#horror septics

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Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 21: Horror Septics

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix 

Read Swapboys | Read Horror Septics | AO3 Link

Prologue | Switch | Stitched | PNPT | Septicheroes | Fantasy Masks | Horror

Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata  

The power Magnificent took from the forest allows him to teleport vast distances. In his rush to get away from there, he ends up in a town on the edge of some body of water. A sea coast, judging by the smell. And it only took a handful of teleports. There's a strange mist that seems to hover around his feet at all times now. Like he's carrying around a fog machine.

Magnificent stumbles across the street, holding his arms and looking around. The power feels- strange in his system. But… very powerful. He thought he’d be drained trying to do go far but.., he’s fine. That’s incredible. Could he just- escape that thing’s watch and run? Find other things to crush? He… had to find this worlds version of him… right? Why did it feel like… he already did? The fog is new and unsettling but- it could be worse. He keeps an eye out- looking for anything in a red hoodie.

There are some people on the street, going about their own business. They don't notice the mist--or if they do, they don't stare. They do look at Magnificent's face and outfit. Clearly, this isn't a normal appearance for this world. But it must not raise too many questions, because, again, no stares.

Except for one.

A man, younger than Mag is, with sandy blonde hair and a lot of freckles. He's standing beneath a shop's awning and not even bothering to hide his stare.

Magnificent feels the stare on him and locks eyes with the young man, stilling in his walk. He narrows his eyes and tilts his head like a cat, his eyes catching light unnaturally.

The man stares back for a moment. Then he glances to either side and gestures for Magnificent to come closer.

Magnificent checks around too and then he teleports over. He just stares down at the man and raises an eyebrow. "... You're staring an awful lot, aren't you?"

The man gasps as he teleports and staggers backwards. "S-sorry, I dinnae mean to pry, I jus--" He straightens. "Did ye come from Faoirise Hollow? Did ye... talk to it?"

Magnificent narrows his eyes, "... is that the name of the forest back some ways? With the... mist?" He purses his lips and then nods, "... if you're referring to what I'm thinking of then... yes. What of it?"

The man goes pale. "Oh. Oh no, did--did ye agree to anyt'ing? Did ye say yes?"

“What does it matter to you?” Mag spits.

"T'at's not a no." The man's eyes widen. "I-I'm sorry, ye can'--maybe if ye get far enough ye'll be able to escape--" And then he stops. And goes quiet.

“What,.. what do you mean?” Mag tries to hide the way his voice tries to shake.

"I'm sorry, I think I've mistaken you for someone else," the man says. "Were you going to go take the ferry? It leaves soon. You should hurry."

Why is it so quiet?

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mag presses, stepping forward, "Why- why do I need to escape?"

"Escape? No, I'm sorry, I think you're not who I was looking for," the man says, smiling. "I'm sorry to bother you." He turns and starts to head inside the store. The awning above shifts. It must have been sturdier than it looked, though, because it doesn't even creak.

Magnificent feels a chill go down his spine- why... why is it so quiet? "W-wait!"

The man does not wait. He goes into the building, the door slowly closing behind him.

Magnificent staggers back, eyes wide. Something's... something's not right here. He backs away more then- he tries to rush back down the street. He said something about escaping- before he started acting even more strange- maybe he should look for a way out!

As he runs, he notices something strange. There were pedestrians on the street, but not anymore. And his footsteps are not there. Even as his feet pound against the pavement, there is no sound.

Magnificent feels panic start to grip at his chest. He tries to run faster.

He keeps running and running until— Something stops him. Not a wall, not a magical forcefield. It gives a little before snapping back. As he stumbles away, he notices a cut on his face. And then he notices the near-invisible string hanging across the narrow street, side to side like some sort of spider web.

Some of his blood stains a strand red.

Magnificent shouts out as he hits the string and when he sees the blood on his hand he staggers back. “What… what is this?!” He yells out in anger and tries to burn the string with green fire.

The string burns easily. But it was never really meant to stop him. Only keep him busy for long enough. He is standing under a lamp post. The light goes out.

Magnificent yells and then whips around, holding a flame out and trying to sound threatening, "W-Who's there?!"

He’s looking in the wrong place. By the time he thinks to look up, it’s too late. Something brushes against his arm. When he finally does look up he can’t even see much, as it’s hiding behind the shattered lamp. There are spiral eyes that stare at him, and jointed wooden hands that reach for him, and then—

Freeze.

In the last two worlds, he found himself under someone else’s control. When JJ managed to put his strings on him, and when the King commanded him. And though that control was strong, maybe he would have struggled out of both of those trances if given enough time.

This is different. It is a crushing weight where the others were merely heavy. There is no way out of this.

Magnificent stiffens and he gasps as his body and mind are completely stolen by the entity pursuing him. He can't fight. He can't even scream.

His own voice speaks. “You weren’t supposed to see me. But you were getting off track. Did you not understand the request? That man was not wearing a red hood, why did you speak to him?” A pause. The thing on the street lamp shifts, joints twisting. “It is not on this island. This town has a ferry to the next. Check there. Do you understand?” Though he cannot use his voice, he somehow knows it will hear him if he tries to answer.

Magnificent wants to fight but he shudders as he hears his voice speak without his say-so. He can't- how could he have been so stupid?

He tries to tell the thing, "Y-Yes."

"Good," his voice says.

And much like when he was in the forest, he feels something loosen. Less like a tight grip, more like unzipping a tight jacket. He can move and talk and do whatever he wishes once again. But he can feel that sensation of control waiting. Resting against his skin.

Magnificent gasps again as the control is lifted, but he feels uneasy and cold. Like the puppeteer has only put down the control bar for a second. And he hates it. How was he supposed to know the thing he's hunting wasn't here? He growls and bares his teeth then stumbles forward to find the ferry. It's pretty clear what he's supposed to do now...

As he makes his way there, the strange man's words drift through his mind. What was it? "If you go far enough maybe you can escape"? Something like that...

Go far enough.... he needs to find his cub. They need to get out of this universe as soon as possible..

-----------

It's definitely night by the time Chase and his new companion make their way into the city, but the presence of street lights does a lot to make it bright in a way that Chase probably wouldn't have appreciated without the last universe. Right now the two of them are in a suburb area, but it can't be that far from somewhere more urban. Cars pass by on the road every minute or two. Jack looks uneasy, but he's not going to leave Chase behind.

Chase isn't looking much better- especially cuz they're walking. He feels like he's about to burst out of his skin, but he's trying to stay calm. Even though his instincts are trying to go crazy. Something is really really wrong here... and he's so worried about Alt. And even Mag-

"Do you know where your brother would go if he was on his own?" Jack asks quietly. "If not... public libraries always have free charging ports for phones. Sometimes they have cables, too. Or you could buy one if you have money. I don't."

"He'd... he'd be trying to find me," Bro admits, shrugging. "That's what he's done in every world before this..." He pats his utility belt and checks to see. "Um- I have money. Not a lot- and... man i should keep a cord in here-"

Jack laughs a little. "Sorry, that's not really that funny. I just--yeah, probably, you should carry one. Cords are pretty cheap, though. If we can find a petrol station or a convenience store they're probably selling them there." They walk for a little while more... and then a few drops of rain begin to fall from the sky.

Chase looks up at the sky and scowls, "Offff course- just our luck!"

Jack looks up as well and goes a bit pale. "Shiiiit. Okay, uh--maybe it'll stop soon, where can we--it's all fucking suburbs, of course it is. I need to get a tent somehow, for fuck's sake."

One of the houses nearby has a For Sale sign up. Jack looks at it and hesitates. Noticeably.

Chase blinks in confusion. "Hey like- rain sucks but... it's just rain. We gotta keep looking... If Alt has been alone then- one of those things might have him! I can't stop cuz of some rain..."

"Chase, I know, but--well, if you're from another universe and don't have that much money, I'm going to assume you don't have a place to stay?" Jack says tentatively. "So you don't have anywhere to... change clothes if they get wet and cold? Trust me when I say that wearing wet cold clothes is an easy way to get sick."

Chase hesitates and then looks at the rain, pulling his jacket closer around him. He hears his friends' voices in his head, reminding him to take care of himself. He can't help Alt if he's sick.

After another moment of hesitation, Jack hurries over to the house with the For Sale sign and starts trying the door.

Bro groans and then hurries after Jack, looking around for any sign of danger. Just in case...

Chase doesn't see anything of note. It's all pretty normal. But there is a car coming so they better hurry. Jack takes something out of his parka pocket--a swiss army knife. He unfolds a couple of the attachments and fumbles with the lock on the door until it clicks. "It's always easier than you think," he whispers, and pushes the door open.

"You know... probably not something I should know-I'm kinda a hero back home..." Chase mutters but- he can't let himself be alone right now. He follows closely after Jack.

"Oh that explains some things," Jack says as he steps into the living room. "I mean--you kinda have that personality, but also... Sangria likes fucking with people who are, uh 'good' the most. You know, like... moral. A 'hero' would be a perfect target."

"...bastard-" Chase mumbles as they head inside.

The house is unfurnished, lines in the carpet like it's been vacuumed or cleaned recently. There's the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, the bathroom, and stairs leading up. The kitchen actually has a fridge in addition to the installed counters and cabinets. Maybe it's also built into the room.

Chase looks around and double checks some of the rooms. After he does he finds a wall and then settles against it, sighing and resting his arms on his knees.

Jack looks at him. He sits down across the room so they are facing each other. "This is a dumb question, but... you okay?"

Chase grips at his arms and grits his teeth, "... I'm losing my mind- I... I feel so s-stupid sitting here! But i... I hate that I'm actually scared... to go out there alone. And also cuz you're right- I can't let myself get sick looking for Alt I just... I always had an inkling of where he'd be in the last couple worlds. Or like- we'd find each other kinda quickly. But now I... I don't know- and ... it feels dangerous... there were stakes before but like... nothing felt like this." He laughs quietly and pulls at his hair, "My instincts are going crazy- My like.... h-hero senses- they don't usually steer me wrong... and that means something r-really really bad could be happening to him...!"

"...oh." Jack goes quiet, thoughtfully. "I'm... sorry. I... it looks like it's just a drizzle out there, maybe it won't last that long." He pauses. "It... sucks, yeah. I know. I don't... really know what to say, hah."

There's nothing he can say, really. Chase knows he's wasting time here. But even if he wasn't, could he really protect Alt against anything like this? He wasn't even able to protect him when Magnificent dragged him off in the first place. If he could do that, they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. He's not really a good brother.

It's hard to breathe.

Chase feels tears coming into his eyes and he slaps a hand over his mouth as it suddenly feels hard to breathe- what- what was happening? Where were all these thoughts coming from?

"Oh shit. I-I wasn't that bad at comforting you, was I?" Jack sits up straight. Then, as he looks at Chase, his brows furrow. "Did something happen? Chase, do you feel alright?"

The thoughts are coming from his own head, of course. They're just louder now. But does it matter where they're coming from at all? Does it matter when they're true?

Chase is shaking, trying not to panic but his chest is so tight. "S-Something's... s-s-something's wrong...!" He gasps quietly. Yes he gets thoughts like this- all the time actually. But... not so loud. Not so harsh- not lately. He had been doing better...!

Jack scrambles to his feet and starts to hurry over, but stops halfway across the room. "Chase, behind you!"

Behind him? Behind him is just a wall.

Right?

Chase believes Jack more than his thoughts right now- He turns around.

A pair of hands grab his head, preventing it from turning entirely. One covers his mouth, while the other grabs his hair right above where--oh, that's not a good spot, is it?

Chase screams and tries to thrash his way out- until he feels the hand next to his scar.

Chase can see something gray out of the corner of his eyes, and his imagination can fill in the details of a face.

He freezes- Why... why does this remind him so much of Distorter?

"Hey!" Jack breaks into a run, lunging at the wall. Suddenly, the hands disappear. Jack slams against the plaster and looks down at Chase, visible eye so wide he can see the whites around the iris. "Okay. New plan. We get the fuck out of this house and risk hypothermia."

As the hands disappear Chase gasps for breath and pulls himself back up. He grabs Jack's arm and runs for the door. "A-Agreed!"

The door is locked.

Chase fumbles with the handle, "FUCK!" He then lets go of Jack and tries to ram himself against the door.

"It’s locked?! Shit!" Jack looks at the nearby windows and go for that while Chase tries the door. The latter rattles in its hinges, but even the strength of Bro Fantastic can't break it down--even though it should.

The windows are locked too. Jack tries using the handle of his swiss army knife as a pike of some sort to break the glass but it doesn't work. "Is there anything in here we could use?!"

"Bro I literally have super strength! S-Something is wrong here- I....!" Chase is trying so hard not to panic, now trying to kick at the door in desperation.

"You do?! Wait, when you said hero you meant like--"

"Yeah dude I'm a super hero!"

Jack shakes his head. "Okay, this isn't the time. There's always a way out. There's always a way out!" He grabs Chase and pulls him away from his (fruitless) efforts. "Maybe somewhere else in the house!"

Bro runs after Jack. He'd fly to find an exit but flying inside is generally not a good idea! He learned that back at the Stitched guys' apartment! He nods though and runs ahead, trying to look for an exit.

There are various windows throughout the house, but they're all locked and made of strangely sturdy glass. The upper floor of the house--with three empty rooms and a closet--is the same.

"There's always a way out, there's always a way out, there's always a way out," Jack keeps repeating, sounding more frantic with each repetition. "There's always a way out, there's always--is that blood?!"

There's a trapdoor in the ceiling of the upstairs hallway. A red liquid is dripping from around its seams. It's not blood. The smell is wrong... sharp. Intoxicating.

Chase skids to a stop in front of the trapdoor, holding a hand out to stop Jack. His eyes widen as he smells it. "... is that... w-whiskey?"

Jack stops to smell it as well. "Oh fuck, yeah, something like it." He covers his nose. "That's a really strong smell. The question is, do we go up there or avoid it as much as fucking possible? Going up there, bad for obvious reasons, but sometimes when you ignore this stuff it just gets worse to get your attention."

Bro pulls his jacket over his nose. God this... smells too familiar. Like one of his really bad nights. It makes him feel sick. "I-It's an attic though- there wouldn't be a way out there, right?"

"You never know..." Jack mutters.

"...if you think it'll get worse if we ignore it then... f-fuck it I guess." He really doesn't want to but- he braces himself then tries to open the trapdoor.

A splash of liquid pours out from the trapdoor as he opens it, followed soon by a fold-down ladder. The attic is dark. It sounds like... like someone is crying up there.

"... I really don't like that-" Chase whispers.

Jack nods slowly, thoughtfully. "I think... I have an idea," he says slowly. "It disappeared when I went for it. It could've just stayed there but it disappeared. Maybe... confrontation is good in this case." He grabs a rung of the ladder. "I know you're a hero so you're probably going to come up with me, but... I want you to know you don't have to."

Chase looks conflicted but he shakes his head. "I can't let you face whatever this is alone... that'd make me a really shitty hero." He tries to laugh, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "... I'll be right behind you."

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that." Jack smiles gratefully. "...thank you." And he climbs on up, Chase right behind him.

The attic is pitch black and dusty. Parts of the floor are exposed insulation. On the ground are crinkly pieces of old papers. Jack picks one up and looks at it in the faint light coming from the open trapdoor. It's some sort of crude drawing. Done by a child? The crying is louder farther in.

Chase picks up one too and looks at it, "...why... why are these here...?" He whispers. He then swallows and shakily starts to go towards the crying.

"Who knows?" Jack mutters, and follows Chase into the darkness.

The sound gets louder as they get closer. Louder. Louder. Someone is sobbing their eyes out. Until, abruptly, they aren't.

Suddenly, Chase feels a presence behind him right before it grabs him--one hand on his shoulder, another on that same spot on his head. All at once memories come slamming into him, one after another, a highlight reel of the worst moments of his life, of his biggest mistakes and failures.

Chase freezes as he's grabbed in that same spot again and gasps as the memories flood. Tears fall rapidly down his face as he tries to shake all the memories off. Alt getting kidnapped- all the mistakes he made as a hero, driving Alt away to become Impulse- all the the people he endangered by being a hero..!

Isn't it terrible, Chase? Isn't it all so awful? Wouldn't it be easier if nobody had to deal with you?

It's almost too much-

No! No, it wouldn't!

But, then he feels that surge- that want to be better. To do better. His promise to never leave his brother alone again. His friends he'd always keep fighting for.

Chase pushes beyond the sudden memories and claws his way back to the current moment, to the fact that there is something solid behind him, with hands and a face, a strange combined smell of alcohol and old, dusty places coming from right behind him.

Isn't he a hero?!

He is!

He's a hero, god damn it! And he will not be pushed around!

He feels the solid force behind him and yells in determination, swiftly turning on his heel to try to deliver a punch right into the entity's face.

As he spins, he catches a glance of a gray face, streaked with dark tears--and then it's immediately blocked by his fist. Contact is made for a split second before the thing disappears into thin air, leaving him a bit off balance.

"Holy shit!" Jack gasps, and then laughs. "That was the most badass thing I've seen in a while! Amazing, Chase!"

Chase stumbles back, still holding out his fists like he'll need to keep punching. He then laughs and wipes at his face, "T-Thanks-! That was... that fucking sucked-!" He laughs a little more unhinged, his emotions pretty much everywhere.

"Yeah... looked like it." Jack's eye flashes with sympathy. "But at least you pulled it off."

The house shakes slightly. Not... a lot. But... worryingly so. Chase can hear whispers on the edge of his hearing, somewhere in between reality and his mind.

"For fuck's sake!" Even though it won't do anything, Jack pulls out the swiss army knife and flips open the blade. "Listen you little shit. I did not last nine months in a technological hellscape for you to kill me in a house! This guy's not even from here! So fucking let us go!" And the shaking and whispers stop. Jack blinks. "If I knew I could threaten it I would've tried that earlier..."

"... how the fuck did that work??" Chase whispers as he presses up close to Jack. Then, he shakes his head and grabs his hand to look around more- there had to be an exit still right. "F-Fuck it- let's go before it decides to try again!"

Wait--how did they not notice it before? There's a small round window in the far wall! Inspecting it reveals a latch; the whole thing swings outward into the rain.

Chase brightens up as he sees the window and pushes it open. He then quickly apologizes, "Sorry if this is weird!" And then picks up Jack in his arms before flying out into the rain.

"Whoa!" Jack is surprised--because of course he is, people don't fly here! He clings to Chase for security as they jump out. "O-okay then! Be careful!"

Outside it is indeed a drizzle, making the night darker. But the street lamps and light from windows is just enough for Chase to see.

Chase is quick to get them back down to the ground and then he sets Jack down gently. He grins at him and laughs, "Told ya I was a super hero~!"

"You did! Can't say I wasn't warned." Jack laughs. He takes a few steps, making sure that he's on solid ground, and holds tight to the strap of his duffel bag. "You know I used to be afraid of heights... but not anymore."

There's so much more to be scared of.

"A-anyway. We gotta get somewhere out of the rain. Ideally, somewhere public. There has to be some sort of petrol station nearby or something."

"Yeah right- we can try there... If you don't mind- I can get us there a little faster. But, I know its not the best feeling either," Chase laughs, rubbing the back of his head.

“No, no, i-it’s fine, I’m sure you know what you’re doing.” Jack grins, a bit nervous. Just be careful not to be seen, okay?”

"Yeah of course! I'll be quick- plus it's dark so we're less likely to be seen!" Chase scoops Jack back up and then shoots back into the air, quickly looking for a safer shelter from the rain.

It’s not long until they find a small area with a couple shops, some restaurants, and a gas station, all lit up with colored signs and white lights through the windows.

Chase tries to find a shadowed area and then lands him and Jack there, making sure the other man is set down gently again. He shakes the rain off and he sighs, "Okay- we got some options now! Still wanna do Petrol or- i think think there's food around here... we could get something warm to wait out the rest of the rain..."

"...food would be nice," Jack says hopefully. "But we should get you a charging cord first. So you can... do that while we eat."

"oh yeah! let's hop in and grab one!" Chase laughs and then heads towards the Petrol station.

Jack grins, a bit nervously, and follows Chase to the station. It's open, of course, and it does sell charging cords--as well as the plugs and portable batteries--for pretty cheap. They're probably not high quality but it doesn't need to be. Jack hovers near the doors while Chase takes care of buying those. He glances at the security camera hanging in the corner. These looks become more frequent the longer they're there but he doesn't say anything.

Chase remembers that Jack is trying to stay away from tech so he tries to be very fast- quickly grabbing the first cord he can find for his phone and paying for it right away. As soon as he has he hurries back to Jack and holds it up. "Got it! C'mon lets go get food!" He briefly glances at the security camera, just to check before leading Jack out.

"Great. Thanks." Jack smiles as the two of them leave.

There's nothing weird about the camera when Chase glances at it. But a bit after they leave, it swivels a bit, as if tracking them as they walk past the windows outside.

As for food, there a couple places. Nothing too nice, mostly various fast food places--but they are open and that's what matters. Chase can hear Jack's stomach grumble.

Chase chooses the closest one nearby that has coffee. He needs a pick me up, badly. He points to the one he picks with his thumb. "This one good with you?"

Jack nods. "Yeah. I hope they still sell coffee this late. It's been a while since I've had some good dirty bean water." The two of them head over.

Chase laughs, "That's what I was hoping to get too!" He eagerly takes them inside, the thought of coffee urging him forward.

The inside of the restaurant is warm and, importantly, dry. It smells like food and coffee. There are exactly two employees behind the counter, an older woman and a teenager who looks kind of sleepy. The place is empty except for those two--and Chase and Jack now.

"You go ahead and order," Jack says. "Get me a black coffee and whatever, anything will be good. I'll claim a spot."

"You got it~" Chase replies, going up to the counter. He smiles at the employees, "Hello! Can I get two orders of black coffee and um- two plates of fries? chips? I always forget what I'm supposed to call them!" He laughs.

It's chips here, but the teenage cashier understands what he means as she takes the order. "Just one minute," she says. "Here's your table number. We'll call it." She hands him a plastic card with the number two on it and then goes into the kitchen.

"Thanks!" Chase replies and takes the card and hurries back over to Jack.

Jack chose a table by the front windows, taking his duffel bag off and putting it on the chair next to him, leaving the ones on the other side of the table for Chase.

Bro looks around for an outlet and once he finds one he plugs in the charger and starts to recharge his phone. After that he sits down across from Jack and nervously taps his foot, watching his phone screen.

"Got us some chips-" He tells Jack idly.

"Great." Jack's expression brightens. "Food is good. Food is always good." He leans back in the chair. "Especially after a... fucking crisis, jeez. I did not expect to go right into that. I guess it's for sale because of the horrors." He laughs, a bit hysterically.

Chase laughs too, it feels better to laugh then to dwell on... whatever the hell that was. "Pft yeah. Probably... that thing was... so freaky." He shudders.

"It... kind of seemed to latch onto you," Jack says slowly. "Then again, they tend to avoid me after... what happened. So I guess you were the only available target."

"Yeah..." Chase mutters. "It... it's weird I... I almost felt like... like I... related to it... almost. That whiskey? .... I used to drink something that smelled just like that on my bad nights." He grips at his phone a bit harder.

Then, he blinks up at Jack. "Oh right... you said in the house- and... when we met. What... I mean you don't have to tell me if it's too much since we did just meet but... what happened to you...? What's the thing that targeted you?"

“I… I-I never learned what it’s called,” Jack says quietly. “I used to go online a lot, for my job. One day… I thought it was one of those weird creepypasta videos, you know, ‘ooo this thing happened totally for real,’ but… then things started happening. I started blacking out. Having bad dreams. Weird static on all my devices a-and messages and… I realized it was real. So I tried leaving home to see if that would work but… it just followed me. Hunted me down. And took me to this weird… pocket dimension, I guess.” He pauses.

The only word for his expression is haunted.

“I don’t want… to talk about what happened while in there. But there’s always a way out. I found it. And I’ve been.., like this since.” He pauses. “I wonder… if there’s some silent rule between them not to mess with me. Sometimes it seems like it.”

Chase listens with mounting horror. “Dude I… that’s- that’s awful… and you- you were trapped in that place for 9 months?” He shakes his head, “I… I get it. You don’t have to say anything more just… I’m so sorry, Jack..,”

Jack takes a shaky breath. "Thanks." He wipes at his eye. "It... means a lot to hear it. I-I do think I got one of the worse ones."

“Sounds like it…” Bro mutters. He shakes his head some more before going to check on his phone. Surely it had some battery by now, right?

Just as he checks, the phone buzzes as it turns on. As he examines it, he sees... a couple missed calls from Alt. They went to voice mail while it was off.

Chase stiffens and hurries to click on the oldest one, sitting up straighter in his seat.

Everything sounds muffled. Footsteps, a squeaking sound like old hinges, a clatter of metal. Heavy breathing, sobs catching. Then a loud commotion. Alt yells--then screams. “NO! NO LET ME GO! STOP IT!” he cries.

Chase jerks away from the sound of screaming, his face losing all its color. “No- no no no!”

There's another voice there but Chase can't make out what it is over Alt's panicked breathing and the rustling of cloth. “HELP!! SOMEONE HELP! PLEASE!!”

And then, suddenly, it cuts off.

Chase hurries to listen to the next one- please please please be better- be okay please be okay…!

It is not better. It is worse. The message starts with screaming. Wordless, pained screaming. "HELP!" It's unmistakably Alt. "HELP! SOMEONE--CHASE! CHASE!" He shouts for his brother before devolving into sobs. Metal scrapes against something. A stranger laughs.

And then it stops.

Jack leans forward. He can hear the screams on the phone from here.

Terrified panicked tears are in Chase’s eyes as he listens. He holds a shaky hand over his mouth, looking like he’s gonna be sick. He looks at Jack with wide eyes. “S-something- something got- A-Alt…!”

He’s afraid to see if there’s any more messages- but he shakily does. What else can he do?

There is one last message. This one starts with sobbing, heart-wrenching cries. "No! NO PLEASE!" Alt shouts.

A different voice says something--"Nicht bewegen"--and Alt starts screaming again. His voice sounds hoarse and raw. The message stops mid-shriek.

Hilariously enough, this is when the fast food employees say their food is ready. Well, not hilarious. Just absurd. And terrible.

Chase lets the phone fall limply from his hand, tears falling down his face as he stares numbly ahead, unable to take anything in. “G-German-“ He breathes, hardly able to get his voice to work, “There was… German- I know what that sounds like but- w-who?!”

Jack goes pale. "Fuck." He grabs his duffel bag, slinging it around his shoulder again. "Okay, so, these things are worldwide, including Germany, i-in fact there are a lot there. But, from what I'm hearing, I-I think I know which one that was. Do you think you can afford the fare to get there? I-I mean, it'll be a couple train rides and a ferry, but--We could probably sneak on if we had to--"

Chase is still kinda staring out, having difficulty processing all of this. But, slowly he nods and pushes himself up. “y-yeah yeah I… I can. I have enough- h-hero money, you know?” He tries to laugh, but it sounds hollow.

"Okay. Good. I thiiiink I remember where the train station is. They're bound to run a night train at some point. We need to get to the coast for the ferry."

Chase unplugs the charger and stuffs it in his pocket then his phone.

Jack stands up. He runs over and gets their food, bringing it back and practically thrusting the fries and coffee at Chase. "We need energy but we can eat on the way if we have to."

Chase numbly takes the food and nods. “okay… okay…” He breathes, trying not to break down. “we- we gotta go-“

"Don't panic," Jack stresses. "Panic is just going to make the journey worse. I'm not going to tell you not to worry, but don't panic." He takes his own portion of the food. "Now let's go save your brother."

Chase nods and that fire of determination comes back into his eyes. He takes another shaky breath and grips his phone tight in his pocket. “Yeah. Let’s go”

-----------

There's a brief respite when Alt is able to fall into a shallow, fitful sleep. It's not long. Not long at all. But it is a sort of escape.

He's awoken by a pain in his neck. Another injection. Notarzt is not taking any chances that he'll glitch away. Whatever this formula is, it keeps him tired and weak.

Alt whimpers as that now too familiar pain wakes him up. He blearily tries to move again but his limbs are too heavy. Everything is a dizzying blur, mixed with flare ups of pain.

"Hallo," Notarzt says. "Lass uns weitermachen."

At some point, he lost his jacket. No, he didn't lose it. He can see it on a heap on the floor by that rusted sink, right by his ruined shirt. His phone is sticking out of its pocket but it's too far to reach, with his hands or his magic. Not that he can even try, with the injection and the restraints. It's like it's mocking him with how close it is.

Alt’s eyes wander to his ruined shirt and his jacket. His eyes land on his phone and he slurs out quietly, making a grabbing motion with his trapped hand even if he can’t reach. “…Chase…chase…”

Notarzt notices the movement and tilts its head, looking thoughtful. It disappears out of sight for a moment and then returns with some sort of… metal clamps? It slides one onto Alt’s arm just above the wrist restraint and tightens it until Alt can feel its sharp edges digging into his skin. There’s no blood but there could be at any moment. But that’s not all. There are three other clamps, and Notarzt attaches them at regular intervals along Alt’s arm, ending with two on the forearm and two on the upper arm.

Alt stiffens as the clamp is put on and he shifts his eyes to try to look at what’s happening. “Wha… wha’re doin’?” He slurs, panic coming back into his hoarse voice.

Instead of answering, Notarzt takes out a length of metal filament, thin as string. It ties one end to a loop on the clamp near Alt’s wrist, then feeds it through similar loops on the others, connecting them all. It ties the other end to a small metal tool with a hook on the end—and stabs the hook into Alt’s chest just below the collarbone.

Alt screams and thrashes in his binds, “F-Fuck!”

Notarzt laughs and pulls out another syringe—where the fuck does it keep getting those?! They just pop out of nowhere! But this one is slightly different. The liquid inside is green instead of clear or red like it usually is. It injects Alt in the other arm.

Alt grits his teeth against the syringe and pants, trying to glare at Notarzt. But he’s so tired…

It takes a minute for this to take effect. And when it does—it’s strange. Alt feels his magic stir, like it does when he’s getting ready to blast someone with electricity. But he can’t control it. He can’t even glitch properly.

Alt jerks when he feels the power rise and an instinctual noise of pained surprise escapes his lips. What was happening?? How is it accessing his magic??

The power just keeps rising and rising until it suddenly concentrates on the spot where the hook is.

An electric shock centered on that. The metal filament shivers, transmitting the electricity—it’s all along his arm now, muscles spasming in response.

Alt can’t help but scream again, trying to pull away from the arm that’s spasming.

It’s not over yet. Notarzt picks up a long thin blade and slices down the seam of Alt’s jeans on the other side as the clamped arm. Then it grabs—oh no, it’s more clamps. It puts them along his leg in the same manner, including linking them with the string with the hook on the end. Then it stabs this hook into Alt’s stomach just above the hem of his jeans. The effect is instant this time—the power rushes to that hook as well and soon his leg is being shocked too.

Tear are streaming down his face as Alt tries to jerk away from the part of his body that feels on fire. His voice is already cracking from the screams. His other hand digs more rivets into the table as it tries to claw into it. His eyes flash bright green, crackling energy around him. But, it's all being used against him. "S-Stop..!" He tries to wail but his voice jolts and spasms alongside his muscles and he just lays back and sobs and screams- hoping this will end soon.

Notarzt leans over the table, not reacting much to Alt’s screams. It simply stands there, drinking it in.

Three minutes. It lasts three minutes, and then, slowly, his power starts to fizzle out. The pain fades, leaving behind a shadow of itself, and his muscles finally relax.

Alt fully slumps to the table, head lolling as far as it can in the restraints. He gasps and pants, breath coming out ragged and pained. His eyelids flutter and his eyes roll around in dazed pain. He whimpers and tries to find Notarzt. "...wh...wha'did you d-do...?" he croaks.

“Es ist zu kompliziert, es dir zu erklären.” Notarzt shrugs, a human motion that looks out of place when made by it. “Oder vielleicht will ich es einfach nicht.”

Alt's head is swimming- trying to see if he recognizes any of the doctor's words. He doesn't... he wishes Henny was here. But, then, Notarzt would be hurting him too. He chokes on a quiet sob, missing his friends more than ever. Missing glitches- the kids... Oliver... what if he dies here? What if he never sees them again?

It turns away, walking—not to the trays of tools, but to the sink. Even though it should have been too rusted to use, water comes out anyway. Notarzt returns with a… surprisingly normal-looking glass of water. “Normalerweise würde ich das nicht tun...” it says, and reaches out to undo the restraint on Alt’s neck.

Alt quiets as he hears the sink running. He looks confused up at Notarzt and wary, looking between him and the glass as the restraint is removed. Against his better judgment, he feels himself relaxing without that pressure on his scar.

"Trink das." Notarzt lowers the glass to his face, propping one hand behind Alt's head to push him up.

Alt is so thirsty he doesn't even question it, he eagerly drinks the water, closing his eyes to try to focus on not choking.

If Alt wonders that there might be a trick, there isn't. It's just water.

Notarzt makes sure he finishes it before going back to the sink and putting the glass back. "„Nichts Dauerhaftes“ schränkt meine Möglichkeiten wirklich ein..." it mutters, running a single gloved hand along the tools.

Alt falls back to the table, hungrily drinking in air after he's done. He weakly look around the room, his eyes landing on his phone again. Notarzt used his magic against him... but maybe he has some back...? He weakly tries to open his hand, seeing if he can summon his phone to him at all.

At first, nothing happens. But then--then there's a tiny glitch on the screen. The phone shifts slightly, moving out of the pocket.

Notarzt doesn't notice, it's too busy messing with the tools.

Alt's eyes widen and he smiles a bit. Then, he tries to move it more, gritting his teeth and putting as much energy as he can into it. If.. if he can call Chase... he might be able to glitch out of here...! ...if he can find a way to glitch that is...

The phone moves a bit more, falling out of the pocket and onto the clump of fabric that used to be his shirt. Slowly, inch by inch, it moves across the floor, dragging the shirt with it, thankfully muffling the movement. Until suddenly it skids across the floor and gently hits the side of the table.

Alt is straining- sweating as he tries to make the phone respond to him. He freezes as the phone clangs against the table. He holds his breath.

Notarzt stiffens and glances back, but turns back around when it’s satisfied Alt isn’t escaping.

When Notarzt turns back around, he opens up his hand more and tries to get the phone to fly into it. He might not have the strength though…

…

……

Yes! It barely makes it, but he’s got it by his fingertips.

Alt’s heart soars as he scrambles to get a better grip on the phone. Please don’t drop it- please…. He tries to maneuver it so he can unlock it- if he can… he’s memorized the motions needed to call Chase. The only question was… would he be able to glitch away? He hasn’t been able to glitch at all with all the chemicals Notarzt has been pumping into him.

Slowly, painfully slowly, he calls the right number. The other end picks up immediately—and for just a couple seconds he can hear Chase’s panicked voice.

Alt laughs breathlessly as he hears Chase’s voice, “C-Chase!” He desperately tries to glitch-

SKREEEEEKEEKEEKEEKEEKEE— An awful static noise comes from the speaker.

For a split second, Alt thinks he can hear a voice in it.

Notarzt whirls around immediately. “Nein!” it shrieks.

Alt shouts out in surprise and panic and his grip on the phone loosens as he cringes away from the sound.

Notarzt rushes forward. In an instant it snatches Alt’s phone away, stabs a blade through the meaty part of Alt’s hand between the thumb and forefinger, and throws the phone out through the ajar double doors.

Alt screams as his hand is stabbed and then shouts as the phone is thrown away.

“Was haben Sie getan?!” It shouts at Alt. “Was haben Sie getan?!?!” It sounds angry—but, is that… panic beneath the anger?

Alt glares angrily at Notarzt but seeing the doctor’s expression, he loses his bravado. He shrinks back, eyes wide. “I-I… I don’t know…!”

Notarzt screams wordlessly. It grabs the blade in Alt’s hand and pushes it further, driving it into the table beneath.

Alt’s back arches painfully as the blade is pushed further into his hand. He sobs out, “m’sorry! M’sorry!!”

Then it spins around and leaves the room, doors swinging closed behind it.

Alt can’t even bring himself to look at the doctor rushing away, just shutting his eyes and breaking down. He was so close.., so close!! What… what stopped him?

And.. why did it seem to scare Notarzt?

…Why does he feel like he’s being watched?

[fankayart]

HELLO CHASE.

[dmnfox]

My take on the cover redesign challenge!

This comic is brilliant and well crafted by the finest chefs in this community! It has been a pleasure to take part in it and I absolutely look forward to see how it comes out all together! ❤️

Join the fun and check out the Twitter thread!

https://x.com/im_topicgurin/status/1690650588453756928?s=46&t=bZYWkbjWd0KPBSFpWv5q4A

[andaboop]

Nice warmup that I colored on a whim

[azumanga]

[leobashi]

I did that one challenge again where I roll random color palettes and color with a greyscale filter on

I rolled four palettes with 5 colors each for both, but in the first version, I combined all 20 colors into 1 palette. In the second, I didn’t combine the palettes and used each for different bits of Robbie like his hair and clothes

[thequietdoll]

Septictober day 15 Gunshot

Spent a lot more time on Anti than Henrik whoops also alt with the text below cause I couldn't decide which I liked more

[eldritch-biqch]

Always Watching.

[huffle-dork]

Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 23: Horror Septics

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix 

Read Swapboys | Read Horror Septics | AO3 Link

Prologue | Switch | Stitched | PNPT | Septicheroes | Fantasy Masks | Horror

Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata  

What follows is about an hour of frenzied activity while the doctors take Alt to the emergency room and examine him. True to their word they let Chase stay in the room, though Mag and Jack have to wait nearby and observe through a window. After all this, the doctors conclude that Alt is very injured and lost a lot of blood, but will recover from it all eventually. The highest priority is the cocktail of unidentifiable drugs in his system. He'll need at least one night for his system to detox--not to mention get some good rest. So they take him to a room in the recovery ward and hand Chase some paperwork to fill out.

When he asks about the fee, one of the doctors from earlier takes him aside and quietly tells him not to worry about that. "We get some of you... sometimes," he says softly, and then hurries away before Chase can ask for elaboration.

After what feels like forever, the whole group is squeezed into a private hospital room with a wide window and a small TV in the wall.

Alt is finally sleeping somewhat peacefully, bandaged up and hooked up to IVs and monitors. Chase hates seeing him like this.

Mag has turned into his cat form and is hiding in the corner of the room, watching the shadows for any movement.

Jack has not said a word since they left Notarzt's home.

Chase looks to Jack and smiles at him tiredly. "Hey... Jack? Uh... t-thank you so much for helping us... but um... are you okay? you.. you don't have to stay here anymore... if you don't want to. We'll... we'll be out of here... soon hopefully."

Jack stares at Chase wordlessly for a second. Then, suddenly, the TV turns on, showing nothing but static.

Chase jumps at the TV turning on. Alt seems to curl up, holding a hand against his ear to stop the noise.

Jack quickly jumps up and rushes over to turn it off.

He breathes a sigh of relief and walks back over. “I want to stay,” he says quietly. “But I don’t know if I can. I…” He pauses. “Do you remember what Alt said about not being able to glitch? Maybe… that’s my fault. I-I told you that the thing hunting me uses technology. I-I don’t know much about Alt’s powers but… they seem… similar. Maybe… it blocked his powers. But maybe… if I go, it won’t be able to.”

The hero leans in close to listen, his eyes widening. "...Why... Why would it be messing with Alt's powers? Just because they're similar...? ...I dunno if you going would do anything though... it sounded like this happened while that freaky doctor bitch had him. ... what if this is just to lure you back out? I can't have that thing dragging you away!"

"Heh." Jack smiles. "It... means a lot to hear that. But you guys have to leave eventually. And I think we know we can't fully defeat them, even if we may be able to... work around them. For a while. As for why it would happen in the first place... I have no idea. Maybe it's just jealous of there being someone else out there who can mess with tech." He shrugs. "If... you don't want me to leave... I won't." There's hope in his voice, but also trepidation.

Chase looks at him with soft eyes, "...I don't want you to go. You... you really helped me here... even though you didn't have to. ... I can at least repay the favor for as long as we're still here."

Jack takes a shaky breath. "...thanks," he whispers. Are there tears in his single visible eye? He looks away quickly so Chase can't really see. "I really hope you guys don't come back here, but on the off chance you do, I... I hope you remember me."

Chase looks concerned, "...why wouldn't we remember you? ... i mean Mag might not care but he's an asshole so don't count him." Chase tries to laugh, "But... of course I'll remember you."

Jack smiles sadly. "Think of it like... a curse. It's hard for me to stick in people's minds." He leans back in the chair and sighs. "But... anyway. You should rest. I think your seat reclines."

Chase looks more worried at this. But, Jack has a point. He is really tired. He looks for the recliner part and then laughs when he finds it. "Oh hell yeah! Fancy~!" He smiles at Jack and then gives him a softer, more concerned look. "...try to rest too Jack... okay?"

Jack nods. "I will." To demonstrate, he closes his eyes. But he doesn't like to sleep. He doesn't like to risk having dreams. So he stays awake for longer than he should.

The night passes peacefully, and soon the sun is rising again. Jack wakes up around this time, but everyone else takes a couple more hours.

Alt wakes up a bit before Chase does. And, he notices the medical equipment around him and immediately starts having a panic attack. The monitors beeping- the iv in his arm. Even if he's not strapped down- the bandages feel like how the straps felt- and that's more than enough to send him further into panicking. He starts to hiccup and gasps for breath, sure that Notarzt is right around the corner, about to inject him again.

"Whoa, hey!" Jack immediately stops pretending to be asleep. "Hey hey hey. Alt, right?" He stands up and walks a bit closer--though not too close, in case that would make all this worse.

Alt snaps his head over to Jack at the voice. And for a second- he almost thinks... It's his friend Jack from home. But... it couldn't be. Now that he's looking- there's no way.

"You're safe now. Look." Jack points to the window. There were no windows in that... maze of hallways and operating rooms. "Outside. This is a normal hospital, not that thing's fucked up pocket dimension."

Alt does listen though and looks towards the window- and seems to relax, breathing a little less rapidly. He shudders and then really tries to look at this guy. "... w-who... who are you?" He whispers, as if afraid to raise his voice too loud.

Jack sighs. "Uh, well... I'm ħĨ¦¶Ÿ, but your brother's been calling me... I-it's funny, I wonder if he thought I was your friend Jackie, so he called me, you know, a shortened version of that." He pauses. "That was probably a long explanation, uh... a-anyway. I know you guys are from some other world. I'm from here. I've... I can relate to what you're going through right now..." he says softly.

"Shortened... Jackie...?" Alt asks, brain feeling scrambled. "...Jack... ha... I.. for a second... y-you kinda reminded me of my f-friend Jack... back home...." Alt smiles shakily at him.

Jack smiles sadly at the mention of a friend back home named Jack. could it be...? Well, he doesn't have time to dwell on it.

Then. Alt blinks and seems to remember, "oh...! You... you helped me- back in... in that place... You helped Chase and- ... and Mag was there too." He furrows his eyebrows at this and makes a face. "...why was Mag there...? and... w-where's Chase?" As he asks this slight panic raises in his voice.

"Yeah, I was there. I-I said I'd help Chase find you. As for, uh, Mag... that's a longer story..." He doesn't get to tell the story himself, though.

A hand comes to hold Alt's and even though he startles slightly he relaxes as Chase smiles at him. "H-Hey hey... I'm here- I'm awake...!"

Magnificent rises from his slumber too, but stays lurking in the shadows, watching the others carefully.

As Chase appears Jack decides to let the two of them have that moment. The TV flickers on for a moment. Not long enough for anyone to notice.

Alt blinks and then smiles at Chase and almost immediately starts to cry. "C-Chase-"

Chase is scooping him up into a hug, IV and equipment be damned. He buries his face against Alt's shoulder and tries to hide the way his shoulders are shaking and his voice is cracked with emotion. "I'm so sorry we took so long Alt- I tried to find you as soon as we could! I'm... I'm so sorry I left you- I'm so sorry that thing got you...! I'm sorry... I'm sorry...!"

Alt blinks and then goes to wrap his arms lightly around Chase, letting his own tears fall quietly. He wants to tell Chase it's okay... but he'd be lying. ...none of this was okay. But, he doesn't want Chase to blame himself. "... you found me in the end... that's what matters, okay...?"

Bro nods and then slowly lets Alt go, quickly wiping at his face. "Yeah... yeah... h-how are you feeling?"

Alt laughs a bit, "Like complete shit... I... don't know how else to describe it.... like- like a cut up sausage I guess-"

Chase finds himself chuckling at that.

"Hah..." Jack smiles a little. He can't help it--there's something so absurdly accurate about that comparison, from what he knows about Notarzt. "Well... I'm pretty sure that it won't be coming after you. It... let us get to you, so I-I think it's done with you. Don't worry. You won't have to deal with that again." Doesn't mean they won't have to deal with other stuff while they're still in this world, but he's not going to say that.

Alt looks relived at this, nodding to Jack with a small smile.

Again, the TV flickers, the speakers letting out a hint of white noise.

Once the tender moment is over, Magnificent slinks from the shadows and turns back into his human form, baring his teeth slightly. Mist clings to his feet. "Alright- enough of this frivolity. We need to leave this place now. Alt- can you feel your powers-"

He doesn't get to finish his question before the tv speakers let out noise. And Alt immediately tenses and covers his ears, curling in on himself.

Jack spins over to the TV with wide eyes. He hurries over and makes sure the TV is off again. It is. But that's not good enough. He finds the plug and pulls it out, letting out a sigh of relief. "A-anyway. Apparently Mag is an asshole, from what I've heard, but he's right. If... you can go... you guys should. A-any universe would be safer than this. Probably. How'd you get here anyway...?"

Alt lowers his hands and then panics slightly patting his pockets to see if he still has the TRVLR.

He does. When he sees if he has enough power to turn it on, he does--though the jump button is grayed out. He must not have given it enough power for that yet. The red warning bubble in the middle is still there. Tapping it reveals the same message that he saw when he first arrived here:

WARNING

Lethal ALTRs detected in Current Location: (!)UA-1031019HS. Please jump as soon as possible.

Alt seems to relax as he finds it and powers it up- but not nearly enough it seems. He curses. Then goes to answer Jack, “We… we used this thing. I can supply it with enough energy with my magic- but.. I guess I’m still kinda drained…”

Chase narrows his eyes and tilts the screen to read the warning. He pales. “Ah Jesus… t-that would have been nice to know!”

“I… I didn’t know- I think we picked this one by mistake,” Alt comments quietly, “I tried to call you to warn you right away but then that’s when… when it-“

Chase’s face softens and he pats Alt on the shoulder. “…it’s okay Alt.” He then narrows his eyes at Mag. “you heard him, cat bitch. Not enough magic to jump yet-“

“I’ll give him some of my magic!” Mag argues.

“Oh hell no! I’m not letting your freaky magic touch Alt anytime soon bitch!” Chase snaps back.

"You know, I did just say you should leave, but I don't think it's uh... a good idea to introduce any... foreign power to Alt's systems... right now?" Jack says carefully. "Look, uh, le-let's give it a little bit longer, okay?"

He looks at Mag. "I know you're worried about Cait Coill. But it can take years for it to collect sometimes. You pissing it off doesn't guarantee it's going to show up at any moment."

Magnificent bares his teeth at Jack for calling him out. But, he doesn't say anything more.

Jack looks back to the brothers. "Anyway. Alt. I noticed your clothes got, uh... wrecked a little. I noticed an outlet store nearby. One of us could... go get something for you?"

Alt blinks up at Jack and then moves the blankets to see his ripped sweatpants. Bro also holds up his shirt and Alt's face falls. "...oh... uh... y-yeah that'd be... really nice actually..."

"Your jacket is okay though," Bro reassures him, handing it to him. Alt smiles slightly and takes it, holding it in his arms.

"Okay," Jack says quietly. "I could... um, if you gave me your sizes and some cash, I could head over really quick." He glances at the TV nervously. "I won't be long."

Chase blinks and then looks through his bag, pulling out some cash and handing it to Jack. "Here- Alt's a medium."

Mag huffs and goes to sit in one of the chair.

Alt glances at the TV nervously too. "um.. t-thanks Jack..."

The TV is quiet. Of course it is, it's unplugged. What are you expecting?

"Thanks." Jack gives them both a small smile. "I'll be right back. I'll try to get something like your last stuff." And with that, he stands up and heads out.

Alt smiles warily as he watches Jack leave.

Chase sighs and sits back down, but he does hand Alt his phone. "Oh yeah- I found this outside. How the hell does yours still have battery? I swear mine was dead when we got here."

The glitch shrugs with a light laugh, "I dunno- maybe me using my magic to jump charges it."

"Why the hell didn't mine charge then?"

"I dunno man! I can't control that! Maybe you just need a better phone!"

"...isn't yours stolen?"

"nooo- this was from Jackie i think-" Alt comments lightly. He flicks it on- it's very close to dying but not yet.

As soon as he turns it on, he gets a text notification. The banner disappears unusually fast--too fast to even see a preview of the message.

Alt blinks in confusion and opens up the message.

It's from a number simply listed as "Unknown." ÑñŜ§ŬţġöēŴHelloĴŝêśįģųÝåþŦÚń¨«ĩÄìĽãÊij íźĔīĆvisitorIJĭęúÇ£ĥŲıħăËūùÏŋ* ĻŇňÛ¶Őďŗ¼®ėŽņĖYouŕÎõě©żŖóĘőķŊæ ¾»ŷĀĤareŢ¿ŤŨáŁ×ĶŹĝāŪèŶůâ´ÉĊĞŃlikeÐĐʼnü·¤¬meðŭ¥ëř

"The fuck?" Alt mutters under his breath, "How am I still getting spam across dimensions?"

As soon as Alt exits his messages, there's another one. This time the banner lingers for long enough for him to read.

ê¸×ü��ĝřÖĪŰĊ¥NotĸŷŃŬŊď¨Ă奄ßĈspamŶťġ¹ŵáŝıΪ

And then another soon after that.

Alt

Alt's stomach drops as he sees the message- he... he could see other words amongst the nonsense. Not Spam He gasps slightly as he sees the text with just his name. He drops his phone and scoots back.

Wait- if he noticed something in there then- He checks the first message again.

You're.... like... me

Now Alt really chucks his phone and this causes Bro and Mag to react.

Chase is by his side in an instant, "Alt? What's wrong?"

"M-Message-!" Is all Alt can try to say through his panic.

The TV turns on again.

Alt cries out and covers his ears, curling up and then looking up at the TV in fear.

Bro stands up and looks at it with confusion. "W-what? Didn't Jack unplug that??"

He did. In between the bursts of static everyone--even Alt with his ears covered--hears a voice that sounds like their own, distorted and twisted.

"¢ñŶÅPlayingŘľĬwithïĢŒmyĴÊĠtoys?üÝöĭ ľĬÔŎI ņ®ōdon'tÓŞūlikeĊõ¨Ś¾toğ±´Żshare.ĸÑÌ ĘŖ·SeeÚěìyou¦âðśsoon.ŪĿŽÚ"

And then, abruptly as it turned on, it turns off again.

Alt shakes in the bed, curled up tight into a ball as he chokes on a terrified sob.

Bro backs away from the TV, eyes wide. "W-What the fuck...?"

Magnificent stiffens and then glares at the tv with his teeth bared, power pulsing in his eyes.

Even once the the TV turns off, nobody moves. All they can hear is Alt's panicked breathing.

Minutes pass. Five. Ten. Nothing happens.

Bro and Mag relax after the first few minutes of silence. Bro tries to walk over to Alt to comfort him, but the glitch refuses to uncurl. He just keeps thinking about that message. You're like me.

Magnificent flicks between watching the shadows and glancing at the tv. ...whatever that thing that threatened them... looks like it had nothing more than just scary words.

More time passes. Fifteen minutes total since the message. Twenty. Twenty five.

Then there’s a knock on the door. “Hey guys?” It’s Jack. He slowly pushes open the door and steps inside. He’s carrying a paper bag from the nearby clothing store.

The instant he steps in he realizes something is wrong. “What happened? Did you see something else?”

Chase is still trying to get Alt to calm down but he can't seem to get him to relax. He jumps slightly as Jack comes back and then he sighs, "H-Hey... I... I don't know- Alt was acting weird with his phone- and starting freaking out about a message. And then- the TV turned on- even though we didn't plug it back in! There was a ... a voice- in the static."

"Said something about how it didn't want to share its toys," Mag adds in a flat voice.

Bro nods, "But... nothing since then... but Alt is still pretty spooked." He gently tries to shake Alt's shoulder again. "Hey its okay dude... nothing's comin' to hurt us- look, Jack's back! It's okay..."

Unfortunately Jack's reaction to this news does not help calm Alt down. The paper clothing bag falls out of his loose hand as he immediately goes white as a ghost.

"We're going," he says. "We're going, we're--I know we probably have to check out of the hospital but there's no time, we're going somewhere else to wait for Alt to recover--ow!" His hand flies to his eye-patch, pressing against it.

Alt now looks at Jack with wide terrified eyes, “W..what is this thing? W-why did it say it was Iike me?!”

Bro looks between the two of them in confusion. “wait what? We can’t just-“ Then he starts to connect the dots and he turns pale as well. “that thing- that hunted you. Okay- okay just- grab whatever you can!” He hurries to grab his bag and then starts to see how he can get Alt unplugged from all the monitors.

Jack picks up the paper clothing bag again, trying to take deep breaths. "I-I told you earlier that I understood how you feel--it's because I was stuck with one of those things for a--" He laughs. "--a long, long time." He rubs the bandages covering his neck. "I-it uses technology. M-manipulates it. I-I-I guess it doesn't like having someone else around who can do the same thing."

Alt shudders and looks at Jack with a mix of sympathy and terror.

As soon as Chase has Alt mostly unhooked he hurries over to the window. They're on the first floor and the window opens. That's probably a bad idea, but this is a small hospital. "Come on. When you can."

Chase is quick to help Alt up, slinging his shoulder over his. Alt limps towards the window with Chase’s help.

Alt knows they need to hurry so he grabs Jack and then Mag too and closes his eyes. In a quick burst of static and pixels, Alt glitches them outside. But, then he slumps against Chase, breathing heavily- still having trouble glitching. But at least they’re out of the hospital room.

Magnificent shakes himself off like an offended cat and eyes their surroundings.

“W-Where to now?” Chase frantically asks Jack.

“Somewhere with less tech,” Jack says, frantically looking around. “I-if we can’t make it to the edge of the city we can find a park or something—fuck, I’ve never been here before, I don’t know—aagh!” He stumbles, pressing his had to his eye-patch once again. When he lifts it, blood trickles out from under the patch.

Chase hurries to look over at Jack as he stumbles then looks at him with mounting horror. “J-Jack- your eye is bleeding…!”

“I know, I know, and it’s not a good sign!” Jack shakes his head, pushing past the pain. “Just go! Hurry! Come on!” He starts running down the street, picking a direction at random.

Chase looks back at Alt and then, despite his protests, picks him up and runs after Jack. Magnificent stays close behind.

They run for a few minutes, with Jack constantly looking around for some sign of anything.

There’s nothing.

Until they reach a construction site where the sidewalk and street are all torn up, big empty pipes sitting next to holes clearly meant for them. The site is empty. Unusual. It forces the group to a narrow strip of intact sidewalk, a high wall to one side and a hole to the other.

At once, all the phones the group has let out a squawk of static that sounds like laughter. Up ahead something appears. Glitches into being is probably the most accurate way to describe it, but it’s not like Alt’s glitching. There is something more visceral about the sound and the movement.

The boys all stagger backwards, Mag holding out a hand filled with magic at this thing while Chase holds Alt close. As soon as the sound started Alt had curled up and covered his ears again, shaking like a leaf.

The thing is shaped like a person… in fact, it’s shaped like Jack. But with wide green-sclera eyes. But a second later it shivers and shudders, blasts of static noise filling the air one after another. KRCHT Now it looks like Alt. KRCHT Now it looks like Chase. KRCHT Now it looks like Mag. KRCHT Now there is something of all of them in it, jittering pieces forced together, green eyes and blood in the seams where they meet.

Alt stares at the thing with terrified eyes and then shouts at it, “No no! G-Get the fuck away from us!!”

Its smile splits its face in half. All of a sudden it’s in front of them, without any moving at all—without even the blink of teleportation. It lunges forward, static getting louder.

Jack cries out and instinctively tries to push the others behind him— And then it is gone. Right before it reached them it vanished like it had never been there at all. But the static lingers.

“Keep going keep going keep going!” Jack urges.

Chase staggers back then breaks out into a sprint, holding his trembling brother in a vice grip against him.

Magnificent tries to keep up, split between running and teleporting as he shouts out, “What the hell is that thing?!”

“I don’t know! It’s another one of those things!” Jack shouts. He’s running as fast as he can, but is lagging a bit behind the others with their powers and magic. “It’s strong, though! It can—”

But then, abruptly, he stops talking. Stops running, too, coming to a sudden halt. His visible eye is wide, his muscles are trembling, and more blood leaks from behind the patch. “No,” he breathes. “No, not—” Again, he stops. He relaxes abruptly, head lolling, swaying on his feet.

Chase skids to a stop and whips around. “J-Jack?!”

Magnificent shivers and steps back, eyes wide and magic sparking at his fingertips.

Alt feels like he can’t breathe.

"Ì sińg t̢h̕e ͝body ͡el̡èćt̛r̨ic̕.͞" The voice comes from Jack's throat, but also from their phones, popping and fizzling with white noise. Jack's mouth grins wide and then his body lurches forward, lunging for whoever's closest.

Alt in his panic tried to glitch away- but whether it’s his still messed up powers or the gravity of whatever this thing is- he ends up right in the things path- disoriented.

“NO!” Chase tries to yell-

The hands grab Alt, arms wrapping around him. Jack's body is moving so fast that the two of them go toppling to the ground, on the edge of the hole in the road.

"Bad luck, bad luck," Jack's voice says, his face still grinning. One hand wraps around Alt's throat while the other reaches into Jack's pocket for his swiss army knife. The blade flicks open.

Alt is panicking hardcore, unable to breathe. He tries to kick and fight Jack but he’s still weak and in a lot of pain. “D-Don’t! Please S-Stop…!” Alt croaks out, trying to get himself to glitch but he can’t.

The other react fast- Magnificent yells out and tries to wrap up Jack in strings.

Bro rushes forward to see if he can grab Alt away-

The strings yank Jack's body away just in time for Chase to grab Alt. It shrieks and struggles.

Chase backs away quickly with Alt, afraid both of them will fall in the hole. Alt clings to Bro’s shirt like a lifeline- but he refuses to look away from Jack.

More blood leaks from behind Jack's eye-patch and he stops, clarity for a moment. "I-I can understand it," he whispers. "Neurons and nerves. Guys, it can't--" But then his mouth snaps shut.

Alt’s eyes widen as he hears Jack- “Neurons and nerves- what does that mean?!”

Jack’s hand flips the blade around and cuts through the strings holding that arm. His body presses against the strings, growling, somehow gathering enough force to snaps some of them as the hands reach for Magnificent.

Magnificent growls and whips out another hand and sends a shock of green electricity at the thing before it can grab him.

Jack screams as the electricity hits him, spasming and slumping. But he’s talking as soon as the scream is over. “I-it can’t reach you so it’s stuck with me. Disrupt its con—”

Alt’s eyes widen, his thoughts racing. Break the connection-!

Jack’s warning is broken by laughter. His body jumps forward, breaking the last of the strings, going for Bro with the knife.

As Jack dives at Bro with the knife Alt screams out and then in a quick flurry of glitches disappears into Jack’s body.

Abrupt silence.

Jack’s body drops, completely limp. The knife clatters to the ground.

Alt feels everything that Jack feels, sees everything that he sees as if this is his body. But something is off. Jack’s consciousness is there, battered and tired and worn thin. But there is something else there as well. A parasite, wrapped up in Jack’s nerves, hissing like organic white noise. And yet there is something familiar in its presence. Like your reflection in a funhouse mirror.

{He’s mine,} it says. {Not yours. Get out.} {No!} Jack’s consciousness squirms. {Alt, please! Help!}

Alt panics for a second, trying to understand what is happening. Then he tries to dive into kinks in the nerves, trying to send out his own current to disrupt the flow. {This body isn’t yours! Get out!}

The entity digs its claws into Jack's mind. Alt's current causes it to spasm and stretch but it won't let go yet.

{It is. And so is the mind and soul. Will you take it from me? Make it yours instead?}

{Alt wouldn't do that!} Jack protests.

{Why not? He is like me. I can feel it.}

Alt falters then pushes harder in anger. {No! I’m not like you! I’ll never be like you!}

{But you are,} it says. {We are similar. Your cat is like our cat. Your misery is like our misery. This mind knows. This mind has suspected ever since your misery mentioned a friend with a red hood.}

A memory flashes through Jack's eyes--Chase's freakout in the radio tower when he realized Jackie often wears a red hoodie. But that memory flash brings something to light.

Alt feels himself freeze, slow realization flooding through his body like cold dread. “No! Cuz there’s… t-there’s so way that thing is Jackie! There’s no way that m-monster is my best friend!“ Chase says in the memory.

These things… these horrors- they’re supposed to be them.

As Alt is distracted by the parasite's words, it is sinking deeper into Jack's brain.

Outside the mind, his body trembles, eyes rolling back in his head. Alt can feel pain in Jack's right eye.

Chase has crashed down next to Jack’s body and is trying to shake him awake. “J-Jack?! Alt!!” Mag steps back- but pulls Jack’s arms behind his back with his strings. Cant be too careful…

Alt feels himself want to scream- no no no! He’s not this thing! He’s not a torturer- he’s not evil! He gets distracted from his spiral at the flare of pain in Jack’s eye. He feels panic trying to take over him. But- that must be the connection!

Alt tries to act quickly, racing into the nerves by the eye and putting more of his magic in to stop this thing from spreading further.

It's like slowly pulling apart taffy. The parasite wants to stay, clawing and biting into the membrane of Jack's soul. But Alt's power stretches it, pushing it away until-- SNAP!

It's gone.

All that's left is the shadow of a power. Jack's body stops shuddering and he lies there, breathing heavily.

{Thank you...} It's just a thought, but Alt can picture tears of relief.

Alt's being shudders once the connection is snapped but he lingers long enough to hear the thank you- and feel the relief flooding through the both of them. {...anytime.}

Chase shakes Jack's body more, getting worried. "J-Jack?? Alt??"

Jack's body shudders and then- glitches break off his form almost like a copy of him. Then, Alt snaps back to himself right next to Jack, but he can't stay up long. His eyes roll back in his head and he slumps forward- but luckily Chase catches him. "Alt!"

The glitch shudders and shakes in Chase's arms, his eyelids fluttering and electricity sparking bright in his veins. But- not as bad as it was in the last world at least...

Mag watches carefully- but he does release the strings on Jack.

Jack breathes heavily. He sits up slowly and looks around. "I think... I think it's gone." For now. He knows it will keep trying to find him. But Alt seems to have driven it away temporarily. "You guys... are you all okay? I-I didn't hurt any of you, did I? Or... it didn't?"

Chase seems to relax as he sees Jack get up, "W-We're okay... I.. I think..."

Mag relaxes somewhat too but he eyes around them. "... we shouldn't linger here- we should try to find another safe spot..."

Chase nods and gets to his feet, holding Alt against him again. "Uh- first off let's get away from this big hole thing- freaks me out..."

"Yeah..." Jack breathes. He stands to his feet, staggering as he gets used to controlling his own body again. "Maybe... maybe now that it's gone we can go back to the hospital. O-or we could try to find a park or something. That'd be nice. I don't know. What do you guys think?" The group starts to walk away from the construction site.

"Park is good..." Chase mumbles, "I... I don't want to risk drawing that thing again..."

Alt pants slightly and mumbles a bit against Bro, his shoulders starting to glitch and pixelate. Chase seems to perk up at this.

"Alright." Jack nods. "Let's see if we can find one." He doesn't want to walk too much. Just having that thing in his head pushes him to exhaustion. It always uses all his strength at once, unable to feel the effects of such effort.

Luckily, they find a park soon. It's rather small, square in shape and fenced-in. But there are a lot of trees and planted flowers, and a small man-made arm-wide creek cutting across the center. Jack sits down under a large willow tree, liking how its drooping branches give him privacy. "This is good."

Chase looks around and laughs slightly, "Y-Yeah wow... this is really pretty actually." He sits down next to Jack and sets Alt down to lay with his head in his lap.

Mag studies this and then disappears to go sit on one of the branches above them.

Chase looks up and squints, ".... can't you be normal for once?"

Mag grins, "Nope~"

Bro rolls his eyes and then looks over at Jack, "...you okay dude? That was... that was super intense..."

Jack pauses, unsure how to say this. "I've... been through worse," he says slowly. "With that whole... situation, too. What just happened." He looks up into the tree. "You're right. It is pretty." Nice to know there were still beautiful things in the world.

Chase gives him a sad smile.

"Alt. Are... you okay? You were in my head, I-I kinda knew what was happening. There was a moment there... just, are you okay?"

Alt slowly blinks open his eyes and seems to relax a bit more at taking in the fresh air. He winces for a second before glitching to sit upright, giving him and Bro a bit of space- and so he can see Jack properly. He meets Jack's eyes and Jack can see the flicker of fear in them. But, he looks away and tries to say, "Yeah.. i'm..." Then, he pauses and he swallows thickly, tears starting to brim in his eyes. "...no actually- im... i'm not okay..."

Chase looks confused and worried, "W...What happened?"

Jack sighs. "Do you remember... when we first met? After Sangria left, I made some comment about what if you have a friend in a red hood, and you freaked out?" He pauses. "I had the thought back then, but... if you were so sure I didn't think I should question you. But what it said to Alt while they were both in my head... it implies I was right." He pauses. "Wondering about yourselves in this world... is pointless. We've met them."

Chase's eyes widen, "Wait... no that... that can't be-"

"It is," Alt says in a wavering voice, "These... these horror things- they're us. This is another parallel universe... but one where all of us are fucking horror monsters...! I'm that- g-glitchy thing- it called you Misery, Chase. And It said ours cats were the same."

Mag stiffens but then sighs and looks at the lingering fog, "... i guess that makes sense."

Alt laughs a bit through his tears, "... Notarzt... m-must be Schneep right? The accents... and... Sangria is Jackie... but I... I guess I'm the worst of them... t-that's why Notarzt got scared-" He bites his lip as it wavers and he holds his knees close to his chest.

"You are not it, Alt," Jack says fiercely. "You may be parallels, but that doesn't mean you're the same. I know that because you saved me when it... it probably would've been easier to run away and leave me there. I can't believe that someone who'd do that is the same as the thing that... that tormented me for so long." He shakes his head. "If you believe that you're the same, then you have to believe that all of your friends are the same as the creatures here. Do you think that?"

Alt is quiet for a beat, letting his tears fall quietly. Then, he shakes his head. "no... no- I could never... even Mag doesn't seem as bad as these things..."

"Normally I'd be offended by such a statement-" Mag says haughtily. "... but I'm inclined to agree..."

Chase goes to put hand on Alt's shoulder and smiles at him, "I know it sucks... seeing a version of yourself that is just... completely wrong. It makes you doubt a lot of things... but you are you, Alt. You don't act like these things do... you're good, baby bro. I can promise you that..."

Jack nods. This feels like a moment he shouldn't interrupt.

Alt takes a shuddering breath but does his best to nod to the others. He doesn't know what else to say... because even if he felt so disconnected from the other Antis he's met... in some ways- he felt... exactly the same. And that scares him more than anything. What if who he used to be- is just his default? Is he gonna turn into an awful person who hurts others for fun? What if this is something he can't change? Every universe they go to just makes him more and more convinced- even if he wants so desperately for it to be different.

Chase looks at Alt sadly and then sighs, leaning back. "... at least... that is a mystery solved... even if it sucks balls to hear. Hard to imagine that weird house demon thing was- me I guess. Seems far off if you ask me!" He tries to laugh.

Jack shrugs. “If there’s a multiverse, it’s probably infinite. Anything can happen.” He pauses, then gives a small smile. “But out of everything that could be, I’m glad it all came together so I could meet you two.”

Chase and Alt smiles warmly at Jack. Chase beams, "Ditto! You're a neat dude, Jack! I dunno if we would have even made it without you."

The smile disappears again. “How are you feeling… physically? I don’t know how easy or difficult possession is for you.”

Alt takes stock of himself and shrugs, "...m'still kinda weak- achy... but its hard to tell if its different from the wounds or not. I feel like I have some of my energy back though so... i guess those drugs are finally wearing off."

"Should hope they are, you were going through detox all night at the hospital," Jack mutters. "Anyway, glad to hear it. Maybe... maybe you just need a little more rest. Then you guys can get out of here."

"Yeah... possessing stuff does tire me out so... probably need to wait a bit more..." Alt mutters.

Chase looks around, "Hey- maybe we can get you changed into those better clothes now. ...so it doesn't look like we just kidnapped a hospital patient." He laughs.

"Oh shit, yeah." Jack had dropped the bag during the possession at the construction site, but luckily he'd had the presence of mind to grab it again. He passes it over. "Hope it's alright. It might be a bit big, I wanted to err on the side of caution. But I think I chose good options. Maybe a little cheesy." That last comment is directed at the T-shirt, which is black with Out Of written on it, then a picture of the control key on a keyboard.

Alt blinks a bit and takes out the t-shirt to look at it. He laughs, grinning wide. "heh... it's perfect. Thanks, Jack."

Bro laughs, "You nailed his style dude! He has like a million of those kinda shirts at home!"

Alt flushes at this but he does laugh, "Tech pun shirts are just fun, what can I say?"

Alt soon hurries off to find a place to change, eager to get out of the hospital clothes.

Luckily the park is empty. There are no real constructed buildings here, but the trees are clustered close enough together to provide adequate cover.

When he returns, Jack is slumped back against the tree trunk, eyes closed, messing with the eye-patch but not removing it. The drying blood is irritating.

Alt comes back, pulling his jacket on over his new shirt and jeans. He looks a lot more comfortable now, even if he's still limping on his right leg. He glitches to sit back down with everyone and then flops onto his back, sighing a bit in relief. Chase smiles at him. Magnificent is lounging on the branch, watching them all.

Jack opens his eye. "Heh... you look great, Alt. That really does suit you. Well, then... I guess we just sit here and relax, then."

Chase settles to sit against the tree trunk, closing his eyes.

Alt turns his head to smile at Jack, "Thanks dude-" He lays back down and tries to snap his fingers- seeing if he can feel his powers a bit better.

...Yes, in fact. Alt's powers respond quickly. Not quite as quick as usual, but much faster than just a few minutes ago. Maybe pushing away that... that creature... did undo some sort of block. It's worrying that it was able to block his powers in the first place, but they won't be here for much longer, anyway.

Alt sits up in a bit of excitement at feeling more of his magic. He pulls out the TRVLR and tries to see if he has enough to finish powering it up.

It responds instantly. The jump button is no longer grayed out. The warning button is still there, of course, but that's probably going to stay there until they leave this universe.

Where would they go next, anyway? If Alt scrolls through the universe list for a bit, he sees more UA prefixes than U or UF. What did they mean, anyway? UA brought them back to a modern setting, but it also brought them to a place with dangerous monsters. Maybe... maybe play it safe this time. None of the U universes have that little warning exclamation mark next to them. Even if something goes wrong, they wouldn't end up somewhere dangerous if they aimed for there. Here. U-1227118IV. When they're ready to go, that seems like a good place to start.

Mag hears the sound of the TRVLR and appears down next to Alt in a burst of static. "Is it ready?"

Alt jumps and glitches in place, holding the TRVLR up in the air away from Mag, "Jesus Christ!" He glares at Mag and then sighs, "Yeah- it's ready... I think i found one that... wont kill us at least- if it's not home."

Chase blinks open his eyes and smiles before looking back at Jack. His and Alt's face falls as they look back at him.

"...we should probably go," Alt says quietly, "...just in case."

Bro goes to lightly touch Jack's arm, "...are you gonna be okay?"

Jack laughs. "I'll live. By god, I'll live. Fuckers aren't gonna take me down." The laughter fades, but a small smile remains. "I think... meeting you all has helped. Yes, even this guy." He gestures at Mag. "Picturing a world without things out there hunting down people gives me a little bit of hope. That... somewhere out there, people are alright. Even if they have to deal with other shit. You know? And... like I said, I hope you guys don't come back here. But I'll remember you. And that means something."

Chase grins wide and lightly punches Jack in the shoulder, “Hell yeah dude! I’ll remember you- I swear I will.”

Alt smiles softly, “Yeah… I got something that’ll make me think of you now. …never let these fuckers wear you down, Jack. You’re hella strong for getting this far…”

Mag makes a face at Jack but- he doesn’t look like he hated hearing that.

Alt sighs and then grabs Mag and Bro.

Bro makes sure they have everything and then two finger salutes Jack. “Give ‘em hell, Jack!”

Alt smirks and nods. Then he clicks the jump button.

The three of them fall again, and then they are gone.

Jack stares at the spot where they were. He sighs a little. Though it sucks to be on his own again, he'd rather they be safe than with him. And god only knows this world isn't safe. Not for the people in it, much less people from elsewhere who aren't used to it. He'll remember them. Even if they forget him like everyone else, he'll remember them.

He tilts his head back and stares up into the branches of the trees. Sunlight filters through. Everything is green and yellow and blue. There are birds chirping.

That's nice.

[fankayart]

Fearsome hatred that reaches the sky

[crystalninjaphoenix]

What There Is

A Horror Septics Short

(It’s been a while, huh? I’ve had ideas, but no time to act on them. Until now. Heh. Also, big warning for body horror in this one.)

There is a man walking down a city street at night. He stumbles, confused, unsure where he is or how he got here. The streets are empty. No one is around to ask for help. No one is around to hear the rapid footsteps, or to see a strange figure grab the man and pull him through a doorway that was not there before.

There is a room with white walls. It does not exist in this world, but somewhere adjacent, sticking out from the side of the world like some odd growth. The man from the city street is lying on an old, rickety gurney. He is no longer breathing. But his eyes are open. The body is not alone in the room. A tall, human-shaped thing is leaning over it, staring at the man’s open eyes. Their scleras are green. As it continues to stare, the eyes move. They turn to look at it.

There is something wrong with this body. The man in the city streets had already been injured, but not enough for death. And before dying, there had been no pain. It would know if there was pain. It is confused. The feeling is unfamiliar and unpleasant. The only thing to do is see what is wrong on the inside of the body. It grabs its tools and begins to work.

There are wires inside. Like the type used to plug in appliances. They are inside the body, wrapped around veins and organs. And there is metal inside the body. Flat, green metal boards with bits and bobs poking off, attached to muscle and bone. The wires and metal cluster inside the ribcage, around the heart.

There is a green eyeball growing on the heart.

There is another strange feeling curling around its insides. It does not like the shivery texture on its skin. So it pretends it is not there. It knows this is just another’s work, and there is nothing to worry about, because it knows it is more powerful. The body is left on the city streets where it was found.

There is something wrong in the hallways.

There is a low whine in the air, and it does not know where the noise is coming from. The sound is not inside the bodies. The sound is not in any of the rooms. The sound is everywhere, all around. And it always sounds like it’s getting louder, though the volume does not rise.

There is something growing on the walls. Red and meaty, bubbles of viscera hidden in the corner where the ceilings meet the walls. Strands of exposed nerves dangle from the ends. Green eyes blink in the middle of the gorey displays. When it cleans them away, it finds there are wires and metal hidden underneath. It is confused again, and angry. It cannot believe anything would have the gall to try and infiltrate its domain. It searches for any sign of the culprit...but there is nothing. The sound continues, and the patches of flesh and eyes grow bigger and bigger. Perhaps the culprit lurks in the world outside. It decides to open up an exit to go look.

There is no exit.

There is no exit, and it feels the shivery feeling again. This is its home, its domain. It should be able to open an exit. But the hallways do not respond.

There is a jumping, scrambling feeling inside. A feeling that it has seen in human eyes many times before, but never felt for itself. The hallways do not respond to its commands. The walls are covered in watching green eyes. The constant whine in the background sounds like laughter.

There is something else here.

There is another thing here, and it is ŀŭĿñºÄÎĕŔ¾ŋŠ¿

There is a maze of hallways, growing from the side of the world. They should only answer to one thing, but another is here now. Another is here; it feels its presence but cannot find it. No matter how much it searches, no matter how much it runs through the hallways it is supposed to control, it cannot find the other one.

There is the sound of static in the air. It pierces the mind, echoing, echoing, echoing. It feels its energy slipping away. The stitches on its body are bleeding. They are loosening. Things are sloshing around inside its skin. Things are dripping from its mouth. It hears the static inside its mind. It is not supposed to be there. That should not be possible. Something with that power should not exist. It feels sick. 

There is a message. A small, off-white animal has slipped into the hallways, padding along on silent paws, ears and tail twitching. The animal is not solid when it tries to touch it. Instead, its body twists like smoke. It recognizes this power, and it asks what the message is.

The eyes. Destroy the eyes.

There is a collection of tools that the other has not touched. It takes every last one and begins the hunt. The eyes on the walls pop and squish, and with every one gone the sound of static lessens. It feels the anger from the other, but it does not appear to stop it.

There is an exit. An exit that appears once every single eye is gone. It does not hesitate to leave.

There is a woman waiting outside. She is human, her body thin and starved, her wrists wrapped in string. The cityscape is deadly—unnaturally—quiet as something uses her voice to speak. It listens. It understands.

There is a mess of white hallways and rooms, growing off the side of the world. There is also a vast expanse of humming electricity and congealing blood covered in green eyes, festering underneath the world. Breathing under the world. Writhing under the world. Growing under the world.

There is something under the world, reaching out to grab what passes close enough.

[micamone]

its almost 2am so its ~overthinking cartoons hours~ but the shack is so far out of the way, especially initially, theres no way its not on a septic tank vs sewer, right?

how do those even work? my mom lives in the middle of a huge city but has one, plus city sewer i guess, so i have very vauge motions. im desperately restraining myself from looking it up rn. how does that effect having a well on the property? a basement? a bottomless pit???

did Ford have those fucking basement levels put in from the start? i forget. How did he convince the Corduroys to do that then? is that normal in fucking log houses??

if they got put in later. how

Ford got the place at such an affordable price because of all of the lumberjack bodies in the ground from the floods, and we got a piece of just how many fucking zombies are in there at the start of season 2 but in the journal Ford said zombie uprisings used to be a usual monthly occurrence

putting aside whatever made them stop... what about all the dirt that was removed for the BASEMENT and wiring and pipes and shit

did... that dirt have bodies in it? did they just like.... fucking move it with wherever they move construction dirt? were there monthly zombie lumberjacks wherever they got moved too???

did they get filtered out and properly buried? sent somewhere to be autopsied and identified or something? did they have to deal with reanimation???

literally I've so many questions all the time

[t3r4t0m4]

Fuck you *ponies your septic man*

[stargirl-writes]

heal

pairing : f! reader x anakin skywalker

word count : 3.5 k

masterlist | ao3 link

summary

in which anakin skywalker chooses to run away with you before all is lost in mustafar.

tags : au, angst!!, hurt/no comfort

warnings : toxic love, dark fic, ptsd, and reader being so dependent on anakin, suicidal behavior

notes : my reader character being a healer is my self indulgent insert 😭

i've sat w this 4 so long cause i was like 'realistically, what would happen if anakin ran away?' and i think i've finally made up my mind abt it.

time is moving fast for this fic because i wanted to cover so much, so heads up for the skips!

ALSO, ear-ringing apologist perspective. if u can't handle reader being blind to faults, this is not for u haha!

likes, comments, and reblogs are highly appreciated!

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. 

At least, it was something you want believed in.

The clone war that raged on revealed just how much people can be persuaded to do horrible things when their survival is at stake.

You underestimated that instinct yourself. The burning desperation to not lose your Anakin Skywalker. You thought, you would have killed for him, the way he would for you.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was the one to tell you how Anakin became irredeemable.

It was a blur how you flew to Mustafar despite it. You needed Anakin to admit to it, you needed to take him away from what he'll become.

The crimes he committed made you feel sick, septic like a festering wound.

But, whether you love what you love.

Or live in divided ceaseless revolt against it, what you love is your fate.

You've been so alone. So much so, you can only define a time with Anakin, and without him.

It was gradual. It couldn't have been some higher power that destined you to him, He had been a General of a war, and you, the Healer. It was all odds, that you fell in the right place at the wrong time.

An unwilling hero, and a glorified murderer.

He was crafted to be a tool in the war. Divinely created by the Force with the purpose of bringing balance. And in a war, that meant doing damage, killing.

Every victory he had was a stark contrast to yours.

Every life he takes, be it a droid or a separatist, is a win. And every life you lose is a name added to the long list of casualties.

You and Anakin were opposites.

So, the shock of it remains, because somehow along the way, Anakin loved you. And you loved him. You had each other to cling to.

The terror of What if it doesn't last, What if there's no one else? What happens if it goes back to being alone? persists.

And you might not belong anywhere else.

But you were his. As he is yours. Not in the manner of possession. Yours in the way of devotion.

Mine to tend to, mine to care for, mine to love.

You knew that Anakin's love was conditional. You were only the one in front of him. You didn't misunderstand. You let him use you anyway.

It's not like you were loving him unconditionally, it was because you were terrified to be lonely.

At least, in the beginning, you believed so.

Most days were occupied by your duties. And Anakin would love you in a way that is shaped like fingers wrapped around a throat. Incessant. Hungry. Teeth deep in possession. Making up for the little time, holding you against him as if he was bracing himself that someday you won't be around.

It felt like he was always saying goodbye.

So, though your heart was nearly breaking out of your ribs, you flew by yourself to Mustafar.

A pile of lifeless Separatist figures greeted you in horror.

It was true. Anakin had gone to the dark side. What he did with those children... 

The fear consumed you like a corrosion, but still, you stood in front of him, begging him to come back.

Anakin had carried a deep malaise when you had found him. It was almost emanating from his blood-stained robe, a coldness, a deadly assurance.

"You're not supposed to be here," Anakin says in a strangled voice. His hands firmly holding your arms.

The color of his eyes startled you. It was like looking at a ghost, and all that was left was an unending rage. You fought to not let your fear swallow you.

"Anakin, we have to go" Your lips quivered, not entirely sure what you were planning.

There will never be escaping the things he's done.

You want him to go away with you, anyway.

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. 

For a while, it was quiet. Anakin's glossy blue eyes were gazing at you, in conflict, and begging to be understood.

"I can't... Don't you see? I've restored justice to the galaxy" He abruptly lets go, and turns, concealing his face away from your sight. "The things I've done... I can't, there's no running away from it"

The guilt he feels leads him to think that the only path now is through the one he sacrificed his morality for.

"No," you struggled, voice failing to hide your anguish. "Anakin, you can't let this be your fate. Run away with me." You pleaded, eyes filled with tears.

A life of loneliness. With no one, the way it used to. 

Then, Anakin half turns. He surveys your willingness to take him as he is. Maybe, even wanting to believe it.

You have always loved Anakin, even the parts you have not understood.

Perhaps, this was the similarity that bound you together. Burning devotion. One that allows you to see past your moral code.

You gave so much to the war. You'd run yourself spent from the hours. You fought so hard to keep people from dying. You'd never taken anything but this. A chance at life. Away from it all.

"I would've done anything you asked of me" His voice reveals his devastation.

You stepped forward, "Then come with me, Leave it all behind, I need you"

You held your breath, half convinced that this may very much be the end of things.

But Anakin takes your hand, and you don't waste a minute more to take him away in your ship.

Your hands shook the entire time.

The galaxy was silent when the war ended.

Mace Windu's attempt to assassinate the Chancellor made the Jedi an enemy of the Empire.

It triggered an Order that made clone soldiers turn against their Generals. The Jedi are hunted down for treason.

You and Anakin will never find security again.

The atmosphere was thick with emotions that were strained by the abruptness of events. It was making it so much harder to breathe. To live with the truth of it.

All three years of the war are reduced to two moments; Anakin falling into Palpatine's manipulation, and Anakin choosing to run away with you.

You caught yourself slipping away. Tucked in a corner of your mind where you can feel safe.

The healer's oath replays in your mind, the cruelest reminder.

Blind to faults, blind to good. Serve to save, not to see.

As the jedi healer, you weren't allowed to deny patients. You wondered whether that played into role when you stomached all the horrible things Anakin did.  Serve to save, despite, despite, despite...

You landed in a remote place on your home planet of Hapes.

It was a secluded cabin that you used to go to when you were younger. Surrounded by a lake that stretches as far as your eyes can see. It was the first thing that came to mind when you set your ship on autopilot.

Anakin was quiet the entire time.

You, too, became paralyzed by the events that has unraveled.

For a few days, it remained like that.

Though the event has passed, your body can't quite regulate.

It still feels as though someone will find you. And take Anakin with them. You knew your hypervigilance was a consequence of your trauma, but knowing doesn't mean you can let the feeling go.

Even Anakin responds to mild stressors as if he was still in the war. He'd not let you off his sight the first few weeks.

You felt as though Anakin was trying to process everything in his mind. And you grew terrified of his growing silence. Knowing Anakin meant knowing his tendencies to vacillate violently. The reality of what he had done would set and it'd twist into something septic. An unending shame.

You were convinced that he'd have killed himself from it.

But then he'd stare at you deeply as if he was committing you to memory. He'd coddle your face in his palm. He'd hold your hand, hands that are capable of so much rage, and so much tenderness. He'd hold you tight against him in bed, the way he used to.

He can't quite communicate it through words yet, so he'd rely on his touch to let you know that he was still here. Your anxieties eased after. He needed to detangle it on his own. You'd be there whenever he is ready.

Obi-Wan Kenobi appears the next month.

It was through luck that you were the one to open the door.

You knew Obi-Wan would want Anakin to answer for the crimes he's committed.

You won't let him.

"What do you want?" You say cautiously. Stepping forward to the Jedi Master to stop him from entering your new home.

Obi-wan furrows his eyebrows at your action. He gazes at you for a moment before speaking up. "You know what he's done, [Name]"

"The Republic has fallen. The system that replaced it won't hold him to what he's done. It's the very reason for its existence, anyway"

Obi-Wan's eyebrows flashed hearing your words. It seemed as though you'd be the last person he'd expect to exhibit such... heartlessness.

"And what, do you intend to keep him here forever?"

You looked down, fiending an expression of indifference you learnt from Anakin.

"I'm more selfish than he is"

Obi-Wan sighs. There were no more Jedi Council to hold Anakin accountable. You wonder if Obi-Wan had gone looking for him out of the responsibility he felt he had. You could use that.

"If you have any love left for Anakin, You'll leave him with me" You persuaded.

Obi-Wan sharply looks at you. You knew he was being torn apart by his mind and heart.

The door swings, revealing Anakin who appears behind you.

Anakin's arm extends to put you behind him. Obi-Wan was caught, stricken by the sight of his apprentice. You held on to Anakin's forearm.

You held your breath.

Then, Obi-Wan opens his arm to hug Anakin.

Anakin froze, perhaps not expecting his Master to embrace him after...

He turns his head to look at you, then back to his Master. And he reluctantly wraps his arm around Obi-Wan.

You exhaled finally.

You saw Obi-Wan's glossy eyes as he pulled away. He may not forgive Anakin for all the things he's responsible for, but his love for him surpasses all the anger he has.

Gaining his master's acceptance, Anakin became recognizable once more.

However, Obi-Wan could not stay. Perhaps, he's grown sick of stomaching the love he had for Anakin. It was not an easy feeling to be fond of.

When Obi-Wan left, Anakin finally came to you.

It hauntingly paralleled the moment he broke down after he lost his mother. After he gave in to his rage. Only this time, he didn't hold the pose of defiance and came undone, weeping for what he'd done.

You held him and told him that what matters now is what he'll choose to do.

And in the months that come, Anakin has fought to deserve your forgiveness.

He wanted to earn your love.

As a healer, your experience with foraging natural medicine made you more equipped to build a sustainable life. In six months, you were able to make this house by the lake a place to call home.

But, Anakin is being dragged through time. He'd do his best to help, but you can feel his... silence. The weight of it, this was not the life he was groomed to have. He has always lived off the adrenaline. The absence of it makes him constantly feel as though he is at the other end of the high.

It'd worry you whenever he comes home late from a hunt. He's always been reckless, that much hasn't changed. He'd come home covered in tissue deep cuts, bruised muscles, and a dead-pan look in his eyes. It was a topic that you tried to communicate— and a topic Anakin would respond defensively to.

"It's nothing" He'd dismiss whilst you were dressing the wound.

You'd press the clean gauze over his skin, on the brink of anxiety. He'd wince and take the gauze from your hand.

And you'd stand up and leave, because your patience would have run out by then.

It upset you how he always stands on a cliff to wait for the winds to swoon him over because he won't jump, he won't make that decision himself.

Your breaths were shallow as you tried to calm down after yelling about how his passivity over danger was eating at you. You needed him to try. Because you can't save him on your own.

"I'm sorry" Anakin looks down, receding. " I just don't know how to do this" He admits, eyes wide, childlike, helpless.

And you thaw, breaths shallow as you fought to not cry from the anger.

"Anakin, if you don't..." You began, looking down at the ground as if the words would appear before you there. "if you don't want this anymore, you can go"

Because the entire year you have spent in this cabin, it felt like time has frozen. You hoped that in time, you and Anakin would find the courage to move past the war. Of course, it was futile, you can never take back what you've given to the effort.

Whatever is left of you and Anakin is all there is now. And sometimes, it feels like there is nothing. Just ghosts of who you once were. You weren't sure if being with you was making any difference at all.

You were selfish, but not enough to keep him as he wastes away. You'd let him go, even if it'd cripple you forever.

Anakin grabs both of your shoulders firmly, forcing you to look up to him.

"Why do you think I came with you?" Anakin's voice was stern. His eyes fixed, determined to imprint words to your heart.

You held on to his arm, swallowing your anguish. "I only meant that if I'm not doing you any good, you should—"

"And where would I go?" He interrupts, unrelenting.

"I don't know" You admitted. You're ruining him. You've done this to him. You should let him go.

His grip loosened, and his lips kept opening and closing as if he was eating up the words before letting it leave his mouth.

"—I'm trying, [Name]"

"I'm giving you my life, I don't have anything larger to give" His voice breaks, and his head dips. "I'm trying" he repeats.

You felt his tears warm against your clavicle. Your fingers tangling with his hair.

"I know, Ani" You coo gently. "We'll try together" You promised.

It was becoming clearer that he was alleviating his sins by trying to kill the entity that once controlled him. It was also becoming harder to see a monster when all you see is Anakin, the love you abandoned everything for.

Anakin, who was sold as a slave, and then freed, only to be chained to another lifelong servitude through the Jedi. Anakin, who was dropped in the middle of a war, and made responsible for a child whilst being a child himself.

The Jedi Order relied on his nature of winning, despite not agreeing with his tactics. He'd be patronized for his violence, which his life would soon be defined by. Anakin's worst action is murder, the same way his best action is murder. Because if he doesn't answer to the shots fired, he'd be the one receiving them.

He was never afforded any space to become anything else.

Except when he's with you.

Anakin can become cruel, the same way he is loving. Two truths can exist at the same time.

And with the months that flew by, you watched as Anakin continually chose to not let his darkness define him.

You were learning things about him that you couldn't have had during the war. The way he neatly keeps inventory of his tools. The intense focus in his eyes when he is concentrating. The way the wood creaks— the cadence of his steps. All committed to memory because no one else can know him the way you do.

He told you, you saved him. And you wept, unsure whether what you did was really an act of selflessness.

Living with him became easier. No more effort to try to gain his love. No approval, no admiration to attain. There is no role to play, no one to convince. Just, being. There was so much time, and the only thing that mattered was; how long do we have each other?

Most days, Anakin would carry his grief so well, that you'd forget it was even there. He'd work to minimize it, to live with it. However, when the dark comes, he has no control over his dreams. and the overwhelming shame and guilt seep.

It had been two years when you woke up abruptly to find the space beside you empty.

You grabbed your robe, the cold midnight air felt crisp against your skin. Finding Anakin was easy. He'd always wander towards the edge of the lake, staring at the moons.

"It's cold, Ani, come back to sleep" You urged, but Anakin's gaze was far away.

He has chopped some of his hair, and it looked the way it used to during the war. It startles you sometimes to remember how young he still was.

"I had a dream" He speaks softly, arms finding a way to snake around you so he'd press you against him. "It felt as real as you now" His gaze lands on you.

It terrified you to ask, but you did anyway.

"We had a child"

Oh.

You chuckled in surprise. Stepping back to process what he said. It just never seemed to occur to you, then. Though you have never dismissed the idea, it just felt like you were barely surviving to try to raise a child.

Anakin smiles when he realizes he made you flustered. "Good thing it was only a dream?"

You let out a breathless laugh, somehow relieved that Anakin was not seriously considering it.

"Yes," You weren't ready. You may never find it in yourself to ever be ready.

"We're not bringing a child now, not like this"

Anakin's expression melts, "Yes, the empire is growing stronger" His guilt resurfaces.

"I never imagined it to be like this for us," He thinks out loud,

"We have to make the best of what we have" You sigh.

"I've been thinking" Anakin begins, "maybe, there is still something that can be done"

You try steadying your breath, somehow bracing yourself for this moment; when he'll want to fight again.

It was everything he was made for. You knew that, you just didn't think it'd be in under a short period.

Something was screaming inside you. A fear, that you thought had gone when you ran away with Anakin. It was telling you that you were going to lose him. And you, selfishly, want to stop him. He can't... if he goes, he'll die. And you can't even begin to imagine what'll happen to you if he dies.

"How?" You asked despite yourself.

"Ahsoka mentioned something about a rebellion," He says, voice thick with something he hasn't had before. Hope.

"The galaxy needs changing" He steps forward.

You shook your head, overcome by the anxiety of it. "Anakin, I'm never going back"

He turns on his heel, eyes narrowed at your proclamation. "I didn't ask you to come back"

You tilt your head, "Of course, you weren't" Though you knew you were being unfair, just the idea of it was sending stress already.

Anakin's eyebrows knit. "I'm only thinking out loud, it's one thing to consider it but another to act on it" He defends.

Though, you know this is where it begins. And you were responding defensively because you knew where it would lead.

Anakin will forever feel as though he has to restore the galaxy to how it was before he helped destroyed it. It won't be long until he'd despise himself for choosing to stay here with you. Especially since it's been drilled into him that he's supposed to be the one to bring balance to the force.

Whether he loves you or lives in a divided ceaseless revolt against it, what he chooses to love is your fate.

His purpose or you. 

Going would give him his closure.

Going would anchor you to the hells of your biggest fear.

"Anakin, please don't go where I can't follow" Your voice broke, begging. It was selfish to want to keep him for the second time.

And you weren't sure whether your love would be enough for Anakin to stay.

Not when it only brought him here, a home by the lake, forever standing on thin ice that always threatened to break under.

You were living under the false pretense of security. All of this, the house, the lake, the isolation, are reminders that you and Anakin will never go back to normalcy, no matter how much you pretend.

A knife may dull, but its purpose remains to cut.

Anakin's expression softens and he presses his lips on the temples of your forehead.

You were slowly understanding that the entire galaxy's fate was carried inside Anakin Skywalker.

The chosen one.

Every decision he made was informed by that pressure. No matter how personal, it always builds to a path that he can't control, because it's already laid out for him.

Created by the force, to be used by the force.

So you can't find the heart to be angry when he left.

You decided it would be hopeless to try to stop him. Anakin has this view that everything in his life, he has to work to earn. To deserve.

Even this... freedom that you have.

He has to contribute to it, in this perverse grandiose action as to fight the Empire. So he can accept that you do indeed love him.

He has to seize this opportunity with Ahsoka. He is more autonomous of his power now. He is once again engaging in something that's risking his life. He can fulfill his destiny.

It didn't make it any less painful.

You had to inspire confidence in him, otherwise, he'd doubt. So, you pushed all your feelings away and smiled when you kissed him goodbye.

You never left the war. The two years you stole were only stalling the inevitable. Perhaps, two years was too generous.

"Bring him back, please" You took Ahsoka aside. Ahsoka nods uncommitedly. For, she won't promise what she can't deliver.

And once again, you have found yourself alone.

He swore he'd have done anything for you.

Just not this one.

His belief that he has no inherent right to life; and has to work to earn anything made you feel as though you were his... prize. A trophy. In which he'd fight for to retain but not value enough to take care of.

He should've stayed. It's good he left.

Because now that you have nothing, you're finally able to detangle how Anakin doesn't love you. Not in the way you thought. Anakin loves that he has you.

You have always put his wellness first, that now, when you are not so worried by walking carefully around his hurt, you are able to feel yours.

Perhaps, losing Anakin was good. You can finally put yourself first. Whilst he still seeks answers in the past

There is no going back to the way it was. You tried living 'normally' and it just became a bitter reminder that you are forever changed.

Acceptance of that and lending yourself a little more compassion might just be the beginning of your healing.

footnote

i'm obsessed with the writing style where authors strikes through the text ! it's such a smart way to imply that the character that's narrating is choosing not to allow those thoughts and so it looks like it's been scribbled out .

also, quoting ka applegate on relationships not lasting outside the war :

"wars don't end happily. not ever. often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. some people who were brave and fearless in a war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. "

[willowser]

sometimes i get the very strong urge to write a comes back ??? fic for bakugou but the more i think about it, the more i realize how emotionally taxing and honestly horrifying it would be.

you and bakugou spend a few years in that weird will-they-won't-they stage before you officially start seeing each other seriously, and then it takes some time to adjust to having a pro-hero for a partner — so it's not always easy. until the time goes by and you have a break up scare or two and things finally level out, and you figure out how to talk to each other and you fall into the beautifully warm comfort of just being together, in love.

and then he fucking dies. in a heart-explodey, blind-in-one-eye kind of way.

the two years that follow are just — time passing, like pages in a chapter you can't understand the words to. you know grief in a way you never could have comprehended before, you wonder what it's all for and how you'll go on. you're angry at him for sacrificing his stupid life and angry at the world for taking him from you, but you're so deeply, down to your bones, heartbroken over losing him.

and you're not the only one; more than any of his friends that you see, deku is the one who is there for you the most. calls you daily and pulls you out of bed, makes sure you eat because he knows that's what kacchan would want. lovingly flings out a few gruff insults that make you laugh until you're both crying in your kitchen. it means something, maybe, that you both can just mourn in the presence of one another, without judgement or care.

your relationship gets a little — dependent. not romantic, at least not for you, but it's like you need the other person for the bits of bakugou they hold that you don't. the memories and the laughs and the bad times as well as the good. the secrets katsuki would never tell you, and the tenderness izuku was never shown.

it never gets easier. every day is just another day. if you think about it for too long, it all comes crumbling down. you're almost having to disassociate through your life just to make it, and that's hard when the whole city mourns him, too. but you do it. every single day, even on the worst of them.

izuku calls you a little more than two years after, in the middle of the night.

sounding way too awake and out of breathe, though you don't think that's necessarily out of the ordinary, considering his profession. he's a very hyper-fixation kind of guy; you can only imagine what hobby he's picked up and also mastered in the last 48 hours.

he asks if he can come pick you up from your apartment because he "needs to show you something important" and you agree, even if it doesn't feel like it usually does, when the nights are long and you both need someone to talk to. this feels — urgent. a bit worrisome.

you don't know where he takes you, but he's quiet the whole way there. in an old sweater, hair mussed, bags under his eyes like he really hasn't slept in the last 48 hours.

("stupid flighty fucker," katsuki would say, sometimes, when the weight of the world was weighing too heavily on the number one hero's shoulders, and even if he would huff and puff and grit his teeth, you'd notice him checking his phone more often than usual. taking every phone call that came without hesitation.)

you almost want to tell izuku that, in the car, because that's what you do, that's how you've kept him alive between the two of you; kacchan would make a point to tell you that's not how generators work, in the shitty horror film you and deku go see, that kacchan wouldn't dare sit through.

("no, he would," you argue, solemn as the lights in the theater warm back to life, as it empties. "he would."

and after a long, heavy beat, izuku would agree. "yeah. he would.")

izuku brings you somewhere that's too clinical to be as quiet and as dark as it is: inside, the walls and floors are sterile with anti-septic but the lights are off, in every hallway. the only visibility comes from a small lamp that's in a lobby of sorts, and there is a small handful of people you don't know, at all, already there. waiting.

you say his name in a small, concerned question, and when he takes both his hands in yours, they're warm and too wide and sweaty. his eyes glow, but in a way you don't recognize. everything he says to you is — gibberish, a mish-mash of worry and half-sentences and all the warning bells are going off in your head.

"y-you can't freak out, okay? you have to—i can explain all this when...when the time is right."

"you said that you would give anything to have kacchan back, remember? you said—you would do anything."

"i know this sounds—i know how this sounds, okay? but nothing is impossible!"

"i just need you to trust me."

and up until now, you had no reason not to. but you're not sure when he slept last, or even when he ate last, or why he's muttering things about his quirk, how he and katsuki are connected somehow, in ways he's not able to explain.

or why you can faintly hear the steady beeping of a heart monitor just beyond the only closer door in this wing of the hospital.

[thequietdoll]

Septictober day 8 Disoriented

I think anyone would be confused if they saw a headless lump a few inches away from you first thing in the morning