Chapter 21

One week. One entire week alone with no one else but him and his girlfriend.

Jack had to admit, life's been very good to him lately. He'd wake up to Arcee in his arms, go to sleep with Arcee in his arms. Then in between, he'd spend the rest of day doing whatever they wanted, as long as they were together. And while the week had gone by with a blink of an eye, Jack knew that he had cherished every minute of this vacation and heck, he still had another whole week left!

Jack sat up on the bed and checked the time. His digital bedside clock read 5:00 am and he groaned. Even when he doesn't try, he still wakes up early. Jack tried to go back to sleep but it was as if his mind was up and running. He tried hugging Arcee's sleeping form as if she was a stuff bear but still nothing. Finally, he just gave up and decided to make some coffee in the kitchen to keep his eyes open. He wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon and to be fair; it really didn't matter when he would. He was on vacation and that meant he could practically fall asleep whenever he wanted to... well as long as he wasn't driving or doing something important.

So kid, I see you've been skipping out on our combat training these past couple nights.

Jack groaned again. Ever since he and Agent 000 had begun to start getting along, every night the agent would teach him something new. Whether it was target practice for shooting different weapons or advanced hand-to-hand combat training.

Hey sorry about that. It's just that since I'm on vacation, I wanted to get away from all that.

Agent 000 didn't respond for a bit, probably considering whether he should just let it slide or completely rip at him.

Alright, I guess you deserve it. But what's up with the mind barriers?

Oh right, I completely forgot to tell you about that. Don't quote me on this, but I think because our minds are linked, we have the same sub-conscious which means we have the same dreams. That's probably why whenever I fall asleep, I see you. No hard feelings or anything but I kind of wanted to have my own dreams for a bit and it turns out setting mind barriers help me with that.

Fair enough, although next time tell me when you do decide to have separate dreams. Whenever you do that, I gain complete control over my half of our sub-consciousness and it startles me.

Jack laughed. I'm not stupid, nothing startles you.

You know me so well. Agent 000 said, quoting one of Jack and Arcee's earlier conversations during the car ride.

Jack chuckled at the agent's sense of humor. He's been getting better, loosening up a bit more from his usual seriousness. Jack can tell that he's begun to accept the fact that Jack's his host and honestly, he doesn't seem to have a problem with staying inside of his head. But really, who wouldn't? You don't need to eat or drink, or use any effort, heck you don't even have to walk. Agent 000 can live in any place he wants as long as Jack can think about it, and he can also do whatever he wants since none of it actually affects him. Secretly, Jack has thought about what it would be like if he and the agent switched spots. He could finally get away from everything, literally. But then again, a guy walking around with dark purple eyes and pulsing dark veins usually raises some alarms so it's probably best that Jack has control.

The teen pulled out of his thoughts as he walked towards the kitchen counter. He grabbed some previously grinded beans out of the cupboard and poured it into the coffee maker. He then proceeded in pressing a couple buttons and the machine started to rumble quietly, signalling its start.

Jack started to hum a tune and tapped his fingers against the table to the beat. He couldn't quite remember where the tune was from but it was stuck in his head since he's been hearing it over and over on the radio.

Kid do you have to do that?

Do what?

Hum that stupid song. I'm tired of hearing it when you're in the car and it doesn't help if you're rocking out to its beat.

Sorry, it's stuck in my head.

Well now you got it stuck in mine. 'If I were you, I'd want to be me too, I'd want to be me too!' God, I hate that song so much. I'd rather die than listen to that one more time.

Jack had to hold in a laugh so that he wouldn't wake up Arcee. Agent 000's impersonation of Megan Trainor's singing was so bad and he really wanted to burst out laughing right not.

You're a great singer. Maybe you should try going professional. Jack teased.

Hahaha, you're hilarious kid. Why don't you- ow.

As soon as he ended his sentence, Jack felt a wave of pain fill into his head, even worse than when he and Agent 000 had wrestles over control of his body.

Stop! What are you doing?! Jack yelled into his head.

Arrr... It's not... me kid...

Jack's vision started to get blurry as he leaned onto the kitchen counter for balance. Suddenly, he felt like he was rocking on a boat and he lost his balance, wobbling around while his arms hit into plates and anything that was on the counter.

Kid... its back, and it's fighting us! Agent 000 just managed to say before he yelled in pain and agony. Jack was doing the same, only he couldn't hear himself. It was as if all five of his senses just turned off somehow.

No, no, no, no, no. Why now? Why-arg on my vacation?

Stop complaining and help me fight back!

Jack was breathing hard as his lungs had started to feel like stone. He took a deep breath and ignored the pain before closing his eyes, jumping into his sub-consciousness. As soon as he was in, his sub-conscious self fell to his knees, holding his head and screaming in pain. There was no longer a setting in his mind, only a dark black void that had no end.

Get up!

Jack mustered up the rest of his strength and forced himself to his feet. He felt Agent 000 help him up and with his help, he managed to regain his composure. Jack looked over at the agent and jumped back in a startle. He had a dark purple aura around him and the agent looked like he was concentrating hard to keep it up.

What's going on?

I don't know kid, just help me fight this thing!

Jack looked in the direction the agent was staring and saw a dark red aura-like cloud floating towards them. He was genuinely scared out of his wits and ad no idea what that thing was.

What do I do?

Concentrate you mind to fight against his. Once you see an aura, you'll know you've done it right.

Jack did what he was told, not really sure what to expect but he did it anyways. There was still a whole lot of pain in his head but he fought back, using every ounce of strength. When he opened his eyes, he saw a blue aura surrounding him, faint but still visible.

Now fight!

As if they've been practicing this for years, Jack and Agent 000 slowly stepped forwards, each foot placement felt like a hundred. Once they were close enough, they hoped back into their minds and started to fight the force trying to escape. The purple and blue auras clashing against the red one. At first, there was no change, but slowly the two colors managed to overcome the red, pushing it back deep inside their minds and ending the battle.

What the hell was that?! Jack asked furiously, although he felt like he had a really good idea of what it was.

That, kid, was the same thing that took over during your fight with Vince. That's what you refer to as the 'darkness', and we just got a taste of what it can do. Whatever it was, it wasn't using its full potential.

Jack sighed, realizing this was a lot more serious than he had thought. If that wasn't the darkness' full potential, he didn't want to know what was.

Do you think we can set up a mind barrier to block it out?

Good thinking, but it's not going to stop it from coming back. As soon as that barrier breaks, it will become free once again.

Just... let's worry about that later.

The two of them focused hard, moving deep into their minds and working together to creating this barrier. Because there were two of them, Jack could sense that the barrier was extremely durable and could probably last them days, maybe more. They still had no idea of how it worked but at this point, it really didn't matter, as long as they could block it out, it was fine.

"Jack!"

The sudden female voice got his mind back into reality as his eyes shot open. He looked around, still feeling the after effects of the entire mind assault in his head. Jack was on the floor, plates and cups scattered on the ground along with spilled coffee. He felt to hands wrap around him and Arcee give him a hug.

"You scared me, what happened? Are you okay? I heard a crash and woke up." She asked with a worried tone.

"It's okay, I'm fine. Just kind of lost my balance that was all" Jack lied.

Arcee studied his face, trying to see whether or not he was telling the truth. Jack knew that if there was anyone who could read him like a book, it would be Agent 000 and Arcee, and he definitely did not want her to find out about what really happened. He quickly shot her a serious yet gentle look that immediately stopped her investigation.

"Alright then. Come on, let's get this place cleaned up then get back to bed." Arcee suggested, picking up the utensils on the ground. Jack did the same, grabbing some paper towels to clean up the spilled coffee.

When they were done, they returned to the bedroom. Jack felt incredibly tired and his mind felt like it was no longer able to keep itself together.

Agent 000 the-

Shut up kid, it hurts when we communicate.

Jack had to agree and quickly sulked into bed. When Arcee crawled in, he turned to face her, grabbing her and moving her closer towards him. She was slightly surprised at his sudden affection but let it slide, nudging her face against his chest.

Jack's vacation has just been ruined and now, the feeling of guilt and darkness was coming back to him. He didn't want to go back to that mindset, he just wanted to stay with Arcee. He just wanted to hold her and forget about what had just happened.

If he could, he would be yelling right now.

The darkness was back, and it was here to stay.

...

Author's note: Shorter chapters so I gave you a double today.

That's really it, hope you enjoy blah blah blah review.

See you tomorrow with Chapter 22, which will introduce new characters.

Pie guy out.