A JSE Fanfic
Chapter Sixteen: Enough is Enough
[This is part of an INCOMPLETE SERIES that I wrote in about 2018-2019. I don't know if I'll ever finish it, but I still think there's good stuff in it, and merit in reposting it here. Marvin’s run away AGAIN, so the others have to go find him. And while out looking, Schneep has an…encounter.]
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“Is he insane?!”
“Honestly? I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re all losing it.”
“Chase this is not a time for jokes.” Schneep reread Marvin’s note for a third time before crumpling it into a ball and pitching it at the nearest wall. “Aaugh! ‘Safer without him,’ that is bullshit! If anything, we would be safer with him here. But no, he decides to go ahead and fucking leave the moment we get him back!”
'That’s something he would do,' JJ remarked wryly.
“But it is not something he SHOULD do,” Schneep grumbled, folding his arms.
'I never said it was,' JJ pointed out. 'And, because it is something he shouldn’t do, I propose we undo what he’s done.'
“You mean…go find him?” Chase laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Um, last time he disappeared, it was only because of luck, and maybe Sam, that we found him again. How are we going to find him this time?”
'Well, we need to try, don’t we?' JJ signed. 'We can’t just let him go out into the city on his own, especially not when you-know-who is active again.'
“Jameson is right,” Schneep said, pacing about the floor. “We must find him again, or risk losing two of our friends. Does anyone know places he likes to visit?”
Chase shook his head. “Nothing’s really coming to mind. Jays?”
JJ had taken out his pocket watch and was fiddling with the chain. He stopped to sign, 'He might have found some of the underground magic circles while he was away.'
“Wait, wait, did you just…did you just say ‘underground magic gatherings’?” Chase repeated.
JJ nodded. 'Of course. You didn’t think Marvin was the only magician, did you? There are many of them, and I’m sure that, given his runaway status at the time, Marvin would have been attracted to those pockets that gather on the edge of society, where many frequent.'
“Well then, how do we find these places?” Schneep asked, stopping his pacing, eyes glued to JJ.
'I’m…not quite sure.' The signs were slow, hesitant. 'There are a variety of hidden places to find, and they could be in any location, not to mention they could constantly shift in order to stay out of unkind eyes. We might have best luck just wandering around until we see something off.'
“We can do that, then,” Schneep said definitively. “Come on, no time like the present.” He started toward the door.
“Doc, wait,” Chase called. “This…this is a little fast, isn’t it?”
Schneep halted. He whirled on Chase. “What? Are you saying we should waste time twadeling our thumbs?! Is Marvin not your friend too?!”
“I didn’t say that at all!” Chase protested. “I’m just saying we might need a more definitive plan! I know that’s rich, coming from me, but you know what? You’re always saying that it’s no good to anyone if we collapse from exhaustion or hunger or something, and I dunno about you but my head is still kinda fuzzy and I want to get it un-fuzzed before we do anything crazy.”
'At least get something to eat first,' JJ suggested.
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Schneep stared at the apartment door for a few silent moments before concluding that he was, indeed, pretty hungry and it might be a bad idea to go search the city on an empty stomach. But god, was he considering doing it anyway.
“Henrik…” Chase said, a warning in his voice. “Do you need me to Vulcan nerve pinch you?”
“No, no, I…you are right,” Schneep sighed. “But we are having a very quick breakfast.”
'That’s fair,' JJ signed.
An hour later, the three of them were out on the streets of the city, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious that could help. That wasn’t exactly easy, though, as none of them knew what they were looking for. Jameson implied that he had a rough idea, but when pressed by the others he refused to answer. Given the details of his past, they could only assume talking about this knowledge would bring up bad memories.
They decided to start near the edges of the city and work their way in, figuring that Marvin would want to get as far away as possible if he was really sure that getting away from them was the right thing to do. From there, it was a matter of where they wanted to start. The northern section of the city was remote, but also fairly dangerous, so they decided to skip there. The western and southern sections were mostly residential, with the south being a little more suburban, and that meant lots of people around who could see someone in a mask and get suspicious, so odds were Marvin might not have headed there. Not to mention that JJ and Chase actually lived in those parts. So that left the east, which was mostly industrial and electrical, and also pretty remote. They’d start there, then gradually look in other places.
“Hope this works,” Chase muttered, glancing around the short concrete buildings. In the distance loomed a structure of wires and pylons. “I think we’re trespassing right now.”
“Well, if we are, there is no signs of anyone who could see us,” Schneep pointed out.
“ARE no signs,” Chase corrected absentmindedly. “Jays, anything stand out?”
JJ slowly shook his head. In truth, he looked a little disoriented. He’d caught on fairly quickly to the everyday modern technology, but this new array of electrical equipment was confusing. He couldn’t tell what was out of place if it all looked strange to him.
Schneep growled. “This is taking forever! And there is still the rest of the city! We must go faster!” Accordingly, he sped up a bit.
“Uhh…” Chase sped up to be even with him, JJ walking a little bit behind the two. “Doc, aren’t you worried we might miss something? Or get tired?”
“I am not getting tired! And if you two would rather take time when Marvin could be in any sort of trouble, then you are free to do so, but not me!” And he broke into a run.
He didn’t know where he was going. He could hear Chase calling after him, but he didn’t look back, and he didn’t stop. Eventually, he couldn’t hear him anymore. And when he realized that, that was when he slowed down. He…hadn’t actually thought he’d be able to outrun those two. He must’ve been faster than he expected. Or Chase and Jameson were slower than he expected, also possible.
Somehow, he’d ended up in what looked like an area for producing electricity. There were wires and pylons and coils everywhere. Schneep was sort of confused as to how he got here…didn’t these sort of places usually have walls and fences? Had he run through an open gate and not notice? Well…he did sort of forget to pay attention to things when he got angry. And once he thought that, he realized just how mad he was. Not at Chase and Jameson, not at Marvin either. There wasn’t even really anything to set him off, why had he gotten so upset that he felt he needed to run away?
Well, now it was fading, and now he felt awful for leaving the other two behind. Schneep sighed. He’d have to go back and find them, but he wasn’t sure where they were. Guess he could text them…he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, quickly unlocking it and opening up a new text. Quickly, he typed, "I am sorry I ran like that. I was not thinking straight. Where are you? I am in a electrical generation area, I can come find you or you can find me."
While he was waiting for a response, he looked around the area a bit more. He should probably leave anyway. Who knew what could go wrong in a place like this?
The little text alert noise sounded. He looked back down at the screen, only to find that the response made no sense. It was all garbled letters. Was Chase trying to type while running again? But no. As he watched, the letters changed, the message shortening and morphing but remaining just as nonsensical. Until it finally resolved into a single question:
"Did you miss m͟e?"
Schneep shrieked and immediately dropped his phone. It landed in the gravel covering the ground with a crunch. He backed away until he felt his back hit the base of one of the pylons. For a while, he could only stare at the phone from where it lay on the ground. He could feel his heart about to pound out of his ribcage. Maybe it hadn’t really happened. Maybe he’d imagined it.
Against his better judgement, he cautiously walked back over. He stopped some ways away, and instead of picking the phone back up, he leaned forward and peered at the screen. The message was still there. As he watched, the message deleted itself like someone was pressing the backspace button, to be replaced by a new one: "What’s wrong, mein lieber Artz? Shouldn’t you be used to this by now? It’s been ten months after all."
He made a sound halfway between a gasp and a strangled squeak, then covering his mouth in shock. No, no no no, this was a trick, it was—he was lying! This couldn’t be just another illusion. He looked around. It was real. It was really here, he could feel the slight breeze, see the sunlight reflecting off far-off windows, hear the quiet electrical whine—
The sound that was always there, it never stopped, always a faint electrical humming or whining, only broken by the crackle of static—
“No!” He covered his ears, hands pressing so hard it almost hurt. That sound didn’t mean anything, this place generated electricity, of course that sound would be there. Even—even if that place had a similar sound, it meant nothing! It didn’t mean that he was still…
“But d̷oe̴sn̶’t it?”
At the sound of the voice inside his head, he yelled, spinning around in a circle to see if he was near. There was nothing he could see, but there was a slight flicker in the corner of his eyes, a shadow of a smiling face. He turned and turned and turned but could never see him fully. His feet were kicking up gravel like crazy, but all he knew was that he—was that Anti was laughing at him.
“You really thought I’d just l͢et ̷yo͡u go? Or did you think you were clever enough to get away? It’s been fun watching you scramble about, but now it is time for the truth to come out.”
“You are LYING!” he screamed. The sound echoed through the empty area, bouncing off the metal pylons and coils. And as if he’d poured all his adrenaline-fueled fear into that yell, he fell to his knees, not minding how the gravel bit into his legs, and wrapped his arms around himself. This was real. This was real. It had to be real.
“It doesn’t ‘have to be’ anything.”
Schneep flinched at the words that responded to his thoughts. He looked around, and when he faced forward again he saw a hint of a shadow. Just barely there, could easily be overlooked as a trick of the light, unless you knew better. Unless you could make out the silhouette of a person grinning down at you.
There was a trick here somewhere. But was that trick in the here and now, with Anti trying to fool him into thinking it’s all a lie? Or had the entire past week or so been nothing but an illusion? Was he still in that awful place? Were the others really with him, or was he alone? His breathing was quickening, and tears were filling his eyes. He didn’t know. He couldn’t tell, he couldn’t tell, he couldn’t tell if it was fake or real, what was he supposed to do? He needed help, he needed someone—
Someone had been there before. Last time he’d had a breakdown like this, someone had been there to help him pick up the pieces. And all the times since then, there was always someone around to ground him when he started to spiral. What had their advice been?
Start by breathing slowly, controlling it manually. Focus on something besides the thoughts in your head. In…out…in…out…And then find something solid to notice. Like the feeling of the gravel beneath his knees. The breeze. The sun, high in the sky.
This would usually be followed up with reminders that he’s safe now, but…that couldn’t really be true, could it? Not when he could clearly see the shadow in front of him. Staring at him. Waiting for something.
And as he stared back, he slowly realized the tears were still threatening his eyes. No more than a few had slipped out. Was…was that was he was waiting for? For him to fall entirely to pieces? Of course it was. That was what Anti was all about. Tearing people apart and smiling while he did it.
Schneep slowly stood up, keeping his eyes on the shadow the whole time. He thought he somehow…sensed that the smile was fading, even though he couldn’t see anything in this basic outline. “Get. Away,” he said in a low voice.
The shadow’s head tilted sideways. “And what if I don’t? What are you going to do about it?”
“It is not about what I am going to do, is about what I am not going to do.” He stepped forward. “And I am not going to break apart for your fucking amusement. I do not care what you say, I do not care what you do, I do not fucking care about your attempts to make me afraid!” His voice had risen to a shout at this point. “Get away from me! You do not get to laugh at my tears anymore!”
For a moment, Anti’s shadow was still, unmoving. Then he spoke. “Perhaps for now. You have a bigger part to play, d̨o͢ctor͟.” And the shadow faded away, leaving nothing but an echoing “I’l͟l s̢e͢e̴ y҉ou̢ a͞ga͝in.”
Schneep was left alone. He felt like he’d just run a mile, heart pounding and surprisingly out of breath. But he also felt…relieved.
“Henrik!”
He spun around at the sound of the voice. Chase and JJ were weaving their way in between the various pylons toward him. “Oh! Hello!” He walked toward them, meeting them.
“Dude, what happened?” Chase asked. “You never responded to my text. I mean, you texted me first, you know, but when I asked you for more details you never answered.” He glanced behind Schneep. “Did you…drop your phone?”
“…ah.” Schneep wasn’t too keen on picking that back up, but he guessed he had to. He quickly walked back over, grabbed it, and checked the screen. Chase’s response text was now clearly visible. He hurriedly tucked it into his pocket as he returned to the other two. “There…is a reason for that.” He took a deep breath, looking both Chase and JJ in the eyes briefly. “He was here.”
Chase gaped, a horrified expression on his face. JJ’s eyes widened, and he launched immediately into signing. 'Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do you need any help? Are you…okay?' The second time asking the question, it was clear JJ was talking about more than just being physically alright.
Schneep gave a small smile. “I am fine. Really,” he insisted, seeing the doubt on the other two’s faces. “I was having some trouble, but I managed to sort it all out.” His eyes hardened. “He is not going to get that satisfaction.” Never again. It didn’t matter what happened, he refused to give Anti what he wanted.
Chase and JJ exchanged glances. 'If you insist…' JJ signed.
“I do insist. In fact, I am sorry to you two about running away. I do not know what I was thinking.”
“You were thinking that you’re worried and frustrated, so you turned it into anger because that’s the easy thing for you, and when we said anything that just made it worse because it wasn’t making the worry go away, so you decided to just get away from the situation altogether.” Chase said this whole spiel in a voice that was almost monotone. He cracked a smile at Schneep’s astonished face, though. “What? Dude, I’ve known you for years now, I’ve figured out how you work.”
Schneep shook his head, laughing softly. “Okay, okay. Now I think we should continue with the search. Maybe in a…different area of the city.”
“Good idea. C’mon, let’s go.”
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It was starting to get into late afternoon, and the three of them hadn’t seen any sign of Marvin yet. The three of them decided to stop and take a break for food. They settled down at a little restaurant that was close to the industrial district, but still within the confines of the bustling business part of the city. None of them recognized it or had ever been there before, but it was the nearest place to eat.
“People are staring at us…” Chase remarked, looking around the restaurant.
'They probably think we’re triplets,' JJ signed, shrugging.
“Probably…” Chase’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why do we look so much alike anyways?”
“Genetics are strange,” Schneep remarked. “Did you know that every person has seven people in the world who look just like them?”
“And…what, most of us just happened to meet each other?”
“Precisely. It is a strange coincidence, but that is all it is.” Schneep’s voice was firm, shutting down all attempts at arguing.
JJ, however, was not fooled. 'You seem awfully ready to convince us that a coincidence is, indeed, all it is. Is something the matter?'
Schneep leaned back in his chair and sighed, staring out the window their table was sitting next to. “There were…many strange things he said.” The words came out slowly. “Very many…unusual things about how our world works. I think he said them just to torment me, but…they have a habit of sticking around.”
For a moment, everyone was silent. The air seemed a bit heavier than it was before, weighed down with unspoken things. “And…he talked about why we all look the same?” Chase asked softly. “Obviously you don’t have to answer, but if you want to…”
“I feel safe in telling you that he did,” Schneep said slowly, looking back at the others. “About us, and him, and…and Jack.” The last word was whispered.
“Henrik, you’re kinda…you look uncomfortable,” Chase said. “Why don’t we talk about something else? Like, uhhhh, the weather! Let’s talk about the weather.”
Schneep laughed. “Yes, it is very fine weather. You could not think of anything better?”
“Gimme a break, I’m not creative!” Chase fell silent as he listened to a voice call out his name. “Oh, sounds like our order’s ready. I might need help carrying the food, either of you volunteer?” Schneep shot a pair of death daggers at him with his eyes. “Alright then. JJ?”
Jameson wasn’t paying attention. He was staring with some intent out the window.
“Jays? You alright?” Chase asked.
When there was still no answer, Schneep joined in. “Jamie, is there something concerning you?”
'Do the two of you see that shop opposite this one?' JJ asked. Chase and Schneep looked out the window. The other shop was a clothing store, and it looked closed. In fact, it looked like it had been closed for a long, long time. The display window was sprinkled with dust. 'Is it just me, or does it have a rather…unusual symbol on its awning?'
Chase squinted. “I…guess? It’s just a design, bro.”
JJ shook his head, suddenly bouncy with excitement. 'No, I recognize that. It’s a rune! Not a very common one, but a rune nonetheless.'
“And you mean to say…that this ‘rune’ is magic?” Schneep asked. “That shop might be one of these hidden places we were trying to find?”
'Possibly. Runes are always magical, or magickal!' JJ spelled out the two variations of the word so there could be no confusion. 'And it’s worth taking a crack at it. We don’t have anything to lose and a lot to gain.'
“Huh. Well, why not?” Chase shrugged. “But can we do that after lunch? Or, I guess it’s actually ‘linner’ at this point.” He laughed to himself.
'Yes, yes, nothing wrong with filling up first. It’d most likely be problematic to rush into a magician’s lair on an empty stomach.'
“Well. I’m gonna go get out food then.” Chase scooted his chair back and stood up. “Don’t mind me. Carrying it back to the table all by myself. All alone.”
“Good luck with that, my friend,” Schneep smirked. JJ giggled silently.
“Oh, screw you two.” Chase flipped them a friendly gesture before walking away, leaving the others snickering behind their hands.
'He really should be more polite with those hands of his,' JJ signed.
“Indeed.” Schneep stared out the window once more.
Maybe this trip wouldn’t be a total waste. Even if they found nothing, he felt that something was gained.