Subject D4RK

6

There was darkness all around as you lay asleep, your thoughts scattered in your unconscious state. It was awfully quiet, and the dark void was unsettling. The silence was broken off as soon as your mind had taken notice to it, now filled by a progressively growing high pitched ringing that could make your ears bleed. It was unsettling and it made you want to escape your own skin.

The noise had eventually caused you to wake up, your eyes adjusting to the dark you were sleeping in. The space was unfamiliar, the hint of paranoia disappearing when moments of the previous night returned. You sat up and looked toward the cell, being met with Mark's sleeping figure. He looked peaceful, now that he wasn't screaming in terror.

The memory sent shivers down your back, causing you to tense up as you tried to shake the feeling off. It was all good now. He was alright.

Deciding to stay in 'bed'- if you could even call it that, you reach for your glass tablet, a new message lighting up on the screen. With a sigh, you decide to ignore it and proceed on a site you found yourself wandering to recently- YouTube.

It had only been recently that you had found time to spare, always being buried in piles of science paperwork or researching some new 'thing' they didn't apparently have time to research themselves. You didn't have much knowledge on YouTube and frankly didn't see why so many liked it.

There were so many strange videos that had no real meaning, and some were just wrong and gross. You continued to browse in boredom, stealing glances at Mark's resting face. One thing YouTube was definitely good for was watching cute animal videos. That was the only thing you had liked so far.

After an unknown amount of time you had stumbled on a few 'let's play' videos. They were pretty entertaining, having a variety of different genres to choose from. You finished a video from someone named Jacksepticeye, laughing at his outro and his loud nature, hoping it wouldn't wake Mark. Headphones would be really useful right about now.

You hadn't clicked on the next video, so a new video has started playing automatically. It was another video from Jack, and you read the title- 'THE BOYS ARE BACK! |Gmod: Prop Hunt (Funny Moments)

You watched the video, trying to keep your laughter down. Wade and Bob were also very funny and entertaining, along with this guy named Mark. What a coincidence, though Mark is a very common name. His voice did...sound familiar. You tried to enjoy the rest of the video, but it just kept bugging you.

You went down to the description and clicked on a link that took you to the guy's channel, called 'Markiplier'. When the window popped up your blood ran cold as a familiar face was smiling at you from the most recent video's thumbnail.

It...It's Mark. The same person that is now sleeping only meters away from you in a cell, where he is being kept by YOU. 23 million subscribers...this guy's famous, surely someone must have noticed he was gone? You searched him up- Mark Edward Fischbach. There was nothing on him going missing, or anyone asking of where he was.

What the hell...

There was another message in the corner of your tablet, the previous one now deleted. You opened it up and started reading, your mind...in a weird place.

'We have received information, that you had discovered of Subject D4RK's host's 'origins'. Mark is a famous YouTube star, and as you have probably discovered on your own, his disappearance would be...impactful. That is why we had to get over some...obstacles to keep our research secret and under the radar. 

There is nothing you need to worry about. All you need to know is that everything has been taken care of. As for everyone else that may have ever watched, or had been following Mark...he had never existed for them, and his disappearance does not bring any amount of alarm to them. How, you may not ask. Any and all further information on the subject is highly classified.'

You had absolutely no idea what to think. What did they do?

You had known enough that they had...high influence and could get their hands on all kinds of stuff. And if not, there was nothing that stopped them from making it. You had been hesitant to put your tablet down, re-reading the words on the screen.

Taking a breath you decided to distract yourself, going back to YouTube.

You were curious about Mark and had proceeded to watch some of his videos. You had instantly fallen in love with him more and more. He was such a sweet guy. You couldn't find a single flaw, even if you wanted to. You had decided to stay away from some personal videos, feeling it would be disrespectful, for whatever it was worth. You wanted to get to know Mark from him.

You watched countless episodes, slightly alarmed that Mark had still been asleep. It had only been 8 AM, though you were supposed to feed him at 6 AM. It was silly...treating him like a dog. Though the only instructions were that you were only allowed to feed him to a certain amount of times, and the times were only a recommendation so he could keep going through the day, meaning that you could feed him fewer times, or at different times, so yo suppose it wasn't a big issue.

About half an hour later you had found yourself sketching the sleeping man, sometimes on paper and other times on your tablet. It was nothing too detailed, just messy forms with his most defined features. You remembered how his hair was changing throughout the videos, switching from various bright colors.

Now it was back to its natural black, and the state it was in...very grown out compared to the haircut you had seen him in.

Your mind wandered to his more recent videos. He seemed...off, comparing him to the a bit older ones. Like something big had changed.

His mood was much less excited and energetic, way more sluggish. You could see the lack of sleep in his eyes.

Perhaps it has to do with...well...

You turned your attention back to Mark, wanting to know more about him.