The Monsters Inside and Out (Scott Howl x Depressed Reader)

153. Family Reunion

You watch as the doors slowly creak open, the anticipation killing you. The light on the other side is bright as it shines inside. Once the doors shut, and your eyes adjust back to normal, you see him. Your father, staring at you with an apprehensive look. He looks just like you remember him. He's tall and bulky, and he looks tired. His horns stand tall above his head. His hair is short and well-kept, and he has a bit of stubble on his face. You feel yourself subconsciously grabbing the bottom of your shirt as he starts to approach your table. He awkwardly takes a seat across from you, still staring and unspeaking. You both stare at each other in silence as you wait for the other to start talking. However, you are both speechless.

Mawmaw lets out a small sigh. She says, "Alright, I suppose I'll get things started. (Y/N), as I'm sure you know, this is Darius, your father. He and I met not long ago. Darius, would you care to tell the story?" Your father looks at her and then back at you, gulping nervously. He quietly says, "U-Um... Sure..." He looks back at you and clears his throat before continuing. "Hey... Bud... So um... After I... You know... Died... I started to rethink a lot of... Life choices... I uh... Killed myself... And I ended up here for some reason... And well... I was tired of being miserable. So, as it turns out, there are programs here to help with that. I started getting better with their help. Eventually, I felt young again. I was happy for the first time in a while, so I wanted to explore what this world had to offer. But then... I started to feel lonely. All I could think about was you and your brother, so I was eventually directed here. This is the only place you can go to see the living world. I wanted to see where you were, and what you were doing. I came here and was going to find a spot to sit when I walked by Mawmaw here. I looked at what she was watching, and I noticed you in the picture.

You nod and listen intently to his story as he tells it, but something catches your attention. You ask about him. "What do you mean, all you could think about was my brother? Is he... Not here? If he's not here, then where is he? Don't tell me we're separated forever!" You can feel yourself tearing up as you nervously look down at the table. Your dad reaches forward and puts a hand on your arm to calm you, saying, "(Y/N)! It's okay, it's okay..." You look into his eyes, which look concerned and gentle. You look down at his hand, realizing this is the first time he's touched you in years. He yanks his hand away after realizing the same thing himself. He explains, "Acasius isn't here, (Y/N). Because he's within you. The two of you have become one." You blankly stare at him for a moment. You ask, "What do you mean?" He sighs, "Spirits can kind of fuse together with others. When Acasius was killed, he probably wasn't ready to die, and he fused with you." You then ask, "Does that mean... I'll never see him again?" He thinks, "No, you can. Would you... Like to?" Your eyes light up with hope. "W-Wait, are you serious?!" Your dad holds his hands out and he looks you in the eyes. He asks, "Do you trust me?" You look at his hands nervously before grabbing them and answering, "Yes."

Your father closes his eyes and begins chanting something in a deep voice. The chant sounds like an ancient language that would be impossible to write. His eyes suddenly open, and they're pure white. The table you're all at starts floating above the ground. The chanting continues as you feel a warmth building up in your body, and a ball of white light soon escapes your mouth, hovering over the table. Then, everything falls. You look up at the ball of white light and within an instant, it turns into him. Acasius. His eyes blink open and he takes a look at himself, spinning around to try to see all of himself. He soon looks at you, and tears begin forming in his eyes. He jumps off the table as you stand up. He's different than he is in your head. He looks more grown up. You're about the same height as each other. He swallows nervously and says, "H-Hello?" You jump back a little, caught off-guard by hearing his voice reach your ears. You reply, "Hi..." You look back over at your dad. He's tearing up, and his hands are covering his mouth as he looks at the two of you, all grown up. Acasius looks over too, covering his mouth as he searches for something to say. He looks between the both of you, not knowing who he should focus on. Being closest to you, he decides to wrap his arms around you first. His embrace is tight enough to crush you, and it's very reminiscent of Scott. You hear a few quiet sibs in your ear as he hugs you, which makes you start crying too. Before long, your dad is getting up and grabbing you both, lifting you in his arms. He grunts and drops both of you, rubbing his back after. He says, "Man, I'm too old to carry you big kids."

You and Acasius wrap your arms around him again. He sighs and says, "Man, it's so nice to be able to hold you two again. But... It seems our time is running short." He looks down at you and you look down at yourself. You can see that you're starting to fade away even more. You say, "W-Wait! I'm not ready to go back yet! I-I-I..." Mawmaw puts her hand on your shoulder and says, "Don't worry, (Y/N). We'll be here for you when you return." Your dad adds, "Yeah! And I promise I'll be better here than I was when I was alive." You look at Acasius, who looks at you sadly. He gives you another tight hug, and you can't help but reciprocate. He says, "I'm not ready to say goodbye! Dad! Can't you fuse us back together? There's so much we haven't talked about!" You feel your grip on Acasius slowly disappear as you become even more transparent. Mawmaw says, "Don't forget to tell Scott I'm proud of him." Your dad says, "Make sure you never let your mom control you ever again." Acasius says, "And remember that I'll always be with you! But most importantly..." Finally, they all speak at the same time, "We love you."

And once again, you're covered in black nothingness.