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[the-lost-writer]

Working on redemption dark still! (link to story)

In the meantime here is a little sheepy character I drew

More on redemption dark:

The fifth chapter (yes the fifth not the fourth) is a long one so be excited for that!

I do make a slight backlog of chapters for my own mental peace, it makes me less stressed and allows me to feel free to work on other chapters at my leisure.

[the-lost-writer]

Redemption Dark AU

(Part 3)

Blurb

Stuck in a white box purgatory after his defeat by TSC, Dark sulks. He is the greatest, strongest, and most intelligent stick in the entire universe! And he is stuck here in this… well he isn’t quite sure where but he knows it cannot contain him forever, it’s just taking longer for him to escape without his powers.

One day (if you can even call it day) a glowing orb comes to him with an offer, an offer to get him out on one condition. Dark gladly takes the offer since he will be able to outsmart this being. After all, he is the most intelligent stick in the universe.

New Life

Despite conquering many cities, Dark has never actually been in a city before, at least civilly. Even if he had the desire to, sticks would have fled at the very sight of him! But now not even one stick takes a second glance at him. The city is also too noisy, the commotion and constant hustle and bustle of sticks is a far cry to the solitude in the bay (and box most recently) that he is used to. Kids playing, adults talking, cars honking, street vendors calling out, he just hopes that the apartment has a modicum of peace. He he spots a distracted yellow stick figure talking loudly on a phone with a briefcase in hand walking his direction. Dark instinctually tries shoulder checking the absent-minded stick to get him to stop blabbering-

Aaand he’s back in the box.

“What?! COME ON! SERIOUSLY?!” Dark exclaims in frustration, suddenly becoming lightheaded. Apparently switching bodies on the fly is very disorienting.

The orb cackles with glee. “No hurting other sticks! Not at all!”

Dark grumbles and huffs, shaking his head to clear it. “You are making this unbelievably difficult you stupid…” he grumbles more before he says something else he will have to apologize for.

The orb twinkles with delight at the sticks frustration. Dark watches, seething with hatred. “What if I accidentally bump into someone and they fall? What then?” Dark challenges the self proclaimed god out of frustration.

“Oh, hmm… well I guess that’s ok.” The orb replies.

The rules can change? A brilliant plan starts forming in Darks mind. Why not just manipulate this lightbulb of a god into changing the rules enough so that he can be free? Then no one can-

“So are you gonna apologize now Dark?” The orb interrupts his train of thought.

Dark glares at the orb and let’s out the most irritated sigh he can muster. “Yeah yeah, just put me back.” He takes a deep breath, ready to fight himself to get the words out.

“Sss-sssoorr… sorry. Ok let’s go-“

And he is standing where he was before, just about to run into the distracted yellow stick. He hurriedly dances around them and avoids the collision, the stick finally noticing and dodging as well.

“Woah! Watch where you are heading buddy! Are you ok?” The stick says, concerned for the disoriented Dark. Dark just glares at him and walks away, leaving the stick mightily confused.

Phew. Now where did that orb go? After a few moments of looking around he spots the glowing ball up ahead, rounding a bend and disappearing out of view.

“WAIT! HEY WAIT UP!” Dark calls as he runs after it.

=================

After many twists and turns, the orb halts in front of a pretty average looking apartment building. It looks slightly outdated with patches of different colour bricks randomly cobbled into it as if it has been renovated many times. The alleyways has barely enough room for a dumpster considering how crowded the buildings are here. It now makes sense how the orb was able to afford a room here. Thankfully this street is much quieter than the main road he was just on, giving Dark some relief.

The orb phases through the old wooden door, leading Dark inside. Dark follows after, turning the old metal door handle and swinging the door open. He is immediately hit with a wave of musky air; this place is full of dust and mothballs. Darks face scrunches up as he waves the dust away, coughing as he steps on the old and worn carpet beneath him.

“Name?” The gruff voice of the building doorman asks from the booth beside Dark.

“Um… I’m Dark” the confused stick says.

“Dark Blue” the orb corrects him.

“Dark Blue” he echos.

“Ah, I see. New resident. Fourth floor, here are your keys, room 404. Elevator is broken” the dusky purple stick speaks roboticly, having done this several times before. Dark takes the keys with a nod, uncertain for the first time in his whole life.

He follows the orb up the stairs and to the fourth floor, almost missing his door tucked away down a hall. He struggles with unlocking the door damned old lock. He eventually forces the stubborn door open and takes in his new home…

If you can call a closet a home. There is just enough room for a small bed and a desk, and one other door for a washroom. Nothing else. It’s cramped and cheep looking, and the tacky peeling wallpaper doesn’t help with that ascetic. The room looks like something a grandma would have found fashionable 50 years ago.

Dark starts fuming again. That orb thinks it’s so funny putting THE Dark Lord into this microscopic apartment! The only good thing is the relative silence of the street! Dark will relish that fluorescent bulb’s death… as soon as he can figure out how to kill it, but that’s all in due time.

He takes a breath coughing up more dust and forces the door closed with his shoulder, locking it behind him.

“So how do yah like it? I think it’s good for the price I got it for!” Did you buy it for the price of pocket lint? Dark thinks sarcastically. “And you can pay the rent with the new job!” The orb squeaks cheerfully.

The angry stick lets out an exasperated sigh. Right, the job.

“What job is it?” Dark grumbles, no longer trusting the orbs judgment at what is ‘good’ or not.

“You’ll be working at a fast food place!”

Fast food? Not a very classy job, and definitely not fit for The Dark Lord. At least he should get some free meals, and besides how hard can cooking sloppy meals be? If some dweebs and losers can do it an ex-conquer (soon to resume) should be able to do it easily. Dark starts poking around the room as the orb talks.

“It’s a beginners level job so you aren’t making a whole lot of money, but you are making enough to save up for something that you want! Isn’t that awesome?”

Dark only nods, half listening. Then he realizes something extremely important is missing from the room. “So where is the computer?” Dark asks through gritted teeth, already knowing the answer.

“Computer? Oooh! Oh yeah, woopsie-doopsie!” Dark chokes slightly. “I forgot to say that apartments don’t come with computers, you are gonna have to buy that yourself!” The orb is obnoxiously cheerful about this. Meanwhile Dark is once again giving it a withering look. He has to figure out how to kill this orb as soon as possible, he doesn’t know how much more of this torment he can take.

“OOO OOO! What if you saved up money to buy a computer? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” The orb trills at this idea.

“Well I guess that’s what I will have to do now thanks to you” Dark growls.

The money he could have used to start buying tools and start making more vira bots- new and improved of course- will have to go to buying a computer so Dark can start coding. He lets out another exasperated sigh before pausing. A thought drifts through his mind; Will I have to be good to get enough money to buy a computer? The thought seems practically nonsensical.

Him? Good? He wouldn’t allow it! It’s simply inconceivable that he could even conceptualize the smallest ideation of him being good! So why should he-

“-Earth to Darkie? Are you theeere?” The orb sings.

Dark snaps out of his thoughts and instinctively takes a swing at the orb for daring to use that nickname. He immediately gets sent to the box but he is too furious to care.

“NEVER CALL ME DARKIE!” He thunders.

“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!? You keep going ON and ON about how WONDERFUL this whole situation is, how it's just oh so lovely how you've locked me in a crappy apartment too small for a rat, with a minimum wage job and NO computer. Well sparky, this might sound crazy to you, but MAYBE THAT'S NOT SO WONDERFUL AFTER ALL!! YOU MUST HAVE BEEN BLINDFOLDED SEARCHING FOR APARTMENTS BECAUSE THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST OPTION YOU COULD HAVE CHOSEN FOR THE DARK LORD!!”

Dark pants heavily after his tirade, the anger still ringing in his ears.

As his rage fades, he notices that the box is awfully quiet. There isn’t another sound at all, and that sentient lightbulb is nowhere to be seen. Did he hurt the orbs feelings? Well good, it can be as sensitive as it wants. He certainly doesn’t care.

As what feels like minutes tick by, the silence makes itself more known. Every moment that nothing happens Dark gets more and more frustrated.

*That stupid orb sure is dramatic isn’t it?* Dark thinks to himself.

“Oh I’m sorry, did I hurt your feelings?” Dark spits sarcastically, partly to fill the silence. “Would you like an apology with a side of sorry?”

The glowing orb flickers into being in front of him. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called you that name again. You don’t have to apologize but I thank you that you did.”

Yeah I bet you are sorry. You should’ve known better than to anger The Dark Lord. And I didn’t even apologize you dim lightbulb, I made a sarcastic remark! Does that mean I don’t have to be sincere…? Dark grins wolfishly. There isn’t many pieces to the plan yet, but it is coming together. To make sure he is understanding the orb correctly he tests his theory. “Why do you think I said sorry?”

“Because the words came out of your mouth, you said sorry” the orb sounds confused.

Perfect. He just has to say sorry, even sarcastically, and it will count.

“Alright, now take me bac-“ before he is even finished the word he is standing in the exact same place as before. Dark takes a deep breath, inhaling the dust and coughing once more.

“I’m going to have to deep clean this place” he grumbles.

“Okay! But maybe later, it’s almost time to go to work now!”

“What?! Work starts today!?” Dark isn’t ready for this! He barely explored the city and found his apartment, now he has to do his job today?

“Mhm!” The orb answers happily. “In… ten minutes! Better start walking!”

“TEN WHAT!?” Dark stumbles back and nearly trips on the corner of his bed. In a flash he grabs his key and races towards the door. He has to get there RIGHT NOW if he has any hope of being able to buy a computer. Dark starts fighting to open the door again.

“What cha doin’?” The orb floats above his head unhelpfully.

“I’m leaving to go to work right now” he growls back as the door creaks open. He kicks it closed and locks it behind himself.

“Why?”

“Because if I get lost there will be enough time for me to find my way back!” Dark shouts while racing down the stairs.

“Oooh, smart!” The orb starts leading the way out of the door and into Darks new job. As Dark races after the orb he thinks about his plan; stall long enough to get his powers back, then manipulate the orb into giving him control or (preferably) killing it. If this is what he has to do to become all-powerful again. then so be it. It is only temporary anyhow.

Besides, how hard can flipping burgers really be?

=================

Thank you all so much for your support! It’s really motivating to see how much you all like it. As a surprise, here is what Redemption Dark’s new body looks like!

Thank you to my editor and co-writer @thatonexman for helping me write these chapters! More on the way soon!

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[the-lost-writer]

Two more stick fish! This time they are a red rock crab and a blob fish! The reference I used for the blob fish had spots so I added them!

I couldn’t figure out what to do for the head of the crab so I made a little crest for it. I’m very proud of how the speckling turned out.

[the-lost-writer]

More stick fish!!! A red and white shrimp and a damselfish (Acanthochromis)

Edit: I just realized I forgot the damselfishes ear fins, I’ll fix that later.

[the-lost-writer]

After a hiatus here are two more stick fish, a narwhal and a red betta fish!

[the-lost-writer]

Redemption Dark AU

(Part 2)

Sorry if this isn’t that good, this is my first AU for AB

Blurb

Stuck in a white box purgatory after his defeat by TSC, Dark sulks. He is the greatest, strongest, and most intelligent stick in the entire universe! And he is stuck here in this… well he isn’t quite sure where but he knows it cannot contain him forever, it’s just taking longer for him to escape without his powers.

One day (if you can even call it day) a glowing orb comes to him with an offer, an offer to get him out on one condition. Dark gladly takes the offer since he will be able to outsmart this being. After all, he is the most intelligent stick in the universe.

Apologies

Dark awakens with his face down in the mud. His head is throbbing and moving requires a Herculean effort. It feels like his brain has been liquified and is sloshing around in his skull. He winces as he stands up, holding his forehead.

*Ow my frickin’ head, what happened?* His memory gradually returns; He remembered being in the white box, trying to escape, then there was the irritating glowing nuisance-

Right, now he remembers. His lips curl in an evil grin. He’s free, and now that orb can’t stop h-

“HIYA!” The orb materializes in front of his face.

Dark flinches, not out of surprise of course, but because of the disgusting language the orb uses.

He folds his arms, puffs out his chest and fixes the orb with a glare.

“Do yah like your new body? I put a bit of flare on it, I hope that’s ok!”

*New body?* Dark looks down at himself and almost throws up. Every trace of his fabulous bright red hue has been replaced with a dark desaturated blue and the ends of the limbs fade to black. Surrounding his body is a white outline! White! Not at spec of his beautiful evil red anywhere!

“My body! What have you done to my body?!” Dark touches his face frantically. His face has been disfigured as well; where his circular hollow head used to be has been replaced be a generic head. He has been transformed beyond recognition, he is now just a *normal stick figure.* Darks blood starts boiling as he turns to the orb.

“Your name is Darkie right? So I made you dark!” The orb says in its typical gleeful voice.

“You… you ruined my beautiful body! And my face! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FACE!?!” Dark lunges at the orb and throws a punch-

And he connects with the wall of the box.

“!#@%.” He swears as he shakes out his fist.

The orb is giggling hysterically.

“Now you have to apologize” it laughs.

Dark looks at the orb with a withering glare. He doesn’t like this anymore. He feels like a plaything to this seemingly omnipotent being. At the very least in the box he is back to his normal self.

“Come on Darkie-“

“MY NAME IS NOT DARKIE” he shouts in fury. “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I AM THE DARK LORD AND YOU WILL SHOW ME SOME RESPECT! NOW RELEASE ME FROM THIS INFERNAL PRISON DAMN IT!!”

The orb is silent for some time.

After a few minutes Dark starts sulking. The puny god — if they are even a god — can’t take a simple command? Anyone would jump at the chance to serve him out of fear alone. That insufferable ball of light, it left him here after it promised him freedom! Now he has to live without his looks *and* powers. That double crossing-

“If I apologize will you apologize?” The orbs voice suddenly interjects from behind Dark.

Dark jumps up in surprise, almost throwing another punch.

“What? Why? What do I have to apologize for?”

“For trynna punch me of course.” The orb giggles.

“Fine. After this you will put me back right?” Dark huffs. He can’t believe he‘s agreeing to this.

“Abso-toot-ly!” *Barf.*

An idea forms in Dark’s head. “Does this count as a ‘good act’?” He asks smugly.

“No silly! Apologizing is just a normal thing to do” the orb teases him in a sing-song voice. His smugness is replaced with annoyance. The Dark Lord shouldn’t have to apologize for anything!

The orb inhales and speaks in a sad voice “I’m sorry for calling you Darkie.”

*I’m really going to have to do this, aren’t I?*

Dark tries to muster up all the fake kindness he can, taking an excessive amount of time to clear his throat. Finally he forces a smile and spits out what he can. “S-s-sore- sorrrre- suuhh-“ Dark grumbles some people obscenities and tries again. “Ssssoooorrrr… ARG, this is STUPID! Why is THE DARK LORD apologizing to a TALKING ORB?!”

“So you can be free from this place and get your powers back!” The orb chirps ‘helpfully.’

Dark grinds his teeth in an attempt not to punch the voice into next Sunday and tries again.

“Ssss- sssorr,” the orb is giggling at Darks struggle, “sorr… SORRY? SORRY! Ok I said it! Now put me back.” Dark finally spits out, ashamed that he has to do this.

The orb is pleased. “Yay! You did it! That wasn’t so hard now was it?”

Dark clenches his jaw but before Dark can retort he finds himself standing back in the forest. His head aches again but it’s not as severe now, so he is actually able to fully process his new body. He looks down at himself and only feels like gagging a little this time. He is gaunt, weak perhaps, and a little bit taller. Dark liked his old body, it was perfect; proper hight, the correct shade of evil red that made it perfectly intimidating. How is he supposed to intimidate anyone looking like a scrawny nobody?!

“I gotcha an apartment and a job as well!” the glowing light says, “So you can start living a normal life!”

What? A normal life?! The Dark Lord doesn’t live a normal life! He lives in his ominous fortress and crushes anyone that dares to oppose him! Not living in an apartment with noisy neighbour’s, and serving under someone else at a job no less! What kind of Dark Lord would he be if he lived a life like that?!

“What if I want to live in the woods?” Dark challenges in an attempt to foil the orb’s plan.

The orb just laughs. “That’s silly! You can’t live like that!”

Dark has to admit that was true, it would be even more humiliating for The Dark Lord to be living homeless, scrounging around like some sort of animal. If he had his powers back he could easily build an isolated cabin fit for his needs, but nooo he must do a good deed (ew) to be able to earn them back. He shouldn’t have to earn them back, they are HIS powers! They rightfully-

“You make a funny face when you think” the orb gleefully observes.

“What? N-no I-!” Dark splutters, shooting eye-daggers at the orb.

It just chuckles before exclaiming “Now let me show you your apartment!”

“Wait, hold on. How did you even get an apartment?” In retrospect this probably should’ve been his first question.

“Well I used your voice of course! It had to be a small apartment but I think it will work” the orb chirps and zips around his head.

“Lets-a-go!” It shoots off in the approximate direction of the city, leaving the desaturated blue stick standing in the middle of the forest.

Dark is completely stunned at what just happened. He… he died a horrible death what felt like a day ago, made a deal with a god to bring him back to life, and now he has to be a *good guy* to regain his powers and get back on track with world domination?

Dark growls. He has no powers, no technology to tinker with, no evil sidekick to do his bidding, this couldn’t end well, not at all. The orb, whatever it’s name might be, is just tormenting him for its own enjoyment, this cruel torture was going to be the end of him…

“Relax” Dark tells himself. “Its only for a little while.

He takes a deep breath before looking into the trees. He just has to bide his time, figure out how to outwit that glowing idiot, and maybe get some of his powers back in the meantime. Heck, if he gets enough of his powers back he might be able to outright kill the god. That seems like a good plan. Simple, not much can go wrong.

Hopefully.

Dark sighs sadly, thinking of all those glorious days filled with chaos and anarchy. With hope of world domination at the forefront of his mind, the rail thin stick figure follows after his guiding light.

Thanks for reading part 2 of this AU! The amount of likes I got on the last one encouraged me to post this part although I was pretty unsure about posting to tumblr. Thank you everyone!

And a special thanks to @thatonexman for being my co-writer and editor!

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[the-lost-writer]

Redemption Dark AU

This is my first ever AU for AB so sorry if it isn’t the best.

Blurb

Stuck in a white box purgatory after his defeat by TSC, Dark sulks. He is the greatest, strongest, and most intelligent stick in the entire universe! And he is stuck here in this… well he isn’t quite sure where but he knows it cannot contain him forever, it’s just taking longer for him to escape without his powers.

One day (if you can even call it day) a glowing orb comes to him with an offer, an offer to get him out on one condition. Dark gladly takes the offer since he will be able to outsmart this being. After all, he is the most intelligent stick in the universe.

A Deal

Dark is laying on the floor, his breath ragged from excursion. Once again he tried punching out of this infernal white prison, and once again he didn’t leave a mark.

How could he, the great, all powerful, and handsome Dark Lord be contained by such a pathetic white wall?! It was utterly infuriating, not to mention humiliating.

He used to break every obstacle, ever barrier, every stick, that dared to get in the way of his complete domination with his buddy, The Chosen One. *But nooo, apparently doing that wasn’t fun anymore. TCO became my obstacle, and he forced me to fight him! The gal! I was totally winning too before that orange idiot kid…*

Dark shivers. He doesn’t like remembering the pain of that moment. He refocuses his anger on the wall, using it to muster the strength to stand up. He has to get out, he has to… to… what? What would he do? Everything is destroyed, he would have to start from scratch. It would take years. He doesn’t even have his powers anymore.

That reminder makes him incensed. His powers, his glorious powers, all gone. The rage starts boiling, and he lets it out.

“SOMEONE LET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE!!!” He roars into the void furiously.

“I can get you out!” A voice, annoyingly cheerful, squeaks.

Dark spins around with a punch but his fist only met the wall. His hand flairs up with pain yet he still looks for the voice.

It giggles behind him and he turns, growling “who goes there?”

“Well you can think of me a god” the flutey voice says from in front of him, emanating from a small orb of light.

“And you can get me out?” Dark asks suspiciously. If what it says is true then it’s worth a shot.

“Yep-a-doodle!” The voice says. The phrase makes Dark nauseous, it’s so cutesy it’s physically disgusting.

“Alright, then get me out” he demands, putting on his scary voice.

“I am The Dark Lord, conqueror of the inner and outernet, destroyer of family’s and cities. Unless you want a grizzly fate to befall you I suggest you release me immediately” he announces.

The orb laughs uproariously at this. “You and what powers? Yes Darkie,” if there was anything in his stomach he would have thrown up, “I know you lost your powers, but even then, I am a god. I cannot be killed. But I can let you out on one teeny-tiny condition.”

“What is it?”

“You can’t do anything bad or evil.”

Not being evil? At all? Well that’s just not possible, but no matter, being free is being free.

“That’s it?” Dark fully has no intention of complying to these rules. He can easilyoutwit this puny god.

“Yes, you have to be good or else you will be sent back here until you apologize. And to sweeten the deal when you go out of your way to do a good deed I’ll give you powers-“

“Deal.” Dark interrupts the god. This will be easy, he just has to preform some charitable act (yuck) or something along those lines and then he can kill this god with his regained powers.

“Alright then, let’s go!”

Dark steps forward to shake the orbs “hand” but suddenly feels really dizzy. The world around him tilts and starts to fade. He is out before his head touches the ground.

Thank you for reading! If anyone is interested please leave it in the notes and I might continue!

Edit: I have continued it! Tysm for all the support. The next part is here:

Next Part

[the-lost-writer]

If you enjoy my work and would like to access exclusive content like my daily purrs (special messages crafted to inspire, uplift, and sprinkle a little joy into your everyday life) please join my Patreon 🐾✨

[the-lost-writer]

Here are two more stick fish! A Regal angelfish and a blue tang (aka the fish dory is).

The angelfish is an excitable gal, while the tang is a bit of a jerk. Also his name is Dave.

[the-lost-writer]

A yellow-edged eel stick and a freshwater angelfish stick!

[the-lost-writer]

The black dog or Shuck from British folklore

[the-lost-writer]

My fish sticks! Feath and Indigo, a lionfish and a Royal gramma respectively!

[the-lost-writer]

[the-lost-writer]

The last Christmas - A short story

My First time alone.

I hear the hollow music ring through the once bustling halls.

I feel no joy, there is no clattering in the kitchen, no children playing, no gifts under the small sad tree.

The colourful lights I thought once so luminous have lost their luster, now dull and faded.

I decorate as we did every year, the fancy sparkling ordainments that once held meaning, the lonely star on top the tree, now reminders of a time long past.

The small meal of gravy, turkey and potatoes are tasteless without the chatter of dinner time pleasantries, the hot coco at the fire place chalky without the laughter of children and adults, I wait.

I look outside my cabin, the snow falling slowly under the cold gleaming light of the moon, the pine trees stand in silent mourning, waiting listening.

A shiver runs down my spine and I know it’s here.

Out the window I can make out the antlered figure against the shadows of the trees, watching.

I will be with my family soon.