Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was simply one bone joke too many.

Seán and Kevin had gone out on one of their “excursions” into the forest after Dan had kicked them out of the mansion to clean because they were “being a nuisance”. They’d messed around for a while, testing how far Seán could catch stuff in human and wolf form (Further than Kevin could throw either way), when Kevin accidentally sent a branch crashing into a circle of mushrooms. Upon contact with the ground it immediately turned into a stickbug and wiggled away.

Seán skidded to a halt, almost nicking a mushroom, “Jesus Kev, careful where you throw that thing.”

“You think it’s one of Spiff’s?” Kevin said, immediately picking up another branch to poke one of the red caps.

Seán nudged the prodding point away from the fungi with his foot. “Dunno, but you know how he is. Probably shouldn’t mess with it either way.”

The lads had met the capricious fae months ago while dealing with a shapeshifter who had taken a particular liking to the mansion. And ever since that encounter Spiff had taken every chance he had to mess with them.

“Well maybe he’s not home,” Kevin mused, tossing a pebble into the ring. With a glimmer of pink light, a small turtle poked its head out of the rocky shell and looked curiously at the two beings above it.

Seán stared at the offending ring, “What, like he just left his magic mushrooms on autopilot?”

“Yeah, we could do anything with it really.”

“And he hasn’t exactly popped out yet.”

“Exactly. And I have an idea.” Kevin gave one of his very familiar grins, and pulled out a lighter.

On instinct Seán popped his arm out in front of Kevin before he could set anything magical and potentially dangerous on fire. “Maaaybe we try something else first.”

“Like what?”

Seán smiled, his canine teeth showing, “Bones.”

After years of practice, the two of them were incredibly efficient at locating and retrieving bones. To the other lads it may have been a mystery where all those bones came from, but as far as Kevin and Seán were concerned they didn’t need to know. Once a sufficient pile had been gathered and placed near the ring they started taking turns throwing them in, each trying to outdo the other with bone puns at every toss.

“Did you know that bone-ly you can prevent forest fires?”

“I dunno, I’ve got a bone to pick with that one.”

“But I’m bone-ly starting!”

“Aw throw me a bone already Seán.”

“Nah I feel this one in my bones Kev.”

“Well maybe I’m a bone-a-fide genius.”

“More like a bonehead.”

“Hey!” Kevin dropped the tibia he’d been about to toss and grabbed Sean’s head in the crook of his arm and scruffled his hair until it stuck every which way, “I’m not a bonehead, you’re a bonehead!”

Seán laughed, latching onto the offending arm, “You wanna test that theory?” He rolled Kevin over with a lunge, catching his friend off guard and sending both of them straight into the ring. The moment they hit the ground they froze in place, unable to move a muscle. The air above them shimmered slightly than intensified, the waves of light and air bending into new shapes until it revealed Spiff looking down on them. He tsked, rolling his eyes at their prone forms.

“That was atrocious. Frankly, I would say I expect better, but you two always manage to hit the bar on the way down from lowering your standards.”

Seán growled at him, unable to open his mouth enough to give a surely devastating insult.

“Oh don’t give me that now,” Spiff said, unbuttoning the sleeves to his overly ruffled and dramatic dress shirt and rolling them up, “I’ll send you somewhere where they’ll appreciate your biting humor.”

Spiff smiled, and with a wave of his hand the world started to waver around Kevin and Seán until it faded entirely, leaving them in the dark.

— — — — — — —

There were monsters prowling the outskirts of Dublin. The lads had gotten an alert earlier about a colony on the far north side and had gone out to investigate. While there were the normal fusion monsters to clear out, Seávin had noticed a small metal sphere made of overlapping plates and a gentle light glowing on the collar of the largest in the group of monsters before they’d made a proper approach. The monster was already intimidating at about the size of a camping trailer without the strange new addition chained to its neck.

Normally Seávin didn’t go out on missions, preferring to live as normally as possible when he could and leave the fighting to the more powerful fusions, but it’d been a while since Seávin had gone out and done something helpful for others—or done anything at all really. He bit the inside of his lip. There wasn’t any point thinking about that, he was here now anyways.

“So what do we do,” Daian asked, not bothering to look at Seávin or Dan, his attention entirely focused on the anomaly.

Dan shrugged, also watching the strange sight as canine-like fusion monsters prowled around the rubble left behind from earlier fights, “Whatever it is, if it's one of Spiff’s it can’t be anything good.”

An involuntary shudder ran up Seávin’s spine as Seán recoiled at the name. His mind raced between half-remembered suffocating entrapment and confused hopelessness that he’d never experienced. A comforting energy seeped in as Kevin tried to reassure both Seán and Seávin to little effect. Seávin squeezed his eyes closed, trying to remember what Kiwo said about stabilizing himself, but every time he tried to focus his head throbbed, pulsing in double time like a drum trying to get back on rhythm. He hated it. Why was he like this? Why couldn’t he just be—

A warm hand softly landed on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Dan asked.

Without hesitation Seávin said “Yes,” more afraid of what it would mean if he said no.

Daian grumbled, “Focus, we got bigger shit to deal with.”

“Yes. Right.” Seávin crossed his arms in more of a self soothing gesture than anything else, hoping to quiet the voices in his mind. “I guess we try to take out the fusion monsters together before going after the big guy with the circle thing?”

“I don’t know,” Daian said, “I don’t like the unknown factor here with the rest of the monsters.”

“Then how about we cover Seávin until he can take the thing out with his crossbow.”

“Hmph,” Daian fiddled with his katars with his lower pair of hands, the blades sliding almost imperceptibly in and out of its sheath. “Fine, but if we have to distract, then Seávin’s on his own.”

Dan shrugged, even as Seávin couldn’t help staring blankly at Daian. He’d forgotten how callous he could be sometimes. On some level Seávin knew he was the one who volunteered to do this instead of letting another fusion pair up with Daian, but dammit, he thought it was going to be one of the easier fights. It would be one hell of a shot to make without getting mauled by anything else first anyways. Still, there wasn’t any point in fighting Daian on it, once his mind set on something nothing could change it.

“Alright, just leave it to me. Nothing’s gotten past my military genius yet.” Seávin joked, attempting to reassure both them and himself that it would be okay. He summoned his crossbow, the familiar wooden grooves settling into place and the weight providing a certain reassurance as Daian led them down onto street level.

None of them saw the weapon flickering as Seávin carried it.

As soon as they opened the door out onto one of the back alleys, the stench of rotten meat and muddy fur flooded Seávin’s senses and churned his stomach. How long had these creatures been wandering for them to get into a state like this? Because fusion monster bodies were unable to support the amalgamation of animal parts that had been haphazardly forced together, they often rejected parts of themselves causing… undesirable effects on what body parts were still attached. After the chaos of Spin’s take over, most of the monsters Spiff had carefully crafted had been released out onto the world with little regard as to whether they’d even be able to survive on their own, causing colonies like this to form on the outskirts of the city. With the new mechanical addition, who knew if Spiff had somehow managed to get back in control of his experiments after he’d gotten back to his company.

Seávin clutched his crossbow as they moved closer in, carefully taking position on a half hidden piece of rubble while Daian and Dan stood back to guard. He closed his eyes for a moment, steadying himself, and then lifted his crossbow, the bolt materializing into place as he drew it back into the latch, the string sliding across the smooth wood with a soft shhhft until it clicked in place. He breathed in and then—

A crash behind him and dissonant screeching. Seávin whipped around, the trigger already pulled as the bolt flashed in and out of existence across the clearing. Daian wrestled the monster and then stabbed it in the soft underside of its neck as Dan thrashed on the ground, pinned by its lizard-like claws. The crossbow bolt pinged off the edge of the device and then disappeared entirely. At its touch however, the device broke apart, each panel separating in a mechanical whir as layer upon layer separated to reveal its core. From it flowed an azure light, nearly blinding Seávin with its glare. Tendrils of light whipped outwards, following the path the crossbow bolt had taken. Seávin squeezed his eyes shut, staggering back as he threw his arms out in front of him.

He could feel the rays, burning into his skin as it stabbed into his mind, trying to tear the delicate seam of his existence apart. But as his existence severed, a different change took place. Instead of splitting him, something else ripped apart. Falling, he was falling. Darkness snapped the light away and Seávin vanished.

— — — — — — —

Cold concrete greeted Seán and Kevin when the dizzying sensation faded and light reappeared. Kevin blinked, trying to readjust his surroundings as Seán groaned and sat up. The light of the moon barely illuminated the narrow concrete walls enclosing them and left them in the shadow of looming buildings. From somewhere in the distance there was the chatter and traffic of a city, but it was too far away to properly make it out.

“This… isn’t the forest.” Seán said, slowly propping himself up. His eyes reflected in the little light there was, making them flicker green as he scanned the area.

“No kidding. But where are we?”

Standing up, Kevin started to walk to the light at the end of the alleyway, as he did so though, he tripped on something soft. In the darkness Kevin couldn’t tell what exactly it was, but from Seán’s gasp it couldn’t be anything good.

“What? What is it?”

Seán gently moved Kevin out of the way, guiding him through taps on the shoulder like they’d done many moonless nights before in the forest. Kevin felt for one of his lighters and flicked it on. As soon as Kevin’s eyes moved away from the familiar flame, he started back and stared in horror at the dismembered creature lying in a pool of its own blood. The glassy rat-like eyes didn’t match the bumpy lizard hide that crept across its ravaged neck, sliced apart by multiple stab wounds. Five, or maybe six limbs lay strewn about, which definitely shouldn’t work, but somehow made sense with the stubs left on the patchwork of matted, greasy fur and scarred crocodile scale.

Kevin looked away, unable to bear the sight of the monster. “That isn’t- It can’t be real right?” His other hand fiddled with the other lighters in his pocket, the rasp of the metal providing him little comfort.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it…” Seán trailed off as his head immediately snapped towards the exit of the alleyway. Sean’s body tensed, ready to fight, until he just as quickly relaxed into a lopsided grin. “Well will ya look at that, I think I hear Dan!”

Seán winced one more time at the corpse before he strode towards the faint voice Kevin could hear now. It definitely sounded like Dan, but more exhausted then Kevin had heard for a while. Poor lad probably hadn’t slept all day when he inevitably realized they were missing. How on earth he’d tracked them to the middle of the city he wasn’t sure—probably magic—but Kevin wasn’t going to complain.

“Dan, DAN! We’re over here!” The alleyway opened out into what once was probably a plaza if it hadn’t been utterly destroyed. From one of the piles of rubble a lanky figure emerged, and immediately rushed over to where Seán and Kevin were.

“Seáv- Seán, Kevin! Are you alright?” Dan’s voice was hoarse as he pulled the two of them into a quick hug. “You disappeared and I didn’t-” His words broke as he tried to pull himself back together, “-I didn’t know what to do.”

Kevin patted him on the back and pulled away. “Really missed us huh?” He smiled, trying to ease Dan’s worries. Kevin couldn’t remember the last time Dan had gotten this agitated over something he’d done. Actually, he could, but this felt particularly concerning for some reason.

Dan glared at him, “No shit! I mean after everything with Seán I’m well within my rights to be worried about people disappearing.”

Seán tilted his head, his face clearly confused, “What’d I do this time? I don’t remember anything that serious.”

As they talked Kevin realized something was off with Dan, beyond how worked up he was. Rather than his normal fancy vampire clothes, Dan wore a plain purple hoodie with jeans, something Kevin was pretty sure he’d never seen Dan in.

Interrupting whatever Seán and Dan were talking about, Kevin said, “What are you wearing??” waving vaguely at basically all of Dan, “I mean I like the new fit, but last I remember you said you’d rather be more dead than wear some of our ‘newfangled fashions’.”

Dan’s eyebrows creased in worry as he gave Kevin and Seán a once over. “What? That doesn’t make any sense, you’re the one who got me this.” He stared at them a second longer, calculating something in his mind, and then sighed. “Why don’t we talk when we get back and we can figure out everything there.”

Kevin glanced at Seán who shrugged back, “Lead the way I guess,” Kevin said.

Daniel lingered for one more moment, looking at the two before spinning around and walking towards the street. Parked on the side of the cracked pavement was a plain white van, the only marking on it a circular logo with the letters “FC&C”.

As Dan jumped into the front of the van, Seán caught Kevin’s arm holding him back for a moment. “Something’s up.”

“Well no duh, but that’s obviously Dan.”

Seán huffed, “I still don’t like it.”

“It’s not another shapeshifter is it?”

“I don’t think so, he doesn’t have the right smell for one, but nothing smells right-”

The truck honked startling the two of them out of their conversation, “You lads getting in?” Dan said from the rolled down window.

“Yeah! Just give us a second ya fecker!” Seán said, sliding open the van doors for him and Kevin to jump in before slamming it closed.

— — — — — — —

The first thing Seávin realized was the silence. There was no noise from the surrounding city or the monsters that should have closed in, just the wind and soft rustling.

Not a word from his components.

He slowly sat up, the cold mud stinging his hands. Around him was nothing but endless trees and dappled moonlight shifting through the leaves and onto the thick undergrowth. Somehow he was in a forest.

Seávin strained his ears, trying to listen for anything that would indicate someone nearby, but he couldn’t hear anything except for his own breathing. Panic slowly started to creep into his chest, his gaze darting around the deep shadows that lay between the slivers of faded light.

Instinctively Seávin reached into his mind, grasping for some sort of comfort from his constant companions, but as he reached, his head spiked with pain like an icy bolt driving into his skull. He gasped, screwing his eyes shut and forcing himself to focus on anything else instead. Counting the beats of his favorite song, he breathed in time to the measures. Four counts in. Four counts out. Breath by breath the sensation gradually faded. Seávin made a mental reminder to not try reaching out to his components again until the effects of whatever the sphere had done faded.

What didn’t fade though was the prickles in his hands, or rather, hand. Opening up the fist he’d apparently made, he drew in a sharp breath at the sight of the chip embedded in his palm. Underneath the skin, he could see the chip pulsed a strange blue light, each flare sending a tingling sensation down his fingertips and arm.

Seávin wanted to curl up into a little ball right there and then, and let whatever awful creature that showed up in the dark eat him. But instead he stood up slowly and took in his surroundings. Even if he couldn’t reach his components right now, it didn't mean that he was completely useless or that there wasn’t a way out. And there, from his new vantage point Seávin could make out a barely visible dirt path. He just hoped it wasn’t some deer trail.

Stepping past out of the ring of mushrooms he’d landed in, Seávin carefully made his way down the little path. Leaves crunched beneath his feet as he picked his way over rocks and tree roots. Each footfall fell dead on the world, though to him it seemed to echo, every movement amplified and ringing in his mind.

He stopped, half unsure of why. There it was again, the faint sound of a voice carried by the wind. Relief flooded through him as Seávin called out, “Hello? Hello! Is someone there?”

Without thinking he moved off the path and towards the voice. As he got closer, Seávin realized it was Dan, his voice high and panicky with fear.

“Dan! I’m over here!” Seávin called out into the night.

As if summoned by the call he heard Brian swear and then respond, “You alright?”

Seávin had a million and a half questions, but instead he just said “Yeah! Where are you guys?” His relief was palpable in each word. Finally he might get out of this, figure out what was going on, and maybe relax for the first time in what felt like hours.

Brian appeared out of the shadows quickly followed by Dan. Daithi was nowhere to be seen, though a strange chill had slipped into the air with the other two’s appearance. Seávin didn’t care though and immediately jumped forward to pull Brian and Dan into a tight hug. Neither of them hugged back though. Each feeling cold to the touch.

Seávin backed off a little confused, “Lads?”

Both of them stared at him, Dan with pure confusion and Brian’s eyes roving as if searching for someone else. Now that Seávin had a moment to look at them, something seemed off as well. Dan was dressed unusually nicely, not that he didn’t already, but a full set of tailcoats, collared cape, and tophat complete with an umbrella seemed a little much even for him. And although Brian’s hoodie was up, Seávin could’ve sworn that a faint red glow emanated from the right side.

“You aren’t Kevin or Seán,” Dan’s brow furrowed in confusion.

Seávin chuckled nervously, “No, it’s me Seávin. Remember? That sphere thing fecked up my chips so—”

“Where are they and what did you do with them?” Brian lifted his arm and with a loud click Seávin was staring down the barrel of a strange weapon, the seams between the panels of metal glowing red.

Seávin couldn’t get any words out, his mind frozen from the sudden shift. Surely they should recognize him right?

But before Seávin could figure out something to say, the lines of energy shifted from red to green and the weapon started flailing about before changing into a mechanical arm, which connected somehow back to Brian.

“What the actual hell Daithi!” Brian paused as if listening to some retort, “No I don’t need to calm the feck down we still haven’t found Kevin or Seán just this weird fucker!”

“Daithi’s right, I mean, we haven’t been attacked yet and the guy seems friendly enough,” Dan interjected.

“So god help me when I find a way to wring your ectoplasmic neck-”

The two continued arguing back and forth with a mysterious third, presumably Daithi? Maybe he was on some sort of comm system. Seávin listened closely, trying to see if he could make out Daithi’s voice, because despite the life threatening danger, he also didn’t want to miss out on whatever insults Daithi was apparently throwing around to get Brian so riled up. And sure enough, between the curses and the attempts at placating from Dan, he could hear the faint whisper of a voice, though it started growing stronger and stronger, much louder than Seávin would have thought from just trying to listen in on comms. It wasn’t until he glanced up though that he noticed the glowing form of Daithi just over Brian’s shoulder.

Seávin couldn’t help it, at the appearance he yelped. The three immediately stopped arguing, their attention drawn back to Seávin.

“You okay there buddy? You’re white as a sheet” Said Daithi, floating menacingly closer.

“Like you’ve seen a ghost,” Brian snickered.

Seávin stuttered, unable to properly articulate literally anything about the situation, “I—! He’s—! Lookathim!!” Seávin gestured wildly at Daithi who was now up close and personal inspecting Seávin. When his hand accidentally flew through Daithi’s leg Seávin immediately whisked it back, still wide eyed at Daithi.

Daithi tsked and said, “I dunno lads, he kinda sounds like ‘em. Looks like Kev and Seán too. No wonder we got the poor man mixed up with those two.”

Dan considered and then asked, “What’d you say your name was again?”

“Seávin. It’s Seávin.” He paused, looking between the three of them, “You guys are Dan, Brian, and Daithi right? I haven’t got you all horribly mixed up with somebody else?”

“Nope.” Brian said, “That’s us. How do you know our names though?”

“Other than the way you were shouting each other’s names a little earlier, we’re friends…?”

Brian snorted, “Never seen you in my life pal.”

“Hold on Brian,” Dan said, “the lad’s name is Seávin, like-”

“Like Seán and Kevin, yes. Those are my components.” Seávin winced at the words, not used to admitting them in front of anybody. It felt necessary though since something was clearly wrong with the whole situation.

The Brian gaped at him, while Dan nodded slowly, as if his suspicions had been confirmed, “So you are them somehow.”

“Ya don’t think–” Daithi’s body swirled, the particles agitated in an almost hypnotic effect.

“It has to be Spiff,” Dan concluded. He looked Seávin in the eye even as Seávin somehow blanched further at the name. “Do you think you could take us back to the spot you were at before you found us?”

Seávin nodded, he tried to put on a brave face, but his hands still shook slightly. “Sure, I think so.”

At the sight of the mushroom ring Brian groaned in annoyance. “That piece of shit! I knew he wanted to play more tricks on us. C’mon we’ve gotta find him.”

Before Seávin could stop himself he grabbed Brian’s arm, “Can we please not. I don’t—” He choked on the words. He wasn’t ready to see Spiff again, Seán wasn’t anyways.

Brian jerked his arm back, but before he could say anything Dan said. “Come on lads, it’s been a long night and I think we could all use a debrief.”

“Yeah, we can always catch up with that fecker later,” Daithi added on.

Brian’s eyes lingered on the mushroom circle, before he turned away. “Couldn’t hurt I guess.”

Seávin let go of the breath he’d been holding and let himself be led away back into the forest.

— — — — — — —

It didn’t take long for them to arrive outside of a brick building with the same logo as the van. Dan very carefully and slowly parked beside it in the drive. Kevin didn’t know Dan could drive a car, but at this point he was too tired and confused about everything to care that much. He and Seán got out of the back while Dan headed into the building.

Inside, everything was worn but homey. An empty front receptionist desk sat to the side of the room, with the walls plainly decorated with photos of familiar faces, though they seemed strangely disfigured in some way. Kevin didn’t have time to consider this though, before Dan continued into one of the side doors behind the desk which opened into a long, winding hallway that split off into several rooms: a kitchen, living room, some offices, but most of them were closed off with doors, blocking their contents from view. Everything was a little askew and clearly lived in, though the building itself was silent except for the creaking of pipes and the sound of wind whistling past a half-closed window.

Suddenly Dan turned into a room, and let out a sigh of relief. “There you are Daian. You wouldn’t believe where I found Seán and Kevin.”

Daian? Who was that? Before Kevin had time to process the strange name, a figure much larger than Kevin stepped out, crossing his arms, or was he holding some weird dagger and rag— Kevin rubbed his eyes trying to clear his vision, but no, the man had four arms and he looked pissed.

Seán growled and shifted at the sight as Kevin backed up into the wall, hand stuck in his pocket and ready to set anything that moved on fire. Dan gaped at wolf Seán as the four armed man—Daian—immediately crouched into a fighting stance at the change, flipping the weapon into his palm as three duplicates materialized into his other hands.

There was a moment of silence where the four of them stared at each other, the fluorescent light flickering ever so slightly. Seán’s fur pressed hard into Kevin’s leg as all the little inconsistencies snapped into place in his mind.

But it was Dan who spoke first. “You aren’t our Seán and Kevin are you,” he whispered, horror dawning on his face.

“I don’t- I don’t think we are,” Kevin examined every inch of this… new Dan. Now that they weren’t in the dark, he noticed how this Dan’s ears rounded rather than coming to points, his canines didn’t poke ever so slightly into his lips, and he lacked the supernatural smoothness his Dan unconsciously moved with. All things told, he looked remarkably human.

And Daian. Despite the intimidating stature and the multiple limbs, Kevin felt like he recognized him too, though he couldn’t place how for the life of him.

Daian pulled Dan slightly behind him and glared at the wolf, “Well if you aren’t Seán and Kevin, then who the feck are you?”

“We’re still Kevin and Seán I swear—” Kevin’s eyes widened, “Hey Seán, remember the last thing Spiff said?”

Seán considered and then nodded.

“Yeah, he said he’d send us somewhere else…” Kevin trailed off, almost not wanting to say it outloud with how ridiculous it sounded. But in a world where magic was real, it definitely wasn’t out of the question. Seán nudged him with his muzzle, clearly having come to the same conclusion.

“I think we might be from a different universe.”

Dan nodded slowly, processing the information, “There’s no other way for us to have duplicates, well more like warped reflections of each other and not even know it. God knows it’s not the wildest thing we’ve dealt with.”

I can’t think of a better explanation,” Daian said, “looks like we have to deal with that shitstain of a man in every universe if this is your Spiff’s fault,” his hands, (holy cow there were a lot of hands) clenched around his knives even tighter.

“Well Spiff isn’t really a man per se, he’s more like a fairy? Or fae? I can’t really remember how he wanted us to refer to him.” Kevin shrugged.

“You mean he’s feckin’ magical wherever you come from?!” Daian growled.

“So what does that make you two?” In an achingly familiar way, Dan rubbed the back of his neck in the way he liked to do when he was trying to figure something out.

Kevin bumped Seán, “Well obviously he’s a werewolf, but I’m just a normal, run of the mill human.”

Seán snorted and shook his head before finally shifting back, “Like hell, I swear there’s something up with you Kev. You’re practically setting fire to something every time we turn around.”

“Fire? No wait, that actually makes sense with our Kevin too, all his fusions tend to have fire related qualities…” Dan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I have a feeling this is going to take a while, let’s head somewhere more comfortable yeah?”

There wasn’t exactly anything better to do, so Kevin and Seán agreed and Dan led the way down even more corridors as Daian took up the rear, forcing Kevin and Seán forward with his murderous aura even as his weapons disappeared. After several more turns and some medical looking rooms, they were brought into a small though comfortable lounge with several sofas pushed tightly together and facing an old flatscreen tv hooked up to some even older consoles. Controllers and board games were strewn about the central table, though these had clearly seen some use with the visible repairs and placeholder pieces. A wave of uncanniness hit Kevin, every detail, though different, felt the same as the living room back at the mansion, down to the torn up cushions and old snack wrappers.

Dan slumped into a battered armchair and gestured for Kevin and Seán to take a seat as well. Daian, of course, stood. Kevin cleared off a few monopoly pieces from the couch and sat down with Seán following suit.

Dan rubbed his eyes, both of them rimmed with red. “So… what’s it like?”

Slowly, but eventually with more enthusiasm, Kevin and Seán started describing their world and adventures: about how the five of them had met, their secret lives as crime fighters, their pranks and jokes, their fights with monster hunters, their fights between themselves, and even through the tangents and fragments Dan and Daian could tell how much these two cared about the others.

Eventually though, Daian cut them off, “That’s great and all, but-”

“Hold on a minute,” Seán returned the favor, “Here we are talking all about ourselves and we have no idea who you even are! And where are Daithi and Brian? Ya seem familiar with them, but I haven’t seen them anywhere.”

Daian stopped, his face frozen for a moment before he burst out in a deep, throaty laugh, the first sign of literally any positive emotion directed at them from the man. “Well that’s ‘cause they are me ya gobshite. Woulda thought you’d figured it out by now.”

Kevin swore under his breath while Seán sat shellshocked. No wonder Daian had seemed familiar, he was a version of their two best friends somehow.

As if to immediately contradict the assumption, Daian followed it up with an exasperated sigh, “The two of ‘em may make up the parts of me, but I am my own person, even if the fecker’s won’t shut up.” He tapped the side of his head lightly.

“Guess youse wouldn’t know about it, but yeah, through the power of technology over here we can well, for lack of a better term, fuse together.” Dan smiled slightly at the looks on their faces. “Daian over here is a fusion of Daithi and Brian, and Seávin, the one I was looking for when I found you two, is a fusion of our Seán and Kevin.”

Dan waited, letting the two of them process the information. Kevin was a little dumbfounded, but it wasn’t the craziest thing he’d ever heard. Hell, he’d accepted that vampires and werewolves and all sorts of supernatural things were real the minute he heard about them.

“So you–”

“We have–”

Their voices overlapped as they started speaking at the same time, the questions completely indecipherable. Then they burst out giggling, the whole situation completely ridiculous. Seán elbowed Kevin, “Well go on then, spit it out ya loudmouth.”

Kevin smiled back and continued, “As I was trying to say,” he raised an eyebrow at Seán who snorted at the look, “So you lads combine-

“Fuse,” Dan corrected.

“Fuse around creating different people that are kind of like you but not?”

Dan nodded, “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the gist.”

“It’s not—permanent—is it?” Seán asked, apprehension written across his face.

“Oh god no, that’d be a headache. We can unfuse, but we like to give all the fusions their own time to do what they will.”

Kevin ran the math in his head, which is to say he made a general guess. “Jesus that’s a lot of fusions, how do you even begin to sort that out?”

Daian cut Dan off before he could even start to answer, “Enough questions about this. We need to figure out how to get our Kevin and Seán back.”

Dan rubbed his eyes, the dark circles under them more obvious than ever. “I don’t know, it’s late and I don’t know if I have the energy for it right now,” he glanced at Kevin and Seán, “You two think your lads will take care of ours?”

“Of course!” Seán said, “They’re good people, and it’s basically us anyways.”

Dan nodded, “Right, then I think we’re okay to sleep for now then and figure it out in the morning. You two can take Seán and Kevin’s rooms while they’re away. I don’t think you— They would mind.”

“I’ll go catch Kiwo up.” Daian said, already heading towards the door.

“Thanks Daian.”

And then Dan took them back into the compound. Up a flight of stairs, several turns through and then into a somewhat more cozy, carpeted hallway, each of the doors labelled with handwritten signs, presumably written by their resident. Some signs were neatly signed in cursive, others roughly scratched out, and one particularly strange one written out in windings. Kevin didn’t get enough time to decipher that one though before they were at the end of the hallway where a final group of doors stood. On one side was Dan, Daithi, and Seán, and on the other was Brian and him. Kevin traced the sign with his eyes, the handwriting identical to his. Somewhere he wondered what this Kevin’s life was like, living in such a different world, but still with his best friends. He hoped the other Kevins out there were that lucky.

Dan gave them a tired smile, “Make yourselves at home. Daithi should help youse find your way to the kitchen in the morning for breakfast.” He opened his own door, Kevin catching a glimpse of bookshelves and lego figures and glow-in-the-dark stars, “G’night.”

The door clicked behind him leaving Kevin and Seán to investigate their double’s rooms. Kevin slowly opened up his door, Seán peeking in over his shoulder. A sense of deja vu washed over him, his old hoodies and shirts spilling out of the drawers, the acoustic guitar he’d been meaning to pick up for ages sitting near the window, or the old quilt from a long gone friend sprawled across the lower half of the bed. There were some differences of course. For one, everything was significantly less singed, with only one or two candles stuffed away rather than the 20 or 30 the lads insisted he have in his room. There were also the more strangely shaped jackets. These were several sizes larger than Kevin, with a few having extra sleeves sewn on, and one absolutely massive flamingo pink jacket shoved under the bed.

Kevin flopped onto one end of the bed, his feet hanging off the side. Seán was still poking around the room, “It’s a bit uncanny don’t ya think?” Seán said, picking up one of the mugs on the dresser and eyeing it intently before giving it a whiff.

“Yeah… just hoping the lads don’t give them too much trouble. I mean, it’s a pretty wild conclusion to come to.”

“Ah they’ll be fine. He is us after all.” Seán sat down next to Kevin with a big huff.

“What do ya think he’s like?”

Seán didn’t respond for a while, simply staring out the partially closed window. The low hum of the city rushed by, so unlike the crickets and the soft smell of old growth at home.

“Lot like us I’d imagine.” Seán shook himself out and then shifted, pressing his cold snout into Kevin’s hand before curling up at the end of the bed.

“You’re probably right,” Kevin said, leaning over to turn out the light, “Night Seán.”

Kevin felt more than heard the low woof Seán gave before all they were left with was the faint glow from the window and new world outside.

Chapter Text

The mansion looked cozier on the inside than it did on the outside. Where everything had seemed dilapidated and left to wither away, the windows cracked and half moon illuminating the thick, ivy carpeted walls that didn’t square off quite right, the interior felt like… home. The patterned carpet beneath Seávin’s feet may have smelled musty and looked a little burnt around the edges, and the walls covered in an ancient wallpaper that had clearly received repairs from the multiple claw marks, blasted impacts, and mysterious stains Seávin did not want to investigate too closely, but all the same, the controlled chaos made him feel like he was back at the compound again. 

The other lads chattered in front of him, the warm glow of the mansion’s lamps allowing Seávin a better look at the three. Daithi had floated down to roughly their level and now antagonized Brian even as his transparent body revealed the lined pattern of the wallpaper behind him. Dan and Brian took off their overcoats, Dan placing his midnight purple cloak carefully on a nearby hatstand, and Brian shrugging off his hoodie and tossing it onto the table. The hoodie caught on the shirt beneath and Seávin drew a sharp breath. Pulling up the fabric, Brian’s torso revealed form-fitting panels of polished metal where skin and muscle should be. 

Brian grinned at Seávin’s astonishment, “Like what ya see?” he flexed his arms, his right one now confirmed to also be mechanical. Metal plates slid and parted to follow his movements, threads of red energy faintly lining the edges between panels. Metal covered the entire right side of his face as well, a sheen of red glass glowing where his blue eye should be.  

“I- What? How are you-” This wasn’t Brian. It couldn’t  be Brian. And yet he sounded like Brian and acted like Brian and yet there wasn’t any possible way Brian could look like-

Daithi popped out of nowhere in front of Seávin, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. “You are Kevin and Seán yeah? Brine’s always been a tin can—”

Seávin jumped back, “Jesus Daithi! You’re gonna give me a heart attack!” His eyes flicked between the two of them, still not fully believing what he saw. “And last I checked Brian wasn’t half robot??”

And Daithi wasn’t a floating green blob, but that was besides the point at the moment.

Brian snorted and rolled his eyes, “I’m not a robot dumbass. What, did getting shoved together break something important up there?”

“What? No! That’s not-” Seávin groaned, the soft ache in the back of his head threatening to intensify again.

Dan clapped his hands together, “Right! To the living room before something gets broken again.”

Seávin didn’t even want to ask what that meant, so instead he followed Dan into a cozy, if tattered, living room with a massive fireplace off to one side and a few well loved couches huddled around a scratched coffee table. Brian plopped himself down on the nearest seat, throwing his legs up onto the worn armrest while Daithi floated above him, vaguely commenting on how he was gonna ruin the furniture. 

Collapsing onto the other side of the couch, his legs tired and the edges of his vision swimming, Seávin rubbed his arm in small circles. A part of him still wanted to prod the corners of his mind even as his head throbbed. Though he usually wanted his components to subsume into himself, he couldn’t help but feel disconcerted at the lack of any feeling. It left him adrift, unable to check in with… well himself anymore, his sense of who he was unmoored and disconnected.

“So…?” Dan prompted, “What happened when you disappeared?”

Seávin jolted back into focus, “Huh…?”

“After you left the mansion, I mean, something must have happened for you to end up like… this .” Dan gestured at all of him.

The last word pierced into Seávin as he choked back his immediate retort, heat rising to his face as he remembered the first time his human friends had found out. Their bewilderment, the stinging in his chest as they realized he wasn’t like them, and never had been. 

Seávin picked his words carefully, “I was with you and Daian on a mission—”

“Who??”

“Ah shut up Brian. Can’t even let the lad start.” Daithi muttered, shooting a powerful glare. Brian glowered, but did indeed, quiet down. 

Damn it, Seávin wished he could lie down and just stop thinking about this whole thing, but he pressed on anyway, “—A mission to take out a monster nest south of Dublin. But one of the monsters had a weird SpiffCo device around its neck and when I shot it, everything went black and I ended up in the middle of the forest with my fusion chips fritzing out and…” Kevin and Seán gone .

His throat tightened as his head spun. Shaking, he clutched his arm tighter; he could feel his hand tingling with stabbing pins and needles as pulses of electricity leapt up his muscles. The dizziness, the confusion, it wasn’t normal, but he couldn’t clear his mind enough to figure out why . Why he couldn’t put himself back together when he was supposed to be fine, he was supposed to be the put together one, someone who could be trusted to smile through the pain with another joke and a wink. Yet here he sat, falling apart at the edges and he couldn’t even get the pieces back into place.

A snap in front of his face. Seávin blinked, and then flinched back for the upteenth time as Daithi suddenly appeared way too close for comfort again. “Earth to Shaw-man, you keep spacing out.”

Brian at some point had left his seat and now paced back and forth in front of the ancient fireplace like some knock-off detective. He turned around to Seávin, “So you’re telling me that there’s a thing called ‘SpiffCo’, like what, Spiff up and started his own business or something?” Brow pinched, Brian continued, his words merging as they rolled over each other in his rush, “Can’t imagine that stuck up piece of wet tissue paper ever leaving his cushy spot as fae advisor kiss-ass or whatever the fuck he does let alone starting a whole ass company.”

Seávin couldn’t quite process what Brian said as he sped through like everything he said was obvious. “I– Fae? What? That can't be right. You’re not making any sense —” Seávin hissed between his teeth as his skull pounded. The blue light from his chip pulsed to the same rhythm as the waves of pain running through his mind. 

Brian paused for a moment, his intense expression softening into something unreadable. “Hey didn’t you say something about you having chips? They’re like computer chips right?”

“I think he did, something along the lines of them not working right?” Dan suggested. 

“Can I take a look? I might be able to figure out what’s up with them.”

Seávin hesitated, but the pain won out. Nodding slightly, he raised his affected hand to Brian. Brian carefully took it into his own, his metal fingers chilling Seávin’s skin as he unfurled his tense grip. Brian’s mechanical eye whirred to life as a thin red beam appeared and scanned Seávin’s palm. His other eye widened as whatever he could see, processed. 

“That… Can’t be right.” Brian mumbled. Brian flipped Seávin’s hand over quickly, making Seávin recoil and clutch his hand to his chest.

Brian’s brow creased, “My bad,” he stepped back considering. “But that definitely doesn’t look like magic, that’s cold hard technology, so it couldn’t be Spiff. Honestly, it looks more like something The Company would build…”

Seávin’s eyes blazed as he hissed back, “It was SpiffCo, it was Spiff that made this whole thing, put us through hell, forced me—no, Seán to—” His voice split, two different voices that weren’t quite his speaking on top of each other in dissonant layers as his throat throbbed at the sudden vehemence. He made himself stop. 

The others stared at him. Seávin couldn’t bring himself to return their gaze, instead clutching his hand to his chest and looking down at the faded pattern of the chair. 

Daithi spoke up first, “Hey Dan, remember when I was messing around with some of your spellbooks and accidentally made you disappear for a bit? Came back ravin’ about computers and things, while a different Dan appeared here and acted scared the whole time.”

“I do,” Dan frowned, “You don’t think Spiff did the same thing to Seán and Kevin?”

Daithi nodded gravely.

“Then that means the Seán and Kevin here aren't our Seán and Kevin.” Dan said slowly.

Seávin reeled at the realization. Somehow, the device had transported him to a whole other reality where his friends lived in a spooky mansion in the woods and had never heard of fusion. Not only that but they were completely different. He didn’t know about Daniel yet, but Brian having cybernetic parts and Daithi being transparent meant they definitely weren’t his Brian or Daithi either. 

Before he could fully reckon with the implications, Brian started pacing again, “So Seán and Kev are just stuck in some random universe? Because last time, it didn’t take more than what, fifteen, twenty minutes for Dan to come back, and it’s been well over a few hours now,” his movements were jerky and quick, “They could be anywhere! Stuck with whatever versions of us are in this guy’s fucked up world. And if he’s like this,” He shoved a thumb towards Seávin, “Then who knows what everything else there is like! We have to go find Spiff right now or—”

Seávin felt himself become even more lightheaded as Brian ranted, the words blending together into unintelligible mush. His head continued to pound, drowning out whatever Dan replied with. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He could feel his hair start to drip, burning itself into his jacket with a horrible chemical smell. The fire in front of him seemed to flare and then dim around Seávin, and before he knew it everything went black.

— — — — — — —

Seán and Kevin woke up to the sound of someone banging on the door. It took a moment for Kevin to get his bearings, the room unfamiliar, before the events of yesterday flooded back to him.

“Youse better get your asses out of bed or you’ll miss breakfast,” Called a gruff voice. Kevin vaguely recognized it in his haze of sleep before it continued on, “And I am not waiting for you two ta get your fuckin’ pants back on or whatever the feck you were doin’.”

Definitely Daithi then. 

Seán leapt off the bed. He stretched out into a bow before shaking himself out in a cloud of fur and yawning—his sharp teeth snapping the air. It didn’t take long for him to shift back, combing out his dishevelled hair with his fingers as he turned back to Kevin. “So guess we’re stuck huh? Wasn’t just some weird Spiff-induced hallucination.” 

“Unless you’re still dreaming,” Kevin joked, slipping out of the bed. He hadn’t managed to put on any PJs before falling asleep, but he didn’t exactly feel comfortable taking the other Kevin’s clothes either, so he just slipped on his old singed sneakers. 

Seán wrinkled his nose as he and Kevin exited. “It still doesn’t smell right,” He muttered, “Take that room,” He jerked his thumb towards a plain white door that had little stick-figure spiders doodled on the bottom corner. Taking a closer look, Kevin could make out what looked like the name “Seániel” on the neatly written sign hanging from the knob. “I coulda sworn it’s got Dan written all over it, but it’s also got hints from my old cabin and there’s this acrid, poisonous undertone I can’t figure out at all.”

“Weird” Kevin considered for a second, “But not that weird, the guy’s probably a— what-did-they-call-it, fusion of Dan and...” It still felt odd to think about the man before him becoming someone entirely else, or himself combining with one of his friends for that matter.

“Well yeah, but that’s not all, there’s been this overall… lack I guess.” Seán mused out loud, his fingers rapidly tapping against his arm. “Magic and magical creatures have this unique scent to them that makes it easy to figure out who is what, and doing what where, but I’m not getting anything out here and it’s throwing me off.” 

“I didn’t think magic was all that common.”

Seán snorted, “That’s just ‘cause you’re human, trust me on this, magic sensing is like a sixth sense, and you,” he elbowed Kevin, “Don’t got it.” 

Kevin huffed, he put on a pretentious attitude and tried to stop his mouth from quirking into a smile, “Don’t count me out yet. I could still be a demon lord, or a phoenix something or other, or whatever else you lads theorize about.”

“C’mon then demon boy,” Seán laughed, “Let’s get you some hellish eggs and bake-y.”

Eventually they wound up near the kitchen if the sound of sizzling and conversation were anything to go by.

Kevin took a deep breath, put on his best and least unnerving smile and walked in. Around a small circular table was Daithi, a familiar looking woman with a messy lab coat and electric-pink tipped hair, and a four-armed fusion with a patched up trench coat. Odd choice for such a warm room. Off to the side, a man was cooking his way through a ridiculous amount of eggs and toast as the others discussed the current situation. 

For a moment Kevin’s breath caught, he’d never seen Daithi alive  before. Breathing and solid, not a flicker of transparency to him. Even though he’d heard Daithi earlier, it almost hurt seeing him in the flesh, with vivid color and solid hands that could touch the world without effort; something he’d never even considered as a possibility for his friend.  

Before he could say anything though, the woman got up from the table and warmly shook his hand. Her eyes, dark like deep pools of water, searched him, as if prying all his secrets bare with just a glance. 

Kevin quickly retracted his hand as she continued on to Seán. “Hello! And welcome to Fusion Co&Co. Glad to have you both aboard.” And then as if she couldn’t contain herself she rushed on, her words nearly tripping over each other, “Jesus, you two really do look exactly like them, and you—” she clutched Seán’s hand harder leaning closer as she talked, “I heard from Daian you turned into a wolf last night? How did you do that? Is it a natural or created transformation? To what capacity do you retain your reasonings? Is it similar to older werewolf legends or more akin to—” 

Seán cut her off, shaking off her hand and leaning back, his pose tense and completely stiff. If he were in his lupine form, Kevin could have sworn his fur would be bristled, “Look, I don’t know exactly who you are but that’s all rather personal you know.”

Kevin knew exactly what Seán was thinking. The woman’s questions also reminded him a little too much of some of the experiments that certain hunters had tried to perform on them in the past, if more enthusiastic than usual.

“Ah, my mistake,” she hummed, “I just assumed you had similar experiences with me in your… I suppose we can call it an alternate universe for now. I’m Kiwo.” Already her gaze turned distant, presumably combing over the possibilities of the many universes. 

Kevin coughed into his hand, “Well I do kinda recognize you, I think she might be from the coffee shop? Does that sound right Seán?”

Seán squinted at Kiwo before his eyes lit up. “Huh! Now that you mention it she does look almost exactly like that one blogger who shows up every Wednesday to write in the corner. Never really noticed her before.”

“A blogger!” The fusion behind her cackled, nearly knocking over the massive plate of food he was quickly demolishing. “Ha! So in another life Kiwo did god knows what, and posted random internet shit for a hobby? Didn’t know you had that in you Kiwo.”

The voice was rough but familiar, the high notes of Daniel’s laugh whistling over and mixing into Brian’s heady chuckle until they were nearly indistinguishable from one another. The fusion’s movements were quick and self-assured as he stabbed his fork toward Kiwo with all the precision of a kingfisher in water, “Since you two seem a bit behind,” he smiled condescendingly, “Kiwo here’s the one that invented this whole mess in the first place.” The fusion’s grin stretched out into full shit-eatery, “Though apparently her true calling this whole time was speaking to the masses about her oh-so-strong opinions.”

“Ah knock it off will ye Bran” Daithi grumbled in-between bites, “Jus’ ‘cause you’re high strung this morn’n don’t mean the rest of us are awake yet.”

“Oh come on Daithi, now they’re gonna call me a feckin’ cereal too!” Bran half-heartedly snapped, the topic clearly a long worn spot of annoyance. 

Daithi continued on unperturbed, the flow of food to mouth unbroken, “They already were gonna once you opened your big fat mouth.”

Bran sneered, “Always think you’re such tough stuff? Well—”

“So Bran huh?” Kevin interrupted, by process of deduction, the combination of Brian’s headstrong nature and Daniel’s snide comments were not going to end well.

“Braniel.” The fusion whipped around towards Kevin, “At least get it right!”

Daian might’ve been a tough nut to crack last night, but the pure, vivid energy of Braniel’s ire was almost too much to handle for Kevin. He backed off, hands raised in front of his chest in a show of surrender.

“Nice to meet you Braniel.” Kevin said, careful to enunciate the last syllable. 

The fusion huffed and turned back to his breakfast sullenly. The man near the stove finally spoke up, his voice gentle, “Sorry about Bran, we’re all a little bit on edge with our friends disappearing,” he lingered on the sentiment for a moment though he didn’t elaborate as Kevin marveled over how Braniel didn’t instantly go for the man’s throat, “Would you two like some breakfast? It seems our friends here forgot that’s why you came down here in the first place.”

Kiwo laughed “Yeah, guess I did get a little caught up there. Feel free to take a seat, there’s plenty of room and good food. Max is one of the best cooks we have.”

The man, Max, raised an eyebrow, “I’m the only cook here Kiwo.”

“And that’s why you’re the best one!” She exclaimed.

Max shook his head, sighing as he refilled Braniel’s plate with another round of breakfast. Kevin started to get the picture on why exactly Max made so much food between the fusion and a very hungry Daithi. 

Maneuvering around the table, Seán and Kevin took their plates and seats as Kiwo cleared her throat. “Not to end all the fun, but from what I gather, yesterday Seávin disappeared after interacting with a strange mechanism from SpiffCo. Later that day, you two reappeared, summoned from a different universe. Now, I’m not sure why Spiff built a device that rips apart holes in reality, but given how familiar I am with SpiffCo technology, I bet that between me and Liam we could recreate at least part of whatever happened.”

Kiwo took out a small notebook covered in half-peeled stickers from her labcoat. She quickly flipped over to an empty spread, laying it flat out on the table, between pages though Kevin caught glimpses of long, complex formulas and detailed notes covering every centimeter of the paper. “Given what Spiff and his scientists are working with in terms of advanced technology, specifically fusion and defusing, I imagine that this machine works in a similar manner, though instead of defusing matter, it’s instead ‘defusing’ or tearing open space itself. A difficult mistake to make, but if Spiff wanted to create a more powerful defuser, I wouldn’t be shocked if his scientists bungled it and ended up with something more along these lines. And when you tear apart space, it only makes sense that it’d want to bounce back to the natural state of things. It’s sort of similar to when a fusion defuses, you end up with the same two people rather than a weird recombination of the two. So when this hole tried to repair itself, it grabbed the two ‘closest’ things to mend itself, and instead of Seávin, it pulled through his almost identical components.” 

Kevin was losing the plot, but the part about the holes in the universe at least sort of made sense. “So when our Spiff said he’d send us to another world, he made, or at least weakened, the space between our realities? And so we got dragged through when the hole was made?”

“I have no idea how magic works, but I guess so, it would certainly help if a similar weakening happened in a nearby universe.” Kiwo mused, now chewing on the bottom of an already sad looking pencil. “In fact, I imagine that it would have to be reciprocated on the other side. If both sides of the universal water balloons are punctured, then water can travel between.”

“So we gotta fuck the universe back up if we want to get Seávin back,” Braniel summarized.

Kiwo nodded, “And the only way to do that in any sort of timely manner is to get the original machine back since I don’t exactly know how Spiffco did any of this.”

Daithi groaned, rubbing his temple. “Then we hafta go get the piece of shit from the monsters that almost killed us yesterday.” 

“Yup.” 

“Fuck me…”

“Sorry,” Kiwo shrugged, “Fastest way to do it. And I’m not entirely sure what will happen if we leave them for too long in another universe.”

“And we’re down half our firepower too!” Braniel glanced disdainfully at Kevin and Seán, “I’m strong, but that fusion monster is built like a fuckin’ tank. And I hate to say it, but we need another fusion if we’re going to do this.”

“Hey! Don’t count us out just yet.” Seán glared back at Braniel, “We’ve fought our fair share of monsters before. Hell, most people say I am  one.”

Kevin did not comment, unfortunately he didn’t see the power of arson as particularly relevant to this situation, even if he wished it was. 

“We don’t really have a different choice right now Bran,” Max pointed out, “We aren’t going to be gaining any ‘firepower’ by waiting. We have to work with what we have right now.” 

“Hhhhhh” Pinching his nose, Braniel groaned. “Fine, but I want to see what they can do before I throw my life into their hands.” 

Max just shrugged as Kiwo perked up. “Oh I would love to see that as well!” Seán gave an indignant look, “For no particular reason of course.” She was already reaching for her larger lab notebook.

“To the gym then.” Daithi finished. 

And over they went, though Max stayed behind to finish cleaning up. The gym itself was massive, looking as if it could easily accommodate a herd of elephants, along with a giraffe or two for that matter. Along the top edges were windows set at ground level—as the gym itself was sunk into the earth—and a set of what looked to be offices overlooking the gym on the far wall. Covering the floor of the gym was some rather oversized exercise equipment and open spaces for whatever fusions had going on, but there were also some more unusual items, like what appeared to be a kind of death-trap obstacle course, a target range, and maze-like rock walls covering the far side of the gym. 

Braniel immediately headed to one of the outlined sections of cleared floor. Rolling his shoulders, he then stretched out his upper two hands and clasped a massive swordstaff that materialized out of a reddish-purple glow. He swung it around a few times between his four arms with ease before calling across the gym. 

“Come on then, let’s see what you can do.” Braniel tossed the swordstaff from hand to hand, eager to get started.

“Good luck you two!” Kiwo said, “You want anything before you head in there?” She gestured towards a rack of various weapons and shields. “Most of it is training equipment so it shouldn’t hurt too much to get smacked around with it. Though I will say Braniel has the real deal and I doubt he’ll hold back.”

“I’m good but thanks.” Seán stretched and cracked his neck, before also walking over to the marked area.

Kevin couldn’t help but have a few misgivings towards involving himself in this particular fight. Even though he’d trained to fend off various hunters and keep up with his supernaturally powered friends, fighting a two meter tall person with four limbs and a very scary looking weapon was not on Kevin’s bucket list when the only thing he could wield effectively was a lighter. And with nothing to burn or an environment to use to his advantage, Kevin was at a bit of a loss on what he could even do. 

“Can I sit this one out actually?” Kevin said, “Might be fun to see what Seán can do on his own.”

“Sure!” Kiwo replied, already scribbling down in her notebook, “It’ll be good to see how Seán does solo anyways,” She glanced up for a moment and called across the room, “You lads be careful not to break each other!”

“Yeah yeah. Whatever happens, happens Kiwo!” Braniel yelled back, already sizing up Seán as he slipped off his hoodie and threw it off to the side. 

Chest loosening in relief, Kevin found a conveniently placed seat, and sat back to enjoy the show. 

Inside the ring, the two fighters started to carefully circle each other, Seán with the practiced stalk of a moonlit hunter, and Braniel with a cocky step and his swordstaff resting on his shoulder. Occasionally Bran would start towards Seán before quickly pulling back, unsettling Seán and baiting him forward with a teasing smirk. Seán growled at him, low and deep in the belly. 

At some point Braniel must have enough, because he lunged forward with a practiced swipe. Seán rolled out of the way, dodging the attack. He came up nearly face to face with Braniel, seizing the base of his swordstaff. Braniel bared his teeth, his eyes blazing in joy or anger. As Seán wrestled for control of the weapon with a fusion a full head and shoulders taller than him, Kevin noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. 

On the weapons rack a hammer wiggled and then flew up out of its place. It floated for a second before flying away, right towards Seán’s back. Kevin started in surprise, and yelled “Behind you!”

Seán whipped around, and seeing the hammer rushing towards him ducked down. But instead of slamming into Braniel, it swung around his head in a long arc before coming to rest just above his shoulder.

Braniel tilted his head, “Quick reflexes huh?”

“Better believe it!” Seán shot back, a massive grin stretching across his face.

“Good, makes it more fun for me.” Braniel then threw his swordstaff into the air where it hovered over the opposite shoulder. “Been wanting to try this one for a while.”

Kiwo let out a small tsk, but didn’t interrupt the battle, her furious scribbling paused for a moment as she watched the action unfold 

Braniel lunged forward again, his weapons stabbing forward in time with movement, but this time he met with a massive silver wolf slamming into his chest. Quick as a blink, Seán had shifted and now terrorized Braniel with snapping jaws and fleet footwork as he wove in and out of Bran’s reach and his homing weapons. 

On closer inspection, the weapons themselves, though they looked terrifying flying about, weren't all that accurate. Rather than hitting anything they just whirled around and caused chaos, not even scraping against his target as Braniel got more frustrated with his inability to even hit Seán. In the meanwhile Seán ripped away at Braniel’s defenses with powerful bites. 

In one last ditch attempt to still the wolf, Braniel tackled the beast, two arms locking around his neck as the lower two worked to pin down the rest of the body. Seán flailed against the fusion’s all-consuming grip, clawing against what must be a reinforced jacket if it could stand up to Seán’s full strength. Caught, Braniel squeezed his eyes closed, the two weapons moving into position to strike down Seán as his grasp weakened against Seán’s werewolf strength. In a flurry the weapons flew down. At the last second though, Seán managed to free himself from Braniel’s hold and used his newfound freedom to flip Braniel over, placing him in a vulnerable position as Seán’s jaws found their place just over Braniel’s throat.

They lay there panting, stuck in stalemate. Braniel’s swordstaff and recruited hammer hovered inches above Seán’s back and Seán’s teeth pressed against Braniel’s windpipe.

“Alright, that’s a wrap boys!” Kiwo shouted, walking over to where the two of them were tangled up. She brushed away the two weapons and offered a hand to Braniel. 

Braniel grumbled and took the hand, dusting himself off. “I was this close Kiwo! If you’d just given me a bit longer—”

“And close is good enough! Welcome to the team Seán.” 

“For the record, I totally had him.” Seán added, after shifting back and snapping right into his cheerful attitude. 

Braniel gave an impressively close impression of Seán’s wolfy growl, “Like hell. Come on wolf boy, wanna go for a second round?”

Kiwo sighed in exasperation, “Save the enthusiasm for the real threat Braniel. You can get your energy out then.”

Braniel just hummed, his glare still stuck on Seán, “Whatever.”

“Congrats Seán, now you get to fight the real monsters.” Kiwo said. Smiling darkly she patted Seán on the back, “Let’s hope they’re not the thing that kills you.”

— — — — — — —

The first thing Seávin noticed before he even opened his eyes was the acrid scent of metal and sanitizer. Groggily he slowly sat up, the weight on his head somewhat alleviated for now. In the back of his mind he could tell there were new holes burned into the back of his shirt, the fabric itchy on the back of his neck. Yet another thing to single him out.

“Is he…? Hey! Hey guys! I think the lad’s awake!” Daithi’s voice called, ringing through Seávin’s ears like an overenthusiastic set of handbells.  

Dan quickly added, “Seávin can you hear me? How are you feeling?”

Seávin could do little more than groan.

“I’ll take that as a not great.” Brian said.

Seávin slowly opened his eyes, even if it did feel like several bricks were glued onto the lids of them. Clustered around him were the three of them in a cold grey room. Both the floors and walls were tiled and a set of metal cabinets sat against one of the walls. The drawers were overflowing with a wide variety of tools and spare mechanical parts, everything seemed chaotic, with things strewn on nearly every surface, but Brian clearly knew what he was doing, picking out the tools he wanted to use instantly. Near the center Seávin sat in a maroon leather recliner chair, similar to the ones found at dentists offices. Unfortunately the nice leather now had several holes burned into it from when his hair turned completely toxic. His arm lay just on some thick worn straps that covered the armrests and lower half of the recliner, though thankfully Seávin hadn’t been trapped in any of them. A bright circular lamp shone instead on his open palm where Brian perched off to the side on a stool, holding Seávin’s hand and prodding it lightly with a veritable swiss army knife of a tool. 

Brian saw Seávin wince at the light projected at him and grimaced sympathetically, “Sorry about that, this is where we keep all our medical and mechanical shit, and we didn’t know what else to do when you passed out on us like that.”

“I should be the one saying sorry, I—”

“I mean this kindly, but shut the fuck up,” Brian retorted, the delicate pressure on Seávin’s palm unwavering, “You clearly weren’t doing that well and I ignored that for my own bitchy ego trip, so just take the apology because it’s not happening again.”

A small jolt of electricity from a prong shaped tool and some of the pressure Seávin didn’t know was there lifted from his chest. Brian pulled away, wiping down the tool with a stained rag. “There, don’t know what fucked it up in the first place, and the tech’s too fuckin’ advanced even for me to get everything working again, but I repaired some of the more shitty places where I could. Didn’t wanna push it too far though, so be careful with whatever the fuck you’re doing with it.” 

Seávin whispered thank you. These lads, despite his complete breakdown and accidental property damage, still made sure he was okay and bothered to try and fix him up. Even though Seávin himself didn’t understand even half of what was happening, he felt that after all the work Brian did and the kindness the other lads showed, they at least deserved what little explanation Seávin could give him about… well everything. 

“This chip,” he carefully flexed his fingers, no pain or shocks, “Is what’s keeping me together right now. It’s not really one thing, even if it looks that way? It’s like… It’s like two images put on top of each other to make a new picture. Both chips exist on their own, and also make sense when put together, to the point that if you didn’t know the two other images existed you would think that the one picture was all there was. So that means I am…” Seávin breathed out slowly, “I am Kevin and Seán, who they would be if they were a perfect balance of each other. I have their memories, their likes and dislikes, even their little quirks. But I am also myself, with my own experiences and life that are all me. I’ve been around—” It felt strange to say it that way, like Seávin had just been somewhere else in the decades before the trials, “—for a few years. I’m not anything new or special, I try my best to work with what I was given like everyone else.” 

Just with less time, not knowing when he would be allowed to exist again. Months of his life lost to something he never had a say in. Left with an ache in his heart that he would never get those moments back from the void of oblivion he’d been abandoned to because of the actions of one man. One man was all it took to steal away the little he clung onto.

He shuddered, the tense binds constricting his chest drawing closer as he tried not to relive the pain of finding out how long he had disappeared. Seávin was here now, and that’s what mattered.

“Hey, it’s getting pretty late—or early I guess—so it might be good for everyone to get some sleep,” Dan suggested. “I guess you can stay in Kevin’s room since it’s less of a…”

“Fuckin’ wolf den?” Daithi interjected. Seávin couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. He guessed if these lads were different from the ones back in his universe, it probably meant that his components were changed in some way too.

“Sure. Either way, I’m sure Kevin wouldn’t mind. In fact he probably wouldn’t even notice.”

“Soon as it hits evening though,” Brian said, “We have got to go find Spiff. I’m sure you wanna get back home as soon as possible just as much as we want our lads here. And the only way that’s happening is if we confront Spiff.” He must have caught Seávin stiffening at the mere thought because Brian continued, “Trust me, we won’t let anything bad happen to ya. Man isn’t as dangerous as you would think as long as you’re careful with what you say.”

Dan agreed, “It’ll be alright, we’ve dealt with Spiff before and he really isn’t all that bad, he just likes to be a little funny about things.” Dan stood up from his chair and yawned, his mouth opening wide enough for Seávin to notice the unusually long canines. Seávin blinked, unsure if hallucinating was just another problem to add onto the list of weird things his body was doing, but they’d already moved on.

“Must be gettin’ early if even you’re yawnin’” Daithi teased.

“Ah shut up Daithi,” Dan said, covering another yawn with his wrist, “Come on then, I’ll show you up Seávin.”

Seávin dragged himself out of his seat and followed Dan up through the mansion and into somewhere on the second floor. Up here the floorboards creaked more, but everything was still relatively clean, all the corners swept of cobwebs and most of the mismatched furniture kind of dusted. There were still stains and personal things left about, but it just served to help make the old house feel lived in. The door Dan opened was burned around the edges, the once white paint blackened with soot and charred wood. The room itself was a kind of messy that Seávin recognized from himself, just clean enough to move around without accidentally stepping on something sharp or delicate, but still looking like a gale wind swept through to look for something and forgot to put anything back.

“Sorry for the mess but we weren’t exactly expecting for—”

“For Kevin to disappear,” Seávin finished, “Don’t worry about it, really, feels just like home honestly. Except for the, uh, shit ton of candles?”

Dan blinked, “You’re not, ah… obsessed with fire?”

“What? Not especially, no.”

“Huh. Weird.” Dan stared at Seávin, his eyes roving across his face as if trying to parse Kevin out of him. Seávin looked away, the pit of his stomach twinging. He didn’t really feel like being taken apart by someone who looked so much like the man he trusted most at that moment.

Dan wavered by the door, his face uncertain before he said, “Are you alright?” The question echoed with the exact same sincerity and worry it rang with earlier that day in a different reality, “Really, I mean, this has all got to be a lot.”

Almost on instinct Seávin said ‘fine’, but he caught himself. His chest leaden with half filled lies. Fine was his answer to everything, or ‘okay’, or ‘I’m doing great thanks!’ but so far away from home he couldn’t believe right then that any of his assurances had ever been true. But still.

“I’m… not feeling great I gotta say. Like shit, being whisked away into the middle of the woods, getting nearly attacked by nearly identical versions of your friends, all while your brain is literally fritzing out? Fucking sucks.” Seávin forced himself to smile. Maybe if he laughed it off, the whole thing wouldn’t hurt so much. 

“Yeah…” The weight of the look Dan gave him was almost too much to bear. 

Seávin couldn’t help but break away, mumbling to the ground, “G’night Dan.”

“Night Seávin, get some good rest yeah?”

“Sure will.” 

Dan clicked the door closed behind him, and Seávin and a thousand burned candles were all that was left behind.