Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I click through links furiously. “Come ON, someone has to have posted a listing for it by now-“ Earlier this morning someone had DMed me about a new Guilty Gear art book that was supposed to be releasing sometime today, and even included some links to proxy sites I could buy it from. But so far, nothing- every site I went to still listed it as not available yet. Damn- did they mess up? Was this something on the site’s end, or did someone misread the book’s release date? I let out a deep sigh. I’d been at this for a while, and it was getting pretty damn late. I really should stop…I pull myself away from my laptop, flinging myself onto my bed. I check my phone one last time before I pass out and the date catches my eye. May 13th? Holy hell- tomorrow was the 14th…and tomorrow was my birthday. I’d been so caught up in work that I’d forgotten it was the big day- I was turning 25.

Well, it wasn’t just my birthday…I somehow managed to nab three friends who shared it with me, which was luck I could probably use to win the lottery if I actually gambled. Now I REALLY had to get to bed- they were coming over tomorrow, and as much as I love her, Roxy was so high energy that not being in top shape while dealing with her might cost me a year or two off my life. I pulled my blanket over me as I shut off my phone, shutting my eyes. Faster I got to sleep, the better…

***

I wake up, rubbing my eyes and immediately feeling a TON better. Oh yea, needed that- you don’t realize how sleep deprived you are till you actually get to sleep again. I check my phone, seeing it was just now 8 AM. Probably had a few hours till they got here…should take this time to make sure I actually looked presentable. I do the basics- brush down my hair so it wasn’t just a red and orange rat's nest, rub the gunk out of my eyes, and change into one of my favorite tees- a concert shirt bearing an illegible black metal band logo.

“There we go-” I sigh as I stretch, helping to fully wake myself up. I'd go ahead and put some coffee on, pull everyone's gifts out of the closet, and we'd be good for an hour or so. Might as well spend that time listening to some albums I'd been meaning to check out…I popped my earbuds in, shutting my eyes and humming along. Eventually though, it ended up bleeding back to the Strive OST.

“Still my heart is blazing, if the words kill me I- hmm?” My humming was interrupted as the sound of knocking rang out throughout the house. Jeez, I expected them to be here a bit later in the day…time flies, I guess.

““I’m coming, I’m coming-“ I groan as the doorbell rings again. I swing the door open, Roxy holding out an arm eagerly to wrap around me- she would've full force flung herself at me if it wasn't for the fact she was carrying a massive cake in her other hand.

“SIGGY!” She grins wide, burying her face against me while still trying to keep the cake from falling. Edith looks over, the slightest hint of fear in her big brown eyes.

“Roxanne, darling, how about I just…” She grabs the cake from its precarious position atop Roxy’s hand, letting it rest more firmly in her own. There we go- cake crisis averted. And with an extra hand free, Roxy could now hug me twice as tight and get dangerously close to snapping my ribs.

“Hey Rox-“ I manage to choke out. “Happy birthday-“ I push her off of me, really not wanting to suffocated to death before I even get a chance to celebrate my birthday. She lets go, still grinning as happily as ever. We’d been friends for ages- I think we met back in late middle school? But she still gets as excited about celebrating our birthdays together as she did back then. Sure, Sam and Edith are newer additions to this tradition, but the two of us get to spend some time together, so who really cares?

“Sorry- got excited. Happy birthday though!” She went to show off the cake she’d brought, only to realize Edith now held onto it. After nudging her with her elbow, Edith brought the cake forwards so I could get a better look at it. It looked like it was made of red velvet, with the white cream cheese frosting spelling out “HAPPY 25TH SIG” in massive letters, along with “+ Roxy + Edith + Sam” in slightly smaller letters underneath. I guess I couldn’t be too mad- how exactly do you buy four cakes in one day and expect to be able to buy groceries for the next three months? Plus, I did like me some red velvet.

“Sick, thanks- just set the cake on the table, I’ll be there in a sec.” I open the door a bit wider, letting everyone pass through. As to be expected, Roxy comes through first with a spring in her step as always. Sam is next, casually pulling a hand out of his pocket to wave at me as he passes. “Ey Sig, happy birthday.” He puts his hand back in as he heads back to the kitchen. He’d been hanging around us since the first day of high school- we were paired together for a science class project and despite how he spent most of his time screwing around, he knew WAY more about chemistry and the like than I’d ever expected him to and had me impressed. Plus (and don't tell him I ever said this), he can actually be pretty damn funny at times.

“Hello, Sigurd! Happy birthday!” Edith, on the other hand, offers me a nice wide grin. She’s pretty much the only person here who calls me by my full name- if it wasn’t for her I might just forget it’s not Sig, honestly. She was the latest addition to the birthday group, being a late transfer to one of our classes from a private Christian school. Everyone assumed she’d be a bit of a priss so no one really talked to her, but Roxy encouraged us to go say hi and well- here we are now. 

As everyone enters Roxy sets the cake on my table, sitting herself down. I decide to follow suit as I cut myself a piece, and my two surprise guests are at the table before I know it.

“So, how’s work been?” Roxy asks me. “I mean, other than finishing up that scan and all.” I shrug.

“It’s most of the same old- I mean, not too much happens here, yknow?” That’s what you get living in the middle of nowhere, aka Warrensville Heights, Ohio. Still, couldn’t complain much- it was a quiet job with decent pay and it was pretty easy. “How about you? Any shows lately?”

“Oh, yea! I was booked for like- a WEEK straight earlier in the month- fun in the moment but MAN I need a break.” She chuckles. “Haven’t even gotten to redo my hair!” Now that she mentions it, I am seeing a bit more of her naturally brown roots stand out against her bottle blonde locks than I usually do. She turns to the others, grin across her face still. “Sam, Edith? You two?”

Sam casually shrugs, digging his fork into the slice of cake on his plate. “It’s yoga- what can you say about it that hasn’t already been said?”

“Really, no hot goss or anything? No one broke a spine?” Roxy leans over the table to get closer to him, sighing in exaggerated disappointment as he shakes his head. She then turns her interest to Edith. “How about you?”

“Oh, nothing too fancy- kids are learning about the Ark this week. They’ve all been darling in class-“ She giggles, enjoying a forkful of red velvet. For a Sunday school teacher, she was a lot more relaxed than you'd expect. I suppose she had to be when it came to hanging out with this group-

Sam slammed down his plate, a wide grin across his face. He made grabby hands as he smirked- “Presents. Now.” Roxy laughs while Edith looks horrified.

“Samuel! That’s not how you act at a friend’s house- and on their BIRTHDAY no less!”

“Yea, well it’s my birthday too, and I’ve waited long enough.” I shrugged it off- Sam could be a bit pushy, but it never went too far. I put my hands up, chuckling.

“Alright, alright- I’ll get you your gifts. Everyone hold on-“ I get up from the table, pushing in the chair with my foot as I walk back to my room. I could faintly hear Roxy and Sam trying to guess what I’d gotten them, Edith doing her best to wait patiently. Eventually I make it back to the kitchen, two small bags and one wrapped package in hand. They were all adorned with a different pattern- Edith’s had a bright blue sky with white fluffy clouds, Roxy’s was wrapped with bright colorful stripes, and Sam’s bag was covered in rainbow polka-dots that almost looked like spilled candy. They all reach for their gifts, only for me to pull back Sam and Roxy’s.

“Ah ah, let's take turns.” I then gesture to Edith to open hers. Reaching in, she pulls out a small box covered in blue velvet, cracking it open to reveal a decent sized silver crucifix pendant. She let out a small gasp, especially after realizing it had text engraved on the front.

“2 Corinthians 5:17….” Crap- I start to panic. I didn't know much about bible verses, did I pick a bad one? All I really knew was Revelations was the book where all the weird scary stuff happened- “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Wow. She knew that from memory?

“Sorry, I think I mixed it up with another verse-” I manage to stammer out before she starts to laugh.

“It's fine-” She reassures me, undoing the necklace’s clasp and putting it on. “There are definitely worse verses you could give to a person on a piece of jewelry. If anything I should be happy you didn't bring me a goat head in a bag or anything.” She lightly chuckles, hand going to the necklace.

I go ahead and push the polka-dot bag towards Sam, watching him grab at it aggressively. “Since you've waited so politely-” I say in a slightly mocking tone. He shoots me a quick glare before tearing open the paper inside the bag.

“Finally!-” His hand wraps around a long green box, smirking and rolling his eyes as he reads its label. “Ha ha, very funny Sig.” He smirks, turning the box around so I could see the text on it- CANNABIS INCENSE STICKS, a bright red font read.

“What?” I shrug playfully. “Maybe you can use these bad boys to make class easier for you-“

“I’m like 90% sure it doesn’t work like that. On the 10% chance it does though…” He slips the box back into the bag with a knowing look on his face. “Thanks.” At the realization he was done, Roxy’s face lit up as she realized it was her turn. Briefly looking at me for approval, I give her a nod and she’s immediately tearing off the paper.

“Ooooh, no WAY!” She cheers as she tears off the last bit of paper, revealing what looked like a record that had been shattered in half- both Edith and Sam seemed confused at how happy she was with a useless gift.

“It’s supposed to be shaped like that- the ring around the middle is the actual song.” I had to admit I didn’t listen to much of the stuff Roxy did, and that includes Paramore. But I know how much she loves them, and I had to admit this was a fun idea for a single. Plus one of the reasons we’d started bonding in the first place was her love of vinyl, so this only seemed fitting.

“Eeeeee, thank you!-“ Roxy grinned wide, only to pause as her eyes lit up. “Oh! I’ve got something for you!” She reached into her purse, pulling out a small item wrapped in bright red tissue paper. “I’ve already given Sam and Edith their gifts, so here’s yours!”

I pull back the paper, eyebrows raising in surprise as I look at just what she got me.

“Woah…”

In my hands I hold a perfect replica of Sol Badguy’s limiter headband. It had actual leather straps, and even the “ROCK YOU” on it was perfectly engraved.

“This is….awesome!” I immediately put it on, finding it fit my head perfectly. “Heh, might just wear this bad boy for the rest of the night!” Her eyes light up at that, Sam and Edith grinning at how eager we were.

After that the rest of the night was a bit of a blur- Sam found the booze cabinet and insisted on getting himself a glass, which soon evolved into everyone getting a little tipsy. While we were a bit wasted I got my other two gifts (a book-scented candle from Edith and an old 90’s Ozzfest tee from Sam), spent far too long listening to Roxy’s new record along with some of my own collection, and eventually thanks to some prying from Roxy and Sam, tried to drunkenly explain the Guilty Gear lore to them.

“Wait- wait, wait. Say….say that again?” Sam manages to get out through the liquor buzzing his brain.

I down another shot, before beginning my explanation and the exaggerated gestures that come with it. “Okay, look- there’s this thing called Tir na nÓg and it’s like- it’s like this super secret government….thing, aaand it turns the White House into an airship-“

Roxy bursts out laughing at that and I can see Edith struggle to hold in her giggles as well.

“No WAY- you’ve GOTTA be makin that up-“

“I’M NOT! Look look look, you can come up here, I can play through Strive’s story mode for you, and you can SEE FOR YOURSELF-“ I throw my hands up, only to yawn. “Aw man- must be gettin late.”

“Yea…should probably go- Edith can drive us back, we’ll be fine-“ Sam nonchalantly waves his hand, getting up from the table. “Thanks for havin us Sol- mind if I just-“ He scooped up one last slice of cake, putting it on a paper plate as he walked away.

“Nah, nah, it’s fine- its your birthdays too, take as much as ya want- see ya’ll-“ I wave them off, Roxy giving me one last tight hug before the door slams shut. I just sit at the table for a moment, before eventually pushing myself up and heading off to bed.

I wrap myself up in my blankets, deciding that reading a bit would be the best way to destress my brain after such a long night. I had fun, but man was I tired. I yawn, pulling out my phone and opening up Tumblr. I scroll mindlessly for a bit and occasionally hit reblog on a funny post or two before I see something that makes me stop. One of the hundreds of Guilty Gear blogs I follow has posted some fanart- heck, I’d scrolled past some earlier- but this piece is different.

It’s a picture of Sol and Axl- the blonde Brit being held bridal-style in Sol’s arms. It’s a simple black sketch on a grey background, the only splash of color being a pink flush across both their faces, but still, something about the image feels so warm…maybe it was the way Axl had an arm around Sol’s neck, or the way he had the widest grin on his face and Sol was looking at him with a gentle smirk…damn. Maybe I was lonelier than I thought if a picture was making me feel this much. I’d sort out those feelings tomorrow- I could barely keep my eyes open at this point. I drop my hand onto my bed, letting my eyes shut as long-awaited sleep finally takes over me.

***

Something is wrong. There's this sensation in the air that's different from anything I've ever felt before- I can't put it into words, but it's bad. I look around- it doesn't seem like anyone else is picking up on it. Of course they wouldn't- they're probably just happy we stopped G4 from becoming an international disaster. But still…something feels wrong and I can't shake it.

The feeling continues to thrum in the back of my head, like someone's plucked a guitar string and is letting it resonate for far too long.

A hand is placed on my shoulder, and I turn around to see Ky. He's got the same look on his face, and it's both a relief and even more worrying to know I'm not the only person feeling whatever's happening.

“You too, huh?” I ask, to which he nods. I was about to ask if he had any idea just what it might be, only for a word to force its way to my subconscious.

Backyard.

That…never meant anything good.

“Hey- I'm gonna go in and see if I can figure out what's causing this. You can hold down the fort, right?”

“Of course.”

With that, I give Ky a simple thumbs up as I run off- cmon, for a building that had something like tir na nÓg as part of its protocols, they had to have SOMETHING related to the Backyard and its frequencies in here- All the while the thrumming in my head grew louder and more unbearable, physical pain beginning to follow.

I make it to a hallway and turn, only to lose my footing and fall against the wall. Damnit- it felt like I couldn't move anymore and my vision was beginning to blur. Did I give myself a concussion or was this part of whatever the hell that noise was? I was so close to the lab- just a bit more-

I fall onto my stomach, barely able to reach my arm out as everything begins to go dark.

“Ky…you better be able to handle this…” I weakly laugh to myself as my eyes fall shut, and something wraps around my insides and yanks- it feels like I'm being torn out of my own body-

And everything goes silent.

***

Ugh- Jesus. I wake up and I immediately feel disgusting. My head is killing me, I’m in a pool of sweat, plus I feel like I’ve got the start of a wicked fever coming on. Probably just a hangover and I slept with too heavy a blanket…a cold shower would help wake me up and cool off.

I squint as I get up, trying to ease the pressure thrumming inside my head. I make my way to the bathroom, only to look in the mirror above the sink and realize I've still got the limiter on from last night. I smirk a bit- guess I was so tired I forgot to take it off. I reach for the clasps in the back to properly remove it, looking back up in the mirror- only to pause.

Now, after sleeping in a headband, you'd assume there'd be a bit of redness from where it was wrapped around your forehead.

What you don't expect to see is a perfect replica of Sol Badguy’s gear mark in the center of your forehead.

Chapter Text

I just stand there for a moment, eyes fixated on the strange mark on my forehead. I carefully bring my hand up to it- it’s slightly red and warm to the touch- it looks like when you sit on a coin or something for too long when it’s hot out and it leaves an imprint on your skin.

That realization causes me to snap to another, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. The limiter probably just has a little raised part that looks like Sol’s gear mark on the inside so it can do this- it’s a fun little Easter egg for cosplayers and the like. I didn’t get a super close look at the inside, so I totally must’ve missed it. I pick up the headband resting on the sink and turn it over, only for my face to fall.

There’s…no raised elements at all. It’s perfectly smooth on the inside. Well there goes that nugget of hope. I can feel the rest of my face go hot and my heart rate start to speed up- okay, calm down. These things don’t just happen- people don’t just get Gear Marks. There HAD to be an actual reason. Running my fingers under the water again, I try to wipe it off to no avail. Okay, don’t freak out- it’ll be fine. You’re working yourself up over something tiny. You’ll go to the doctor tomorrow and they’ll say it’s probably just a rash or something cause you're allergic to whatever the headband is made out of, you only THINK it’s a gear mark because you can’t stop thinking about this damn series-

Something in my head says no, this is more than that, the edges are too clean, too precise, but I manage to tune it out. Today is my day off, and I’m gonna enjoy it no matter what. I take one last look at myself in the mirror before sighing, brushing my bangs down so they covered my forehead. My hair looks a bit more brown than the deep red it’s supposed to be, but I force myself away from the mirror. No more- no more stressing out over this.

***

Turns out it’s both hard as you’d expect and somehow even harder to go about your day trying to avoid thinking about your forehead. I decide that working in order to take my mind off things will be better than just sitting and doing nothing, looking over a few books I’d brought back and needed to catalog for a bit.

And I'll give it credit- it works damn well for the hour or two you actually have books to sort. After that though…I was kinda just stuck there, sitting on my couch. I try to think of something else to do, attempting to ignore the growing urge in the back of my head telling me that something is wrong-

My phone rings, interrupting me from going down that dark path. I sigh a breath of relief as I see it’s Roxy- if anyone can help get me back into my right mind, it's definitely her. I answer, raising the phone to my ear.

“Yello?”

“Ey Sig! Sorry about this but uh- mind if I stop by? I think I might've forgotten something at yours after the party last night and I just wanna double check, yknow?”

“Oh- sure.”

“Thanks- I'll be over in a half hour or so. Owe you one-” And with that, she hung up. I grin a bit as I think about talking with her and getting a chance to destress, only to suddenly remember the huge red satanic-looking sigil on the middle of my forehead. I know she probably wouldn't make fun of me or anything for it, but part of me still says I have to hide it- and my bangs aren't enough. Headed back to the bathroom, I take a moment to put the limiter back on, making sure it fit comfortably.

I look at myself in the mirror and sigh- god, my hair was getting long- when did I last cut it? I admit I already had hair that was kinda long for a guy, naturally orange locks with tips dyed red down by my ears and around my neck, but now my hair went down to my shoulders. I once again take note of the difference in color, the red at the tips starting to fade into a dark brown. A thought passes through my mind- one I desperately try to ignore, but it forces its way in anyways.

Your hair almost looks like Sol’s.

I shake the thought out of my head, finding myself unconsciously gripping the sink tight. I know I was obsessed with Guilty Gear and Sol especially- my friends had a habit of playfully bullying me about it. All my friends said I was trying to be just like him- from the Queen records that filled my shelf to the tacky dragon decor that my bedroom was covered in. But still- even if I sometimes thought about being like him sometimes, I wasn’t entirely ok with randomly having my hair change like this!

My train of thought is interrupted as the doorbell rings, giving myself one more look over before I head out to meet Roxy. I sigh and finally let myself turn away from the mirror, heading into the living room.

I open the door to see Roxy, adorned in an old flannel hoodie with the hood pulled up. She looks like she's deep in thought for a moment, before realizing I'm there and perking up again.

“Sol! Hey!” She grins before seeing I'm still wearing the headband and chuckling. “See you liked your gift, huh?”

I roll my eyes. “Yea, yea- anyways, you said you left something, right?” I hold the door open for her, letting her come in.

“Yea, I left my…uh…airpods! I left my Airpods here! Just gimme a bit and I'll find em.” I squint. Roxy was a TERRIBLE liar, and I could hear it in her tone of voice. Still- I didn't wanna push too much, and I trusted her enough to not try and rob me blind or anything.

“Alright- good luck finding em.” I roll my eyes as I sit down on the couch, deciding to finally give into the scratching urge in the back of my skull. Ever since this morning, I'd had this awful feeling in the back of my head- and for some reason, that feeling coalesced with the need to rewatch the ending of Strive’s story mode. And so, while Roxy scrounged around in the backrooms of my house, I sit down on the couch, pull out my laptop and go looking for the scene on YouTube.

I manage to find a compilation of all the cutscenes pretty fast, clicking on it and almost immediately skipping to the end. My eyes are hyperfocused on the screen- watching the events all play out and scanning every minute detail.

It all plays out the way I remember it- the cast manages to land the White House and stop an international incident from occurring, only for Sol to suddenly get this weird look on his face- like he's heard something no one else can hear, and this faint buzzing begins to play. Actually…now that I'm watching it a bit closer, I realize that it's not just Sol. Ky, Jack-O, Asuka, even I-no look like something is wrong.

He and Ky talk for a minute, with Sol saying he's gonna go inside the white house to see if he can find anything to see just what this mystery frequency was- because frequencies mean magic, and frequencies you don't recognize usually mean something bad is about to happen. After a bit, Ky tries to call him, but there's no response. The humming comes back, but even louder- it's gotten to the point where even ordinary people are covering their ears and looking around.

Very faint edges of white begin to creep into the corner of the screen, getting brief cuts to everyone’s POV as the white obscures more and more of their vision. Everyone looks like they’ve got some kind of headache at this point, hands to their temples or groaning with grit teeth. The story never outright says what this is, but considering its sheer power and scale, most of the Guilty Gear fanbase has come to one unanimous conclusion.

It's the Universal Will.

Everyone struggles to stay awake or on their feet, but one by one they all slowly pass out. Jack-o whines a bit as she leans against a tree, eventually slumping over and slowly sliding down the bark- Giovanna trying to wake her up only to pass out moments after. I-no struggles to hold onto her consciousness but eventually loses and has her head bang onto the table she’s being held at. There’s even a cut to one of the rabbit guards watching the scene, Chaos’ voice muffled under the mask and making a remark about how “this seems like it’s going to be interesting”.

The scene finally focuses on Ky, but you can barely see him at this point. Hiss hand goes to his sword but he falls onto his knees- he looks like he's about to throw up, panting heavily as he struggles to grab his sword, only for his eyes to shut as he falls onto his sword- lucky enough to land on its flat side. The buzzing is so loud it's overwritten all other audio, and you can only faintly make out the image in the center of the screen.

Fade to white.

“That's it?” A voice from besides me causes me to jump- Jesus, who?- Oh, it's just Roxy. She must've snuck back in and sat next to me when I was watching this. Even though I'm startled by her appearance, I can't deny she took the words out of my mouth. Where's the scene with Sol in the White House looking for something that can stop the Backyard?

"Huh. That's weird." She cocks an eyebrow. "Wasn't there supposed to be a bit more?" Oh thank God, I'm not going insane. I'm about to second her when her next sentence blindsides me. "A scene with that blonde British guy?"

What? Who is she talking about? "Huh? No, Sol's in the final scene, but it's him trying to stop whatever's happening in the Backyard."

"Really? It was like.... the British guy was minding his own business when he gets a call from Ky. He tells him that something really bad is happening and they don't know what, but he should leave- he can hop timelines and this one is doomed anyways, he should save himself. But Axl says.....he says he likes it here. And that if they're all gonna die, he'd rather be with his best friend. Ky mentions Megumi, and...." She pauses, sighing.

"Axl says that he doesn't wanna go back to Megumi as a coward. And that...if he's lucky, maybe they'll meet up again in Heaven or another life or whatever is after this." Roxy sniffs. Did that little speech seriously make her start tearing up? She was always a sucker for sap..... it's also the first time I've heard her actually remember the names of Guilty Gear characters without me telling her them five minutes earlier.

I look down at my laptop, seeing my reflection in the black screen. I sigh- screw it, might as well bite the bullet.

“Roxy?” I ask, hands going up to my headband.

“Yea?”

“Do you…know anything about this?” I remove it, parting my bangs so she can see the gear mark adorning my forehead. Her eyes go wide, nervous for a moment before awkwardly chuckling.

“No- geez Sig, I knew you loved this game and Sol but isn't this a bit much?”

“No Roxy, I woke up and this was on my forehead and my hair’s been getting longer and darker and I-” I catch myself, not meaning to say the thing about my hair. However, Roxy looks like I've just told her I murdered her family. “....Rox? Has your hair?...”

She doesn't say anything, instead awkwardly going for her hood. After a bit of fumbling, she pulls it down, revealing hair that's FAR longer than it was last night- and instead of her roots being brown and the blonde in her hair growing out, it’s now been reversed- her roots are bright blonde with the brown in her hair inching ever closer towards the tips.

We just sit there, looking at each other for a moment in silence before the words manage to leave my lips.

“We should go call Edith and Sam.”

“Good idea.”

Chapter Text

Before I know it, my phone is in my hand and pressed to my ear. It rings a few times before a groggy Sam picks up the other end.

”Hello?”

“Hey Sam, it’s me, I uh-“ My eyes go wide. Crap, what do I say? “I’ve been wondering if you’ve been having weird dreams and your hair’s changed color because you may or may not be changing into a Guilty Gear character?” I’d sound like an insane person! “I…picked up that shampoo you mentioned you’d been using and I think I might be having a weird reaction to it or there’s a bad batch or something- has it changed your hair color too or?”

Alright, that…wasn’t perfect but it was the best I could come up with on the spot. Plus it was…reasonably believable I think.

”Mmm- oh, hey Sig. Now that you mention it…my hair is kinda a weird color lately. Hasn’t been falling out or anything though…think it’s getting longer though? Wonder what that's about.” Well that solidified my concerns- now I just had to find out who he was gonna end up as…which would be easier if I had a face to put to the changes.

“Probably means we should switch brands-” I fake laugh, before moving onto my main question. “So, I know it's kinda soon after the party, but would you wanna come up again soon? Turns out I have more free time than I anticipated and a smaller, less alcohol-riddled hangout sesh sounds like it might be nice.”

“Oh-“ He pauses, seeming a bit surprised by the question. “Uh…sure. Don’t got anything else happening…” He sounds a bit nervous, but I hope that when he come he comes up I can explain things to him and make it a bit better…

“I know it’s sudden but- how would later today sound?” A moment of silence on his end, before the response.

”Yea, sure. 5, 6 sound good?”

”That’s perfect. Alright, see you then!” I hang up and turn my head to tell Roxy the news, only to realize she’s not in the room. What- that call took like, a minute, how did she run away this fast? She had a habit of doing this for as long as I knew her, but right now was the worst possible time to do it-

As soon as the thought passes through my head, Roxy re-enters from the hallway, flicking her phone shut. I find myself breathing a slight sigh of relief- damnit Ax, you can't scare me like that. I almost thought you slipped outta time again!

“Sorry- figured I should go ahead n step out to call Edith while you were busy with Sam- how'd it go?” Guess I looked more worried than I thought. Still, that latter part of her sentence- that's important.

“Welp, Sam’s going through it too. Convinced him to come up later today though.” I pause for a second. “And…Edith?”

Roxy nods to confirm my suspicions. Damnit- another person affected by…. whatever the hell was happening to us. I suppose I should be a bit grateful- at least I'm not going through this alone. Plus, at least it seems isolated to the four of us for now.

“Asked her to come down too- I have a feeling we're gonna be hunkered down here for a bit…least till whatever this is stops.” My eyebrows raise in surprise. I'd never mentioned the idea of her staying at my place- where did she pull that from? But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

Out of all four of our places, mine was definitely the most spacious- it was an old farmhouse and while I didn't have crops growing on the land or anything, I still had an abundance of spare rooms and it was tucked on a road far away from any other houses. I'd definitely have enough room for all of us, and we could handle our food issues with Doordash or whatever- at least while we had cash.

“When's he gonna come up?” She asks me as she sits back down on the couch.

“Oh- I said about 5 or 6.”

“Huh- Edith said she'd try and come up around the same time. Makes things easier for us.” She chuckles, kicking a foot up on the table. Normally I wasn't huge on people doing that, but we had far bigger issues right now. My eyes fall to the clock- it was only 3 now, we had 3 hours before the others showed up.

I turn to Roxy, watching her intently. She…seems fine, well at least as fine as you can be in a situation like this. So- I figure I’ll pull the trigger.

“Did you…have any weird dreams last night?”

She perks up, confused. “Huh?” She takes a minute to think, tilting her head to the side a bit and letting her half-blonde hair cascade down. “Well…I did have one. But…promise you won’t laugh or anything? It’s…kinda stupid.”

“Rox- we’re turning into completely different people. Nothing you can say will sound stupid.” I smirk, causing her to grin as well.

”Good point- alright, I’ll spill.” She takes a deep breath before she starts talking. “Well…you remember earlier? How I told you about how Strive SHOULD’VE ended? Well…it was a dream I had. I was in Axl’s POV and not watching him like you usually do in those cutscenes, but other than that, it looked like it was right out of the game. Maybe my brain tricked me- I don’t know why, I barely know about Guilty Gear, why should I be the one to dream about it?”

“Actually…” I hesitate a bit for reasons even I’m not sure of before managing to force the words out of my throat. “I…had a Strive dream too last night. How…I thought it ended. And…I was Sol in the dream.”

The gears connect in her brain. We both had dreams about Strive’s ending the night before this started happening…that HAD to mean something, but what? I’d love to pry more and get to the bottom of this already, but with only the two of us, there’s not much we can do. When Sam and Edith get here, we’ll be having a much easier time figuring out whatever the hell all this means.

Speaking of when they get here, I look up at the clock again. It’s just now 3:15…damnit, this is gonna take forever.

“Hey-“ I ask Roxy. “Wanna watch a movie or something? We’ve got like 2 hours to kill.”

”Oh, sure! Can we watch Bill and Ted? I LOVE that one.” I purse my lips. I was never huge on those 80s comedies…but she was my guest, it was best to be polite. Plus, I liked seeing her happy.

***

The movie went by faster than expected, probably because 80s movies were always shorter than you guessed they’d be. The jokes weren’t anything great, but seeing Roxy laugh so hard she could barely breathe made them a bit more bearable. We still had a half hour to kill after that, so I decided to take the reins- it was time to bust out Ol’ Reliable, aka my speech on the history of Queen’s Night at The Opera.

”If I’m being honest, it’s a miracle the goddamn album even got made. Their manager at the time was a scumbag, they were barely seeing money even though they had hits, all their tours were canceled- it was THIS or NOTHING. And then THIS gave us Bohemian Rhapsody- while I think Sheer Heart Attack is their best album and I WILL fight someone physically over this opinion, the CULTURAL IMPACT of Night at The Opera is entirely unmatched. And that’s not even getting into the amazing way the songs are written and performed-“

DIING-DOONG!~

Roxy, who had been absorbing every word I’d said like a sponge, suddenly jerked her head around at the sound of the doorbell. Damn, guess I took up more time than expected. Still, that was a good sign. Least we wouldn’t be alone like this. I stretch as I stand up- I’d been sitting for so long my legs had started to fall asleep. As I stretch my shirt raises up a bit, exposing a bit of muscle- damn, now that was one part of this I wasn’t gonna complain about. Actually, considering how my shirt now left a sliver of my middle exposed even while I was just standing, I think I’ve gotten a bit taller too. Roxy seems a bit bigger than before too- though that could just be my eyes playing tricks on me.

I can think more about that later though- Sam and Edith are here, and I have to catch them up on everything, plus I have to see if they had those dreams too. Walking to the door and pulling the knob to open it, my eyes widen in surprise. I knew Sam would’ve changed, but just how he did still managed to catch me off guard.

Like he said, his hair had grown longer- much like ours, his curls now were down to his neck and bouncing a bit more loosely than before. The thing that surprised me was the color of his hair- right now it was an ombre, black at the roots and a bright red at the tips. Well, the outside of his hair was at least- the inside was a similar ombre, but instead of red it was a bright white. It was pretty visually striking, to say the least.

He reaches up to his mouth to remove what I had assumed was an unlit cigarette, revealing its true nature as a bright orange sucker.

“Ey Sig. Rox.” He gave us both a quick nod before putting the sucker back in his mouth and making his way inside. Actually…guess he must've changed a bit more- normally he wears stuff that's pretty form fitting, the man is proud of his yoga figure. But his clothes are a lot baggier than usual. Interesting…but I won't pry. Not my business, and I don't wanna strike a sore spot on accident.

He sits down on the couch, and the air is overly tense for a moment. Something about the idea of actually saying what had happened to us was kind of intimidating- we all KNEW what was happening, but actually saying something would solidify it and make it so we couldn’t really go back.

“So…” Roxy tries to start up a more casual conversation, only for Sam to butt in.

“Save it.” He says, unusually sharp for him. “Look, I may be blazed out of my mind half the time, but I'm smart enough to know something weird’s going on.” He looks up at me, trying to keep a straight face though the fear and uncertainty in his eyes is clear. “This…isn't some weird reaction to shampoo, is it?”

I solemnly shake my head.

“Then…what is it?”

“That's the part we're trying to figure out.” I say. “It's been pretty hard with only me and Roxy, but with you and Edith here, it should be way easier. Larger sample size, y'know.” I grin for a moment before my face falls in confusion. “Actually…”

“Where IS Edith?” Roxy finishes the sentence before I can. It hadn't really crossed our minds since we were both so excited and nervous to see Sam, but…yea, Edith wasn't anywhere in sight.

“That's weird- she's not the kind of person to show up late for a potluck, let alone something as important as this.” Sam looked down nervously, pulling out his phone and texting her. He sat there for a moment, eyes wide. “She hasn’t even been reading my texts ever since I got here…hope she’s okay.”

As soon as he says that I feel something dip in my gut. This wasn’t like her at all- what if something had happened? She didn’t know what was happening at all- she probably knew even less than we did. The feeling was the same as the one I had this morning when I watched the Strive ending, but hundreds of times worse.

”We should go check on her.” The words leave my mouth before I’ve even realized I’ve said them. “I mean- maybe she got busy or something and forgot. Plus, just seeing us is probably gonna help.” I stammer out immediately afterwards in an attempt to seem less nervous. Based on the look on the other’s faces though, I had a feeling they wouldn’t say anything even if I did crack a bit.

Sam nodded, standing back up.

”Well- hasn't been too long, car should still be warm. Better get going before it cools off.”

My eyes widen in surprise, but I follow Sam outside regardless. I take a moment to look up at the sky- it's starting to get dark, but for now it's that wonderful time of night where the sky is painted orange and purple. If it wasn't for Edith being MIA, I'd probably just take this time to sit on the porch and enjoy myself honestly.

I'm broken out of my thoughts by a car horn blaring through the open air. Turning back, I see Sam’s old junker revved and ready to go, Sam behind the wheel and Roxy sitting shotgun. She rolls down the window and waves to me.

“COME ON- WE GOTTA GO!”

I pick up the pace as I make my way to the car, swinging the door open and sliding into the backseat. Geez- felt kinda cramped in here. I watch as Sam fiddles with the knob of the stereo, a song full of low synths and strings slowly filling the car. What was this? I recognized the lyrics- that was for sure Heart Shaped Box, but I've never heard this version. Wasn't that bad actually.

As the car sputters out of the yard, I continue to listen to the background music only for something to hit me. That voice- yea this is still a cover, but there's only one person singing. That second voice is Sam, but he sounds different. He's never been a garbage singer but he never had the most outstanding set of pipes- now though?

His voice seems like it’s raised an octave or two, and it sounds…surprisingly good with this song. Come to think of it, Roxy too- she joins in in small bursts and her voice has a twang I’m sure it lacked before. As nice as it sounds though, it's just another nail in the coffin regarding the fact we're changing more and more with every passing moment.

“Had any weird dreams last night?”

I speak up, and the car goes silent- the only thing we can hear being the song fading out into nothing. I can’t exactly tell what the look on Sam’s face is since I’m sitting behind him, but it looks like it’s one of contemplation and…a slight hint of sadness.

”Yea actually- gonna guess you two are in the same boat?” Roxy nods and I back her up with a quick “yep”. He lightly chuckles at the responses. “Guess I don’t have an excuse to hold back- plus this should hold us over until we get to Edith’s place.” He draws in a deep lungful of air before letting it out in an extended sigh.

“So, I was this redhead chick. I don’t know really HOW I knew that because there weren’t any mirrors around or anything, but I just did- one of those dream things, yknow? But anyways- me and a bunch of other people are outside and having a good time, but I have this weird feeling in my gut. It’s like…a faint buzzing- and it’s telling me something bad is about to happen. But I try and brush it off- we’re all happy, it’s probably just nerves.”

He pauses for a second.

”And then this dude comes up to me- long brown hair, red jacket- I FEEL like I knew his name but it’s on the tip of my tongue. Anyways he tells me he’s gonna go inside and look for…something, he was being kinda vague about it. He gives me a hug, I wave him off, and…that’s that. I stand there waiting, the feeling gets worse and worse, the buzzing gets louder, everyone starts to panic and then…I fall to the ground and it all goes white.” He shrugs to punctuate the end of the sentence.

As soon as he finishes speaking, the gears in my head begin to whir. His dream sounded exactly like mine, but from Jack-o’s perspective…why have all three of us had dreams about the Strive ending? And why Sam? He doesn’t know anything about Guilty Gear except the dumb jokes he makes to rile me up because he thinks it’s funny. Roxy doesn’t know a lot about it but she’s at least interested so her I understand, but why him? And guessing that this pattern was going to continue, why Edith?

”Alright, we’re here.”

My question is answered by the announcement that we’ve arrived at Edith’s - I’ve been here before, I should know it’s not that long of a ride, but I’m still surprised at just how quickly time passed. Though…something that wouldn’t surprise me is if Sam had his foot on the gas a bit more than he should’ve in order to get here faster. I unbuckle and step out of the car, looking up at the house- an old white schoolhouse with ever-so-slightly faded paint.

“Hey, look!” Sam perks up and points. Our gazes all turn to a large white SUV out front- Edith’s car! It was amazing how something we'd constantly teased her over in the past immediately alleviated all the stress we had in a matter of seconds. A sigh of relief leaves all of us, Sam giggling.

“Ah man, I've never been so glad to see the Soccer Mom Mobile! She's gotta be home- must've just gotten busy or something.” That idea still rubs me wrong, but it's the best lead we have.

The three of us walk up to the door, Roxy knocking on it. The door creaked as it slowly swung open, Roxy jumping back a bit in surprise.

”Her…door’s not locked?” She raises an eyebrow, poking her head in the doorway. “That doesn’t seem like a good sign-“

Before I even stop to think about the societal acceptability of doing it, I let myself into Edith’s home. Sam and Roxy hesitate for a moment, but eventually take the step and follow behind me. The lights are still on as our footsteps echo through the house, cupping a hand to my mouth to yell.

”EDITH? IT’S SIG, ROXY AND SAM- SORRY FOR BARGING IN BUT YOU NEVER SHOWED UP AND YOUR DOOR WAS UNLOCKED- YOU GOOD?” We wait for a beat, but there's no response. At this point I can sense everyone is starting to tense up, the three of us separating and heading into different rooms. I decide to take the kitchen- opening the fridge. The light was still on inside, and the fridge itself was filled with all kinds of foods, mostly perishables. Meant she probably doesn't plan on leaving forever…that or she panicked and ran out without taking anything. Considering her car was still out front…

I walk around the kitchen once more, carefully inspecting the counter and cabinets for any other clues- nothing turning up. Making my way back to the foyer, the others run in shortly after.

“Find anything?” I ask.

“Well, I went into the bathroom.” Sam says. “And it's a MESS- it looks like something went rummaging around her medicine cabinet and tossed everything onto the floor. You?” He turns to Roxy.

“Actually, yea-”

Me and Sam have our eyes widen, immediately huddling around her. Roxy reaches into one of her hoodie pockets, pulling out an ancient-looking cellphone.

“That's Edith's phone-” The words leave my mouth in a breathy whisper.

“Yea- and it's fried.” She prods the power button in an attempt to turn it on, but no response from the device. Just perfect- we had a potential lead and it was shot down within the same second. I put a hand to my head, growling. Come on Sig, think- Edith might need your help, where could she be? Get into her head, where would she go-

It floods into my head all at once.

”THE CHURCH!” I yell suddenly, causing Sam and Roxy to jump. They look at me with wide eyes, wondering what I might’ve figured out. “I mean, we know Edith right? If she’s going through something this serious, she probably went to church to try and seek help- especially if it’s something like this that a doctor can’t really explain.” All at once I can see the lightbulb flicker on in their heads. “It’s not super far so she could probably walk there, especially if she’s panicking and sprinting. That being said we should probably get going- if we have a car we might as well use it.”

”Right!” Sam chirps, rushing out the door as me and Roxy follow. It was a short as hell drive, but I was still worried. C’mon Edith, don’t do anything stupid…

***

When we get inside the church, the first thing we notice is it’s dark. We’d spent enough time in Edith’s house that the sunset had shifted to more of a dusk, but it was like proper nighttime in here. The lights here were blown, and by using my phone’s flashlight I was able to tell that there were scorch marks on the inside of every bulb. What the hell?…

“EDITH! IT’S US!”

We continue our way down the church’s halls, taking turns occasionally yelling out her name. We hadn’t gotten any response yet again, the lengthy corridors of the church causing our voices to echo much more here than they did back at her house. There was honestly something kind of unsettling about the whole thing, even more so considering the fact one of our friends was currently MIA. I’m about to tell everyone to split up and check the different floors of the church, when my ears prick up a bit. As we get a bit closer to the main congregation room, I can start to hear…something? It almost sounds like…voices. I instinctively put my arm in front of Sam and Roxy as I step a bit ahead.

”I think there’s something in there- stay behind me.” The two look at me confused, but nod and follow my instructions. I come to the double doors and ball my thumb in my fist as I inhale and bite my tongue. I had a feeling that something…bad was happening behind these doors. Putting my free hand against the door, I slowly pushed it open and peered inside through the crack.

“Deliver us O Lord from all sin,
Deliver us O Lord from your wrath,
Deliver us O Lord from sudden and unprovided death,
Deliver us O Lord from the snares of the devil,
Deliver us O Lord from anger, hatred, and all ill will,
Deliver us O Lord from all lewdness,
Deliver us O Lord from lightning and tempest,
Deliver us O Lord from the scourge of earthquakes,
Deliver us O Lord from plague, famine, and war,
Deliver us O Lord from everlasting death-“

Edith…or someone I think is her is sitting in the middle of the room, hunched over and quivering. In her hand she’s holding something- a set of sleek black rosary beads, gripping them so tightly it almost looks like they’re about to snap in her hands. Her other hand is grabbing her face, and- oh God, her face. I can barely see it but from what I can see it’s bright red, probably from her crying. Her hair barely falls over her neck now, bright blonde eating away at its former warm ginger hue.

She continues to recite this prayer to herself in-between shaking breaths, the all-consuming dread preventing her from even hearing the door open.

”Oh my God…” I can hear Sam from behind me, gasping as he brings a hand to his face. Roxy is silent, but I can hear her trying to hold back sniffles as tears begin to well up in her eyes. She pushes me aside, trying to keep herself composed as she slowly walks towards the crying mass on the floor.

“Turn back the evil upon my foes, in your faithfulness destroy them.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice, I will praise your name, Lord, for its goodness,
Because from all distress you have rescued me, and my eyes look down upon my enemies. Glory be to the Father.”

“Edith?”

Roxy kneels in front of her, giving her enough space so she’s not right on top of her, but close enough to reach out a hand.

”Edith, it’s me, Roxy- I know I sound different but it’s me, I promise. Me and Sig and Sam are here because we’re worried about you. We’re all going through the same thing as you- and it’s scary and weird and…honestly I’m scared too.” She pauses, taking a breath as Edith continues her prayer.

“God of heaven and earth, God of the angels and archangels, God of the prophets and apostles, God of the martyrs and virgins, God who have power to bestow life after death and rest after toil; for there is no other God than you, nor can there be another true God beside you, the Creator of heaven and earth, who are truly a King, whose kingdom is without end; I humbly entreat your glorious majesty to deliver this servant of yours from the unclean spirits; through Christ our Lord.”

“But…I figure if something like this is going to happen- whether it’s someone doing this to us on purpose or some kind of freak accident…it’ll be best for all of us to go through it together, won’t it?” Roxy reaches out a hand to the trembling Edith. Her hold on her prayer beads weakens ever so slightly before she lunges forwards- still holding onto the beads but now holding Roxy in her arms, full on sobbing. Roxy was beginning to cry too, wrapping her arms around her in response and squeezing her tight.

”Oh…oh Roxanne…I’m…so glad to see you.” She manages to get out between sniffs. “And…you say Sigurd and Samuel are here too?” She leans back to face Roxy, who nods in response. She then turns to face us, allowing us to see her eyes full of tears, now partially blue.

”Hey, I-“ I was always bad at handling sensitive situations like this, so I decide to say as little as possible to minimize my risk of making things worse. “I’m here. What happened?”

”Oh, it’s awful-“ She wipes her eyes. “I woke up after the party and had this…sigil on my hand!” She removes her left hand from Roxy’s shoulder, allowing me to take a look on it. On the back of her palm is a set of three diamonds arranged to almost resemble a bouquet or a gemstone, the same faint red as the marking on my forehead. I had a bad feeling about this- it reminded me too much of my Gear mark for comfort, and with who it belonged to and Edith’s new traits...

But it was best to not mention that now. She was doing awful as is, I wouldn’t wanna see what telling her my half-baked hypothesis would do to her already poor mental state. I could ask about her dreams or pitch my theories later, right now she needed her friends to be here for her.

“And then it just kept getting worse! My hair, my eyes- and I keep having these images flash into my head! I came here to try and seek help, but…” Her eyes start to water again, tucking her face behind her hand in an attempt to stop herself from crying again. Roxy gently hushed her, arm resting on Edith’s side as she stood up and encouraged the church woman to stand as well.

“Hey, my car’s outside. We’re staying at Sig’s place…that sound nice?”

Edith sniffed, managing to calm herself down enough to talk.

”I…yes. Yes, that sounds very nice. I think having people around…would be good.”

”Alright, sounds good! Y’know what, I’ll even let you pick the music on the way back, sound good?”

We all begin to head towards the door, Sam leading the charge as Edith holds onto Roxy for support. I begin to follow behind, only to look down at the floor. Huh? That’s….weird.

Where Edith was sitting on the floor, there’s a ring of black around her- like it was burnt into the carpet.

***
The ride back to my place wasn’t that bad all things considered- Sam gave Edith the front seat so me and Roxy had to share the backseat, which made things even MORE cramped- but it was manageable, especially considering the state of things. Honestly the Christian rock Edith decided to put on wasn’t even that bad.

When we made it back inside, Edith immediately made her way into the kitchen.

”I’m terribly sorry, I just…need a bit of breathing room. You all have been splendid, it’s just…” She shyly chuckled, clearly trying to lighten the mood and minimize her issues.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s…been a weird day. I don’t blame you for taking a bit.” I offer her the most sincere grin I can. She…probably needed someone to stay up with her, especially because Sam and Roxy had decided they wanted to go to bed. I didn’t blame em- it was about 10:30 when we’d finally gotten back.

I look at Edith, sitting at the table. I’m glad to have her back, but…God, she looks terrible. Her face and eyes are both still red from all her crying. I don’t blame her at all- she had a crisis of faith on top of whatever’s happening to us, but still. Wish I could do a bit more for her…but I’ve always been terrible at these kinds of things.

”Hey.” I say, my voice coming out a bit more firm and gruff than expected. It still gets her attention though, wearily looking up at me. “I’ve…got some packets of tea in the cabinet and milk in the fridge. Help yourself to it. I know it’s not a lot, but-“

”Thank you, Sigurd.” She manages to grin at me, her half-blue eyes looking like she’s almost about to cry. Not out of sadness like before though- out of relief, out of joy. I get the feeling she needed this more than any of us could’ve known.

Chapter Text

I wake up to the sound of eager chatter a few rooms over. In my half awake state, I only barely recognize the voices- at first I think I left the TV on or something. Eventually I remember everything that's happened over the past few days and realize it’s not a gaming system that got turned on in the middle of the night, It’s Roxy and Sam. God, what were they up to this early? I toss back the covers in order to get up and hot damn- I guess I had a growth spurt in the middle of the night because I’m huge, even compared to before.

I was never really the scrawny type, but I had to have grown a whole foot from when this started- and I've probably gained a hundred pounds or so in muscle. I look at my bicep, flexing and feeling my face go a bit red. Hot damn- I kinda worked this. I needed to get to a mirror- had to take all this in properly. Especially because I for sure needed to buy a new wardrobe at this point, it was a miracle I managed to squeeze on an old sleep shirt.

After making sure I was covered up, I leave my bedroom and make my way down the hall to the living room, the voices growing clearer.

“Ey chief- hit that yoinky sploinky!”

What?...I shake my head, baffled. I recognized that phrase- Roxy was obsessed with it even though I could never understand the humor. But that voice…there wasn't a trace of Roxy left. That voice was entirely Axl Low’s. And as I finally made it to the living room, I realize it's not just her voice that’s changed so thoroughly.

Sitting on the couch are Axl Low and Jack-o Valentine laughing over seemingly nothing, with Ky Kiske sitting on a sidechair reading a book. I take a moment to just stare- it had been, what, three days? And we'd entirely changed. I pulled out my phone from my pj pockets, scrolling through the gallery a bit until I find a picture we drunkenly took on our birthdays. Man…I don't even recognize myself.

“Oh! Heya chief!” Roxy chirped, waving as she saw me in the doorway. “Mornin! Hope we didn't wake ya up-”

“No, don't worry- it's fine Axl.” I pause. Did I…call her Axl? Everyone else looks as surprised as I feel. “Sorry- not awake yet. Meant to say Axl-” At this point, I start to panic a bit. I put my hands to my head, breath quickening. “Axl- Axl- Axl-” My face drops as I finally make the connection. “I can’t say your name.”

“What?” Roxy looks at me confused, the slightest hint of concern on your face.

“Every time I try and say Axl it comes out as Axl-” I growl in frustration. “SEE?!” I put my hands back to my temples and groan. “Uuuugh…I was expecting a lot of things as part of these changes, but this wasn’t one of ‘em.” I sit down on the couch next to Sam, feeling a hand on my shoulder.

“Sol-” A voice speaks up, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Would you…like something to eat? You’ve just gotten up, you’re probably starving-” Lifting my head, I see it’s Edith- she looks exactly like someone pulled Strive Ky’s model from the game into the real world somehow. The only thing different is she’s still wearing the pendant I gave her on her birthday.

I take a moment to think- now that she mentioned it, I was pretty hungry actually.

“Yea, I’d- I’d appreciate it. Thanks Ky.” She grins a bit, before headed into the kitchen. Edith was a great cook- I trusted she’d be able to find something in there.

“I always feel better once I’ve got something in my system.” Sam stretches out before propping his feet on the table. Just like everyone else, he looks exactly like the Valentine did in game, albeit with a slightly darker complexion. His clothes though…oof. They did not handle the shift in proportions well is all I’ll say on the matter.

“Ey Jack-o- you can bum some sleep clothes from my closet if you want. Those don’t look very comfy.” At that he perks up, sighing in relief.

“Oh thank God- these were KILLING me. Be right back!” And with that, he quite literally hopped off the couch, leaving just me and Roxy.

“So how long you think breakfast is gonna take?” She asks.

“Idunno- Ky’s pretty good about this kinda stuff. Used to cook for her church potlucks- so like…15, 20 minutes?” I shrug.

“Wanna watch something in the meantime?” She holds up the TV remote, to which I give her a nod of permission. We end up flicking through channels a bit until we’re almost knocked off the couch by the sudden sensation of something landing on it, hard.

“Oooh, whatcha watching?” Sam’s back, and in far more comfortable looking clothing- he traded his old gangster SpongeBob tee (I still can’t believe he wore that in public) and jeans for a much looser tee with a picture of Micheal Myers on it and a set of black sweatpants.

Taking a moment to gather my bearings and recognize we weren’t under attack, I finally respond. “Not sure- just kinda channel surfing till Ky finishes up breakfast.” He nods, only to grab Roxy’s shoulder and point at the TV.

“OOOH! MST3K is on- and it’s the Monster-A-Go-Go episode!” The remote is snatched from her hands, and the two of us accept that this was what we were gonna be watching. I wasn’t complaining though- who doesn’t love a classic? We manage to get through a good chunk of it before Edith finally called down to us from the kitchen.

“Breakfast is done!” As soon as she said that, I could smell it and it smelled good- I must’ve been hungrier than I first thought because before I know it I’m sitting at the table before Edith’s even sat the first plate down.

“My apologies- it’s not the fanciest, but it was sort of short notice.” A stack of fresh pancakes and bacon is sat in front of me, and I feel my mouth start to water. I grab one of the bacon strips and take a bite- it manages to be crisp yet chewy at the same time. Sam and Roxy sit down next to me, the former carrying a platter of pancakes absolutely soaked in syrup while Roxy had the same spread as me, cutting into a buttered pancake.

“You kidding? This is great!” I say in between mouthfuls. The others nod in agreement, a wide grin crossing Edith’s face.

“Yea- this is AMAZING!” Sam swallows a bite of pancake that’s swimming in syrup before wiping his mouth. “So fluffy and warm…”

“You all flatter me-” She flushes, a ding! causing her to head back to the counter. “Oh! Coffee’s done! How would you all like yours?”

“Black.” I said.

“Cream and sugar.” Roxy politely requested.

“Same- but DOUBLE everything.” Sam not-so-politely demanded.

Edith shot back that familiar “hold your horses, I’ll get everything sorted out” look, and within a few moments we were all greeted with fresh hot mugs of coffee, Edith finally sitting down with her own mug and plate. She takes a sip of her coffee, and for a moment, I almost forget about the events of the past two days. Hearing Sam ask Edith just HOW she makes her pancakes this airy while Edith tells her as politely as possible to save some syrup for the rest of us while Roxy is off in her own world…it really feels like old times- like we’re still us.

After we finish our breakfast, we all scatter off in our own directions. Sam heads back into the TV room to finish up MST3K, Roxy takes an afternoon nap, Edith stays in the kitchen and reads- and I head back to my study. I wanted to get everyone together for something, but there was something I needed to find first- come on, where was it? It was hard enough as is looking around here before- the extra muscle and height didn’t make things easier. It should’ve been around- here! I wrap a much larger hand around a wooden object sticking out of a bookshelf and with a bit of force, manage to pull it out.

In my hands is a decent sized chalkboard- one that’s about the size of a small CRT TV. Tucking it under my arm and finding the much easier accessed box of chalk on the dusty desk, I head back out into the house- time for a presentation.

As I head back to the living room, I walk past the guest room where Roxy is having her nap. I should wake her up- need her with the others to discuss what we have, plus it’s already been an hour or so. I gently press on the door, opening it a crack. She’s bundled up in the faded grey sheets, mess of blonde hair all I can make out from underneath it.

“Hey-” I speak, trying to hit the middle ground of “quiet enough to not be rude” and “loud enough to actually wake her up”.

I manage to hit it first try, as she jolts up from her pillow and looks around confused. Eventually she manages to find me, bright blue eyes only half-open and covered by messy blonde hair, lips pursed as she mutters out a “whuh?”. She rubs her eyes, and I feel my face go warm- huh? Must be a broken AC or something-

“What is it, Sol?” She asks, still groggy.

“Oh- I need to talk with you about something in the living room.” She nods, tossing the covers off.

“Alright, alright- I’ll be there in a bit.”

Well since she’s up it’s time to go get the others- I head to the kitchen, only barely aware of the extra speed in my step. Edith’s easy enough to inform about the meeting- Sam’s right in the living room so in theory he should be easy too, but he holds me hostage for a few minutes in order to finish up his show. However, once he’s finished and everyone else has made it to the living room, I begin my speech.

I sit the chalkboard down in front of the TV- it’s one of those ones with the easel backs so this is actually pretty easy. Grabbing a piece of chalk, I begin to draw.

“SO-” I start off strong. “I’ve been thinking about everything over the past two days, and I’ve made a couple connections and have a theory or two.” I move away from the chalkboard to reveal what I’ve drawn- a set of stick figures that represent us- or the characters we’ve become. Point is, there are four stick figures at the bottom of the chalkboard. “Now I know three out of four of us have confirmed this, so allow me to ask: Ky?”

She looks up at me, eyes wide.

“Ah- yes, Sol?”

“Did you…” I pause, eventually finding the words. “Did you have a weird dream the night of our birthdays? You don’t have to give details- just yes or no.” I quickly add. As expected, she nods, eyes turned down to the floor. “Alright- thanks Ky.” I take a moment before headed back to the chalkboard. “That confirms my first hypothesis- we all had POV dreams the night before this started happening.” I wrote the word “DREAMS” in large letters on the chalkboard before underlining it. “I’m still trying to figure out why US and just how they factor into this whole thing, but this feels important.”

“I’ve got another theory too- started thinking about it when we picked up Ky last night.” I put my hands behind my back. “When we left the church, I saw there was this weird pattern on the carpet and there was this smell in the air- I sat on it on the car ride back, but I think I have an idea of what happened.” I take a deep breath.

“I think Ky used thunder magic.”

Everyone’s eyes widen, especially Edith.

“What? I know we’re changing into fictional characters but…we shouldn’t actually have their magic, right?” Roxy speaks up.

“That’s where you draw the line?” Sam pipes up in rebuttal. “Not that this is happening at all, but the idea of actually having powers? The one FUN part of this?”

“Hey-” I bark at the two, watching them settle back in their seats. “Calm down. Sam’s right- weird as this is, we can’t exactly rule out having powers. And I know what I smelled in there was the remains of an electrical fire. So my working theory is this-” I pick up the chalk from the chalkboard’s rim and start to draw another diagram. When finished, it reveals an image of Edith/Ky holding her rosary from the night before, a small heart over her head.

“So in Guilty Gear, spells need a conduit- some kind of object to pass through. My guess is that the pure distress Ky felt was powerful enough it ended up tapping into that magic we just can’t reach- the rosary as a conduit.” At that I accent the image with small lightning bolts, and then write another phrase on the board.

EMOTION = MAGIC

“My working theory is that this applies to ALL of us- a strong enough burst of emotion will let us use magic again. The hard part is gonna be working this out in theory- finding out if it’s just negative emotion or if a positive emotion can be strong enough-”

A hand is raised from the couch.

“I have an idea!”

“Yes, Jack-O?”

***

“This is stupid.”

“It’s the best lead we’ve got.”

Currently me and Roxy are sitting in the living room, watching Sam stuff his face with a bag of THC Skittles. While in the middle of our little conference, he’d pitched the idea that maybe getting high could be enough to unlock his magic- it left him blissed out as possible, he said. While I rolled my eyes at first…the more I thought about it the more it seemed worth a shot. So I figured screw it- he can run home and grab his edibles, all in the name of science. Edith sits in the kitchen, phone at the ready in case Sam ended up overdosing or lost control of his magic or something and we needed 911.

“Do you like…feel anything yet?” Roxy leans in a bit.

“Nah- usually takes a minute or two to kick in.” Sam lazily waves a hand as he continues to eat. “Believe me- you’ll know when it does.” He chuckles.

“I dunno- I’m kinda worried honestly.” I turn to Roxy. “I mean, what if he’s built up his tolerance too much? What if he can’t like- “dip down” far enough to access magic, or it takes him way too long, or-”

A sudden glow from my peripheral vision stops me mid sentence, both me and Roxy turning to the source.

“Ooooh yea- it’s hittin-” He sprawled out on the couch, eyes narrowing and a ditzy looking grin crossing his face as he cupped his hands together. Even as out of it he was already, he clearly remembered some form of us telling him to try and access that magic. “Alright, cmon….”

In the middle of his cupped hands was a small ball of light, one that bobbed up and down as he tried his best to concentrate. The two of us watched with wide eyes as he struggled to put the energy needed into the ball, it fluctuating in side more and more until-

A bright flash, and a small servant was in his hands- just like the ones she’d summon in the middle of a fight. A white critter about the size of a Build-A-Bear, with a black and green LCD face and small red bat wings now rested on Sam’s chest, leaving him wide-eyed and baffled.

“Woah, sick-” He laughed eagerly. He tapped the servant’s head, getting its attention. “Ey, go get me a cola, 'kay?” It chirps and nods, tiny wings fluttering as it somehow managed to lift itself up and went off into the kitchen. I let out a sigh, finding myself sporting a fanged smirk.

“I’ll be damned- color me impressed, Jack-o.” He’s certainly proven my theory right- any kind of strong emotion can bring out our latent magic. Roxy is just as ecstatic, albeit because she’s giggling over the servant and how cute it was.

“Ehe- I got this from Wegmans- it’s the good stuff~” He lazily laughs, shoving another handful of laced skittles into his mouth. I watch as the servant flies back into the room, carrying a 2-liter of Dr. Pepper. As soon as the bottle leaves its nubby hands, Roxy snags the servant from its place in the air, pulling it into a tight hug and spinning around with it. Sam, meanwhile, is downing the drink with the ferocity of a man dying in the desert, bumping his halo on the couch cushion and- wait, his halo?

Sure enough, he’s got Jack-o’s halo now- floating above his head with no support and even bearing its signature broken shard in Strive. Curiosity gets the better of me, and I bring a hand to it. It bounces a bit as I touch it- it’s a strange texture I can’t really place, it almost feels like really dense fog that makes my hand tingle like I’ve been faintly shocked.

That manages to get his attention, looking up at the strange disk floating above his head. Taking the bottle out of his mouth, he reaches up at it as well and paws at it, causing it to bob up and down more. He giggles, fascinated by the light and the buzzing in his hands to the point he entirely forgets about the soda and Skittles. I shove the bottle and bag under my arms as I go to take them to the kitchen in order to prevent a magic and cannabis fueled mess from further wrecking my house.

When I come back, Roxy has once again wandered off to God knows where while Sam is sprawled out on the couch once more. He's facedown, and part of me wants to step in to make sure he doesn't like…accidentally suffocate or something. I sit down next to him, lightly prodding his side.

“You good?”

His voice is muffled by the couch cushions, but I can hear it clearly enough.

“Sol I think I got too high and I realized I'm probably a chick.”

I nod in response. “Ah yea- had something like that happen to me when I was younger, except instead of weed it was a play session of DMC2 that went a bit too long when I was a bit too sleep deprived. I give her (They? We'll talk it out when they're more sober.) a pat on the back. “Good luck with that- but the good news is you got the hard part over with for free.” I chuckle. “Wish this happened before I spent god knows how much on hormones.” That was probably one of the only good things to come out of this- I'd have a LOT left in the bank once we sorted this all out.

I push Sam onto their side so they won't suffocate the second I leave before getting up, headed back to my room so I could catch a bit of a break for the day. However, on my way back I happen to run into a familiar face- Roxy, who seemed to be just…lingering in the hallway. My footsteps must've alerted her, because she turned to face me.

“Oh! Hey Sol- sorry about that, I was thinking about…well, honestly I don't know.” She awkwardly chuckles. “Guess learnin that we might have magic kinda turned everything on its head.”

“Yea, I don't blame you. It's a bit of a bombshell, even on top of everything else.” I say as I try to continue back to my room, not really having much else to say. However, before I can, she wraps her hand around my arm.

“Sol?” She looks up at me with wide eyes. “I just…I just wanted to say thank you. For everything. For lettin us stay here, for keeping Edith safe…” She almost looks like she's about to cry, and I don't blame her. Finding that words wouldn't do me justice, I open my arms wide- Roxy immediately picking up on the gesture as she launches into a hug, snuggling into my chest.

Once again my face goes warm, but even moreso than before. It was making its way through the rest of my body too, almost feeling like a wicked case of heartburn. Something about it felt unnatural though- almost wrong. But still…I couldn't bring myself to worry too much. Not when she was so happy.

Eventually she let go of me, seemingly also a bit embarrassed about the whole ordeal. “Sorry about getting all sappy- I'll go back to the guest room.”

“It's fine- I gotta get going too-” I stammer out as well, rushing to my room and immediately shutting the door. Not only did I want to avoid being awkward, there was a potentially much more pressing matter at hand. I open cabinets and rummage for spare parts, hoarding everything that looks like it has even a modicum of technology attached to it. If my theory about magic is right, it's better safe than sorry- I wouldn't want this volcano erupting with its cap off.

Chapter Text

I groan, rubbing my red eyes. I barely managed to get any sleep last night- the revelations about magic were enough to cause me to panic and try to create the best approximation of a limiter I possibly could.

Granted, I wasn't entirely sure just WHAT I needed to do- I was sort of stepping into unknown territory. I spent most of the night just looking on the Guilty Gear Wiki to find everything I could about the limiter and putting pieces of tech together in my best approximation of what I saw on the pages. Eventually I managed to make something that lit up, so that was a sign I created something that had some form of function. Honestly, it kinda felt like I was working on autopilot half the time.

But I was done with that, I told myself as I tightened the headband once again. At least for now. Now- I wanted breakfast. Or it might’ve been lunch at this point honestly- time had lost all of its meaning. What I knew I saw for sure was everyone sitting around the table, eating whatever they’d heated up in the microwave (or cooked for herself in Edith’s case).

“Ey, look who’s finally here!” Roxy greets me with a mouthful of mac and cheese.

Sam takes a long gulp of an energy drink before chiming in. “We thought you died or something!” I simply grunt in response as I sort through the fridge. Ugh, we were starting to run out of stuff. I’d gone shopping a week or two back, but that was before I had three other people to take care of. We should’ve gone back to Edith’s and grabbed the food from her place…

Come to think of it, not only did we need food- pretty much all of us needed new clothes. Sure, folks didn’t mind recycling their clothes for one day and I didn’t mind lending them my wardrobe, but we’d all grown- a lot. Edith was probably the only one who could still fit in her old clothes- and again, we’d have to go back to hers. It wasn't too far from here though…hm…

“Hey- yall wanna go out today?” I speak up, finally deciding on just microwaving some chicken strips as I pull the bag from the freezer. At that everyone looks up.

“I mean, sure- but like, why?” Roxy asks.

“If you guys are gonna be rooming with me for the foreseeable future, we’re gonna need a LOT more food. Plus- I think we all need a new wardrobe at this point.” At that everyone murmurs agreements under their breath. “I’ll let you finish eating and give you a bit to get ready- but we’ll be out in an hour or two. Good with you?” I walk over to the microwave, tossing a few strips on a plate before slamming the door and setting it for about a minute. Everyone else nods, their mouths full. Alright, one issue out of the way- now time to pop the cork on another question I'd been thinking about. “Hey, Ky?”

“Yes?” She says, sipping her morning coffee.

“Can we…go by your place on the way to the mall?” She pauses, going a bit wide-eyed. “We don't have to, it's just that your place still has all that food and honestly your van might be better for us than any of our cars with how tall we've all gotten.”

“Ah, no, it's fine.” She nods. “You're right about the food- I probably should get it before it goes bad. Wouldn't want to leave a mess for whoever moves in after me.”

“The van?” Sam speaks up. “Come ON Sol, you CAN'T make us ride in the Soccer Mom Mobile EVERYWHERE!”

“Like your old jalopy is any better-” Roxy smirks. “Don’t get me started on those bumper stickers-’

“Brenda is NOT a jalopy! And there is NOTHING WRONG with my “I Love Evil Wizards” bumper sticker! OR the “This vehicle makes frequent stops at your mom's house” one!” She stands up, one hand on the desk as she points at Roxy and continues to list off the bumper stickers her car is covered in, Roxy simply rolling her eyes and smirking. Even Edith smiles a bit.

“Look, if you wanna bring it I won't stop you- but with all the stuff we're gonna be buying, we're gonna need the extra trunk space.” She huffed, but it seemed like she got the idea as she fell back in her chair. The microwave finally beeped, allowing me to grab my chicken strips. Might as well sit here and have breakfast- spent all night without social interaction and I should probably make up for the lost time.

The time passes pretty normally for a bit as we eat and occasionally exchange one or two sentences, but eventually my eye falls to Roxy. She keeps checking her phone for seconds at a time, looking like she's deep in thought before seemingly hesitating and putting it back, only for the cycle to continue.

“Hey…Axl? You good?”

She looks up from her phone, hesitating once again before sighing.

“It's…it's the guys from Stupid With Intent.”

I pause as I try to figure out what those words mean, only for the neurons to finally connect. Oh my God, that was the name of her band- all at once I remember everything she'd told me about them: how she'd finally scored some good gigs, how she was so happy to get away from food service-

“I need to tell them about what happened…that I don't think we can make the show we were supposed to have this week…but…but I don't know how to.” Her eyes began to water a bit. All of us look at her with sympathy, the realization creeping over all of us that we had to figure out HOW we were going to handle our work lives now that we'd changed.

Honestly this might be a good thing for Sam- could totally see Dulcina Studios getting a boost in attention from having a real-life Jack-o main the helm. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just barge in and claim to be Sigurd Rhye, could I? Not after growing a foot and gaining 100 pounds of pure muscle. And poor Edith- how would the kids she teaches handle the sweet, motherly Ms. Roland being replaced by a man who says he's her?

“Hey, no matter what happens we're here for ya.” Sam says, sliding a syrup-soaked pancake Roxy’s way in an attempt to comfort her. “Plus, worst comes to worst you could probably take up a gig reading off stupid memes as Axl, huh?” The idea got a chuckle out of Roxy as she took a bite out of the pancake, sticking her tongue out.

“Eugh- Jackie, how can you eat anything this sweet? It's making my teeth hurt!” She complains, Sam giggling. After a bit Roxy finds it hard to keep up the pouting and starts laughing as well, trying to soak up some of the extra syrup with a napkin. It was definitely nice to see the light back in her eyes…but she did raise a good point. I was definitely gonna have to start looking into ways to get money that wouldn't put us at risk- thank God we live in the age of the Internet.

For now though? Time to go on our supply run.

****

Edith’s was so close that stopping by it first was a no-brainer. She basically had a full pantry and fridge plus a far more convenient way to carry it all along with everything we’d be buying after this- and this job would (hopefully) be a lot easier with four sets of hands to lighten the load. That's not even mentioning bringing magic into the equation.

Sam managed to convince us all to walk to hers instead of driving- saying it'd be “good cardio”. Don't ask me how someone manages to flip-flop between health nut and the epitome of the “lazy stoner” stereotype the way Sam does- I can't answer that question myself. Eventually she won us over- if so we could just head out to the mall faster because with our new physiques, I doubt any of us really thought we needed the exercise.

20 or so minutes later we were back at the old white schoolhouse, van still in the yard. Edith instinctively reached for her pockets, only to frown.

“Oh dear- I don't have my keys on me. Must've left them inside when I went to church…I was in a bit of a panic.”

“Don't worry about that!” Roxy said, giving her a grin as she pushed the door wide open and went inside. “Wasn't locked in the first place!”

Edith looked at us wide eyed.

“How did you?...”

I suck in air through my teeth.

“We…kinda stopped by here before we found you at the church.”

“I suppose that makes sense- should've wondered how you knew about everything I had left in the fridge.” She sighs. “Well, I'm just glad it was you who found this out and not someone else.” She says as she walks through the doorway, me and Sam following close behind.

The house looked essentially the same as when we first barged in two days ago- lights still on, family portraits and scripture hanging on the wall, the carpet looking like it had just been vacuumed- if we hadn't known what happened to Edith, honestly part of me would've assumed she got raptured into thin air.

“Alright, I have an idea!” Sam pipes up. “I'll handle getting all the food out to the van, the rest of you can go through the other rooms and take stuff that might be important! Bath stuff, extra clothes, sentimental stuff- yknow!”

I look over at Sam and raise an eyebrow.

“And you're sure you're not using this as an excuse to eat any candy Ky has left in her house?”

She puts on an exaggerated pout.

“Wha- why would you ever accuse me of such a thing? I just wanna help, I promise! I have a reaaally good plan!” She held out her hand, and it took me a moment to realize what she was trying to signal. A pinkie promise? Really?

Still, arguing over this wasn't gonna get us anywhere- I roll my eyes as I lock fingers with her, causing her to perk up once more.

“Yay! Alright, time to get to work!”

Before I could even blink a glowing ball of pure magic appears in her hands- followed by a second and third as she juggles them for a moment before tossing all three into the air at once. At their peak they solidify, a small figure appearing in them before they burst into a mini-fireworks show.

Floating above Sam were now three servants, eager to take her orders.

“Alright guys-” She said looking up at them. “I need you to take everything from here and here-” She points at the fridge, then the pantry. “And bring it outside and put it in that white car. Can you do that?” The three of them salute, causing Sam to laugh and a smirk to cross Edith’s face.

“Well, seems she’s got the kitchen under control.” Edith said. “Where do you think we should go?”

“I think I saw Axl going into the bathroom for hair stuff n the like- how about the bedroom? Jack-o could probably use some of your old clothing more than ever.”

A strange look crossed her face for a moment, but she nodded.

“Yes- probably a good idea.”

***

I’d never been in Edith’s bedroom before- never had a reason to, even when I went over to hers we’d usually stay in the living room watching TV, or maybe ending up in the kitchen if she felt like making dinner. And yet when we finally entered, it looked exactly like I’d imagined it would on the walk over. A large queen-size bed sat in the center of the room, covered by a thick and fluffy sky blue comforter and sandwiched between two nightstands covered in picture frames.

The right side of the room held a large almost wall-length mirror that on closer inspection, opened up to reveal the room’s closet. It was pretty thoroughly filled, all kinds of work-casual shirts and pants mixed with dresses in pastel patterns for holidays.

“Alright Ky, I’ll go through these and you can tell me what you wanna take with you, what you’d wanna give to Jack-o, and what we should leave here.” I pause for her to respond, but instead I get silence. “Ky?” I turn my head to find her standing at one of the nightstands.

“Hey, did you hear me?” I walk over, realizing she’s holding something. It’s only once I’m right next to her that I can make out the fine details.

She’s holding a picture frame- one that shows a picture of a man holding a little girl on his lap. It looks like its some kind of Easter celebration- they’re both dressed pretty formally- the man in a dress shirt and the girl wearing a blue sundress with white polka-dots on it. The girl’s holding a stuffed rabbit with a wide grin on her face. I don’t recognize the man at all, but I for sure recognize the girl- those bright brown eyes and the fluffy mop of red hair are all too telling. I look over to Edith, her own blue eyes beginning to water a bit.

“Is that-”

“My father.” She cuts me off. “You know, he usually comes up for the holidays- Easter and Christmas. He always goes on and on about how much he loves me, but…what about now?” Her grip on the frame tightens to the point I worry the glass might crack, a few tears falling onto the image. “I'm not his daughter anymore- I'm some freak accident of a fictional character brought to life from a series I don't even know anything about.” Her head lowers. “What if he calls me some kind of demon? What if…what if he's right?”

Man…I knew this was eating at her, but seeing it like this…I put my hand on her back, a bit more force than intended in the initial pat.

“Hey- I know you. You're the kind of person who can get through anything life throws at her- even if it's weird as this. I'm gonna find a way to fix this, promise. And if it takes a while or I can't?” I tap my fist against an open palm. “Hope your dad likes the taste of a Tyrant Rave if he says anything even close to that about you.”

She snorts through the tears. “Even though I have no idea what that means…thank you. I'm sure the sentiment is good.” Her face is still a little red as she rubs away the last few tears in the corners of her eyes. “And you're right. I can't stop now- we'll pull through this, just like we always have.” She clenches her fists, looking at me with a newfound spark in her eyes.

For a moment when I looked at her, I didn’t see Edith- the soft-spoken shy young girl I'd shared classes with, or Ms. Roland, the kind teacher who was almost a mother to her students. I saw someone who I knew well- someone I'd butt heads with over the smallest of things but despite it all, someone I knew was noble and determined. Someone who I knew would never give up hope.

I saw Ky Kiske.

***

Fifteen or so minutes of folding intermingled with fragments of conversation later, the two of us stood outside once again, arms full of clothing.

“I'll be damned- those little guys did better than I expected.”

The back of the van is neatly packed with a pretty good amount of food- all the cold items have even been put together in order to make sure they stay cool. It's still not professional, but it ain't something to laugh at either.

“Aw, thank you!” Sam pokes her head out of the passenger seat. “Told you I had a plan!”

“That you did Jackie- oof! That you did.” Roxy’s voice comes from behind us, face hidden behind a stack of towels and hygiene products. With a bit of guiding her into the right place, she eventually managed to stumble her way into putting everything in the truck bed followed by me and Edith setting down the clothes. I took a moment to just look at everything we'd managed to gather. It was a pretty decent amount, but I still didn't know if it'd be enough for all four of us- but then again, anything was better than nothing.

Plus, we still had to go to the mall, didn’t we? I sit behind Sam in the back as everyone else piles in. As Edith sits in the front, I tap her shoulder.

“Ey. I have a request- mind if I play something as we go up to the mall?”

“Oh, not at all Sol! Just not too loud-”

Bingo. With that I pull out my phone and head to my go-to- an hour long video compiling the entire story of Guilty Gear. I set my phone in the center of the car, everyone else giving me a look as Edith starts the car.

“What? I figured it’d be good to catch us all up on just what our deal is now that we’re these guys. Especially because most of you aren't as insane about this series as I am.”

“I…suppose that makes sense.” Edith said, pressing the pedal and finally starting our trip to the mall proper.

‘We’ve definitely got the time for this at least-takes about what, an hour, hour and a half to get to the mall? Guilty Gear lore’s a nightmare, but you should at least be able to get the basics down.” I saw a look that blended horror and intrigue on everyone’s face.

The rest of the trip proceeded in relative silence aside from occasional comments about how insane the stories of these games were. I loved watching their faces as they would get into the groove of it only to be taken aback by Dizzy’s entire existence or the tangled web of relationship issues that was the Assassin's guild. I also noted that whenever Ky or Axl or Jack-O’s name was mentioned, they’d perk up and focus a little bit more on the next few sentences.

We'd managed to make it to the end of the video before anything sparked a true discussion.

“Just when you think everything is wrapped up all nice and dandy- all of a sudden there's this buzzing and everyone passes out and everything goes white. What does this mean? I don't know! It's been years and we still don't have an answer! It's probably the Universal Will or something similar, but I guess we just have to wait and see where Daisuke’s vision takes us.”

We all roll our eyes, and I hear a “yeah right” or two. I suppose we're the only people who REALLY know how Strive ended- from our perspectives at least. I pick up my phone as the video ends, only to spot something in the comments that catches my eye.

Idk why you left out the scene at the end of strive where it cut to Jam for no reason??? I could never figure out why they added it and no one else ever talks about it- sometimes i wonder if I'm losing it

My eyes raise as I see the comment. Wait…was that?

“You guys think there's anyone else like us out there?”

All heads turn to me- even Edith, though we're thankfully at a stop light.

“I mean, I find it hard to believe we're the only four people affected by this- there's so many characters in that setting and I doubt EVERYONE transforming would be lucky enough to be as close as we are. They could be all over the country, maybe even out of it.”

“I guess that does make sense-” Edith mutters deep in thought, eyes on the road but brain elsewhere.

“I wish there was some way we could get the word out to em, yknow? They're probably as confused and scared as we were…they need to know they're not alone, that others are out there!” Roxy says, a look of determination on her face as she balls her fists.

“I do too, but it's not super safe right now. Believe me, second I get the opportunity I'm doing something with it.” We don't really have the time to debate the subject anymore as the sign for the mall appears in our view.

“Finally, can't wait to actually get something that'll fit me now!” Sam sighs as we pull into the surprisingly empty parking lot. “These shirts have been killing me- I miss my old wardrobe so much.” As she steps out, something finally registers in my head.

“Wait- Jack-O, I think you should stay here.” I put my hand in front of her chest. She looks up at me with wide eyes.

“Why?” She follows my hand with her eyes as it goes from in front of her chest up to her halo. “Oooh yea.” She nods, only to grin. “No need to worry! I screwed around a bit at Ky’s place with my magic and found something out!” A flash of light and her halo moves from over her head to a quarter of its size and holding her hair back like a scrunchie. “Ta-da!!” She does jazz hands and a twirl to show off her new accessory. “TOTALLY inconspicuous, ain’t it?” I stared in silence for a moment before nodding. She was getting good at pulling surprises out of thin air, wasn't she?

As we walk through the lot and into the mall, I look at my phone once more and take note of the time. “Alright, it's 11 now. How about we split up into groups of two, take an hour or so to get everything we need, and meet back in the center of the mall at noon?” Everyone else nodded, Roxy giving me a thumbs up.

“Can I go with you?” Sam grabs onto my arm. I nod, causing her to grin.

“See you in an hour?” I ask Roxy and Edith.

“See you in an hour!” Roxy responds, our two groups beginning to head our separate ways. An hour was good time, I could get a lot done.

***

“So? Whaddya think?” Sam asks me, holding up an…interesting shirt. Honestly I should’ve expected she’d buy something like this. We’d managed to finish up our food shopping early, so we went ahead and started looking for things to replace our current wardrobe. She ended up dragging me into a Spencer’s, which I was honestly all for- I don’t frequent the shop, but they sold some pretty solid band merch. A bright pink shirt with white text in a death metal font that says “POWER PUSSY” was…not one of those pieces.

“Well, it’s certainly…you.” I feel like a bit of a hypocrite- I’ve worn band shirts with much worse on them, haven’t I? But still- there’s something about seeing Jack-O Valentine in a shirt like this. I guess it was fitting for her, in all honesty- a perfect mix of flirty and silly. “Just remember we’ve still got a lot of cash left over- you don’t have to only get that.” I turn to look at the wall of shirts behind us.

“You should get something too, shouldn’t you? I mean, you’re lending all your clothes to us AND you’ve got a Schwarzenegger build all of a sudden. You could probably use a few new shirts.” Honestly she had a point. Plus for these past few days I hadn’t really done anything for myself- I’d been pretty caught up in making sure the other three were okay. Of course I still cared about them- but I could use a little something to keep myself going, no? I grin a bit as I find myself looking through the stacks of shirts on the shelves, looking for one that would catch my eyes.

About twenty or thirty minutes later I find myself carrying a few shirts, a necklace resting on top of them. I figured these would be enough to give me a passable wardrobe for now as shirts were my real problem area. I watched the lady at the cash register go through them, taking note of each one.

A Queen long sleeve with the lyrics to some of their songs scribbled on the sleeves- a basic pick, but one that looked pretty nice, plus even if it wasn’t cold now I’d need some long sleeves in the future. A t-shirt with one of those biker skeletons on it- only purchased because Sam peer pressured me into buying matching shirts with her because they were “just so cool!”. One of those shirts that had an overly intricate print of a medieval dragon just because it was actually pretty cool. A Paramore shirt covered in the pattern they used for their RIOT! album…okay, that wasn’t for me. I figured Roxy would appreciate a shirt that was actually her style- knowing her, Edith was probably holding her hostage in a Maurice’s or something. On top of the shirts rests a necklace- a small silver dragon wrapped around a red crystal that was supposed to glow in the dark. After it’s checked out, I go ahead and put it on because why not? Plus, it should soak up light if I wanna see how well it glows, right?

Sam had picked out her items as well- one covered in hearts pot leaves and the phrase “Pot Girl”, one with that guy with the black hair and red eye from Naruto, and of course the “POWER PUSSY” shirt she’d shown me earlier. She took a moment and looked at the suckers on the side of the register, reaching for one before pausing. Even as someone who knew barely anything about Guilty Gear, she knew enough that she didn’t want to walk out into public with a dick-shaped sucker in her mouth.

“I’ll pick you up some Dippin Dots when we get out of here.” I whisper to her as I hand the woman my card, her face lighting up a bit. I did also toss a bag of those chocolate mushrooms on the register at the last second as she looked away- a little surprise for later. I swing the bags over my back, Sam following along behind me as we leave. Right as we cross the doorway, my phone buzzes in my pocket- a text from Roxy.

Done with our stuff!!! Meet you at the food court?

I type out a quick response.

Yea sure- promised Sam I’d pick her up some Dippin dots so i might take a minute

Man- guess whatever autofilled everyone’s name whenever we talked managed to bypass text. But the food court isn't too far, and I’m looking forwards to seeing the others again even if it has only been an hour. As me and her talk and she eagerly wonders what flavor of ice cream she’ll get, I swear I can see this kinda scrawny-looking guy in a green hoodie following us- I look back every now and then and keep seeing him, but I try and brush it off. It’s a mall, tons of people are headed the same direction as I am- especially when that direction is to the food court.

Soon enough I see a hand excitedly waving me over from a booth, causing us to pick up the pace a bit- me as I go to talk to Roxy, and Sam as she spots the Dippin Dots booth in the center of the food court not far from us. I pull a $5 out of my wallet and she heads off to pick up her ice cream as I sit at the other side of the booth.

“So, how’d it go for you?” I ask playfully.

“Oh, wonderfully!” Edith holds up the bag of groceries, Roxy the clothes. “I’m glad I managed to find my wallet- you wouldn’t BELIEVE how many coupons I had in there that were still good! Meant we had even more money for clothes!”

“Oh yea- speaking of clothes, got you something Ax.” I rustle around and pull out the Paramore shirt- handing it to her as her eyes widen.

“No way- thanks so much Sol!” She immediately shoves it into her own bag as Sam sits down on the other side of me, chowing down on a decent-sized cup of cookies and cream Dippin Dots. I begin to wonder if I should order anything for myself, only to look up at the sensation of a tap on my shoulder. Whuh?- I’m staring face to face with the guy I thought was following me earlier. Guess my suspicions were confirmed.

“Hm? Yea, what is it?” Everyone else is immediately focused on the scene. The guy smirked, leaning on the booth a bit more.

“Yea, you were in Spencer’s earlier, right?”

“Uuuuh…yea.” I answer a bit reluctantly. Did I leave something in the store or anything like that?

“Heh, thought so-” He chuckled as he grabs the bags I was carrying out of my hands.

“Hey!-”

“You spent so much there figured I should see just what you'd bought- plus just what I could get outta you.-” He sorts through the bag before dumping everything on the floor. Sam swallows the last bit of her ice cream in shock, Edith getting down on the floor to pick everything up and dust it off the best she could. I get up from the booth, glaring down at the man below me.

“Look, we both know how this is gonna end if you try to do anything more. So just check that receipt, and see that we’re all good here.” I growl, baring teeth sharper than a human’s should be. If I could just scare him off here and now that’d be the best situation for all of us- my magic was still so unstable I had no idea what getting into a bigger conflict like this would cause me to do, and I’d like that answer to NOT be revealed to me in public. He gulps and I almost sigh in relief, before he tries to keep standing his ground. You’ve gotta be kidding me.

‘Back off bud- you don't know who you're dealing with.” Even before I changed the statement would've been pretty laughable coming from him, but now? I could probably put him in the hospital with muscles like these. That doesn't mean I don't jump when I hear an all too concerning flick and realize the guy's pulled out a goddamn knife.

I instinctively grab his wrist and I hear the sound of bones cracking, causing me to freeze up. I'd only wanted to stop him from moving his hand, not break it entirely! The guy looks terrified and I don't blame him- he's trying to pull away and I can see tears in his eyes. In his blind panic he grabs onto the collar of my shirt, allowing him to get a bit closer to me. He's trying to go for my face but he's so unsteady he can't get a good grasp on anything- that is until I feel a jerk and hear something snap undone.

I feel hot all of a sudden. Grabbing onto his wrist tighter I pull him away from me, and my worst fears are confirmed. He's pulled off my limiter.

“You.” I snarl, releasing my hand and letting him fall onto the floor. A few people at the food court had been watching beforehand, but now all eyes were on me. I tried to calm myself down before things got too bad like I knew I should, but I just couldn't. He looks up at me as he tries to crawl away, dropping the limiter and trying to get up to run. I can barely think at this point- the heat growing in my body is overwhelming, to the point I feel like I'm being cooked alive from the inside. And the anger- it's almost as overwhelming as the heat.

He tried to hurt you, hurt him back!

All at once a burst of flame overtakes my form, and I feel myself change even further from who I once originally was. The glow of the fire seeps into my skin, leaving my hands and feet especially bright as the claws they now bear shine with an intensity that's almost painful. New nerve connections and sensations flood my brain all at once- a long, curved horn sprouting from where the gear mark on my head once was, ears now a set of wings all their own- and the sensations from my new actual set of wings and tail were indescribable. I'd done it- I'd Dragon Installed. I'd be proud of myself if I wasn't unable to think clearly.

Before I can even process what I'm doing I pounce on top of him, growling and showing off proper animal fangs. He gets an opportunity to see that my nails are now akin to claws forged from lava as I drag them against his chest. He starts crying again, but I'm too deep in this state to drag myself out. The heat and pain and anger are all blending in a way I’ve never known possible and making me want nothing more than to snap this man’s neck. I just need to wrap my claws around his throat and-

“SIG!”

Hearing my actual name is enough of a shock to break me out of the stream of consciousness path of anger I’ve been following, if only for a moment. I turn to look at the voice, seeing Roxy with tears running down her face. She can’t even get out a single word, she’s crying so hard. My claws lift off of his chest long enough for him to drop the limiter and crawl away, before getting up and breaking into a sprint. I’m able to force myself onto my legs, though the act takes an embarrassing amount of effort. Eventually I manage to shamble to the kiosk in the center of the food court, my claws gripping onto the sides of the device.

At this point I become vaguely aware of the sensation of eyes on me. Why wouldn’t they be? I’d just transformed into a monster in front of an entire mall food court- the realization makes me bang my fist against the screen of the kiosk hard enough to crack the screen. People are filming me, I just know it- I can see their phones out and centered on me. The self-preservation instincts kick in once more, I need to get out of here and I need to do so now. With one last drag of my claws against the kiosk, instinct takes over and I bolt. Before I can even entirely process it, I’m running away as fast as my new draconian legs can carry me. I’m only vaguely aware of the sensations around me as I leave the building.

“Alright bud, I’m gonna need you to go get the car for me, okay?” Sam sends off one of her servants into the parking lot. With a screech the van pulls up to meet us, door swinging open as I bound inside, still trying to calm myself down. Soon enough all four of us have piled in- Edith once again in the front, the servant that brought the car up sitting shotgun, and me sandwiched between Sam and Roxy in the backseat. My brain is still firing on all cylinders, that deeper animal instinct telling me to get out of her. No, have to stay calm, we’re getting out of here now, just need to hold on a bit-

I feel something settle around my head, looking up to see Roxy placing something on my forehead. A quick reach up to my forehead to see what I’m wearing now confirms my suspicions, and allows me to breathe a sigh of relief as the fire inside me dies down.

“My…limiter?”

“The guy dropped it when he was running away from you- I know I don’t know a lot about Guilty Gear, but I know you said that headband was important to Sol. Plus, I didn’t want you to hurt yourself any more.” A grin crosses my face, chest still rising and falling rapidly from the strain of what I’d just done in there. “How about I handle the groceries when we get back? I think you should just take some time to recoup.” I look down at my hands, my nails still sharp animalistic claws.

“Yea. I could use a breather.”

***

Once we get back home, I trudge back to my room and lie down on my bed. I’m in that weird state where I’m too tired to sleep- all I can do is stare at the ceiling. I sigh, face hot- thank god it’s not the heat from earlier. I Dragon Installed- the sentence made me both excited and terrified. I barely felt like I was in control of myself, I felt like a terrified and angry animal. Honestly, I was just glad I didn’t hurt anyone…scratch that, I’m glad I didn’t kill anyone. Sol learned how to control his Dragon Install if even just a little bit- I could probably do that too with enough time.

The complete silence and lack of anything to do finally gives me a chance to actually reflect on what’s been happening the past few days. My friends and I have been turning into fictional characters. We don’t just look like them, we have their magic too. I looked at my new claws again before letting my hands fall onto my chest. Guess those were just gonna be there now, huh? How long would they even stay like that- would we find the source of these changes this month, this year, this decade? What if we never did? I roll over onto my side. I mean…I liked the idea of being Sol, but magic…it was so unpredictable. What if something went wrong? I guess I couldn’t really spend too much time thinking about that right now- there were too many loose ends and I was in no state to lose even more sleep over them.

Speaking of which, I could feel exhaustion taking over my mind and my eyes begin to lid. I stayed up for way too long last night all things considered. Roxy’s suggestion of rest seemed more and more appealing by the moment, as I bury my head under the pile of pillows and shut my eyes. Even a few minutes of rest would feel amazing…

And for those few minutes I got it, it did. Even with the dreams from before returning, my brain getting the chance to shut down was something it oh so dearly needed. Granted ideally I would’ve liked another hour or so, but with how I was woken up I didn’t really get a choice in the matter. Roxy was vigorously shaking me, saying my name over and over.

“Sol, Sol, wake up! Sol this is bad Sol!”

I swat her hands away but manage to sit up.

“Ugh, what is it?”

“No time- come on.” She grabs my hand, pulling me out of bed and dragging me to the TV room. I see Sam and Edith sitting on the couch, the TV tuned to a news channel. As soon as I enter the room she presses play on the remote, letting me see what everyone is so worked up over.

It’s me.

Footage of our trip to the mall after it turned sour is displayed on the TV, allowing me to watch myself destroying the kiosk in full detail. Jesus, I barely look like a person here. My eyes slide down the screen a bit, catching the headline emblazoned across the bottom of the screen.

“MONSTER SEEN RAMPAGING THROUGH MALL- CURRENT WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN”

It cuts back to the two reporters reviewing the footage, trying to come up with something to say about this footage that’s no doubt turned their entire lives upside down. The woman stutters, grasping for words before finally getting a sentence out.

“Well, that’s…not something you see every day, is it Ron?”

“Not at all, Sheila. It’s frankly just a miracle no one was fatally injured with that thing running around. If you or anyone you know have more details about whatever this could be, please contact us at-”

“Bad news.” Sam speaks up. “You’re…trending on Twitter.” She holds her phone out to me, allowing me to look at it. Sure enough, the trending topics on the site are “SOL BADGUY”, “GUILTY GEAR”, “THE MALL” and “WHAT IS HAPPENING”

I decide to click on my own name, seeing just what people are saying. I scroll down curiously, nerves gnawing at me.

Ok why sol Badguy breaking the thing at the mall

me after i lose at the strive tournament

where is this mall. i need to know (for reasons)

smh these cosplayers are getting so bold nowadays

is this all part of daisuke’s vision too

where brisket

THE GUILTY GEAR IS REAL AND HES NAMED FREDERICK

more like dragon inmall amirite guys

And then someone just posted the “DRAGONS HAVE INVADED DAVE AND BUSTERS” clip.

I hand Sam back her phone, biting my nails.

“Damnit, what do we even DO now?”

Sam tilts her head, an anxious smile on her face. “Hey, think of it this way- if there are others like us, there’s no way they’ll think they’re alone now.”

Chapter Text

May 14th
5:30 PM
Manhattan, NY

My foot makes forceful contact with the apartment door, strong enough to knock it open. I’m normally not this harsh when it comes to getting into the apartment, but when my hands are full with anywhere between 5-8 bags of groceries, I kinda have to make do with what I have. Plus, I am a little bit wound up with extra energy because-

“HEYYYYYYYYYYYY BIRTHDAY GIRL!” A voice across the apartment yells. A grin crosses my face, and as soon as the bags are down safe on the table and my hands are free I’m shooting finger guns at the figure on the couch on his laptop.

“HEYYYYYYYYYYYY BIRTHDAY BOY!” I laugh back, walking over and giving Kama his high-five. I was lucky enough to find two people that wanted to room with me, but to find one that had THE EXACT SAME BIRTHDAY as me? Truly the stars had aligned that day I signed the leasing. The two of us laugh, only for another voice to pipe up from a chair not too far away.

“I don’t want to stop you two from celebrating, but can you please try to keep the noise to a minimum? I’d like to get some reading done.” Percival sighed, his pitch-dark eyes staring coldly at us from behind their latest book that was so thick you could kill a man with it.

“Ehe, sorry-” Kama ruffles his light brown hair, messing it up more than I’d thought possible considering its state. “You know how me and Grace get- birthday buds n all.” Percival simply nodded, looking back down at his book. Kama turns to me once again, still excited but his voice now a bit hushed. “So, what'd you manage to scrape together for today?”

“It's in the kitchen- lemme show you.” I pull him up off the couch. Living in the same tiny apartment meant it was hard to keep surprises, but we still tried our best to get each other a little something. I made it to the table, pulling away one of the grocery bags to reveal it's contents- a tray of pink frosted cupcakes with little clover charms. Kama immediately ripped open the box, grabbing one and taking a huge bite.

“Mmmph! These are SO good. Bakery down the street?” He said with a mouthful of dough and face covered in crumbs and frosting.

“You know it!” As he eats, I pull a small rectangle covered in tissue paper (the kind you use for presents, not actual tissues) out of the bag. Kama doesn’t notice until I put it directly in front of his face, at which his eyes widen and he swallows his last bite of cupcake.

“Ta-da! Happy birthday!” I grin as he unwraps it, revealing dyed brown leather with an embossed heart on the front. “It’s a little journal! For you to carry around and write down lyrics or story ideas or whatever project comes to mind next. Heard it was a good gift for you creative types.” I chuckle, and Kama does too.

“Aw sick- thanks man! Let me give you your gift.” He rustles around in his pocket, before pulling out a small silver box. It takes me a bit to realize what it is, but once I do, I’m ecstatic. It’s an IPod! Definitely a bit dated by today’s standards, but I ain’t complaining! “Went ahead and preloaded it with some stuff I KNOW you like and some stuff I think you might like! So you can listen to stuff on the job and not get yelled at for being on your phone-” I look through the library, seeing mainly 2000s pop at a quick glance…with one or two of Kama’s Vocaloid originals or songs he’s claimed as inspo in the library as well.

I jump onto Kama in a tight hug, squeezing him enough that he gasps for air when he pushes me off.

“Alright, anything else planned?” I ask him as I giggle to myself. He tilts his head, thinking for a moment.

“Hmm…how about good ol “Get Drunk and Watch Garbage Movies” Night? Been a while since we’ve had one of those-” I cheer and pump my fist in the air in response. YES! Tonight was shaping up to be a BLAST! We couldn’t start just yet because it was too early, but the buildup made me even more excited. I even busted out an extra special something for me- a nice, rich steak I’d bought last month and had been holding onto for a special event. And what’s a more special event than my 25th birthday?

“Hey- before movie night, mind if we kill a bit of time with some video games?” I ask Kama with a mouth full of sirloin.

“Hell yea- whatcha got in mind?” I get up from the table, finishing up the last bite of steak as I put my dishes next to the sink.

“Well, I did download something onto the PS3 a bit back…haven’t had the chance to play it proper yet either…” He perks up at that, dashing into the living room to go set it up as I follow after him fast as I can. I sit on the carpet next to him as he scrolls through our communal console’s library, his eyes widening as he spots something that wasn't there last time he checked.

“Really? Guilty Gear? Never took you for that type-” He looks at me with a look of confusion- sure enough he’s booted up Guilty Gear -XRD- Revelator 2- Jesus, who names these things? I simply shrug in response.

“Hey- my dad liked playing fighting games with me. I’m not the best at em, but I like going back to em every now and then. And I must admit, I’m pretty gnarly when it comes to my button mashing skills.” I chuckle, Kama beginning to laugh too. I nab the first player control from him, replacing it with the 2P controller as I set up a match for us. Without even really thinking, I go back to the character I’d always pick all those years ago- one Sin Kiske.

“What’s his deal?” Kama looks up at the screen curiously after I’ve made my choice.

“Oh- that’s Sin! He’s son of the king and he’s part Gear so he ages super fast and is jacked despite the fact he’s like- four or five. He’s also super strong and has insane magic that he has to keep his eye covered to restrain.” He takes a moment to process everything I’ve said and make sure he wasn’t having some kind of stroke.

“Weird- how do people even follow the story of this game?” He chuckles and I shrug in response. “Alright, I should pick someone…” He scrolls around the select screen randomly before eventually settling on someone. “Ell-felt? Is that how you say it?” I nod.

“Yep! She was designed to be a living weapon who’d bring about the end of humanity, but she just wants to marry someone and be a good bride. Later on she became the vocalist for a death metal band I think- I never got the chance to play Strive, too expensive.”

“Heh- she seems fun. Definitely seems like a good time killer at least.” And with his choice confirmed, I finally pressed play and let the two of us get into the heat of a round proper. It’d been a while since I’d actually sat down with Revelator, but it was still a blast! Sure, a lot of the actual strategy I’d learned during my time playing years back had fallen out of my memory, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t have fun playing! Kama seems like he’s having a pretty good time too, even if I kept consistently beating him. Percy would even look up every now and tell us the meaning of a phrase on someone’s clothing or what a line of dialogue referenced.

Eventually we play enough rounds and pass enough time that I feel comfortable getting drunk, so we exchange the controllers for cocktails as I sit down with Kama on the couch- Percival having finally retired back to his bedroom. We each have a wine glass in hand and we've picked out the finest selection of garbage- we're starting the night with Pumaman and it's only gonna get worse from there.

The wine flows and the awful jokes keep coming- at some point the conversation drifts to I don't even know what and before I know it, we keep making ourselves lose it over this clip of the Simpsons and Homer making the weirdest, saddest, most pathetic noise we’ve ever heard. I’m laughing so hard my chest hurts, and Kama’s said multiple times he feels like he’s going to throw up. At this point, it feels like nothing could even get through this haze of alcohol and the stupidest jokes possible.

“HEY! KEEP IT DOWN IN THERE!”

Well. Anything except for that maybe.

There’s a bit of banging on the walls as a voice yells from the next room over. The two of us roll our eyes and groan, but quiet down. It's not worth starting a fight with him, especially when we're having a day that’s this good.

You see, I juggle about three different retail jobs, Percy works at the Natural History Museum, and Kama is whatever he feels like at the time- right now an actually decently popular Vocaloid producer. With our abilities combined, we are barely able to afford a kinda decent apartment in Manhattan. Unfortunately, that apartment comes with the cost of a garbage neighbor.

One Mr. Oscar Lemnos, a smug hotshot who thinks he’s all that because he got a job as a college professor in his 20s. The three of us barely even see the guy- we mostly run by him when we’re leaving for work at the same time or- the more common occurrence- he comes over to yell at us for being too loud while he’s trying to focus. He’s like if someone took all of the politeness and interesting facts from Percival’s personality and surgically replaced it with raw arrogance.

Even with as frequent as his intrusions can be, we aren’t set to let it ruin this blast of a birthday celebration- but he has reminded me it’s getting kinda late…the two of us agree on one more movie (Isis Rising: Curse of the Lady Mummy- an awful indie horror he found on Tubi) before we hit the hay. That gives us about an extra hour and a half of entertainment before we finally call it for the night, staggering off to our beds and collapsing face first on them. At least that’s how it went for me- but I wouldn’t be surprised if Kama did the same. I’m so intoxicated that as soon as my head hits the pillow, it doesn’t take long for me to drift off to sleep.

***

We…we did it!

My heart pounds in my chest from the pure rush of adrenaline. We actually just stopped that info-bubble thing and saved a HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND people! May and April run up to me, the two giggling and hugging me from both sides. I turn to Ramlethal to see how she’s doing, and she gives me an approving nod in response. So THIS is what it’s like on Illirya’s special brigade!...

“Hey. Hey kid.” I hear Baiken, and looking up I see that Delilah is still holding onto her- but now she looks…like she’s hurt? But we got her out of that bubble fine! Plus, I don’t…think Faust is in the state to really help her right now. All the while Baiken’s voice raises and she looks more and more scared. “Damnit kid, what’s wrong? Answer me!”

“T…Too loud…” Delilah’s tiny voice peeps up- it sounds like forcing out the words is a mountain of effort. Baiken looks down at her in horror, desperate to figure out what’s wrong. Did we mess something up while getting her out? Was it a delayed reaction or something?

“FAUST GET OVER HERE-” She sounds like a lion roaring to scare a hyena away from one of her cubs. “Hey, you’ll be okay, I promise. We got you out of there- we’ll keep you safe.” Delilah continues to shake, eyes clenched shut in an attempt to make everything stop. Come to think of it…there’s something in the back of my mind that’s starting to bug me.

It’s this buzzing sound- it’s faint, but now that I hear it, I can’t stop hearing it. It feels like it’s growing louder with every second, and it’s starting to make my head hurt. I put a hand to my temple, groaning. Man, did I catch whatever Delilah had this fast? Ram doesn’t seem like she’s doing much better- she’s looking down at the ground now and wincing.

Whatever it is, it seems like it’s spreading fast. Baiken is still holding tight onto Delilah, but it looks like her head’s starting to swim- and she’s trying to fight through it for her sake. April and May seem like they aren't doing too hot either. My vision starts to go blurry, and my body feels heavy…I fall to my knees, it now hard to both see and hear. I can tell Ram is trying to put on a brave face, but she looks terrified. The last thing I can see is Baiken’s hunched form, holding onto an unconscious Delilah. Her voice is quiet, the fire from before removed and replaced with concern. As everything goes white, her voice manages to creep through the haze.

“I’ll stay with you, I promise- it’ll be okay-”

And then everything stops.

***

I yawn and stretch, rubbing my eyes. I remember having a weird dream last night, but it’s one of those ones that rapidly fades before you can really get a handle on what it was about. The more pressing issue is the fact that my right eye feels…weird. It doesn’t hurt really, just…feels different. I make my way to the bathroom, getting ready for work, only to pause.

My…my eye. My left eye is still its normal blue, but my right…it’s blood red. Not like I’d been crying all night or was allergic to something, no, it was the actual iris that had changed color. The pupil looked different too…wasn't even human anymore. It was slit like a cat- it almost looked like I’d fallen asleep with some kind of edgy cosplay contact lens in. I blink a few times in order to make sure I’m really seeing this- yep, still hasn’t cleared up. I just stand there for a moment, taking it in and wondering what to do. Eventually I settle on a…decent solution. Undoing my ponytail, I brush my hair over the demon eye. There we go- not perfect and it made me look kinda emo, but it’s definitely the more preferable alternative to having whatever’s happening out in the open.

I style my hair a bit more to make sure it’ll stay put, and have another realization. Geez, upon closer inspection my hair looks a bit different too- most of it is still the same chestnut brown and it hasn’t lost any length, but my roots look a bit lighter. Hell, they almost look blonde. What is HAPPENING to me? Is this a weird prank or something? I try to brush it off- it’ll all blow over. These kinds of weird things don;t actually happen to people.

After I finish with my hair, I finally go ahead and get dressed- nothing too fancy, just jeans and a gray hoodie. Once again making sure my eye stayed covered up, I made my way out of the bathroom and headed out into the living room. Percival’s either not up yet or still in their room, but Kama is sitting at the kitchen table looking down at the table.

“Morn!” I greet him with a wave and he jumps a bit. He turns around scared, only for his face to relax once he realizes it's me.

“Oh- hey Grace. Sorry, not entirely awake yet- you startled me.” He grins, offering a disheartened wave back. Is he…feeling okay?

“Well I’m going off to work. See you at 5 like always!”

“Yea, 5.” I hear him say as I grab my bag and head out the door. I wish I could’ve stayed…he doesn’t look like he’s doing too hot. But we need the money, plus I doubt he’d want me interrogating him this early. As I ride the elevator down to the ground floor, though, a thought enters my mind.

Was his hair…going white?

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, developing the Sharingan isn’t a valid reason to ask for time off work for most employers. As long as I was still physically able and probably not infectious, I was coming into my shift. The tiny silver bell hanging above the door rang as I walked in, still trying to keep my head down. If I could just get through today I could sort things out later…

“Good mornin Grace!” Tess, one of my coworkers waves to me from behind the counter. I lazily wave back, and I can't deny I kinda feel like a huge jerk. I’m normally pretty eager to start up a conversation with the people I share my shift with, but I don’t want anyone prying, especially considering I barely know anything. I’ve only gotta get through a few hours, and then I’m home free. I take my place behind the counter, sighing hoping that no one asks too many questions.

“Hey Grace, what’s with the new look?”

Oh God.

“Morning, Dave.” I groan out. He jolts up a bit in surprise.

“Woah- you’re usually more chipper than that. What happened?”

“I caught a cold.” I lie through grit teeth. Normally I’m not this snippy with my fellow employees, but I’m REALLY not in the mood to explain exactly what’s happening. “It’s early enough that I’m not really infectious and I don’t think they’d let me call out for it.”

“Damn- that sucks.” He shrugs and finally leaves me alone. I can take a hundred customers right now- long as Dave leaves me alone. I put my head in my hands, attempting to prepare myself for the rest of the day ahead.

Considering the state I'm in, it goes mostly pretty smoothly. Coworkers either don't have much to say to me or caught how I acted with Dave and are leaving me alone, and I must've gotten lucky because all of the customers have been pretty pleasant. I'm in the middle of helping a woman find where we keep the bread, when she says something that catches me off guard.

“Oh, thank you young man!”

I must look a bit baffled, but I quickly shake it off and grin.

“No problem!”

As soon as she walks away, my face falls a little bit. I knew I wasn't the girliest girl out there, but I'd never been mistaken for a guy before- and then it hits me hard. I immediately run off to the bathroom at the back of the shop, pulling down my hood and moving back my hair. The latter is far easier than expected, as it turns out my hair has gotten shorter.

I blink in surprise, looking at myself in the mirror above the sink. My hair's lost a good few inches and the blonde covers a lot more of it- geez am I lucky no one's been paying attention to me. I also take note of the hoodie I have on. It feels a bit tighter than it did this morning- not broad enough for my shoulders, a bit too loose around my chest. Geez, it’s only been a few hours- how did I change THIS much? I sigh, putting my hood back up. It'd be better to get through my shift and panic about this when I get home than stress out now and not have an apartment to panic in.

Helping customers will be a good way to get my mind off things! I take a deep breath and put on my best customer service face as I approach a man at the ATM. He has a frustrated look on his face as he repeatedly presses one of the buttons harder and harder.

“Afternoon, sir! Seems like you're having trouble with the ATM- would you like some help?”

“Damn thing isn't giving me my money!” He snarled, slamming the side of the machine.

“Ah yea- this old thing's a bit finicky. Lemme help you out there.” I gesture for him to move out of the way, standing in front of the keypad. This was a pretty easy fix- just had to reset it, then let him re-enter his info. I start to enter the code, and-

My hand jolts back, a set of somehow black and red sparks jumping along the keypad. The machine's screen hisses and buzzes before it becomes a jumbled mess of colors, bills uncontrollably pouring out of the slot at the bottom. Before I can entirely process what's happening, the man standing besides me bends down and begins piling money into his arms.

“H-hey!” I feel myself beginning to panic, hesitating for a moment before acting on instinct and shoving him. The same black sparks from the ATM are still covering my hand, and I guess I put more force into the push than I meant to because it feels like I blink and the guy is on the floor and the lights are flickering and buzzing-

I feel like I should probably get outta here.

I turn to the man, who's on an entirely different side of the room. I wait for a moment until I can make out the heave of his chest and sigh in relief. Thank God, whatever I just did didn't kill him- it just knocked him out. My fears are eased only slightly, as there's still the issue of the rapidly failing lights. While my new abilities weren't enough to kill a man, they seemed to be strong enough to knock out the power of the building.

“What the hell?”

“Did a breaker flip or something?”

“Ugh, Jesus- what now?”

I hear customers and coworkers alike complain about the sudden blackout as I take advantage of the darkness, running to the doorway and slipping out unnoticed. I get a block or two away before I lean against a building, wiping my forehead and sighing. Now that I was in a more open space and not dealing with anything too stressful, I should be fine. Well…as fine as I can be like this, I tell myself as I continue the trek back to the apartment.

***

“Sorry I’m back early, something…happened at work.” I sigh, only to realize the apartment was…surprisingly quiet. “Huh?” I look around, putting a hand to my mouth. “EL-” I shake my head, wondering what wires I’d crossed before correcting myself. “KAMA! I’M BACK HOME! WHERE ARE YOU?” More silence. Man, where WAS he? I take a moment to look around the main room, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. After my inspection was finished I decided to check in his bedroom, knocking on the door to see if he was inside.

There was no verbal response, but I heard the faint sound of something playing and shuffling coming from inside the room. Putting my ear up to the door, the audio stopped but I could still hear the faint shuffling.

“Alright Kama, I’m coming in.”

I press on the door, a bit surprised to find it not locked as I swing it open. The room’s lights are off, but I manage to spot an opened laptop and a decent-sized blanket lump on the bed. I walk over to the bed, sitting down where I can in order to not squish the hidden figure. I go to move the blanket, but hold off. Instead, I just sigh.

“Something happening to you too?”

After a moment of silence, there’s a slight nodding motion (or what I think is meant to be nodding) from the lump. I sigh in response.

“Thought so. It’s been rough for me too…you wouldn’t believe it if I told you what happened at work today.” I awkwardly chuckle, looking back at the huddled figure under the blankets. “But…I got through! I’m still not sure how, but I made it! And I feel like you can too- especially if I’m here for you.” I offer a gentle grin, even though I’m not sure that he can actually see it. After a moment of silence, a quiet voice speaks up from under the covers.

“You promise?”

His voice sounds a bit different- softer and higher, the energy all but drained.

“Of course!”

At that, he finally lifts up the blanket, and I get to see just what’s happened to poor Kama.

My suspicions from earlier are confirmed, only the tips of his hair the brown they were at the start of the day. Instead, most of his hair is pure white- it looks a little shorter and it frames his face more too. His eyes are now a shade of teal so bright they remind me of soda or an energy drink- a stark contrast to the faded hazel they were before. He also just seemed…smaller. Sure, he was hunched over a bit, but it also seemed like he'd just…lost a good few inches from his frame. He finally fully removed the blanket, looking like he might start crying.

“I'm so scared Grace.” That was all he said. I put my hand on top of his.

“Hey, we'll fix this. I promise.” He looked the slightest bit less sad, grabbing back onto my hand. “How about we go watch or play something? Yknow, until we find out what's happening and can actually start fixing it.” He nodded, still not really having the energy for proper words. “Alright- up we go.” I pulled him off the bed, noting his frame seemed a bit curvier. I sure wasn't gonna say anything about it- he was stressed as is, and that was probably a good chunk of the reason why.

Eventually we make it to the main room where the two of us sit down on the couch. Kama loved the PS3 so much yesterday, maybe playing something on it would help him feel better? I flip on the TV and system, looking through everything available. We had a pretty decent library of games- a few racing ones, some platformers, one or two puzzle games and oddities- something here was bound to help him feel better. As I scroll through the library, Guilty Gear popped up and I think back to yesterday. Man, we had such a good time- if only today was the same as yesterday. The more I think about it though, the more the gears in my head turn. What if?...

I open the game and head to the character select screen, before putting the remote in Kama’s hands and going up to the TV.

“Kama, I have an idea. Start scrolling through the characters.”

“What?” He looks at me like I’ve lost it- maybe I have at this point.

“Just- trust me on this, okay?” He shrugs and does as asked, while I keep my eye on the screen, watching intently as he looks through all the characters. Eventually he gets to what I’m looking for and I point at the screen and yell.

“There! Stop!”

He jolts a bit, but presses a button and selects the player character as the announcer speaks.

“Sin Kiske.”

I look at the screen, then back to Kama.

“You see it, right?”

“What?”

“I look exactly like him.” Okay, even I fully admit exactly might be a bit of an exaggeration, but there’s no denying the resemblance I now bear to him. My short mostly-blonde hair fell over my face the exact way his did, and even though one of his eyes was covered by a patch, the other was that same ocean blue as one of mine.

“Grace, come on-” He sighs.

“Well? Do you have any other ideas?” I shoot back, and he goes silent. Now that my eyes are on him though…”Actually, could you get up here?” He looks confused for a moment, but decides to do so, now on the opposite side of the screen as me. I nab the remote he’d left on the couch and begin to look- one of these had to fit. After a few moments, I finally have it.

“Elphelt Valentine.”

Kama looks at the character I’ve chosen, his eyes going wide in a look of ridicule.

“You serious? Her?”

“No one else in this game has eyes that shade of blue with hair that shade of white. Plus, you look like you’ve gotten a bit shorter too…” At that a pang of hurt crosses Kama’s face.

“This is ridiculous- there's no way we're turning into characters from a video game.” He chuckles.

“Oh sure, and people randomly have their hair and eyes change color all the time.” Once again he scowls, and my face falls. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just…this is a lot, yknow?”

“Yea.” Kama sighs. “I’m tired too. I just hope Percy doesn’t find out about this-”

“Find out about what?” A third voice joins the room as the door shuts, and the two of us jerk our heads to the sounds. Sure enough, Percival is back home, hanging his coat and bag on the door and looking quite nonchalant about the whole thing. “Ah- I see you two have decided to try something new with your hair.”

“So…have you?” Kama speaks up. Sure enough, his hair’s faded too- not to the paper-white that Kama’s has, but a good chunk of it is a rich blonde- it almost matches mine, come to think of it. It actually looks like it’s grown a bit longer, too.

“Ah, yes. That.” They speak up, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m not too sure about the origin of this new look. It’s not causing me physical harm though, and I can’t deny part of me is curious about it.”

While the two of them talk, I head back to the PS3 and get back to looking through everyone in the roster. Percy eludes me for a bit, but eventually I decide on someone- Ramlethal. I mean, if Kama is Elphelt…

“Grace, what are you doing?” Percy asks me, looking at the screen curiously. His face is flat, tilting his head slightly as he stares at Ram. I think the look on his face is…something like recognition? It’s a bit hard to tell though.

“She’s convinced all this weird crap is because we’re turning into characters from her dumb fighting game.” Kama explains in less than courteous terms. Percy doesn’t look at me like I’ve lost it, but they still raise their eyebrow. “Wh-don’t tell me you believe this?!”

“Well, this isn’t something that occurs much in nature. Perhaps there is a more unlikely explanation at play.”

Kama puts his hands to his head, stammering before stretching them in front of him exasperated.

“You CAN’T be serious- people don’t turn into fictional characters! That’s not a thing that happens!”

“Well people normally don’t summon bursts of black magic either, but I SUPPOSE we’re learning that things aren’t as impossible as we figured they were!” My voice raises the further I get in the sentence as I stand up.

“GRACE, WHATEVER IS HAPPENING TO US IS NOT MAGIC AND POTENTIALLY VERY SERIOUS!”

“I’m not sure this is something we need to be fighting this harshly about-” Percy speaks up, voice still flat as ever.

“WELL I’M SORRY FOR TRYING TO PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER BECAUSE YOU THINK THEY’RE STUPID OR ILLOGICAL!”

“OH MY GOD WILL YOU PEOPLE SHUT UP OVER THERE?”

We’re jolted out of the heat of the argument by Oscar’s voice- gonna admit, he has some pretty impressive lungs to be able to scream that loud. In the silence we’re able to hear a door slam, footsteps, and an incredibly aggressive knock on our door. The three of us exchange glances (though it’s mainly me and Kama, in all honesty). Percy breaks away from the group, opening the door- I deeply appreciate their sacrifice and willingness to take the brunt of the rage. After a few minutes things quiet down a bit, and we nervously walk over to the doorway.

“Sorry about that Mr. Lemnos-” I begin to apologize, only for our eyes to widen.

“I SWEAR it is ALWAYS something with you SIMPLETONS. I simply just want to enjoy a nice day to myself, maybe get through a bit of my back catalog of books, but NO, you just HAVE to start SCREAMING over SOMETHING. How long have I lived next to this incessant chaos? Months? I think it’s almost been a year actually- you think you’d know BETTER by now!”

His words themselves aren't what get us to pause, though they do sting a bit. Rather, it’s a collection of things. Mainly the fact it seems like he’s lost five or so inches, I can barely make out some form of black tattoo around his elbows from under his shirt sleeves…and the fact his roots are now a lilac that contrasts VERY strongly with his blonde hair.

“Again, I’m so terribly sorry.” I say, trying to force a grin. “But while you’re here, would you like to come in for tea or some food? I’d…like to talk about a few things with you, come to think of it.”

Chapter Text

Percival pours me a cup of tea, Oscar staring me down as his own cup is poured. I grin the best I can, picking up my cup and taking a sip.

“So…how've you been?” He rolls his eyes, groaning. “Sorry about that- we didn’t mean to get so loud. It was…game night. You know how game night gets.” I awkwardly chuckle, before just looking down and sighing. “Okay, I should be honest. Something…weird’s been happening to me and my friends, and we think it’s happening to you too.” I looked at him awaiting a response- honestly, I’d be lucky if he looked at me like I was crazy. Instead, his eyes widened in consideration.

“Ah…you have been experiencing these strange occurrences too? Honestly that’s a bit of a relief- I assumed I was losing my mind somewhat, this building has a history of safety faults, I was worrying there might have been some kind of carbon monoxide leak in my room or something similar-” He chuckled, waving his hand as he picked up his teacup.

“You…just assumed there was a gas leak in the building?” Kama pipes up. Oscar shrugs in response.

“I’m not a fool, I was going to call maintenance about the issue soon- you simply ended up getting to me before I had the opportunity to.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Kama glances at me and raises an eyebrow, and I mirror the gesture. “Still, it’s a relief to know I’m not losing my mind, even if this occurrence does raise multiple other questions.”

“Yea, that’s what we’re trying to figure out. I think I’ve found out a few things though. Mainly I…think we’re getting some kind of…superpowers?” I shrug as the word leaves my mouth, wishing I had a better word for it. “I mean, I'm pretty sure I electrocuted a guy at work earlier-”

“You what?” Kama looks at me in what I can describe best as abject terror, and my hands go up as I start to defend myself.

“I didn't MEAN to! He was taking money from the ATM and I panicked!”

“Like THAT makes it better!” He throws his hands to the side in a broad gesture, getting a bit of tea on the floor.

“Could you please calm down? I just mopped the floor.” Percy speaks up for the first time in a good few minutes, sighing as he sips his tea. Kama looks at him before setting his cup down on the table with intent.

“Did….I hear you say superpowers?” Oscar asks- I didn't expect him to be polite enough to wait for our little argument to finish. “I mean, I know we're in unknown territory regarding human biology, but you CANNOT expect me to believe you've actually developed superpowers of any sort!”

I pick up a fork from the table’s set dressings and hold it up, trying to channel the energy I’d felt at the bodega earlier. Come on- what was it I’d felt back then? Panic, stress, worrying about getting fired…oh God, if I couldn’t sort this out I probably WOULD be fired! I feel my heart begin to race in my chest again, small volts dancing up the handle of the fork before resting at the prongs, jumping in arcs of light.

“Hm. Impressive little parlor trick.” He says, snapping me out of the haze of dread. The electricity on the fork dies down, him watching it intently. “But since I don’t have any electrokinetic powers or anything of the sort, I must admit I wonder why you’re the only one who’s developed these kinds of abilities.”

“Well, I do have…” Don’t mention the fact you’re pretty sure you’re turning into fictional characters, he’ll look at you like you’re insane. “Some things though. Mainly I’m looking at what we’d all have in common.” I put my hand to my chin and start to think harder. “Let’s see…we all live in the same building, but I don’t think anyone else is changing. Me and Kama share the same birthday-”

“Eeeh-” Kama pipes up, looking a bit embarrassed. “Actually, me, you and mmrmrmr share the same birthday.” He mutters, trailing off near the end.

“Huh?” I couldn't make out the last name he mentioned, and it seemed like he knew.

He puts his fingers together, looking away from me before repeating himself much clearer than before. “You, me, and…Percival share a birthday.” My eyes widen and my jaw drops.

“Kama, why didn’t you TELL me? I would’ve LOVED to do something for all three of us! Or at least pick them up a little something! I know it’s a couple days late, but would you like me to like, get you a tin of cupcakes or something?” I turn to Percy, who merely shrugs.

“I’m simply not one for birthday celebrations. I don’t see why everyone needs to make such a fuss about it.” They pick up a cookie from the table, and take a bite. A horrible-sounding CRUNCH sounds out, even Oscar looking a bit concerned. Percival silently removes the cookie from their mouth with wide eyes, looking down at two of their teeth embedded in the baked good. Blood trickles from their mouth like a faucet that hadn’t been entirely shut off, opening wide to reveal that instead of two holes, they now had sharpened canines that almost resembled a cat’s or vampire’s fangs. “...we probably should start looking into this at a slightly faster rate.”

People are losing teeth, now's not the time to worry if I sound stupid or not. I take a deep breath before speaking.

“Alright, I DO have a potential lead, but it's…out there.”

“And the lightning powers weren't?”

“Okay, fine- just, come to the TV room okay?” I get up and push my chair in, switching on the PS3. Soon everyone is crowded around the couch, either on it or sitting in front of it. XRD was still the first option on the menu from our little tiff earlier, and Kama sighed realizing what I was getting at.

“Grace, not again-”

I ignore her, starting up a match and continuing into the character select screen. Like before, I pick Sin and Elphelt, showing them off to the crowd.

“I’m…pretty sure we’re turning into Guilty Gear characters for reasons that are currently beyond me.” Kama, Percy, and Oscar look at me incredulously, curiously, and like they're about to start laughing at me respectively. “Well you two have PHDs, if you have a better idea lay it on me.” I look back at the character select screen. “But if I'm right…who the hell are you two?” I press on the joystick, going through the roster until someone caught my eye.

“Ramlethal Valentine.”

The console announces as I turn to Percy. Of course- the bleached parts of their hair are that exact blonde color, and she has those fangs- and Kama is Elphelt! They seem to understand, looking a bit contemplatively at the screen.

"Ah...so this is "me" then? Curious."

I then look to Oscar, who?- God, it seems so obvious now! How did I look at that shade of purple in his hair and think it was anyone else? I make the selection, and his eyes widen- looking at the screen absolutely baffled.

“Bedman.”

“Bedman? Really? What kind of series would name a character something as ridiculous as that- honestly this whole game seems like it’s absolute nonsense, why would you think it relates to our situation in ANY way?”

“Again, you two have the PHDs. If you two come up with a better idea, you can tell me at your earliest convenience.” I immediately regretted saying that, but I was too busy moving onto the next part of my plan- that being opening up YouTube. “Look, if we ARE turning into fictional characters…you three barely know anything about Guilty Gear if at ALL, and I could honestly use a bit of a refresher. How about we have an impromptu movie night?” Before anyone could object, I’d gone ahead and started playing a playlist of all the story mode cutscenes from Sign.

As much as I was watching the story, I was also watching the faces of everyone around me. Percy watches intently, but their attention focuses even more whenever Ramlethal is mentioned or on screen. Kama looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, and I can occasionally hear him mutter “why is her hair pink?” under his breath. Oscar, meanwhile, looked away for the most part and only paid attention whenever Bedman showed up.

The first chapter went by without not a lot of commentary from the peanut gallery…there was one bit that got me thinking though. It’s a flashback scene with Sol and Aria talking about dreams and the like- Aria says something about turning into a bird so she could fly, Sol teases her about it by asking if she’d be a cockroach, and it turns into a discussion about identity and perception. It was overall pretty cute honestly, but there was one line that…clung to my brain for some reason. It was something Sol said: “Transforming into something else entirely isn't that much different than death. This whole world could be one big lie.”

Even as we kept moving into other chapters, that one stuck with me. Other than that phrase though, the rest of the chapters went by pretty similarly to the first one. We did make the decision to skim over the scenes that were just Sol and Ky- or other ones that didn’t have any of “us” in them. Mainly we idly chat amongst ourselves, except for a moment with Percy and Kama getting quiet during Elphelt’s sacrifice. Soon enough we’d made it to Revelator, the crowd getting a bit more rowdy now that we knew most of the story. We’d end up chatting over most of the Robo-Ky and Venom stuff, but during their last chapter Oscar was…quiet. Almost...contemplative. Weird, considering he’s been by far the most talkative out of all of us.

“Oscar? You good?”

“Oh- yes. It’s just…odd. You see, the events of this chapter in particular pan out incredibly similarly to a set of recurring dreams I’ve had ever since I was young.”

All three of us turn to look at him in the darkness of the room- (geez, more time had passed than I thought-).

“Reoccurring dreams?” I ask.

“Yes- you see ever since a particularly rough head injury when I was in my early teens, I've had these odd recurring dreams where I'm a young boy in a world of magic attempting to create a world where he and his sister can be happy.” He pauses, looking back at the screen, now showing a cutscene focused on Ariels. “In fact, I…feel like I've seen her face in those dreams too…”

“Oh my God.” I laugh a bit. “Th-this is another thing! I was gonna mention it earlier but I got caught up in Percy sharing a birthday with us too- I had a REALLY weird dream the night all of this started! I was on a train, I'd just saved some girl from some weird magic disaster, and…” My face scrunches as I struggle to remember. “Then there was this buzzing…and everything started going white…” Kama nearly vaults himself over the end of the couch at the last sentence.

“I HAD A DREAM LIKE THAT TOO! I mean, I wasn't on a train, I was preparing for some kind of concert- but the buzzing! The buzzing and everything going white!” Percy looks up at us, half-amber eyes wide.

“I…had a dream on the train too. I didn't think much of it but now that I know we had the same one…”

“Well, the reminiscing on dreams has been nice-” Oscar stands up, stretching. “BUT I have a job to do in the morning, and I must get going, I’ve spent too much time watching video game cutscenes of all things with you people-” He stopped mid-sentence as he looked out the window. The sky was pitch dark- well, as dark as you can get in New York. Point is, it was late. Way more time had gotten away from us than we expected… but then again, even with us skipping around a good chunk of scenes, this was still a multi-hour endeavor.

“Oh…whoops. We kept you for…way longer than I intended.” I awkwardly apologized. “I don’t wanna keep you any longer-”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He cut me off, raising a hand. “Actually, would you all mind if I stayed here for the night? I DO have to get to bed at a reasonable time, and even though we’re right next to each other I don’t want to waste any more time than I absolutely must getting to bed.” I look at Kama and Percy stunned, the two of them shrugging.

“Sure! I- actually think I have an air mattress in my room, you can use that! Let me go ahead and get it set up.” I head into my room and open up my disaster of a closet, eventually finding it at the bottom. Couldn’t find the pump though…oh well, sometimes you have to rough it. I put my mouth to the nozzle and start to blow, managing to get a decent amount of air into it before a voice interrupts me.

“Your birthday was a few days back, yes?”

I turn to see Oscar, sitting on my bed and watching me blow up his mattress. I simply nod, continuing to blow up the mattress before he says something that completely derails my train of thought.

“If I may hazard a guess, was it May 14th?”

My jaw goes slack and the nozzle falls out, releasing air before I remember to put my thumb over it.

“Uuuh…yea. How did you-”

“Because as hard to believe as it may sound, that was also my birthday. And your mention of all these coincidences got me thinking- what if there’s something a bit bigger at play here?”

“Something…bigger?”

“Yes, well as I mentioned I was experiencing these dreams since I was a young child, while you three have seemingly just begun to receive them. And all of our birthdays fall on the exact same date- if I’m to make another assumption, the same year too. Did you know I just turned 25 a few days back?”

I’m too occupied with the nozzle to say anything, but his words marinate in my brain. I finally blow one last gust of air in, before shutting the nozzle, sighing and gasping for breath.

“What…do you think it means?”

“Oh heavens, I have no idea.” He chuckles as he hops off the bed, walking towards me and waiting for me to set the mattress down so he can get on. “Like I said, these are all coincidences, tangentially related threads as of now. And while I believe there might be more to this than random chance…the specifics escape me for now.” He goes through my dressers, nabbing a nightgown to toss on. “Pardon me, but might I borrow one of your blankets for the night?”

“Oh- yea, sure.” I hand a purple fleece blanket to him, turning off the lights while I’m up. “G’Night.” I say as I tuck myself in, eyes wide open as I stare at the wall. I try and get myself to shut my eyes or think of anything else, but Oscar’s idea that there’s more to this than we know won’t stop swimming around my skull.

Ugh. What a thing to fall asleep to.

Chapter Text

I don’t have any weird dreams this time- or if I do, I at least don’t remember them as well as everything with the train. Instead I awaken to an empty room, tossing off my blankets and rubbing my eyes. Changing out of the hoodie I’d worn all day yesterday, I instead opt to put on an old tank top I mainly slept in, staring in the mirror on my desk to see how I looked.

I run my fingers through my hair, noting how short it is now. It’s entirely blonde too- no traces of the oak brown I’d been familiar with for my entire life. My eyes were a similar shift- I’d gotten a bit more used to the blue, but the one that my bang covered…looking at it honestly scared me a bit. I sighed, not wanting to see it but also enjoying the idea of having my hair out of my face. What did I do?...oh!

That train of thought got the gears in my head turning, and I remembered something I might still have in my dresser. Just gotta remember what dresser it’s in…YES! I grin to myself, pulling out a small box of medical eyepatches. Not necessarily GLAD I remembered that time I fell out of bed and gave myself an insane shiner, BUT Kama can’t call me a dummy for keeping these around “just in case”! Threading the strings around my head, I make sure the patch is in place before pulling my hair out of my face. Vision is still blocked, but at least I don’t have to deal with strands of hair in my eye- that had been driving me insane in all honesty.

Now that I'm presentable, I should get myself some breakfast. I don't know why, but I woke up STARVING! I walk into the main room, wondering what I should get myself. Toast? Bowl of cereal? Oooh, bacon sounded REALLY good all of a sudden-

My train of thought is interrupted by the realization that the room smells of coffee. It's not a bad smell, but it's one I'm not used to at this time of day- Percy gets up a bit before I do, yea, but he's usually long gone by the time I'm up so I never smell him making it. And Kama works from home, but he HATES coffee unless it's full of sugar and creme. This smells like straight black coffee. Who-?

“Good morning.” Oscar greets me, lounging at the kitchen table and sipping a freshly-brewed mug of coffee. Oh yea- he stayed here last night. Honestly with how much he complains about us, I assumed he'd be out of here as soon as possible.

“Hey! Didn't think you'd still be here- you kept talking about your classes last night.” He grimaces as soon as the mention of his classes leaves my mouth.

“Ugh, those. Believe me, I was very much intent on continuing my lectures today. However, due to a series of unfortunate events, I was unable to fulfill my duties as a professor.” I raised an eyebrow, leaning on the table.

“Tell me more.” He sighed, taking a long swig from his cup.

“Well, I was trying to get into my car, but one of the valet assistants stopped me for no good reason. Acted like I was trying to steal my own car- and when I showed him my ID, he looked at me like I was the stupidest person on this planet. Granted I'm not sure I would have believed me a day or two before, but still- he got onto me for “trying to use a fake ID while underage”, can you believe it?”

I'll give Oscar one thing- he's gotten better at telling stories after all this. As he talks I lean down on the table in front of him, listening in curiously.

“I tried to prove myself to him, I even offered to take a DNA test! But he just wasn’t having it and so he shooed me back into the building. And now I’m here.” He finishes off the last of his cup, slamming it back down onto the table.

“Sooooo….what’re you gonna do now?” I tilt my head curiously, and Oscar looks at me with a grimace across his face.

“I suppose I'm stuck here for the foreseeable future- in all honesty I'm just thankful enough I had the foresight to put my lesson plans online in case something came up.” At the mention of online classes, a spark goes off in my head.

“Oh! Are you one of those professors who does the meetings over Zoom or whatever?”

“I very much prefer to be in person when teaching, but yes, occasionally I have made use of those services.”

“Well, Kama has a laptop he uses for his music and stuff- I'm gonna go ask if I can borrow it!” And with that, I run out of the kitchen and into Kama’s room.

It looks pretty much the same as yesterday- the lights are dimmed, with only a single lamp near his bed lighting up the area right next to it. Kama’s back to his blanket pile, and I can make out muffled music and lights coming from underneath it. I walk over and poke the blanket, trying to avoid touching him.

“Hey El- Romeo said he has class today but can't get there because of stuff with the parking garage- would you mind if he borrowed your laptop to teach online?”

No response. I wait a few more seconds, before poking again.

“El?”

At that he lifts up a corner of the blanket, barely enough for me to see him. And wow, he does not look good. The dark circles around his eyes tell me he didn't get any sleep last night, and combined with how his hair is mostly white now and the baggy sweatshirt he has on, he looks even more tired than Oscar does. With the blanket lifted, the sound from his laptop can flow freely and I recognize it- TV Girl. Kama’s trademark “Don’t Bother Me I’m Having A Bad Day” music.

“Oh geez- sorry about that, I’ll-”

“No, it's fine.’ His voice sounds flat despite how much the pitch of it has raised. “Wasn't doin anything important anyways.” He peels the blanket off a bit more, shutting his laptop and handing it to me.

“Oh- thanks! Hey, why don't you come with- you look like you haven't had breakfast yet. That'll help a bit!” He sits silent for a moment, and I watch his turquoise eyes look around as he weighs the pros and cons of getting up. Eventually he decides he's hungry enough to risk it, keeping the blanket swaddled around him as he stands up. I grin at the bit of progress, holding the door open for him. “Make sure the blanket doesn't get caught on anything-” I remind him as he walks into the kitchen with me right behind him.

“Here you go!”

I drop the laptop onto the table, right in front of Oscar as he’s enjoying his breakfast. He looks at me wide-eyed, opening it and getting a feel for just what he’d be stuck with today.

“Hmm…yes, this should be able to handle the software I use to run my classes. I appreciate the gesture- now if you wouldn’t mind letting me be for an hour or so?” I nod and give him a thumbs up, poking Kama.

“C’mon, let’s go hang and watch something!”

He responds with a grunt, getting up and absorbing his bowl of cereal into the huddled blanket mass as he makes his way to the couch. As I watch him walk to the couch, my brow furrows and I frown a bit, turning on the TV regardless. I thought maybe he was just a bit tired or hungry and those would help…but poor Kama seemed just as sad as ever.

“Do you…want anything?” I poke his shoulder, a moment of dead air between us. He opens his mouth to speak, but pauses as tears well up in the corners of his eyes.

“Yknow-” He pauses. “It’s kinda funny. I remember being really little, and one day a cousin of mine comes over- she’d just turned 15, 16 I think? And I remember hating her- she was so nasty about everything and would go from snapping at me to crying on a dime, and I never understood why. Mom told me that it was a girl thing and that it was rough when they got that old- it couldn’t be that bad, surely she was overblowing it.” He sucks in air through his teeth, the noise coming out a mix of a laugh and a sob. “I guess she wasn’t, huh?”

Oh God- I feel like a moron as soon as he says everything. Everything probably hurts like hell right now, and his emotions were already out of whack- the revelation from last night and whatever chemicals are pumping through his blood can’t be helping. And I’d just been brushing it aside because it hadn’t been bothering me? (which was probably something I needed to look into myself all things considered but there were more important matters at hand).

“I’m going to my room- I’ll be right back.” He just looks down at the floor as I get up, and I am once again incredibly thankful I never throw anything away as I dash back to my room. God, where WAS it? I knew it was in the closet somewhere- THERE we go! I fold up the scrap of fabric and tuck it under my arm, heading back to Kama’s side with a huge grin on my face. “So, it's not perfect, but I think I might have something for you.”

He looks up curiously, and I show off the prize I've managed to salvage from my bedroom. “It's an old binder! I bought it a few years back for a Link Halloween costume and just…never got rid of it.” I shrug as I explain. “You look like it'd be able to fit you- and don't worry, I always put it in with my laundry, but if you want I can go give it a wash-”

My train of thought is forcibly derailed as Kama yanks it from my hands, looking over it with a light in his eyes I haven't seen for the past few days. “I…also have some advil in my nightstand if you think it'd help with the pain?”

“Th-this is fine. Thanks, Sin.” A moment or two pass, before a look of confusion crosses his face. “Huh- sorry, didn't mean to say that. Dunno why I called you that Sin-” He pauses again. “...okay, this is getting weird.”

“Wait…you're not doing that on purpose?” Come to think of it…something similar was happening to me too, wasn't it? I think a bit, before deciding to test something by just saying Kama’s name. “Elphelt-” Bingo. “Okay…so I guess we can't say each other's names anymore- our real names, I mean.” At that revelation he cups his face and rolls his eyes.

“Because we can't have ANYTHING be easy I guess-”

Oscar forcibly clears his throat, causing us to both turn to face him with looks of embarrassment.

“Sorry Romeo, I didn’t realize how loud we were getting-” As the word leaves my mouth, I realize this little predicament isn’t restricted to the two of us. Against my better judgement, I find a smirk crossing my face. “Hehe- lucky we don’t have to call you Bedman-” He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

“You know, I must admit I’ve been morbidly curious about the character whose likeness I’m taking on- after all it’s not every day you run across a series that decides that “Bedman” is a suitable name for a seemingly major character.” He shuts his laptop- allowing me to catch a glimpse of the black tattoos forming around his elbows- and comes over to sit on the ottoman. I take a deep breath- ho boy, where did I begin?

“Okay, so-” I raise my hands as I begin talking. “Bedman is this guy who shows up in the XRD games- they’re this duology that came out back in 2012 or so. He’s this super powerful psychic who’s connected to this place called The Backyard.” I draw a little dome with my hands like that illustrates anything. “It’s where all magic comes from, so he’s super powerful and he’s got a ton of knowledge constantly flowing into his brain. BUT-” I raise a finger. “The catch is that he’s SO smart that if he ever wakes up, his brain would basically overheat and he’d die, so he has to stay asleep at all times and use his psychic powers and the bed-robot he’s in to do everything.”

Oscar leans in curiously- I guess I’m a better storyteller than I thought.

“So through the game he’s causing a bunch of problems for the main cast and working under the big bad Ariels- but it turns out that he’s doing all this because he was trying to create this perfect world for him and his sister, who’s got the same condition he has but she’s not strong enough to use her psychic powers the way he does so she’s basically been asleep her whole life.” I take a breath because, let’s face it I’ve been rambling for a while, only for him to speak up.

“And he realizes Ariels was lying to him and he can’t bring back the people he’s hurt.”

My eyes widen, and my hand lowers.

“Y…yea. Exactly that.”

“Then the assassin and the robot kill him by making him wake up.”

“How did you?...” And then it hits me. His dreams. He mentioned them last night and I didn’t think too much about it but…they did sound like he was talking about Bedman’s story. I don’t know why I brushed it off before but that probably meant- well I didn’t know specifics but it probably meant SOMETHING. I start rubbing my temples, trying to get the gears in my head to spark and start turning. Kama notices this, his eyebrow raising in confusion.

“So…what the hell is happening now?”

“I think…Romeo knows more than we do about whatever’s happening…but I don’t know how or why.”

Kama pauses, finger to his chin as he thinks- and then his eyes light up.

“Have you ever seen Avatar? The cartoon- not the movies with the blue guys.”

Both me and Oscar look at him in confusion.

“Okay like- in the last episode Aang is fighting the Fire Lord and he gets thrown against a rock- but like it happens in such a specific way that it like, unlocks all his chakras and sends him into God Mode pretty much.” I think I know where this is going, but I’m not sure how I feel about it. He turns to Oscar. “You said you’ve had these dreams ever since an accident as a kid right?”

He nods in response. “Yes- there was an…incident in my young adulthood where I took a particularly nasty tumble down a flight of steps and needed stitches. Ever since then, I’ve had one of those dreams from “the other world”...once, twice a month?” He shrugs on the last part. “I always just assumed my brain was processing the trauma through some particularly odd symbolism.”

“El, come ON- you CANNOT be saying that he knows everything about whatever’s happening to us because he got hit on the head!”

“Actually-” Oscar pipes up. “Head injuries have been known to do interesting things to the human brain- there are many reports of people who were concussed suddenly developing accents or speaking languages they couldn’t before. This is on a far more fantastical scale, but based on what we know about the brain…”

“Well…it is better than nothing.” I sigh. I should've fallen out of more trees as a child- maybe I’d be the one with the prophetic dreams that could solve this whole thing.

“Okay, we’ve established that these dreams mean SOMETHING, but WHAT?” Kama asks. “I mean, they could be connected to whatever’s happening in like, a THOUSAND different ways!” At that Oscar sits back down, flipping open the laptop he’s now holding.

“That means we’ve got a thousand potential routes to explore- so we’re probably going to want to start as soon as possible.” Kama sighs, but seems resigned to his fate. I raise my hand as I get up from the couch.

“I’m gonna go get us some scratch paper.”

***

The door clicks open, Percy setting their bag on the table.

“What…are you three doing?” He asks, more curious and bewildered than upset.

“Oh-” I look up from the papers covering the floor, waving. “Hi Ram! We found out Romeo’s weird dreams might help us figure out what’s been happening, so we’re looking at all the possibilities! Oh yea, also we can't say each other’s names now- that’s a whole thing.” I tap a pencil to our conspiracy web- “Right now our main theories are “Alternate timelines converging”, “Magic leaking into our world”, “The Matrix is Real and The AI Likes ArcSys”, and “Aliens.”

“Aliens?” He raises an eyebrow, coming over to sit next to me.

“Yea, aliens. They seem to be the cause of most problems in these kinds of things.” In the midst of my explanation, it’s only now occurred to me that Percy just came home. From being outside. At work. “You still have your job?” He nods, attention more on the paper in front of him than anything else.

“Of course. The museum has tons of people doing busy work, no one questions a new face. Plus, one of us has to be making money so we can pay for the apartment.” My mind flashes back to the bodega incident and I cringe.

“Well that’s good at least- hadn’t even thought about what happened if we became homeless in the middle of all this.” I sigh. “Plus, you’re pretty smart- maybe you can help us put some of the pieces together.” He grins at the compliment, picking up one of the many scattered sheets and narrowing their eyes as he read it.

“What's the…Backyard?”

“Oh- right, you weren't here for that. It's this alternate dimension in Guilty Gear- the source of all magic. Bedman’s connected to it and it gives him his knowledge and psychic powers.” He holds that contemplative look on his face for a moment before speaking again.

“This “Bedman” character- you said something about him needing to be asleep all the time due to his connection to the Backyard, correct?” I nod. “Well…are there any situations where he could be awake without it killing him?”

“Kinda- in Strive his sister Delilah shows up, and she’s got the same connection to the Backyard he does. But her connection’s been severed, so she's awake but her powers are really restricted.” I sit on the sentence for a moment, and then my eyes widen. My head jolts over to Oscar, who seems to be lost in his own world. “Wait.” I guess I say it louder than I mean to, because I get both his and Kama’s attention. “Are you-” Percy just gives me a Mona Lisa-style smirk, the only thing I can make out from it being a hint of pride.

“What? Did you figure something out? Finally- this whole escapade has taken a lot longer than I hoped it would-” The last bit of Oscar’s sentence trails off into a yawn as he rubs his eyes. That just adds more fuel to my fire- and I begin fumbling as I struggle to explain my thought process to everyone else.

“Okay- so- Backyard- Romeo- dreams-”

“Dude, spit it out.” Kama groans, and it all comes out in a shout.

“ROMEO’S STILL CONNECTED TO THE BACKYARD.”

Silence falls over the room. Everyone looks at each other, confused as we try to put together just what this means- in general and for our situation. Eventually, Oscar is the one who says what’s on everyone’s minds.

“So? What relevance does that hold for us?”

“It means that you-” I lean forwards a bit, pointing a finger directly in his face. “Are currently our closest link and best hope at figuring out what is happening to us and why.” I put my hand down, sitting back up straight. “Hope you like bunking with me- because I get the feeling you’re gonna be staying here for a while.”

Chapter Text

Oscar groans, pushing his glasses up again. “Remind me exactly what we're trying to do here?”

“Well,” I put a hand to my chin in contemplation. “you're still kinda connected to the backyard, so I think if we prod at your brain enough, we might be able to figure out what's happening!”

“Alright, I suppose that makes enough sense.” He relents, before pointing a bit behind me.” Though I must ask- is the music really necessary?” Kama, who's been pressing buttons on his laptop to set something up, raises his head to glare at Oscar.

“What, do you have some kind of problem with Lofi hip hop mix- Beats to Relax/Study to?”

“No, it’s fine, I guess I just- expected something a bit more…classical?” He shrugged.

“It’s his thinking music- he thought maybe it’d work here and help get the ideas flowing.”

Kama speaks up once again. “Plus, you should be grateful it’s not something stupid like “One Hour of Silence interrupted by Jack Black saying Chicken Jockey.””

“That just feels like it’d be more distracting than anything else.” OK, conversation was getting WAY off track, I had to fix this-

“Alright- point is, we’re gonna be spitballing ideas! I know there’s like 50 billion branches of psychology, so what should we start with?”

“Hypnotherapy seems to always work in situations like this.” Someone from behind me answers, and I jolt, whipping my head around- oh, it’s just Percy. They’d been so quiet I forgot they were here.

“Actually…yea, that’s not too bad an idea!” I snap my fingers. “Don’t people use it to like…remember their past lives or whatever? I mean this is a way different situation, but maybe it’ll work kinda similar on principle or something?” Percy just continues to stare at me, Kama shrugs, and Oscar rolls his eyes. “Well we’ve got a ton of other options if this doesn’t work, so I don’t see the harm.”

“Plus, hypnosis is recognized as a proven phenomenon, even if its use within the psychiatric field is a bit questionable.” I can’t tell if they’re trying to help us or make things harder, so I assume the former. I turn back to Oscar, who’s looking at me with barely masked contempt.

“Look, worst case scenario is this doesn’t work and we waste like a couple hours max. Best case scenario, this actually gets us somewhere. I think that’s a fair trade off and at least worth a shot, don’t you? Plus, you’ll get to make up for some of that sleep we cut into a few days back by being super loud.” That last sentence makes his eyes widen a bit.

“All this bizarreness HAS left me quite exhausted, and truth be told I suppose it would be quite foolish of me to pass up a chance to rest after everything that you’ve been putting me through…alright, I’ll go along with your scheme, but know that I reserve the right to leave at any time.”

A few minutes later and I was sitting next to Kama on the couch, with Oscar on the floor in front of us. Percy is nowhere to be seen- having decided to call it for the night and just get an update on whatever we find in the morning. Kama holds up a necklace- a simple silver chain with a pink crystal hanging from it. He'd never really liked it, but always kept it around because it was a gift from an aunt and he felt bad about throwing it away- at least it was finally getting some use, I think to myself. He grabs the crystal and pulls it back, letting it go so it can swing freely.

“Okay, how do they do this-” He muttered under his breath before turning to Oscar and speaking to him. “Alright, I want you to block out everything else. Just focus on the sound of my voice, and the swinging of the crystal…” Without thinking, my eye starts following the crystal as well, looking more at it than Oscar. I can see him take in a deep breath and relax, eyes fluttering as he holds them half open. However, as time passes his expression changes more and more to one of frustration. After I wanna say 20 minutes, maybe a half hour, he sits up straight and groans in frustration.

“This is getting us absolutely nowhere! All it’s doing is making me more exhausted, and I don’t feel like I’m on the verge of some kind of breakthrough at all! In fact, I feel like actually just laying down and letting me sleep would be more conducive to our experiments than messing around with pseudoscience!”

Kama puts down the pendant and sighs. “Yea, you’re right. I don’t know why I thought this would work.”

“Hey, cmon! There’s a lotta different things like hypnosis- just because one doesn’t work doesn’t mean none of em will!” I throw my hands up in the air before taking Kama’s laptop away from him. “Look, maybe we were using the wrong kind of hypnosis or something- maybe he’ll respond better to like, binaural beats or something.” I hastily type “kinds of hypnosis” into Google, scrolling through the results and muttering to myself if I think they'd work or not. After a bit I switch over to YouTube to see what comes up, only for Kama to point at the screen.

“What the hell is that?”

His finger is aiming directly at a video that…seems to be about hypnosis stuff related to My Little Pony. My eyebrows instinctively raise as I hover over the thumbnail- it’s only a half hour…before I know it, I’ve clicked on it and Kama is eagerly sitting beside me. Oscar pulls himself onto the couch, scowling.

“I thought we were supposed to be looking into other potential methods of hypnosis?”

“Is that not what we’re doing right now? This is simply another form of research- any lead is a good lead.” I respond as flatly as I can, doing my best to keep up a serious face. I wasn’t entirely lying, but I can’t deny I did want to see just what this was even about. He looks at me like he’s about to start arguing, but decides it isn’t worth it and turns his attention to the monitor. About halfway through, Kama pipes up.

“Yknow, maybe this is what happened to us.” He says, sounding like he's not even sure if he’s joking or not. “Maybe we all just put on these kinds of tapes but for Guilty Gear characters and used them so much we started hallucinating all this. It’s like when one person goes crazy and other people get swept up in it- what’s the term?” He snaps his fingers together, attempting to jog his memory. “It’s the name of that one Fall Out Boy album-”

“Do you mean folie a deux by any chance?” Oscar says, Kama snapping his fingers one last time in response.

“Yea - that’s the one!” He chuckles. “Never took you for someone who listens to punky stuff like that.”

“I don’t, I just happen to have a psychology degree.”

“I thought about that, I’m gonna be honest.” I sigh, barely even paying attention to the video. “I mean, it’d certainly make things a whole lot easier for all of us. But…I mean, I like Guilty Gear sure, but I hadn’t even really thought about it recently until I got the PS3 hooked up- wanting to become a character from it certainly wasn’t on my mind. And I know El and Ram barely knew anything about it before all this…” My eyes shift to Oscar. “Judging what I know about you, I’m gonna assume the same is true. Plus, I don’t think I’d hallucinate blasting someone with magic THAT vividly.”

“Yea, but that means the other option is this is all really happening.” Kama slumps down a bit. “And I’m still not really ready for that to be the answer to everything.” The air goes still, and I shut the laptop as I try to figure out just what to say.

“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, okay?” He looks up at me with wide eyes as I grab his shoulder and pull him closer. “I’m still pretty scared too. Honestly, I’d be more surprised if you weren’t.” I weakly chuckle. “We’re gonna find out what’s going on, I promise- and until then, or if we don’t, we can at least be scared together. That sound good?” He looks up at me and nods, and God he looks exhausted. “How about we call it a night?”

“I don’t even know why we were trying to do this on barely any sleep- it’s a well proven fact that lack of sleep hinders your ability to think severely. Honestly, Ramlethal had the right idea going to bed when it did-” Oscar begins monolouging. “I know for sure it’s been dragging my emotions all over the place. If I’m forcing myself to be honest though…I do appreciate the fact that I’m not going through all this insanity alone.” The look on his face subtly softens, and I shoot him an overly-wide grin back - an idea immediately coming to mind that makes my face light up.

“Hey! Since we’re all out here, how about we just sleep in here? It’ll be like a sleepover!” Oscar’s sour expression comes back and he’s about to protest the idea, only for Kama to open his mouth first.

“Honestly, that sounds exactly like what I need right now.” He tiredly grins, getting up from the couch and stretching. “Let me go grab the blankets-” I raise a hand to stop him.

“You don’t have to!” The two stare at me in confusion as I take a deep breath, shutting my eyes and focusing. If Sin could create a whole living dog for Ram, then a set of blankets and pillows shouldn't be too hard. Just imagine it coming together…the feathers, the fabric, each thread carefully stitched to make it as comfortable as possible. I’m vaguely aware of a ball of light beginning to form, growing in size and brilliance until it’s replaced with a comfortable yet soft weight. My eye opens, and I’m both excited and relieved. “Ta-da!” I hold the bundle out, allowing the others to grab their own pillows and blankets. Both of them stare at the objects in disbelief, though Kama’s face is filled more with wonder while Oscar just seems baffled.

I sit myself on the floor, fluffing my pillow and snuggling up in the blanket. Damn, I did a great job conjuring this thing- it’s the softest, warmest blanket I’ve ever slept in! Kama soon follows, lying opposite to me. Oscar’s claimed the couch, not that I mind too much- sleeping on the floor just brings back memories of grade school sleepovers.

“Good night guys!” The two respond sleepily, and I take one last look at the two of them bundled up as I hit the hay myself. I shut my eyes still smiling- things almost feel normal right now.

----------------------

The first thing I’m aware of upon waking up is the feeling of something jabbing me in the torso- the second thing is a voice that sounds like it’s struggling.

“Sin- Sin let GO of me-”

Now that I’m actually awake, I realize that the voice is Kama- who is currently being smothered under my entire body weight. I push myself off of him and he jolts out from under me, taking a deep lungful of air before letting it out in an exhausted sigh.

“Oh geez- I’m so sorry, are you okay?” He arches his back and stretches, before nodding and rubbing his eyes. “I guess I toss and turn more than I expected…”

“Yea, I’m lucky I woke you up before you either cracked my spine or suffocated me.” He laughs, still sounding pretty out of breath. He rubs his eyes, turning to face Oscar, who’s still asleep. “I’m kinda hungry- you want breakfast?” At that, my stomach lets out a growl rivaling a kaiju. “I’ll take that as a yes. I think we’ve got some bacon in the fridge- sound good?”

“Sounds perfect!” I get up from the floor, sitting on the couch (Oscar was so short now he left an entire seat open for me). “You don’t mind if I watch TV, right?” I look down at him, still fast asleep. “I’ll just keep the volume low.” The TV flicks to life, and I begin sifting through channels to find something to keep my attention for as long as breakfast takes. A few reruns of old cartoons and some action movies tempt me, but don’t fully hook me. As I continue to click through, the bedroom door swings open and Percy steps out. I wave, noting the surprise on their face.

“You’re up earlier than I am? That’s a first.” I just shrug.

“I got a good sleep last night- must be these new blankets.” I chuckle, Percy staring down at the remnants of last night's sleepover on the floor.

“Where did you buy those?”

“She made em with magic.” Kama comes in carrying a plate filled with bacon for me and a mug of coffee he offers to Percy, who takes it from his hands and begins to drink.

“I…see.” Their expression remains flat, but I can see a hint of shock and disbelief in their eyes. “Sin, would you mind changing the channel to the news? I like to watch it before I head out for work.”

“Oh- sure-” It takes me a minute to remember just what the number of the news channel is, but I plug it in and switch over. I’ve started watching in the middle of a story, something about a new musical based on some old horror movie opening up soon. Percy looks like they’re about ready to leave, only for a sudden nervous look to cross the reporter’s face.

“What? Are you serious? Uh- ladies and gentlemen, we bring you a breaking story hot off the presses: some sort of…fire monster has been spotted running rampant in a mall in Ohio!” That gets everyone’s attention. “If you could pull up the footage we've been recently sent-” As he says that a video fades onto the screen, and it’s just what he said, as insane as it sounds. Something that looks human but clearly isn’t is rampaging around a mall, fire in its eyes and almost pouring off its body. However, the way it carries itself…the vague hints of hair and the wing-like ears…I’ve seen them before. I squint trying to pick out the details, when it hits me.

“Oh my God it’s Sol Badguy.” The name also seems to spark some kind of recognition in Kama, who immediately turns to face me.

“Wait, Sol Badguy? He’s like- the main character of Guilty Gear, right?” I nod, and I can see him run through every emotion in an attempt to decide which one to feel. “So…so it’s not just us!”

“Yea! If anyone has the answers, it’s probably him! He’s not just the main character, he’s like a rocket scientist too!”

“Well that makes things quite a fair bit easier.” Percy chimes in, sipping more of their coffee. “But that news report did say Ohio…that’s not exactly within walking distance.” Damnit- they were right about that. We’d need to find some way to get there that wouldn’t eat away at our remaining funds and wouldn’t get us stared at like freaks.

“Ah yea- I mean Oscar has a car! We could use that! Or we could take a train or something! But we’ve GOTTA get there- this is our only chance to get REAL answers!”

“Mmmh…what’re you talking about? Keep it down…” Whoops. Guess I got a bit too excited and raised my voice, because I’ve woken up Oscar and he looks incredibly disoriented. No time to explain everything right now though- this is urgent!

“Romeo, get up and start packing your bags! We’re going to Ohio!”