Chapter Text
The short coughs that came from his mouth were unstable. The slow process of regaining his strength after the forest’s sudden, unpredicted transportation to somewhere else wasn’t something he was unfamiliar with. He just hoped this time it wasn’t anything that would make his skin crawl like it usually did.
Surrounded by darkness and nothingness of the milky vapor, he inhaled it. Unknown had a weird way of signaling to him its whims. One day he could be sent to help a lost soul cross the bridge to the other side of the realm, and the other he’ll have to wander with his shovel and hope in one’s tragedy they’ll finally rest.
Licking his lower lip, he took another deep breath. It was the last one before opening his eyes.
When the ringing inside of his ears stopped, the first thing that told him something wasn’t right was the absence of his lamp.
The panic inside of his body raised almost immediately, but so many years of doing his service to this place apparently did teach him something. At least when it came to maintaining the lamp.
He started looking around the place, where he already should’ve noticed the second sign. Because besides the lamp’s now evident absence — His pulse was becoming quicker and quicker, it wasn’t anything good — his surroundings should tell him of the evident wrongness in their composition.
There wasn’t any sort of gloom if he decided to look forward. No fog was an inseparable element of the forest. More than that, when he finally realized there wasn’t a chance of finding his precious item and almost rushed forward, he was met with people.
Which must’ve been a mistake. The Unknown didn’t suddenly get inhibited by so many people, not when he barely could take care of these few poor souls, it just couldn’t . And besides, if it was, even if there was this stupid kind of possibility so many people had to be sent to the in-between–
It was impossible for him to be in the forest anymore.
Because this, this? Maybe some of them had faces unlike humans he remembered, maybe they were moving on with their daily lives like some he met — As if they weren’t trapped forever — and maybe, just maybe some of them were smiling.
But the most terrifying thing he could feel was that they had heartbeats.
And in so many years of being… Living in the Unknown he never could feel so many of them.
Because the only ones possessing heartbeats were people who wandered far too deep into the forest, letting the darkness devour them whole. Wirt never liked these kinds of people, but not every person was worthy of the service he could offer.
The heartbeat meant you were close, but not just to waking up. Waking up meant sometimes you will live only to see the faces of the ones whom you betrayed, rarely was it a good kind of ending.
“Woah, hey there little listener!” It took him a moment to realize there was now a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know what happened but can you take a deep breath for me?” What? Why is this unknown person talking about breathing suddenly?
He coughed, feeling the sudden shudder overtake him.
“No, that’s–! Nono, okay hey, hey– No, can you look at me, kid?” He was, but the man in front of him was becoming more and more blurry with each passing second.
He clenched his teeth, another wave of shivers made its presence known. Through the whole process of his body trying to tell him certainly something he tried to keep his panic down. It wasn’t time for such breakdowns, he had to look for his lamp!
“Kid, KID!” He finally looked up, the ringing in his ears more and more loudly reminding him of itself.
“Kid, hey– Yeah, that’s good, hey, nono, don’t–” He must’ve done something wrong because he could feel the yellow blur becoming more distressed. “Okay–Okay, we’ll worry about that later, for now, I want you to look at me,” But he was!
And the thing was, he shouldn’t ! He had to find his lamp immediately! The matter as vague as this couldn’t just wait, after all– After all, after all–!
“Nono, that’s–That’s the opposite you’re doing, Okay, okay– I want you to repeat after me, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale,” Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. “Exhale, amazing little listener, you’re doing amazing, c’mon a few more!” Inhale. Exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale…
“Yes, just like that little listener, you’re doing great.” He blinked, feeling something cold involuntarily fall down his cheeks.
When he opened his eyes, he was no longer met with the sight of some yellow stain. His sight now more clear, let him see a man. Details weren’t something he could pay any attention to currently, but what caught his attention and what he decided to concentrate on the most was the other’s long, blond hair.
He didn’t realize his breathing calmed down, at least as much as it could.
“Yes, okay, you’re doing actually absolutely amazing listener, good job!” The man smiled, squeezing his hands on his own. Wirt didn’t know when the blonde did so, but their warmth in some weird way was almost comforting.
“Hey, that’s a nice quirk you have there, anyone told you that?” And that’s what made him freeze.
Because quirks, as unusual as they were in the Unknown, were not present. When a person crosses into the in-between’s forest they are merged for the time of their visit with their true self. Only passengers whose visit’s duration didn’t exceed a specific time got a free pass on the more abnormal features.
But rather than that? Everyone who had to atone and answer the call of the forest was changed, in one way or another.
“Hey– No, little listener! Look, here!” A snap. “Here, here!” Another one. “Yes, that’s right, now repeat after me, inhale, exhale, inhale,” Exhale. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…
He took away one of his hands, crouching a bit when a cough escaped his mouth. Taking a deep shaky breath, repeating inside his head like a mantra what the older man told him, he looked down. His hand was now covered in a black substance, just more oily in comparison to the one leaking from his eyes.
It’s blood, my blood he thought, squeezing his eyes shut and taking the deepest he could let himself breathe.
“Hey, I don’t know what’s happening inside your head little listener, but I want you to know you're doing great,” Looking up, his vision finally coherent enough to let him see an almost entire picture of this someone who was, ironically, guiding him.
“Yes, ha–” The Blonde man laughed nervously, but not in an unfriendly manner. “Man, you gave me quite a scare little listener, I was afraid you’d faint there for a second!” He smiled, giving his one hand he was holding a squeeze.
Wirt only looked at him, not knowing what he should really do.
If he concentrated enough he could feel the other’s pulse, its source coming straight from where he kept his hold firm.
“Oh, here!” He stretched out his free arm backward, looking for something for a while in his back pocket. With a triumphant Ah-a! sound he took out a pack of tissues, first with a bit of a problem getting one out but shortly after giving him one. “Here, a tissue to wipe away your…”
Wirt supposed he wanted to say blood or tears. Either one of these two, but in reality it didn’t matter much. No matter what happened to his body the substance in his veins was one and the same, always. Its consistency depending on if it was coming from his eyes or directly from a wound was the only factor.
Slowly, he took the offered item and with hesitance, brought it closer to the wet areas. When he was done, he only saw as the black substance made the tissues’s whiteness seem as if it was corrupted. He quickly crumpled it, deciding against further thinking about it.
“Yeah, that–” Another nervous laugh but this time it was lighter. There was a moment of pause, a guess he supposed. More precisely a guessing game the man in front of his very eyes had deep within himself.
“Are you… Are you calmer now?” There was a hint of hesitation in the blonde’s voice which Wirt could feel like it was almost on the tip of his tongue. Fear, resignation, deep sorrow… All of these by humans proclaimed bad emotions filling him fully, no matter what he had to say.
With a slight nod, he came back down from his thoughts to the mysterious reality he ended up witnessing. Moreso, he played a more significant role in it rather than the mere guide he was so used to. So with another, this time a more… Energetic nod he gave an affirming answer to the other’s question.
“Great, that’s… That’s actually great!” He said nothing, standing here motionless with a face equivalent to that of stone. “Uh, now that you’re calmer… Can you maybe…?” One didn’t have to be a master of eavesdropping to hear a curse that fell through the man’s lips. After it, a nervous pleiad of unknown to him words put together in one sentence was spoken out loud. He stood there, observing how a grown adult was falling apart before him.
“Do you have a phone?” Was what finally made it out. And confusion painted in evident shades was what answered the man.
He gave a declining shake, never being the one to seek out assistance from technology.
“Maybe know a number to your parents?” And wasn’t that a question? The memory so faint it was almost led into oblivion, to forever sleep, to be left alone.
He bit his lower lip and at least tried to bring up such old relics of time, but it all fell on deaf ears. Nothing came upon screaming for its name loud and clear inside of his own mind.
“Okay–That’s no, that’s not anything good but we can try working with that, yeah?” He hummed and it stayed as his only response. “I just want you to know that at no point you cause any kind of problems, you hear me?” The tension anew made a welcoming knock on their doors, informing Wirt as well that something was causing a new wave of troubling feelings for the other.
“We will have to go to the police station, alright?” It was his body that trapped him inside the bubble now, closing on him, not letting him breathe. “But no, no, don’t worry! Like I’ve said you’re in no trouble! We just have to go there to wait for your parents to appear, right? And if they’re not here it’s for them to know that nothing happened to you, you hear me, little listener?” Was he?
Was it the principle of hearing him or paying closer attention to what the words he was speaking actually meant? Currently, it wasn’t something he was able to concentrate on enough to give a proper answer.
“Okay I, uh– I can see that your legs, yeah they’re wobbly, that’s no good, no good– Do you want me to call someone to pick us up?” When no answer was given the blonde continued. “It’ll be just a quick phone, my friend or someone else will just drive us to the station–” A sudden withdrawal from any kind of contact was what stopped the other from following further.
“Woah– No, okay, okay! Don’t run, okay–! No driving then?” The quickened breath was the main factor in providing the needed information. “No driving, okay. Do you mind if we just go there then? It’s a quick trip, the station’s not that far!”
Wirt’s teeth clenched in pairs with his hands. The heartbeat, he could still feel it, telling him that the man found some kind of inner peace during their conversation. It was… Why was he here? For all this time he tried to push the thoughts of leaving the Unknown away, but the longer this sick reality didn’t want to disappear on him the longer he realized it wasn’t a dream.
And if it wasn’t a dream, one of them, many landscapes he sometimes came up with while left alone in the dark, the dim light of the lamp being the only source to brighten his surroundings… Then where was he?
“You can take all the time you need, little listener, just don’t run, okay?” He smiled, but the smile wasn’t a calm one.
He looked around, a feeling of hopelessness filling him whole the more he started to notice the surrounding his world. Gone were people he knew, gone was the norm he was used to seeing from the place called the Unknown.
Nothing made sense, the felt by his consciousness heartbeat in every single being passing by them making him sick. A savory irony if it were told to his younger self. No man with the face of a fish to this very moment had a thing such as a pulse in the place that became his home.
So why… Once again, why was he here? Was it a curse, a punishment of some sort maybe for him not fulfilling as he should the role of… The role of the beast? Was the world he grew so accustomed to giving him the payback he deserved? Why after so many years then? The time lost its value long ago, everything becoming a blurry mess when it came to counting it.
How could he then suddenly get thrown into some other reality while the one he left behind was the only one he knew?
And more importantly…! Where was his source of all problems and answers both, where was his lamp?
It had to be a punishment because if it wasn’t that, what else could it be?
“Are you ready, can we go?” There was a hand outstretched in his direction, one too many times to count as for today. His eyes stared at it with bright irises, not moving an inch.
He could decline, he could do everything else but not listen to the man who proclaimed he would lead him to the place that caused him so many sleepless nights… Was there a point in this fight though?
The Unknown taught him many things, the first one being to understand the situation that was present and from all the possible outcomes pick the most adequate one. So really, when asked again, what was the point of running away?
He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t also have his most precious thing with him. It was a matter of minutes, seconds until it could go into the wrong hands and cause his being to cease from existence.
The sole idea of such a scenario playing inside his head a million if not more times already finally came closer to becoming the truth.
Slowly, he looked up. Nothing changed, everything was as it was kept the way it did when he followed his thoughts into the depths of his mind. The man was still present, standing so he could see him whole if he decided to lower his sight a bit.
The hesitation wasn’t something he showed many if at all. Something left after it tucked a string inside his body, making him grasp it whole from the leftover humanity that resides inside him.
With a slight nod, the battling feelings inside the blonde man-made place for the relief to overtake him.
“That’s great little listener! Oh, sorry! I can get loud when excited once again sorry for that,” The man clapped his hand not in an unfamiliar manner. “So, if you haven’t already noticed after my speaking pattern, I’m Present Mic! The one and only with his own radio show, though now that I think about it you might not recognize me, you being American and all that…” Awkwardly laughing, the now-named Present Mic coughed into his fist and got back to the main topic. “Either way! I’ll understand if you’re not alright with touching but I’m putting a lot of trust in you here not to randomly run off, so stay close to me to not get lost! Mustafu’s streets at this time of day can get busier than usual so make sure you’ll keep me in your sight!”
Wirt hummed, not denying nor confirming what the other requested him of. It was a nice change of peace that he didn’t have to touch someone so… Lively after having close to no contact with such a thing as a living being for so long. He brushed off the last drops of the black substance’s remains from his face and put the tissue soaked in it into one of his pockets.
Nodding, he accepted the fate of drifting away from the place where he appeared, looking at it for the last time in the hope that maybe there would be his treasure here. But to no avail, everywhere where he looked he couldn’t see the container of his whole being. So unsure of what the future had prepared for him, he marched forward leaving everything behind, trying not to think about the worst.