The Wound He Left was Unmistakable
A small fic I wrote based off of the old DSaF ‘Twisted Timelines’ series
TW: Gore, Mentioned Rape, Major Character Death, Whump
⚠️Read at Your Own Discretion⚠️
Word Count: 2,177
Dave sat in the void gently petting BlackJack who fell asleep in his arms. The silence of the void constricted him, only allowing him to think of the certain Hell so many versions of Jack had been subjected to. He couldn't take the silence anymore, blinking away tears, Dave gently shook BlackJack awake. The small shadow dog looked up at Dave “Dave. How was your break?” Dave gave the dogo a smile, still absent mindedly petting him, “Calming. Couldn’t sleep sadly…” BlackJack leaned into Dave's pet, earning a small scratch on the neck, “We could rest a little longer if you’d like? I can assure you Jack wouldn’t notice.” “No. I- I can't rest any longer, the silence is deafening” “We could just talk? Rest doesn’t have to mean sleep.”
Dave remained silent for a second “Ya sure Jack wouldn’t notice?” BlackJack murmured a confirmation leaning his fluffy head onto Dave’s chest, “They’re all in a place outside of time, they will be unaware of any change, It’ll be like they were suddenly teleported to your location” “Do you think we’ll ever save them all?” Dave asked, messing with BlackJack’s floating tophat as a small fidget. BlackJack whimpered, filling Dave with a dread to what his answer would be “I don’t know, though with infinite Jacks broken in infinite ways, I can't help but think that maybe we’ll never be done. The task is noble, don't be mistaken, but it isn’t fair to you. And I can’t help but be angry about that.” “Maybe I deserve that?” Dave thought aloud. “NO.” BlackJack growled “You earned your absolution. You deserve your rest, even if you can’t have it.” Dave started petting with a little more force, attempting to calm the hound down.
“You deserve rest too, y'know?” Dave whispered “I never said I didn’t?” BlackJack questioned. “I know. But you’re still thinking it. That's the one thing all Jacks share, you hate yourselves, even if you know you don’t deserve it.” “I do deserve it though, because of my actions those worlds will never be rid of Henry, because of my poor prudence. Those souls will never be freed, and it’s because of me.” The dog was shaking, unable to form tears due to his form, instead shaking and letting out high whines. Dave held onto BlackJack allowing the soul to cry into him. Eventually BlackJack calmed down, “I’m sorry.” the small dog apologised for seemingly no reason, “For what?” Dave asked cradling BlackJack “This was supposed to be about you, and I made it about me.” “It's not your fault Jack, I brought it up. I wouldn’t have if I didn’t want you to talk about it, which, to be clear, is never. Old Sport asked us to take care of each other, and I won't let him down” BlackJack gave him a small grin, “I always forget that it’s not all on me I suppose.” “Another Jack specialty!” Dave laughed as BlackJack hopped out of his lap.
“I should get the next Jack shouldn’t I?” “Yeah! Get on it, hound!” BlackJack left his gaze on Dave a little longer, before settling down again, much to Dave's confusion. Noticing this, BlackJack decided to start talking again, “This next Jack is, hard. He was killed by you” Dave’s mouth hung agape “I- I, would never kill him.” BlackJack nodded “I know you wouldn’t. He did though. I’m unsure if it’ll make you feel better but, it wasn’t on purpose.” “Wh-What happened then?” Dave asked, losing all sense of confidence. The soul shifted uncomfortably “Are you sure?” Dave nodded “Yes. I am.” The dog sighed, “I’m sure you’re aware of one of the worst atrocity the alternate you’s have committed?” Dave paled and waited for the small dog to continue. “This time it lasted longer, about three days to be exact.” Dave felt bile rising in his throat, how? How could he be the same person as this monster? “Three days.” BlackJack continued, “No stops. No breaks. Eventually he broke, bled to death, and you didn’t even notice till the end.”
Dave raked his long nails against his bare arms drawing small beads of blood, “How could I? How could I do that?” BlackJack cast his eyes down in response, “That's not you. Not really. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Our experiences shape us’ David?” Dave nodded. “That Dave lived through different things, he’s not you.” “We had lived through the same things! We are the same.” “No you aren’t, he didn’t get torn in half, nor did he work to fight Henry.” “Yeah! Because I never let Jack leave.” BlackJack set his paws on Dave's knees in a grounding gesture “William.” Dave turned to face the dogo at the use of his old name. “You are not the same as him, sure maybe it was just luck that you didn’t kidnap Jack. But you worked to get better when you had the chance, he didn’t, that's why you're different.” Dave held out his arms and BlackJack crawled in for a hug. “Thanks mutt, you’re the best.” “Glad to help.” BlackJack whispered before leaving to retrieve Jack.
Jack lay asleep on the floor. Dave had met many Jacks, some were hostile, while others blamed themselves. Each time however Jack looked hurt, his usual orange makeup washed off, his skin rotting, Dave didn’t care, he also rotted on earth. What concerned him however were the bruises, cuts, and scrapes. Sometimes Jack told Dave about them, about what Dave did, about what Jack had done to himself. Each time Jack told him about them Dave would listen, it was the least Jack deserved after what he’d been subjected to. Sometimes Jack would crave physical connection, other times he’d just talk to Dave till he could finally rest. But even talking to and helping thousands of Jacks couldn’t prepare him for this.
Considering how Jack died, Dave was worried he would be nude. Thankfully some angel was looking out for Dave, and Jack had come in a small pair of red shorts that hung loosely to his starved body. But being dangerously thin wasn’t the only thing that stood out about this iteration of Jack, he was dirty, very dirty. Various marks covered Jack's skin, fluids were dried to his hair and skin, and that was excluding the dried blood that stuck between his thighs. Dave wanted to scream, wasn't the bleeding internal? How hadn’t he noticed? Still he remained quiet allowing Jack to doze a little longer before finally being put to rest. Jack deserved it afterall, three days of fun, as many Jacks put it, would be exhausting. Dave genuinely wondered how his psychotic version had done it. Sure he was a monster, but even he couldn’t go that long.
Jack started shifting, grumbling at sore pain that spread throughout his body. Slowly Jack pushed himself up, rubbing his eyes to purge the fog that clouded his brain. That fog disappeared quickly when he realized Dave was watching him. “Dave!” Jack yelped, “I- I promise you I didn’t mean to fall asleep! I wa- was tired, and I- my body gave out! I promise I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, just, please don’t. Don't hurt me. Please.” Dave moved away from Jack, not wanting to scare him, “Jack-” “Dave please!” “Jack. He can’t hurt you anymore.” “Dave, this isn’t funny! Where are we? What happened?” “Jack. I’ma need you to listen to me for a bit.” Immediately Jack quieted looking at Dave with apprehension and fear. “Did BlackJack, your soul, ever tell you about his Dave?” Jack nodded. “Well, I’m that Dave!” “How am I here then? Did BlackJack pull me out? Did he figure out a way to stop him?” Jack asked, he was still shaking, no doubt because of what he went through, but Jack didn’t seem to scared. Dave hissed through his teeth, this part was always hard. “You’re dead Jack.” “What! No. I can’t be dead! I still needed to save them!” “Jack. It isn’t your fault. It's his, never think it’s yours” “She didn’t get her happiest day! Neither did you! I can’t rest!” “Theres nothing you can do Jack , Your soul, he doesn’t have enough energy to do a reset. The best you can do is let me help you rest.” “I can’t pass on though.” Jack mumbled “Think of it as a nap. It’s not Heaven nor Hell, it’s not your happiest day, but it’s the best we can do. Even if you deserve better.” “But they didn’t get to rest! Why do I!” “You did your best Jack. What happened to you isn’t your fault.”
Silence, neither of the two men liked it, but it persisted in bleeding through their ‘lives’ anyways. It was horrible, Jack couldn’t take it anymore, after years (was it years?) of living with Dave, his voice and noise filling his life. Jack had grown afraid of silence, it was unfamiliar and unnerving. So Jack finally broke it, filling the void with the question that had been bothering him “Why are you so different from my Dave?” Dave remained silent thinking through the question in a way Jack hadn’t expected from someone like Dave. “Well in my timeline you and Peter were able to springtrap me. After that my soul split in two, my feral side roaming the earth, and my reasonable side, me, went to the flipside. This is the flipside by the way. The final layer actually, where Henry resided, until we killed him. Which I feel you’ll be happy to know.” Jack nodded “Glad I could succeed in one timeline atleast.” Jack mused sadly to himself “Many more than one actually! There are next to infinite timelines where you succeed!” “And just as many, if not more, where I fail.” Jack interrupted.
“But that still doesn’t really answer my question.” Dave looked surprised, “Really? I thought I explained it pretty well.” “No! No, you explained well, I should’ve phrased my question better. I’m sorry Dave.” Jack looked at the nonexistent ground in shame. “Sportsy. It’s okay I was jus’ teasing you.” Dave reassured, often Dave forgot how scared the poor man truly was in the moment, he was good at hiding it. Not to mention many of them couldn’t handle his usual small teases, not after what many had been through.
“Why don’t you tell me your question again Jack?” Dave offered, attempting to get Jack to open up again. “---” “I’m sorry Jack, I didn’t catch that. Could you repeat that a little louder?” “why didn’t you hurt me?” Dave bit his lip, tearing the top layer of skin that covered the inside of his mouth, grounding himself as the taste of his blood polluted his senses. “I suppose I just didn’t think of it. Nor did I expect you or Peter to try to kill me.” “I’m sorry about that Dave.” Jack mumbled, finding another thing to tear himself up about. “It’s okay Jack, I needed stopping.” “I could’ve tried something else though!” Jack shouted, momentarily startling Dave. “Perhaps, though I’m not angry. In fact I’m happy about it! It was needed for me to redeem myself.” “No. No it wasn’t. It was me being selfish, and being lazy. There was another way I just never tried to find it.” “Jack. This isn’t about me. It's about you. I’ve already been fixed, it's your turn to be fixed.”
“Why don’t I hate him?” “This isn’t the first time you’ve asked that y’know?” Jack looked at Dave quizzically. “You’re not the first nor the last Jack to ask me that.” “How long have you been here Dave?” “A long time.” “thats not fair.” “Neither was what happened to you.” “...” “...” “I should hate him.” “I do.” Jack looked at Dave with a face of surprise. “Is that so surprising?” Dave chuckled. “No, I suppose not.” The two just looked at each other for a moment before Jack continued, “I don’t think I could ever hate him. Am I stupid for that?” “Jack, I’ve never met a Jack that hated his Dave, I’ve seen ones afraid of him,even ones that killed him. But never one that hated him. I don’t think it's in your nature to hate anyone.” “Because of the soul thing?” Jack mused. “That probably plays a part but, I think that's just you.” “But BlackJack hated Henry?” “We both know damn well that you and BlackJack are not the same person anymore.” “We’re both Jack Kennedy.” “Not the same Jack though.” “That's true I suppose.”
Jack gestured for Dave to come over to his side, Jack was too sore to move anymore. “Was there anything I could have done?” Jack asked, leaning the back of his head on Dave's chest. “I don’t know.” Dave answered, wrapping his arms around Jack, “This okay Jack?” “It’s perfect.” “Thats good.” Dave smiled, rubbing Jack's arms. “I think I can move on now.” “Then fall asleep.” “Bye Dave.” “Bye Jack.” Jack started fading out of existence, finally getting his rest.
And then Dave was alone again.
