#see i think the difference is that i!marvin is more combat-oriented in spells and magnificent is mostly mind tricks

[crystalninjaphoenix]

The Crossover Episode

Septics Inverted

A JSE Fanfic

Doin’ something a little different. I may or may not really love the Swap Boys AU, and I was like “heh, what if crossover?” and then I was like “Wait! I can do that! Literally nothing is stopping me!” andalsoHuffleencouragedme So I wrote it! :D Hope I’ve done the characters justice, it was a little strange writing someone else’s characters (ignore the fact that fanfic is just that lol)

Swap Boys was created by...a whole bunch of people actually, but you can find a lot of its content on @huffle-dork​​‘s blog!

Read the intro story: Part One | Part Two

Various other AU-related stuff found here

I don’t know if I should add the taglist to this cause it’s not normal AU material, but I have nothing to lose here, so if I tag you but you’re not interested don’t feel compelled to read this | Taglist: @evyptids​ @awkward-bullshit​ @watermelonsinmyattic​ @asunachinadoll @a-humble-narcissus @metautske​ @odysseus-is-best-boi​ @acuriousquail @beerecordings

If anyone had been watching the security monitors at the museum that night, they would have noticed when almost the entire system shut down, leaving only a couple cameras still operating. It was a very unusual blackout: all the feeds turned purple at the edges before the cameras spazzed out and died. But nobody was watching the security monitors. The single night guard had gone to check out a suspicious movement behind the building, and never come back.

The moment the system went down, a man in a black cat mask appeared in the middle of the museum’s latest exhibit. He waited for the pale purple smoke from the teleportation spell to vanish before looking around. The room was grand, marble floor and columns holding up the ceiling. Apparently an anonymous donor had decided to give their collection of antiques to the museum, and the museum put them here. He wondered who the donor was, because they were either unaware of what their antiques actually were, or an absolute idiot for letting these out of their sight. Even just looking at these things through the television had set off all sorts of magical alarm bells.

Well, they weren’t doing anyone any good just sitting inside glass cases. Marvin smiled to himself. Time to figure out what exactly was worth taking.

The central artifact of the exhibit was something that looked like an empty doorway made of stone. Except it had runes carved on one side and the other side was black, like obsidian. Apparently the donor had instructed that nobody pass through the door. Marvin wondered why that was. Looking at the doorway was sending shivers down his spine, echoes of power, but it wasn’t small enough to transport easily so he left it alone. The other artifacts were a different story. They ranged from jewelry to figurines to leather-bound tomes, everything so obviously magical that it was amazing nobody else had caught on.

Marvin strode over to the nearest display case, containing silver necklaces and bracelets. He placed his hands on top of the glass and muttered some words under his breath. A wave of purple spread across the case, and then the glass dissolved into sand. The jewelry was now out on the open, and Marvin could feel the pulses of magical energy coming from them. Luckily he’d thought to worn gloves; you never knew what these things could do when you touched them with bare skin. He’d figure out which ones were dangerous later, when he was back home. One of the necklaces was giving out the strongest pulse, so he grabbed it, and in a puff of lavender smoke it disappeared. All this teleportation was gonna take a toll on him eventually, so he’d have to be careful choosing which artifacts to liberate.

The lights overhead flickered and died. Marvin sighed deeply. Did this guy have nothing better to do than stalk them? With a flick of his wrist, Marvin conjured a globe of purple light, brightening his surroundings. It was quiet...until the hum of static slowly built up behind him.

“ Yo͟u m̵iss̴e̢d͡ a ̡f̢ew ̸c̨a̸m͠eras,” he said, amused.

Marvin didn’t even give Anti the courtesy of a reply, just spun around and sent an arc of violet magic in the general direction of his voice. The magic passed right through the columns in the room, as well as the glass display cases. A few of the artifacts inside let out spurts of color and unnerving hissing sounds. One even exploded into shards of colored crystals, which in turn caused the rest of the items in that case to either melt or also explode. “Fuck,” Marvin muttered. Okay, point taken, be careful using magic around these things.

An outline of a man appeared, leaning on top of one of the cases. He was glowing slightly green, which would make him an easy target if he wasn’t prone to glitching out of the way of any projectiles. “S̢hor̨t̴er͠ temp͝e͞r ̶than usual, I see,” Anti said. “What’s wrong, w͡hiske̛r͟s͢?”

“I’m kind of busy, right now,” Marvin growled. Maybe he could land a hit if he could keep Anti distracted. He ran through all the attack spells he knew, trying to find one that could avoid hitting the artifacts.

“Oh, we’re ̕ta̧l̵king t̨h̵i̡s̸ ̛tím͢e͡!" Anti laughed. “Can’t be th̀at̕ ̸b͡us̕y̨ then.”

“Well, you’re just gonna jump out of the way of anything I try like the fucking cheater you are. And everything's pretty sensitive in here, so why take the chance of blowing myself up? Anyways, what do you want?”

“Well, I ͏wa̢nt̛ you to ̶s̷t̴op ̧this sort of thing a͠l̸to̵g̷eth͟er,” Anti mused. “And maybe d̴i͡sappȩar from s͡o͝ciet͞y͝ while you’re at it. But I know y͏ou won’t do that, so I’ll settle for y̸óu leavi̷ng̢ th̛iś ͞p͟l͏ac̷e alone.” He glanced around. “Is it really a good idea to go after things that can b̶a̴ck̨f̛ire̵ ̀o̵n y̛òu̸ at a͏ny m͏oment? ̢Es̸p͟ećìally considering what ̵hap̢pe̢ned ̕la͞st͡ time one of your spells—”

A beam of concentrated magic, about the width of a pencil, shot toward’s Anti’s head, actually connecting. He stumbled back a few steps, coming apart momentarily before reforming.

“How do you know about that?!” Marvin demanded.

Anti shook his head, pixels flying away from his face. “I ̧j͞us̛t do.” He glitched and for a moment there seemed to be more of him. “Wha̧t...w͞a͞s tha̢t, by ̕th̡ȩ ͏w̸ày͞? F̕elt͡ ͠lik͝e a knif̀e in the̡ br͞a̸in.”

“Pointslice spell,” Marvin couldn’t resist explaining. His eyes flashed purple. “Good to know it did something.” And he sent another one in Anti’s direction.

Anti was prepared this time, glitching away. He reappeared right in front of the stone doorway in the center of the exhibit. Once more, he shook his head, blinking this time. He was confused. Good. Marvin sent one more pointslice towards Anti, this time hitting him square in the chest. The force of the spell shoved him back a few steps and right into the empty doorway, where he stopped. Frozen in place like someone hit the pause button. “C̵-càņ't͟—go̷—fa͠r͏-fart̛her,” he said through gritted teeth. The words came out haltingly, stuttering like a broken connection. “No̶t̢ su̴p̨pos͟-̴p͏o̷s̸-p̷os̵ed̷ t̶o—feȩl̴s ̛da͡nger-d̡ang̕e̛r͠-ger-ge͞r—”

“Dangerous?” Marvin finished. “I’m sure you can handle it.” Anti was unwilling and/or unable to move from the spot where he’d ended up. He probably wouldn’t be able to dodge a slower, but more powerful spell. Marvin gathered his magic, then threw a dark purple flame toward the doorway.

Anti’s eye widened. At the very last second, he tried to glitch away, but...something happened. The magic tried to go through the doorway and the cluster of pixels, but it stopped. It glowed brighter, then started to spin, gathering into a sphere that only spun faster and faster. Anti’s pixels were caught up in the magic’s orbit, swirling around it and speeding up as it did. The magic let out a low whine that grew higher in pitch until it was almost out of the range of human hearing, then it shattered. A wave of color and noise and indescribably bright light burst out, tearing through the glass cases, hurling anything not rooted to the ground away from the doorway in a circle. Including Marvin, whose head hit the far wall with a thud before he slid to the ground.

Anti reformed slowly, clusters of pixels becoming shapes, clumps of shapes becoming limbs and then finally a body. He was laying face down on the floor, eye closed. Standing would take too much energy. What the fuck just happened? First Marvin hit him with a new spell that messed with his head, basically slowing his thoughts down, then he got stuck in that weird doorway. He didn’t even mean to, it was just that the moment he was standing in it, he got this overwhelming feeling that he should not go through unnatural stop do not that added more fuckery to his head. And then Marvin, like an idiot, had attacked him. And he, like an idiot, glitched away. The combination of Marvin’s black magic and Anti’s own must have...done something. He wasn’t sure what, but it had apparently drained him.

“Now what do we have here?”

Anti’s eye fluttered open. That voice...it sounded a bit like Marvin, but since when was Marvin the type to say something so sinister and cliche? With some effort, Anti lifted his head up and turned it towards the voice. And there, he saw a man who looked almost like Marvin, but with some key differences. He’d upgraded from a dress shirt to a full suit, and his cape was flickering with static, which made Anti feel strangely offended. The man wore half of a white cat mask, and one of his eyes glowed bright green while the other was dull and lifeless. There was magic dancing around his clawed hands, but it was green instead of purple.

The man looked at Anti, watching him glitch wildly for a moment. “You didn’t tell me you had a new trick, Alt.”

“W̛h̸o̡ ̧t̨h̢e ̷fu͢c̢k is ̷Al͢t?” Anti pushed himself into a kneeling position.

For a split second, the man looked surprised. But he quickly buried it. “You can’t fool me.” The man stalked forward, grabbing Anti by his scarf and pulling him into an upright position. “You think a change of clothes and a new location would be able to hide you from me? I’m afraid you're wrong. Though I'm very interested in how you managed to pull that off.”

Anti scowled. “Loo͏k,͝ H̡ou͠d͢ini,̵ I d͢o̕ń't ķnow͏ ́w͞h̵ơ you̸ a̢re, I ͠d̢o͝n'͏t kn̡ow who̕ ͞y̸o̕u͏ th͢i͢n͟k ̶I ̕a̷m̶,͞ àll̡ I̕ k̷now ̛i͏s tha̧t yo̢u͏'́r͢e ̴th́r͞e̕at̕e̢n̛i̧n̢g͞ m̨e̷ u͝n͠deŗ ̧a ̸v̛eil, ̵anḑ ̶it͢'̕s do̶i̕n̢g ̕n̡o̴th̷ing.”

“Is that so?” The man flexed his fingers, and the claws on his hands extended. He smiled madly. “Perhaps I believe you. But that won’t stop me from taking your other eye out. Then maybe you’ll tell me where I am.”

Anti burst out laughing, spasms of distortion running through his body. “The̛r̷e's͠ th͞e u̶nveíl̶e̵d ͡threat͞s! Go a͠h͠ead́. ̨I͢ ̶o͏n̕c̕e h̢ad͏ ͠my h̷an̛d ̨cu͞t off̷ a͞nd̡ I ͢di͏dn'͞t f̡̢̛l͞i̧̢͠ņ̀c͟h,͢ y̵ǫu t̵hink̀ ̨a meaśly̷ l̵it͞t̡l̨e̛ ey̨e iś ̢g͝ǫn̕na ge̛t a̸ ͞re͝ác͟tio͢n̸?”

The man blinked for a moment, which probably meant he was confused or too angry for words. Maybe both. But before he could retaliate, something purple started glowing in Anti’s peripheral vision. He barely had time to brace himself before both he and the other man were hit with a blast of violet magic, throwing them both a few feet across the room. Anti forced himself into a kneeling position for the second time in a minute and looked at Marvin—was the other man somehow also Marvin?—standing with his hands full of purple magic, glaring at the other man. “Who the fuck are you and why do you look like me?!” he shouted.

The man stood up. “Why do I look like you?” he repeated, scowling. “I think you have that question backwards.” He scanned Marvin, and an understanding seemed to dawn in his eyes. “As for who I am...” He disappeared, reappearing a foot away from Marvin’s face, who jumped. He chuckled at the reaction. “...you may call me Magnificent.”

“Are you showing off?” Marvin’s eyes narrowed behind the mask. “Teleporting isn’t difficult, you know. And you say I got the question backwards when you’re the one using my old name! What are you, a copycat?” He smirked.

Magnificent growled. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you? Well, you do have power, weak as it is. We can come to an arrangement.”

“Sorry, all my spots for allies are full right now, wait until they die,” Marvin quipped. “And that’s not an invitation for murder. Unless you want to be on the receiving end.” The purple magic flared.

Magnificent’s green flared in turn. “It wasn’t an option.” The green magic started to swirl, spirals of mesmerizing colors hovering inches from Marvin’s face. At first he balked, backing away, raising his arms with his purple magic trying to form a shield in front of him. But the longer he stared, the more his magic died. His shoulders slumped and his arms fell as he relaxed. Behind his black mask, his eyes were fixed on the lights before him.

Anti watched the entire exchange silently, not sure if he should intervene. Neither of these magicians were the kind of people he wanted to help, but it was part of his instincts at this point. Human in danger meant he had to jump in, it was a rule.

Then something flickered. Anti’s eye snapped toward it, and he felt, more than saw, someone glitch. How the...? Nobody else was supposed to be able to do that. It just wasn’t possible. Unless...

He gave one more glance to the pair of magicians. You know what? He’d let that play out. If the outcome wasn’t favorable, he’d fix it. For now, though, he had questions. Neither of the masked men noticed when he glitched away.

“That’s it,” Magnificent purred, concentrating on the face of his other self. “Just relax. Let the colors take you away.”

Marvin nodded blankly. The colors were pretty. So beautiful...He didn’t even notice the magic probes burrowing into his mind. Didn’t even realize his body was going limp, like a toy doll. Or a puppet. None of that mattered. Why would it?

“You have potential,” Magnificent said. “I can give you the power you want. The power you crave. All you have to do is wrap my strings around your wrists. That’s it. Not too difficult. And you’ll get everything you ever wanted in return.”

That sounded like a good deal. Why wouldn’t he take it? Everything he ever wanted...it didn’t matter if the only thing keeping him standing was Magnificent’s strings. It didn’t matter if there was a faint buzzing in his mind. Those things were irrelevant...and sort of welcome.

Magnificent watched as the other him’s head lolled. Perfect. Now there was one final step. Magnificent pressed his fingers to Marvin’s temple, sending a flood of dark magic down his neural paths, deep deep down. In the future, he’d just need to touch that point and he’d have a perfect puppet ready to go. Magnificent smiled as he felt his magic flowing through Marvin’s mind. But then...it hitched on something. That was the only word to describe what it felt like. There was something there, something catching on his magic. And then whatever it was changed, like flipping a switch.

Marvin’s eyes snapped wide open, glowing purple. Magnificent didn’t have time to react before Marvin grabbed his wrist, yanked his hand away from his temple, and pulsed, sending a flood of pure black magic through Magnificent’s entire body. The force of it tossed Magnificent all the way to the other side of the museum room, crashing into one of the display cases.

“Fucking mentalist mind trick motherfucking bullshit!” Marvin yelled. “I knew there was a reason I used to hate you guys!”

Magnificent clambered to his feet. That should have worked! He almost had this version of him under control, but then...what happened? It was almost like he’d—like he’d set off a trigger. One that someone else had put in there, made to go off when someone dug too deeply into this Marvin’s head. But why would anybody do that?

“Hey hypno-shit, catch!” Marvin snapped his fingers and muttered some words under his breath. A glowing purple orb hovered over his head for a moment before zooming towards Magnificent. He managed to put up a shield of glowing green just in time. The orb crashed into the shield with an audible crack, bursting into what looked almost like liquid that splashed across the green magic, eating away at it. Magnificent gritted his teeth, then dropped the shield and disappeared, reappearing behind Marvin.

“You think you stand a chance against me?” Magnificent laughed. “Well, two can play at that game.” A wave of green slammed into Marvin, throwing him into the side of the stone doorway, which was standing as still and untouched as it had been before whatever this was started.

Marvin hissed. “Yeah, but you’re on my home field. And I know something you don’t.” Magnificent was standing near one of the display cases. The glass had been shattered by the blast, but the artifacts were undamaged. Not for long. Marvin sent one of the pointslice spells at a gold bracelet that was giving off particularly strong vibes. The moment it made contact, the bracelet vibrated intensely before exploding, pieces of gold blasting outward. In just a few seconds all the nearby artifacts were bursting as well, sending shards of hot metal and stone everywhere. Magnificent barely had time to cover his head before he was caught in the chain reaction, shards slicing into his skin and lodging there. He muffled his cry of pain. Can’t show weakness.

Marvin laughs. “I have potential, you say? A bit more than that, I fucking think! Here, why don’t I show some of my tricks?” A few muttered words, and suddenly a wheel of purple sparks was whizzing about the room, streams of violet cutting through the columns and displays like burning knives. It headed straight toward Magnificent.

The magician leaped out of the way, and the wheel flew past him, only for it to course correct and head right back towards him. Magnificent shot a bolt of green magic toward it, but the wheel split into two when the bolt hit it, and the two new ones were still zooming towards his face. Magnificent didn’t want to admit it, but he was starting to get nervous. He disappeared just before the wheels hit him.

“Aw, what’s wrong, Mag? Never seen an Insentro wheel before?” Marvin jeered. “Did you put all your effort into fancy mentalist shit and nothing practical?” He flicked his wrist, and the wheels stopped, slowly spinning in the air like a dog searching for a scent. “Also did I mention that advanced forms of the spell can seek out living creatures?”

Suddenly, the wheels bolted toward one of the columns, homing in on something invisible to the eye. They sliced through the column and something flared a dark green. The wheels hit the green, exploding into fire that quickly died out. Magnificent flickered into view, the shield he put up at the last minute almost spent. He glared at Marvin. “Your spells will have to be stronger than that.”

“Hey, you want some free advice? Never say that, you’re just asking for it.” Marvin cupped his two hands into a ball shape. Between them, a sphere of bright pink-purple light grew into existence. “And this is the it you asked for.” He threw the sphere in Magnificent’s direction. It gained speed and size remarkably quickly, little branches of lightning shooting off like a miniature comet. Magnificent barely had time to reinforce his shield before the comet became a supernova, filling up nearly half the room with buzzing purple magic that attacked the nearest surface. The frenzy lasted for about five seconds before it suddenly winked out of existence. And when it vanished, Marvin couldn’t see any sign of Magnificent.

Normally that would have been a victory, but this guy was apparently very adapt at teleportation. Marvin was tempted to go looking for him...but he forced himself to admit he was pretty drained. That Mun’iquo Steturit was supposed to be a last resort type spell, and he’d busted it out at the end there anyway. Magical exhaustion was working away at his brain, slowing his reflexes and giving him a pounding headache. He felt like he could sleep for days...no, it would be a bad idea to go after Magnificent just now. He could actually lose. Marvin yawned, looking around the museum exhibit at the absolute destruction the fight had caused. No doubt the curator would be wondering what had sliced right through solid stone columns, or caused half the artifact collection to fall apart. Speaking of which...there were some artifacts left untouched that were still giving off powerful magical signatures. Marvin grabbed a few of them. Couldn’t let this trip be a total waste. Then, with one last scan to make sure the other magician wasn’t to be seen, Marvin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

In the hallway outside the room, Magnificent did a quick overview of his wounds. What kind of spells did the other him have? He’d never seen anything even remotely like that last attack. Either this version of him was seriously powerful, or this world—by now he was sure he was in a different world—had a different form of magic. But whichever one it was didn’t matter in the long run. The other him had still managed to slice him up with those exploding artifacts, almost burn him with those wheels, throw him across the room twice, and cook him with that last spell. His entire body stung, feeling like it had been dunked in boiling water on top of the slices. And he almost had him too! That was what hurt the most. Magnificent sorely wanted to go back and make the other him pay, but he was in no shape to do so. He’d have to recuperate, make a new plan.

But eventually, the other him would be his. Or he’d be dead. And Magnificent would have a whole new world to play with.

Alt wasn’t sure where he was. He didn’t recognize this part of town. Last thing he knew, he’d been running away from Magnificent, again, then there’d been a bright, colorful light and a loud noise, and suddenly he was in a fancy museum-looking place. He’d been quick to duck to the edges of the room, scared that this was some new trick of the magician’s, but Magnificent had mistaken someone else for him...someone who also glitched. How was that possible? He thought he was the only one who could do that. Obviously he wasn’t the only person in the world with powers, Bro Fantastic was a prime example of that, but glitching...

He’d managed to escape when that other man showed up, the one who looked and sounded eerily like Magnificent, and now he was running though the streets, trying to find a way to his apartment—or at this point, any familiar place. He couldn’t find any of the streets or landmarks he knew.

Someone appeared in front of him. No, someone glitched in front of him. Was that really what it looked like? Alt skidded to a halt. It was that guy, the one from the museum-type place, the one who Magnificent threatened and he just laughed in response. He actually looked a bit like Alt himself, if Alt lost his jacket, traded his bandanna for a scarf and an eye-patch, and surgically removed his freckles. His glitches also seemed...different, somehow. Alt’s were often green or other vibrant colors, pixels floating in a cloud around him. But this guys’ were mostly white and grey with the occasional green, and they were actually coming off of him. “What̢ ̢a̴re̕ y̵o̕u?” the guy asked. His voice sounded like a broken computer.

“I don’t know, dumbass,” Alt growled. “The guy who’s about to shove his fist down your throat if you don’t get out of my way?”

“Rea̶l͡ cr͞ea̛t͡i͞v́è th̴ęr͞e.” The guy rolled his eye. “H̡o̶w o͝ld̴ ͢ar͞e ̵yo̡u?̢ ̶Fi͞f̵t̵eȩn̸?”

Alt felt a surge of rage. He didn’t care if this guy was also a glitcher, he didn’t care if he somehow looked like him, he wanted this asshole to leave him alone. He clenched his fists, green electricity arcing around them. “Ì̡͝ ̛͟͝ẁá͟s̸̕ ̵̛s̵̀eri̶̸o̸us͠ ab͢o̕͠u̡͡t̛ ̷͡th̛a̶̢t.” He lunged towards the guy, glitching lending him speed as he swung a fist towards his head. It connected with a solid crack and the snap of electricity.

The other dude fell backwards onto the ground. But he was immediately back up again. “Cáre̴f̸u͠l ̀w͟i̧t̶h ̨t͡h́at,” he said as if he hadn’t just been decked in the face. “You could really h̶úŕt͠ someone.”

“That’s the point!” Alt yelled. “You, for example!”

The guy chuckled. “Ǹo͞.”

The fuck did that mean?! Alt’s glitches intensified. “L̡̛é́͞ąv̶͟e̵ ̷͠͞me á͏l͡o̴ǹ̢ę̵ ̀͢b̵̢e͟͟͏fǫ͟͢r̀ę ̸̛I̕ ́m̢a̢̕ke̢͏ ̛y̨͟o͏̨u̢͢͡.”

“With what? Your lit̸t̷ļe̸ ļi͏gh͠t͟ning̵?” There had never before been a pair of words that filled Alt with as much anger as he was feeling now. A surge of green shot out from him in a wave, but the other guy didn’t even flinch. “You have a good swing, and you’re stronger than you look, but t̵h̛at̶?” The guy shrugged. “Could damage a human, but to me it’s m͠o͢r̵é ͝of a̷ b͡oo̴s̕t than anything.” He glitched away before Alt could attempt another attack, reappearing on the roof of one of the nearby one-story buildings.

“What the fuck do you want from me?” Alt shouted.

The guy stared down at him. He...wasn’t blinking. At all. “I want to know how you’re doing that. I think you’re húm̨an͝, but in my experience organic matter can’t glitch. At least, not we͝ll. Or s̶a̕fe̛l͞y͠. And then, I want to make sure you know w͟her̀e ̧th̶e͢ ͏hel̶l͡ you’re going.”

Wait...was this guy offering to help? Yeah, no. In Alt’s experience, people who insulted you and then tried to help you out were bad news. “Thanks, but no thanks.” He turned away, starting down the road. “I can figure it out on my own!”

The guy laughed. “Oh, yeah, good luck making it in this city. Choose your fate: would you prefer to be s̢hot,͟ bea̸t͠én t͞o ͞d̨ea̛th, torn͏ ͠òp̛en̸, ͝bùr̕n̢e̵d̷ ͏alive,͡ o̷r ͡h͞ypno̷t̷izèd?” When Alt didn’t turn around, he raised his voice. “I know you’re not from a̵ro͠u͏nd ͝her͟e͟, kid! Or maybe you just live under a rock! Otherwise you’d know that the only people walking around at one in the morning are either c̵ŕi͟m̸in̨a̢l̷s or v͞ìct̴im͠s̸. It’s really fucking stupid to go out on your own!”

Alt spun back around. “If you’re so eager to keep me safe then stop yelling shit at me!”

“Y̛ou͟ ̶s̛tar̵te͡d i̵t!” He either didn’t notice or didn’t care how childish that sounded. “But alright, let’s start over. I’m called A̢n̕ti, and you are?”

Alt froze. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m called Anti.” His eyes narrowed. “Why? Sound fa̷mil̕i̴a̶r͠?”

Alt’s breathing quickened. “Is this—is this another one of Magnificent’s tricks? Do you work for him?!”

“That half-cat-faced b͏l̴ac̷k̵ ͢mągįc di̴p̷shi̢t? Fuck no.”

“You’re lying!” Alt screamed. “How else would you know?! How do you know my real name?!”

Anti’s eye widened. In an instant, he was back on the ground. “That’s your name?” he breathed. “That’s impossible.”

Alt began backing up, looking up and down the street for the tell-tale glowing eye of the magician. “I—I won’t go back to him! You can’t make me!” His glitches sprung up around him, and he almost felt like he was in two places at once.

“I’m not gonna fucking—! Look, my full name is A͢n̷t̷i͞s̀ep̛tìceye, that can’t possibly be yours. Right?”

That even sounded made-up. Alt couldn’t see any sign of Magnificent, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. He made a split-second decision and glitched away, reappearing down the street. He took off, a combination of flat sprinting and glitching making a wild route away until he was even more lost then he already was.

“Hey wait!” Anti almost ran after him, but stopped. This kid—didn’t matter how old he was, compared to Anti he was a child in age—clearly didn’t trust him, and probably wouldn’t listen to a word he said. Maybe he shouldn’t have retaliated when he called him a dumbass. If he didn’t hate his temper sometimes... whatever, what’s done is done. He’d fucked it up. The kid was never going to let him come within three feet of him now, let alone answer his questions.

Part of him wanted to just show the kid how dangerous this city was, but most of him balked at that idea. After all, how was he supposed to figure out what this kid was if the kid was dead? Anti smiled. Luckily, if there was one thing this city had, it was cameras. Businesses had them, the streets had them, even people had them on their phones. He’d just watch the kid, see what he did. If he got into trouble, he’d get him out. Maybe then he’d listen to him.

And with one final burst of pixels, Anti vanished. Worlds had collided tonight, and only time would tell what would happen next, if anything did.