They were used to hanging out in the woods. It wasn't like there was anywhere else to go. The virtual world didn't offer much in terms of variety. There was the single short street of houses in the center, surrounded by woods on 3/4 of the sides and plains (cut off by woods) at the last bit. So it wasn't too strange that they'd be doing one of the weird sing-y things there.

Two's a coincidence; three's a pattern. There was no doubt that Roy was behind all this, but it's not like that information DID anything. They couldn't stop him, not really. They just had to hope he'd get whatever he wanted out of this and be over with it soon.

Duck didn't really like that the script told him he had to make his little brother cry. A few months ago, he wouldn't really have given much thought to poking fun at Yellow, but this wasn't a few months ago. It just felt dully sickening now.

Yellow found himself on a tree branch, alone, not quite sure of how he got up there.

"It makes you sad, doesn't it? That there's so much hatred in the world. I hope you don't mind if I ask you a question."

That was a... really tall... flying thing. Person? It looked sorta human but humans don't have teal skin and... it certainly wasn't an object.

"A little baby pigeon" spilled out of his mouth without thinking.

"Have you ever wondered why we're here? What's it all about, you've no idea. But everywhere you look, all you see is hatred. And darkness, death, and fear. But you know it doesn't have to be, that I hate you, and you hate me. Cuz even though we're different, it doesn't make a difference, and we can live in harmony!"

Yellow's head felt fuzzy, and he tried to refocus. But something about the voice and the weird music and he was up oh so high. He wanted to fall asleep. Was this what Red felt like? Wasn't he supposed to be mad about something...

"Though you don't know who I am, but maybe I could hold your hand, and together we could understand about love!"

"Huh? I feel tingly!"

"Yes that's love my friend. And it's time that you learned all about it!"

Yellow didn't really care that he was suddenly on a cloud floating through the air. It kinda made sense to him, at least way more than the last song did. But he could've sworn he already knew a lot about love. He loved his siblings, he loved his house, he loved dad. [Right?]

He suddenly realized that he hadn't been paying attention to the song, but he didn't really need to. He felt his lines tumble out of his mouth without much thought, but it felt very wrong. Like his tongue was made of barbed wire.

"But what is love, is it in the sky?"

"No it's a feeling deep inside!"

"Because I'm hungry!"

"No you're lonely! I can see it in your eyes!"

"I don't understand..." That was perhaps the first genuine thing he'd said since running away from his brothers. His brothers... he'd just left them alone. What if something horrible had a happened to them?! While he was up here being distracted by this weird flying thing, they could be attacked by a-

"So here we all with all my friends, and they love you: all of them!"

He'd gotten lost in his head again. This wasn't supposed to happen! His brain felt so fuzzy and unfocused and lost! He was almost glad that he wasn't controlling what was coming out of his mouth; he could hardly THINK straight, let alone talk.

...

"Maybe we should look for our friend, isn't that what friends do? And we have finished the chicken picnic."

Duck thought about the raw chicken resting in his stomach, fully prepared to infect him with any unknown amount of diseases and calamities. Thinking about the fact that Yellow was nowhere to be seen and the fact that he had felt unconscious and lifeless for the past few minutes with only a few seconds of reprieve to say his lines. It was like he didn't even exist outside of-

...

"To love each other is to care, to be kind."

"And to share!"

God, his brain hurt, it hurt so much it was like it was splitting open. Everyone sang so loudly and his mind's eye was growing as fuzzy as his thoughts. He couldn't formulate words, and he couldn't see anything, even as he started talking about what he loved and special one's and THAT'S NOT ME!

If I'm not saying that, then who is?! It can't be me! Why can't I think, why can't I see, this isn't fair, I hate you!

"That's the way that all love goes."

"Like a flower it grows and grows!"

"And it's forever."

"And forever!"

"And now we all worship our king."

Yellow's brain fog dissipated as soon as the line was finished. He looked up to see the clouds had darkened from a soft peach to a sickly dark blue green hue. A strange stone face was surrounded by- why were there so many creatures here?

"His name is Malcolm."

"He is the king of love."

"We must feed him."

"We must feed him gravel."

"Or he becomes angry."

Yellow's wrists hurt. He looked down to find himself in a chair- but that wasn't- He wished his headache was back so he wouldn't have to be here- he couldn't do this again. The weird person was getting closer but he didn't like it no no not at all and his eye really hurt something weird was crawling under his eye and into his socket and it hurt so much and his wrists were so tightly strapped and everything felt so dark and the weird guy was right up in his face and he was Back on the tree branch.

"Oh. We've been looking for you all afternoon."

"We're sorry we upset you, but look! We brought you the last boiled egg. To cheer you up!"

"...For me?"

An indescribable amalgamation of flesh and organs burst out the egg before Duck squashed it with a blank look on his face.

...

Duck helped Yellow out the tree after wiping his hands clean of any residual goo. Red resigned himself to half heartedly kicking the eggshells away before turning back to the other two.

"That was a pretty tame episode huh. Guess I don't have much to worry about."

Duck shot a glare at him. "Hmm, I thought you didn't worry about anything."

Red was halfway into an eye roll before he spotted something strange. "H- Hey Yellow, what's that on your face?"

"There's something on my face?"

Duck turned to take a closer look and- yep that was something screwed up. Red cautiously knelt in front of him and took a closer look. A pure black substance seemed to be almost carved or drawn on top of Yellow's skin, from the left half of his jaw up into his left eye.

Red inched a hand towards the goo, and as soon as he brushed a finger against it, it spiked up and stabbed into his hand. He jolted backwards and cursed, muffling his scream and wrapping his hand in his hoodie. Yellow shouted in surprise and rushed over to him.

"Oh my gosh are you okay? I- I'm sorry I don't know what happened!"

"I'm- I'm fine-" he said as he shoved his bloodied hand into his pocket. "Are you okay? That was- what is that?"

"I dunno! I'm really really sorry! I was just talking to that flying guy-" he gestured at the empty sky "-and then my head hurt and now there's this thing on my face and I-"

"Wait, what?" Duck interrupted. "So you were the only one who saw the teacher this time?"

Yellow nodded. He pulled Red to his feet and scanned him with another worried look. As he reached his brother's face, Red could've sworn he saw a flash of... well, red, in his brother's eyes. Oh god...

Fuck, he'd been so stupid! Christ, if he hadn't been acting so dumb and horrible, maybe he could've done something? Roy probably thought only Yellow needed worked on because he's been so complacent! Or maybe not, but that didn't matter, he'd still screwed up. His apathy wasn't working, that's for sure. Now his brother was getting specifically targeted and hurt and had a PERMANENT mark on his face that he REALLY hoped wasn't what he thought it was. But he'd have to look it up. And to look it up he'd have to go back to the house. And if he was going back to the house then-

"Are you okay? You're shaking." Yellow tugged on Red's sleeve.

The teen's face hardened and his voice lowered. "I'm fine. Roy's not gonna be."

Duck and Yellow shot a look at each other as he stormed off towards the house. Was he back to normal after all these months? They took off to catch up to him.

...

Duck tightened his grip on his little brother's hand as the trio approached their house. Roy seemed to be eagerly waiting on the porch. Red stomped up to him, ready to argue.

"I see it went well."

"You shut your fucking mouth." Red muttered, quiet enough for the other two not to hear. "If I find out that you're responsible for THAT happening to him, I don't care how much I get hurt in the process: I am going to fucking kill you."

"Trust me, I didn't expect it either."

Red shoved Roy off the porch and grabbed his brother's. Yellow let go of Duck to walk up and halfheartedly hug Roy before following them. Then Red slammed the door.

...

The Mark of Malcolm is very distinct, unfortunately. It wasn't finished, fortunately.

...

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god- fuck fuck, this is my fault this-"

Red paced back and forth through the bedroom, wringing his hands and running them frantically through his hair. Duck and Yellow sat curled up next to each other on one of the beds, anxiously watching him.

"I should've tried harder I should've tried, oh my god, I did this, this is my fault- I- I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna kill him."

Duck leaned closer to Yellow and whispered, "I mean... I'm glad he's not a shell of a person anymore but..."

"This is kinda worse..." Yellow finished. They were much more used to him being angry at the three of them getting hurt, that's how he handled it. He had that righteous anger or whatever, right? He wasn't usually so... panicked. Duck shot another pained expression at him before hopping off the bed and cautiously walking to his older brother. Red shrank back at his touch before realizing that it was just him. Yellow trailed behind.

"It's okay Red, really! It doesn't even hurt, I'm fine." He waved a pair of jazz hands next to his face. "And it's not your fault at all. You didn't know this would happen."

Red narrowed his eyes for a second. "Roy... god I- I fucking hate him..." He sank to his knees and buried his face in his hands. "I hate him so much..."

Duck crouched next to him and ran his hand through his hair. "Don't worry, I hate him too."

Yellow tilted his head as if in confusion, although his expression said otherwise. He didn't hate his dad. Right?

...

Roy was honestly too busy to worry about that little brat's outburst. He had other things on his mind. Like the fact that Shrignold had gone so disgustingly off script and attempted that little stunt of his. Perhaps he'd shot too high, hoping a god would follow his orders. Oh well, that wouldn't matter in the machine.

But the machine wasn't done, and he still needed more time.

His next teacher needed to remedy the disaster that was the love lesson. Someone who would follow his orders exactly. A robot or more mechanical object would be ideal, but there was always the threat of them being too morally bound in their code. He needed someone that was emotionally unstable, if robots could even be said to have emotions.

He'd keep an eye out for any potential murders. A few months ago, he'd heard of one near an abandoned laboratory. Perhaps something could come of this.