Chapter Text
"Here's a question for you. If you could make your egos real, so you could meet them, would you?"
Mark's question comes back to Jack as he stares at the scene in front of him. It was innocent, simply a joke made late in the night on the American's end, and Jack had shrugged it off, never gave it a proper answer, because while it might be cool to think about, it was impossible. No point in letting his imagination get away from him.
But now, he wished he'd taken it seriously. Maybe then he could've imagined some way to handle this. Maybe he'd have some clue on how to react to the man getting to his feet in front of him, straightening out a lab coat before adjusting glasses and turning oh-so-familiar baby blues to Jack.
"...What is going on...?"
The sharp accent is what snaps Jack out of his stupor, and he lets out a breath as he runs a hand through his hair, trying to come up with something he could possibly say. He notes with faint amusement that the doctor's hair sports a light, minty color, like his own did so long ago. "And here I thought I'd never see that color on myself in real life again..."
But it wasn't 'him', oh no. This man may be his spitting image, but he was very, very different in the end. Once upon a time, Jack would've loved to have a conversation with him. But he never thought that he ever actually would.
Seeing that the other is still staring at him like he's got two heads and three legs, Jack tosses any half-formed plans out the window and just goes for the first thing that pops into his head.
"Doctor Henrik von Schneeplestein, I presume?"
------------------------------------
Aura
Prologue: A Small Fraction Of The World
------------------------------------
The good doctor jumps as he's finally addressed, and confusion clouds his gaze for a few moments before he jolts again and nods. "Ah... Yes, I believe so... And you are... Jack...?" He pauses, then shakes his head slightly, lips tugging down into a frown. "No, Seán..."
"You can call me either one, it doesn't matter to me..." Jack responds slowly, his shock stepping back to fuel more confusion. Henrik wasn’t acting like… Himself. Hell, he looked more confused than Jack did, and that was saying something. “Henrik, uh… Do you… Do you know what’s going on?”
The ego shakes his head, and Jack tries a different question. “What do you know…?”
“My name, your name… I-I believe I’m a doctor…” He appears to flounder for something, anything else, then just weakly shrugs, looking a bit lost.
Jack widens his eyes, understanding bleeding through everything else. “You… Have no idea who or where you are, do you?”
Another shake of the head. “Not really...” He looks around again, “I feel like I should know this place, but… There’s nothing but a blank.”
“Sh-shit, okay…” Jack releases a shaky breath, trying to wrap his head around all this. “Okay okay okay... C’mon, let’s-- let’s sit down, I’ll explain what I can…”
Henrik nods, and follows the dark-haired man to sit on the bed, then watches him expectantly.
Jack gnaws his lower lip as he sits down, heavily, next to him, lost for words yet again. After all, how do you explain a life to someone who didn't exist a few minutes ago?
“Well… to start off, yeah, you're a doctor, o-of sorts. It's a little complicated…”
And that was the beginning. Over the next month, Henrik slowly remembered his ‘life', and Jack laid out some rules, so no one would discover that Henrik’s real now. They still don't have a clue on how the ego appeared, and they just hope it's nothing disastrous...
It was nearly two months later when Jack fell down the stairs.
He was just walking down, to get something to eat after a long recording session, when he was suddenly struck with a wave of dizziness and a headache that felt like it would split his skull. He dimly remembers crying out in pain and toppling over, toppling downwards, before there's another pain to his head and everything stops.
When he comes to, his vision is hazy, and refuses to focus. He's pretty sure someone is standing over him, speaking to someone else, but voices are muddling together and every sound seems muffled. He shuts his eyes again as his head and shoulder throb, and groans weakly, wondering if he was actually so pathetic that he fell down the stairs.
A sharp, snapping sound suddenly rings in his ears, derailing his thoughts and making him instinctively jolt away, his eyes flying open and a shocked cry escaping his lips. A yelp of pain quickly follows it as he puts weight on his right arm, but his vision clears up enough to see a man in a white coat standing over him, and blue eyes bright with concern.
“Hey, Henrik…” Jack grins sheepishly up at the doctor, carefully shifting his weight in hopes that his shoulder will stop hurting. “Uh… What’s up, doc?”
The answering groan makes Jack chuckle, and Henrik draws back from the bed, rolling his eyes and grumbling to himself. “He’s fine, it’s not like he worried me half to death or anything…”
“Sorry, sorry!” Jack sits up more properly, wincing as pain shoots through his arm again. “A-ahh… You just surprised me, I-I didn’t mean to worry you…” He groans, gritting his teeth as his head throbs, and only manages a weak protest as Henrik pushes him back down.
“Be careful and stay down there, you hit your head pretty badly and I'm not entirely certain you don't have a concussion.” The doctor scolds Jack, then turns away and starts working on something out of the Irishman’s sight. “You’re lucky he was right there when you fell, I was so deep in my work I didn’t even hear you.”
“He…?” Jack pushes himself up a little again, trying to use only his left arm, and looks over at the other. “He who?”
Henrik turns to gently push him down again, “Stay down there, and maybe I’ll tell you.” he takes an ice pack off the table next to him and carefully sets it on Jack's head, removing a melted one that Jack hadn't noticed in the process. “We aren't the only ones of yourself living in this house anymore, let's say.”
Jack lets out a sigh as the cold eases the throbbing, but furrows his eyebrows, confusion crossing his gaze at his ego's words. “What do you…” He trails off, then seems to deflate as he realizes what Henrik means. “...Another ego?”
A chuckle and a nod greets his question, and Jack sighs, “Which one is it? Chase? Jackieboy Man?”
“Chase…? I… I feel like I know that name…” The deeper, yet familiar voice startles Jack, as soft as it was, and he jolts to sit up again, letting out a cry as the ice pack slips off and pain shoots through his arm once more. “A-agh… Shit…” he slumps down, hissing through his teeth. “O-okay, bad idea…”
Henrik growls under his breath, “Of course it was, your shoulder is badly bruised! You fell down the stairs, for god’s sake!” He makes sure that Jack is comfortable, and replaces the ice pack, then looks off to the side, “Come on, then. No point staying in the shadows where you’ll scare him.”
Another figure steps over to the bed, and Jack jumps slightly, though not enough to cause the ripping pain from before, as he spots a white cat mask, blue eyes cautiously peeking out.
Henrik gestures to the masked man, “I’m sure you recognize Marvin. Marvin, this is Jack. You know his name, right?”
“Yes…” Marvin’s voice is indeed deeper than Jack’s own, but other than that, it sounds so similar Jack faintly wonders if he could prank one of his friends with this. Unaware of his thoughts, Marvin continues. “And I believe I remember something about you as well, Doctor… Schneeplestein?”
“Dr. Schneep is fine. Or Henrik, whichever you prefer. You seem to be regaining your head quicker than I did, so that’s good.” Henrik shakes his head, chuckling. “I hardly knew my own name when I first appeared.”
Jack releases a weak chuckle as well. “Yeah, it was definitely a pain to deal with at first… Not to mention freaky…” He smiles at the second ego, though he wisely stays lying down this time. “It’s nice to meet you, Marvin. Thanks for helping me when I… Tripped, I guess.”
Even with his mask, it’s clear that Marvin brightens up, his eyes shining through the holes. “You’re very welcome. I’m just glad that Dr. Schneep was around, I would’ve had no idea what to do otherwise…”
“Yeah, he tends to be a bit of a life saver, that’s for sure…” Jack murmurs, giving the doctor a thankful look. He returns to speaking to Marvin, and holds up his hand, slightly shaky, but relatively painless without any pressure. “Let’s just hope things will be less disastrous from here, for my head’s sake.”
Marvin laughs, a nice, soothing rumble that sort of reminds Jack of Mark’s voice, and shakes his hand. “At least now you have two people to make sure you don’t wind up hurting yourself again.”
“Hey!” Jack protests, his voice squeaking more than he’d like. “It’s not like I make a habit of randomly falling down the stairs! Come on, you guys, it’s not funny...!”
His pleas go ignored by his chuckling egos, and Jack can only sigh, wondering what deity he pissed off to get him into this mess. ’People have been wanting to see Marvin again, at least I should be able to give them what they want in a month or so…’
And that he did. Another Marvin video was up to lead in the beginning of March, and his subscribers went wild, so excited about the level of ‘acting’ and wondering if they’d get any bloopers. And oh, there were bloopers alright, but Jack kept them well under wraps, considering they included one where Marvin accidentally set a few papers on fire, via a spark that had sprung from his fingers when he snapped.
That’s how they discovered that Marvin had real magic. Real, and seemingly uncontrollable. It popped up at the worst times, and never seemed to do quite the same thing twice. Besides set things on fire, of course, it was always good at that. And everyone in the house got very good at putting them out. Luckily the flames didn’t give off much smoke, and didn’t really grow or spread, it just sat there and burned whatever it was on. Jack chalked it up to magic and didn’t question it, as long as normal old water could put them out, he was good.
It was during one of these times, while he’s going to put a- thankfully small- flame out, that he gets another mind-numbing headache, and sudden dizzy spell. Henrik still hadn’t figured out what caused it the first time, when he fell, and safe to say, they were all pretty worried about it. But it had been a few months since the last time, so they figured it was probably a one-time thing…
Jack stumbles against the wall in an effort to not collapse, squeezing his eyes shut and letting out a weak groan of pain, any words he attempted to form dying out as he felt like his brain turned to goo for a second. And then it was over. The pain vanished as suddenly as it appeared and the room stopped spinning so abruptly Jack could almost feel whiplash.
He opens his eyes, incredibly confused, and looks over at Marvin, whose gaze is dancing between Jack and the fire. The ego speaks, sounding nervous, “A-are you alright, Jack?”
Jack pushes away from the wall and shakes himself slightly, then nods and walks back over to the container of water he was about to pour on the fire. “Yeah, I'm-- I'm fine. It's gone.”
Marvin looks at confused as Jack is, not to mention even more worried for him, even as Jack carefully drowns the little flame. “You looked like you were in horrible pain… And it's just gone? And you're not worried about this?”
“Hey, at least I didn't fall down the stairs this time.” Jack smiles at the magician, though it's a bit forced.
His attempt at humor is ignored, however, and the magician glares through his mask. “This isn’t funny, Jack! Something could be seriously wrong! I still can’t understand why you wouldn’t let an actual doctor look at you after that…” He crosses his arms and turns to the side as he continues. “Don’t get me wrong, I trust Henrik with my life, but he doesn’t have the proper equipment and there are a million things that could’ve happened that he wouldn’t even notice…”
As the masked ego pauses, he hears Jack’s voice, a bit farther away than it should be, and sounding a bit… Tense. “Uh… Marv? Ya might wanna get in here....”
Marvin turns back to see that, yes, Jack has left the room, and sighs heavily before looking in the direction the other’s voice came from, into the living room, as it happens. “I’m just trying to help you, Jack. It just happened now, and what if it happens and you fall again? Except it’s somewhere we can’t help you? This could be a serious-”
“Stop with the lecturing and get your ass in here!”
Marvin jumps slightly as Jack’s voice interrupts him, laced with annoyance and shaky with nerves, and he hurries towards it, the current topic forgotten for the time being.
He’s greeted by the sight of Jack, his hands behind his head and his gaze fixed firmly ahead, and a near perfect clone of Jack across the room, a familiar cap resting on his head and a Nerf gun drawn, pointed directly at Jack’s chest. The capped Jack shifts his stance, moving to point the gun at Marvin instead, and the magician holds his hands up as soon as he feels a sharp spark of magic from the supposed toy.
“Who the hell are you two?” Chase- because this has to be Chase- grits out, looking between them suspiciously. “Where am I? What the hell is going on?”
Marvin knew Chase well enough to tell that the man was just scared, and he couldn’t blame him. He was in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people, he hardly knew who he himself was… In any other situation, Marvin would go to comfort his friend, try to jog his memory, trigger a memory perhaps. But Chase clearly knew how to use that Nerf gun, and Marvin was getting the feeling that it wasn’t just a normal toy. He wasn’t keen on finding out the difference by experiencing it.
“Easy, Chase. We’re not gonna hurt you, I promise. Just put the gun down and we’ll explain everything, okay? You’re completely safe.” Jack tries to reason with Chase, which is probably for the best, considering he may have some vague memory about Jack, like he and Henrik had. But at the same time, Chase was riled up, and that very rarely ended well…
“How do you know my name!?” Chase’s voice goes a bit shrill as he points the gun back at Jack, his hands shaking, and Marvin starts trying to gather his magic in case he actually shoots it. Maybe he could try and throw up a shield? He’d probably just end up setting something else on fire, though…
“It’s me, Chase. Jack, or some people call me Seán. Do you know me…?” Marvin mentally applauds Jack for remembering to mention who he is, the YouTuber had seemed really tired recently, it was entirely possible that Jack would completely skip over that detail. And Chase and Jack were always very close, in Marvin’s memories, so his name must ring a bell...
Sure enough, Chase falters, his gun lowering slightly, but then his stance tenses again and the weapon’s trajectory returns to Jack’s chest, as the man growls out. “No.”
Marvin’s heart sinks. While he supposed Chase really might not know Jack, it was more likely that he was simply too wound up to care, and if so, they might have a serious problem. Chase’s temper was nothing to laugh at, if he’s freaking out this much, and he doesn’t know either of them at all, it would be very, very difficult to calm him down enough to properly explain.
He searches desperately for a solution, a way out of this, or even a way to get Chase to listen, but after coming up blank for several minutes, he focuses on the man again. The best idea he can come up with for now is seeing if Chase knows his name, so it’s at least worth a shot.
But before Marvin can even say a word, Chase is lowering the weapon, falling out of his scared stance as his eyes go wide, and he’s staring next to Marvin, a little behind him, maybe. “U-uh…” Is that... Worry, in his eyes…?
Marvin follows his gaze, and jolts in place when he sees just what Chase is staring at, a sharp burst of worry flaring up in his own chest.
Jack is crying. His shoulders shaking, a hand covering his mouth to muffle his gasping little breaths, and tears rolling down his cheeks. Marvin idly wonders when this started, and how long he didn’t notice it, but, once again, he’s stopped before he can even start.
Chase slips the Nerf gun into a plastic holder on his belt and walks over to Jack, hesitantly reaching out for him, “Hey, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you…”
Jack forces a smile, though the tears show no sign of stopping. “I-I know, Chase. It's just… B-been a lot lately, I'm… Really tired, i-is all…” He looks away, trying to pull himself together.
“And me pointing my frigging’ gun at you definitely didn't help…” Chase mutters, then slowly, hesitantly, pulls the other into a hug. “Sorry, man. I do know you, b-but that's about all I can remember, so I sorta freaked out…”
“I-it's-” Jack tries to stammer out as he hugs Chase back, but Chase cuts him off mid sentence.
“Don't you dare just say it's okay, because it's not.” His voice is firm at first, but softens as he continues. “But thanks.”
Jack chuckles, his voice thick, then pulls away slowly and wipes his eyes. “A-anyway, you deserve an explanation… L-let me just get Henrik, y-you stay in here with Marvin.”
Marvin tenses as his name is said, and fiddles with his mask as Jack leaves and Chase looks at him curiously.
“Marvin, huh…? That name's… Really familiar…” Chase frowns, thoughtfully. “Do we know each other…?”
The magician cracks a sad smile, fingers ghosting over the strap of his mask before his hand falls back to his side and he looks back at their newest guest. “Yes, we do. We're… Good friends.”
“Oh…” Chase rubs the back of his neck, looking sheepish. “I’m sorry, I don’t…”
Marvin holds up a hand to stop him, his voice kind. “It’s alright, I understand. I didn’t remember anything either, at first.” He can’t help but smile, his breath hitching in his throat. “You’ll remember in time. For now, I’m just… I’m glad you’re here, Chase.”
Chase smiles back after a moment, looking a bit hopeful. “I’m glad to be here, Marvin. And I hope I remember you soon.”
After that, Jack returns, with Henrik close behind, and Marvin stays back as explanations are given to their new housemate. He can't do much else, with Chase so close and yet farther than he'd ever been. All he could do now was wait, he supposed…
He didn't have to wait long.
Just two weeks after Chase appeared, the father bursts into Marvin's room and tackles the magician in a hug, knocking them both over in the process. Marvin was frozen in surprise, and Chase was just apologizing over and over again. Thankfully, by the time Jack got up there to see what was going on, Marvin seemed to figure out that Chase remembered, and the two were hugging and laughing, happy to be reunited.
Jack shakes his head fondly at the memory of the two’s reunion, as he waits to cross the street. He’d been looking for a bigger house for sale, since his current one is a bit cramped with three egos now living with him, and he thinks that he finally found a good one. Now he he just has to make sure everyone else likes it, so he took a few pictures to show them.
The light changes, and he starts to cross, pulling himself out of his thoughts to pay attention because drivers sometimes didn't.
And then he stumbles, as his head pounds with sudden, splitting pain, and he feels like his legs turn to jelly as his vision blurs, doubles, and his head feels like it's full of water, too heavy and unbalancing him.
The screech of brakes, and the sharp blare of a horn. Screaming.
The pain and dizziness stop, just as suddenly as they began, but it's too late. The car skidding towards him on the wet road almost seems to be moving in slow motion, but Jack is frozen, his eyes slamming shut as he braces himself.
Then, something slams into his side, instead of his front, and shoves him to the ground, the thing ending up on top of him and knocking the air from his chest, as well as causing a few scrapes down his arms from the hard pavement he'd been knocked onto.
The car whizzes by, and the thing- the person, did someone just save his life?- groans, then props themselves up on their arms to let Jack breathe, their voice laced with worry, and a bit of an accent he can't quite place, but otherwise so, so familiar.
“H-hey, are you okay!?”
Jack almost doesn't open his eyes, hoping that he misheard the voice but knowing he didn't. He almost shoves the man on top of him off, scrambles up, and runs, refusing to even acknowledge who had saved him. He almost pretends to be unconscious, even, for a chance to get away. But he can't, the man would have nowhere to go. He felt… Responsible for him, just like all the others.
So instead, Jack opens his eyes and looks into the matching blues above him, surrounded by blue fabric.
“Y-yeah, I'm fine… Thanks, Jackie.”
Jackie grins, looking proud. “That’s me! Jackieboy Man, local hero! Glad I could help!” He hops to his feet, cape fluttering behind him, and reaches down to help Jack up, quietly admitting, “I don’t really know where we are, though…”
Jack gratefully takes the hand to help him stand, and glances around, making sure no one’s recognized Jackie, as he gives a brief explanation. “We’re in Brighton, England. The UK. Let me take you to my place, and I’ll explain everything, and we’ll eat some cookies. Sound good?”
The hero grins, bouncing slightly in place. “I’ll never say no to cookies!”
Jack can’t help but grin back. He had actually been kind of hoping Jackie would show up, since he’d accepted that the others probably would. And the hero saved his life on top of it, so he really can’t complain.
As they make their way to Jack’s home- after escaping the worried people that had crowded around them- Jack tries to figure out what had happened. He was just crossing the street, and he got hit with another one of those weird dizzy spells and headache…
And then Jackie showed up, right as it left.
Jack stops in his tracks, feeling like everything just suddenly clicked into place.
When Henrik showed up, on that very first day, Jack had gotten a dizzy spell, and brief headache. But it happened right as he stood up so he just kind of figured he needed some water or something.
He got a dizzy spell and headache two months later and fell down the stairs because of it, waking up to discover that Marvin had appeared, and helped Jack when he discovered him at the bottom of the stairs almost immediately after he fell.
He got a dizzy spell and headache, and then entered another room to discover Chase, newly-appeared and jumpy.
He got a dizzy spell and headache, and Jackie was suddenly there, saving his life.
Jackie stops, and looks back at Jack, confused as to why he stopped.
“Hey, you okay? You didn’t hit your head or anything, right?”
“...Every time…” Jack doesn’t hear Jackie, lost in his own thoughts. “Every time I got dizzy, one of them showed up, how did I never…?”
The hero waves a hand in front of the YouTuber’s face. “Hello? You still in there?”
“I’m so stupid!”
Jack’s sudden outburst causes Jackie to scramble back, a yelp of shock tearing out of his throat. He hardly has time to recover as Jack grips his suit, grinning.
“Of course it’s connected to me, you guys are connected to me! You’re my egos! Why didn’t I think of the fact that I’d have some reaction…?”
“U-uh…” The hero stammers, wondering if he should feel assaulted. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about…?”
The other laughs, and lets go of him. “Right, yeah, sorry. I’ll explain at home, I need to tell Marvin about this…!”
He grips Jackie’s hand, “C’mon, this way!” and starts running, pulling his ego along with him. Jack feels more sure of this than he has of anything in a long time, and maybe this will help them figure out just how his egos are all appearing…
He just needs a chance to prove it.
And a month later, he gets that chance.
Jackie was adjusting well, though it could be a bit of a challenge to make him stay in the house and not go traipsing around trying to help people. He and Henrik also seemed to know each other well, though Jack was kind of afraid to ask about it.
They’re unpacking, as they had finally moved to a bigger place the week before, and everything was still a mess, but the place was slowly becoming home. Jack explained his move to his viewers as best as he could, tip-toeing around the truth and not really revealing how big his new house really was, and they seemed to believe it.
Jack had just put down a box, and turned to grab the scissors to open it, when his head pounds, and his vision blurs, causing him to stumble and fall against Chase, nearly knocking them both over.
Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at him in alarm, and Chase holds Jack up, eyes wide. “Hey, hey, easy. Take a deep breath, man, we don’t need you getting hurt...”
The pain disappears like it always does, and as soon as his vision snaps back into focus, Jack pushes away from Chase and looks around, a little tense.
“....Jameson? Jameson Jackson?”
It’s silent, with everyone holding their breath, to see if Jack’s theory was actually right. But after a few, long moments, Jack’s shoulders slump in disappointment. “Damn it, I really thought…”
And then there’s a quiet knocking sound, before Marvin gasps softly, and Chase nudges Jack to turn.
He looks towards the sound, and can’t help a grin, seeing the man peeking out around the doorway, his fist paused right above the wood. Jack steps closer to greet him, holding out his hand.
“Hello, Jameson. My name is Jack. Welcome to our home.”
The newest ego blinks at him in surprise, then smiles, and tips his hat before taking Jack’s hand to shake it.
Chase laughs, and crosses his arms, a grin spreading across his own face. “What d’ya know, you were right… It’s nice to see you, Jamie! Welcome to the chaos.”
Jack steps back so the others can welcome their newest housemate, in their own ways, and he smiles, glad that he at least has some idea of what to expect. But he can’t stop the worry clawing at his gut.
Because he has six egos. The first five appeared in a seemingly random order, and now… There was only one left.
Jack only hopes that the eventual arrival of his darker side won’t spell an end to their happy days.