#fear forest

I had a whole thing written about his pendant, but tumblr froze after i wrote it so.

(Teenage versions, my versions to be exact!)

Betrayus - Top left corner, Age: 14 1/2

Zac (Pacster's Dad) - Top right corner, Age: 14

Sunny (Pacster's Mom) - Middle left, Age: 13

Aurora (Skeebo's Mom) - Middle right, Age: 14

Spheria (The Aunt of Pac) - Bottom left, Age: 14 1/2

Specter - Bottom right, Age: 15

Walking on top of the roof, that's where he usually went to calm himself down or to mourn in private, he was.. complicated.. apparently to himself. He saw a younger version of one who would supposedly be his enemy by species, planted shock and confusion into his mind, he asked the name:

"Betrayus?" The young albino Pac-Worlder averted his gaze to see the freckled teenager, already meeting him, a jolt of surprise entered his gaze. "What are you doing up here?"

"Oh! Skeebo! I wasn't expecting you.." The white Pac grinned a cheesy smile.

"M'kay... You didn't really answer my question though." Skeebo raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, causing the young soon-to-be-villain to receive a wave of embarrassment.

"Sorry.. I.. I didn't want to bother anyone so I'm just.. Up here! Heh..." He lightly chuckled, a small frown appearing after his grin faded. Skeebo shifted his stare at the ground for a split second before taking his seat near the white Pac-Worlder.

"Umm.. 'Zac' told me that something happened earlier.. With that orange asshole?"

The albino looked at him before laughing nervously, "Yeah.. Um.. That was nothing, it's just him being a jerk that's all.." There was an awkward silence between the both of them before the freckled one broke it.

"You know, your brother was really worried about you.."

Young Betrayus scoffed, "Right. That's why you're up here instead of him, he couldn't be bothered with putting up with my school and now he can't be bothered to come and get me himself... He'd rather spend his time just fighting with the staff.." He took a shaky breath, a few tears misting his eyes, "..Why does he hate my teachers and classmates more than he loves me?" Skeebo once again averted his gaze, lest just staring would make his peer uncomfortable in this current situation. He inhaled deeply and let out an audible sigh, clicking his tongue.

"Sometimes.. Well sometimes it's just not as simple as that.. This kind of crap gets messy..." He paused and gazed up at the two moons in the sky. "And everybody's got some issues, including older brothers.." He looked at Betrayus, noticing him hugging his legs together and the visible tears pouring down his face. "And sometimes they f*ck things up, like..all the time.. That doesn't mean they don't care."

Betrayus stared at him, "If he cares, then where is he? When I need him?"

"He's always somewhere, like right now, he's somewhere in the school." The young villain's eyes widened and stared at the freckled one once again.

"He's here?"

"Defending and looking for you."

Skeebo turned his body to face his peer directly, crossing them after doing so. "I mean.. Try to cut your brother some slack.. He might not always get things right but.." He pulled back his sleeve to reveal an old scar that was slowly healing due to proper care. "He's trying.." The freckled boy smiled softly, a smile he doesn't usually show to people, looking back at Betrayus. "That's more important than you think."

Betrayus averted his gaze again to look down at the ground before them, a visible smile on his face, he got startled when Skeebo forced himself up and walked towards the door to the roof.

"Just let him keep trying okay? He's the only brother you have, just let him use his chance. Let him try to be a good brother for you.. okay?" Skeebo faced him, his eyes shining like amethysts under the moon's glow, reminding the albino Pac-Worlder of someone currently important in his life.

The white one smiled warmly and nodded, "Thank you..", he watched as Skeebo left the rooftop, staring back at the two moons, his words were planted into his mind, and they echoed for the entirety of time young Betrayus had sat there staring at the moons. He caressed a ring on his finger, its icy blue gem shining in all of its glory.

During the present time, the ghost lord floated on top of the campsite where he was positioned, staring at the same moons, the same words that Skeebo said to his past self still echoing throughout his head. He smiled, chuckling a bit.

"You amaze me sometimes kid... you better be trying too, for your own sake..." He caressed a familiar ring that was inside of his prosthetic palm, the gem's blue aura reflecting on his claws.

So... In this version of the 'False Reality' AU, Pac, Cyli, Spiral, Elli, and Skeebs (they had to watch him since the Spy War incident from the og Namco comics, plus apparently he knows how to fight paranormal beings) were helping Sir C by retrieving something from a part of Fear Forest that couldn't be accessed to adults. When they all went inside, they came across a time period where Betrayus, Pac's parents, Skeebo's mom, and Spheria were all teenagers. Of course Pac is amazed by it and that he's able to see his parents when they were his age, meanwhile the rest of the gang are in amazement, Skeebo is just in confusion and he tries backing away from it all. This certain day was when something serious happened with Betrayus's bullies and Stratos had to get called from the school, but being the older brother, he didn't let his bullies go so easily...

Skeebo finds Betrayus on the rooftop of the school and he starts talking with him, until there was a part where young Betty mentioned about Stratos being very distant with him lately. Skeebo just listened to him vent before he started to cheer him up, often mentioning his own. This was kind of based on the Helluva boss episode where Loona and Octavia were talking on the tower. I decided to make Skeebo a bit more of a sympathetic and caring character behind closed curtains and just being his regular Skeebo self when they're open, this was a younger version of a villain he practically worked for, he had to do what he had to do, he morally doesn't see any evil from people like the Three Big Bad B's and Specter, he just sees people that are misunderstood and had a bad life.

So.... I made this art in September... And, it's been a roller coaster to say the least cause when I was drawing this I was like: "Oh! Would you look at that! It's a pose that I know I will never be able to draw again!" And then now Im like: "... Im unwell"