Chapter Text
Dawkguard was curled into himself, trembling all over.
He hated this game with a loathing passion. It was still as scary as the first time he’d played it. But he had to keep going. He had to keep going for Dawktrap. He sniffled and coughed, scared to tears. But he didn’t dare stop now. If feared if he stopped, he wouldn’t be able to keep going...
He was almost done. Glitchtrap had been moving closer and closer. Soon, he’d be close enough for Dawkguard to grab him. He only hoped this would work. Dawktrap’s backstory was that he was possessed by Glitchtrap and fused with him. Dawkguard was hoping to have the same happen to him, but hopefully Glitchtrap would let go and fuse with Dawktrap when the time came...
He slowly completed another level, but he died a few times so it took longer than he wanted. He took another minute or two to calm down, heart pounding in his chest. He was bent over now, hands resting on his knees. He hated this so much. When this was over, he was going to delete the game and never play it again for as long as he lived.
Dawkguard finally straightened up and began to cycle through the levels, trying to decide which one to play next. He froze in terror when he heard a voice cackle right in his ear. He didn’t even get a chance to turn his head before he felt as if someone had sent a bolt of electricity through him. His muscles tensed and his whole body stiffened, locked into place.
Pain slowly seeped into every nerve, and his lungs struggled to breathe. Distantly, he felt something wet drip from his nose and eyes, but he couldn’t move to see what it was.
“So young,” the voice mocked him. “Only a child... but I suppose you’ll have to do...”
Agony erupted in Dawkguard’s head. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. It felt as though something was blocking his voice, something within. He could feel a horrible freezing tingle seeping into his limbs, feeling like frozen bugs crawling under his skin.
This was it. This was what he wanted to happen.
And now it was time to make his move...
His body was down for the count, already lost to Glitchtrap, but his mind was still there. He was still here in this digital environment. Glitchtrap hadn’t booted him from the driver’s seat and locked him in that dark room just yet...
Darko was back, and he brought good news.
He rushed through the house, looking for Dawkguard. He had to tell him that there was hope for Dawktrap. There was hope that he could survive this, but they had to be careful...
He opened Dawkguard’s room, seeing that it was empty. His brows furrowed. Where was he? The television was playing nothing but white noise, and there were a few tangled chords hanging on the floor. Darko turned to leave, but heard what sounded like a choked gasp. He spun back around and walked further into the room.
He nearly cried out in panic. Dawkguard was on the ground, body twitching and choked breaths struggled out of his mouth. Blood had dripped from his nose and was staining his cheeks and his teeth with dark lines.
“Dawkguard!” Darko quickly took the headset off, revealing the stain of blood under one of his closed eyes.
Darko gasped, this... he knew this look. This was how a newly created Dawktrap had once looked. Before he’d managed to get the bleeding under control and no longer constantly bled from his eye or nose.
“Dawky!” He gently hit the side of Dawkguard’s face. “Dawky, can you hear me? Please, you have to wake up. You have to wake up now!”
Dawkguard stared Glitchtrap down. The environment around them had fallen into a glitching swirl of color and shapes. His hands shook, but he kept his determined expression. He would not let Glitchtrap see his fear.
Glitchtrap glitched, and then he was suddenly right in front of Dawkguard. Dawkguard barely had a chance to gasp before Glitchtrap was grabbing him, and another wave of agony tore through him. This time, it was all over, burning and consuming him. He was still unable to scream, and he was soon losing feeling in his fingers. He looked at his hands and his eyes widened when he saw they were crumbling into loose pixels. A quick look down showed that his feet were too.
He struggled as Glitchtrap grabbed his face with a vice like grip, and his eyes changed into a bright pink. He was losing. He was fading into coding and pixels of the game.
“Dawky?!” Darko drew his hands back as Dawkguard’s body suddenly arched with a wheeze.
His fingers were curled and shaking, arms bent in a way that had to hurt. His feet were moving against the floor as if he were trying to escape something.
Dawkguard then collapsed again, going limp as Darko pulled him back into his lap.
Dawkguard felt the exact moment that he gave in.
His family had a temper that they were infamous for. Dawkguard had always worried that he would fall prey to it as well and it would bring nothing but misery and ruin to his life. But now... now he felt... empowered.
“Let. Go!” He shouted.
All at once, Glitchtrap let go and was thrown back from him. Dawkguard’s limbs reformed, and he glared at the rabbit that was looking at him with narrowed eyes.
“You...” Glitchtrap hissed. “I thought you were different because you were his brother... but you’re more than that, aren’t you?”
He gave a particularly menacing grin and then burst into chilling laughter.
“Oh, how curious!” He said gleefully. “Do they know? Do they know about you?”
“Hush.”
Glitchtrap flinched at Dawkguard’s tone.
“Listen carefully...” Dawkguard took a step forward... and then another one. “My brother had his aura stripped away. I came here because you are going to act as a temporary fix until we can get his aura back. I’m going to carry you out of here, and then you’ll fuse with Dawktrap and you’ll let yourself become his aura...”
Glitchtrap found himself taking a few steps back. He’d never backed away from anyone. It just wasn’t his thing. He'd always walked forward, towards his prey. But now he felt as if he were the prey...
“Ha!” He kept his bravado up. “And what do I get out of it?”
“What do you mean?” Dawkguard asked.
“You can’t ask someone to do something and not offer something in return,” Glitchtrap said in a tone that suggested it should have been very obvious.
“That’s because I’m not asking you,” Dawkguard growled. “I am ordering you to obey me!”
He stomped his foot and the world around them fell still, once again taking the form of the pizzeria from the game. Everything looked as if nothing had happened at all. The monitor even had the levels on display, waiting for one to be chosen.
A very familiar fury was written on Dawkguard’s face, and Glitchtrap knew that he had no choice.
Darko nearly cried in relief when Dawkguard opened his eyes... and then he saw what color those eyes were. One was his usual blue, but the other was a bright pink. Before Darko could say a word, Dawkguard got up and began to walk off, body still twitching slightly.
“Dawkguard!” Darko rushed after him. “Dawkguard, speak to me!”
He tried to stop his brother, but the other gave him a look that made him step back. This... this was not his brother. Was it? Could this be his sweet little brother?
Darko didn’t try to stop him again, but he did follow Dawkguard up to the infirmary. Dawkguard stiffly walked over to Dawktrap’s bed, and Darko then realized just what had happened. He gasped softly as Dawkguard gathered Dawktrap into his arms. He pressed his forehead against Dawktrap’s own and then there was a flash of purple and pink pixels.
Dawktrap gasped and his eyes flew open, flashing brightly with renewed energy. He sat up in his bed just as Dawkguard fell to his knees. Darko rushed over and held him up, looking between his brothers with wide eyes.
“Wh... what happened?” Dawktrap coughed as he breathed heavily. “Some... something feels weird.”
Dawkguard gave an exhausted smile, tears welling up in his eyes.
“I took a chance,” he said. “And it worked.”