Extras

1

Jonah stared at the stone, empty. It had randomly appeared yesterday, right behind the house he was staying in. He had woken up to look out the window, and find a gray stone outside.

He read the text.

*"Adam Murray, 1991-2009"*

2009? Was it still 2009? It felt like months had passed, years. He had completely lost track of time-- was it 2009? 2010? Had Adam really died when he left? If he had, how?

A flower seemed to be growing, a red flower. It looked.. interesting.

*If Adam were here, he'd tell me all about what kind of flower it is.. ramble on and on.*

No. He couldn't just assume that he was dead. For all he knew, it could just be some sick trick that something was playing on him.

////

He picked the flower. Jonah felt it was better to leave it there, but he had done some research in a book at the flower shop. Apparently they were poisonous and symbolized death. He was tired of Edbury, so why not? The flower looked pretty too. Perhaps he could live to put it in a vase or something.

2

Cesar frowned, staring at K, who was laughing, making fun of Mark's last moments. "Shut up," mumbled Cesar.

K paused, smile still on his face. "Hm?"

Cesar was silent. "Oh, wait, let me guess! You *regret* killing him?"

"..."

K grinned. "Oh, and after you charged at him ever so *willingly*."

"Look, I wasn't myself then, okay?"

"Then who were you? Me? Pfft."

Cesar looked away. "Shut up."

K tilted it's head. "Why the change in attitude?"

"Says you. You sound like-- I don't know, not K."

K finally frowned. "Mhm."

Cesar turned. "Huh? K, what the fuck? Why are you all of a sudden silent?"

It smiled. "Don't worry about it, Ces."

"Ces?"

3

K's smile faded slowly with the atmosphere, the world turning from the dark void of Cesar's mind to the green chirping of the forest. A tear fell down his face, as he wiped it away, and stood up.

K sighed as his form changed from a vague, black, goopy figure to a human, bloody, standing corpse. Mark looked back at the body of his friend, which was bleeding out on a log. Mark's frown turned into a slight smile. "I wish I could join you, Cesar. But I still have to face him."

He walked out the forest, watching the world crumble under his wrath. It was what almost everyone imagined as the fiery pits of hell.

/>/

Mark turned, his setting familiar, to the moment he had died. He spotted a ravenette in the distance, and smiled. "Cesar."

Cesar turned, shock on his face. "Mark?"

Mark closed his eyes and nodded, as he heard Cesar run over before he was pushed into a hug. "Oh my goodness, Mark! Mark, where have you been? I've been looking for you ever since you died an-"

Mark froze. "Ever since I died?"

Cesar sighed. "Y-yeah. Uh- I guess you've figured it out by now, ha.."

Mark backed away, face neutral. "Where is he?"

He pointed at a crouched over figure in the distance, as Mark slowly stepped towards them.

The person heard his footsteps, and turned, before their eyes widened. "M-mark?"

Mark gave a small smile. "In the flesh."

"Mark- I- I- I'm so sorry, I-"

Mark wrapped Cesar in a hug, cutting him off. "I understand, Ces."

Cesar's eyes widened again. "Ce- wait."

Mark grinned, "Yeah. Can't believe I'm here after murdering you knucklehead."

"Wh- How? When?"

His grin turned into a soft smile. "After you killed me. Figured I'd do some soul-shit myself as well. Join in on the fun."

"Then- what happened to K?"

"K? Died, perhaps? No, he probably merged with R or someone."

Tears filled Cesar's eyes. "This-- this entire time, you-"

////

4

Mark touched Cesar's shoulder, pulling away immediately as Cesar quietly hissed in pain and turned around, looking angry, before calming at the sight of Mark, but just slightly. Mark frowned. "Is there something wrong with your shoulder, Ces?"

Cesar's eyes widened. "Uh- no. No, it's fine. Don't- don't worry."

Mark walked up to Cesar, as he back away, clearly nervous about something. "What's wrong, Cesar?"

"Nothing, I already told you!"

He frowned. "Look, I told you before, and I will tell you this again. I know you. Therefore, I know when you're lying. So I know you're lying right now."

Cesar sighed. "Fine. Fine," Cesar finally gave in, unbuttoning and taking off his suit, and bringing down his collar to show his shoulder. "Happy?"

On his shoulder was a large gash, blood still fresh, and the sides covered with smaller scratches. Mark's eyes widened. "Wh- Cesar? Where.. where did that come from?"

He looked away. "You."

"Me?"

"Uhm.. when you replaced R, you know, uh- you left a part of you up, uh, here. Like I did. Turns out it's not manual, I guess. So, uh- when I died and you did something, I met.. uh, you. The you left behind. And, uh- needless to say, he wasn't happy with me killing him."

"But the blood is still fresh?"

"Uh.. he, uh- decided to get me to go into that void of his, and- ..uhm.. hit? Torture? me every day, I guess. It's like dying, I guess."

Mark was silent.

///note: as a hyperromantic, i have no idea what the difference between platonic and romantic gestures. so i stopped there. i dont want to accidentally ship marksar

♟️
--

Ruth sighed, scribbling nonsense on her lined paper. Nothing was happening. She remembered how she used to stress about so many cases for- something, she couldn't remember. It.. was weird. She couldn't remember much. Ruth had told Thatcher and asked him for advice, as he was employee of the month, but.. he always shook it off, as some effect of old age. Maybe. She didn't know. Maybe? I mean, he was slightly older than her, but not by much. And, hey, *he* always beat everyone else in memory games! Because everyone else they played with was older! Except for Ruth! And she was always *so bad!*

*Aghh! Thinking about this just makes me want to rip my hair out!*

She scribbled harshly, hearing her led break. *Shit.*

Ruth laid back in her chair, sighing. She didn't feel like doing anything now. Not that she couldn't, really. She sucked at origami.

She heard footsteps walking towards her, and looked up. Thatcher. "Hey, Ruth. What happened to your paper?"

She glanced at the paper laid flat in the middle of her desk, covered with dark led scribbles. Ruth looked at her hand. Covered with led. "Ooh, ouch, that's gonna be a pain to get off," spoke Thatcher.

"Yeah, yeah. What do you want, Davis? It's not like you to come over here, since your desk is allllllllllllll--" she pointed, moving her arm across while continuing, "--lllllllllllllll the way over here."

Thatcher sighed. "Okay, Okay, you got me. I just was told you were scratching your paper *so* loudly and it was distracting other people."

"Aw, fuck, sorry," responded Ruth, laughing a bit.

//////

5

K shook his head, looking around in the dark void. "..Torres?"

"Torres?" echoed a voice.

K looked around. "Is there an echo in a voice changer?"

"No, it's just someone here."

It looked behind him, finding another figure. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my mind?" spoke the figure with the voice that had echoed him earlier.

"K. I don't know how I got here."

/////////////////////////////////////////////

6

Cesar sat by the grave, watching the flowers he had put sway in the wind. He thought about what had happened. Everything. He couldn't help it-- how could he not? He was literally sitting right next to Mark's grave, and Mark was basically the reason the entire thing went down. He wasn't directly related, but-

Sigh. He was overthinking it.

"It's been years, Mark. I miss you.

Hey, wait, a week ago, it was my birthday. That's cool, right, Mark? I wonder what you would've gotten me...

...

I turned 33 a week ago. Can't believe I'm that old, already. The time I'd been stuck in my house, doing nothing but thinking of what to tell you, what to ask.. that felt like a year. Honestly, I just stopped counting the days, so it was like a year or so. Can't believe when it started, I was 18, and now I'm 33.

And you're still 18."

Tears prickled the dirt.

/////

7

"Adam, is that you out there?"

Adam shook his head, snapping back into reality. He looked around. A forest. What was he doing here?

He heard someone run up to him from behind, turning around. Evelin. "Hey, Adam, thought I heard your voice. What 'cha doing?"

Adam was quiet. "Uhm.. I-"

"Oh, nevermind that. Quick, come with me," interrupted Evelin, taking Adam's hand and dragging him along with her.

/>/

Adam awkwardly looked out the window, watching trees come to and fro from left to right as they drove, silence filling the van. "So? What were you doing out there?" she asked.

"Uhm.. I, uh, don't know, haha."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Well, uh- It was like I woke up when you called me, y'know?" Adam wasn't sure those were his words coming out of his mouth. He never knew he trusted Evelin that well. He guessed Evelin was the most trustworthy person he knew. But still, Adam didn't know he could open up like that.

//////

8

Cesar sighed. Again?

</>

Mark grinned, turning his head to look at Cesar, who had just opened the door. Cesar's eyes widened, and he dug in his pockets for his knives as Mark rose. "I knew you'd come to it, Ces!"

"S-shut up," responded Cesar, backing up. Mark walked over as Cesar continued, throwing his knives one by one, Mark changing shape to dodge.

"Gee, Cesar. You're so persistent. Opened to door so nicely for me, and try to kill me? Me? Your *best friend?*"

"You're not Mark. You are not my friend," Cesar said with confidence, still backing away slowly.

Mark stopped, frowning. "Awh, that's so sad. *Denial.* Of course I'm Mark, Cesar! Why wouldn't I be?"

/>/

"MARK- MARK, PLEASE, STO-"

Bang.

Mark grinned as Cesar's head fell to the side, blood spilling out of the wound. The blood looked so *smooth*. Mark reached out to touch it, and the blood seemed to melt into his skin. It was beautiful.

*Blood.*

Mark was suddenly overwhelmed with a sudden urge to find more. He wanted more. He didn't even know of what, just more.

So he ripped out Cesar's eyes.

Blood spilled out, dripping onto his hand. Mark's grin widened.

Mark continued to destroy Cesar's face. Pieces of skin, flesh and blood pooled on the floor.

Soon enough, he had reached his skull.

Mark looked at the gunshot wound and smiled, ripping it open.

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