Chapter Text
Derek came through to his phone, burning hot in his hand, an aching pain down his face, and the noise of the still ongoing call with Avery. He felt hungover, his body sluggish as he sat up with a groan.
“—erek? Are you awake?” Avery asked, his voice cutting through Derek’s daze.
“Yeah— I’m awake,” Derek replied tiredly. He rubbed his face with a grimace, dried blood flaking off as he did. He pushed himself up from where he had slumped against the wall, his muscles straining as he did. Everything hurt, his entire body ached, there was a gnawing hunger in his stomach, and a tremble to his every movement. It was horrible. It is the consequences of your actions; perhaps refrain from such primitive attempts to rid yourself of me, and you would not be experiencing this… and the bastard was still in his head.
“That’s good, you have been out for a while, and you sounded exhausted earlier,” Avery replied. Derek hummed noncommittally as he stood up. He glanced at his phone, which was dying and at three percent. The time showed he had been out for two hours; he grimaced.
“I can tell, my phone is almost dead,” Derek sighed, his stomach growled, “and I’m starving.”
“Do you need to get off and go eat?” Avery questioned. Maybe eat, but he needed to check his eye; he could see out of it, he didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. I made some adjustments. Bad thing. Very bad thing.
“Uh… yeah, probably… thank you for staying on with me,” Derek muttered as he walked slowly out of his room.
“Of course! Anytime,” Avery replied cheerfully.
“Yeah, goodbye, Avery,” Derek sighed.
“Oh, bye–” Avery was cut off by Derek ending the call. Derek stared at his phone for a moment before tossing it onto his desk as he walked past. He ended up in the bathroom, his hands braced against the sink counter.
Dried blood was caked around his left eye, muddy red and flaking off. The eye itself was… wrong. Where the day before it had been brown, the eye was completely gold now. The iris and pupil were golden, and the veins on the eye were the same. He could see a faint scar on the eye from where he stabbed it, but it was completely healed. The vision was a bit blurry in that eye now, but nowhere near as bad as it should have been.
Derek took a small breath and grabbed a washcloth off the rack and then wet it. He gently scrubbed blood off his face with a grimace. When he finally got it all off, that side of his face was raw but clean. He looked back at his reflection with a frown. He looked horrible; he didn’t know if he would ever look better. He was about to turn around and leave, and then he saw it behind him in the mirror.
“Hello, Derek. How do you like the adjustments I made?” The King in Yellow asked. It was tall, hunched over in the small bathroom, a yellow cloak covered its figure and shrouded its face in darkness– but Derek could swear he saw an outline of a cruel grin on its face– a spiked crown rested on its head, and tendrils curled around it and the floor. Derek froze, his gaze fixed on the figure behind him. “I spared your vision, my knight, you should be grateful I was so merciful after your attempt to get rid of me.”
“How are you here– I thought you didn’t have the power!” Derek snapped, he whirled to face it. Fear gripped his heart as he stared directly at its face, meeting the one glowing eye he could see clearly. He could feel the amusement– the superiority– radiating off the other.
“So many questions…. They will be answered in time, but for now, know I am not so easily defeated, and I will not be stopped by your pathetic attempts.” The King in Yellow sneered. It moved forward, crowding Derek back against the sink. A hand reached out from the cloak– it looked like it was made of darkness– and grasped his face. It was freezing and made Derek hold his breath as it inspected his eye. “This is proof of my mercy. Listen to me. Follow me and you could have anything you desire,” it paused, tilling its head, the crown scraped the ceiling as it did. “You want my chosen vessel, no?” Derek flinched at the question. “I could give you him, you could be with him forever,” it offered sweetly. It was a lie Derek knew it was, but just for a moment, the offer curled around his head and heart, tempting him.
“You are lying, you won’t give me Avery– you’ll give me a cheap copy, not him, it wouldn’t be him,” Derek snapped. He carefully stood back to his full height instead of cowering back. The figure should have been blocked slightly by the door, but it wasn’t; it was phasing straight through. The King in Yellow wasn’t physically there. “And you aren’t even as powerful as you are pretending to be, you aren’t even actually here.”
“You are far too clever for your own good,” The King in Yellow spat. “I am not be in your world yet, but I am close, and you should fear me. I am in your mind– your soul– I could ruin you until your head is nothing but a husk for what was once your mind.”
“But you won’t,” Derek challenged. “You still need me, you still need my mind intact.” Derek grinned; it wasn’t from happiness but from victory. He hadn’t lost yet; he could still save Avery.
“Yeah, goodbye, Avery,” Derek sighed.
“Oh, bye… Derek… fuck,” Avery hissed the last part as he stared at his screen. He had thought he would be able to talk to him more, not that Derek would hang up the second he woke up. He had spent three hours talking to Derek while he slept, telling him what he was doing about his day because he asked him to, and then he just hung up without even letting him say bye. It seemed like he never got to say bye to Derek.