Chapter Text
From the day The Second Coming opened their eyes… No, wait. From the moment that Alan reloaded the Sticksfight website, Second and Alan were best friends.
They did everything together. Whenever Alan logged on in the morning, Second jumped up in excitement. They drew together, animated together, watched YouTube together (Although that stopped after a certain incident.)
Of course, Sec spent time with their other friends. It seemed that they, Green, Blue, Red and Yellow were inseparable, and once they had discovered Minecraft, even more so. They had befriended another stick named Purple, and all would hang out at the PC, including Alan, just being friends.
It was perfect. Their world was perfect. Second couldn’t have been happier.
And the world took advantage of that.
It started small. Alan found less and less time to hang out with the gang, but Second just chalked that up to him being a busy man.
But even when Alan did have time to log on, it wouldn’t be for a chat. He went straight to animating, not even bothering to invite Sec to help. They would jump up, do something funny, wave, just generally try to get his attention. Occasionally that would permit a smile or a wave, but not much.
But even those stopped. So Second would just sit and wait. Wait for Alan to say hi, or maybe to ask for animation help. But it never came.
And then one night, after a while of Alan staring at the screen with a case of artist’s block, he stood up and walked toward the edge of his bedroom.
Second looked up at the squeak of the desk chair. Across the room, Alan was bent over a large suitcase on the bed. He was neatly folding up clothes and packing them away. Second jumped up, as this always meant that Alan was going somewhere.
“Where are we going?” Second called out, waving and jumping up. Alan didn’t answer.
Sec thought for a moment. They climbed up to the top of the animation window and jumped down, yelling “Hey! Alan!” This caught Alan’s attention, and he walked toward the computer with a sigh.
“What is it, Second?” His tone wasn’t friendly as it usually was, more tired and annoyed, like how you’d speak to a little sibling that won’t stop pulling your hair.
“Where are we going?” Second was bouncing up and down excitedly. They always loved going on trips, seeing more of the world of the people outside.
“Oh.” Alan stood up and returned to packing. “I’m going to visit my parents.”
TSC smiled. “Oh, WOW! I’ve never met your parents before, wait till I tell the gang! They’ll be so excited, and-”
Alan interrupted their monologue. “I’m. Going to visit my parents. Just me. And Kaori, of course, but… Not you.”
Second looked at Alan with green eyes. “Oh… come on! I promise we won't embarrass you again! You can even turn the volume down on your tablet, we’ll be good!”
Alan sighed. “I'm not bringing the tablet.”
Once again, Second tried to figure out what he was saying. “So your phone? That's kind of small…”
Alan bit his lip in frustration. “Sec, you're not coming.
“... what? But… why?”
Alan put another pair of jeans in the suitcase before turning to them. “Because I think I should be spending more time with my family.”
Second was getting more confused by the second. “But we are your family!”
The animator, however, was getting angrier by the second. “I mean my real family. The people outside of the computer.” TSC’s strange look prompted him to keep going. “You know. Humans.”
Second stood there on the desktop as Alan finished packing his bag and zipped it up. They finally regathered their words. “But I am a human.”
“No, you're not.” Alan seemed ready to get the conversation done with.
“Yes I am! What else would I be?”
“You're not real.”
Second was getting worked up, their breath getting faster. “I am real! I'm a real person! I'm a human, I just live in a different world than you-”
“Second, stop.”
Second ignored this. “I'm a part of your family! I'm human, just like you!”
And then Alan snapped. “Second.”
TSC looked at him from under their orange and green hair. Tears were forming at the edges of their eyes.
“You are The Second Coming. You are a stick figure, an animation, a doodle I was drawing one day that somehow came to life. You are a program, an artificial intelligence that has become self aware and believes it's a human. You are anything but a human.”
Second took in a deep breath. That wasn't true, they knew it wasn't. Alan wasn't like this most of the time. They wouldn't stand for it because they knew it wasn't true. “I am The Second Coming. I am a human, a creature, a person with friends and feelings and creativity that artificial intelligence does not have. I am REAL. I exist. I am a real person.”
Alan stared at the small figure on his screen for a moment. He was shocked. He’d never seen Sec get mad before. He bit his lip in anger before getting up and turning his computer into sleep mode.
And Second stomped through the darkness to their room, tears in their glowing green eyes.