Illinois had brought Noir to the Manor, Eric was with him. He was trying to make a point of slowly acclimatizing Noir to the strange magic of the Manor.
Even though he’d been raised in the Manor for most of his life, the House made him feel weird. Never while he was inside it, but always when he looked back at his time inside of it. Time felt different, like he’d spent too long and only seconds inside. He felt like he became a different person, and he didn’t want that for Noir even if it was unavoidable.
So today he and Eric were staying outside of the Manor, on the grounds. Illinois had always liked the grounds and how they folded into the tree line of the woods.
The grounds were always pristine. Never a weed in sight. As if there was some unseen groundskeeper tending to the place. If there was, Illinois had never met them.
Flowers usually changed but occasionally some pink five petal flowers showed up on the ground and they were the closest things to weeds the garden had.
Noir was playing around in the garden. He had picked a couple of flowers, some of the pink ones and some random ones and given them to Eric and Illinois. Eric had one of the pink ones tucked behind his ear. The child had some toys and a truck and was playing at the edge of the flower bed.
When they had arrived, Dark had immediately given Noir a box of wooden trains and cars with patterns painted on the sides. Dark also slipped Illinois and Eric an envelope each, giving them each a gift of their own.
Dark then retreated a bit away from Noir, especially after seeing the grey color start to overtake the colors around them.
Noir was playing with his toys as Illinois was talking with Dark.
The young boy had some plastic dump trucks that he’d filled with dirt and flowers. Noir still wasn’t too much of a talker but Illinois hoped that would change as he got more comfortable with them.
Noir held out one of the flowers out for Dark, and Dark took it, looking at the flower in his hand. The flower stubbornly held its pink coloration.
Dark took the flower. “Thank you.”
Noir looked up at him, the shadow of a little smile on his face. A smile that would in time grow to resemble Illinois’s more and more as the years would eventually go on.
Illinois had wandered into the house to grab some iced tea and muffins. He looked at Noir but didn’t move to stop him as he set down the picture and a tray of muffins. He opened up a portal to grab some glasses from inside the Manor.
He gave Noir a minute or two to know he was there before calling out to him. “Hey, Noir, buddy, snack time. Let’s go and wash your hands.”
Noir just looked at him as Illinois stared back at him.
“Dirt in your muffins and tea don’t taste good, I’ve tried it,” Illinois said, casually just pouring a small kid glass of iced tea for Noir.
Noir was coaxed briefly into the house so he could wash his hands and then he stepped back outside and sat down for some muffins and snacks.
Illinois looked over at the ripped up dirt and flowers. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Dark said. “The flower beds will recover.”
“Well look who’s here,” Wilford smiled as he walked out of the House.
Noir was too busy stuffing a large piece of muffin into his mouth to say hello, but Dark thought his expression looked more like a smile than the one he’s given Dark. But the demon didn’t say anything about it.
“What an adorable little rascal,” Wilford smiled at him. “Hey there, junior.”
“He’s been playing in the flower bed,” Illinois warned.
“Ehh, it’s all fine,” Wilford dismissed. “George will take care of it, it’s what he’s paid for.”
Dark gave Wilford a startled look, taking a step back.
“Who?” Illinois asked.
“George,” Wilford said, smiling. “You know.”
Illinois gave him a look.
“You remember good ol’ George,” Wilford said as he plucked a muffin off the tray. “The chap who keeps the grounds, I see him every once in a while. Nice chap, good man. Great conversationalist but a bit of a skewed memory. He says I was in the war, but I don’t see why I would have done that.”
Wilford turned back to Noir, bracing his hands on his knees, “Having fun with the flowers my boy?”
Noir nodded.
“Wonderful to hear,” Wilford smiled and reached into the Void to pull out a light grey fedora with a rainbow colored belt around it. “There, we go. Just like your old man.”
Noir let him place that hat on his head and Wilford looked between Noir and Illinois. “Isn’t he lovely?”
“He is,” Illinois said.
Wilford turned back to smile at Noir again, “You’re going to grow up to be as handsome as your daddies aren’t you?”
Noir managed the tiniest of half smiles as Illinois and Eric both grabbed muffins. Dark ate one even if he couldn’t enjoy it. The moment of them together was peaceful and pleasant.
It was a little late in the season for pumpkins, but they lived on an island and had exactly zero neighbors. So the only people they decorated were them.
Illinois had made some five bean chili for Eric, Noir, and himself. Noir seemed to like it and that’s what mattered. Noir wasn’t feeling up to going to the Harvest festival but he was feeling up to going out for Halloween. Which both Illinois and Eric were excited about. They’d been careful not to let Noir’s adoption slip to any of the villains or heroes, mostly to keep anyone from involving the kid yet and give Noir time to adjust to living with them.
Tonight they were making Jack-O-Lanterns. It was a tradition that Illinois had grown up with in the Manor. The week after Halloween they would always destroy the pumpkins unless one of them really wanted to watch it rot. Which was usually Author. But this was Noir’s first year so they probably wouldn’t break out the sledgehammer yet.
Illinois was sitting on the front porch, at the little table off to the side, with two pumpkins and an entire kit of pumpkin carving knives and utensils. The sharper ones put away and safely away from Noir, and Eric.
“Alright, buddy, what kind of face do you want?” Illinois smiled, squatting down a bit so that he was one Noir’s level.
“I don’t want a face,” Noir frowned.
“That’s all good, what do you want, kiddo?” Illinois said. “We can put anything on the pumpkin.”
Noir was quiet for a little bit before holding up his teddy bear.
“A bear? We can do that. You want Columbo or a grizzly bear?” Illinois asked.
“Columbo,” Noir said, a little bit of a smile on his face, clearly excited.
“Sounds good to me,” Illinois smiled. How about Eric takes care of him while we’re working?”
Noir held his teddy bear a little tighter but he nodded.
“Eric, dulcito, sweetheart, can we have some help out here?” Illinois got up to call into the open doorway.
Eric took a bit to get up from the kitchen table when he was on his tablet watching news feeds and then slowly walked over. Noir gave him a huge smile when he saw him.
“Hmm?” Eric asked as he smiled back at Noir before looking at Illinois.
“Can you keep Columbo company for a little while?” Illinois asked.
Eric smiled and nodded as he pulled up a well cushioned chair over and sat next to Noir. It took Noir a little bit before he passed over his teddy bear. Eric carefully held it in his lap as he watched them.
“H-How lovely,” Eric smiled as he looked at the pumpkins Illinois was drawing on. Noir was sitting close with him.
Illinois had pulled up his phone to look at ideas and Eric tilted the bear so that it was in view when Illinois needed a look at it.
“I think Columbo was a good choice for a pattern,” Illinois said as Noir watched him working.
“Really?” Noir asked.
“Oh yeah, he’s gonna look great.” Illinois smiled as he pulled the top off of Noir’s pumpkin and dragged the bowl closer so that they could scoop the seeds out.
“Wanna reach in here and help, buddy?” Illinois smiled, being careful to move anything that Noir could cut himself on as far away as possible.
“Yeah,” Noir said and reached a hand out to plunge into the pumpkin to start ripping seeds and pulp out. But as he did, time suddenly began to freeze.
In time Noir would say it was the same as when Eric would slow down videos to see what heroes or villains were doing. Things had slowed down to a crawl. Even Noir did.
But his thoughts were a different story. They began to race. At first confusion at what was going on as his brain took in so much information. Too much information.
Confusion turned to fear as Noir stopped trying to reach for the pumpkin and was instead mentally screaming for Illinois and reaching for him.
And then he was free, and Noir began screaming and crying. Illinois immediately let go of the pumpkin and raced around the table to Noir. More of the boy’s grey magic was taking over things. Illinois checked Noir over for any cuts, fearful that he’d left some knife. The pumpkins were forgotten and Illinois and Eric took Noir inside as Noir clung onto Illinois.
Illinois could feel magic coursing through Noir’s body.
It would be some time before Noir calmed down. Illinois wrapped him up in his favorite blanket as they watched some movies. Pumpkins would be taken care of in the morning. And Illinois would take to Host after Noir had gone to bed. He had some questions about how quickly Noir’s mood had shifted and Illinois was concerned that something had happened.
But for now the little family was cuddled together, watching things and comforting Noir until he smiled again.
Patton was starting to have fun again. With one city-destroying threat after the other Patton had felt drained. He had to do the work, obviously, people needed help and villains needed fighting.
Today it was an easy enough mission, a warehouse — that wasn’t Dark’s — had reports to Google in their system. He hadn’t done anything other than mildly injure people and they’d evacuated pretty quick. Logan was working with Bing and Oliver to figure out what he wanted inside the system. Patton was moving into the warehouse with Eric. Mostly to make sure that all the employees had been able to get out.
“So, uh,” Eric began nervously. “I’ve really been, umm, thinking about that, uh, new name thing.”
“Really?” Patton smiled warmly. “That’s really neat, is it that one you and Bomble were talking about, or another one?”
“The one we were ta-lking about,” Eric answered. “C-Combust-Ion.”
“Combust-Ion,” Patton repeated with a smile. “It’s nice, excellent choice.”
Eric was beaming, but the nice moment was cut off when one of Google’s many drones turned the corner, using its helicopter blades to hover in the air as it watched them.
“Hey, uh, Google,” Patton froze, suddenly aware that this was a bad match up.
“Are the useless meat sacks gone from the building?” Google asked through the drone’s speaker.
“That’s what we’re here to check,” Patton told him nervously, Eric freezing completely
“Then check,” Google ordered. “If I see one at this juncture, I will kill it.”
“Right, that’s what we’re trying to prevent,” Patton’s smile became more nervous, as he started signalling for Logan and Bing.
“They already know I’m here,” Google told them.
“Well, yeah, that is important,” Patton said as he took Eric to continue looking around the warehouse. It took about a half-an-hour before Patton was sure the warehouse was clear and sent a message to Logan.
“Okay, Lo Lo,” Patton announced proudly into his communicator. “Everyone’s clear.”
“There are no humans in the building?” Google asked.
“Yes!” Patton declared, “the building is clear.”
“Perfect,” Google responded, a smile practically audible in his voice. And the entire warehouse came alive as all the machines and they all turned on Patton and Eric. “The police don’t rush to the scene if humans die.”
Patton moved first against a massive hydraulic arm, Eric diving out of the way.
All in all, the fight was quick, the robot drone just seemed to be watching them during the quick interchange.
Logan didn’t even have time to run in with Oliver and Bing, Google watched the fight for a bit through his drone and then everything halted, as if Google had pressed a pause button on all his electronic followers.
“Hmmm,” Google’s voice came from the speaker.
“Information collected, thank you for your service,” Google’s voice told them before all the machines powered down, and the drone flew away.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Patton frowned but as he braced for an attack, nothing came. In fact Google pulled all his drones from the city and retreated back to Dark’s warehouses.
When questioned, Bing and Oliver didn’t really have an answer. Only that Google was obviously planning something.
Patton and Eric came out with only bruises, and when Illinois came to see him during a late night patrol he was more than a little upset about Google picking a fight with Eric. He was calmed by the fact Eric wasn’t even remotely hurt and the more malevolent android hadn’t wanted to harm him.
The two of them just walked side-by-side, Eric doing his best to recount the story as Illinois smiled. The two of them were just enjoying each other’s company.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post A/N: Eric in this AU is no longer a nervous apprentice boy known as Explosion Boy, he is a nervous full-time hero known as Combust-Ion.
What a Beautiful Wedding Ch. 1: A Sense of Poise and Rationality
Summary: “What a beautiful wedding” says a bridesmaid to a waiter. “And, yes, but what a shame. What a shame . . .
Nothing bad happens here, I promise.
A/N: The music swells, the curtain lifts. Ladies, gentlemen, and all configurations of being: the show has begun . . .
Titles here are from Panic! at the Disco’s “I Write Sins not Tragedies”.
Okay, so this one’s been a bear to write so this might be uploaded a couple chapters today and the rest over the next day or two.
Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Eric looked at himself in the mirror as Roman set the final touches on his hair. His dark hair had small braids with tiny beads designed to catch the sunlight. His suit was an off-white color and his wrists were decorated with intricate bangles that kept his nerves from activating his powers and setting things on fire.
Despite the suits and dresses and other formal attire all the heroes were still in their masks. Secrecy was still important and they knew the press would be nearby. The only exception would be Eric, who got glasses enchanted, courtesy of the Host, to protect his identity from anyone who shouldn’t know it.
“And voila!” Roman announced and did a little excited jump, spinning the chair marginally and holding up a mirror so that Eric could see the back of his head.
“Awww, you look so cute,” Patton told him.
“R-eally?” Eric ducked his head nervously.
“Positively radiant, my dear,” Roman boasted, his red dress swishing as he twirled. “Not an eye will be able to look away from you.”
Eric’s eyes widened fearfully.
“Nice going Princey,” Virgil spoke up from across the room.
“They’ll look in a good way,” Roman promised. “They’ll see you and realize that you are the most beautiful man in the world.”
“B-ut that’s Illy,” Eric managed to force out.
Roman paused to think on that, “Well I won’t deny that he’s obnoxiously good looking but now you can give him a run for his money.”
Randall walked in, “How we lookin’[1]?”
Twisting around the chair, Roman grinned as he motioned to Eric. “Marvel at this masterpiece. I dare say Da Vinci nor Monet could have done better.”
“Very handsome,” Randall told Eric, both childhood friends smiling at each other. “Just came from checkin’ on the other groom. We’re just waiting fer a final sweep ‘a the area to make sure it’s alright.”[2]
“Alright,” Eric said.
On the other side of the building, Illinois was fiddling with his bow tie as he checked his hair and suit in the mirror.
“How’s it looking?” Illinois asked, his eyes moving to look at his adopted brother in the mirror.
“Nothing is amiss,” the Host told him.
“Marv still isn’t back,” Chase reminded. “I don’t like it. I haven’t heard a peep from him.”
“The Host spoke with Marvin, he is on his way back to the city with the Blade and the Angel of Death,” the Host took a seat. “While they will be late for the ceremony, Illinois and the attendants will find that they will arrive just in time.”
“Okay,” Illinois took a deep breath. He didn’t touch his lucky coin, he wanted today to be a good day. A perfect day.
He’d been trying to play his safe for months to hoard as much magic as possible. No adventures. No fights. Not even a card game with his siblings.
Because Eric deserved nice things. He deserved to be happy and safe.
After a while Dark checked his pocket watch, and Illinois walked out with him and the Host. The blind seer headed on ahead to wait with the other groomsmen.
Dark waited at one end of a long rug that led to a big outdoor gazebo with a dark wood roof. Chairs led up to the gazebo and had wooden structures protecting it from any accidental rain or glare from the sun. A matching rug was one that Randall would lead Eric down. The two grooms would meet in the middle and then walk up to the altar where Jackie, who had taken the online classes needed to officiate marriages.
The Entity paused, waiting for the signal from the organ that Dark could start walking. But he looked over at Illinois. The young man was looking around, his hand reaching into his pocket and resisted trying to pull out his lucky coin.
In the demon’s mind he thought of little Illinois, barely at chest level, with wide eyes that hungered for adventure but a body too small to take him there.
Dark had never liked thinking about how big Illinois had gotten. It reminded him that Illinois would walk out of his life and become his own person. It’s just . . . it had all been so wonderful while it lasted.
Illinois looked over at Dark and smiled. “Hey, 아빠[3].”
“Illinois,” Dark answered, trying to keep Damien quiet and invisible. Dark had to keep his hands to himself and his feelings out of the way. This was all for Illinois. He took a second to take a deep breath and schooled his features. “I’ll have your portion of the city ready for when you get back.”
“What?” Illinois asked, mostly in confusion.
But then the music began and Dark was offering his elbow. Illinois took it and promised himself that when he could pull Dark away again they’d talk. He didn’t like the tone Dark had taken when he’d said that.
Illinois and Dark stepped in time to the music and all too soon he saw Eric, his hands gripping onto Randall’s arm. He almost tripped when his eyes met Illinois’s.
Then all too soon, they were within arms reach. Illinois reached out to take Eric’s arm and they walked up. To Illinois, Eric looked like an angel he’d somehow snagged out of the sky and convinced to stay with him.
They walked down the aisle and Illinois kept the pace slow so that Eric wouldn’t have a single problem walking down the aisle. Dark and Randall followed them up.
Everything was going perfectly.
Illinois and Eric were looking at each other and Jackie opened his mouth to start the ceremony, when someone else walked down the aisle.
“I’m here!” Someone in a red tux announced. A smile as sharp as glass. “Shame on you, Damien, I almost missed the whole thing.”
Everyone immediately looked at the Actor, Dark got in front of Illinois as the young man was trying to push Eric towards Jackie.
“Get out,” Dark snarled in a furious growl.
“You’d done your job, step aside,” Actor snapped out a dark mass of aura and batted Dark to the side, the Entity slamming into the organ and let out a pained cough.
“아빠!”[3] Illinois called out. Yancy, who was closer, immediately raced to Dark’s side but the Entity shoved him away from both him and the Actor.
“I will admit,” Marc smiled as he waltzed down the aisle, “I didn’t recognize you at first. That’s my bad. But I did try and talk to you, and it’s quite an oversight not to personally invite me.”
Dark pushed himself back up to a kneeling position, his ringing shrill and aura coiling around.
“I didn’t invite you because you’re a piece of shit and you just attacked my dad, so fuck off,” Illinois snarled. He started trying to move over to Dark but the Actor slid into his path.
“Not possible,” Actor smiled, gesturing to himself. “Daddy’s here now and we don’t need . . .”
Actor glared back at Dark, “. . . to be worried about extraneous characters.”
“Get the hell out of here, I don’t want you anywhere near my family,” Illinois snarled.
“Oh, junior,” Marc smiled. “I’m trying to help you. Think of it: father and son. We’d take the world by storm.”
Illinois felt fury, thinking off all the foster homes and awful situations he’d been in, “Even if you were, you can fuck right the fuck off!”
Behind the Actor, Ranboo was trying to inch closer to Dark. He’d been sitting with the rest of the heroes. But he was trying to quietly summon up a portal to get Dark away from the Actor but when he inched too close the Actor spun around and slammed his aura into the young teen, knocking him back.
“If I wanted to take on the peanut gallery, I would have called you up,” Actor snapped.
“Enderwalk!” Virgil called out and raced over to him as the teen slammed against the wall of the gazebo and let out a grunt of pain. Immediately the room seemed to snap out of whatever haze they were in and moved as Marc moved to attack Ranboo again. Tubbo was already the closest.
Ranboo braced for the attack to hit but in the nick of time, there was a shattering of glass and Techno emerged from one of the eye portals. Shield and axe in hand he deflected the shot and blew a hole in the roof of the gazebo.
“I’m gonna have to stop you right there,” Techno smiled. “Come on, kid, I saw you using a weapon before, come on.”
“Boo,” Tubbo moved in as Phil and Marvin raced in.
“Anyone dead yet?” Marvin demanded.
“Bout time yeh showed up,”[4] Chase spat, pulled out his gun, a real one and aimed it at the Actor’s head.
Snarling in anger, the Actor exploded into black mist, making Chase miss his shot and nicked Illinois right in the face by accident.
Actor grabbed Dark and stabbed him with a dragged he pulled out of his black mist. “I don’t like being teased, Dames.”
With a slice, Dark screamed and the Actor pulled out a black day planner. “If you want something done right you should just do it yourself.”
Magic began to swirl around the Actor as bubbles began to form. They swelled in size and began to fill the room.
Bing began to visibly freak out and used his nanites to push Mini and Oliver away with his nanites, throwing them outside the gazebo just as a bubble expanded to snap up the rest of the androids.
In an instant the city rumbled and Dark . . .
. . . . . .
Dark woke up in bed.
He glared at the faintly glowing clock on the distant wall. It was barely a half-hour before he had to get up so there was no point in going back to sleep.
He smiled faintly when he heard Wilford snoring, the man splayed out to Dark’s left. The softer snores were from Chase who was cuddled up into Dark’s chest.
With a smile softening his features Dark decided: maybe he could sleep in a few more minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post A/N: . . . Okay I lied big time.
Accessibility Translations:
1. looking
2. Just came from checking on the other groom. We’re just waiting for a final sweep of the area to make sure it’s alright
Summary: Yancy helps on a hunt for some information.
A/N: And now for your regularly scheduled Visitation Day.
Chapters: 1, 2
~::~ Present Day ~::~
Yancy was with King and Eric, waiting outside the heroes’ base. They were waiting for Logic and Illinois. Both of whom were late.
“Noisy, I’s[1] get,” Yancy said. “But what happened ta[2] Logic?”
“He’s not answering texts,” King commented. “But Ills is only a couple minutes away.”
“Hey, guys!” Virgil called out as he ran over, in his black cloak.
“Uhh,” Eric commented nervously.
“Where’s Logic?” King asked.
Virgil looked nervous. “Last minute emergency, Iridescence had a little bit of a freak out, and Emile had to show up. Logic had to participate, so I’m kinda[3] his stand-in.”
“Is everyone alright?” King asked.
“Yeah, but it probably wouldn’t seem like too much of an emergency to you all, but we’re all good.” The anxious Side didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “If you all need another brainiac, I can call Bing or Oliver?”
“No, they’re watching Lunky, that’s more important,” King decided, his phone buzzing and he took it out to look at it. “You’ll do fine. But, while you’re here. Do you think you can get that camera, I need to have another look at it.”
“Hey, Eric, why don’t you take him in,” King suggested. “Need to talk with Yanc about something.”
“Y-Yeah, sure,” Eric agreed and they both went inside.
“What’s the matter?” Yancy asked.
King stared down at his phone, a single new text from Illinois:
“Marathon.”
The animal magnet watched a pair of squirrels twist up his body to perch onto his shoulders. He texted back: “Received, safe and sound.”
The instant it was received, Illinois popped out of a portal.
“Thanks, we need to talk really fast,” Illinois said.
“Did youse[4] just send youse’s[5] husband away?” Yancy asked, pointing at the door.
“He already knows, I just needed the hero gone,” Illinois corrected. “Plus, we do need that camera.”
“So, what happened?” King asked.
“We had a bit of a flight risk,” Illinois kept his voice down as he watched the door Yancy and Virgil had disappeared off to.
“Who? Some captain?” King asked.
“Dad,” Illinois corrected. “아빠.[6] He thought Wil was going to kick him out of the house, for whatever reason, so he started destroying pictures that we had of him.”
“What?” Yancy startled and King just stared at Illinois in shock. “Why?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t wanna[7] leave him alone right now,” Illinois said. “Bim’s actually been helping a lot. He really stepped up.”
“Never thought I’d see the day,” King smiled uncomfortably. “So, he doing better.”
“Bit by bit,” Illinois frowned. “Just need your guys’ help looking out for him, spend some quality time with him so he’s more likely to run to us instead of somewhere else. I’m just trying to figure out what’s actually going on.”
“Will do,” Yancy agreed, as Virgil and Eric walked out, the camera in Virgil’s hand.
Virgil startled when he saw Illinois. “I gotta[8] bring this back or Lo will throw one hell of a fit.”
“We just need to look at it, not keep it, I don’t want a soul splitter anywhere near Dark or Wil. Logic already knows.” Illinois was quick to agree as he took out one of his portal chalk and drew a massive portal to a study. “We’ll head to my place, wanna[7] keep this off the record.”
“We’ll make sure you get home safely,” King promised.
Virgil nodded and followed the group into a study. It was a little personal one with a desk and several bookcases of books.
“Y-You want a drink?” Eric asked Illinois.
“Maybe later, dulcito[9], you can get yourself one, though,” Illinois smiled as he walked over to the table that was covered in books and notes.
“So,” Illinois started as he started pulling out folding chairs. “Been doing a little bit of research on this cult.”
Virgil picked up a picture of some runes with very primitive drawings of Dark, Anti, and Mare. “Huh, weird.”
“Can you take notes to bring to Logic?” King asked Virgil.
“I gotcha[10] one, better,” Virgil smiled and pulled out his phone. He turned on the camera and propped it up so the phone could take video and audio of the entire table.
“You wanna[7] start, or should I?” Illinois said.
“I’ll go,” King said. “Okay, so Logic. At first, I didn’t know what I was looking at. It was a bunch of random cave drawings of people and a weird backwards English cipher. Some of it, misspelled, so take from that what you will.”
He then picked up a bunch of drawings from separate group of pictures. “It wasn’t until Princey brought back these that I realized what I was working with. The exact same type of cipher, just in Portuguese and other languages.”
“Wrote a whole college thesis on that stuff, thanks for the save,” Illinois butted in.
King spoke up to start talking over him. “Anyways, this cult came from Spanish conquistadors, hijacking some kinda religion in the area and perverting it into some talk about an Egg. This cult seemingly died and were wiped out, but someone found them and brought them to the States. Which is where they snuck onto Dark’s island. I think they were taking notes on them.”
“No, no,” Illinois cut in, gesturing to himself in a smug way. “I brought it up, credit where it’s due.”
The animal magnet rolled his eyes and pushed Illinois’s face away.
“How’d youse[4] know?” Yancy asked.
Illinois smiled and held up a couple pieces of paper, paperclipped together, “Police seizure notes. They found information on the Old Man. Apparently their hideout burned down, but the fire didn’t get everything.”
“Now, for the thing you’ve all been waiting for,” Illinois darted over to his desk and pulled a box out. “Found this from a contact.”
Eric opened the door as Illinois opened the box, a small sliver of red vine inside.
Once it was open, everyone heard whispering:
Plant me and I can make it all go away.
Plant me and I can make them understand.
Plant me and I can make him better.
Plant me and I can make you whole again.
Illinois was closer and Eric froze, the whispering in his own ear but he looked at Illinois and saw the color red slowly starting to take over his eyes.
“I-Ill,” Eric stammered before stumbling over and putting his hand on the box and explosions rippled out. Incinerating the sliver of vine and the whispering stopped.
Everyone snapped out of it, Illinois shaking his head as he came back to himself.
“Illy,” Eric sobbed and Illinois looked at him in shock.
“Dulcito[9], I’m so sorry,” Illinois stood up and took him into his arms. “He whispered into Eric’s hair, “thank you so much. I’m so sorry.”
It took a lot to calm the group down, Virgil sensing everyone’s panic and needing to call Emile and Yancy had to calm down from his own panic attack.
The video was stopped after the tense moment, and after everyone calmed down they started a new one. Illinois was holding a coffee and was cuddled next to Eric.
“So, I’m going to make sure if I find anymore of that vine shit and destroy it, because fuck that,” Illinois told the recording. “But onto your point, Logic. Hey, Anxiety, you still have that camera?”
“Yeah,” Virgil said, holding the camera in his hands.
“Can we see it for a bit?” Illinois asked.
“Y-Yeah?” Virgil said, holding it out, but King was the one who grabbed it first.
“Can’t get over how much this is Dad’s,” King commented as he turned the camera over in his hands.
“It’s e’en[11] got his mustache,” Yancy commented, looking at it.
“You still got that soul splitter?” Illinois asked, gently taking the camera from Yancy.
“Yeah, I like to keep it away from the Jims,” King told them. “Lunky is already too much to handle.”
Virgil started getting nervous, but before he could swipe the camera away, Illinois pointed the lens away from anyone and took the spike, smearing some portal chalk dust on the tip. Then he jammed the tip into the button and the camera shook, taking a picture of nothing. But when it did, it produced two pictures. They looked like polaroids, despite this type of camera being physically incapable of making such pictures. Illinois took one picture before it could hit the ground, and Virgil picked the second one up.
The first photo was of Dark, the picture of his face taken just before Dark realized a photo was being taken. Flecks of red and blue along the edges of either side, but most of the picture was a deep and vibrant purple.
The second photo was of Thomas. Thomas was giving the camera an awkward smile. In exactly the same spot as Dark’s picture there was a huge burst of purple, but Thomas’s picture had a rainbow halo of color around the other edges.
Virgil let out a quiet gasp as he touched the picture.
“He was meant to become me,” Virgil gasped, looking at the picture and at how much purple made up the image of Thomas. Something dawned on Virgil, something he’d thought about every once in a while. “Phantom confused me for one of you guys, maybe that’s because he saw that in me.”
Illinois was staring at Virgil, looking just so incredibly sad. “Patton?” Illinois asked.
Virgil startled.
“No, I’m,” Virgil cut off, the urge to run starting to curl his toes, “I’m not— how’d you— I’m Anxiety. That’s my name.”
“Yeah that’s your hero name, but what’s your real name?” Illinois asked.
“I need to go, coming here was a bad idea,” Virgil decided. The Side grabbed the camera and stuffed the picture into his pocket. “I need to go home. I need to . . .”
Virgil clutched the camera tighter to him as he felt some force reach out and grab him, and yank him from one spot to the other. Virgil in one moment went from standing in Illinois’s study, to the Side’s living room. His head spun from the movement and he collapsed onto the ground. Emile and Roman were on him in a moment as Thomas slowly moved over.
Illinois stared in shock, he’d been about to open up a portal when Virgil suddenly disappeared with the camera. As if neither had been in the room to even begin with.
“That was fast, I didn’t know he could do that,” Illinois looked at the spot, he couldn’t even find an aura train to suggest which direction the Side had gone.
“Serves youse right fer pryin’,”[12] Yancy commented. “Youse[4] don’t just ask one ‘a[13] the heroes their identities.”
“I only did it ‘cause[14]—” Illinois started before storming out of the room. “—nevermind.”
King followed him out, Eric already trying to calm Illinois down, the two standing in their living room in the lake house.
“I need to talk about something else,” Illinois told King. “I’ll take anything.”
“Christmas is gonna[15] be interesting,” King said.
Illinois groaned. “Nevermind. Let’s talk about Anxiety.”
King didn’t seem to care that Illinois wanted to move the subject back, “It’s weird. I spent a lot of time with him, working with the heroes, and now he’s kinda in the family.”
The adventurer huffed, “He makes 아빠[6] happy, that’s what matters to me.”
“It’s just weird, he never showed interest in anyone before, not even as a business thing,” King said. “Wil flirts with anything that moves, and Dark just didn’t.”
“It was the triplets, they always wanted to see Chase, so Dark spent time around him. Vicious cycle stuff.”
Yancy walked in, “We’s talkin’ ‘bout what a shitshow Christmas is gonna be?”[16]
Illinois let out an overdramatic groan.
“Five bucks says Bim pitches a hissy fit,” King smiled.
“He better not,” Illinois told him.
Yancy rolled his eyes, deciding to spend a little bit of time with his brothers before going back to the heroes.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Accessibility Translations:
1. I
2. to
3. kind of
4. you
5. your
6. Dad. (Used informally; phonetically can be read as: Appa.)
7. want to
8. have to
9. sweetheart
10. got you
11. even
12. Serves you right for prying
13. of
14. because
15. going to
16. Are we talking about what a shitshow Christmas is going to be?
Summary: The heroes think they know Damien, but the Mayor of Egoton and his magical sister are keeping many secrets from them.
Chapters: 1, 2, 3
Dark was actually having a bit of fun. She was standing next to Illinois, her sweet Illinois and overlooking a shipment coming in when the heroes attacked.
Normally if her blue soul had more control, Dark would have rushed to remove Illinois from the situation, overprotective until the end.
But with her red soul, Dark knew the boy could handle it. He was the most magically proficient out of all of his siblings, he was Wil’s boy. He and his siblings deserved the world.
Something that Dark was more than willing to provide in any form.
“Hey, Dark,” Silver shouted as he flew in. “We’re ready this time.”
“Are you?” Dark arched an eyebrow, her arms crossed in front of her.
Illinois glanced at her, braced to get pushed into a portal but it didn’t come, and he looked excited, sticking his hands into his pockets.
Marvin was flying overhead, magic at his hands and excitement on his face. Marvin and Dark had been having magic duels lately. Violent shows of magic that Dark had never engaged him with her blue soul. Behind the two Illinois saw Jackieboy Man and Captain Morality. But behind them Illinois took a second to recognize his fiancé because he was in a new suit.
“Part the seas, boys,” Illinois motioned with his hands as he smiled at Eric. “Hey Explosion Boy, new suit I see?”
Dark glanced at Illinois, rolling her eyes, “Go take care of your fiancé. I have the others.”
“If you’re sure?” Illinois smirked, not taking his eyes off Eric.
“I fail to see how you would do anything other than fixate on him,” Dark chuckled, pushing him lightly with her aura, “go.”
Illinois began to walk to the side and Eric mirrored him. Dark and the other heroes watched them before Dark’s aura twisted around her hands and she flew towards Marvin who summoned up a shield to take most of the force.
Silver flew after them while Jackie and Patton followed after on foot.
“Is this what your former apprentices are worth these days?” Dark told Silver, firing a couple bolts of red aura at him and Marvin. “Distraction detail?”
“Keeps your kid’s luck magic off of us, and ours doesn’t have a panic attack trying to fight you,” Silver told her.
“Fair enough, I suppose,” Dark shrugged, and then she began throwing bolts of magic at them. Marvin being the primary target.
“Where’s yer[1] brother?” Marvin baited. “Come on, we haven’t seen the two ‘a yeh together in o’er a year. Let’s have a nice family reunion so I can cast Dark off ‘a yeh.”[2]
Dark brought her axe into being and Marvin’s smile widened.
“Yeah, let’s fookin’ do this, yah surly demon,”[3] Marvi yelled as a huge feline magical construct was summoned around him and magic cards poured out of his sleeves to swirl around him.
When the two of them flew at each other the magical blast knocked Silver back a little bit, almost making him collide with Jackie.
“That’s a hell’uva lotta magic,”[4] Jackie realized.
“Even Dark can’t hold out forever,” Silver commented.
“But neither can Marv,” Patton reminded. “Get me up there.”
“Yeh[5] can’t fly,” Jackie denied.
“If I can’t touch any part of Dark’s aura I can influence it,” Patton told them.
“Nah, Cap,” Jackie shook his head. “Not happening.”
“Last time we had to restart Marvin’s heart from his last fight with Dark, he’s not gonna stop fighting her,” Patton reminded.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Silver decided. “Jackie be on standby for a catch.”
“Hey, I can’t fly either,” Jackie commented.
“You can slow his fall a bit,” Silver told him. “It’ll give me or Marv a chance to catch him.”
“This is a bad idea,” Jackie told him.
“If any of us dies, J.J or Host would stop us,” Silver reminded.
Jackie sighed, “Yeah, yer prolly right. Okay, let’s do it.”[6]
Silver picked Patton up, bridal style so Patton could keep his hands clear and then in one of the craziest stunts he’d ever tried, the flying hero dropped Patton and flew around to try and pin Dark in place.
Thankfully Dark was too busy focusing on Marvin’s constant magical barrage. Silver could see Marvin was starting to get tired.
Dark’s attention was split between the two heroes when Patton just landed on her. His aura dug into hers as Marvin threw the most powerful attack he had. It hit both Dark and Patton, and blew a hold in the building under Dark.
Silver dove in immediately to catch the unconscious hero as the Entity began to fall.
Dark was trying to surge her aura back when she was hit by Marvin’s cards and Silver slamming into her and forcing her towards the ground. Dark felt the last of her magical reserves give in and in a fit of self preservation she leaned back into her blue soul who was still exhausted and drained. Dark was out before he hit the ground.
Silver watched Dark slam into the ground, expecting her to teleport away but her form seemed to shift back to looking like Damien before he hit the ground with a violent THUD.
Confused at the shift, Silver flew into the building. It was definitely Damien and he was just lying there, unmoving.
“The hell did you come from?” Silver asked.
Silver heard the shifting of movement behind him on the upper floor of the building.
When the hero turned to see what the sound was he saw someone with a sniper rifle standing on the second floor, the silver brass clubs symbol on his chest. He raised the gun and fired it. Silver, who had been shot with all types of bullets just tanked it, he’d wanted to confront one of the Suits up close.
But the instant the bullet hit him he felt the magic course through him and the superhero felt so drowsy that he collapsed. Right before he completely blacked out he saw a flash of movement coming towards him.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Accessibility Translations
1. Your
2. Come on, we haven’t seen the two of you together in over a year. Let’s have a nice family reunion so I can cast Dark off of you.
3. Yeah, let’s fucking do this, you surly demon
4. That’s a hell of a lot of magic
5. You
6. Yeah, you’re probably right. Okay, let’s do it.
Summary: Illinois and Eric rejoin with the group as Damien’s condition persists.
Chapters: 1, 2, 3
While the fight with Dark had been going on, Illinois was busy taking the hero’s bait and circling around Eric.
“Well, well, what’s a cute thing like you doing in a dangerous place like this?” Illinois smiled at Eric. “Ooohhh, dulcito,[1] this suit looks amazing on your calves. Tell me who made it, so I can commission them to make more.”
“Logic and Bing,” Eric was blushing under his mask.
“Well! I know where my next paycheck is disappearing off to,” Illinois decided, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a pair of Jims racing over with a camera. “Well let’s put on a little show for the cameras, hero.”
Eric startled and looked at the camera. Illinois didn’t even give him time to be embarrassed because he dove right for him and began a fight that was half wrestling, half throwing magic that if it hit Eric was mostly a light show; and all a show for the camera.
Both Illinois and Eric were having fun playing it up for the cameras when Illinois’s heat physically lifted off his head and Illinois caught the little bronze star inside it glowing a violent dark purple and kept trying to tug the hat in a direction. The direction that Dark had flown off to fight the heroes.
“Let’s lose the paparazzi, dulcito,” Illinois told Eric. “My old man needs some help.”
“Ills, wait,” Eric told him before Illinois produced a couple smoke bombs and dropped them around them. He scooped Eric up into his arms and ran off with him. Both of them disappeared into the smoke.
The heroes had finally relocated outside the ruined building, taking Damien and the chair with them.
Marvin was pacing and trying to come up with a new idea. Silver was floating nearby with a new mask, courtesy of Marvin. Jackie standing to him, talking. Patton was sitting on the ground next to Damien. And the mayor had an ice pack to his chest and a cigarette in his mouth.
Damien had a lot to think through, he was apparently in the future, he’d been running around with a demon. His father would have killed him if he was still alive.
He needed to finish his cigarette, go home and take a nap.
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out,” Patton tried to reassure Damien helpfully. The mayor rolled his eyes. He’d been told the hero next to him was named “Captain Morality” and along with not being an absolute asshole had given him the ice pack. So Damien was pretty sure that out of the three he was currently Damien’s favorite.
Then Marvin stopped and looked at two people running over. “Shite! Illinois’s comin’ in hot.”[2]
“Where is he? What did you fuckers do?”
“Ills.”
The arguing was giving Damien a migraine, he couldn’t deal with more new people. He was still sore from the apparently failed exorcism. Or maybe it was successful, he’d never even been allowed to see one to tell.
“Slow yer[3] roll casanova,” Marvin ordered.
Rolling his eyes, curiosity got the better of him, and he looked back to see someone standing next to Marc. He was the only one not masked and he looked younger than Marc. Damien looked at the dark hair, the light tan complexion, the way his eyes narrowed and brows furrowed when he was clearly angry and thought: “Is he Celine’s?”
With that one thought Damien decided he was done with this charade and wanted to go home. He wanted to go home and lock himself in his basement, and get so completely lost in whiskey He couldn’t remember who he was anymore.
Damien could still feel the phantom hand of his father on his shoulder. The man had only been dead a couple of years — at least to Damien, now it was a couple decades at least — but his threats and orders still weighed on his soul.
It seems he’d been mentally gone so long that he’d missed another of Celine’s children, and probably countless more.
Damien shakily got up from his chair and started to turn away, clutching his cigarette like a lifeline. The ice pack left on the chair.
I don’t want you to even look at that child, his father had ordered. It’s bad enough you’ll be related, but I can’t have another null in the family. You—
“아빠”[4] The young man was coming to stand in front of Damien.
The mayor instinctively flinched away, looking back and expecting Marc to come over and pull his son away.
“I’m not,” Damien started, more confused. “I can’t—”
“아빠[4] are you okay?” The young man asked, clearly worried.
“I,” Damien faltered, his mind trying to push down the hope. “Marc!”
Illinois startled and tracked Dark’s eyes to Silver, glaring at him in absolute rage, “Ex-fucking-cuse you?”
Mark held up his hands, “I’ve told him ten times now, I’m not whichever Mark he’s thinking of.”
“We’ll deal with this later,” Illinois decided, then turned to Dark. “Alright, what happened?”
As Illinois had been talking, Damien was having a minor meltdown. Illinois saw the look on his face and his expression and tone softened considerably.
“It’s me,” the young man tried to urge. “Illinois?”
When he saw a continued look of confusion, Illinois realized that Dark wasn’t hurt, he was having an episode. “Oh no, we need to get you home.”
“Yer not goin’ anywhere,”[5] Marvin ordered.
“Fuck off, Copperfield,” Illinois pulled out a piece of chalk and drew open a portal. Dark flinched away from it.
“Come on, dad,” Illinois held out his hand, halfway through the portal.
Almost as if the Manor was sensing a problem it extended out and pulled Illinois, Damien, and the heroes into the Manor and the portal winked closed.
“Ughhh, you’re gonna be pissed when you come to again,” Illinois realized as he saw the other heroes, pulling Eric closer to him.
“Great,” Damien looked around, recognizing the Barnum estate. “You should have just left me there, it was closer to my place than here.”
“No, we live here,” Illinois clarified.
“Yes you live here but I don’t,” Damien snapped back up as he started for the door.
Just as he hit the foyer, Damien stopped at the large portrait hanging on the wall. It had previously sat in the Manor’s living room office, hidden and tucked away in the most private corner for Dark to look at. Since the portrait had been updated the demon had been convinced to bring it out into the main entrance hall.
The sight of it froze Damien dead in his tracks because neither Marc nor Celine were in the picture. Illinois was there but so were four other young men, one young lady, and two individuals that Damien thought looked familiar but couldn’t recognize.
Along the black frame frame in golden colored letters read the name: “BARNUM-DOOM” which completely halted Damien enough for Illinois to catch up.
“I think you need to lie down for a bit,” Illinois tried to offer.
“Where— Who—” Damien tried to place why the one with the curly mustache looked so familiar. Then Damien really looked at the man’s wide toothy smile and everything clicked.
It was Wil’s smile.
Damien’s hands trembled as he reached out to touch the picture, treating it so delicately as if the image would change to a different man.
“아빠?”[4] Illinois walked over, seeing the tears starting to fall from Damien’s face.
“Is,” Damien’s throat felt like it was clogged. “Is this your father?”
“You’re our father too,” Illinois reminded him.
There was a sharp intake of breath from Damien, he looked like he’d been completely frozen in place.
“We’re adopted,” Illinois told him, then corrected, “well most of us, Bim is yours by blood.”
“I can’t have children,” Damien’s response was quiet, almost a whisper.
“You guys did it with magic,” Illinois lied, mostly because explaining to Damien how cloning worked when Illinois barely understood it himself and the mayor would just be here for an hour at most seemed like a bad idea.
“Oh,” Damien replied, looking back at the picture. “That’s me with him?”
“Yes,” Illinois answered.
Damien fought the feeling that his throat was unbearably tight and he gave the only response he could: taking a step towards Illinois and wrapping his arms around him.
Illinois flinched a bit in surprise because normally Dark was not a hug-person, he avoided touch. The young man’s only thought was that Damien felt ice cold. But he ignored that thought, his father needed him.
“He did come back.” Damien was shaking as he held onto Illinois. “He came back and gave you to me.”
Illinois gave a sad smile as he hugged him back. “I’m here.”
Eventually, Damien pulled away, looking back at the portrait with a huge, excited smile, “Six? That’s amazing.”
Illinois looked back at the family portrait, and smiled. They’d had to force King and Yancy back into suits to take it. Illinois pointed to each of them. “That’s Host, there’s me, Kaylor or “Kay” for short, Yancy, Yan, and Bim.”
Damien’s hands traced over the bandages on Host’s face. “What happened?”
“He had a bit of an accident,” Illinois explained carefully. “He’s blind but his magic helps him navigate around.”
“The poor thing,” Damien looked around, “is he here?”
“No, he lives with his boyfriend but he’ll probably turn up,” Illinois told him. “He has a way of doing that.”
“Bim, Yan, and I are the only ones who still live here,” Illinois explained. “The others have moved out.”
At that Damien looked emotionally crushed, “Oh, I guess you are adults.”
Illinois looked back into the other room where the heroes were all awkwardly watching, Illinois and Damien blocking them from leaving through the front door. The young man needed to completely defuse the situation. “Damien” needed to go to bed and he needed to kick everyone but Eric out.
So Illinois took a deep, quiet breath and decided to tackle it one problem at a time. Step one: isolate Eric from the other heroes.
“Before we lose the plot,” Illinois began to gently steer Damien towards Eric who looked nervous. “Sweetheart, he already knows your face, you can lose the mask.”
“Oh,” Eric realized and quickly pulled it off and put his glasses back on. “Hi, Mr. Dark.”
“Uhhh,” Damien looked a bit uncomfortable.
“아빠[4] this is Eric, he’s my fiancé,” Illinois reintroduced. “We’re getting married in September.”
“Aren’t you a little sweetheart,” Damien smiled at Eric.
Eric smiled back nervously, his smile getting bigger as Illinois came over to wrap his arm around him.
“He’s amazing,” Illinois smiled lovingly at Eric who blushed and ducked his head at the compliment.
Illinois began herding Eric and Dark to the nearest couch, talking about wedding plans and Damien seemed to get more excited.
He turned to the four heroes, and opened his mouth to start the process of ushering the unwanted intruders out of his home.
But another voice cut through the air.
“Are we having a party?” Wilford’s slurred drawl cut through the air like a bullet. “Been ages since we’ve had company.”
The adventurer looked to see his other father walking in from the kitchen and Illinois only had one thought in his mind: “Fuck!”
Wil chuckled as he walked over to throw his arm around Illinois, “Sorry my boy, did I interrupt a good ol’ fashioned joke?”
Illinois heard his phone go off and looked to see that almost all of his siblings had tried to contact him. “Dammit!”
Damien stared up at Wil from his seat on the couch and unseen a metaphorical fuse was lit. But for now Damien was so happy. “Wil?”
“Mhmm?” Wil looked over at Damien. “Yes my sweet licorice?”
Illinois answered his phone, it was too late to quietly whisk Damien safely away so he had to run damage control, “Yeah, King, just saw your texts.”
Damien let out a choked sound and came from around the couch to run at Wil and wrap his arms around him.
Wil returned the hug and chuckled, “My, someone’s cuddly today.”
“I thought you’d forgotten about me,” Damien clung onto his partner.
“Never for long,” Wilford chuckled as he picked Damien up, his arms bracing the other man like a seat. “I am here now my Darkling, don’t you worry about a thing.”
Mark was a bit surprised by the look of complete adoration on Damien’s face.
“Yeah, you are, aren’t you?” Damien smiled, resting his forehead against Wil’s. “You are.”
“Is anyone dead?” Bim walked out of the kitchen. Then he froze at the three heroes, “The flying fuck are you doing in my house.”
“We’re having a party,” Wil announced.
“The fuck we are,” Bim spat and looked at Damien, who was still in Wil’s arms, “are you serious?”
“I—” Damien started.
“You know what, have fun, I’m heading somewhere else,” Bim decided, not even letting Damien finish. He used his hand to cut through the air with his aura and made a portal large enough for him to walk through. It snapped closed after him.
Damien looked like he’d been stabbed as he glanced at the spot Bim had just been in. He glanced at Wil, “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, no,” Wil was very quick to reassure. “He’s just in a mood is all.”
“Bim’s a brat,” Illinois announced loudly, briefly pulled away from his conversation with King
“Fuck you Ills!” Bim’s voice came from upstairs.
Illinois laughed, “Talk to you later Kay.” Then he hung up and pocketed his phone.
“Dad, why don’t you go get some drinks?” Illinois offered to Wil.
“Oh, of course, how rude of me,” Wil chuckled, setting Damien down who tried to follow Wil.
“Do you need any help?” Damien asked.
Wil gave Damien a quick peck on the cheek, “I know my way around a liquor cabinet, just go enjoy yourself, my dear.”
“If you insist,” Damien smiled and went back to the couch.
He looked back at the living room and had an odd flash of recognition, the faces of the people in the room briefly flashing to different guests he couldn’t quite remember.
As if something was dreadfully familiar.
“You okay?” Patton asked, immediately picking up on the tense air around Damien.
“I just,” Damien began but was distracted by some pictures on the mantle. Pictures of what looked like a happy and lovely family. One he couldn’t remember because a demon had been walking around in his body.
Giving him everything he had ever wanted and more.
“A demon is supposed to ruin your life, not make it infinitely better,” Damien said.
“Well that’s great fer yah,”[6] Jackie chimed in. “But he’s made our lives a livin’ hell.”[7]
“Don’t,” Illinois placed himself protectively in front of Damien.
“Don’t what?” Mark felt indignant fury come over him. “Don’t tell him that he let a demon crawl around in his skin and strangle the life out of my town.”
“Now I—” Damien tried to defend himself as Mark lightly pushed Marvin out of the way.
“Or how about the fact that Dark let Logic almost get tortured and killed by the guy who just walked through here,” Mark argued, turning to Patton. “Or did you forget.”
“I didn’t forget, I just—” Patton spoke up but Silver was so angry.
“Wil’s a mass murdering nut job,” Mark reminded.
“Wil is many things,” Damien argued back, “he might be an eccentric but he’s not a murdered.”
“He is and Dark has been letting him fly off the handle and kill people whenever he wants!” Silver shouted. He pointed to Illinois, “You’re a thief. Bim’s a cannibalistic psychopath.”
“You’re lying!” Damien tried to push around Illinois to punch Mark in the face, but Illinois held him back. Rage and anger boiling from a part of Damien’s soul he couldn’t control. “Wil would never! You should know better, he’s your own brother! You’re just jealous that Celine left you for him!”
The instant those words left Damien’s mouth the fuse hit the end of its line and the memories came flooding back. The awful memories that left Damien dead and hollow.
In the wake of the mayor’s words the room went deadly silent. As if a bomb had gone off in the room.
“You,” Damien choked out as a dull ringing echo slowly seeped back into the room and the colors slowly started to fade. Recognition flared in his eyes, and slowly the black bruises on his neck came back and were getting darker and more necrotic-looking. “You stole everything from me.”
The look in Damien’s eyes was one of such hatred that Mark could physically feel it.
Illinois felt an aura push him out of the way. Damien let out an enraged scream and lunged at Mark.
Mark threw his hands up to protect his face, and began floating so he could get away but the hit never came. When he looked back Damien seemed trapped by some force as he screamed and tried to struggle. All too soon his screams began to get weaker and his skin began to turn grey.
Damien stiffened and Dark looked up.
“Get out of my house,” Dark growled and four was a gust of wind before Patton, Mark, Jackie, and Marvin were all tossed outside the front door.
Illinois and Eric were left in the living room as the house went back to normal.
“You can stay,” Dark told Eric who looked nervous. “You have a new suit I see, it certainly seems better than the old cloth one you had.”
“Uh, thanks,” Eric stammered nervously.
Wilford walked out with a tray of drinks, all of them swirling with his aura. The Host quietly, as his narrations would allow, followed behind him. He looked around the room. “Huh, didn’t we have company?”
Dark walked over and kissed him on the cheek, “That was last week, Wil.”
“Oh, silly me,” Wil chuckled and a portal opened for him to practically throw the tray into and dusted off his hands. “You know time, she plays hard to get.”
Illinois stomped over to stand next to the Host, glaring at his older brother, “Why didn’t you help?”
“Illinois will see that events are better this way,” the Host explained. “Besides, the Host helped stall Warfstache in the kitchen while Dark’s blue soul was losing himself.”
“You’re a real asshole sometimes, you know that right?” Illinois glared at him.
“The Host has been told,” the Host smiled and took a seat on the couch.
As the two young men spoke, Dark took the opportunity to portal to the front steps of the Manor and saw the four heroes still there.
“I thought I told the three of you to leave?” Dark reminded.
“I was so close!” Marvin shouted.
“How’s Damien?” Patton asked, everyone just letting Marvin rant off to the side.
“Screaming in eternal torment, as he usually does,” Dark told him, watching Patton flinch in sympathetic pain.
Dark’s expression softened, “As I hate being on anyone’s debt, expect me to pay back the favor shortly.”
“But I didn’t really do anything,” Patton reminded.
“Damien’s dead isn’t he?” Silver asked, that got Marvin’s attention immediately.
“Ahh, the matter of you,” Dark smiled. “By the reaction you had to Damien calling you “Mark” I can conclude that is also your name? You’re lucky that I’m not as blinded by rage that I can’t tell that you have a different face.”
“You saw that?” Silver asked.
“Of course I was watching, I was trying to get Damien back on his leash,” Dark snapped. “Do you know how long it takes to get him to do anything? He’ll be throwing one of his fits for the next month!”
Dark groaned and after cracking his neck twice, her form changed to look like her red soul. Marvin stared at her in realization. “There, at least he fell back asleep. He was resting peacefully before you four showed up.”
“They’re both dead, aren’t they?” Marvin thought out loud. “That’s why the spells never worked.”
Dark looked at Marvin. “Damien as a person is dead and shattered into pieces. He’s more like a wild animal than a person. He feels things, and occasionally can string errant thoughts, but the nice docile mayor you all desperately have been trying to reach is gone.”
“Is there—” Patton began, still trying to be helpful, and reminding Dark a bit of Damien’s old naivety in the process.
“No,” Dark began massaging her temples. “No, you’re all decades too late to help. Just let him rest. In about a week he would have been fine, but now that you’ve woken him up early that might not be the case. Just go and never bother me about this again.”
With that Dark turned to walk into a portal, the huge gate doors to the property opened. It took a while for the heroes to finally leave. Marvin heading off first and Patton lingering behind, as if he wanted to knock on the door and try to offer to help again.
Eventually the fronts were left cold and vacant, the gate doors swinging back closed and locking behind the heroes.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Accessibility Translations
1. “sweetie” in Spanish
2. Shit! Illinois’s coming in hot.
3. your
4. “Dad” in Korean, under informally. Phonetically read as: “appa”
Summary: Eric gets to join Illinois for a chaotic but domestic Christmas at the Manor.
Chapters: 1, 2
~::~ Present Day ~::~
“I don’t get it,” Bim sighed, he was leaning against the side of the armchair that the Host was sitting in. The seer was calmly sitting and sipping on some cinnamon eggnog.
The two of them were just facing Eric and Illinois who were sitting just ten feet away on one of the Manor’s living room couches. Illinois was showing him the video Dark had taken of the Lost One’s first Christmas. Where their remaining childhood whimsy for Santa Claus had as many holes in it as Wilford had tried to shoot at the jolly red intruder.
Eric was gasping and giggling as he was leaned into Illinois’s side. He’d been nervous coming over, especially since Illinois had convinced him not to wear his mask, promising that Dark already knew who he was and no one would hurt him.
“I mean, loo— uhh,” Bim stood himself as he looked over at the Host’s face, “he’s not really his type is he?”
“Bim will understand in time,” the Host promised.
“Hey,” Illinois tossed a pillow at Bim, “quit talking about him like that.”
Illinois turned back to Eric who was holding onto the knees of his pants, not looking at Bim, and worrying at his bottom lip. “Ignore him dulcito, he’s just being an asshole.”
Eric didn’t say anything in response or defense, leaning closer to Illinois.
Wilford walked in with Dark walking not too far behind him. Dark had a piping hot cup of coffee in his hands.
“Where’s Yancy and Yan?” Wilford asked.
“Yancy is on the balcony and Yan is in the shower,” Dark answered. He walked over to stand next to the Host.
“Well wait for them then,” Wil decided before smiling at Illinois. “Beside it’s time to embarrass Illy in front of his boyfriend.”
“Fiancé,” Dark corrected before Illinois could.
“Oh, that’s right,” Wilford remembered hazily.
“Hah!” Illinois called out. “I don’t have any embarrassing baby pictures, only Bim does, I just have pictures of me as a kid and I was cute as shit.”
“You certainly were a piece of shit,” King commented behind his cup of pumpkin spice tea.
“Hey,” Illinois bit back. “You just don’t want Dark to pull out the pictures of you “communing with nature” do you?”
“I don’t know,” Wilford chuckled, sitting on the couch arm, holding a thick photo album with Illinois’s name on it written in Dark’s handwriting. “Darky and I have quite the collection of each of you.”
Illinois looked at the album with trepidation and uncertainty, he couldn’t remember a time when an embarrassing picture of him had been taken but he hadn’t ever seen that photo album either.
But he was already watching Wilford pass the album over to Eric who was being encouraged to crack the album open.
The first couple pages were ordinary enough, pictures of Illinois, a couple with a tan fedora that was clearly a couple sizes too big for him. Eric just looked at the pictures, making little “awww” noises before turning to a picture of Dark with King and Illinois. Both of the kids looked young. Under ten, young. They were on the little couch, curled up with Dark lying on his back. King was on his chest and Illinois was almost on the side, nestled into the couch. All three of them had their eyes closed but whether they were actually asleep or not, Eric didn’t know. Dark was half-off the
There was an audible gasp next to Eric and bother Dark and Illinois asked at the same time, “When was this taken?”
“You and the boys were sleeping so soundly, I couldn’t resist taking a picture,” Wilford chuckled.
Dark’s mouth furrowed into a thin line.
“Y-You’re all, uhm scr-unched up,” Eric smiled at Illinois.
“See, not a bad picture in the lot,” Illinois boasted.
Wilford had a huge smile on his face and gingerly turned the page over to a picture of Illinois face down in a mud puddle with Author holding him down. The two of them had been wrestling, and Wilford had been behind the camera.
Dark let out a horrified gasp, “When was this taken?”
“Oh, didn’t I show you?” Wilford asked, confused. “Could have sworn I had.”
“Wil,” Dark warned, his ringing almost shrill. “Why am I just learning about this now?”
“Illinois and his brother were fine,” the Host tried to calm Dark down. “The argument only slightly got out of hand.”
“Really?” Dark demanded in angrily disbelief.
Just then King walked in with a big plate of swirled strawberry cheesecake fudge. Wilford lunged for the plate and just stuffed three into his mouth so he couldn’t talk around them.
“What the hell, Dad!” King shouted at him, holding the plate away from him and noticing that Dark was glaring at Wil. He rolled his eyes and walked over to hold the plate out to Eric. Eric hesitantly grabbed one first before, and King waited patiently for him to grab one before he took one for himself and set them on the table.
“Hey what about me?” Illinois asked.
“Get one yourself,” King smiled at him but nudged the plate over a bit so Illinois didn’t have to completely get up from the couch.
“We’re not done talking about this,” Dark warned him.
“Whff ‘erh ‘ehin,” Wilford mumbled incoherently. What held been trying to say was: “they were fine” but that got completely lost around the three fudge squares in his mouth.
Dark looked thoroughly unimpressed, “Don’t choke on your food.”
Wilford had a devious look on his face, swallowing around the last fudge square in his mouth.
Before the next words could leave Wilford’s mouth, the Host spoke up and distracted him. Yancy and Yan walked back in from different sides of the room. He had to work to move the conversation to the gifts Dark had for them and to food and after a couple hours Wil had completely forgotten his rather inappropriate, for family conversation anyways, as their family Christmas evening continued.
Dark would later get a picture of Eric and Illinois sleeping on the couch, Eric cuddled up to Illinois’s side.
Then he sent it to Bing. He had used this connection in the past to “anonymously” tip the heroes off to things or to tell them to come pick up their sidekicks. But today he just sent the picture of Eric and Illinois with the text: “He’s a very pleasant boy, I just might keep him.”
In a couple seconds he got a response, “Dude, you’re lucky I’m in my room and not out in the main room. I have your text set to auto-announce.”
“That is not my fault,” Dark responded, a small smile on his face. “In all seriousness, he seems to be doing well and will be free to go whenever he wants.”
“Thanks,” Bing told him. “Happy holidays, dude.”
Dark didn’t give another response, pocketing his phone and using his aura to drape a blanket over Illinois and Eric. With a check over them, Dark left them to step into his office, leaving the door open so he could keep an eye on them.
