[ Flipside - A DSaF Fanfic ]

[ Chapter 7 | Strings Being Pulled ]

    Jack was now in level two of the flipside. The air was eerily still, and calm. The place looked like the restaurant that he had worked at in the 80's, except darker, and slightly dirtier. Okay, actually, maybe it was equal dirtiness. The stage lights flickered, and the faint sound of music droned in the background. Dave stumbled passed him and looked around as well. Dave seemed pretty uneasy, his hands twitching. He himself was also feeling nervous, wondering if Dave's 'portal powers' would be able to get him back to the non-flipside, and wondering if the puppet would be kind enough to help them. After all, they both murdered children.

     Dave followed Jack as the two walked together, Jack acting a bit less nervous than Dave. But, in all honesty, Jack was just as terrified as Dave. He masked his emotions so Dave would have one less thing to worry about, not wanting to be more of a burden than he already was. Dave caught up with him and walked side by side with Jack. Dave's gaze kept on darting to and from Jack, as if trying to tell him something. Jack quietly slipped his hand into the purple freak's hand. It was kind of nice to just walk with him, holding hands. 

     They continued to wander around, the sound of creaks in the floor and murmurs of invisible spirits drifted around them. Jack held onto Dave's hand tighter, panicked. Dave smiled at him, a quiet reassurance. The hallway they were in seemed to get smaller and darker as they walked through it. Then, in the darkness, a white, porcelain mask arose from the shadows, greeting the two colorful corpses with a scornful look. 

    "What the hell are you two doing here?" The voice was familiar to Jack, but he couldn't put his finger on why. The creature fully departed from the darkness, showing her true form. The puppet. A terrifyingly tall and lengthy puppet with a pale mask, two blue trails of tears painted on. She towered over the two, even Dave who was pretty tall himself, though most of that height came from his neck. They both stepped back, scared of this sock-puppet. But then, Jack noticed a red scarf around the neck of the puppet. His sister's scarf. 

    Jack just stared, dumbfounded. Finally, some words tumbled out of his mouth. "Dee...?" He asked, no, pleaded. He hoped this was her, despite it being a silly hope.

    The puppet looked at him, calculating something in her mind. Her eyes darts to different parts of him. 

     "Jack?" She mumbled, clearly confused. "What...w-why are you here, with him?! WHY ARE YOU HOLDING HANDS WITH A MURDERER?!" 

    "Because he's my boyfriend...? You know him, Dee?" Jack asked the two, baffled.

    "Jack. Surely you know Dave murdered me, right?" She groaned, bothered by him. Jack could only mumble a 'mhm' in response. "And you're dating my murderer knowingly?"

     Jack sighed. "It... It's not like that- He was manipulated by Henry, Dee-"

    "He still had free will. He killed me willingly." Dee glared at Jack, her black and white eyes flickered with anger.

    "B-but he's sorry for-"

     "And? I still got murdered by him. Just because he is doing the bare minimum, which is feeling sorry, doesn't mean I have to accept that apology. Because of you two, I have a lot of work to do." Dee retorted

    Dave stepped forward. "I'm also trying to save souls, ya know? Trying to reverse the shitty things I've done in the past. Ain't that more than the bare minimum?"

    She stared at him, thinking. "You're saving souls...?" Her tone was shocked and sounded as if she didn't believe him. Dave simply nodded in response, not looking her directly in the eyes.

    "Dee...would you like to help us at all? From what Dave said, you're also saving souls, right?" Jack asked.

     "...sure." she sighed. "I'll...help you, I guess. You two would probably get hurt or hurt something else without me, anyways."