You're Not Dead Yet

Confidence & Commitments

When he looked closer, Ethan could tell that the scars that would have been on his arms were obviously covered by something, because even in the time that had passed, all those scars couldn't have healed completely. 

X seemed to read his mind, pausing the video again to fit their explanation in. "Concealer. For your arms. Mark gives it to you a couple weeks after that livestream we just saw so you could start wearing T-shirts."

"That's… nice." 

X smiled. "Yeah. Also, by the time this video's filmed, I'd say you're about… seven months clean of self-harm? Maybe eight? Again, not good with dates when I'm not there experiencing them."

"Eight months?" Ethan glanced down at his arms, riddled with scars, sounding a bit incredulous. "That's a good while."

"It is! See what I was talking about? Shit gets better. You get better. It just takes time."

"So I've gotta hold on to hope?"

"Exactly!" X flashed another smile, which the boy meekly returned. "Now keep watching the video, there's a lot more you should watch after that."

And so Ethan pressed play, finishing out the video as he chuckled at the stupid antics of him and his future friends, then going back to the playlist and watching the series from the beginning once that video was over. This started a long series of YouTube recommending various videos he was in, from Mark's channel to his own. He watched as many as he could, continuing to marvel at his gradual, but still noticeable, progress over the years and to ask X questions along the way, which they eagerly answered. What was most likely several hours later, he put the phone down with a sigh and a smile.

"Well?" X asked, picking up the phone and placing it back in their bag. "How was that?"

Ethan flopped back down onto the bed, now laying down as he looked up to here the entity was sitting. "Fucking amazing, dude, I-- I get to do all that? Just in the next couple years?"

"Yeah!" X laughed. "Now are you ready to go downstairs? We've still got the actual vision to watch while we're here. And I promise it's better than the last one."

Ethan rolled out of the bed, suddenly filled with energy as he jumped towards the door, already moving through it. "Of course! Let's go!"

X laughed again, then snapped their fingers to restart time. 

The two quickly made their way downstairs, where X led them through the (surprisingly fancy, though still unrecognizable) house and into what appeared to be a recording room. A green screen was set up against one of the walls, and two men, who Ethan recognized from the videos as the Ethan and Mark from around this time, were standing in front of it wearing black and white suits. Well, Ethan was wearing a back suit and Mark wore a white one. Amy stood behind the camera, making sure everything ran smoothly.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Mark was saying right as X and the younger Ethan stepped in. "Unus Annus." He continued to stare at the camera for a couple extra seconds before Amy shut it off with a click. 

"And I think that's it! Great job guys, you really gave off the 'inevitable death' vibes there."

The Ethan in the vision grinned, clapping his hands a couple of times before stepping away from the green screen and heading towards his water bottle that was sitting on a table in the corner. "Thanks, Amy! Glad we were able to hit the right vibes." He reached his water, quickly screwing off the cap and taking a sip. "And thank you, Mark. Still don't know why you agreed to do this with me."

"Hey, it was half my idea!" The other man said defensively, throwing his hands up. 

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Sure it was. Amy, whose idea was it to do Unus Annus? Please take my side, Amy, I'll buy you frozen yogurt if you take my side."