Okay, so this one is from Dave's POV. FOR ONCE, it's not a super obvious AU. This takes place after a year or two on the meteor.
How To Survive Losing Your Mind In Just A Few Simple Steps
Step One: Do the time thing.
You do so, retrieving a handful of Daves who had nothing better to do. You don't tell them why you want them here. You just tell them you need them to come and they trust and accept that it's important. It's only a half lie. You do need them; just not for any of the reasons they might have thought.
Step Two: Flashstep down the hall.
You have far to go until your flash stepping is as good as Bro's is- was, but it will suffice. You dart around a corner out of their sight and call for them. You say that the thing you need help with is over here; that they just have to come over here and you won't need them for too long afterwards. It's the truth. This shouldn't take too long.
Step Three: Strife.
You pull out your katana and attack the first one to come around the corner before they have the chance to defend themselves- yourselves? You viscously fight, putting all of your strength into every blow. You close your eyes for a moment and try to pretend that you feel the hot summer heat of Texas. You try to throw yourself into the idea that this is Bro your strifing right now.
You hear the Daves alarmed cries quickly turn into steely determination. They attempt to tag team you. You expected that. You've done this enough times to have realized exactly how predictable you are in a fight. You never realized that you have a tendency of falling into a certain pattern of attacks and defenses until you started fighting extra knowledge and practice gives you an upper hand that you're not used to having in a fight. Usually it was you getting your ass pounded into the roof, but now it's your turn to come out on top.
Step Four: Kill them.
Wait, what? No, that is not supposed to be part of your plan. This is not how this is supposed to go. They weren't supposed to die; they were supposed to have a strife with you, then you would send them back home. Now, four of the original five Daves are on the floor in various mangled positions. This is so awful. You're practically committing suicide over and over again, and you just can't stop. You know this is wrong, but right now it's making you feel on top of the world.
You stand over the last Dave, katana in hand. This isn't how this was supposed to go, but nonetheless this is how it's going, and you fail to see what the difference it will make if you kill just one more Dave. Just one more.
He seems to be smaller than the others you fought today, younger. This Dave lost his glasses sometime throughout the strife. You stare into his bloodred eyes as they stare back. A plethora of emotions are clear in his eyes: fear, pain, confusion, and... wonder? Awe? What
"B-Bro?" he manages to stutter out.
You calmly raise an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"Is that you, Bro?" he says, looking you over from head to toe.
Step Five: Stop killing them.
Your knees give out, causing you to crouch-fall into a sitting position. He couldn't have been talking to you. You're not Bro. You've never been anything like Bro. You've never been strong enough to be mistaken as him. You look at your blurred reflection in your katana.
Your hair has become messy lately because you haven't been styling it on a daily basis, so you have an eternal bead head. You had accidentally broken the shades your best bro, John gave you, so you had to revert back to the anime-style shades Bro gave you when you were younger. You look at your reflection once more, just to be sure. You allow a single tear to roll down your cheek, before sending the badly injured, younger version of you away.
Step Six: Repeat steps one through five.
No, not this time. Not again. You don't think you could handle doing this again. You'll need a new method of surviving losing your mind.