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huffle-dork · 3 months

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Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 19: Fantasy Masks

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix

Read Swapboys | Read Fantasy Masks | AO3 Link

Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata

There are puddles on the ground and a gloom of clouds overhead, but no rain.

"It looks like the storm stopped recently," Chase comments. "That's good. It means they got delayed but we won't be."

"Are you guys prepared?" Jackie looks back at everyone else, especially Bro and Alt. "We'll get there any moment now, I'm sure."

Alt seems to be a lot better now that he had that rest at lunch. He's practically buzzing with pixels and glitches, but not actually glitching around because he's saving up his energy. His eyes glow green. "Yeah- Yeah I'm ready."

Bro watches his brother and then rests his hand on the hilt of the sword he's borrowed. "Mhm. I hope Mag hasn't messed up too much around here..." He mutters.

I hope the King hasn't messed anything up, Jameson adds.

Henrik squints. "Is that something, or is it just an odd rock?"

"You mean the tower poking up from behind that hilltop?" Chase asks.

"Well, it is hard to tell from here."

"It really isn't," Marvin says.

"No, no, it could be a rock, I can see that," Jackie says, backing up Henrik.

"A strange shaped rock," Marvin mutters. "This is why I was the scout in the early days."

Bro looks at both and tilts his head. "huh... it sounds like you guys need glasses-"

"They probably haven't invented those yet, Chase," Alt points out. Bro winces, "Oh jeez- that sucks."

"What type of glass do you have in your world?" Henrik asks, confused.

"Wait, you mean you can fix the blurry distance?" Jackie's eyes widen. "I can't wait until someone invents that, elders."

Alt laughs, “It’s like- mega glass, and it’s curved in a way that can help you see better. All our friends back home have them.”

“And your boyyyfriend~!” Bro teases, leaning in close to Alt.

Alt turns bright red and shoves at Chase, “He’s not my-! S-SHUDDAP!”

They slowly walk up the hill, the town of Killithair coming into view. Marvin takes some light from his amulet. He closes his eyes, taps his eyelids, and when he opens them again his pupils are dilated wide and glowing white. "I think there's some movement in the streets," he reports. "I'll bet on it being people but I can't tell who. Are we sure the whole town was abandoned?"

"Mm-hmm." Jackie nods. "And four years have passed, I'm pretty sure any scavengers would've learned there's nothing there by now."

The siblings stop their bickering as Marvin does his spell and they both get their serious faces back on. “Then… that must be them- right?” Bro asks.

Alt’s eyes flicker brighter green, his shoulders buzzing a bit louder and popping with static and pixels- he looks like he’s ready to glitch down there on his own.

"Be careful, Alt." Jackie notices Alt's anxiety and holds out an arm to stop him. Then he suddenly grins. "You need to get home safe for your 'boyfriend.'"

Henrik leans closer to Alt. "They never stop this, by the way." He sounds like he knows from experience.

This gets Alt’s attention as his glitches stop- his face flushing red and his eyes widening. “H-Hey…!”

“Heh- nice Jackie!” Bro giggles.

Alt looks to Henrik with a moment of shared sympathy and then glares at the others with red cheeks.

Marvin, this seems like a good time to use one of those magic doorways, Jameson says.

The mood instantly becomes serious once again.

Marvin nods. He takes some light from his amulet and traces a rounded doorway in midair. The middle vanishes. On the other side of the doorway is a cobblestone street lined with white plaster houses.

Alt watches with bright eyes as the doorway is drawn. He looks to the others and then tries to take a step through.

Nobody stops him. Stepping through the magic doorway feels just like stepping through a real doorway. Jackie follows quickly, then Chase and Henrik. Jameson waits for Bro to go, and Marvin waits for everyone to be through before going himself. As soon as he does, the doorway vanishes, leaving a blank wall behind. Jackie presses a finger to his lips--apparently "shush" is inter-universal.

The city is silent. Except... for a pair of distant footsteps.

Alt holds his breath, trying to hold back his glitching to keep quiet. Bro bunches himself up, preparing to leap into action at that first sign of trouble.

Jackie puts a hand on his sword, ready to draw it at any moment, and starts walking towards the footsteps. Chase prepares his bow, Henrik and Jameson take out a knife each, and Marvin's amulet glows yellow-orange.

The group slowly makes their way towards the sound. After passing through a few rows of houses, Jackie stops, gesturing for the rest to as well.

They're in between two houses, a small alleyway. And walking down the street are two people who, even from behind, are clearly the two men that Alt say in the searching charm's vision.

Alt follows after, wanting to build up magic but not wanting to draw attention. Until- he realizes he can definitely tell who those people are. It’s Mag and the King. White hot dread and anxiety wash over him- clouding his judgement. He glitches out from their hiding spot and into the middle of the street- right behind the two figures. He draws the bow he has, lighting the end of the arrow with sparking magic as he barks out. “Hey!! Stop right there!”

The King turns first, surprised. Then he sees Alt and grins. "Not many people manage to sneak up on me," he says. "But now I see you all."

"Fuck!" Jackie shouts, pulling his sword free and lowering his mask. He runs up to Alt, backing him up. A moment later, Marvin moves as well, hanging back with a handful of light.

Alt feels a shiver go down his spine as the King talks. This really was this universe’s version of him. And he hates it. Electricity crackles around him as he bares his teeth at the King.

Henrik, Jameson, and Chase stay where they are, though Chase gets ready to draw and loose his bow.

Bro crouches down to protect the others still hiding, anxiously watching to make sure Alt, Jackie and Marvin are okay.

"I recognize the thoughts of three of you," the King continues. "And you--I can guess. Alt, right? Magnificent's 'cub'?" He glances at Magnificent. "Is that correct?"

Magnificent hardly reacts to Alt being here- he nods to the King. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Alt lowers his bow in slight surprise- something… something was wrong.

"Well in that case, you should take care of him. However you wish." The King pauses. "The others can die. Especially that deer-masked one. Except for that rabbit hiding back there." He grins at Alt, gesturing at Magnificent. "Go."

Chase gasps in shock and raises his bow in shaking hands. Jameson goes pale and immediately freezes. Henrik looks through his bags.

Magnificent’s moves fast, teleporting in front of Alt. Alt yells and tries to shoot his arrow but he misses. Magnificent comes at him with terrifying stoic ferocity, grabbing him by his wrist and instantly pumping him full of his influence. He grabs his temple and pumps that full of magic too, absolutely drowning any resistance. Mag’s magic is crazy powerful here. Alt gasps, his back arching as his eyes light up bright purple.

“No!” Bro yells, bursting into the air to try to stop Magnificent. But the mad magician shoots a bolt of green lightning at him, making him fly back into the building. Mag brings Alt up to his feet and then shoves him forward, “You heard the king, Kill the Rebels.”

Alt stumbles, eyes attempting to flicker but then glazing over completely. He stands taller, eyeing down the others with a distant expression. “…yes, Magnificent.” Then, he darts immediately towards Jackie, drawing one of the arrows from his quiver- but he doesn’t even load it, he tries to stab Jackie in the chest with it.

Everything happens so fast. Jackie tries lunging forward but then Alt is in the way and he stops abruptly. "Alt? No!" He's unprepared for the arrow attack, gasping and staggering back as it finds a weak spot in the chain. Luckily the arrowhead is too big to go through and cause significant damage.

"Alt, snap out of it!" He can't do much with his abilities in this situation. So he looks around and lunges for Magnificent, sword swinging. "Let him go!"

Magnificent grins, madness in his eyes as he draws out a sword made of green and purple tinted magic. He meets Jackie’s blade and giggles, “Hello, Jackieboy~” Once the sword has been stopped the magician lunges out his other hand to blast magic straight at Jackie.

Marvin takes Jackie's space, shaping the light he's holding into a rope that he tries to throw at Alt.

Alt glitches out of the way of the rope then his sights fall on Marvin. Energy crackles around him as he pulls another arrow and notches it- the arrow crackling with electric magic as he lets it fly towards Marvin.

Chase fumbles with his bow but then launches an arrow for the King, standing grinning in the background.

But Chase is too nervous and the King knows what he's going to do, stepping to the side. He stares at the alley where the others are standing and--suddenly--rushes around the conflict with Alt and Mag, drawing his seax as he runs at the others.

Bro groans and shakes out his shock , seeing Chase’s arrow go wide. He sees the King running towards the other and quickly grabs him by the arm and lifts him into the air with him. “hey Royal bitch! You gotta get through me first!” He growls, tightening his grip on the king.

The King laughs. "Alright." And he tries stabbing Bro.

Jackie does not fight wizards often. He tries to block the blast but it just hits his sword and pushes him backwards to the ground. "Oof!" He takes a moment to scramble to his feet and--well, he has one skill set. He draws his second sword ant attacks Mag again.

Mag disappears and reappears behind Jackie and tries to shock him with his magic.

But Jackie knows how to defend himself from behind. He spins around quickly and parries Mag's magic by slapping away his hands. "No you don't!" His eyes narrow. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Fuck!" Marvin curses, conjuring a magic shield to block the electric arrow. He forgot about Alt's ghlishing power. He grabs more magic and throws it to the ground. Sticky strands entangle the ground.

Alt glitches again and ends up in front of Marvin’s face as he tries to send a jolt of electricity into him.

Marvin yelps and quickly raises a shield all around him. He looks at Alt, thinking carefully. "I didn't want to do this, but maybe it'll knock some sense into you!" he says, and shoots a point blank blast of magic at him.

Alt isn’t expecting it- he gets hit full on and flies backward, bouncing on the cobblestone a couple times before rolling into a still heap. The magic flickers wildly in his eyes.

Bro yells out as the king tries to stab him, “Jesus dude!” He narrows his eyes, “So you’re a stab first ask questions later kinda bitch huh? Alright-“ He tries to wrestle the seax away from the King.

Unfortunately, the King's grip is firm. He grins. "I don't have to be," he says, and looks Bro directly in the eyes. "Put me down," he Commands.

Bro’s eyes widen as the command takes effect. He hardly feels his body as he lowers them both down to the ground, his grip on the King loosening.

"Hang on, Jackie!" Chase has another arrow nocked. He aims for Magnificent's leg and shoots.

The arrow hits true and strikes into Mag’s calf. He yells out in pain and crumples to his knee. He yells out in rage and tries to throw fire back at Chase.

Chase tries to duck back into the alleyway but the fire still hits him. He cries out.

"Chase!" Henrik shouts, pulling something out of his bag. He throws a glass bottle of some kind towards Mag then kneels next to Chase, patting out the fire.

Jackie tries to attack Mag from behind while the bottle distracts him.

"Thank you," the King says to Bro, grinning, and glances towards the cluster of others. "Jameson? Come here."

Jameson stiffens and starts walking forward.

"You too?!" Henrik reaches out and grabs Jameson, pulling him back with such force that he pulls him to the ground.

The dual attack works and Mag is slashed on his back, making him cry out in pain. He stumbles back, the arrow still in his leg making it hard for him to walk. He growls at Jackie, his eyes turning even more slitted as he body crackles with magic. In a flicker of colored static, Mag��s body shifts then changes into his black tiger form to try to tackle Jackie to the ground.

"Elders!" Jackie cries, trying to dodge and protect himself with his swords.

"Alt, come on!" Marvin says, crouching down and shaking Alt. "Wake up!"

Alt gasps and pants, sweat and tears falling down his face as he tries to fight off the magic. “H-h-hngh-!” It feels like his mind is getting eaten alive. But, he can hear Marvin, he hears the others in trouble. He grits his teeth and tries to fight the magic more. “M-Marvin…!” Green flickers more in his eyes- stronger.

Bro shakes his head out of the King’s influence and shouts out, pulling out his sword and holding it threateningly by the King’s neck. “The fuck?! You’re a freaky motherfucker!”

The King stiffens a bit when the blade gets close to his neck. "Do you want to see more? Stay still, then." He looks at Chase, recovering from the fire. "Shoot him."

"What--no!" Chase cries. The King blinks, confused. No time to think about that. He looks at Jameson instead. "Take his bow and shoot him."

Jameson hesitates for a split second and then lunges for Chase's bow.

"Nei!" Henrik shouts, wrestling with Jameson for the bow.

"Yes, Alt, wake up!" Marvin grabs Alt's hand, feeding him a bit of his own power in the hope that he can awaken Alt's own. "Everyone is--" Then Mag turns into a tiger and he gasps. "Jackie!" He rushes over.

The magic makes Alt’s eyes flare even brighter as he gasps more, getting more control of his body back. The purple is quickly fading. He weakly pushes himself up to see everyone’s crises.

Bro chokes a little as his body stiffens and refuses to move. “N-No..!”

Mag pins down Jackie and roars in his face. Then he lifts up a clawed paw to try to rip across his chest.

Marvin does something extremely reckless--he runs right at the giant cat that Magnificent turned into and tries flinging magic into his face.

The magic misses but at least distracts Mag enough to not slice Jackie open. But he does try to bite at Marvin.

"You," The King says, looking at Henrik. "Stop. Make sure he doesn't interfere." He points at Chase, trying to get up.

Instantly, Henrik stops fighting Jameson for the bow and instead pins Chase to the ground. "N-nei!" Henrik gasps, visibly shaking but unable to resist the commands.

“You fucking bastard! Too fucking cowardly to fight me, yourself?!” Bro snarls at the king.

Jameson picks up Chase's bow, grabs and nocks an arrow, and jerkily aims it at Bro.

The arrow flies truer than it should have- sticking itself in Bro’s chest. He gasps, a spray of blood spurting before he falls to the ground- right in front of Alt.

Alt’s world shatters. The sounds of fighting fade into nothing but static. He can’t breathe. Then, suddenly magic flares up in him so hot- he screams in murderous rage. An explosion of green electricity and magic rockets out of him, sending a blast wave out, which knocks Mag back into a wall. Alt’s eyes turn pure white and crackle with green electricity. He yells again and in another rocket of powerful magic, he’s launched into the air, heading straight for the king.

The two collide in a huge crash against the wall of a building, the foundation cracked. For a second it’s hard to see what happened. And then the dust clears- and everyone can now see it. Two green crackling pair of wings have sprouted from Alt’s back, made completely out of lightning.

“You-!” Alt’s voice is laced with static and glitches but echoes with power as he snarls to the king. “You and every other fucking Anti out there has hurt me- hurt my friends- hurt my brother… for the last f̶̧̏u̶͙͐c̸͚̽k̶͙͊ì̸̧n̷͍͐g̶͘ TIME!”

Marvin jumps backwards, avoiding the big cat's bite, and starts conjuring up another spell-- But then it happens. Bro gets shot, and Alt screams. Lightning explodes from him, drawing everyone's attention as they all see him fly for the King. Fly. Fly quite literally, as there are wings coming from his back. Crackling with the power of a storm itself. The guys from this world stare in shock and awe. They have never seen anything like this.

And honestly? Neither has the King. His face drains of color as he looks scared for the first time. He's rattled by being tackled to the building, bruised and bleeding--but he does not feel this body's pain. He wrenches an arm free and traces a line on the wall behind him. A line of green light arches around him, forming--a magic doorway. He falls through it, and before Alt can even look at what's on the other side, the doorway disappears and he is gone.

Alt watches the king disappear with wide eyes. He then crackles with more lightning as he punches at the building, screaming in rage as tears fall rapidly down his cheeks. The air smells like ozone, static electricity brimming in the air. He burns with power, his wings sparking like a storm.

The moment the King vanishes, all his commands fall away. Even the ones on Magnificent, which he had been monitoring so carefully.

When the command fades, it’s so much all at once that Mag’s tiger form fades and he crashes to the ground completely, staring wide eyed at the sky.

Jameson lets go of the bow and it goes clattering to the ground. He grabs Schneep's bag of supplies and rushes for Bro. I'm sorry, the subtitles say he's signing. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry--

Bro blinks blearily out at Jameson and gives him a shaky smile. He tries to grab one of his hands to get him to stop signing. “Hey hey… I-it’s okay- wasn’t your fault…” He coughs up a bit of blood but he still smiles. “I-I heal fast this… this shouldn’t kill me- just.. g-gotta get it out…”

Henrik helps Chase up and the two of them run over to join Bro and Jameson. “Normally I would advise against that,” Henrik says, “but if you have magic healing then that would be best.”

“I’ll do it, it’s my arrow,” Chase says. He grabs the arrow’s shaft and braces one hand against Bro’s chest. “On three. One… two… three!” And he yanks it out with one swift move.

On instinct, the hero cries out in pain as the arrow is removed.

“Heh… looks like the tip didn’t break, so there’s nothing else in there.” Chase gives a nervous little laugh, then glances at Alt. “I think your brother needs you right now…”

Meanwhile, Jackie quickly moves away from Mag as he transforms back. It’s strange, he’s heard all about how terrible this man is, but… right now he can only feel bad for him. Would it be different if he actually experienced what Bro and Alt had? Or is he still too kind?

Marvin has no such feelings right now. “Do you think we should tie him up?” He asks, conjuring a rope like he tried to throw at Alt earlier.

But, at Chase mentioning his brother, Bro tries to push himself up, blinking back his pained tears as he shouts out, “A-Alt!”

Alt had been clawing and tearing at the building like he can still get to the King, paying no mind to how it tears and scratches at his hands. But, hearing Bro’s voice gets him to stop. In a quick glitch he’s kneeled down next to him, wide white eyes staring at him as tears flow down his face.

Bro startles a bit, “w-woah!”

Alt tilts his head almost bird-like at Bro then looks to see his bleeding chest. He reaches out a hand and wipes at his face then presses it over the wound. In a bloom of light, the injury disappears like nothing happened.

Bro stares at his brother with wide eyes, “Alt-“

Alt turns his head to look at Chase- and sees where he was burned. He touches the spot gently- and it heals completely.

Then, they hear Magnificent whimper in pain and curl up, his injures catching up to him. Alt’s head raises at this and he then appears over by Jackie, Marvin and Mag in a fizzle of electricity. He says nothing as he bends down by Mag and does what he did with Bro. Wiping his tears he heals Mag’s back and then removes the arrow and heals his leg. The mad magician seems to relax slightly, blearily looking out but he doesn’t look like he’s registering anything.

Now, the power around Alt seems to fizzle and he stumbles back, gripping at his head. He gasps slightly in pain as the wings crackle then zip away into the air. The white in his eyes flicker- and just when you see his blue eyes peek through again, they roll back and he sways and then crumples to the ground with a dull thud.

“All above!” Marvin shouts, being the first to get over the shock of what they all saw. He kneels next to Alt, checking his pulse in his neck and wrist. “That’s probably just—that’s probably just exhaustion, that must have used a lot of energy—“

Alt’s pulse is high, his eyes squeezed shut in pain as he pants heavily, slightly whimpering. He’s pale and hot to the touch.

Bro pushes himself up and hurries over to Alt’s side, scooping him up into his arms and shaking him lightly. “A-Anti…!” Alt is limp in his brother’s arms, struggling to take in a deep breath. His veins pulse with bright green magic, making him look even sicker.

“Did he heal them with a touch?” Jackie whispers. “Henrik, Marvin, do you know of…”

Henrik walks over, also checking over Alt. “Nothing I know of,” he mutters.

“Even wizards can’t heal instantly like that, only speed the process,” Marvin agrees.

A moment passes in silence.

“O-okay, um… what do we do with them?” Chase asks shakily. “I think other me, Bro, is alright but these two…”

Bro looks at the others with desperation and nods, “Y-Yeah we gotta… we need to… Christ-!”

“Rest. They need rest,” Henrik says.

“I’ll repeat my earlier question in regards to him,” Marvin mutters, nodding at Magnificent.

“I really don’t think this is the time to worry about tying someone up,” Jackie says, a bit snappishly.

At Marvin’s muttering, Bro glances at Mag and then he nods to Marvin. “I… I would. He’s- he will probably lash out when he comes to… especially now that Alt…” He bites his lip and looks back down at the trembling glitch. He’s surprised Alt helped him at all….

“Got it,” Marvin says, using the conjured rope to bind Magnificent’s hands.

Magnificent doesn’t fight as he’s tied up, eyes hardly open as he slumps on the ground.

His veins don’t look good at all, Jameson says worriedly. I’m assuming it’s not normal for them to be green. Henrik, is there anything that could help? He hands Henrik his bag of medical supplies.

“W-well, I do not think I can do much about the coloring, but I might be able to help the fever,” Henrik says as he looks through his supplies. “Here. This is a cooling salve. There is a bit of witchcraft in it so it may help with the magic in his veins.” He uncaps the bottle and reaches in, withdrawing a quarter-sized amount of pinkish salve. He quickly applies it to Alt’s forehead. It does, at the very least, cool him down.

Alt whimpers quietly at the salve is applied. But, then he seems to relax some as it works it’s magic.

“Does he�� do that wing thing… often?” Chase asks awkwardly. “Is there something to do when he… turns into a thunderbird?”

Bro shakes his head. “I… I’ve only seen it once before… but he… he was in much worse shape the first time…” He swallows shakily, pushing Alt’s sweaty bangs away from his face. “He… he got really sick… for a few days afterwards but- he was also corrupted by Mag’s magic so… m-maybe it won’t be as long this time… he didn’t use it as much as he did that first time either I think… it’s… it’s kinda a blur- I don’t remember much.”

Henrik nods slowly. “The best thing to do then is get inside somewhere,” he says. “Somewhere out of the weather. There are a lot of houses here, but some are missing the roofs or walls. Where is somewhere intact?”

Chase quickly scans the area. “There,” he says, pointing at a house a little down the street. “That looks good from here. We’ll have to get closer, of course.”

“Good enough,” Henrik says. “Chase—Bro, I mean. Will you carry your brother?”

“Yeah… yeah I got him.” Bro nods and gets to his feet, holding Alt in his arms and close to his chest. Alt’s eyelids flutter but he stays slumped against Bro. The hero hurries down the street towards the house Chase pointed out.

“I’ll get this man,” Jackie says, grabbing Magnificent and standing up. “Let’s get inside.”

Mag is easy enough to carry, offering pretty much no resistance.

Chase was right, this house is pretty much intact. There are three rooms: a central living area, a bedroom, and a room with a bunch of fabric and thread, some sort of dedicated sewing room. All the furniture is still there, though dusty, and there’s a fireplace and woven rug in the central room. Chase hurries over and takes out a tinderbox to light a fire.

“Hmm. We should keep Alt where it is warm,” Henrik says. “It would be better to take the blankets from this bed than leave him in here.” He and Jameson do that, making a small nest on the floor of the central room.

Bro hovers anxiously over Alt and as soon as the nest is set up, he sits down right by his side, taking his hand. Alt mumbles quietly in his feverish sleep, but his breathing seems to be calming down.

Jackie, meanwhile, unceremoniously drops Mag on the edge of the rug. “Have to keep an eye on him,” he says.

Slowly, a fire grows in the fireplace.

“Maybe Alt needs to sleep it off,” Chase says. “The sun is close to setting anyway. We should stay here for the night.”

Bro nods, "Yeah... probably... I just hope... I hope he's okay..."

Unfortunately for everyone- now Magnificent starts to stir. And he blinks open his eyes and feels the ropes on him and he writhes, baring his teeth like a feral cat. "W-What the fuck?! W-Where am I? Where is that fucking rat bastard royal?!"

Bro jolts and protectively curls up over Alt, flashing glowing eyes at Mag.

“The King is, unfortunately, not dead,” Marvin says, unfazed by Mag’s sudden recovery. He also doesn’t react when Jackie sighs, disappointed in his eagerness, or when Henrik rolls his eyes. “Even more unfortunately, we don’t know where he is. He’s an enchanter, he shouldn’t be able to make a doorway!”

Jackie doesn’t have time for this. He draws one of his swords and holds it up to Mag’s neck. His hand is steady. “We can knock you out,” he says calmly. “Do you think it feels good when the hilt of a sword hits your head?”

Magnificent stops his thrashing as the sword gets held to his neck. But he does growl at Jackie.

He then looks over to Bro and Alt, "What did you imbeciles do to my cub?!"

"He's not your anything, Magnificent!" Bro yells, "B-Back off! If you try anything- these guys will kill you- and I'm starting to think that might be a good fucking idea!"

The mad magician stiffens at this, and falls silent. But, he glares daggers at the others.

But, he does chuckle and look back at Marvin, a knowing look in his eyes. "mm... there might be more to your King than you know, wizard..."

“More in what way…?” Marvin questions.

Jameson tilts his head to the side. That would explain some things…

“Well if Jameson says that, that can’t be good,” Jackie comments.

Magnificent just chuckles but doesn't say anything more.

“This might be a bit selfish, but I don’t really want to talk about this right now,” Chase says. “We just went through a lot. Somehow those few minutes of fighting really exhausted me.”

“We will eat and rest, then,” Henrik says, looking through the food bag.

"It's not selfish..." Bro mutters, relaxing and going back to holding Alt's hand. "... let's just focus on resting. And Mag? If you cause any problems? It's night night for you, bitch."

Mag grumbles in response.

Indeed, though some of the guys seem to take issue with killing the King, it looks like none of them would be upset with killing Mag. At the most, some of them might be less personally inclined.

Jackie lowers his sword slowly but keeps it out and generally pointed at Mag. Henrik starts handing out food.

The room gradually warms up from the heat of the fire. There's still a breeze from the glassless windows but near the fire is warm and reassuring.

After a while of resting, Alt stirs and makes a pained groan before finally opening his eyes. Bright green pulses in them for a second before they dim- and it leaves his eyes looking dull and gray. He blinks blearily out at the dim house and starts to panic slightly. His body feels so heavy.

"c-c-chase...?" He whispers.

Bro is on him in an instant, squeezing his hand and holding it close to his chest. "Anti! Hey.. hey... I'm here... it's okay-"

Alt is starting to sweat and pant again, eyes flitting around anxiously, "t-the others...?" He asks quietly.

“We’re all okay,” Chase reassures him. “Well… a couple injuries, but nothing Henrik couldn’t take care of.”

Henrik nods, a bit smugly.

“Are you… alright?” Marvin asks tentatively. “You were… you used a lot of power.”

“It was incredible,” Jackie says in a quiet, awed voice. “Like the Winged Elder themself gave you wings of storm.”

“But it was a lot of power and we were concerned,” Marvin emphasizes.

Alt relaxes as he hears the others and turns his head to look at them. He smiles warmly. Bro squeezes Alt's hand again, and Alt can feel his own hands bandaged from where he tried to break the building. The glitch closes his eyes and takes stock of himself. He's very weak, shaky and has a fever. But, " i... i'm okay... b-better than I thought i'd be actually..." He laughs tiredly. "...i... i can't really c-control when that happens... but i think last time was... w-worse..."

Alt blinks at Jackie, "...winged... elder..?"

"yeah you guys say that a lot- Elders... what is that?" Bro asks curiously, "is it... like your ... gods?"

Mag snorts haughtily, like he expected them to know. And like he didn't just- invade minds and study books to know more than them the past couple days.

“They… are, I suppose, though that feels… hmm.” Marvin presses his lips together. “The term gods implies a… worldwide power? The Elders are only native to Glasuil. They’re tied to the land itself, all-powerful in their domains they guard, usually taking the form of animals.”

“Oh pffft.” Henrik rolls his eyes. “They are gods. It does not matter how local they are, you worship them and have holy days for them. That is what you do with gods.”

“Schneep’s are different,” Jackie says. “The Celestial Sisters. The sun and the moon as people. They’re very popular on the east continent.” “

As for the Winged One, their domain is wind and weather and storms,” Marvin continues. “And it’s said they take the form of a hawk or other bird of prey. So… wings of lightning… very reminiscent of them.”

Alt and Bro look very intrigued by this. Bro laughs, “Woah… like- land spirits. That’s really cool!” He looks to Schneep and smiles. “The sisters sound cool too! Man- I always thought mythology like this was cool-“

“Yer a nerd-“ Alt slurs with a smile. Bro very lightly shoves him.

Alt then falls quiet, “The winged one… heh- pretty cool to get compared to that…” He curls up, a shiver running up his body from the fever. “…I wish I knew what magic it was or… w-why it happens. It feels as elusive as a blessing from a god.” He laughs a bit bitterly. “If I knew then, maybe I could use it more… it seems to help people… “

“But it also leaves you really sick, Alt…” Bro adds with worry, smoothing back his hair.

Alt falls quiet again, gripping at the blankets and staring down at them.

“Hey.” Jackie leans forward. “I’ve been protecting people for a long time. Five years in the Phantoms, but I’ve been training for…” He laughs. “Well over a decade now. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t protect anyone if you wear yourself out. You only have so many hands, you know.”

Perhaps you’ll learn what causes this one day and you can use it more reliably, Jameson says. But until then, keep yourself safe.

Alt is quiet for a bit before he nods and smiles at Jackie and Jamie. “…yeah… thanks.”

“We’re not leaving until I’m sure you’re okay, alright?” Bro says sternly, “I’ll knock Mag out as many times as we need to.”

“Hey! I’m not even doing anything!” Mag growls.

Bro glares at him and he shuts up again. He then turns back to Alt and checks him over again. “So- do you need anything? We ate but we can get you some more…”

Alt closes his eyes to think. “…I think i just need some more sleep.., maybe some water…?” He blinks open his eyes but seems to struggle to do so- like he’s ready to pass back out again.

“Sleep is good,” Henrik says. He passes Alt his water skin to drink from. “One time Marvin passed out for days straight after using too much magic. It is normal.”

“Hey!” Marvin gasps. “That was private information!” The others laugh.

“Take a break, Alt,” Jackie says. “We’ll take turn keeping watch to make sure nothing happens.”

Alt takes a drink gratefully then allows himself to lay back down. He smiles dazedly and then laughs with the others. "at least I know m'not alone..." He mumbles.

Bro squeezes his hand again, "Never." He promises.

Alt hums under his breath and curls up against his brother before falling back asleep.

Magnificent watches the tender moment with hatred in his eyes.

The night passes. Jackie takes watch first, then tags out for Marvin, who then tags out for Henrik as morning approaches. It's a surprisingly peaceful night. Not even a cloud in the sky, much less a storm.

When morning comes, Alt fever seems to have broken and he wakes up with a renewed vigor. He glitches to his feet and stretches. Bro stuck to his side all night. The older brother blinks blearily and then sits up quickly at seeing Alt is up. "Alt!"

Alt grins at Bro, "Morning!"

Mag is curled up, not unlike a cat, actually asleep, even with his arms still tied up.

"Good morning you two," Henrik says. "Glad to see you're feeling better, Alt."

Chase rolls over with a slight groan and wakes up. "Oh... lightning man..." He mumbles.

Henrik laughs. "What did you just say?"

"...what did I just say?" Chase sits up. "I saw Alt ghlishing, and uh..."

"Y-you called him lightning man," Henrik giggles.

"Lightning man?" Alt smirks with a laugh, "Not the most clever nickname but I can dig it!"

This exchange has woken up Jameson and Jackie as well. It was amazing, actually, Jackie managed to keep his grip on his sword even as he slept. "Good morning," he says now, stretching.

Jameson nudges Marvin, dislodging Draco by proxy. Both cat and owner lift their head with a "mrrp?" sound.

Wake up, Fiona of Wyld, Jameson says.

"Shush." Marvin rubs his eyes.

Both Bro and Alt laugh at Marvin's cat-like noise. The noise wakes up Mag but he stays quiet, just glaring at the others as he very slowly tries to wiggle his arms to get blood flowing back into them.

"uh- you guys good with having breakfast with us before we go?" Alt smiles, "One last hang out! Plus, I'm starving-"

"Of course," Chase says, reaching for the food bag. "I'm glad we packed so much. Here, take what you want." He grabs a couple rolls and some jerky for himself before passing it to the brothers.

Alt quickly grabs a bunch and starts to stuff his face. Bro tries to get him to slow down, laughing quietly.

"Wonder if there's anything we can learn about the King in the palace," Marvin wonders, staring out the window at the tall towers.

"We can check that after they go home, before heading back to camp," Jackie says.

Bro looks out at the tower, "Oh yeah. I hope you guys can gain something out of this crazy mess to help you defeat that freaky bastard-" He mutters as he moodily takes a bite of jerky. "He has freaky ass powers-"

Alt quiets at this and looks down at his lap. He... had to stop feeling so bad- hearing bad things about the other versions of him. But, part of him cant help but feel... guilty? Confused? He's... not sure.

"Genuinely where did those powers come from?" Marvin says. "I understand you two and this bastard being different, as you're from another world, but him? Enchanter I could understand, magic sometimes strikes randomly, but all the rest?"

"I can only think something must have happened," Henrik says. "He was not a terrible king at first. Then, about five or six years ago, he started doing different, terrible things. Did he find this power and go mad from it?"

It must have been SOMETHING like that, Jameson agrees.

"Maybe... there's something more... like- I dunno... maybe he got possessed by something?" Alt mutters quietly, shrugging. "I think that can... give someone different powers- or something."

"I mean- you guys have spirits and stuff around... didn't you guys think we were that?" Bro asks.

“We thought you were Fair Folk, which do have a physical body,” Jackie says.

“But there are spirits…” Marvin mulls.

“When would that have happened though? Isn’t the King supposed to be well protected against magical threats like that?” Chase asks.

“We’ll figure it out after they leave,” Henrik decides. “Our first order of business is making sure they are safe. So everyone eat up,”

It doesn’t take long for them to finish breakfast.

After breakfast is done, the boys go to change into their old outfits. Luckily, back at camp they helped Bro fix his ripped shirt. Alt holds onto his mask, letting it hang around his neck. Alt glitches to his feet then pulls out the TRVLR, powering it on to check to see its status.

Bro double checks that they have everything and gathers up all the things they borrowed from the boys. He laughs lightly, "Man- despite everything... it was really cool to pretend that we were part of the Masked Phantoms for a bit..."

"If you ever want to come visit again, you are welcome to any time," Jackie says. "Hopefully by then we won't need the Masked Phantoms anymore, but if we do, you may join anytime."

"No need to be so formal with them, Jackie," Henrik says teasingly.

"It's tradition to welcome back guests like that!"

I agree with Jackie, come back anytime, Jameson says.

"And bring your friends--and try to keep this bastard out of it," Marvin says jokingly.

Bro smiles at them and nods, "If we can I totally wanna come back and bring the lads! You guys would love them!"

"Hopefully we will see you again," Chase says. "But if we don't, this has been fun."

The TRVLR still has that latency warning up, but the universe list seems to be working fine, just a bit slow. Clearly, this UF universe, while fun, is even farther from their home than the UAs. So back to trying those. Alt spots UA-0501019MM as a promising next place to visit.

Alt smiles and looks up from the TRVLR to look at the others, "Yeah... this was scary in a lot of way but... it was nice too. Thank you for taking such good care of us guys!"

Bro walks over and grabs Mag and tosses him over his shoulder.

Magnificent grumbles and hisses, trying to wiggle out of his binds now. "Cant you let me have a bit of dignity here?"

"Nope, you don't deserve that." Bro says, walking over and grabbing Alt's hand.

Alt laughs and then looks at the others fondly, "... We'll be back. But, until then? Give that royal bastard hell, alright?"

"We'll be sure to," Marvin promises. Jackie nods, backing him up. "Goodbye, then."

"Goodbye!" Jackie adds.

"Farewell," Henrik says.

"See you again, hopefully," Chase nods.

Jameson waves.

The brothers wave goodbye. and then Alt hits the jump button, praying that maybe this one will actually take them home.

Immediately, the three of them disappear. To them, it feels like they are falling again through that dark place with green globes of light. To the others, they simply vanish.

I hope they have a safe journey, Jameson says.

"I do as well," Henrik says.

A moment passes in silence. Then Chase takes a deep breath. "Well? To check the palace, then?"

"To the palace," Marvin agrees.

"Hopefully we'll find something to help us with the King's mysterious powers," Jackie says.

The group leaves the building, heading up the street.

#SITCV FM #fantasy masks au #swapboys #swap into the crystalverse #THE LAST CHAPTER!! :D #and like- this is spoilers for something alt will be able to do in the future oops agjbh #something i have planned for a future story |D #but!! loved this battle- it was so fun!!#and i love the fm world soooo much!#i hope you guys enjoyed it too :D #tomorrow- something spooky :3c #alt anti #swap magnificent #bro fantastic

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