Somehow between a war, scouting and assisting HD in the medical tent, TK found the time to steal just a few small little diamonds from HQ. Surely he won't notice they're gone? Oh no, he noticed. Oh no, he's angry
Technically this should be the second fic I should have posted but this one just got done quicker. Was really in the zone with this one. As I said these two fics are just VERY self-indulgent to my current fixation. It'll pass and then I'll get back to regular posting.
WARNING BEFORE YOU CONTINUE TO READ:
This fic is arguably ROMANTIC. There are ROMANTIC scenes including things like kissing and flirting. Therefore it is labelled ROMANTIC. Nothing NSFW and they aren't even in a relationship but it is still ROMANTIC in nature. Please click away if you do not want to read about ROMANCE or ROMANTIC type scenes.
Hopefully that gets the message across :D
Enjoy~
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It was a humbling experience to know when you were about to die.
TK had always believed they would face their death with a calm certainty or they’d go out in a cool badass battle and taking some souls with them.
It was humiliating to know their death would be for a reason as lame as being caught stealing.
The camp was at a perfect sweet spot of being set up just enough to feel like home, but also never properly tied down so they could up and leave at a moments notice. Nestled in the middle of a thick taiga forest and surrounded by dried fallen leaves at all side meant they could hear when anyone was approaching. While not trying to hide but trying to be as non-suspicious as possible, TK slipped around the edge of the camp to slide into the medical tent.
There were thankfully no injured soldiers since there had been about a week of no Warden sighting. That left the tent quiet for HD, standing over a rocky mortar and pestle station, to sort though his herbs.
“Hey...” TK cleared their throat and lowered their mask to speak. They slipped down to sit over one of the makeshift beds. It was really just a nest of leaves, moss and fur.
“What did you do?” HD’s accused without even looking up from his task.
TK hid their shock as offence. “What makes you think I’ve done anything!”
“Because you slunk in here from the back, when usually you’d burst through like a ferret high on sugar.”
“Well... Maybe I wanted to be considerate to any injured.”
“What did you do?”
The accusation stung and deflated any chance TK had to hide their crime. But it was freeing to just speak openly.
“Okay. Well... Just as an example. Say someone stole something from...from a daemon. How badly did they fuck up?”
The groan HD let out was mixed with frustration and tiredness. Still he carried on with his task, and grabbed an empty vial off the quickly made shelf. “What did you steal from HQ?”
“Wah... Why do you automatically assume the worst of me?! And how do you know it was from HQ?”
“Well...” HD carefully cupped the herbs of the shelves edge and into the bottle. “I know you’re not stupid to steal from someone you don’t know, so it’s not a random daemon. You are terrified of 4K. And you buzz around HQ like a wasp anytime he’s near.”
TK wanted to point out that was only because HQ buzzed around them just as much, but thought better of it as it would not help their case.
“So what did you take? You better not have taken any of his jewellery. I’ve told you not to mess with that.”
TK was actually offended to the suggestion there, though honestly they couldn’t lie; it had been tempting. HQ just had so many bangles around his wrists and ankles. A golden shiny temptation that jangled anytime he walked. He, of course, wouldn’t take the most precious of his jewels to battle and had left them at his tent. TK had admired them for a while before focusing on the task at hand.
“No! I’m not that dumb! I just... I needed some diamonds.”
Fifteen diamonds, to be exact.
TK snooped through HQ’s stuff (though could it really be called snooping when they already knew where everything was) and found a bag of carefully hidden diamonds. There had been a lot more than fifteen but not enough to hide the fact that fifteen would be missing. TK took them with the promise that they would go mining before HQ got back from his mission and they’d just mine and replace the ones they took.
How easy the plan had been, if TK had not constantly put off the task. Their excuse of “it’ll be so easyyyy” had not worked out when they left it to the last minute and all they had found was 4 diamonds that sat heavy in their pouch around their waist.
And HQ was coming back to camp. Now.
“Look! I just need more time.” TK reasoned. They had it all worked out in their head. “When HQ comes back just tell him I went of scouting to another camp.”
“Nope.” HD said so casually as he sorted through another pile of herbs.
“N-Wha! Why?!”
“I’m not getting in the middle of whatever you two have going on. When he comes in asking where you are, I will not be lying to him.”
“Just... It’s not a lie!” TK scrambled for a new plan. “It’s just...well you don’t know! When I leave here, I could be off to scout for another camp!”
“Well you better hurry then. Because HQ has just arrived back.”
TK went still and quiet. Their ears twitched and they could hear the crunch of the dried leaves. The footfalls of a group returning to camp, and the camp all greeting them. The words were soft and kind, so the group had returned successful.
“Doesn’t sound like any injured either, so you can’t even use that as an excuse.” HD pulled out another vial. “So you better start running.”
TK didn’t have to be told twice. They bolted out of the tent, leaving through the back the same way they had come in. A new plan quickly formed in their head and while trying to keep to the shadows of camp, TK made their way to the kitchens.
Instead of a tent, the kitchens were a quickly build little hut. They were always working, cooking various foods for all in the camp and making sure everyone had enough to eat. TK caught the whiff of that fresh bread smell before they pulled up their mask and quickly stepped in through the curtain.
“Oh! Hello TK.”
One of the bakers kindly greeted them. She looked tired, but smiled warmly still as she put aside a few trays of fresh bread. “What brings you here?”
TK glanced back to the curtain out and then back to the baker. They were running out of time.
“HD sent me here. Uh... Wondering if you have a bottle? Like a spray bottle? He needs it for some herbs or something.”
The lie came easily. It was real easy to lie when their life was on the line.
“A spray bottle?” Baker wiped the flour on her apron. “Uh... Yeah let me check. I’m sure I have a few.”
She went to the corner of the hut, behind one of the glowing ovens and started looking through a box.
A small semblance of hope started to grow in TK’s chest. Then there was the scream.
“WHERE ARE THEY?!”
Angry. Guttural. Definitely from HQ.
“Was that HQ? He sounds mad.” Baker giggled from the box. “Wonder what’s with him? Sounded like he was in a good mood when they all came back.”
“Yeah, yeah. Mystery.” A bead of sweat ran down TK’s temple. “Bottle! Please. HD really needs it.”
They should have felt guilty for rushing but TK was in survival mode at that point. They bounced foot to foot before Baker pulled back; spray bottle in hand.
“Ah! Here! It’s not big though, I hope that’s okay.” She handed the bottle over. It was barely the size of TK’s hand, with a push down spray at the top. “Tell HD to rinse it out first, I think it was used for oil before.”
“I will! Yep! Thanks again!”
TK snuck out with more care than they had when they slipped into the hut. They came out just in time to see HQ stomping his way to the medical tent, and throwing open the curtains.
“Hello, HQ.” HD greeted calmly.
“Where is TK?! Don’t tell me you don’t know!”
“TK went to the kitchens.”
If they weren’t sneaking off to the forest, TK would have screamed from the betrayal. Well, they did stop and give a look around to the sheer audacity of it, but that was a mistake as that was right when HQ looked over and their eyes definitely locked.
“YOU!”
TK bolted through the trees. Their heart racing when they heard the sounds of HQ following right after them.
Through the start of their chase, TK never turned round for fear they’d see HQ just a grabs distance away from them. They just focused on making every sharp turn and jumped over every tree branch but it was going to be hard to lose someone when the forest floor was littered in the leaves. They had to run far enough where the leaves stopped, or at least were less and their break only came when they pulled another sharp turn and could see a small chasm under the dip of a hill. The other side held a mix of taiga and birch trees. And no fallen leaves.
Risky but worth it, TK jumped into the small chasm then pushed themselves back and pushed right up against the muddy wall and tree roots.
The forest was still rustling as HQ ran through, following after TK. He jumped over the small chasm and TK held their breath, just waiting for the moment he would turn around and pounce. But some blessing was on TK’s side and HQ continued running forward.
TK waited till the sound of thumping footsteps was distant enough before quickly scrambling back up and running the opposite direction.
With distance between them now, TK had time to think. What they needed was to find water. They had a loose mental map in their head of a river that the camp was close to and (hopefully) made their way there.
Not trusting to not suddenly be pounced on, TK climbed up to travel over the tree tops. HQ was a terrible climber so there was an advantage but TK still walked carefully. Trying to disturb as little as possible.
The new plan was simply defence. HQ would chase them to the ends of the Overworld and into the End no doubt, so TK needed protection. A spray bottle of water would keep the daemon at bay, or at least buy TK some time to think of a good excuse.
They weren’t really going to use it of course. They might have been dead on sight with HQ but TK didn’t really want to hurt him. Even though the spray bottle would just be more annoying than anything to him, TK only planned to use it as a bluff. They just needed a little bit of water to put in and spray as an example.
TK crawled over another branch, latching onto the next tree carefully. The branches on this one were small and shook under their weight. They tried going slow, but the connecting branch out to the next tree was too long and thin.
Grunting, TK slowly climbed lower to find a more sturdy branch, even though they were getting far too close to the ground for TK’s liking. They were starting to doubt if this was the correct way to the river. They should have heard it by now.
Doubt slowed TK’s climb. They had looked above the trees a few times but couldn’t see the river from up above. Maybe they’d get lucky on this look. They pulled themselves up to the weaker branch above when they heard the leaves rustling below them.
“TK... Come on out...”
HQ. Calm. Angry. A growl behind his words.
Oh no.
Keeping as slow as possible, TK took in a slow breath and looked down to the forest below. Their worst fear realised as HQ walked though the leaves and over the mossy floor. Gone was the rush and racing, now his steps were careful and purposeful. He had no need to chase anymore.
“I’m not leaving until I find you. You know what you did was wrong, so just come on out...”
He’s bluffing. TK thought, and tried to keep still. He’s just talking out loud in the hopes I’m here. He doesn’t know where I am.
“I know you’re here.” HQ stepped over a tree root. “I can hear your heart beat. Very faint right now but so so quick.”
Fuck.
HQ’s hearing was good. TK had no idea it was hearing heartbeats from a distance away good.
No. He’s lying. He can’t hear me. He’s just going to do this same trick a few miles away.
“Your heart’s getting faster.”
Unfair. It was horribly unfair. TK had no protection. Nothing to hide behind. It would only be a matter of time before HQ would look up, and they’d be a goner. TK had to move.
“I must be getting closer. Which tree have you scurried your way up to?”
He knows exactly where I am! He’s taunting me!
The realisation surged a new determination in TK. But also made them act brashly.
The only plan that made sense to TK in that moment was to quietly sneak back to where HQ had come from. They pressed back into the tree and slowly climbed around to the opposite branch. They did not think, or remember, that this tree had particularly weak branches. It wasn’t until they were half-way on the branch and heard the groan that they realised they fucked up. They tried to scramble back, but the branch broke and they fell with an uncool yelp.
They tried to grab any branch on their way down, but none of them were strong enough. So it just meant TK fell, hitting every branch on the way down but at least their landing was cushioned by the pile of leaves and mossy floor. They couldn’t even have the dignity to enjoy laying and contemplate life as they were immediately up and on the defensive.
HQ was just a few steps from the tree when TK crashed down. Before he chased but now he stepped slow and purposefully. TK barely had time to scramble back, and fumble through their pack to pull out the bottle.
“BACK! Stop! I’m armed!”
HQ stopped mid-step. There was about five feet of distance between them which was still too close for TK. HQ pulled his leg back, watching the bottle curiously. TK was kneeling, shakily holding up the bottle.
“I will spray you!” TK gained more confidence the longer HQ stopped. “It’s full of water! I’ll do it!”
“You’d spray me with water?” HQ raised an eyebrow.
“Yes!” TK lied. They very slowly pushed themselves to stand up and took a careful step back while keeping an eye on HQ.
“Well, you know you’re pointing it the wrong way. You’re just going to spray yourself.”
They were so sure it was a lie, but they couldn’t help but look. TK took their eyes off the threat just for a second and by the time they realised they’d been lied to, HQ had already cleared the distance between them and pounced.
TK was back on the ground, with the wind knocked right out of them. Enough of a distraction for HQ to grab the bottle and easily pluck it from TK’s hand.
“Hmm.” HQ shook the bottle. He managed to seat himself over TK’s hips as they tried to turn. Pinning them at an awkward angle. “Seems a little light to be filled with water.”
“No! Nngh... Give! Give it back!” TK reached up to snatch it. Big mistake.
Absolutely played right into HQ’s hands. He taunted the bottle just out of reach and right when TK’s arm stretched to the fullest, he dug in right to their armpit.
“NO!” TK squealed. They arched their back, as much as they could in the position and tried pulling their arm down. It was quickly snatched up and pinned above their head as HQ tickled and tickled.
“Little thieves don’t get mercy.” HQ spoke like he wasn’t tickling the absolute life out of them. Nails scratching back and forth and wiggling all over the hollow of TK’s pit. “Little thieves get punished.”
“N-Naah! H-Haahahaha! No! N-EHE! Ehehehe!” High pitched very undignified giggles took over when HQ took just one finger and kneaded right where the armpit met their ribs. “EEK! H-Hey! HEHEY! You-You cahan’t—! NNGH! Not thehehere! You can’t t-tihihickle me thehehere!”
“I can tickle you anywhere I want.” HQ said matter-of-factly though it got the tickling to stop. At least for that moment. His hand never left TK’s side and his eyes were intense, staring down. “You’re lucky I’m not going straight for those ribs, with the shit you pulled.”
“N-NO! Noho! You...” TK took in a breath through their giggles. “D-Don’t... Wh... W-What’s your plan here? To j-just tickle me till I pass out?”
“Hmm...” HQ hummed in serious consideration. “That is a fantastic idea!”
His hand poised like a claw, right over their ribs and TK shrieked.
“NO!” Their legs uselessly kicked under them and the tried to turn over. HQ’s legs squeezed tight to lock them down. “Nonononono! I-I was gonna replace them! I went mining! I got diamonds for you!”
HQ’s eyes squinted in distrust, but his hands were still.
“In my pack! Check!”
HQ paused for a moment, maybe deciding if it was another trick. After a few more seconds he pulled his hand back, keeping his other on TK’s hand to pin their arm. He opened the pouch and, roughly, searched through. He pulled out the four diamonds in one hand, inspecting them for a moment.
“Wh-What?!” TK snapped. “They’re not fake!”
“No. But they aren’t the correct amount.” HQ dropped the diamonds and his attention focused back onto TK below him. His hand ready once more at TK’s rib, slowly forming into a claw and having his nails just ever so lightly scrape over the bones.
It was too light to tickle properly but TK’s nerves were already on edge and giggling to a frenzy.
“EEH! Ehehehe! H-ey! HEY! W-Wahait! Wait a mihinute!” Their other hand tried to reach up and protect themselves but it was no use. They were no where near strong enough to push HQ off, and it was awkward to reach when HQ’s hand slipped around to the back of their ribs. “I ran out of time to gehet the rest! But I’ll make it up to you!”
HQ was still again and watching TK expectantly. Curiously.
“I-I...” TK took a breath and cleared their throat. “I can give you a heartfelt apology?”
The silence was probably more of an answer than HQ’s wiggling fingers. His expression was unimpressed but he must have had some semblance of mercy as he went for TK’s sides rather than their ribs.
“WAH! NO! NOoohoOHOHO! N—HAHAHAHA! I wahahas serious! It was heartfehehelt! It wahahahas!”
They threw their head back in laughter. Their legs kicked and their arm tried to push HQ away until HQ brought down his other hand and scooped up both their wrists. Now both arms were trapped above their head.
HQ did stop, but any idea of mercy or a break were shattered when TK was pushed down on their back. Their hands still pinned above them as HQ settled on their hips. He shuffled down a little, just so his hand had enough space to scribble and knead from hip bone to hip bone.
“You keep telling me to stop tickling you in these spots, that’s only going to leave one spot left.” HQ pointed out. He raised his voice just slightly over the hysterical giggling, but decided it was much better lean over and close to TK’s ear. Whispering right next to it. “Eventually I’m going to get your ribs~”
HQ’s hand slowly tickled up TK’s side. “I’m getting closer~ Just a few more seconds and those ribs are mine...”
“Ah! Ahaha...! N-No!”
TK’s ear twitched which distracted them from the tickling for just a moment but that was probably since HQ slowed his tickling to almost a feather’s touch. Heat burned in their cheeks and down their neck and it felt so much more intense with the mask covering them. Their skin felt hotter and they knew the blush was peeking over the mask’s edge. The best they could do to distract was try and stretch their neck away, but HQ just followed.
“Almost there~” He whispered. His lips were just a breath away. His fingers brushed right under the ribs.
“W-Wahait! WAIT! A-Ahanything! I’ll do anything!”
HQ grinned like he was waiting for this moment. “Anything?”
“Yehehes! Yehes! Anything! Anythihihihng! J-Just... Just don’t go—mmph!”
The tickling stopped and the last of the giggles swallowed up into HQ kiss as he pulled TK’s mask down.
It was a gentle kiss at first, as all his kisses started out. He pulled back, giving TK a second to breath and let out a few more giggles before diving back in. Firmer and demanding.
Finally.
TK thought it. HQ thought it.
Pinning the hands down were abandoned, letting TK lower their arms to wrap around HQ’s neck. They didn’t think of the hands settling on their waist, until HQ pulled back again and his fingers started wiggling over TK’s bottom ribs.
HQ tried to go back in for another kiss but TK turned their head.
“Y-Yohou can’t tihihickle me while you k-kihiss mehehehehe.”
“I very much can.”
Not being able to reach their lips, HQ settled for kissing TK’s jaw and behind their ear. Their skin prickled under the attention but that just made them more sensitive to HQ kneading and counting up their ribs.
“Naahaha! S-Stop! Not my rihihibs! That-Thahat’s not fahahahair! You forgave mehehehe!”
“No. I kissed you.” HQ pointed out and gave another kiss to TK’s cheek. “I can still be mad at you and kiss you. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”
TK opened their mouth with a giggle and preparing some sort of retort back but HQ used that moment instead to kiss them again. He tasted warm and TK hated how easily they melted for him. Even when their ribs were being softly played with.
“How many did you take?” HQ whispered against their cheek.
“Fi...F-Fifteen.”
“Fifteen?!” HQ groaned. “You make it so hard to cute with you.”
“Would you rather I lied to you? Can’t you admire how truthful I—IEEE! A-Ahaha! No! Nohohoho! Not—AHA! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!”
HQ tickled up and down TK’s ribs, losing all his soft touch of before and partially paying for it as TK’s hands were free to defend themselves. They could do very little pushing against HQ’s shoulders but pushing against his face was annoying. He stopped when TK started to get breathless, and pushed through the batting hands to give another kiss.
“Fifteen... Okay.” He said between kisses. “Each diamonds counts as an hour.” Another kiss. “So for fifteen hours, you are mine. And then I’ll forgive you.”
“Fifteen hours?!”
“Oh? Is fifteen a lot?”
There was no correct way to answer that. TK just whined, which turned into a squeak when HQ ran his knuckles down their ribs. “I-Ihi... I g-gohot you four diamonds... Sh-Shohouldn’t it be eleven hours?”
HQ grabbed the diamonds — which weren’t far from where he’d dropped them — and threw them as far as he could into the forest. They both could hear the gems clatter on the stones and trees in the distance.
“Wh-Hey! I spent hours getting tho-OHOHOHO! Ahhh...N-Not...Hahaha! Not m-my baaahahahack!”
HQ slipped his hand around, scratching lightly over the back of TK’s ribs while he trailed kiss after kiss down their neck. “Well now some fox is four diamonds richer.” He whispered between kisses. “Fifteen hours. My final demand. Or I tickle you absolutely senseless right here right now. And even after that. So what’ll it be?”
“Y-Yohohou... You-You will still tickle me during those fifteen hours.”
“Absolutely. Buuuuut, we can do other fun stuff too. So you have until I count up your ribs to answer.”
HQ fingers got to work on their bottom ribs and TK was already giggling into hysterics. It took till HQ got about three ribs up when they managed to gasp in enough air.
“O-Ohokahahahay! Fine! I’m... I’m yohours! AAHAHAHA! I AGREED! STOP! STOHOHOHOP!”
HQ let go of that one particularly sensitive rib and TK took in greedy gulps of air. The world wobbled as TK was pulled up and onto HQ’s back.
“You have to hold on. If you fall and injure yourself HD will kill me.”
TK gave a moan back of acknowledging, and weakly held onto HQ’s shoulders as he stood up tall and started the slow walk back to camp. It was already going to be humiliating enough to explain to HD that they would be locked to HQ’s side for fifteen hours. They didn’t need an injury to add to the embarrassment.
Fifteen hours for fifteen diamonds. It was already past noon in the day, leaning more towards night now so they were already losing time. They had until nightfall and they’d both need sleep. Well HQ ran differently on needing sleep — being a daemon — but he wouldn’t be so selfish as to deny TK their rest. So a lot of the time would be wasted on sleep.
Not to mention, they were in the middle of a very active war. At any moment they would get the signal, the game would be over and it was back to the cold sobering reality were either of them might not make it back.
I can’t wait till this is all over. TK thought as they slowly roused from their tired haze. They held on tighter and pressed close to HQ’s neck. They tried to be careful with their breath but HQ’s neck was sensitive even to the weakest breeze. Still, he didn’t complain and only gave a few giggles every once in a while.
It won't be all the time, but we can see each other whenever we want. Without this stupid war.
That was a nice thought TK carried, as they arrived back to camp and the fifteen hours began.
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The worst and unthinkable has happened to Sapnap4K. A Realm God cast out from his realm. Alone and wallowing in his sadness, 4K hides himself away. But GeorgeHD finds him. HD always finds him.
The story carries on!
This is one of my most favourite stories to write in terms of lore and tickling and I hope you all enjoy it too.
After this fic there will be short break on updates as I catch up again. Maybe some smaller fics in between too if the mood takes me.
Pls enjoy~
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The Nether was only one temperature and that was boiling. The two differences were in bastions, which used specific bricks to cool down the bedding and housing areas. And Beldam.
The God of Witches cursed to the Nether until the end of time. Others rage might be like fire to fuel them. The Beldam’s rage was pure ice, that sucked out the heat anywhere she went. She had her home in a long forgotten bastion, far away from anyone where only very few knew. It was as cold as her and since she hated the Nether she never left her bastion often, so no-one bothered her.
As Sapnap4K approached his bastion the temperature drop was immediate. His skin prickled with the chill he so rarely got to feel and before he’d even made it up the steps, he could see Beldam at the broken doorway.
4K was unnaturally tall and still Beldam towered over him. Even before her Godhood, 4K remembered she had been tall then. The blessing from Prime only accentuated her height. The tip of his horns just reached her ribs.
From her neck to her ankles, Beldam was covered in a satin blue dress. The edges of her dress were lined with black ruffles, her neck, wrists and hem of her dress covered. When she moved it looked like she was floating. Short black hair cut close to her head, few strands curling around her double ears.
Beside the Beldam, Rosie lay. Her head rested over the stone floor but she was up as soon as she saw 4K. Her tail started wagging and she quickly trotted to 4K’s side as his hand opened to pet her.
For a small moment 4K had considered relaying to Beldam the news of the sculk returning but her thin face was already pulled to a tight frown. She would never be here if not for a reason and the news might only irritate her more.
“Beldam.” 4K forced himself to smile as Rosie nudged against his leg. “Here for a visit?”
“There are piglins are looking for you.” The Beldam ignored his question. “Since you are spending more time away, they came looking for me.”
4K gave a mental apology to the piglins. “Are any of them alive?”
“Do you take me for a savage? They live.” Beldam stepped aside while 4K came up the steps. Rosie nudged her legs as she passed and Beldam leaned down to give her a pat. “They had Sol leading them. I like Sol.”
Sol was a piglin wanderer. Part of one of the few nomadic tribes that had no ties to a bastion, stronghold or forest. They travelled the Nether, harvesting the gold from the netherrack and traded it fairly. As one of the few non-violent societies, 4K never had trouble with them. Sol was an old wise piglin though he didn’t seem it. Piglins aged differently. They had long lifespans though most lived fast lives. Sol was one of the few to live to old age.
Sol was waiting for 4K in an old map room that fell to disrepair. The main table had fallen apart and the maps on the table and hung up on the wall were outdated and ripped. Sol was looking over them when 4K arrived with Beldam.
For being old, Sol never looked it. The only way to tell was the fur around his snoot was slightly greying. Despite his age he held his strong build. A body with broad shoulders. He had loose, black cloth trousers on, two belts crossed over his chest with a a thick golden buckle keeping them together.
“My Lord.” Sol bowed his head.
4K held back his cringe. “Please don’t be so formal.”
“Very well. That makes this easier.” Sol rose his head. “There are plans for a coup.”
4K nodded calmly as he could but inside he felt like screaming. More in-fighting was not what he needed right now. “Do you know against who? What clan?”
Sol gave a glance to Beldam, before he spoke again. “It is against you, Sapnap4K.”
It took a few seconds before 4K realised he hadn’t said anything. His stunned stillness wasn’t just in his head. He opened his mouth but there were no words he could think to say. He looked up to Beldam but her face was passive. She had already been told.
“Some of the clans have joined together.” Sol carried on. “They’ve been meeting for a while.”
“Who would have guessed the thing to bring them together was their hate for me.” 4K laughed, but it was humourless.
“I assume you know why, but they want their terms laid out plainly. The Clans have made no secret they despise your distaste for violence. They call you coward and soft. They have denounced you as their Realm God and they mean to remove you.” Sol gave a careful look to Beldam before speaking. “They...know Gods can be killed. They mean to try. And keep trying and trying until they are all dead. Or...you perish.”
“Let them come then!” Beldam leaned forward and smacked her hands on the broken table. Thankfully it did not shatter. “Have they forgotten the power of Gods?! Let them run to their deaths!”
“I won’t kill them.” 4K found his voice.
“Then I will!” Beldam stood up tall.
“No!” 4K snapped. “I won’t allow it! They’re not dying over me!”
“It is a fools death they want.” Beldam scoffed. “Yes Gods can be killed, but by other Gods. Not mere mortals.”
Sol looked uncomfortable then. “They... They know that.” He spoke troubled and could not meet their eyes. “They have summoned the help of another God... The Blood God.”
A name 4K dreaded to hear. Of course, what God would be mad enough to fight another God on the behalf of angry piglins but another who was once an angry piglin himself.
“The Blood God has laid out his terms for them. If they fight against you, as foolish as it will be, he will take that as proof of their resolve. When a thousand piglins spill their blood against you, the Blood God will take on the fight with you.”
“’Take on the fight’ not even promising them to kill you!” Beldam hissed. “He doesn’t even know if he can kill 4K! 4K is a Realm God.”
“He is willing to try.” Sol said.
“Then let him try and he dies with his piglin!” Beldam raged.
“No-one is dying!” 4K snapped again. “I am more than capable of handling this!”
“Your handling of it is to lay back and let them kill you!”
“I never said that.” 4K tried to pull back his voice and calm the situation down. He took in a few slow breaths and looked over to Sol again. “Have they laid out any kind of terms? Or is it just a threat?”
Sol scratched the side of his face. “They knew you would never agree, but they want the rule of pacifism lifted. They want war again. The right to claim their gold and kill for it back if need be.”
It killed something in 4K to even think of allowing that again. “I can’t... I can’t do that...”
“I know.” Sol’s voice was sombre and pained. The next words came out like they struggled. “I wish it was not me telling you this but... I...”
“Out with it.” Beldam hissed.
Sol sighed. “They plan to storm this bastion. As many as they can, but...but not all. While a thousand piglins raid your bastion, many more plan to plunder the Nether. Starting with the forests, then the strongholds and the bastions. Any piglin or demon who agreed to your ways, they’ll slaughter them. No matter the age.”
4K felt sick and something close to a rage took him. “They can’t do that!”
“They mean to.” Sol said sadly. “It was not a plan they told me. But I have friends everywhere and scouts all over. This was to be done as punishment for your pacifist way. For every minute you fight against them more would die.”
“Beasts!” Beldam raged beside him. “Nothing but beasts! You have to see, 4K! They won’t be reasoned with!”
No they won’t. But I can’t fight against my people. Not again.
He heard a scream and shut his eyes to it. After a moment, it was gone and he opened them.
“The problem they have is with me. Why target innocents?”
“They despise you, its true, but they also hate their own kind who sided with you. The ones who agreed with you for no more blood feuds are called lower than cowards. They call them beyond weak and they see this weakness like a plague.”
Can some people not be reasoned with? 4K thought as despair plunged in his heart. Hasn’t there been enough war. Enough in-fighting!
“Sol. Give us a moment.?” Beldam spoke calmly now which shocked 4K out of his thoughts.
Sol bowed to the God of Witches and made his way from the room. 4K heard the hoofsteps on the steps outside before Beldam spoke again.
“You don’t need to do anything.” Beldam’s voice was soft. “Say the word, or even just nod. Give me any sign and I’ll deal with them now.”
4K winced like a stab to his side. He turned to her and looked up. “Never. I can’t just... I can’t just command the death of anyone who doesn’t agree with me!”
“But if you don’t, they will kill innocent lives.” Her voice was dark now. “Do you think they’ll just kill soldiers? Guards? It will be everyone! They will kill everyone they come across who is loyal to you. Even families. Children!” Beldam fell to her knees, coming more to 4K’s height. Her deep dark blue eyes were desperate. “They are evil, my son.”
My son.
Not a phrase Beldam used so loosely or ever much it all. It had been years since 4K had last heard those words from her. When it felt like he had lost his own heart and despair had threatened to take him. “I’m sorry, my son.” Were the words to comfort him and pull him to sense.
Now it worked almost the same.
“They are frustrated.” 4K reasoned. “All they’ve known is fighting. The blood feuds have been going on longer than we’ve been alive! They don’t care about fighting those not in the blood feud. They only do it to hurt me.”
“Only monsters hurt innocents.” Beldam’s voice was cold and she stood tall then. “They can say they only mean to fight others in the feud, but even thinking of hurting innocents...they are evil.”
“I wonder if they sought out the Blood God, or if he gave them promises first.” Either way it didn’t matter. They had made their choice and they meant to follow through. “We need to speak with Sol again.”
Sol came back in as Beldam called him. He took his same spot at the table.
“They’re going to attack innocent people because of me, which I cannot allow. I won’t let them run at me in some sort of suicide either. If their problem is with me then naturally removing myself is the safest bet.”
“You cannot be serious.” Beldam gasped. “You will not be leaving!”
“If it keeps the bloodshed confined to the bastions, then I have to. I won’t let innocence die because of me!”
“You do have support, Sapnap4K.” Sol carefully suggested. “Some of those who agreed with your rule would take up arms for you. They’d fight if you asked.”
The thought of it made him sick. “No! I won’t let that happen. No-one dies for me.”
“You leaving lets them win! What is to stop them from going after those innocents anyway.” Beldam pointed out.
“I’ll meet with them before I go. I’ll leave, and they have their blood feuds. But if they go after anyone not involved with them, I’ll deal with them.”
“Why not deal with them now?” Beldam pleaded. “Why even work on their terms to begin with? They’ve already denounced you as their God! You leaving will just validate them.”
“No matter what I do, they’ll twist it to their own way.” 4K said desperately. “If I leave, they’ll feel validated. If I stay, they’ll attack me. If I build up and defend this bastion, they’ll just go and slaughter anyone they can grab. And I cannot just kill those that don’t agree with me.”
“You’re a better God than me.”
4K didn’t feel like it in that moment. He felt hopeless and awful. Rosie pushed her head against his knee and he leaned down to pet her.
“I will inform the bastions and strongholds of your choice. There’s been fear and unrest. I assume you’ll want to tell the Clans against you yourself.” Sol said.
“Yes. I’ll have to.” 4K nodded.
Sol took his leave, giving a farewell to the two Gods. Beldam had not moved. 4K could feel her rage, sucking out all of the heat around him. Even 4K felt almost cold.
“I know I have no right to ask you but...I have a favour.” 4K started.
“Of course.” Beldam sighed.
“I’m leaving the Nether but Rosie can’t.” He looked down to Rosie. She was the smartest companion, and her eyes said she knew exactly what was going on. She looked at 4K disappointed but sad, a look he had only seen in her once before. “And she has a few of her brood here with her too. And I worry even if I leave here they’ll still try and raid it. If... If you could stay... I know it’s a lot to ask but if you could watch over my bastion and Rosie, I would really appreciate it.”
Beldam was quiet for a long moment. Just as 4K worried she’d refuse, her voice came softly. “Of course. I’ll protect the bastion but... I will not be kind if they come and threaten your home. I won’t hold back as you will.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. If they attack, deal with them how you see fit. But please don’t hunt them down.”
Beldam pulled her lips to a frown. Obviously a plan she had been forming. “Fine.” She huffed.
For the one with no voice, Rosie showed her disapproval by butting her head into his leg with every step she took beside him. 4K walked through the bastion, trying to think if there was anything he needed. Really he had nothing he could not do without. Rosie butted his leg again, her tusk catching on his trouser leg and stumbling his step.
“Rosie! Down.” 4K snapped and she thumped him again. “Rosie! I can’t take you with me.”
She knew that of course but her tantrum wasn’t to go with him. She didn’t want him to leave.
“I don’t have a choice, Rosie.” 4K pat over Rosie’s mane. His fingers ran over the scars along her back. How many of those scars had been in defending him? “I’m not letting them harm you.”
Rosie pushed forward into 4K’s arms. Her head pressed to his chest. She gave a huff, a little bit of fire flickering from her snout that tickled under his chin.
“I’ll figure something out, Rosie. We won’t be apart for long.”
Another huff, with no fire this time. She just pressed her head close to him for a long time then pulled away.
I won’t be gone for long. 4K promised. I’m not leaving my Realm. I’ll keeping my people safe.
As soon as 4K left, the Beldam took over the castle. She waved her hands and vines grew up from the Nether. Green vines that turned black and burnt and coiled around his bastion. They grew until his bastion was completely covered over, only the doorway free. Beldam stood with Rosie, giving a final look to 4K before both of them went in, and the vines closed up.
4K’s bastion was locked away. Even from himself.
Sol had given 4K the names of the clans against him, none of whom were a surprise to 4K.
The War Bastion was nestled deep into a basalt biome. It’s walls were almost hidden beneath the grey stone and lava pouring through it. Each day had many casual deaths from a misstep or a simple push. The bubbling of the lava blended to the sound of weapons clashing and hoglins squealing.
As soon as 4K was spotted, excited shouts and chaos rumbled through the bastion. The clan leaders came out to meet him. Each held a golden weapon, ready and itching in their hands. Each leader held countless scars. One had so many all over her face there was no space for the fur to grow.
“The God has come to face us himself!” One of them shouted and the others followed with roars of excitement.
“No...” 4K spoke calmly as he could. Every scar he saw fuelled a deep anger in him. A forgotten rage he swallowed down. “I’ve come to inform you of my leave.”
The words were so surprising it silenced the piglins roars.
“I’m leaving the Nether. So you can call off your invasion of my bastion, and your slaughter of the piglins.”
The leaders looked between one another like working out some kind of trick. The scarred-face leader spoke up. “So your pacifism rule is gone?”
“You may have your blood feuds back. And you can storm each others bastions until none of you are left.” 4K spat. “But if you go for any other bastion, strongholds or settlements not involved in your fighting, I will come back.”
A collective laugh was shared between them. “And you’ll do what? You’ve not fought for years. Are you going to stop all of us by asking nicely?”
“I remember tickling each of you worked quite well to get you to stop.”
The laughter stopped suddenly. Each of the piglins looked flushed and furious.
“And you all seem to forget, I did that for your benefit.”
The lava’s bubbling between the basalt was nothing new. Sometimes it would boil over and calm after a few popped bubbles. But this time it just kept flowing...and flowing.
The narrow walkway from the bastion was covered almost instantly. The lava under the path rose up and up till it was an ocean of heat. The leaders realised quickly, but the path back to their bastion was already cut off. They were alone on an island with the God of the Nether.
“You’ve mistaken my mercy for weakness. My kindness for cowardice. I could raise the lava and burn you all in seconds. Or let it cool into obsidian and suffocate you all in your bastions. Or I could tear you all in half and it would be no trouble at all. Even before I became a God, you all were like paper to me. Now you’re even less than that.”
The lava bubbled. The leaders readied their weapons. If they were to die, they’d die in battle and 4K was never more tempted than he was in that moment.
He could kill them all right there and be done with it. Any who came for revenge he could kill them too. And when the Blood God would come he had no doubt in his mind he could kill him too.
And yet he couldn’t. Not even as they looked at him with such hate. All he could feel was pity, and a deep sorrow.
The lava subsided. The leaders relaxed.
“If you want your wars again,” 4K spoke again, “you’ve got them. But only with each other. Kill and steal your gold from each other again if that’s what your truly want; but if you dare harm anyone else I’ll be back and I will kill you all.”
It was a silent agreement the leaders gave. A simple nod of their heads and 4K was gone. He turned from the bastion into the swirling vortex of purple and came to a world of gentler air and rolling green hills.
Was it so wrong to try for a peaceful life? A life of blood and death was all he knew, from the moment he was born from the lava. He crawled out of the lava and took in his first true breath that burned his throat. He was naked and the magma was still dripping from his hair when he and his siblings were given the command.
“Kill.”
And he killed. And killed. And killed. And killed. It took a few other daemons to hold him down as he heard the command of “Stop!”
“He’s killed all four of them!” The voice laughed in pride. “Four kills! In not even his first hour of life! Four kills!”
Four Kills. 4 Kills. 4K.
“Never again.” 4K promised as he walked through the grasslands. “Never again. Not ever.”
He found a shallow cave under one of the hills. He lay down and closed his eyes to the exhaustion.
***
The sleep was not restful or very long, but 4K pushed himself up the moment he woke. He couldn’t just cower under hills the whole time as tempting as it was.
He did everything he could not to think on his situation and latched onto any distraction. He thought of HD and grew worried he had not heard from him since last he went to investigate the skulk and made a quick trip to the God’s cloud palace.
As soon as 4K arrived to the palace, he could feel the shift right away. The palace was brighter, like it was constantly in the sunlight. The clouds framed softly around it, comforting instead of hiding it. HD was softer and noticeably warmer. He was awake during the day and explained with a hopeful voice he was having George stay with him for a while.
He couldn’t ruin his friend’s good mood with his own problems, but 4K was ashamed he had reacted with such coldness. He should have shown support to HD but he couldn’t find it in himself to. He felt numb and weirdly jealous. Even as HD asked him what was wrong, 4K avoided the truth. He wouldn’t ruin HD’s moment with his own issues. He just wished his friend well, and left.
His next thought was to find XD. While not exactly the Overworld God, DreamXD was the protector of the realm for a while with HD’s absence. Before he could call out for them, his own doubts clouded his mind again. Going to XD would just be bothering them instead of HD. It would be no better. And if he told XD he was here, he was sure news of his stay here would spread and reach the ears of someone he really didn’t want to know.
Sapnap.
It was his first fear when 4K came to the Overworld. He deliberately tried to avoid going anywhere near the Kinoko Kingdom, but the area close to it was the only one he knew here. He was never much of an explorer, instead only staying close to his home.
My home is dead... And my replacement is now buried under black thorns and magic. I have no home.
Even with the fear he’d be found by Sapnap, 4K wandered. He hated exploring but wandering close to the spots he knew was the only thing to settle his racing thoughts. Being in fear of being found out from Sapnap would stop him from reconsidering asking for help.
The open land outside of the kingdom was wild, but most of the grass and trees had been cut away and a road was half heartedly paved leading to the kingdom. 4K kept to the trees as much as he could. Dodging the branches which would catch on his horns. He ignored the kingdom looming in the distance and slowly getting closer the longer he walked. He didn’t care. He tried not to care. He just focused on the overgrown path leading deeper to the woods, and came upon a small modest house.
4K fully expected the house to be abandoned and perhaps a temporary shelter for the time. Instead the house had a warm glow from the windows and glowing lanterns hung on the doorway. There was a small bench just under the front window where BadBoyHalo sat reading.
The demon quickly looked up to the sound of 4K rustling out of the woods, and then his face lit up in a wide smile.
“How... How are you here?” 4K asked, before realising it sounded rude and cringed. “I thought you had a home in the kingdom now.”
“I did!” Bad beamed with a grin and pushed himself up. “Well, I’m sure I still do. Given everything that went on I thought I could use a break from the kingdom.”
4K was stunned in the same spot, as Bad went to the door and threw it open. “Come in!” He called over. “It’s been so long since you visited!”
His steps were slow, but eventually 4K made his way to the house. While small, it was considered that for a demon. The house was build a bit taller, so much that 4K didn’t have to slough as much as he usually would have.
As soon as he stepped inside 4K was overwhelmed with a thousand memories. The place had not changed at all. A spacious front room, small kitchen, and two bedrooms on either side of the house. It still looked new.
“Have you been living here? Did they...allow that?” 4K awkwardly asked. “I thought with everything that went on they might... I dunno.”
“That all got taken care of.” Bad waved off as he made his way to the kitchen. He lit the furnace, getting the top hot before grabbing a kettle. “I was in prison for a bit. Suppose you could call this being released under supervision.”
“They arrested you?” 4K asked. He went to move to the couch before quickly catching himself and stepping back.
“I arrested myself. If you could call it that.” Bad shrugged. “After you, XD and...uhhh, the other gentleman left, I went to Skeppy. Once the Egg was gone and Skeppy was back to me, I put myself in jail.”
“But why? You were a victim of the Egg too.”
“I knew what I was doing. For Skeppy’s safety, it was worth it. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t suffer consequences.” Bad brought out two large cups. “I put myself in a cell but no-one was interested in guarding me really. They did a quick ‘trial’. They decided I wasn’t a threat but I’d be supervised on my release. Skeppy was appointed to guard me.”
“And where is Skeppy?”
“Oh, he’s off exploring some new region. Been gone for days. He’ll be back by the end of the week I think.”
The water boiled and Bad made the both of them tea. He returned to the front room, slowly growing in size till he was just about 4K’s height, and handed him the mug. “Sit down! Relax.”
4K did, taking the mug gratefully. The warmth against his palm was soothing and as everything else in the home the couch was a little bigger to fit a demon.
“What brings you here?” Bad settled back on the couch. His wings unfurled a little and then rewrapped around himself. “You’ve not been here for years since...—Oh! Shoot. Well, that doesn’t matter.”
Bad was not unkind, but he spoke without thought sometimes and the words could sting. 4K tried to forget his last visit here. With Sapnap, younger and angrier, screaming at him.
“I hate you! I never want to see you again!”
And despite 4K’s best attempts, he couldn’t keep that promise.
“I’m just...visiting for now.” 4K spoke softly. The scent of the tea was calming him more and more. His shoulders relaxed a little. “Well...maybe for a while.”
“You hardly ever leave the Nether for so long.” Bad pointed out, with a lilt of something curious in his voice. “Is there trouble?”
The knee-jerk reaction to deny it was ready to go, but stuck in the back of his throat. “Well...” 4K found himself saying.
“What happened?” Bad asked right away, and despite what 4K thought he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
4K laid out everything that happened. From Beldam and Sol giving him the message, to his choice to leave and his confrontation to the clans. Bad listened silently, but he nodded and watched with sympathy. When 4K was done he regretted it instantly, but the weight had lifted from his body.
“Those blood feuds were terrible.” Bad shook his head. “It was one of the reasons I left the Nether in the first place. It was chaos.” Suddenly realising what he said, he gave a sorry look to 4K. “S-Sorry. I didn’t...”
“No you’re right.” 4K quickly agreed. “I let them go on for so long. It was all I knew, and I only stopped when...” He flinched at the memory and mumbled. “Well...you know.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Bad spoke softly. “It was how you were raised. It was how all of us were raised in the Crimson Forest. When I was young it was considered shameful to leave, and even worse if you didn’t want to participate in the feuds. I couldn’t even imagine how it was like for you.”
A cycle of violence that 4K couldn’t even break until pushed to his limit. It was just easier to accept and not question it. There was no need to feel guilt when that was just how it was.
“Well I failed to stop them.”
“The Nether had about twenty years of peace. I’d say that’s the opposite of failing.”
“Twenty years of forced peace.” 4K leaned back on the couch. The tea was cooling in his mug, but he heat up his palms a little and sipped.
“The only way they were going to listen was with force.” Bad countered. “And your rule made it so more people like myself weren’t afraid to leave. Most of the strongholds and bastions are thriving communities now.”
“Thriving communities that are going to be slaughtered!”
“I think your threats will keep the clans at bay. And if they do try it, it’s not like it was before. People like this new life. They like the peace and they’re prepared to fight for it.”
“I don’t want anyone to fight! No-one should have to fight just to live in peace!”
“Some people don’t agree with that and some people can’t be reasoned with.” Bad placed down his cup. “You ordered a time of peace in the switch of a day. Years of hate and blood thirst don’t quell in one day.”
“So I did it wrong?”
“There was no correct way to do it.” Bad shook his head. “If you gave them a deadline they would have slaughtered as much of each other as they could. You stopping it suddenly; and controlling and stopping the attacks was the best thing you could have done.”
It didn’t feel like it in that moment. 4K felt like a failure. There was no proper way to handle it, but being run off from his Realm was wrong. Too much of a coward to stay and fight, and too scared to hurt anyone.
“Do you have some place to stay?” Bad asked as he stood up. He took his own cup and 4K’s half drunk one that he had left on the table.
“Not... No. I was in a few caves.” 4K admitted.
“Caves?! That’s not right.” Bad called back from the kitchen. “You can stay here!”
“Here?” 4K repeated. His skin prickled suddenly.
“Yes! I’ll get another room made up!” Bad chirped excitedly as he came back. “Just until things settle.”
“That is not a good idea.” 4K said quickly. He stood up suddenly, hitting his horns on the ceiling. “That... N-No. I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“If Sapnap finds out I’m here, he’ll be furious. If he finds out I’m living here? There won’t be a word for his anger!”
“That’s...w-well...” Bad’s voice faltered. His eyes flicked downward. “He is reasonable. I can talk to him.”
Talk to him. Letting him know I was here.
“No! N-No...” 4K shook his head. The world was spinning suddenly and he stumbled back to the door. “I need to go.”
“4K please.” Bad called. He came closer but 4K stumbled back enough to reach the door and opened.
“I have to go.”
He ran. It was the only thing he was good at. He ran until he could not recognise a thing. Hot tears of magma burned down his cheeks and clouded his vision.
There was another cave, this one much deeper and darker. 4K went down, down, down, until he found a dark space he could crawl into. He squeezed himself in, shut off the opening with layers of obsidian. And he slept.
***
News travelled slower than 4K would have thought about his absence from the Nether. But once it started spreading, it was like wildfire.
Every village, town and city were talking about how the Nether God Sapnap4K was forced out of his own Realm. Rumours spread around about the reason. Some say he just quit. Others say he was defeated by the Blood God and now the Realm was in chaos.
If Sapnap knew, his rage was a simmering silence instead of the explosion 4K expected.
4K knew Bad would not have said anything but it was nice to get it confirmed when HD found him.
“Of all the things to go quiet about! This... Why wouldn’t you tell me?!”
HD found him about a week after 4K had enclosed himself in the caves. The obsidian wall was torn down and HD squeezed himself into the small space with 4K. He looked a right mess, yet more put together than 4K had seen in a while.
Usually the Overworld God overdressed himself with layers of robes he just found, like he was trying to shell himself from the world. These robes were a pale blue, light and elegant. It showed off more of his skin. A part of his chest, his hips, near all of his back. He didn’t even have the wraps around his eyes, instead letting them shine freely which he usually hated to do. The coloured streaks down his cheeks swirled in angry reds and annoyed greens, and his hair frazzled with white stars shooting through it like buzzing wasps.
4K tried to move over to give enough room for the two but gave up. He could feel HD pressed close against his back. His legs pressed up on 4K’s spine while his hand over over 4K’s shoulder.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” He asked again in a softer tone.
4K shrugged. In between his week of deep sleep, he had pulled off his long coat. He was in long shorts and a tank top. The feel of the stone on his skin somehow made him feel better.
“You were with George at the time. I couldn’t take that away from you...”
“That’s... I...”
He could not see the Overworld God. 4K was too shamed to look at them for too long. He saw them when they came into the cave but 4K lay on his side, his arm folded under his head and his hair curtained around him.
“I can still help you and see George. Those things are not mutually exclusive.” HD spoke softly.
“You couldn’t be sure the mushroom prince wouldn’t have run off home?”
“Okay! No! But I still could have helped. I could have made you a place to stay until things were sorted. Or XD could have. Why didn’t you come to us?”
4K shrugged and he heard HD sigh. It was how he always dealt with things. Alone and far away. Even despite the pleas of both his brothers, he’d always go out alone first and had to be found and brought back. Despite a thousand years going by, he never changed.
“Is your plan to stay in this cave forever?” HD broke the silence.
“Maybe.” 4K went to shrugged but stopped himself. “I can’t really go anywhere. The Nether doesn’t want me. If Sapnap finds out I’m living here, he’ll be furious.” A crooked smile pulled his lips. “Maybe I’ll ask XD to send me to the End. I’m sure the void might want me.”
4K didn’t have to turn to tell that HD was frowning. “That’s not funny.”
4K’s smile fell. “Sorry.”
It was silent again, then HD leaned his head over 4K’s shoulder. “Have you given thought that you might be depressed?”
“I think that’s a given, at this point.”
HD sighed again, but softer this time. He was silent but 4K could feel his chin rest over 4K’s shoulder.
“You can still stay with me.” HD brought up softly again. “Things have worked out with George. He says he’ll stay time to time but he’s got his cottage. You’d be welcome.”
4K’s skin prickled to the thought. “N-No... I can’t.”
“Why?” HD tilted his head towards him. One of his hands pet through his hair, twirling the strand between his fingers. It relaxed him.
“I just... I don’t know how to word it.”
4K shuffled and moved to lay on his back. He saw now the cave had been more opened, probably done by HD. The ceiling was higher and the walls dug out. The obsidian was still cleared away but there was still little light coming in through the tunnels outside. HD’s eyes lit up the cave enough, looking down to 4K gently.
He looks more like a God now. 4K thought.
“Staying here in the Overworld while Sapnap knows. I just... He’d hate that.”
HD frowned again. “What’s your plan then? Are you going to go back?”
“No...I don’t know... I don’t really want to think right now...”
HD went quiet again, but his face softened from his frown. He looked to 4K gently. Gentler than 4K had ever seen him look. His hand dragged down from 4K’s shoulder, over his chest and settled on his stomach.
It lay flat first, only moving to give comforting pats and rubs. It was on the third pat that HD’s finger’s curled so slightly. His nails dragged over the thin material of the tank top and 4K giggled.
“HD...” 4K’s voice rumbled. It wasn’t really said as a warning, or an invitation. More a curious wonder.
“You said you don’t want to think. Hard to think when you’re laughing.” HD offered and his hand scratched again. 4K expected it, but it didn’t stop the tingling over his skin and his lips curling to a smile.
The offer was...very tempting. It felt good to laugh again. His skin prickled with ticklish energy but also excitement.
He wanted that. He really wanted that. He wanted to laugh and not think and just giggle his worries away.
“Yesss...” 4K’s voice was soft and slurred. He was still tired, and mixing with his giggles made him giddy.
“Yes?” HD’s head tilted and voice teased. 4K giggled already. “Yes you want to be tickled and laugh so much that you can’t think anymore?”
“Y-Yehesss...” 4K giggled. “I wanna be tickled...”
“Then lift your arms up, silly.”
4K giggled again but raised his arms up over his head. He folded them under his head with his untied hair swallowing them up in a sea of black. 4K had not even settled when HD’s hands repositioned at his hips and thumbs drilled in.
“A-AHA-hahaha!”
His first instinct was to bring his arms down, but 4K stopped himself. He twitched, wiggled his hips and half curled up but he controlled himself and stretched out as much as his body would allow.
“Did that tickle?” HD cooed. He switched from drilling in to instead lightly spidering over 4K’s hipbones. “That tickle?”
Words were swallowed up by giggles, so 4K only nodded. He was trying to focus on keeping his arms up, and keeping his hips still. He really wanted to curl up and grab HD. Not to stop him but to bring him in closer. He wanted to wrestle and tease HD enough until the Overworld God would absolutely wreck him. A small release for the frazzled energy coursing through him.
The skittering nails danced down the side of 4K’s hips and swiped over a sensitive spot. 4K jolted and rut his hips up. His body twisted just from instinct, half turning towards HD to protect the right hip.
“Now how can I tickle you when you hide away?” HD purred. His voice soft, soothing and beautiful.
“S-Sohorry...” 4K giggled and slowly turned on his back. His face felt hot. Not like the usual heat always around him. This was softer, melting his mind to mush and making his skin sensitive. He could feel the pink on his cheeks, almost similar to HD’s colour stripes.
“Maybe it was too much for you.” HD hummed.
“Too much?!” 4K almost felt offended. “I can take it!”
“I know you can.” HD purred again. One of his hands pet over 4K’s hair laying over his arm. “But you’re overly soft now. Maybe you need soft tickles to match.”
His hand splayed out over 4K’s bicep. His nails tickled on the soft skin, making him squirm. “Can you give me your hands?”
HD scoot up to sit behind 4K’s head. With his prompting, 4K stretched his arms out from under his hair and placed them in HD’s lap. It took a few soft pets along his palm before 4K stretched out his fingers fully.
“Your hands are rough.” HD laid out his hand over 4K’s. They were opposite ways, so HD’s fingers touched over 4K’s palms and softly tracing the lines over them. “I like them though. They feels nice.”
Gentle claws traced over his palms. A hand caressed along his side. One gently squeezed his thigh.
It felt good to be tickled again. 4K almost didn’t want to laugh. There was something addicting about holding it in. Staying right in the cusp when the soft ticklish energy burned into a laugh.
One of the helper hands at his side, swiped just above his hip, sending a shiver through 4K. He gave a breathy laugh, and soft moan.
“H-HeheDeee...”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” HD’s fingers tapped over his palm. “You begged me for it.”
I was coaxed into it, 4K wanted to point out but any words he thought to say were quickly fizzled out with a laugh and little gasp as the helper hands followed their master and lightly tapped along his skin. His tank top had ridden up, showing a sliver of his belly that a couple of the hands flocked to. They traced up his sides and followed the hem of his top.
“Move your head up a little.”
Even before he took in the words, 4K was guided to move. His hands placed back down and his head gently lifted into HD’s lap. Now he could better see the hands over him, and look up to HD smiling down at him.
It was rare for 4K to feel bashful, yet he glanced away from HD’s stare as his face burned red.
“Feeling shy? That’s not like you.”
One of HD’s hands pet through 4K’s hair. The other was playing with a stray strand just off his cheek. His helper hands were the only ones tickling him now. Careful pokes and tiny scribbles. Not enough to make him laugh but just to giggle and wriggle slightly from side to side.
“Usually you’re so boastful. Even when you start the fights and you get pinned you’re still so cocky and run your mouth.”
One of the hands trailed along his tank top, and slowly lifting the top up and up until his stomach was bare. A single finger traced back and forward right under his belly button and 4K couldn’t stop his bubbly laughter.
“Heheee...H-HDeee...”
“I watched you annoy XD until he eventually jumped you.” HD carried on like it was a casual conversation between the friends. “And even though he’s much smaller than you, he’d pin you down and tickle you senseless. And you’d let him!”
“Th-Thahat...”
4K couldn’t remember that. Or rather embarrassingly he couldn’t remember that specific time. So many times 4K would annoy XD. Or HD. Some buzz of energy that urged him to be thrown down and tickled but he always found it more fun to draw that out of his friends rather than just ask for it.
“You rile people up just to get them to tickle you.” HD petting over his hair turned to scratching. Getting closer to the base of 4K’s horns which made him purr. “Don’t you?”
The tickling lessened slightly, touches feather-light and calmed the Nether God’s laughter.
“I-If I say ‘no’ ahare you going to stop tickling me?”
“I might.”
“I-I do!” The words rushed out. “I annoy people in hopes they tickle me! I tickle people in the hopes they’ll go for revenge! I-IIEEEEHEHEHEHEHE!”
Squeezed, scratched, skittered and shaken. The hands all snapped to action, tickling the first space they grabbed to. There were two fighting over his tummy, moving and pushing one another out of the way to tickle at any space they could. His legs had two each, one squeezing and vibrating over his thigh and one kneading his calves. His armpits were ravaged and despite how strong he pulled he was held down, each a hand at his wrists. Two held down his ankles while his feet were attacked. All five fingers scribbled up and down his arches and heel. 4K fought more than ever to kick and protect himself but it was useless.
He was trapped. Helpless.
In bliss.
“H-H-HD! AAAHAHAHAHA! Ple-eEHEheheheease!”
“This is what you wanted.” HD cooed. His claws tickled down 4K’s neck, making him tilt his head side to side.
He did want it. He wanted more but every time he tried to speak, the laughter was too much and all he could manage were a few squeaks and unfinished pleas.
“PLEASE! PLEASE!”
More. More.
“If this is how you act to yourusual spots being tickled how are you going to react when that rib gets tickled?”
The tickling stopped all at once, but it took a few deep breaths for 4K to stop laughing. Fingers brushed along his cheeks. Soft and ticklish but it made him smile.
The hands were still floating and waiting but did not touch him. There were no eyes on them and no signs the hands had any ‘sight’, yet 4K could feel all the attention burned onto that one rib.
HD’s hands went still against his cheek. “Do you remember your safeword?”
In the last hundred years he had only ever used it once, and he still remembered. 4K nodded. “Yes...”
“Say it, just so I know you remember.”
“Nova.”
A kiss pressed to the top of his head. “Good boy.”
4K’s tail swished and shuddered.
With safety assured, HD immediately switched back. His smile was still soft, but his eyes gleamed with an excitement that got 4K blushing again. He looked away, just as HD placed his hand on his upper ribs on the right side. 4K squeaked.
“Where oh where is that rib?” HD spoke dreamily as he walked two fingers down 4K’s ribs. Each step his fingers took kneaded in just a little bit. Getting closer and closer.
“Y-Yohou knoooow...” 4K giggled.
“I don’t. That’s why I’m looking for it.” He kneaded into a rib halfway down, bringing 4K’s giggles up to a laugh. “See? That’s a good rib. Buuut not quite right.”
HD knew where it was. He was the only one who knew. An accidental find while HD was in one of his better moods and gave him a massage. It was quick, but 4K’s reaction was enough. When HD went back to it, merciless and precise, it was the first time 4K ever begged for mercy from tickling. From then on it was a secret shared between them. It was never used at every tickle fight even though it would probably always end in HD’s favour. Only for special occasions was it ever brought out.
Like now.
“You’re getting nervous.” HD tapped on the rib he stopped on. Two away.
“N-Noho. No-No I’m not...” 4K lied. He could not even cover his face, as the hands holding his wrists and ankles didn’t back off as the others did. He was helpless.
“You are~” HD cooed. “Your tail is twitching like crazy. Is that because you don’t want me to get that spot? Or you’re so excited for me to get it?”
Another step. One away. Just one more little step and his most sensitive spot would be wrecked. 4K couldn’t help his giggles. Not helped as HD leaned over him more. Could be in part to reach the rib that much easier, but 4K had a feeling it was to press his face closer to 4K’s. It was harder to look away when his tormentor was just inches in front of him.
His starry hair curtained around them, almost like they’d been taken to another world. His eyes were so bright and so soft. A reddish-pink streaked down his cheeks. 4K had never seen that colour before.
“You can safeword now.” HD whispered.
4K’s heart thumped. His fangs chewed over his bottom lip. “I don’t want to.”
“So you want your rib tickled?”
It was a death warrant, and 4K still replied. “Yeah...”
It was sudden but not surprising, yet even still 4K screamed. His back arched as much as he could and HD even pulled back while he fell into hysterics.
“SHIIIHIHIHHIT! O-OOOHH! HD! AH! AHAHAHAHA! NOT THERE! NOT THERE! AH-AHAHAHANYWHERE BUT THERE!”
“Anywhere? But I want to tickle this little rib right here. You wanted me to!”
4K’s tail lashed as the only part of his body that could move, but even that was quickly handled. Few of the waiting hands softly grabbed and held down his tail. Another slowly ran a finger over the wiggling tail. It wouldn’t have tickled so much but in that moment a strong gust of wind would be enough to get him laughing.
“Begging me? But you were begging me to tickle you? Now you want me to stop? You just can’t decide.”
He couldn’t decide. He couldn’t think. HD switched from kneading into his rib to softly tickling his claws over it and it felt like 4K’s skin was electrified.
“STOP STOP STOP! MERCY MEHEHERCIHIHIY! I CAN’T TAKE IT!”
“Yes you can.” HD purred by his ear. “If you couldn’t, you know just what you have to say. Just one little word, and all this ends.”
His voice was closer. Like it was inside 4K’s mind.
“And you don’t want it to end. You want to be tickled senseless. You want to be thoughtless. Your brain turned into mush. You won’t know anything else but me tickling this one little rib.”
The hands slowly joined in with HD’s words. They started slow and gentle. A few soft tickles along his shin and thighs. Careful kneading at his hips and stomach. A couple tickled over his chest and dipped into his armpits. It wasn’t until they got to the rib that their excitement took over. They poked and prodded at any space they could get until all of them realised they were not simple hands.
Two. Three. Five. Seven! As many hands as they wanted. All zeroed in on 4K’s one little rib, gliding through one another like smoke yet 4K could feel all of them.
“TICKLEEEEHEHEHEHE!” It was all 4K could scream now. His voice destroyed as much as his mind. If he had been mortal he would have gone insane. His mind felt like it was only holding on by threads. “TICKLES TICKLES TICKLES!! IT TICKLESSSS!”
“You’re doing so well.” HD’s voice praised. Soft and warm. A sweet smell followed with it. Wildflowers and lavenders. “So well.”
4K wanted to be praised more. He wanted to be tickled more. He wanted to be frozen in this moment when his nerves cried out for mercy and he could do nothing but laugh.
It felt like hours but was probably only a few more seconds when one of the hands fazed under his back and tickled right at the base of his tail, and two more got at his feet again. With his rib and his tail and his feet it was too much even for the most loved of ticklees.
“NOVA!” 4K gasped and the tickling stopped.
It took a long while for his nerves to stop singing and even when his body had relaxed, his mind was still gone. 4K felt lighter than he’d ever felt before. No longer was he in a cave and lying on the rocks. Now it was like clouds cradling him. He could almost believe he could feel the breeze.
“You did so good.” HD’s voice was the one solid thing he could focus on. Cutting through the clouds. “Just relax right now. Thaaaat’s it...”
The discomfort of the stones and cave was gone. 4K could have fallen asleep there, but HD’s voice was his lifeline to the waking world.
“If you don’t want to stay at the palace, that’s fine.” HD whispered. “But there would be no harm in you visiting for a few hours.”
4K hummed. It was the most he could do, being on the edge of passing out. But if he said anything more he was going to laugh again.
“My palace is in the clouds. Nowhere near the kingdom. And if he’s not torn up the Overworld from just knowing you’re here, then he cannot be angry with you spending a few hours miles away from him.”
Despite how much 4K didn’t want to follow that logic, it made sense. Every day Sapnap knew he was here and hadn’t declared a war was a positive day. Maybe as long as 4K wasn’t near or in the way, Sapnap could ignore it.
“So I’m not asking you to stay with me. But just come over for a few hours. As a friend.”
He was too tried to argue and 4K couldn’t think of anymore excuses. With HD scratching under his chin, 4K tilted his head back with a purr and giggled: “Ohokahahay...”
He couldn’t even feel the teleportation, but when 4K opened his eyes they were laying in the clouds right by the palace doors. HD got up slowly first, then kindly helped up 4K without him having to ask. His legs were like jelly but they kept him upright. Or HD did.
The palace was just as 4K last remembered it though now he was seeing it through blurry eyes and sleepy thoughts. Warm and inviting, but now the stairway had flowering vines twirling down the railings.
It was like walking through a dream as 4K was lead up the stairs and into a guest room. A plain room with a bed big enough to fit five 4K’s in it. The covers were thick and warm and 4K fell right into them as HD lead him over.
“Sleep as long as you want.” HD’s voice faded as the scent of lavenders grew. “Eat whatever you want. The palace is yours to explore.”
4K only hummed as he turned on his front. He hugged the soft cloudy pillow under his head then fell in to the best sleep he’d ever had in years.
George is going to have to face the fact this strange God looks like him. What better way to confront him about it than asking to live with said strange God for a few days?
I thought I had already posted this before I went on holiday! Pls forgive!
Sweet and to the point! Pls enjoy!
---
One of the most annoying aspects of Dream was when something got stuck in his head, he could not let it go.
As soon as he spoke with George about the fact Sapnap and that tall God looked alike, George knew that wouldn’t just be it. Now whenever there was a quiet moment with the three, George would watch Dream get that look in his eye as he looked to Sapnap. Eyes scanning, taking in every detail and comparing it with his memories. Before Dream could say anything, George could always intervene and he could move the conversation to another topic.
That could only work for so long. George could not stay by them both forever. He had stepped away as he woke up to hunt for food. When he came back, the house was tense and George could hear them talking in the kitchen.
“Dream! Drop it!”
“You can’t tell me it’s not just a coincidence. He looks like you! Just...taller?”
The first idea that came to George’s mind was just to leave. They could work out whatever they needed between them but there was a deep gnawing curiosity in George. For now, he focused on his care for Sapnap and walked to the kitchen.
Sapnap stood by the smoker currently cooking something. His arms were folded and lips curled to a snarl. Dream sat by the kitchen table but his chair turned facing Sapnap.
“You’ve got to know him!”
“It is no business of yours if I know him or not!”
“No business of—We were raised together Sapnap! I see a guy who looks just like you, who you clearly know, and I’m supposed to not ask?!”
“What are you two yelling about now?” George cut in before Sapnap could snap back. It was clear what they were talking about, but making them explain it could at least calm them for a moment.
“Dream won’t shut up about some random nobody he thinks looks like me.” Sapnap’s glaring eyes turned to George then. “And thanks by the way for telling Dream I spoke to him.”
“How was I to know it was a secret?!” George’s plan to diffuse the situation already failed in getting defensive. He took a calm breath and tried again. “Dream. If he says he doesn’t know him, then Sapnap doesn’t know him.”
“Sapnap is a liar!” Dream looked between the two. “Am I insane here?! There is a God who looks just like Sapnap, or close enough to at least and I’m called crazy for just making the slight suggestion that it’s similar to me and XD?! If he spoke to him he clearly knows him!”
No it wasn’t insane to think. George had thought the exact same thing but the concern for saving Dream was the only thing that mattered. That and the uncomfortable acceptance that if Sapnap’s copy was related to him, then logic would surmise his own was related to George.
“So what if I know him, what is the big deal?” Sapnap’s voice was calmer now, trying to sound more distant and not caring. It did not work.
“So you do know him!” Dream pointed his accusation, excitement renewed and surging through him.
Sapnap rolled his eyes and George felt an uncomfortable headache come along. “Dream...”
“I knew you knew him!”
“Dream!” George snapped again, this time getting his attention. “Did you think Sapnap doesn’t want to talk about it because it’s uncomfortable for him?”
Dream snapped out of whatever excited mood took him. The sparkle faded from his eyes as he looked between Sapnap and George as though fully taking in the situation. “I... I didn’t mean anything bad by it...” His voice flipped, now turning meek and he shrank in his chair.
As he took a seat by the table, the annoyance in George quickly melted to sympathy. He knew Dream wasn’t trying to push boundaries. It was in his nature to explore a topic on his mind until he had all the answers and sometimes he got lost in pursuing it.
“Sorry Sap...” Dream apologised.
“It’s fine. It’s...whatever...” Sapnap shrugged but his voice was edged with sympathy too. Before George could enjoy the small relief that the matter was settled, Sapnap spoke again. “He is... He... He calls himself my brother.”
The excitement crackled in the room again, but Dream kept his cool this time. He perked up with a smile. George felt a deep dread.
“But he’s nothing to me! He’s out of my life!” Anger came back into Sapnap’s voice.
“You’ve never mentioned him to us.” Dream gently probed. When Sapnap didn’t snap again, he carried on. “Does Bad know him?”
“Yes. Of course he does. He-It doesn’t matter!”
“Well...you’ve never told us this before.” Dream carefully spoke. “I just...since with me and XD I thought maybe it would be the same thing.”
“It’s not the same thing! Your brother didn’t fuck up your face and abandon you!”
Sapnap’s scar had just been apart of him for as long as Dream and George could remember. He never spoke about it, but George knew it bothered him. Some days Sapnap would style his hair to cover that side of his face more. If he was sit still and fidgeting he’d pull his hair just a little bit more over it. But then some days he walked around with the scar showing and not a care in the world.
“He...” Dream started talking but stopped when George shot him a look. The tall God was large and imposing but he seemed nice enough. He stayed back and helped people out of the Egg’s pods. It wasn’t impossible that it was all a show but George and Dream had no right to question that.
“So that’s why I don’t want to talk about him.”
Sapnap put the matter to rest, but Dream couldn’t. However, he had more grace now to gently ask. “Can I just ask one more question?”
Sapnap’s nose twitched, but he nodded.
“Is he a God too?”
Sapnap paused to think. “Yes... I think.”
“So it’s sort of like me and XD.” Dream confirmed for himself, but his eyes wandered to George. And Sapnap glanced to George as well. Because it was on everyone’s mind.
Well if we have god-like brothers, then logic dictates you have one too.
“I’m going on a walk.”
George pushed himself up from the chair suddenly. Dream and Sapnap both looked shocked.
“D-Do you want company?” Dream offered.
“No.” George quickly responded. “I need to think.”
George expected the tightness in his chest to fade once he stepped outside so when he walked into the woods and the stress did not ease, he grunted and carried on.
He was alone but it felt like eyes were still on him. Dream and Sapnap constantly staring at him like waiting on him to finally realise the truth and suddenly it would all click into place.
Well nothing clicked into place.
George had no memory of HD. No matter how young, George was sure that meeting or being related to a God was an unforgettable thing. The earliest of George’s memories were of him managing to sneak off from his adoptive parents and escape into the woods. A three year old could not get very far however and he was always dragged back, but George would try again and again.
The memories slowly flowed in and George stopped mid-step. Memories of him always running to the woods when he could. If his parents eyes were off him for just a second, or the door was just slightly open, he’d bolt as fast as he could. George had always put it down to just childhood frenzy. Children got overexcited and ran off all the time. And he grew out of it.
Or...did he? Did he grow out of it, or was he just better watched? There were times George remembered his bedroom door locked and he threw tantrums in frustration. If he didn’t get out and run to the forest, it felt like a part of him would die. As an adult he excused it as childish feelings he couldn’t handle. Now the memory was fresh in his mind and the feeling was real and...awful.
His heart thumped in his chest and George realised he was holding his breath. He took a moment, slowly letting out his breath. His headache faded and he unclenched his jaw.
“It was stupid childish things...” George mumbled. “But...maybe...”
It was no secret George was adopted, found wandering at the edge of a village where his parents took him in. George had no interest to find his family, he found one with Sapnap and Dream. But he must have been left by someone. Why couldn’t it have been a brother?
Before George worked himself into a bigger frenzy, he took in another breath. He’d get nowhere thinking himself into circles. As much as he did not want to admit it, he’d only get his answers from one specific person.
“I need to talk to him...”
Admitting it out loud was easy but then actually planning for it already hit George with a snag. How was he supposed to contact him?
He had no idea where this God lived. Did he live anywhere? George didn’t really pay attention to anything about him and the last thing he said to the guy was calling them strangers. Past George might have already foiled George’s plans.
If all else failed he knew he could ask DreamXD. He seemed friends with HD and George could call XD to him as he used to and work from there. Though he’d honestly prefer no-one else involved.
Well...did he have to?
George could call on XD the same way Dream could. It was just an extension of the power shared between them. No matter where Dream was, XD could find him. A bond between a God and his brother.
It was a long shot of a chance, but it was the only option George could think of. He shut his eyes and focused. When he’d call on XD, he could just think it and he would respond. So with the same logic, George mentally called for HD and then slowly opened his eyes.
It wasn’t answered right away. The forest was still and quiet but it seemed dimmer as though the sun was blocked by the clouds and the forest floor turned misty.
Right away it was clear it wasn’t a normal mist. It had a slight blue tint in colour and while it slowly rolled over the roots of the trees it gathered close in front of George before a door slowly materialised from the mist.
It reminded George of a castle door. Tall, dark blue with the edges lined with gold. The mist formed more into cloud shapes on either side of the door, then they slowly opened and there was GeorgeHD.
The last time George remembered him, the strange God seemed out of sorts. As though he’d thrown on clothes and not cared for his appearance. Now he seemed more taken care of. His hair still a ruffled mess of stars, but it seemed more fluffed out and brushed. He wore a pale lilac robe with golden stars glittering over the fabric. His mismatched eyes looked hopeful but he reserved himself back. The room he stood in was like the entrance way to a grand palace. There was a display of stars, comets and planets in the middle of a spiral staircase behind him.
“I... I thought... I felt you...call...? For me?” HD spoke first. Voice so hopeful but hurt.
Cold anxiety gripped at George’s throat for just a moment. The fear and grief took him for just a second then he cleared his throat and nodded. “I did. I wanted to...ask you some things.”
A gentle smile broke out on the God’s face. Their cheeks brightened with an pink hue and they stepped just a bit. “Yes! Of course. Come in!”
George stepped forward before the fear could stop him. He was out of the forest and the door closed behind him. The warmth of the sunlight was gone. The palace was cold.
“I can grab us something to drink and we can talk. Uh... C-Come this way.”
HD went to a doorway just off to the side of the spiral stairs. George followed cautiously after. It was a small room set up like a kitchen but more modest than what a kitchen for a castle would look like. There was a metal stove, wooden counters with various jars and walls lined with dried herbs. There was a table and chairs set up against the wall that HD motioned to. George took a seat while HD waved his hands. Cups materialised, jars opened and herbs floated to the cups.
George watched all the ingredients move, suddenly feeling awkward sat and waiting. He wanted to try and focus and think of the questions before HD returned but the only thing he could do was look at HD and beg his mind to try and just remember something.
When HD returned with two hot cups of some type of tea, George had no questions or memories ready, but he was feeling less awkward when he took the cup in his hands. It was nice to have something to warm him up.
“Sorry I should have asked what you wanted.” HD sat opposite George. “It’s just regular tea.”
“It’s fine...” George mumbled. He decided he wasn’t going to drink it, but it was good to keep him warm. “I have questions.”
“Of course.” HD nodded. “Yes. I’ll answer what I can.”
His mind was a mess but George tried to push pass his feelings. “You say we’re brothers. How did we get separated?”
HD’s face twisted to sadness. “I honestly can’t remember. My memory is still hazy around the end of our time together.”
“But you’re sure we’re brothers?”
“Yes!” HD’s voice edged with a hint of desperation. “Yes, we are. After I took XD here the memories came back. Some of them are hazy but I swear we’re brothers.”
“But you just can’t remember how we were separated?” George meant to ask it more in a clarification, but the tone came out more as accusing judging by the look on HD’s face.
“I do remember I grew tired a lot. My sleep wasn’t the best even before I was a God, but when I was connected to the Overworld I got tired a lot. My best guess is I went to sleep and when I woke up you were gone.”
It wasn’t a satisfying answer, but George could give some sympathy over the sleeping problems. In another mood, George would have joked he and HD would have the same problems with sleep.
“How did you forget me?”
“That would be from the sleep issue again. I remember I was in a loop of looking for you and falling asleep. I’d look for you in my dreams. Then I woke up and would do the same. I couldn’t tell when I was awake or asleep anymore and I couldn’t tell when I started looking for you. But I tried to. I promise I did.”
George realised he was holding the cup a little too tightly, and eased off. “How can you be so sure? What if you really were looking for a dream, and I just happened to look like them?”
“When we met those few weeks ago, one of my hands responded to you.” HD said and either in example or it responding to his call, a white ghostly hand appeared. George suddenly remembered it. At first he thought it had appeared to harm him, but now he laughed at the thought. The hand looked so small and soft.
“When it appeared...” HD continued. “It was like instinct. I didn’t know how at first until I came here and things just...clicked.” He gave a sorry look to George. “I know these probably aren’t the answers you want to hear. I am sorry.”
It was annoying all his answers were fogged over by a cloud of amnesia but he didn’t expect the answers to be easy. The tea in his hands was slowly losing it’s warmth. George gave himself until the tea turned cold. Then he would decide.
“The way you spoke about it, you make it seem like you were narcoleptic. But you seem to be awake and fine just now.” George pointed out.
HD gave a sad smile. “I’m not...uh.” He ran his hand through his starry hair. George watched a few stars shoot through the strands. “I’m not connected to the Overworld as I once was. In the beginning it was no bother if I slept for days or months. But when you came along that was no longer an option. After you... After I lost you and couldn’t really tell what was real or not anymore I left the Overworld. I went to a sort of between realm and slept for...probably years.”
“And now you’re just not connected to the world anymore?” George asked.
HD shook his head. “No. Not in the way I was. It’s different. I can feel the Overworld now but before it was like...like my breathing was it’s breathing. My heartbeat was its.”
George cast his eyes down to the table and tried to imagine such a feeling. He got tired just from a regular day. A day connected to everything in the world just sounded exhausting.
“I know it might not mean much since I don’t remember anything but I am truly sorry George.”
George looked up and HD was looking to him with sad, soft eyes.
“I’m sorry George. I’m sorry for losing you. I’m sorry for not finding you. And I’m sorry for forgetting you. If I had one chance I’d fix it. I’ll try and fix this in anyway you need.”
He didn’t know why, but George’s thoughts first went to Sapnap. Rightfully angry over his scar, but the anger just made him bitter and resentful. George wondered if Sapnap’s brother offered the same apologies and the same promises. What couldn’t a God offer for forgiveness?
The scheming part of George imagined all the diamonds he could ask for but even the joking thought did not bring him happiness.
The cup lay cold in George’s hand now. It brought back the chill of the palace but George had made up his mind.
“Can I stay here? For a couple of days?”
HD looked shocked to the question. George was shocked himself. It was an option he was considering but even he wasn’t sure if he would go through with it.
Well, he said it now. He’d stick with it. “If this place helped you get your memories back, maybe I’ll remember something too.”
He said it as an explanation but it was clear on HD’s face he didn’t need any convincing. “Yes! Of course! This is—was your home too! Of course you can stay. I’ll-I’ll show you your room!”
It was a nervous excitement, but contagious in it’s joy. HD led George up the stairs, were the palace got darker but in a soft comforting way. The floor was a dark mist that kicked up glittery stars with every step. The ceiling was a night sky, slowly raining down golden stars that disappeared before they touched the ground. It was a magical fairyland and George was happy to just be in it for the moment.
HD pushed open a set of doors to a child’s bedroom. The floor was a plush light blue. The walls were a similar blue but the top faded out to a late morning sky shade. There were shelves pushed to the back wall, that held an assortment of toys, soft stuffed animals and books for children. There was a cradle in the centre of the room, settled in a golden crescent moon. At the tip of the moon there were stars hanging down.
“Uh, sorry. I cleaned up but I didn’t think. Here...” HD waved his hand and the crib slowly morphed. The moon shape was still there but it stretched out now to the size of a proper bed. The pillows multiplied and the sheets grew to fit the size of the bed.
“I-If you want to change it let me know.” HD added.
“No. It’s alright.”
George looked around the room again, willing himself to remember just something.
Anything.
But no.
Nothing.
He tried not to let the disappointment show, and instead turned to HD.
“I need to get some things from my home. I also need to tell Dream and Sapnap where I’ll be.”
“Right. Of course.” HD nodded. “The front door will open to your cottage. It’ll stay there until you come back.”
The trip home and back was quicker than George thought. He only grabbed a few things, just enough to fit into a pack while telling Dream and Sap about the situation. They were trying to be understanding but worried.
“I feel like I pushed the idea on you...” Dream mumbled in his meek, sorry voice.
George paused for a moment before he responded. “Maybe you did. But it needed to happen at some point.”
Sapnap and Dream shared a look and a wordless conversation passed between the two.
“You don’t need to try and fix any relationship with him.” Sapnap reminded him.
“We’re discussing it.” George quickly shut down the talk. “This is just something I need to do. Whatever happens...well it’ll happen.”
Worries still exchanged between them, but George was firm in his decision. “I just need to know you two won’t kill each other while I’m away.”
“Pffft! Of course we won’t!” Dream scoffed like the idea was ridiculous.
“What ever gave you that idea?” Sapnap asked in the same tone and put his arm around Dream’s shoulders. “We’re get along perfectly.”
“Like a house on fire.” Dream added.
George rolled his eyes. “Just make sure my house isn’t on fire when I get back.”
Despite George’s insistence he didn’t need seen off like a child, the two followed him out, and marvelled at the huge castle door awaiting him. As it slowly opened HD stood in the middle of the open room again. His face lit up with a bright smile, like he was anxiously waiting. Like he didn’t believe George would come back.
“Hey, HD...” Dream awkwardly waved.
HD’s smile was warm. “Hello Dream.” He greeted before looking to Sapnap. “And Sapnap. I’m sorry our first meeting wasn’t on the best terms.”
Sapnap just gives a hum in response. His stance firm and cagey. George wondered if his hate for his own sibling extended to all Gods but then he’s always been kind with XD.
The Dream Team shared another goodbye and George stepped through the doors. They closed behind him, with the warmth of the sun disappearing and the chill of the palace returning.
The tentative brothers headed back to George’s room, as HD talked.
“The palace is your home, you can go wherever you please. The kitchen will always be stocked for you.”
When they returned to George’s room it had changed. The bed was still it’s new shape, but there were less toys and the books on the shelf had been replaced.
“I thought maybe you would appreciate the room being less childish. If you want anything else changed, just let me know.”
“It’s fine.” George quickly cut in. He learned quick for HD’s nervous rambling, and if he didn’t cut in it would only continue. “Thank you, HD. It’s good.”
HD gave a wavering smile and left George to settle in his room. He placed down his pack and gently tested the bed. The mattress was unbelievably soft, like sinking into a cloud. The sheets and pillows were much the same.
George sat on his bed and tried to will his mind to remember something. Anything.
Nothing.
***
Settling into the palace was a lot easier than George would have thought. For the first day he stayed in his room as long as possible, reading over the titles of the books again and again before hunger called him out. He tiptoed down the stairs but saw the light from the kitchen glowing into the hallway.
After realising how dumb it was to try and avoid HD, who literally lived in the palace, George walked down the rest of the steps and carefully entered into the kitchen.
HD was in lighter robes than before; less golden accessories and in a soft blue tone now. He watched over a pot of something over the small hob fire before he quickly turned his head to the door.
“Oh! George.” His lips pulled to a smile. He waved his hand and the fire over the hob simmered down. “I thought of calling for you but I wasn’t sure if you were hungry. The kitchen is yours to use whenever you like of course. You can eat whenever.”
George’s stomach made a growl he hoped HD couldn’t hear. He looked to the pot over the hob. “You...make food?”
“Yes?” HD head slightly tilted to the question.
“Aren’t you a God. Can’t you just snap your fingers and food appears?”
“Ah... Sometimes I like to cook. If I need to think or...distract myself.”
HD answered almost sheepishly but George tried to politely ignore it and nodded. “Do you actually need to eat?”
“Not in the same way you or mortals would. I can feel hunger but it’s not like a pain. It’s more like a craving than a need.”
“What are you making?”
HD turned his head slightly back to the pot. “Just some stew. Would you like some?”
George frowned just a little. “No thanks.”
“Is there anything you do want? We can make it.”
“You’ve already made your stew though.”
HD raised his hand, waving it again and this time the fire went out, and the pot and anything in it disappeared.
“Wha—Why? You’ve wasted your time!”
“Time I have abundance of.” HD shrugged. “We can make whatever you want.”
There was a pressure now to choose, but George couldn’t help smile to how silly it all was. It was a clear attempt to desperately bond with him, but it was endearing. “I... I don’t know...” He quickly tried to think of anything he could cook with HD.
“I have some cookbooks in the pantry. You can have a look through them.”
Overly curious to find out what sort of cookbooks a God would have, George slipped off to the pantry. It was just a small space in the back of the kitchen, with shelved filled with various jarred food and one small shelf of cookbooks.
The books were not what George expected. They seemed very old. Old enough that if George even looked at them wrong, they’d fall apart. They were also on the top shelf that George was not reaching. He could maybe get his fingers to the shelf but could not reach the books.
George huffed and stretched himself up to try again. He was still too short to grab it, but then as he pulled his hand back, one of HD’s white hands suddenly faded to existence. It reached up for the book George had been eyeing, gently pulling it out and slowly lowering it to George’s waiting hand.
The hand stayed around, even as George gave it a wary look. He returned to the kitchen, book in hand and eyes on the hand until he turned to HD.
“If you were going to use your weird hands you didn’t really need my help.”
HD gave him a puzzled look before watching the white hand following after George. He seemed surprised for a moment. “Oh. I never did that. It just responded to you.”
“Responded?” George asked and looked to hand. “How? Don’t you control them?”
“I do, but it’s more like instinct than a command. Like in your cottage when you were covered in flour. The hand appeared because you wanted the flour off you. It must have been something I set up before.”
George frowned. “You don’t remember?”
HD looked sad. “No.”
His memories might have been fuzzy as a child, but George would have remembered if he’d ever had a weird helper hand around him. His parents would have freaked for sure and his escape attempts would have been more successful. Whatever happened in their separated severed the link this ethereal hand had to him.
It was getting far too quiet and George didn’t like the tension. He quickly put the book down, and snapped HD from his thoughts.
“Let’s make something before I starve.”
The cookbook was surprisingly ordinary, but George couldn’t complain. The food was good, and with them making something together it left no time for any silence. The conversations was kept to only food topics and even George could admit the evening was pleasant.
***
The next day, George curiosity to the hand slowly melted to a warm acceptance. At first it still caught him off guard. When he had a passing through that his pillow was uncomfortable the hand appeared to fluff it up. When he was hungry, the hand appeared with snacks. It answered every call of his no matter how small.
By midday George fully accepted the ethereal hand as another part of him.
As soon as George woke, he spent the day exploring the palace. He avoid any of the rooms upstairs, not wanting to enter HD’s room, and instead kept to the lower floor.
There were long empty rooms, with high windows looking out to the clouds and fancy couches in front of them.. A study like room with a desk and chair but the room was oddly bare apart from that. A long twisting room filled with artwork. Some paintings off the Overworld and a few of the Nether. There were a couple paintings of golden fields and floating islands that George had never seen before.
Finally George came upon the library. It was a tall room but small floorspace wise. Shelves of books pushed against the wall in the centre of a room there was a small reading space of soft chairs and long couches.
Curiosity pulled George to the books, wondering what books could be interesting enough for a God. The answer was surprisingly boring. It was mostly old books, majority fiction but there were some old travel books with maps and published journals of adventurers. George grabbed a few of them to read and while some of the old adventure books were interesting, nothing could keep his interest.
He was laying over the couch, flipping through the third book when he realised he wasn’t really paying attention to it and took in none of the words. He closed the book, placing it down and huffed in irritation.
“I’m in a palace in the sky. How am I possibly bored?”
Maybe it was because George still felt uneasy about his own memories. Nothing was coming to him so the palace still felt cold to him. He could fill his time with small distractions but nothing worked.
George felt himself pout and was happy in that moment to be alone, when suddenly the little helper hand popped up.
George jolted in surprise for a moment then settled. “Are you as bored as I am?”
The hand gave no answer, just slowly hovered closer. George had a stray thought, wondering if the hand could relay messages to HD. Did he know George was bored, or was the hand just acting out of instinct to keep him company?
Just as George was thinking it was probably best to find HD, his side suddenly tingled and static, tickly shocks ran through his body. George jumped higher than he had when the hand startled him and gave a small ‘yip’ before he pushed himself up.
The helper hand had tasered his side.
“Wh-Whahat the fuck!” George’s voice was far from demanding as he wanted it. It tickled more that he was caught off guard. Just as he rubbed his side to be away of the ghost tickles, the hand had silently floated around and got under his arm.
It tickled for only a second until George laughed and rolled off the couch. He was worried for a moment landing on the books might have damaged them but then he didn’t care when the hand followed him and tickled at his side again.
“Get—!” George tried to yell but laughter overtook him. He smacked the hand away, but while the hand left his side, it went back in, attacking his stomach and up to his ribs this time.
“S-S-Stohop! Stohohop!” George threw his head back in laughter. He abandoned trying to smack the hand away and instead curled into a ball, protecting any spots the hands went for. When he defended one area, the hand pulled back and went for another.
“Not—! Aha...Not—NOT THERE!”
The hand squeezed at his thigh and George made a move to grab it. It dodged the first attempt but it when it went back in for George’s leg, he grabbed again and got it.
It should have been impossible for a hand to show expression yet George knew as he held it, it was trying to act innocent.
“Wh-What the hell was that for?” His cheeks were red and his mouth breathless.
The fingers wiggled slightly in George’s grip. A childish irritation bubbled in George’s chest. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, and he never got to find out.
There was a door slamming from somewhere in the palace, and the air suddenly went cold.
George released the hand which faded right away and he slowly crept to the door. Everything was still for a moment as George tried to listen but he couldn’t hear anything. Maybe the distant sounds of footsteps but they sounded heavy. Not HD’s.
A moment of panic surged George’s thoughts that he quickly shook that away. No-one could just sneak into the palace without HD’s notice. They were a God, and the palace was in the clouds. Who or whatever was here was allowed in.
Trying to step as quietly as possible, George made his way down the hallway. He peeked into the front room, seeing no-one but now he could hear distant voices. One of them he was sure was HD’s. The other sounded louder but not angry.
Following the voices brought George to kitchen but then towards a set of doors he had never noticed before. The door was slightly open, letting in the shine of the sunlight. George kept himself at a distance to not be caught but found a perfect spot to stand beside the kitchen counter where he could see through the door just a bit.
It was an outside garden, bathed in the glow of the afternoon sun. Greens and a multitude of colours danced in the light. Between the colours he could see HD, standing by an elegant looking garden table and chair. In front of him was a tall figure George did not know, but recognised right away. His back was mostly to George but he moved and shifted on his feet as he talked. His wild hair of black and fire flicked, showing his horns and part of his face.
It was the Tall God who looked like Sapnap.
“You were silent for days. The last time you said you were going looking for...and then you just didn’t come back! I thought...” The Tall God spoke. His voice was deep with a rumble under the words. It reminded George of the way XD would speak, like there was always a voice under his own. But this God’s voice was warm and while he sounded worried there was no edge of anger or bitterness.
“I’m sorry.” HD spoke calmly, but his face looked guilty. “I’m sorry I should have contacted you. Everything just happened so quickly with George. I was caught up in it.”
The Tall God sighed, but he didn’t sound any more relaxed. “No, I-I get it. I just...fuck I thought you were gone.”
His voice turned soft at the end. It made George think of a campfire. Warm and gentle. HD looked pained and took a step towards the God but he stopped himself.
“I’m sorry, 4K.” HD said, “But it’s only a few days and I’ll be back to help again. I already spoke with the wardens and guards at the prisons. None of them know what it is. If you can’t find any more—”
“I’m not searching.” 4K quickly cut in. “I can’t—I’m not searching alone!”
“Okay, okay.” HD held his hand up to calm. “XD should still be able to help. He’ll know the layout of the Overworld better than me by now.”
“It’s not...I...”
The mood shifted as 4K’s voice broke a little. HD tensed and took a slow step forward. “Did something else happen?” They carefully asked. When 4K didn’t move or respond, they called out again. “4K?”
4K remained still but his shoulders hunched. A tense moment passed that felt like hours but was probably only a few seconds; then those shoulders relaxed.
“Nothing. Everything is fine, HD.” His voice was warm again, but emotionless. “I’m just on edge. After... I-I’ll ask XD to look with me in the Overworld. You take your time with George.”
HD calmed then, but not completely. He looked to 4K with concern and a look George knew well. It was the look he had when he wanted to speak, but instead he would just nod and say “okay.” As HD just did.
There was a purple flash of something behind the door George couldn’t see. 4K stepped into whatever it was, then he was gone. HD let out a slow sigh. “You can come out now, George.”
There was a split second George considered sneaking away, but two of the white hands appeared and pushed open the doors to the garden. The light of the sun blinded George a moment before another hand pushed on his back and led him forward.
The garden was not as big as George first thought. It was a small internal courtyard, enclosed in the palace walls. There were tall trees on both sides of the doorway, arching over the cobblestone path. Around the trees were various flowers and plants, in an array of colours. In the middle was an elegant, marble looking garden table and set of chairs were HD stood.
George slowly walked in, enjoying the ray of the sun on his skin warming him for the moment and stopped at the other side of the table.
“Did you really think you could sneak up on two Gods?” HD placed a hand on his hip as he asked. He didn’t seem angry, just more amused so George assumed he wasn’t in trouble.
“I don’t know...” George held back his shrug. “I wasn’t trying to sneak up I just didn’t know who was there. Then I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Uh-huh.” HD’s tone didn’t believe him. He lowered down to the chair slightly pushed out and George saw there was a small tray on the table, with tea and small cakes.
“D-Did he...4K? Did he also know I was there.” George asked.
“Most likely.” HD shrugged. “He wouldn’t have said anything he didn’t want you to hear.”
The guilt and shame of being caught was pushed aside for the curiosity to 4K. George only saw him briefly before they went to save Dream and everything else he knew was from Sapnap. Which was he had scarred Sapnap and left him.
“HD... Did you know that 4K has a brother?”
HD gave him a look, and answered carefully. “Yes.”
“Do you know their relationship?”
“I know they don’t speak. And that’s all I know.”
The tone was clear to shut George down, yet disappointment made him ask. “Aren’t you curious?”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m curious or not. If 4K wanted to tell me, he would have.” HD waved his hand, and two plates appeared on the table. “If you clean up the books in the library, you can join me.”
Hunger gnawed George’s stomach and he realised he had not eaten yet. The small cakes suddenly looked delicious and fuelled his quick steps back to the library. When he returned back to the garden the sun was still warm, and the afternoon was peaceful. The chair opposite HD’s was pushed open and George slipped in.
“Did you have fun in the library? Read anything good?” HD asked while he ate a small cake.
“Some of them were. I was never much of a reader, though.” George tried to carefully word himself to not offend HD. He took one of the cakes HD pushed towards him.
“You didn’t get bored?”
It was a simple, common question and yet it made George pause. He looked at HD’s face for any sign he knew what went on but his face was stone and gave nothing away. “No.” George shook his head. “Maybe a little until I heard 4K arrive. But the books were good.”
HD only nodded.
***
A sleep schedule for George was just whenever he was tired enough to collapse. Sometimes that would be normal, in the night when the moon was rising. Sometimes a little later. Sometimes he’d sleep all through the day and become a night owl. It didn’t help that his stupid mushroom cheeks always gave him away.
The red and white splotches under his eyes would fade the more tired he got, and would grow more noticeable the longer he slept. And George could sleep for days sometimes.
Tonight it was a night that no matter how restful and soft George’s bed was, he was not tired. His mushroom cheeks were fading slightly, but still held a slight redness to them. He had no mirror to check but George could always just feel it like it was another sense to him.
George tossed and turned but he wasn’t sleeping. He had learned if he tapped on one of the moon shapes hanging over his bed it would give him a small light and tried to read for a while, but he was too on edge to focus on the words. He next tried to kick off the covers, and pull his grass cloak over him as a blanket and for a moment, it worked.
During packing, George had debating taking the cloak with him. For no other reason than he thought it felt childish. It had served more as a comfort blanket than a cloak through his life, but in the end he convinced himself there was no harm in it and packed it for the stay. A decision he was he was now glad for.
No matter how fast his mind was spinning, the cloak could calm him down. But it couldn’t make him relax.
A last ditch attempt was made and George decided he’d take a walk till he was tired enough to crash out.
The palace was cold naturally and at night it was eerily still. The walls already a dark blue blended to the clouds outside. Everything felt colder which was just another reason George was thankful for his cloak. He pulled it tight around his shoulders and stepped out of his room.
HD’s room was opposite George’s, on the other side of the top landing. The doors were closed and George quickly moved on before curiosity could decide for him. Since he spent the day downstairs exploring, he instead kept to the top floor.
George found himself wandering to a long hallway stretched to the other end of the palace. The windows reached from the floor to the high ceiling and covered almost every inch of the wall. They looked out to the night clouds, which shone a pale silver with the moon’s light. He took a few steps down, wondering what other rooms this place could hold when he stopped and noticed HD was not asleep in his room as George had thought.
HD was sat on the build in seat to one of the windows. He was propped up with pillows, his back to the wall and legs up on the seat as he was half lying down. He had a book in his hand which took his attention until he noticed George and he sat up slightly.
“Hey...” HD called out. “Is something wrong?”
“I was just taking a walk.” George quickly answered before HD could worry. “I couldn’t sleep.”
HD relaxed then and George noticed the book more clearly now. It was less like a book, more like a album “What are you reading?”
HD’s smile turned soft. He pushed himself up, binging his legs down and shuffled over on the seat. He pat the cushions beside him and George carefully moved over. When he sat down, HD placed the album down on his lap and flipped the pages back to the start.
“This is my family’s history.”
George’s eyes widened and suddenly his politeness was genuine interest. ‘Morgan’ was the name in bold fancy letters at the top of the page. There was an illustration of a crest with thistle below. HD turned the pages, and were a few names written, along with very minimal portraits and blueprints of a home.
“Is...were you a human? Like...before?”
HD shook his head. It was only the two of them in the palace, but his voice was softer in the night. “No.” He paused and then asked. “Do you know what a fae is?”
George had heard the name before. Mostly said by angry adults and in the whispers of gossip. “Sort of. I’ve heard people talk about them. I thought they were just made up stories.”
“They’re not a common sight anymore.” HD agreed. “They’re creatures, not quite human. They live in their forests, separated from the Overworld by the thinnest veil. In the past it was more common to see them. Fae’s are tricksters and people would be cautious around them. I was a fae, before I was a God.”
It shouldn’t have been a surprise the way things were going, yet George felt the weight of the reveal all the same. The idea that a God was once mortal, or as close to a mortal as a fae was anyway. “So...were your family fae?”
HD’s smile turned sad. “No. It’s... It might be complicated to explain. Some faefolk when they have children they’ll leave them to a human family or swap places with a human child. When I was a baby I was left to my family. They raised me, until I was a young man and the fae’s came for me.”
HD flipped a page. Another few simple drawings and more names. There were notes over the pages of children’s names, and children’s children’s names. Who married who and what families joined together. In the corner of the right page, there was a piece of cloth stuck into the book and a note above. The family had taken up weaving as a profession. The next few pages were filled with old pieces of cloth and drawn in pattern designs.
“But... Did you leave them? The ones that raised you?” George asked.
“For a while,” HD turned another page. More drawings of patterns, clothes and a loom littered around the page but now there were names between them. “I went to the faes for a time, but I longed for my family. I returned back to them.”
“Did they take you back?”
“They did. I wasn’t sure they would. They’d have every right to mistrust me, but I returned and they accepted me with open arms. I stayed with them.”
Another page turned but this time loose papers were stuffed between the pages. They were drawings. Paintings and illustrations of a home and people. When HD moved some of them away, there was more underneath. Detailed paintings of men and women like miniature portraits.
“These were my family.” HD gently handed one of the paintings to George. He was terrified to even look at the painting wrong, but gently held it as carefully as he could. It was of an older woman, with long silver hair and smiling sweetly. “She was my grandmother.”
HD flipped through some of the paintings. Each of a family member. His mother and father, a brother and two sisters, one older and one younger he said. Each smiling in the portrait with eyes full of love.
“I painted these for the album.” HD pulled out more parchment. Some were paintings of what George guessed was their family home. Others were small ink illustrations. Quick sketches of days out or the family performing mundane activities. His sister by the loom working. His father and brother readying for a hunt. His grandmother and mother talking by the fire.
The pictures were so full of life, and George realised HD was is none of them. He could capture small moments of life with his family, but he could never be in the illustrations or paintings himself.
“You’re...really good at drawing.” George said to distract from the sad thought, but it was also true.
“Well I’ve not drawn in years.” HD shrugged as his cheeks tinted a red. “It was an old hobby.”
“No, but it’s really good.” George said again, carefully placing the paintings together. The canvas paper they were on was old, but it was well taken care of. George wasn’t a creative soul, but he could still appreciate art.
HD had loved his family so fiercely. Were they still around? Did their ancestors still live? George wanted to ask but when he glanced to the album to hand back the paintings, he got his answer.
The pages that held the paintings were blank otherwise. No names, no drawings. Nothing after his family and even the paintings and illustrations all stopped suddenly. The family never growing older.
Were they...gone?
George wasn’t sure he should ask, until he gave a glance to HD’s face and knew then he should leave it alone. There was a deep sadness in his eyes, looking over the illustrations again like holding onto the memory.
It wasn’t exactly jealousy George felt, but some sort of twisted emotion coiled in his chest. HD was loved with his family. George’s parents hadn’t even liked him, much less loved him. Sometimes George even wondered why they had taken him in, if they hated him so.
George’s arms burned as they usually did when thinking of his parents. He scratched at his arms a little but the wraps just irritated his skin. He was trying to think of an excuse to leave so he could unwrap when HD noticed him scratching.
“Do your injuries still hurt?”
The question caught George off guard for a moment it distracted him from the burning. “H-Huh?”
“Your injuries from the Egg? Are they still bothering you?” HD nodded his head to George’s wrapped up arms. “I can heal them for you, if you like.”
“Oh...n-no there’s nothing to heal...” Of course to anyone else who hadn’t met him, the wraps would just look like bandages. “My arms are just...weird.”
George was already unwrapping his arms instead of explaining. The red and white splotches slowly unravelled and George had to look away. Instead he looked up to HD who watched with rounded eyes as the arms became seen.
“See? Weird.”
HD looked at the arms, but it wasn’t in confusion or disgust as most had seen them. He looked almost bewildered then wordlessly brought forward his own arm. He pulled up the sleeve of his robes, revealing his own arm and now George’s eyes went wide.
HD’s arms were marked with small green splotches, much like George’s own with the red and white. Only HD’s arms had tiny leaves growing out from his skin. There were some small buds, growing from his skin, but other fully grown leaves were still small enough they lay over HD’s arm without disturbance.
“I remembered you having your mushroom cheeks when you were little. I think you must have had them on your arms too. It never crossed my mind.” HD smiled gently then as he had his arm beside George’s.
George’s heart thumped as suddenly a memory flooded him. Well, it wasn’t exactly a memory. It was like remembering something he had no memory of. George knew what those leaves felt like.
Their arms were not touching, but George had felt those leaves between his fingers, when his hands were smaller and the leaves seemed so much bigger. He knew their scent and taste before someone would chastise him and pull the leaves from his small mouth. His mind filled in the voice as his parents but it couldn’t have been. The voice was gentle. The voice loved him.
“George.”
HD’s voice snapped him from the memory and George looked up. His heart still thundered in his chest, worse now under the careful expression of HD.
“Where did you get that cloak?”
His hand gripped to the cloak for some form of self soothing. The soft grass against his palm calmed him. “I’ve always had it.” He said slowly.
HD touched the edge of the cloak, feeling the grass between his fingers. “It used to be mine...” He almost whispered. “I thought I’d lost it years ago. Around when...”
His lips still moved but his voice was gone. Like a river rushing through his ears, George couldn’t hear or even think properly. His mind pulled together pieces of a long buried memory.
His arms stinging from bruises. His little lungs burning. His face was scratched from the twigs and branches as he ran through the forest. But if he didn’t run, the man and woman would catch him.
The memory didn’t know what he was looking for, but the feeling in that moment was important. Like if George didn’t find it, he would die.
He ran and ran and ran and then he came upon the grass cloak. He ran to the cloak and grabbed it tightly. He remembered how warm it felt and how instantly it comforted him. He remembered shouting something out into the forest and then he was grabbed by the man and woman chasing him.
He fought and shouted as much as he could, but he didn’t start screaming until they tried to take the cloak from him. Between the screams he heard them talking about throwing the cloak away, or burning it. George cried so hard his whole body retched and ran out of air.
The man and woman — his parents — decided it was easier just to let him have it. They could hide a cloak easy enough and if it kept him calm even for a few moments they’d take it.
He stopped his screaming but George was carried back to that home crying. He was put into the unfamiliar room with the cloak still clutched in his hands. He lay on the floor with the cloak wrapped around him. He clung onto the lasting warmth and familiar scent for as long as he could.
It smelt like home.
It smelt like HD.
“I was looking for you...”
George finally spoke again and his voice nearly broke. He felt a tear run down his cheek.
“What?” HD noticed the tears then. “George!”
“I was looking for you all that time.” George repeated. “I remember. I... I-I can’t—I don’t remember but I know... I was running away, trying to get back to the forest and find you!”
It was a lost jigsaw piece finally slotting in and completing the puzzle. He was never just running to run. His tantrums weren’t just from his stubbornness. He had lost his brother. The last time he had seen him was in the woods so George’s only logic to follow was if he went back into the woods, he’d find HD. When he had ran and found the cloak he had assumed HD must have been nearby. He was screaming for him as his new parents dragged him away. He was crying for his brother.
“I forgot you!” George was breathless. His chest felt tight. He couldn’t breathe.
“Hey! Woah, just calm down.” HD’s hands were on his shoulder.
“How did I forget?!” He couldn’t breathe and his voice broke again. It felt like he was about to throw up but his throat felt closed and choked.
All of a sudden George was pulled in to a tight hug. His head rested over HD’s shoulder and hands rubbed at his back. The tightness in his throat eased. HD smelled like spring wildflowers and grass. It was the scent that calmed him as a child. The scent that used to be with the cloak.
The tears fell then and despite his best attempt George couldn’t hold back his sobbing. His body shook with his cries, but HD held him gently. His cheek rested over George’s head and his hands were comforting and patting his back. George was catching his breath when he realised he was being moved.
HD had moved the book off his lap and was lifting George into his arms. George felt like a child but in that moment he didn’t care. Years worth of grief and loss crashed into him and he felt like a ton of bricks. But HD lifted him like he was weightless.
George didn’t see where they were going till he was set down onto a bed. It wasn’t his own bed but a bigger one, with sheets that moved like clouds. When he was placed down it was like he sank into the bed, as though it had made a small divot for him.
His face was wet and George wiped his eyes and cheeks. He sniffled as HD sat on the bed beside him. His hair was pushed out of his face and HD smiled.
“You’d sleep in a little cloud divot beside me sometimes. Do you remember that?”
Vaguely George did. He remembered being so little he had to climb up to the bed and there would be a small space for him to lay while HD would nap.
“Yes... Prime, this is stupid.” George wiped his face again. It was funny and stupid how one little memory suddenly unlocked years worth of forgotten things. “How could I forget that?”
“You were young. It’s understandable.” HD’s voice was soft still and he brushed George’s hair gently. “And I forgot too. Trust me, whatever you are feeling George, I’ve felt it.”
His heart was a mess with feelings of shame and elation. A weight lifted from his shoulders but there was still so many questions to answer.
Well, now they could find the answers together.
“I used to try run from my parents to the woods.” George started talking. He worried it might set him off again, but while there were still tears he didn’t sob. “I wouldn’t get far but... I don’t even know why they’d bother to bring me back.”
HD lay down on the bed beside him. “Do you remember how your parents found you?”
George shook his head. “I think I was wandering in the woods and stumbled into a village. But that was a lot of my early memories. I don’t... I can’t really remember when I stopped trying. It was just easier to not fight.”
HD frowned. “Were your parents unkind to you?”
George wasn’t sure how to answer. “In a way...”
“Did they hurt you?”
The words became difficult to say. George never liked talking about his parents, even with Dream or Sapnap. They had never given him a beating but there were marks and years of self-doubt they had to answer for. Even if it wasn’t physical, it was abuse and saying it out loud wasn’t easy.
As soon as he could leave he was gone and they never came after him. Raising him was more like an obligation but it was one they chose themselves. Why?
Another tear ran down his cheek but was wiped away. George blinked and looked up to see one of the ethereal hands above him. It waved slightly, wiggling its fingers in an over-exaggerated manor.
A memory clicked in his mind. The white hands above him keeping him entertained. They’d wave at him and make shapes with each other.
The hand poked at his cheeks, drawing George from his memory. He bat weakly to the hand.
“They’d keep you entertained as a child.” HD spoke fondly. “They’d play with you then.”
“Well they’re annoying me now.” George was smiling as he spoke and the hand poked his cheek again. He tried to swipe at it and it floated up out of reach. He reached up to hit it away, and another hand appeared and tweaked his ribs.
George squeaked as HD smiled. “They’d do that too.”
George protected his ribs and opened his mouth but the hand tickled on his other side. George grabbed at it, but as it quickly flew back and waved tauntingly at him, another hand appeared and tickled at his ribs again.
“NO!” George arched and jumped.
“You fall for it the exact same way.” HD cooed.
“H-HEeheDeehe!” George squeaked as one, two, three, more hands than he could count through his squinting eyes appeared and descended. It was not a rough, wrestling kind of tickling he expected but instead it was soft.
Fingers caressed and fluttered over his sides, ribs and stomach. No matter how he waved his arms and hit them away, the hands would leave and then gently float back like feathers.
“T-Tehell them to stooohohop!”
“And deprive them of your adorable giggles? That seems cruel.” HD said, amused and smiling.
One of the hands got to the spot right were George’s ribs met his stomach and the giggles turned into a hiccuped squeal. He managed to grab one of the hands, but two more took it’s place.
George threw his head back, kicked his legs and his hands squeezed the white ethereal hand he still held. His nails scratched just lightly over the palm.
The hands all paused at once and HD gave a breathy, giggly gasp. George took in breathes with the break of tickling. His mind whirled and connected the dots but his train of thought was cut off as his waist was grabbed and he was pulled into more waiting tickling hands. This time only two, and flesh instead of ethereal.
“Please!” George gasped. “Not agahahain!”
“Tickle, tickle, tickle...” HD’s voice cooed right by his ear. Fingers pinched up his sides, skittered down his ribs and fluttered by his ear. George could try push them off but his strength melted away with his laughter.
“S-Sto...haha...stooohohop!”
“Hmm, we should stop. You are getting tired.”
The hands fluttered off, leaving George giggling and rubbing his sides. The hands came back and while George tensed in anticipation, they just cupped his face this time. George bravely opened his eyes as thumbs brushed over his cheeks.
“Your mushroom cheeks are almost gone.”
Thumbs brushed over his cheeks again. HD held his face so gently and smiled so softly. His eyes were fond and wet with emotion. He was happy.
“You’re getting tired.”
“I’m n-nohot...”
There was no point denying it. George’s eyelids were heavy, and the only thing holding back his yawns were his giggles. HD’s hands were soft and tickled lightly over George’s face. He was already so sensitive from the tears and tickling before. He couldn’t help but giggle whenever the thumb would swipe over.
“Yes you are...” HD cooed. “Your mushroom cheeks are slowly disappearing. Slowly being wiped away.”
“I knohow what you’re d-dohoing...”
“I’m not doing anything.”
Was this how he got George to sleep when he was young? It felt familiar in a safe way. He had been here before? Coaxed into sleep and fighting against it just to stay awake with his brother for a few minutes more.
But even without seeing them, he knew the red and white spots were fading. His eyes were opening slower and slower and HD’s hands were gone, replaced with a soft cloudy pillow.
“Sleep, Little Prince.”
The grass cloak was pulled to his shoulder and George slipped into a sweet sleep.
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First fic ever, go easy on me! Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes! Can't get these three out of my head and I just love thinking about how Grace and Adrian would interact! Hope everyone enjoys! Slight spoilers for movie and book!
Summary: Grace is worried about what Adrian thinks of him and Rocky make sure Adrian knows how to cheer him up. Could be seen as platonic or ship!
Lee!Grace / Ler!Rocky / Ler!Adrian
Word count: 1,970
When I first met Adrian, I was surprised to say the least. It never occurred to me how much bigger other Eridians could be, which makes sense. Humans come in all shapes and sizes, so why wouldn’t they? Adrian towers over me, maybe a few feet taller. They have a significantly bulkier body with thick limbs. They are a deep green-ish blue color with swirls and flecks of brown and yellow, almost gold.
Upon meeting, I’m sure they could feel the anxiety rush through me. Not only was I nervous just to meet them, the alien mate of my best friend, but also the hulking size made me feel a lot more vulnerable than I once did.
“Grace heart beat fast. Grace okay, question?” Adrian questions as I stare up at them in awe.
“Uh, yes, yes. I just—I wasn’t expecting you to be so…” I tried to find words that don’t sound like an insult—"So much bigger than Rocky!” I smiled.
But now after a few weeks it has become my normal. I'm forever gracious for Adrian's support and willingness to uproot a big part of their life for me. When Rocky stated they would live with me, my first thought was how Adrian was going to feel about the arrangement. They only just got Rocky back, and now you have to live with his weird alien roommate that has trauma bonded together. I was sure there would be some pushback, but there wasn't. I learned, unlike Rocky, that Adrian is quiet and laid-back. Although still blunt when it comes to communicating, they seem to keep a lot of their thoughts to themselves. It’s actually a little irritating. I’m so used to Rocky coming out and saying whatever is on his mind, making it easier to read him but not Adrian. I can’t seem to read them and I’m not sure if that’s on purpose or not. I’m worried they don’t like me, for various reasons but Rocky has assured me that’s not true but I can’t shake the feeling.
They seem perfectly content in my and Rocky's presence, listening to us talk nonsense. I try to awkwardly include them in our talks but their answers are short and sweet. I haven’t had any alone time with them either, which I’m kind of happy about but also feel guilty at the same time.
"Rocky go get Grace present!” Rocky exclaims excitedly, pushing himself up off the bed. Me, him, and Adrian were all cuddled together; well, Adrian was on the floor because of their size, in my bed just relaxing. He scrambles out the door to the second part of the house behind mine. They added an extension to my house that is compatible for them. Rocky said it's so he and Adrian can always watch me sleep even without their suits. I shift my gaze to Adrian.
“Sorry for talking so much.” I say, rolling over to see them better once Rocky was gone.
“Adrian does not mind. I enjoy listening to sound of Rocky and Grace voice. Is cute.” They say softly, brushing off my comment. I blush a bit at that and look away.
“I know I just—I feel like I'm hogging Rocky from you. You guys should be out together, spending time one on one. You were apart for so long, and now I'm in the way too.” I shift to sit up but one of Adrian's huge appendages softly pushes me back down onto the bed. They place it across my shoulder all the way down to my opposite hip, kind of like a seatbelt. They slowly lower their weight, not enough to hurt but to feel comfortable. I feel my face getting a bit warmer; Adrian and I have yet to make any physical contact up until now. I reach a hand up and softly grasp their leg.
“Grace. I love Rocky. Adrian wait many years for Rocky to come back from space. Grace brought Rocky back to me and save Erid.” They express themselves in a way that makes me feel ridiculous for even having those thoughts in the first place.
“Yes, but—"
“Adrian love Grace.” My head flings in their direction while my face is an unhealthy color at this point. I raise my one hand not trapped by Adrian to cover my face. I hear Adrian let out a small chuckle and bring another arm up. They caress my head and play with my hair, ever so gently, in the soothing way they have seen Rocky do. “Grace does not need to say back. Adrian love all of Grace and is in debt for everything Grace has done.” Crap, I am not used to these kinds of compliments. “Grace face full of blood. Grace embarass, question?" They chirp, coming out amused. I don't know how Adrian reads me so well already; it must be all the observing they've done.
I think about lying, but they can already tell anyway. “Uh yes, sorry. I just wasn't expecting that. It was nothing, really. I love Rocky too; it was not a hard decision.” I laugh out loud.
“Is everything.”
I flinch, and I don't know why. Adrian's words move me in a way no one else has, even Rocky's. I think because they seem so truthful, they wholeheartedly believe everything they say.
“Sorry. Adrian did not mean to make Grace uncomfortable. Grace…is not nothing. Grace is everything.” they reiterate. I feel the sting of tears in my eyes and a lump going in my throat, trying not to let any tears or emotions spill out. God, I'm such a crybaby. I sniffle and remove my hand from my face. Adrian jerks back, like I just burned them. “Grace hurt, question? Adrian did not mean to cause injury!” they frantically say, reaching a claw back to pet at my head again. “Where hurt, question?” they demand.
“Ah no no, Adrian, I'm okay. Just emotional—not sad though!” I reassure him. "I'm happy you feel that way. So happy. I love you too, just so you know." I look back over with a smile on my face. They relax and settle back down.
“Rocky back with present!” he scuttles in with a small box in his hand but stops dead in his tracks seeing me in tears with Adrian consoling me. ”What happen question?” he places the box down and jumps on the bed. “Was not gone long. Is Grace okay, question?”
Adrian snickers softly “Big human emotion. Is Adrian's fault.”
“No! Not anyone's fault. I'm happy Rocky, really.” I try to convince him as I wipe my eyes, but he doesn't seem to believe me.
Rocky hums in thought for a few seconds. “Good time for Rocky to show Adrian how to cheer up Grace!” he says excitedly. Adrian chips from the other side of me and agrees.
“Wait, wait, how are you—" Before I can even get my sentence out, Rocky has two claws in either one of my armpits. I slam my arms down with a squeal, “Rohohoky wahahait I-I said I wahas hahaHAHAPY-NOHOHO!” I twist and turn in his grip, and I'm suddenly very aware of Adrian, who is doing nothing but staring at me. I feel my face reignite as Adrian analyzes my sounds and reactions.
“What Rocky do to Grace, question?” Adrian asks, pulling the hand that was petting my head away. They shift a bit closer to the bed as I start begging with Rocky as his claws shift down to my ribs.
“This is called 'tickle!' Humans react to touch with laughter. Is cute, question?”
"Agree. Is cute.” Adrian says giggling. I squeeze my eyes shut and twist my head away from Adrian. It's one thing to have tickle fights while barreling through space for years, but to be spread out and tickled as a demonstration for another is a new level of embarrassment I didn't even know about.
They keep talking about tickling me specifically, like I'm not being tickled to pieces under Rocky. “NOHOhohoh Rohohky! Adriahahan, make him stoHOHOP!” I twist around, my arms grabbing onto Rocky's. I feel them slow and think my torment is finally finished when a large weight presses down on the other side of the bed. A rather large claw grabs and pulls my arms all the way over my head. My eyes pop open to see Adrian gently holding my arms while Rocky and they loom over me. They're not tickling me anymore, but I can't help the giggles that escape me. ”Ahahadrian, please! You know whahahat it is nohow. I feel so muhuch better! Rocky, I'm okay!" I try to plead with the two aliens. "I'll doho anything you want! I promise!”
They stay quiet for what feels like forever and then Adrian answers. “Adrian want…to listen to Grace laugh!” a sinister laugh followed by both aliens.
“Adrian squeeze here and here,” Rocky instrucks and Adrian does just that. His claws are so much bigger than Rocky’s, maybe slightly bigger than the average human hand. He grabs at my side and squeezes experimentally. I buck up with a squeal pulling hard at my arms.
“AHAHadrian nohoho! Dohont tehHEACH THEM R-ROHOCKY-hahaha!” I rock back and forth with new tears coming to my eyes.
“Rocky must teach. If Rocky gone, Adrian will cheer Grace up. Adrian also squeeze here.” he states pointing to my stomach.
“I-I dohont neheheheed HEHEHELP-NOHOHO” Adrian uses another leg to squeeze all around my stomach, while his other hand drifts down to my hip. They dig into the bone, and my legs kick out behind them. Adrian's touches are light but firm, making my brain feel like mush.
“Grace most tickle spots are tummy, hip, and back. Some on leg too!” I shake my head vigorously while my face heats up even more.
“NOHOHO DOHOHNT TEHEHELL! R-Rhohoky shuhuht uhuhp!” Adrian hums in acknowledgment while drifting the hand that was on my hip down to my thigh, experimentally squeezing. My leg kicks out as I squeak and throw my head back. Rocky grabs my glasses that were askew, placing them safely off to the side.
Adrian slowly stops their attacks, thank god. They keep a hold on my arms but, other than that, let me regain my breath. I'm still giggling at the tingling sensation around my middle. Sweat beads my head and tears stain my face.
“Adrain do not even have to tickle to tickle Grace!” Rocky chirps excitedly. My eyes fly open to see what they are talking about, and I see Rocky's claws making a squeezing motion above my sides. I can't help but start giggling and twisting again as goosebumps spread over my skin.
“Shohop! Thahats m-mean!” I shiver. My eyes catch Adrian, who has been surprisingly quiet throughout most of this, and I blush again. I can't tell what they're thinking, and it's driving me even more crazy. I know I'm already weird, but I don't know! I could have been not ticklish weird too.
I guess they sense my looks and comment “Grace very cute. Laugh very nice.” As I giggle like a mad man. I think they're doing this on purpose.
“Agree.” Is all Rocky says as he lowers his hands. Adrian finally lets go and I quickly curl in on myself, with a goofy smile across my face.
“Humans so strange.” Adrian states again, bringing their claws up to my hair once again. They gently scratch at my scalp and I happily melt into the touch. I'm so happy they like me, love me even. Rocky jumps off the bed to grab the discarded present, then hops back up.
I want to sit up and see what it is but end up curling myself into Adrian side, sighing in content. I hope we can do this more often.
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I just realised why i’m so fascinated with the dynamic between the Gods and their siblings, and especially XD-
It’s because I can semi relate, growing up I was always the ‘older one’ in my family, my siblings and cousins on both sides i’m older than most and growing up was able to spend the most time with the younger ones… Even with some of my childhood friends i’m older even if it’s by only a few months.
Then I started working an office job where it took me a LOT longer than it should’ve to realise i’m the youngest one there, and it gave me total whiplash. Even though we’re all adults I happen to be the same age as multiple people’s kids and it gives me whiplash (almost an exaggeration, i’m 21 and have co-workers a year older, plus two in their early 30’s)
I feel like the same applies to XD, all he’s ever known is being the ‘Protector” and looking out for those younger, only to meet some others in the same boat and not knowing how to cope with the fact you’re the younger one now.
It’s 11pm and I need sleep (seems to be a common trend when I send these lmao) but this is what my brain focused on instead. Enjoy???
-@sweet-caramel-tthings
YES! This is the exact vibe I am trying to portray with XD.
XD knows he's one of the youngest Gods but since he's never been around them it's not a concern or thought he really had time to realise. He was always the most powerful God in his Realm. Then everything falls apart and he's in the Overworld. There are a few other Gods who know and talk with him (CovenTK being the main one) but then it's when he meets HD and 4K he fully realises "oh damn. I'm baby"
Luckily for XD it's a dynamic he fits into quite well even if he's still a little uneasy at time. It's nice to let his guard down and no longer have to be the oldest or the one in charge. He might huff at it but he rather likes being treated as the youngest and it's a weight off his mind that he's not alone in protecting his brother or the mortals of the realms.
I find it troubling to write Godly characters because I like more human aspects of characters, like struggling with complex feelings so it really warms my heart to read that XD resonates with you in that way.
Grace's years of isolation from humans result in severe touch starvation. Rocky takes one look at this problem and says, "Hold my minerals."
Word Count: 3,687
Warnings: None
This is a SFW tickle fic, if you don’t like that then don’t read :)
Inspired by an adorable series on A03 focused on Grace being a wet cat and Rocky learning about human quirks (physical contact and mental health) Link Below!
Archive of Our Own: Platonic Cuddling Series
The journey to Erid was slow going.
Space. More space. Some stars. A little more space. And oh, hey, would you look at that! Space again!
During his lonely trek back to Earth, Ryland Grace had considered cracking out the cocktail of Knockout Juice to slip him into a coma until he was home. Now, however, he wasn’t alone aboard the Hail Mary. Heck, he wasn’t even going home anymore.
He’d been on such a rollercoaster of emotions over heading back to Earth. Despair, acceptance (not really), hope, then acceptance again (for real this time). With the finality of his choice to stay permanently in foreign space, something festered within Grace.
Despite the companionship he has, an awful emptiness latched its teeth into his core and wouldn’t abate. No matter how much time he’d spend with Rocky or watch clips of Earth in the Don’t Go Crazy Room, the feeling of wrongness stayed, and Grace has no idea how to stop it.
A shudder runs through his form, making Grace hunch further in on himself, gripping onto his arms. His skin ached something fierce, despite his hands rubbing along the surface in a meager attempt to self-soothe against the barrage of phantom needles.
What he would give to be bundled in his mother’s arms like he was ten again after tumbling off his bike and scraping his knee. Or being smothered in his dad’s all-encompassing embrace after a failed science experiment, a promise that one day, “He’d be the smartest and coolest of all scientists”. What he’d give for any form of hug at all whilst in deep space-
The invisible aches haunting his body intensify in a sudden surge. Grace freezes in place, struck by a daunting realisation.
…Oh.
It was cruel and unfair, but it made sense. The urge to cry welling up behind his eyes has Grace's breath shuddering out of him sporadically.
“Grace, okay, question?”
The doubled thudding of the Eridian’s back leg cuts through the static building in Grace’s head. He looks to the side and finds the alien ‘watching’ him intently, his carapace shifting in blatant concern.
Grace has to push the word out of his throat. “...No.” He rubs his palm along his arm with a disconnected fervor. It doesn’t feel as though the warmth of his own skin is even getting through.
“What problem, question?”
How could he even begin to explain the torrential emotions wreaking havoc on his wrung-out body? “There’s something wrong with me.”
“Grace sick? Question?” Rocky is growing restless, feet thunking against the xenonite shell of his ball.
Grace swallows back the lump trying to start an uprising of sadness in his throat. It was a persistent battle. “It’s a human thing,” he rasps. “I don’t know if it can be helped.”
“Explain. Rocky fix.”
Grace shakes his head as he burrows into his arms, both to hide his burning eyes and to escape this conversation. Rocky couldn’t fix it. Bless that alien’s heart of gold for trying, but he just couldn’t. What Grace needed, what he was craving, was human touch. It had been years since he left Earth, and his skin was growing desperate for an inkling of steady, warm contact. But by abandoning his journey to Earth in favour of saving his best friend - which he didn’t regret for a second, mind you - he’d robbed himself of the chance to ever experience it again.
Granted, the last memory of touch was being forcibly restrained to the ground, suffocating pressure pinning him down as he screamed for help that would never come. Not exactly a golden recollection of human connection.
A steady series of tapping filters into Grace’s ears, getting past the marching band thumping away. He peeks over his forearm. Rocky has rolled himself so close that he’s right beside his friend.
“Heartbeat fast,” the Eridian states, worry warbling through his medeloic voice. “Bad, bad, bad. Oxygen needed.”
He’s close enough that Grace can feel the alien’s warmth through the xenonite. His skin practically buzzes with the idea of leaning against the Eridian’s stone-like form, multiple arms encircling him with a pressure that could settle his racing thoughts and lonely heart.
Grace can’t help it. He gives in to his pathetic, human instincts.
His arms stretch out from his self-contained ball of panic to clutch around the xenonite, drag Rocky into his chest, and slump against the warm, glass-like surface. A sob tries to strangle his throat, but any noise is kept locked behind Grace’s pursed lips. Rocky tucks himself against the wall separating them, soft melodic noises rumbling from his form in an attempt to settle the erratic pounding he can hear within Grace’s chest. He’d only heard this in moments of extreme distress for his human, and it hurt every time. Though Grace is trying to stay quiet, soft plinks of moisture hitting the top of the zenonite were heard loud and clear for the alien.
Grace clings to the zenonite ball as tightly as he can, trying to trick his mind into believing that the smooth, warm surface was what it was after. That this hug shared between two species unable to co-exist within the same environment is enough for his human instincts.
His skin prickles. The tears keep falling. It isn’t enough. And it is going to stay that way for as long as he is away from Earth.
A shudder runs through the man at this bleak thought, the ever-expanding pit in his chest feeling as though it’s swallowing up his entire being.
As if he heard the emotional casam split further, Rocky’s warbles take on a mournful croon. “Grace, tell Rocky what wrong. Please?”
Grace presses his tear-stained cheek against the warm surface, sighing miserably.
“I’m touch starved.” He says it quietly, fingertips brushing over a surface that isn’t organic enough to trick his brain into thinking it’s skin. “Humans are social beings; we naturally seek connection, and with that comes physical contact. It’s common with anyone we’re close to, not just mates. It’s ingrained into us to co-regulate, so when we go for a long time without that, it causes us to experience skin hunger. It makes humans feel bad.”
Rocky cocks his body to the side, akin to tilting one's head. “Is hug helping badness?”
Grace wishes he could say yes, but then he’d be lying, and he didn’t want to do that to Rocky. Shaking his head miserably, Grace scrubs a fist across his eyes to stem the flow of tears. “No. I’m hugging you, but I can’t feel you hugging back. Pressure is a key thing with hugging; it feels safer that way.”
Rocky trills sadly. “Apologies.”
Grace shakes his head again, but this time it’s paired with a weak, sincere smile. “It’s not your fault. Just sucks that our biologies are so different. I bet you’d give really good hugs without this thing in the way.” Grace knocks twice on the ball, emphasizing the distance between them.
Rocky chitters, though there’s something contemplative about his tone now - an inquisitive warble rumbling through the plates atop his body. He leans away from Grace, his back legs thumping against the casing of his ball as he thinks. “Rocky has idea.”
“Yeah?” Grace lets his arms fall away, desperately ignoring the loss they feel as the warmth disappears from them. There was no need to be clingy. It wasn’t exactly like the hug was helping him in the long run. It was like putting a sticky plaster over a gaping chest wound and calling it a day.
Rocky trills again, more full-bodied. Determined. “Yes. Need to begin work now. Will show Grace when ready.” Rocky is practically buzzing. An eagerness tugging at his limbs as he fidgets in place, itching to start whatever ‘mystery project’ he’s begun cooking up.
“...You gonna tell me what your idea is?”
The alien gives Grace his version of a thumbs up and happily chirps, “No.”
To make it even more peculiar, he hasn’t allowed Grace anywhere near him as he crafts. Any time Grace sets foot in the lab, he gets hissed at. Forget Eridans being extraterrestrial lifeforms of complex intelligence. That sentient stone spider is a cat in disguise. Grace has it on good authority that the little guy practically purrs whenever he’s smug or has done something clever. There was simply no other way to describe the happy trills rumbling from his body.
So, Grace has been forced to amuse himself with other things on the Hail Mary, as his only companion is acting like a kid fresh into puberty and staying in his room to play video games. Fortunately, Stratt had been generous enough to provide enough stimuli aboard the ship to keep the passengers entertained while they slowly died in an eternal abyss of stars.
Unfortunately, he could only consume so many episodes of Star Trek in total silence before he felt an oncoming existential crisis about watching a space show in space.
Thankfully, just as he’s considering going into the lab and risking being cursed out in Eridian, a series of clunks from multiple legs echo through the ship. Only… it didn’t sound like it was coming from inside the hamster tunnels running throughout the vessel. Nor was the clunking dulled slightly by a xenonite ball following the demands of five limbs.
It sounds clearer. Closer. Concerningly faster than the ball as well.
Grace drops the Comfort Quilt™ from his shoulders and scrambles up from his crossed leg position. He doesn’t even know what he’s bracing for, but what greets him when it stomps into view is not what he’d been expecting in the slightest.
Rocky is encased in xenonite. Not a ball. His body is literally wearing such close-fitting xenonite that it follows every crevice, bump, and grain on his form.
“Hi, Grace!” He chirrups, sounding utterly exhilarated as he holds up a claw and splits it into the famous Vulcan greeting from Star Trek. “Surprise!”
Thank god Grace put down his mug of coffee before preparing for a potential ambush, or the inventory would be down a cup. His jaw has long hit the floor in place of ceramic shards, eyebrows high as if pulled by a passing moon’s gravity. “You’re- you made a suit,” he sputters out.
“So Rocky can fix starvation of skin!” Rocky bounces and wiggles in place, the thin xenonite moving with him flexibly. He eagerly reaches out with his two front limbs. “Can hug properly now!”
Grace stares. His ears heard it, but his brain could not comprehend the development. That being said, his heart definitely could, and it felt full enough to burst.
He practically dives for Rocky and slams his full weight into him, knees colliding heavily with the floor. Rocky’s three back limbs counterbalance instantly, and the other two wrap tightly around his human. His claws grip into the fabric of Grace’s cardigan and stay there, keeping the man close against his body heat.
After months of being on the ship - technically years, but Grace didn’t count the coma for his own mental health - with absolutely no physical contact from another being bar a ball of xenonite, this hug was everything.
It was tight, yet not enough for Grace’s deprived body. Every nerve was screaming from overwhelming warmth and pressure, but the idea of letting go only made Grace grip harder. He barely acknowledges he’s sobbing into the top of Rocky’s carapace; he’s too preoccupied trying to convince himself he isn’t dreaming.
Rocky stays put, soft notes humming out of him in a gentle, soothing coo. He’s seen Grace cry before - that man had earned the title of ‘Leaky Space Blob’ after all - but this is different. It’s relief, it’s despair, it's everything the man has been silently yearning for in the depths of his subconscious.
Rocky is more than content to stay where he was with Grace practically smothering him from his doubled-over position, all his strings cut and emotions raw. He would stay put for as long as Grace needs. He lifts one of his limbs from the floor and runs it through Grace’s hair.
He pretends he doesn’t hear the high-pitched, wounded keening that leaves the human in a cathartic, emotional release.
“How did you do this?” Grace asks. “This looks too thin- heck, it feels too thin to be safe for you.”
Rocky chitters, pleased. “Much trials and errors,” he says. “Important. Needed to make.”
Grace tightens his arms around Rocky for a moment before letting him go again. Well, kind of let him go, Rocky is lying over Grace’s legs with the man’s arms draped over his limbs. Yes, he was being a little clingy, but his entire nervous system was recovering from months of neglect. He needs this.
“It means a lot,” he swallows back tears that threaten to have another revolution and overthrow his ability to see. He’s already shed enough to fill a water bottle or two.
They’d moved to the dormitory once Grace felt reasonably steady to become a functioning human being again. (For those curious, it took a decent while for that to happen.) Now, he’s lying on his back atop the bedclothes with an Eridian carefully perched on his lower body as a steady source of contact. It seemed the small alien was enjoying the newfound freedom of touch without a ball getting in the way.
One of Grace’s hands is being diligently studied by the Eridian. “Humans soft.” Rocky remarks, something like awe filtering through his musical tones as he delicately handles Grace’s fingers. “Too easy to damage.”
Grace snorts. “We can’t all be sentient canon balls, Rock.”
“What is ‘canon ball’, question?”
“Projectiles we have on Earth. It was used in battle.”
“Rocky is terrifying space spider and dangerous ball, question?”
Grace thinks of when Rocky first barged into the Hail Mary and proceeded to almost cause irreparable property damage to multiple items and devices within the ship. “Yes.” He states with a laugh. “You’re a force to be reckoned with.”
Rocky perks up. “Good reputation to have!” He prods at Grace’s fingers. “Better than leaky, squishy, space blob.” He pokes at the softer skin of the man’s side to further drive his point home.
Grace yips, batting Rocky’s claws away from his torso instinctively. “Hehey!”
Rocky jolts upright, removing himself from Grace’s legs. “Hurt? Grace hurt? Rocky hurt Grace?!” His voice flits up several octaves as he panics, hands tightly curled against his body to keep them far from his friend.
“No. No, no, you didn’t- hey, come back here, you silly goose. Stop freaking out.” Grace grasps one of Rocky’s retreating limbs and gently tugs him forward with an exasperated chuckle.
Rocky hesitantly steps closer, but doesn’t settle back down. Grace’s legs mourn the loss of their weighted blanket. “Grace make hurt noise,” he states. “Make same sound when burnt with solder iron.”
Grace sighs and sinks deeper into his mattress. He didn’t think this would be a topic he’d have to explain to aliens, but here we are.
“Humans have a pretty complex nervous system that has evolved to alert us when we’re in danger, specifically through touch. When you poked me, my body was telling me something was digging into a place where vital organs sit. The noise I made was just a byproduct of that.”
Rocky considers this explanation, then makes a confused warble. “You laughed afterwards.”
Damn. Grace had been hoping Rocky didn’t catch that.
“...Yeah.”
“Why, question?”
“...It’s a human thing.”
“Explain. Grace live on Erid in future, need to know human biology.”
Well, no dodging the question now.
Grace sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “It just tickled a bit, that’s all.”
“No understand word.”
Double damn.
“...Tickling is when humans are touched in a certain way that makes us laugh. It’s attached to the nervous system thing, part of our fight or flight response.”
Rocky tilts his carapace and extends a claw to wiggle against Grace’s side again. The small squeak Grace lets out causes heat to flush his ears. Rocky chirps, delighted. “This make laughter on command!”
Grace opens his mouth to parry that point, only to gasp and fall into bouts of snickers when Rocky’s claws start prodding at his stomach insistently with both claws. “R-Rohohocky!”
It’s been years, even more than he’s been on the Hail Mary, since he’s felt this sensation. The scuttling, electric sparks spread through his nerves, causing him to flail helplessly. His hands scrabble to both grab onto and bat away Rocky’s curious limbs. Neither tactic got him very far.
“Grace sound very happy,” Rocky informs him. Thank you, Rocky. We’d be lost without your keen observation skills. “Are all humans this sensitive?”
Grace makes a strangled, embarrassed noise in the back of his throat and tries to yank his legs up so he can curl into a ball and hide.
“No, stay stationary. Rocky is not done exploring this.” Rocky’s claws grab onto Grace’s knees to simply push them away, only for Grace to yelp and kick his legs out.
“Nononono- Rohohocky c’mohohon!”
Rocky chirps, curiosity singing through his melodic voice. “Tickles happen all over, question?” He inquires, his back hand squeezing Grace’s knee and thigh twice in place of stomping.
“ROHOHOCK!” The hearty cackles that sprang forth like an exploded fire hydrant were answer enough.
Rocky scuttles and prods over the muscular limbs, little chirps of excitement emanating from the depths of his carapace with every new noise he draws from Grace. Scratching at the underside of the human's knees produced a series of breathy, unstoppable giggles that vividly reminded Rocky of the young Eridians back home with newly developed squeaks perpetrating their vocal cords.
Rocky relays that thought to Grace, and the temperature of the human’s face increased dramatically.
“Grace embarrassed, question? Sound cute.” Rocky reassures, wiggling his claws into Grace's lower abdomen.
A flustered noise left the man, quickly buried behind his arms as he wriggled incessantly from the tickling. “E-Enohohough wihihith- my knees!” He pleads, the feather-light wisps of touch sending his brain into a haywire state of laughter.
“That okay, plenty more to try!”
Grace feels pressure firmly lay across his legs, keeping them still despite their instinctive desire to kick. Rocky has become essentially deadweight, using his higher body mass to easily pin Grace to the bed. At first, his heartbeat kicked up in learned fear from being pinned down amongst dead grass, but the gentle touches and familiar warmth of the Eridian dashes his anxiety instantly.
It was kind of hard to focus on the last memory of being pinned whilst Rocky's two front claws had taken to prodding all over the man’s torso. Light and experimental pinches being tossed in just for curiosity's sake.
“Grace should have informed Rocky of this sooner, could’ve cheered you up easily,” Rocky says, mirth filling his voice as he takes in Grace’s blinding grin, flushed cheeks, and bubbling laughter. He made sure to keep his touch light, not wanting to accidentally hurt his friend; however, in doing so, the tickling was simply more unbearable.
And as much as Grace's touch-starved body is relishing in this newfound, sorely missed companionship, it’s tiring quickly.
“R-Rohohock! Plehehease! No- Nohoho mohohore!” Grace wheezes out a laugh before slumping back into the rumpled bedclothes, all fight disappearing and leaving him in a puddle of giggles.
Rocky chirps, withdrawing his claws from Grace’s stomach. “This hurts, question?” He stomps his back foot into the mattress to punctuate his concern.
“No, not at all.” Grace drapes an arm over his eyes and takes in grateful gulps of air, the last of his laughter shaking his chest. “Just overwhelming, bud. It’s been a long time.”
“But Grace is okay, question?”
The hollowness is gone. Grace’s cheeks hurt from smiling. He feels good. “Yeah.” The scientist reassures. “Better than okay. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a while.”
“Want me to do again, question?”
Grace’s arm that’s draped over his eyes shoots down to preemptively cover his stomach, an embarrassed grin spreading across his face. “Uh- no, no, that kind of touch is usually for play. Kinda wanting to get some rest now, Rock.”
Rocky chirps, leaning a bit more into Grace’s chest, akin to a weighted blanket. He wraps his claws underneath Grace in a hug, while one reaches up to scratch through his hair. Grace practically melts, a blissful sigh heaving Rocky up and then down in a slump.
“Better, question?”
“Yeh, feels n’ce,” Grace slurs out, eyelids long since closed, and wrapping his arms over Rocky’s warm, xenonite-enclosed form. It was like hugging a hot water bottle made of glass. Sleep was sneaking around the corner with a bat and a trip to Night Night Station.
A claw slips down his scalp, scraping close to the skin of his ear. Grace flinches with a small grunt. The claw pauses.
“Grace is serious? Here as well, question?” The amusement is abundantly obvious.
“Shut up,” Grace grumbles, gently taking Rocky’s front limb and guiding it back to his hair.
Rocky chuckles. “Humans are very endearing. Will be doing this again, statement."
Grace rolls his eyes, trying to pretend there wasn’t a blush practically living on his ears now. Rocky let him dodge answering that. After all, he plans to use this newfound information to keep Grace’s spirits up. There would be plenty of time to prove to his friend that humans were loveable space blobs.
“You sleep, I watch.” He murmurs, carefully scratching the man’s scalp in rhythmic patterns.
Grace’s fingers intertwine with Rocky’s and squeeze. “Thanks, Rocky. …And thank you for fixing this. You’re a miracle worker.”
“Will always fix for Grace. Grace family, statement.”
Grace squeezes a bit tighter, hoping Rocky understands the love being projected through the gesture. He pretends his voice isn’t choked up as he whispers, “You’re my family too. Statement.”
The rumblings of the Hail Mary almost match the lyrical purrs emitting from Rocky, sending Grace into the deepest sleep he’s had since being aboard. Safe. Protected. Loved.
A mini lore fic. DreamXD awaits for GeorgeHD and Sapnap4K to deal with this new strange moss.
WARNING: This fic is not a tickle fic.
Just a mini fic between main stuff. This is a complete lore drop fic really. I've fiddled with this for a bit trying to get it right and this is the best it will be. Had to cut out some ideas but for a mini lore fic, it's perfectly fine.
The fics after this will be more tickle focused so please look forward to that.
---
The air of the underground tunnels was stale and heavy. The feeling of it all was different when it was empty and the bricks cleared of the dead vines. With all of the vines removed, the tunnels became unstable. The tendrils had buried so deep into the stone and some were thicker than DreamXD’s arm. XD was rebuilding some parts of the wall, just to make sure the tunnels wouldn’t collapse, and all the while keeping one eye on the obsidian wall that covered over the strange moss.
HD’s reaction was still fresh in his mind. The Overworld God had never looked so fearful. He wasn’t just scared, it was pure fear etched on his face. All over moss that XD was sure looked familiar but he couldn’t place it.
Well he’d get his answers.
The air crackled with energy. The purple swirl of a nether portal appeared and GeorgeHD and Sapnap4K stepped out.
HD still looked worried. 4K’s face was a mix of sceptical and dread. His eyes caught onto the obsidian and his face pulled to an uneasy frown.
“There?” He asked.
“Yes.” HD’s reply was quick. They both approached the dark purple wall like it was ready to explode at any moment. HD waved his hand, the blocks fell away and the moss was still there, pulsing in the darkness.
“Oh...” 4K’s voice sounded broken. “You were right...shit...”
“Did you think I would lie about this?!” HD sounded offended.
“No! I was just hoping you were wrong!”
“What is it?”
XD’s question broke whatever frustration had come over them. It was like they remembered XD was there. Both God’s looked at each other then 4K turned back to XD and spoke. “It’s called skulk...”
“Oh.” It all clicked for XD. “The stuff from the Warden War.”
The words flashed over each God differently. 4K visibly flinched as though the words would hit him. HD’s eyes widened and it took a moment before he blinked again.
“Y-Yes... How did you—Did Prime tell you about the Warden War?”
“Only some parts.” XD admitted. “Prime said there was a great catastrophe that changed the world but never went into detail. The Endless Library had books on it that I would study.” Now their reactions made sense, but XD was still puzzled and peered at the skulk again. “This skulk won’t spread.”
The older Gods looked immediately doubtful to XD’s claims, but were polite about it when HD calmed asked. “How do you know?”
XD pulled into long deep memories. A time before Dream and before the End was so quiet. Desperate to be loved by his people, he spent weeks in the Endless Library studying their history. “It is not glowing bright enough. Skulk spreads with exp. If it does not have enough to grow it becomes duller.”
“You’re sure of that?” HD asked.
“It is the truth.” XD felt suddenly defensive he was being doubted but his annoyance faded to the looks on their faces. When XD was studying the history, even the kind teachers did not wish to discuss the war. It was fresh and painful so XD studied alone. Now majority of the people who were in the war were long passed and it was never a thought to XD. But HD and 4K would have been there. They lived through the war but their days in it would have been in fear of this skulk spreading and creating more Wardens.
“I will prove it.”
XD walked boldly to the skulk, reached out and touched it. HD was quick to his side and pulled his hand away but his skin had already made contact. Some of the moss stuck to the warmth of XD’s skin but it didn’t spread. Instead it slowly crumbled off like dried dust. Another sign it was close to death as the moss of skulk was normally soft.
“Don’t ever fucking do that again!” 4K snapped in a tone so unlike him. He had come to XD’s side as well, his hands warm on XD’s arms but his words harsh. “You scared us half to death!”
“There is nothing to fear. It is dormant.”
“But why is it here?” HD hissed. Even with proof of the skulk’s state he was still looking at it as though a monster could spring to life from it at any moment. “There shouldn’t be any left. After the war we cleared it all.”
“We can follow the trail and see where it goes. Maybe there is a source.” XD suggested.
The idea made sense though HD and 4K grumbled their agreement. XD felt offended he was lead back from the skulk corner and 4K kept a steady grip on his arms while HD carefully cleared away the wall.
The moss went much deeper than any of them thought. HD had already cleared a pathway about six feet into the wall and as the blocks lifted the skulk crackled and easy broke away. When the skulk started growing downwards, it became firmer and harder to unstick from the blocks. Carefully, HD cleared another three feet of blocks from the ground, dug out to make a small ditch, and they came across something unusual.
A yellowing block of uneven stone with the skulk over the top of it. The source.
HD didn’t look fearful anymore. Now he looked mad. “This was deliberate. This was placed!”
His concern for the skulk was gone as he grabbed the strange block and lifted it. It was just about the size of a pumpkin, or maybe a little bigger.
“What is it?” XD asked.
“A catalyst.” 4K answered. “It’s like...a source block for the skulk. It spreads out if it gets exp. If it gets enough it just starts spreading on it’s own.”
XD studied the block but could not remember it in his reading. Surely the books wouldn’t have left out an important detail, and put it down to him missing it somehow. “Well... It didn’t spread, so it didn’t have enough exp then.” He theorised.
“But it did.” HD pointed to the skulk in the small ditch. “It did! Enough to spread out this far. Something was being fed to it to give it exp.”
The thought was chilling and horrifying. Especially when the moss was growing so close to the chamber, where the Eggs feeding chamber lay. Was everyone accounted for when they were rescued?
XD couldn’t let his thoughts grow too far. “What if...what if something was fed to it before and then it was placed and started growing?”
4K looked thoughtful. “It’s a possibility...”
“It doesn’t matter!” HD cut in. “Whether something was fed to it before or continuously, it doesn’t matter.” HD shook the catalyst in his hand and looked to 4K. “We destroyed these. All of them! It took years but we destroyed every single one of them. Now one of them is here.”
“So someone is making them.” 4K finished.
“Not someone. Something! They’re back!”
“Don’t! HD... Don’t say that!”
“The evidence is quite clear 4K! They survived! They’re back!” HD snapped his attention to XD. “What did the books say happened at the end? When the war was over, what happened?”
The concern for HD made XD’s memories panic. He quickly ran through everything he could remember. “It...the Wardens were growing weaker. They couldn’t get enough exp to live and began to starve. They died out.”
HD and 4K looked between one another, with the thought passing between them clear as day.
“That was a lie?” XD asked.
“It’s not entirely wrong.” 4K admitted. He had looked uncomfortable the moment he saw the moss and now it was like his skin was constantly crawling. He scratched at his hand or face and his tail would whip behind him every few seconds.
“Then what happened?”
“They did grow weaker.” HD explained. “The Wardens worked as a hive mind. They were supposed to act for the skulk, growing it further and bringing exp to feed into it. But the Wardens also needed exp. Their gluttony fought with the hive orders, and couldn’t bring enough exp to sustain the skulk. The skulk lost power to grow and make Wardens. The Wardens lost connection to the hive mind. They were uncoordinated but still dangerous. To organise a mission to kill every single one of them would have been too dangerous.”
“So...they live?”
“An idea was called...” 4K took over. “That if we couldn’t kill them they would be...locked away.”
“Locked away?” XD’s ears twitched in his confusion. “Where?”
“There are cities hidden deep underground the Overworld. They were there long before my time. Maybe even before Prime. They were the first to be overrun with skulk and the Wardens. When we had confirmation every catalyst was cleared out, we would lock them down into the deep underground cities and let them starve themselves.” HD explained.
“Not all agreed...” 4K mumbled.
“It was voted on and decided!” HD defended. “The war was over! To lose any more people killing those things would have been wasteful. We’d already lost so much. It won the vote and I gathered every Warden from every Realm and I locked them away underground. They’d kill each other and the ones left would starve. It kept people safe!”
The silence that followed was tense. 4K and HD refused to look at each other.
“Okay... Well... Maybe they did die. Or maybe they did not.” XD cleared their throat. “But whatever happened to them, this...catalyst? It’s here now. And if you say all of them were destroyed then someone had made more.”
It brought the tension back down from the room, but it was no less troubling to think about.
“Can Wardens make these things?” XD asked.
“Not on their own. Without the hive the Warden’s only thought is consuming to survive. They were supposed to bring exp to catalysts to keep them going. If they’re all destroyed it would take... Prime, I don’t know...a lot of exp to make one.”
“So either, they weren’t destroyed, or someone coordinated enough exp to make one from the skulk.” XD reason. His mind flicked through possibilities and memories of his reading when the skulk pulsed again, and a memory struck XD. “Oh shit...”
“What?” 4K asked.
“The moss—Skulk! I’ve seen it before. It was found at the prison. In Dream’s cell and through the walls.”
“In the prison?!” HD blinked. “That... Is that how Dream escaped?”
“He said it was through the moss. He said someone contacted him and he escaped through a strange moss. I never put it together!”
Connections quickly lined up in XD’s head, overwhelming and stunning him. The moss at the prison leading to Dream’s cell. Dream spoke about someone talking to him through the revive book. ‘Friend’ he called it. It never clicked to XD the moss could have ever been skulk, or that it could ever be used in such a way.
“Dream said he travelled through the moss. Is that possible?”
HD and 4K shared a look between one another. “That’s never been a thing before...” 4K mumbled, and immediately regretted it when XD’s face twisted in worry.
“Even if it wasn’t, Dream’s fine. He’s not infected with anything.” HD quickly assured him. “But if someone contacted him and is using the skulk, then that someone probably made...this.” HD held forward the catalyst again. It pulsed it’s eery glow again and again.
“He said...this friend contacted them through the revive book.” XD gave a look to 4K.
The Nether God quickly pulled the book from the jacket. “This? I thought...there shouldn’t be any way to contact someone through this.”
“Dream said the person was dead but...not dead like gone. I’m not sure if he meant it was a ghost but he said they contacted back and forth with the book.”
The God’s shared another look. 4K looked almost distraught but HD was trying to keep his face calm.
“Before we get out of control with theories, we need a plan.” HD’s voice was calm now. “Firstly, we need this taken care of.” He motioned to the catalyst. “I will speak with...uh, the prison guard. They might have found another catalyst.” He looked to XD. “If you can talk to Dream and get any info about this friend we can work from there. If this person speaks through the book then 4K can keep an eye on it. It might try to reach out to Dream again.”
It was a shaky start to plan, but it was the only one they had for now. XD was not looking forward to the talk with Dream again. He was so resistant to speaking before and after everything he couldn’t really gauge where his brother was in his moods. But not speaking to Dream directly lead to a lot of trouble before, so it had to be this way now.
“First let’s clear up this skulk.” XD suggested. A mindless numbing task was just what he needed. “I know it needs the catalyst to spread but just to be sure we should make sure it’s gone.”
They agreed and XD first got to work, going into the dug out tunnel HD had cleared and started pulling off the moss. It fell apart in his hands and turned to dust, so it would be a fast clean up.
HD and 4K didn’t join at first. They held back and while XD didn’t mean to listen in, his ear twitched to their words and he couldn’t help it.
“If Dream said they spoke to them through the book, it might be him...” 4K spoke so hushed and softly and desperately.
“We don’t know for sure.” HD replied back just as softly.
XD resisted the urge to turn around and just listened again.
“But it could be.” 4K’s voice almost broke.
“I know. Believe me, 4K, I want it to be him as well but you can’t get your hopes up.”
XD thought back to the flickering light that lead him to the moss. Not just a light, but it was the shape of a person. It knew XD was staring at it and it pointed right to the moss.
XD kept quiet and continued clearing away the moss.
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