Overtaken - a BFB/II2 fanfic (very slow updates)

Long Thought Gone

Thirteen objects and several Shimmers did nothing but stare at the two humans for a long time, the pattering of rain against various surfaces filling the silence. Nobody was sure how to react.

Eventually, Golf Ball broke away from the massive staring contest. She instead turned her eyes to Dora. "Why... WHY did you bring this human here?" she questioned, voice strained.

"Why?" asked Pencil incredulously. "We should be asking how! I thought Emwhyaitch was DEAD!!"

" Dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada. (Recently, something drew me back to Yoyle City. I was not sure what it was at first, until I found human footsteps. I then spent the past few days tracking down Em.)"

Knife relayed this. "I gotta say, though," he added in afterwards, "I'm... a bit lost on what's going on here. Who is this guy? And why does he look so weird?"

"Knife, Soap..." Test Tube stepped forwards. "Your confusion is understandable, but I'll have to wait until later to explain who exactly he is. There's enough going on as it is."

Dora spoke, drawing everyone's attention again. "Erm, she says, 'You will want to do that now, as it may be a while for Emwhyaitch to wake,'" translated Knife.

As if he had deliberately waited to prove Dora wrong, Em chose that moment to begin stirring. "Dadadada. (Never mind.)"

Slowly, Golf Ball walked up to him, then smacked him on the side of the head with her handless right arm, causing a couple objects and Shimmers to gasp softly. "Wake up!" she demanded.

The human bolted into an upright sitting position, then immediately lost balance as fell over again, not expecting his hands and feet to be bound. "Ow..." Em mumbled. His eyes drifted over to GB, and he stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before his brain properly kicked into gear. He froze. "Um."

Dora grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him to his feet. "Dadadadadadadadadadada. (I want you to tell everyone what you told me when I found you in Yoyle City earlier today.)"

Perplexed, Knife relayed this, startling Em further. As the human began to quickly glance around the area, Pencil studied him from afar, thinking back to the very first time she'd met him almost three years ago. Back then, he'd seemed happy, healthy, confident... even friendly. (Up until the point where he restrained her and her friends, of course.) Then, after his spaceship had crashed, she got a second glimpse of him before Leafy scared him away. He'd been a little more disheveled, but still mostly all there.

This version of him, however... Pencil had very little reference for what a healthy human was supposed to look like, but Emwhyaitch still didn't fit that picture. His appearance had completely changed. Stubble ringed his chin, and his normally short, neat black hair was down to his shoulders and very choppy, as if cut with old scissors. The clothes he wore were slightly ragged, and his left shoe had a hole at the end. A gauze bandage was wrapped around his upper left arm. And the rain certainly didn't help at all. But what struck Pencil the most was how tired the human appeared. Most of his body language gave off the impression of... something bad.

If she had to describe how he looked in one word, it would be 'beaten.'

Fully oblivious to the woodsicle's observations, Emwhyaitch continued looking about, but the moment he saw the Shimmers, his eyes locked onto them. "Hold on..." he whispered, gaze narrowing slightly. "You all look... familiar."

"Speak up!" GB ordered harshly, stamping the muddy ground in frustration.

Em shook his head to clear his thoughts. The next time he 'spoke,' he mentally projected his words into the minds of everyone present, causing those who hadn't met him before to jump. You. He nodded his chin at the Shimmers. Your markings are very familiar to me.