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huffle-dork · 7 months ago

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Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 24: Many Roads Diverge

Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs| Many Roads Diverge

Read SITCV | SATCV Masterpost | AO3 Link

Bro lands in the living room again. It's night outside. The room is empty, with no sounds at all to tell him people are nearby.

Bro hurries to his feet and looks around with his fists up- expecting a fight. Only to be met with... silence. He blinks and then rubs at his head. "...fucking hell... this is messing with my brain- what is happening??" He whispers to himself.

The silence stretches onwards.

"H...hello?" He calls out in the house. "Is... a-anyone there?"

No answer.

But... the lights are on upstairs. He can see it coming from down the staircase.

"...okay..." Bro whispers to himself. "... I might be making the 'white-guy-in-a-horror-movie' clique move here but... gotta start somewhere I guess?" He hurries up the stairs.

There are several doors upstairs. They look like bedrooms, maybe a bathroom, but he doesn't need to check them all. The door closest to the stairs is slightly ajar.

And a spray of red liquid spilled across the floor, a distinct coppery smell in the air.

Bro freezes as he sees the red and ends up staggering back a little. "H-Holy shit..." He whispers, looking dumbfounded and even a little bit sick as he covers his mouth.

A voice comes from that room, sounding muffled. "Is... is someone there?" it calls. He recognizes Chase's voice from the past two times he'd been in this house. "Hello? I-is it safe?"

Bro looks up and then seems- hesitant. Is he... in the same place again or is... this time different? He's not sure... but- what if he needs help. He swallows and then steps forward, trying to avoid the red. "I... I think so? Are... are you okay?"

"Y-yeah! Luckily."

Bro peers into the ajar bedroom door and sees...

Four. Dead. Bodies.

All four of his friends, in the same appearances of the last two times, sprawled on the floor, dead.

Bro gasps loudly and staggers back at seeing the bodies, putting a hand over his mouth and finding the nearest wall to fall against. What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck?!

The wardrobe doors rattle. Someone is inside. "You're not... the guy, are you?" says Chase's voice. "Y-you don't... sound the same... But... w-well I guess if this is a trick, I've already ruined it." He laughs darkly.

Bro’s so shaken he doesn't even know how to respond to Chase. He's honestly trying not to throw up.

"Hello?" The wardrobe door opens slightly. A sliver of Chase's face is visible, pale. "You... A-are you supposed to be here? I-I mean... I thought... you'd be part of the police I called... But you're not."

Bro's voice is shaky as he replies, "I... I'm a h-hero technically but I.. uh... n-no I ... don't think I'm supposed to be here." He swallows nervously, "What.. what happened?"

"I-I don't know... it's all a blur, really." Chase pushes the wardrobe door open the rest of the way, staring down at the bodies. "We were hanging out when I saw someone outside. So I called the police, but then the guy broke inside a-and started going crazy. We all ran upstairs and blocked ourselves in here, but... it wasn't enough. I-I was a coward and hid, even through all the noise." He shakes his head sadly.

"You've been... hiding this whole time?" Bro asks quietly. "..you haven't left that closet? Through... all of that?"

Chase nods. "I-I know... I probably should have done something." He shivers a little. "But I was... frozen."

"...you don't seem surprised to see them all... dead." Bro says with a suspicious tone in his voice.

"Of course not!" Chase stares at him, shocked. "I could fucking hear the gunshots! I-I peeked out for a bit, but th-they weren't moving, a-and none of them came to check on me, so I—" He shivers again, stronger this time. "I... I-I don't want to talk about it. I-I want to get out of here. I c-can't stand seeing them like... like this." His voice sounds choked up.

Bro quickly changes his tune and hurries over to him. "O-Okay okay... sorry let's just...g-get you outside- c'mon..." He gently tries to lead him out of the room.

"Th-thanks." Chase follows Bro quietly, avoiding looking at the bodies as they leave the room and start heading for the staircase. "I... like I said, I called the police. Th-they could be here soon. We should wait for them. H-how did you find this place? It's... out in the middle of nowhere."

Bro messes with his hair, "...excellent question I'm... still trying to figure that out myself. But uh... i... I can wait with you..."

"Thanks." Chase nodded. They reached the living room and he sat down on the sofa. "But... s-sorry, I think I'm just really confused. What do you mean? You... don't know how you got here?"

"Kinda? It's... complicated and confusing and... y-you're going through a lot so I... I don't wanna make it worse." Bro says, holding his arm and rubbing it.

"W-well... maybe it can distract me," Chase says, giving a small, weak smile.

Bro lets out a small snort of a laugh and shakes his head. "...I'm... you- from another universe. And usually to get into universes we use a device but.. it got broken so now... there's these weird rips? In the air? They only seem to affect me but... this is the 3rd time ive wound up in this cabin? But... each time is different and... I don't know why I keep coming back here... or why I'm here at all."

"...huh." Chase blinks. "O...kay. I think... I'm not really processing that. But... I mean... I've played video games where there are a lot of routes that are slightly different depending on your choices. Maybe... it's like that? Maybe... instead of appearing in a new game altogether, you're appearing in a different route in one game?"

".... that's the best way I can think of all this to be honest-" Bro says with a sigh, finally going to sit down on one the couches. "..I guess that makes sense. When I came here before... it... it wasn't like this. It wasn't this bad... i... I'm so sorry Chase..." He takes a shaky breath and shakes his head. "But, if this is just... going through routes then... maybe I can find one where... none of this happens. Maybe even one where I can find Jackie or Alt..."

"Jackie and Alt...? Friends of yours?" Chase asks. "I-I have a Jackie... well. I mean." He glances up towards the ceiling. "L-let's not talk about that."

"Yeah... my best mate and my brother... I.. I don't know where they are or what they're going through but... we all fell through the same rips. I..I hope they're okay..." Bro says sadly.

"Hmm. Yeah... maybe you'll find them." Chase nods. "Maybe."

Silence fell for a while. Awkward, sad silence.

Until... Chase inhales sharply, glancing towards the basement door. "What? Chase, you said a 'rip,' right? Like... that?" He points towards the door. Just in front of it, a small black rift is taking form.

Bro gets to his feet quickly and then his eyes widen as he sees the rip. "... y-yeah... yeah that's it."

Bro shakily swallows again and then tries to smile at Chase. "... guess that means it's time for me to go..."

Chase nods. "Good luck, then."

Bro smiles sadly at Chase and pats his shoulder. "Sorry I couldn't stay..."

Bro walks closer. The rift grows bigger—but before he can reach it, something happens that hadn't yet.

Someone else comes out of the rip in space-time. It's a man, with brown hair, wearing a black T-shirt. A green scarf is wound tightly around his neck, and a white eye-patch hides his right eye. His body shivers with static as he steps out of the rift and into the living room. He glances around for a moment, and then looks directly at Bro. "What the fuck has happened here, Chase?" Anti asks.

Bro staggers back as he takes in who is coming out and then stares at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw. "A...Anti!?" He pushes his hair back and then laughs breathlessly, "How...? W-What are you doing here?!"

"An...ti...?" Chase repeats, eyes wide—and then narrowed into a glare.

"What am I doing here?! I'm checking to see what the fuck is causing all these rifts to appear!" Anti gestures back at the rift behind him. "Reality is already fucking paper-thin here, there's a dozen of these in this universe's alternate versions—What the fuck?! Please tell me you didn't do anything. Please tell me you got sucked in and aren't causing this."

Bro staggers back and waves his hands, "W-We got stuck! We were- we got tricked by an Anti in the last universe! He messed with the TRVLR and was using it to bring us to him and h-he broke it! He said he's gonna destory other universes but we have no way to find him! I've been stuck in a loop here and I... I don't know where Jackie or Alt or e-even Mag is!"

"Huh. Well... fuck." Anti pauses, brows furrowing as he thinks. "I think I can help with finding your friends and that cat-themed fucker, at least. The rest... we'll have to talk about later." He jerks his head back to the rift. "Go on through. You'll be in pitch black, but you won't go through to another world. Not until I'm there.”

Bro looks relieved as he nods. "T-Thanks Anti... so glad we ran into you..." He starts to go towards the rift-

“And you." Anti glares at Chase. "Stay right where you are."

"Wh--" Chase's eyes widen. "I-I don't know who you think you are, b-but I've been through a lot, all my friends just--"

"Yeah. No. I'm not falling for that." Anti grins. "You think I can't recognize myself? Especially one as despicable as you?"

Chase takes a step backwards. His expression shifts for a moment, become something nasty and unpleasant.

Bro stops when Anti and Chase talk. His eyes widen as he looks at Chase. "Wait- what? You... you're-" He pales and backs away. "...you tricked me."

Chase--no. This world's Anti smiles a cruel smile, twisting Chase's features. "Oh, it's not your fault. I'm just too good at this, especially in something that fits as well as this."

Bro's eyes glow with anger and he bares his teeth and looks ready to fly at Chase and punch him. "You fucker! You killed all of them! You absolute fucking-!"

Anti grabs Bro from behind. "Don't." He scowls at the other Anti. "I get it. I want to fucking kill him. But apparently we're not supposed to divert the course of worlds too much."

"So sad." The other Anti gives a little wave, still smiling. Anti growls, a bit of green light escaping from beneath his eye-patch. Just like Bro, he looks about ready to attack this guy. But he holds himself back. "Besides, Chase. The sooner we leave, the sooner we find your friends. They're in alternate worlds like this—and in some of those alternate worlds, this guy is still a bit trigger-happy. We got to get to them fast."

Bro growls angrily at the other Anti but lets himself be grabbed by Anti. He doesn't take his eyes off him but nods towards the rift. "...Okay... okay yeah- l-let's go find them then." He shudders, thinking of getting to another timeline and seeing... Jackie and Alt in that horrible pile. He hurries towards the rift.

Anti makes sure that Bro leaves first before turning back to the other one, still in Chase's body.

"In most of these worlds, you don't win," he whispers.

The other Anti shrugs. "I've won here. That's enough."

"For now." Anti stares at him for a moment more... then turns and walks through the rift.

-----------

Jackie lands in the living room again. It's night outside. The room is empty, but he can hear footsteps in the kitchen area.

Jackie catches himself as he falls and looks around expectantly. Then deflates when nothing looks different. He sighs heavily and pushes himself up, "Welp... so much for that..." He mutters. Then, he perks up and curiously goes towards the kitchen.

He walks into the kitchen area, which is connected to the dining room.

A man is opening up one of the dining room windows. A man wearing a red hoodie... that is absolutely soaked in blood. The man turns at the sound of Jackie's footsteps... and he sees his own face.

"Oh, fucking hell," the other him curses under his breath, then glares at him. "You. Don't fucking ruin this. Or I'll kill you." The man reaches for something leaning against the wall, picking it up. That's... that's an axe. Usually used for chopping wood, but the blood on its blade tells a different story.

Jackieboy staggers back with wide eyes and goes white. He stumbles, hardly able to say a word. He tumbles into the door of the kitchen and cowers away, feeling sick by the sight and the smell of all the blood. "i..I-i...!"

"Why do you look like this one?" the man with his face asks, more talking to himself than Jackie. "That's strange. He doesn't have any relatives in his memories." He chuckles, an amused grin on his face as Jackie stumbles backwards. He turns to face him. "Look. I've just had... a lot of difficulty. So I'm running low on patience. Tell me who you are and how you got here. Quickly. You don't want to annoy me."

"I-I'm Jackie! Jackie M-Mann...!" Jackieboy blurts out, "I.. I dunno how there was a r-rip in the air and it's b-black and it o-only sucks me in but i... I thought it was just a ghost- they s-said it was only a ghost-!" He's panicking. "P-Please don't kill me- I... I have a family b-back home..! I...I just need to find a way h-home I.. I didn't mean to come here...!"

The man stares at him with a blank expression. Then he suddenly laughs. "A ghost...? Well, I was a ghost. Up until about ten minutes ago. Now I'm alive again." He flexes his fingers, looking down at his hands with joy. Then he looks up again. "You have no idea how much I struggled getting here. Any one of them would've fit better, I'm sure of it. Live and let live, I suppose. But you don't care, do you? You're too scared to care." He jerks his head to the side. "Get out of my sight."

Jackieboy squeaks in response, looking white as a ghost. He quickly nods and runs as fast as he can towards the door. He doesn't know or care about what he means. He can't let himself die here...!

The door is locked.

Jackieboy chokes on a panicked sob and tries to turn the knob, banging against the door in a desperate attempt to get it open.

No good. It might as well have been a wall.

"Having difficulty back there?" the man's voice calls from the kitchen. "I said to get out of my sight."

"I...! I'm t-trying!" Jackieboy sobs, desperately throwing himself against the door. When thet doesn't work he hurries to try to find that clock that he used to break the window earlier...!

There it is! Right on the table where it was last time.

The man laughs. "Try harder~" he says in a singsong voice. A scraping sound comes from the kitchen. No doubt that axe, grinding against something.

Jackieboy looks towards the kitchen, feeling his blood replaced with ice as the murderer sings towards him. He chucks the clock at the window with all his might.

It hits the side of the window instead of the center where the glass would be weakest and bounces back.

Footsteps. They're coming closer but the man is still just out of sight.

Jackieboy panics and almost trips over himself and he runs towards the closest room he can find- it looks like some sort of bathroom. He quickly goes in and tries to see if he can lock the door, breathing heavily.

Yes, the door locks. There's a deadbolt that slides shut. He's safe.

Jackie quickly deadbolts the door and staggers back away from it, scared out of his mind.

The footsteps walk into the living room. "Hmmm," the man's voice says. "Not up the stairs. The basement door is open, he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave it like that, would he? So..."

Jackieboy hears the mad man walking around and commenting like its some sick game of hide and seek. He holds a hand over his mouth and crouches down, hyperventilating and crying and trying to control his shaking.

And then the footsteps approach the bathroom door. "Did you notice something in there? There's no window." He laughs. "Odd, isn't it? Most bathrooms have a window, but I just couldn't figure out how to make it work. So that's basically just a box in there."

Jackie freezes as he takes in his words and looks around. Oh... shit- did he just fuck up...? He chokes on a sob and curls up as small as possible.

"You don't have to be too scared," the man says. "I'm not coming in there. Yet. I have stuff to take care of. But you're not going to come out. The door opens outward, you know, it's very easy to block. So just sit tight, alright?" He laughs.

Jackie is shaking and quietly sobbing as he pulls out his phone. If this crazy psycho is gonna kill him... he has to say goodbye to Zara. He's not gonna let himself die without her knowing- she has to know. He hates that he might not see her face again but... he's alone. He has no idea where Bro or Alt is and... He tries to see if he can make the call-

"I'll be back later. We can catch up then. Maybe you'll come up with something to persuade me in the meantime. I've been known to go easy on people if they make it--what?" His voice turns away from the door, like something caught his attention. "The fuck is that?"

Then, Jackie snaps his head towards the door, curling up small.

"Who the fuck are you?!" The man shouts.

"I think the better question is, 'what are you?'" a voice says. "I'd ask you the same, but I already know who, and what, you are. A m̷̛oņ̷s̨̧t̀͟er̕."

"What the f--?!"

There's a thumping sound against the nearby wall. The man shrieks angrily, almost animalistic, and then, suddenly, the thumping and the shrieking stops.

Jackie clutches his phone tight to his chest and listens to everything happening with bated breath. He cries out and covers himself as the thumping and screaming starts. He stays curled up for as long as he can.

Someone knocks gently on the bathroom door. "You can come out," the voice says, not harshly, but not exactly gently, either. "I took care of him for now."

Jackie jumps as the knock happens and stares at the door with wide eyes. "...h...how do I k-know this isnt a t-trick so you can just k-kill me...?" he tries to bite out with anger but his fear damages the bite.

A moment passes in silence.

"I guess you don't," the voice says. "Personally, I don't think I sound anything like that guy--not while he's stuck in that body--but I guess you don't know his capabilities, maybe he can mimic voices."

A pause.

"I'll come in, then. Be prepared."

There's a sound of static, and a flurry of green and black pixels, and suddenly there's a man crouched on the ground in front of him. He's wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with the phases of the moon on it, and has a green scarf loosely wrapped around his neck. His right eye is covered by a white eye-patch.

"Well?" he asks. "Does it still seem like a trick? Because I'll leave if it does. You can come out when you want."

Jackie screams in Anti's face as he appears in front of him and tries to scramble up the wall.

"Okay okay!" Anti immediately disappears. His voice comes from the other side of the door. "Can never expect people's reactions, but I should've fucking realized... fucking... He's not gonna be out forever, so can you please process this quickly?"

Jackie breathes heavily and clutches over his heart, trying to take it all in. "I... I know you- You're the Anti from... t-the first universe we ever went to...!" He scrambles to his feet and goes to unlock the door, looking out with wide eyes. "H..How are you here?!"

"I'm... who?" Anti blinks, confused. "The first universe you... Did you meet some other version of me? Because I have no idea who you are. But, as for how I'm here... that fucking thing." He points behind him, where a black rift has opened up in front of one of the front windows. "Fucking rifts showing up. Not a good sign."

Jackie looks confused, "Uh... y-yeah...! We meet like... god... its been over a year now since?? How do you-" He shakes his head, "N-Nevermind! If you have a way to get me out of here p-please do!"

"Right." Anti nods. "Go through the rift. You'll be in pitch black for a moment before I join you. Afterwards, we're going to have to stop by other worlds to find three other people out of place like you."

"M-My friends! O-Okay good... okay... yeah. T-Thank you." Jackie says, putting his phone away and rubbing at his tear-stained face. He doesn't hesitate to run towards the rift- only sparing one last glance at the killer's body and Anti before jumping in.

Anti also glances at the unconscious figure. He gives this other Anti--in the body of this world's Jackie--a look of disgust before hopping through afterwards.

-----------

Magnificent lands in the living room yet again. It's night outside.

Magnificent snarls as he pushes himself up, wiping himself off. He looks at his surrounding with confused anger. "The fuck is going on??" He asks himself.

The room is empty, but a glowing red light comes from the open doorway to the basement.

Mag sees the red light and seems... fixated on it. Like a cat finding something it wants. He prowls forward towards the basement.

The red light comes from down the staircase, from the hallway in the basement. And with it... more of that dark power. It's stronger. And that faint, lighter current underneath is nowhere to be found.

Magnificent’s eyes shine with that power hungry light as he feels the power below. He teleports to get closer-

This is the same basement hallway from before, but now lit by a red glow coming from the middle door on the right. It slowly opens further and out walks the same Marvin from the last two times. But something is different. Maybe in the way he’s standing? He turns and starts to walk down the hall, but stops when he sees Magnificent standing there.

“Well… you’re definitely not supposed to be here,” he says.

Mag looks at him with a curious head tilt then giggles, “I would think so too… but I keep ending up back here. But something is different this time…” He prowls closer, eyes alight with hunger.

Marvin's eyes narrow. Red light dances around his hands. "Don't get closer," he growls. "This is your only chance."

Magnificent laughs, “And what could you possibly do to me?” He smirks cockily.

Marvin tilts his head. "Oh? You want to see? Fine, then."

Suddenly, he's behind Magnificent, throwing a blast of red magic at him.

Magnificent gasps and then yells out as the blast hits him. “Why you little-!” He snarls then turns around to try to blast purple black magic fire at him.

The blast hits Marvin dead-on and he stumbles back, patting out the fire on his outfit. "I don't want to sound like a child, but you did start it," he chuckles, setting up a translucent red shield in front of him.

Magnificent snorts and rolls his eyes.

Red light flickers through the hallway and a whip of red light lashes out at Mag's legs.

Mag easily teleports out of the whips of light and zigzags across the hall in quick flashes before charging at the shield with lightning to try to shatter it.

The shield breaks in two and Marvin stumbles back, scowling. His eyes flash red, and the lights in the hallway suddenly go out, plunging the basement into pure darkness.

Magnificent falters for a second, looking around in confusion. He tries to reach out where he thought he saw Marvin last.

But Marvin isn't there. Instead, Magnificent touches something else. It's soft and covered in cloth, with some warm liquid staining it.

Magnificent recoils back and shakes off his hand in disgust. He then does the smarter thing of lighting fire in his hand so he can see.

The light of the fire reflects off the glassy eyes of a dead body sitting in a chair. And there are three more, all slumped over. Somehow, Magnificent is no longer in a hallway, but in a small room, empty except for four bodies, all of whom he recognizes from the last two times he arrived in this cabin.

Magnificent can’t stop the involuntary gasp that escapes his mouth as he sees where he is and takes in all the bodies. He stumbles back- too surprised to stop himself. “What… what the hell?!”

Marvin laughs. It sounds muffled--coming from behind the room's closed door. "I'll assume you can usually teleport and ward the door," he says. "I wonder if you'll be able to magic your way out of talking with the police. Well... I'm not curious enough to stick around and see." His voice drifts away.

“What?!” Magnificent snarls, “you’re not pinning this mess on me, coward!” He tries to teleport out- maybe he was bluffing about the wards!

It feels like he just ran into a wall, his power bouncing back.

Magnificent staggers back and growls like a feral animal. He throws magic to try to destroy the door.

The magic cracks the wood, causing it to splinter and shudder--and after a moment, catch fire. It didn't happen right away, proving there must have been some magic in there, but eventually, it burns.

Magnificent grins and then tries to kick down the door to escape.

The door falls into burning firewood and Mag is able to run into the hallway.

Marvin has walked away, towards the basement staircase. He spins around at the sound of the doors breaking, eyes wide. Scowling, he turns back around and hurries up the stairs.

Magnificent bares his teeth and runs after Marvin, "Get back here!"

"Fuck you!" Marvin shouts, sending a bolt of red light over his shoulder.

Magnificent dodges the light and shoots his own to try to take out Marvin’s leg.

Marvin shrieks and falls when he's almost to the top of the staircase, hitting his head on the edge of one of the stairs. He's dazed for a moment, then, suddenly, laughs. "Oh yeah! That's what pain is!" He scrambles up the rest of the stairs on hands and knees, reaching the open doorway at the top.

Magnificent tilts his head in mild confusion before teleporting in front of Marvin and going to step on his hand. "You little bitch-" Magnificent spits. "You thought you could get away from me? Pin me for your gruesome murders? I think the fuck not!"

Marvin shrieks again as Magnificent steps on his hand, then looks up, grinning. "So you're gonna kill me?" he giggles. "Go on. I'll hop into you next." His other hand grabs onto Mag's ankle, sending a shock of red magic up his leg.

Magnificent jolts slightly from the magic but seems unphased. He grins wide and manic and laughs, "Oh no- I'm not gonna kill you! I'm just gonna take some of the power for myself~" He goes to snatch Marvin up by the wrist and attempts to drain him.

Marvin's eyes widen as he starts to feel his power drain--and then, before Magnificent can get too much, he feels the power yanked out of his hands. Marvin scowls--and suddenly he isn't on the floor any more, he's standing up behind Magnificent, trying to plunge a knife into his back.

Magnificent's eyes widen as he feels the snag and then before he can even react there's a sharp pain in his back that has him yelling out. He staggers and tries to catch himself on the wall next to the stairs- trying not to fall down them too.

Marvin pulls the knife free, flicking blood from the narrow blade, and goes in for a second stab.

Magnificent is so dazed with pain he doesn't expect the second stab- and the pain and pressure of it makes Mag lose his footing and fall down the stairs- his vision momentarily whiting out as he crashes back to the basement floor.

And in the basement hallway, a small black rip starts to form.

Marvin rushes down the stairs, clutching the knife tight, but skids to a hall when he sees the rift. "Huh? What the fuck?" He shakes his head, ignoring it, and goes for a third stab on Magnificent while he's down.

Magnificent is dazed but... surprisingly not down?? Guess its his suppressed feelings of pain from being mostly dark magic. His eyes open and see Marvin approaching him but he lunges back and skids back on the hall floor. He bares his teeth like a feral cat before ignoring all better judgement and lunging to try to claw at Marvin's throat.

Now, he only wants blood.

Marvin shrieks. Not expecting that, he falls back, Mag's claws digging into his neck--

And suddenly, a bolt of static and glitches shoots out of the rift, forming a person that drags Mag back from Marvin. "Can't leave you alone in any world, huh?!" Anti bites out.

Magnificent makes a choked noise of confusion and hisses, "You?! Why are you here?!!"

"Chase! You want to punch this fucker's lights out?!"

"Oh it'd be my fucking pleasure~!" Bro says with a big grin. He cracks his knuckles and then grabs Mag by the front of his shirt and punches him as hard as he can. "That's for working with the fucker who stranded us here, bitch!"

Mag's eyes roll up and he crashes to the ground, out cold.

Marvin scrambles to his feet as soon as possible, clutching his throat to stem the bleeding. He gives Bro and Anti confused looks, then turns and hurries up the stairs, heading for the cabin's first aid kit.

Anti glares after him. "I don't feel bad for that fucking thing inside him, but that Marvin... he didn't seem so bad." A pause. "Better than mine. Better than this fucker." He kicks Mag in the side.

"Yeah jesus... Mag went for his fucking throat god-!" Bro shakes his head.

"let's hope he lives. Maybe the shock of this will loosen that thing's hold." Anti says.

Bro looks sadly towards the stairs. "I hope he's okay too..." He sighs and grabs Mag and throws him over his shoulder, "Man I've done this a lot this adventure..."

Anti laughs. "Fucker doesn't give you any other choice, does he?" He shakes his head. "Alright. Two more to go. Back in the black space." He jerks his head towards the rift. "Hope you're not too tired of carrying him."

"Nah he weighs pretty much nothing." Bro shrugs. He hurries over to the rift.

"Good." Anti makes sure that Bro and Mag go through first before heading through himself.

-----------

Alt lands in the living room yet again. The outside is pitch black, and the floor under his feet seems strangely tilted. Something about this place seems slightly off in comparison to the last two times. Like the details haven't quite filled in...

And then, in a snap, that strange feeling is gone, and it's just the normal living room. Outside the sky is the pink-orange color of a sunrise.

Alt staggers as he lands in the living room, looking around the strangely tilting floor and feeling a sense of dread curl around his throat. Then, he blinks and its all gone. He grips at his wounded arm and looks around in confusion.

Footsteps come from behind one of the closed door. It jolts for a moment, locked, and then Jameson manages to open it and stumbles out, shirt stained with blood. His attention immediately goes to the windows. Relief floods his face when he sees the sun. Then he notices Alt. "Wh--" he starts to say, and then his words are suddenly overtaken by coughing.

Alt glitches back in surprise and staggers away from Jameson with a slight bit of fear. But that’s overtaken by concern as he sees him cough. “H-Hey… are you… okay?” He asks, warily noting all the blood on his shirt.

He stares at Alt for a moment, hesitant. Then nods. "Not... hurt," he says in a hoarse voice, then coughs some more. He asks in shaky sign language, Can you understand this?

Alt nods, "Y-Yeah I can speak sign... please don't overwork yourself..."

Jameson nods again, relieved. I don't know how you got here, but we need to leave. He stumbles forward, slowly heading for the front door. Terrible things have happened.

Alt looks confused, "T-Terrible how? How... did you get that blood on you if you're not hurt?" He glitches back and warily holds out a hand towards Jameson, magic faintly sparking. "How can I trust you...? W-When I was here last... y-you were-!"

Jameson blinks, confused.

I've never seen you before, he says slowly. It doesn't matter. Terrible things. He shudders. My friends are dead. He keeps going across the room, reaching the door and trying to open it.

It's stuck, seemingly locked.

Alt's eyes widen, "D-Dead...? A-All of them?? W-What about Marvin and Chase I..." He stops himself and shakes his head, holding a hand against his chest. "...each time I'm here... it's different. A different person possessed... different people hurt and no one remembers the time before... but... how? and...why?" He whispers.

Then he looks back to Jameson and glitches over, trying to see if he can help with the door. As he tries he asks, "I... I know it might be painful but... c-can you tell me how? How did... all this happen?"

Jameson's expression flickers into... something else. Is it annoyance? He looks away too quickly for Alt to really process as he digs into his pockets and pulls out a ring of keys, which he hands to Alt.

Alt blinks at Jameson and takes the keys, looking confused. "...you had the keys? ...huh..."

Yes, but they weren't useful while we were in outer space, were they? Jameson says.

"Oh.. right-" Alt says, blushing slightly.

Maybe the annoyance was a trick of his mind, because now Alt can only see sadness on Jameson’s face. I'm not sure. Suddenly, the cabin was surrounded by nothing. This creature came after us. It used our bodies, made us attack each other. He shivers. I... He trails off. It's over now, though. I think.

Alt gives Jameson a wary glance. "Nothing huh... that... happened last time too... when you were..." He hesitates, then goes to try to unlock the door.

It takes Alt a couple tries to figure out which of the keys fit the lock, but eventually, he finds the right one and unlocks the front door.

Jameson opens up the door, sheer relief on his face. "Freedom..." he whispers, and staggers out.

Alt is still wary of Jameson though, despite everything. He's not sure how much of anything he can trust right now. In fact... how can he be sure that the others are dead...? He looks back towards the cabin, unsure.

Jameson looks back at Alt. He tilts his head, puzzled. If you want to look around in there, be my guest, he says. I'm getting out of here. He looks around. Though... I guess I can't drive.

Alt startles out of his thoughts and looks back at Jameson. He slowly nods, "Uh... I'm sorry I... I can't either. Are we... far from a town?"

Very far. Jameson nods. The nearest town is F-O-L-A-S-U-L. It takes an hour and a half to drive. So it will take a while to walk. But I'd rather do that then stay here.

Alt nods, "H-Have you called anyone to try to come help...? I... I don't think I have enough magic to help... get that far."

Jameson hesitates. I could try to call the police... it wasn't working before. He reaches into his pocket and takes out a phone, tapping at its screen.

And Alt feels a tug behind him. A rift has already opened up.

Alt blinks and looks behind him then balks at the rift, "W-What?? Already? H-"

Jameson looks back at him--then notices the rift in surprise. "That's not supposed to be here..." he says in a hoarse voice. "What is it? Do you know?"

"I...I'm not so sure... A... tear in the universe I guess..." Alt says shakily, gripping at his bleeding arm. "I-It's been keeping me in a loop here- dropping me in this cabin but...seeing different things. I... I dunno how to stop it."

"Well... I don't, either," Jameson says. "Never seen that before. Though... somehow, it reminds me of that hole in the ground..." He shakes his head. The rift's pull is increasing steadily.

"H-Hole in the ground?" Alt asks, glancing back at Jameson. It's... strange- besides his Dr. J... he doesn't meet a lot of Jameson who actually talk...

"Looks like you're caught in that gravity," Jameson says. He gives Alt a smile and a wave. "So long. Nice meeting you for a moment."

That smile... it's strangely cruel, not fitting his face at all. Wait a moment--

But before Alt could do anything about it, the rift's pull becomes too much.

Alt's eyes widen and he shouts out, attempting to reach out to Jameson. Why? He's... not sure- because he was tricked?! Out of concern for who's trapped behind that smile? ...it doesn't matter, he's once again sucked into the darkness.

Alt lands in the living room yet, yet again. The sky outside is dark, and a man wearing glasses is sitting on the sofa. He jumps up, spinning around--more blood. More splatters and sprays of blood on his shirt.

"Wh-where did you come from?!" he stammers. "Are you--real? No, i-it shouldn't affect me! Should it?"

Alt shakes out his head and almost cries out in frustration at seeing the same room again. Then, he sighs and glitches out his shoulders and looks at Henrik with exhaustion. "I'm real. My name is Alt- I... keep getting put into the cabin and... I don't know why." He registers the blood and holds his own wound again. "...are you... hurt? Or... i-is that from something else?"

"S-Something else," Schneep says slowly. "I--I--" He laughs manically. "Oh, I-I was expecting to hear people coming! The police were called, they should be coming, with their sirens. You appearing out of nowhere--what bad luck for both of us."

Hold on... Schneep has always had a German accent, no matter the world they visited. He had one the last time Alt saw him in this cabin. But... now... He sounds slightly Irish.

Alt glitches back with wide eyes. He can immediately tell something is off by Schneep's laughter. The lack of an accent only adds to his fear.

"...y-you're not Schneep-"

“Depends on what you mean by that.” Schneep smiles a wide, cruel smile—the same smile Alt saw on Jameson’s face. “It’s his body. But he no longer lives here. Not primarily, at least. I’m sure he’s still watching.” He’s holding his hands behind his back in a very distinct manner. “But what’s it to you, sudden visitor? You’re not a friend of his. You would be in his memories.”

Alt stumbles back and holds out a hand that glitches and sparks with his magic. "I... I've helped him before- against you. But I... I guess that was a-another timeline... w-where are the others? They stopped you last time!"

Schneep--or the thing inside him--laughs again. "They were too late. Not strong enough." He takes his hands out from his back, revealing he is holding a sharp kitchen knife in one. "I got rid of the one with the blood, but this is the same sort of blade that ended them all."

"Y-You... you killed them?" Alt breathes out in horror.

Scheep spins the knife. "But it doesn't have to end you, too. Why not get out of here while I'm in a good mood? Quickly. I'm not a patient person."

Alt’s eyes spark green with anger as he bares his teeth, "You fucker! They didn't deserve that- none of them did! W-Why?! J-Just so you can pilot around a body that's not even yours without them getting in the way?!"

"Don't be ridiculous--it's more than that," Schneep's voice says dismissively. "I needed death. I needed the power of their lives to fully make this mine. Though... it didn't have to be him. In fact, it probably would've been easier if it was someone else." He grins. "But it worked out in the end."

"It's not even your life, fucker! You just took Schneep's away from him! And took all his friends!" Alt shouts back, glitches and magic sparking in the air around his- reacting to his anger.

He points the knife at Alt. "So... what will you do now?" he whispers.

Alt shudders a bit as the knife is pointed at him and he freezes for a second. But... he thinks about the brief glimpses he had of the others... thinking about their lives being tragically cut short and... the anger is overwhelming.

Green light sparks in his eyes as he growls at the thing in Schneep. "...I'm not letting you think you've won this. I'm gonna make sure you can't hurt anyone else-!" He then glitches in a bunch of fast moves to throw Schneep off before trying to send a bolt of electricity right to his face.

Schneep's eyes widen and he cries out, staggering backwards and falling over the coffee table as little bits of lightning dance among his hair. He quickly gets to his feet. "Wasn't expecting that," he giggles. "That hurt. Oh, I forgot what pain was. From this perspective." He flips the knife in his grip and throws it at Alt.

Alt glares at him and before he can retort he's stabbed in the leg by the knife hitting his upper calf. He cries out and falls slightly but catches himself. He rips the knife out, biting back a squeak of pain before he tosses it away. "...n-now you don't have a weapon- dumbass. But I do-!" He sends out a blast of soundwaves to throw him off his feet.

Schneep staggers backwards again, clapping his hands over his ears—and this time fully toppling over when he hits the table, legs flying in the air. It might have been funny under other circumstances, but not now, not as he growls menacingly and starts to get back up with murder in his eyes.

Alt meets his glare with bravery and determination bright in his eyes. He glitches his own knife made of magic in his hands and glitches around again before trying to slash at Schneep-

And Schneep screams as it slashes across his chest. He collapses to the floor once more. "N-no more, no more, please," he gasps. "I—I d-do not know who you are—I-I do not want to fight, please—"

His eyes... they're clear once more. And pained, as they look up at Alt.

Alt stands over Schneep with cold green glowing eyes. But, once he registers Schneep's pleas, his expression softens. "...Hen..?"

Schneep shivers, curling up and clutching the slash across his chest. "You--you must run," he breathes. "G-get out of here. I-I do not want to--" He shudders.

Alt glitches down to kneel down by Schneep and looks at him with sympathy, "C-C'mon Henrik! You can fight this! He was convinced you were gone- you still have a chance! Don't let this fucker take your body from you!"

"I-I—" He squeezes his eyes closed. "Please—h-help me."

Alt leans closer, "I can try... d-do you know of any way to beat it back? " He asks quietly, putting a hand on Schneep's shoulder.

"Y-yes... I know a way." Then he opens his eyes and grins. "Is that what you want to hear?"

His hand darts out and grabs Alt by the front of the shirt, pulling him forward—into the path of another knife that comes out of nowhere.

Alt's breath hitches in surprise- and he shouts out as he's stabbed in his shoulder but quickly pushes Schneep back and glitches away. He then staggers and leans up against a wall, biting back the pain. "M-Motherfucker-!"

The thing inside Schneep laughs, standing up again. "You're too late," he says. "This body is mine now. And soon, a body is all you'll be."

He lunges forward-- And then a black rift opens up beside him and a glitching green figure slams him to the side.

Alt scrambles back, curling up to try to protect himself- Then, he blinks up and his eyes widen as he sees another glitching figure. "W-Wha??"

Schneep shrieks in surprise, struggling. A glitchy hand reaches into the side of his head. His eyes suddenly widen and he collapses to the floor.

The glitchy figure solidifies into a man with an eye-patch and a loose green scarf. He looks at Alt--and then back to the rift, where someone else is stepping out. "This is one of your friends, then?" he asks, pointing at Alt.

Alt glitches to his feet with wide eyes, "A-Anti?! How... How did you...?" He then steps back and looks at Anti with confusion. "Wha... I... You don't... remember me?" He tries to hide the hurt that wants to peek through his words.

But then someone is stumbling out of the rift, face red and patchy and incredibly pale. He looks like he's been crying. But his tired eyes and red jacket are a dead giveaway of who it is.

Alt's eyes widen. "Jackie...?"

Jackie chokes on a sob and runs towards Alt and then grips onto him tight like he's a lifeline. "Alt! Oh my god... t-thank god I..." He dissolves into terrified tears and Alt quickly holds him, trying not to show his discomfort of Jackie aggravating his wounds.

"I-I'm happy to see you too Jackie..." Alt says quickly, rubbing his back. He then looks back at Anti and looks between the two. "I... H-How did you two find me? How... are you here? I... I thought you couldn't travel through dimensions..."

"How do you know that?" Anti mutters. "Eh, I can figure how you do. But you're right, normally I can't. That makes things different." He points to the rift. "They're opening up all over this world, and all the alternate ones like it. Probably cause reality is already so weak here. But... they do make travel easier. Normally they would spit you out somewhere random, but I'm not exactly normal." He grins. "Now. There are still two more of you guys out there. We need to find them."

His smile drops as he takes in the two of them and their states. "Not right away, if you two need time. But probably soon."

Alt looks back at the rift with knitted eyebrows. "... Right... the tears... I guess that makes sense..." He pats Jackie's back and pushes him back a little, "Hey dude... try to breathe, okay?"

Jackie nods shakily and rubs at his eyes. "Y-Yeah yeah I.. I'm cool-" He mumbles, his voice breaking a bit.

Alt smiles sadly- and that's when Jackie sees the fresh stab wound on Alt's shoulder- and his arm and his leg...! "H-Holy fuck dude! You're really hurt!"

Alt shakes his hands and gives a tight smile, "It's good! It's good! I've had worse! We should... focus on finding Bro and Mag now- before the tears get even worse..." He looks back at the body of Schneep and shivers, "...this was already a terrible t-timeline to see..."

"There are good ones," Anti mutters. "You've just got fucking terrible luck, I think."

Alt tries to smile at Anti but it falls short, "Y-Yeah... I know..."

Anti gestured back at the rift. "Now... if you're ready, step on through. You'll be somewhere pitch black for a moment before I go through, too."

Alt sighs and grabs Jackie's hand. "We can stick together now, okay?"

Jackie laughs wetly and nods, "Y-Yeah... thank god."

Alt chuckles and leads them both into the rift- sparing one last glance at the fallen body of Schneep and looking... conflicted. Then he turns the darkness and walks through.

Anti waits for them to go through before following.

#SATCV #SATCV MRD #alt anti #swap magnificent #bro fantastic #jackie mann #dude i felt sooo bad for jackie here god poor guy :(#he legit thought he was gonna die-#luckily help has a arrived!!#tomorrow is the last day of SATCV i cant believe it!!

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