See You on the Other Side [Yan!DSMP x Reader]

-- CHAPTER 19: Bloody Mary

A sharp sigh leaves your lips. With your legs in the water, you're staring into the blue, feeling watched despite the clear absence of people. Kristin and Philza have left the mansion, leaving you alone with Fundy, who'd been trying to get you to watch a movie with you the entire evening, Sally, who's still upset, Wilbur, who just wants everything to be over with, and Dream, who's been as invasive as you expect him to be. You just needed to get away from these people. From this world. From your own bloody thoughts. Everything's been torturing you, including the voices in your own head.

You don't want to see everything. You don't want to have the same scenes repeating itself, its noises echoing against your skull until they twist into an entirely new nightmare. You're perfectly aware of what Wilbur did to you. You're perfectly aware of what Dream did to you. You know, so why does it feel the need to remind you of it each second?

"It's unbelievable that you don't even consider this a warning sign yet, Nero." The voice of the President is accompanied by their hand on your shoulder, as they're standing behind you. As always, they bring an undeniable cold with them, sending shivers down your spine. "You find nothing about this situation alarming at all, do you?"

"I try not to think about it," you end up whispering, too tired to fight back the images flashing in front of your eye, resulting in a stare that goes through everything else. For a moment, you're blinded. Blinded by what you can't control. Deafened by the sounds accompanying this blindness. Not mute, however. You're used to it, after all. "The more I think of it, the more scarier it gets. The more realistic it gets. The more unsure I get about myself and my own perception of reality."

The President chuckles darkly, squatting down next to you to whisper in your ear. "The more you ignore it, the worse it's going to get, though, don't you agree?" Their sinister question is followed by a laugh that would scare even the most brilliant actor, as they stand up again, putting your head towards the water with much aggression. "It's pathetic, really. And you're not learning anyway. After all, I'm just some big bad guy, right? Some villain, coming to end you. If only you knew how evil you can really be."

"Shut up," you mumble, too exhausted to fight them, but also too fed up with everyone's bullshit right now to ignore them. "Just shut up. You're not real. You're not even real! I'm real. You're just a figment of my imagination."

For a few seconds, they just stand there. Staring daggers at you as they clench their fist, before they dive down towards the ground, grabbing your white-streaked hair and forcing it to look yourself right into the eye via the reflection of the pool, while they are not visible. "Just bloody look at yourself, Mary. Would you truly consider yourself to be real? Guess what, genius: you're nothing more than a shell of who you used to be. You're a rotting corpse. A sculpture of the great man you once used to be. A robot, carrying my face." With even more aggression, they let go of your head and stand up again, as you're left drowning in your own despairful eye. "You're nothing, Y/N. And you would've been even less if it weren't for me."

"I am you," you respond, finding that you're getting lost in your own confusion. "Stop messing with me. Stop messing with my head!"

"I may be what scares you, but I just want you to remember whom it was that I sacrificed just for your existence." Their words aren't filled with expressive fury. However, you can easily feel threatened by the suppressed anger, which has always been more intimidating to you. "You are alive because Aimsey died."

"No."

"My daughter passed away, just for you to live."

"Stop it."

"But when I look at you, I truly wish I was wiser. I'd choose her life-"

"Shut up."

"-over yours any day. But no, you let Aimsey die by the hand of the android you've now befriended."