#tiny!aimsey

“So Riot, how has your day been?” Riot laughed a bit as Oracle joined him on the edge of the building. “It’s been a f—ing blast, you know? Got some primes, met some women, f—ed up some heroes, and most importantly blew up a bomb.” He responded quickly. Oracle laughed a little.

“Oh wow, that sounds like an eventful day, hm?” He spoke, staring out at the sky with him. “What about you, man?” Riot returned.

“Visited their graves, patrolled the area. Glad it’s a slow day today, it’s pretty hard.”

Oracle had told him a few years back about his fiances. The two had been caught in the middle of a fight between PVP and Gambit, and that’s how Oracle was found as well, scarred from the flames he had tried to save his lovers from.

Today was the anniversary of their deaths.

“If it would make you feel better, I’d kind of like to meet the two who you tell me so much about.” Riot smiled softly from behind the mask. “Yeah. Yeah, we can do this. You know, I think Q would’ve liked to meet you.” Oracle smiled softly in return.

Riot smiled as he let Oracle lead the way, down toward the home they had been staying in. And outside, just underneath the tree, were two graves, marked with little stones.

The bodies hadn’t ever been found, burnt up in the flames.

Riot felt Oracle wrap an arm around him. “You know, you’re like a little brother to me.” He admitted, and Riot watched as he unclipped his mask, holding it in his hand. “Thank you.” Oracle finished. The teen smiled.

“Yeah, of course, big man, we kinda need to stick together. Us against the world.” Riot pulled off his mask. “They’d be proud of us.” Oracle smiled as he spoke.

“They really would be. I mean, we are so cool.” Riot spoke next.

“Come on, let’s go get changed and get some food.” Oracle offered.

- - -

“Gambit, we’ve gotten word from Cerberus, he’s said the coup is almost ready.” Nuclear spoke silently. “Perfect, the sooner Schlatt is overturned, the better. Any word of our little vigilante ‘friends’?” Gambit asked quickly.

“Riot’s starting to comply with Siren a little, I’d expect him to become a full-fledged hero in a few months, as long as the coup is successful.” Nuclear reported.

“And Oracle?” Gambit returned quickly. “Not complying. Won’t even fight the villains. For now, they can’t be too much of an issue as long as they just focus on the civilians.” Nuclear spoke next.

“Get them to comply, or we arrest them. Got it?” The avian spat. “You’ve seen their abilities, no jail could hold them.” The creepertaur returned with concern.

“You’ve seen how they act. I think they’ll be more than willing to comply.” Gambit finished. “Yes, sir.” Nuclear muttered as he turned to leave.

- - -

“So, Toms, I know that living with everyone else is a bit stressful so I figured it would be a good idea to get a break.” Karl smiled at the other, who sat opposite them. “Hey, it’s not that bad big man, I like hanging out with Tubbo and Boob Boy.” Tommy returned with a laugh.

The two laughed happily as they sat at the diner peacefully, waiting for their meals. The two shared jokes, smiling and laughing happily.

Beep beep beep-

“Q?! Sap?! Where are you?!”

He stood up quickly, head shooting around the room while trying to find the two figures.

The groceries he had bought earlier were left at the front door as he trekked through the flames. Karl’s hand covered his mouth as he rushed through the building. “Sap?! Q?! Say some-aH!” He shouted before getting knocked to the ground by a blast. “You couldn’t tell anyone, could you?! Well f— you! Care about someone except yourself for once!”

Why was Gambit here?! He coughed violently as he was hit by a falling piece of the ceiling above him. He was gasping for air now, even as the fire slowly crept up his arm. He felt helpless.

His eyes filled with tears as he tried to free himself, pain spiking by the second. Karl eventually fell limp as his eyes caught on something in front of him.

Quackity’s Beanie-

“Karl!” Tommy shouted, pulling him closer. “T-tommy?” He spoke, blinking rapidly.

“Kar, there you are. Are you okay? You kinda freaked out on me, big man.” The teen worried. “Sorry, I-I don’t know what happened…”

Tommy smiled sadly. “Let’s get back home, alright? I’m sure Eret’ll help you out.”

- - -

“So what happened?” Eret asked as the borrowers tucked Karl into bed for the night. “Right, Karl kind of just blanked out. Like all color in his eyes just drained and he stopped responding after some beeping.”

Eret paused. “I’ll see if I can look back on the situation, go hang out with Tubbo for now, okay?” They smiled, before waving away Tommy and turning away.

“Big man!” He laughed, hearing Tubbo’s voice, jumping up onto the table as he shrunk down to normal height. “So, is everything good?” He asked Tommy who sat down next to Tubbo. “Not really, something strange happened to Karl, and now I think XD’s trying to hunt me down.” Tommy admitted.

Tubbo blinked. “Really?! Does anyone know about XD?!” “Couldn’t bother with Karl today, it’s the anniversary.”

“Tommy, look, if XD catches you, we’ll be so doomed. Everyone else is cool or whatever, right, but you and Karl are the two who cover our a–es the most. Purpled and Aimsey are close though.”

“D— right we are,” Purpled smirked, joining the conversation. “What’s going on?”

“XD’s hunting down Tommy.” Tubbo repeated. “Well, s—.” Escaped Purpled.

“Hey, I’m not that important-” “Tommy, you create explosions from your hands. Tubbo’s a bee. Jack can see through walls. You are one of the few who have useful abilities!” Purpled explained.

“You’re going to be grounded if you keep this talk up.” Ranboo spoke up, arms folded as they leaned against the wall. “You-you can’t just ground me boob boy-”

“I think that’s a good idea honestly, it’ll keep him out of XD’s watch.” Tubbo admitted.

“Great, glad we came to this consensus. Tommy, you’re grounded.” Purpled finished. “What?!”

“You heard me! No patrols!” Purpled informed. “F— you!”

- - -

Karl took a deep breath, adjusting his mask tightly to his face. This was the biggest fight he’d been in.

From his perch on the building, he watched as Cerberus’s wings gave his position in the sky, locked in a fierce battle with Egg. The demon hybrid was fairly powerful, but so was Cerberus.

Time to put on his Oracle persona.

Ha, time.

He mentally slapped himself, now was not the time for puns. He hopped onto the next building, running towards the fire exit. Throwing his body down onto the metal surface to avoid an attack by Egg, he slid down the ladder towards the ground.

He caught himself on the bottom rung, hopping off. Guess he needed to do the thing he was supposed to.

Running towards all of the rubble, he pressed his hands onto the mess as he ran by, moving them back to their original places. This is why so many people thought he had a powerful levitation power.

He ran through the scene, wary of exposing his scar. Things began moving further and went almost everywhere open for Oracle to run through. But he was prepared. Slipping seamlessly through the flying rubble as he took his stand to the side, watching for any victims caught up in the mess.

“Oracle.” The vigilante jumped toward the voice as quickly as he could, hands outstretched.

“The heroes have been looking for you, it's pretty hard to track you down with just a bit of your neck. It was so much easier to hunt down Riot with his prosthetic.” Oracle frowned under his mask, readjusting his collar as Gambit held eye contact. “What do you want with me?”

“Well, I’ve got a few ideas. First, the heroes are planning something and it would be nice to have a levitation user of your strength to help us out. Secondly, you’re an illegal vigilante. Meaning you either help me or get arrested.” Gambit spoke out. “And why would I do that? You and I know I don’t take sides. I’m only doing this for the possible victims. Not for anyone else.” Oracle informed.

“Yes, well, you’d be okay with that if you didn’t use your levitation as well. And that’s a break in the code-” “You didn’t care about the rules until a few years ago, so what the honk happened-” Oracle was cut off as Gambit shoved a hand to his throat.

“Keep that word out of your g–d— vocabulary. You, filthy scum, can never say that again. You aren’t worthy of that word.” The hero spat as the vigilante struggled a bit more. “What, honk-”

Gambit in turn shoved him into a wall, hand still in the death grip around his neck. “Don’t. You. Dare-”

Gambit’s mouth seemed to move in reverse as he backed up, letting go of his neck and returning to the beginning.

“Oracle.” “Hey Gambit.” He spat, standing his vigil, overlooking the chaos of the fight in the skies. Egg was not winning this.

“The heroes have been looking for you, it’s pretty-” “Hard to track me down with just a bit of my neck exposed. I’ve heard that a lot.” Oracle finished. The hero seemed to pause for a moment. “And let me guess, you want me to help you?”

“I-yeah. Two options in this situation-” “Help you or be taken captive. It’s not my first rodeo. And no, I won’t help you or be arrested.” Oracle continued to interrupt as he heard shuffling behind him.

“What, do you want to fight me then? Because now you will.” The hero spoke. “I don’t like breaking my moral code, but I’ll make an exception. I win the fight and you do what I want you to. You win, and you get to go free.” The winged hero bargained.

“Only if there will be no onlookers. No one must be getting caught in the fight.” The vigilante demanded. “This part of the city is evacuated, so you won’t have to worry about another person breaking their moral code.” Gambit hissed out.

Oracle slid to the left, avoiding a right hook from behind. “That was sad.” He turned around, moving quickly around the hero.

Gambit growled, wings spreading– “Karl, you are cracked, how do you preen so well?!” –as he took to the sky, opting for the high ground. Oracle frowned, avoiding a blast of water from Cerberus while also sliding under a shade canopy to run into the building.

Gambit seemed to understand his ideas as the hero swooped down under with him, throwing daggers at the door handle that Oracle had tried reaching for. He hissed, glaring at the hero before disappearing.

Oracle turned around, moving quickly around the hero before pocketing his deck of cards-

Reappearing again he was met with, “What the f—?!” Gambit started, throwing more daggers. “You have backup! Queen is here too, aren’t they?! You cheater.” Oracle just shrugged. Gambit growled, reaching down to grab his pack of cards, only to find them missing.

“What, you missing these?” Oracle held up Gambit’s deck enough so the hero could see, a smile hiding behind the mask. “You b—-.” The hero gritted his teeth, upset at the current situation. “You know you can’t use those.”

“Yeah, I know. But you can’t now either.” Oracle spoke smugly, proud of the situation. “I always have a couple of spares.” Gambit returned, throwing out a ten of spades–the same card that blew up his home–

Oracle was thrown into the air and sent tumbling to the ground. His mask had been shattered on the ground, exposing his face. Pain flared down his arm as the cloak that covered the aforementioned arm seared into his skin. Phantom pains racked his body, forcing him still as his attacker approached him.

He whimpered, forcing his leg to move despite the pure agony his body was experiencing a second time. Blood covered the left side of his face–he didn’t realize he could still bleed from the scar–as tears streamed down and mixed with the red liquid pouring from himself. Not a desirable situation at all.

“I don’t like using that card but now look at what you made me do.” Gambit angrily shot out, standing in front of him. Oracle could barely move his head, but as he did, he and Gambit held a few seconds of eye contact.

That eye contact was enough to throw Gambit off, a devastated look flashing over his features as tears crept out from his eyes.

Without wasting another second, he vanished-

Queen realized something was up when Oracle didn’t respond, so when they heard about the fight between him and Gambit in the city square, they teleported. Everything seemed almost frozen in time before the enderman hybrid wrapped their arms around their friend, teleporting the two back home-

“Karl! What happened-oh g–, someone get Aimsey and Eret, please!” Ranboo shouted into the walls of the seemingly empty house. Mere seconds passed as Karl’s vision began to blur, blood pooling across the room he was left in before two thumps were heard, and Aimsey began to inspect him.

“M’ssed ‘p. G’mbit sa’ m’.” He slurred as Eret ran their hands down Karl’s face, cleaning off the blood with a rag. “It’s okay, let’s just figure this out after. Stay awake, okay?” Eret spoke loudly, placing a cold rag on Karl’s head.

There was a lot of pain running through his body, and yet somehow, he felt like sleeping.

- - -

Gambit sat at his desk with his face buried in his hands. “F—, that couldn’t have been real, f—.” He muttered, thinking back to the fight. That couldn’t have been him. He’d been dead for years. No, Oracle had to be a strong psychic. So not just levitation, but mind manipulation and teleporting. “Nuclear!” Gambit shouted, anger present in his tone.

In only a few seconds, the creepertaur was running into his office. “Yes, Gambit?” “Find Oracle. Arrest them. Do whatever you need to do, but I want them in f—ing jail NOW!” He shouted, slamming his fist angrily against the top of the desk.

“I-im sorry, but we don't have any information on them-” Nuclear tried to say before getting interrupted. “I’m working on that. Now go!” Gambit hissed.

No one would impersonate his deceased fiance on his watch.

- - -

“F0x, nice to see you.” Gambit sat in his office seat, staring at the newcomer. “Didn't know you’d stoop so low, with me being a vigilante and all.” The fox hybrid smirked.

“This is only to help with another case. If I had my way, I'd throw you straight in jail. But I need your help. I need you to look into someone.” Gambit informed, pushing a case towards the now sitting vigilante.

“Case file on…” F0x began before flipping through the pages. “Karl Jacobs. You do realize he's marked as dead, right?” “Oh, trust me, I know. Now just do it.” The hero hissed. Maybe he was a cat hybrid with the amount of hissing he was doing.

F0x nodded, pulling out a tablet and tapping it many times. A few minutes passed before, “Okay, got it.” The hybrid cheered. “Anything new?”

“Bank statements, deposits, withdrawals, a lot of things. Payments on a house too. I can find many examples of those dated within two weeks.” The vigilante spoke, running through the list. “Oh, and one about two days ago at Halo’s. You know, the burger shop on the outskirts of Essempi.”

“So identity theft.” The hero glared at his desk. Someone stole the identity of Karl, and he was not letting that slide. “I'll give you ten seconds to get out of my sight, F0x, before I have you thrown in jail.”

The vigilante wasted no time immediately getting up and running out.

- - -

Karl groaned as his body ached. He wasn't in the best shape but still needed to get up and run his-

“Karl, what the h— do you think you are doing out here right now?” Eret spoke, looking up from their newspaper to stare at him. He would admit it was a bit strange for the blind woman to make eye contact, but due to Eret’s power–Foresight–he could see anything. “Patrols.”

“Purpled is taking your patrols. Go back to the room, you're on bed rest.” “But-”

“Go on.” Karl gave up, sighing and dropping his shoulders before turning and limping back into the room he just exited. “I’ll be in in a little to change your bandages and fix anything else.” Eret finished.

He would admit, it felt nice to be cared for for once.

- - -

“PVP.” Gambit began, staring at the villain. “Gambit.” The fireborn returned with a glare.

“It was fairly easy to find you.” The hero spoke. “What do you want?” The villain returned.

“Someone stole Karl’s identity. And I figured you'd want revenge on them too, so I wanted to bring you along.” The two never broke eye contact. “Besides, I’d never side with a murderer under normal-” “Oh don't you f—ing DARE try any pull this again. You are as much at fault as I am, you a–hole. Not just me. So get your f—ing head out of your a– and see that.” PVP angrily retorted.

“Shut the f— up, everyone knows it's your fault.” “That's because you're the hero and I'm the villain. The whole world believes you couldn't do anything wrong. The only reason I'm even talking to you right now is because someone's impersonated Karl, otherwise I wouldn't put up with your pathetic a–!”

Gambit glared at PVP. “Let's just figure this out already. I still have things to deal with at the tower.”

- - -

“Toms!” Tommy let out an ‘oof’ as the taller man barreled into him. “Where have you been? We missed you!” Wilbur hurried, looking over the boy.

“Sorry, I got grounded.” He admitted. “They couldn't keep me inside though, because I'm such a big man.”

“Why were you grounded, sunshine? I'm sure we'd love to help you with anything.” The taller whispered, pulling him into a hug. “Inside matter.” He whispered into the man's ear.

Wilbur’s breath caught in his throat for a moment. “Come on, Phil's made some pie, I'm sure he'd love to have you try it.” The taller smiled, carrying the boy inside. “Alright, should I get the other two?” “Yeah, it'll affect everything.”

Wilbur nodded, setting Tommy on the couch before running through the house.

The blond looked around, finding the remote and messing with the back of it for a bit before Wilbur came back with Phil and Techno in tow.

“Theseus, what's going on?” Techno started, sitting at his side. Wilbur took to his other side not long after that, smiling at the boy. “I found one of your moles. XD’s been hunting me down.”

- - -

Eret immediately dropped their newspaper to the sound of heavy knocking at the door. With Karl immobile and back at his natural height for the first time in a long while, it was her job to run the house.

He stood up, walked over to the door, and opened it slightly. “Essempi Police, my name is Deputy Chill, may we come in to search your home, please?”

“Do you have a warrant? And a probable cause?” Eret responded quickly. “Yes, we have both.”

“Alright, let me see the warrant.” They opened the door fully, holding out a hand. He was given a paper and scanned it over.

“W-wait, this was issued by-”

“Me. Nice to meet you, Eret Beloved.” Gambit spoke, making eye contact with her. “We have reason to believe that you are harboring vigilantes and a criminal accused of identity theft.”

“I can assure you neither of that is true-” “We know about Riot and Oracle. Now stand aside, Mx. Beloved.” Gambit returned immediately as he interrupted Eret, forcing his way in. “Tell me if you find something.” The hero waved off the officers, who spread out around the house.

“There's no identity theft here, I promise.” Eret defended. “Yeah? Well, Karl Jacobs has been dead for years.”

“No he hasn't-” “And how do you know? Because you see the person who stole his identity all the time?”

“No, because I pulled him out of the burning-” “Found something!” One of the officers shouted, holding out a wallet.

Gambit strode over, taking the wallet and looking over the contents. “How does he have an ID issued last year? Handicapped as well. Bank cards under his name. What the f—?”

“Gambit, sir, we found him.” The hero looked up from the wallet, pocketing it as he turned into Karl’s room. “Wait-” Eret tried, but was immediately ignored.

Gambit stepped into the room, finding a figure smaller than the size of a doll staring up at him–a borrower like Karl. The hero immediately glared at them. “Oracle, you are under arrest for vigilantism and identity theft.” “Wha-”

Gambit reached down onto the bed, grabbing them tightly. “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you.” The vigilante struggled under his grip as he moved.

- - -

“XD, what are you doing here?” Siren spoke, staring at the person standing next to him. “Tracking Riot.” The addressed hero spoke.

“So you’re tracking a kid? Why?” Siren prodded. “He’s an illegal vigilante.” That was all XD spoke.

“He’s a disabled child. And I’ve seen the reports. You don’t have instructions to hunt him down either. So this is just your sick and twisted game. Why?” Siren scolded. “He’s dangerous.”

“To you. XD, you are under arrest-” The ex-hero glared at Siren through his mask before vanishing into the ground. He’d have to report the changes to the higher-ups now, the hero thought as he groaned.

- - -

“-his f—ing DNA! I-This can’t be him! I refuse to believe it-” “Quackity shut the f— up. The DNA proves it, and the IDs and bank cards prove it. His face is proof! What more do you f—ing need?!”

Karl blinked, slowly waking up. His limbs hurt, his head hurt. He shuffled a bit as he tried to sit up. “A f—ing lot! Oracle’s a f—ing psychic! He knows what he’s doing! You know he died!”

The voices were too loud, he thought to himself as he slid further away, vision slowly fixing itself.

“No one found the body! You found the earring. Besides! He’s got power disabling cuffs on right now, don’t you think if it were true that Oracle manipulated our minds that it would stop?!”

He looked up, staring around himself. Was he in a f—ing birdcage?! Not cool. His body still ached from the battle with Gambit, and if he looked at where he originally lay, he could see blood. Great, he was bleeding again.

“Shut up. You don’t know what I saw.” “Then tell me!”

Oracle cringed as he ripped up his clothing a bit, untying his old bandages to replace them with the pieces of cloth. “Great, you f—ing woke him!” “Oh, you f—er.”

His cage rattled, shaking his body. He dropped the last piece of cloth as he made eye contact with PVP–He watched in agony as Quackity’s beanie burnt with his body before his eyes looked around again and caught the gaze of PVP before black spots littered his vision and he fell unconscious–who glared down at him–wait, he was glaring, why is PVP crying?!

“Hang on little guy.” The villain spoke softly, carefully opening the door. His body seized up as PVP scooped him up in his warm hands. “Gambit, go get a medic, he’s bleeding.” The villain spoke, gently pulling his hand–and Karl–out of the cage.

“You can relax, you know, I’m not going to hurt you.” PVP spoke as he sat down. “Okay, Lemon’s on his way-why did you pull him out.” Gambit growled.

“You shoved the poor guy in a birdcage. If we are going to interrogate him we may as well make him feel comfortable.” PVP spoke with a straight face. “He’s-he’s a criminal!” Gambit returned.

“Shut the f— up and start asking questions.”

Gambit sighed and eventually sat in the seat opposite PVP. “Alright then, fine. What's your name.”

“Karl Jacobs.” “No, it's f—ing not-”

“Gambit, shut up. The lab results said the same thing.” “Well, I don't trust it. How about I do the talking.” The hero hissed. Karl pulled his legs closer to his body as a way to make himself seem even smaller within the hand of the villain but fell onto his side instead.

“Oh, sorry little guy. Let me help you.” PVP whispered, carefully pushing him back up into a sitting position with his finger. “So, if you are Karl then how would you react to this?” Gambit hissed.

Karl brought his attention to Gambit, but the moment he saw his face, his body began to tremble.

Quackity.

- - -

“Well, good news and bad news, XD’s no longer tracking you, Toms!” Wilbur announced happily, walking over to the table where a miniature Tommy stood, carefully scooping the smaller into his hands. “Okay, and what's the bad news?” The borrower asked.

“He kinda just disappeared into the ground…” Wilbur spoke disappointedly. “What-”

“Don't worry Toms, I'll keep you safe in my pocket!” The man smiled, sliding Tommy into his chest pocket. “Look! Pocket brother!” The larger smiled. “Wait, did you just-”

“You're my brother now, all mine.” The hero smirked. Tommy would've returned with a thought, but instead, he felt a buzzing in his pocket. “Hang on Wil, I have a call,” Tommy spoke, pulling out the device. “Oh f—, Eret's calling. Hello?”

“Tommy, where are you?”

“Uh…near the hero building, why?” He was definitely in the hero building right now, Siren brought him there.

“Gambit just arrested Oracle, we need your help. He should just be in the building.”

“Wait-Oracle, the one who managed to evade the public eye even when he was out saving civilians…has now been arrested by Gambit?! What the f—?!”

“Gambit and Oracle got into a fight where Oracle's mask was broken, and somehow with just that, he knew just who Oracle was.”

“I guess I’ll see what I can do…thanks Eret.”

Tommy hung up, staring up at the hero who was trying–and failing–to hide the fact that he was curious.

“Oracle’s been arrested…”

- - -

Put back inside the birdcage, Karl cried to himself with his hands covering his face. This whole situation was terrible. Gambit was treating Karl like he was a terrorist, PVP–who’s a villain–was treating him with so much care that it made him wish to see his fiances again, and to top it off Gambit looked just like Quackity.

Lovely.

He cried to himself, alone like usual. “Hey, Oracle?” The borrower looked up, making eye contact with PVP from across the room. “I don’t agree with how Gambit’s been treating you but I can’t prove your innocence. Is there anyone who we can talk to who’ll be able to prove that you are? Innocent, I mean.”

“If anyone would be able to, ask Eret Beloved. They’ll be able to tell you everything.” The borrower admitted. “Eret Beloved…alright, I’ll tell Gambit that… I-I’m sorry that you had to go through all that.” PVP smiled.

“It’s alright.” Oracle returned. “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you react like you did?” Karl’s eyes widened as-as-

As he placed the stones under a tree near his new house. “Karl, what are you doing out here?” He watched as Eret approached him. His bandaged half ached to sit down, pain flaring with every movement. “Making their graves.”

“Who’s?” “My fiances. They died in the fire. The government may not even realize they’ve died. And yes, I’ve sent in death reports.” He spoke, fingers twitching painfully.

“Oh Karl…” Eret spoke softly, treading carefully over the situation. “They didn’t even find the bodies-” Karl muttered before breaking into tears, wrapping his free arm around Eret, grasping for comfort. “I see their faces everywhere-I hate them, I hate them all-”

The blind man carefully shushed Karl, pulling the injured man into a hug–extra careful with his burned half–as they provided comfort. “I know, it’s hard. Let’s get you sat down, and I could make you some hot cho-” “Nothing hot, please-”

“Okay, that’s fine! I’ll make you some cold tea, okay?” They corrected, running a hand through the remains of the fluffy hair. “Let’s head inside, alright?”

“Karl, hey you back with me?” He blinked back into reality, finding himself sitting on PVP’s hand. “So-sorry…”

“It’s okay. Would you be willing to tell me or-” “Eret will.” The vigilante commented quickly.

“Okay. That’s okay. Do you want to hang out with me before Gambit and I go talk with Eret?”

“Sure.” He whispered, pulling his legs into himself, struggling to drape his cuffed arms over his limbs.

“Alright. Hang on, okay?” For being a villain, PVP was quite nice.

But he still hated the man. And Gambit.

Okay maybe not totally, but he still held a bit of a grudge.

“I’m not allowed to go around without a chaperone, so I need to wait for someone to come get me,” PVP informed, pressing a button with his free hand. The villain–almost like he had practice–moved Karl around a bit to feel out his scar. “How did you get these?”

“It’s one scar, a long one.” “Oh…sorry.” The villain apologized.

“It’s fine. It came from a fire. Eret’ll tell you. I don’t think I’m able to talk about it yet.” “I get that.”

PVP was so gentle and so kind when caring for him, he didn’t understand why. It made no sense, this was such a stark difference from the villain who murdered his fiances and nearly killed him.

Karl didn’t like it, but he liked the care. It reminded him of the care Sapnap gave him.

“Here we go.” The villain whispered enough for him to hear as the door opened. “Daisy, how are you?” He asked, standing up slowly. “I’m fairly well, thank you for asking. Are you allowed to bring Oracle out?”

“Not really, but the poor guy has been having breakdowns the entire time so I figured some time outside of the cell and questioning would help him.” “Aw, poor little guy.” The cold skin of the heroine’s finger pulled him back to reality as she patted his head.

“Gambit won’t shut up about how Oracle’s just so wrong.” “Oh yeah, I know. I’ve got to tell him that we’ve got more proof of Oracle’s innocence.” Karl watched from his perch in the villain’s familiarly calloused hands as the two began to walk. The hallways were fairly large, and standing a silent watch over their room was Nuclear. A smart choice of guard from what Karl knew of the hero.

Daisy took them through a single lap around the floor, the fish hybrid talking about different parts of the place–it was the hero tower’s interrogation floor, where two others were being investigated by Rose and Tulip–and eventually were brought back to their room.

PVP smiled softly as he approached the cage. “Sorry, I need to put you back in now. I have to talk to Gambit and he’d throw a fit if he knew I took you out-”

The villain was interrupted as an explosion rocked the building. Karl was slid quickly into the cage as PVP stood away. When the dust cleared, he stared at the masked faces of Riot, Bee, and Queen.

“Break in, room 3-7.” Daisy shouted into her comm. PVP’s hands lit into flames, preparing for a fight. Queen appeared to the side of the cage with Bee, who immediately busted the cage open before the two were forced to retreat by PVP, who threw fire at them.

“I didn’t know the heroes would even think of getting help from villains.” Riot smirked. Karl stood at the new opening in the cage, thinking his options out. He took a breath, banging the cuffs against the exposed shards of metal, breaking them open.

He jumped out of the cage, using the fight as a way to hide his escape. Before reaching the ground he grew to human height, just as PVP spotted him. “Oracle…hey, let’s talk this out, okay?” Turning to the villain who was covered by Daisy, who threw blasts of water at the vigilante trio.

PVP’s face morphed into devastation as the two held eye contact. He thought through the options. Stay and get picked apart by Gambit, or go with the three and hang out at the safe house for a bit.

The villain reached for his hand before Karl pulled back, stepping back towards the vigilantes. “Karl, wait.” Oracle froze, staring at PVP. That voice-

“Okay, time to go!” Queen shouted from behind him, grabbing his shoulder. “Wait-” Soon enough, the world fizzed around him and Karl felt the familiar buzzing. Queen had teleported him.

The group appeared in the safe house moments later. “No-no f—!” He shouted, pulling away from the three. “Karl! Are you okay? What did they do to you?!” Tommy asked as he dropped his mask.

He paced back and forth, trying to make sense of the situation.

“Gambit was there, he looked like Quackity, PVP sounded like f—ing Sapnap, I want it to stop-” Tommy ran up and hugged the man. “It’s okay, you’re not there anymore, it’s just fine. Stay here and lay low, they won’t find you again. Aimsey’ll be here in a bit, promise.” Tommy spoke, hugging Karl tightly.

“Thanks, Toms.” He smiled, eventually letting the teen go.

- - -

“Queen kidnapped Oracle. I promise no communication escaped this tower. Someone must’ve known from the outside.” PVP reported as he sat with Daisy in Gambit’s office.

“Look, PVP, you aren’t taking this as seriously as you should. Oracle stole Karl’s identity-” “Gambit, the IDs, DNA tests, the fact that Oracle’s a borrower, and bank cards say the same thing. That has to be him-”

“Unless I have a witness’s testimony I won’t believe anything.” Gambit spoke stubbornly. “Oracle mentioned a witness. Eret Beloved?” PVP spoke with a hopeful tone.

Gambit took a deep breath, trying his hardest to stay calm. “Fine. We’ll talk to Eret. Let’s go. Daisy, you are dismissed.”

- - -

“Alright Eret Beloved, tell us how you met Karl. The whole story.” Gambit began as PVP’s hand snuck its way into Gambit’s grasp. “Karl? Well, it started when my Foresight started showing me visions of someone I didn’t know. So the more I looked into them, the more clearly it showed how I would meet him.” They began.

Gambit began writing things down. “And what’s your foresight? For reference?” “It’s my power, it lets me see the future. I can’t turn it off so I always have visions.” Eret informed.

“I see. Continue.” Gambit spoke as he wrote things down.

“Right. A few years ago I was walking down the sidewalk when I saw smoke, just like one of the visions. So I ran towards it and was met with a burning house. I went to the side and peeked through a window and saw the same person I’d been seeing in the visions, so I jumped into the place and pulled him from the rubble.” They spoke.

“Do you know the day?” Gambit asked.

“January 12th. But I’m sure you know when it was too, seeing as he told me you two were there.” Eret spoke as they glared at the hero.

Gambit glared at the woman in front of him. “Enough sass, just continue with the story.”

“I pulled him out of the house and took him to my place to see if the healer there could do something. They were able to do a little, but it wasn’t enough so I took him to the hospital.” Eret continued.

“Okay, and were his emergency contacts called?” PVP asked hopefully. “No. Karl lost his family at a young age.” They answered quickly.

“Was there anyone else on the emergency list? Like fiances or anything?” PVP asked. “Nope. No one else.”

“Karl hadn’t added us to the list because it was only for immediate family, you f—ing moron.” Gambit whispered into the villain’s ear. “Shut the f— up.”

“How did you pay for the hospital fees?” Gambit asked. “Due to the nature of the people in the house, I knew to set up an emergency fund, just in case.” They responded.

“Alright, thank you, Eret.” PVP smiled softly. “Please continue.”

“D—, Karl was right, you are the nicer one. As I was saying, we went to the hospital. Karl was unconscious for a few days, but when he woke up it was a mess. First off, no police came in to question, no one gave us a paper to sign for an incident report to go on your records. I mean, how f—ed is this system? With each fight between heroes and villains, almost hundreds of people are admitted into the hospital and aren’t allowed to say anything against the people who hurt them so badly.”

Eret sighed, taking a deep breath. “Sorry, that was a bit of a rant. The hero system is f—ed for the victims.”

Gambit took a few notes on his paper again.

“When Karl woke up, I asked him what happened. It took so long to get it out of him because it was so fresh, but I got the whole story. He had seen his house on fire and thought his two fiances were still inside. And then he saw you two so he dropped his groceries immediately and ran inside. He couldn’t find them and eventually got trapped under rubble. That’s where he not only saw just how cruel you were, PVP, but where he also found one of his fiance's beanies.”

Gambit stiffened while PVP’s hand held tightly onto Gambit’s. PVP’s other hand flew up to his mouth as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

“Karl figured they were dead because Quackity–the one who owned the beanie–never left without it. He hated you two from the moment he woke up, and let his tragic story lead him into his life of vigilantism. He promised that no one would suffer like how his fiances did. I gave Karl a home to stay at where he offered to help with payments and such. He got his scars–which he hates–and the doctor tells us that they probably won’t ever fade and that we were lucky to take him straight to a healer or else he’d have been unable to do anything like talk or walk or such.”

“And were death reports ever filed?” Gambit asked as he held his emotions inside. “Multiple. The government never looked into it. Karl never got closure, even if he was stuck on bedrest while mourning. We have never heard a word about the situation since then.” PVP was having a hard time with the information, bursting into hushed sobs. Gambit knew they wouldn’t be able to handle this much longer–he was not going to cry about this later.

“What hurts the most about this is that one of my visions shows him reuniting with his fiances, but they are dead. I can’t hold onto this pain anymore but I can’t tell him.”

“Thank you, Eret. You are dismissed.” The man nodded, standing up and exiting the room. “Gambit,” PVP choked out, “I-I don’t want to be a villain a-anymore.”

“I know-” The two embraced, holding each other tightly as if in the next moment the two would be stripped from each other. “He-he was alive the whole time-oh g–, Q, this is f—ed-”

“It is Sap, it is. We need to fix this.” Quackity whispered as he slowly calmed himself down. He knew Sapnap was a bit more emotional than he was.

- - -

Karl sat alone in the alley next to the coffee shop he just come from, sipping at his drink. His back laid against the wall–his head followed suit as he stared into the blue sky, the same sky that had taunted him since that day–as his arms lay on his knees.

“Mind if I join you?” Someone asked from the entrance of the alley. “Yeah, sure, whatever.” He returned, adjusting himself so his scarred arm lay against the concrete–it had started to feel too hot on that side–and his other hand held the cup loosely.

“What are you doing sitting back here, don’t you want to sit up front?” They asked. “No, I think I’d prefer sparing everyone from seeing this monstrosity.” He returned as he heard the newcomer sit down next to him.

“Why do you say that?” They asked sincerely. “Well, you know kids. They scare easily. If I were to sit in the open some kids would see me and get terrified, so some parent would go inside to complain about the man with the scars so I’d get kicked out. I’d prefer to still be able to get my drink, you know?” He rambled a bit.

“Oh, I see. Are you not proud of them?” The stranger pried. “Why would I? They’re just a symbol of my mistakes.” He muttered, readjusting his left sleeve to hopefully cover the scars better.

“Oh. Well, I like them-” They tried to compliment before Karl interrupted. “Can we please move on from this? It’s not very nice to pry into some random stranger’s past.”

“Sorry, sorry. What drink is that?” They asked next. “Iced tea, very cold.” He returned.

“Why don’t you get it warm?” They asked with concern. “Why do you think?” He shot back, adjusting himself to get ready to stand up. His body was buzzing uncomfortably, and his chest was heavy. “Look, if you keep doing this I’ll just leave.”

“I’m sorry, please stay.”

He sighed, letting his legs lay out on the cold ground. “Okay fine.”

Silence struck the two as they sat in the alley. “I didn’t get your name.” Karl finally spoke. “I-I’m sorry, I thought you could see me, I thought you knew who I was.”

“I wish I could see you but I’m kinda blind in that eye so-” He spoke as he turned his head to look at the stranger, before cutting himself off.

He dropped his drink, jumping to his feet. “No, no stop. Oh no, I’m going insane now, aren’t I…” Karl muttered, staring directly at the face of Sapnap, hand covering his mouth. “No! No, it’s okay, this is real!” ‘Sapnap’ spoke, sliding his hand into Karl’s. It was warm and welcoming, just like how he remembered.

“Karl, darling, baby. It’s me, I promise. Would you let me prove it to you?” Sapnap’s melody, his aura was so welcoming, practically begging Karl closer. “How would you do that?”

“Ask me something only I would know. I’ll prove it. Please love.” Tears streamed down his face as he choked out a simple sentence.

“What-what did I do to Quackity when I first met him.”

Sapnap teared up, laughing softly. “You dumped your soda on him because he wouldn’t stop flirting with you. Made me realize just how much I was in love with you-” Sapnap’s reminiscing was interrupted as Karl barreled into the man. “Oh my prime, it’s you, it’s you!” He cried out. “I thought you were dead! What happened to you!”

“It’s a bit of a long story. Gambit kind of told me that someone was ‘impersonating’ you but it was just you!” He pressed their foreheads together as the fireborn pulled Karl off of his feet, now fully protected in his arms.

“I missed you so, so much…” Karl whispered, relaxing into the fireborn’s hold. “I know, I know. I did too.” The fireborn returned, holding him so closely.

“Where’s Q?” “He’ll be with us soon, promise. How about I take you home?” Sapnap offered. And who was Karl to refuse?

“Okay.” He muttered, filled with warmth he hadn’t felt in so long.

- - -

“Toms! Where’d you go?” Wilbur asked teasingly. “Over here, Wilb—-.” Tommy smirked, arms folded as he stood on the table.

“There’s my little brother!” The taller man cheered, running over and picking him up. “You’re so tiny, my little bitty brother.” The man smiled as he held the borrower up to his cheek.

Wilbur promptly moved to the living room couch, flopping down on the cushion belly up. The larger brit rested Tommy on his chest, letting the other lay as he moved a hand over to cover him up.

“Do you have a family?” “I kind of do. I live in a place with a bunch of friends. Most of us are orphans there.”

“Oh yeah? You’re disabled and an orphan, hm?” Wilbur asked. “Yeah, why? I’m such a big man that it doesn’t bug me!” Tommy returned with faux-confidence.

“Well then, if it doesn’t bug you I guess Phil doesn’t have to adopt you. It’s a shame, really-” “What-Wilbur, what?” Tommy pushed himself up, hands buried in the yellow fabric cushioning him.

“Yeah, Phil wanted to adopt you. You’ve been with us for so long, so when Phil came across your file and saw that you didn’t have any family he took it on himself to personally adopt you.”

“This has to be some sick joke, you can’t be serious.”

“But I am Toms, I am. So is Phil and Techno. We want you to stay with us, Toms. What do you say?” The borrower didn’t have a response, instead opting to cry it out.

“Please-please Wilby, I-i’d love it.”

- - -

Eret watched as a strange man burst through the door. “Hello…? Can I-” “Oh, you must be Eret. My name is Sapnap. Karl kinda got tired on the way here, so I’ll just be in his room.”

Eret watched in confusion as the man went into Karl’s room, holding a resting borrower in his hand.

- - -

Karl woke up from the best dream he’d ever had. He opened his eyes and tried to lift himself off of the mattress only to be met with the realization that it was real as he lay pressed against the fabric of Sapnap’s shirt.

His fiance, one of the two he thought were dead, was alive and promising that Quackity was too. That felt so relieving, yet heartbreaking to him.

Did Sapnap still love him? Or did he only pretend because Quackity and Sapnap became closer than ever while Karl no longer became a part of their lives? How did Sapnap even find his house?

“Amor, I can hear your thinking.” The accented voice of his second fiance rang out, who slowly pried his miniature form from Sapnap’s body. Even in sleep, the fireborn missed him, opting to roll over on his stomach instead.

Endearing.

Karl was brought close to Quackity, who he still didn’t believe was real. The avian merely smiled and pressed a kiss to his face. “I missed you, mi amor.” The Mexican whispered. “I missed you too Q. I-i still don’t think this is real-”

“Eret knows it’s real, I had to have a long f—ing talk with them about the two of us.” The avian laughed a bit at the situation. “Now what’s on your mind?”

“Nothing-” “Karl, shut the f— up. You’re the most transparent of the three of us. Care about yourself for once, please.”

“Fine. I was just worried that all of this was an act. I mean, you two did have a few years alone together, so why would you want me back?” The borrower asked, tears peeking out from his eyes. Quackity’s slender fingers carefully wiped the liquid away.

“We would never pretend, amor. If I’m honest, Sap and I had a…bit of a fallout after everything happened. Losing you meant we lost a part of ourselves, and we simply couldn’t deal with it.” The borrower teared up again, hugging Quackity’s thumb tightly. “It’s okay, let it all out. We’ll be here every step of the way. We’ll never leave again.”

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Sapnap muttered, slowly rolling back over to face them again. “Nothing you a–hole, we were having a good talk, but you had to go and ruin it!” Karl knew there was no malice in those words because there never was.

The fireborn didn’t like that answer apparently, opting to immediately sit up and fall over onto Quackity’s shoulder, who struggled to handle the weight of the other. “Get off of me!” The avian shouted playfully, standing up quickly which made Sapnap lose his spot and fall on the bed.

“F— you!” “Hey! There are others in this house!” Karl quickly reprimanded. Quackity blinked for a little before it clicked in his mind.

“Oh, right, sorry Karlos.” Quackity apologized before lifting the borrower back up to his face and planting a big kiss on Karl’s.”Hey! I want to kiss him too!” Sapnap interrupted with a whine.

“No, you don't get to.” Quackity taunted, holding the little borrower away from the fireborn. “Why not!” Sapnap returned, absolutely devastated.

“Because you can't.” Quackity stuck his tongue out at the fireborn, who apparently couldn't take no as an answer because he immediately stretched himself out and stole Karl right off the avian's hand.

“Hey!” Quackity gasped with betrayal. “How could you, I was giving him cuddles.” Sapnap simply laughed and began snuggling the borrower. Karl just laughed at the whole ordeal. “Okay! Okay! Come on, I want you guys to meet my friends!” The fireborn rolled his eyes with a smile and slid Karl down onto the bed, who immediately grew to human height and stood up, taking one of Sapnap and Quackity’s hands into his own to pull them out of the room.

“Karl! See, Purpled, I told you he was up!” Tubbo immediately announced, running into the taller.

“Tubso! Hey bud, how did you sleep?” “Really good! I had a dream of Tommy, Ranboo, and I sitting on a bench and listening to music! It was a bop!” Karl laughed, hugging the boy.

“Tubso, these are Sapnap and Quackity, my fiances.” Karl introduced, pointing to them. Tubbo thought for a moment before his eyes sparkled with excitement. “Karl! That's so awesome! Do you think any of them want to fire nukes with me?” The bee hybrid bounced.

“Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. How about you go round up everyone so I can introduce them?” “Oh yeah! I can do that big man!” Tubbo announced proudly before excitedly running away.

“Tubbo’s a bit excited. Let's go sit at the table, I'll pull out some foldable chairs.” The man smiled happily. “That sounds awesome.” Sapnap smiled. The two were led into the dining area. Karl opened a closet door, pulling out two foldable chairs. He set them up next to the chair with his name on it. Within moments the teens of the house ran into the room, each taking their respective seats. Karl and Eret sat at opposite ends of the table. Eret pulled out two apple pies and set them out on the table, letting everyone get their breakfast.

“So, any fun things that happened yesterday?” Eret asked, dishing herself a slice. “The Minecrafts are adopting me today.” Tommy announced. Karl looked over at him with a wide smile.

“Toms! That's awesome, I'm so happy for you!” He commented happily. “You'll have to remember to visit us.” “Yeah, big man! Just because you have a family now doesn't mean you can forget about us!” Tubbo commented after, wrapping the boy in a hug.

Eret made eye contact with Karl while the other teens congratulated Tommy. Once the table once again settled down, they cleared their throat to speak. “And who are these two?” She asked, eyeing him with a smirk.

Sapnap gripped his hand as Karl took a breath. “Everyone, these are Sapnap and Quackity, my fiances.” Silence hung in the air, the tension growing quickly. “Look, great reunion and all, but Karl, you said they were dead.” Purpled commented with suspicion.

“I-I know, but they aren't! Sapnap found me yesterday in the alley-” “Have you considered this could be fake?” Purpled returned. Karl was at a loss. He knew it was true, he did, and he could feel it. But what if it wasn't?

“Purpled, do you think I'd let the two in knowing they would just be using him?” Eret answered, and Karl let out a shaky breath. Eret knew. They always did. “And since Karl has a lack of parents I will be stepping in. If any of you two hurt him, let's just say no one will find your bodies.” She smiled, straightening herself in the chair.

Karl burst into laughter as Tubbo bounced in the seat. “Could I nuke them, please, please, please?” “Tubbo no-” Ranboo began, trying to calm the bee down.

“I'm down,” Tommy smirked. “I'm always happy to blow s— up.” The three at the head of the table burst into laughter. “I’d love to see you try, honestly.” Quackity commented as he looked over at Sapnap.

Karl caught his breath again, calming down and relaxing into his chair, holding his fiances' hands tightly. It felt incredible to have the two back.

And yet his mind filled with dark thoughts as everyone else seemed to talk amongst each other. He finished his breakfast and waited until everyone finally left to clean it all up.

“Hey man, what’re you thinking?” Aimsey asked as they approached him from behind, startling him. “Sorry, sorry, it's nothing.” He commented, pulling out the roll of aluminum foil.

“I'd hate to say it but I could see your feelings from across the table, and my power is healing.” She commented, resting a hand on his arm–because they were too short to reach his shoulder.

“I-I guess I'm just feeling bad. My whole purpose in being a vigilante is to make sure no one else suffers like how my fiances did, but I don't even think they had a struggle! I-I don't know, I'm just feeling like I'm not worth anything now because I've lost any purpose I ever thought I had.” He ranted, wrapping the remaining pie in foil.

He had silence to think while he put the pie to the side and started washing the dishes.

“Karl, I promise that it's not true. You've done so much for everyone, whether or not your motives held. You've changed so many lives and saved so many people with that simple phrase. Just because you found out just barely that your fiances are still alive and shockingly uninjured doesn't make your work any less valid.” The healer smiled, wrapping him in a hug.

“You've done so much for everyone, so now it's time to let someone help. Go visit your fiances, I'll handle the dishes.” They finished with a smile, attempting to shove him aside. Karl laughed softly and hugged Aimsey before wandering off to find the two.

- - -

Karl paced the room, holding his new mask in his hands. It had been two weeks since he'd been reunited with his fiances, and now he needed to break the truth to them.

He couldn't find many more excuses for coming home late with bruises and cuts all over him.

Curse HD.

But how would he even tell them?! ‘Hey guess what, I'm secretly a highly wanted vigilante who is pretty overpowered-’ No, no that one won't work, it would just make the two immediately call the cops. And he did not want to see Gambit again.

He'd been watching the hero when he was on patrol while also being a witness to PVP’s redemption in becoming a hero. It made him feel slightly better that his interrogation had helped turn the villain to the right, but also made him feel worse.

Finally, Karl sucked in a breath and clutched his shirt as he opened the door and stepped into the living room where he had heard the two hanging out a few moments earlier.

What he saw was something he never would've thought he'd ever see.

Karl dropped his mask as he stared in shock at Sapnap and Quackity who were now staring at him with panic, dressed up in hero outfits. And not just any hero outfits, but Gambit and PVP.

“W-what the f—...?” He whispered, filled with fear and betrayal. “Karl, wait, it's not what-no it's exactly what it looks like-please let us talk this out-” Sapnap began, slowly approaching him. Karl's breath caught in his throat as he took a step back, away from the two.

“It-it was you…?” He barely mustered, tears threatening to escape. “Amor, wait-”

“It was you two-I-i thought you two were in danger-you two locked me up-you knew-” He struggled, trying to find the words to say in the moment. “I-I know, Amor, and I'm sorry, but we can talk this out-”

“No-no-I-just no, I don't want to talk about this-” Karl choked out, retreating into his room as quickly as he could. He locked the door behind them.

“Love, can we please talk about this-” “Leave me alone!” He choked out, slamming his back against the farthest wall as he interrupted Sapnap. “Leave me alone.” He cried to himself, hearing shuffling from outside.

He cried alone in that room for hours before he eventually passed out from his lack of water.

- - -

“Karl, you need to eat something, please come out…” Ranboo spoke, knocking on the door. “No, go away.” The other responded from the other side. They sighed, staring hopefully at Tubbo.

“He hasn't come out all day, and his fiances haven't been around at all. What do we do?” They asked the bee. “I think Purpled is going in soon, he's going to try and convince Karl to eat.” Tubbo spoke sadly, staring at the door.

“I’m glad someone's trying to do something. Eret's gone out looking for someone–probably his fiances–in their vigilante gear so someone f—ed up.” Aimsey commented. “It's just so sad to see him like this.”

Ranboo nodded, pulling Tubbo away. Aimsey stood at the door for a few moments before eventually stepping away.

- - -

Eret stared out from their perch on a tall building, looking out for two people. They should've seen this coming, they saw everything but that moment.

But finally, their eyes landed on the fiery orange of PVP. She sprung into action, running across the roof and leaping onto the next. He landed roughly but continued, eventually sliding down the side of the small shop, and landing next to the two.

“You couldn't even last two weeks without f—ing it all up, huh?” They began, walking towards their huddle. Gambit jumped back while PVP stood his ground. “I-we didn't mean to, he just saw us like this.”

“I was serious about my threat.” They returned, pulling out an extendable cane. “Wait, no please, we didn't mean to-”

Prince made a move, throwing their cane in the air and slamming it against Gambit’s head. The hero shouted in alarm as he was thrown into the ground. “Wait, wait, Prince! Please, we promise we are just trying to fix this, we are figuring out a plan!” PVP defended himself quickly.

“How. What are you planning on doing to fix this mess?” They spit, letting their cane rest against the ground. “I-Q had a gift he never got to give to Karl, we thought we could use it as a peace offering so we could talk it out.” The ex-villain spoke quickly.

“What is it?” “It’s a necklace, a choker with our initials and birthstones. Karl had done so much for us when I had it commissioned, so I wanted to show our appreciation for him.” Gambit spoke as he pushed himself up off the ground and pulled out a little bag.

Prince took it quickly and opened it up. Sure enough, inside was a black choker. If he looked hard enough they could see silver inside. The vigilante let out a breath, closing the little bag and handing it back. “Fine. We’ll go now.” They spoke, walking away towards the house.

- - -

“Karl, buddy, do you want to talk?” Karl heard Eret ask through the door. “No, leave me alone.”

Karl was alone, the people he thought he could trust weren’t who they said they were. He glanced at the cracker Purpled had left him on the bed, telling him to take a break from being a human and rest.

He didn’t.

“Amor, we have something for you if you’d let us talk it out.” “No,” He said, “I don’t want to talk. This was just a ploy to get me arrested, wasn’t it.”

“No, no, baby, it’s not, I promise. We wanted to tell you on our own, so I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Would you let us talk it out?” Karl thought for a moment. “Maybe…but not now.” He returned quietly.

“That’s okay baby. Would you want us to text you later? We won’t bring it up unless you want us to.” “Please.” Karl started crying again, finally happy to have a middle ground.

“We love you, amor. No matter what.” Quackity finished.

And finally, after spending a whole day against the same wall from last night, he stood up on unsteady feet and flopped onto the bed. He let himself shrink back to his normal size, lying on his back.

“Let’s just see what happens.” He whispered, closing his eyes.

- - -

“So the moles in the commission have been identified thanks to Blaze and Saint, and the coup is almost ready. Is Riot ready to go?” Gambit began in his office. “Theseus is good to go. May I ask who Blaze and Saint are for reference?” Cerberus asked.

“PVP and Egg. The two have been willing to comply with everything we’ve asked of them. Saint remains in the custody of the commission for the time being, and Blaze is to remain with me.”

Gambit returned. “Sounds good. How are we going to start this?” Cerberus asked quickly.

“I’ve had Nuclear and Tulip set up a fake distress signal in an old warehouse. The two say that we should be able to send it out and start tomorrow.” Gambit informed. “Great. And the moles?” Cerberus spoke.

“We have listed down Toast, Marmalade, HD, XD, and Schlatt himself.” Gambit read. “Wait, you can’t be serious.”

“I’m being completely serious.” “Do we have any more backup? The heroes that aren’t will not be enough to handle this.” Cerberus got noticeably more anxious.

“Well, the Flower Girls are helping, all of them. We’ve also got the Happy Crew. Frogger’s offered as well.” Gambit spoke. “Oh, so you’re finally accepting the help of vigilantes?”

“Shut the f— up. Thankfully I think this is all of the new information. I’ve got another group I want to try and see if I can get some help from, but I’m unsure of how that’ll work out.” He finished.

“Alright, just tell me how it goes, okay mate?”

“Got it, thanks, Phil.”

- - -

“Alright, everyone! We have some work to do.” Karl announced, gathering everyone around the round table in the living room. “So Eret and I have done some conversing, and we’ve got a big issue. The hero commission is going through with a coup tomorrow and they won’t make it without our help.”

“So that's where we come in. Let’s go through the plan.”

- - -

Sapnap approached the door slowly, knocking on the door. “Hello?” He asked slowly. The lights were off, but he figured that at least someone would be home. “Hey, it’s Sapnap, I have a question.” The fireborn asked again.

He sighed after no one answered for a few minutes, eventually opting to set a small bag on the doorframe with a note addressed to Karl.

“Well, if anyone’s here there’s something on the door for Karl.” He finished, leaving the house feeling defeated.

- - -

Blaze smiled confidently as he grabbed Gambit’s hand from where they hid in the rafters. They both knew the likeliness that they came out of this alive, yet they were willing to fight the battle for the betterment of the future.

Soon enough they watched as the group of five stepped into the building. “You can come out.” HD spoke immediately.

F—, they forgot about his mind powers.

“What-” Toast started before he was immediately wrapped up in vines. Marmalade made a move to free his partner, only to be pounced on by a tiger. HD was thrown in the air by a blast of wind, while XD blocked a blast of water.

“Great going Flower Girls!” Blaze shouted as he hopped off the beam, spreading his wings. Gambit followed closely, being followed by Saint and the Happy Crew.

Red Devil quickly set Diamond down on the ground, the two falling into their normal formations as Saint followed suit. XD growled as he created a pillar of cement to trap Daisy. The poor heroine managed to barely avoid getting her gills covered.

Gambit threw a trap card at XD who dodged it easily. What he didn’t dodge was the fireball aimed towards his head. “F—! PVP! You traitor!” “It’s Blaze now, f—er!” The fireborn laughed, continuing to hold the air with Gambit.

“What, did you get fancy-talked into becoming a hero?” XD taunted. “No, I just had a change of heart.” He smirked.

The brunet glared through his mask towards the fireborn before launching a knife at the man. He couldn’t get down quick enough, the cold metal slicing through his wing.

“F—!” He shouted as he fell to the ground. Gambit glared, throwing his explosion card, followed by a multitude of other cards.

“Tulip!” Gold shouted after she screamed, covering Toast in gold as he ran to the woman’s side. “What did he do to you?”

“Where the f— is SBI?!” Gambit shouted out.

“Where do you think?” Schlatt spoke, finally stepping into the light. “It was easy to trap them in prison.” The ram hybrid smiled cruelly. “Honestly. For some of the best heroes they are terrible at that.”

Perfect-

You are a traitor.

Get out of my head, George.

You couldn’t even protect your fiance, Karl was it?

Shut up, George.

What makes you think you can protect anyone else?

Shut up!

You are weak. You can’t even save a single person.

I can! I can! Shut up and get out of my head!

You are a sad, pathetic excuse for a human being Sapnap. You shouldn’t even be alive.

He cried as his vision came back. The fight was a mess. Gambit lay on the ground next to him, knocked unconscious. The other heroes were spread through the place in various places.

They hadn’t even stood a chance.

“This is what you heroes get for daring to fight us.” Schlatt smiled cruelly. “XD, if you would?”

Sapnap watched as the man stepped forward, prepared for a clean wipeout.

“Hey d—head, behind you.”

Sapnap smiled as he watched Riot blast the man in the back of the head with a concentrated explosion, knocking the man out. “Riot!” “It’s Theseus now, b—-!” The vigilante cheered.

“Alright everyone, you know what to do.”

Sapnap gasped, trying to push himself up off the ground as he saw Karl’s ever-familiar boots step in front of him. “Leave Schlatt for me.” He commanded. “Wha-Karl, no you can’t fight Schlatt, you can’t affect him, he has training against every type of power!” He warned.

“Relax, Sap, I doubt he’s seen a power like mine.” His fiance spoke with confidence. Quackity shuffled behind him as Goose ran up to the avian’s side and began to heal him.

Sapnap watched Queen team up with Bee against Toast, Shade vanish off to face HD with Prince, and Theseus run off to face Marmalade. “Take a break and watch the show, you two.”

“You’re a f—ing idiot if you think you could face off against me, Oracle. Your stupid psychic powers can’t do anything.” The ram goaded on. “Psychic? Who said anything about that?” The vigilante laughed. “Kind of sad.”

Schlatt didn’t seem to falter at that statement and held his ground as Karl began to approach.

Within moments HD began to scream, falling to the ground and scrambling backwards. “Sir, we can’t just fight him-” “Close your mouth.” The ram shot back.

HD panicked as his mouth vanished, hands reaching up to feel out the area as he began to mumble and screech. “Undo that.” Karl spoke, stopping. “And why should I?” The vigilante merely held up a hand that stopped an explosion mid-attack.

“Watch where you aim those please, Theseus.” He spoke calmly. Sapnap watched with wide eyes. “Now, undo what you did, or that’ll go right into your face.” The fireborn could hear the smile in his fiance’s voice.

“Fine. You can speak again, but don’t you dare try and tell me what you saw there.” HD gasped as his mouth returned, immediately running over to XD’s unconscious body and picking him up, dodging any attacks made by Shade.

“There, that’s better.” Karl seemed smug about the whole situation, stepping forward a bit and letting the explosion go. It hit the wall, shaking the building. “I hope you know I don’t plan to let you near me.” Schlatt spoke.

“Sorry, this fight is escalating, I think I’d like to live.” HD announced before running away with his partner in his arms.

Sapnap was shocked at how calm this whole fight was.

“Now why didn’t you command that?” Karl asked, quizzical. “Because I honestly want to see you try.” The ram smiled tauntingly. Karl continued his slow walk towards the mastermind. “Besides, you need contact for your powers to work, don’t you?” The ram decided. Karl was at quite a disadvantage.

“Who said I needed to touch anyone?” Oh s—, what? Sapnap watched as Karl pointed a finger towards the fight between Toast and the Beeduo. “Watch this, why don’t you?” Within a moment, Toast stopped moving altogether, pausing him mid-fight.

What was Karl doing?!

“I don’t even need to touch to use my abilities.”

Sapnap didn’t miss the flinch from Schlatt. That was what he was doing. Karl was never one for fighting, so he was trying to put on a show to intimidate his enemy into running away. Brilliant.

“What’s happening?” Quackity whispered drowsily, staring at Sapnap. “Karl’s trying to intimidate Schlatt, and I think it’s working. Schlatt flinched.” The fireborn whispered back. Goose was trying hard to contain the confusion on their face, but he could see the poor healer wondering about the situation before they moved on to another hero.

“Really?! What did he do?!” The avian whispered back. “Karl just froze Toast mid-fight without even touching him. He also froze an explosion to keep it from hitting him.”

“Holy s—...” “Exactly.”

“I’ll give you…” Karl spoke up, grabbing his pocket watch and holding it up to his face for a moment, “About one minute to either run away or surrender. If not, you’ll see.” Schlatt took a step back before gathering himself again.

“Watch, see?” Sapnap whispered.

“I’ll never do that, f— you!” The vigilante sighed. “I’d hate to do something I’d regret. Please rethink your choice.”

“Never! You can’t hurt me!” Karl let the pocket watch fall back down to hang at his waist. “You are genuinely a nimrod, I try to show you mercy, and this is what you do? Fine. Your grave.”

The vigilante smiled, running forward. Schlatt panicked slightly before pulling out a sword and pointing it towards Karl before he disappeared.

“They’ll never find your body.” The man whispered into Schlatt’s ear, quiet enough for only the vigilante and his victim to hear, hand draped gently against the back of his head.

Within seconds of Karl’s eyes closing Schlatt simply turned to dust. Gambit screamed as Sapnap stared with wide eyes at Karl, expecting the other to explain it.

Karl decided against that, walking back to his earlier position with a grim look in his eyes. “Poor darling, let me help with that, okay?” The man spoke as he reached the fireborn, kneeling and taking his injured wing in one hand, resting Sapnap’s head on his other hand.

Sapnap glanced over to his wing and watched as the tear fixed itself. “All better.” The vigilante smiled, pulling the fireborn’s face a bit closer as he leaned down to press a kiss to his face. “The best patient.”

“What-what was that…?!” He asked. “My powers. I don’t like fighting or going to that extreme, but it was his choice.”

“I-I thought you were a psychic!” Quackity returned. Karl smiled as he snapped his fingers. “Whoah! Okay, I didn’t do that-” Theseus shouted from the other side of the building.

“I’m not a psychic. My powers are just time itself.” The vigilante smiled gently. Sapnap could feel himself regaining energy and just feeling better. “Really…?”

“Yeah. I can pause people, accelerate or pause their lives, travel forward and backward in time, see visions of the future, all those cool things. I can even heal people by reversing the damage or speeding up the injured area.”

“I’m not going to lie, you looked hot out there.” Quackity smiled. Karl flushed and laughed. “Q! We’re in public!”

The fireborn smirked. “No, he’s right, you were very sexy out there.” “Oh the moment we get back home I am slapping you two with pillows, shut the honk up!”

“How would you like to stay in the hero tower with Q and I? I mean, Theseus is staying there with the SBI now, I think it would only be fitting.” Quackity offered. Karl took a sharp breath. “I-I would love to Q, but I need to stay with the others-”

“Karl shut up and go with them. We can handle ourselves. You’ve helped us all get on our feet, we’ll be just fine without you. And if we do need help we can always call.” Eret interrupted Karl as they put power-dampening cuffs on Toast’s wrists. The vigilante smiled and unpaused the villain once he was sure they had him under control.

“Wha-” The confused villain asked. “You are under arrest.” Eret followed up with.

“Fine, since Eret said so, I’ll stay.” The vigilante smiled. “By the way, I love your little gift.” He finished, pulling away his collar to reveal the choker. It held three letters–Q, K, and S in that order–with their birthstones on each of them. Sapnap pulled Quackity in with a hug. “It looks amazing on you.”

- - -

He smiled as he looked over the framed photo in his hands. A picture of him, Q, and Sapnap at the altar. Karl finally felt like he wasn’t alone after years of being without his fiances. But now they were sealed together with such a precious declaration.

“Karl! Karl help! Sapnap’s armed!” Quackity shouted, hiding himself behind him. Karl smiled with a laugh as he placed the photo down. “Sapnap!” He shouted out in a challenge.

“I’m coming for you!” The fireborn shouted as he emerged from the master bedroom with a pillow in his hands. Karl shrieked playfully as he ran away from the ex-villain, hopping on the couch. Sapnap threw the pillow at him, smacking his face. He devolved into giggles as he threw the plush surface to the side, shrinking down to make himself harder to find.

Quackity hit the couch soon after, the fireborn playfully tackling him. The two were laughing like crazy. Karl decided the safe place would be under the pillow, quick to take cover. The avian’s wings flared and flapped around as Sapnap began to tickle him instead.

“Get him Sappy!” Karl cheered from beneath the protective surface. Sapnap gasped, stopping his playful assault on Quackity. “Q, did you hear that?”

“Yeah!” “I think a certain tiny husband’s trying to hide from our love!” The fireborn spoke out, immediately pulling away his cover and lifting him into the air. “We can’t let that happen, now can we?” He finished, holding Karl close to his chest.

“Hey! I want tiny cuddles too!” Quackity chirped out. “Fine, we’ll just have to take a nap then.” Sapnap suggested, walking towards the room he had just come from. Karl simply laughed, warm within the confines of his husband’s hands.

The fireborn had decided to slowly lay down while the avian decided to jump into the space next to the man. “Okay, now you need to share him.” Quackity demanded with a playful pout. “Fine, but only because you asked so nicely.”

Sapnap let Karl lay down on the fabric of the bed between his two husbands. He eventually felt one of Quackity’s hands resting over him as a sort of blanket with the fireborn layering his hand overtop. “I’m glad I have you two back.” Karl muttered tiredly–his energy went into the fight from earlier.

The day it all started began fairly normal. The humans in their apartments woke up and made breakfast, like any other day, and the borrowers in their walls minded their business while waiting for the humans to leave.

On this particular day, however, three of those said borrowers were preparing for what may be the riskiest thing they ever did.

“And you’re sure this is a good idea?”

“Of course, bossman! We’ll be careful, promise.” Tommy said as he finished rewrapping the line to his hook, triple checking it before passing it off to his nervous looking best friend. Tubbo looked down at the hook and Tommy sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We run at the first sign of trouble, nothing bad will happen. It’s just a little detective work nothing serious.” Tubbo laughed half heartedly. “Right, just a little detective work to see what’s up. Mom and Dad won’t even notice I’m missing.”

“We ready to go?” Ranboo interjected, coming up to the two with packs of back up rope and supplies he had been packing. Tommy looked to Tubbo, waiting for approval.

“Yeah, we’re ready.”

…

Packing up for a long trek was always quite a task. For Charlie, most of the time all he needed was a backpack, knowing fully well that Schlatt’s apartment was fully accommodated to him and it would be an easy trip. But going with other borrowers? That was different.

So he dressed himself like anyone else would, with backup food, water, ropes, and weapons in case there were any “wild animals.” He looked to Mochi, who was minding her own business at the other end of the room being fed by Minx, and laughed to himself. What kind of wild animals were they concerned about, anyway?

Minus Jambo. Seriously, fuck that cat.

It didn’t take Charlie long to find his group and meet up with them. He was accompanied by his captain, of course, and two rookies. Fundy, who’d gone borrowing a few times for survival purposes only before moving there and becoming a guard member. Apparently, though, since Charlie had been to Schlatt’s apartment numerous times with no issue, they said Fundy should try picking up borrowing again, despite his fear of humans. Meanwhile, Aimsey seemed over the moon. This borrower was younger than any of them, but had been bugging the captain to go borrowing, wanting to help out their colony any way they could, and this was their first time.

And with a few reminders from the captain and a review of the rules, they were off.

…

“So we just…wait here?” “It’s called a stakeout, boob boy.” Tommy sighed, holding a poorly handmade telescope through a high vent grate. “We wait here for the other borrowers to show up and watch them for any sus behavior. I saw it in one of Tubbo’s weird movies once.” “Isn’t that just stalking?” “We are far too cool for ‘stalking,’ its a stakeout.” “Quiet! Both of you, look!!” Tubbo interjected, pointing up to the kitchen counter. The thre of them watched as Charlie pushed a roll of paper towels away, gesturing to the kitchen, though they were too far away to hear anything being said. And they watched as three more people came from behind him, all strangers. One was tall and nervous looking, white streaks through his ginger hair. And with his pointed ears and slits for pupils, he looked almost fox like. And if they were gonna use animals for comparison, the next one, wearing a patchwork of blue and stripes and long hair under a beanie of sorts, was almost reminiscent of a bunny, the way they were bouncing and barely staying still, having a shocking amount of energy for a borrower even shorter than Tubbo. And the reason for their excitement seemed to come from the last stranger, who was talking to the three. For some reason, Tubbo got a sinking feeling in his gut while looking at him. He tried to ignore it and just focus on how he looked and not why the very presence of him made him feel as awful as it did. So he just looked, especially taking note of how odd he was compared to the other three. He had short brunette hair, and a red and gold pitare-looking jacket on, which struck Tubbo as odd. What borrower would go out of their way to make an expensive looking coat? Who would even get him those supplies? Wh- “Is that their captain??” Tommy asked, staring like he’d never seen another borrower in his life. “Uhh, what?” Tubbo asked, and Tommy snapped his head in his direction, looking confused. Looking past Tommy, Ranboo had the same expression. “What??” “Borrower colonies, they have captains.” Tommy explained. “They’re in charge of everything that happens in the colony, and I mean everything. All the big decisions come down to them.” “They’re like royalty in borrower culture.” Ranboo added. “So why would one come on a random borrower trip? And since when was there even a colony in this building??”

“…You think it’s the old one?” Tubbo asked, only to get more weird looks from his friends. “There was a colony here before? What happened?” Ranboo asked. “There was a whole colony just in this apartment! Have I never told you?” Both of the others shook their heads. “What happened to them?” Tommy asked quietly, like something bad was going to happen if he spoke any louder. Tubbo subconsciously touched his scars, only noticing he did so when his friends’ expressions turned to pity and he put his hand down quickly. “I was really little, I barely remember it, but from what I can piece together from my memories and what Dad and Jack said happened, it was bad. An extermination. No one lived, or at least we thought. But what are the odds that people not only survived, but started a new colony and went to a different part of the building?”

…

It didn’t take long for Charlie to get his group to Schlatt’s apartment. He knew the way by heart, but was holding onto an impossible hope that this time it would somehow take longer, delaying the inevitable. However, when he got there, he had to hide a sigh of relief. Schlatt was nowhere to be seen, probably messing around with his friends next door. Not a single ladder, rope, or haphazard handmade staircase in sight. No proof that a borrower lived here full time.

The captain led them all through what to do, what the rules were, and where everyone should look for supplies before sending them off. Charlie was the last to be sent somewhere, and he could see the look in the captain’s eyes, the same look he had seen a hundred times before in the eyes of the others from the colony that had once been in this apartment. Survivors guilt. Even when the captain was done giving him directions, he didn’t go immediately. He didn’t want to leave him to wallow in his self pity.

“If this gets to much, we’ll understand. You can go home, I’m more than capable of getting them home. I know this must be…hard for you.” The captain didn’t even look him in the eyes, just nodded. “I’ll be fine, Charlie.” Was all he said, only turning to give him a small grin to show he was ok, even if Charlie could tell it was faked.

So, he left.

God, he was glad Tubbo wasn’t here.

…

Aimsey walked across the tops of the few supplies on the kitchen, ears trained on any subtle noise that may let him know danger was coming. Lord knows it had taken him long enough to get up the few boxes on the counter, he’d hate to have gone through all that effort jut to be seen now, though Charlie had assured him that the resident human wasn’t home today.

Although, he was more scared of the part coming next.

Looking up, he spotted the cabinet holding the food he was supposed to get. And shit, was it high. But if Charlie could get to it, so could he. He just wouldn’t focus on how high it was, or how he’d be that high up, or how a fall from that height would kill him…

no. not thinking about that.

“Oh, fuck, oh my god.” Aimsey said, nervousness making his hands shake while swinging his flimsy paper-clip hook to latch onto a nearby handle. “You got this…” he whispered faintly to himself, fingers already turning white from his death grip on the rope before jumping off the counter and preparing for a tug on his middle from the belt.

…the tug should have happened after a few seconds, right?

…oh no…

It was like time slowed as Aimsey looked up to find that the hook had fallen off the handle, and, ok, maybe they should have checked that it was secure before leaping off the counter.

He screamed, trying to alert any nearby source (maybe not the cat, but it’s not like he could afford to be picky at the moment) to save him, and as the floor got closer and closer and closer-

he finally felt the tug.

He felt himself being pulled up from the ground, and practically went boneless with relief. Someone had heard, seen, whatever, his fall and went to his rescue.

He looked up, expecting to see his captain or teammates but…who was that?

The boy at the helm of pulling him up seemed just a bit taller than him (aka short by borrower standards) with fluffy, surprisingly well kept hair and a patchy green jacket. But what shocked him most was the myriad of (dare he say) horrifying scars on the boys face when he barely looked younger than her, scars somewhat similar to the ones the survivors of an old extermination from when the colony was newer held. She found herself unable to keep her eyes of off his scars until finally her eyes landed on his, an unsettling feeling filling her gut. Maybe because the hazel-grey color was familiar, or maybe because he didn’t look all too happy with her.

“You gonna keep staring or are you gonna fucking help?” the (apparently also british, which she didn’t hear often,) boy said, and, oh, she was pretty close to the edge, maybe she could pull herself up some. Aimsey took the hint to finish climbing up the counter and was quickly helped over by the scarred boy, who was quick to catch them as they collapsed breathless. Holy fuck, they almost just died. Cause of their own stupidity, no less. If the captain finds out about that, they’ll never be allowed to leave base again-

“Hey..Uh…you ok?” the boy said, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him slightly. “Tubs, they almost just fell to their death, give them a minute,” another, harsher, british voice spoke out, startling Aimsey as he quickly shot his head up. This other borrower was taller than the earlier one, though not as well kept. His clothes and hair were dirty, and his arms and legs were covered in scabs and healed over scars, more like the other borrowers Aimsey knew. And behind him was another more traditional borrower, though a good bit taller than anyone they’d ever met and had weird blotches of white that they’d never seen before on anyone, either, as well as split colored hair. But these two were just as unfamiliar as the last one.

“Who are you people??” Aimsey said, only for the three to immediately look at each other with horrified expressions before the tallest one spoke up. “Uh, we’re, uh…new around here! Yeah, we, um, just moved from another colony, but we’ve never seen you around before! Who are you?” He said in an american accent, weirdly enough. “Oh, I’m, uh, Aimsey! And you are?” “I’m Tubbo!” Said the brunette, shoving his way in front of the split haired borrower. “And these two are by best friends, Ranboo and Tommy!” He said, gesturing to the taller of the two and then to the blonde. “Are you from a colony?” He said, turning his attention back to her. “We weren’t aware that there was one in this building anymore.”

“Uh, yeah! My colony used to function out of this apartment i think, actually, but that was way before i joined.” “And you’re here with…?” “Oh, another guy said that this apartment was safe to borrower from, and my captain wanted to see it first hand and i needed the borrowing experience.” “Looks like it,” the blonde, Tommy, spoke up again. “Not checking your hook is secure is a rookie move. But, you said your captain is here, any possible way we could talk to him?” “Tommy!” both other borrowers shouted at once, making Aimsey flinch back. “We’ll be, uh, one second.” Ranboo said, before waking around a tall object on the counter and dragging Tommy behind him as Tubbo followed behind fuming in anger.

Aimsey couldn’t pick up much of the fight, but from what he could tell, they were fighting about meeting the captain, or whether one was “allowed” to, if he heard that right. But before he could even question it, Tommy ran back around, grinning widely as Tubbo glared and Ranboo looked anywhere other than the group in front of him.

“Alright, my friend,” Tommy said, eagerness clear in his voice, “lead the way.”

…

Tubbo couldn’t believe he agreed to this. He didn’t want to meet this fucking captain, at this point he just wanted to lock himself in his room. Uncle Charlie was right, he shouldn’t have involved himself in this. All he wanted to know was that the other borrowers weren’t evil, and Aimsey seemed as not-evil as they come. He could just talk about all this with his family later. Just a simple ‘hey i saw the other borrowers in the apartment today and they don’t seem evil, why aren’t i allowed to meet them?’ Then maybe everything could have been explained to him and he could have been introduced or something like a normal person.

But that wasn’t what was happening. Tommy had twisted his arm (damn Tommy and his impatience and surprisingly good negotiation skills), and, ok, maybe he felt a bit bad that Ranboo and Tommy had to live alone in the walls without company other than him and his family. Maybe Tommy had made a good point that if all went well, he and Ranboo could be part of a colony again. So here Tubbo was, unable to deny his best friends of something he knew they wanted desperately.

But as Aimsey led them closer to where he said the meetup destination was, Tubbo couldn’t quite explain the feeling that something was about to happen, nor could he figure out if said thing was good or bad.

He saw the excitement on Tommy and Ranboo’s faces and decided to ignore his instincts.

…

It had all gone to shit faster than Charlie could have predicted.

Meeting back up with the captain had gone about as planned. He was greeted by a man who was just staring out at the apartment before him, seemingly not having moved since Charlie left. He knew that his captain wouldn’t want to talk about it, though, so he just tapped him lightly and tried to distract him by listing off what he’d found and how hard it was to get it, as was protocol. He seemed more pleased, finally having something to take his mind off of the massacre that had left him a widowmaker and a guilty survivor to a slaughter that he apparently still blamed himself for, even over a decade later. Charlie eventually took to making small talk, trying to keep the poor man he called his captain from reminiscing even more on what had happened in the very spot he stood.

Eventually the small talk dwindled as they both saw a couple of hooks appear on the edge on the counter they stood on. Aimsey climbed his way up first, and, while they had both been expecting Fundy, Aimsey reached down to grab a much paler, unclaimed hand, and, to Charlie’s horror, helped to pull up Ranboo, who seemed very unsure of what to do with the situation. But to be fair, the captain seemed equally weary. Charlie, from his spot diagonally behind him, could see the captain’s ear raise and tail sway in curiosity, while Charlie was trying to physically express how frustrated and he confused he was to Ranboo in a terrible game of charades without tipping off either borrowers that he came with. Ranboo stared at the captain and only glanced at Charlie before two more hooks came over the counter. Ranboo quickly turned to help the remaining two borrowers up (not before slightly shrugging and mouthing ‘it was Tommy’s idea’ to Charlie), and the two of them pulled up Tommy and, as much as he’d tried to keep him safe and warn him, Tubbo.

…

It didn’t take very long. Tubbo had just been helped up to the counter and had only just managed to stand when the captain collapsed to his knees, head down in his hands. Aimsey quickly ran over to help him and Charlie looked back over at the group, unsure of what to do other than just give them a sympathetic look. Tommy and Ranboo at least had the decency to look ashamed, but Tubbo didn’t share their expressions.

He looked scared.

The four of them turned their heads as Aimsey helped the captain stand, letting him lean down on them to keep upright as he looked up to stare at Tubbo, tear lines clear down his face. It lasted what felt like hours before either of them said something, but the captain broke the silence. His eyes became glossy with unshed tears as he said only one word.

“Toby…” he whispered, trailing off, but Tubbo had heard it well, as his brows furrowed and his tail wrapped anxiously around his ankle. The man took a few steps forward, letting go of Aimsey and Tubbo reflexively took a step back away from him, making the captain frown. “What’s wrong?” “How do you know my name? My..my real name.” Tubbo whispered harshly, unable to keep the edge out of his voice, even when he saw the man begin to cry again. “Wh…What?” He sputtered trying to take another step forward as Tubbo backed up again and put his hands out in defense. “You heard me. Who the fuck are you and why do you know my real name?”

“You don’t remember me…?” He whispered desperately, and Tubbo felt a little bit guilty for having no clue who this man was. But somehow, he knew that he knew him. He knew the second he felt the weight settle in his stomach when he looked at him. He had no reason to be that weary of a man he’d never met, but like hell was he about to explain that. For one, Charlie would be pissed that he didn’t just turn tail and run if he felt like that, and two, this man already seemed distraught enough. The last thing he needed to be told was that just looking at him made Tubbo upset.

“…No,” Tubbo half lied. “Should I?” And that was all it took. Tears poured down again, harder than before, and he desperately tried to even out his breaths in between sobs. And, despite his precautions, Tubbo started to step closer. Whether it was out of pity or empathy he didn’t know. “…oh god, what happened to you?” He asked, reaching out to try and cup a hand around the scarred side of Tubbo’s face before Tubbo jerked back and slapped him away. “What the fuck, man?! You don’t just get to..to touch people! Personal space and shit! What the fuck is your problem with my scars, anyway? Not like you aren’t sporting a few yourself!” But the man just laughed, brushing and hand over his own scars, laid over his cheeks, nose, and eye, leaving his left eye dead. “Looks like we match…” he muttered to himself, pointing from his eye back to Tubbo’s own scarred and blurry one. “I’m sorry that happened. I’m sorry I.. I couldn’t protect you. I’m so sorry, Toby.”

“Sorry for what? What couldn’t you protect me from? What the fuck are you on about??” Tubbo yelled, getting more and more frustrated with how long this stupid conversation was going on for. He could feel the stares coming from all around him. Ranboo and Tubbo rightfully confused, just like he was, Aimsey looking on in slightly more awed confusion, and Charlie looked at him pitifully, as if he could understand something that Tubbo didn’t quite yet grasp.

“…You were my responsibility, and I let you get hurt. You were so young, and..I didn’t know where she hid you. I couldn’t risk the lives of anyone else, and I couldn’t even know for sure if you were even still alive so…I had to leave you behind.” He said, voice heavy with grief, guilt, and even more unshed tears, and that’s when Tubbo put it together.

“…You were my captain, back when I was a kid, people did survive…” he said, eyes wide as he pieced together why this man was so familiar to him, “my mum hid me in the vents when she heard the exterminator come in. I was the youngest, I couldn’t defend myself, I could barely walk. She didn’t tell you where I was, and you couldn’t find me, so…you left.” He said, meeting the captain’s eyes. “Is that it, then? You had to leave behind the youngest to save everyone else? You feel guilty that you left a toddler to live alone? Cause, if it makes you feel any better, I’m fine, man. I’ve been good.” He said. But to his shock, the.. his captain just stared. “Toby…what’s your last name? Do you still know it?” He asked, seemingly afraid of the answer. Tubbo thought for a moment, but just shook his head. “Not really. I have a new one now, though, so i guess it doesn’t matter as much.”

“Sparklez.”

“…what?” Tubbo said, the dread he felt getting heavier as he processed what the man had said. “Your name is Sparklez. Toby Sparklez.” And oh god, did that sound familiar, but not it a good way. Like he had some sort of negative association with the word. And it was his name, for fucks sake, if this man was telling the truth. “…ok,” Tubbo replied wearily, “…so what? Why…why is that all of a sudden so important? I don’t have a family, they’re dead, my mum is dead, my dad is..” he trailed off. In all fairness, Tubbo had no fucking clue what ever happened to his dad. He didn’t remember that fucker at all. All he remembered was his poor mother raising him alone, sacrificing her damn life to hide her only son in a vent to save him from certain death. Where was his dad then?

And as if the universe hated him more than it had already proven to, as if the multilaton of his face, the death of his colony, and the death of his birth mother hadn’t been enough, the man held out his hand to Tubbo.

“I’m Captain Jordan Sparklez,” he said, a genuine smile on his face and tears filling his eyes as Tubbo’s world began to violently shatter around him. “And I’m so, so happy to see you again, Toby.”

…

It was like all of the air in him evaporated into nothing, like his lungs had been crushed by led and could no longer expand. Every muscle in his body began to spasm, and he was slowly losing feeling in everything, spreading from his hands and feet up to his arms and legs like a disease. He remembered seeing Karl have a panic attack once, remembered how hard it was to watch someone he love feel so much terror, remembered the pain on Sapnap and Quackitys’ as they desperately tried to help him. He felt bad that the people around him were scared for him right now, but, hell, he was scared for him, too.

He felt hands, familiar hands, thank god, begin to grab at him as he collpased, and he saw the blurry outlines of his best friends help lower him and shout concerns and questions that were getting harder and harder to hear by the second as the world darkened around him. Ranboo tried to tell him it was ok, (even if nothing was ok), and he heard Tommy yelling at his d- the captain about something that he couldn’t be bothered to listen to, and somewhere in the blurry background he could see Aimsey anxiously just standing around, unsure of what to do. He felt himself be lifted as shaggy light caramel hair and a pair of shoddily handmade glasses came into view. Right, his Uncle Charlie was there to witness all of that, too. He laughed internally to himself, remembering the night he and his actual dad had spent trying to make those, when they realized how little Charlie could actually see. It had taken half an hour to unstick the hot glue from Schlatt’s hands, Tubbo laughing at him the whole time, and lord knows there’s probably still hot glue stuck to the counters, it was a mess.

He wondered if Charlie knew. If the reason he’d been told to stay away was because Charlie knew he couldn’t handle something like this.

Well, he was right.

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