Chapter Text
Recently, Sneeg had been feeling powerless. He was practically untouchable in his Nirvana form but the kingdom was far too mortal. When he accidentally killed Ros at the second ball, he locked himself away for a week, refusing to talk with anyone. When he found out Foolish had made a deal to give Ros one of his lives, logically, he knew there was nothing he could have done to stop him. However, in his mind, the king’s blood was on his hands.
When Ros died to Aimsey, he understood. Ros told him that it had to happen, for the deal to work, and he got it. Besides, Ros and Aimsey had something else going on, something he wasn’t quite able to comprehend, and it needed to run its course.
When Bad killed Ros, it was his final straw. Foolish was there, Aimsey was there, but he… he wasn’t. He was supposed to be the most powerful person in the yellow kingdom, the only person that could rival Badboyhalo but, in the end, he couldn’t stop anything.
The worst part is that they all knew Ros had been hurting. For months, she was on a downward spiral no matter who tried to interfere. The thought that Bad used this to take advantage of the situation and cause a stir in the yellow kingdom annoyed Sneeg to no end. Given the chance, he would take that demon’s head and throw it down a fucking well. Not that he saw Bad often. Over half the time Sneeg was awake, he was at the blender.
Which is where Clownpierce found him.
As soon as Clown touched down, Sneeg knew something was wrong. Him and Clown weren’t enemies, not even close, but their friendly rivalry meant neither of them was ever really seeking the other out for casual conversation.
“Sneeg,” Clown boomed, his voice echoing across the blender. Sneeg rolled his eyes. Clown had a tendency to always exude power, no matter how many levels he has. If you asked Sneeg, he would say Clown just liked to aura-farm. The witty retort died in his throat however when Clown ran to him, urgency in his every step.
“Sneeg, the king is gone. Foolish is missing,” Clown growled, grabbing Sneeg by his arm. “I would put every single one of those green twerps in the ground if I had to, but I’m going to need your help.”At that, Sneeg blinked, before turning to grab his gear from his chests and turning off the blender.
“How do you know?” he questioned as they took off, flying towards the castle.
“The throne is gone. There’s a big puddle of blood right on the steps, it has to be Foolish’s - it has that weird metal look to it,” Clown rambled, scanning every chunk of ground they passed out of habit. “No one has seen him since late last night.” Sneeg hummed, the noise cancelled by the wind as they shot towards the yellow roofs. The throne was stolen constantly and by more than one faction. And the long period of time since Foolish had been seen… the suspect range was too wide to start with but at least he could rule out the kingdom members and Aimsey. He continued to consider the possibilites as they flew in silence for the rest of the way. He could tell something was up with Clown, maybe he had just been away for too long and wasn’t used to the constant antics. Either way he knew he was going to have to ask about it later.
When they touched down in the throne room, Sneeg finally took in Clown’s appearance. For the first time since he’d met him, Clown was shaking. His collar was crumpled and a tuft of hair was peaking over his crooked mask as he flew through the castle’s storage, ruffling through chests for any extra gear that had been left behind. Sneeg moved to follow him but stopped once he stood in front of the empty square in which the throne used to sit.
“Clown,” Sneeg whispered, before turning and shouting. “Clown!” He gripped his axe a little tighter, stepping back to lean on one of the seats. His head was pounding and the blue in his chest howled at him, begging him to give in. It only subsided when a strong hand gripped his shoulder, grounding him back to the castle.
“Sneeg! Are they still here?” Clown panted, scythe raised above his head. His head pivoted as he glanced around the room, checking for enemies. Once he realized they were alone he turned back to Sneeg. “Hey man, are you okay? You look, er, blue. Well, bluer than usual, I guess you are just kind of blue nowadays…” he trailed off, clearly waiting for Sneeg to interrupt him.
“I know who did this Clown,” Sneeg whispered, and it seemed to echo off the walls. In his ears he could hear the demon’s laugh and see his red smile crack. Sneeg was familiar with him far before the two ever met, Philza having complained about his antics before. But nothing Phil ever described could have prepared him for the utter presence of BadBoyHalo, the leader of the Green Team, and their current main enemy number one.
The same enemy with black fur, the same fur sticking to the drying blood puddle on the floor.
Stop. Breath. Keep going.
“It was Bad. I should have fucking known that it would be him, green are the only ones who would pull some shit like this,” Sneeg said, running his hand through his hair. He could just feel it turning gray. He continued. “I guarantee you Pangi and Lukey helped him - probably Owen too.”
Clown gripped his scythe tighter before turning and marching towards the front castle doors. Sneeg hustled behind him, tightening his own armor before stopping Clown and checking his. Clown scoffed, pushing Sneeg away and checking his own, occasionally tightening a loose strap.
The two burst out of the castle doors, heavy weapons in tow and fists full of fireworks as they shot towards Green’s fortress. They split up, searching every inch of the base before turning to checking any location green was known to hang around. Minutes turned into hours and the buzz of desperation set upon the land as they resorted to checking holes in the ground. Sneeg was getting tired and his fireworks were getting low and he slowly found himself making his way back into the castle halls. Clown followed him soon after, throwing off his armor into the wall before plopping down into a chair.
“Sneeg, we have to find him, god knows what the fuck they’ll do with him,” Clown cursed. He was wringing his hands, head pointing at the wall as he studied the wallpaper, deep in thought.
“I mean, yeah I agree they need to die but like,” Sneeg said, looking Clown up and down pointedly before continuing, “Are you okay?” It seemed like an obvious answer, what with the state of the archmage, but Clown tended to avoid those questions.
“I can’t lose the king,” Clown said, hesitating at first. It was at times like this Sneeg wished he could see the man’s face. Without that, it was hard to tell what he was thinking, which was definitely the point. Clown turned towards Sneeg before saying, “I promised I would be there to protect him. I wasn’t. If he dies, this is on me, and I won’t be able to handle that.”
Sneeg had picked up on some subtle signs that Clown was getting attached to Foolish weeks ago, but this confirmed his suspicions. “Do you, uh, like him?” Sneeg questioned, eyebrow quirking up. He couldn’t help but smile a bit, despite the situation, teasing the archmage.
Clown was quick to turn defensive, standing up and throwing his hands in front of him. “What? No! He’s just- ugh you know he’s my- the king! Can I not be worried about the king?” Clown stuttered in the least-convincing way. Sneeg raised his eyebrow at him and Clown chuckled dryly, picking his armor back up. “I’m going to call Zam. If anyone can find a hidden base, he can,” and he switched from tightening armor to typing away on his communicator.
Sneeg took that not-so-subtle avoidance as a cue to leave him alone and he walked back out the castle doors. He stopped at the steps and looked down at the subtle brown stains and the scorch marks beneath them that spread across the polished stone. That was where Foolish had traded his life for Ros. A testament to the King’s good nature.
The kingdom wouldn’t survive without him. Their enemies knew that. They needed to get him back, and fast, before he was killed, or worse.
He popped open his own communicator, scrolling through his contacts before settling on the one he was looking for. Aimsey.