#my JJ can and will bite Anti | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

huffle-dork · 4 months

Text

Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 10: Darker Seas

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read Septnautical | Darker Seas AU

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

The boys have been sleeping for a few hours when Anti suddenly crashes into the lab with a bit of pained cry and quickly scrambles over to try to wake up Schneep and JJ.

Schneep cries out and immediately lashes out. Luckily, JJ awakens first, and has enough wit to reach out and push Schneep's arm out of the way before he can punch Anti. "What?! Who?!" Schneep shouts. Then his soul sensing kicks in and he remembers who everyone is. "A-Anti? What is it?"

Are you okay?! JJ asks.

Blood is clouding the water around the jagged cut in one of Anti’s tails. He shoves his bag towards them that has a few peepers in it and says in a panic. “E-eat these and then we- you all need to go! I… I dunno how much time we have-“

JJ sits up straight. You're bleeding! I can help, if you want. Like I did earlier with Schneep.

Schneep feels out the peepers. Normally he's not the biggest fan of fish, but he's really hungry. "What happened? Did they—did they—" He sniffs. Is that... blood? "Did they find you? Did they hurt you?!"

Anti scrambles back a bit in fear with wide eyes, his tails shaking. “Y-Yeah I was h-hunting in the reefs and they just- s-showed up out of nowhere! The weird armored guy cut my tail I-I’m fine but stars… I-I might have led them straight here! I…I can’t let them find the others… I…!” He heaves in panic.

"Weird armor guy—Jackie?!" Schneep gasps. “Or Bro?!”

If we get out of here quickly, we can lure them away from the base, JJ says. We need to stop by and ask Zara about stuff but then we GO.

Schneep nods and immediately begins tearing into the peepers. Wow—that tastes good? Must be something based on this form. "We go now!" he says after a couple bites. "Eat on the way!"

JJ nods hurriedly.

“R-Right yeah let’s go-!” Anti says, speeding over to the hatch to the hallway to try to find Zara. The other two quickly follow after him.

Anti zips through the hallway and then finds Zara sitting in a cramped small lab space and bangs on the window. Zara startles and then looks up and hurries to open the hatch to her space. “Anti?! What’s wrong you- you’re bleeding!” She gasps.

"He says that the hybrids found him!" Schneep says. "And--at least one of them was our friend!"

Anti, really, I can help with that blood, JJ says.

Anti acknowledges JJ and nods, waving his hand. “uh yeah yeah sure!”

JJ nods, swimming over and gently placing a hand on Anti's tail just above his wound. A blue film covers the wound, cool and healing.

Anti stares at JJ’s magic with wide eyes before looking up at him and stammering out. “..t-thanks…”

JJ smiles back. Not a problem.

Schneep continues on. "W-we have to get out of here quickly before they follow to the base."

Zara gasps and scrambles through the hatch, pulling out the thing she was working on. “Okay uh- yeah you guys need to try to get out! W-we don’t have the defenses… but m-maybe this can help?” She hands the device to Schneep. It’s… like a small taser- “If you can get close to their ears- this might be enough to cancel the signal? I-If only for a moment… but that might be what you need.”

Schneep turns the device over in his hands. "Like a stun gun, I see. Or a taser, I suppose. Okay. I will be able to make much use of this. Thank you, Zara."

“O-Of course…” Zara says with a nervous smile. “I… I wish I could help more but I’d… I’d just slow you down so- go quickly.”

Anti then hesitates before going to hug Zara tightly. Zara is surprised but hugs him back. “In case I don’t… I don’t-“ he whispers in a bit of broken voice. Zara shakes her head. “you’ll come back… I know it. Now g-get out of here!”

Anti lets go and nods, hurrying back down the hall to open up the door to outside and rocketing out into the dark ocean around them.

Schneep hesitates before he follows JJ and Anti out of the base. He looks back at Zara. "We'll keep him safe," he says quietly. "I promise." Then he turns and chases after the other two.

Zara smiles and nods. “Thank you… good luck.”

Once outside, Anti hurries as fast as his tails will take him. He constantly looks back behind him to check for a sight of the others. He starts to pale as he remembers. “S-Shit! Most of those guys don’t glow! M-Marvin is with him though so… l-look out for any sign of something blue!”

"Ah, Anti, i-if you are worried about them sneaking up on us, I can keep a look out," Schneep says. "My eyes are blind, but... I have the ability to know when people are nearby."

How close do they have to be for that? JJ asks.

Schneep frowns. "I... am not sure, actually."

Well, keep your senses sharp, anyway, JJ says. I'll look out for the blue glow. I think the ends of Alt's spike things also glow a bit.

“Right… o-okay good. That’s good… keep your… senses peeled or whatever.” Anti says to Schneep. “Y-Yeah… the ampeel guy…” He mumbles, shuddering. “…he… he looked like me. You guys said y-you’re like my brothers if they were from a different world… i-is he…?”

JJ nods. Yes. He prefers being called Alt, but his name is Anti. He spells out the names, the fish robot picking up on it and saying the names as they should be said.

“I… I see. Alt…” he tries out the name.

"He and the boneshark, Bro—Chase—are the only real brothers between us," Schneep says. "The rest of us are from somewhere else. They are... quite close."

“Heh… weird to think of all of us… not being brothers…” Anti says quietly. “Though we uh… haven’t been for… for a bit. I… I miss Chase. They don’t let him leave HQ with the others much… precious collateral and all… he was the first hybrid they ever made…” He laughs bitterly.

JJ's expression darkens. Collateral, he repeats bitterly. I don't have experience with Alterra, but I know a different company that would do something like that.

"I am truly so sorry, Anti," Schneep says. "I... know what it is like... to miss Chase—though, my Chase is different than yours, of course. There was a period of time in my home when... he was pulled away from the rest of us. Made into something different." He shakes his head. "B-but... we... we freed him after time. Or, the rest of my friends did, I was also out of commission at that point." He laughs drily.

“…thanks…” Anti says shortly. He then laughs a bit. “… it’s been a bit since I was around someone who felt like they… get this. I know Google feels it cuz of…” He swallows and his head, “…I don’t think Zara and Danan really understand though… this ache. I miss them so much it hurts.”

He starts to swim up, not looking back as much as the cavern gets a bit lighter. “…sometimes on bad nights… I’d think of just going to find them…joining them just so it wouldn’t hurt as much….” He laughs bitterly again. “…they’d kill me for that though. A-Actual them… who they were.”

JJ shakes his head. You’re right, they wouldn’t want that for you. Not to mention what would all these humans do? You’re clearly a great help to them.

Schneep nods. “It’s okay to miss them. But don’t throw your life away for that. They would want you to live free—” He suddenly stops. “Do you hear that?”

Below them- something flickers in the darkness- sparks of blue and the sound of a distant roar.

JJ looks down into the darkness with wide eyes. That must be them! Anti—which ones were they? How many?!

Anti freezes, looking back with wide eyes too. “Shit! U-uh- I think all 3 of your friends and m-Marvin-! I-I dunno for how long that’ll be though… m-Marvin could have warped the others here-! O-or maybe he’s waiting until-“ He swallows shakily and looks around then darts towards another tunnel. “C-C’mon! Let’s make it to open water at least!”

“All of them?!” Schneep repeats. “Well—at least we won’t have to go into the headquarters to find them.” He swims hurriedly after Anti but JJ hesitates for a moment, wanting to be sure that the hybrids are following them and not going towards the base.

“Y-Yeah you two wouldn’t be able to survive down there…” Anti stops when he sees JJ stop and is about to ask what he’s doing when his eyes widen. His blood trail ended at the base! He scrambles back out past JJ and takes in a huge breath before letting a fireball sail through the open water and hit a stalagmite with a big crash. “HEY FUCKERS!!” He yells afterwards, “CANT CATCH MEEEE!!” His voice echoes through the cavern and then they hear a familiar roar of anger… it sounds like Bro. though it sounds more animalistic and feral than anything Schneep and JJ have heard before.

“Okay now we swim!” Anti says hurriedly and starts swimming back through the tunnel.

“Swimming!” Schneep says, hurrying into the tunnel, tendrils tracing the sides. JJ darts after him, some instinctual part of his brain telling him that the sound meant danger.

“W-was that really—them?” Schneep says, shaken. “That sound—”

There’s another sound just as he says that, a different one. A horrible screech that sounds almost human but mostly animalistic and aggressive. JJ stops for a moment, disoriented, and one of Schneep’s tendrils reaches back and grabs him, pulling him along.

“Don’t stop! I-I know you’ll wanna but I-it’ll be easier to fight out in the open!” Anti pants.

Early morning light shines through the exit and they just about make it to the surface- then AE-10 glitches right in front of them. He regards them coldly, blocking off their path as his tail crackles with electricity. Also leaving them vulnerable for CE-9 and BS-8 to attack them from behind.

“You will not escape this time SD-4.” AE’s static laced voice drones through his radio. “Make this easier on yourself and give in.” His eyes flicker to JJ and Schneep- but there’s no recognition in his alien looking eyes. “You two as well. Alterra has you slated for assimilation.”

JJ swims back, a look of horror on his face. Alt? What have they done to you? That horrible mask!

AE-10's eyes flicker a bit at hearing that name... and he tilts his head in confusion.

“I do not think we can reason with him in this state,” Schneep says. His eyes narrow, sclera turning black. “The only thing we can do is—” And without warning he leaps forward, suddenly right in front of Alt as he attempts to tackle him to the ground or out of the tunnel.

AE doesn't expect Schneep to suddenly appear before him and his eyes widen before he's tackled to the ground. His radio makes a static screech that sounds like AE yelling in surprise but more corrupted. He narrows his eyes at Schneep and then tries to hide his tail against him to shock him.

Schneep shrieks as the electricity courses through him, instinctively letting go and backing up. But with Alt out of the way there's enough room for Anti and JJ to get out.

Anti meanwhile grabs JJ and tries to swim past them out of the tunnel- hearing aggressive roars closing in.

JJ glances back over his shoulder and throws magic back down the tunnel, blocking it off with a crystalline wall. It won't stop them forever but it might get them time to deal with Alt before the others show up.

There’s a loud roar- and then a crash as BS-8 crashes headfirst into the crystalline wall, a small crack forming in it- but not enough to break it. He blinks in mild confusion and pats the surface to see what the hell it is.

JJ glances over his shoulder, worried, as Bro cracks the wall.

"Verdammt!" Schneep curses, shaking himself off. "Guess who can do that too," he says through gritted teeth, and lunges forward again, pointing Zara's device at Alt.

AE-10 rolls over to push himself back up in the water. His eyes widen as he sees the device but he quickly glitches away. “What is that thing?!” he growls.

"Get closer and you'll see," Schneep says, lunging forward again.

AE-10 jerks back and then catches Schneep’s hand before he can get any closer- but AE stopped his hand just before it reached his neck/ear. The crackling of the tool seems to cause a reaction as AE’s grip loosens slightly and his eyes shift for a second back to normal.

“S-Schneep?” Alt breathes, sounding scared.

Then, his gauges shock him and AE stiffens holding on tighter to Schneep before tossing him away. “D-Do not try that again!” AE-10 snarls.

Behind BS-8, CE-9 runs right into him, pushing him into the wall some more. He backs up, just as confused as him. Then makes a low shrieking sound in his throat as he charges at the wall again. It shatters immediately, and JJ whirls around, surprised and a bit afraid. That should have lasted at least a little longer!

Once the barrier is broken Anti scrambles back and tries to grab JJ- but BS-8 roars and heads straight for JJ- trying to tackle him into the sand.

Schneep doesn't even have time to respond to Alt before being tossed to the side, spinning through the water for a while before he regains his balance. He shakes his head, a bit disoriented—but he knows what he heard there. "Hold on, Alt," he whispers. Then he turns to the side. "JJ!"

But JJ is too busy dodging Bro's attack to respond. He manages to avoid being caught but can't slowly down enough to sign. He makes a whistling sound to let Schneep knows he's listening.

"We have to work together!" Schneep says, lunging for Alt again, tendrils flaring out.

BS-8 crashes into the sand and spits it out before giggling sinisterly and turning on JJ. “Yer slippery aren’t ya?” He laughs darkly before lashing back out at JJ with teeth and claws.

Meanwhile, CE-9 recovers from hitting the wall and charges at Anti, screeching.

Anti dodges quickly, surging up higher in the water. He growls at CE-9 and blasts a fireball at him. CE-9 dodges, ducking to the ground. "No more fire! No more burning!" he shrieks. The words grow into a screeching roar as he charges at Anti again with mandibles out.

Anti cries out in slight fear and soars past CE-9’s charge overhead and laughs out, “I won’t if y-you just leave me alone!” CE-9 just snarls and screeches again, a completely feral look in his purple and white eye. He spins around and lashes out with his mandibles.

AE-10 grows claws and tries to slash at Schneep. Surprisingly, Schneep dodges easily—and when Alt's hands reach out, one of his tendrils wrap around them. "Stay still! Please! JJ!" He tries using the device again.

JJ dodges Bro again, head whipping over to Schneep and Alt. He rushes over—if Schneep's able to use the device again, maybe there will be an opening to take those ear things off!

BS-8 growls and rushes up to try to grab JJ and pull him back. “Hey! Yer fighting me small fry!” He snaps. JJ yelps as Bro grabs his tail. He looks down, eyes wide. And he mouths the word 'sorry' as he blasts dust-like sparkling magic right into his face. BS-8 is momentarily blinded but he just charges blindly and tries to bite onto JJ’s tail.

AE-10 panics slightly at being caught by Schneep’s tendril, especially when he tries to use the device again. He moves his head out of the way then tries to shock Schneep off, even if his eyes flicker with fear again.

Schneep cries out, muscles spasming, but he holds tight. "A-Alt! You have to listen to us! You don't want to do this! Y-you are not the type of person to hurt people anymore! Try to remember!"

AE-10’s hand trembles and he tries to pull himself out of Schneep’s hold. His eyes are wide as he shakes his head. “N-No- I… I’m-” He shudders and then glares at Schneep as his head twitches to the side. “I’m not a person. I’m a weapon. And I will serve Alterra.” He lashes out a clawed hand to try to cut himself out of Schneep’s grip.

Schneep screams as Alt's new claws dig into his tendrils—he wasn't expecting that to hurt! He pulls his tendrils back quickly, orange blood drifting through the water. JJ's head snaps towards him and he struggles out of Bro's grip, shooting through the water and aiming a magic blast at Alt.

Anti ducks and weaves out of the way of the mandibles and he giggles. “Jackie fights better with those things better than you!” He taunts.

CE-9 shrieks and roars, rage pushing him into a feral state. He continues to swim after Anti, trying to grab him. The only thought in his head is that Alterra wants SD-4, he needs to get SD-4.

Anti shudders, this feral state reminding him too much of fights with his brother. But… this isn’t his brother. And if he could see Jackie again right now… he growls and suddenly turns to grab CE-9 and pushes them both down into the ground, making a cloud of sand with the impact. He growls and digs his claws into CE’s shoulders and yells, “Fucking stop it! You’re not a tool for Alterra- they don’t give a fuck about you! They’re using you!! Wake the fuck up!!”

AE pushes back and is about ready to shock Schneep again- only to get blasted back by JJ’s magic, rolling over himself in the water- disoriented.

BS-8 yells and scrambles to try to grab JJ again. “yer no fun! Give me a better fucking fight, coward!”

Schneep breathes heavily, recovering from the pain while JJ dodges Bro again. "JJ! Hold Alt!" he shouts. "Your magic!"

JJ nods. He flings out a hand, blue magic whipping through the water, ribbons wrapping around Alt's torso and pinning his arms.

AE-10 makes a confused static noise through his speakers as he’s grabbed. He looks down at the magic and something sparks in his eyes. He then glitches out of the magic easily and a sinister laughs echoes out as he builds up magic in his hands. “I almost forgot… I can do that too-” He tries to send a bolt of lightning out at JJ.

BS-8 snarls ferally and changes course to try to grab Schneep.

JJ tries conjuring a shield but isn't fast enough and the lightning hits him, sending him back, flipping through the water. Meanwhile, Schneep dodges Bro's attack. "You are not really good at this, are you?" he says. "Not if the blind one can—" And he suddenly lunges back at Bro, aiming to use the device on him.

BS-8 snarls, baring his sharp teeth, “What do you know?! You won’t even fucking fight-!” He then yells out as Schneep plants the device right next to Bro’s ear. There’s a spark as the waves from the gauges are destroyed by the ones from the device- then a pop as the gauge starts to smoke and seems looser in BS’s ear.

Bro’s eyes snap back to his normal bright blue eyes as he gasps in pain, his back arching. Then he goes limp and falls back down to the sand in a heap.

Schneep hears the pop and reaches for the gauge. Once he feels where it is he starts to pull it free. The gauge is loose but still sort of stuck even if Schneep makes it a bit more loose. Bro makes a groaning sound and blearily tries to open his eyes, but they’re so unfocused. “S…Schneep…?” He whispers. Ugh… lifting his head makes him feel dizzy.

Schneep nods. "Yes. Are you okay?"

“ ‘m all… fuzzy…” Bro slurs, blinking dazedly. “What’s happenin’…?”

CE-9 shrieks and struggles against Anti in the sand. He feels his claws dig into his skin and glares at him. But the glare weakens a little. Why does this—why does this feel so familiar? This face—shouting at him—about how he's... wrong? His eyes flicker, turning normal blue. "...Anti?" he whispers. "What's... happening...?"

Anti blinks in surprise, jaw dropping. “I-it can be that easy?” He whispers.

But- CE-9’s gauges try to spark up to shock him back under.

Jackie screams, head flailing. His eyes flicker again back to that purple and white. "N-no! No! I can't—" Images and memories are flashing in his mind—but no! He's—he's a weapon, meant to serve Alterra—he's not supposed to care about anything else! "I d-don't want—I h-have to be better! I'm not a wea—I—Alterra, prey, prey—"

JJ recovers, glancing back over at Anti and Jackie. His eyes widen and he starts zooming over there. Anti! The ears! he says, his little robot shouting the words.

Anti’s head snaps to JJ and he looks down at Jackie as he fights. He sees the gauges and looks at his claws before trying to see if he can pry one of them off. “K-keep fighting!” He tries to encourage.

AE-10 sees his companions falling and the radio on his neck crackles loudly with static and angry growls. He goes to tackle JJ to try ground, claws flashing and eyes wild.

Jackie's eye rolls back in his head as he thrashes. Anti has a hard time holding him still for a moment, but after some effort, he pries a gauge free. Jackie cries out as his eye turns blue again and he suddenly goes still.

Anti pants as soon as the gauge is popped out and then falls back, watching Jackie wearily. They’ve never been able to remove these before… what’s gonna happen? Is it.. over?

JJ barely manages to dodge Alt's wild attack, claws just barely scraping by but not drawing blood. Now that Alt is close JJ tries something new. He reaches out to him and the temperature of the water around them suddenly drops, ice forming around Alt. He'll be able to glitch free of bonds, so he needs to hold him in place some other way. Maybe he can freeze his arms or something?!

AE-10 screeches in rage as the ice forms around him, making it hard for him to stay up and swim. He struggles to surge upwards as he starts to sink through the water, struggling and fighting as hard as he can.

Jackie's eyelid flutters. "Wh... what happened...? Anti...?" He looks, confused, at the face before him. "What happened to you eye-patch... and neck?"

Anti blinks at Jackie in confusion, “…the fuck are you talking about?”

Jackie blinks, then frowns. "S-sorry, I... thought you were someone else."

JJ grabs onto Alt, pulling him downwards. Then he lets go and looks back at the others, signing, Schneep! The device!

Schneep looks back at him and nods. "Hold on tight, Bro," he says, and then leaps away, reappearing next to Alt, and he immediately tries to use the device again.

AE-10 makes lots of screeches that dissolve into static on his radio as he tries to fight his way out. “No! L-Let me go! I can’t fail! I can’t fail!!” As Schneep appears and tries to use the device, AE closes his eyes then shouts out, “WH-5! H-Help!”

A ball of blue and pink water hits Schneep in the shoulder and sends him off course, forming a bit of a vortex that dies down quickly.

WH-5 appears next to AE-10 and looks at all the chaos before looking down at AE. “…what a waste of resources. You all are not fit to serve Alterra.”

AE-10 thrashes desperately in the ice, trying to claw himself free. “I can still be useful! I can still do this! Just-help me!”

Anti freezes as he hears that familiar drone. His stomach drops and he shouts out. “d-don’t let him open a warp gate!” He then rushes to try to tackle WH away from AE.

Anti manages to push WH into a nearby rock but WH-5 regards him coldly and scratches at his face, hard. Anti yells out in pain and lets go, pushing himself away to hold the orange leak on his face. “M-Marvin please-! It’s me! Wake up- a-aren’t you sick of this?!”

“Don’t try to play mind games with me, SD-004.” WH-5 hisses. “I serve Alterra with all I am. And you will join us or you will die.”

JJ watches WH appear in surprise. The fight with Anti and him happens so fast that he's not able to jump in for a while. Something about seeing a Marvin act like this, be controlled like this—it breaks his heart and fills him with rage at the same time. His expression darkens and he lunges at WH at from behind, not even bothering with magic.

Schneep recovers from the warp projectile and senses JJ do this. "Jamie!" he shouts, also lunging at WH.

WH-5 is starting up a warp gate as Anti shrinks back in fear- bracing himself for whoever Marvin brings to fight.

But to both of their surprise- both JJ and Schneep manages to land blows. JJ grabbing Marvin and pulling him down and Schneep tackling him fully to the sand. WH-5’s radio screeches with static as he tries to get away. “Unidentified hybrids s-s-stand down! Do not interfere with Alterran affairs!”

“WH!” AE-10 yells and bursts through the ice, trying to rush over to help.

Jackie gets up, shaking, regaining his senses. He sees Alt break free and—without really thinking—he charges at him, sending both of them flying to the sides as he screeches.

WH's fighting sends Schneep flying, letting go of the device. but JJ grits his teeth and keeps holding him down. His hand darts out and grabs the device from where it's floating in the air and presses it against WH. "Snap out of it, Marvin!" he says in his hoarse voice.

Something seems to snap in WH-5 demeanor- his fight goes as he stares wide eyed at JJ. “J-Jamie?” he says. Right before the device is placed near his gauges and he screams, spasming wildly. The gauge closest to the device snaps- and then pops apart with a bit of smoke. Marvin’s head falls to the sand, wide eyed- staring out unfocused but his eyes are cleared of pink.

Anti sees this and then hurries to crash down next to Marvin’s side. “M-Marvin!!” He yells desperately, trying to shake him. JJ slumps in relief and backs away so Anti can get close to his brother.

Bro is also pushing himself up, trying to shake of the fog. Ugh.. he feels really sick though. He blinks and then gasps as he sees Alt.

Schneep shakes his head and rushes over to Bro. “W-we have to help him!” He says. “L-let’s go!”

Bro shakes himself out and clumsily follows after Schneep. “R-Right!”

AE-10’s radio bursts into static shrieking as he’s tackled and he desperately tries to claw his way out of Jackie’s grasp. “No! No!!”

Jackie holds tight onto Alt even as he claws at him. The mandibles close in as he grits his teeth. Don’t let go. Don’t let go!

JJ grabs the device again and hurries over to Alt and Jackie.

AE-10 cries like a wounded animal, terrified tears pricked in his eyes as he tries to get loose. “Let go! Let me go!”

Bro crashes down next to Jackie and Alt and helps to hold him down. “Alt! Come lil bro! You gotta wake up!”

“No! I-I’m AE-10! I-I serve Alterra- I need to-! Let me go!!” AE wails, his radio glitching and raked with static.

Bro can’t help but cry seeing his brother like this. “Anti- please!”

Jackie shakes Alt slightly. “Snap out of it! Don’t let those fuckers win!”

“You are not just a number! Schneep shouts. “Try to remember!”

“This is what those fuckers at SCLERA wanna make you, Alt!” Bro sobs. “Don’t let these fuckers keep changing you! You’re stronger than this!”

Something flickers in AE’s eyes and he fights a little less- mostly shaking. “I-I-I-” his radio starts to skip, glitching more and more.

JJ brings the device over. He glances at Bro and hesitates, not wanting to do this in front of him.

“JJ, do you have it?!” Schneep says. “Hurry!”

Bro looks up at JJ but just nods. “W-Whatever you have to do!”

This will look painful, JJ says, glancing apologetically at Bro, and then lunges forward, using the device.

The device hits its mark and the radio bursts into glitched screaming as the brain waves of the gauges are shattered. The gauge lets off dangerous bright sparks then completely breaks off. The screaming stops and AE-10’s eyes fade from their ampeel hue back to his normal green-blue with white scleras. His body falls completely limp, head lolling back on his neck as his wide eyes stare out into the distance, unfocused.

Jackie quickly lets go of him, but Schneep darts in, checking Alt's vitals, feeling the collar and mask in the process. His expression darkens. "This fucking thing..." he growls.

JJ puts the device down. That was a stronger reaction, he signs slowly. Is he okay?

"I-I think so," Schneep says.

Jackie rubs his own ears, pulling the other gauge free. "Wh... wh-what the fuck?" he whispers, eyes wide in horror.

Are you all okay? JJ asks.

"Well they are clearly not," Schneep mutters.

The newly freed boys still can feel lingering feelings of aggression and… they feel kinda feverish and shaky. That was a lot of strain on their bodies and minds…

Jackie leans back, staring up at the distant surface, breathing through the shaky feeling.

Bro chokes on a sob and goes to hold Alt in his arms, holding him close as he breaks down. “W-What was that?! What h-happened? I-It’s all j-jumbled but we were… w-we- that lady at Alterra-!” He suddenly shifts to anger, his eyes going back to boneshark-blue as he bares his teeth and holds Alt tighter. “I’ll kill her- I-I’m gonna fucking kill her!”

"E-everyone calm down, yes? We are not able to go after anyone right now." Schneep stares then- "Bro, please, be careful!" He says, worried at the sounds of the growls. "A-Alt probably still needs help. That mask—it felt..." He shudders.

Jackie growls too, shaking his head. He's not sure if he wants to kill that Alterra woman or run far, far away from here.

"Jackie, you too," Schneep says, turning towards him. "Just—just breathe."

Bro is breathing heavily through growls and trying not to dig claws into Alt but the anger won’t leave him. It’s eating away at him and he can’t-

JJ turns over to look at Anti and Marvin. Anti is holding Marvin like he’s made of glass. Watching him with wide eyes. Marvin twitches a bit but still stares out at nothing. It could be the mask…Jj swims over and sees if he can take the mask off Marvin's face.

Marvin’s mask seems to be stuck into his jaw through his skin- but pulling at it makes Marvin make a muffled yell of pain and then blink his eyes back into focus. He looks around in confusion, still very out of it. “W-Where am I..?” his radio says shakily.

“Marv?!” Anti say hopefully. Marvin sits up in surprise and looks at Anti with wide eyes. “Anti…?” he whispers- like he’s just seen a ghost. Anti cries out in happiness and tackles Marvin to the sandy floor, curling all his tails around him. “you’re back! You’re back!!” Anti wails. Marvin blinks in confusion but slowly brings up his arms to loop around Anti’s. Then he’s melting, curling one of his tails across Anti’s back as he starts to cry.

JJ backs up, letting the two brothers have this moment. He smiles sadly, reminded of his own Marvin. He... he wonders when he'll next see him. He shakes off the anxious thoughts and tells himself he's just happy that one Marvin has been reunited with someone who cares about him.

Anti laughs and starts to let go of Marvin but the littler brother just clings to Anti and won’t let go. Anti puffs out a small laugh and holds him with one arm and he swims over to the others.

Bro finds himself able to breathe, his eyes fading back to how they’re supposed to be and he blinks out slowly. He looks down at Alt and feels his heart break again. He touches the mask where it meets his jaw and- god it’s hard to keep back the anger. Plus he just- doesn’t feel good… he feels hot and shaky and confused. “…w-we gotta get this off him…” he breathes.

“…d-Danan might know how to get these off…” Anti says, “w-we don’t have much in the lab but they have some stuff… and you all can rest and stuff for a bit… and we can figure out how to get you home.”

"If the mask is stuck, w-we definitely need to get it off," Schneep says, going a bit pale. "They—they need to eat, after all. Or—S-surely there must be some way to get them food, even if it is stuck. W-we have something like that where I am from, surely there's something like that here."

“God yeah… Alt hasn’t eaten in… h-how fucking long has it been?” Bro breathes. “This is s-so fucking cruel…”

Calm down, Schneep, JJ says. Everyone stay calm. We're done for now. We can rest—we just need to get somewhere safe.

"Y-yeah, let's," Jackie says, getting up. "I-I—Make sure to get rid of the gauges. Leave them to fucking get lost in the sand."

Bro blinks up at Jackie and nods, going to pull the gauges off his ears and then take the last one off of Alt. Taking off his other one- ugh… why did he get another way of dizziness?

How is Alt? JJ asks.

The hero dazedly looks back at JJ then Alt. He’s breathing but still out of it and Bro sighs, “Still… s-staring weird… but m-Marvin woke up from pulling on the mask right?” Bro tries to pull at it even if it hurts to do so.

Alt gasps painfully and blinks back up to full consciousness, staring out at everyone blankly. Then, “C-Chase…?” he breathes, his radio crackling a bit.

“A-Alt thank god…!” Bro tries to smile.

Schneep sighs in relief. "Good to hear from you, Alt."

How do you feel? JJ asks. Then he looks at Bro and Jackie. How do you two feel, too?

"W-weird and... shaky," Jackie says. He clears his throat. "B-but I can swim, if we need to go soon."

Alt blinks slowly and looks around at everyone. “F-Freaked…?” he says. Bro laughs a bit, “me too bro…” he blinks up at JJ and shakes his head, “uh.. dizzy… I think but s-same.” He smacks his lips and then sticks out his tongue, “Also my mouth feels weird?? Ugh… did I eat something weird while under??”

Anti makes a face and looks away- not really ready to reveal what Bro was like during that time.

"Wait, actually, yeah, me too." Jackie copies Bro's expression, also sticking out his tongue. "That's so weird."

JJ and Schneep choose not to say anything, either.

“I… w-what is on my face-?” Alt says in confusion then shakily reaches out and tries to pull the mask off. When it doesn’t come off and he feels it tugging on his skin his eyes widen and his radio picks up on his hyperventilating. “W-What the-?! Ow- I-I-!”

Bro startles then looks to Anti. “uh- you said you had your Dr friend right? I think now's the time to see her!”

Anti nods quickly, “R-Right! Follow me.” He holds Marvin close to him, who only slightly peeks out his head to look as he speeds back towards the tunnel.

"Let's go!" Schneep says, hurrying after Anti. JJ quickly follows after him. Jackie, still a bit stunned, takes a moment to shake himself off before following after. JJ slows down a bit, holding out a hand for Jackie to take. He does so, wordlessly.

Bro hurries after the others, holding Alt close as he whispers, “Breathe Alt… we’re gonna get you out of this thing soon… just hang in there…”

Alt whimpers and curls up in Bro’s arms, holding shaky hands over the mask.

#GITHV #glitch into the huffleverse #GITHV Darker seas #yippie!! mind controlled boy fight :D #but also!! saved!!#god this was so much fun to write this is def one of my fav sections of GITHV #but theres also so much fun coming!! :D #mind control #brainwashing #alt anti #bro fantastic #the jaunty jackson #inverted jackie #stitched schneep #zara caley #septnautical #warper marvin #whump

12 notes · View notes

iamvegorott · 4 months

Text

Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt11

First: Link Prev: Link Next: Link

----------

“A chocolate doughnut with chocolate frosting?” Marvin commented on the treat Anti grabbed for himself.

“Anti has the worst sweet tooth of us.” Jackie chuckled, grabbing a chocolate eclair and setting it on a napkin before giving it to Marvin.

“I do not-yeah, no I do.” Anti laughed and took a giant bite out of the doughnut, getting the chocolate all over his face.

“Thank you,” Marvin said as he stepped aside his with breakfast, taking a much smaller bite as he watched Jackie pass out doughnuts to the others.

“Thanks!” Robbie giggled as he was handed a doughnut with cereal on top and ran off to sit with Henrik, who was eating a classic glazed doughnut.

“You must be Marvin.” Marvin blinked as the words appeared in his head, a new voice speaking in there as well. He resisted the urge to scrub at his eyes and looked around, seeing the only Septiceye he’s yet to meet.

He was a little shorter than Marvin and seemed to enjoy being a bit more dressed up than the other as well. A blue vest was over his button-up with a black bowtie that matched his hat and Marvin could see why Jackie specifically mentioned the mustache since it was a fairly thick one with curled ends.

“You must be JJ,” Marvin said in return, holding a hand out.

“You are indeed correct.” The voice chuckled in Marvin’s head as JJ took the hand and gave it a shake with a slight bow.

“Are you…” Marvin pointed at his head.

“Yes. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to use that ability to speak than to sign. The others are learning but I don’t mind projecting. It is convenient when my hands are busy.” JJ explained.

“You’re a lot calmer than the others.” Marvin chuckled.

“I can have my moments, but for the most part, the chaotic nature of the house is from our fellow Septiceyes. I find myself working in the kitchen more often than not. I enjoy baking and cooking and I see that you are also someone who appreciates a good cup of tea.” JJ was eating his doughnut while his voice continued speaking.

“Best way to get caffeine in my opinion.” Marvin had to wait until his mouth was empty before speaking.

“You’ll have to argue your case here. Henrik and Chase are coffee fanatics. Anti usually drinks those energy drinks but he’ll have a cup of tea with me every now and again. What Robbie drinks depends on his age, but he does coffee when he’s grown with Henrik.” JJ hummed and took his phone out, reading what was on the screen before putting it away. Marvin watched JJ lean toward Chase.

“What’s up?” Chase said, looking at JJ. There was a pause and then Chase groaned. “I’m going to fight him if he even tries.” He took his own phone out and walked out of the room.

“What did I just miss?” Marvin asked.

“Some work stuff, nothing you need to worry yourself with. At least not yet.” JJ smiled at Marvin, finishing the rest of the doughnut.

“Can I at least ask if you’re able to project your voice to more than one person at a time?”

“You may and I can. I can narrow it to a singular person and I can also project it to everyone in the room quite easily. I can do about the house worth of distance without effort, anything beyond that takes much more energy.”

“Is it done through magic?”

“Not that I am aware of. It doesn’t feel like magic to me, but there may be a chance it’s a branch of it. None of us in the House explores that so we don’t know.”

“Do any of the…Egos explore magic?” Marvin was going to need more time to get used to referring to himself and others as ‘Egos’, it was still so odd.

“I believe some of them do. Most of us don’t go into details with everyone else about how things work since sometimes it’s too complicated. Doesn’t stop some of us from trying to study and learn, but you get to a point where it’s easier to just…be.” JJ tilted his head when Anti waved to get his attention. Marvin told himself he really needed to start learning sign language since it was clear that Anti was signing at JJ and he had no idea what he was saying. All he knew was that JJ agreed with what Anti said since he nodded with his sign. Anti giggled happily and took a doughnut out of the box and scrambled away with it. “He asked if he could have my second one. I rarely eat more than one of these.” JJ explained, showing he had seen Marvin’s confused face.

“He really does have a sweet tooth,” Marvin said.

“He is a very complicated man.”

“And annoying.”

“At times.” JJ chuckled and that got Marvin to do the same.

“Sorry to suddenly change the topic, but Jackie mentioned a library. One that likely added books associated with me. Where would that be?” Marvin asked. Getting a head start on reading magic books sounded like a good way to begin his long list of questions.

“It is a very lovely library. If you head back toward your room and go all the way to the end of the hall, you’ll find a set of stairs, head up those and you’ll see a set of double doors on the right a few feet into it and that’s the library.”

“Thank you. If anyone asks where I am, I’ll be there.” Marvin said.

“I will be sure to fill them in.” JJ gave a slight wave as Marvin flashed a smile and walked off.

Following the directions was easy enough and soon Marvin was opening that set of doors and when JJ said it was a lovely library, he meant it. Marvin couldn’t help from whistling in awe, the shelves were tall, a dark wood, and lined up perfectly with each other. The books were unlabeled but hopefully something with this weird stuff Marvin’s been dealing with would allow him to find what he wanted easily.

“Oh…that works.” Marvin said to himself when he found a computer set up against a wall with a poster above it that read ‘catalog’. “Here’s to finding something helpful in this place.” He continued speaking to himself as he turned the computer on.

x~x~x

Hours passed and Marvin was sitting on the floor in the center of several pieces of furniture with multiple books opened and surrounding him. After some digging around Marvin had found a stash of notebooks and took one for himself to take notes in.

From what Marvin’s read so far, magic was even more complicated than what he was used to. So many different variables changed so many aspects of it. Things that were seen as magical technically weren’t even that. There weren’t even names for it. They just… existed.

That was beyond obnoxious to read.

Everything should have answers and he couldn’t find them.

“You are really taking whatever it is you’re looking into seriously.” Chase’s voice brought Marvin out of his study trance and he looked up to see the other man holding a plate of food. “It’s lunch,” Chase explained as he sat the plate next to Marvin.

“Has it been that long already? I’ve barely even scraped the surface.” Marvin sighed as Chase sat in one of the chairs.

“Henrik’s the workaholic here, you’re not allowed doing the same.” Chase used his foot to nudge Marvin’s back.

“Not a workaholic.” Marvin corrected, pushing Chase’s foot away. “I just want answers and all I am getting is more confused.”

“Sounds about right.” Chase shrugged as he slouched back in the chair. “Shit’s all messy when you first arrive.”

“Does it ever stop?”

“Not sure. But it does get easier, you accept your new reality and eventually, you find your happiness within it.” Chase clicked his tongue after he rambled that off and then sighed. “That sounded better in my head.”

“Jackie said he kept breaking things when he first appeared.” Marvin sat the notebook down, giving up at the moment.

“He did.” Chase chuckled. “I think he actually managed to take down a building. Dude wasn’t trying to be destructive, he just didn’t have any control and was scared.”

“Didn’t know he could be scared.” Marvin moved back so he leaned against the bottom of the couch, putting the plate of food in his lap and picking at it. “You know, except for needles.”

“Needles are the big thing. He’s never given a reason beyond ‘I don’t like them’.” Chase shrugged again. “But, yeah, kid was a mess when we finally got to him. Screaming, crying, begging for his…” His voice trailed off. “I probably shouldn’t be telling his business like that. I can share my business that I was numb by the time I realized what was happening. Once the memories started fading so did my emotions for some time.” Chase sat up again, slumping over and resting his cheek on a closed hand, elbow on his knee.

“Do all the memories fade away?” Marvin asked.

“Kind of? Like…you know facts about yourself. Can recall having parents and what kind they were. What kind of person you were. That’s why Henrik’s the doctor, he remembers being one and still knows all the medical stuff.”

“What about you? What are-well-were you?” Marvin asked.

“I was a dad.” Chase’s comment got Marvin to thickly swallow. “I can’t remember my kid’s name or my ex-wife’s face. I think her name was Stacy? That’s the name that sounds right. But I don’t remember anything about my kid. Son? Daughter? No idea. I just knew someone used to call me dad and was happy to see me.” He softly laughed as his hand fanned out and covered half his face. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bring the mood down. I came in here to check on you and make sure you ate lunch.” Chase rubbed his face and stood up. “Dinner is usually a free-for-all this time of week. So whenever you’re hungry this evening, feel free to help yourself to whatever.”

“Um…thanks.” Marvin wanted to ask some questions but that painful thickness in the air had him holding back. Chase looked like he needed to lie down or something. Maybe it doesn’t get easier or at least, thinking about it still hurts no matter how long it’s been.

Great.

#magicians dont need superheros #marvelsepticeye #veggie writes #everyone got trauma XD #wait till you hear jackies #i mean-#hes totallyyyyy fine

19 notes · View notes

candymoth-art · 5 months

Note

What do you like most about each jsego?

OKAY OKAY SO I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THEM ALL SM YIPPEE

I love JJ's silliness he's so underrated I don't see people talk about him as much but his early cartoon movements and stuff and just general vibe is so fun I love him. I keep finding that people either ignore or infantilise him as if he's not a grown ass man and I think this is to do with the fact that he's canonically disabled but I'll bite my tongue for now.

Chase Brody is so smart and cool like he's chill and has the ability to be silly but he's so nuanced. Like people usually boil him down to himbo (as if we don't have Jackie for that) and act as if he's dumb (@kalcifers-blog feel free to join in cause ik you have a whole monologue on this). He also reminds me of my boyfriend a lot so that contributes to it :>

Henrik being the "serious" one and then turning out to be just as cartoony as all the others. I headcanon him as autistic (though in my opinion they all are just different flavours especially since Sean has said that he thinks he might be too) so I can imagine him just having a very neutral face a lot of the time while doing just the most insane shit with the others. Everyone thinks he's so mysterious but he just has autism.

Jackie is my silly himbo he's the silly guy I can't wait for him to go through the horrors. If the masses want the token dumbass Jackie is literally right there!! He's the transman ever watch him wear the same 3 outfits on rotation I love him.

I love everything about Marvin I have such a crush on him you don't understand. He is so cat. I love him I can't even put it into words all I can say is that while Jackie has no style Marvin is pulling up with the best fits every day.

I don't like Anti/j

I love the idea of him being an ancient eldrith horror who dedicates it's time to bullying a bunch of gay people

#jacksepticeye #jse egos #jacksepticeye egos #chase brody #marvin the magnificent #jackieboyman #jameson jackson #jackieboy man #antisepticeye #jse anti #dr henrik von schneeplestein

12 notes · View notes

crystalninjaphoenix · 6 months

Text

Let the Tests Begin

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

I may have forgotten to queue this. Which sucks because I was really excited for this one? How did I forget? I guess I'm really working on finishing Many Roads Diverge now that I'm getting close to the finish line with that one, haha. Anyway. The guys are still in IRIS. And IRIS thinks it's about time to start their plans with them. JJ is having a particularly bad time with this. And Schneep finds out that there are new tests for him to go through after his escape last time.

More of This AU | | First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Read on AO3 under CrystalNinjaPhoenix

“Hello again, Dr. Parker.”

Jackie looked up as the door opened. He was sitting on the side of the bed but he quickly scrambled to his feet. It was that same man from before. What was his name? Right, Daniel. There were also two C&C guards with him. “H-hi,” Jackie said in a shaky voice. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he’d last seen these guys. There wasn’t a clock in the room. But he knew that it must be a while, as he’d fallen asleep for a bit and woken up with hunger clawing at his stomach.

“We have decided to move you to a second location,” Daniel said calmly.

“Um... why?” Jackie asked, trying not to sound too combative.

“Well this room isn’t exactly built for comfort, is it?” Daniel says, gesturing around the room. “We have a better one set up for you. If you’ll please come with us.”

Jackie hesitated. Then he nodded slowly. Maybe he could get a lay of the land while they moved him. Find out where the others are, if they’re also here. Because it was clear that IRIS wasn’t planning on telling him anything. “Okay. Um... let’s go.”

The hallway outside looked like a normal hallway in an office building, with white plaster walls and linoleum tile on the floor. It kind of threw Jackie off, honestly. If it wasn’t for the reinforced doors he might have been anywhere nondescript. The two C&C guards stood on either side of him. Jackie waited for them to grab him or something, but they didn’t. And they didn’t move, either. They just stood there in the middle of the hallway. Were they waiting for something?

Apparently they were, as another one of the doors opened up, and a pair of C&C officers appeared, dragging someone out. “—your fucking hands off me!” the person was shouting.

Jackie would know that swearing voice anywhere. “Anti?!” he gasped, rushing towards him. One of the guards grabbed him by the back of the hoodie and yanked him back.

But he’d gotten Anti’s attention, at least. He stopped struggling and looked over at Jackie, eyes wide. “J-Jackie?!”

“Are you okay?” Jackie asked.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, other than these fuckers bruising my arms up.” Anti struggled slightly, but the two C&C guards refused to let go of him. “Have you seen any of the others?!”

“N-no, but they have to be here, don’t they? If both of us are.”

While the two of them talked, Daniel gestured at the C&C guards, and they started walking down the hallway. Anti growled and started fighting back again. “Let me go! Let me—Jackie, help! We can get out of here together!”

“Wh-what about the others?” Jackie asked.

“We can find them! C’mon!” Anti tried to yank an arm free of the guard’s grip, but they were holding too tight. “Jackie!”

Jackie hesitated. But decided he couldn’t leave Anti behind. He darted forward, trying to pull Anti from the guards’ grasp—but then the other two C&C guards grabbed him from behind and yanked him back. He yelped. “Please, Dr. Parker, I thought you were smarter than that,” Daniel said. “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe and taken care of.”

“Don’t listen to their bullshit, Jackie!” Anti shouted. “Last time I was here these guys locked me in a room and did some shit to my brain!”

“The Dr. Hopkins Assessment is a perfectly safe test,” Daniel said.

Anti glared at him. He growled again, sounding almost feral, and snapped his teeth, trying to bite the C&C guards. Or maybe not actually trying to bite them. Surely Anti was smart enough to realize his teeth couldn’t pierce the C&C uniforms. But the guy he snapped at did flinch. Very slightly, but definitely flinched. So maybe Anti was just trying to intimidate them.

“Anti, please, c-calm down,” Jackie stammered, trying to avoid being dragged by the guards. “W-we need to think—”

“I’m not going to be fucked with again, Jackie!” Anti interrupted, his voice cracking with fear.

Jackie winced. “Th-they’re not going to—Well, I-I guess I don’t know anything about them, do I?” He shook his head and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Anti, listen. I-I know a lot about these guys. I... worked for them.”

“When did you do that?!”

“Shhh!” Jackie glanced at Daniel and the C&C guards. They could probably hear them no matter how quietly they talked. But the whispering gave him an illusion of security that he desperately needed as they were being dragged along. “It’s a long story. I didn’t know they’d taken you, o-or any of the other fucked up shit they do. But I do know stuff about their organization and all that.”

Anti shook his head. “I... I’ll think about those implications later. What can you tell me now?”

Jackie glanced around. “I don’t recognize this area, I think we’re in a different compound than the one I was in. But, uh, with how normal it looks we’re probably on the surface level. Maybe on a higher floor, if there are multiple floors here. M-Marvin might be here, too, but from how they talked about Schneep and JJ, they’re probably keeping them somewhere more secure.”

The C&C took them around a corner. This hallway looked the same as all the others. “So what, you think we should try to find them first?” Anti asked. “I don’t think we’ll get a chance to, to be honest!” He pulled against the guards. “They’re gonna lock us up, Jackie! We might not get another opportunity! W-we can go find the others now!”

“Please remain calm, Mr. McLoughlin,” Daniel said. “We’d hate to resort to force.”

“Oh, would you?” Anti snarled. “Jackie! Come on!”

Jackie’s mind whirled. He wanted to protest, to take this slow, but Anti was right. He didn’t know if they’d have another opportunity. He glanced down at his hand, and Anti followed his gaze. Jackie held out three fingers. Two. One—

Jackie shouted out, causing the guards to look at him in surprise. At once, the two of them pushed against the guards, struggling in unison. Anti managed to get an arm free. He tried to punch one of the guards, but they barely flinched. And Jackie didn’t even get free at all. Daniel turned back to look at the scuffle, frowning, looking almost disappointed. “Very well, then.”

One of the guards hit Anti in the side of the head. He gasped and went suddenly limp. Jackie cried out in surprise, but another guard hit him in the same place, pain bursting across his temple. He slumped, and the C&C guards dragged the both of them down the hall to a pair of doors across from each other. Daniel took out a keycard and pressed it to a reader next to each door, and the guards dragged Anti and Jackie to each one.

“N-no!” Anti shouted, flailing weakly. “Jackie! Jackie!”

“W-we’re going to get out of this!” Jackie said, trying to plant his feet on the ground and push back against the guards trying to get him into the room. “I promise!”

Then the guards overpowered him and pushed him into the room. Jackie stumbled back, landing flat on his back. He looked up to see the door already slamming shut, locking him in this new room.

Jackie got to his feet slowly and looked around. This really didn’t look too different than the room he was in before. The walls were light blue instead of the weird half-blue, half-blank-concrete they’d been in the last room. There was an alcove in the corner with a curtain hanging from the ceiling, pushed to the side to show a toilet and sink. The bed and table were bolted to the floor, and there were more blankets and an extra pillow on the bed. Other than that, it was pretty much the same, with two chairs for the table and a camera dangling from the corner of the ceiling.

But even these small differences spelled a different picture. This place was clearly more built for long-term living than the room where he’d been before. So... they really did intend to keep them here for the foreseeable future. Jackie’s throat was suddenly dry with nerves. He’d assumed that was the situation. But it was different to have that guess silently confirmed.

Jackie wandered over to the table and sat down. There was a paper plate and cup on the table. The plate had a sandwich and the cup had water. Jackie hesitated for a moment, but he was too hungry to resist. He ate and drank, quickly devouring it.

The next room over, Marvin sat up in bed, listening intently. Those shouts... were they who he thought they were? The others were here too? Or—Jackie and Marvin, at least? He’d guessed so, but—that really was them? He felt a bit hopeful, hearing them nearby. Even though that meant they were trapped here too. At least he wasn’t alone.

———————

Jameson had no idea how long he’d been in this room. It felt like forever. He’d spent all of it stuck in his own head, thoughts swirling around all the terrible things that IRIS could do to him. He sometimes had trouble with this anxiety spiral. But his usual ways of snapping out of it couldn’t work while he was stuck in this room. He couldn’t distract himself with anything, and he couldn’t reach out to any of his friends to talk about it. He tried going to sleep but that didn’t help, either. Even when he closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths, the thoughts wouldn’t go away.

Would they experiment on him? They would, wouldn’t they? IRIS didn’t know about magicians. They would want to figure out how his powers worked. What if they tried to take his magic? That was a part of him! Though he knew he would be able to live a happy life without special powers, he wouldn’t be himself anymore. He would never be able to forget the loss of it.

At some point while he was trying to sleep, there was a strange hissing noise, sounding somewhat pneumatic, and then a thump. JJ raised his head and saw a part of the wall had slid open. Inside was an alcove with a tray on it. He sat up and walked over. Luckily this alcove was within reach of the cuff tethering him to the floor. He picked up the tray. This was... food. A square sandwich with some cheese and unknown meat inside, a handful of apple slices, And a small cup with water in it... or, he assumed it was water. There was some sort of powder mixed in that made it kind of cloudy.

There was writing on the tray beneath the food. ‘Please put the tray back in the compartment when you are done. You will not get another meal until the tray and cup are returned.’

JJ glanced at the camera. They would know if he tried anything, wouldn’t they? The only place that was free of their view was the alcove with the toilet and sink. But... that probably wasn’t a good place to eat. He sat down on the edge of the bed and ate slowly. He still wasn’t sure what meat the sandwich had. Its taste wasn’t familiar. Maybe it was something processed. The powder in the water gave it a vaguely fruity taste, in a weak, artificial way. The apple’s taste was also weak and watery. But he ate it all anyway. He’d probably need the energy. Then he put the tray and cup back in the alcove. The wall slid closed again silently, and then there was another hiss.

After a while, Jameson started to regret the food. His stomach was flipping over and over with his nerves, and the food didn’t help. Especially once he started worrying about what was in it. Didn’t Schneep say that they drugged him with food while he was here? Would Jameson notice if something was off? Was he feeling tired because he’d been awake for a while or because they really did put something in the food?! He should stay awake, just in case.

Despite his efforts to stay awake, he did doze for a bit, drifting in and out of consciousness for what must have been only minutes at a time.

Until he heard the door to the cell open, and then he immediately snapped to full wakefulness. He sat up, staring as that woman in the white coat walked in, along with two more C&C guards. One of them carried some sort of box in one hand, the size of a car battery, holding it by a handle. Jameson swallowed the lump in his throat. He pulled his knees close to his chest, curling up slightly.

The woman—the doctor—said nothing at first. She gestured at the two guards, and they continued walking forward until they reached Jameson. “Hold out your hands,” the doctor said.

Jameson hesitated. Then he slowly did so, assuming that they were going to handcuff him or something. He was correct. The guard with the box flipped open the side, pulling out a pair of plastic cuffs made out of the same material as the ankle cuff. They snapped them around Jameson’s wrists and he winced slightly as they dug into his skin. As the other guard unlocked the manacle around his ankle, JJ stared at the box. There was a plastic tether connecting the cuffs to the interior of it. Was his comparison of it to a car battery more correct than he thought? Was that box a power source for these cuffs? A power source for what?

Out of curiosity, JJ tried to conjure up some magic after the tether around his ankle was gone. Just some lights.The pain was instant—racing up his wrists from the cuffs. He gasped in pain and instinctively jerked back, trying to pull away. But of course, he couldn’t.

“Please don’t try anything, subject,” the doctor said, noticing his reaction. “Your anomalous abilities will not work. Now if you would stand up and follow me.”

Jameson took a shaking breath and stood. The two C&C guards started walking away, forcing him to follow or get dragged along by the cuff tether. He hurried after them and the doctor as they walked out the metal cell door and into the hallway.

The hallway had white walls and a concrete floor. To the left, it was lined with more metal doors. To the right, it extended for a short distance and then ended in a pair of double-doors with small circular windows in the upper half. The doctor and guards led him that way, pushing through the doors and into the room beyond.

This was an octagonal room, its white walls lined with metal tables and cabinets. Four tables took up the center, a two-by-two formation... no, they weren’t tables. They were... beds. Gurneys? Something like that. With attached leather straps.

Jameson stopped walking. He knew what this was. The panic that filled his chest at the sight of it froze him in place. Even as the guards continued walking forward, trying to pull him along, his legs wouldn’t move. They were locked to the floor. One of the guards sighed—the first sign of humanity that he’d seen from any of these guys—and doubled back, grabbing his arm and pulling him forward, dragging him over to one of the beds.

He should probably try to fight it, shouldn’t he? But he couldn’t. It was all he could do to keep breathing. Tears caused his vision to blur. Gruesome sights kept popping into his mind against his will. The guards pushed him onto the bed, pulling leather straps over his chest and legs. A sob escaped his throat. They pushed his still-bound hands towards his chest, bending his elbows, and strapped those down there as well.

The doctor from before was speaking. It took Jameson a moment to push through his panic to listen to what she was saying. “—first examination, and we are also testing to see if something can externally trigger the anomalous properties.”

Examination? So—not an operation, then? Is that what that means?

He lifted his head slightly, turning to look at her. Huh. There were other doctors in the room, too. How had he not noticed them sooner? He must have been freaking out too much. They were all milling about, many of them holding clipboards or tablets—taking notes, perhaps? He stared at the tables surrounding the edge of the room. They were empty. Or at least, all the ones that he could see were, as he turned his head back and forth. If this was an operation, then they would need tools, right? If they didn’t have them, then it wasn’t an operation, was it? He hoped he was right in that assumption. He really, really hoped he was right.

One of the doctors wheeled something over to the bed where Jameson was lying. Some sort of tall instrument, shaped like an upside-down L. There was a square light at the end of the top arm, and a computer attached to the back, complete with keyboard. The doctor typed something on it, and the instrument whirled to life, some sort of engine running. Jameson jolted in surprise—oh god please don’t let that be some sort of scifi vivisection machine—and started trembling in the restraints. The doctor slowly moved the instrument along the side of the bed. The square light turned off, then on again, sending a wave of blue light downwards. Oh. It was some sort of scanner. Jameson relaxed slightly. But not entirely.

The machine scanned him, starting at his feet and moving upwards. Jameson didn’t feel anything, but it was still very unnerving. Especially with all the doctors around staring at him as this happened. Occasionally writing something down. He tried not to look at them, but it was hard to forget they were there.

Once the scan was finished, the doctor pulled the scanner away, typing more on the computer. “Dr. Day? How does this look?”

The doctor who’d gotten Jameson from his cell walked over. Ah, so her name was Dr. Day, then? Good to know, Jameson supposed. Dr. Day stared at the computer screen. She frowned. “The quality seems to have dropped. Do another scan. Subject, please stay as still as possible while the scanner does its work.”

Again? Jameson swallowed a lump in his throat and stared blankly up at the ceiling, focusing on not moving at all. It was better than thinking about the doctors watching. But even so, his thoughts never strayed too far from them.

Dr. Day deemed the second scan good enough. She gestured for the other doctors to join her, and they all clustered around the computer on the scanner. “As you can see, the subject is healthy except for a slight iron deficiency, likely caused by a lack of meat in the diet, and the obvious throat damage. What can we tell by the scarring pattern on the neck?”

“It looks like an animal attack, one with claws,” another doctor said.

“There would be other scarring on the body if it was an animal attack, right?” A second one countered. “Animals don’t target specific areas of the body.”

“Actually, the patterns look a bit like... human scratches?” A third said. “Look, four fingers and a thumb. It matches up.”

“So it was an anomaly,” the first one said decisively. “Humans don’t have nails that sharp.”

Jameson felt more tears threatening the corners of his eyes. He squeezed them closed, trying to push them back. The way they were talking about him, like he wasn’t even here... like he wasn’t even human... He was feeling sick again.

“This is likely caused by ALTR 53815-A,” the doctor said. “A peripheral anomaly of ALTR 53815. How many of you have dealt with peripherals?” There was a moment of silence. Jameson didn’t open his eyes, but he guessed some of the doctors were silently responding. “Good. Those of you who haven’t, refer to the handbook. This subject’s anomalous properties are likely unrelated to 53815. They do not seem to be coming from a specific location in his body, but rather all over. We are unsure if he is yet worthy of ALTR status. That is what we will determine over the course of these examinations. But first, we must establish parameters. Dr. Patel, if you please.”

Jameson heard the sound of people moving around. But he didn’t open his eyes until he felt something clamp down onto his upper arm. Then his eyes flew open and he stared down at it. Some sort of metal cuff, attached via wire to a square cylinder on wheels with lots of lights and another attached computer. Another doctor was typing away on it. And then stopped. The cylinder started whirring, like there was a fan inside.

They were all staring at him. Waiting.

Jameson looked away, staring back up at the ceiling. He also waited for something to happen. But he couldn’t feel anything. Just the metal clamp pressing down on his arm, the discomfort shifting to hurt the longer it stayed on there.

“Increase the signal,” Dr. Day said. Jameson heard more typing sounds, and the whirring from the cylinder grew louder. Still nothing happened. “Increase again.” More typing, more whirring. Still nothing.

“Dr. Day, are you sure we will see a reaction?” another doctor asked.

“Yes, the mufflers will flare in response if the anomalous properties manifest,” Dr. Day said.

The mufflers? Was that what the cuffs were called?

“Either this signal or this location does not work to trigger the properties,” Dr. Day continued. “Dr. Patel, switch to square signals. We will test this location with all signals and then switch.”

How long was this going to take? How long was he going to be stuck here, with all of these people staring at him, helpless to do anything about it?

He took a deep breath, and tried to remain calm. Tried to distance himself from this whole situation. But that was difficult to do when he could still hear them, when he could still feel the restraints digging into his skin, when his thoughts kept circling, fueled by fear.

———————

Schneep had found that the best way to pass the time while stuck in his cell was to exercise. It kept his mind distracted and his body fit, just in case an opportunity came to escape. Though that might be harder than it was last time, now that he had to take that disabling signal into account... But he tried not to think about that.

He was in the middle of doing sit-ups when the door opened again. The handler walked in, along with four guards. Twice as many as last time, this must be important. “Hello, 1-019,” the handler said.

Schneep quickly got to his feet, hackles raised. He glanced back and forth between the guards and the doorway. “...what? What is it?”

“We need you to come with us,” the handler said.

A moment passed. Schneep narrowed his eyes. “What? You are going to let me walk with you? No injections? Nothing in the food?”

“Don’t sound so negative, 1-019.”

“‘Don’t sound so negative’?! About you fucking drugging me?!”

“All of us are equipped with disabling signals, 1-019, it is in your best interest to cooperate,” the handler said firmly.

Schneep gritted his teeth but said nothing.

“Thank you.” The handler smiled. “Now, let’s go.” Two of the guards stepped forward and grabbed Schneep by each arm. He tensed, but didn’t try to escape. Another guard unlocked the cuff around his ankle. He fought the urge to break into a run. Instead, he walked along, keeping pace with the guards as they took him out of the cell.

The hallway had white walls and a concrete floor. It was lined with metal doors—and given how the door to his own cell was metal, he was willing to bet these led to more of the same. He hoped that most of them were empty. They dragged him down the hallway and around a corner to the end towards an elevator. One short ride later, they were on a different floor, a hallway with walls, floor, and ceiling made of shining metal. There weren’t many features here. The guards and handler headed straight to a set of double-doors. They slid open when they approached, leading into a small room—an airlock of sorts, with another pair of double-doors on the other side. Here, the guards left him, turning around and leaving back through the doors they came. As soon as they were gone, the other set of doors opened up.

“Subject 1-019, please walk forward into the room,” A voice said from inside the room. An intercom, probably, judging by the echoing, slightly tinny effect.

Schneep hesitated, then walked forward.

The room beyond was wide and open, made of the same shining metal as the hallways except for one glass wall. Well, it probably wasn’t actually glass. Maybe some sort of shatterproof clear plastic. Through it, Schneep could see the handler and a couple other people in white coats. Scientists. Doctors of some kind. Schneep glared at them, and they stared right back, holding clipboards. There was a camera in each corner of the room, and the floor had a strange grid-like pattern.Like it was made of huge metal tiles.

“Welcome, 1-019,” said the handler’s voice—definitely an intercom of some kind.

“What is this?” Schneep demanded, walking over to the window. “This is no operation!”

“Don’t worry, 1-019, there will be no more operations,” the handler said. “You are complete—or close enough. There actually may be more modifications later, depending on how well you do.” Schneep hoped his fear wasn’t visible on his face. “We are here to test your capabilities.”

“Capabilities?” Schneep repeated.

One of the grid squares on the floor slid open, and something rose up from a compartment underneath it. Schneep backed away, staring at it in shock. What was that? Some sort of robot? It had a vaguely humanoid figure, made of white plastic and metal rings at every joint. But its head was a bulky cube shape, with a single camera in the middle, and its hands were replaced by metal spheres bigger than a fist. Schneep glanced back at the window. The handler seemed to be saying something, but the intercom wasn’t on, so Schneep had no idea what it was. Until the handler leaned forward and pressed a button on a console beneath the window. “Alright, 1-019, go.”

“Go? Go do wha—” Schneep’s question was cut off when the robot sprang into action, running towards him and swinging its sphere-hand at him. He yelped and dodged to the side, feeling the air whiff past him from the force of the blow. The robot swung its other sphere-hand and Schneep ducked. It swung the first one again and Schneep bolted, running across the large room. The robot bolted after him. It wasn’t that much faster than the average person, but it moved at that same pace, not slowing or speeding like a human would. Schneep glanced back at it and started circling around as the wall got closer. The robot copied him exactly, following his every footstep.

“1-019, please take out the enemy bot,” the handler said through the intercom.

“You want me to destroy a fucking robot?!” Schneep shouted as he ran.

“These are specially designed. Their bodies almost perfectly simulate human qualities. Besides the obvious modifications to the head and—”

“Fine!” Schneep snapped. He abruptly stopped running, turning back to face the robot. It was fine. It was fine. This was just like fighting criminal thugs on the streets. Just—a bit more difficult. The robot continued at him at that same pace. Schneep braced himself, then ducked and lunged at its legs. He expected the impact to hurt, but it wasn’t too bad. The bot clattered to the ground beneath his tackle, and he grabbed onto its waist. There was a slight gap between the metal rings forming its waist joints and its plastic casing. Schneep pressed his hands there and sent a pulse of electricity through them. The robot juddered and slumped. One of its sphere-fists landed on Schneep’s back with surprising weight. He’d probably have a bruise there later.

“Thank you, 1-019,” the handler said through the intercom. “Next test. Please continue to take out the enemy bots.”

Schneep disentangled himself from the deactivated bot and stood up. Just in time to see another grid square slide open and more robots rise from beneath the floor. Three of them this time, almost identical to the first. Except for the feet, which were replaced by wheels. All three of them rushed towards Schneep, one heading straight for him while the other two curved to either side. Schneep’s eyes widened and he turned and ran, just in time to avoid the pincer maneuver the robots were trying to create. The three of them turned sharply and headed after them. Shit! They were faster than the first one!

His mind raced as he ran. They outnumbered him this time, so he had to be smart. He circled back around to the body of the deactivated bot and lifted it up, throwing it at the three bots as they got close. It crashed against two of them, knocking them to the ground. The remaining one managed to dodge and kept rushing at him. Schneep leapt out of the way at the last minute, grabbing the robot’s shoulder as it ran past. He yelped as it started dragging him along, then gritted his teeth and threw his other arm around its torso. Then he sent more electricity into it. The robot kept rolling for a moment even after it slumped forward, and he stumbled a bit as he let go. He spun around back to the other two he’d thrown the robot at—and laughed. Even though they’d managed to push away the robot body pinning them down, they couldn’t get up again! Their wheel feet kept skidding across the ground.

“A bit of a design flaw, yes?” Schneep said, looking at the window. “Now what is this all for? Why are you testing me? Why did you—wh-why did you—”

Another grid square slid open, and three more robots rose from the ground. And other grid squares rose up as well, turning into seven-feet tall pillars and three-feet tall blocks. Obstacles. “Please continue to the next test, 1-019,” the handler said. These robots were slightly different. One was bigger and had its cube-like head replaced by a sideways pyramid, the point at the front glowing blue. The other two had different hands. One’s sphere-fists were glowing orange, and the other had long bars on chains for hands—like nunchucks in ninja movies. As the two smaller bots ran towards him on wheels for feet, the big one fired a beam of blue energy from its head.

Schneep tried to back up, but he wasn’t fast enough. The beam hit him in the stomach and knocked him to the ground. “Oof!” It felt like someone threw a super-speed baseball at him. He sat up, and saw the robot with glowing spheres driving its sphere-fist towards him. He yelped and rolled to the side. The glowing sphere hit the ground right next to him. He could feel slight heat coming from it. “Are you all crazy?!” Schneep shouted. He grabbed onto that robot’s legs, trying to pulse with electricity—

The other robot swung its nunchucks at him, hitting him twice: once on his shoulder blade, once on his lower back. Schneep gasped in pain and scrambled to his feet, running before he was fully up and barely managing to dodge more blows from both the bots. Then the big robot’s pyramid started to glow, and Schneep quickly ducked behind a tall pillar to avoid the beam that followed. “Hey!” He shouted at the window. “What is this all about?! Why are you doing this?! I-I deserve answers after all this!”

The handler and other doctors didn’t respond.

The two smaller bots rushed around either side of the pillar and Schneep leapt forward—surprising himself with his ability—and ran across the room to another pillar. “You all better explain!” he yelled at the window. “Or—o-or I’ll—” His mind scrambled for a plausible threat. These guys didn’t seem to care about anything! Anything... except for results. “Or I will sabotage this test! I swear to god!”

He noticed a couple of the doctors glancing at each other uneasily. Aha! So he landed on something that could work.

The robots circled around again, forcing him to keep running. “You want me to fight these things?!” Schneep shouted as he ran. “Well I will not! Not until you tell me why you’ve done all this!”

“1-019, I will remind you that we have disabling signals at the ready,” the handler said.

Schneep laughed, making a sharp turn to avoid another beam. “So?! That will not help your test, will it?! If I am lying on the ground?!”

There was no answer.

Schneep tried to dodge another beam, but this one hit him square in the side, knocking him to the ground. The other two robots quickly caught up, one on either side of him. The one with the glowing spheres hit his chest as he tried to get up, knocking the breath out of him. The other one swung its nunchucks over and over, and Schneep curled up to protect his head as he tried to crawl away. Another heavy, heated blow hit his back. He cried out and went limp from the shock of it. One of the nunchucks swung around and hit him in the side of the head hard enough to fill his vision with stars—

“Command D-SH-6!” the handler suddenly shouted over the intercom.

The two robots slumped—but didn’t shut down like they did when he pulsed the earlier ones. They instead backed up, giving him space to breathe. He climbed to his hands and knees, blinking back tears in his eyes.

“Very well, 1-019,” the handler said, his voice shaking slightly. “What was it you wanted to know? The purpose of these tests?”

Schneep pushed himself to his knees and stared at the window, where some of the doctors looked pale and worried, others were glaring in anger, and still others were keeping their expressions carefully neutral. “The purpose of all of it!” he insisted, pushing through the pain. “The operations! The implants! A-and why—why me, of all people?! Because I was in the wrong place?!”

A moment passed. The doctors seemed to be discussing something. Then the handler activated the intercom again. “The EX Subject Initiative is designed to create new, specialized operatives to help contain anomalies that prove difficult to deal with. Much like ALTR 53815.”

Schneep blinked. He stared at the window, silently asking the doctors to continue.

“Ideally, EX Subjects are taken from those who have had contact with ALTRs but have not been targeted—or at least, not intensely.”

Schneep laughed. “Wh-what are you saying? Distorter has wanted me dead for ages.”

“Your exposure to 53815-A is relatively light, especially in comparison to others from Mirygale,” the handler continued. “But your experience is personal. And you are also clearly capable, given your track record of vigilantism. You walking into our Operation Center in Henshilling was a fortunate coincidence. You were really the perfect EX Subject.”

Disgust curled around Schneep’s stomach, twisting his face.

“If you proceed through the various tests and training in the EX Initiative, you will be transferred to a new division of C&C, whose purpose is to contain ALTRs. To protect people who are being victimized by them. Hurt and killed and worse. Do you understand?”

“Oh yes, I understand quite a lot,” Schneep said quietly. “Quite a lot.” They wanted weapons. Living weapons. And they were willing to do terrible things to get them. They could say whatever they wanted about protecting people from anomalies, but that didn’t change what they were doing. Not at all.

“Great. We will proceed with the test, then.”

Schneep’s thoughts snapped out of their dark spiral and he instantly started moving again, dodging more attacks from the robots. His eyes scanned the room. There! He darted over to one of the blocks, leaping on top of it. Then he spun around, facing the two robots as they charged at him. He threw himself onto the one with nunchucks as soon as it got close enough, pulsing immediately. Its body jittered and then slumped. He ducked a blow from the other one, getting low to the ground and grabbing its leg. He pulsed again. And that one toppled over on top of him. It knocked the breath out of him for a moment, but he quickly pushed it off.

A beam of blue light flew past his face. Schneep grabbed the robot body again, raising it up in front of him. He staggered to his feet, trying to use it as a shield. It dulled the force of the beam a bit, but he still stumbled backwards. Still, he walked forward, ducking behind pillars occasionally. Despite the robot body supposedly “almost perfectly simulating human qualities,” it was still quite heavy. By the time he got close to the last robot, his arms were trembling slightly. He threw the deactivated bot at the big one, knocking it over. But it was still able to aim its beam at him. He dodged its attack, then rushed forward and grabbed its arm, giving it a higher voltage than the others. It smoked slightly and became limp.

Breathing heavily, Schneep stood up straight. Well... he seemed to be good at this. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing.

“Thank you, 1-019. Please continue on to the next test.”

Schneep spun around as more robots appeared.

Bad. It was a bad thing.

But at least the fight would help distract him from these new revelations.

He took a deep breath and charged forward.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #jacksepticeye au #jackieboy man #dr jackie parker #antisepticeye #programmer anti #marvin the magnificent #1920s marvin #jameson jackson #the jaunty jackson #dr schneeplestein #von voltage #brigid writes fanfiction #septicswitchau

11 notes · View notes

iamfruitie · 6 months

Text

Caution and Care Pt. 7

Part 1: Link Prev: Link Next: TBA

Listening In

“Is the space shirt too much?” Mad asked as he looked at himself in the mirror at the end of the hall of dressing rooms.

“I think it’s fun.” Anti came out of one of the dressing rooms, wearing the same galaxy-print shirt as Mad.

“We’ve already gotten so much. Maybe we should put these back and call it a day.” Mad tugged on the bottom of the shirt. It was starting to get a bit overwhelming with everything they’ve done. He was so worried they were pushing it, and they’d anger the alphas and they’d be kicked out of a new home already and-

“Maddy, it’s okay.” Anti noticed the way Mad’s eyes were widening with panic. “Remember what you told me? We’re safe.”

“We’re safe.” Mad echoed, smiling when Anti kissed his forehead.

“I like the shirts. I think these will be the perfect final thing to get before going back. We can eat our candy and cuddle and watch some TV together.”

“I’d like that.”

“Me too.” Anti giggled and kissed Mad’s forehead again before stepping away.

The two got changed and stepped back out of the omega changing rooms, finding Wilford, Dark, and Chase sitting together on a bench, surrounded by shopping bags and chatting. Wilford was in the middle and pointing to something on Chase’s phone while Dark leaned over Wilford’s shoulder to look at the screen as well.

“When that kit comes in, it’ll be a lot easier to see what would look good on Marvin,” Wilford said. “Pictures never do the jewelry justice. The first set I got for JJ was a completely different shade than the pictures showed.”

“They were more than willing to replace the chains when you showed up ready to bite someone’s throat out.” Dark chuckled.

“My Jamesy deserves the best and I was going to get it.” Wilford protested with a prideful puff to his chest.

“At least you found someone that matches your energy.” Chase gestured to Wilford’s horns. “Doesn’t it take JJ like hours to touch those up?”

“Well…we’re not painting the whole time,” Wilford said with a grin.

“What else are you doing?” Anti asked with his own grin, finally letting the three know that he and Mad had been standing there. The alphas froze for a second and then Wilford broke out in a loud while, Chase awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, and Dark stood to properly greet them.

“Are you two done?” Dark asked.

“These shirts are the last of the bunch,” Anti said as he handed Dark the shirts to add to the little pile they’ve made for this shop.

“We’ll ring these up with the rest and then-” Dark stopped when his phone started buzzing. “It’s Edward. Could you two take care of everything while I take this?” He didn’t wait for an answer as he stepped away and answered his phone.

Mad gave Anti a look and Anti knew that look all too well. He watched as Dark went to a corner of the store, away from others, and seeing that no one else would be around, he nodded at Mad and gave him permission to sneak off. Anti’s always loved Mad’s curiosity and tried to let him indulge as much as possible, he just liked being sure he’d be safe first. The checkout counter was close, so he’d still be able to see Mad in case something did happen.

Anti guided Wilford and Chase to the counter, pointing out which items were his and which ones were Mad’s. He was good at rambling and kept both of the alphas attentions enough that Mad could easily slip away and tuck himself into a circular row of clothing, getting close enough to listen to Dark.

“How much do you think they’d want for it?” Dark leaned his shoulder against the wall. “If it’s just a bribe to get those documents so you can do your job, I’m willing to pay it. The last thing they need is a reaction to something.” Mad peeked through the clothing some more and saw Dark’s face. He looked sad and worried. Mad chewed his cheek in thought.

Dark was talking to Edward. Edward was the doctor. Edward was getting documents…

Did Edward find his and Anti’s medical history?

“Add an extra grand and see if you can pry out of them who their last pack was. I’d like some words with them.” Dark’s eyes hardened and he growled.

Mad couldn’t stop the little whimper of fear at Dark’s anger, he softly gasped when Dark looked his way and he quickly ducked into the clothing. Maybe he’d get lucky and Dark didn’t see or notice him or would think nothing of it since he wasn’t visible. Mad flinched when the clothing was pushed aside and his hiding spot was now feeling like a trap as Dark looked down at him.

“Were you eavesdropping?” Dark asked, voice soft and calm, the opposite of what Mad expected. Mad chewed on his finger and nodded his head. “What did you hear?” Dark felt his heart ache at the way Mad curled away in fear when he got closer. “I’m not angry.” He spoke even softer as he crouched down, making himself shorter than Mad and thinking maybe that’d help. “What’d you hear?”

“You found mine and Anti’s records?” Mad rubbed his horn in a self-soothing manner.

“Well, Edward technically did and by that, he did some digging around and discovered the hospital he’s associated with is also connected with your old pack.” Dark noticed that his answering Mad seemed to relax him a bit. Mad didn’t seem to like not knowing things and Dark’s willingness to explain made him feel better.

“And you’re trying to find our old pack?” Mad asked.

“I’d like to.”

“They’re dangerous. You’ll get hurt.”

“Don’t worry about me, I know how to fight back.” Dark gave a confident smile.

“You look like it.” Mad softly chuckled, lowering his hand.

“So, the listening in, was that yours or Anti’s idea?”

“It was mine…I got curious.”

“Curiosity is a sign of great intelligence.” Dark winked before straightening up and Mad felt his face go warm. “And you two were supposed to keep an eye on both of them.” He scolded as he saw Chase and Wilford joining them. Anti giggled as he went by and went into Mad’s hiding spot.

“Are you blushing?” Anti asked when he saw the pink on Mad’s cheeks.

“Dark called me smart,” Mad explained.

“I mean, he’s right. You are the smartest man in the world.” Anti laughed when Mad covered his face with his hands to hide that he was now blushing even more. “You are just too cute!” Anti continued to tease as he pulled Mad into a hug.

“I will bite you.” Mad weakly threatened.

“Save that for when we're back in bed~”

“Anti!”

#horned!omegaverse #antimad #danti #maddark #fruitie writes

5 notes · View notes

youvereachedthebadend · 7 months

Note

Do you think they’ll wake up together

"Who knows?" Jackie mutters, shrugging. "They'll probably be awake together, but it's hard to tell if they'll both be in control like they were before." He takes a bite of the apple Goldie brought him.

"Honestly? I don't think they should both be in control like that," Chase says. "Except for emergencies, I guess? It... seemed like it was... hard."

"They would have to agree on things all of the time," Schneep mutters. "And I think that is impossible."

Maybe they're no longer the same person they were before the Severing, JJ says. Maybe now that they're two people of their own, they can never go back to that.

A long, solemn moment of quiet follows as everyone eats silently.

"Well... they're both... people," Marvin finally says. "I mean—I'm never going to like Anti after all the shit he did to us. To me. Never going to forgive him. But... he's... a person. I guess." He shakes his head.

"I am not sure if I will like Anti either," Schneep mumbles. "I am still a bit afraid of him at times. But you are right. He is a person. He is not some creature or force of nature. He... can exist."

"He can exist," Chase agrees, nodding. "He can exist so he can grow and change some more. He's shown that he wants to, so he should have that."

Jackie sighs. "Well. This is a serious moment. Let's move on, okay? I-I don't like this heavy mood."

"Want to see if I can catch this pretzel in my mouth?" Chase asks, immediately moving on.

"Oh hell yeah, man, do it."

Chase tosses the pretzel in the air. It lands on his eye. Everyone laughs.

#jacksepticeye au #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #jackanswers #chaseanswers #schneepanswers #jjanswers #marvanswers #the-earnest-system

2 notes · View notes

beerecordings · 2 years

Text

Wolf Bite - Part 24

When she comes into the courtroom behind him, Anti can smell her.

She wasn't there for his first appearance in front of the judge. They assigned him an attorney and sent him back to his corner of the jail, where the male werewolves stay. All the others seem to leave him alone, moving in circles around him. There are packs in prisons, but rarely in jails. Everyone just wants to go home to their Alphas, and Anti knows how they all see him: a bruised Second worn down to skin and bone, smelling like an Alpha who left him behind.

He can only shift for one hour a day, locked in a secure room to be a wolf, and his body hurts when he does it for reasons he doesn't understand. His own nakedness is jarring to him for the first time in his life, trying to shower when the bathroom is unoccupied or shifting in corners, away from everyone else's eyes. It's always so quiet it's painful. Everything smells like sweat and cooking oil.

But he never has to see her as long as he's there. And if he secretly finds himself missing her desperately in the late hours of the night - if he cries over her abandonment, if he wishes his sheets and blankets smelled of her - that shame's just his alone, and his cellmate doesn't comment on the scent of despair.

Somehow, he had stopped expecting her to be around every corner. That was stupid of him. Hasn't he learned before that she always finds him again? It takes him by surprise, still - takes him by the throat and shakes him like a puppy - when he smells her coming into the courtroom.

They must hold the cases for the female werewolves right after the males. It's his first appearance with an attorney, some harried brunette human fresh out of the bar exam who had only had about thirty seconds to whisper to him that they would discuss his options together later. The judge hasn't called his case yet, but the security at the courthouse is leading the women into the room - and they sit the chained row of them down right behind the males.

He can hear the clanking of her handcuffs. It doesn't help. She's behind him. She's right behind him. He can smell her. She's still using, can the guards not smell that? Do they not ferret out the drugs in their own jail? The chemical grip still wrapped around her, cloying her friendly, crisp springwater scent into poison and stimulants?

She breathes. His mouth is dry, his heart throbbing so hard he thinks the judge could see it in his neck. She breathes in, breathes out. It's barely louder than anyone else's breathing, but he's sure she's doing it on purpose. She's behind him and she's looking at him, staring at him, thinking of him. The other werewolves seated behind him and beside him start looking at him, and that only makes his heart pound later. Can they smell his terror in the air?

He starts laughing to himself, high-pitched but quiet, gripping at his face as he bends over himself in the courtroom pew. No worries, everyone, it's just my girlfriend, he wants to say, some private joke that's hysterical just to him. It's just my other jailer.

He knew they had arrested her, knew the red wolf caught her, and the relief at the time was so powerful he'd been sick with it, crumpled in the infirmary, unable to keep food down. He was so glad JJ wasn't taken away to the wilderness - and so full of self-hatred that he wasn't the one to save him. He vomited up the hatred til the only thing it brought up with it was white bile, curling in pale clouds inside the water of the toilet. The nurse gave him medicine for drug withdrawal and left him to shake in his bed.

His attorney's beside him, suddenly, pressing her way through the row of inmates to touch his shoulder. "Mr. Jackson? They called your case."

He licks his cracked lips and pulls his head up haggardly, finding the whole courtroom looking back at him. He gets to his feet shakily, and the attorney seems relieved. Does he look like a fucking nutjob? Can everyone sense how pathetic he is? He can't help but cackle again, covering his mouth as he gets to his feet, and she leads him out of the row of fellow prisoners and stands beside him at a worn oak table in front of the judge. Anti doesn't bother to look up or over at the stack of papers hiding the prosecutor almost entirely from sight. He just wants to be convicted already. He did it. He did all of it. He would do it again if he had to.

"Something funny, Mr. Jackson?" asks the judge, and he loves the old-fashioned cliche of it. He shakes his head. His attorney grabs his arm as if to steady him.

"I already talked to your friends," she tells him. "Just let me talk and we can get you out of here."

What? He doesn't have friends. Who is she kidding?

The judge is reading off his charges, he thinks. "One count of possession of a controlled substance, one count of criminal trespassing, one count of forgery..."

He had drugs on him, the house wasn't theirs, he'd made a fake license that didn't say he was a werewolf. Whatever. Get to the good charges already: the aggravated assault, the criminal restraint, the abduction, the breaking and entering, and, of course, three counts of aggravated lycanthropic transformation.

He knows he's looking at 25 to life.

But the judge never gets to those. She sets her paper down and concludes: "one count of assault. Counsel, status of the case?"

Anti turns to his attorney, trying to resist the urge to look back at Iris instead. Is she smirking? Is she furious? Did she do this? Those aren't his charges.

"What about the other shit I did?" he whispers.

His attorney blinks at him, trying to listen to what the prosecutor's saying. "Hold on, we'll talk afterwards."

"Ms. Miller, is that your understanding?"

"Yes, your honor," she says, straightening. "I met with the victim separately and then with the prosecution and we have reached an agreement which I believe will be acceptable to my client."

"There is a quick matter to attend to before that," says the prosecutor. "The victim is asking for his no contact order to be dropped. As you know, your honor, he is a certified lycanthropic rehabilitator, and he's interested in offering services to the defendant. He's here in the courtroom now."

"Sir, you can come up here."

If smelling Iris shocked him to hysterics, smelling Sean leaves him completely silent. Anti stares at him unabashedly as he comes up to the podium with a warm, easy smile on his face. He smells fucking good, too, the scent of fury and blood gone, leaving only campfire and coffee behind. Sean catches him looking and just smiles at him too.

"That's all correct, your honor," he chirps. He's Irish too. Anti hadn't known. "My information on the situation was skewed when I first engaged with the defendant, and I wasn't able to respond in a way that was helpful. Now that I understand better, I fully believe that future incidents can be avoided if I can work with Anti."

The judge knows Sean, Anti realizes belatedly. How often is he here talking about different werewolves like this? She grants his request without hesitation.

"It's an unusual situation, Sean, for you to be the victim, but I'll drop it if you're comfortable. I will also place a no contact order with the co-defendant. Your attorney can explain the specifics to you, Mr. Jackson. Furthermore, I will order that if you are able to make bond, you report immediately to Community Corrections and to Lycanthropic Services. You will complete a mental health intake, a drug and alcohol intake, and a lycanthropic intake with Sean, and you will complete any and all recommendations made."

"Excuse me, your honor?" Sean inputs. "If you look at the charges of the co-defendant, you might consider a domestic violence treatment intake?"

She looks through another folder for a second. "And I'll order a domestic violence treatment intake as part of the mental health evaluation. All recommendations made will be followed."

Then she looks up at him like his world isn't spinning, face flat. "Is that clear, Mr. Jackson?"

"Yes," he manages.

His attorney pipes up again. "I just need to talk to him about the plea deal and ensure that he's on board. Can we set a date for arraignment?"

About sixty percent of all time spent in court is scheduling, and Anti sits, perfectly and completely lost, as they find a date that works for everyone. Then his attorney is shooing him back to the other inmates, telling him she can meet him downstairs in five minutes.

His jailers lead him from the room. The hair on his neck rises as he passes Iris. Fuck, the temptation to look to her is almost overwhelming. He knows as a concrete fact that she is staring at him as he goes. He does not look.

Security separates him from everyone else and sits him in a meeting room. The door clicks and he looks up, expecting his attorney, but it's not her.

"Hi," says Sean. Mmh, he smells nice. Anti could go for a hot cup of coffee. Maybe it would bring him back down to the earth. "I would have gotten in touch sooner if not for the no-contact order. I'm Sean."

Anti stares at him. Sean sits down in a chair next to him, folding his hands in front of him.

"I really don't need your pity," Anti tells him finally.

"Nah, it's not pity. I get paid to do this."

"Oh, I'm sure pleading the cause for every werewolf who gets in over their head in this courthouse pays really well."

"Anti," says Sean. "I'm a professional rehabilitator. And you're right, I don't have to be here to help you, but I am."

"I should have more charges," Anti interrupts. "Don't BS me. This is wrong. Something's wrong."

Sean nods. "Yeah. You have Chase to thank for that. When the police interviewed him, he told them Iris was behind everything. They asked him who it was that bit him and turned him. He said he couldn't tell who it was at that time, but that she took credit for it later. They'll put the pieces together themselves. She's already been charged for all three of them."

Anti can't breathe, for a second. "But I bit them."

"Chase didn't do it out of pity either, Anti. He didn't even really do it to screw over Iris - she'll go away for long enough on the abduction and unlawful imprisonment shit. He did it because he thinks it's what's best for his pack."

"The doctor," Anti croaks. "He'll tell on me."

"Henrik hasn't been interviewed yet. But they all talked about it. He'll need more time than Chase, but... he's not against you, Anti. None of them are."

His attorney comes through the door then, carrying a stack of papers that's almost knocking her off balance. She re-introduces herself and starts putting papers in front of him, talking about what a great plea deal the court is agreeing to, how he's just going to need to get some help, blah blah blah. Anti can barely hear her.

"So, what do you think?" she asks brightly. "Any questions?"

He stares at everything in front of him. "I didn't... I'll have to look through it all, I don't... what am I pleading to?"

"Okay," she says, clearly repeating herself, but at least she's polite. "Sean talked to them, so they'll drop the assault charge, and they're open to adjusting the others. You just have to plead to the drug charge and the forgery."

"They'll order the same sort of mental health treatments they've already told you about," Sean adds. "I'll help you set up everything."

"How long am I going to prison for?" he asks.

His lawyer shakes her head at him. "No, Mr. Jackson, you're not going to prison. These charges are presumptive probation."

Something catches in his chest. He stares at Sean because he can tell this isn't about the attorney anymore, maybe isn't even about Sean. Someone's playing games with him and he needs to know who it is.

"Anti," says Sean patiently. "I'll help you find somewhere to live. We can look into work, rehab, all of it. Everyone understands that you were a victim -- "

"No!" he cuts him off, voice cutting. "No, I was fucking complicit, you know that, I could have killed you, I - I don't have anywhere to go, I've lost everything - just send me away, don't toy with me!"

"You haven't lost everything," Sean returns, and suddenly his voice is just as loud. "You got caught up in something and you fucked up, Anti, but that doesn't mean you just throw in the towel."

"I am finally away from her," Anti snarls. "And I'll decide whether I want a stupid plea deal or - "

"JJ needs you, Anti."

It cuts him off short. He grips the table hard, hands trembling.

"He's not well," Sean says.

"He never will be again," Anti whispers. "I hurt him for good."

"That's not how this works," Sean tells him. "Take it from someone who's seen people heal from things you can't even imagine. JJ can recover. But he needs you. He wants you."

"No, no. He won't want me once he remembers."

Sean shakes his head. "You're wrong, he will. I'll prove it. We'll take you to him."

"What?"

Sean stands up, pushing the papers towards him. "There's someone you have to talk to first, but then you can see him. Look over the plea deal. Think about what's actually best for you and for your brother."

Anti stares down at the papers. His attorney slides her business card towards him a little awkwardly. "Call me when you get out, okay?" she says.

"Out," he repeats numbly. "I can't afford to bond out."

"Oh, the guards didn't tell you?" asks Sean. "Jackie's going to pick you up from the jail in a half an hour. Your first appointment with me is tomorrow at ten. Don't miss it."

He sweeps out of the room with a scent so determined and so hopeful that Anti will be smelling coffee for the rest of the day.

The living room smells like anxiety: hot metal and stale air.

He steps towards Chase and Henrik on the couch, pulling them from whatever they're thinking about. They both look up at him with big eyes. He reaches down to touch Henrik's head, rubbing against his scalp for a second. "You two both sure you're okay with it?"

"Yeah," says Chase, quick but quiet. "I've never been able to get rid of my attachment to him. And he deserves better."

Henrik sighs and peers up at Jackie, nodding tightly. "I'll get there. I want him and JJ to have each other. I know that if he tries anything..."

"He'll be gone in a second," Jackie agrees, leaning down over him. "I'd never let him hurt you again."

And he hears Henrik murmur back "I know."

There are few things more important to an Alpha than that trust.

"Play Mario," he tells them, drawing away, and they both grin. "You told me that's what you came out here to do. No sulking. I'll be back soon."

He turns towards the door even as the smell of Marvin and JJ greets him from the hallway. Marvin gives him a smile, and Jackie takes a moment to breathe in the smell of him, smoky, minty, peaceful. For once, something's settled inside of him.

"Be back soon," he repeats, squeezing Marvin against his side for a second. "And my JJ!"

JJ waggles his tail at the sound of his name, but it's not half as hard as usual. Jackie kneels down to hug him too, ruffling his fur and fake-growling at him for a moment, letting JJ nip at his ears.

"I'm going to get you some help," Jackie says into his ear, rubbing at the sides of him, smoothing his fur against his fingers. "My buddy."

JJ doesn't wag his tail now. His head is cocked, his scent disoriented. But things will make more sense when he's human again, Jackie knows. Or he really hopes, anyway.

"Okay, bye, bye," he says, getting up and heading out the door, swinging the keys of his Cadillac. At the living room window, he sees a black wolf peering out at him, ears up, waiting to see what happens next.

He's so tense he's shaking.

He's been tense like this before. It's not new. Overwhelming stress or the need to not catch her attention: his body locks and closes up like a clam. He isn't sure he can get up off this bench.

The secretary at the jail is looking over her glasses at him like she's considering telling him he has to wait outside. He directs his scowl her way and she turns hurriedly back to her computer.

The door jangles. Anti freezes.

The Alpha's footsteps connect with the floor like stones being dropped. Anti doesn't turn to look as the smell of summer air and authority sweeps over him, dampening everything else. Jackie stands over him.

And then sits down on the bench beside him. Anti sees red sleeves and rough white hands out of the corner of his eye.

"Ready to go?" asks Jackie.

Anti considers his options. Actually, he's been frantically considering his options since Sean mentioned the name Jackie, and he still has no idea what to do. There's no one else to come get him, though, and he's already been bonded out. He can walk down the street and try to fend for himself with nothing but the shirt on his back - one provided to him by the nurse as he gathered his things, since all his own clothes have been taken for evidence - or he can go with this Alpha.

Maybe get beat to hell again. Maybe get trapped again.

But maybe see JJ.

He gets stiffly to his feet. Jackie goes with, unhesitating, and leads him out the door.

They clamber into a worn out four-seater. Jackie starts the car and glances over at Anti.

"Seatbelt," he says.

"What about it?" Anti shoots back snidely, trying to keep the breathlessness out of his voice.

Jackie doesn't seem to notice the sarcasm. "I meant that you should put it on."

Anti glares over at him, breathing harshly through his nose, like the puffing of a bull trying to get its air back. He stares at the dashboard for a second. Fight or defer. Fight or defer.

He pulls the seatbelt over his chest and buckles it.

"Let's get you some food," says Jackie.

"Why are you here?" Anti snarls. "You fucking asshole. This is some sick goddamn bullshit."

"Nobody else was going to help you," Jackie replies.

"Are you going to kill me? For taking your pack?"

"No. We all decided you aren't the mastermind."

Anti blinks. "Who's you all?"

"Me and the pack."

"You mean how Chase lied about what I did."

"He didn't lie, he just... left some things out."

"This is insane. You're insane for doing this."

"Where do you want to eat? We'll get fast food and then go to the park."

"I don't need an Alpha to take care of me!" Anti screams.

"So, like, Arby's?"

The engine rumbles from the front. The cars around them buzz into motion as a light turns green. Jackie taps his fingers against the steering wheel, turning to glance at Anti for just a second before he starts driving again. Anti feels pinned down by his gaze the same way he did while guarding the house. He turns quickly away, trying not to sink through the floor of the car, suddenly dizzy and incorporeal to himself, a ghost on a plane separate from everyone else. He remembers Jackie throwing him to the ground and pinning him with that same look. He remembers bleeding against the floor.

The smell of greasy food draws him back minutes later. He blinks as a hot paper bag lands in his lap, grabbing it instinctively. His mouth fills with water. He's not eaten well in... well, a long time. Anti looks up at Jackie, and Jackie's looking back, pausing in the parking lot of a fast food place.

"I'm not going to hurt you," says Jackie. "I can't make you guarantees other than that, but I'm not going to hurt you. We fought because you had them and you wouldn't give them up. You don't have them anymore, so there's no reason for us to fight. Why are you mad?"

"Is that a joke?"

Jackie sighs. "No. I don't expect you to be grateful, Anti, but I don't know why you're mad."

Anti's eyes scan the Alpha's face. It takes a long draw of silence for him to realize he doesn't know why either. He turns away.

"I don't play games with people and I don't lie," Jackie tells him, with a certain finality. "Eat your chicken strips."

"Whatever," mutters Anti.

Fuck, it's so greasy - and so delicious. Jackie steals casually from the bag as he drives towards a quieter part of town, far from the jail. There's something settling about having a full meal in his stomach again. How long has it been...

"You look better," comments Jackie.

"Oh, fuck, do I?" groans Anti. "If this is better, I must have really looked like pure shit before."

"You looked terrible," agrees Jackie. Anti glares, but Jackie just glances back at him, face open. "At least you're clean now. Still pretty terrible though."

Anti rubs at his face. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I was joking."

"And yet, you're eating food I paid for, so you're welcome. You have any money saved, man?"

"That's pretty rude."

"Oh. Why?"

Anti's flustered for a second. "To ask about money. It's rude. No, okay, I don't have any money. I don't even know if my bank account is still open. She had access to all of it."

"Your probation officer will want you to have a job. Sean will help."

Anti scowls, dropping the empty bag of fast food to the floor, letting crumbs spill out. "Enough! Just drop me off somewhere I can sleep and leave me alone, okay?"

"Don't you want to see your brother?" asks Jackie, smelling confused for a moment.

"My brother doesn't want to see me," Anti snaps. "Or if he does, he's just a lost fucking wolf who can't remember why he should hate me, and I - "

Anti turns towards the window again, trying to breathe. "And I don't trust you for a damn second, so just let me go."

"I think your brother will want to see you. He's a really nice wolf."

"You smell like him," whispers Anti.

Jackie's quiet for a long moment. "It just happened. He bonded to me when I rescued all three of him. He's with me now."

Anti shakes in the passenger seat of that stupid old car, holding his arms around his body like he has to stop himself from dissolving into nothingness. He abandoned JJ to Iris, and now he's stuck with another Alpha entirely, one they know nothing about. He could already be hurting JJ, and Anti wouldn't know. Strangers have his kid brother.

"I bet you don't even speak sign."

It's meant to be snarled, but it comes out kind of like a sob.

"I don't," Jackie answers. "I was hoping you could help with that."

"Just tell me what's going on," croaks Anti. "I don't understand anything."

They pull into a parking spot along the side of the road. Anti turns his head and sees the sign for one of the werewolf parks in town, ringed in tall fences to give them privacy from humans as they shift and run and play.

Jackie turns the car off and turns to look at Anti again. He's pinned like a butterfly.

"I talked to my pack," says Jackie. "To all of them, alone and together. I talked to Sean. We talked about what's best for us as a pack and what's best for all of us as individuals. We talked a little bit about what you deserve, but mostly, about what they want."

Anti tries not to shake. Tense as a mouse with its tail caught in a springtrap.

"I don't care what you deserve," says Jackie, and it could be cruel, but it's just a statement to him, just true. "But I care that Chase still worries about you, and that JJ needs help, and that Henrik's never going to be able to trust another werewolf fully again until he gets some clarity on why you did what you did to him. That all of them need to believe you wouldn't have done this to three completely innocent humans if you didn't have to."

Anti bites down hard on his mouth, clenching his hands in his lap.

"So we talked, and we decided. You are formally invited to come meet my pack. You will not leave my sight while you're around them, and if you make a single move to hurt them, you will not see JJ again as long as he's with me, but you can come meet them. You can spend time with JJ, with all of us."

"Are you asking me to be a part of your pack?" Anti whispers.

"No," Jackie says. "We can't trust you yet and you know that. You wouldn't tell me yes, anyway, because I'm an Alpha and that makes you scared of me."

Anti sucks in a breath, snarling. "I'm not scared of you. Now that I have my strength back, I could destroy you, I could - "

"But you can come meet them," Jackie says again. "You can even stay in my home if you have nowhere else to go. Everyone else is staying at Chase's now. I won't bother you there. You can have somewhere quiet to figure things out. Eventually we can help you find your own place - or maybe you'll decide you fit with us after all."

Anti shakes his head at him. This is a fever dream. It's not even some wonderful moment of relief, it's just wrong, and confusing, and he feels furious in a way that makes it hurt every time his heart pounds. He hates admitting when he doesn't feel well, but for a moment, he thinks he might really need to go back to that nurse at the jail.

Jackie climbs out of the car. Anti can't quite follow him, but Jackie swings open the passenger door and waits for Anti to step out.

Weighing his options. Fight or defer. Tense, tense, tense.

"I don't deserve to see JJ."

The words come out of his mouth without the executive approval they usually need. He's frozen in place in the car of an Alpha who beat him into the floor just days ago. He's far away and completely stuck at the same time. His fingers dig into the fake leather of the seats.

Jackie's hand falls down in a clasping grip on his shoulder, and Anti jumps, but Jackie just leans down, forcing him to meet his gaze, and squeezes his arm for a second.

"I'm going to tell you something a very wise werewolf told me when I was really doubting myself," Jackie says. "You've got a lot of fear and self-hatred right now, so listen closely, because this is important: I don't give a fuck."

Anti blinks at him, stopped short. Jackie nods sagely.

"Your brother needs you. Get over yourself. Come on."

And Anti gets out of the car.

They pass the mess of abandoned clothes and signs detailing every one of the dozens of park rules, finding Henrik a couple kilometers away from the entrance, looking out at nothing. He turns to see Anti and his gaze turns hard, his mouth thin. Anti looks back at him, forcing himself to hold his gaze, and Henrik looks away again, deflating. "They all ran off into the trees," he says.

Jackie cups his hands around his mouth and makes a decent approximation of a howl. The baying of a pair of wolves comes back to him, and then Chase comes running out of the forest with a pretty grey wolf with mussed markings on his head trailing behind. Anti recognizes his scent: the wolf who came to guard him while Jackie went to get the others back from Iris. Marvin, who spoke to him in a quiet voice for more than an hour while Anti shivered in a corner.

Chase comes closer and licks Anti's hand tentatively, a shy hello.

"Where's JJ?" scolds Jackie.

Chase and Marvin exchange glances and then look back at the little forest.

"You lost him? He's not even supposed to be here without Sean supervising, guys."

Chase rolls onto his back sweetly, letting his tongue loll out. Jackie shoves him with his foot. "Don't give me that. Go get him, go on."

The pair loop obediently back around, but Anti's gaze is fixed on one small section of the trees. Through the foliage, he thinks he makes out the body of a small black wolf. For one moment, their eyes seem to meet - then the wolf starts moving away.

Anti shakes his head, something heavy in his chest. "I'm going back to the car," he croaks.

Henrik looks at Jackie. "Anti," he says.

"Just leave me alone," Anti spits.

He walks back towards the car, beginning to pick up the scent of caramel. It's only once he's out of Henrik and Jackie's sight that he takes off at a run.

His running is shaky and stumbling, his lungs protesting as he sprints back down the way, but he won't stop. He saw JJ. This might be his only chance to see him alone, to make sure he's okay away from that Alpha. Maybe he should even take him and run right now. Or was JJ running away from him instead of trying to meet him alone? He would be right to. Anti wouldn't blame him.

The entrance comes back into view and Anti puffs for air, slowing as he looks around, nose lifting. He can't see his brother, but he can smell him.

"JJ?" he calls, and his voice comes out wavering. "Jay, are you - ?"

He stops.

JJ's there.

His brother looks back at him with big blue eyes, standing on two legs, wearing clothes that smell like Chase. The wind's playing with his soft brown hair. His expression's unreadable to Anti, who used to think he could always understand him. There's something hard there, something changed.

Anti doesn't know what to do.

"You're human," he says weakly. "I wasn't sure I'd..."

Ever see you as a man again. Wasn't sure I'd ever see you at all again, after she left me there and took you away.

JJ's silent, his hands unmoving. Anti bites down hard on his mouth again, struggling to breathe. Is he furious? He should be. Is he going to say nothing and leave Anti floundering after him for the rest of his life, drowning in the gap he opened between them? Is he gone, already, even though he's here? Is he lost to him?

Anti can't breathe at all. "How - when - why did you shift back? Was it just now? I... everyone's worried about you."

Jameson nods wearily, seeming to consider it for a moment. He takes a step forward and raises his hands. "I was thinking about staying a wolf. But then I saw you, and I thought that... well. That you needed me."

Then he's moving forward, moving into Anti's space. He reaches up to touch his face for a second, looking into his eyes.

"I'm here now, Anti," he signs. "I'm here."

He wraps his arms around him.

And when Anti crumples into his brother with a sob and sinks to his knees on the forest floor - when JJ tangles his fingers into the folds of his clothes and clings to him, pure warmth against his body, alive and aware, smelling like something that could maybe be forgiveness - the feeling of safety is so shocking and so new that he thinks he may have forgotten it altogether until this very moment.

#tw domestic violence #tw drug mentions #long chapter!!! but i hope you like it!#bee writes #werewolf au

16 notes · View notes

my-brothers-corrupted · 9 months

Text

My Brothers, Corrupted

Book Five: Section One

With the attempt to reach the UK having failed, Jackie arranges other plans for his siblings in the aftermath of Anti's death. Masterlist

Tws for grief, self-hate/self-blame, discussions of psychosis and medication, and panic attacks. Tws may not be completely exhaustive - keep in mind the heaviness of the fic and look out for yourself.

Thank you to @lehhoh7822 for taking the time to compile this book!

Anonymous asked: You aren't a brat, Jameson. It's perfectly understandable to want to keep things that are important to you. Anger appears to be Blue's way of grief, don't take what he says to close to heart for now.

“Is Blue angry?” asks Jackie.

Dapper shakes his head. “No, I was just being bad.”

“What did you do?”

“I’m just bad.”

Jackie gets to his feet. “I better go check on Blue.”

Dapper picks at his bear’s ear and shrugs at you. His mouth pouts. “Not a brat right now.”

nikkilbook asked: Hey, JJ—when we were in the train, you said you didn’t want to be Jameson anymore. I made myself a promise a while ago that I was going to stop calling you by the names Anti gave you, even though at the time I didn’t know if Anti would let the words through to the other side of the camera. I don’t want to call you Dapper, but I don’t want to call you a name that causes you pain. Is it okay if I call you something different? Can I call you Nectarian?

“You can call me whatever, I don’t mind,” he tells you, flashing big blue eyes at the camera, all cuddled up with his bear. “I don’t know, what is my name? It won’t cause me pain, don’t worry, I can be good.”

nikkilbook asked: Noooo, nope, nope, no. Jackie, help him find something else to chew on. Oral stimming is a totally fine way to self regulate, but chewing on one’s own self is not. That’s really unsafe, for a multitude of reasons.

And bud? No, you’re not a brat. Acting younger and more immature is a survival method you’ve learned to keep yourself and your brothers safe. Just because the impetus for the behavior isn’t around anymore, that doesn’t mean your brain suddenly stops following those pathways. That’s not how neurology works. You can be whoever you want, like Jackie said, but you’re not required to instantly become something other than you currently are. Thank your brain for doing so much to keep you safe, and then decide what you need to keep you safe where you are now.

“Oh, uhhh, sure.” Jackie turns back, a little hapless, glancing between the stairs and his younger brother. “Maybe you should get Blue to look after him or something. Or Chase, maybe. I think they were getting along near the end. Chase? Dap, they said don’t bite yourself.”

Dap pulls the bend of his thumb out from between his teeth, shivering.

When neither Blue nor Chase comes to his call, Jackie steps back towards his little brother, standing over him for a second. Dapper just stares dead ahead, holding that bear.

“Dude, you’ve gone through like fifteen mood swings in the past two days,” says Jackie. “I can’t even track one at a time. You gotta tell me what you need.”

Dapper shrugs stiffly. Jackie follows his gaze. He’s staring out at the remains of the pyre in the woods.

Jackie sighs, closing his eyes. He slides down to sit beside Dapper, touching his hand.

“I’m here, Dap,” he says. “I’m right here. Let’s do that pressure thing they were talking about… I’ll hold your shoulders, here…”

Anonymous asked: I understand that acting the baby was practically programmed into you by your brothers, but JJ I hope you know that you are an adult. You are capable, strong, and worthy of respect. You don't have to play that part for them to love you, even if it is comforting to you. You've been infantilized a lot. It'll take some time to unlearn. Just don't forget your strength, your maturity, your wit, and, most importantly now, your freedom.

Jackie looks over at him. He’s used to him looking so small, but side-by-side like this, Dapper’s head is just about even with his own.

“Do you remember Columbia?” he asks. “We went clothes shopping. You were all nervous for the first part of it, but there was this part where we were trying to help you pick out clothes and you just snapped. Not - not that kind of snapped. I mean, I think I saw the real you. I could actually tell what you were feeling cause you were just so expressive all of a sudden. And waving your hands so fast, like, loud. You were loud. And you picked up all the shirts you wanted and yelled about how you think it’s weird when Anti dresses you up like a doll.”

Dapper breathes slowly, his head back against the wall.

“Or in Peru, when he hit you. I was so scared. But you hit him back. I couldn’t believe it. It was like somebody else got into your skeleton for a second. But he was more you than you usually are.

“Or just yesterday, Dap, just yesterday… don’t let anyone tell you you didn’t fight, because you did, I saw it. You put that part of yourself to rest for a moment. You told him you didn’t want to be a slave. That was the moment we got free, Dap, not when Anti died… that moment when you were holding that other self in your hands and you told him it was going to be okay… that was when you were free. And I think then everything changed too fast. I think you probably still need some more time to keep telling that part of yourself it’s going to be okay. And then you two can meet each other in the middle.”

Dapper curls slightly in against him. Head on his shoulder. Jackie touches his waist.

“And sometimes I remember very, very old things, things I was supposed to forget… like you bandaging me up when I was bleeding, or holding me while I screamed and cried. Anti forced me into something new and you… looked out for me. Dap, I’m not good at this stuff, but whatever you need from me - you just take your time, little brother. Nobody will force you. You take your time becoming who you need to be and I’ll look out for you this time.”

“What about you?” asks Dapper faintly.

Jackie smiles down at him, setting his head on top of Dapper’s.

“Don’t worry about me,” he says. “I’m okay.”

Cause maybe he’ll break down later, but today?

Today he is Jackie, and nothing about that hurts.

nikkilbook asked: Who are you, little mustache man? Who do you choose to be?

Dapper picks at his bear’s ears, pressed against Jackie’s side.

“Don’t have to know right away,” chuckles Jackie, leaning back. “We’ll get there, my man. We’ll get there.”

“What if I’m just stuck like this forever?” asks Dapper morosely. “Going in the circles he carved out for me. Dapper, Carver, JJ. Dapper, Carver, JJ. His pet and his weapon and that little part of me that remains.”

“Then that would suck,” answers Jackie.

“But?”

“But? No, that was it, that would suck.”

Anonymous asked: Maybe that cycle of Dapper, Carver, and JJ would suck. But you know we've always been here for you no matter who you felt you were or whatever state of confusion you found yourself in. It's not always easy, but we, and your brothers, love you no matter what and will help you should you need it.

“This is only going to get harder the longer I’m off my medicine,” JJ signs. “You’re going to watch me fall apart again and again.”

“That’s okay,” says Jackie, and their eyes meet at the exact same level. “We’ll stay right here.”

Anonymous asked: Marvin fought. Marvin fought to the point that the only way Anti could proceed was with an ultimatum: Die and never free his brothers, or go quietly with the slightest chance of helping his brothers no matter what it took. Maybe that choice did kill Marvin to the point only Blue remains. But both Marvin and Blue are fighters, even if one had to give up to let the other live and fight another day.

Blue rubs slow circles into his wrist, staring down at the carpet.

“What was he like?” he asks quietly.

Anonymous asked: Marvin and Blue aren't quite interchangable per se, but I think one day you'll both be able to meet in the middle. Marvin is a naive but intrepid Blue, and Blue is a hurt but persevering Marvin. Both are trying to hold on to what they have, and recover what they lost. And they still feel like they have even more to lose. But they're both going to try to push forward anyway. Because that's who Marvin and Blue are.

“I’m not hurt,” mumbles Blue, very quiet. He rubs at his hands and sighs.

“I do have a lot to lose now, though. Maybe Marvin did. He still had… time? Now, if something happens… well, we can’t take much more. I wish I could remember more of his naivety, so I can avoid it in the future. You have to have our backs on that, okay? You have to remember for us, if you can.”

Anonymous asked: Marvin... trusted his brothers, maybe even in moments that they couldn't help him or didn't deserve it just yet. As isolated as he was, he didn't have to be completely alone.

Blue slumps in on himself, exhausted by his own raging the way a fire flickers out once it’s eaten everything it can reach.

“Henrik was there for me,” he says. “Even when the others weren’t able to be, these last few weeks. Not til recently, not til they woke up. But he was my Henrik, my Dok. He was fighting with me. And look what I let happen to him.”

Blue pulls at his hair. It’s getting longer. Has a bit of curl to it. The white, now soft and clean and cared for, is almost pretty.

“The only one of them I knew I could always, always trust… course he’s the one I lose.”

Anonymous asked: Henrik? I hope you know that we're still here for you even if you're not ready to talk yet. I don't want you to feel forgotten or bombarded by us, just... take the time you need

Henrik sits beside the door, looking out into the forest. The light from the glass on either side glows down on him, turning his dark hair golden-red in the sun. A dark bruise mars his white cheek. He glances over at the beeping of the camera, gaze calm and distant, like he can see flowered mountains or Northern lights over the ocean waves in front of him all over again. His pink mouth smiles faintly. He tilts his head at you. His eyes are blue as a bird.

Chase is lying next to him, chatting endlessly, meaningless and comforting. Henrik turns back to the window, and the twins sit together, and keep watch.

Anonymous asked: Hey Blue, have you ever considered picking a new name? I think your dysphoria and trauma is making connecting with your old name very difficult. And, well, being called Blue isn't too much better with all the baggage attached. You could choose something nice like Mae or Ciara... You don't have to be either of the old yous. You can make someone new.

“I don’t know,” he chuckles weakly. “I am attached to Blue, in a way, but then again - I’m not always so fond of him. But I was the Blue to Ro’s Red. That was all I was when I first woke up. It was everything. More than Anti’s, I was… Red’s. Ro’s. But now he doesn’t even want to be Red. Jackie, huh. Whatever. I don’t remember Jackie either. Anyway, I don’t know what I would name myself. Something really Irish, maybe, so nobody else can pronounce it right and I can correct them.”

Anonymous asked: Blue, I know I can't relate to the hypnotism and memory loss Anti put you through, but I don't know if you can learn from mistakes you can't remember. As much as we want to help guide you, and as much as we want to give you reminders of your past, I feel like telling you things you --or Marvin-- did wrong and expecting you to correct a behavior you aren't aware of is just going to feed into a guilt complex.

Blue wipes at his eyes.

“I guess it doesn’t matter much now. Anti’s gone. If we could get rid of him, we can tear anything apart that tries to hurt us. Just… try not to let my brothers get hurt, if you can help it. I’d do anything.”

He stares down at his hands for a second. There is no blood or ash left on them. He knows because he spent so long scrubbing it off. Digging under his nails. His palms are pink with soap.

“Anything.”

nikkilbook asked: How about Uathach? Technically, that’s the name for Scathach’s daughter, but its translation is “belonging to one’s own self.”

“Belong to one’s own self,” he laughs. “Maybe if I can ever look at myself without seeing all the ways he destroyed me, then I could be Uathach. Look, I’m just… I’m just grumpy right now, okay?”

He stares down at the hole he burned into the carpet, putting his head down.

“And maybe a little aggressive.”

Anonymous asked: Marvin was strong. Marvin was caring and brought his family together when they had felt so far apart. Marvin was sly and clever with a biting tongue. Marvin was a runaway, he hid his family and protected them as much as he could. Marvin was magical, so powerful that Anti could hardly beat him and only trapped him because of his love for his family. Marvin was strong and fierce enough to break through the monster's enchantment and cross the barrier of the doorframe. Marvin was Magnificent.

He stares up at you, eyes wide.

It takes him a second to recover, pulling his knees to his chest and setting his chin down.

“I’d like to be a lot of those things,” he says unhappily. “I don’t know if I can be, but…”

He looks down at his hands, swirls of color wrapping around his fingers.

“At least I am magical and powerful again,” he says. “That does make me feel more like myself. Thank you.”

Anonymous asked: Marvin was resilient, but he was scared. He was determined and powerful, but gentle. He carried himself with confidence and sass but always, always put his brothers first. He valued who he was and didn't he want to ever lose himself to Anti and asked for reminders of his identity. He could pull memories of his brothers old selves with just a few words of comfort. He didn't like being told what to do, but was always open to a little advice. Marvin was a force to be reckoned with, but also a force for good and a force for change. Marvin was afraid of becoming Blue but knew that Blue could carry on what he worked so hard to recover.

Marvin was magnificent.

“Magnificent, magnificent.”

He mouths it to himself, turned away from you, resting against his knees.

“Well, I’m… I’m powerful and determined. And I can be gentle. Sometimes. With my brothers. Trick and Ro think I’m comforting. I definitely do not like being told what to do… and I am…”

He catches sight of his twisted reflection in the side of the piano in the alcove. Something hot burns through his stomach. For a second, you see his face twist up like he’s going to cry.

“Forget it,” he snarls, dark and angry, crocodile-toothed in his anger. “Fucking forget it.”

And he leaves you there at the top of the stairs, and goes stalking away. The carpet smokes where his feet fall.

Magnificent.

Yeah, right.

The forest does not sing differently without Anti in it.

The birds flutter in their patterned dance through the trees the same as they always have. Plants push out of earth that has not changed but for a little extra ash. The chipmunks patter across the roots of the trees and sometimes, if he stands still enough, will go racing over the torn holes of his sneakers and dart into the underbrush again.

The only thing that has changed is the way Jackie feels.

He’s on a run and no one told him whether or not he could go. He just went. When he gets home again, all anybody will do is smile and say hi. It’s six in the morning and he was not awakened by yelling or crying. He just wanted to get up and feel the sunrise on his neck.

The forest does not sing differently, just Jackie’s heart.

He’s got you in his sweatshirt pocket most likely for safety measures, and after a while, it becomes clear why.

He’s climbing up the side of Dark’s house again, just like the first time he snuck in to get JJ. This time, there’s a lot less timidity in him, less strain in his hands, and he leaps up like he’s a winged thing, finds that window in the side of the house, and -

“You did not come back to see me,” comes a dry voice from above him. “You did not do that while Dark is still trying to figure out whether they should seduce or destroy all five of you.”

“What if I did?”

“For fuck’s sake.”

“What? I need some advice,” Jackie laughs, clambering up through Host’s window. With bandages around his face, Host still manages to make an expression like he’s rolling his eyes - and yet there’s an amused curve to his pale mouth.

“Knew you’d let me in,” teases Jackie.

Host sits back down at his writing desk.

“Wouldn’t be very entertaining if I refused you, would it?”

nikkilbook asked: JackieIknowyourehereonbusinessbutmakesuretohugthekittyformeplz

“Where is the cat?” asks Jackie.

“Oh, leave her be,” scolds Host, but Jackie is already leaning over his bed to scoop her into a hug. “You have one at home, hug that.”

Jackie sits down on the side of his bed, petting Moses absent-mindedly and watching Host’s movements as they regard each other.

“I need to know about how to hide from magicians,” he says. “I thought maybe you could help.”

“I can’t.”

“I thought maybe you could advise me.”

“Hmm.”

“I think people will try to hurt us if we go country-to-country,” says Jackie. “Magicians who think we might still be associated with Anti, or responsible for the things he’s done.”

“No doubt,” answers Host. “Since the camera system is still working, I expect that most of your monster’s technology is still set up as well, so as long as you stay in the house, your time traveler is still cloaked by the signals he set up.”

Jackie shakes his head. “We can’t stay in that house. For a lot of different reasons.”

Host shrugs. “Some countries are friendlier and more understanding than others.”

“I want to go back to the UK.”

Host tsks his tongue against his teeth. “Good luck with that.”

Jackie sighs, shaking his head.

Anonymous asked: Jackie, I know you've been big-brother-ing all day (you do you, my guy) but... Blue won't say it, but he's having a hard time of things and I think he'd prefer to be alone right now, just... bear him in mind, okay? Give him space but check on him here and there?

“So everything’s going well, then,” remarks Host dryly.

“We’re doing our best,” answers Jackie, slightly on the defense now. “Fuck’s sake, he just killed Anti a few days ago. He’s not supposed to be fine.”

“Yes,” murmurs Host. “I felt him die.”

Jackie’s eyes darken. He looks down at the floor. He felt it too. It killed something inside of him, in a way, but… it broke his chains, too.

Anti’s body was not heavy in his arms. He was surprised he did not just fall into glitching pieces and fade away, but no, he was able to hold him. He suspects that that weight of his head against his chest is something he will never forget.

“I’ll keep an eye on Blue,” he promises.

crystalninjaphoenix asked: Host, what exactly are your abilities, anyway? Can you see the future, or merely the present?

“Just the present,” answers Host. “But I’m both socially and logically intelligent enough that the future is very rarely a guess to me. Then again, once you know the whole story of the now, it is not so difficult to guess the next.”

“You are a magician then, right?” asks Jackie, getting to his feet again to pace. “And no one comes and bothers you, yeah? Are you… um - registered? Or whatever?”

“No,” says Host. “I’m hidden. Not interested in being registered. Too many questions. ‘Where were you born?’ ‘When were you born?’ ‘What’s wrong with your eyes?’ ‘What the fuck, are you Markiplier?’ I’d rather just stay here.”

“Hidden,” repeats Jackie earnestly. “That’s what we need to be. How are you hidden?”

“It’s a mirror dimension, Jackie.” Host gestures vaguely to the space all around them. “Mirror dimension are exclusions from reality. There is no way for anyone to monitor them without entering, and magicians are too scared of being trapped inside one to do that in most cases.”

“A mirror dimension. That’s what we need then. How do we make one?”

Host smiles at him. “It’s not easy. You’d need a magician with a lot of power…”

“We have one!”

“And a lot of technical knowledge too.”

Jackie’s face falls. “Blue doesn’t remember anything about spells or that.”

“Don’t know how to make one myself. You’re on your own with that.”

“Fuck.”

nikkilbook asked: Host, do you have any information about how to become “registered” with the UK magicians? The trouble, at least with the party containing JJ, was that they believed him to be an unregistered changeling, which is apparently dangerous in this reality. I don’t know what their beef was with you and Marv, sorry Jackie.

“Unregistered,” mumbles Host. “Who cares? They’re all so determined to monitor each other, to prevent disasters… I wish they’d let a little more chaos out into the world. All these orders. It’s unnatural. In the old days magicians would unlock their powers and terrorize nations. No one has any fun anymore.”

“Host, is there any way to get them registered?”

“Not without a great many questions and a lot of proof of British citizenship. Any attempt to communicate with magicians in other countries is likely to involve an interrogation, the severity of which depends on the paranoia of the order in contact, and Anti’s control over you is not a guarantee that they will not blame you or them for the things that have happened.”

Jackie turns away, shaking his head. “I thought that having an understanding of magic might make them more… well, understanding. Since we can actually explain things like hypnotism and the way he controlled us. But they’re just more law enforcement.”

“Maybe. Depends on the country. To be fair, both of your siblings have strong magical signatures, enough to be concerning. I’d really like to see the pair of them bring a country to its knees.”

Despite the way he’s tugging at his hair, it’s enough to get a snort of a laugh out of Jackie. “Shut up, man. Blue would be a fucking tyrant, though. Little shit.”

Anonymous asked: And do you happen to know which countries may be more understanding than the others then, host? The Ravens in Peru seen to be of that category but would the countries between here and there be an issue, provided the boys are even able to leave the damn house?

“No, not sure,” answers Host. “Don’t particularly care about magicians. Most countries do not really accept applications, if you understand me. Since magicians tend to unlock their powers at young ages, the first order to notice them makes sure they’re registered. If they show significant power as they develop or need immediate help with their magic, they are informed of things like the existence of magic and can choose from there. Unregistered magicians are pretty rare - beings like you and I, which did not exist one moment, and did the next.”

“So… like, Jack and Mark or whoever,” begins Jackie uncertainly. “They’d be… magicians? And registered?”

“Sure. Mark’s registered but not informed. He just has his own shit going on. He’s a menace, technically, but since he mostly keeps to himself and the lot of us try to keep our heads low, no one’s ever bothered to inform him. He’s too old for it now anyway. It would just seem like a cheap fantasy book. Jack I wouldn’t know about. He’d be registered in Ireland. Given that he’s chosen to spend his life as a Youtuber and that he created creatures like Anti, I’m guessing he’s uninformed as well.”

“He doesn’t even remember us now,” mumbles Jackie. “He might not even know about any magic or whatever. Just a normal life.”

“Is that why you want to go to the UK?”

“What?”

“To find him?”

Jackie blinks. “That guy’s in the UK? No. We’re fine without him. Far as I’m concerned it’s better if he doesn’t remember us.”

“I wish I could make Mark forget me,” grumbles the Host, reading over his braille pages. “Maybe if I hit his head hard enough.”

Anonymous asked: Marvin, Blue, I have a query. Do you think some of Anti's soul got left over in you when Dark yanked him out? It could explain the anger and why you guys' magical signal matched Anti's in the future we came back from. I'd take it into consideration.

Jackie’s face contorts. “Oh, please, don’t let Blue hear you say anything like that, he’s freaked out enough already lately and it was so hard for him to be possessed so long. He fucking has to feel like his body and mind are completely his again or he’ll just… I don’t know. I’ve always had a bit of a temper, though, and I think Blue’s pissiness lately - ”

“Let them theorize,” Host interrupts, waving his hand. “It’s unfair to ask you for confirmation. Let them analyze it. They’re allowed to have their own opinions, to anticipate or guess at.”

“I’m not a book character, Host,” replies Jackie.

“Everything’s a story,” he answers softly. “Besides, with Anti being what he was, can you honestly say he has not left a part of himself within you?”

Jackie turns away, mouth tight.

nikkilbook asked: You had a mirror dimension before. The house the Marvin built was inside a mirror. I don’t know what happened after you all went missing, because the implication was that Anti got in and murderized Marv’s cats, but I’m doubting that suddenly because of Mr. Doesn’t Want To Share His Kitty. There were many doors—Host, if you can see the present, can you see where Stacy, Hunter, and Izzy Brody are? Or how to contact them?

Jackie perks up instantly, light rising in his eyes.

“We did?”

“There.” Host waves his hand. “Go find that. You’d be safe there.”

“There’s already one made.” Jackie’s bouncing on his heels, hands raised. “We - yes. A home we used to have. Oh, yes! JJ showed me, in the past! We went through a mirror, I remember! There was - he even said the password. Maybe I can remember it. We just have to find that hospital and that alleyway with the mirror! If it’s still there, we’re in. We’d be safe there, yeah. Fuck yeah! It might be wrecked, but… well, we’ll make it work. We could make anything work as long as we’re all together. Hey, who are they asking about?”

Host points at the camera, shaking his head. “Now that’s not fair,” he says. “A little world-building from me, fine, but I will not be made a plot device.”

“Be nice,” chuckles Jackie, picking Moses up and swinging her in circles, re-energized by the news about the house. “That house, that house. With my room? We could get back there… just have to find it. Yes, yes.”

Anonymous asked: Jackie maybe you need to consider going to another country before the UK since that's looking like a huge obstacle at the moment. We need information on how to get to the UK safely but we also need blue and Jameson to understand their magic a bit more as well. I don't like the odds of all these different magicians laws and registrations but we need to make headway somewhere even if it starts with whatever bald eagle magician group the us may have.

Jackie thinks it over, pacing with the cat in his arms, nodding slowly.

“Yeah - yeah, I think you’re right, right. Blue needs a chance to remember how to be a magician like he was, with spells and things! We can’t just walk headfirst into a fight right now. Have to get our bearings back. We’ll stay out of the UK until we can find our home and get back to it safely. We could go… we could go… where will we go, Host?”

Host glances at him, amused. “Peru?” he offers, consenting to being a sounding board.

“Okay, okay, the magicians there were nice enough to us. However, I’m like… super fucking wanted by the regular cops. We’d have to hide so carefully out there without Anti to hide our faces.”

“Singapore.”

“Oh, Anti slaughtered out there. The magicians tried to kill him. No way.”

“Norway?”

“I liked Norway but I don’t know anything about magicians out there. Could just be like the UK.”

“Well, you don’t know anything about magicians anywhere, do you?”

Jackie pauses, chewing on his lip.

He knows a little about the places they’ve been, and a little about the UK now. Other than that… it’s a mystery.

“Except - except I do know one thing,” he says, and you watch the smile grow on his face. “Somewhere, in some timeline, there was an order that was batshit crazy enough to make Marvin a member.”

He sits down on the bed again, beaming. The sunrise is cast across his face. His hair glows gold.

“We’ll go to Ireland.”

Anonymous asked: That hospital would still be on the uk though, right? I'm glad you have a goal set which is more than we had before, but there's still a few steps to get through safely before jumping the gun.

“Right, right, right,” agrees Jackie. “Good point, yeah. We gotta have… a path, right.”

nikkilbook asked: Tell us a story, Jackie. What would happen next, if you were the one writing it?

“Kay.” Jackie claps his hands together, nodding to himself. Host is no longer typing, apparently entertained enough by watching Jackie’s thought process. “We’ll go to Ireland first. Blue and I are Irish citizens and we should have enough documentation - fake IDs and things like that - left over from Anti that we can prove it. Maybe we can prove that we’re not scary to the magicians out there. Then we could maybe get registered or find ways to hide or sneak back to the house in the UK. And voila! We have a hiding place.”

Anonymous asked: I don't think Ireland is a bad idea. My main concern though is that the group Marvin was a part of, the Lapwings? The UK asshats that we met said they no longer existed, and I get the feeling Anti is probably behind that slaughter which, I assume, forced Marvin into hiding to begin with, along with the mass kidnapping of his family.

Ireland may help recover something Marvin lost but as far as receiving help from other magicians... I don't know.

Jackie blinks. It’s good news, in theory, because it means the Irish magicians are unlikely to come after them, but something about it makes him kind of sad. Wasn’t Blue one of them? Are they gone now? Did Anti really destroy even that?

“Well, we’ll find out then,” he says, trying to stay hopeful. “Either way, hopefully we can make it okay. Once Blue gets his bearings back, we can keep looking for ways to get safely to the UK. Our major obstacle is the magical signature shit. Anti had a way to cloak us with technology, but that shit is way beyond me. I can’t mimic that no matter how good I am with computers. It was a mix of his own magic and his freakish attunement to all his tech. But! From what you’ve said, it sounds like we might be safe in Ireland with no magicians around. And from what you guys and Dapper told me, we were able to get into England and take a train before the magicians caught up with us. If we find out where the mirror is, we might be able to fly in and hurry to it before anyone catches us, or we’ll be registered by then! It - it’ll work. I can do this.”

Anti’s gone. It’s his turn to be the leader.

There is something both thrilling and terrifying about that.

He looks over at Host, tapping his feet. “Are their signatures - their magic or whatever - is it really so scary?”

“Jackie, for the past few months, Blue’s signature has been Anti’s signature. Because he stole and used his magic, Blue’s signature will be indistinguishable from the one Anti gave off. Hidden for the most part, yes… but still, I believe they may be able to tie it to the deaths of the magicians in Peru and the massacre of the Sunbirds in Singapore. There’s a reason Anti moved around so much. Probably a reason he left Jack alone in the UK as well. Meanwhile, Dapper has been at Anti’s side since the beginning. Jackie… your siblings look like war criminals from a distance.”

Jackie stares at him for a moment before his eyes flicker away. “Not their fault,” he mumbles.

“No,” agrees Host, and for just a second, his gruff voice is almost soft. “No, it isn’t. But you have a plan now.”

“Do you think we can pull it off?”

Host smiles, turning away from him. “I read too many stories to tell you no.”

Jackie moves forward and sits down on Host’s desk, pleased, and runs his fingers fondly over the waves of braille destinies spread across the parchment.

nikkilbook asked: I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a mirror that connected to Marvin’s house in Ireland as well, given that a) Marv was/is an Irish wizard and b) Ireland is a far more magical place than Britain ever felt like being, if you’ll pardon the completely unabashed bias.

“Get fucked, England!” says Jackie, almost vibrating with excitement. “Don’t tell Dapper I said that. Maybe there is somewhere in Ireland! We’re going to make this work.”

Host is shaking his head at him, smiling.

“Will you stay in touch?” asks Jackie, picking at his coat for a second, scraping at a little flaked blood. “You and Shep, too, I liked Shep.”

“I think you should go,” answers Host gently, patting the hand on his coat. “Two different stories. Dark will make a decision soon, Jackie, and they may not be pleased with what you’ve done. Still the memory of Anti haunts them, as they remember him more and more everyday. Worse, they might decide to pursue their interest in your time traveler. Dark is very stuck in the past, though long years have passed them by. It might be too tempting, knowing where Dapper is.”

Jackie nods slowly. “Well… we’ll get settled. Then maybe someday we can reach out to everybody again. We… could have friends outside of each other.”

It is a bizarre and wonderful and overwhelming thought. Jackie stares out the window, filling his eyes up with the swaying of the trees and the movement of the clouds and the birds and the universe.

“We could really do this,” he says. “We will really do this.”

It felt so impossible for so long.

He remembers pulling away from Max - hitting him and leaving him unconscious there in the graveyard - running away, running back to Anti, because England was impossible, impossible, impossible. What it represented was impossible. The choice of it. The freedom.

And now?

No one will stop him from going home. He closes his eyes and can see it - that house in the woods. Their house in the woods. He can hear his brothers laughing.

“Fuck,” he whispers. “Fuck. It was worth it. It was. All of it. For this… for this.”

For an early morning run in the sunrise, and the promise of good things to come.

Anonymous asked: Proud of you, Jackie! You've really stepped up

Jackie nods slowly as he heads back home, having said goodbye to Host before sneaking back out the window and taking off again. Yeah. He… he is stepping up, isn’t he?

“I am,” he says, his chest puffing out a little. “I am, I am, I am.”

He’ll get his family to safety and make a good home to them. He’ll step the fuck up. Because this - this feels like him again.

“I have control again!” he shouts, slamming his hand into a tree as he passes, his energy filling him up and making his body buzz. “I do, me! I’m big brother. I am! I’m doing this, I’m doing it, I’m stepping up!”

And he takes off at a run towards home, leaping over roots and stones, and about halfway through you just get to see him burst into a cartwheel, one, two, three in a row, and fuck does it feel good to slam his feet and his hands against the earth, to flip like a bird through the air, to be wild and playful and strong again, strong again!

“I have control!”

He’s too loud, much too loud, but he hasn’t noticed and it doesn’t matter because no one is going to punish him for it. He can be as loud as he wants.

“I’m going to do this! You said I couldn’t and I can, I can, I will! Yes! Fuck you, Anti, fuck you! I’m not your lapdog. I can make my own choices again. I’m a leader and I don’t need you to keep them safe. Yes, yes!”

He goes tearing home and then keeps running, just wanting to be out in the sun a while longer. He runs til his heart is pounding and his legs ache and his head throbs, but who cares? It’s his heart and his legs and his head.

He’s home by about ten, and everyone else is still asleep, minus Henrik, who’s sitting by the door, apparently waiting for him. Jackie wraps him up in a hug and makes him breakfast with what little food they have left, and while the others sleep, Jackie sits there and cuddles a little with his sickly younger brother, squishing him against his body on the couch as he promises Henrik, again and again, that he will step up, step up, step up, and make a safe life for him.

Henrik just gazes at him, sticking a bite of Eggo in his mouth. Jackie thinks his eyes believe him, and that, for now, is all that matters.

Anonymous asked: How is everyone doing emotionally today? You've just gone through some major life-changing stuff, so daily check-ins for each other on emotional states is a good idea! -🎒

“That is a good idea,” agrees Jackie. “Especially since I’m beginning to get a little worried about the lovebirds over here.”

“What?” asks Blue grouchily. “We’re snuggling.”

Chase is strewn across his lap on the blue row of the airport seating, hugging Blue’s stomach and drifting sleepily off, considering a nap as they wait for the plane. Blue strokes his hair. Jackie rolls his eyes. Ever since Anti died, Blue is either furiously angry at anyone who dares to talk to him or frantically cuddly, trying to make up for the lost time of the past few months. It’s the worst with Chase.

“Yeah we are,” agrees Chase happily.

“Yeah.” Blue kisses his hair. “Stella amata, mwah, mwah.”

Chase giggles as Jackie rolls his eyes hard and collapses back against his own seat. Henrik startles a little beside him, soothed a moment later by Dapper rubbing at his arm.

They’re sitting in an airport, tucked away from the bustle in a quiet wing, most of them wearing hoods or hats, trying to keep a low profile. Jackie’s leg bounces rapidly, his eyes roving the ceiling, and he picks at his hangnails with his teeth.

“How is everyone doing?” he asks, glancing around. “Someone start.”

Anonymous asked: Die if you wish, but just know you were wonderful and worth loving enough that your brothers fought for you. They fought to get you out of that little room, and are still fighting constantly. Chase is squaring up with COPS just to keep you safe. Jameson Jackson is someone worthy of love and forgiveness.

“How are you doing, Dap?”

“I don’t know,” answers Dapper, saccharine, flashing wide blue eyes at his older siblings. “How am I doing?”

“Well, you’ve refused to make a decision for yourself for about three days straight,” points out Chase unhappily.

“When he starts feeling safe he’ll be more himself,” says Blue. “Won’t you, Dap?”

“Okay.”

“So… you’re good, Dap?”

“Of course, Red,” Dapper answers.

His siblings exchange glances. Dapper is not good. He hides in corners and under beds and signs to himself with huge, frightened eyes or covers his ears for hours at a time. He’s catatonic once every couple days, either frozen stiff or thrashing with manic energy, and any mention of Anti makes him pale and confused, sometimes asking for him, sometimes calling them by his name, or curling up in bed as though waiting for him to come home. At others time he is cold and downcast, shrunken in on himself, exhausted and lost.

The worst part is the way he tries to hide it. No matter how many times Jackie tries to convince him he won’t punish him for “misbehaving.”

“Once you feel safe,” Blue repeats, “everything will be fine.”

“They’re right, you are worthy of love and forgiveness,” adds Jackie, but Dapper doesn’t look up at him, biting down on the bend of his thumb until Jackie reaches carefully out and pulls it from his mouth.

nikkilbook asked: I will use you as a phone book if I want to, Mister.

(Talk to Chase, Jackie. See what he remembers about his kids.)

Jackie blinks and glances over at Chase, who turns his body and grins lazily back at him, Noodle’s carrier at his side. It’s been a hungry few days, most of their cash from pawning all the good things in the house set aside to have enough plane tickets for all of them, but Jackie still thinks Chase is acting like a fat, self-content cat these days - and Noodle too, stealing fast food and snacks out of their hands and settling happily onto the nearest lap.

He cries sometimes, when he thinks the others are asleep. Nobody says anything about it.

“My kids?” asks Chase foggily, the smile fading from his face.

“Yeah,” says Jackie.

Chase tilts his head at him, confused. “I… don’t have kids.”

Jackie rears back slightly, looking at Blue for support.

“You’ve talked about them once or twice, amata,” whispers Blue. “Remembering them. Your little crinkle paper.”

He pulls it from Chase’s backpack, handing it to him. Chase buries his fingers in it, but doesn’t sink his fingers in.

“This is just a stim toy,” he says, glancing between his brothers.

But he knows from the way Blue and Red exchange glances that he’s said something… not right. It’s happening more and more often lately. He opens his mouth to explain - then slams it shut again, turning back towards Blue’s stomach, something unpleasant and scary curling in his own gut.

“You’re feeling okay, right, Chase?” asks Blue.

Chase just nods, hiding against him.

nikkilbook asked: Point of clarification, since I just went back and checked, but the UK magicians never said the Lapwings were destroyed. They said “they’re gone,” “they stopped answering,” and “they went dark.” And they didn’t respond to the mention of the Lapwings the way they did the Sunbirds. Might just be a case of the semantics, but that’s kind of what I do. Specificity can be everything, you know.

Blue fiddles with his clothes, pressing his fingers into the skin where his lapwing tattoo lies just for a moment. He curls his fingers and produces a wildflower, sticking it absent-mindedly into Chase’s hair.

“No one would remember me even if I was a Lapwing,” says Blue. “Dapper took us out of the timeline. Only people we were really important to remember us now.”

“I bet someone remembers you,” protests Jackie.

Blue doesn’t answer.

“I would,” Jackie adds.

His twin gives him a tired smile.

crystalninjaphoenix asked: An airport? So you're heading out now, then?

“Yeah,” says Blue, brightening up. “We are leaving every memory of this place behind and going somewhere we can move on without problems. We don’t have to think about the past anymore. We’re taking two separate flights to avoid being suspicious or too noticeable, but we’ll get to Ireland together and find a place for the night. Start building something new for ourselves.”

Anonymous asked: How are you guys splitting up? Who's with who, and do you guys arrive at the same time?

“No, two different planes,” answers Jackie dutifully. “It’s cause we don’t want to get arrested and quintuplets draws a lot of attention.”

Blue shakes his head. “We don’t look like quintuplets these days.”

“We’re close enough. Besides, Dapper and I are wanted.”

“Super wanted,” adds Chase.

“So it might be an even bigger problem if someone could tell us apart. We’ll split up two and three. Blue will come with me cause I don’t like airplanes, and Chase and Henrik and Dap can - ”

“No!” Dapper signs suddenly. “No, not like that!”

Anonymous asked: Hmm. Remember when Dap saw what happened when you guys landed in the uk and things went wrong? Thats the same split as then. Since the destination is different I imagine things won't happen the same way but it does feel like a bad omen if nothing else.

“Is that how we split up?”

“Well, we’re going somewhere different this time, they’re right.”

“No!” signs Dapper, harder now, striking the air. “No! No, I won’t go with Dok and Trick - ”

“Dap, hey.”

Red and Chase are both on their feet. “Dap, you’re okay,” calls the older brother. “You don’t have to.”

“That’s bad,” signs Dapper. “That’s bad. I have to fix the mistakes or we’ll all be in trouble for getting it wrong again. That’s my job!”

“Nobody’s getting in trouble, dude. You’re starting to scare Henrik.”

“No, I’m not,” answers Dapper. “Dok doesn’t understand me anymore. He does not read my hands, I see. Too distant. He barely hears you when you talk.”

Chase’s face goes slightly pink. “He does hear me. He listens to me and does what I ask him to. I’m his twin. We understand each other.”

“No, you just lead him around. He’s in his head, far away.”

The heat rises in Chase’s face. “He’s right here,” he replies, voice rising dangerously. “He’s not going to be far away from me ever again.”

“Okay, everybody chill,” snaps Blue. “Sit down, Trickster.”

“It’s Chase. Why won’t you call me that?”

“Guys,” Jackie cuts them all off. “Stop it.”

There’s a pause. Chase sits heavily down at Dapper’s side and puts a hand on his wrist, trying to ground him. Blue sinks back in his chair.

“We’re all on edge,” says Jackie. “But we’re a team, so let’s act like one. Stop being so defensive about everything, geez.”

Chase nods slowly, mouth pursed. Dapper accepts the hand on his wrist. Blue turns away.

Henrik is watching all of them, eyes attentive and distant at the same time. He looks soft and harmless these days, his hair washed and fluffy for once, his eyes lacking their usual sharpness, his hands missing a scalpel and his face peppered in bandaids and scratches. Chase smiles at him, trying to be convincing. Henrik looks through him.

“How do you want to split up, Dap?” asks Jackie.

Dapper looks up at him, mouth parting in surprise. “Red. You’re big brother.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t decide.”

Dapper shrinks in on himself, shaking his head. His eyes shift nervously around the airport. Trouble. There’s trouble everywhere. There’s no getting away, it’s a lie. It’s a delusion. You know Anti always gets you again. You know. Be good or else, or else, or else.

aether-mae asked: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, being free from anti is not going to instantly fix things. Everything is still fractured and hurting and it will stay that way for a long while. But in time, with patience and care from each other, you will get better. You won’t return to the way you were before, you will be something new, and that’s okay. One day you can look back and say I’ve come far, I’m not perfect but I’m okay

Blue smiles angrily, his eyes flashing to the window, where an airplane is rolling in for fuel. “Things would be fine already if some of us could just let go.”

Jackie misses his twin’s sarcasm. “Right. No grudges.”

“I want my knife,” signs Dapper. “Is it in the bag we checked?”

“Yeah, must be,” answers Jackie. “We just need to be careful because you’ve been getting a little confused lately, Dap. No stabbing, right?”

“Right, yes, Red.”

“Okay.”

Blue plays with his hands, twirling a vine between his fingers, gaze shadowy. He doesn’t speak.

“Well, if we don’t want to go younger siblings, older siblings, then Dok and I can go with Jackie and Blue and Dap can go together,” recommends Chase.

Jackie smiles at the twins. Dapper and Blue exchange glances and then turn away just as quickly.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” mutters Blue. “Everything’s fine. Now that Anti’s gone, everything’s… fine.”

Maybe Blue is starting to realize that that isn’t true.

But the problem is, he doesn’t much believe in healing either.

When am I ever going to be able to say I’m okay? he wonders, staring down at his hands. When is any of this going to be okay?

Because if killing Anti didn’t fix things, what could?

Anonymous asked: Do you guys have any idea how Anti cloaked Blue and JJ's magic in the past? It seems like a very important step that you'll have to take before arriving in Ireland. Did he use a computer code of some kind, or was it his own personal magic?

Jackie sighs out, watching his brothers relax a little around him. Or he thinks that’s relaxing, anyway. Sometimes when Blue sinks down in his seat like that and goes quiet he’s actually still angry, but Jackie can’t tell the difference unless he tells him.

“You good, Azul?”

“Fine,” Blue answers, clipped.

“Oh, good. Well, Anti cloaked Blue’s magic by forcing him to not use it. Do you remember when he got so overwhelmed in Peru he let it out in one big burst?”

“So I’ll hold it back again,” says Blue, staring out the window.

“But it made you sick,” protests Chase. “Your hands got red and you were always dizzy and then you just lost it one day. It’s not healthy, dude.”

“I’ll hold it back til we can find something else, then.” Blue crosses his arms over his chest. “It’ll be fine. I’m fine.”

“As for Dapper,” continues Jackie. “Yeah, it was some kind of computer program. Magic has electrical signals, according to Anti. Because he was halfway made of electrical signals and could, like, control them or understand them or whatever, he eventually found a way to cloak both his magic and Dapper’s. It took him a long time, though. When it came to Blue, he had decided that it would just be easier to steal his magic and hide it under his own skin.”

Something flickers in Blue’s dark eyes. He squeezes at his stomach.

“I don’t think I can mimic what Anti did, though,” says Jackie. “Even if I am the best damn hacker you’ll ever meet.”

nikkilbook asked: I mean, therapy, for one thing. Your brains have stored years worth of traumatic memories in unhealthy locations, and having to violently end a dude when none of you are inherently murderous is additional trauma. Each and every one of you has had your logic brain go AWOL, except maybe Jackie cuz his brain is overcorrecting. You’re running off lizard brain now. You’re messed up. Anti messed you up. You can be messed up and still take a step forward, so find your chill and let yourself be messed up, my dudes.

“What’s overcorrecting?” protests Jackie.

“Look, do we have to talk about all this?” snaps Blue, getting to his feet and taking Chase’s hand. “Come on. What’s the point in dwelling on all this? Things will get better once we’re settled and we can take care of ourselves again. Come on, baby, let’s get some lunch. Jackie, can we afford it?”

“We can get McDonald’s or something,” agrees Jackie, getting to his feet. “Come on, guys.”

“I would like some therapy, though,” says Chase, letting Blue pull him forward. “And for Dok. And Dap. And you guys.”

“We’re okay,” answers Jackie and Blue, almost in sync, and Jackie bumps his shoulder fondly as he passes his twin, Dok held under his arm. Dapper trails anxiously after them.

Anonymous asked: MCDONALD'S! MCDONALD'S! MCDONALD'S!

“Big mac! Big mac! Big mac!” chants Chase, though he shrinks back a little at the crowd in front of the restaurant portion of the airport. Dapper grinds his heels in and refuses to get closer to the mass of people, shaking his head at his siblings.

“We’ll stay back here,” offers Chase, grabbing Dapper and Dok’s hands. “Will you get me a hamburger?”

“Cowards,” answers Jackie mildly.

“What, you don’t mind the crowd?” asks Blue.

Jackie shrugs. “I need to get you food. So I will.”

His eyes are fixed on the menu like it’s the only thing he can look at, flipping bills through his fingers. Counting, counting, counting their cash even though he already knows exactly how much they have. He does the math for what lunch will cost in his head, taxes and all, and then his brain keeps moving, on to dinner, to a hotel, to medication, to new clothes, to -

“Hey.” There’s a hand on his shoulder. Blue, he registers warmly. “Okay, lunch, let’s focus on that. But not too hard.”

“Mmhm,” agrees Jackie, distracted.

nikkilbook asked: JJ, do you remember one of my last messages? About tapping on your shoulders? It’ll help your brain figure out how to work with itself properly again. Like, it’s not magic, but it should help reel you back down. You can do this. You’re here with us, regardless of when, and you’re here with your brothers.

“You’re nervous? Here.”

Chase takes Dapper’s shoulders beneath his hands and taps his shoulders, because grounding is a word Dok used to throw around and he thinks this counts. Like how he used to give him back rubs when he was staying up too late trying to guard them.

Dapper lets his brother try it, eyes softening a little as he looks at him.

“I’m dangerous around crowds, that’s all. I’m like a dog off the leash.”

“No, you’re not,” answers Chase quietly. “We’re not dogs anymore, man. Okay?”

Dapper nods weakly.

nikkilbook asked: Jaimer, a thought. What if we made a deal? You make one decision by yourself per day, and we don’t harass you about it the rest of the time. It can be something as mundane as “I want extra French fries instead of a salad,” or it can be something bigger like how to split the group. But you only have to do it once per day. And if someone gives you crap about it or makes you feel unsafe for the decision you make, you have my explicit permission to smack them across the head with a fly swatter.

“One per day,” repeats Dapper shakily.

“We can start with this,” says Jackie, gesturing at the menu. “What do you want, little man?”

Dapper stares at the screens, twitching a little. Chase keeps tapping at his shoulders. Tap tap tap. Here. Steady. Tap tap tap.

“Um, I get just nuggets usually.”

“Is that what you want?” asks Chase.

“Maybe chicken strips instead. And… I want one of the really sugary teas.”

“You got it,” says Jackie, reaching out to squeeze his arm for a second. “Good man. Come on, Zul.”

They head off to get in line. Henrik and Chase and JJ wait behind, watching them go.

“I did that,” signs JJ after a moment. “My choice.”

“Yep, buddy. You did.”

Anonymous asked: Removing the source of stress doesn't automatically delete all the stress-responses, and it doesn't instantly snap away all of the emotional damage left by an abuser. You need to heal, Blue, whether you feel like it or not. You need to give it time and stop expecting it to be an instant recovery. All of you are stressed, on the run, and in an unstable situation. Things are not going to instantly be solved, especially when you're currently homeless, travelling, and on edge. It'll only get better with time, therapy, medicine, and a stable lifestyle.

“You are acting kind of like you want everything to be perfect,” says Jackie, fiddling with their cash again.

Blue sighs. “I can’t help it, okay?”

Jackie shrugs. There’s a pause between them.

“I am going to make things good for you,” promises Jackie softly.

Blue touches his arm. “Honey. I know you’re doing your best.”

“I’ll take care of all of you much better than Anti did,” he continues. Counting, counting, counting. “That’s all that matters.”

“No, listen to the cameras. We just need some time and some help and some stability.”

“I’ll get that for you. You’ll see. I’ll make things better.”

Blue entwines Jackie’s gloved hand in his own. Jackie strokes at the silver rose ring on his twin’s finger.

Anonymous asked: Anti's never been the whole problem. He may be the root cause of why things were the way they were, but the fact is, you're all human, you're all taking in what happened from a different perspective. You're reacting to trauma, and you've learned behaviors that you're clinging to out of habit and survival. You're all stubborn bastards with unique personalities that are going to clash. Anti never compromised, but compromise is exactly what you guys are going to need to figure out how to do again. I'm not meaning to guilt-trip or blame you for circumstances out of your control, but now that you have control again, adjusting is going to be a challenge for all of you. Can it be done? Absolutely, but building trust and making sacrifices are key.

“Are we traumatized too?” asks Jackie.

Blue stares at the floor while the stressed mom in front of them orders as many chicken nuggets as the restaurant can serve up.

“I still feel him under my skin sometimes.” He glances at his brother. “Are you?”

Jackie blinks. “No. Not from… not from his death. It was the first time in months that I wasn’t afraid of him. Of anything. But the stuff before.”

“Do we have learned behaviors?”

“I don’t.”

“You’re still counting the cash, Jackie.”

“What does that have to do with anything? You’re still getting mad at any reminder of Anti.”

They’re giving each other half-glares now, but their hands stay entwined. The stressed mom moves on and Jackie steps up to order.

“I’m going to run off to the bathroom,” mumbles Blue, pushing at his hair, and they part with a glance at each other that lingers, trying, for just a moment, to get inside the other’s head.

Anonymous asked: Good news lads, accepting that you're traumatized is the first step to healing from it. Good job to you.

Blue throws his backpack beside the sink in the quietest corner of the airport bathroom, leaving your vision tilted sideways from the side-pocket of his bag. He splashes water on his face in the sink and closes his eyes, rubbing at his head, frigidly pale beneath the bright lights above the mirror.

“Fuck,” he whispers. “Yeah. Great stuff.”

He covers his face and tries to take deep breaths.

Anonymous asked: Blue, it's frustrating to be told to wait over and over again and I know that's something we've been telling you since day one out of caution, and maybe after a while, habit.

I understand the promise of things bettering themselves with patience has become somewhat empty. It doesn't help when things fall into a lull between "I've always been this way" and "something is wrong and I don't know what changed our how to go back"

Your sense of self is in shambles to say the least and while Anti may be gone, the scars he left behind are lingering. Killing him was the only way to end the abuse but facing what he put you through and learning to move on is going to be a struggle in and of itself. He used you for unforgivable things and I can only imagine how frightening it is to feel like you don't know where his influence ends and you yourself begin.

But you're heading for change anyway. A new environment and possible answers of who you were before with the people you love supporting you along the way.

We can't guarantee happiness or healing for you immediately but we still believe you can find it, however vague and false it sounds to your ears right now.

Blue sucks in a deep breath.

Lets it out. Shaky.

Deep breath.

He’s fine. He’s fine.

“I don’t have much patience left,” he admits to you weakly. “To wait for change… things need to get better. Now. I know I have to try and keep holding on, but fuck…”

He catches sight of himself in the mirror and you see his expression break.

It’s Anti looking back at him. It’s Anti.

He clutches his hair and leans over the sink, shaking.

Anonymous asked: Hey Blue, I have a bit of a message for you. I know how you feel, being both too masculine yet emasculated. Dysphoria is a bitch and a half, and combined with the anger and frustration from your grief, it can't be fun. Try pointing out things you... not like necessarily, but that you're okay with on your body. Things about yourself that are loveable as you want them to be, or that have that potential. Experiment with what makes you comfortable, and what helps you feel at home in your body once you guys are in a safe place. Remember that you are you, and you're in a constant state of Becoming. You are always one step closer to who you want to be.

He tries to concentrate. He tries. You watch him splash water on his face. Again. Again. Keep it together, Blue.

“I like that my hair is growing out again,” he whispers.

And he does. Even the white he doesn’t mind.

“I like that Red and I are twins.”

He has the same ears and nose as his brother, the same set to his shoulders, the same hands.

“I like my jewelry.”

Just the rose ring and some gauges, these days, but they comfort him a little. Anything he can do to look less like the monster.

“He just wore me for so long,” he murmurs. “And I was so sick.”

He touches the mirror for a second. Sees Anti looking at him in his reflection.

“You know, I thought I was going to die,” he says. “I was so sick from my magic being gone and everything he put me through. And I thought, maybe killing Anti could be the last thing I’ll do. Maybe that could redeem Marvin for failing to save them all those months ago. For failing to keep them hidden. I thought I’d die and… maybe he’d kill me too. I thought I’d be able to rest knowing I had saved them, in the end. And everything would be okay…”

His fingers withdraw from the mirror surface. He looks at himself. Marvin looks at Blue looks at Anti looks at Marvin.

He didn’t die. He lived. Whoever this person is, he has to live. Through the aftermath, through the grief, through the epilogue.

What a fucking curse.

Anonymous asked: Marvin, might I share a poem with you for old time's sake? "stay close to the timbers of your heart/so you know where to go/when things fall apart/if you stray too far/you'll be left in the dark/and once that dusk is trapped inside your bones/and the dysphoria creeps into your skin/and your eyes see nothing but gray/there's nothing you can do/except watch every bit of happiness/fade away" -walker u.

Marvin stares at the hollowed-out reflection of himself in the mirror. His eyesight never fully recovered from the loss of his magic and there is still that faint film to his starry eyes. A little sun from the past few days has brought out a few small freckles across his nose. His white hair waves gently against his ears and towards his eyes.

He’s pretty in the sort of way that trees are pretty when they lose their leaves and put on frost instead. Almost ethereal.

“That seems like a sad poem,” he says.

nikkilbook asked: Jackie, about the “overcorrecting” comment—I promise that wasn’t to be mean. It’s something that I recognize in myself that I think I see in you, too. Think about the last several months—your emotions have been huge, intense, and almost outside your control. Which is hard enough for people with typical brains, but people like us? It’s... heck, I don’t even know the right word for it. It’s frightening, at the very least.

Anti’s death didn’t solve things instantly, but it was a pressure valve that suddenly released. He was imposing his own will on literally every aspect of your life, and not in a way that was kind. With those constraints gone, I think your brain snapped back like a rubber band, and you started drawing lines in the sand of your own making. You and me, we need constraints of one kind or another—paths of least resistance in our brains that get us where we need to be. You’re doing your best to be in control of your situation, and I’m not going to tell you that’s bad or unhealthy because i don’t think it is, it’s what I do and I know there’s an ideal balance to be struck between control and flexibility, but I don’t know what it is so I won’t pretend. I think it’s proof of your strength and your wonderful, noble heart that you’ve done so well in the snap-back so far. You are overcorrecting and you are traumatized, but that’s not bad, Jackieboy.

Just promise me something, okay? The lines you’ve drawn in the sand, they aren’t very deep yet. They aren’t the path of least resistance. It’s gonna take time and effort and energy, and your energy is not limitless. Please, please, please promise me that you’ll let the others help you, that you’ll draw the lines together. People like us, we can’t survive long trying to form those paths by ourselves. Eventually something gives, and we need people to catch us, or better yet to walk with us to make sure we don’t trip at all. Promise me you’ll let your brothers support you as much as you support them.

Jackie looks thoughtful as he collects low quality burgers and chicken strips from the counter, sticking the straw of his orange soda in his mouth as he thinks.

“Okay, I get it,” he says, nodding. “I’m making my own rules finally. I get to choose what to do with the cash, with my home, with my self. It’s weird because Anti always told me I wouldn’t be able to make all the decisions he did. But now that I’m here, I feel so determined it hasn’t even slowed me down yet. And yeah… yeah. I should be proud of myself. I’m a good big brother. I am! I will be. Once we get settled, things will be even better. Like Dok used to talk about how routine would be good for me and things for me to be interested in, like Spider-man. I can have routine. I can have hobbies and interests. I can get my energy out when I need to because no one will tell me I have to stay locked in my room or chained to the bed.

“But… it has been crazy lately. One night we’re at home, then we’re on the move, to the airport, now we’re going to a new country… I used to get so scared and panicked when Anti would move us. I used to have meltdowns in airports so often that he would just possess me so he wouldn’t have to deal with me screaming and crying in the middle of a crowd. I wouldn’t know where we were going or if we would be safe or what would happen to my brothers. But even though there’s still some questions, I know exactly where we’re going and how much money we have and what everybody needs. I’m okay if I burn out. I just need to get us all settled first. Then the others can help me have things like a routine and interests and freedom without it overwhelming me.”

He beams to himself, pleased with his own self-awareness, things he’s picked up from you and his siblings and the friends and enemies they have made along the way.

“I’m big brother now,” he says, and despite the truth that he is, in fact, doing wonderfully, there is something slightly off in the way that he says it. “I’m in control.“

As long as things stay that way, he’s sure he’ll be just fine.

Anonymous asked: It's not a delusion, JJ. You're free, really and truly. You all escaped, and he's gone and dead. He won't come for you again. I promise it's not a lie.

Jackie heads back towards his brothers, clutching that bag of greasy American cuisine in his proud hands.

“He is gone, Dap, for real,” he can hear Chase promising from far off. “You’re safe from him. And I get it, bud, like… the missing him? I understand. But I want you to at least feel safe and they’re right, he’s not coming back.”

“But I got away from him once,” Jackie sees Dapper signing. “And he got me again.”

“Dapper. He won’t get you again. Listen - ”

“That’s what Jackie said last time,” Dapper signs. “Jackie promised me. But Anti still came.”

Jackie stills in place, several feet away.

“How can I know that he’s gone? How, how? He always gets me - always takes me away again. Chains me up and makes me stop thinking…”

Chase soothes him with soft words, pulling him to his chest and hugging him.

Jackie closes his eyes, frozen in the middle of the crowd.

Anonymous asked: Last time it was a promise Jackie couldn't keep. Jack chose to keep Anti alive, and it led to all of this. This time is different, JJ. He's fully dead this time. He died in the way Jack said would kill him for good. You don't have to worry about him coming back this time. He wasn't just beaten to essence, he died. He's not coming back for you.

“Yeah, he’s dead,” murmurs Jackie to himself, pulling at the strings of his hoodie, at his dog tags from Blue, at his hair. “Yeah… I burned his body. He’s gone.”

You should have killed him sixteen months ago when he came to take your youngest brother, something within Jackie replies.

nikkilbook asked: Jackie, don’t you dare. Don’t you dare blame yourself for that. Don’t you freaking dare.

Jackie breathes out, slow. He supposes there will always be a part of him that blames himself, even though he did all he could. Even when Anti made him act like a monster, still he tried to find ways to look after them. To take the brunt of the pain for them when he could.

It’ll be okay.

“I did what I could,” he tells himself, rocking gently on his heels. “I did. Now he’s gone. Just have to do what I can to do better by them now.”

He moves towards his brothers with his hands full of food.

crystalninjaphoenix asked: JJ, if he comes back--he really won't, but just in case--you can trust the others to have your back. They'll protect you if you're not sure if you can protect yourself. And we'll be here, too. Tell us what could help, and we'll do it.

“You sure?”

“We’re sure.”

“You’re sure?”

Jackie comes up behind him and squeezes his shoulder. “We’re sure.”

“Is Dok sure?”

“Look how calm he is.” Chase wraps his arms around his brother, who is gazing up at the ceiling. “He’s calm because he’s safe. You know how smart Dok is. He knows.”

Dapper smiles faintly.

“There’s my guy,” says Chase. “We’re okay.”

And then a passer-by brushes against Dapper’s shoulder.

Anonymous asked: Passerby? Who was that?

All Dapper knows is this - whoever just touched him was not one of his siblings.

Their shoulder brushes past his own, skin against his scratchy white dress shirt, and something lights up in him, hot and dangerous - fear and confusion, an understanding that something about this means pain for him, means Anti’s anger and blood running down his fingers while he cries. He remembers, faintly, the days when it was just him and Anti, and his brother would bring people back to kill them for entertainment, looking up at Dapper and screaming for him to help them, but never allowed to touch him unless they were ready to end their torment in the most brutal ways possible. In public, running from the others or from magicians or cops, anyone who dared to lay hands on him was at risk of being hauled into a back-alley and slaughtered like livestock while Dapper watched, wide-eyed, or felt Anti’s fingers at the back of his throat as he forced him to do the killing himself.

No one is allowed to touch him.

Carver whirls with his teeth bared, grappling at his clothes for a knife that is no longer there, and even as he lunges forward to grab at whoever touched him, Jackie is there, wrapping a strong arm around his waist and hefting him off the ground.

“No one’s hurting you,” he says, voice loud and firm. “You take a deep breath. You’re okay. I’m here.”

Blood on his hands. All this blood on his hands. Scars that fade too fast because he never ages, never changes, just stays, stays, stays. Anti’s eyes and the endless despair of his cage. He lets spit drip past his mouth like a rabid thing, teeth snarling, kicking his legs as Jackie hauls him back towards their hiding spot in an empty terminal, Chase clinging to Dok protectively somewhere in his periphery. He’s crying and signing threats. He’s just Anti’s dog. Let him go.

“I am here,” repeats Jackie, not letting his feet touch the ground, not letting him go even as he writhes. “You stop. I’m in charge now, you stop that. This is not who you are. You breathe. I know it’s not your fault but you take a deep breath now, that’s big brother’s orders.”

Dapper wheezes in a breath, trembling in his grip.

Anonymous asked: JJ, stay calm. I know that sounds fruitless when you're dealing with psychotic symptoms, but being calm and regulating yourself is the most helpful thing you can do. The stranger brushed you on accident and they mean you no harm. Try to let your logical brain overpower the psychosis. Cling onto one of your brothers and let them help you relax a bit. You are okay. You are safe.

Jackie sits down in the corner of the terminal where the column of the wall almost hides them from the rest of the airport. He keeps his arm around Dapper’s waist and squeezes, releases, squeezes, releases. Dapper is hissing at whatever threat has been triggered inside his brain, tense as a corpse against Jackie’s body, nails digging into Jackie’s sleeves.

“You are safe,” says Jackie.

“Cops and magicians and my brother waiting to hurt me.”

“What?”

Dapper bites his teeth at nothing, his head rolling back against Jackie’s shoulder. Jackie holds him back firmly, breathing slow and deep, trying to get Dapper to follow his lead.

“Listen to them. You’re safe.”

“He looks at me like he will cut me open too…”

“Dapper. Dapper. JJ.”

Jackie holds onto him, listening to him breathe, thick and pained with frightened anger. Dapper’s head presses against his throat.

“Fuck,” he sighs, rubbing at his waist. “I’m sorry for everything he put you through, Dap.”

Anonymous asked: Things have gotten better, Blue. He's dead and you're free. Improvements are happening every moment, even if it's slow-going. You're all doing so well at handling this shit, and you'll always have each other to ground you.

“Right,” mumbles Blue. “Right.”

He’s cleaning himself up in the bathroom, rubbing away his reddened eyes and cleaning the water from his face.

“He is dead. That’s what matters. It’s just… going to take some time. I have to wait a while longer.”

He knows. It’s just hard. He breathes out, low and slow.

“Thanks, yeah.”

scunneredzombie asked: Jameson, if you're feeling paranoid and delusional, would you be okay with your brothers reality checking you? I know for me sometimes even just laying down somewhere quiet and repeating facts to myself helps. What's your name, what's your birthday, what country are you in, what fabric am I touching, how many fingers do I have, I am free, I am safe, etc. It can be really helpful to cling onto things that you definitely know are true when you're feeling like this. Also making sure there's something or someone stable and trustworthy nearby to ground you. Be safe and try to keep yourself in the moment!

There’s someone at Dapper’s back.

“Dap, you’re okay. I’m here, little man. Deep breaths.”

There’s someone in front of him too.

“What country are we in?” whispers Chase, reaching out to touch the back of his hand.

Dapper shakes his head, his limbs trembling with the effort of not trying to lash out at everything around him.

“Dapper. You know this. Come on.”

“USA,” he spells.

“Yeah,” says Chase softly. “Who’s with you?”

“My - my siblings.”

“Who are?”

“Trick and Dok and Blue and Red and Anti.”

“Anti’s not here, honey.”

“I can see him.”

Chase cups his face in his hands. “Look at me. He’s not here.”

“You don’t know, Trick.”

“I do know. He’s not here. What’s your name?”

“Sometimes Dapper?”

“That’s okay for now. What are you wearing?”

He shudders out a breath and touches his shirt. “My nice clothes. My slacks and my white shirt. Tight on my throat.”

Chase undoes the top button for him. “Good. Where are we going?”

Dapper wipes at his face. When did he start crying? “Ireland, Trick.”

“Yeah. Ireland.”

Dok’s somewhere nearby too. He can see him looking at them, eyes big and puzzled, so unlike his usual self. Behind him, someone is coming closer, white-haired and beautiful, and Dapper recoils into Jackie’s chest, closing his eyes.

“It’s Blue, not Anti,” promises Jackie. “It’s Blue.”

“I know it is,” Dapper signs faintly.

Someone presses a cold drink into his hands. He opens his eyes and lets Chase help the straw into his mouth, and a moment later he’s drinking in that sugary, sugary tea that he asked Jackie for, grounding himself in the sticky sweet taste. He takes the straw and leans back, letting out a deep breath.

“I really need my medication,” he signs with a sigh.

Anonymous asked: Guys, with all due respect, ur making a dumb choice by avoiding getting help through therapy. If the guys who had been manipulated and tortured repeatedly for years on end don’t need therapy, then literally no one needs therapy ever by comparison. Don’t tell me you’re fine

“Oh, fuck, we need therapy,” agrees Red. “I need therapy, do you guys - ?”

“I need therapy,” says Chase. “Dapper and Dok definitely need therapy.”

“I’m not allowed to see a clinician,” says Dapper wearily.

“You are now,” Jackie informs him shortly. “And you will. Yeah, you’re right, we need to see therapists. We haven’t yet though because we’re waiting to get out of America. We can’t afford American health insurance and there’s not much point to just going to one session with a therapist out here and then leaving.”

He strokes at Dapper’s hair, leaning back against the column. “As soon as we are set up with fake identities in the health care system and we’re settled down, we can all go to the doctor and get our health checked, and we can see therapists, and we can get Schneep brain scans and things like that, and we’ll all have our medicine, and things will start getting better. Yeah. We all need a therapist, right?”

“Right,” agrees Chase.

Blue is stepping up behind them. “Hey, what happened? Is he okay?”

“He’s calming down,” says Chase.

“Dap needs to see someone.”

“We all do.”

“I don’t want to see a shrink,” laughs Blue. “We just need some time.”

Chase’s face falls and Dapper looks away. Jackie, for his part, narrows Blue with a look that says they’ll talk about this later.

Anonymous asked: Oh no, you definitely need therapy as well Blue. The level of dissociation you're dealing with is not healthy, and you need a professional's help. All of you need a professional after the amount of shit you went through. That should be one of your main priorities once you get somewhere safe.

Blue gives you a slightly dirty look, but there’s a light of something haunted underneath, and he turns away again pretty quick, picking up a fizzy drink from the cup tray they’ve abandoned on the floor and taking a vindictive sip. “Well, we should probably split up the food and go get to the first flight,” he grumbles. “Because I’m pretty sure Dapper’s freak out attracted some attention.”

Jackie turns to see airport security giving them skeptical looks. He swears and pulls his hood farther over his eyes, grabbing the bags of food and handing out burgers and chicken. He pulls the printed tickets out of his pocket and hands Blue two, along with a stack of neatly counted cash. “You guys are going to be okay?”

Blue blinks as the reality that he’ll be alone with Dapper for the next twelve hours sets in. “You ask him.”

“Are you okay, man?”

Dapper blinks up at Jackie. He knows he won’t complain the moment their eyes meet. Jackie sighs and pulls him in for a hug before drawing away, clapping Blue on the shoulder. “Take care of him.”

“That’s my job,” says Blue quietly. “Where are we meeting up?”

“Closest library. Just try to keep a low profile. We’ll be about four hours behind you. Get yourselves something to eat and ask about low income housing. We’ll see what we can find.”

aether-mae asked: Oh boy, yeah just find your house and settle down, we can talk about the rest of this later. (And by that I don’t mean ignore it indefinitely, marv) Also Jackie, do you know how to contact mr tiger eyes? Maybe he can come find u :3

“Right,” agrees Jackie. “We’ll figure everything out. Just need to get settled.”

He touches Blue’s sleeve for a second, looking at his face so intently that Blue reaches up to tug on a strand of his twin’s hair in reprimand. Jackie chuckles and squeezes his shoulder for a second, drawing away. He knows he can trust Blue to find him again, but now that they’re here, it feels scary to step away from him. Like when they stayed at Dark’s, helpless, knowing Dok and Trick and Dapper were all stuck at home with their monster. He doesn’t want to be away from them.

“Go take care of Trick and Dok,” says Blue quietly. Maybe it is because protecting them has been the only goal of his life for months now, but it’s enough to make him nod and give his twin a faint smile, stepping back.

“We’ll see you soon,” says Jackie.

“Bye, guys,” calls Chase, just as forlorn. “I’ll miss you.”

“It’s only a twelve hour flight,” laughs Blue. “Go.”

“Okay, okay! Love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Love you all.”

They trade smiles and they separate. Jackie takes Henrik and Chase down the other side of the airport, settling into another corner, another wait, another hiding spot. They eat hamburgers and drink soda.

“And no,” he adds after a long few minutes, watching Chase chat with Henrik and help him eat. “I don’t know how to find Max. I’m not sure he would come if I called. I left him and I think that was the chance the universe gave me to be with him. It’s okay, though. I have to prioritize them now. I let go of the idea of being with him - well, no, I didn’t. I never did. He still preoccupies me, distracts me, consumes me. But I let go of the reality of him. It was my choice. Now, they’re what I choose.”

He sets you gently aside, settling in for the wait as Dapper and Blue get on a plane, a faint tension in the air between them.

They’ll be back soon, but for now, we’ll let them get settled.

4 notes · View notes

parker-aka-glove-girl · 2 years

Text

As the description of the blog says:

This is a blog documenting my experiences with OCD in hopes more people will try to understand and learn what it’s like to live with it.

Information about myself:

My name is Parker! I go to Naranjah academy in Paldea. She/they

I’m 13

I have two Pokémon, a snorlax (JJ, Jay for short) and galarian Mr. Mime (Roscoe, Rozzy for short). They’re service Pokémon

Feel free to ask me any questions

Out of character things!

Hello! I’m Cyrus, any pronouns.

I’ve been diagnosed with severe OCD of several kinds by a professional and it deeply effects my every day life.

I thought it’s be interesting to post how somebody with OCD would interact with the Pokémon world, and also I wanted to give myself some self representation! There’s barely any popular characters of any franchise with OCD as far as I’m aware so might as well create a character myself!

Also, I’m going to be projecting HEAVILY onto Parker as a character. But that does not mean that everything is 1:1 with me. Quite the opposite actually.

Anyways I hope anybody can learn a thing or two about OCD after I post some things 👍

General things to know for this blog:

No shipping of any kind will be happening with Parker. She is a child.

You’re allowed to be rude in asks but Parker will bite back. But don’t just be an asshole for no reason either, asks like those will be deleted without warning.

The kinds of OCD Parker has are: Checking, Contamination, and Intrusive Thoughts. If you’re confused about these, look them up or ask Parker!

I might take days of breaks at a time since to be honest even talking about OCD is exhausting especially if I’m going off my own experiences. Don’t feel bad about asking questions though!

Blanket unreality warning for this blog. The only thing that’s unreality about it is the Pokémon and how they effect the world. OCD is a VERY REAL disorder.

Parker can be kind of rude to people! But she has the right to be angry honestly.

Im still getting the hang of pokeblogging so be patient

This blog will follow the game universe

There won’t only be posts about OCD, there will be more light hearted posts/responses to general things in the community

Let me know if I need to tag certain things if I don’t already

And for any DNI things, basic DNI criteria, anti mogai, transmed, and terfs.

#pokeblogging #pokémon irl #pokemon rp #pokémon rp #ocd #invisible disability #blog intro

2 notes · View notes

kisstheashes · 3 years

Text

How to Write Gore: From a Gore Writer

To start: Gore ≠ horror genre. Gore and body horror is a TYPE of horror, but it does not encompass the entire genre. Think of the difference between SAW, American Psycho, and Pan's Labyrinth. All horror, not all focusing on gore.

However, gore/body horror is a part of many genres of fiction. It shows up in fantasy, action, drama, sci-fi...so knowing how to write it can be pretty important. And here, I'll be running down how to write explicit gore, not unlike truly horrific carnage you'd see in the worst crime scene photos. Obvious TW for examples I'll be using (which will be long)

Pick a POV. Is this going to be in the POV of the victim, or the instigator? Or will you switch between them, or will it be a third limited? You should know this before you start the story, but especially make sure you know what voice you'll be using for scenes like this.

Use all five senses. Sight, touch, sound, taste, smell. What is being seen by your POV? Do they hear bones cracking, skin ripping, fluids squelching? Do they smell metal, or blood, or old rot? What are they feeling, physically? Are they shivering in pain, if it's a victim? Or are they steady, or shivering in happiness, as an instigator? Are they biting their tongue so hard they taste blood? Example:

JJ tried struggling and turning his head away, but it was no use. The monster forced his eye open and slowly started taking his toy's eye.

His body strained and he struggled. Nothing Anti had done before compared to this pain. Blood streamed down his face and squirted everywhere. JJ's eye started popping out of the socket as the pain consumed him, making him sick and dizzy.

Anti bit his lip, breaking the skin and drawing a few droplets of blood to the surface. He contained himself and kept a slow pace, enjoying the sight of his toy's eye falling out of its socket. Bright blue and stark white covered in shiny red. Anti felt his borrowed heart start pounding, his hands shaking. He'd waited years for this. Everything had gotten in his way.

Blood poured down half of JJ's face and soaked the thread in his lips. His vision was flashing red and black and white. He could barely breathe and tasted copper. His body was giving out, muscles spasming and limbs going limp. His good eye was blurry with tears.

This could be refined a little more, but I think you get the point. Capture the whole moment, even if it takes you a while to do so.

Get creative. Everyone has read about people getting shot or stabbed during interrogations, torture sessions. Take it a step further. Use the knife or gun in an interesting way, or use a different, unexpected tool altogether. Example:

Maze tipped his head back, running a hand through his hair as Chase brought the cheese grater back. "Take it across your right arm." He slid his eyes over to Chase as he did so without hesitation. The first thing Maze saw had been the blood start making rivers down his arm. When the cheese grater was pulled away the skin had divorced from the muscle and hung in the air, making a V shape with his arm. Maze let out a disgruntled noise as he watched Chase bring the cheese grater to his arm again. Flecks of skin caught in the ridges of the grater and fell to the floor as Chase's blood cascaded down his arm. He could hear Chase's skin ripping off of his arm and his blood dripping to the floor. He could see how the grater tugged at the skin before ripping it off and the skin falling to the floor, into the blood. The whole of his bicep was bloody and torn apart before Maze commanded him to stop.

I first wrote this cheese grater scene in 2018. My friends still say they can't look at a cheese grater the same lmao

And finally, get descriptive. Show, show, show. Be visceral. Be upsetting, be horrifying, and vomit-inducing. Write vomit if you want! Get into the nitty-gritty, show how awful it is, and how inescapable it is for your characters. Yes, it's okay to be panic-inducing! This is horror- and not just horror. This is gore. This is explicit pain and suffering. It's not meant to be soft. It's meant to kick your reader's teeth in. It's meant to get under their skin and make them so uncomfortable it's hard to get through. It's like a car crash, or train wreck, or witnessing a murder. I don't think I need a final example, but I'll give you one anyway. Example:

"Attack." The wasps dived in, stingers first, as they attacked the one Sadreen wanted.

Pinpricks of powder blue blood left the other as the wasps stung, his screams turning to shrieks and confused begging, as they begged whatever held them to let them go.

Sadreen approached the swarm of wasps with even steps and the other, his smirk falling into place again. The other spotted him, shaking his head as he tried to contain his screams.

Sadreen stood in front of the other, inspecting them. Their blue blood dripped out of their wounds, not enough to fall or move. The areas of skin around the wounds blackened, the open wound pulsing with venom, the green-tinged sickness spewing and dribbling out of the wounds, mixing with the drops of blood.

“You should not have meddled with what is not yours, little one.”

The other tried to speak, cut off by blood shoving itself up to their throat, falling out of their mouth in waterfalls, and filling their mouth with their tainted blood.

In their binds they spasmed, foam leaving their mouth. Sadreen uncoiled his tendrils, their form collapsing to the ground with several cracks, as now brittle bones from the venom snapped on impact.

And to close out some final advice: Never, ever, ever let anyone bully you into dumbing down these scenes. They are horrific on purpose. Slap your TWs at the beginning, and keep moving. You gave readers a fair warning, if they read it and then still trigger themselves, that's on them. I know people have had raging issues lately with dark fiction, not to mention horror, but those puritan rules don't apply here. Go wild.

Go completely feral.

You deserve it.

#writeblr #writing advice #writing tips #writing inspiration #horror #horror writing #gore writing #writing prompts #writing help #writing #writing stuff #yes I added that last example just bc I'm proud of my writing #you didn't need it but i put it there #youre welcome #this also isnt as long as i thought it be

291 notes · View notes

huffle-dork · 4 months

Text

Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 11: Darker Seas

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read Septnautical | Darker Seas AU

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

The swim back is easier this time- without anything chasing after them. There’s the distant sounds of the crabsquids and jelly rays but it’s smooth sailing.

Anti hurries down to the base and knocks on the door again, not wanting to freak out the people inside.

There’s a beat then the door opens quickly, Zara’s face bright with joy. “Anti! You’re oka- oh my god?!” Zara gasps seeing all the hybrids gathered in front of the door.

“…we need some help?” Anti says with a nervous smile.

“Y-yeah c’mon! I’ll take you to the medbay and… I’ll get Danan and those blankets again!” Zara says hurriedly. She starts to swim down the hallway and turns the corner, Anti right behind her.

The other hybrids pour into the base behind them. "W-well, we got them back, a-as you can see," Schneep says, trying to sound lighthearted but his voice still trembling with nerves. "Your device worked. Thank you."

“I… I can’t believe it did! That’s… that’s great news!” Zara laughs, but she also sounds nervous.

Jackie, Alt, and Bro, JJ says, pointing out the others, their friends who'd been lost.

"H-hi," Jackie says quietly.

Zara looks at the others and smiles. And Bro’s breath hitches really taking in Zara’s face. She’s so different here… and she’s swimming- kinda like she has a limp. What happened to her…?

“Nice to meet you all.” Zara says.

“Y-Yeah… y-you too…” Bro whispers.

They hurry into the med bay- a small room that’s dark and Zara hurries to grab a light to turn it on. There’s a few hospital like beds bolted to the ground and a couple flickering monitors looking like they’re for x-rays. “Sorry this one is for uh… looking at other fish and Anti so… I uh… h-hope it’s comfortable. You can lay down whoever needs to get looked at on the tables. And I’ll get Danan and blankets!!” She says hurriedly and spurs back down the hall.

Bro watches her go then sighs and goes to swim in and tries to lay Alt down on the table.

JJ looks everyone over. I can heal surface injuries, like claws and bites and stuff.

"Ah... I would appreciate if you could do that for me," Schneep says, his injured tendrils waving in the water.

Bro, Jackie, do you need to be looked over? JJ asks. On a medical bed?

"I-I-I think I'm fine," Jackie says, wrapping his arms around himself. "It's a bit... cold, but I think that's just cause of the water..."

Bro pants a bit and shakes his head. “I’m fine… just… s-shaken from all of this…”

"W-we should be careful of Alt and Marvin," Schneep says quietly. "We do not want them to be scared by the environment."

Alt seems reluctant to leave Bro’s arms but eventually curls up on the table, holding his arms and trying to breathe and not panic. But- he’s super aware of the mask and how much it hurts and how awful he feels. He shivers.

Anti nods to Schneep and goes to just sit with Marvin on the table, holding him to his chest. Marvin isn't looking at anyone, digging claws into the edge of his mask, his fingers trembling.

Schneep prowls back and forth across one wall, nervous. Jackie just sort of... floats there. He's still processing everything.

JJ swims over to Anti and Marvin. I know this is probably very confusing, but you're safe now, he says to Marvin with a soft smile. The people here can help.

Marvin startles and looks at JJ with wide eyes. He curls up against Anti. “…w-who are you…? You.. you look like Jamie but…you’re not.”

“He’s someone… similar,” Anti tries to say gently. “But you can trust him… and the one that looks like Schneep… and t-they trust the others…”

Marvin still looks a bit scared but he nods.

JJ nods slowly. Don't worry, I'll give you space if you want, he says, backing up.

“T-Thank you…” Marvin says quietly.

Bro leans on Alt’s table and then feels… heavy… it’s hot in here… his head lolls a bit as he struggles to keep his eyes open, his arms trembling.

"Um... B-Bro?" Jackie says, looking at Bro. "Are you... okay? You look... bad. Tired?"

“Y-Yeah yeah I’m…” Bro says dazedly then shakes himself out, blinking slowly. “I’m… good. I’m just… t-tired yeah…”

"Tired all of a sudden?" Schneep's eyes widen. "Th-that is probably not good." He swims over to Bro, putting a hand on his forehead, feeling out his condition.

Bro definitely has a fever and is shaking quite a bit. He has a glazed look in his eye that he keeps trying to blink back. “‘M fine Hen… ‘m okay…” he mummers tiredly.

Alt sits up and looks at Bro with concern.

"H-he has a fever," Schneep reports. "I-I think he needs medical attention, too."

What happened?! JJ asks. That came on really suddenly!

"I-I don't know. Perhaps this is all just hitting him at once?"

“N-No ‘m okay guys, really…!” Bro tries to smile at them. “We gotta focus on Marv and Alt… a fever isn’t a big deal…”

"I would say it is, actually," Schneep says. He doesn't want to worry Bro, but... a sudden fever could easily be the sign of something worse.

Finally, the door opens and Dr. Danan comes back in with a worried look. “Z-Zara filled me in are you all-?!” She gasps as she sees Marvin and Alt with their masks and hurriedly digs through her bag. “L-Let me get some scans to see what we’re dealing with!”

JJ and Schneep swim back, letting Danan do her work first.

She swims over and does Alt first who tries his best not to move as she waves the tool around the edges of Alt’s face.

Danan then hurries over to Marvin and he cringes curling up and digging fingers in more. “oh nonono! Don’t do that love let me see please-“ Danan tries to say gently to him. Anti whispers something to him and Marvin finally lets go and Danan scans him quickly. Once done Marvin curls back up.

Danan then swims over to one of the monitors and starts to click around on her tool to try to transfer the scans to the screen.

Now that Danan seems done, JJ says, Ah, doctor, our other friend here is suddenly hot. He gestures at Bro. Is that... normal?

"I do not think it is," Schneep mutters. "But—but maybe it has something to do with the sort of fish he is? Do you know anything about that?"

Danan blinks and looks at them with knitted eyebrows. “Hot?” She looks over at Bro and frowns. “He’s.. a boneshark so… not that I know of? That’s… that’s not good… are any of the others starting to feel hot at all?” She asks Schneep and JJ.

Bro is staring out ahead. Why does the room look like it’s swimming..? And why did it look like for a second he saw yellow hair…?

"I-I do not know—no one else has says anything!" Schneep stammers. "Jamie, do any of them look feverish?"

I don't think so? JJ says, head darting between Alt, Marvin, and Jackie.

Jackie keeps hugging himself, sinking down to the ground where he curls his tail up. "I'm... I'm just... t-tired," he mutters.

Alt shakes his head but then pauses, “I’m… a little warm…? I can’t really tell…”

Anti feels Marvin’s forehead and frowns. Marvin has closed his eyes and is dozing against Anti. “I… I can’t tell.” He says quietly.

“Mmm.. the fatigue is justified considering the circumstances…” Danan mutters. “Let's see about getting these masks off then I can run some more tests if that's okay?”

"Please hurry," Schneep whispers. "I-I do not think they can eat with that there—unless you have other ways to get food. Injections of some sort."

Danan looks just as worried. “No we don’t have anything like that so let me get to the bottom of this…”

Is there anything we can do to help? JJ asks. Or should we stay out of your way?

Danan smiles at JJ and shakes her head. “You all just rest…”

Jackie leans back against the wall while they talk, closing his eyes. Maybe he can fall asleep right here.

Schneep and JJ hover nearby, both looking anxious.

Danan then gets the scans up on the monitor. She looks them over and then gasps at the sight. “Stars…! This is…!” She then curses, “That damn witch Jezebeth!” Before she swims to look through the drawers in the room. “I’m so sorry boys… I had no idea this went as deep as it did I… I might need to sedate you to get these off…!”

"What?! Wh-what?!" Schneep gasps. "That—that went that far into their—?!"

“T-Their jaw bones and muscles yes I-I…” Danan stammers, looking distressed. “I-I luckily still have a medical fabricator so it can rebuild the damage it just… they have to be completely still and… I don’t want it to hurt.”

JJ stares at the masks in horror. And then in anger. They have no right to mess with people's bodies like that! At least we could get the gauges out without sedation!

"Y-you two—you two please don't worry," Schneep says, darting closer to the medical beds again. "W-we will fix this. W-we'll just need to—to—it will take more than expected."

Bro growls tiredly, digging nails into the bed. “those fucking Bastards…!”

Jackie opens his eye slightly, staring at the commotion with a slightly glazed look. The water doesn't feel as cold anymore... he must be getting used to it.

Anti looks disturbed but he looks down at Marvin who has basically passed out. “Y-You’re good for Marv doc… get it over with before he wakes back up…”

Danan nods and hurries over, gently going to inject the sedative into Marvin. He slumps a bit more and Anti gently lays him down on the table, looking worried.

Alt looks like he’s on the verge of panic, sinking claws around his mask and breathing heavily.

Alt, please, please, you'll only hurt yourself, JJ says, trying to look reassuring and not like the anxious mess he feels like. Put your hands down. We'll be right here. We won't let anything happen to you.

Alt looks at JJ with terrified eyes and then back at Danan as she approaches. “I promise this is to make it as least painful as possible, Alt…” the Dr. says gently. “I don’t want this to hurt you…”

Alt makes a couple more panicked breaths before he eventually lets go and nods. Danan smiles and carefully moves some of his hair out of the way to inject him. Alt blinks heavily, already feeling the pull then Bro shakily leads him down.

Once Alt is down, Danan hurriedly grabs her equipment and starts to set up the fabricators- seems she has enough for both of them.

As that gets set up, Schneep swims over. "Chase, y-you have to lie down, please," he says. "You look like you're about to pass out. And then you cannot stay by Alt if you're asleep, yes?" His tone is unusually gentle.

Bro floats a bit straighter and blinks blearily at Schneep. “Hm? Uh… yeah maybe I…I’ll…” He glances at the door- then sharply inhales as he sees Demerci staring right at him through the window.

He yells in surprise then tumbles back, hitting the back wall in his scramble to get away. “N-No…!”

"Chase?!" Schneep gasps, staring at Bro in confusion. "What—A-are you okay?!"

JJ follows Bro's line of sight. He's looking at the door. What are you looking at, Bro?

Schneep blinks. "A... a hallucination, maybe? Chase, do you have hallucinations normally?"

“I-I- no I…!” Bro stammers in slight fear, looking paler. “I-It’s Demerci-! S-She’s right there! D-don’t you see her?!”

Danan startles a bit at this and looks at the door in confusion.

But then, Zara opens the door even as Bro yells and covers his head with his arms, shaking like a leaf. “I got the blankets!” She says cheerily. She then blinks in confusion to Bro’s reaction. “…damn is my face that scary…?”

JJ shakes his head. It's not you, Z. He's seeing someone else.

“Oh… that’s not good.” Zara says with a worried frown.

"Bro, Bro, please." Schneep gently grabs Bro's hand. "Clearly, JJ cannot see this Demerci. A-and I cannot sense any souls besides us, Danan, and Zara. If she's as close as you say, I would definitely be able to sense her. But--if she is somehow there, we outnumber her, yes? We can take her down. Y-you are safe here."

Jackie watches Schneep and Bro, blinking slowly. This feels somehow familiar... But reversed.

Bro whimpers and looks at Schneep with a terrified expression. “I-I swear I saw her Hen I-I’m not crazy…! I-I can let her get to Alt again I… I can’t-!”

"No, I believe you, I-I'm sure you saw her, but she will not get to Alt, I promise," Schneep says in a calm voice. "We are going to protect him, okay? We are going to stay right here and protect him. Please don't go running off after her. We cannot get separated." JJ hovers anxiously behind Bro, listening to this.

Bro seems to calm down a bit at this and he slowly nods. “O-Okay I… won’t.” He laughs tiredly. “I-I don’t think I could even if I w-wanted to…” he then tiredly leans forward and lays against Schneep’s shoulder, his eyelids fluttering. “You make me miss my Hen and Dr.j…” he mumbles dazedly, laughing a bit. “Yer like a fusion of them…”

Schneep blinks in surprise. "Hah. I will take that as a compliment." He wraps an arm around him in a half-hug. "We will get back there to them, I promise."

“It is…” Bro says with a smile, settling in some more against Schneep. “Yer good like both of them… kind… even if you give us that scary stern look jays gives us… or like…” Chase’s vision dims and dips in front of him and he sees Demerci bending down next to them and… smiling…? She seems so gentle here… Chase doesn’t even feel scared. “…mum…” he whispers before his eyes flutter shut altogether.

“Mum?” Schneep repeats, confused. What does that have to do with anything? Maybe Bro is just delirious? Either way, he’s asleep before Schneep can ask about it. He chuckles. “Alright, let’s get you a blanket, then.” He drags Bro through the water towards Jackie. Bro mumbles something incoherent back to Schneep as he’s dragged over.

Zara swims over to Jackie and lays the blankets down on the floor next to him. She smiles gently. “hey… feel free to rest on these, okay?”

Jackie looks over at her and nods. "Thanks..." He smiles back, and looks down, sorting through the blankets. "You're so nice... I can see why I like you in those other worlds..." His voice gets quiet at the end. He doesn't think she can hear him.

Zara pauses in helping set them up and then looks at Jackie with wide eyes and a slight blush. “…w-what..?”

"O-oh, uh... I didn't realize you could hear that..." Jackie says, staring at her. "Um... I-I've been to... two other universes where you were uh... in a sort of relationship with a 'Jackie.' One was in its early stages and another was um... you were older an'... married." He clears his throat. "Um—y-you're really nice and pretty, b-but I actually have a boyfriend in my own world, so don't, uh... think of me that way?"

Zara blushes even more, “w-with Jackie? RL-006??” She looks flabbergasted by this and thoughtfully touches her scarred cheek. She then laughs and shakes her head. “…don’t worry. Not really in the right place right now to be d-dating anyways…”

JJ looks towards Jackie, slightly distracted by his rambling exchange. You said he was called Frederick, right?

"Yeah... he's pretty too." Jackie hums. "He has silky black hair and sparkly black eyes... pretty."

JJ laughs a little. Zara here has dark hair too, you know. And where I'm from, a version of you is married to a spouse with black hair.

"...Fuck, do I have a type?" Jackie mutters.

Zara smiles wide listening to Jackie talk about Fredrick. Then bursts into giggles at Jackie’s last statement. “Well… I’m flattered, truly. S’been a while since I thought I was pretty.” She laughs lightly.

“Well you arrrre,” Jackie says. “Jameson, isn’t she pretty?”

JJ frowns. I’ve never liked girls romantically.

“Then you’ll be, uh…” Jackie struggles with the word for a second. “…objective!”

JJ laughs a little. Okay if you insist. Yes, I agree.

“Seeee?” Jackie yawns. As Schneep brings Bro over he curls up on the blankets next to him, subconsciously scooting a bit closer until he’s pressed up against Bro. Mm… warm…

Zara giggles, “You all are too nice. But… thank you.” She smiles as she sees Jackie curl up against Bro.

Bro instinctually lays an arm over Jackie- as if wanting to protect him in his sleep.

Danan finishes setting up the machines and has actually used a laser cutter to take off the masks, exposing the open wounds for the fabricators to heal. Anti has been anxiously floating around Marvin the whole time. Danan finally sighs and gathers up the masks before addressing the group. “it will take a couple hours for the fabricators to work most likely… you all can rest here in the meantime and we can get you something to eat… whatever you need to feel comfortable.”

“Thank you, Dr. Danan,” Schneep says. “W-we really appreciate everything you’ve done to help.” He swims over to Jackie and Bro, settling down a little apart from them.

JJ nods in agreement. We do need rest and food, but I think the rest can come first. He looks at Anti. For you too. Marvin will still be here when you wake up. And I don’t think you want him to see you looking exhausted when he comes out of the sedative.

While JJ talks, Schneep has slowly scooted closer to Jackie and Bro, hoping that no one will notice.

Anti blinks over at JJ and seems confused for a second before he seems to sag. “…right right… I’m just… I’m afraid if I go to sleep… I-I might wake up and he’ll be gone again…” he whispers.

JJ smiles. I know that worry. But I promise, this is real. And we’re safe here. And he won’t leave you again. I’m sure he missed you as much as you missed him.

Anti’s lip trembles but he slowly nods. “…okay… okay…” his gaze lingers on Marvin for a bit before he goes to curl up at the edge of his bed, laying down in some of his tails.

Bro in his sleep is panting a bit, eyebrows knit together in slight pain.

JJ looks over at Bro, worried. Hopefully that dies down soon. For now, he swims over to join the rest of the group, squeezing under the pile they’ve all formed. He sighs, and tries to put his worries out of his mind as he closes his eyes.

Danan and Zara smile as all the boys settle down to rest. They quietly leave the lab, promising to check back later.

=========

Hours pass… but it’s hard to tell the passage of time here since they can’t see any light from the surface.

Everything seems to be going smoothly- the fabricators seem almost done with fixing the wounds on Alt and Marvin. Alt is trembling a bit in his sleep, the sedative slowly wearing off. He makes quiet whimpers as his eyes flit around under his eyelids, caught in a dream most likely.

Marvin on the other hand is still very still- it’s almost hard to tell if he’s breathing but he is. Anti is still curled up next to him, sleeping peacefully.

Bro’s panting and fever have only gotten worse as he presses his burning face into whoever is near, clinging to them and biting back a whimper. It’s hot… why does that feel familiar…?

Jackie is the first to wake up. He blinks his eyes open slowly and looks around. His head feels… weird. Is he sick? He raises it slightly and looks around the room. He hadn’t really taken in all the details before. All of the others are here, curled up together—Bro’s skin is hot against his. There’s also what looks like this world’s Anti and Marvin and someone else—

He freezes, staring at the figure. No. No, it's impossible. He can’t be here. But those purple eyes are unmistakable, looking over at him—

“Hello again, Jaaackie.”

Jackie screams.

Bro startles up immediately, gasping and looking around dazedly. “J-Jackie?!”

He tries to look over at him but is met face to face with Demerci again.

“Hi Chaser~ did you sleep well, love?” she whispers sweetly.

Bro screeches too and trips over himself to try to get distance, breathing heavily. “Nonono g-get away!”

JJ and Schneep immediately startle awake as the two other in their pile start screaming.

Anti jumps up at the screaming and hits his head on the underside of Marvin’s table in his scramble. He shakes this off and surges up into the water and over to the others, “Stars- what’s wrong?!”

“No! No, you’re not here!” Jackie wriggles out of the pile, scrambling back across the floor. “It’s impossible! Impossible!” His Marvin only laughs and gets closer. “No! S-stay the fuck away from me!”

“What is happening?!” Schneep asks. His brain scrambles. “A-are they seeing something, maybe?”

Anti swims back, looking at all their reactions with wide scared eyes. “Hallucinations??”

“Hallucinations,” Schneep confirms.

Everyone calm down! JJ says. There’s nothing in the room! He hurries over to Jackie’s side. Jackie—

“Get away from me, Jameson!” Jackie screams. The mandibles on his back snap, and JJ quickly jerks backwards, confused.

Bro pants, trembling like a leaf as Demerci seemingly lifts his chin up and smiles at him. “Love, you need to return to the base. You don’t belong here… and I miss you and your brother ever so much… won’t you come back to me?”

Bro bites back a whimper and shakes his head, “I-I can’t… y-you can’t hurt Alt anymore- I-I…”

“I don’t have to hurt you love… all you need to do is play along~” she hums sweetly. “Come back to the base and bring Alt too… then this can all be over~”

Bro chokes on a sob.

Alt meanwhile is blearily trying to open his eyes- his jaw is killing him and he feels really warm and shaky…

“Hello, cub~” Magnificent grins down over Alt. Alt yells hoarsely in fear and tumbles off the table in his scramble to get away.

JJ looks over at Alt as he falls. I think—I think all of them are experiencing that.

“Why would—This is not a sign of a fever, this is targeted,” Schneep mutters, his mind whirling. “A—a side effect, perhaps? An intended side effect? To—hurt them?” He shakes his head, swimming over to Bro. “Chase. Chase please, focus on me. D-don’t look at what you’re looking at. Focus on me, okay?”

Bro’s eyes flicker between Schneep and Demerci, unsure which one is real. “S-She’s gonna hurt Alt, Hen she’s-“ Bro’s head snaps to Alt as he yells and he tries to clumsily swim over to him but crashes over himself. “A-Alt!”

Alt feels like the breath has been knocked out of him as Mag bends down over to him. It feels like his head is being held down… or is his head just too heavy to lift?

“So sad to see you this way, kitten…” Magnificent purrs. “I wish I could have seen your spiral personally… how fascinating that would have been~” His voice is suddenly in Alt’s ears as he whispers. “Maybe I’ll drag you myself just to see it again~”

Alt croaks on a response but his entire face is so sore from the mask and the mouthpiece in it. “M-Mag- n-no…!” He breathes.

Jackie breathes heavily, eyes locked on the figure in front of him. “I’m coming for you, Jaaackie,” Marvin taunts. “You better run.”

And, instinctively, Jackie does, bolting for the door. JJ’s head whips around and he tries to conjure a shield to block Jackie in, but he’s just barely too fast, slipping through before the spell is complete. Damn it! JJ says. Schneep, you go after him, I don’t think he’ll react well to me.

Anti startles as Jackie bolts out. He hesitates for a second before following after him. “I-I’ll get him! Just hang on!”

JJ nods. With Anti going after Jackie, he turns his attention to Alt. He swims over, coming into view. Alt, it’s okay, you’re okay. We’re going to keep you safe. Did he say Mag? He’s not going to get you. Don’t listen to him.

Alt struggles to move his head back but looks at JJ with terrified eyes. “J…!” Magnificent is laughing so loudly in his ears and he chokes on a quiet sob.

“Chase, careful!” Schneep says, grabbing him and helping him up again. “Alt is fine! Look, he is okay. You can see that. Okay? Okay. Y-you are having difficulty swimming, it sounds like, do you want help getting to his side?”

Bro looks around wildly as Schneep grabs him. He- he feels solid through all the murky confusion. He grips Schneep’s shoulder and sobs. “I-I- I can’t let her g-get us Schneep- s-she’ll take us back there..! W-we can’t go back!” It’s unclear what back he’s talking about… hq? Or… somewhere else?

You're okay, you're okay, JJ keeps signing, making sure that Alt can both see the signs and hear the voice from the robot fish. He's not sure what to do in this situation—maybe contact will help? He drapes the wings attached to his arms over Alt like a blanket. You're going to be okay. I promise.

Alt startles at the contact at first but then sinks against JJ, biting back frightened tears. But… the laughter seems a bit harder to hear under here. Is he really safe…?

"She's not going to get you," Schneep promises Bro. "Jamie and I will not let her get to you. You are not going anywhere, yes? Here, let's go over by Alt and Jamie. Come on." He helps Bro over to Alt's medical table.

Bro whimpers but clings to Schneep as he’s brought over. He can see Demerci trying to mouth stuff to him over Schneep’s shoulder but… it’s harder to hear her.

Once Bro has been lead to Alt on the ground the older brother gasps and tumbles down to be next to him. He hurriedly wraps him up in his arms and curls up against him, holding him tight, though still letting Jamie’s wing cover him. “You’re okay…! You’re okay…”

Alt jerks in surprise and then smiles dazedly, “C-Chase?” He whispers, voice still a bit raw. He hiccups a bit and then hides against Chase’s shoulder.

"We are all okay," Schneep says reassuringly. "See? We are all okay."

JJ smiles and nods. Don't worry. If anything bad happens, we'll help protect you. He adjusts his position so the wing is over Bro as well.

"Just everyone take deep breaths," Schneep says. "Everything is fine."

Bro takes a shakily breath and his shoulders relax. He hugs Alt around his back and the cooling blue light of JJ’s wing helps to calm him down too. “W-we’re okay…” he breathes and Alt nods against him. “We’re okay…” Alt gazes up at JJ and Schneep with slightly more focused eyes. “T-Thanks guys…”

Of course, JJ says, nodding. Schneep smiles.

Jackie swims wildly through the base, crashing into walls. Behind him, he hears more laughter, and he can see the purple glow. He sobs. He can’t go back there! He can’t let him take him again!

Anti tries his best to speed after Jackie- and luckily he knows these halls and all their turns. He quickly gains on Jackie then tries to grab him. “Jackie! Breathe! You’re seeing things! You’re okay!”

Jackie yelps, instinctively squirming against the grip. He looks back--no, it's not Marvin, it's Anti. "A-Antiiii," he cries. "I don't—h-he's not supposed to be here! H-how is he here?! I'm not—I c-can't just be seeing things, I—I-I've never--"

"Trying to escape, Jackie?" Marvin looms behind Anti, grinning.

Jackie cries out. "H-he's right behind you! W-we have to get out of here!" He grabs onto Anti in turn, trying to pull him away from the glowing violet figure.

Anti swallows shakily and shakes his head, not letting Jackie pull him away. If anything he tries to pull him closer. “It’s okay Jackie- no one here is gonna hurt you! There’s no one behind me… w-we need to get you back to the lab so Danan can look at you and figure out what’s wrong!”

"Don't lie to me!" Jackie shouts. "I-I can see him right there!" He squeezes Anti tightly. "H-he might be able to hurt even you!" He shakes his head. "I-I can't go back to that place! I-I can't go back to that dark room! H-he's gonna kill me this time, I-I know he will, I'll be too much t-trouble—"

Anti laughs a bit and shakes his head. “You won’t be taken anywhere bad Jackie… you said he’s behind me right? Watch-“ he gently floats back, going to lightly wrap his tail around Jackie’s hand so he can go back a bit farther. “He won’t hurt me. You’re okay.”

Jackie cries out as Anti floats back towards Marvin. But... nothing happens. Even though Marvin is still looking at him and smiling that sick grin. Marvin... Marvin would try to attack him, wouldn't he? Wouldn't he? Maybe—maybe something's up? Even so, he doesn't want to get close. He hesitates for a moment, then suddenly swims forward at Anti, wrapping his arms around him. His whole body is trembling. "Let's go—quickly!" he whispers.

Anti oofs out in surprise and looks down at Jackie with wide eyes. He holds his arms out- unsure what to do. But… like this… oh. He reminds him of his Jackie… when he was small… scared of the thunder and the big wide ocean… Anti blinks back tears and holds an arm around Jackie and hurries them back down towards the med bay. “okay okay- I got you…”

Jackie nods fast. He's trying not to look towards the purple glow as they head back down the hallways.

JJ looks up when Anti and Jackie return. Schneep also perks up. "You are back," he says.

"Sch-Schneep?" Jackie says quietly. "Schneep? A-a-are you... okay?"

"Yes, I am fine," Schneep says, swimming over. As soon as he gets close Jackie latches onto him instead of Anti, holding him tight. "Whoa! A-a bit tight there, Jackie."

"Pl-please—you can't listen to them anymore," Jackie stammers. "Please."

"I won't," Schneep says quietly. "I won't."

Anti blinks in surprise then looks back down at Alt, Bro and JJ before looking back at Schneep, “…any idea what he’s talking about….?”

“His Schneep…” Alt croaks quietly, “…I think h-he misses him… b-bad people have him…”

Anti’s eyes widen, “…like they had Marvin… my brothers…”

“Y-yeah…” Alt looks back at the others and seems a lot more calm and awake but he holds the trembling Bro to his shoulder. “C-Can we get the d-doctor…? I… C-Chase doesn��t get s-sick like this…”

Where did she go? Is there any way we can call for her? JJ asks, looking around.

“I can find her,” Anti says and hurries back out.

"He does not get sick like this?" Schneep repeats. "What do you mean?"

I think he means about his powers... JJ says slowly.

Alt nods, “Mhm… h-he might be under the weather but n-not this severely… h-he doesn’t get fevers this bad… I-I’m usually the s-sickly one.” He tries to laugh but it falls short.

"I-I wish I could help, but... my knowledge of medicine does not extend to side effects after being mind controlled," Schneep says slowly. "I... I suppose we just..." Then he realizes something. Jackie, holding tight to him, is also a bit hot. He presses his hand against his forehead. "Wait a moment. Jackie, do you have a fever, too?"

"I... dunno," Jackie says slowly. "M'head feels a bit weird...?"

"Weird how?"

"H-heavy, I guess... and... watery? More than just being in water, I mean. Everything's full of water."

"Scheisse," Schneep curses.

“I-it’s okay Schneep… t-this is the future… I’m sure there’s… there’s something…” Alt mumbles, trying to keep his eyes open.

Dr. Danan quickly bursts back into the room, in a bit of panic. “A-Anti said something was wrong?” She looks down at all the boys shaking and trembling and she inhaled sharply. “stars… o-okay… uh… scans I can do more scans hold on…” she grabs her scanner from earlier and goes to scan the boys.

“Chase was having hallucinations right? Hallucinations, fever, fatigue…” she muses to herself as she waits for the scans to process.

"They were all hallucinating, I think," Schneep says. "Except for Marvin, of course, he is still asleep. If that helps at all." He pats Jackie on the back. "Come on, Jackie, let's sit you down on this table over here."

"Okay..." Jackie mumbles, still clinging to Schneep as he guides him over to a medical table.

Alt struggles to help Chase up who still refuses to let Alt go. “C’mon Chase…”

“I-If you all are experiencing the same symptoms then it must be from what happened to you…” Danan muses. She goes to scan by Jackie’s ears and gets a result. Her PDA reads out: Detecting hallucinogenic toxins in subject’s bloodstream. Symptoms include hallucinations, fatigue, fever, paranoia, vivid dreams-

“Toxins? Okay… okay,.. we can work with this… some food with charcoal can help, water to flush the system and… oh…! These toxins are man made… so… we may be able to draw them out magnetically and replace the blood?” Danan mumbles to herself, swimming back and forth as she thinks.

"Replace the blood?" Schneep gasps. "Technology has advanced that far in this world?!" He sounds excited about that.

Danan blinks at Schneep and smiles, “Oh well yes! It’s not common but there’s a process to use nanomagnets to draw out toxins in blood and then add back in the cleansed blood…”

If it's toxins, then that means the symptoms will definitely fade in time, JJ says. Is there anything we can do, doctor? Maybe we can go get supplies?

She looks back at JJ and hums, “Maybe… I think we have enough water, I have charcoal… we might need more food? Fish could help… I think we have some marblemelons left? That could help too…”

JJ nods. I guess I can go out and try grabbing something? I don't think I'm built for hunting, though.

"I can go with you in a second," Schneep says. "Just have to get Jackie to calm down."

Anti laughs, “It’s okay I don’t mind getting more… you can come if you wanna try but- yeah I don’t think ghost rays have a lot of hunting skills in their DNA.”

JJ smiles at Anti. If you're sure... I think I'll be more use here. He looks down at Bro and Alt. They need some support.

"Doooctor," Jackie repeats absentmindedly. "A real one?"

Danan blinks a bit in surprise and then laughs, “Yes I am a real doctor. Got my license is both human and Xeno biology.”

"She's a real doctor, Jackie," Schneep repeats.

"No' like you," Jackie mumbles. "With a real license?"

Schneep looks a bit surprised at that. "Ah... yes, with a real degree." He looks back at the others. "Apparently the me in his world doesn't have a real medical license?"

You don't have a license at all in my world, you're not a doctor there, JJ says.

"Interesting. But I don't think that's what he's implying."

“Schneep in Jackie’s world doesn’t have a license…? But he wanted to fix Henny…” Alt frowns sleepily.

Jackie's eyes focus over on Alt. He looks confused for a moment, then seems to realize who Alt is. "He thought he could," Jackie whispers. "But he wouldn't be able to. He'd just hurt him." He shivers a little. "I-I... I would have... let that... I'm... s-sorry..."

Alt blinks at Jackie and then smiles and shakes his head, “…it’s okay,.. you wouldn’t do that now… that’s what counts, right…?”

"I... y-yeah..." Jackie nods slowly. "Yeah."

Danan nods, “I’ll get started on what I can… but food and water will probably be the best start. Perhaps the fever is already burning through most of it….”

"...Jackie," Schneep says quietly. "What if I have to go?"

"N-no." Jackie grabs onto Schneep's arm. "Don't. H-he'll get you."

Scheep turns to Anti with an apologetic expression. "I... might not be able to go help, either."

Anti laughs and shakes his head, “Don’t worry I’ll get some.” He hurries out to go find some food.

Alt pats Bro’s hair as the older brother shivers and whimpers against him.

“I’ll go get some of the other stuff… hang tight okay?” Danan says gently before heading out too.

"We will." Schneep nods,

Silence falls for a while. JJ closes his eyes, feeling the two brothers' breathing beneath him. Poor Bro... he says. My Marvin gets fevers often, I know how much they suck.

"You two are close?" Schneep mutters idly.

He's my best friend. And my roommate.

"Hah... in my world, Jackie and Marvin are best friends and roommates." Schneep smiles idly, but then it fades. "Judging from how Jackie spoke of his Marvin, though, back when we were stuck in that SCLERA place... it is not the case, there. Not at all."

Jackie shudders.

“Mmm yeah.. Marvin in his world is… terrifying.. he.. he hurt Jackie..” Alt mumbles quietly. “Mag used to be roommates with my Jackie too… before he was mag… maybe that’s another constant..?”

You would know better than us, Alt, JJ says. It's not like that in my world, but maybe mine is an exception.

“Mmm… sometimes.. I can’t remember right now…” Alt mumbles.

Schneep nods. "You have been to more places than us. Though... I am very curious about different worlds." He chuckles. "If we had some way to control our jumping, I would love to visit other universes. See the differences. What about you, JJ? Jackie?"

JJ frowns. I think... maybe some other time. I still have business to take care of at home. Maybe once that's done, I can think about hopping to other worlds.

Jackie is quiet for a moment. "I... just want to go home," he whispers. "I-I wanna see Frederick and Chase again."

Schneep squeezes his hand. "You will. I promise."

“…’m sorry Jackie…I’m sorry to all of you…” Alt says quietly, “…the rifts are… they’re my fault. Kinda… I know I’m not supposed to feel like that but I do…” he slurs and shuts his eyes. “‘M sorry our mistakes got you taken away from your homes…”

JJ looks at Alt. How could it have been your fault?

"You... got tricked or something, right...?" Jackie mumbles. "That... doesn't count. It's the fault of the guy who tricked you. He's the one who did it."

“..it wouldn’t have happened if me and bro didn’t f-fuck around with visiting universes so much…” Alt mutters, “…we got too comfortable. I thought I’d have the TRVLR for… at least longer than I did… now I don’t even know how to get you all home…”

"You tend to blame yourself for things a lot, don't you, Alt?" Schneep mutters. "You should not do that. We do not blame you, so you should not blame yourself." He pauses. "One time, I was tricked, too. My Anti... he made me think I killed my Chase. F-for months, I... I felt terrible. I-I stewed in it. But Chase did not blame me. He wanted me to be okay. I still felt bad, though, so he forgave me." He shakes his head. "It is the same situation here. We do not blame you."

Alt looks down and doesn’t look at the others, feeling delirious tears in his eyes. “…you sure…?” He says weakly.

"One hundred percent," Schneep says. "I promise."

JJ nods. It wouldn't be fair to blame you for this.

"I blame the guy who tricked you, not you," Jackie mutters tiredly, closing his eyes.

Alt is quiet for a second before he says tiredly, “…okay…” he leans more against his friends and tries not to let his thoughts get too negative.

Danan comes back after this and goes to set down some food in front of them off. 3 bottles of blackish water and 2 regular ones. And a huge melon-like thing sliced for them to eat. Danan smiles, “Here you go boys… hopefully this will start to help…”

JJ's expression brightens. He swims over and starts passing out the water bottles—correctly assuming that the blackish ones are for the sick boys. These will help you feel better, he says after everyone has a bottle.

Alt nods and smiles and tries to shake Bro to get him to drink. Bro blearily blinks out and Alt hurriedly tips his head to help him drink. Then, he reaches to grab some melon and hands it for Bro to eat. Bro sleepily takes it and starts to eat and Alt smiles and goes to drink the blackish water.

Schneep takes the bottle, then makes his way over to where Danan is and feels around until he finds the melon. He takes a slice. "What is this? Melon?"

Not a fan? JJ asks.

"Normally I do not care, but for some reason it doesn't seem as appetizing." Schneep passes the slice to Jackie, who takes it without question.

Danan chuckles, “Anti should be back soon with something more hearty… the sick boys need some more hydration though!”

Turns out, Anti was near and it doesn’t take much longer for him to swim back into the room. He throws a bag down in front of the others, a couple Reginalds and peepers spilling out. “There you go! Most decent fish I can find around here… hope that’s okay.”

"It is perfect, I'm sure, Anti," Schneep says, grabbing one of the peepers and absolutely devouring it. JJ stares at him, surprised at the ferocity, and decides to stick with the melons.

Alt sees the fish and his eyes sparkle and he can feel his mouth watering. God he really didn’t realize how hungry he was. He hurriedly grabs 3 of the fish and starts eagerly tearing into them. As he does his eyes glow a bit and almost look like they did when he was under Alterra’s control.

Is everyone feeling a bit better with food in them? JJ asks. Jackie, drink the water.

"You can't fucking control me," Jackie mumbles, turning over away from him.

JJ tries to hide how hurt he is. But even the blind guy can see it. "Do not be offended," Schneep whispers. "He seems confused about things right now. And... remember, he said that the you in his world was terrible."

JJ softens a bit, and nods. You help him, then? I think that's better.

"Of course." Schneep swims on over. "Jackie, really, you need to drink the water." He holds out the bottle.

After a moment, Jackie takes the bottle and drinks slowly.

Bro seems to shudder looking at the fish and hugs his stomach. But… it feels like some of the fog is clearing. He hears Jackie snap at JJ and he frowns, slurring out, “J-Jackie… don’t be mean…”

"...sorry," Jackie says after a while. "I don'... mean it, Jameson. It's not... for you."

JJ nods. It's fine, Jackie. You've been through a lot.

"Remember to eat, too," Schneep says, handing Jackie a fish.

Jackie stares at the fish absentmindedly for a moment before taking it, tearing it apart with his teeth and hands.

You all must be very hungry, JJ says, taking a melon slice for himself.

"Are you not?" Schneep asks.

Yes, but I'm fine with this, JJ signs, and then begins eating the melon.

“I had that f-fucking mask on-“ Alt growls through bites. “I think Jackie and bro ate a bit during that-“

“Is that why my mouth tasted weird?” Bro says with an exhausted laugh. “…mmm… god they do look kinda good though…”

“If I had time to go to the lava zone- I’d get you guys red eyeyes.” Anti snickers. “They’re spicy, they taste awesome.”

Spicy fish? JJ repeats, eyebrows raised. Sounds strange.

“Sounds interesting,” Schneep says. “Perhaps some other time.” If they’re stuck in this world long enough.

Anti shrugs, “they’re my favorite!” He grins. “But eh- not worth going to the lava zone right now… especially cuz… well..” he bites his lip- thinking of his brothers all still trapped at HQ.

Bro hesitates then grabs a fish and tentatively takes a bite. Then he eagerly starts to tear into it too.

Anti hurries to grab some food for Marvin and goes to set it on his bed, checking over the warper mer. Marvin sleepily blinks up at Anti and then smiles. But, it doesn’t last that long for it to fade and it seem like Marvin is getting those hallucinations too. But- now Anti knows what to do. He offers the blackish water and the food to Marvin and scoots to hold him close as he quietly eats.

Danan smiles at the progress and nods, having done some research on her own. “okay… while you guys are eating I think… I think the scanner and Zara might be able to help me make… an anti venom basically? That way we wouldn’t have to… sit here and filter all 3 of your bloodstreams… that would take a long time. I-I just need a sample from one of you that is affected… if that’s okay?”

Jackie raises his hand. “You can take it from me, I don’t mind,” he says, looking a bit more alive now that he’s got some food in him. “I can handle it. I can handle a lot.”

“Don’t push yourself, Jackie,” Schneep mutters.

“It’s just gonna be a little needle, right?” Jackie shrugs.

“Thank you Jackie…” Danan says gently. She kneels down next to Jackie and takes his arm, going to tie off a section then carefully draw some of his blood. Once done she spurs back up and smiles, “Okay we’ll go work on this- rest and eat and hopefully we won’t be too long…” she hurries back out.

A moment passes in silence. “Um… Jameson?” Jackie finally says. “I’m sorry for… being like that… earlier. I-I thought you were the Jameson from my world.”

JJ shakes his head. It’s fine, really. I figured it was some like that. And honestly, I might also be a little cold if I met another version of someone who’d really wronged me like that.

“Still. I’m… sorry,” Jackie mumbles. “Schneep’s getting along fine with the Antis.”

“Well ‘Schneep’ is not currently hallucinating,” Schneep says.

Jackie laughs.

Alt and Bro chuckle. “Yeah don’t be so harsh on yourself dude… we’re all just- going through it right now.” Bro smiles weakly.

“It probably helps that we haven’t really met any… of the bad Antis, to be fair.” Alt says quietly.

I can’t even picture a really evil Anti, JJ says.

Schneep laughs darkly. “I’m glad for you, then. The one in my world was… terrible.” He brushes a hand over the tear scars on his face.

Alt shudders and holds his arms, thinking of the evil Antis they’ve met. Evil versions of him… even if he’s getting more used to the idea and that he is different, it still sucks to remember that his face lives in others’ nightmares.

If he was as bad as Distorter from my world, I can imagine, JJ says.

“Who the fuck is that, by the way?” Jackie asks. “You mentioned them before.”

JJ shudders slightly. He is… a being with the ability to mess with people’s minds in all sorts of ways. If he hates you, he tries to kill you—or get you to do it. If he likes you, he tries to make you his “friend.” He used to be human, but… something happened. We’re not sure what. Something to do with the house he lived in, we think. And now he’s… like that.

Jackie’s expression softens. “Sounds fucking awful.”

Bro almost chokes on his water at the mention of Distorter, coughing and having to quickly look away.

Are you alright, Chase? JJ asks, concerned. Drink slowly.

“Y-Yeah I’m good-“ Bro laughs nervously, smiling at JJ. “just- that Distorter guy… he’s just the… worst.”

J sighs. I know. We're working on taking him down back home. Our Anti has an idea... something about confronting him directly.

Bro smiles weakly, “…I believe in you guys. You’re all tough lads. You’ll get him.”

JJ nods, smiling. Thank you.

Meanwhile, Jackie notices Alt's discomfort, too. "You... okay? I mean... guess it's gotta suck to have someone with your name be so evil." He sighs. "At least you're good, you know? You're doing the best you can." Maybe that isn't fully directed at Alt...

Alt blinks up at Jackie and is quiet for a beat. Then he smiles and nudges Jackie’s tail slightly with his. “yeah… that’s what matters, right? Trying our best.”

Jackie smiles back at Alt. "Yeah. That's what matters. And there are people who can help us try." He nods in Bro's direction.

Alt glances at Bro and then chuckles , “Yeah from what I remember, your boyfriend is a pretty good influence.”

"Shhhhhut." Jackie blushes.

Alt laughs, “I meant it genuinely! …I know mine is a good influence on me… he helped me realize that… strangers can be kind again. But I’m glad he’s gotten you to find a good path.”

"I-it's a—well, yeah, I—I guess? He's... such a good guy. I-I want to help others the way he's helped me. Maybe... I-I can support my Chase, or something." Jackie pauses. "Oh yeah. Since you guys last visited my world a month ago—for us, time is apparently inconsistent—Chase has... gotten a lot better. He's not fully better, but he's um... recognizably himself again."

Bro and Alt seem delighted to hear this. “oh I’m so glad to hear that! …wild to think that was only a month ago for you though… god I’m not even sure how long it’s been for us.” Bro says.

“Long enough to consider ourselves multiverse travel experts, I guess.” Alt laughs quietly.

You know, your visit was only a couple weeks ago for me, JJ says.

"Oh, it was a longer time since you've been in my world," Schneep says. "A couple months... a whole season, really." He shakes his head. "Time really is inconsistent between worlds. How strange..."

“That’s… really crazy…” Alt says, shaking his head. “though… guess not too crazy considering… well we’re like 200 years in the future now. I wonder if the rifts have something to do with the time inconsistencies…”

“Probably, if I had to guess,” Bro says with a shrug, “We repeated like- the same couple hours in that one world the Antis saved us from.”

"Time and space are linked," Schneep muses. "If you are to travel to a different 'space' that is a different universe, it makes sense that the 'space' would have its own 'time.' And if these rifts are somehow cracks or tears in space, of course it would affect the time as well. I wonder how your TRVLR device managed to get around that. Perhaps it bases things based on the time of your own space..." He wanders off into some scifi sounding mumblings.

Jackie blinks. "You guys getting any of this?" he whispers to the others.

Bro shakes his head, “nooo fucking clue, bro.”

Alt hums and lightly hugs his tail as he thinks, “…that makes sense I guess. Time was inconsistent in some ways..? Mostly- technically we’d end up maybe a year or so in that part from our time… except once when we ended up in a world that was in 2009. Or- I dunno if I count the medieval would we ended up in either… because that just seemed like- a fantasy world, not going in our own past. Could be the same of here… we have no idea if our earth is the same as their earth. Most of the time though… the time didn’t really matter? So… guess I didn’t think about it. Not unless it was jarring, you know?”

"Hmm." Schneep nods slowly. "Perhaps you were jumping to the relative 'present.' But now there are rifts, and they are a bit less stable, sending you across the time of the space. It really is fascinating. I wonder if you can cause the rifts intentionally... But something like that must take a phenomenal amount of power."

“Hmmm I’ve been wondering about that too…” Alt says, “I’m still unsure if these were caused because the TRVLR broke… or cuz the Anti that tricked us made them. If it’s the latter than… yeah power is the thing. He nearly drained Mag of all his magic to do it. I still don’t get it…” He sighs and lays his head on his tail. “…the TRVLR made me feel like I got how all this worked… but without it I.. I just feel so powerless… I hate it.”

"God, I know how you feel," Jackie mutters. "I mean... the three of us also got sucked through to other worlds, y'know?" He shakes his head. "I think... I think my Anti mentioned something about working on stuff for you, though. He hasn't been around lately, I think cause he's doing that. So, if that helps... there's that."

Alt chuckles a bit and nods, “Yeah… he’s working with Sam to find the TRVLR pieces… they said they got scattered to many different worlds. But They’re an all seeing eyeball so… They’ll find it eventually. I thought we’d be… just stuck for a while though. No more adventures for a bit, you know?” He laughs a bit bitterly. “I guess ‘adventure’ just has a way of finding us.”

“Speaking of which though-“ Bro speaks up, “I’m surprised a rift didn’t just- yank us out of here already. I feel like this is the longest we’ve managed to stay in a world like this…” he shrugs. “Then again all this shit confuses me.”

"Well, you cannot expect something like that to work on a schedule," Schneep says. "They seem to be working at random, like all forces of nature do. Or, perhaps, they will get farther and farther apart. We do not have a way of knowing right now."

“I wish there was more notice a rift was coming beside it just popping up,” Alt grumbles.

“True that~” Bro chuckles. “…think I’m just eager to… uh- have legs back again. This was cool at first but…”

Schneep sighs. "It would be helpful to be in an environment I can use my cane."

At this moment, Dr. Danan and Zara float back in, grinning. “we got the antidote figured out you guys!” Zara says brightly.

Dr. Danan blinks down at the boys and then smiles, “Though it already seems you boys seem to be on the mend, huh?”

Jackie smiles at Danan and Zara. "Hey. I, uh... I-I guess?"

But as long as that stuff is in you, it's possible that it could happen again, JJ says. So an antidote is welcomed. Thank you. He smiles at them.

"D'you like... inject it?" Jackie asks.

Danan chuckles, “Yes- like a vaccine. It might linger for a little bit but this should guarantee it’s purged from your system.”

“Just one more shot and you guys will be right as rain!” Zara smiles.

Bro grins tiredly and holds out his arm, “Sign me the fuck up- forgot how awful feeling sick is.” Zara seems confused by this but swims on over and injects the medicine into his arm and then massages the area. “Might feel a tad bit weird…”

Jackie also holds is arm out for the shot. "I'd love to be right as rain. I don't care how weird it feels."

"I'm sure you will be good soon, Jackie," Schneep says. "You too, Bro, Alt."

Danan chuckles and swims over his Jackie, gently injecting the medicine into his arm too.

Zara helps Alt next and injects him too and Alt glitches a bit in surprise at how it feels. Then, brightens a bit seeing himself glitch a bit easier. “Oh yo??”

Zara looks very surprised though, “uh- is that normal??”

“For him? Yeah.” Bro laughs.

We are all very unusual, remember? JJ says, making another small light show with his magic.

"Except for meeeee," Jackie says, giggling.

"You are still unique, Jackie, don't get yourself down," Schneep says.

"Oh, no, I wasn't getting myself down. I just find it a bit funny." Jackie shrugs. "I mean... it's like how Batman is a seemingly normal human being while the rest of the Justice League all have powers, but he has his own strengths that let him stand with them. I'm the Batman of our group."

Schneep chuckles. "I see."

“That’s a good way to think about it, dude!” Bro laughs.

Dr. Danan swims over to check on Marvin. Seems like having contact with Anti kept most of the hallucinations away but the fever is affecting him which seems to have unnerved him. When Danan approaches Marvin flinches but Anti quietly reassures him it’s okay. Danan finally is able to inject him and Marvin sighs in relief.

“I’m not sure how long that’ll take to set in but you all are still welcome to rest here- or if you must move on, you can do so as well.” Danan says.

Zara frowns, “…they said they needed to get home though… you guys are.. stuck here right now aren’t you? H-how can we help?”

"Well... it is a bit complicated," Schneep says slowly. "We were just speaking about it, actually. The rifts that took us from our home worlds just sort of... appeared. They may just suddenly appear again."

"We tried to make one on purpose in the last world, but it might've been a coincidence that it showed up when it did," Jackie mutters. "Alt tried to control some alien arch thing... not sure if it worked, it definitely overwhelmed him."

We would like to stay here for now, until we can maybe figure something out, JJ adds.

Danan and Zara exchange wary looks. "Dang yeah... i wouldn't mess with Alien arches... most of them head straight to HQ." Zara says quietly. "Now that they don't have Marvin... they'll probably use those a lot more..."

"You're welcome to stay as long as you need," Danan smiles. "I guess if these...rifts are random- best to get as much rest as you can before they appear."

JJ nods. Thank you. We really appreciate all you've done for us. It would have been hard without your help and space.

"I hope they don't appear in our sleep," Jackie mutters.

"I am not so tired, I can stay awake and, ah... keep an eye out." Schneep chuckles. "I will be able to feel the pull if one starts up."

Danan chuckles, "We're more than happy to help... and you helped Anti so much... it's the least we can do."

"Rest well, guys." Zara says smiling, and she and Danan swim back out.

Alt yawns and flops onto the floor, "...sleep sounds good right now. Even if it feels kinda weird to sleep underwater-"

"..bro don't make me aware of it!" Bro groans, "It's like when someone mentions breathing and then you like- breathe manually- I am now too aware that we're breathing water-"

"Oh no, now I am too!" Jackie groans. "Chase, whyyyy?"

JJ and Schneep laugh.

"Don't pretend like you're not also thinking about it, you two!" Jackie says.

If you want to transition from manual breathing, but can't, think of yourself as monitoring your breathing instead, JJ says. That helps me.

"Hmm. I guess I'll try," Jackie says. He rolls off the medical table and onto the floor as well.

"At least get to the blankets, you two," Schneep says.

Jackie groans again and gets up, swimming over to the pile of blankets.

"No. Floor good." Alt says, flopping onto his face. Bro laughs and goes to help Alt up, "C'mon bro- you'll regret that later." Bro still isn't feeling entirely well enough to pick Alt up so they kinda rest on each other before flopping onto the blankets. Alt blinks and then sinks into them. "...okay nevermind this is better-" Bro just laughs.

Anti watches them from where he's curled around Marvin, curiously flicking his tails. Marvin is caught dozing against Anti's shoulder.

JJ looks over at Anti and Marvin. You two want to join? Or, if you don't, do you at least want some blankets?

Schneep silently separates some blankets from the pile in case Anti says they want some.

"w-we or... well.. I don't usually sleep on those... usually I sleep in a nest..." Anti says quietly.

"..i'm not really sure when the last time I slept is-" Marvin slurs, "Is that why I'm so tired...? I... did they even let me sleep...?" He looks a bit freaked out but Anti hugs him tighter. "You can sleep as long as you need... I'm gonna be right here..."

JJ nods. Take a nice long nap, Marvin. Even if we're gone when you wake up, Anti will still be there for you.

"You do not have to use them, but if you want them, here." Schneep pats the stack of blankets he'd separated out.

Anti is curious though and slowly swims over and grabs the blankets. He hurries over to the corner and makes a nest- piling up against the wall and making a little dip in the middle. He then carries Marvin over. Marvin melts from the softness and easily curls up. Anti smiles and curls up around him.

Good night, JJ says, swimming back over to Jackie, Bro, and Alt and squeezing beneath them.

Schneep smiles and nods, curling up nearby but not quite sleeping.

Alt blinks at JJ squeezing beneath their tails but then laughs tiredly. “Comfy, J?”

JJ nods. The pressure feels good. It must be something about his fish species' instincts. A ghost ray, they said. He doesn't know much about fish, but he knows that stingrays like to bury in the sand. Maybe that's similar.

Schneep chuckles quietly. Jackie doesn't say anything; he's already asleep again.

“Whatever makes you comfortable, dude.” Alt chuckles. Bro grabs Alt and holds him to his side and Alt sighs and lays back, closing his eyes.

It’s not long before the rest of the boys starts to drift off.

=========

A few restful hours pass- then… seems like Jackie predicted the rift. Because a black crack starts to form in the center of the floor- water starting to be pulled in.

Schneep perks up. He'd started to doze off, but the sound of the rushing water snaps him awake. "E-everyone!" He gets up, shaking the others awake. "I think it is here!"

JJ immediately snaps awake.

Bro sits up quickly and gasps, holding up Alt. Alt yells in surprise and blinks in sleepy confusion. “T-the fuck is happening??”

Jackie shakes himself up and immediately gasps as he sees the crack in the ground. "A rift!"

Anti startles up and looks out at the others, “A-Are you okay?! What’s going on??”

"There's a rift! There's a rift!" Schneep shouts.

JJ gasps. He wriggles out from underneath the blankets and hurries over to grab their bag of clothing. His eyes dart around and land on the little fish robot. Though it was helpful, it probably wouldn't be as useful in a world that wasn't underwater. This was time to leave it behind, then. JJ took off the gloves and folded them on top, tucking them and the little robot to the side so they won't get sucked in. Thank you, he signs to them. Maybe this world's Jameson could find a use for them once he was free.

"Oh fuck! I guess we're going!" Jackie makes sure to link up with Schneep and JJ.

Anti surges up in the water and looks worried, “T-that’ll get you home then?? It looks… scary-“

"I know, it really does look terrifying," Jackie mutters. "But we've done this before! It's safe!" Or as safe as it can be when they'll end up getting sucked to a strange world.

“T-That’s the hope.” Bro swallows nervously as he links up with Schneep with one arm and holds onto Alt with the others. Alt grabs onto his brother and looks at the others, “I-if we land somewhere different just- take the bracelets off and you’ll go back to normal, okay?”

"Take the bracelets off, got it!" Schneep nods.

“I-I guess this is goodbye, then?” Anti says quietly, “then… t-thank you. Thank you so much for helping me save my brother- for giving me hope again..! I… I won’t forget this.”

Jackie looks at Anti. "Yes. Maybe we'll be back someday. But maybe not."

JJ smiles and nods. "Be safe," he says in his hoarse voice. "And goodbye."

"Hold onto that hope!" Schneep encourages. "I know you will find a way out of this. Goodbye."

"Goodbye!" Jackie adds.

“Thank you for helping us- good luck!” Bro shouts with a smile.

Alt smiles at his other self and nods, “You’ll save them- I know it.”

And then- the pull becomes too strong and the 5 of them are sucked in. The sound of glitching screeches and pixels fill the air as they’re drawn down down down into darkness.

#GITHV #Glitch into the hufflverse #GITHV Darker seas #alt anti #bro fantastic #the jaunty jackson #inverted jackie #stitched schneep #zara caley #dr. kendra danan #darker seas au #septnautical #whump #heyyy if anyone knows the septnautical loreee this should seem familiar! :D

13 notes · View notes

docheros · 2 years

Text

some early dating dapperanti fic

a really cheesy one honestly. i wrote some fic and i’ll be queueing them this week :]

Comments and reblogs appreciated!

≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡ ≡≡≡≡≡

The first thing Anti felt when he woke up? A hot breath right next to his eyes. The second thing? One arm over his body, caressing the back of his neck.

He opened his eyes, coming face to face with a smile. And a mustache. He looked up, meeting the brown eyes of the owner of the smile (and the mustache).

[Good morning, sweetie.]

The glitch had to blink a few times, staring at him, making sure it was real. His bedroom window was on the right side of the bed, the side Jameson was on, so the sun's rays glinted off his curly hair, shimmering the ends lightly; his smile and relaxed breathing contrasted with Anti's heavy breathing, nervous so early; The marks and bites on his neck and shoulders revealed the events of last night. They hadn't just been Anti's dream.

He covered his face with his hands, feeling JJ's body shake in silent laughter.

— I can’t. I can’t believe. I can't believe we actually had sex and slept together. This isn’t happening — He pulled his fingers away from his eyes, staring at his boyfriend. Boyfriend — tell me this is all a dream, please.

[Why would it be a dream?]

— Because I still can't believe we're actually dating. Like, how did I get a Greek god like you?

Jameson laughed harder, pulling him up and giving him a kiss. A gentle, tender kiss, different from the ones he'd given last night, but still making Anti's stomach funny.

[Because I saw a Greek god in you too, duh] he gave him another kiss, this time on his left eye [we are a very, very cute couple.]

— Bullshit, you're clearly prettier.

[I disagree, I still believe that we are very cute. But you know what I didn't believe? On waking up and seeing such an angel in my arms, sleeping so close to me] Anti's cheeks quickly gained color, much to Jameson's amusement [you get embarrassed very quickly]

— And how can I not be with you talking like that? I still think you're lying.

[You urgently need to work on your self-esteem. But] he sighed [believe what you want for now. But I think I'm the luckiest man in the world to have you by my side] he cupped his face, giving him one more kiss. Anti smiled, wrapping his arms around his neck.

— I also think I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have you by my side.

#I'm writing!!#jj #anti #dapperanti my beloved #dapperanti #antidapper #the queue tag

7 notes · View notes

avenging-criminal-bones · 3 years

Text

After All This Time || Chapter Five

Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Word Count: 2,146

Chapter Summary: Anger. And harshness, maybe feelings. I haven't decided yet so I guess you'll have to just read to find out.

CHAPTER WARNINGS: angst?, asshat hotch again, sad feels

A/N: Guys, I'm like legitimately so sorry that this chapter took so long. It's not even that I've been all that busy. I definitely did go to California for two weeks, but after that I think I just got lazy? Had writer's block? I don't know. But New chapter is UP.

TAGLIST:

@kingofthetwats @wanniiieeee @uwu-sebastianstan @piggyinthesea @yoshigguk @thatisthemagic @errorcosplay67 @ivebeenthinkingboutu @big-galaxy-chaos @rynfoxsleeps @phoenixsnape1 @mojofun @pachiibatt @enjoymyloves @thenewnormalforensicator @word-scribbless @zezezena @chelseyjoyce @ellyhotchner @lora21 @flipperpenguins @illegal-brains @sunnysaysbookreviews @anti-zippy-snoot @kya-li

You come to eleven hours later, the first thing that you hear being the steady beep of a monitor.

The hospital.

It smells... white, the cleanness of it making you scrunch your nose. Still not having opened your eyes, you sense the brightness, almost making you not want to at all.

However, you knew how hospital visits work. When Reid was injured, the whole team was there waiting for him to wake up. With that push, that you had people waiting for you to wake up, you opened your eyes.

Everything was too bright at first. You felt your lips fall into a grimace and joked aloud, "You guys don't need to be so quiet, she lives."

There was no response, and as your vision cleared up, the wind was knocked out of you like a punch to the gut.

Empty.

The whole room was empty. Aside from you and the TV, there was no talking. There were no people.

For a moment you thought that you were dead. Or maybe dreaming, because who wakes up from a seemingly severe injury with no support system? With no friends.

You hear your heartbeat speed up before you feel it, but boy do you feel it when it hits.

The monitor must send an alert to the nurses' station or something because shortly after, a small, black-haired woman rushes into the room.

"Agent L/N? Are you alright, is there any-,"

"I just- where- did my- wh-where is my team?" The stutter surprised you and you sat up fast, not realizing how prominent the pain in your abdomen was until it was too late. You let out a soft gasp, but looked at the nurse to hear an answer.

"Oh, uh, honey... I asked as they left and the tall, broody one said that there was an emergency." She walked up to you and turned a dial on your IV machine, gently asking you to lay down again.

You complied, not fully paying attention. Your mind was somewhere else; thinking about the harshness of your team, but you had to assume that this was Hotchner's doing.

"You alright, sweetie," the kind nurse asks, her name is Monica.

You nod slowly, your head feeling a lot lighter than it had when you woke up. "Yeah. I'm okay. Um, before you go can you hand me my phone?"

She nods, looking at you for where, and you gesture to the bag that's slightly out of your reach. Monica hands you both the phone and its charger, pointing to an outlet on the wall behind your head.

Nodding in thanks, you plug the charger into the wall and watch the kind nurse leave before unlocking your phone. You see immediately that you have five missed calls from your mother, and after further searching, you notice messages from Emily, JJ, and Penelope. JJ's was the most recent, so you open hers first.

JJ (BAU) 43 minutes ago.

Hey Y/N, In case you wake up before we get back, Hotch called our debrief meeting, so we all went back to the precinct. Sorry, hon.

xoxo JJ and the Girls

You didn't register the tears until they were falling down your cheeks. You sighed a bit and replied to JJ's message with a short, 'got it'.

As soon as you pushed the 'send' button, the door to your room opened again and your entire team rushed in.

Well, most of the team.

Really, everyone except one person.

You were quick to wipe your eyes, trying to hide the fact that you had been crying. JJ walked to the chair beside your bed and sat down, giving you the most gentle hug as she did.

"Did you get my message? Are you feeling okay? Do you need a nurse, any water?"

"JJ, you're momming her," Derek joked as he bent to give you a hug. "For real though, you feelin' alright, lil mama?"

You nodded, sending him a tight-lipped smile as Emily walked over to the other side of your bed, bringing Penelope with her on a video call.

Spencer even came by, but he looked relatively uncomfortable and stayed by the door.

Waving at him a bit, you say, "You can come in you know. I won't bite."

"I know, Y/N. I was just worried. Statistically speaking, you survived on an off-chance. The ratio was close to 83:17, and the bullet entered your abdomen in-"

"I get it Spence. I should be dead," you pause slightly seeing everyone's wide-eyed look at your bluntness, "BUT I didn't die, so everyone can stop looking at my like I'm going to break and just settle." You chuckle a bit and sigh as you see the rest of the team besides Spencer nod their heads or visibly relax their shoulders.

"You're right, kiddo," Rossi says quietly, "You're okay, and we can celebrate that."

"Thanks, Rossi." Smiling, you lean into his hand, which was cradling the side of your face for a moment. "Can someone get Hotchner please? I had some words that I'd like to have him hear."

JJ places her hand on your arm then and says, "Y/N, maybe that's not the best idea right now."

"No," you shake your head and make eye contact with her, "That's exactly what I need right now."

"Y/N..."

"Spencer, can you go get him please? He's just sitting out in the lobby, correct?" You snap a little harsher than you meant to.

The boy stutters a bit, but eventually nods his head and walks out of the room. The rest of the team shares a look before also walking out, giving you space for when your boss comes in.

Sitting up straighter in the bed, you even your mouth into a thin line just as Hotchner walks in the room.

"Am I off the clock right now, sir?" You don't miss the way his eyes flash to your lips but you choose to ignore it.

He sighs and crosses his arms over his chest, "Say what you need to say, agent."

"Who the hell do you think you are? Calling the debrief not only at a time where one of the team members can't make it, but when the team member is in the hospital with a GSW wound." Your voice rises steadily as you continue talking, but you have more to say. "Not only that, but you couldn't even be bothered to make sure I was okay when the debrief was over?" Subconsciously, you recognize the switch from a third-person mindset to a personal one, but you pay it no mind.

"Agent L/N, you-"

"No. You will call me Y/N, and I will be calling you Aaron. We aren't on the clock right now and you don't deserve my professionalism," the heart monitor spikes in tempo, and you throw the blanket off of your lap.

He quirks an eyebrow at you as you command him, but nods his head slightly, letting you be in control for the moment. "Go ahead, Y/N. You get whatever irrational anger you have towards me out in the open and we can deal with the consequences later."

"I left EVERYTHING for this job, Aaron. I left my mom, who never stopped grieving a lost son, I left my job there thinking this would be better, and I lost friends and people who actually cared about my well-being. People who wouldn't leave one of their own in an unknown hospital to wake up by themself, not sure if they were even actually alive since there wasn't anyone with them." You saw Aaron flinch with everything that you listed, but you didn't care. He needed to hear it. "So yeah, Aaron. I get to be angry, and you don't get to tell me it's irrational, because this is the most rational I think I've been this entire year."

"Y/N. You put not only yourself, but me, and the rest of the team in danger yesterday. Excuse me if I don't want to see you and be around you while you're in the hospital." Really, if burned Aaron to his core that he couldn't reach over and tuck the stray piece of hair behind your ear, because right now that's what he wanted to do. Except it's inappropriate and he's not sure you'd let him within three feet of you.

"NO! You see, that's not how it works. Are you telling me that if you saw a little boy with a gun trained on them, you wouldn't have done the exact same thing?" Hot tears fill your eyes, but you don't wipe them. You almost hope that him seeing you cry will make him feel bad, if even just a little.

Glancing at the way his jaw was set and how he clenched his fists in his lap, you knew he was struggling to keep his cool, so of course you pushed harder.

"What if it was Jack, Aaron."

"Dammit, L/N, it wasn't Jack. It was just some boy that we couldn't save. We shouldn't have been able to save him. You didn't use the training you had, and you didn't use the rational part of your brain. As terrible as that sounds, and trust me, I never want to lose a victim, if you had used the training from the bureau, we wouldn't have saved him. " Aaron stands up and paces the length of the bed then, feeling your eyes following him the whole time.

You shake your head as you let your gaze fall to your lap. "I wasn't going to let him die again... I wouldn't have been able to live with myself."

Aaron's eyebrows furrow a bit and he looks at you with angry curiosity in his eyes, "Again? What do you mean by that?" That's when Hotch remembered earlier when you mentioned her mother who lost a son. "Y/N, did your brother... No. Actually, I'm sorry, just forget I said anything,"

There was a dark anger in your eyes as you shook your head. "No, Aaron. Ask me. Ask me this one question, and then reassess your profiling of me."

His gaze turned steely as he squared his shoulders again, showing no emotion in his voice as he spoke. He almost felt like the best way to approach you right now was as if you were the unsub.

"Was your brother murdered, Y/N?"

Dropping your head, you feel the tears burning in your eyes again and you nod. "He was only five. He had his whole life ahead of him. You'd think a child would be safe with a group of nuns or a priest, but no. Not even them. He was branded with a cross before he was killed and it's just unfair."

Aaron starts to walk closer to your bed, seeing the devolving pattern of your breathing, "Y/n, I'm so sorry, I-"

"No. Aaron, just, please go. I'll catch a flight home when I'm allowed to fly again, so you guys just go home and I'll figure it out. I mean, that's what I did when I was waking up by myself, right? Go ahead and fire me if you need to, suspend me, I don't care anymore, but I'll come back when the hospital says it's safe." You take a deep breath and watch as he turns away.

He gets all the way to the door before he turns back around and says, "What was his name."

"Joey."

Hotch nods and walks out of the door, remembering that the final victim, the one that you saved, was named Joseph.

After the encounter with Hotch you fell asleep. The heavy medication and the anger in your head knocked you out easily. You were asleep for a few hours, but you woke up when your pain medication wore off.

You noticed that your work phone had a few notifications, so you sat up a bit and looked through them.

There were two that stood out to you. The first one was a notification that read "Hotchner (Asshat) has added you to the group 'BAU Team'". The second was his message in that group chat.

Hotchner (Asshat) 2 hours ago

Hey team, change in plans. We will be staying here until Y/N gets cleared to fly. It should only be a couple of days and I know we were planning on flying out tonight. Sorry, Thanks.

As soon as you liked his message, your texts were blowing up from Emily. She was saying stuff about how "he totally likes you", and about, "you had a rough time on this case".

Also, apparently Derek saved all of his sarcasm for when Hotch got back, and the thought made you smile.

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #hotch #hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #criminal minds x reader #angst #sadness #talk of child death

78 notes · View notes

literateleah · 4 years

Text

the paradox of emily prentiss’ audience perception and character design

some of y’all about to be real mad at me, but it must be said:

emily prentiss’ character design makes no sense: my personal opinion + an objective analysis

i think it can be challenging to separate the versions of characters we have in our little brains from actual canon content, but doing so is important for understanding what those characters are truly like, especially within the context of their environment and in contrast to others around them. plus developing a deeper understanding of the media we consume is super fun and interesting! with that being said: emily prentiss should not work for the fbi and here’s why (in three parts regarding who’s responsible: cbs, paget, and fans) (sit down and grab a snack i promise this is over 3k words)

quick disclaimer: i don’t dislike emily at all! that’s my girl, i just looked closer and realized some funky things the writers did and felt the need to analyze her of course: so let’s get into it

part one: what cbs did

cbs set the stage for emily’s introduction on the heels of the departure of lola glaudini as elle greenaway! lola has clarified that she decided to leave the show because filming in los angeles was not the best environment for her personally, and after one successful season on a major network (but not much established long term plot or drama beyond elle’s departure as a character) a consistent ensemble cast was required- particularly because the bau had been criticized for being predominantly male in the first few episodes of the show and not much development was given to penelope or jj yet. enter emily prentiss.

for the duration of seasons 2-3ish, emily was framed as a chip off the block that was elle greenaway, just slightly…richer? in her first few episodes emily was hesitantly polite but ambitious, clean cut, intellectually concise and held her own within the team. she seemed equal parts intimidated and frustrated by her male superiors (gideon, hotch) but certainly proves herself among other profilers. her childhood was explored only within reference to her strained relationship with her mother (which was only ever referenced once more after the fact) and we received a short overview of her educational and career history in her first few episodes. emily fit right into the hole elle had left, and didn’t have many major storylines yet.

seasons 4-6 brought a bit more development and depth to emily’s character! she begins dropping more snarky remarks, one liners, and socially deepening her relationships with the other team members. this seems more within the lines of elle’s design, but emily arguably took more time to grow into her place within the team. during the foyet arc she was vulnerable and supportive, and the doyle arc gave her some independence and agency she didn’t have previously. this era also solidified her appearance and persona as more edgy, which falls in line with general fanon perception of her character (especially when compared to jj or penelope). i can’t address this era or season 7 without mentioning that cbs was actively trying to remove paget from the cast, similar to how they did to aj cook as well. paget has spoken about this instance before, and i believe it slightly affected her portrayal of her character, and “lauren” was somewhat of a goodbye for both paget and emily (thus why she wished for mgg to direct since they were best friends).

season 7: in my opinion, one of the best seasons for emily. she was wisened and deeply wounded by her experiences with doyle, which was understandable of course. she returned to the team she loved and learned to appreciate life in a different way, remaining mature during this time period as well! though her departure was a bit less than graceful and sudden at the end of this season, it made sense compared to some other exits the team had seen.

now *sigh* all the rest.

paget as emily appears in two separate guest appearances (once in s9 and once in s11, and she is referenced offscreen as well) before permanently reprising her role as unit chief of the bau. these appearances were most likely to boost ratings and get the team back together (i.e. 200) or just to pepper in international cases (tribute). emily’s personality remains pretty consistent here, just more mature and comfortable in leadership positions (seeing as she is running an entire branch of an international law enforcement organization). then season 12 hit.

upon the departure of thomas gibson as hotch, cbs reached out to paget to see if she would be interested in fulfilling her role as emily within a longer term unit chief position. i’ll get into why this is wack in a few paragraphs, but the remainder of her time on the show is spent on a mature portrayal that seems very distant from her previous versions. emily is more authoritative, gives orders with ease, and has no qualms about leading a team of agents or even receiving promotion offers as director of the entire bureau.

thus concludes a general summary of the canon content cbs gave us as viewers. now let's talk about what they didn’t give us, regrettably

the primary aspect of emily’s design that comes to mind for many is her queer coding. though not much was to be expected from cbs, a prime time cable tv network, each of her relationships on the show (all with men) seemed oddly forced, and without much chemistry as compared to the SOs of other main characters. rumors of scrapped plotlines have floated around about what may have been, but the ultimate lack of acknowledgement of any queer characters in the main ensemble still leaves a feeling of disappointment to audiences, and leaves more to be desired as for how emily navigates social bonds.

part two (sidebar): what paget did

i think it could be agreed within audiences that paget brewster’s portrayal of emily made the role what it was! her dry witty delivery and emotional prowess combined with sitcom acting experience made her performance a mainstay for years. i think she did the best she could with a confusing and at times flat characterization, and brought the role to life.

paget also heavily contributes to fanon indirectly with her comments outside of the show (press, cameos, twitter etc). her general continued interest and fondness for the role post production affects fan perception, particularly in what she chooses to elevate and comment on. she and aj have both spoken about viewing jemily content, and paget and thomas have both also commented on hotchniss. most cast members feel free to comment on their characters in the appropriate timing, and seem open to discussing fanon ships and theories outside of canon!

part three: what fanon did

as we can tell from this fan space as well as the presence on insta, tik tok and twitter, fans LATCHED onto emily super quickly. she’s remained a favorite over the years, and this fan persistence is what brought her back so many times after leaving (so many times). in my opinion, queer coding and a bolder female trope (in contrast to her female counterparts) are the main pulls because they resonated with so many fans- new and old. with that being said, newer fans of the show in the past year in particular have been heavily influential in fanon, solely because of the large influx of fan content and popularity of it.

fan content began to take coding and bite size moments and snippets from the show as canon, and cemented it into much of the content and discourse they created. these small pieces of emily’s character are significant, but have become magnified by how easily they are to share and edit. for example, a collection of catchy one liners from emily over the seasons makes for a great video edit intro, or gifset! there’s absolutely no problem with this content, it just all combines to create a certain fanon perception no character escapes (this isn’t a phenomenon limited to emily or the cm fandom!)

these droves of content also solidified emily’s personality as much more defined, but at the same time, simplified it in a way that’s slightly harder to explain.

fanon: more emo/goth than canon basis

fanon: more introverted/anti social than canon basis

fanon: more violent/chaotic when canon emily is relatively well mannered and doesn’t start many conflicts (particularly in the workspace)

fanon: much less maternal when canon emily displays desire on multiple occasions (even crossing professional borders) for children, particularly teenage girls (possibly projection)

(again, nothing wrong with this interpretation at all and it still varies! This is just a generalization based on most of the popular content i have seen)

part 4: why it doesn’t work

let me start with this: emily prentiss does not like her job.

we don’t receive much in depth information about emily’s internal feelings and thoughts towards her mother beyond resentment. this stems from wanting to make it on her own, as a professional and as an individual (cough cough college deposits). this makes emily’s insistence on proving herself to authority figures in her earlier seasons is interesting to watch in different circumstances. she cites her experience and denies help from her mother when justifying her placement in the bau to hotch, she is extra vigilant about being helpful on her first case with gideon, etc. nevertheless, emily forges her own path outside of diplomacy and becomes a successful profiler and agent, with the help of her privilege, wealth and name whether she likes it or not. but if we read between the lines and fill in the blanks cbs neglected, these ambitions may subconsciously be oriented towards pleasing her mother.

example one: emily’s authority issues go further than just “rebellion” or “anarchy”, she frequently questions the ethics and sustainability of the work that the bau does. every team member does this, but emily much more so than anybody else.

in “amplification”, emily almost breaks federal protocol to inform civilians of anthrax threats. she butts heads with both hotch and rossi on this front, and ends the episode with having a conversation with rossi about the ethics of lying in their line of work. emily resigns to a solemn “it be like that” and moves along, accepting this reality.

on multiple different occasions emily laments to derek about the darkness she sees on the job, and it’s shown that this gets to her quickly on particularly bad cases. this is another contradiction of the design that she can supposedly “compartmentalize” better than others on the team, when she cannot unless the lives of others are at risk (doyle arc, s7 finale).

emily also responds in this way to many cases involving children, a similarity to jj many don’t notice upon first watching the series. “seven seconds” and “children of the dark” come to mind, during the latter in which emily is prepared to cross multiple professional lines to adopt a teenage girl left orphaned by the case, until hotch stops her and establishes that her emotions can’t rule her judgement on the job. regardless of hotch’s thoughts about her attempted caretaking abilities, these actions and impulses deeply contradict the typical bureaucratic pathways of the work the bau does.

the looming reputation of her mother’s diplomatic history hangs over emily, and after going to law school and working for the cia, she most likely did want to forge her own path as far away from being a socialite: being a spy. her inner nature doesn’t always reflect this profession, and leads me to believe that with her knowledge of psychology, law procedure and care for children: emily prentiss might be more inclined to working in social work, placing suffering children and teenagers in homes they deserve.

and finally, the hill i will die on: emily prentiss was an bad unit chief

this wonderful post touches on my general sentiment, but there were many reasons as to why emily prentiss’ career arc makes little to no sense (plot holes included).

first: her background. emily attended chesapeake bay university as well as yale and achieved a ba in criminal justice. keep in mind that though timelines evidently don’t exist in the cm universe, emily prentiss is ONE YEAR older than aaron hotchner (for context). in her first episode, she professes that she has worked for the bureau for a little under ten years in midwestern offices- something the audience laters knows to not be true. emily worked with the cia and interpol as a part of a profiling team and undercover agent up until roughly TWO YEARS before her canon introduction. plot holes and time gaps aside, this makes me wonder, why didn’t she just say the cia was a backstop without revealing the highly confidential nature of her work with doyle (similar to jj’s state department backstop and cover story)? penelope or hotch could have easily accessed her file and seen that she did not in fact have experience with the bureau in midwestern offices recently, and given the fact that erin strauss set up her bau placement, i’m presuming these formalities or references were overlooked.

second: her experience within the team. emily worked as a part of the bau with the bureau for roughly 6 or 7 years. after this, she is invited to run the entire london branch of interpol, one of the most renowned international law enforcement organizations. i’m surely not the most knowledgeable on requirements or standard timelines for such matters, but with the fact that emily had never led a team in her life (not in the bau or interpol previously) and had roughly 10 years of field experience, i don’t believe she would have ever realistically been considered eligible to run the whole london department.

third: her return to the bureau. fanon depiction of their relationship aside, if you believe aaron hotchner’s last wish before going into witsec was to entrust his team to emily prentiss, you’re dead mistaken. bringing emily back was clearly a pull for ratings after the loss of two main characters (hotch and derek), but logistically a bad decision. let’s suppose emily has had 4 or 5 years of experience in london now, this established authority position would be unlikely to change at the drop of a hat, even for old teammates or friends. also considering how close they were after a decade of working closely in bureaucratic and field contexts, i firmly believe hotch would have referred jj for the job of unit chief but that’s another discussion for another time.

emily’s reign as unit chief is odd, because of the many chaotic storylines crammed into it. but amidst bad writing and viewings plummeting, emily’s character is completely flattened. completely. emily is unrecognizable, both in appearance (that god awful wig) and personality. at times she acts as a complete wise authority, giving orders and delegating local authorities as hotch did. but at other times she makes multiple illegal, emotional, and incorrect judgement calls based on personal circumstances that lead to further chaos (deleting the recording of her and reid’s mexico conversation and reprimanding luke in “luke” for the exact same thing she did in season 6 even though she enabled her to do so come to mind).

i’m not sure if this is due to paget trying to find her footing in the role again, or the writer’s bad decisions towards the end of the show wrecking any previous design for their ensemble. then, there’s the infamous “wheels up” scene in s13e1. notoriously cringey, this seems like a vague caricature of something rossi would say many years in the past (the same goes for her pep talk in “red light” in the hunt for diana reid). these moments are meant to mature emily in the audience’s eye, but instead completely removed her from who we understood her to be, and made her an unreliable leader.

part five: and why it does

in theory, emily was a bolder foil to jj, similar to elle who she arguably replaced at first. she came into her own, and stands as a more uniquely developed character than almost any other in the main ensemble. she isn’t as maternal or domestically inspiring as canon jj, less bright and sunny than penelope, not quite as stoic or intimidating as derek or hotch. And yet at the same time, she’s a fairly blank slate. stripping fanon content away entirely, canon emily has few defining traits (all of which are constantly changing), and that may be the key to why we love her so much.

#long post #emily prentiss #ITS HERE #and its a doozy #read if you'd like #leah writes #if there's typos i apologize #this was a fever dream

188 notes · View notes