Knight is walking around a city when he suddenly gets hit by a truck. Who are the drivers? The Playwright and Enoch, the latter is quoting the bible.
Knight flies through the air like a ragdoll and ends up crashing through the wall of an abandoned pizza parlor.
“ACCCCCCKKKKK” Knight exclaims as he tries to get up, but a ceiling fan comes loose. “Aw Fuck.” It falls onto his head, frying him like a piece of concussed bacon.
“What else could go wrong?” Knight grumbles as he removes it from his head. Unbeknownst to him, A Picture of this is taken as a Camera Flash goes off. Knight takes a deep breath, and then screams. He gets out of the rubble and leaves the destroyed pizza parlor.
“WHAT ELSE DO YOU GOT FOR ME, UNIVERSE??? HMMMM?” He screams in anger before getting hit by another trunk. He flies like a ragdoll again, this time ending up crashing into a gas pump which starts to leak gasoline. He gets up before yelling, “LEARN TO DRIVE ASS HAT”.
For this He gets run over again, the front part of him getting covered in gasoline, as Enoch starts singing verses from Living In The Light. Knight tries to get up but The Playwright backs up and runs him over again.
Knight tries to get up again, now covered entirely by gasoline. Suddenly, He gets set on fire.
“This is fine. This is fine. I am okay with the events that are currently transpiring.” He stammered before getting struck by lightning. A comedic smoke ring exits his mouth as he is covered in soot. “When I find whoever is doing this to me, I will kill them.” He grumbles before heading back to Harmonia’s house.
As he reaches the house, he trips on a comedically placed pebble and falls face first onto the front lawn. His nose is broken as he screams into the dirt while still on fire. Alastor appears with a fire extinguisher and sets it down next to Knight.
Knight just looks at him and groans, “Just let me burn.” Alastor picks up the fire extinguisher and bops Knight on the head before disappearing. “Yep, I deserve that.” Knight says as he crawls his way into the house. “When will this day end?”
---
In a different place, happening around the same time, Harmonia enters her room. She sees that a tarot card was left on her bed. She picks it up and looks it over, It’s the Hanged Man. Orpheus walked in after her before shutting the door and running over to her. “...uh….I got one of those too I think?” he comments.
“Weird,” Harmonia shrugs and pockets the card. “So what’s up?” She asks him.
“...uh….Cole made the walls soundproof, were you told that?”
“No I wasn’t… all he told me about was Spider and Drews argument and the post Luna made on twitter….” Harmonia looks embarrassed while saying this.
“...w-well.. uh….I’ve wanted to make up with you for a really really long time because I’ve been feeling kinda of bad recently and I don’t know, as soon as I became this I’ve felt happier and people around me seem happier and I want to make more friends with the people because all I’ve felt recently is being so pissed off at Spider and Luna and stuff and I’ve felt so distant from Knight recently and I don’t know if I want to stay with him after the corruption is handled and I’ve been thinking and reflecting and-d ahghggh I don’t-t know I don’t know I’m sorry!!” Orpheus cries before hugging her and practically pushing her over onto the bed, nuzzling against her neck and starting to fucking S O B.
Harmonia holds and hugs him, softly petting him. “It’s okay,,, It’ll be okay I promise.” His tail wags as he cries into her, babbling incoherently while she continues to hug and pet him. ”It’ll be okay buds, I promise.”
This continues for a hot minute before Orpheus whimpers, “iwwanna try and be your friennddd iw an t to try and be good i wantnn.. I don’tt want to always be mad im sorryy i feel like ive been an asshole and she deserves it. She does but i dont.. know aughhhhh.”
Harmonia gently answers with “You are my friend…. You are good. It’ll be okay… everything will be okay….”
She continues to pet him while he starts to calm down, sniffling a bit.
“..rremember how.. when we first met I said orpheus wasnt my real name..??”
“Yeah,,”
“..eric. that probably like.. So. underwhelming, but like… yknoww…thats it..!” He sighs before Harmonia continues to pet him.
“I like both your names.”
“..what do you mean..??” Orpheus stammers.
“They’re both cool! But I get if you like Orpheus better, Greek mythology buds..”
“..so, like…your full name is Harmonia Iris Reeds, yeah??”
“Mhm!”
“...Eric Mallory Martin is mine. I hit the jackpot with 3 first names, ehhe…”
Harmonia smiles before ruffling his hair. “It’s nice! Has a ring to it.”
"rreally..?? I got like.. bullied. for having a female name for my middle name. Which was weird. People named ryan have no right to talk.”
"Yeah I agree. Fuck Ryans. You deserved better."
"hahha, right..." Orpheus sighs, unhugging her and flomping onto her bed.
He rubs his face with his paws, growling a little. "..i feel weird. i wasnt in a stable mental state at all. like... ever when we first met. i feel like half of it was leviathan's influence or just... me being. stupid. i dont knoww..." He goes silent for a second. "i need to move onn… I still keep thinking about him and that added with constant worry about knight and the inability to talk about anything with himm fhuckkkk...then there's the... threatening... his own friends for me." He sighs. "I jumped in too fast"
"Yeah... I know what you mean... I felt a little the same when stuff was happening with Claire's memory and programming... It's better now but I just mean I know how you feel a bit..."
"Wwel i dontt fucking knoww!!! I dont... want.t o undermine you thats.. rude, just.." He whimpers and slams his paws into his face out of frustration. "I feel like if I say anything or reveal anything orr just do anything its going to end the same way as last time bbbut this time he'll di e e and i dont.. want. thatt.." He sounds on the verge of tears again.
Harmonia pets his head while saying, "I wont let him die. It'll be okay... I just... I mean that after I died, Claire's programming couldnt take it. If I tried to see her in person she would've... point is it would've been bad.. and after for a bit I couldnt tell her things and... sorry I don't mean to make this about me. But if you want to break up with him when this is over, I can do my best to help"
"..llook..ccan i.. just. trauma dump for a bit??..ssorry."
"Yeah of course. Sorry." She pets his head gently.
"sso, uh..bbefore all this i was like..in. a relationship, right..? He was like.. this cool guy, right? I thought he was better than me and all.. I was.. Like. My parents died when I was really young so I kinda got shoved off to others. My childhood was like... mostly spent with private schools and doing church stuff.. I was.. kind of religious. Sorta.. bbut, uhm… I didn't feel wanted. Like. At all. And I wanted to run away.. He was kind of like that escape for me…” He takes a breather.
"So as soon as possible, I moved in with him and all. Sort of abandoned everything else in my life for it which was... bad....He got addicted. Very badly. To a lot of bad things and I... barely remember it, right? ...I sort of felt like I was being used to feed that. His friends didnt really make me feel wanted at all....I tried voicing my concerns and he nearly killed me with a knife. So....yeah, haha..." He pauses. "That was right before the hell stuff. I had abandoned my faith too. I didn't feel like I could really... go back. I felt irredeemable. So that was the only other group of people I felt I could maybe turn to out of the question. ...His friends kept me around out of pity and obligation, I think...I barely remember what happened between then and exiting hell anymore."
Harmonia pulls him into a hug "You're wanted now,,, I promise."
Orpheus whispers something into her ear before she smiles and nods.
"I know." She ruffles his fur. He blushes, getting insanely flustered.
"whhhghg... wwhhw?? Wwha???”
"I mean I can tell a little"
"..I!!!"
Harmonia giggles as he paps her face. She just laughs as he continues with the paps while being very embarrassed.
"Ngfjrhbj..!!!" He huffs before checking the Knight Corruption Percent Tamagotchi as his tail wags.
"Whats up?" Harmonia asks. Orpheus’s embarrassed yet somewhat happy expression melts into one of pure horror.
"oh. no. Oh no oh no oh no."
"What?? Whats up?"
"...ffuckk fuck fuck fuckkkfuckkk…”
"What is it??"
Orpheus drops the Tamagotchi, curling up into a ball and starting to have a. tiny bit of a panic attack.
"iccantdothisrightnowicantdothisrightnoww this is too sudden i have no plann i cantticanticanticant" Harmonia holds and tries to comfort him.
"It'll be okay it'll be okay-" He unhugs Harmonia and runs out of the room, wiping his face and trying to compose himself as she follows him.
In the kitchen, Kade is simply vibing when Knight crawls in before trying to stand by using the counter. He fails as he slips and hits the ground, squeaking out a small “ow.”
“You alright?” Kade asks.
“Yep. Got ran over three times, thrown into a pizza place and a gas pump, and then struck by lightning. It’s a normal day for me.”
“wh, uh, I, okay. Do you need. First aid, or- A drink??”
“I’m okay.’ Knight gives Kade a shaky thumbs up.
“This is sounding a lot like the ‘Don’t worry’ cycle.”
“Nah nah, I can heal myself due to my time powers.”
Kade gives a thumbs up and says “Gotcha.”
Knight, still laying on the floor, takes out his silver pocket watch. It starts to smoke as it burns his hand. He slides it away from himself before passing out.
As Orpheus enters, the Corrupted Silver Pocketwatch starts to inch towards Knight before rising and flinging itself at him. Orpheus intercepts it before it melts into shadows and disappears. Outside, crunching can be heard as Raine eats it.
Knight starts to turn into sand before Orpheus catches the Good Pocketwatch and slams it onto his chest. It flings open as the clock hands start to spin counter-clockwise very quickly before it and Knight disappear.
Orpheus just stares in bewilderment. “Fucking. okay then???” He looks over to Raine. “Thanks, Ghostly Ghoul Man???”
---
“Ꭲꮖꮯꮶ Ꭲꮻꮯꮶ.”
Knight wakes up in a black and white room while sitting in a gray armchair. He frantically looks around as the room appears to be some Noir-Detective esq office. He continues looking around before setting his eyes on the chair before him.
It swings around as a person in a black and white pinstripe suit with a spiraling clock for a head smokes a cigar. He looks through some documents before setting them down on the black desk in front of them.
“Ꭺꮮꮖꮯꭼ Ꮯꭺꭱꭱꮻꭲ Ꮶᴨꮖꮐꮋꭲ ꮯꮻꭱꭱꭼꮯꭲ?"
“Umm…Yes?”
Knight coughs as he gets smoke blown in his face.
“Ꮖᴨꭲꭼꭱꭼꮪꭲꮖᴨꮐ Nꭺꮇꭼ. Ꭰꮻ ꭹꮻꮜ ꮶᴨꮻꮃ ꮃꮋꭹ ꭹꮻꮜ ꭺꭱꭼ ꮋꭼꭱꭼ?”
“Um no? Who are you?”
“Ꮍꮻꮜ ꭺꭱꭼ ꮋꭼꭱꭼ ᏼꭼꮯꭺꮜꮪꭼ Ꮖ ꭰꭼꮯꮖꭰꭼꭰ ꭲꮻ ꮖᴨꭲꭼꭱꮩꭼᴨꭼ.”
“Intervene? Intervene what?”
“Ꮍꮻꮜ ꮩꮖꮻꮮꭺꭲꭼꭰ ꭺ ꮩꭼꭱꭹ ꮖꮇꮲꮻꭱꭲꭺᴨꭲ Ꮮꭺꮃ. Ꮍꮻꮜꭱ ꮪꮻꮜꮮ ꮃꮻꮜꮮꭰ'ꮩꭼ ᏼꭼꭼᴨ ꮪꮲꮮꮖꭲ ᏼꭼғꮻꭱꭼ ғꭺꮯꮖᴨꮐ ꭻꮜꭰꮐꭼꮇꭼᴨꭲ ᏼꭹ ꭲꮋꭼ ꮯꮻꮜᴨꮯꮖꮮ, ᏼꮜꭲ Ꮖ ꮖᴨꭲꭼꭱꮩꭼᴨꭼꭰ.”
“Why???”
The man sets his cigar down before taking a shot of cheap whiskey.
“Ꮍꮻꮜ ꭺꭱꭼ ꭺ ꮩꭼꭱꭹ ꮖᴨꭲꭼꭱꭼꮪꭲꮖᴨꮐ ꮖᴨꭰꮖꮩꮖꭰꮜꭺꮮ. Ꮇꮻꭱꭼ...ꭼxꮯꮖꭲꮖᴨꮐ.”
The man rests his elbows on his desk as his dark gray hands form an arch. Two clocks appear on the desk with a chime, a miniature dark oak grandfather clock and a modern alarm clock.
“Ꮖ'ꮇ ꮐꮻꮖᴨꮐ ꭲꮻ ꮐꮖꮩꭼ ꭹꮻꮜ ꭺ ꮯꮋꮻꮖꮯꭼ. Ꮍꮻꮜ ꮯꭺᴨ ꭼꮖꭲꮋꭼꭱ ꮯꮻᴨꭲꮖᴨꮜꭼ ꮻᴨ ꭹꮻꮜꭱ ꮃꭺꭹ ꭲꮻ ꭲꮋꭼ ꮯꮻꮜᴨꮯꮖꮮ, ꭱꮖꮪꮶꮖᴨꮐ ꮲꮜᴨꮖꮪꮋꮇꭼᴨꭲ. Ꮻꭱ Ꮖ ꮯꭺᴨ ꮪꭼᴨꭰ ꭹꮻꮜ ᏼꭺꮯꮶ, ᏼꮜꭲ ꮖꭲ ꮃꮖꮮꮮ ꮯꮻꮪꭲ ꭹꮻꮜ ꮐꭱꭺꮩꭼꮮꭹ.”
“WHO EVEN ARE YOU???”
The Clock Man sighs. He hands him a gray business card that simply says Ꭻꮻꮋᴨ in fancy black text.
“Ꮃꮋꮖꮯꮋ ꮃꮖꮮꮮ ꭹꮻꮜ ꮯꮋꮻꮻꮪꭼ, Ꭻꮜꮪꭲꮖꮯꭼ ꮻꭱ Ꮲꮜᴨꮖꮪꮋꮇꭼᴨꭲ?”
Knight, still very fucking confused, internally debates for a bit. Yet before Knight decides, the scene cuts to black with Ꭻꮻꮋᴨ’s words echoing in the darkness.
“Ꭲꮖꮯꮶ Ꭲꮻꮯꮶ.”