Part Nineteen 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 hear that Jackie is alive and back, but when they go to meet him, something's...off. Unknown to them, something's wrong with Marvin, too.]
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Nine o’clock in the morning, and the day had already gone off the rails in multiple ways. The group gathered in the living room of Schneep’s apartment. Chase and Jack sat on one of the sofas, and Schneep and JJ sat on the other, opposite them. They’d brought in snacks, mainly chips and oven-made fries, but nobody was touching them in light of the discussion.
“Look, we have no reason to trust this stranger or his word,” Schneep was saying. “He could be lying.”
“Yeah, but why would anyone lie about something like this?” Chase countered. “‘Hi, your friend who died has come back to life and really wants to see you,’ what could possibly be gained from that?”
“And he’s not really a stranger,” Jack added. “I think I kinda remember Jackie mentioning him before. Said he was a detective, or something.”
Schneep rolled his eyes. “It does not matter in the end. He could still be lying.”
'But I have to agree with Chase,' JJ signed. 'Why would he do so?'
Chase looked at JJ, startled but relieved. He waited for Jack to translate Jameson’s signs for Schneep before continuing. “Yeah, and it’s not totally out of possibility, is it? When we thought we defeated Anti before, Jackie and Marvin reappeared. Maybe now that Anti is gone for good, they came back somehow.”
Schneep folded his arms. “If we say they have come back in some way, there is a high chance they will not be the same, given how…odd they were last time.”
Chase glanced back over at JJ. “Yeah, uh, we’ve…thought about that.” He waited for JJ to jump in, but there was nothing. “But…I mean, we should still check it out, right? Stacy gave me this guy’s number, I can call him to see what’s up.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Jack added. “See for ourselves what this guy’s like. Or, uh, hear. You know?”
“Yes yes, we can do that first.” Schneep nodded. “What was his name again?”
“Malcolm,” Chase said, picking up his phone and copying the number from his notes into the dialer. “I’ve never met him before, but then again, I don’t really know all of your guys’ friends either.” He could’ve been at the funeral, but then again, Chase didn’t think he would have remembered him if he was. He was a little…distracted at the time.
“Yeah, I think I’ve heard him mention that name before,” Jack said. “Or I’m just thinking about Marvin instead.”
'Speaking of which, where would Marvin be?' JJ asked. 'The two of them were, well, stuck together, weren’t they? But this stranger only called us to talk about Jackie.'
“Uh, maybe the two of them just…separated?” Jack suggested.
“Guys it’s ringing,” Chase shushed. Everyone else fell silent.
The other end clicked as it was picked up. “Hello?”
Chase swallowed a lump in his throat. “Hi, it’s Chase. Are you Malcolm? Uh, I think you called my, um, ex?”
“Oh yeah!” The man on the other end sounded friendly enough, if not at all familiar. “Yeah, that was me. Sorry about that, by the way. I have no idea why he remembered your ex’s number and not yours.”
“Right, ha,” Chase laughed nervously. “So, uh…did you really…I-I mean, did Ja—is he really, uh, is Jackie—”
“No I get it, it sounds insane,” Malcolm said. “But yeah, Jackie is…alive. I-I don’t know how, but he is. I can probably put him on, if you’d like.”
Chase felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. “Uh…yeah, you can do that.”
“Great. Hold on a minute.” On the other end he heard what sounded like a hardwood floor. A door opened, and Malcolm’s voice came through, the words muffled. A few seconds later, a different voice came through the line. “Chase? Chase?”
It took him a moment to respond. The others were all staring at him intensely, Jack actually leaning a bit closer as if he could hear what was happening in the call. “Uh…yeah,” Chase finally said. “It’s me. Is this—”
“It’s you!” Jackie’s familiar voice was bright. “It’s you, you! Where are you? I can’t find you.”
“Uh, y-yeah it’s me,” Chase said. “I’m, uh…I’m on my way.”
“Here?”
“Yeah, to wherever you are.”
“Hurry! Where are you? Tell me!” Jackie insisted.
“Um…can you hand the phone back to your friend?” Chase asked. “So he can tell me where you are.”
“Where are you?!” Jackie repeated.
“I’m going there, I just need to know where there is,” Chase persisted. “Can you tell me or hand the phone so your friend can tell me?”
Jackie groaned, sounding disappointed. There was a vague sort of shuffling sound. “Are you still there?” Malcolm asked.
“Yeah,” Chase said. He glanced around at the others. “So…I guess we’ll be stopping by.”
“That would be great,” Malcolm replied. “Jackie is, uh…he really wants to see you. I’m at 756 Windscape Lane, it’s on the west side. My roommate will be out all day, but I took the day off work so I’ll…be here. With Jackie.”
“756 Windscape Lane,” Chase repeated, giving the others a significant look. JJ immediately took out his phone and typed in the address. “We’ll be there soon.”
“Great. See you then.” Click. The call ended.
“So…” Schneep said slowly. “Was he telling the truth?”
Chase looked up. “Well…y-yeah, he put Jackie on the line, and…well it sounded like him. I’d know that voice anywhere.” He paused. “I…I guess it could have been a trick somehow, but it…sounded like him,” he repeated lamely.
JJ took a deep breath. 'Well, we should at least check it out, shouldn’t we?'
“Uh, yeah,” Chase said, giving JJ a slightly startled look. “The address isn’t that far from here, I think. But I don’t have my car so we can’t drive, and it’ll take a while on the bus—”
“I think I could get us there,” Schneep interrupted. “Or at least close.” The air seemed to shiver around him. “I have been practicing, after all.”
“Right, sounds like we’re all good, then,” Jack said. “Do we need anything? JJ, you want a scarf for your face?”
'That would be nice,' JJ said.
“Well let’s hurry, then,” Chase said. “I said we’d be there soon.” And he wanted to see what this was all about. See if there was anything to hope for.
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“Stupid power outage,” Yvonne muttered. She was laying on the sofa, pointing her flashlight at the ceiling and making patterns with the circle of light. “Stupid crazy shit happening in the world.” She sighed, and looked over at the nearby armchair. “How’re you hanging on?”
Marvin was curled up in the chair, hugging his mask to himself. He didn’t respond. In fact, he hadn’t said anything at all since that weird comment about “puppets” an hour or so ago.
“Great, glad to hear it,” she commented, looking back at the ceiling. If she could just figure out what was up with his soul, and with those strange strings. She had the feeling they were connected with each other. Sighing, she turned to face the coffee table. Earlier, she’d grabbed a few books from her shop downstairs that she thought might help. Hadn’t had the…initiative to look at them yet. Now was as good a time as any. She reached over and grabbed one, flipping to the table of contents. “Hey, it’s Rituals for the Curious Soul Mage. Remember this?”
Marvin turned to look at her. Still didn’t say anything, just…staring.
“Course you do,” Yvonne mumbled. “You took a spell from it.” The book originally had a lock holding it shut, but one day, shortly after a visit from Marvin a few years ago, the one where he dropped off his mask at her apartment, the lock had suddenly disappeared. Recalling this, she flipped to one of the spells. There were a few pencil notes in the margins that weren’t in her handwriting. Yvonne scanned over the spell and the notes, and paused. “Wait a second.” She sat up straight. “Marvin, you didn’t…you didn’t actually do this, did you?”
He just kept staring at her.
“Look, I’m all for reading up the theory, but you didn’t ACTUALLY do it, right?” Yvonne repeated, maintaining eye contact. “You knew how dangerous this was, right? Tearing up a soul is—it’s just—” She stopped. “Oh my god, you actually did it,” she whispered. “That’s why your soul is—oh my holy fuck.” She read over the page once again, running her finger along the title: Transference Ritual. “Who’d you convince to be the other…” Slowly, she trailed off. “Your flatmate. Both of you died at the same time, you…shit. Fuck shit.” She snapped the book closed. “What happened to him? What happened to YOU? Why are you back now?”
Finally, Marvin shook his head slowly. “I don’t know where the other me is,” he said quietly.
Yvonne buried her face in her hands. “It’s fine. It’s—I’ll figure it out.”
Marvin tilted his head, then looked out the window. “Shards?” He asked. “Where did we go?”
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about,” Yvonne sighed. “But I’m closer. It’s fine. It’s going to be fine.” She picked up the book again and reopened it to the same page. Maybe she could learn something from this spell.
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Meanwhile, on the west side of the city, the air seemed to shimmer, and all of a sudden, four men popped into existence on the sidewalk. One of them immediately bent over and covered his mouth. Another pressed his hands to his head. “Oh god, I don’t feel so well,” the last one muttered.
“What? You were all fine when I took you to the apartment!” Schneep protested.
“Maybe it’s like…you can’t do too many at once?” Jack asked, shaking his head. “But yeah, doesn’t matter, I still feel like my insides want to be on the outside.”
“Same,” Chase muttered, straightening. “And dizzy too.” He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them wide. “Okay, but it looks like we’re here. Uhh…what was the address again?”
JJ pulled his hands away from his head and signed '756 Windscape Lane.'
“Right, 756.” Chase nodded. “Looks like we’re already on Windscape Lane. Nice place, I guess. Quaint.”
'It’s an older section of the city,' JJ explained.
“Well, we’re at 740.” Jack pointed at the number on one of the nearby houses. “We’re close. Let’s go.”
It was just a couple blocks’ walk before they reached their destination. The town house labelled 756 looked just like any of the others on the street. Chase hurried up the short walkway to stand on the threshold. He glanced behind him. Schneep was clutching Jack’s arm for stability, and JJ was adjusting the scarf around the lower half of his face. Jack nodded for Chase to go ahead. Chase nodded back, and turned around, ringing the doorbell.
A few seconds later, the door was opened by a black-haired man in a purple hoodie. “Oh hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Chase said, recognizing the voice from the earlier phone call. “Sooo…I’m Chase.”
“Malcolm. Nice to meet you.” The other man held out his hand for a shake, but slowly withdrew it when Chase didn’t take it. “Uh…I wasn’t expecting a whole group. It’s fine, though. Come in, come in.”
The group entered, finding themselves in a dim hallway lit only by a couple candles on a table. “Man, it’s so dark in here,” Jack complained. “I can barely see anything.”
“Oh no, what a nightmare,” Schneep drawled.
“…sorry,” Jack muttered.
'Did you just quote Avatar?' JJ asked.
“I think he did,” Chase said.
“Uh…I think I’m missing context for this conversation.” Malcolm looked between the group. “Anyway, yeah. The power’s out. Sorry about that.”
“I think it’s a citywide thing,” Chase shrugged. “It was out at the last two places we were.” He hesitated. “So…where’s, uh…”
“Upstairs,” Malcolm said, anticipating the question. “He’s been hanging out in our spare room. Haven’t told my roommate yet, because honestly I don’t know what the fuck to say about this.” He pulled his phone out of the pocket and switched on the flashlight feature. Pointing it to the side, the beam landed on a staircase leading upward. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”
A quick climb up the stairs and they were in another hallway. Malcolm led them all the way down to the last door on the left. He opened the door slowly, shining his flashlight inside. “Hello? Jackie? Your friends are here.” The room was dark, of course, the only light coming from a battery-powered digital clock. It was hard to even see the vague shapes of furniture. Malcolm glanced back at the others. “I’ll uh…open the window.” He darted inside. Curtains rattled on the rod and morning light flooded the room, landing on a figure sitting on a bed and looking downwards.
Chase and Jack exchanged looks, both reluctant to go inside. But after a bit, Chase took a deep breath and stepped inside first. “Hey, uh, Jackie?”
At the sound of his voice, Jackie’s head snapped up and whipped towards him. Chase stopped in his tracks. It was DEFINITELY Jackie. Wearing his favorite red hoodie and a pair of jeans, brown-haired and blue-eyed like he’d always been. Jackie smiled wide, the expression so familiar it ached, and ran right over.
“Ja—oof!” Chase stiffened as Jackie wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, momentarily at a loss for words. After the initial shock of seeing and feeling Jackie alive again, he was starting to feel the panic at the skin contact sinking in. He looked at the others with an expression of panic on his face, practically begging for them to tell him what to do about this.
Jack nodded, and walked inside the room, Schneep following behind, still gripping his arm. “Uh, hey Jackie. So…you’re back?”
“Hmm.” Jackie glanced over at Jack and Schneep, not letting go at Chase. “Others.”
“Uh…yeah, we’re the others,” Jack said slowly. “You, uh…you okay?”
Jackie didn’t answer. Chase started to squirm, pushing at Jackie’s arms. Malcolm, standing back over by the window, cleared his throat. “Yeah, so…he’s been acting weird like this ever since he showed up here.”
“Weird like what?” Schneep asked.
Malcolm waved vaguely at Jackie, still attached to Chase. “You know…he keeps talking weird and disconnected, or not talking at all. I think his memory’s fuzzy or something, he didn’t…didn’t remember his name at first. I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Can someone get him to stop?” Chase whisper-shouted at the others. “It’s—” He yelped. Jackie had suddenly grabbed his wrist. Sharply jerking it back, he stammered out, “Uh, Jackie, don’t—please don’t do—I-I mean I’m glad to see you too, but—but don’t—”
“Where’d they go?” Jackie asked, brows scrunching together in confusion.
“Where’d what go?” Chase asked, trying to lean back.
Jameson finally stepped into the room. 'I hate to ask this, but…he wasn’t like this before, was he?'
Jack shook his head, momentarily at a loss for words. “Not at all…I mean, he was always a touchy-feely kind of—actually no, that sounds wrong, I mean he liked to hug people a lot. But he’d stop if you didn’t want it. If he didn’t, Marvin never would’ve lived—”
“Marvin!” Jackie suddenly shouted, looking around as if he expected to see him nearby. “Where is me? Us? The missing parts.”
“He’s been doing a lot of that,” Malcolm muttered, rubbing his temple like he was getting a headache. “Lots of talk about me and us and something missing.”
“That is…odd,” Schneep said, narrowing his eyes. “Jackie, can you stop that? You are making Chase uncomfortable.”
Jackie growled. “No. He’s ours.” He squeezed Chase tighter, not noticing or not caring how his uncomfortable expression turned to one of genuine distress.
“Well that’s… unsettling,” Jack said.
'Jack.' Jameson stepped closer. 'Maybe you could use your soul vision on him?'
“Huh? Oh yeah.” He’d almost forgotten to try that. The weird soul vision was just normal to him now. With that reminder, he closed his left eye and watched the world turn monochrome. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Malcolm’s soul glowing a bright violet, but he was more concentrated on what he was seeing in front of him. Last time he’d looked at Jackie’s soul, it had been a random mess of red and blue shards. Now? Well, the soul was still broken, but the pieces were mostly red, and they seemed larger than before, almost holding together a shape. Almost. They still weren’t a solid light like all the other souls were, and about a fourth of them were still blue. “Okay, that’s…still concerning, but not as concerning as it was.”
“Uhh…once again, I’m missing something,” Malcolm said.
“It’s a long story,” Jack said. “What’s important is that…Chase, are you okay?”
Chase didn’t answer. He’d slowly gone very pale, shaking a bit and breathing faster and faster. Once again, Jackie paid no mind to this, content to keep hugging him tight.
“This does not seem good,” Schneep muttered, pushing away from Jack. He walked over to Jackie and Chase and slowly reached out. Once he made contact, grabbing Jackie’s arm, he started physically trying to separate them.
Jackie suddenly shrieked, turning his attention to Schneep. “No! You can’t!” He shoved Schneep away, sending him stumbling backwards. “Stupid usel̴e̡s͝s doctor! He’s ours!”
“Jackie!” Schneep gasped.
“Hey!” Jack stepped forward. “Just drop it, Jackie! And leave Chase alone! Look at him, can’t you see you’re freaking him out?” Chase was rapidly blinking back tears as he tried to keep from hyperventilating. “I get you’re excited to see him, but you can’t do this.”
“We can do anything,” Jackie said in a low voice. “He’s ơu͝r̡s̕.” Without warning, he grabbed Chase’s bandanna and started pulling. Chase made a startled squeak that turned into something more choked as the bandanna didn’t come undone.
A bright blue light suddenly burst in between Jackie and Chase, growing into a sphere made of lines of runes that slowly pushed them apart. Once they were separated, Jameson slowly lowered his hand. 'Chase, are you okay?' He asked.
Chase covered his mouth with his hands, breathing heavily. “I-I’m…gonna…” He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, saying nothing more.
“Um, okay!” Malcolm looked back and forth between JJ and the spot where the sphere had been. “Excuse me for interrupting the moment, but what the fuck’s going on here?!”
“Magic is real, that is what’s going on here,” Schneep said curtly. “Jackie, no.” He lunged forward and grabbed Jackie by the back of the hoodie, just in time to stop him from walking over to Chase. “At least I can feel him like normal,” Schneep muttered. “Not like last time. I know where he is.”
Jackie, very obviously upset at being grabbed, started to turn around. He was probably planning on hitting Schneep at the very least, but he stopped halfway through, staring at the window. His eyes widened, and he suddenly laughed.
“Uh…that does not sound like a happy laugh,” Schneep said. “That sounds a bit…evil.”
Jack, Jameson, and Malcolm looked over at the window in unison. There didn’t seem to be anything there, so Malcolm, standing closest, edged up to it and looked out the glass. “I don’t see—wait what the fuck?!” He jumped back, just in time for the others to see something green crawling up the side. “What is that, string?!”
“String?!” Jack ran over to the window. Bits of green string were climbing along the edges of the glass, wriggling like snakes. The sight made him a bit sick, memories of Anti flashing through his mind as he slowly backed up. “What is that?!”
“I thought we’d established that it’s string,” Malcolm said. “The real question is, what’s it doing here?” His eyes widened. “Wait, is it—?!”
The window swung open. Quickly, the bits of string climbed inside, dropping to the ground and inching their way across the floor.
“It’s me!” Jackie said, delighted. “Parts of missing pieces!” He started to walk towards the string, but Schneep grabbed him, pinning his arms to his side. Jackie scowled. “Stop it! I need it!”
“I do not know what’s going on,” Schneep said, “but it sounds bad! What is happening?!”
“It’s weird string!” Jack continued to back away from them. “A bunch of them! They’re—oh god, that’s creepy, they’re like little worms.” His head followed their movement. “And they’re heading for Jackie!”
Malcolm ran over and slammed the window shut, trapping a few strings on the other side. “Well I’m guessing we don’t want that, so what do we do?!” He looked over at Jameson. “Can’t you do the same sort of thing you did to separate them?!”
Jameson jumped in surprise, then nodded, throwing out his hand. A disc of blue sprang up in front of the strings’ path. When they tried to squirm around it, JJ curved the magic around them, until eventually trapping them in a dome of blue light. 'Problem solved,' he signed shakily.
“Okay but seriously, what IS this?” Jack asked, inching closer to the strings contained in their magic dome.
Jackie managed to shake free of Schneep’s hold and immediately lunged forward. Schneep cried out and tackled him. The two landed hard on the floor. After a few seconds of wrestling, Schneep managed to pin Jackie to the ground.
Chase, looking only slightly less pale, glanced over at the strings. “Hey, they look like, um…you know…” He laughed nervously. “You know, the last time, when Jack pulled the string out of Anti? They look like that did, but lots of them.”
“God, what have you guys been up to?” Malcolm muttered.
“Huh. Actually, they do,” Jack said to Chase. “What does that…?”
'I wonder,' Jameson signed, 'if it is the same string.'
“Wait, what?!” Jack whipped over to look at him. “JJ, that’s—is that possible? For this string to be the same? I mean, it wouldn’t have duplicated or anything, would it?”
“Hold on a moment.” Schneep paused. Jackie tried to take advantage of this and try to climb to his feet, but Schneep realized what he was trying and grabbed him again. “The—ach—the strings, I snipped them up, remember? Into many little pieces. I thought…I thought that would destroy him.” He hesitated again. “Maybe it…did not?”
Momentary silence filled the room. Then Chase said, in a voice quiet enough to be barely heard, “Maybe…in order for him to go away completely, we have to completely destroy these strings.”
Schneep nodded. “That…that would make sense.”
'But how do we do that?' Jameson asked. 'These aren’t normal pieces of sewing thread, they’re magic.'
“We can figure something out,” Jack said decisively. “In the meantime.” He looked over at Malcolm. “Do you have, like, a jar or something we can use?”
“Uh…I don’t know if we have a jar, but I’m sure there’s something in the kitchen.” Malcolm edged around the room, giving everyone else space. “I’ll just…go look.” And he hurried out of the room.
“Alright. Amazing,” Schneep said. “But also, what do we do about—ahk!“
Jackie had managed to shift around and punch him in the face, whipping his head to the side. Schneep, startled, momentarily loosened his grip enough for him to wriggle out and climb to his feet. He darted straight towards the spot the strings were imprisoned on the floor. His hand flung out like he was throwing something. And something did fly out of his hand, though he wasn’t holding anything. Bits of jagged red light sprayed outward, sharp edges scraping along the edge of the blue magic dome until it burst like a popped balloon, all the strings flying outward.
“Wait, what?!” Jack gasped.
Jameson staggered back, eyes wide, but then jumped into action, diving forward and once again knocking Jackie to the ground. Jackie cried out, surprised, but reached out. One of the strings crawled forward, making contact with his hand and wrapping around his fingers.
“No!” Chase suddenly dashed forward, pulling off his hoodie and throwing it over the strings. It covered them all, and he quickly swept them up, holding his hoodie in a ball close to his chest. “God, they’re still wriggling.” He shivered.
Jackie’s expression brightened. “Chase! Chase. Chase Chase Chase.” He held out his hand, the string now tightening around his wrist like a woven bracelet.
Chase stared at him, then without looking away, gestured for Jack to come closer. Jack hurried over, and Chase passed the hoodie to him, still balled up to prevent any of the string bits from falling out. “H-hey, Jackie,” Chase said, smiling nervously. “How…what’s up?”
“I…I don’t remember,” Jackie whispered. “But hey. Come here. Please?”
JJ looked up at Chase, alarm in his eyes. Chase swallowed nervously, then nodded. After a moment’s hesitation, Jameson backed away, letting Jackie sit up straight. Chase scooted a bit closer, and Jackie immediately snatched him, wrapping his arms tightly around him.
“Chase…” Jack said softly, gaping.
“It’s fine,” Chase said hoarsely, giving Jack a wavering smile. “Go down and find that Malcolm guy, give him the, uh…hoodie.”
Jack didn’t move for a long while. But slowly, he backed up, leaving the room.
Schneep slowly walked over, offering JJ a hand to help him up, which he took. “This is all wrong,” he muttered.
“Y-yeah, no shit,” Chase mumbled. “Jackie wasn’t magic.”
Schneep frowned. “I was not talking about THAT, but yes. Perhaps being stuck with Marvin for so long had some…effects?”
'That would make sense, I suppose,' JJ agreed.
“Maybe,” Chase said quietly. He was trying very hard to keep breathing at a regular pace. Jackie’s hug was…suffocating. But also, he got the feeling that Schneep and JJ were giving him these…strange looks. Well, obviously Schneep couldn’t look at him, but it was something in their expressions. “You, uh… you two okay?”
“Are YOU okay, Chase?” Schneep countered.
“Hey, I’ll… live.” By this point, Jackie seemed to have significantly relaxed, closing his eyes. For whatever reason, he’d been able to distract him from the weird string things, and that was all that mattered. Speaking of which…“Hey, weren’t there more of…those? That got stuck outside?”
The two others stiffened. Jameson glanced over, then walked up to the window and peered out. After a moment, he pushed it open and leaned out, looking down and to the side. Then he pulled back inside and shut it. Well for whatever reason, they’re gone now, he signed. And then he tapped on the glass, no doubt saying the same thing in Morse code for Schneep.
“What? Where did they go?” Schneep asked.
“Y’know at this moment I don’t really care about that,” Chase said plainly. “We can deal with that later.”
The other two shifted uncomfortably. JJ tried to exchange a look with Schneep before remembering he couldn’t respond in kind. Schneep folded his arms and went to stand by the door. Jameson stayed at the window. And Jackie didn’t seem at all eager to let Chase go, so they remained on the floor, waiting for Jack and Malcolm to return.
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The power in the city didn’t come on for another few hours. When it did, it came back in patches, depending on which section had managed to repair the mysterious damage done at the junctions. Yvonne’s shop was fortunately close to one of the repaired sections. Around noon, she sighed in relief as the lamps in her living room came back on. She was getting tired of straining her eyes to read books by flashlight. “Well, guess now’s a good time to take a lunch break,” she said, setting a book aside. “You hungry, Marvin?”
“Hmm?” Marvin hadn’t moved much from his position. But he nodded slowly. “Yes. Food.”
“Food is good.” Yvonne stood up and stretched. “C’mon, to the kitchen.” She walked over and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. Together, they went into the apartment’s small kitchen. Marvin hovered in the corner, still holding his mask close, while she searched through the cabinets. “Don’t know if I have anything you’ll eat, you picky bastard,” she muttered. “Uh…I guess some pasta. You want some pasta?”
“Does it matter?” Marvin asked.
“Well not to me, but does it to you?”
“Does it?”
“Does it?”
“Does—”
“Okay, never mind, fuck, I’ll just make spaghetti,” Yvonne groaned. She grabbed the box and a pot, filling it up with water and setting the noodles on the stove.
After a moment, Marvin walked closer, standing behind her and looking over her shoulder. She glanced over at him. “Uh…you know what they say about watched pots and boiling,” she said, trying to make it a joke.
Marvin blinked. “…no? I don’t remember that one. I-I don’t remember…there are things missing, still, without the other half.”
“Uh…right.” Yvonne said slowly. “Well, I”m just saying, we don’t need to watch it. We can just…sit down. At the counter, here.” She took a seat on one of the stools, patting another to indicate Marvin to do the same.
He didn’t. Instead he turned around and walked back into the living room, probably going to wait in there.
“…well, you can do that, too,” Yvonne commented. She sighed, and leaned back against the counter. What did he mean about the other half? Perhaps…she’d seen the way his soul looked in the Lens, the way it was…broken. Was only half of his soul there? That would explain some of the weirdness with his memory. There was evidence that the memory and the soul were linked, though it wasn’t clear if the soul affected memories or vice versa. In fact, a lot of people, even soul magicians, were still unsure what the soul was. The common consensus so far was that souls were like summing up someone into a single entity, like compressing their memories, beliefs, personalities, and everything else into a small, magical something. But it was also something different from all that, different from the mind, which was evident in how mental magic and soul magic were completely unrelated branches.
She continued to think over this as she watched the pot of noodles boil, and eventually turned the stove off, grabbing the strainer. As she poured the spaghetti into the strainer, she wondered if everything strange about Marvin could be explained by the strange way his soul had been broken. And that, the breaking of the soul, was likely related to the failed transference ritual. Though…it still didn’t explain why Marvin had actually died, or why he was back now…
In the other room, Marvin started laughing.
Yvonne paused. That wouldn’t have sounded so weird, with the Marvin she’d known before. But this was a different Marvin. Though his laugh was the same, it was…she hesitated to admit it, but it was creepy hearing it now. Abandoning the pasta, she walked back into the living room.
Marvin was standing by the window. Which was now open. That was odd. She’d left it closed ever since those strange green—
She shrieked as she saw the bits of string wriggling into the room. Less of them than before, but still concerning. What did they want?! Getting over it, she straightened. A Sending had taken care of them last time, it will this time as well. “Marvin, get away from those!” she shouted, rushing forward.
Marvin glared at her, snarling. He made a sweeping motion with his hand. There was a blast of cobalt-colored light, and suddenly glowing blue strings were shooting out from his hands. Yvonne hesitated for just a moment, surprised, but it was long enough for the blue strings to wrap around her, pinning her legs together and her arms to her side. She gasped, and lost her balance, landing hard on her side. What was this?! This wasn’t a spell that Marvin knew! At least, not before the transference ritual must’ve gone wrong. She tried to fight against the magic, but it simply wound tighter, and she was panicking too much to get a good grip on a spell of her own. “Marvin!” She shouted. “What are you doing?”
He didn’t even look at her. The green bits of string were now inside. Marvin reached towards them, and the string crawled up his arms, wrapping around them, heading upwards until they reached his neck. They burrowed under the bandages Yvonne had wrapped there, loosening them until they fell. Marvin shivered, closed his eyes, and laughed again. “Missing, missing, more complete, complete!…nearly c͝o̵mplęt͞e.”
Yvonne managed to sit up, pushing herself against the wall. “Marvin…?” she asked softly.
Marvin’s eyes snapped open, his right eye now glowing bright green. Reaching up, he pulled off the bandages. The strings had woven into the cut on his neck, crudely stitching it closed. “We…I found more missing pieces,” he said, voice tinged with static. “And yes, yes, I remember. All the others, all the pu͡p͠pe̢t͢s.” He clenched his fists, trembling slightly—but not with fear, with anger. “We hate them so…s̕o̢͡ much. Why? That’s still missing. I need to find that, too. But I…I know that now.” He laughed. “Which do we find first? The puppets or the shards?”
“Marvin…” Yvonne repeated softly. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re his friend,” Marvin said, tilting his head. “He came here often, he…his mask.” He looked back over at the sofa, the ceramic cat-shaped mask discarded on it. Slowly, he reached over and picked it up, turning it over in his hands. He gripped it firmly, and—
CRACK!
One half of the mask fell back to the sofa. Still holding the other half, Marvin pulled out the ribbon that would’ve held the mask in place. He put it up to his face, covering the left upper half. One of the strings from his throat unstitched itself and crawled upward, becoming the new ribbon holding it in place. “And the sho͟w ͢goe͞s̴ o͏n,” he whispered, running a hand along the ceramic, magic slowly staining it blue instead of white. A smile twisted his face.
Yvonne stared in shock. What…what had those strings done? Mentally, she finally started running through some spells, looking for one that’ll help.
Marvin stared right back at her, and after a moment, approached. Yvonne tried backing up, but she was already backed against the wall. Slowly, Marvin bent over, his face inches from hers. “Hold tight to everything,” he whispered. “Before it fades away. There will be nothing left but a bleeding hole inside your chest.” And with a final flash of a grin, he disappeared in a flurry of white noise.
The blue strings of magic disappeared, and Yvonne hurried to her feet, looking around. She ran a quick detection spell, finding no other soul in her apartment. Once she was sure of that, she hurried over to the sofa, grabbing the other half of the mask.
What happened to Marvin? What had he become?
.............................................................................................
It had taken a few hours to convince Jackie that holding Chase’s hand was just as good as hugging him. Now, with the group gathered in the town house’s parlor room, Jackie and Chase were sitting on the sofa, with Jackie holding tight to Chase’s arm and leaning his head on his shoulder. With the strings out of sight, he seemed content to just hang around. Still, the others kept giving him uneasy glances, especially Jameson, standing in the corner. Jack and Schneep had taken the two armchairs, and Malcolm was pacing the length of the room, thinking over the very brief explanation the others had given him.
“Do you think that maybe we need to cut them up further?” Schneep asked. His scissors had appeared in his hands at some point, and he was now turning them over.
“No, I don’t think so,” Jack said. In his lap was a metal water bottle, its lid duct-taped closed. He gripped it tight, feeling the strings moving inside. “I think if we cut them up further, it’ll just be harder to keep track of them.”
“Ah. I suppose that makes sense.” Schneep frowned. “What will they even do?”
“Well…there’s this one around his wrist,” Chase said tentatively, holding up Jackie’s hand so the others could see the tight string bracelet. “They, uh, were all moving towards him. And he wanted to get to them. A lot like last time.”
'Perhaps if they all get to him, Anti will somehow return again?' JJ speculated.
Jackie giggled. “I have no idea what you’re saying. Do I know this language? Did I forget it?”
“I don’t think you did, buddy,” Jack muttered.
“Okay, so.” Malcolm stopped pacing, turning to look at the others. “Can we burn the crazy magic string? Is that possible?”
“I do not think so,” Schneep shrugged. “But I suppose we could try.”
“What happens when we do get rid of them?” Chase asked. “Will, uh...he…” He tried to push Jackie’s head away, only for it to land right back on his shoulder. “Stay like this or change or…?”
Nobody answered that question, the silence filling the air. Until it was interrupted by a doorbell. Malcolm groaned in frustration. “God I swear if any other crazy shit happens to make me question reality I’m going to go straight to bed, I don’t care anymore,” he muttered as he headed out to the front door.
“Uh, okay, so,” Jack said. “Back to JJ’s question. If the string get to him, will Anti return?”
“But I’m a͟lready͝ ͝ḩer̕ȩ.”
Silence once again. Everyone looked over at Jackie. They had to let it sink in that yes, he had just said that. Chase leaned away, looking suddenly sick. Jameson adjusted the scarf around his mouth and stared at the ground. “Well that was the creepiest thing you have ever said,” Schneep mumbled, gripping his scissors.
“Um…Jackie.” Jack inched his chair a bit closer. “You’re not…you’re Jackie, not anyone else.”
“No, we are someone else, too,” Jackie insisted.
In the third silence that ensued, the group could hear talking, coming from the direction of the front door. And it was getting closer. Malcolm poked his head into the room. “Hey, uh, someone’s here to see all of you,” he said.
“What?” Schneep asked.
Who could that be? Jameson asked.
“Yeah, I agree with JJ, who is it?” Jack asked.
A figure stepped out from around Malcolm. An older woman, with a dark braid of hair down her back and her eyes glowing a slight purple. “Sorry for dropping in on all of you like this,” said Delyth Mae, magician. “But we really need to talk.”