#inversa

He’s dying. Your little brother is bleeding out on the kitchen tiles, and you’re just standing there. Your hands are warm, covered in his blood. But you do not help him. You do not cry. You do not respond to his wails. You did this to him, but you can’t even bring yourself to finish the job. What kind of a monster are you, Doom?

“When do you think they'll they get back?”

The sound of a voice— a real voice, not the dim pitch of his inner psyche— shocked Allen out of his horrible, horrible walk down memory lane. He blinked a few times, stretched out a kink in his neck, and took in his surroundings. He was standing on a secluded beach, his tennis shoes lightly caked with sand. The sky was a dusky gray-blue color, having faded from the orange and pinks of sunset. The waves had receded since he’d arrived on the beach about two hours prior, but they'd gotten much rougher. Thick, dark clouds seemed to be rolling in, though it was hard to tell if they were rain-dark or just night-dark. The former, rain-dark, would suck, because Allen hadn’t been planning on rain. He hadn’t been planning on being anywhere near this beach, anywhere near this world, but he needed an excuse to clear his head. Anything to get out of that place.

“Mister Allen?”

Allen felt a light tap on his arm, and turned to see a young girl awkwardly trying to get his attention. This girl, with her sun-bleached brown hair, freckle-covered face, and disproportionate, growth spurt body, was Maggie, a denizen of the dimension Allen currently resided in.

Maggie cocked her head to one side inquisitively as he turned, a concerned look on her face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine." Allen sighed. "I’m just… thinking. You asked me a question, yeah?”

“Oh, right! When do you think they'll be back? It’s been kind of a bit, and my mom’ll kill me if I don’t show up before it gets too dark, but I’m… I’m kinda worried.”

The “they” in this equation were three others: Fakida and c̶͙̍ö̶̘́ṙ̸̥r̶̎ͅû̶̫p̷̛̫t̶̟̃e̴̘͛d̸̟̉, two out-of-towners; and Anubis, a large sea monster who had befriended Maggie some time ago. As far as Allen understood, the two outsiders had negotiated with the sea monster to complete some sort of task for it to kill time, as anyone in their situation would. 

Like Allen, c̶͙̍ö̶̘́ṙ̸̥r̶̎ͅû̶̫p̷̛̫t̶̟̃e̴̘͛d̸̟̉ and Fakida were not from the same world that Maggie and Anubis inhabited. Unlike Allen, c̶͙̍ö̶̘́ṙ̸̥r̶̎ͅû̶̫p̷̛̫t̶̟̃e̴̘͛d̸̟̉ and Fakida were from worlds much more distant than Allen’s. They had been brought to his system of dimensions for an unknown reason, and they couldn’t leave because God knows why, and Allen was sick of all of the excuses. Morgana Orion, an all-around untrustworthy duo of beings, insisted that they had no idea what was going on, which was clearly a lie, but Allen was physically incapable of making them talk without risking the safety of the whole multiverse in the process. He couldn’t put himself and his family at risk anymore, not before he had definitive answers.

What kind of a monster are you?

Allen sat down on the beach, digging his feet into the sand as he pulled his knees into his chest. “I’m sure that they’re fine, I have no idea how long negotiating with a sea monster council is supposed to take. If you don’t think your mom’ll freak out about a stranger bringing you home, we can come up with an excuse to keep you out later.” He smirked up at Maggie, hoping that his joke would land well.

Maggie sat down cross-legged next to him, releasing a big sigh she’d clearly been holding in. “I honestly don’t think she’d be mad, she doesn’t miss me. Neither of them do. Mom’s always out at her environmentalist rallies, and my sister never leaves her computer anymore, so neither of them notice when I hang out with Anubis or go all the way down to Harbor Cove by myself.” As she spoke, she doodled stars in the sand with her finger. “I don’t really mind, I have fun, I just… wish they cared, ya know?”

“Damn, kid…” Allen put his arm around Maggie, pulling her into an awkward sort of embrace. “I think you’re pretty cool, if it means anything to you. You and my little brother would get along.”

Maggie shuffled slightly to make the hug less awkward, whispering, “thank you…”

They sat together like this for a few moments until Allen felt something small and wet hit the top of his head. Then another, on his knee. The sand was specked with small circles as Maggie groaned.

“Boo, it’s raining…”

Allen shifted his arm away from Maggie and made motions to stand. “If you don’t wanna get drenched, you can go back inside. I’ll make sure that the ladies make it back alright.”

“Are you sure? I can—” Maggie yawned. “No, actually, I should probably go to bed.”

As they both stood, the rain picked up from a few drops to a steady, dense drizzle, aided in severity by the wind picking up. Allen cupped his hands over his eyes in an attempt to see better, looking out onto the dark water. Along the horizon, between two crashing waves, Allen could’ve sworn he saw figures, but they were quickly obscured by another large wave. 

Then, faster than a blink, the world lit up. The beach was suddenly illuminated by multiple cracks of lightning out above the water, so close you could hear them sizzle. In the false sun, Allen tried to observe as much as possible. The waves had massively receded, leaving the sand barren and damp and revealing a host of small sea creatures usually obscured by the tides. What was left of the water was rough and fast, impossible to swim through. Nonetheless, he saw distinct figures along the horizon trying to make their way out of the thick of it and up to the beach. Beyond them, behind the clouds, was a massive figure. Barely illuminated by the swiftly-fading light, it seemed to be more like a conglomerate of tentacle-like limbs than a traditional humanoid body, save a human-shaped head topped with two horns. The sight of the creature made goosebumps appear on Allen’s forearms, and a sharp pain stung at the back of his head. 

As soon as the lightning subsided, thunder boomed so long and loud that Allen’s stomach fell and Maggie covered her ears. Instinctively, Allen turned to Maggie and practically barked at her to get inside. She tried to stammer out an argumentative response, but another bellow of thunder shocked her system enough to realize it wasn’t worth arguing. As she ran back towards the beach house her family was renting, Allen barreled down the beach. He turned on his cell phone’s flashlight and started waving it above his head, yelling for c̶͙̍ö̶̘́ṙ̸̥r̶̎ͅû̶̫p̷̛̫t̶̟̃e̴̘͛d̸̟̉ and Fakida. He screamed himself hoarse, his voice carried off by the roaring winds and waves. As more lightning illuminated the sky, he lost sight of the two out-of-towners out in the swelling ocean, but that didn’t stop him. 

As he yelled, something bumped into his submerged ankles. He turned the flashlight down to identify the object. It was f̷̳͑ỏ̴͔r̵͔̈́g̴̿͜ō̶͓ț̵͝t̶̪̏ȩ̵͐n̵̯̈́ ̸͂ͅb̴͙̋ỵ̶̇ ̸̼̂t̴̞̚i̷̮͐m̵̠̀e̶̝̕. Next to it was ý̷̻o̵̤͝ư̶̱ ̵̖͌w̸͖̽ó̶͍n̴̮̔'̸͍͘t̸̯̒ ̸̤̕m̵̲̈i̸͍͗s̸̘̿s̸̺̕ ̷͍̔t̶͙͋ẖ̵̛ḭ̸͑s̸̝̑,̵͙̇ ̶̫͐t̵͙̓r̴̤̀ủ̶̢ś̴̗t̵͓̑ ̷̼̋m̴̪̽ě̵̟. Other miscellaneous a̵̰̽b̵͉͘a̵̱̚n̵̩̂d̴̹̚o̶̬͝n̵̥͋ḛ̶̛d̸͚͐ and p̷̮̋ä̵͇́i̷̭̓n̷̙̽ë̸ͅd̸͈̈́ floated their way onto shore, many of them plastered with Ǐ̴̞ ̶͈̈́ẅ̴̘́o̷͔̔ṉ̵͆'̵̤͛t̶͖̎ ̴̘̋l̸̲̓ḙ̷̅t̴͉̾ ̶̨̚y̷̢̽o̸͎͋ṷ̴͝ ̶͙̇g̵̫͌o̵̤͗. Allen grabbed the d̸̝͠o̵̢͊e̵̥̒ŝ̶̰n̶͈̈'̶̟̆t̸͙̿ ̵͓̏i̶͈͋t̵͈͝ ̸̝̿ḩ̷̌u̴̱͗r̷̖̂t̷͎̾, hoping that something or someone salvageable would be on the other side.

Out in the water, something b̴̼̃l̶̰̔i̸̒͜n̴̳̅k̸̺͝ë̶͈d̸̳͐ at Allen. Next to the items and dead sea life, a plethora of eyes began appearing on the surface of the water. All of them stared at Allen, burrowing through his soul. As soon as he spotted one, Allen felt an all-too-familiar sense of dread and fear. He was being watched.

Immediately he gave up on saving the out-of-towners and backed away from the water. Tripping over a ŷ̷̱ö̷͈́ṳ̵͌'̴̩͛l̷̯̕ḻ̵̆ ̸̢͆ń̸̖e̵̘͋v̶̽ͅè̸̻r̸͔̊ ̵͓͌k̸̩̀n̵͕͆ò̶̜ẘ̵̯, Allen stumbled to the ground, trying frantically to get away from the eyes that were now winking into view among the shells. His head blaring, Allen struggled to get up, digging his hands into the sand for some sort of stability. Whispers of fragmented speech reached his ears, clogging his senses. 

With great effort, he reached an obelisk of white marble protruding from the sand that hadn’t been there moments before. This obelisk acted as a frame for a similarly pristine white door that hummed with an unnatural glow. From the ground, Allen reached up for the door’s handle, and used it as a brace to pull himself up. As soon as he was standing, he swung the door open, bolted in, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Allen nearly fainted upon entry to the Hub World, slamming his back up against an adjacent wall to stay upright, clutching his head and biting back a scream. The door next to him roared with an ungodly noise, a fusion of a door’s creaking and a monstrous roar, until a river of a thick black liquid flowed over the entryway. The liquid splattered onto the pristine white floors, flecks staining Allen’s skin and clothes. As the noise faded, so did Allen’s headache, but it took longer for his vision to settle. He felt seasick on land, unaided by the salty smell drenched into his being by the waves and rain. 

Once the nausea subsided, Allen slid down the wall to a sitting position, catching his breath. A figure, a young boy with dark hair dressed completely in white save for a set of cobalt blue gloves, approached him quietly.

“Where, where a-are…” The boy stuttered, repeating the start of his sentence over and over before stopping and taking a deep breath.

Allen didn’t let him finish their thought. “They died. Either they were dead already, or you and your buddy definitely killed them with your little trick there.” Allen jabbed his head in the direction of the closed door, the soft noise of its flow merging with the five other doorways that had been closed off from the central hub. 

“Oh… oh no…” The boy staggered backwards, bringing his hands up to his face in shock. “What… what are we gonna do now?”

“What are we gonna do? What’s your plan here, Mona?” Allen retorted, scowling. “Why did you bring outsiders into this mess?”

“I-It wasn’t me, I—”

“Stop making excuses, kid. If you didn’t summon them, then who did?”

“I-I can’t tell you that.”

Allen stood and took a few steps towards the boy, who scuttled backwards in kind.

“Why not? What is there to be afraid of, Mona?”

Morgana backed up into the central stone tower of the Hub World, shaking slightly. “Al, d-don’t do this. You’re losing control. J-just go home, we’ll talk, we’ll talk about this when you’ve calmed down.”

“You aren’t in charge of me, kid. You can’t tell me what to do.”

A figure appeared in between Morgana and Allen. They were tall, lanky, and made of the same liquid as the barriers between the door and the rest of the world. They had no discernible features in their face or their limbs, but the two ram horns sprouting out of their head sent warning signals flaring through Allen’s body.

“Get out of my way, Paka,” his voice came out as a low growl.

“D-Don’t say that name!” Morgana’s voice called from behind the new figure.

“Why not? Don’t tell me you’re scared of the monster that put us in this hellhole.”

“I don’t want to have to do this to you, Doom.” The horned figure’s voice emanated from where its mouth should be.

Allen swiftly unsheathed a small knife clipped to his belt. “Don’t call me that! You have no right to use that name!”

“Al, please just listen to us!” Morgana practically wailed. Dark freckles started appearing over the exposed parts of their body, slowly spreading and forming a layer of pitch black across their face.

Without another word, Allen lunged at the horned figure, trying to slice through it to get to Morgana. At once, the figure wrapped its shadowy arms around Allen, locking him in an embrace. Allen kicked and squirmed, trying to fight back, but it was futile. Even if the figure was attacked, its will was absolute.

Morgana clutched at their face with darkened hands, a terrified expression leaking through the covering. “Ori, you need to get him out of here!” Their voice was strained, and they began coughing violently once the statement had concluded.

As Morgana doubled over, Orion dragged Allen over to the other side of the Hub World, to an open door. This door looked simple and rugged, with a symbol resembling a knife carved into it. Orion flung Allen through the door, almost with no care for his physical well-being, and slammed the door behind him. They held the door closed as Allen slammed against it again and again, trying to get back into the space between dimensions, but Orion was stronger. The liquid separating the door from the rest of the system did not appear- it was not his time yet.

Morgana collapsed to the ground, their eyeball-flavored sickness refusing to subside. With one hand still keeping the door closed, although Allen’s beatings had subsided, Orion slowly approached Morgana. All of the eyes stared at him. The eyes did not like what they saw.