The Septic Curse

One

Marvin looked up at the creature, terror ripping through his very bones as he met its gaze.

But the thing wasn't threatening in the state it was in now, it looked creepy because it was dead... Or at least, it should be. And yet still somehow standing, as if in an act of defiance. 

Teeth clenched, it stood tall. But it was trembling, as if the Septics on their knees before it scared it more than it scared them.

Marvin, looking into the beast's hateful eyes, couldn't help but wonder...

How had it come to this...?

------------

"MARV, WAKE UP!"

Marvin jolted, a yelp catching in his throat as a few books on the pile next to him fell over and landed on him. 

"What's going on?!" The magician looked around wildly, looking for what interrupted his dream. His gaze landed on Chase, who was standing in his doorway with a sour look. "...You asshole. What do you want noooow?" Marvin groaned, knowing how Chase was.

"I want ye ta clean yer damn room." Chase gestured to the mess of books and half-made magic circles scattered about. "You can come downstairs for breakfast after you get your shit together. And I'll even throw you a bone- clean it properly and I'll give you an extra piece of bacon. Don't clean it properly, and I'll give you burnt toast and arson." 

"...Not gonna lie, that sounds like a shit deal." Marvin snorted, making Chase roll his eyes. "Well, it's the only deal you're getting." And with that, Chase left Marvin alone. The magician sighed, throwing one of the books on his lap over to the side, accidentally knocking over an entire pile. 

This was going to be a long day.

---

"I SURVIVED!" Marvin exclaimed dramatically once he plopped down on his chair. 

"Oh, really? I thought you would've suffocated, cleaning out that litterbox of yours." Chase huffed, putting a plate down in front of Marvin. "Litterbox- wh-? You mean my bathroom? I'll have you know that I keep my bathroom CLEAN!" Marvin snatched up a piece of bacon, munching on it angrily. "Clean? That'd be the only thing, then." Chase said, ruffling the magician's unbrushed mop of hair. 

"Hey! I usually brush my hair before breakfast, but somebody fucked up my schedule! It doesn't take minutes to look as good as I do every day!" Marvin said defensively. "Yes, it does." Henrik came over with a brush, having just done Robbie's hair. The doctor set to work on Marvin's hair, making the other groan in annoyance.

"Ooh~ Seems like someone is having parent problems~" Jackie teased, being completely untouched by either of the 'older' Septic egos' touches. 

"Take out the trash when you're done with breakfast." Chase and Henrik seemed to say in unison, giving Marvin a shiver. The magician smirked, "seems like someone is having 'parent problems'." "Oh, feck off! I'm not the one that still needs Papa over there to brush my hair!" Jackie hissed. "Oh really? Take off your hood then!" Marvin snickered, standing up to go mess with Jackie. But Henrik pulled him back down by his hair, "zhat is enough."

"...Hen, you act more and more like their dad every day." Chase tsked, turning to go clean his dish. "I zhink you're confused. I just zon't vant someone zhat lives under my roof to go out looking like ZHAT." Henrik vaguely gestured towards Marvin's current mess of hair. "Hey! I'm fucking gorgeous, asshole!" Marvin whined, "stop being so meeeaan to meee!" 

The Septics' mornings were always lively like this, except for one. October eleventh, when they woke up realizing what they had done. They had finally gotten rid of such a burden, such a great source of pain... And that whole day had been quiet. But just like that, by the twelfth, everything had gone back to normal. 

Ding-Dong!

"I'll get it." Chase brushed past Henrik as he went to see what was at the door. By now, the doctor was done with Marvin's hair and just sipping at his coffee. The doctor seemed to debate going over to see as well but decided against it. 

Chase came back with a letter. "This was on the doorstep." He handed it to Henrik, since he was the owner of the house. Henrik didn't waste much time in opening it, expecting a bill or something. "Zon't know vhy zhey couldn't just put it in zhe mailbox." The doctor rolled his eyes, pulling out a paper. 

But his brow furrowed in concern. "Vell, I can say for certain zhat zhis... Is not a bill." The doctor tossed it onto the table, nearer to Marvin- somebody who might actually care about its cursed contents. 

"Ooh~! Binary code! I can decipher this in a quick sec!" Marvin puffed his chest out proudly. "You can read binary?" Chase shot the magician a disbelieving glance. "No! But a spell can translate the meaning behind anything!" Marvin grinned, pulling his spellbook from behind his cape. The room seemed to fill with 'ugh's as everyone knew that if Marvin even read a single word wrong- which he usually did, since it was in latin- chaos would break loose. 

"It'll be fiiine! See? I've already found it!" Marvin flipped to the page in front of the one he was on, squinting at it before going back to his previous one and comparing. "...Yeah! Yeah, I've got it." Marvin reassured himself, which was not a good sign. 

"Must you do zhe magics so early in zhe morningz?" Henrik frowned, making sure to keep Robbie and the coffee pot well away from the shit that was happening in the dining room. Jameson Jackson however, was more supportive- or perhaps he was warning him. The mute had signed too fast for Marvin to really read, so he just shrugged it off and read the spell aloud. 

The house seemed to still for a moment, everyone quiet as they waited for a fire, explosion of acid, or even a volcano to erupt. Anything could happen, really. But there was nothing. 

"Got it! The spell actually worked; I can't believe I didn't mess it up! I mean- I told you guys I wouldn't mess it up." Marvin cleared his throat as Henrik gave him an impatient glare. "Okay then, bro, what did it say?" Chase leaned in forward. 

"Oh, yeah, uhh... It's interesting, really! It's practically a life changing experience to go through all off that to get rewarded in such a way." Marvin stalled, rolling his eyes sarcastically at the end.  "Just get on with it!" Jackie groaned, making the magician glare.

"Fine. It said 'fuck you' in binary, and then it said, 'one' in German at the bottom of the page." Marvin informed, only to get strange looks. "What?? I'm telling the truth! German! Right there!" Henrik scoffed, "ve vere more of vondering zhe truthfulness of zhe binary one..." The doctor grunted in confirmation, looking over Marvin's shoulder at the German writing. 

"No, that's definitely what it said." Marvin confirmed, tossing the paper towards Jackie. "...Well, that was interesting." The hero said before dumping it in with the rest of the trash. "Eeeeh... Not really." Marvin shrugged, slipping the book back into his cape. 

And with that, the Septic egos went about their normal tasks. Most of them went to work, whilst Chase took care of Robbie and made his videos at home. All was normal.

Or so they thought.