What Did You Do, Captain?

Why did their love feel like betrayal?

Captain sat at the table on their phone, waiting for the call. As they waited they scrolled through different news platforms. This was not good. All the newspapers were saying the same things.

Mayor charged with assault on youtuber
In the midst of his reelection campaign, Mayor Damien has been struck with many blows.
A month ago his partner, Captain Nyx, started to play a VR game demo and has recently had medical issues allegedly stemming from the game. It is reported that Mayor Damien had put his campaign on the back burner in the last crucial month to care for them.
Witnesses saw Mayor Damien frantically looking around the city for their partner, asking around after them when they ran into internet sensation
Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach.
Rumors are that Mayor Damien blamed the internet star for the condition his partner was in after playing the VR game in Co-op mode. After an argument, Fischbach tried to leave the scene and was allegedly assaulted by Mayor Damien.
In a statement given on the way into the station, Mayor Damien declined to comment.

The phone in their hand started to ring but the number wasn't one they had saved to their phone. It also didn't look like a business. If their mouth had been sewn shut it wouldn't have been harder to speak than it was now. Their voice was like doom looming in their throat. Their heart raced. They knew it was Damien calling from the jail but the thought of speaking made them want to be sick. They picked up frantically and just breathed a fast,"Eeh?"

"Captain?"

"Mark?" They asked the voice on the phone. Damien called them Darling.

"Hey, uh, we still need to talk." Mark said quietly, his words slightly slurring.

The Captain tried to speak but they sat in tepid silence instead.

"It's hard for me to talk to, Captain. My jaw has a hairline fracture, aparently. " He said softly,"I do need you to answer one thing."

The Captain took a breath then managed a grunt to affirm that they understood.

"Was that a set up? Did your boyfriend set up that meeting so he had a reason to attack me to make me leave you alone?" He asked the question so quietly.

"N-..." They were surprised they could even make that sound, their throat was tight and their chest painfully throbbing with each heartbeat.

"I trust you, Captain."He fell silent after that, them both sitting there in the silence.

"Can we meet up and discuss this?" His tone had changed so drastically. There was one other time Captain had heard this tone. They were on The Invincible 2, in the office flirting, then distrust seeped into Marks thoughts(That, at the time, were being broadcast through the noir verse)

"Please." Captain managed to say. They hung up as another call started to come though. They picked up, but put it on speaker so they could text Mark the location for meetup.

"Darling?" Damien said, his voice tight and exhausted.

"Mm." They affirmed.

"They said you can come pick me up in about three more hours. Perhaps Candace should drive, but I would love nothing more than to see you when they let me go. I just want to be with you." Something unsaid hung in the air between them. It was dense and heavy and shared but painful. Why did their love feel like betrayal?

-----

Mark rubbed his temples, staring at his glasses on the desk. The room spun around him and he tried to concentrate on a single thought, but he couldn't. It was like the game was playing in fast forward around him, over and over. He saw it when he closed his eyes, heard it when the room fell silent. He had lost himself in the timeliness of solitude, was brought back to himself by the Captain. The pain and anger, the fear and loneliness.

Time had stretched for so long so now everything around him was happening so fast. He was a person, how had the developers not thought that through? How did they think simulating thousands of years would go? He gripped his hair in both hands, trying to catch his breath as those years started flooding back. Was he ever saved? Did Captain ever show up for him? Was he still in the loop and dreaming all of this?

The hand that laid on his shoulder made him jump, a scream choked out of his throat.

"Mark!" It was Celci, leaning in close to him,"It's ok." She said in the most comforting voice she could muster.

Tears sprung into his eyes, his lower lip trembling as he looked up at her.

"I can't keep doing this." He muttered.

"Then you shouldn't. " celci said with a flat smile.

"What?" He said thickly. She moved and seemed to split into two. When the two converged, The Mayor that punched him was standing before him. He slid a hand across his hair nervously to make sure it was slicked down.

"Oh Mark. I know you failed many times before, but you really should try again. End it. Join Celine and I." The Mayor said through his teeth.

"I don't know who Celine is." Mark whispered. Damien gripped his cane tightly.

Damien lashed out, hitting Mark across the face with the cane, his nose cracking as light flashed in his eyes. The pain was so intense that Mark gagged.

"Why did you do that!?" His voice pitched, "We were friends."

Damien flinched, a larger version of him screaming silently behind him for a split second.

"I don't know why I said that! I don't know you or Celine!" Mark shouted, holding his hands up defensively.

"You, you, created us. How do you expect to get away with this? You them killed, then just made a new story, a new role,moved on. Always a great actor, even they fell for you again!" Damiens voice was a low growl as he spoke.

"Actor? I'm not an actor I'm an engineer."

"Don't lie to me!" Damien hit him so hard that he blacked out entirely, losing consciousness.