The room was bright and blinding.
Voices around me were nearly incoherent due to the consistent ringing in my ears.
But I wouldn't have mistaken Jeff for anybody else.
I stared back at him, eyes hazy and confused.
He stared back for a moment, looking as if he was just now beginning to catch his breath. Had he really been saying all of that to me? Why did he care whether I lived or died?
"Jeff..." I spoke up again, my voice soft and weak.
"What's...what's going on?" I asked nervously, my eyes panning around the room to reveal what I could make out to be another figure.
My brother took a deep breath, exchanging looks with the man who I identified as Hoodie before speaking.
"Zalgo...he nearly killed you, Liu." He explained, somberly.
So it hadn't been a dream. But if it was real then how was I still alive? As alive as a ghost could be anyways.
"What happened?" I inquired, forcing myself into a sitting position again.
Hoodie took a step foreword towards me.
"It was Masky and I's fault. We were designated to make sure nothing happened to you, yet we failed to notice your absence." He sounded disappointed in himself, even a bit angry.
"You need to rest. We did what we could, but Zalgo had already drained so much of your soul before we had time to step in." Hoodie rested his hands on my shoulders, motioning for me to lay back.
I felt a burning anger in the back of my mind, itching away at my skull as I reached a hand up to swat him away.
"Get the hell off of me!" I blurted angrily, backing up against the bed.
My head reeled and I winced as Sully fought for the light.
"Tch..." Sully pulled away at the sheets that were covering our body, kicking them back.
"We were fine on our own..." He muttered, looking down towards the ground.
Jeff slammed his hands down onto the bedside table abruptly, causing Sully and I both to flinch in shock.
"FINE!? Seconds later and you would've been gone!" Jeff exclaimed, pain evident in his tone.
I tensed up, refusing to make eye contact.
"I...I lost you once Liu...I'm not losing you again." My brother's tone softened slightly as he stood straight again, taking a slow step back.
"Jeff...I-." I began to respond before Sully interrupted.
"Says the motherfucker who killed us! Give me one good reason why I should believe a god damn word that comes out of your mouth!"
Jeff's eyes widened in surprise before his expression shifted to one of anger and remorse.
"I know..." He spoke through gritted teeth.
"I know what I did. It haunts me every fucking day."
I watched as he balled his hands into fists, clenching them tightly, his gaze on the floor growing more intense with each passing second.
I winced again, pushing Sully back as much as possible.
"Jeff, it's-it's okay. I forgive you-."
"Like HELL we do!" Sully cut in.
"Sully, would you shut the fuck up!? Just give me a second to talk to him and-."
"OH TALK TO HIM!? Yeah, that's totally the route to take! Tell me Liu, how the fuck do you just 'talk it out' with the Michael Jackson wannabe, who LITERALLY stabbed you to death!?" Sully roared with anger, standing up and attempting to shove Jeff back against the wall.
Jeff quickly dodged the attack, ducking as he slid up beside Hoodie, peering out from behind him.
Sully seethed with anger, turning to face Jeff.
"You fucking coward, I outta-."
"Sully! CUT IT OUT!" I forced myself back, slamming my head against the wall roughly in an attempt to shove Sully out of control.
As I slid down to the floor I felt the blood of a fresh wound begin dripping down my face as my head began to pound.
Hoodie cursed quietly under his breath, opening the door that led out to the hallway.
It seemed as if he was calling for someone to come in.
I wouldn't have been surprised, considering how all of this must have looked to them.
My vision blurred again as I looked over towards Jeff who was nervously standing by the doorway, eyeing me down.
Masky quickly entered the room, beckoned in by Hoodie.
The first of the two approached me, kneeling down beside where I was on the floor and bringing a rag up to my head. He held it there firmly, looking me over for any other injuries.
"I'm...fine." I looked away, trying to push the man back.
Masky resisted, continuing to stop the blood flow.
"You seeing things, Liu?" He asked, raising a brow.
Damnit. I really must've seemed insane.
I shook my head no and he stared back at me for several long and uncomfortable seconds.
"Tell me what's going on then. If you're going to be a Proxy you can't keep secrets." He spoke bluntly, his tone lacking any sort of empathy.
I didn't know what to say. I'd never told anybody about Sully and quite honestly, Masky was the last person I trusted. Especially with Jeff in the room, staring me down from the corner.
But I wanted to be a Proxy.
I'd promised that I would do anything it takes and well...lying wasn't getting me anywhere.
I took a deep breath before speaking.
"I have a split personality...he wants to kill Jeff but-but I don't. I don't want to hurt him." I looked up at Masky, my eyes glimmering with the onset of tears.
I'd expected him to toss me back out into those woods or something of the sort. But he just sort of looked at me, tilting his head a bit.
"What's his name?" He asked.
"Uh...S-Sully." I responded quietly, my eyes drifting back to Jeff again.
He was a bit closer than last time, leaning in as if he was gaining a deep investment into this conversation.
"Heh..." Jeff smirked slightly, curiosity in his eyes.
"So, he's like a murderer or some shit?" Jeff took another eager step foreword.
I froze a bit, unsure of how to answer such a question.
"Well...yeah, I guess so." I shrugged awkwardly.
Masky turned to Jeff, giving him a disapproving look.
My brother rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he challenged Masky.
"What!? I can't be curious? My brother's got a murderous side. Who ever side homicide didn't run in the family? Heh!" Jeff laughed, grinning a bit wider.
My head pounded as Sully shoved himself back in control.
"You sick bastard, I'll-." Sully began to hoist himself up before we were abruptly shoved back down by Masky.
"Arrgh, lemme go!" Sully struggled against him.
Masky chuckled softly, motioning for Hoodie to help him hold Sully down.
"Sully? Right?" He hummed, Hoodie joining by his side to help pin us to the floor.
Sully's anger flared as he shouted out incoherent threats.
Meanwhile, Jeff's laughter grew louder.
I sat silent in my mind. Questioning existence.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, I halted Sully's rant for a moment.
I stared foreword emotionlessly, entirely sick of this shit.
"So, you almost done throwing your tantrum Sully? I'm starting to get bored." My voice was emotionless and cold.
"Tch, whatever. Just don't say I didn't warn you." Sully growled, narrowing his eyes towards Jeff before sinking back into our mind once again.
I shook my head with a sigh.
"Sorry..." I apologized in exasperation.
Jeff joined the others in kneeling down beside me.
"Are you kidding!? That was fucking awesome! So you guys can just switch whenever you want? Oh! What about like telepathy? Can you hear each other's thoughts and shit!?" Jeff asked eagerly, his wide eyes piercing through me like his knife had the night of that incident.
I stared back at my brother in exhaustion.
"Yeah..."
Jeff's bright blue eyes shone with admiration.
"You're like...superhuman."
I raised an eyebrow towards him, a small laugh escaping me.
"No. I'm just mentally screwed up." I managed a small smile.
"Hey, aren't we all?" Jeff shrugged, reaching a hand out to help me up.
Hoodie and Masky exchanged glances before letting go of me.
I took Jeff's hand and stood up, my head still aching from all of the hysteria.
"So, you don't hate me?" I asked my brother anxiously.
Jeff gave me a perplexed look.
"Why the hell would I hate you?"
"I thought maybe you'd be upset that I was still...alive in some form or another. That you'd be angry at yourself for not killing me. You wanted to kill me, that night. Didn't you?" I asked hesitantly.
Jeff's expression shifted and his gaze slowly drifted away from mine.
"I...never meant to hurt you, Liu. I didn't know what I was doing. Mom and dad they-...well I guess I felt like they sorta deserved it after all they'd done. But you were different."
I stared back in awe at my brother, watching his gaze slowly meet mine once again.
"You didn't deserve this." He shook his head.
There was a moment of somber stillness between us as I processed his words.
Without thinking, I reached my arms out, jolting foreword and pulling my brother into a close embrace.
He let out a small squeak of surprise as I gripped onto the back of his hoodie.
"It's okay, Jeff. Stop blaming yourself."
He tensed up, slowly bringing his hands up to hug me back.
"There's nobody else to blame, Liu. I'm the one that killed you. I can't do anything to take that back and it fucking destroys me." I felt Jeff's voice crack as he spoke.
"Maybe...but I'm here now. Aren't I?" I smiled softly into the hug.
Jeff nodded, clearly unable to think of a response.
It was understandable.
I knew that what he did was wrong.
I knew that he'd betrayed me in the worst way possible.
But I didn't know how to hate him for it.
Maybe that was why Sully existed. But I couldn't care less. Jeff was my brother, and deep down I knew that would never change.
I'd forgiven him.
I'd always forgive him.
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Thank you guys so much for reading my AU! ~ I hope you enjoyed it. Homicidal Liu is one of my favorite characters and I felt that he really deserved more of a backstory than was given 🖤