CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Hi, I'm Crystal!

24 years old. I'm trying this out. Mostly a fanfiction writer. Pretty much only for jacksepticeye egos haha.


A JSE Fanfic
Chapter Four: Broken Minds
[The boys head back to the house where it all started, and finally have an encounter with the creature known as “Anti.”]
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It took them a while to get ready. Jackie had misplaced his backpack full of hero supplies in all the activity last night, and ran around the house looking for it. Once he’d found it, he insisted that everyone take turns using the bathroom to freshen up. That added about an hour to the waiting time, during which Marvin refused to do anything other than scroll through his phone, reviewing his most powerful spells. If they were going back to the house, he wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Finally, everyone was ready to go. Jackie and Chase had managed to find new clothes, and Chase had offered to lend some to the other two. They’d both declined, JJ explaining that he felt more comfortable in his own, and Marvin snapping that he didn’t want to waste any more time and that his costume was better for spellcasting anyway. They set out soon after that.

“Please tell me you remember how to get there,” Chase said.

“I kinda just…stumbled upon it by chance,” Marvin admitted. He glanced over at Jameson, about to ask if he could get them there, but JJ was looking around the neighborhood with wide eyes. No doubt the modern suburbs, now lit up in the daylight, were a bit of a shock to him. “But I’m sure I can get us there again, if we just wander over to the edge of the city.”

Indeed, it wasn’t too long before the foursome had made their way to the area of town made up of narrow, old-fashioned buildings. “Does anyone even live here anymore?” Jackie wondered out loud.

“If they do, they have to be a lot older than us,” Chase replied.

“I think this is the place,” Marvin said, pointing to a familiar gate. Now on edge, he pulled his wand out from his pocket.

Noticing the movement, Jackie said, “Now hold on a minute, Marvy boy. It looks fine so far.”

“Never hurts to be prepared,” Marvin shrugged.

During the banter, Jameson had wandered over and opened the gate. He stared at the house with a strange expression on his face, something caught in the middle of longing, fear, and nostalgia. The others caught up soon.

“You okay, bro?” Chase asked, concerned.

Jameson took out the paper and pencil from that morning and wrote, 'It’s a bit…strange, but it’s not an entirely unpleasant feeling. I’ll be all right.'

“We can always turn back,” Marvin suggested.

Jameson shook his head and started up the path. He didn’t know how to explain it to the others, but he felt like he had to come back. Was it just the need to make sure Anti was gone? Or was it because this was the last connection to his past? Maybe it was a mix of both, and something else he couldn’t describe.

The others looked at each other, then followed.

The inside of the house looked even worse in the daylight. Beams of light were coming from the holes in the ceiling, illuminating the missing plaster in the walls and the broken pieces of trash all over the floor. Electric wires dangled from broken lighting fixtures, and the floorboards were loose to the point of being a hazard.

“Jesus Christ, Marvin, how did you manage to get around here in the pitch black dark?” Jackie asked, shaking his head. “It’s still kinda dim. I’m worried I’m ‘bout to break an ankle.”

“I have magic night vision eyes,” Marvin explained matter-of-factly.

Jameson looked around the house. He’d known it was like this, but it was different seeing it when his mind was clear…it was confirmation of how much time had passed, that it hadn’t all been a trick. He headed toward the stairs. He had to see if it was the same upstairs.

“Uh, dude, you okay?” Chase called. But Jameson gave no indication that he’d heard and kept climbing upstairs. Chase glanced nervously at the other two. Jackie returned his look, but Marvin was frowning at the trash on the floor.

“Hang on…” he kicked a torn piece of paper, revealing strange symbols written on it. “This is a protection sigil. A pretty powerful one. But it’s all messed up.”

“Could’ve fallen down,” Jackie suggested.

Marvin shook his head. “See that black stone over there?” He pointed at a bit of rock that looked like it had been broken in half. “That’s another ward. You’re supposed to hang it up and it’ll keep evil spirits out. But…well, just look at it. You think anything natural could’ve broken solid rock like that?”

Chase bit his lip nervously. “So what you’re saying is that this house was super protected by magic, but now it’s not?”

“Not just magic, pretty damn powerful magic,” Marvin clarified. He looked around at the wrecked walls and ceiling around them. “What the fuck kind of being could’ve done this?” he whispered.

“Okay, maybe you were right and this wasn’t the best idea,” Jackie said nervously. “We should probably leave. I’m getting a bad feeling.”

“Well, we need to tell that to JJ,” Chase pointed up the stairs. Jameson was nowhere in sight.

“Oh, fuck,” Marvin gasped. The three of them ran up the stairs.

The room looked the same as ever. The phonograph sat on the table, now silent. The faded shadow of a broken circle was drawn on the floor. It had been meant for protection. It had failed.

Jameson made his way to the center of the room. He’d made the biggest mistake of his life here. And in doing so, he’d lost everything. Decades had passed, and he hadn’t even known. Not only that, but many others had lost their lives because of him.

It’s all your fault.

If he hadn’t decided to mess about with things he didn’t understand, maybe he never would’ve drawn Anti’s attention. Maybe all those people would still be alive. Maybe he wouldn’t see all their faces every time he closed his eyes, or feel their blood on his hands.

It’s all your fault.

If he’d just tried more. If he’d just fought harder against Anti, nothing would’ve happened. But he hadn’t. He couldn’t. He only watched.

It’s all your fault.

It’s all your fault.

It͠'s̷ ͞all͡ yoưr ̡fa͠ult̵.̸

The words kept repeating in his head. It was his fault. Everything. He’d let Anti do whatever he’d wanted, never speaking up, too terrified to do anything. He’d been a coward. A weak, voiceless vessel for a demon. Countless lives, gone. Years of his own life, gone. All because of him, because he’d just watched, unable or unwilling to even call for help, as everything happened, it was all his fault, it was all his fault…

“No!”

A blinding flash of white-green light lit up the room, and a strange, almost metallic, shriek rang out. Jameson was brought back to the present moment just in time to see a shadow—or was it more than one? or just an illusion?—in the shape of a man flee the scene. Marvin, Jackie, and Chase stood in the rooms doorway, Marvin in front with his wand outstretched, the tip emitting a faint green light. All three looked at Jameson with a mixture of horror and concern. JJ realized he’d fallen to his knees at some point, and warm blood was leaking from his eyes and nose.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Chase repeated over and over. “Is…is everything okay?”

“What the hell do you think, Chase?!” Jackie lashed out, turning his anxiety into anger.

“What the fuck was that thing?” Marvin cried. “Was that—was that him?”

Jameson looked at his hands, which were shaking. He wanted to answer that yes, that was Anti, but he’d dropped the paper and pencil somehow and he couldn’t just tell them because he couldn’t…he couldn’t…

For some reason, that thought broke through the hard shield surrounding his damaged emotions. Tears leaked from Jameson’s eyes as he started to sob silently. Before he knew it, the other three were kneeling on the floor with him, Jackie’s arm around his shoulder, Chase muttering small, comforting things, and Marvin using his magic to summon a blanket from nowhere.

“It’s gonna be okay…” Chase said quietly. “You’re okay…”

Jameson shook his head. He wasn’t sure he believed him.

“It’ll take some work, but we’re not going to leave you behind,” Jackie assured him. “We’re here to help, whenever you need us.”

“But you’re gonna have to work with us,” Marvin said. “If we don’t know what’s wrong, we don’t know what to do. Just…please. Talk to us. Or, well, not talk, I guess, but you get it. We’ll listen.”

JJ would’ve laughed if he could. He’d only met these three the night before, and yet, here they were, willing to help with something that they had no idea how to fix, if they even could. It was…touching.

They stayed like that for a while, all wrapped up in a tangle of everyone’s arms combined with the blanket Marvin had conjured. After countless minutes passed, JJ finally extracted himself from the knot, wiping the tears and blood from his face. He looked around for the paper and pencil he’d lost. Jackie figured out what he wanted and scrambled to pick them up from where they’d been dropped on the floor. He handed them to JJ, who paused for a moment, then wrote, 'I can’t promise that this’ll be easy for any of us. There are some things that even I do not want to think about. But I think you’re right. No good can come from bottling everything up. It will just attract Anti again. If you’re offering your services, I’d be a fool to not take you up on that.'

“Okay…okay,” Chase wiped his eyes free of tears. “You’re good. I’m good. We’re all good.”

“What we’re going to do right now,” Marvin said, “is get the fuck out of this house. Let’s all go back to Chase’s place, where we can open up emotionally. Or, you know, play video games if we don’t want to do that thing right now.”

“We can come back some other time if you want, JJ,” Jackie offered. “When you’re ready. More prepared. And when Marvin’s had a chance to magically scope out the place.”

JJ nodded, and smiled. Tears welled in his eyes again, but this time, of an entirely different sort.

Together, the four of them headed home.


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