No One Mourns the Lost
“Wormman couldn't sleep. He was laying back down on his bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to push away the thoughts lingering in his head. He was scared. There wasn't really anything to be scared about… Except the fact that his best friend and loyal sidekick had just kind of vanished.
The season was wrapping up, so they may have been getting ready to move on to the next world… but they were never gone for this long.
Then, there was a knock at the door.“
Cross-posted on AO3: X
Written by Mod Slime
Warning for mind control, mind manipulation, intrusive thoughts, ask me to add more.
This fic is heavily referencing Evil’s Fault and the CarnEVIL trilogy by Th3Pooka and if you haven’t watched any of that please do so you understand,
Wormman couldn't sleep. He was laying back down on his bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to push away the thoughts lingering in his head. He was scared. There wasn't really anything to be scared about… Except the fact that his best friend and loyal sidekick had just kind of vanished.
The season was wrapping up, so they may have been getting ready to move on to the next world… but they were never gone for this long.
Then, there was a knock at the door.
"Exy!?" The blond sat up, eyes shimmering at the thought that his best friend was back. That flame of excitement was immediately put out when Xisuma walked through the door.
"Not exactly." The admin spoke, and Wormman got a sense of urgency from his voice.
"Oh…"
"But. I know where they're at." The admin's purple eyes seemed to glow lightly, and Wormman forced himself off the bed and stumbled over lightly, grabbing the taller male's shoulder as tight as he could.
"Where? Where are they? It's been weeks, please… Please tell me they aren't dead please." He sounded desperate. Probably pathetic, even. He was a superhero, he should be able to save his sidekick himself, but… somehow he couldn't… He hadn't been able to yet.
"They're not dead, Ze-Wormman… but they're not okay either." Xisuma removed the blond's hands from his shoulders, thus causing Wormman to coil in on himself.
"Where are they? What happened!?" The blond was panicking, he wasn't getting answers as fast as he'd liked. If Ex was in danger, he wanted to know. He needed to know.
"Just… hold on." X pulled up some admin screens and Wormman read over what he was doing. He had no idea what the screens really meant, but he trusted that whatever he was doing was going to help.
Then the world shifted. The two were no longer in Wormman's base, instead, they were somewhere the hero had never been, and in front of him was a sight that destroyed him.
"You… You said they weren't dead!!" He rushed over to the bed Ex was lying on, looking over their slowly breathing body and beginning to tear up.
"And they're not. They're unconscious. They're… Fighting something that I can't entirely explain. And I know you care about them so I need you to help me."
"How… How do I help?" Wormman asked, trying to hide the waver in his terrified voice. "How can I help them?"
"Get in the bed next to them. I'm going to put the two of us in their dream. It'll become more clear what's happening when we're in there."
"I… okay." Wormman laid down on the bed next to Ex's, looking over at them one more time before closing his eyes.
It took a few minutes for anything to happen, but he eventually felt as sleep took over.
* * *
When Wormman came to, he was standing in what looked like the Nether. He was confused, how did he wake up in the Nether when he went to bed in the Overworld? Was this Ex's dream? What had they been dreaming about?
"You're awake. Good." The blond jumped, turning to see Xisuma standing next to him. "Now… We just have to find Evil X and this'll make se-"
"Exy!" The superhero saw his friend from a mile away, recognizing their lightning powers in the distance. He also saw shadowy figures surrounding them, and then… the ground shook. He looked over to see a giant monstrous shadow… Thing walking towards Ex. It had green eyes, which were slowly glowing more and more bright… did it have laser eyes?
Whatever it was, Wormman knew it was headed for his friend. So he grabbed Xisuma's wrist and began running towards Ex as fast as possible.
"How did you already find the-"
"Lightning powers. They're using their powers to fight those… Things. What are those?"
"Trapped Hearts. They work for him." X pointed to a shadowy figure larger than the others, not by much though. This one had a gashing red scar under one of its eyes. "His name is Jeff the Nightmare, formerly Jeff the Minion… I think he's been bothering Ex but I'm not sure why."
Before Wormman could respond, he noticed the giant thing shooting some kind of green beam at Ex. He felt his instinct take over and quickly ran in front of it, Xisuma in tow, and, somehow, created a shield. X had made one too, and the two had seemingly stopped the beam.
"What are-" Ex began to ask, shocking a Trapped Heart before continuing, "What are you two doing here!?"
"We came to save you, of course!" Wormman answered, turning around and holding the shield from behind, that way he could get a good look at his best friend. "Are you okay?"
"Eh, good as I can be." They hit a Trapped Heart with their elbow, sighing heavily. "It could be better."
"It's gonna get better! We're gonna get out of here! All of us!" The blond smiled, and Ex smiled in return, their freckles glowing in response. "We just need to fight off these things."
"No. We need to find Jeff and get rid of him. The others are victims!" X yelled, still holding up his shield with his hands.
"Alrighty, then let's find that jerk and destroy him!" Lightning sparked from Ex's arms as they looked around for their tormenter. They were gonna get out of here, all of them… Surely….
* * *
Things… hadn't gone as planned. Wormman and Ex had lost any contact with Xisuma, leaving the two of them alone and surrounded by Trapped Hearts.
"We're… we're still gettin'... Gettin' out of here right!?" Ex asked, and Wormman could hear how tired their voice was.
"Yeah! I'm not givin' up on you. Don't worry!" Wormman responded, trying to punch one of the Trapped Hearts and missing. He was immediately pushed to the ground, and he could barely push himself up.
He could hear Ex's heavy breathing, they needed him, but he couldn't get up to help. them.
"Wormman? Where'd you… Where'd you go?" They asked, being cornered by a swarm of Trapped Hearts and… oh no.
Wormman wanted to scream for them, tell them to run, but he was being silenced by hands covering his mouth.
He stared in horror as the very nightmare being that started all this laid a hand on Ex's shoulder, gripping it tightly. Black goopy tar began forming on their body, and they were trying to fight it. They tried shocking it, but it only sent the shock back through them, causing their energy to weaken.
"I'm… I'm going to get out of here! I'm going to get you out of my mind and out of my dreams!" Ex's voice was tired, they were slumping over, and Jeff condescendingly patted their head.
"No you're not. You can never escape my voice, you can never escape what you are either. You're evil and you know that."
"N...No… no I'm… I'm not… I can be… I can be better than that… I… " Ex's eyes were slowly losing their red shine, a sickly green color taking over.
Wormman tried to pull away from the shadowy hoard holding him back, he tried to get to his best friend, watching as they had trouble even staying awake.
Their body was wavering, they weren't gonna make it out… they weren't gonna make it out because he couldn't save them… They were gonna go back to how they were before the two of them had met and it'd be all his fault…
He felt tears run down his cheeks as he watched Ex finally lose. Their legs gave out and they fell forward, being let go by the Hearts that had been holding them, and falling into Jeff.
Wormman watched as the shadowy villain held them coldly, making sure they'd remain his little puppet, before laying them down and turning his attention towards the blond.
"So we meet at last, Worm." The green eyes bore into Wormman's soul, causing the superhero's blood to run cold. "It's nice to meet the one thing that almost stopped me."
"What did… What did you do to Exy?"
"Oh, you mean your precious Evil X? I only made it so they can't get rid of my voice. Again."
"Why!? What did they ever do to you!?"
"Oh they've not done anything to me. I just need a way to stay on this server. And they were pathetic enough that I could slip into their mind."
"They're not… They're not pathetic!"
"Given their best friend is you, I'd argue otherwise." Jeff got down closer to Wormman, staring into him with unblinking green voids for eyes.
"I'm an amazing friend!"
"But you let them fall back into my hands. I doubt they'd ever talk to you again if they knew that."
"It wasn't my fault yout minions got me."
"That just means you weren't strong enough to fight them. Just like Ex. You couldn't even save yourself, how were you supposed to save them?"
"I… I could have! I was going to! I was…" Wormman could feel tears welling up in his eyes again, his throat becoming dry. Jeff was right… he… he hadn't been able to save Ex… had he?
"It makes sense that the Hermits don't remember you. If you can't even save your best friend from their own hatred… how can you defend an entire server?"
"I… I can't…" Wormman spoke quietly, almost inaudibly. He… he couldn't save the server… Even if he tried. He couldn't save Ex… How would he save anybody else? How could he even call himself a hero…?
"Exactly. You're pathetic and you know it… The Hermits would never remember you. They only see you as an extension of Zedaph… if you were to disappear, they wouldn't remember you at all."
"They… they wouldn't...would they?" The blond whimpered, not noticing as a large black arm came closer to him, extending its large, tendril like fingers around his body.
"No… but that doesn't matter now…"
"But… it does , doesn't it? I'm supposed to be a hero?" Wormman sniffed, and despite not having a mouth, it seemed as though Jeff was maliciously smiling at him.
"Not anymore. Now that you've joined us."
"Wha-" The superhero stopped talking and let out a scream as he felt his body jolt violently, before going limp. It only twitched ever so slightly.
"No longer will you need to be remembered."
"No...no longer will I… I need...need to...to…" Wormman's voice fell silent as his eyes shut, all conscience thought fading from his mind… Was it his mind anymore? No… No it wasn't. It didn't belong to him now. Nothing did.
* * *
Xisuma shot out of the bed he was lying down in, rushing over to the unconscious bodies of Ex and Wormman. He shook Ex first, not getting a response. That much he expected, Ex probably already lost their fight with Jeff… but why was Wormman still asleep. Surely he would have woken up.
"Come on, wake up already." X shook the blond lightly, before beginning to shake him faster and more aggressively. Why wasn't he waking up?? "C'mon Wor-Zedaph! Wake up please!!" Still no response. X felt guilt creeping up into his stomach as he picked the superhero up. "Alright. Alright. I can fix this… I just have to make sure the Hermits don't find out about whatever just happened…"
He teleported back to the cave he and Wormman had first talked in, lying the blond down in his bed and sighing.
"You're fine… you'll be fine… There's no reason for them to worry, no reason for me to worry. Nobody has to know…"
He closed the door behind him, leaving Wormman alone for what would become an endless time trapped in his own head… surely nobody would find out… after all, how can one mourn the forgotten?