The Obligatory Egos Swap AU - Jacksepticeye Egos

Pure of Heart, Dark of Mind - Part 5 (END)

As Ace healed, Henrik pushed him harder and harder to make his powers stronger and more easily controlled.

In this time, Henrik proved to be even more of a challenge to his mental and physical health than he had originally thought.

Other than the obvious reasons--being kidnapped and forced to undergo one of the most horrible surgeries of his life--Henrik was also just completely emotionally abusive now. Sure, he'd been physical before, but he was sickly sweet while letting Ace recover, and then pulled the rug out from under him, telling him he should have let him die and more. That he wasn't worthy of being his first success. That he was a fuck-up.

Ace had no idea where any of this had come from.

Sometime through his recovery, Henrik had revealed that he had cut out Ace's voice box, completely, because, and these were his words, "I couldn't stand your accent anymore." Ace thought he was going insane--no, Henrik was the insane one.

Ace recalled being compared to Henrik's friend just because they were both Irish. Had something gone wrong there? He didn't know.

And anyway, none of that was important, because after revealing what he'd really done, Ace had definitely had enough, and one day when Henrik slipped up and got too close to him during an experiment--the radiator he was shackled to was on, showcasing to Henrik Ace's mighty resistance to heat--Ace reached for him with the shackle still singeing his arm hairs, and sent the heat through Henrik's back instead.

The handprint he'd left behind was worth the fight they got into afterwards. Henrik uncuffed him--the biggest mistake and something he hoped Henrik would regret--allowing Ace to stand and take it all out on his captor.

Electricity-filled hands flew, a heat burning through them that Ace hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Actually, his powers had never felt this hot, so hot it was cold, and he really thought for once that he was going to escape.

All of the marks he left on Henrik's seemingly unconscious (maybe dead but he didn't check) body would have certainly killed a normal man, but he soon found himself running through the forest, resting at the bunker he'd somehow found his way back to, before being caught by the bigger man once again.

Any trace of Ace's fight was gone, Henrik was unmarred.

Ace gave up, Henrik had won.



It was only a couple more weeks before Henrik decided they were ready, and Ace was given his task.

"Stand outside the doors and if he tries to leave, stop him."

It was simple. Of course, Ace had no idea who "he" was, but he couldn't bother to argue.

He watched Henrik through the window. Could he have escaped? Sure. But Henrik would always find him now since he made him put a tracking curse on himself. Ace couldn't even remember agreeing to that or how he did it, but he could feel it, and no matter what he did he couldn't unbind himself from his captor.

Henrik fought with a young man inside the restaurant, a plate of pancakes separating them across the table. They looked delicious, considering all Ace had eaten lately was a few slices of buttered bread a day.

And then they were leaving, Henrik a few steps behind the other man. Okay, it was his turn.

The man pulled out a phone, dialling a number Ace didn't care about. He snatched the phone from his captor's unsuspecting victim. Was he taking this man as well? Was this... his replacement?

After all the trouble he went through-

Henrik took the phone from him. "Ah, I see you've met my friend, Ace." He addressed the unknown man in front of him. "Ace, be polite and shake Jackie's hand."

Oh, so this was Jackie, the one Ace had sounded apparently so much like. He hadn't spoken yet, so Ace couldn't judge that.

He raised his hand stiffly, hoping Jackie wasn't observant enough to notice the scarring. He grabbed back after some slight hesitation, looking him up and down. However quickly the glance, Ace couldn't stop himself from thinking, "shit."

"Nice to meet you, Ace," Jackie's voice broke him out of his stupor. He was staring into his eyes, and Ace knew that look.

Yes, they are completely colourless, Ace thought, you're not going to find anything.

As they stared at one another, Ace finally remembered his objective. He started building up some of his body's electricity in his hand, clasped tightly around Jackie's.

"What do you think, Ace? He's nice, right?" Henrik asked, taking notice of the way Jackie began to try and pry their hands apart. Ace was stronger than he looked, thanks to him. "Well, I have his phone. He won't be calling the police about this anytime soon. Just like we practiced, Ace."

Ace kept staring at his and Jackie's interlocked hands so that he wouldn't see the pain and struggle on his victim's face. He could feel the heat rising into their hands. Almost done, Ace...

Henrik started to ramble some villain monologue at Jackie, but Ace was tuning it all out now. He needed to focus, or he might accidentally kill Jackie.

He felt the other's grip go loose in his own and finally looked up, a slight look of awe crossing his otherwise recently emotionless face.

"Good job, Ace." Henrik patted him on the back, and he was feeling so tired he thought he might fall over, but Henrik didn't allow that, pulling him away from the scene of a swaying, dead-to-the-world Jackie.

Good job, Ace. You get to survive another day in hell.