Part Twenty-Two 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. The boys attempt to destroy the strings, but they find that comes with a side effect. And quickly, things start to topple and collapse.]
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“It’s going to be fine,” Chase muttered, bouncing nervously in place. “It’s allll going to be fine. It’s going to work out.”
'Are you alright, Chase?' JJ asked, giving him a look of concern. 'Do you not like elevators?'
Chase laughed. “It’s not the elevator that worries me, it’s what’s waiting on the floor once we get there.” It was also the fact that Jackie was holding onto his arm tightly, head resting on his shoulder. Clingy as usual. But hopefully, that wouldn’t last long. Because right now, they were going to try to destroy the strings.
The magicians had proposed it the day before. They thought that using magical fire or electricity would be able to get rid of them for good. After a short talk, all the boys had agreed to try. Hopefully, once the strings were gone, Jackie and Marvin would…well, not go back to normal. They knew that was impossible now. But they’d be friendly, at least. In the best-case scenario.
The elevator dinged, and Chase and Jameson stepped out into a long hallway. This was the sanctuary’s very top floor, reserved for any magical testing that might go wrong. Apparently it was heavily protected. It didn’t look like much. Just like all the other halls, it seemed like something you’d find in a hotel. But then Chase noticed all the doors were made of metal. Ah.
Jack and Schneep were some ways down the hall, waiting outside a door, sitting on a bench against the opposite wall. The moment Jack saw Chase and JJ approaching with Jackie, he stood up and waved. “Hey!”
“Yeah, I see you, Jack.” Chase waved back. “Can’t miss you.” They quickly closed the distance. “Are things—ow!” He looked down. “Schneep did you just whap me with that thing?!”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Schneep twirled his white cane like a baton, causing everyone to back up. “I was just confirming you were here.”
“I—don’t you, like, sense souls or something?”
“Chase, please. I still cannot see you.”
JJ chuckled a little, the sound muffled. 'Is everything ready?'
“Yeah, all the magicians are getting ready.” Jack pointed at the door, which was labelled ‘Dangerous Reaction Room 7.’ “When they’re ready, you and I are supposed to go in, while Schneep and Chase keep an eye on Jackie out here, to make sure nothing happens with him while we get rid of the, uh…S-T-R-I-N-G-S.”
“He can spell, Jack, he is not an idiot,” Schneep said.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think he’s listening,” Chase muttered. He tried to pull his arm away from Jackie’s grip, but he held on tighter, making Chase grit his teeth to ignore the uncomfortable closeness. “Do you two really need to go in the room? I mean, look at that sign. It says ‘dangerous’ on it.”
“Yeah, well, JJ’s shields will be really helpful,” Jack said. “But you’re right about me. They want me to tell them if anything happens with the soul bits that are part of the…well, you-know-whats. And I was like ‘Don’t you have instruments or something for that?’ and they were like ‘Yeah but we’re not going to risk something happening to them’ and I said ‘But you’re okay with something happening to me…a living person’ and they said ‘You’ll be fiiiiiine.’” Jack sighed. “Anyway, I’m not gonna argue. It’s too much effort. And anyway, I want to see those green bastards gone.”
Before the discussion could continue, a voice came through the door. “We’re ready!” Yvonne shouted. “Come on in!”
“Well, good luck, bro, both of you,” Chase said.
“Yes, break a leg,” Schneep added. “Or do not. Actually, please do not break anything.”
JJ gave another muffled giggle, and Jack smiled. “Thanks, guys. We’ll see you soon.” He reached over and pulled open the door, and the two of them disappeared into the room. When the door shut behind them, it briefly glowed with a yellow light, then returned to normal metal.
The room beyond the door was entirely bare, its walls, ceiling, and floor reinforced with metal. Waist-high metal walls made a circle in the center of the room. Griffin, Delyth, and Yvonne were all gathered around that circle, with Griffin holding a pair of boxes. In the center, the strings were lying in a bowl-like shape built into the floor. They were trying to wriggle up the sides, but were evidently having trouble grasping the slick metal, and kept falling back down. JJ gave Jack a look. 'This isn’t a very encouraging room.'
“Yeah, I know, it’s like…I get this is for safety and all, but it just feels like things are about to blow up.” Jack closed the door behind him, sealing the room. “You guys just…have a place like this?”
“Yes, of course.” Griffin walked over to the two of them, taking something out of the first box and holding it out. “Here, please put on these goggles, in case of shrapnel.”
'That is even less encouraging,' JJ signed, but took the offered goggles and put them on. Jack did so as well. This whole thing felt less like getting ready to cast a spell and more like the start of a dangerous scientific experiment. One where things could explode.
Delyth was busy reading something on her phone, lips moving silently. “Are we uh…are we ready?” Jack asked.
“Sorry, just reviewing.” Delyth shut off her phone and put it away. “Fire and lightning aren’t my specialties; it’s been a while.”
“You sure you should be casting it, then?” Yvonne muttered.
“Yes, of course. I’m still a highly skilled agent, and if I must say so myself, probably the most powerful magician in the sanctuary at this moment.”
“Alright, alright, I get it. You want to continue with that horn-tooting, or should we get started?” Yvonne pulled her own goggles down over her eyes.
“I say we should start now,” Griffin said. “Eventually those strings are going to climb their way out of the target zone.”
The five of them gathered around the circle. Jameson, wary, half-held up his hands, weak circular shields flickering in between all of them and the strings, ready to snap into greater strength the moment they needed to. “Alright, I’m about to start casting,” Delyth announced. “We’ll start out with a slow burn, and hopefully that’ll be enough. If not, I’ll increase the severity until they’re gone. Ready?” Everyone nodded. “Good.”
Delyth reached forward, muttering a spell under her breath. Above the circle, directly over the strings, a small, pale purple fireball appeared. It started off the size of a golf ball, but as Delyth slowly lowered the gently burning flame into the circle, it grew to baseball size, then to about the size of a basketball. Below the heat, the strings started skittering frantically, like a cornered animal. They tried to climb the walls, but once again fell back.
When the ball of flame hit the bottom of the bowl, it burst, filling the entirety of the area in a liquid way. In the fire, the strings became panicked, twisting and tripping over themselves in any attempt to get away from the flames. They were unsuccessful. But apparently, so was the fire. The strings were not burning, though they certainly acted like they were. Jack closed his eye to look at the strings in his soul vision, but saw no change there, either.
“Nothing’s happening,” Yvonne said cautiously.
“Indeed.” Griffin nodded. “Delyth?”
“On it.” Delyth clenched her fist, and the flames filling the bowl disappeared. “These next spells are going to be a bit more…pyrotechnic.”
“Oh shit.” Yvonne took a few steps back. Jameson, agreeing with the sentiment, strengthened the shields just a bit.
Delyth raised her hand, then brought it down with a fierce shout of a spell word. A fireball slammed down into the bowl, exploding at the bottom with a loud BANG! Purple flames licked at the sides of the walls, and the strings thrashed frantically, some of them clustering together. Delyth repeated the spell one, two, three more times, making everyone cover their ears. The fire inside grew, but the strings were still intact. Now starting to look frustrated, Delyth started chanting. Fireworks of hot purple magic exploded repeatedly in the bowl, causing ear-splitting snap! snap! snap!s every time they blew, giving off smoke.
But the strings were still there.
“Keep it up!” Griffin shouted over the noise. “It’s possible that we’re doing damage, just slowly!”
“Right!” Delyth took a deep breath, wiped her forehead, then raised her hand and sent another fireball down into the bowl, this one sending spears of fire into every direction. The bowl was now full of searing purple flames, yet the strings remained. And so, Delyth started another spell.
A bolt of purple lightning crashed into the bowl, adding yet more flames in addition to smaller branches of electricity that remained, crackling, connecting between the walls. And she did it again. And then sent more fireworks. And another fireball. And another electric spell.
Outside the room, Schneep and Chase remained sitting on the bench, Jackie now in between them. When the first BANG! echoed from the room, the two of them jumped in unison. “What was that?” Schneep hissed.
“A spell, probably,” Chase said. “Uh…sounded like a big one. Do you think it worked?”
There was the second BANG! Schneep flinched, then muttered, “Apparently not.”
“Right.” Chase looked down at his hands, twisting his fingers. “I guess we won’t know until they come out if it worked.”
“I suppose not.”
Chase sighed. He really, really hoped this worked. Maybe things wouldn’t go back to normal afterwards, but it would be better. Things would be…what was Jackie doing?
He paused in his hand-wringing to give this situation a better look. Jackie was rocking on the bench, forward and backwards, gripping the fabric of his pants in white-knuckled fists. Chase blinked, and stared. Jackie’s expression…it was pained. Every time one of the bang!s went off, he flinched, not out of surprise, but as if he’d been physically struck. “Uh…Jackie? Are you okay?”
Jackie didn’t respond. His mouth opened just a bit, letting out a small groan. Schneep stiffened, turning towards Chase. “Is everything okay?”
Chase didn’t get a chance to answer. “No,” Jackie whispered. “No, no, no, this—this isn’t okay.” He gasped as more loud noises came from the room, then suddenly doubled over, both hands shooting upward to press against his chest. “This—! This—! Isn’t okay!” He cried.
“Jackie!” Chase and Schneep shot to their feet in unison, Schneep backing up and holding his cane defensively, Chase standing in front of Jackie and crouching down again so he could be level with his face. “What’s wrong?!”
“Hurts. Hurts.” Jackie was shaking, all the color drained from his face. “It hurts! IT HURTS!” He lunged forward, grabbing Chase’s shirt and burying his face in it. “MAKE IT STOP!”
“I—I’m sorry, I can’t,” Chase said, at a loss for words. “I…Schneep, can you go—”
“No!” Jackie choked the word out from behind a sob. “Schneep, don’t leave.”
Both Chase and Schneep froze. That was…the first time Jackie had actually acknowledged any of them by name. Anyone other than Chase. “I…okay, I will not leave,” Schneep said slowly. “What should I do?”
“I don’t know,” Jackie shook his head. “I don’t know, I just—just stop it! Make it stop!”
“We—we can’t, Jackie.” Chase instinctively wrapped Jackie in a hug, holding him tight as he continued to rock back and forth, crying into Chase’s bandanna. “What’s wrong? What does it feel like?”
“I—I’m dying,” Jackie rasped. “I-I’m dying again. Chase, I don’t want to die again.” He let out another sob. “I—I’m being torn into pieces. Please, someone. Just stop this! Please!”
Schneep suddenly stepped up next to Chase. “Jackie, I am going to take your pulse, okay?” His voice was surprisingly gentle, and Jackie nodded, letting him press his fingers against the pulse in his neck. “Okay, okay. And your temperature. You need to back up a bit so I can feel your forehead.” Jackie did so, trembling a bit as Schneep put a hand on his forehead. “Scheiße,” Schneep hissed.
“Oh no, it’s in German, that’s not good,” Chase said. “What’s wrong?”
“He is burning up.” Schneep hurried over to the room’s door, hand trailing across the wall to find the doorknob. “And I think I mean that literally.” He grabbed the handle and turned it. Only to be met with resistance. Locked. His face drained of color. “Hey!” He started banging on the door. “Open it! Stop the whole thing, for god’s sake!”
“I’m going to die again,” Jackie said quietly, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. “No, no, I don’t want to die again. I don’t want to go to hell.”
“You weren’t in hell, Jackie,” Chase said, trying to sound reassuring. “A-and it’s going to be fine.”
“Hell,” Jackie insisted. “Hell hell hell. Awful things…happening. Bits of my brain swirling around. So…angry. So much hate. It ate at me. Us. There were two of us, a-and we were just one, and I wasn’t sure—who am I? Chase, who am I? Chase, I don’t know.”
“You’re Jackie,” Chase emphasized. “Jackie Parker. The guy who decided to be a superhero because you thought you needed to. The guy who offered to let Marvin move in after he decided to sell his house. The guy who would babysit Lily and Moira when Stacy and I were too busy. A good guy. That’s who you are.”
Jackie was quiet for a moment. And then, softly, he asked, “Are you sure?”
Before Chase could answer, a loud crashing noise came from the room beyond the door. Jackie screamed, and fell forward off the bench, only held up by Chase still holding him. “Stop stop stop STOP STOP STOP!” He shrieked, writhing and seizing. His temperature continued to rise, and Chase could feel the heat radiating from his entire body, like standing near a fire that was getting increasingly larger.
“Scheiß drauf!” Schneep kicked at the door under the handle one more time, then dropped his cane and reached to the side, grabbing his scissors from out of nowhere. He made a downward slashing motion, suddenly causing a membrane of yellow magic to appear over the door. It lasted for only a second before Schneep cut through it, leaving it in tatters. Then Schneep stepped forward and disappeared, teleporting straight into the room.
There was a lightshow of lightning happening in the center of the room. Jameson had his shields raised against any possible threats, and everyone except Delyth had backed up to around the edges of the room. In contrast, Delyth was stubbornly staying her ground next to the circle, hurling spell after spell at the strings, voice starting to crack and rasp as she shouted the spell words.
“Stop it! Shut it all down!” Schneep yelled.
Delyth looked over at him. “I’m making progress!”
“That is the problem!” Schneep ran at her, hands outstretched, and managed to grab her arm before she sent it down to cast again. “Stop it!”
Delyth shook him off, readying herself for another spell. But before she could cast it, the blue shield in front of her suddenly slammed into her stomach, knocking her to the ground. Immediately, the lightning fizzled out, and any fire slowly died into pale purple embers that soon stopped glowing. Jameson lowered his hands, and glanced back at Delyth. Sorry, he signed, circling his fist on his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked. “Why’d we have to stop?”
“Something is wrong with Jackie,” Schneep explained hurriedly. “I-I think we are hurting him.”
Jack’s eyes widened, and he ran out of the room. Jameson followed shortly thereafter, and then Schneep. The magicians stayed in the room. Yvonne walked over to help Delyth up, and Griffin approached the circle in the middle, taking the lid off the second box he was holding so he could put the strings inside.
While the magicians cleaned up, the boys gathered around Chase and Jackie. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked. “What’s happening?!”
Chase looked up at him, not answering. Jackie had calmed down considerably once the spellcasting had stopped, and was now shaking and gasping for air, face pale and hair damp with sweat. He continued to hold onto Chase, who luckily didn’t seem to mind as much as he might have in other circumstances. Glancing upward, his eyes darted around the people surrounding him. “…Jack?” he whispered. “Schneep?” Then he looked at JJ, and frowned, confused. “Who’re you?”
“I…” Jack was temporarily at a loss for words. With this spellcasting, they’d been fully prepared for Jackie to lose it and start fighting to get to the strings, but this? They hadn’t even considered this. He seemed…normal. “This is Jameson, Jackie. He, uh…he’s a friend. But he can’t talk.” JJ waved, looking understandably nervous.
“Are you okay, Jackie?” Schneep asked urgently. “How do you feel?”
“…bad,” Jackie said after a while.
Chase laughed a bit. There were tears in his eyes, but he wasn’t sure what emotion was causing them.
“Where am I…? H-how did I get here?” Jackie looked around some more. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“It’s a long story, Jackie,” Jack said. “We need to know if you’re okay, that’s all you need to focus on for now.” He paused, then closed his eye to activate soul vision. Usually, he’d see a mess of red and blue light in Jackie’s chest when he did this, but this time it was…different. The red and blue were neatly separated out, forming a circle that was roughly three-quarters red and one-quarter blue. But it wasn’t going to stay that way. He could see the edges where the colors met starting to swirl and shift already. “I don’t think we have much time,” he said in a hushed voice.
“Jackie, what do you remember?” Schneep asked. “Can you tell us? Quickly?”
“I-I…that depends on what you mean by remember.” Jackie shut his eyes tight. “I…there was…it was horrible. I-I saw—there were these—horrible, horrible things. Awful things, ha-happening to people. You guys were there. But I don’t know. I-I don’t know if they were all real or just my thoughts. Maybe both, but I…” He bit back a sob. “…I don’t know which were which. And just…so much…hating. I was so…felt so…much…hate.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Chase murmured. “You’re going to be alright. We’ll make sure of it.”
“Jackie, I have a question,” Schneep said. “Do you remember…did you and Marvin do some sort of spell? In your apartment?”
“Spell…” Jackie’s eyes suddenly shot open. He reached up and grabbed something around his neck. That amulet. That broken amulet, one of the pair that Anti always wore. “That spell! That—I didn’t—I didn’t—I didn’t want—”
“What? Did you not want to do the spell?” Schneep asked.
Jackie shook his head. “I did, at first. But then—he lied to me—”
“Marvin?”
“Yes, he didn’t tell me everything, I—I didn’t want that, I tried to stop it—” He suddenly froze. “Oh my god.” Reaching up, he covered his mouth with a hand as tears started to swell in his eyes. “Oh my god, I killed him.”
“What?” Chase asked, shocked.
“It was an accident! I just wanted to stop it! We got in a fight, I-I had a knife, I—he wasn’t supposed to die! I didn’t want to kill him!” His breathing sped into hyperventilating as he started rocking back and forth. “It was an accident! I—if he didn’t move—if I’d just been more careful—he wasn’t supposed to die! I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM!” The last sentence was ripped from his throat in a scream, and Jackie doubled over, curling over his knees and covering his head with his arms.
“Jackie, Jackie, it’s fine, we believe you!” Chase bent over as well, trying to keep his head level with his. “It wasn’t your fault, and we know that. It’s fine. You’re going to be alright.” For a moment, Jackie was frozen in that position. “Hey, it’s okay.” Chase patted his back, and at that, Jackie moved, leaning into him. “It’s okay.”
“…Chase.” Jack’s voice was low and warning, but Chase didn’t hear him.
“It’s all over now,” Chase said reassuringly, giving Jackie a hug and straightening, pulling him into a kneeling position. After a moment, Jackie responded, wrapping his arms around him. “It’s alright. It’s…” Chase paused. “You’re uh…squeezing pretty tight there. Could you loosen up a bit, bro?” Jackie didn’t answer. In fact, he started to squeeze tighter. “Jackie, I—I really don’t like this.” Chase started to squirm. “Jackie?”
Jameson finally stepped in, quickly pulling Jackie away from Chase. He didn’t seem to mind much, eyes now looking a bit glazed. His head turned around absentmindedly, not really looking for anything. “Where are we?” He asked. “Where’s the rest of me? It’s close…we think.”
Chase quickly backed away, scrambling to his feet. Looking shaken, he walked all the way until his back was pressed against the hall wall. “What…what happened?” He asked quietly.
“It’s weird,” Jack said. “His soul…the two colors were separated, but they were starting to mix together again. Then he started talking about—about killing someone…and it all just snapped back to being all jumbled up.”
“Marvin,” Schneep muttered. “He was talking about how he accidentally killed Marvin. During the transference spell, it sounded like. They fought, and it…must have…” He turned around, burying his face in his hands. It was hard to imagine. And he didn’t want to imagine it at all.
“Yeah, that would cause some problems in the spell.”
The boys jumped in unison at the sound of the voice, and looked over to see the magicians had left the room. Yvonne, noticing them all staring at her, continued, “I mean, I don’t think it’s ever happened before. If it has, it was probably a long time ago. Long enough that all records of it are gone now. But I imagine the spell would want to keep going—black magic like that almost has a will and drive of its own—but without both of the participants, it couldn’t, so it just messed their souls up.”
“God…” Jack breathed.
'That must have been terrible,' JJ signed sadly.
“I imagine so,” Griffin said gravely. “But I’m afraid I must ask…do we want to continue with the spellcasting?” He held up the box. “We were actually making some headway there near the end.”
“Are you crazy?!” Chase, though still a bit rattled, was put together enough to whirl on the magicians. “We almost killed Jackie!”
“There was no guarantee that was going to happen,” Delyth said calmly. “The chance that he would have survived is equal to the chance that he would not have.”
“You know, I think he would not have,” Schneep stated flatly. “I may not be a doctor anymore, I may be blind, even, but I can still fucking recognize when someone is having a crisis.”
“And the point of this is to get rid of the strings, not Jackie and Marvin,” Chase added, folding his arms. “That is the last thing we want.”
“It might not have killed him,” Delyth repeated. “And besides, while these strings exist, they’re both a high threat—”
“Are you fucking insane?!” Jack shouted. “Are you asking us to kill our friends?!”
“No!” Delyth shook her head furiously. “Alright, what if we took this in short bursts? That took a lot of my magic, anyway. We’ve damaged them slightly, if we keep this up—”
'There’s still a chance they’ll die once the strings are gone,' JJ interrupted. 'I understand you’re concerned about what might happen, but this isn’t the way.'
“Yeah, Mae, I knew you were strict, didn’t realize you were heartless,” Yvonne emphasized.
Delyth took a step back, shocked. “I didn’t mean—I…I’m sorry. I didn’t want to come off that way.”
“Don’t do it again,” Chase said in a surly tone.
“But what do we do now?” Jack asked quietly.
“That is not clear,” Schneep said. “But one thing is. We cannot destroy the strings.”
“Then…what can we do?” Chase whispered.
Nobody had an answer for that.
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The sudden pain in his chest was fading. Still, he could only lie on the ground for a few moments, panting and shaking. What was that? Why had that suddenly happened?
…where was he?
Marvin sat up, looking around. This…looked like some random street. The buildings were tall but run-down, and there were no cars or pedestrians in sight. He must have collapsed right onto the sidewalk.
…how did he get here?
He reached up to his face, and felt a mask covering half of it. What? He pulled it off. This…looked like his mask, except snapped in half, with the white ceramic stained blue. Hadn’t he seen this? Or…had he just imagined it?
Attempting to stand up, Marvin winced, falling back down to a sitting position. His feet really hurt. He could remember walking…so much walking. For days, it seemed like. And his stomach was turning in on itself. He hadn’t eaten anything in…in…he couldn’t remember.
“Hello?” He called. “Is…is anyone there? Um…help?”
He tried to recall the last thing he remembered. And immediately regretted it, as all he could find were visions of people suffering, horrible, gruesome sights. Were those real? Or were they just thoughts he’d had? Shaking his head to physically ward off the images, he tried to remember something else. He had been…angry. Full of rage so hot it was like it was physically burning him. But everything was disconnected, broken, shattered. Held together by tenuous strings. His mind was in pieces. He’d been pulled apart.
Suddenly cold despite the sun overhead, Marvin wrapped his arms around himself, squeezing his eyes to hold in tears. “It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine,” he muttered. “It’s fine, it’s…” He let out a sob, and started rocking back and forth. That helped. Tapping his arm with his fist helped, too. What was happening? Why was it happening to him?
What…
He…
There…
Feel…
Marvin shook his head, climbing to his feet and holding the half-mask close to his chest. He was coming apart again. Bits of him were…they were…mixing up. Again. He couldn’t…think…
What else did he remember? What…we…I…you…? Us…? He didn’t feel…whole.
“No, no, no, no.” Jackie pressed a hand against his head. Jackie? No, he was Marvin. Or…was he someone other than both of those? No, he was Marvin. Marvin Marvin Marvin…
He didn’t feel whole. Why? Because…he was broken…?
His hand brushed against his neck. There were…stitches…strings…there. Stitches. Strings. Strings. Strings. Strings.
The rest of him. The rest of them.
He could feel it. He couldn’t feel it for a while there, but something had changed. Now he sensed where they were, clear as day, easy as following a sound.
Turning in that direction, he slid the mask back over his face, and smiled. Now he knew. Now he would be brought back together. He headed straight in that direction, any pain and discomfort instantly forgotten. He had to find the rest of him.
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The whole group had quickly dispersed after aborting the spellcasting. Griffin and Delyth had disappeared to wherever they usually spent their time, Jack, JJ, and Chase had retreated to their rooms with Jackie in tow, and Schneep had gone down to the basement to do some more training. But not long after, he found he wasn’t in the mood. He just…kept thinking about what they were supposed to do next. Maybe if they put the strings somewhere else, somewhere far away? But where would even be far enough? Eventually, he left, taking the elevator back up.
The doors dinged open much sooner than he expected. That might have been surprising, if he hadn’t sensed the presence of someone on the other side. “Oh! Hey, it’s you.” Yvonne’s voice. “You mind? I can wait for the next lift.”
“No no, is fine.” Schneep stepped to the side, feeling her brush past him.
“Thanks.” The elevator doors shut, and he heard the sound of Yvonne pressing a button.
“We are on the same floor, yes?” He asked. “Are you not going to your room?”
“What? No, I am, I just pressed it again. Y’know…cause I wanted to press the button.” Yvonne giggled a bit. “Huh. Didn’t realize that could be confusing if you couldn’t see what was happening.”
“I did not either, until just now.” It had been months since he returned to the waking world with his sight missing, and he was still learning new things.
“Hey, actually, can I ask you a question?” Yvonne said.
“Go ahead.”
“How’d you manage to get through the protective spell around the reaction room? That’s supposed to prevent anyone from barging in and interrupting everything, but you just teleported right in.”
Schneep frowned. “Well, I just…when the door would not open, I thought there must have been some sort of magic protection. And I was right. So I…I did not think about it too much, actually, I just grabbed my scissors and cut right through, then jumped inside.”
“Huh.” Yvonne paused. “Are these scissors of yours…magic?”
“I am not sure, actually.” Schneep reached forward and grabbed them, pulling them out of a pocket in thin air. “They seem very normal to me, what about you?” He snipped them a few times for emphasis.
“Yeah, they look pretty normal.” Yvonne paused. “In uder’m magima,” she muttered. There was a cool breeze, and then she said, “Nope, I couldn’t pick anything up. They’re just regular-ass scissors. Guess that must be part of your magic, then. To cut straight through wards? Hey, do you mind if I call you some time? We can go on a trip to some of the most protected ABIM storages.”
“Ha ha,” Schneep said. “I suppose that—” He suddenly stopped.
“What? Something wrong?”
“We stopped moving,” he said. “But the doors are not opening.”
“…oh. I hadn’t noticed. That’s—oh my god!”
“What?!”
“The lights went out,” Yvonne said in a hushed voice. “Is there a power outage? That…shouldn’t happen.”
“Why? Are the lights magic?”
“No, but I don’t think sanctuaries would be prone to blackouts.” She banged on the elevator doors, then pressed several different buttons. “Ugh. This is taking too long. Can you teleport us out?”
Schneep raised an eyebrow. “I could, technically. But I should warn you first, teleportation is not a pleasant experience.”
“Hey, I’ve tried it…once. Twice. Anyway, it was fine for me then.”
“You cannot do it again?”
“Nah, can’t remember the spell.” He could practically hear Yvonne shrugging.
Schneep sighed. “Alright. I will do all the work, then.” He held out a hand, and Yvonne quickly grabbed it. Making sure he had a firm grip on her, he thought about where to jump. He had no idea where they were in the building, and he could only really imagine the basement, his room, and the ground floor. That last one would probably be the most convenient. They could just take the stairs. Debatably, his room would also be helpful, but he didn’t want to bring someone into there without asking Jack if he could, since they shared the space. “And going now.” So he jumped.
Instantly, they were back on the ground floor. And instantly, Yvonne yanked her hand away. “H-holy shit,” she breathed. “Holy—” She stumbled away, bracing herself against the wall and taking several deep breaths. “You weren’t kidding.”
“I did warn you,” Schneep pointed out.
“That is not normal teleportation. I don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s not normal.” Yvonne paused. “Wait…do you hear that?”
They both fell silent. Some ways away, there was the sound of crashing and shouting…some sort of fight. In unison, they ran towards the sound.
Rounding a corner, they ran right into a magical battlefield. The ground was broken up, with purple crystals protruding from the floor and stabbing the air. The wallpaper was singed with purple flames, and a couple of the doors had been knocked off their hinges. The moment Schneep rounded the corner, he ran into a long, blue string, which immediately wrapped around his torso and pulled him down with a yelp.
“You two!” Delyth was holding her own against her opponent, eyes glowing pale purple. “What are you doing here?!”
“Mae!” Yvonne gasped. “What—”
“It’s Marvin,” Schneep said through gritted teeth. “Isn’t it?”
“Maaarvin?” That voice identified him shortly before he came into sight, stepping out of one of the rooms with broken doors. His broken mask was firmly on his face, set above a wild grin. “Is that who we are?” Blue strings of magic danced in the air around him.
“Oh fuck.” Yvonne took a step back, raising her hands instinctively. On the ground beside her, Schneep was struggling with his scissors and the thread entangling him.
“Get out of here!” Delyth demanded, thrusting her hand forward to conjure a purple crystalline shield, deflecting the wave of blue strings that flew at her. “I’ll take care of this!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Mae, you’re running out of juice!” Yvonne protested. “Look at how faint that shield is!”
“You need to get to the strings! That’s what he’s—” She was cut off as one of the strings wormed its way under the shield and wrapped around her ankles, yanking her upwards.
“Mae!” Yvonne reacted instinctively, hurling a ball of pale blue magic at Marvin, knocking him to the ground and making him drop Delyth. “Oh, sorry!”
Marvin got to his feet, swaying for a moment. He glanced upwards towards the ceiling, and grinned even wider. “We’re really close,” he muttered. A ball of wriggling blue thread spawned in his hand, and he threw it upwards. Once it hit the ceiling, the strings spread out in a fan, digging into the plaster and causing white dust to fall down onto Marvin below.
“Oh no you don’t!” Yvonne swung her hand, sending a wave of magic at the strings and knocking them to the ground. Frowning, Marvin turned his attention to her. More strings appeared in the air, slithering in a way that seemed distinctly hostile.
Schneep finally managed to cut through the string wrapping him up, and he scrambled to his feet. “I can make sure the strings are secure,” he said. “You two hold him back.”
“Got it.” Yvonne raised a shield, then reached down and helped pull Delyth to her feet. “We can handle this.”
Schneep nodded, and jumped away, just before Marvin lunged forward at the two magicians.
His jump took him to the floor directly above him, though he fell a few inches onto the floor. Not bad, for being entirely unsure where he was going. But it sounded like he hadn’t escaped the chaos on this floor, either.
“Got him!” The scene he’d stepped into had Jack, Chase, and JJ struggling with Jackie. Jack had managed to grab Jackie, wrapping his arms around him in an effort to hold him back from…going somewhere. “Guys, can you—”
“Let go!” Jackie twisted around, and suddenly there was a flash of red light. Jack cried out and staggered backwards, suddenly bleeding from a cut across his cheek. Immediately, Jackie started to run again, only to run into a wall of blue light as Jameson created several shields around him, trapping him in.
“What is going on?!” Schneep asked.
“Oh Schneep! Jackie just went crazy all of a sudden.” Chase hurried over to Schneep’s side. “It was weird, he was talking about ‘the rest of him’ again.”
“The rest of me!” Jackie whaled. He started pounding on the shields—no, not pounding on them, stabbing them. With bits of red light, long and sharp and almost shaped like a knife. “I need to get to them! I need to—”
Jameson flinched, and one of the shields abruptly shattered. Jackie wasted no time, dashing forward, right past Schneep and Chase, and running up to a closed door. With another flash of red magic, the door was cut right in half, wood folding to the ground, and Jackie disappeared inside.
“No!” Jack cried. He and the other three hurried forward, into a dimly-lit room filled with coppery boxes. Jackie was quickly knocking them aside, until he found one the size of a shoebox. Grinning maniacally, he pried at the lid, but it wouldn’t open. “Stop him!” Jack shouted.
Chase dived forward, tackling Jackie to the ground. He shrieked, but managed to keep hold of the shoebox. “No!” Jackie yelled.
“Give me that!” Chase reached for the shoebox, but Jackie held it away from him. Of course, the other three quickly stepped in to help, with Schneep managing to grab the box, Jack prying at Jackie’s hands, and Chase and JJ holding him down. Jackie shouted, struggling and twisting, and soon the whole situation devolved into a wrestling match on the floor of the room. It only lasted for a few minutes before one wrong kick knocked down a nearby stack of boxes, which came crashing down onto the four of them, momentarily stunning them all.
Unfortunately, Jackie recovered the quickest. He pried the box away from the others and scrambled backwards. “You don’t understand,” he hissed. “We need it. We need to be whole. And we WILL have it! We will—!” Suddenly, he stopped. And looked down. And then, out of nowhere, he laughed. Raising one hand, sharp blades of red light appeared in the air.
Jameson immediately tried to shield the others, but it turned out, that wasn’t what Jackie was planning. The blades plunged downward into the floor around him in a neat circle, slicing right through. And then the floor gave way, and Jackie fell through the new hole onto the floor below.
In the room beneath, Marvin had been locked in a fight with Yvonne and Delyth. Well, mostly Yvonne, as Delyth’s magic was quickly draining. Shades of blue magic traded blows, blasts pushing back strings and strings wriggling through shields. Then the ceiling was cut through, and Jackie landed on the floor behind Marvin, who immediately froze and spun around. His face split into a wide grin.
“Bell, they have the container!” Delyth shouted, pointing at the coppery box in Jackie’s arms.
“On it!” A pale blue wall sprang up in between Jackie and Marvin, stopping Marvin just before he was able to pull Jackie to his feet. “Now what?”
Jackie got to his feet, looking at the wall of magic. And he laughed. He raised one hand and swiftly brought it down, cutting through the air. An arc of red light ran right into the blue wall…and it instantly shattered. Yvonne gasped, stumbling back. A trail of blood started to leak from her nose.
Marvin grabbed Jackie by the hand, and they both smiled the exact same smile. Then he spun around and sent a wave of blue strings at the magicians. Delyth tried to conjure another shield, but it was much too weak, and the strings cut right through and pinned both of the magicians to the walls.
“No!”
Something flashed in the faint light, and Marvin cried out, stumbling back. He’d been stabbed. A pair of scissors was sticking out of the back of his shoulder.
Schneep had dropped through the hole Jackie had made. Now, he stood behind Jackie and Marvin, expression twisted with anger and his eyes glowing turquoise light. There was a second pair of scissors in his hand, and he lunged. Marvin sent out another wave of strings, but Schneep disappeared, reappearing on the other side. Jackie whirled around and grabbed his wrist, preventing him from using the scissors he was holding. Except that now Schneep had a third pair in his other hand, which he opened wide and slashed, hitting Jackie’s other arm, the one holding the coppery box. Jackie yelped, and dropped it, only for the box to be caught in a net of blue strings and pulled over to Marvin, who picked it up.
Jackie and Marvin looked at each other. “Getting out,” they said in unison.
Marvin sent a few more strings Schneep’s way, who disappeared and reappeared behind the pair. But shortly after doing so, Jackie made a slashing motion, and an arc of red light hit Schneep in the chest. He cried out, falling backwards from the force of it. The moment he hit the floor, Jackie and Marvin grabbed each other’s hands and ran, right out the room and down the hall.
“They’re heading to the front!” Delyth shouted.
Jack, Chase, and Jameson, hearing the shout, ran for the front entrance, though it was far away. Schneep climbed to his feet and jumped, beating them there. But it was too late. By the time the group arrived there, Jackie and Marvin were nowhere in sight.
For a moment, all they could do was stand there, staring at the empty lobby in shock. Then Chase fell to his knees, Jameson collapsed on the nearest chair, and Schneep dropped his scissors. “They got away…” Jack breathed. “They…we have to go after them.”
Schneep nodded. “Yes. We have to, now.” He buttoned up his coat. “We cannot waste any time. Jameson, could you track them?”
“Wh…am I super out of it, or did you not have a coat just a minute ago?” Chase asked. “Where’d you get that?”
“I, ah…don’t…know.” Schneep blinked, running his hands over the black coat he was wearing. “But I recognize this feel. It is my black one, yes?”
“Yeah, but…how’d you get it?”
“And I’d like to know how you got like two other pairs of scissors.” Yvonne and Delyth appeared in the lobby entrance, both breathing hard from running and still with blue string wrapped around their limbs. “Like…seriously, where did those come from?” Yvonne tried for a laugh. It failed.
“Look, I think we have more important things to think about,” Schneep said irritably. “Jamie, can you track them?”
Jameson nodded. “He said yes,” Jack told Schneep.
“Good. We have to do it now, or—”
“Whoa, no way any of you are going out there now,” Delyth interrupted.
“What?!” Chase got to his feet and whirled on her. “Did you see how fast they broke in here?! Do you want to know what the two of them could do with those strings?!”
“It’ll probably take them a while to get the container open,” Delyth said calmly. “It’s designed to be unable to open without the proper authorization. Right now, we can’t just go barging in there, we have to have a plan.”
“Barging in there is a plan,” Jack protested. “We can’t let—”
“No.” Delyth’s voice was firm, unshakable. “Somehow, Marvin got right through our wards. Facing an opponent like that—two opponents like that without a plan? I can think of little more foolhardy.”
“I’ll tell you what’s more foolhardy,” Chase said coldly. “Letting those two have time to open the box, get together, and form Anti again.” He laughed hysterically, grabbing his hair and pulling at it. “That’s what they want to do! You’ve heard them! They’re all ‘we need to be whole,’ and ‘whole’ is Anti! That motherfucker! We can’t—can’t let that happen! We just got rid of him! We were going to fix everything!”
'Delyth, please,' Jameson signed. 'I understand your caution. It will be dangerous. But time is of the essence. We need to go NOW if we want to have any chance to prevent this. Chase pointed out how easily and swiftly they broke in and found those strings, they won’t have trouble with the box they’re in.'
Jack translated all this, and added, “Plus, you haven’t seen Anti like we have. We…we still haven’t told you everything he’s done.” He swallowed nervously, eyes shadowed for one moment. “There were things that were just too…too hard to talk about. A-and he might have a grudge against you, too, if he reforms. We can’t let…any…anything ha-happen.”
Delyth looked thoughtful for a moment. But then she shook her head. “We can’t risk it. Besides, we have to look at the wards. Figure out why Marvin attacked now.”
“It has to do with us trying to destroy the strings, I am sure,” Schneep mumbled.
“If this Anti reforms, we can protect you—”
“That is not the point!” Chase shrieked. “We had to go through hell to get Jackie and Marvin separate again! We might not be able to do it a second time! We have to go now!”
“Mae,” Yvonne said softly. “I think you’re right.”
“You do?” Delyth said, clearly surprised.
“I mean, yeah, we’re not in any shape to fight right now. Especially you and me.” Yvonne touched her bloody nose. “I think we should go get cleaned up in the clinic. These guys can rest in their rooms. Once we’re all good, we can discuss what to do next.” She looked over at the four others, making significant eye contact with all of them. “In fact, we should go now. It’s on this floor. And you guys should DEFINITELY go upstairs while we do this. We might be a WHILE.”
Delyth sighed, thankfully not catching on. “Alright. Let’s go. I know you four are anxious, so we’ll be quick, we promise.”
The boys were silent, but they all nodded in unison as the two magicians retreated back into the halls. They remained silent as they listened to the retreating footsteps until they could no longer be heard.
Schneep whirled around. “Jamie? You really can track them?”
'Yes, definitely', Jameson said. 'I’ve been practicing while in this hotel, finding random things.' He held his hand out, eyes scrunching up in concentration. A spinning blue disc formed on the tips of his fingers.
“Should we get weapons?” Jack asked.
“I’d like my gun,” Chase said.
“One moment.” Schneep reached to the side, hand disappearing into a pocket. When he pulled it back out, he held Chase’s gun. “Here you are.” He tossed it in Chase’s general direction.
“Whoa!” Chase leaned heavily to the side in order to catch it. “Your aim’s still as bad as ever, I see.”
Schneep chuckled. “Jack? Do you need anything?”
“Um…no, not now. Maybe I’ll reconsider later.” Jack looked over at Jameson. “Alright, let it go, JJ.”
Nodding, Jameson flung out his arm like he was throwing a frisbee. The tracking disc spun off, disappearing quickly through the front entrance. The four of them ran after it, with not a single ounce of hesitation between them all.
No more waiting. They needed to finish this now.