This was unexpected.

Okay, well, the events of the previous day were unexpected.

This was more than unexpected.

From everyone's separate accounts, they'd all deduced the reason for the events of the previous day were that Dan Kouzo had been controlled by Haavik.

Ajit had been the first to give his account, then Barbara Kouzo had spoken about her interactions with her son that morning, Dragonoid explained his part and the remaining Awesome Brawlers chipped in with what they knew.

The only one who didn't comment was Dan, he just kept apologising repeatedly, even after everyone had told him it was fine.

Everything in the incident had struck a chord with Magnus, he knew what it was like to be controlled by someone else. Hell, he still had the puppet strings to prove it, even if he was the only one who could see or feel them..

So it was unusual, yet understandable why he'd felt the need to speak with his rival that night.

He wasn't sure of the exact reason, if he wanted to check the other was okay or if he more selfishly just wanted to speak with someone who understood what it was like. But it wasn't like his reasoning mattered anyway, the point was he was going to speak with Dan Kouzo.

It hadn't surprised him too much when he'd found Dan sitting on his front porch staring blankly up at the stars.

Overwhelmed.

That seemed like the correct word if Magnus was to try to guess how Dan was feeling at that moment.

The red streaked boy was so spaced out, he didn't even notice Magnus's presence until the puppet was right in front of him.

"Wha- Magnus? When did you get here, wait- Actually, what are you doing here?" Dan asked, genuinely surprised but with such a fake, tired edge to his perky tone that anyone who knew the boy could tell he was putting on a front.

The puppet sighed, "I wanted to speak with you." He responded, not bothering to elaborate more. Knowing the other would know why he wanted to talk.

Dan's reaction instantly confirmed Magnus's assumption that he'd understand the reason for this conversation. The boy grimaced, "Right... I had a feeling this would be about..." He trailed off, forcing a small laugh.

Magnus sat down beside him.

"Look, Magnus. It's not-"

The puppet filled in the remaining gaps "It's not easy to explain what happened."

He looked at his rival, "I get it." He simply told him, hoping that his tone would get across that he was trying to be nice in this moment and offer support.

"No."

He barely heard it at first and Dan was quiet for so long afterwards he almost believed he'd imagined it until it was repeated again louder.

"No, you don't." The blue eyed boy glared at Magnus.

The puppet raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked, mostly rhetorically. "I went through the same thing when Tiko controlled me."

In those seconds where it seemed like Dan had simply forgotten about Magnus's experience with Tiko, things were still normal.

That changed when Dan spoke again, sending a slight chill down Magnus's spine.

"No." He repeated again, "It was nothing like that." His tone of voice was firm, although there was a slight waiver of uncertainty as if he was unsure he wanted to continue speaking. Unsure if he should continue speaking.

Magnus stayed silent for a minute, partly out of confusion as to what Dan was trying to say and partly out of hope that the other would continue speaking.

He didn't, so the puppet took his turn to speak.

"How?"

In the moments that followed, he was almost certain he should have left it alone.

"How?" Dan echoed, his tone a mix of incredulous and angry "Oh, you think this is just like Tiko, of course you do. Well Magnus, it's not!" He snapped.

"It could not be more fucking different."

Magnus wasn't sure whether it was those words or the downright murderous look Dan had on his face as he spoke them that freaked him out, but in the corner of his eye he spotted the string attached to his right hand begin to shake. He quickly grabbed hold of that hand and pushed it down against his leg in an attempt to stop it from making those anxiety fueled shaking movements.

It didn't go unnoticed by the red streaked boy, his expression twisted and somehow became impossibly more sour. He didn't verbally comment on it however, instead continuing speaking with a new comment.

"That's the thing, technically you did nothing wrong. You were just a fucking puppet for Tiko, none of those actions were your own, you're innocent!" He gave a mocking smile at that last word then let out a bitter laugh, "Me? I couldn't be more guilty. That's what separates the situations, Magnus. Do you get it?"

Slowly finding his voice again, Magnus shook his head, "No, I don't get it Dan." He answered, some of his regular confidence returning, "How are you guilty when Haavik was-"

"When Haavik was controlling me?" Dan cut him off, "Well, big fat fucking spoiler alert! He WASN'T controlling me!"

Magnus fell silent as Dan hissed those final words, spitting them out like venom.

He wasn't done either.

"Aren't you supposed to be smart? I thought you would've figured it out, or were you just blinded by dumb hope that you'd find another member of your puppet club?" He taunted, his blue eyes mad with anger. "Need me to spell it out even simpler for you? Haavik didn't turn me into a fucking puppet. He twisted my mind." Dan seethed, "Everything I did was pure me. I wanted to do that. All Haavik does with his power is bring out people's bad intentions, the worst sides of them. I wanted to do all of that, to cause all of that destruction, so I did."

Dan glanced down at where Magnus was still pressing his right hand against his leg and laughed bitterly, "Well, I bet that probably fucking scared you, didn't it? Dan Kouzo, the awesome brawler, the Hero of Los Volmos and the Hero of the world is actually a really shitty person who would happily destroy the world that he helped save."

"I..." The puppet trailed off. Unsure why he'd even tried to speak, he wanted to say something but he wasn't sure what he could say. Dan was right, he was scared, although he'd never admit it out loud to anyone. In that moment Dan Kouzo fucking terrified him. He could see behind the hero's mask and he didn't like it.

He could see all the fear, hate and resentment Dan hid away and he could somehow tell that a lot of the fear was Dan's fear of his own anger and what he was capable of doing if he acted upon that. He knew Dan had faced that fear today and he could sense that Dan was uncomfortable with the fact that his actions, which he was so conflicted as to whether or not he was proud of remorseful for, were being excused as someone else's.

There was nothing Magnus could say or do that would help.

Especially considering how currently, he was the possible worst person for Dan to be talking to.

Their situations were opposite, Magnus was a puppet while Dan had been in total control.

Dan didn't want people to see the side of him that scared himself, he didn't want others to be scared of him. In this moment, every part of Magnus was terrified, both his hands were shaking despite his efforts to stop them and all his puppet strings had tensed up too.

He never should've tried seeking out Dan tonight. It was a terrible idea.

That was another thing Dan was right about, he had been blinded by hope that there was someone else who understood what it was like.

"Mgh." Dan let out a small noise as he seemed to collapse back into his normal self, albeit a more reserved version. His anger being replaced with melancholy.

Magnus wasn't sure if he should get up and leave or if he should stay there. What would be worse, abandoning someone when they're feeling pain or just sitting there unable to do anything?

In the end, he didn't have to make a choice. The door opened behind them. "Oh, there you are!" Ajit exclaimed, upon seeing Dan, "I was getting worried- Huh, Magnus?"

The puppet gave an attempt at a smile, Ajit was one of the few people he genuinely liked and respected. Not to mention his timing just now was perfect.

"What are you doing here?" The golden brawler asked, smiling back at the puppet.

Magnus could see Dan tense at the question, as if he was expecting Magnus to tell Ajit all about their conversation.

He didn't.

"I was just... Passing by." He gave a simple lie, aware that Ajit would realise he wasn't telling the truth no matter what lie he came up with. At least a simple lie saves them both the effort of making/listening to a pretend story.

Ajit simply nodded, creating an unspoken agreement not to acknowledge the lie, "Right. Well, if I'm not interrupting anything..?" Magnus gave a shrug in response, which probably would've been his answer even if they weren't pretending that his and Dan's whole conversation hadn't happened, "Dan, you should come inside before your parents realise you left the house..."

"Mm, right." Dan stood up, "I'll do that.." He replied and disappeared inside his house.

Leaving Ajit confused as Magnus also stood up, preparing to begin his walk home as his strings finally loosened up a bit.

"Magnus.. Are you okay?" Ajit asked, stepping forward and closing the door behind him. "You look... Well- Not okay."

The darkus brawler had to give a half smile at that, Ajit was probably the most observant person he knew, of course he'd already figured out something had happened.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Magnus replies, deciding to just be honest with him. Ajit nods understandingly in response.

And then realisation hits him.

Ajit wasn't just being observant.

"How much did you hear of that?"

"All of it, I think. Dan's window was open, it's that one up there" The former thief points up at an open window on the second floor of the house. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone because... Yeah. But man... That was a lot..."

Magnus nods in agreement, "It was."

The two fall quiet, not having anything else to say and Magnus was never a fan of small talk.

"Well, goodnight." The puppet gives his farewell and begins to walk off down the path.

Ajit smiles, "Yeah, goodnight Magnus." and returns inside the house.

The events of that night were extremely unexpected, maybe even more than extremely unexpected. And the puppet wasn't sure what to think of it.

Honestly though, he doesn't believe any of them know what to think about it...

The Puppet, The Hero and the Former Thief.

What an odd group of people to be sharing a secret.