Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The shitty purple pencil that had the words ‘you got this!’ in big, bold letters– courtesy of Thomas –snapped under the weight of the man’s fist, letting lead dust fall all over the table and in his third coffee that night. He cursed and brushed them away, leaving pencil smudges everywhere.

It was 12:19 in the morning and Fluixon was working on a stupid speech that he was due to present the next day for Luminara. He couldn't focus. He swore he’d write until the ice ran out but the ice hadn’t even started melting. His brain kept wandering away from the paper in front of him thinking about his enemy instead.

Every five minutes, he had to blink himself back to reality to check the sky, only for the clouds to have moved two feet. A feeling in his chest formulated every time he thought about a certain white haired boy, but he pushed it aside every time.

He did what he had to do. He had to choose between betraying one person, or letting a thousand die.

The choice was easy. The choice should’ve been easy.

Flux shook his head. It was easy. He made the right decision, even though it ached sometimes.

He didn’t know where his former friend had been since he escaped his own execution. Frankly, he didn’t care. He put a bounty on his head; someone was bound to find him and bring him eventually.

What was he going to do once that happened? He didn’t know yet. He decided to think about that if the time comes. No, the time will come. He was sure of it.

Flux then found himself thinking about when they had first met up on Island Two by coincidence. Saparata had told his friend that he was just going to stay out of politics this time around and build his vacation home on a hill, overlooking the seaside and the sunset. He invited Flux to stay with him, but Flux declined and told him his one goal was to protect the island and become leader of Luminara. Saps just smiled and wished him the best of luck, and he’d be cheering him on from afar.

There was a subtle ache when he had turned around, back into his vacation home and disappeared.

The door creaked open just as Flux yelled and slammed his head against the table, spewing papers onto the ground and cracked his stupid pencil in half. Thomas peaked in and cleared his throat. Flux groaned for a moment and didn’t move. Then, he looked up with a glare.

“Fluixon, we have sightings on Saparata,” Thomas began. As soon as Saparata those words came out, Flux straightened up, his eyes widened for a split second before narrowing them.

“You came to tell me that and won’t even tell me where? Jackass, leave.” Flux pointed to the door and Thomas rolled his eyes.

“You didn’t let me finish. Some citizens of Westhelm who had seen the bounty sent a letter. He is somewhere in Island One. Gotoga and Snowbird are about to leave to look. I was wondering if you wanted to join. Some also mentioned he was with the Covenant.”

Flux thought for a moment before shaking his head and sighed. “No. Tell them to go alone. I’ll go in a couple days once I finish this paperwork and convince Luminara to elect me and not Legacy.” Thomas nodded hesitantly.

“You’re going to wear yourself out doing this. I’m sure Luminara can wait–” he was immediately shut up by a glare from the raven haired. “–nevermind. I’ll go tell the others.” Thomas turned to leave.

“Tell them… tell them to bring Saps– Saparata back alive no matter what.” Thomas furrowed his eyebrows before Flux continued. “Saparata wants death. I’m not going to give him what he wants.”

“Then why didn’t he just let himself get executed?”

“Don’t question me.” Thomas nodded and left Flux alone with his thoughts once again. He picked up another clean piece of paper. He grabbed his pencil, swearing once he saw it broken, then picking up another one and started writing.

To Luminara,

No. That’s dumb. That’s like a letter, and this was a speech.

My dearest citizens of this wonderful nation Luminara–

He scribbled that out immediately. He didn’t care about the citizens, he just wanted to win. It sounded selfish, sounded like the opposite of what his original goal was. He didn’t care. The bridge was already almost done. His original goal had gone in the trash as soon as all the leaders voted against him in the first meeting.

Flux didn’t want to kill 3Below, he didn’t. But only if he had died in the dripstone like he was supposed to, then he didn’t have to.

He dragged his hands down his face as his thoughts wandered again. He couldn’t focus. If only Saps was here, he was always good at keeping Flux on track. Fuck. Why did his brain keep thinking about that criminal? He can focus just fine by himself.

Flux’s fingers slowly crawled to the drawer in his desk before grasping the gold handle and opening it. He dug through countless stacks of paper with nonsense scribbled on it before his hand felt the exact thing he was looking for.

Flux pulled it out and traced his fingers on the purple wax seal that was keeping the envelope closed. On the front, his name neatly written with a smiley face on it. He could recognize the handwriting anywhere. With gentle fingers, he opened the envelope for the first time, careful to not rip it.

It’s funny, he got this letter a couple months ago, before the world turned upside down. He was busy so he shoved it in the bottom of his drawer, and once he remembered it, he hated Saparata enough to swear to never open it. Flux unfolded the letter, the neat handwriting taking up the page.

Dear Flux, I miss you. I finished my vacation home! Thank you for you and your friends’ help, it really moved it along. I’m really grateful–

Oh. He was thanking him for the house help. The one he put traps in the roof of, killing many island leaders, making it look like Saparata did it himself.

–it helped a lot! Please tell your friends I say thanks.

I went around the island to gather leaders for the meeting tomorrow.

Everyone is devastated by Jophiel’s death, as expected. I myself am as well. I couldn’t believe that her own right hand man would eventually… murder her. Why? I don’t know the motive.

Anyway. Everyone will meet at my newly finished (thank you!) vacation home. Isn’t that kind of cool? They all get to see the project I’ve been working on! Cass decided she wouldn’t attend, wary, because of the murder on Friday. That’s okay, I understand.

I miss you. Maybe soon you can come down, or I can come up to Luminara? I heard it was coming along great, and I want to see the shops and stuff. Hey, I also have a surprise for you:)

I’m really proud of you, Flux. I know you can become the leader one day! I’ll be cheering you on, no matter our stance on our relationship at that point. I know that is a big goal of yours. Even if you hate me, I’m cheering you on.

Thank you for always being beside me and helping me become the person I am, for loving me in your own way when I felt like giving up. I don’t think I want to give up anymore as long as you’re by my side.

Sorry that was so sappy (haha, get it?), and I know you don’t like acknowledging emotions, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much I appreciate you. I appreciate you. I love you. Write me back soon or I’ll hunt you down and unfriend you.

Just kidding, maybe.

Love, Saparata (Saps)

Flux stared at the letter for what felt like forever, the words swimming around.

He never knew that his enemy had felt this way. What was he thinking? He didn’t give a shit about Saparata anymore. Fluixon betrayed him, and he would do it over and over again. He rolled his eyes and tossed it in the trash along with his stupid speech paper.

The chair squeaked as he stood up, tightening his metal arm, and throwing on his jacket, slamming the door open before locking it and calling out for Snowbird and Gotoga.

Chapter Text

The tundra was beautiful.

When Saparata had eventually settled on it to build his tower, he never planned to stay for too long, he was being hunted down like a rabbit, scared to stay in one place for too long or he would be skinned alive by the pack of wolves.

The biome had swirling icy snowflakes softly falling, and the occasional bark of an arctic fox. The snow was cold, but not too cold that your fingers could freeze. The sound of the wind rustling through the few trees was really peaceful.

The only ugly thing was the red body on the snow, but that would soon despawn leaving a trophy head as the only proof that someone had existed, and a blizzard would bury the crimson. He just had to wait.

He had tried going to the Covenant, but was suspicious after Turntapp refused to explain, believing that he too would betray him and claim the bounty for himself. He ran for hundreds of blocks before looking back, thousands until he was sure he was alone.

Building his tower out of packed snow and stone slabs, he had a flickering hope that Ish or someone else would come and convince him not to jump. His hope dwindled once he placed the last block on the roof.

A monument, something for people to remember him by.

Saparata wrote a letter, explaining, before putting it in a chest at the bottom, along with his whole inventory. He didn’t want everyone’s memories of him to be tainted with betrayal and regret. He wanted to be remembered by always showing up when it mattered most, by listening when it counted, and for being kind in the face of ugliness. A voice in the back of his head told him that being forgotten is inevitable. That in twenty years, people wouldn’t care about telling their kids about him, about his legacy, and so, he would be erased from history.

He knew that some would never believe him, stubborn to believe that he was a selfish murderer who killed the leaders in cold blood. Changing their minds would be fruitless, but he hoped that he could convince at least one person. Maybe Cass, she was always willing to listen. Schpood, he didn’t know much about him, but he didn’t seem to be the type that would be easily convinced.

He thought about his first friend, how easy it was to betray him, easy to plant traps in his roof, the very same roof he trusted them to build.

Yet, in spite of everything Flux had done, Saps couldn’t find it in himself to resent him. He hated what he did, but not who he was as a person. Saps knew he wasn’t a bad person, just good intentions with a bad execution. He thought he knew, but he was wrong.

He found himself longing for the comfort that his friend once brought him. He thought about the time they watched the sunset together after a long day of working on his vacation home, how they had to run up countless slippery stairs to get to a dry place, yet they were laughing about it.

But then he remembered how easy it was for the very same friend to deceive him. To blame him for the murders, to let him walk into his own trial with the knowledge that the trial would lead to his attempted execution.

He longed for the words Flux had said before, longed for his voice, longed for the person he was before he had gotten the crazy ideas he acted on.

Saps thought that Flux’s goal to become leader wasn’t as extreme as it turned out to be. He thought that he would just play fair, trying harder to be better if he lost. Saps had wished him luck, told him he would always be proud of him, that he would be cheering him on no matter the stance on their friendship.

Look where that had gotten him; lying in the snow half-dead. Even then, he found himself cheering on Flux. Not for his actions, not for his choices, but for the idea that once Saps had died, he would take the chance to better himself as a person and make amends. He found that idea hard to believe.

An especially cold gust of wind snapped him out of his thoughts, bringing awareness to his cracked leg and lungs quickly filling with fluid. He turned his head to the side just before blood filled his mouth, dripping onto the soft white below him. He found his breaths to be wet. He needed to cough, to get the fluid out of his airways, but he couldn’t find the energy.

He had never imagined death to be this painful. He thought as soon as he hit the ground, he would lose consciousness and die. Instead, he was in immense pain on the ground, the snow seeping into his open wounds and clothes. At least the cold had numbed the pain to a tolerable degree, as he couldn’t feel his legs anymore.

If only he had built a couple blocks higher.

Saps’ eyes were slipping shut by the second, black dots swimming in his vision. His head was off to the side, content to let his last sight be two arctic fox cubs playing while their mom hunted for berries and fish. He thought about him and Flux as the little ones, careless and unknowing of the outside world and the life fate had carefully crafted with her knitting needles for them.

Before, he had imagined death so much it felt more like a memory than reality.

So this is where it got him. After days of escaping and running from his fate, he would never think that his demise would be at the hands of his own.
Saps finally let his eyes close, numbness overtaking his senses. He was content to let the last sounds of his life be the distant barking, the wind, and footsteps.

Wait, footsteps?

Suddenly, something was pressing on the wound in his stomach, but only a soundless whimper escaped. Agony, fire, a creeper exploded in his lungs, he was no longer a human, but a vessel of pain.

Help, help stop please– I can’t breathe anymore, get off, can’t you see you’re hurting me?

He tried thrashing around, but couldn’t get his body to respond. He felt the sticky hands of someone grab his head, turn it around, before yelling out. Saps felt like every bone in his neck had broken and his throat closed up, too full of blood to get any air.

He felt a hand opening his jaw and another reached down his throat, still yelling for something or someone, before another set of hands pressed down on his chest, and he swore he heard his ribs cracking. Despite all this, he couldn’t move or make a sound or open his eyes.

Suddenly, he could get air through his airways, and selfishly took a deep breath, but it wasn’t too long before he started breathing through thick blood again. The hands on his chest retracted before something wrapped itself around his torso, soft and woven. One hand and something that felt like metal still cradled his face like it was a ceramic, gentle and warm in the cold snow.

He was picked up, and his body screamed again before slipping into the sweet release of death.

Chapter Text

Fluixon didn’t know exactly why he decided to come, he just did. Once he had stepped out of his office, the losers that always stuck with him immediately crowded him and pulled his arms (well, arm) towards the exit with their boats.

Flux found himself stuck on a boat with the lesser of them all, Thomas. Even worse, the boat trip to the other island would take two hours at least. A couple of them complained, but Thomas reasoned that it would be the best way to ensure that Saparata wouldn’t be able to escape once they got him. And they would get him, Flux just didn’t know why that idea gave him a weird feeling in his gut.

The soon-to-be leader sat behind his friend in their spruce boat, while Gotoga and Snowbird rowed in an oak one several meters away from them. Flux stuck his hand in the warm water, making small waves and watching as the fish swam away from them. He could feel the sun beating down on him, but in a good way, like it was giving him a warm hug like the ones Saps used to give him.

He didn’t hate the sun, the sun gave light for plants and happiness and freckles in the shapes of constellations, he just sometimes wished the sun would go away for a while. Maybe rain. He knew Saps liked the rain, but Island Two hasn’t gotten rain in weeks.

Flux closed his eyes and angled his face towards the sun, enjoying the temporary peace and contentness. He would never admit it to himself let alone anyone else, but he actually appreciated the group of goons that followed him around. They were annoying, sure, exhausting, yes, but as much as he pretended to not care, he didn’t like being alone. There was a difference between being alone versus lonely, and Flux found himself hating both. Being alone for too long left him with just his thoughts, and his thoughts were filled with hatred and anger and guilt that ate him from the inside out like a caterpillar and regret regret regret.

He believed he had nothing to be guilty for, that he had made the right decision. That didn’t stop him from remembering what he tried to forget, the smile that haunted him at night, the smile that he would never see again.

Next to them, Gotoga made it his life mission to stand up in the boat without falling out while Snowbird yelled at him from the front to sit the fuck down before he made it capsize and trap them underneath. Thomas laughed and started to hit the boat with his oar, Snowbird gave up and started praying that someone would kill him.

Ultimately, the boat did end up capsizing, trapping the two underneath in the air pocket. It took ten minutes to flip the boat back up and get them back in, all the while Flux yelled threats at Thomas if he ended up capsizing their boat as well. Eventually, they were back on their way to Island One.

After what seemed like hours, they finally made it to the shores of Island One. Careful not to touch the boiling water, the four of them got out of their boats and split up. They had decided to split up to cover more land in less time. Unfortunately for Fluixon, he was stuck with Thomas.

The brunette decided to talk Flux’s ear off for the whole trek. No matter how many times he was told to shut up, he continued to talk and talk and talk.

Eventually, the two made it to the volcano and to Infernus. Flux rapped on the deepslate door, sharp and impatient. He took the time to look around, noting the chains holding the castle, preventing it from collapsing into the lava below. He saw snow surrounding the volcano, distantly wondering how it wasn’t melting.

Someone he didn’t know answered the gates, gaze flickering between the two of them. Thomas spoke first, hand waving with a smile. “We’re here for queen Cynikka?” The stranger narrowed her eyes.

“Who are you?”

“I’m her brother, can we come in?” Fluixon interrupted harshly. The girl glared but left to presumably get Cynikka. After a few moments, the unknown reappeared, the queen by her side. Once she saw the two of them, Cynikka’s face broke into a smile.

“Flux! Thomas! Come in!” she stepped to the side and gestured in, the two reluctantly following. “I wasn’t aware you guys were coming?”

“We just wanted to ask if you’ve seen Saparata recently? We heard he fled to Island One,” Thomas explained, Cynikka’s face hardened as the mention of the man.

“No, I haven’t. If I had, his head would have been mounted above my throne by now. You know how much I hate that cold-blooded murderer.”

Flux knew she was bluffing.

“Anyways, do you guys want to come in for tea? One of my men had found a way to grow the plants in this harsh climate and use it in delicacies. The cost would be on me, obviously,” continued the queen, a smile like nothing had happened. Thomas smiled and was about to agree before Flux put a hand up to interrupt him.

“No. We should go,” he snapped as Cynikka’s face hardened and turned around to leave.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll let you know when the criminal stops by Infernus,” she spat out, leaving the two alone at the door. Thomas looked at his friend with an incredulous expression.

“You didn’t want tea? She was gonna give us food, I’m starving! We wouldn’t even have to pay! What’s wrong with you?” he frowned as Flux was already walking away.

“That’s your fault that you didn’t eat breakfast, not mine. Plus, we have to go find Saparata before the sun sets.”

“Why before the sun sets? It doesn’t matter…–” Thomas trailed off from where he was trying not to step on the cracks between the deepslate bricks as a knowing smirk grew on his face. “...ohh. I see. You’re worried about mobs getting Saparata, aren’t you?” Flux turned around and decked Thomas in the face before continuing on his way. Thomas ran to get next to his friend, holding his hand to his nose to stop the bleeding.

“What the hell, man? You know I’m right. You’re not slick,” he laughed. Flux kicked Thomas’s legs as he rolled his eyes and denied everything.

~~~

It was almost dusk before the pair reached the tundra. Flux had decided to search the biome even at his friend’s insistence that they go home and come back tomorrow. Said friend was trudging through the snow, complaining about the cold and the wind that bit at his ears. Even then, he was walking with his tongue out and head up, hoping to catch some snowflakes.

Fluixon turned his head and watched as the sun decided to paint the sky with pink and orange hues, the clouds swirling like they were dancing to the sound of birds and leaves. Flux had remembered about the time he and Saps were watching the sunset at his (now destroyed) vacation home before a storm rolled in. Saps had said that sometimes, he wished he could stick out his tongue and taste the eventide and wondered if it tastes like grapefruit sorbet.

Flux shook his head to clear the thought of him. He turned away from the sky to his friend, who was walking around in the snow backwards to make a heart with the footsteps of his boots. He smiled and presented it to Flux, who furrowed his eyebrows and stomped out the heart, almost feeling bad when Thomas’s face fell. It led to him making a smaller heart and showing it to Thomas, who lit up and wrote ‘T+F’ inside the heart. Flux scoffed.

After walking some more (and Thomas drawing weird drawings in the snow), they were about to give up before Thomas noticed and pointed at a tower beyond the horizon, Flux grinned and started to head towards the snow and stone building.

Thomas kept talking his ear off as they continued to trek forwards, him spinning around his friend and throwing snow onto him, claiming it was snowing. Flux ignored him and squinted, trying to see if he could make out a figure in the snow.

He could, but he stuttered in his step and his blood froze.

From where he was standing, he could hardly make out a shape in the snow, but it was red. He quickened his steps, ignoring the protests of the man next to him.

Once he got closer, he started running, recognizing the body of Saparata lying in a pool of blood. He pulled up his inventory and searched through it to find something– anything– to slow the flow of the blood. Thomas knelt next to him and asked questions, questions that Flux couldn’t answer, leading to Flux yelling at him to shut up.

Flux desperately looked around the body to find where the blood was coming from before realizing with a sinking feeling that there were many open wounds, too many to be coming from Saps. He yelled at Thomas to just do something while he searched his inventory again for something to help– at least for now. Thomas pressed both his hands on Saps’s stomach to try to stop the blood. Flux grabbed his hair and twisted it before finding hair matted with blood on the back of his head. He used his sleeve to wipe the steady flow of blood off his mouth and chin and held his face and begged him to listen and wake up and stay alive–

Flux didn’t know exactly why he was worried, he was supposed to hate Saps, to capture him and kill him. He reasoned that it would be no fun to kill him when he’s already half dead. Once his former friend gets better, he will kill him.

Flux’s attention drifted to where Thomas was pointing; his legs, which were bleeding and bent in ways that limbs should never be bent in. Before Flux even said anything, Thomas had pulled out a plank of wood and a roll of bandages before resetting Saps’s left leg and wrapping the board with bandages to keep it from moving.

His right leg was already too far gone.

Flux felt Saps’s pulse. It was there, but barely. He checked his breathing. Flux let out a sigh of relief once he felt air coming out of his nose, but then it stopped. Frantically, the man pried Saps’s jaw open and drained the blood from his airways, before his breath came back, wet and sticky.

Flux haphazardly wrapped bandages around his torso before standing up and picking up Saps, bridal style. Turning around, he yelled for Thomas to follow him, and started sprinting back to the Luminara bridge.

“Why aren’t we taking the boats?” Thomas asked between gasps of air, he had always hated running.

“They’re too slow, they take hours, shithead.”

“But–” a deep inhale, “–people are gonna see Saps and try to kill him because of the bounty?”

“No they fucking wont.”

“But Flux–”

“Shut the hell up and just focus on following me. Call Gotoga and Snowbird and tell them to go back to the base.”

They sprinted through the tundra, leading bloody footsteps in their wake. The night had almost arrived, and they needed to get back to Island Two before skeletons and creepers took notice of them.

Reaching the Luminara bridge, they ran up the stairs and shoved their way past citizens already on the bridge for one way or another. Thomas mumbled apologies to the ones that got blood on them. Several had recognized Saparata from either the wanted posters or through the grapevine, but the two never stopped.

Finally arriving at the Conspiracy’s base, Thomas pressed the hidden button as the redstone mechanism started opening. Flux handed Saps over to his friend and told him to go lay him on his own room’s floor.

“Are you sure about your room? You don’t like anything–” he hesitated.

“Don’t fucking question me right now. Just do as I say,” he snapped as he rummaged through the cabinets for the first aid kit that Hvy had insisted on keeping. He had never been more grateful for him than right now.

Finding the basket, he went back to his room and Thomas looked up to him, panic evident in his eyes.

“Flux, he’s not breathing.”

Chapter Text

“He’s not breathing.”

Fluixon stopped breathing once he heard those words. For a moment, he just stood there, frozen. Once he snapped out of his trance, he dropped to his knees next to Thomas and placed both hands on Saparata’s chest and started CPR while yelling at his friend to go get a towel from the bathroom. Flux didn’t think about anything else in the moment, only the fact that if Saparata’s heart stopped, he would die and despawn, and Flux decided he wouldn’t be able to be in his bedroom anymore without the ghost of his failures haunting him.

After what felt like years, Saparata started breathing again, and Flux collapsed back onto his knees on the floor, just as Thomas entered the room with a gray towel.

“I couldn’t find a darker or a red one. This one might get stained,” he started as Flux snatched it from his hands and started wiping away as much blood as he could.

“Okay. Go get me a smaller one and the potion that Gotoga made this morning. And scissors.” Thomas nodded before turning out of the room again. Flux turned back to the friend he had betrayed and thoughts swam around in his head, drowning out anything and everything else out. His eyes traced Saps’s face, noticing things he had long forgotten about. Like the light freckles that dotted his nose, and the scar on his chin from when he had tripped when they were kids.

Flux found himself wondering why he did what he did. It had to be done, Flux thought, it was necessary to save the island.

Ironic, considering that the islands were on the brink of war anyways.

Flux distantly wondered what would happen next. Obviously he couldn’t send out a half-dead man into a world who wants to kill him for gold, but also he didn’t want to keep him in their base, either. What if Saps woke up and told everyone where their base was? Would that be detrimental? Or would he not even be able to make it to someone without getting killed?

Flux was snapped out of his thoughts when Thomas came back into the room with a hand towel and a bowl and a bottle of clear liquid. Flux accepted it and opened the bottle to pour it in the bowl before soaking the towel in it. He stood up and grabbed a healing potion from his brewing stand and soaked a towel in that one as well.

Flux sat back down before putting the first towel in Saparata’s mouth, ensuring he wouldn’t wake up in excruciating pain anytime soon, while his skin was quite literally going to be sewn back together and his right leg cut off.

Thomas sat across from Flux, using the scissors to cut off his shirt. Once he was met with the gash on Saps’s stomach, the blood had already dried to the shirt and he didn’t want to reopen the wound by ripping the shirt off, so he looked to Flux who took the scissors and cut around the blood before gently prying it off.

Once his torso and arms were exposed, Flux’s mouth contoured into a frown and Thomas turned away. Scars littered Saparata’s sides and arms, many of which looked self-inflicted, some looked months old, while others looked only a day old. Some were only a couple centimeters, but some were several inches.

Flux tried not to let any vulnerability show as he started to clean off the wound. The more blood that was wiped away, the more he started to realize that this couldn’t have been from fall damage, fall damage doesn’t take a weapon and sink it in your chest, this would have had to be from something else. He examined the laceration that ran from Saps’s left shoulder to right hip, and tried to think of what it could be.

“Axe.” Flux’s head snapped up to Thomas, forgetting he was there.

“What?”

Thomas traced his finger across the cut, careful not to directly touch it. “It looks like an axe wound, see these small tears? Axes have ridges that can do that. Probably netherite with a harming potion coating the blade, it’s too deep to be done without a potion, especially if he had armor on.” Flux narrowed his eyes before glancing down to the cut and then to his axe that was hanging on his wall. Just like Thomas had said, his blade had small ridges.

Flux silently took a needle and thread and slowly started to sew up the wound and Thomas stood up and left, knowing his friend would want to be alone.

Once Flux tied off and cut the string, he took the rag from the bowl with healing and carefully patted it onto the new stitches before bandaging his torso, as well as scanning Sap’s body for any major injuries other than his leg. He wasn’t looking forward to cutting off his leg.

Fluixon’s eyes fell on a large gash on Saparata’s face, one he had surprisingly not noticed before, as it ran down his hairline to the corner of his mouth. It didn’t look too bad, just maybe a couple days old and possibly infected.

He groaned once he was done, knowing now he had to deal with his friend’s leg. He wasn’t a doctor, he didn’t know how to perform amputations. Nonetheless, he washed his hands and got to work.

~~~~

Ages later, Fluixon was in the bathroom throwing away his bloodied gloves and studying himself in the mirror as hot water ran over his hands that he had started to wash. He began to notice how his face had changed recently, he was no longer the child who once stole bread for fun or splashed salt water in people’s faces. He didn’t sew anymore, he had no time. He didn’t sneak through his best friend’s window anymore, no more scaling the brick walls on the side of his house. His eyes had changed. Where vibrant violet eyes once were, a grayer, more muted purple took its place. His eyebrows were more furrowed, leaving soft lines in their wake. He rarely smiled anymore, where once upon a time his parents told him he was going to get smile lines by the age of thirteen.

When did that all start to change? When did he lose his youth, his childlike wonder? Was it when his mom left, or when his dad died? What about when his only friend had moved hundreds of miles away from Luminara, leaving him alone at just fourteen? When he had to stoop down to the level of stealing bread not for fun this time, but just to live to see another day? They say that time heals all wounds, yet a decade hasn’t healed the gaping hole in his chest that had been growing for years.

If he were to die today, what would be left behind of him? Would people even bother telling his story, carrying his legacy?

What was a legacy, exactly? Planting seeds in a garden that wouldn’t grow until decades later, or writing the first notes to a song that wouldn’t be played until the worms were eating through his heart and the moths his brain? Would his legacy be caressed with gold and painted with the person he used to be, or tainted with the person he changed to be?

If the hypothetical moths and worms did chew through his mind, what would they find? Either memories from a life once lived or the sins he had yet to atone for, he decided.

Fluixon shook his head to clear his thoughts as he continued to scrub at his hands, trying to get rid of every speck of blood and guilt that his fingers had ever held but they would forever be tainted by the thought of what could have been.

By the time he was done, his skin was rubbed raw and red. He grabbed a towel and wet it in his shower before leaving the bathroom, making it a point not to look at the blood in the trash.

Glancing back at the unconscious figure on his bed, Flux left the room for the first time in hours, now free from the crimson gore that once tainted his clothes, the ones he had soaked in his sink yet water and soap could never erase the memories and actions that the fabric had been holding onto for years.

Slumping down at the table in the makeshift kitchen, Flux put his head on his crossed arms, trying to steady his breath and racing heart, so he didn’t end up hyperventilating in front of the goons, he would never be able to live it down. Black dots danced in his vision and his eyelids started to flutter closed as he heard the chair next to him squeaked on the wooden floor, a telltale sign someone had sat down. Based on their shoes, he concluded that it was Thomas, who always wore the same exact red sneakers that were starting to get holes in the fabric and the laces were frayed. He had money to get new shoes, but he always claimed that these ones ‘held memories’.

After years of silence and no words from the other, Flux groaned and lifted his head. “What the hell do you want?” he asked the man who was looking around the room and pretending he wasn’t paying attention.

“Oh when did you get here?” Thomas asked, feigning surprise, Flux rolled his eyes at him.

“Don’t be stupid. You’re going to ask something. Just spit it out, jackass.”

Thomas sighed and rested his chin on his palm as he slid a plate of food across the table. “You’re fidgeting.” As confusion spread across the other’s face, Thomas continued. “I’ve known you for five years, man. Don’t be stupid. I know it’s about Saparata. How did it go?” he asked as Flux sighed and ran his hands down his face, picking up the fork and pushing the food around on the plate.

“As well as it could’ve gone. He’s not on the brink of death anymore, but I don’t know why I care. It’s not like… it’s not like he’s staying here forever. Once he heals a little bit more, I’m kicking him out and he’s on his own.” Flux narrowed his eyes as a small smirk danced across the other’s face. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. You’re my favorite oblivious friend.” Flux opened his mouth to yell something, but Thomas disappeared into another room. He rolled his eyes and stood up to grab a glass of water, leaving the food abandoned on the table.

He opened the cabinet and inwardly screamed once he saw that there were no more glass cups, only stupid and ugly-shaped glasses and mugs. Slamming the cabinet shut, he stood there, staring forwards. Eventually, he opened it again and grabbed a stupid glass in the shape of a stupid cactus with stupid flowers on the tips.

Turning on the sink above the stupid cup, Flux found himself again thinking about the person sleeping in his bed and his mind wandered. Did he fall? Did he jump? Did someone push him off the top?

Strangely enough, he found himself weirdly upset at that thought. He was upset that someone else that wasn’t him made an attempt on his life. If someone was going to get the pride of killing Saps, he would’ve wanted it to be him. He realized that he didn’t want the sins of the death of someone who once took up every nook and cranny in his heart. He doesn’t think his heart would ever forgive him if the kid he once played pretend dragons with died at the hands of his own.

Flux was snapped back to reality when he felt the cold water flow over his knuckles. His attitude once changed, he dropped the cup in the sink before turning around and leaving the room. The cold plate of food was left ignored on the plate.

~~~

Later that night, the group found their friend sleeping on his knees against the bed with his hand wrapped around Saparata’s wrist, fingers fluttering around his pulse.

Chapter Text

Fluixon woke up in a cold sweat.

He wasn’t really sleeping, really. He was more like teetering on the edge of being awake and drifting off into dreamland, so it was no surprise that he woke up feeling nothing against his fingers.

Snapping his eyes open, he looked around. Everything was as it was; the watered down glass of coffee on his nightstand from the day prior, his rug gone (as it was in the wash), Saps’s bloodied clothes pushed into a corner…-

Speaking of Saps, Flux whipped his head around to where the boy was sleeping. Sighing a breath of relief, Saps was still in the bed, the same position Flux laid him down in; under the covers and Flux’s pajama pant leg cut and tied around his (now missing) right leg. Everything was normal, but his gut told him that something was wrong in the room.

Flux wrapped his fingers around Saps’s wrist tentatively, heart dropping once he felt nothing.

Frantically, he tried to find his pulse there before moving onto his neck. Still, nothing. Placing a shaky hand on Saps’s chest, blood halting when it refused to move up and down. Flux threw the blankets off him, scanning for something amiss on Saps’s body before his eyes fell on his chest, all bloody, just like how he found the pale man in the snow less than a day ago. It was almost like all his hard work and progress just reset, and they were back to square one.

Flux yelled out for someone as he moved Saparata to the floor again, mind spinning, not knowing what to do. He literally just fixed him up, he thought. He wrapped every wound, sewn every cut with the experience his fingers once had from sewing clothes all those years ago. Unwrapping the bandage on Saps’s chest, Flux’s eyes widened in horror once he saw that all of his stitches were undone, the cut bigger than before, no evidence of it once being fixed.

The bedroom door slammed open, light from the hallway spilling into the dark room. Thomas stood at the front, eyes scanning the room before landing on the two figures in the middle. Seeing the blood on the sheets and floor, he quickly put two and two together.

Flux’s hands were pulled away from his childhood best friend, who was still laying motionless on the wooden floor, blood gurgling out his mouth and seeping through the right pant leg. Flux was too focused on him that everything else felt out of his reach. He distantly felt his hands against someone’s chest, but he didn’t know who. Pleads and begging spilled out from someone’s mouth, and he quickly realized it was his.

Flux’s face was turned away from the bloody corpse and he was now looking at another face, mouth moving but no words were coming out, he was underwater and he was drowning.

From beneath his hands, a heartbeat pulsated but it wasn’t Saps’s and he could finally start to make out the words spilling out. He realized it was Thomas, who was talking to him and trying to pull him from the panic attack that consumed his body and racked it with fear.

“What happened?” were the first words he could make out clearly. Flux shook his head shakily and quickly, willing tears not to bubble over his eyelids and slip down his cheeks.

“I-I don’t know. I woke up and then I felt his pulse and I couldn’t find anything and he wasn’t breathing and all bloody like the stitches didn’t even exist and oh my god he’s dead–” words spilled out Flux’s lips before he could stop as a sharp intake of breath interrupted his mumbling. Turning to his left, he saw Gotoga who had pulled up Saps’s right pant leg, showing a limb that was merely just cut off but not sewn and mended, just like someone had chopped it off and Flux could still see bone. Blood was gushing from the open blood vessels and veins and showed no sign of stopping soon.

“I fixed it I swear please believe me, I sewed it up and wrapped it with a bandage and mended it in the way that it would heal as a nub without bleeding I promise why won’t anyone believe me–” sobs spilled from Flux’s mouth before Thomas gently took Flux’s head and pressed it against his shoulder for comfort and to blind him from the horrific sight. Gotoga and Hvy were trying to stop the bleeding but to no avail while Snowbird watched from the doorway, frozen.

After a couple minutes or a couple hours (he couldn’t tell), Flux saw Saps’s body being picked up out of the corner of his eye. He scrambled away from Thomas (who was still trying to refrain him) and reached out for his best friend enemy. Sobs and pleads fell upon deaf ears as the room blurred around him, Thomas finally taking hold of him.

Defeated, Flux collapsed onto his knees, screams and cries echoed around the room before he realized they were from him. Flux was on his knees, his arm wrapped around one of Thomas’s arms against his will, but he was too tired to care.

Eventually, Fluixon wore himself out so much that he ended up collapsing and losing consciousness in his friend’s arms.

~Saparata has died.~

~~~

The next morning, the kitchen was silent. Flux was still in Thomas’s room (his was still too bloody), the door shut and locked. The rest of the Conspiracy was going on about their morning routine, but the room was filled with uncomfortable silence. Thomas flipping pancakes as if he were a robot, his mind somewhere else. Gotoga sitting at the counter, sipping his cereal milk, a faraway look in his eyes. Hvy was writing, but his pencil led kept snapping and paper kept ripping, eventually leading him to give up and let his head fall onto the table. Snowbird was still in his room. He had never been good with blood and gore.

~~~

The funeral was a blur for Fluixon.

They had decided to hold a private one, as the rest of the server would be too busy partying and celebrating Saparata’s death to be bothered to mourn him.

Flux found that thought bitter.

He realized that Saps could’ve done so much more if he only had time.

It was raining on the beach of Saps’s vacation home, as if the universe was mourning the man as well. Despite the wet, Flux found it ironic, considering rainstorms was Saparata’s favorite weather. Maybe it was a sign letting them know he made it across and into Lady Death’s arms safely, and that he was in a better place now.

Flux bit his tongue, believing that the best place for his childhood best friend would be in his arms, with the former apologizing for everything he had done and promising amends. Maybe it would end with them watching the sunset one last time, like they always had.

Maybe Saps finally got to taste the eventide.

Maybe it tasted like grapefruit sorbet.

~~~

Weeks later, Fluixon found himself on top of the very structure that killed his best friend. It was snowing, and Flux watched as the flakes swirled around in the breeze from where he was, swinging his legs off the edge. They glowed orange and pink in the lighting of golden hour, falling like glitter.

Flux hadn’t been able to sleep or eat or drink since the night of Saparata’s death, no matter how much his group of goons begged. He couldn’t stomach anything, believing he was at fault for his friend taking his life, where Flux was about to follow suit.

He had never thought his death would be at the hands of himself. He had always believed that it would end in some epic battle, dying in glory, or with the people he cared about all with him as he crossed. Never by himself.

If you were to tell the Fluixon from two months ago that he would end up caring about the man he betrayed so much to the point where he was willing to end his life to get rid of the guilt, he would have laughed in your face.

Without Saps and his goons, it was too quiet in the base now. While Saps had never been conscious in the base, Flux knew that he would’ve made it livelier.

He never liked the quiet before.

Flux looked up at the sunset swirl of pink and orange and gold, reminding him of Saps’s golden headpiece he always wore. Flux had found it stupid before.

Not anymore. He would give anything to see it one more time, to hear his friend’s stupid voice. He never thought that his laugh would leave such a big crater in his soul.

Flux had left the base without telling anyone, as they would have surely stopped him. He just told them he was going to bed early and locked his door before slipping out the window. He wasn’t truly careless, he left them a letter, he could’ve written it better.

He hoped it would explain everything.

Flux felt free in the cold tundra wind, his soul soaring high above from his guilt and regret, raising a glass to freedom and all that.

The sun was halfway behind the mountains in the distance, the golden light starting to fade into the night where the day would give way to the moon and her constellations, always telling stories, always guiding lost souls home.

Looking back at the sky for the last time, Flux realized it really did look like grapefruit sorbet.

Maybe it would taste like it, too.

He let go, and for once, falling had never felt so freeing, as he knew, to fall means you once soared.

~Fluixon fell from a high place.~

Chapter Text

The first thing Saparata saw when he opened his eyes was a black void. No light, no sound, just darkness and silence.

Saps had always hated the silence. The silence let his mind wander to places he tried to leave, remembering things he tried to forget.

He rubbed his eyes and opened them again just to see nothing. Again. Sighing, he didn’t know why he expected anything else, why he ever expected anything else.

Was this it? Was this the afterlife? Just a blank and dark void? If this was everything there ever was, was it worth it? Saps didn’t know what he was going to do now. Just sit in the darkness forever, alone with his thoughts and mind? Would he rather be alone in the tundra, running like a rabbit until he eventually met his demise? He had always believed that it would end in some epic battle, dying in glory, or with the people he cared about all with him as he crossed. Never by himself.

He was never by himself.

Even as a kid, he didn’t like being alone. Living in Luminara, he always had a constant figure in his life, his best friend, who had made it his life mission to constantly be by his side, annoying and bugging him to no end. Whenever he was alone in his quiet home with just him, Fluixon scaled his brick walls into his window. When he didn’t find the energy or motivation to do something, Fluixon dragged him out of his bed and into the streets to steal bread or splash salt water at his face or something.

When Saparata’s parents uprooted him from the only place he’d ever known and the only friend he’d ever had to move to the Coalition, he begged and pleaded not to go, saying he would be alone, saying he could move in with Flux. Despite his begging, his parents didn’t care.

They never cared. Saps didn’t know why he didn’t realize it sooner.

Growing up in a home where wine bottles were smashed on the tile floor and punches breaking through the drywall, he became accustomed to it. Thought of it as the norm, thought it was normal for every father to pass out on the couch from alcohol, for every mother to be locked in her room all day, for all parents to be gone for days at a time getting money, yet Saps never actually saw the money (they were using it for drugs).

The only person who actually cared was his best friend, who more often than not brought Saparata to his home where his mother made him his favorite food and his father patched him up and Flux kissed the bruises, claiming it scared the pain away.

He remembered being pretend boyfriends on the playground, the time where they had a pretend wedding during break in elementary school. The flower petals were dried leaves, the officiant was Thomas, the groomsmen were the rest of Flux’s friends. They had gathered their whole class to watch. The vows were about stupid things like who was going to swing first on the swings and who got to use the bicycle instead of the broken scooter, the rings were ring pops.

Flux had promised him that one day, one day he would get a real ring and they’d have a real wedding, with real flower petals and real promises.

Saps wondered if he still remembered his promise.

They planned out their future, where they’d live, how many places they were going to travel to, like the cities or the fortresses. How they were going to trade with Piglins in the nether and find elytras in the end, how they were going to start a new nation and rule it together, naming it Theria.

Saps then remembered when it had all gone downhill. After Saps’s mother died, his father forced him to move miles away from the only home he’d ever known, despite his constant pleading and tears and threats and promises. He had tried to go to Flux’s house one time after a particularly bad argument between his parents, and Flux didn’t let him in.

He wondered if that was where it all went downhill.

At first, he and Flux kept in touch regularly, with notes and letters. One day, the letters just stopped coming in the mail, despite the constant communication they had. Saps sent more and more letters, but radio silence on the other end.

A memory shoved its way to the front of Saparata’s mind. It was the day that would traumatize him forever. He had come home from playing at the park with his pretend-boyfriend, and found the house quiet. Usually, there was some sound, like the TV or yelling from his parents’ room.

Nothing. Just quiet in the house. Unsettled by this, Saps had searched around the house for anything. His father was passed out on the couch, as per usual. His mother’s shit was all gone from the countertops, which he found weird, as everything was regularly scattered around the house.

Careful not to wake his father, he tiptoed down the hallway to the master bedroom, avoiding the bags on the ground. Finding it closed, he knocked on the door. No answer, knocked another time. His mother wasn’t a heavy sleeper, and knocking usually woke her up. Not that Saps ever wanted to wake her up. She was scary when she was woken up. However, Saps had a weird feeling in his stomach, one that he wanted his mom. Like a little kid, he wanted his mom, despite everything she had done and all the substances she had taken. ‘

Opening the door, Saps had seen something that he wished he could burn from his memory. His mother was passed out on the floor, gray and limp, vomit by her mouth. Scattered around her were empty bottles of medication and drugs.

He doesn’t remember anything else from that day, or the days moving forward. He remembered being told that she was already gone, that there was nothing anyone could’ve done. He remembered his father being angry at him, always at him.

He remembers moving away from Luminara, from the only familiarity he had ever known. He remembered passing the beach he used to go to with his parents, before everything crashed down. In his hand, a bracelet, one that he and Flux made, they made matching ones.

Saps didn’t even get to say goodbye. Maybe it would’ve changed things.

Maybe not.

White dots brought him back to the present. As soon as he blinked, they were gone. He was about to chalk it up to him going insane, before they appeared before. This time, it was in the form of one large dot, far away, one that didn’t disappear when he blinked.

Saps weighed his options. He knew he had died. But was this really the afterlife? Was this it? Alone in a void, forever, in the same silence that taunted him every time he closed his eyes?

On the other hand, it was lonely. He knew the other side would have him running for his life, for who knows how long. It had lonely winters and homes. But it had light, light that this limbo didn’t possess. It had the sun and the moon and twinkling stars that guided home. The other side had animals and life and beings and opportunities and Fluixon and second chances.

Was death really worth it if this was all there was? Just a shell of himself, floating around in the void for the rest of forever?

Picking up his body and forcing his limbs to move, he started making his way towards the light. He didn’t know what possessed him, for he knew that if it was up to him, he would stay here forever but would he?.

Getting closer and closer, a blinding light overtook his senses as his eyes closed and he fell.

~~~

The first thing Saparata noticed was that everything hurt. His arms, his legs, even parts of his body he didn’t know existed all felt like they were on fire. He tried to open his eyes, but it felt as if he were trying to accomplish the impossible. It felt like his eyelids were glued shut.

Light flooded his senses once they opened, but he immediately closed them again. Opening them for the second time, he noticed that he wasn’t even bright wherever he was, instead, it was quite the contrary. The only light there was, a dim lamp in the corner in the shape of an enderman Flux had the same one.

Taking the time he had, Saps looked around the room, trying to make sense of where he was. He came to the conclusion that he was on a bed, as if the blanket on him and the pillow supporting his neck weren’t already a dead giveaway.

He noted that the curtain blocking a window was a sheer purple fabric, and from the fact that there was no light flooding through, Saps concluded that it was night.

The bed he was laying on was pushed to the middle of a wall and had a soft, pillowy sheet and a deep purple duvet. His pillow felt like a cloud, and it almost made him want to fall back asleep again, but he ignored the thought.

The floor looked to be spruce planks. Covering part of it, a dark purple rug with intricate designs and golden tassels sat. A spruce nightstand stood next to the bed, with nothing on it but a lamp and a book with a pair of glasses on top. The book was thick, and looked like something Flux would read. Saps almost laughed at the thought.

The walls were a deep purple, making the room feel cozy but with all the decorations, almost elegant. A closed door was off to the left, leading to a bathroom, Saps guessed. Some sort of canopy hung above the top of the bed, and a macrame hung above a desk near the bed, which was also spruce with minimal clutter.

Damn. What was with the obsession of spruce? And purple, holy shit.

Saps’s attention was drawn away from the room and back to his aching body. He knew, that despite the pain, he was going to have to get out of here one way or another. He didn’t know who captured him and why, but he was sure that they were going to kill him, maybe torture him if they had seen the wanted posters of him.

Ignoring his body’s protests, he began to sit up, using his right arm to support him, as his left wasn’t listening to him. Saps’s torso screamed at him, and looking down, he noticed it was wrapped with bandages, as was his left arm.

The memory resurfaced. Strangers, axes, fighting. Pain, blood, his armor cracked and broken pieces thrown to the side, others slicing into his body, as it was diamond.

A creak from the door across the room pulled him from his thoughts, and he looked up to see someone coming in, head turned the opposite way, as if talking to someone outside the room.

“You’re actually so stupid, I already said I was going to do it.” A pause. “No, dumbass, that is not what he said! Maybe if you used your brain for once, you wouldn’t be so incompetent. Wait one second, I’m grabbing something for him.” Turning back to the room, the person with brown hair leaned over to the desk before locking eyes with Saps. Time froze for a second before the person hurried over to the bed, lightly stopping Saps from getting up. “Hey, you can’t get up. It’s, um, it’s going to mess with your stitches and everything he did. Please, just lay back down, and I’ll, uhh…”

Holy shit.

It was Thomas, the man Saps hadn’t seen since before the murders and before everything came crashing down. Saps didn’t even protest as he was pushed down into the pillows, his mind racing.

“Uhhh, hey, Gotoga? Hey, can you get Fluixon? No, yeah, just tell him. Yeah, I know, I will, just tell him to come here.” At the mention of his ex-friend, Saps’s mind went into overdrive, his breaths coming in short. Flux was going to kill him, holy shit, he didn’t even get the chance to die from himself as he had tried, Flux was going to be the one to kill him, to get the pride and honor of his death and holy shit he needs to get out of here–

“Hey, stop that.” Thomas’s voice made Saps freeze, the man gently pulling his hands to stop his nails from digging into his palms. “Stop thinking, you’re going to hurt yourself.” Why was he being so gentle? This was the man who betrayed him, what in Ish’s name was going on?

“I know you’re probably confused and scared, but I promise we can explain everything, okay? Please, just stop moving, you’re going to rip out the stitches.” Stitches? Did they fucking bandage him up, just to end up killing him in the end?

“Your body is still healing, okay? You’re going to exhaust it if you keep putting it into overdrive. I know you have questions, and we’ll answer them, with one hundred percent transparency and honesty this time, I promise.” Saps opened his mouth to respond, before the door creaked open again.

Looking over, obsidian eyes met muted purple ones for the first time in ages.

Chapter Text

One doesn’t kill people because it is fun, they kill to protect. But once they kill, the hunger in them never settles and eats them from the inside out.

~~~

It had been a week since Saparata had been brought in unconscious. In that week, he had been on the brink of death a couple times. Fluixon hadn’t slept in his bed, felt as if it would be weird and uncomfortable. After a couple days, Flux’s goons had convinced him to come out of his room and spend time with them. Slowly, Flux found himself spending more and more time out of his room, eventually only going in a couple times a day.

Thomas had almost set the place on fire when he had tried to make bread one morning, so Flux dedicated himself to be the one to cook, ignoring the protests of his friend. ‘I didn’t mean it, I swear!’ and ‘Come on Flux, it was only once!’

Flipping the pancakes on the stove, Fluixon ignored the noise behind him, which were his friends arguing about who got which cup for breakfast, and who got the rest of the orange juice. Gotoga claimed it should be him to get the juice because he hadn’t gotten any, but Snowbird had bought it.

Flux had tasked Thomas to cook the bacon in the oven, a task he surely couldn’t mess up. All he had to do was put a pan in the oven and take it out in five minutes.

“What’s that smell?” Flux froze where he was standing once he heard Thomas behind him. Slowly turning his head to his friend, who was getting a plate.

“Thomas.”

“I didn’t do anything, I swear! I set it for fifteen minutes, like you said!” he claimed, Flux pinched his bridge.

“I said five minutes, you fucking incompetent idiot,” Fluixon snapped as he grabbed a kitchen towel to fan the smoke. Opening the oven, a plume of smoke rose from inside, making him cough to expel the vapor from his lungs. Thomas laughed nervously as he reached in to grab the pan, yelping and dropping it, making it clatter onto the floor. Clutching his wrist, Thomas groaned as he watched a line of red bloom onto his hand.

Finally having fanned most of the smoke away, Fluixon strode over to the sink, dragging Thomas with him. He shoved Thomas’s palm under the faucet and turned on the cool water. “You’re so stupid, holy shit. It was in the oven, of course it would burn you.”

Several minutes later, Thomas’s hand was coated with burn cream with a bandage wrapped around (he didn’t even need a bandage, but they had pink ones, and he was ‘childish’ — Flux’s words).

Fluixon was now attempting to do away with the burnt smell that now plagued the kitchen with the help of Snowbird. Flux had told Thomas to go get his diamonds from his room, as he had decided to go buy something in Luminara to help with the smell. Thomas left, stomping towards the other’s room, snapping at the others before his voice trailed off. Fluixon didn’t think anything of it until he heard his name being called, Gotoga entering the kitchen.

“Fluixon, Thomas is needing you,” he said as Flux grumbled under his breath, throwing the towel onto the counter before stomping over to his room.

“What? You literally know where they are, dumbass. I told you last week. The pouch is in my—” Flux’s voice dwindled down once he stepped into his room. For the first time in ages, muted purple eyes met obsidian.

The two just stared at each other before Flux stepped fully into his room. “Thomas, go back out. Go to Luminara and get something to help with the smoke. Ask Hvy for diamonds.” Despite Thomas’s protest, he left the room and shut the door.

Flux rubbed his temples before stepping closer to the bed, Saparata’s glare following him the whole way.

“Why am I here?” he snapped, voice still raspy from not using it in a week.

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Fluixon, I’m not being stupid. This isn’t fair, please let me go. Why am I here, you’re going to kill me.”

“What makes you think that?” Flux asked, Saparata looking at him as if he’d grown three heads.

“Are you stupid? There’s a million dollar bounty on my head, and a ‘kill on sight’ placed against me? And you’re asking why I think you’re going to kill me? Flux, this is the result of your stupid plan. I’m the most wanted man on Island Two because of you.” Saps’s voice rose in volume, resulting in him coughing, expelling the remaining blood in his throat and lungs.

“I know.”

“Then why? Why did you do any of this? Why me?’

Fluixon sighed as folded his arms. “Look, I didn’t want it to be you. Hell, I wanted it to be anyone but you. But you were the most neutral figure on the island, and everyone would believe it was you. I believed that if I could make a common enemy across the Island, the whole Island would come together and unite when Island One attacks.” Saparata stared at him, hurt evident in his eyes, but anger overtaking it.

“You planted a trap with dripstone in my roof, Fluixon. The very same roof I trusted you and your friends to build. You convinced me to go gather the leaders for a meeting, promising that you guys would finish it. You promised you would finish it—”

“Technically, I did finish it—”

“–-I’m not fucking done, Fluixon.” Flux closed his mouth. “You were my best friend, and you framed several murders on me. I had to watch the dripstone impale several innocent people, them dropping like flies. Blood splattered across my pillars— the pillars you helped build— and the room. There were dead bodies in my house, Fluixon. I watched them die in front of me, unable to do anything. I had to leave while people were dying, unable to save anyone, because it was clear as day that it looked like I was the… the ‘mastermind’ behind it all.” Fluixon was silent as Saparata continued.

“You don’t fucking know what it’s like to be on the run for your life. I had nothing to eat for days in the swamp. Thinking that a fair trial would prove my innocence, it ended with my execution, which I also had to run from, barely escaping with my life, having to stitch myself up alone in fly infested waters. You obviously don’t know what it’s like, because while I was trying to survive, you were… what? Sitting here, wherever this is, making more ‘master plans’? Sleeping on silk bedsheets while I had to not sleep at all? Eating gourmet meals while all I had was raw fish and apples, not daring to make a campfire, not risking the smoke signaling to someone that I was there?

“Flux, I trusted you. I’ve known you my whole life, and I don’t know what I would’ve done to deserve this. When I told you I would be cheering you on no matter what you were doing, no matter the stance on our relationship, I would’ve never believed it would be… be this. I don’t— I don’t know what to think anymore.” Saps looked at his own hands. “I don’t know who you are anymore.”

Fluixon then found his socks more interesting than the conversation, hating how vulnerable he seemed right now.

“I wish it wasn’t like this. I’m sorry. Really. I am.”

“I don’t forgive you.”

“I know.”

A heavy silence filled the room for several moments before the rustling of blankets broke the pause, the taller looked up to see Saparata sitting up. “This is bullshit. I’m leaving.”

Flux watched silently as Saps threw the blankets off, his eyes trailing down to his foot, hurt filling his eyes as he silently mouthed oh. “Flux?” his voice came out small, like a child who just wanted for everything to be okay.

“I know.”

“Flux, what—...”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“...You were going to die. It was infected. Ish, Saps, it was bad. You didn’t see it, but it… it was bad. I wish I didn’t have to.”

“You could’ve left it. It would’ve gotten better, it would’ve fixed itself Flux, why did you—”

Flux interrupted him as Saps put his head in his hands. “No, it wouldn’t have. I promise Saps. If you had seen it yourself, you would believe me. Please believe me. You— it could’ve given you sepsis. You could’ve died.”

It was silent for a moment before quiet sobs came from the bed. Crossing the room in three steps, Flux wrapped his former friend in his arms. The two just stayed like that for several minutes, until the cries quieted down, and Flux stepped back. Saps just stared at his ‘leg’.

“It’s not too bad,” Flux tried to reason, “It’s like mine. You know, people with prosthetics are cooler than those without. We can be cooler than Thomas now, because he’s boring,” Flux said awkwardly, as he never had known what to say in situations like these.

“I’m not normal anymore, Flux. I can’t walk.”

“Yeah, you can. Snowbird is really good with redstone. He made my arm,” Flux said, flexing his metal arm to prove his point. It was silent for a moment.

“I still hate you. You hurt me really bad.”

“I know.”

“I don’t forgive you.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

The two stared at each other, an understanding look passed between them. Things weren’t the same, and they would probably never be.

But they were going to try.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week went smoothly, if you could even call it that. Saparata still spent a lot of time in Fluixon’s bed, as he refused to get up and converse with the very people that betrayed his trust. Despite this, Thomas still came in every day, sometimes multiple times a day, to talk to him, rant about the other Conspiracy members, sometimes even bringing meals. Slowly, Saps started to warm up to him, started to believe that he was trying to make up for his actions, for Thomas didn’t directly plant the dripstone.

Fluixon hadn’t visited his former friend since the first day he was awake. Saps told himself that it was for the better, that he didn’t want Flux to come by, but his heart betrayed his head. Deep down, Saps believed that Flux didn’t care for him, because even though he apologized, he hadn’t proved yet that he was sorry, and Saps was a firm believer that actions spoke louder than words.

“And he claimed that he didn’t say that, even though he did! And Gotoga was even there to witness it, but he claimed that he wasn’t. Can you believe that? It's insane. so now i’m on dishes duty,” Thomas complained from where he was sprawled out on Flux’s couch, arms moving wildly as he talked. Saps just snorted from where he was curled up on the bed, clutching the blanket up to his neck as it was winter and the cold reminded him too much of his tower.

“That sucks,” he rasped out. “Maybe you can plant glitter bombs in his shoes.”

“Oh my Ish, you are so right. That would be so funny, just imagine one day Hvy tries to put on his shoes and boom, pink glitter everywhere, all over his socks and pants! Maybe I could even put a cup of glitter above his doorway so when he opens his door, he gets doused in it. Will you help me?”

Saps hesitated. For one, he couldn’t walk. But Thomas was trying really hard to make it up to him. And apparently, Snowbird was making a prosthetic leg. But he wasn’t sure how that was coming along.

“It doesn’t have to be today,” Thomas continued. “But I just want to do it sometime before anyone figures out our master plan.” Saps slowly nodded.

“Okay.”

“Can I tell you about the drama that happened in Luminara the other day, when Snowbird and I were walking through?” Saps didn’t answer, as he knew the other would tell him anyway. “Okay, so the two of us were just walking through the streets, right? Looking at all the vendors, right? Yeah, so we were just normally walking like how normal people do because we are normal people, Snowbird looking at all the stalls with redstone… oh my Ish, Saps, there are so many people selling redstone. What even is the difference? I don’t know but he was picking up each piece and each little bag and inspecting it. Anyways, we were at one stall and he was negotiating with the vendor, I was trailing in the back because it was boring and then–” Thomas was interrupted by the door opening.

“Thomas, shut up. Saps doesn’t care about your story,” Flux said, entering the room, holding something in his real hand. Saps narrowed his eyes.

“Actually, I do. You can’t speak for me, you have not talked to me this whole time, you don’t know what I like and don’t like,” he snapped, sitting up. Flux just nodded and sat down on the bed.

“Thomas, you can leave.”

“I want him here.”

“Okay.” Flux placed the item in front of him, a prosthetic leg. It was fully metal, and it had a piece on the bottom that made it easy to put on shoes or whatever. It was all black, and it didn’t have a cover on it, so you could see all the small parts inside. Despite everything, Saps admitted it really did look cool.

“This is the base design. The interior. From here on out, we can put whatever cover on it and whatever color. Just, uh… yeah,” he explained awkwardly. Thomas had left the couch and was now sitting in between Saps and Flux, looking at the leg.

“That’s so sick. Do you think I could chop off my leg? Then can I get one?” Flux just rolled his eyes at his friend as Saps snorted.

“Uh, I don’t really care. It… it would be cool if you could still see the inside somehow. Like a clear covering or whatever.” Flux nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I’m sure Snowbird could make that work. He prides himself on being the ‘redstone master’ or whatever.” The three just sat in silence for several moments, each one of them thinking different thoughts before Flux spoke up.

“Uh, do you need anything, Saps? Like actually. Don’t just say no, because I know when you’re lying,” he said, picking at his cuticles. “Like anything.”

“Um, it would be nice to have clean hair. I don’t like the dried blood and dirt in it,” Saps said hesitantly, Flux nodding and standing up, kicking Thomas out for real this time, telling him to bring the prosthetic to Snowbird and explain.

~~~

About an hour later, the two of them were sitting on Fluixon’s bed again, sheets washed and gentle fingers braiding through clean, soft, snowy white hair. It was quiet. But for once in a long time, it was peaceful silence, instead of the heavy silence it had been for a while. They were kids again, braiding hair with soft hands and flower stems, oblivious to the world outside their small reign of knowledge, because they were each other’s world.

Saps was just quietly looking around the room, content to just let his former best friend’s touch ground him. He noticed that the book on his nightstand was something about ancient history, the kind of book he had always teased Saps for reading.

Huh.

There was a small framed photo under his lamp. It was of two small figures facing the ocean at sunset, the grapefruit-like eventide in front of them. They were standing in the waves, one was splashing salt water at the other. You couldn’t hear it, but Saps knew they were laughing.

Moving his gaze over to his friend’s Flux’s desk, he noticed a familiar envelope with a purple wax seal on it. The envelope was open, the seal still intact. So he did open it.

Why didn’t he write back?

The comfortable silence was broken by Flux tying off the braid. “Okay. It’s done. I’m not as good as I used to be.”

“That’s okay. Thank you.”

The two were quiet again.

“Hey, I have a question,” Flux asked, Saps just humming in response. “What happened?”

“What do you mean? I fell.”

“No, I know that. But how? Did someone push you?” he asked, Saps’s breath hitching.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Saps, you’re going to have to talk about it eventually. You have to tell us if you want help.”

“I don’t want your help.”

“But you want help.”

It was silent before Flux broke it.

“Saps–”

“Just drop it, Flux,” Saps said as Flux stood up, trying to conceal his anger. He had never been good keeping in control of his emotions.

“Saps, this isn’t fair. I’m trying to help you and you’re being all pissy about it. You complain about me not helping and now you’re complaining about me helping! What is it you want from me?” he asked, glaring.

“This isn’t about you, Flux,” Saps snapped. “You think this isn’t fair to you? It wasn’t fair to me when you betrayed me and tried to get me killed! That’s what’s not fair. You whine and gripe about ‘wahh this isn’t fair’ or ‘I’m mad at you for being mad at me after I hurt you’,” he mocked, Flux standing there, trying to still his shaking fists.

“Shut the fuck up, Saps. You have no idea about what was going on with me. I didn’t want to betray you, yet here you are, whining about how fun I had hurting you. You act like I chose to do it and you have no idea how much it hurt me!”

“This isn’t fucking about you, Fluixon!” yelled Saps. “You could’ve gone any other route that didn’t involve killing people and framing me! Like, I don’t know, maybe use your fucking brain and realize that Island One was not going to attack us? Or try to talk it out calmly?”

“Saps, you don’t get to be mad about this,” Flux argued.

“You don’t get to decide how I feel about this! I have the right to be mad, I have the right to be fuming, and if I hated you, you wouldn’t have the right to whine about it because you did terrible things! I tried to kill myself! Is that what you wanted to hear? I jumped because I was so fucking sick and tired of being hunted because every single person wants me dead!” Saps yelled. It became so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and Flux had frozen, ice running through his veins.

“Saps, you–” he started.

“Get the fuck out. I don’t want you in here right now,” Saps pleaded, voice had gone soft and shaky. For once, Fluixon didn’t argue, just left the room and closed the door.

Collapsing on a chair at the table, Flux just put his head in his shaking hands, trying not to hyperventilate. He thought about what Saps had told him, about how he tried to kill himself.

It was because of him, wasn’t it?

Flux was the reason his best friend Saps almost died.

Flux thought he had saved him, had picked him up from the hole he was in and saved him.

It turned out that he was the one who dug the hole in the first place. He was the reason that the kid he used to play dragons with tried to end everything. Flux was always the one to save his friend from the dragon, when he was the dragon all along.

A silent tear slipped down his face.