Chapter Text
— Battat —
The leaves dissolved within the fire, the once beautiful but deathly silent garden turned into an inferno.
Luckily, the stone appeared to withstand flames; something that the trio couldn’t say about themselves as the heat drew nearer.
“Tenna!” Battat called out. “Please listen!”
TVs were notoriously bad at listening, something that the Lord of Screens had proven plenty of times in the past. But in this case, he clearly didn’t want to.
“Wes do care about yous…” Jongler joined in.
“♫!” (Please, calm down!) Pluey pleaded, despite its confusion; clearly pained to see his partner this way.
Tenna’s screen was as erratic as the flames themselves. He loomed over them and raised his fist, ready to swing it down and crush all three.
The smaller Darkners held onto each other and seemed as if they accepted this outcome, there was nowhere to run anymore. It was over.
But the impact never came.
Battat opened one eye to glance at their boss and saw him tremble; he had sunken in on himself when his fist came down with a thud besides them. It made the three flinch but only brought their attention back to the large Darkner.
Pluey stepped forward and nuzzled against his hand. “♫…♪” (Don’t be sad… we’re here.) It purred in an attempt to soothe him but Tenna just started crying.
Battat joined in and held onto his hand. “You’re okay… we’ll stay here until you feel better.”
Jongler nodded and gave his hand a hug. “Wes will make the pains go away…”
Tenna stared at them and leaned down to hold onto all three, carefully pushing them closer and shielding them from the fire.
-
They stayed like this for an undefined time, the flames raged until there was nothing left to burn and the lush environment had turned into a charred landscape of leafless trees and scorched grounds.
The horrifying decorations looked even more terrifying but less out of place in the ashes of the former garden.
Battat stroked over his hand while Pluey and Jongler were holding onto each other hardly conscious from the exhaustion and hardly breathable air. “Are you alright?” He asked.
Tenna frowned “Why do you care?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” The Pippins asked when the black screen turned towards him.
“I hurt your friend, I threatened to kill you, there’s plenty to choose from.” He scoffed.
“I know this isn’t really what you want.” He cuddled more into his palm. “You protected us from the fire even though it ruined your suit and you’re not in the best condition.”
“I don’t know why I did that when I should crush you.” His fingers flexed halfway.
“But you didn’t.” The Pippins smiled weakly. “You’re not cut out to be truly evil. You want to give love and be loved… even though the world has beaten you down…” He paused. “I know what it’s like.”
“You do?” Tenna asked, his screen was still off.
“Yeah,” He laughed awkwardly. “I didn’t have friends for most of my life and was ostracised for being different. I didn’t really mind, I’ve always been more introverted and preferred being by myself.” The Pippins explained. “I just wanted to be useful.”
Tenna tensed up.
Pluey and Jongler stirred and looked up at him with sad looks in their eyes while staying close to Battat.
“I found my place… at the cost of giving up who I was. I tried so hard to be someone else that I forgot who I was. I got comfortable with my role but then I made some real friends and even the person I had changed for accepted me for who I am.” He smiled warmly and hugged his thumb. “How about you shrink down, so we can take a look at the damage and take care of your wounds?”
The CRT placed them down and looked around, tail and antennas lowering as he appeared guilty and defeated. “I don’t know… my head is a mess…” He admitted, shrinking slightly. “Everything is… dammit…” He mumbled. “…I just want it to stop…” Tenna cried out and shrunk again. “I just wanted to feel happy for a bit… just a little bit of fun but now this… everything is so fucking bleak.”
Battat could understand his frustration, what it meant to keep trying only for setback after setback to break down your determination.
“But you’re not alone.” The Pippins told him.
“What?” Tenna stared at him.
“You’re not alone.” Battat repeated. “I know you don’t re— know us… well…” He frowned. “…but if you want, we can stay.”
Tenna seemed uncertain. “You’d actually want that?”
“We want to help you at least. You look terrible.” Battat smirked.
Tenna laughed weakly. “Pretty blunt, Dice Boy.” He cracked a smile but it wavered and he shrunk to the size of a mouse. He flinched when Battat stepped closer and reached out for him but relaxed at the gentle touch and leaned into the other’s hand now. “I’d appreciate that.”
Battat couldn’t repress a sigh of relief. “Good.” He hesitated and offered a gentle kiss on his head.
Tenna blushed. “Gah!”
The Pippins blushed as well. “Ah… sorry about that.”
The CRT looked up. “N-no need to apologise…”
Battat blushed even more.
Pluey glanced and Jongler. “♫?” (What’s even going on?)
Jongler rubbed the back of their head. “I’ll explain while wes get back…”
-
They left the garden and carried Tenna to his house, the villa he lived in. It wasn’t quite like the home they had made for themselves, clearly only created for one tall person and very and much colder and more efficient despite its bright colours.
If the theory hadn’t been proven wrong, he’d still believe that this was some alternative universe. It seemed much more likely that Tenna’s broken mind had twisted and changed all of TV World to be this way.
Battat just hoped this was reversible and that they could fix what Mike had done to him. Thinking of the devil, he hadn’t shown himself in a while.
“Tenna…?” Battat asked as they looked for the bathroom.
“Mhm…?” The shrunken TV was in and out of consciousness.
“How are you feeling?” Battat asked worriedly.
“Bad…” He mumbled.
The Pippins frowned. “Fair… alright, wait here for a bit while we get everything.” He entered the bathroom and build a little nest from towels besides the radiator. “We’ll be right back.”
Tenna winced. “Thank you…”
Pluey stood besides Jongler when the die left their boss’ bathroom. The Shadowguy let out a deep, melodic sigh. “♪… ♫?” (Okay… what now, Bats?)
Battat walked up to it and hugged his partner tightly. “I’m so glad that you’re alright…” He held on tighter, Jongler joined in without hesitation.
The cat-like Darkner was a bit confused but hugged them both back. There’d be time for proper explanations later, Jongler had just told it the general situation they were in.
They stayed like that for a while, needing the closeness and comfort after everything that went down; all three were relieved to be together and safe again.
“Pluey’s right… what do wes do now, boss?” The Zapper asked after they ended the embrace.
“I’m not sure… I’m surprised that Pluey kept its memories… or maybe he just got them back after turning back.” Battat pondered.
“♫… ♬…” (I don’t remember anything… I can’t believe that Tenna would do this…)
“He isn’t himself… but we might have a chance to bring him back now. We need to heal him first. I hate to ask this but one of us needs to stay with him while the other two gather everything we need. We can’t risk him being alone or Mike finding him.” Battat explained and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from one of the tables to write everything down. “I don’t want Pluey alone with him yet, he also knows you least. So, it’d be Jongler or me.” He handed the list to their Shadowguy.
“I can stay but me thinks dat Tenna would feel most comfortable with yous.” The Zapper suggested. “Yous know best how to talk to hims too but if yous don’t feel okay with it, I don’t mind stayin’.”
The Pippins nodded. “No… I’ll stay. I don’t want either of you alone with him if I’m being honest. Check the house, most if not all things on the list should be here.” He stepped towards the door and braced himself.
“Tenna?” Battat asked after he stepped into the bathroom.
“I was worried that you left…” The CRT said quietly, still shaking in his towels.
“Don’t worry, the other two get something to eat and Revive Mints to get you back on your feet.” He got closer. “Can I touch you?”
Tenna hesitated.
“To take off your clothes and clean you up.” Battat explained.
Tenna nodded slowly. “Yeah… okay. Please be gentle.” He agreed. “I don’t understand… why are you helping me?”
Battat shrugged. “Do I need a reason?”
Tenna frowned. “I think you have plenty reasons to want me gone.” He admitted.
“You need help. That’s my reason.” Battat explained and carefully took off his clothes. “Where can I get a fresh suit?”
Tenna allowed it. “I got a glooby pair in my wardrobe.” He explained. “It’s—“
“—in the drawer?” Battat confirmed.
“Yeah…” Tenna tilted his head at him. “How do you—“
“Intuition!” The Pippins laughed awkwardly. “Just a guess because you fit into my hand now.” He held it up for emphasis.
The CRT didn’t question any more. “Okay… can you take me with you?”
Battat hummed in thought.
“I don’t want to be alone…” Tenna admitted.
“Let’s clean you up then and we can get it together after that, okay?” He promised while getting up to test the water temperature. Tenna was small enough to easily clean him in his large sink and treat that as a bathtub.
Tenna let him do it, seeming almost catatonic by this point and hardly reacting as he got moved around and covered in soap.
Battat couldn’t smile when he saw the miserable expression on his screen. “Hey… don’t be so glooby.” He told him. “You have your own bubble bath and a fullbody massage.” The Pippins reassured him while gently rubbing over his antennas and back.
The CRT didn’t react besides the occasional sniffles and sobs while he got taken care of.
Battat finished cleaning him and rubbed gently over him with his thumb to offer at least a little comfort.
“You know…” Tenna wiped over his face. “Sometimes I have the feeling I know you from somewhere but I just can’t remember…”
The green die tensed up.
“And it feels as if you care more than Mike… maybe I’m talking nonsense… Mike is my best friend, he should care most.” Tenna hesitated. “He does… he has to…”
Battat felt genuine hatred for the first time in his life and he feared that he might kill him the next time he saw that costume-stealing criminal.
“Don’t think about that now. Focus on getting better. We care about you. That’s all that matters right now.” He told him with a sad smile.
Tenna reached out for his finger, searching his face like a dementia patient who couldn’t recognise his own family and friends after years of fighting with the illness.
He held onto it with much less strength than he should possess, even at this size. He nodded and held on while the water got drained and Battat carefully dried him off.
The small CRT got wrapped up in a fresh towel, it was soft and warm and cozy; Tenna managed to relax a bit and fully turned his screen off.
The die went to his wardrobe and dressed Tenna up in a small set of his usual clothes, then headed downstairs again where Jongler and Pluey were waiting with food and medicine.
Battat placed their boss down on the couch and got onto it himself while Jongler unpacked three TV Dinners and handed him the Revive Mints.
“I found three in a cabinet upstairs.” They told their partner.
“Let’s use two for now and see whether he needs more of them, thank you.” He replied and offered the CRT one mint. The shrunken man reached out and tried to grab for his hand, seemingly close to tears because he couldn’t quite make it.
When Tenna was under extreme stress, there were different ways he’d react. Most of the time he’d get severely depressed and needed comfort, other times he’d get uncontrollably angry but it was much rarer the more he advanced on his healing journey; and very rarely, he’d almost regress and acted like a helpless child or kitten and needed intense support to recover. This was one of the very few times it came to that. The only other time he had witnessed this was right after he woke up in Castle Town, after his near-death experience.
Just like the last time it seemed that Tenna shutdown and suffered from selective mutism.
It seemed the trigger for this behaviour was a combination of severe mental and physical trauma.
Battat pushed the healing item into the screen’s mouth — gentle and patient as he fed it to him — then held a glass of milk to his mouth that Pluey had brought them.
The CRT whined when Battat pulled it away again after a few sips.
His caretaker sighed and fed him another revive mint that his helpless boss didn’t want, he shook his head with an expression of disgust.
“You get more milk and TV Dinner if you eat this.” Battat promised, finding the tiny Darkner much more compliant after the offer.
Anthony took the medicine and reached out eagerly, happy when he got a hold of the glass and Battat tilted it enough for him to take small sips.
“Hey… not so eager, you’ll spill it.” The die sighed and started feeding him some bites of the TV Dinner before Tenna fell asleep on the couch. He ate what was left while the other two ate their own portions, insisting to share though.
“♫?” (Should we take over?) Pluey asked after they were done and sat in silence. “♬…♬.♫?” (Jongler caught me up on everything. I hope Tenna gets well again, he doesn’t look good. And are you okay?)
“I’m just glad you’re alright and that Tenna is in our hands again. Let’s take a moment to breathe and then make a plan on what to do about…” He bit his lip.
“Yous didn’t answer de question, boss…” Jongler frowned. “I know he’s grimey and wes need to deal with dat faker… but wes need to take care of ourselves first… each other.”
Pluey nodded in agreement. “♫… ♬. ♪” (I agree with resting…but we should focus on Tenna and the three of us. Mike can wait.)
Battat felt anxious. He just knew that Mike would show his stupid face and try to corrupt Tenna again. The Pippins truly began to hate his former costume now. “Alright… but please rest first. I’ll take care of Tenna for the rest of the day and we can switch tomorrow.”
The other two Darkners looked at each other, not pleased but agreeing to the compromise with curt nods.
The Zapper and Shadowguy headed to one of the rooms to rest while Battat picked the sleeping CRT up and carried him to his bedroom.
Tenna was asleep, likely healing and needing this to recharge. Battat carefully climbed into the bed and tucked him in. He looked at his peaceful expression and had to smile. “Everything will be okay.” He promised and stroked over his head.
The green Pippins climbed off Tenna’s bed and headed outside, he figured that Tenna might need something during the night and sat down in the hallway near his door.
He wasn’t very comfortable but too exhausted to care and didn’t take long to fall asleep. It was seemingly short-lived because as soon as he closed his eyes, something touched him and got his attention.
A glance to the clock showed that roughly two hours had passed since he sat down here.
Battat blinked confused at the thing that was nudging him, only to be wide awake when it had been Tenna who was smiling while leaned against him. The TV had clearly grown from before but was still only half the size of a Pippins.
“Tenna? Why aren’t you in bed?” He asked with a frown.
The shrunken man clung to him and frowned too.
“Were you lonely?” Battat asked quietly.
The TV nodded sadly.
“…want me to join you?” Battat already knew the answer.
Tenna cuddled against him and nuzzled into Battat when the green die picked him up and carried him back inside the room.
Battat climbed the bed again with great effort because of Tenna’s larger size and barely freeing one arm to pull himself up.
He placed Tenna down with his head on the pillow and tried to tuck him in when the tiny Darkner pushed the blanket off.
“Are you too hot?” The die asked.
Tenna shook his head.
Battat sighed. “Are you thirsty?”
Tenna shook his head again.
“Then what do you need?” The currently taller Darkner asked confused.
Tenna reached out towards him. “Can you stay?”
Battat stared at him. “Sure.” He replied and lay down on the bed, only for the small TV to cuddle up to him. His arms wrapped around the small body while he closed his eyes, feeling the tears and sobs rack his body without warning. “I’m sorry…”
The CRT didn’t say anything.
“I’m so sorry…” Battat cried while holding him. “You needed me and I failed you.” The words just came out of him. “You depended on me and I wasn’t there or powerless or… or…” He gasped between sobbing and shaking. “I thought that it was enough, that I was strong enough. I got too comfortable and didn’t know this could happen… I should have known but all my theories were useless and wrong and I couldn’t protect anyone and now you got hurt again and it’s all my fault…” He held tightly onto Tenna as if letting go would mean that he slipped away.
“You didn’t fail.” Tenna told him.
Battat sniffed and wiped over his face before looking at Tenna’s dimmed screen.
“You’re here now. You were there when I was in the snow, you tried to make me happy, you’re here now and take care of me while I’m weakened.” Tenna explained. “I feel like I am missing something important and I don’t remember where I know you from but you clearly know me and I believe that I knew you once.” He offered a small smile. “Thank you for being here.”
Battat broke down crying all over again and held onto his partner. “I do know you… I know you… and I love you… whether you remember me or not.” He confessed. “I miss you. I miss you so much, it hurts…”
Tenna was quietly listening and felt the Pippins’ rapid heartbeat against his body. “What do you miss about me?”
Battat laughed weakly. “I miss… I miss drinking tea with you and… and I…” He sniffled. “I miss listening to your ideas and and how excited you’d get, I miss seeing you smile without so much pain on your screen, I miss sitting with you and the others on a quiet evening to look at the stars…” His throat was hurting as he tried to stop crying. “I miss hearing you say my name, I miss seeing you on stage and smile at us whenever you got an opportunity. I miss listening to music with you and quietly doing paperwork and seeing your face light up as you come home. And… everything… just everything.” Battat laughed sadly.
“…that sounds like a lot but it’s all so simple.” Tenna noted. “I wish I could remember that, it sounds lovely.”
Battat pulled Tenna against his chest while the warm tears on his cheeks tickled his partner’s antennas. “It was… but it’s okay…” He stroked over Tenna’s back. “…whether you remember or not doesn’t change that we love you. We’ll be by your side through the good and bad… that’s what friends do.”
Tenna was quietly listening for a moment. “It sounds as if we were more than friends before.”
Battat smiled crooked. “Maybe we were… but I never had the courage to put a name to it before. And now it’s too late.”
The shrunken Darkner nuzzled into his chest. “I know it might not mean much coming from me but when I was about to hurt you, I felt pain. A lot of pain, but it wasn’t just from the physical damage.” He explained. “I heard a voice.”
Battat tensed up.
“It was mine… in my head through all the static I could hear it beg. Beg me to stop or for you to run, anything but give up and let me do this.” The CRT explained. “It was screaming and crying and apologising and begging endlessly and I could tell it was something inside of me fighting this. It… he… the voice… I… I don’t know anymore… my head is scrambled but… at that moment I’ve realised that I couldn’t do it, that I had to keep you safe and… I think that if I could remember, that I’d want you to know that I love you too.”
The Pippins held him tighter. “Thank you… don’t worry… we can still fix this. You’re safe now… we’ll keep you safe.”