Omake Quest - Earth 1 - Crazy (Patreon)

Fin opened his eyes, or he thought he did. He blinked, staring straight ahead of him at a news broadcast going over missing person reports. The banner crawl stated that unexplained disappearances in Suez alone have increased in the past six months. He felt his head, it was pounding but that was not odd.

'Was I watching TV? I can”t remember.' He thought, standing. He groans.
'I”m sore... Should I take a-' He sniffed himself.
'I guess I already did at some point.' He switched off the widescreen TV set. It covered nearly the whole wall and had been brought into the house by his step-father. The person staring back at him was not bad looking. Lithe, but also short with black hair and jet-colored eyes. He also noted that the clothes he wore were normal for him, but not the ones he had put on in the morning. He strained to remember what he had been doing when his Step-father entered the room and sat down in his personal recliner.

A man that seemed a bit too old to be dating Fin's mother by a few years, though he knew that the man was in fact younger than he looked. His early hair loss and lack of care for his own body gave the illusion of a man in his mid 40's, when he was actually in his mid thirties. Fine eyed the man. All his step-father seemed to do is ignore him. The only time they spoke was when Fin took the initiative. Therefore, both men were barely a presence in the lives of the other.
“Jacob?”

“Mhm?” The man responded without looking. Fin noticed that Jacob had never once pushed to had Fin call him Dad, which was actually quite nice. That, and the fact that the man mostly ignored him were both blessings to the introverted student. He did not need another father.

“What was I doing?”

“You came home, showered and watched TV until now.” Jacob assured him.
“I know because I've been waiting this whole time.”

As Jacob says that it slowly comes back to Fin. He had blanked out for some reason, but he did indeed remember vaguely that he came home, showered and came down to watch TV. The only odd thing was the channel.
'I don”t even watch TV that often. But... I guess I was watching the news of all things.' He eyed it before the channel changed to something sports related. The events began to solidify in his mind.

'I was watching the news.' He was sure of that.
“Goodnight.”

“Night.” Jacob waved without looking.

Fin ascended the steps. He noticed his Sister coming down in athletic shorts and  a loose t-shirt. Her hair was wet.
“Sorry for using up the hot water.” He volunteered. His sister was his sister. He had no mind to interpret exactly how she looked, but he guessed that she was quite good looking. She had a subtle build and a nice face. Fiona had longer, dark hair, similar to his. Her eyes were the same color as his mother's; auburn. She was older than him and tended to be a bit on the rebellious side. She did not get along with Jacob at all.

Fiona shrugged. “Hot water was fine. Dunno what you mean.” He stopped on the stairs and let her pass, but watched her go. Fin was confused.

The house had known issues with hot water. There was a small heater that had replaced an older, bigger heater that ruptured one day. Therefore Fiona would always get mad if Fin used up the hot water through normal, day-to-day use.
“I just took a shower...” He muttered.

Fiona stopped and stared up the steps. “Must not have been a long shower. Because I told you already that I'd kill you if you showered before me.”

Fin blinked. Jacob walked to the bottom of the stairs. “Fiona. Fin took a shower.”

She looked down and stopped, then glared up in annoyance. “It was cold, thanks to you! Ugh.” She stomped up and smacked him on the arm a few times. He rubbed where she hit him and watched as she walked down.

“But...” He was very confused.
“It was cold, but the water was fine? And now you're annoyed with me.” He muttered to himself.
“Whatever.” He sighed, chalking it up to his sister being weird. Fiona ended up at the bottom and Fin ascended to the top of the stairs, entering his room to the right of the staircase. It was the smallest room in the house, because he did not mind it. It had everything he needed in a tight area. Floor space was not important to him. He had his computer on a desk beside his bed and a closet with a dresser and all of his clothes. The walls were painted a dull gray like the rest of the house and was covered in posters of attractive Game and Anime characters. The clutter on the small bit of hardwood floor he had meant he had to step over things before he could sit down and stare out his window. It overlooked the street and there was a tree, as well where birds would wake him up in the morning. Fiona teased before that the state of his room was the only proof that Fin was in fact a man.

He fiddled with his mouse and his screen came to life. He stared at the screen saver and the icons. “Why was I watching the News? Why TV?” As he thought about it more, he would never come home, shower immediately and come downstairs to watch Television instead of coming up to his room to chat and play games. He clicked through to see if anything interesting had been announced. Other than a new prototype for a revolutionary product called One2One, there was nothing interesting.
“Maybe that's it? I'm bored...”

Next Day

Fin blinked. He was staring at a bowl of cereal, but he did not remember making it. Thinking back, he did not remember waking up or getting dressed. He did not even remember checking his computer as soon as he got up, as he usually would. His mouth open and shut a few times. He glanced over.
“Mom?” His Mother was shuffling something around in a pan.

“It's for your Father. But I suppose one piece wouldn't-” She turned around with the pan in hand and smiled.
“You made cereal, my mistake. What is it, sweetie?”

“I... Got up and made cereal?” He asked.

She lifted a brow. “Looks like it. Glad you're filling up before school. You never eat breakfast.”

“Yeah...”

Jacob entered the kitchen and immediately positioned himself behind his wife, pawing at her as she tried to cook. The woman giggled and shrugged him off.
“I'm cooking! Stop tickling me.”

Fin blushed, standing up. “Hey.” Jacob glanced back.
“You got up and made cereal. You should finish it.”

“He's right, Fin.”

He paused, beginning to remember as if he had never forgotten at all. It was still strange, however.

'I... Got up and made cereal. I guess I just got up and made cereal.' He glanced at the clock.

“You slept in, huh?” Jacob commented.

“I must have slept in.” Fin nodded, sitting down to finish what he had made.

“You aren't worried about being late?” Jacob chuckled.

Fin tilted his head side to side. “I'm ahead in all my courses. If I'm late I'll still be the best in my class. I'll just be the best in my class and a little late.” He smirked at Jacob. As far as Fin knew, Jacob was a tradesman that dropped out of school. The house was his Fathers, and therefore it was their mothers and theirs. He felt a bit dazed and looked around. He was standing outside of the Academy doors.
“I left?” He looked at the time on his phone.
“I'm later than I was before...” There was no explanation, really. As he began to sweat, he got a message. It was his mother.

[Jacob complained about having to drive you since you missed the bus. Be more careful about waking up on time, okay?]

He messaged back. [K]

He looked up from his phone. Memories of an uncomfortable, but quiet car ride filled his memory.

'No wonder I forgot... Boring. I guess I'm late. Oh well.' He took step into the empty halls and as he passed a particular empty hall he felt a hand gripping his collar. He started to be dragged.
“Hey! Let me go!”

“Shut up!” The boy holding him snapped. He was taller by a foot. His uniform was loosened and part of his undershirt was untucked and unbuttoned. He had wild brown hair and the strength of someone that had no right being in the same grade as him. Those facts meant that it could only be...

“M-mark?”

“Who told you to say my name?” he gave fin a smack to the cheek. It was light, but humiliating and still rung his head a little. He had no experience fighting or being hit.

“S-stop! What're you doing?”

“Monitoring the halls.” Mark stated with a smirk. Fin was dragged back out behind the Gym. The smell of cigarette smoke and the sound of more boys snickering could be heard.
“Got another one!” Mark tossed Fin down beside another unfortunate soul. A smaller student than him with light red hair and green eyes. The other boys there that were snickering looked to be about the same size as Mark, but they had unmemorable faces. One had a bandage over his nose. The other was smoking. Mark took it from him as he walked over to them.

Fin gulped. He was never late, but Mark and his gang likely skipped class all the time. When he ended up arriving well after classes started it increased the likelihood of running into them.
“I have nothing against any of you.” Fin swore.
“This is a mistake, I just arrived late.”

Mark smiled. “Nah, I think you guys are a couple of delinquents like us. Am I right?”

The goon with the bandage over his nose chuckled. “Oh yeah.”

Fin looked to the other student. He had his head down and wasn't speaking, like this was a common occurrence. Mark came very close to having the lit end of his cigarette touch the other student's face, but stopped shy.
“We already have Rabbit 1, which makes you-” He pointed to Fin.
“Rabbit 2. Black rabbit and ginger rabbit.”

“Rabbit?” Fin uttered in confusion.

Mark grabbed Fin's hair and smacked him lightly on the cheek again. “I've literally never heard a rabbit make a sound before so I dunno why you're talking.”

Fin glared. “Listen. I'm gonna turn all of you in for this! I'm not someone you can push around!” He had barely ever been bullied before but even on the scale of what he would expect, what was happening was too much. Mark ignored his words and reached into Fin's pocket, pulling his wallet with his ID. He tossed the wallet back but kept the few bucks Fin had inside.
“Hey! You think I'm lying!? Now you're stealing. I could call the cops.”

“Wow...” Mark looked up in thought.
“What are we gonna do about this Black Rabbit?”

“How about the usual?” Non-bandage offered.

“Good point. You know the thing about Rabbits?” Mark asked.
“They breed like- Well, you know.” He grabbed Fin, then Bandage grabbed the other student. With enough maneuvering they were made to face each-other. With Fin's ID in frame he was pushed into kissing the other boy on the lips. He heard the shudder sound of someone that had not adjusted the settings on their phone. Mark grabbed it and turned it around as he let Fin go. Fin spat, cringing.
“Look, I guess 'Fin' is into boys. Maybe the whole school should know?”

Fin's face became bright red. “I...”

“Huh?” Mark leaned closer.

“Don't.” Fin begged.

“There we go. So, Rabbit 2, your job is to run errands for us whenever we need you to along with Rabbit 1, so get along you two.”

Bandage grabbed the ID. “Woah, wait! This is the guy with the dad who went crazy.”

“Huh?” Mark glanced over.

“Shut up...”

“There was a story a while ago about someone's dad being sent to an Asylum. But it was a girl back then.” Bandage claimed.

“Huh.” Mark shrugged.
“Not as funny as this picture, but still pretty good. You know, I hear craziness is one of those things that's inherited.”

Fin bit his lip. He had enough. As soon as he saw an opportunity he lunged forward and grabbed for the phone. Mark was big but Bandage seemed average in comparison. To his surprise, even the average goon easily pulled the phone away and pushed him down without effort.
“Jeeze... I guess he's pretty closeted, huh?” Bandage wondered out loud, staring at the picture.
“Here, I'll share it with you guys since he was aiming for my phone.”

“Good thinking.” Mark watched his notifications and waited. After a second all three had the picture.
“That was some nasty behavior, Rabbit.”

“I'm sorry.” Fin muttered.
“Please don't release it...” He had gotten by being mostly invisible. The only remarkable thing was his grades, and those were something that stayed between him and his teachers and his friends and family. He was satisfied being a ghost but if blackmail spread, and if they even chose to dredge up that news about his father...

“I'm thirsty.” Mark responded. Fin looked at him blankly.
“That means 'go get me something from the vending machine.' If I say I'm missing something, it's your job to bring it to me, Rabbit.” Mark explained. Fin began to get up. He held out his hand nervously. Mark slapped it away aggressively.
“What do you think you're doing?”

“M-money.” He had cleaned out Fin's wallet.

“Looks like you're gonna have to go home and get some.” Mark stated seriously.

Fin stood up and began walking away dejectedly. He felt something hit his back. It was his wallet and ID. He bent over to pick it up and stow it in his jacket. As he turned the corner the other student ran up behind him. Fin turned.
“Here.” He said, reaching into his sock to pull a couple bucks.

Fin stared at the ginger with wide eyes. “What? What's this for?”

“For joining me in hell.” The student said simply before running inside.