#forgive me for writing indulgent chaos ex satanex im doing my best

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This au writing fucking sucks and is self indulgent *Posts it anyway*

Note: He/She pronouns for Satan, and He/They pronouns for Ex

It wasn't incredibly hard to notice when something was wrong with the dimensions. You know, Tetris blocks aren't suddenly supposed to be falling out of a Puyo Puyo sky. And if something was wrong with the dimensions, Satan would begrudgingly have to do something about it, for the sake of himself (and for the sake of others, he supposed.)

If the dimensions were merging, he knew who would be responsible. Ex, the Keeper of Dimensions. He was angry at him, that's for certain. After he and Ecolo built the portal he should have no reason to be doing this again. Perhaps she was justified in going up and checking on them so often after all… (Because after all, she only did it to make sure they were doing their duty properly, and nothing more…) He continually tried to bite back the worrying thought that something bad had happened to him. That wouldn't be the case…Right?

She teleported up to the Edge of Spacetime, and looked around for him. A slight problem presented itself though, they weren't there at all. The dimensional gate was wide open, and there was no Keeper in sight to fix it. Satan growled to himself. Frustrating. Where would they be if not here…?

Seeing his family, perhaps? Maybe he's bailed on being keeper entirely to be with his family… Infuriating. Though she pitied his situation, he couldn't just suddenly stop being the keeper like that. Thus, in a flash of light she teleported to the Tetris world.

~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't hard to track the SS Tetra. He flew along the outside of the starship, peering into the glass windows on the off chance he'd see Ex inside of it, and hoped he wouldn't be seen in return. Nothing. Not even the usual members. Were they all asleep? She didn't want to check inside to find him…

He heard the sound of shoes hitting the side of a rock, and his ears twitched. She turned around, seeing a man sitting down on a floating chunk of rock in space, their legs swinging back and forth, occasionally tapping the side of it. Ex. Satan growled, flapping over to him. She would've lashed out at them, but she immediately noticed something was… Off. He looked darker; his clothing was off colored, his eyes were of a shade of blue, and he had a dark cloud decorating his hair. They had a sinister grin on their face, and upon seeing Satan, they gave a curt wave.

"Ex? The hell do you think you’re doing? The dimensions are at risk of merging, why are you sitting around here?” He growled, flicking his tail in annoyance.

“Hm? Oh, I’m just planning on my attack. Nothing too important~” He chirped. Satan did not enjoy his voice at the moment; it was beyond off, like nails on a chalkboard.

“Attack..? Ex, that's your family…?” She looked a bit shocked at his response.

Ex stuck out his tongue- Satan couldn't help but be a bit jarred at how uncharacteristic it was for them- and shrugged. “Not like, kill them. I just want to bring a bit of excitement to their lives. I know how boring it gets being cooped up in one place all the time. I just wanted to bring some fun~”

Satan perched on the rock next to Ex, and stared down into their face. Looking into their eyes she could see a faint swirl reflecting on it. Oh, heavens, he wasn't in control of himself.

“You're in a pitiable situation, I understand that. But Ex, you can't just abandon your duty. The dimensions will merge. And you're supposed to make sure that doesn't happen.” She growled, charging a bit of dark energy in his hands. If he couldn't break him out of it through words, he would do it by brute force.

“Meh. That's so boring though. Level with me Satan, wouldn't you want to cause a bit of chaos? Have a bit of fun? Can you really deny the amount of fun the first merge was?" Ex stood up to face Satan, looking snide.

"And can you deny the endless property damage and countless lives lost that will follow your irresponsibility?" And growled back, unamused.

Ex shrugged. "It's not irresponsibility; I'm doing this on purpose. I won't go back to my duty, Satan.”

She attempted to smack him with the dark energy in her hands, with him flinching and barely moving out of the way.

"If you won't go back on your own, then I'll simply have to force you to go back." He said darkly, setting up a Tetris board.

They grinned. "Very well. If you want a fight, you'll get one. Let's have some fun, shall we?" They set up their own Tetris board.

"Behold, Tetris!"

"Tetris~"

Satan could hear the distinct sound of Tetris blocks clicking against each other, his ears twitching. Heavens, it's been a while since he's played this game. Ex immediately launched a Hard Drop at Satan, to which she took flight again to dodge it, throwing a Disaster right back at them. Ex was hit, but didn't react much, seeming to be thinking to themselves…

"You know, Satan, I wouldn't have the confidence to say this in any other circumstance, but you're quite the attractive man." He tilted his head innocently, trying to clear some garbage off of his Tetris board.

"Wh-What-??" Satan sputtered, caught off guard. He didn't like how their words went straight to his cheeks. He screwed himself back before shaking his head. "Stop that. Flattery will not be getting you out of this." He growled back.

"You think it's only flattery? You don't think I could like a man like you?” He sneered, getting a Tetris and sending a strong X shaped attack towards Satan, to which she hissed in pain upon being hit.

"Please, I don't believe that for a second! I know how you act with people you like. Your distraction won't do a thing." He said this, but it truly was getting to him. The idea that he could really like her like that- that it wasn't just whoever was pulling his strings making him say- made her heart hurt in a way she didn't want to unpack at the moment.

"I'm a bit smarter than to just flirt carelessly. Why would I shoot my shot with a man who only likes young women? Why risk losing my friendship with a man I'm close to? With a man who could stop seeing me at any moment…" They seemed solemn for a moment, before perking back up again, their eyes swirling. Satan bit his lip; did Ex really think of him like that?

“Ex… Is that really what you think?” Satan mindlessly clicked Tetris blocks on his board, his eyes concentrated on Ex.

They thought for a moment, before their eyes went wild; giving out a toothy grin. “You want to know that so, so bad, don't you?” He snickered darkly, setting up a Tetris, and started dropping comets down upon Satan from above.

Satan flinched before he flapped between falling comet to falling comet, some grazing dangerously close to his bat-like wings. He's messing with me. Regardless of how Ex actually feels, he's just using it to catch me off guard. And if I'm not focused, I'll end up like him. She set up her blocks for another powerful dark attack, sending a Devastation straight towards Ex. They dodged, still seeming fairly overconfident about the battle. Satan would make sure to change that soon…

Ex shot a Hyper Hard Drop straight at Satan, to which he dodged it and sent back a Calamity in return. It knocked Ex clean off of the rock, but they quickly found footing on another one nearby. He set off a Tetris and aimed his fingers at the flying demon, charging up a brutal attack at his fingertips, and… stopping. Satan took a long glance at their face, and just for a moment the swirl was gone from their eyes, before squeezing their eyes shut and grabbing their forehead. He's fighting it… Satan thought to himself. He's fighting himself. Ex…

Taking advantage of this weakness, Satan quickly swooped down after them, lining up for a Tetris. He hard dropped into the Tetris, shooting a Cataclysm right into Ex's chest. They grunted in pain, distracted from their board, and because of that it ended up overflowing in garbage. They had lost. They looked… Genuinely angry for a moment, before perking back up into another fake grin.

"Thank you, that was fun.” He cheeped, his voice hollow. “Boo. I was hoping to scramble your brain just a bit more. Oh well. Guess I'll just go elsewhere~ maybe I'll go help the other one with taking over Primp…" He pondered.

"...There's another? The one who hypnotized you? Heading to Primp?" Satan swiped his board away, his eyes wide.

"Oh yeah. We decided to split the work between us, I go to this world and he goes to Puyo one. But since you're here, I guess I'll go help him out for now. See ya~" With that he vanished into light, teleporting away. Satan desperately reached out to grab him, but instead only got a handful of circular sparkles caught on his claws.

She hissed, shaking her head. She hadn't made much progress at all, injured and feeling fairly flustered due to their words. It couldn't be helped. She'd need to regroup with Ecolo and make a new plan, before things further got out of hand.

"Ex…" He started to mumble to himself. "When I get you free, we have a hell of a lot to talk about." And with that, she teleported away, and down to the Puyo world.