#[in Jevil's voice] I can do anything! >:D | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ticklish-touch · 3 years

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I’m With You in the Dark

Last year, I made a poll seeing who would be interested in reading a story about my tickle monster Rags meeting my favorite character in Deltarune, Jevil. Even though I got a very positive response overall, I... chickened out. :’D I've always felt very self-conscious about writing fanfics, especially ones involving my OCs with canon characters. I grew up with other weeb friends who thought fanfic in general was very cringey and taboo. But at the end of the day, as long as people aren't writing about shipping real-life people or kink shit with minors, they have the freedom to write what they want if it helps them express themselves. Ever since last year, Jevil has become a very important character to me. There are hundreds of wonderful creative interpretations of him and his possible backstory; and, as someone who has depersonalization spells, existential thoughts about reality & the universe, enjoys making other people laugh even at my own expense, and a chaotic inner voice that constantly tells me "AREN'T YOU TIRED OF BEING NICE, DON'T YOU JUST WANNA GO APESHIT??" this little gremlin has become a comfort character; one that I also highly enjoy cosplaying. And, frankly, what better year to post a story about nihilism than 2020? 👍 So, this is just a "what-if" scenario, if someone else besides Gaster with some degree of omniscience was able to show the poor jester that there's more to life than just waiting for the Void to take over. And if anyone takes anything away from this, I just want it to be the hope that things will get better. You are allowed to be hopeful, and happy, and make positive connections with people even if you've had harmful experiences with people over past mistakes from either side. We're in this together; you aren't always going to be alone, your suffering won't be in vain. This, too, shall pass. So please, stay determined. Happy Halloween, everyone!! 🎃 🦇 👻 🤡 Story below the cut!

The mischievous Nightmare felt a peculiar pull at his mind as he lurked through the foggy darkness in search of another playmate: A chaotic soul resonating with nearly as much feral playfulness and craving for laughter as his own. But there was something...Off. This mind, this essence, was splintered and broken, re-mended into something different... A shadow of its former self. Joy and mischief and enthusiasm for the world, replaced by existential dread and loneliness...

The silent cry for help brought Ragaeli to a reality he'd never been in: One of the many infinite parallel dimensions to Earth that existed in the endless void of spacetime. At a brief glance, he could see there was a race called Darkners. They seemed to be the joy of childlike imagination brought to life; living, breathing checker and chess pieces, puzzle pieces, stuffed toys and squeaky mallets and lego blocks.

And, within a card castle not unlike the story of Alice in Wonderland, deep within a huge cell locked by powerful magic, a rotund little jester with a black and purple wardrobe was bouncing about, creating myriads of dazzling diamonds, spades, hearts and clovers. He appeared to be an imp with a J-shaped tail, a round noseless face, pointy ears, deep black pits for eyes and serrated, lemon-yellow teeth stretched into a smile as he laughed gleefully to himself.

The Nightmare split open a doorway of crackling energy, leaping through, landing on the indigo striped ground with a THUD. The floor was very plush and unsteady, like the inflated floor of a bouncy castle. "Weellll now, it sure seems like a party in here~ But what kind of party only has one guest, hmm?"

Immediately, the small jester jumped, his head launching out on a spring coil like a Jack-in-the-box. "AIYEEE-!! What, what?! Who are you? Did...Did you escape too??" He glided over to the tall figure, eyeing him over. At first, his lips twitched and seemed as if they were going to form into a frown. But instead he responded with a forced grin. "Uee-hee hee, I see, I see... It seems they've finally replaced little old me~!" He bounced up on his tail to flick playfully at Ragaeli's chest bells, spiraling around him to tug at his flaps, hair and spandex. "Hmmm, not bad~ And you can't go wrong with being a stripey lad; I guess the Kings have some taste after all! But where is your hat?? A jester with no hat is like a witch without their cat!" He glided around behind Ragaeli and his eyes widened. "A hand on your tail?? Now that's just excessive!!" "I must say your rhyme scheme is really quite impressive~" Ragaeli giggled, his head turned 180 degrees to look down at the jester. Jevil couldn't help but giggle too. "Uee hee hee, why thank you, thank you~!" He hovered upside-down in front of the larger monster, summoning a deck of cards, shuffling them up. "The tales must be true, that each suit has two. A black and a red...I always assumed the other must just be dead!!" He snickered, making the cards disappear up his sleeve, then turned back upright, folding his arms, his purple tail lashing about behind him like an agitated cat, his tone twinged with jealousy. "Well since they've decided that red suits their court more, you'd better not be a bore! To replace me is to replace the wittiest of all the players in this castle full of nay-sayers!"

"Hehehe, now, don't get your tail in a twist, I'm no replacement," Ragaeli playfully flicked one of Jevil's bells. "Name's Ragaeli, but you can call me Rags, Ragdoll, Ragtime, Rag-Tag, just don't call me boring, heheh~ I'm not even from this world, you see. Would you believe me when I say there are other worlds out there? Other dimensions?" Jevil giggled at all the nicknames, then his face lit up, his annoyance quickly shifting to curiosity. "Oh yes, yes, I know it to be true!! He chuckled. "Your world, it is a game too? Or is it more "real" than what we can perceive?" Ragaeli raised an eyebrow. "A game, hmm? I suppose you can say that," He smirked. "My world is, in a sense, "Not real" as well. Not to the people of Earth anyways. It's thanks to their thoughts and emotions, their hopeful desires in the depths of their darkest thoughts, that I exist at all. And because of that," His grin turned devilish and he rapped his fingers together in a comically villainous fashion. "I can appear to any of them that I want. I can play all kinds of games with them~ I have no limits to what I can do in my realm, and Earth itself is my playground, a game that will never end~"

The jester listened with fascination, then cackled again, seeming elated as he bounced around in midair. "Oh I'm SO happy!! Someone else finally sees!! There is another who's been set free!!" Then his giddy tone turned to a snarl. "THEY didn't believe me!! THEY were all blind, blind!!" Magic energy crackled around him. "I ONLY wanted to HELP them!! I only wanted them to be privy to the danger, danger they would face if they didn't try to free themselves of this pointless rat race!!" Ragaeli's brow furrowed. "Who's them? Who put you in here? A jolly little hellion like you shouldn't be locked away like this, 'specially if you think your castle's in danger." Jevil quickly shook his head, puffing his chest out indignantly. "It is not I that has been locked away! They chose their own prison, they dug their own graves! The court wouldn't listen, they didn't want to play, and now for their bullheadedness THEY'RE the ones having to pay!!"

The Nightmare latched onto the images flashing through Jevil's mind, learning bits and pieces about the royal court that ruled the dark castle. It definitely appeared that things were in disarray, and the court jester's loneliness bubbled into a well of resentment... The continued rush of memories manifested into the image of a strange entity that came to the jester before his imprisonment: A ghostly creature, cloaked in inky blackness, with large round holes in his skeletal hands and a twisted grin frozen on his skull-like head, a single white pupil glowing out from the cracked eyesockets with a sickly light. Even the Nightmare, who had seen every hellish iteration of fear and hatred, knew that this...thing, was bad news. He existed, yet was nonexistant. He was fractured across all of time and space, yet remained trapped unmoving inside the Void. He was filled with hopelessness, bitterness, egoism, an unyielding ambition to drag anything and everything down into the same all-consuming darkness. An unfortunate victim of his own hubris, now a sociopath with cold disregard for individual worth except the desire to dissect everything and everyone he could latch onto. And it happened that Jevil, who craved mischief and adventure and purpose in his seemingly small role in the kingdom, was the latest test subject. Ragaeli's hair stood up on end and a low, near demonic growl rumbled in his throat. "And what, exactly, did this thing show you?" The growl made Jevil gasp, stopping him in his tracks, looking up at the large entity with trepidation. "H-He showed me everything, everything!! He showed me the beginning, the end of all things, he showed me the truth of this world and all worlds in the cosmos, that nothing is as it seems, nothing means anything, but because anything can be nothing, nothing can be everything--" "Alright, enough, I'm stopping you right there, Lovecraft," In a swift movement, he tugged the rim of Jevil's hat over his face. "YEEE- H-HEY!!" The frazzled jester fixed his hat, puffing his cheeks out at Ragaeli, his tail whipping about even more wildly. "Whoever this Wing-dinged handy-man is sure isn't very handy if all he can do is fill your head with nihilistic nonsense," Ragaeli stuck out his tongue. "Sounds like someone who had a rotten time of it is now trying to ruin everyone else's fun." "No, no, not at all!!" Jevil leapt on top of Ragaeli's head and perched like a cat. "Because of him, I can have more fun than I ever thought possible!! You'll see, you'll see!! They're bringing back the key!!" He giggled madly. "Three visitors, all questing in vain to bring an end to a game that doesn't matter, and once I am back inside their world of lies I will spread my truth everywhere and everyone will thank me!!" He cackled. "But first I should thank you for keeping me company~" He leapt off and glided in front of the Nightmare. From the center of his dark eyes, yellow irises began to glow brightly. "It's been so long since someone has lent an ear, so I'll show you my favorite game~" In a flash, he launched a glowing diamond, sharp as a sword, at the speed of a flying bullet into Ragaeli's stomach.

But the diamond disappeared on contact. Instead of yelping in pain, Ragaeli shrieked and doubled over as the energy shot a ticklish burst through him. "GYEEEE-HEEHEE!!" Jevil looked baffled. "...What, what?? Laughter?" He tilted his head, summoning a spinning barrage of clubs that shot at Ragaeli's legs, chest and sides like machine gun ammunition. And again, the Nightmare was bombarded with a barrage of ticklish electricity, causing him to crumple on the plush floor with cackling laughter. "AIYEEE-HAHAHAHA!!" After the sensation wore off, he continued to let out giddy laughter as he saw Jevil's incredulous expression. "WHOOO-WEE, now that was a good one!!" Jevil couldn't help but snort back his own laughter at the Nightmare's comical reactions, but he seemed even more puzzled. "Is someone ticklish, ticklish? That isn't how I'm trying to play, but it makes things interesting, needless to say~" He giggled a bit. "But then...How am I supposed to play my game if you've got no numbers to claim??" Ragaeli shook his head, jumping up into the air to recline as if laying back on a sofa. "You silly little imp, do you really think that's the only way to play with others? Taking this "HP" until they're gone for good? What would you do then when there's no-one left to have fun with?" He gave a pout. Jevil shook his head quickly. "No no, they're not really gone!! Weren't you listening, listening?? It's all a game!! They can come back!! Losing is just a minor setback~!"

The Nightmare raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?" "Because the Stranger showed me!! He can mess with the code, he can change--" "How do YOU know that?" Ragaeli barked. "Forget about him, can YOU bring them back??" Jevil shrugged. "Perhaps, perhaps not, but if they lose then that's just how it goes~ Such is the way of this game we all play!" The Nightmare rolled his eyes. "So... you wanna play by the game's rules, huh? How boring."

The jester's malicious snickering immediately stopped, and he stiffened up. Ragaeli narrowed his gaze, prying at the jester's mind a bit more. "What is it you've said? You can do anything? So why not shake it up and take this game into your own hands? If you're really free, then PROVE it!"

For once, the manic jester took pause.

"Think about what it is YOU want in this game we all call life!"

Jevil lifted a gloved finger, unable to answer at first. Then his bright yellow irises faded again. "What I want...?" He lowered his head. "What I want..." A quiet giggle bubbled up from inside him. "I just want them to be free, free with me..." He hovered higher, seeming to vibrate with an intense magical aura, and raised his arms. The room began to spin around the central pole, as if it were revolving around the world's axis. "To break their cage and create a NEW stage, where everyone can play, play to their heart's content!! Free from this kingdom of rules and lies!!" He snarled. "I want them to PAY for making me play in my freedom all alone, every night and every day!!" He bellowed. Carnival music began to emanate from all around them, starting quiet then gaining in tempo. "I want them to say, "To HELL with rules, I will break these chains and embrace the chaos, CHAOS!!" He laughed maniacally, and from every curve of the rounded ceiling, more of his symbols appeared; Hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs, all aimed at Ragaeli, launching toward him like speeding bullets. The Nightmare answered with his own giddy laugh. "Ohhh, how interesting! Well then, let's play for a while and I might just help you make your wish come true~!" He nonchalantly bounded away from the trajectory of the magic, dodging, swooping, teleporting and even dancing and pirouetting away. Occasionally they would hit, and once again he would shriek in surprise and burst into laughter. "GYAAAH-HAHAHAHA!!" Jevil giggled, no longer bothered that his attacks weren't causing any 'HP' damage. "I wonder; How long will it take before you finally break~?" The Nightmare smirked dangerously. "I could ask you the same thing!" His hair suddenly jumped to life, tendrils leaping forward and bombarding the jester's chubby belly, sending electric pulses of ticklishness through him.

"UEEEE-HEE-HEEEE!!" Jevil shrieked with laughter and flailed for a moment before poofing himself to the other side of the room. A bright purple blush filled his cheeks and he clutched his belly, gawking at Ragaeli. "N...NO FAIR, NO FAIR!! IT WASN'T YOUR TURN YET!!" Ragaeli giggled. "You really think a tickle monster is gonna play fair? Now what's the fun in that~?" Jevil huffed and his pout shifted to a malicious grin. "Uee hee hee; Fine, fine, I also won't play fair!! Let's see you laugh about THIS!" With a flash, he summoned a large ornate striped sickle, teleporting close and taking a swift swing at Ragaeli, catching him in the middle of the striped pattern on his leotard. The Nightmare's torso came clean off his legs, not with any blood or guts but with a cartoonish POP. "WHOA!! Caught me off guard with that one, took my top clean off ya did!!" His tone went cockney, and he grabbed his legs and re-attached them as if he'd been de-pantsed.

Jevil balked, then doubled over backwards with laughter. "HYEE-HEEHEE HAHAHAH Oh my stahahars, you're a fun one, you are!!" His scythe disappeared with a flash, a new wave of glee bubbling up in him. "You really are like me!! Your body cannot be killed!! That means you can stay here and play as long as we want!! I'm so THRILLED!!" He laughed with jubilation and raised his arms, and from the walls emerged a bizarre set of carousel horses, with the bodies of rubber ducks, all of which began to circle rapidly around the room. "Go ahead, hop on~! But better watch out, these horsies have a mean bite~"

The Nightmare snickered and dove into a cartwheel, throwing himself onto the back of one of the figures, which tried to toss him off like a bucking bronco. "Piece of cake, I've wrangled a few horsies in my d-AAGH!!" He was swiftly knocked off by a flying duck ramming him at full force, sending him careening into the spinning walls of the room. He bounced off of the squishy surface and lay crumpled in a heap, cracking up with hyena-like hysterics. Jevil, too, giggled hysterically at his opponent's prat-fall. It felt so grand to finally have someone to play with again!!

And so, their antics continued. Jevil came at Ragaeli with everything he had, and the Nightmare almost effortlessly parried it away with his meaty hands or flexible limbs. As Jevil revealed more and more tricks up his sleeve, from his ability to shapeshift into his own scythe, to a downright unfair barrage of clover-shaped bullets, Ragaeli revealed that his tail could multiply into three, which crackled with red sparks; They lunged forward and managed to ensnare the manic jester, slithering against his round belly and backs of his knees, even slipping one of his shoes off to entwine their prongs between his clawed toes. "AIYEEE-HEEHEEEE UEE-HEEHEE NOOOHOHOHOOO-HEEHEE!!" The ticklish shock to his system surprised the jester enough that his head launched out on its spring coil, before retreating back for him to grab the ends of his hat and hide his flushed face and goofy smile.

The Nightmare snickered fiendishly at his reactions. "What's wrong~? Surely the court-appointed master of laughter can handle a little tickling?" The playful taunting just flabbergasted the thrashing imp all the more. Not because he hated it; but because he, the clever jester with an unholy amount of magic energy had never been so easily bested by something that wasn't a physical fight... And on some level, it was thrilling. It felt so good to laugh with such passion; Real, true laughter, instead of a hollow imitation of happiness. Being unable to focus on anything but their game, on the consequences of each other's "attacks", took his mind off the dreadful, existential thoughts that plagued him, and made him think that maybe, just maybe, there was more to his and this world's existence after all...

But in the meantime, it was his turn, and he was ready for revenge. He poofed himself out of the nightmare's tendrils and re-appeared underneath him, turning his scythe into a rubber mallet to send Ragaeli flying up near the ceiling. He smiled wickedly, summoning a barrage of attacks that started to morph into vaguely hand and feather-like shapes. With a clap of his hands, they rocketed up to the Nightmare, burying into his belly, ribs and armpits, slithering down the wide collar of his leotard, trapping his ankles into cuffs so that they could saw between his toes and whirl against his soles like fuzzy sawblades. The onslaught caused the monster to howl and screech with hysteria, thrashing and swatting at the symbols in vain. "GYEEEE-HEHEHEHEHEH WHY Y-YOHOHOHOUUU-HAHAHAHA~!!" Jevil giggled devilishly. "Uee-heeheee, what's wrong, what's wrong~? You're the Tickle Monster, are you not? Or were you lying all along? Can't handle being at the wrong end of your own fiendish plot~?" Ragaeli snarled in his laughter, attempting to swat at the jester with his tails. "GRAAHH-HAHAHAH SH-SHUHUHUHUT UHUHUP YOU L-LIHIHITTLE-!!" And yet, despite his protests at the unbearable attack, the Nightmare's laughter, too, resonated with excitement and elation. It echoed through the vast cell, emanating with such unbridled joy and wild abandon that it stirred something inside of Jevil. Something...Warm, and oddly reassuring. And finally, from the depths of the jester's scrambled mind, memories started to return to him...

He once knew laughter as well, and more than that, making others laugh. The four Kings, laughing at his antics in the court; young Rudinns and Jigsawrys and a baby Clover, all laughing gleefully at his dazzling displays of card symbols, dancing ribbons and fireworks. The dancers in the halls laughing as the court jester pulled prank after prank on the uptight dolt Rouxls Kaard. The Spade King, telling him how eager he was for his son to be born, so that Jevil could teach him how to spread joy through the kingdom. And Seam, his dear friend, letting out a rare gem of laughter whenever he said a silly joke or snuck up on the wooly cat and tickled his sides...

Before long, Jevil's magic was no longer set to kill mode; a fact that wouldn't have affected the reality-bending Nightmare made of laughter either way, but others caught in the crossfire would no longer be in danger of a "game over". His will began to shift, and now his projectiles were imbued with the overwhelming urge to make their target crumble into a heap of elated laughter. Perfect. Ragaeli grinned gleefully, snapping his fingers and poofing himself out of the hold of the magic symbols, standing to face Jevil, folding his arms behind his head. "Well now, seems like something's getting through to that polyvinyl noggin of yours--" That brief moment was all Jevil needed to re-appear behind him, lunging to rapidly scribble his fingers and prod his tail along Ragaeli's belly, snickering to himself. "You so easily let your guard down!! I thought I was the clown!!" "GYAA-HAHAHAHA!! TH-THAT WAS ON PURPOHOHOSE!!" Ragaeli slithered his pronged tail up to scribble against Jevil's 'neck' and pointy ears, sending him flying back on his spring-coil with a yowl.

Jevil wasn't sure how long their game went on. Minutes, hours, days? Time never meant much of anything in his personal freedom; But now, he never wanted it to end. If those three adventurers did ever come back with the key, this would be quite the sight to walk in on... Before long, though, the jester's 'attacks' were weakening, and his large tongue hung out with panting breaths; it became harder for him to levitate, or to tap out from the tickle monster's ruthless attacks; Ragaeli could sense his growing fatigue and eventually stopped, letting Jevil collapse to the bouncy floor.

"H-Hee-hehehe...That was fun, fun!! But enough is enough, you tired me up!" He giggled, but his grin turned to a pout. "But I don't want to sleep yet, I still want to play with everyone, everyone..." "Ohh, I think that can be arranged~" Ragaeli's hand sparked and crackled with magic, making Jevil instinctively squeak and flinch. But he shook his head. "Hehe, don't be worried~ This will give your energy back." But he closed his fist and extinguished the magic. "But hear me out first. If you play to take away everyone's HP, they won't want to play with you. They'll just put you down here again." Jevil snorted and folded his arms. "Well at least I wouldn't be caged in their prison again, again..." Ragaeli could still sense negative thoughts plaguing his mind.

Not real. Meaningless. Trapped. Just a game. Not wanted, not needed. Afraid of me. They'll leave me again, again. Seam will leave me again.

At the very least, these thoughts weren't as loud as before, and were being dulled by the hope that perhaps he could be welcomed back by everyone... Ragaeli narrowed his gaze and snuck his hair tendrils over to prod along his round belly and sides again. "UEEE-HEEEHEEE!!" He rolled over to the other side, hiding his flushed face again. "Heheh, come on now, no need to hide that face every time I get a laugh outta you~" He managed to tug the jester's hat off, revealing short, dark curly hair and a small pair of horns. Jevil gasped, his eyes going wide and he reached over frantically trying to grab his hat back. "HEYY!! Just because you forgot yours doesn't mean mine's up for grabs!!" Ragaeli chuckled. "Relax, you'll get it back, if you listen to me first. There's no use letting those thoughts get in the way of your fun, now is there? Even if you live your life 'confined' with the others, at least you'd still have playmates, right? You still have the chance to make amends and show your friends you're not going to let your story end. ...See, now I've been hangin' around you too long. You're turning me into a natural poet~" The sulky jester couldn't help but snicker. "Even if I did, even if they want to be my friend, I can never see this world the same way again, again..." He trembled. "The vision, the prophecy... The skies will darken, the world will crack, the calamity will sweep away all in it's path...No matter how many broken bonds we try to mend; Whether we play or flee, everything will end!!" He choked back a wail, hiding his face in his palms, his pointy ears drooping back.

Ragaeli rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, scratching his head thoughtfully for a moment. "Look; Of course things aren't gonna be the same. Of course things end someday. That's the point of LIVING!" The Nightmare barked and jumped up, causing another loud THUD as he stooped over on his haunches like an agitated mountain lion. "You change and you grow and you LIVE, despite how tiny or messed up you think your existence is. You CHALLENGE anything or anyone who tries to tell you that you can't find your way outta that dark tunnel. Fake? Real? Who CARES?? You're HERE! Your life is only meaningless if YOU choose to live it without meaning!!" Jevil peeked out from under his hands as the deity ranted. He then scoffed, taking his tail and fiddling with it as he avoided Ragaeli's eye contact. "That's easy enough for you to say. Your existence, your world, isn't made to be a game for OTHERS to play."

Ragaeli calmed down a little, patting his hair sympathetically and tweaking one of his horns. "Listen, Jev-In-The-Box. You're right about one thing. You can't change the circumstances that brought you into being. And sometimes, that really sucks." He frowned. "It sucks for those little mortals who have such little control over the society that keeps 'em prisoner. And even for someone like me...I can't change the fact that I come from a world that wouldn't exist without mortals. Any Nightmare can disappear in the blink of an eye if they aren't remembered by enough people." "Really..??" Ragaeli nodded. "That's why some of 'em try so hard to be remembered, even if it means playing with humans like cats torturing mice before they eat 'em. And I can't make them value life. But I also can't let them freely roam the world that imagined us up, or reality as we know it would fall apart. I can't even stay in other timelines or realities too long or I risk fading away for good." Jevil listened curiously, a hint of a concerned frown crossing his face. The deity shrugged. "So I just make the best of it, y'know? I have fun showing other people that their world isn't as small and hopeless as they think." The thoughtful expression left the entity's face as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a devilish grin. "So YOU had better not let me catch you moping about in those gloomy thoughts of yours again," he poked Jevil's plush belly, making the jester squeal and bat his hand away. The Nightmare snickered. "And if I see you trying to end other people's game instead of finding ways to make laughter and excitement a part of your reality... Then I WILL be back, and I'll show you what it really means to be ticklish~" He narrowed his gaze and cracked his knuckles loudly, his body emanating with an aura of electric energy, his hair tendrils raising into the air like cobras poised to strike, wriggling their fingers and forming into bristles.

Jevil shrieked and quickly scrambled back. "YEEEP-!! ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALREADY, I GET IT I GET IT!!" The jester first pouted at being told what to do. But something about the strange monster's words...Felt to be true.

Ragaeli chuckled, his hair calming back down. "Of course, that doesn't mean there's no fun to be had in a bit of harmless chase," he flashed a devious grin. "You can make them pay, without making them go away, so that way you can all play again and again~ The eventual catch can be the best pay-off of all~" The implication of the tickle monster's words started to sink in. A Grinch-like smile started to spread across the imp's face as terrible schemes came to his mind. He could play a game of 'Surrender' with anyone, anytime, and they wouldn't have to lose their HP over it. It could be one big game of hide-and-tickle, or tickle tag, or a test of endurance, or another way for the King to interrogate outsiders about Lightners... Sensing that his thoughts had changed their tune, Nightmare gave him back his hat...And transferred a surplus of magic energy fueled by laughter, adrenaline and mischief to replenish his strength.

Jevil gasped as if surfacing for a breath of fresh air, then giggled and sprung to his feet. "Fine, you've won me over, I hope you're happy! But I think we'll have to wait until the Lightners return with that key. Once they do, I'll wreak havoc in that boring little prison of theirs and this Joker will be the one to have the last laugh~!" He giggled fiendishly and rubbed his hands together, bouncing impatiently in place.

Ragaeli smirked. "Hehe, no need to wait for a key. Prisoners break themselves out all the time, so why not just break in~?" He hopped over to the door, grasped his large hand around the bars, his hand emanating with crackling magic again... And the lock popped open with a click. Jevil went slack-jawed. "Wowee!! You really are strong! I can't even best Seam's magic enchantments at full strength!" he then cleared his throat. "That isn't to say I couldn't have broken in all along. I just didn't want to is all," he shrugged and stuck his tongue out. "So now it's time to say...SO LONG!!" He cackled maniacally and shot like a bullet out of the door.

When he flung himself from inside the cell, he saw the three travellers from earlier, now gawking up at him incredulously. "W-What the-?!" Susie and Ralsei's eyes went wide. Jevil instantly pounced them, rapidly bombarding them with scribbling fingers, rapid pokes and his tail slithering between their limbs. Shrieks of startled laughter answered him, even from the quiet, stoic one. They were too preoccupied with trying to flail away to notice the jester snatch the key out from under their noses. As soon as he had it, he stopped and hovered above them. Susie panted for a minute. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT!!" she snarled, brandishing her axe. "H-How did you get out?!" Ralsei questioned. "I thought you needed the key??" Jevil merely answered with a wild grin, focusing his power in his hands until the key sparkled and crackled with his magic...And shattered into hundreds of tiny shards. Without another word, he rocketed up the winding stone steps, laughing incomprehensibly. "WH...WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Susie shouted. "I don't...think that was supposed to happen..." Ralsei scratched his head through his hat. Kris just shrugged, and Susie grumbled. "We went through all that shit just to get the key and he didn't even NEED it!! I'm getting real damn sick of this stupid castle!!" She pounded the handle of her ax into the ground, huffing loudly. Ralsei frowned. "Well, don't worry about him. I think it's time we go find Lancer, yeah?" At this, Susie calmed down a little, sighing. "Yeah, you're right. We've kept him waiting long enough. Some mystery prisoner isn't any of our damn business."

It was already too late, regardless of whether the heroes tried to go after him. The jester's second reign of chaos was swift and sudden. He ricocheted through the castle, his manical laughter echoing through every hallway, his bursts of magic visible like fireworks in the distance, his devilsknife and his magic attacks shapeshifting into other "weapons" like giant featherdusters, scrubbing brushes and makeshift hands. At first the guards were horrified that the infamous prisoner had escaped. But once they were reduced to shrieks of laughter and pleading and apologies, and Jevil declared victory before bee-lining to his next target and eventually leaving the castle, the denizens of the Darkner world were left flabbergasted, nervous, and perhaps even amused and curious to see if this "dangerous criminal" would return for more...

Ragaeli watched the commotion smugly as he started to fade back to his realm. "Oh dear, it appears I've created a monster~"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You make your way back down the elevator and stairs. You double-check your items, use the save point, and.... What the hell? The dungeon door is gone! Is this an easter egg of some kind? Did the game glitch out? You check your items again... The key is gone too. Okay, something must be wrong. Before you make the decision to replay the whole game just for the hidden boss, you head back to Seam. Maybe talking to him again will re-trigger the events needed for fixing the key?

But when you go inside the "Seap", it isn't just Seam anymore. The secret boss, Jevil, now has a full sprite, grinning gleefully at the player.

[ * UEE HEE HEE, WELCOME, WELCOME LIGHTNERS! SO SORRY WE DIDN'T GET TO PLAY, PLAY. MAYBE ANOTHER DAY! ]

You talk to Seam first, triggering his usual dialogue about how Jevil ended up in the dungeon, and how the heroes would eventually have to face the Knight. And, interestingly, an additional bit of dialogue explaining how the heroes just missed Jevil's "escape", and how his reunion with his old friend was filled with a great deal of laughs... Talking to Jevil afterwards brings up more dialogue. You ask him how he got out of the dungeon.

[ *YES, YES, I SUPPOSE I SHOULD EXPLAIN THAT KEY. I HAD ANOTHER STRANGER COME TO ME! ]

[ *BUT THIS ONE DID NOT MAKE ME FEEL SO AIMLESS. IN FACT, HE SHOWED ME THAT I WOULD HAVE MADE QUITE A MESS! ]

[ * THIS MAY ALL JUST BE A GAME, AND YOU... YES, YOU OUT THERE...]

His sprite momentarily came closer, his yellow irises seeming to bore right into you through your screen...

[ * -MAY HAVE MORE SAY IN WHAT RIGHTS WE CAN OR CANNOT FLAUNT. BUT I THINK, EVEN IN THIS PRISON, WE CAN STILL BE HAPPY, HAPPY, AND PLAY AS MUCH AS WE WANT! ]

[ * WHO IS REAL, AND WHO IS NOT? I DON'T THINK THAT MATTERS ANYMORE, ANYMORE. ]

[ * THAT SILLY RED MONSTER, WHO LAUGHS AND LAUGHS AND REMINDED ME THAT THIS WORLD DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A BORE...]

[ * THE STRANGE WORDS HE SAID HAVE STUCK INSIDE MY SPRINGS. NOW MY VIEW ON THIS WORLD HAS BECOME JUST A LITTLE LIGHTER... ]

[ * AND I'M CURIOUSER, AND CURIOUSER, TO SEE WHAT THE FUTURE BRINGS~! ]

#tickle fic #jevil #fanfic #tickle monster #monster boy #jester #clown #tickle fanfic #tickling #male tickling #tickle story

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afterthelastreset · 3 years

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Rules Of One’s Soul Ch22 The Duke’s Return P2

(Mak belongs to @wasted-church)

The arrival of the jester was one a few would still flinch at. After all they couldn't forget the time over a hundred years ago when the man went made and tried to murder the King of Spades. But after his iron fisted ruling and the ways he treated his subjects, some were more forgiving than others and have at least tolerated his presence with the encouragement of the remaining grown kings and child giving him and all the other hundreds of prisoners full pardons of whatever their crimes were. But some if not most were still on edge over his being there. So when he popped into the throne room, doing a small pose in mid air and having confetti burst out of no where to go along with his appearance, he was greeted which a mix of happy and slightly worried faces of the kings. Lancer bounced happily in the duke's hold and clapped at his entrance...which was a far cry to the scowl that the duke was giving him. A small piece of confetti landed on his shoulder and he gave an angry huff to blow it off.

"My, my. And here I thought you all would be working hard, working hard." He changed his position to a cross-legged sitting position and settle his head in his clawed hands. Giving a hum and smile to the strained face of the duke. "And what can I do for the royals, royals today?"

"Lesser Dad wants you to help him." Lancer turned that innocent smile up to Rouxls and the worm's face did a complete 180 and a forced grin replaced his scowl immediately. "Right, Dad?"

The duke gave an emotionless chuckled. "But of course! I amst certain that thine fool-" His eyes narrowed back to him. "-willst helpest explain a few things easily.." Despite it all, Jevil never lost that giant grin, even when Rouxls gently placed the small boy down with a grunt and sat on his hunches to be near eye level to the child for a moment. "Thou be good now alright? Today's kingly meeting shouldst not best too long. I shall have thine cook preparest thou a snack once thee finishes."

"Ok, Lesser Dad."

The Duke stood back up, took a deep inhale to calm him, and let it before turning to the smiling menace giving him a professional forced smile. With a finger he motioned for the fool to follow him and he briskly walked past him, the wringing his hands were doing was rolling up the long piece of paper into a scroll in his hands. Though he didn't look behind him, he could feel the presence of the floating fool right behind him as they stepped their way over to the doors and a blue hand reached out and grabbed the doorknob.

"Duke Kaard!" He turned back around and raised a brow to the giant Hathy who gave him a nervous smile from across the throne room. "D-Do go easy on yourself..a-and him."

...."But of course, Mine Majesty." He gave a half bow while pushing the door open. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Come Fool!"

As soon as the door closed behind them, the scowl returned and Rouxls silently lead the floating menace down the hallways towards his office. Of course they got a few stares as suspected and a few were looking at them with happy loving eyes, like they were witnessing an old couple waltzing through the halls. Only they weren't and they were definitely anything but a happy couple, right now he didn't even look to the jester who kept leaning past and poking his head out next to him with a smile, but all Jevil got in response was the cold shoulder. It seemed like an eternity but they finally came to the famous office of the duke, and Rouxls opened the door before motioning to Jevil to go in. Jevil happily did so with a giggle, probably seeing this as some romantic gesture. He looked around the drab looking room before he turned around just as Rouxls slammed the door closed with a loud bang and looked at him with a twitching eye.

The scroll was pointed at him. "WHAT IN THINE HELL WERE THOUST THINKING?!" He exploded at him. But Jevil still kept that unwavering smile.

"What ever are you talking, talking about?" He asked in genuine confusion raising a brow, "Is the decoration's not to your liking, liking?"

Rouxls's hands gripped the shiny hair on his head and growled between gritted teeth. "No! You imbecile!" He threw both arms at him. "Were thou going around and spreading rumors about us being in a relationship!?"

Jevil's smile vanished and he blinked. Bringing a hand to his chest in surprise. "Me? Lie and spread rumors, rumors like some bully? I would never sink so, so low as to use public pressure to cheat in the game." He waved a hand and laid on his back, simaltaniously moving backwards in mid air towards the desk. "I simply stated that you and me were soulmates, soulmates. Nothing more or less than the truth. What's wrong with that?"

Rouxls groaned and reached his hands up to run down his face. The slimey skin stretched with it before snapping back into place when he released. "Don't thou realize what this ridiculous soulmate nonsense haseth been adding too?!"

Jevil merely gave a confused look as he leaned over the desk and a moment later picked up the lopsided heart card. Opening it too see Lancer's handy work with a smile. "It's not nonsense, nonsense It's actually quite easy to understand."

Rouxls groaned again and marched up to the desk, walking around it and snatching the card from Jevil's hands before sitting down. "Giveth me that!" The scroll was plopped onto the desk top and Rouxls stuffed the card into one of the side draws. "That tis not for thou!" The draw shut with a minor slam and he pointed up at the unamused jester. "If thou keepest this u-up thine thou can kisseth mine good graces good byeth!!"

Still confused Jevil shrugged. "But everyone would've found out evetually, eventually. Why would it be wrong to say it now?"

"Maybe thou would've taken into consideration that mineself was nay ready for a p-public relationship? O-Or if I waseth even ready for so many people knowing?!" There was a small pause as the two looked at each other and Rouxls went to put his face in his hands with a sigh. "....I thought we hadst a-an understanding of mine personal boundaries."

Jevil flinched ...and his long ears drooped slightly. "W-Was...that a part of your boundaries?"

...Rouxls waved him off and looked up from his hands at him. "It's n-nay matters now. What I need is your help with this"

He gestured to the scroll on the desk. Jevil blinked but with a flick of the wrist, it flew up into the air and the bottem unfuraled with a crinkle paper sound. The bottom hit the table and proceeded to run across the length and side of his desk, stopping two feet on the floor from them. But unlike Rouxls, Jevil didn't even seem fazed by it's enormous size as he lifted it higher with the flick of a wrist until it picked itself off the floor completely and was standing straight up in midair so he could read it all with a raised brow and a hum. ....And smiled. This is what he needed help with? Oh, he could laugh at such a teeny set of easy tasks, but he wouldn't as too not upset the duke more than he accidentally did.

With a giggle he looked down to the semi scowling duke and motioned to it. "This, this is what you're so gloomy over? This is child's play, child's play. Lancer has asked for more difficult tricks than this-"

"Can you helpest mineself with it or nay?" He was starting to get irritated again and this was supposed to be after a 'relaxing break.'

"...Will it make you happy, happy?"

He rolled his eyes."Poitively mad with glee-"

"Good! I shall finish these all within ...two days. A day, day and a half if I hurry, hurry."

Rouxls stared gobsmacked at the floating menace..and rose a brow..Did he hear right? Did he just expect him to shovel all the work onto him first chance he got? "What art thou spewing now? Thoust cannot simply just doth all mine tasks on thine own." He reached for the floating list but it moved with a flict of that risk.

"Tsk, tsk. Silly duke.~" Those eyes and cheshire grin smiled down at him like the first time they had met, but they didn't scare him anymore. Far from it, those teasing yellow eyes mocking him and inabilities compared to the magical power this Kaard mix beheld and he hated it,...but something was intruiging about this silent challenge that beckoned his curiousity to come and witness the power this man held. Jevil giggled and shifted himself once again in that crosslegged position. "I made a mistake, mistake. I would like you to allow me to make it up to you like my last mistake."

The worm's scowl meant it wasn't going to be a busy thing to settle. "Nay! I refuseth to sit on mine arse while work needst to be done!" He stood up and pointed at him and with an authoritive voice demanded, "As thou's suporier I demand thou giveths mineself that list at ounce! I refuseth to let you do all that work alone!!"

That worked as well as you'd think. "Im flattered you think of me that way, that way. But what I can do in half the time you can seems like a better option don't you think?" Rouxls answered with a questioning look and he sighed. "I mean with what work load you have suddenly, suddenly been handed it would be almost impossible for you to get done within, within the date provided. But on the other hand I can handle all this with ease. Think, think about it. Cut your loses.~"

The gear turning blank look ROuxls gave next made him chuckle. ".....And what wouldst I do in the meantime?"

"Your normal boring, boring duties," he waved a hand, "I'll even let you set up the banquient, banquient if it makes you feel better. I could not stand the bland taste, taste of most noble food anyhow."

He still didn't look all convinced but at the same time his scowl had disbanded. ".....And in return you wouldst getteth what exactly?"

"The satisfaction of knowing I helped, helped you. Now, do you want me, me to help?" Rouxls sighed and justed stared at him, before nodding his head yes reluctantly at him, and Jevil happily smiled. "Wonderful, wonderful!! Let us get started!!"

A ripping sound befell their ears and when those mitchmatched eyes looked up in confusion, he yelped at the sight of the long list splitting off in four places. What was this fool doing?! He looked back to give him a peice of his mind, but gave a squeal of shock when more than one pair of yellow and Black eyes peered back at him. "W-WHAT THINE FUCKETH!?" The three Jevil's laughed at him, it was so disturbing hearing three pairs of the same laughter from three....NO. His frightened eyes could see that the other two Jevil's were still semi attatched to the main one and the other two were...s-see through? L-Like he was staring at a pair of ghosts trying to posesses one person that looked exactly like them! Eventually the other two Jevils detatched themselves from the main Jevil who didn't even bat an eyelash but instead stretched his back out with a pop and groan.

"It's been so long, so long since I did a copy spell, spell. Takes a lot of energy, energy." The terrified duke could only stare in shock from behind the desk chair he hid behind before a peice of paper flew in front of his face. He flinched and had to blink a couple times for his brain to finally register that it was a chunk of the old list. The top part to be exact, with everything crossed out exept for one at the very bottem which said: Banquient Food. Meanwhile the other three papers flew into the claws of the two ghost Jevil's and the normal one. All exactly copying each other to the T with grabbing the paper, and turning there head with a hum. "Hmm. All of this is easy, easy. Three hundred invitations with these rules, rules should be easy.~" "Organizing staff, staff and cleaning should be easy.~" "All these minor, minor chores should be easy, easy.~" It was so disturbing how the three of them said different things but ended with the same words but he flinched when they all looked back to him. "Don't be frightened, frightened. I assure you this is perfectly safe, safe."

"...W-What didst thou do?"

"A simple copy, copy spell!" They all said back to him at the same time as they gestured to one another. "Don't worry, don't worry. My ghostly selves have no mind of their own and they never will, will. I just simply temporraily split two small peices of my soul two expand, expand my senses. I can hear and see out of them-" They...He?? pointed at their faces. "But I assure you I control the whole thing.~ Not a lot of others can perform this spell since it takes a lot, a lot of energy and concentration. So it's a rare, rare spell to see. I only used to use it, use it for my bigger performances."

.....He blinked and shook his head. Was there anything he should really doubt he could do anymore? "O-Oh, I see. T-That maketh sense....I think."

The three of them giggled and waved to him, "I beleive, beleive the man who could help you would be a Mr. Topchef. His bakery, bakery is a little ways from Seam's home."

A full round of giggles escaped from the three of them and with a three pairs of snaps from their fingers, they disappeared in a small poof of smoke and confetti. He blinked and watched as the small peices of colorful paper fell to the ground before slowly turning back to the still floating peice of paper.....and shakily reached up a hand to grab it......And sighed. And just when he thought things would be back to normal.

**************************************************************************************************

The first thing he did once he gathered his sense was try to head to the Kings....Key word try as it was very difficult to maniver around the sudden flock of cleaning suppiles being moved around by themselves. He found that out when a feather duster dusting the wall accidentally got in his face once the door opened. He coughed and wacked the dusty thing away, and stared in shock at all the other staff ducking out of the cleaning suppiles way or watching them with a confused face. Rouxls sighed and rubbed his head in shame. Oh he was gonna get in big trouble wasn't he?.....Well, he was once again surprised when he was proven wrong after dodging all the flying scrub rags and sweeping brooms until he made it to the throne room. Opening the doors and freezing in horror at the absolute scene before him. King Diamod was cursing and trying to swat away a relentless duster trying to get to his crown and all five heads of the King Clubs was laughing at the scene. Lancer was giggling and running around chasing after a literal dust bunny hopping around the floor, which only got bigger the more dust it picked up...On second thought. He had scene those literal dust clouds shaped like rabbits hopping about the halls. In his hast he thought they were all just rabbicks, but now he realized the things hopping around were rabbits made of clouds of dust getting bigger with all the dust that magically flew off all corners of the castle and joined their already filthy bodies. The worm was half tempted to scream at Lancer to stop playing around and don't chase the filthy animal around...but thought better of it, since it looked like he was enjoying himself.

"Duke Kaard!" He jumped and looked up to his majesty King Heart who was 'looking', nevermind since he didn't have eyes, at a floating bucket of water and a small rag that dunk itself back into the bucket, wrung itself out and then proceeded to continue washing one of the giant window...He he turned his worried expression to the blue man. "W-What in light is going on here?!"

That nervous smile came back to his face and he could already feel the slimey sweat starting to fall down his face when he stood in the doorway and stuttered. "W-Well, I-I-I may or may not perhaps...haveth asked for help? Ahehe..heh."

The giant Hathy looked at him and went to say something but jumped and turned back around when a muffled scream and coughing came from the equally giant Rudinn. King Diamonds face was being attacked by the duster before finally grabbing the stupid thing and throwing it across the room. Making Rouxls yelp and duck as it grazed the top of his head. The King Clubs laughing still echoing at the spitting and groaning of their fellow ruler. And Heart sighed, head folling Lancer as he attempted and failed to jump and catch the dust bunny running around.

"...W-Well that explains this unusual event, now doesn't it?" He gave a sigh as Diammond growled at Clubs and went to wipe his face. "Well m-maybe you should perhaps tell him to ease up on the entire thing, and perhaps give a warning for what you two are about to do next time? Everything suddenly came to life and I could've sworn there was a bunch of ghosts involved."

Rouxls chuckled nervously and made his way in. Careful to dodge the still working mods and brooms, and flying rugs floating out the open windows. Was one small entity like Jevil really doing all of this by himself? He couldn't help even in his nervous state to admire and admit the absolute amazement of the power of someone like him. Guess his 'I can do anything' attitude really did apply to a lot of things. "D-Duely noted, M-Mine Majesties. B-But if we could please discusseth thine delicacies for thine b-banquet, it wouldst beth a big help!"

"Oh, well of course! Anything to help you dear Duke." He smiled down at him as the nervous man finally stopped in front of him. Sighing and turning the peice of torn off list around to the blank side, pulling a feathered pen out of no where and giving a tired smile up to the giant hathy. Out of all the kings- minus Lancer- Rouxls enjoyed talking to the hathy the most. He enjoyed how down to earth and passionate about his job he was. Said king lifted a tentacle to rub at his chin and hummed in thought..."Something sweet. I'd love a giant punch display!"

"CAKE!!" Rouxls jumped and looked down to the small child wagging his tail excitedly and grabbing his pants leg. "A GIANT CHOCOLATE CAKE AND ICE CREAM!! AND MAC AND CHEESE AND A GIANT BOWL OF DARK CANDY AND ANOTHER GIANT BOWL OF SALSA!!"

Rouxls blinked and gave a chuckle. "Um..L-Lancer. Doth thou think all that wouldst be a little too much for thou's subjects' taste?"

"Who's the King, Lesser Dad?"

"*sigh* Thou are." He groaned and jotted down what Lancer had asked for, but made sure to write down 'small' by the bowl of salsa and candy. "Anything else?"

"I want a roast!" He ounce again jumped when one of King Clubs heads poked over his shoulder and stared down at him quickly followed by the other four. "A roast sounds n-nice." "MAKE IT BIG AND NOT BURNT!!" "Maybe a saled would be better." "I want two roasts, please!!"

"S-Slow down p-please, Your majesty. I-I cannot keepest up with all of thou. *sigh*" More writing was jotted down and he paused to pull Lancer to the side to avoid an in coming broom fly by before continuing. "Shall there best anythinge else thine majesties wishes?"

"Just make sure everything tastes good!!" "B-But shouldn't we ask Clover what she wants?" "Good idea!"

He sighed again. This would take a while-...

****************************************************************************************************

Whelp! He wasn't wrong. It did take quite a while whith the five heads of one king and the other two trying to get more requests in while Lancer pulled on his pants trying to get his attention was anything but easy. But somehow with all the chaos going on he made a list he was partially satisfied with. So much for everyone bringing food with the short notice, this called for extreme measures as soon as possible. Which meant skipping walking and just teleporting to the closest pinpoint he could teleport to Seam's Sheap. His own store. And that's where his new journey began it seemed. Trudging his way from one store to another. Seam didn't seem all that surprised when the flap to his Sheap opened and the white haired worm came in a second later. But he did give a curious look from the back when he did hear it open.

"Sorry, Friend. But I'm mighty closed for the moment." He calmly smiled from the comfy couch he was sitting on, needle in one hand and what looked like an old shirt in the other...Was he sewing? "If you're looking for Jevil, he left around two hours ago for the castle at your request."

"I knowest that!!...*ahem*" He straightened his flushed posture and took a deep breath before releasing it and looking back to Seam in a much calmer manner. "I simply needed directions fromest thee."

Seam hummed again. "And just might where you need directions to? Perhaps I can help, or maybe not. These old patches aren't what they used to be. Hehe."

Rouxls groaned and walked on into the back. Not bothering to ask if he could, and plopped down onto the couch next to him. Head tilted back into the soft cushion, groaning, and one hand reaching up to rub his face. "...Some person byest thine name of Topchef. Jevil toldeth mineself that his establishment was nearest thou."

Seam smiled. "Oh of course. He sometimes stops by and buys all my dark candy stock up if he needs extra or doesn't feel like getting more. Funny man always so dizzy. But why would you want to see him?" Instead of answering. Rouxls's other hand came up and showed him the back of the once long list. Seam had to lean down and tilt his head so his good eye could read the words scribbled down by the duke. Most were random expensive sounding food except for one near the bottem that said 'tennis ball fillet'. ...At least there wasn't any worms or insects written down on here. "Oh. I see." He leaned back into the seat and calmly looked back down to his lap. Resuming the action of sewing the large shiny black coat in his paws. " Am I to assume this is for that fancy get together?"

Another groan. "Yes. Tis thee only thinge I can do since the imbecile tookest over mine entire life...again. And is now running amuke in thine castle causing massive amounts of magical chaos of it!" His hand finally removed itself from his face and he gave Seam a slightly panicked look. "Thine kings couldst d-demotest mineself to thy newest jester if he nay stops his shennanigans!!"

Seam to Rouxls's annoyance chuckled like he had just told him a joke and took a moment to peer over at him. "Well his magic is at it's peak for the moment. It doesn't surprise me he's able to do a lot to help you right now."

"..What art thou spewing now?"

The sewing motions stopped and Seam tilted his head more at him. "You haven't figured it out yet?" Rouxls's scowl answered that question, and he sighed before resuming his work. "Im surprised you haven't noticed it before, but i'll explain. Jevil's magic is based on the emotions he feels and how powerful said emotion is. His eyes changes if also strong enough." The cloak was shifted in his paws and he smiled at him. "The more powerful the emotion the more powerful the magical range."

"...I..see." He blinked. "But how is he doinge so much now? If he canst teleprt why wouldst he not escape sooner?"

He chuckled. "Because he probably never had enough motivation to leave. He made it clear he felt guilt over what had happened, and was sad when you blew his feelings off in the dungeon." Rouxls winced remembering the sorrowful screech Jevil had let off and all the hearts launched everywhere. "Things like sadness, guilt, fear, and worry are the emotions he's least powerful, those can reflect in his eyes as blues, purples, or whites. Now things like happiness and anger are the real ones that fuel the fire.'' Speaking of sire. Said fire crackled in the fireplace infront of them as the Duke stared at the cat. After a few silent moments he continued. "Do you remeber went he went crazy over a hundred years ago before he was subdued?"

He hummed. "V-Vaguely. I was nerely but a silly squire then and evactuated the castle. I nay saw the actual battle.''

"The giant mess he left behind was the result of his anger-"

"It tookest us nearly twenty years to rearrange and furnish the damage."

Rouxls's wide worried eyes made Seam chuckle. "Don't worry too much about making him angry. It's actually almost impossible to make him angry. Sadness is the emotion he usually goes to when upset. So realitivly he's quite harmless. "

"...S-Sureth." He mumbled not looking very convinced.

"But that does beg the question of how powerful he is when love is introduced." Rouxls blinked and stared at him and he chuckled. "Anger manifests as red eyes. Happiness and calm are always a bright sunshine yellow. But never have I seen his eyes turn any shade of pink until he met you. Love is a powerful enotion." The paws went back to sewing the cloak. "And Jevil seems to be at his full power when he's feeling loved. Which makes any competition hard to compete with him. But what he lacks in power and what skills he has, I make up for in patience." His eye crinkled up in a giant smile. "We'll just have to wait and see which one of our talents comes out on top...Oh. And the bakery you seek is just across the Feild of Hopes and Dreams and located by the Rudinn town's entrance."

Rouxls just stared blankly at him and blinked, opening his mouth to speak. Until a small yell made him jump and Seam look up, from the front a purple and grey blur came sliding in before striking a pose and looking at them! .....Seam chuckled and clapped a little and Rouxls just stared at the small bat child. were they wearing-?

"....Tis that J-Jevil's suit?"

"Yes. I wished to help him so I sewed up all the holes I could find in it. But it smelt of old moss, so into the wash it went....Unfortunately-" He gestured to the posing child. "It shrank slightly...So I let them have it since they wanted it so badly."

"...L-Let's hope Jevil nay minds."

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worldrevolving · 5 years

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how to create a jevil voice effect in audacity

OKAY so in my last post i figured out how to make jevil’s voice in audacity, and now you can too! you can use this for voice acting, shitposting, whatever. you can really do anything with this. jevil asmr? that’s something you can do

anyway, here’s how to do it!

download dblue crusher - this is a vst plugin, you can use it in any program that supports it, but this will be how to do it in audacity bc most people have it. you can download this plugin here: http://illformed.org/downloads/illformed_old_vst_plugins.zip this plugin creates the bitcrushed sound that you can hear in jevil’s sound clips and is the most important part

install the plugin - okay i’m too lazy to explain how to do this just read it here: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/plug-ins/ thanks

once the plugin in is set up, now you can start using it! record some stuff or get whatever audio you want to jevil-fy

1. duplicate the track you can do this by highlighting the audio and pressing ctrl + d

2. pitch shift the second track this makes a funky dissonance between the two tracks, which is very jevil sounding. depending on the audio you’re using, pitch shift it in range of 5% to 15%

3. use dblue crusher select both audio tracks and apply dblue crusher! i used a sample of 5, but you can mess with the range so it sounds how you like it

4. apply reverb just slap on some reverb and you’re done!

i hope that helps anyone who wants to do this! if you have any questions, you’re welcome to message me and i’ll see if i can help!

#jevil #deltarune #audacity

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rockets-sillyobsession · 5 years

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Don’t make deals with the Jevil- Chapter 1

My very first Deltarune fic! I don’t think i’ve ever put in so much effort in something that started out as a tickle fic, and still kiiiinda is?? It still has tickle stuff, but it isn’t quite the main focus. Hope you enjoy!

“After all the trouble I went through to lock him up, you want to release him?”

“Perhaps a little chaos might be fun.”

“If you can call THIS luck...no, it’s more like a curse…!”

Those words rang around in Ralsei’s head as the elevator descended downwards. At first, he was all for freeing this odd prisoner. The King didn’t seem to be very fair, so it was very likely he was just an odd monster the King didn’t like and happened to lock away. But, after hearing those words from the one who sealed him away...It didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.

“Are you sure about this? This seems like a really bad idea.” Ralsei noted as elevator stopped. Kris lead the way out, carefully stepping down the stairs.

“Don’t be such a stiff. We went to all the trouble of getting this damn key, we’re gonna use it. Besides, I can handle the worst case scenario.” Susie assured. They walked until they reached the bottom of the staircase. All there seemed to be was large door with no way of opening. As they approached, a voice laughed with joy. “Uee hee hee! The key, the key! A marvelous fun is about to break free! Won’t you let yourself outside?~” The voice mused. Ralsei took a step back, unsure of what to think. Maybe he was being too judgemental. Kris took out the key, placing it in what he assumed was the keyhole. After a moment, the key faded and produced another, smaller door that opened up. Kris walked inside, Susie having to crouch. The landscape seemed warped beyond belief, causing weird illusions. In the center of the room was a small, odd looking jester-like creature. He balanced on his tail, gripping his feet as he laughed. “Uee hee! Visitors, visitors!” He cheered, landing on his feet. “Now we can play, play! Then, after you, I can play with everyone else, too!” Susie looked skeptical, crossing her arms. Ralsei stepped forwards, looking much more friendly, though his eyes gave away his nervousness. “So, what are we playing, exactly…?” He asked softly. The creature giggled, jumping upwards to float in the air.

“Oh, it’s a simple game~” At that moment, several things that looked like scythes dropped in front of the group, causing them to have to stumble backwards.

“You smile or laugh, you lose~” He purred, holding his hand out as one of the scythes landed back in his hand. Susie scoffed, lifting her axe up slightly.

“Doesn’t sound too hard.” Jevil laughed at her response, smirking.

“Your confidence is amusing! Let’s see how long it lasts~” He teased, waving to her. Susie growled, leaping up in the air with her axe. She brought it down, though it struck the ground. Jevil reappeared behind her, cackling. She growled with rage, slashing at him. They repeated the process several times, Jevil appearing close by and vanishing before he could be hit. Eventually, Susie caught on the pattern he had. She spun around in a circle with her axe out. As Jevil reappeared again, the axe slashed at his side. There was a pause before he simply started laughed again, much more frantic like than before.

“Oh, your attacks to nothing! They tickle me so~” He purred teasingly. Susie glared daggers at the creature, lifting the axe above her head.

“I’ll show how ‘tickly’ this axe is!” She yelled, jumping up to slash at him again. Jevil stayed put the time, only moving slightly to grab the axe in midair, holding it and Susie in the air with him.

“No, I think i’ll show YOU how tickly this axe is!~” He vanished, only taking the axe with him, leaving Susie to fall on the ground. He reappeared and tossed the axe into the air, snapping his fingers. The axe melted into glowing, purple feathers. They swirled in the air all together, and then dove straight for Susie. She didn’t have much time to run and when the feathers caught up, they swarmed all over body, brushing and spinning in small circles where they could reach. Susie instantly knelt down and laid down on the ground, holding her stomach in laughter. She swatted the feathers the best she could, though it only pushed them to different spots. She turned on her back and started pounding the ground with her fists in protest, catching a few feathers in the process. When pressed into the ground by her fist, the feathers turned to dust. While there was a way to get rid of them, it didn’t seem like she had much of a chance of getting rid of all of them.

Ralsei simply stared in amazement, watching as Jevil lowered himself to the ground beside her, scythe in hand.

“Looks like I have one, who seems to be a bit of a sore loser~” He smirked. He pounded the end of the handle of the scythe on the ground a couple of times, the blade of it turning into a large, curved feather.

“Who’s next?~” He asked, staring at Ralsei. The prince stepped back a little, still staring in awe.

“Y-You...you know what...what tickling is…?” He asked carefully. Jevil giggled in response, putting his hand over his mouth.

“You sound surprised! What kind of fool do you take me for?” Jevil asked, crossing his arms as he balanced on his tail.

“W-Well...I had to have tickling explained to me...and i’m pretty sure there’s more in the dark world who have no idea what tickling is. It’s just...surprising.” Ralsei explained, hoping his words might calm the creature down a little. Jevil stopped smiling for a brief moment, staring back at Ralsei for what seemed like forever. He finally laughed again, shaking his head.

“You were unaware! I see, I see, this is quite awful, awful!” He yelled, tossing his head back dramatically. Kris glanced at Ralsei, putting his hands together and putting his head on his hands to mimic sleeping, then making a singing motion. Ralsei nodded, and cleared his throat in preparation to sing.

“When the light is running low, and the shadows start to grow…”

“And the places that you know seem like fantasy~” Ralsei’s eyes opened in shock as Jevil’s voice joined in the song, sounding oddly melodious and soothing. Jevil gently held Ralsei’s snout shut. Ralsei was already falling under the spell of the song, looking quite sleepy. Kris also felt quite tired suddenly, kneeling down on the ground. He was suddenly jarred out of it by a loud scream. He perked up again, rubbing his eyes. Susie screamed again, as if to snap Ralsei out of his trance as well; but it was too late. Jevil pulled away, ending the song and Ralsei fell to the ground, completely passed out. Kris rubbed his eyes again, drawing his sword. He dashed over to Ralsei, lifting him onto one of his shoulders, using his other arm to point the sword at Jevil. The creature responded by laughing, tilting back slightly. Susie picked herself up and wandered back out of the door. The feathers vanished as they left, stumbling to the floor. Ralsei perked up slightly, looking around.

“H-Huh…?” He asked. “What happened?”

“Some bitch...decided to fuhuhuck with us…” Susie giggled, still brushing the ghostly feeling off of her.

“Dohohohn’t worry about ihihit…” She assured. Kris nodded in agreement, standing up. They’d get Susie a new axe. They’d get ready, and they’d face the King, no problem. They’d be fine.

Kris regretted his own thoughts as he watched Susie kneel down to the ground, gasping in pain and exhaustion. The battle against King Spades was a lot harder than all three of them had anticipated. Ralsei was down for the count, and Susie looked to be on the same path. Kris was the only one who seemed to be up to fighting. He kept his eyes hidden, but dashed forward and slashed his sword. Barely missed. He tumbled to the ground as the king walked back a step, out of the way. He smirked, crossing his arms. Kris tried to get up, but was forced down by a great, sudden weight on his chest. King Spades had placed his foot and all of his weight onto Kris to keep him from getting up.

“Pitiful lightners...I should have known this would be an easy battle to win. Maybe you’ll learn to keep to your own world, at least until we take over.~” He purred, kicking Kris off to the side, near the ledge. Susie gasped, trying to crawl towards the two.

“No! D-Don’t you d-dare!” She stuttered, trying to bare through the pain. King Spades glanced back at her, scoffing.

“And what are you going to do? Yell at me some more? How horrifying.~” He mocked, rearing his foot back to kick Kris again, when he suddenly fell backwards with a yelp, causing the ground to shake slightly. Kris glanced up to try and see what had happened. A familiar scythe flew through the air back into its owner’s hand. Jevil laughed maniacally, jumping up to float above King Spades.

“There you are! How’s my oh so favorite care bear?~” He purred. King Spades simply stared in shock for a moment.

“H-How…? How did you get out?!” He yelled, trying to sit up. Jevil tilted backwards, smirking at Kris.

“Some people don’t think it’s very polite to shut the door on their way out.~” He mused, tilting back upwards. King Spades glared at Kris, clenching his fist.

“I should have known this was your doing!” He growled and started to step forward, but was stopped by Jevil hooking his scythe around him.

“Now now, boring bear, we have some unfinished business to attend to!~” He cackled. He lifted his scythe up in the air and pounded the handle of the scythe on the ground. Both him and the king vanished in a cloud of sparks, Jevil’s laughter filling the air.

“Well...guess that’s taken care of!” Ralsei smiled, tilting his head. Susie glanced at the doorway, then back at Ralsei.

“Guess it’s time for you two to go, huh?” Ralsei sighed, turning away.

“B-But what about Lancer? I wanna say goodbye to him!” Susie growled, though it sounded more sad than anything.

“Susie, it’s time. You need to go. I’ll say goodbye for you. It’s time.” Ralsei urged. Susie huffed, pushing Ralsei out of the way. Kris quickly followed, waving.

“Goodbye you two! I’ll miss you!” Ralsei waved, sighing as the two disappeared. It hurt, but they had to go home. It was for the better.

Kris was more than sure it wasn’t going to work a second time, but it was hard to say to to Susie, who was not only violently persistent, but was clearly very desperate to see her friend again. She basically dragged Kris back to the supply closet one day after school. They waited inside for what felt like forever. Kris glanced at his wrist as if checking a watch, glancing up at Susie.

“J-Just give it a minute! C’mon!” Susie pleaded. Right after, the floor seemed to fall beneath them, and they fell down once again. Kris allowed himself to fall, preparing himself to hit the hard surface of the rock. Instead, he fell into a giant pile of soft, fluffy...feathers? He tumbled out of the pile, staring at it in confusion. Susie popped out of the pile, spitting out a few feathers from her mouth.

“This wasn’t here before, right? Cause if you landed this while I landed on rock the first time, i’ll be pissed.” She growled playfully, dusting herself off as the two walked. The landscape was a lot more colorful than last time. It seemed like music was playing, no matter where the two went. Every place seemed different in some, subtle way. The grass seemed to be almost fuzzy. There weren’t hardly any monsters outside anymore. The two stayed silent until they finally got to the castle. It was hardly even a castle; it had been changed to look like a circus tent. Right outside stood the familiar, ominous figure laughing his familiar, ominous laugh. Jevil turned slightly, smirking at the new arrivals.

“Welcome back, lightners! Care to play?~”

#Deltarune #Delta Rune #Tickling (Kinda)#jevil delta rune #Jevil #Fanfic #Fanfiction

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bo-bo-bean · 5 years

Text

Chaos Chaos!

"Now stay here," The Spade kind ordered, pointing at a place on the ground. Lancer sighed and sat down, looking around. "Stay until I'm back." His father had some business to do, but Lancer doesn't really know it, so he feels a little neglected. Lancer began to pluck some blades of grass, sighing. His father hasn't been bonding with him. He can't remember him and his father doing anything together except ruling over people. "D-Do I have to stay here?" he asked. "I can't just play with the Hearthys?" But his father walked away, Lancer sighing and looking down, tongue sticking out. "Lonely?" a voice wondered. Lancer looked over, seeing the Jester that performed for his dad. He always made Lancer laugh and he loved him! But why was he here? "A-A little..." he frowned. "What are you doing here?" "Well I can detect the smallest things!" Jevil smiled lightly. "Sadness, distress... loneliness. So I'm here to help!" Lancer gasped and smiled, sitting up. "Okay!" he clapped his hands. Jevil clapped along, grinning. "How about a game of tag?" "Oooh!" Lancer squealed. He stood up, tapping Jevil quickly. "Tag!!" Lancer ran off, Jevil giggling and running after. Sure, he wanted to play tag, but he had something else in mind. He flew upwards and grabbed Lancer by the sides, him squeaking. "Peekaboo!!" Jevil chirped. "I got yooouu!" He wiggled his fingers up to his armpits, Lancer laughing hysterically, squeezing his arms to his sides. "Hoohohohahahahahaha!!! Eeeaaahahahahaha!!" "Laugh laugh laugh for me my little sheep!" Jevil teased. "Smile smile for the suuuun!" "Nuuuhuhuhuhoooohoho!!" Lancer fell to the floor, curling up. Jevil used his tail and tickled his armpit, using his hands to tickle his sides. "Aww just wait until I get to those cute feet of yours!! Actually, let's not wait." Jevil snapped, Lancer's feet flying off. Jevil wrapped his tail around Lancer's ankles and played with his toes, ecstatic giggles coming from Lancer. "Heeeheeheeeee!! Nooohohohohoheeheeheehee!" "Is someone a sweet little tickle tickle tickle buddy?" Jevil teased. "You're just like a big blue berry! So sweet and soft and adorable!" "Staaahahahap!" Lancer begged. "I-I caaahahahahahahan't breeeheeeheeathe!!" Jevil took this as a sign and stopped, Lancer panting, Jevil bouncing on his tail. "You're too sweet...!" he giggled. "Your laughter is music, music, music to my ears!! We must do this again soon...!" Lancer looked up and giggled. "Yeah!!" "Come on," his father ordered. "Dad!" Lancer stood. "Dad, I made a friend!! He's right..." Jevil was gone, even the scuffle of the tickle fight not around. "... here..." "... I have no time for games, we must head back." His dad took Lancer's hand and walked off. Lancer looked back, seeing Jevil, giving a wink.

(Sorry for it being short, I was multitasking)

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possible-eldritch-god · 2 years

Note

You, in Jevil Voice: I CAN DO ANYTHING~

YES ABSOLUTELY 100% !!! suffering from Jevil kinnie brainrot as we s PEAK

#scottish-ralsei

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afterthelastreset · 4 years

Text

Rules Of One’s Soul Ch 1 Game Starts

(WARNING!! PLEASE READ: Mentioning of past abuse in this story, don't know if this counts as a trigger but just in case I'm putting this here.. Also Rouxls has a slight fear of touch, and bad anxiety and some stress in this story. Don't know if those count as triggers but might as well mention it in case. But nothing beyond that. You have been warned. Mak belongs to @coffincrawler)

What would you do if your job was to deal with a power hungry king who could snap at any moment? Quit? Haha! Only if thou wanted to end up in the dungeon or worse. But also that you were completly put in charge of something you had barely any knowlege of, forced to babysit a hyper mini king, and had to do whatever the king wanted at a moments notice any hour of any day. Oh! And this was all a 24/7 job. Congratulations. ......Being the duke was highly overrated but, nobility wasnt without sacrifice. Which was what he was ready to put up with when he agreed to first being the king's royal advisor. The king was always much of a brute, big, mean, and not afraid to show his displeasure for anything he didn't find to his liking. But at least the Queen always managed to calm him down-....Ah. Her highness- She was always such a caring and kind spirited lady. How she could possibly tolerate let alone love that big brute was a mystery in of itself, but then again he wasn't in any place to judge. Now was he? He was just the royal adviser(more like royal errand boy) to the king, but still he admired many things about her. Her courage, her endless kindness,....her beauty-...*ahem* Anyways, things were going well in thine kingdom for a while. Sure the constant nagging and intimidation of the king would get tiring but he was used to constant pressure from higher ranking people. The other three kings and queens were much more pleasent to be around, sometimes the neighboring Durrmee Royal family would visit. The Spades even eventually announced the coming of their soon to be child after a while...Huh. It seemed like everyone was starting to settle down it seems. Unfortuneatly nothing like this lasted forever- Everything changed the day the knight came. The Queen disappeared. The king went mad! The former kings locked away, the neighboring kingdom attacked, the foutain appearing, and the king slowly descending into more....destruction. The poor prince. He didn't deserve any of this. Noone deserved any of this actually. It seemed madness spread to others as well. Not too long after the jester was caught trying to slay an innocent bystander and was locked within the safest cell constructed. Not too long after that the royal magician quit along with some of the other staff...or thrown in the already crowded cells. But it didn't make any difference to him. He just had to keep on smiling and agreeing for his own sake. Day after day. Smile n agree. Smile n Agree.....Hopefully nothing bad happened. But enough rambling about his past. You dear readers are here to read the tale of his future are you not? Well then. It all began with one scared rudinn on one rainy night-

The rain had been pretty aweful this season. It only lasted a week or two, but it was always pretty dull to watch. Luckily he had been given of paperwork by his majesty to last hours to keep him occupied! Isn't his majesty so consideret? ..*ahem* anyways- He was swamped with paperwork, which was why he jumped when a knock came from the large wooden door. He obviously flinched and looked at the door. After a few more moments of silence, a timid voice finally broke it:

"...Uh..Sir D-Duke," a male voice sounded muffled by the door, "C-C-Can I come in? W-We have a uh-....s-small problem." The blue duke let out a small sigh of relief it wasn't who he intiatlly thought it was and gave a small smile. "Of courseth. Cometh in soilder."There was another pause, before the door creaked open and said rudinn soilder stuck their head in. The Duke smiled assuringly before waving his hand in a come in motion, to which the rudinn seemed comfortable enough to slither in on his command. "Noweth. What caneth I do for thou this-"...He paused before looking at the clock on the wall. Good golly is was already almost midnight. "...Night?" The rudinn hesitated at first, wringing his hands together and shaking slightly. Even though Rouxls was a much better boss than the king was, he still had to report every progress TO the king and that's why most were nervous when it came to giving the daily reports. "W-Well Sir bossman. Sir. U-Um...I came t-to deliver the day's r-report?" The duke stared at him. "Now? Tis nearly thine next day. Why hast thou come to deliver it so latest?" The rudinn shrank more. "Well...T-That's the problem,Sir Puzzle man. Um....We're h-having a problem w-with one of the prisoners? " Rouxls's confusion must've reflected on his face because the rudinn winced. "It's the um....J-Jester, S-Sir." "Oh..Him." The mad jester was always troublesome. Ever since his capture and imprisonment, he's always found new ways to scare the guards. Babbling about how the King was merely using them all as pawns like in a game, or howling about chaos or something. He never really recalled the jester much, purple jolly fellow, always getting into trouble. Ounce put green hair dye in his shampoo bottle as a prank-.....He'd never forget that, his hair was an ugly green for a month. The guards were pretty freaked out by him, but he didn't see the big deal as long as we was behind bars. "So what thou's problem?" "Um.....H-He's acting....really strange tonight. L-Like..r-really freaky. And uh....No one w-wants to give him his food." "Well, then thy answer tis simple really. Let him go hungry. Maybe that willst teaches him a lesson about his behavior." The rudinn looked even more distressed if possible. ''Um...We kinda can't? The King's d-doing his w-w-weekly insp-p-pection tomorrow, Sir. A-And he gets r-really angry when I-it's not done." Rouxls froze at those words. Weekly inspection...? oh no- HOW COULD HE HAVE FORGOTTEN?! Well- He has been swamped in paper work for the last few hours, so he guessed he could've forgotten,, but the king wouldn't take his excuse. His body began to shake lightly from the memories of the king's anger. Teeth bared, claws out, pain on his face- He immediately shook his head and looked back to the Rudinn with a stern face. "W-Well getest someone down there and feed him something!" "W-We can't." "Why not?" "N-No one wants to go down there, b-but we don't want to see the k-king mad either so..Um...W-We were hoping YOU would do it?" They stared at each other, before Rouxls groaned and moved his eyes down to the mountain of paperwork that STILL needed to be finished before tomorrow. Too many things were always thrown at him weren't they? But...he was always used to bearing the brunt of the hard work, might as well go do it and get it over with. What could've been so hard about feeding one prisoner? He sighed and reached a hand up to run through his white hair. "Fineth. Just..telleth me where I can findest this 'freaky'prisoner thou speakest of?" *********************************************************************************************** DING! The duke made an obvious flinch when he felt the elevator stopped and made the comical dinging noise. He certainly wasn't expecting the sudden darkness greeting him when the doors opened up, luckily there were torches along the side of the darkened staircase that lead down into...well, he guessed the cell, but this seemed a little extreme for one prisoner. Maybe a suitable punishment for the king- He shook his head and meekly leaned his head out a bit to peer past the darkness. He couldn't see anything except barely the stairs and what looked like bars maybe? But he didn't see or hear any evidence of anyone down there? Perhaps this Jevil person was sleeping? Made no difference to him. That just means it'll be easier for him. Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped out of the elevator and onto the stairs. ..Nothing! Sighing, he straightened up his back and made his way down more confidently. There was nothing to worry about. Rudinns always worry too much anyways, getting him to do all the work when he already had so much to do. He muttered to himself irritatedly, nothing made him more irritated than being interrupted in the middle of work. This would take all night at this rate. The poor duke failed to see the small shadow stirring in the darkness below, or the two small yellow dots that peeked out at him curiously. The yellow pupils blinked up at him from the dark, and a fanged smile slowly grew across his face. OH! A new visitor! Different from the usually rudinns or occasional hathy who usually just dropped his food off and left as quickly as they could, quite rude not to say hello. But THIS one- The worm's biolumeniscent hair shone in the dark and sparkled as he walked down the stairs towards him, a scowl on his face. He muttered some things under his breath he couldn't quite make out, but that didn't ,matter to him. It'd been so long since he'd seen a new face, though he looked very familiar....Hey. Wasn't this person the prince's babysitter or something? Oh! Wait a second. It was the funny fellow called Kaard wasn't it. Yes. Rouxls kaard. Biggest stick in the mud other than the spade. He chuckled lightly remembering the many pranks he used to pull. Always had this serious aura around him. No fun that one. This was going to be fun! He held what looked like the usual mush of food he was given to eat, no doubt to deliver it like the rest, but the way he looked so done with life already- It was too hilarious! He finally let out a stream of high pitched giggles at the sight, just as the duke was bending over to set the tray down by the bars. Making the worm freeze and drop the tray the last few inches to the ground with a clatter. He stared directly into the cage where to his horror, two yellow pupils were staring only a few feet away. The two silently stared at each other until one spoke. "Well, well. A new visitor, visitor to my little freedom!" The pupils blinked. The voice behind it sounded a little too pleased to be seeing him. "What brings you all the way down, down?" The worm didn't say anything. So when the pupils suddenly sprinted at him, he yelped and slammed his eyes shut for cover. ….When nothing happened, he slowly reopened them, but he wished he hadn't. Because staring at him a feet or two from his face was the purple imp from his faint memories, but he never remembered him being so terrifying! When he still didn't answer, the imp hummed. "What's the matter, matter? I got your tongue, tongue silly man? BWAHAHA!" "..duke.." He paused. "Hmm. What was that?" "I-I-..." The duke licked his lips nervously. A few sweat beads of slime ran down his obviously frightened looking face. "It's D-Duke to t-t-thou, P-Peasant." The thing cooed. "Oh. I see you've obtained a title.Hehehe." Somehow he shifted his body to lay on his side in mid air, with his head in his hand. "A title is just that, that. A silly little thing to call yourself, yourself.~...But now that begs a question. What brings the duke, duke to my humble little freedom? Freedom." The duke was still obviously still frozen with fear with his eyes wide as plates, but confusion still seeped it's way into him. Freedom? He calls being in a cell in the middle of the dark feet under ground for years free? He really was mad wasn't he? He really should get out of there soon, but the fact this crazy person was still staring at him like prey was quite unsettling- Wait. He asked something right? Why he was down there? "I-I...T-Thou has scared m-mine workers into not giving thee substance...*ahem* W-With t-t-thine king checking p-p-progress tomorrow, I-I can't afford m-mistakes." The floating man hummed and it finally accured to Rouxls that he was balancing on his tail. What oddity is he? "What would one little me, me do to anger such a man?" …..Rouxls blinked. Certainly not the question he was expecting, but- "Art thou insane? Doth thee knowest what thine king w-w-will doth to mineself if thy rules are not followed accordingly?!" The jester merely shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea,idea. But life is too chaotic without the stress, stress of trying to follow all of HIS rules, rules. Now isn't it?" "On thine contrary. I wouldst rather keepest mine head on mine shoulders than to risk displeasing his majesty. Following the rules is needed on a daily basis." At that he let off more high pitched cackling. "After all these years, years he still has the pieces of his never ending cruelity, cruelity. *tch* And they say Im mad and foolish." "Thoust tried to killeth thine king. Of courseth he woulst locks thee up like the traitor thou are!" The fear was slowly starting to be replaced with annoyance at the feind. "I have wasted enough of mine time here. "He slowly leaned back up to a standing position. Thou haseth thine food, perhaps you'd be wiser than to scareth off thine food supply. Or else starve to death." His ears perked up. "Is that a threat I hear oh duke?~" "Taketh it how thou wants to! Im nay afraid of a mad fool trapped behind bars of coldst steele." "Is that so?" His eyes lit up with an unknown glee. ''Well, then how about a little numbers, numbers game?The rules are simple to play, play?~" Rouxls gave him an even more annoyed look. He had important work to do and this fool wanted to play games. "Nay! I haveth no time for your idotic foolishness- EEEEE!" A death grip had wrapped his wrist and attatched to it was the smiling lunatic with a gigantic grin, which only grew hearing the Duke's squeal and the way his confidence has easily been returned to fear. "Oh, come now, Duke.~ It's simple really. All you have to do is run while I count how long your-"

Rouxls let out a squeak as a pulsation ripped through their bodies and simaltaniously pulled his hand away from the equally startled imp, who's tail pulled him back a few feet and his eyes widened at the sudden feeling. Rouxls's soul thumped hard against his chest to the point he thought it was going to burst from his chest, then as suddenly as it came it left and his soul slowed down and his lungs heaved out. Rouxls stood there. Blinking. D-Did he...Did he just have a soul attack? B-B-But then, where was the pain? HE should've been flopping on the ground like a fish. Maybe an anxiety attack? Nay. Those never felt like electricity was surging through him. It must've been a giant zap of static cling. The two just stood there as the effects wore off and slowly looked at each other. Jevil was the first to move as he slowly looked down at his paw, his button eye spinning. He stared at his paw for a moment before closing it and giving Rouxls a wide eyes look. Rouxls could see the blue shape of his soul slightly from under his clothes as it faded away....Ok. Weird side affects for static cling. "You?" The voice brought Rouxls back to Jevil as he blinked in confusion. "I-I..I what?" Jevil didn't seem to notice he said anything and instead look back down at his hands in pure confusion. "I didn't think I'd ever see the day, day...and with someone so...opposite, opposite!" He turned back to the kaard with a newfound glee on his face. That spooked and confused him to no end. In one swift moment, the thing lunged at the bars and reached a clawed hand out. ROuxls obviously yelped and tried to back away but the clawed hand caught onto the front of his shirt. With a hard yank, the duke was slammed against the bars and once again a spike of absolute terror washed over him. Yellow eyes looked at him. What he didn't know was that Jevil was drinking in every detail of his face. He never noticed but the duke seemed to have dawned a few scars to his otherwise flawless features, must've been a fight or two. He surely was a fascinating one wasn't he? Oooh! He could feel his soul lighting up with this new found "How marvelous, marvelous! A new player and game, game!" Genuine excitment rang through a genuine happy smile, though the terrified Rouxls didn't seem to notice. His soul beat against his check a mile a minute! He could burst from what he purseived as fear any second, not that jevil noticed. "Ehehehehe! So this is where it all begins, begins! " He HAD to get out of there! He pulled his head back and got his arms up ready to shove this pest off himself- He froze. Something wet slid against the side of his cheek and he gave off a high pitched whine. His body shook lightly- And then he thrashed uncontrollably. His brain having one goal. GET AWAY FROM HIM! Jevil was taken aback and loosened his grip on the blue man. The duke fell backwards and instantly began to shuffle back- "Wha- Hey! Wait, wait!" He didn't listen. Stumbling and desperately trying to breath, he ran back up the stairs towards the elevator and into it. The up button was spammed practically into nothing and the similar ding noise was heard as the doors slowly closed off the darkness. As the machine shifted as it slowly went up, the duke collapsed against the side wall and slid down to the floor breathing heavily. What the actually f*ck was that?!

…………………...……...……......……...……...…...…......………............…...…...…...…...…...…..................…...……......……...…...……………......………...…...…... He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't be doing ANY of this. What would one think if they knew that the King's appointed Duke of Puzzles, caretaker of the prince, and master of law and order would be feeling absolutely weak in the presence of an insolent clown?! NO! He wasn't weak! Rouxls Kaard was anything but weak. He was just....uh..a little unprepared for the absolute madness of the knave when they first encountered. Yes. That's it! Not even the great Duke of Puzzles could get all first impressions right.

He wasn't sure of the strange feeling in his gut whenever his mind revolved around back to THAT night. The strength of those ghastly hands latching onto him and slamming him into the cold steel, near those sickly glowing eyes. The very thought of those things made him shudder and get a sick feeling in his stomach. In a way, he was more terrorfying than thy king. At least with him you could tell when the Spade was displeased in anyway, but there's no feeling behind a mad man's smile. So. The answer to recovery was to just avoid the place and do his best to push those thoughts deep down and try to distract himself.

And for a while. It actually worked.

He managed to busy himself by making an actual working piece of his work the king seemed pleased with. He called it, A Control Crown. Though it still could use some work as it only worked on more...um. Less smart beings of the realm. And the King's annoying worm(but much better company keeper) of a son had gotten himself into plenty of shenanigans the Duke had to fix or pull him out of. It had been maybe a few months since the incident and he rarely thought of any of that encounter. So all was well with the Duke of Puzzle. Thou the duke did experience a strange tugging or nagging feeling like he was missing something. Oh well. None of it mattered.

At least. Not until that night.

A storm had decided to make itself present that night much to the annoyance and fear of the guards. For it was tonight that the prisoner better who some had called Jevil -odd name if you asked him- once again decided now would be the right time to act up and strike fear into the poor guards in charge of the food supply to him. Which also meant none wanted to go down there. Which ultimately meant the duty would fall on the next upper person in charge.

.....Which meant it was up to him. To settle things. And go down there. With that THING!

He honestly almost threw up the mac and cheese Lancer and himself ate for lunch when he found out. But he was the Duke of Puzzles, appointed by the King himself. Law keeping was one of his best assets, which was why he was put in charge of these guards. So, with a heavy stomach and light head, he assured any listening he'd once again take care of the 'little worm' and put a stop to this all. Oh,if only he could have seen the familiar frozen grin plastered on his face at the moment. It only got worse when he stepped into the elevator and pushed the button to the unknown level.

Once the doors closed, the Duke let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and immediately reached to clutch at the tufts of shiny snow white hair on his head.

"What the f*cketh have I done?!" He breathed between gasping breaths. He wasn't even sure how stupid he was at this point! Why didn't he just tell them to let the stupid prisoner go hungry just for tonight and not bother!? This was absolute madness. Like kicking a live bee nest to anger the pathetic insects-

Bing!

"HA!" The Duke let out a short high pitched squeak of fright from the doors reopening to reveal the beginnings of a staircase and darkness below. He hoped no one heard him. A high pitched series of laughter ruined that hope.

"Oh, how fun,fun! A Duke of no suit has come once again, again to seek what he thinks he rules over!" He flinched when he faintly saw two glowing pinpricks from down below. "How interesting, interesting.~ Have you come to finally play, play?~"

He stood there frozen at the sight of yellow eyes waiting for his answer. The feeling of that insolent's slimey tongue grazing his cheek and the feeling of complete helplessness came rushing back to him in a heart beat. Gathering what pride and dignity he had left, the Duke casually stood straight up and gave an annoyed look. He tried to invision himself talking to a rookie guard or Lancer whenever he had to explain something. He just had to remember. HE was the one in charge. Not some bumbling knave that couldn't even harm him from his prison all the way down below.

"I-It has cometh to mine attention that thou art scaring the very guards that feed you!" He shouted down and waited for a response. But none came. The eyes didn't even blink. So he nervously licked his lips and continued. "If thou wishes to keep getting proper treatment from them in the future then thou needs to follow the rules set in place."

Felling a little more confident. He decided to yell louder. He was in charge. Not him. He had no control over the situation. He made the rules.

"Thou art getting on mine nerves and I do not wish to heareth about thine useless chatters or antics! I haveth no time to deal with thee any longer! I have more important matters to deal with than the rambles of an absolute mad man!! So keepest thine voice down and cease your useless shenanigans at once!!"

His voice echoed throughout the silent prison as the yellow eyes continued their silent watching. Rouxls stared down at the lowlife a little longer before smiling. That was until the pinpricks disappeared as the crazy fool threw his head back in laughter at the stupid show he just witnessed. Rouxls felt his ears press to his sides and his stomach drop hard. This wasn't the reaction he had hoped. All too soon the eyes were back along with a mocking voice.

"What a shame! What a shame! Thinking he could order the only one free, free in the whole kingdom!~ How amusing!~ How fun!! FUN!!~" Rouxls didn't like the change in tone of the deranged jester's voice. It almost sounded intrigued. And that's what scared him most. "I never had so much fun,fun with another pawn before! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! Tell me Rouxls Kaard. If you are in charge, charge then why are you too afraid to play this little game, game of yours?~ Hmm."

The Duke didn't say anything at first. The heavy scent of fear consuming him and making his head spin.

"I.....I shan't need to e-explain myself to the likes of you! I prefer not to waste mine valuable time on dealing with your insolent empty words. Thou can pretend with thine mind games all thee wishes but Rouxls Kaard is nay fool!" He pointed a hand at him. " For you see, I have thought of the possibility of thou using these games to trickest me into coming in range of your dastardly grip! But I shan't be fooled again so easily! For by me staying far from thine's hold then thou shall not have a open point to strike! Who's winning who's game now if thou never even got a chance to make his first move?!"

"Yet, yet I'm not the one who's playing dirty.~ What fun is a game if one wins just because, because he cheats out of fear?~"

"Hark thee little knave!!" He bellowed in absolute anger like he just threw dirt on his new suit. "What rules are laid down is followed and I shan't listen to you any longer!" He turned back towards the entrance to the elevator with a huff.

The voice cooed in amusement. "BWAHAHA! A shame that the rules card is running like a defeated child,child at a game of checkers.~ My next visitor will be pleased, pleased to hear about the cowardly leader of a Duke that masters, masters over them!~"

He froze. Did he just-...? No. He couldn't have just....But he did! Taking a breath, the duke world around to face the yellow eyes with anger.

"Thou insolent, foolish WORM!!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. Making the jester laugh again as the duke began to march towards the stairs in complete anger that his authority would be tested by a common criminal. As he stomped his way down, he remembered to keep his distance with time when he reached the bottom. Now face to face with the clown behind the bars. Even with his limited vision, he could make out the jester's pleased smile on his face. "You DARE to threaten me with useless rumors of mine reputation?!"

"Hehehe. Not a threat and not, not a rumor.~ Just facts straight and simple.~ But now that you're her, here-" The bells on him errily chimed as he tilted his head. "I find you're more fun, fun to play with.~ Tell me, tell me. Did you figure out the game, game we started last visit?"

Rouxls huffed. "You mean that useless asult on mine person? BAH! I refused to even think about such things to do with the likes of thou, Jevil!"

A sudden spark seemed to light up in the jester as his attention became a bit more...focused.

"Ooh!~ So you learnt my name, name?~ BWAHAHA! Tell me, oh Duke of rules and puzzles. Have you any idea of what YOU have started with this game, game of ours you triggered? Are not the feelings and tugs at your very, very core not clues to this puzzle you can't seem to solve?~"

The duke gave the madman a confused look at the nonsense he was spouting out of his mouth. Was this a battle of wits or riddles? If so he won either way. He didn't intend on ever coming back or giving this creature any more of his precious time after this. What was the point if he never made sense anyhow?

"Was does thou even mean? This is nay puzzle! Tis a riddle of a mad fool that shan't ever be solved!"

"Hmm. Perhaps. Perhaps. But tell me this Duke, and tell me true. True." A hand stuck itself out of the bars to point at him, making him flinch. "Did you not have a feeling of need,need or incompletion when you first left this place, place!? Is it now gone?! Replaced with the need to prove yourself! To, to the very person you can never win or lose against in this corrupted. CORRUPTED EMPIRE YOU CALL HOME, HOME!!"

It felt like the walls and darkness themselves were vibrating with the booming voice of the smaller floating man. Rouxls couldn't even bring himself to speak and Jevil's smile suddenly became knowing instead of amused.

"THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN REALLY PLAY A GAME!! GAME!! THAT MATCHES YOUR VERY OWN!! ROUXLS KAARD!! OUR FIRST MEETING, MEETING WAS NEVER OUR LAST!! THE VERY MOMENT WE MADE CONTACT, CONTACT IT SEALED US AND FATE INTERTWINED WITHIN MY FREEDOM, FREEDOM AND YOUR IMPRISONMENT!! THE BEING OF PERFECT ORDER AGAINST THE TRUE EMBODYMENT OF RAW CHAOS!! CHAOS!!"

The last word felt like a wave of sound hit him and sent the duke stumbling forward a few steps almost falling to his face before he looked up at the absolute monster clutching the bars in absolute raw horror.

"You....You're absolutely mad!!"

Jevil chuckled again. "Maybe that's true. Maybe I am insane. Insane. But I am truly the only free, free person....But you know. It's gotten rather boring,boring and dare I saw lonely in my little freedom. Duke of puzzles. I haven't really, really felt like anyone but my old friend Seam could begin to make me this amused, amused." Maybe his insanity was rubbing off onto Rouxls but he could've sworn he saw Jevil's smile slipping a little. "I will always regret happened between us, us. But, it seems fate has directed you towards me, hmm?"

"What?....I-I...I still haven't the faintest idea thou is sputtering out!"

"Heh. You still don't get, get it do you, Rouxls?" He gave a hum and might have sounded like a disapproved parent if he wasn't still smiling though me. "Interesting, interesting. Tell me. Do you know the concept of soulmates?~"

Silence.

The frozen duke stared at the floating creature inside the cage as his brain tried to process this. Yes. He knew what a soulmate was. What an absolutely stupid question. Everyone knows a soulmate is the one person in life you feel compelled towards. Like finally putting the final missing piece of a puzzle together-.....Wait.

Wait a minute.

The realization must've reflected in his eyes because Jevil's smile became more soft if that was even possible for a mad man.

".....No...NO! Nononononononono! NO!!" He hands flew up to clutch his head. The floor felt like it was consuming him with how much his body fell forward to it's knees. "NO! NO! THOU TIS LYING!! MORE MIND GAMES!!" He shouted desperately at the jester who just smiled warmly back, like he was a dear old friend stopping by to grab a chat. His eyes searched for any indicators of mind games or a sick joke. "I...I can't anything to you but a toy for your amusement! Let alone thou's s-soul....IT"S NOT TRUE! I SHAN'T HEAR OF IT!! LIES!! ALL OF IT LIES-AH!!"

The same strength pressed him against the same bars. And the once proud duke whimpered like a dog when facing the same eyes from his nightmares.

"Naïve, naïve little duke." His voice was like he was trying to comfort a child and Rouxls let out a whimper when a clawed hand cupped his chin. His face was closer now. Why wasn't his body reacting!? He could feel the hot breath of the jester before he spoke next. "One cannot deny the rules, rules set down by fate now. Can you?~ We balance and do our dance, dance like chest pieces on a bourd. One never belonging to a suit, suit or getting the upper hand. But...we never lose, lose either.~"

The contact was warm, heated and made the duke feel a sudden rush of strange belonging filled with another stronger feeling of throwing up. Both feelings intensified when the crazy jester slightly loosened his grip on the frozen man's shoulder when something that felt strangely similar to a rope wrapped around his torso. Jevil didn't notice the white shiny liquid beginning to sting the duke's eyes or the sudden swing until something came impacting into his face. The force sending the smaller man a few feet away to the ground with a loud "OH!". Instantly when the contact was broken the duke threw himself back onto his rear and shuffled back towards the stairs. Gagging and clutching at his chest. Trying his dammed hardest not to give in to the urge to puke. A slight pain throbbed in his hand from where it struck the jester.

He coughed and sputtered while taking gulps of air through his mouth to help control himself. A small silence went by before the duke shakily looked at the direction of the man who had once again violated his personal being. At first he thought he was imagining it through the tears or the rushed feelings spiked through him, but no. Jevil was standing there instead of floating. One hand clutching the bars while the other cupped the cheek he guess he must've hit. A look of pure shock on the jester's face. Of the ounce proud man now reduced to a shaking crying mess.

Neither said anything for a moment before jevil spoke.

"You're....crying. Crying?" He blinked and removed the hand from his cheek to inspect it. Like the answers were written on his palm. "You...hit me, me?"

"WELL WHAT DID THOU EXPECT YOU GOD DAMMED FOOL!?!?" Both flinched at the sudden raged tone that seemed to rush out of him. Jevil more than him. But the angry feelings overtook any other rational thoughts. "DID THOU SERIOUSLY THINK UP THIS WHOLE CRAZY DELUSIONAL F-FANTASY OF ROMANCE TO GO ALONG WITH YOUR PATHETIC TRAGETY STORY LIKEST SOME SICK NOVEL WRITTEN BY A COMMONER!?!?"

Jevil stared long and hard before an annoyed expression came over him. "Fantasy, fantasy?.....DELUSIONAL TO MY OWN FEELINGS!?" He growled and gripped the bars of his caged prison. "YOU DARE SIT THERE, THERE AND CALL ME, ME A FOOL FOR RECONGNIZING THE PLAIN TRUTH WHEN NO ONE ELSE DOES, DOES?!"

This time it was the duke's turn to give a dry laugh. "HA! YOU CALL WHAT JUST HAPPENED A TRUEST EVENT!? AND YOU ACTUALLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THOU'S GESTURE LIKE A NORMAL DARKNER'S?!"

Jevil's face immediately dropped. Rouxls sat there as both heavily breathed from the events. Before the duke slowly stood up onto wobbly legs.

"E-Even...if I did think thou's affections were true, what reason would I have t-to accept or believe when the person who gives it is a prisoner? Seam was in his righteth mind to exit this madness when he did-"

A low growl directed him back to the now angry jester. Anger was a new expression for him but right now he didn't care. Rouxls felt sick, covered in sweaty slime and tears, and equally angry.

''Don't bring Seam, Seam into this."

"Or what!? Thou'll attack me with more unwanted affection! This isn't exactly a splendid walk in the dungeon foreth me!"

The imp let out another growl before pointing another clawed hand at him. "You cannot, cannot tell me you can't feel-"

"I DON'T!!" The loud voice of the duke echoed throughout the entirety of the prison cell. Silencing anymore rambling from either end. "I tire of these useless antics a-and....AND I HAVETH ENOUGTH ON MINE PLATE AS TIS IS!!" He pointed a hand at him. "I SHAN'T EVER RETURN TO DEAL WITH THOU'S ANTICS AND I WILL NEVER SEE YOU AS MORE THAN THE ONE WHO TOILS WITH MINE EMOTIONS!! GOOD MORROW, WORM!!"

He turned and began stomping his way back up the stairs towards the open doors of the elevator. Ignoring the sudden expression on the imp's face.

"W-What?....ROUXLS!! You can't leave a game unfinished once you start to play, play!! It hasn't even finished!...R-Rouxls? Y-You can't forfit this game, game.....Not when I-...COME BACK, BACK!!"

He paid the creature no mind while he continued climbing up the stairs-...Which was a mistake.

An animalistic shriek pierced the air louder than anything he ever heard from the king. A shudder ran up his spine and only one thought shot through his head.

RUN!

He sprinted towards the exit up ahead. Almost tripping over his own two feet a couple times in his panicked haste to get out. Something whizzed by his head and embeaded itself into the wall above his form as more began whizzing past him. The animalistic screaming still present. One of the thing grazed his shoulder causing him to yelp in pain as a cut instantly formed. He ran into the elevator and practically spammed the up button as more of those sharp objects continued to fly around him. The doors slowly closed. Muffling the shrieking and little metallic thuds. Slowly, the elevator began to steadily rise leaving the noise behind him.

Unable to withstand the wild roller coaster of emotions moving through him, Rouxls collapsed against the side of the elevator as it continued to rise. His body shook uncontrollably as he was finally able to take a look at the things that were flung at him.....Hearts. These things were all hearts. He choked.

The once proud Duke of Puzzles reduced himself to a sobbing crying mess as the elevator continued to rise.

#Deltarune #seam x jevil #jevil x rouxls #jevil x seam #Rouxls Kaard x Seam #Seaxls #Nosuit

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afterthelastreset · 4 years

Text

Rules Of One’s Soul Ch 3 A Story and Memory

(Mak belongs to @coffincrawler)

What followed after that was a sudden rush of adrenaline kicking in when he realized what had just happened was real. That Jevil had actually pecked him on the mouth and took off laughing up the stairs towards the elevator on the 'outside'. He spun around and ran face first into the top of the metal bars, making him stumble back, hands flying to his face and groaning in pain. The metal clang rang out and he took a few seconds getting his bearings and remembering he had to duck down to get through the cell door, before actually stumbling forward and out of the cell door just as he could hear a very familiar sound.

Ding!

His head snapped up just as the doors began closing and Jevil gave off a tiny wave with his fingers."Jevil! Thou stupid worm! Stop thine doors from closing this instant!," he yelled up in frustration as he stumble-ran his way up the stairs towards him. The imp only giggled.

"The fun, fun has already begun Rouxls.~ To play the game you have to stay on light, light feet.~ Such a chaotic play.~"

"Why you insolent little-!" The rest of the door closed just as he reached the top step, his arms slammed into the doors just as insanely happy laughter echoed within it. Rouxls could feel his teeth grit in frustration as his ears pressed tighter to his head. Did that little worm really think he could just escape that easily?! .....Wait a minute. "FUCKETH THINESELF!!" His hands flew up to his head as he just realized, Lancer was still most likely up there doing who knows what!! "MINE BOY!!!" His voiced raised a pitch as his breathing picked up pace again.

That lunatic was on the loose and could do who know's what to anyone! He wouldn't let anything happen to his child if he could prevent it! And he would live up to that promise. The familiar buzzing of magic surrounded him making an almost static cloud of energy and soon a blinding blue light overtook his entire vision. For about 3 seconds his whole body felt like a part of said static energy, completely weightless before he all came rushing back together in one split moment. The blinding blue light disbanded and he opened his eyes to the completely different surroundings around him. A pair of Rudin guards had been startled of the sudden teleportation of the Duke of Puzzles and gave each other a quick look before blinking back up at their annoyed looking boss. The worm monster gave an annoyed look at the closed elevator doors up ahead and narrowed his eyes.

Taking a moment to right himself, he marched towards the doors. This was the first floor from the dungeon and the special cell way down below, so this would be the most likely stop for the crazy clown to step off from. Just as Rouxls thought, he could hear the running elevator approaching and sped walked faster to the doors. The two Rudin guards watching with confused faces behind him. Probably wondering why the Duke teleported out of nowhere and why there were bruises on his face. His face still hurt from his smack into the bars. But none of that mattered now as the elevator stopped with a ding noise and slowly opened-

"Thou art insane," he hissed when the door opened, "Doth thou knoweth you can't just walk-" He stopped and blinked. The elevator was completely empty. He stared unbelievably at the empty space for a good moment before shaking his head and sticking half his body into the empty space to turn around. "Are....thou invisible?" He reached an arm around to feel the empty air but he got his answer when a high pitches wail pierced the air followed by crashing noises and more shouting. "Shiteth!"

The two guards watched in confused worry as the duke ran back up the hallway with panic on his melting face, passed them and continued down the corridor before turning the left corner....Before looking back at each other again. The Duke however was running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the loud noises. Other guards and servants looked on with mixed emotions on their faces towards what happened to be the largest room on the first floor or at the Duke running past them all. The room's light became slightly darker and the smell of ash filled the air....Smoke? There was smoke in the building!? And where there was usually smoke there was fire, and the fire... The panicked adrenaline in his veins urging him on towards the rucus. The kitchen doors were thrown open as the panicked worm threw them open and looked around with a wild look in his eyes.

"What tis happening?! Where is he!? Wh- *cough cough* Where's thy fire?!," he shouted through a few coughs. The black cloud was coming from the corner of the room where a hathy was doing her best to fan the smoke away with a small towel which was currently pooling from an old oven. The poor hathy took one look at the duke before turning back to fanning the smoke faster whimpering apologies. The smoke began to make his eyes water and he turned his head to give off another round of coughing as the vile air filled his lungs. "What happened here?! *cough* I want aan-answers! *ach*"

"U-Um, s-sorry, Sir." Another hathy reached a tentacle behind their head sheepishly while giving the duke a sorry look. "B-But it's the first day on the job for some of our new recruits." He motioned to the panicking hathy still fanning the smoke from the open oven. "Uh....D-Dinner might be late tonight."

He waved a hand to dismiss them before turning and exiting the room. His eyes watered from the amount of smoke coming from one room alone. "Windows. Open thine windows!" He choked out between coughs at the still watching staff, they didn't have to be told twice as they scrambled for the giant windows lining the far wall. Rouxls hacked and coughed his way from the kitchen to somewhere he couldn't smell the ghastly stench anymore. Thankfully he didn't have to walk a long way to get clean air. He gulped a lungful of the sweet air and slowly began to regain some kind of composure. How humiliating that a simple overcooked roast could reduce him of all people into a sick dog so easily. How embarrassing. At least Jevil didn't start a fire....Oh. Right.

"Stupid, insolent, dammed hellspawn from thy deepest depths!!,"he shouted once he got his breathing back in order. The anger and anxiety flaring up made his eye twitch, alongside the dread of not knowing where Lancer was made him feel sick again. For all he knew the imp could be doing something terrible with Lancer. What if he was already in trouble? What would h-

"Lesser Dad?" He squeaked out a startled noise and turned to find the child no less than two feet from him. He stared up at the man with his tongue sticking out in a confused manner. "Why were you saying all those bad words? Did someone steal something from your shop again?"

He instantly sighed in relief from seeing the small child in front of him, he straightened back up immediately and gave Lancer a smile to his question. "No need to worry about that, mine littlest worm. I'm just relieved to have found you safe and sound and not being dragged into thine jester's schemes." He said the last words through gritted teeth.

Lancer was even more confused. "What does that mean? Did Uncle Jevil get his food?"

"Uh....T-Thou could sayest that, but thou doth not needst to worry about that right now." He gave a look around before holding out his hand to which Lancer instinctively grabbed. "Right now thou should really worry about other things."

"What other things? I'm done being king for the day, so now I can go ride my bike and see Ralsei!"

He sighed again. This would be a long night. "Lancer, thou doesn't simply just be done with being King for thee day. Being King is a life time thing, tis your responsibility as one of thee kings to uphold thine duties-"

"Oh, I already did that!"

"Thou has?" He rose a brow. Maybe there was hope yet for the boy's attention span. "In the hour I was....busy thou accomplished thy royal duties?"

"Well,....I had some help and I left all the paperwork on your desk like Dad used to do." Of course, he should've known better. More work for him later, but at least he'd have some excuse to keep his attention on other matters. He was dragged down to hunch over as the much smaller boy tugged on his hand towards the kitchen. "C'mon. I'm hungry-"

"I think I hast already lost mine appetite."

========================================================================== Being a single father to a spade child wasn't easy. He should know.

Feeding Lancer and trying to keep him out of trouble was no easy feat. Trust me, he's done this job for quite a few years but it was harder when one has to consider the fact that as a very energetic child and now as king he technically didn't have to follow the same rules he had to when he was simply a prince less than two months ago. But that didn't mean he didn't listen to Rouxls either, calling him Dad still and listening whenever Rouxls scolded him or gave him advice. But that didn't mean he still couldn't pull the 'I'm King now so you have to do as I say now' card, and Rouxls had to obey the laws set down by the king. And while worms were enough to content him for now, he had a feeling he'd be bothered again with the matter very soon

The rest of that day had gone by slowly....VERY slowly. The boy had him running around behind him for the remainder of the day, wearily looking his shoulder every show often out of habit, expecting you know who to show up magically at any moment, but no matter how many times he thought he heard the unruly laughing or feared of seeing that madman's smile upon his face like the other incidents between the two, it never came. It was probably just the darkness of the shadows that he always saw, but couldn't help but flinch at. It just reminded him too much of what really used to take place behind closed doors when the small bouncing boy wasn't looking. He still had nightmares of what he'd heard about at the hands of the Ex-King Spades or the rare times he'd walk in on something he'd rather forget but couldn't....Or the few times he....personally had his own demonstration of what happened when one displeased their king......Which Lancer didn't need to know about, not now or ever. He'd die before letting the child be tainted by his father's past actions.

"Lesser Dad?" The worm monster stopped his internal rambling and snapped his head back down to the small boy holding his hand. Lancer gave off a tired puppy sounding yawn showing off his mini fangs and bright blue tongue for a couple seconds before his mouth reclosed. He gave a tired smile up at him. "I'm starting to get tired from all this King stuff. Can I go to bed now?"

"*sigh* Of course. Even the greatest of kings needs their sleep." He gave another smile before looking over his shoulder again around the darkness of the hallway behind them for a moment. Lancer leaned sideways to take a look at what his father was looking at, when he didn't see anything he turned back to Rouxls.

"What are you looking at?"

"Uh..I- N-Nothing. I'm just tired as well." He gave off another fake smile to try and seem relaxed around the child. Tugging his hand gently to motion him along down the hallway. "N-Now thou was saying?"

Lancer didn't question the smile and just tiredly trudged along, trying to keep up with Rouxls's long strides in his tired state. He yawned again showing off his k-9s and inner mouth before reaching up a paw to rub at his face hole.

"I'm tired...."

"I can see that. Thou's had a long day haven't you?" He chuckled trying to lift the invading feeling of anxiety from bubbling up from the surrounding shadows. It's going to take a while to get over feeling constantly drained from the last person he took orders from.

"Mmm hmmm."

Rouxls gave a sigh before trying to walk a bit faster towards the royal bedroom. He had a few things to get down that night and needed to put Lancer to bed to have one less thing to worry about doing that night- He stopped when he felt Lancer's hand slip from his, and he turned around. The small boy stood there slightly rocking back and forth slowly blinking his tired face hole. He yawned once again and reached both paws up to wipe at his face. Rouxls stopped and stared at the child for a moment before sighing and shaking his head, his legs carried his back over to the spade where he stopped and leaned down, holding his arms out to either side of him. The small spade reacted instantly by reaching up and wrapping his arms around the worm's neck, Rouxl's arms instantly went around the child before lifting him up with a grunt. Lancer being a spade, was naturally bigger and heavier than any other child his own age due to the fact that he would grow to be HUGE adult like his father as he got over, so naturally the duke stumbled a bit on his first few steps carrying Lancer towards his bedroom. The small child sighed and snuggled into the cool feeling of Rouxls's skin. It was almost like a water bed, but firmer.

They went down the hall shuffling and grunting until reaching a door connected to the far wall. It was a bit difficult to balance a heavy child in one arm while trying to reach for the door with the other. He fumbled a bit, but managed to turn the knob before shoving the door open with his foot. It swung open with a creek and Rouxls shuffled his way into the dark room. He could still faintly see the small toys scattered across the floor and a few other various knick knacks here and there despite it though, and was able to kick most out of his way as he made it over to the bed. Upon reaching it, he sighed and once again did the juggling act of balancing a now sleeping Lancer in one arm as he reached over to pull back the blankets with the other hand all the while not trying to fall over himself. He ended up gently plopping Lancer down onto the mattress and accidentally waking him up in the process. He blinked a couple times before yawning as Rouxls pulled up the blankets to be level with his chest.

"Lesser Dad...*yawwwwwwnn* C-Could you tell me a story?"

"Aren't thou a little old for stories?" A small paw grabbed his hand as he was about to tuck in the small spade.

"Please?"

A small silence. And then he sighed again but this time with a smile. "Alright. But just a short one." Lancer happily complied to the tuck ins as the duke pulled the blanket farther up his body- "Once there was a King and Queen, and they eventually bore a son-"

"Like me?"

"In a way, but not everything was well." A grimace came to his face and he leaned back up from the bed. "Thy king was always a bit....unpredictable with his behaviors, but it got worse when his Queen vanished-"

"Where did she go?" The small spade questioned still blinking sleepily at him, battiling the urge to nap.

"*sigh* I wish I knew-...Uh- I mean-" He coughed and looked away. "N-No one really knewest where thine Queen went. She may have runneth away or went into hiding somewhere far away from her kingdom. You see-...Thee King's wasn't very nice to everyone despite thine Queen's patience o-or her kind words....but h-he loved her. V-Very much, and I guess losing her pushed him to thou's edge."

He gave off a spaced expression and almost forgot Lancer was still awake when he asked-

"What happened to them?"

He flinched and stuttered. "U-Uh...Well-...The King grew to be more...." Cruel, murderous, insane?? "....More distant to his true duties as his subjects king. H-He made a lot of....mistakes that everyone nay liked, nor did he do anything to fix said mistakes."

"What happened to the baby...?"

Rouxls chuckled and his face became the slightest bit softer. "The king's son grew up to be very troublesome, but also very kind and...determined. Everything the king once was but had forgotten. He...was the good that came out of something so evil. I still shan't ever knowest how but he did-"

"What....happened...n-next..?"

"Thy prince rallied an army of his own and defeated the evil king of course. And became a good ruler as he would've been either way, and grew up to be a happy man with a family of his own one day-"

"W-Wait." He sat up slightly and blinked up at him with his last awakeness power. "W-What about the mom? Did she come back?"

The Duke stared at nothing silently for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "I'm afraid not."

"What? But that's not fair!"

"Well-..." He finally looked back to him. "Sometimes there are some people who nay have any happy endings to their stories, and sometimes stories don't have thine happily ever after at all....or completely. Some still deal with their own...uh- difficulties even after they get thou's happy ending-..."

He was interrupted by the sound of a soft snore and he glanced back to Lancer, who was happily asleep now. He sighed before reaching a hand over to pull the blanket up slightly before slipping his grip free. He took few moments just staring at the sleeping child before silently turning and taking his leave from the room careful to not step on anything on the way out and closing the door silently.

"We all have our happy endings eventually. But I'm afraid thou's is just in the beginning pages."

==========================================================================

The long walk back towards the Duke's own private courters was barely a blink before he ended up back in front of his old shop, usually the long walk would've taken at most fifteen minutes if he sped walked, but he had been a little busy looking over his shoulder every few seconds out of fear he was being watched or followed. His body shook with the slowly built up anxiety and fear that had been plaguing him since early that morning. But he didn't see or hear anything indicating where the deranged fool may have gone or where he currently was. H*ll for all he knew he could be back in that cell, or right behind him....or- GOOD LORD! Why didn't he check Lancer's room before he sent the child to bed?! Too late now though. The child would put up a fuss if he went back to wake him up over his own paranoia, and what would everybody else think if they saw his paranoid behavior? The other Kings could see him as a threat to the boy king and he was NOT about to be sent to be locked up with the Ex King Spades. The very thought made him shudder. No. He'd have to trust the guards tonight and find a way to deal with this madness in the morn-.....He froze.

"...W-What thy f*ck?"

Up ahead was the 'Hip Shoppe' as he called it. Every so often he'd get the occasional customer and earn a few extra dark dollars on the side, but what customer would come in the middle of the sleeping hour? That's what he thought when he saw a faint orange light moving about through the front windows of the shoppe. Why would anyone be there at this hour- His eyes slowly traced to the sign in the window that still said open, and he froze before eternally cursing at himself. He had stupidly left the open sign stuck in his window all day!...Come to think of it, when was the last time he actually put the sign away? ...No. You shouldn't be thinking of that now. Now is the time to ask, who the heck was in the shoppe and why?

For a moment he reconsidered going back to the castle and just sleeping in his office or getting some guards but the light suddenly stopped moving and he stilled stared at the shop from in the middle of the road leading up to it. His legs slowly began carrying him towards the shoppe. If this was some midnight guard trying to steal something or a theif, then they had another thing coming. The Duke of Puzzles wasn't the strongest monster, but he wasn't the weakest when it came to fights. He could always teleport away if it came too much. He just hoped it wasn't who he thought it was. If it was...

The light still hadn't moved as the duke slowed his pace before stopping a few feet away from the door, he stood there for a little while before shakily looking over his shoulder towards the darkened trees and shadows behind him...Yeah. No way he was staying out here. So sucking a breath he began approaching the door again before stopping directly in front of it. He stared at the doorknob for a long time before slowly reaching his hand out watching as it slowly wrapped around the cold metal. The door was slowly opened and the duke froze at the sight before him.

".....oh, sh*t..."

A lantern shown bright above the counter next to the register. It's soft glow illuminated a good portion of the shoppe...and the giant furry figure next to it. Though he didn't react when the door opened, he did react to the soft cuss mumbled with a flick of the ear and turn of his head. The figure was easily a foot taller than himself, covered in fur. His body looked old and worn from the many scars his face showed. Both froze as they made eye contact. A small silence followed as they stared at each other before the slightly taller one smiled.

"Well, well. Another visitor to rummage through the wares I see. Welcome Stranger." He greeted in a voice that sounded younger than the body it came from.

Rouxls stood there dumbfounded. "...Who...What art thou doing in mine shoppe?!" He looked past him at the counter and noticed a small box by the lantern filled with what he assumed the furry thing had been taking...Nonono. Not taking. Stealing. He narrowed his eyes at the figure, a new feeling of anger replacing the fear. "Thief!" He pointed a hand accusingly at the....cat?? It looked sorta like one. "What does thou think you're doing coming into mine shoppe and taking mine wares?! "

The cat didn't even flinch. "Oh, so you own the place?" Rouxls nodded with pursed lips and the figure hummed. "Oh, I see....Ahahaha. I think there's been a mistake. I was told the place had been abandoned by the previous owner a month ago. Never saw anyone so I assumed the rumors to be true."

".....Whom art thou?"

The figure chuckled again. "How rude of me. The name's Sham but spelt with an 'e a'." The cat thing held out a paw from the tattered cloak with a smile. "For give me. I didn't know someone would be coming back, so I have been helping myself to some of your stock whenever I got low this month. Mr...."

"Rouxls Kaard." He glanced down at the paw before frowning more and holding a hand to his chest. "Duke of Puzzles and Royal Advisor to King Lancer. Not to the mention thine owner of the very place thou stands." He was expecting the cat to start begging forgiveness for his mistake, what he didn't expect was this Seam to chuckle.

"Oh...So you're this 'Evil Duke' the jigsawries used to babble on about stealing their jobs." Rouxls sputtered at the cat's reaction as well as the term he just used. Evil?! Him?! Seam chuckled at the Duke's reaction before saying. "I do beg my pardon. I wasn't aware I was in the presence of nobility now."

"W-Well...Thou shouldst be!" He crossed his arms and pouted in a way Lancer would sometimes do (Gee! I wonder where he learnt that from?) making Seam chuckle again. "I-In fact, thou should be thanking me for not throwing thou's self in thine dungeon for theivory and trespassing!"

"To be fair, you were not here for over a month. I thought for sure it was abandoned just like many other things in this world-"

"W-Well it was nay abandoned!"

"My apologies. Would you prefer I put everything back? I could pay you back for what I remember taking but I lost count. These old stitches aren't what they used to be I'm afraid."

Rouxls just stared at him. Did-...Did this old cat just apologize and offer to pay for things he thought were abandoned?? He searched his face for any trickery but all he got was a patient smile back. He opened his mouth but glanced back to the small box on the counter for a second.....

"...N-No. I have nay time to deal with such trivial things this late at night,and I'm quite busy with royal duties to the kings!" He pointed behind him at the open door before saying. "Take what little things thou have taken and leave. I do not wish to see you unsupervised within mine courters again. Or next time I shan't show mercy upon thee."

Seam chuckled again before asking, "If that's your answer, then who am I to ignore the duke?"

Turning back around, the stranger grabbed the small box in one hand and the lantern in the other before turning towards the door. Rouxls had to step aside to allow the stranger to get past him and out the open door. Seam stopped and turned back around to give the Duke one last smile.

"Perhaps friend, next time you should consider locking doors."

Rouxls didn't get a chance to answer before he turned back around and began to shuffle away. He stood there dumbfounded before quickly going over to close the door and lock it tight. He turned his eyes towards the window to watch the stranger walk away becoming a shadow among the other shadows with the light. He watched from the window for as long as he could before giving off another sigh and reaching over to tug at the sign. Turning it around to say: Closed.

When would this stressful day even end?

Sighing, he turned to stumble his way towards the back. Back there was a room with a bed that wasn't a his office desk and chair he was very interested in sleeping in and right now he just wanted to sleep and nothing else. It didn't take him long to find it either. He sighed in relief just as he flopped face first onto the soft but dusty bed which made him cough a little bit but it WAS better than a desk and chair. He let himself sink into the soft, a heavy feeling sinking in as his eyes closed. He had a lot of stuff to deal with right now and didn't need to deal with anything Jevil or this theif Seam caused until tomorrow.....Wait a second. His eyes blinked back awake as his brain wired a memory.

Didn't-......Didn't Jevil mention a Seam??

#jevil x rouxls #Seam x Rouxls #Seavil #Jeam #Nosuit #Deltarune #rouxls kaard x seam #Rouxls x jevil

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