A small fraction of the world

“What?” Mark sounded as startled as they’d all felt in the moment, his voice more clear like he was leaning forward. “Broken how? What’s wrong with him?” “It’s- I gotta be honest, it looks like someone picked up a- a spiked bat or something and went to town,” Jack admitted, reaching for his phone to send over the pictures he’d taken. “There was definitely something sharp involved, based on the damage, but there’s blunt force too. Whatever powers him is still doing that, because exposed wires keep sparking up, but he’s way too damaged for him to boot up or anything.” He waited for Mark to look at the pictures, heard the quiet curse that meant he had, then sighed. “I have no idea why he appeared like this, and even less of a clue of how to fix any of it. As it is, Anti’s the only one able to touch him without getting shocked, and he’d probably be able to do something coding-wise, but he doesn’t know shit about physical repairs.” “Is he missing an arm?” Mark muttered, voice tinged with quiet worry- Jack could understand that, if one of his egos had shown up hurt he would’ve been freaking out, this was basically the same thing. “This isn’t damage that would happen by accident, somebody had to do this, purposefully- but why would your power create him like that? I sure never wrote anything like it.” All Jack could do was shrug helplessly, and after a moment Mark hummed. “What about Jackie? It’s a bit different from cars or his gadgets, but maybe he’d be able to do something?”

“...Huh?” Jack stared at his screen, furrowing his eyebrows and trying to puzzle out where that had come from. “Cars-? Why would Jackie be able to do anything?”

A pause, and when he spoke again Mark sounded just as confused as Jack was. “...Because he’s a mechanic? And a budding engineer, last I checked? Like I said, it’s probably different from what he’s used to, but with the other stuff he’s done he probably wouldn’t be totally clueless-” “What the hell are you talking about?” Jack wracked his brain, searching for any bit of lore that could possibly line up with what he was being told, and coming up empty. “Where did you get that idea? I’ve never even considered something like that-” “Wh- it was a thing! I swear it was a thing-” Mark spluttered, grasping for some explanation Jack would really like to hear. “It’s been a thing for forever! He fixes cars, makes his own hero gadgets, he even built his own motorcycle-” Jack shook his head, a laugh bubbling up in his throat. “I don’t know what kind of fanfiction you read, but that’s definitely not a thing- especially not the motorcycle. Jackie would be a living road hazard, and he’d have way too much fun to be safe.” He leaned back again, still chuckling. “Besides, even if it somehow was the case, it would’ve come up by now, surely.”

Mark continued to mutter, and the sound of typing was heard, but with a glance at the clock Jack decided he could figure that out in his own time. “Well, that aside, just figured I’d update you on the situation. Thanks for being willing to call so early.” “Right,” Mark still sounded distracted, not entirely out of whatever he was getting into. “No problem. Tell me if anything else happens?” “Will do,” Jack confirmed, and after exchanging goodbyes, he ended the call. After closing out of Discord, he rubbed his hands over his face with a sigh, taking a moment to contemplate his life and how he’d gotten to this point. If somebody had said any of this would be happening a year and a half ago, I’d have been sure they were crazy…

…despite how weird and out of nowhere it was, it was hard not to think about what Mark had said. He’d sounded so sure of himself, like Jack was the crazy one for not knowing what he was talking about. But he’d have no way of knowing that information unless it was from the canon, and even if it was some big fan thing that had affected them, like Marvin thought they could- one of the egos would’ve had to tell him about it, and there was no way one of them wouldn’t have told Jack about it, if that were the case. They wouldn’t keep something like that secret, there was no point.

There was no reason for Anti to keep ‘knowing’ Dark before all this secret, either. Something in the back of his head reminded him. Even if he thought it meant nothing, he should’ve said something just because it was interesting. So why didn’t he?And why can’t he say anything concrete about it beyond knowing they’d met?

His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knock on his door, and Jack took a moment to tug off his headphones before turning towards it and calling out. “C’mon in, you’re good.” The door opened to reveal Dark of all people, who looked more than a little awkward as he stepped in. His aura shifted around him in a way that Jack was pretty sure meant he was nervous, though only Anti could ever really tell for sure. “Are you still speaking with Mark?” He asked, and Jack fought the urge to wince at how loud his voice seemed in the small room, something Dark seemed to notice, as he grimaced a little before taking a deep breath. “...Apologies,” he said after a moment, the effect on his voice quieted to just a subtle echo behind his words.

“It’s fine, no harm done,” Jack waved him off, though he was relieved that he’d probably come out of this without a headache. “Uh, no, we’re done. Why, did you wanna talk to him?”

Dark grimaced again- which was admittedly a little funny for someone so serious- but nodded. “I wanted to ask if he’d ever written Google and I interacting. I believe I’ve met him before.” And what if he didn’t? How would we explain it then?“I can still ask,” Jack offered, reaching for his phone again. “How’d that come up? Something Anti said?” Strange as it was, Anti did seem to trigger Dark’s memories a lot- he’d been remembering way faster than any of the others had, both from his backstory and the ‘life’ he’d had beyond it.

“Er, no, it was Jackie, actually.” Jack sat up straighter at the admission, but Dark continued without seeming to notice. “Marvin and I were discussing Google, he was asking if I might know anything about fixing him since we have the same creator,” his voice wavered for a moment, but he shook it off before Jack could question him. “I said I didn’t have a clue, and Jackie overheard and said- oh, what was it…” “‘Bullshit, there’s no way you didn’t help him with maintenance sometimes!’” Jack jumped at the new voice, but Dark just turned to greet Marvin. Probably sensed him somehow, he never seemed to get startled.

“That’s what Jackie said,” Marvin clarified, stopping in the doorway. “When I asked him what he meant by that he looked confused and said he didn’t know, that it had just felt ‘right’ to say.” “And when he said it, it sounded familiar,” Dark confirmed. “Like something I’d done, but unfortunately it didn’t include any memories of how to actually do so.” But how the hell would Jackie know that??Jack nodded and sent off the message, but didn’t say anything quite yet, just letting his thoughts circle.

Clearly something was going on, something none of them fully understood, but he didn’t even know where to start in figuring it out.

…but now he wanted to test something. Just to see if this was going the way he had a hunch it would.

“Marv?” He looked towards the magician, watching his reaction carefully. “Do you know anything about Jackie being a mechanic? Or- or an engineer?” Marvin frowned, confusion clear in his face, and opened his mouth to answer-

-only to pause, squinting and staring as if searching the air before recognition abruptly flashed through his eyes. “...Yes,” he answered after several seconds of silence, though he still sounded a little confused. “Yes, Jackie works at an autobody shop, and he took some engineering classes at school- he said he wanted to make his own tools. I believe he also opened a small computer repair business in his free time, to practice with smaller machines and hopefully gain some knowledge that would help with Anti-” The more he spoke, the more sure he looked, his eyebrows furrowed. “We were hoping to figure out a way to trap Anti with something electronic, it’s something we’ve been talking about for over a year, and he’s been doing stuff like this for as long as I’ve known him-” Marvin looked between Dark and Jack, unknowingly confirming Jack’s theory with his next words. “So why didn’t I remember that until it was brought up?” And if you guys didn’t even remember it, how did Mark know?“Do you think he might be able to do something with Google?” Jack asked instead of voicing that thought, and Marvin quickly nodded, his confusion replaced by a smile. “Oh definitely, I don’t know if he’s worked with one of this size but he’s built small robots before. He’ll probably need quite a few things though.” “I’ll talk to him about it,” Jack agreed with a hum. “It’ll be worth it if we can figure out what happened, I guess.”

He eyed Marvin for a moment, then suggested, “why don’t you go talk to the others? See if they’re having the same memory issue?” Marvin’s face set into determination as he nodded. “Good idea, I’ll see if anything else comes up that we should all know.” He turned and started to go, but stopped and whirled back around to grab Dark’s arm. “Come on, Anti answers questions easier if you’re around.” Dark let out a faint startled noise, looking absolutely bewildered, and Jack watched with amusement as he was dragged away. Don’t think I’ll ever get used to them getting along, but at least it’s not just Anti.

When they were gone, Jack got up too, figuring he should try and get this done now.

Luckily, when he headed downstairs Jackie wasn’t hard to find, sprawled across the couch playing something on the PS4. “What’s up?” The hero greeted him without looking up, sounding bored despite the game he was playing. “You know why Marv’s suddenly in a tizzy?”

Jack debated a few ways to tell him, but in the end he decided to be blunt, since that’d probably get a better reaction. “He’s checking if anyone else remembers that you’re a mechanic.” He watched Jackie frown, then freeze up, realization washing across his face just like it had with Marvin.

“...mmm, you’re thinking too loud, love…”

The sleepy voice broke him from his thoughts, and Chase hummed softly in response, turning to press a kiss to his boyfriend’s head. “Sorry, hon,” he murmured. “Got a lot on my mind.”

“I could tell,” Marvin chuckled softly, shifting around to blindly return the kiss, then blinking his eyes open to smile at Chase. “Bit early for that, anything I can help with..?”

Chase sighed in lieu of answering, and sat up to stretch, watching Marvin follow suit with a yawn. “I dunno,” he answered with a shrug. “Just… have you ever thought about how we got to this point?”

Marvin shuffled through the blankets to be a bit behind him, resting his chin on Chase’s shoulder. “What, like how we got here, together? Or how we all ended up real?” “Second one,” he leaned back against the magician, smiling when he felt arms wrapping around him. “I know Mark and Amy said Jack has some power that made us real, but- how did it decide what should and shouldn’t be true?”

Marvin hummed, nuzzling into him a little, and he relaxed at the feeling, a smile sliding across his face.

“While magic like this definitely has rules, it’s hard to say what those rules are without knowing much about the magic itself,” Marvin started, thankfully not questioning where this was coming from. “But personally? I think fan theories affect us more than we’ve considered in the past.” He paused, taking a moment to find Chase’s hand and grasp it over his stomach, then made a soft happy noise before continuing. “We’ve all assumed the lives we remember are all based on the story Jack came up with, but if that was the only source, then where’d my spellroom come from? And us?” He squeezed Chase’s hand and shifted a bit to give him a teasing grin. “Jack never wrote about our pining, but trickshot is very popular in the community.” Chase snorted at that and leaned away just a little, using his free hand to give the other a playful shove. “God, please don’t tell me you’ve been reading fanfiction, I don’t even like to think about it-” “Fanart only, I swear!” Marvin defended himself with a laugh, tugging Chase in close again. “Anti was showing me some interesting stuff he found on Tumblr and it came up.” “What the hell would you be interested in on Tumblr?” Chase huffed, and Marvin pointedly huffed back, tightening his grip around him. “Stuff about me, first of all- did you know that me having long hair is because of the fans?” Chase made a curious noise, relaxing into his hold again, and he could tell Marvin was grinning just from the sound of his voice. “Yeah! In the first video with my character, Jack didn’t do anything special, but when the community really got into it they started drawing me with long hair, and it got so popular, so common in any depiction of me, and eventually Jack decided that since it looked good and everyone liked it so much, why not? So he got a wig, took a picture as me, and added it to canon!” Now that’s interesting- and maybe not too far off from what’s going on?“So…” Chase started hesitantly, trying to figure out how much he could say without breaking his promise. “Could that work for other things too? Like, say the fans have a theory that something happened, even though Jack never stated it, and it got really popular, and Jack definitely knew about it- even if he never exactly made it canon, could it be true for us?” He didn’t like looking into fanworks too much, it felt just a bit too weird for him, but even without the video it was impossible to not know how much people liked to imagine the two dark sides interacting, so it’d make sense, if this sort of thing was possible.

A beat of silence, and Marvin loosened his grip so he could lean to the side and look at him, one eyebrow raised, searching for an explanation Chase was really trying not to give. “Just curious,” he tacked on a little sheepishly. “Completely hypothetical.” “Mm-hm,” Marvin stared at him another moment, but settled back to his previous position, though he was silent for a little bit as he thought. “...It’s hard to say, really, another problem with not knowing the exact rules of this magic. I think it would depend on how united the fans were about the particular thing? If a large enough part of them all agreed on something going the same way, the same specific events happening in one of our lives, it could definitely do something, but getting anything too complicated to be universally agreed on is pretty unlikely. Even if a lot of people imagine the same thing happening, details are always going to vary from person to person, and I think that’d prevent it from having too much strength.”

Chase hummed to show he heard, idly lifting his free hand to run through Marvin’s hair, feeling his boyfriend slump against him with a noise he always denied was a purr. Then I guess it could be from the video they were in, just without the others included, but if I remember right that wasn’t shown to be a first meeting, just seeing each other, and the way Anti was talking about it it doesn’t seem like they met in the ‘void’ or whatever…What Anti had said about it aside, it just… didn’t sound quite right, something in the back of his mind arguing against the possibility more firmly than he really understood. Marvin abruptly pulled back, probably to avoid the distraction of having his hair played with, and resettled next to Chase instead, giving him a curious look. “So, nobody ever asks a question like that hypothetically.” He spoke up when Chase didn’t, raising an eyebrow. “So is this coming from someone else, or is it a personal sort of question..?” His tone was gentle, like he was ready to back off the moment Chase showed any discomfort, and for a moment he wasn’t sure where that had come from, why was Marvin looking at him like he expected him to be upset-? …ah.Chase huffed faintly as he remembered one of the few fan theories he did know about, and he knocked his shoulder into Marvin’s, chuckling a little in hopes of getting him to relax. “Not what you’re thinking, though I appreciate the uh, the consideration? Nothing to do with me though, not personal.” He put his hand on Marvin’s, lacing their fingers together, then sighed. “That being said, I… kinda promised I wouldn’t talk about it? So I don’t wanna get any more specific, I already feel bad acknowledging it at all. Sorry.”

He heard Marvin sigh, but he just squeezed his hand and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Fine, fine, I’ll leave it be- but I want to hear more as soon as you’re allowed to talk about it, alright? It’s gonna be driving me nuts until I learn what the hell brought on that question.” “Yeah,” Chase grinned and returned the kiss, then gave him another on the lips. “Thanks for being cool about it, Marv, I’ll let you in on it as soon as I have the okay. I bet you’ll be pretty helpful, anyway.” “See, you say stuff like that and I just have to let it go-” Marvin grumbled, squeezing Chase’s hand one last time before pulling away and moving to stand up. “You’re lucky I love you, and your loyalty, so I’m not gonna push even when you tempt me like that, but let it be known that I want to.”

“Noted,” Chase chuckled, shuffling off the bed too. “Hopefully it won’t be too long.” So long as Anti keeps his word and tells everyone about Dark, maybe only a day or two… Mark wouldn’t be around forever, after all, and Chase was going to insist he know about Dark before he left.

They both got dressed, Chase trying not to show how tired he really was, and then they headed downstairs to get the coffee going, as was tradition for the first people awake in the morning.

Chase got started on breakfast, they chatted idly about little things, and soon enough everyone else trudged down to join them.

…Anti looked well-rested enough to annoy Chase just a little, since he was the reason Chase hadn’t slept, but he just ruffled the glitch’s hair as revenge, not wanting to bring it up first.

Thankfully he didn’t have to- Marvin had been stuck on their unknown person issue for days as it was.

“So has anyone seen sign of anybody else?” The magician asked once they’d all sat down, earning a round of sighs and grunts from the rest of the table. Chase didn’t look at Anti, but he noticed him shift out of the corner of his eye, and after a few moments of silence he set his fork down. “...Yeah, I found him.”

Jack nearly choked, causing Jackie to give him a slap on the back, and Jamie and Marvin both sat bolt upright, one curious, the other excited. “You did?” Marvin nearly stood up with how eager he was. “So it is a person- who is it? How has he been hiding?” Anti clearly hesitated, and this time Chase shot him a look, hoping his silent ‘you can’t back out of this now’ showed through his emotions somehow. “...Powers,” Anti sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat. “Um, teleportation, and he can sorta… move through shadows?” “That doesn’t sound like any fan ego I know,” Jackie huffed, and Anti grinned a little, nervously avoiding everyone’s gaze. “You’re right, it doesn’t, but uh… I have a feeling you’ll all know him anyway.” That raised some eyebrows, and Chase hid a chuckle in his coffee when Anti turned his attention to Jack, visibly considering his words before he spoke. “Jack, did you um…” there was that sheepish grin again, like he felt bad despite not having any more control over who appeared than he did. “Have you and Mark talked about his egos while he’s been here?” “Uh, a little bit, I guess? Why-” Chase leaned back to watch the moment it clicked, their creator’s eyes going almost comically wide, and the others weren’t far behind- Henrik nearly spit out his coffee, Jackie startled back, and Jamie sighed deeply as he buried his head in his hands.

Marvin, on the other hand, looked absolutely ecstatic.

“One of Mark’s egos showed up!?” He did stand up this time, eyes practically sparkling, looking far too endearing for Chase to handle this early in the morning. “Which one is it? Does he have amnesia too? Does he have the same understanding of Mark being his creator that we did with Jack, or does he know who Jack is because it’s his power that brought him here-” “Okay I know you’re excited but I am drowning in it over here-” Anti winced and raised his hands defensively, and Chase reached up to touch his boyfriend’s arm, chuckling despite himself. “Take a breath and sit down, at least let him finish eating before you swamp him with questions.” Marvin downright pouted, but relented, taking a slow, deep breath and lowering to his seat again. “Sorry,” he murmured, waiting for Anti to relax somewhat before he continued. “I’ve just been wondering if Jack could truly make something he didn’t come up with, after my spellroom, and you just confirmed that so casually-” “You said he had shadow powers,” Jackie interrupted, leaning in excitedly. “Does- does that mean it’s Darkiplier?” “Oh god,” Jack put his head in his hands, slumping back in his seat. “There’s a second dramatic evil demon in my house?” Chase didn’t miss the way Anti winced, and neither did Jamie, judging by the way he shifted his chair closer to the glitch. “I wouldn’t call him evil,” Anti admitted, looking away with a shrug. “Even before this he was more… Lawful neutral? But, um, he does have amnesia, I’m not quite sure about the ‘creator’ thing.” He gestured vaguely for a moment, buzzing quietly as he searched for words.

“He knows who Mark is, but I think he’s getting… conflicted memories about him? Because he knows about Mark, the person here, and then also the narcissistic bastard from his backstory, so he’s… not too eager to meet him.”

“Well he’ll have to get over it,” Henrik spoke briskly, finally setting his cup down. “We have enough people in the house as it is, if he’s Mark’s ego, then Mark can deal with him himself.” ‘Someone I know how to act around, wh-where we didn’t necessarily get along, but it wasn’t… It wasn’t just because of me.’Chase bit his lip, remembering Anti’s words from the night before, and eyed the glitch, who stayed quiet but definitely looked a bit unhappy as he resumed eating. …yeah, I’m gonna have a real talk with him about that later.

“Easy for you to say,” Jack muttered, at least looking more tired than worried, which was probably a best case scenario here. “You don’t have to tell Mark that your weird power created one of his characters just because we talked about them a little-” He sat up, but now he was frowning. “I mean- what if more start showing up? Mark has a lot of egos, if I have no control over it who’s to say it’ll stop with just Dark? Neither of us can handle that many extra people! I struggled enough finding room for you guys!” “Dark can stay in my room,” Anti said far too quickly, and Chase shot him a baffled look. Last night he said they weren’t enemies, sure, but I sure wouldn’t want a casual acquaintance I regularly argue with to share a room with me, where’d that come from??Everyone else had noticed it too, and Anti seemed to realize how weird it was just a moment too late, voice pitching up as he focused on looking at anything that wasn’t any of them. “I-I mean, he’s already been there a few days, even if I didn’t know it was him right away,” he rushed out, “And he seems comfortable with it, and we’ve been getting along great so far, so- so I really don’t mind sharing if- if he needs to stay here for a while, that’s all.” They sat in silence for a minute, nobody quite sure what to make of that- and then Jackie snorted. “I didn’t know ‘dramatic emo edgelord’ was your type, but you do you I guess.” Anti made a series of noises like an old radio with bad reception, all crackling and static and jumbled bits of audio, and really, it should’ve gotten to him, should’ve triggered some memory from their past, should’ve sent a jolt of fear through him, if only for a second.

But in that moment, only one thing came to mind.

Chase rested his chin on his hand, fixed a bright grin on his face, and spoke as innocently as he could manage while trying not to laugh. “You did seem pretty happy to see him last night,” he chirped, keeping his focus on the clearly embarrassed glitch. “Especially when you started bickering like an old married couple!” “You met him??” “They were what?” “I knew it!” “It’s too damn early for this-”

Everyone else spoke up at once, but all Chase saw was Anti bury his bright red face in his arms while making more electronic sounds, and that finally set him off laughing, feeling the exhaustion and confusion lift from him, if only for now.

What better way to de-stress than teasing his little brother? ——————

It took a while for them to all settle down again after that, but Chase was the one to wrangle them, reminding everyone that he’d worked hard on breakfast and he would be offended if it got cold before they finished, so they managed eventually.

Marvin listened, he went back to eating, but his mind was whirling- how could it not be, when there was an unexplained shadow creature upstairs? When they were finishing up, and just arguing over who’s turn it was to clean, Anti tried to leave first, probably wanting to escape to his room, but Marvin jumped up to stop him, trying not to be too ‘loud’ for his power despite his excitement.

“I know he’s been hiding from us, but now that we know about him do you think I could meet him? Just for a bit? I have a few things I want to ask about how his power works- nothing too invasive!” he hurriedly tacked on when Anti shot him a harsher look. “I just didn’t think we’d end up with another magic user, and his power works completely differently from mine, I know that much, I’m just curious what he’s willing to tell me!” Even besides that, him being here is a marvel in its own right, I want the chance to see if he’s any different from the rest of us-Anti eyed him, probably getting a feel for whatever his emotions were showing, but before he could speak Chase stepped up to Marvin’s side. “He has to meet the rest of us at some point,” Chase reminded the glitch. “And one at a time is better than all at once, isn’t it? Why not start with someone who’s excited to meet him?” Whatever relationship he and Anti had seemed to be working out in Marvin’s favor, because Anti only seemed to consider it for another moment before he sighed. “Fine, but if he’s not up to talking I can’t force him- he’s not the most social of people, even with his memories.” …How would he know that?Marvin followed him without complaint, but that little comment nagged at him. Sure, that much could probably be assumed by the videos, but the way Anti had said it sounded more personal than that. 

It seems important enough to ask about, but maybe afterwards.They reached Anti’s room, and he knocked on his own door before opening it and leading them in. Chase stepped in just fine, but Marvin stopped dead in the doorway, taking in the room with wide eyes.

The first thing he registered was the ringing in his ears, quiet but audible. The next- and more interesting thing- was that the entire room was barren of color aside from them, blacks and whites and greys washing everything out as if they’d stepped into an old movie.

He didn’t know much about the character of Darkiplier, aside from little pieces Anti had mentioned here and there, so the idea that he was capable of something like this hadn’t occurred to him, but he couldn’t deny he was fascinated.

Forget why, Marvin just wanted to know how it was possible.

Chase tugged him in fully and shut the door, and Anti glanced around the room before letting out a sigh.

“Stop trying to be intimidating and just come out to say hi,” he huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at a seemingly empty corner of the room. “They already know you’re here.” There was a beat of silence, then what sounded like a sigh echoed through the room, and a figure just seemed to melt out of the shadows.

Dark was everything Marvin was hoping he’d be.

Pristine white suit, red and blue energy crackling around him, breaking up the dull lack of color. Crimson eyes briefly scanned the room before settling on Marvin, and he suspected that Dark was studying him as much as he was studying Dark.

“Hello,” he said shortly, and the color started to bleed back into the room, slow enough that Marvin could watch the monochrome energy peel away from each object until it was centered around Dark, where it crackled alongside the red and blue. “Chase. Magician.” “Marvin,” he corrected quickly. “My name is Marvin, and you’re Dark, yes? Somewhat otherworldly entity with powers that would baffle most mortal minds?” Anti snorted, and he could practically hear Chase rolling his eyes, but Dark just tilted his head slightly, looking him over with a little more interest.

“So I’m told. Does everyone here know about my abilities?” When he spoke, it wasn’t just one voice- it was three, echoing and overlapping each other but audibly different if you listened for it, and Marvin bit back the urge to ask about it right away, knowing he likely wouldn’t get much of an answer. “Sort of? We all know of your character, but I only know basic facts, as I’ve never watched your lore videos- Anti has all of us beaten in that regard, I believe.” “Yeah, since our stories are totally separate, it’s not like we ever would’ve met you,” Chase shrugged. “So even when you start remembering things, you won’t know anything about us, since we’ve never met you.” He paused, casting a quick look at Anti, then smiled. “Besides Anti, anyway.” What!? Marvin stared at Chase as the words registered, then snapped his attention over to Anti, who just looked thoughtful. “I mean, he might know some stuff, because I talked about you guys sometimes, but I’m pretty sure I asked him not to meddle.” “Demanded would be more accurate, if I recall,” Dark hummed, seemingly ignoring Anti’s glare but clearly taking note of Marvin’s attention. “Always complaining but always insisting you handle things alone, to the point of getting aggressive if anyone tried to interfere.” He smiled at Anti, somehow looking polite and smug at the same time. “Like a feral kitten throwing a hissy fit at people trying to help it.” “Oh please, like you’re any better?” Anti shot back with a sharp grin. “Hate to break it to ya three-in-one, but you’re just as antisocial and resistant to help as I was.” Dark scoffed, but Anti cut him off. “Oh no, you’re in no place to argue this when I’m the one who remembers the shit you’d pull to avoid help- hell, even you hiding in here in the first place is a perfect sign of it! You found an empty corner to curl up in and completely ignored the person trying to help you out of stubbornness-” Marvin shifted his weight as the borderline-fond arguing continued, watching them curiously while trying to puzzle through the new information that had been thrown at him. They’ve met? But that shouldn’t be possible, us and Mark’s egos are two entirely different stories- unless it has something to do with that silly crossover video with their friends? But it was so clearly a joke, and I think even that implied it wasn’t their first meeting, so how would that have happened? He looked towards Chase, hoping he had some input since he’d apparently known about it, but Chase had a hand over his eyes, trying to ignore the two dark sides bickering as best as he could. It honestly looked like he’d been expecting it, but then, he had mentioned them ‘arguing like a married couple’. “Is this what they were like yesterday?” He asked quietly, nudging Chase’s arm.

Chase uncovered his eyes to peek at them and immediately looked like he wished he hadn’t. Marvin followed his gaze to see that Anti was now right up in Dark’s face, a downright taunting grin on his own.

“-that doesn’t mean much coming from the guy who throws a fit if his eyeliner gets messed up-” “This is so much worse than they were yesterday,” Chase muttered in reply, looking torn between amusement and exasperation. “At least then they stayed farther apart.” He heaved a sigh, and when there was no sign of either noticing he covered his eyes again. “Please warn me if they start kissing or something.” Marvin was more of the opinion that they’d start actually fighting before it got to that point, but before he could point that out there came a knock at the door, startling Dark and Anti apart and causing Chase to frown at it in confusion. “...Yeah?” Anti called out, belated like he’d only just remembered they were in his room.

“It’s me,” Jack huffed from the other side. “Can I come in so I’m not yelling through a door?” Anti looked at Dark like they hadn’t been inches apart seconds ago, and smiled at his tentative nod. “Yeah, c’mon in,” he called back, heading over to open the door. “What’s up? Thought you were gonna head straight into recording after breakfast.” “Yeah, that was the plan,” Jack looked a little sheepish as he stepped in, casting a curious look at Dark but not looking too concerned. “But uh, I just double checked when Mark’s leaving, and it’s sooner than I remembered- as in tomorrow. And if we want to tell him about Dark before he goes…” Marvin didn’t miss the way Dark tensed at Mark’s name, and there must’ve been some emotional reaction based on how Anti looked over at him, and how quickly he went to reassure him. “Like I told you, he’s nothing like the Mark from your history- he’s actually pretty cool. I think he’d like to meet you, so long as he knows you won’t be out to get him. And then he’ll have the warning in case any others show up.” He shrugged, smiling a little more kindly than he was before. “Plus, actually seeing him might help sort out your conflicted memories.” “Even if you choose not to meet him, we definitely need to tell him,” Jack said firmly. “Complicated memories or not he deserves to know that you’re real now. And as someone who’s known him a long time, I swear he’s a really nice guy.” “Wait, is Dark not meeting him an option?” Chase cut in, and Marvin couldn’t deny he was confused at that too. “I thought we’d talked about him going back to LA with them?” The temperature of the room noticeably dropped, and red flickered brighter in the energy around Dark. “Absolutely not. If I’m truly not permitted to leave on my own, then staying here will be just fine.” Chase and Jack both edged away from him, but Marvin was more focused on the increase of color- and he couldn’t help but notice that one of the underlying voices was suddenly louder than the other.

Anti just rolled his eyes, looking completely unbothered by the display, and moved over to his side. “Y’know, he’s the one that decides that, considering it’s his house.” He lightly elbowed Dark, and added in a mutter Marvin had to hold his breath to hear, “so cool it, red- besides, we literally just talked about how he’s not the same person.”

Dark huffed, glaring off somewhere to the side, and after a moment the red faded back to the amount it’d been before. …Okay, that was definitely going on the list of things to ask about later, though at this point he wasn’t sure if it would be a question for Dark or Anti, since the glitch really seemed to know so much about him. Maybe I should watch the lore videos after all- or would that be considered rude, since he’s actually real now? Jack didn’t say anything right away, glancing between the two dark sides with a touch of nervousness, but when nothing else happened he let out a breath and continued speaking. “Yeah, I kinda figured that was the sort of response that’d get,” he admitted. “And besides that, I’m guessing Dark doesn’t have any kind of legal ID, so getting him on a plane would be impossible. Maybe he could go there in the future, but not now.” That made sense, at least- it was a problem all of them had, after all, or at least a similar one. All of them had appeared with wallets and, by extension, IDs, but since none of them were actually real in this world it was honestly probably worse. Oh well, it wasn’t like Marvin was going to complain about Dark staying. It just meant he had more time to figure him out. “So yeah, he’s staying.” Jack shrugged. “And with that in mind, we do have a couple more empty rooms we could make up for him, so he doesn’t have to just share with Anti the whole time. One of them’s right across the hall actually, I could start getting that ready if you want?” he directed the last part at Dark, doing his best to look friendly. Anti looked downright disappointed at the suggestion, but Dark looked a little grateful- at least, he did briefly, before he pushed his expression back into something neutral. “That would be appreciated, thank you. I will… think about what you’ve said, but if it’s truly necessary, I suppose he can be told of my existence.” “If you really don’t want to meet him, I won’t force it, but honestly, I don’t think it’ll be that bad,” Jack tried to reassure him. “He might be a little freaked out, but he’ll get used to it- considering your story, I think he’ll be more worried about you wanting to mess with him than about doing anything bad to you.” Dark’s lips curved into a faint smile, and the blue in his energy flickered brightly for a moment, but died down just as quickly. “I assume Mark’s coming over one more time before he goes back home?” Anti asked when neither of them said anything else. “To record or hang out or something?” “Yeah, sometime in the afternoon- after lunch, for sure, but we haven’t worked out the exact time. I’ll let you know when we do.” Jack nodded to Dark, then Marvin, and he was pretty sure their creator was amused by whatever he saw. “I’ll leave you guys to talk, go get the room ready. Just make sure you give them some time to discuss things before Mark gets here, okay Marv?” Chase snickered, and Marvin huffed faintly before nodding. “Of course. I just want to ask a few basic questions, nothing too in-depth. Shouldn’t take long at all!” None of them looked like they particularly believed him, but Dark looked curious, so hah, clearly he wasn’t bothered by the idea- Marvin was going to take the chance while he had it, even if none of the questions he’d thought of during this conversation would be answered. Jack left with a brief goodbye, and once the door clicked shut behind him, all of Marvin’s focus was back on Dark, trying to figure out if now was still a good time or if he’d gotten too stressed out or something.

Dark eyed him for a long moment, then hummed and moved to sit in Anti’s desk chair, leaning back in an attempt to look more casual, then gesturing to Marvin. “Go on, then. I can’t guarantee I’ll have many answers for you, but you can ask your questions.” With permission granted, Marvin grinned, pulled out his notepad, and dove right in.

—————————— Dark was strange, Chase had decided.

At first meeting, he seemed shy- and that didn’t seem entirely wrong, but it wasn’t quite that simple, either.

He was happy to answer Marvin’s questions to the best of his ability, but didn't seem interested in learning about most of them. He avoided long conversations with most of them, but he and Anti could talk for an hour without either of them realizing it’d been that long.

Honestly, after seeing his interactions with Mark, Chase was starting to think that Dark was just socially awkward. Not that Mark had been much better, the two of them had stumbled through a conversation that felt so stilted they’d all felt uncomfortable watching it, and Anti had visibly winced before muttering something about ‘none of them know how to act casual’ before retreating to his room.

And then, despite their house of seven becoming eight- with a looming worry of more to come- they’d settled back in pretty quickly. Dark wasn’t overly friendly, but he wasn’t rude either, and he’d actually started to get along with both Marvin and Henrik.

Anti kept openly complimenting him when he saw them talking, like he was praising an undersocialized dog for not acting out.

…Chase had stopped trying to understand whatever kind of relationship the two had. It was some kind of mix of domestic and antagonistic that nobody really wanted to get in the middle of- clearly it worked for them, as strange as it seemed, and it had Anti in a better mood overall, so he left them alone.

…Mostly. He still reserved the right to some teasing once in a while- he’d claimed his title of older brother and all the perks that came along with it.

He’d never do it in front of Dark, sure, but he wasn’t around all the time, they still had ‘family’ time with just the seven of them, and on those nights? It was fair game.

——————

“-You get that close to Marvin and nobody says anything,” Anti grumbled, slumping back in his seat and crossing his arms, pointedly ignoring the way Jackie snickered at his side.

“You do remember that Chase and I are dating, right?” Marvin glanced up from his card game to arch an eyebrow, and Jameson chuckled silently across from him. “If we’re what you’re basing your interactions with Dark on, then I think you might need to think about what that means.”

Anti flared bright red and made a few crackly radio sounds, which was a fairly new reaction but Chase’s new favorite, and Jack gave him a few pats on the shoulder from his other side, chuckling along. “Y’know, you do make it pretty easy for them, so really you should be expecting this much.”

Anti looked up at him with a huff, letting out a cry of “You’re supposed to be on my side-!”, and Jack grinned before ruffling his hair. “I pick no sides, I’m just glad it’s not me!” With that, he stood up and stretched, letting out a little sigh. “That said, pretty sure it’s my turn to cook, so I’ll go ahead and get started- go easy on him while I’m gone, alright? Can’t let you have all the fun.” Anti huffed again, curling up where he sat and turning his gaze firmly downwards, but Chase knew him well enough to know he wasn’t actually upset, so he was gearing up to call him out-

-only to bite it back when Jack suddenly groaned and swayed where he stood, one hand flying up to his head.

Jackie lunged, just managing to catch him before he collapsed, and as he guided him to sit again Chase held his breath, quickly looking around for any sign of a person.

None of them wanted a repeat of what had happened with Dark.

Luckily, it seemed they wouldn’t have to worry about that, because all of a sudden there was a person standing in the middle of the room.

Chase allowed himself to breathe again, feeling relief wash over him. Thank fuck, even if it’s another of Mark’s egos at least they aren’t hiding from us.

…but that relief evaporated in an instant when the figure collapsed to the floor with a loud crash.

Henrik cursed and jumped into action, grabbing for the nearby first aid kit and darting to the ego’s side, and Chase shook himself from his stupor so he could hurry over and help too.

But both of them flinched back when something sparked, and Chase found himself gaping at the sight in front of them.

It was one of Mark’s egos, that was a definite, but…

His torso was practically caved in, like it’d been smashed with something heavy, and other parts of his body were dented in too, some of them damaged enough to reveal wires and metal parts, dark liquid that smelled like oil leaking from what almost looked like gashes. Large patches of his skin were just gone, revealing the smooth metal underneath, and with a jolt Chase realized one of his arms was missing, leaving wires dangling from his shoulder, still sparking.

“...Is that Google?” Anti was the first to break the silence, sounding somewhat horrified, and Jackie was close behind with a muttered curse, pulling away from where he was checking on Jack to crouch down next to the android.

“I- I believe so,” Henrik replied, slightly shaky, and tore his gaze away from the damage, automatically packing the kit back up since it clearly wouldn’t be of use.

Chase couldn’t manage to do the same- he was frozen, staring at dark, blank eyes, at a body that looked so human, that was laying so, so still. At damage that couldn’t be anything but intentional.

“Wh-what…” he started faintly, barely aware he was the one speaking.

A thought flashed across his mind, foreign and familiar at the same time- I knew it.

…No, no this was wrong, he shouldn’t- he doesn’t know any of this. It’s just a dream- a ridiculous, nonsensical dream, as most are.

Seto forced himself to turn, gritting his teeth at the unfamiliar words that tried to bubble up in his throat, and stormed out through the doorway, ignoring the blurry-faced figure that seemed to be waiting for him.

A dream, nothing more- this means nothing, it’s just utter nonsense-

“Seto?”

He blinked, and just like that, he was somewhere familiar again.

To be precise, he was in a hallway- one he didn’t particularly enjoy seeing, but a familiar one nonetheless.

The hallway between his and Yami’s so-called ‘Soul Rooms’. The spirit himself was the one who’d spoken this time, standing just in front of the door to his own room and watching him with something that seemed annoyingly like concern.

“What,” Seto nearly growled, already pushing his strange hallucination to the back of his mind, where it belonged. “What do you want this time?”

Yami arched an eyebrow, face twisting into something unreadable as he glanced Seto up and down. “Well, I’m simply curious to know what you’re doing out here, trying to open my door when you should be asleep.”

It was always strange, seeing the spirit as he was supposed to look- the golden spiked hair, tanned skin, tunic and cape that were so out of place in this era and yet seemed perfectly apt on him.

“Open your door?” Seto scoffed. “Why on earth would I do that?” “Well I don’t know, I just woke up to the door shaking, walk out here and here you are, I think you should be asking yourself that question.” Yami crossed his arms, regarding Seto with those intense, violet eyes, so much like Muto’s and yet indescribably different.

Familiar in a way he couldn’t quite grasp-

“You must have been imagining it,” Seto snapped, irritated at the continued wayward thoughts and half convinced the spirit was causing them. “Now leave me be- it’s bad enough I have to put up with you when I’m awake, you won’t waste any more of my time now.” He turned on his heel to stalk back to his room, ending the conversation then and there.

He pretended he couldn’t feel that violet gaze fixed on him until he closed the door behind him.

—

Marik was talking, going on and on about the hunk of stone they were standing in front of, and Seto was-

All he could feel was anger, from him, from her, her cries echoing in his ears, even through the fog-

The other man fell to his knees with a cry, and she roared in victory, because she’d- because they’d-

-he wasn’t in control anymore, he realized, watching his body from the outside as Yami talked with Marik himself.

He growled under his breath, knowing the damned spirit could hear him, and practically bristled at the sharp look Yami shot him, his thoughts projected as easy as breathing. 

'You weren't even pretending to listen, Seto. This is important.'

Seto just rolled his eyes and waited impatiently for them to be done here, pushing the odd vision away as quick as it came.

Probably his fault, anyway.

—

That's mine.

It belongs to me.

Battle City was… Difficult. And not in the dueling sense, that he could appreciate, but everything up to the final few rounds was easy enough- a few familiar faces, Joey getting a chance to show off his Red Eyes, the same old.

She stole it-

That was bestowed upon me-

It wasn't even necessarily due to whatever fake magic 'shadow games' kept interfering with the finals, thanks to Marik's nutcase of a sister.

It's my duty, my responsibility, my oath to my King-

Any of that, he could deal with, fine, sure, whatever, but no-

I must retrieve it before she can misuse it any further-

Instead it was this damned voice in his head, distant and echoing but impossible to ignore, yelling over his own thoughts every single time he saw Ishizu or whatever her name was, saw the golden artifact she carried-

How could Malik have allowed this to happen!?

It wasn't spoken aloud, Joey and the others certainly couldn't hear it, but not even Yami could hear it, which meant that not only could he not blame the spirit for it, as much as he hated to admit it- that meant it probably wasn't the fault of the Puzzle at all.

'I already told you, Seto,' the spirit thought at him tiredly, 'if a voice was coming from the Millennium Puzzle, I'd know about it. That's where I live.'

Seto curled his lip, but didn't look at where the spirit appeared at his side, instead slumping back in his chair and eyeing where Muto sat at the other end of the table.

…Wouldn't put it past him to somehow be the cause of this.

'How on earth would Yugi Muto be causing a mysterious voice in your head? That not even I can hear??'

He heard Yami sigh, and the spirit put his hands on the table, leaning over to try and catch Seto's gaze.

'If you'd listened to Marik when he was talking to us in front of the stone tablet, maybe you'd have an idea of the reason.'

"What would that buffoon know about all this?" He muttered aloud, noticing Joey quirk an eyebrow on his other side.

'For the love of-'

Seto felt Yami's irritation at him over their connection, which was admittedly pretty funny- it was difficult to really get under his skin.

'Seto, according to Marik, you were in Ancient Egypt as well- the stone depicted us dueling long ago.'

Seto just rolled his eyes at that one, letting out a disbelieving scoff.

You expect me to believe that? That one doesn't even make sense.

'You're sharing a body with the apparent spirit of an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, bound to an ancient magical artifact that's part of a set, one of which is currently trying to kill us all.'

Yami leveled him with a glare that was actually a pretty good recreation of his own.

'And you possibly being a reborn soul is the unbelievable part here?'

"The only thing proven is that you're a dead guy, and you're haunting some piece of jewelry," he growled under his breath, "everything else is just magical bullshit that's being shoved in my face every damn day, and I thought I told you to cut that out-” “Ey, Seto-” Joey’s voice interrupted his grumbling, the other boy leaning in and poking his arm. “You’re talkin’ out loud again, just so ya know.”

Seto’s gaze snapped up to see Muto watching him with amusement, the shorter duelist eyeing the puzzle around his neck, and that had him scowling in full force as he stood up. It’s mine, you aren’t getting your little hands on it-

The spirit now standing at his side chuckled, then vanished, and Seto took the opportunity to storm off back to his room to wait for the next rounds to start.

This mess can’t be over fast enough…

—

“Please, my Pharoah, I ask that you take the Millennium Rod, for safekeeping.”

Ishizu held the item out, and Yami, still in control, reached out to take it, and Seto was-

He was-

He was bowing his head to his mentors before him, nearly vibrating with nerves on the inside-

He was standing at his Pharoah’s side, at his beck and call as the new king began his reign-

He was being handed the Millennium Rod, and as his fingers touched the sacred item he felt it, the power it contained, the weight of the responsibility to wield it, the knowledge of what this meant for him-

He was part of the Pharoah’s sacred council, and he would-

-he was wrestling back control too quickly for Yami to fight, yanking his hand back as if burned, widened eyes quickly narrowing into a harsh glare.

“That thing is not going anywhere near me,” he growled to hide the brief, traitorous tremor in his voice, turning his anger to the woman holding the item so he wouldn’t have to look at it again.

‘Seto! What’s gotten into you??’  

Yami appeared at his side, but he ignored the spirit, instead holding Ishizu’s gaze until she looked away.

There is no way that’s coming home with us, that’s just asking to be robbed again-

Seto shook his head sharply and folded his arms across his chest, forcing his eyes away entirely to look at the mirror of himself.

Besides, do you really want that anywhere near Mokuba, with or without some kind of evil possession?

Yami paused, seeming like that hadn’t occurred to him, and after another moment he sighed, stepping back again.

‘...You could’ve at least given me some warning- and you don’t need to be so rude about it.’

Seto just grunted, putting the hallucinations- because that’s all they were, strange hallucinations probably caused by a lack of sleep- to the back of his mind and jerking his head towards Muto.

“Let him take it, he’s the one that likes to go along with your insane games.”

With that, he turned and walked away from the artifact, resolutely ignoring any protests the people behind him had.

I was imagining things again, that's all it was.

These visions don't mean anything.

—

You're an idiot, an utter moron, a complete dumbass-!

Yami continued to ignore Seto's insults- or maybe he'd gotten so thick in the head he couldn't hear him, either one was possible.

He certainly wasn't reacting to Seto's struggles to take control back, blustering through the duel like Joey at his worst no matter what happened with the puzzle-

And Seto was pissed, because Yami had the gall, the arrogance to play that gods-damned card-

What did you think would happen!? He growled, trying to mentally shove at the spirit again, to no avail. And you get on Joey for not thinking things through!?

Finally, it seemed he'd gotten a response- Yami gasped, stumbling back, and Seto felt a flash of something close to relief, glancing at the duel to see if he could still salvage this-

only to see Yami's life points at 0, and the man he'd been dueling smirking and shaking his head.

…No, no no no-

Seto was forced back from his body as the glowing green ring tightened, and he watched with growing dread as Yami fell to his knees, eyes dull, head lowering in acceptance. 

No, this can't be happening-

The Pharaoh fell to his knees, gasping in pain, and the thief grinned wildly, raising his arm, commanding the stolen monster-

Seto snarled and stepped in front of him, feeling the power from his item surge in response-

Seto grit his teeth, forcing himself closer, vision blurring with things he didn't understand but couldn't afford to focus on.

You aren't going anywhere-

He grabbed Yami by the back of his coat, yanking him up with all the force he could muster, the puzzle releasing a golden glow and a faint chime-

-and Yami stumbled free from his body, red glow vanishing from his eyes, form shimmering until he looked as he did when they were in their soul rooms.

And he was staring at Seto in absolute horror, a scared cry leaving him.

'Seto what are you doing!?'

"Fixing your mistake," he growled back, falling to one knee as exhaustion overtook him, but keeping his angry glare fixed on the spirit. "No way in hell you’re leaving me to deal with this when you’re the one who believes in this magic nonsense-"

'No-'

Yami shook his head, grasping at the air, trying to reach for him-

'Seto you can't-!'

The world was going dark at the edges, Seto could feel something pulling at him, tearing him away, trying to squash him down- …won’t even let me deny it now…

"...Yami," he grit out, shutting his eyes tightly against the weight of it. "If anything happens to Mokuba, the second I get back I'm throwing the puzzle in the river! Keep him safe!"

'SETO!'

And he knew no more.

—

Consciousness drifted around him slowly, little pieces at a time, like a badly-done puzzle.

Fragments broke through occasionally, flashes of sound or pictures- sometimes it was people with dark skin, dressed in gold, and other times people wearing duel disks and shouting for… someone, a name he could never quite hear.

I know these people, he thought faintly, not even sure who he was talking about anymore, I'm glad they're all okay…

He continued like that, drifting tiredly, and he couldn't say for how long- he just Was, unable to hold onto much else.

Until the haze was shattered in an instant, a feeling shocking him awake so suddenly he physically jolted, gasping in a breath and then trying to remember how to breathe-

There was something touching him, when was the last time he'd felt touch-

He tried to shove the feeling away, a growl raising in his throat, this couldn't be a good thing-

"Seto! Seto, calm down, it's just me-"

Hands grabbed his shoulders, pushing him back onto what he now recognized as a bed.

…I know that voice

Seto grimaced, and when the hands released him he sat up more slowly, using one hand to steady himself while the other moved to his head- it felt like he was just coming down from a huge migraine… 

Where am I…?

“Take it easy, Seto,” the voice murmured from somewhere to his right, putting a more gentle hand on his arm, “your soul was just released, at least give yourself a moment to readjust.”

My soul was..?

He winced, remembering a bright green glow, his consciousness being drawn away, watching as- who?

-as someone reached for him, called out to him, begged for him to stop- who was it?

He could see him, picture his face, hear his voice, violet eyes widened in horror-

I can’t- I can’t remember, what was-

Someone he’d sworn to help, to protect, someone who’d been by his side for so long he could barely remember not being there-

What was his name?

“Seto?”

It was the voice again, the same voice, and suddenly his headache didn’t matter, he knew this person, why couldn’t he remember-

The grip on his arm tightened slightly, the voice still speaking, but he barely heard it now, nearly growling in frustration as he struggled to grab the wisps of memory that kept drifting just out of reach-

Violet eyes, tan skin, golden jewelry clinking as he walked.

“I understand if you’re angry at me, I’m not asking for forgiveness-”

Pharaoh?

Violet eyes, a hesitant smile, the first friend he’d ever had.

“-but I swear to you, I kept Mokuba safe, he’s just waiting for you to come back, all of our friends are-”

My prince?

Violet eyes, full of exhaustion, a final request-

“Seto, please-”

“Please, take care of our people.”

…Atem?

“SETO!”

The world snapped back into focus, and Seto found those violet eyes in front of him, hands gripping his shoulders again, gaze searching his face worriedly.

“...Yami,” he breathed out, and watched the spirit nearly crumple in relief, tears welling up in his eyes as he moved forward to hug him tightly. “Thank the gods, you were starting to scare me- I-I thought something else had gone wrong-”

…Right, he’s Yami, the ghost living inside the puzzle, the only duelist who knows my deck as well as I do.

It came to him easily now, leaving him unsure as to what he was struggling to remember in the first place.

what am I missing here…?

After an awkward moment, he moved to hug Yami back, begrudgingly admitting that he probably deserved that much, at this point.

“I’m fine,” he scoffed quietly, trying to hide his shock at how small the spirit seemed now, “don’t be such a crybaby- where’s the gloating, huh? I figured you’d have a whole lecture waiting for me, about how I have to believe in magic now, and I can’t deny the ‘truth’ any longer.”

Yami just sniffled and pressed closer, holding him like he was afraid to let go. “I don’t care about that, Seto- I’m just so glad you’re back…”

Seto sighed, feigning irritation that he didn't have the energy to actually muster up. “Yeah, I’m back, and you know I’m not into this touchy-feely stuff…”

I could make him stop now, I need to check on Mokuba, make sure Joey and the others didn’t do anything stupid…

“...I’m sorry.” It was mumbled against his shoulder, the smallest he’d ever heard him speak, sounding absolutely miserable on top of it. “I’m so sorry…”

…then again, if he’s in here, that means my body’s probably asleep anyway…

“...We can stay here until my headache goes away,” he muttered, “but no longer, got it?”

He felt Yami nod, and Seto kept an arm around him as he scooted back, glad the bed in his soul room was against the wall so he could be a bit more comfortable, seeing how he was apparently stuck for a while.

He’s always been a softy, it’s a wonder that he managed to deal with all of this without me…

…Something was still there, something he couldn’t quite remember drifting right out of his reach, waiting for him to try and grab it again. …doesn’t matter.

Seto shook his head slightly, wincing as it throbbed, and closed his eyes, suddenly wanting nothing more than to properly sleep for a while.

—————

Aura: A World Unseen

Chapter Three: Growing Pains

—————

Chase stopped either of them from saying any more until after he made coffee, so he got to just watch them move around the kitchen while it brewed, and he learned a couple things just from that.

First off, Dark definitely had amnesia too, just based on… how he acted in general. Maybe not as much as Anti had, but there were for sure no evil thoughts in that head.

Second, Anti had absolutely no fear of the weird shadow demon in their kitchen, so he’d probably have to talk to him about that later. Just because Anti hadn't turned out to be a problem didn't mean Dark was safe.

“Okay," he finally sighed when he had a steaming mug in his hands. “Explain to me how… this happened.” He gestured to the two of them standing next to each other. "Why the hell couldn't we find him?”

"Well, when he appeared he sorta freaked out, everyone was being super loud,” Anti hummed, while Dark avoided his gaze. "So he hid in the shadows, like he does, and when everyone started searching he went to hide in the darkest room he could find- which was apparently my room!”

Anti paused there, looking over at Dark like he expected him to chime in, but the demon stayed silent, just eating the orange Anti had gotten for him.

Chase felt a little grin slip on his face as he sipped his coffee. Who would've guessed that Darkiplier would be shy?

“So he was hiding in the shadows of your room," Chase continued for him, “how long did it take you to notice him?"

Now Anti was avoiding looking at him, rummaging through a cabinet and taking some time to answer. “Well… You know how I can feel emotions?” he chuckled weakly, and Chase narrowed his eyes, suspicion curling in his gut. “I sure do,” he answered slowly, and watched Anti fumble for words, probably knowing Chase had a hunch on what he’d say.

“He knew I was there from the moment he entered the room.”

Dark spoke before either of them could, the echo and overlap of his voices making Chase jolt and nearly drop his mug.

Shit, that’s freaky- if he’s anything like Anti was it’s no wonder he isn’t talking…

Anti quickly looked over at him, probably sensing the flash of fear, but Chase waved him off- he was a grown man, and he didn't have trauma related to this demon, he could handle it.

“And you didn't tell us because…?” He prompted, tapping his fingers on the mug. “You know we were all worried about something appearing but finding no sign of it." 

Anti’s look of concern quickly shifted to sheepishness again, and he shrugged before looking away.

“Well, I couldn't prove there was anybody in my room, and I figured that if they were hiding they’d probably gotten freaked out, so I wanted to wait until they were more comfortable-” he shrugged again, the pitch of his voice shifting in the way they’d learned meant he was nervous. "And then yesterday he showed himself, and he clearly didn’t remember anything, so I… figured I’d wait until he was a little more ready to meet everyone. So he didn’t deal with the same thing I did.” …Ah. There it was. Chase took a long sip of his coffee, finishing the mug, then put it on the counter and sighed. “I won’t tell anyone that he’s here,” he said, and he didn’t need to feel emotions to know Anti was relieved, though that didn’t stop him from giving the glitch a sharp look as he continued. “But, you should tell everyone that you’ve at least located the person that appeared, so they aren’t stressing themselves out looking for him.”

Dark didn’t react outwardly, but Anti looked at him just as fast as he’d looked at Chase earlier, and the two demons seemed to share a silent exchange before Dark gave a single nod and looked away. “Yeah, okay, I can do that,” Anti confirmed, relaxing back against the counter. “I’ll tell them tomorrow- thanks, Chase, for being so cool about this.” “Yeah yeah,” he waved it off as he went to refill his coffee. “I’m the cool older brother, I know- just make sure he doesn’t go creeping around in anybody else’s room, okay? I’ve got enough to worry about without wondering if the shadows are spying on me.” Dark scoffed and crossed his arms, the first real reaction Chase had seen from him. “Excuse you, I would never do such a thing-” “I dunno, you were just invisibly watching me in my room for a bit there,” Anti hummed, moving over to join Chase at the coffee maker. “Didn’t matter how much I was talking to you, asking questions, trying to make you comfortable…” “I didn’t know if I could trust you yet,” Dark shot back, though there was no noticeable hostility in his tone. “The only reason I was staying in there was so the magician didn’t find me. It was bad enough you knew I was there, I certainly wasn’t going to interact with you willingly!” “Oh, so you didn’t want to interact with me, sure,” Anti snorted, and turned around to give him a teasing grin, eyeing the aura swirling around the demon. “When you realized I was having trouble sleeping with you there, and you used your power to help me, that wasn’t interacting at all, huh?”

…They’ve completely forgotten I’m here, Chase noted idly, cradling his refilled mug and just watching the two go back and forth, like they’d known each other forever and exchanging banter was an everyday occurrence. Actually, I think this is the most at ease I’ve ever seen Anti, why the hell is he so comfortable with someone he met less than a day ago?

He’d noticed earlier that Anti wasn’t afraid of him, sure, but this was more than that- Anti seemed happy that Dark was here, looked at him like he was seeing an old friend.

He watched the light bickering for another minute or two, then cleared his throat, chuckling a little when they both stopped and looked at him. “If you don’t want him to get found out, he should probably go before someone else wakes up,” he suggested, gesturing to Dark with his coffee mug. “Anti, if you’re not too tired, I’d like to talk to you for a bit longer.”

“Oh,” Anti looked sheepish again, giving Dark a little grin. “He’s probably right, and you should get some sleep anyway- I know you don’t need to,” he added when Dark opened his mouth to interject, “but you still should, it might help you feel better about telling everyone else.” Dark eyed him for a moment, clearly hesitant, but after a brief glance at Chase he nodded, and with a little flicker of blue and red, he vanished. “Guess that makes three people here who can teleport,” Anti hummed, moving to get some coffee for himself. “At least, three if I can ever get mine to work when I want it to- at least Dark seems to have kept an understanding of his power, even instinctively.” “Yeah,” Chase echoed, watching him for a moment, glad to see the ease hadn’t left with the shadow demon. Now how do I start this… what do I even want to ask? “...I know you watch Mark’s videos more than the rest of us, but I didn’t know you kept up with his ego lore, too,” he settled on. “What, did you have a feeling something like this might happen?” “Definitely not,” Anti snorted. “And I’ve watched the bigger videos, sure, but I wouldn’t say I keep up with it all.” He waved a hand vaguely, then gestured with his mug towards the table, and Chase followed him over to sit, settling in across from the glitch to listen to him. “Honestly, I think I’ve watched all of our videos more,” Anti continued with a shrug, “to see what of what I was remembering was actually what happened, and not just…” he trailed off, then gestured vaguely again and looked away, gripping his cup with both hands.

Chase made a soft noise of understanding, choosing not to push- everyone knew Anti still had nightmares, even if it wasn’t talked about.

“Then how come you seem to know Dark so well?” he asked with a hum. “He doesn’t seem like the type to talk about himself, from what I know.” Even if he seems weirdly comfortable with you, too.

“Because I’ve met him before.”

He said it so easily, like it was the most normal thing to reveal, that it took Chase a moment to actually register what he said, leaving him staring at the glitch in surprise as he took a sip from his mug. “I’m- I’m sorry, what? When??”

“Hm?” Anti even seemed surprised to be questioned, blinking at him like the answer should be obvious. “Oh, uh- I mean, I’m awful at keeping track of dates, so I dunno how specific I can be, but it was definitely a while ago. Maybe a year or two? Maybe more?” he shrugged and took another sip. “Time was sorta funky for me before… this,” he gestured vaguely to the room around them, “so it’s hard to say. And obviously he doesn’t quite remember it right now, but I think part of him does, because he’s been way less hostile with me than he normally would be with a stranger, I think?” But that doesn’t make any sense- They all had their ‘memories’ of their ‘lives’ before this, sure, but it was all from the videos, the characters and story Jack had come up with, they’d known that from the start. Even before they knew how, they’d known that they weren’t real before all this. That Jack had created them. So where had Anti gotten all of that? “No, I mean-” Chase faltered, a little unsure if he really wanted to question this when Anti seemed so sure about it, but shook it off and pushed forward. “I mean when would this have happened in canon. Jack and Mark never did a real crossover- unless you’re talking about Darkiplier vs Antisepticeye?” That video had been declared non-canon, sure, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Anti laughed a little and shook his head. “As funny as that is, no, it wasn’t that- there was never anyone else around, but I think we have been in the Void together? Maybe even fought there.” He shrugged, staring down into his drink. “We were never friends, I don’t think I had the emotional capacity for that, but I think we were getting along better. And even if we weren’t, he’s…” Anti trailed off with a little crackle of static, and Chase wished, not for the first time, that he could get even just a hint of what the glitch was feeling, just for moments like this. “He’s… what?” Chase prompted gently, and Anti huffed out a breath, glancing up at him before looking away again. “It’s… nice to have someone that I know my standing with, I guess,” the glitch finally mumbled, grip tightening on his cup. “Someone I know how to act around, wh-where we didn’t necessarily get along, but it wasn’t… It wasn’t just because of me.”

They both fell into silence with that, and now Chase was the one staring down into his mug, stomach twisting with emotions he couldn’t name.

They’d all… gotten better with Anti, since that day he broke down. Way better, better than he could’ve ever imagined- the fact that they were sitting here having this conversation was proof enough of that, but… some things were hard to stop thinking about, even if you knew, logically, they wouldn’t happen again. There were some things that Chase knew he’d never forgive Anti for, and he knew he wasn’t the only one. He knew Anti didn’t expect forgiveness, and it seemed like he wasn’t going to forgive himself anytime soon, either, but- Sometimes it was awkward. Sometimes they could get startled by his powers, or his voice, and there wasn’t really anything they could do about it.

“...Yeah, fair enough,” he finally said, eyes flicking up to look at Anti again, and he shrugged as casually as he could manage. “I’m just hoping he stays chill like you did, I don’t think any of us wanna deal with a dramatic edgelord moping around the house threatening everyone.” Black and green met blue, and he knew Anti knew there was more to it than that, but in the end, it was early, and neither of them really wanted to get any deeper in whatever this was. So the glitch just cracked a smile, chuckled faintly at what Chase said, and finished his coffee in one long sip. “Yeah, hopefully,” he hummed, getting up to take his mug to the sink. “On that note, I’m gonna head up and make sure he’s actually trying to sleep.” He looked over his shoulder to smile at Chase again, small but genuine. “Thanks again for agreeing to keep this secret, I really appreciate it.” “It’s no problem,” Chase waved it off, though he couldn’t help but return the smile- when Anti really, actually smiled, the dad in him made it hard to not feel proud of him. “And he can take some time to get more comfortable before telling the others, but… you should at least tell Mark before he leaves, considering Dark’s his ego. Okay?” Anti huffed, this one more amused. “Honestly, I think that’s what he’s trying to avoid, but I’ll do my best.” He started to leave, but paused in the doorway, and glanced back one last time. “...thank you, Chase,” he said again, voice soft, and left him in the silent kitchen. Chase sighed once he was sure he was out of earshot, leaning back in his seat and staring up at the ceiling. This certainly hadn’t been what he was expecting when he came down to the kitchen in the middle of the night, but in the end he was glad it had happened. Both the meeting and the conversation afterwards.

‘So he didn’t deal with the same things I did’ ‘Because I’ve met him before’ ‘but it wasn’t just because of me’ ‘...thank you, Chase.’ “...I need more coffee,” he muttered to the empty room, and dragged himself up to get a fresh pot brewing. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep again at this point.