Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“ Ohhhhh you little bitch!”

“Not my fault you weren’t paying attention~”

“I’ll give you something to pay attention to!”

Chase couldn’t help a chuckle, hearing the unmistakable thud of someone falling off the couch. Probably Jackie- he and Anti got so competitive when playing Mario Kart, Chase had made a tactical retreat as soon as the game was mentioned, announcing they were out of popcorn.

That much was true, at least, and he hummed softly as he waited for the microwave to finish, closing his eyes to just listen to the growls and laughter coming from the next room.

He hadn’t expected things to go this well, even three months ago when they’d all made peace with Anti... They had all been so unsure of how to continue, not knowing where the boundaries were- and with Anti being easily overwhelmed, thanks to his weird emotion sensing power, it’d taken a while to find a good rhythm, to figure out how to coexist.

This, though... This was more than that.

The seven of them, they were family now, no matter how they’d started out. Chase would give anything to stay just like this forever, happy and chaotic with his brothers, with Marvin...

It was more than he could’ve hoped for, and the thought brought a wide smile to his face.

...Or maybe that was just the arms closing around his stomach from behind, the head leaning on his shoulder to murmur fondly in his ear.

“Can’t believe you left me to deal with them, I thought it was your turn to corral the children, hm?”

Chase laughed, leaning into the warmth and turning to press a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek.

“Sorry, love, but you know Jackie doesn’t listen to a word I say- you’re just more intimidating!”

“Oh, I see how it is-”

Marvin laughed against him, returning the kiss to Chase’s temple. “You only want me so I can do all the work, is that it?”

Chase pulled away with a huff as the microwave beeped, nudging Marvin away with his elbows so he could pull the bag out. “Damn, you’ve discovered my secret, whatever shall I do?”

“Maybe you could stop making out and go get the door!”

Anti crowed from the living room, laughter in his voice. “I can feel your sappiness from here! ”

Chase finally registered Jackie’s chanting for pizza, interspersed by another ring of the doorbell, and the dad heaved a real sigh, giving Marvin an apologetic look before taking Jack’s wallet from the counter and heading towards the door.

They’d long ago agreed that Chase would be the one to get the door if Jack couldn’t, and last he saw, the creator was buried under Anti’s cat- he wouldn’t be getting up for a while now.

“Sorry about that, my family’s crazy loud,” he laughed as he opened the door, cash in hand. “How much...”

His voice died in his throat, eyes going wide as he took in the sight in front of him.

“Well- uh,” the man blinked, giving him a grin. “Guess you were expecting something else, but surprise?”

Fuck, fuckfuckfuck-

If any random person saw them, it was fine- it was unlikely they’d understand the significance, if they even realized it wasn’t Jack.

But this... Wasn’t some random person.

As he went on without an answer, a hand was put on his shoulder, and he felt frozen in place with it, heart pounding in his ears as the grin turned into a look of concern.

“You okay, Jack? Wasn’t trying to scare you, I swear-”

“Mark,” the woman started, coming up behind her boyfriend to peer around him. “I don’t... Think that’s Jack.”

Markiplier frowned at him, eyes searching his face, and Chase swallowed harshly, managing to take a step back and choke out a few words.

“U-um, I swear I c-can explain-”

“Well if you’re not Jack then who the hell-”

Mark cut off, and Chase learned why a moment later as he was tugged back, Jack’s tense voice greeting his ears.

“Mark, Amy, wh-what the- what are you doing here??”

Aura: A World Unseen.
Chapter One - Sparks

"Well we came to see you -" Mark sputtered, waving an arm at him. "But then we're apparently faced with your doppelganger, wh-what the hell is up with that- "

Jack sighed, glanced back at Chase, who was still standing awkwardly just behind him.

"...Go tell the others what's going on, we don't have much of a choice at this point."

The dad nodded and hurried off, and Jack turned back to his friends, ready to try and explain-

-only to stop, as something… Concerning caught his eye.

Okay, that's- okay. Ask about that in a minute.

"There are more ??" Mark stared at him, eyes wide.

Jack shrugged, trying not to look as nervous as he felt as he moved his gaze away from Amy, suddenly incredibly aware of how serious she looked.

"Well, yeah, I have six egos, not just the one."

Mark gaped at him. He’d start asking questions at any moment, Jack knew

Amy nodded slightly, as if she'd just figured something out.

...One problem at a time.

"Okay-" he cut Mark off just as he began, putting a hand on his friend's arm and giving him a teasing grin. "I know, I know you have questions- but the pizza guy is behind you, so why don't we grab that, go inside, and have our collective crisis while stuffing our faces. That sound good?"

Mark agreed, with a touch of reluctance, and Jack herded his friends inside so he could get the pizza, the whole time trying to figure out what he could possibly say to explain this.

It’s not green, but… Maybe Amy knows something about it.

Then he was carrying the boxes into the living room, and while the sight of his friends and egos staring at each other in an awkward silence was fairly amusing, it was only a matter of time until that fell apart.

“Alright, everybody dig in!” he announced, setting the stack on the coffee table and nudging Glitch away with an elbow. “Mark, Amy, I can probably pull a couple chairs from the dining room, since…” he gestured to the couch covered in egos. “They’re probably not gonna move.”

Mark looked at him like he was crazy again, but that was a fair response. Amy just smiled easily at him, eyes lingering for no more than a moment before settling back on the couch.
“That’d be great, Jack, thanks.”

Jack nodded back, still trying to figure out how to address it, and hurried off without a word.

Soon they had all sat down, eating in silence as nobody wanted to be the one to actually start the conversation they had to have. Mario Kart sat forgotten on the pause screen, mid-race.

Finally, Jack sighed, knowing this wouldn’t go anywhere, and stood up, clearing his throat.
“So,” he gestured to the couch. “Mark, Amy, these are my egos- Henrik, Marvin, Chase, Jackie, Jameson, and Anti. Boys, you know my friends, say hi.”

A chorus of ‘hey’ and ‘hello’ popped up, along with a wave from Jamie, and the other two waved back- Mark confused, Amy thoughtful.

After a moment Mark spoke up, eyeing Anti who was wedged between Jackie and Jamie.

“So… Do we have to worry about him, or…?”

Jack chuckled, shaking his head and smiling at his friend. “No, he’s fine- perfectly harmless, even. Just.. a bit jumpy, don’t startle him.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t wanna get ‘souped’,” Jackie snickered, then barked out a laugh as the glitch elbowed him. “What, you’re the one that says it!”

Mark’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion when Anti ducked his head in embarrassment, driving another elbow into Jackie’s side.
“...What?”

“I have no idea,” Jack admitted. “I think it’s a joking way to say stabbed? Maybe? Pretty sure it’s quoting something, but…”

“Speaking of weird,” Jackie interrupted, sitting up a bit straighter. “Uh, Amy? Why do you look like you’re on fire? ”

“It doesn’t look like she’s on fire,” Marvin corrected, frowning. “More like… Fire’s around her, I suppose? A sort of glow, like Jack.”

Amy chuckled, setting her plate aside. “So you all can see it- I was wondering, since you’ve all been looking at me like that.”

“ Please tell me you know what’s going on with that,” Jack interrupted, looking between the two. “They said I started glowing like, months ago, except I can’t see it and it’s not showing up anywhere, and then suddenly you-”
He waved a hand at Amy, maybe a bit dramatically, but sue him. “You show up with some weird glow too! So don’t even pretend you can’t see mine, and tell me what the hell is going on-”

“Hold the fuck up-”

Mark choked on his pizza, looking between Jack and Amy with his eyes wide. “He can- he has one too!?”

Amy nodded, looking thoughtful as she answered, “It sounds like it’s pretty recent, and since it doesn’t show up through cameras, neither of us would’ve noticed- this does explain the influx in ego videos over the past few months, having them around would definitely make it easier.”

Jack threw his hands up in the air and sat back down, feeling like he was on the edge of losing it.
“Yes, my egos are real and it’s cool, can we get to why-”

“It’s called an aura, Jack,” Amy finally told him, smiling slightly. “It’s a sign of magic in a person, it appears when a person discovers their magic, and it can only be seen by other people who’ve discovered their magic- or awakened it, we like to call it.”

He already knew it was some sort of magic, really- there was nothing else it could be, and Marvin proved magic itself was possible.
But still, seeing one of his oldest friends nodding along to that reveal like it made perfect sense, it had his head spinning, leaving his mouth open with no sound coming out.

“So… Why can’t we see yours?” Marvin spoke up, nodding to Mark. “If Jack’s magic is related to us, that explains why we can see his, but we can also see Amy’s, and yet..?”

“Oh, I don’t actually have any powers,” Mark sighed, looking a bit pouty. “Amy just talks about it- I saw her using hers a few times when we first started dating, and when you see the girl you like making fire at her fingertips you’re gonna ask some questions!”

Jack nodded along as his egos continued to talk with them, not really listening as he tried to sort out his thoughts.

Amy can make fire, Mark doesn’t have anything- that makes sense, he definitely would’ve mentioned it already if he did. It doesn’t show through cameras, so potentially anybody could have powers and I’d never even know!

Jack took a deep breath and sat up straight again, 

“H-how rare is this, anyway? Do I know anybody else with, uh, with an aura?”

Amy paused to take another bite of her pizza, probably considering his question.
“It’s pretty rare, though I don’t know any concrete numbers. It’s also a lot harder to find them these days, so I’ve heard, since so much interaction happens online. As for other people… Oh, Ethan awoke his powers a few years ago!”

“...Of course he did,” Jack sighed, dropping his head into his hands and starting to wish he’d never found out about this.

Why do I feel like things are just gonna get more complicated…

Chapter Text

"That was, uh, Mark and Amy, probably- I had a dizzy spell a few minutes ago, they both freaked out when I hit the floor."

"Oh," that would explain the suddenness of it- "then- That means there's someone new?"

Now excited- and feeling less shaky- Anti pushed himself to his feet, smiling when the human joined him and trying to peer past him again. "Who is it? A fan ego? I know there are a couple out there you like-"

He cut himself off when he registered the confusion drifting out from the living room, and from Jack himself.

"...What is it?"

"...See, we don't know who or what appeared," Jack told him with a frown. "Nothing changed, and we can't find sign of anybody..."

When he entered his room, the feeling increased tenfold, which should be impossible, Marvin put spells up to prevent him from feeling their emotions so strongly up here-

...Which meant he was right.

There's someone in here.

Anti took a deep breath, trying to push away the fear and apprehension that kept squeezing, tightening like a vice around his chest-

it's not me, it's not mine-

He took another deep breath, letting it out slow.

He shut the door behind him.

"...I know you're there," he started quietly, not wanting anyone outside the room to hear him. "I don't know why you're hiding from everyone, but... I'm not going to tell them."

He paused, shoulders slumping in relief as the fear eased up somewhat.

"I won't tell them you're here, but you can't just hide in my room forever, okay? Not without at least calming down. I can... Feel you, and it's a lot."

Still no response, but as he sighed, going to his little desk and sitting down to use his laptop, he felt the fear in the air receeding further- to be replaced by a gentle spark of curiosity.

He smiled, just to himself, and put on Jack's Resident Evil playlist.

I'll give him some time to adjust. It's not like I can blame him for being nervous... 

When he felt a presence watching over his shoulder, he chose not to comment aloud, and he was very proud of himself for not immediately turning to look- though he honestly doubted he'd see anything anyway. 

...I just wish I knew who the hell 'he' is.

Anti was honestly used to the feeling of someone watching over his shoulder, at this point. Three days and this mysterious, silent, invisible ego still hadn't shown himself, though Anti was very sure he was still there.

Besides the watching whenever he was using his laptop, he could still feel him- nervousness, curiosity, faint stabs of irritation. It felt like a million things at once and were way stronger than one person's emotions could feel, but it had only ever seemed like one person, so he just dealt with it.

Today it was Golf With Friends, rather than the usual horror game- he mostly had it up for distriction, because despite Marvin's charms on the room, he could still feel Jack and Mark's excitement from the recording room, though thankfully he was too far away to physically hear them.

...With how focused he was, trying to ignore the emotion feelings, he wasn't really paying attention to his 'roommate'.

But he still noticed the instant that presence solidified, became something real-

And Anti found himself holding his breath as the semi-annoying phantom sensation became the very very real feeling of somebody actively leaning over him.

it's a hell of a time to stop being shy why the fuck-

"...What are you watching this time?"

Anti's racing thoughts screeched to a halt, and he exhaled sharply, keeping his gaze fixed on the laptop screen.

He felt frozen, fixed in place- and it wasn't because the guy finally spoke, the question startled him, sure, but it was reasonable enough, he probably couldn't see the screen very well.

No, the problem wasn't the question- it was the voice.

Calm, but deep enough for a faint rumble in his chest. Smooth, but not soothing- more cold. 

The faintest of echoes ringing in his ears, two voices just below the first- similar, but different.

...I know that voice.

Chapter Text

Honestly, Anti hadn’t meant to skip lunch. Really, he hadn’t! But Mark and Amy were still here, and as much as he loved hanging out with Mark, the man was just so loud, emotionally. Sometimes it was too much to handle.

So when lunchtime came around, and he could feel Mark’s eagerness like the thrumming of a heartbeat, he planned to just stay put until he’d calmed down, and now, well- it was almost time for dinner.

“Chase is definitely gonna be on my ass if I skip two meals,” he muttered to himself, and finally got up from his laptop, taking a moment to stretch before leaving his room to head downstairs, checking in on everyone as he did.

A wave of happiness flowed up from the living room, broken up by little shards of excitement here and there- that was probably where most of them were, though he had no clue what they could be doing.
And then… Daggers of irritation from the kitchen, which meant Henrik got stuck cooking again. Best avoid it if he didn’t want to get dragged in.

Anti reached the bottom of the stairs, planning to peek into the living room and see what was going on-

His foot missed the last step, a blaze of panic ripping through him so sharply it hurt, tearing a hole in his chest, leaving him gasping for breath, his ears ringing.

What- who- I can’t-

Anti wasn’t sure how long he laid there before a voice faintly registered nearby, worry swirling around him like a breeze
He tensed when his shoulder was touched, but the hand was like a soothing balm, cooling over the burns from before and loosening his chest, letting him gulp in air until the dizziness- that he hadn’t even noticed a moment ago- started to fade.

“That’s it, just breathe…”
The hands pulled him closer, wrapping him up in a hug, and Anti buried his face in the other’s shirt, trying to hide from the lingering flames dancing at the edge of his mind.
Block it out, remember what Marvin taught you- just try to block it out…

Finally, when he was sure he’d be able to handle it again, Anti pulled back, relieved when there was no effort to stop him.
“...Thanks, Jack.”

His creator smiled at him, his relief alone making Anti smile back.
“Of course- sorry it took a while to get to you, nobody realized you were over here at first.”

Honestly, he had no idea how long he’d been there, but now he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know.
“What happened?” he asked instead, trying to look past Jack into the living room, “I felt…”
Panic wasn’t a strong enough word for it- it was a moment of raw fear.

There was a ping of confusion, then understanding, and Jack murmured an apology, though Anti didn’t really hear the words of it.
“That was, uh, Mark and Amy, probably. I had a dizzy spell a few minutes ago, they both freaked out when I hit the floor.”

“Oh,” that would explain the suddenness of it- “but then- that means there’s someone new?”
Now excited- and feeling less shaky- Anti pushed himself to his feet, smiling hopefully when the human joined him. “Who is it? A fan ego? I know there are some out there you like-”

He cut himself off when he registered the confusion now drifting out from the living room, and from Jack himself.
“...What is it?”

“...See, we don’t know who or what appeared,” Jack told him with a frown, looking around them for a moment. “Nothing changed in the room, and if you were the one that made noise out here…”

“We’ll figure it out after dinner,” Chase cut in as he left the room, catching Anti’s eye, “it’s almost ready, and some people missed lunch.”

Anti smiled sheepishly, but Chase just ruffled his hair and gently pushed him towards the kitchen. “Move, kid. And you’d better talk to Hen, make sure you didn’t get hurt.”

“Okay, okay-” Anti chuckled and obediently headed for the kitchen, smiling faintly at Mark and Amy when he saw them.
…It felt way too strong for just two people, though…

Henrik checked him over, declared he wouldn’t die, and they all sat down for dinner shortly after.

Dinner itself was as usual- with the addition of everyone trying to figure out who or what had arrived of course. Anti mostly stayed out of the conversation, because he was really hungry now that there was food, and even in a crowd confusion and curiosity were fairly easy to ignore, like waves lapping at the sand.

…What wasn’t easy to ignore was the faint but swiftly-building tension in the air, the nervousness coiling around him like rope, the fear that made his hands shake, his chest tighten, made his pixels buzz with static because something’s wrong, every instinct screaming danger-

“Anti!”

He nearly fell out of his seat when a hand touched his arm, a glitch ripping through him as he jerked back from the touch, only to realize how lightheaded he felt-

Something’s wrong something’s wrong something’s wrong-

And then all at once the feelings dropped away, just vanished from the air around him, but the lightheadedness was worse, and all he could hear were quick, sharp gasps-

“Kid, it’s just me, I got you-”
There were hands on his arms again, but this time he registered the familiar worry, and then he opened his eyes- when had he closed them?- he found spots dancing in his vision, and as the tightness in his chest faded he realized oh, I’m the one gasping.

He drew in a deep breath, hearing static laced through it, and the instant wave of relief would’ve made him laugh, if he hadn’t been too busy reminding himself how to breathe.

“ Jeeze, kid-” Chase huffed when Anti could focus on him, “You gotta stop scaring us like that, one moment you’re fine and the next thing I know you’re over here hyperventilating-”

Anti smiled weakly, exceedingly aware of how quiet the room had gotten.
“Sorry, I-I don’t know what happened, there was just… A lot, suddenly…”

“And it’s gone now?” Jackie checked, sat on Anti’s other side.


…It wasn’t, he realized. It was still there, just… Distant, dulled. Buzzing in the background like an irritating insect.
It could have something to do with whatever ego appeared, so if it’s still here, that’s a good sign.  
“...Mostly?” he ended up saying, giving him a little shrug, “it’s kind of… in the background now, like I’ve been able to do for most of you guys’ feelings.”

“Admittedly, that doesn’t assure me much,” Marvin huffed, “this emotion power you have seems to be getting stronger- how have the wards on your room been working out? Have they been blocking anything?”

Anti hummed, trying to nudge the still-worried Chase away, “Kind of? It’s weaker when I’m in there, but I still feel things sometimes- when Jack is recording I feel him a lot, especially with Mark around.”

Both YouTubers looked guilty, but Anti quickly shook his head. “You guys are just doing your job, and they’re not bad feelings, I can deal with some wayward excitement once in a while no problem.”

“Still, ” Marvin pulled a book out from somewhere and started to flip through it, “it’s nothing I’ve ever come across before, so even with my spellroom I’m struggling to figure it out-”

“Excuse me,” Henrik waved his fork in Marvin’s direction, eyes narrowed, “No spellbooks at the table, we’ve talked about this- yes, Anti’s thing is weird and interesting, but we are still eating, and you can discuss it after dinner.”

Jamie nodded along, frowning, and Anti chuckled at the flash of irritation from Marvin before returning to his own food, trying to push the faint but still present fear to the back of his mind.
We’ll figure it out when we find whatever appeared, I’m sure. No need to worry them more.

After dinner, they all scoured the house, looking for signs of anything new- new objects, anything that could’ve appeared with a new person, any doors that hadn’t been there before.
But they didn’t find a single thing out of the ordinary. Marvin couldn’t even sense any kind of magic that would be able to hide somebody so thoroughly.

“-and even if that random surge of emotion was related, if you can’t feel it strong enough to pinpoint them, it doesn’t do us much good,” Marvin sighed when Anti brought up his theory, “for all we know, they ran out of the house when we were busy, so we’ll just have to wait and see what comes up.”

Anti almost mentioned that the feelings had been fluctuating while they searched, but- they were so faint now, like Marvin said it wouldn’t do them any good.
Besides, if they’re that scared, it might be best to just wait for them, wherever they’re hiding…

So when they gave up on the search- despite Jackie’s protests- Anti headed right up to his room, looking forward to the respite it would hopefully give him.

…Except, standing in front of his door, it was stronger.
Not nearly as bad as before, and it was still strangely muted, but definitely the strongest he’d felt it since dinner.
And when he entered his room, the feeling increased tenfold, which should be impossible, unless…

…unless it worked both ways. Which meant he was right.

There’s someone in here.


Anti took a deep breath, trying to push away the fear and apprehension that kept squeezing, tightening around his chest like a vice.
It’s not me, it’s not mine- it doesn’t matter how much of it there is, I can handle some fear these days, no problem at all-

He took another deep breath, letting it out slowly.
He shut the door behind him.

“...I know you’re there,” he started quietly, not wanting to startle them, or be heard from outside, “I don’t know why you’re hiding from everyone, but I’m not going to tell them.”

Anti paused, searching the room, but there was no sign of anyone, nothing out of place.
The fear eased up, though, and he almost whined in relief, feeling his shoulders slump.
“I won’t tell them you’re here, but you can’t just hide in my room forever, okay?” he continued, talking a few more steps into the room and slowly turning around, hoping to see something.
“Not without calming down, at least. I can… Feel you, and it’s a lot more than I usually deal with.”

He waited again for a response, but when there was nothing he just sighed and headed for his little desk, opening his laptop back up in hopes of distracting himself.
When he pulled up YouTube, he felt the fear in the air receding further- to be replaced by a faint spark of curiosity.
…Okay, I can work with that.

“What do you wanna watch?” he asked aloud, not really expecting an answer but figuring they’d make their opinion known somehow.
“Minecraft, indie, FPS? Horror maybe?”

…Nothing, though the curiosity was still glimmering- how could one person feel so much-

He started to say something else, ask another question, but it stuck in his throat as he abruptly became aware of a presence behind him, leaning over his shoulder like it was trying to see the screen.
Oh fuck what the fuck-

Anti searched the reflection on his screen a bit frantically, but saw nothing behind him, he just… Knew.
Okay, fine, if you wanna be creepy to the guy trying to help, then I just won’t talk to you.

Petty? Absolutely, but he figured he had a right to be petty if he was going to deal with an invisible person in his room.
So he just put on Jack’s Detroit: Become Human playlist, and tried to relax.

…I just wish I had any clue on who it was…

Admittedly, trying to sleep in a room with an unknown, invisible person whose emotions were weirdly strong was easier said than done, and Anti was pretty sure he looked like shit when he went downstairs for breakfast, but thankfully everyone seemed to take the excuse that he just hadn’t slept well and didn’t pry any further.

He said he wouldn’t tell anyone, and he meant it- at least until he figured out who it was.

So he kept his mouth shut and went about his day. Joining the others when they searched for the new person again, spending some time helping Marvin in his spellroom, playing with his cat, getting into a very intense game of Uno with Jackie, Chase, and Jameson-

(Jameson had won, but Anti was too thrilled that he was comfortable enough to be competitive with him to be salty about it)

He had plenty of things to keep him busy, and more than enough reasons to stay away from his room, so as the day went on he mostly forgot about his invisible roommate. No emotions struck him as foreign, nothing new or different made itself known around the house- it was like they didn’t exist at all.

…Until Anti went back to his room for the night, and the moment the door was shut, it all came rushing back- almost literally, curiosity and confusion surrounding him, pushing at him like a mild tornado.

Anti almost ran right back out the door.

But he took a deep breath, tried to focus on the static crackling up and down his arms for a moment, and stepped further in, trying to let the torrent wash around him instead of against him.
He didn’t try to speak until he was sitting at his desk, and by then the waves had calmed somewhat, though he still felt the presence somewhere nearby.
Waiting.

Anti let his breath out in a sigh, then turned a hesitant smile to the room as a whole. “Thank you for calming down, um… How was your day?”

…No audible answer, but maybe…
Anti closed his eyes, letting his static fade out so he could try and seek out the emotions instead of ignore them.


The curiosity was still there, prodding at him like an impatient kid- but now it was joined by a prickle of nerves, like all the hair on his arms standing up at once. The air also felt strangely heavy, thick with something he didn’t quite recognize…


“You’re… wondering what I did today?” he guessed, opening his eyes again, “and nervous that someone will find you here?”

The briefest flash of pride was confirmation enough, but Anti couldn’t help but frown.
“Mine was fine, I guess, but I asked how your day was, not…”

The heavy feeling returned, and for a split second the room seemed to go grayscale, every color sucked away at once.
He blinked once, drawing in another breath, and it returned to normal.

“...You were bored,” he realized, and the moment he said it it made sense- of course they’d be bored, he was cooped up in a room alone all day.

Another spark of pride- whether they were aiming it at him or just proud of themselves, who knew- and Anti nodded, turning to open his laptop.
“Well, I usually stay up watching YouTube for a while longer, so you can watch with me. Just- give me some interest if you see something you like, okay?”
He paused for a moment, but no emotions stuck out at him- just the same feeling of something over his shoulder returning. So he just started scrolling through videos, hoping he’d actually get an answer this time.

(he didn’t, but they didn’t have any protest for RE7, so he counted that as a win)

Anti slept much better that night- honestly, a lot better than he usually did- but he couldn’t say exactly why. There’d been… Some sort of buzzing in his room all night, similar to his static but somehow more, and that was the last thing he remembered hearing before he drifted off.

Maybe it has something to do with them…? He wondered when he went down to breakfast, distractedly greeting the other egos as he helped himself to some coffee. If they're helping me, maybe that means they're getting less freaked out? Maybe they'll talk to me soon?

Worry suddenly curled around him, so thick he could almost taste it, and Anti pulled himself out of his thoughts to frown at Chase, coming up next to him. "You really need to relax, your emotions are doing that weird cloud thing."

The other ego didn't bother to make excuses, just making a face at him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know- I just… this whole situation about the new ego is rubbing me the wrong way, is all."
He sighed, grabbing a mug for himself. "None of us remembered much when we appeared, barely knew our own names- so why would whoever it was hide from us? You said you felt emotions, so it's clearly a person, and last night Marvin said he felt magic from someone other than him, but couldn't track it. That's probably why we never saw the guy, but… I dunno."

Anti hummed along, wanting to offer him something, but he didn't know enough to be sure of anything.
"You could do a little more research into fan egos, see if any of them have any particular powers?" He suggested, leaning against the counter to put a little distance between them- it was always harder to filter things out in the morning, and Chase was particularly open today.
"I mean, clearly we aren't dealing with Robbie the zombie," he continued with a chuckle, "but there was that guy from Glitch in the System- Mack, I think? Maybe see if fans have expanded on him, they're good at that."

Chase didn't respond right away, staring at the coffee machine as he drank what must've been half the mug, but when he went to refill it Anti felt the worry recede a bit, no longer filling the room, and he relaxed as Chase nodded.
"...Yeah, that's an idea," Chase finally muttered, "and honestly, maybe there's been a new one lately- we assumed he had to be giving the thought attention now, but that might not be it…"

He clapped a hand on Anti's shoulder, a tired smile on his face, and murmured a "thanks, kid," before walking away. Anti took a moment to feel proud of himself before going to make some toast, wanting something he could take up to his room.
I guess I could ask them about that too- even if they don't know much, they should at least recognize their own name, right?

Maybe they did, maybe they didn't, but they certainly didn't recognize any of the names Anti had tried.
Robbie was out, not that he'd expected it to work anyway, zombies weren't known for their ability to turn invisible. Mack drew a blank too, which he'd been a bit more hopeful for, but Bing got a little spark of interest for them- though, admittedly, that could just mean they preferred the search engine, and Anti didn't judge people's browser choices.

…Not out loud, anyway.

So he'd given up on that for the moment, instead trying to sit down and finish up a project he'd been too distracted to do the past couple days.
He'd managed to pick up some work doing freelance coding- nothing huge, but it was something to do, and it felt nice to buy his own games, and pay Jack back just a little for all the kindness he'd shown him. So he got that finished, sent it off to the client, and browsed through YouTube a bit, idly noting that the Presence was behind him again.
If you're that bored, then just tell me what you want to see! He huffed to himself, resting his chin on his hand.

A notification popped up, and a glance at it revealed that Jack had started streaming, with 'special guest' Markiplier.

That had him grimacing, wondering how Mark had gotten in without him noticing- he'd feel him soon, that was for sure, especially if he and Jack started to play something. 
With that in mind, he went to find something to distract him from the bursts of emotion that would drift past the wards, something stupidly amusing that he could zone out with.
They probably wouldn't be streaming for too long, anyway.

They'd been streaming for four hours, and at this point Anti could hear them yelling at each other- playfully, of course, but still frankly impressive considering the soundproofing in the recording room.
"Should see if Marvin can magically soundproof it," he chuckled to himself, scrolling mindlessly through his Steam library.

The emotions hadn't actually been too bad, mostly just excitement and joy blazing through the house like a flame, occasional frustration wafting off like smoke, so it wasn't too hard to force it to the background. That being said, he wasn't sure just how much was being blocked by Marvin's wards, so he wasn't eager to leave the room until he had to, just in case.

He'd just settled in playing some Viscera Cleanup Detail when the Presence appeared again, startling him so bad he nearly jolted right out of his chair.
"Fuck, don't do that-" he snapped, shooting a quick glare over his shoulder even though he knew there was nobody visible. "Give me a little warning, that's not exactly the most comfortable feeling!"

No response, of course, but he did feel a little prickle of remorse, so he let it go and turned back to his game with a huff, planning on ignoring them as was starting to become usual. 

But then he felt a chill, a shiver of magic up his spine, the buzz from last night echoing in his ears-

And Anti found himself holding his breath as the semi-annoying phantom sensation became the very very real feeling of somebody actively leaning over him .

it's a hell of a time to stop being shy why the fuck-

"...What are you doing now?"

Anti's racing thoughts screeched to a halt, and he exhaled sharply, turning his gaze down to the desk.
He felt frozen, fixed in place, and it wasn't because the guy finally spoke- the question startled him, sure, but it was reasonable enough, he probably couldn't see the screen very well.

No, the problem wasn't the question- it was the voice .


Calm, but deep enough for a faint rumble in his chest. Smooth, but not soothing- more cold . 
The faintest of echoes ringing in his ears, two voices just below the first- similar , but different.

...I know that voice.

It was something he had no doubt in, a fact as irrefutable as his own name. Something he couldn't deny if he tried.

I know that voice, I- I know who that is-  
But that doesn't make any sense , why would he- why would Jack's power summon-

Anti drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, suddenly hyper aware of the confusion still lingering around the room- confusion that had been there from the very start, and barely faded since then. 
…I know who he is, but… he doesn't, does he?


"I'm playing a game," he replied carefully, worried that he'd vanish again the moment he did.
But the figure stayed where he was, even making a soft noise of acknowledgement.

Anti took another deep breath before he looked back up at the laptop.

There, reflected in the screen, he saw a silhouette. Broad-shouldered, a little taller than him, wearing something all white- a suit, if he remembered correctly. 
The buzzing crackled around him, and he saw wisps of red and blue and gray in the corners of his vision. 

It's really him .
He almost laughed at the confirmation, because this was absurd, this was absolutely nowhere on the list of things they were prepared for- because why the hell would they?

He wet his lips. Tried to find the perfect words, and failed because he never once thought he'd need them.
…I guess I'm winging it, then. Because there's no way in hell I'm just letting this go now.


"It's uh… nice to meet you properly, Dark," he murmured, smiling at the reflection, and the figure behind him startled back, the buzzing getting louder and the faint haze of anxiety thickening-

"Yeah, I'll bet you're confused as hell," Anti hummed, "but I can answer any questions you have- because I know who you are, Dark. Whatever you're confused about, I can explain to you."

He paused, waiting to see if Dark would disappear again, honestly expecting him to- but after a moment, the buzzing quieted down once again, and he took that as a sign to turn around, finally looking at him properly.

Back straight, arms folded behind his back, white suit pristine, not a smudge or wrinkle in sight. His aura swirled around him, and the room around him was gray, as was he- the only color visible other than the shards of blue and red was the dark crimson of his eyes, staring at Anti like he could see right through him.

Anti just smiled in return, watched Dark seemingly falter at how genuine he was.
"My name's Antisepticeye," he introduced himself, and chuckled when recognition flashed clearly across his face.
"Yeah, we know each other- well, sorta, it's a long story." 

Darkiplier certainly wasn't anything they expected, but… He turned out okay, didn't he? Why couldn't this work out for them too?

I'll make sure it works.

And I'll make sure he doesn't suffer the same way I did.

Chapter Text

Chase was well used to waking up in the middle of the night.

A mix of insomnia, light sleep, and the occasional nightmare meant he rarely slept through the night- it’d been that way for years, at this point he’d developed a pattern for it.
The first time he woke up, he’d roll over, adjust his blanket, flip his pillow, etc. Just try to go back to sleep. If that didn’t work, or he woke up again, or it’d been a nightmare, then he got up, got a snack, tried to distract himself until he got tired again.

It was… a bit more complicated now, because not only did he share the house with six other people, he was sharing a bed with someone again. He hadn’t done that in ages, not since-

…It had been a while, he was still getting used to it again.

Point was, it meant he had to adjust his usual methods so he didn’t wake Marvin up. So ever since that had started, he’d started to get up the first time, heading down to the kitchen to keep himself busy until he could sleep again.
It was actually pretty nice, gave him some peace and quiet- he loved his brothers, really he did, but they were all loud, it was in their natures, and it just wore on a guy after a while.

At least it seemed that no one else had sleeping issues, since he never ran into anybody else.

…Or, at least he never had before. But tonight he found the kitchen light on, heard talking from… maybe two people?
One of them was definitely Anti, he could hear the soft undertones of static that always accompanied his voice when he was tired- they were all trying to get used to it, but it still put him on edge enough to notice immediately- but the other one was… Weird.

It was deeper than any of theirs, deeper than Mark’s, even, and there was some kind of… echo to it? Like more than one person was speaking at once, but their voices were so similar they blended together, too, it was like nothing he’d ever heard before.
What the hell has Anti gotten into now?

…He didn’t know what he was expecting, but a man in a suit that looked like an off-brand Mark was not it. Let alone the wisps of red and blue wavering around him, the way the area he was standing looked grey and colorless.

Anti was already looking his way, a sheepish grin on his face, but the man in the suit looked briefly startled before his face closed off and his eyes narrowed.
“Don’t leave,” Anti said quickly, gaze snapping over to the man. “It’s just Chase, he’s cool.”

Chase was really tempted to just go back to bed, even if he wasn’t tired- he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what this was about.
“Anti,” he sighed, leaning against the doorway, “who is this?”

“Don’t run,” was the first thing the glitch said in response, which was the least reassuring start this could have. “This, uh, this is Dark, he’s the new person who appeared- y’know, when I fell down the stairs?” He chuckled, sounding a bit nervous. “He- he’s been hiding in my room, but he was sorta invisible so, um, I only found out who he was yesterday, and he wasn’t ready to meet anybody so I brought him down to get something to eat. Please don’t tell anyone else?”
He finished with a pleading look, inching closer to Dark.

Chase breathed out slowly, looking between the two as he went over Anti’s words in his head.
“...Dark?” he asked weakly, realizing why he looked the way he did. “As in Darkiplier? Mark’s ego?”
Shit, that makes things a whole new level of complicated…

“Yep!” Anti confirmed, voice pitched up a bit, and he had that nervous grin again. “Uh- surprise?”

…Yeah, there was no way he’d be going back to sleep after this.

—————

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.

…he had a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

Just like he thought, he didn’t end up going back to sleep, but he did head back up to bed before Marvin woke up, so he wouldn’t worry him.

Of course, that just meant he was laying silently in bed, stuck with his own thoughts. At least they weren’t as personal as they usually were in these cases- he had plenty to think about from his conversation with Anti.

He and Dark have met before, even though they never did in canon.

That one fact kept sticking out, nagging at him insistently no matter how much he tried to move on. Not because he doubted it, but because of how clearly it was the truth. Even with Dark not having his memories he and Anti had quickly settled into what could only be familiar routines, he couldn’t deny that any more than he could’ve denied how easy it was to talk to Marvin before he got his own memories back.

It doesn’t make sense, our ‘lives’ were built around the canon, weren’t they? Where does this fit in?

“...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.

“What the hell happened to him…?”

Chapter Text

“So what’s up? It hasn’t been that long since I left- Dark’s not causing problems, is he?”

Mark’s voice was tinged with concern, and he appreciated it, really- it wasn’t every day you were left to live with a dangerous character your friend had created just because there was no way to get him to leave.
“No, no he’s been fine,” Jack chuckled faintly and adjusted his headphones. “He’s still pretty awkward, but he’s been getting along pretty well with Marvin if you can believe it. No, uh, this is a different issue.”
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “...Remember how I said it might not stop at one?”

Silence stretched between them for a long moment, until Mark let out a sigh of his own. “Yeah, that figures. I’m guessing it’s not anybody too dangerous, at least? I feel like you’d be having more of a reaction if it was Wilford Warfstache.”

Jack grimaced at the reminder that that was a real possibility, then shook his head, despite them not using video. “No, it’s actually Googleplier? But, uh…”
He trailed off, but Mark quickly filled the silence this time. “Okay, he’s not so bad- he’ll probably be a bit annoying to deal with, and we might have a little issue with uh, his objective to destroy mankind? But he should need permission to do anything with that, so as long as nobody gets too sarcastic with him…” He paused, then started again, sounding curious. “Actually, how’s his memory doing? Did him being a robot change anything?”

“Okay, we’re gonna be talking about that whole ‘destroy mankind’ thing later, because you did not mention that before-” Jack huffed, torn between being amused and very worried. “But it’s a little more complicated than it was with Dark, believe it or not. We don’t know how his memory was affected, or if he’ll be a problem to deal with, because when he appeared yesterday he was broken.”

“ 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 gadgets for his hero work. 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.

The controller tumbled to the ground as Jackie sat up, suddenly looking brighter than he had since he’d shown up. “Holy shit, how could I forget that!?”
He leapt to his feet before Jack could answer, hurrying up to him with a wide grin. “I can fix Google! I know I can- I’ll need some tools to get started, and then I’ll need replacement parts when I really get into it, and since he’s a full-sized android I’d probably need to get some of them custom made-”

“Okay, okay-” Jack chuckled and held up his hands to stop the excited rambling. “Why don’t you make a list of what you’ll need to start, and we’ll go from there, okay?”

“Right!” Jackie practically chirped, and rushed off to find some paper, nearly tripping over his own feet.

“Why do I have this feeling I’ve just awoken something I have no idea how to handle?” Jack mused to himself, leaning against the doorframe and watching him move around the room.
It is nice to see him in such a good mood, he’s seemed pretty down lately- being cooped up all the time can’t be good for him, but it’s not like we have much of a choice…
It was a welcome change, and hopefully this would mean he wouldn’t have to resort to letting Jackie go do hero work to get him out of his funk. He really didn’t know how he’d explain that to his fans.

“Okay!” Jackie exclaimed once he had paper and a pen. He plopped back down on the couch and pat the cushion next to him, and Jack moved over to join him, smiling at his enthusiasm.
“So I’ll need to take a good look at Google to know exactly what I’ll need, but I know I’ll need some basic tools,” Jackie started, scribbling down a few things. “Some of these you might need to order online or go to a body shop- gods, I wish I had my workshop, that’d make this so much easier.”

“Workshop?” Jack echoed as he glanced over the list, relieved he recognized everything on it. “You mean where you worked, or a place where you lived?”

“Where I lived! Technically it was my basement, but it was where I did all my work,” Jackie hummed, tapping his pen against the notepad. “Originally I had it all in a room near the door, but after I finished building my motorcycle I moved most things down there to save space- oh, I’ll need some things to deal with the wiring problems, getting electrocuted would definitely slow me down-”

Jack hummed along, pretending he hadn’t shuddered at the revelation that Mark was also right about the motorcycle. Hopefully this wouldn’t lead to him asking for one, that would be another tricky thing to explain to fans.

He kept listening though, letting Jackie talk about his job and workshop and everything he knew about machines- and if they were still there when it was time for dinner a couple hours later, what was the harm?

It was nice to see Jackie so excited about something.