[Akik]

I paced to and fro, tail swishing in uncertainty as I walked in the endless black void. I was still in the meeting place with Dayan, who was polishing his katana with a cloth. He looked up at me, pausing his action to stare.

"Akik, I'm as concerned as you are about Blaza," Dayan started. He paused, thinking for a second before correcting, "Actually, I'm probably nowhere near as concerned. But you need a break. We don't need your brain overloading and melting down because of your husband."

I didn't reply. I bit my lip, looking to the ground as my mind kept racing. Thoughts of where he might be, what might be happening to him. And of that strange presence I'd felt back at the cabin, not long after Blaza had first gone missing. That person definitely had something to do with it. It was no coincidence they showed up so soon subsequently.

Dayan's katana disappeared, and he let his hands fall to his sides as he walked towards me. He put his hand on my shoulder when I got close enough. I jumped slightly, not expecting the contact, then relaxed as I saw Dayan's soft, magenta eyes crossed with concern.

"Akik," he said firmly. "Chill. Out. Like I said, melting your brain with your thoughts isn't helping anyone."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I sat cross legged on the ground. Dayan knelt down next to me, a friendly distance away.

"I-I'm sorry," I exhaled, "Maybe I am overreacting."

"No one said you're overreacting. Blaza's missing, and that's not normal, so you have every right to be worried," Dayan encouraged, "Just don't wear yourself out doing it."

"This is why I don't get into relationships."

The voice came so suddenly I cried out in surprise as I jerked, turning fully around as I stood. My wings flared defensively, my eyes meeting the newcomer's.

Meeting my own eyes.

It was me. Me in a demon uniform, with a scar over my eye and an unfriendly smirk.

Other me flicked his tail, the end chipped at the point. "Oh, did I scare you? I'm sorry. Maybe I should..."

He suddenly lunged at me, wrapping strong claws around my throat. Dayan rushed to my aid, but was immobilized by strings of shadow tying him to the ground. White swirled around in the strings, like dark clouds passing to reveal slivers of sunshine behind.

"...Make my presence known?" he finished with a smile.

"Commander," I growled.

I knew him. He was from the antagonist cabin. My alter-ego, basically. He didn't like me, despite my efforts at friendship.

"So you remember me?" Commander lashed his tail as he grinned, "What a pleasure to know that I know myself."

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Oh... I'm here for reasons I'd rather not reveal," Commander said simply, "But let's just say that maybe, just maybe, I'll be reuniting you with your little human lover. But not for long."

Pain struck my skull as he summoned a dark indigo dagger, slamming the grip into the side of my head. I cried out as he let go of me and I crumpled to the ground. Black swarms enveloped my vision as Commander's malicious gaze disappeared from view.

----

[Addie]

I stared at the black, smooth pen in my hands. Like any ordinary pen, except for, as I've heard, it's powers of creation and destruction, depending on how it's used. Prismarine sat cross-legged in front of me.

"So... I just draw something?" I asked, looking up at Prismarine.

The wolf nodded. "Focus on the thing you're drawing in your mind, and then just draw it."

I looked down at the piece of paper Prismarine had given me, a plain white piece like what printers use. I thought back to the first day, when I had randomly scribbled something on my hand. An idea in mind, I quickly drew a circle, then a curved line within the circle to create the yin-yang symbol. Unlike on my hand, it remained visible.

Suddenly, Harm was sitting next to me, startled by the sudden teleportation. He looked around, looked back at where he had originally been sitting, then looked back at me.

"Did you do that?" he asked, puzzled.

I shrugged. "Guess so."

The deity blinked. "Okay. That's new."

"A lot of things are new," I said with a quick sigh.

"Good job," Prismarine cut in, nodding to me after Harm had grown silent. "We can use this."

"What, am I gonna teleport Crescent into here?" I commented with sarcasm. "Don't know if you noticed, but she can obviously travel through whatever this prison is with ease."

"No," Prismarine shook his head. "But if that pen can transport your creations to you... it's entirely possible that it can make those creations exist in the first place. You did create us through your drawings, after all."

"Ohh," I nodded, understanding.

I heard grunting, the sounds of struggle. Both Prismarine and I turned our heads to the source as two characters were thrown into the prison. The captor was the character I knew as Commander, an alternate universe variation of Akik (which I always found kind of funny, seeing that Akik himself was from an alternate universe story). One of the ones he had thrown in immediately sprung up and pounded on the invisible barrier, shouting some swear in Hybrodeic at him. The other didn't stir. Akik. He was unconscious. The angered one was Dayan.

What are they doing here? Was my first thought. The second was OH NO, AKIK'S UNCONSCIOUS-

Blaza looked up from where he was pacing and gasped, immediately rushing over to Dayan and Akik. Dayan gave Commander, who was watching with amused pleasure at his struggles behind the safety of the invisible barrier, a venomous glare before turning away and facing Blaza.

"Well, good to see you're alright," Dayan acknowledged. His gaze flickered to Akik, most likely recognizing Blaza's concern before he could even say anything. "Don't worry, I think he's just unconscious."

Blaza relaxed slightly, but that didn't stop him from kneeling down to his partner's side and making sure he was still breathing.

I stood up from where I sat. Dayan turned his head. "I assume you're the creator everyone says is in our midst lately?"

I scratched the back of my head with a sheepish chuckle. "Hehe... yup, that's me... just don't call me that. What are you guys doing here?"

"They were looking for my alter ego's little human friend," Commander cut in blatantly. "You're welcome. They're reunited. What a happy ending."

"Commander, why are you here?" I said with confusion. "You're not a forgotten OC. I still use you."

Commander scoffed. "Not nearly enough. And even then it's him that gets the attention." He gestured to Akik with a scowl filled with abhor. "You can't make alternates of one character and expect them to be happy with where they stand. Especially me."

Without another word, Commander turned, walking away with an angry, yet formal stride. I wanted to shout at him that technically I didn't even know they were alive, which would show that I didn't know how the characters felt about "where they stood," but Dayan caught me and stopped me.

"Don't," he said, "I just learned you probably shouldn't make him mad."

I relaxed a bit.

I heard a small groan from behind me. Akik was slowly coming back to his senses, holding the side of his head - most likely where he was struck - and looked around in confusion. Blaza immediately threw his arms around the nephalem, who jumped in surprise before finally gaining his bearings and processing that Blaza was right there.

"B-Blaza?!" he said, as if he couldn't believe he was there. He hugged him back, relief flooding his entire demeanor. "Oh my god, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," Blaza replied.

Honestly I felt really uncomfortable. Funny, because I write these scenes all the time and am usually ecstatically smashing the keyboard while doing so. Dayan also showed visible discomfort, but a sense of longing was unmistakable in his eyes. Knowing the reason, I placed my hand on his shoulder, giving him an (attempt at) a comforting gaze. It seemed to work, for he gave me a small smile back.

"Alright, break it up, lovebirds. I'm not watching that," I heard Harm say from out of my vision. Prismarine chuckled a bit at Harm's annoyance.

He was right. I spoke up. "Guys, I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but we do have an actual problem. We'll do reunions later."

Akik glanced at me, then glanced at Blaza before sighing. Akik stood, helping Blaza up as well. They didn't let go of each others' hand, though.

"Thank you," I sighed. I noticed Vi-jay in my peripheral vision, sending a frigid glare at Akik. I made a mental note to keep them separated - I did create them to be rivals, anyway. I turned to Prismarine. "So... now what?"

"Now we should probably act fast," Prismarine said, his light-hearted mood that had lasted merely a few seconds gone. "If Commander's here, Crescent's probably brought more near-forgotten characters to the Between to help her. And she has her way with words - she will get them on her side, if she hasn't already. We can't let her army grow."

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

Prismarine pointed to the pen in my hand. "From what I know, that might be all we need. You can control any character's backstory and personality with it, to an extent. We can distract her so she doesn't fight back with her own powers, and you can do what you need to do."

"Well, if I can control her backstory, can't I just..." I drew my finger across my neck to show what I was implying. Prismarine's expression was anything but supportive of the idea.

"First of all, no wonder Fish hates you," Prismarine said with a sigh, referring to my rabbit-therapist character tasked with helping my mentally traumatized OCs (That does, indeed, hate me). "Second of all, that won't kill her. It just sets a permanent death method for her-"

"And then it'd be easier to kill her because we know how she can be killed," I pointed out. "Problem solved."

"-I wasn't finished," Prismarine grumbled. "And she can rewrite her own death methods any time she wants, anyway, because she also has her own pen. So that would do nothing."

I huffed, annoyed.

"Moving on," Prismarine said. "We need a solid plan as to how we're gonna do this. If we teleport her here, she'll probably know about the pen if it was unknown before, plus I know for a fact that she can walk through these barrier things."

"I could consume her," I heard Gradient chime in, accompanied by a dark chuckle.

"She's a vampire, she doesn't have a soul, Gradient," I sighed (though holding back the urge to laugh at his suggestion).

Gradient frowned, and retreated back to his corner.

"Okay, does anyone have an actual plan?" Prismarine asked the group.

Harm stepped forward. "I think I might."

-

FINALLY TAKE ITTTTT

no I have no idea where I'm going with this-

1812 words