Chapter Text
William was studying in his dorm room, he had a test in his statistics class in a few days, and if he failed it, he probably wouldn’t pass the class, and William refuses to repeat statistics. When he drops his pen it rolls off the desk, he leans over in his chair to pick it up but suddenly his room begins to shake, the pot with his swiss cheese plant crashes from off his desk, missing his head by a hairs breadth. The pot shatters on the floor, soil spilling everywhere, the shaking continues, a thought passses in William’s mind, maybe it’s just an earthquake. Here? That isn’t possible, the school wasn’t anywhere near a fault line. His train of thought is violently interrupted when the tremors get worse, William looks up at his ceiling, it’s cracking like it’s about to collapse. William jumps up and abandons his study work, grabbing his phone he bolts out of his dorm room and runs towards the emergency exit stairwell, he can see other students running out of their rooms as well. When William finally gets outside and what he thinks is a safe distance away from that building for the time being, he takes the time to look around the campus, buildings crumble, he thinks he sees an arm poking out of a pile of rubble about a hundred feet away. The sky is an eerie orange color and William can see smoke plumes rising in the distance, what the hell was happening, was Rick okay, or Amber?
William looks back over to his dorm building, maybe it was okay and everyone was just over reacting, but suddenly the windows shatter, and William can see the walls bend unnaturally outwards, collapsing as if the support beams were all destroyed. Apparently William was not far enough away from the building as he originally thought as he sees a piece of rubble falling towards where he was standing. He couldn’t move, paralyzed with fear he felt his legs give out underneath him and he falls to the ground, expecting to be crushed and killed in an agonizing way. It never comes, William hazards a glance upwards and sees Rick holding up the piece of concrete, he quickly scrambles out from under it so Rick can drop it.
“Rick! I’m so glad you’re okay, what the hell is going on?!” William approached Rick to hug him, relief flooded him that Rick was alive and, as far as he could tell, uninjured. Rick pulled him into a strong embrace, soft and gentle, all that mattered was that they were together.
“I checked the news when it started, there’s a bunch of attackers that all look like Invincible, it’s insane, all over the globe,” Rick sighed and pulled away from William, holding his hands to keep them both steady. “I think there’s an emergency shelter not too far from here, that’s going to be the safest place at a time like this.”
William nods and before he can even reply, Rick’s head is gone, in the blink of an eye. William is still holding onto his boyfriends hands, but his grip loosens, and the body falls back and hits the ground with a sickening thud. William feels like vomiting, this can’t be happening, he can’t take his eyes off of Rick’s decapitated body, a pool of blood is quickly growing under it, and it’s approaching William’s shoes. The only thing that pulls him away from his panic is a sudden voice, William looks up from the body and into the sky, floating in the air right behind when Rick was before, was a man that looked just like Mark. However there were stark differences, his costume instead of the blue and black he was currently sporting, a black and yellow suit with a yellow cape flowing in the wind behind him. An exact copy of Mark, but instead of the usual teasing smile, he had a sadistic smile on his face, both of his gloves were ripped and blood was splattered all over him. “Oh my god…” William couldn’t breath, he was going to die, as a stupid freshman in college.
“You know, I killed you in my universe, I thought I wouldn’t need a weak human after I took over, but I didn’t realize until after how much you really meant to me until after you were gone,” He floated forward slowly, that crazed smile still on his face, he lowered until his feet touched the ground, his feet disturbing the pool of Ricks blood that had already soaked William’s shoes. William can feel a tears running down his cheeks, but its dim, faint, like all his senses are buried under cotton, he closes his eyes so he doesn’t have to see the reality he’s living, but everything is stuck behind his eyes, blood, so much blood.
“I like how scared you look,” He wouldn’t say it, but Mark found it cute how terrified William looked. He brings his blood soaked hands up and grips both of Williams tear streaked cheeks before leaning in to lick his tears away. Mark licks his lips, savoring the salty sweet taste of William’s tears. William cringes, and tries to pull away from the freak holding him tight, but he can’t even move an inch. Before William knows it he leans in again and kisses William almost gently, William could imagine that it’s Rick if he tries hard enough, but he can’t ignore the metallic taste invading his mouth. Suddenly William feels a sharp pain as canines are sinked into his lips, the blood from his lips mixing with the blood of all the unknown people this monster had killed.
William finally comes to his senses and pulls back, the petrifying man is still holding onto him, but William tries to lurch back as much as he physically can. “You killed Rick!” he screamed, “You killed my boyfriend you fucking monster! Oh my god!” William is sobbing and trying to wrench out of the death grip that Mark’s lookalike has on him.
Mark laughs, “That thing was your boyfriend?” Mark finally loosens his grip on William as he’s still wiggling, but because the grip was suddenly gone William fell to the ground. He landed roughly into the pool of blood, splashing onto his clothes and coating his hands a violent red. Above him the lookalike leers at him still grinning sharply with blood stained teeth, “I like you, you’re much louder than my William ever was, he never screamed or sobbed like this, not even when I ripped his parents in half right in front of him.”
He reaches down and grabs William by his waist, effortlessly pulling him up and holding him close, William feels the ground disappear as Mark floats up into the air. William can’t help but look down at Rick, can’t help but feel guilty when his blood is soaked into his clothes. Out of the corner of his eye he spots Ricks head far away in another pile of rubble that was once his dorm room. The head is tilted towards where Mark and William are, Ricks once lively blue eyes staring dimly at him, those eyes would haunt him forever, burrowed into his skull. William is still crying as he feels the grip on him loosen bit by bit, a threat to drop him, he looks back at the monster wearing his best friends face. He’s scowling at him as he begins to ascend higher and higher, his hold loosening more and more, Williams stomach plummets and he wraps his arms around Marks neck to try and hold himself to the only thing keeping him alive. He immediately knew that was what Mark wanted when he smiled once more and nuzzled his face into Williams neck, and begin to nibble on his neck. Sharp teeth scraped his skin, drawing blood that was licked up as soon as it pearled up on the pale skin.
Finally he pulls away from Williams neck, and he wants to sigh in relief before they are suddenly moving at an alarming rate up into the sky. The buildings on his college campus get smaller and smaller, and the air begins to chill, Williams grip on Mark tightens as he begins shaking. Was he shaking out of fear or was he cold, William has never been frightened when Mark would take him on flights before, even if they were brief and they never went up this high. It was like nothing else, at the slightest moment this version of Mark could just decide to drop him and let him plummet to his death. Wind wipped around the two of them, as Marks cape blew in the wind, and suddenly William was tossed upwards, “HOLY SHIT!” he shrieked flailing in the air as he began falling, inevitably to his death.
Mark caught him in a bridal stlye hold and grinned at him, “I love how you scream, do it again,” William was tossed up again, and he screamed before he was caught again by a laughing maniac.
“This isn’t funny, if you’re going to kill me at least make it quick. Stop playing with me like I’m some fucking mouse!!” William sobs and tries to beg to be put back on solid ground, to no avail. Mark’s grip tightens on William, “You amuse me, I think I’ll take you with me.”
William is struck into silence, unsure of what to do he just limply sits there in Mark’s arms as they began flying again. He doesn’t know how long it was, could’ve been seconds, or hours, his mind was running wild once more, and he could not reel it back in. Until, he hears yelling, all the same voice, some more shrill, some more grating, but every single one is the voice of his best friend, Mark. William looks to where he is being carried and realizes it is a spot he is familiar with, right above Marks house, god he hopes that Debbie and Oliver made it out safely. The Mark holding him tightly slows down until they are stopped in a circle formation, another man appears and begins talking to all the different Marks, but William can’t hear a thing, all his sense feel like they’re buried under mounds of cotton. Distantly, he can tell that one of the Mark’s is staring intensely at him, almost longingly. William is panicked, what the hell is going to happen to him, he’s shaking like leaf still, the tight grip worsening his nerves. Mark whips around to yell at the man that was talking to all the variants, screaming something about going back to their own dimensions.
Suddenly, and without warning, they are pushed into a portal, the sky changing from a smoky orange to a cloudless bright blue sky, the ground changing from a mostly peaceful seeming suburb to a boundless desert. Still holding him tight, he hears Mark yell as he tries to fly back into the green portal that had put them here, “ANGSTROM! YOU’RE DEAD!!”
The portal closes, and they're stranded.