A very, VERY good point made about Garou understanding the flow of all energies and knowledge of the forces in the universe.
And then he cannot comprehend what in the actual living hell Saitama did when he kicked the portal and then moved his second one. Nor can he copy what Saitama did, therefore it's not a force or energy in the universe that exists to be copied. He can copy Saitama's divine power, his strenght and how he gets stronger when he feels emotions, because this is definitely a power that can be manifested in the opm world...but not that. Not grabbing hyperspace portals and multiplying himself and willing himself to a location.
Saitama doing eldrich abomination stuff and/or using forces that do not actually exist in the verse lmao.
I guess manipulating the reality itself would be that. That eldrich abomination, H.P. Lovecraftian horror shit.
Just a gag character though, right? Saitama doing bugs bunny shit...but it makes sense, because cartoon characters are doing irrational stuff with gags. But they're also cartoon characters. Saitama pulling gags in a non-gag verse is no longer just a gag.
Summary: Mark has a new project in the works, and this is the first project Yancy gets to see up close and personal.
A/N: Visitation Day, and I want to say I’m excited for the new Markiplier project. Expect it to crank things with my other works after I’ve watched it and picked through it. I hope we get some new egos, specifically another girl one. Yan needs a girlfriend.
If Yancy and Dark are not in Space I’ll eat my hat and then cry.
The Manor had always been weird to Yancy. It was a strange place that was never-ending in its strangeness. Yancy could be walking through Happy Trails Penitentiary and on his way out to Yard he would find himself walking out into the gardens of the Manor.
The House was strange and twisting. There were people who could feel and tangible as an actual person, and then they would disappear and Yancy would find himself with the other Egos.
They were the only “people” in the House. Abe would suddenly appear to chase Wilford around, or the occasional rumors that Anti had appeared to bother Dark once.
It was a weird place that Yancy didn’t like to think about the logistics of . . . of being an Ego. Wilford was fine with it, he took it all in stride and laughed along with the universe.
Yancy didn’t like thinking of it, but he really didn’t have that much of a choice.
Yancy was still in his cell when he felt a light rumbling and he was dumped out of his bunk and onto the ground. The Penitentiary around him started to shift, rooms moving. Some prisoners vanished, others had their striped outfits switch out for different uniforms.
The Penitentiary was turning into a spaceship. Almost all the Egos were dumped out into the backyard. Silver in particular bounced off the balcony on his way out. Dark and Wilford were the only ones not with them.
Out of all of the Egos, the only one not to land on their face was the Host.
“What was that?” Illinois asked as he picked himself up.
“Must be the new project,” Bim grumbled, shoving himself back up and dusting himself off. “Wilf has definitely been talking about it enough.”
“Was it like this before we’s[1] showed up?” Yancy smiled.
“Yeah, well, it’ll be fun to watch again,” Silver shrugged. “Least you three have a shot.”
“Nothin’[2] we can do about that,” Illinois tipped his hat.
“Well yeah, but—” Silver paused to look around him. “Fuck, where’s Dark and Wil?”
“The Entity and the Madman are still within the Manor’s walls,” the Host answered.
“Why’s[3] not just kick ‘em[4] out?” Yancy asked.
“The Entity and the Madman are an integral part of the Manor, they cannot be separated from it.” The Host was looking in the Manor’s direction.
“Well’s[5] now, that don’t[6] seem very fair.” Yancy rolled his eyes.
“Whether it is fair or not is inconsequential,” the Host said, “it will not change what happens to or around the Egos.”
Yancy was about to retort something when arguing came from the balcony above, drawing his attention away.
“Wilford! Let go of me this instant!” Dark shouted from the balcony overlooking the backyard.
Wilford’s chuckle was just barely audible, but the top of his head and Dark was the first thing the Egos saw as Wilford was carrying Dark out of the Manor and down the stairs to the yard.
“Don’t laugh at me, you buffoon, put me down,” Dark ordered, pounding his fist on Wil’s shoulder but the madman didn’t seem to notice it.
“Come now, Darkling,” Wilford was carrying Dark over his shoulder. The Entity was looking back towards the Manor with pure rage in his eyes. Dark was fuming in pure rage. Wilford’s magic and aura kept Dark from twisting away from him. “He’s busy.”
“He’ll be busy being dead when I get done with him!” Dark shouted.
Wilford just started laughing in earnest now and he did put Dark down next to the other Egos.
“How dare you,” Dark began as Wil just stared at him with a smile.
Wilford pulled out a huge bound stack of papers. The words “In Space with Markiplier” on the front. “Here you go, I know you wanted to take a look at this.”
Dark glared at him, still clearly insulted and angry. He snatched the script away and held the glare for another second before starting to flip through the script.
Slowly his expression turned into one of intrigue, before a devious smile began to spread on his face.
“Yes,” Darkk said before running past Wil and heading back up the stairs and into the balcony.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get him, the little scamp,” Wilford chuckled before following after Dark.
“How’d he get that script?” Illinois asked.
“Prolly[7] stole it,” Yancy shrugged.
“Yeah,” Silver sighed
The Egos waited until the Manor was done rearranging itself, then they all went back inside to wait for the project to finish itself.
It took Yancy forever to actually get to the Yard in the Penitentiary, the House leading him in different places until finally letting him go.
The new project was on its way, and Yancy would rather be in a familiar place when it hit.
What a Beautiful Wedding Ch. 6: The Wings of the Antarctic Empire
Summary: Tommy is desperate to convince Phil and Techno they’re in some kind of trap and he’d like to be taken seriously just once.
Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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Channel 6
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Tommy found himself at the foot of the long, tall black stone staircase. Philza was looking down at him.
When he set his foot on the first step, Techno drew his sword and stepped in front of Phil. “I don’t think so.”
“Phil!” Tommy yelled up. “Yer[1] both in some kinda[2] illusion. Wake up.”
About five guards appeared from almost nowhere and aimed their arrows at him, Tommy recognized the pink of Niki’s hair among them. Techno took two steps down from the altar.
“Take ‘em ta the holdin’ room,”[3] Phil ordered, spreading his wings and he held the baby close to him as he flew off.
“Let’s go,” Techno ordered as he walked down the steps, Tommy found himself at the dangerous end of Techno’s sword. “Come on.”
Tommy held his hands up and turned, which resulted in Techno pushing Tommy forward.
“Don’t fuckin’[4] shove me!” Tommy shouted, but Techno and Niki lead them to the palace.
Tommy sat down in some uncomfortable chair as Techno and Niki stared at him. Ghostbur looked at Niki nervously.
“H-Hey,” Ghostbur smiled at Niki.
“Stay back,” Niki told him, bow and arrow pointed down, but not notched or ready to fire yet.
“The two of you are waiting until the old man gets back,” Techno told him.
“Techno, come on, man, you have ta[5] know this is Dream’s doin’[6],” Tommy groaned.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if you’re not careful you will get yourself shot,” Techno warned.
The heavy doors of the room were pushed open and Phil walked in. The lack of snow or distance gave Tommy a good look at the man. Little things about Philza were different. His eye color for one. The Phil that Tommy had always known had blue eyes but now he had more of blue-green color. He was maybe an inch or two taller. Not any taller than the other people in the room but it was noticeable enough to Tommy. His blond hair had a slightly dustier tint to it.
Phil paused when he looked at Tommy. “Stand down.”
Niki took her arrow away from her bow, “If you’re sure.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had a visitor like this,” Phil told them. “You two are from the future aren’tcha[7]?”
“Uh, yeah?” Tommy said. “We’re in an illusion. It’s Dream, he’s done somethin’[8].”
Philza just started staring at Ghostbur as a look of realization dawned on him. “I . . . Wilbur?”
“My name is Ghostbur,” Ghostbur corrected nervously, ducking behind Tommy a bit.
Niki seemed to recoil and Techno began slowly coming back to himself, clutching his head as he began grunting in pain and his knees crashed to the ground.
“Techno!” Phil rushed over.
“They’re too loud,” Techno grunted.
Tommy began stomping over, “What’s that green bastard doin’ ta yeh?”[9]
Phil used a wing to knock Tommy away before Techno was able to stab Tommy with a sword, his eyes a blood red and a frenzied look in his eyes.
“Tech, Tech, follow my voice, yeh[10] don’t need ta[5] fight here,” Phil told Techno as the warrior thrashed his head back and forth.
Niki inched closer and passed Phil a vial, he placed it under Techno’s nose and he began calming down.
“Thanks,” Phil said and inched closer. “Techno, yeh[10] need me ta[5] clear the room?”
“What did that fucker do ta[5] you?” Tommy demanded. “It’s bad enough he’s got us trapped in here.”
“Dream’s not powerful enough for that,” Techno had a slight chuckle to his voice as he stood up.
“We still need ta[5] get out,” Tommy reminded him. “Tubbo an’[11] Ranboo are still trapped.”
Philza sighed, rather dramatically before he held his hand up and magic covered his hand before there was what felt like an earthquake and then a crash of some kind. Tommy, Shroud, and Ghostbur’s outfits changed into something that matched Phil and Techno’s. Tommy realized he was wearing a circlet, perched on his head and when he went to take it off to look at it he saw that it was studded with green and blue stones, and etched with perfect craftsmanship.
Tommy immediately rushed to the nearest window and saw at the foot of the palace, right outside the ground, an inn. And Tubbo stumbled out of it, looking around wildly. He was in an outfit that almost matched Tommy’s, but without the circlet and he was wearing thick gloves.
Ranboo followed after him, he was wearing a long purple cloak. But behind him, Michael was peeking his head out from behind Ranboo’s cloak.
Tommy immediately raced out of the palace, shoulding past guards and palace servants as he tried to get to Tubbo.
“Tubbo!” Tommy raced over but Tubbo glared at him, his false eye’s iris glowed with its radioactive symbol right before he punched Tommy in the gut.
“The fuck!” Tommy shouted angrily.
“I was safe!” Tubbo shouted in a fury. “Me an’[11] Ranboo an’[11] Michael were safe. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I didn’t do anythin’[12],” Tommy shouted back in anger.
“T-Tubbo,” Ranboo warned, and tried to hide Michael in his cloak.
Tubbo stopped and looked past Tommy to see, to his horror, that Techno was watching them as Michael peeked his head around Ranboo’s cape, holding his larger hand in his much smaller one.
Techno’s eyes narrowed and Tubbo moved, scooping Michael up and glaring at Techno.
“Stay back!” Tubbo ordered Techno with an angry snarl. “Get away!”
Techno looked between the three of them, Michael just staring at Techno with huge, wide dark eyes, the gears clearly starting to turn in his head.
The warrior took a step forward and Ranboo took a step forward. “Techno! Techno! Wait please, don’t hurt them.”
“Are you with them?” Techno demanded.
“I, uh,” Ranboo clearly had a look of panic on his face. “Yeah, but look I just want you to know—”
“I don’t care what you spend your time with but did it have to be with the government?” Techno spat at Ranboo.
“He’s my husband, of course I spend time with him,” Ranboo told him.
“Ehhh!” Techno sputtered. “When did you get married?!”
“Almost a year ago?” Ranboo asked.
“A year? Why am I just learning now?” Techno told him. “I’m like your mentor, I should have been the first person you told.”
“You don’t like Tubbo,” Ranboo reminded.
“Because he and Quackity tried to kill me with axes, why would I like the guy?” Techno snapped.
“Well, yeah, that makes sense,” Ranboo admitted.
“Take the kid, we’ll go inside to Phil,” Techno jabbed his thumb at the palace. “And don’t worry, not killin’[13] the kid. He’s Ranboo’s too after all, right?”
“Yeah,” Ranboo answered.
“Good,” Techno told him but Tubbo still glared at Techno suspiciously. He followed at the back of the group, always braced to dump Michael into Tommy’s arms and pull out the first weapon he could get his hands on.
He only marginally calmed down when he saw Phil and Techno started complaining to Phil about Ranboo, and then balked when he found out Philza was already aware of the boy.
The little meet-up was interrupted when Jack Manifold raced in, in uniform after getting pulled in from the bubble Tubbo and Ranboo had been trapped in.
“Emperor! Enemy soldiers were spotted at the gate!” Jack yelled, the trio of teens and Niki stared at Phil in surprise.
“Where from?” Phil called out.
“From the Errin Empire,” Jack reported. “They were dressed like they were in the royal guard. We were able to apprehend them.”
“Shit,” Phil spat. “I want three guards in front ‘a[14] the nursery. Ranboo, take Michael an’[11] go with them. Niki, make sure no one gets in.”
“O-Okay,” Ranboo stammered nervously, grabbing Michael, and standing in front of Tommy expectantly. It took Tommy a bit to realize he was quietly asking Tommy to take Shroud. Tommy nodded and passed him over, Shroud became very upset to leave Tommy’s arms.
“On it!” Niki pushed Ranboo after the soldiers the instant he had both young boys in his arms.
“Tommy, Tubbo, behind me,” Philza ordered.
“Hold up, why are you the Emperor, yer[1] an anarchist?” Tubbo asked.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Techno interrupted as Puffy, Jack, and a couple soldiers dragged Chase and Jackie in.
“That’s new,” Techno hummed.
“We spotted an enemy force, we think it’s Lord Phantom,” Puffy announced.
Jackie turned to look out the window, seeing a wall of darkness in the sky, coming for them. “Storm’s comin’[15] in,” Jackie commented.
“That’s the Entity,” Phil corrected.
“What? Dark?” Chase perked up, starting to try and twist himself out of the rope tying his wrists behind his back.
Puffy kicked him down, so that he was face-down on the ground and placed a foot on his wrists. “Not so fast, buddy.”
“Puffy, let him up,” Phil ordered, “cut ‘em[16] both from their bonds.”
“You sure?” Puffy asked, taking her foot off.
“Yes,” Phil ruffled out his wings. “Battle stations! Average, can you talk Ent down?”
“I think so?” Chase said, rubbing at his wrists as he wisely kept his distance from Phil. “I just need ta[5] reach him, I didn’t forget so I imagine he’s still good too.”
The storm reached them and Phil started to hear the screams.
“How’d they sneak up that quickly?!” Jack yelled.
“Because none ‘a[14] this is real,” Phil told him.
The door was thrown open and Phantom was standing there in royal purple. “Phil, Techno, long time no see. It’s just like old times.”
“So yer[1] awake, then,” Phil sighed.
“Where’s Dark?” Chase demanded.
Phantom motioned with his head back, “Dealing with the town.”
“Then move outta[17] the fookin’[4] way,” Chase snarled.
“Aww, he’s having fun out there,” Phantom smiled.
“Here I’d hoped he wouldn’t work with yeh[10] again, yeh[10] always have been a shite[18] friend,” Phil glared at him.
“Ehh, we were both standing on the cliff, and he wanted to blow off some steam,” Phantom shrugged. “You know empaths, they get a little needy when they’re emotional so I just let him go off.”
“Fook[19] off,” Chase spat at him. “Jackie!”
Jackie grabbed Chase and they blitzed past Phantom, who rolled his eyes.
“Don’t blame me when he starts getting snippy,” Phantom scoffed, bracing as he smiled at Phil and Techno. “Let’s tango, boys.”
As Phantom braced for a fight, Chase raced out into the storm.
“Dark!” Chase screamed over the whirlwind of snow. Chase was racing towards the darkest part of the storm. “Dark!”
The darkness seemed to evaporate and Dark had some soldier by the throat, when he looked at Chase he paused. “Chase?”
“There yeh[10] are,” Chase felt relief, walking over, a rumbling passing through the bubble as it began weakening from outside attacks. “We’re goin’ home. Yer okay. I’m takin’ yeh home an’ yeh can relax.”[20]
Dark blinked in disorientation, he felt drained. Phantom must have snagged some of his aura when he wasn’t looking, or the anomaly was taking more from him than he realized. “Yeah, I think that’s for the best.”
Chase was almost within arms reach and Dark realized his body needed a nap because it was getting harder to focus on things.
“Hey, yeh[10] look tired,” Chase smiled as Jackie noticed something shooting towards them, but because of the coloration of the smoke he thought it a part of Dark’s aura.
At least until it hit Chase.
Something stabbed Chase right through the heart and the marksman knew he should be dead. But he felt something in his very soul snap. Dark flinched, his eyes widening in horror.
Chase knew should be dead, the human heart was a fragile organ, but as he was tossed to the side, he felt weak and was losing blood but his heart was too stubborn to stop beating and blood was still coming from somewhere. As his soul cracked in two before snapping back together, good as new.
“Hey, Dames,” Marc spat as he grabbed Dark and pulled him closer. “Let’s try this again.”
“How dare you? What did you do?” Dark spat at Marc as he looked at Chase in horror. He was only slightly calmed when he saw Chase starting to try and pick himself up, glaring murderously at Marc. But the Actor burst into smoke and ripped a portal open, dragging Dark with him.
When the portal snapped closed, it destroyed the bubble with it. Barely a second’s warning as it shattered and violently dropped all its inhabitants onto the floor.
The bubble the Actor disappeared into snagged the Sanders bubble and seemed to violently tear it in half as it pulled it inside.
Phil screamed in agony as his bad wing returned and reminded the avian demon that he’d been grounded for years now.
“Phil!” Techno rushed over to him in concern.
Chase looked around, becoming furious when he couldn’t see Dark. “Fooker! That fooker! I’m gonna kill him.”[21]
“Let me go!” Chase snapped at Jackie who was looking at him like Chase had flesh hanging off his bones. “I’m fine.”
“Yeh[10] were stabbed in the fookin’[4] heart! Stop movin’[22]!” Jackie yelled and that made people stare at Chase and Henrik who was at a brisk walk was now suddenly racing over as fast as he could. Marvin followed suit.
“Average! Lay down now!” Henrik yelled, forcing the marksman to a halt.
While the chaos of trying to get medical care and everyone just tried to figure out what was going on, Techno took a look around as Phil seemed to regain his strength and stood up.
“You okay?” Techno looked around as Ranboo was starting to get frantic.
“Where’s Tubbo?” Ranboo asked, an acute sense of panic growing within him. He scooped Michael and Shroud into his arms.
“He was right next ta[5] me, did that fucker grab him?” Tommy yelled as he looked around, his eyes locking onto Quackity who was just staring at Ranboo. Or more importantly, at Michael and Shroud, who were both crying. The screams only made Tommy even more agitated.
“What do you mean he’s just gone!” Ranboo yeled.
“Okay, give ‘em[16] here,” Philza swept in and just scooped the two toddlers into his arms, his aura soothing them and they stopped crying.
Techno took out his axe and walked closer to the remaining bubble that hadn’t been consumed by the Actor’s. His other hand summoned something that looked like a fishing pole with a small hand-sized grappling hook on the end of it and reeled it back before aiming it at the bubble and dragging it closer to him.
“Hey, let’s think about this,” Quackity urged.
But Techno slammed his axe into the bubble the instant he could and it cracked before shattering. Antfrost, George, Skeppy, and Bad all dropped to the ground but Dream rolled into a kneeling position and looked around. He almost stabbed Techno but the warrior easily used his weapons to deflect the blow.
“Hey man, chill out for five seconds, okay?” Techno chuckled.
Dream got up and looked around. He helped pull George up to his feet.
“Thanks, Techno,” Dream told him.
“That clear the books?” Techno smiled.
“Fuck no,” Dream chuckled. “You did that on your own, I didn’t ask you to do anything.”
“Ehh, it was worth a shot,” Techno shrugged, a smile still on his face.
Skeppy looked up from where he’d been laying on the ground next to Bad and when he looked up at Ponk he surged up.
“Give it,” Skeppy took the tome from Ponk, and checked it over. His eyes began to glow blue as parts of his skin began to crystallize. Magic fluttered around him. “Thank you, Ponk.”
“I was doing my best,” Ponk told him, emphatically throwing their arms up. “Took you long enough.”
“I was a bit busy,” Skeppy shot back.
Chase, once Henrik deemed him impossibly still alive and despite the blood he wasn’t dying, he looked up at the final bubble. Illinois gave Eric a kiss before he walked over to Chase.
“Actor’s up there?” Illinois glared at it.
“Yeah,” Chase said. “Fooker’s[23] a demon so snappin’[24] his neck’s so isn’t a crime.”
“Not a punishable one, and he’d only come back to life in a week,” Illinois agreed.
“Hey, the two of you are not going alone,” Silver said, in the middle of orchestrating ways to get people home. Dream ordering most of the Server group back home. Silver and Jackie quickly agreed to go with Chase and Illinois.
Philza was staring at Shroud before smiling at him. “I’ll take these two back home.”
“Deal,” Ranboo said without thinking, racing over to Chase. “Is Bomble okay in there?”
“We don’t know, but we’ll get him back home, the Sides seem to be in there as well,” Silver told him.
“No, I’m coming with,” Ranboo insisted. “I can open up a portal right into the bubble.”
“Count me in too,” Tommy rushed over.
“Absolutely not,” Silver told him.
“Let me rephrase that,” Tommy told Silver in his usual loud volume. “I am goin’[25] in there. With or without yer[26] fuckin’[4] permission.”
Silver sighed in frustration. “You two don’t take chances, and if you see Bomble, you two need to bail immediately.”
“Deal,” Ranboo spoke over Tommy and his eyes turned purple as he opened up a portal right over the group and took them right into the bubble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Accessibility Translations:
1. You’re
2. kind of
3. Take them to the holding room
4. fucking
5. to
6. doing
7. aren’t you
8. something
9. What’s that green bastard doing to you?
10. you
11. and
12. anything
13. killing
14. of
15. coming
16. them
17. out of
18. shit
19. Fuck
20. We’re going home. You’re okay. I’m taking you home and you can relax.
Six [Ate] Ain’t Seven Ch. 1: Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
Summary: The anomaly demands resolution, and it will not be denied.
A/N: No story has fought me like this one. Even the Time Warp with its multiple timeline garbage didn’t fight me like this one did. This one was supposed to come out in September of LAST YEAR.
Me: No Host, we are doing this, this thread has to be tied up.
Host: But consider making all the apprentices toddlers for a day, instead of writing this?
Me: . . . *thinks about toddler Ranboo and writes that down* . . . that’s a really good idea but we’re strapped for time with this arc and we’re still doing this.
Host: It was worth a shot.
Chapters: 1, 2
It happened infrequently, a tear in the fabric of reality would appear somewhere in Egoton, and the Host would race to correct it before it spread and began destroying things.
The important part was keeping the tear away from the anomaly. It would cause even more problems for the Host, only these problems would only be more obvious to everyone else. And the Host was desperate to keep Dark from noticing the tear. It would ruin everything.
So, the Host wanted to fix the error in the story he was safeguarding, and so he brought himself to the Sides’ home one morning. His arrival timed perfectly.
The Host used his narrations and aura to ring the doorbell.
It took a minute or two for the door to open and to his great fortune, Patton was the one to open the door. He was overly cheery, the epitome of a morning person.
“Oh, Host,” Patton recognized in surprise, glancing around to see if anyone was out and about in the morning. “Come on in.”
“The Host merely wanted to bring something to Morality’s attention,” the Host told him. “If he could meet the Host outside of Dark’s warehouses, but not directly in the parking lots, the Host would greatly appreciate it.”
“O-Okay,” Patton looked back nervously into the hallway of his home.
“Is everything alright?” Logan called from the kitchen.
“Yeah, it’s just Host,” Patton called back. Then he turned back to the Host. “I’ll just get the guys and we’ll—”
“The Host would prefer if just Morality accompanied him,” the Host corrected. “Time is of the essence and discretion is necessary. The Entity will be none the wise of Morality’s proximity, the Host can ensure his safety from the demon.”
“Oh,” Patton became more uneasy. “I guess . . . yeah . . . just let me suit up and I’ll meet you there.”
“The Host thanks Morality for this, the Host will explain what he can once they are in position,” the Host nodded. “He will also ensure none of the Sides’ neighbors remember seeing the Host.”
And with that the Host disappeared in a flurry of his narrations, his eyes bleeding as he reappeared outside the Entity’s warehouses. The tear insistent on receiving the demon’s attention, but Host used all his power to keep it from doing so.
Patton took some time to reach the rendezvous point, in full costume, but he was alone as the seer had asked. The Host knew that Logan and Virgil were in their own superhero uniforms, not too far away from out of sight from both of them. It was not ideal, but it was the best the Host could ask for.
“The Host thanks Morality for his assistance, he has tried to fix matter on his own, but he has proven unsuccessful,” the Host began before reaching out with his aura and muffling Patton’s communicator before yanking the two of them into the tear in reality as it fluttered again.
Patton gasped as he felt his body trying to alter and change but something held that force back. Everything around the Host and Patton was white and time stopped.
Patton wasn’t sure how long time passed between being pulled into the tear and when he blinked his eyes opened. He thought it was only a second but somehow it seemed impossibly longer.
He was also no longer wearing his superhero costume, but was in a grey and beige three piece suit with a blue dress shirt. His head felt fuzzy, a torrent of memories that felt like his own and someone else’s mixed together in an uncomfortable slurry.
He gasped for air, realizing that he’d been holding his breath.
“The Host apologizes,” the Host said, his bat in hand, still looking like his normal self. “The Host would not have involved Morality if there was any other way.”
“Where are we?” Patton looked around at the white expanse and saw in the distance what looked like a castle, opulent and the color of bone. “Am I dead?”
“No, neither Morality, nor the Host have stopped existing, they have slipped into the In-between,” Host corrected. “Its residents are few and far between, the Host and Morality are simply using it to bridge the gap between realities and fix the Host’s mistakes.”
“What mistake?” Patton glanced around again, the castle seemed to be closer than the last time he’d looked at it.
The seer used his narrations to summon up a thick folder and dropped it right at Patton’s feet.
Immediately the contents spilled out to show it was full of legal documents, childhood drawings and pictures of the emotional Side growing up with a different family.
Patton knelt down to pick up a picture of him, probably ten or eleven, cuddled up next to an equally young Yancy under the shade of a tree. “What? What is this?”
“This is what remains of Patton Elijah Sanders,” the Host said. “Everything the Host could not get, he collected so that no one else could see it. Morality has been resisting the Host’s attempts to correct it further. The Host suspects it is because of sentimentality.”
“I don’t remember any of this, I’m one of Thomas’s Sides, I wasn’t raised with you.” Patton grabbed a picture and mentally paused. “Is this a picture of all of you in little cat onesies? Awww, how cute.”
“Yes, there is a matching picture, without Morality, in a scrap book that is in the Madman’s possession,” the Host answered. “More importantly, the Host made sure no one could remember this reality. He did everything he could to untangle those plot threads. But when the Host first closed the gap he was not as powerful as he is now. He was unsure how to do such a thing, as such there were cracks, seams left unglued. Morality is the only thing left to alter.”
“What happened though?” Patton tried to scoop the file back up, glancing back over to see the white castle was less than a football field away now.
“The Suits were not the first time the Host had used the anomaly to bend the laws of his reality to his whim.” The Host used his aura to help scoop the contents of the folder up and they disappeared into his aura with a few simple narrations. “The Host and Morality used the anomaly very early in the Host’s creation to protect their world. The Actor was too powerful and the Host was too new to protect his family or friends, so the Host and Patton ripped the anomaly from the Actor and used it to change everything. The Host kept altering things bit by bit, trying to buy the city more and more time until eventually they are at the state they are in now.”
“What—” Patton stalled in confusion. “How—”
“The Host could not have done this without Morality’s initial cooperation, but now the anomaly fights the Host’s efforts to completely close that reality. It cares not for its playthings, only for the plot and the joy and suffering that can be wrought from its inhabitants and the Host requests Morality’s assistance once more.”
“O-Okay,” Patton stood up. “I really don’t understand what’s going on, and I’m very confused on what I can do to help, but if it means helping people and saving them I’ll do what I can.”
“That is all the Host asks of Morality,” the Host smiled.
“So what do we do?” Patton looked to see that the castle was the length of two houses away now. “That castle’s getting closer, that’s a good thing, right?”
“No,” the Host answered. “The Host and Morality must locate the anomaly still in the old reality. It is located in Dark’s office because the Host would not have existed at the time to remove it from the Entity’s possession. Then they must leave the warehouses to return back to their own reality.”
“Alright,” Patton agreed. “But surely you don’t need me for that.”
“Morality’s emotional manipulation ability is key to this plan, he is essential for its success,” the Host corrected. “Should Dark arrive back at the warehouse while Morality and the Host are still there, it will be Morality’s job to help distract the Entity.”
“Really don’t like it when people refer to my superpower like that,” Patton cringed. “Makes me feel all icky.”
“Nevertheless, Morality and the Host have to be very careful,” the Host warned. “They can never give in to themselves in this branched reality or it will end in catastrophic failure for everyone. Lunky will cease to exist, and there will be no way to combat the Actor. Everyone will suffer.”
“Oh,” Patton’s eyes widened.
The castle grounds were almost brushing the side of their feet, causing Patton to look over at it in alarm, the Host used his narration to place a hand on Patton’s shoulder to redirect his attention.
The Host tried to smile for Patton’s comfort. “If Morality is ready, then the Host can take them in, the Entity is already removed from his office. They can be in and out in minutes. All they must do is stay quiet and not succumb to who they used to be. They go in, and the instant their feet are out of the warehouses’ parking lots, they are free.”
Patton nodded and the Host pushed them into the tear with his aura and the anomaly, the castle not able to touch them.
