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"What do you mean, 'the void'?" Jaeden questions, helping Ethan out of his closet.
"That's like... an El thing," Hallow continues, "Not a you thing."
Ethan shrugs, pulling himself to his feet. "El's been helping me tap into the void. I think you guys might be able to do it, too. We have to fight Henry from the inside while my friends fight him from the outside. He can't be in two places at once, so either way, we can get the high ground. I'm not great at it... but it's been about a year now, I'm getting better at tapping into what I want to. I could try and help you both."
Jaeden and Hallow both furrow their brows and share a look of confusion. They slowly look at each other, then back to Ethan.
"You're insane," Hallow exhales.
Ethan's shoulders slump. "Hal, I'm serious!"
"Who even is this Henry-Vecna guy?" Jaeden exhales, "You haven't given us much context."
Hallow caresses the tattoo on her wrist, growing quiet.
"He was the first," Ethan explains, finding a spot to sit on Jaeden's bed, "The first to have powers. He killed his own family, but his dad survived. His dad was blamed for the murders, considering he disappeared after Papa found him. Vecna is Henry, who was banished to the Upside Down by El. Henry is One slash Project Zero. We got our powers from him. He started all of this."
Jaeden slowly breathes, struggling to process all of this. Hallow seems the same, though she looks like she's going to have a panic attack.
"We got our powers from someone who killed his own family?" Jaeden questions, "Like... how he snapped your friends in half?"
Ethan breathes, knowing he'll regret clarifying, but he fears it may be better to build their motivation. "Worse. Nancy and Robin said that Mr. Creel retold the story that he snapped during dinner one night. He made them levitate over the table, and made them bleed through their eyes before they exploded out of their skulls. Their brains ruptured or something, but somehow, Mr. Creel survived."
Hallow feels a pit emerge in her stomach.
Ethan continues, "My friends," he hates to claim three of the victims he didn't even know were his friends, because he never knew them, though wished he had, he decides he'll just try and get Hallow and Jaeden to feel more empathetic. "They were snapped into pretzels, literally. They were tortured with visions and hallucinations before they were murdered. Technique is a little different than then... but it's still all the same. Innocent people are dying because Vecna wants power, he wants fear. I'm assuming he plans to kill El, kill us, and do whatever he wants after we can't stop him."
Jaeden sharply exhales. Hallow crosses her arms, still nervous. Upon discovering this information, she seems to have regressed to her old self, quiet, reserved. She seems too scared to utter a word. After everything they'd endured in the lab, the darkness under their world, that should have been it. But no, they just can't escape the cycle, huh?
