Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The room was ordinary. Painfully ordinary.

White walls stretched in every direction, interrupted only by a circle of mismatched folding chairs arranged in the center. Some were metal, some plastic, one looked suspiciously stolen from a school cafeteria. A worn coffee table sat in the middle with untouched bottles of water and a bowl of individually wrapped peppermints no one seemed interested in.

The fluorescent lights overhead buzzed with the faint, constant hum that only made the silence feel louder.

Just an impossible room that existed because, apparently, it had decided to. Someone had gone through the effort of decorating. Colorful streamers drooped lazily from one corner to another, and a giant handmade banner stretched across the back wall in blocky, uneven letters.

*“minecraft ‘horror’ protags”*

The quotation marks around horror looked intentional. A smiley face had been drawn in one corner. Someone else had scribbled over it.

The room smelled faintly of coffee, old paper, and the kind of stale air that belonged in waiting rooms. It was almost comforting if you ignored the fact that every person sitting in those chairs had survived things no one should. Or hadn't survived them at all.

Twixxel woke up to silence. Not the kind of silence that followed something dangerous, the tense and anxious silence. Twixxel knew that kind of silence all too well—the kind that came after running, after hiding, after surviving something that should have ended differently—the kind that left the world feeling empty for a moment, like everything was waiting to see what happened next.

This was different, like the room itself had decided that noise wasn't necessary.

Slowly, Twixxel opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the ceiling—plain white, clean, normal. And that was immediately unsettling because this was definitely not anywhere he was familiar with. It was just a room.

A circle of mismatched chairs sat in the center, a small table with bottles of water and snacks placed neatly across the wall on the right. It looked like someone had prepared everything for a meeting.

A meeting. As if whoever brought them here expected them to sit down, talk, and pretend everything they had been through was something they could simply explain. As if anyone could even be able to find him where he was. He was starting to think that Creator stuck him in a random room, one he wouldn't recognize.

Twixxel slowly pushed himself upright, eyes scanning the room. That was when he noticed the giant handmade banner stretched across the back wall in blocky, uneven letters.

minecraft "horror" protags

Twixxel stared at it. The quotation marks around horror stood out immediately. Before Twixxel could question it any further, he realized he wasn't alone.

There were others in the room. A guy with a white shirt that had a big “Z” over it. He wore light jeans and had semi-messy black hair. Next to him was… a disfigured body. He was missing limbs, but especially his head. 

Close to.. whatever that was, but still a reasonable distance, is someone with gold armour. He had a big feather on the back of his helmet, the red matching the small cape draped over his left shoulder. A slime fiugre sat even closer to him than the two before, as if attached at the hip. He has a black shirt with yellow flowers sprawled out aorund it paired with khaki shorts.

Then his eyes landed with Mob. He still had his all black outfit with the red line of his mask going over his nose, only showing his eyes. 

Everything stopped for Mob, the world went completely still. Because there was Twixxel—alive. For one impossible moment, Mob forgot everything else. The fear and the guilt. The haunting memories that replayed everytime he wasn’t thinking about something else.  All of it disappeared beneath one overwhelming thought. Twixxel was here. His Twixxel. The person he thought he had lost forever was standing right in front of him. Hope appeared before he could stop it. His chair scraped against the floor as he stood.

"Twixxel..." The name left his mouth quietly, almost like he was afraid saying it too loudly would make the other disappear. 

Twixxel turned toward him and for a brief second, Mob almost smiled until he saw the expression on Twixxel's face. Confusion, not recognition. There wasn’t relief, as if he didn’t die from a monster and somehow brought back to life in some sick and twisted way. Instead, he looked confused, like Mob was a stranger.

Mob froze. Because that wasn't how this was supposed to go.

Before either of them could say anything else, Derek spoke. "Yeah, man," The casualness of his voice made the moment feel even heavier and everyone looked toward him. Derek leaned back in his chair, watching them both with an expression that said he was understanding. "That's a different universe's Twixxel."

Silence filled the room and Mob blinked. "What?"

Derek sighed. "Not yours."

The words settled over the room. It felt like he was losing Twixxel all over again. Mob knew how to live with losing someone considering he had already done it. 

But seeing them standing right there? Seeing proof that somewhere, in some other universe, Twixxel got to survive? That was something he didn't know how to handle. Twixxel looked between them, confusion slowly replacing curiosity.

Because now there was one question he couldn't ignore. Why was Mob looking at him like he was a ghost?

—————— 

Mob sat quietly for a while before finally speaking. The room had been filled with conversations that felt impossible. People talking about things they had survived. Things they had lost. Things they had chosen to do. Somehow, despite everything, they were still sitting together, laughing, trying to ignore how heavy their feelings were.

Mob looked around the room, taking in everyone’s reactions before letting out a small breath. "Not gonna lie, it's cool you all are like—" Mob paused, searching for the right words. "—able to get along with your entities. Or sacrifice yourselves for the greater good." The words weren't meant to sound bitter, despite coming out as such. Mob was just tired and everything around him was confusing. "But I don't think any of that was possible with Verity, especially after what happened to Twixxel."

Twixxel's expression shifted. It was subtle, just a slight change that meant he had a moment of realization. But Mob didn't notice, he was too focused on the memories that still sat too close to the surface.

"I mean... I get it. I get why some people would do that. If you have someone you trust, if you believe they're actually trying to help you, then maybe it makes sense." Mob looked down at his hands. "But Verity wasn't like that."

Ze was the first to respond. "Hey, man. That's pretty understandable."

Mob looked up slightly, Ze's voice wasn't filled with pity, it was softened and carefully said, which made it easier to listen.

Avery nodded. "Yeah. Plus, self-sacrifice isn't all that great." Avery hesitated. "Coming from experience." The statement hung in the air.

Regect leaned back in the chair. "I agree with that, actually!" A small smile crossed Regect's face. "Especially when a person starts spewing some bullshit." Regect glanced over at Ze, the smile faded slightly. The next words came quieter. "Nothing to lose, my ass." Ze gave a nervous smile.

Another voice interrupted.

"Okay." Twixxel finally spoke, everyone looked over. It wasn’t hard getting attention here apparently.  Twixxel looked between the group, clearly overwhelmed. "Can someone explain what the hell is going on?" Twixxel looked around again. "Because I woke up in some weird room with a banner calling us 'minecraft horror protags,' and apparently everyone here knows each other, and apparently there's multiple universes involved?" He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, narrowing his eyes,  "And apparently Mob knows a version of me that isn't me."

Mob looked away.

Derek, who had been quiet through most of the conversation, finally sighed. "Yeah. Probably should've explained that earlier." Everyone turned toward Derek. Because if there was one person in the room who already knew the answers, it was him. Derek looked around at everyone before speaking. "This place is basically... a meeting point." He shrugged slightly. "Not exactly the afterlife. Not exactly reality either."

Twixxel stared. "That explains literally nothing."

"I know." Derek nodded. "That's kind of the point." A moment of silence passed, trying to choose his words. "Everyone here has been through something. Some of us are dead. Some aren't. Some of us have entities following us around. Some of us made choices we regret." Derek glanced toward Mob. "And some of us lost people they weren't supposed to lose." Mob went still but Derek continued. "This is where everyone ends up when they need somewhere to figure things out."

Twixxel looked around the room again. At the people sitting there. At Mob. And slowly, the pieces started coming together. Not enough to understand everything, but just enough to make Twixxel stay quiet for a while. 

The explanation helped. Kind of. At least now the room made a little more sense. The strange banner. The impossible gathering of people from different worlds. The way everyone seemed to understand things without needing to explain every detail.

But there was still one thing Twixxel couldn't stop thinking about—Mob, more specifically—the way Mob looked at Twixxel. It was grief, Mob looked miserable.  Like seeing Twixxel standing there had reminded him of something he had spent a long time trying not to think about.

Twixxel hesitated. For once, there wasn't an immediate joke or comment to fill the silence. "Mob?"

Mob looked up.

Twixxel glanced away for a second, trying to figure out how to word it. "What happened?"

Mob knew exactly what Twixxel meant, but he wished he didn't. For a moment, he didn't answer. How was he supposed to explain it? How was he supposed to explain Verity? How was he supposed to explain the fear? How was he supposed to explain losing the one person who had stayed beside him through everything was literally standing in front of him, alive and well. Or kind of well, at least.

"I..." Mob stopped, his eyes lowering. "It's complicated."

Twixxel gave him a small look, not impatient. Just waiting. I mean surely he had enough time to spare if he got teleported into a mysterious room suddenly with no concern for the outside world.

Mob let out a quiet breath. "Basically," He paused again, even the simplest version felt wrong. "Verity found me. At first, I thought… I don't know. I thought maybe things would be different." Mob looked down at his hands. "I thought maybe Verity was someone who could help." A bitter laugh escaped him. "That didn't really work out." No one interrupted when he stopped for several minutes because everyone in the room understood when someone needed a second to find the words. "Verity started changing things. Changing me. Making me think that certain choices were the only choices I had." Mob swallowed. "And I believed it." The admission sounded heavier than he probably intended. "I trusted Verity, until I realized I shouldn't have." Mob struggled to continue. "And then…" His voice faltered because there was one part he couldn't make sound like anything other than what it was. "And then Twixxel got involved."

The other Twixxel went still. Mob didn't notice, not really. He was somewhere else now—back there. Back when everything had still been fixable. Back before he started getting haunted by all the guilt and fear, before he was being eaten alive from the inside out.

"I don't know how to explain it." Mob rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated. "Twixxel was just there. He was always there." A small, sad smile appeared for a moment. "He was the person who made everything feel less scary." The smile disappeared. "Until Verity took that away."

The room fell silent again.

Mob looked up, finally meeting Twixxel's eyes. He looked almost apologetic. "Sorry."

Twixxel blinked. "For what?"

Mob looked away. "I don't know, talking about you like you're someone you're not."

Twixxel didn't know what to say to that. Mob wasn't looking at Twixxel, he was looking at someone he missed. Even though it wasn’t his specific someone.

The silence after Mob's explanation lingered heavy in the room.

Everyone seemed to understand there were some things that couldn't be fixed by simply talking about them. Some things you just had to learn how to carry.

Eventually, Regect broke the quiet. "Hey, man." Regect nodded toward Twixxel. "What're you doing here?"

Twixxel blinked. "What do you mean?"

Regect tilted his head. "You know. Like..." He gestured vaguely around the room. "Everyone here has something going on. Some entity following them, some weird situation, some kind of thing that makes their life ten times harder." Regect pointed slightly. "So what's yours?"

Twixxel hesitated. For a moment, he didn't answer. Then his eyes dropped to his arm, the armband. The one with the eye. "Creator."

A few people looked over.

Twixxel lifted his arm slightly, showing it to the others. "He's... complicated."

Regect leaned forward, immediately interested. "Creator?"

Twixxel nodded. "Yeah. He's an entity, I guess. But not like most people's." He glanced around the room. "Actually, none of you can see him, only I can." Twixxel tapped the armband. "This is how I know he's nearby." The eye on the band remained closed. "When it's open, he's close." Twixxel paused. "When it's closed, he's probably farther away." He lowered his arm. "Usually, if I need him, I just call his name."

Regect stared. "Okay, that's actually kind of cool."

Twixxel gave a small, humorless laugh. "Yeah. Until you know the rest."

The room grew quieter.

"Creator killed one of my friends.” The words came out bluntly, like Twixxel had said them enough times that they no longer felt real. “At one point, he possessed me, and because of that, he almost made him kill Mob."

Mob went still. 

Regect's expression changed. "Oh."

Twixxel looked down. "Yeah."

Regect spoke again. "Okay, so..." He looked thoughtful. "Really powerful being that can only be seen by you, has a connection through an object, can take control of people, and has a complicated history with you—" Regect nodded slowly. "That's actually kind of cool."

Ze immediately elbowed him. Regect jolted. "Ow!" 

Ze gave him a look. "Regect."

"What?"

Ze stared. "You just said the guy who possessed someone and almost got Mob killed was cool."

Regect paused. Then slowly looked back at Twixxel. "...Oh." A beat passed. "Yeah. Nope. Whoops. "He raised his hands slightly. "My bad."

Ze nodded. "Not cool, bro."

Twixxel couldn't help it, a small laugh escaped him. It wasn't because anything was funny. But after everything he had explained, after seeing everyone else's reactions, it was strangely comforting. Even in a room full of people who had survived impossible things, they were still just people.

Twixxel looked between Avery and Derek, letting everything they had said settle. The more people explained, the more Twixxel realized there was one thing they all seemed to have in common which was just that nobody had an easy story and they didn’t walk or run away. 

Eventually, Twixxel leaned forward slightly. "Okay, wait. How do you know everything?" Twixxel looked at Derek. "You keep explaining things before anyone else does. You knew what was happening with Mob. You knew about the universes."

Derek's expression shifted. For once, he didn't immediately have an answer. 

Before he could speak, Twixxel looked toward Avery. "And you."

Avery raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Why did you sacrifice yourself?"

The room went quiet. Avery glanced at Derek. The two of them shared a look.

Derek sighed and furrowed his brows, avoiding actually looking at anyone.  "The King in Yellow."

The name alone changed the atmosphere, Twixxel noticed immediately. Nobody looked directly at anyone, more like behind them. Entity topics apparently weren't easy. 

Derek was the one who continued. "I saw something I wasn't supposed to see." His voice was quieter now. "The King in Yellow. After that, things changed, I started knowing things. Too many things." He laughed once, but there wasn't much humor in it. "People think knowing everything would be useful. That it would make things easier." Derek shook his head. "It doesn't." "It means you see what could happen. What might happen. What people are going to do before they even realize they're doing it." Derek looked toward Avery. "And I warned Avery."

Avery nodded slightly. "He did."

"But Avery didn't listen." Derek's voice wasn't angry, it sounded like he understood why. Which he knew why so it was understandable. 

Avery sighed. "I couldn't just leave him, Derek was trapped. He needed help." Avery shrugged. "So I went after him."

It sounded simple when he said it, but Twixxel knew better by now. Nothing these people did was ever simple.

"I went through a lot to find him." Avery smiled faintly. "Actually, one of the weirdest parts was  probably the gardening."

Regect blinked. "The gardening?"

"Yeah." Avery nodded. "Twelve hours."

The room stared.

"Twelve hours of just... gardening."

Avery gave a small laugh. "I was stuck in this weird dazed state. Didn't even realize how much time had passed until I finally snapped out of it." He shook his head. "Then I just kept going."

Because apparently that was what people did here. They kept going. Eventually. Sooner or later. It was a cursed destiny they all had. 

"After that, Derek and I found each other." Avery glanced toward him. "We worked together." Derek nodded. "Until things went wrong." Avery continued. "My laptop crashed and I was gone for a while, but I came back." Avery's expression softened. "And when I did, Derek had already made a decision." Derek looked away. "He was trying to handle it himself." Avery let out a quiet breath. "And I wasn't going to let him. So I made my choice."

Twixxel watched him carefully. "Was it really a sacrifice?"

Avery thought about it. Then shrugged. "Honestly?" A small, tired smile appeared. "I don't know if I'd call it that." He glanced at Derek. "Feels more like I just got myself thrown into a terrible situation and made everyone's problem harder." Avery's smile faded slightly. "But either way..." He looked around the room. "I think everyone here knows what it's like to believe there's only one option left."

Nobody answered or gave any sort of acknowledgement the the claim because they did know, it's why they were all here. 

The room stayed quiet after Avery finished, no one said anything because sometimes there wasn't anything to say. Sometimes you just need to listen.

Twixxel looked around the circle again. Avery and Derek had explained their pasts. Mob had explained his. Twixxel had explained his own. Ze and Regect had been listening the entire time, supporting everyone else (kind of), but neither of them had really talked about themselves.

Twixxel pointed between them. "What about you two?"

Regect blinked. "What about us?"

Twixxel tilted his head. "You've both been helping everyone else explain their stuff, but I don't actually know anything about you."

Regect opened his mouth. Closed it. Then smiled. "Well, you know, our stories are actually super boring."

Ze immediately looked at him. "Regect."

"What?"

"You know that's not true."

Regect sighed. "Yeah, okay. Worth a shot."

Ze looked down for a moment. "I guess we can go."

Regect glanced over. "You sure?"

Ze nodded. "We're not the only ones with a story, it's pretty safe here."

Regect leaned back. "Unfortunately."

Ze gave him a look. "You're the one who keeps saying we're all here for a reason."

"Yeah, but I was hoping that applied to everyone except me."

Ze looked back at Twixxel. "Our story is a little different."

Regect nodded. "Yeah."

"Because we didn't really find our problem." Ze looked toward him. "Our problem found us. We're a bit complicated." Ze looked away.

"That's one way to put it."

Ze cleared his throat, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "I just felt like I had something to prove. I thought if I kept going, if I kept fighting, if I kept showing I could handle it..." Ze shrugged. "Then maybe it would mean something."

Twixxel frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

Ze looked down. "I kept ending up in these situations where I was trapped. Stuck. Chased by things that wanted me gone." His voice stayed calm. "And every time I got out, I thought I had to do it again."

Nobody spoke.

Then Regect quietly said, "Yeah." Everyone looked over "That was the problem." Ze glanced at him. Regect shrugged. "You kept acting like you had nothing to lose when you did." Regect looked directly at Ze. "You had me." His voice lowered. "You had Mo." Ze didn't answer. "Like, seriously, bro." Regect shook his head. "You cannot look someone in the face and say you have nothing to lose when we're literally standing right here."

Ze looked away. Nobody said much because that was the thing about Regect, he was the one who joked, he made stupid comments, he acted like everything was less serious than it was. But he did care, a lot. He just had a weird way of showing it. 

Ze stayed quiet but nobody in the room missed the way his expression changed. Some things were easier to fight than they were to explain, grief had a way of revealing itself. Even when people refused to talk about it.

Twixxel looked around the room. At Mob, at Avery, at Derek, at Ze and Regect. Different stories, different losses. But somehow, they all ended up in the same place. Still trying to exist in the twisted world, live like they normally would. 

The room went silent again,  so many things left unsaid. But there was too much now, so everyone sat with their thoughts. 

The room had gone through every kind of silence imaginable since everyone arrived—the confused silence, the uncomfortable silence, the kind of silence that came after someone admitted something they had never said out loud before—but now it was tired.

Derek looked around the room, taking in everyone's expressions, then he sighed. "Okay, we're taking a break."

Regect blinked. "A break?"

"Yes."

"From what?"

Derek stared at him. 

Regect paused. "...The emotional damage?"

Derek stood and walked over to the table in the middle of the room. "The food is there. The drinks are there. Nobody is explaining their trauma for at least ten minutes."

Regect raised a hand. "What if someone has a really cool trauma story?"

"No."

"What if it's funny?"

"No."

"What if—"

"No."

Regect lowered his hand. "Okay, fair."

Slowly, everyone started moving. It was strange, almost uncomfortable. People shifted around the room kinda awkwardly. Not because anyone was upset but because it felt normal.

After everything they had talked about, after everything they had admitted, they were just eating, sitting together, existing. All the grief in the room stayed, it felt like a funeral. 

Twixxel grabbed a drink and sat back down, watching everyone. This was the weirdest group of people he had ever been around.

Avery and Derek were quietly talking about something Twixxel couldn't hear. Regect had somehow already found the snacks he liked best. Ze noticed immediately.

"Did you seriously take those?"

Regect looked up innocently. “What?"

"Those were on my side."

"Since when do snacks have sides?"

"Since you decided to steal mine."

"I prefer the term relocate."

Twixxel watched the exchange quietly. A few hours ago, this room had felt like a trap. Now it almost felt like a group of friends who had accidentally ended up in the strangest meeting imaginable.

The thought made Twixxel glance down at his arm. The eye on the armband remained closed. Creator was quiet. Which was usually when Twixxel worried the most because silence from Creator rarely meant nothing. It usually meant he was watching.

Twixxel looked back toward Mob. Mob was sitting slightly away from everyone else. Not completely separated, just enough to have his own space. Like he was still trying to convince himself he belonged there.

Twixxel understood that feeling. More than he wanted to. After a moment of hesitation, Twixxel stood. 

Mob noticed. "What?"

Twixxel paused. "Can I talk to you?"

Mob went still. Then slowly nodded. "Yeah."

The two moved a little away from the group, just enough to have a conversation without everyone listening. For a moment, neither of them spoke. 

Twixxel looked down, then back up. "I have a question."

Mob already knew. His expression changed slightly. "About him?"

Twixxel hesitated. "The other me."

Mob looked away. "Yeah."

Twixxel swallowed. "What was he like?"

The question was simple, but Mob looked like it was the hardest thing anyone had asked him because explaining what happened was one thing, explaining who Twixxel was different.

"He was..." Mob stopped. A small, sad smile appeared. "He was annoying."

Twixxel raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah." Mob looked down. "He talked a lot." A quiet laugh escaped him. "He'd make jokes at the worst times." The smile faded slightly. "But..." Mob looked back toward Twixxel. "He was always there." The words were quiet. "He made things feel less scary." Mob looked away again. "I don't know if that makes sense."

"It does." Twixxel looked at him. "Did he make you happy?"

Mob froze. The question hit harder than he expected. Because there were so many answers. There was the complicated one, the painful one, the honest one. Technically it was Twixxel but not his Twixxel. 

Finally, Mob nodded. "Yeah." His voice was quiet. "He did."

The room behind them stayed silent. The lights above flickered once.

Mob wasn't remembering what he lost, he was remembering what he had. All the memories and games together. 

Twixxel stayed quiet for a moment. There were still so many things he wanted to ask. So many things that didn't make sense. But one question kept coming back.

"So, uh..." Twixxel glanced at Mob. "How long have you been here?"

Mob looked slightly surprised by the question. Then he thought about it. "Honestly?" A small pause. "Time is kind of weird here."

Twixxel looked around the room. “Yeah, I noticed."

Mob gave a small nod. "I don't think it works the same way as it does outside." He looked toward the others. "I've been trying to figure it out, but..." He shrugged. "I'd say probably an hour before you got here."

Twixxel blinked. "An hour?"

"Yeah." Mob looked back at him. "Maybe a little more. Maybe less. Like I said, time is weird."

Twixxel looked around the room again. That was strange. Not just the fact that Mob had been here longer. But the fact that in that short amount of time, he had already learned everyone else's stories. He had already listened and already tried to understand.

Twixxel looked back at him. "So you've just been here figuring everything out?"

Mob hesitated. "Something like that." The answer was vague.

Twixxel noticed. "You do that a lot."

Mob looked confused. "What?"

"Make things sound smaller than they are."

Mob went quiet because he couldn't really argue with that.

Twixxel looked down at his hands. "I mean, you explained what happened with Verity like it was just some complicated situation. But everyone in this room looks at you like they know it was more than that."

Mob didn't respond because he didn't know how to explain it. Sometimes things were easier to survive than they were to describe. 

"Sorry."

Twixxel looked up. "For what?"

Mob shrugged slightly. "I don't know." A small, tired smile crossed his face. "I guess I'm still trying to figure out how to talk about it."

Twixxel nodded. "Fair."

For a moment, they just stood there. Two versions of people who shouldn't have met. One missing someone, one unknowingly carrying the same name.

The silence between them lasted for a little while longer. This kind only happens when two people were trying to understand something too big to put into words.

Eventually, Mob looked down at Twixxel's arm, at the band wrapped around it. The eye remained closed. "Creator."

Twixxel looked up. "Hm?"

Mob nodded toward the armband. "That's the one you were talking about?"

Twixxel's expression shifted slightly. "Yeah."

Mob studied it carefully. "So... he can only talk to you?"

"Pretty much."

"And nobody else can see him?"

Twixxel shook his head. "Nope, not unless something changes."

Mob looked back at the armband. For a moment, he didn't say anything.

"You okay?"

Mob hesitated. "Yeah." A beat. "I just..." He looked away. "It's weird."

"What is?"

Mob gestured slightly toward the armband. "That something can be right there, affecting everything, and nobody else even knows."

Twixxel gave a small laugh. "Yeah. You get used to it."

Mob raised an eyebrow. "That's not exactly comforting."

Twixxel smiled faintly. "No, but isn't that what this is? All of hs growing used to something?”

Mob asked the question that had been sitting in the back of his mind. "Was Creator always like that?"

Twixxel went quiet. The answer was obvious from his expression. "No." Mob looked at him. Twixxel looked down. "That's the worst part, he wasn't always someone I was afraid of."

Mob understood that more than he wanted to. Because he knew exactly what it was like to trust something before realizing you shouldn't have. "You trusted him."

Twixxel nodded. "Yeah."

Mob looked back at the armband. "And then he..."

Twixxel finished the sentence quickly. "Yeah."

The two of them stood there for a moment. Both understanding something neither of them wanted to. Taking everything into consideration, the scariest things weren't the ones that showed up as monsters. It was the ones you opened the door for.

Mob looked at Twixxel. "So..."

Twixxel glanced over. "Hm?"

Mob shrugged. "First Verity." Then he pointed vaguely toward the armband. “Now Creator." A small smile appeared. "Starting to think every version of us has a problem with something trying to kill one of us."

Twixxel stared for a second. Then he laughed. A small, real laugh.

Mob smiled slightly. "It's a terrible pattern."

"Yeah." Twixxel looked down. "Not a great one."

For a moment, the heaviness lifted. Because after everything they were still able to joke. Still able to laugh together, still able to find something human in all of it.

Mob looked at Twixxel. And for a second, he didn't see the person he lost. He just saw someone who understood.