Chapter Text
Rin pov
Hi y'all, it's me again! I bet you're a bit surprised that it's not anyone else starting but uh… I did make a promise regarding brain things. You kinda caught me at a bad time to be honest, I'm just working on a few plans for Remi's fight with John, some backup plans, some backups to those plans, uh… yeah. It was kind of a fluke that I was able to direct Eris to Cecile, but if it didn't work, oh well. I'm currently in the library so I don't go back to the dorms too early. Papers are scattered everywhere, it's… it's bad. I look like I'm having a mental breakdown. And that's because I am! Why don't y'all see what it's like in my brain? Unlike Eris, I have 5 major parts. Riki is the leader and my common sense, she makes most of my plans and stuff. Ash is the deputy and friendly neighborhood memelord. He's the reason I make jokes when I'm nervous. Raven is my hunger. That's it. Ceri is sleepiness. And Kei… Well, Kei makes everything more difficult regarding being flustered. All the times I become an idiot around the trio? Around Eris? Kei’s fault. {You already had them all named?? Mine were off the top of my head!} I've had them named since I was uh… start of highschool actually. Made it easier to organize stuff. Well I'll get the intro done and over with and unceremoniously stuff you into my brain. Have fun! (Remi: I don't know if this is gonna be worse or better than Eris.)
“Oh shit um… Hi? ASH we have guests!” The leader, supposedly named Riki, shouts across the brain room. “Supposedly…? How rude.”
“The fuck you mean we have guests? Kinda hard to get into a br– oh shit, hi.” That's what Riki said already. Smh. “Oh well pardon me, we’re part of the same brain. We should have similar thoughts, shouldn’t we?” Fair enough. (John: Your brain… is arguing with you.) Yeah, that's kinda normal around here.
“No, it's not-”
“Rikiiii… have we eaten yet? How long have we been planning?” That's Raven. Yep.
“I can answer that! No, and at least an hour.”
“An hour and a half, actually. And I'm sorry Raven, but we need to do this for the sake of the Trio if they wanna last longer than they did in canon.” Riki doesn't stop tapping around on my brain console.
Cue Kei, who comes in sipping an iced latte. Fun fact! They only drink iced lattes during winter but hot cocoa during the summer. Weird, huh? “Eris has them covered. All three are stronger than they were in canon by a long shot. Even Isen, who… looked kinda hot with his ability active. We were pretty much an open book!” WOAH WOAH WOAH NO NEED TO OUT ME LIKE THAT KEI- “It’s the truth though.” They say this, casually sipping their drink.
“Yeah? And whose fault is it we were an open book?” See, Riki knows what's up. Fkin Kei, they're the reason I short circuit.
“Yours. You didn’t use enough duct tape and zip ties. And even then you didn’t hold me back enough when he found us.” Riki stops tapping and turns to glare at Kei.
“I should've had Ceri sit on you if I knew you'd lock us out of the console,” she hisses. At this, Ash nods slightly in agreement. Raven is still sitting idly on a couch that I don't even know where they got it. And Ceri is sleeping behind said couch. “But fine. Yeah, it is my fault. For not learning my lesson earlier, especially in middle school. You always get in the way, don't you?”
“It’s not my fault everyone else is hot!”
“Should I just repress you then? Huh? Is that what you mean?” Uh Riki what. Isn't repressing like banishing for parts of my brain? “Exactly. They won't interfere in plans again.”
“Let’s just… let them argue. Do you have any questions for us while Rin plans?” (Sera: I'm not sure what that is but that's not her planning.) “Oh, no. You misunderstand. She’s on autopilot right now.” {You have autopilot??} [Just zoning out, nothing special.] (John: Bet you have no idea what that feels like, eh Eris?) {Shuddup}
“Uh… Ash?” Ceri finally speaks! No way I thought she was dead asleep! “Was trying… but the uh… the mental blocks… something's happening to them.”
“Oh no. EVERYONE TAKE COVER!! GET DO-”
I snap back to reality. How- huh. How long was I… not thinking? It's dark outside now so maybe a little over 20 minutes. Damn. I look at my papers again. The Trio better be stronger… as I think this, something in my brain flutters. I angrily push it down. Feelings like that have always distracted me, and they always will. I better be ready for the fight tomorrow or else everything else I've done up till now for this arc will have been for nothing. (Isen: Alright, who was that? Cuz I know for a fact that wasn't Riki.) [You'll… you'll see.] {I may have a guess, but I’m gonna hold off for now.}
If there's nothing else, I might as well go back. Here's to hoping John remembers not to go overboard.
“One more person then the hierarchy’s officially gone. Ready, John?”
“Let’s see what strategies they came up with.”
“You warned them already, right?”
“I said two days, it’s been two days.” Aight, Captain Grumpy Pants, who pissed in your boba today? {Arlo.} (Arlo: No???) “Do you have everything set up?”
I snort. “Of course I do. Would you rather you do it yourself?”
“I have enough on my plate already.” Aaaand there's the canon break, everyone. I just hope that's enough time for whatever Eris and the Trio have planned.
“Hm. Well you still have time to back out of it. Last chance.”
“No I don’t. I’m already too far in to even think of backing out.” {Careful, starting to sound like me there.} [Truth.] Hmmm… maybe Arlo was right about him being mentally a child. (Arlo: Very rare for you to agree with me.) (John: And who was it that pushed me to that point?) Y'all stop fighting. Stop me if I'm wrong, will ya? Arlo, I only agree with you this once because you were actually right. John, you were also right… BUT to an extent. If you saw me talking to the Trio at some point during that time, you would have accused me of “collusion” or some bullshit like that. (John: I… let’s just keep going.) That's what I thought.
We split up, John going to the courtyard again and me going to watch from the window. At this point, that's the usual spot you can see Joker now. Remi walks across the field as well. She doesn't have the face paint like in canon. The yard quickly clears of students as they spot the two.
They start fighting like normal, with John starting out with Phase Shift and Remi… Well, Remi's prepared for it. This time, she's more of an even match for him. {And here I thought my training wasn’t doing shit for Remi.} [Well why do you think I was surprised you were training her? …cuz it's a smart move, duh-]
Eventually he switches a speed boost, which takes her off guard. Hmm… would it be more interesting if the memelord narrated it for you? Yeah, let's do that.
“AND IN ONE CORNER, WE HAVE THE LIGHTNING JACK, REMIIIII! IN THE OTHER, JOKER WILD CARD, JOHN!!”
“ASH GET DOWN FROM THE CHAIR!!”
“NO! I’M LEADING UNTIL YOU GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!” Looks like Riki’s back to normal. And... stuck under a sleeping Ceri. What was that about, y'all? {You tell us, smartass.} I was talking to Ash smh. “Not much, Riki just kinda went insane. Anyway, back to the fight! Remi zaps John but it looks like he can still move and- ooh! He clocks her on the side of the head! It's gonna take a lot more than that for her to go down though… AND WE HAVE LASERS COMING OUT FROM LEFT FIELD, WHOOO!” (John: Wasn’t happy ‘bout that by the way.) (Blyke: I know.) (Isen: Same here.)
Raven empties a bag of popcorn in three seconds flat. “Sure would be interesting if we got a chance to fight.”
“You know that’s not how we do things, Raven. We’ve always controlled from the shadows. Besides, you think we can go against that??”
“Mmm… Maybe. There's a reason he can't copy Time Manipulation yet. So what about Overclock?” Raven's starting to act weird. I thought she was just hunger?
“But he can copy Lightning. Until we all know we stand a fighting chance, I don’t think we should go for that.”
Kei walks in just then. “Besides, we don’t wanna ruin the moneymaker, do we?” Bestie why 💀 (Remi: Oh look, another emoji!) (Arlo: I still don’t know how you speak those.) [Easy. 😁]
Ceri peeks out from behind the couch. “Nghh… Ash, look at the screen again… If you’re gonna drive, keep your eyes on the road.” John is holding Remi by the wrist. Looks like she tried to grab his mask.
“Fine, fine. But you all are staying off controls.” (Sera: Hm. Looks like the memelord can also be a control freak.)
John doesn't move. That's weird, wasn't he supposed to punch Remi as a counter? Then I, as well as all the parts of my brain, notice. He isn't moving because he's gripping her wrist. And tightening it. Cue another laser. Ceri stands up and makes her way to the controls. “Ash, things aren't going as canon anymore, what if I-”
“Just wait. We have a backup plan for a reason. She should be around here somewhere. I just… don’t know where.” No one usually does. “Thanks. Makes me feel a lot better.” {Am I really that hard to find??} (Everyone else: YES!!)
John throws Remi aside, dashing off. No doubt to kick Blyke and Isen's asses. (Blyke: The confidence you have in us is astounding.) {I trained you to stand a chance, not to beat him. I hope you remembered what I taught all three of you.} Remi rubs her wrist as she gets up to recover. “Follow him,” Ceri orders. “Make sure he doesn't go overboard.” Is it just me or she more assertive than usual?
“Y’know what? You take the wheel since you wanna make sure everything goes according to canon, I’ll narrate.”
She scowls at this. “That's exactly what I'm trying not to do, Ash. I'm not having them end up in the ER.” She makes me freeze time and head up to the roof to watch.
“Just take the wheel fully since you’re so worried about it all. We just need to know where our backup plan is.” {Such faith you have in me.} “You are the only one besides Seraphina that knows him better than we do, inside and out.”
John runs straight up the building’s side to confront Blyke and Isen. He first fights Blyke, combining Energy Discharge and Hunter. {Means all his slots are filled by now if I counted correctly.} He's barely dodging and just tanking all of Blyke's shots, managing to knock him down after stunning him. Isen tries to intercept and dodges when John goes to grab him. Not bad. But Isen tries punching John and all it does is get his arm caught and a beam shot through it.
Once Isen is on his knees from the pain, John puts his hand on his shoulder and electrocutes him. “You should’ve stayed in your lane.”
I see Blyke move but he doesn't get up. It doesn't look like John saw it either. {Rage blindness, I think I've had that a couple times.} [You think, huh?] Unfortunately it doesn't matter because he raises his hands, charged with lightning.
I was right in coming to check up here, I think as I send lightning of my own to interrupt him. John turns to me. Menacingly. He doesn’t say anything, but I know what he’s thinking. “Why are you here?” So of course I glare back with a message of my own. “You do any more than necessary and I'm out.” He just looks down at Remi after lowering his arms, studying her I guess. {Dude, you were so battle smart back then, what happened?} (John: It was mostly the rage.) After a bit, John jumps back down to Remi, who's waiting for him. She doesn't try to talk to him but John gets ready to attack. I see her eyes flick towards a window… does she have a plan of her own?
“ARLO!!” Remi shouts and jumps back just as John is about to attack. He's intercepted by a yellow barrier as Arlo jumps out the window, onto the courtyard.
“AUGH! FUCK!” John collides into the barrier, cracking it but also getting the recoil damage.
I get down from the roof to get a closer look. “Are you okay?” Remi asks Arlo.
“It’s only a crack. I’m fine. What about you?”
“I'm okay, I think. He didn't hit me too hard.” Remi, please, next time he hits, stay down… It can't go like in canon… {Agreed!} I close my eyes and reach out with my electrosensing. I need to find Eris before a beatdown starts. (Isen: You know it's serious when she doesn't call it ‘platypus powers.’) She's not near the courtyard… nor at any of the closer windows. Same with the farther windows. Where is she? I hear another blast. Remi's on the ground now. She raises her head but I see Arlo shake his head. She stops moving and puts her head back down.
John sees that Remi is down so he shifts his focus to Arlo who’s barrier cracks a little more each beam taken. Once his barrier fully cracks, John kicks him into the air before kicking him into the ground. Shit, I have to do something before it goes back to canon.
I make my way down to the courtyard and pick up a small stone. John hasn't noticed me yet, and neither has the audience. Am I risking outing myself? Yes. At the same time though… Eris isn't close enough yet. I gotta do something to stall, at least. John isn't listening to me anymore so… {Give it about… a minute or so. I wasn’t keeping track of how long it took to get there.} I look at the stone then at John. I don't have anything to help it fly straight, so I'm praying to all the gods of the hunt and archery that I can do this. I take a deep breath and hurl it towards John, who's about to blast Arlo's head into the ground.
It hits him in the middle of his head, right between the mask's eye holes. I succeeded in getting his attention off of Arlo and Remi! Buuuut that means all that rage also goes to me.
“Isn't that the low tier transfer?” “What is she doing?? Is she trying to die?” Maybe. “Don’t ask me, both of them are insane!” “Joker beat all the Royals… does that mean he's the new King?” “He didn’t beat all of them… yet.”
This time, when John turns to me, it's a glare of… betrayal. Look I'm sorry bestie, but I said if you go too far, I'm not helping anymore. (John: You literally hit me in the head with a rock! I’m surprised my nose didn’t break! And I kinda… thought Arlo was free reign since you always complained about him.) [You had your chance to beat up Cecile and you blew it. And was a small rock. You tanked all of their attacks and you're complaining about a rock??] (John: Arms can heal easier than noses.) [Mkay drama king.] (Sera: He really is though.) (John: Et tu Sera?) Buuuut just because I'm not helping doesn't mean I'll out him either. I spread my arms in a ‘come get me’ gesture. “C'mon, Joker! If ya don't, I'll throw more rocks <3”
He does, until something stops him right in front of me. [Or should I say someone?] (Remi: Wish I could’ve seen what she looked like.) (John: … Like a demon.) “I think it’s showtime, Joker. And I would rather you fight someone who wants to.” She’s wearing a mask like John is but hers is… a harlequin. A fucking harlequin. I… okay then. She also has her ability active with her gauntlets and what I guess is body armor. Wait, body armor? That's new. When did she start using armor? It looks like that one time I mentioned [redacted spoiler] and she went nuts during sparring. I mean that was indirectly but she still knew who I was talking about. {Thanks Rin. Now we gotta edit that out.} [No problem!] (John: I still don’t like that name.) She passes me her mask after making John back off. “Rin. Hold this please, I don’t want it getting messed up. You might wanna get outta the blast zone too.”
“Thanks bestie~”
“Alright Joker. It’s down to you and me. Let’s do this.” {I felt… weirdly competitive and extremely focused in that moment. Everything felt enhanced too.}
Now this time, I’m not just gonna watch like with the Remi v John fight. While John’s distracted, I first get Remi out of the courtyard, then Arlo, as much as I would have liked to let him keep laying there. (Arlo: The feelings at the time were mutual.) [“The feelings at the time-“ man shut up.] Next on the list were Blyke and Isen so I go up to the roof to check on them. ”You guys uh… relatively okay?”
Blyke sits up. "Ask Isen. He's the one that got electrocuted."
Isen groans, rolling over. "My brain feels like static. Not the best feeling in the world."
"Wait, what are you doing up here? How are you fine?"
I just shrug. “Someone stepped in for me. Think of it as a tag team battle.” I look to where Eris and John are fighting. She has more access to abilities but John knows his better… Could she be at a disadvantage this time? {I was, yeah. However, you know for a fact I don't go down without a fight, Rin.} [Excuse me for being a little worried, I guess I’ll just bash you next time then.] {Just keep going. You have things to narrate.} Shut up Eris.
Isen pushes himself up and shakes his head a little. "'Someone' huh? Wonder who that could be."
”Doesn’t matter. We need to get you two down at least to recover. Can you walk?” Both look at each other and nod hesitantly. “Good.” I help them to their feet and freeze time for the three of us, walking them to the infirmary. This was mainly for convenience so I don’t miss anything but also so that nobody else could see the state the boys were in. If that happened, I’m not sure how long it would take and blah blah blah. They… didn’t seem to notice everyone was frozen though so. Whatever.
I drop them off at the infirmary and hear a crash from the direction of the courtyard so I make my way back there. W-wait a minute…
”Riki… did Eris just lose…?”
Ceri cuts Riki off before she can answer. “Of course she did, Ash. We’ve been here for what, a month? Two months, tops. John’s had his ability for almost ten years, lore wise. Even if Eris might be stronger… you can’t beat experience like that.”
Riki walks up to the screen, taking in the sight in disbelief. “She’s really down… Everyone’s defeated. No more Royals. No more hierarchy.”
Ceri grits her teeth. “Ash, shut down our ability, I don’t want John spotting us. We’re getting Eris out now.”
Raven sets her burger down on a table and grabs Ceri's shoulder. “Well, hold on, we outclass him in speed and power, what if-“
”Not now, Raven. We need to take our time.”
“But-”
“RAVEN!” Ceri’s exclamation rings through the brain like a call for attention. She doesn’t look away from the scene as John walks over to Eris lying motionless on the ground. “You’re overstepping your boundaries. Kei doesn’t pay attention to our surroundings. Ash doesn’t have a plan and Riki… Riki is…”
“What, Ceri, what am I?” Riki asks, venom filling her voice. She reaches for the controls again. “I’m the leader. Don’t forget that.”
Ceri just smacks her hand away. She switches some dials, making me run over to Eris to pick her up, and run away. As fast as I can. John just watches me leave. “We can’t act with instinct. Someone put Riki in her room.” When no one moves, she raises her voice. “NOW!”
Ash hears this and frowns but turns to Riki. “Maybe you should… listen for a bit.” He escorts her from the control room and focuses on Ceri again. “So? What is it?”
My sleep side turns away from the controls for a bit, sighing. She pulls up a graph, one with a red line, jagged and rising. “As you all know, I’m the most in tune with Rin’s mood, brain functions, stuff like that. She can’t function well without a good sleep schedule. And recently, since stress has been higher… she hasn’t really been stable. Like with the punching bag. Riki was in charge at the time. Same with when she threatened to repress Kei. That’s not the Riki we know. In fact, since Riki’s the central control tower, she’s most influenced by outer emotions. …even ones not present. That means…”
A rumble from the corner of the control room shakes everyone inside. A barricaded door with a crudely written sign ‘Mental Block’ above it rattles on its hinges, once, then twice. Then a third time. The furniture in front of the door bursts outwards, like the boards that blocked it. A set of footsteps is heard.
“Hey Repressed… they kept us out… and took my toy from the room too…”
“Don’t worry, Trauma. You have four brand new ones right here.” {Called it.} (John: Rin, what the fuck was happening there??) [...middle school.]