You Changed Me

9. The Forest and the Coffee Shop

Anti panted, running as fast as he could. Every few steps he would open another portal and jump ahead, and he was starting to exhaust himself. He had been running for what felt like hours at this point, and he knew he hadn't exerted himself so much since the escape... He slowed down, among the trees he found himself in, long fingers gripping at his knees as heavy breaths flew from his lips. There's no way Dark could have followed me this far... right? he asked himself, lifting his head to look around.

After a moment of breathing, he pushed himself to his full height. After a cursory glance around his new surroundings, a new forest it seemed. The trees were very different, tall maples and birches, rather than the dark pines from where he came. He took another calming breath and his eyes fluttered shut. He reached out, as subtly as he could, to the surrounding area. There were humans nearby, and his long ears twitched at the sound of cars and other commotion in the distance. He was surrounded by city, but to his relief there was no sign of Dark, or any of the others, nearby.

He opened his eyes again and looked around more closely. There was a path, some distance away, cut through the trees on his right. To his left all he could make out were trees. He could hear city noises coming from all directions, in varying heights. He seemed to be in the middle of a city, perhaps a park? His mind supplied. He could vaguely recollect Ethan mentioning parks before... Bringing up the possibility of taking him to one one day.

The thought of Ethan seemed to jump-start Anti's mind, and he felt his stomach drop (a strange feeling, he noted, similar to how moving through Ethan's magic box felt, going from the entrance "lobby" to Ethan's "floor"). His eyes darted around himself again, paranoid that he missed someone, that they were close behind him still...

What if Dark did find Ethan? Or what if he hasn't and I'm leading him right to him? Can Dark track me? What if I set him off and he didn't already know about Ethan?

The thoughts bounced around in his mind, causing his head to throb, and he groaned quietly. His balance faltered a little, before his legs gave out completely and he plummeted to the ground. He landed with a soft thump, before his form glitched, as the others so eloquently called it. His Jack form struggled to fully cover him, jumping in and out of view. Anti's mind struggled to focus on just one at a time, flipping between reality and the persona like the channels on Ethan's TV. He grimaced as he pushed himself up off the ground, staring at his flickering hands as he attempting to concentrate, watching the red stained claws change into pale, human hands, before shifting again. 

He let out a small breath of relief as the glitching slowed to a stop, resting on his 'Jack' appearance, green hair falling over two blue eyes. He smiled a little to himself, before slowly pushing himself up from the ground with a groan. He looked around, reaching out to his surrouny again with a somewhat clearer mind. Still nothing... His shoulders dropped in relief and he shoved himself back against the tree.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled in a shaking breath, clenching his fingers, before releasing everything in a soft puff of air. When he opened his eyes again his form had stabilized, resting on his human image. He smiled to himself, rotating his shoulders and stretching a little. He hadn't glitched before Ethan, but after he left... He had found himself missing the human, found that he missed being just Jack. He had started finding comfort in his mirage, finding it easier and easier to slip into, until suddenly it was hard to not slip into the mirage. That's when the glitching started, because he was trying to be Anti again, but all he wanted was to be Jack.

A sigh slipped past his lips as he scanned his environment. The world was getting darker, evening was almost upon him. His shoulders sagged a little and he looked to the path beyond the trees. He shook his head, he would rather not spend the night out in the city, and he wouldn't be very good at finding Ethan in the dark.  He then shifted his gaze to the trees around him, resting on a rather large tree with some low hanging branches.