Chapter Text
A knock on the open door resonated throughout the Time Room. Prismo looked up from his laptop with a confused furrow and he shifted his gaze to the entrance.
"Enter!" He called, turning off the TV wall before watching a hesitant figure peer into the room.
"Hello? I was told I could find a Prismo here?"
"That's me. What can I do for you? Wish on your mind?" He asked, mildly intrigued by the potential wish-maker.
"Uh, no. I have everything I need." The traveler smiled at him wearily, but their words seemed genuine. "Only problem is this," They continued, removing a backpack twice their size with some effort before dropping it on the ground, "They've been terrorizing my village and screaming your name, so I'm just here to return these to you."
"Huh. Thanks? I think..." Prismo mumbled, sinking down to the floor and reaching out for the bag. Someone content with life, visiting him without the desire for a wish, and leaving him with something instead of taking? "Who are you-?"
He cut himself off as he returned his attention to the traveler, only to see they were gone.
"Okaaaay then." He said aloud then turned is attention back to the backpack as it began to move. "What the...?"
Unzipping the top, he opened it and peered inside only to find darkness. His confusion deepened until something jumped out of the bag, launching at his face with a shriek that nearly rivalled his own.
"WHOA! Hey! Hey! What the heck?!" He scrambled to another wall as an angry little beetle chased after him, gnashing and biting at his heels.
Pulling himself up to the ceiling, he watched as the enraged little thing tried to climb the walls to get to him. It proved enough of a distraction for him to initially miss as more beetles began to crawl out of the bag and scatter around the room.
A loud splash startled him and he watched another beetle flail around in his jacuzzi. It looked distressed and he quickly projected over, pulling it out before it could drown. His concern was returned with a hard chomp on his hand, another on his heel as the two bugs began gnawing on his silhouette. A third appeared and shook its head like a disappointed parent.
"Ouch! What is going on!?" Prismo exclaimed, removing the attacking beetles with some effort.
"It would seem our hatred was so strong it's divided into two of them." The disappointed beetle spoke, tapping its chin thoughtfully.
The pool bug cackled and squirmed out of Prismo's grasp, scurrying away to hide in a pile of empty beer cans. Its twin seemed content with growling and chomping down on his arm.
"Ow, stop that." He reprimanded, holding it away from his body and snapping his fingers to manifest a container.
Dropping it into a pickle jar the angry bug scratched at the glass and hissed his name with such venom it was almost surprising from the tiny thing.
"Who are you?" He asked the level headed one, his eye skating around the room and taking note of four beetles now.
"We are the Scarab, or at least portions of his personality." The honest Scarab answered. "We were-"
"SHH! Shut up! Tell him nothing!" The fourth bug skittered over and began aggressively shoving its hands against the other's mouth before glaring up at him. "We do not speak to HIM!"
The silenced Scarab looked far from amused, but did not stop its counterpart.
"What happened, dude?" He asked regardless, looking down at them with a mix of concern and bewilderment.
"NO! No questions!" The defiant one released its companion to instead run up to him, jabbing a digit into the expanse of his chest. "None of your business!"
"It was our most recent target. A wizard we were meant to apprehend. He's still at large." The honest one answered, earning enraged shrieks from the other three.
The angry one began running aggressive circles around the pickle jar, making its containment shake until Prismo held a hand on top of it. The mischievous one began throwing trash around, biting into the empty cans and shaking them, spilling what little contents they had all over the floor.
"Chill out, dude...s? I can't help if I don't know what the problem is, you know?" Prismo tried to placate them, but three of the four seemed determined to be as difficult as possible.
He paused at the sound of purring and looked down. A fifth beetle nuzzled its head against him and hugged the wall he projected on, seeming completely unbothered by the one attempting to confront him as it tried to shove the cuddler aside.
"Aaw, this one's kinda cute." He awed, watching it snuggle harder into his projection at the acknowledgement before he turned back to the most talkative one. "How many are there?"
It tapped its chin again, humming in thought before pointing at the snuggling one. "Well, that one would seem to be our affectionate side. It's quite small..." Then it shifted to the bug shouting at that one, "I'm assuming our confrontational or defiant side."
"Anger?" Prismo asked as he held up the pickle jar, the beetle inside jumped and stomped before trying to bite him through the glass.
"Anger." The scarab agreed before shifting to the one making a mess. "Mischievous side. And-" It paused on a sixth Scarab.
They both watched as it sat in a dirty microwavable dinner plate and pulled off its arm. Munching down, the appendage regrew with each bite it took. Once the limb was back, it ripped it off again and continued eating itself.
"We don't talk about that one..." The honest one said before placing a hand to its own chest. "I on the other hand, am the braincell. The honest one. The level headed side of Scarab."
"Prideful prick." The confrontational one spat, running over to pick another fight, only to be intercepted by a second pickle jar.
"I think we'll just put a few of you in time out." Prismo suggested, placing it in containment along with the mischievous one. Three pickle jars were much easier to keep track of. Then he looked down at the one happily chirping and cooing in his lap. "You can stay."
"If you decide to lock me up, you better use handcuffs." A seventh Scarab leaned against the jacuzzi before making its way over to him with a sashay of its nonexistent hips.
It took a seat on his lap beside the snuggly one and it began to trace circles on the wall he projected on.
"Uuuh, you're friendly too." Prismo mumbled, unsure of what to do with the touchy beetle. Especially with the other components losing their minds at the brazen display.
"We hate him, remember?" The honest bug whispered to the two cozying up to him, but there was no malice in its voice.
"I don't. If you can figure out how to put me back with that one, we could have great hate sex right here." The seductive one purred and gestured to the angry beetle rocking its pickle jar furiously.
Prismo avoided looking at all of them for a moment as he coughed, his cheeks tinging a darker pink. Then realization struck him and he waved his hand excitedly. "That gives me an idea!" The very horny bug gave him a look that quickly had him backtracking the statement. "No, not like that. Try again when you're all back together."
"What!?" Nearly all of the scarabs exclaimed at his comment.
"What? Who said that? Anyway, putting you back together. Good idea, right? If it's a magic problem then I'll just magic up a magic machine!" He quickly changed the subject.
"Hmm, that could work." The honest one replied, looking up at him expectantly.
"Oh, uh, right. Just gotta figure out how to make one..." He looked around the room for a moment before grabbing his remote and turning the TV wall back on. There were so many worlds, but only a few people who could make something that would actually work and he knew just the woman to take inspiration from.
With the press of a few buttons he accessed the footage overlooking the land of Ooo and flipped through a few channels until he found the candy castle. Luckily Princess Bubblegum was already in her lab experimenting on some banana guards.
"Let's see what she has around here." Prismo mumbled to himself as he squinted around her lab. "Nope, too complicated. No, no, nope, definitely not, that looks waay too threatening. Hm...what about that one?"
He snapped his fingers and manifested a replica of the machine displayed on screen. The true function didn't really matter as his own magic shaped the device to his intentions. The base was bronze and sat flat on the floor, supporting two glass containments on either side large enough to fit the original Scarab.
"That should work. Now then, who's ready to be put back together?" Prismo asked as he raised the pickle jars containing three of the naughtiest personality traits.
They weren't really given a choice as he placed the angry and confrontational beetles into the machine. The honest one ran over to help him out and pressed a button near the base. Whatever spell had been cast was removed from the two bugs and dissipated from the top of their container like a glittery steam. The figure that remained was a very tiny and angry god auditor.
"Prismo! When I get out of here I will rip you off that wall and shred your disgusting projection before I display your mangled corpse as my wall decoration!"
"Whoa, really descriptive there, dude. Yikes, let's get someone else in there." He look around quickly before scooping up the weird bug, pulling its arm out of its mouth and dropping it into the machine.
From the magical steam came a slighter larger Scarab who began frantically clawing at the glass, screaming and spinning around in circles on the floor of his containment.
"You guys have issues." Prismo shook his head and dropped the mischievous one just to see what would happen.
"Prismooo, you should really let me out of here..." Scarab began in an almost playfully threatening tone before his claws screeched down the glass of his containment. "Or I'll tear your face off!"
"You know...you could mesh the unpleasant components and leave some of my better pieces to live a life free of...that." The level headed bug piped up, side eyeing him.
"And leave a full grown that running around? No thanks. I know we don't really get along, but I think I like you better when you're whole." Prismo answered as he picked up another beetle before glancing at it and realizing he was holding the very...seductive one. He stared at it for a moment then turned his attention to the angry auditor scratching up the barrier then his eye rolled down to the honest one. It shook its head at him, but the one in his grasp nodded emphatically, encouraging him to make things worse.
Well, curiosity killed the cat, but thankfully he wasn't one.
He dropped the horny bug into the machine.
"I don't know if I'd rather kill you or fuck you, so how about you let me out and we find out." Scarab said with a growling purr, pressing himself up against the marred glass. His armour parted and tentacles began spilling out, slicking the surface.
"WHOA!" Prismo covered his face just as the honest bug jumped in front of the sight blocking it.
"Put me back! Put me back!" It yelled, reaching up for his free hand.
"Yep, on it!" He responded, keeping his eye shielded as he picked up the beetle and dropped it into the machine.
Scarab disappeared behind a cloud of smoke before reappearing standing tall and adjusting his tie. "That could have been a disaster. Perhaps you should have started with me, but then again you are the type to make that kind of mistake, Prismo."
"Seems like you're feeling back to normal." Prismo snorted dismissively then looked down at the bug still cuddling into him, its big, shiny eyes staring up at him. He would enjoy keeping that one around, but seeing the parts that currently made up Scarab, he'd need all the friendly pieces he could get. "I guess I have to put you back too."
The cuddle bug nuzzled into Prismo before hugging his hand while he lifted it to the machine.
"Ugh, fine. I suppose someone needs to stop it from hugging the entire galaxy." The auditor muttered, shooting the little traitor a soured look.
It didn't seem to notice or care as it happily hopped out of his hand to return to its other halves.
There didn't seem to be much of a shift in Scarab, but he did tip his head once and spoke a terse, "thank you." He also seemed a little shorter.
"There you go. All back together." The Wishmaster replied, releasing him from the machine with a snap.
"Yes, well. I think I have overstayed my welcome." He said, stepping out of the device and then further from the other being. "This changes nothing." He added, switching between a gradual and brisk pace toward the door.
"Hey, drop by any time you need me to put you back together." Prismo saluted sarcastically, earning a scoff from the retreating auditor.
"You're leaving me?" A tiny voice piped up, startling them both.
"What was that?" He asked, looking around his room before his eye landed on a little beetle poking its head out from around his jacuzzi. "Another one?"
"Ah, that one isn't important." Scarab dismissed the missing component before he grabbed the backpack they had arrived in and approached it. "Don't bother with it, Prismo, you have done enough. I will deal with this mess."
The little bug released a tiny shriek and cowered away from his approaching form.
"Wait, wait, wait. That's not cool, Scrabby, don't be mean to yourself." Prismo chastised as he intercepted, picking the beetle up and letting it sit in his hand far out of the auditor's reach.
"Prismo! You don't know what you're doing! That is a very dangerous piece and I have been trying to rid myself of it for years. Do not ruin this for me!" The other being shouted at him angrily, kicking his wall.
"Calm down. This little guy doesn't seem dangerous." He replied before frowning as its eyes began brimming with tears. "Oh no, you're making it sad."
"It's pathetic! Throw it away or let me deal with it accordingly!"
He ignored the raving auditor and shifted his full attention to the sad little bug. "Hey, hey, it's okay. What's up little dude?"
"No one likes me. I don't even like me." It sniffled, rubbing at the tears rolling down its round face before it pointed to its enraged, incomplete form. "Everyone hurts me...he hurts me."
"Why?" He couldn't help asking, feeling unexpectedly heartbroken for this hidden piece of the god auditor.
"He doesn't want to remember. The pain distracts him and distractions cause pain. I'm useless. I remind him of being scared. Of feeling tiny. Insignificant. Broken. Ripped apar-"
"Enough! Get rid of it. Get rid of it!" Scarab howled, burying his fist into the wall.
"Hey, dude, it's okay." Prismo moved down the wall, keeping the traumatized bug out of reach, but putting himself closer to the other being's level. "It's part of you, Scrabby. A really sad part of you, but that doesn't mean you should get rid of it."
Scarab crossed his arms and turned away, refusing to meet the Wishmaster's gaze.
"Look, man, I know it sucks. You don't want the pain, no one does, but trauma comes for everyone. Isn't it better to hold onto this piece and remember the pain you know, so you know what to do if something happens again? If you destroy this, something worse might happen and you won't know how to avoid it or what to do with it."
He didn't say a word in response, but he did listen, and after a beat his steps hesitantly turned back to the machine. Without acknowledging the other being, he stepped into it and prepared to accept the part of himself he hated the most.
Prismo smiled slightly before turning back to the bug in his hold and bring it close enough to whisper to it. "You're going to be okay, little guy. I like you and hopefully some day you'll like yourself."
The beetle sniffled again, staring at him with big watery eyes as he gently guided it over to the machine. He dropped it inside and watched the transformation.
Scarab stumbled out, grasping his chest and leaning against the device. Inhaling once, he let his hand drop and stood up straighter to brush himself off.
"You never saw that." He muttered, shooting the other being a brief glare.
"Saw what?" Prismo replied, shrugging his shoulders dumbly.
"The- tch." Understanding washed over Scarab and his irritation dipped long enough for a short burst of appreciation to reach him. He cleared his throat, turned, and began to walk away. "I need to return to my work and apprehend that wizard, but do not think you've seen the last of me."
"Later, Scarab!" Prismo called, accepting the threat with a friendly wave.
Once the door shut behind the other being, he quickly looked around the room, checking every nook and cranny to ensure no more bugs were hidden. He appeared to be alone and he sat back with a sigh, dissolving the machine.
"Phew."