Bring Me Back {Book 2 of the Possession Series}

29

The crackling of burning branches faded away and was replaced by the thudding of Ethan's heart in his ears. Standing eye to eye with the person..the thing that had tried to ruin your life, your friends' lives. It created a rush of so many emotions, none of them positive.
If every breath hadn't wheezed in his throat, it was likely he would've launched himself at the sinister counterparts of his friends and himself standing mere feet away.
Amy, on the other hand, had no problem throwing herself towards Dark, spitting obscenities. Signe caught her before she could tumble into the well-dressed clone of Mark.
"You fucker! You killed him!" Amy shouted, struggling against Signe's grip.
"And now, it's killing me," Dark responded softly, gesturing to his ever-fading form.
"Do you think I care about what's killing you?" She had given up trying to pull away, and instead was catching her breath, stolen by anger and the smoke from the fire.
"I think you do, my dear." He gave a smile.
"If Dark here disappears, unfortunately, so does your precious Markimoo," Anti supplied.
"Mark's not dead?" Amy went completely still, and the group listened only to the sounds of fire for a moment.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, narrowing his eyes at his own counterpart.
"It seems your friend is in a bit of a coma. Death in The White Room isn't the same as death out here."
"So he can be saved? He's alive?"
"Essentially."
Ethan held up a hand. "What do you want from us? I know you aren't here just to be friendly with your escapees."
The opposite group exchanged looks, then turned back as Dark sighed heavily.
"Hospital. Mark needs one," he said. "If he goes, I do too."
The change in Dark's demeanor was noticeable. There was more of a blue tint to him now. The name Damien supplied itself in Ethan's head.
"You want us. To help you?" Ethan asked. "After you trap us in that Hell room, use our bodies for recording, and kill our friend? You want help?"
Dark looked almost embarrassed, although some of the red tint was creeping back into his outline.
"Unless you'd rather us do it ourselves and risk harming Mark, then yeah," Blank said, breaking his own silence. He sounded inhumanely sad, and it almost made Ethan sad to listen to.
Almost.
"Give us a minute," Ethan said through his teeth, turning on his heel and gathering his friends close to him.
"We can't do this, can we?" Amy asked. "I mean, morally, can we help demons?"
"I thought you of all of us would want Mark back the most?" Jack questioned, looking at her in surprise.
"I do, I do." She shook her head. "I just don't know what to do. None of this feels right, my lungs feel like they're on fire."
"Speaking of fire, we can't stay here much longer," Signe put in. Amy looked up, then nodded, a grim expression on her face.
"So we do it then?" Jack asked.
"We don't have much choice. I have a feeling they'd put us back in that room for good if we refused," Ethan said.
"He makes a good point," a voice from behind them said.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to eavesdrop," Amy said, her voice near a snarl.
"My mother?" The blue rushed back, but only for a moment. "This isn't about my mother. This is about your choice. What's it going to be?"
"If you can take us home to Mark, we'll help you," Ethan answered.
"Home? Well why didn't you just say so!" A grin spread across Dark's face as he clapped once.
A sickening feeling spread through Ethan as his world went black, then immediately went bright again. He gagged, resting his weight on his hands and knees.
"Was that necessary?" Jack asked, looking as woozy as Ethan felt.
"If you would've rather walked back through part of the burning forest, yes," Anti said, enjoying the feeling of sickness in the air.
Had Jack felt well enough, he probably would've called Anti a bastard.
"Where's Mark?" Amy asked, standing slowly the nausea slowly receding.
"Living room," Dark answered. He left the kitchen, which he had so graciously dropped the group into, and sauntered to the living room.
"Pompous bitch," Ethan muttered, hearing Jack chuckle beside him as they followed.
In the living room, Dark gestured to Mark's motionless, but breathing, form laid out on the couch. Amy gasped, then broke into a coughing fit.
"See? He's fine," Anti said. "But a hospital would wake him up, right?"
"No." Ethan's answer was quiet, but heads turned to look at him anyway. "They could help keep him alive, maybe, but it's not..They can't promise he'd..It's not a sure thing that he'd make it."
"I'm willing to bet getting rid of your sorry ass would bring him back, though," Jack muttered. If Dark heard, he paid no mind to the comment.
"We probably should take him anyway," Amy sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. "Who knows what kind of internal shit he's got going on. He was shot twice, after all."
"Shouldn't affect him here," Anti said, waving it off. "It was real enough in The Room, but those bullets would've done nothing out here."
"Oh, fun," Jack said dryly.
"How long has he been back out here?" Ethan asked, racking his brain for ideas.
"Not long. A day or so," Dark answered.
"Fun question, but would you disappearing bring him back?" Signe asked, bringing up the question the rest hadn't dared to asked.
"Probably," woofed the darker version of Chica from the floor.
"Hush, dog," Dark said, glaring at her. She huffed, then rested her head on her paws, watching the two groups.
"In theory," he continued, "yes. But if it's up to me, I'd like to stick around."
"What if we make a deal?" Ethan suggested.
"That depends. What kind of deal are we talking?" Blank responded in deadpan. Dark held up a hand to silence him.
"I'd say..we get Mark back so you don't vanish, and you all leave us the fuck alone. You'll still get your 'Halloween moments' in the spotlight, and with the second Heist coming out, I'm sure you'll have a place in the team. You wouldn't want to miss out on that, would you..Damien?"
Dark froze, and if Ethan focused hard enough, he could hear faint yelling. Suddenly, Dark's hand was grasping him by the shirt collar, lifting him upwards.
"If you ever. Call me by that name again. It will be the last thing you ever do, that is a promise."
He dropped Ethan, watching coldly as the young man stood back up on shaky legs. Amy took Ethan's arm gently, leading him back so Jack could stand in front.
"If I had a clear thought in my mind, I would kill all of you and figure this out myself," Dark said smoothly, unbothered by the thought of murder. "But unfortunately, I sort of rely on you pricks to get my body back. Let me speak with the others, and we'll let you know our stance on the deal."
Dark turned and left, the rest of his crew following behind.
Ethan slumped back down to the floor, resting his back on the wall and pulling his knees to his chest. Amy sat by the couch, placing her hand lightly on Mark's cheek and kissing his forehead. Every so often, Ethan could catch a glimpse of a tear sliding down her face. She was whispering to Mark, though Ethan couldn't make out the words. Jack was a little ways away from Ethan, head back against the wall with his eyes closed.
It could've been minutes or hours or days before Dark finally returned, none of the exhausted, smoke stained group would've known the difference.
"We've talked it over," Dark said, surveying the four of them, paying no mind to Mark's motionless form. "If you can find a way to bring him back, we will leave."
Ethan wanted to cheer, to shout to the heavens that yes, finally, something was going their way.
"And if we can't?" Signe dared to ask.
"Then I'm sure your combined life forces will be enough to stabilize me." Dark smiled, though it wasn't a genuine one. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

[I feel I should specify—I know Damien is not part of Darkiplier in canon, but for the sake of the story assume he is, and assume he despises others using that name for him now]