MANIPULATED Book A (Sequel to Tempted)

19. Your Majesty

You come to, and bright fluorescent lights blind your vision.

Your muscles hurt to move, and your chest hurts to breathe, but you try to move an arm up to shield your eyes, and groan in pain.

You hear hushed talking, and look around. You discover that you are sitting on a chair or cot, similar to one you'd see in a hospital, or at a dentist. And your clothes are not what you were previously wearing. You now wear a hospital gown, and imbedded into your right arm, is a needle that connects to a tube inserting some sort of fluid.

The wound on your arm is healing. It could look better, but it definitely looked worse before.

"She is awake," comes a voice from behind you.

"Should I come in as well?" Another, different, voice asks the first.

You don't hear a response, and footsteps approach your chair. They come around, and you are met with the kind, yet concerned face of Doctor Schneeplestein.

"Hello (y/n)."

It takes a second for you to adjust to the sight of him. You're in a bright room and your brain is still foggy.

"Schneep?"

He nods, and then around your chair comes another familiar face.

"Chase."

He smiles somberly. "How are you feeling?"

Schneep wacks Chase on the shoulder. "Zat is my question." He looks to you.  "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better. Where am I?"

"Ah. You are in my hospital. Chase Brody here found you near the castle, and rushed you here as fast as he could."

"I know what happened to the castle," says Chase. "Everyone does. We all saw it happen. But I was conveniently nearby when the explosion happened. And some how I just came across you. I think I heard you yell, and I ran. And then there you were, passed out in the grass."

"And I did vat I could to patch you up. You had smoke and water in your lungs, that burn of yours in which I should gave quickened the healing process, and I found an irregular force near your heart."

You look at Schneep. "Anti told me to find you."

He nods. "Yes. Because I am ze one who can send you home. But also because I have to explain."

"Explain what?"

"His plan."

"So everything I was told was a lie?"

"Not everything. Antisepticeye did want me to remove the human aspect of your soul. Zat is not a lie. But! If I did so, you would be invulnerable to Darkiplier."

He continues, "I vould preserve your soul, and give it back later. Zat was ze lie. You can get it back, but during the time you don't have it, you can not return back to the human world."

That's where you thought you were trapped. You thought once the surgery was over, you'd be stuck there in the alternate universe forever. And just that thought terrified you. You were scared into believing that was true.

"But ze real reason Antisepticeye vanted this was because you could not be truly killed by Darkiplier. He can not kill a human if zere isn't any human to kill. Having only a nonhuman soul, means you are in invincible. Ze only reason I didn't want to perform ze surgury vas because it is such a dangerous process. You are young. And humans are very delicate. Much more complex zan my average ego patient."

So... You thought Anti was being selfish by keeping you here for his own power.

When really, he was actually protecting you...

You want to run straight to Anti and tell him you're sorry. That you regret everything you did to oppose him and didn't listen to his story. That you ran away from him and took refuge in the enemy's lair.

You almost jump in start and it pains you. "Where's Anti?"

Schneep and Chase exchange a regretful glance. Chase starts, "Um... Well..." He puts a hand on his forehead below his hat. "Ah, geez."

Your heart sinks.

Schneep notices Chase's struggle, so he finishes. "Darkiplier and Antisepticeye are both missing."

Your blood grows cold.

"Zey are alive. We have proof of zat." He gestures to your body, mainly your chest. "But no one knows where zey are. There has been no record of any souls entering or leaving this world, but they are not recorded as being here either. I have checked both this world, and the human world, but there is no sign of them anywhere. And ve have no way to track them just based from their appearances." He adjusts his glasses. "But zey're out zere... somewhere."

You thought no one would have been able to survive the explosion of the castle, but somehow they did. You remember the pain in your chest just before you passed out.

"Doctor, before I passed out, there was this... Pain in my chest. Like a straining, red hot pain that felt like my heart was being ripped to shreds. What was it?"

"Zat was your soul reaching out to its other half. Somehow, somewhere, his half was being strained and it called to yours for more strength. So that was yours and his trying to connect. Zat is how we know he is alive."

You just let this settle in.

"Darkiplier, however, we do not know or have anything that tells us were he is or how to contact him, but we can assume that he and Anti are in similar places. If not together."

You feel as if a piece of you was ripped from your side and thrown away, and in some cases, this is true. You want to cry, but crying over a man who has abused the others in the room with you wouldn't be ideal. So you'll save the tears for later.

"So what do we do until then? Do we do anything? I mean I guess you guys are thrilled to have them gone."

Chase says, "Yes, it is a relief to not have someone who torments you for fun, or someone who just wants you under their control..."

"But we also don't have a ruler," Schneep continues from him. "And without a ruler, we don't have order."

"So who's next in line?" You ask.

"Well, technically, the person who rules, is the ego who has the most powerful soul in the world. And in this case, both Dark and Anti were fighting over this position because they are both extremely powerful. But they are nowhere near this world. So..." He swallows nervously. "Since you have a piece of Antisepticeye's soul inside you, and neither him or Dark are in zis universe..."

Oh my god...

"You are ze most powerful person in ze entire Other World."

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