Hey guys. Acelegin here. The following post touches on themes of sexual assault, self harm, and suicide, so I'm placing a mature content warning on this entry. You have been warned.
Red Daniel enters Sal's bar with his right arm bound in a splint.
Alyssa; Red, why are you here on your day off? And why is your arm broken?
Red Daniel; Well, I got my ass kicked, and I could use a drink. Could you get Sal to whip up an APple daiquiri?
Alyssa; Hold on. He's in the back. I'll go get him.
Alyssa goes to the back, while Red Daniel has a seat at the bar.
Red Daniel; Damn it...
Red Daniel clutches his wounded arm.
Red Daniel; Every goddamn time...
Sal and Alyssa return from the back room.
Sal; Let me guess. Acelegin, again?
Red Daniel; I'll win one of these days. Mark my words!
Sal; Sure you will. What can I drown your pain in today?
Red Daniel; APple Daiquiri. Iced.
Sal; Alright. Give me a minute.
Sal goes off to prepare Red Daniel's drink.
Alyssa; Acelegin's the one who broke your arm?
Red Daniel; Yep.
Alyssa; How'd he manage that? Don't those crazy super powers make you almost invincible?
Red Daniel; Yeah, exactly. "Almost" isn't always enough.
Sal returns and hands Red Daniel a drink.
Sal; Here.
Red Daniel; Thanks. Anyway, the thing with Acelegin is that all of his creations have a disadvantage while fighting him.
Alyssa; How does that work?
Red Daniel; Think of it like a stat boost. Acelegin gets stronger while fighting any of his creations. And if his facing more than one of his creations, the stat boosts stack.
Sal; In other words, we just can't beat him.
Alyssa; Then why do you keep picking fights with him?
Red Daniel; He'll slip up someday. And when he does, I'll finally kick the shit out of him.
Sal; I mostly just challenge him for sparring purposes. Who better to train with than someone you can't defeat?
Alyssa; You guys are fucking weird...
Red Daniel; Thank you.
Meanwhile, at Acelegin's apartment, Acelegin walks through the door.
Ghost Papyrus; Greetings, human!
Acelegin; I have a name...
Ghost Sans; What have you been up to?
Acelegin; Nothing much. Are you guys watching the news?
Ghost Papyrus; Indeed!
Acelegin; Why?
Ghost Papyrus We are trying to learn more about humans!
Ghost Sans; There's also nothing else on right now.
Acelegin; Okay... Also, how? I don't have cable. Or satellite...
Ghost Sans; That's a good question...
Acelegin; So what are they talking about?
Ghost Papyrus; I don't know. Let's turn it up.
Acelegin turns up the volume.
News Reporter; ...Reports of possible cult activity in the area have seemed to be on the rise as of late, and while no evidence seems to be available as to who these people are, there is some speculation that they may be involved in a number of recent disappearances.
Acelegin; Cult activity? That's so...
Ghost Papyrus; Terrifying?
Ghost Sans; Unsettling?
Pounce; Meow?
Acelegin ...Boring. You guys wanna play Mario Kart?
Ghost Papyrus; Yay! Mario Kart!
Meanwhile, back at Sal's.
Alyssa; So what's the deal with your powers? You never explained how you got them.
Red Daniel; That's not a tale I like telling.
Alyssa; How many more drinks is it gonna take to get that origin story out of you?
Red Daniel sighs.
Red Daniel; Whatever. Pour me a shot and I'll explain how I got like this.
Alyssa pours a shot of rum for Red Daniel, who tosses it back before taking a moment to get his thoughts together.
Red Daniel; This power is called the Redness. It's basically pure Vice. I got infected with it at a party when I was a teenager. It got inside of me. Pulled my inner vices to the surface, twisting them into something... horrible...
Alyssa; And what happened.
Red Daniel; I saw a girl. One of the popular chicks at school. And I just... lost control.
Alyssa; What do you mean "lost control"?
Red Daniel closes his eyes for a moment, before opening them and looking Alyssa in the eyes.
Red Daniel; I raped her.
Alyssa takes a step back, alarmed.
Alyssa; Holy shit...
Red Daniel; Told you. Don't like telling this story. Afterwards, the Redness subsided, and I regained control. But by that point, it was too late. I got arrested. Locked up. Virtually disowned by everyone I cared about. I spent the next few years alone with the overwhelming guilt I had from what I'd done.
Alyssa; But you just told me! You weren't in control. Everything that happened was the Redness's fault! Right?
Red Daniel chuckles.
Red Daniel; That must be easy for an outsider to say. But I was there. I was conscious of everything going on, and I was too weak to stop myself.
Red Daniel looks down a his left arm, examining several, barely visible, faded scars.
Red Daniel; The guilt and shame... they came so close to destroying me. I nearly ended it all before the Redness resurfaced. It offered me an alternative. It offered me a chance to live without guilt. A chance to live without the judging eyes of my peers making a damn difference to me. It offered me a chance to trade in my guilt for power. All I had to do was let the Redness consume me.
Alyssa; And you accepted...
Red Daniel; I was desperate.
Red Daniel wiggles his shot glass toward Alyssa, who refilled it.
Red Daniel; What I didn't see coming, however, was that without guilt, my other emotions grew stronger to fill the gap. Anger. Sadness. Grief...
Red Daniel downs his shot.
Red Daniel; I fell in love with a guy. Doug. He was great.
Alyssa; What happened to him?
Red Daniel; He got torn apart. Right in front of me. And I was forced to watch it all happened.
Red Daniel looks sadly at his empty shot glass.
Red Daniel; Again, I was too weak to do anything. I wanted the grief to end so badly. But of course, the Redness had too much power over me. It wouldn't let me end it myself. So, I pissed off another me so badly that he impaled me with a flaming samurai sword.
Alyssa; Wait, what?
Red Daniel; Oh, right, there's some crazy fucking multiverse shit involved. It's weird... But, sometime after all that, Acelegin brought me back. Since then, I've been in control of the Redness. I can't feel its pull on me anymore. Almost like it doesn't have its own consciousness anymore.
Alyssa; I see. So, is she the only one you've... you know...
Red Daniel; I haven't raped anyone else, if that's what you wanna know. I've done some fucked up shit, but I haven't crossed that specific line since then.
Alyssa remains silent for a while
Red Daniel remains silent.
Alyssa; Do you... remember?
Red Daniel; I could never forget...
Red Daniel sighs.
Red Daniel; Carol. Carol Zuiver.
Red Daniel gestures for Alyssa to fill his glass again.
Alyssa; Have you seen her since then?
Red Daniel; No. I've thought about checking up on her... but...
Red Daniel sighs.
Red Daniel; I'm afraid to. I don't know if I wanna see how what I did affected her.
Red Daniel and Alyssa sit in silence for a few minutes. After a while, Red Daniel grabs his splint, and tears the entire thing off with little effort. He bends his elbow a few times and flexes his arm.
Red Daniel; Alright, good as new. I'm gonna head home now. Just put this all on my tab.
Meanwhile, back at Acelegin's apartment.
Acelegin; Damn it! So close!
Ghost Papyrus; Victory is mine! I love this game!
Acelegin; Ugh, you suck.
Acelegin's phone begins ringing.
Acelegin; Hey Sans, I gotta take this. Wanna play the next track for me?
Ghost Sans; Sure.
Acelegin hands the controller to Ghost Sans before picking up his phone.
Red Daniel; Hey, Ace.
Acelegin; Sup, loser. How's your arm?
Red Daniel; All ready to go for some alone time. I'm on my way home. Is there anything good in the fridge?
Acelegin; I think here's some chicken and potatoes in there... Want me to get the rice cooker started?
Red Daniel; Sure. See you in a bit, dumbass.
Acelegin; Fuck you too.
Acelegin hangs up his phone.
Acelegin; I'll be the kitchen for a minute. Let me know when the next race starts.
Ghost Sans; Sure thing.
Later, at Sal's, Sal and Alyssa and busy cleaning up the bar, when another version of Daniel walks in. His long brown hair flows down past his shoulders, and he wears a dark, black vest. In his left hand, he carries a wakizashi. The sword's sheath has been noticeably split in half and repaired with gorilla glue. Alyssa and Sal notice him approach.
Alyssa; What? Another Daniel?
Sal's eyes widen.
Sal; That's not just any Daniel! That's the original Daniel! The first of them...
Daniel Ferris; I'm looking for me. Have I been here recently?
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