Hiya Edgelings!

Another chapter of the DSAU let's gooooooooo!!!

Also, don't you just love how this ONE-shot book has like... not a single one-shot in it? Lol they pretty much all have multiple parts, like each one could be it's own book, but nah, they're all going into this mashup fic. XD

There's also a new AU around the corner that may or may not involve ParkingLotte... ;)))

I'm very excited for that! Anyways, enjoy this new chapter of my most depressing storyline lol!

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Amelia stretched and yawned as she slid out of bed. She actually managed to sleep for a couple hours in a row last night, which was nice. As she walked out of her room and down the hall, she knocked twice on the linen closet door to let Aaron know that it was morning time. They had worked out a sort of system over the past four days.

She headed over to the kitchen, and debated whether to go ahead and take her pills now or wait until later. She decided to wait, and instead opened a lower cabinet and pulled out a large skillet.

She was in the mood for something warm for breakfast, but what did she want to fix?

Pancakes. That sounded good.

Amelia opened another cabinet and pulled out a box of pancake mix, shaking it to make sure there was enough left in there. There was probably enough for a couple pancakes...

As she proceeded to mix up the batter and heat the skillet by the stove, Aaron slowly made his way out from his hiding place. He stood back and watched her curiously. He enjoyed watching her do day-to-day activities, it made him feel more grounded in reality. It made him feel especially nice when he could help somehow.

Aaron rubbed his drooping eyelids, unused to the early-morning heaviness he felt when he woke up. Sleeping was odd to be sure... but at least he had been having less night terrors lately. He thought it helped being in the small space...

"Oh for the- ugh," Amelia groaned in frustration, eyeing the new bottle of maple syrup sitting on the top shelf of the cabinet, far out of the short candle's reach. Why did she have to be so gosh dang short?!

She stomped over to the dining room table and dragged one of the chairs over to the counter. Aaron's eyes widened as he watched her begin to climb onto it. Oh no...

Amelia yelped as two hands grabbed her below the arms, lifting her up and setting her back on the floor. She looked up at Aaron's terrified face in shock. "What was that for?"

He simply shook his head slowly, reaching up and retrieving the maple syrup with ease, considering he was nearly double Amelia's height. "Y-Y-You... c-c-could've fell down." Aaron stuttered, shivering at the thought, the image of glass shattering playing on repeat through his mind.

He set the bottle on the counter and clutched his head, squinting his eyes shut. He squeezed his head as hard as he could, as though trying to keep it together. A memory flashed through his brain and consumed his thoughts.

He couldn't see the apartment anymore.

He was falling, falling, falling... staring up as the endless blue sky, the empty green Plane stretching out beneath him as he plummeted through the air... A huge wooden pole smashing him from above... its weight crushing him... slowly... S L O W L Y... he couldn't get out... couldn't move... the immense pressure eventually causing his head to shatter...

He pressed harder on the sides of his head, desperately trying to keep himself from falling apart, his eyes flew wide open, but he still could only see the waking nightmare as it drowned out everything else. He fell to his knees on the cold tile floor, trembling.

"Aaron? Aaron! AARON!" Amelia panicked, rushing over to him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.

But to Aaron her voice sounded like... HIM... taunting him in his torment... "Airy! Airy! Airy! Isn't this FUN Airy?!" HIS laughter echoed through Aaron's head... Amelia's shaking caused him to tremble further... His breathing came in quick, shallow gasps, causing him to become lightheaded... His vision of the Plane began to fade into darkness... He felt weak...

Amelia barely caught the lantern as he fell limp, unconscious.

"Oh gosh..." She murmured to herself, gently lowering him onto the floor so that he didn't break anything. She hadn't seen a breakdown from him in two days. He had been doing better... he even began to seem half normal... but this spell might just be one of the worst she's ever seen from him. He's never just... fainted before.

What triggered it? She hadn't done anything... I mean... other than try to get a bottle of maple syrup. But surely that didn't cause all this...

"Shoot." She exclaimed, suddenly remembering the pancake still cooking in the skillet. She turned away from Aaron and quickly flipped the pancake.

She wasn't strong enough to drag the metal lantern over to the couch, much less lift him up onto it. So she settled for grabbing one of the pillows off the couch to prop up Aaron's head, and then just leaving him on the floor until he woke up.

Thankfully it wasn't too long.

By the time the pancakes were finished and Amelia had set the plates on the table, Aaron's eyes began to flutter open. He laid still and stared upward, taking a while to comprehend his surroundings. But the white ceiling blocking his view of the sky above gave him comfort. He sighed in relief... it wasn't real...

"Oh um..." Amelia startled, hearing him sigh, "Are... are you good?"

Aaron slowly sat up, "Yeah... I... I'll be fine... maybe..."

Amelia eyed him with concern, "Are you sure? Do... do you want to talk about it?"

"No." he said decisively.

Amelia smiled sadly, understanding his hesitancy to talk about the past. More than she would like to admit, actually, "Well, you should at least come eat."

"I'm... not hungry..." Aaron said, staring at the floor. His typical response. Honestly Amelia wasn't even sure why she fixed food for him anymore.

"You really should eat, even if you don't feel like it. It might help." she encouraged, sitting down at her own seat at the table.

"I... I don't... have to eat..." Aaron rambled, thinking back to his many years tinkering with the computer. "but... I've seen... other beings... who do have... to eat..."

"Other beings?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Yeah... from other universes... I've seen them in person... and also through cameras... on... on my computer..." Aaron explained. This was easier to talk about than... THAT...

Amelia stared at him, baffled once again. She didn't know why it surprised her honestly, she barely knew anything about this guy. But it was just odd to her that such a deadpan, seemingly dense person could possibly be capable of hacking cameras in multiple different dimensions...

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she simply patted the chair beside her. "Just come try it ok?"

Aaron stared at her blankly, hesitating before pushing himself to his feet with a grunt. He slid onto the chair and stared at the steaming food on his plate, unsure how to proceed from here. He cautiously reached out and grabbed the pancake... "Ow!" he yelped and jerked back, as the hot food mildly burned his hand.

"Oh, um... use those..." Amelia pointed to the fork and butter knife laying beside the plate.

Aaron stared at the silver utensils in confusion, slowly picking up the fork, turning over curiously, feeling the cold metal.

He watched it as though expecting it to do something. He tapped it on the table top, but of course, it didn't do anything, "I... think mine's... broken..."

"How do you know how to use a broom but you can figure out how a fork works...?" Amelia muttered under her breath as she watched his painful awkwardness. Then continued in a tone loud enough for him to hear, "Look, you just..." She demonstrated stabbing her pancake with the fork and using the knife to cut off a piece. She didn't realize she would have to teach a grown man how to use silverware...

"Oh... ok..." Aaron nodded, watching her demonstration intently. He attempted to copy her actions, rather clumsily. He eventually managed to get a bite on his fork and bring it to his mouth. He chewed rather timidly, and seemed to have difficulty swallowing. "I... am full now..." He announced, pushing the plate away.

"You didn't eat much," Amelia mentioned, eyeing the single bite taken out of the pancake. She had almost finished eating at this point.

"I'm... not hungry..." Aaron said as he stood up from his chair, "Can... I have the book... again?"

Amelia finished up the last bite of her pancake, and carried her plate over to the sink. "Sure."

She went and grabbed the guide book off the small shelf in her bedroom, as well as a few sheets of origami paper. She had heard it was a good de-stressing method, so she bought the materials, but had never really gotten into it. She suggested that Aaron try it a couple days ago to give him something to do besides constantly clean her apartment. He seemed to enjoy it so far...

Aaron was washing the dishes when she walked back into the kitchen, honestly it was kind of nice having someone always cleaning up for her. "Here." She held out the supplies for him.

He dried his hands off with a kitchen towel after he set the last plate back into the cabinet. He took the paper from her with a small grin, "...thanks..."

Amelia watched as he settled down onto the living room floor, flipping the origami guide book open to a page he had dog-earred. A small smile grew on her face. After spending four days with him, she began to accept that this lantern truly wasn't the apathetic psychopath she had always thought him to be.

He had done terrible things, things that she would probably never forgive, but the truth was Aaron himself wasn't evil. He was broken on the inside, just like Amelia herself was.

Maybe it was the tears they had shared late at night, when he was trembling, muttering about the ground shaking, and she would be sobbing from the misery of sleeplessness. For some reason, having someone - even someone she used to hate - just to cry with... was comforting.

She had hope that maybe Aaron could recover, and live a normal life... and maybe she could too...

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The bell above the door dinged as Amelia and Aaron entered the yoga studio. Chaya, per usual, looked up from her computer behind the front desk and greeted them cheerfully, "Good afternoon, Amelia and Aaron! How are you?"

"Good, how about you Chaya?" Amelia smiled. It was always refreshing to talk to the optimistic tea cup.

"Good, good! How are you liking the classes, Aaron? Amelia is a good teacher, is she not?" The Russian receptionist questioned, smiling brightly

"Yes... she is..." Aaron grinned, though inside he felt uncomfortable, as he always did talking to objects he didn't really know.

"Oh! I still need to pay for those..." Amelia exclaimed, digging through her bag to retrieve her card.

"No problem dear. You don't need to pay." Chaya waved her off as she held out the card.

"But he is taking classes here, so I need to pay for them," Amelia insisted.

"No... he comes with you. Not necessary." Chaya assured her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes dear."

"Thank you."

"No problem dear!"

"Come on, Aaron. Let's go get set up." Amelia announced, giving Chaya one last grateful nod before heading off down the hall, Aaron tailing close behind her.

"You... are good at talking..." Aaron said randomly as Amelia stepped into her room.

"Oh um, thank you?" she answered questioningly.

"I'm... not..." Aaron stated matter of factly, blankly staring off into space. He thought about how all the other objects that came to her class always chatted happily with each other. Even if they had never met before, they still seemed so... comfortable... around each other. Every day Aaron came here, the more he noticed just how different he was, and each day he felt less comfortable doing yoga in here with them.

"I'm sure you'll get better," Amelia assured him off-handedly as she unrolled her own mat.

The sound of footsteps and chattering gradually built up in the hall outside. Aaron walked over to the large window looking out into the hall, and watched as a group of objects talked and laughed with each other.

Their tones, their hand gestures, their facial expressions... it all looked so foreign to Aaron. And the more he watched the more he felt his gut twist up inside. He hated the thought of being alone with a passion, yet he just... couldn't be around these other people.

He wasn't normal enough.

Just as Amelia was about to open the door to let the students in, Aaron tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and raised her eyebrow questioningly, "Yeah?"

"Can I... sit outside... this time...?" Aaron asked, his face blank and his voice dull, not revealing any of his inner turmoil.

"Uh, sure." Amelia shrugged.

Aaron slipped out of the room before the yoga class began pouring in. He eyed the now empty hallway he was left standing in. All he could see on either side were more classrooms with huge glass windows. He wished he could find an unoccupied room to stay in, just until Amelia was done. Preferably, a small, dark room...

Suddenly a thought struck Aaron like lightning.

If he went and hid in a different room...

...what if Amelia forgot about him...

...and left him here alone...

...alone again...

...then... then... HE might... m-m-might...

His breath quickened as panic set in. He desperately wanted to go back into the classroom, just so he didn't have to be alone. But he was terrified of the others who were in there. He had to. He couldn't. But he needed to.

His hand trembled as it hovered over the doorknob, painfully indecisive.

"Блин!" A familiar voice exclaimed from the direction of the lobby, the sudden noise causing Aaron to jump in his unstable state.

Against his better judgment, he slowly made his way down the hall towards the shout. Curiosity getting the better of him. He had never heard Chaya sound angry before...

He peeked around the corner and saw the tea cup kneeling down below the desk, messing with the computer cords. She was murmuring to herself in those strange words, obviously very frustrated despite the fact Aaron had no idea what she was saying.

He slowly walked over, his feet silent on the smooth white tile floor. "What... are you... doing...?" he asked quietly, his voice almost a whisper. He suppressed the tremor that wanted to shake his words, attempting to sound calm and... normal...

He wasn't normal...

"Oh!" Chaya yelped, startled by the sudden appearance of the lantern. "I didn't see you there, Aaron. You see, I had just finished filing much paperwork on the computer, and then it um... shook and stopped working... I fear it got rid of my work."

"Hm..." Aaron hummed... computer...

"I just tried pulling the plug out, and putting the plug back in, but it's still shaking!" She tsked in aggravation, pointing to the glitching screen.

Without another word, Aaron slid past the distressed china tea cup, and sat down at her chair, staring at the flashing computer screen in concentration. "Hm..." he hummed again.

"I hate to lose all my work." Chaya sighed, "I have been working for many days, and it is almost time for taxes."

Aaron didn't hear her. He had zoned out, his normally slow mind firing up and working at an unusually fast pace. He... he knew how computers worked... He slid the black mouse across the sanded grain of the dark walnut desktop, watching for any sort of reaction on the screen. No icon appeared, only more glitching. The screen seemed to be stuck on the homepage...

Aaron began pressing various keys on the keyboard, watching intently for a reaction. The familiarity of sitting in front of a monitor just like this came flooding back to him, and his muscle memory kicked in. His fingers moved at lightning speed. Chaya's eyes widened, barely able to keep up with his movements.

"Uh, maybe we should call the company? No offense, but I don't want you to break it..." Chaya suggested, uncertain of Aaron using her computer without her permission.

But once again, Aaron didn't hear her, he was too engrossed in his own thoughts... It could be... no... it was probably...

"Aaron? Aaron?" Chaya tried to get his attention, realizing she was being ignored.

He paid no mind. He reached over and grabbed a pencil off a stack of papers on the desk. He brought the lead point to his mouth and carefully bit off a chunk of it, eyeing the screw heads on the large old monitor box as he did so. He spit the chip out into the small white plastic trash bin sitting by the chair.

"What are you doing?" Chaya asked bewildered.

Aaron took the bitten point of the pencil and began unscrewing the side plate of the monitor. He pulled the gray plastic sheet off, revealing the wires and gears inside. He reached in with deft hands and began feeling around, squinting as he tried to make out the dark crevices of the machine. He reached behind himself and turned his knob, a small flame igniting inside his head.

Now he could see everything inside the monitor. He continued fiddling with the mechanisms, fascination sparkling in his eyes as he discovered how each one worked.

"Um, could you please stop?" Chaya asked with a hint of annoyance in her usually cheerful voice, slightly offended by the fact she was being straight up ignored.

Suddenly a click sounded from within the monitor box, and Aaron pulled his hands out, a faint satisfied smile on his face. The screen went from glitching to completely black. A dismayed look flashed on Chaya's face, "Aeee! You broke it."

Oblivious to her presence, he sat back down in Chaya's desk chair, and began typing at a rate faster than most could dream of achieving. He could probably beat a world record with that typing speed...

White text appeared on the black screen faster than Chaya could read, so she just stared in confusion at the long strings of jumbled numbers and letters and symbols, none of it making any sense to her. It went on and on, filling the screen and then some, scrolling down and continuing seemingly endlessly. Finally, Aaron tapped the 'enter' key, and the computer began rebooting, the fans in the monitor box whirling to life.

The code disappeared, replaced by the loading screen. Eventually the lock screen reappeared, and Aaron double tapped the passcode box, and began typing more code, hacking his way into the computer with frightening ease. The homepage reloaded, a picture of Chaya and a croissant sitting in a cafe together as the background. Everything appeared to be normal, not a glitch in sight.

Chaya was left open-mouthed in surprise, "How...?"

Aaron was still in a trance, smiling at the computer screen, a sense of familiarity making him feel comfortable. Here he didn't have to worry about being normal. It was just him and the computer screen. No one could hurt him here.

And then, through his reflection in the computer screen, he saw the fire in his head.

His smile disappeared in an instant, his trance snapped. The comfortable warmth inside him abruptly increased into a blazing inferno melting his face from the inside out. Suddenly all he could smell was smoke, all he could see was fire. He began hyperventilating, feeling fire drip down into his fuel reservoir.

No, no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!!

Not again.

He felt the pressure building up inside him, straining on his insides. The smell of gas fumes filled his nostrils. Tears welled up in his eyes as the fumes burned them and the pain from inside increased by the second. He couldn't take it anymore!

He coughed on the thick smoke pouring out of him, deranged laughter filling his ears, louder than thunder, making him quiver and shake. The pressure continued building up, inescapably pushing outward, mercilessly stretching his metal beyond anything it would or could endure, he couldn't take much more... he was going to...

A sudden cool touch on his shoulder made him jolt, the red hot searing fire in his vision clearing up just long enough for him to catch a glimpse of the computer screen in front of him. His quick, shallow breaths slowed down slightly. It wasn't real... It wasn't real... Gosh it felt so real...

"Aaron! You fixed it! Thank you dear!" Chaya was exclaiming, not noticing Aaron's millisecond panic attack.

Aaron blinked, fixing his now blank gaze on the white tea cup as he shakily reached behind himself and turned off his flame. He slowly stood up from the chair, desperately trying to prevent himself from trembling and slipping and falling. He tried to take deep breaths, but it felt like something was pressing down on his chest, forcing him to breath in shallow gasps.

Thankfully Chaya was too absorbed in the miracle of her working computer to notice too much. She slid onto the seat and checked the website she had been working on, "Yes! It saved my work!" she exclaimed in joy. "Thank you very much Aaron!"

"You're... welcome..." Aaron choked on his words, struggling to sound calm, flames still licking at the corners of his vision, searing heat still burning him from within. Without another word he headed towards the bathroom on the other side of the lobby.

He stumbled into one of the stalls, leaning heavily on the wall for support. A single tear trickled down his glass face, but it certainly wasn't the last. One after another fell like rain, forming a small puddle on the cold floor beneath him.

He squinted his eyes shut, finding slight amounts of comfort in the darkness beneath his eyelids, as well as the familiar smell of sterile cleaner that permeated the men's bathroom. He could almost imagine he was hiding in that small closet...

He thought of the computer, of the comfort he felt sitting at that desk. Nostalgia hit him like a tsunami. He couldn't remember his previous life on Earth, but his years in the Place, working on that computer were clear as day. ONE had been his sole purpose in existence. His pride and joy. And now the sorrow of its loss hit him harder than ever before.

Airy was a host. He was a creator. He was a survivor in an empty world.

But...

He wasn't Airy anymore. He was Aaron now.

...but who's Aaron?

He didn't know...

He slowly sank to his knees, sobbing into his hands. He thought of the background picture on Chaya's computer, of the students who came to Amelia's class. The more time he spent around other people, who's lives seemed so full of purpose and friends. The more he realized just how empty he was. They knew who they were. They knew where they came from.

But Aaron didn't...

Aaron had nothing. No past. No connections. No purpose. Who was he?

Time became meaningless. He sobbed, alone in that bathroom stall, until he had no more tears left to cry.

He felt that familiar numbness coming back, invading his buzzing mind. And he welcomed it. He welcomed the thoughtless blankness. It was so much easier than thinking, than feeling. So he let it take over. He let his eyes glaze over and his brain go numb. He was used to it after so many years.

With dull, mechanical movements, he stepped out of the stall and walked back out into the high-ceilinged, white-painted lobby. The lantern barely registered as a wave of objects passed in front of him, leaving their yoga class feeling refreshed. Maybe Aaron would join Amelia's next class... yoga helped him not think...

But he really didn't want to be around anyone...

They forced him to remember he wasn't like them...

Why couldn't he be normal?

Amelia walked around the corner, a bright smile on her face as she swung her bag over her shoulder. "You ready to go Aaron?" She asked.

Aaron's brows furrowed. Didn't she teach two classes? And each was almost an hour long... Had he really been in the bathroom that long? Oh well... it didn't really matter...

"...Yeah..." he slowly answered, his monotone voice masking any distress he had been feeling.

"Amelia!" Chaya exclaimed from behind the candle, excitedly waving her over. Amelia raised an eyebrow curiously as she walked over to the bubbly tea cup.

"Yeah?"

"Look at this!" Chaya grinned, motioning to her computer, "Remember I was having trouble with it loading for long time? Well it broke about an hour ago. I was going to throw it away, but Aaron fixed it! Now it works much good than it did when I got it! Is that his job?"

"Oh," Amelia said, blinking several times trying to process everything she was saying, some of her words hard to understand due to her accent. She was honestly quite shocked, though it did make sense that Aaron could fix computers... "Um, no, but he has worked with computers before."

"He is very good!" Chaya complimented. Aaron simply stood off to the side, fiddling with his hands, not really comprehending her words.

"Well, he is looking for a job right now..." Amelia said, having a sudden revelation. Maybe she could find someone to hire him. A job was the first step in starting an independent life after all... "Maybe he can look into something like that."

"Yes! He should!" Chaya agreed enthusiastically.

"Well, see you tomorrow. Have a good day, Chaya." Amelia concluded, beginning to make her way towards the door, Aaron following closely behind her, staring at the ground as he prepared himself mentally to step out into the open.

"You as well, dears!" Chaya waved her partings.

As Amelia pulled her car out of the parking lot, the normal playlist starting up, she yawned. As much as she loved her job, it was exhausting. She couldn't wait to go home and collapse on the couch, maybe take a nap if her brain would cooperate. She was proud that she had been taking less medication to keep herself awake, but it sure did make working much harder. But hopefully she could get her sleep schedule back on track eventually...

"So what do you think of getting a job Aaron?" Amelia proposed as she eased into a stop at a redlight.

Aaron, who had been mouthing the words to the current song, thought about it for a moment. "No..." he stated dully.

Amelia's brows furrowed in confusion, "Why not?"

"I... I'm... I'm not... not normal..." Aaron stuttered, his voice remaining monotone despite a growing lump in his throat.

Amelia blinked rapidly, unsure of how to respond to that. A flashback played through her head. Of her and Bryce together in a homeless shelter, it was nighttime, and pouring the rain. Her tears joined the noise of the downpour that night, as she came to the realization that she could never have her life back.

She remembered thinking to herself that she could never have a normal life again. But Bryce had always been there for her. Encouraging her that, sure, she couldn't have her old life back, but she could still have a life.

And so, together, they had worked to get new jobs, new places to live, but it wasn't easy. She remembered just how often she felt hopeless... maybe Aaron was feeling that now...

"You... You don't have to be normal... or anything else really. You just have to... try I guess..." Amelia tried to put her thoughts into words.

Aaron stared at her for a moment, his expression unreadable.

"Will you just... try?" Amelia asked hopefully.

Aaron was silent. He turned to stare out the windshield, watching the buildings and trees passing by. No words were exchanged for a solid five minutes.

Finally, he released a shaky sigh, "...I'll... try..."

A faint smile lit up Amelia's face, "Good. I'll start looking for jobs online when we get home. It might take a while."

Aaron's blank, glossed over expression didn't change, and he remained silent the rest of the way to her apartment. Allowing the music from the speakers and the numbness in his brain to take away any emotions he could be feeling.

Sometimes it was just better to feel nothing at all.

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So Aaron's having a rough day to say the least... this chapter really could've been titled "Airy has an identity crisis".

Well, a few more chapters ought to cure that, am I right? Wow... this really is a slow burn storyline isn't it? I do have something pretty exciting planned for the next installment though, so you can have that to look forward to!

I've also been working on a new art style and some character sheets that I am very excited to show you guys!! Hopefully I'll be able to post them by the end of this week...

Also, I kinda want to post some of my art on a website that is specifically for art. I don't really know much about those kinds of sites tho... should I use Tumblr or Deviantart or maybe Twitter??? I draw in colored pencil most of the time if that makes any difference... Could you please just leave me some suggestions? I'm kinda clueless lol.

Edgy out!