Part Eight of The Stitched AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a completed fanfic series of mine with 24 total chapters. I started this October of 2018 and finished it May of 2021. On his own, but now newly prepared, JJ goes to get the others back.]
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The time came. A month had passed, and JJ was sure he was as prepared as he could be. He’d practiced with this new…magic, or whatever it was, and he’d reached a point where he thought it was good enough. Maybe he still didn’t fully understand it, but he couldn’t wait any longer. He was the last man standing; everyone else had been taken out. It was his job to get them back, and he’d start by going after Jack.

It was Halloween. JJ decided to set off in the middle of the afternoon, when there was still daylight. He made a few last preparations in Jack’s apartment: storing the four books of magic away, making sure all the windows were shut and locked, and checking on Schneep one last time (no change there.) Then he grabbed his mask and left, locking the apartment door behind him.

Once he was outside Jack’s apartment building, JJ ducked into the nearest alley where he couldn’t be seen. There, he took a few steadying breaths, and held his hands out in front of him like he was holding a plate on his fingertips. A blue circle spun into existence, the runes inside reading along the lines of "seek, search, find." JJ dropped his hands, but the circle remained, spinning faster and faster before shooting off out the alley and down the street, at about the running speed of the average man. JJ sprinted after it.

After the month of experimentation, JJ had drawn the conclusion that his new magic wasn’t exactly like magic should be. For one, the most powerful spells required words and/or devices to channel the energy, like a wand. He hadn’t once needed anything like that. Thankfully, in the case of the spellwords. But more importantly, he couldn’t really use traditional spells. He tried several simple ones for everything from heating up water to moving a glass across the table. They didn’t require anything more than focus and intent, but when he tried them, nothing happened. It took him a while to realize nothing would work unless he thought about how these spells could help others. In fact, than seemed to be the key to unlocking this power. As long as he focused on helping, there didn’t seem to be many other limitations. Besides that specific part, the rules were basically “something more difficult or complicated will take more time and energy,” but that was a fundamental rule of magic.

After figuring all this out, JJ had concluded that he had no idea what exactly this magic was or where it had come from. But he wasn’t about to push it away, not when it could help stop this demon attacking him and his friends.

The streets were pretty empty as he followed the tracking spell through the city. Occasionally there was a person or two who would give him an odd look, or who would gape at the blue glowing disc flying through the city, but JJ didn’t have time to stop. He ran after the tracker, following it to the north part of the city. It darted around buildings, heading steadily towards the city’s edge. Gradually the regular apartment and office buildings gave way to industrial-type structures, including several large warehouses. JJ half-expected the tracker to head to one of those, but instead it took a sharp left and stopped in front of a low building with concrete walls. Cables ran out of metal boxes along the sides and out of the top, and JJ, having never known a lot about industry, could only guess at what this building was originally for.

The tracker disappeared through the building’s single metal door, heading inside. JJ tried pushing and pulling, but the door was locked. Of course it was. Luckily, he thought he could handle this. He grabbed the door handle and closed his eyes. The tracker said his friend was on the other side, and that meant he had to get through, and that meant the door had to unlock. Small blue runes began circling the handle, and after a few seconds there was a faint clicking sound and the door swung inward.

The tracker was hovering inside, waiting for him. But it wasn’t waiting for long, as it immediately started going again, forcing JJ to duck around tall pillars wrapped in wires and jump over electrical boxes that had fallen off the walls to the floor. The tracker went through another door, which JJ unlocked the same as before. Behind it, there were stairs leading down. They were completely dark, but somewhere far below there was red light. The tracker spun downward, slowed down to barely ahead of him. He stepped carefully, the blue glow from the spell barely lighting up his way. Until he finally reached the bottom, and stared down a red hallway.

Immediately, he knew this place was unnatural. It wasn’t just the dangling red bulbs lighting the way, it wasn’t just the rusted metal walls and floor, it wasn’t just the fact that these halls were twisting and turning, branching out and curving in a giant maze. It was the white spots on the walls too. Or at least, that’s what he thought they were at first. Until, curious, he stepped closer, and the spots blinked. They were eyes, embedded in the metal walls. Staring at him. He jumped backwards, pressing his back against the other side of the hall, until he felt the metal shift behind him and jumped right into place, ending up in the exact middle of the hall. Everywhere he looked, there were eyes on the walls. And they were watching him, tracking his movements as he walked. Shudders ran down his spine, but he kept going, following the spell.

As the tracker led him through the narrow halls of the maze, something began humming in the background. Static. There were no TV screens or speakers in sight, and that just made it even eerier. He hated it. He kept looking down the branching passageways, expecting to see the faded shape of the man. The tracker was slowing down, and that meant he was getting close. He didn’t know if that was good or bad, given that he was also getting closer to the white noise.

Finally, he came upon a metal door at the end of a hall. The tracker attached itself to the door and then faded out of existence. JJ’s heart was pounding. He could barely let himself hope. He unlocked the door in the same way he’d unlocked the ones upstairs. It swung inward, and the sound of the static intensified. He instinctively flinched backward, but then forced himself to go inside the room. The door swung shut behind him, and when he turned around he saw that this side of the door didn’t have a handle. He told himself that was fine, that he could open it another way. But it still sent a small wave of panic through his mind.

Not right now. There were more important things to worry about. He turned back to the room at large. It was fairly small, maybe seven or eight feet square. TV screens were mounted to the walls, showing blank static that was the only source of light in the room. JJ stared at them for a while. The noise was actually…kind of…he quickly shook his head. Lesson learned: don’t look at the screens. A bit difficult since they were everywhere. Except for one spot on the far wall…where Jack was.

JJ rushed to his side. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn a month ago, except now they were torn, the edges of the tears caked in blood. There were green strings wrapped around his wrists and forearms, holding them up and away from each other. He was kneeling on the floor, more strings wrapping his legs together. He seemed to be sleeping, or unconscious. Maybe that was because of the slice across his neck, which was bleeding freely but not as much as it should have.

For a moment, Jameson feared the worst, until he noticed Jack’s chest was rising and falling slowly. He sighed in relief, then reached forward and began gently shaking him. Please, don’t make this a Schneep situation. Please, be able to wake up.

A small whimper. It was the sort of sound that could tear a heart in half, but it meant Jack was alive and at least a little aware. Jameson watched his eyes flicker open. Except, only one really did. His right socket was empty, the eyelid having a crust of blood on its edges. His left was working correctly, though, and it focused on Jameson. He stared at him for a while, then opened his mouth and said in a raspy voice, “JJ? What’re you doin’ here?”

Jameson slumped in relief, then made a single sign. 'Rescue.'

It took Jack a while to decode that. “Wha…?” he shook his head, slowly. “No, you…can’t do that. I gotta stay…stay here.”

JJ’s brows furrowed in confusion. 'What do you mean?'

“I just…gotta. It’s how…everything’s gonna be fine…” His eyelids started to flutter close again.

JJ hit the side of his face gently until his eyes opened again. Then he made a few more signs that essentially meant, 'You’re in danger here. I have to get you out, where it’s safe.'

“’M not in danger…an’ if I was…then why’re you here? In danger place…”

'To get you out!'

Jack’s eye flicked toward one of the many TV screens. “I can’t leave…I gotta stay here…it’ll be okay…”

Ah. Jameson was starting to get it. The static from these TV screens was messing with Jack’s mind, making him want to stay. He wasn’t going to cooperate. So JJ would have to work around that. He gave up on trying to convince Jack and turned his attention to the strings. The ones on his arms were buried in the wall, but the ones on his legs seemed to be not attached to anything. So he’d have to break the ones on the wall or they won’t get anywhere. He grabbed the one around Jack’s right arm, the one nearest to him, and concentrated. Come on, magic, his friend was trapped and hurt and needed to get out. Two glowing blue circles flickered into existence, and sliced the string apart without much difficulty.

“Wha’re you doin’…?”

JJ didn’t listen to him, just repeated the process on the other arm, letting it fall. But when he tried to cut the strings on his legs, Jack shoved him away. It wasn’t a very strong shove, but it did the job. Jack started frantically pulling on the ends of the severed strings, like that could make them form back together.

Jameson stood up, putting his hands on his hips as he surveyed this scene. Alright, if they were going to do it that way. Jameson bent over and wrapped his arms around Jack’s torso, forcibly pulling him away from the wall.

“No! Stop! You don’ understand!”

He understood enough. He understood that Jack needed to get out of this room. Even if that meant he had to drag him out by himself. Jack kicked and flailed and screamed at Jameson to let him go, to let him stay here, and Jameson did his best to get him to stay still while also lugging him across the room. Once they reached the door without a handle, Jameson had to let go so he could put one hand against the door and instruct it to open. He nearly lost his grip of Jack when that happened, but after a few seconds the door creaked open inward. He grabbed the edge of it and pulled it all the way open. They were nearly out. The static was growing louder. It was starting to sound nice…calming…just relax, there was no harm in staying in the room for a little while longer…

With one final burst of energy, JJ pulled Jack through the doorway and back out into the hall, promptly falling on the ground as he’d overestimated just how much energy was needed. For a moment, he just stayed there. And then Jack said, softly, but with great emotion, “What the fuck…”

JJ pushed himself back into a sitting position. Jack was also sitting, staring through the still-open door and into the room with horror on his face. Jameson stood up, then reached forward and pulled the door shut with a slam. The static abruptly cut off entirely.

Jack still stared at the door. He pulled his knees close to his body and started to wrap his arms around them, but recoiled when he realized the green string was still wrapped around his legs. “JJ, I’m so sorry. Tha’ was stupid. This—this whole plan of mine was stupid. I jus'—he didn’ even—I ended up—I played right into his hands and it was fucking STUPID.” Tears were forming in his eyes. Or rather, his eye and his socket.

JJ knelt by his side, shaking his head vigorously. 'You could not know,' he signed quickly. 'You did what you thought was best. And it all worked out in the end. That’s why I came here, to make everything right.'

Jack sniffed. “You sure improved on those while I’ve been stuck here.”

'Thank you.' JJ grabbed the string around Jack’s legs. Just as he suspected, it wouldn’t come off. So he once again used this new magic to cut through them, to Jack’s wide eyed surprise. Then he placed a hand on Jack’s neck, right by the cut that was now bleeding much faster, and blue runes appeared out of nowhere, sealing it until there was just a scar left. He repeated the process wherever there was a tear or a stain in Jack’s clothing, assuming there were similar injuries under them. After he was done, he looked toward Jack and signed, 'Did I get them all?'

“Uh…yeah. I mean, except…” Jack gestured to his empty socket.

JJ nodded, gently placing his hand on Jack’s face near the emptiness in question. This may be a bit more difficult, but magic, his friend needed to see. Slowly, the socket began to fill up with glowing runes, that grew in number until it was basically a glowing blue orb. Then the glow faded away, and there was a new eye. It was a slightly brighter shade of blue than the other, almost unnaturally so, but as Jack blinked and glanced about it was clear that it worked just fine.

“Oh my god…” Jack breathed. He hadn’t expected to ever see the world like this again. It was surprisingly rather strange. “JJ, how…how the hell did you do that? I thought you said you didn’t have powers.”

'I didn’t,' JJ admitted. 'But after he took you, something…changed. It’s not like normal magic, but I’m sure it is magic of some sort.'

Jack clambered to his feet. He felt great. Still not a hundred percent, there was still aches and pains all over, and he was tired and a bit dizzy, but this was the best he’d felt in…a while. “Well, whatever it is, it’s a fucking miracle. So, y’know, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Now…um, where are we?”

JJ stood up. 'Under a building in the north of town. This is a maze.'

“Okay. That’s…great. And, uh, what day is it?”

'October 31st.'

“Oh, Halloween.” Jack said this to dampen the shock of being gone for a whole month. “And…is there a particular reason why I feel like someone’s watching me right now?”

'The walls have eyes.'

“That’s…not really an answer, you’re just sayin’ someone’s watching us, but I want to know who.”

JJ shook his head. 'I mean the walls have eyes.' He pointed to the nearest wall. Jack squinted, then gasped as he saw them. It already looked wrong to begin with, but every single one was focused on them. Until, suddenly, they snapped close in unison.

“What…does that mean?” Jack almost didn’t want to ask.

'It means we are out of time.' JJ then made a strange gesture, like he was holding an imaginary plate. A blue disc made of lines and runes spun into existence, then started soaring away. JJ grabbed Jack by the hand and pulled him after him as he raced to follow the disc. Jack stumbled before finding his stride. It wasn’t long before he was panting heavily; he hadn’t run in a long, long time, and his legs felt wobbly. But he understood they had to hurry.

Jameson wasn’t kidding when he said this place was a maze. The halls twisted and turned, and there were no visual landmarks or anything to tell them where they were going. Just endless rusted metal walls, endless red bulbs dangling overhead. If they didn’t have the disc guiding them, Jack was sure they would have hit a dozen dead ends and gotten hopelessly lost.

“How do we know…when we’re getting…close to the end?” Jack asked between gasps for breath.

“Y̸ơ͠u̧͠ d̴on̴͠'̶t̸̕.”

They turned a corner and had to skid to a halt. Just another narrow corridor, except someone was in the way. Someone in a snap-back cap, with static clouding his eyes and green stitches on his wrists and neck. His arms were folded, and he stayed perfectly still even when the blue disc passed right through him.

“Chase…” Jack breathed. So it was true. Anti had gloated about it during the past month, about how Jack had fallen for a bad deal. And he was right. Jack glanced around. Anti himself was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t watching. He thought about calling him out for sending someone else to do his dirty work, but that hadn’t ended well last time. So instead, he turned to Chase. And…fuck, he had to try again. “…you don’t want to do this, dude. Please.”

“Y̢es̡ ̴I̢ ͞d̕o.” A knife appeared in his hand again, just like last time. Before he could do anything with it, JJ had pushed Jack behind him and held out his hands. A glowing blue circle burst into existence, big enough to cover the two of them. A shield.

Mad laughter rang throughout the hall. “Looks like our s̷̴il̨͟ȩ͢n̡t̛ friend has got some new t̡͝r̴įck̕s̡̕͡ ̸u͢p̵ ̷͟hi̸̡s̷̸ ͏͝͏s̢l̶eȩ̶͢v̵҉͞e. Let’s se̵e̸̢ wh̶̛͠at̢ ̕̕g̷o̵͢o̴ḑ͝͠ they do him.”

Chase threw the knife, but it clattered off the magic shield and fell to the floor. He didn’t seem upset by that. He just took a few steps to the side and disappeared in a fit of glitches. And for a moment, Jack wondered where he’d gone, until JJ suddenly threw him to the side and moved the shield to behind them. Just in time to parry Chase’s running attack with yet another knife. It glanced off the shield and Chase stumbled back.

“Are you insane?!” Jack cried. “You’re really doing this?! Attacking people with knives, just because someone else tells you to? You’re not even thinking, just blindly following! Since when have you been a follower, Chase?”

“Long̵e̛r̶ t͏h̶an yơu ̧th͡ink̡,” Chase replied monotonously. He flipped the knife into a different position, more of a slash than a stab this time.

“…maybe that’s true,” Jack admitted. “Maybe it is. But even followers have a reason. What is yours for listening to this guy, huh?”

Jack blinked, and for a moment…things looked different. The colors seemed to have faded from the world, except for a few places. JJ’s magic was one. The knife Chase was holding was another, suddenly sickly green in color. And also…in the center of JJ’s chest, there was a blue glowing light, the same color as the magic. Chase had one too, except this one was yellow, and had a few green strings wrapped around it, trailing to the floor and snaking away down the corridor. Jack looked down at his own chest and saw a bright, cheerful green light. Then he blinked again and everything was back to normal.

Things continued on like nothing had happened. “He'̨s͏ my ̵f͡r͡i̛e̢nd͝,” Chase mumbled, then swiped at the shield with the knife. This time, blue sparks flew.

“Did you see that?” Jack hissed to JJ.

JJ briefly looked away from the shield in order to give Jack an odd look. A wave of confusion swept through Jack’s mind. Had nobody else seen…?

Another slash with the knife, and the shield flickered and died. Jameson jumped out of the way as Chase swiped again, then conjured up a smaller version of the shield with slightly different runes. When the knife hit this one, it stuck to it, bands of blue light wrapping around the blade. Chase grinned, an insane sight, and started twisting the knife.

Jack was still concerned with the strange…sight, or whatever it was. He felt like it was on the edge of his vision, like he could still sort of see it. Then he thought about something. On impulse, he closed his left eye, leaving the right eye, the eye that JJ had magically created, the only way to see. Sure enough, the wight was back, black and white but for the knife, the magic, and the lights in their chests. And the strings binding Chase’s. As Jack looked at them, a hunch started to develop.

A horrible screeching sound brought him back to reality. The shield was once again letting off sparks, these ones orange and in greater number. JJ was concentrating on keeping the shield in place, beads of sweat dripping down his face. Chase was still twisting the knife, burrowing it deeper in the magic shield, which was emitting the screeching.

Jack leaned toward JJ and whispered, “Hey, you know that spell you used to cut through the strings back in the screen room?”

JJ gave him a distressed look that said, 'Is this really the time right now?'

“Just trust me. Do you think you can modify it to break strings that…aren’t really totally there?”

JJ looked confused, but gave a slight nod.

“Okay, good. When the shield drops, I want you to cast that at Chase immediately. Trust me, I got an idea. Okay?”

JJ didn’t have time to agree, because at that moment the shield broke apart, turning orange in its final moments before shattering. Chase gave an empty laugh, and lunged to stab with the knife.

Jameson threw up his hands, and four glowing blue discs bolted into existence before slicing right through Chase. They left no mark, but Chase froze in place like someone pressed the pause button. The knife clanged to the metal floor. His eyes were wide, and the static in them was flickering. Then after a few seconds, Chase fell to the floor, landing face-down.

Jack scrambled to kneel beside him. “Chase? Chase are you there?” He rolled Chase over onto his back. His eyes were still slightly clouded, but much less so. His mouth was opening and closing without words, and he was shaking. He had a look of vague terror on his face, like he was caught between a monster on one side and a yawning chasm on the other. Jack closed his left eye again and saw that most of the strings around Chase’s light had been severed, but there were still a few threads remaining. What’s more, the severed green strings were inching their way back toward Chase like dangerous snakes.

It wasn’t enough. He had to help him.

“Chase, please, I need you to come back to us,” he said, reaching out and grasping one of Chase’s hands with his own. “We miss you. I…I miss you. We want our friend back. And I’m sure you want the same thing.”

Chase gasped. “Th-th-th̸ey-th̨ey’re ̢d-ḑead͠,” came stuttering out of his mouth.

“We’re not—” Jack cut himself off as he finally realized what he meant. “Oh…no, Chase, Jackie and Marvin aren’t dead. Remember? He took them. The guy—the demon you’ve been listening to for months now. He took them, and he won’t give them back. We need to find them. We need to rescue them. But we can’t do that if you’re like this, okay? We can’t do it without you.”

“ I ̵j-j̴ust͠—I j-j-̢j̡-͏j̨ust͠—” Chase began seizing up, limbs starting to thrash about on their own. JJ knelt beside him, placing one hand on his chest and another on his forearm to steady him. “I̛ j̢-just want ͏m-̡m̸y friend͏s back.”

The sad, utterly despairing tone in Chase’s voice just broke Jack. He started crying, and he let it happen. “And we’ll get them back,” he promised. “But Chase…we’re your friends too. You’re not alone. Maybe we didn’t do the best job supporting you, or maybe we weren’t…the best at seeing what you’re going through. But damn, we tried. We’re still trying. We’re ready to catch you if you fall, if you’ll tell us when you feel like you’re teetering on the edge. We’ll always be. Please, Chase. Please come back. We miss you, so fucking much. I can’t tell you how much sleep we lost when you first went missing. Or how many times I’ve just…felt like giving up because the idea of you being in pain, has—has wrecked me. Damn it, Chase, we care about you. We care a whole lot, and it hurts to see you like this. Let us help you. Please. We want to.”

For a moment, nothing happened. Chase suddenly became very still. He closed his eyes, and tears started to flow from them. Then he gasped, and bolted upright. His eyes flew back open, and they were clear. The clearest they’ve been in months. No more static. And when Jack closed his left eye to confirm, there were no more strings around Chase’s light.

“Chase?” Jack asked tentatively.

He looked to him, then looked to JJ. “…hi?” he said.

“Chase!” Jack smiled and threw his arms around his friend.

Chase stiffened, yelped, then pushed Jack away. “Okay, okay, I’d appreciate if you…didn’t do that. Please.”

“Oh. Okay.” That was a bit weird. But he’d accept it. “Fuck, dude, you’re—you’re back! God! I was so scared. But I never gave up, and neither did Hen, and neither did—JJ, you never gave up, did you?” JJ shook his head. “See?! God, it’s so good to have you back.”

“Uh, w-well…” Chase seemed to be examining himself, looking at his pale arms and the bruises on them, picking at the stitching around his wrists and neck. “It’s good to be back, ha. Did you…did you really mean all that? What you said?”

“Of course I did!” Jack couldn’t stop smiling. “Jesus, what kind of asshole would I have to be, pulling on your heartstrings like that and not saying it for real?” Chase flinched. “Oh, uh, s-sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. But! I did pour my heart out to you! And every last bit of it was true, I promise.”

Chase smiled at that. It was small, but it was there, and that was what mattered. “Well. That’s…that means a lot to me, man. Thank you.”

“How t̡̮̳͔o̯̲͇̣͇̕ͅu̱̖̠̗͉̱͓c̶̞̼h̶̫͍̱̪͝i͖͠ņ͏̠̹̻͍̗̘̗ͅg̴̙͓̰̠̬̜̖͢.”

At the sound of that echoing voice, all three of the boys jumped. JJ scrambled to his feet and Jack did the same, pulling Chase up behind him.

“I hope you just c̨̮̲̳̩̦͎̙̞̲͠͝ẖ͕͓̝͢ḛ̙̭͔͕̬͕̗r̝̹͇̦̯̳̖̕ͅi̳̬̗̬̩s̤̦̫͖͉̝̕h̴̩͇̱͕̜̻ t͢͠h̷̕a̴̴͞t̸ ̕͟m̴̕o̴m̛͟e͠n͡͝t̶.” Anti sounded…bitter. “Because it’ll be the last moment you have for a v̷e̢̕ry̴̨ l͢͞o̴̶̧n͢g̶̛̕ t̴͢i̕͡m͡e̛͝.”

The previously silent corridors were filled with a hum. No, it wasn’t a hum. It was a roar of white noise, and it was coming toward them.

“Maybe I’ll make you forget it altogether. I haven’t planned that yet. But trust me when I say I have planned your s͏̘̹̘̥̞̞̹u͓̜̠̙͠ͅf̜̼͎̬̲͎̯͖͎͠f̪͡e̷͎̙̲̩͍͈̞r͖͓͎̩̕i̷̲̕ͅn͏̖̠g̨̨͕̘͍ for a seeming e͟t̷ę͡͞r̛͠͏n̶̸į̧t͟͏y̕͢͞ now.”

“We gotta run,” Chase muttered, pulling on Jack’s arm.

“But we don’t know where we’re going—!”

“I have this place memorized by now, trust me on this!”

Jack and JJ exchanged looks, and simultaneously decided that it was better than getting lost and eventually caught. “Lead the way, then!” Jack said. Chase nodded, then dashed away, leaving the other two to follow.

“Run if you want, pưp̸p̴͠ȩ͡͞t̴̡. You and the others will be m̶͠i̧n̛ȩ ą͠gai̸n̢͡ s̸o̶̢͡o̸͠n̕͏ ̡̨e̷n̸̡̢ơug̵̷̷h̶͡.”

And with that ringing in their ears, they ran.

It was a mad chase. Through twists and turns and curves and winding halls, pursued by the ever-growing roar. But Chase did seem to know where to go, and the other two followed him without hesitation. Until, finally, they came to a set of stairs leading up into darkness. “Up!” Chase cried, and they climbed and climbed and climbed until they burst into a room of electrical equipment, which they tripped over until they made it to the door. Chase pulled it open and dashed outside, followed by JJ and then Jack. The three of them turned around to see a sight. What looked like water, but made of buzzing, blurring, three dimensional static, chasing after them in waves. Chase slammed the door shut. It shook with the force of the static water hitting it, but eventually all calmed down.

Chase stared at the others with wide eyes. “I don’t know if he’ll send more after us. We need to get somewhere safe, fast.”

JJ nodded, then gestured for the others to follow him.
.............................................................................................

“We’re really just back at may apartment after all this? Really?” Jack said this only after entering his apartment and plopping, absolutely exhausted, onto the couch. Chase collapsed next to him.

'I set up some more complex wards,' JJ signed, the only one remaining standing. 'I figured I could, now that I have this new power.'

“Yeah, where did that come from anyway?” Chase asked, pulling off his hat. His hair was a tangled mess underneath.

JJ shrugged. 'I haven’t figured it out yet. But it hasn’t failed me when it counts yet. Do…either of you need anything.'

“I’m…hungry…” Chase immediately flinched after saying the words, like he expected one of the others to yell at him. Of course they didn’t.

'Naturally,' JJ signed. 'Jack, you don’t mind if I use your kitchen?'

“Nah, go ahead.”

JJ disappeared into the other room, leaving Jack and Chase alone on the couch. Chase kept picking at the stitching around his neck. After a few moments sitting in silence, he turned to Jack and said, “I hate this.”

“You mean the stitches? Yeah…I do too. And I’m just looking at them, I can’t imagine having them on me.” Jack shuddered. “But if they’re anything like JJ’s, we won’t be able to get them out.”

“Fuck.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

More silence. They could hear Jameson in the other room, messing about in the cabinets. Once again, Chase broke the dead air: “I’m…sorry. That any of this happened to you. Or to JJ. Shit, I STABBED him. I just remembered that, I gotta go—”

“Sit back down.” Jack pulled Chase back onto the couch. “You can tell him when he gets back. You…you look horrible, man. I’m honestly surprised you managed to walk all the way back here without falling to the ground and scraping your face on the sidewalk. So, the two of us are gonna sit here, and we’re gonna recuperate.” He didn’t say anything for a moment. “And…it’s not your fault any of this happened. Not even the stab thing. You weren’t yourself. And we all know who’s really to blame.”

Chase nodded. “Anti,” he growled.

“We’re gonna get him back, Chase. For what happened to us, and JJ, and Schneep, and Jackie and Marvin, wherever they are. He’s gonna lose, ‘cause we can’t let him win.”

Chase leaned back into the couch, satisfied with this for the time being. Then he bolted upright again, his hand suddenly clutching a spot on his chest. He looked at Jack with wide eyes and said:

“Shit. We gotta fix Doc.”