Chapter Text
A void of a hallway.
A never ending path.
Golden gates were all that were up ahead.
Derek has been here before. How many times? He couldn’t remember anymore, but it felt infinite. He was draped in his gold spartan armour once more, he was back to where he started, he was back to being D3rlord3, and this time he wouldn’t enter those dooming golden gates. With a swift spin of his heel, he turned the other way, running further and further, until the gold in the void was nothing but a speck of dust. He didn’t know where he was going anymore, other than that he needed to get as far as possible, he needed to get away, he needed to get to Avery.
Avery.
The name made him pause, who was that again? Why did he care? As he continued to try his best to remember, a terrible, irritating glitch noise echoed from behind him. The golden gates grew bigger, as large, yellow tentacles began to crawl out from the doors. Hell no. That was Derek’s cue to get THE FUCK out. However, no matter how hard he tried, his legs stayed frozen, planted in place. He cursed under his breath, struggling hard to pull his legs off the ground, but they remained glued to the floor. He held his breath, waiting for the inevitable, bracing himself as the ear grating glitching noise grew louder and deafened him, as the tentacles began to grab his body and crush him in pain, as a sudden wave of pure pain and indescribable feelings rushed into his head, causing him to scream with no noise. He cried, begged, wished he could hear himself through the terrible grating noises, and wished for all his suffering to just END-
“Derek Hutchins?”
His eyes snapped open and his body shot up before he began to groan in pain. A hand came to his head before he felt another gently push him back down onto the bed.
“Please rest sir, your body is still healing. You simply have some people who would like to see you.”
Derek’s eyes adjusted to the light, realizing it was a nurse talking to him. He watched as she left the room, his brain still trying to remember what was going on.
“Derek Hutchins?”
His eyes returned to the door where the nurse just left, now being blocked by three men in suits. He immediately frowned, too tired and mind fogged to deal with any government bullshit, let alone questioning. However, the men continued;
“Forgive us for the sudden visit without notice sir. We are the D.M.S. The Department of Metaphysical Sciences. And, we believe that you have some important and valuable info for us.”
Despite the polite greeting, Derek only scowled further, his mind buzzing with a mix of fog and irritation. For some reason he already knew what this was about, and he didn’t want to go through with it. The King in Yellow was still a little parasite in his head, yes, but he highly doubted the D.M.S would make anything better. If anything, they would only make things more complicated than they needed to be. So, without any word he turned his head away, causing the primary man to sigh.
“Very well then. As we understand that you are still quite unwell, we leave this card for you. Please contact us when you are available, or else we will need to get the information we need by force. You understand, yes?”
The thought of them prodding into his brain and trying to mess with the parasite living in it made him shudder, not by the thought of getting rid of the King, he’d take that chance almost any day, but because of the idea of them making it worse by force without any control given to him. In return to the man’s question he gave a small grunt of compliance, just for now, and watched as the three men took their leave.
Derek let out a heavy sigh once the men left the room, hell, it felt like the air just got less heavy by 50%. He draped an arm over his eyes, trying to see if he could get peaceful sleep at least once in his stupid li-
“..Derek?”
OH MY FUCKING GOD WHO IS IT NOW-
Sniffle.
Derek’s eyes opened and he turned to where the doorway was once again, now surprised to see the blonde man standing there, green eyes watering, filled with guilt, as his pale fingers fiddled with themselves. His expression softened immediately and he turned to face him.
“Avery…Hey, why are you crying? Come here.”
Avery walked over and wrapped his arms around Derek, leaning over and sobbing into his shoulder, muttering apologies over and over again. Derek allowed him, running a hand through Avery’s hair as his mind raced trying to figure out what got his friend in such a wreck. Perhaps he was still feeling guilt about the whole situation? Tsk. Derek had already told him that it wasn’t his-
“T̸́̉̈́̊́͜h̶̨̛͈̖̫̳̲̑̈́̒̀e̵͖͇̬̝͒͊́ ̷͇͈̱͛c̸̩͚̠̫̮̻̓̃͐̄ò̵̖̞͜m̸͈̉͊p̴͈̋͊u̷̡̯̓̍͑͛̈t̴̜͈͈̠̖̉͋̇̏͝e̴̩̭̩͒r̶͕̀͂͌̋́.̸̭͙̼̦̣̯͑͌̎͝”
What?
“T̴̖̤̋͌̆͛͘͝h̵̦̞͑̎é̷̟̫͆͗͘ ̶̰̠͚͈̝̍̃͒̎Č̴̡͉͂̀̿ǫ̷͋̀ͅm̸̮̘̫̺̈̀͛͊̎p̴͇̝̱̐̓̅̒̚̚͜u̶̜̞̻͖̖̪̐͑̌ţ̵͉̘̜̜͇̀̏͋͒͆̚e̸͙̔͂͝r̷̦̘̘͐̒ ̷̢͙̫̭́͛I̷̖͍̤̍̔̀ṡ̷̛͔̺͉̼ ̸͖̪̪͊́Ḡ̵͍̳̥̲o̷̳͆̔n̴̡̙̫̫͌̔͛͘͠e̴̬̙̔̂̉̓̎͜.̸͈̠̈́̍́̄̉͜ͅ”
Derek’s eyes widened as he finally realized what was going on. Although the King in Yellow could be a pain in the ass now that it was the equivalent to a brain suckling worm, he could at least provide good info and context.
“Y̵̢͎͉̔͂ö̶̯͈̭͙̙́͗̏̈́̌u̵͔̰̰̮̯̫̩̖̣̗͓̭̼̒̄͂'̴͙͔̘̒̋̽͂̏́̓̚͜r̸̛̛̙̜̐̍͑̒̑̄̐̑̀̈́̏ę̵͙̰̬̮͚̱̲̻̜͋͛̏̑̐̊͗̀̌̈́͂͝ͅ ̵̦̦̲͔̭̪̯̻̐Ẁ̷̢̛̩͕̩̬̜̤̼̥̤̝̟̜̈́́͊̐̔̂͐͘e̵̛̻͓̭̳̮̞̙͚̺̎̓̅͒͌͌̀̿̓̊͜͝͠ļ̸͚̠̬̪͔̭̗̮̹́̊̈̑̚͘͜͜ͅc̸̡̖̗̜̱͇̝͑̉̇̃̏̈́͂́̿̕ő̵͈͇̳̤̬̖͚̠͙̮͛͆̿͒͌̀̀̀m̷̤͚̭͇̃͑̒̒ȇ̴̢̛̝͍̗͓̻͓̩̤̖͇̆̂͆̊̈͆͊́̃̒́.̸̛̺̘̖̹̱̠̬̲́͂́̎̔͗̀̄̈́̿̽”
Shut up Hastur.
Derek shook his head, trying to clear the voices, looking back at Avery and allowing his hand to continue stroking his hair in order to ground himself back to the situation at hand. Avery had stopped crying by now, only sniffling and wiping his nose across his sleeve.
“S..sorry, the- but the computer with all the- the world the- everything! I- lost it-”
“Avery, calm down, please. I already know.”
Avery blushed in embarrassment at being reminded of Derek’s infinite knowledge and he looked away disappointedly, which caused Derek to wince internally. He never intended to make Avery feel worse.
“Uh..Sorry, you can continue…”
“I just…I wish I knew who took it.”
“Avery I think by now we both know it was the D.M.S.”
“Wait, you know about the D.M.S?”
Derek raised a brow at Avery, giving the younger man a couple more minutes to actually think about it, and allowing him to sheepishly laugh.
“Ohhh right, infinite knowledge, sorry…WAIT- YOUR INFINITE KNOWLEDGE! It can be used as a plot device!”
“Avery, why are we breaking the fourth wall? And anyways, my head is starting to kill me again with all of this thinking…wouldn’t it be better to use the card as a plot device instead?”
“What card?”
“Convieniently, the D.M.S just came in, they..were trying to get information out of me, but since I didn’t respond, they put the card there.”
His eyes glanced over at the small table next to his bed where the sleek black card lay. Avery walked over and picked it up, inspecting the information provided on it.
“Wow this is…actually really useful. The author's really running out of ideas huh?”
“Yeah 100%”
(Hey :[ )
— *** —
Avery paced around in his hotel room, looking down at the card and rereading the information provided over and over again, at this point he’s memorized the whole thing. With a sigh, he plopped down onto the bed, blonde hair splaying out over the mattress as he reread the card one last time. He finally set the card aside as now he began to ponder over his options. Should he contact the D.M.S directly? No Avery was stupid but not that stupid, and besides, what would he do after? Demand the computer back? They wouldn’t give it. Should he get Derek to go to see what they wanted? No! What was he thinking?! Derek was far from fully healed right now, and god knows what they would do to him. With a groan, Avery sat back up and went on his phone, deciding to just doomscroll on youtube since he can’t find any ideas at the moment. Hm? What's this video recommended to him? “Searching for a World that Doesn't Exist”? Avery raised a brow and because it looked like some cool horror minecraft content he decided to watch it.
What.
WHAT?!
WHAT THE FRICK??!!
Avery stared down at the video with wide eyes because WHY and HOW did this video manage to commentate and figure out EVERYTHING that happened to Avery and Derek?! Avery continued watching further, now more than invested, skimming through all the different parts on occasion and watching Derek’s perspective with awe.
“Destroying a World that Doesn’t Exist.”
THERE’S TWO OF THEM??!!!
After thoroughly watching both parts of the series (and having quite the amount of existential crises), Avery concluded that he HAD to meet the guy who made this series, mostly because he could definitely have some answers if he documented quite literally everything. “Wifies”. How do you even pronounce that? “Wifi-s”? “Wife-ees”? “Wee-fees”? Yeah, he’ll go with “Wee-fees” for now. Now, the only problem was unlike finding Derek, it was basically impossible to find this dude anywhere but his youtube platform, like there was little to no info on this guy. So instead of stalking him, Avery had to actually DM him like a normal person, and hope he would answer.
AveryTheMayo: “Hey man, uhm Avery here from that minecraft video you made a bit ago. Uhh like I need some help, do you think we could talk at some point? Thanks”
Now we wait.
…
Yeah this is going to take forever. Avery might as well go visit Derek again.
— *** —
“Sooo…How long do you think he’s gonna be staring at the wall like that”?
Avery (The OTHER AVERY, like NearlyAvery Avery, okay imma call her N. Avery) asked, poking the paler man’s cheek.
“I…don’t know. Wifies? You good?”
Derapchu continued to hold him in his lap, planting a small kiss to the cheek to see if that could do any good in snapping Wifies out of whatever trance he was in. This was the last time either of them were letting Wifies go on some Leviathan ass adventure of whatever the fuck he said he was doing. Because ever since then? Wifies has been frozen staring at the wall for the past 2 hours muttering bullshit, that cannot be good.
“The Leviathan…is..is real…?”
“WIFIES STOP SPEWING BULLSHIT! Derapchu PLEASE let me slap him!”
“Oh my god- FINE!”
N.Avery winded up her hand and slapped Wifies hard, the palm of her hand connecting with the man’s cheek as his head suddenly snapped to the side, allowing him to finally snap out of whatever haze he was in and rub his now reddening cheek.
“Owww….What’s going on..?”
“Wifies you have been staring at the wall for HOURS. Even Angel is starting to get worried”
Derapchu explained as Wifies blinked, attempting to gain some understanding or semblance of where he was. Meanwhile, the cat in the back meowed at being called, trotting over and pawing his owner’s leg, until N.Avery picked him up.
“Poor guy..Hes been getting worried you know”
N.Avery passed the paler cat onto Wifies’ leg, who regained his attention a lot better and pet Angel. As whatever situation there was seemed to die down for now, Derapchu suddenly noticed Wifies’ phone buzzing. Being the nosy ass that he is, obviously he picked it up and checked it out.
AveryTheMayo: “Hey man, uhm Avery here from that minecraft video you made a bit ago. Uhh like I need some help, do you think we could talk at some point? Thanks”
Derapchu raised a brow before turning to Wifies.
“Do you know this guy?”
Wifies glanced at Derapchu before taking the phone from his hand, his eyes scanning the text message before going wide. The Leviathan could wait. His fingers typed fast over the keypad (keyboard? idk) before sending back a response.
Wifies: “Yeah of course. That would be great! Let me know whenever you're free and we can talk. :)”
Wifies hit send with a small smile on his face, though he was still cautious, and now more curious, what was this about? What did Avery need?