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elk-and-thearchivist · 5 years

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Chiaroscuro, Chapter 1: Riven

The first chapter of my RP with @justashadetalkative / @grumpyoldsnake! We’re RPing with young Elk, Wiki, and their characters Linast and Phosa from their world of Abime Spire. Linast and Phosa are shadow and light elementals, respectively.

The chapter artwork is a collab with them - I did the sketch/composition and shading/lighting/effects, and they did the lines, flats, and background (it’s amazing just look at it eee)

Words: 5743 Characters: Linast, Elk, Wiki Indented is me, regular is @justashadetalkative Dashes are POV shifts

Something was wrong.

That was about all that Linast had the time or awareness to think when the teleportation spell that should have felt like a long moment of free fall suddenly turned crushing and still. Then something reached deep into his core and yanked. Instead of landing safely and quietly back at the Spire, he found himself returning to normal space with a boom that rattled through his core and echoed resoundingly in his new surroundings.

New, enclosed surroundings, with rapidly approaching walls.

Linast squeaked and tried to reorient himself, wrapping around his core in an attempt to slow himself down before the impact. Even with that effort he still hit the wall with a jarring crack. His core rebounded off the stone and rolled several meters along the ground before coming to a stop against an outcrop.

For a long moment, he wasn’t aware of much beyond the white static of the impact. Linast indulged in a low, pained whine as he gradually reformed his body.

Then he forced himself up onto his knees to take in his surroundings. If the teleportation had gone that badly wrong, it was entirely possible that someone hostile had interfered--and that they were nearby.

At last, they'd finally managed to convince Elk to find an animated husk to read! Usually, they stuck to the ones that have already faded, but the information from those was always so scattered and sparse. Flashes of old memories. Of dreams.

They found a lone husk wandering in a more cavernous area of Greenpath - waited at higher ground, and when it came near they pushed some rocks over the edge, trapping it. They slithered down the wall, and Wiki emerged from Elk to begin probing the husk's mind. They placed a tendril on the bug's head and closed their eyes.

Elk watched Wiki as they read the husk's memories. They tended to not be responsive to anything while they did such a thing, but when it came down to it Elk could usually grab them and run.

But they definitely weren't prepared for a sudden *crack* and flash, and for an indistinct form to fly away from the source and impact the wall.

The husk's eyes suddenly burned with light once more, and it lashed out. Elk pulled Wiki out of the way, and the husk ran off.

Wiki blinked rapidly. "What... ugh. I need a moment..." They sunk into Elk's void, going quiet in their mind.

Elk patted themself, then got up and looked around- spotting a shadowy form not so far away. __

The space around Linast was large--which was lucky, he decided with a wince as he gingerly probed the damage to his core and felt a shard shift and fall away. If it had been much smaller, he wouldn’t have had the time to slow down at all.

A gentle green light suffused the air, with brighter beams of light occasionally breaking through the cavern roof and lighting up the ground below, and there was greenery everywhere.

And… the people. Or, person. Linast had thought he might have heard a scuffle and a voice, when he’d been lying dazed on the ground, but now that he’d hauled himself upright he only saw the one figure.

They were small--smaller than him, probably. They had a white, skull-like head with graceful curved horns, and a grey cloak that fell around them in loose layers. Their body was darker than it should have been, even in this dim cavern. The empty hollows of their eyes didn’t reflect any light at all, and occasional wisps of shadow rose from their cloak and drifted from their eyes in gentle patterns.

They were looking around the cavern, and it didn’t take them long at all to spot him in turn. Linast tensed. They didn’t seem to have been expecting him, and they didn’t look aggressive, but… well, he really wasn’t in any shape for a fight, after that crash. That vulnerability made him nervous.

“I don’t, ah… ss-suppose you know my language?” he tried, with a strained smile and a small wave.

They gave a small jerk and leaped into some nearby bushes. Only a ten or so seconds later, they peered out the side of the bush, pale horns inching out bit by bit.

After a bit of staring, they stuck an arm out of their cloak, giving a hesitant wave.

Linast relaxed considerably as the stranger jumped and hid, for all that he felt bad to see them afraid of him. It was nice to know he wasn't the only one feeling jumpy, at least.

He smiled again, a bit more genuinely, as they stuck their head back out of the bush. It seemed that waving had been a good idea, though whether it was because they'd recognized the gesture or were simply willing to copy him, he couldn't say.

"Heh. Hi there. I'm not going to hurt you, promise," he said, watching them carefully to see what their next move would be. "...So long as you don't hurt me, anyway."

They tilted their head as they listened to him, a hand on their chin. Looking around a bit more and seeing no sign of other trouble, they methodically extricated themself from the bush - one leg out, then the other, then the rest of their body.

They walked a little closer, stopping about two arm's lengths away, and tilted their head back to peer at him - rather, their eyes, or the darkness where they should be, seemed to focus on his core before moving to his face.

From this close, one could see that their body was a pitch black exoskeleton, as those of bugs, but it hardly seemed to reflect any light at all. The wisps from earlier seemed to have ceased entirely.

Linast frowned and raised a hand to press against his damaged core as he noticed the little creature focusing on it, instinctively wrapping it in a darker layer of shadow until the red was hardly visible between his ribs. He managed to pull the smile back up when they focused on his face, though it was a bit strained again. “That, uh, yeah. That’s me,” he said. He waited a moment, then gestured to his chest with a bit more active intent. “Linast.”

He took a moment to study them, himself. He’d been right, they definitely weren’t interacting with light quite normally. Visible or otherwise--he could hardly feel any infrared from them, which… wasn’t exactly how normal matter worked.

He gestured to them with a similar motion to the one he’d used for himself. “Do you have a name?” He doubted they could understand his words, but a friendly tone of voice wouldn't hurt anything, assuming they could hear him. They hadn’t made a sound so far, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t. Or perhaps they could sign. It made him feel better to at least try to ask, at any rate.

They tilted their head as he wrapped his core - even further when he started speaking again.

When he gestured to them, they jerked their head back up in surprise. They put a hand on their chin again, and looked back up. They seemed to be struggling with something, moving minutely, without making a sound. After a bit, they scuffed the dirt and hung their head - as if giving a silent sigh. They glanced around, spotting a twig - they tapped their chin in thought, before giving a shrug and picking it up.

They scribbled something in the dirt, and stepped back.

There were... symbols of some sort. One could only assume it was a form of writing.

Linast watched sympathetically as they struggled; it almost seemed like they were, indeed, trying to make sound without much success. He brightened up as they grabbed a twig and began writing. "Oh! I--didn't even think of that," he said, smiling in excitement.

He leaned forward as they stepped back again, biting back a hiss of discomfort as the motion jostled his core, and studied the symbols. Reaching out, he let his shadows fill them in, feeling the shape of them and doing his best to fix it in his mind.

Looking up, he repeated his gesture towards them. This time, though, he spread his other hand out as well, leaving shadowy symbols hanging in the air above that hand. He smiled again. "Is that you, then?"

It would take more to truly memorize the symbols, but his short term memory had always been good, especially for shapes. They had time; he could learn.

Or not.

Linast’s head shot up as a low, nearly subsonic rumble sounded out, and his eyes widened as glowing white lines sliced into existence in the air behind his newfound friend. One, two, four… nine. White-yellow claws pushed through and began to tug the slits into wider openings with an unearthly screech.

“Shit,” Linast hissed, and shot to his feet. He promptly staggered as his senses whited out with pain for a moment, just barely catching himself on the stone column that his core had come to rest against earlier. “Shit,” he repeated, more emphatically.

They glanced at him as he approached, briefly alighting on where his core was hidden - before listening to him speak. It still wasn't clear whether they could understand the words - but at least seemed they could understand a bit of what he was trying to say.

Their gaze fixated on the shadowy symbols as they formed, the tilt of their head following the threads of darkness coalesce. Upon seeing the fully formed symbol, they clapped their hands together once and jumped excitedly.

But at Linast's sudden movement, they startled and looked around with rapid movements. Once they saw the slits, and the claws that emerged from them, they froze - but only for a moment, enough to hear Linast's curse. They looked at him, leaning on the column, and wavered a bit before they grabbed Linast's hand with one arm and rapidly patted him with their other. They gestured towards an area deeper into the greenery, tugging him lightly in that direction.

Linast startled a bit at the unexpected contact, spikes rippling up across his shoulders and his hand twitching in their grasp as he squinted down at them.

“Gah, don’t s͟-şs͠҉̛̀ş̵--oh.” He broke off, looking at the greenery they were gesturing to. Linast straightened, released his death grip on the column to brace that hand against his core instead, and forced his legs to hold steady and not flicker out on him again. “Yeah, I--yeah, running is, running is good, I think,” he muttered, starting forward in the direction they’d indicated.

As he was tugged along by the hand, Linast chanced a quick look back towards where the rifts were opening. Nothing had come through yet, but it was only a matter of time. He watched as an arm forced its way through one rift, a furious eye visible through the rift above it. Linast picked up the pace, hurrying after his silent guide as quickly as he could manage.

Their grip was surprisingly strong despite their small frame, pulling him along at a sure-footed pace. As they emerged from the deep greenery, intricate structures overgrown by vines and leaves came into sight. The sound of sizzling filled the air, emanating from the glowing, bubbling lake underneath. In the shadows within the structure, glowing bugs fluttered inside glass lamps.

They slowed down, and pointed to what looked like a relatively climbable region - parts of the wall had crumbled and the remains were woven with nature - and then to the roof of the structure.

“Oh that looks s-safe,” Linast muttered, eyeing the lake. He stumbled with a wince as they slowed during his brief distraction, and looked to where his guide was pointing.

“Up there?” Normally he’d just teleport up. But that wasn’t really an option with his core in the state that it was. He sighed, a staticky rush of sound, and gave their hand a gentle squeeze before phasing himself free of their grip. “Okay.”

Linast started the climb. He let go of his humanoid form, paying more attention to making sure that he found solid grips and didn’t jostle his core again than to the shape of his limbs or how many he had manifested at any one point. It was only once he’d reached the top and retreated from the edge that he reformed his more typical shape and looked around to see how they were faring.

Their head was pulled back a bit, hand resting on their chin. Despite the lack of facial expression, they looked surprised - it wasn't every day one sees a being that can change form so easily. But they simply lifted a shoulder under their cloak, a sort of half shrug, before bounding up the rocks with a confidence that suggested they've done this many times already.

Upon reaching the top, they gave a scanning look back where they came. Seeing nothing of note, they pointed to the center of the structure they were on. There were the remains of some pillars, evidence of a terrace of some sort, but little remained that wasn't covered in green. At the very least, the structures and vegetation would serve well to hide them from plain sight - if their otherworldly foes navigated by that sense.

Linast obediently started towards the pillars they had indicated as barks and yips began to sound out from the open area they had just fled from. He trusted his new friend to know the best place to hide nearby, and he knew that he was in no shape to move quickly. Hiding now while none of the creatures had them in their sight was far better than continuing to flee and waiting for them to inevitably catch up.

Still… they really hadn’t gone very far, and there had been at least one eye peering out of the rifts at them as they’d first entered the greenery. As they entered the hiding space and crouched down within its shelter, Linast probed at the edges of his range, testing how far his magic extended.

It would be a bit of a strain, but he could do it. Hopefully. Mind made up, Linast carefully removed his core from his chest and set it on the ground, then gestured to get his new friend’s attention. He pointed to his core, still wrapped thoroughly in his shadows. “That’s me,” he whispered, looking at them intently. “Linast.”

Then he gestured to his body and shrugged, playing up an unconcerned expression. “This? Not… quite so much.” He let his body flicker out of existence entirely in demonstration, then reformed with a bit of an effort and offered them a reassuring smile. “Okay?”

The sounds of pursuit were actually approaching them now. Linast would just have to hope he’d gotten his point across; he needed to get back down before they were in sight of the structure, or this wouldn’t be very convincing. Linast let his body dissolve and reformed it down on the path below, hunched on the ground as if he’d fallen and been left behind before he could recover.

Elk watched "Linast" - at least, they're fairly sure that's what the mysterious being called themself - begin approaching, but jumped a bit at the sounds of their pursuers. They took a few steps backwards into the shadows, hoping they could hide...

Their attention was drawn to Linast as they gestured to Elk. The being pointed to an object wrapped in the same darkness they seemed to be made of, likely the red sphere Linast seemed uncomfortable about exposing earlier. They said a few words, "Linast" being one of them, while pointing at the sphere. If Elk had their voice, they would have hummed in thought. Was that the center of the being's existence?

This thought seemed to be confirmed as Linast gestured to their body and shrugged, before vanishing - Elk drew up a bit at that - and reforming.

At once, they vanished once more. Elk ran up to where they last stood, next to the shadow-enclosed sphere, bringing them closer to the edge of the roof. They heard a sound below, and they surreptitiously peered over the edge. Linast - or their projection or what have you - was hunched over. Glancing towards where they came, Elk saw the otherworldly creatures approaching, and quickly retreated from the edge-

Just as the approaching off-white glow of the otherworldly invaders resolved into two quadrupedal creatures and a third bipedal creature pushing through the foliage.

They let out excited calls, presumably at the sight of Linast's figure below. It was answered by a single word in Linast's voice, the same from earlier which--by sheer context clues and vocal tone--was presumably a curse word. A general commotion of yips and growls from the creatures, a steady stream of cursing from Linast, and running feet from all passed through the structure below Elk's hiding space and out the other side, further into the foliage beyond.

They'd have to assume the being would fine. Hopefully their interpretation was correct.

A familiar presence stirred in their mind.

"Oh̶̆...a̷̳͘w̶͈̏a̷͂͜k̴e̴?" Elk tested their voice. It was still quiet and distorted - Wiki's presence of mind was only a vague curiosity of the situation.

They looked back at the sphere for a moment. And then gave it a gentle poke.

Elk, at first, encountered a vague resistance to their poke--nothing solid, but there was a tangible presence to the shadow. It wasn't enough to interrupt their poke entirely, and the end of the motion touched on something solid and cool, almost glassy.

As soon as they made contact with that, the shadows around the sphere abruptly darkened and shoved Elk's finger back with a firm force. What had once visibly been a sphere, darkened as it was by the shadows wrapped around it, was now coated in a darkness so deep that it looked more like a circular hole cut out of the world than it did something three dimensional.

They pulled back immediately. Looks like they didn't like that.

One does usually not like their most vulnerable spot prodded at.

Elk sighed. They knew that, obviously. They wondered if Linast would come back soon - in the worst case, they might be like this for a while.

"You wouldn't happen to know what kind of creature they are, would you? Are they... like us?"

Hmm.........

"Well... guess I'll bring this over to the terrace thing..."

Maybe if they... a little more gently...

Now that Wiki was kind of awake, their body was a little more mutable. They extended two of the tendrils emerging from their body, using them to lift the orb of darkness and bring it to the shadowed terrace.

The darkness gave a brief twitch as it was moved, but otherwise remained inert. It was still a solid enough barrier that Elk felt none of the glassy object.

Distantly, the shouts and barks of pursuit devolved into the sound of what might have been fighting; yelps and, at one point, the sound of breaking stone. But things soon calmed down again, and nothing seemed to be loud enough to be heard through the foliage.

A minute or two passed before Linast reformed near the orb they had left behind. They almost seemed to be shivering, fading or warping in places only to pull back into shape moments later. Their gaze darted around warily for a moment, but they relaxed when they caught site of Elk. They let out a soft, relieved sounding laugh, shaking their head and mumbling something to themself.

Their eyes narrowed slightly as they caught sight of the tendrils emerging from Elk’s body. They gestured to them with an uncertain noise, head tilting to the side.

Elk stood from the stone ledge they were sitting upon as soon as Linast began to reform. What a relief that they're alright!

As they gestured to them, they looked down to their body, and - oh, right.

They gestured to the tendrils. "Wiki." They then pointed to their mask. "Elk." They made a broad, vague gesture. "They were asleep until now... er..."

"This is very inefficient." Wiki emerged from their body smoothly, tendrils spilling onto the stone as more motes of absolute darkness filled the air. Wiki remained connected to Elk via a few strands of void - they preferred keeping their voice when they could. Said voice was the same as theirs - sounding almost feminine, but distorted and not a sound any bug would produce - only with vastly different mannerisms.

Linast's eyes widened as Elk began to speak, and they let out a surprised murmur. They flinched violently as Wiki emerged, snatching their core and retreating back against a pillar with another unsteady flicker in their shape and a faint noise of pain. But when Wiki didn't make any aggressive movements, they soon calmed and rocked forward onto their knees to study the pair with a thoughtful hum.

They gestured towards Elk using the same shadow-symbol trick as before--Elk--and said it aloud at the same time with a curious tilt to their head; "Elk?"

They spoke a few unintelligible words as they gestured to Wiki and tried out their name as well; "Wiki?"

Linast smiled at the pair, though their expression had an almost sad edge now as they settled one of their hands on their core. They spoke briefly again, mentioning Elk and Wiki's names as well as their own.

Elk nodded vigorously as Linast formed their name with shadows again. Wiki gave a sort of bow as their name was stated - theatric, as they are.

After listening to Linast speak again, Elk and Wiki looked at each other. "I can try probing their mind, if they'll allow it."

"If they're okay with it, that would be nice..." Elk fidgeted with their cloak. Wiki could easily learn their language, but some bugs have found their process of learning a little intrusive.

Wiki separated from Elk entirely, approaching them. "Linast," they dipped their head, "will you allow me entry?" They extended a tendril to their hand - usually, extremities were sufficient for a declaration of intent - and upon contact, they gave a questioning prod to the mind within. A request for entry to a brief skim of their mind.

For a moment, Linast looked hesitant at the approaching contact, but they soon seemed to steal their nerves. They reached out and gently gripped Wiki's outstretched tendril.

Their expression pinched and they let out a soft, unhappy whine at the mental probe--not as a bug would whine, but a melodious, inorganic sound that seemed to calm them. Linast clearly wasn't thrilled with the prospect, but... they seemed more resigned than surprised.

They grimaced, muttered a few bitter words, and gave a mental assent--and something that felt almost like an apology.

Curious. A very curious entity. They'd have to ask if they can go in deeper sometime later - but, no, stay focused. They placed another tendril on the being's head - not that it seemed to make much of a difference, the mental presence seemed about the same.

They pressed in, mentally gliding over their mind.

They slid past the pain and exhaustion, sending a ping of commiseration. They'll find a place to rest afterwards.

Now, that's curious. He (for he is indeed a he, that was made clear) has more than one language. Two, it seems? A bit entangled, and difficult to parse. One seemed to be... light based? Hmm. But this spoken language seems simple enough - they archived all the necessary knowledge of the language in moments. There were a few holes in the entanglements, but for their purposes it was more than enough.

They passed over the memories, though they noticed that there wasn't as much as they expected. They'd give it, oh, a bit more than a decade. He seems quite mature for that time, however.

Perhaps... a construct...? There certainly seems to be evidence of some tampering. Echoes of another presence, though of what nature they could not construe from their survey.

They retreated from his mind, pulling back both physically and mentally. "Linast." They spoke slowly at first, as if testing the syllables, but quickly grew in confidence and precision. "Forgive my intrusion. This was the most effective way to ensure proper communication."

Linast huffed, not quite a laugh, and offered a tired smile. "I understand. I'm used to it. But thank you for the apology—for thinking about it, I mean.”

He leaned back against the pillar, drawing his knees up to his chest. “It’s nice to be able to talk. We’re lucky you can do that. So, thank you.”

His gaze drifted to Elk, following the void tendrils still connecting the pair together.

“Can they understand me now, too?” he asked, then seemed to hesitate. “And is ‘they’ right? He, she? Maybe there isn’t anything right in English, but if you do use, ah--pronouns, that way, I can learn yours. Or you can pick English ones. Or I can talk around it and not use any, s-ssome people prefer that.”

"Both Elk and I have no gender. 'They' will do." Their gaze shifted to Elk. They were shifting their had back and forth in thought. "It'll take just a moment! They're not as fast a learner as as me."

"Hey," Elk objected, still speaking their own language. They took another moment to sort through the sudden influx of information in their joined minds, before attempting Linast's language. "I can learn just fine."

They turned to look at Linast and bounded closer in a few steps. "I'm glad we can finally talk! Are you okay? What are those things, where are you from?"

"And what, if I may ask, are you? You seem... vaguely similar to us in composition." Wiki peered at him.

Linast chuckled at Elk's protests, then blinked at the rapid barrage of questions. "I'm glad, too. Ah... I'm... not really okay, no. I don't feel like we're getting worse, so that's good. But we're pretty hurt, and I think my s-ssibling took the worst of it. She isn't waking up."

He looked almost lost, for a moment. Then he shook it off and threw a wary glance back to the entrance of the shadowed terrace as if checking for the glowing creature's presence. "I don't know what those are, I've never seen them. I don't know if they're after me, or if they're after my home, or if they just followed me to get to here, or what. It all happened pretty quickly..."

Linast hesitated, looking a bit uncomfortable at Wiki's question. But he gently pulled out the orb from before and placed it on the ground between them.

The shadows that had been wrapped around it fell away, leaving behind a glassy red sphere with intricate whorled patterns across its surface. It was damaged on one side, a spiderwebbing network of cracks and splintered edges.

"I'm a construct. My creator was trying to make ss-shadow elementals, and... he made this. Us--my sibling and I. You, ah, heh. You do look a lot like me. It's kind of neat." His head tilted, returning Wiki's scrutiny. "Can I... ask what you are, too? And, um--where we are?"

Both were silent for a moment. Wiki spoke first. "We are constructs of an essence known as Void. We are an eternal darkness, separated from our unity by the work overseen by the former ruler of this kingdom known as Hallownest."

Wiki laid a tendril across Elk's head. "Elk is one of many, many siblings. 'Vessels' made for the sake of finding the most pure to contain an ancient threat to the kingdom, the rest... discarded. They were made, with..." Wiki's gaze seemed to grow distant, as if seeing something elsewhere.

Elk spoke, but it was unclear - they transitioned smoothly. "No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering..."

Wiki spoke once more. "But he was wrong. They are not empty. And the one chosen was not either. The kingdom is in ruin. Nature cannot be fought. As for me?" They extended all their arms away from them. "I am The Archivist. It must be why I was made, as I cannot resist the call of knowledge. Why I cannot forget anything. Why I can learn everything."

The pressed a tendril to their own head, now. "I... seem to remember snippets of memories about my creator. But I lose focus when I try to recall it..."

Linast listened quietly—more or less. His posture grew more and more tense throughout the pair’s explanation, spikes growing up along his shoulders. He gave a low, furious hiss as Elk spoke their own part. By the end of things he was fairly vibrating in place, one hand dropped to the ground and his fingers clawing—through the stone of the structure, actually, leaving behind deep score marks and a loose drift of rock dust. “I hate that things like... H̢̢̀h̛̛͠h́h̨́͘ş̷s̡͞s̶҉̡͟͞h͢͏h̵́͜h̶i͏́͜t̸̢́.̡͏ Damnit.”

Linast fell silent for a moment, his eyes closed. His form flickered, the spikes fading away. But while he did look more in control of himself, he didn’t look any less tense—or less furious. “...I didn’t meet my creator for... years. It sounds like... you haven’t met yours at all, Wiki, and don’t—have any records, either. How did you learn about Elk’s—h͟͟҉̷h̸̛҉h̸̀ń́͡.̛́͏ . “Purpose”?

Elk looked down, fidgeting as Wiki answered. "There were records of the... plan in the place I awoke. The Teacher's Archives, it was called. Encoded, as most things were within. And some residents of the fallen kingdom, alive or dead or infected with the light that brought ruin to them, have a wealth of information that I partook of. The plan was... folly. Sacrificing not only the siblings. Three were sealed into sleep for eternity. And all for naught! It has failed."

Linast hummed, a low synthetic sound that seemed to come more than just his throat. “...Okay. Okay. Ss-so that’s... where we’re at, then. Fallen kingdom of Hallownest, a lot of people dead or infected with—light? Fucking stars how many—coincidences can we get—and... a lot of extra people made and turned into casualties, too.”

He sighed, and some of the remaining tension drained from his shoulders.. “...Cheery place.” Linast’s eyes finally opened, and he frowned as he gave Wiki and Elk a brief look-over.

“...Are you two okay?” he asked. “Some of that was... Elk, you sounded a bit—scripted, almost. Automatic, or... echoing something. And you looked like you were drifting a bit, Wiki. I’m—sorry if I triggered anything bad, I didn’t mean to.”

Elk gave their body a quick shake. "It's what the he always said. It's... from... a while ago. It's ok."

Wiki sighed a bit. "There is nothing but tragedy in the old kingdom, and we happened to be in that crossfire. But there is still much knowledge to acquire! So, enough of that." They drew closer to the sphere, inspecting the cracks. "That doesn't look good. Perhaps we can try bringing you to a hot spring. The soul - the life energy, if you will - within the spring may help."

Elk hopped forward, also peering at the sphere. "You mentioned... a sibling? Are you together, like us? In this?"

“Yeah,” Linast confirmed. “It’s—the core of both of us, the magic that makes us. My sibling—her name is Phosa—she can... range, a bit further than I can? She’s kind of... made by the light that I absorb, since I can’t access it myself, and... it s-seems to have enough substance of its own to keep her going for a while even when she’s not near our core. But I have to stay pretty close to it, I can’t... or, I nn-normally can’t do anything outside of the range of its magic.”

He hummed again, fingers tapping the ground. “It might be different here, though? I managed to go a lot further than I expected, when I made that diversion earlier. Usually it takes me a few weeks in a world to spread my range out that far. Maybe that... void you mentioned has something to do with it. You guys exist on your own, right? If darkness has its own substance here... I dunno.”

Linast shrugged. “But, that hot spring you mentioned might at least be worth a shot. I’m... kind of worried. Normally I’m the one passed out or not thinking straight, when our core gets this damaged.”

"Fascinating..." Wiki murmured. "If you are not opposed, I would love to learn much more about you two. But for now - your state is concerning. Though if she is truly of light as you say, the light of soul may help considerably."

"There are some hot springs pretty close! Um..." They gazed blankly into the distance, pulling up their mental map. "We're in Greenpath right now, which is close to The Crossroads. There's a spring there." Elk peered over the edge. "Looks like you led those creatures away from the place we need to go, luckily. We probably have some time."

"Yes, that is good. Neither Elk or I are that good at combat. But we are very good at running away!" Wiki laughed a distorted little laugh.

Linast smiled a bit at Wiki’s laugh, but quickly sobered again. “If they do catch up to us, I won’t let them hurt you,” he said. His tone had the finality of a promise.

He followed Elk’s gaze off the edge of the structure. “We should probably leave now while it’s quiet, then,” he added, and gingerly picked his core back up to return it to his chest. “I don’t feel great about s-sstaying so close to their entry point. I’m sure that I saw more rifts than I’ve seen creatures.”

If Elk could have smiled at Linast, they would have. They settled for lowering their head in gratitude. "Thanks, Linast..."

"Indeed. Your assistance would be appreciated." Wiki nodded, before returning completely to Elk's body. "Let us depart! I agree that we shouldn't stay near. If more will come, then..."

Elk gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, let's try to avoid that?" They made their way back to the ledge and began climbing down - a lot more easily with Wiki's help. "Come on, I know the way."

Linast chuckled weakly. "Yeah, I, uh. Avoidance is definitely what I'd prefer." He stood with careful movements and began picking his way down the ledge after the pair. "I'm right behind you."

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crystalninjaphoenix · 3 years

Text

The Magic Circle

A JSE Fanfic

Hey, who’s excited for my first non-AU piece in a long time? Who’s excited for my first one-shot in like forever? If you’re excited for either of those things, then this is the piece for you :D I took some inspiration from Marvin’s video on Halloween to come up with this. Here, Marvin meets a magic group for the first time. Let’s see what happens :)

It’s a bright summer day outside. The sun is still high in the sky, despite it being almost five o’clock. There are people walking around the city streets, either going somewhere or even just taking a walk. Birds are chirping on top of the power lines and in the trees planted along the sidewalk. And Marvin was locked inside his room trying not to break something in frustration.

“Oh my goooood.” He puts his head down on the desk surface with a bit more force than necessary. It hurts, but he doesn’t mind. “Fuuuuuck offffff.” The desk before him is lit up with a lamp, despite there being sufficient light coming from the window. The lamp shines down on a laptop, open to a Google Docs document, and a leatherbound book, open to blank pages. Marvin drops his pen down on the desk. “Fuck it.” And with that, he pushes his chair back and heads over to the room’s door, unlocking it and heading outside.

He goes down the hall to the stairs, then down to the first floor. For a moment, he stops and blinks. His eyes feel...weird. Well, it makes sense. He’s spent almost all day staring at a computer screen or a blank page. The only time he wasn’t was when he was going to the bathroom. That probably wasn’t good for his eyes.

According to the wall clock in the downstairs hallway, he’s been trying for nearly five hours. That explains why he’s so hungry. Marvin heads into the kitchen and starts looking through the cabinets for something quick but filling.

Someone knocks on the doorframe behind him. Marvin jumps, and spins around. JJ is standing there. He waves. Hello, Marvin. Did you finish?

Marvin snorts and rolls his eyes. “Oh, I wish. I’ve done like...three pages. God. Fuck.”

Oh dear...JJ frowns. What’s wrong?

“I dunno.” Marvin rubs his eyes. “I just keep getting distracted. Opening up YouTube and stuff. God, it’s just so boring. Why do I even need to write it all down in a book? All my spells and shit are saved online.”

Some people are sticklers for tradition, JJ points out. But anyway, maybe you should take a break. You haven’t eaten anything, have you?

“Uh...no. That’s why I’m here.” Marvin resumes rummaging through the cabinets. “Do we have any crisps? I’m thinking of making nachos.”

You’re not just going to eat nachos, you haven’t had anything since you woke up at ten. JJ walks over and slowly pushes the door to the cabinet closed. Here, go sit down in the dining room. I’ll make you something.

“C’mon, JJ, you don’t have to. You were probably doing something else, don’t stop that for me.”

I was going to make dinner anyway, JJ shrugs. I know you don’t eat until later, usually, but please make an exception. You can’t work on that grimoire if you collapse from hunger.

Marvin sighs. “Yeah. Thanks.” He bumps his shoulder against JJ’s—a sign of affection that could easily be mistaken for clumsiness—and heads into the dining room.

He wishes he’d never found out about the greater magical community. Ever since he had, all it meant were problems. He had to learn all about the structure of this community, about how this organization called the ABIM made laws, about how certain spells were supposed to be regulated, about how things like wands, crystal balls, and other magical aides were supposed to be made certain ways. Marvin had always done his own thing. He didn’t exactly think he was the only person in the world with magic—after all, if that was the case, who wrote down all the spells he found online? But it hadn’t exactly registered that they were probably organized somehow, and that he should probably go look for others. Thanks to his total lack of searching for other magicians, the ABIM hadn’t realized he existed until about two months ago.

But now they know. And Marvin has to learn and keep up with a bunch of rules and regulations. The one that’s giving him the most trouble is the existence of a “grimoire.” Apparently, magicians are required to write down all the spells they know, and keep them in one place. And no, the document where Marvin had copy-pasted all the spells he’d found online doesn’t count. So now he’s spent the last week or so struggling to transcribe the online document into the book he’d purchased. Progress is...slow. Marvin just can’t focus on something as unstimulating as copying words down. There’s not even any new information to process.

Luckily, eating dinner helped him get some energy back. But when it’s all said and done, and he pushes away his plate, he’s dreading going back upstairs to try and ultimately fail some more. “Thanks, JJ,” he says.

You already said so, and you’re still welcome, JJ says. Then he pauses. Is there anyone who could help you with this? Other magicians lately?

Marvin groans. “Yeah, I guess I know some, but...I don’t wanna.”

Yes, we know, you’re very stubborn, JJ signs patiently.

“I can figure this out,” Marvin insists. “I can do things on my own!”

Except for making dinner, apparently.

Marvin can’t help but laugh. “Ah, ya got me there.” He sighs, and stares absently out the window. “Look, all the magicians I’ve met so far are part of this government group. And I don’t like them.”

Well, if you ask them for help, perhaps your opinion on that would change, JJ suggests.

“Well I wouldn’t be doing this in the first place if it wasn’t for their stupid fucking law!” Marvin snaps. Then he winces. “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m just...tired.”

JJ nods. Maybe you should stop for the night. It could be easier in the morning.

“Maybe.”

And also, if you keep getting distracted, have you tried putting on music? Or perhaps doing something with your spare hand while you write? That helps me.

“Maybe.” Marvin’s still uncertain.

JJ pushes his chair back and stands up. Also, can you please do the dishes?

“What?! But you cooked!”

Exactly, and we both ate it, so it’s only fair we both do something about it.

“Oh come on, I’m all tired, please?”

JJ merely folds his arms and stares at Marvin.

“Alright, fine,” Marvin relents. “I’ve been sitting all day, might as well do something a bit active.”

Oh thank you! JJ says, beaming.

“Heh, act like you didn’t twist my arm,” Marvin mutters, shaking his head affectionately.

———————

Later that night, Marvin finds he’s having trouble going to sleep. He keeps thinking about JJ’s suggestion, the one about asking other magicians for help. Sure, he isn’t exactly fond of the ABIM magicians he’s met so far. But maybe someone else...then again, perhaps the problem with transcribing his spells is just with him, and not with the actual subject matter.

Still, it can’t hurt to get a second opinion, right? But how to find the magicians?

An idea starts to form in his mind. Marvin gets out of bed and walks over to the desk. His laptop is still set up from that day. He powers it on. The time on the computer clock reads 11:20pm. Wow, he’d only been trying to get to sleep for an hour, he thought it was longer. Anyway, he goes back to the document of his spells, searching through them for one specific spell.

Yes, there it is. The title is “Magic Minds,” a tracking spell he’d recently picked up. It’s supposed to be able to guide a magician to other magicians. Marvin hasn’t used it yet, since he had no real reason to. He didn’t want to run into magicians before, but why not now?

Marvin grabs his phone from where it was charging, and quickly changes out of pajamas and into regular clothes. He pauses, then also grabs his cape from his closet. There’s no real reason to wear it, but it would make him feel a bit better. And with all this, he heads downstairs and outside.

The spell is easy enough to cast. He’s done tracking spells before, and they all require the same basic steps. An incantation or a few gestures, then you follow whatever visual cue the spell uses to find your target.

He turns his wand over in his hands, flicking it upward, downward, side to side. Green sparks left behind by the movements make a cross, +, hovering in the air. Technically he could have used his hands, but he likes the wand. And with the cross sign hovering there, Marvin whispers a word, and blows on the middle of the cross. A wisp of green light dances out from the breath, and hits the cross. From the spot of impact, the cross turns from green to white, and falls down to be horizontal, parallel to the ground. It spins, reorienting itself, then one leg of the cross turns red as the cross settles, pointing somewhere. Marvin heads in that direction.

The cross acts as a compass, pointing in one direction. He hopes it’s not too far away. People would think it’s weird, seeing one guy with a magic compass in a cape wandering around the city at night. But unfortunately, it turns out to be far enough that he regrets not taking the bus. Then he remembers that the buses don’t run this late at night, and regrets not doing this in the daytime. How is he simultaneously the most impulsive and least impulsive person he knows?

He makes his way to a section of the city full of identical, red-bricked terrace houses. The compass starts glowing brighter. That must mean he’s getting closer. Though, looking around and seeing nothing but residential buildings around, he’s not sure he wants to break in to someone’s house. This situation doesn’t exactly call for it. He’ll probably just write down the address.

The compass flickers, drawing him out of his train of thought. It locks onto one direction, flares brightly, and then dies. Marvin growls, frustrated. This isn’t the time for the spell to fail!

“You couldn’t have waited to put it on?”

Marvin jumps a bit at the voice, and ducks into the nearest alley way. He glances around, and sees a pair of people on the other side of the street, walking. Oddly enough, one of them is wearing a black cloak. No...it can’t be this easy...

“Oh, who’s out to see it?” a different voice says. “It’s late.”

“It’s a busy city, you’re just lucky no one’s out in this section,” the first voice snaps.

The pair walks up to one of the houses, standing on the doorstep. They continue to whisper to each other, too quiet for Marvin to hear on the other side of the street. After a while, the door opens, and the two of them disappear inside.

Strange...Marvin walks out of the alleyway, staring at the house on the other side of the street. What’s this all about? He glances around, making sure there are no cars or people coming, then runs across the street, stopping outside the house. He pauses, then glances into the window quickly. The inside doesn’t look any different from an average house, but he’s not sure since he ducks away quickly so nobody inside will notice him. Though strangely, there aren’t any people inside, even though there must have been at least three. He glances back in, just to make sure they aren’t anywhere.

It’s then that he notices something strange. The image through the window is...shimmering. Like a heat wave in the air. But the glass isn’t warped or anything that would cause that effect. On a whim, Marvin presses a finger to the window pane.

And surprisingly, the window appears to shiver. A wave of warm yellow light ripples out from the point of contact, just like water across the surface of a still pond. Slowly, the effect ends, and once it does, Marvin can see people gathered in the living room. And they’re all wearing black cloaks.

What was this? A magic gathering? Marvin’s curiosity grabs a hold of him. He has to get inside. But how?

He gets out his phone, looking through the spells he has gathered again. There should be an invisibility one here somewhere. He hadn’t used it since his days as a stage magician, but he must still have it. Though it takes a while of scrolling, he does eventually find it. It’s just an incantation, but it requires the magician to use absolute focus as long as they want to remain invisible. He always had trouble with that part, which is why he gave up on using it as soon as his career ended. Until now, he thought it was only good for escape tricks.

Scanning the incantation a couple times to make sure he knows it, Marvin takes a deep breath. He puts his phone back, then rings the doorbell and quickly whispers the incantation. A rush of cool flows over him, like suddenly walking out of a heated building into a cold outside, and when he next looks down, he can’t see his own body. He gasps in triumph, but then he sees his body flicker, and returns to concentrating on staying invisible.

The door opens, and a man in a cloak looks around. Marvin ducks past him, and luckily just barely avoids brushing against him. “Hello?” the man calls. A few moments pass, and the man shakes his head and closes the door.

Marvin finds himself standing in a living room, decorated in warm colors. At least ten people are gathered, all wearing black cloaks, though it appears they’re wearing regular street clothes under them. There’s a coffee table in the middle of the room, with a few various desserts lined up on it. A low buzz of chatter fills the air.

“What was it, Callisto?” a woman asks.

The man who opened the door shakes his head. “Nobody was there. Probably some kids’ prank.”

“In the middle of the night?” the woman asks doubtfully.

“You don’t know this neighborhood,” the man—Castillo—grumbles.

“You should have taken the cloak off before answering!” Someone else says.

“Shut up Basil, nobody would’ve cared,” Castillo snaps.

Marvin walks closer into the gathering, trying not to be distracted by the various conversations. It was difficult. Words kept sneaking into his awareness despite his best efforts. No, stay invisible. Stay invisible. Complete focus.

“Why does everyone keep bringing desserts to the meeting?” A woman nearby complains.

“Because it tastes fucking good, duh,” another woman next to her says.

“Can we get started already?” asks a man. “Hey Castillo! Everyone’s here, right? Can we get started?”

“Jeez, who lit the fire under your pants, Leo?” Someone mutters.

“Hey, I’m only pointing out that it’s almost midnight, Lily,” Leo says. “We’re running out of time!”

“Alright, Leo’s right, we’re getting close to the time,” Castillo sighs. “Alright, listen up everyone! We’re heading down to the basement to get started!”

A wave of chatter breaks out, and everyone files out of the room. Marvin rushes to the side in order to avoid anyone bumping into him. He watches silently as they all move into the hall and then down a set of stairs. What are they doing? He hesitates, then follows cautiously. A bunch of people in cloaks heading down to a basement for some sort of ritual? Every movie, book, and game ever says that’s a shady thing and should not be checked out. Yet he’s so curious. Is this what other magicians do?

The staircase isn’t too long, and it opens up into a large, wide room. Marvin was expecting a concrete floor and visible rafters, but it looks more like an entertainment room. The walls were painted a pale yellow, the floor was mostly carpeted, there were sofas and chairs and even one of those huge beanbags. It’s lit up by lightbulbs mounted directly into the ceiling, which makes it look just like any other household room. The only thing different is a square section of dark hardwood floor with a circle drawn on it in, well, what looks like salt. A few tall candles sit around the edges of the circle, in alternating purple and orange colors.

Marvin walks closer to the circle. There are some symbols drawn around its edge, also in salt. He’s surprised to realize he doesn’t recognize any of them. They’re not part of any runes he knows. But he does feel like he’s seen them before, somewhere else. Maybe it’s a different runic alphabet? But what does this mean?

“Hey, did you see that?” someone asks.

“See what?”

“I dunno, I thought...nevermind.”

“C’mon, Morgana.”

“Well, I just thought it looked like a person out of the corner of my eye.”

Marvin inhales sharply and goes back to concentrating on staying invisible. This is the last place he wants that to wear off.

“It’s five minutes to midnight!” Castillo calls. “Everyone in position!”

There’s a bit of awkward shuffling as the group moves to stand around the circle. A few people whisper about watching the edge of the salt to make sure it doesn’t get knocked out of place. “Someone get the lights,” Castillo says.

“Uh, shouldn’t we light the candles first so it’s not dark?” Basil points out.

“Oh, I have a lighter!” Morgana volunteers.

“Oh yeah.” Castillo nods. “Mor, you light the candles. Uh, James, you’re closest to the lights, knock them out, will you?”

“Everyone watch their hems,” Morgana says as she starts going around the edge of the circle and lighting the candles. Once they’re all lit, a man dashes over to the wall and hits the light switch, plunging the room into darkness except for the candlelight.

“Hands, everyone,” Castillo instructs. Everyone grabs their neighbors’ hands, forming a connected circle. “Two minutes to midnight. Time to start. Make sure you chime in at the right time.”

Silence falls. Marvin holds his breath, waiting for something to happen. And soon, the circle starts murmuring. No, it’s not just that, they’re actually chanting, all in a low, quiet voice. More voices join in, and they all get louder. Harmonies break off as different strings of words jump in, until the group is singing, their voices echoing off the walls.

Lines appear on the floor inside the circle. Lines of orange light, each one starting at the feet of one of the magicians, then ending at the feet of another. There were so many, connecting each magician to every other member of the group. The light coming from them grew brighter, and then—

SNAP!

Sparks flew into the air in the center of the circle. Quicker than what should be possible, they grow into a fire, hovering about three feet off the ground. The flames start orange, and then flicker between different colors—red, yellow, green, purple, blue, pink, white, and everything in between. It was as if a firework had gone off in the room, completely contained within a small part of the air. Marvin couldn’t help but gasp. And, as he stared closer into the fire, he realized there weren’t just colors...there were images as well. Shapes of people and objects forming scenes. They pass by too quickly for him to fully make out.

The chanting reaches a crescendo, and the fire breaks down into small balls of flame. Each one shoots toward one of the magicians, disappearing into their chests. For a moment, all the magicians glow with the colors of the fire. And then it fades. The lines on the floor disappear, and the magicians slowly stop their chants.

There’s a brief moment of quiet, like the heavy sort of silence one hears after having finished a good book and absorbing the story it contained. And then: “James, can you get the lights again?”

The man from before walks over to turn on the light switch. Everyone gasps and blinks in the suddenly bright room. Idle chatter starts up.

“Hey wait a minute, who’s that?!”

Marvin gasps as one of the magicians points at him. They all turn to look, and he realizes too late that he’d forgotten to concentrate on the invisibility spell.

“Who are you?!”

“What are you doing here?!”

“How’d you get in?!”

And Marvin panics. He turns and runs up the stairs, hearing the magicians shout behind him. Skipping the last step, he bursts out into the first floor hallway and starts to sprint for the front door.

Someone shouts something, and there’s a burst of red light. Then only blackness.

———————

Marvin only realizes he lost consciousness once he starts regaining it. He groans, feeling a headache spike in his temples, and opens his eyes.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” A man is sitting next to him, wearing a black cloak. It takes Marvin a moment to recognize him as the Castillo guy. But upon recognition, he bolts upright. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down!” Castillo holds his hands up, slightly pushing Marvin back down. “You’re not in any trouble. Persephone hit you with a blackout spell, but she’s sorry about that.” He glares to the side. “Riiight?”

Every other cloaked magician is standing nearby. They’re all back in the living room from before, with Marvin lying on one of the sofas. “Uh, yeah, really sorry,” a woman says. “I freaked out and acted on instinct.”

“How are you feeling?” Castillo asks, turning back to Marvin. “Some people have allergic reactions to blackout spells. Are you having any trouble breathing?”

Marvin doesn’t answer, looking wide-eyed at the people around him. Now that he’s actively facing the prospect of talking to other magicians, his throat has closed up. It’s probably made worse by the fact that he technically broke into their secret meeting.

“Uh, sir?” Castillo reaches out and makes to grab Marvin’s arm.

“Don’t!” Marvin flinches away. “Don’t fucking touch me!”

“Oh, okay, sorry!” Castillo sharply withdraws. “Just wanted to be sure you were breathing.”

“Yeah, well, I’m fine, so don’t touch me,” Marvin grumbles. He shifts awkwardly, glancing around at the others. They’re starting to mutter among themselves. He can’t tell what they’re saying, and that makes him nervous. Are they mad at him? It would be understandable. But he’s terrible with tone of voice, so he can’t even tell, and the uncertainty makes him even more worried.

“I got it, no worries.” Castillo gives a friendly smile, no doubt meant to reassure Marvin. “But you are okay, right?”

“Yeah, fine,” Marvin mutters.

“That’s good,” Castillo nods. “Um...do you mind if I ask how you got here? This house is warded from any teleportations.”

“Yeah, if you guys tell me who you are first,” Marvin countered.

“We’re the Magic Circle, duh,” one of the other magicians says.

“Well I’ve never fucking heard of the Magic Circle, so excuse me for not knowing!” Marvin sits up on the sofa, scooting away from Castillo.

“Huh? Really?” Castillo looks puzzled. “Well, specifically, we’re the Mirygale chapter of the Magic Circle, it’s a nationwide organization.”

“Are you guys like a coven or something?” Marvin asks.

“We’re just a group, man,” another magician says. “We meet up, cast spells together, not that hard to grasp.”

“I’ve never heard of magic groups,” Marvin says warily.

Castillo blinks. “Seriously?”

“Well, I know the ABIM guys,” Marvin admits. “But that’s it.”

“ABIM is different,” Castillo says dismissively. “They’re like a government, and a loose one at that.” He pauses. “Are you...self-taught?”

“Yeah. Why the fuck does that matter?” Marvin demands.

It must have mattered significantly, because a chorus of “ohhhhhh” passed through the group. “Ah, that explains why you don’t know about magic groups,” Castillo says. “You’re a bit old for being self-taught, though. Most magicians from outside a magical family find—”

“—find out about the greater magic community when they’re in college, yeah, I know, I’ve heard that speech before,” Marvin says through clenched teeth. “So I’m a few years late, I was busy. Anyway, what are magic groups? Just like, magicians gathered together? Is that allowed? What do the ABIM think?”

Castillo laughs. “The Magic Circle is much older than the Association, they couldn’t get rid of us if they wanted to.” He shrugs. “Well, magic groups aren’t too hard to figure out. It’s just a bunch of magicians gathered together.” He sweeps his arm around the room. “Spells cast by a group are more powerful than just a single magician alone. We share spells with each other, come to each others’ aid in times of magical crisis, study magic together...they say two heads are better than one, you know? Stronger in numbers.”

Marvin nods slowly. “So...what were you doing in the basement?”

“That? That was a combination divination and prosperity spell,” Castillo explains. “Something like that you can only get in a group. It shows us significant events in the next year, then gives us good luck.”

“Never heard of a good luck spell...” Marvin mutters.

“Well, you’ve been practicing on your own, and doing luck spells on your own is a tricky business,” Castillo says. “So now it’s our turn. How’d you get inside?”

Marvin shifts uncomfortably, then reluctantly explains the whole thing with the Magic Minds spell and the invisibility.

“Ohhh, I know that spell!” One of the magicians says excitedly. “But you’re supposed to include your target’s full name in the incantation, otherwise it’ll just lead you to the nearest magician.”

“Why were you looking for magicians?” Another one asks.

Marvin looks down. Now that the time has come for it, he’s kind of embarrassed. “I dunno, I...sort of wanted help with this grimoire thing. But it’s stupid. Nevermind.”

“Huh? What kind of help?” Castillo asks. “You know the Magic Minds spell and an invisibility spell, you seem pretty knowledgeable.”

Marvin scowls. “Well, apparently, it needs to be in a book, not online at all. Which is fucking dumb. Why do I have to copy it all over?! It’s all already there!”

“Have you tried listening to a podcast while doing it?” One of the magicians suggests. “It gives you something to focus on.”

Castillo chuckles. “Well, if it’s a problem with focus, I don’t know if magicians specifically could help.”

“Shut up,” Marvin mutters. “Maybe there’s a spell to copy it all over for me—”

“If you found one, let me know, will you?” Castillo jokes.

Marvin glares at him, then stands up. “Well, I’m sorry for interrupting your Magic Circle shit, I’ll just go now, because clearly this was a stupid fucking idea—”

“Hey wait!” Castillo stands up as well. “What’s your name, bro?”

“Don’t call me bro!” Marvin growls. “But it’s Marvin. Marvin Moore.”

“Wait holy shit like Marvin the Magnificent?!” A magician says excitedly. Marvin recognizes him as the James one. “You had real magic the whole time?! No wonder people couldn’t figure out your tricks!”

Marvin can’t help but smile proudly at that. “Hell yeah, people loved it.”

“Well, Mr. Moore, you have some powerful magic in you,” Castillo says admirably. “You bypassed all the wards I set up here without even trying.” He walks over to a table with drawers, pulling one open and taking out a pen and notebook. After scribbling something down, he tears out the page, and walks back over to hand it to Marvin. “This is all our information, and my personal phone number. If you ever have a group you want to join, call us, okay?”

“Oh! Do it!” James encourages. “Then we’ll be thirteen, it’ll be the ideal number for most spells! And we’ll have a famous guy in our chapter!”

“Hey, let him make his own decision,” a nearby magician says.

Marvin scans the information from the paper. There could be benefits to joining a magic group...one of which being that he’ll finally have more than five people to talk to. And were these spells cast by groups really more powerful? A familiar feeling starts to grow inside him, a feeling of wanting to know, of wanting to be the best. That feeling led him astray in the past, got him mixed up in branches of magic he probably shouldn’t have been involved in. But if he’s with other people, it’ll be different, right? He hesitates for just one moment longer, then asks, “Hey, so uh, what if I’ve already made my decision?”

———————

The next day, Marvin finds himself sitting at his desk once more, with his laptop and his unfinished grimoire before him. But there were also a couple other things as well. A slim book, its cover decorated with the same sort of symbols he’d seen written in that circle of salt, and a sphere of black crystal. “Consider these your entrance-level gifts,” Castillo had said. “I don’t know how familiar you are with the types of magic the Circle likes to use, so this’ll be your beginner’s course.”

Marvin actually isn’t familiar with these branches of magic at all. And that makes this book all the more fascinating. It contains a guide to the symbols they use, the principles of the magic, and a few basic spells. Interestingly, it seems to be derived from alchemy. Or maybe it is alchemy, Marvin doesn’t know. He’d never had any reason to look up what alchemy was before this.

He sets the book down, taking a moment to pick up his new crystal ball and look it over. He can already think of several uses for this, but that might have to wait until later. For now, he really needs to at least make some progress on the grimoire.

And where better to start than with the new, interesting spells? It’s sure to keep his focus if he’s copying down information he’s never heard before. Marvin puts the crystal ball down and picks up his pen. But before he starts writing, he puts on his headphones. Listening to a podcast, huh? Maybe that will help.

He can feel that something new is in the air. Something is changing. Marvin had never worked with other magicians before. The prospect is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. But however this ends, he knows now that things will be different from here on, in some way or another. And he’s certainly excited to find out.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #marvin the magnificent #brigid writes fanfiction

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crystalninjaphoenix · 4 years

Text

Twice Bitten, Never Shy

A Stitched Story

JSE Fanfic

My mind is going blank for things to say about this part. Maybe I’m tired. Anyway, the boys have themselves a couple of new allies, and just in time to get attacked again! Timing! And that’s about all I can think of. Besides, I feel like my descriptions are getting long, so I’ll just stop. Hope you enjoy reading ^-^

Tagging @septic-dr-schneep for inspiring this AU with this post.

Read where it started: Stitched Together | Season One | Season Two

Previous Season Three story: Torn Apart | Tales to Tell | Threads

Taglist (finally): @bupine @violet--majesty

“Sorry for dropping in on all of you like this. But we really need to talk.”

For a moment, everyone just stared at the person who’d just walked into the room. The same magician from...was it really just earlier that morning? One of the ones they’d fought with, the one named Delyth Mae. It took a moment to sink in. And then everything burst.

Schneep shot to his feet, wielding his scissors like a knife blade. JJ threw his hand in an arc, conjuring a shield right in front of Delyth, in case she tried to cast any spells. Chase cried out and tried to stand up but was dragged back down by Jackie still clinging to his arm. Jack scrambled backwards, tripping over the chair’s arm in an attempt to back away. “What are you doing here?!” Schneep snarled.

Delyth looked unfazed. She raised her hands like she was surrendering. “I said we need to talk,” she repeated calmly.

“You tried to kill us!” Chase squeaked.

“No,” Delyth emphasized. “That was never the plan. It wasn’t even the plan to fight you unless you were hostile. Tavish and Nairne were out of line, and I’ve removed them from this team. Now, I hope to approach this diplomatically.”

Schneep barked out a laugh. “You think we are going to trust you—”

JJ lowered the shield.

“Jay what the fuck?!” Chase shouted.

“Wait, what? What just happened?” Schneep asked, suddenly shifting his mood to confused.

“Your friend seems to be reasonable,” Delyth said, stepping further into the room. “I’m so sorry to impose on you, Mr. Akela.”

“Uh...no, it’s fine,” Malcolm said, remaining in the doorway. “I’m just...gonna...wait here.” He looked visibly awkward, standing in the entrance to his own commandeered living room.

“Hey, uh, JJ, I appreciate your...trusty-ness,” Jack said, warily edging around the room. “But is this a good idea?”

When the other two magicians were fighting us, she was trying to stop them, JJ remembered. I think she’s willing to talk it out, at least.

“She tried to stop the other two who were fighting us, huh?” Jack repeated. “I guess that makes sense.”

Schneep grumbled, but lowered his scissors. “Fine, but I will stay on my guard.”

Delyth walked yet further into the room, now standing in the center. She looked around, and her eyes landed on Jackie. “Oh hello.”

Jackie blinked. “Do I...? No, I definitely don’t know you.”

“Just say why you are here,” Schneep prompted.

“Well, last time, I told you about the unusually high levels of soul magic in the city.” Delyth folded her hands. “I believe you may know something about it. If you would give us information, I give you my promise, the ABIM will do everything we can to help you with any troubles you may have.”

“Huh...I guess that could be helpful,” Chase said reluctantly. “If you’re telling the truth.”

“Of course I am!” Delyth’s tone became suddenly impatient. “Look, we’ve been chasing this soul magic for a long time now, people above me want results. I’m sure we can help.”

“Uh...well I guess it might be good to have some magical knowledge when it comes to this.” Jack held up the water bottle with the duct-taped lid.

“Jack, please,” Schneep said, exasperated.

“Oh, sorry, Hen, I’m just talking about the strings,” Jack said.

“Well, I could get context clues, but still.” Schneep hummed. “I suppose you are right.”

“Well, I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement, then,” Delyth smiled. “Now. Can you please tell me what—wait, hold on a second.” She reached into a pocket and pulled out a small tape recorder. “I have to record this as a testimony. None of you mind, do you?”

I would like to point out that you can’t record me, JJ immediately said.

“Yeah, JJ uses sign language, how’s that gonna work?” Chase asked.

“Well I suppose one of you will have to translate,” Delyth said. “Other than that, is everything okay?” Everyone made sounds of agreement, though Schneep’s was a bit reluctant. “Great.” Delyth pressed a button on the recorder. “This is Delyth Mae, member of the Magi, Investigation Level 4. Case 3-10100703. Witness interview for information. Please state your names for the record.”

Uh...” Jack blinked, and glanced around at the others. “I’m, uh...Jack McLoughlin.”

“I’m Chase,” Chase says, now squirming to adjust positions while Jackie was still refusing to let go. “Chase Brody.”

“Dr. Henrik von Schneeplestein,” Schneep states clearly. “And this is our friend Jameson Jackson, who unfortunately cannot talk for your recorder.” JJ waved.

“Thank you. Now, two of you, Mr. McLoughlin and Mr. Schneeplestein—”

“Doctor,” Schneep said tersely.

“Sorry, Dr. Schneeplestein.” Delyth paused. “Out of curiosity, what are you a doctor of?”

“I...was a surgeon,” Schneep said slowly.

“Well, the two of you give off distinct signatures of soul magic, is that correct?”

“Apparently,” Jack laughed nervously.

“And on that basis, I thought that you may know something about the high levels of soul magic in the city.” Delyth seems to be providing an explanation for the tape recorder. “Now, can you tell me what that is, that you know?”

Nobody really wanted to start. But after a moment of admittedly awkward silence, Chase said, “Well, I guess it started with this guy and his roommate.” Chase pointed to Jackie. “This is...well, he’s a friend of ours.”

“What’s your name, sir?” Delyth asked.

Jackie blinked. “I’m—we’re—I’m Jackie. But I think I—we—I have more names than that.”

“Look, it’s a long story,” Chase interrupted. “Just...don’t say anything until we’re done.” And he started to explain.

— — — — — — —

Someone was walking through the city streets. It was eleven o’clock in the morning, and a lot of people were out, pedestrians and drivers alike. But no one seemed to notice him. Which was unusual, you would think a man wearing half a mask, stained blue and shaped like a cat face, with green string stitching across his neck, eyes glimmering blue and green and occasionally red...you would think a man like that would be noticeable.

He was heading somewhere. He wasn’t sure where, but he could feel it tugging at him. Like a string pulling him to a destination. Though he didn’t know where he was going, he knew what would be on the other end of the string. More pieces of him. They were all together.

A woman was following him for a while. Until she noticed he was going in a straight line. Directly straight, cutting through alleyways and yards whenever he could. Puzzled, she opened up a map of the city on her phone, tracing a straight line in the direction he was heading. There wasn’t really anything important in that part of the city. Just a section of townhouses. But he might have been going to one of them. She hurried ahead, and halfway through running, poofed into a cloud of blue smoke. When it faded, she was gone.

The man hadn’t even noticed her disappearing. He hadn’t even noticed her following. All that was important were the missing pieces. And he was getting closer.

White noise flickered around his grinning face.

— — — — — — —

The silence after the explanation was deafening. Delyth didn’t say anything as she processed what had just happened. Chase had done most of the explaining, though naturally, there were parts he didn’t know and the others had to fill in. Malcolm had left halfway through, muttering something about stupid crazy magic shit. Jackie had stayed, but he’d stayed silent the whole time, and after a while closed his eyes. Nobody thought he was sleeping.

“This is...frankly unbelievable,” Delyth finally said.

“Don’t worry, we know,” Jack muttered.

“It’s just—” She couldn’t even come up with words to describe it. “The four of you—well, the five of you—you knew Marvin Moore?”

None of them had expected her to grab onto that, out of the whole series of events. “Well, Jameson didn’t,” Jack said. JJ shook his head, but said nothing, aware it wouldn’t be picked up on the recorder. “But yeah, we all did.”

“You know me,” Jackie said, giggling. His eyes stayed firmly closed. “You know me̶.”

The others stared at him for a moment. After a while, when it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything else, Schneep cleared his throat. “Why is that significant?” he asked.

“Marvin Moore was one of only two soul magicians in this city,” Delyth said. “Both of them, coincidentally, had a history of subverting ABIM regulations.”

Chase blinked. “I...never knew Marvin was part of this magical organization. Or, uh, going around it, whatever. Though to be fair, we didn’t think Marvin’s magic was actually magic until all this crazy shit started happening.”

“If what you say is true...” Delyth said slowly. “About this...together...fusion...thing...” She couldn’t help but give Jackie another wary glance. “Then this thing would probably have soul magic as well, thus accounting for the high amounts of trace soul magic in the city. Sounds like it was...active. Until recently.”

“Well, these string things might be...whatever’s left of him.” Jack shook the water bottle, hearing the faint sound of the strings inside. “And they’re very active.”

Delyth shook her head, visibly stunned. “Nothing like this has ever—ever—happened before. Not in all our records, and they go back quite a while. Influencing electricity, this intense hypnotism—opening the Nightmare, for god’s sake. ‘Black magic’ doesn’t even cover what this thing is. It’s—it is a magical abomination.”

Jackie’s eyes suddenly flew open. They seemed to flash red, and he growled, glaring at Delyth. She tensed, her eyes glowing a slight purple in return.

The tension was broken by the doorbell ringing. Malcolm, who’d been listening quietly, made a cry of frustration. “I swear, if it’s anyone else involved in this fucking stuff...” He muttered under his breath as he went to get the door.

“But even if you’ve never heard of something like this before, you can still...like, fix it, right?” Chase asked hopefully.

Delyth frowned. “That isn’t my area of expertise. I know some things about soul magic, but I haven’t studied it, exactly. We’d need to call in people who know more about experimental magic than I do, just to even figure out what we could do.”

“Okay,” Jack said. “So how do we do—”

“Hey!” Malcolm shouted.

Everyone looked towards the sound, just in time to see a young woman with purple and blue hair run into the room. “Mae! It is you!” she said, visibly relieved.

Malcolm ran into the room after her. “I’m sorry, she just pushed right past me, do any of you know her?”

Delyth blinked. She quickly turned off the tape recorder and stood up, shoving it in her pocket. “Yvonne Bell. What are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story, but basically—” Yvonne looked like she was starting with a conversation, but then she glanced around the room and stopped. She stared, wide-eyed, at the group. “Wait, who are you?”

“Bell, please,” Delyth said, exasperated. “You are on thin ice already—”

“Ohhhh no, wait, I get it now,” Yvonne covered her mouth with her hand. “You’re friends of his, right? Marvin.”

“Oh my god, how the fuck does everyone know Marvin?!” Schneep threw his hands in the air.

Are you a magician too? JJ asked.

“You—also—magician,” Yvonne said out loud, watching JJ’s hands move. “I’m assuming that’s what that is, I’m a bit rusty. Yes, I am.”

“Yvonne Bell is the second soul magician in the city,” Delyth explained. “It’s only natural that the two of them knew of each other.”

“Well, uh...yeah, you can say that,” Yvonne said, her voice slowly rising in pitch. “Hey, so uh, Mae, I ducked in here cause I thought it was a bit weird, sensing you in this area, I thought you might be able to help, but I think I ended up finding something more important. You are friends of Marv, right? I think I recognize you. Definitely recognize him.” She pointed at Jackie, who was now looking around as if searching for the source of a strange noise.

“Yeah, we knew him—know him,” Jack said. “Uh...why?”

Yvonne laughed, a bit hysterically. “Well so long story short I ran into him and he’s pretty off his rocker! And also he was heading in this direction last I saw so I tried to find where he was going and that might end up being here.”

Silence fell instantly. It stayed for a few seconds, and then Malcolm immediately turned around and left, muttering something under his breath. Everyone in the living room heard the sound of the stairs creaking. “You know honestly I don’t blame him for that,” Chase sighed. “Uh...Yvonne, is it? What do you mean he’s off his rocker?”

“H-he showed up at my shop last night,” Yvonne started. “And he—well, he was bleeding from this wound on his neck, and at first I thought he was acting weird ‘cause of the blood loss, but it wasn’t that big. He didn’t know where he was or who I was or who he was, kept switching from I to we, saying stuff about puppets, it was all really weird. Then there were these green strings—” Everyone stiffened. “—that showed up, and he, like, it was creepy how he acted with them, and some of them reached him and—and he was all hostile, and he headed out, and it was like he was looking for something, but that must be you, right?”

Another few moments of silence. “Jesus,” Chase muttered, and stood up, managing to push Jackie away only because he seemed more concerned with...something. “You’re not joking, right?”

“Why the shit would I joke about that?!” Yvonne yelled. “It was freaky as fuck!”

“So when you say ‘green strings,’” Jack said, “do you mean this collection of green, slightly glowing, pieces of thread that crawled across the ground like creepy worms?”

Yvonne blinked. “Yeah, why?”

Jack held up the water bottle and tapped the side. “They showed up here, too. We caught them, but...Jackie reacted weirdly to them.”

“Clearly, these strings are somehow connected to the both of them,” Delyth said.

“Well no shit!” Schneep snapped. “Anti was held together by string, it is probably what is left of him!”

“Okay, look, we can discuss it later,” Yvonne said. “Right now we have to—”

Jameson happened to glance towards the window at just the right time. He stiffened, and threw out a shield. The window burst, glass flying inward. Most of it bounced off Jameson’s shield, which managed to cover Chase, Jack, and Jackie, all sitting close together. Schneep yelped, but was mostly blocked from the shards by Yvonne, who threw up her arms to try to protect herself. Delyth reacted as soon as she heard the sound, conjuring a personal shield of her own out of crystalline purple magic.

Strands of blue light started to crawl inside the broken window. Jackie suddenly snapped to attention and shot to his feet. Chase grabbed him, sure that this couldn’t be a good thing.

The blue light—blue strings—wrapped around Jameson’s shield, twisting along the edges. Jameson took a step back, the magic flickering. Without warning, the strings shot towards him, wrapping around his torso and pinning his arms to his side. The shield died.

“What is this?!” Delyth asked, scrambling to her feet.

“Watch out!” Yvonne shouted.

Something jumped through the broken window, moving too fast to be anything but a blur. Jack was suddenly knocked to the ground, dropping the water bottle, which rolled across the floor. He gasped, partly because the breath was knocked out of him, partly because of the sight before him. It was recognizably Marvin, but...at the same time, too strange. He was wearing a mask that looked rather like his old cat-shaped one...if it was blue instead of white and snapped in half. Behind that mask, his eyes flickered between blue and green, teeth clenched in a snarl. Green stitches crossed a line across his throat.

Jackie shouted something, and pushed Chase away. He only took two steps forward before Chase tackled him to the floor. “Marvin!” Yvonne shouted, and ran over to pull him off Jack. Delyth quickly joined her. While they were doing that, Schneep was by Jameson’s side. Trying to pull at the magic strings proved unsuccessful, so he took out his scissors and cut, managing to slice right through them, though he got very close to Jameson’s skin a couple times.

There was a burst of light, and Yvonne and Delyth got thrown back, covered in blue strings that stuck to the walls. Schneep spun around. “What is happening?!”

Jack sat up, Marvin suddenly gone. He looked around for where he went, and caught sight of him just as he grabbed the water bottle with the strings inside. “Don’t let him grab the bottle!” Jack shouted, lunging forward and landing on Marvin’s back. He managed to startle him enough to make him let go, but as the bottle rolled away, Marvin hissed, and reached for it. Jack grabbed his arm. “Chase, help?!”

“Sorry bro, bit busy!” Chase was dealing with a struggling Jackie, who kept trying to get closer to Marvin and the bottle.

Jameson shook off the last of the magic strings, and flung a disc of magic forward. It rolled across the floor and hit the bottle, knocking it across the room. Marvin and Jackie shouted in identical unison.

Schneep finished cutting Delyth and Yvonne out of the magic strings, and Delyth yelled something in a strange language. The ground quaked, and a purple spike shot out of the ground directly under the water bottle, sending it flying into the air, in a perfect arc right into Delyth’s hands. She wiggled it, as if taunting Marvin and Jackie, then threw it out the window.

Marvin screamed, and disappeared in a flurry of white noise. Jackie’s eyes flashed red, and Chase was thrown backward, staggering, bleeding from a cut that went straight from his shoulder to his navel. Not even looking back, Jackie ran forward and jumped out the window.

“Come on, outside!” Delyth said to the room. “There’ll be more room to maneuver!”

It took a few moments for everyone to get their bearings, but they knew time was of the essence so they hurried. As a group, they all ran out the front door onto the street.

Marvin had picked up the water bottle, and was struggling with the duct tape holding the lid closed. Jackie was standing a few feet in front of him, eyes fixed on his face. After a moment, Marvin seemed to notice, and looked up as well. The two of them were frozen.

Just long enough for Jameson to throw a shield up between them. Jackie stepped back, his surprised expression turning to anger. He cried out, and red light started slicing at the shield. Marvin was smarter, and whirled to look at Jameson. He threw out his hands, and more blue strings shot forward. Chase pushed Jameson out of the way, but got entangled himself. Schneep ran to him, and upon feeling the strings, started cutting at those as well.

“Get the bottle!” Jack shouted, running forward. Marvin turned to him and scowled. More strings burst out of the ground, wrapping around his legs and stopping him in his tracks.

Jameson’s shield flickered and died, and Jackie ran forward, latching onto Marvin’s side. Marvin seemed to relax a bit, his eyes starting to glow a softer green. Jackie’s eyes glowed as well, the exact same color.

“No no no no no.” Yvonne ran forward, stopping right behind Jackie. She pressed her hands to either side of her head. “Dor me sonum,” she whispered, and Jackie’s eyes rolled back in his head. He crumpled to the floor, but then Marvin’s eyes instantly locked on Yvonne. She didn’t even have time to react before she was sent flying backwards, landing heavily on the asphalt of the street, and not moving again.

“Fuck this!” Schneep hissed under his breath, turning towards Marvin. Marvin laughed, static crackling along with the sound, and threw out another wave of strings. But Schneep disappeared. And between one step and the next, he was behind Marvin, grabbing at the bottle he was holding. He managed to wrench it out of his grasp, then stepped backwards and disappeared again.

Delyth turned to Jameson. “Can you keep him busy?” she asked. He looked surprised, but nodded. “Good.” She took a deep breath, and started muttering something.

Jameson stepped forward, throwing a disc of light at Marvin, who seemed stunned at the fact that he was no longer holding the water bottle. He didn’t recover in time to avoid the disc splashing in his face. He gasped, and stumbled back, then immediately glared at Jameson. He raised his hand, and a few more strings curled around his arm and shot outward. Jameson ducked just in time to avoid them, but another few quickly wrapped around his arms, pulling him downward. “Useless f͡a͟͝ke magician,” Marvin hissed. “W̵or͠thle͟s͞ś replacement.”

“Leave him alone!” Chase shouted. In one swift motion, he pulled out his gun and BANG!

Marvin staggered backwards, more surprised than hurt. He glared at Chase and reached upward.

Delyth suddenly threw her hands out in front of her, eyes glowing bright purple. A wave of purple light flew out from her in a circle. Once it reached Marvin, pale lavender crystals started to grow out of the ground around his feet. He looked down, but the crystals accelerated, and soon they were covering him up to his armpits. There was only enough time for him to scream out in frustration before he was completely encased.

“We should hurry to get out of here,” Delyth said, not wasting any time. “That spell only lasts an hour at best. Quick, let’s all get in my car.”

“Your what?” Schneep asked.

“Yeah, what?” Chase repeated.

Delyth pointed to the side of the road. A blue car was parked there. “It should be a tight fit, but I think we can all squeeze in. Bring Bell and that...what was his name? Jackie?”

“Hang on!” Schneep had finished cutting Jack free of the strings, and was now standing up straight and glaring in Delyth’s general direction.

“I just pointed to it,” Delyth said, annoyed.

“I am fucking blind!” Schneep snapped. “Was that not obvious?!”

“...oh.” Delyth had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I suppose that would explain some things I noticed. I just thought that...nevermind. My apologies.”

“It’s okay, I’ll get you there,” Jack said to Schneep.

For his part, Schneep looked frustrated. “The first thing I am doing after everything settles down is getting one of those white canes. That way everyone will know and I can find what is around me without asking people.”

Where are we going? Jameson asked.

“Yeah, where are we going?” Chase repeated. “You’re a magician, are we going to some secret magic place?”

Delyth glanced uneasily at Marvin, still frozen. “I’ll explain on the way there.”

— — — — — — —

The car ride was short, which was lucky, since it was also very cramped. Delyth drove and Chase was in the front seat, which left the other three to fill the backseat. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they didn’t also have to fit in Jackie and Yvonne’s unconscious bodies. So they ended up having those two partly on top of them.

True to her word, Delyth explained while she drove. “Marvin clearly means you harm. We need a place with strong wards to protect you from him. And somewhere to keep those...strings safe. To study them, as well as what happened to your friend Jackie. I know a place that fits all those qualifications, near the center of town.”

After a while, Delyth parked in front of what looked like an old bookstore. The sign had fallen off and the windows were dusty, but through the clouded glass you could see lines of shelves and empty displays. They all piled out of the car, watching Delyth as she ran her hand along the edge of the building’s front door frame. It lit up with purple light, which faded to white before disappearing entirely. And without an explanation, she opened the door and stepped inside. Confused, the others quickly followed, with Chase and Jack carrying Yvonne and Jackie.

The interior wasn’t at all what it looked like it would be from the outside. In fact, it looked more like a hotel lobby than anything, decorated in white and gold colors. “Wait, what?!” Chase blinked in surprise.

We stepped into a TARDIS, JJ said succinctly.

“Fancy,” Jack commented. “Looks like the entrance to a hotel or something.” This last statement was probably for Schneep, clinging to his arm.

“This is an ABIM Sanctuary,” Delyth explained. She walked over to a desk with a computer and started typing something in. “It’s for any Magi agents or employed wizards to stay while in town.”

“I...cannot take the phrase ‘employed wizards’ seriously,” Chase said.

Delyth huffed. “‘Wizard’ just means they study magic. It’s an actual term with a long history—you know what, I can explain later. Or maybe Bell can, when she wakes up. We should probably get one of the healers here to look at her, make sure the damage from that blow wasn’t too severe.”

“What about Jackie?” Jack asked.

“It looked like Bell hit him with a sleep spell,” Delyth said. “He should wake up any minute now.” She backed away from the computer. “There. I’ve checked you all in, as my guests, now I’ll show you to your assigned rooms.” And she headed towards a set of elevator doors in the back of the room.

You said we needed strong wards, JJ asked. Does that mean Marvin can’t find us here? And what about these strings? You said we could study them. Jack translated the signs for Delyth.

“Yes, the wards here are very strong,” Delyth said, pressing the Up button next to the lift. “Tracking spells shouldn’t be able to break through them. And we’ll have to talk to some of the wizards here about the strings, I’m sure they can help. If not, I’ll call in for backup. Now come on.” The elevator doors dinged open.

Surprisingly, there were seven floors to the building, which had been just a single story from the outside. Delyth led them to the third floor and down a series of corridors, all lined with doors, until they reached one labelled 314. “I have two extra rooms, they all have two beds and a sleeper sofa. Bell can stay with me. You five can work out who stays in 312 and 313. Don’t worry, the doors aren’t locked to any of us; I put your names on the registry.”

“Uh...I’m gonna assume that’s some type of magic and say ‘thanks,’” Chase said. “Uh...well, if Jackie’s gonna wake up, I think I should stay with him? I-I don’t know, he might get upset if I don’t.”

“Okay, yes, but Jackie also became...aggressive,” Schneep said. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah...” Chase said, sighing.

I can stay with you, Chase, JJ offered. That way, if Jackie does try to attack, I can protect you.

“Oh.” Chase blinked. “Um...thanks.”

“So it’s you three, then me and Schneep,” Jack summarized. “I guess we’ll take 312 then.”

“Excellent,” Delyth said. “Now can you please hand me Miss Bell so I can take her inside?”

“Oh yeah, sure.” Jack handed her off to Delyth in an awkward transition, and Delyth quickly went inside her room. “I guess we should just...check out our rooms, then.”

They all dispersed. Chase was mildly surprised when the door to room 313 opened without resistance; that didn’t seem very secure, but then again, it could be magic. He flipped on the lights, revealing what looked like a hotel suite, with a living room and kitchenette in view, two open doors showing the bathroom and bedroom. There were a pair of thick curtains on the opposite wall, no doubt hiding a window. Like the lobby downstairs, the room was mostly decorated in white with hints of gold. Chase walked over to the sofa and set Jackie down, breathing out slowly. He turned back to JJ, who was looking through the kitchenette’s cabinets. “I, uh...don’t know if they have food, bro.”

Well, it can’t hurt to look, JJ said.

“Haha, yeah...” Chase trailed off. He shifted awkwardly. “Hey can I uh...talk to you about something?”

Jameson stopped his investigation, and looked over at Chase curiously. He nodded.

“So, uh...about that...comment I made,” Chase said. “It was, like, a couple days ago. About you not having friends before we met you. I, uh, know I sorta apologized but it was really awkward, and...just, are you still mad about that? You probably are.”

It did sting, to say the least, JJ said. His expression was hard to read, but that might have been because he still had the scarf covering the lower half of his face.

Chase winced. “Yeah...look, I really didn’t mean it. I said it in the heat of the moment, I was frustrated about...just stuff, I guess. It was horrible and I’m really sorry, I...”

Chase, it’s okay, I’ve forgiven you, JJ interrupted.

“R-really?” Chase breathed.

Like you said, it was in the heat of the moment, JJ said. You were upset about the possibility of never seeing Jackie or Marvin again. And, well...you’re not technically wrong. I wasn’t too good at getting to know people. I’m still not, really.

“Yeah, but that didn’t mean I had to say it,” Chase said. “Really, I’m so, so sorry, a-and I really appreciate that you’re staying with me to protect me even though I said it—”

Of course I am, we’re still friends, right? JJ asked.

“Yeah, of course.”

One fight isn’t going to change that. JJ’s eyes crinkled like he was smiling under the scarf.

Chase chuckled. “Well, yeah. I’ve fought all the time with Schneep and Jack, and we still hang out.” He sighed. “It was still just...a bad thing to say.”

It’s water under the bridge, JJ assured him.

After a moment, Chase reached forward and grabbed JJ’s hand, squeezing it. “Thanks.”

There was the sound of rustling fabric, and a groan. Chase and Jameson looked around, and saw Jackie sitting up. He seemed confused as he glanced around. The confusion soon gave way to some sort of frantic panicking. “Where am I? Where am I?!”

“Whoa, hey, Jackie, it’s fine.” Chase ran on over. “You’re in a safe place, okay? It’s fine.”

“But where am I?!” Jackie insisted, scrambling to his feet. “Where is the rest of me?! We were here, all of me, and now not anymore. Where is the other me?!”

Chase felt his heart sinking. “It’s fine,” he repeated. “We’ll...figure it out.”

Jackie’s eyes locked onto him. “Chase! Do you know where I am?”

“Uh...no, but we’ll figure it out.” He didn’t have much else to say.

“Figure it out, out, out,” Jackie muttered. He started walking around the perimeter of the room. Aimlessly, automatically, like he was just looking for something to do. “We’ll find me, we’ll find me.”

“Um...yeah.” Chase glanced at JJ, who gave him an uneasy look in return. “For now, let’s just...relax. It’s been a long day, and it’s only noon.”

Sounds good, JJ said, and turned back to the cabinets, looking through them again.

Chase collapsed on the sofa, and watched as Jackie continued to walk, walk, walk. Hopefully these magic people could figure out what to do about him And those strings. True, Delyth had said that nothing like this had ever happened before, but he believed there was a solution. One that would save everyone. And he did mean everyone.

He had to keep believing that. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he stopped believing.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #chase brody #dr schneeplestein #jameson jackson #jackieboy man #marvin the magnificent #the stitched septics #stitchedstories #brigid writes fanfiction

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