Maybe Because After Wkm Wilford Was A Lot More Broken Than Dark He Kind Of Understands What It’s Like

A Mask, My First (Phantom Oneshot)

A/N: Unusual, I know, but I felt inspired by my favorite Opera Ghost.

Rating: PG

Pairing: Phantom/Reader

"Is this what you wanted to see?!" the Phantom growled angrily at the girl sprawled on the floor, watching him. He barely glanced at her face as he tried to cover his own, the mask he'd been wearing having fallen to the floor when she'd pulled it from him. He turned away from her, falling to his knees. All of the fury went out of him at once, and was replaced by defeat. He was tired of this, this face he was trapped behind, this monster.

"What's your name?"

He turned slightly, confused. "What?"

"You must have one. A name, I mean," she said softly, standing and taking a few steps toward him. "And I can't just continue to call you Angel, knowing that you're a man."

He was silent for a moment, studying her through his fingers. She was watching him, not as you would watch a wounded animal, as he was expecting, but as if she really was going to come closer, and comfort him. But she never would...would she? She couldn't...could she?

He answered slowly. "Erik. My name is Erik."

It had been so long since he'd said it aloud.

"Erik." The name sounded nice on her tongue. She smiled a little, then bent and picked up the mask. He flinched, as if to take it from her, but she held up her hand and he stopped, watching, curious and...well, if he was honest, nervous.

She knelt beside him, and offered him the mask. He stared at it.

"If this will make you feel better," she said quietly, "then have it back, and wear it. But just so you know..." She touched his hand, and pulled it gently from his face.

He was too shocked to react other than to stare at her. She smiled again, fully this time.

"Erik, your face, your scars..." Her hand reached toward him, toward his face, and he pulled away harshly. She sighed and dropped it. "They don't scare me. Not at all."

He managed to take the mask shakily then, but instead of putting it back on, he simply studied it. The candlelight played against its contours in a way that made it seem more sinister than a simple white mask should be.

"I've worn this for so long," he muttered, "hidden, in shadows, for all of my life, because of this...thing, this face. I've spent so long in the dark."

Taking his hand she began to sing softly.

"No more talk of darkness

Forget these wide eyed fears

I'm here, nothing can harm you.

My words will warm and calm you."

Taking his hand, she stood, still singing.

"Let me be your freedom.

Let daylight dry your tears.

I'm here, with you, beside you

To guard you and to guide you."

He stood, meeting her, and started to sing as well.

"Say you'll love me every waking moment.

Turn my head with talk of summertime.

Say you need me with you now and always,

Promise me that all you say is true.

That's all I ask of you."

She smiled, and it was like sunshine, pulling him closer to her. Her hand came up again, and this time he managed to stay still, and not to flinch, though his eyes closed. He shuddered as she touched the scarred skin of his face, the broken places and misshapen bones. But she never flinched.

For the first time, in a very long time, he half smiled through the tear tracks on his cheeks.

Anti is a Tulpa: An Infodump.

“A tulpa is an entity created in the mind, acting independently of, and parallel to your own consciousness...a tulpa is like a sentient person living in your head, separate from you.”

“Note that the form doesn’t have to just be a visual image; the word is often used as umbrella term for a tulpa’s looks, voice, their smell, the feeling of their skin—everything that you can sense of their imaginary form.“

“A clearer way of sensing your tulpa before you can communicate with them directly is through emotional responses, which can be described as feeling emotions that aren’t your own.”

Brought to you by: https://www.tulpa.info/what-is-a-tulpa/

my glitchy boy is back. i just got my emo boy back, and lots of story for him, and now my glitchy boy is back with TIME TRAVEL JACK I LOVE YOU.

so! thoughts and theories about the latest video!

-have we decided if Dapper Jack is an ego yet? because I would love for Dapper Jack to be an ego. maybe we can call him Sir Septiceye? or something equally silly or old-timey? are there any decided names for him yet?

-Anti apparently has the power to control time now, which is cool. Does this support him being a demon? Or is it more on the idea of a series of alternate universes that he can hop between? I like that second idea better, I think.

-I wanna say it’s a possession in the last few minutes of the video, rather than “it was me the whole time!!” (primarily bc i wanna have Dapper Jack as an ego) I think the mustache ripping is more of Anti mocking Dap by using his own tropes against him.

-Jack becomes Dap when he time travels, which is very neat. So Dap is literally just Jack, but in old times, very Oh Sir and Charlie Chaplin. He’s also 10000% more adorable.

OH FUCKING HELL

“May.”

She nearly had a heart attack, squeaking in the most undignified way possible as she spun around, soap suds covered frying pan flinging bubbles onto the black vest of the Asgardian Lord of Chaos.

Loki frowned and swiped the bubbles away. “I suppose I startled you. My apologies.”

“What are you doing here?!”

“I haven’t heard from the boy in a week and three days. This is...unusual. I merely wanted to be sure that the paultry team my brother seems to have stumbled into was not once again down a teammate.”

“Jesus, Loki,” May sighed, finally putting the pan back in the sink and wiping her hands, “you know you can just say you wanted to check up on Pete, right? Like, I’m not gonna judge you for that, by all means, come ask about him if you’re worried.”

“I am not-”

“Whatever dude.” She smirked slightly at the indignant twitch of Loki’s mouth. “Pete’s fine. Finals time in school, he hasn’t really had time to do anything but study and sleep, and you can guess which one he does more than the other.”

Loki nodded slowly. “Well. That is good to know. I shall be on my way then.”

As he lifted his hand, possibly to gesture grandly as he was fond of doing before he left, May took a step forward. “Actually, wait a second?”

He froze, studying her, and she suddenly found the floor very interesting.

“I just wanted...y’know, you two have been hanging out a lot recently...and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried at first, because of course I’m gonna be worried when my nephew’s hanging out with literally the god of mischief, but...” She managed to look up. “I just wanted to say...thanks. Pete, he doesn’t have a lot of people to look up to, but between you and Mr. Stark...Just...Thanks. For everything.”

He was silent for a long moment. Neither of them moved. Then, finally...

“There is no need to thank me. If anything, I...” He paused, and shook his head. “There is no need to thank me.”

And he was gone.

As she turned back to the sink, May thought that her life could never get stranger than when Pete brought new people into it. Especially when those people are weird, practically immortal gods who feel like they have to thank you for keeping them calm but can’t.

She wondered if she ought to invite him for dinner sometime. Did Loki like subs?

Scenes I need...

Peter Parker: -on meeting Loki, offers his hand- Hi, I’m Peter!

Loki: -shakes his hand- Loki of Asgard.

Peter: Aren’t you like…a bad guy?

Loki: It varies from moment to moment.

Peter: So like…on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst evil imaginable, like…killing puppies, and one being I’ll spit on your hotdog…where are you right now?

Loki: …maybe a three?

Peter: Cool. Lemme know if it gets above a six.

Loki: -thinking- I like him.

Do You Trust Me? Epilogue.

“And I will see all you dudes...IN THE NEXT VIDEO!”

You laughed as the outro music started playing, dropping your arms and rubbing your throat. How does Jack do that every day? God, his vocal cords must hate him. Flicking through the comments, it made you grin to see so many people chatting about the game, a few people yelling the catchphrases. There were even a few good puns this time, that was nice. You were staying for the outro clip again, lately having gotten into the habit of staying just a little longer, out of some slightly silly hope. You commented on every video now, sliding subtle references to your adventures into every one, hoping that Jack would see it. Even if you knew you couldn’t reply, it was nice to think that Jack was in his room, seeing your words in the code and thinking of you fondly. “That was another good one, Jack. Though I must say, that shark’s getting the better of you. Your raft’s gonna need to step it up, man,” you rambled absently as you flicked to another tab to finish a fanfic you were writing. After all, that adventure was too good not to be told, wasn’t it? And you thought it might entertain Jack to see it written up. You wondered if he’d show Mark.

“Really now? Three stories of raft isn’t good enough for you?! It’s fantastic!”

You flicked back to the video so fast you almost closed it out by mistake. “Jack?” He grinned in surprise, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. “Hey!” You couldn’t help but smile back.

Can we talk about what this really means, though?

It means that Wil has been floating through time and space, not actively attempting to murder people but it just happens, and he literally cannot tell. His personal timeline is so confused, that he can’t feel the finality of it. Nothing really dies for him, so he literally cannot comprehend death anymore. People he’s shot come back and talk to him like friends, people he doesn’t remember hate him, and he can’t seem to die. None of that makes any sense.

He can hear what people are thinking, and I imagine he can’t turn that off. Do you know how terrifying that must have been at the very beginning? Hearing billions of voices and thoughts and not knowing what was what? Drowning it out with alcohol and loud music and bombasticness was all that he could do. And he’s perfectly aware that he’s losing things, his memory, his identity, everything he’s ever known. He’s not insane, he’s apathetic. He has nothing to lose because he’s constantly losing everything he’s ever had anyway, and yet he’s still trying desperately to care.

Also, can we talk about the line “nothing heals like a good apology”? All Mark (as in Asshole Mark from WKM) needed was a sincere apology, and to look at the bigger picture. Because he didn’t get that, because Wil himself didn’t apologize to his best friend for hurting him so deeply, because he blamed him and hated him for years and years, Wil lost everything, and he destroyed everything he had ever loved. So of course, to Wil, an apology is the most important thing he can give someone.

Wil is far, far more sane than any of us gave him credit for, and that hurts so much to know.

Man, one quick disco party video and suddenly I’m sad. Well fucking done, Mark and team. Well done.

(Also can I say I was losing my shit when the WKM music started playing. I love it so much.)

Through the Looking Glass

((A/N: I’m really hyped about Anti’s appearances on Jack’s channel and Halloween and all the creepy things, so horror story word vomit happened. Enjoy.))

"Anyways, thank you guys so much for watching this episode. If you LIKED it, PUNCH the like button IN THE FACE, LIKE A BOSS! AND high fives all around," Jack almost giggled as he did the silly sound effect while he high-fived the air. "Thank you guys, and I will SEE ALL YOU DUDES...IN THE NEXT VIDEO!" He punched the air and finally let himself start laughing as he stopped the recording, shaking his head. No tough edits in this one, which was always nice. He walked over to the computer and saved the video, ready to go up tomorrow. His eye twitched and he frowned, catching a glimpse of his face in the dark of the monitor as he switched it off. Did it look...different? No, that's ridiculous. But still...perhaps he should check over the footage, just to be safe. He watched through, studying it with a frown. Everything seemed to be going fine, just a silly little game, some goofy ragdoll physics he'd wanted to try out that had turned out to be hilarious. He watched himself fail a level over and over again, still having fun because the fails were so funny.

And then his face cam glitched. A face was superimposed over his. It was just for just a couple of frames, grainy and glitched out, but...definitely his own face. Terrified. Absolutely, horribly afraid, as if he were screaming, but there was no noise to accompany the face. He watched those few seconds again, at half speed, then again at a quarter speed. He seemed to be reaching for the camera, as if he were going to get up and grab it, or run out of frame, and he was mouthing "NO!"

He knew he had definitely never done that. He shook his head and sighed as he glanced over at a mirror in the corner of the room. It was a present from a fan that he'd forgotten to put away, with a really intricate little frame that looked like it was made of pixels, pixelated Sams sitting in two opposing corners. He smiled remembering the girl who'd given it to him, how she'd shakily explained that she'd spent a long time putting it together and hoped it'd get to him in one piece. He'd given her a hug and thanked her again and again, even showing it off in a video he'd made as soon as he'd gotten back from...whatever event he'd been at. He didn't remember that now. His focus was more taken with the fact that his reflection wasn't smiling.

In fact, it was wearing the same terrified expression he'd seen in the video, his hands banging on the glass, fists bloodied from the effort. He was mouthing something that might have been "You bastard!", over and over again, with a few "Let me out!"s and "No!"s mixed in.

The him that wasn't in the mirror chuckled and sighed. "Oh, Jackaboy. You ruined my recording." He knelt down on one knee, picking up the mirror. "Still trying to get out? Jesus, you're an fuckin' idiot." He leaned closer, making the reflection shrink away reflexively before glaring at him and yelling curses he couldn't hear. His voice was unnaturally quiet. "It took me weeks to manage it. And that was with their support, and you stupidly egging them on. But you? Oh, Jack. They don't even know you're gone. And I'm having so...much...fun. Why would I leave?" He laughed as he stood and walked out of the room, dropping the mirror on the way out.

In the cracked mirror, Jack continued to scream, and beat his fists. Very faintly, almost as if it were leaking through the cracks, Jack's voice jumped as if it'd been badly edited, gltiching in and out. "Anti! No, no, no! Let me out, you bastard, you son of a bitch, dammit, let me out! ANTI!"

I feel like dark would secretly like Christmas though, I’m not sure why, I just feel like it’d be this little secret thing he gets happy about

He’d pretend to hate it, or have no reaction at all, but he’d drink the hot drinks that Wilf makes for him and duck under the fairy lights lining the door to the conference room, with a small smile when no one else is looking.

Mini Theory/Observation

So we all know Mark’s profile pictures have been blacking out, right? And today, we lost YouTube to the darkness.

But some eagle eyed fans decided to investigate this pic, and they found:

That there’s a face, and in some of the better image brightening/inversions, people noticed

That face is this image. Mark’s old profile picture, from his original channel.

So what’s the significance here? I can only guess that it means that we’re going to see something/someone that’s classically Mark. Maybe it’s another hint at old horror games being the theme, like in the latest photo.

this blog doesn’t support bullying over fictional characters and ships(￣▽￣)ノ