Chapter Text
As Jack prepared to record footage for his next video, he was unable to shake the feeling that he was being watched. “Why now? You disappeared for years; you do not scare me anymore. I suggest you leave now.” Jack asked as he scanned the room.
“Really now, you do realize that the others are gone as well, right? Last time you were powerless against me and had to rely on them to stop me.” Antisepticeye asked as he materialized in front of the door, blocking the only way out. For several seconds they just stared at each other, trying to gauge each other’s reactions.
“I know you have the ability to kill me at any time and yet here we are. Clearly you have no intention of doing so. That being said why are you here?” Jack said scanning for anything he could use to defend himself if it came to it. He had no time to react as Anti started closing the distance.
Anti just laughed at his attempts. “Dark is coming and will not hesitate. Frankly I would like it if you were alive. If you die that means the end of me as well. I know of a way we can stop him, but it is dangerous,” Anti said grabbing the collar of Jack’s shirt, “Dark’s influence is infecting Markiplier through his dreams. If we fail than he can take over and destroy everything.” It was strange to see Anti care about something after all that time of fighting.
Taking a deep breath Jack removed Anti’s hands from his shirt. “Fine, like it or not I have no choice but to help you out. Do you think we might find the others in there?” Jack said as he glanced back at the computer. As much as he wanted to ignore the problem and record videos, he knew Anti would drag him into it not matter what he said. Even if he could run Anti was faster and stronger.
“That is a possibility, though I guarantee that they will be there, the dangerous ones. Unlike you Markiplier’s mind is a host of all sorts of dangerous entities. For your sake you need to stay close unless you mean to tell me that you are secretly able to fight. Now get to your bed, you will want to be comfortable for this.” Anti responded before teleporting away leaving Jack alone with his thoughts.
Jack groaned and rubbed his eyes. The ordeal had made him exhausted, though the situation made that a good thing. Anti was already waiting for him once he got inside the bedroom. “What do I need to do exactly? You just ran off without explaining much of anything.” Jack asked as he made his way to the bed.
“Nothing much. All you need to do is close your eyes and focus on Markiplier. Doing that will allow me to transport your consciousness to his mind. Be prepared for anything in there, I am unable to guarantee that we will end up somewhere safe right away.” Anti explained motioning to the bed. Jack did as he was asked and thought about his friend as his eyes grew heavy.
When Jack opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a dark forest. “I should have seen this coming.” He said to himself as he took in his surroundings. It was so dark that he could barely see more than a few feet in front of him. Eventually Anti materialized next to him.
“We should be safe for a while. Despite appearances I am unable to sense anything else besides the two of us and the exit. If we can get there, I believe we will end up in the hub area of sorts where dream jumpers are able to access.” Anti said, his body casting a green glow around him. Anti started off into the darkness forcing Jack to run after him. The silence was suffocating broken occasionally by owls and Anti’s glitches.
As they walked Jack could feel a burning question in his mind that refused to go away. “How do you know all of this? I thought you were just a glitch demon.” Jack asked as he finally caught up.
Anti paused and stared at him like he just asked something stupid. “All the Egos can do this considering we live in your mind most of the time. Some of us just have a better grasp of it than others. I thought one of them would have explained this to you by now, guess they assumed it was not important enough to mention.” Anti said before resuming the trek once again. Eventually they reached a transport pad buried in the mud.
Jack stepped on it first and disappeared in a flash of light. The next moment he appeared in a large room with nothing more than a stage at the front. Looking around Jack found other people staring at him before welcoming him to the team. The commotion drew the attention of Markiplier who was showing the recent arrival around. Before he could get close Anti appeared between Jack and Mark. “Please do not attempt anything stupid. I really need everyone to be alright.” Mark said raising his hands in front of him.
“Relax, I was just confirming that you were not him in disguise. The fact that you were worried about the others proved that fact to me,” Anti said taking a few steps forward, “any place we can talk, preferably somewhere they are not around?” Markiplier nodded and walked down a hall behind the stage with Anti and Jack following close behind. The hallway winded every which way until they came to a stop at what looked to be a security door.
“Sorry for the mess, this place gets harder to navigate as more people show up. I am well aware of Dark’s plans; the problem is I have no idea how to reach him. Bob and Wade showed up to help earlier, but I sent them away as it was too dangerous. Some of your friends are here as well.” Mark said as he pulled up the security feed. He pointed out the hidden room that was blocked by all kinds of traps and monsters. It was no wonder why Markiplier had trouble reaching Dark.
Anti shook his head and turned his attention towards Jack. “I was hoping to avoid this, but we have no choice at this point. If we want any chance of making it you will need to learn how to fight. One of the main problems is finding the one that works for you the best.” Anti said, his hand resting on his forehead. He glanced at Mark in hopes that he had something to work with.
“Well, we do have a training facility, though there is a problem,” Mark said looking at the cameras, “Chase Brody is running it. I think you understand why this is a challenge. You will have to wait outside Anti considering your history with him.” Anti walked away and muttered to himself in the corner of the room. Even though it had been years there was still a good chance that the other Egos would not accept his return so easily, regardless of saving people.
“Well lead the way, he can teleport when he is ready to join us again.” Jack said before stepping out of the room. Before he knew it, he was back in the main room. Mark led him to a room just off the left side of the stage. One wall was lined with lanes with a training dummy at one end. At the opposite side was a desk with Chase standing behind it. People came and went, picking up new weapons and testing them out. “Good to know he found something to focus on.” Jack said as he approached the desk.
For a few moments Chase just looked at Jack as though he was trying to remember something. “How did you even get here, not that it is a bad thing? I came here quite a while ago and decided to stay, just felt right to me.” Chase asked. Jack glanced at Mark as he had no idea what to say. He only managed to get there because of Anti, not the best answer to give.
“I found him in the forest and brought him here; guess he got pulled in by mistake.” Mark said. It was true enough to let it slip by without giving out too much information. Chase nodded as he wandered over to the weapons rack. His hand brushed the hilts until he came to a stop at the daggers.
Picking up one of the daggers Chase returned and handed it to Jack. “This should work nicely, easy to learn and can give a lot of mobility. I have gotten pretty good at figuring out what people will do best with.” Chase said.
Jack made his way to one of the empty lanes. Though he had never fought someone before he took a few swings at the dummy, the blade light in his hand. It was still going to take a lot of work before he was ready to defend himself. “Nice one, though I suspect that there is more to this.” Jack said returning to the group.
“In addition to physical combat people learn about their magic affinity. Depending on the results you will learn different spells within that category. Unfortunately, magic is not my area of expertise.” Chase said pointing to the door on the left side of the room. With a wave Jack walked to the door and silently opened it.
The room was entirely dark besides the glowing orb floating in the center of the room. “Another new face huh? I suppose you need to be tested, in that case place your hands on the orb. The name is Blue by the way.” Blue said from within the darkness. Jack did as he was asked and waited for something to happen. He watched as the orb changed color before landing on a mix of black and green. “You must have a strong connection to him if this happened. Not many people can use glitch magic, Anti will have to teach you then.” Blue said as the orb turned white once again. Jack was unsure if it was due to Anti possessing him on more than one occasion or if it was something else. There was still so much to learn before everything would fall apart.