Quackerjack couldn't decide whether the world was against him, or if he was just losing his mind. He was kinda scared of Negaduck, because he'd seen the grown-up chop off another kid's arm, and he was a little afraid of being alone, but he had found that he was much more afraid of his own mind, and it was horrifying. He couldn't exactly run and hide from his own head.

He really didn't know what had happened, and that was the problem. He found himself in a house with Negaduck and three other kids who had powers or something, but before he even had time to try to figure out how he had got there he was grabbed and thrown into a small bedroom. The door was locked, and he was trapped.

He hadn't minded it so much at first. After all, if he was locked in the room, then that meant that Negaduck was locked out of it. He wouldn't have to worry about getting his own arm chopped off. So even though he didn't like being trapped, he was grateful for the chance to crawl onto the bed, curl up into a ball, and cry into the thin blanket.

As the hours passed he started to feel more and more antsy. He felt trapped in more than just a physical sense. There was nothing in here to do, or play with, or even look at. There were no windows for him to stare out of. The ceiling light didn't have a bulb, so he was in complete darkness. With nothing to distract him, his thoughts ran.

He thought about Negaduck, and the other kids, and if they were locked up too, and if he was ever going to get out of here. His brain jumped from scrambled thought to scrambled thought that he felt dizzy and a little sick. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. He hadn't known that thoughts could be so loud.

There was too much in his head, and he needed it to come out. It hadn't started so bad at first. He began by just clutching at the blanket as he imagined Negaduck coming through that door with his chainsaw, ready to chop him up into little pieces. He would shake his hands out so quickly that they almost hurt when he wondered if Bushroot's arm was still on the ground.

Then it got worse. He found himself pulling at the feathers on his head as he could swear that he could hear Negaduck's laughter ringing in his head, even though he couldn't remember if he had even heard the duck laugh at all. His arms started to ache and he felt like he had to either shake them or scratch them to get the soreness to stop, but the action just made his chest feel heavy.

His thoughts were going all over the place, and he didn't even know what he was thinking about. The only thoughts he was consciously aware of were 'I don't want to be here', and 'stop'. The thing was, he didn't even know if he wanted himself to stop, or Negaduck.

He felt like he could barely breathe. He paced around the room, though his legs were shaking, waving his arms back and forth as he did so because the movement at least made the pain in his body a little bit quieter, even if it did nothing for his head. His thoughts only stopped for a little bit when he tripped over his own foot and knocked his head harshly into the wall as he fell.

His thoughts were still there, but now there was a third thought that he was consciously aware of. 'Ow'. The pain didn't make his thoughts stop, but they gave him new thoughts that didn't make him want to scratch at his arms and pull on his beak.

Quackerjack blinked and rubbed his head as he stared in the direction of the wall. He smiled to himself and bonked his head against the wall again. The thud was painful and dominated his thoughts. Good.

He thumped his head against the wall and giggled to himself. He went on and on, hitting his head again and again, making his thoughts calm down even more. He laughed and kept on going. He could have been hitting his head for five minutes, or he could have kept on for five hours. He only stopped when Megavolt talked to him.

Having somebody there talking to him was a much less painful distraction from his thoughts, and he embraced it. He could have sat there talking to Megavolt for hours before his thoughts tried to take him over again. Unfortunately, it couldn't last. Negaduck came back from wherever he had gone, and Megavolt had to leave. He promised that he would be back later. That reassurance made him feel calm enough to actually try sleeping.

He was woken up by the sound of a door opening and a sudden flash of light. He groaned and pulled the blanket up over his head. He was tired. He didn't want to get up. Negaduck had other ideas. He grabbed the blanket, pulling at Quackerjack's head feathers as he yanked it away.

"Don't hide from me." Negaduck said. "Do you want dinner or not?"

"Dinner?" Quackerjack sat up, confused. It didn't feel like dinnertime. It was hard to track time in this room, but he knew it had to be a lot longer than just a few hours for dinner, and less than a whole day and then some. It felt more like breakfast. Maybe lunch, at the latest. Quackerjack was about to ask about it, but he stopped when he saw that he could see. There were lights.

Quackerjack stared at the lightbulb above his head, furrowing his brow in confusion. There hadn't been a light yesterday…or a few hours ago…or whatever it was. Where did this light come from?

Negaduck followed his gaze up to the light. "Is something wrong?"

"Why's there a light?" Quackerjack asked. Negaduck raised an eyebrow at him.

"Because I wanted to see." Negaduck said.

"But there wasn't a light yesterday." Quackerjack leapt off the bed. He went to the lightswitch. He definitely remembered messing with it yesterday, flipping it on and off to try to get the light to work, and to give his body and mind something to focus on. He flipped the switch a few times, making the light turn on and off. Negaduck grabbed his arm and tossed him back.

"Stop messing with the lights." Negaduck growled. "And what do you mean yesterday? You've only been in here for a few hours."

"...W-what? No." Quackerjack looked at Negaduck in confusion. There was a brand new ache in his chest, different from what he'd felt last night. This was more scary. "It's been longer than that! And the lights weren't working."

"Oh, really?" Negaduck loomed over him. "And why do you think I would lie about something so stupid? What would I have to gain?"

"I…I don't know." Quackerjack muttered. He grabbed his hair feathers and gave them a sharp pull, making some of the feathers loosen and making his whole head burn. He wanted to insist that he was right, even if he couldn't prove it, but he couldn't think of the words to convince even himself. He just growled to himself instead.

His head was hurting, and he didn't know how much of it was because he had been hitting his head earlier, and how much of it was because of something completely different.

He wanted to talk to Megavolt again. The other boy would listen to him.

"Can I leave?" Quackerjack asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Negaduck scowled. "You think I want to babysit another brat? You don't even have powers that can be of use to me."

"So why am I here?" Quackerjack asked.

"Call it an experiment." Negaduck said. "Or a game." Quackerjack perked up at the word. He loved games. He just wished he knew if he was a player, a toy, or a pawn. He didn't even know the rules of the game.

Negaduck shoved a bag at him. "I'll be back tomorrow. Don't be too loud."

"Can I talk to Megavolt again?" Quackerjack asked urgently as Negaduck made his way back to the door. "We'll be super quiet."

"How do you expect to be quiet if you're talking?" Negaduck asked.

"I can talk quietly." Quackerjack whispered to demonstrate. "Last night I was a lot quieter when I was talking to him." He hadn't been hitting his head and laughing uncontrollably. At least when he was talking he had a little bit of control.

He thought he saw Negaduck smirk, but he blinked and the grown-up's face was in a scowl. "Last night? Kid, you weren't even here last night. And I've been with Megavolt all afternoon. When would you have talked to him?"

Quackerjack felt like everything slowed down to a stop around him. As noisy as his thoughts had been earlier, they were silent now. He wanted the noise back. "But…but I talked to him."

"You were just dreaming." Negaduck said. Quackerjack felt tears come to his eyes. It hadn't been a dream. He hadn't even fallen asleep until after he'd finished talking to Megavolt. And why would he still feel so tired if he'd slept for long enough to dream?

"I wasn't." Quackerjack argued. His voice shook. This time he was sure that he saw Negaduck smirk.

"See you later, kid." Negaduck left the room, locking the door behind him. Quackerjack felt his limbs get the shaking feeling back. This time, no amount of feather pulling or aggressive arm shaking made the tingling under his skin go away. The fear and frustration kept on building up in his chest until he couldn't keep it in anymore.

Quackerjack screamed so harshly that his voice cracked and his throat hurt. He threw the bag at the wall. It barely made a thud and it fell harmlessly. Quackerjack hated it. He stormed to the bag and picked it up to throw it again, but he stopped when he saw the contents. There was a really soft looking sweater there, and some food.

Quackerjack hadn't realized how hungry he was. He didn't know if this was dinner, or breakfast, or something else entirely, but food was food. He knelt on the ground and slowly reached out for the sweater. He swallowed thickly as he pulled it up over his head. It really was soft. He looked through the packets of crackers and snacks. His eyes were drawn to colorful fruit snacks that were in fun animal shapes.

He grabbed the packet and opened it. He examined each of the fruit snacks individually. Most of them barely resembled animals at all. Quackerjack smiled, though he didn't feel happy. He took two of the snacks and started playing with them, adopting a fun voice for each of them.

Maybe he couldn't talk to anybody else right now, and he was second guessing the conversation he'd had with Megavolt, but at least these snacks could talk to each other. At least they weren't alone, even if he was.

He told a story of adventure. Each of the fruit snacks was a different poor traveler that was deformed in one way or another. Some of them were missing legs, or had giant holes in their heads, or had a head where their tail was supposed to be. Quackerjack didn't think there was anything wrong with his fruit snacks, as they still tasted just the same as they would have if they looked perfect, but in the land in his head all of the fruit snacks had been told that they were bad because of how they looked.

They were all told by a mischievous wanderer that if they went to a hidden cave then they could be just like everybody else. All of the foolish travelers followed his directions to the cave, which was Quackerjack's mouth, and they were promptly eaten.

He tried to make the game last, but soon there was just one fruit snack yet. The single banana flavored, monkey shaped gummy, who had played the role of the mischievous wanderer. Quackerjack didn't know why he liked the banana so much, but it was definitely his favorite, and he was reluctant to eat it. Instead he put it back in the little fruit snacks bag, which he put under his pillow.

Without his game to distract him, Quackerjack just snuggled against the soft sweater and leaned against the door. He wanted to hear it the second that Megavolt was back. He needed confirmation that he hadn't imagined the other kid. Even just a short conversation would be enough.

Quackerjack waited, and waited, and waited some more. He heard the occasional footsteps, but they seemed to get quieter when they passed by his room. If he heard talking outside, it never lasted and he could never tell what it was saying.

His body was feeling stiff and painful all over again. He knocked his head back against the door. He tried to just make it a gentle thumping, like a tap, but then it got harsher and harsher until it actually hurt. His head was hurting.

He heard footsteps outside his room, and stifled little sobs. He didn't stop thumping the door, but he focused his thoughts. He listened carefully. He couldn't tell who it was by listening, but his feathers were ruffled and standing on edge. He could feel the electricity in the air. Megavolt, he was back.

"Megsy, are you there?" Quackerjack asked. "The air feels electric. That's you, isn't it?" It had to be Megavolt. Nobody else could electrify the air the way that the other boy could. Quackerjack felt desperate. Negaduck had him questioning his own memory. He was sure he'd talked to Megavolt, but Negaduck was sure that he hadn't. If Quackerjack couldn't trust his own head, what could he trust?

"Please, talk to me." Quackerjack said. He tapped his fingers on the ground. "I just need to know one thing. I-I feel like I'm going crazy. I need to know. I need to…to…" He trailed off. How was he supposed to say that he was beginning to wonder if Megavolt was real. Sure, he was real in the sense that he actually existed, and he wasn't an imaginary friend or something, but was he really here? Had he actually talked to Quackerjack earlier. If he hadn't, if it was all in Quackerjack's head, what did it mean? Was he going crazy?

"Can you at least tell me if you're there? Or just knock back? I think I know you're there, but if it's just in my head-"

He didn't get an answer. He didn't even hear breathing, or footsteps walking away. There was complete silence outside the room, and Quackerjack felt something inside of him break. He clutched at his feathers and pulled sharply, painfully. "Please, please, say something." He couldn't stay in his thoughts.

He was so scared of being left alone that he didn't even notice when the shocking feeling in the air left. All of a sudden he just noticed that it was gone, and it was horrifying. When had Megavolt left him? Unless he'd never been here at all and he'd just imagined it.

Quackerjack sobbed so harshly that his chest was burning. It felt like his heart was trying to beat right out of his chest. He was wondering if he could have a bruise on the inside of his body, and if his heart could actually hurt him.

It wasn't a funny thought, and he wasn't feeling very happy, but Quackerjack couldn't help but giggle and laugh to himself. Not only did his heart hurt, but he felt like his lungs weren't working either. He wasn't getting enough air, and he didn't know how to get more. He couldn't stop laughing, which meant that he couldn't breathe. He was starting to feel lightheaded, but he still couldn't stop.

His vision started to go dark, and he didn't even try to fight it. He fell unconscious. When he woke up it could have been just a minute later, or several hours. His brain felt numb, and he was still dizzy. Just thinking hurt, and he hadn't known that was possible.

Things just got worse from there. Over the next few days…or weeks…really, it was so hard to tell how much time had passed, which was a big part of the problem. He tried to keep his mind busy, to focus on anything except what was wrong. It was getting harder to do the longer he was there, because more and more things were wrong.

Every time he woke up he found something else wrong. The bed was on a different side of the room. The blankets were a different color than they'd been before. He had less or more snacks than he'd had when he'd gone to bed, or they were kept in a different place, or they were a different kind of snack.

One day Quackerjack woke up to find that not only was the light on, even though he always turned it off when he went to sleep, but it wasn't the normal orange that lights were supposed to be. It was a weird bluish color that made his head hurt. When Negaduck came in to drop off more snacks, he didn't comment on the different colored light. He didn't even look at it.

Quackerjack hated the blue light so much that he turned the lights off and sat in the dark. It was better than to see the weird light, but the darkness made his thoughts spiral, and then the shaking and laughing started up all over again. He was relieved when, the next time he woke up, the lights were back to normal again, but he was also confused and horrified. Had he just imagined the blue light?

He didn't know how long he was in there for. He couldn't even base it off of when Negaduck came to see him. Negaduck said that he came in at dinnertime every day, but that couldn't possibly be right. Sometimes it felt like he'd seen him just ten minutes ago, but other times it felt like he didn't see Negaduck for three days.

He felt like he was going crazy. He was so scared, not even of Negaduck, but of his own mind. Why did things keep on changing? How did he make it stop?

One day Quackerjack woke up and saw nothing wrong at all, and his mind panicked. That couldn't be true. Things were always different when he woke up. Maybe it wasn't obvious, but there had to be something.

He flipped the lights on and off, making sure that they were the normal color and brightness. He went to his bed and threw off the blanket and pillow, feeling them, shaking them, and looking closely at the color. He was looking for even the smallest change.

He went through his snacks. He examined the floor. He stared intently at every inch of the wall. He needed to find something, anything, that was different, but there was nothing. He spent hours looking for something that didn't exist, and when he realized that he broke down into sobs.

He didn't want to be crazy. He didn't want to doubt everything he saw and heard and be wrong about all of it. He just wanted to be okay, and normal, and not here.

But he was stuck. He was stuck in this room. More than that though, he was stuck with his own head, and he couldn't get away from it.

He told himself things would get better once he got out of his room. He would have more things to engage his mind, and distract him from himself. He was sure he'd be okay. But then he was finally let out of the room, and it immediately went wrong.

He hit his head again, making his vision become unfocused. When he could finally focus and see things he saw another kid. Bushroot. Quackerjack could almost hear the boy's screams in his ear.

He felt relief upon seeing that the boy was a plant child, because that was what he'd thought he'd remembered, but he'd been starting to doubt it. He'd been remembering so many things wrong lately. He thought he'd misremembered the kid being a plant. Apparently not. However, his relief was short-lived when he saw the arm extended out to him.

That…that couldn't be right. Bushroot had gotten his arm chopped right off. Quackerjack had frequently heard his screams echo in his ears. The sight of the arm on the ground had haunted his dreams. He was sure that was one thing he hadn't imagined. And yet here he was, looking at Bushroot who had two arms.

He broke down and started laughing. He couldn't stop, and then he had no choice but to stop. Bushroot attacked him. He quieted Quackerjack's thoughts, and this was just like his breakdown about Megavolt all over again. He felt lightheaded, and breathing was hard, and he wasn't afraid at all because if he fell unconscious then he'd get a break from all the lies that his mind was obsessed with giving to him, even, apparently, in his dreams.

He almost slipped into the darkness when the pressure around his neck vanished. He collapsed to the ground, coughing and giggling, and he couldn't make himself stop. He still couldn't breathe. Why was he still conscious? Why couldn't he get some relief?

He felt a gentle grip around his shoulders, sitting him up. "You're okay. Come on, Quacky, you're okay."

He wanted to respond, but he couldn't move. He just breathlessly leaned against the shocking touch on him. Megavolt. Quackerjack whimpered and nuzzled against the strangely reassuring minor pain.

Quackerjack was still conscious, but he couldn't focus. He couldn't think. He just numbly laid there, unaware of everything except for the gentle rubbing against his arms and some weird sobbing. He was like that for a long time before he felt something come back to him. His throat hurt, but the laughing had stopped. With Megavolt's help he was able to sit up.

"...Megsy." Quackerjack looked up at Megavolt, who looked like he'd been crying. He wasn't the only one. Looking to the side, Bushroot was sobbing and clinging to Liquidator. The dog didn't look like he was crying, but maybe that was just because he was already made of water, so it was really impossible to tell.

There were tears running down Quackerjack's cheeks too, but he barely noticed them.

"...Ow." Quackerjack said.

"You're back." Megavolt hugged him. "I was so worried."

"Back?" Quackerjack frowned. "I didn't go anywhere."

"You were lost." Megavolt said. He gently brushed his fingers across Quackerjack's head. He flinched. While in the room he had pulled off enough of his feathers that he had bare skin showing. It was worse than when he was molting, and more painful too. The small spark against his skin was a little painful, but the touch felt way too good to pull away from it. He leaned into the touch.

"I told you I get lost in my head." Quackerjack muttered. Megavolt was silent. Quackerjack looked at him, but Megavolt was averting his gaze. "Megsy? Why didn't you come back to me? I needed you."

Megavolt looked towards Liquidator and Bushroot. He looked upset about something. Finally he sighed and tightened his grip on Quackerjack. "We weren't allowed to talk to you at all. Negaduck, he…he's really persuasive."

Quackerjack could understand that. Negaduck had gotten into Quackerjack's head and had him questioning his own senses. He wasn't going to blame Megavolt for wanting to stay on the grown-up's good side. There was one thing that he needed to know though.

"But you were at least there that first night, right?" Quackerjack asked. "We talked? It wasn't just in my head, right? Negaduck's been telling me that we never talked at all, but he was just lying, right?" And if Negaduck had lied about this, who knew what else he had lied about.

"Negaduck said that, huh?" Megavolt glared at the wall. His hands were shaking. "Then I guess we never talked."

Quackerjack felt like somebody had grabbed onto his heart and head and were squeezing them so hard that they were about to explode. He clutched at his chest and gasped, though it soon became a laugh. He chuckled breathlessly as he clung to Megavolt. The other boy held onto him and muttered apologies to him, but it all became a blur to his head.

He couldn't really ignore it anymore. Maybe he was out of the room, but he was even more trapped than before. He was out of his mind, and completely insane.