Home (A DBH Kara And Luther Drabble)

Do You Trust Me? Pt. 5

A/N: THE END.

Link to Pt. 4: http://skinnyscottishblokeaddict.tumblr.com/post/155731272537/do-you-trust-me-pt-4

Link to Pt. 3: http://skinnyscottishblokeaddict.tumblr.com/post/155699231442/do-you-trust-me-pt-3

Link to Pt. 2: http://skinnyscottishblokeaddict.tumblr.com/post/155686403892/do-you-trust-me-pt-2

Link to Pt. 1: http://skinnyscottishblokeaddict.tumblr.com/post/155650933267/pizsospa-cmon-little-dude-you-can-trust-me

"GO! JUST GO! RUN!" You couldn't if you'd wanted to. But you couldn't move to help him either. He screamed again, clutching at his head, doubling over on his knees, his whole body glitching out. "No...NO!" And he collapsed. "JACK!" You ran toward him, all fear and panic, all thought for your own safety gone. You just needed to know he was okay. Your knees thudded sharply against the ground and you cupped his face with your hands. "Jack, please. Please wake up. Please. You can't leave me. You can't leave them. They need you, Jackaboy, c'mon." He grunted weakly and you let out a short sob. "Knew you could...do...it..." He was laughing. And when his eyes opened, they were black.

You scrambled back as he stood, dusting himself off. "Well," Anti said hoarsely, voice still glitchy and pitch-distorted, but growing less so, growing more...human. "That was harder than I thought, honestly. I'll give 'im credit, I didn't think he'd even put up that much of a fight. Still. Not strong enough." "Let. Him. Go." He arched an eyebrow at you and grinned, too wide. "'Let him go'? What, are we playing tag?" He laughed, that high, disturbing giggle. "Oh, I can't just 'let him go', even if I wanted to. He's gone. It's just me in here!" He tapped his temple gleefully, watching you stand as if you were an interesting bug he was about to crush. You felt a sob welling up, but more angry than afraid, you shoved it down and balled your hands into fists. "He's not gone, you disgusting, lying thing." "Thing, huh?" He took a step toward you, and you had just enough courage, or maybe adrenaline, to hold your ground. "Did I get downgraded? Normally it's 'demon' or 'monster'." "You don't even deserve that. You're just...bad data." "'Bad data'!" He laughed again. God, you wished he'd stop that. It was horrifying. "You're gonna have to do better than that." He took another step, and this time you couldn't help but back away. "You idiot," he put his hands in his pockets, steadily moving closer, loving every second of you shrinking away. You gasped when you bumped into the wall behind you, and he got closer. The black of his eyes slowly melted away to reveal neon green irises. He leaned closer still, until he was inches from your face. "You really don't get it, do you? He was the only one with any chance of stopping me. And you? You're a dead fan walking." His smile got impossibly wider in appreciation of his twisted pun. "He can still stop you." Your voice was barely a whisper, and you jumped when he shouted, voice glitching out as his emotions spiked. "HE'S DEAD!"

You took another shaky breath, eyes wandering desperately. And they caught your watch. The stupid, stupid thought that came to your head was, "I'm missing the new video."

Video one was out for today. The video was out... You had the smallest spark of an idea. It was a shot in the dark, but...If you were going to go down, you were going to go down trying.

You met his eyes, hating that they were green, hating that they looked at you with so much glee, and malice. "Jack. Please. You've gotta fight him. I know you can hear me. I know you're there." Anti's arm was suddenly on your neck, and you were scrambling to pull it away. "It's lucky I don't need you conscious," he growled, shoving again, "I just need you breathing. And only long enough to get across." "Jack," you gasped, "think...think about them. Think about...us. We n...we need you." A weak smile. "You're...you're the boss, right?" Anti pushed harder, and it was getting harder and harder to focus. Had you not been trying so damn hard, you might've missed the hesitation. But it was there, and it was enough to give you hope. "What...?" It was barely a grunt, but you caught it. And you choked out a laugh as Anti convulsed, stumbling back. It was his turn to grab his head, green eyes wide in confusion and shock. "No. No, no, no, no, NO!" You'd collapsed to your knees, but you struggled to stand again, one hand going to the wall behind you as you concentrated. "Who's the idiot who assumed you could make Jack go silent? Anti, you don't get it. Sure, the fandom likes you. But there's something Jack's got that you'll never have." "And what's that?" he spat, the end of the sentence turning into a grunt of pain. His arm began glitching slightly, then his leg, then one eye. You smiled coldly. "You're the villain, Anti. In every story, in every video, in every post, you're the villain. But Jack?" Now he was retreating from you. "Jack's our hero." And you turned and slammed your hand against the wall, and it brightened. Suddenly, a picture popped up. It was Jack and a fan, both smiling in excitement. Anti stared at it in confusion, and started glitching out again. He yelled and shut his eyes. "Dammit!" A video popped up next. Jack, at his panel, jumping off the stage amid cheers to hug a fan. His hands went to his ears. "Stop! Stop it! STOP!" A thank you letter, from Tumblr, from a fan whose life Jack'd saved. And then another, and another. More pictures. Fanart. Jack, riding Trico, laughing. Jack, in a striped jumper, with a bright green heart above his head. Jack, yelling as he fell from a Colossus's collapsing body. Jack screaming at Billy as he fell into spikes. The wall was filling with posts from Jack's fans. Video clips, edits, pictures, soundbites, messages, tweets, comments. "Millions of people. Millions. Calling out to Jack to come back to them. They need their hero, and you're not gonna get in their way." "No, no, no, no, NO! STOP IT! HE'S MINE!" But his voice was glitching worse than before, and you thought you could hear another voice under it, laughing. Another voice, yelling Jack's catchphrases in time with the clips on the wall. Another voice, saying your name proudly, egging you on. "Jack, c'mon! You got this! Kick him out! You can do it!" "STOP IT!" His whole body was glitching out now, his face jumping between the angry distortions of his screaming, and Jack's grin, Jack calling out to you. And then suddenly, he collapsed. You yelled and grabbed your ears, eyes clenching shut automatically as a high-pitched scream rang out.

Silence. Absolute...silence. You didn't dare open your eyes. Please. Please. Please. And then...

A groan.

Your eyes shot open. "Jack?" He slowly pulled himself up, until he was resting on one elbow, breathing heavily. And then he pushed himself up into a crouch. He looked over at you.

You'd never been happier in your life to see blue eyes.

"JACK!" He laughed as you fell to the ground and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, hugging you back with just as much intensity. "Hey." "Don't you 'hey' me, you asshole," you sobbed, but you were grinning. You pulled back a bit and scrubbed your eyes vigorously. "Damn, I'm glad to see you. Oh god." "I'm glad to be back." You could tell he was trying desperately to sound light about it, but there was more genuine relief than teasing in it. More quietly, he added, "Thank you. For...those." He motioned to the wall of still playing messages, smiling at them fondly. "Don't thank me. Thank them." "I do," he chuckled. "At the end of every video. And I mean it every time. God, you guys are amazing." "Yeah," you agreed, moving to sit next to Jack so you could both look at the wall. New things were scrolling through now. Gifs from new videos, theories about lore and more fanart from recent game series. "Yeah, we are. There's so many of us." It was only just hitting you how many. "14 million." He sounded so wistful and happy about it. You looked over to catch a goofy smile on his face, which you had to match. "14 million people. And they all like the stuff I do here. They like the games. They like..." "You." His smile got a little sad. "They like Sean." "No." He looked over at you, smile dropping a little. You put a hand on his back. "No, Jack. They love you. You say you're the part of Sean that exists online. Well, that's the only part we know. Yeah, we love Sean. But we know you. You're the one that makes us smile and laugh, that we go on adventures with in every video. We love Sean, the person. But we also love Jacksepticeye. The channel, the brand, the community. We love green and blue eyeballs, we love the flatcap and the green hair, we love yelling the intro and the outro at top volume, high-fiving 'til the headphones come off. We love Sean for being the man who started all of it, for caring for us so much and working so hard to do what he loves, for doing all the good he does for the world, but we also love the world he created online. So that means we love you."

Apparently, it was possible for a computer program to cry, because Jack was wiping his eyes with the collar of his shirt. He couldn't even muster a comeback, or a comment at all. You rubbed his back, smiling a bit. "As for me, anyway...I'd still love to meet Sean, of course. But...I'm so fucking glad I got to meet you. I think everyone wishes you'd reply when they say something stupid to their screen, and...as much as this's been terrifying, and dangerous, and as much as I do want to go home...I have loved every second I got to spend with you. It's like finally getting to talk to an old friend. I love you, Jack." He couldn't speak for a long moment. He did manage to pull you back into a hug, choking out a laugh. When he finally managed to speak, it was hoarsely. "Thank you. And I love you, too. I love you guys more than anything else in the world." He laughed a little again. "I don't even have a fuckin' thing to say after that speech. God, how embarrassing." "The loudest man in the universe doesn't have words for me. Someone alert the media." He squeezed your shoulders, and then the both of you moved to stand, finally.

You didn't say anything else as you walked along, finally coming to the ravine. When you got to Jack's door, he opened it and gestured, almost teasingly for you to go in first. You thanked him for his chivalry. It was good to be home.

"You didn't argue when I said man this time," you murmured when Jack was adjusting the camera. He huffed. "I was a little tired, having been possessed and all." He turned to look at you, hands on his hips. "You ready?" "As I'll ever be, I guess." "Then...it's goodbye." "Yeah." There was barely a second of hesitation before you pulled each other close, and there wouldn't have been a way to tell who was hugging tighter if anyone tried. After a moment, you pulled apart again, smiling. "I think..." He stepped back, taking the flashdrive from you and plugging it into his computer, booting up the code. "I think it's probably possible to be both a man and a program." "Well," you went to stand in front of the camera, "I can say, without a doubt, you are the best Persona I've ever met." "I'll take that." He paused, then said your name, making you look back over at him. It was still nice to hear him say it. "See ya in the next video." "Yeah. See you in the next one." One more long look, and then you turned back to the camera, closed your eyes, and focused on home. You reached out and touched the camera, opening your eyes at the last moment and glancing back over one last time to see Jack waving. You waved back... And everything was fading. And you were falling.

@ask-thewhiphand tagged me, thanks love!

Rules: tag 9 people who you would like know better.

Relationship status: Single as hell, but pretty much okay with it. :)

Last song I listened to: Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas, and before that, probably Break Your Little Heart In Two by All Time Low

Favorite color: RED. Very much red.

Top three shows: Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. Yes, I know, typical, but I love them. I watch more YouTube than TV though, and on here I love Scare Pewds, Game Lab, and Crash Course.

Top three characters: Oh dear lord...ah, right this second...probably...Asriel/Flowey (Undertale), the Tenth Doctor (DW), and Antisepticeye (JSE). I don't know! I love so many characters!

Top three ships: Johnlock, Tenrose, and Undyne/Alphys.

Tagging: @bookwyrm00, @super-septic-pewdie-plier, @lyssadee, @quirkyfandomimagines, @turquoisemagpie, @stupidscreennames, @jacksepticide, @alto-viola, @victoria-saenz

Transcription of file 4nt1.aud October 22, 2016. 6:42pm. Location undisclosed.

[Start recording]

State your name for the record, please.

Helena [Name withheld for privacy]. I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?

No, no, Helena. Can I call you Helena?

Sure, I guess.

We've heard that you're quite the expert on certain recent...developments, in the online community.

What do you mean?

Could you tell us what you know about Sean Mcloughlin?

[Pause] What does he have to do with anything?

Helena, we're trying to help. Please, we need you to tell us what you know.

[Another pause] I...don't think you can help.

What do you mean?

I mean...I think he's too far gone.

Can you explain?

[Long pause] I've started calling them Hyde Glitches.

Hyde Glitches? As in, Jekyll and Hyde?

Yes, exactly. Some call them monsters. Some call them demons. Some simply call them the...darker...parts of us. All of them are right to some degree. These things...they're somewhere in between. Near as I can figure, they're a type of thought form, something created from the minds of people, brought into real life by enough concentration from enough people for a long time. These specific thought forms, they come into being through the internet. Youtube, primarily.

And how does that happen?

Fandoms. They...they grow around these people, thousands or...or millions of people, who're watching, focusing, thinking about this one...focal point.

Does the entity just...come into being? Naturally?

Well, no. Not usually. I think it starts when someone...some mad bastard has the brilliant idea to write up something...dark, about these creators. A fanfiction. They write them a dark side, a hidden psychopath. And then for some sick reason, people latch onto these dark sides. They name them. They draw them. And the longer this idea is around, the stronger the creature gets, until...until they take control. [Pause] I think that's what he's doing now.

And what's his name? This..."thought form" version of Mr. Mcloughlin?

He's got a couple of them...but...the most popular...

Yes?

They...call him Anti.

"Anti"? As in, opposite?

Yes. [Nervous laugh] I never said it was terribly creative. It's short for Antisepticeye. A play on the channel name.

Alright. So..."Anti". This creature has control of Mr. Mcloughlin? Is there any way to destroy it?

[Pause] You believe me.

Yes.

Why?

Helena, it's my job to believe in...unusual things.

[Pause] Yes. There might be a way.

How?

Well...Sean's got to do it. He's got to fight him off. That's why I call it a Hyde Glitch. They're dark sides, so the only way to defeat it is for the light side to win.

Do you think that Sean is strong enough to do that?

I think...he has to try. I hope to god he is.

Why is that?

Because no one else has a chance at stopping him, once he's free.

[Pause] Thank you for your time, Helena.

[End recording]

Thoughts about the WAIA

Honestly I would love to do more theorizing surrounding the WAIA but there’s not a lot of theorizing to do. 

It’s pretty out in the open. I don’t think the FNAF connection is super lore-steeped; I think it’s just Mark poking fun at his King of FNAF status. What I do think is lore-steeped is the WAIA’s responses, which are super on-the-nose but not in an overbearing way. This is direct storytelling done right, and I think that Mark is extremely talented to be able to pull it off.

HUGE SPOILER WARNING FOR THE REST OF THIS POST.

In the “He said...potato salad?” video, the WAIA says:

“A man goes to a party. This man met an old friend. The two friends share some wine. The two friends played a game. The most dangerous game. I didn’t know the gun was loaded. I didn’t know. 

Was it my fault? Was it?”

This got me so hard the first time I played through, and I picked “No.” I picked “No” because in my mind, Wil is not at fault for Actor Mark’s crimes. Wil is the victim of cruel manipulation and the entity in the House; he didn’t make a decision to kill Actor Mark. He wanted so badly to reconcile that he was willing to play “the most dangerous game” to get him back. And when it all went wrong, he couldn’t bear it.

What got me more than anything was the dialogue in “No.” : 

“You can’t change the past. You can tell all the stories you want to tell; it won’t change what happened. You can’t rewrite the past; if you live in fantasy forever, you’ll lose yourself in the story.”

This just about made me cry, and when Wilf’s voiceover mentions that “he’s a perfect scan of my noggin,” it made it worse. 

This is Wil’s thoughts untethered from the influence of the House and the breaks in time and space he continues to experience. This is Wil, as close to sane as he can get, and he’s just...accepting. 

He knows he can’t change anything, and that becoming Wilford Warfstache, telling Wilford Warfstache’s story instead of his own, can’t fix it and instead means he’s slowly losing William Barnum. 

Or maybe that he’s already lost him.

LAST MINUTE THEORY LET’S GO

Okay, so in the last 90 minutes before the video comes out, let’s discuss what we know so far.

DAMIEN is the story of everyone’s favorite unfortunate mayor POST-Who Killed Markiplier. Now this immediately brings up two questions: Are we following Actor Mark in Damien’s body, Damien in the DA’s body as he becomes Dark, or a combination of the two? My guess is that we’re following Damien, but we’ll encounter Mark, and/or we’ll watch Damien spiral out of control obsessed with finding him.

From what we’ve seen so far, Damien is wandering in the woods. Are we just outside of the House? Are we lost? (I say we because there’s got to be some element of the DA in Dark, which might be why he’s so unsettling.) As seen in the little teaser clip here on tumblr, and in the audio from Twitter, Damien is questioning what to do next, who he is now and why he’s still here. The lines between life and death have blurred for him, but not to the extent that they have for Wil. I think this is going to be what causes him to spiral, this need to finish Actor Mark but not knowing if it’s possible because to them, no death is final.

Final thoughts: I’m in love with the fact that this is an animated project. I’m also curious as to whether we’re going to run into Wil. I’m also also enjoying the pre-premiere chat full of memes and singing.

LET’S GOOOOOOO

OH FUCK

I don’t think Darkiplier was trying to trick us in ADWM.

“Shoot him. Shoot him now, please. You do not have time. He needs to die. He is dark. He’s a bad influence. He takes over everything you’ve ever loved. Please shoot him RIGHT NOW. Don’t listen to him. He’s a liar. Please shoot him. He’s a bad man and does bad things to good people. You have to trust me.”

This is the exact text of what Darkiplier says to us at the end of “FREEDOM!” in ADWM.

You know what I noticed about this?

Not once does he claim to be Mark.

Also, there’s a reason the word “dark” isn’t capitalized. This is not Dark trying to trick us into thinking Mark is really Dark– this is him telling us what Mark’s really done.

And now we know what Mark has done, thanks to WKM.

“He needs to die” = Dark recognizing that he CAN die now that he’s out of the house.

“He takes over everything you’ve ever loved” = Mark taking over Damien’s body and life.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s a liar” = Dark warning us about Mark calling us ‘a close and trusted friend’.

“He’s a bad man and does bad things to good people” = the fact that Celine and Damien were torn apart, (Y/N) was pushed out and left behind, and the Colonel was subjected to madness, all because of Mark’s sinister plot.

This was not Dark trying to trick us.

This was Dark trying to stop Mark from making things worse.

This was Dark actually needing our help.

And you know what kills me the most about this?

The fact that Mark totally discredits any potential for goodness left inside of Dark… and we believe every word of it.

A Really Rather Dumb Bet (Schneep and Chase Drabble).

A/N: Because everyone needs a little more fluff and comedy for these two fools.

The horrid crashing sound was more than enough to send Henrik careening out of bed. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to loud noises, he made plenty of them himself and hell, he was good friends with Jack. It was just that this particular loud sound had been made at two o'clock in the morning when he'd thought he was alone in the house. Anyone else might have been inclined to do something rational, like call the police or go back to sleep. Henrik, however, knew much better, which was why he swung his door open with great gusto, walking confidently into the living room, brandishing a stethoscope like a garrot and yelling "WHO IS IT ZAT DARES TO DISTURB ZE REST OFF ZE GREAT HENRIK VON SCHNEEPLESTEIN?! VHAT CRIMINAL IS STUPID ENOUGH TO CONTEST HIM?!" Honestly, even in the fluorescent pink pajama shorts and haphazard glasses, he struck an intimidating figure. What greeted him was not an awestruck-and-or-blinded-by-the-neon-PJs burgler, but a broken window, a collapsed side table, a few scattered remote pieces and magazine pages, and a very dissheveled, very drunk, widely grinning Chase Brody. "DOC! AH'M -hic- SO HAPPY TAH SEEEE YOOOOOU!" This was met with a blank stare, to which Chase pouted considerably. "Aw, c'mon -hic- Schneeps, you've gotta be h-hic-happy to see me too. I hav'n ev'n seen you in like...like...ever!" "Chase, vhat ze fuck?" The good doctor shook his head and went to help his terribly inebriated friend to sit on the couch. "First off all, vhy are you here at two in ze morgen?" "Because I wanna see-" "See me, ya, I got zhat. Sank you, ze sought is appreciated." Clearly he wasn't going to get a better explanation. "Second question, zhen: vhy did you come through ze vindow?" "The door was locked." He would have facepalmed if he'd had a free arm that wasn't busy trying to shove said window back into the gaping hole it'd created on the way down. "Off course. And vhy are you drunk as an Irish sailing skunk?" "Because Marv gave me -hic- some awesome whiskey! And bet me -hic hic- I couldn't finish it all in one go! I won! Ha!" Chase laughed. The laughing quickly turned into a vague wretching. He turned very green and Henrik didn't wait to be asked before he pointed down the hall to the open bathroom door. For a drunk man, Chase moved surprisingly quickly and with surprisingly few casualties. Henrik only had to dive to catch one vase and three paintings before the door shut behind him. He sighed. Tomorrow, he supposed, he'd have to get some more answers out of that man, and a sound apology from Marvin. Tonight, though, he simply went to the closet in the hall and pulled the door open to reveal a set of shelves with extra linens on them. He ran a finger down the edges of the shelving. JJ, Marvin, Angus, Robbie...ah, there it is! Chase. He pulled out a set of Nerf sheets, and began to make up a bed on the couch. BANG! CRASH! THUMP! "Hennnnnn-!"

Sigh.

He stood, straightening his shorts. A doctor's duties never cease.

The Good Doctor.

((A/N: TRIGGER WARNING FOR GORE AND NEEDLES!! Well, Anti made a reappearance, and now we have more lore. Specifically, about Schneeplestein! I was excited, so I thought I’d write a quick fic about the aftermath of Say Goodbye. Enjoy!))

"Oh god..." Henrik jerked into motion, nearly barreling over the table as he fell into place beside Jack, dropping his medical bag open on the floor beside him. The blood, oh god, the blood, there was so much of it. Snapping himself out of his shock, he scrambled through the bag with one hand as the other desperately tried to stem the flow of blood from the deep gash in his old friend's neck. "Where is it? Where is it?! Dammit...hold in there, Jack, just hold on...you don't get to die on me, no, no, no, not on the watch of Dr. Schneeplestein!" He glanced over at Jack, with half a weak smile as he nearly anticipated the usual laugh and eye-roll he'd get whenever he was as grandiose as that. But there was nothing, no flicker of life from the cold form. He jerked the needle, thread, and towel free of the bag and began desperately trying to stitch Jack's neck together and stop the blood at the same time. Where were his medicines to thicken blood? Where were his gauze and bandaging? Where was his antiseptic spray?

"DON'T YOU DIE ON ME!" Henrik's panic was getting the best of him now. He was working quickly, sloppily. There were moments where he thought he missed time passing, his sight seeming to skip from one second to the next. He almost thought he was...twitching. Nerves, it must be nerves. Jack was dying, right there in front of him, and he wasn't doing enough, he couldn't do enough, it ͞ẃa͡s̢ ͝n̡evèr͏ eno̕ug͢h.͠ He doubled over, twitching once, violently. He thought he heard a high-pitched ringing. Looking at his shaking hands, he thought for a second he saw them go around Jack's neck, as if to choke him. No, no that couldn't be right. He blinked, gasping, and saw his hands, jerked up beside him, nowhere near Jack at all. No. No, he couldn't lose it now. He couldn't lose control now, Jack needed him. Get it together, Doctor! The ringing got louder, and under it, some noise. Some...pattern. High, cold, uneven...almost like a laugh. Henrik shook his head.

Ĝ͈ͥͥͨ́ͮ͒õ̳̰̣͕͔̼ͦ̄̓̾ȭ͎̩̦͓̱̣̟d̬̪̝͕͔̤̣͌̎ͪͩ ͙̞̜̜̱̜̽̿͛́ḍ̞̣͉̞̯͋͛ö͕̤̬͕͕͈ͬc̹̘͙͚̗̥͍̕t̶̰̯ͯ̓̊̇̋̓͌o̧͉̘͚̻͌̌̄̎͋͐r͍͕̗̼̤̯̹͋.̇͛̓͘.̺̖͖͈́ͧ͒ͣ.͔̩̼͓̗͙͙ͤ̇͐̚y̵̗͖̱̘̝̻ͣo̩̯̼̫̠͕̖ͣ̇ͩ́̔̇ͫú͔̳͇̥̪̞̦̾͊̇ ͖̹͎̆̂̑̇̏̍̕c̗̞͈̻ͭ͐̐̎̋̽̚oͨu͔͠l̊͛̾̉̌҉̥͈͎͎͓̩d̻͗̇̈ ͙̝̫͇͂̏ͪ̚b̸͐̿ͪe ̦͓̳̥̮͛͑͘f̻͇͔̱̘͕̊ͩ̑̅̓͆̓u̩n͓̚.̔̓̈́ͮͩͤ̚.̖͉ͭͩ́.̪͇̖̗̀ͮ̒̉̆͛ͣͅ

"No. No, no, no," he muttered, covering his ears with his hands. How could he be losing control at a time like this? He had never been prone to panic attacks, why now, of all times? Perhaps it was insanity? People had always said he was on the verge of it. He shook his head. No. He needed his mind clear to help Jack, he needed to stop the bleeding...the bleeding...

The bleeding had stopped. Henrik stared, uncomprehending. He checked for a pulse. There was no way... He felt one. Very, very faint, but present. Jack was alive.

Jack woke up, only hours later, and seemed to feel no ill effects, other than being a bit weak. He didn't seem to even remember what had happened. When he asked the doctor, he couldn't bring himself to tell, so instead, he made up some cock-and-bull story about pumpkin fumes knocking him out. It was a very weak reason, and clearly, Jack didn't believe him, but he didn't question it. Even when later, he looked in the mirror and saw the red stains on his neck. Even when he saw the blood on the carpet, and in the carved pumpkin he didn't remember finishing.

Dr. Schneeplestein never mentioned the "panic attack". He never talked about what had really happened. He never talked about the voice.

Neither of them wanted to think about what had done it...and how that thing was still out there. Neither wanted to think about when he might come back.

I always feel so bad for wilf cause you can just see him slowly lose his grip throughout wkm and it’s really sad

He’s always been one of my favorites, and seeing him slowly lose it is just so heartbreaking. But I’ve gotta give Mark props for his acting in WKM, it was phenomenal.

Do You Trust Me? Pt. 4

A/N: Here we are! Second to last part!

Link to Pt. 3: http://skinnyscottishblokeaddict.tumblr.com/post/155699231442/do-you-trust-me-pt-3

Link to Pt. 2: http://skinnyscottishblokeaddict.tumblr.com/post/155686403892/do-you-trust-me-pt-2

Link to Pt. 1: http://skinnyscottishblokeaddict.tumblr.com/post/155650933267/pizsospa-cmon-little-dude-you-can-trust-me

Mark finished waving and took off his headphones as he stood and turned. "Jack! What's up, dude? You didn't tell me you were coming over today." "Howya, Mark? I haven't seen you in ages," Jack said, walking over and giving him a quick half-hug. "Oh, fine, fine, lots of Subnautica recently, it's driving me nuts," he laughed, turning to smile at you. "Who's your friend?" You managed to stutter out a "hello". Mark raised an eyebrow at Jack. Jack put his hands in his pockets. "They're actually the reason I'm here." His smile faded and he sighed. "He's stronger than we thought. And he almost got out, so...I pulled them in here." Mark's smile dropped immediately. "Oh...Oh, so you're...?" He turned to look at you, and you nodded awkwardly. "Uh, from...'out there'. Yeah."

Everyone was silent for a moment before you added, stupidly, "I love your videos." Mark shook himself a bit and smiled again. "Well. It's nice to meet a fan, doesn't happen very often." He glanced over at Jack, still addressing you. "Did he explain about Personas?" "Yeah. I did. Let's not start that again." Jack put an arm around you. "Can you help me get them home safely?" "Well," Mark considered, going over to his computer and starting to look for something, "I mean,  I've done it before. I don't see why not." "What happened before?" You asked, walking up behind Mark to see what he was doing. There was a lot of code on the screen, much like outside. Mark seemed to be looking for a specific line of it. Mark and Jack seemed to shift awkwardly. "Well...you weren't the first target of a Hyde Glitch." "Hyde Glitch?" "It's what we're calling Anti and all them," Jack explained. "Like Jekyll and Hyde. They're...broken versions, of us. Bugs in the system." "There's more of them?" "Lots more." Mark didn't look back at you, but he frowned. "One for almost everyone." "Oh..." You thought back to all the drawings and edits you'd seen on tumblr. "Oh. So...there's Anti, and there's-" "Dark. Yeah. He exists." Mark nodded solemnly. "But he's not as strong as Anti. Glitches like Dark, and Natemare, MadPat, Virus Cry, all of them...they're weak because they've not got a single form." "Sean's a good guy, and October was fun, but..." Jack crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head slightly. "Well, putting Anti on the channel, pulling him into the limelight..." "We knew it was gonna be dangerous." "Because he exists online..." The realization was hitting you like a ton of bricks. Jack nodded. "Sean doesn't know about this. So he didn't think he was doing anything wrong. But the more Anti actually appeared in videos, the more he got a voice-" "The stronger he got here," you finished for him, leaning back against the foam padding on the wall. "This is our fault. We egged him on. I...I wrote stories, I've got friends that made art..." "It's not your fault." Mark seemed to have found what he was looking for, and turned to smile at you reassuringly. "You didn't know about this place either. You didn't think any of it was real." "But it is, and..." you looked over at Jack, "A-and you got hurt because of it. He-he slit your throat, but how-?" "The vlog that went up after," Jack interrupted, seeing how upset you were, "It cancelled out 'Say Goodbye'." He didn't say it, but you could guess that that didn't mean it hadn't hurt. It felt like your stomach was falling into your shoes. Mark coughed, and you and Jack gathered by the computer. "Alright," he said, pointing at some white text, "so, when Ethan was here-" "Ethan came here? Like, my world Ethan?" Mark nodded. "Yeah. When he first came out to LA, he was watching one of my videos, making sure his edits were good. He heard me say something to him after the outro. And then...I mean, I assume it was basically the same thing you did. Dark started trying to get at him, I pulled Ethan in." You shook your head. You could practically picture it, Ethan confused as hell, staring at Mark in shock. "But you got him home alright. I mean, he's putting out videos now. And Dark's not out there, so...How'd you do it?" "Well, like I said, Dark isn't as strong as Anti, so it was just a matter of putting him behind a firewall. After than, we...well, I spent hours trying to figure it out, digging through code and trying to find out if it'd happened before. Ethan was a little shocked, so...but he wouldn't have known what to do either. Eventually, I found this," he tapped the white text again. "Ethan's access code. It's what let him get in." "We still don't know why he could," Jack added, "We don't know why he's the only one, until now, that could hear us. Maybe it's something to do with you guys on that end, some power you have." "But how does that help me get out?" "Well," Mark pulled open a drawer and pulled out a flashdrive, plugging it in. He tapped a few keys and a loading box popped up. "I found his code by accident. Noticed it was different, pulled it up. And my camera was still plugged into my computer, and when it popped up, a box came up with the option to 'return message to original sender?'. Ethan was the one who figured it out. He was the message, and the sender. So, we figured, what's the worst that could happen? I'm pretty good at recovering lost data..." Jack shifted and you glanced at him. Mark continued, eyeing Jack. "Um, so we figured, what was there to lose? I hit send, and then...flash, bang, he was home." "And that was it?" "And that was it." "So I could go home right now?" "Well, no," Mark rubbed his neck awkwardly. "You've gotta go from your home port. Meaning..." "Meaning we walked all this way to be told we have to go back to Jack's place," you said, scrubbing a hand across your face. "We traveled all this way to have someone who's a hell of a lot better at code than I am get the right code," Jack corrected, then, shuffling his feet awkwardly, "And...I wanted to give you a chance to meet him. I figured...You probably like his stuff too, and it'd be nice..." You smiled slightly at him. "Thanks, Jack." "It's my fault Anti got to us, though." Mark's voice was suddenly sharp. "Anti followed you?" "We ran into him halfway here, but...I think I slowed him down," you said. Mark blinked, confused. "How?" "I don't know, I just...pushed him. And he turned a little red." Mark shot a glance at Jack, who shrugged. "Well that's...interesting. You, uh, seem to be able to manipulate code. Which I suppose is good." You could see why that would make him uncomfortable, so you stood away from the wall again and made your way toward the door. Jack took the hint. "Well, we should be going." Mark nodded, pulling the flashdrive, which'd just finished downloading the code, out and handing it to you. "Be careful out there." "You too," you said. Mark smiled. "All things considered, it was nice to meet you." You returned it. "It's good to meet you too, Mark. I've watched you for such a long time." You laughed a little. "This feels surreal." Mark opened his arms and raised his eyebrows, and you took the invitation and hugged him tightly, muttering a thank you. "It's my absolute pleasure," he chuckled, hugging you tightly before patting your back. "Now go on. Have a safe trip-" The lights dimmed. Everyone froze. "We should go. Now." Jack grabbed your arm. Mark let go of you quickly and went to open the door. It wouldn't open. And then there was giggling.

"This way!" Mark dove toward a door on the other side of the room, you and Jack hot on his heels as the lights flickered and his computer screen began to glitch, dark green code starting to scroll by. He shoved the door open and you ran into his VR recording room. He shut the door behind you and ran up to the headsets. "Lucky I've got two of these," he said, tossing you the Vive and giving the Oculous to Jack. "Put 'em on." "What?" Something pounded on the door. Mark shot a glance at it, then ran over to the computer in this room and started typing furiously. "Mark, we can't just leave you with him," Jack said angrily. "Just put on the damn headsets, I'll be fine." "A firewall won't stop him." "But it'll slow him down." Mark waved him off. But you were still lost. "Wait, how is this supposed to-?" "Virtual Reality," Mark said, stepping back toward the door and, to your surprise, pushing aside a panel on the wall to reveal its coding. He started pulling and moving it like Jack had back on the mountain. "In your world, it's only a metaphorical escape. But here, everything's virtual, so..." "So it'll really get us out of here." You grinned. "That's brilliant." You nodded to Jack and the two of you got ready to put the headsets on. "He should follow us," Jack said, and Mark nodded again. "I can keep him out until then. I'll be alright." "Thank you, Mark." He gave you a short wave over his shoulder before going back to keeping Anti out. "See you in the comments." "See you there." There was a scream of frustration from the next room, and you and Jack put the headsets on.

Suddenly, you were back at the base of the mountain, back on Jack's side. You could almost see his ravine from there. "We haven't got a lot of time. C'mon." Jack led the way, and the two of you ran. You made it about half way before the dark green text was everywhere, forcing you to skid to a stop. "No, no, no," Jack muttered, "He's boxing us in." And the giggling started up again. You watched in horror as Anti pulled himself out of the ground again. He looked even glitchier than before, the only solid thing about him his face, grinning disturbingly. The rest was switching alarmingly quickly between green code and sickly green skin. It looked like he couldn't keep a solid form. "YOU!" His voice was high and sharp, layered as if there were four of him speaking at once, tone shifting all over the place. "You're mine!" "Get bent, Anti," Jack growled, and he turned to you. "Get around him. Go. I'll keep him here." Before you could protest, he dove toward Anti, knocking him flat on the ground and shouting in pain as he started to glitch out as well. You were frozen to the spot, couldn't do anything but watch as they struggled. Jack had Anti pinned for a moment, but then his legs were swept out from under him and Anti was on top, holding him down with one arm and using the other fist to swing at his face. You screamed as it crunched against his cheek and Jack let out a yell that was half pain and half defiance. He face was glitching where he'd been hit, going between code and bruising. But he took advantage of Anti reering back for another hit to shove him away, so hard that he slammed into the wall of the mountain base, hissing angrily. You ran toward Jack. "No! No, you've got to go!" Jack stood, swaying slightly, and shoved you back toward the ravine. "I won't leave you here!" "I'll be okay!" "You're lying!" Jack grunted in annoyance and shoved you again. "So what if I am? Don't you want to go home? Please, just-" Anti cackled, making you and Jack whip around to look at him, just in time for him to dive toward Jack, who pushed you roughly backward. "Idiot, IDIOT!" Anti crowed. And he seemed to dissolve, nothing but code, and Jack struggled as it started to seep into his skin. He screamed in pain, just managing to keep standing. "GO! JUST GO! RUN!" You couldn't if you'd wanted to. But you couldn't move to help him either. He screamed again, clutching at his head, doubling over on his knees, his whole body glitching out. "No...NO!" And he collapsed. "JACK!" You ran toward him, all fear and panic, all thought for your own safety gone. You just needed to know he was okay. Your knees thudded sharply against the ground and you cupped his face with your hands. "Jack, please. Please wake up. Please. You can't leave me. You can't leave them. They need you, Jackaboy, c'mon." He grunted weakly and you let out a short sob. "Knew you could...do...it..." He was laughing. And when his eyes opened, they were black.