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If life would have been a video game, in Superfish existence there had never been a second player. It was always just him, strongest witch around, and no one has ever been worthy of his companionship.
Or at least that’s what he has been trying to put in his head for years, he even slowly started losing count how many times he put his ego above everyone else’s.
In Obscaria, there was no such thing as vulnerability. Well, there was, but you could never meet anyone who could properly explain it to you. They would be dead by now, because Obscaria has never seen the concept of empathy or trust either.
So when one unfortunate, yet truly blessed day a human boy broke in his house by accident, Superfish immediately felt a metaphorical chain slip around his neck. New burden, he’ll add that one to the list.
“Great, now there is a human involved. Does it even understand how serious this situation is? He’s not only putting himself in danger but me too.”
Superfish just hoped that the boy is as stupid as any other human, so it’ll be easy to pretend like he has not just taken in an imploded core of a enormously powerful witch that is even stronger than the teal haired witch’s core.
But no, time passed and Superfish had seen DJ. Truly seen. Not just his outside demeanor, or how he moves or walks like any other homo sapiens would have done.
But how he is.
How DJ laughs, how DJ puts his thoughts together, how DJ bites his lip, how DJ rolls his eyes at Superfish’s stupid remarks, how DJ’s chest rises up and down when he breathes, how peaceful DJ looks, how incredibly tired DJ is of all of the bullshit he has to carry on his shoulders, how-
You get what I mean. He had seen Dhananjay.
Dhananjay.
In Obscaria, names meant nothing. You could stay nameless and no one would have cared. Names were just something to label different creatures from other ones, but here, in the human world, names meant a lot.
A name is something that is you. Your name is who you are. Your name is not just something to tell you apart from any other, your name is you. Your name has a meaning, and it serves you as your most important and intimate belonging.
For Superfish, a name is just some letters put together with vowels inbetween so it sounds better. But yet, Dhananjay is something else.
If you’d ask Superfish a year ago if he’d felt anything towards that name, he’d simply not respond. Today, Superfish smiles at hearing that name. His DJ, his only real and loyal friend, his everything.
But, he knows, and we all know how the saying goes:
Nothing lasts forever.
He can play around with that pathetic human’s life, even sympathize with him if it’s really that necessary, but he knows that it won’t be like that forever.
All he needs is the potion, and then the core will be removed, just like all DJ’s memories.
For DJ, it won’t change much. He’ll live on like he never met the magical boy, because in his head Superfish will simply be forgotten. Many years later, he’ll get married, have a family, retire, and slowly start fading away into death.
That isn’t how it works for Superfish, though.
Superfish can’t die, at least not naturally, and he can’t erase his own memory either. So he will be here, forever, and will pretend like a human didn’t completely didn’t change his life in the span of a couple of month. Hell, even days. Superfish knew he was cooked the first time he saw DJ.
Something inside the witch’s heart is scared. Yes, you’ve heard me, our Mr. Huge Ego is scared.
Because deep down, but the feeling is slowly rising, he likes DJ.
No, I’m lying, sorry, the author is tired.
He loves him.
Superfish thought he was just confusing sympathy with acceptance. I mean, he enjoys, or at least tolerates DJ’s company. But Superfish noticed himself being more open near him, and feel this urge to be next to DJ. It’s becoming harder and harder not to smile or sigh like a lovesick fool next to the indian boy. Yet he’s still way to stubborn to finally accept the fact that he fell, and he fell drastically, for a human.
Superfish tried to avoid the inevitable question.
“Do I like him or am I mistaking tolerance with attraction?”
“Am I -“
“Okay, dude, what the fuck. Did you not sleep well or something? Mandy’s talking to you.”
Superfish snapped his head to the direction of the voice. It was Eugene, that little brat. He was DJ’s childhood friend, but Superfish didn’t really like him for some reason. Something seemed off with his mannerism of talking and breathing and …
Everything. Everything about Eugene pissed Superfish off.
Right, occult club meeting. Focus, fish boy, focus.
“What?” Superfish said, slightly annoyed. Why does he have to be in this damn human school?
Oh yeah, right, he came here VOLUNTARILY, only to “check on on the core”. Lie all you want, Fishface.
“Ahem”, Mandy coughed. Her glasses fogged up a bit, so she took them off and cleaned them with the little napkin she had in her purse. Superfish never understood why humans need all this stuff. A box for glasses with an extra napkin for glasses only for them to still be dirty and never actually clean unless you take them to a repairman?
The one thing good about Obscaria is that they didn’t monetize everything.
She put them back on and continued:
“I asked if you know anything about DJ’s past, Sebastian.”
Her face was firm, yet a glimpse of concern was seen in her eyes. “I mean, we all know that you guys were ‘long distance childhood besties’ or something so you might know what happened to his parents?”
Everyone was silent. Well, everyone was always silent, but it was different. Daisuke usually didn’t talk out of pure spite, Georgie didn’t like to interrupt, and Eugene… Well, let’s say Eugene was actually quiet for the first time in the last couple of weeks.
“I don’t mean it like that!” Mandy quickly tried to explain herself. “I’m not a gossiper, and you know that I’d never talk shit about anyone, especially DJ, behind their back. He just never tells us anything, so I thought maybe you might know something.”
She was mostly correct in that, because DJ did really tell the only friends he had absolutely nothing. But wouldn’t it have been easier to just ask Eugene? They actually do know eachother since preschool, not like Superfish who met DJ two months ago-
Oh, yes, right. They don’t know that. They don’t know that DJ didn’t meet Superfish like any other normal kid on a playground or at a birthday party, but he met his “childhood friend” at 17 because he broke in into an abandoned building and the bathroom was a portal to an other dimension.
Because Superfish is apparently Sebastian now, he’s just an „average“ high-school student. Except for the turquoise hair, but no one really cares these days.
He could walk in and tell everyone that’s he‘s a witch from the magical land Far Far Away, also called Obscaria, and no one would actually ask anything.
Us people are pretty ignorant. No, seriously, if you saw someone singing on the street while wearing weird clothes, what would you do? Cheer? Some people might, but only a minority. Others would pretend like they’ve never seen the stranger.
Superfish scrunched his nose in confusion, but then quickly caught up on his usual act.
By the way, where is DJ?
“Yeah, he didn’t tell me anything either, so we’re pretty much in the same boat. I mean, I’ve seen his parents back then, but no one told me what actually happened to them.” he sneered, trying to seem ignorant. “Has any of you guys seen DJ today?”
Eugene smiled and looked away, yet still responded: “Yeah, I think he left earlier today. I‘m not sure though, so don’t ask me.”
He didn’t know how to lie at all, and it was extremely obvious. Eugene definitely knew where DJ was, maybe he was just covering his alibi? What could DJ even be up on a weekday? He usually keeps his school profile pretty stainless, why would he skip school today?
“I’ll come by his house today and question him.” the impostor between the five of them said.
“How dare he not tell us where he went?” he gasped theatrically, throwing a hand over his head and pretending to pass out of such shocking news.
The five teenagers talked a little more, packed up for the rest of the classes and continued their day.
After school, Superfish said goodbye to everyone and made his way to Dj’s house on his vespa.
When the red light came, Superfish almost forgot to hit the brakes because of how zoned out he was.
Why the hell would Dj skip school? Did something happen? Does Arun know? Superfish really worried his head off. For the core, of course. Only and specifically for the core. Sometimes, it felt like the core was the center of the universe and he was spinning around it on an orbit.
As soon as he reached his destination, almost missing the turn, he stopped the vespa in front of the gate. Everything seemed peaceful, no signs of another werewolf hitman attack, no signs of any anomalies, or any human intruders either.
Superfish huffed, and walked towards the front door. Before pressing the doorbell, he slid his hand down his suit to straighten it and snapped his fingers to make him look like he didn’t spend all the way here driving through the dusty streets.
A long, slim finger pressed the little button to his right. Then, a tired man opened the door.
Superfish had heard a lot about Dj’s older brother, but never actually talked to him or seen him in person. Superfish fought the reflex to frown. „Isn’t Arun in his early twenties? Do humans age that fast?“
Superfish never understood the concept of growth of Mankind. He would never admit that to Dj though.
Arun eyed Superfish up and down, sighed, and the wrinkles in his face moved as he spoke.
“Is there a chance I can assist you in anything?”
Superfish smiled as politely as possible and stretched out his gloved hand.
“Please, nice to meet you, sir. I assume you’re Arun, Dj’s brother.”
Arun nodded and took the greeting. “His hangs are firm.” Supefish thought. “Does that mean that DJ has strong hands as well? They do seem strong.”
When they let go, Superfish continued.
“I’m Sebastian, Dj’s classmate. Do you know that your brother skipped school today?”
Arun’s expression changed slightly, as if he knew more than he was supposed to. “What a snitch”, he wondered. His smile became more like a grin and he let out a chuckle.
“Sebastian, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Superfish raised his eybrows in a is-that-so manner.
What could Dj tell Arun about him? That he’s incredibly handsome and so very sophisticated and indeed intelligent? That’s what most people say about him-
“He told me to not let you in if you come knocking.”
Oh. Well, that’s something.
“And yes, I know that Dj wasn’t in school today. He has something to do at home. But don’t worry, I’ll let him know that you are searching for him-“ Arun said, already closing the door, but then Superfish placed his shoe inbetween the door and the outside.
“May I instead come inside, sir?”
And a smile, showing off all of his porcelain white teeth.
Arun sighed, opened the door nonetheless.
„Yeah, sure, whatever. Take your shoes off, please.“
Superfish was at the Arora household at least twice a week, but for the sake of the game he pretended to be a first time visitor. Right as he slid his shoes off, he left them somewhere they definitely shouldn’t have been left and walked inside jollily.
„Make yourself at home“ Arun put on a forceful smile, and Supefish tried his best to not respond with „I basically live here for already a month, thanks anyways though.“ so he answered with „Thank you, sir.“
„Where is his room?“ he said, about to open one of the cupboards to take out the purple mug Dj always lets him drink out from, but then remembered that he officially never was here before so instead he just strolled around awkwardly.
„Second floor, first door on your right.“
Superfish nodded and made his way upstairs. Then, he knocked, because he knew that Arun could still hear him from downstairs so he tried to make a good first impression. Usually, he‘d barge into the room and drop dead on the bed, or even a more interesting option - get in through the window.
Then, he heard a voice. A very recognisable, well-known by Superfish voice. The witch grinned, without even thinking about it. Huh, weird. Lately he was always smiling near Dj.
„Yeah? Come in.“
Superfish twisted the knob and entered the room gracefully, expecting to see Dj slumping on his desk, doing homework or another school task, but was surprised to not find him there. Dj was sitting on his bed, reading some book. By his expression, the pages were clearly filled with something dear and personal, because he lingered with each one.
Then, without looking up, Dj threw a quick „Mhm“ at Superfish, receiving a „Well, that‘s one way to greet your guest.“ from the teal-haired man.
Dj sighed and after a moment of hesitation, he put the book down and rolled his eyes. „You‘re an uninvited guest, you always just come in whenever.“
„Do I not deserve a proper hello?“
„Not really, no.“
Superfish pretended that these words struck him right through the heart, so with the most dramatic gasp Dj had ever heard the witch fell unconscious on the bed. Because he did that with his eyes closed, his coordination wasn‘t at it‘s finest so in his fall he dropped right onto the bed‘s owner. Dj didn’t seem to be much bothered, he just pushed the witch farther away to the edge of the bed. That seemed to offend Superfish even more so he huffed while still pretending to be dead serious.
„Is that really how you treat such a pleasant company? Have some manners, Dhananjay.“
Dj finally gave up ignoring Superfish as the witch mispronounced his name again.
„You never get it right. Are you just not trying hard enough or is this a way too tough challenge for you, Fishface?“
Superfish let out a mocking laugh, him already forgetting that he was supposed to be mad at the boy. Dj found that quite a cute trait, that Superfish couldn‘t pout or hold a grudge for longer than a minute or two. That was something only Dj knew about, it made him feel kind of special. It was these little personal quirks of Superfish that made their way in Dj‘s heart.
After a moment of silence, Superfish‘s inner battle between staying nonchalant or asking something, curiousity has gotten the upper hand so he threw a glance at the previously open book.
„What‘s that, human? Didn‘t take you for a type of guy that reads in his free time.“ he said, smirking.
Dj seemed to be lost in thought before that, and the question threw him out of his daydreams. He looked at the book, trying to find his words. It was something really personal, is it worth explaining to Superfish? Will he understand the value this book holds? Or is it just another stack of paper for him?
He decided to give it a try.
„It‘s a photoalbum, kind of a journal too. It was my mom‘s, she used to write in it every time something memorable happened. It means a lot to me, and sometimes I note something in it as well.“
Superfish raised his eyebrows at the sudden change of the atmosphere. Not knowing what to reply with, he looked away, then his eyes landed on the table and only now realized that it was fully covered with random objects. There were some candles, something that seemed to be like a pinecone with googly eyes, a couple of birthday and anniversary cards and a bunch of pictures. There was also a tie with such a beautiful pattern, and something that looked like a jewelry box. It didn’t take long for Superfish to understand who’s stuff it was.
Is there any reason Dj decided to skip school on a random tuesday and look through his parents‘ old belongings?
Unless…
Oh.
„Is today the…?“
„Yeah,“ Dj exhaled, looking away. It was a sensitive topic that wasn‘t brought up often, especially not by Dj. He usually avoided any talk about his parents.
„Today is five years since they passed away“
Superfish was silent. He should probably say something. He should tell Dj that it‘s okay, that he has a shoulder to cry on if it‘s needed. That Dj shouldn’t be upset, that he can tell Superfish all that is weighting on his heart. He should tell him something. That‘s what a good friend would do.
But are they even friends? Can you call whatever they have a friendship? Would Dj say that he‘s friends? What does Dj even think of Superfish? Does he think that Superfish‘s a worthy friend? Does he-
He should do something. Superfish, do something.
„Dj, I- … Is that why you skipped school today?“
Dj smiled an unhappy smile. It wasn‘t strained, it was just… tired. Genuinely sad, yet he was smiling.
The smile was like the feeling when you see a flower bloom, and you realise that it won‘t ever bloom again. It‘s cycle of existence is over, leaving behind only memories.
„Yeah, and it‘s not the first time either.“ he hesitated, not looking the witch into the eyes. „Me and Arun have this tradition of going through their old stuff and visiting them. Sometimes, we also cook a meal together like we used to do as kids to honour their memory.“
Superfish had seen people die. Too many people, to be honest. A life, a being with a soul and memories, meant nothing unless it had some purpose to survival. Not strong enough? Killed. Not tough enough? Killed. Not powerful enough?
Killed.
Bodies and bodies flowing like a river of shame in every direction. A sight that no one, especially a child should have witnessed.
Superfish had never grieved.
It would‘ve wasted too much energy and time, something that was actually cherished on the world of Obscaria. He couldn’t spend his time grieving after those that had been lost due to being a defect, due to being different.
But here, on Earth, things were … peaceful. You are cherished for being you, and not for what you bring to the table. Losing someone was an important part of life, no matter how painful it was. But you meant something. Because no matter what, someone out there is caring for you. And after you pass, they‘ll keep on telling people about how great of a person you were, and how much you meant to them.
„…Is there any way I can help you out? Keep you company?“ Superfish shyly asked, uncharacteristically quiet. Dj lifted his gaze at the teal-haired boy and sighed softly.
…
„Would you like to get flowers for them with me?“