Young Writers Society

Jaron shook his head. "It's not haywire magic. They knew what they were doing - it was all intentional. I'm not even sure it was magic? I haven't really seen any magic like that. At least, it hasn't happened to me before." He shrugged. "But, whatever happened, you're all here for a reason. I need to get back control of my mind and my body, and then I'm pretty sure I can get you all out of here."

"But why would someone do something like this?" Robin asked. "Not that I'm trying to argue with you - it just doesn't make all that much sense when I try to think through it. I can't see why someone would want to trap you inside your own head."

"We know one person that can do that," Kendrik said, staring at Robin. "An' it does it 'cause it can take over the body an' do whatever that body can do, or use that body ta take over more people."

Jaron nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of - I thought we got rid of it, but it doesn't look like we did. And it was trying to take over the world the last time we fought it."

The hound shook his head. "Eremia's gonna be pissed," he said, a faint smile tugging at him.

Envy raised an eyebrow.

"It?" they asked.

Biting his lip, Jaron nodded. "We called it The Corruption," he said. "There's a lot of people who know it better than I do, but I can say it was the last survivor of the previous universe who was a little miffed about this one. And it didn't like Eremia all that much."

"I can get that," Kendrik mumbled, looking away.

"She also vaporized it, but it doesn't look like she actually did? Which could be a problem," said Jaron.

Silence fell upon the group.

"...That's worrisome," Greed said.

"I've never heard of anything like that before," Envy added. They shifted in their seat, feeling a chill run up their current form's spine at the thought of something like that. "Are you sure it's the same thing?"

The fox shrugged. "I don't have any reason to believe it isn't it? Even if someone else did this, they'd have to have similar powers, and I don't like the sound of that either."

He took in a deep breath - time for the pitch. "A lot of you don't know me, and most of you who do know me don't exactly trust me, but could you help me get my mind back? I'm, not sure anyone can leave until that happens, so a no probably wouldn't do anyone any good."

The group glanced at each other.

"Of course," Robin said, grinning - she never could ignore helping someone out when they needed it.

"Envy and I'll help, too," Greed offered. "Not sure how much two homunculi can do, but we'll give it our best."

Zogin shrugged, glancing at the four she came with.

"It's not like we have any other choice," she pointed out, crossing her arms. "And we do have a thing for saving people."

Zest shifted in his seat. "...I want to help, too," he said.

With all the people he didn't recognize on his side, Jaron felt a little more confident about the people he did. And, sure enough, Fyrsil nodded his head the moment the fox looked at him. Which was enough motivation for Kellach to nod his head as well.

"Well, we don't have any choice," Arlais said. She didn't sound especially confident, but she gave Jaron a thumbs up.

Tristan, meanwhile, looked between Aegeas and Jaron, biting his lip.

"We can go put him in a bed," Jaron said. When Tristan nodded, Jaron cleared his throat and stared at person after person as he spoke. "Also, keep in mind that I'm kinda waiting on it to show up and realize you all are here, so you can spread out? Mingle? Explore? Do things? I can make weapons and stuff if you need them, or whatever else you like. This is kinda my mind, after all. But yeah, there's just, not much I can do to get everyone out of here until it shows up."

"Mingling sounds good to me," Robin agreed, grinning as she got to her feet. She started to stretch. But then an idea came to her, and she turned her attention back to Jaron. "...So you can make anything you want, right?"


Zest and Mage exchanged a glance.

"Do you want to go look at the lake?" Zest asked.

Mage nodded.

The two of them slipped outside.

Zogin and Soul, meanwhile, lingered in the house. Zogin wanted some more fresh air, but she knew that would bring up the inevitable question of why Soul was so adamant on avoiding the water. She scooted a little closer to him, almost like she was trying to claim him as her own - her shoulder brushed up against what he was hiding underneath the cape on his back, and he stiffened considerably.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay," he whispered back. "I'm just not used to having feeling there."


Greed took this break as an opportunity to do what he wanted to do all along - he pulled his younger sibling outside with him, making sure to keep a wide berth from the two already there as they wandered around the lake.

"How are you doing?" Greed asked.

"...Good."

He raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like it." They fell into a brief silence, but Greed was quick to break it again. "How much do they know?"

Envy's gaze dropped down to the ground. "They saw my stone," they admitted. "And they know that it has multiple souls in it. But they don't know anything else - they think this-" Their form changed to their childhood one, red sparks coming off of the changing body parts in the few seconds it took. "-is my real form."

"Yeah?" Jaron said, standing up. He'd been fortunate enough to push all his tools and equipment against the wall in time for the others to leave, but not fortunate enough to escape having to put his powers to the test. "At least, I'm pretty sure - I was able to make all of this stuff, but I don't know if I have limits? I guess we can find out."

Kellach and Tristan, in the meantime, had started to lift Aegeas off of the couch. Finally letting go of Jaron, Kendrik walked over and joined them. The hound craned his head back to look at Jaron; squinting, the fox imagined a wood-frame bed with white sheets appearing in a room whose entrance was to the left of the fireplace. Jaron then nodded in the direction of the newly-forming door.

"But yeah, if there's anything you want, ask away," Jaron said, looking at Robin while the otters and hound made their way to the door.



Hng - they seemed to have that situation taken care of, and Fyrsil had seen Envy and Greed leaving just a little too quickly.

Fyrsil threw open the front door, running over to the brothers he saw standing by the lake. "Hey, wait up!" he called.



Though Zogin looked just a little defensive of Soul, Arlais didn't see any problem in walking up to them. After all, the whole water conversation had been a tad awkward, so she didn't feel like bringing it up again.

"Want to go outside?" Arlais said. "I'm a little uncomfortable with this house, and the lake looks pretty nice. We can at least walk around, if you'd like?"

"Perfect," Robin said, grinning. Now she didn't have to regret not bringing her fidget cube with her - she could just get Jaron to make a temporary one. "I'm guessing you don't have fidget cubes, so could you make a sheet of paper and something to write with so I can show you what I'm thinking of?"


Envy tensed the moment that Fyrsil joined them, clearly torn between switching back to their William form and keeping their childhood one. Eventually, the urge to change won out, and they returned to the form they had used when they first arrived.

"Hey," Greed said, giving a casual, lazy wave as he swung his arm around his sibling's shoulder.


Soul knew there was no way of avoiding the lake, so he gave a reluctant nod and got to his feet. "A walk sounds nice," he said. His voice wavered, betraying his actual feelings, but Zogin didn't try arguing his decision when she got to her feet.

Oh. Jaron didn't know what a fidget cube was, but that didn't sound like a tough request at all. He reached into one of the piles of tools that had settled against the walls, plucking out a quill pen and a piece of paper. "I already have a few of these lying around," he said, handing the pen and paper to Robin while taking care to make sure the pen didn't jab the paper. "Inspiration and all."



Fyrsil slowed to a halt in front of them, setting his paws on his knees and taking a few deep breaths. He was getting a little tired of running, but at least he (probably) wouldn't have to for a little while.

"Can I walk with you two?" he panted, looking up at them.



Hng - Soul hesitated, and he didn't exactly sound confident.

"Unless you'd like to do something else?" Arlais said. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"Thanks," Robin said. She took the supplies and quickly got to work, drawing up what a fidget cube looked like on all sides. She had a killer memory for stuff like this, and diagrams had always been a piece of cake - it made her job all the more easier, too.

When the drawing was finished, she handed the paper back to Jaron. Everything he could possibly need to make one was on there - what was technically mechanics, the size, the shape and all of the little features.


Greed cast a glance over at his sibling, trying to determine if Envy would be alright with that. When the younger homunculus gave no objections, Greed nodded and gave a simple, "Sure."


Soul frantically shook his head. "No, it's okay," he said. "Walks are good. Fresh air is good. There's fresh air on walks."

Zogin gave him a look.

Jaron couldn't help but smile when Robin handed the paper back to him - he always appreciated someone who knew how to draw things out.

"There's a lot of moving parts," Jaron said, closing his eyes and imagining the device appearing in Robin's hand. He didn't even need to look to see pieces of metal twisting their way out of the piles and sticking together to make the cube. "But they don't seem to do anything? What's it for?"



Nodding, Fyrsil quickly fell into step with the others. "You said something about one of your brothers eating you?" he said, once he felt like enough time had passed for him to bring up the topic without it being too sudden or awkward. He couldn't say it in a way that wasn't sudden or awkward, but he could at least make it more likely he'd get an answer. Though, it'd be fair if they didn't give him one.



Well, that was a sentence. Arlais sighed - she'd have to bring the topic up. "Is this because of the lake?" she said.