Chapter Text
Tyler woke up somewhere completely foreign to him. Foreign in almost every single aspect of the word. Everything smelled different than what he was used to, it looked different than what he was used to. It was too comfortable, too normal. He hadn’t felt that way in years, practically for as long as he could even bring himself to remember.
The room that he was in was small, but didn’t make his chest feel like it was burning with the amount of dust that had settled within his lungs overnight. He squinted against the sunlight that streamed in from the window across from him, his heart sinking even at that realization alone. He hadn’t seen the sunlight in over a month. Probably longer than that. It was really hard to keep track of time when you were in there.
Tyler sat up in the bed, steadying himself against the headboard behind him. This definitely wasn’t the same room he had fallen asleep in. There was an electric piano at the end of the bed and a pile of what he assumed were dirty clothes to his left. Everything about the room felt so normal to the point where Tyler was almost absolutely certain that this had to be some sort of a trick to get him to let his guard down. He had spent far too much time in this place to ever succumb to something so silly. He might’ve been weak but he had never been stupid.
After a moment or two of talking himself up, Tyler pushed himself up and out of the bed. Even the floor felt different underneath his feet. It was a soft carpet as opposed to the dirty concrete that he was used to. There was a small brown stain not too far from where he was standing. Tyler blinked down at it for what felt like forever before a noise not too far from him caught his attention. It had come from outside. He frowned, carefully making his way over to the window.
“What?” Tyler breathed to himself. Again, they had played tricks on him more than once but never had they been this elaborate.
Instead of the uniform gray tiled windows and buildings that he had grown used to, he was blinking at a house across from him. It stood about two stories tall and a deep brown roof. Tyler glanced up at the sun that was beaming down on the grass underneath him, flinching away from it after only a second or two of looking at it. His heart started to race in his chest. Something really wasn’t right. If they had gotten to the point of an ability to remind of a place that he hadn’t been part of for over a decade, he genuinely didn’t know how he was going to be able to overcome much of anything.
He needed to calm down. He wouldn’t be able to make much sense of anything if he was all worked up. Tyler backed away from the window before turning his back to it completely. Everything was far too bright, so much so that it had gotten to the point that it was literally making his head throb. He did his best to avoid looking around the room he was in too hard, knowing that it would do nothing but deeply upset him.
Tyler didn’t understand how but clearly after he had gone to sleep, they had managed to pull this all together so that he would wake up completely and utterly bombarded. His last attempt at an escape hadn’t been too long ago but after some time of a complete lack of any sort of punishment that he had been expecting, Tyler had assumed that they had gotten bored of it. Unfortunately for him, immediately after he had gotten comfortable with the idea of this, it had led him to his current situation.
What he was absolutely terrified of was the possibility that this wasn’t some sort of mirage and was actually his reality. Had they managed to take him to a place that was eerily familiar to him but not anywhere he had ever visited? If this was the truth, Tyler had no clue what was to come next. He did have a few people on his side and someone who always did his best to look out for him but what exactly could they do if they didn’t know where the Hell he could be this time?
Before he could think too hard about it, there was a knock in the door in front of him. Tyler almost immediately tensed up, fearful of who could have been on the other side. He glanced around the room frantically until his eyes landed on a lamp. It was about an inch or two taller than him and thin but was the only thing that looked like it could provide him with some sort of protection. He was quick to walk over and unplug it from the wall before picking it up, wielding it in front of him.
“Tyler?” came a familiar voice on the other side of the door.
Tyler hesitated. He recognized that voice. He had grown to find comfort in that voice. He lowered the lamp a little bit, taking a step towards the door. There was still the possibility of this being a cruel trick but now there was the possibility of Tyler possibly having someone who he knew who also happened to either be in the same situation as him or here to help him.
Before he could make a decision, the knob twisted and the door was being opened. Tyler hesitated, holding the lamp a bit higher out of instinct. On the other side was a boy who slipped in like he had done so at least a thousand times before, shutting the door behind himself. Tyler dropped the lamp completely.
“Josh?” Tyler breathed out.
The boy turned. Except this boy didn’t look like the one Tyler knew. He did, they both had identical faces and bodies but something was off. This one looked a lot softer, weaker almost. His hair was dark and curled around his ears like the Josh Tyler knew but he didn’t have any of the scars or battle marks. The closest thing to a blemish Tyler could make out on his face was a patch of sun–kissed freckles that went over the bridge of his nose and lined his cheeks.
He had on a loose tie dye T–shirt and a little necklace lined with a bunch of different charms. Tyler wielded the lamp a bit higher. This was fucked up. They had done him impossibly wrong before but never anything to this length. How did they manage to get an absolute carbon copy of the Josh he knew? What exactly was Tyler supposed to do next?
“Whoa, dude,” Josh—“Josh”—said, chuckling. He put his hands up playfully, eyeing the lamp Tyler was holding. “You owe someone money or something?”
He even sounded like Josh. This was sick. Tyler felt like he was going to vomit. This was a way to get his guard down. That had to be a bishop using someone else’s— Josh’s —body to fool him. But, if that was the truth, did that mean that Josh was…
“Can you, like, put that down?” the fake Josh asked. “You’re scaring me a little.”
“Fuck you,” Tyler hissed because he wasn’t dumb and if this was route that they wanted to take, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Fake Josh made a small face, clearly not expecting Tyler’s response or the malice in his voice. He laughed a bit uncertainly, looking from Tyler to the lamp back to Tyler. If Tyler was naive, he would have mistaken the look on Fake Josh’s face as genuine concern.
“Is this a prank?” Fake Josh said. “Are you pranking me right now?”
Enough was enough. The longer Tyler stood here, the more time and opportunity he gave them to strike. He didn’t waste another second before lunging at Fake Josh, swinging the lamp back to connect with the other’s face. If this was some kind of a trick, if Tyler was able to make contact with one of these assholes the mirage wouldn’t last long. Fake Josh’s face dropped before he ducked, sending Tyler stumbling over nothing due to how hard he had swung.
Unfortunately for Fake Josh, Tyler was able to immediately push himself up from the ground and strike again. Josh ducked once more but tripped over the leg of the bed–frame, sending him collapsing against the mattress. This was his chance. Tyler geared back the lamp and went to hit Josh on the bed, making a frustrated noise in the back of his throat when the traitor’s instincts were a hair faster than his and he was able to reach up and grab the middle of the lamp before it came crashing down on him.
“W–What the fuck is your problem, Tyler?” Fake Josh asked, straining against the weight of Tyler above him. Again, Tyler might’ve been small but he definitely wasn’t as weak as he looked. He couldn’t afford to be.
“I’m not stupid!” Tyler shouted. “I don’t know if this is some sort of punishment for me escaping but I know you’re not him!”
“I’m not who?” Fake Josh shouted back.
“Josh!” Tyler said. “Torch! You’re fucking—You’re wearing his skin!”
“Who the fuck is—? Tyler, get off!”
With that, Fake Josh was able to shove Tyler to the side. The lamp went clattering somewhere to their left and Tyler almost instantaneously found it with his gaze, scrambling on the carpeted floor to try and grab it before Josh could. Josh was faster. He jumped off the bed and kicked the lamp to the side, standing in between Tyler who was still on the ground glaring up at him and the object that was now definitely broken due to all the abuse it had taken.
When it looked like Tyler was going to strike again, Fake Josh ran over and grabbed the lamp. He wielded it above his head, leaving Tyler absolutely defenseless.
“I swear to God, dude,” Fake Josh warned. “I’m not gonna hit you but you’re also not gonna hit me.”
“Go to Hell,” Tyler sneered, causing Josh’s eyes to widen incredulously.
“Did I do something?” he said.
Did he do something? Did he help bring Tyler back to this hellhole after he had finally managed to escape to torture him day in and day out? Was he now trying to manipulate him and make him question his sanity by masquerading as the only person Tyler had ever really been able to trust? Jesus, Tyler wanted to kill this guy. He didn’t even have the decency to mimic Josh correctly. Where was the scar that went across the bridge of his nose? Where was his hardness? This Josh didn’t even look upset that Tyler had tried to attack him. Even as he was holding the lamp over his head, he looked more worried than anything.
How dare he feign worry? How dare he try and trick Tyler and look concerned? He didn’t care. None of them did.
“Tyler, who do you think I am?” Fake Josh asked him softly.
“I don’t think anything,” Tyler hissed. “I know what you are. You’re a bishop and you’re trying to trick me into believing that you’re Torch—.”
“Whoa, I’m a what? And who is Torch? Why do you keep saying that?”
Instead of responding, Tyler shot up from the ground and shoved Fake Josh, trying to snatch the lamp out of his hand. After a moment of struggling and Tyler this close to getting ahold of the lamp again, Josh made the decision to simply chuck it across the room. Before Tyler could whirl around and run over to go and grab it, Josh shoved him back to the ground. Again, Tyler noticed that it wasn’t even as hard as he knew the real Josh could have pushed him. In an instant and before Tyler could do anything about it, Fake Josh was on top of him, holding his arms above his head.
“Are you high?” Fake Josh said, out of breath from all of the commotion. Tyler didn’t say anything. He refused. They wouldn’t be getting anything else out of him. “I’m Josh, dude. Your friend. Joshua William Dun.”
Tyler didn’t know the real Josh’s middle or last name. However, he did know that whether they were mimicking his friend or not, whoever was on top of him had given him the perfect opportunity to lift his knee up and ram it into his stomach. Fake Josh grunted loudly in pain, almost immediately letting go and rolling off of him. With that, Tyler scrambled away and in the direction of the lamp.
This should have been it. You couldn’t let the person you’re trying to fool make contact with you if you’re mimicking someone. It ruins the entire facade. Tyler picked the lamp back up and looked around the room, waiting for it—for something— to change. Nothing happened. He looked back down at the ground, fully expecting to see one of those bastards sprawled out on the carpet in that ugly red robe he was all too familiar with. Instead, Tyler was met with the sight of Fake Josh curled in a ball, grimacing as he cradled the spot his knee had slammed into.
Was what he had learned wrong? Torch had told him about their ability to mimic and what to do if he had ever found himself in that situation. Everything lined up to what Tyler had learned except for this one part. He had done everything he was supposed to do and what he had been instructed to do but nothing had changed.
Tyler noticed the device in Fake Josh’s back pocket. Swallowing down his nerves he made his way over, taking advantage of the mimic’s distraction to snatch it out of his pocket. They weren’t allowed phones anywhere in DEMA but Tyler had seen them. He fumbled around with it for a moment before bringing it to life.
Staring back at him was the time, the date and a picture. It was 1:37 in the afternoon, June 2nd. The picture was Josh holding his phone up high, smiling brightly up at the camera. Next to him was Tyler with his tongue stuck out in a loose black hoodie. Something was wrong.
It was Tyler, sure, but it wasn’t Tyler. It looked exactly like him but something was off. He wore the same worn look on his face that Tyler knew all too well that had simply developed over time but something was missing. Like Fake Josh, he lacked that hardness. He looked weak.
“What is this?” Tyler demanded. Fake Josh rolled over, squinting up at his phone. He opened his mouth before looking up at Tyler and shutting it. That only pissed Tyler off and caused him to gear the lamp back in an obvious threat.
“Oh, fuck, dude! What do you want me to say?” Josh said, the panic evident in his voice. “It’s me and you! We’re friends! I’m not a–a fucking bishop or Torch or whoever! I’m Josh!”
So many things weren’t making sense. It didn’t make sense that Tyler was here and that they suddenly had the ability to completely and totally change his surroundings overnight. It didn’t make sense that there was someone in front of him who both looked and sounded like Josh while simultaneously failing to accomplish either of those things. Unless Josh had succumbed to the unthinkable after Tyler had been recaptured, it also didn’t make any sort of sense that one of them was able to mimic him.
What Tyler did know, though, was that this Josh looked absolutely terrified. He also knew that his Josh had never been wrong and if he had told him that all he had to do to figure out whether or not he was being tricked was for him to make contact, that had to be the truth. The only issue with that was that if he did that successfully and nothing had changed, what did that mean for Tyler now? If this wasn’t the bishops fooling him so that they could weaken him even more than he already was, then what exactly was it?
And who the Hell was that kid on Josh’s phone who was wearing his face?