Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Finally. 

Finally, after almost a year stuck in that hellhole, they cracked the fucking code (quite literally).

"Bad?", Forever said, unable to look away from the night sky.

"Mh?", Bad readjusted his arms behind his head, lazy as he felt a little bit of calm wash over his senses.

Forever bit his lower lip, mumbling a little. "I- Erhh, I don't know, I don't want to jinx it or anything…"

At this, the demon turned to him with a frown. "Jinx it? How so?"

"Y'know…", the brazilian turns to face Bad. "I'm feeling way too optimistic about this." He sighs. "It feels like the last episode of a season, and we're not sure if the series will be renewed anytime soon, you know?"

"But… don't you think it's a good feeling?", Bad fixes his glasses in place, turning his body to rest his elbow on the ground, facing his friend. "Like, everything coming to an end at last; all the suffering and scheming and fighting and grieving…", he smiles softly. "I mean, it was all too much, isn't it a good thing we're finally getting to the bottom of it?"

Forever turns to him as well, laying on his side, fidgeting with his fingernails. "I- I don't know, Bad, I'm. Uh." He can't quite keep his eyes on the demon's. An embarrassed laugh escapes his mouth as he rolls back to facing the sky again. "Uhh, It's so so stupid, I haven't really talked about it with anyone…"

"Take your time, muffinhead." Bad smiles reassuringly at him. He also found it cute how Forever expressed himself.

"Promise… you won't laugh at me", the blonde's voice is quiet when he pouts.

Bad actually laughs a little at this. "I won't-"

Forever springs up, sitting and pointing a finger at him. "You just did!!"

Bad gesticulates in defense, trying not to laugh even more now, and obviously failing it. "It didn't count, you haven't said what you were going to yet!"

Forever seems to be convinced by it, crossing his arms. "Then promise again! So it counts now!"

"Ok!", Bad raises his free hand in defeat, taking a long breath to finally calm down his cheeks so that he stopped laughing. He lets his hand rest on his waist. "Try again, I promise no laughing this time."

They're in silence for a moment, with Forever frowning deeply while staring at the demon, who sits up. "What?!"

"You mean it? You really mean it?"

"I do, I do! Go on already!"

Forever eyes him a little, and nods. "Ok. You're my friend, and I trust you a lot, you know that." He sighs and closes his eyes, gathering his thoughts. "Look, I'll just say it, and you take it how you take it: thing is... I've always been terrified of change, ok?"

Bad raises his eyebrows, actually looking surprised. "...is that all? I thought you were gonna say something really embarrassing, this is just. It's very much a normal feeling, Forever."

The other laughs and puts a strand of hair behind his ear, hugging his knees and looking at the shadowy trees around them. "I mean, yeah; it's a common thing, but it shouldn't be for me. I'm a leader now, Bad. Leaders have to make change happen, not overthink over the possibility that they'll freeze when the time comes."

The demon sighs, nodding. "You're such a dork sometimes, Forever. No, don't interrupt me, let me finish my- I have a point. Listen, sure, you're the President of this Island, but you're still the same guy who likes to build and pester his son, his friends", he waves his hand dismissively. "Forget all this 'I should be this, I should be that', you were chosen for this for being you, so buck up! You've always been a leader, as parents we kinda learn to be." 

Forever doesn't see it (and Bad may have seen it), but his eyes shone a little with the moonlight when he felt something shift within him, biting at the lower half of his chest. There's something he wants to say, but–

"...something wrong? Oh no, have I upset you more??", Bad puts a hand on his shoulder, anxiously scanning his face for any answers.

Forever smiles, chuckling as he drops his head and stares at the other's foot. The demon is obviously confused. "What??"

"No, it's… nothing bad, Bad." he looks up. "You've always been just too good to me and everyone, which is ironic because of your name, and I find it a little funny" He presses his lips together in an inverted u smile, seeming perhaps a little tense. "That's all."

Suddenly the air is full of electricity. There's a giant elephant here, and they're both ignoring it, one hoping the other isn't feeling it too. They turn to the forest, trees shaking their leaves with a rush of wind.

Forever is the one who talks first, clearing his throat and getting up. "Well, it's getting cold, maybe we should get back now. The others must be preparing the last things for the big event tomorrow"

"Forever?" Bad sat still, staring at the dark forest. The hood covering his head flapping softly with the wind.

"...yes?", he answers, a little nervous while he cleans leaves and dirt from his clothes. 

Bad gets up, taking his hood off and turning to the other. He's stiff, using every inch of will to force the words out of his mouth. "There's. Something we're not addressing, I think."

__________

"No, wait- you're into Forever?!"

"Foolish, it's so obvious!", Baghera exclaims, letting out a growl. "Sooooo obvious, I'm sooooo tired!'

Bad raises his head from his book, watching as his friends rest on the sofa after a day of building. "I'm- I don't know!"

"Do you like him?", Baghera asks.

"Yeah, I-"

"But do you like him as a friend, or as a lover?", Foolish interrupts, interest lightning up his eyes. "This is so awesome!"

"That's not how it works for me, guys!" he puts the book on his lap. "I just like spending time with him, seeing him laugh, and… I like him in general. It's… It's special, yes. But I don't know if it's romantic, though. I'm figuring it out."

Dapper turns a page of his notebook and shows it for Baghera and Foolish.

Foolish gets up from the floor and reads it outloud. " ' Dad's a hopeless aromantic' Ohhh!"

"Ohhhhh", Baghera exhales as well. "It makes so much sense now! Why didn't you just say it sooner, Bebou?"

"You never asked!"

She fixed her hat, nodding slowly. "Oh. Yeah, actually, that's fair enough. But what're you going to do now?"

Foolish seems happy to bother his friend. "Yeaaah, Baddd~ What's your next step?"

Bad grunts, trying to resist throwing the book onto that smug face. "I... want to understand everything completely, first. And then talk to him!"

Baghera considers this for a moment while Foolish is talking to Dapper. "Bebou, have you ever thought about trying to understand the feeling WITH Forever, instead of all on your own?", she says, shrugging. "Having an honest talk, maybe? You're good friends, and... it'd be a valid request, I think! I would be ok with it, if it were me"

Foolish seems to listen to this part and raises his head. "Sorry Dapper, just a sec. Just wanted to say that yes, I agree with Baghera. You know I'll never let you see the end of it now that I know this bit of info, so... think of talking to Forever as trying to make me less powerful on withholding valuable information, and-- Ow, hey, Dapper! Stop, oW--"

__________

Forever checks his suit buttons, suddenly very interested in making sure they're all buttoned. "What… I don't think so-"

"It's almost funny how obviously you're lying now." Bad crosses his arms, looking at the ground in front of them.

Forever bits at his lower lip, feeling cornered. He could feel his face heating up. "Eh. I. I don't know what to say."

"And you think I do???", the demon raises his arms in indignation. "I don't understand so much of what's going on…! But, ok. Let's- Let's go somewhere warmer and… talk. Please. Let's try."

The president raised his eyes, sighing. "Ok. Let's try. Uhm", he points at the direction with a little light. "Wanna come to my base?"

"If it's ok with you, I'd prefer we talked in mine. I have some last things to prepare and I'd rather already be there when we finish talking."

Forever nods, slowly. "Alright. Do I have the warp?"

***

When they're finally there, the place is almost empty. Dapper sleeps in his bed, and they're careful to be extra quiet when going to another room.

After closing the door, Bad points to a chair. "Make yourself at home. Want something to eat? Drink?"

Forever shyly fidgets inside his suit pockets. "No, thank- Uh, in fact, perhaps some water."

"Be right back, then", Bad says, taking off his coat and hanging it on the wall before leaving.

As soon as the door closes, Forever breathes deeply. He was starting to officially freak out. "Ai caralho, o que eu faço?? Ninguém sabe… isso pode acabar destruindo o plano todo-" 

→"Oh fuck, what do I do?? No one knows… this could end up wrecking all the plan-"

He notices he's sweating, and gets up, unbuttoning his suit, mumbling to himself. "E eu nunca vou conseguir convencer ele de que por mim tudo bem. Nunca. Não o Bad."

→"And I'll never convince him that it's fine with me. Never. Not Bad."

His sense of self-worth has always been minimal. He made peace with being left behind months ago, when he read the contract The Federation put in front of him. It was fine by him, if all his friends and Richas could be safe and away from this absolute nightmare of a place. He'd manage, and someday dribble the rules, maybe. You never know.

But he knew everyone would just be very upset at this. He would, too, if it were anyone who wasn't him in his place. He would do everything in his power to try another way if he knew.

If he knew.

So he can't let anyone know, not on the final stage. That should never cross their minds. He had to guarantee they'd be safe. He's been pretending so well up until now, he couldn't slip up at the last minute. For them, he had to keep it tog–

Creak.

He snaps around, trying to pretend that all this time he's been taking his suit off and looking around. "Bad, hey! It's a- it's a nice room, this one"

The demon was already wearing a more comfortable and more home-like black sweater, his hair falling on his shoulders as he carried two glasses of water, handing one to Forever as soon as he sat down. "You think? It's. It's just a random room I made and that happens to have at least two chairs, uh. Here."

"Thanks", Forever sits down, taking the glass and gulping a little from it.

It becomes increasingly awkward with them sitting next to each other, both staring at the center of the room, trying to find a way to start the conversation. The silence lingers for too much time.

Bad really isn't good at talking about feelings like these. The nervousness he felt, he also saw in Forever's stance. So… he must feel something similar, right?

Or was he just really uncomfortable? He couldn't know if he didn't ask.

"Ah. So. Forever, as… as we were saying." Bad says, caressing his glass with a thumb while trying to find courage and look at his friend. "What's going on? You seem really nervous."

"You as well." Forever tries to pretend he's calmer than he feels. He'll manage. "I feel like it's something we… haven't talked about, maybe?"

Bad seems on edge. He looks away, and then at his glass, and then he's so anxious his knee starts going up and down and up and down and–

"Why can't we just be honest? Why is it so hard?", he says, feeling his chest start to hurt.

"I- I'm, uh. What do you… what exactly are you talking abo–"

"Feelings. Why are they so hard? They shouldn't be!", the demon gets up, starts to walk around the room in frustration.

Forever frowns, a big anxious mess of thoughts swimming around in his brain. "I." He starts to realize, slowly, that maybe Bad actually wasn't about to magically figure out the plan. He was just trying to talk about– "Oh, uhm. Uh."

"It's. It's ok, I… It's ok if you don't feel it. I just. I- FUDGE, it's SO hard, I–!!", Bad gulps some water, using another hand to caress his temple. "I'll say it in one go, I won't look at you, and then we'll talk. Talk it out, I mean."

Forever feels like he should get up as well, but he does it so carefully it's as if he was dealing with a dangerous explosive. "Ok", he says, looking at the ground. He's a grown man, why was he feeling so upset?

Bad turns his back to Forever, his shoulders slowly going up and down one time. "Alright. Thing is. When you're around, I feel- I'm happy. I like spending time with you, building, chatting; I kinda like my hair more because you said it's pretty. And oh gosh no, this is- you see? This is embarrassing, not being afraid of change or–"

"It's… it's not", the brazilian normally didn't feel like he had much diction. Now, with his brain all confused and sensible, he couldn't exactly think too much before the words left his mouth. It felt as if Bad scrambled his brain. "It's ok. I'm… I think we're both afraid of change right now too. I mean, as well. Or also…? Jesus, I swear I sound smarter in Portuguese-"

"No, uh, I get it, yeah. Uhm. I don't feel very smart right now either", he laughs a little, apologetic. "I feel stupid."

"Could be 'vulnerable', instead of stupid, I think. You're not stupid. Uhm. I…", Forever breathes in, breathes out. "But I get it. We're adults already, why are we like this?"

"Exactly!! Why can't we just- communicate as such?"

Forever tries to look at his friend's direction. "Uh… So, we're talking about feelings. Right?"

Bad seems to sense his gaze, finally turning around and also trying to look at the other. "Right."

__________

"Forever, vamo lá, você tá caidinho por ele e todo mundo sabe.", the scientist takes a long drag of an almost finished joint.

→Forever, c'mon, you're down for him and everyone knows it.

"Não, calma lá, Craft. Como assim todo mundo sabe? Nem eu sei!"

→No, hold it there, Craft. How do you mean, everyone knows it? Neither I know for sure!

"Você é muito tonto, cara. Até o Pac já entendeu e você não."

→ You're very dumb, man. Even Pac has it figured out and you don't.

An indignant laugh interrupts the dialogue, and Pac appears in the room with another bottle of wine to celebrate the finished train. "Pera, como assim 'até o Pac'?"

→ Wait up, what do you mean with 'even Pac'?

Mike bluntly ignores it. "O que eu quero que você entenda é: para de achar motivo pra complicar as coisas! É 'casado pra cá, rico pra lá', quando na verdade você só tá, sei lá, dificultando de propósito por algum motivo muito obscuro da sua cabeça que eu não entendo!"

→What I want you to understand is: stop searching for ways to make this more complicated than it should be! It's 'married this, rich that', when the truth is you're just, I dunno, making it harder on purpose for some real obscure reason in your head I don't understand!

Forever's jaw dropped while his glass was being filled by the other friend. He turns to him. "Eu-! Pac, me ajuda aqui, mano."

→ I- !! Pac, help me out here, man.

Pac fills it up to the brim again, shrugging. "Foi mal, Forevin; ele tem razão. E eu tenho uma hipótese, na verdade: você foge porque tem medo.", and Mike makes a face as if his brain exploded, letting a slow "oh" leave his mouth.

→ Sorry, Forevin; he's right. And I do have a hypothesis on that actually: you run because you're scared.

Forever looks at both of them frantically, feeling so very defensive. "Eu não tenho- por que eu teria medo?? Medo de quê?"

→ I'm not- why would I be scared?? Scared of what?

"Ah, sei lá. Medo do sentimento te machucar? De ser rejeitado? Amor pode ser perigoso e assustador às vezes, sabe?"

→ Eh, dunno. Scared of this feeling hurting you? Of being rejected? Love can be quite tricky and scary sometimes, y'know?

Mike laughs, a malefic smile subtly raising his cheeks. "Quem diria, conselhos amorosos do Pac? Como que tá com o Fit? Ou o Etoiles?"

→ Well, well, love advice from Pac? How's it going with Fit then? Or Etoiles? 

"Nossa, cala a boca. E não são nem conselhos, só tô comentando aqui e ali"

→ Wow, just shut up. And these aren't even advices, I'm just commenting here and there.

 The other scientist shrugs, sipping his glass again."Perguntar não machuca."

→ Doesn't hurt to ask.

Pac fills his best friend's glass, smiling just as malefic. "Melhor cê dormir de olho aberto hoje, moço."

→ You better sleep with open eyes tonight, moço.*

Forever shakes his head, rolling his eyes. "Vocês são dois patetas, cara. Cês não sabem o que tão falando, não!"

→ You're both such goofs, man. You don'even know what you're saying, you don't!

__________

"I guess I could say, eh, I could say I feel pretty similar to what you said. I enjoy spending time with you. Every… every moment was fun and… well. But I don't know what we actually want from… this", he gestures at both of them. "Are. Do we like each other, or do we like each other? Makes sense?"

Bad frowns. "Yeah, there's the thing: I don't really know! We're talking about, like, romance, yes?"

Forever nods, shyly. "I think so?"

Bad closes his hands, gulping. "Well. I don't know how it's supposed to… work? Or rather, I know, we all saw at least one romance movie or know someone who lived a romance. But I don't quite like how people say it's supposed to work. I don't like the… script we're expected to follow. I really just like spending time with you, I feel something very special about you, and I'd like to understand it better together. And, uh. And you…?"

"Oh. I…", Forever mindlessly starts taking a strand of hair and putting it in place. He felt a glowing feeling in his stomach, very lively. If he needed any proof, there it was. "I also feel something special for you, Bad. I'm kind of very on edge right now, 'cause I wasn't expecting this conversation, part of me doesn't believe I'm actually saying these things." He laughs a little, weakly kicking the air with a dangling feet, unable to stay still at all. "It's weird, saying it out loud. Can't say I'm a fan."

Bad feels like a great weight's been evaporated from his shoulders. "Me neither! But… I'm so happy to know that. I kind of thought I was the only one, actually.

Forever smiles. "I understand that feeling."

"So, well.. So is that a yes?", Bad feels like he had almsot no shame anymore, now that it's off his chest.

"Yeah, we could try. I avoided thinking about it too much, or else I'd be all anxious and no fun. But, erm, if it's like this…", he extends a hand out for Bad to grab. "Would you like to listen to some music before we get back to our preparations? I could show you some of my favorite songs, if you want to."

Bad feels a smile pull his cheeks up until it hurts. "Yeah! Yeah, I'd love that! And then, I can show you some of the best games to have ever existed, and-"

***

8:00

7:59

7:58

"C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon!!", Bad gestures to all the others to go faster inside the train. Nothing could go wrong, and they had to be fast.

Forever, on the other hand, was now talking to The Federation, working as the bait. With all their eyes on him, they could escape. That was how it had to go. "I called this meeting with you all for one simple reason, Federation workers - oh, hi WalterBob! How are you, man? - So, I've been doing some research as you all should know, and I've discovered three-..."

***

5:15

5:14

5:13

"Ramon, Ramon, fast now! Dapper, get in!", Bad says in a rushed voice, when he spots the man in green looking in the direction of the big white building. "Cellbit, what are you doing? No stalling, let's check if all the sleepers are properly buckled, we have–"

"Five minutes, I know. I just…", he turns to Bad, some complicated feeling crossing his expressions. He seems to decide to brush it off. "It's nothing. You're right, we should focus. I'll check the back", and he runs off.

Bad didn't have time to ask him about that, so he followed the plan.

***

2:47

2:46

2:45

" -...and that's how, Cucurucho and everyone, we can make everyone happy on the island!", he closes the PowerPoint, putting both arms in front of him, clasping hands. "But there's something else, and don't think I'm stupid, because I did notice it: you play with their feelings, and you really don't want them to be happy. Some of us believed it till almost now, but the majority? Eh, no. So nothing I tell you will actually make any difference. It never would. You're lying and I know it."

Suddenly, the expressionless bears around the room seem to get tense, and Cucurucho lets a "hahaha" out.

"I know we're a joke for you. But they're everything for me. And I won't let you use them anymore", he smiles, materializing a controller and pushing a black button. "Queima, urso filho da p--!"

→"Burn, you fucking bear--!"

***

1:21

1:20

1:19

The explosion could be seen from far away. Bad opens an enormous smile, while Pac, Mike and Fit start the train. Now, Forever just had to get to them, and they'd go.

Everyone looks anxiously towards the chaos of smoke and fire that once was a part of The Federation.

"Where is he? C'mon, Forever, c'mon!", Bad says through gritted teeth.

"Bad, buckle your belt, man.", Cellbit calls out to him, the train warming up, engines starting to turn. "We have to be more than ready when he gets here."

Bad sighs but does it anyway. "What if something's wrong? What if he needs help, I–"

"Look! Forever, come on, fast!!", Baghera screams looking out the window.

00:48

00:47

00:46

The blonde mess of a man flies fast, using fireworks to boost his speed. The engines turn. The train is moving, rapidly increasing in velocity.

Bad feels his heart beating fast. What if he couldn't get in it in time? He unbuckles his belt, going up to the door, opening and extending his hand. "Forever, come on, grab my hand! You're close!"

00:26

00:25

00:25

Forever feels something he never felt before.

He sees his friends, his son… all of them faster and faster in the direction of a new life. A life away from the dangers of this island.

And he's happy, yes. But it's a bittersweet kind of happiness.

He'll miss them so much. He needs to see them one last time. He–

That's when he sees Bad opening the train door and screaming at him. He panics. "Bad, gO BACK!", he has to scream over the sound of the fireworks and the train.

00:19

Bad doesn't move away from the door. "I want to help you, take my hand!"

Forever looks behind him, seeing the sky turning darker, as when the codes attacked before. They're coming. He had to hurry. He finally stomps at the door, and Bad pulls him inside. He tries to protest. "Bad, it- it won't-!"

Before he knows it, he's sitting beside Bad, belt buckled and everything.

00:15

He looks at the happy faces around him.

He'll miss them so much. He feels his chest hurt. He had so little time. "Guys, I-"

Bad's smiling, adrenaline obviously took over all his senses, he's so happy. He and Baghera are excitedly screaming encouraging words to the children, to help them relax a little more.

00:10

They can hear the explosions of the defense systems going off, keeping the Federation far behind the train.

It's all going according to plan.

They're about to enter the portal.

Forever looks at his friends, his son. At Bad.

He knows what'll happen.

He takes a glance at Cellbit, and his friend has silent tears in his eyes as well. They nod at each other, the deal only both of them knew about would still work.

00:07

Forever unbuckles his belt desperately, taking Richarlyson's face between his hands and giving him a rushed kiss to the forehead, and hugging him tightly. His tone is more rushed than ever, words mingling with one another. "Me desculpa, filho. Me desculpa. Você merecia melhor–"

→ I'm sorry, son. I'm sorry. You deserved better-"

00:05

00:04

Richarlyson has a profoundly confused expression, but he can't even think to respond before Bad pulls Forever back to the seat.

 " –REVER, Sit dOWN, ARE YOU INS–"

00:02

He can't finish his phrase, when, still standing in front of Bad, Forever suddenly smashes their lips together, both hands on the sides of his head. It's desperate, and faster than fast. Forever separates it as he pours his eyes out, fixing his eyes on Bad's. "I lo–"

00:00

And then they're elsewhere, and it's an incomprehensible mess of movement and sound.

The train trembles and shoves everyone to the sides. It's violent, seems like it's out of the rails, until it falls to its side, and finally stops.

No one seems physically hurt.

The seat beside Bad's empty.

His hands are empty.

But he's haunted by a tingle on his lips.

*Pac and Mike (wow wow) have affectionately called each other "moço", which could be translated to something close to "lad", for their whole YouTube career. It's just the sweetest thing ever, and it melts my heart. 

_______________________________________________________

POSSIBLE ENDING APPROACHES...

If you think you are satisfied with this finale, you have reached the Pilot Ending. Congratulations! Tell us what you thought of the experience in the comments!

If you think the story should still go on, you can go to Chapter 2: The Choice clicking here: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

When the train finally comes to a stop, falling to its side, the purple teleport remnants vanish, and everyone's breathing shallowly. But then, after a quick check, they start to smile, seeing no one was hurt on the trip through the Nether portal.

Because the train had some of them upside down, the ones who could better control their positions helped the others with getting out through the doors, and one by one they started to look around this new and strange place.

Bad looks around, lost and anxious. He saw his friends exiting, smiling faces and a mess of bodies and sounds. He doesn’t see Forever around. One of his trembling hands goes to his lower lip, pressing lightly against it to make sure that tingling sensation was real.

He had felt worry, joy, then worry again, then confusion, then… something.

Forever .

Forever's lips just–

They really, truly, absolutely just kissed. But why was he sad? Oh–

Fear starts to panic its way into his brain. Forever was just here .

Where is he?

After fastly scanning the train car, with a few residents just exiting the car, he fumbles his way to the door, tripping a little when trying to climb his way up. He accepts a helping hand from Tina before looking around a little, trying to recognize the blonde braid on that large group of people and not exactly succeeding. "Tina, have you seen Forever?", he looks at the two rail cars and the engine of the train, heart pounding. "He was just– He was just here, but after we arrived I couldn't see him."

Tina frowns, worried. "I'm sorry, I have no idea. I just got here, I was in the other car helping carry the sleeping islanders out and came to help check on things here", she gestures to the place he was in before. "You say you saw him, so isn't he in there somewhere?"

Bad instinctively looks back inside the car, putting his head through it, only to find it empty. But he remembers another person who certainly saw Forever as well. He turns to Tina, "Is Richarlyson out there?"

"Yeah, he's with Felps I think! Oh, maybe Forever's there as well, right? Don't know where they are, but th–"

" Thank you Tina ", in a rushed voice he jumps off the train, looking around searching for the kid.

***

He finds the dark haired boy sitting on a rock, drinking water from a glass bottle; two of his fathers, Felps and Pac, were sitting beside him. Pac had his back turned to Bad, and they seemed to be… consoling him?

He got closer, calling for the kid. " Richas - Richas, have you seen For–"

He stops when he sees the tears shining on the child's cheeks. Felps is the one who sees him first, and frowns in a sad and worried expression at Bad. The reaper mirrors the expression, his heart racing more and more. "What happen–"

Felps seems to be thinking of what to say, when Pac turns around and gets up from the ground, coming to Bad in fast steps. "Bad-! Hey. Let's, uh. Let's talk somewhere else, c'mon", and then they're going another way.

Bad looks back at Richarlyson one last time, only to see the kid raising his head a little at the scene; Felps seems to get his attention back with something, and then Bad turns his head to Pac. "Pac, why is Richarlyson crying–? Where's Forev–"

"Bad, Bad. Uhm. I. I'll stop you there. Richas has real good hearing, we need to go farther–"

The simple absence of the answer made his brain imagine worst-case scenarios, and it got harder to breath. He felt very on edge. Desperate . "Is he hurt? Is– oh, gosh . Gosh, Is he– Please tell me he's not d –"

" Please, Bad. Not here ", the other whispers, and his voice falters a little, almost unnoticeable.

Bad does as he says, and in a minute they’re entering a forest; in the middle of it he sees Cellbit and Mike talking, expressions darkened. Mike seems to notice them first, snapping his head only to relax at the sight. "Ah, Pac. É você. Como o Richas–?"

→ "Oh, Pac. It's you. Is Richas–?"

"Wh-where's Forever?” Bad stutters, lips starting to tremble. “Please. Please, I can't –", His body betrayed him: legs feeling weaker, heart racing, eyes burning; he was going to cry.

He couldn't lose someone again.

He wouldn't bear it.

He wouldn't.

Cellbit looks at Mike, and Bad follows his gaze. "Volta com o Pac, e explica pro Felps. Já já tô com vocês lá.

→"Go back with Pac, and explain it to Felps. I'll get to you later."

"Certeza?", Mike says, expressionless.

→"Sure?"

"Sim, é melhor… É melhor eu ter essa conversa com ele sozinho."

→"Yeah, it's best… It's best if I have this talk with him alone."

Mike turns to leave, adjusting his glasses and saying not another word until he gets to Pac. With an arm around his shoulder, thumb caressing his friend's arm, he starts to talk as they go the way Pac came. Bad's focus has always been on Cellbit.

The guy looks at Bad with frowned eyebrows, as if trying to figure out what piece was missing in a puzzle.

" Cell- Cellbit, wh –"

Cellbit moves, searching his backpack and bringing a red book out. He extends it to Bad. "It's for you."

Bad gets closer, grabbing it, unsure. He looks at the cover, and opens it up. There's a big title on the middle of the first page: For Bad . The reaper freezes, and forgets to breathe. His brain seemed to have abruptly stopped, and he raises his eyes to Cellbit. "What's this."

"He… he asked me to give it to you. I haven't read it."

"But why - Why a book, why doesn't he come here and talk to me? Why'd he have to write–", he feels his cheeks start to get wet. " Where is he , fudge?!"

Face and tone emotionless, the other fixed his coat, not looking at Bad. "Read the book, Bad. I'll be over there-", he points to a fallen trunk almost 20 feet away, "-if you have any doubts, but you have to read it ."

Bad protests, but Cellbit just repeats that he reads it, and goes to the trunk. The reaper angrily opens the book; he had to find answers. Why wouldn't anyone tell him?!

He gets to the first text page, and his eyes scan it fastly. Eager.

"Dear Bad,

Hi, it's me.

If it worked, you're anywhere else that's not here, which is good. Well, if you're reading this book it means Cellbo delivered it to you, which means you made it, which means it worked. And I'm not there with you.

To be president, one of the clauses of the contract made me a 'permanent resident'. I don't think I need to explain it if, again, you're already reading this.

I'm sorry for not telling you about the whole plan, I… I feared you and the others would back away from it and it really wasn't worth the risk.

I don't know if I got to say goodbye, but I hope so. You deserve that at least. You deserve so much, actually. You deserved better [[[scratched, almost unreadable, but probably "than"]]].

Speaking of that, I hope you can find Skeppy now that there's no weird island barrier stopping you. If you do, tell him I sent him a hug. I know I've been negative about you mentioning him all these months but the guy seems great. Of course not as great as me, but maybe relatively great- because you're great, Bad. 

I really hope I said bye to you. I don't know if I'll have the guts, honestly. This is a backup goodbye-letter, and if you're reading it, it can also mean I was a coward and a horrible friend. 

Just hope you know you matter so much to me. Don't beat yourself up because of me, I did this because I wanted to and I didn't want anyone to stop it.

It's been hard to find a way to get you all to be really happy, not Quesadilla-happy , and this is my best shot yet. Away, you're free; you can build any farm, the codes don't exist, the kids can have as many totems as they want. You can go to the Nether or any place. I don't think any of you can come back here, and I hope you can't. I'll keep fighting for a way out, I have a partial plan going on while we do this escape one. So maybe I'll get to you guys later.

We have a word in Portuguese: saudade [[an arrow pointing to a side note: it's pronounced like saoo dAH djee ]]. It means "yearning; missing someone". I will feel saudade for you. But I also hope you can kill your saudade for Skeppy, you missed him very much; everyone knows you two are something special. In your eyes, I could see he made you very happy before the island, and I hope that never changes. You being happy is one of the best things to ever happen on Earth and beyond.

I hope you don't feel saudade for me, because it'll hurt you. But I also know you will, because I know you. And I'm a stupid friend, because this whole letter must've hurt you more. I know that, and I'm really sorry; but I had to do it, or I would regret it for all my life.

You know what, these are all excuses and I hate this because I shouldn't do this to you, but I won't write it all again. You may hate me, and it's ok, this is a horrible thing to do to someone you love.

This reminds me: [[the word fuck is scratched]] fudge it all! If I never get to tell you that because I'm an absolute coward, I write it here:

Eu te amo.

I love you, BadBoyHalo.

And please be happy. Please.

I'll keep fighting to get to you, so don't be too mad at me (it's a joke, you have the right to be as mad as you want to).

I'm sorry. I'll miss you.

I hope I can see you again soon, even if it's in dreams.

Forever <3

PS: the middle of the book is hollow, I put you a little something in there. So if you want it, I'll always be close"

Bad hopes he read it all wrong because of the tears fogging his vision. He can't hear it, but he's been repeating the word "no" for some time now. And it gets more desperate as he finishes reading.

Already sitting on a stump and some kind of emotional light-headeness, he goes through the pages just to find within it a yellow scrunchie. He takes it, hands trembling while he looks closely at it.

It all starts to try to settle in his mind, and he panics. His vision distorted, breathing fast, and eyes looking at everything at once. This couldn't be.

This couldn't be. No.

No, he couldn't lose him.

He couldn't lose (f/F)orever.

He vaguely sees Cellbit coming in his direction, saying something he couldn't really hear over the sound of his own thoughts. So many thoughts.

Why.

Why like this.

Why again?!

It's when he feels the cold hand on his shoulder that he snaps.

***

"-- how COULD yOU ?", Bad screams at the top of his lungs, Roier trying to hold him back, away from the brazilian. He’s shouting some things Bad really couldn't care less about right now. " HE'S YOUR FRIEND –"

"Yeah, he is . And that's why I respected his choice", Cellbit cleans the blood that trickled from his nose, straightening his shirt, and looks darkly at Bad. "Would you ?"

"Bh-Whu– His choice ?? His CHOICE? How can this be considered a choice?! He didn't want this", the reaper feels his chest on fire. "Who would EVER want this??"

"You really don't know him, do you?", the words come off bitter and dense.

Bad laughs almost hysterically, hands fidgeting while he stills fights against the Mexican and his grasp of steel. "Oh, I know what you're saying, shut it right now. This is NOT about you, you as- GRH-"

Roier tries to verbally intervene again while holding the reaper “Stop, you two– There’s no need to–”

"Ok, let's make it about you then, Bad. Guess why he didn't tell you." Cellbit's stance gets more offensive, passive-aggressively smiling at the other one, suddenly wanting him in shambles.

Roier frowns at his husband. “What’s gotten into y–?”

Bad is on edge. "Wha– shut up! It's not about me either, what are you–"

" Isn't it now ?? But don't you wanna know? If you're not guessing, let me!" Cellbit pretends he's thinking, putting a hand to his chin before screaming at the other one, ignoring the pleas from his husband. "Maybe he didn't tell you because he wanted you to be SAFE, and he knew you would fUCK IT U–"

"SHUT UP!", Bad growls, and as he does, a strange red aura forms around him, growing fast as if exploding – which shoves Roier aside. The man is caught off guard, so he actually falls to the ground more or less 20 feet away from the two.

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP–", Bad repeats as he runs towards Cellbit, scythe in hands. Jumping on the man, his weapon draws an arc over his head. The detective reacts fast, materializing his sword and blocking the aggressive blow while dodging to the side.

The next 3 blows are so fast he can't take his eyes off the grim reaper. But he realizes that some of the others must have heard the screams, because they got closer. He saw his husband being helped by someone.

Meanwhile, Bad couldn't make out who, but someone was fast enough to keep the kids away from the fight somehow, despite some protests he could hear. Bad was grateful for that.

The only one dying today was gonna be Cellbit.

He could’ve prevented this, but he didn’t.

Bad wouldn't let that go easy.

__________

"No, no, that's ridiculous." Bad had his eyes wide as he looked at the screen. "How could they do it without even flinching??"

Forever puts the photo away, laughing a little. "Right?? But that's how it is, I guess. Capoeira goes HARD"

"Do you know how to do it??"

"No, I don't. These people are really talented and train a lot, I'm not that handy with my fe–", he stops his phrase, frowning with a smile. "I was gonna say 'handy with my feet', but that sounds funny. 'Feety with my feet'---" He stops himself again, laughing a little at that. "Oh, I made it worse"

Bad laughs with him. He loved these little bilingual struggles when the other created expressions. “Oh, Forever!" He readjusted himself sideways on the sofa so that he fit better beside the other. "I can teach you, if you want!"

Forever takes his surroundings in account for a second, the physical closeness between them making him real happy. Like, feeling the classical butterflies and all that. He smiles from ear to ear, raising an eyebrow. "What? You know capoeira??"

"No, silly; dancing ! I'm not great at it, but I learned a move from Just Dance once. Wanna try?", the reaper's eyes are so full of restrained excitement Forever feels something melting in him.

"Hm… Ok!" he sees something glowing in Bad's eyes. "Love a good challenge, you know that", he opens a big smile, and winks.

Bad feels something tingling in his chest, but gets up, helping Forever up as well. Just keep it going, don't freeze! "Ok, ok. So it's from a song called 'Hot n Cold', do you know it? It goes like 'cause you're hot, then you're cold, you're yes and you're no' –"

"Oooooooooh, that's Katy--

"--Perry, yes!"

"--Perry isn't it?? Show!", Forever clasps his hands together. "I know that one, it's a classic. Bring it on!"

"It is ! If you know the song, it's way easier. Pay attention. The dance is really simple, I'll teach you the chorus first: put both hands on your chest like this when she says ' you're hot ', and then you move them forward like this when she says ' you're cold ', and basically you repea–"

The man has a big big smile in his face, watching the grim reaper moving his arms. "Alright, that's cute"

Bad freezes. His cheeks change colors a little, but he smiles nonetheless. "Wh- Focus, Forever !"

"I'm focused!", the man smiles, getting a little closer to his friend. "Go on, I'm learning"

__________

Cellbit is obviously more in defense than anything, he knows it. He wears his armor, and uses his best equipment - but he remembers vividly how Bad tricked death so very calmly at the dungeons. He knows he's not stronger, hah, not really.

When he saw Roier and a good group of 7 other no-longer-residents desperately come to his aid, he felt like the ground under his feet vanished for a split second. He was about to scream at the top of his lungs for them to stay away, that this was dangerous and unknown behavior. But he didn’t even need to worry on that matter: again, surprising everyone, the reaper summoned a kind of wave of ghosts which emanated like a pulse, repeatedly keeping anyone from getting any closer to them. 

He almost thanked the guy, just before a sharp pain hit his left side and he screamed at the burn of the new wound.

"-WHAT IF THEY HURT HIM?", the reaper had a different voice, more hoarse and… like there were actually two voices in one. “WHAT THEN?!” Cellbit knew this was another stage of the supernatural, and he tried to stay focused and deny it, but fear crippled through his leg muscles like a snake.

He knew Bad felt like he had nothing to lose.

And oh boy, did Cellbit know what it felt like. It gives you an inhumane power, even if you're a plain human being, you feel like a god; you can kill or get killed and your determination won't let you falter. If Cellbit had time to look at anything other than the reaper's rapidly moving hands, he would see Bad was taller than he normally is, and his eyes shone red, tears pouring out while his hands glowed with the red aura that fed the wave of ghosts around them.

Blow after blow, there was no time for any kind of distraction. Even though Cellbit wanted in some way to try and talk to Bad, they wouldn't talk. The only thing they could have right now was the sound of their weapons repeatedly shocking against each other until one of them yielded.

And Cellbit was starting to get really tired. If it weren't for the absolute adrenaline, he would already be down with tiredness or general pain.

He wasn't a fighter!

And he secretly believed dying wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, really. He could pretend and act all he wanted, but he agreed with Bad. He secretly agreed. He just–

__________

"... acho que não vou conseguir sair com vocês mês que vem”, Forever couldn’t really look his friend in the eyes.

→ “...I think I won't be able to leave with you next month.”

Cellbit felt his stomach grow cold. "Como… Não , pera. Como assim–?"

→”How… No, wait. How so–?”

"Eu só- Olha, eu assinei um contrato pra ser presidente. Lá, eles me nomearam como residente permanente da ilha. Quer dizer, eu posso tentar sair. Mas pode simplesmente…", the blonde's mouth makes a u smile. "...não funcionar na hora. E eu preciso da sua ajuda pra me preparar pra essa situação." His expression is conflicted.

→"I just- Look, I signed a contract to be president. There, they named me a permanent resident of the island. I mean, I can try to get out. But it can simply…  [...] …not work. And I need your help to prepare myself for that situation."

Cellbit goes through his hair with a hand, looking at the ground; brain engines turning. "Mas- mas não tem nenhuma brecha? Deixa eu ler, me dá ele aqui. Vou fazer uma cópia e analisar, não é possível que não tenha algum… qualquer coisa."

→"But- But isn't there a breach? Lemme read it, give it to me. I'll make a copy and analyze it, there has to be some… something."

Forever felt depressingly hopeless, but he's never been the brain of the Order for a reason, right? Maybe Cellbit could find a way, somehow. "Beleza. Mas, por favor, não conta pra ninguém, Cellbo. É muito sério. Você é o único que eu confio nesse assunto."

→ "Alright. But, please, don't tell anyone, Cellbo. It's very serious. You're the only one I trust on this matter"

"Não contar? Espera, você…", Cellbit distractedly opens the contract book, eyes falling on the date of the signing; something clicks. "Espera. Forever, desde quando você sabe disso?"

→ "Don't tell them? Wait, you… [...] Wait. Forever, since when did you know about this?"

Forever sighs. "Eu te falei; desde que assinei o contra–"

→ "I told you; since I signed the contra–"

"Mas você leu essa porra e assinou do mesmo jeito?!", Cellbit gesticulates angrily. "E não pensou em, ah sei lá, compartilhar isso com a porra do seu vice presidente até a última hora?! Faz meses, Forever, porra!"

→"But you read this shit and still signed it?! [...] You didn't even think of, oh I dunno, sharing this with your vice president until the last fucking minute?! It's been months, Forever, holy shit!"

Forever raises his hands, smiling a little. "Ok, ok, errei, fui moleque. Mas…", his eyes lose some of the usual sparks when he feels his heart race. "Eu não podia perder a chance, cara. E não posso perder essa de agora também: o plano tem que continuar perfeitamente, independente disso que te falei."

→"Ok, ok, I was wrong. But… [...] I couldn't lose the chance, dude. And I can't lose this one now too: the plan has to continue perfectly, not depending on what I told you."

Cellbit seems about to protest, but his friend raises a hand and raises his voice to interrupt it. "Eu sei que você quer me socar agora, mas também sei que você é alguém que entende de escolhas difíceis, imorais e imperfeitas. Eu sei que você faria o mesmo se precisasse, então pensa nisso, por favor", he looks straight into his friend's eyes.

→ "I know you want to punch me right now, but I also know you're someone who understands hard, immoral and imperfect choices. I know you'd do the same if needed. So I ask for you to think deeply about it, please."

Sighing, the other seems like trying to consider his friend's words. He could use a cup of coffee right now. "Cara, para de falar como se já tivesse decidido, por favor. Eu vou ler ainda o contrato, fazer umas anotações; a gente pode recorrer se for essa a questão mesmo, e-"

→"Man, stop saying it like it's already decided, please. I'll read the contract, make some memos and notes; we can lodge an appeal if that's the thing, and-"

The president sighs, raising his voice a little to stop his friend again. "Olha, eu preciso vazar, tenho uma reunião daqui a pouco. Mas se tem alguém que vai achar brechas inteligentes, é você. Só que vê se bota uma coisa nessa sua cabeça, Cellbo: eu aprecio pra caralho sua opinião em tudo que faço, e confio pra caralho em ti pra tar revelando isso; mas se você chegar com qualquer papo que interfira no cronograma do plano, esquece”, his stance is firmer now, hand gesticulating to the air between them. “Esse plano vai acontecer. É uma chance única e eu não tô disposto a arriscar perder ela. Te digo isso como amigo e como líder”, he gulps and grabs his teleporting stone, already setting his destination in it, looking at Cellbit only to smile a goodbye. “Te vejo depois, mano."

→ "Look, I gotta go, I have a meeting in a min. If there's anyone who'll find smart breaches, that's you. But get something into that head of yours, Cellbo: I really fucking appreciate your opinions in everything I do, and I trust you on this information; but if you come here with anything that interferes with the plan's timeline, forget it. [...] This plan will happen. That's the only chance I'm not risking. I tell you this as a friend and as a leader. [...] See you later, man.”

__________

Uh, oh - Bad decision, Cellbit!

Another distracted second was everything Bad needed.

Just one more blow, and Cellbit felt the strength of his grip on the weapon just vanish: his whole arm going numb when Bad rips apart important muscular ligaments on his shoulder.

The sword falls down with a clang, and even with his skin like it was in flames, Cellbit immediately materializes a shield on his good arm, stopping now a much probably deadly attack to his neck. Oh. Bad was absolutely in for killing him, huh?

"--bAD, stO-", he tries to say, getting more desperate now, but is completely shut by the violent and incessant attacks, threatening to come from unpredictable directions at any moment. He started considering he might actually die here.

If he did… they didn't even know if they could revive in this new place they got teleported to. Would he never see Roier again? He wouldn't know for sure. He didn't want that; he had so many plans for their anniversary celebration, it couldn't end like this–

Oh. Just like his man of honor had been excited for the party they were planning together for the occasion.

Oh, Forever.

Suddenly, he feels his resolve dissolving. He takes a look at the black and blueish creature screeching and yelling at him to die repeatedly as a mantra, and feels his heart weigh a million times more now. He realizes "I'd do the same"; then he is actually honest "I'd do worse."

He remembers Forever, and his playful smile. He thinks about the short period of time when they were married; they couldn't stand each other. Forever slept all bent on the bed, and had absolutely no sense of interior design (or external design. Or any design, for that matter).

And he misses him so much.

In between blows, he looks at the miserable creature fighting against him. He can’t even start to imagine the grief.

And he feels like he deserves some dying now.

A scythe slices down the air above his head, no resistance.

__________

"Tá, tô aqui", the blonde wears his normal shorts, using the upper part of the suit, and looks around in the cave "Cê escondeu seu nome no mapa, pra ninguém te seguir, né?"

→" 'Kay, m'here. [...] You hid your name on the map, so no one would follow you, right?"

Cellbit had a grave expression, the torches on the walls and ground only worsening the state of his frown. He sounded like he didn't hear anything Forever said. "Não tem brecha, Forever. Não tem ."

→"There's no gap, Forever. There isn't."

Forever bites his lip, checking the map himself to guarantee they were hidden. Then, with one hand, he caresses his goatee, many emotions crossing his face in a split second - before he quickly shoves them aside with his hands, cleaning his throat and clearly not processing any of that. "Ok. Uhm. Tudo bem, você fez o seu melhor–"'

→"Ok. Uhm. It's alright, you did your best–"

"Forever ", he one looks at his best friend, and Cellbit's voice is hoarse. The caffeine had done its work all night, but he didn't find a single word or section they could use against the Federation; it was a seemingly perfect trap they would only know if worked at the crucial moment. " Por que você assinou isso?"

→ "Forever. [...] Why did you sign this?"

The tears in Cellbit's eyes seem to evoke some in Forever's as well, which he tries to avoid  by looking at the ceiling and breathing slowly. "A gente precisa focar no plano, Cellbo, não–"

→ "We need to focus in the plan, Cellbo, not–"

He's interrupted when he's hit with a knuckle on his left cheek. He looks up and sees Cellbit's face contorted in a pained confusion, as if looking for an answer in his friend's face. "Por que, seu merda? Por que?! Era só não ter assinado!"

→ "Why, you fucker? Why?! You could've just not signed it!"

Adrenaline mixes with fear, with guilt; he isn't exactly angry, but he screams back. "E aí o quê, porra?! Deixar outra eleição rolar?"

→"And then what?! Let another election happen?"

"Ah, então é isso? Você é só orgulhoso demais pra deixar a vitória de lado?!"

→ "Ah, so that's it then? You're just too proud to leave victory behind?"

"Não, porra! Eu–", he gritted his teeth, trying to relax. Feeling his heart racing. "Eu só–"

→ "No, what the fuck! I- [...] I just-"

"O quê, porra?!", Cellbit shoves his friend’s chest, the trail of some tears shining on the orange light. "Você só O QUÊ?!"

→"What, damnnit?! [...] You just WHAT?!"

" SE NÃO FOSSE EU, IA SER O BAD! ", The blonde screams, shoving his friend away in response.

→" IF IT WASN'T ME, IT'D BE BAD !"

His chest heaved, breath caught in his throat. After the echo of his scream wears off, silence eats at their surroundings.

For a moment, Cellbit stares at him. Into his soul.

Then he looks away, his chest heavy.

Now they can't look at one another.

Forever sighs, feeling his lips trembling. "Ele ficou em segundo lugar, Cellbo. Se eu não aceitasse, eles…", he stops to gulp back the tears trying to crawl up his eyes. "O Dapper não tem mais ninguém. Eu não podia-"

→"He was in second place, Cellbo. If I didn't accept it, they'd… [...] Dapper has no one else. I couldn't-"

Cellbit turns away, anger slowly mixing with an unwanted sympathy. He hated Forever for that. He did. He was so fucking angry at him. But the trembling on that voice meant honesty- his friend really feared that scenario so much.

They stayed in silence for what felt like hours, with the only interruption being Forever making small stepping sounds when he sat on the ground, back against the rocks. He caressed his knee with a thumb, deep in thought. 

Cellbit started walking around the darker part of the cave, Forever could barely see him with the distance they kept. He chose to look at his nails instead, maybe they needed some picking–

And then, Cellbit got closer to him, a defeated expression when he decided to slide down the wall until he was sitting beside his friend. "O Bad sabe?"

→"Does Bad know?"

Forever blinks a few times before turning to look at the enigma solver. "Não. Ele não ia aceitar bem."

→"No. He wouldn't take it well"

A sigh. "Quero dizer se ele sabe dos seus sentimentos, seu imbecil", he finally faces his friend. "Talvez esse quase mês seja sua última chance de falar o que não falou. Então não deixa pro último segundo, ou não vai conseguir."

→"I mean if he knows about your feelings, you moron. [...] Maybe this almost-month is your last chance to say what you didn't yet. So don't leave it for the last second, or you won't make it."

Forever feels something warm within him. Even with all this…"Obrigado."

→ "Thank you"

"Não começa", he sighs, looking away. "Eu te odeio tanto."

→"Don't. [...] I hate you so much."

"Nah, você me ama", he tries for a playful smile, unrequited.

→"Nah, you love me"

"Preferia não", Cellbit holds the purple teleport stone in between his fingers. "Ia ser mais fácil desse jeito ", and he vanishes.

→"Wish I didn't. [...] Would be easier that way . [...]"

__________

He opens his eyes, slowly, only to find himself very much alive, Bad fighting against two glowing gray chains that seemed to have come from the ground underneath him. He struggles against them, unable to move his arms as they're attached to the ground, and being strongly pulled towards it. "-- DAPPER !"

The ghost waves dissolve, and finally Cellbit can look at the others around them.

When he takes it in, Roier is already half the way to him; he sees he has a big sword in hands, and an obvious and intense killing intent on his eyes. Cellbit feels his stomach turn. "gUAPITO, DON'T- I'M ALIVE, IT'S OK, DON'T–"

It was too late. His sword makes its way to Bad's back. He, who contrary to his husband was an absolute fighter by nature, didn't flinch when the blade cut through Bad. He seemed lost in thought.

"RoIER, STO--", he tries to talk, but his body gets the best of him, and he feels he needs to sit down. Better yet, he's almost forced to the ground by sheer gravity.

That's when Roier's eyes widened, and he ran in his lover's direction to help him up. There's both of them, and they're the only thing existing for him. "Gatinho?!"

Cellbit tries to sit stably, failing on reassuring his husband. "Todo bien, Guapito! Solo… Ugh, que dor filha da puta. O Bad tá b–?"

→ “It's ok, Guapito! Just… Ugh, hurts like a bitch. Is Bad al–?"

Roier gets Cellbit in his arms carefully but as fast as he could, ignoring the last bit. "¡Cuidémoslo ahora! Presiona la herida, ¿vale?"

→ “Let's take care of that right now! Put pressure on the wound, okay?”

One more second and they're away from Bad, who had a blade still inside him, its point appearing from the lower end of his thorax. Slowly, he started to feel his beast-like anger shift into a frustrated grief that compressed his chest and burnt his eyes to tears.

He fell to his knees, sobbing and trembling while he cried. He couldn't understand any of the ones who came shouting in his direction. His chest hurt so much more than the bleeding wound. He was drowning with loss. 

His ears buzzed, his mind in a total chaos state. He thought not again. Not again. Not again .

He couldn't stand losing someone again.

Then, the reaper felt his body be drained of everything, and let it fall to the side, giving in to a merciful unconsciousness.

***

Slowly, the light starts to appear in his vision. He sees some familiar faces, one very little and very worried. He raised a hand to caress his kid's face when he was interrupted by his hand feeling like weighing tons. He grunts and mumbles, trying to look around and at his hands "What's… going on".

They were basically back at the sides of the fallen train, using it to hide from the hot afternoon sun. Bad was laying on the ground, and something or someone made a pillow for his head.

"What happened to you, Bad?", he hears a soft voice, and recognizes it as Niki's, turning to her. She was sitting next to him, a not really judgmental frown on her face; backpack and weapon sitting beside her as she sat, legs crossed on the grass.

"Ugh", he says, giving up the whole lifting his head to look around thing because his head decided it couldn’t fight gravity. Well, it's not as if he doesn't remember what happened; he does. Pretty well. Especially the part where no one died in the end. "Hey, Dapper..", he tries a smile at his child, who sat close as well, topper in hands. "You were fast back there"

He sees a worry and questioning in those eyes that no kid should have; he hates himself so much. "I'm sorry, I… I didn't want to cause you trouble, my sunshine. I'm sorry. I…" He looks firmly at Dapper. "You'll never have to see that again, I promise. I swear ."

Frowning in worry, the kid takes out a notebook and writes something in it. Both Bad and Niki wait patiently for his answer. Bad reads it outloud " 'We have to talk later. Now, get better. You overdid it .' Ah, of course. I'll do whatever you say, alright? I just…", he turns to the kid. "Have you done your rituals yet?"

Dapper shakes his head negatively; their tophat on the ground beside them.

Bad turns to his friend for a moment. "Uh, Niki. Can you take Dapper to the closest forest? He has his daily rituals and someone has to accompany him - oh, relax. No experience required. Please?"

Niki sighs, looking around, and then at the kid. She smiles a little. "Of course", she looks around and signs vaguely at a direction Bad couldn't turn to. "Uh. Foolish? Could you… come here?"

He hears the affirmative response while the steps get closer to him. The usual silly voice now kind of actually serious. "I won't let him go anywhere, no worries"

Dapper looks at his dad, slowly getting up and checking his backpack just to get some herbs and hand them to Foolish as if saying 'If anything goes wrong use this', to which the man replies with a nod and a 'bye bye' (he didn't understand it, so he just puts the herbs on top of Bad's belly, where blood-stained bandages closed his wound).

The entity turns to his friend, a lot more emotionally driven than Niki. "What the fuck –"

" Language "

"--did you just do, Bad?! What the actual flaming fuck?! What was all that red mist? I've never seen you do that before."

Bad sighs, looking at their surroundings instead of at Foolish. He sees, far away, some familiar faces gathered, but nothing … weird. Yet. "I thought I'd be dead by now"

"Oh, you probably would, yeah. But Dapper and Vegetta knew a thing or two about medicine and magic I guess, so- there you have it. Still alive. But you left Cellbit in a worse shape, way worse. Why? What happened? He wouldn't tell me"

Bad laughs low. " Of course he wouldn't "

"Why?"

"I… I really don't want to talk about it right n–"

"Ah, c'mon, not you too–"

"Foolish, I just need some help with getting physically better faster. So can you help me sleep?", tiredly, he looks at his friend. "Please?"

"I could punch you to sleep, Bad, but that wouldn't exactly help with your recovery. Wait a sec", he says, looking that direction Bad couldn't. Then, after some seconds, another voice is near. 

"What is it, dear?", Vegetta's tone had a clear affection to it when answering the call.

"Oh, Bad needs to sleep to get better so he can tell me everything that happened with detail, directors' cut, extended version ", Bad looks straight at the sky, not trying to turn his head and look at the two. "Can you knock him out with your magic?"

"When he's not shoving my magic aside with the red farts, of cours–"

***

The next time Bad opens his eyes, the scenario around him is different. It's darker, stars shining in the open and clear night sky. The moon was nowhere to be seen; so it could be either too early or too late. He thought it was just because he wasn't seeing it right, but after putting on his glasses he was pretty sure it was the second option.

He started to try and get up, this time achieving it, notedly without much effort. He sits up, finally looking around and seeing the occasional light spots of fireplaces, torches or lanterns in small groups near the train. And a little movement near the entrances to the other destroyed wagon; it seemed they were making a… stair? What, to get into the train again? Why–

His thoughts are absolutely run over by the small figure running in his direction, coming from a not so far fireplace. He can't help but smile when Pomme kneels beside him and puts both hands in his face, turning it as if checking if he's really awake and ok. He looks her in the eye, nothing but love in his heart. "Hey, Pomme. I'm ok, don't worry, ok? Uh… c'est bien …? I hope I just said that it's ok. Am I learning correctly?", he sees her frown soften a little, she nods, taking her hands off him to pick her notebook from her pocket.

The notebook is tied to a pen by a string, and she writes fast. She shows it, and Bad reads it: I understood you. It's good you're awake <3 Are you feeling ok??

"Heh, I'm definitely– Uh, I'm better now that I slept a little. Uhm", he crosses his legs, looking at her with difficulty. She deserved better. "I'm… I'm sorry you had to see that thing", he failed her. He shouldn't have lost control. "I promise you'll never have t–"

A hug.

A very fast hug Bad couldn't see coming. She tightens her arms around his neck, her grasp always a little stronger than what you'd expect: firm. A warrior deciding to show sweetness despite everything, bravely choosing to live her vulnerability.

Bad gulps, trying not to cry. He hugs her back. "Thank you, Pomme", he whispers. "I wish I could be like you when I grow up"

Their hug goes for some quiet seconds, and then she retreats, smiling at him; still a little worried, but apparently trying not to show it. He smiles back, getting up after the kid does the same. 

He takes another look around, his mind going at such a speed he forces himself to ignore his thoughts and focuses on what mattered: checking up on Dapper and… checking if he needed anything. Maybe they could go explore the place later.

He looked down, Pomme had written something: Mother Baghera asked me to tell you to meet up with her as soon as you woke up, but she's not back from hunting yet .

"It's… it's ok, I'll find her once she's back. For now, do you know where Dapper is?"

The kid fidgets a little with the lower tips of her al-amira, shaking her head negatively and looking at the farthest places with some light.

The reaper looks at the direction she does, and then sighs. "Well, wanna go sear–"

"--mme? Pomme, où es-t–", Bad turns in time to see the green man frown when he sees the reaper, but changes expressions to look at the kid; Etoiles now obviously tried to smile and not look tense in some way. "Ah, allez, le dîner est prêt. J'ai préparé ton plat préféré. Allons-y? Mh?" he extends a hand.

→"--mme? Pomme, where are y– [...] Ah, come on, dinner is ready. I made your favorite dish. Let's go? Mh?"

Bad checks the translator on his wrist, but catches only some words before he notices the kid looking up at him. Pomme motions as if she was using a spoon or cutlery near her mouth–

"Oh, are you gonna eat? Ok", he says, and she nods lightly while waving him goodbye. Bad does the same as the kid takes his father's hand and both leave. "Bye, Pomme", Bad ends up saying more to himself, when turning around and looking around just one more time.

He sighs, resting his back against the train structure, and crosses his arms. He could see the french-speaking folks at a fireplace a little farther, and some torches forming a pathway to a dozen more well-lit places. The forest where everything happened was pitch-dark, and didn't seem to have any movement anyways. He tries not to think of how the yellow-orangey light of the fire looked so much like long yellow hair on the wind. He fails, and his lips seem to tingle a little.

Then, deciding he definitely couldn't stay in the same place for that much time, he starts walking, only half thinking, following a path of torches. With eyes scanning what he could from far away, the reaper noticed he was getting closer to some empty sleeping bags. Nothing that could show whose, though, so he kept walking to the next one.

From afar, he could see Foolish and Vegetta eating together, sitting in tree trunks; a small pot steaming while floating above the fireplace they sat close to. It looked like they were deep in conversation right before Bad started to approach.

Then, Vegetta slightly adjusted his posture, stiffer now. "Hello there, BadBoyHalo", he didn't sound exactly tense, but there was a kind of safely-polite tone to his voice that Bad noticed and mirrored when greeting back.

"Vegetta, Foolish", he clears his throat. "Have you seen Dapper?"

Foolish turns to face Bad; he gestures to a tree trunk right beside him. "If you talk to me about what happened, I might tell you where I saw him last. How 'bout that?"

Bad looks around, but seems to have no clue where to go to. And he really wants to see his son. He sighs, crossing his arms and sitting next to the man. "What exactly do you wanna know?"

"Well, let's start with why you tried to rip Cellbit's head off. When I realized something happened you were already fighting. Also, Vegetta tried to interfere but his magic couldn't pass through that weird ghost shield, so I want more details on why, how and when you learned to do that", he smiles, and gesticulates with his hand as if saying your turn, go on .

Bad sighs again, feeling his brain engines trying to think if there was any reason to try and lie. "That's way too many questions, Foolish"

"That's my price. Otherwise, you can go keep searching for him, never knowing how the other Islanders will respond to you walking around searching for a kid after your whole violent act earlier", when the emerald eyes turn to the dark sky, Bad feels like he was still being watched; he assumed it was Vegetta's silent gaze. Foolish sighs and continues. "Look, Bad, I may be Cellbit's father in law, but I don't love the guy, so I'm pretty neutral right now; curious, even. However, have you ever thought about, let's say, any of the other brazilians, or, well, Roier ? Good luck with that, by the way; I've never seen my son that pissed. He was going to really kill you if he had the time; he might still want to."

Bad hated how that guy had the upper hand. "Alright, alright. About the magic: I am a grim reaper, you know that already - so I carry with me, to an extent, Death's powers. Death themself granted me some duties and ways of accomplishing those. This magic is that 'way', I'm supposed to use it only when absolutely necessary, specifically when someone tries to intervene with Death's wishes."

"So was Cellbit on the list or–"

"No. I just–", the reaper has to sigh when his heart races out of nothing. He closes his eyes, to focus on the next words. "Forever isn't here, and it's Cellbit's fault. It was I who wanted him dead, not Death, so I used my means to try and do that. Yep. Probably, I'll have some bureaucratic issues about that later, yeah; but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

"Wow", Foolish whistles, resting the empty plate on the ground, clasping hands, gaze fixed on his friend. "And where is Forever? I thought he was just with the brazilians somewhere, or running not-presidential-ish errands around this new place, especially now that there’s so much new stuff to see"

"He's not here. He- He apparently couldn't physically leave the island because of some stuff with the frigging Federation, and– Thing is: we need to go back. I need to go back. I can't leave him there. You may have largely been keen to work with those guys, but you do know they do anything to get what they need out of people. And now he's probably alone, and in danger."

Foolish sighs slowly. Vegetta takes another sip of his soup; a quiet and analytic presence. Taking off his hoodie, Foolish turns to Bad. "Dapper went with Leo to the car in the front, with the others. That's where Cellbit is, if you didn't know already", a sharp smile crosses his mouth when he sees Bad getting nervous. "Awn, here comes the consequences of your actions, buddy. Good luck"

Bad feels anger rising, and just gets up and walks away, two or three mindless steps to get away from Foolish. He accidentally looks at the next fireplace, where Philza, Missa and Chayanne also shared a meal. Chayanne flipped the meats, while Missa talked to him; both weren't turned in Bad's direction; but Philza was. And he was looking at Bad.

He couldn't exactly decipher the man's expression with his hat plus the torches putting a great amount of shade on his face. His black wings shone when he opened them a little, covering partially his view of the other two cooking. Intentionally.

The message - better yet, the threat - was clear: stay away from them.

Bad got it, and was happy to oblige.

He just turns away, in the direction of the train. He walks, feeling the night wind flap his hoodie. When he finally got close enough to the front of the train, he noticed the "stairs" made with rope and sticks that people were making. In front of those were Fit and Rivers, each with a weapon. They stare at Bad when he gets closer, and Rivers is the one who says something first. "Será mejor que te detengas ahí mismo", she says, pointing a sword at the reaper, who lowers his gaze to his translator.

→”You better stop right there”

Fit also points his weapon at him; except his is a big gun and could hit Bad at the distance they had in between them. "What are you doing here, Bad?"

He puts his hands up. "I just want to talk to Dapper. Foolish said he's in there."

The man didn't show many emotions, but says firmly. "You enter here and you're a dead man; you know why"

"I know how I acted. But I… I had my reasons. Has Cellbit told you anything? Has he explained how–"

Rivers laughs, sarcastically. “Está descansando, Bad, ya que casi le arrancas el brazo. Así que sí, todavía no hay explicaciones por su parte. ¿Te importaría intentarlo?”

→ "He's resting, Bad, since you almost ripped his arm off. So, yeah, no explanations from him yet. Would you care to try?"

He looks at both for a moment, trying to think of what to do. He really wanted to talk to his son, but nothing good would come from fighting other islanders if he wanted help to get back to the island.

So he lets his arms fall to the sides of his body slowly. "Would you believe anything that came out of my mouth? 'Cause now I'm the bad guy, ain't I?"

Fit has a slightly restricted and puzzled expression, while Rivers raises her sword a little bit more, her eyes darkened by the angle of the torches on the ground. “ Vete .”

→" Beat it "

Bad sighs, turning to leave. He'd have to be really patient. They wouldn't hurt Dapper to get something out of Bad, or anything like that, right?

No. No they wouldn't. They aren't all bad people.

But his mind stays alert. In this new life, environment, new everything… because he lashed out, now the people who trusted him before are confused, and the ones who didn't just won't let him speak his mind before he talked to Cellbit.

That's when he sees the purple haired woman waving at him from a distance. He starts to walk away without looking behind; he knew how they were looking at him.

***

"I know", Baghera adjusts her position on the grass, crossing her arms.

"Wh–", Bad starts, incredulous, but is interrupted by the motion when his friend materializes a book into her hands. The cover is yellow, and she has a tired expression.

"I found it all out just before you did. I understand the reaction, but I genuinely think you're taking it out on Cellbit, when the one you're actually angry at is, well, Forever", the book vanished from her hand, and she looks at the sky. "I know that I am. I'm furious at him, and I'd punch him to death right now"

"...but wouldn't you stop him if you had the chance? Why would Cellbit not do that? What if it's all a lie and–"

"You know it's not, that's Forever's handwriting", she looks at him, seriously. "And you know how that stupid man can be stubborn when he sets his mind on something right?"

"Argh, that doesn't matter anyways. We just have to spread the word and form a group to go back there. He's in danger"

"I agree. By the way he wrote it, I can hear the goodbye in his words. He never meant to come with us, he just made peace with dying alone on that stupid island"

"He did, but we can't let him. I think he'll hold on for a while, but it's literally one man against a whole all-knowing organization, so he doesn't really have much time left", he grunts. "When those two let me enter the train, I'll talk to Dapper and Ramon with detail and start to stir up the others, so we–"

"You'll have to talk to Cellbit first, you're aware of that, right?"

"Why?! I don't need him to go back"

"It’s ridiculous how I have to break it down step by step for you guys. Come on, use some brain! You need the Islanders. And because Cellbit’s really injured and apparently only you, me and maybe some brazilians know the whole scenario, the others are tending to 'his side' on the matter. Like, they think you're a dangerous being that lashes out for nothing. You have any idea how they wanted to lock you up the moment you passed out? It was hard, but me, Pomme and Dapper talked it through and they agreed to let you be but only with someone keeping an eye on you."

"Ugh, I hate this. I hate this so much"

"Well", she shrugs, already tired of that mess. "C'est la vie. That's life, Bad. Come on, let's have dinner and come back later to check if you can talk to the guy."

Bad wanted to complain, to grumble for an eternity about how eating dinner was a waste of precious time they could be using to prepare the trip back. But he knew Baghera would just rightly cut him off, so it was better to comply.

***

"Je n'ai pas peur parce que nous serions quatre contre un, donc ça me va s'il reste”, Antoine's amorphous hand grabs a fish from the bucket beside him and starts to prepare it on the stick. "Mais seulement pour le dîner"

→ ”I'm not afraid, because it'd be four against one, so I'm fine if he stays. [...] But only for dinner.”

"Ok, assez juste", Baghera adjusts her hair, taking her backpack in hands and handing him a small bag with herbs. "Tiens, les épices promises."

→ “Ok, fair enough. [...] Here, the spices I promised.”

Antoine nods, taking them and smelling the bag while looking at the other side of the bonfire, where the green man stood beside Pomme, talking excitedly about something. "De plus, Etoiles ne le quittera pas des yeux pendant tout le temps qu'il sera ici, donc je doute qu'il essaie quoi que ce soit, vraiment."

→ “Besides, Etoiles isn't going to take his eyes off him the whole time he's here, so I doubt he'll try anything, really.”

***

After contributing with some bunny meat he had prepared, they ate bunny soup and spicy baked fish. Pomme and AyPierre left after some minutes into the dinner because they've both ate already, and said they'd train a little to sleep well. So it was only Bad, Baghera, Antoine and Etoiles. The four of them ate quietly, each one doing their own thing, be it sharpening swords, organizing inventory or just reading something on their ChatPads.

Bad opened his backpack to pick a book and ink; maybe writing down everything he knew for now would help him in formulating a plan later. In between scoops of soup, he wrote a little more, trying to stay calm as the whole thing started to settle in. He sighs, frustrated, as Baghera's words come to him: he was kind of taking it out on Cellbit. It's not like Cellbit could actually physically stop Forever from doing that; but he still felt betrayed for not knowing it earlier. They had to talk soon, fudge.

" So ", he hears the voice and raises his eyes from the book. Etoiles was sharpening his scythe. "Baghera told us some of the whole thing. You're planning on going back?"

"Yes"

Antoine seems to be distracted from the screen on his wrist and looks up also. "And how do you plan on convincing anyone to join you? Besides the ones who already are Forever's friends and all that."

"I don't know yet", Bad closes the book on his lap and crosses his leg. "Would you join me?"

"Meh. No. I'm happy with being away from that place. I'd rather stay here; I promised I'd teach Pomme some things about where I came from."

"You mean… France?"

He laughs, resting both hands on his lap. "You're funny, BadBoyHalo. Anyways, I don't think I'm the only one. I wouldn't be surprised if more people chose to stay."

"To be honest, neither would I", the reaper sighs, choosing to leave the information gap behind him. "Here is way safer as far as we know. No Federation, for a start."

"And we're starting to really explore the place tomorrow morning", Etoiles swings his weapon, seemingly satisfied. He puts it away, raising from his seat and materializing a sleeping bag from his inventory. "If we were to call any attention, we've already done so. So we're going to search for other residents–"

"--which we wish don't exist", Antoine adds, also apparently finishing his dinner time and getting up. His cape flapping a little with the wind. "It's less hard if it's just us", he waves them goodbye, following Etoiles on the preparations not so far from the fire.

Baghera waves back, waiting for both to be a little farther before turning to Bad. "I asked Bagi to tell me when Cellbit woke up, and she just sent me a message 10 minutes before. I'll go with you."

"You don't have to–"

"Well, according to the agreement with the other residents, I do, yes", she gets up and gesticulates, hurriedly. "I just want to get it over with, c’mon!"

***

This time, when they got to the train car, the ones guarding the door weren't Fit and Rivers anymore, but Pac and Mike. They turn to the sound of Baghera's and Bad's feet on the grass, and raise their swords. Baghera raises her hands. "It's ok, guys. He's with me."

Mike lowers his sword, letting some smoke out the corner of his mouth opposed to the joint he holded between his lips. "Ok", he says, not taking his eyes off them.

Bad cleans his throat. "I need to talk to Cellbit"

Pac is the one who lowers his sword now. "Talk? Like, really talk?"

Mike laughs a little. "Yeah, Bad. Will you talk to him or cut him open again?"

"Talk. Words. Phrases", Bad tries to force a smile. "No swords unless strictly necessary"

Mike mirrors the smile. "No swords even if strictly necessary, in fact. You'll leave all your items in here before going in." His eyes won't leave Bad. "Non-negotiable."

Bad sighs deeply. He would be at the mercy of everyone inside the place; if they wanted to, he'd die right there. But he closes his eyes and tries to see them beyond this whole new scenario. He remembers everyone having fun with the eggs, or on the independence celebrations, on Festa Junina.

"Alright". Then he takes his backpack off, emptying his inventory on it and giving it to Mike. Pac puts away his sword, holding the backpack instead. He had a troubled expression, as if in between choosing to trust Bad's actions or not.

The reaper raises his hands. "Empty. Can I go now?"

Pac now nods, using the stairs to climb the train car before Bad. The reaper looks back at Baghera, and she motions for him to go on. Apparently she wouldn't go in with him.

So, Bad follows the blue sweater man, feeling Mike's gaze on his back as he did.

The door of the fallen train is used as a "ceiling entrance". Pac announces something in Portuguese that Bad really doesn't have the time to check on the translator on his wrist, so he just waits for a sign, and then jumps through the entrance and into the train car.

This being the "sleepers" train car, had 20 or 25 beds in it. Each one with security belts to hold the people in their places. Could easily be confused with something really negative, but it kept everyone who wasn't awake at the day very safe.

A little deeper in the place, he saw five figures. The faces of Cellbit, Roier, Bagi, Dapper and Richarlyson are turned in his direction. He's tense. He really has no idea how this would go.

He smiles to Dapper. "Hi, Dapper. Where’s Leo?"

Writing fast on his notebook, he shows it to his dad. “With Slime. U ok?” Dapper has a complicated expression, but mostly a kind of confident smile.

Bad smiles back. “Yeah, I’ll just get this right and it’ll be ok”

The kid nods, and Bad looks at all the others.

Bagi and Roier are sat in trunk benches closer to the bed Cellbit was laying on; The girl looked at Bad attentively, while Roier had the coldest stare - well, he was the one Bad feared dying to the most right now. The kids sat on the ground (which was actually the train wall), both cleaning dishes using a bucket and sponge; Dapper had already gotten back to his business, but Richarlyson seemed deep in thought, eyes covered by the dark brown curls, indecipherable.

Cellbit gets up from the bed, right arm wrapped and resting on a cloth shoulder sling. He's the one who speaks first. "Sup, Bad"

"Cellbit", Bad says, polite. "See you're all fixed up."

"Yeah. You too", he looks at Bad's belly, seeing the bandage though the cut clothe. "Want to talk in private?"

Roier laughs darkly, arms crossed. Bad was pretty sure he and Cellbit had had a talk about this interaction before, that's why he was controlled. "No, he doesn't. He really doesn't "

Bad raises both hands, not the least surprised by the reaction. "Fine by me. Does everyone in this room know the scenario?"

Cellbit smiles. "Not really, I decided I wouldn't say anything until you arrived. Now, it's good", he turns to the others. "This isn't easy to say. But I'll try to say it the best way"

The faces are all paying attention. But especifically one brazilian kid, you can clearly see how eager he is.

***

"Pinche estúpido, Forever", Roier sighs, both hands in his face.

→So fucking stupid, Forever.

Richarlyson shows off a notepad, mostly to Cellbit and Bad: When will we go get him?

Cellbit clears his throat. "Richas, cê sabe que esse rolo todo só aconteceu pra garantir que vocês saíssem de lá em segurança, né?"

→”Richas, you do realize this whole thing just happened to guarantee you all safely left the island, right?”

The kid gets up, scribbling fastly and showing a poorly written phrase. "Para de falar isso ele é meu pai eu preciso ir porra"

→ “Stop saying that he's my dad I have to fucking go"

"Language", Bad says, unconsciously, while looking away from the notepad and to the others.

"Richas, después hablamos, ¿si?", Roier smiles sweetly at the child. "Por ahora, será mejor que los adultos hablemos de algunos temas, y–"

→ “Richas, we’ll talk later, ok? [...] For now, it’s better if we, the adults, talk about some themes, and–”

Richarlyson screeches angrily, moving his head negatively many times. He writes something in the notepad again and shows it to Roier: “quiero a mi papá, puedo ayudar pa Roier no soy un peso inútil y frágil odio que me vea así"

→ “I want my dad, I can help dad Roier I'm not a useless and fragile weight I hate that you see me that way”

Roier shakes his head slightly, squatting to the kid's height, a sweet tone to his voice. "Nooo, nunca dije que eres un inútil o una carga, Richas, eres un chico muy inteligente y ágil. Pero ahora no podemos tomar decisiones con prisa, ¿vale?"

→”Nooo, I never said you're useless or a burden, Richas, you're a very smart and agile boy. But now we can't make hurried decisions, ok?” 

He slowly and clearly puts a hand on the kid's shoulder, allowing him the time to deny; he doesn't. He just looks at the ground, sadly dissociating. He grips the hem of his usual shirt. Roier then pulls him into a gentle hug. They stay like that for a moment. Bagi uses the chance and raises her voice. "Ok, let's talk practical: CAN we go back? Like, physically?"

Bad shakes his head negatively. "We don't know yet. We have to test it, and the sooner we start the testing, the sooner we get to go back and–"

Dapper screeches, interrupting the discussion, and raises his notebook for Bad: "Dad, calm down. There's too much going on, we have to have clear minds for this to work"

Bad sighs, nodding. He was actually so proud of his young genius. He gulps down his anxiousness. 

Cellbit calls the attention back. "Ok, listen. We should first explain the situation to all the others, while still preparing ourselves for all this new life: exploring, recognizing the place, finding resources and establishing our new homes. So it's going to take time, especially for people to decide if they'd want to go on this mission. Personally, I'm still unsure if I want to go back myself, and– oh, don't look at me like that, Bad, cut me some slack–"

"Alright, you're such a hypocrite, you know that, right? I’m sorry, I’m trying to not be an absolute idiot anymore but this is ridiculous–", Bad says, almost laughing, incredulous. 

"Ah, pronto", Bagi rolls her eyes, clasping hands and sitting down next to the kids. "Lá vamos nós de novo"

→ "Oh, great" [...] "Here we go again."

"Ya, ya, deje de mamadas, hijo de puta", Roier, who has already gotten up from the hug with Richarlyson, opens his arms gesticulating at Bad, clearly upset. "¡¿Quién piensa que eres eh?! Pinche Dios, o que–"

→ "Hey, hey, fuck off, asshole" [...] "Who do you think you are, huh?! Fucking God or what–"

Bad, who keeps an eye on the man and another on the translator on his wrist, answers with a high spirit too. "What, Roier, am I lying by any chance? 'Oh, me and Forever we're a team, vote Insaneduo ' and now this ? Now he's alone out there and his great friend isn't even sure he wants to go back and sav–"

Cellbit points a finger at Bad, now enraged. "Don't fucking act like I don't care, you know shit about my feelings, you know shit about how it was when he was telling me this stupid plan–"

"Newsflash: I couldn't care less about you and your feelings, so tone it down, alright? We have to learn how do we go bACK, that's at least one of the main priorities–"

"Jesus Christ, you sound like a fucking broken record; we heard you the first time. But stop for a moment and think of what HE would want. Do you really think that after all this Forever would want us to put ourselves in dange–?"

"Ok, stop right there. This isn't fair, you saying it like that to me. I didn't have a choice in this. Why does he get to have it?! Why did YOU have it? And to make such a stupid decision–", Bad gesticulates dismissively. "I don't care what he wants, he didn't care what I wanted; he decided for me. So I'll decide for him now as well. Fair trade."

The room is quiet for a second. Then Bagi points to Bad with her head. "That's a good point"

Cellbit considers for a split second and sighs, his sister's words convincing him. "Ok, you do have a point in there somewhere, and I value your thinking. But- even if we do get back (which we don't know how to), how do we dribble the thing that ties him there?”

"I don't know… We'll think about it on the way. But we have to go there, Cellbit”, the reaper opens his arms. “We have to go faster. He'll not survive there, he's alone against The Frigging Federation. You know better than anyone else how they treat those who go against them."

Cellbit avoids eye contact, lifting one hand to his face and sighing. "Fuck, Bad. I can't, I… I promised him I'd take care of everyone. It's too risky, trying to go back."

"I don't know if you realize you're being as horrible as him on the whole deciding-for-the-others thing. Sure, we can care for the kids; but besides them we're all adults, we can make our decisions alright", Bad notices some discomfort from Richas and Dapper, and smiles at them. "I don't mean by any chance that you can't make your decisions, ok? Your opinion matters, always will. As your parents we just have to decide and think of things so that you don't suffer doing so. You're young and shouldn't be forced into anything horrible anymore." Seeing the children lowered their heads, talking to each other on their notepads, Bad turned to Cellbit once again. "Give everyone a choice for once. We can't leave him there", he caresses the scrunchie around his wrist. "Well, I can't. I have to give something back to him."

_________________________________________________________________________

POSSIBLE ENDING APPROACHES…

If you think they weren't actually able to go back to Quesadilla Island, you can click here: Alone Ending.

If you think they solved the mechanic mysteries and got to go back to Quesadilla Island, just go to Chapter  3 - The Deception by clicking here: Chapter 3.

Chapter Text

When his hands grasped nothing and he saw the Spawn construction, he knew.

He just knew, and fell to his knees, fists slamming the grass while hot tears marked his cheeks and he cried until his body was all bent down; forehead on the ground. "They're free", he tried to think. "I'll never see them again", he thought instead. His feelings raw and violent, eating him from the inside out.

He hated it all.

He hated it all so much.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, frustration in every movement.

He was alone. Genuinely alone now.

And his egoistic ass couldn't stop thinking just how much it hurt that the plan actually worked. He should be happy. He should be, he wanted this so much. He fought for this, he gave everything up for this. Now they're safe. Richas won't die by the code's hands, none of the kids will. They won't be blackmailed. No one'll be kidnapped just because.

They are free from this never ending war.

The kids will have time to heal. Properly heal. With a safe place, new lives.

The parents who need to grieve will be able to properly do so, away from this hell and the monsters who run it.

But all he really honestly thought was how he wanted them back.

He sobbed and gasped for air, weakly punching the white ground.

His head hurt, and he started to feel that crying was wearing off the intensity of his emotions, his usual eyeliner now messy.

He didn't move for some more time. But he should, he knew.

He promised he would.

_____

Cellbit had his arms crossed over his chest. "Eu não vou. Eu não vou sair, eu vou ficar com você. Forever, é só esperar um pouco mais enquanto a gente estuda essa porra de Lei. Sei lá, fazer uma missão pra invadir aquela porra e rasgar o contrato. Sei lá!"

→ I won’t go. I’m not leaving, I’ll stay with you. Forever, let’s just wait a little bit more while we study this fucking Law. I don't know, we can arrange a mission to invade that shit and tear the contract in pieces. I don't know!"

"Ok. Eu pensei nisso. Mas, Cellbo, a gente sabe que eles estão planejando algo grande contra as crianças. Eles já tiraram elas da gente pra ver o que acontecia, você lembra como todo mundo ficou. Você lembra como eu fiquei. E enquanto a gente estiver nas mãos deles, isso pode acontecer de novo, e quantas vezes eles quiserem. Quantas vezes eles quiserem, você me ouviu? Eles vão matar nossos filhos pra testar a gente, porra. Eles estão planejando, você viu a ameaça. Você viu. A gente PRECISA tirar eles daqui."

→"Ok, I thought of that. But, Cellbo, we know they're planning something big against the kids. They've already taken then from us to see what happens, you remember how everyone was. How I was. And while we're in their hands, this can happen again, and as many times as they want. As many as they want, you hear me? They'll kill our children to test us, fuck. They're planning it, you saw the threat. You did. We NEED to get them away from here."

"Mas e se a gente enviar só as crianças? Ou… Ou as crianças e um grupo de adultos, enquanto os outros ficam aqui pra te ajudar?"

→"But what if we send only the kids? Or… or the kids and a group of adults, while the others stay here to help you?"

"Não. Essas crianças precisam dos pais"

→ "No. These kids need their parents."

"Depois, quando a gente conseguir sair, os pais que ficarem se reúnem com os outros, não precis–"

→"After this, when we get out, the parents who stay will reunite with the others, there's no nee–"

"É muito arriscado."

→"Too risky"

"Isso é ridículo, eu vou ficar. Foda-se. Eu vou ficar aqui"

→ "This is ridiculous, I'm staying. Fuck it. I'll stay here.'

"E deixar o Roier sozinho em um outro mundo?"

→"And leave Roier alone in another world?"

"Ele pode fic– Ah. Não, eu não quero que ele continue aqui. Essa ilha tirou muito dele"

→"He can sta– Oh. No, I don't want him to stay here. This island took too much from him."

"E vai deixar que tire você dele também? Cellbo, tá tudo bem. Eu posso partir um ou outro coração, mas todo mundo vai ter alguma companhia, vai ter como continuar. A Baghs tem os colegas franceses, a Pomme e o Bad, o Bad tem ela e o Dapper; Felpo, Pac e Mike tem você e o Fit, você tem todos eles, o Roier, a Bagi… Viu?"

→"And will you let it take you too? Cellbo, it's alright. I can break one or two hearts, but everyone'll have some company, will have the means to go on. Baghs has the french folks, Pomme and Bad, Bad has her and Dapper; Felpo, Pac and Mike have you and Fit, you have them all and Roier, Bagi… see?"

"Não é uma questão de ter alguém, Forever. É uma questão de não ter você… sua ausência não é substituível, caralho"

→"It's not about having someone, Forever. It's about not having you… your absence isn't replaceable, shithead"

Forever sighs, already tired. "Porra! Eu fui um presidente de merda, eu não tenho poder nenhum contra a Federação–"

→ "Fuck! I was a shitty president, I have no power against the Federation–"

"--Você deu o seu melh–!"

→"You did your bes–!"

"-- eu preciso tirar meus amigos daqui. Vocês são importantes demais. Você é importante demais!"

→ "I need to get my friends away from here. You're all too important! You're too important!"

"Não sou, CARALHO! NÃO SOU!"

→ "I' m not, FUCK! I'M NOT!"

"SÓ CALA A BOCA E ME DEIXA FAZER ISSO POR VOCÊ, BA–" He stops himself, biting his lip and sighing. He had to chill a little."...digo, Cellbo. Eu confiei em você pra te contar isso. Por favor. Eu sei o que tô fazendo e peço que você me respeite e me ajude a concluir um talvez último pedido."

→ "JUST SHUT IT AND LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU, BA– [...] I mean, Cellbo. I trusted you to tell you this. Please. I know what I'm doing and I ask you to respect me and help me conclude a maybe last wish."

"Merda." The man looks everywhere that's not Forever. He considers it for a moment. He hates it, but he does. And he has to slowly breath in, looking at the ground. "Ok. Se você quer mesmo isso, tudo bem. Mas você precisa me prometer que vai continuar com o outro plano."

→ “Shit. [...] Ok. If you really want this, alright. But you have to promise me you’ll keep the other plan going.”

"Relaxa, Cellbo", he smiles, almost excited. "Eu não vou parar de lutar, nunca."

→  “Chill, Cellbo [...] I’ll never stop fighting, ever.”

"Me promete."

→ “Promise”

"Eu prometo."

→ “I promise”

The detective puts both hands on his own waist, walking in circles around the office. "Olha o que você ta fazendo comigo, porra. Eu tô ajudando meu melhor amigo numa missão suicida"

→ “Look what you’re doing to me, man. I’m helping my best friend on a suicide mission”

"Desculpa, cara..." The blonde taps the table with his fingers, anxious. "Mas eu sei que você aguenta. Eu sei. Tudo fica mais fácil se você pensar que as crianças deviam estar pensando em comer terra, não em sempre sair de casa com medo de não voltar. Vamos dar nosso melhor, sem olhar pra trás. Olhos sempre abertos, né?"

→ “I’m sorry, man... [...] But I know you’ll bare it. I do. Everything’s easier if you think of how these kids should be thinking of eating dirt, not about leaving afraid they aren’t coming back home. Let’s give it our best, no looking back. Eyes always open, right?”

"...Esse plano é só um grande martírio idiota. Eu odeio ele"

→"This plan is just a big stupid martyrdom. I hate it."

"Você sabe como eu sou, Cellbo. Acredito que esse é o melhor caminho: vocês ficam seguros e eu sigo vocês quando der–"

→ "You know how I am, Cellbo. I believe this is the best way: you're safe and I follow you when I can-"

Cellbit points a finger at his friend, face contorted in an anger Forever had never seen in his face. "Você não tem ideia de como burlar a regra da presidência. Você não vai sair daqui, porra. Para de fingir esperança pra cima de mim. Pode fingir pros outros o quanto quiser, mas não finge pra mim. Não mente pra mim agora. Não OUSE mentir pra mim agora."

→"You have no clue on how to dribble the presidency rule. You're not fucking leaving this place. Stop with the false hope with me. You cam pretend to the others all you want, but don't pretend to me. Don't lie to me now. Don't you DARE lie to me now."

There's a moment of silence. Forever breaks it.

"Já te falei que tenho medo, Cellbo. Eu tenho. Já perdi a paciência, não consigo nem falar da dor que eu sinto quando penso que provavelmente nunca mais vou ver vocês. Mas quero continuar com ele. E foda-se os contras, se funcionar com vocês já é um ótimo sinal pra caso eu não consiga sair agora. Se vocês saírem, só faltaria um pedaço do quebra cabeça pra mim." he extends a hand. "E eu preciso que você esteja comigo nessa. Pelo bem de geral."

→ "I've already told you I'm afraid, Cellbo. I am. I've lost my patience, I can't even speak of the pain I feel when I think I'll probably never see you again. But I want to keep going. And fuck the odds, if it works for you it's already a great sign for me [...] And I need you with me on this one. For everyone."

Cellbit hesitates, but then sighs and accepts it. They shake hands, and Forever uses the motion to pull the other one into a big hug. Cellbit usually doesn't let his guard down, but with so many sleepless nights and his husband still not awake, he needed this. So he accepts this and hugs back, firmly. Buries his face on his friend's shoulder, grabs the clothes on his back.

Like he'd slip away if he didn't do it with enough strength. He thought that maybe he would cry, but when Forever started to sniff quietly on his shoulder, he was sure.

"Eu queria nunca ter te amado. Dói tanto, Forever."

→ "I wish I'd never loved you. It hurts so much, Forever."

"Dói. Mas eu faria tudo de novo. Eu te conheceria e te amaria de novo e de novo e de novo."

→ "It does. But I'd do it all again. I'd meet you and love again and again."

"Você só olha pro lado bom de amar. E a saudade? O luto? E o ficar sozinho?"

→ "You only look at the bright side of loving. What about missing them? Grief? Being alone?"

"Acho que… são preços a se pagar, mas vale a pena. Você vale a pena. Só não pense que você tem tratamento especial de ex, meus amigos todos valem a pena igualmente."

→ "I think... those are the prices to be paid, but it's worth it. You're worth it. Just don't start thinking you have some kind of special ex treatment, all my friends are equally worth it."

Cellbit laughs, affectionately shoving the hug aside and cleaning his face. "Ah, fica quieto. Que merda"

→ "Oh, shut up. Shit."

Forever laughs a little, smiling at the other.

_____

Forever finally got to get up and teleport to his base. Still emotionally weak, he took the backpacks he needed and TP'd away, to the isolated location of his solo-escape plan. The machine was underground, and as well hidden as it could get.

Name hidden on the map, he sighs and starts to work on it again.

***

After some hours working nonstop, he steps back, looking at it attentively. Something was missing…but  darn it, he couldn't tell what. "Richas, você-?", he turns around while checking his pockets.

→ Richas, you–?

Oh.

The place was empty. Of-

Of course it was.

Shit.

No, he couldn't give up to the hollow feeling grabbing at his heart. He had to think positive: his son was, for once in his entire life, secure. That had to be enough.

And that was why Forever had to fight with all his might to not give up. He would keep trying. For as long as…

…for as long as his body and mind would allow it.

His chest ached with the fear of not seeing his tricky boy anytime soon, but he had to.

He had to keep his head up.

***

"Certeza que tem pelo menos um pack disso na base do Bad", he mumbles to himself while taking the warp to Bad's base. Before leaving, he takes an invisibility potion, just to guarantee no island entity would know where he was. Stealthiness was the basic required for survival now.

→ "There’s at least a whole pack of this at Bad’s base" [...]

When he's inside, he gets a torch from his backpack and uses it to not turn many lights on, and goes through the chests.

"Fala sério, cadê essa porra??", he closes two more chests, searching the other ones. "Ele tinha se gabado tantas vezes que tinha. 'Ai Forever mas dark metal é tão fácil de conseguir, ai Forever mas não sei o quê', e cadê? Não tem nada", he then bites his lower lip. "Ah, não. Será que ele levou tudo??"

→ "Are you being serious right now, where the fuck is it? [...] He was always like ‘oh Forever darkmetal is so easy to get, oh Forever this and that’, and where is it? There’s nothing here [...] Oh, no. Did he take everything with him??"

After one more look at the last chest of the room, he frustratedly curses. "Caralho– hah, é tão estranho soltar palavrões aqui. Sem… sem você", he stops, looking at the place; it was so… so Bad. If he tried a little, he could see the reaper going around, talking nonstop about some new random information he just learned. He looked so, so cute when he just babbled unafraid about what he liked.

→ "Fuck– hah, it’s weird swearing here. Without… without you." [...]

There was also that time when he was telling Forever of one of the longest adventures that he, Dapper and Pomme had. Or the way Bad couldn't stop laughing when he rewatched the clip on how Foolish lost his last presidential life to Pomme, and his laugh made Forever soar and start laughing until he had tears in his eyes.

Or that time when they left the kids under Cellbit's care and went to the–

Oh, no.

Shit.

Forever finds himself standing in the middle of the room, his fingers pressing against his upper lip.

Oh, no. Here it comes again.

He feels it. He knows what's coming.

His eyes wet when he feels the wave of dread coming up to his neck, trying to make him drown in it. He knows himself. He knew he wouldn't be able to move for hours, days, weeks. He couldn't let that happen, so he forcibly shakes it off, breathing deeply and clasping his hands. "De volta ao trabalho, né? Foco, Forever! Foco. Foco."

→"Back to work, right? Focus, Forever! Focus. Focus."

***

He finds more chests around the place, some of them with a lot of what Forever assumed was supernatural stuff. He never had the courage to mess with these things, so anytime Dapper showed Cellbit some new ritual and Forever was around, he curiously but shyly watched them from afar.

The kid was so brave, and he really was the biggest expert on the magical matter that Forever knew about. He had entire books with notes and details about resources… 

Forever could never forget about the time when all that organization and information left him amazed, so he asked Dapper if autism gave him superpowers; and the kid laughed, raising a sign that read something like "you could say that". He jumped around, and started showing off some other ingredients. And Forever swore he listened carefully for the moment, but his brain had erased everything by now.

"Foi mal, Dapperzinho. Mas se eu precisar de magia pra tentar escapar, já sei onde vir", he says to himself, smiling as he closed the chest and returned to the main room.

→ "My bad, little Dapper. But if I ever need magic to try escaping, I already know where to come." [...]

With his hands on his waist, he looks around. "Será que esqueci de algum…?"

→ "Did I forget any…?"

By chance, he looks up when stretching his arms and sees… 

"Oxê. É um baú ali?"

→ "Huh. Is that a chest?"

He easily gets up there, and opens it. "Segredinhos, Bad?? Isso sim é interessante…"

→ "Little secrets, Bad?? Now this is interesting…"

He sees some dry flowers, and many drawings. He takes one and looks at it carefully. It was clearly done by a child, probably Pomme or Dapper, but it wasn't signed. It was a cute drawing of a stick-man BadBoyHalo and a lot of hearts around him.

Forever feels himself smiling at that. Searching a little more he finds a picture. He takes it, instantly recognizing both their smiles. Bad looked especially pretty that day, even though he hadn't done much different from any other.

_____

It was the end of May (or early June, Forever wasn't so sure). They got to the place, and it was like a picture-perfect afternoon they shared - why, that's why Forever made them take a picture as soon as they stepped in. "We'll forget to take it there, so let's guarantee it!", he said. Bad agreed. 

And after some time searching, finally, the reaper found the perfect stop in that open field all framed with trees. The sun was shining sweetly through the leaves.

They picked a spot and shot the breeze, like buddies do. Forever had insisted they should climb the biggest tree yet, and Bad agreed, keeping an eye out for any weaker branches when Forever went first.

The president could feel the wind trying to mess with his braided hair, while Bad quoted some songs by his favorite bands. Occasionally, Forever told one or two jokes they actually knew no one but them would get, and they laughed, the sound mixing with the wind-shaken leaves.

After eating the sandwiches they brought, the two just talked and took in the view. It was warm, but not hot; so the sunlight and the sound of the rustling leaves were just a whole experience, especially when their days were always just filled with stress and worry all the time.

Now, Bad took off his hoodie and rested his head against the trunk, hugging  one knee, his other foot dangling lazily while he played with a leaf between his fingers. Forever was lying down on the same branch as the reaper, but with his feet falling from both sides of the branch; he used his arms as a pillow beneath his head.

***

Some minutes full of a comfortable silence mixed with calming music that played from one their devices went on, until Forever got up slowly, and unfastened his braid, closing his eyes and letting the wind freely ruffle his hair. "Geez, I needed this. Wow."

Bad had turned to his friend at some point. He feels his cheeks get a little hotter when he sees how his friend was... so beautiful. "Huh. You know, I was thinking that when it's like this, all I see is sky, Forever"

"Mhm? What do you mean?", he says, with eyes still closed but raising a brow.

"I don't know. It's…", Bad moves, letting both feet on the air, and looking straight ahead, to the forest and the sunset. "I know it sounds weird, but right now, I feel like nothing is impossible at all."

"Honestly? Yeah. I feel that too", he smiles, now looking at the sun-bathed leaves above their heads. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now"

Then, Forever changes his position on the branch as well, sitting beside Bad, both feet dangling off of one side of the branch. None of them see it, exactly, but when adjusting their positions, their hands got very VERY close. Almost touching. Something is in the air, and they're about to notice.

Bad smiles, unable to look his friend in the eyes. "Me too"

And it was a perfect day.

_____

Forever ran. Fast.

He heard steps back at Bad's base. He was sure he heard them. But, as he was sure now, his friends were all gone; he was supposed to be alone.

Except, no, not really.

He was alone with the enemy.

He only stopped running when he was sure he didn't hear anything besides his heavy breathing, and when he was in the middle of a dense forest. Here, he might have lost anything or anyone who might've been after him.

Looking around and behind his shoulder for more times than possibly necessary, he finally started to let the adrenaline drop. Moving carefully, he took his stone in hand and teleported back to the hiding spot of his plan.

Looking at all the machinery, he started to appropriately calm down. Taking off his backpack, he rested one hand over the child-sized brazilian shirt laying on the working table.

"Ah, Richarlyson. Eles tão por toda parte, meu filho. Mas não aí. E nem aqui", he takes the shirt with both hands, bringing it to his mouth as if telling it a secret. "Eu nem mostrei pra você essa sala, era pra ser realmente escondida. Viu? Pai tá cuidando de tudo. Pai vai chegar log–"

→ Ah, Richarlyson. They’re everywhere, my son. But not there. And not here. [...] I didn’t even show you this room, it was supposed to be really hidden. You see? Dad’s taking care of everything. Dad’s arriving soo–

And that's when he heard something behind him, and dodged right in time to see the white figure slamming the air where he was with a baseball bat. He frowns, but still smiles. "Ah, oi, Cucu. Você foi rápido dessa vez, hein?"

→"Oh, hi, Cucu. You were fast this time, huh?"

The bear laughs a little; the robotic voice high pitched at the end. "Follow me"

"Nem morto", Forever says, materializing a controller in hands.

→ "Not even at gun point."

The bear doesn't even have time to react when the president presses the black button, sending the whole room into the air. Even his work in progress of an escape plan. In between explosions, he TPs away as fast as he can, not staying to watch the scene after it started to blow up all around them.

He found himself tripping on the ground just outside Baghera's castle; oh, so that was the place he randomly clicked.

He gets up fast, looking around just to check if anyone was near. Then, after drinking an invisibility potion and some avocado toasts to heal, he started to roam the map again.

That was a close one. He had to figure out how the fuck the Federation knew where he was, because he really thought he was being the most careful about that place.

And that was when he felt something hard hit at the back of his head, and everything went pitch-black instantly.

***

When he finally opened his eyes, his head hurt, and even more with so much light. He grumbled, blinking a few times until he started to understand what was around him. A kind of room…? He moved his hand to take a strand of hair off the way–

Wait. Why couldn't he move his hand? He looks down, and realizes both wrists are attached to the arms of the chair he's sitting on. 

"Quê?", he moved his wrists, trying to break free, noticing that not only his wrists but also his ankles were tightly glued to the chair, restraining his main movements.

→ "What?" [...]

He snaps his head around, and it all hits him like a train: it's a Federation room. He curses under his breath while still looking around. It was a small white room, him being in the exact middle of it.

Within the edges of his sight, he saw that right behind his back was an iron door. "Merda, merda, merda. Não… eles–"

→ "Shit, shit, shit! No… they–"

They caught him too fast. Shit. It was too fast.

But he was so careful… then, how…?

Were there so many workers after him that they so rapidly tracked him?!

He hears steps, slowly fading in behind him; he looks back, when he hears the door clicking and opening with a low sound. On the door frame, obviously–

"Good morning", the robotic voice greeted him.

He could feel his brain and heart fighting to be the guide of the moment; he ends up deciding to hide his fear deep in his stomach; maybe that'd give him some advantage in whatever was to come.

He smiles as the bear-like being gets in front of him, trying for some confidence. "So, being exploded twice isn't enough to kill you, huh? Tough guy"

"Ha ha ha. I'm part of the Quesadilla Island census bureau. You've committed illegal activities."

"Bla bla bla, that's all I'm hearing. Let's just get it over with, say what you want and leave me alone"

A notebook is open in front of him, one sentence in the whole page: I have some questions for you.

"M'yeah, of course you do"

The creature shows the notepad again, now with a small text written on it; Forever reads it outloud. "Were you involved in the massive portal creat– Yeah, yeah, my plan. I'm a genius alright", he rests his head on the chair, a smug smile taking over his face. "But hey, see it from the brightest side: now you have less work, since I'm the only one you have to make happy on the island"

There's a moment of silence, when Cucurucho decides to circle around the room.

Forever keeps an attentive ear and eyes to where and how the bear moved. Maybe he could find a way to, well, try and overpower him? He just had to get Cucurucho to leave his hands free, that's all. And–

And then the robotic monotone laugh comes in again, from behind him, followed by a monotone robotic phrase "No one's coming to help you"

Forever freezes in place.

That's… that phrase is new.

He isn't fast enough to hold down his reaction, and snaps his head around to try and look at the entity. "Y-yeah, no one's coming; because your cruel experiment is over. You lost!"

"Ha ha ha."

He feels a firm hand grab the hair at the back of his head, pulling his face up and keeping his head still. With gritted teeth, he closes his eyes from the suddenness of the movement. "You lost, you stupid fucking bear", he then opens it to stare at the pale face. "You're never gonna hurt anyone I love ever ag-"

Fast, he sees and senses a kind of cloth has been put around his neck, and his head is released from the grasp of steel. He can't even turn around when the cloth, which he saw looked pretty similar to the Brazilian flag he wore on his shoulder, was twisted around his neck.

"What, you're gonna— kill me? Hah. You're too weak– GH"

The response is another twist to the cloth, closing even more his air inlet. He tried to resist. He struggled, trying to move away from the back of the chair; unsuccessful, he realized his chest was tied to it, and no matter how much he tried to move his head, the bear's grip grew firmer, squeezing more at each moment.

What, so this is how it ends for him?

This stupidity?

Some curses left his mouth while he saw the end of his vision darkening; he was losing consciousness.

No.

No, eyes always open, don't close them!

Don't close them.

It's when his mind starts to float he realizes he's going to black out soon. If he was dying, at least he would respawn away from the room. So he had to die.

He had to die, it was his best shot.

***

When his vision returns this time, he's in his base. He looks around, and realizes that instead of being on his bed, he was already up. He walks around when suddenly someone opens the door. He doesn't even flinch when the dark brown curls appear and his boy smiles at him.

"Richas!", he laughs,. "Filho, que saudade…"

He wants to go hug his son. Wants to tighten his arms around the child's waist and raise him from the ground and never let him go.

But he wakes before he's able to do so, and the brightness of the room once again hurts his eyes.

The reality of his situation sinks in: he was still in the Federation's buildings. He looks around and notices: at least this room seemed slightly bigger than the chair one.

Also, this time, he wasn't sitting. He realized he was laying down. The white bed matched the white room, with its white lights, and the white gown he wore. He's wearing a white kind of hospital gown now, stripped of his suit and items. Not even his hair was free from the Federation's hands: his braid was undone. He gets up from the bed, hands free to sense his neck; it was still sensitive.

Hair falling free on his shoulder and back, he observes which materials he had at hand. The room was absolutely empty besides the bed he was sitting on, a steel door in front of the bed and a camera on the upper part of the wall just across him.

He stared at it. They'd know he was awake.

They'd come soon.

He gets up and walks in circles in the room, brain engines turning. Fuck, he had to think of something. He had to get away so he could work on the fucking–

Shit, yes, he blew his escape pod last time Cucurucho found him. So he'd have to start it all again from scratch.

"Buceta", he curses. He feels indignation and rage rise within him. He curses more, and gives the steel door a kick. "Inferno de ilha do caralho!!"

→ "Crap [...] Fucking hell island!!"

The door doesn't move, of course. So he kicks it again, and again, and again and again.

And again, just to be sure.

His chest heaved up and down when he backed away from it and looked around the room again. Very surprised, he noticed the room didn't change at all! Wow! Now, that's unexpected!

He grunted and frowned at the cold unmoving steel.

Alright, he thought. This is a shit situation. What can I do? The only way out is the door, but obviously I don't have the password. So… I just need someone to open it for me, and run for my life? No, that'd be too stupid. I have to go along with their plan, and analyze the outside surroundings of the room. 

Sighing, he runs a hand through his hair. Going back to the bed, he sits down on it again.

Now, he had to wait.

***

The bear came in in what felt like hours after. "Good evening", the robotic voice said.

Forever was laying down on the bed again, so he gets up and looks at the white figure. "You sure took your fucking time. What's this? Are you really so upset I said a truth there about you losing? Come on, not even the eggs were that childish."

"I'm part of the Quesadilla Island census bure–"

"Arggh, I know. I know that, you know I know that. Shut up. Go straight to the point: why am I here?"

"You've committed illegalities'

"We've already been through this conversation, stupid bear."

The bear gives him a notebook.

He reads the first page: Where did the other residents go to?

He mindlessly throws it on the ground, crossing his arms and staring firmly at the other with a small smile in his lips. "Não tenho ideia do que cê ta falando."

→"I have no idea what you're talking about"

After looking at the translator, the thing writes and shows another notepad. "Tell us where they've gone, and we won't hurt you."

Forever laughs. "Me machucar? Digo, vocês podem tentar. Mas mesmo se eu soubesse pra onde eles foram, não te contaria. Você nunca vai ver seus brinquedos de novo", he opens his arms wide. "De nada"

→ "Hurt me? I mean, you can try. But even if I knew where they went, I wouldn't tell you. You'll never see your toys again. [...] You're welcome."

The bear checks its translator, and then stares at the blonde man, empty gaze and smile unmoving. Forever stares back, feeling the satisfaction of clearly upsetting the creature.

The robotic voice activates again: a laugh. Then, he leaves the room. The door closes, and he's alone again.

***

Wack.

The Federation never failed to surprise him. He feels the hot blood trickling down his nose, but smiles when facing Cucurucho. "I didn't know you guys had, what, boxing bears? That's–"

Another blow, and his face is turned to the other side. He sighs, absorbing the pain. He still can't move his hands, as they're tied behind him. This time, he's standing, tied to a pillar in the center of yet another white room.

There are two bears in the room: Cucurucho has a clipboard, and is closer to a wall, watching and smiling as always. The other one is a slightly bigger bear-like thing in stature and muscle. It has very strong hands, he could tell.

He gulps, turning his face in Cucurucho's direction again. He doesn't say anything. Cucurucho signals and the other bear stops his hand in mid-air.

Forever watches as the office bear gets closer and shows him a notebook. The question he's seen at least a dozen times already: where are they?

He stares at those empty black eyes, and spits blood in its direction, never taking his eyes off of Cucurucho's. It looks down at the stain on his once perfect white clothes, then slowly looks back at the president, who smiles like a mad man. "Traduz essa"

→" Translate this"

There's yet another moment of staring; at this point, Forever knew he pissed off the thing again, and smiled through the blood on his face; his hair a dirty mess, some strands glued to his face by sweat. The bears then look at each other, and have a wordless and absolutely unmoving conversation. The bigger bear nods, and Cucurucho turns in the direction of the door.

Forever feels his rage grow. "You coward. You're a fucking coward, you won't even fight me like a m–GH", he can't react when the punch now hits the upper region of his stomach, and he doubles over in pain, feeling a scary difficulty to breath. Gasping for air, he stares at the white feet while he hears the steel door closing, and grits his teeth.

He was going to kill each and everyone of these fuckers. Oh, he was.

***

He hears the steps coming to the door, and turns in its direction. Expecting the smiling asshole, he stands up and closes his fists; if he ever had the chance to, he'd punch that smile away.

But when the door opens, it's not him.

Forever feels his body relaxing. "Walter Bob?! What are you doing here?!", he limps in the direction of the ginger bear; even with every muscle hurting, he felt hope for the very first time in… months? Weeks? He couldn't really tell, with no window and only white artificial lights at his disposal. "Can you help me, please?"

He shows the notebook to Forever. It reads, in rushed letters: "I will try to get you out. But not today. Let's try it quietly because of the cameras. Pretend I'm not here for the camera, because it can't see me in this angle, and it doesn't capture audio either. I'll try to do something to help you escape. You'll know when it happens. I'm so sorry I took so long, they're keeping a close eye on me because of my history with helping residents. Ok?"

Forever gulps, letting all that information sink in. Then he changes his posture to a more neutral one. He smiles at the bear, trying to use the camera angle so it doesn't see his expression. "Ok. Thank you, my friend. I'll wait for the signal. Thank you. I'll wait."

He sees the melancholic-looking face lit up with a small smile, and then the door closes and the bear is gone.

Forever punches the door some times in a fake anger just for the camera, with his head down as if he was crying; but oh, he laughed so hard, a big smile hurting his cheeks.

Finally.

Now this would work.

***

There comes a moment when he can't stand keeping his eyes open anymore, and his head hurts craving sleep. So he blacks out, and has a dreamless night. When he opens his eyes again, a Federation worker is close to his bed. It has no face. Forever frowns. "Quê."

→"What."

The Federation worker shows him a page of a notebook. It reads: "there's someone here to see you."

Forever laughs. "What, Cucurucho is too lazy or tired to come visit me this time?"

The worker shows him another page: "Please, come with me"

Forever was tired of being dragged around when saying no to the workers, so he just gets up and actually follows them to the outside of the cell. He's seen the corridor many times when moving from one chamber to the other, but he's never been so physically fucked up as in that moment. Limping from an almost sprained ankle, one eye too swollen to see much and small cuts on his lips, he used the walls to help him walk. The worker waited for him when he was too far behind (as if he could even try and run away in that state).

When they get closer to another steel door, he hears a muffled voice complaining. He freezes. He knew the voice. His breath gets caught in his throat, "No. No, NO, NO–", he limps faster, getting to the door right when the worker opens it.

He looks inside, and sees the figure on their knees, shackled to a pillar, hands behind his back. The reaper's face lights up for a moment, but in a second his smile morphs into a worried frown. "Forever! You're… Gosh, what have they done to you–?"

Forever half-runs in his direction, surprised the worker didn't stop him. But, again, what would he be able to do?

He falls to his knees right beside the reaper, checking his hands and face for bruises. He sees none, but now wants to make at least one. "Why are you here?? Why are you here, I TOLD you to stay away. Why are you here?! Fuck!"

"I had to come back, to help you.”, the other smiles, white eyes weirdly calm and kind-looking. “I couldn't leave you behind like that!"

"You should have!”, Forever fastly turns his head around, looking at the worker, who stayed closer to the door. Then, he lowers his voice, turning back to Bad. “How did you. Why– shit–”

"I had to see if you were alright! I'm so glad you're alive, I–"

"You shouldn't have come, you shouldn't. This is wrong, you're in danger–"

"It's gonna be alright. As long as we’re together, it’s going to be fi–"

The steel door opens again, and Forever snaps his head back to see the smiling bear-figure entering, followed by two more faceless workers. His heart races. He's terrified. They'll hurt Bad.

He puts a hand on his friend's shoulder grabbing him as if it'd avoid everything. As the bears get closer, he gets up fast, using both arms to lift himself up in front of the reaper.

He stares at the creatures. They stare back.

"Hahaha", the robotic laugh comes in. "Good morning", and he materializes a gun in his hand.

Forever turns to Bad, grabbing both his shoulders frantically. "Have you touched any bed in the Federation?? Have you? ANSWER ME, FAST"

"n– No, I–", the reaper starts, confused.

Forever then turns around, using every inch of strength he had in him to not tremble when the gun touches his forehead.

"Forever??", he hears the other calling from behind, but he never felt so focused; so determined. This was a matter of life or death.

He subtly watches the trigger, and when Cucurucho pulls it, he moves his head, avoiding the shot and instead, grabbing the bear's hands. The thing was too strong to just pull the gun away from his hands, so Forever just closes his eyes tightly and points it in the direction of Bad's head and pulls the trigger with his fingers over the bears one, two, three times.

Cucurucho finally shoves him aside, the workers grabbing his arms and throwing him on the ground. When his back hit the floor, there were two to three workers holding him down already, he had no gun in hands anymore. When Forever opens his eyes again, they're starting to burn with possible tears, and he tries to see the lifeless frame flopping on the ground behind the mess of workers, but he really can't. They forcibly turn him around, face against the floor and facing the metal door through which they came in before.

He thinks to himself that now it was alright. Bad’d spawn in another place, he'd be free. They wouldn't be able to use him. They wouldn't hurt him. Jesus Christ, why would he come here–

"...-ever", a whisper.

A fucking weak whisper. Not in the robotic tone, but in that tone he knew so well.

Forever frowns, trying to turn his head in the direction of the sound, but being held down by the bear-things who started to pull him up and towards the door already. He feels bile in his mouth.

Bad wasn't dead.

How was he not fucking dead?!

No. No. They'd get him. No.

Forever panics. He fights against the workers holding him. He screams at the top of his lungs to let him go. He screams for them not to touch him.

The workers just pull him through the door and Forever can't even turn his head back to scream at Cucurucho, because one of them held his hair while pushing him to the corridor outside the room.

The man screams, kicks, shoves, but he can't intervene. “NÃO! NÃO, MATA ELE. MATA ELE POR FAVOR!”

→ "NO! NO, KILL HIM. KILL HIM, PLEASE!"

He hears the click of a gun being reloaded behind him when the workers throw him on the white ground. As he immediately gets up and tries to go back inside the room, the gun’s pointed at his head once again.

Forever knew he couldn't die now. He had to trick these workers and save Bad. He had to do it NOW.

He looks at the white bear pointing the gun at him, eyes wide in plea. “NÃONÃO NÃO ME MATA NÃO ME MATA–”, the finger on the trigger moves and his hands are too late this time. “--ESPERA–”

→ "NONO NO DON'T KILL ME DON'T KILL ME [...] WAIT–"

Bang.

Everything's black again.

***

He sits up, gasping, looking around and getting up from where he laid; it was his usual bed, in his usual room. He runs to the door, his legs and whole body now fully healed after the respawn, and punches it with all his strength. He screamed at the top of his lungs for someone, anyone, to come there - he’d tell everything. Everything. He swore in all the languages he knew that he’d obey every word, do anything, if they could please just leave Bad alone.

No one came.

No one seemed to listen to him.

He cried his fucking eyes out, screaming until his throat felt sore, but not one single expressionless soul appeared on his door. So he just sat there, powerless; breath ragged. His mind started going through all the kinds of things they would do to Bad if he didn’t tell them what they wanted to know.

And he was terrified.

He could do nothing to stop it.

He could do nothing.

He closed his eyes tightly and started to focus his mind. If he had some kind of luck anywhere in his life, he prayed it'd go to Bad.

If there was any god up there, that they'd please let Bad go without being hurt.

***

After what felt like an agonizing eternity, Forever was startled by footsteps on the other side of the door. He gets up from the ground. “Cucurucho? Cucurucho, please, I’ll do anything. I’ll give you anything”, the door opens, and the white figure enters, clipboard in hands. Two more figures enter, holding an unconscious Bad by the armpits. Forever feels his nerves on fire. “What the fuck did you–”

The bear shows him a notebook: “he’s alive. We just put him to sleep. You said you’d do anything, right?”

Forever reads it fast, and nods repeatedly. “Yeah, yes, anything. You just have to promise to not hurt him.”

Cucurucho apparently considers that, and writes another thing on the notebook. Forever keeps an anxious eye on the gray figure; Bad didn’t look hurt in any physical way. Then the notebook is shown, a single order in the middle of a blank page: “cut your hair and give it to me.”

Forever raises his eyes to the creature, who materializes a pair of scissors and throws it on the ground near Forever’s feet. He looks at it for a moment, a little confused. He did not expect that kind of order.

But the unconscious figure of his friend reminded him he didn’t really have time to think much about anything, so he just picks the scissors up from the ground and looks at Cucurucho.

So he gets the tool up to his nape, and while holding almost his whole hair in his other hand, he cuts it and walks slowly towards the bear-thing, hand extended for him to take it together with the scissors. He tried to think of infinite strategies to kill them with the scissors, pick Bad up and run. But he had no other part ot the plan, and he really had no idea what they could do to Bad if it went wrong. What if they punished him with... worse things because of that?

So he doesn't try anything.

The thing takes the items from his hand.

There's a moment of silence where the creature turns the hair in his hands, observing it. Then, he puts it in his inventory, and it writes another notebook page: “good. Now it's your last chance to tell me where they went.”

Forever could feel his legs start to weaken. “Look. I know you didn’t believe me before, but I’m very serious now. I have no idea. We just built it with a bigger power and.. and, fuck, what’s the word–”, he feels the words in English flying away from his mind, so changes it. “é… alcance! Alcance, essa é a palavra. A gente fez ele com mais potência e alcance pra poder ter uma chance maior de teleportar pra mais longe!”

→ "Ehm..range! Range, that’s the word. We made it with more power and range so we could have a bigger chance of teleporting away!"

Cucurucho checks the translator on his wrist and slowly turns his gaze to Forever. Not that it could be actually possible, but his smile seemed to widen even more, empty black eyes absolutely delighted. “Ha ha ha”

Forever looks at him, not understanding the response. “I- I’m serious! I have no idea. Please, I–”

The bear thing turns the page of the notebook, writing on it and showing it to the man: “my patience is running thin.”

Forever doesn’t know what else to do. He gesticulates, nervously, while the other stares at him. “What- what do you want from me? I really don't know where they are right now! I wish I knew, I do, but we didn't plan a specific place to–”

This time, the answer is written faster. Forever reads it out loud for himself. “If you don’t know, someone else– no, wait! WaiT, don’t gO– BAD!”

He tries to grab the bear’s arm, but a sharp pain burns his knee when, faster than he’d expect, one of the workers holding Bad materialized a gun and shot at his leg’s direction. Forever falls to the ground, but he can't take his eyes away from the group. And he sees, now, Bad with opened eyes, looking around. Did the shot wake him?!

"BAD, BAD–"

The group starts to cover Forever's view, but he can see the reaper's horns turning in his direction. He tries to crawl to the door.

"BAD, TELL THEM, TELL THEM WHERE–", and it closes loudly. He gets up fumbling with the door handle. "JUST TELL THEM, BAD, PLEASE"

"--oreVER–!", he hears the muffled voice through the metal, and his eyes widen; it was his first time hearing Bad's voice since that last moment.

"BAD, ARE YOU OK?"

"FOREVER, I–", he hears a muffled thump. "AGH–"

Did they just hit him?! "EU VOU MATAR VOCÊS SEUS FILHOS DA PUTA– " He wanted to trespass the door. He punches it with all his fucking might, nonstop.

→"I'LL KILL YOU YOU SONS OF BITCHES–"

No answer.

"VEM AQUI SEUS COVARDES EU VOU MATAR TODOS VOCÊS–" He punches it more, and screams louder so that even far away, they'd hear him. "EU VOU MATAR TODOS VOCÊS, SEUS FILHOS DA PUTA, CÊS TÃO ME OUVINDO?! SEUS FILHOS DA PUTA–"

→ "COME HERE YOU COWARDS I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU–" [...] "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS, CAN YA HEAR ME?! YOU SONS OF BITCHES–"

The door didn't move.

He punches it more, throws his body weight on it, ignoring the pulsating pain that emanated from his knee when he moved to do so three, five, seven times with no result. It stays still, while Forever feels his body trembling, eyes starting to burn through the anger.

Actually, the door doesn’t move for a long, long time.

Not even for the usual… questioning.

He sat against the steel door, listening for any and all sounds from the other side – which were none. He knew they were hurting Bad, but he couldn’t hear it; and that left his imagination running like never. He knew what was happening, and while he really didn’t, he could very much think about it.

Day and night.

And it kept him up for too much time, crying. Trembling. Breaking down under the weight of his nightmarish thoughts.

How could he let this happen? How could he?

It was all his fault.

***

There came a moment when the food plates came and went, but he didn’t touch it. He didn’t want to eat knowing what was happening because of him. He didn’t fucking deserve it.

He watched the same second they took Bad away through the door stretch into something bigger and longer. He watched as his untreated knee evolved into an ugly infection, and his fever rose up every now and then, making him tremble with how cold it got. Whenever he tried to move his head, he often felt like his whole body was under molasses, every movement a war against gravity.

And he thought of Bad. He remembered how Bad once helped him when he got the flu back then. His heart smiled remembering how Bad lectured him time and time again of how he really shouldn’t walk around half-naked on the snow. “Sorry if it’s that distracting for you, Bad”, he had said back. Bad had smiled, covering Forever’s face with a wet napkin and cursing with his own vocabulary. “You’re an idiot!”, he had said. And Forever remembered how he wanted to take his hand and bother him everyday of his life. For all eternity.

And he fantasized about that scenario. He did.

Everytime they were close enough and Bad took his hand away just before he could muster the courage to do it, he felt like the luckiest coward that could ever exist. Because he could always try again tomorrow.

He remembered it vividly now, a small smile forming on his lips. And he didn’t fucking deserve it.

***

He was dying soon, and he noticed that when he couldn’t stand being sat against the door anymore, so he laid down next to it instead. With this new angle, he could see the small gap under the door, with absolutely no movement at all.

His body was burning up every second of his last minutes on that specific respawn, and then it was pitch-black, and he woke up gasping on the bed again.

Finally, with no pain and with a functioning knee, he gets up and stares at the door's direction. His eyes drop to his temporary corpse near the door.

He sees himself, skin pale and that fucking knee so ugly looking.

He gets up, walking calmly to it, and squats, grabbing the corpse's hair. He lifts its face up, laughing a little. "Tão estúpido", he says to the stupid wet eyes staring at him with its stupid dark bags under them. "Tão estúpido, seu idiota. Seu idiota." He then grabs the body's shoulders and raises it with all his strength, taking it into his arms and throwing it to the other side of the room. "Seu mERDA–"

→ So stupid. [...] So stupid, you idiot. You idiot. [...] You SHIT–"

The thing flops down to the ground with a wet thump. He goes to it, grabbing it again and throwing it against the wall. "SEU MERDA"

→ "YOU SHIT"

It just falls to the ground again, infected knee cracking and bending in a weird angle when it hits the floor. Then he grabs it by the collar, punching it. Again and again, he let his anger move his fists, dirtying his knuckles in blood.

And so, after some more punches, the corpse disappeared, leaving Forever kneeled over nothing, hands red with his own blood. He breathed like a beast who hasn't yet finished hunting.

Oh, he wanted to kill them so fucking much. He wanted to kill anything.

***

He tried destroying the white bed. He knew he couldn’t; the only ones who could destroy anything in that room were the Federation members. But he does it anyway.

He hates this place. He hates that fucking bear.

He hates everything.

He hated how he had no way of getting out.

He hated himself for not aiming correctly when shooting Bad’s head.

***

He sat on the indestructible wooden structure staring at the door and the small opening where the food still came in through. He had no idea for how much time, but he stood there, watching. Waiting.

Until one day, the lights flickered off. The door softly clicked.

He ran to it in the dark, and when he felt his fingers pressing against the cold metal, it moved. It actually moved.

With the power out, the security system must have disarmed itself. He opens the door, diving into the white corridor with its soft emergency lights on; he looked around, kind of expecting someone to come and shove him back inside.

So he chose he wouldn't give them the time to do that.

He runs, tripping over himself; it's been so much time since he ever ran. He looks around and behind him, but doesn't stop. 

After turning some corners, he thought it was strange that absolutely no worker stumbled with him yet, until he hears the clanging of swords. He feels something growing inside him, following the growing noise.

If he could grab a weapon, he just needed to try and find where they were keeping Bad now, and they could leave. So the focus–

What.

The figure moves from one side to the other of the large room, a heavily armed skeleton following him at full speed. The black cloak flaps, black hair shining with the white lights.

"BAD!", Forever screams, the biggest smile on his lips, running in his direction but stopping before getting really close. "How– How did you– are you ok?!", the other doesn't even have time to answer. "Drop me a sword, I'll help you!"

The reaper doesn't answer, slashing his sword around. He probably couldn't say anything while fighting. Then, he finally gives the final blow, and the monster falls to its side.

Then, and just then, Bad turns in his direction, and Forever smiles seeing he's unharmed. "BAD, oh my God!!", he now runs in his direction, wrapping the other in a big hug.

"Forever, you're ok", he hears the soft voice behind his head, Bad's arms tightening around his waist.

Forever feels something unknotting in his chest, and sighs on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help you. I'm sorry."

"It's ok", the reaper says, seeming tired with the lack of expression, and now changes the hug so he hugged Forever's neck, hand caressing his hair. "I'm glad you're ok, muffinhead"

Forever felt like he'd cry, but he is filling with determination instead. "You didn't deserve any of this, I'm going to make them pay, I–"

He stops when he feels Bad backing away a little from the hug; his face was very close now, one of his hands cupping Forever's chin. This- ok. This was really suggestive. Not that he didn't like it, but–

"You know what I like about you so much, Forever?", the reaper's voice is almost a whisper, and he says it so, so very slowly. The blonde can feel his whole body melting a little at every small gust of air he felt on his upper lip when Bad spoke – that's how close they actually were. "Do you?"

And he couldn't move away. He just couldn't. He felt enchanted by those eyes, and the touch of his hand on the uneven hair of his nape. "I… Uh. I, yeah–"

That's when he sees Bad smile a bit more, keeping him captive through half lidded eyes. He feels the hand on his nape leave it, but the other's still gently holding his chin, and Bad actually gets a little bit closer. Close enough that Forever actually wants to close his eyes, and give in. There was nobody around them; he couldn't fight it.

And then, eyes closed  he feels their lips brushing this time. "It's just…" Bad's voice comes with a big smile. "you're so fucking stupid"

Forever freezes. Then feels a sharp yet small sting on his nape. Soon and fast, some weird sensation grows from there and out to his back.

He stops breathing for a second, while he hears "Bad" laughing a little, and feels his stomach grow cold as the other separates the hug.

Forever raises a hand to his nape, touching it to feel for something, and that's when he sees the syringe on the other's hand.

Now, at least a meter away, he watches as the reaper's eyes shine a little green, and the thing laughs more. He can't react. He can't absorb the information.

"FoReVer!", the voice of what he'd thought was his friend comes off distorted. His smile widens even more and he opens his arms. "WhAt, LetS gEt maRrieD! Ha HA–"

Forever feels his eyes burning at the sight. Bad's never smiled like that at him; not that cruel, or maniac. Bad's smile was always soft and beautiful and made you want to stay there.

The fake Bad starts to go in Forever's direction. Forever smells lime soap, and hears his friend in that monstrous tone. He knows it isn't him. But he's no idea what to do or where to go. And the thing looked too much like Bad. Too much like a safe place. It wasn't fair  he WANTED safe. He wanted it.

Forever feels his limbs going number, a tiredness starting to get to his head. Them he turns away from the thing and half-runs to the closest wall, searching for something to help him balance himself. Every step felt like he was wearing a dozen socks over his own feet, like he wasn't touching the ground.

He kind of thumps against the wall, feeling his head spin a little. He fights against it  but his body ends up slipping to the ground. He musters up some force and turns around, so he faced the fake Bad, which in slow steps, gets closer to him. It squats near him. "They're never coming for you, you stupid bitch. BadBoyHalo's probably dead somewhere else and it just took you a little touch here and there to not even start to doubt or care if I was him or not – honestly, how fucking desperate are you?", the figure laughs loudly, and Forever can just feel the tears rolling down his face. It was... it was so cruel. Using Bad's face and voice.

He felt so ashamed. He really was desperate; he wanted his old life back. He wanted to see his friends and kid again. He wanted to kiss Bad. He couldn't stop crying, and he wished he could go unconscious now. He wants to sleep forever. To never wake again.

But he stays very much conscious; he just loses control over his arms, legs, and general torso. He ends up flopping sideways down to the floor.

He can't raise his head, but he sees the feet moving and hears that voice. "Hello? Yeah, it was fun alright", suddenly the feet start to actually float and he sees more green lights coming from the thing. "I know, it's on the A6, yadda-yadda; ok, I'll leave it here then. Ok, bye", then he turns his attention to Forever, and even though he can't see its face, he feels the stare "Good luck. And…", he sees the movement but can't acknowledge it until the foot hits his stomach, hard. He grunts, and the code hisses. "...this is for shooting me in the face back then. Rot."

The thing leaves through a door behind Forever, and he's left in the room, crying with his face against the floor. 

It has never been Bad. His best shot was it was some kind of shapeshifting code.

Not for one moment he was actually talking to real Bad.

All those nights and days he spent worrying himself to insanity because his friend was being tortured – he wasn't. He was never there.

He should feel good it wasn't actually Bad suffering in the Federation's hands, right?

Then why would he just feel so small and defeated? So stupid?

He'd be forever alone in here.

***

At some point, he hears steps coming. And feels himself being grabbed, probably by the shoulders, and dragged through the hall. He can't rise his face, so in a moment, the room is gone. He just sees white tile after white tile.

There's the sound of a door opening, and the two figures now lift him up and put him on the ground in the middle of his room. He doesn't see his bed – the only piece of furniture he ever had was gone.

"Wonder if Bad stole it", he thinks to himself. And he wants to laugh; he ends up crying too.

With tears like a river, chest heaving up and down, he couldn't breathe correctly. His body trembled a little, while the faceless bears left the room.

Now he was alone.

And he understood the message.

He would never see him again.

He cries until his body can't stand consciousness anymore.

***

He wakes up and is dragged to the other room.

They put him in the empty water tank. It starts to fill up slowly, the lid strongly closed.

The water burns his lungs as he screams.

And it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and is dragged to the other room.

They restrain his hands and feet, locking him to a chair.

They attach the electric wires to his temples and chest. His body goes rigid, trembling slightly. He can't scream.

And it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and is dragged to some room.

He doesn't see it until he's in extreme pain.

He screams.

And it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and and screams, and it burns, and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and there's so much blood. He feels weak. And it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and screams and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

He wakes up and it all begins again

***

He wakes up and it all begins again.

***

____________________________

POSSIBLE ENDING APPROACHES… 

If you think you're satisfied with this finale, you've reached the The End is Never the End Ending! Congratulations! Tell us about your experience in the comments.

If you think this isn't where it should end, just go to Chapter 4: The Decision by clicking here: Chapter 4.

Chapter Text

He wakes up with an alarm going off. The sound hurts his ears for some minutes, and then his door is opened. In the doorframe, a familiar figure.

The figure says, "... Forever? "

He can't open his mouth.

The figure opens a smile and repeats what they just said– he can't help but feel a little alarmed at that.

The thing's smile dissolves a little, as if seeing Forever's reaction. The figure says something, slowly, and starts to get closer.

He can't move.

He can't.

He doesn't remember why, but there's something really horrible about that creature. 

He doesn't know what to do. He forces his mind to remember, while the figure gets closer and closer – now at mere 2 meters away.

Forever is running out of space behind him to back away; he feels fear.

No  not fear.

He's terrified.

And then he remembers why–

That thing came back, didn’t it?

__________

"Não, sério", the man gulps a little more of his wine glass and smiles affectionately. "Você é uma das pessoas mais boas que eu conheço, por que seu nome tem Bad no meio?"

→ No, really. [...] You're one of the best people I know, why does your name have Bad in it?

Bad ruffles his own hair, feeling the need to stretch his arms a little. After a good stretch, he reads the translation on his wrist. He was sleepy, empty glass on the table in the middle. "Nah, I'm… Hah, I'm not good, Forever. Never have been. I've done bad stuff in my immortal life"

Forever twirls the wine in his glass, gesturing with a hand. "Elabore"

→Elaborate.

Bad sighs, just a little unsure if he could have this talk right now. "Uhhhh, yeah Forever, I'm not that drunk", he looks more attentively at the other's half lidded eyes, smiling unmovingly. He laughs a little, moving his gaze. "But you surely are, wow. What about you, why is your name Forever? 'Sometimes' wasn't cool enough?"

Forever actually laughed loudly at this, closed eyes to the night sky for a moment. "Ah, mano, você é impossível"

→ Oh, man. You're impossible

Bad laughs a little, shoving him slightly with his feet. "Answer me, you dork!"

The man looks away, looking sober.

"Pô, quanto tempo você vai viver?"

→ Welp, how much time are you gonna live for?

Bad feels some kind of horrible pun is coming, but answers still. "I’m immortal, you know that"

"Then people can call me what they want, but I'll be Forever with you", the man turns to face Bad, and his smile is different. His whole expression is different. Bad notices actually, a lot of different aspects now.

Laying on the opposite side of the sofa, Forever had his braid undone, hair falling freely over his half unbuttoned white shirt.

Forever toasts his wine glass in the air, pointing it to Bad, and downs the last gulp.

Bad feels something shift in him; he really likes that man. Really does.

But that man was lying.

"You won't, you know", Bad says, turning to face the ground instead.

Forever puts his glass on the table, frowning. "What?"

"You won't be with me forever, you'll… I'm a death reaper, gosh darn it, I know humans don't live that much"

"Why, you just have to revive me eternally! Wouldn’t be my first time not being exactly human!"

Bad frowns. "I can't do that!"

"Aah, you’re no fun", Forever pouts a little. But after realizing Bad wasn’t going on with the joke, he straightens his posture on the sofa, putting a hand on his friend’s knee. “Hey. Are you ok? Is this a no-no topic?”

Bad looks away, to the ground. He felt his heart a little heavy. “Maybe…I don’t know what your experience was like, but for me being immortal is… uhh, it's complex", Bad looks at the hand on his knee, and his heart aches a little. "It's, uhm…"

" Lonely? ", Forever says, a sweet and careful tone to his voice as he pays attention to Bad's reactions.

The reaper smiles sadly, holding in a strong and sudden urge to cry. "Actually, yeah. Lonely."

Forever adjusts himself on the sofa, caressing Bad’s knee with one hand while he turned his face to look at the stars above their heads. “Lonely’s not good.”

Bad smiles, feelings a little messy and melancholic. He couldn’t take his focus away from the hand on his knee. He wanted to hold it very much. “It’s not.” He doesn't.

_____

The man opens a big smile, turning his head just a little to the side. “Você voltou, seu filho da puta.”

→ You’re back, you son of a bitch.

Bad takes a quick look at his translator and widens his eyes. “Wow, wow, language – Forever, it’s me–!”

The man laughs, giving equal and round steps to mirror Bad’s to keep their distance even. ”Ah, tá. Você acha mesmo que me engana de novo, né?”

→ Oh, ok. You really think you can trick me again, huh?

“What… do you mean?”

“Você deve achar isso tão divertido”, Forever acknowledges the opened door behind the thing, and prepares his escape plan. There was no fucking way he'd let the fucking thing win again, no matter what wicked plan they had now.

→ You must think this is so funny [...]

He walks the room, close to the walls but never turning his back against “Bad”. The thing frowned. “Forever, what are you talking about?!

Forever takes his chance and runs at the door. The thing calls for him, but doesn't run after him at first.

The man uses it in his favor, running like a mad man through the corridor.

He only stops when he sees the body of a worker on the ground, a pistol right beside him. He takes it and loads it.

He sees a lot of movement at the end of the corridor, so he chooses to hide inside another room. He waits for the thing to cross though the door, gun in hands.

When he sees the slightest movement, he shoots. The thing yelps, backing away. “FOREVER, WHAT THE– wHY are you–”, Forever goes into the corridor, and points it at the thing; but it just throws both hands and turns the hands holding the gun in another direction, away from both of them. “--why are you trying to kill me ?!”

“Você é a porra de um código trabalhando pra federação e eu sei, caralho!” They fight for the control of the gun. “Morre logo–!”

→ You're a fucking code working with the federation and I fucking know it! [..] Die--!

The thing frowns. “What was that? Federation? I- I'm not with the Federation, I'm your FRIEND, let go of that GUN–”

“-- MORRE , PORRA–!”

→ “--FUCKING DIE –!”

_________________________________________________________________________

POSSIBLE ENDING APPROACHES…

Uh oh, that sounds tense, doesn’t it?

You’ve been choosing a very tense kind of story, I like that .

So I’ll give you a treat! How about a big choice now? Here goes: a gunshot coming from the place can be heard through the building corridors. Who got hit?

BadBoyHalo

Forever

Chapter Text

"Dear Diary,

I'm writing here because honestly, if I don't say what I'm thinking anywhere, I'll go insane; no one on the island can actually hear what I'm about to say, so it makes it all more difficult. Like,I dont currently trust anyone, dont know exactly why but everythings different since we teleported. But I can't afford losing my mind at the moment, so here we go.

Forever is on the Island and I'm here. And he kissed me. We kissed. He kissed me and literally vanished into thin air. It happened 3 days ago, but I just really got it all kind of back together now, thats why I can write here so clearly.

I'm so mad at him for ruining a first kiss experience being so dumb and tragic and stupid. Yes, I wanted to have this with him sometime and yes I've fantasized about it. No, of course not this way. This was ridiculous. He was ridiculous. And I'm going back to get him, because I have to give him a real good kiss experience, not a rushed and desperate one. Or actually, no, I’m so angry at him I don’t think I want to kiss him anymore. Maybe something kind of died in here, in my chest. I don’t really know yet, I’m just feeling deeply… disappointed. And hurt.

Anyways, I made a mess on our arrival, I wasn't ok but I've fixed it kinda. Now we're working on finding out the technical portal stuff plus knowing our new home.

It's being done at least.

I'm going, Forever. Just you wait for me.

BadBoyHalo"

“Dear Diary,

Alright it's almost been a week since the portal teleportation stuff and all. I've convinced almost a third of the ex-islanders to help on the mission, so that's great.”

"Dear Diary

I'm starting to fear we can't go back

but I don't want to lose hope

i have to go back to him

i have to

i have to go back

im gonna keep trying, but im so afraid. i dont know what to do except not stop…”

"Dear diary

there's been so many issues with the portal, it's like the materials we have here are different from the other island, so we can't reproduce the frigging thing and I'm do scared I'm so frigging scared I don't want it to end like this I don't please don’t let it end like this please”

"Dear Forever

I miss you so much. You're so stupid but I miss you. I'm going ok? I'm going. Then we'll talk about what happened.i dont hate you, you idiot.i dont hate you. but you meant to say you loved me that time, right??? so why did you leave me like this?!? why???

"Dear Forever

I'm so sorry"

A tear falls down onto the paper, staining it a little.

Bad looks around: the place was already full of new houses and pathways with light poles. The pen trembles in his hand, but he writes nonetheless.

"we made a big playground for the kids. it’s pirate-themed and they do parkour, some hide and seek, they have fun. we still tell Richarlyson we're getting some progress, but we can't lie to him forever. We can't lie to him, Forever. he misses you so much, he's trying his best.

please. forgive me.

i miss you.

badly."

“it was richas’ birthday yesterday, we had a party with a big cake and great food chayanne made. one year and a half is a lot, and he’s growing like a child would; he draws almost everyday now, and he worked nonstop on the plan to get you back for all these 7 months. but sooner or later even he would understand we had zero hopes. uh. he misses you a lot, he put up a big painting  of your face at his birthday party, so you were present in a way, dont worry. we keep thinking of you. always. and uhm Forever, i just need to know if you hear me when i talk to the moon? or to the sun? i hope you can hear me in some way. because im writing these letters but im never going to be able to give them to you, probably. i wrote them because i know how you hate being alone. i hate being alone too. i. i hope the moon i see on my window is the same you see, because that means we’re still kinda close.

this must be the... punishment They talked about."

“i miss you so much.

its hard to accept it.

some small beacon of hope in me keeps telling me you can still be alive, but realistically youre probably dead now. or hurt. terribly hurt. and alone. jesus christ.

grieving like this is horrible i dont even know if youre really dead i have to work with hypothesis– 

i miss you.

im sorry i cant keep on believing the best scenario. i cant. I just hope Death is kind to you."

“i dreamt of you last night. i woke up and hated everything.

youre dead and theres nothing i can do about it. ill never see you again.

i never got to tell you the truth about skeppy. he.. he’s been dead since a long time ago. and it was my fault.

i tricked myself until i believed it would never happen again if i could stop it.

FUDGE.”

“they tell me to move on. how can i move on.

its been two years.

im still there, where you left me.”

“stuck.

they say ‘what a sad sight’, and theyve kind of moved on. in a way.

if you ever get back to me, im… im where we…

at least once every month, for these 6 years, i sit inside the train structure where you kissed me goodbye (sounds like bragging, but its just trauma. i dream youll come back onde day. but you wont) it’d be overcome by nature if i didnt go there frequently, but it’s all rusty anyways.

i sit there, and drink a little wine. i feel saudade until my face hurts and my eyes are swollen.

and then… and then i leave and go back to my new-old life. i’ve been focusing on building some new structures around here, and it distracts me well enough. i try to do it while listening to some music; otherwise, the ghosties can be a little too much for me. they miss you too, you see. even the damned souls trapped with me miss you, can you believe it? but most of the time i just dont want to think about you. thinking hurts.

ive built a new museum, a big aquarium.

a new zoo.

also a statue of you. its in the middle of the square.

juana, tilin, trumpet and bobby are beside you.

i have no way of telling in fact if they are there with you, or even where you are, because ive been basically fired from being a reaper for breaking a rule. so. well.

i can only fudging hope.”

Bad holds the notebook close to the bonfire. He knows what he wants to do – what he needs to do, actually.

The monochrome gray hoodie flaps with the wind. He sniffs as he watches attentively the flame start to burn the side of the aged pages, which accept the fiery embrace as if it were a close friend.

He hesitates. What if he forgot his feelings after burning it ? Forgot what he wrote there?

But, well, he tried to – and here he was, knowing every page of that diary by heart already. So he lets it fall into the flames. It crackles a little, and Bad hugs his knees, watching.

Slowly but surely the pages torn and bent, changing colors and turning to ash.

He looks around, the sun is shining bright above the trees and the sky is clear; it’s a good day to relax.

He smiles sadly to the flames. “You’d like it here”

It’s hard. But he sighs and keeps talking. “We’re officially holding your funeral tomorrow. It should’ve happened earlier, but… we didn’t want to declare anything without trying all we could. We made sure your grave would be kept near the new graves of JuanaFlippa, Bobby, Tilin and Trumpet”, he fidgets with his hair, brushing fingers over the yellow scrunchie; his cheeks are wet with non stopping tears. “Each of us who want to participate will bring something that reminds us of you and we’ll put it in a jar underground. It’s more like a time capsule than a coffin, but… it’s what we have. Memories of you; don’t memories make us who we are?”

The flames don’t answer after that, so it’s awfully quiet.

“See, that’s the problem with this place: it’s too quiet without you”, his voice falters and he knows he’s making those ugly crying faces, so he hides his face in his hands. “ Everyday , Forever. Everyday I wake up and you’re never coming back, do you have ANY idea what–?!.”

He buries his face on his knees.

“Why aren’t you here?!”, he just wished he felt his friend with him, through the scrunchie, like Forever said he would. “ WHY?! ” But he didn’t.

He felt nothing.

No smell, no warm smile.

No laugh.

No playful flirting.

No love.

***

Hair being freely brushed by the wind, he watches as Cellbit puts the jar full of trinkets on the hole close to the gravestone.

Bad helps with the dirt, and puts a sunflower over it before getting close to the others.

He’s been crying for the last day, and he cries now too.

Some of them said some words; Cellbit specially. No new things, just standard positive stuff about Forever and memories.

That’s what he had now.

Memories.

“I guess now I’m also made of them. And I’ll forever be.”

_________________________________________________________________________

ENDING APPROACHES...

If you think you're satisfied with this finale, you've reached the Forever Alone Ending! Congratulations! Tell us about your experience in the comments.

If you want to go back to Chapter 2: The Choice and try different things, click here: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

When he sees red splatter the white wall, he understands it: codes didn't bleed.

So he sinks to the ground together with Bad, ungracefully falling to his knees. 

"Bad , oh my god –", Forever calls, hands trembling violently as he extends them uselessly in Bad's direction, right in front of him.

“ Ouch ”, the reaper says, hand going towards a wound on his chest. He looks at his black cloak, shining wet with blood. "What was THAT?!–"

"Bad? Eu não queria… não, para de sangrar, merda–", Forever picks the upper part of his gown and rips it, trying to make some clean cloths. He gives it to Bad, kind of already putting it against his chest. The gurgling liquid keeps stubbornly coming out. Why wouldn't it stop? “Eu achei que era um… achei que você era um código, eu– MERDA!--”

→ “Bad, I didn't– No, stop bleeding, shit–” [...] “I thought you were a… thought you were a code  I– SHIT–!”

He looks around the room, as if something magical would appear to help them.

Bad has a pained expression, and is very confused at that. “ Language – A code?! Why would I be a code–? Hey, Forever, there's no–”

The man checks Bad’s backpack, and finds it frustratingly empty. “They… the Federation, they tricked me once with a code who. Who looked like y–” There were apparently only some random mob's weapons and non-edible loot. “Onde– argh, where are your totems? You have some, right, or maybe a cure potion? You should eat something fAST–”

“Forever, just look at me !”

“Where ARE THEY? FUCK!”, he curses, this time finally looking at the other one.

“Ok, again, language . And, uhm. Not very great news, but let’s say I used almost everything I had to get down here, and by the time we got to floor 15 Tina needed food. Besides that, Foolish kinda got almost killed while fighting a big muscled skeleton, so… Also, what the fudge a Me-Code, whyAGH– fUDGE–”, he feels a sharp pain when he tries to move.

Forever had tears starting to roll down his cheeks, looking around like a mad man. He really didn't want Bad to suffer like this. Maybe killing him for an instant respawn would be better? But he didn't know if he had the guts– he still remembered vividly the way that fake BadBoyHalo didn't die easily. He… didn't want to go through that again. No. "AGH, why would you waste all your things– I have NOTHING. I have no food, no totems. Just… if you could just keep pressuring the wound, I can go–”, he looked at the door, trying to formulate a route on the unfinished map he had in his head.

“Nah, I’d rather you… stayed here”, his smile is a little sadder now. He sees Bad’s hand move to touch his over the wound. “Please don’t leave me again”

Forever feels his heart get heavier. With one hand pressuring the wound and the other holding Bad’s back in a kind of sideway hug while they sat side by side. “I’m sorry… I didn’t want you to get hurt, I– And now, I hurt you–”

“You could shoot me a hundred times, it wouldn’t hurt as… well.”, Bad smiles, sweetly but angrily at the same time. He felt a growing urge in his stomach; they were so close this way. So close. And they had so little time. He could feel a certain light-headedness start to fog his brain, and he felt a little ashamed for almost blushing. “If you truly care for someone, don’t just… do that. Do you have any idea what shape you left me in back then?"

The president feels all the shame on his shoulders. He can't really look Bad in the eyes. "I'm sorry, I had to take the chance, Bad. I… if for some reason I couldn't take everyone I love to safety, if I lost that opportunity, I wouldn't forgive myself–"

"Y'know", the reaper interrupts. "I used the time when we were preparing to come here to try and understand why. I thought about what I would do in your situation, and…", the reaper tries to shrug, but stops as it stings. "I guess I understand. But we're all strong, we can take care of ourselves, and we WANT you with us, Forever! We wouldn't have to come back if you'd just discussed the escape plan with us beforehand!"

"I'm- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I–"

Bad feels something lurk in the back of his mind - he knows what It is. He knows they had no time, again. And he knows Forever doesn't have an idea, so he should probably tell him; but he didn't want to see him cry even more. "Alright, I accept your apology, Mr President. It's ok. Hey, hey, it's alright…"

"I'm so sorry, I don't deserve– you deserved better. I'm sorry-"

"What?? No, wh–", Bad stutters, gulping the metallic taste down.

"I don't know why I did that in the train, that'd only hurt you, but I thought it was my last chance to tell you… uh…"

Bad smiles a little, raising a brow. "Are you properly confessing to me right now?"

Forever actually stops and has to process that for a second. "Is that sarcasm ?" His face is like deciding if he's smiling or just shocked; maybe a mixture of both. "Are you… are you joking at a time like this, whAT?"

Bad smiles at his friend. He wanted to kiss him right there. Right now. He wanted to never ever let go. But he feels his Old Friend right behind his shoulder and only getting closer. "Maybe…", he has to take a second to breath in, head heavier than before. "Won't you answer my… ugh, my question?"

"Why, you– hah, I certainly have one or two things to tell you, but everything has a perfect timing", the blonde frowns at the reaper's state, the way he just breathed in a little slower than before. "Ahm, you should probably tell the others you're gonna need someone to give you stuff at the spawn point, Bad. It's more practical that way."

Bad reconsiders the not-telling-Forever-about-his-condition. "Actually… I won't…" oh great, now there were two Forevers. "... uh, exactly…" he forcibly closes his eyes to adjust his vision"--ugh, crap " But of course his thoughts were already messy and vague. He feels a general weakness numb his limbs, and suddenly he can't exactly hold his head up anymore.

Forever notices it, and grabs Bad's shoulders and head to make him more comfortable in his arms. One of Bad's hands grabs at Forever's arm, as if trying to stabilize himself.

"Uh. Uh, I– Bad" the blonde man sees the reaper's eyes blink slower "hey, it’s better if you don’t say anything, we can talk later, ok??", he looks at the ground, the red overcoming the white tiles faster than he wished. "I just have, uh– where will you respawn?? Tell the others on the chatbox, this way you won't be unarmed. Do you want me to tell them? Just uhm, unlock your chat and I'l–"

He’s interrupted by a hand touching his cheek, and turns to face Bad. The reaper has a complicated expression. His eyes fixed on Forever's; it's impossible to know what he's thinking, but those fingers feel good sliding in between the short blond locks. “Your hair...”, his voice comes soft, his expression sad.

Forever feels close to breaking in pieces.

Was that real?

Really real?

The man couldn't possibly be lucky enough for this to happen, so he starts to get a strong and growing anxious feeling under his skin. “Hey. Why are you acting like tha–”, then he hears some distant voices, and snaps his head towards the door. Whatever it was that was happening, they had a chance, and they had to leave fast. He screamed with all his might, while still holding Bad. “AQUI! ESTAMOS AQUI! AQ–”

→ ”HERE! WE’RE HERE! HE–”

And then he’s interrupted when both of Bad’s hands landed on the sides of his face and pulled him down.

This time, the kiss is longer than that 1 second they had the last time.

It’s as if time stopped working. Forever feels his chest boiling, head spinning.

He was so worried. He wanted to push Bad away and tell him to stay put, that he shouldn't move, because moving more meant losing more blood, and that no this wasn't supposed to be such a clear goodbye kind of kiss. It made no sense, they didn't die like eggs.

But he felt the butterflies trying to go up all the way, tearing through his stomach, and he couldn't act. He couldn't think, not really. 

For a moment, it's like he's caught in a magic spell and he's dumb enough to kiss back. He never thought he’d be able to have this.

He thought it was over back at the train, but he liked the idea that Bad wasn't near danger anymore that time, so he could swallow the sadness.

Because he was so sure they'd be safe for once, finally.

And yet here they were. And Bad's lips made his own lips tingle, his face heating up. He felt like floating. Those lips that he secretly so desperately wanted, now… touching him.

Those lips–

Wait, those lips tasted like blood. That was when Forever felt Bad soften his grip and slowly drop his hands down, which flop over and beside his chest. Their lips separating as Bad’s head doesn’t hold itself up anymore, resting on Forever’s forearm. 

He opens his eyes immediately, holding his friend closer, concerned. Bad was breathing shallowly, coughing up blood and clearly losing consciousness; he managed to smile though.

He decided it was better if he talked to him. "Hey, Bad? Bad, stay with me, come on!"

He hears a whisper come from Bad's mouth. It sounded like "Always"

Forever didn't get it. He felt this was all too weird, so he turned to the door and screamed his lungs out. "PLEASE, SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP!"

He saw Bad trying to move his eyes after two times he called his name. Forever looked anxiously at the door.

No answer. He stares into the closed lids staring back. 

Alright. He had to do something. He had to… he had to guarantee Bad'd respawn close enough. He had–

He had to put Bad on top of a bed RIGHT NOW. Or else he'd lose sight of him – and that wasn't an option anymore.

Forever turns around, he just had to take his friend carefully to the–

Oh.

"mERDA MERDA MERDA", he screams, not seeing it there anymore. Of course, they left the room. He knew that. He forgot about it.

→sHIT SHIT SHIT" [...]

Vertigo spun his mind around, as he took a bloodied hand to touch Bad’s face, caressing it as he called his name time and time again. Bad didn’t seem to listen now.

“Bad, não, espera aí. Bad–”

→ “Bad, no, wait up. Bad–”

Oh.

Oh, he forgot.

Bad just had to respawn, it'd be ok. He just had to respawn. Yes?

And Bad was a grim reaper, he couldn’t really die, right? Not to some humane thing as a gunshot. No, he’d be ok.

Alright.

He just had to wait, and Bad would come back to take his items from the corpse's inventory. 

Strangely enough, he couldn't really get away from his friend's dead body.

"Eu… eu vou cuidar dele pra você, Bad. Seus itens estão seguros comigo. Tá tudo bem", he says, to no one, mindlessly keeping a hand over the wound and hugging Bad close to his chest. He doesn't have access to the global chat since… well, since they got him. So he couldn't really send anyone a message.

→ “I'll… I'll take care of it for you, Bad. Your items are safe with me. It's ok”

Then, as if summoned, he hears proper footsteps down the corridor, and familiar voices calling for them. The first he recognizes is Foolish’s. “Bad? Forever? Where– Oh, there you are, we gotta…”, he stops at the door; frozen in place. “ No ”, that had to be a lie. 

Forever turns around, a slight hope flaming up his heart. “Foolish, finally! Where’s Bad? I’m guarding his items while–”

 “ NO, what THE FUCK HAPPENED?!. ”

Forever feels his heart stop for a second. “Wh- what do you m–?”

But Foolish was already running in their direction, bloodied clothes and full of battle wounds, he almost shoved Forever aside, putting both hands on Bad's unmoving face. “Bad? BAD?! Come on, buddy, FUCK! COME ON, WAKE UP!”

Forever can’t really breath. “Why– hasn’t he respawned? Wher–?!”

“BAD, FUCK, COME ON !”

Then, other voices come from the corridor. “Foolish?!”, Cellbit’s voice.

“Foolish? You found them?”, this was Vegetta, he got to the door faster than the others. “What–?”

“HE’S NOT BREATHING–”, Foolish turns to his boyfriend, who sprints in their direction, kneeling down beside them.

He looks at the situation, passing a hand above Bad’s head and chest. A light purple light emanates from his hand, and his eyes lighten up. He widens them, then seems to soften them again as they stop glowing.

He turns to his boyfriend, and he has no idea what face he should make. He just looks at him, heart aching. “Foolish, he's very weak–”

“No, nO HE’S NOT DYING– HE’S FUCKING NOT–”

Forever stares at them, throat dry as hell, he trembles more and more holding Bad in his arms. That couldn’t be true, right? He… he had to respawn. They always respawn.

He hears his best friend’s worried tone behind him. He doesn't see it, but Cellbit's gaze fell on a metallic spark right under Bad's coat. “Merda…”, the investigator mumbles, kind of heavily suspecting the worst case scenario by Forever's and Bad's states. Then, after fastly searching his items, he grabs a potion and kneels next to them, putting it on Bad's mouth. After pouring all of it into the opened lips, he discreetly picks the gun and hides it in his own inventory, not taking his eyes off Bad's. No one seemed to notice at first."Vai, vai–"

→ “Shit...” [...] "Come on, come on–"

Another voice comes from the corridor: Fit’s. “Guys, Tubbo just burned the contract, wE GOTTA GO NOW ! COME ON!”, his sentence is followed by a distant explosion. Many other residents run after him, and battle sounds can be heard, louder and louder as the seconds pass.

Vegetta hurries Foolish. "Let's take him back, maybe it help–"

Foolish does so, picking Bad up with both arms under his shoulders and legs, and sprints in the other direction of the corridor. "LET'S GO"

Cellbit grabs Forever by the forearm, pulling him up. “Bora, Forever, não é hora de travar!”

→ “C’mon, Forever, no time for stalling!”

Forever obeys, and they run through the corridor, following the others. 

They enter the train, Vegetta helps Foolish to put the belt around Bad's waist; Vegetta and Cellbit break countless amounts of throwable health potions near Bad's feet while the train is moving more slowly. Until, when it catches speed, soon enough the purple particles do their thing. And this time, Forever doesn't take his eyes away from Bad the whole time.

And he'd be surprised that he didn't reappear at Spawn this time, but he couldn't think.

He got away , yes, but– What the fuck was happening to Bad?!

When the train falls to its side, shaking before finally stopping, he still can't process anything. He can barely actually acknowledge this as real – what if it was all a terrible nightmare?

As soon as the train half stops, Foolish was already taking Bad's security belt off, and putting him on the ground, observing him attentively. "Buddy? Hey, buddy? Bad?", he talks to him in low words, close to Bad's face, while Vegetta jumps down from his seat and sits close to Bad's head, warming his hands up with a glowing spell. Foolish kept talking, but now he backed away a little as his boyfriend acts. He points at the reaper's chest, wound fully healed. "Look, we used our health potions, do you feel any better? Hm?"

There was no answer. Bad's lids were now closed, mouth opened a little, potion-stained at the side. Vegetta now had a hand extended above Bad's face, expression contorting into a focused or even pained one. He had to save Bad, so he prepares a spell to try and reanimate the reaper. "Don't touch him", he warns, as he lowers a hand down to touch Bad's forehead.

As soon as he does, he's inside Bad's mind. He feels cold, and he barely senses Bad in there. He feels the tiredness, the lack of… well, the lack of life inside him. Not only because he was close to dying, no; he felt something that could later be best described as solidified grif. Grief that stayed there, unmoving, unchecked – for who knows how long.

And it felt like the sensation you get when a day is so hot it actually makes the air heavy. Around him, he feels a kind of pressure putting him down. But as he looked around and tried to sense anything else, he couldn't find Bad anymore. There was only grief.

He couldn't call for Bad in there, but he moved his magic around his head, searching for any sparkle of soul he could have left so he could anchor it and pull Bad back.

Meanwhile, Foolish now had his eyes on both Bad and Vegetta to check for reactions. He knew his lover wasn't the kind of sorcerer to do this type of magic; he wasn't a healer. Vegetta had focused on studying his skills on other matters such as building and fighting. For now, he didn't have such a weird expression on his face, but Foolish wouldn't let him stay there for too much time anyways. He looked around, and the first one he saw was Baghera, hurried words leaving his trembling lips. "How much time has passed? I don't think it's safe for him to do this for– for too much time, I don't think it's safe–"

The woman has a stone-cold focused face. She looks straight at Bad. Her voice sounds neutral, but her brows show a clearly monstrous withheld stress. " Just let him do the thing, Foolish "

Foolish feels this doesn't help him. "I'm not fucking risking losing my boyfriend if that's what you're imply–"

Cellbit's voice interrupts them. " Ten minutes ", he says, looking away from the situation and typing something very fast on the watch on his wrist. "And we pull him out of the trance no matter what." When he finally sends all the messages, he gets one answer immediately. Pac says: "mas o que queu falo pra eles??? a gente mente rpas crianças????”

→ "but what do I tekl them?????? d we lie to the kids????"

Cellbit looks briefly at the scene, and then at Forever's frozen face; his hands trembled on his lap and he had tears falling down his cheeks non-stop. Cellbit whispers back on Pac's chat. "Não mente só não fala tudo ainda. Fala que ia atrapalhar pra caralho a situação então é mais seguro que fiquem longe"

→ "Don't lie just don't say everything. Tell them they'd fucking disturb the situation here so it's safer if they just stay the fuck away"

***

They stayed in the train, every second moving like a whole year. Vegetta had started visibly sweating on the fourth minute, and Foolish was very on edge, couldn't stay still but didn't dare move away from both Bad and Vegetta on the ground, so he just looked alternatingly at both of their faces, searching for dangerous signs.

Baghera sat down again, still staring in the reaper's direction, as if something really horrible could happen to him if she stopped looking.

Fit qnd the others left the train car, as Cellbit asked them to go help Pac understand the whole situation and to hold the deeply curious and desperate kids wanting news about their parents. 

Cellbit asked Roier to help them also, and they've just finished exchanging texts when Forever slowly but suddenly got up from his seat, catching Cellbit's attention. "Opa, amigão?", he closes the app on his wrist and fastly trots to Forever's side, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Melhor você sentar. Não é hora de se forçar a nada–"

→ "Hey, bud?" [...] "You better sit down. It's not the time to force yoursel–"

"Ele não vai respawnar?", Forever whispers, a weak tone to his voice as he turns to Cellbit. "Por que tá todo mundo agindo como se ele não fosse respawnar Cellbo o que tá acontecendo cara–?

→ "Isn't he respawning?" [...] "Why's everyone acting as if he wouldn't Cellbo what's happening man–?"

"Ele-", the man has to stop himself when he feels he's starting to feel the beginning of a panicked sensation. He sighs and continues. "Não sabemos se ele vai respawnar. Não testamos nada do tipo nesse novo lugar ainda, e–"

→ "He-” [...] “We don't know if he'll respawn on this new place we're at, and–"

"Mas ele é a porra de um ceifador da morte ", Forever's tone is frustrated and drenched in desperation. "Ele não pode morrer ele literalmente viveu milhares de anos já ele não pode morrer–"

→ "But he's a fucking grim reaper" [...] He can't die he literally lived for thousands of years already he can't die–"

Another voice interrupts: it's Foolish's, and it's so empty of emotion it borders uncanny. "Well." The entity doesn't look at the brazilians as he speaks; nothing would take his eyes away from his loved ones, especially not at that moment. "He's out of his immortal reaper powers since he almost killed Cellbit because of you, so–"

Forever looks at Foolish's back and Cellbit's face, even more worried now. "O quê… você–?"

→ "What… you–?"

"Longa história, mas esse é o resumo." The man has to try and make the conversation as fast as possible, because Foolish apparently didn't care, but Cellbit couldn't have a panicked Forever beside him right now. "Ele descobriu que eu sabia do seu plano e tentou me matar, o chefe dele lá ficou puto e pronto. Mas precisamos ser fortes, Forever. Não vai ser aquela instituição de merda que vai tirar o Bad da gente, tá? Ei . Ei, olha pra mim–"

→ "It's a long story, but that's a summary." [...] "He found out I knew about your plan and tried to kill me, his boss was pissed and that's it. But we need to be strong, Forever. It's not that shitty institution that'll take Bad from us, ok? Hey . Hey, look at me–"

Forever had clearly started hyperventilating, and his legs didn't keep him up anymore. Cellbit helped him sit back down again, putting an arm around his back to keep him close, and checked his wrist: 7 minutes had passed, 3 more to go. He sat down next to Forever, but had to focus on Bad. He called for the reaper in his thoughts, as if it'd help. He felt Forever tremble at his side.

He started to consider that maybe it wasn't the best choice to let Forever stay here, but there was very little he could've done whilst chaos ruled and no one knew where to go, and he really didn't think he'd be able to separate them now.

***

16 seconds left, and everyone was staring intensely, counting down the seconds for themselves.

Vegetta really seemed not okay; sweating and breathing slowly, his hands trembled while touching the reaper's skin. Foolish was using every inch of force in him to not just say fuck it and pull him away right now.

"Alright, 10 seconds", Cellbit says, already behind the purple cape, hands positioned under one arm. He looks at Foolish, who did the same with the other. "Prepare, we'll pull him in 5, 4, 3, 2–"

And they do. As soon as his hand gets away from the reaper's skin, he gasps for air as if he was holding it underwater. Immediately, he's taken more care by Foolish, who hugs him and checks up on his face. "You ok??? Are you hurt? You–"

Vegetta nods slowly and almost unnoticeably to Foolish, still breathing in and out with some difficulty. His eyes started to shine with tears.

He looks at Foolish, already tearing up. "El… yo no pude…–" A mix of shame and sorrow in his expression. "Lo siento, yo–"

→ "He… I couldn't…–" [...] "I'm sorry, I–"

***

Foolish cries loudly, grabbing Bad’s shoulders and shaking them, even though Vegetta tried to keep him away. “Come ON, YOU STUPID ASSHOLE, I’M CURSING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU WHY WON’T YOU WAKE UP AND CORRECT ME?!?”, he sobs while glaring at the unmoving face. Vegetta manages to pull his lover into a hug, feeling his whole body tremble as he sobbed and screamed into the sorcerer's shoulder. "CORRECT ME, FUCK! COME ON– PLease, I –!"

Baghera got up as soon as Vegetta gave the verdict and went away, cleaning her face; she obviously needed her space. Cellbit sat down next to Bad's body, trembling hands as he tried to not break while he adjusted the hair inside the reaper’s hoodie again after Foolish's reaction.

And Forever?

Oh.

He watched everything, and could do absolutely nothing.

He had nothing in his mind.

Nothing.

***

And even when they buried the reaper in a long and beautiful ceremony, Forever couldn't put his thoughts in order.

It still felt like the worst dream he ever had.

A nightmare where he lost a person he cared profoundly for, before he could properly tell them.

He still waited for the moment when he’d finally wake up from it. Or when everyone would turn into codes and say "sike", and laugh at him for grieving for something that never happened.

So he stared at everyone's tears and half listened to speeches; he could do nothing more.

He couldn't get himself to cry.

He was absolutely numb inside.

People left one by one, the grave full of flowers of every kind, and trinkets that could adorn it on memories.

Forever sat in front of it and stayed there. He thought he heard Cellbit calling his name so they could leave, but as no one came after him again, he must have denied the company.

So he sat there, facing the grave. It was pretty, in black obsidian and written in a mixture that had redstone dust. So it kind of glowed a little when touched.

It was really fucking pretty.

He sniffed a little, the cold morning air messing with his greasy hair. “Combina com você” he mumbles, staring at the letters. “Não sei se você consegue ver de onde você tá, mas é muito, muito linda”

→ “It suits you” [...] “I don’t know if you can see it from where you are, but it’s really, really pretty”

He stops for a moment, brushing the ice-cold obsidian with a finger, as if caressing a face. “A…”, he starts to feel something growing inside him; his throat closing, trying to stop him from forming any other kind of word. “A, uhm. A parte preta é um pouco mais roxa que seu tom de pele; mas é bonita.”

→ “The…” [...] “The, uh. The black part is just a little more purple than your skin tone; but it’s beautiful.”

Then Bad’s face comes to mind.

His half smile when Forever tried to mess with him while he built, his eyes when he laughed.

He was so, so beautiful. So kind to the ones he loved.

Oh, Dapper.

Forever could feel his chest tightening as the instant images of the boy crying, everyday, being consoled all the time, doing every ritual he could. He was so helpless. So desperate. An orphan.

And it was Forever’s fault. He knew that.

Every night when he pretended he went to bed, his mind liked to reprise the moment he pulled the trigger. The sound quality in the cinema inside his head was outstanding, really. Very detailed.

He fucking orphaned a kid. He orphaned sweet, clever Dapper.

He was a fucking monster.

***

A rhythmic knock to the door catches his attention. He just stays there, motionless.

The voice comes muffled. “Sou eu”, it was Cellbit’s unmistakable tone. “Posso entrar?”

→”It’s me” [...] “Can I come in?”

After a moment of silence, Cellbit notices he'd get no answer (as he expected). "Vou entrar", he says before sighing silently and opening the door.

→ "Coming in"

The scenario was… a mess. Forever was in an unfinished kind of bedroom, but the walls and ceiling were too high. With torches enough so that mobs wouldn’t spawn, but not enough to be a comfortable place. Pickaxes, food, and one backpack laid on the floor, as if they were being stored that way after being used for the room. The only piece of furniture was a bed, on the wall farthest from the door.

The detective frowns. He knew this was a sensible situation, with a big chance of becoming a more serious episode. But he had to do something. He moves towards the bed in slow steps, hands in his pockets. He tries for a friendly approach. “Ei, quase esqueci como era seu rosto, cara.” There’s no response from the other man, who keeps hugging the white pillow in front of his body, back against the wall and gaze on the ground. Cellbit clears his throat. “Faz… faz um tempo que você não– sai. Tô preocupado contig–”

→ “Hey. I almost forgot what your face looked like, dude.” [...] “It’s been some time since you– left the room. I’m worried about y–”

“Não precisa”, the other’s voice is hoarse and dry, as if it was the first time he used it in quite some time.

→ “Don't bother”

“Ahm. Richas pediu pra te entregar uma coisa…”, he checks his inventory, and materializes a canvas.

→ “Uhm. Richas asked me to give you something…”

This time, Forever actually raises his eyes to the thing in his hands; now that the lighting lets him have a better look at the man’s face, Cellbit feels a sting in his heart. 

Greasy strands of unbraided hair adorned those big bags contouring his half-lidded eyes. There was no sign that face had ever smiled before. His eyes were swollen, probably from crying. The man extends a hand to grab the canvas, and Cellbit notices he’s wearing a white upper part of a two-piece suit - he almost turns away when he realizes it’s the same suit of Bad’s wake. Hasn’t Forever taken it off in 3 whole days ?

Forever holds the canvas and turns it so he could see it. The familiar brushes and contouring make his mind wander for a moment. The black and red colors were well-put, shading perfect. How could the kid capture Bad’s smile so perfectly ?

He starts crying, sniffing as the tears rolled down his face and he caressed the painted face’s cheek.

Neither of them say anything for a few minutes. Cellbit slowly sits down on the other end of the bed, hands over his lap, thinking while keeping company.

***

When Forever seems to have stopped crying, Cellbit turns to him again. Forever just stares at the painting, which rested over the pillow on his lap.

The detective opens his mouth, then closes it again.

Surprisingly, Forever speaks first, absolutely no expression to his tone. "Você sabe que fui eu"

→ "You know it was me."

Cellbit freezes, but doesn't show any sign of reaction. He didn't need to agree with his friend – they both knew it as a fact. "Você não queria"

→ "You didn't want to"

Forever breathes out a laugh, looking away and to the other side of the room. " Vai se foder "

→ " Fuck you "

"Não foi culpa sua, Forever"

→ "It wasn't your fault, Forever."

" Sai.", the blonde's hands start to tremble as he feels his mind swirling.

→ "Get out."

"Forever, me ouve mano, não foi sua–"

→ "Forever, listen to me man, it wasn't your–"

Forever gets up from the bed, going closer to another wall. Away from the bed and the detective. "Sai, PORRA."

→ Get the fUCK out.

"Não vou sair até que você me ouça", Cellbit gets up from the bed also, but he stays close to it. His face in a constant frown.

→ "Not leaving until you listen to me."

"Ouvir O QUÊ?? Que 'ai, não se sinta mal, Forever, não foi você, foi a Federação. ai, Forever, você não queria isso' EU SEI, PORRA! EU SEI!", the man punches the crafting table close to him and turns to Cellbit. "O que caralhos você quer que eu faça, sorria e saia saltitando por aí?! Foda-se as suas intenções, nada do que você falar pra mim vai me fazer me sentir melhor, então pega suas palavras bonitas e sai daqui agora ou eu..--"

→ "Listen to WHAT?? 'Oh, Forever, don't feel bad, it wasn't you, it was The Federation. Oh Forever, you didn't want this' I FUCKING KNOW! I KNOW!" [...] What the fuck do you want me to do, smile and jump around?! Fuck your intentions, nothing you can tell me will make me feel better, so grab you pretty words and get out now or I..--"

CLANG .

Forever is interrupted when Cellbit drops a sword in between them. The blonde raises his eyes to his friend. "O que você quer?"

→ "What do you want?"

"Me mostra", the other materializes a copy of that sword and turns it in his own hands. "Me mostra o quanto você quer que eu vá embora."

→ "Show me. [...] Show me how much you want me to leave."

"Eu não vou brigar contigo"

→ "I'm not fighting you."

"Então eu não vou embora"

→ "Then I'm not leaving."

There's a moment of silence, as Forever stares at the other man. Then he sighs, grabbing the sword from the ground. He gets in a kind of fighting position as well.

But as Cellbit stares, he sees the other turning the sword to his own neck. He panics, the sword in his hands disappearing into his inventory. "fOREVER.", he levels down his voice. "Forever, não–"

→ "fOREVER. [...] Forever, don't–"

"Então vai EMBORA!", he throws the sword back at Cellbit's feet. "Você é uma das poucas razões pra eu ainda estar aqui agora, eu não vou brigar contigo." He turns his face away, cleaning some tears with his forearm. "Então por favor, me deixa em paz"

→ "Then GO AWAY! [...] You're one of the few reasons why I'm still here, I'm not fighting you.[...] So please, leave me alone."

The detective lowers his gaze, feeling his brain heat up in thought. How could he not have thought Forever'd react like that?? He was so impulsive. "Eu vou, eu… eu sinto muit–"

→ "I will, I… I'm so sorr–"

"E fala pro Richas que eu agradeço pela pintura e que amo ele, e que… que sinto muito não poder ser o pai que ele merece e precisa agora." Forever gulps down his emotions a little, otherwise he'd drop to the ground and cry. " Cuida dele ."

→ "And tell Richas I said thank you for the painting and that I love him, and… and I'm sorry I can't be the dad he deserves and needs now." [...] "Take care of him."

"Eu vou. Prometo.", he says, and clears his throat, going to the door. He opens it and stops for a moment. "Vou… deixar um baú aqui fora. Pra não precisar te incomodar pra entregar coisas."

→ "I will. I promise. [...] I'll… leave a chest outside. So there's no need to disturb you when delivering things."

Forever caresses his own arm, still unable to look at the door.

Then he hears it closing, and it's all quiet again.

He waits until it's close to 1am.

***

Under the cold and pale moonlight, the man cries, kneeling next to the grave.

His head is aching, but he can't stop crying.

He doesn't want to do anything anymore.

He knew it was his fault. He knew he was the one who fucked it up from the beginning.

Isn't Hell paved with good intentions, or some shit like that? Fuck the intentions.

Bad was dead.

_______________________________________________

ENDING APPROACHES… 

If you are satisfied with this finale, you have reached the Nothingness Ending. Congratulations! Tell us what you thought of the experience in the comments!

If you think he should do something, you can go to the Do Something Ending by clicking here: Do Something Ending.

If you want to go back to Chapter 4: The Choice and try a different thing, just click here: Chapter 4

Chapter Text

The miserable mess of a man stays still, staring at the grave.

He feels something pushing his thoughts.

He thinks he should do something.

But he doesn't want to, so he just stays put.

__________________________________________

POSSIBLE ENDING APPROACHES…

If you think he really should do something, you can click here: Really Do Something Ending.

If you are satisfied with this finale, you have reached the Do Something Ending. Congratulations! Tell us what you thought of the experience in the comments!

Chapter Text

Again, he feels what feels like a pull under his stomach, a stronger sensation now.

Maybe he should really do something.

But… he doesn't want to. And this is getting weird.

Why was he feeling such controversial things?

He should just lay down and die already.

He stares blankly at the ground.

_____________________________________

POSSIBLE ENDING APPROACHES…

If you think he must do something or even worst things will happen to him, click here: Do It Now Ending.

If you think you are satisfied with this finale, you're wrong! You're not satisfied! You should go on, c'mon! You want to, don't you? See you there: Do It Now Ending

Chapter Text

He feels his eyes burning even more with tears. He doesn't understand his own body.

Why was he feeling like he needed to get up, start to think. Start to… what was that, have hope ?

He didn't. He'd never feel that again.

Forever starts to realize that maybe - just maybe - those weren't HIS feelings.

He slowly turns his head around, searching for something he couldn't really understand.

He looks around him, everywhere; the cemetery empty. Inside it, only him.

No, not actually.

He looks at You.

" You did this", the man feels his anger boiling, as you keep reading the story, hungry for more. "You killed Bad. You made me kill him."

He tries to move towards you, but stops himself for a moment; he laughs a little, going through his hair with a hand. "Oh. I can't reach you, can I?"

He’s right, you know. You're very much safe behind your little screen, don't worry.

Yet, he watches you for a second. "... alright. If it's so fun, I know just what to do. Fuck you. I won't do anything else. Enjoy your absolute nothing ending, motherfucker”

______________________________________

POSSIBLE ENDING APPROACHES…

If you are satisfied with this finale, you have reached the Do it now Ending. Congratulations! Tell us what you thought of the experience in the comments!

If you think he should go fuck himself and cry more and suffer more and die more click here you monster.

If you wanna go back to Chapter 4: The Decision and try different things, click here: Chapter 4

Chapter Text

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Chapter Text

Forever instantly frees one of his hands and draws a punch on the thing's face. It backs away, hand over its cheek.

That's when he sees it, trickling down those lips: blood. Red blood.

Codes didn't bleed.

That was really Bad.

So how do you describe such a weirdly alarming relief?

How would you gasp in pain and yet feel so fucking relieved you're feeling it?

"Ok, ok", Forever grunts, feeling the burning of the new wound right under his chest.

Bad widened his eyes, and looked at Forever in absolute shock. "Wh-What. WHAT– HOW– Why did yOU–?! FUDGE, YOU'RE BLEEDING, WHAT–"

Forever drops the gun, one hand resting over his stomach area. "Oh. Ok, menos mal. Menos mal, ótimo." He looks at his friend. "Sorry for the punch, I... I thought you weren't real."

→ "Oh. Ok, better this way. Better this way, great." [...] "Sorry for the punch, I... I thought you weren't real."

Bad takes his hands closer to Forever's wound, as if deciding on what to do. "Alright, it's ok, it's alright– it didn't hit any vital organs apparently", the reaper opens his own backpack, fumbling with the items, suddenly very confused with his organized mess. "Fudge, where did I put the–"

Then, he sees in the corner of his eye, Forever bending down. He closes his backpack fastly and tries to help the man sit down. "Hey, hey, are you ok?"

"It's alright", the blonde mess smiles, resting a hand on the ground as if to balance his weight. “Do you have a bed to lend me?”

Bad can't really smile back right now, but he sighs a little, opening his backpack again. "Ok. Yeah  sure, uhhh”, he fumbles a little more, and finds it, putting it on the ground. He half-helps Forever get up on it and goes right back to his backpack. “I'm sure there's food in here, some avocado toasts, I just can't find–"

"Don't look, be right back", the man says, and he raises that same gun in the air again, this time pointing at his own head.

"NONONO–", Bad closes his backpack in a rush, moving to grab his friend's hand as fast as he–

The sound is too loud. There's too much blood.

His hands flinch away, and Bad can feel his stomach turning as the body flops on the floor.

" Ugh ", he looks away, before the image can actually be burned in his brain for all eternity.

The reaper can't help but feel his chest so tight right now. He looks around at the bed in the room, and for a second it's empty. He fears the worst scenario.

What if they did something else to him?

What if he doesn't return, ever?

He said "be right back", but what if—

A crack.

And then Forever's sitting up again. He appears to wait for something for a second, and then happily looks in Bad's direction. "Alright, let's go!", he says, getting up and trotting in Bad's direction, hand extended for the reaper to grab.

Bad doesn't move at first, though. He's very aware the body's still visible behind him, and that this respawn was way faster than it should've been. "Forever, what…?", he starts, with no actual idea of how to continue.

"I feel better right now, we can talk later, BadBoy!", he gesticulates to the door, hand still extended. "Let's get out, no wasting time!!"

Bad frowned, but still felt like he agreed on the getting out fast thing. So he accepts the hand and gets up, both of them going through the door, sharing weapons.

***

They can't talk until they're inside the train again. In fighting their way out, they got some scratches and bruises, but stayed alive.

Bad sat there, trying to organize his thoughts, when he gets a message from Fit on the chatbox "tubbo burned it we're going back 5min", and sighs a little. He replies "in the train." They were surprisingly ahead of time, now. Plan was going weirdly well.

When his stress lays down for a moment, he turns to his friend, who sat beside him .

On the same side and almost the same seat of that day.

Was this a subtle message?

Or just a coincidence?

Bad feels a tingle of pain, a feeling he repressed for a long time starting to form itself again in his chest.

He felt so hurt. For… wow, so many things. But, well . For now, Forever was alive, it had to be enough. For now. Yes?

The other looks outside the window, apparently excited. "When will we know they burned the contract?? Ah, I can't believe you guys came back", he turns to Bad, a big smile lifting his cheeks up.

Bad feels it again. Again, same pinching sensation. He gulps it down. "We did", the reaper picks a healing potion and some clean tissues from his backpack. "Can you sit straight for a moment?"

Forever understands it, and does as he's said. His unevenly short hair brushes against his cheeks, and he just looks into Bad's movements as the reaper carefully dips the tissue in some potion and starts to pat it into a small wound on Forever's forehead.

Bad takes this moment to try and observe the situation in a new lens. Forever had respawned, yes, but he still looked sick - big bags under his eyes, haircut messy, beard grown and he… he was having a hard time actually standing still this time. Eyes always looking around them, leg bouncing up and down and fingers curling up on one another. He wasn't happy; he was stressed.

"Your hair", Bad’s mouth moved faster than his brain. "It's shorter. What happened…?"

Forever's expression loses at least half its energetic cheerfulness it had just before. "Oh. Uhm, Cucurucho made me cut it", he gives a kind of unintentionally sad smile, looking out the window again. "Not a big deal, it'll grow back anyways"

"Why… would he do that?", Bad says, patting the potion-drenched cloth on a bruise near Forever's chin now.

The other just shrugs, something unspoken.

Bad sighed, not really knowing how to deal with that right now. He had no idea what they did to him, and he should probably be patient. Like, he just found his friend, he just had him back in his arm length, why couldn't he be happy about it and stop bickering –

Bad sighs and decides to just take care of one cut closer to the man's forearm, watching as it disappears. "See?", he says.

Forever focused on him for the moment. "What?"

"It's healing, pretty fast actually", Bad says, raising his eyes to meet the other's and pointing to the closing scratch.

"It… is, yes", the blonde uses his free arm to scratch his beard a little, seeming a little confused. "Thanks, Bad, I–"

Bad grunts, visibly angry now. "I'm not asking for you to thank me, Forever! I'm showing you potions WORK", the reaper points at the general direction of where they came from. "You didn't need to do THAT !"

"What– Oh, you mean respawning??", Forever frowns back at his friend. "It was just faster, I–"

"We had time ", the reaper says through almost gritted teeth. "You didn't need to–"

Forever brings his arm closer to his chest again, starting to get nervous. "I didn't know, I just did it to get us out of there faster, I don'--"

" FUDGE !", the reaper throws the potion away. It cracks against one of the doors of the train. The shattered glass twinkles and then stops. “I just got you back, this is not fAIR–” Bad got up, and was now with his back turned to his friend.

His shoulders shook a little as he sniffed. He's crying, Forever realized; but before he could get up, voices bursted in the train and he shrinked in fear looking all around the space before he realized it was their friends.

Each and every gaze sat on him. He saw some smiles, some frowns and some… lack of expression in the group. Fit and Mike went to take care of the engine, which already lit up and started to make some noise.

He's drowning in hugs and questions and worried faces before he can actually process it, and he must have answered something, but as he tries to let it sink in, the train is already moving.

And he noticed Bad sat across from him at a distance this time. He didn't look at Forever, just sat there, staring at the ground with crossed arms. Foolish, who sat beside Bad, apparently talked to him in a moment, but Forever couldn't really pay attention, as Tubbo was telling him about the adventure.

***

When they get to the other place, Forever is too stunned to speak.

He actually was there.

They did it.

He feels a breathtaking relief– wait, was it relief?

He couldn't tell.

It was really confusing, because yes, he was relieved they made it. But simultaneously, something inside his chest made him breathe fast. He felt his thoughts and no thought at all go around in his head like a merry go round at full speed; amidst that chaos, he felt meeting up with Bad again was a thing he wanted and didn't want at all at the same time.

He could half answer the first things his friends say to him, before Mike pulled the focus to him by giving each one a new task; then, Forever was taken to a sort of improvised nursery in a wooden house. He didn't get to see Bad in this whole time.

There, Pac helped him with the basics: some water, vitamin pills and lunch, always with a prestative smile. The blonde could hardly believe this was the same motherfucker who escaped prison with another thief and a cannibal years ago. "Cê é mais durão do que acham, Pac"

→ "You're way tougher than what people think, Pac"

His friend smiles, sitting back on the chair next to the bed; a blue mug steaming in his hands. "Hah. Falou o cara que ficou sozinho com a Federação por meses ."

→ "Hah. Says the dude who spent months alone with the Federation."

Pac realizes his usual depreciative way of avoiding compliments had backfired almost too late. Forever's expression is empty now. "... meses ", he parrots, slowly, like the word had a kind of unknown taste to his tongue.

→ "... months " [...]

"Ah", the blue-hoodie is suddenly kinda tight around his neck, so he adjusts it. "Você ficou 5 meses e 20 dias lá, Forevin."

→ "Ah. [...] You spent 5 months and 20 days there, Forevin."

There's a moment of pure silence. Pac watches his friend's expression, scared he might have done something wrong by saying it like that. Forever just looked blankly at the food plate in his lap.

Pac knew better than to ask if he was okay, so he just gulps down the question and waits.

After at least one minute, Forever sighs, turning to Pac; his face neutral. "Acho que preciso ficar sozinho um pouco"

→ I think I need to be alone for a while.

"Claro. Vou ver com o Mike, ele vem aqui depois, ok? Mas pode descansar"

→"Of course. I'll talk to Mike, he'll come here later, ok? But do rest"

"Obrigado", Forever feels himself smiling a little. "Por tudo."

→ Thank you. [...] For everything.

The other just waves him goodbye, a small smile in his cheeks, as he leaves the place. The door closes behind him.

Forever has to breathe in for some moments. Then, he has to cry a little.

Then, he starts to spiral on his worries.

Because after all, this was too good to be true; and he didn’t get the good. Never.

He went as far as to try the jumping off a chair trick, pinching his forearm, counting fingers – everything pointed to the conclusion that he wasn’t lucid dreaming. Only if this was one very elaborate dream. Or worse, if the federation had actually gotten inside his head so bad they controlled every thought and he was in a sort of coma, being fooled for their entertainment.

He doesn't exactly sleep, he was too alert to do so.

***

When he wakes, a little startled, he looks around instantly – realizing he was not back at the white room. That makes him relax a little. Then he actually heard the knocking, clearing his throat. "Uhm. Oi?"

→ "Uhm. Hi?"

"Sou eu." He hears the detective's unmistakable voice. "Posso entrar?"

→ "It's me." [...] "Can I come in?"

"Cellbo…", he hears his own voice faltering. "Claro, porra"

→ "Cellbo..." [...] "Of course, damn."

The man enters through the door, closing it behind him. He has his arms crossed over his chest, and a kind of friendly smile on his lips. "Seu idiota, seu completo estúpido –" He says, running in the bed's direction.

→"You idiot, you absolutely stupid-" [...]

Forever can't even say anything back when he's absolutely drowning in a hug. He smiles, and hugs back. "Senti sua falta."

→"I've missed you"

"Você não tem nada nessa sua cabeça de merda, seu bundão–"
→ You have nothing inside your shitty head, you dumbass-

Forever laughs, caressing his friend's back. "Como cê tá?"

→"How are you?

"Eu que devia te perguntar isso, porra. Disseram que você chegou faltando desmaiar de fudido", Cellbit separates the hug, but leaves a hand in his friend's shoulder. "O Pac que disse, na verdade."

→ "I should be asking you that, damnit. They said you arrived close to passing out, all fucked up" [...] "Pac said it, actually"

"Bom, ele não tava muito errado, acho. Ahm. Eu…", he feels his breath start to get caught up on his throat. "Eu preciso…"

→ Well, He wasn't that wrong, I think. Uhm. I…" [...] "I need…"

Cellbit doesn't change his stance, but his tone is a little more assertive. "Eu não vou elaborar no motivo por eu não ter voltado pra te buscar, se é o que–"

→ "I'm not elaborating on the reason I didn't go back to get you, if that's what–"

"Não, não. Isso não importa pra mim", the man smiles. "Eu não pediria isso de você."

→ "No, no. That doesn't matter for me." [...] "I wouldn't ask that of you."

The detective smiles back. "Eu tô feliz que você ta de volta, mano. Nunca mais faz uma idiotice daquelas pelo aMOR DE–"

→ I'm happy you're back, man. Never do something stupid like that again for the LOVE OF–"

"Nunca mais, puta merda–"

→ "Never again, holy shit–"

"Todo mundo me odiou, cara", Cellbit gives a sideway smile. "De novo, né"

→ "Everyone hated me, dude." [...] "Again, I mean."

"Fazer o quê, você tem um charme especial–"

→ "What can they do, you've got some special rizz–"

The detective opens a big smile, punching Forever lightly on the shoulder. "Cala a boca-"

→ "Shut up-"

The blonde smiles back, happy to annoy his best friend again. "Tô mentindo?", then he motions for the other to sit down on the bed, crossing his legs so there was space. "Como… como foram esses meses?"

→ "Am I lying?" [...] "How... How have these months been?"

After sitting down, the other leaves his backpack on the ground and bends one leg over the mattress to face his friend. "Ah, cara. Foi… foi bizarro, quando a gente veio pra cá. Eu não sabia muito bem o que fazer, e o Bad– bem. Ele quase me matou quando descobriu que eu deixei você fazer esse plano–”

→ "Ah, man. It was... it was bizarre, when we arrived here. I didn't know exaclty what to do, and Bad- well. He almost killed me when he found out I let you do the plan-"

Forever smiled, waiting for his friend to continue. Instead, Cellbit widens his eyes a little, repeating the last part with a little more seriousness. “Forever, eu tô falando muito sério. Ele quase me matou”

→"Forever, I'm very serious right now. He almost killed me."

The blonde frowns. “Não, pera. Achei que era força de expressão. Ele LITERALMENTE quase te matou??”

→ “No, wait. I thought it was a figure of speech. He LITERALLY almost killed you??”

Cellbit nods, and recounts it in more detail, seeing Forever’s frown as, absolutely focused, he tried to let the information settle in.

When the detective finishes, he opens his arms. “Deu tudo errado.”

→ "Everything went wrong."

Forever looks at the mattress for a second. He felt a kind of happy to hear someone got that mad for him; and even more that the someone was Bad. But, shit, wasn’t that a horrible thought? Should–

“O Richas queria te ver quando vocês chegaram”, the detective says. “Mas eu falei pra ele que você precisava descansar, e–”

→ "Richas wanted to see you when you arrived" [...] "But I told him you needed to rest, and-"

“Meu Deus, onde ele tá???”, the man says, getting up from the bed. He was so absolutely fucked in the head he didn’t think he’d be able to see his boy again. His little son of a bitch. Oh, how he missed Richarlyson.

→"My God, where is he???"

Cellbit laughs, getting up also, to stop Forever from going to the door. “Eu peço pra ele vir aqui, mano. Você precisa ficar aí, deitado, comendo e bebendo pra não passar mal na frente do teu filho”

→ "I'll tel him to comehere, man. You need to stay there, laying down, eating and drinking so you won't pass out in front of your son""

“Mas fala pra ele vir hoje, por favor”, Forever feels close to exploding, but agrees and doesn’t go to the door yet. His fingers kept picking at each other with anxiety. “Por favor, por favor pede pra ele vir hoje”

→ "But tell him to come today, please." [...] "Please, please tell him to come here today."

The other man opens his chat on his wrist. “Vou pedir pro Felps trazer ele, mas promete que fica pianinho aqui; você não pode sair por aí nesse estado”

→ "I'll ask Felps to bring him over, but you have to promise you'll stay put; you can't go around in that state"

Forever nods, feeling his chest open up a little, even though part of his mind kept saying it was all a lie somehow. “Me desculpa, cara. Eu… eu fui péssimo contigo. E no fim das contas, se eu tivesse conversado melhor com vocês, daria pra ter destruído o contrato e pronto, nada disso teria rolado. O Bad não teria te machucado… Me desculpa.”

→"I'm sorry, man. I... I was terrible to you. And in the end, if I had talked to you guys, we could've just destroyed the contract and done, none of this would've happened. Bad wouldn't have hurted you... I'm sorry."

Cellbit finishes sending the messages, and sighs, turning to Forever. “Cara, olha… não é segredo que eu sempre achei insanidade sua fazer aquilo. Mas… porra, você é apaixonado pelo Richas, e eu sei bem o que é isso. Eu também faria loucuras por ele. Então… tá tudo bem.” The man gets closer to his friend, hugging him gently but firmly.

→"Man, look... it's no secret that I always thought you insane for doing that. But... fuck, you love Richas, and I know what that's like. I too would do crazy things for him. So... it's alright."

Forever rests his chin on his friend’s shoulder, hugging back and feeling a rapidly growing sense of love he didn’t know he had buried so deep inside his soul. And it makes his eyes burn with tears. “Valeu…”

→ "Thanks"

He hears the other sniffing on his shoulder and closes his eyes, feeling the trembling in his own hands as he tightens the hug. The detective stays silent for a moment, trying to organize his feelings into words. Then, he puts one of his hands on the back of Forever’s head. “Olha, eu não sei o que fizeram contigo e eu não preciso saber se você não quiser falar, mas nada daquilo vai acontecer de novo. Nunca. Cê tá seguro aqui com a gente, tá bom?”

→ "Look, I don't know what they did to you and I don't need to if you don't want to tell me, but none of that will happen again. Ever. You're safe with us, alright?"

Forever widens his eyes, taken by surprise. His friend’s hand caressed his scalp and silent tears warm their way down the blonde’s cheeks. The detective’s tone is low and full of a sentiment Forever couldn’t understand at the moment, but felt like anger and love at the same time. “Se eles vierem atrás da gente, eu vou matar cada um deles. Eles nunca vão encostar um dedo em você de novo.”

→ "If they ever come for us, I'll kill each and everyone of them. They'll never lay a finger on you again."

***

Forever could swear his world was complete when the child came jumping through the nursery door. He felt his chest open, expand in happiness. They hugged, and he filled every inch of that little face with kisses, hugging him so so tight he could never get away again. "Eu senti tanto sua falta!!"
→ "I've missed you so much!!"

The boy cries in his shoulder, punching his dad's back. They stay like that for a long while, Forever kneeled on the ground, gripping at the boy's shoulders and caressing his hair. 

He could have that for all eternity. He still feared it would be taken away from him at some time, but for now he didn't want to think about it.

***

After a long day, he finally finishes the last vitamin, and is kind of glad his friends are managing the many questioning residents and friends, not letting them go in at once. Cellbit had told him they were going to have a reunion to catch up with all the informations, but for now he had to rest. But there was one person he still had to talk to.

***

He hears the knocking and the voice. "Hey. It's me."

Forever was already sat on the bed, he spent the last minutes thinking about this conversation. "Oh, come in Bad, the door's unlocked."

The reaper appears through it, closing it and then turning to the man. "Hey. Felps told me you wanted to talk."

"I do. I... I think there are some things we need to talk about."

The reaper crosses his arms, keeping his distance from the bed. He seemed to be in thought. "I agree."

Forever signals to the chair near the bed. "If you want to, please sit down. I have a feeling this one will take some time."

Bad nods, walking to it and sitting on the chair. He rests his hands on the armrests, looking at the wall. "Are you feeling better?"

"I am, I am. They... they gave me some medicine and I'm all bandaged." His brain decides it's time for a funnier approach, to break the ice; and he does it. "I was able to shave my beard too, thank God I might add -- not good on me, ha ha!"

Bad smiles a little, shaking his head negatively and turning to face his friend. "Yeah, it was messy. I like your usual mustache and goatee."

"Thanks, I do too."

Bad had his arms crossed. "Alright. I... I'm gonna go straight to the point. In that stupid letter you left, that Cellbit gave me, you said that losing the opportunity of that escape wasn't 'worth the risk'. Well", he turns to his friend. "I risked everything I had to go back with the others and save you, so I very much hope you understand now that you are worth the flipping risk, Forever. Leaving with you is worth the risk, it is. We want you here" The reaper feels his eyes start to burn again. He hated crying, so he looks at anything but Forever now. " I want you here. Just please don't hurt me like that again. Please ."

"I won't, I'm so sorry..." He decided: he'd do everything he could from now on to make his friend happy.

"Alright. I forgive you" The reaper gets up and close to the bed, one hand resting over the mattress. "I don't hate you, just so you know. I'm just processing, it was too much."

"Thanks for forgiving me. And of course, I understand that. I...", he shrugs. "I also might be a little weird, uhm. I kind of still think this is all a lie and all that..."

"Oh, that's trauma right there."

"Yeah, and... I'll try my best here. I just want to live like a normal person." He sighs, forcing the words out before he could never do that again. He couldn't exactly look at Bad though. "And... if you still want to, I... I want to make it right with you. I just ask for more patience. I'm honestly very broken right now, in... oh, so many aspects."

"I didn't want to ask, because I really don't want to force you into reliving anything; but I'm here if you need to talk about anything." The reaper smiles a little. "Me or a psychologist, that's a great option."

"I was thinking of trying therapy now, yes."

"I like that idea." The reaper smiles, the hand that rested on the mattres now raised and touching the blonde mand's cheek. "Look at you, having one great idea at last."

Forever laughs a little and looks at his friend's face, and feels his own getting hotter. "Do you… uhm." He looks around, not really knowing it changing the subject was the right thing to do. "Do you want to go pick some resources with me tomorrow, in the afternoon?"

"What do you need?", the hand on his cheek goes back to the mattress. 

Forever feels the electrical feeling leaving his brain for a moment. "Oh. Basic stuff: cobblestones, steel, and so on– I'm empty, haha!"

"Well, I could lend you those"

"Ohhh, thanks, that'd be great!"

"No problem. This way, we can have a proper date with the spare time" Bad smiles. "My house at 7? We can explore the world together or something."

Forever really doesn't know how to deal with that direct approaching, but it... it wasn't at all a negative thing. He gulps down his nervousness and smiles, trying to not let it show. "Wow. Yeah, yeah I like that! I'll bring something sweet for us."

"Sure! I'll see you then", he leaves, passing by Forever's side, and the man feels the reaper's hand brush against his on the process. He absolutely melts, holding his unstoppably growing happiness.

As soon as the reaper closes the door again, Forever has to actually just stare at the ceiling for a moment. He honestly didn't know if it was real or not, and he was terrified the Federation would again take it from him again. 

He was.

But at the same time he felt so, so inclined to just accept all the love and care he thought he'd never feel again -- he didn't know what's gotten into him, but he really wanted to heal. He hated feeling this way.

And he felt he just needed more time.

When Bad's far enough, he secretly leaves the nursery and runs to Cellbit's house because he had to tell SOMEONE about it, celebrating at the top of his lungs and laughing like a mad man.

There were so many flowers around him.

And he'd make sure they all went to Bad's nightstand, in the most beautiful bouquet that had ever existed.

_____________________________________________

ENDING APPROACHES…

Congratulations, you've reached the Slowly but Surely Ending! That's a kinda happy one - oof, not many come this way, you know? Personally, I'm not a big fan, but you're the boss!

Tell us what you thought of your experience in the comments!

If you want to go back and try different choices, just go back to any of the Chapters from before!

Chapter 1 - The Plan: Chapter 1

Chapter 2 - The Choice: Chapter 2

Chapter 3 - The Deception: Chapter 3

Chapter 4 - The Decision: Chapter 4