Falling (repeatedly)

76- Lights Out

Yippie! Once a year update!!
My friend and I skimmed through the fic together and it was a lot of "What the fuck was I thinking, why did I write this??"
This is unedited, from last year. I've been through hell and writing for other fandoms without posting them.
Anyways, welcome back and see you next year!

I'm not centering the text sorry v-v

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EP groans. The air around him is buzzing, and his head hurts even more than it did before.

The dark magic swirling among his shadows seems to be gathering in the center of his body, rather than flowing somewhat freely.

He cracks open one of his eyes, then immediately covers both of them while sitting up, "OW- What the- Why is everything so bright?!"

Orange Shortbread kicks their legs, which are dangling between the cage bars, "The whole room is full of Light Magic. It hurts my head too."

EP squints at them, "Why are you in a cage..? Why am I in a cage?"

"Some evil lady with horns kidnapped us."

"Dark Enchantress..."

The doors swing open. Espresso, who looks like he hasn't had his coffee yet, walks up to the light cage, "Good, you're awake. I need to talk to you."

EP turns to him, still struggling with how bright everything is, "Did you get kidnapped again? Dark Enchantress really needs a new hobby."

Licorice stands behind Espresso, holding his notebook, "It's not a hobby! She has great plans for-"

EP cuts him off, "What do you want to talk about, Espresso?"

Espresso crosses his arms, "What changes have you noticed about your body recently?"

"I think I have horns? Also this might sound weird, but I think there's dark magic gathering inside my body. It's staying in the center now, but that might be because of the light cage."

"Can you use the magic?"

"Yeah, but it's really unstable and it's definitely not mine. It gets pulled through me to wherever I cast the spell. It won't mix with my body."

OJ asks, "Is that why you passed out? I just thought it was a magic deficiency."

Espresso sighs, "Alright, this has been useful. Do you know where it's coming from?"

EP shakes his head, "Nope."

Licorice huffs, "It's Dark Enchantress' magic! You've been slowly leeching it from her ever since you betrayed us!"

"WH- HUH?? HOW???"

Espresso gestures to the light cage, "You're connected to the shadows. We contained you in here to stop more leakage."

"Oh.. That would make sense. I was brought back by its magic and the shadows."

His eyes widen slightly and he looks at Espresso, "Wait- Where's Vanilla Cupcake?!"

Espresso blinks tiredly, "He's not here."

EP leans closer to the bars despite the burning, "Wh- What do you mean he's not here?! You have Orange Shortbread, so Nilla has to be here!"

Espresso rubs his eyes, "Well, he isn't. I don't know what they did with him."

Dark sparks escape from EP's hair, "You mean he might be dead?!"

Licorice slowly backs away, but continues taking notes. Espresso looks at EP, "Why do you care?"

EP grabs the cage bars, despite the light energy searing his skin, "Because he's my friend! Aren't you worried about Madeleine?! That's how I feel about Nilla! You have to know something if they're letting you walk around somewhat freely!!"

OJ covers their goggles, "There is entirely too much magic in here-"

Espresso hums, taking a step back, "I think they were debating feeding him to the cake hounds? Or letting Poison Mushroom play with him. I'm not sure which one they went with."

Dark cracks spread through the bars from EP's hands, "THEY WHAT?!"

All the lights in the room grow dimmer.

Licorice drops his notebook and runs out of the room.

Espresso shrugs, "Who knows. Maybe they decided to take him apart to figure out why he's so strong."

The light cage shatters, then flickers out of existence. All the light sources in the room go out at once.

Espresso snaps to attention and summons a burning coffee bean above his hand. EP towers over him, curved horns poking out of his hair.

EP grabs him with one hand easily and lifts him up, snarling, "Where did they take him?!"

"I don't know! Pomegranate handed him to Licorice, and he put him somewhere after showing us the lab!"

EP snuffs out the coffee bean before throwing Espresso to the floor, "LICORRIIIICCE!!"

The whole building shakes, then the rest of the lights go out.

Licorice yelps, hitting the side of his scythe, "C'mon, c'mon- Yes!" The scythe glows a dim purple as he continues running to his room.

EP's voice echoes throughout the shadows, "Where are you, Licorice?"

Licorice throws open his door, whisper-yelling, "Vanilla Cupcake, where are you?!"

Vanilla's tiny voice responds, "The bookshelf you left me on? What the hell did you do to piss off EP?"

Licorice finds his way over, then gently picks up Vanilla Cupcake, "Espresso was really tired and made it sound like I killed you or something and now EP's going crazy."

The room darkens even more. A chill runs up Licorice's back.

EP asks, "Where is he?"

Licorice turns around and holds up Vanilla Cupcake, "He's right here! I- I was getting him for you! Please don't hurt me-"

The darkness fades somewhat as EP shrinks back to his normal size, "Nilla, are you ok?"

"Yeah. Licorice borrowed some of Poison Mushroom's doll furniture and gave me a nice little setup on his bookshelf."

EP sighs with relief, "That's good. I'm glad you're safe."

He collapses as the lights flicker back on. Licorice yelps, "Wh- What do I do with him??"

Nilla looks at EP, "You have those little servant guys, right? We should probably take him back to the room he was in."

"Oh yeah. Um... I'm bringing you too so he doesn't freak out," Licorice summons his servants, who carry EP as Licorice leads them back to the throne room, where Espresso is drinking a cup of coffee.

Venti is in the room as well, her arms crossed, "I guess I'll have to make an even better, more amazing cage this time..."

The Licorice Servants set EP down, then walk away so Venti can create the new light cage. She waves her hands and this one is even brighter than before, but less detailed.

She groans, "We were in the middle of an Uno game and Dark Enchantress collapsed before all the lights went out! I didn't even get to play that draw four..."

She stomps out of the room, "And even worse, Latte got away!"

Espresso rubs his side, "I'm never talking to him without coffee..."

Nilla asks, "Aren't you worried about Latte?"

"She's probably out of the palace at this point."