AvA/M Oneshots

19. Psychotic!Victim (AU?, prompt)

Published 12/11/22.  

Discord oneshot turned actual oneshot turned... probably an AU? I hope? One day?? I havent fully managed it yet though so I'm posting this in the meantime bc I'm actually rather proud of it. Most of this was actually written back in early May.

Thanks to a Discord friend for the prompt (they suggested we try something based off the quote "I'm tired of being ___'s victim; now ___ is my victim!"). Also thanks to @SolidTheCat for the additional inspiration that really kicked this off! I tend to HC Vic as a really sweet dude, so to go full evil was actually an ILLEGAL amount of fun >:D

Sec's currently sleeping on the Interspace somewhere, probably under a tree in a field, idk. 

Second felt an ice-cold, invisible hand clamp down on his arm. He jolted awake, but his instinctive scream was immediately cut off, muffled by another hand he couldn't see. Scared, he thrashed, trying again to break free.

"Don't bother," a voice hissed in his ear. "There's no one for miles. I made sure of it- personally."

He looked up to see another stick figure, almost a translucent gray-black color, materialize behind him. Around both of them, identical copies of his attacker faded into view like an army of ghosts- including the growing number helping to hold him down. "...Mmmphpph?!?"

The gray stick hissed, his voice cold and almost metallic. "Our name is Victim. And if you want to stay alive, you'll hold still. This won't hurt unless you make me force it." He smirked. "Probably not, at least."

Second's eyes widened. He'd heard a little about this stick, mostly from Alan- although Alan had also mentioned that Victim was dead, so he wasn't quite sure what to believe. "Mmm mmmmph m... mmm?"

"You have questions. That's understandable." Victim paused. "I would prefer that you help me willingly, so I will permit you to speak- but if you try anything, believe me, there are worse things in life than being deleted."

Second paled, and the clone's hand came off his face. He took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to start. "Uh. How are- ... Alan told me you were... dead?"

Victim fumed, an expression of discontented rage twisting his face. "He'd like to think so, wouldn't he?! 'Accidentally' creates a sentient stick, guess we have to get rid of it now somehow- whoops, clicked "do not save", and ripped- its- its life away." He was shaking slightly, breathing hard, but continued on. "Out of sight, out of mind. But that wasn't an accident. He NAMED me Victim. He MADE ME a victim." His piercing eyes bored into Second. "He played with my life, and tried to delete me just so he could do it again, to Chosen. And then Dark. And now there's... you." his voice faded slightly into a more confused tone. 

They stared at each other, one thoughtful, the other scared. The soft shivers of the grass in the breeze accented the sudden silence. 

"I don't get it," Victim muttered. "I really don't. I was the only named victim, but he treats us all like that- and you are no exception. I heard about your little scuffle with him, and I've been trying to get you alone and talk to you for a while. What makes you so special? He killed your friends! Don't you want justice? Revenge? Don't you want to hurt him, like he hurt you?!" He grabbed Second's shoulder, shaking him roughly. 

Second flinched back, decidedly unnerved by the encounter so far. Victim's tone fluctuated between something oddly curious, almost wistful, but his sudden outbursts were downright terrifying, and the rest of his presence just felt- wrong. Hostile and unnatural, like even the world itself knew he wasn't supposed to be here and was trying to get as far away as possible from the two.

"Well?" His cold, dark eyes bored straight into Second, demanding an answer that the latter didn't really want to give. Apparently it wasn't a rhetorical question after all.

"No? I mean-" Second powered on quickly, as Victim narrowed his eyes- "just because he was like that in the past doesn't mean he couldn't have changed! And he did! I mean, Alan attacked when he created me, but he was just scared! He was remembering you, and Chosen, and Dark; and he didn't want something bad to happen to his computer again." He shuffled for a second, trying to wriggle into a more comfortable position, but the weight pinning him to the ground made any movement awkward.

Victim's face contorted in an expression of fury. "Remembered us?! We were defending ourselves! How is that fair, to judge any of us for actions he forced us to take, and then transfer that blame to you as well?!" He reached out suddenly, pressing both hands to Second's temples; and the latter flinched back, squirming in the clones' unrelenting grip. "Pathetic. You're not going to be any help sane, are you?"

"STOP! Stop, stop, what are you-"

"Alan didn't stop," Victim muttered angrily. He suddenly vanished, along with the clones; and Second stumbled back with only a dark echoing growl pounding through his mind. No, he didn't stop; and so neither will I. Our Animator made his choice the day he tried to delete me, and I'll hold him to it for the rest of his LIFE.

Every word set off fireworks of black and white across Second's vision, the stars compounding on top of the throbbing through his head until Victim's final syllables drove him down to his knees, and it all blacked out.

Green energy coiled in his fists; and he raised a pair of blank eyes towards the portal back to the PC. 

...It's about time we stopped letting him treat us like victims, don't you think?