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Chapter Text

Everything hurt. It felt like even something as simple as breathing hurt. Jack could feel himself slowly losing control of his own mind as Rezzoch buried herself further into his consciousness.

    “Jack!” A voice called beside him. Quint.

    Jack, as much as it hurt, turned his head towards his friend. Quint’s face was full of nothing but horror. And he couldn’t blame him with the situation they were in right now. Your best friend being in the process of being possessed by an ancient spirt wanting nothing more than to destroy the planet as her desired host struggles against her. He would react the same if not worse.

     Quint rushed to Jack’s side, gripping his hand. Jack flinched, feeling the urge to cry out in pain.

    “Jack you have to fight her!” Quint told his friend.

    Jack gritted his teeth, “I don’t think I.. can” Jack said between gasps, the pain becoming more severe.

     Quint desperately looked around, trying to see if anything could be of use to help his friend, but it was hopeless. Jack felt his eyes watering as the pain became worse. He barely noticed when all his friends rushed to his side.

    Dirk was giving him a concerned look. Quint looked horrified. And June looked hopeless.

    “You have to fight her, Jack!” Quint yelled at him

    “How?” Jack shouted back, “I-I can’t do anything! Everything hurts, and she’s already in my mind!”

    Before Quint could answer, Jack was hit by a sharper, new wave of pain. Jack cried out. It felt like someone had just stabbed every possible part of his body and then set him on fire.

    His friends shared horrified looks.

    “Jack, please!” June shouted, “You have power here!”

    “Yea, man!” Dirk added.

    “I can’t,” Jack said, “She’s too powerful, I can already feel her taking over, just go!”

    “We’re not leaving you!” June shouted back at him.

    Jack tried to retort, but a loud ringing filled his head causing him to draw in a sharp breath.

    “It’s useless..” Rezzoch told him, from presumably inside his head, “I’m already in your head Sullivan, your body belongs to me now.”

    Jack couldn’t even speak it hurt so bad. And he felt something grasping his scarred wrist, and he looked down to see it was one of Rezzoch’s blue tentacle wisp thingies she’d used to hold him up when she’d begun the process.

    Jack yelped as more latched onto him, one on each limb. His friends desperately tried to pull them off of him, but it was no use.

    “Just go!” Jack begged them, “It’s already too late! Just please go! I don’t want any of you getting hurt, please!”

    “We’re not going to leave you!” Quint shouted back at him.

    Against Quint’s wishes, the three of them started being pulled away from Jack.

    “Bardle’s trying to pull us out!” June shouted.

    “Wha- no! Jack!” Quint cried, trying to fight against the force.

    Jack could just watch as his friends were pulled out of his head, leaving him alone. With Rezzoch.

    “Jack!” Quint shouted.

    Rezzoch cackled, her goal achieved. Jack felt sick. He didn’t have time to process anything before more wisps latched onto his body and he was flung out of the dreamscape and back into his body. He immediately collapsed to all fours. Jack groaned. His entire body ached but at least it was better than the horrid pain he’d experienced in the dreamscape.

    Was he okay? Did Rezzoch’s possession somehow fail last minute? A pain in his scarred wrist immediately caught his attention. His arm was still glowing. Jacks heart dropped.

    He felt a burning pain throughout his entire body and he cried out for what felt like the hundredth time tonight. He could feel his body changing but he couldn’t quite tell what was happening, most of the changes seemed to be to his face.

    Before long, Jack was pushed out of control of his own body and everything went dark.

   Quint could just watch in horror as he saw his best friend being taken over by Rezzoch. But suddenly, he stopped moving, and he stood up. Then a quiet giggle filled the room.

    “That’s not Jack anymore..” Dirk muttered.

    Jack turned around, revealing that his eyes were now glowing blue, and he had teal glowing streaks running down from his eyes to the bottom of his face, almost looking like tear streaks. His arm with the scar was also glowing, and his veins were visible, glowing brighter than the rest of his arm. He had a smile that looked too wide for any normal human to make plastered on his face.

    Jack giggled again, his voice a mix of his own and Rezzoch’s, “Oh it’s so funny seeing your terrified faces, I’ll make this quick, don’t worry.”

    As soon as Rezzoch was done speaking, a vine shot out of the ground, heading straight towards Bardle, but Skaelka lept in front of him and sliced the vine with her axe.

   Dirk grabbed Quint and dragged him out of the store, and the others followed. Quint could barely process everything. Jack, his best friend, possessed by an ancient spirit. This wasn’t real right? Surely he’d wake up any minute now.

    “Quint!” June called, “What are you doing? Get in the car!”

    Quint snapped out of whatever trance he was in and jumped into the back seat of the car right next to Skaelka, making sure he was buckled. Like he always said, safety was always important.

    Dirk, in the drivers seat, immediately drove off as fast as he could. Quint looked behind them and could just see Jack sitting on the roof of the comic book store, staring.

    The car was full of discussion of what to do, but Quint faded into the background. He felt like crying but he also felt too numb to. He just, stared.

    It almost didn’t feel real. It felt like Jack was just off somewhere, probably out on a supply run and getting side tracked. Quint stared out the window as the discourse around him continued.

   
    Rezzoch stared out at mostly abandoned town before her. She felt very content with herself tonight. These kids had been such a thorn in her side lately, and with one of their friends misplaced like this, she was sure they’d be extra vulnerable.

    Soon enough she’d be rid of these kids. And soon enough she’d bring her physical form here, and wouldn’t have the need to borrow a body from anyone else. But in the meantime, Jack’s body would do nicely.

     The King Wretch had been a great host, but she was sure Jack would be an even better one. She’d seen Jack in action before, he’d taken down Kerzueal, one of her finest servants. And he’d stopped Thrull from bringing her physical form to Earth, only temporarily though. Since now that Jack and his friends were out of the way, bringing herself here should be rather easy. She’d just have to do everything right.

    Rezzoch stood up and stretched, Jack’s body may be smaller than the King Wretch’s, but it’d still work. She didn’t want to risk mutating his size as when she’d done that with the King Wretch it’d caused its body to decay, and she didn’t want that.

     She still had more strength and agility than an average human though, and of course the glowing body parts.

     Rezzoch climbed back into the comic book store, deciding to wait out the night before striking. It’d be more satisfying to have the humans fear and worry settle instead of killing then immediately.

     The King Wretch was still in the comic book store, although it wasn’t moving. Rezzoch assumed it was dead, Jack had probably given it a fatal injury with that stomach wound. Yet another reason she was impressed by him.

      Rezzoch looked up at the night sky through the hole in the roof she’d made when she was in the King Wretch. Earth’s night sky was beautiful. She never really paid that much attention to it. After all, Earth to her was just another planet to conquer. Soon she’d have Earth conquered. Tonight was just one of the first steps in her plan. Tomorrow would be her next.

Chapter Text

Jack slowly opened his eyes. He expected to be in his bed back at the treehouse. He’d get up and Quint would probably be up making breakfast for himself and he’d ask Jack if he wanted some. But that was not where he woke up. Instead he woke up on a hard cold floor.

    Jack sat up slowly. He was in a huge white room. There was no decoration or anything really. Just a large white box.

    Where was he?

    Jack started to stand up but something caught his eye. He looked down at his wrist and to his horror he discovered that there was a blue wisp tethered to it.

Jack gasped. The wisp was literally coming out of his scar.

     His scar.

     Suddenly everything came flooding back to Jack. The dreamscape, the visions, the radio. Rezzoch. Jack could feel her presence now that he payed attention to it. And god she was powerful. He felt a pit in his stomach begin to form as everything sank in. He was possessed by Rezzoch. He had no control over his own body and Rezzoch would likely use it to destroy the planet.

     Jack could start to feel like his heart was beating out of his chest, the thought of Rezzoch hurting any one of his friends made him sick. And even worse that she’d be hurting them with his body. If Jack could throw up in whatever space he was in, he probably would’ve.

     Jack had to sit back down as it seemed to be getting hard to breathe. He didn’t get that long of a moment to himself though because soon enough, he heard Rezzoch’s voice.

     “Oh Jack.. it’s quite amusing seeing you so helpless.” 

     Jack froze. Words couldn’t describe how horrified he was. Being in the dreamscape when Rezzoch was attempting to possess him was scary enough, but at least he had his friends with him to make him feel a bit less terrified. But now he was alone, alone with the being that wanted to destroy Earth and likely kill him and his friends.

     “Where am I?” Jack said without thinking.

    “What? Don’t recognize your own head?” Rezzoch replied.

    “What?” Jack mumbled.

    “You’re in your head Sullivan. As much as I wish I could I can’t just force you entirely out of your body. So I just.. sidelined you.”

     Jack could feel himself beginning to get queasy again. He didn’t like the idea of being “sidelined” at all.

     “Your body belongs to me now. For as long as I need,” Rezzoch started again, “Although I don’t think you’ll be needing it back.”

    “What..?”

    “Oh don’t mind that, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise..” Rezzoch giggled. And then she was gone.

     What did she mean? Was she going to kill him? Was she going to just leave him trapped in his head. Was that possible? Could she leave his body and he’d still be trapped back here? Never to control his body again? Never to see his friends again?

     Jack felt tears welling up in his eyes when he thought about his friends. He desperately wished they were here. He was terrified. His friends always seemed to make things better. Hell when Rezzoch was in his head and they were all trapped he felt confident that they’d win. Guess he was wrong..

     Jack didn’t even try to hold back the tears. He didn’t care if Rezzoch saw, he couldn’t hold it in. His friends meant the world to him and now they could all die because of him. If he’d just told everyone sooner then this all could’ve been avoided. Bardle probably could’ve helped ward off Rezzoch before it was too late. But no. He had to be a coward and hide it.

    Jack thought back to the night they spent at Funland. He wasn’t sure how long ago it was, he couldn’t see anything from the outside world from in here. At least that day was fun, if it was his last day he’d get to spend with his best friends in the whole world than it was probably the best way he could’ve spent it. Well, besides his freak-out about the radio and getting kidnapped by the King Wretch..

     Wait, no. Stop thinking so negative! He was going to get out of this. Surely. He didn’t quite know how yet but he had hope. Surely his friends would know what to do..

   
    They had no idea what to do. They made it back to Joe’s and immediately everyone started arguing. June was terrified for Jack. She could only imagine the horrors he was facing right now.

    “We need to work on saving him!” June said.

     “Right now we are a likely a huge target for Rezzoch. And she knows our exact location,” Bardle began, “I believe it would be best for us to relocate for now.”

     “Relocate?” June shouted, “Jack is in trouble! We can’t just leave him!”

    “We are not abandoning your friend, we just need time to figure out a plan,” Bardle told her.

     “Yea I believe the big dude,” Dirk chimed in, “Rezzoch knows exactly where we are, and she’s got Jack. We don’t wanna risk hurting the dude.”

    “Your friend is correct,” Bardle said, “Rezzoch will likely use the fact that she’s in Jack’s body to her advantage. She knows you won’t want to hurt him. So it would be easy for her to attack us.”

     June didn’t know what to say. Deep down she knew they were right, but part of her just felt wrong leaving. It felt like they were abandoning Jack, leaving him with Rezzoch. June hadn’t been tangled up with Rezzoch as much as Jack had been but from what she’s seen she was horrifying. The thought of Rezzoch in her friend’s body made her sick. She just wanted to help Jack as soon as possible.

     “I-“ June tried, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She just frowned and ran towards the treehouse.

    June climbed the ladder into her room and immediately dove into her bed. She buried herself under the covers. She wanted nothing more than to be left alone right now.

     She understood that leaving Wakefield was the safest option, but she couldn’t fathom leaving Jack behind. Especially in his current state. She’d seen the King Wretch, Jack being puppeted like that.. she didn’t think she could handle it.

     A part of her felt guilty. They’d been given a chance to save Jack and they blew it. Jack was in danger right now because of them.

    June blindly grabbed one of the plushies on her bed and clutched it to her chest. She’d unknowingly grabbed one Jack had given her a month or two prior. It was a plushie of a little pink cat. She still remembered his stupid face when he’d given it to her. It was very obvious he liked her, the entire gang knew it. She’d caught herself thinking if she’d felt the same once or twice, but those were feelings she preferred to keep buried, and that was not going to change tonight.

     So June just clutched the plushie to her chest, and before long, she’d fallen asleep.

    
    As soon as they got back to the treehouse, Quint immediately left Big Mama and went straight up to his room. No one seemed to notice. They were too busy arguing on what to do. Quint didn’t even feel like he could speak even if he wanted to. Perhaps his mind was still in shock.

     Quint immediately laid down on his bed, he looked towards his wall and saw some of the comics he and Jack had made together. He immediately took his eyes off them but it was too late.

      Images of Jack filled his mind. Memories of good times they’d had before and after the apocalypse. Quint pulled a blanket over his head as he tried to think of something else but it was nearly impossible.

     Jack was his best friend, his first best friend in fact. If it weren’t for him.. he didn’t even know if he would’ve survived the apocalypse this long..

      Quint thought back to a few hours ago, on how Jack had freaked out about the radio and their families. They re-assured him that he wouldn’t be alone again as long as they had each other. But now.. Jack was alone. Dealing with a problem bigger than all of them all by himself.

     Surely Quint would think of something, he was the smart one after all! Maybe some invention to communicate to Jack? He knew that Bardle could mess with souls and stuff, maybe he could help him come up with something?

     With that tiny spark of hope, Quint felt a tad bit better. Sure he was still scared and there was a huge pit in his stomach, but he had hope that they would all make it through this, and that they could save Jack and things could go back to normal.

      Dirk was sitting in Big Mama. He didn’t know why he was in the car, it just felt odd to go into the treehouse at the moment. He knew that June and Quint were up there and they were probably both a mess. Dirk felt hollow but he couldn’t allow himself to cry. Maybe a part of him still held onto the bully persona he had before the apocalypse. It was rare he let any emotion show, especially around other people.

      Dirk thought back to what Bardle had said. He had suggested leaving Wakefield until they had figured out a plan. Dirk agreed with him, with Rezzoch in Jack’s body it would be difficult to hold her off. Dirk knew himself that he couldn’t fight him, even it was Rezzoch controlling him, it was still Jack. And that was Jack’s body, if they ever wanted Jack to go back to normal then they wouldn’t want to hurt him, they could kill him if they weren’t careful enough.

     Rezzoch would probably move on to another host if that happened, maybe another wretch, or maybe even one of them.. Dirk shuddered at the thought. He didn’t not need some inter-dimensional space freak controlling his body that’s for sure.

      If they ever wanted to live far into the future, they’d have to succeed in getting Jack back. If Quint and June wanted to see their families again they’d have to succeed. Dirk wasn’t quite sure if he’d see his family again. His mom died before the apocalypse began and he was sure his old man wouldn’t have survived this long. The day the apocalypse started his home was empty, his dad was gone. Dirk wondered sometimes if he was one of the zombies that the Tree of Entry sucked the brains out of.

     Dirk’s mind went back to Jack. He would not let another loved one be killed because of Rezzoch. They had to get him back. Their strange post apocalyptic found family thing or whatever Jack called it would never be the same if they didn’t.

      Dirk leaned back in the front seat of Big Mama and looked towards Joe’s Pizza. Surely Bardle would have some sort of plan. They’d all devise a plan on how they’d fix all of this and everything would be okay. It had to be.

Chapter Text

June woke up rather late. It appeared to be almost 4 PM. It made sense though, she had been up til 3 last night. She sat up and then realized she was still holding the pink cat plush from the previous night. A wave of emotions immediately came over her and she tossed the plush into the corner of her room.

    She brought her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knees, her mind filled with images of Jack. The image of his current appearance, all glowy and blue, kept appearing in her mind. She shook her head, as if it would somehow make the memory leave her brain.

    But alas, it stayed. She felt her eyes well up with tears but she wiped them away. The last time she had cried for anyone like this was when she’d last seen her parents. That day she nearly walked straight into a zombie because she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings, only her parents and where they were. She’d almost gotten zombified.

    She slowly sat up and got out of her bed. The first thing she realized was her hunger. So after a quick pit stop to the kitchen and one granola bar later, she found herself on the treehouses porch.

    She sat down in one of the lawn chairs they had up there. She stared down at the town square. The monsters were acting off, perhaps Bardle had informed them about.. Jack. A few of them seemed to be talking, others just standing around looking worried.

     She spotted Bardle and Quint and decided she should go down to meet with them. Maybe it’d get her mind of Jack.

    So she descended the ladder of the treehouse and made her way towards her friends.

    Quint turned, noticing her, “Oh, hey June.” His voice was soft and quiet, she’d never seen him like this since he’d been working on the radio. She felt a small pang of guilt remembering how she’d treated him then, but she brushed the thought away.

    “Hey..” She replied, “So.. how’d you sleep?” She fumbled for something to ask, she normally wasn’t like this, but with everything that had just happened to them, she wasn’t sure exactly what to say. A part of her wanted to ask if they’d come up with a plan to save Jack yet, if they knew what they were going to do, but another part of her didn’t want to bring up the topic, she knew what it could cause.

    “Good, I guess,” Quint shrugged.

    June frowned. She hated seeing her friend this way. She also hated the way she felt around them. It felt like there was some weird tension in the air.

    Before she could say anything else, a cry caught her attention. A monsters cry. Junes head snapped towards the source of the sound.

    Before she can investigate, a vine thingy shot out of the ground and propelled her into the air. June cried out, struggling against the vine. She turned to see Quint was also tangled, but she had no idea where Bardle had gone. Similar vines pinned or grabbed the monsters around the square.

     June continued struggling against the vine, trying to find a loose section she could use to free herself, but it was no use. A small chuckle made her heart stop.

    In the distance, stood Jack. June froze and she felt a bit sweaty. Jack, one of her best friends, in that state in front of her. She felt a strong desire to flee or run away, but she couldn’t. Mostly because of the giant vine holding her in place, but because she literally felt like she couldn’t.

    Out of fight or flight, her body chose freeze. A part of her couldn’t bring herself to turn and run when it was absolutely the most logical thing to do.

     June looked in Quint’s direction and he gave her an equally terrified look.

    Jack giggled again, “You four kids have been such a thorn in my side lately,” he walked closer to them, and his and June’s eyes locked which caused her extreme discomfort. His eyes were glowing.

    “But now..” The vines tightened around June’s body and one slithered up her face, covering her mouth, “I can finally get rid of you.”

    June kept trying to fight against the vines, the one covering her mouth making it impossible to scream for help. Where was Dirk? Where was Bardle??

  She looked down at Jack once more, and he gave her a terrifyingly wide grin. “Oh don’t worry,” He started, “When this is all over I’ll make sure Jack joins you.”

    June’s eyes widened at the statement, and she wanted to rip the vine off her mouth and retort. So instead, she screamed as loudly as she could, to try to alert anyone who could help her or Quint.

    Quint noticed what she was doing and started screaming aswell.

    Jack looked up at them and rolled his eyes, “Pathetic,” He said, this time just in Rezzoch’s voice.

    As June felt as if her bones were about to shatter, a magical blast hit Jack and her and Quint were released. June took a second to recollect herself, she did just fall a few feet after all. She then noticed Bardle, standing to the right.

    Jack glared at him, and Bardle glared back. Something in his eyes flashed, and he scowled and fled.

    “Are you two alright?” Bardle asked.

    “Yea..” Quint said softly.

    June did not respond. She just stared. She felt sort of out of it.

    “June?” Quint asked, “Are you alright?”

   “I, uh,” June said, being pulled back to reality, “Yea I’m good.”

    “Are you sure..?” Quint said, seeming a bit hesitant.

    “Mhm.”

    There’s was a long uncomfortable silence until someone spoke again.

    “It appears I was correct about Rezzoch,” Bardle started, “She knows our location, and will use that along with the fact that she’s taken over Jack to her advantage to destroy us. And then Earth will be hers.”

    “What do we do?” Quint asked.

    “What I suggested the previous night,” Bardle answered, “Relocate.”

    Every instinct June had screamed at her that they shouldn’t. Jack would be all alone..

    “What about Jack..?” June reluctantly asked.

   Bardle turned towards the direction Rezzoch had run off in, “We will get your friend back with time.”

    “But how much time?” June pushed, starting to feel a bit irritated, and it showed in her voice.

    “I am not quite sure,” Bardle answered, “All I know is that one must have patience in these kinds of situations.”

    June felt her temper flare. They had to have “patience” while their friend was suffering? How long would they have to sit and wait around for? How long would Jack have to be stuck in his own body for? Stuck with that thing?

    June felt a hand rest on her shoulder and turned to see Quint. He gave her a small smile, although June could see the pained expression he was trying to hide. She knew this was hard on all of them. She knew Quint  must be feeling just as horrible as she was, if not worse.

    “I think he’s right June,” Quint said.

    “What?” June said, absolutely dumbfounded. Quint was Jack’s best friend. And he was just willing to pack up and leave?

    “But, Jack!” June protested, “He’s out there by himself we can’t just leave him!”

    “Do you think I want to?” Quint raised his voice, “Do you not know that this hurts for me too?”

    “I-“

    “Do you know how scared for him I am? Horribly! But am I letting that hold me back from making the most logical decision?”

    “I thought he was your best friend!” June retaliated, but immediately regretted the words and covered her mouth.

    Quint frowned, “Yes, he is. Which is why I’m making the choice that can get him and us out of this mess.” Then he turned and walked away from her, leaving June in defeat.

    “What was that about?” Jack asked Rezzoch. He’d seen the entire thing. After a little while, a sort of window opened up in whatever space he was trapped in, and he was able to see exactly what Rezzoch was doing in his body.

    “Just trying to get rid of a rather annoying.. issue..” Rezzoch replied.

   “If you touch any of them-“

   “And what are you gonna do? You’re powerless, Sullivan.”

    Jack opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. She was right, he was powerless here.

    “Please..” He started, “Just don’t hurt them, they’re all I have..”

    “And why should that matter to me?” Rezzoch questioned, “If anything that’s just more information I could use to bend you to my will.”

    Jack felt regret for what he had said. Did he really think that he could reason with her? Did he really think he could be vulnerable with her? Stupid..

    “I’ll do whatever I want, no matter who or what gets in my way,” Rezzoch said.

    Jack didn’t respond. His entire body was almost tingling from anxiety. He had a strong urge to flee, but because of his circumstance, he couldn’t. He was stuck with her unless he somehow found a way to regain control. He didn’t even know how he’d do that. He’d probably need help from his friends or Bardle. But what if they didn’t know either? He might never be able to free himself.

    The thought sent a bolt of anxiety through him, he felt physically sick. He could feel Rezzoch’s amusement. He hated it. He hated feeling like he was just entertainment to her. She thrived off of his pain. He tried to calm himself down, think a little more positively.. surely there’d be a solution to this.. he might just have to hold on until his friends maybe figured something out. He’d just have to stay strong.

    That cooled his nerves a little bit, and best of all, didn’t give Rezzoch the pleasure she wanted. He’d just need to keep this up. Just like that. He’d just need to stay strong. For them.

Chapter Text

The next day, June was informed by Bardle that they needed supplies for the move. She still wasn’t fond of the idea, but she didn’t want to start another fight with Quint..

    She felt awful about yesterday. The things she’d said to Quint were horrible. She’d always had trouble controlling her temper, she’d lost friends in the past because of it in fact. She couldn’t afford to lose friends over it now. They were in the middle of an apocalypse, and Dirk, Quint, and.. Jack, were the only humans she’d seen for months. She needed as many group members as possible.

    And right now they were down one.. conflict was the worse possible thing they could have. But they were going to get Jack back, she was sure of it. But right now she just had to focus on making sure her other relationships stayed intact.

    She’d been avoiding Quint the entire morning, and she could tell he was avoiding her aswell. Maybe they just needed a little time away from each other, and then they’d talk things out.

    Bardle had told her to run down to a store to get food and other supplies, so that was how she was going to spend her afternoon. She made sure to bring her spear and walkie with her just in case anything came up, like a monster or zombie attack. She intended to make this quick though, and be as careful as possible.

     She took Rover down to a nearby grocery store. Rover seemed to be a little down lately, he wasn’t the only one who’d felt Jack’s absence. Normally Jack would be the one riding Rover, June rarely did. She normally took Big Mama or a more recent example, her boom kart. But Dirk was getting Big Mama ready for the move and her boom kart was a bit broken down.

    Once she arrived at the grocery store, she hopped off Rover.

    “Stay here, boy,” She told him, “I’ll call if I need you.”

    Rover obliged, lying down at the stores entrance.

    June took a deep breath and unsheathed her spear. She was going to do a quick look around the store to make sure there weren’t any monsters or zombies that would surprise her.

    She found nothing so she grabbed a basket from the self-checkout area and began searching for the items Bardle requested. He’d been rather vague about what he wanted, just saying that she should get things like food and medicine, so June grabbed anything that looked like it could be useful. She grabbed some snacks and canned foods that would last quite a bit, and she popped by the medicine isle to get some pain killers and other various medicines that she thought could come in handy.

    As she was walking down the home appliances isle, she heard something. It sounded like… rustling? She set down her basket and unsheathed her spear once more and looked around. She didn’t see any monster anywhere.

    She heard the noise again, and she realized it sounded like it was coming from above her. She slowly looked up, and saw something perched on the ceiling. She squinted her eyes, and they widened in shock as she realized what it was. Who it was.

    Jack lept down onto her, and attempted to wrestle the spear out of her arms. June cried out, mostly out of surprise.

    “Rover!” She called out, hoping the blue oversized puppy would hear her desperate cries for help and come to her rescue.

    “He can’t hear you..” Jack spoke. The way his voice was mixed with Rezzoch never failed to unsettle June.

    “Get off me!” June shouted, to which she only got a grin.

    June managed to kick at his legs and push him off of her, but he quickly recovered. She advanced onto her friend, making sure not to hurt him. She backed him into a corner and got to idea to just strike him in the back of his head with her spear just hard to knock him unconscious.

    But just as she was about to, Jack’s form changed to look.. normal. His skin wasn’t all glowy, his eyes were normal, and his voice..

    “June what are you doing?” Jack questioned, his voice sounded normal. No weird mixture of his and Rezzoch’s.

    June froze, unsure of what to do.

    “Why are you trying to hurt me? Did- did I do something wrong? I’m sorry, what did I do wrong?”

    June couldn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say, was this another one of Rezzoch’s tricks, or was it actually Jack?

    “Please don’t hurt me..” Jack said, backing himself further into the corner. “I didn’t mean to attack you.”

    June lowered her spear, a part of her believed that Jack was somehow able to fight Rezzoch off, but another was unsure.

    Once Jack noticed that her spear was lowered, a grin flashed across his face, and before June could react, she felt a stinging pain across her leg where a vine had shot of the ground and pierced her leg.

    June yelped and immediately removed the vine, her leg throbbed. Jack chuckled at her, this time Rezzoch’s voice returning.

    He slowly advanced on her, staring right into her soul with those awful glowing eyes. June tried to run away, but her leg collapsed under her, and she fell to the ground.

    Rezzoch took her chance and lunged towards her. June grabbed a bucket on the shelf next to her, and hurled it towards Jack, knocking him backward and giving her just enough time to pick herself up and dash towards the exit.

    Her leg protested, but she kept running like her life depended on it, mostly because it did.

    “Rover, get up!” She said when she reached her monster friend who responded by quickly raising his head.

    June climbed into the saddle Quint had installed onto Rover’s back months ago just as she heard glass shattering behind her. She turned to investigate and found that Jack had broken through one of the shops windows.

    “Let’s go Rover!” June shouted to the oversized dog who was staring at his friend.

     “He’ll be okay Rover,” June attempted to try to get him moving, “We’ll get him back.”

    That seemed to reassure Rover as he turned and started heading back to the town square. June looked behind her to just see Jack standing there. Staring. It was unnerving, but June didn’t dare take her eyes off him. She felt as if she turned away he’d come at her again.

    It was then that she realized she’d left her basket in the store. June let out an audible groan. There was no way she was going back to get it, Rezzoch could be lurking, waiting for her to come back so she could could strike.

    She decides she’ll just have to come back to another store another time, or have Quint or Dirk go instead. She sets her eyes on the street in front of her, the only thing on her mind being making it home, and Jack.

Chapter Text

“Why won’t you leave them alone?” Jack shouts.

    “Why would I?” Rezzoch responds, “They also keep getting my way, do you know what a thorn in my side you vermin are?”

    Jack bites his lip, “But you already have me! What’s the point of going after them?”

    “To prevent any… interferences..”

    Before Jack can open his mouth, one of Rezzoch’s weird blue wisp thingies wraps around it.

    “I think that’s enough from you,” Rezzoch speaks, “I’ll do anything I want, this dimension will be mine in the end, and if anyone tries to get in my way I’ll do whatever I see fit.”

     Jack manages the pry the wisp off him, “Wait! I’ll do anything please don’t hurt the-“

    “Silence,” Rezzoch interrupts, “I think I need a break from you, and I think you need some time by yourself.”

    Before Jack can question her, the room he’s in shifts, knocking Jack to the ground, and the weird window-like thing allowing him to see the outside world vanishes, and the lighting dims. After a few moments pass, the room stops shifting. He gets back up and calls out, but Rezzoch is gone. He’s seemingly alone.

    He doesn’t know whether to be relieved or horrified at the fact. He sits in the corner of the room and rests his head on his knees, yet again feeling the urge to cry. But he doesn’t. He’s always felt weak crying even when he’s completely alone. Many of his foster parents drilled that into him with their “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about” or just resulting to locking him in his room or even physically hurting him. Even when he’s completely alone he can’t help but judge himself, or imagine what other people would think of him if they saw him like this.

   He lifts his head, and as he does,

something catches his eye. Something on the wall, it looks like it’s… sparkling?

    Jack rises to his feet and walks over the strange spot on the wall, and as he reaches it, his breath nearly stops once he realizes what it is.

    It’s a hole.

    The hole was maybe as big as his hand. The outline looking a silver color, emitting a soft glow.

    Maybe as the room he was in was shifting and turning, it broke somehow?

    ‘Like a video game glitch,’ He thought to himself.

    He lowers his face towards the hole and peaks out of it, trying to see what could be on the outside. He isn’t met with much, he can’t quite make out what’s on the other side. Maybe the hole’s too small.

   He reaches his hand into the hole out of curiosity, wondering what it’d do. He pushes on the edges, and to his surprise, it expands.

    He pries at it desperately, his mind racing as to what this could be or where it could lead. Could it be an escape? An exit? A way to take control back from Rezzoch? He hopes that any of those are true.

    He manages to pry it open just wide enough so that he can squeeze through. He peeks his head out of the hole to look around, and what he’s met with confuses him.

    It looks like some kind of field, with a few dead trees and shrubs. It’s mostly barren though. The sky is a pale purple, similar to how it was in the nightmare-scape. A bit of fog is present aswell, that also a pale purple. There’s an eerie feeling over the entire place, it almost looks haunted.

    After a few moments of taking in the sight, he cautiously steps out. He looks around, unsure of where he should go or if he even should. What if it’s just an endless landscape? What if he got lost?

    Jack shudders at the thought. If he got lost in here he’s unsure if he’d ever find his way back. He’d be trapped in what felt like oblivion.

    After taking a deep breath, he decides to just walk straight ahead. As he takes a few steps, he realizes the blue wisp thingy literally embedded into his wisp was trailing behind him like a rope.

    ‘Maybe that’ll help so I don’t get lost’ He thinks to himself. He wonders how far it’ll go out though.

    He decides to push that thought aside for now, and he continues to walk. After a few minutes he starts wondering if he’d even find anything, if this would even be worth it. What if this place is just a placeholder for what once was the nightmarescape?

    Right before he’s about to turn back, he notices something. Something in the distance. It looks like… a building..? He starts running towards it, curiosity filling his mind. Once he gets close enough, he realizes it looks like the lighthouse in Wakefield.

    But why would that be here?

    Curiously, Jack slowly opens the door to the lighthouse and peaks inside. It looks rather normal, or well, as normal as it can look in here. It still has a dead and eerie atmosphere inside, and it looks more purple than usual.

    He creaks the door open a little more and steps inside, wondering if he’d could find anything. He honestly didn’t think he could, but he was desperate.

   His eyes drift towards the elevator in the center of the room, and the memory of him and Quint frantically trying to raise the elevator before they got eaten alive came back to him, and then the conversation they shared. A pit in his stomach formed as he thought more about it. He sure hoped Quint was doing alright, he knew he’d be a mess if Quint was the one in his situation.

    But, unlike Jack, Quint was smart, a literal genius in fact. Surely he’s thought of something, or at the very least is actively thinking of something…

    He pushes those thoughts to the side. His friends will be fine without him for a little while, he’ll find his way out of this. He has to.

    After a bit of searching throughout the lighthouse for anything that could be helpful, Jack ultimately determines it useless. He climbs to the top of the lighthouse to try and get a higher view of the barren landscape.

    He rests his arms on the railing and just, thinks. Even with the terrifying situation he’s in right now, he can’t help but feel a little peaceful up here. There seems to be a slight breeze which he doesn’t even begin the question where it could possibly be coming from, and it blew through his hair a bit. He’s always liked the feeling of the wind blowing through his hair, it always made him feel peaceful. It was soothing.

    He closes his eyes for a few moments, feeling the most at peace he’s been since that night before… everything. He opens his eyes again, and notices something in the corner of his eye. It looks like… another building?

    He squints his eyes a little, and he can make it out to be what looks like the school? He rubs his eyes, wondering if he’s seeing things, but when he opens them it’s still there.

    He quickly rushes down to the bottom of the lighthouse, but as he makes it out the door, he feels a tugging sensation in his wrist. He looks down, and the wisp in his left wrist, it almost feels like it’s burning.

    Before he can get a proper chance to react, he’s being dragged. It’s so sudden he falls to the ground, and he tries to grab onto anything he can. But there’s nothing, it’s just grass. He doesn’t even get the luxury of a root or small plant to hang onto.

    He desperately tries to cling onto anything the entire time he’s being dragged, but nothing works, and soon, he’s back to the desolate white room. With her.

Chapter Text

    June makes it back the town square shortly after her encounter with Jack. The sun is slowly starting to set, and the town square is empty with the exception of Dirk sitting on one of the benches, re-tying the bandages he wore around his wrists. Dirk sees her coming and goes to greet her.

    “Where’s the stuff Bardle sent you out to get?” He asks her, having noticed her obvious lack of any supplies.

    June slides off Rover, wincing a little when she lands on her injured leg. Before she can answer his first question, Dirk hits her with another “Woah, what happened? Are you alright?”

    “Um..” June pauses, feeling unsure of how to explain what had just happened. “I uh, had a run-in with.. Jack..”

    Dirk looks at her, concerned and a bit confused “What?”

    “I went to a store and he.. he was there and he attacked me, he got a good swipe at my leg,” June explains, deciding the leave out the part of Rezzoch trying to trick her into thinking the real Jack had somehow gained control again for a second.

    “Okay, um.. what do we do?” Dirk asks.

    “Do you think I know?” June snaps, then sees the look on his face, “I’m sorry, I’m just… this is all too much”

     Dirk nods, seeming a bit understanding, “I’ll go get Quint, that nerd probably has something that can help with your leg.”

    June thinks of protesting, not really liking the idea of talking to Quint at the moment because of the argument they’d had the previous day, and what she’d have to explain to him, but instead, she slowly nods, and sits down next to Rover.

    She rolls her pant leg up a bit after her leaves, curious as to how her leg looked. On her lower shin, there was a decently sized slash mark, with a deeper wound in the middle where the vine had pierced her skin. It was bleeding quite a bit as well. She gently ran her hand over it and winced. She didn’t know if she’d be able to walk too well for at least a few days.

     Her mind went to Jack, she wondered how he was doing, how he was holding up. She really hoped he was alright. She wished she could do something, anything, to help him right now. Even something as little as talking to him, or comforting him. She remembered that night a few nights ago at Funland, where he’d poured out his fears about being left alone when they all found their families, and how they’d all promised him that as long as he had them, he’d never have to worry about being alone.

    But now he was alone. And probably terrified. She started to feel a deep feeling of guilt. She seriously wished she could do something, but she felt so helpless. Everyone else wanted to leave Wakefield because they think it’d be for the better, and no one would listen to her.

    Her train of thought came to a halt as she noticed Dirk returning with Quint. Quint was carrying a first aid kit, and he had a tired expression on his face. His eyes looked red and puffy too, like he’d been crying.

     He makes his way towards her and crouches down and opens the first aid kit and begins rummaging around in it, looking for something.

    “What happened?” He asks.

    June hesitates, feeling a bit queasy, but she doesn’t want to lie to him, especially since Dirk was here too and he’ll know if she’s lying.

     She takes a deep breath, “It was Rezzoch…”

    Quint stops rummaging through the first aid kit and looks up at her, “Pardon?”

     “Um… I went to go get supplies and when I went into one of the stores she was there, and Jack attacked me and gave me this..” She says as she points to her injury.

     “Oh,” Quint replies. June doesn’t question his lack of conversation, she understands that Jack is a difficult subject for him at the moment, and on top of that he probably doesn’t want to talk to her either…

    Quint takes out a bandage from the first aid kit and some kind of cream to prevent infections. He rinsed the wound with a water bottle first, which June winces at, causing him to apologize. Then he applied cream and tied the bandage around her leg.

    “There, you should be all good,” Quint said as he stands up. He turns to start walking back to the treehouse.

     “Quint, wait,” June calls out to him. She hesitates for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts, “I’m… sorry about yesterday.”

     Quint gives her a soft smile, “I appreciate the apology, friend.”

     June smiles softly at him back, “I didn’t mean anything that I said, I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that.”

    “It’s okay June, I forgive you,” Quint says. He pauses before speaking again, “I know you’re not gonna wanna hear this, but me and Bardle have been talking, and we’ve decided that we’re going to relocate to nearby town, one where Rezzoch can’t find us. That’s final.”

    June feels her heart sink, she still hates the idea of leaving Jack. She doesn’t want to start another fight though, so she lowers her head and quietly nods.

     “We’re gonna try to leave by tomorrow or the day after that, so I recommend that you start packing your stuff,” Quint tells her.

    June nods again, considering actually packing her things. She felt defeated, and like she definitely wasn’t going to be changing their minds. That didn’t mean she wasn’t opposed to this plan though.

     Quint turns again, wanting to head back to the treehouse, Dirk looks towards her, “Can you walk?”

     June attempts to stand, leaning on Rover for support. Her leg aches when she puts too much pressure on it.

     “I don’t think so…” She pauses, “I could um, maybe use some help.”

     Dirk nods, and starts to walk towards her. He extends his hand to her, but before she can take it, a loud bang sound rings out, it sounds like it’s coming from the way she came back from with Rover.

     June turns, confused, and she sees a figure in the distance, next to a collapsed wall with vine-thingies surrounding it. She tries to squint her eyes to see if she can make out what it was. Was it a monster? When she notices a slight blue glow coming from the figure, her heart stops.

     Rezzoch had followed her.

     “June…” Dirk starts, having realized the same thing she had.

     June’s frozen, she feels like she can’t move, and breathing seems to be getting a bit difficult.

     Jack starts approaching them, giggling softly. June would forever hate how his voice mixed with Rezzoch’s made her skin crawl.

     “Hello again, June…” Jack spoke, “I hope you liked that… surprise.”

     June can only stare back, she can’t find the energy in her to retort.

     “I hope you’re ready for another,” He continues, “I’m sure you all miss Jack so much. Well, I can assure he does too, but don’t worry, you’ll all see each other again soon..”

      Quint comes rushing back, having seen Jack as well, “June! Dirk!”

     Jack turns to him, “Ah, perfect, I can kill three birds with one stone,” he pauses, “But where’s the fun in that,” He chuckles to himself, “Hearing your cries will be much more satisfying if I just kill one bird at a time.”

    With that, he rushes towards them, his speed is terrifying. She notices he’s advancing towards her. She tries to back away the best she can being unable to walk or run. She turns towards Dirk for help to see he’s tangled up in those vines Rezzoch loved to use along with Quint.

     “Wait, wait!” She calls out desperately.

     But he doesn’t stop, a disturbing grin is plastered on his face. She squeezes her eyes shut, silently apologizing to Jack for failing him, waiting for whatever heinous method Rezzoch would use to kill her.

     She hears a cry from Rover, and her eyes snap back open. He’s standing in front of her, shielding her. She can’t see what happened from her position. The vines release Quint and Dirk, and they both fall to the floor with a grunt. Then she sees Rover’s purple monster blood drip onto the floor. She gasps. Rover had saved her. Then she hears another gasp. Rover collapses in front of her, and she sees where the gasp had come from. In front of her, she sees Jack, and she notices his eyes aren’t glowing anymore.

    Rezzoch had dragged him back to the headspace when she’d found out he was missing. She’d been furious with him, he’d assumed that she didn’t want him finding out about the area outside of the headspace, he wondered why. He wondered if maybe it was the key to escape.

    Then she told him something that made his heart stop. She told him that she was going to go after his friends and kill them as punishment.

     And now they were here. He watches helplessly as Rezzoch threatens to go after June first. He screams and pleads with her to just leave them alone.

     “They didn’t do anything! You already have me! Just please leave them alone!” He begged.

     But he got no answer, Rezzoch simply ignored him and started charging towards June.

    Seeing this, seeing Rezzoch rush towards one his closest friends, it makes him feel a sudden surge of power. He can’t let her hurt his friends. He can’t let her hurt June. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

    He feels a quick feeling of extreme lightheadedness, and there’s a white flash in his vision, temporarily blinding him. He notices his body being in an entirely different position, one of his arms is raised and it feels like he’s holding something. Before he can make sense of what’d just happened, he hears a loud cry of pain.

   Jack stands in front of Rover, he has a huge slash across his side, and is bleeding rather heavily. He collapses in front of June. Jack drops the object he was holding which turned out to be some kind of spear made out of thick vines. Jack covers his mouth. He can’t believe what he’d just done.

     He doesn’t even care that he’d somehow gained back control from Rezzoch. He’d hurt his friend. He was about to hurt June. June.

    He locks eyes with his friend, the girl he loved. She’s staring at him with a glare. He feels a huge sensation of guilt.

    “I…” he starts, his voice raspy and quiet, “I’m so sorry..”

     “Jack?” Quint and Dirk say in unison.

    June grasps the handle of her spear, “Don’t even try, Rezzoch..”

     “What..?” He questions, confused. Did she.. think he was still Rezzoch? “June… please, it’s me,” he tries desperately, but it doesn’t work.

     “I know your tricks, Rezzoch, and it won’t work,” She hurls her spear at him, and he barely avoids it.

    “June, what are you doing?” Quint asks her.

    “That’s not Jack,” she tells him, “Rezzoch tried to pull the same shit with me back at the store, she’s trying to get us to let our guard down.”

    His eyes fill with tears as he tries again, “June, I swear on everything that it’s me, I.. I don’t know how I did it but I think I pushed Rezzoch out someho-“ he’s stopped by June hurling a stone at him, hitting him square in the face.

    “Your trick isn’t going to work on us,” June says coldly.

     “I-“

     “Just leave us alone! Get the hell out of here! What do you want with us?!” June screams at him, Quint and Dirk watch her, both seeming unsure of who to trust.

     His chest ached at those words, he wanted so desperately to just get her to believe that it was him. He turns to Quint, he’s staring at him with a horrified expression.

    “Quint, buddy,” he tries, “You know it’s me right?”

    “Don’t trust her, Quint!” June shouts to him.

    “Please…” he starts approaching him slowly, only then noticing how badly his body ached, “It’s me, Jack.”

     To his dismay, Quint frowns at him, “I’m afraid your trick isn’t going to work on me either… Rezzoch.”

    He swears he can feels his own heart shatter in his chest, desperately, he turns towards the last person who could believe him.

    “Dirk..?”

    Dirk glares at him, saying nothing. His entire chest hurts, his own friends don’t believe him. The people he loves most in the world. The people he wants so desperately to just return to.

     June hurls another stone at him, “Quit it with the act, Rezzoch!”

     He frowns before saying, “I’m so sorry…” before turning and running, tears streaming down his face. If he couldn’t get them to believe him, the best he could do is protect them by getting as far away from them as possible before Rezzoch regained control of him.

     He made it surprisingly far before he collapsed and broke down. He heard Rezzoch’s voice ring in his ears, “Your own friends don’t believe you… hm… and weren’t you saying you’d defeat me?”

     “Shut up..” Jack said weakly.

     “Face it, Sullivan. You’re bound to me. Forever. If you try that again, your friends will never believe you. You’re nothing more than a vessel now. My vessel.”

     Those words really start to sink in, and for once, he believes her. He really was nothing more than her vessel now. He should just stop trying.

     “Now you understand,” Rezzoch says.

    Sensing his current emotional weakness, she manages to push him back out of control, and he hits the floor of his headspace, hard.

     He immediately pushes himself into the corner, facing away from her. He didn’t want to deal with her right now, he didn’t have the energy.

    “Now, why don’t you sit back here while I take care of things?” Rezzoch tells him.

    He doesn’t respond.

    “I’m glad to see you’ve finally come to your senses,” Rezzoch says before disappearing, leaving him alone.

    Jack still remains in the corner, tears beginning to fall again. He feels the most hopeless he’s ever felt. Rezzoch was probably right. There was no point in trying to fight back anymore. She’d already won a long time ago.