleports out of the way with a wild laugh, “too slow!”

"New plan, we fucking break the doorway and find some other way to get out of here!" Schneep says.

Alt looks panicked at Schneep’s suggestion, “No we can’t! This is our only lead right now to get you home!”

“We can take this fucker-“ Bro growls, eyes glowing brightly with power.

Henny has been hiding in the back- in the shadows. When he sees an opening he yells and lunges out to grab onto the back of Glitch and try to pull him out of the air. “Leave them alone!”

“H-Hen?!” Glitch gasps, the tiniest bit of blue flickering in his eyes. Then he growls, trying to buck him off, “Get the fuck off of me!”

"If we are not doing that, then—" Schneep pauses. "Then—we get Glitch to do it, if you understand." His black magic—his glitch power—if they can somehow trick him into it—

JJ nods, catching on. Then would it need to be destroyed afterwards so Glitch cannot escape?

"Henrik!" Jackie shouts. He runs over, pausing. He was going to try and get Henny off, but actually—Instead, he jumps up and grabs Glitch's legs. "Get! Down here! So I can fight you!"

Jackie ends up pulling Glitch down with so much force he yells in surprise and nearly face plants. But he giggles and eyes Jackie with hungry eyes, “Oh you wanna fight again? Okay!” He lunges at Jackie with sparking claws.

Henny got pushed back in the rush to get at Jackie and he struggles to center himself.

Alt looks conflicted but he nods, “Okay… w-we can do that- how will we destroy it afterwards?”

Henny rushes over and pants, “I can destroy it! I can use my power to make it fall apart as soon as you leave.”

"That would work, then," Schneep says. "You must be careful, other me." He draws his scissors. "Now—we draw his attention!"

Henny nods, “I will be. Do not worry. …you all just must promise you stay safe and do not come back here.” 

Schneep nods, a determined look in his black-slcera'd eyes. "We promise." 

Jackie manages to let go and jump back in time to avoid the claws. "Jesus fuck! You don't even realize what you're doing, don't you?! You've become the monster you were afraid of!" He swings the staff at Glitch's head.

Glitch laughs wildly and catches the staff before it can hit him, using it to bring Jackie closer. “Yer dumb- you think that matters now? I fucking won that fucker is dead and I’m stronger than he ever was!” He giggles and pushes Jackie back by his staff while building up black magic fire in his hands. “I’m not Magnificent~ I’m something far greater and that’s why I’m on top! Like I was always meant to be!” He cackles loudly as he tries to blast the fire at Jackie.

Jackie's eyes widen and he barely ducks, the heat of the fire feeling all too familiar against his skin. He takes a deep breath, trying to recover from the familiar feelings that fire stirs inside him.

And then Schneep leaps over behind Glitch, driving the scissors downwards.

Glitch quickly turns around and dodges Schneep’s attach before blasting out fire towards him too. “Nice try~!”

Schneep yelps, the fire burning his arm. He leaps to the side, patting out the flames. JJ takes his place, throwing magic after Glitch but staying where he's standing off to the side.

Alt growls and glitches around, trying to create a distraction for Glitch.

Bro hurries over and kneels by Jackie, “You okay?”

"F-fine," Jackie says. He steadies himself. "Now—let's get this fucker!" He tries to sweep out Glitch's legs with his staff.

Bro grins and nods, trying to kick at Glitch’s stomach. Glitch glitches out the way though but ends up getting blasted back by JJ’s magic and is thrown through the air. He growls and then starts to spark with electricity. “You all are getting on my last fucking nerve!” He hisses.

Then, Glitch sends out a wave of electric magic to try to shock everyone and knock them away.

Jackie and Schneep fly through the air away from Glitch. Even JJ, as far as he is, gets knocked down. Schneep is the first to get to his feet, and he leaps over to help Jackie up. "We have to get his magic to the doorway somehow," he mutters. "That is the plan."

Henny and Bro get blown back, bro briefly hitting his head against a far back wall. Alt manages to glitch away and then yells as he tackles his other self to the floor. Glitch roars in anger, meeting eyes with his former self.

Alt snarls and bares his teeth at his copy. “…you need to stop this! Your Chase wouldn’t want you doing all of this!”

“You know fucking nothing!” Glitch hisses, “I’ve seen the light- who we were meant to be all along! Someone who’s not tethered to weak useless meat bags- Chase was the only exception- the only one worth fighting for! Now I’m stronger than anyone who ever hurt us! I could rule worlds- all the worlds! I could turn back time to make sure Chase never died! All I need is a way out-!”

“Fucking listen to yourself!” Alt interrupts, “You sound exactly like Mag! Doesn’t that make you angry?! In the end- he won! He made you what he always wanted us to be! This wasn’t a victory- this is a tragedy! One where the man who tortured us for years got the last laugh and corrupted you so much you killed the only family you had left and drove everyone else you love away! You didn’t win jack shit! And I- I’m never gonna let myself turn into you!”

There’s an intense beat of silence as Alt pants from his emotional outburst as Glitch stares up at him with wide eyes. Wide eyes that… actually look a bit scared.

Everyone stares at the two Alts. Jackie starts to raise his staff and run forward, but Schneep puts out an arm to stop him. "Think about it," Schneep says. "You have not won anything. If Magnificent could see you now, he would be so proud of what you've become. Is that what you want?" But even as he talks, he gets ready to leap out of the way with Jackie at the first sign of danger. JJ also gets up, magic at the ready.

Glitch seems to shiver at this, eyes wide and distant as he shakes his head. “No…” Then his eyes start to fill with purple as he screams out in anger, “N̴̼͠o̸̭̕!̶̗̽!” A wave of purple magic rockets out of him and it blasts Alt away with enough force that he hits his head against the wall and blacks out for a second, slumping towards the ground.  

Schneep was ready for this. As the magic approaches he leaps out of the way, dragging Jackie with him. JJ is not so lucky. He conjures up a shield but the magic blasts through it, knocking him back against the doorway.

“Alt!” Bro cries out as he hurries over to his side, hardly being thrown off by the magic at all.

Bro hurriedly tries to rouse Alt. “Alt buddy c’mon!! You can’t pass out on us now!!” Alt rocks a bit in his grip, a spot of blood on his head from the impact he took.

Meanwhile, Henny tried to protect himself with his magic- but the black magic touches his light magic and he screams in pain as it eats up his hand and puts purple cracks on his pocket watch. He clutches at his hand then falls back against the wall, slumping against it.

In the middle of the room, Glitch is curled up into a tight glitching ball, muttering madly, “no no no no! I’m not like him- I’m not! I’m better! I-I won! He couldn’t win he’s dead!! I… I… Mag isn’t here- I’m the one still around!! Chase wouldn’t- I- He… he…! No! Nonono-!” Electricity is crackling off him like a dangerous storm. The floor underneath him is cracking and breaking into code- reality around him is shattering. “I’m the one in control! It was meant to be me!! He’s nothing- I-I’m eternal!’”

JJ climbs to his feet, looking over at Henny in alarm. He takes a deep breath and—in a puff of blue smoke--appears next to him. I'm going to try and get rid of that magic, he says, and reaches out to take Henny's hand with the watch in it. He tries to tap into whatever power he used on the rooftop to cast a purification spell.

Henny blearily looks at JJ and nods, “p-please… Juwel…” 

JJ smiles at Henny gently. He concentrates. Come on, he’s done this before… and though it’s more difficult than expected, the black magic slowly drains away.

Henny sighs in relief as the magic starts to drain away. Once he’s recovered enough he pushes himself up and puts a hand on JJ’s shoulder, “thank you my friend… hurry to the doorway-“ 

JJ nods slowly. Be careful, he says. Keep yourself safe over anything, even breaking the doorway. And then he teleports back to the doorway, right by Jackie and Schneep.

"Do you think Chase would be proud of you now, Alt?!" Jackie shouts at Glitch. "Do you think he'll want to hear you say things like that? See you do things like this?!" As Jackie shouts, Schneep pulls him back until they're standing by the doorway--right in front of it in fact. "He wouldn't! If he's anything like our Chase, he wouldn't! And he'd say you weren't meant for this at all! He'd say you were meant to be a hero!"

“ S̷̯̓Ḥ̴̉Ú̸̧T̴̬̒ ̸̰̋Ṳ̶̚P̶̒!” Glitch screams at Jackie, curling up claws into his scalp. “Chase was blind- w-we all were! I was always meant to be this- It’s what I-I was made for! The universes told me so- this magic tells me so! Playing hero was a-a foolish dream! I… I- ngh-!” Glitch cries out in pain and curls up more, the magic eating away more at the fabric of the world.

“Yeah, and whose magic is that?!” Jackie shouts. “Who did it come from?! Magnificent right? I don’t think his fucking magic would tell the truth!”

“Black magic sucks you in!” Schneep says. “But it may not be too late for you to make your way out, Alt!”

“And I don’t believe that anyone was made for anything!” Jackie continues. “This is a fucking multiverse, man! Do you think the possibilities are so limited?!”

Glitch grits his teeth and screams, tears of blood falling from his eyes. “There’s so many-“ He pants, “So many versions of me who are this- the trends, the canon- we were made this way…! I-I can’t fight this- this was inevitable! A puppet master needs his toys…! I-I’m a higher being now- I’m a-above all these useless fucking emotions! Above t-this empathy- this sadness-!” 

Then he curls up more gripping over his heart as the magic blasts out even more, ripples of black magic washing over the doorway, lighting up the runes with purple light. “So why does this still h̴̠̀u̴̮͌ŕ̷̹ẗ̴͚́?” he wails almost like a frightened child, “Why does it still ache?! Make it stop- MAKE IT S̷̜̚Ť̸͍Ǫ̴̈P̸̢̍!̸̭͗!̸̀ͅ”

Bro watches Glitch break down with wide worried eyes, some part of his chest aching with him. He grips the still passed out Alt in his arms.

"My friends!" Schneep looks at Bro and Alt, reaching out towards them. "Here!"

"Try to make it stop all you want!" Jackie shouts. "But it hurts because it's real! It hurts because it mattered! If you bury that hurt, if you try to justify it away—well, don't count us responsible for who you become!"

“Shut up!! Shut up shut up S̶̳͑H̴̢̕Ū̷͇Ţ̴͠ ̸̳̏U̸͖̎P̷̮̓!̵̩̑!̶̮͒!̵̮̐” Glitch sobs hysterically, clawing at his skin, leaving claw marks down his face like tears. 

Bro looks conflicted. Then he looks down at Alt and whispers an apology to him before giving him a little zap to wake him up. Alt jolts then winces gripping at his head. Bro pushes him forward, “Go to the others! Careful not to glitch yet- I… I need to do something-“

Alt opens his mouth to argue, “Chase-“

“Please Anti- just… just trust me, okay?” Chase says, looking at his brother with a meaningful expression. Alt slowly softens then nods. “Be careful…” he then glitches across the room- away from the doorway and starts to make his way towards it.

Bro stands up, then starts to brave his way through the magic storm around Glitch.

"Chase what the fuck are you doing?!" Jackie gasps.

"Chase!" Schneep starts forward, reaching out. But Jackie grabs him, holding him back.

JJ looks back and forth between Bro and Alt before hurrying over to Alt, dragging him back to the other two.

Alt stumbles a bit but leans against JJ as he helps.

The magic shreds at Bro’s super suit and skin, pixels slashing at him and the glitches unstable to walk on. But he tries- this… this guy is a version of his brother! A version that lost him- and Chase promised he’d never let his brother feel alone again.

Glitch doesn’t even see him coming- so when he manages to break through and grab his bleeding cheeks, the glitch startles and shakily holds a hand against Bro’s. “C-Chase?”

Bro looks at this corrupted version of Alt with deep heartfelt sympathy. He hesitates then brings Glitch into a hug and holds him tight. “Don’t worry, Anti…” he whispers, “We’re going to make sure this doesn’t  happen to you in our world… we’re gonna try to fix the future. I’m so sorry this happened to you…”

Glitch is stiff in the hug, purple flickering in his eyes- a bit of blue seeping through. He shakily reaches up and then curls claws into Chase’s shirt. “Please, Chase… f-find a way to save me-“

“I will,” Chase promises. He then lets go and looks at Glitch sadly, “…but you gotta let us go. You have to let me go.”

Glitch chokes a bit and closes his eyes before shoving Bro towards the doorway. “…g-get out of here- go-! Before it… before I lose myself again-!”

Glitch looks at the others with determination burning in his green blue eyes. “…make sure this future- never happens!”

Jackie, Schneep, and JJ look at each other. There are some tears in JJ's eyes. "We will do everything we can," Schneep says to this Glitched Alt. "We promise."

"You fight as hard as you can, okay?!" Jackie says.

Glitch nods, “I… I’ll try.” He looks to Alt, “…k-keep him close, okay?”

Alt has tears in his eyes too as he nods, “I will.” He says, his voice breaking.

Glitch smiles, looking sincere. “…good.” He closes his eyes and breathes, gripping at his heart. Purple veins pulse and glow underneath. He looks at Henny and a tear falls from his eye. “…keep on watching over me, Hen, will you? Y-you’ve done a good job of it s-so far.” He laughs.

Henny blinks back tears and nods, “Until the very end, my friend.” Sahne crawls out from where she was hiding and presses up against him, whining slightly at Glitch.

Glitch smiles more, looking on the verge of more tears. He shudders as the purple veins on his face light up and cause him pain. “G-Go- hurry-!” He shouts at the others.

Henny holds out a hand to hold the doorway in his magic. Alt slams an electric filled hand against the doorway and then lets his body disperse into glitches and pixels. The runes hum loudly and fill with more light, the air becoming electric and an electric whine reaches a fever pitch of intense noise. A bubble of crackling magic caves in on the 5 boys then rockets out in an intense beam of magic and light.

Then, the boys are gone- hearing the collapse of stones before they fall into deep confusing darkness.

[huffle-dork]

Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 15: Swapboys...? Again?

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read One Villain falls Another One Rises

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

When the boys all fall into the new world- it’s nothing like they’ve seen before. It’s a city street… but the buildings look like they’re falling apart. Like something out of a dystopian film. The city is strangely quiet. Except for this strange- glitch-like sound- tinkling like computerized wind chimes. Looking closer at the buildings- it seems like it’s not breaking apart normally… no- it’s breaking into computer code. Binary, ones and zeros, long swatches of words and letters that are completely unreadable.

And worst of all- Bro and Alt realize this… this place is familiar. Why is it familiar…?

“What… is all this?” Alt breathes in confusion.

"H-huh?" Jackie looks around. "Whaaaat the fuuuuck..."

I've never seen anything like this, JJ shakes his head in disbelief.

"What is that sound?" Schneep turns his head around, catching the noises. "It is all around us. It sounds like... some s-sort of... computer or static... glitches?"

"Schneep, you're not going to believe this," Jackie mutters. "But we're in a city. And all the buildings are turning into fucking binary."

"What?!"

What is this, some sort of... simulation world? JJ asks, frowning.

"How the fuck does that make sense?!" Jackie asks.

I don't know! I don't know what this is!

Bro pales and holds onto Alt. “Alt… d-doesn’t this… doesn’t this look like… like downtown? Like… o-our downtown?”

“What are you-“ Alt starts to say, then really looks and he seems to pale. “N-No… no way…”

Something is slinking behind in the shadows of some of the buildings- something,.. big and… cat like? But Alt and Bro don’t notice- too freaked out by this.

"Your downtown?" Jackie repeats. "So this is—this is Brighton?"

JJ shivers. What could have possibly happened to cause this?

Schneep gets out his cane and starts feeling around. His head turns wildly, trying to hear through the glitchy noises. "Is there anyone coming?"

"I don't see anyone, no," Jackie says, but he takes out his staff and extends it anyway. Something about this place is giving him the creeps.

Schneep frowns. "F-for a moment I thought I... sensed... something."

Suddenly the shadowy figure lashes out, trying to tackle down one of the boys.

Bro sees this and gets in front of the others- the thing is a big cat! Almost like a panther but… fluffier? It plows slightly into Jackie, throwing him off before it tackles Bro to the ground.

"Whoa!" Jackie spins and staggers before regaining his balance by pushing against the ground with his staff.

"What is that?!" Schneep gasps.

"Some sort of cat! Hey!" Jackie starts to run back over to attack but JJ grabs him, pulling him back. JJ then tries to cast a protective shield around Bro to push the cat back.

The shield pushes the cat back and it mrows slightly in distress then bends back down to the ground and snarls at the rest of them. Alt glitches over to be in front of Bro, holding out his hand with magic sparking in it. Then, he freezes, face going pale. “…Glitches…?” he whispers in disbelief.

"Glitches?" Jackie repeats, blinking in confusion.

Isn't that your cat? JJ asks.

A glitchy haunting laugh echoes across the empty city street, sending shivers down Bro and Alt’s spines. Why did it sound so… familiar too?

At the sound of the laughter, Schneep immediately pulls out his scissors and spins around, trying to figure out where it came from. "What was that?"

"Show yourself, coward!" Jackie shouts.

JJ looks at him like he's completely lost his mind. No! Let's get out of here!

Alt is frozen in place, staring at the cat like he’s seen a ghost. Glitches growls at him, but looks… confused. Conflicted. Alt almost tries to reach out before they hear the laugh and Bro pulls Alt back.

Something suddenly… glitches next to the cat. The same effect as Alt’s just… more purple and neon. The figure laughs more and pets Glitches head. He slowly lifts his head and…

It’s… Alt?

But this Alt is very different- his brown hair is overgrown and pulled into a small ponytail. He wears his old impulse jacket that’s dirty and ripped. He has purple branching scars on his cheek and across his nose. And his eyes… they look just like Magnificent’s.

“…no…” Alt breathes, looking beyond freaked out.

"H-huh?" Jackie stares with wide eyes. "Alt?!"

"Alt..." Schneep breathes, feeling the similarities between their souls. But... "I-is that... dark magic?"

JJ looks horrified. He instinctively conjures a shield in front of them all.

The copy laughs wildly, “I thought I felt the rifts! It’s been so long… I thought they’d never come here again-“

“W-What is this?!” Bro snarls, “Is this some kind of s-sick joke? Who the hell are you? Cuz y-you- you’re not Alt!”

The copy finally looks properly at Bro and his other self- but his eyes widen as he sees Bro. He glitches past the shield to be right in Bro’s face. “C-Chase?” He whispers- like he’s just seen a ghost. Then he laughs wildly and grabs either side of Bro’s face, digging claws into his skin, “T-The universe brought you back!! The rifts brought you back!! F-Finally!! I can start to make things right- you’re not gonna leave me again are you, Chase?!”

Alt looks like he’s gonna be sick. Bro tries to shove the other Alt off him. “F-Fucking let go!! The fuck are you talking about?!”

"You know about the rifts?!" Jackie gasps. "You—what do you mean, 'they'd come here again'?"

"This is... some sort of... s-strange universe," Schneep whispers. His stomach sinks as he takes in the implications of the strange Alt's world. Brought Chase back...? "Some s-strange... tragedy must have happened..."

JJ cries out as the other Alt just glitches past his shield—he's got to remember he can do that! He hurries over to help Bro push the other Alt away. 

The strange Alt gets pushed away and he stumbles back. Then he grins and glitches to look at all the others properly. “Oh! So many familiar faces!! It’s been so long, friends~! I thought I was cut off from the other universes now but here you all are!!” He giggles, floating a bit off the ground.

Then, He glitches to grab Alt by his face- and his eyes flash with hatred. “…even you.”

Alt is trembling, staring at this- corrupted version of himself but not being able to move or do anything in response. Bro shoves the strange Alt away and growls. “Hands off!”

The weird Alt giggles and snatches Bro by his wrist. He then glitches the both of them over back by big cat Glitches and his eyes swirl as he looks into Bro’s eyes, floating so they’re the same height. “Come on Chase! Let’s quit all this mucking about! You know how much I need you… come home with me?” Bro struggles but then- seems to be slowly drawn into other Alt’s eyes. “I…I-“

"Oh no you fucking don't!" Jackie breaks into a run heading right for the other Alt.

"Jackie! Do not be a fool!" Schneep says. "Not by yourself!" He leaps towards Bro and the other Alt, aiming to knock Bro to the ground—or otherwise break his eye contact. Jackie arrives shortly after he does and immediately attacks the other Alt with his staff.

JJ grabs Alt's hand, squeezing it tight, and gets ready to throw magic at the first sign of trouble.

Alt squeezes tight on JJ’s hand, on the verge of a panic attack. This must all be just a terrible dream… right? This… this only happens in his absolutely worst nightmares.

Breathe, JJ signs to Alt. 

The staff hits the other Alt with a resounding clang and the spirals fade from his eyes. But then he grabs Bro before Schneep can and holds him possessively, claws digging into his neck. “Back off! You don’t get it! I need him- I won’t let you take him away again!”

“You’re out of your fucking mind, man!” Jackie says. “You’re gonna hurt him!”

“We do not want to fight you, but we will if we must!” Schneep adds, holding out his scissors.

JJ turns his attention back to the others, silently debating what to do. Maybe—if he distracts this strange Alt, the others can grab Bro? With that in mind, he draws back a hand and throws a bolt of magic towards the other Alt—something mostly harmless that will draw his attention.

Jackie notices this and takes the opportunity to try and pull Bro away.

The strange Alt makes a glitchy shield without even looking at JJ- but Jackie is strong enough to pull Bro away. Bro shakes out of the strange trance and clings to Jackie. “fuck- t-thanks…!”

The strange Alt growls and purple electricity sparks around him dangerously. “Enough! This fucking city and this world is fucking mine!” He laughs insanely and holds out a hand at Jackie, Schneep and Bro. The ground beneath them flickers and shifts like it might fade into pixels and code like the buildings. “I wanna hear you all go s̷̨̅p̶̩̍l̸̤͗ȃ̶̮t̴̨̓!” he giggles.

Schneep yelps upon feeling the ground under his feet shift. Jackie tries running, dragging Bro with him, but it's hard to find his footing to do so.

The other Alt glitches a bit in place and starts to close his hand-then… it’s like a pause button has been pressed, capturing him mid laugh and mid glitch.

Someone whistles from an alleyway nearby and then an arm gestures for them to follow. “Hurry! Over here!”

JJ's head snaps towards the voice and immediately books it towards the gesturing arm, taking Alt with him. He whistles sharply, drawing the other two's attention. Schneep and Jackie break into a run as well, taking Bro. Bro is able to run pretty soon with them and hurries over. Alt tries his best to keep up-

The dark alley makes it hard to see but soon there’s a tealish ring of light that appears and a shadowy figure jumps through- followed by something that looks like a… dog? “In here! Quickly! My spell will not last long-“

"Coming!" Jackie gasps, running as fast as he can. "Schneep, you're going to have to jump!"

"Tell me when!" Schneep says.

Jackie heads through first. "Now!"

Schneep stumbles a bit as he goes through the ring but manages to land well enough.

JJ goes through next, still holding onto Alt's hand.

"I-is this—who I think it is?" Schneep asks, recognizing the feel of the person's soul.

“I-It sounds like…!” Bro pants as he jumps in with the others.

They all land in a warmly lit but still somewhat dim room. It’s slightly cold in here… stone walls? Maybe underground? It’s jammed to the brim with a couple beds, a desk with med kits, water and packs of food. Bags of dog food line the wall and big duffle bags. One of the beds is filled with open spell books and notebooks with writing in them. Various suitcases lie around the beds, in different degrees of usage.

And standing before them is- it’s Henny and Sahne. Henny looks like he’s seen hell- his usual bright sunny face haggard and dirty- deep bags under his eyes. His glasses are cracked- he’s in a dark dingy trench coat. Sahne sits obediently at his feet. But she looks to see the others and her tail starts to wag.

“That was very very close- are you all alright? This place should be safe from-“ he starts to say.

“H…Henny?” Alt interrupts.

Henny looks up now and his eyes widen. “…my.. mein gott-“ he whispers. He looks like he’s seen a ghost. “Chase- you’re … you’re alive…!” Henny laughs in teary eyed disbelief and runs at Bro and hugs him tightly.

Bro blinks and pats Henny’s back. “Y-Yeah I’m… h-hi Hen?”

Henny laughs wetly and then goes to grab Alt too and hugs him with Bro, pressing his head onto both of their shoulders, “Oh! And… Alt… Alt, my friend… is it actually you…! Not that… that glitched Ungeheuerlichkeit!” Alt is frozen in his hug, still trembling.

Sahne starts to bark happily- though definitely more quiet barks as she dances around everyone, pressing her noses against hands and legs and rubbing up against them, tail wagging wildly.

JJ stares, stunned, at this other version of Henny. What... happened to him? He probably should have expected that this wouldn't be a good place to live, given the glitchy state of everything outside, but it's another thing to see someone who was so smiley look so tired.

Jackie is just as stunned. But he zeroes in on one thing in particular. "...'alive'?" he whispers. "What the... what the fuck happened in this world...?"

Schneep inches away from Sahne and starts getting the lay of things with his cane. "Wh-where are we? What... what happened to the Alt is this world?"

And what about the others? JJ says, worried.

"Um... also, uh... hi?" Jackie raises a hand.

Henny let’s go and wipes at his eyes. He laughs and looks back over Bro and Alt, “oh… you both look so young…” He says, gently cupping their cheeks. The others can notice this Henny does seem a bit older than the one they knew- though maybe the slight salt and pepper hair is from stress.

He smiles tiredly at the others. “Yes hallo.. it is… good to see friendly faces… I.. you all must be so confused. Please- sit and I… I will try to explain.”

“Yes explaining is good cuz what?!” Bro exclaims, throwing up his hands, “I… the me from this universe, he’s dead?”

Alt and Henny seem to wince at this. “I… I will explain Chase… please just…I-I am sorry it is tight in here-“

“If I’m dead then- w-what about Jackie and Jay? Henrik what-“

“They are safe.” Henny says firmly, gripping his hands into fists. “Z-Zara got them out of the city…on a boat. The children… Zara, Jackie and Jewel. They are all fine… all of this s-seems to be contained to Brighton… b-but I do not know for how much longer.”

"They're not even here?" Jackie's eyes widen. "It's that bad? Holy shit." He shakes his head and sits down on one of the beds. "Okay. Jeez."

Something must have happened to Alt in this world, JJ says. Something that gave him incredible power, but made him... unstable. He looks a bit haunted for a moment as he remembers what happened in the last world, but quickly pushes that away. Clearly, this is much worse, probably not even comparable.

"Yes, Jamie, I agree, that must be it," Schneep says. "Do not worry about the space, ah, Henrik, it is fine. Why are you still here, if the others have all left?"

“…someone needs to continue what… what Chase could not.” Henny says quietly, hugging his arms. “…I did not have nearly as much power as Alt or Bro Fantastic did but… I-I could do something. I stay to… to help anyone else who is left. It… it isn’t much now. I try to get people out to safety. But just in case I… I stay.” He smiles weakly. “Is good I did, ja?”

“Hen what…” Alt voice cracks, “what happened…?”

Henny is silent for a beat. “…it was supposed to be a victory. We had… finally defeated Magnificent. He was… he was dead. But s-something happened… the lingering black magic it… it found a way to claw itself into Alt’s- our Alt’s soul. Or body or… mind- maybe all 3. All we know is after that… it all changed. Alt tried to fight it but it just- consumed him. He started to tear the city apart- started doing things Magnificent would have done. He left us alone though… but it was hard to watch him… hurt innocents. Chase he-he could not stand it. He tried to confront Alt and-“ Henny grips his fingers tighter into his arms. “…he killed him. That fucking Glitch- he killed him!”

Bro and Alt go white as a sheet. Alt’s stomach lurches and he scrambles to find a trash can to retch into. Sahne carefully paws over to sit by him.

"...holy shit," Jackie whispers, his stomach sinking. "That... that's what...? I-I can't believe..." He shakes his head. He can't blame Alt for his reaction.

"Black magic always finds a way to linger, yes?" Schneep mutters darkly. "Even when... it should not." He shudders a bit.

He... couldn't have meant to do it... JJ signs slowly. Alt would never... and that version of him out there... maybe he regretted it? He leans heavily against the wall.

"Are you okay, Alt?" Jackie says softly. "I mean... I get it. I really, really get it."

Alt is bracing himself against the floor, shaking like a leaf as tears fall down his face, “T-t-this is a n-nightmare right? This… t-this can’t be r-real…! I-I w-wouldn’t… I-I would never-!”

Bro hurries over to kneel down by Alt and rub his back, “Breathe, Anti… it’s…”

“It’s okay, Alt,” Schneep says softly. “Black magic can do terrible things to people. It is not because of you that this is happening in this world.”

Alt doesn’t respond to Schneep, holding his arms and shaking wildly as he curls up to cover his mouth. Trying not to get sick again. He feels like he’s disconnecting from all of this- hardly able to grab onto any thoughts to ground him. 

“I-I am sorry for my emotions,” Henny says, looking regretful for his anger, “… the wound is s-still fresh… but that is why the city is in the state it is in. After the Glitch-or our Alt got corrupted… he gained so much more power- insight into other worlds he did not have before. He believes himself a… a god almost. Claiming that this world and all worlds are his. But he never got the ability to travel to other worlds again… so he’s been- tearing our reality apart- trying to find some universe where… where he can get Chase back. And he does not care who he hurts to get there.”

“Insight into other worlds, huh?” Jackie mutters. “Seems like that’s something Antis are prone to get.”

Wait, if he’s looking for a world where he can get his Chase back, then—we just walked right into his hands, didn’t we? JJ says, eyes wide. No wonder he went straight for Chase. He’s probably going to keep going for him as long as we’re here.

Bro pales at JJ’s realization and gets to his feet, “F-Fuck J, you’re right!”

“You all are safe here for now,” Henny says softly. “I have learned wards to hide this place. He had not found it yet.”

“Even so, we had better try to think about some way to get out of here,” Schneep decides. “I know the rifts may show up, but we should not count on them.”

“Great idea, except we have no idea how to do that,” Jackie comments.

JJ frowns. Alt, Chase, how did you two show up to our world before? You didn’t have the TRVLR yet—you got it from our world. I don’t remember if you told us how you got there.

Bro blinks at JJ and then hums, thinking about it. “Oh right! Um… the arch! Mag found an archway thing we’ve seen one other time before in a SCLERA basement. He used Alt’s magic and his to open up the gate and then… we wound up in your world!”

Henny frowns, “hm… SCLERA has been… destroyed by the Glitch… but if it was underground like this… maybe? But if Alt knew of this… he might have already tried to get to that.”

"He destroyed SCLERA?!" Jackie gasps. "Well—I guess that makes sense. If I was an all-powerful glitch being, I would destroy them too. They might get in the way."

Schneep stands up. "It is the only lead we have, yes? I think we should at least try to go find it."

It would probably feel better to take action rather than just wait here for a rift to come, JJ agrees.

Henny nods, “Destroying SCLERA was the one good thing the Glitch has done… but I worry- he has eyes all over the city. Magnificent’s cats… the Glitch uses them and he has a few puppets lingering around the city I could not save…”

Bro sighs and crosses his arms, “I agree it’s dangerous… but we can’t just sit here. We can’t afford to wait for another rift… maybe if the arch is destroyed we can repair it somehow?”

JJ nods slowly. Perhaps my magic could help. What does this arch look like?

"Oh, I've seen ours before," Jackie says. " I'm gonna assume it's similar here. It's a freestanding doorway. One side of it is made of black rock, like obsidian or something, and the other side is regular stone that's been carved with a bunch of designs."

Runes, presumably. I've been learning some alphabets to help Marvin with his card magic, I might... know some? JJ guesses.

“Yes! It’s just like the one from your world, Jackie!” Bro says with a smile. 

"That is the best chance we have, I think," Schneep mutters. "Alt. Are you...?" He trails off. Clearly, Alt is not okay. Asking probably wouldn't help.

Henny looks over at Alt with worry. And- a bit of fear. He knows this isn’t the Glitch- it helps that Alt looks so much younger but… he keeps his distance.

Which doesn’t help Alt at all. Everyone sounds like they’re underwater- the room is tilting and he feels- lost. Just staring at the floor, as he curls up as small as he can. It’s hard to tell if he’s ever registered anything they’ve been saying.

JJ winces. He's not doing well.

"No, really?" Jackie drawls.

This isn't the time for sarcasm, Jackie. JJ shoots him a disapproving look.

Jackie winces. "No. You're right. It's not." After a moment, he gets up and walks over to Alt. He hesitates, then puts a hand on his shoulder. "Hey." His voice is quiet. "I know. It sucks. Sucks to know what could happen. What you could do. But you're different, right? You're trying to be better, right? Doesn't mean it's not hard to hear about all this, I know. But that's not you. I know you're a good person, Alt. This... mess in this world... Don't let it break you down."

Alt jolts as Jackie touches him and finally looks up at him with red rimmed eyes. He listens but then whispers brokenly, “…what if this i-is my future…?”

“Hey Alt don’t say-“ Bro tries to say.

“No! What if?! The other me- he- he knows about the rifts- Hen says he travelled though worlds too. He’s o-older than me- what if this is just what happens to me?!” He pushes himself out of Jackie’s grip and pulls at his hair, eyes blown wide in panic as glitches break apart at his body. “T-This isn’t like s-seeing other Antis and knowing I’m different! T-That’s me! it doesn’t matter if I know I’m a good person- it doesn’t matter if I’m different now! This… this could be what I become!! It could mean e-everything I’ve learned about myself- everything I’ve fought for means fucking nothing!” he screeches at the end, his voice loud enough to make the room shake with vibrations as his magic whips around him wildly.

"And do you think the future is set in stone?" Schneep suddenly snaps. "Do you believe you are so powerless in the face of what will come? Are you going to just lie down and accept that you are some evil glitch, or are you going to get up and tell the world that you will not be like him? I have not known you for very long, Alt, but I know you have a fighting spirit in you. And yet, whenever the universe tells you that you will become something you don't wish to be, you accept it. Are you going to let the world do that to you? Are you going to believe that disaster is inevitable? Or are you going to take back your life on your terms? Are you going to look fate in the eye and tell it to go fuck itself when it says there is no other way? You have fought for your life, Alt! Do you really think you will give up so easily?"

Alt bursts into ugly sobbing, curling up to hold his head against his knees. “I-I don’t know! I don’t know!!”   

“Anti…” Bro tries to say, trying to get closer. Alt flinches and glitches to the very back wall and wails, “I-I always thought I-I-I wouldn’t ever d-do something like this! That I’d never hurt Chase- my friends…! T-They’ve always saved me before- why was this time different?! I don’t want this- but if even the m-me from here fought so hard then? Does it even fucking matter?!”

JJ clears his throat and signs weakly, And this Henrik said that it started when you all killed Magnificent, right? So... you know how to... prevent it...

Luckily- Alt always tries to look at JJ when he demands attention for his signs. He quiets down a bit.

Henny nods, “Yes.. I do believe if we found another way to stop Magnificent… then this may have never happened.”

“JJ is right Alt… w-we can make sure this doesn’t happen! Now we know…” Bro says gently, “You and me can work to make sure this future never ever comes to pass. But you can’t give up now… we gotta get to a better future together, okay?”

"It always matters, Alt," Jackie says firmly. "Every single little bit of effort matters. Even if it feels like it doesn't. You know, my Chase told me how you saved him. How Jameson tried to get in your head about this same thing. H-he doesn't remember it all too well, but he remembers that you got him out of there. If you hadn't pushed through Jameson's taunting back then, Chase would still be there. If you hadn't decided that you were going to get him out of here despite everything that happened the first time you visited our world, he would still be there. Even if it feels like it doesn't matter to you, it means the world to others when you fight against these—these claims that you're evil."

Alt looks up at Jackie with surprise. “He… he remembered all of that…?” He swallows shakily. “I-I couldn’t just leave him…”

“That’s where the differences lies, Alt. No matter what, no what how many Antis are different you have a kind heart…” Bro says with a sad smile.

Henny smiles sadly too, “yes… that sounds more like the Alt I knew… I think deep down… you are still the same, Alt. But you know how… invasive black magic in. Perhaps that is another reason I stay… I want to see if there’s still a way to save my friend… even after everything he has done.”

"And now that you are warned, it will be easier, yes?" Schneep says. "The future is never set in stone, even if it feels like it is. You have been to many worlds now. Surely you have seen worlds where even the worst can be reversed. We were there in one, weren't we? That second underwater world. Everything seemed so bleak there, but we changed it a little, did we not? I do believe things will be able to change even somewhere like that. So your world will also be able to change."

Alt thinks about both the Schneep’s words and eventually he nods, “we… we did help it get better…. Didn’t we? For other me and Marvin…” He’s quiet again before he glitches up to his feet and wipes at his face with his sleeve. “okay… l-let’s just… g-get out of here then… a-as quickly as we can…” 

JJ nods. We’ll probably have to move fast. And Alt? He pauses. Let us know if… there’s anything we can do.

“I… yeah I… I will.” Alt says quietly. 

“Yes, please do,” Jackie adds. “For now, uh… we gotta go find a SCLERA place, I guess? They have that weird eye symbol, right?”

“Other me, is there anything we will need for going out?” Schneep asks.

Henny hums in thought, “I would recommend some way to hide Chase… he will be the biggest target. Do any of you know invisibility spells?”

Jackie and Schneep immediately look over at JJ.

JJ frowns. I know one. But I've never cast it before, just read about it.

"Might as well try," Jackie says.

Yes, of course. JJ walks over to Bro. Hold still. That will make it easier, I think.

Bro looks a bit nervous but gives JJ a thumbs up. “I trust you, bro!” He quickly puts his hand back by his side and closes his eyes so he’s not too tempted to move.

JJ nods, and takes a deep breath. He's a little nervous about this. But he tries to hide it, adjusting his mask. A blue glow envelops his hands as he places them both on Bro's shoulders and concentrates. The blue magic ripples over Bro's form from the point of contact. He feels a little chilly for a moment as the invisibility slowly spreads across him, following the magic. Then JJ pulls his hands back and Bro is gone. Or, kind of. There's a person-shaped distortion in the air, like Bro has been turned into a pure glass statue that casts no shadow.

Alt blinks in surprise and glitches over. He tilts his head then tries poking at the distortion.

Bro yelps a bit and jumps, "Hey! ...shit did it not work??"

"No! It... it worked-" Alt laughs a bit breathlessly. "You're... still a bit noticeable but? from a far... I think you should be good."

"Whoa, that's trippy." Jackie leans side to side, staring at Bro. "It's like uh... that effect when you put a straw in a glass of water and it looks like it breaks."

Bro blinks and looks at himself, “woahhh!” 

"Oh? Interesting," Schneep says. "Jamie, can you keep that up?"

It should last an hour, JJ says. After that, I'll need to renew it.

Henny smiles and nods. "That should be good. ...outside- try to avoid anything glitching or- anything slinking in the shadows. Those are most likely the Glitch's eyes... but I can try my best to lead you to where SCLERA is."

“An hour should be plenty of time.” Henny says with a nod. He looks to Sahne, “You will keep an ear out too, right, Sahne?” Sahne barks in response. Henny smiles then opens up his hand and another teal ring of light forms. “I cannot go very long distances but this should help cut our journey.” He jumps through, Sahne close by.

Bro feels a bit nervous but he jumps through next. Alt hesitates.

"Gonna have to climb through again, Schneep," Jackie says.

"Very well." Schneep reaches out, feeling the edge of the ring, and hops through.

JJ notices Alt lingering back. He looks back and smiles at him. Ready to come? We'll need your help, I think.

Alt looks at JJ with a bit of fear but then closes his eyes before nodding. “y-Yeah I’m… I’m coming.” He eyes the ring then glitches through.

Jackie looks after Alt, a bit worried, and then hops through. JJ jumps through last.

[huffle-dork]

Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 16: Swapboys Bad End

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read One Villain falls Another One Rises

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

On the other side of the ring they’re in another destroyed part of town. This time it seems more like apartment buildings and a mix of businesses. Henny moves right along, Sahne following at his side.

Schneep walks along slowly, sweeping wide space with his cane in front of him, trying to sense anyone nearby.

Bro sees Alt and goes to walk beside him. “…you okay?”

Alt stays quiet, gripping his arms. “A…l-little better… I guess.”

“Hey let’s… try to look on the bright side! The doorway… if we can get it to work then… maybe it’ll take us back to JJ’s world so we can get another TRVLR! Or… maybe it’ll take us to Jackie’s world like the first time and we can find Anti… it’s gonna be okay, lil bro….”

JJ overhears Bro and Alt's conversation. He nods in agreement. I'm sure that anything will help. It's definitely going to be okay.

Jackie looks around at the buildings. "Wow... really... did a number on things, huh?" he mutters to himself.

“Yes… every day something new is destroyed…” Henny says quietly to Jackie. “I am glad I was able to get many people out before it got worse. Luckily it seems the Glitch is more interested in trying to find a way out of this universe than in making puppets like Magnificent. That could be the reason for his… insanity. We know Magnificent sustained himself by stealing magic or life from others… I do not think Glitch does the same.”

Alt nods a bit to JJ and listens quietly to Henny. His eyes dart around though- jumping at every glitchy sound and too dark shadow. 

"Really? Then I suppose this could be worse?" Schneep wonders.

"Doesn't mean it's not bad," Jackie mutters, tightening his grip on his staff. "Why is it that all of these powerful black magic guys eventually start looking for the multiverse?"

"Mine did not," Schneep says. "Our Anti was focused on us."

"Yeah, well, maybe if you gave him enough time he'd have turned his sights there."

“…selfishly I like to believe it is because… Alt is still somewhere in there… and he remembers what it was like to be under Magnificent’s power. And he does not want to inflict that on others… but it is… complicated. He still has his victims…“ Henny quietly explains.

Well... there's nothing to prove it's NOT that, JJ says. Even if he hurts others...

"Victims, huh?" Jackie mutters. "Um... I don't think... We might need, uh, information on what to watch out for. What do you think Al—the Glitch would do if he found us? Obviously he'd try to fucking... kidnap Bro or something, but what about the rest of us?"

"... I do not know..." Henny admits, " We managed to get Jackie and Jewel out of harm's way once... once Chase was..." He swallows shakily. "So I... I do not know how he will react to... people who share their faces."

Alt shudders at this, holding his arms. Bro tries to keep a positive vibe though, "M-Maybe that means he'll leave us alone?"

Jackie frowns. "...maybe." But he doesn't believe it. That other Alt already tried to glitch out the ground beneath him and Schneep.

"We should prepare for the worst just in case," Schneep says.

JJ shakes his head. I don't know if I could fight any version of Alt, though...

"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Jackie says. "You might surprise yourself."

JJ looks troubled. That's quite grim.

"S...sorry," Jackie mumbles. "I guess I'm not an optimistic person."

A glitchy laugh echoes around them before a voice giggles in Jackie's ear, "Well~ Isn't that perfect? Cuz optimism is dead here. I could use someone like you, Jackie~!"

Henny freezes and whips around, "No! Jackie!"

Glitch Alt laughs madly and tries to whip out green strings to capture Jackie. Jackie whirls around, swinging his staff, but he's not fast enough. The strings wrap around his torso, forcibly pinning his arms to his sides. "Fuck!"

Meanwhile- several big cat bodies slink out and try to tackle the others. Schneep and JJ start running for Jackie, focused on him—and therefore not noticing the cats. JJ yelps as one pins him to the ground, and Schneep cries out as the same happens to him. "Motherfucker!" He tries to leap out of its grip, and JJ struggles to push the cat who tackled him away with magic. Alt dodges the cat going after him in a quick glitch then hurries over to try to help JJ. Bro almost yells but thinks better of it and tries to stagger back. 

Glitch laughs and glitches up onto a building and lets Jackie dangle off the edge. The copy kicks his feet almost like a child excited by an insect he captured, that same mad gleeful expression on his face. And looking at his boots up this close…  those look very familiar. The same kind Bro wears- just dirty and faded by time. But before Jackie can dwell on that further- Glitch brings up the strings so he can look the trapped vigilante in the face. "Come on Jackie! We're f̷̪̓r̴͍̽i̴̪͆ḛ̶͒n̴̤̈́d̶͔͗s̷̖͌~ aren't we? No need to be scared of me~" He giggles.

Jackie yelps and kicks his legs wildly, trying to find purchase that doesn't exist. "Have you lost your fucking mind?!" he shouts. "You tell me not to be scared of you while you dangle me fucking a hundred feet off the ground?!"

"Well I know you can handle it-" Glitch says matter-of-factly, tilting his head with a grin. "And you know-a bit of danger means you'll probably listen to me more... you can tell me where Chase is, right?" 

"No, I can't actually," Jackie says through gritted teeth. "I haven't seen him in a while. We knew we had to hide him from you."

“Hmm I’m not sure I believe you,” Glitch hums in amusement. He rocks Jackie back and forth with a giggle. “But if that’s what you wanna tell me maybe I’ll just use you to help me look instead!” His eyes start to swirl as he laughs, “Cmon Jackie… don’t you wanna help your old pal, A̸͚̓ļ̴̈́ţ̸͝?” 

JJ quickly grabs onto Alt as he gets close, still trying to struggle against the cat, but the cat just growls and pushes him further into the ground. Schneep yelps as the claws of the cat dig into his shoulder, breaking his concentration. "Where did he go?! Where did he take Jackie?!" He can't sense his soul nearby! Gritting his teeth, he pulls out his scissors and slashes at the cat.

Schneep manages to slash the cat off as it roars in pain and lets him go. Alt yells and tries to shoot lightning magic to get the cat off JJ. Bro looks conflicted up towards where Glitch has Jackie.

"Do not even think about it Chase!" Henny warns.

"But he needs help!" Bro tries to argue.

"Yes- but Glitch wants you!" Henny yells and then whips around and freezes two of the cats in time, holding out his hand.

Schneep leaps out of the way of the cat as soon as he's free. JJ scrambles away and staggers to his feet. "Seriously, where is Jackie?!" Schneep asks.

JJ looks up. On top of a building!

"Which one?! Point me in that direction."

JJ runs over to him and physically turns him towards the building in question, moving his head so he'd be looking at Glitch and Jackie if he could see.

"A bit forceful, but thank you!" Schneep says. "Let's go! Alt, grab Henrik!" Schneep latches onto JJ and leaps out of sight, heading towards the roof.

Alt startles and then nods and grabs Henny. He looks back towards Bro and narrows his eyes, “Stay here! We’ll be back.” Bro tries to open his mouth to protest but then Alt glitches away with Henny.

Schneep and JJ appear on top of the roof, on the opposite side where Glitch is dangling Jackie. JJ shudders, holding back the nausea of Schneep's teleportation, and looks at the two of them. He gasps and starts rushing forward, but Schneep grabs him and whispers, "Be subtle. He might drop Jackie."

Right. JJ nods and the two of them go forward as quickly and quietly as possible. They just need to get within range of JJ's long-range spells!

Alt appears with Henny next to the others. Henny pulls out his watch, watching the two of them cautiously. Alt feels himself wanting to glitch angrily but tries to hold back.

Jackie glances down at the air beneath his feet and tries to hide his fear. Then he looks up at Glitch—only to see his eyes swirling. He quickly tries to look away. "You're not my 'old pal.' Some version of you might be, but we have no history."

Glitch frowns and tilts his head at Jackie. “Damn… don’t have loyalty to anyone huh? No wonder you lost your Schneep.” 

Jackie stiffens, going a bit pale. "Y-you—you don't know anything! I-it's not—I tried to go back for him, they tried to get him out, they have a tight hold on his—on his fucking mind! W-we—we'll need to—you shut the fuck up! H-how do you even know about that?!"

"Cuz I was there," Glitch says matter-of-factly, grinning sinisterly, "I was the same Alt that went on adventures with all of you~! I know a lot more than you think, Jackie Parker..." He tilts his head to try to catch his attention again, eyes glowing and swirling even more, "Which is why you should be able to trust me~!" 

As they walk forward, Schneep hits the end of his cane against a metal vent of some kind, making a small ding! sound. He winces. Alt glitches a bit in surprise and Glitch's gaze flickers for just a second to notice the others. He twitches his head and a glitchy shield appears in front of Glitch and Jackie- cutting the others off. Alt tries to glitch through it and gets blown back, skidding across the roof with a cry of pain.

JJ rushes forward, throwing magic at the shield, trying to break it down. Schneep also leaps the rest of the way forward and slashes his scissors across the shield to cut them. Schneep’s scissors manage to break through, making a rip in the shield.

Jackie's stomach sinks as he stares at Glitch in horror. Then he quickly looks down again as his eyes start to swirl. "No, you're not him," he says quietly. "Maybe you were him once, but it's clear that something happened to change you. I don't even recognize you. You're not my friend anymore."

Glitch’s face falls and then flares with anger. “F̶̣̓i̵̳͛n̸̠̉e̵̥͌,” he snarls and opens up his hand- letting Jackie fall.

“NO!” Alt cries out.

Jackie screams as he falls, wind rushing past him.

"Jackie!" Schneep shouts.

JJ throws his hand out, blue magic shooting out. It forms into the shape of a big hand and grabs Jackie before he can get too far. JJ's arm trembles with the effort of the spell—he put as much power as possible in this to be sure that he got him, maybe too much. But it works, as he manages to pull him back onto the roof. Jackie breathes heavily, visibly shaking.

Bro screams at seeing Jackie fall, ready to get up and fly towards him. He quiets once he sees JJ manage to save him… but if Glitch is throwing his friends off buildings- he can’t just sit here! He flies up, trying to stay away but being close by. Sahne, who was left on the ground, barks after him in distress. 

Schneep hurries over. He feels the strings that Glitch wrapped Jackie up in and starts cutting through them.

Glitch glitches to his feet and growls in anger. “Hey! Let me play with my toys how I please!”

“Fuck that!” Alt snarls, glitching so he’s in between Glitch, Jackie and Schneep.

Glitch stands taller and narrows his eyes, “hmm… okay. I guess I can play with all of you too.” He glances at JJ then glitches to try to grab him. JJ gasps and barely manages to dodge, Glitch's hands an inch from him.

"We are not your fucking toys!" Schneep snarls, and throws his scissors past Alt and towards Glitch as Jackie shakes off the rest of the strings. JJ conjures a shield around Schneep and Jackie, leaving himself, Alt, and Henny exposed.

Glitch yells as he’s struck and then growls and glitches to try to grab Schneep but gets stopped by the shield. He glitches back, giggling unstably. “That’s some pretty strong magic there J…. Let me have a taste-!” he lashes out to grab JJ again.

Henny tries to whip out his hand to stop him but Glitch dodges it easily.

JJ yelps as Glitch grabs him and squirms against his grip. Glitch laughs and digs claws into JJ’s arm, trying to drain some of his magic… just like Magnificent.

"Jamie!" Schneep gasps, and leaps out from the bubble shield, pulling out another pair of scissors and going to stab Glitch.

He easily dodged Schneep’s scissors and laughs wildly. “Gonna have to try harder than that Schneep!”

Alt hesitates and then tries to see if he can glitch over and grab JJ.

JJ gasps in horror. He recognizes the feeling of his magic being pulled away from him and squirms in discomfort. As his magic is drained, the shield around Jackie flickers and dies. Jackie gets to his feet shakily. He dropped his staff earlier but he has to do something! He jumps at the Glitch, planning to tackle him.

Glitch easily skirts his way out of Alt’s path- but ends up being barreled into by Jackie, getting tackled away from JJ. JJ staggers backwards, away from the Glitch, staring in shock. Schneep rushes to his side and helps support him as he sways tiredly. 

Glitch laughs wildly though, grabbing onto Jackie’s face and spiraling his eyes to try to capture his gaze again. “Hehehe! I wanna see you fight, Jackie! I wanna see alll the damage you won’t let yourself do! Show me!”

Jackie is expecting Glitch to fight back, not try more hypnotism. He tries to jerk back from his grip, but he looks into Glitch's eyes at just the wrong time. He stops, slumping, as the spirals draw him in. "You... want... to see that?"

"Jackie, no!" Schneep gasps. "Don't listen to him!" JJ tries to grab Jackie with magic again but his power flickers and fails.

“Yes! Yes!” Glitch giggles, grinning sharply. “Show me how brutal you can beee~! Then all of you can help me find Chase! It’ll be so fun!”

Bro eeps slightly and goes to hide at the edge of the building- trying to stay close in case they need help.

“No!” Alt calls, pushing himself up, “Jackie! Wake up!”

Henny yells out in anger and tries to grab Glitch in his magic but Glitch twitches his head and Henny’s magic gets sent back at him and sends him skidding back, trapped in his own magic.

Glitch lets go and helps Jackie up. “Go on Jackie~ give us a good show!”

Jackie gets to his feet, staring at the others with spirals in his eyes. He bends over and grabs the scissors that Schneep had thrown and missed, then rushes forward, bringing the scissors down towards Schneep. He cries out as his own scissors pierce his shoulder and leaps back. Jackie keeps hold of the weapon and whirls on JJ instead. JJ's eyes widen and he runs, not wanting to face Jackie. But Jackie chases after him.

"You bastard!" Schneep hisses, whirling on Glitch. He leaps forward, grabbing him.

Glitch laughs wildly and lets Schneep grab him. He studies him then frowns. “Aw you’re no fun- I can’t hypnotize you… fine-“ He grabs onto Schneep’s arm and lets sparks crackle across his jacket sleeve but not letting it shock him yet. “Will you tell me where Chase is?”

Schneep feels the electricity crawling across his arm. His eyes widen but he grits his teeth and glares. "You cannot torture me into giving you information! I've lived through enough pain already!" Then he tries to wrest his arms free.

“Wrong answer, Henrik.” Glitch cackles as he shocks Schneep heavily. 

Alt panics slightly at seeing Jackie get caught. He glitches over to try to tackle him away from JJ. Jackie yelps as Alt tackles him. He immediately twists around to stab him in the back with the scissors. Alt grabs Jackie’s hand to stop him and bares his teeth, “Jackie! C’mon! Cut it out!” He tries his best to keep Jackie down.

Jackie snarls, glaring at Alt with those spiral eyes. He does everything he can to fight against Alt, kicking and writhing and trying to headbutt him. Jackie manages to head butt Alt hard enough that he sees stars, crying out as he lets go of Jackie. He doesn't hesitate. As soon as he's free he tries to stab Alt again.

Schneep cries out, collapsing to the ground as pain wracks his body. JJ's head snaps towards him and he throws a ball of icy magic at Glitch.

Glitch manages to dodge JJ’s magic with a giggle then glitches over to try to grab JJ too, eyes spiraling again. “You need an upgrade on your magic, J~! Let me help you!” JJ shuts his eyes immediately. He pulls an arm free and presses a hand to Glitch's chest, trying to freeze him in place. Glitch grabs his hand and snarls, “Nice try-“ He tries to shock him too. 

JJ's eyes widen and he screams hoarsely. The sound snaps Schneep out of the trance he was in after being shocked himself. He leaps over and attacks Glitch from behind with yet another pair of scissors. Glitch senses Schneep coming behind him and throws JJ at Schneep with a wild laugh. “Too slow!” 

Schneep stumbles and he and JJ fall to the ground as JJ gets thrown into him. JJ scrambles up first and aims another magic blast at Glitch. Glitch grins and does the same trick he did with Henny, forcing JJ’s spell to backfire and blast into himself. JJ cries out, skidding back against the roof. He pounds against the bubble that's now formed around him, trying to break free. But while Glitch is distracted, Schneep leaps forward and tries to slash at him.

Glitch glitches away and giggles, “You guys are really bad at this! It’s almost fun to watch! But we don’t have to dooo this, you know! Just let me know where Chase is!” 

"Fuck off!" Schneep snaps. "Nothing about you tells me he will be safe with you!" He attacks again.

Bro notices that Henny is still struggling to get out of his magic and carefully tries to fly over, seeing if he can help. 

Alt tries to dodge Jackie but gets stabbed in the shoulder. He yells out then tries to blast Jackie back with his magic. Jackie gets pushed back but leaps forward immediately, making to stab again. Alt gasps and grabs Jackie’s wrist again, trying to keep him from stabbing him before trying to punch him in the face. Jackie's head snaps back, and for a moment the spirals in his eyes flicker as he gasps in pain. Then they return in full force and he tries to punch Alt right back in turn. Alt’s eyes widen a bit- then narrow in determination. He dodges the punch then tries to grab Jackie’s arm to shock him.

Jackie cries out, his body shuddering as the electricity jolts through his body. The spirals in his eyes disappear. "H-holy shit, Alt!" he gasps out. "I—" He shakes his head. "Th-the magic—h-hypnosis—it's trying to come back—"

Alt looks apologetic but he grabs Jackie’s shoulders and shakes him, “Fight it, Jackie! I know you can!”

"I... I-I..." Jackie's eyelids flutter. The magic in his head is trying to sink in again, telling him to listen to the Glitch, to do as he said--And then, suddenly, there's a SNAP in his mind. He cries out and suddenly, the magic is completely gone. "Wha—what the—?" He presses a hand to his head. "What was that?" He takes a deep breath and gets to his feet. "I-I'm good. I'm good! We—we have to help Schneep!"

Alt seems to relax at getting Jackie back and he nods. “JJ too… then maybe we can get out of here-!”

Glitch gets slashed and he bares his teeth at him but tries to laugh, “c’mon Schneep~! He’s my brother! You’re not gonna keep me from my own family are you~?” He tries to slash claws at Schneep.

Bro shudders at this and then gets up on the roof to try to see if he can untie Henny. …how do you untie magic??

Henny stiffens and looks back with a sinking stomach. “C-Chase? What are you doing??” He whispers. “You were not supposed to come up here!”

“You need help! I can’t just sit around!” Bro hisses.

“I am fine! You will not be!!”

JJ notices the strange distortion in the air by Henny. His eyes widen. Get out of here! he signs.

Bro hesitates- then scrambles to try to pull Henny free.

“Chase!” Henny hisses quietly, “You must go now!”

Schneep leaps out of the way. "He is not your brother!" He snarls. "He is our Alt's brother! Just because you are similar does not mean that you are entitled to his life!"

"Schneep!" Jackie shouts. "My staff!"

Hearing this, Schneep reaches out and grabs Jackie's staff, tossing it back in Jackie's direction. Jackie grabs it, extending it to its full length, and lunges forward. Schneep does too, both of them attacking Glitch at the same time.

Glitch growls and starts to spark dangerously with purple lightning. Alt notices this and tries to warn the others- but then Glitch sends out a shockwave of electricity, sending all 3 of them off their feet and skidding back. 

JJ's eyes widen at the lightning and Chase's refusal to leave. He takes a deep breath. What did that Marvin in the last world say? Remember who you're fighting for? He's fighting for not just the ability to get home and see all his friends, but also to protect the friends he's made here—-his friends who are now in danger. His eyes start to glow, the blue entirely consuming it. He slams his hands against the bubble—

And it shatters like glass.

JJ lunges for Glitch, closing the distance remarkably quickly, and grabs him. Magic swirls around him, trailing, a blizzard, extending from his back—in a way that almost resembles wings. The magic around him swirls around Glitch as well, the temperature noticeably lowering as he tries, again, to freeze him.

Alt gapes at seeing JJ break from his magic and then form- wings?? Just like his own lightning bird form! He laughs breathlessly then calls out, “Yeahh JJ!! Kick his ass!!”

Glitch jolts back- not expecting this and is completely caught off guard. His whole body gets encased in ice except for his head and Glitch tries his best to struggle and pull himself out, “W-what the fuck?! Since when could you do something like that?!” He snarls.

JJ backs away, looking down at himself, surprised. This feels familiar... but he can't remember ever doing anything like this before. He looks around at the others. We're getting out of here! he says. He dashes over to Jackie, Schneep, and Alt, making contact with all of them. There's a puff of blue smoke and all of them reappear near Henny—and the invisible Bro. Another puff of smoke surrounds them all, and they are gone—

Reappearing back on the street, right by Sahne who was left behind.

Sahne barks in surprise and Henny finally manages to break out of his own magic. He looks at JJ with awe, “Jamie… that was incredible!”

“Yeah!! Way to go man!!” Bro exclaims happily. Henny takes a second to find where Bro is then hits him. “Ow!! Hen!?”

“That was incredibly stupid Chase! You are so lucky you were not caught!” Henny scolds.

Alt nervously watches the building they left Glitch on. “We should hurry- who knows how long that will hold… how much farther, Hen?”

“Yes… not too much farther. Come-“ Henny says and starts to hurry back down the street.

I'm not sure how I did that... JJ says slowly, and the magic around his splutters out. He falls to his knees, and Jackie and Schneep rush to his side. He waves them off and stands up again. Not sure I can do that again, though. At least not easily.

"That's fine," Jackie says. "Do you need any help?"

JJ shakes his head. He starts to stumble, and Schneep reaches out to help him. JJ insists.

"Yes, but you may not be able to run," Schneep says. "So let us help you."

JJ hesitates, then nods. He leans on Jackie and the three of them rush after Henny.

Alt slows down to look at JJ with worry,  “You okay dude? …it’s crazy huh? Suddenly using power like that-“ 

Henny notices JJ’s struggle and slows down too, but keeps an eye out for anything coming their way.

JJ nods. I'm fine. It's strange, but that felt... familiar somehow. But I know I've never done anything like that.

"Maybe you have, but you forgot?" Schneep asks. "Is that possible?"

For a moment, JJ just frowns thoughtfully. Maybe... I'm not sure, though. I'll have to do some research once I get home.

Alt nods, “Yeah… I get that. I hardly remember the first time I did something like that. Chase said it was kinda freaky though.”

“Yeah! You damn near gave all of us a heart attack!” Bro grumbles.

JJ chuckles, but then pauses thoughtfully. After... after me and my friends escaped IRIS, I was very exhausted. Most of the escape is a blur to me. Perhaps... then...?

"You think you did something like that back then?" Jackie asks.

Maybe...

“Damn right.. you mentioned that… that makes sense though. I think that kinda power can be brought up through… desperation more often than not? I’m still learning how mine works too..” Alt says.

I was thinking a lot about saving the rest of you, JJ says.

"Daww," Jackie grins.

JJ laughs slightly. And getting home to see my friends again, of course.

"Hmm... you know, in my world, my Jamie was able to gain magic," Schneep says. "What did you say he might be, Jamie?"

A warlock, JJ says. That is indeed someone who gains magic through desperation. Though they also need to be exposed to a lot of magic beforehand.

"So perhaps desperation plays a part in many types of magic."

Alt smiles warmly. “Yeah… I think my J would say… it deals with just how much power the mind and body have that we don’t even know about… even if he doesn’t get magic I think that principle is there.”

“Very true! We often don’t know what we’re really capable of until we’re pushed to a certain point.” Bro adds.

Jackie nods slowly. "Though... I'm not sure how much I like the idea that desperation is a sort of power."

It's not the desperation itself, I think, JJ says. It is the desperation FOR something, wanting to do something so much that you break through your limits.

“Kinda Like… determination! In Undertale!” Bro grins.

Alt laughs, “It does kinda feel like that, huh?”

Schneep hums the game over theme, Determination, a bit.

Jackie laughs. "You a fan of that game? In my world, it came out on your birthday."

"Oh yes, it did in my world, too." Schneep grins. "Jack insisted that I play it for that reason, even though I am not a game player usually."

“It’s such a good game!! Shame it got meme’d to death- me and the lads all love it!” Bro laughs.

"Ah, lots of good games get meme'd to death," Jackie says. "Doesn't make them less good."

Alt chuckles, “It has a good message… I guess its mechanics can be applied to magic! Who knew?”

"Who knew?" Schneep repeats. "I suppose it shows how great stories hit at the heart of life."

How deep of you, JJ says, smiling.

Alt and Bro laugh. “So true!” Bro grins.

Henny slows completely in front of them. Sahne’s fur bristles as they stand in front of a large building with the name of Hope Water hospital barely visible through the destroyed concrete and rubble. “We’re here.”

Jackie stops walking. "Wow... this place really has gone to shit, hasn't it?" he mutters. "Destroyed hospital. Real apocalyptic."

Hope Water Hospital... JJ repeats. There's a SCLERA thing here?

“Yes… SCLERA had a habit of using hospitals as fronts for their underground operations. Real sneaky shady way of getting subjects for their experiments…” Henny says darkly.

Alt shudders, looking at the familiar logo.

“Come,” Henny says as he starts to make his way through the rubble, searching for a way down.

"That would explain everything that happened in the first world," Schneep mutters.

"They disgust me," Jackie says darkly. "If the IRIS in my world is anything like this, no wonder my Anti hates them so much." He sighs. "Anyway. We're gonna have to sift through this rubble, Schneep."

"Oh joy," Schneep says drily.

Can you just glitch down there? JJ asks.

"I can try—but I don't want to risk it if there is this much rubble."

"Old-fashioned way, then," Jackie says, and the three of them start looking through the destroyed area.

Alt looks around, “…this is the same SCLERA we’ve been to… I… I think I can glitch us down to the right room.” He suppresses another shudder. “I remember it very clearly.”

Bro laughs, his invisible form a bit higher than the others as he hovers. “Good idea then Alt- I was starting to feel bad for everyone!”

Alt rolls his eyes.

Henny looks back and then smiles, “Ah yes I almost forgot Alt… I am so used to uh… dealing without your glitching. We link up, yes?”

Alt nods.

"Right, yeah." Jackie backs away and grabs onto Schneep and JJ. Then JJ walks over and holds out a hand for Alt to take.

Alt grabs JJ’s hand and Bro floats down and grabs Henny and Sahne. Henny laughs, “it is very strange to be grabbed by something you cannot see.”

“Oh right- sorry!” Bro chuckles.

Alt glitches them all down.

[huffle-dork]

Egotober/Whumptober Day 30: Purple/“What have I done?”

If anyone else remember Glitch Alt from the Swap Bad End in GITHV then you might know what this is in reference to >;3c

[huffle-dork]

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 1: Swap/Bad End Revisited

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

Alt, Bro and Oliver are all in Alt’s old apartment before he moved in with Bro. The big area has been cleared of all the TVs and stolen goods- and instead has been padded with mats and supplies for training. Punching bags and equipment for them to learn to fight with. They even have wooden swords and targets with dummy arrows- just in case they felt nostalgic for the medieval world. 

It’s been a couple months since they all returned from their last adventure. Alt had been putting his nose to the books, trying to learn more about Glitches, theories of multiverses and working on his magic. But, a 1-2 months could only get him so far. Bro wanted to try to keep them both sharp while they waited- even Jackie wanted a better place to practice things. So they converted Alt’s old place into this training space. 

Oliver is sitting on the window sill, watching Alt and Bro trade blows. A med kit sits next to him, just in case.

Alt ducks and rolls away from a punch Bro sends into the ground. 

Bro grins and nods, “Good one!” 

Alt pants and wipes sweat off his face, “How are you not exhausted??” 

“Hero stamina, baby bro!” Bro laughs, patting his chest. “That’s why we’re doing this more! We gotta build yours up too!” 

“I-I need to be studying more magic-“ Alt mutters and then glitches out of the way of another blow. 

“You also need to get out and move, Alt, magic or not.” Oliver gently reminds him, “Sitting in a dark room everyday hunched over books isn’t good for you!” 

“Yeah, listen to Ol! He knows what’s he’s talking about!” Bro grins. 

Alt rolls his eyes. “I don’t really see how trying to get me to fight like you is helping…” 

“You never know, dude! You could face something that like- takes your glitches or magic away! You can’t rely on it forever- “ 

“Says you…” Alt smirks, “I’m a Glitch, remember? I’ll just bend the rules around~!” 

Bro can’t help but shiver a bit at this but he tries to shake it off, “It’s still good practice! Glitch or no- you gotta get your blood pumping, bookworm!” He goes to strike again and Alt blocks his punch with both of his arms then throws him back with a little zap. Alt grins as he watches Bro stumble, his blue green eyes sparking a bit. 

And then--there's another zapping sound. A bit of green electricity appears out of nowhere at the edge of the room. It zips through the air, leaving behind a black line, hanging unsupported by anything. The line opens up, becoming a wide rip--a wide rift. And out of the darkness steps a man wearing mostly black, with a green scarf and an eye-patch hiding his right eye. He looks around the room, taking in all the details. "Impressive set-up," Anti says.

Alt glitches back in surprise. Oliver nearly falls off the ledge, “what that hell?? Hello??” 

Bro turns around then grins brightly, “Anti! Wassup??” 

Alt’s eyes widen as he straightens up, “…i-is it time?”

Anti looks back at the Brodys and nods. "If you want it to be time, it's time. I don't want to rush you. But sooner would be better. You'll probably want to call your friends and such."

Alt’s eyes narrow in determination towards Anti, magic sparking around him. “Y-Yes! We’re ready!” 

“Uh- I’m not??” Bro raises his hand, “I mean I’m okay if we go now but if it’s not an immediate rush then like… I wanna change out of these sweaty clothes at least.” Bro also points a thumb back at Alt, “I’m also not like Alt’s who’s had a bag ready for months, just in case.” 

Alt flushes bright red, “Chase! C-C’mon man!”

"Heh." Anti grins. "Really? A bag ready? That's... fun." He glitches over to the wall, leaning against it. 

Alt blushes even more, “L-Look last time I didn’t have my spell books or-or our bracelets and I-I need fuel especially if we’re gonna be glitching at all so that needs to be stocked and Oli, Jackie and Dr. J would throw a fit if I didn’t bring first aid and-“ 

Bro laughs and claps Alt on that back. “Relax bro! I was just teasing- lemme just get changed okay?” 

"Well, like I said, you'll probably want to take care of things. Go on. I can wait." Anti says. The edges of the rift crackle with green electricity and it shrinks until it's barely big enough to stick your arm through. 

Bro grabs the bag he brought with his spare clothes then hurries down stairs, “I won’t be long!” 

Anti looks up at Oliver. He blinks. "...Oliver, right? Or is it just Google here?" 

Oliver blinks in confusion, “Um- what? T-That’s a nickname for my brother but uh-“ He looks to Alt for context but Alt just shrugs, shaking his head. He’s only met one other Ollie. 

"Where I'm from, there are four... brothers... all called Google. They're friends of a friend. You look like them."

Oliver blinks back at Anti, “O-Oh! Huh… n-never thought me and my brothers would be in… these things. But I guess if it’s a multiverse- that makes sense.” He laughs, “Imagine calling all of us the googles- Griffin would be so mad about that.” Then the nurse tilts his head at Anti and kicks his feet slightly. “So, uh… Anti. What is it exactly that you’re taking Alt and Bro away for again? They’ve tried to tell me but… I dunno- it’d be nice to hear from the person they’re going with.” 

Anti nods. "We're going to find the pieces of a device called a TRVLR. When it broke they got scattered across different worlds. I think that all of us working together will be faster than just me." He glances back at Alt. "Though... we'll have to stop by Sam's world first, to get the rest of the parts I've already collected. Don't worry--a lot's happened since they were last there. They won't have to worry about that Anti attacking them." Then back to Oliver. "Once we get the TRVLR together, we'll have to track down the person who broke it. Another version of me. But we don't have to do that right away... probably." 

“Oh… right- that… doesn’t sound so bad…” Oliver says, biting his lip a bit in worry.” 

Alt had headed over to the corner and has been changing into his other clothes while they talk. Mostly just changing his shirt and putting on an oversized short sleeved hoodie with different patterned long sleeves. He ruffles his hair as he walks over, slinging his bag over his shoulder. He tried to smile at Oliver. “Don’t worry Ols, we’re used to this kinda stuff. I’m sure this will be a breeze.” 

Oliver huffs out of his nose and crosses his arms, “Yeah- but every time you go on these things… you come back hurt…”

Anti stares at Oliver silently for a moment. Then, a bit after the moment starts to get uncomfortable, he says, "I'm coming with them too. I can help protect them. Not that they'll need it, of course." 

Alt looks at Oliver with worry and opens his mouth to say something but Anti says something instead. So he just grins nervously. “S-See Ol? We’ll be fine.” Oliver frowns, not looking any less worried. 

Anti looks over at Alt. "Did you hear what I told your Oliver here? We'll have to go back to Sam's world first. There's no more corrupted, though. And we won't be there long."

Alt can’t help but freeze a bit as he hears this but he nods, “No more corrupted huh? That’s… that’s good.” He holds onto his arm, rubbing at the back of his hand… as if he can still feel the burning of the corruption there. 

After a few more minutes, Bro hurries back up the stairs. “Sorry! I’m good!” As usual- he’s wearing some off-brand bootleg stuff of his own hero merch, a big cozy hoodie version, ripped jeans and sneakers, with a slick half collar tank top with the eye logo on it. He fiddles with his utility belt- his mask pushed up into his hair, making it shimmer halfway between green and brown. “I texted the lads but uh- how long do you think we’ll be gone this time?”

"Hard to tell," Anti says. "One of the universes is a bit lacking in technology. But hopefully Sam will be able to drop us close to where the TRVLR parts are." He pauses, thinking it out. "Four days, maybe. But time is inconsistent, of course."

“Okay… four days… could be worse! I’ll let them know.” Bro says, pulling out his phone to text them. 

Oliver fidgets a bit at this and then finally jumps off the windowsill and grabs Alt’s hand, “Alt, let’s talk over here real quick!”

“Oli what are you- agh!” Alt gets tugged to one of the corners. Alt frowns at him. “Oliver… What's wrong? It’s… better this time right? We’re not just… disappearing without a trace.” 

“I know I know I just…” Oliver bites his lip, “I can’t help but worry! Especially after last time when you got a concussion and didn’t even tell anyone and-“ he stops in his ramblings and sighs, holding both of Alt’s hands in his own. “…I know I can’t stop you… I know you need to do this… I just… you all went through so much last time.” He hesitates then runs a hand against Alt’s jaw, tracing the very faint scar there. Alt leans slightly into it and closes his eyes before looking back. “…I want you to try to stay safe and… look I… I know you’ll be okay but j-just in case I have something I’ve been wanting to give you and just- now feels like a good time!” 

He lets go of Alt’s hands, leaving Alt to blink in confusion as Oliver digs around in his duffel bag of supplies. He pulls out a box and then opens it and takes out what’s inside- handing it to Alt. “…I asked Blaise what good charms she had in her shop for you… for l-luck and protection even if I don’t.. f-fully understand. She said this was… indicative of your magic.” He holds out a necklace on a thick black leather chain with a sliver chaos star charm. 

Alt’s eyes widen as he gently takes the necklace. “O-Oli…” 

“J-Just- use this to… to promise me you won’t do anything d-dumb… and you can use it to think of m- u-us! Us… if you need to. Everyone who’s waiting for you to come back… s-since all those worlds… gotta make this place feel k-kinda boring, huh?” Oliver says timidly, looking away. 

Alt’s face drops and then he looks nervous, cheeks flushing as he pulls in Oliver for a quick kiss. His face is super red but he just whispers. “Never… We’ll come home… I promise.” He slips the necklace on and gives Oliver a weak smile. 

Oliver smiles back, cheeks flushing as he squeezes Alt’s hand. “…Good. Y-you better.” 

Bro blinks at the two of them exchanging stuff- then can’t help but smile dopily at them. He chuckles and walks over to Anti. “Guess they need another minute… wonder if I should pop by to say bye to Stacy…”

Anti also watches, more fascinated than anything. So this is what a version of him who was into romance would act like. He'd only ever met ones who didn't care for it. That didn't mean they were all heartless of course... even though many were. He shakes himself out of it and looks over at Bro. "That depends. If she tried to text you or call you during this absence, would she shrug it off and wait or get worried? If she would get worried, you should probably at least send her a message explaining it."

“Mmm… she knows about my hero stuff now… but m-maybe I should pop by…” Bro says nervously, “But I uh… haven’t really explained like.. magic and the rifts…. And I don’t want to delay us more… I’ll just explain to her I’m out on a mission…” he says hurriedly and sends her a text, his own cheeks kinda red. 

Alt and Oliver kinda just stare at each other for a second before Alt coughs and looks away and Oliver does too. “T-Thank you… for the gift. I-I’m sure it’ll help and well… I-It’s nice to have a… a piece of you.” 

Oliver giggles, “Sap-“ 

“Hey! you were first-!” Alt laughs. 

Oliver pulls him in by his shirt and kisses his cheek. Then, he pushes him towards Anti and Bro. “…go on- you got multiverses to try to go save, right?” He smiles. 

Alt touches his cheek and flushes more but he nods. “Y-Yeah…” 

“Hurry up before I decide to keep you~“ Oliver says with a cheeky smirk. 

“R-Right!” Alt glitches over to the others, hiding his face somewhat in his mask and now fiddling with his new necklace. “S-Sorry! Ready-“

Anti tilts his head, looking faintly amused at all this. But he doesn't say anything. "Alright, we can head on out then." He turns towards the small rift. That green lightning appears around its edges and it grows larger once more until it's big enough to step through.

Oliver watches with awe as it opens back up but keeps his distance. 

Alt hoists his bag onto his back and straightens up. “Alright- let’s do this.” Then he blinks and looks to Oliver, “Oh Ols! Y-You’ll take care of Glitches right??” 

“Of course, you doof!” Oliver laughs. Alt laughs too. 

Bro finishes typing up his message and puts his phone away. “Alright! Let’s do this! Bye Oliver!” 

Alt smiles and waves, “Bye. Be back soon… promise.” 

Oliver smiles and waves them off as the Brody bros step through the rift.

Anti nods back at him as he steps through right after. And then, with that, the rift disappears, leaving no sign it was ever there.

—————

Walking through a rift isn't the same as being pulled into one. Bro feels a jolt, like he stepped down a curb when he wasn't expecting it, and everything grows dark with the hint of the green light usually found in the space in-between. Then, sensation returns. 

He is standing in what looks like a cafeteria of some kind. There are rectangular tables lined up, and up against one wall are counters with food. And not only that. There are appliances like mini-fridges and camping stoves. White lights in the ceiling light up the area, but... they don't look like traditional fluorescent lights. There's something off about them. Honestly, this whole place looks weirdly temporary.

Bro stumbles a bit and catches himself as he steps into the new area. He looks around a bit in confusion- especially since Alt and Anti aren’t there. Man- it’s been a while since they were immediately separated. But, he’s not too worried about it.

"Chase? When did you get here?" an accented voice asks. The question comes from one of the tables--the only one currently occupied. 

There are three men sitting there, each with a mug, and a teapot and coffee pot in the space between them. One man is wearing glasses and a pale blue sweater, some yarn bracelets on his arms. Strange branching scars crawl up the left side of his face. Another is wearing a yellow button-up with overlong sleeves. He has a mustache. The last is wearing a maroon sweater with the words Stay Strong printed on it in white. His hair is short around the edges but a bit longer on top, slightly covering the raised scars lining the upper half of his face. 

Bro jolts a bit as he hears his name and then he grins awkwardly and raises a hand in a wave, “Oh uh hi! Not… not the Chase you know uh sorry- um… I- didn’t meet any of you guys last time-“

The man with the yarn bracelets blinks. "Last time...?" 

The man with the mustache gasps slightly. He nodded, and looks at Bro in recognition. Of course! You're that Chase from another world! 

"Huh?" The man with the scarred face looks at him. "You remember him?" 

I do, but it sounds like he doesn't remember me. Which... makes sense. I wasn't really there. The mustached man waves. I'm Jameson. This is Henrik and Marvin. But... I assume you know that? I think we're all your friends in your world, yes? 

Bro’s eyes widen a bit as he takes in Jameson’s face. “Oh- Oh you were… you were the one that… that Anti used to-“ 

JJ nods. Don't worry about it. I know what you mean. 

Bro swallows nervously then tries to smile. “Well, N-Nice to officially meet all of you. I wondered if that’s who you guys were but uh- s-sometimes it’s hard to tell.” 

Henrik pulls on his bracelets. "Ah, right. Of course you are not our Chase. You look... um... more... fit?" 

Marvin laughs into his mug. "Be glad Chase didn't hear you say that." 

"Well it is true." 

Bro laughs a bit more at the comment, “Yeah I get that a lot… but I think he even realized that when we met.”

Marvin laughs some more and put his tea down. "Alright. So... you're the Chase from another world. Nice to officially meet you, too." His smile falls into something more serious. "What are you doing here?" 

"Do not be rude, Marvin," Schneep says. 

"Oh. Sorry, didn't mean to be." Marvin looks a bit embarrassed. "But—last time you came—with that other Anti and that other Jackie and that fucking..." He goes a bit pale, and doesn't mention Magnificent by name. "Last time you all came here, you were lost or something, right? Are you... still lost?" 

"And those others, are they with you, too?" Schneep adds.

“Mag isn’t here,” Bro says hurriedly, “Just me and my brother and our friend, Anti. I think he said we’re just here to see Sam and pick up supplies!”

"There are two Antis where you come from?!" Marvin blurts out. 

I'm sure that's not it, Jameson says

Bro laughs, “No just the one! Other Anti is from another world- he’s like- pretty powerful though so he’s helping us find our device that got broken that we used to travel between worlds. We gotta… find another anti and… try to stop him from doing something… bad.” 

Oh, you want to see Sam? I don't know where They are right now... 

"If They are in camp, They will be at Jack's tent," Schneep says. "Ooooh, should we tell our Chase that this Chase is here?" 

He and Stacy might be with the kids, though, JJ says.

Bro tilts his head, “Same camp as last time? …I wanna say I know where that is but then I’d probably just get myself lost-“

"Oh right!" Henrik nods. "Last time you appeared, the resistance was still in the caverns. Well, that has changed since then." 

"God, the time loop was still in effect, too," Marvin mutters. "That's also been fixed since then. In fact... a lot's been fixed. Though we, uh, still have problems." 

“Oh fuck I forgot you guys were in one of those! We didn’t stay long enough to really… feel that though-“ Bro says sheepishly.

Henrik stands up, smiling a little. "Do you want to see the camp?" He points at a set of double doors. 

JJ sighs. I suppose we're cutting tea time short, then. I'll clean up. 

Bro waves his hands a bit, “Oh I didn’t mean to interrupt! You guys can finish, I'm chill!”

JJ blinks. Are you sure? 

Schneep sits down. "We could finish our drinks, then. I'm sure there is no risk. The camp is very safe, ever since we drove Iris out." 

JJ nods slowly. Would you like a drink then, Chase? We have mint tea and coffee.

“Oh I’d love a coffee-“ Bro smiles and goes to sit down, even if he feels a bit awkward. “…did you guys say IRIS?”

Schneep gets up to grab an extra mug. "Yes--Iris Hopkins, the fucking.... worst." 

Marvin swirls his mug of tea like it's a glass of wine or brandy. "Fucking worst. She's a magician. Used to be on the Réalta Council which is... apparently? The magician government?" He shakes his head. "Anyway, she did some shitty things, so they kicked her out of camp. Now she's on the run somewhere in the city." 

“Oh.. they’re a person- okay,” Bro says, looking a bit relieved. “I’ve heard that name with like a pretty fucked up company so… got worried there for a second. Glad you all drove her out! She sounds like bad news.” 

Schneep returns and pours the coffee pot into the mug. "Here you are." 

Bro looks up at Schneep and gratefully takes the coffee, “Thanks!”

JJ nods. Very bad news. Sam says she likes to push the borders of magic. 

"I got locked in a room overnight once," Marvin mutters into his tea. "Jack had to uncorrupt me before she agreed to let me out, even though Cat was no threat to anyone."

“What?? Jesus that’s… that’s awful-“ Bro gasps. “That’s… Jesus-“ He shakes his head. “You’d think she’d have some kind of empathy if you weren’t a threat…”

"Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you?" Marvin says. 

She's who we're dealing with now that Anti is... no longer the center of corruption, JJ says. 

"But we have not seen her in some time, so it is all fine!" Schneep says.

“Yeah our Anti told us the corruption is gone… so… Anti is… what’s his deal now, then?” Bro tries to say casually, but his fingers dig into his mug, a bit of anger bubbling deep in his gut. 

"Anyway--you probably have to find your friends, yes? Your Antis?" Schneep says hurriedly. 

Bro blinks then smiles a bit at Schneep and nods, “Yeah uh- we have a lot of places to visit I think… but you know- …coffee.” He says with a small chuckle as he takes a big sip.

"Coffee." Schneep nods understandingly. "I have forgotten much, but I never forgot the sweet taste of coffee." 

Sweet? It's rather bitter, I'd say, JJ says jokingly. 

Neither of them had addressed Bro's question about Anti. After taking a big drink of his tea, Marvin mutters, "Anti got more than he deserved. By which I mean... more mercy than he deserved. But apparently it was necessary, because of how he and Jack are linked."

Bro’s expression darkens, gripping his mug tighter, threatening to crush it. “…is that so?” Dangerous light flickers in his eyes. Like the first sight of lightning before a storm starts.

JJ puts a hand on his arm. Breathe, he says. And don't break the mug—it's communal. 

Bro blinks as if he wasn’t aware of what he was doing and looks down at the mug, carefully letting go. “Oh- r-right, sorry…” 

"Trust me, I know how you feel," Marvin says. "But... this is how it is." 

"Anti is... actually... trying to be... not bad," Schneep says slowly. "Though clearly, he is not going to win back hearts."

Bro nods to the others, his expression still somewhat stormy. “I guess… he’s only still around because of Jack. Still… doesn’t seem fair to all of you- to have to see him.”

"Oh, I'm not seeing him if I can help it," Marvin says. "I don't know how these two are okay with... being there." 

JJ shrugs. It's not worth ruining the peace to me. 

Schneep is thoughtfully silent. He finishes off his coffee.

Bro follows Schneep’s lead, downing the last of his like a shot. “Well uh- thanks for filling me in. This is all good to know… I should really go find Alt…”

We'll go with you, JJ signs. 

"Yeah, I'd... like to see Alt... again," Marvin says awkwardly. 

Bro smiles, “I’m sure Alt will be happy to see you all alright… I remember him uh… talking about what… happened to you. It really affected him…” 

Marvin nods slowly. He subconsciously rubs his neck. JJ puts a hand on his shoulder. 

"I will put the cups away, then we will go," Schneep says, standing up. 

Bro gets up to help. Hopefully Alt hasn’t run into any trouble… 

----------- 

After a jolt, Alt appears in a grassy field. Surrounding him are some temporary-looking buildings and round, colorful tents—a campground, of some kind. The sun hangs in the sky in its afternoon position, a few wispy clouds drifting across the blue expanse but not enough to dull the sunlight. There are some people wandering about. They all give him a second look, surprised to see him... but no one approaches him.

Alt blinks at the appearance of the field. So much different than what he dealt with last time. He looks around, wandering towards some of the tents. Guess… it was time to try to find Sam, right? He plays with his necklace as he goes- already finding it comfortable to fidget with.

As he walks past a green tent, the flap unzips and someone starts walking out—almost running right into Alt. "Oh, sorry!" The man backs away. "I didn't see you. Are you here to see..." He trails off. "You're not Chase." The man is wearing a blue t-shirt with a cloud pattern on it, a red hoodie tied around his waist. Many scars marr his arms, all of them unnaturally straight lines.

Alt glitches back in surprise, “No, I-I wasn’t watching where I was…” He trails off as he takes in the sight of the other man and his eyes widen as he scrambles back a bit more. “Y-You’re - you were E-Error…!”

Jackie's eyes widen. "A-Alt?!" He also backs up. "I—you—what're you—I-I um—" He looks nearly as panicked as Alt is. 

Alt tries to keep his breathing under control- because clearly Jackie isn’t Error anymore! But he sees- he sees him leaving with Anti- abandoning him as the corruption ate him alive.

There's a slight green glow in the tent behind them. A small golfball-sized green eye slips past Jackie, where it then grows bigger, to soccer-ball size. {ALT!} Sam says cheerfully.

Alt swallows shakily and then glitches again in surprise but relaxes at seeing Sam. “S-Sam! Hi…!” He grins nervously.

Sam tilts to the side, like an animal cocking their head. {ALT... I UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS.} Their mental voice is soft, gentle. {BUT JACKIE IS NOT THE SAME. HE HAS GONE THROUGH A LOT AS WELL. YOU DO NOT NEED TO FORGIVE HIM, BUT REMEMBER THAT.} 

"I... I can... leave," Jackie says slowly. "I just... th-thought I would... get Jack something from the cafeteria..." He can't look away from Alt.

Alt winces a bit at Sam reading his feelings. But soon enough he shakes his head, “n-No it’s… it’s fine. Y-You were… you weren’t you… then.” He tries to laugh but it comes out forced. “and you had it w-way worse than I… I did.”

Jackie nods slowly. "O...kay. Yeah. I... I really am... so sorry. I'm... so sorry." 

“It’s okay… really.” Alt says sincerely. 

"Jackie?" A voice comes from inside the tent. "Who are you talking to?" 

"Uh..." Jackie glances back over his shoulder. "Do you... remember Alt? Did you see him?" 

"Do I remember—oh, I'll never forget Alt—wait, is he here?!" There's a shuffling noise. 

"Jack no, be careful!" Jackie hurries back into the tent.

Alt perks up and then smiles brightly at the sound of Jack’s voice. “J-Jack?!” He blinks in confusion at Jackie’s reaction then glitches inside after him.

There's some furniture inside the tent. The central area has a circular table with two chairs, then there are two alcoves to either side--one with a twin-sized bed with a metal frame, the other with a series of cubbyholes that have various things inside--a couple card sets, puzzles, and folded clothes. Jack is sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing a white hoodie and gray pants. He looks a bit thinner and paler than the form Alt saw last time... but he's solid. He has a physical body. Jackie is standing nearby, holding a pair of arm crutches out to Jack. 

"Alt! Hey!" Jack waves at him cheerfully. "Oh my god, it's good to see you!"

Alt’s expression brightens as he sees Jack. “Y-You’re awake…!” He gasps and glitches over. “God- it’s good to see you too, dude!”

Jack laughs. "It's good to see you too! Hey, is it okay if I hug you?" 

"Be careful, Jack," Jackie says. 

"C'mon, I'm not gonna shatter if he hugs me."

Alt laughs and nods, “Y-Yeah of course!” He glitches a bit closer, hesitates for just a second then goes to hug Jack.

Jack hugs him back as tightly as possible. "God--I missed hugs," he says, and laughs a little. 

Alt laughs and smiles warmly. “I’m… really happy to see you’re okay…”

As they pull away, Jack asks, "What are you doing back here?" 

{THE THREE OF THEM ARE HERE FOR THIS.} Sam flies over to the cubbyholes, landing in one near the top.

Alt blinks and looks to where Sam is going. “Oh yeah! Sam has parts of the TRVLR… it got destroyed so we’re going to go look for all the missing pieces.”

"Right, your device." Jack nods. "Sam said something about keeping an eye out for things a lot recently..." 

Jackie walks over to the cubbyhole and grabs the things in the cubby where Sam landed, bringing it back to the table. There's a plastic bag full of computer-y parts, a small clutch of some kind made of slick black fabric, and three small items. Meanwhile, Jack straps on the arm crutches Jackie left by the bed and walks over to the table. 

{THE TRVLR IS NEARLY COMPLETE,} Sam says. {THERE ARE ONLY EIGHT PARTS LEFT, BUT THEY ARE THE MOST ESSENTIAL PARTS.}

Alt’s eyes widen as he glitches over to the table. “Woah! You found so much- honesty I thought we’d have to find a lot more!”

{THE GOOD GLITCH HAS BEEN A GREAT HELP,} Sam says. 

"What're those?" Jack indicates the three small items. They're orbs made of glass, designed to look like eyes with green scleras and blue irises. The pupil is the size of a fingerprint, slightly indented. 

{THEY ARE TO HELP FIND THE PIECES,} Sam says. {TRACKERS, OF SORTS.}

“Ohh! Neat!” Alt grins, picking up one to look at. Then he looks at the fabric clutch. “And what’s this?”

{WATERPROOF BAG,} Sam explains. {TO PROTECT THE TRVLR PARTS.} 

Jack raises an eyebrow. "Going somewhere with lots of water, then?" 

{OH, I AM NOT GOING. BUT YES, ALT, BRO, AND ANTI WILL FIND A WORLD WITH A GREAT OCEAN.}

“…one we’ve been to before or- somewhere else?” Alt asks, blinking back at Sam. He starts to take the TRVLR parts and puts the plastic bag inside the fabric one.

{YOU WILL ONLY BE VISITING TWO WORLDS WHICH YOU'VE BEEN TO BEFORE,} Sam says. {THE FIRST OF WHICH, YOU WILL MEET UP WITH THE HENRIK WHO GOT CAUGHT IN YOUR LAST JOURNEY. THE SECOND OF WHICH... WELL, YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO TRANSFORM INTO MERPEOPLE.} 

“So somewhere new,” Alt laughs. “That was a really round about way of answering that.” 

"You went to a world where you turned into merpeople?!" Jack gasps. 

"They what?!" Jackie's eyes widen.

Alt blinks then grins, “We’ve been to two worlds where we got to do that! One was in the far off future on an alien planet with really weird fish but they had like- mermen alien fish hybrids so we got to be some of those. Then- once we landed in a world where actual mermen existed too! Honestly it was really cool,” Alt laughs. “I got to practice some cool spells to make it happen!”

"Whoa..." Jackie whistles, impressed. "I don't think Marvin could do that. Don't tell him I said that, though." 

"Alien planet with weird fish? That sounds cool!" Jack says. "So... you need to meet up with your brother and this other Anti, right? Sam, do you know where they are?" 

{ALL THREE LANDED IN THIS CAMP,} Sam says. {I BELIEVE THEY WILL MAKE THEIR WAY HERE. YOU DO NOT NEED TO MOVE.} 

Jack sighs. "Yeah... probably for the best." He looks at Alt. "Turns out, having your body in a coma for years has some side effects. But we'll take what we can get. Better than being ghosts."

Alt looks relived the others aren’t far. “Well if they’re on their way here then- I don’t mind keeping you company.” He says with a shy smile. “Maybe you guys can… catch me up? Seems like a lot has happened since we were here last!”

"Oh you have no idea." Jack sits down at the table. Jackie hovers nearby. 

"Uh... short version. Surgeon left the Place where Anti was keeping him. But unfortunately the tradeoff was the cave where the resistance was hiding was found. But in the escape I managed to uncorrupt JJ. Then, turns out, this camp was here the whole time--this place is run by magicians, turns out there's more of them than just Marvin and Raven, hah. So we all came here. I uncorrupted Schneep. Then this group of other magicians led by a woman named Iris arrived--turns out she was secretly doing shady magical shit. We got Cat out of the Place by tricking Anti into thinking we were somewhere else. I uncorrupted him, he's Marvin again. Anti then freaked out, and..." He glances at Jackie. 

"He... really held onto Error tightly," Jackie says slowly. "Ended up... fucking with my head enough that I wanted to leave, even in that state." 

"So I uncorrupted him, then," Jack says. 

Alt listens carefully to the story, nodding along. He seems relieved to hear that Marvin is no longer Cat. Then, He looks sympathetic towards Jackie when they explain about Error. 

"Then uh... the Place kind of... became part of the world? And the corruption... became its own thing? And started controlling Anti?" Jack continues. 

"That part will probably take a little more explaining," Jackie mutters. 

"That whole thing made Anti start to reconsider shit," Jack says. "That, and some of the voices--holy shit, you don't even know about the voices, uh... that's a long story too. But to sum it up, I went into Anti's mind and got rid of the corruption, but as a result... we both... returned to this body." Jack pauses. "Anti is... in here." He taps the side of his head. "He's... asleep right now, though."

Alt’s eyes widen as he hears about the corruption. Then, at Jack’s last statement, he inhales sharply and glitches back. “H-He’s what?!” He squeaks, turning a bit pale.

Jack winces. “Yeah no I expected that reaction. Don’t worry, he’s not gonna pop out or anything. He only wakes up once I fall asleep, and I’m not planning on doing that anytime soon. A-and even if something happened, he’s not… going to… H-he doesn’t hurt people anymore. Or, he’s trying not to. And the corruption is gone anyway…”

Alt slowly relaxes- even if he still looks wary. “Oh uh… o-okay. If you say it’s nothing to worry about… I-I trust you.”

Jack lets out a breath. “Yeah… it’s uh… really awkward, given… everything that happened.” 

“Understatement,” Jackie comments. 

“Everyone’s keeping an eye on him, but he’s really not gonna try anything,” Jack continues. “Besides, we both lost a lot of our powers once we got our body back, so he couldn’t if he wanted to.” 

Alt nods, giving Jack a weary smile. 

“Oh, I can do some party tricks, though. Jackie, hand me the tablet.” 

Jackie picks up a small tablet—like an iPad, but slightly different—from the bed, and walks over to hand it to Jack. He props it up so Alt can see the screen. A bit of static flickers across it as Jack opens and closes some apps just by concentrating. YouTube, some idle matching game, an art program that’s currently on some drawing with a lot of red splatters—which Jack closes quicker than the rest. “See? This is the most we can do now.”

Alt blinks a bit- impressed. “hey- that’s pretty neat!“ he laughs.

“Really?” Jack brightens. “I mean—I know you can probably do a lot more with your like electric magic but I’m really proud that I’ve managed to do this, it’s taken some practice—” 

“Ha I can’t do anything like that! So I think it’s pretty cool!” Alt laughs. 

Then suddenly, there’s the sound of static. Anti—the green scarf wearing, eye-patch’d Anti—appears inside the tent near the entrance. 

“Jesus fucking christ!” Jackie jumps in surprise.

Alt glitches a bit in surprise but quickly recovers, “Oh hey Anti! You gotta give these poor guys a warning or something-“

“Sorry,” Anti says to Jackie. “And sorry I’m a bit late, Sam. I showed up right next to this world’s Chase and Stacy, had to convince them I wasn’t this Anti who’d suddenly escaped his body. I think they’re coming here to check.” 

“Oh yeah- that’d probably freak them out,” Alt laughs nervously.

“Oh. Cooooool.” Jackie nods slowly, still looking a bit rattled. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box of BandAids, applying one to a cut that’s suddenly on his arm. 

{ALT’S BROTHER IS HEADING THIS WAY AS WELL,} Sam says.

Alt blinks at Jackie a bit in confusion. Then brightens as he hears Bro is on his way. “oh good!”

Anti glitches over to the table--surprising Jack in the process--and picks up one of the glass eye trackers. "Did you explain to him how this works?" 

{I FIGURED IT WOULD BE EASIER TO EXPLAIN WHILE THEY'RE BOTH HERE,} Sam says. 

"Fair enough." Anti pockets the glass eye. He then looks at Jack. And seems to freeze. "...Hi... Jack." 

"H-hi?" Jack gives a little wave and laughs. "This is so weird."

Jackie notices Alt's confusion from the bandaid and looks away, seeming somehow ashamed. 

Alt looks even more confused- and now concerned. He glitches over and he hesitates before asking, “…you okay?”

Jackie jumps slightly. His eyes dart around a little. "I... don't want to freak you out." 

“You won’t, it’s okay-“ Alt tries to say gently.

Jackie hesitates... then nods slowly. "The... the glitches. You probably remember Error's glitches. They're... still around. Meaning... there's still a bit of corruption in me." He whispers that, eyes wide with panic. "I-I don't think it's affecting my brain. But... the glitches are still there."

Alt doesn’t look too freaked out- he looks more worried than anything. “O-oh… I’m so sorry Jackie… t-that must be really hard…” he glances over at Jack and Anti, “…I’m guessing Jack can’t help anymore, huh?”

Jackie shakes his head. "He tried. We uh... did this spell to go into my mind to check on things. It's... If there's some way to get it out, we can't figure it out." He gives a small smile. "But on the bright side... no one else has any left in them. Just me."

Alt’s eyebrows furrow, “…that’s still not something you should have to deal with… that really sucks. I… I wish I knew how to help…”

Jackie smiles. "Thanks. It's okay, we'll figure it out eventually. It'll just take a while. Besides... sounds like you guys have something else to work on, right?" He glances towards the tent entrance. 

Alt chuckles, “Yeah… we got a pretty big mission from the sounds of it.” 

Jackie hums, "Wonder how far your Chase is. The camp isn't that big, he'll probably be here soon." 

----------- 

"--and over in that direction is the meeting building, the magicians set it up very quickly," Schneep says. He's been giving Bro a verbal tour of the camp as they walk. "It is amazing, actually." 

"Yep, magic's amazing," Marvin says a bit smugly. 

Jameson chuckles. 

There are a few people up and about camp. They occasionally glance at the group, but apparently this isn't an odd enough sight to stare at.

 “Yeah dude this is really impressive! This was a magician’s camp?” Bro says. He smiles at people as they walk by, trying to appear friendly.

Jameson nods. Turns out, the Council that's in charge of all magicians in the area knew about the time loop and set up this camp to keep an eye on things. Once the time loop broke, we all came here and let them know about the corruption. They've been a great help since then. 

"Can't believe I never knew about them," Marvin mutters.

“Damn! That’s really great- well besides that Iris woman but… good you guys got help right away!” Bro smiles.

"Yes, very good," Henrik agrees. "Oh, perhaps if you stick around a bit I can introduce you to Fern, she is a magician doctor! I think she is at the clinic now." 

"Fern's great," Marvin says. "A real miracle worker." 

“Oh! That’s cool! Don’t meet too many magician doctors! You’d think that’d be more prevalent…” Bro laughs. 

"Hey!" A voice shouts. "Guys!" 

To the left, a pair of familiar faces are running towards the small group. 

"Hello Chase!" Henrik waves. "And Stacy!"

Bro blinks then grins, “other me! Stacy! Hi!”

"Oh! Hey." Chase skids to a halt next to Bro. He's wearing a brown aviator jacket, his hair a bit longer and shaggier than last time they were in this world. 

Stacy's hair has also grown out, now only the lower half of her shoulder-length hair is dyed blonde, everything else is its natural brown. She's wearing a yellow long-sleeved shirt with little pink dots around the cuffs. 

"You are here, then. Uh, good to see you!" Chase says. 

Stacy nods. "So... weird question, did you really come here with your brother and some other, glitchy version of Anti? Or should we be worried?"

Bro laughs, “I really came here with Alt and another Anti! We’re picking up some stuff to try to fix the thing we use to visit other multiverses- Sam collected a bunch of it!”

"Ohhhh, that would explain that plastic bag in Jack's tent," Chase says. 

"We are heading to that tent now, actually," Henrik says. "Do you two want to come?" 

Stacy nods. "Sure, why not? The kids are being tutored so we might as well keep an eye on things." 

As the group continues, Chase explains, "We were in the hangout tent together when this Anti guy suddenly appeared. Gave me nine consecutive heart attacks seeing him. He, uh... really looks like our Anti. Except with an eye-patch. And a scarf. I don't think Anti would like scarves." 

“Oh yeah he’s kinda freaky when you first meet him,” Bro chuckles, shaking his head. “I never got to see what your Anti looked like but I can imagine. You can trust him though- Sam does. And he’s also like… saved me and Alt multiple times. He’s moody and acts aloof but he’s- he’s a good guy.”

So like Marvin? Jameson says. 

"Wh--hey!" Marvin sputters. 

Chase laughs. "Alright. If Sam trusts him, we'll trust him." 

"I'm not moody," Marvin grumbles. Henrik pats his shoulder.

Bro hides a laugh, “it’s okay dude- some of the best people I know are like that! Alt is like that too.”

Marvin smiles a bit. "Heh... that helps." 

"Honestly, it's good to see you be a little moody," Chase says, smiling back at him too. 

"Really? O-oh." Marvin blinks. "Hah... I'll try not to be too moody, but, uh... thanks." 

Bro smiles warmly at Marvin. 

They're approaching a green tent. Jameson points at it. That's Jack's tent. He's not staying with the rest of us because of the... Anti situation.

Bro blinks at Jameson before looking back at the tent. “Oh yeah uh… he was in a coma right?”

"Yeah..." Chase nods slowly. "I remember you and Jackie could hear him. But, uh, now he's back in his body!" He smiles... then the smile slowly fades. "Unfortunately... the side effect of that is that Anti is also back in the body. He, uh... They kind of take turns. When one falls asleep, the other takes over." 

But Jack should be awake right now, you won't have to deal with Anti, JJ reassures him.

Bro’s smiles hearing Jack is awake- but it quickly falls as he hears Anti is with him too. “…that’s- gotta be hard to deal with… t-the way you all were talking about him… thought he’d be separate from Jack at least-“

Marvin winces. "Well... it meant that the corruption went away, and everyone was uncorrupted again. So I think it's... worth the trade-off." 

Chase sighs, rubbing the back of his head. "At least they don't just randomly turn into each other. That'd be weird. And at least Anti's not trying to hurt anyone any more. He's, uh... trying to... redeem himself?" 

Marvin looks away. Jameson purses his lips and doesn't say anything.

Bro’s expression darkens again, “Hm… hard to redeem turning people into corrupted monsters against their wills. …I believe in second chances but that… I dunno if I would… I dunno if I could with him. Not after what he did to Alt.”

Stacy nods. "Well... you're not alone in that. All of the uncorrupted people are staying in camp too. And a lot of them..." 

"They are not happy," Henrik states. "To put it lightly." 

"The fact that he's stuck with Jack does make things difficult," Stacy says. "We don't want to punish Jack for what Anti did. But the magicians are at least keeping track of him." 

Bro at least feels a bit better knowing he’s not the only one upset. “Yeah… poor Jack… having to deal with all this…” 

As the whole group approaches the tent, Anti--the one who came with Alt and Bro--glitches outside the entrance. 

"Holy shit!" Marvin jumps. 

"Yeah, freaky, isn't it?" Chase mutters. 

"Sorry," Anti states. "Hi, Chase. Bro Fantastic, I mean. Alt's inside."

Bro blinks then grins, “Yo Anti! Heard you gave other me a heart attack-“ 

There's the sharp sound of more glitching and Alt appears by Anti at the entrance. He grins at Bro and the others, “There you are!”

"Ah, hello!" Schneep waves. "So you are Alt. I didn't meet you the last time you were here, nice to see you now." 

"Hey!" Chase waves, and Stacy nods. 

Good to see you--though you are a bit strange, Jameson says, looking at Anti. 

"I can imagine," Anti says, shrugging. "We won't be here long, though." 

Marvin stares at Alt. He raises a hand. "Hey. You look... good."

Alt blinks at eveyone then smiles sheepishly and waves, “Hi…! Good to officially meet you all…” His eyes meet Marvin’s though and they widen. He glitches over, then smiles a bit. “H-Hey…! It’s… god… good to see you out of that… y-you know. You… look good too.” He laughs a bit.

"Whoa!" Marvin takes a step back, then laughs. "Thanks! I'm sure even the scars are an improvement to how you last saw me." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "I, uh... yeah. It's good to be uncorrupted." 

Alt smiles and nods, “I’m sure it’s a relief…” 

The tent flap opens again, and Jackie peeks out. "Oh, uh... hi everyone. H-hang on." He disappears for a moment, and then he and Jack come out, with Jack using his crutches to support himself. Sam flies out after them. 

"You, uh, forgot these, Alt." Jackie holds up the two glass eye trackers. 

{YOU'LL NEED THEM,} Sam says. {HELLO, CHASE.}

Alt jumps a bit as everyone else comes out and then laughs, going to grab the trackers. “oh I- didn’t mean to lead everyone outside! T-Thanks though.” 

“Yo Sam!” Bro grins, “Good to see ya!” He blinks at seeing Jack and Jackie but then smiles more, “And Jackie and Jack! Good to properly meet ya both!” 

Jackie waves a bit, smiling shyly. "Nice to properly meet you, too." 

"Hey!" Jack grins. "Yeah, last time I was still a coma ghost. So glad that's over with." 

"Ah yes, because it was so easy for you to become not a coma ghost," Schneep says, deadpan. 

"It only took the whole Place being dragged out to the city," Chase says jokingly. 

Anti blinks. He looks over at Sam. "Was that what you were dealing with that time those five got stuck in-between? Is that why you were late?" 

{YEP.} Sam swishes Their optic nerve. 

"Well... shit. No wonder."

Alt and Bro blink in surprise. “T-The whole Place?” Alt asks in awe, “wasn’t that place like… infinite???” 

"Oh--no, not infinite," Jackie says. "I mean, it definitely seemed like that when you were wandering around and its hallways were shifting, but at most it was as big as the city." 

"If you look over thaaaat way..." Chase points to the side. Part of the sky seems... red? "That's where the city is. You can see the effect the Place had from here." 

Bro looks at Anti and Sam and tilts his head, “Damn… then it’s only been like… what? 2 months? Since all that happened? That’s crazy…”

It's been longer for us! Jameson says. It seems time in your world runs slower than ours. I think it's been about... four months or so. Twice as long. 

"Even so, yes, that is a lot that happened," Henrik agrees.

“Still… four months isn’t long at all… you guys seem to be adjusting well,” Bro says with a gentle smile. 

Alt looks towards the city with furrowed brows, “…what happened to the city? I-Is that why you all are out here?” 

"Yyyeah..." Jack says slowly. "It's uh... it has a red sky now, and there are weird hallways everywhere and the sewers and caves are a maze... it's a fucking mess." 

"Yeah... that's our main problem now," Marvin says. "Fixing that and finding Iris again."  

“why are you looking for Iris? I thought she got ran out of here…” Bro asks. 

"Yeah, ran out of here and into the city, where she's probably plotting something." Marvin folds his arms. 

"Besides--she's broken magician laws, so she's basically a fugitive." 

“Ah… makes sense then.” Bro nods. Alt frowns at the city in worry.

"What are those things, by the way?" Stacy says, pointing at the glass eyes. 

{ANTI, YOU EXPLAIN, MOST OF THEM CANNOT HEAR ME,} Sam says. 

"Right." Anti nods. "They're trackers so we can find what we're looking for." He takes out his own glass eye from his pocket. "You put your finger against the dent where the pupil is and the information gets beamed directly to your mind."

Alt’s attention gets drawn back from the city as Anti explains the trackers. He hands one to Bro. 

Bro whistles, “Impressive! … and a tad bit invasive but- guess that can’t be helped-“ He and Alt immediately go to try it.

Immediately, Bro knows that all the TRVLR parts in this world are in that black clutch Alt is carrying. 

Alt merely becomes aware that there are no other parts besides that in the area. 

Bro and Alt still seem impressed. “Cool!” Alt grins. He stuffs it into his pants pocket for safe keeping and Bro stores his in his utility belt. 

"Oh, it works on a world-by-world basis," Anti adds. "But Sam knows which other worlds have the remaining parts. We're actually going to that universe with the Glitch Henrik next. He probably found the part there by now.”

Both of them look delighted to hear they’ll be seeing Schneep next. “Aw fuck yeah! I bet Schneep crushed that-“ Bro grins. 

"So... are you guys just gonna leave right away, then?" Jack asks, a bit disappointed. 

The brothers exchange looks before Alt says quietly, “I guess… we can stay for a little bit longer- if you guys want.” He smiles sheepishly.

"Well I mean--this is important, isn't it?" Chase says. "I'd hate to delay you. And there's not a lot to do at camp, really." 

Marvin brightens slightly. "We could play Insane Monopoly." 

The others all groan and immediately start to protest. 

That's sure to make them want to leave! JJ says. 

"And that will literally take all day!" Jackie adds.

Alt and Bro burst into laughter. “As crazy as that sounds… we.. we probably should go.” Alt says, holding his necklace. “…we have uh.. people waiting for us at home….” His cheeks turn a bit red at this and Bro smirks.

"Ah... of course." Schneep notices the blush and nods. "W-we... we understand." 

"Hen's gonna spend the rest of the day with Trisha, oooo," Chase says teasingly. 

Schneep nudges him. "And? What about you two?" He gestures at Chase and Stacy. 

"Huh, what? I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Chase protests, face getting red. 

Stacy's eyes widen and she fidgets awkwardly with her sleeves, looking away. 

Bro smiles at Chase and Stacy though, maybe they’re getting along better! That makes him feel more secure with his own relationship. 

“Careful guys- you’ll make Alt jealous~” Bro teases, “His boyfriend threw a fit that we had to leave-“ 

“C-Chase!” Alt protests, pushing him slightly and looking away, hiding his face in his mask. Bro laughs.

Sam flies away from the tent. {LET'S GET SOMEWHERE CLEAR, THEN. THAT IS BETTER WHEN MAKING A PORTAL.}

Bro looks at the others and smiles, “Wanna help send us off then?” 

"Hmm? Help how?" Marvin asks. 

"I mean, sure, we'll wave goodbye!" Jackie laughs. 

Bro laughs, “That’s what I meant!”

"Alright, come on, everyone after Sam," Jack says, making his way after Them. Everyone else follows, matching his slower pace. Except for Anti, who immediately glitches over to where Sam is waiting in a clear spot away from most tents.

Alt glitches to walk beside Jack, playing with his necklace timidly. Bro keeps up with the others.

It's a clear day. The clouds are only wisps. 

But... suddenly... there's a feeling of ozone in the air, like the moment before a lightning strike. 

Anti's head whips to the side, eye widening in alarm. 

{NO!} Sam shouts. {THAT'S IMPOSSI--} 

And then a shockwave of red light blasts outward from midair as a rip is torn in space.

Bro holds his arms over his face and digs his feet into the ground to try to not get blown away but he ends up getting thrown back. Alt yells out in surprise and glitches to cover Jack, curling his body around him to keep him safe-Jack gasps as Alt suddenly appears in front of him, stumbling but managing to keep his feet. 

Chase and Stacy, out in front, get thrown through the air. JJ and Marvin are just behind them and both get knocked to the ground. 

Anti glitches out of sight and then returns just in time to glare at the black rip in midair. "Y͏̛ou.̶̷" 

A figure forms from the red light as a low, threatening laugh echoes through the clear day. Another Anti, glowing red and black, eyes filled with white static and a scar wrapping around his neck. He floats a few inches off the ground. "Did you think I wouldn't notice?" His voice comes from all around them. "Those three little blips I could brush off, but you. The ripples you caused getting here again... I'd be a fool to ignore it." 

Alt got knocked to the ground too trying to keep Jack up but he quickly glitches back up to his feet. He goes to hold an arm out in front of Jack and the others and his stomach drops. “N-No…!” He breathes, blood running cold. 

Bro hurries to push himself up and rushes forward. His eyes fill with blue light as he growls. “Y-You! …w-what are you talking about??”

"Oh? Do you not recognize me?" The red Anti grins, and his image shifts, until it's abundantly clear--this is the Anti from the first world with the rifts. The red light quickly returns, darkening his appearance. 

Bro bares his teeth at the red Anti. “oh, I’d be hard pressed to forget you bitch-“ He snarls. 

"And do you think I'm a fucking moron? There's always people like you in every world! People like you who will get in my way. And that's what you're doing now, isn't it? Are you trying to stop me?" 

“Of course we’re trying to stop you! We’re not gonna let you destroy innocent worlds!” Bro bites back.

"Who the f-fuck is this?!" Marvin says, climbing to his feet. 

"Someone bad, clearly," Schneep says, shuddering. 

"He's the one who broke the TRVLR," Anti says, glaring at the red image before them. He summons a knife. "Leave this world alone! It's been through enough!" 

{I WILL PUSH HIM OUT!} Sam says. {I WILL--} 

"You won't do anything," Red Anti says, snapping his attention to Sam. He grins, tearing his face in two. "Don't you think it's strange how you couldn't see me?" 

Sam backs up. Being just an eye, it's hard to read Their expression, but They seem taken aback. 

Bro’s eyes widen, “S-Sam can’t see you?!” Then he growls, “That doesn’t matter cuz we’ll find a way to stop you!”

"I'm an anomaly," Red Anti says in a soft, threatening voice. "You can't fucking stop me." 

Alt pushes Jack gently towards the others, “G-Guys…! G-Get Jack to safety- g-get out of here!” He warns them- but he doesn’t take his eyes off the other him.

Red Anti laughs, and turns his attention to Alt. "You care about him then? I'll show you what happens when you care." His image disappears, and red lightning races towards Alt and Jack.

Alt panics and yells out, holding out both hands and shutting his eyes as a green-blue electric bubble curls around him and Jack.

The red lightning bounces off the shield. Red Anti's image appears outside it, growling at Alt through the electricity. "Why can't I grab your power?!" he demands. "It's magic! It's energy! It should be--" 

Alt stares at Anti with terror clear on his face and he stumbles back. “I-I don’t…!” He tries to say. 

A bolt of green light passes through the image from the side. Marvin, having got to his feet, has his hand extended, green light coming from his eyes, his pupils now contracted to narrow cat-like slits. 

"Did you think that would work?" Anti's voice says. "I'm not there. I'm everywhere." More red lightning forms behind Marvin and shoots towards him. 

At the same time, another bolt shoots towards Bro. Bro yells and tries to rush at Anti but gets blasted back and skids a couple times across the ground.

Marvin cries out, falling to the ground as the lightning sneaks up on him. 

"Marv!" Chase gasps, scrambling to his feet and rushing over. Henrik also runs over, his doctor training kicking in as he checks Marvin over.

“Chase! Marvin!” Alt calls out and then he tightens the bubble more around him and Jack- unable to hide his shaking.

"H-he is okay!" Henrik reports in a shaky voice. 

"You bastard!" Jackie shouts, a few squares of colorful static flickering around his shoulders. He rushes for the image of Red Anti, but he disappears well before he gets there. 

"He doesn't have a physical body!" Anti snaps, his eye darting around. "I'll buy you some time. Sam, a rift!" 

Abruptly, he dissolves, turning into shadowy pixels and then disappearing. Red and green lightning flicker around the clearing, zapping through the air. 

Bro slowly pushes himself back up and then quickly nods, momentarily watching the Antis battle before he rushes over to Sam. 

{RIGHT!} Sam grows in size, now more like a beach ball. {YOU ALL MUST GET TO THE NEXT WORLD! AND I MUST EXPEL HIM BEFORE HE DOES ANYTHING ELSE! JAMESON, WE NEED TIME.} 

JJ, now kneeling by Marvin's side, looks up in surprise. Then he nods. He takes a deep breath, and his irises turn gold. The lightning... slows down. Like someone put a video in slow motion. 

"Y-you have to get out of here!" Jack says, grabbing Alt's arm. "Don't worry about me. The others can protect me."

Alt jolts a bit but then nods, holding onto Jack’s arm and squeezing it. “O-Okay- just- be safe okay?” He then lets go and glitches out of the bubble- leaving it intact just in case as he glitches over by Sam. 

“S-Sam what do we do?!” Bro pants, “We didn’t think he’d be on our trail already! We can’t even fight him!”

{FOR NOW, WE CAN ONLY STAY AHEAD OF HIM,} Sam says. {AND THERE WILL BE A WAY TO FIGHT HIM, I AM SURE OF IT. WE JUST HAVE NOT FOUND IT, YET.} A bit of green lightning appears, unzipping a rift. {HERE. GO HERE!} 

"Wait, your Anti!" Chase gasps. The green and red lightning are moving slowly, crashing against each other. 

Jameson glances around at the others. I can't hold time forever!

Alt looks at the lightning with worried eyes. But then he shuts his eyes and grabs Bro’s wrist and turns them towards the rift. “H-He can catch up to us-! I-I think…! Right, Sam?” He hesitates right before it.

{I'M SURE HE--} 

Then JJ gasps and time starts up again. The red and green lightning crack through the air, and two figures form as a red one tackles a greenish shadowy one to the ground. The shadows glitch over, reaching Alt and Bro in a second. 

{YES, HE'S WITH YOU NOW!} Sam says. {NOW GO!} They turn around towards the red figure, slowly growing in size as a second rift opens up behind it. 

Alt doesn’t hesitate now and both him and Bro rush through the rift. Alt looks back with a bit of worry towards the others then turns to hurry through.

Jack waves them off. The others also all look over, watching them leave.

The last thing Alt and Bro see before the rift closes is a shock wave of green light pushing all the red light towards the second rift.

[huffle-dork]

Glitch into the Huffleverse Masterpost

Read the Previous parts here!

What is GITHV?

This is a crossover roleplay between @huffle-dork and @crystalninjaphoenix and the next continuation in our Multiverse series! The rifts caused by Rift!Anti have pulled Inverted!Jackie, Stitched!Schneep and Switch!JJ into the Swap universe! But the rifts seem to pose a danger even to Alt and Bro- so another multiverse adventure begins!! but this time without the TRVLR and no sure fire way to get home..

Read on AO3

GITHV tag

Swapboys

Septnautical

Darker Seas

CKTC

Swap Bad End

The In-Between

Epilogues

[huffle-dork]

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 2: Stitched Revisited

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

Alt feels that same jolt as he passes through darkness as he did last time. The blackness is very short. When it clears up, he's standing in a kitchen/dining room combination. There's an old floral wallpaper on the upper half of the walls, the bottom half being wood paneling. A window in the dining room shows a street of townhouses outside. No doubt he is in another townhouse. The whole place seems vaguely old-fashioned, in a sort of cozy way. 

"Alt?" The voice, crackling with static, comes from his pocket. No, wait. It comes from his phone in his pocket.

Alt can’t help but stiffen a bit as he hears static come from his phone. Couldn’t the red Anti talk through phones? He shakily reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.

The screen is on, and... Anti is there. Not the red one, the one with the green scarf. He stands in front of the home screen, on top of the task bar at the bottom. It's like one of those programs where you get a little companion to walk around on your computer screen. But with a phone instead. Anti raises his hand and makes a motion like he's knocking on the glass of the screen. "Okay good you can hear me. Seems it's easy enough for me to manipulate your phone speaker." 

Alt relaxes as he sees its the other Anti and he smiles. “oh h-hey! Dude that was… I-insane back there! Is that why you’re in my phone?” He laughs, “you look like a shimeji-“

"A what? Oh, one of those browser pets? I mean... I guess I could be?" Anti idly taps the edge of one of Alt's apps, making it wiggle. "Well. Yeah. That was insane. And the most insane part of it... is that the fucker managed to drain a lot of my energy. I... don't think I can be physical right now. So... shimeji it is."

“Jesus…” Alt sighs, keeping his phone open in his palm. “He’s as bad as Mag… I-i don’t get why he can’t drain my power but I-I guess that’s a blessing for now…” He looks outside the window, “And at least this is another world we’ve been to… but I don’t know who’s house this is…”

"Probably something about you being either a Glitch or from another world," Anti says. "Maybe both. As for whose house we're in..." He turns around on the screen, and Alt's camera function opens up, showing the view to Anti. "Hm... looks like a JJ-style place. But I think he has a shop in this world, so it can't be him." 

“…you know you controlling my screen like this is like- prime horror game fodder,” Alt comments with a light laugh. 

Footsteps come from the hallway. "Ah, well, maybe you can go ask, then," Anti says, hearing them.

Alt then freezes a bit at the sound of footsteps- ah fuck…! He hates intruding like this- it always freaks people out. “U-Um… hello?” Might as well bite the bullet-

A man pokes his head into the dining room doorway. He's wearing a red hoodie, and has brown hair long enough to pull back into a small manbun. There's some sort of amulet around his neck, clearly magic but cracked, non-functional. His eyes widen. "What the fuck?! Who are you?!"

Alt glitches back and holds up his hands, which means he ends up holding up his phone too. “Uh hi! I-I’m Alt? I… I’m looking for uh- S-Schneep?” The red hoodie has him thinking this is a Jackie… but… 

oh- 

His eyes widen, breath hitching. 

"Alt? I don't know an--" The man stops, his eyes also widening. "W...wait a minute. You're the third one--I mean, you're one of those visitors, f-from the other world. And Schneep--he was with you, he--oh." 

Alt’s stomach drops- that confirms it. He glitches back even more, trying not to panic. “Y-you were him- you… w-we were-“ 

A moment passes. Then the man notices the movement on Alt's phone screen. He laughs a little. "What the hell? D'you have a little guy on your phone?" 

Anti waves.

Alt blinks and holds back up the phone. “o-oh yeah uh- that’s Anti- a good one! I mean- he… he needs to rest in here.”

"Anti?" The man goes a bit pale, but shakes it off. "Well, uh... hi, Anti. I'm... Jackie. Good to... meet you." Jackie looks at Alt. "And, uh... nice to... meet you too?" He's not sure how to address this. After all, they've already met each other, in a way. 

“Y-Yeah good to… o-officially meet you, Jackie…” Alt says quietly.

"Um. You were looking for Schneep? I can text him or something. Tell him you're here."

“Uh d-does texting work for Schneep? Cuz uh… eyes…?”

"He has a screen reader app. But, uh, yeah. Probably better to call him." Jackie takes his phone out of his pocket. "Um... do you want to sit down in the living room? Or, uh, I could get you something to eat? Since we're in the kitchen?"

“I-I’m okay on food, t-thank you though…” Alt says. Then he laughs a bit, “Huh I… I appeared in a kitchen the first time I was here too…”

Jackie laughs. "Yeah, Jack told me. That's weird, isn't it? Guess something about you just screams 'kitchen' to the universe." 

Alt laughs a little more, “Y-Yeah I guess so…” 

Jackie starts to dial a number on his phone--then stops. "Oh, I should probably tell Marvin that you're here. He's upstairs right now. Oh yeah, this is our house, by the way." 

"Ahhh, that makes sense," Anti says from Alt's phone.

Alt stiffens a bit but nods, “Oh yeah uh- whatever you need to do. But uh… it’s a nice place-“

"Right. Yeah. Thanks." Jackie smiles a bit, trying to be reassuring. "This whole neighborhood was refurbished recently. Jameson pointed it out to us. Nice place. I'll, uh... be right back. Make yourself at home." He disappears from the doorway. 

Alt tries to smile back- and lets its drop as soon as he’s gone. 

After a moment, Anti speaks up. "Not exactly comfortable with him, are you?"

Alt cringes a bit as Anti calls him out and he glares at the screen. “Look, it's… complicated. Last time I was here we… I-I got fused together with him and Marvin and… I-it wasn’t a great experience…” He closes his eyes and lets out a shuddery breath, “I… I still have nightmares about it… but that’s… not necessarily exclusive to here…” he mumbles quietly, leaning against the wall.

"I remember. You told me about that." Anti's voice softens a bit. "If it helps, it was just as bad for them, too. And they were stuck as Stitches even after you left. They'd understand."

Alt stays quiet for a beat, fiddling with his mask idly. “Yeah I know… t-they had it worst… it’s just… hard. I’m sure I’ll get over it…” he sighs.

"Well. Don't force yourself. They definitely feel just as awkward around you." Anti sits down on the taskbar. 

Footsteps soon echo outside the hallway, and Jackie returns--with Marvin in tow this time. He's wearing a long-sleeve blue shirt and has an identical broken amulet around his neck... a neck which has a long scar across it. "Holy shit, it's actually you," he says, eyes wide. "What're you doing back here?" 

"He's looking for Schneep, I told you that," Jackie says, nudging him slightly.

Alt can’t help but flinch as Marvin comes in but tries to give him a smile. “Y-Yeah uh.. S-Schneep was helping us find something we need so we can fix our traveling device.”

"Yeah, he mentioned something like that." Marvin nods. "Well... guess we'll call him." 

"Y-yeah, I can do that." Jackie is already dialing. 

Marvin shifts awkwardly. He was a bit slow to catch up on Alt's flinch, but he's there now, and he's starting to feel the same thing Jackie is. "S-so uh... This is our house. Welcome. Uh... Schneep and Jack have apartments, and Chase rents a house, and of course JJ has his shop and the flat above that. We, um... all... yeah. So... if anyone else came with you, they'll probably be at those places."

“Thanks- Oh yeah uh… my brother is here, Bro uh… so m-maybe I can call to see where he is.” Alt says timidly. He then blinks and looks down at his phone, “…can I still use my phone like normal if you’re in there?” He asks Anti.

"Should work," Anti says, shrugging. 

"Gah!" Marvin jumps in surprise. Jackie reaches over and puts a calming hand on his shoulder. "Sorry. I just--I know Jackie said there was a--the voice--sorry." 

"...Didn't mean to scare you," Anti says in a slightly softer voice.

Alt jumps with Marvin jumps and then looks apologetic. “oh right uh.. sorry-“ He then pulls up his speed dial and goes to call Chase.

Meanwhile, Jackie pulls his phone away from his ear and frowns. He dials again. 

----------- 

Bro appears in a living room. No, wait. This is a shop of some kind that just happens to look a lot like a living room from the early twentieth century. What gives it away is the counter with a cash register. That, and the price tags on the various knickknacks scattered on the tables. It looks pleasant, pastel blue in color and well-lit with yellow lamps. A front window lets in some sunlight. 

Bro blinks and looks around the space, whistling a bit. “oh- this is a nice place!”

A door behind the counter opens, and a man walks out carrying a box. He's wearing a snapback cap and a purple bandanna around his neck. He starts walking, then stops when he sees Bro. His eyes widen. "Whoa! Hey!" He puts the box down on the counter and points at Bro, making a perfect pog face. "You're that other me!"

When Chase comes in and pogs- Bro copies him then bursts into laughter. “Hello again! How’s it going?”

"It's going great, Bro! It's so good to see you again!" Chase smiles. "Oh, hang on." He goes back to the doorway and shouts, "Jack! JJ! The other me is here again!" 

There's the sound of feet on stairs, and Jack and JJ appear from the doorway. "Hey!" Jack smiles. "You're here!" 

Henrik said you might be here some time! JJ's eyes crinkle in a smile--the actual smile being hidden by the mask he always wears.

Bro brightens as he sees the others. He gives them a two fingered salute and a cheeky grin. “Yo! Good to see you guys!”

"Yeah! Feels like it's been a while." Jack laughs. "I mean--like JJ said, Schneep told us you might be here some time. It's been about... two weeks since he showed up again after that disappearance of his?" 

“Oh wow- it’s been two months for us!” Bro laughs, “Time differences between dimensions are always so weird!”

You're here to see if Henrik found that thing, right? JJ says. And I'm guessing your brother came with you?

“yup! sure Alt is around here somewhere… and Schneep! We’re excited to see him again!”

"Nice!" Chase grins. "So, if you guys appear near people who are like you or your friends, then he's either by Schneep right now, or he's at Jackie and Marvin's house." 

JJ winces slightly. If it's the latter... that will probably be... well, awkward. 

“Oh… yeah-“ Bro says with an awkward smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh. Right." Jack nods. "Well... I'm sure they'll figure it out." He takes out his phone. "Hang on, I'll text Schneep, ask if Alt is with him." 

“That’d be great, Jack, thanks!” Then, the hero blinks slowly, “…wait, Schneep can read texts…?” He frowns, making a confused face. “…he can do lots of stuff but I didn’t know he could do that…”

Jack laughs. "He has a screen reader app. If he gets a text there's a voice that reads out the notification. 'Message from: Jack', stuff like that." 

“Ooh! Like Siri!” Bro laughs. 

"Are you guys gonna stay for longer this time?" Chase asks. "Schneep will be so excited to see you again--metaphorically, of course." 

“I dunno how long we’ll stay but,.. maybe longer this time? Uh- we kinda got chased down in the last world though so I dunno…” Bro says. 

JJ sighs. Looks like we'll have to put inventory on hold, no matter what.

Bro blinks and waves his hand, “oh! This is your shop then?? And I interrupted sorry!!”

JJ's eyes crinkle some more. Yes, this is my shop! he says proudly. I built it up myself. Well, my grandfather left me the building, but the business is all mine. 

"We came here years ago to ask for help with Anti, and that's how we met Jays," Chase says. "Man... meeting you was one of the few good things to come out of that." 

Oh, thank you. JJ blushes a little behind his mask. Don't worry about it, other Chase. We were just moving some things from my storage in my flat down here for sale.

“Oh okay- as long as it’s not a big deal-“ Bro says, smiling. “man- it’s so nice to see you all… happy! You guys were… not in the best place last time we were here. But look at you all now!” He grins wide.

"Yeah, it's great to be back." Jack smiles. "Things were crazy there for a while. We had to process what Anti was, and then Schneep disappeared for a while, we stayed with Chase's ex, then we finally got rid of Anti only for some magicians to show up and start asking us about him! But it's all over now." 

"You should meet Marvin and Jackie, Bro," Chase says. "I think you'd like them. Probably get along really well with Jackie, haha." 

“Oh damn yeah that’s a lot!” Bro laughs, “But I’d love to meet them! Typically Jackies and me just click heh-“

JJ leans over to Jack. Has Schneep replied yet? 

"Nope." Jack shakes his head. "He must be busy; he usually replies fast."

Bro blinks at Jack then tilts his head, “Huh… wonder what he’s busy with… you guys know where he is? Maybe we can just pop by! Or maybe the uh- other Anti we brought is with him already.”

Jack blinks. "You brought another Anti?" 

Of course, it must be that one who helped you out when you were stuck in that place between worlds, right? JJ asks. 

“Yes! Schneep apparently met him a while ago too!” Bro says brightly. 

"Schneep is probably at his apartment," Chase says. "I can drive us over there--I got a rental car lately, using my license again." He smiles proudly.

Bro smiles at Chase and laughs. “Sure thing bro, that’d be great!”

"Alright, let's go, then!" Chase claps his hands together. "We should all fit in there."

As the group walks outside onto the street, Bro's phone starts to ring.Bro starts to follow then pauses and pulls out his phone. “Oh one sec! Maybe this is Alt.” He perks up when he sees it is. “Hey bro! Where did you end up?”

 "Tell Alt we say hi," Chase says. 

Bro laughs, “The others say hi-“ 

“Hey- I’m with Marvin and Jackie in their apartment and Anti is with me. The other one apparently drained him so he’s hanging out in my phone.” Alt’s voice answers. 

Bro stops in his tracks again, “…Anti’s with you? …huh- then… is no one actually near Schneep then?” 

“Huh? You’re not with him?” 

“No I ran into everyone else though - Jack, other me and JJ.“ 

No one is with Henrik? JJ repeats, a feeling of dread pooling in his stomach. 

Back on Alt's end of the phone call, Jackie slowly lowers his own phone. "Uh... Schneep's not picking up. He usually picks up." 

Marvin frowns. "He's probably just busy." 

But static crackles from Alt's phone speakers as Anti frowns.

“Yeah uh-” Alt listens to Jackie and feels a bit of anxiety in his stomach as he hears the static from his phone. “Have you guys heard anything from Schneep yet?” 

“No… Jack said he tried to text him. Thought it was weird he didn’t answer right away… we’re driving over to his apartment.” Bro says.

Jack checks his phone again. "Yeah, no, he still hasn't replied." He frowns. 

Marvin leans to the side. "Did I hear your Chase say they were going over to Schneep's apartment? That's probably a good idea. We can head over there, too." 

Jackie tries calling Schneep again, but shakes his head, now looking worried. "It's entirely possible that he put his phone in the other room or something, but...it's been ringing for a while. And he doesn't wear headphones. So he probably should've heard it by now."

Alt frowns, “yeah l-let’s head over there too… I-I’m worried.” 

“I’m sure he’s fine, Alt.” Bro tries to reassure him. “But, we’ll meet you all over there okay?” 

“Okay- s-see you soon…” Alt says before hanging up. He frowns at the phone, “…I-I have a really bad feeling…”

Marvin nodded slowly. "I, uh... I can probably teleport us. Not all the way there, that's a bit too far for my range, but if we take a bus halfway I can get us the rest of the way there."

“If you all have been there before then- I can glitch us there.” Alt says sheepishly. “I-if that’s okay with both of you…”

"Oh! R-right, yeah." Jackie nods. "I... Yeah, you can do that." He hesitates, then looks at Marvin. "Are... you okay with that?" 

"I did just suggest the teleporting," Marvin says. 

"Yeah, but... glitching..." 

"It'll be fine, Jackie," Marvin says softly. 

Jackie took a deep breath. "Right. Yeah." He nods and looks at Alt. "We'll do that. Chase and the others will have to catch up."

Alt nods. He hesitates then holds out a hand- “um… f-for me to take you with me we gotta uh… touch somehow.” He says awkwardly, looking away. 

"'Course. That makes sense." Jackie grabs Marvin's hand in his left, then reaches out with his right and takes Alt's. His grip is loose, hesitant. "Let's go."

Alt tries not to jolt at all when Jackie takes his hand. “Okay just- picture what his place looks like… that helps.” He then closes his eyes and in a quick flash of green- all 3 of them glitch away to Schneep’s apartment.

The next thing they know, the three of them are in a living room apartment. It's fairly expansive, modern in design with a wall that's entirely windows, leading out to a balcony overlooking the street below. The lights are off--though, since Schneep is blind, that's to be expected, not a sign of anything wrong. On the wall opposite the windows is the front door and an ajar door showing a bathroom. To the left is a small steel kitchenette and a table. To the right are two closed doors. 

"Schneep?" Jackie calls out. "You home?" 

Silence.

Alt let’s go of the others and starts to glitch around, “Schneep? I-it’s Alt! We’ve been trying to reach you! Are you okay??”

More silence. 

Marvin hurries over to the two doors, opening them up one at a time. One is a bedroom, the other a small sort of office. "He's not in here," he says, looking back at the others. "Not unless he suddenly decided that he likes pranks and jumpscares." 

Jackie takes a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. That's--He could just be out on errands or something." 

"Out doing errands and not answering his phone?" Marvin says doubtfully. 

"I don't know! Maybe? Or maybe he has a job interview?" 

"He'd tell us about that."

Alt can’t hide how worried he is now as he glitches back other to Marvin and Jackie. “Well then where is he? He can’t-“ then he pauses, eyes widening as he pulls out his tracker from Sam. “Wait h-he has the other TRVLR piece! Maybe this can help us find him!” He places a finger over the iris of the tracker.

Alt instantly knows that the TRVLR piece is underground, beneath a building at the address 380 Harbinger Street. 

Alt’s eyebrows furrow, “…it’s underground…?” He says quietly. 

His phone crackles. "You know, there's no guarantee that he has the piece right now, right?" Anti points out. 

Alt snorts at Anti. “I mean I-I know but-“ 

"JJ knows a great tracking spell, h-he can find him if Schneep doesn't have that piece thing," Marvin says. "But--it's a lead, I guess? What is that thing, anyway?" He points at the glass eye tracker. "Some sort of talisman?" 

Alt blinks and then holds out the tracker for Marvin to see. “it’s a tracker our friend Sam gave us to help us find the pieces we’re looking for. Cuz They know where they are… They just need some help getting them. And Schneep offered to help Them too… ” 

Marvin leans down to look at the tracker, eyes wide and sparkling with fascination. 

Alt hums and looks at Jackie and Marvin better, “Do you guys know what something on 380 Harbringer Street might be?”

"Harbringer Street?" Jackie leans back, thinking. "That's sort of north-center in the city. Back when I was a vigilante, the area was known for being vaguely shady. There were a lot of businesses that were fronts for things. You know. Underground organizations." He pales. "That's... Is this TRVLR piece there? If Schneep is there too..."

Alt catches on, his eyes widening. “..h-he could be in trouble…!” He stuffs the tracker back in his pocket, his shoulders shuddering with glitches. “W-We should check there next then! Have you been in that area before, Jackie?”

"Yeah, but... it's... been a while," Jackie says slowly. "And, uh, my memory hasn't been the best ever since..." He trails off. 

"If we can get close, we can walk the rest of the way, it's fine," Marvin says. "This is urgent. Shit, we should call the others and tell them to meet us there!"

“We can do that once we’re there!” Alt says, taking Marvin and Jackie’s hands quickly and concentrating on glitching them over to that side of town.

Suddenly, they're outside, standing on a sidewalk. This part of the city looks a bit more run-down. There are a lot of closed shop fronts, and even the ones that are open have peeling paint and dirty bricks. A storefront nearby is blocked up with plywood that's been spray-painted with graffiti. 

Jackie looks around. "I... don't know if this is the right place," he says slowly. "We need to find a street sign." 

"Use your GPS on your phones," Anti's voice says. 

"Oh, right." Jackie takes out his phone, opening up Maps. After a bit of typing, he frowns. "We're a couple of blocks off. We need to walk for a while then turn left."

Alt shakes himself off then nods, “O-Okay… that doable I guess- better than nothing.” Alt starts to walk, pulling out his phone to text Bro: Schnepp not there. Tracker says address for TRVLR is 380 Harbringer St. heading there now.

----------- 

"Is that Alt? What did he text you?" Jack asks, turning around in the passenger seat to look at Bro in the backseat as his text tone rang out.

Bro pulls out his phone to read and then looks confused. “Schneep isn’t home… Alt says they’re searching on …Harbringer street?”

"Ohhhhh." Chase purses his lips. "That's not a...good part of town..." 

"Really?" Jack looks over at him. 

"It's in the north, and I'm sure you remember Jackie complaining about that place back in the vigilante days." 

"Oh." 

Growing up, I was always told to avoid that area, JJ says. 

"I'm gonna put on some speed, 'kay?" Chase is already pushing on the gas. "I've never been happier that people don't drive a lot in this city." 

“Oh- Jesus… do you guys think Schneep ran into trouble there??” Bro says with worry.

"That's possible," Jack says. "If it's a bad place, I can imagine a lot of assholes messing with him—or worse." 

But Henrik can handle himself, JJ says. Especially with his abilities. He pauses. Do you think I should use a tracking spell?

“…probably better safe than sorry,” Bro nods, “even if Schneep is capable… I feel like he would have told all you guys about going to a place like this… right?”

"Yeah," Chase mutters. "He definitely would've." 

JJ closes his eyes. He makes a gesture like he's holding an invisible plate, and a glowing blue disk forms in his hands. He pulls an arm back and throws it like a frisbee. The disk passes through the windshield like it's not there at all and continues down the street, staying within eyesight but still far ahead. It turns right up ahead and Chase follows it.

Bro fidgets a bit with his jacket. “God… I’m really worried- this… doesn’t seem like Schneep- right? I mean you all know him better than me but… “

"No, you're right, it really doesn't." Jack shakes his head. "He told us he was looking for that TRVLR thing, and he told us where he was looking, but... it wasn't anywhere in the north of the city..." 

Chase and JJ don't say anything, an uneasy silence surrounding the two of them. The car continues north, and the buildings slowly become more and more rundown. There are no pedestrians around... but, as they turn a corner, they see three people waiting in front of a building, a business of some kind. A business with a symbol on the glass window... a symbol that looks a bit like an eye, with three circles forming three irises. 

Bro looks even more worried. Once they pull up in front of the building- Bro’s stomach drops fast as he sees the symbol. “O-Oh no-!” He hurries out of the car and rushes to the others, “Alt! And oh- Jackie and Marvin right? I’m Bro-“ he says quickly. 

"Yep, that's us," Jackie says. 

Marvin raises a hand. "Good to meet you. Wish it was better circumstances." 

“Likewise,” Bro mumbles. Then he gestures at the symbo, looking at Altl. “Um???” 

Alt nods gravelly, “I-I know… t-this isn’t good…”

"What is this place?" Jack gets out of the car, reading the writing on the sign above the door. 

"IRIS Technologies...?" Chase frowns. "I've heard of these guys. They make cameras and shit." He looks at Bro and Alt. "Why... isn't it... good?" The disk from JJ's tracking spell goes straight through the door. 

Alt’s eyebrows furrow, “Cuz as far as we know… IRIS is a fucked up company who has hurt some of our friends… and it could mean Schneep is in a massive amount of danger..!” Glitches fizzle across his skin as Alt looks ready to tear apart the building to search for him. 

Chase pales. "Well... shit. I-I mean... other worlds and all that, but if there's even a chance that he's in danger, we got to look into it." 

JJ looks through the front windows. My tracking spell went through that door at the back. He points it out for the others to see. 

The interior of the business is a waiting area, very plain and generic, with a circular desk where a young woman sits, typing at a clunky-looking computer. Posters on the wall advertise IRIS products. This isn't a store; it looks like a place where you'd go if you had an appointment. 

Marvin grabs the door, testing it. And it opens up. He looks back at the others. "They're open, I guess." 

"Let's go," Jackie says. 

“Alright… let’s see what we can find out then.” Bro mutters, heading inside. Alt looks at the door JJ pointed to, tempted to just go ahead and glitch past it.

"Hi!" The young woman at the desk says in a chipper customer-service voice as everyone walks in. "Wow, big group today. How can I help you?" 

"We're just, uh... checking this place out," Jack says. "Heard about it from a friend." 

"What's behind that door?" Marvin asks, pointing at it. 

"Oh, you'll need a booking to go past there," the woman says. "Do you have a name I can get?" She puts her hands on the keyboard, ready to look things up.

Bro hesitates and then leans on the counter by the woman, grinning charmingly, “Hey~ yeah, you can just put uh… Kieran Brennan. That’s me- you doing okay today?” He puts on the charm big time, briefly glancing at Alt before looking back at her. “And can I just say? Wow- you’re like, stunning…! What's a girl like you doing working in this part of town?” 

"Oh! Oh, um..." The woman blinks in confusion. "I, uh... Mr. Brennan, alright." She types it into her computer. "Thank you very much, sir. I do enjoy this job, it pays very well." She laughs nervously. 

Alt blinks and then nods subtly and while Bro is distracting the woman- he tries to see if he can glitch past the door.

As Alt glitches through the door, he finds himself in a staircase leading downward. The walls are made of a strange white material, and the floor is a dull gray carpet. There's a clunky-looking camera with a blinking red light facing the door--that he just glitched directly in sight of.

“Well that’s good to hear!” Bro grins, trying to keep up the facade. “I’ve had a couple jobs like that- pays good but the area around is kinda shit you know?” He laughs. 

"Haha yeah. It's worth the commute." The young woman quickly finishes typing. "Hmm, I'm not seeing your name coming up. Are you sure you booked it properly?" 

Alt looks around quickly then freezes as he sees the light- he quickly reaches out to see if he can try to destroy it before it captures anything-!

But Alt's magic just bounces off the camera, not even rattling it. And immediately, an alarm goes off, red light flashing. 

“Shit!” Alt curses and then he quickly starts to glitch down the stairs, looking for any sign of Schneep.

"H-huh?" The woman looks over towards the door, alarmed and confused.

"Well--no more time for subtleties!" Jackie declares, and rushes for the door, trying to open it but finding it locked from this side.

Bro’s expression changes on a dime as he now vaults over the counter and goes to try to kick the door open.

The door slams to the side. Most of the group hurries after Bro, but Jack quickly approaches the woman, leaning close. "You should probably get out of here, just in case," he says. 

"U-um--okay!" She grabs a backpack from under the desk and hurries out the front door. As soon as she's gone, Jack hurries after the others. 

The stairs end in an intersection. Three white hallways extend forward, left, and right. Two more branch off left and right at the end of the forward hallway. Doors line the walls. There are small signs on the wall right by the corner. 

TECHNOLOGY STORAGE > 

^ STAFF QUARTERS ^ 

< POSSIBLE ALTR HOLDING

Alt looks between all the options then quickly chooses to go down the possible ALTR holding- that feels like a place that could have Schneep. He’s panicking, the alarm making him glitch and run as fast as he can. “Schneep!! SCHNEEP!” 

Bro hurries down the stairs and is momentarily confused before he hears Alt and scrambles to follow after his voice. “this way guys!”

The others quickly catch up and keep pace with Bro. The hall continues for a while before turning right at the end. The doorways lining these walls are metal, shiny and solid-looking. Each one has a light above it. Most of them are green, but there are two that are red, one before the corner, one after. 

"Hey--maybe these are like--availabilities?" Chase says, pointing at the lights above the doors. 

"Alt, did you hear that?!" Jackie shouts after him. "The red light ones probably have stuff in them!"

Alt looks up to notice this and nods quickly skirting to try to glitch inside the first red light door.

The room beyond has more blank white walls and another camera in the corner. There's a bed with attached straps--how menacing--but nobody is in it. But there is something on the table nearby. A small glass terrarium, like one you'd keep a lizard in. The inside isn't decorated at all. Leaving the small thing inside perfectly visible. A golfball-sized eyeball with a green sclera, blue iris, and long tail-like optic nerve. It hops over to the glass wall of the terrarium as Alt appears, checking him out.

Alt’s eyes widen as he glitches over to the terrarium, “S-Sam?!” He whispers.

The eyeball hops. 

Outside, the group stops by the door Alt glitched through. Jackie tries the door, but of course, it's locked. "Fucking hell!" he curses. "Alt, can you open it from this side?!" 

"Probably not," Marvin says. 

Hang on. Jameson steps up, conjuring up another glowing blue disk. It slides into the crack in the door behind the handle, and there's a CLUNK of a lock undoing. Jackie tries the door again, and this time it opens up. 

"What's in there?" Jack, at the back of the group, tries peering over the others. At the sound of his voice, the little eyeball hops faster. "Huh? Who said that?!" 

"Who said what?" Chase asks, looking back at Jack in confusion. 

"You guys didn't hear someone say my name?" 

Bro hurries in and then his eyes widen, “What?? There’s a Sam here too??” 

Alt looks at the others and then back at the eyeball- until Jack started talking. He blinks back and then shakes his head. “No dude we… didn’t hear anything-“ he looks back at the eyeball and then pulls out his pocket knife and tries to use it to crack the glass.

"Someone is saying my name really excitedly," Jack says, pushing through the others. He gasps. "Eyeball?!" He blinks, confused. 

"Is it talking in your head?" Chase asks. 

"I-I guess so??? It--they're saying that they're my eye?" 

Marvin gasps and goes a little pale. 

“What the hell does that mean?!” Bro asks.

"J-Jack... lost an eye," Marvin says shakily to Bro. "A-A-Anti... did it." 

Jack blinks. "...huh?" 

"He didn't... get rid of it," Marvin whispers. "But... when that weird place collapsed when Anti... d-disappeared... I thought the eye was... taken down with it..." 

Meanwhile, the glass is too solid for Alt's knife to even make a scratch. 

"Here, can I try, Alt?" Jackie asks, walking over. He holds out his hand... and in his grip appears a curved blade made of red light. He brings it down on glass, cutting a hole in it.

Alt blinks and lets Jackie try- then whistles a bit at the blade. “woah- that’s wicked.” He grins. Then he remembers why they’re here and looks to Bro before hurrying out and glitching into the other cell. “you guys help Sam!”

“Wh--dude you can't just keep going without us!" Chase calls after Alt. He looks at Jameson. "Open that door to the other room?" JJ nods and hurries after Alt. Marvin, looking shaken by this whole thing, also heads that way.  

The other occupied room does not have a terrarium... but it does have a man lying on the bed, strapped down, seemingly asleep. His sleeve is rolled up, and an IV feeds into his forearm from a bag hanging on a pole nearby.

Alt stumbles into the room, breathing heavily and then freezes when he sees Schneep lying on the table- strapped down. Anger fills up his whole body rapidly, and lightning crackles around him dangerously like live wires. It snaps and tries to crack at the walls and ceilings as Alt’s magic reacts wildly to his emotions. “These fuckers-!” He growls and then glitches over and quickly tries to cut through the straps holding Schneep down.

The straps are made of the same sort of material as seatbelts are. His magic slices through them easily. While he does that, there’s another CLUNK behind him as JJ unlocks the door. He and Marvin pour into the room. 

Marvin gasps in shock. “These bastards! I-is he okay?” 

Schneep is still asleep.

Alt has to take a couple calming breaths to get his magic to die now from how badly he wants to just explode. 

After a few seconds he glitches back over and tries to shake Schneep awake. “H-Henrik! Hen it’s- it’s us! Alt and all your friends! Can you hear us?!”

Schneep still doesn’t wake up. 

“Maybe it’s this IV thing?” Marvin says. “Maybe it’s keeping him asleep?” JJ immediately springs into action. He nudges Alt aside so he can get close to the spot where the IV goes into Schneep’s arm. He presses down on the spot and slowly withdraws the needle. 

“Okay, try again!” Marvin hurries over. “Schneep!” He looks at Alt. “I-I don’t know any wake-up spells anymore, can you do something?”

Alt nods and gently takes Schneep’s wrist and then whispers, “Sorry Schneep-“ and gives him a little shock to try to wake him up. 

Back in the other room, Jack walks forward, a bit in a daze, and reaches out a hand. The tiny eyeball hops through the hole Jackie cut, landing in Jack's palm. "...huh. So... you're alive now."

 He pauses. 

"Um... they're calling you Sam. Is that your name?" 

Another pause. 

"Well, I think it suits you, so if you want to be Sam, you can be." 

Bro looks freaked out but he sticks with Jack. He walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder. “…you’re taking the ‘finding out I have a sentient eye’ thing really well-“ he tries to laugh. 

“I… think I’m in shock,” Jack says slowly. 

“Yeah… we’ve been through a lot but that’s weird,” Jackie agrees. 

“Can you just like… put them in your pocket?” Chase asks. 

Jack tries, but Sam’s nerve-tail wraps around his fingers as they hold tight to him. “Uh… clingy, I guess. They’re telling me they don’t want to be in a small space. That’s fine. I’ll just carry them, I guess.” 

“Uh yeah- whatever makes the little guy- comfy I guess? Not fun they’ve kept something… alive like this in a cage.” Bro mumbles. Then he turns to hurry out the door after the others. “C’mon let’s see if they found Schneep!” 

“Right!” Jack nods, and he, Chase, and Jackie hurry after Alt—

“Halt!” But, coming around the corner are two… guards, that’s the only way to put it. They’re wearing black military-like uniforms with the IRIS logo on their shoulders in white, and helmets with mirrored visors hide the upper halves of their faces. Each of them are armed with something that looks like a stun gun—which are now pointed at the group. Mainly Bro, as they’ve clocked him as the biggest threat. “Put the creature down and leave, otherwise we will be forced to engage.”

Jackie stops, throwing his arms out in front of Chase and Jack and glaring. His eyes flicker with red light. Chase mutters something about how he should've brought his gun. 

Bro skids to a stop too and holds a hand out to protect the others, moving to be in front. His eyes spark blue, “You have our friend so- we’re not leaving!” He puts his fists up and gets into a fighting stance. He smirks crookedly, “You dudes don’t wanna fight me, so stand down.” 

"Intruders are being hostile, using force!" one of the guards says, and they both fire their weapons, launching stun-gun-like wires at Bro and Jackie. 

Jackie yelps, the wires sending a shock into his system. He falls back, and Chase catches him.

“Alright, sorry not sorry for this!” Bro shouts as he just barely dodges the wire and leaps at one of the guards, sending a super powered punch towards his face. 

The guard withdraws the wires back into the stun gun and aims at Jack next--only to get punched in the face by Bro and knocked to the ground. The other guard swivels around and tries to fire at Bro again. 

Bro yells out as he gets shocked- and falls to the ground. 

Back in the room, Schneep jerks, gasps, and his eyelids flutter. "W...was?" His eyes move randomly beneath the eyelids. "Was passiert?" He tries to get up, but his arms are too weak to lift him up. 

"Schneep!" Marvin gasps. 

"M-Marvin?" Schneep's soul sense finally kicks in. "A-and Alt? Jameson? Alt?" He faces Alt and smiles weakly. "I-I found your thing..."

Alt quickly helps support Schneep and tries to help him up. He tries to smile back. “T-That’s great Hen- l-let’s get you out of here, okay?”

"J-ja." Schneep nods slowly. JJ hurries over and helps support Schneep from the other side. 

Marvin looks back out the door. He hurries out and shouts, "Holy shit! There's guys!" His eyes glow blue and he lunges forward. Blue magic wraps around the guard that Bro knocked down, tying him up.

Now, Alt hears Bro yell and almost glitches out there but he tries to keep Schneep back, “F-Fuck- I… I can try to glitch us out of here!”

Schneep's eyes widen. "N-no, wait, I--I th-think these people took the item! W-we need to find it!" 

“Of course they did… fucking hell-!” Alt growls.

Jackie shakes himself awake again. "Hey!" His eyes flash red, and a handful of curved light, sharp as blades, flies towards the guard that's still up. Some of them miss, but the ones that hit just seem to lodge in the armor. 

JJ rushes out of the room and throws his hand out, conjuring a shield to block the two guards off from the rest of the group.

Alt hobbles Schneep out into the hall once the shield is up and starts to go to the opposite hallway- he remembers the sign said something about technology that way. 

Bro shakes himself awake and pushes himself up- blinking in confusion at the shield. He shakily pulls himself up using the wall and tries to push the others away. “l-Let’s go, hurry!”

"How long can you keep that up, JJ?" Chase asks as they hurry down the hallway. 

A long while, assuming they can't break through, JJ says. But there might be other ways to us! 

The whole group circles around, turning another corner and following the signs to a different section where the doors are plain wood, some with windows in them. 

"Schneep, wh-what exactly is this thing you found?" Marvin asks. 

"It is a small red chip, like something for a computer or a phone," Schneep says. 

"How are we supposed to find something small like that?!" Jackie cries. 

Bro fumbles into his utility belt and pulls out the tracker- maybe it can give him a more exact place where it is? He touches the pupil-

He immediately knows that the chip is behind the door labeled 08, in a small box on a shelf.

“Got it!” Bro says brightly, “Door says 08- it’s in a small box on a shelf!” 

Alt laughs, “God bless Sam oh my god those trackers are amazing??” 

Bro laughs too then tries to speed ahead to look for the door. …god why does it feel like he’s slower than before?

"There!" Jack spots it first, pointing at a door down the hallway. Once they reach it, Jameson immediately does the same unlocking spell he'd done before, and everyone spills into the room. The walls are lined with shelves, full of random computer-like parts--but there is only one box, white and about the size of a phone.

Bro hurries over to the box and opens it to look inside. “Small red chip??”

Yep, there it is; a small red microchip. 

Jackie looks over Bro's shoulder. "That has to be it!" he says. "Damn, Schneep, how did you find that?" 

"Oh, it took a long time," Schneep mumbles. "I might not have found it if I did not notice these strangers digging through the trash." 

“Is that how they found you?” Bro asks quietly. 

Schneep doesn't say anything, simply nods slowly. 

"Okay, we got it, let's get out of here now!" Jack shouts.

Alt quickly grabs the chip and puts it in the bag before shoving that back in his pocket. “Okay uh- everyone link up! I think I can get us back to… to Schneep’s house?”

"Great, let's all think about it and we should get there," Jackie says, grabbing onto Marvin and Chase. Everyone else slowly joins up from there. Heavy footsteps echo down the hallway. 

Bro rushes over to grab on and Alt closes his eyes and in a bright flash of green they all disappear-

-and arrive back in the living room area of Schneep's apartment. "Holy shit, what a rush." Jackie shakes his head. "Fucking insane." 

Alt sways a bit then crashes to his knees, blinking spots out of his eyes. “T-That could have gone s-so bad…” he mumbles. Bro kneels down next to him and pats his back.

"We are... home?" Schneep asks. 

"Yeah, we're home," Jack says. "Your couch's over here." 

"Ah. Good. I am going to sit down." And Schneep does so, stumbling over to the sofa and immediately collapsing onto it. "My head... f-feels... fuzzy."

Are you okay, Alt? JJ asks. Is there anything we can do to help? 

Alt smiles at them weakly, a bit dizzy, “I’m fine… just a lot of glitching… I… m-maybe some food would be good…”

"You need energy for magic, right?" Marvin says. "Schneep, can we use your food?" 

Schneep laughs at Marvin's comment. 

Bro looks back at Schneep, “Do you remember anything Schneep? Like how long you were there or what they did or… if they put anything like… in you I guess?”

Schneep becomes serious again at Bro's questions. "I... do not remember much. I fought the strangers, but there were too many of them a-and they put something in the air that I breathed... everything since then is blank." 

"You can't have been there that long," Chase says. "We talked yesterday normally enough. Oh, it's the ninth, by the way." 

"Hmm. I think... it was late at night on the eighth when I was caught..." Schneep says slowly. 

Bro sighs a bit in relief, “G-Good- I mean not good you got caught but I’m glad it wasn’t for too long!” 

A voice crackles from Alt's phone. "That seemed like an outreach base," Anti says. "Not a main compound. They were probably holding you and Sam there until they could determine where to put you. You're all very lucky. It wasn't nearly as secure as it could have been." 

Alt pulls out his phone to hear Anti better and nods, “Yeah I… I was worried it would have been worse… t-they had a… an Iv in Schneep though… how are you feeling, Hen?”

"Fuzzy," Schneep mumbles. "Tired. Must have been... some sort of drug. Might feel... bad later. But just fuzzy now. You all can use my food, by the way." 

"Right." Chase hurries over to the kitchenette. "What are your snack foods? You have like... cheese and crackers and shit. Not really a sweets guy. Oh, I can probably make a sandwich. Is that okay, Alt?" 

“Y-Yeah that’s good, thanks-“ Alt replies. 

"That IV was probably to keep him unconscious," Anti guesses. "IRIS wouldn't want to take risks with him getting away." 

"Bastards," Jackie mutters. 

"Fucking bastards," Marvin agrees. 

"So that Anti is here too," Schneep says idly. "I could not sense you. Cannot sense your... soul." 

"Oh, I don't have one," Anti says casually.

“It probably doesn’t help that he’s in my p-phone right now,” Alt says. 

Bro blinks at Anti, “I’ve never heard someone say they don’t have a soul so nonchalant-ly… that’d be worrying to hear from anyone but you, Anti.” He laughs. 

Anti grins on Alt's screen. "I'm unique. There's nothing like me in the world. Though there are things like me in the multiverse." 

Alt rolls his eyes slightly but smiles at Anti, “Don’t get a big head about it-“

"Can you sense Sam, though?" Anti asks Schneep. 

"Uh... I am not sure." Schneep pauses. "There is something... small... with Jack, I think." 

"Yeah." Jack holds up Sam in his hand. "That's... them."

“Oh by the way Schneep… Sam is… is an eye- like the big Sam. This guy is real little though… reminds me of a baby Sam.”

Schneep blinks. "...oh. So... there is... that now." 

"Apparently they were the eye that Anti took from me," Jack says quietly. "I... don't know how they're alive now. And they don't know, either. Here." He walks over to the sofa and sits down next to Schneep. "Hold out your hand. 

Schneep does so, and Sam hops onto it. "Oh!" Schneep's eyes widen. "That feels so strange. I was expecting something... sticky." 

"Nope. They do seem squishy, though, so be careful," Jack says. 

"Don't worry, I will be." 

“Yeah they feel weird huh?” Bro laughs. 

"If your Sam is like the Sam in my world--which I'm guessing they are," Anti says. "Then they're just an anomaly. They happen sometimes. Strange shit happens for no reason. Though... I do wonder if the smaller Sams exist because of the larger one somehow." 

Bro listens to Anti and nods, “Like- Sam’s their parents and has lots of baby Sams! …that helps me forget that this was once Jack’s eye-“ 

Chase walks over with a plate. "Here, Alt. Turkey sandwich and crackers. Hope that's enough."

Alt blinks but then smiles gratefully at Chase, “This should be plenty, thanks.” He digs in, sitting cross legged on the floor.

"...you can sit on a chair, you know," Schneep says. "I do not mind." 

"Sometimes people are more comfortable on the floor, dude." Jackie laughs. 

“I would but I wasn’t sure if my legs would make it-“ Alt comments as he eats. 

"So... you guys have your TRVLR part now," Jack says. "Does that mean you're good to go whenever?" 

Bro shrugs, “Probably?”

"Oh, put that in the bag with the others, by the say," Anti suggests.

“Already did!” Alt says in between bites. “‘M not risking losing a single bit of this-“

"Great," Anti says.

“I uh- don’t know how we’re getting to the next world though- are you taking us Anti?” Bro asks. 

 "... I should still be able to contact Sam. We've built up a connection while I was searching for the other parts." He pauses. Alt's phone screen is briefly covered by colorful static before turning normal again. "Yeah, I can reach Them. When you all are ready to go I'll let Them know and They'll open up a rift to the next world." He pauses. "They also said that They managed to push out that other version of me, but... that he might still be looking for us."

Alt pauses in his eating and shivers, hunching up a bit. “G-Great… I love being chased down by an evil version of myself…” he grumbles. 

“Well- at least we can hang out for a bit?” Bro tries to say cheerfully.

"Not much to do in my apartment, I'm afraid..." Schneep says, slowly closing his eyes. 

Jack nudges him awake again. "If you guys want to, uh, hang out, we can," Jackie says. "I'd like to really get to know you guys. But uh... yeah, I'm not sure what we'd do, other than just chill and talk. We need like, a plan for this thing." 

"We could play cards?" Marvin suggests, and suddenly there's a puff of blue smoke and he's holding a deck of cards in his hand. 

JJ looks impressed. That's a new spell! 

"Thanks, I've been working on it." 

Alt can’t help but laugh, “Man- Marvins are obsessed with games I’m learning-“ 

"Really?" Marvin blinks, then smiles. "H-hey, good to know that that's... a thing for Marvins."

Schneep chuckles. "That other Jameson, the magician one? While we were by ourselves, he told me that his Marvin enjoys card games. So it definitely seems a trait." 

Bro looks at Jackie, Marvin and Schneep sympathetically. “It’d be real cool to get to know you guys… but I think Schneep needs to rest… he’s just been through a lot.” He sighs but then tries to brighten up, “But! We’re going to get the TRVLR fixed! Which means we can come back again real soon! To properly hang you know?”

"Yeah, that'd be great." Jack grins. "I think we have to adjust to some stuff, anyway. Like this little guy." Sam bounces into his hand again. 

And that IRIS place, JJ says. 

"Yeah, I had no idea they were fucked up like that," Chase mumbles. "I thought they just make tech."

“That’s how they get you,” Alt sighs, finishing up, “These companies usually hide like this… underneath these seemingly innocent projects and tech and.. hospitals. It’s sick-“ 

Bro smiles, “yeah… lots to deal with- but uh- now we can make sure we actually have a good meet up next time! No antis, no Iris- just chill~”

"I would like that," Schneep says softly. "It has been... good to see you two again. If only for a few moments." 

"D'you think we could pit the ABIM against IRIS?" Marvin wonders. "They'd probably take issue with someone kidnapping magical people." 

Worth contacting them, I suppose, JJ says.

“Oh fuck yeah- pit them against each other and watch the chaos,” Alt grins. His face then softens and he sighs, “I wish it could have been longer Schneep but… you need your rest… I’m so glad we found you before… anything really bad happened.”

Schneep nods. "I do remember Jamie--the other Jamie--talking about IRIS. If... this place was like the one in his world..." He shudders. 

"You're safe now, Hen," Chase reassures him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll make sure they don't bother you. Or the rest of us." 

"Hell yeah." Jackie nods firmly. "We've been through a lot, we're not gonna let these guys scare us."

Bro smiles, “you guys can handle those fuckers- I believe in you.” 

Alt nods with a bit of a smile. Then he frowns, “Next time I go to one of those places… I’m looking for a way to inter dimensionally talk… that way you guys can call if you’re ever in trouble. Cuz- we’ll be there.”

"...thanks, Alt," Marvin says quietly. "That's... that's so nice of you." The others all look touched as well. 

A moment passes in silence, then Jack clears his throat. "Well. You guys should probably head out soon. I mean, it sucks, but you guys have a job to do, and I'd hate to delay you." 

"Faster would be better," Anti says, voice crackling through Alt's phone speakers.

“Alright alright-“ Alt sighs. He glitches to his feet and adjusts his backpack, checking to make sure he has everything. “I’m ready.” 

Bro hops to his feet too and smiles at the others, “Thanks for helping us, guys. But we’ll see you again soon, alright?”

It'll be nice to see you again! JJ says, smiling. 

"Yeah, what JJ said!" Chase laughs. "We'll look forward to it." 

"And we will stay safe until then," Schneep promises. 

"Sam says thank you for helping," Jack reports. 

"We can get to know each other more next time," Jackie says. Marvin nods in agreement. 

Alt smiles and nods, “Yeah, I’d like that.” 

Alt's phone screen becomes static again for a moment. Then some green electricity flickers over by the window wall. A black rift forms as the lightning opens up a way out of this world.

“We’ll have a proper blast next time!” Bro says happily, throwing up his hands. “It’ll be great! Until next time!!” 

Alt laughs and starts to pull Bro into the rift. He waves to the others before they walk through.

The others all wave back. 

"Goodbye!" Schneep says. "Until next time."