Tales of Jack Chitin - A Fan Story

>The year is XXXX
>Nobody actually knows the year, everyone just kills each other for Gods most of the time
>You are Jack
>You are dating Xeriana, the love of your life, who is also the Bug Queen and a deity
>She gives you everything you need; food, love, snuggles...
>though she also brings you unbareable pain and agony with all of that
>Honestly, you sometimes contemplate killing yourself just to get away from the torture she inflicts on you
>but you wouldn't, because Xeri would be sad if you did
>then she'd bring you back from death and start the cycle anew, this time with more excrutiating forms of torture
>B-But that's alright, because you still get love from her; that's all you need
>"Hello loverboy!~ I'm home."
>Your stomach drops as you hear Xeri approach, probably covered in the mangled parts of the paladins from the nearest town, like usual
>"You won't believe how exhausted I am. Maybe you can help me out with that~."
>The sound of the "Torture Drawer", the drawer where Xeri keeps all of the "toys" she wants to use on you, open
>A cold sweat overcomes you as Xeri starts humming and repeating a catchy little tune while metalic clanging accompanies from the drawer
>"Oh Jacky boy, I love you~. Tonight I'll hang you from a noose~. Infest your stomach with my kin~. And shove some meathooks in your limbs~."
>You love Xeri
>"Jack, do you mind if I try the thing with the ants and your muscle tissue tonight? You don't right?"
>You love Xeri..
>The sound of a drawer closing reverberates throughout the house, as you continue sitting uncomfortably in your chair
>You love Xeri...
>As expected, Xeriana walks into the room completely covered in blood and entrails as she smiles at you quite sadistically, holding what you can only imagine to be some sort of "Human skin peeling device" and a sawed meatcleaver
>You love X--
>"Oh Jack?! What's wrong?! Are you alright?!"
>Xeri is taken aback by the sight of you, a large frown replacing her sadistic smile
"Huh?"
>Lifting up your right hand, you feel your face, which is surprisingly moist
>As you move down to your nose, you feel a thick mucus stick to your hand
>Oh
>So that was it
>You were crying...
>Oh...
>Oh...
>...
>Without warning to neither Xeriana nor you, you break down sobbing, your arms going limp at your sides as the emotions you kept bottled up for so long all comes rushing out
"Xeri, I don'd wan'a do di's no moar! I'b so sorry! Pleez jus' stob! I can'd take diz! Id hurds so much. Pleezz, jus' led me die."
>...
>"J-Jack, I didn't know this is how you felt..."
>Xeriana turns her head sadly and begins walking off
>"I-I won't ever come close to you again... I'm sorry Jack."
>And as soon as she came in, she disappears
>While you feel a panging guilt in your chest, along with feelings of loss, you can't help but feel relieved
>You know this game too well, she's done it three times now
>She guilt trips you into finding her and apologizing, then continues to make your life Hell
>Three times is too many already, you've learned your lesson
>She can try to get you to come after her, but this time you will not
>It's finally over
>You're finally free
>You breathe a sigh of relief and begin wiping your face of the tears and mucous
>"It's a shame you feel that way Jack, I guess I'll just have to take your love back by force."
>Behind you, a bone-chilling familiar feminine voice whispers into your ear
>"I'll make you understand the depth of my love."
>You jump out of the chair and whip your bug tendril towards the voice, but when you look, nobody is there
>"My sweet sweet Jack~. I'm so sorry you felt so terribly all this time. I promise, you'll begin to enjoy this the way I do in the future. For now, why not just take a seat once again?"
>Once again, from behind, the voice whispers
>This time a force accompanies the voice, throwing you back into the chair you just arose from
>You wince in pain, then look forwards once again to see Xeri above you, fastening some leather restraints onto the chair to keep you from moving
>As you try to command the tendril to rip through the restraints, but Xeriana uses her claw to cut it in half as soon as peeks out from your chest
>"Don't be a killjoy Jack~. We've got a whole week of non-stop love making ahead of us."
>Xeri lifts a bonesaw to her mouth and begins drooling with a lusty smirk on her face
>As you struggle to get out with all the strength you can muster, your feelings of dread overcomes you as you start screaming
>"Oh Jack~. You know just what I love to hear~."
>She lowers the bonesaw slowly, enjoying the terror in your eyes as your mind begins guessing just which of your legs she was going to start with
>Nearly foaming at the mouth, you continue screaming for help, no matter how futile it may seem
"Someone. Anyone.. Somebody please save me."
>...
>"But nobody came."
>Xeri taunts you and places the bonesaw on your left leg
>"Shall we start he-- ACK!"
>Midway through her sentence, a shadowy figure approaches Xeri from behind and elbows her face
"Wha? Who? W-What?"
>As a few more tears drop from your eyes, your clouded vision clears up enough to identify the figure standing before you
>"U-Umbra? What are you doing here? Where's Gat?"
>Umbra calmly brushes your hair out of the way and holds the side of your face as she leans down and kisses you on the forehead
>"Everything is going to be alright. I'm here now, Jack."
>Xeri stands up, extremely angry at the sudden intruder
>"YOU BITCH! I LET YOU GO WITH THAT FURBALL AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME? WELL THEN, BECOME FOOD FOR MY CHILDREN YOU HUSSY!"
>As Xeri begins to lunge at Umbra, a shadow creature appears from behind and holds onto her
>"Xeri... So this is what we would have become if I stayed with you... Was there any point in trying to save you at all?"
>"J-Jack?"
>The shadowy figure becomes more clear and... WHAT? IT'S YOU?!
>Xeriana is just as stunned as you are, as she calms down with your... his... the other Jack's arms around her
>The other Jack looks over at you and smiles gently
>"Don't worry. This'll all be over soon."
>He then nods towards Umbra, seemingly signaling something
>Umbra walks over to you and begins undoing your restraints
>Xeriana doesn't take too kindly to this, though, and attempts to breakfree from the other Jack's grasp while screaming
>"YOU GET AWAY FROM MY JACK! IF YOU DARE TOUCH A HAIR ON HIS HEAD!"
>You immediately stand up as soon as you gain freedom from that hellish restraining chair and look at Xeri, enraged
"Y-You! I-I! Why can't you just love me normally?!"
>As you are about to begin walking towards Xeri, a scowl on your face, Umbra hugs you from behind and says to you, calmly
>"It's because she doesn't know how to love normally. Us deities don't feel emotions the same way you humans do. As much as she doesn't understand you, you don't understand her."
>The other Jack chimes in and takes over
>"It's only through listening and talking that we can understand one another."
>The other Jack sighs and says unhappily towards the bug queen
>"Though you don't seem much open to change."
>Umbra releases you from her loving embrace and hands you a dagger... something familiar
>T-This is the dagger that Carnifex gave you long ago
>You tossed it aside, saying you'd never hurt Xeri
>It was supposed to be lost in the woods, somewhere beneath a pile of leaves
>Now it's in your hands once again
>The other Jack speaks
>"We will give you a choice. Take her life and end this all now, or continue to live as you were before."
>Xeriana looks at the other Jack who is holding her and says in spite
>"You are a fake! I don't know which deity sent you to do this to me, but once I find out, they are dead! The real Jack would never do this."
>You begin walking towards Xeri, holding the knife by your side in your shaking hand
>"He's sweeter than this. I've watched him for so long, I know he'd never do anything to hurt me; not on purpose at least."
>As you draw closer to Xeri, her gaze shifts towards you and she starts giving a more pleading look, but maintains her tone
>"I love him because he cares, because he's been through what I have."
>You continue to get closer, holding the dagger more resolutely
>"I love him because he's always there when I need him. I no longer feel lonely. I'll never feel lonely again as long as he is beside me."
>Xeri begins to tear up as you stand above her, lifting the dagger to strike her down
>"That's why you can't be Jack... Because Jack loves me. Despite how flawed I am, how terrible I am... He accepts me. No matter how much I hate myself or how much I try to keep him from being hurt by me once again, he always runs after me and reassures me that he'll always be there for me."
>She is now speaking completely to you
>"Every time I ran away, it's because I knew I'd do bad stuff like this to you. I knew that you were not like me and that if I stayed around, then you'd eventually come to hate me. I don't want that... I truly am sorry, Jack. No matter what you do to me, I'll always love you."
>Tears start welling up in your eyes once again, as you begin losing strength in the arm holding the knife
>"Please just tell me you love me one last time before I die. Even if it's a lie... I just want those to be the last words that I hear from the person I cherish the most."
>As she says that, you lose all resolve and drop your knife upon the ground, falling onto Xeriana while embracing her
"I-I could never hate you. I love you more than anything Xeri. Please don't say you're alright with dying; I can't imagine a world where I have to live without you."
>The other Jack lets go of Xeri, who begins hugging you also while crying on your shoulder
>From behind, you hear a grumble of malcontent
>"I know that this is what we're here to do, but I still don't like seeing you so happy to be with HER."
>The other Jack walks up to her and kisses her, whispering
>"Now you know how I felt when the other you was being so lovey-dovey over Gat."
>Umbra chuckles
>"You're the only one for me."
>The two of them kiss once again, while Xeri and you hug eachother, apologizing over and over
>...
>As time passes and emotional reactions calm down, there sits Xeri and you still hugging while the other Jack and Umbra stand beside you two
>"I promise I won't ever do anything to hurt you again, Jack. I'll learn to show my love in a more... human way."
"And I promise I'll try to find a compromise between your display of love and mine."
>Umbra coughs while blushing
>"*cough* S&M *cough*!"
>You look up at Umbra, who is now burying her face into the other Jack's shoulder, blushing red as a tomato
>Jack chuckles
>"I mean, it works for us. urgh..."
>Umbra punches him lightly in the gut when he mentions the two of them doing THAT sort of play together, which he just laughs off
"I mean... if you're not opposed to it, neither would I be."
>"I'll do anything if it makes you happy, Jack."
"We'd have to be a little more softcore, if that'd be alright with you."
>Xeri pushes you forward and locks lips with you for a brief moment before pushing you down
>"I think I can make that work~."
>The other Jack rubs the back of his head, somewhat bashfully, and says
>"Well, I think our work here is done. We'll give you two some privacy."
"Wait!"
>You push Xeri off of your gently as you sit back up
>This has bugged you this entire time
"Who are you two?"
>The other Jack looks at you and says, unwrapping his bandages and revealing a mostly healed version of your body
>"I'm you."
>"From another universe."
>Umbra chimes in
>"Yes. And in that Universe, I ended up with this beauty, both in soul AND ESPECIALLY in looks."
>"That last part sounds like something Gat would say."
>"You pick up certain things when you're friends with someone."
>The two start flirting before you interrupt them again
"But how are you here then?"
>The other Jack winks at you and says
>"Let's just say that most everything went right. Now we're just using the power we took from another source to go around and fix all of the bad endings from other universes of ourselves."
"I don't know much about other universes, but aren't those supposed to be infinite?"
>"Well, I'm not exactly sure if that's true or not, but--"
>Umbra cuts in, kissing Jack
>"Even if that were true, I'd enjoy the eternity of universe hopping if I am always with you."
>The other Jack begins blushing and stutters out
>"Yeah.. so that's how that ends up being. This universe just so happened to be the universe of what would have happened if I stayed with Xeri and didn't get with Umbra on that fateful night."
>Jack turns back around as a portal opens up in front of him and Umbra
>"This universe should be heading towards a good ending now, so just try to continue steering it towards that. The both of you."
>He looks at Xeri also, who is snuggling her head in your chest
>"Okay then alternate universe loverboy~."
>The other Jack laughs and looks strangely longingly at the bug queen
>Umbra frowns as Xeri acts flirtatious with her man and begins walking through the portal
>"Just come on in when your done flirting with your ex."
>The other Jack runs in after her
>"Oh come on! You know it's not like that, Umbra~. I love you more than anyone els--"
>His voice cuts off as he enters the portal and leaves the room with only Xeri, you, and an interdimensional gateway to other universes
>"..."
>You break the silence with a nervous
"So do you want to get on that 'softcore S&M'?"
>Xeri buries her head deeper into your chest and says calmly
>"Actually, after all of that, I kind of want to unwind and try the whole 'human love' thing."
>You snuggle up to Xeri and accept that offer, as you two spend the rest of the night with the cutest bug queen laying beside you while nestling her face into your chest
>Tonight seems alright, but tomorrow may be worse
>You know that nothing's impossible, though
>It's like that other Jack said, this story is heading towards a good end
>So no matter what comes, no matter what hardships await Xeri and you in the future, you know that you will have the resolve to deal with it in the future
>But in the grand scheme of things, this is just another tale
>One of the Tales of Jack Chitin