Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

One tick, two ticks, three ticks, four...

Noob finally gets a break from the barrage of homework he's gotten this week, but now, at school, it's become all so stale without the constant consuming stress.

"Oooohh..." Noob grumbled as they planted their cheek on the desk. Playing with the yellow hair dangling over his eyes.

There's atleast one thing he hasn't tried yet, and it's to go outside his classroom. They've already exhausted all the games and social media on their phone, anyway.

So he sat up and went off to the door prepared to do absolutely nothing because he didn't know exactly what to do.

Grumble, step, grumble, step...
Maybe he really should be planning to do something—anything.

Maybe check the other classrooms, downstairs, upstairs, his own floor, anywhere where he could find someone to talk endlessly to and vent all his boredom.

...
—
...

Some pale guy sits at the back of his class, trying to read a book as bits and pieces of paper and other random assortments of paper were blocked from hitting his face by the red visor on his otherwise black cap. It's not a big deal, people have been doing this for a while. He gets used to it. Not like he could muster up the courage to even speak to them with a "stop" or "leave me alone" to get them to stop.

He writes his name on the cover of the book—Guest 078—so people could give it to him if he loses it, or atleast know the right person to bother.

From the hallway and through the other classroom's door, Noob spots the guy getting paper thrown at him, and they can't stand bullies.

Guest feels the sensation of paper falling on his head stop for a suspiciously long time, only to turn around and find someone sitting right next to him, hand on their cheek as they looked at the people who -were- throwing paper at him.

He doesn't know how to act— who is this popular-looking yellow person? And why is he standing up for some guy like him? Then, the stranger talks.
"Hey, are you alright?" They ask, with genuine worry. "How long have they been like this? My name's Noob, by the way. Sorry for just randomly showing up without letting you notice." He introduces himself, then apologises for his sudden appearance.

Guest can't find any words to say, only a few sounds come out of his slightly parted lips.
"You can't exactly talk right now?" Noob questioned, pointing at Guest's mouth. "It's fine, as long as you're okay."
"You know, when I was little, my parents would make me do this thing where I would pretend I was holding something all the way to school, and I got really bullied for it." Noob tried to do some small talk, but noticed that Guest isn't really interested. "It's fine by me if you aren't interested." He gets up to leave Guest alone, walking back towards the door. However, Guest doesn't want to go back to this old and familiar feeling just yet. First time someone has ever noticed him outside of his family, it's worth a shot.

Guest follows Noob, but still not making himself known even as they're both at the base of the stairs. Before Guest could prepare himself to say anything, Noob notices him straggling the wall behind them.
"Hey, you're the guy who was getting bullied." Noob acknowledges him. "Why'd you follow me?"

Guest had gotten himself into quite the predicament now. It seems like he actually has to talk to someone, as someone who can't exactly help but not do that.
"Hey," Noob discretely tells Guest to have his attention on them while he tilted his red visor in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. "If you want to be friends, that's fine by me." Whoa. Did Guest hear that correctly? Is he joking? Is his mind playing tricks on him with treats?

This must be the luckiest day of Guest's life. Someone, seemingly as cool as Noob, actually asking him to be his friend?
Noob offers a hand to him, his smile adding to the warm light of his green eyes that are locked tight onto Guest's red.
"Don't be nervous, I know you want to." He insists on being Guest's friend. It was weird, was he pranking him?

He reaches out and grabs his hand. Noob's palm his soft, warm, and his grip is gentle. Caring. "Thanks..." He says with the most gratitude he had ever put in his voice. Though a mere fraction of what he truly feels.

"...You can talk?" Noob seems surprised. Uh oh, has Guest already messed up his chance of getting a friend?
"Ah— uhm, sorry if my suprise bothered you." Guest sighed in relief, though he tensed back up because Noob continued. "But I have to say... Your voice... It's really nice to hear. I think it fits you!"

"Really?" Guest was nearly jumping in joy.
"Yup." Noob assures. "Let's be friends, really. Is it okay if I come here to talk to you?"

Guest can't help but smile. It's the first time anyone has felt like him that way, and it opened up something from deep down in Guest's heart.

Homosexuality.

It's already been around three or four years, but they've gotten so, so much closer in that time frame.

Chapter Text

Today was Noob's 21st birthday, but Guest decided to hold off on the celebration until evening. He has something planned for it.

There was this recently opened fair on a pier in the city that caught Guest's eye. It even had it's own ferris wheel— the seemingly perfect place for Guest to make himself feel comfortable with being close to Noob, and maybe a small, vague confession on top of it. Plus, there was a green space with a bunch of trees right at the entrance. 

He'd already gotten both of their tickets for the ferris wheel and had gotten at least a hundred robux for things like food they could get and activities they could do at the pier, not including the money for his bus trip. Now all he needed to do was to ask Noob to come.

Noob sat on his couch while eating a candy bar, scrolling through his phone. Shedletsky nor Builderman were home, so he had a bit of alone time. He then gets a message from Guest. 

Hey

Are you free this evening?

Yeap

What for?

There's this pier I want to take you to

In the city

You dont need to pick me up

I'll just use the bus

You sure? If you're fine, okay

I'll be there, when do you wanna meet?

6pm hopefully the sun didn't come down by then

Okay

See you

Thanks

Happy birthday.

Guest had to stop himself from letting out a squeel— both his brother and his sister are home, and he surely does not want to face the endless questions, allegations, and teasings from his siblings if they ever found out.

It was already 5pm, so Guest had to swiftly get ready. He already ate an early dinner, so he started changing to his regular black outside clothes and cap, putting his phone and wallet in both of his pockets, and the rest of his belongings inside a sling bag.

Before he could go out, he was stopped by his sister, 473, right as be was about to step through the door. "Hey, 078. Where are you going this late?"  She asked, making Guest let out a quiet but nervous noise as he tried to make something up. "i was just going out to hang out with my friend, you know?"

473's eyes squinted. "Suspicious. Whatever, not my business to be in anyway." She walked away back into her room. Guest wiped his sweat of his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief before stepping out of the door, walking towards the bus stop.

Guest really wondered why the bus hours were so long and far apart, but they always seemed to line up with his usual schedules. Whether they were coincidences or planned, Guest didnt bat an eye.

Eventually, the bus came, and Guest rushed a bit too much when he boarded it. He didn't notice that the bus was not going to the city at all. 

- Noob checked the time on his phone. 6pm. Strange, Guest was never late to any meeting. Whether he was the one who arranged it, or if they themselves did, or if it was someone else. Not once did he ever run late to meeting someone— until today, apparently.

Noob got extra worried. What if his bus crashed? Did he get hurt? Does he not want to see him anymore? Did he get lost? Unbeknownst to both of them, that last one was true. They walked around the pier, trying to pass the time while waiting for the unusually late Guest. He looked at all the food stalls and the ferris wheel, but never did anything so Guest wouldn't miss out.

He walked and walked, waiting. He stopped in front of a far off area near the road and pulled his phone out. He was going to ask Guest where he was, and then some heavy object knocked into the back of his head with deliberate force. Then it went dark.

-

The bus stopped at a bus stop with a pass leading to somewhere behind it, and Guest got off. He didn't question why there was a path, he saw the pictures, it looked exactly like this.

He decided to follow it for some reason, getting more and more suspicious the further it went as his mindless excitement made way for actual critical thinking. Before he knew it, he stood at the entrance of a suspicious tunnel into a hill.

"Maybe this is the entrance..."Guest muttered, trying to convince himself that he did not just ruin his own date by going on the wrong bus.

He walked in, obviously reluctant, and turned his phone's flashlight on, as the tunnel didn't have any lights for some reason.

Around halfway, he spots someone else. Some man with pale yellow skin, a collared yellow shirt, and blue pants. Just, standing in the middle of the tunnel.

When Guest was just about to get closer, the man turned around. His smile was way too wide, and his eyes were a dark crimson shade. Guest froze up for a moment.

That is definitely not a person.

Chapter Text

Noob's POV

When Noob opens his eyes, he's away from the pier—surrounded by the claustrophobic walls of a dark, damp, and stinky room.

Their entire body is strapped to a wooden chair in the center of the room, which unfortunately means that he can't lift his hand to cover his nose, or just move at all.

He thrashes and shakes, trying to move the chair, but it's almost as if the chair was stuck to the floor—because it was.

He can't move his body or his chair, so he does the obvious thing to do. Scream for help.

"HELP! I'M HERE IN THIS STINKY AND DAMP ROOM!" His voice rings out, reflecting from the walls of the barren room— but no one answers.

"SOMEONE HELP!" He continues to scream, hoping for a response. "HELP! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

No answer again. He screams repeatedly, but a response never comes.

It's weird that this happened to him, especially on his own birthday.

Still, his screaming persisted. On and on until his throat almost felt sore.

After multiple tries and fails. He gives up, trying to forcefully free himself from the straps again by thrashing. After only a few more seconds, he finally heard a response. Not a voice, but a few footsteps. Noob felt so, so relieved that someone was finally coming to save him from this mess.

The sound of a doorknob twisting could be heard as the door creaked open. At that point, Noob sensed that these people were probably not here to help him.

—Guest's POV

He just stood there in the tunnel for a few seconds, his phone's flashlight firmly on the figure.

The man's eyes glowed with the sound of metal clanking. "Finally." It, or he— finally says. "A good vessel for me to possess."

The phone's flashlight falters when Guest turns around back to the entrance. Almost dropping his phone, he starts running back to the entrance while screaming at the top of his lungs for the first time ever.

"GHOOOOSSTAAAAAAA!—" The sound bounces off the tunnel. As he gets further and further from the man, the entrance gets further and further away from him at the same pace.

He doesn't look back; he doesn't want to. He keeps screaming and running, even as the entrance itself starts to outpace his speed.

At some point, any light in the tunnel shifts to a bright red travelling from the figure. His face distorts and stretches, coming over to Guest before stopping right in front of his face.

Guest is forced to stop running as the man's elongated head—and soon the rest of his body—flows into Guest's forehead.

His eyes go white, before being consumed by the same shade of red. His skin becomes pitch black and his collar becomes almost like a flame while his back arches backwards.

His body twitches, bends, turns, and performs other erratic amd unnatural movements as he loses control of his own body through getting possessed.

His posture straightens before leaning again, this time forwards. The man gets used to Guest's body before speaking through his mouth and vocal chords.

Guest's phone floats to just in front of what is now the man's face, leaning toward it almost as if to jump through.

"Damn sixer."

"He thought he could mess with the John Doe."

Chapter Text

— Two hooded figures stood at the door, the dim light behind them seemed blinding to Noob's eyes compared to the total pitch black darkness of the room up until now.

Noob couldn't find any details of their appearence from their silhouette against the light, onky making out that one of them looms with a crowbar in hand, and the other looks like they had a giant burger on their head as a hat. 

"Did you really forget to even tape his mouth shut?" One asks the other, already ticked off. "I've had it with you. You never seem to actually use your head for once." He berates the other.

"I swear I did. That green guy who got us to this has got to be messing with my head right now." The other tries defending himself. "Are you absolutely sure you didn't feel something off about that guy?"

"You're deflecting the question." The first one responded. "Plus, don't be talking down about our employer like that. He paid us good, so we have to do what he says."

"Did you reaaly just— you didn't even see his—" The other one cuts himself off. "Fine. What do we even do about this yellow guy anyway?"

The two turn to Noob in the chair. His mouth gaping open without a sound coming out, he'd figured it would be a bad idea to try and talk to these people at all. 

"The employer had already told you, didn't he?" The first one kind of answered. "Guy's parents work as construction and office workers. We're gonna be holding him for ransom. I don't understand why he has unfinished business with them. Must be an unpaid loan or something like that."

"You don't even—?!" The other one decided to give up on trying to convince his partner to be suspicious of their employer. "Whatever. As long as we get paid for this ####."

"You." The first guy tossed over a roll of duct tape towards the second one. "Tape his mouth shut this time. ACTUALLY tape it shut. I'll record a video."

"Hmph." The other one breathed out, ripping a piece from the roll as he approached the chair.

Noob tried leaning away from the man trying to tape his mouth shut. "Wait, please," he begged. "What are you going to—" His question was cut short as the tape was slapped onto his mouth, his words reduced to muffled noises.

"That's gonna do it." The first man said, half-satisfied as he fumbled with a phone.

Noob didn't know who's phone it was, it could be his—as he couldn't feel it in his pocket. Then again, he can't exactly move his hands to try to check if it was there. It could also be the guy's own phone, maybe.

Though whoever the phone belong to was the least concerning question, obviously. The first one turned it on, with the burger hat wearing one in leaning closely. The phone's light glowed an unusually bright red, partially illuminating the burger hat wearing one to have brown hair and glasses.

There was the constant buzzing of static coming from the phone, it's intensity in noise flickered when the red screen did.

When both of then leaned in closer to inspect, a sole of a familiar shoe came out, kicking the burger hat one across the face and prompting them to instinctively drop the phone, cracking and messing up the screen.

The messed screen didn't matter, as a hand came out of it, followed by the rest of whatever it was' body, wearing familiar black, red, and white clothing. The head was the last part to come out, wearing a black hat with a red visor.

"Mmph!" Noob's eyes widened in recognition as he tries to say Guest's name, but it was muffled by the tape.

The thing that took over Guest moved his body around in jerky movements, trying to bend his limbs to angles that are simply not possible under normal conditiins.

The pitch black skin partially made way for the usual pale, as Guest's voice rings out. "Noob— help, I—" Guest tries talking, his legs flailng as he involuntarily arches his back. "Mmph!" Noob tries shouting. 

"I... Can't control— myself—!" 

The first guy spun back, taking advantage of Guest's erratic moments to give him a good swing of the crowbar to the head, knocking him away.

The burger hat one is nowhere to be seen as the crowbar and Guest's erratic limbs bash and clash, leading them Guest to a wall with the man in front of him.

Noob doesn't want to be a damsel in distress, just stuck and tied to a chair without even being able to speak. Surely, there's some way lf helping? Beating up these kidnappers, saving Guest from his... Possession. 

Then again, if he couldn't do anything, he's just stuck there, waiting for whatever outcome of the most ridiculous fight he's ever seen—his kidnapper throwing hands with the spirit using his friend's body.

Then again again, he hasn't seen that many fights.

He closed his eyes, and ignored any sound coming from his surroundings. A small moment to at least think about something.

Oh. A definitely unimported flashback out of nowhere. 

Chapter Text

"What do I do, daddy Shed'? People at school keep making fun of me, and I want to do what you do!" 

"I've already told you, you'll be able to do what I do if you do that ritual."

"But it's not working! And both my friends and classmates keep making fun of me for that, too."

"Oh, Don't be like that. Just hold one of your arms out like this, and shape it so it looks like it is carrying a small cube, and imagine the cube being there. Now, imagine two rings and six arrows pointing in every direction. Just do that all the way to school."

—"What's he doing?"

—"Is he holding something only noobs can see?"

—"Y3p. 7h15 6uy n33d5 70 60."

—"What are you saying"

"I don't wanna do it. I'm not doing it again!"

"Noob— wait—"

"I hate you, Shedletsky! I liked Builderman more than you anyway!"

Opening of a door and a forceful shut. 

Out of all of the memories he could've flashed back to, why this? Why specifically when his relationship with his adoptive 'dad' soured?

If only he would've been more rational back then. But then again, he was a child in kindergarten around that time, so maybe he could possibly forgive himself for that. 

But that thing he was always told to try, it's worth a shot. 

He's seen his dad(s) do amazing things, so maybe, if he could just practice that thing the hardest he has ever did, he could help himself from this predicament.

But most importantly, help Guest. And right now, he's being pinned at a wall by one of the kidnappers while the thing that he may or may not recognize is holding his body for itself.

It's hard to do something with your hands while your hands were tied, but maybe all he needs to do is to just imagine.

—"Shape it so it looks like it is carrying a small cube, and imagine the cube being there. Now, imagine two rings and six arrows pointing in every direction."

He couldn't shape his hand, so he just imagined the cube. However, he didn't particularly get the part about the two rings and six arrows, maybe because he was probably too young to imagine something like that. 

But now that he's older, he can think of it. Maybe all the arrows have to be pointing in the opposite direction from another one, and the rings were interlocked.

Again, it was worth a try. Anything to help his friend, and himself. 

Click

Crack

SHATTER

"HUH?!"

Noob very audibly gasped. The chair was now just bits and pieces of wood somewhere, and same goes for the rope and the duct tape that was covering his mouth.

He could barely see any of the remnants of those things, because he was just floating inside a hole in space itself, with a bunch of green binary on the other side. Weird.

Noob took the time to try whatever weird powers he got from this by just inspecting one of the wooden fragment he could actually see, and just by thinking about it, the wood obediently flew up to his face, making his eyes shimmer. "Woah..."

The guy who was fighting Guest shifted his attention to the person literally floating inside a tear in space that he made, and with his burger hat-wearing partner seemingly gone to who-knows-where, he was alone in facing whatever this was. "Did that ##### really just—"

"Hey! I heard that!" Noob angrily interrupted the last guy's murmuring. "Put some respect on me and my dads' names!" He was pretty sure that's how that saying goes.

But right now, the last guy had ended up positioning himself to where he could easily be hit with anything from Noob's position. 

"Thanks, Shed'! I can actually take these guys on—" He paused his own thanks for a kick to the head of the guy in front of him. "... And send them flying—!" And with a lot, lot of force, he launched him through the door, broke the light in the other room, and presumably hit something really important.

"Hmph, serves you right, bi— HUH!?" His victory was only a few seconds long, as sparks erupted from where the guy landed. "Where the heck did I kick him too—"

He kinda forgot that Guest was still possessed, and got tackled to the ground for it. 

"What's wrong with you—" Noob placed a forearm between them and Guest because he was literally about to eat him. "Get your sanity back already—!"

With a few very bright flashes of yellow, green, and blue light, whatever that was inside of Guest was forced out of hie body, which collapsed right on him. 

"wha— John Doe?!"

"And who might you be, flashy little gay boy? You in cahoots with them? Or that green #####? " John Doe tightened his extremely deformed and elongated hands, causing Guest to writhe and arch. "He hasn't been freed yet—?"

"Listen here, ######." John Doe began. "This other little gay boy right here is hacked, and he's the perfect vessel for anyone like me. If you want him back, come to the tunnel and fight me for it."

Noob felt frustration at this audacity. "Like I'd even let you go back there!"

"You think you could just—" John Doe's taunt was cancelled when he was being pulled back into Guest's body. "You're actually just—!"

"Shedletsky taught me a thing or two about sealing things like you, y'know! How do you like being stuck in your perfect vessel?"

And with that, John Doe was forced back into Guest's body. But instead of writhing and bending, he just laid there, like a normal unconscious person would.

Noob used whatever power he had left to pick Guest's body up and sprinted out the door, looking for an exit that he would, eventually, find. 

Wherever Noob was being kept was literally right next to the pier for some reason, but there were other problems, so Noob just sprinted from the door with Guest floating right above him. When he was outside, he looked back and noticed that there was nothing in particular to warrant sprinting out, but they got out faster.

He found somewhere flat enough to lay Guest's body on, and waited for him to wake up. Which was around five seconds later.

"Noob—! Noob, I'm—" Sounding almost like an apology. 

"Huh? What are you apologizing for?" Noob said as they sat down near him.

"o–oh..." 

Chapter Text

"So... What do we do now?"

Noob asked, his hands just above Guest's body just in case. 

Noob found his phone back when he was rushing out of the weird place where he was held at, and checked the time on it—because he didn't have a phone earlier.

12:29 AM

Way earlier than expected, but probably a reasonable time since he was last awake at around 6 pm.

Guest's phone wasn't so lucky. Sure, it was in his pocket—always had been, but now there's a huge gaping hole in the screen. It looked like something crawled out of it—because something did.

Guest shifted on his back and cleared his throat to say something, turning Noob's attention away from their phone.

"I'm sorry, Noob. I really didn't know about..." Guest stopped himself mid-apology just before Noob could.

"Again with the apology. What are you apologizing for? I guarantee you It's definitely not your fault."

"But it really is." Guest tried to explain himself, "I boarded the wrong bus and got myself into a... situation, or whatever that thing was."

"John Doe?"

"Yeah, John Doe or whatever you call it, or him." Guest paused for just a moment to collect his thoughts. "If I didn't go on the wrong bus, or if I just asked for you to pick me up, I wouldn't have been possessed, and maybe, you wouldn't have been..."

"Chances are that you would've been kidnapped with me," Noob objected. "Actually, I'm pretty sure you getting possessed actually saved me for a moment, at least enough so that I could awaken these powers."

"Don't try to cheer me up, please," Guest tried to dismiss Noob's words, but of course it didn't really work. "Stop cheering you up? I'll do that when I die, and I wasn't even trying to cheer you up. You just have to stop blaming yourself for everything, it's not good."

Guest attempted to roll over and look at something else other than Noob, but was rolled back by their hands. "Was I really just..?" Guest sighed before he could finish. He felt Noob's hands on his stomach as they kept him in place, and he really liked the feeling of it.

Their hands moved to lift Guest up so that he could sit upright next to something. "Come on, let's get to my house. It isn't that far, even though I drove here." Noob started feeling their pockets for their car keys. "Wait, where did— ugh... Guess we'll just walk."

Guest managed to keep sitting up by placing his hands on either side next to him. "So, are you okay? Can you walk? Do I need to carry you?" Noob asked with concern.

Despite how much he wanted to be held in Noob's hands, Guest shook his head and refused the offer, standing up by himself, even if he was a bit shaky.

"Guess we'll both walk then." Noob stood up as well, though still preparing for if Guest accidentally falls over.

Then, they made their way to Noob's house. First, off of whatever rocky beach they were just on, then past the green space, then to the actual sidewalk by the road.

Passing by a couple street lights and making a few turns, Guest occasionally faltered and stumbled, but didn't fall over yet, but when he did, Noob was able to catch him in their arms.

Even though Guest wanted to stay in their arms for a little longer, he obviously had to continue forward.

When they both finally arrived at Noob's house—yellowish-white walls, red roof, stairs leading up to the brown doorway, grey-topped chimney—they checked their phone again for the time.

1:02 AM

A little late, but it was normal for how long they were walking.

Noob walked in first. No one inside, just the blue floor under the funiture—and some really, really mediocre paintings hanging from some of the walls.

It was pretty weird that neither Shedletsky nor Builderman came home from work yet. Then again, they both might be in some business that they can't be bothered to find out about, both since there's pretty much no way of finding out, and that they've already been through something themselves. 

Nonetheless, Noob gestured for Guest to follow them in, which he did. 

They walked around for a bit before stopping right infront of Noob's room. "Hey," Noob turns back to Guest, who was behind him the whole time. "Do you want to change clothes first?"

Guest shook his head, too tired to change. "All right then."

After walking in, Noob pulled his blanket back so they could lay down, not before clarifying something to Guest first. "Hey, just a heads up, Shed' told me once that someone sealing something inside someone else, the person has to stay awake for as long as the vessel is. So, I'm just wondering, are you close to falling asleep?"

Guest nodded once, and the slow and slightly sluggish movement of his nod gave Noob more confirmation.

Guest moved onto the bed first, and then Noob.

For a moment, the two were just silently laying down before Guest speaks for the first time in a while.

"I'm sorry," he apologises for the third or fourth time now. "I wanted to spend time with you at that pier, but then I messed it all up by stepping on that stupid bus. I'm really sorry."

"Again and again with the apologies." Noob sounds almost frustrated through his words. "It's really not your fault. Stop beating yourself up about it. You didn't do anything that bad, I promise."

"You don't have to cheer me up, you know. It's not really your business." Guest tried to dismiss Noob's... assurances, again.

"Cheer you up? Not my business? Now you're just lying." Noob speaks, crossing his arms as he shifted how his head was laid on the pillow. "It's also my business too. Not just for the obvious things, but anything that happens to you is also my responsibility. That's just how I want it, because I care for you."

"...Thanks." Guest voice was now almost unbearable.

For a moment, Noob had dozed off before Guest did, and he got a rude awakening a few seconds later, to say the least.

"Noob!" Guest silently shouted, now sitting up, when Noob wakes up again. Pitch-black crawling up Guest's body again as red lines stream up and down from his eyes.

"Oh my—" Noob cuts their verbal response off by accidentally throwing Guest up to the ceiling with their powers, which turned Guest back to normal. "Thanks alot..."

Noob managed to catch Guest when he fell from the ceiling. His arms wrapping around Noob's chest once back on the bed; however, a little heavier than usual.

"When did your arms get so thick, Guest?" Noob asks, noticing the extra weight.

"You're imagining things. You're just tired," Guest dismisses.

Noob plops their head back into their pillow. They were exhausted, they both were.

Guest nearly forgot to take his hat off, but he manages to use his last moments of consciousness and strength to place it... somewhere.

Whatever, he'll find out next morning. 

He places his head next to Noob's neck. Maybe now was a good time for a confession, but before he could speak, he fell asleep.

Noob fell asleep shortly after, not having to worry about the spirit coming out this time.

Everything seemed much, much slower now that the craziness had passed. They both liked it.

Hopefully, morning would be calm, normal, and peaceful.

Chapter Text

For some reason, the universe probably hated them now. 

Any hopes of a good and calm morning were immediately vanquished when Guest was the one who woke up first. Since Noob had explained and they both experienced that Noob has to stay awake as long as Guest is to hold back John Doe, it was obvious that this was bad.

"Noob– Noob wake up!" Guest tried to rock Noob awake before he got possessed again. He reached out to Noob's loudly snoring form, then—

Crack

His hand was moving on it's own.

With no way to hold the hacker back, he started losing control again.

Bending, twitching, nearly breaking the bones underneath the spasming muscle. He tried to stay in control, but of course, it didn't work at all.

The black skin started to set in, red lines forming across his face and through his now glowing eye.

Not even a few seconds later, the now-possessed Guest loomed over Noob, who was still snoring away as if there isn't a literal monster about to do whatever it wants to them.

The front door creaked open, and heavy footsteps followed.

—Shedletsky's POV

Hopefully they won't need to apologise to Noob for being so late.

Last night was a long one. Something had come up while both he and Builderman were at work.

It usually wasn't that bad, but on top of that, they had to get groceries since they're starting to run out—because they hadn't gone grocery shopping for a long time now, probably like six or seven months since last time.

Of course, they had to drop by a place and bring some fried chicken back while they're at it.

An entire bucket of chicken was now being held by the mouth, since both hands were carrying two really heavy boxes.

When Builderman opened the door for him, he dropped the boxes inside. The sound of the haphazardly dropped boxes landing was loud, in comparison to the more normal setting of a bucket on a table.

Both of their backs hurt, their arms hurt, their shoulders hurt, their heads hurt, and everything felt at least a little tingly.

They weren't done with their work just yet.

John Doe's presence in Guest's body could be felt throughout the entire house, and both of them were familiar with it—unfortunately.

It was coming from Noob's room. At this hour, it meant that—

—Noob/Guest/John Doe's POV 

It felt so good to finally get revenge on the brat who managed to trap him in the sixer's body.

This guy managed to seal the John Doe not once, but twice on the same night. 

They can't possibly be as strong as him or have the same power as them, right? 

He was just being reckless with his new body. That must be all there is to it.

Not that it matters now. He'll do whatever he wants to the sleeping boy or whatever they were since they were right here, right in his hands.

He could eat them. 

Rip their limbs off. 

Set them and the house on fire. 

Twist their neck.

All of these things— too bad they won't feel it.

Revenge was always so enjoyable. If only this revenge was on that damned green exponenter, but this will satisfy him for now.

But before he could even reach the sleeping Noob with his stolen hands, something really cold had punctured his shoulder.

SLAM

Another perfect throw of the Icedagger. Any more would boost his ego just a tad bit too much.

The Icedagger probably isn't made to be thrown—but he made it himself, so who cares?

Now that poor boy, who just so happened to be John Doe's new toy, got sent crashing into the window.

It was just short of cracking it, thankfully.

There was ice all over the affected shoulder, and through all of this, Noob was still sleeping, somehow.

John Doe clenched what was now his teeth in pent-up anger as he recognised who just hit him.

Shedletsky stepped through the door, same white shirt, though his curly hair messier than usual.

He had a red sword near lodged into the floor just behind him, then lifted it up to point it.

"It's been awhile now, John Doe. Though, you should've been more careful in how you possess your hosts." It was almost like he was criticising how reckless John Doe's hacking of the kid was, taunting him.

Shedletsky then brought the sword up to rest it on his shoulder, careful not to break anything in Noob's bedroom.

"Can't just let you get away with hacking this poor kid's friend. C'mon, let's sort you out. You really want to come at me, don't you?" He taunted again.

"Don't let me take you down now." 

Chapter Text

A dim, brief flash of red light and the displacement of air were the only indicators of John Doe's movement. He then basically reappeared behind Shedletsky's back and just infront of the doorway.

To John's surprise, Shedletsky had already expected this and turned around. One swing from the Firebrand sent him out of Noob's bedroom and crashing into the adjacent walls of the hallway.

"You're way more predictable than I remembered, John Doe. Did your skills get that rusty over so long? Or are you just more reckless than usual 'cuz you ain't even using your own power? No way you could go that fast normally." Another taunt. He was getting tired of this.

"Stupid chicken eater. I swear I'll—" John's verbal retaliation was interrupted by flame bursting from the cut by the Firebrand.

Crackle

The sound of both sizzling and shrieking was cut through by Shedletsky's dumb voice. 

"That was pretty delayed. Probably gotta do some bug fixes on this one." Shedletsky runs his fingers on the edge of the Firebrand, without a cut in sight.

"Shed'? You fighting John? You're being too loud, I'm trying to sleep." Builderman shouted from the room behind the wall John Doe was sent crashing into. "You better not break the wall down, or you'll have to fix it yourself."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Shedletsky responded. Taking note of how the Firebrand seemed buggy for some reason, he decided to switch to the Illumina next. 

"I miss using this during those days."

John Doe's crudely hacked ragdoll was still smoldering when he saw the purple flash, then the sparkles. He was already literally cooked, this just added on to that.

In just under a millisecond, Shedletsky had already closed the distance, his rather plumpy body being obviously misleading.

That sword lunge, however, had missed and hit the wall instead. Or, more accurately—John managed to dodge it with the vessel's speed.

"Shedletsky, you forgot what I told you?"

"Sorry, Builderman, but not exactly my fault."

Builderman's frustrated groan was audible through the wall as he tried to get back to sleep. 

John Doe took the opportunity while Shedletsky was still apologising. Lunging forward in a similar mannee to how Shedletsky did it with the Illumina, only to be slashed just before actually hitting him.

He was sent flying back, as per usual—but John also wanted to repay some of those taunts or ragebait he was given earlier.

"Dumb fatty, you really haven't gotten enough?"

Fortunately, or unfortunately, that ragebait had presumably worked on Shedletsky.

"Oh, so you wanna play that game, huh? I ain't your playmate." Shedletsky said as he walked over, spining the Illumina around. "You're lucky Builderman doesn't let me use the banhammer anymore. That doesn't mean I ain't gonna vent my stress on to you."

Wuh oh. 

Shedletsky proceeded to haywire on the swings and slashes of the Illumina, stopping every so often to let John stand up, before going at it again. 

"What's wrong? Isn't the great hacker John Doe gonna stand his ground or what?" And the taunts never stop coming. Shedletsky had pushed John all the way to the living room, continuing the hacks and slashes before he actually hesitated for once.

It may be John Doe who's controlling him, but...

He's beating up Noob's best friend. 

John noticed that Shedletsky had actually hesitated for a moment. "So, you're gonna continue what your doing, or—"

He then felt something squeezing him from inside, and the transformation came undone, reverting back to Guest's normal appearance—and his actual consciousness.

"What the—"

—

"Guest!" Noob yelled immediately upon waking up from whatever sweet dream he had while Shedletsky and John Doe were duking it out in his bedroom. There was ice all over his room, there was a big mess, and the most alarming part—no Guest in sight.

His first reaction was to immediately get out of bed and run down the hallway. It was a mess of cracks and partially burnt bricks before eventually...

Finding Guest and Shedletsky standing in the living room—and Guest was on the receiving end of the Illumina.

"Guest—! Da—Shedletsky? When did you get home? And why are you—oh." Noob was just about to ask why Shedletsky was pointing a very dangerous magic sword at their best friend, before remembering what happend yesterday.

"Noob! You're here— I was so worried that I killed you in your sleep and Shedletsky was supposed to avenge you!" Guest exclaimed, but the last part of his sentence made Shedletsky look away. "Are you okay? Did you—ow!"

Guest felt pain shoot through him, as if he was just cut. There were no gashes or cuts, and Shedletsky saw all the injuries he inflicted on his body dissappear when John Doe was sealed. Maybe it was residual feeling? Or whatever it is, that probably isn't the right term.

"Ow, ow—" Guest continued to make sounds before Noob ran forward to wrap their arms around him.

Shedletsky, however, needed an explanation. He knows what happened to John Doe when he was sealed back in. He's done the same before—but he didn't do it.

Neither did Builderman. After all, he's taking a nap. With him out of the way, and the fact that no one else was either outside or inside the house aside from them, it must be Noob, somehow. 

"Noob, we should take this outside, and bring your friend too. I'm going to need you to explain everything about this. Especially since I've never seen you even try something like this before." It very, very obviously wasn't a request. Shedletsky hadn't sounded or acted this serious at home in a long, long time. 

Chapter Text

Now outside, Guest was standing hunchbacked in front of Noob and Shedletsky, the house being just behind him.

Builderman was still napping, but cut him so slack—it was a long night.

Shedletsky had his arms crossed around his chest, and turned to Noob—who was holding his hands out towards Guest just in case John Doe got out again.

Shedletsky finally spoke up; "Noob, tell me everything about what happened last night," He let his arms fall to his sides before continuing. "Because this shouldn't have happened on any normal night."

"First of all, why is John Doe possessing your friend over here?" Noob flinches at the question, turning to face one of their fathers as a drop of sweat flows down their cheek. "I dunno." "Huh?" 

"I mean, I wasn't there when he got possessed. He just kinda... Showed up from the phone." They turn their head back to look at Guest again, who was fidgeting with his thumbs. "Showed up from the phone—as in he climbed straight out of it."

Shedletsky let out an annoyed sigh. He just came back from a long night of work and groceries—now he has to deal with THE John Doe. He then asks a second question;

"Second of all, how were you able to seal someone like him inside of Guest? Yesterday, I even heard you complain that you couldn't 'do those tricks my dads would do'." Noob flinched and looked again, "You heard that?" before turning back over to Guest once again.

"I kinda got kidnapped... And then got these psychic powers, or something." They explained. They didn't go in full detail, of course.

"You got kidnapped?"

"Yeah. But thanks to John-Guest showing up and me using that trick you taught me a while ago," Noob redirects one of their hands away from Guest and towards a pile of rocks, and makes the rocks float around three studs in the air. "I can do stuff like this. It's like I see these yellow circles and rings around stuff, and when I focus on one of them, it moves or rotates in that direction."

"Impressive, I told you that ritual would be useful some day." Shedletsky commented. "But these seem pretty limited. You're lucky John was reckless about his new vessel... Unless..."

"Yeah, he was pretty reckless. Made it easier than I expected." Noob confirmed Shedletsky's assumption, but not without something on top. "But when my powers awakened, this cube that said 'Building tools by F3X' showed up in my vision, and suddenly it felt like anything I thought about became reality."

Shedletsky's eyes visibly widen when he hears Noob's extra explanation, but another question comes to mind;" How did you seal John Doe, then? This seems a bit unrelated."

"I see this... Diagonal square inside another diagonal square inside people. I can tell whose diagonal square it is—and if I imagine myself grabbing and squeezing John Doe's square inside Guest, John Doe goes away." Noob explains.

"I see. Same visual but works differently than from my Ghostwalker or the Banhammer." Pondering the implications, Shedletsky decided he's gotten enough answers from Noob and moves on to Guest—still hunchbacked in front of them with a sad expression.

"You. How did John get in your body?" Shedletsky asked, which sounded more like a command.

"I... Went on the wrong bus while planning to meet with Noob at that new pier—which led me to a bus stop with a tunnel behind it—which led me to—"

"Idiot," Shedletsky interrupted just to insult—but then asked a valid question. "Who decides to go into weird tunnels that don't lead to  your destination."

"Because I thought it did, " Guest admitted. "I really thought so."

Shedletsky face-palmed, and to distract himself from Guest's stupidity—he decided to help Noob develop his power a little bit.

"Noob," he turned to his supposed son he/they. "I want you to imagine that cube you saw in your hands—like that ritual. Then, imagine a brick in front of you."

Noob glanced at him once then went back to looking straight ahead, closing their eyes and doing exactly what just Shedletsky told them.

To their suprise, when they opened their eyes, there was in fact a brick floating in front of him.

"Whoa— it really worked!" Noob reached out to touch it. When they did, however, it fell and shattered—and then flickered out of existence. "Oh..."

"You better work on that. It's one of the best perks of that power, " Shedletsky said. "while I take my nap."

"What? You're not—" Before Noob could even finish, Shedletsky had already slammed the front door and presumably went to his and Builderman's shared bedroom, leaving just them and Guest outside.

"Well," Noob turned to Guest. "Want some... Juice? Or something you want?"

"Yeah. I'd like to."

—

Around thirty minutes later, Noob and Guest were watching a TV show in the living room on the couch, while sipping on glasses of orange juice.

It was so normal that Noob nearly forgot about their new powers. Then they immediately remembered having them when he stopped Guest's glass of juice from falling spilling on the floor by moving both the glass and the liquid inside. 

"Thanks..." Guest sheepishly muttered. The normalcy of it all was so... Weird.

"No problem." Noob replied, before setting his glass on the nearby table and standing up from the couch. "I'm going outside to test my powers and stuff. This show is pretty boring anyway."

Without so much as a "Take care" from Guest, probably because he thought they didn't need it, Noob was already heading off back to the front door.

Creak

The door opens, and it's dark—way, way too dark. It's only 9am.

"Wha..?" Noob looks around, finding that their entire property is now enclosed in a stone wall, and the sky has been covered up by a solid roof.

It's so dark that Noob could barely see anything. But they see something up in one of the corners. 

A giant, monstrous woman with long brown hair and a face filled with a bit too much of glee.

"Where. Is. The. Boy? " The woman asked. She clapped her ginormous hands once, and they force of it forced Noob to steady himself with his power.

"Noob? What was that?" Guest shouted from inside, and the thing had clearly shown interest.

Uh oh. 

Was she possibly after him?

Or, some more food for thought,

Was she after John Doe, inside of him? 

Chapter Text

Noob very slowly side stepped from their front door, before hearing Guest's voice again.

"Noob? What was that?"

Noob didn't even turn while shouting back. "Don't go outside! There's something that's after—"

Creak

The door slowly swung open before Noob could warn Guest about whatever was outside.

He took a few steps forward while still gripping the handle, before spotting Noob a few seconds later just over to the side. 

"Noob! Are you—" Guest pauses as he notices the ginormous woman and the box surrounding the house; his hand slowly drifting down from the door handle. "Wha..." 

The giant had finally found her target. 

"Give. Me. The. Boy!"

CLANG

Another clap, this time sending both Noob and Guest back.

When the initial shockwave passed, Guest's first instinct was to rush over to Noob's side. "Noob, what do we do?!"

"I don't know! I haven't gotten the chance to train... my..." Noob trailed off when they saw the woman's arm pull back really far with her fist closed.

By instinct, Noob pulled Guest and themselves directly off the few steps leading to their door just before the giant fist hit it, the wall caving into the interior hallway and tearing the door apart.

Guest and Noob looked at each other after barely dodging the punch. 

-blink blink.

"AAAAAAAHHH—!"

They both screamed as they ran, which probably isn't something you're supposed to do. 

The giant woman landed just behind them, sending them flying for a few seconds, but wasn't enough to stop both of their running. 

What did stop their running was a swipe from the woman's hand. Though it did not hit, the wind sent them crashing into a window, but the window itself wasn't big enough for the both of them to be sent through it.

No time to recover, though. They had to run again when another hand was coming to swipe, getting close towards where they just were. 

They managed to get pretty far away from the woman before her next move since she was pretty big and slow. "Guest? You have any ideas?" Noob asked.

"No, I—" Guest couldn't answer before the woman yelled; "Give me the boy!"

Clouds of binary 1s and 0s were sent rushing towards them, ripping apart the ground it travelled through and forcing the two to skedaddle once again.

The clouds of dust and debris gave the duo an opportunity to hide behind Noob's house.

They both stuck themselves to the wall, as if having a wall could actually do anything about it.

Noob was closer to the edge of the wall, while Guest was closer to the center of the wall, his entire body hidden.

"Who is she?! Why is she after us?!" Guest asked, having to yell so his voice wouldn't be drowned out by the sound of explosions and falling debris. 

"I know that hair and outfit; I just realized—that's Jenna!" Noob also had to yell to answer Guest's question. "My dads told me that she's a hacker who goes around targetting young men, and she's after you now!" 

Guest and Noob had to take a breather to calm down because panicking has never helped anyone in the history of ever.

Noob grumbled in frustration, being the only one who could actually do something to the hacker, but still having to keep Guest in check. 

"How am I supposed fight that thing and keep him safe...?" Noob frantically asked themself, gripping the bottom half of their shirt. They subconsciously loosened their psychic grip on Guest, and then,

"Noob..!" Guest calls their name. Noob turns around to see Guest already close to getting possessed again right next to them.

"How did— did I accidentally let go of him?!" Noob audibly gulped. They circled around Guest while forcing themself to concentrate so that they could better hold back John Doe.

Guest's right hand was still in its transformed state when they had to dodge another cloud of binary—and Noob was getting fed up.

"What do I..." Noob gets an idea, though it was embarrassingly obvious. "My dads!"

They then haphazardly grabbed Guest by the collar and rushed over to their backdoor with him in tow.

The door kept shaking from all the crashing and crumbling outside, and Noob pretty much had to slam it open because they didn't have enough time. 

Dust fell from the ceiling from the shaking as they ran down their hallway with Guest just behind them, finally reaching their dads' bedroom.

It was already weird that they weren't already awoken by all the commotion outside, but what's even weirder is that when Noob opened the door—

There was no one. 

The room was devoid of their dads.

If they were already awake, Jenna wouldn't have been terrorising them for nearly as long as she had been now.

All they could see was a red sword on the bed. Noob tried to reach for it, but froze up when they saw a dark liquid staining the bed under where their face was. 

"What's this?" They bent down to take a closer look at the stains, then they noticed the same liquid dripping from just above their mouth. 

Noob wiped their upper lip and the area above the lip with their thumb, noticing that it was stained with the dark liquid. 

They also finally noticed that something was dripping from his nostrils. "Uh oh, it's a nosebleed—Guest!" 

"Noob," Guest called out in creaky voice on his knees. "help me..." 

Noob quickly lifted him to be on his feet. He was bleeding way more than Noob was. "Are you okay?!" 

Guest quickly wiped his nose with his sleeve, noticing the dark red stains. "Eek! It's blood!" 

They'd just notice that the entire room was engulfed in black fumes.

How did they not notice sooner with how hard it was to breathe? Who knew.

Before they could fully process the situation, another cloud of binary had destroyed the living room—and the wall behind them, forcing the duo to run towards the wooden shed.

Screaming and running like they always do, they both made it to the wooden shed and rushed inside. 

Just before closing the door, they took a look at what Jenna was doing.

Seeing her spew those black fumes from her mouth, they slammed the shed's door shut, but the wooden structure itself was shaking.

"This is so annoying... How am I supposed to fight that thing while keeping a lid on John Doe?" Noob whined. "If we don't do something fast, that smog will kill us before she does..."

Guest took a few steps toward the door, adjusting the red visor of his cap as he gets an idea. 

Guest turned around to face Noob, who was mumbling unintentional complaints. He looked down to his corrupted hand for a few seconds—"I will fight."

...

"Say what?"

Guest looked up again and turned back around towards the door. "When Shedletsky had to save you from John Doe, I could hear everything even while I was possessed. I heard your dad saying that John Doe isn't using his own power, which must he's amplifying some sort of power I already had. If you could let John Doe amplify that power but not take me over, I could—"

"Woah woah woah, slow down." Noob had to signal him to stop his explanation. "I barely know how to make walls and stuff that Shedletsky told me about. I don't know if I can do it!"

"Well, you never know unless you try," Guest assures, even though he isn't looking at them.

"If we can do this, we'd be—" He was interrupted by a giant rock ripping apart the wood of the frontdoor and the wall surrounding it, then being met by Jenna's face. "Eek!"

A cloud of 1s and 0s then destroyed the shed shortly after. Somehow, however, Guest and Nooh managed to get away before it hit. How the #### do you manage to miss a point-blank AOE attack? 

Now behind Jenna, Guest and Noob were arguing about their game plan. 

"I don't know how to use my powers, what do I do?" Noob asked.

"It's okay, don't worry and just try it already!"

They both closed their eyes, and Noob reached their hands out, their voice coming out in strained grumbles.

Guest opened his now-glowing eyes, but started to corrupt horribly. Worse, he noticed that Jenna was preparing to launch another cloud of binary at them. "Noob! Noob! Hurry up!!"

The cloud of binary rushed towards them, kicking up clouds of dust and debris as it carved out the ground in its path.

By the time it arrived, Noob was still concentrating—then being engulfed in the cloud.

Through the dust, bright flashes of red light erupted. 

Ching

Clank

CRASH

"Wuh—!" Noob squired as they were being grabbed and dragged out of the dust cloud by Guest, transformed—dark skin, red lines, glowing red eyes, and a flame-like collar—but still in control without any of John Doe's interference.

Once they landed a few dozen meters away, Guest slid on the dirt on his feet, and Noob slid on the ground on their back.

Noob managed to get on their feet as well, and Guest turned to them, back arched. 

"Amazing. There's so much power running through me, " He said, his voice seemed deeper from the transformation. He then straighten himself up a little. "But I don't know what to do with it..."

"Woah, you seem whack." Noob commented, prompting Guest to lower his cap. "Sorry, I don't know what to do with this. But y'know, gotta be strong. Always be strong."

Noob gasped and shook Guest back and forth. "You can't just be dropping lines from my favorite movie in this situation!!"

Jenna walked over, her footsteps shaking the ground and making Noob lock in. "Guest, you ready?"

"Yeah..." He, quite literally, casually walked in front of his opponent. "Not sure I'll make it out, though..." 

Wow, such confidence. 

Chapter Text

Casually walking in front of your enemy during a fight is probably not a good idea, especially if you're not paying attention.

This was happening to Guest—transformed, hunchbacked, mildly lightheaded—while facing Jenna.

Noob was the one who noticed that Jenna was pulling her arms back for a clap, even though it should be obvious through the creaking noises.

"Guest! Guest! Behind you!" Noob shouted, but Guest just absentmindedly nodded his head.

"GUEST! LOOK OUT!" But again, Guest just nodded away at Noob's warnings.

CLAP

When the clap was executed, Jenna brought her clasped hands up to her face, finding that one hand had been severed clean off. The black smog poured out of where the rest of the arm would've connected to the hand.

Guest, meanwhile, arched backwards and a bit too far—Jenna's hand somehow being held up by his comparatively tiny teeth biting into it.

"Whoa, this is awesome... is this what was hiding in me all this time...?" He said, spitting the severed hand out of his mouth onto the ground just beside him.

Guest's back finally straightened, opting for a stare down with Jenna, who had gotten closer and bent down to have her head level with Guest's.

"That. Was. Awesome! We can definitely beat her now!" Noob enthusiastically yelled from the sidelines.

In the middle of the stare down, Guest suddenly coughed up an unhealthy amount of blood onto his hands.

While Guest was looking down at his now blood-soaked, trembling hands, Jenna took the opportunity to hit him with a slap of her remaining giant palm, sending him flying into a pile of debris.

After Guest had landed in the pile, Jenna prepared for a fully charged-up stomp with her back turned to Noob.

Noob managed to pull Guest out just in time with their power, with his back sliding on the ground next to them.

"Huh? What the heck happened?! Are you alright?" Noob asked, leaning forward.

Guest tried to sit up, taking a good amount of effort just to have his upper body rest on his elbows, "Sorry, Noob..." 

"My body can't handle that power," Guest struggled to say. "I feel like my body parts are going to explode... Robloxians aren't supposed to go that fast!"

They both turned to Jenna, who's back was still turned to them. While still on the ground, Guest whined, "I only took out a hand—how in Robloxia are we supposed to ban her?!"

"Don't ask me! I—" When Jenna finally started turning towards them, Noob had been able to observe a particular weakness. 

"She turns so... Slow, and clumsy..."

Noob gasped when they finally realized something, something that he saw just a couple minutes ago. 

CRASH

"The Firebrand!" Noob shouted, grabbing Guest's arm. "For some reason, I saw my dad's Firebrand just laying on the bed. If you could just distract her so I could get to it, maybe we can terminate her!"

There was a pause, accompanied by another crash, then a comment of praise from Guest, "Noob, are you a genius?"

"No, not really."

Noob pulled Guest's shoulder up to help him get up, and got him to stand beside them.

"I think I can handle another round of that power," Guest said. They prepared for this grand plan they made up on the spot. Noob allowed Guest to transform again while they themselves generated a simple, flat brick in front of them.

"When she does one of those cloud attacks, I'll use the smoke to get to the Firebrand. You will take out at least one of her legs in the mean time, got that?" Noob explained, then Guest nodded in understanding. Then, for once, they ran towards their enemy.

This time, a little small talk probably wouldn't hurt that much. 

"Just don't let her get me while I'm getting the Firebrand!"

"I don't know about that."

They both charged in side by side, Noob making their brick float beside him while they're at it. 

"Give. Me. The. Boy!" Jenna roared out, unleashing another cloud of 1s and 0s at them. Just before it hit, Noob diverted from Guest's side and hid inside the cloud of dust, throwing the brick at the hacker to interrupt her.

On the other side of the cloud of dust, Guest got ready as well; preparing to run forward, a red coil sprung around him, then a bright red flash erupted alongside a sound akin to a car on a highway.

He ran in a curved path while Noob ran for the house. Once he got close enough to the hacker, he jumped and channeled the kinetic and supernatural force into a headbutt, taking out both of her legs and nearly taking out himself. "Can't... Do it anymore..." 

Meanwhile, Noob got close to the half-ruined house and stretched their arms out, "Keep Guest's possession in check with my left, and pull the Firebrand in with my right..."

"C'mere, Firebrand!" Noob yelled, swinging both of their arms across.

Since Noob swung both arms, Guest was pulled down. "Oh, wait—" SLAM

"Sorry, Guest!"

And, almost in unison, Jenna fell down as well; consequences of not having legs anymore. On top of that, Noob managed to get to the Firebrand and launched straight into the hacker's back. 

"Yeah, right on! I got to hit her with the Firebrand!" Noob yelled in excitement. "All according to plan!" Guest yelled back.

There were none of the expected flames. The sword hit, but it didn't do much. It fell and rattled on the ground. 

Then, Jenna's legs suddenly grew back.

"Huh? How did she do that—"

Noob could barely even blurt something out as a reaction before Jenna grabbed them in her palm, then threw them into the wall that surrounded the property.

They only had a few moments to bounce off the wall and fall, before Jenna charged up a punch.

In an attempt to defend themself, Noob created two walls layered in front of each other, which were promptly shattered like glass when the punch connected, leaving Noob to be pinned to the wall inside a crater. 

"Noob—" Guest tried to call out, then he started to transform and transfigure again.

Before John Doe could regain control, the transformation reverted in what was basically a split second. "Wha— I'm back..?"

Turns out, Noob didn't die or fall unconscious just yet. But they seemed as if they wanted to by what they said next, "Is that all you got?" Noob taunted, pinned side ways in the crater. "You keep going after and bullying randos like us... I can't stand bullies..." Noob rasped. 

"Release the seal on me again! I don't care about what happens to me!" Guest shouted, flailing his arms. 

"Guest, you should know," Noob continued to rasp out. "I'm about to beat this b#### up, I'm not letting her get away with this..." 

"Noob, what do you mean—" Guest tried to ask, then Jenna proceeded to give Noob a one of her giant fists.

SLAM

"gah—!" The crater deepened into the wall, with Noob in it; taking the full force of the punch. "That didn't do anything at all—!" They continued to provoke her. 

"Noob! Stop—" 

FUMP

FUMP

FUMP

"STOP!" Guest yelled, though barely audible over the sounds of impacts and crumbling stone.

"Noob! Please lift the seal again, you'll die!" Guest tried yelling again. This time, Noob heard him.

"I'm... Fine..." Noob said, voice hoarse and throaty from all the beatings they just got. "I've got this thing... Where I want it!"

Noob stretched their hands out in front of themself, and Guest felt his body being tugged and pulled through the air by an unseen force.

Seeing this, Jenna threw another punch; but Noob weaved just before it hit the wall with another loud crash. They made sure that tehy were still in the crater by the time Guest flew over to them for convenience.

Guest was sent into Noob's arms, instinctively turning and wrapping his arms around Noob's upper torso.

When Noob reeled their arms to wrap around Guest's torso, they also made sure to use their power to bring the Firebrand flying into the hacker's back; much harder this time in order to actually pierce.

When it got lodged unto Jenna's back with an orange flash and a multitude of sparks, there was a short delay before the hacker properly bursted into flames.

As the bright orange fire consumed the hacker, Guest and Noob hugged each other tightly; closing their eyes and hopinh for the absolute best outcome for them—escaping the cramped box.

They realized that their silent wish had been granted when they opened their eyes again. Bright and sunny, no walls, standing on the dirt next to the road instead of laying in a crater, they got out. Most of all—Noob's house isn't actually all ruins. 

Noob shook their best friend clinging to them to get him back to reality. "Guest, look! We're back!" 

"Wuh— really?!" Guest exclaimed, turning towards the now-normal property. 

They both collapsed and sat on the ground below them. Noob tilted  their really head far back. "That was close... I almost died..." 

Guest turned to his best friend, "Yeah, because you kept messing with her!" 

"What, I was trying to lure her," Noob defended.

"Whatever, at least you're safe," Guest dismissed, moving his hands to rest on his thighs.

Noob straightened up, "Yeah, at least I am," Noob's head started to spin, "but for some reason, I feel really, really dizzy...now...uh oh—"

Thud

...

"Noob—" Guest tried to call out.

 twitch.

Guest's skin blackened again. Without Noob's power, John had full reign over his body.

Probably unfair given that they almost just died but whatever.

Meanwhile, a certain builder had been woken up by the commotion outside.

Chapter Text

After taking a little power nap to make up for last night's all-nighter (said nap was like 6 to 10am), Builderman was the first to wake up due to some commotion outside.

After sitting up from his pillow, the first thing Builderman felt was Shedletsky's arm and leg restricting  his waist and own legs from moving.

"I have to wake up to this disaster of a middle-aged man..." Builderman muttered in irritation as he moved Shedletsky, careful not to wake him up.

There were a series of peculiar noises coming from outside, "Guess I should check that out," Builderman said as he planted his feet on the floor next to the bed.

He stood up and started walking to the door, picking up his comically large hammer from the floor while still careful enough not to make too much noise.

The door creaked open and Builderman stepped into the hallway. He walked towards the living room—expecting Noob and Guest to be hanging out there.

Once he got to the living room, Noob and Guest were nowhere to be found, except for some orange juice on the table near the television.

"Huh. Must be in Noob's room," Builderman dismissed Noob and Guest's absence and proceeded towards the front door, just as he heard a thud from outside.

The front door creaked open, and Builderman stepped outside, maneuvering his hammer so it wouldn't hit any part of the door's frame.

After looking around the property, there wasn't anything unusual. Near the front next to the road, however, something was definitely there.

An unconscious Noob sprawled on the ground, and a transfigured Guest frantically inspecting them. All though, it seemed like he didn't notice his presence—reckless.

"Oh boy," he muttered. "Time to deal with this mess again."

—

Total freedom after being denied just before achieving it so many times felt good to John Doe.

This stupid, abhorrent person lying in front of him could even take advantage lf his ability to awaken someone's potential for their own good.

Either how dare they, or praise them for how proficient they are with their powers after acquiring them yesterday.

John Doe had Guest's body crawling all over Noob, inspecting them. He lifted them up by one of their legs, and Noob didn't wake up.

Good, he could eat this guy and have one less obstacle in his way.

Then,

A hammer.

SLAM

He should have expected this, learned his lesson from getting beat up by Shedletsky earlier; but for some reason, he didn't.

"Still reckless as ever, I see?" The man who had hit him with the hammer said. John Doe turned around to identify the source of the hit.

Of course, it was Builderman.

"You wanna get sorted out like what Shedletsky did to you, or you wanna leave them alone for once?" Builderman says, probably an attempt at negotiation that is completely negated by his sarcastic tone.

John Doe snarled at Builderman's words. "You stand no chance against the combined power of me and this vessel."

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that," Builderman taunted. "Come on, you wanna blow some craters in the ground or what?"

SLAM

He slammed the banhammer into the ground beside him. 

... 

AAAAAAAwkward silence. 

Builderman finally said something to break it, "So, you just want me to kill you? Or..." 

Clang

Spikes erupted from the ground in a straight line parallel to the road. Builderman just took a single step to the side, being way too familiar with this kind of attack; and he didn't forget to pick up the banhammer too. 

"You underestimate me. I can use this vessel's power in conjunction with my own however I want!" John Doe boasted, moving fast enough to seem as if disappearing in the blink of an eye, before slowing down behind Builderman. 

The admin's reflexes were as fast as he is, though. Builderman managed to duck from a spike shooting out of a dark red screen in the air, before hitting the hacker with the banhammer. 

"I won't lie, that shiny new vessel of yours was definitely not what I was expecting, even if it was the best friend of my adopted son," the admin commented. "Also didn't expect you to use your power while still in that vessel, probably because you got beaten by Shedletsky just a few hours ago." 

"Shut your trap, admin," the hacker growled. 

"Fine then," Builderman replied, "You better give me a good fight, for once."

—

Noob gasped as they woke up.

No way they just let John Doe out a second time. 

They were in their room again, the sun was still shining through the window. They would've thought it was just a really long, really immersion bad dream if it weren't for the sound of metal slamming into the ground outside.

And after that, explosions. 

They rushed out of their room and towards the front door, already getting a clue on what was happening outside.

Slamming the front door open, they find one of their dads face palming; and the other, much farther away, about to hit their de-transforming best friend with a hammer that would surely kill him if it landed where it was going—the head.

Then, it stops just before it hits. Guest didn't have any time to process anything after he fully reverted back to normal. 

"What... Just happened?" 

Builderman pulled the banhammer away from Guest's temple, laying the head on the ground but kept the handle leaning on his right leg. "Sorry," he whispered, "seems like Noob finally woke up."

Noob's narrowed, then widened in mild shock. Before they could run over to Guest, Shedletsky, just to the side; shouted over.

"Builderman! How in Robloxia are we supposed to explain this to the neighbours?! You can't just punch holes in the ground and expect people not to notice!"

Builderman scratched the back of his neck, "Whoops, sorry 'Shed."

Shedletsky scoffed, "First of all, don't call me that. Second of all, apologize to our shared-custodial boy child. You nearly killed their best friend, after all."

"Like you didn't— nevermind," Builderman moved a few steps closer to Noob, looking down. "Sorry, kid. Guess I got carried away by all the rush."

Noob only managed to perform a single nod and say a shaky "Uh huh..."

Shedletsky sighed into his arm, "This can't go on..."

—

11:38 AM

After finally having everyone seated around the lunch table (and Guest at the couch), Shedletsky and started the conversation.

He placed both hands on the table, and sighed, "Noob, we're gonna exorcise your friend over here."

"I'm so sleepy it took me this long to finally say this..." Shedletsky said under his breath. 

"Anyway—thanks to this guy next to me wrecking the flat land of the neighbourhood, John Doe has gotten weak enough for us to expel him." 

Builderman whipped his head around upon hearing Shedletsky's positively negative(?) comment on him. "Hey, you better thank me properly for weakening him! Plus, I already said sorry!" 

"A 'sorry' isn't enough for a—" Shedletsky stopped himself with a grumble, before getting back on-topic. "Anyway, Noob—listen carefully to what I'm gonna say." 

Noob, still too out of their mind right now—gave their dad a thumbs up. 

"Alright then," Shedletsky moved his arms from the table with a clap, "I'm gonna need your new power for this. If I just used the Ghostwalker as usual, your friend could die." 

Their dad's words snapped Noob back into reality. "What?! He might die from the exorcism?!"

"Yeah," Shedletsky confirmed, "if we're not careful."

Noob leaned forward, "How do we be careful about the exorcism?"

Shedletsky prepared himself for a long explanation. "You said you visualise grabbing and squeezing John Doe to keep him from taking over Guest, right? Do you think you could pull him out?"

Noob nodded, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can."

Shedletsky crossed his arms, "Good. My plan for this exorcism is for you to use that power of yours to pull John Doe out, while I make it easier by hitting him with the Ghostwalker. Don't worry—I'll be gentle this time."

Noob's eyes lit up, "So, if we just did that... Guest can finally go back to a normal life!?" They asked in excitement.

"Yep. We'll start whenever you're ready."

Noob got off their chair and ran around the table to hug one of his dads. "Thanks, Shedletsky! I knew you would be able to help us!"

Noob's other dad(Builderman) turned around and got jealous, "Hey... where's my hug?"

Noob looked at him, "You barely even did anything, but whatever!"

Noob released Shedletsky from their hug and ran over to hug Builderman.

When he felt Noob's arms around him, Builderman let out a small chuckle, "Never gets old."

On the couch

"Man this TV show sucks, " Guest muttered, grabbing another chip from the chip bag graciously given to him by his pookie-wookie bear Noob. 

Chapter Text

7:18 PM

Everything was put into place. Guest was made to sit on a chair with his feet submerged in water, while Noob was seated just opposite of him. 

Also, it was outside. 

"Did we really have to wait this long?" Noob asked.

Shedletsky was cleaning the Ghostwalker with a white cloth, while Builderman did the same with his hammer. 

"Yes, Noob," Shedletsky answered, "It's easier to expel hackers from people's bodies around this time, without having them get super active when out."

Guest looked around nervously, eyeing the sword and giant hammer, "Am I supposed to... Get hit with those...?"

Shedletsky finished cleaning and walked over, stopping behind where Guest sat.

"The hammer's just gonna be used if John does any funny business after getting out. However," Shedletsky lifted the Ghostwalker up, making Guest flinch, "hitting you with this sword is gonna be required to get him out in the first place."

Guest squeaked at his words, then turned to Noob for confirmation, "Do I really need to get hit by that or is your dad just messing with me? Come on, Noob, answer me!!" Guest sobbed.

"Yeah, you do. I've already seen a couple."

The very clear confirmation made Guest squirm in his seat, maybe to prepare himself a little.

Builderman finished cleaning all the dirt from his hammer, then Shedletsky gave a countdown.

"You better prepare yourslef for this, Guest. On the count of three, I hit you. Noob, imagine yourself pulling Guest towards you as I hit him, alright?"

Noob nodded, and Guest's shoulders tensed up. 

One, 

Two,

Three.

SHWING

"YEAAAAAOUUUCH!!"

"Pffft—" Noob covered their mouth to hold back a laugh, getting distracted from their job to actually pull John Doe out.

"Wuh— wha? Is John Doe out of me yet?" Guest asked, placing a hand on his back as he turned back and forth to look around.

Shedletsky stabbed the sword into the dirt and crossed his arms, "Noob!" He scolded, "You were supposed to pull him out, stop laughing!" 

Noob restrained their laughs to be more like a giggle so they could say something, "Sorry, I— hehe, that sound was so— pfffft—" then, Noob sighed to compose themselves. "I probably shouldn't be laughing at him..." 

Shedletsky picked the sword back up, "We'll do this one more time, And pay attention, Noob. On the count of three, one..."

Guest whipped his head around, "Again?!"

"two..."

"Wait— wait I didn't even—"

"three."

SHWING

"Eek!"

Noob shot his hands out, and immediately pulled them in, imagining himself pulling on Guest.

A pale yellow flash erupted from Guest's torso as he was being pulled towards Noob, with the force from it knocking Noob off the chair and staggering Shedletsky.

Between Noob and Guest, someone began to seemingly fade into existence. 

A middle aged man of a pale yellow complexion, wearing red glasses, simple blue and yellow clothes, and short ponytail. His eyes were closed

Upon opening his eyes, the man blinked twice; then immediately started running, creating clouds of smoke in his wake.

All four of them were briefly stunned, and Noob was the first one to come back to their senses, "After him!" They shouted, bringing both Guest and their dads back to reality.

All of them got up, but quickly lost sight of John Doe in the clouds of dust he kicked up. Noob gets an idea on the spot though.

"C'mon, C'mon... Just look for his rig or square or whatever..." Noob whispered to himself, putting two fingers on his forehead as that's how he thought people used what he thought were psychic powers.

He imagined his hands traversing the dust clouds, putting the two fingers down and opting to stretch both of his arms infront of him to help with the imagining process, "Where is he..."

Eventually, he found a large, imposing pale yellow cube and grabbed it with his imaginary hands as his first instinct. Upon contact, he opened his eyes, "I think I found him!" Noob shouted.

All Noob ran to where they felt themself grabbing the square, with their two dads and Guest following close behind.

The dust cleared up by the time they arrived.

In front of them was that same middle-aged man—who looked like he would be in his forties if he weren't an EVIL F###### GHOST—struggling against the constraints of two giant invisible hands wrapping around him.

"Let's go of me, ya f######!! I'll murder all 'o ya!" The man yelled, flailing his arms as much as he could against the translucent yellow grip.

Noob and Guest turned around to Shedletsky and Builderman, "Is this guy actually John Doe? Is he allowed to say that word?" Noob asked.

...

"Yep," Shedletsky confirmed. "That's the real John Doe alright. The stuff of myths."

John Doe crossed his arms and scoffed, "Hmph. If ya know who ya dealing with, yer brain's code gotta be faulty to even think about challenging me."

Maybe he was right about their brains being faulty, for Guest and Noob at least; because right now, they were barely thinking aboit the implications of this supposedly ultra-super-duper-mega powerful hacker being restrained.

"His accent's funny... I thought he would talk more fancy or something." ^–Guest

"He talks differently from before... also his chest's huge..." ^–Noob

John Doe sneered, eyeing the two idiots in front of him, "No way these two managed to exploit MY influence for their own gain. Did ya really think ya could get rid of ME so easily? Think again, headless—es."

Noob sighed, tightening his grip on the great hacker, "Give it up, old man. We already got you out of him, so you basically lost."

"I AIN'T LOST NOTHING! Don't be so cocky about yer dumb power just 'cuz ya managed to contain me, tacky little twerp! I'll snap all yer bones!!" John Doe yelled back, struggling against Noob's hold on him.

Noob just placed a hand on their hip all nonchalant and the like, "Come on, just give it up already. You're out of Guest's body now, and my dads will ban you if you try pulling any pranks." 

Guest picked up a stick from the ground and pointed it at the hacker, like it would do anything, "Yeah— you here that? You lost, alright?! Now leave us alone!"

John Doe smirked mischievously, "Ya really think that twig's gonna help ya? Ya genuinely must be stupid," then, his eyes and glasses began to glow.

Given just enough time to widen their eyes, the yard of rocked by an explosion; planned by John Doe. However, the grasp on him hasn't faltered in the slightest.

The dust cleared again. Shedletsky and Builderman had blocked and were barely harmed. As for Noob and Guest... 

Noob was moved a few meters to the right, with Guest shielding their body in his transformed state. 

"Man, this sucks. Old guy's getting me to—"

"HOW THE F### CAN YOU STILL TRANSFORM?!"

Shedletsky had to hold back a giggle, since John Doe seemed to still be unaware of the situation he's in, "You really messed up this time, John. Your influence on the boy ended up awakening his power.

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUUP!!" John Doe yelled not calmly, "The more ya open yer mouth the more I just wanna rip yer guts out!"

John Doe tried doing the same trick he did just a minute ago, but only sparks came out. Shedletsky then pulled out a pale yellow cube, "Trying to use this?"

Guest and Noob's eyes widened, and John Doe had a fairly negative reaction.

"YA BIRDBRAINED FAT###! GIVE ME MY POWER BACK!"

Shedletsky waved the cube around, showing it off, "Woah there, buddy. If you don't choose your words carefully, you're never getting this back."

"No wait don't point that sword at me— OW!" John Doe exclaimed as Shedletsky began having the time of his life just hitting him with random swings of the Ghostwalker. 

Noob held back another giggle, but this time they had a certain idea in mind.

"Dad, stop it," they asked. Being the kind* and devoted** father that he is, Shedletsky stopped mid-swing.

Noob then began walking towards the man tehy were restraining, in order to start whatever dastardly plans they had in mind.

"Hey, I know that you probably hate my guts, but I cant bring myself to hate you in turn...for some reason. So, I would like to ask for something out of you. You won't get banned, but—"

"What" ^–Guest

"—but you have to prove to us that you wouldn't be a nuisance and cause trouble! Deal?"

John let out a scenario-expexted "grr" sound; and for the first time in his not life, he admitted defeat. "...damn punks."

Did that really work?

"Wait wait wait wait," Guest hastily grabbed ahold of Noob's arm, "That guy possessed me and literally tried to kill you multiple times! Are you sure we can trust him now, even if his powers got taken away by your dad(s)?"

Noob, in turn, grabbed ahold of Guest's hand, "Well... I mean, his power did get taken away; plus, I'm sure that my dads are fully capable of stopping him if anything goes wrong... so, you gotta trust me on this!"

...

"Whatever you say, Noob."

—

7:42 PM

They went back inside, Guest and Noob took the couch.

"Well Guest," Noob initiated, "It's been like... more than thirty minutes since we went back inside, John Doe hasn't caused too much trouble."

Guest looks behind him, where the kitchen was, "I mean... I see that, but..."

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO COVER THE CHICKEN WITH FLOUR ON ALL SIDES!"

"I HAVEN'T COOKED IN DECADES, OKAY?! CUT ME SOME SLACK!"

"...I'm actually starting to feel bad for him. Are you sure it was a good idea to have Shedletsky deal with him?"

"Yeah."

There was a pause as both of them struggled to find something to talk about, even though they would usually talk endlessly if they sat together on a couch like this.

Guest looked at Builderman, who was peacefully reading on a chair with his hard hat still on.

"Noob, does your other dad do anythi—"

Noob quickly covered their best friend's mouth before he could say anything else.

"Yes he DOES, he helps with yard work and maintenance."

Guest removed Noob's hand from his mouth, looking away.

He then slowly leaned onto Noob's shoulder, wrapping one hand around him.

"Hey, were the past two days too much for you? It's not like you to be quiet, Noob."

"It just feels awkward to act like I usually do after something as serious as... this," Noob said, voice just above a whisper—then; "Also, aren't YOU supposed to be the one who's more... I dunno, affected by whatever this was?!"

"I don't know either," Guest simply says; pressing himself against Noob even more, "but, I guess it's because I'm always with you."

Those last few words were followed by silence, leaving them both to their separate headspaces as they faced separate directions.

Shortly after, Guest looked back at Noob, who seems to be lost in deep, actually meaningful thought; unlike him, or so he thought.

"I can't deal with this anymore," He thought. "Maybe this could be the perfect place where we would—"

DING DONG

Guets flinched at the suddenly loud noise, and Noob quickly got up and started running to the door, "I'll get it!"

Sliding to a stop in front of the door, Noob opened it to a certain someone with hot pink hair and all black clothes.

"473? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Noob," She said, "Have you seen 078 anywhere? He's been gone for like, two days. Me and 1337 have been worried about him."

"Oh!" Noob promptly moved aside to show 473 more of the living room, "Guest's right here!"

Guest flinched again, and Noob ran back to the couch just to drag him over to the door.

"What the actual heck happened, lil bro? You've been gone for so long! What were you doing that prompted you to NOT tell your big brother and sister about? All you said was that you were hanging out."

Guest felt a drop of sweat run down his forehead as thought of an explanation, "Well... I— I was, but alot happened that I... don't really want to talk about."

473 gave her little brother a mischievous smirk, "Hmm? Don't want talk about it?"

"No— It's not what you think! What the heck?!"

Noob giggled a little from the sidelines.

—

8:01 PM

"I gotta go home now," Guest said, "Are you sure you'll be fine with John Doe around?"

"I already told you, I'll be fine," Noob simply replied, "Be careful out there, though."

"I know."

"Bye!"

"Goodbye."

"See ya."

Guest simply followed his big sister's footsteps as they left the property, while Noob was still standing outside.

"Goodbye? Did I say that correctly? No, I should've worded that better."

"Goodbye? Like... g'bye? Weird..."

Noob then seemed to remember something they were supposed to say.

Guest was getting close to passing Noob and his family's property line, then he heard his nickname being called. He turned around to see Noob with the most blinding smile ever.

"Guest!" They shouted over, "See you tomorrow! Usual place, alright?"

Guest's eyes reflected the blinding light of Noob's smile, not noticing that his sister was crossing her arms.

"You're not gonna disappear again, are you?"

...

"Of course not!"

Chapter Text

"Don't just disappear on us. You don't want your big siblings to get worried, do you?"

"I know."

The past day or two have been the most chaotic, strange, eventful, and life threatening things Guest has ever, ever experienced in his twenty years on Robloxia.

He'd never felt so stressed—and in a way different from study stress. Again, it was strange. Maybe like a taste of whatever his big brother was doing in the military or something.

There was an upside to it though—being together with Noob for so long in unfamiliar situations. Sure, they've been friends since high school—but Guest hadn't felt so connected to Noob ever since they've become friends. It made his heart melt.

After all those crazy shenanigans and a good talk with his siblings, he was finally able to go back to his room and sleep on his own bed.

He may be completely exhausted, but he still found the energy to take a short bath and change clothes. Strange, since he never had that kind of energy before.

Nonetheless, Guest absolutely collapsed onto his bed once he got back to his room; nice and soft—like Noob's bed, like Noob himself.

Clutching one of his pillows, he began to reflect on whatever happened earlier.

John Doe was supposed to be this... ultra powerful hacker, right? How come there wasn't a big fight or chase sequence when Noob and his dad banished him from his body? Is it really okay to let Noob and his two dads take care of him?

And about his siblings, he doesn't want to make them worry. Before Noob came along, they were his only support system; however, given that he had already been involved in the supernatural, who knows if he'll get roped in and disappear again?

"I shouldn't be thinking too much..." Guest muttered. He closed his eyes shut as his grip on the pillow slightly loosened.

Slowly but surely, Guest drifted into sleep... Just after he managed to pit his cap on the table.

dream sequence thing

Floating inside an endless sea of swirling pastels, Guest sits on a couch; legs crossed as he stares down at them.

There was almost nothing on his mind—almost. That is, he was thinking of Noob, Noob, Noob... as well as other things so this entire dreamscape wouldn't just be Noob everywhere.

Frankly, it was embarrassing. A grown twenty year old thinking about their crush like it's high school. Whatever... not like it matters that much.

On the invisible(totally nonexistent) floor, a small...creature approaches. It was teal, or aquamarine, or whatever. It's just— it's colored like some kind of toothpaste. It had rather elaborate clothing for a quadruped. One of its eyes had an eye patch, and two horns.

"Oh. Hey there, Meddeer," Guest greeted, "Do you mind if you could lend me some advice? I have feelings for this one person, but I don't want to ruin our friendship."

To which Meddeer replied, "Lock in bro"

"...oh."

A few more interesting figures emerged from the swirling colors beyond.

"Hey there, Sebastian Solace from Pressure JPEG," Guest greeted one of them, "Could you give me some advice?"

To which the fish man JPEG replied, "Lock in bro"

"...you too?"

Guest seemed to be lost. He then picked another one, "How about you, Finn Mccool with the Long Face, do you have any advice for me?" He asked.

To which the long-faced purple one replied, "Just lock in bro"

Guest sighed. He had no idea about what the phrase "lock in" could possibly mean. A lock... locking in? Like a key? It was like solving a problem on a math exam he forgot to study for.

He turned to another one, "How about you, Extremely Evil and Homosexual GLA Soldier, do you have any advice for me? Or maybe know what 'lock in' even means?"

To which the malicious man-kisser replied in a completely different language that Guest could not understand.

"If only I could understand you..."

Guest was completely stumped. None of his... friends... were able to help him in this trifling matter.

In this balance, Guest could only watch as his....

Wait,

Guest got an epiphany, and rapidly stood up from the couch.

"These are MY feelings for MY best friend! No one can change them, aside from ME! If I want to change, then I SHOULD change!" He shouted.

The dream constructs and characters around him clapped and cheered in agreement. Guest was finally able to come to his own conclusion.

The swirling pastels transformed into a uniform pink as Guest was filled with a certain feeling.

"I love knocking out teeth—"

"GET OUT!!!!"

6:34 AM

Guest had forgotten the declaration he made back in the dream. How unfortunate, really.

He scanned his familiar bedroom as he got up from his bed, the golden light of the morning sun streaming in and illuminating whatever was there.

It was all so strange, and familiar at the same time. Those shenanigans really must have taken a toll on him.

He wonders if Noob also feels like this, or if his siblings are awake yet.

He will NOT escape the supernatural tomfoolery anytime soon, that's for sure.

Chapter Text

Shedletsky walked into a dimly-lit room, plate of fried chicken in hand. He picked one up and chomped on it, examining both its texture and taste.

"Not bad, John," he praised, "Despite not cooking in so long, you still got it."

John Doe followed him into the dimly-lit room, "Why thank you, birdbrain. Never thought I'd see the day that I get a compliment from the likes of you."

"Yeah yeah, you can cut the 'birdbrain' stuff out now. You're lucky Noob had gotten an inkling of your past," Shedletsky replied, "Sometimes even I wonder how they could know that from just a closer look."

"Don't bring my sister into this," John Doe growled.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, John."

Shedletsky proceeded to look around the room he just walked into. It was dusty, the walls weren't painted, and there was no furniture apart from a table with two chairs on their side.

He momentarily forgot why he even went here in the first place, but was reminded when he saw Builderman; who sat himself on the other side of the table, casually drinking coffee.

"You're a bit earlier than I expected," Builderman started, "but I see that you've forgotten why you were here for a second."

"Why exactly did you pick this dingy room? Can't we just do this meeting in the living room?" Shedletsky asked, "Plus, you even told John Doe to get over here."

"Let's just say..." Builderman put his coffee mug down and rested his chin on his hands, placing his elbows on the table, "I wanted to go for a specific... atmosphere. C'mon, have a seat."

Both Johns got themselves seated and Builderman dropped the mischievous villain act by picking his mug back up.

Before Builderman could even speak, Shedletsky leaned in. 

"Hey, what did you think about my ragebaiting earlier?" Shedletsky very discreetly asked.

"Be real for once. You learned that word a couple months ago and just ran off with it," Builderman undiscreetly said, taking a sip from his coffee.

Shedletsky asked a follow-up question, "...well? Was I good at it at least?"

"...technically, yes. You did get a reaction out of John Doe, it was just... stale. Too old-fashioned," Builderman unapologetically answered, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Whatever, you always say that to me," Shedletsky dismissed, "but what kind of meeting did you even call us here for?"

"Glad you asked. But first, is Noob asleep yet?"

"Yep."

"Great, I can start. I need to discuss three problems. The first is..." Builderman took a deep breath before continuing, "It's about Guest."

"Ah, I think I know where this is going," the winged one commented.

"It is going where you think it's going. I never thought that his power would be inherited by our shared-custodial son's best friend, of all people," The builder sighed, leaning into his chair before perking back up.

Meanwhile John Doe wasn't paying attention at all, and Builderman caught on, "Hey, emo guy. I know we got some bad blood, but you gotta listen 'cuz this is your fault."

"Whaaaaatever. Just never call me 'emo boy' ever again," The hacker replied in a disdainful manner, "So? Whaddya want me to do? Sell my soul?"

"Just pay attention. I haven't even gotten to the second problem yet," Builderman answered, leaning into his chair again, "Back on topic, we have no idea about whether or not Guest would lose control; and if so, we don't know when."

With another sigh while making sure the two men before him were listening, Builderman took another sip of his coffee and continued, "That being said, Noob had gotten a grip on his powers fast enough to learn how to suppress these things, so calling the other admins shouldn't be necessary right now."

"That's the first problem, then. What about the others?" The winged amn asked.

With another sip of his coffee, Builderman went on, "Right. The second problem is with Noob's kidnappers. Noob didn't tell us who they were, and we don't know if they'll come back for him. Even with his powers, I'm not sure if we can let him go outside yet—which is difficult, since Noob had basically scheduled another meeting with Guest at their usual spot."

"Alright, third question now," Shedletsky spoke, being way too straightforward.

"Telamon— ugh, you're so impatient," With a deep breath, Builderman continued on, "I hope you two now what I'm talking about. The third problem is 1x1x1x1."

The name alone incited reactions in the two Johns. Shedletsky had a rather mixed reaction, while John Doe was just filled with pure disdain at the sound of that name.

"Yep, you know who I'm talking about," The builder confirmed, "Anyway... Up until now, they've used a strategy that involves both hiring people and raising an army of... Clone minion things. We don't know where the money comes from, and we haven't been able to track their movements at all. 2x2 could only imprison him for so long, and now we don't know how—HEY!"

The builder noticed that Shedletsky was deliberately zoning out, and John Doe was just straight up covering his ears, "John Shedletsky, pay attention. John Doe, STOP COVERING YOUR EARS. I know you hate and/or feel awkward about 1x, but this is important. If we don't know what to do about them, we're dead."

"Fine..." The Johns said in unison, setting their hands on top of the table.

"Good," The builder responded, before continuing his conversation, "What we do know is that they use these green crowns for both creating minions and regaining their power. Now, we could possibly train both Guest and Noob by having them collect these crowns without actively running into 1x's forces, as they attract quite a few other supernatural occurences. Maybe, we could even train some of their other friends. What do you think, Shedletsky?"

"...Can't say I got any other ideas," Shedletsky answered, "So, that's it, right? Three problems and like... A kinda-sorta solution? This feels more like a briefing than a meeting."

"I guess so. However..." Builderman pointed towards John Doe with his coffee mug, "I need to ask him for a little favor."

"You? Asking the likes of me for a favor?" The hacker laughed, "What have the admins come to?" He mocked.

"Just hear me out," Builderman responded, "We won't exorcise you, and you're welcome to stay in this house. In exchange, you promise that you won't go out and cause a scene, and..."

The admin paused.

"You help us against 1x1x1x1."

John Doe started giggling, which transformed into manic laughter that he had to manually suppress, "Help you deal with Exponenter? Why..."

A web of red radiated from his irises and engulfed his eyes.

"With pleasure."

"Ts is not tuff"

"Where did you learn that."