A/N: This story was originally posted on AO3 by me, DraconaMalp. It was also originally a series of one-shots and is not completed yet as of April 1, 2016. The version posted here is edited and revised. Enjoy.

It was an ungodly hour when it happened. The summer sky was covered in a thick blanket of stars, not to be removed for at least 3 more hours. The night was peaceful here, nothing but the occasional animal or night walker moved.

Meanwhile, in Oregon a usually sleepy town was flaring with light. Very few people witnessed it in person. A girl, a boy, an old man, and the demonic entity that had caused it. A scream tore through the walls of reality that day. Although the world didn't end as predicted, it changed.

Select people felt the pulse. Specifically, people who had brushed other worlds. Whether if it be through death, or any other means. They felt it. The little boom of magic. Wirt's eyes opened and he gasped. He felt his brother do it too. He felt his mom's and stepdad's pulse in the other room. He heard the screaming and covered his ears, clenching his eyes shut.

Just as it came, all at once, the pulse was gone. He could feel the tingles in the air. His eyes opened wide and he seen. He seen. All around Wirt's bed, his room the Edelwood grew untamed. He hugged his legs and backed as close to the far edge of his bed as possible.

He seen a flurry of- he got a headache just by seeing it. He didn't know what it was or how to describe it. Was... was that a color?

It was yellow... but not? He gripped his hair and closed his eyes. There was another one behind those. Purple- no, blue?

He didn't notice the screaming end in his panic. The smell of something burnt flooded his nose and he flinched, it only becoming stronger. Farther from his vision (the edelwood?) there was a fierce color crackling and bubbling. It tasted like buzzing.

He gathered his breath when there was a frantic knock on the door. The edelwood shrunk back and the... it's colors diminished.

The burnt smell stayed.

He spent a moment to catch his breath. The moment was too long. There was more knocking on the door. "Wirt?" Greg called. He was... Wirt dragged his tongue under his teeth and over his lips. Some type of yellow? "Wirt!" The knocks only beat faster.

It didn't really register. All he could do was think on what was happening. No- the colors. What colors were happening? He blinks and it's bright. It was dark before, right? He blinks a few more times, but there's a new one. It smells of rich chocolate and looked flurrious. He felt his mouth almost water at this one.

The burnt was now distant. It was still there, but covered in a bright-dark (red?). He walked towards the- the... the flurl. He ran into a flat surface what was this? The door. It was brown. Plain. Wirt scrunched his nose at it.

He located the handle. He seen it he just... couldn't see it. Opening the door was another challenge.

Once he did he took a huge whiff of the air. Flurl. It was close, he could nearly taste it. He tripped over a body and with a yelp (and a flash of yet another indescribable color) the teen fell onto the floor.

The flurl faded and popped into a white (maybe it was a different yellow?), an orange (Wirt thought it felt bitter) and a happy, almost tangy color.

"Wirt!" Greg hugged his brother tightly. "Something happened! Now mum is blurpleh and dad is burnt pancakes!"

Wirt scanned his brother. "Excited." He said monotonously. "Hope. Happiness. "

The colors moved anxiously, inviting a new yellow. "...Wirt?"

Wirt was almost startled by the interruption. "Yes, Greg? O-oh. Sorry. I was distracted." The teen moved a hand in front of his face. "This is unreal." He mumbled.

"I know you're not listening. You're all-" Greg made a wild gesture.

Wirt didn't know how it translated so well, but the gesture showed exactly how he felt.

The next week was... overwhelming. Wirt's memories seemed so dull compared to the vibrancy that is now his reality.

His family and friends were worried with how well he took the world-change. He could taste the concerned yellows. It didn't take him too long to know what the colors meant. In fact, it seemed to come almost naturally to him. The burnt yellow was fear (what burned depended on who was fearing, why, what etc.), a weird red hot pink that was kind of blue was curiosity, and twinkling and buzzing yellowy white was excitement and so on.

He couldn't see his own eye color (due to the confused mess that was always in front of him), but his parents said they changed. Looked almost glazed. His irises were blue and yellow that met and blended into green. His step dad called them handsome. As he said that, a tinge of green worked into his colors.

Greg's eyes were similar. Wirt wondered if he seen things the same way. He didn't.

By the end of the second week things died down noticeably. Summer was extended due to the change of events and the brothers were okay with that.

Wirt was adjusting. He pulled out one of his poetry books and tried to read. By the second page he put it away instead of frustrating himself. He bit his lip and stared hard at his anxious yellow, swirling frantically. Will they know? They, being everyone around him.

He hasn't told anyone but Greg about the... colors. He didn't want to pile on the 'everything supernatural and fictional is real' news. Will they think he's crazy?

They'd probably think he lost his mind from the news. Think he was seeing extra. He decided to keep it between him and Greg. Wirt sighed. "Why are you worried, brother o mine?" A small voice asked.

"You see the colors too, right? All the time. Everyday. Everywhere." Wirt asked, a twinge of panic working its way into his voice.

Greg hummed. "That was yellow. And that was blortang. I think. That one was yellow again." Greg pointed to his brother. "Your sigh was all-" he made a wooing noise while waving his hands. "-and worried. Your voice back when you were talking was blue and bzzrt bzzrt bzzrt. But there's no need to be blue, when making you happy is what your brother's here to do." Greg rhymed.

Wirt raised an eyebrow. His tone sounded... off. He ignored the headache he felt coming in and questioned his brother. "W-wait. You see... voices?"

Greg nodded. "I can see your tone. Now I never have to get sarcasm again! I can just see it in the wooshes!" He practically shouted.

"Oh."

Days were spent in constant headaches, colors everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Even when Wirt closed his eyes. "The colors opened my eyes. Something once so bright is so dull. When will it end, the colors? They break out and break in pounding at my head endlessly screaming and whining for affection. I can't. I can't. I can't stop them. Nothing that was fact was real. The monsters that were fake look for their next meal." The usually fluent poetry flowed out rigid and beat, nothing compared to his normal material.

It just hurt. He needed to... get that out somehow. The colors whined to be seen they constantly growled and clawed for him. It was ruining him.

Eventually they had to go to school.

It was so much worse. Everyone had colors. Anger, fear, confusion. Tears pricked at his eyes. "Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope." He stopped at the entrance and closed his eyes, focusing on only his own colors. "I can't do this."

Confusion was the worst. Confusion and panic was- it made him need to scream. New classes, old friends, new teachers... it was just too much! He opens his eyes and darts around the halls, panicked. He needs something. Anything monochrome. Just- he didn't want the colors. He couldn't handle the chaos.

"There." He gasped, ignoring the stares and flurry of even more confusion of the people watching him. He grabbed onto a blob of flurl and inhaled their feeling. "Thank you." He muttered incoherently. Only a small amount of something else bubbled in the person. Disgust, probably. Wirt was just glad the person let him hang on.

He was taken to the school nurse and told them it was just a minor panic attack. He held onto the flurl person's dark grey sleeve and hugged them again, only concentrating on the feeling that was flurl. He wasn't himself now. He knew it, the colors were killing him. He needed to fix it. He skipped the transcendence orientation class and went home.

They were calling it the Transcendence.

The stars took their place in the night sky. His parents were busy at Greg's school play. Ever since his change, he had been able to change tones easily and became a fantastic singer. Wirt, however stayed home. He touched his head. It's been a month of agony since school started. He thought he'd get used to his own sight, but the colors only got stronger.

This is a bad idea. You won't have anything it'll want. The rumors will be false and he'll eat you like the snacks you tried to give him. Maybe he'll take mercy and eat the squirrel instead. Wirt shivered. He felt disgusting. He killed animals.

Not only that- he was using the blood and bodies to deal with a demon. He gulped down the bruising guilt.... he could still see it though.

The summoning circle was drawn (a wheel with several symbols) and candles were lit (not cheap ones, but not expensive either) around it. He hoped the kids at school weren't lying when they said "the demon is totally safe".

Though he doubted they actually knew. He was desperate, okay?! Wirt gulped. His door was locked and he looked around.

Dead animals, homemade cookies, rocky road ice cream, more dead animals and a needle. Okay. I can do this. It shouldn't end up too bad, right? Either way when it ends the colors will stop, right?

"O-oh... god, I'm crazy. I'm crazy now." He shuddered in a breath.

"Triangulum, ent-tangulum. Meteforis d-dominus." His stutter was going to kill him, wasn't it? "ventium. Meteforis venetisarium!"

There was a flash of blue. Blue. Plain blue. He touched his cheek. He was crying. Then, all at once the blue was gone and colors invaded his vision. He barely noticed the kid appear in the middle of the circle. "H-hi. Are you-?"

The demon lifted his hand to silence him. He dressed like a normal kid. Shorts, t-shirt, the vest was odd. It was still normal though.

...he didn't have an aura. That was... nice. "Who dares summon... the mighty...? Alcor?" The speech died on the young demon's lips.

"I- my name- I'm Wirt."

The demon looked conflicted about the dead animals in his circle.

"I- deal- uh. The-" His panicked colors flooded his vision. "JUST MAKE THE COLORS GO AWAY!"

At this the demon laughed. "I can't just 'take away' someone's aura. I don't think it's even possible to take away the sight, man."

"H-here. I- just. I need help. They're everywhere and it's driving me cr-crazy. They're killing me. They're trying to k-kill me."

The demon sighed. "I can't help you, man. Just let me go and I'll see you later. Also, next time don't kill animals." He shrugged.

"See me? No! I- they've been haunting me since that day. The screams, the colors, the edelwood is STILL HERE!" he gestured around himself to the branches that littered his room. "And- AAND-" he waved his hands through them frantically. "I can't touch them! No one else can see them." His voice cracked multiple times.

The demon clutched at his head. "F̡͝͞I̵̡̡̨Ǹ̛Ę͘͏͡." Ý̛҉҉͜Ó̵̶͞Ù͘͞͏ ҉̸͡W̸͢͟A̷̕͟͠Ǹ҉T̵̢̛͘͝ ̨̧͏̶Ć̀͜҉O̷̕͘͟͠N͞͝T̵̷́̕R̛͘͠O̷͠L̶͏͢ ̢͘͜O̴̸̸͠F̨͢ ̷̵Y̵̶͘҉̧O̷͏̸Ư͢͏Ŗ̢͜͠ ̸̵͠҉P̕͝Ǫ̵͢͟W̴̴̨͜E̵͢R̀Ś̛͝͝?̶̡ ̵̀͞F̢́͜͞I̡̕N̶͝E͏̴̛.͢͟ ͘͝G̛͡I͏̡V҉̀͜͞͏E͢͠ ̵̀͠M̵̨̡E̷͜ ̧̛̕Y͏̶̨͘͞O͏̷͘͟Ú̡̨̧̢Ŗ̨̨̀͝ ҉̵̧O͡F̴̡͢F̛҉̴͘E҉̀R̴̡͜͢͞I̛͟͟N̵̸̷̡G̸̵̀͢S̴͢ ̡͠I̸̧̕Ń̢̀͟ ҉͢͝͠Ȩ̵̵̶X̸̢̡̀͟C͡͏͜͠H̢Ą̵̵̸̸G̀҉́͘͡E̕͘͢ ̷͘T̴̢̢͘H̛͘̕Á̷̧͝͞T̵͘ ͠͠͠I̛͠ ̕͞͝ ̶̸ ͘͏̸͡F̢̡̕̕Ì̷́͝Ņ̶͠D̵̢̡ ̧̧͘T͏̵̸͡H͜҉̸̸̛I̛͜͠S̢̧̛͞ ͜͝҉̨Ó̷̸͢͞U̸͜͜҉҉T̴̸̢.̷̵̡͡͏ ̷̸̡͢I̷͡͠'͏M̶̷͠ ̷̡͟͝͞N̢̡͢O͘͏T͟͝ ̶̕D̵̛͡E͞A̵̡͝L̸̀̕͝I͜N̴͏G̡̕͜ ̶̛҉́͘W̛͟I̴͡Ţ̵̵H̶͝ ́̀͞͞T͏̶́H͟͡͝Í̵̕͜S̡̛ ̸̴̧̀͠T̸͜͡Ò̷͏̧̧D́͞͠A͏̢Ý̶̴̨.̴̢͡͠"

"W-wait? Really? What's the catch?" Wirt asked cautiously.

"The main catch is do it before I leave, man. I have better things to do." Alcor crossed his arms.

Eagerly, Wirt handed him his offerings. "So, will they go away right away? O-or fade?"

The demon yanked the ice cream out of his hands and shoveled it into his mouth, happy sparks flying from him. Were those colors? Or were they actually there? The demon snapped his fingers and the edelwood wrapped around Wirt's legs.

"W-wait! What's happening?" Wirt shook off the branches clumsily, just trying to get them off.

The demon grinned, evaporating the empty tub of ice cream. "You're not a wizard, nor can you become a witch. You are pure insignificant human that just so happened to have an encounter with the supernatural close enough that magic became drawn to you. Of course you couldn't see it or feel it, it feels around you trying to become absorbed." He looked Wirt up and down. "From the looks of it, only a few weeks ago it had a small opening to get in." The demon gestured to the vines that bound Wirt to the ground and were steadily growing upward. "These things, are the work of whoever claimed your soul. They just needed a small push."

"HOW WILL THAT HELP? HOW COULD THAT POSSIBLY HELP?" Wirt swatted and struggled with the edelwood.

Alcor turned his back. "Once it takes over, you won't be seeing much of anything." The demon cackled before leaving.

... the rest of the night was lost in time.

The morning after, Wirt woke as if it were a dream. Everything he seen was dull... no colors. His lips twitched at a small smile before pulling in a tight line. He dragged himself out of his bedroom and into the kitchen. He closed his eyes and smiled again. Nothing but darkness.

There were no more colors, but he could smell his brother's fear. He looked to the doorway with a poker face. "Hey, Greg."

The boy held his frog tight. Wirt could smell flurl again. It came from his brother, hidden under the fear. "...Wirt?"

"Yeah?"

"... I support your new lifestyle and whatever choices you made." That was unexpected.

Wirt made a face, his nose scrunching in the process. "What makes you say that?"

Greg gestured to his own body at specific areas. Wirt put a hand to the side of his face. He gasped and trailed it down. He ran to the bathroom. He gasped as he seen the branch half in his skin and half not. Patterned like scars were screaming faces all over his body. He followed the branch trail up the other side of his face. What...? Were these horns?!

He nearly broke down then and there.