I'm Here to Help You (Darkiplier x Reader)

Grays and Blues

I'm in a short sleeved shirt and jeans. I enjoy the warm summer air as I make my way to the shopping center with my hands in my pockets. It still feels weird leaving the house. Though the cool breeze feels nice on my arms, it's not like the chill that's infected my house. The familiar chill there has a certain dimness to it; it's enveloping. The coolness outside is much different.

There aren't many people here today. I grab more frozen yogurt, deciding to walk around for a bit. The fresh air is nice, and the exercise will do me some good. I'm briefly reminded of Martino, but it's not a lingering memory.

I find myself watching people who pass me, analyzing them. Suddenly, it occurs to me how boring average life is. Though Dark hasn't been here too long, it feels like he's been here for much longer. My life now, though things are sometimes a bit rough, is still incredibly interesting.

For a solid hour, I do nothing but sit and observe people in a cafe. People with low self esteem, people with too big of an ego, people with kids, people in bad relationships... All so transparent.

I'm... so... bored. I frown, leaning into my hand. The cafe suddenly seems extremely gray and distant, and I feel disconnected from everyone and everything.

My vision somehow actually begins graying, turning the world into a bland black and white movie. Glancing down, I see a colored, phantom version of myself resting inside of my grayed, physical self. I move, curious, and stand. The world seems to have stopped turning.

A literal out of body experience, how about that, I think, gazing at myself outside of my self. I'm able to walk about five feet from my body before I feel a strange tugging sensation. Looking down, I see a glowing, smokey cord connecting my chest to my body. Shrugging, I sit back down and watch the world return to color and people start moving again. Immediately, I stand and briskly walk home.

The moment I enter the door, I slam it behind me, startling Dark who paces in the living room thoughtfully.

"What the FUCK just happened to me?!" I release, gripping a nearby chair with one hand and my chest with the other. The panic I had suppressed erupts and causes my body to tremble.

Dark quickly appears in front of me, with an almost concerned look on his face. "Tell me what happened."

"I-I was just sitting in the cafe and I got bored so I started spacing out and then the world started looking all gray and there was some weird glowing grayish-blue string thing attaching me to my body but I wasn't in my body and then when I went back in my body everything was apparently fine," I spout.

Dark holds on to my shoulders to keep my shaking legs from buckling under me me. "You had an out of body experience," he surmises. I nod.

"This is... unforeseen, to say the least," he states calmly. "You somehow managed to disconnect yourself from human reality so that your soul was able to move semi-freely. Interesting..."

I take a deep breath and steady myself. "So is that a bad thing? Am I gonna be trapped outside of my body at some point?"

The demon shakes his head, chuckling. "You're perfectly fine. It's merely... unusual for a human to have this capability."

Dark removes his hands from my shoulders, going back to his thinking. I stare after him. Because of my lack of knowledge on the subject, I'm forced to trust his analysis. He's obviously keeping something from me, but I doubt he'd tell me, much less that I'd understand.

I begin to go up to my room, but the demon's voice stops me.

"How were you feeling about right before it happened?"

"I was bored and felt disconnected from everyone and everything around me. I felt like I wasn't a part of any of it."

All Dark does is nod at this, then turns away from me. I go to my room, lay down on my bed, and have a mild existential crisis.

Crisis out of the way, I'm able to relax again. Finally, I return downstairs and head to the door with my backpack. This time, I'm bringing my laptop to distract me. Dark has disappeared, so I'm able to leave the house without worry. I don't go back to the cafe, and take the long way around it to avoid the memories. By the time I reach the end of the shopping block the sun is already on its way below the horizon. Turning, I begin to speed walk back to my house.

I'm only four blocks away when night falls. Remembering what little I was taught about self defense, I position my keys so that one protrudes from the space between each of my fingers when I make a fist. I quicken my pace.

Suddenly, from behind, I'm knocked to the ground. My arms break my fall, and I quickly turn onto my back so I can face my attacker. It's a large man who gropes for my bag with one hand. In his other is a switchblade. Isn't this just a fine day to be mugged.

I quickly bring my fist around. The key points connect with his fleshy cheek, ripping through. Blood waterfalls down the side of his face and streams down my hand, as well. Using his stunned state, I quickly take the switchblade from him and stab it into his eye. Finally, I rip it out and slice his throat open. A spray of blood scarcely misses me.

As the man grasps at his bleeding face and throat, I sprint down another street, away from my house. Luckily, I hadn't stepped in any blood or gotten too much on my clothes, but my hand was coated in the liquid. When I'm far enough away from the man and the red on my hand has dried, I shove my hands into my pockets and take a shortcut to my house. When I reach the door, I have to scrape my house key clean with my fingernail so it clicks into the lock.

Dark stands in the living room, turning to me as I enter. He notices my rumpled clothes, scraped elbows, and blood-caked hand. In the blink of an eye, he's in front of me, examining eyes scanning for any serious injury.

"Tell me what happened." I suddenly notice that he rarely asks me for anything, rather he commands me.

"I was mugged," I state simply shrugging. "Speaking of which; hypothetically, would it be possible for you to get rid of any evidence that I murdered a guy about... oh, I dunno... four blocks from here?" Dark gives me a blank – and slightly confused – stare. "Just curious."

"Come on." With an exasperated sigh, Dark grabs my arm and we're transported to the dead man. The demon crouches and notices the small, but deep, gashes in the mugger's cheek.

"What's this?"

"Key holes."

Dark nods, then sees the more precise cut in his throat. "Give me the knife." I hand him the bloodied object. In a moment, it disintegrates. Then, he waves his hand over the man's body, and a strange blue light lifts from it. It flows into Dark's hand, absorbed my the demon. For a moment, Dark's eyes glow black with blue irises, then return to being white with black irises. All remnants of life have been drained from the corpse.

Next, Dark snaps his fingers, and a tiny trace of blood disappears from the pavement. It must've been mine when I scraped my elbows. Finally, he rids the sidewalk of any trace of my footprints, skin cells, or threads of clothing. When I blink, we're back in my house. I give Dark a double thumbs up as I head for the stairs.

"Welp, I'm gonna go take a shower. Thanks, Darkseid."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter of "I'm Here to Help You" as much as I enjoyed writing it. Comments and votes are super appreciated. Thanks for reading! ~Blue