Chapter Text
Thomas staggered over to the bar.
He wasn’t sure where Newt had gone. Or Brenda. Everything was spinning, colours and sounds blurring together.
Hell, he wished he could think clearly.
“You don’t look very well.”
At the bar, a young man in a patched leather jacket and a pair of aviators on his head seemed to be holding down the fort, carefully measuring the ingredients for a cocktail.
“Here,” he said, pouring some of the drink into a shot glass. “Drink this.”
Thomas eyed it nervously.
“You’re new here?” the barman asked. “Just trust me.”
After a moment, Thomas took a tentative sip. Immediately, his head started to clear, and he eagerly downed the rest of the glass.
The barman raised his eyebrows as Thomas gasped in relief. “Better?”
Thomas nodded, shaking the last of the invisible cotton wool from his ears. It was as if he could feel an internal health bar refilling. “Yeah. Yeah! Thanks, man.”
A smile. “Don’t mention it.”
The barman poured the rest of the drink into a vial, scribbled a label on it, and stored it on the shelf behind him.
“You gotta be careful in these parts,” he said. “Don’t trust anything the folks here try to give you.”
Thomas sniggered. “And you’re a barman just trying to stay in business.”
“It’s your health.” A shrug. “You don’t know what they’re bringing in off of these streets -”
“Where’s my drink?!” another patron growled.
An eye roll. “Coming right up.”
The barman turned away, and for a moment Thomas had to marvel at the programming of the NPCs - until he saw a bottle on the shelf light up with a soft golden glow.
Checking that the barman was still distracted, Thomas snuck around the counter to have a closer look.
ANTIDOTE, the bottle read.
Nigel’s full rhyme suddenly slammed through Thomas’s mind.
All is not as it seems, so pick your poison;
But fail to choose wisely, and -
“Learn Marcus’s lesson,” Thomas whispered.
His eyes widening, he seized the vial and vaulted over the bar. “DON’T TOUCH ANY DRINKS!”
“Hey!” the man behind the bar shouted.
“I’ll bring it back!” he yelled over his shoulder, frantically weaving through the partygoers. “Brenda! NEWT! Stay—gaaah!”
As he nimbly dodged around the other characters, he failed to see the fountain ledge in front of him, tripping and falling into the shimmering green waters.
“Thomas!”
Bravestone suddenly appeared out of the darkness.
“Unbelievable!” she shouted over the noise. “I’ve been looking for you idiots! The barman even gave me a free drink while I was asking him -”
“That’s where I just was!” Thomas exclaimed. “Have you seen Newt?”
“No!”
Brenda reached out, and Thomas quickly grasped her forearm, letting Bravestone pull Ming upright and out of the pool.
“Thanks, Bren,” Thomas said, starting to pull away. “I - huh?”
Crackles of green lightning suddenly danced between their joined limbs.
Brenda’s eyes widened. “What -?!”
Without warning, both of them were thrown backwards by a blast of energy, crashing painfully to the floor. Partygoers shrieked with laughter around them.
Thomas groaned, coughing as he staggered to his feet, shaking his head clear. “Ugh …”
Several things quickly became clear.
Firstly, his voice had instantly deepened.
Secondly, he suddenly towered over the other characters, his head nearly hitting the ceiling.
And that wasn’t all.
Thomas was now looking down on a drenched Ming’s extremely confused face.
“Oh, no,” he muttered.
“Thomas?” Brenda squeaked. “What just happened?!”
“I - we - we swapped characters!” Thomas finally got out.
“Yeah, I got that, dumbass. How the hell is that possible?!”
“I don’t know; it’s never happened before!”
“I only just got used to Bravestone!” Brenda complained. She started patting herself down, grabbing at the pouches attached to Ming’s belt. “What the hell, what the hell -”
As he stared at his muscular arms, and ran a hand over his now bald head, it suddenly hit Thomas.
He was Bravestone again.
It felt like coming home to a part of himself, reminding him of the strength, the courage that the character had brought into his life, showing him that he was just as capable of even the most ordinary acts of bravery.
His eyes unexpectedly burned, an odd sense of nostalgia tugging at his heart.
But his time as Bravestone had passed. He knew that. The torch had now been passed to someone else.
If the game was as sentient as they believed, maybe this time their avatars had been designated with the sole purpose of teaching them something new. Perhaps he had learned all he could from Bravestone, and now he had to find out what personal strengths Ming could bring out in himself.
Sighing heavily, Thomas looked back at Brenda. “Maybe we’ll … stand in the fountain again,” he began cautiously. “Try to make it happen a second time.”
“But -” Brenda stared at him like he’d grown two heads. “I thought you’d want to stay as Bravestone. Weren’t you always him?”
“Yeah, but we can’t have you trying to get used to a new character right before the boss battle,” Thomas reasoned even as regret pinched his stomach. “Come on, you step in the water, since Ming’s already -”
A sudden, familiar scream erupted from somewhere in the room, strangled and frantic, and a weight dropped in Thomas’s stomach. “Newt!” he yelled, charging through the crowd without a second thought. “NEWT!”
On the other side of the space, a rusting maintenance door burst open and Gally and Minho stumbled forward into the room.
“One of your better shortcuts,” Minho admitted. “I -”
They both stopped, staring at the eerie party scene before them, the floor thundering with the music bass.
“What the hell is this place?” Gally muttered.
Minho, however, had already reached into the backpack and pulled out a revolver. “Everyone out!” he yelled.
o-o-o-o-o
Newt had barely collapsed to the floor when the pounding of footsteps rattled the tiles beneath his head; the distant roar of a gunshot; people screaming, running.
There was a warm pressure against his shoulder and he was flipped onto his back, the sudden jarring movement almost enough to send him spiralling away into the welcome darkness of unconsciousness.
“Don’t - don’t touch me!” Newt shouted raggedly. He couldn’t hear; he couldn’t shucking breathe -
Something was being poured into his mouth.
Gagging, he tried to spit it out - when a hand clamped under his jaw.
“Come on, Newt! Please, it’ll help!”
He suddenly realised his head was starting to clear. He knew that voice.
“Newt? Newt! Come on!”
He did as asked, and it was as if a wave of magic was crashing through his system, sweeping through the nightmares and banishing the screaming voices in his head.
Eventually, he felt brave enough to open his eyes again.
“That’s it,” Bravestone said encouragingly. “There you are.”
His vision cleared, and Newt exhaled heavily, so desperately relieved to see the familiar face hanging over him. “Brenda …”
A sheepish grin spread across Bravestone’s face. “Sorry, it’s me.”
Newt blinked. Once. Twice. And then it clicked. “Tommy?!” he gasped.
“Uh, yeah. Hi?”
Newt floundered. “I - you - you’re Bravestone now!?”
Thomas winced. “Long story. I -”
Leaning over, Newt suddenly threw up, a sickening black and yellow mixture spilling onto the floor as his chest heaved.
“Ugh,” Brenda said, stepping closer as Thomas patted Newt’s back. She reached into one of her now many pockets and pulled out a cloth, passing it to him. “That feel better?”
Newt nodded, wiping his mouth. “Yeah. A bit.”
“Good. Just sit there for a minute.”
Groaning, Newt massaged his temples. “I couldn’t stop seeing things,” he muttered. “I saw you, I saw Sonya …”
“Sonya isn’t here,” Thomas said firmly. “She wasn’t a game avatar, right? And we filled all the character slots.” He squeezed Newt’s hand. “She’s safe, I promise.”
“What even happened?” Brenda asked. “How come we weren’t hallucinating?”
“The man in the red, it was Marcus,” Newt said grimly, and Thomas’s face paled. “He gave me a drink. It cleared my head for a second, but then …”
He took another swig of the antidote vial and felt his stomach finally settle.
“Take as long as you need,” Thomas said gently. “We can sit for a while.”
“Thanks.” Newt glanced up at Brenda, smiling weakly. “Feels weird seeing you as Ming.”
“Feels weird being her,” Brenda said. “I lost half my height; Bravestone is stupidly big.”
Watching the way she moved and waved her hands about, Newt fought back a laugh. “I gotta say, you kinda suit her.”
Brenda pouted. “I’m not that short in real life.”
“I didn’t mean -”
“How the hell did you swap avatars?!”
Newt and Thomas glanced up as Minho and Gally rushed over, looking both amazed and annoyed at the same time. Newt grinned in relief, slowly rising to his feet - and very aware of Thomas’s warm hand on his lower back to steady him.
“How did you get in here?” Brenda asked.
“Solved a puzzle and came in through the back door,” Minho answered. “Your turn.”
Thomas sighed. “There was a magic fountain. Something in the water, it -”
But when he turned to point, there was nothing to be seen.
“I swear it was just there!” Thomas exclaimed.
Frowning, Brenda wandered across the now nearly empty room. “It definitely was,” she confirmed. “Look at the marks on the floor.”
Thomas threw his hands up in exasperation. “Then what -?”
“Witchcraft,” Minho stage-whispered. “You were doing so bad that the game finally pulled a switcheroo on you shanks.”
“I was trying -”
Brenda groaned loudly, wandering back over to join them. “What a waste of time,” she grumbled. “We nearly killed Newt, swapped bodies, and still haven’t got a clue where Bertha is -”
Gally grinned. “Actually -”
“We found her!” Minho crowed triumphantly.
The others stared - and then the questions exploded.
“What?!”
“Where’s Bertha then?”
“Who the hell is she?!”
“Not who.” Minho grinned, holding up a set of keys. “What.”
The oddly dressed barman peeked over the top of the bar. His eyes widening, he suddenly leaped over the counter. “Hey!” he yelled.
“Dammit,” Thomas groaned.
“Don’t move!” Newt roared, his hands already curling into fists, and the other character slammed to a halt. “We’re just going. We’ll leave your lot in peace now, alright?”
“I’m sorry for stealing from your cupboard,” Thomas added pleadingly.
But the young man frantically shook his head, his features paling. “Wait, wait, wait, you’re all players?!”