Absentia Chapter 2: The Mission
I remember when I discontinued this and said it was because it took too long to write part two and no one would want to read it. Well, past Pluto, if a few months was too long for you, how about nearly two years?
But lo and behold, it’s here and I fully intend to complete this story because goddammit I have so many incomplete WIPs and it bothers me. For those who don’t remember part one, which I assume is all of you, here's the link:
Absentia Chapter 1
This puppy is 9,000 words and two years in the making, so I hope you all enjoy it! And I apologize if the style is inconsistent, a lot has happened since I wrote the majority of this.
Summary: With the revelation that Henrik still lives, the others are forced to come up with some way to save him and bring their brother home. However, Marvin knows something the others do not, and he may not have the strength to stop his brothers before they get themselves killed or worse.
(Tw: stab wounds, night terrors, guns, violence, foul language, Anti being a freaky fuck, blood, hospitals, surgery mention, broken bones mention, comas)
*if there's any more triggers you think I should add, let me know. This fic is a monster and I might have missed some.
The air was frigid, sinking into his skin and chilling him to the bone. Everything was dark and quiet, save for pained, ragged breathing.
“Hello?”
Marvin called out into the darkness but received no answer except the desperate breaths and the oppressive silence. Then, he saw it. A figure slumped over on the ground, clutching a wound in his stomach, face unidentifiable. The magician attempted to reach out to him but he was glued in place, paralyzed no matter who fervently he struggled. A horribly familiar voice rang out into the darkness.
“No one will be coming to save you this time.”
A hand reached out from the void, pulling at the victim’s hair to wrench him into a kneeling position. Marvin let out a startled gasp as their face was revealed.
It was Jackie.
The hand tightened in the hero’s hair, dragging him away into the darkness.
“Jackie?! Jackie!”
-
The weeks that followed their visit to Dr. Iplier were hell for Chase. With Jackie on semi-permanent bedrest and Marvin in a magic-induced coma, he was now the oldest healthy member of the household, which came with many responsibilities that he was definitely not ready for. Taking care of Jameson, defending the house should Anti attack, remembering to pay the electric bill, and now caring for Jackie and Marvin, all of it fell to him. He’d never realized how much Jackie and Marv did for them in the background, but it was incredibly stressful.
Through it all, Chase had begun to appreciate JJ more than ever. He helped cook the meals, looked after Marvin, and was someone to confide in now that it was just them left. Chase would take care of Marvin in the morning, administer his medicine, and give Dr. Iplier a report over the phone, while JJ made sure Jackie was healing properly and taking the correct medication. At noon they would switch.
A month had gone by with no change in Marvin’s condition, much longer than the Host had estimated. Every day came with the horrible fear that one of these mornings they would find the magician dead. At the very least Jackie was now healthy enough to be up and about, but even his effectively endless positivity didn't cure the sinking pit in Chase’s stomach.
It wasn’t until a particularly blustery Friday night that something finally changed.
JJ was asleep in an armchair next to Marvin’s bed, a half-finished book on his lap and a cup of tea nearby that had since gone cold. Then, after a month of dormancy, the comatose man’s eyes flew open.
“ J-Jackie?!” He croaked out, his voice hoarse and scratchy from not being used in so long.
JJ jolted awake, taking one look at the now awake Marvin and practically leaping to the door. He nearly tripped over himself as he sprinted down the short hallway, banging on bedroom doors as he went. Jackie exited his room immediately, arm still held tenderly against his body to protect his injured shoulder but eyes wild.
“It’s 2 am Jameson, what’s going on?!”
“Marvin’s awake!” JJ signed to him furiously, taking him by his good arm and practically dragging him to the magician’s room.
Marvin had since attempted to sit up, the movement clearly difficult by the way he was half slouching against the headboard. His eyes widened when JJ and Jackie burst through the door, both out of breath from sprinting across the apartment.
“Jackie?! You’re- Where the hell am I?! How long has it been? Is Anti-”
“You’re home, Marv.”
Marvin wound a hand through his hair, looking around the room and realizing that it was, in fact, his own. He looked to Jackie again, noticing that the gash on his temple had healed down to nothing but a pale scar.
“It's been a month, we were worried you wouldn't ever wake up.”
Focus returned to Marvin’s eyes, confusion morphing into worry.
“Where's Chase? Is he alright?”
As if on cue Chase lumbered through the door, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Guys, what was all that banging about?! You’d think Anti broke in with all that racket.”
It wasn't until he looked up that he noticed who they were all gathered around.
“Marvin!”
Chase ran to his bedside, throwing his arms around the magician in a crushing hug.
“You're alive!”
“I won't be in a minute if you keep squeezing me like that!” Marvin struggled in Chase’s grip but he was far too weak to worm his way out of it.
They all laughed, more out of relief than anything else.
JJ stayed at a respectable distance- he never was one for physical contact- but the relief on his face was palpable.
However, once the jovial air wore off, more pressing questions were at hand.
“What happened while I was out?”
Chase and Jackie spent the next fifteen minutes filling him in on their visit to Dr. Iplier and the revelation that Schneep was alive. Marvin listened with little reaction, but the others could see how much the news troubled him.
“He’s been alive out there this entire time?”
Chase had since ducked out of the room to call Dr. Iplier and tell him Marvin had woken up, so it was only Jackie and JJ left in the room.
“Apparently,” Jackie answered, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “He seemed pretty proud of it too.”
“It was Anti who said this, correct? How do you know he’s not lying to us?”
“We don’t, do we?” JJ signed to them, although it was difficult to tell what he was trying to say in the dim light.
“What, would you rather he be dead? I don’t care if this is another of Anti’s lies, I’m going to look for him. We can’t just forget he ever existed.”
Marvin sat up straighter in bed, defiance etched into his exhausted face.
“That is not what I’m trying to say.”
“Then what are you trying to say?!”
Marvin’s coma visions flashed in his mind, Jackie’s bloody, bruised face sending a pang of fierce protectiveness through his chest.
Any mission to save Schneeplestien would end in tragedy, the magician knew it. His visions had never lied to him before, and he had no reason to believe they would now.
There was a long period of silence before Marvin spoke again, his voice quiet.
“I’m just trying to say we should be cautious, is all. This could be a setup. We don’t have any proof that Henrik really is still alive. Wouldn’t it be better to spend our resources on protecting those we know are still here?”
“But what if he is still alive?! We’d be leaving him to die!”
“After this much time with Anti? He’s probably already dead, mentally if not physically.”
Jackie’s hands were shaking with anger at this point, and Marvin knew he’d crossed a line.
“That doesn’t mean we should just fucking abandon him.”
“Gentlemen, please-”
“You stay out of this!” Jackie snapped, JJ recoiling back from the harsh words.
“Don’t yell at him!” Chase had ducked back into the room at the noise, gripping JJ’s shirt sleeve as he maneuvered the younger towards the doorway.
“I leave for 5 minutes and you two are already arguing! Don't you think that maybe, just maybe, this is exactly what Anti wants?!”
“Chase-”
“Save it. This ain't any kind of conversation to be having at two in the morning. Let Marvin rest, we can settle this tomorrow.”
When Chase pulls out his authoritarian parent voice, you don’t argue.
“Jackie, I didn't mean-”
Marvin reached out to him, but Jackie had already stood, face ashen but steeled in determination. He had made up his mind, the exact thing Marvin was trying to prevent.
JJ followed him out as he left, though at a slight distance
Chase, however, turned back to Marvin with a curt “goodnight” before shutting the door behind him.
Then it was Chase and JJ alone in the hall, Jackie having quickly ducked into his room to avoid the palpable disappointment radiating off of Chase. Jameson tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
“What is it, JJ?”
“They are frightened, Chase. Don’t blame them for their anger.”
Chase sighed, running a hand through his hair.
“I don’t blame them, Jameson, I’m just-”
“Trying to keep everything together? You’ll never be able to do that alone. None of us can.”
Chase let out a nervous laugh. “Tell me about it.”
JJ sighed, taking Chase by the wrist. He led the other into the kitchen, sitting him at the table and moving to put the kettle on.
“Tea always puts me in high spirits.”
After a few minutes of silence, JJ joined Chase at the table with two cups of chamomile. The two sat, listening to the sounds of the wind and snow battering the outside of the apartment.
“How do you always seem to know just what to say? I wish I could do that, probably would've made me a better parent.”
JJ looked out the near window into the growing snowstorm, contemplative.
“When you cannot speak,” his hands hovered in the air for a moment, contemplative.“you learn to make every word count.”
They didn't say anything more, sitting in silence until their teacups were empty. Chase bid JJ a thank you and goodnight, heading back to bed himself. Jameson was left at the table, cleaning the cups in the soft amber glow of the kitchen.
-
The next morning, a house meeting was called. Marvin was helped from his bed to a similar position on the couch, with JJ in the armchair and Chase and Jackie on the futon.
Jackie called the meeting to order.
“I've called you all here because we need to figure out what we're going to do. Sitting here bickering is going to help no one.”
He surveyed the room, eyes landing on each member of the household before settling on Marvin.
“So, we're going to have a good old fashioned vote. All in favor of going after Henrik, raise your hand.”
Jackie’s was up first, then Chase’s, and finally JJ’s. Marvin was the only one who didn't move.
“Marv, please, we need you if we’re going to make this work,” Chase pleaded.
“Why are you so opposed to it anyway? If we try and fail, at least we tried. At least we did something.” Jackie said, his words punctuated with silent anger that made the air run cold.
He couldn't tell them, he just couldn't. Marvin knew his visions, and he knew they couldn't be changed. All they could do was delay it, but the moment in time had been written in stone. All telling them would do is delay the inevitable and cause them all more pain.
The room was silent for a long few seconds,
“I'm scared, Jackie.”
If it wasn't quiet before, it certainly was now. Like Jackie, Marvin has never admitted to weakness. Fear wasn’t an option. He'd work himself straight into the grave if the others didn't stop him, it was the whole reason he managed to get to the point of coma in the first place. Admitting to fear was huge to Marvin. He’d never do it unless there was just cause.
“I’ve lived and breathed this kind of magic for months now. It is extremely serious, powerful enough to get inside your brain and change you on a fundamental level. This goes beyond Night Sickness or even demon possession. Spending nine months in constant contact with demonic magic, if it doesn’t kill you, will turn you into something unrecognizable. Jameson is the only one of us here who even has the slightest inkling of what that’s like, and he was only exposed to it for upwards of an hour.”
JJ nodded, absentmindedly rubbing the pale scars on his fingers.
“Are you absolutely sure there’s no way to reverse it? If we’re able to get him back at all, that is.” Jackie asked, tone softer this time.
“Possibly. There are ways to cleanse the system of demonic power, but even the most powerful magic can’t reverse the mental and physical trauma associated with being Anti’s prisoner for half of a year. There isn’t a power on this earth that can completely cure that.”
Jackie held his head in his hands for a moment.
“We have to try.”
Marvin contemplated this for a long time, his eyes almost visibly clouded with doubt. Then, after nearly a full minute of silence, he spoke.
“Chase, you know the bookshelf in my room? On the bottom shelf against the right wall, there’s a dark blue book. Bring it to me. Call Host too, I'm going to need some help.”
Marvin threw off the blanket that was draped across his shoulders, struggling into a sitting position.
“We’re going to find ourselves a doctor.”
-
In a little less than fifteen minutes, Host and Marvin had set themselves up at the kitchen table with the book between them. Bing had also tagged along, mostly just to visit Chase.
While the others tried finding ways to help, it was obvious that Marvin and Host were operating with things none of them could understand. After a while, it became clear that what they really needed was to be left alone.
Host had Marvin take a break every half hour, to make sure he didn’t exhaust himself. He wasn’t even supposed to be using magic at all, especially this soon after coming out of a coma, but there wasn’t much of a choice in the matter. The work helped to lift his mood though, as it usually did. He was starting to look less like a walking corpse and more like the Marvin he was before this whole mess began.
It wasn’t until two weeks later that they had pinpointed Schneep’s possible location.
-
It was an early Monday morning, about 6:00 am, everyone in the apartment still asleep except for Marvin, the Host, and Bing. Host and Marvin had been up all night as they usually were, while Bing didn’t even need to sleep, being an android. He instead busied himself with trying to find something in the board game cabinet he could entertain himself with.
While the others had been expecting a loud celebration once the location was found, there wasn’t one. Finding the doctor had been a long and grueling process of elimination, using a myriad of various tracking magics and knowledge of Anti and his habits, provided by a report Host had stolen from Dark’s desk drawer.
“Why the hell does Dark even have this?” Marvin had asked of him when the document was brought up.
“Anti is his biggest competition. It is beneficial to know your enemy. The Host just hopes he doesn‘t notice it’s gone.”
Once the others were awake, Marvin called them into the sitting room again to deliver the good news.
“Thanks to this,” Marvin held up the report, “We’ve found one alternate dimension that has the biggest chance of being the one Anti’s been hiding out in. Apparently Dark has hired some kind of spy to follow Anti around, for his own reasons I’m sure, but Anti has been seen frequenting a tear in the abandoned fishing village of Hallsands in Devon.”
“Question, what’s a tear?” Chase asked.
“It’s a place where the boundaries of this dimension are weaker than usual, allowing easier passage out of this dimension into another. There are hundreds of them, but it’s suspicious that Anti has been frequenting this one in particular.”
“And,” Marvin continued, “It would make sense for Anti to pick it considering that even visitors aren’t allowed in the village proper since the access road is blocked by the sea. I’m not sure if I'll be able to make a portal in my condition, but I don't think I have much of a choice. Still, someone’s going to have to go in to find Schneep, and even I don't know what you'll find in there.”
Marvin was out since he had to be the one to actually open the portal, and Chase backed out immediately after. He didn't want to be anywhere near Anti, not after last time.
That left Jackie and JJ. Jackie had already volunteered, but to make the plan work, they needed one person to distract Anti and the other to find and free Schneep while the demon was occupied.
“I’ll do it.”
The others gawked at Jameson, wide-eyed. JJ was probably the gentlest among them, and considering what had happened to him in October, the least likely to want to face Anti in person again. Yet still, his eyes burned with uncharacteristic determination.
“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? We wouldn't judge you if you backed out, you have a better reason than any of us do.”
“Somebody has to do it. Might as well be me.”
It was clear that he had made up his mind.
Though Jackie never would have expected to be going in with JJ of all people, he respected the courage required to agree to a dangerous, possibly even suicidal mission all to save someone Jameson hadn’t even met before.
-
Now that the details of the plan had been decided, then began the month-long preparation period. Jackie spent the majority of it training with Bing. A strange choice from the outside, but being an android, Bing was much stronger and faster than any human being could possibly hope to be. He didn't have any formal combat training and was as clumsy as you'd expect, but that didn't really matter. His only real job was to try and hit Jackie as fast as he possibly could-which was several times faster than most normal people can blink- and see if Jackie could dodge it.
It left him with a lot of nasty bruises, but he was improving. The name of the game was speed. Jackie knew he couldn't beat Anti in hand to hand combat and there was no way he'd ever be able to, but all this mission really entailed was distracting and slowing him down long enough for JJ to find Schneep and free him. That, Jackie could do.
At least he hoped so.
Alongside his own training, Jackie spent time trying to teach JJ the absolute basics of staying alive in a fight against Anti. He was an attentive listener, but his problem was one that couldn’t be solved in the short time they had until the mission.
He was far too gentle and empathetic. He vehemently refused to hit Jackie, even when reassured that it wouldn’t hurt him.
“I’ve been punched in the face by a robot six times today, you’re not going to hurt me,” he’d say, but Jameson still wouldn’t do it.
JJ certainly wasn’t weak physically, none of them were. He’d do anything else Jackie asked of him to the best of his ability, but he wouldn't fight on any condition. Hell, he wouldn’t even practice against Bing, who couldn’t feel any pain in the first place. As far as he was concerned, hurting another living being on purpose made him no better than Anti.
“Jameson, you have to remember, Anti isn’t human. I’m not even sure if he’s truly alive, not like we are. You can’t let yourself feel for him, because he’s sure as hell isn’t going to feel for you. God forbid if I’m out of commission, it’s just going to be you, Henrik, and Anti. If that happens, you fight or you die.”
JJ was clearly conflicted by this, Jackie could see it in the nervous twitching of his brow and the way he refused to look up from the floor.
Jackie laid a hand on his shoulder.
“The offer to back out is still there. Chase said he’ll take your place if he has to.”
JJ immediately shrugged the hand off of his shoulder.
“No.”
The sign was short and aggressive, about as close to yelling as Jameson could ever get.
It was that moment that made it clear that this was more than JJ wanting to help. This was personal. The others obviously had varying levels of hatred and fear towards Anti, but for JJ it was something much, much more than that.
He’d never talked about what being possessed was like and waved off any attempts by the others to console him after the fact, but it still affected him majorly. It was one of the reasons he wanted to help save Schneep regardless of never having met him. The doctor might be the only other person alive on earth that knew what it was like, that could understand.
This mission, having a handhold over Anti, proving that they weren’t completely helpless; that meant everything to him. It was less about proving it to the demon and more about proving it to himself.
That despite what everyone had assumed about him, he was his own person.
For the next few days after that, they took a break from combat and focused on teaching JJ other skills. Dr.Iplier taught him basic first aid and how to tell if someone had a concussion, where the pulse is, how to properly slow the effects of blood loss, among several other things he may need to employ depending on what condition they found the doctor in.
Jackie taught him how to pick locks, and how to breathe and walk to make the least amount of noise possible.
Jameson absorbed the information like a sponge, becoming near obsessed with perfecting every skill they laid in front of him. He’d stay up until the early hours of the morning, picking the lock on his own door until the inside mechanisms broke from the strain. He’d become so good at sneaking around that by the time they were ready to leave he could stand in the corner of a room completely undetected for 30 minutes and no one would even notice him until he moved.
-
The day had finally come for them to leave. Jackie had dressed JJ in black, flexible clothing, the kind he usually wore to night missions where he needed to be discreet. Seeing Jameson in semi-casual attire was strange, and he seemed uncomfortable in it, but this mission relied on maneuverability and stealth. It was necessary.
Jackie, JJ, Chase, Marvin and Dr. Iplier were all waiting on the back lawn of the apartment complex, preparing to leave. Bing had also come to see them off.
Dr. Iplier was dressed warmer than usual in a black turtleneck under a heavier black denim overcoat. Slung over his shoulder was a leather doctor’s bag. None of them knew how they had managed to convince him to come along, but they were going to need a doctor once they rescued Schneep. If they managed to, that is.
All of them were dressed for brisk weather, in dark clothing fit for winter. Spring definitely wasn’t upon them just yet, and the cold air off of the sea certainly wasn’t going to improve things.
Chase and Host had supplied Jackie with a pistol and three silver bullets, the last of what Host had made after the others were lost in their last fight. The weapon was strapped to his waist along with other provisions.
Jackie had never liked guns, mostly because of how impersonal they were. If he had to kill someone he would rather it be visceral and real, a reminder of the sacrifices one has to make in order to keep the peace.
However, this mission was a notable exception to his rule. There was too much at stake.
JJ was dressed similarly, a small bag strapped to his side containing his lock pick tools, a small roll of bandages and a container of antiseptic.
The irony of that certainly wasn't lost on them.
They were about ready to leave and had said their goodbyes when Host approached JJ.
He took a metal object out of his coat and placed it in Jameson's hands, curling the other man’s fingers around it.
“This is a dagger of pure silver. The Host only ever made three of these. One is in his library, one was destroyed by Darkiplier, and the last is in your hands now.
Use it only when necessary.”
Jameson looked down at the blade, a sharp bolt of fear running down his spine at the familiarity of the weapon. Host obviously noticed his discomfort.
“A weapon is defined by the hand that wields it. Anti’s way is not the only way. This time, the power is in your hands.”
JJ nodded, curling his hand around the blade and depositing it in the pocket of the light jacket he wore.
If nothing else, he hoped he'd never have to use it.
It was time.
With a twitch of Marvin’s wrist and a light blue glow, the portal ripped open. He made it seem easy, but the others could see the strain in his face. He’d studied the area for at least a week beforehand so opening the doorway itself was simple, yet it sapped a considerable amount of his still healing magic reserves.
Casting one last look back at the apartment, the group made their way into the unknown.
-
Jackie wasn't sure what he was expecting. He'd seen pictures- a dilapidated village swallowed by the sea- but seeing it in person was something different entirely.
The air held a heavy sense of foreboding and danger, like every rock and broken roof tile was telling them to turn around before it was too late.
It was a strange sensation, like the village knew that something evil had taken residence within its borders.
All was silent save for the occasional seagull and the hypnotic lap of the waves against the sharp rocks of the shore. The group exchanged quick glances before beginning the treacherous climb down to the village proper.
Marvin needed the most help as his muscles were still weak from his time in a coma, but the others managed.
“Heights and the ocean. It's like he’s mocking us,” Dr. Iplier said, casting a cautious glance to the shoreline. Jackie grunted in agreement.
“He's always mocking us, that's what he does.”
They didn't speak again until they had reached the first building.
Half of the roof was caved in, the inside filled with rocks and damp sand. The edge of a table stuck out from the rubble, the memory of someone who had lived there once upon a time.
“We’re close enough to open the portal,” Marvin announced once they reached the doorway of the house.
Dr. Iplier set down his bag, looking Jackie and JJ over one last time.
“Try not to get yourselves killed in there.”
A familiar lopsided grin appeared on Jackie’s face, easing the near painful tension in the air. “No promises.”
Marvin shot them a glance, a clear signal that he needed silence.
The others compiled as the magician sat cross-legged on the sand, muttering under his breath.
For a while, nothing happened. The others were starting to wonder if Marvin even had enough power left to open the portal, considering how weak the coma had made him.
However, all doubts were dispelled when the tear actually opened up.
It almost looked fake, like a bad photoshop job in real life. The portal was a perfectly square doorway, leading into pure darkness on the other side. The air around it was tight and humid, compressed with static and smelling of ash and seawater.
“Ash. There's definitely a demon in there.”
Dr. Iplier’s hand tightened on his bag as he took a few stumbling steps away from the portal.
Jackie turned to the others: Marvin, cross-legged on the ground, the doctor, leaning against the wall of the dilapidated building, and Chase, who was hugging his arms to himself against the cold wind. He held his eyes on each one for a moment, a cold sense of loss seeping into his bones. There was always a chance Jackie would leave for a mission and not come back, but this one felt different.
He chalked it up to being so close to Anti, it tended to make one feel all sorts of negative emotions.
Jackie turned to JJ.
“You ready?”
Jameson gave a curt nod and nothing more. His hands were pressed into his pockets, gripping around the dagger he had stored there.
They turned to head into the portal, not daring to look back in fear that they would lose the courage to keep going.
Once they were completely inside the portal, all went silent. Unnaturally silent, so much so they could quite literally hear the blood in their own veins. The environment itself wasn't very visually stimulating either. It was a dark void of absolutely nothing, save for a set of stairs floating in the middle of the empty space. They seemed to disappear halfway up, into a second-floor neither of them could see.
Then they heard the singing.
Singing was a strong word for it, (it was more aptly described as talking in rhythm with occasional humming) but it was definitely some kind of song. The voice itself was hauntingly familiar.
“Wait, I know that melody. I've heard it somewhere before.”
Jameson signed, his hands difficult to see in the dim light.
“It's called The Bloody Miller, it's an old English folk ballad from the sixteen hundreds about a man who murders his girlfriend and throws her body in the river.”
“Why would Anti be singing anything, let alone four-hundred-year-old folk songs?”
The two were crouched near the base of the stairs, straining to hear the words.
“I’m unsure, but from what I've heard of Marvin and Hosts’ conversations, Anti is probably old enough to have been around when it was written.”
The two made their way silently up the stairs, wincing every time the wood groaned under their feet. The singing stayed constant, and the closer
they got, the more they could make out the words.
“Thus she fell on bended knee,
For mercy she did cry,
‘For heaven's sake don't murder me,
I am not fit to die.”
The words were accentuated by the scratch of metal on whetstone. Anti was sharpening his knives.
Jackie and JJ were perched at the top of the stairs, leaning against a concrete wall. The wall itself appeared to be floating in the void, going on in one direction until it disappeared into the darkness.
“You must surprise him while he isn’t paying attention.”
Jackie nodded, watching as Anti dipped his whetstone into the bucket of water at his side.
He was seated at a wooden table, the surface dappled with dark stains. He had stopped singing, instead quietly humming the tune of the ballad under his breath.
A scar could be seen on the back of Anti’s neck from their last encounter, satisfaction humming in Jackie’s veins at the sight.
The hero’s hand tightened on the grip of the gun Chase had given him, although it was still in its holster.
Now or never.
He stepped out of his hiding place, aiming the gun straight at the back of Anti’s head, wasting no time before pulling the trigger.
The bullet never made its mark.
By the time Jackie had gotten his bearings and looked up, Anti had caught the bullet between his thumb and pointer finger, examining it for a moment before looking over his shoulder at the bewildered hero.
“Sorry Jackie, I don't make the same mistake twice.”
Anti let the bullet drop to the floor, setting down his whetstone and lifting his knife to examine it.
“Nice weather out here in Devon, isn't it? So happy you could join the party, I'm sure the doctor was getting a tad lonely.”
Jackie's grip tightened on the gun once more, his judgment clouded by just how much he wanted to shoot the smug smile off of Anti’s face.
His efforts only made him smile wider.
“Getting a little trigger happy? You only have two bullets left in that gun, I'd use them wisely if you want to come out of this alive.”
How the hell did he know that?
“But why delay this any longer since you're obviously so excited? You want your precious doctor back so badly?” Anti stood, running a hand over the freshly sharpened edge of his blade. “Then come get him.”
Jackie was going back out of that door with Schneeplestien or not at all.
But, he stopped himself. One of the fatal errors of his last battle was his zeal and impatience. Anger and fear only made Anti stronger and stacked the odds against them even more so than they already were.
So, he waited for Anti to strike first.
The demon stood rigid, contemplating. Then he was gone.
Jackie sensed the static behind him and turned at the last moment, gripping Anti’s wrist right as the knife wavered above his face.
Then he was gone again.
This battle really was one of speed, and Jackie had underestimated just how tiring dodging Anti’s cavalcade of blows would become.
After the first five minutes, Anti stopped playing games.
He reappeared above Jackie, falling on top of him and knocking him on his back. Both of Anti’s boots were pressed into Jackie’s arms, pinning him to the ground.
The hero managed to kick up with his knees to free himself, but the blow had rendered him breathless. Anti circled him slowly, his form twitching spastically in horrifying fashion.
He thought about using the gun, but considering how easily Anti’d caught the bullet earlier the effort seemed fruitless. He was out of ideas and out of options, so he went for the simplest solution.
Turning sharply, Jackie charged Anti and shoved him against the table, managing to land a few blows to his face and chest. Anti grabbed the hero by the arms as they went down, flipping him over the wooden surface and cracking his head off of the edge as they both went crashing to the ground.
Jackie felt a deep ache in his stomach just as they hit the ground, as if he’d been punched hard in the gut, and only upon looking down did he realize what had happened. Anti had stabbed him, the knife buried to the hilt.
The demon was on top of him, eyes blown wide in satisfaction as he twisted the blade in further.
The pain hit Jackie all at once, a tidal wave of agony that immediately turned his vision dark at the edges. He could feel everything, Anti’s aura on him, the knife tearing the flesh, the burn of the bruises on his arms from the last assault.
He had nowhere else to look but Anti’s face. No matter how much he tried to avert his eyes he couldn't, the poisonous green of Anti’s gaze filled Jackie’s entire field of vision. The mingling of the static aura and the unbearable pain of the wound clouded his brain. He couldn't think, he couldn't speak, he couldn't even blink.
Anti whispered the next section of the ballad into Jackie’s ear, his voice calm but tinged with insanity that tainted every word.
“From ear to ear I slit her mouth
And stabbed her in the head,
Till she poor soul did breathless lie
Before her butchers bled.”
Jackie wanted nothing more than to call out for JJ, tell him to run, warn him that Anti had beaten him and that he needs to escape, but his voice remained lodged in his throat. Anti’s smile only widened at Jackie’s vain attempts to call out for help.
“You trained so hard but only lasted seven minutes. What a shame.”
Anti stood, pulling out the knife in one fluid, agonizing movement. Even though he was now free from the demon’s gaze, all Jackie could manage was a pained whimper.
“Time to go find your little companion. Fancy a game of hide and seek?”
Jackie had curled into a ball, clutching his wound as the blood darkened his shirt and flowed between his fingers. Dignity in this situation was the farthest thing from his mind.
“If you want to kill me, just fucking do it, but leave him alone.”
Anti laughed as he turned on his heel and stalked back into the darkness, quietly at first, the sound then growing into a cacophony of crazed giggling.
“Kill you? That’s the game of the merciful.
If you died, your pain would be over. Where's the fun in that? I’ll be back for you as soon as I deal with this little thorn in my side.”
Then he was gone, out of sight in the velvet darkness of the void.
JJ had followed the plan exactly, slinking through the darkness as Jackie kept Anti occupied. He'd left before Anti had overpowered the hero, and thus was oblivious to the pair of malicious eyes watching him from the darkness as he discovered the holding cell.
Slumped against the concrete wall was a figure, a tattered doctor's coat hanging limply off of his shoulders. He was leaned against the wall, hand clutching his chest, seemingly unconscious.
The closer Jameson got, the worse the scene became. The doctor’s pallid face was horrifying, his grey ashen skin tone and concave cheeks giving him the look of a corpse. Blood stained his clothes, and what skin that was visible was decorated with so many scars it looked as if he’d been through a trash compactor, several still healing and clearly grotesquely infected.
Fortunately he did appear to be breathing, though every breath came with a lung rattling wheeze that definitely didn't sound healthy.
JJ knelt next to the door, taking out his simple lock pick tools and going to work. The door sprung open fairly easily, almost too easily, but he cast aside his doubts. There wasn't any time to dawdle on the ‘what ifs’. Once inside, he went about picking the locks on the manacles around the doctor’s wrists.
Being this close to Henrik, seeing the damage, recognizing all of Anti’s little trademarks in the wounds and abrasions across the doctor's skin, it sent a pang of painful remembrance through him. It was all so familiar, and the fact remained that it could’ve just as easily been him if Anti hadn’t left when he did.
The second chain had fallen when Jameson felt it, the familiar hum of static in his ears. His brain had only just registered that he should get the hell out of there when cold metal settled against his collarbone.
“Reminiscing, are we?” Anti’s voice reverberated in his ears, sending a jolt of panic through him so strong that it nearly knocked him over.
If Anti’s here, he thought to himself, then what happened to Jackie?!
“Didn't think you’d have the courage to face me.” The knife skirted from his collarbone up towards his jaw, Jameson himself still as a statue. “You’re either incredibly brave, or incredibly foolish.”
He wanted to panic, every instinct he had was telling him to panic, but he held it down. He’d survived Anti’s assaults before. He knew what it was like, and he knew that the absolute worst thing you could do when trapped by Anti was panic.
Yet, he felt Anti’s presence like a shadow, creeping into his skin, taking hold of him from the inside. Every vein in his skin was being wrapped around the demon’s fingers like the silver strings of a marionette, his body straining against it but unable to escape.
“I was planning to kill you, get you out of the way, but maybe I should keep you. Watch the light drain from your pretty little eyes.”
Anti leaned in close, his breath unnaturally cold against Jameson’s ear. “Wouldn't that be-”
Anti’s speech was cut off by a gunshot, the sound of the bullet striking the back of Anti’s head and sizzling there leaving a thick feeling of nausea in the pit of Jameson’s stomach. Anti let out a short, rasping screech before falling silent, slumping hard against Jameson’s back, the knife clattering to the ground.
JJ shoved the limp body off of him, watching as it slumped motionless against the cracked concrete floor, smearing the blood from his neck wound down the back of Jameson’s neck in the process.
The blood was ice cold.
He whirled around to see Jackie, one hand holding the pistol Chase had given him and the other clutching a wound in his stomach.
Jackie’s eyes locked onto Jameson’s for a moment before he collapsed, the pistol clattering to the ground.
“Run, please- get Schneep and go!”
He growled through clenched teeth, clutching his wound and struggling to stay conscious.
Anti was sprawled on the ground, a bullet wound square in the back of the head. He really did look dead, still and lifeless, but Jameson knew better. He was still breathing, albeit shallowly. They knew he wouldn't be killed that easily.
Jameson lifted Schneep up into his arms, careful not to irritate any of his still-healing wounds. He was so light, it was heartbreaking.
JJ knelt next to Jackie next, attempting to lift him up too, but the hero shooed him away.
“No, leave me. Anti’ll get up soon, he's already moving. Get the doctor out of here!”
Jameson shook his head rapidly but Jackie wouldn't budge.
“Go!”
JJ stared into Jackie’s eyes for a moment, tears gathering in his own before he tore his gaze away and ran as fast as he could back the direction he had come, clutching onto the doctor for dear life.
After a brief sprint, Jameson came tumbling back out of the portal, tripping onto the rocks and sending both him and the doctor tumbling onto the sand.
Meanwhile, Jackie was still clutching his wound, waiting as Anti slowly got back up. If he ran, he'd lure Anti out towards the others and compromise everything they'd worked for.
He only hoped he'd bleed out before Anti could fully release his anger.
The demon struggled to his feet, breathing heavily through the blood that had gathered in his mouth. His eyes were black as ink, his form struggling to stay anchored as blood dripped from the bullet wound, collecting in his hair and running languidly down the back of his neck.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that.”
Anti reached up to the back of his head, digging his nails into the wound until they gripped the bullet and ripped it out. It was damaged from impact, most likely leaving pieces inside of Anti’s skull. Still, he didn’t seem to care, though the pain that clouded his eyes said otherwise.
Anti stalked towards Jackie, his movements jarring and stilted, his face a horrifying kaleidoscope of blood, scars and seething anger that darkened the very air around them.
He took hold of Jackie’s hair, jerking his head upwards in a swift motion. Jackie himself didn't even have the strength to fight against it, the action eliciting nothing but a pained groan. He could feel his skin getting clammy and cold, a sign of severe blood loss.
“This is an old, old dimension, Jackie. Something this old is easy to dismantle, especially if you have the right tools.” He gave the hero’s hair another tug. “No one will be coming to save you this time. Not unless they want every molecule in their useless fucking body ripped apart one by one!”
Jackie could feel the air around him constricting, physically breaking apart, stealing the little air left in his lungs. The fabric of the dimension was ripping itself apart.
Anti turned, dragging Jackie farther back into the darkness.
“And then I took her by the hair
To cover the foul sin
And dragged her to the riverside
And threw her body in.”
Jackie had stopped struggling. He vaguely registered that he was about to die, but it didn't terrify him as much as he thought it would. If anything it was a relief. A selfish one, but he no longer cared.
Back on the other side of the portal, Marvin was struggling. The door was trying to close, and not only that, he could feel the dimension itself splintering apart.
With Jackie still inside.
JJ was so shaken up that he couldn’t even sign, Chase kneeling in the sand nearby, desperately trying to console him. Dr. Iplier hovered over Schneeplestien, checking his vitals and bandaging what wounds he could with his limited supplies.
Eventually the force of the collapsing dimension was too much, the doorway snapping shut and creating a shockwave so strong that it flung Marvin fifteen feet away, where he fortunately landed in a small sand drift.
“We have to go back in there! Jackie’s trapped!” Chase had stepped away from JJ, helping Marvin up from his sprawled position in the sand dune. The magician pushed his hand away.
“N-no. We can’t. Jackie is gone, Chase.”
“How do you know that?!”
“Because,” Marvin removed his mask, running his hands from his face up into his hair to hide the tears gathering in his eyes. ‘I saw it myself. I had many visions while in my coma, one of them being of this mission. I knew it was doomed from the start, that’s why I warned against pursuing it. Anti has Jackie now, Chase. It’s a set part of the timeline.”
“What the hell do you mean, ‘set part of the timeline’?! Why didn’t you tell us anything about this?!” Chase was furious now, his hands clenched into fists as he paced the strait between Dr. Iplier and Marvin.
“There's no way to change these visions. The only thing telling you would have accomplished is drawing things out even further. No matter what we would have done, Schneep would have been saved and Jackie would have been captured. I tried to fight the plan but in the end it was pointless, Jackie would have done it anyway. There is no stopping him once he has his mind set on something.”
Marvin had managed to stand, reaching a hand out in an attempt to calm Chase down. It didn't work.
“So you're saying that Jackie was destined to die and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it?!”
“I never said ‘die’, I said captured. The vision didn't show what happens after the portal collapses. There's still a chance to save him, but the one thing I know for sure is that the dimension they were in is gone. Anti took him somewhere else.”
Chase slumped down against the rocks, removing his hat and running a hand through his hair.
“But how are we going to find him?”
“I don’t know.”
He had broken down now, trembling as he clutched the hat in his hands.
“Why? Why did it have to be us? What did we do to deserve this?!”
“Chase-”
“Do you hear me you bastards?!”
Marvin limped over to him, kneeling to his level and grasping his shoulders.
“They can't hear you, Chase.”
“Oh, they can fucking hear me, I know they can. They're always listening, watching this all happen. They gave the motherfucker his power in the first place and yet they can't even be bothered to take responsibility for what they've done.”
Chase stood, pushing Marvin away, placing the hat back on his head and looking up towards the overcast sky.
“You did this, do you hear me?! You did this!”
Marvin had given up trying to calm him down, at this point Chase was too far gone. Luckily Dr. Iplier interrupted them.
“I need to take Henrik back to the clinic. His injuries are very severe, I need my equipment.” The doctor had stood, packing up his tools and gathering Schneeplestien into his arms.
Chase cast a long, cold look back at Marvin, tears gathering in his eyes, hands clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, before pulling the brim of his hat down over his eyes and stalking away towards the cliffside.
-
The journey back to the manor was completely silent, uncomfortable, tension seizing the air between them. Even as the doctor began examining Schneep to discern just what was wrong with him, they said nothing. Bing stopped by a few times to see how it went and to say hello, but he was promptly shooed away each time. There wasn't a word to be said that could cast away the cloud of grief over the clinic, even when Dr. Iplier would pop his head out to tell them that most, if not all of Schneep’s injuries could be fixed and that he would be completely fine, physically at least.
Marvin tried to be happy, tried to tell himself that they had made a victory today, but seeing Chase’s empty eyes and knowing that he had opened the portal that sent Jackie to his doom made it impossible to look at the positives.
He’d known. He’d known that Jackie would be captured if they let the mission go on, but he’d let him go anyway.
I couldn’t have stopped it, he told himself, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
Even Jameson, the gentlest of all of them, had grown cold. He'd take out the dagger Host had given him and turn it over in his hands, as if imagining all of the times he could have used it but didn't.
Marvin knew Chase blamed him, even if the other wouldn't admit it. It was obvious every time they locked eyes. The magician could tell him over and over that there was nothing that could have been done to change it, but logical thinking was the farthest thing from either of their minds.
It was best to let Chase be.
It took the rest of that day and half of the next before Dr. Iplier stuck his head out of Schneep’s room again. He was horribly disheveled and looked like he hadn't slept since they’d gotten back- which, in all fairness he probably hadn't- but there was a triumphant air about him. After managing to weasel more time out of Dark and spending hours locked away in his operating room, the work was done.
“I've done what surgery I could, and he’ll be alright. He had a couple dozen broken bones, ruptured vocal chords and several infections, as well as slight atrophy of the legs from not being able to walk for so long. It'll take extensive physical therapy but from what I can tell presently, he will live.”
And for the first time since they'd gotten back to the manor, Chase smiled. It was a pained one, but one nevertheless. The tense atmosphere of the waiting room dissipated almost immediately as Marvin asked the million-dollar question.
“Can we see him?”
The doctor’s face fell a bit.
“I wouldn't recommend it, at least not so soon. He's very mentally fragile, and seeing you all might...overexcite him.”
And there it was. They knew they probably wouldn't be able to see him so soon, but after nine months it just seemed cruel to have them wait even longer.
“But-” He stepped out from behind the door slightly. “I think he should at least be able to meet Jameson. One visitor shouldn't hurt him too much, and I think he'd like to see one of the people who saved his life.”
Jameson perked up, shoving the knife back into his coat pocket.
“Be careful though, he can’t speak very well yet. The last thing we want to do is strain him. Also, make sure to stay in his line of sight, he gets jittery when he can't clearly see who's in the room with him.”
Jameson nodded, casting a look back at the others before following Dr. Iplier into Schneep's room. Chase looked clearly jealous of Jameson being able to see Henrik first, but he gave him an encouraging glance anyway.
It looked like any other hospital room. White and pristine, with a soft floral pattern on the walls, a side table with a small cup of water and a vase of fake flowers, and the doctor, swallowed up in bed, face turned away and hands twitching where they laid in his lap. His doctor’s coat had been cleaned, patched, and draped over the side railing of the bed, and a new pair of glasses stood waiting on the side table near the water. It didn’t seem like he’d tried them on yet.
“It’s Dr. Iplier again, Henrik. I’ve brought you a visitor.” the doctor announced, opening the door further to allow Jameson through.
Schneep looked up, eyeing the newcomer warily. His left arm was wrapped in a cast, as was one of his feet, the rest of the damage hidden under the pale blue hospital blanket. Jameson walked slowly, carefully, around the bed, taking a seat in the chair by his bedside.
“Hello, my name is Jameson, it’s very nice to meet you,” he signed, slowly as to give him time to read it. The doctor stared up at him quizzically, then it clicked in JJ’s mind.
He doesn’t know sign, does he?
Jameson wasn’t sure why he’d expected him to, he must’ve just gotten used to all of his brothers understanding him and hadn’t thought about the fact that even if Schneep did know sign before he was taken, such an ordeal would obviously leave him rusty.
“Oh, uh,” Dr. Iplier reached into the pocket of his lab coat, procuring a small notepad and a pen before handing it over to him. “You can use this.”
Jameson accepted the notebook, opening it to the first blank page and writing down his message there.
Schneep read it over a few times, before letting it drop onto his lap, looking Jameson over. He opened his mouth to answer but a seizing cough came out instead, his frail body shaking like a leaf in the wind.
Dr.Iplier lunged forward, offering him water, which Schneep graciously accepted, clutching the glass and trying his hardest not to let the intense trembling of his hands spill the contents.
He took one sip, then another, before placing the cup back on the nightstand and holding out his other hand for the notepad.
“Are you one of us? Did they make another?” He scrawled out, barely legible.
“Yes.”
“You cannot speak?”
“No”
“Me neither.”
Jameson laughed a little at that, but his face fell again when Schneep picked the pen back up, hand shaking twice as much as it had before, each word scratched so deeply into the page he feared the paper might rip.
He held the notebook to his chest for a few seconds before reluctantly handing it over, as if afraid to know the answer.
“Are the others okay?”
A void opened up in Jameson’s chest. How do you tell an already traumatized man that his brother had taken his place?
Schneep waited a few seconds, anxious at how long Jamie was taking to answer him. Dr. Iplier seemed to notice their dilemma, but was staying out of it, eyeing him uncomfortably from beside the door.
Jameson began to write.
-
Oh FUCKING boy was that hell to edit. My mouse kept glitching and wouldn’t let me set my place correctly and it just sucked ass but it’s HERE. I really hope this does well because holy shit.
(Taglist)
@egopocalypse @shadowsinyoursoul @lower-your-expectationss @sammyg-98 @weirdmixofweirdness @viostormcaller @save-jacksepticeye @ekhoecho @epicfangirl01 @hollenka99 @spicydanhowell
I still don’t have my old general taglist, so just let me know if you’d like to be tagged in the future. I included people here who were looking out for this when I posted the original Absentia. I once again apologize for the long hiatus.
