Chapter Text
Everything around him fades to white. One last name shines before him, and he knows from the bottom of his failing heart that he will never see his home again.
Joey Graceffa...
In a flash, he's standing on a bridge in the middle of nowhere, still dressed in the Victorian outfit that he died in. The sky is dark and stormy. The entrance to the bridge features a giant cutout of a demon's face.
If this is Heaven, thinks the soul of Joey Graceffa, it sucks. Then again, it might be Hell. After everything he's done, eternal damnation isn't out of the realm of possibility. He's sure that everyone who died because of him would be happy to find out that he'll be boiling for eternity.
Well, there's only one way to find out.
He passes through the demon's mouth and crosses the rickety bridge. He keeps walking until he comes across a small white church, where a blonde woman and an Asian man wait for him.
There is a blonde woman in his past. She screams as she is forced into a coffin.
An Asian man. He smiles sadly and accepts a knife to the heart.
Joey walks forward to meet them. His hands shake slightly, and his dead heart quickens. I'm sorry, he prepares himself to say. I didn't know the first time, and I was possessed the second time. But that's no excuse. It's all my fault. I tried to make things right, but then I died, and now it's too late for me to fix anything. If I had just one more chance...
The woman speaks, and what she says floors him. "I have a way for you to get back."
I can go back? He wants to believe her. He doesn't want to be dead. He wants to be revived, to go home to the modern world, to hug his parents and kiss his boyfriend and live. He knows that it's a selfish thing to want, especially when fifteen other YouTubers are in the same boat as him, but he can't help it. He doesn't want his story to end this way.
But there's a catch, isn't there? There always seems to be a catch.
"But," the woman continues, "your friends will need to die."
Joey tells himself to be strong. He tells himself that it's better to accept his fate than it is to condemn a new crop of guests to the hell he's endured twice. He tells himself that if he says no, he'll see his fallen friends again. But then, the woman explains the specifics of the deal, and it's an offer that he can't refuse.
I'm sorry, friends. This is what I have to do.
The woman holds out a small knife. He nods, takes it, and slits his palm open. He quickly learns two things: you can suffer in the afterlife, and you can bleed. Of course you can. Why was he expecting his pain to end?
They give him a piece of paper. "This contract binds you to Everlock," explains the woman. "Save the town, and you will return to the living. Fail, and be lost among the dead forever."
Joey uses his blood to sign the contract. His name shines in red letters as a symbol of what he's just agreed to do.
The World Between Worlds disappears around him.
The center gem glows. Joey's eyes fly open, and he breathes.
He is alive.
Somehow, he has returned.
He can only hope that the evil has not returned with him.
He hopes for a moment, but then he sees the scar on his hand, and he remembers his bargain. There's a town stuck in the 1970s that I have to save, and if I save it, I can make things right. But in order to save the town, I have to...I have to...
He can't think about that. He needs to get out of here.
Escaping the coffin proves to be much easier than expected. He pries it open, steps out, and finds himself in an open field, populated by nothing but a stylish 70s car, a satchel with the Society Against Evil symbol on it, and a brand-new 70s outfit. The outfit consists of a white shirt with skinny vertical red stripes, a beige jacket, dark red pants, a red-orange ascot, and period-typical socks and shoes.
Joey changes clothes. Once he's done, he examines his reflection in the hand mirror that's been provided, and he notices that his hair has changed color. Instead of its normal brown, it's platinum blonde. He's fine with this. He stopped caring about his hair a long time ago.
He gets into the car, starts its engine, and turns on the radio. "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones begins to play. "Pleased to meet you!" sings Mick Jagger. "Won't you guess my name?"
My name is Joey Graceffa. I am twenty-six years old. I was trapped in the 1920s. I escaped. I was trapped in the Victorian era. I died. I came back to life. Now, I need to save a town, and I need some friends to help me save it.
He drives, and he thinks, and he eventually selects nine YouTubers that he knows. Colleen. Manny. Nikita. Jc. Safiya. Rosanna. Matt. Teala. Roi. He writes their names onto invitations, and he silently apologizes to them for what he's about to put them through. Then, for good measure, he apologizes to the dead.
Another game is about to begin, and he knows that his friends' blood is on his hands.