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blurry vision was probably the worse thing to have mid-way through a manhunt. clay’s weak hand managed to grip the mouse as he trudged through the nether. the laughter flood through his head phones became distorted and distanced, almost if the brunette on the other end was talking through a tunnel. he knew what this meant, but he was fighting against it as much as he could. his finger weakly left clicked to mine himself into the wall and block off with the left over obsidian he had before he felt himself pulled from the body.
clay looked up. he was standing in the middle of the innerworld, a road the lead one way to headspace and another way to everyone’s places in their interior world. how he got there was the question. it wasn’t like george had said anything that would’ve triggered someone to the front. he had been front stuck for a while but it didn’t make since to him. tired legs forced him to run back to the headspace in a weak attempt to get back to the front.
kai stood in front now, clear as to not knowing why they were there. they were a trauma holder and seeing as they had been pushed to the front caused worry to rush through clay.
“dream?” george’s voice called through the headphones. “are you there?” the voice wasn’t familiar to kai whatsoever. they reached out, realizing their hands were placed on a keyboard and a bright screen shone into their eyes. it had been awhile since they had fully fronted and everything was abnormal. their breath came out labored, not sure if they were just scared or if a panic attack was approaching.
“where am i?” the body’s voice was so much deeper than theirs, it scared kai as they spoke. a nervous chuckle sprouted from the other end.
“the nether?” the brit joked, not sure what was wrong with his friend on the other side.
kai shook their head, blonde hair falling into their eyes. that wasn’t normal. kai’s hair was black. “no i’m--” they paused as they heard clay’s voice from the headspace.
‘kai what’s going on?’ there was worry lacing his voice.
‘i am not sure.’ they stumbled over their words, communication was difficult.
‘can you step back from the front for me?’ they knew clay was trying to help, but it wasn’t as simple as that. they felt stuck.
‘i’m stuck.’ was all they could manage.
clay knew exactly what they meant. he paused, trying to think of his strongest triggers, preferably positive ones.
“clay?” that caught both alters’ attention. george rarely called him that unless he was genuinely worried.
‘answer him.’ clay pleaded. ‘pretend to be me. just get him to talk more, i think it’ll help us both.’ kai nodded, though they knew no one could see them.
“yes?” kai answered carefully, keeping their voice low and juvenile.
“are you alright?” the boy asked.
‘does he know about us?’ clay shook his head.
‘i’m working on it.’ kai nodded.
“yeah i a- i’m good.”
“you sound all different.” george pressed on. “we can stop recording for now if you’d like?” recording? kai didn’t question it.
“can you just-” this felt wrong but they couldn’t be in the front any more. it wasn’t good for them or clay. “can you keep talking?”
there was a pause. “yes i can.” the brit replied slowly. “what should i talk about?”
‘anything.” clay decided.
“anything.” kai repeated.
so he did. he talked about how the manhunt had been going so far, about the fact he found netherite on accident but didn’t have a diamond pickaxe and anything else he could think of. kai noticed how the blinding screen began to blur and the things george said morphed in a tunnel like way. they saw clay slip past them in the front, green and dark brown eyes meeting in mutual thankfulness.
and suddenly he was back. his hands were in his lap and his minecraft character had been moved at all. clay opened his mouth to reply to george but soon found the bashing headache of rapid switching beat into his skull. his eyes squeezed shut, leaning his head in his hands to try and reduce the pain.
“george.” he said after a while. the boy stopped speaking.
“are you really alright dream?” the boy asked carefully. not really.
“for the most part.” he lied, leaning his pained head back on his chair. george wasn’t taking that answer though. he stopped the recording on his end and turned his complete attention to the boy on the other side of the call.
“what just happened?” george asked. neither moved, a mutual breath holding contest commenced. clay drummed his fingers on the desk, trying to think of what to say.
“what do you mean?” it was the best he could come up with, but george wasn’t taking it for a second.
“you started acting all weird.” the brunette said. “you sounded different too.” clay held his breath once more.
the boy groaned, rubbing his large hand over his eyes. “can we talk about this later?” he suggested, voice muffled by his hand over his face.
“i guess.” george mumbled, “just worried about you.”
the blonde smiled. “i know george. i don’t know what i’d do without you.” the boy on the other end chuckled, leaning his own head into his hands. “i think a nap is what i need most right now though.” clay sighed. “we can continue later right?”
george nodded. “of course. sleep well.”
“thanks. see ya georgie.”
the call disappeared from their discord chat and he was left to stare at their messages. this would be the time he’d fall asleep in his chair and maggie would front to move him to the bed and everything would be alright, but for once he forced himself into the phony idea of energy.
clay pushed himself out of his chair, hands grabbing the system journal and a pen as his legs carried him to the next room. he plopped down on the couch and flipped to a new page. the green pen uncapped under his fingers, slowly meeting the paper.
front: clay 3/25
sys notes
i just got off a call with george. for the most part, everything is ok but kai got forced to the front and i’m not sure why, but it was stressful for both of us. i’m going to try and explain everything to george soon (today hopefully) so he’ll probably be someone you guys can confide him if he takes it well. which i’m sure he will.
he sat there, staring at what he had written. teeth chewed at the inside of his mouth as he flipped to the next page. it would be the best idea to write down everything he planned on telling george before he actually said it and fucked up every word, but he couldn’t think whatsoever. the remaining headache plagued his mind as his hand attempted to scribble out words.
george. i’ve been meaning to tell you this for awhile, but explaining everything has been so difficult. i want you to understand what i’m going through, but it’s hard to find the words.
green eyes read over every word. it sounded pitiful, but it was the best he had so far. sighed, he bookmarked the page with the pen and closed it, sprawling out on the couch. he tried to remember how he had told sapnap. it hadn’t been hard then. they had been calling for most of the day and the texan had started discussing horror movies, asking if clay wanted to binge some old ones with him. richie, who had been co-conscious all day pulled full front to ramble about his love for horror movies, especially 80s ones. it didn’t take nick long to realize something was off with his friend, though he enjoyed talking to someone who shared his same interest in old movies. by the time clay had made his way back to the front, almost two hours of movies had been watched and nick was around ninety percent sure (though he wasn’t sure how) he wasn’t talking to clay. the two finally discussed the reasoning for this and nick was far past understanding. he was extremely accepting, vowing to help prevent triggering any other alters to the front.
clay knew it’d be different with george of course. for sapnap, it was an opportunity for new friends and helping his friend out. george was such a sceptic though. probably for the better as well. some unwanted part of him slightly believe george wouldn’t believe him, though he knew that probably wasn’t what would happen. it was just harder to talk to him.
‘just let me do it.’ the dark brown haired boy’s words flowed through his mind and ears.
‘what do you mean?’ clay closed his eyes in hopes to hear the boy better.
‘let me tell him,’ richie suggested once more. ‘it’ll make it easier for you.
the blonde smiled. ‘thanks but i need to do this myself.’
richie shrugged, but he understood. it was a personal type of thing and he wasn’t going to take that experience from the host himself.
‘can i go play bed wars with buby?’ the teen sat down on one of the chairs in the headspace, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. clay shook his head.
‘maybe later, i wanna tell george first.’ he watched as the boy groaned, flailing back on the chair.
‘hurry up then.’ rich whined. clay chuckled, stretching his back.
‘fine.’
he screwed the idea of notes and made his way back to his room. it was always so dark in there, the screen of his pc lighting the whole room like a forest fire. his chair hid amongst the darkness of his room and his long fingers had to scout it out first before he could sit down. his flicked his mouse around the screen for no real reason, trying to search the depths of his mind for the best way to tell george everything. unfortunately he forgot discord was open, and as the brit noticed his friend was active again, he didn’t hesitate to call. clay watched as the call flashed onto his screen, stomach lurching in unpreparation. he answered nonetheless.
“hey!” george called from the other end. he could hear the smile lacing in his friend’s voice. clay smiled too.
“what’s up?” he tried his best to let the conversation not drift into unwanted territory just yet.
“nothing really,” the boy sighed, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “are you ready to talk?” fuck.
clay exhaled slowly, fumbling his fingers together. “i suppose i am.”
“it’s fine if you’re not.” george told him.
‘he’s right ya know?’ it was richie.
‘why are you so goddamn close to front?’ clay came off more rude than he intended, but the ravenette just chuckled.
‘i was worried you’d choke up,’ he explained. ‘which you are. so let me help, if you really wanna do this now.”
‘i do.’
‘then let me talk. you’ll control the body for the most part, i’ll just talk.’ richie explained
“are you alright?” george’s voice fluttered through the headset.
“yeah.” richie replied. his voice was looser than clay’s, words flowed out of his mouth without much though, but that was just the perks of being a teenager. “alright so,” the boy sat there, adjusting to his surroundings he could barely see. the body wore glasses; reading glasses. richie needed prescription lenses and they sure as hell weren’t wearing any glasses right now. he blinked. “cl-- we-- i’ve, been trying to explain this for awhile.” real smooth. “it’s not that easy though. i’ve been thinking over the most rational way to explain this in a way you’d understand, but that’s been near impossible.”
he was just rambling, george noticed. “clay,” richie winced, eyes shutting in annoyance. “it’s ok if you’re not ready.”
“i am ready though, i have been for the longest time.” the boy groaned, head falling back on the chair. he took one last deep breath before sitting up again. “a little more than a year ago i got diagnosed with something.” clay, who still had control over most of the body, found his hands shaking nervously.
‘i got this.’ richie insisted. ‘don’t worry.’
‘i’ll try not to.’ the blonde rolled his eyes.
richie smiled. “i got diagnosed with a slightly uncommon disorder called D.I.D, or dissociative identity disorder if you’re feeling fancy-” the teen bit his tongue quickly. nervous jokes weren’t really clay’s thing. “i’m down to explain it and all if you don’t understand.”
“oh.” there was something about george’s response. he wasn’t puzzled, or confused. it was more of like a door on a game show had been opened for him and he had already predicted what was behind it. “actually i-” he fumbled on his words. “i figured something was up a while ago. i did some research and i would’ve said something but i didn’t want to assume, especially with the situations in which it’s developed.”
“i thought that fucker’d be better at masking, huh.” it was richie’s turn to be confused.
“pardon?” george asked, light chuckle in his question.
“clay. i assumed he would’ve hidden it better, with the fact most of his life is all out in the open and such.” he received a slap on the wrist for that one.
“and that makes you..?”
“i’m richie.” the boy introduced.
“are you who i was talking to earlier?” george asked. “you don’t sound like them.”
richie tilted his head. “ ‘fraid im not sure about that one.” he admitted. “you’d have to ask clay.”
“right.” the brunette muttered. “is there a reason you’re telling me and not him?”
richie refrained from calling his headmate a pussy. “he was having a hard time figuring out how to tell you.” he explained instead. “i figured it’d be easier for me to do.”
george nodded. “it was nice meeting you richie.”
“i like the way you say my name.” the younger chuckled. “sounds all fancy- ‘richie’ “ he mocked the boys accent.
“you’re better at a british accent than dream.” george laughed, smile falling onto his face.
“why thank you.” richie mused. “i’ll be sure to bully him about that later.”
the brunette laughed, rolling his eyes slightly. “you wouldn’t mind if i talked to him now?”
“not at all. he’s nearby anyways, wanted to talk to you i think.” he sighed. “i’ll see you later then.”
“bye richie.”
the teen laid his head back, eyes fluttering closed as his head began to ache. he looked around in the darkness as the sound around him began tunneling and everything went fuzzy.
‘were you at clay?’ he asked into the void.
‘here.’ the boy’s voice pulled him into the headspace. he smiled up at his headmate.
‘george wants to talk to you buddy.’ richie explained, stretching and stepping out of front. clay nodded, smiling gratefully as he stepped foreward.
everything began to fade back in, like a game loading screen but you’re watching it load through a three foot long pole. eventually that pole shrunk and the outside audio faded back in. his head burned but he pressed through it, eyes opening to see the ongoing call in front of him
“hey george.” he greeted.
“hi dream.” the boy was smiling, though he knew his friend couldn’t see. “it’s good to talk to you again.”
“you too georgie.” he chuckled. “so, you met richie. how was that?”
“it was interesting.” george laughed. “he’s something.”
“that’s for sure.” clay agreed, hand brushing his hair back so he could see better. “is there anything you wanna talk about?”
“well,” george sighed. “i do have a few questions but we can talk about them later. right now i was wondering if you’d like to pickup on that manhunt?”
“i’d love to.” dream smiled. he grabbed his mouse and opened minecraft back up as well as obs. “thank you by the way.” he added.
“for what?” george asked, also opening the applications back up.
“for being so understanding.” clay explained. “it means a lot, more than you’d know.”
“of course.” the brunette scoffed. “you’re my best friend dream.”
the boy smiled. “thank you.”