Chapter Text
It was simply one bone joke too many.
Seán and Kevin had gone out on one of their “excursions” into the forest after Dan had kicked them out of the mansion to clean because they were “being a nuisance”. They’d messed around for a while, testing how far Seán could catch stuff in human and wolf form (Further than Kevin could throw either way), when Kevin accidentally sent a branch crashing into a circle of mushrooms. Upon contact with the ground it immediately turned into a stickbug and wiggled away.
Seán skidded to a halt, almost nicking a mushroom, “Jesus Kev, careful where you throw that thing.”
“You think it’s one of Spiff’s?” Kevin said, immediately picking up another branch to poke one of the red caps.
Seán nudged the prodding point away from the fungi with his foot. “Dunno, but you know how he is. Probably shouldn’t mess with it either way.”
The lads had met the capricious fae months ago while dealing with a shapeshifter who had taken a particular liking to the mansion. And ever since that encounter Spiff had taken every chance he had to mess with them.
“Well maybe he’s not home,” Kevin mused, tossing a pebble into the ring. With a glimmer of pink light, a small turtle poked its head out of the rocky shell and looked curiously at the two beings above it.
Seán stared at the offending ring, “What, like he just left his magic mushrooms on autopilot?”
“Yeah, we could do anything with it really.”
“And he hasn’t exactly popped out yet.”
“Exactly. And I have an idea.” Kevin gave one of his very familiar grins, and pulled out a lighter.
On instinct Seán popped his arm out in front of Kevin before he could set anything magical and potentially dangerous on fire. “Maaaybe we try something else first.”
“Like what?”
Seán smiled, his canine teeth showing, “Bones.”
After years of practice, the two of them were incredibly efficient at locating and retrieving bones. To the other lads it may have been a mystery where all those bones came from, but as far as Kevin and Seán were concerned they didn’t need to know. Once a sufficient pile had been gathered and placed near the ring they started taking turns throwing them in, each trying to outdo the other with bone puns at every toss.
“Did you know that bone-ly you can prevent forest fires?”
“I dunno, I’ve got a bone to pick with that one.”
“But I’m bone-ly starting!”
“Aw throw me a bone already Seán.”
“Nah I feel this one in my bones Kev.”
“Well maybe I’m a bone-a-fide genius.”
“More like a bonehead.”
“Hey!” Kevin dropped the tibia he’d been about to toss and grabbed Sean’s head in the crook of his arm and scruffled his hair until it stuck every which way, “I’m not a bonehead, you’re a bonehead!”
Seán laughed, latching onto the offending arm, “You wanna test that theory?” He rolled Kevin over with a lunge, catching his friend off guard and sending both of them straight into the ring. The moment they hit the ground they froze in place, unable to move a muscle. The air above them shimmered slightly than intensified, the waves of light and air bending into new shapes until it revealed Spiff looking down on them. He tsked, rolling his eyes at their prone forms.
“That was atrocious. Frankly, I would say I expect better, but you two always manage to hit the bar on the way down from lowering your standards.”
Seán growled at him, unable to open his mouth enough to give a surely devastating insult.
“Oh don’t give me that now,” Spiff said, unbuttoning the sleeves to his overly ruffled and dramatic dress shirt and rolling them up, “I’ll send you somewhere where they’ll appreciate your biting humor.”
Spiff smiled, and with a wave of his hand the world started to waver around Kevin and Seán until it faded entirely, leaving them in the dark.
— — — — — — —
There were monsters prowling the outskirts of Dublin. The lads had gotten an alert earlier about a colony on the far north side and had gone out to investigate. While there were the normal fusion monsters to clear out, Seávin had noticed a small metal sphere made of overlapping plates and a gentle light glowing on the collar of the largest in the group of monsters before they’d made a proper approach. The monster was already intimidating at about the size of a camping trailer without the strange new addition chained to its neck.
Normally Seávin didn’t go out on missions, preferring to live as normally as possible when he could and leave the fighting to the more powerful fusions, but it’d been a while since Seávin had gone out and done something helpful for others—or done anything at all really. He bit the inside of his lip. There wasn’t any point thinking about that, he was here now anyways.
“So what do we do,” Daian asked, not bothering to look at Seávin or Dan, his attention entirely focused on the anomaly.
Dan shrugged, also watching the strange sight as canine-like fusion monsters prowled around the rubble left behind from earlier fights, “Whatever it is, if it's one of Spiff’s it can’t be anything good.”
An involuntary shudder ran up Seávin’s spine as Seán recoiled at the name. His mind raced between half-remembered suffocating entrapment and confused hopelessness that he’d never experienced. A comforting energy seeped in as Kevin tried to reassure both Seán and Seávin to little effect. Seávin squeezed his eyes closed, trying to remember what Kiwo said about stabilizing himself, but every time he tried to focus his head throbbed, pulsing in double time like a drum trying to get back on rhythm. He hated it. Why was he like this? Why couldn’t he just be—
A warm hand softly landed on his shoulder.
“Are you alright?” Dan asked.
Without hesitation Seávin said “Yes,” more afraid of what it would mean if he said no.
Daian grumbled, “Focus, we got bigger shit to deal with.”
“Yes. Right.” Seávin crossed his arms in more of a self soothing gesture than anything else, hoping to quiet the voices in his mind. “I guess we try to take out the fusion monsters together before going after the big guy with the circle thing?”
“I don’t know,” Daian said, “I don’t like the unknown factor here with the rest of the monsters.”
“Then how about we cover Seávin until he can take the thing out with his crossbow.”
“Hmph,” Daian fiddled with his katars with his lower pair of hands, the blades sliding almost imperceptibly in and out of its sheath. “Fine, but if we have to distract, then Seávin’s on his own.”
Dan shrugged, even as Seávin couldn’t help staring blankly at Daian. He’d forgotten how callous he could be sometimes. On some level Seávin knew he was the one who volunteered to do this instead of letting another fusion pair up with Daian, but dammit, he thought it was going to be one of the easier fights. It would be one hell of a shot to make without getting mauled by anything else first anyways. Still, there wasn’t any point in fighting Daian on it, once his mind set on something nothing could change it.
“Alright, just leave it to me. Nothing’s gotten past my military genius yet.” Seávin joked, attempting to reassure both them and himself that it would be okay. He summoned his crossbow, the familiar wooden grooves settling into place and the weight providing a certain reassurance as Daian led them down onto street level.
None of them saw the weapon flickering as Seávin carried it.
As soon as they opened the door out onto one of the back alleys, the stench of rotten meat and muddy fur flooded Seávin’s senses and churned his stomach. How long had these creatures been wandering for them to get into a state like this? Because fusion monster bodies were unable to support the amalgamation of animal parts that had been haphazardly forced together, they often rejected parts of themselves causing… undesirable effects on what body parts were still attached. After the chaos of Spin’s take over, most of the monsters Spiff had carefully crafted had been released out onto the world with little regard as to whether they’d even be able to survive on their own, causing colonies like this to form on the outskirts of the city. With the new mechanical addition, who knew if Spiff had somehow managed to get back in control of his experiments after he’d gotten back to his company.
Seávin clutched his crossbow as they moved closer in, carefully taking position on a half hidden piece of rubble while Daian and Dan stood back to guard. He closed his eyes for a moment, steadying himself, and then lifted his crossbow, the bolt materializing into place as he drew it back into the latch, the string sliding across the smooth wood with a soft shhhft until it clicked in place. He breathed in and then—
A crash behind him and dissonant screeching. Seávin whipped around, the trigger already pulled as the bolt flashed in and out of existence across the clearing. Daian wrestled the monster and then stabbed it in the soft underside of its neck as Dan thrashed on the ground, pinned by its lizard-like claws. The crossbow bolt pinged off the edge of the device and then disappeared entirely. At its touch however, the device broke apart, each panel separating in a mechanical whir as layer upon layer separated to reveal its core. From it flowed an azure light, nearly blinding Seávin with its glare. Tendrils of light whipped outwards, following the path the crossbow bolt had taken. Seávin squeezed his eyes shut, staggering back as he threw his arms out in front of him.
He could feel the rays, burning into his skin as it stabbed into his mind, trying to tear the delicate seam of his existence apart. But as his existence severed, a different change took place. Instead of splitting him, something else ripped apart. Falling, he was falling. Darkness snapped the light away and Seávin vanished.
— — — — — — —
Cold concrete greeted Seán and Kevin when the dizzying sensation faded and light reappeared. Kevin blinked, trying to readjust his surroundings as Seán groaned and sat up. The light of the moon barely illuminated the narrow concrete walls enclosing them and left them in the shadow of looming buildings. From somewhere in the distance there was the chatter and traffic of a city, but it was too far away to properly make it out.
“This… isn’t the forest.” Seán said, slowly propping himself up. His eyes reflected in the little light there was, making them flicker green as he scanned the area.
“No kidding. But where are we?”
Standing up, Kevin started to walk to the light at the end of the alleyway, as he did so though, he tripped on something soft. In the darkness Kevin couldn’t tell what exactly it was, but from Seán’s gasp it couldn’t be anything good.
“What? What is it?”
Seán gently moved Kevin out of the way, guiding him through taps on the shoulder like they’d done many moonless nights before in the forest. Kevin felt for one of his lighters and flicked it on. As soon as Kevin’s eyes moved away from the familiar flame, he started back and stared in horror at the dismembered creature lying in a pool of its own blood. The glassy rat-like eyes didn’t match the bumpy lizard hide that crept across its ravaged neck, sliced apart by multiple stab wounds. Five, or maybe six limbs lay strewn about, which definitely shouldn’t work, but somehow made sense with the stubs left on the patchwork of matted, greasy fur and scarred crocodile scale.
Kevin looked away, unable to bear the sight of the monster. “That isn’t- It can’t be real right?” His other hand fiddled with the other lighters in his pocket, the rasp of the metal providing him little comfort.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it…” Seán trailed off as his head immediately snapped towards the exit of the alleyway. Sean’s body tensed, ready to fight, until he just as quickly relaxed into a lopsided grin. “Well will ya look at that, I think I hear Dan!”
Seán winced one more time at the corpse before he strode towards the faint voice Kevin could hear now. It definitely sounded like Dan, but more exhausted then Kevin had heard for a while. Poor lad probably hadn’t slept all day when he inevitably realized they were missing. How on earth he’d tracked them to the middle of the city he wasn’t sure—probably magic—but Kevin wasn’t going to complain.
“Dan, DAN! We’re over here!” The alleyway opened out into what once was probably a plaza if it hadn’t been utterly destroyed. From one of the piles of rubble a lanky figure emerged, and immediately rushed over to where Seán and Kevin were.
“Seáv- Seán, Kevin! Are you alright?” Dan’s voice was hoarse as he pulled the two of them into a quick hug. “You disappeared and I didn’t-” His words broke as he tried to pull himself back together, “-I didn’t know what to do.”
Kevin patted him on the back and pulled away. “Really missed us huh?” He smiled, trying to ease Dan’s worries. Kevin couldn’t remember the last time Dan had gotten this agitated over something he’d done. Actually, he could, but this felt particularly concerning for some reason.
Dan glared at him, “No shit! I mean after everything with Seán I’m well within my rights to be worried about people disappearing.”
Seán tilted his head, his face clearly confused, “What’d I do this time? I don’t remember anything that serious.”
As they talked Kevin realized something was off with Dan, beyond how worked up he was. Rather than his normal fancy vampire clothes, Dan wore a plain purple hoodie with jeans, something Kevin was pretty sure he’d never seen Dan in.
Interrupting whatever Seán and Dan were talking about, Kevin said, “What are you wearing??” waving vaguely at basically all of Dan, “I mean I like the new fit, but last I remember you said you’d rather be more dead than wear some of our ‘newfangled fashions’.”
Dan’s eyebrows creased in worry as he gave Kevin and Seán a once over. “What? That doesn’t make any sense, you’re the one who got me this.” He stared at them a second longer, calculating something in his mind, and then sighed. “Why don’t we talk when we get back and we can figure out everything there.”
Kevin glanced at Seán who shrugged back, “Lead the way I guess,” Kevin said.
Daniel lingered for one more moment, looking at the two before spinning around and walking towards the street. Parked on the side of the cracked pavement was a plain white van, the only marking on it a circular logo with the letters “FC&C”.
As Dan jumped into the front of the van, Seán caught Kevin’s arm holding him back for a moment. “Something’s up.”
“Well no duh, but that’s obviously Dan.”
Seán huffed, “I still don’t like it.”
“It’s not another shapeshifter is it?”
“I don’t think so, he doesn’t have the right smell for one, but nothing smells right-”
The truck honked startling the two of them out of their conversation, “You lads getting in?” Dan said from the rolled down window.
“Yeah! Just give us a second ya fecker!” Seán said, sliding open the van doors for him and Kevin to jump in before slamming it closed.
— — — — — — —
The first thing Seávin realized was the silence. There was no noise from the surrounding city or the monsters that should have closed in, just the wind and soft rustling.
Not a word from his components.
He slowly sat up, the cold mud stinging his hands. Around him was nothing but endless trees and dappled moonlight shifting through the leaves and onto the thick undergrowth. Somehow he was in a forest.
Seávin strained his ears, trying to listen for anything that would indicate someone nearby, but he couldn’t hear anything except for his own breathing. Panic slowly started to creep into his chest, his gaze darting around the deep shadows that lay between the slivers of faded light.
Instinctively Seávin reached into his mind, grasping for some sort of comfort from his constant companions, but as he reached, his head spiked with pain like an icy bolt driving into his skull. He gasped, screwing his eyes shut and forcing himself to focus on anything else instead. Counting the beats of his favorite song, he breathed in time to the measures. Four counts in. Four counts out. Breath by breath the sensation gradually faded. Seávin made a mental reminder to not try reaching out to his components again until the effects of whatever the sphere had done faded.
What didn’t fade though was the prickles in his hands, or rather, hand. Opening up the fist he’d apparently made, he drew in a sharp breath at the sight of the chip embedded in his palm. Underneath the skin, he could see the chip pulsed a strange blue light, each flare sending a tingling sensation down his fingertips and arm.
Seávin wanted to curl up into a little ball right there and then, and let whatever awful creature that showed up in the dark eat him. But instead he stood up slowly and took in his surroundings. Even if he couldn’t reach his components right now, it didn't mean that he was completely useless or that there wasn’t a way out. And there, from his new vantage point Seávin could make out a barely visible dirt path. He just hoped it wasn’t some deer trail.
Stepping past out of the ring of mushrooms he’d landed in, Seávin carefully made his way down the little path. Leaves crunched beneath his feet as he picked his way over rocks and tree roots. Each footfall fell dead on the world, though to him it seemed to echo, every movement amplified and ringing in his mind.
He stopped, half unsure of why. There it was again, the faint sound of a voice carried by the wind. Relief flooded through him as Seávin called out, “Hello? Hello! Is someone there?”
Without thinking he moved off the path and towards the voice. As he got closer, Seávin realized it was Dan, his voice high and panicky with fear.
“Dan! I’m over here!” Seávin called out into the night.
As if summoned by the call he heard Brian swear and then respond, “You alright?”
Seávin had a million and a half questions, but instead he just said “Yeah! Where are you guys?” His relief was palpable in each word. Finally he might get out of this, figure out what was going on, and maybe relax for the first time in what felt like hours.
Brian appeared out of the shadows quickly followed by Dan. Daithi was nowhere to be seen, though a strange chill had slipped into the air with the other two’s appearance. Seávin didn’t care though and immediately jumped forward to pull Brian and Dan into a tight hug. Neither of them hugged back though. Each feeling cold to the touch.
Seávin backed off a little confused, “Lads?”
Both of them stared at him, Dan with pure confusion and Brian’s eyes roving as if searching for someone else. Now that Seávin had a moment to look at them, something seemed off as well. Dan was dressed unusually nicely, not that he didn’t already, but a full set of tailcoats, collared cape, and tophat complete with an umbrella seemed a little much even for him. And although Brian’s hoodie was up, Seávin could’ve sworn that a faint red glow emanated from the right side.
“You aren’t Kevin or Seán,” Dan’s brow furrowed in confusion.
Seávin chuckled nervously, “No, it’s me Seávin. Remember? That sphere thing fecked up my chips so—”
“Where are they and what did you do with them?” Brian lifted his arm and with a loud click Seávin was staring down the barrel of a strange weapon, the seams between the panels of metal glowing red.
Seávin couldn’t get any words out, his mind frozen from the sudden shift. Surely they should recognize him right?
But before Seávin could figure out something to say, the lines of energy shifted from red to green and the weapon started flailing about before changing into a mechanical arm, which connected somehow back to Brian.
“What the actual hell Daithi!” Brian paused as if listening to some retort, “No I don’t need to calm the feck down we still haven’t found Kevin or Seán just this weird fucker!”
“Daithi’s right, I mean, we haven’t been attacked yet and the guy seems friendly enough,” Dan interjected.
“So god help me when I find a way to wring your ectoplasmic neck-”
The two continued arguing back and forth with a mysterious third, presumably Daithi? Maybe he was on some sort of comm system. Seávin listened closely, trying to see if he could make out Daithi’s voice, because despite the life threatening danger, he also didn’t want to miss out on whatever insults Daithi was apparently throwing around to get Brian so riled up. And sure enough, between the curses and the attempts at placating from Dan, he could hear the faint whisper of a voice, though it started growing stronger and stronger, much louder than Seávin would have thought from just trying to listen in on comms. It wasn’t until he glanced up though that he noticed the glowing form of Daithi just over Brian’s shoulder.
Seávin couldn’t help it, at the appearance he yelped. The three immediately stopped arguing, their attention drawn back to Seávin.
“You okay there buddy? You’re white as a sheet” Said Daithi, floating menacingly closer.
“Like you’ve seen a ghost,” Brian snickered.
Seávin stuttered, unable to properly articulate literally anything about the situation, “I—! He’s—! Lookathim!!” Seávin gestured wildly at Daithi who was now up close and personal inspecting Seávin. When his hand accidentally flew through Daithi’s leg Seávin immediately whisked it back, still wide eyed at Daithi.
Daithi tsked and said, “I dunno lads, he kinda sounds like ‘em. Looks like Kev and Seán too. No wonder we got the poor man mixed up with those two.”
Dan considered and then asked, “What’d you say your name was again?”
“Seávin. It’s Seávin.” He paused, looking between the three of them, “You guys are Dan, Brian, and Daithi right? I haven’t got you all horribly mixed up with somebody else?”
“Nope.” Brian said, “That’s us. How do you know our names though?”
“Other than the way you were shouting each other’s names a little earlier, we’re friends…?”
Brian snorted, “Never seen you in my life pal.”
“Hold on Brian,” Dan said, “the lad’s name is Seávin, like-”
“Like Seán and Kevin, yes. Those are my components.” Seávin winced at the words, not used to admitting them in front of anybody. It felt necessary though since something was clearly wrong with the whole situation.
The Brian gaped at him, while Dan nodded slowly, as if his suspicions had been confirmed, “So you are them somehow.”
“Ya don’t think–” Daithi’s body swirled, the particles agitated in an almost hypnotic effect.
“It has to be Spiff,” Dan concluded. He looked Seávin in the eye even as Seávin somehow blanched further at the name. “Do you think you could take us back to the spot you were at before you found us?”
Seávin nodded, he tried to put on a brave face, but his hands still shook slightly. “Sure, I think so.”
At the sight of the mushroom ring Brian groaned in annoyance. “That piece of shit! I knew he wanted to play more tricks on us. C’mon we’ve gotta find him.”
Before Seávin could stop himself he grabbed Brian’s arm, “Can we please not. I don’t—” He choked on the words. He wasn’t ready to see Spiff again, Seán wasn’t anyways.
Brian jerked his arm back, but before he could say anything Dan said. “Come on lads, it’s been a long night and I think we could all use a debrief.”
“Yeah, we can always catch up with that fecker later,” Daithi added on.
Brian’s eyes lingered on the mushroom circle, before he turned away. “Couldn’t hurt I guess.”
Seávin let go of the breath he’d been holding and let himself be led away back into the forest.
— — — — — — —
It didn’t take long for them to arrive outside of a brick building with the same logo as the van. Dan very carefully and slowly parked beside it in the drive. Kevin didn’t know Dan could drive a car, but at this point he was too tired and confused about everything to care that much. He and Seán got out of the back while Dan headed into the building.
Inside, everything was worn but homey. An empty front receptionist desk sat to the side of the room, with the walls plainly decorated with photos of familiar faces, though they seemed strangely disfigured in some way. Kevin didn’t have time to consider this though, before Dan continued into one of the side doors behind the desk which opened into a long, winding hallway that split off into several rooms: a kitchen, living room, some offices, but most of them were closed off with doors, blocking their contents from view. Everything was a little askew and clearly lived in, though the building itself was silent except for the creaking of pipes and the sound of wind whistling past a half-closed window.
Suddenly Dan turned into a room, and let out a sigh of relief. “There you are Daian. You wouldn’t believe where I found Seán and Kevin.”
Daian? Who was that? Before Kevin had time to process the strange name, a figure much larger than Kevin stepped out, crossing his arms, or was he holding some weird dagger and rag— Kevin rubbed his eyes trying to clear his vision, but no, the man had four arms and he looked pissed.
Seán growled and shifted at the sight as Kevin backed up into the wall, hand stuck in his pocket and ready to set anything that moved on fire. Dan gaped at wolf Seán as the four armed man—Daian—immediately crouched into a fighting stance at the change, flipping the weapon into his palm as three duplicates materialized into his other hands.
There was a moment of silence where the four of them stared at each other, the fluorescent light flickering ever so slightly. Seán’s fur pressed hard into Kevin’s leg as all the little inconsistencies snapped into place in his mind.
But it was Dan who spoke first. “You aren’t our Seán and Kevin are you,” he whispered, horror dawning on his face.
“I don’t- I don’t think we are,” Kevin examined every inch of this… new Dan. Now that they weren’t in the dark, he noticed how this Dan’s ears rounded rather than coming to points, his canines didn’t poke ever so slightly into his lips, and he lacked the supernatural smoothness his Dan unconsciously moved with. All things told, he looked remarkably human.
And Daian. Despite the intimidating stature and the multiple limbs, Kevin felt like he recognized him too, though he couldn’t place how for the life of him.
Daian pulled Dan slightly behind him and glared at the wolf, “Well if you aren’t Seán and Kevin, then who the feck are you?”
“We’re still Kevin and Seán I swear—” Kevin’s eyes widened, “Hey Seán, remember the last thing Spiff said?”
Seán considered and then nodded.
“Yeah, he said he’d send us somewhere else…” Kevin trailed off, almost not wanting to say it outloud with how ridiculous it sounded. But in a world where magic was real, it definitely wasn’t out of the question. Seán nudged him with his muzzle, clearly having come to the same conclusion.
“I think we might be from a different universe.”
Dan nodded slowly, processing the information, “There’s no other way for us to have duplicates, well more like warped reflections of each other and not even know it. God knows it’s not the wildest thing we’ve dealt with.”
I can’t think of a better explanation,” Daian said, “looks like we have to deal with that shitstain of a man in every universe if this is your Spiff’s fault,” his hands, (holy cow there were a lot of hands) clenched around his knives even tighter.
“Well Spiff isn’t really a man per se, he’s more like a fairy? Or fae? I can’t really remember how he wanted us to refer to him.” Kevin shrugged.
“You mean he’s feckin’ magical wherever you come from?!” Daian growled.
“So what does that make you two?” In an achingly familiar way, Dan rubbed the back of his neck in the way he liked to do when he was trying to figure something out.
Kevin bumped Seán, “Well obviously he’s a werewolf, but I’m just a normal, run of the mill human.”
Seán snorted and shook his head before finally shifting back, “Like hell, I swear there’s something up with you Kev. You’re practically setting fire to something every time we turn around.”
“Fire? No wait, that actually makes sense with our Kevin too, all his fusions tend to have fire related qualities…” Dan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I have a feeling this is going to take a while, let’s head somewhere more comfortable yeah?”
There wasn’t exactly anything better to do, so Kevin and Seán agreed and Dan led the way down even more corridors as Daian took up the rear, forcing Kevin and Seán forward with his murderous aura even as his weapons disappeared. After several more turns and some medical looking rooms, they were brought into a small though comfortable lounge with several sofas pushed tightly together and facing an old flatscreen tv hooked up to some even older consoles. Controllers and board games were strewn about the central table, though these had clearly seen some use with the visible repairs and placeholder pieces. A wave of uncanniness hit Kevin, every detail, though different, felt the same as the living room back at the mansion, down to the torn up cushions and old snack wrappers.
Dan slumped into a battered armchair and gestured for Kevin and Seán to take a seat as well. Daian, of course, stood. Kevin cleared off a few monopoly pieces from the couch and sat down with Seán following suit.
Dan rubbed his eyes, both of them rimmed with red. “So… what’s it like?”
Slowly, but eventually with more enthusiasm, Kevin and Seán started describing their world and adventures: about how the five of them had met, their secret lives as crime fighters, their pranks and jokes, their fights with monster hunters, their fights between themselves, and even through the tangents and fragments Dan and Daian could tell how much these two cared about the others.
Eventually though, Daian cut them off, “That’s great and all, but-”
“Hold on a minute,” Seán returned the favor, “Here we are talking all about ourselves and we have no idea who you even are! And where are Daithi and Brian? Ya seem familiar with them, but I haven’t seen them anywhere.”
Daian stopped, his face frozen for a moment before he burst out in a deep, throaty laugh, the first sign of literally any positive emotion directed at them from the man. “Well that’s ‘cause they are me ya gobshite. Woulda thought you’d figured it out by now.”
Kevin swore under his breath while Seán sat shellshocked. No wonder Daian had seemed familiar, he was a version of their two best friends somehow.
As if to immediately contradict the assumption, Daian followed it up with an exasperated sigh, “The two of ‘em may make up the parts of me, but I am my own person, even if the fecker’s won’t shut up.” He tapped the side of his head lightly.
“Guess youse wouldn’t know about it, but yeah, through the power of technology over here we can well, for lack of a better term, fuse together.” Dan smiled slightly at the looks on their faces. “Daian over here is a fusion of Daithi and Brian, and Seávin, the one I was looking for when I found you two, is a fusion of our Seán and Kevin.”
Dan waited, letting the two of them process the information. Kevin was a little dumbfounded, but it wasn’t the craziest thing he’d ever heard. Hell, he’d accepted that vampires and werewolves and all sorts of supernatural things were real the minute he heard about them.
“So you–”
“We have–”
Their voices overlapped as they started speaking at the same time, the questions completely indecipherable. Then they burst out giggling, the whole situation completely ridiculous. Seán elbowed Kevin, “Well go on then, spit it out ya loudmouth.”
Kevin smiled back and continued, “As I was trying to say,” he raised an eyebrow at Seán who snorted at the look, “So you lads combine-
“Fuse,” Dan corrected.
“Fuse around creating different people that are kind of like you but not?”
Dan nodded, “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the gist.”
“It’s not—permanent—is it?” Seán asked, apprehension written across his face.
“Oh god no, that’d be a headache. We can unfuse, but we like to give all the fusions their own time to do what they will.”
Kevin ran the math in his head, which is to say he made a general guess. “Jesus that’s a lot of fusions, how do you even begin to sort that out?”
Daian cut Dan off before he could even start to answer, “Enough questions about this. We need to figure out how to get our Kevin and Seán back.”
Dan rubbed his eyes, the dark circles under them more obvious than ever. “I don’t know, it’s late and I don’t know if I have the energy for it right now,” he glanced at Kevin and Seán, “You two think your lads will take care of ours?”
“Of course!” Seán said, “They’re good people, and it’s basically us anyways.”
Dan nodded, “Right, then I think we’re okay to sleep for now then and figure it out in the morning. You two can take Seán and Kevin’s rooms while they’re away. I don’t think you— They would mind.”
“I’ll go catch Kiwo up.” Daian said, already heading towards the door.
“Thanks Daian.”
And then Dan took them back into the compound. Up a flight of stairs, several turns through and then into a somewhat more cozy, carpeted hallway, each of the doors labelled with handwritten signs, presumably written by their resident. Some signs were neatly signed in cursive, others roughly scratched out, and one particularly strange one written out in windings. Kevin didn’t get enough time to decipher that one though before they were at the end of the hallway where a final group of doors stood. On one side was Dan, Daithi, and Seán, and on the other was Brian and him. Kevin traced the sign with his eyes, the handwriting identical to his. Somewhere he wondered what this Kevin’s life was like, living in such a different world, but still with his best friends. He hoped the other Kevins out there were that lucky.
Dan gave them a tired smile, “Make yourselves at home. Daithi should help youse find your way to the kitchen in the morning for breakfast.” He opened his own door, Kevin catching a glimpse of bookshelves and lego figures and glow-in-the-dark stars, “G’night.”
The door clicked behind him leaving Kevin and Seán to investigate their double’s rooms. Kevin slowly opened up his door, Seán peeking in over his shoulder. A sense of deja vu washed over him, his old hoodies and shirts spilling out of the drawers, the acoustic guitar he’d been meaning to pick up for ages sitting near the window, or the old quilt from a long gone friend sprawled across the lower half of the bed. There were some differences of course. For one, everything was significantly less singed, with only one or two candles stuffed away rather than the 20 or 30 the lads insisted he have in his room. There were also the more strangely shaped jackets. These were several sizes larger than Kevin, with a few having extra sleeves sewn on, and one absolutely massive flamingo pink jacket shoved under the bed.
Kevin flopped onto one end of the bed, his feet hanging off the side. Seán was still poking around the room, “It’s a bit uncanny don’t ya think?” Seán said, picking up one of the mugs on the dresser and eyeing it intently before giving it a whiff.
“Yeah… just hoping the lads don’t give them too much trouble. I mean, it’s a pretty wild conclusion to come to.”
“Ah they’ll be fine. He is us after all.” Seán sat down next to Kevin with a big huff.
“What do ya think he’s like?”
Seán didn’t respond for a while, simply staring out the partially closed window. The low hum of the city rushed by, so unlike the crickets and the soft smell of old growth at home.
“Lot like us I’d imagine.” Seán shook himself out and then shifted, pressing his cold snout into Kevin’s hand before curling up at the end of the bed.
“You’re probably right,” Kevin said, leaning over to turn out the light, “Night Seán.”
Kevin felt more than heard the low woof Seán gave before all they were left with was the faint glow from the window and new world outside.