The YouTuber whose fans disappeared

Hidden in plain sight

Mark opened his eyes. His vision was blurred, and for a moment he had no idea where he was. As his eyes regained focus he saw a computer in front of him, to his left was a camera. He heard a something shuffling behind him, he quickly turned his head and saw him. Warfstache prowled behind him, Mark whipped his head back around.

There he was. There was the man who had done all this. The one who had taken the thing he had worked hardest for in his whole life. The man who made his fans disappear. The man who had nearly ruined his life. He had gone over this moment time and time again in his head. What he would say. What he would do. But instead Mark sat, motionless and silent.

Warfstache places his hands on Marks shoulders, he leant down and whispered in his right ear 'We're going to have some fun Marky boy!' He stood up straight and walked in front of him. Mark looked at him, his gaze didn't shift from Warfstaches piercing blue eyes. Mark wasn't scared. This is what he wanted. He needed to destroy Warfstache and he wasn't going to do that my cowering away in the darkness. Wafstache folded his arms and continued to talk 'you were doing so well! You had kept your head buried in the sand trying to convince yourself that what you was doing was worth while. And that was good enough for me. I didn't have to bother with you. I was being adored by millions, and you were wasting away. But then, THEN you decide that that wasn't good enough.' Warfstache unfolded his arms and started to turn on the cameras and computers.

Mark was suddenly blinded by lights, the camera beeped in his ear as it turned on. Warfstache took stood at the other end of the table. With the cameras rolling and the connection ready, he looked at Mark again.

'Lets make THEM decide shall me? Let's see which one of us they choose to stay and which they destroy forever? After all, they are the ones that truly matter? Right?'

Marks heart sank. His fans had left him. They abandoned him. They had taken Warfstaches side. There was no way they would pick him. Why did he make that video? Why did he tell them he was behind the 'Markiplier Heroes' channel? Why didn't he just stay quiet? All these questions raced through his head. He had no time to change what he had done, Warfstache had already begun.

There was a time the fans would have done anything for Mark, when they hung to his every word, but now they sat and watched the live stream with heavy hearts.

They didn't know what had happened to him. Over the last few years Mark wasn't himself. But it wasn't anything they hadn't seen before.

Darkiplier.

His name was now a myth. Now he was just a story. But at one time he was very real. He had consumed Marks mind, made him into a man no one wanted to see. Dark wasn't a physical being, but instead a state of mind. The fans noticed a change when Mark would play video games. Horror, gore and scare jumps no longer affected him. Instead they have him the greatest pleasure. He would sit, unfazed as humans were hurt and beaten in front of him. He wouldn't flinch as jump scares terrified his fans. He felt nothing. But the fans fought back, they showed Mark what he had become and after a long hard battle Mark won. That's why he really moved to L.A. A new start. A new frame of mind.

But now it was happening again. For the past 2 years Marks videos had changed. Mark was no longer the funny, outgoing, caring person commentating on something he truly loved. No. Now he was all about fame. Fortune. About getting the most subscribers. The core value of his channel had disappeared. In the beginning the fans could see the inner turmoil. The battle between who Mark really was and the 'Warfstache state of mind'.

Warfstache had started as just a character. Much like Dark, but then he also stood for something. He stood for selfishness. Adulation. Admiration. All the bad things that some YouTubers crave. Mark had controlled that for years, he convinced himself that that wasn't who he truly was. But he had taken over and Mark had let him. A small part of his brain however hadn't given up on the good, and that's why he made the 'Markipliers Heroes' channel. A small way to give back to the fans. It was something.

All those messages on twitter which Mark couldn't recognise were because they were about Warfstache, and how they didn't like what he had now become. But Mark hated it more. He never wanted this. He never wanted to be loved by people who just wanted his attention. No! Mark wanted fans who could make a difference, but more importantly who WANTED to make a difference.

Mark sat there and looked at Warfstache. He looked at the man he had become. And he cried. He cried still and in silence as his alter ego spewed about how great he was and that they would be stupid to follow anyone else.

Mark suddenly stood up, breaking the chains which were holding him back. Warfstache looked at him. Mark looked him straight in the eyes and said 'No more!' Warfstache glared at Mark, and slowly made his way over to him. The two parts of Marks soul were now stood toe to toe. Mark took a breath and spoke calmly and without fear 'You are nothing. A no one. I know that I am not perfect. I have let them down again and again and I thought they had finally given up. But they hadn't. They hadn't at all, you had just clouded them. You had put a smoke screen of hate between myself and the people I love, and I couldn't see that. Until now. Now I have clarity. Now I can see the monster I had allowed myself to become. But he is about to leave and never come back. Why? Because I'm stronger than you'll ever be. I have been through so much, that you are nothing more than shit on the bottom of my shoe. Get out of my life and never come back. Go and join Dark in the part of my brain which is locked away forever and which will never open again!' Mark closed his eyes. His hands were shaking, beads of sweat ran down his forehead.

Warfstache smiled and whispered his last words in Marks ear 'You know where I am if you need me' before he slicked back his hair and disappeared in a cloud of black smog.

Mark stood in silence and looked around. He was alone. Warstache had gone. He darted to the computer screen and sat down. The live stream was still going, the fans had seen it all. They had seen the battle in his mind. And they all understood.

Mark read the comments flood in. The fans had forgiven him. The fans still loved him. The fans were still by his side.

He pulled the microphone close to his mouth. He was exhausted but he had to talk, he had to say this before he left. He wiped the beads of sweat from his brow, leaned in and said 'I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry. I don't know how I didn't see it sooner. But now I see. Now I see you had never disappeared, you were always there right by my side where I needed to you. You were just hidden in plain sight. I promise I will never let you down again. I promise I will never forget my values or why I am here. You are my heroes. You have saved me once again. And for that I am forever in your debt. I am not the YouTuber whose fans disappeared. No.' He took a deep breath and looked straight down the lense, straight into the heart of all those who were watching 'I am the YouTuber who was saved..by you' and with that he said his goodbyes. And turned off the camera.

He had battled the demons in his own head and won. He'd faced his fears and conquered them. He was stronger than he ever, but now he had to make it up to them. Now was the time to become a true hero.