- Nicer than he thought -

Edited on 31/03/21

Mark slowly opened his eyes and was dazzled by a bright light. He moved one of his arms to cover his eyes and a low groan escaped his lips. He felt his body ache, his arm stinging with each little movement.

"What happened?" he murmured in a husky voice and felt how soar his throat was after whatever torture he had gone through.

"Mark! God, we thought you would never wake up again," a relieved voice spoke up from across the room.

Steps echoed through the not too small room before coming to a halt next to his bed. A good-looking man loomed over him, his eyes glimmering with something of a mix of pure relieve and something similar to pity.

"How do you feel, Mark?" The other man asked as he checked some papers where his vitals were noted down.

"Could be worse," he groaned and looked at his lookalike, Doctor Iplier.

"Where's Dark? And how long was I out?"

"Don't worry about Dark for now, he won't be anywhere near you... hopefully. To the second question: about three days," the doctor answered and put the papers down, facing his patient again.

Mark's eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly agape.

"Three whole days?! God, that son of a bitch had to beat me up badly, didn't he," Mark mumbled and felt how the features of his face hardened at the mere thought of Darkiplier.

"Well, he really got you bad. In addition to that, I'm really sorry to say this but he managed to leave... something on you that will most probably be permanent." He fidgeted with the collar of his light blue shirt.

He frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Iplier took his time to clear his throat and scan the room for anything interesting to look at but Mark.

"He... He left his mark on you."

The wounded one furrowed his brows and it made the doctor explain some more.

"He- he branded you. With just a few deep cuts. You should see for yourself once you change. I'm very sorry I couldn't to anything about it."

As Mark just kept staring at him like he spoke some language he didn't know, Iplier turned around and quickly strode towards the door.

"J-just don't get in too much trouble. I don't want to have to patch you up again," he said as if in a hurry and left the room.

After Mark awoke from his trance, he ever so slowly moved his legs off the edge and stood a bit unsteady on his feet. He let one of his hands wander his body, searching for the brand that the doctor said was on him now. He wouldn't dare to speak it out loud. That he was marked and branded by his sadistic, dark, and broken persona. Soon his fingertips drove over some rough skin. He drove along the contours of it and felt a 'D' being cut into him in a fancy and swift manner and a small something right next to it. Mark lifted the white shirt up someone had put him in, probably Iplier, and stared at the mark.
As he supposed; there was the 'D' and a symbol looking kind of like a rose right next to it.

His mind was empty, no thoughts in the usually crowded space of his head. But one single question made it past that thick wall of fog and lingered long enough for him to finally realize:

"What have I done, that angered him so much, that he needed to remind me of his very existence?"

Once he felt stable enough to walk, he made his way to the door with cautious steps. Taking a few deep breaths, he braced himself to open the door and step outside but it swung open and hit him hard in the face. He grunted the moment his face collided with the wooden frame and grabbed onto his nose.

"Oh god! I'm sorry, I didn't see you were standing right behind the door! My apologies," someone apologized to him and closed the door so Mark had some room to move.

He looked at the man before him and he recognised him as Bim Trimmer.

"No worries, Bim. It fine," he waved off and put his hand down again.

"Anyways, why are you here?" Mark asked, a bit of curiosity in his voice besides the slight anger bubbling inside him from the throbbing pain he has in his nose now. At least it wasn't broken.

"I walked past the doc and he told me that you were awake. Since I did my part in saving you, I wanted to see how you were doing." The ego gave a crooked smile.

"Well, I'm alive so that's something. Maybe a little beat up but all in all okay I guess."

"That's good to hear! Were you about to go somewhere?" Bim tried to keep the conversation up and put an arm around Mark's shoulders to guide him to the door which he opened for the two of them.

"Yeah, I just wanted to go for a short stroll after three days of sleep."

"Should I show you around? Since you'll probably stay for a while, it only would be beneficial for you to know this place a little," Bim explained and already started to drag Mark out into the hallway.

"Uh, sure, okay. I guess it wouldn't hurt to map this place out some," Mark shrugged and let the ego show him around.

It took quite some time for them to walk through the entire manor until they reached the living room at last.

"-and this is the living room. As you can see, this is the area where most of us come together and talk and stuff, maybe watch some TV when we can agree on a show," Bim explained and pointed to three egos in front of the TV and one in an arm chair next to the couch.

"These are Yandereplier, King of Squirrels or King for short, Host and Googleplier." Bim pointed to each ego as named them for their creator.

Isn't it weird that he can't really remember them?

When some of them heard their name, they turned around and threw a sharp look at the two. Mark tensed and straightened his posture the moment the emotionless, cold brown eyes of Google locked with his warm ones. The 'side glance' Host threw at him through his bloody cloth over his eyes didn't make it better.

"The Host and Googleplier noticed Bim and their creator as they entered the living room. Host then asked how Mark felt and if he still had the urge to leave the manor," Host narrated and put his head crooked.

"Uh, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. And no, I don't feel like leaving at all right now. Why do you ask?" Mark answered and rubbed the back of his neck

When he looked to the floor and to his black sneakers, he heard a whirling sound and afterwards the voice of Google.

"My scans shows that you show symptoms just as nervousness, uncomfortable rubbing on the neck and an accelerated breathing. This results in an uncomfortable feeling around the people you're currently around with and or anxiety," Google stated and let his eyes travel over Mark once more.

Before the android said anything more about Mark's current state or declare him as dead, a loud bang rang through the house. All of them, besides the android and Host, jumped at the sudden sound and looked into the direction it came from. A few seconds filled with silence followed but soon after the unmistakable slurry voice of Wilford Warfstache screaming something incoherent and loud steps neared the living room.

The next moment, Ed Edgar ran into the room, one hand holding his hat while the other one held a clipboard with a few papers clipped on it. He rushed through the room and into the bordering hallway before he vanished behind the corner. Wilford came rushing in after him, his gun clearly loaded and ready to shoot anyone who would cross his way. He quickly scanned the room in hopes to find Ed. When he didn't see his target within the group, he loudly grumbled and ran after the cowboy-ego.
All of them watched after Wil as he took off to probably kill the other one however, they didn't dare to stop the mad man in his actions.

"Well, seems like someone's going to have an almost-death-experience again," Yandere commented dryly and turned their attention back to the TV.

It took Mark a moment to wake up from his frozen state and he shook his head.

"Is this normal here?" He pointed into the direction where Wil and Ed ran off.

"More or the less," Bim shrugged and pulled Mark to the others.

"Wanna watch some TV?" he suggested while plopping down in one of the seats around the television device.

"Sure," Mark agreed and sat in a chair on the left next to the couch.
****

They watched for hours a few series and a movie and started to small talk all the while. It was mostly Mark, Bim, King and Yandere who talked. The egos asked a lot of questions about Mark's career, what was there before they were created, and if he had any partner at the moment, which was not the case at all. He just got to know a nice woman named Amy. Mark also asked a lot. He was interested in what they do in their free time, how they came into the real world and how they managed to get the money to buy a whole manor and keep a steady income.

"-but now to you: How did you guys even became real? No wait this sounds a little rude- I mean how did you like manifested into this world or reality?" Mark yawned as he asked, curious what laid behind all of this and how it worked yet tired by all the talking after a – given the new circumstances – quiet day.

"It was a more or less complicated process but we have the these, that the will of your fans made us manifest into this reality," Bim started.

"Yes. We think that because the fans wanted our existence to be real, we actually became real," King chimed in.

"And what do you do in your free time? Or do you guys even work?"

"We do indeed work, or rather some of us. Bim Trimmer works for a late-night game show and is the assistant of Darkiplier. Dr. Iplier has his own doctor's office in town, Host is a popular thriller author and has his own podcast on radio, Wilford still works as a reporter, and– ", Google listed with his monotone voice, "– the other egos don't work, but they instead have duties to do in the household. Except Yandereplier, they go to college and want to follow Wilford's footsteps and become a murderer and criminal."

Mark's eyes widened a little, surprised that they all managed to get a somewhat stable life together.

"Wow, I didn't think y'all would be capable of getting a life all by yourselves," Mark said, genuinely surprised that they didn't try to actively murder each other. Or at least so he thought and hoped at that time.

"Only because we were created by your hand and after a script doesn't mean we can't make our own decisions and take our individual lives in our own hands," Yandere threw in and looked softly at Mark yet it had an accusing undertone.

"Yeah, I guess. But I'm happy that you guys made all of this possible on your own," Mark yawned and looked at a clock on a wall.

"Well, it's getting late. I'll lay myself down. See ya guys!" He waved them good night and walked to the guest room he was held captive in the other day.

"Maybe they aren't that bad. They seemed nicer to me than I ever thought they could," Mark thought and entered his room, leaving the other egos behind him as well as his dark entity... 

Hopefully...