A Mind of Two || A HfjONE AU {WIP Cover!}

Chapter 3 - A Void, Monotone and Mysterious

I woke up with a jolt. It felt like I was thrown back into reality against my own will.

Actually, it didn't even feel like I was conscious. Wherever I woke up, all I saw was darkness. It was like The Waiting Room, but more... evil-looking.

I looked over at both sides of me. Just like when we were back in Airy's Universe, Airy himself was on my right, Texty was on the left.

No one spoke. Everyone was silent. Everything was silent, to the point where it was really uncomfortable.

The silence went on for a bit, until I heard a sound in the distance. It sounded like... chains? Chains clinking against each other, making a loud metallic noise.

I noticed a green silhouette in the distance. It seemed like it was the source of the sound, the chains wrapped around its hands.

Is that... Liam? I thought uncertainly. It could have all been fake. I could still be unconscious... but it still felt real.

Eventually, I found myself correct. It was Liam. He was on his knees, and could barely move due to the chains around him. He stared at me blankly, eyes glowing a bright white.

His eyes flickered back to normal. "BRYCE?!" he shouted in surprise.

I ran toward Liam, my feet creating ripples in the void dimension's floor, like in The Waiting Room. "Liam! Why were you..."

"Don't speak." Liam's voice startled me. Except it wasn't Liam.

The shadow was back. It still took the form of Liam, making a strange mirror effect.

Both Liam's stood still. The shadow... watched us.

Airy ran up to me, Texty's computer in his hands. "Bryce?" he asked. "Why is there... two Liams—?"

"Shh..." I interrupted him.

"Bryce, I'm sorry..." Liam apologized.

I was confused. "Sorry? You?" I shook my head. "No, I should be the one to apologize, Liam."

Liam's face filled up with a blank expression again. It appeared like he was thinking, but he said nothing.

The entity that was with him also said nothing, and had a similar blank face. It still appeared to be watching the four of us — Liam and our trio.

"Listen, I was trying to talk to Airy," Liam finally told us. "I tried to find him."

"And then he found the Plug," his shadowy counterpart said.

Liam was silent again. He wasn't moving, either. He was staring at the three of us, appearing to be contemplating something.

The dark figure spoke to Liam. "Yes. You tried to talk to him," it repeated. "But what did Airy do?" It turned to look at Airy. "WHAT DID YOU DO, AIRY?"

"I... didn't stop him..." Airy mumbled. His voice was really shaky, and it was reasonable. Heck, even I couldn't muster up anything to say.

"And what happened after that?" the shadow continued. Liam watched, waiting to see what Airy would say.

"He... became you..." Airy replied, receiving a nod from Liam.

"Yes, Airy," he answered. "I became this. I became Shadow. Everything about me... has changed. Do you know what that means?

"The version of me that you knew..." Liam trailed off.

"...Is dead."

I gasped sharply, and desperately tried to hold back my tears. Again. Liam couldn't be dead, couldn't he? And that... thing. He called it Shadow. It has a name.

Texty apparently thought the same thing as me. "But... Isn't he right in front of us?" they asked. "Isn't there some way to free him from here?"

Liam looked away sadly. "This... thing before you — this entity, this Shadow..." he paused. "It will never be the same thing I was before. I am gone, Texty.

"My soul has been split in half. I'm not the same person anymore."

And then, as if they were one, Shadow and Liam said in unison, "Liam is dead."

"So... you're, like, dead? But still alive?" I could sense the amount of confusion in Texty's voice.

Airy sighed. "I knew that this would happen eventually..." He turned to me and explained, "Liam's body is taking on two forms: one that seems real, the other... a shadow."

"I'm a shell of my former self, Bryce," Liam added. "I still have a physical body, but not a soul. That part of my being that I lost... is in that thing." He gestured to the entity to his right using his head.

"Liam, at least tell us if there's any way to revert this!" I pleaded. "I can't go back and pretend that you're not here..."

"There is no way," the dark replica answered me.

Liam gave me a cold, empty stare. I noticed that tears were forming in his eyes as well. "I'm gone, Bryce. The person you knew... is gone forever."

I fell onto my knees, and started to sob quietly. This couldn't be the end. It really couldn't.

"I'm sorry," Liam said.

"His soul has been tainted by you," Shadow explained. "His heart, corrupted. His body, enslaved. His soul, split. His hope, lost.

"His fate" — Shadow flashed a menacing smile — "undone."

Airy set down Texty's computer, and knelt down next to me.

"He is no longer the person you once knew," Shadow continued. "He will stay here...

"Because you were too late."

"I— I... I am sorry." Liam was beginning to cry. "I'm sorry," he repeated, voice becoming shaky.

After he finished talking, both Liam and Shadow... started to dissolve.

I stood up quickly. "LIAM!" I scream frantically. "Liam, please don't—"

I was cut off, Airy and Texty and I teleported back to the semi-calmness of Airy's Universe.