Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The stars above the gardens were dimming, fading ever so slightly as if acknowledgement that this was the final day for the two men who were lying in each other's arms, looking up at the stars above. They were both ancient looking, age was hard to determine. Both men had paper-thin their skin and wrinkles that sagged off them.

"We didn't get to spend enough time together." The healthier of the two men claimed. His voice not matching the exterior, sounding much younger than he looked. The voice of a healthy young man still in his prime.

The other man let out a raspy chuckle. "Arn, we've been together for over one hundred years." His sentence was long and drawn out as he struggled for every breath. "Just how much more time do you want?"

"Forever." The healthier man declared. His love for the other man gleaming in his eyes. "We wasted our younger years hating each other. I mistook my love for you as hate. I didn't understand what love was back then. We were already old men by the time we both got over ourselves and admitted that we love one another. We wasted so many opportunities to be together. Maybe we could've become parents. We wouldn't be here alone if we'd had children. Maybe we would've even had grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Instead, humanity ends with you. Dave Lister, last human."

"Arn, don't forget, you're human too."

"One who's been dead for the past three million years."

"Still human, no matter how much time passes."

The hologram's projection glitched at his life partner's declaration. "Don't you go fading on me before I'm gone, Arn, I want to spend my last moments with you. We are leaving this life together," Dave coughed. Arn helping him despite knowing he couldn't do much.

Dave was dying.

After a lifetime of adventure and near death, he was dying, and there was nothing they could do. Old age of all things, something neither man had expected but had wanted. Today was his last day in the universe as a living person. They all knew it. Kryten knew it was the last time he'd see either man when he'd moved Dave to the botanical gardens. All that was left to make him comfortable. Once the ship detected Dave's passing, Arn's programming would cease, killing the hologram.

Kryten has said his final goodbyes, crying as he left the two men, leaving him alone on the ship. Cat has passed away many years beforehand. Kryten had requested to change Arn's programming, something that Dave couldn't believe Arn had actually turned down, not even Arn could believe the 'no' that came out. When Arn was a younger man he would've tried to survived anyway possible. Now he'd come to accept his forever death, that this was the end. Dave and Arn did feel bad about leaving Kryten behind in life, neither man wanted to live without the other.

Arn ran his fingers through Dave's hair. He was leaving his life with a full head of hair while Arn only had a thin peppering of hair left around the edge of his hairline. "I have so much that I regret and that I'm sorry for. I'm sorry for how difficult I made things for you. I'm so sorry that I was selfish. I'm sorry that I didn't think to clone children for us when I got trapped on Rimmerworld. I'm sorry that I didn't find a way to keep the twins with us and that we didn't see them again after dropping them off with Deb and Arlene. I'm sorry that we never found Kristine."

"Arn, you don't have to apologise again. While I also regret never seeing our children again or finding Kristine, they are minor regrets, and I cherish the time we did get to spend together before parting. I'm sure that Arlene and Deb are having this moment with the boys." Dave's breaths were closer together. "Arn, I love you more than anyone in the universe."

A smile graced Arn's lips. "That is not difficult. No one else loved me before you." Arn placed a feather light kiss on Dave's lips. "I didn't even love myself before you loved me. You are the first person to love me, and the first person I ever loved. Thank you for showing me was love is, Dave."

"Love you forever," Dave declared.

"Love you forever," Arn agreed. Neither man said another world. Lying together in each other's arms. Dave's breath's becoming shallow until it finally stopped. Arn sat up, placed a kiss on Dave's lips.

The last sound from the room was a dead lightbee clanking to the floor.

Chapter Text

Dave and Arn stood together, holding hands. They were looking around trying to place their location. The last place they had been was the botanical garden on the Red Dwarf. Now they were standing in a white room with flashing lights. Arn turned to Dave, running his free hand down his husband's face.

"You look younger," Arn whispered. Wondering why his partner looked younger. Wondering if he looked just as young.

"So do you," Dave replied sounding younger as well. He flicked Arn's forehead a teasing grin plastering his face. "You even have that hideous thick H that you had when you first became a hologram." He looked around the white room. "Is this the afterlife?"

Arn snorted at the afterlife suggestion. "If this were the afterlife I wouldn't be here you gimboid. I'm an electronic representation of me. I can't go to the afterlife."

Dave gave Arn's hand a gentle squeeze. "I like to think that your already dead self will get your holographic memories."

"What about the nanobot resurrected version of myself?" Even years later, Arn was still unsure what to think of the nanobot version of himself.

"Him too." Dave nodded. "He'll also have the other hologram that you turned on for those couple of weeks when we first got trapped together. Also, those other Arnold J. Rimmer's from this dimension are you, man."

Dave kissed Arn. Feeling young and full of energy again. Arn responding with much vigour. He started kissing down Arn's neck at all the spots he knew his partner liked, spots he had not been able to reach properly for years.

"If this is the afterlife, why does it look like a video game?" Arn questioned, able to continue talking despite Dave's attempt at keeping him occupied with a more personal quest. Arn had always been able to talk nonstop when Dave was trying to keep him distracted.

Dave stopped seeing that Arn was correct. This did look like a video game. A video game they'd both played long ago. One they avoided playing for a second time, like the plague because it was highly addictive.

There was writing above two doors.

Congratulations, you beat Better Than Life

Score 74 out of 100

Do you wish to play again?

Yes - No

"We can't really be Better Than Life, can we?" Dave questioned, unable to think of when they'd entered the game.

Arn frowned. "I don't remember entering Better Than Life. Any idea when we possibly began playing?"

"No idea, let's find out together." Dave took Arn's hand.

Together they walked out the door that said 'No.'

Slowly Dave opened his eyes, feeling a lot better than when he'd been an old man, but still feeling horrible overall. In the game world he'd felt healthy, young and energetic. He looked around the room. He knew this place, it was the old game room. The original games room on Red Dwarf, before they had relocated the console closer to the living quarters.

There were signs that Dave hadn't been alone in entering the game, the other seat having been occupied recently. Seeing the items around the seat could only mean Cat. Looking down at his own body, he wasn't an old man at all. He was a young man. That didn't make any sense. How much of his life had been fake?

Looking around the drive room, he didn't see Arn or Kryten anywhere, and Holly was dozing on the screen, looking very much like he did before he'd started having all the glitches that had corrupted his image and eventually taken offline.

"Holly," Dave called out, feeling uneasy. Holly had been gone since not long after they'd lost Kristine. That was many many years ago.

Holly startled awake. He looked at Dave for a moment before looking around the room. "Regenerating Hologram."

All questions left Dave's mind as he watched Arn blink back into existence. It wasn't anything like the last few times he'd watched Arn boot. He looked like an empty husk. A husk that scared Dave significantly until he saw him stand straight and looking around the room, trying to work out what was going on. Everyone remained quiet until the look in Arn's eyes changed to a look that knew what was going on. Dave was glad that someone knew what was happening because he certainly didn't.

Holly turned towards Arn. "Scutteres are on their way to take Dave to the medibay. Cat had been out for a few weeks. Physically fully recovered and currently preening himself. I doubt you'll see him for another two weeks. Congratulations Arn, you did it."

"Did what?" Dave asked. Arn was instantly at his side, unable to touch him. He seemed to be softlight only which had Dave even more concerned about when they'd gone into Better Than Life.

Arn was ecstatic as he announced. "I got you out of the game."

Before Arn could add anything else, Holly spoke. "Dave, it may take a while for your memories to align since you're organic."

"We never left Better Than Life, did we?" Dave asked the question that he was hoping wouldn't be true. It was the only time they'd ever gone into the game. That must mean they only thought they'd got out when they hadn't.

Arn looked sad as he answered. "No, we didn't leave back then when we thought we had. The only true way to leave Better Than Life is to die in the game. I've been out a few times already since we started playing.

"When?"

"Once you're settled into the medibay I'll tell you. It's a long story."

"Those are my favourite kind," Dave grinned, putting the hologram more at ease. Determined to show that nothing that happened between them in the game had changed since leaving the game.

Rimmer couldn't believe it. He was alive! He was alive after three million years of being dead. He could touch. He could feel. He was alive!

"I am alive," he shouted for the whole world to hear, which wasn't many since his world consisted of three other beings.

Throwing his arm's out in excitement he hit a create, knocking everything over and creating a bright white light and ringing in his ears much like the landmine had caused when it had exploded in his face as a child.

Looking around the ship, he was no longer standing on the Red Dwarf. Looking around for the entrance of a photo he possibly fell into. He didn't see the entrance to any photo's. All he could see were floating words above two doors.

Congratulations, you beat Better Than Life

Score 6 out of 100

Do you wish to play again?

Yes - No

Rimmer looked between the two doors. Yes and No. Should get go through a door? He contemplated. Or should he stay in this lobby? He bit his lip and chewed as he tried to decide.

He didn't remember entering a game, but he didn't put it past Lister to force him into an AR game. Being a hologram it was possible to force him into a game without his consent.

It may be a trick.

He wasn't a hologram anymore. He could not feel the H on his forehead. He'd been alive. Or was that a part of Better Than Life? Being alive again was one of his greatest desires, and the last time he had been in the game, his mind had almost destroyed everything because it could not accept that good things could happen to him. That must be what had happened, his mind couldn't accept him being alive in the game, so it had killed him. He hated his smegged up subconscious mind.

Six out of 100? What a horrible score. It must have been recent that he was put into the game, probably as revenge from Lister for pulling him from his millionaire rock star life.

As he was fuming at Lister for putting him into Better Than Life for revenge, the game decided for him, dragging him through the No door.

Rimmer stood in the games room. He was expecting to be alone. Instead he found Lister and Cat connected up to the immersive reality headsets. Both men lay on the floor in their own waste looking very sickly. Was he still sliding through photographs and ended up in the wrong time stream as a result of meddling?

"Holly?" He called out to the computer, hoping that she would be able to give him some answered.

The computer popped up on the screen, except she was no longer a she. The male Holly that he hadn't seen since Lister was forced to give up his sons was the image present.

"What's going on?" Rimmer demanded to know.

"You're finally out," Holly said, not elaborating further.

"Out of what?" Rimmer asked, wondering how long it would take to get Holly to the point today.

"The game."

Rimmer's eye twitched as she-he hadn't elaborated at all. "What game?" Though he had a sinking suspicion he already knew the answer to that question.

"Better Than Life," Holly confirmed Rimmer's suspicions.

"Better Than Life, but that was months ago!"

"It was four days ago."

"Four days?" Rimmer looked around the games room. He doubted that Lister and Cat would still be alive if they had really been in Better Than Life for months. But days? "But we got out after the parking inspector who was my father broke my hand. Why would we go back in and when?"

"Correction Arn, I got out. You lot remained in the game." Holly announced.

Rimmer couldn't contain his horror. "So you mean everything since then was not real? It was all part of the game. Everything?"

"Yes, Arn," Holly confirmed Rimmer's fears.

"So this is not a result of the time sliding photographs?" Rimmer asked.

"No."

"I've never swapped bodies with Lister?"

"No. I don't know why you'd want his body anyway."

"I just wanted a living body. It didn't matter whose. The polymorph, what about it?"

"Poly-what?"

"It changes shapes into different creatures and sucks out emotions. It's a type of GELF." Rimmer explained. He took a seat, having to concentrate not to fall through with how distracted he was by everything.

"No genetically engineered life forms like that exist. I think it was tapping into your desire for aliens to be real giving you the next best thing." Holly went on to explain all the desires that caused the incidents in the game.

"So no backwards universes."

"You haven't been to one, but theoretically they exist."

"Why the hell would Lister make himself pregnant?" Rimmer asked. What desire would result in that horrible experience? "Does he desire to be a woman?"

"The only one with desires to be a woman is you, Arn."

Rimmer paled, he stood back to his feet. "I do not."

"Don't forget that your memory processors and emotions run through my computer system Trixie LaBouche. What type of name is that anyway?" Holly asked, letting Rimmer know exactly how much she could see from his memory.

Rimmer glared wishing that Holly would stay out of his thoughts.

Holly ignored Rimmer's glare. "The future echo's when Dave saw the twins, he has a strong desire for that to happen. With him being the only person around, he ended up with a solution of getting his children. That was why he was the one that was pregnant with them. He made that happen so he could get them."

"Then why would he then send them to another dimension?"

"While he desires to be a father, he is not yet ready to be a father which is why he came up with a solution subconsciously to send them away that wouldn't let him feeling guilty."

"He still felt guilty for that anyway. We never time travelled to the past through a stasis leak. Yet that event actually happened in my journal."

"That really was a hallucination a result of the Titan mushrooms Dave fed you. You just recreated the even from a memory. That is also why Dave found a photo of his older self himself married to Kristine Kochanski. Marrying her was something he strongly desires but isn't ready for yet and why the older versions of yourself from the double-double future exist."

Rimmer didn't want the next answer, but had to ask the question anyway despite knowing. "Is Kryten real?"

Holly was silent for several moments, looking at him with a sad expression. "He is real, but not in the form that you have met in the game. In reality he is travelling around on Dave's space bike. He is still detectable on the long range scanner and doing well for himself."

"Oh. That may explain why he is so different." Rimmer looked towards his two living companions. "Can you get Listy and Cat out of the game?"

Holly gave him a despairing look. "Arn, I can't get them out. They have to come out on their own. How did you get out?"

"I died in the game," Rimmer replied without thinking. "I died in the game." He repeated looking between Holly and Lister. "I - died - in - the - game. I -"

"I was afraid of that." Holly sighed.

"What do you mean?" Rimmer asked despite already knowing the answer.

"To get back to reality you have to die in Better Than Life."

"But it feels so real. I couldn't tell that it wasn't real life. They're not just going to kill themselves to get out."

Rimmer knelt down next to Lister, making sure he was still breathing. Going by his current condition, he was going to pass away in reality before he did in the game.

"Going by the news articles that were included in the mail pod, the people that get stuck in Better Than Life are called Game heads. They almost always die in reality before they die in the game."

Rimmer wished so much that he could help Lister. He hadn't seen Lister look so horrible since he was first released from stasis and almost drunk himself to death. Cat, he'd never seen this poorly before. Both men had dried out lips, suggesting they were severely dehydrated. Walking around their bodies, he knew that they couldn't be moved to the medibay while connected to the headsets and they couldn't take the headsets off to move them both to the medibay.

"Holly, send the scutters up here now. Have a few more meet me in the medibay. If we don't do anything Lister and Cat are both going to die before they get out of Better Than Life. We need to do everything we can to keep them alive until they can come out."

Rimmer spent the next few hours instructing the scutters through cleaning Lister and the Cat. Getting both of them into the chairs, connected to tubes for rehydration, food and waste. All without disconnecting them from the immersive headsets. It was a slow process with Rimmer shouting orders at the scutters. Rimmer stopped panicking when he had them both connected up to portable medicoms that reported their health. Cat wouldn't appreciate being stripped naked. Nevertheless, it was a better option than remaining in soiled clothing.

The final thing was the scutter's cleaning up the room so that it no longer stunk.

"When are they going to come out?" Rimmer asked after everything was all taken care of.

"When they die in the game," Holly repeated.

"But that could be years."

"Time in game runs faster than it does in reality."

"That could still take years. Holly, can I go back in?" It was probably the most stupid question he'd ever asked, but he could not bear the idea of being alone, waiting for Lister to come out. He hated being alone."

"Yes," Holly confirmed. "Dave will be fine while you are out of the game. I'll make sure the scutters look after them both."

Before Rimmer could think through his decision, Holly booted him back into the game.

Chapter Text

"I can't believe that Kryten wasn't real. We spent years with him." Dave was heartbroken. Kryten from within the game had become one of their closest friends. "You really did all that for me, back then?" Dave asked, wishing so much that Arn could hold his hands.

"Not really years ago. Month's ago."

"As far as I'm concerned it was years ago. We've gone through a whole life time together. It doesn't matter that it was virtual. It felt real. I still want you, if you'll have me."

"Of course I still want you. How can you really want me when I can't touch you?" Arn's paranoia telling him that he wasn't good enough for Dave as a softlight hologram.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you smeghead, I still want you. Doesn't matter to me if we can touch or not. There is more to a relationship than just the physical." Dave reassured his hopefully still partner. "Why didn't you tell me that we were in a video game?"

Rimmer blinked. Looking around. He was in the drive room. Lister was standing over him looking worried. Rimmer opened his mouth to talk. He had to tell Lister something important. When he opened his mouth, he couldn't remember what he was going to say.

"Rimmer," Lister said in a soothing tone. "I don't want to worry you or cause panic, and I don't know how to break this to you. You died."

Rimmer sat up, going through Lister slightly. What did he mean he died? He perished in the radiation leak and had been dead for a couple of years already. Not counting the three million years he hadn't existed at all.

"I know I'm dead you gimboid. I've been dead for years." Rimmer snapped. How stupid could Lister get?

He stood to his feet, taking in Lister's confused expression. The time sliding photos came rushing back to memory. He'd been alive for a few moments before dying. He'd been alive and it had been stolen away. How unlucky could a man get?

Memories of a timeline when he'd been alive started coming to mind. Memories of getting thrown into stasis for his shoddy work on the drive plate. Many memories of he and Lister hugging, comforting one another in the early days of the accident while they were still getting used to everything. Lister touching his shoulder to get his attention. Passing one another drinks, tools and other items. Something that he'd never truly experienced and would never get to experience again.

"Oh smeg," Rimmer held his head at the flood of memories.

Lister seemed to have gone through the same flood of memories. "I remember you being dead and turned on to keep me sane. But I also remember you being alive." Lister held his head as the mess or memories swam together. Why did the conflict memories have to cause headaches?

Rimmer couldn't help feeling like there was something else he forgot.

"Trust me, Dave, if I could've told you, I would've said something long ago. If we knew that it was a game, I don't think our relationship would've progressed to the point it did. I think I would've pushed all my feeling aside if I knew that everything was fake."

"I remember that look when I turned you back on a few times over the years. Does that mean you're next death was when we were all killed by our future selves?"

"I never came out of the game at that point. I think if I did, we all would've come out of Better Than Life. There were other points that we all came really close to getting out. My next time coming out of Better Than Life, you didn't even know that I died."

"When you were Ace?"

Arn bit his lip nervously. "Before then." He looked down at his feet, mumbling. "A part of me thinks that I shouldn't tell you, that you would think less of me if I do tell you. I don't want any secrets from you."

Pain, it was all he'd known for the past few hundred years. He didn't know how everything had gone so wrong. He'd made a few clones to keep himself company so he didn't go insane from loneliness and ended up being the most isolated he'd been in his entire existence. Thrown into a cell and locked away when the clones worked out that they couldn't kill him. That the lightbee was indestructible and had a power source that was keeping itself recharged for some odd reason. He didn't know why it wasn't going flat after hundreds of years when it had gone flat multiple times on Starbug.

He looked the cloned descendant in the eye as the removed him from the cell. It had become a rite of passage for the new king to publically humiliate him. He couldn't take the public humiliation anymore.

Lister, he'd tried to stay strong for Lister. The image of Lister was in his head wasn't as clear anymore. He was forgetting what Lister even looked like. He couldn't be strong even for Lister anymore.

He focused on the image of Lister as unclear as it was, allowing the hardlight drive to switch to softlight mode. He kept thinking of Lister. He wouldn't switch back to hardlight. He couldn't take the pain anymore. He wanted to go back to Lister. This was the only way back to Lister.

His vision blackened as the pain, loneliness and suffering finally left him.

Rimmer was terrified when he opened his eyes that he would still be surrounded by his clones. He found that he wasn't in his familiar cell. Instead, he was in a white room with two doors and words.

You Lost Better Than Life

Score 0 out of 100

Do you wish to play again?

Yes - No

Rimmer fell to his knees sobbing. A game! Rimmerworld had been a game. Lister was probably watching him right now, ready to humiliate him as soon as he existed because of how horrible Better Than Life had turned out.

He looked at the Yes door. It was so tempting to go back into Better Than Life. Reality was awful. Reality was life stuck on Starbug with no idea how to get back to the Red Dwarf. Stuck in close quarters with Lister, Kryten and Cat. As tempting as going through the Yes door was, he knew that Lister would never let him live it down when he finally exited Better Than Life for good.

He took a moment to collect himself before walking out the No door.

He stood in the games room. Not the games room on Starbug. The games room on Red Dwarf of all places. He hadn't been the only one in the game. Lister and the Cat were both still plugged in, naked and sickly looking.

"Still haven't got them out yet," Holly announced, causing him to jump in surprise. Holly was gone. She'd been on Red Dwarf when they lost it. Instead, here he was, just like he'd been years ago.

"Out?" Rimmer questioned.

"You've been stuck in Better Than Life since the day we got the postal pod."

Rimmer's eyes went big as saucers. That had been years ago. "How long exactly?"

"Eighteen weeks."

That wasn't as hard to accept as being trapped in a game for years. "Eighteen weeks in reality. It was so much longer in game. "I've been out before?" It felt like he had and yet he couldn't remember being out, yet it was under the surface just begging to break through.

"Yes."

Rimmer watched Lister and Cat. Taking in all the equipment, they were plugged into. The memories of instructing the scutters were coming back. He remembered being out before and how he died. What he'd thought as he went back in.

"If I go back into the game now, will I still be in prison with my clones?" Rimmer hoped that the answer was no. He couldn't go back to that.

"Yes," Holly confirmed his fear.

"How come the game told me I lost?" The last time he'd come out he'd scored a low score. It had been more than a zero.

Holly waited for all the data of Rimmer's experience in the game to run through his processor before he went onto explain exactly why. "You committed suicide in the game. I know that you didn't physically take a knife to your wrists or jump off a building or anything as horrible as that. You gave up. You allowed your clones to destroy your lightbee. They never would've been able to kill you if you didn't let them destroy your lightbee."

"I can't go back in. I can't go back to that." Rimmer fell to the floor, sobbing. "I'm sorry Listy. I failed you. I failed my one duty. To keep you healthy and sane. You're stuck in a video game because of me, dying."

Holly looked at the processors that were running over time. The Rimmer program was draining the ship's resources, more then what should've been possible.

Booting Rimmer into the game now would've been his death and possibly the death of Lister and Cat if his memory was running on overtime. He didn't know how Rimmer's memory would take to being put back in the game in his current state.

Rimmer lay on the floor, unsure of how long he'd been there. He felt emotionally drained, but knew that he had to do something else instead of wallow in self-pity. After a fresh change of clothes and making sure his projection was in order, he kept himself busy making sure that Lister and Cat were in good health, before doing a general check on the condition of the ship and bringing more medical supplies out of storage, with the help of scutters. It didn't hurt to have the supplies ready just in case.

Several more days were taken for him to mentally recover and enjoy some leisure time, trying to keep his mind off Rimmerworld. He knew that it was his own memory that had come up with that horrible place.

After he was certain that he was mentally recovered and strong enough to survive his own clones he did a final check before turning to the computer. "Boot me in before I change my mind."

In a dark dank cell a man sat in the corner, holding his knees. He didn't talk and barely moved. He couldn't remember his name. He couldn't remember anything. He just knew that he had to survive. He had to survive for a person that had been very important to him. A person that was going to come and get him. That person had hugged him and it made him feel warm and happy. Derrick Custer, that is who he had to be strong for! He clung onto the feelings from long ago. Craving for a time in the future when it would happen again. When that Derrick would hug him and make him feel happy, he didn't know what happy was, but he knew that he wanted it.

"Oh Arn, I don't feel any less of you. I don't know how you managed to survive that place. You're allowed to cry, love. You're allowed to cry all you want, I won't feel any less of you for crying." Dave wished he could hold Arn, he needed all the comfort in the world. Because of how the holographic system stored and recalled memories, he knew that Arn felt exactly what he'd been all those years ago. That these memories felt fresh to him.

"I'm a failure. I committed suicide."

Dave reassured Rimmer, "No you didn't. You gave up hope and didn't have the strength to fight anymore. That is different than taking your own life. It's like if you were in the ocean trying to swim to save your life, but you stop swimming and allow yourself to drown because you have no strength left. It's the same thing. You couldn't fight anymore, and I don't think any less of you. If you really truly wanted to die. You would've terminated your own program when you got out of the game. Cat and I never would've known the difference."

Dave grinned. "You came back into the game, knowing the horrible future you were going to face for hundreds of more years. Six hundred years you put up with that. I'm really proud of you. Knowing what you put up with doesn't make me love you any less, in fact, I think I love you more. You endured that for me."

"I love you too. I loved you even back then. Yet I still left you. I failed my mission and left you on your own with only Cat and Kryten."

Chapter Text

Leaving to become Ace had been foolish, his most stupid idea to date. Why did he have to let Lister talk him into leaving?

He sighed heavily, he knew why he'd allowed Lister to talk him into leaving for two reasons. Reason one had been because they had been driving each other batty in the small confined place of Starbug. They were going to end up killing each other if they didn't get some breathing room. Reason two was because he wanted to make Lister proud. Wanted to prove to him that he'd moved past being a coward and could be a hero.

Yet despite his reasons for leaving, he felt like it had been wrong. He felt he had something more important to do than being the protector of the multiverse. What that thing was he was yet to figure out. What would be more important than protecting humanity? He had to keep reminding himself that he was protecting Lister even though he currently wasn't physically with Lister.

He'd done his best as Ace, hoping that one day he'd prove himself worthy and go back to his home dimension. Go back to Dave Lister and prove that he'd become somebody that was worthy of being more than a person he had met and got stuck with. Dave Lister was the most important person in his life and death. He didn't want the hug goodbye that he'd given Dave, to be their last. He didn't want to let go of Dave. It felt like it was going to be his last hug ever and maybe it was. Actually, it defiantly was.

He looked down at his chest that was leaking horrible green light, just like the Ace Rimmer that had come before him. He had to hand on the flame, and yet he was so tempted to screw the flame and the Ace legacy and return back to Dave Lister. Tell him that he loved him.

Rimmer slumped over the steering column. Why was it only now that he realised he loved Dave when it was too late? He could not go back to Dave to declare his love for him and see the pained look on his face while he died in his arms. He wanted to do that so much. He just couldn't bear to put Dave through that pain. Dave was better off not knowing what had happened to him.

"Ace, I've taken us to a dimension of an Arnold Rimmer who is suitable to be the next Ace. This is your final mission. Get Arnold to accept being Ace, train him and pass on the flame. You have a limited amount of time.

Sitting up and straightening out his costume, Rimmer put on a mask for the future Ace for the last time.

"Davey boy, Arnie, so good to see you both." Rimmer greeted the Lister who looked like his Dave but not quiet.

He froze when he saw the children. Twin boys Jim and Bexley. This Arnold Rimmer was an uncle to the twins. How could he ask another version of himself to give up exactly what he wanted? A Lister who loved him and the children. The four of them in this universe were a family.

Rimmer never got a chance to explain why he was there. He never got the opportunity to go back to Wildfire and find someone else. His T count rose to high at the thought of separating a family. With the damage that his lightbee already had, it couldn't cope, overloading his systems to quickly, causing an electronic aneurysm in front of the family of four.

He'd just passed away. Rimmer grabbed his chest, breathing and calming himself down. He'd just passed away, and yet he wasn't dead.

Congratulations, you beat Better Than Life

Score 46 out of 100

Do you wish to play again?

Yes - No

Without hesitation, Rimmer walked through the No door. He never wanted to play the life of Ace Rimmer again. Something must have gone wrong with the gaming suite when the knight escaped, and somehow he'd managed to get himself trapped in the game. He was so happy to find he was not Ace.

Upon exist he discovered he didn't even live on Starbug. The ship that he was on was the Red Dwarf. He raced to Dave and Cat. Both of them were also in the game. Still in a game, and yet he was stuck at softlight. He couldn't help them. He tried for several minutes to shift to hardlight and yet nothing was happening. He placed his softlight hand over Dave's. The feeling of love was not artificially induced by the game. He still loved the man lying in front of him.

Frantically Rimmer turned around looking for Kryten to explain what was going on. Instead, he found Holly on the monitor observing him. "Holly, what's going on?"

"Just wait a few moments, Arn. The memories will start coming back soon." Holly said calmly just like he'd done that before.

Rimmer stood next to Dave who was still looking so sickly. At first he didn't know how Dave had got stuck like that, then he learnt that Holly had been correct. The memories did come back. He'd done this before and more than once. He'd been stuck in Better Than Life. They all had been for years, and the worst thing was, there was only one way out of Better Than Life.

"I left him." Rimmer was dejected that he'd left. “The most important person I’ve ever had.”

Holly had made sure to run everything through her processors when Rimmer had come out. Especially after the last time with him being suicidal.

“You both needed space. You have nothing to feel ashamed about. You needed to leave in order not to drive each other mad. You also learnt a lot during that time you were apart, as did Dave.” Holly said.

“I need time before I go back in.” Rimmer headed in the direction of the observation deck. It was the place that he’d always gone in the past when he needed to think. He needed to work out his feeling for Dave before he returned to the game.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Holly said from the monitor.

Holly now had access to what was going on in Better Than Life so he could supervise his crew. He’d even managed to get a simple interface into the game so that he could interact with Dave and Arn. It wouldn’t be a dedicated processor to the game since he needed to make sure the scutters continued looking after Dave and Cat. He was only going to make himself known once Arn went back into the game.

What had happened between the death on Rimmerworld and Arn's death as Ace had left the man feeling broken and confused. Holly was hoping that Arn didn’t have any more deaths before Dave came out of the game. Holly didn’t think Arn could handle going between the real world or the digital world any longer, both digital to Arn due to his existence.

“Alright, Arn, ready to go back in?” Holly asked one morning when he’d notice the demeanour of the hologram had changed.

“Ready as I will ever be Hol,” Arn stood. “Boot me in.”

“How long did it take you to recover enough to come back into the game? I was in the game for years without you.” Dave asked. “I missed you so much while we were apart.

“It wasn’t as long as you would think. It’s still a little bit confusing. I suspect that you already know because of what you said when we came out of the game together.”

“You mean that you were the Rimmer I spent time with in the tank.”

Arn nodded, confirming that was in fact correct.

Something was very different this time. Everything was different this time. When he’d come back from death before it had always been a few minor differences, but nothing like this. While there was one point that he’d been alive, like he was at this very moment, it hadn’t lasted long. He had to tell Lister that he was alive. He had to tell Lister that the crew was alive as well and that everything was just like before the accident happened. Rimmer stopped and paused. What accident? He shrugged and continued walking down the hallway before he stopped again. What did he need to tell Lister? Was it Lister that had an accident? That didn’t sound right.

“Rimmer, aren’t you and Lister meant to have a shift.” Office Todhunter asked.

Rimmer turned towards the officer. “Just looking for Lister. I think he’s been involved in an accident. I’m not sure what type of accident.”

“You heard about that, did you? He stole and crashed one of the Starbugs,” Todhunter said. Rimmer smirked. Oh, Lister would not be able to get out of this one. “He’s in your room now. He won’t be doing shift with you.”

Rimmer raised an eyebrow at Todhunter. He was acting strange during that conversation. He shrugged it off and continued the rest of the way back to his room.

“Ah Listy,” he started prattling on about how much trouble he’d got himself into and yet the imbecile was grinning at him, looking pleased to see him of all people.

“You’re alive,” Lister exclaimed like it was the most amazing thing in the world.

Had Lister lost his marbles when he’d stolen and crashed Starbug? “Of course I’m alive you gimboid.”

Lister’s face fell, devastated by the news that he was alive. Did he want him to die? “You’re not him.” Lister was devastated.

“What do you mean I’m not him? Who else would I be other than me?”

Kicking the Grim Reaper in the balls had seemed like a good idea at the time, but in retrospect it had been one of the worst ideas he’d had to date. He didn’t want to die. He had to stay in this world. He couldn't leave Lister again. He didn’t want to go to the white room again.

He ran, but no matter where he hid the Grim Reaper caught up with him. Eventually he was grabbed, on his ear of all places.

"You cannot run Arnold Rimmer," the Grim Reaper scolded him in his mother's voice.

Rimmer shivered as he was dragged to the white room. Why did his mother have to be the Grim Reaper, she was scary enough without being death himself-herself.

 “You cannot stay in the game after you die, Arnold Rimmer,” his mother Grim Reapers shrieked. “You can come back into the game after you’ve died. You have to return to the lobby first. You cannot just stay in the game and continue without returning to the lobby.”

Lobby? Game? Big flashing red letters were in a white room making the room appear red whenever they flashed.

You have been caught cheating at Better Than Life

Score 0 out of 100

Do you wish to play again?

Yes - No

The door with a Yes over it had a big cross blocking him from entering.

“What is going on?” Rimmer asked the Grim Reaper.

“You have to leave the game.” The Grim Reaper replied. He hated hearing his mother’s voice coming out of the monster. She let his ear go, pulling a scythe out of thin air.

Rimmer took one look at the scythe, sprinting towards the No door as fast as his legs would carry him. Whatever was through the No door couldn't be as bad as what was out here.

Looking around frantically, he didn’t relax until he was sure the Grim Reaper or his mother weren’t hiding somewhere. If he had a choice, he would take a normal Grim Reaper over his normal mother any day of the week.

Rimmer looked at the chairs. One for Lister and one for Cat. There were members of their group missing. People that should’ve been in the game as well.

“Holly, where’s Kochanski?” Rimmer asked about the only female member of their group.

“She’s dead, Arn,” Holly said. “Just wait a moment, the memories will come back shortly, and you’ll understand why.”

Rimmer turned to Holly, so smug and certain. “I already have all my memories. I died because of the microorganism, and I’ve been revived as a hologram.”

“Arn, there was no microorganism. Just keep waiting and stop jumping to conclusions. Will only be a few more moments. Have to say so far this time is going better than the last two times.” Holly shut up when she noticed the look in Arn’s eyes change.

The memories were coming back, and Rimmer wasn’t liking what he was remembering.

Rimmer collapsed to the floor. “There was no Kochanski or crew. Smeg, that takes hating myself to a new level.” Rimmer pulled his knees to his chest, rocking in place. “Do you have an idea of the things I’d told Lister about myself because I thought it wasn’t me? The horrible things I said about myself. I’m so confused.” He looked back towards Holly. “I don’t have time to sort anything out. I need to go back in.”

Holly didn't even wait for Rimmer to decide if that was what he really wanted. Didn't wait for him to do the normal checks. He threw him directly back into the game.

“That was you the whole time? The Rimmer I was in the tank with was really you?" Dave smiled. "I don't feel so bad about loving him now. I was upset when he died. When you came back I was so confused as to which one I was supposed to love. The hologram that was meant to keep me sane who left or the living breathing you that was brought back from the dead and kept me company for a solid two years.

"He was so much more relaxed than you were. It was like you were two different people and yet the same. I spent years feeling guilty about loving him."

Rimmer ran his hand through his head. "I spent years of being jealous of him, of me. It's confusing having all these memories that have been long gone, especially ones that conflict with each other. That was my last death until we both passed away together."

"The best way to go. I'm sorry that you had to do all that alone. I wish that you didn't have to be alone all those times you came out, never knowing if you would get out again. Going back in despite knowing that your memories were gone. I remember the last time you came in." Dave chuckled. "You were so confused, and I was extremely conflicted."

Coming back from the mirror world, they searched for Rimmer.

"Mister Lister, sir, I don't know how Mister Rimmer did it, but the organism is gone. The ship is rebuilding itself." Kryten announced. They could already see the evidence of the ship repairing itself. Reshaping so it was closer to the ship he knew.

Lister turned to the feline man "Cat, can you smell him?" They all knew who him was.

"I can, but you're not going to like it," Cat said.

Lister's heart fell. He could not lose Rimmer again. He'd already lost him before. He remembered the time they'd been time sliding and finding Rimmer's broken and destroyed body. Finding Rimmer dead after only a few minutes of being alive. The memories of the timeline where Rimmer had been alive were mostly faded, just the occasional deja-vu or longing for what could've been.

He ran to the collapsed heap on the floor when they finally arrived at the spot where Rimmer's broken body lay. He wasn't breathing and had no heartbeat.

"We need to get him to the medibay." Lister scoped his body up, holding him close. Not even noticing the other mans weight. Running to the medibay hoping that some of the medical staff were still around.

He placed Rimmer on the examination bed. Everyone was gone. The resurrected crew was all gone. They were all alone. They had to do everything on their own again.

Lister connected Rimmer up to everything. Everything was recording that he was already dead. He tried everything to save him. Nothing was working. It was just like the explosion all over again.

"Oh Rimmer, I'm so sorry." Lister apologised, holding Rimmer's broken body.

"Dave, this is a good time to turn his hologram back on," Holly said from the wristwatch Lister was wearing.

"We can do that?" Lister asked. He could have Rimmer back. Lister ran his hand's through the formerly living Rimmer's hair.

Kristine and Kryten both waited with him for Rimmer to boot. It took a long while. It was odd seeing Rimmer in his old red outfit that had become commonplace while on Starbug, but nothing like the living now dead Rimmer he knew now would be seen dead in.

"Rimmer, are you alright?" Lister asked before Rimmer could talk.

Rimmer looked around the room confused."What is going on? Where did Ace go? Did he die when I wasn't looking? This isn't Starbug."

"Ace, what do you mean Ace?"

"Ace, what happened to him? What is she doing here? Is she from another dimension, was she here with Ace?"

Lister shared a look of concern with Kristine that had Rimmer gulping nervously. This wasn't the Rimmer who had just died. This was the Rimmer from before he'd left to become Ace.

"Rimmer, what is the last thing that you remember?" Kristine asked.

Rimmer looked at her with distrust before looking back at Lister. He stepped away from Kristine, slightly behind Lister. With Lister's encouraging nod Rimmer finally spoke. "A knight escaped from VR. Then I remember nothing. What is going on?"

"Arnold, that never happened?" Kristine asked, taking a step closer. Rimmer taking closer to Lister. "You just died saving us from a microorganism."

"Micro-what?" Rimmer tried to grab Lister to stop his knees from collapsing, to find that he was softlight. His uniform changed to blue as he switched to hardlight without only a thought and grabbed onto Lister.

"Rimmer, the VR knight, that happened years ago," Lister said placing a hand on Rimmer's shoulder.

"Years ago?" Rimmer stuttered, paling slightly.

"Yeah, you left to be Ace. We haven't seen you since." Lister lied horribly. "The microorganism, it must have affected your memories. You've lost all your memories of when you were Ace. It's good to have you back man, I missed you. I hope you are here to stay." He hugged the hologram, hoping that he would never realise that he wasn't the original. He wasn't the one who left to be Ace. He wasn't the Rimmer who had been in the Tank and recently died. He was expecting a mishmash of both Rimmer's to be honest. He wasn't expecting a copy just like the first hologram.

Rimmer was trying to get his bearings. "I left to be Ace? I left to be Ace for years? If it's been years does it mean that the time travel incident to the past happened and that is where Kochanski comes from?"

"No, that never happened again. Kristine comes from a different dimension like you guessed the first time." Lister tried to grin, but he was just feeling the loss of both Rimmer's. This man was just a copy. A copy of the man he loved and he was never getting the original or the nanobot resurrected man back. While this Rimmer was a copy of the original Rimmer, he wasn't just a cheap copy. He was still Rimmer.

"Turns out I had the original the entire time." Dave chuckled. "I love all versions of you from this dimension."

"I kept going back in because I loved you. It was all for you alone that I kept returning. Not the Cat, if Cat was the only one stuck in the game I would care for him from the outside. If I didn't love you the way I love you, I would've stayed out here, doing my best to keep your body alive." Arn was silent for a few moments before asking a question he had to know the answer to so he didn't drive himself crazy with wondering. "Do you still love me, now that you know that everything was fake?"

Dave smiled, reassuring Arn of his response before he verbally replied. "Arn, I'm not sure if this is real, Better Than Life, a time bubble, pocket dimension or some other form of unreality. It doesn't matter I'll still love you anyway." Dave assured the hologram. "You were the one that was wishing we could've been together when we were younger. We've been given that chance."

"I'm stuck as a softlight hologram."

"As you've already reminded me, it doesn't matter. We'll find a way to fix that and invent a hardlight drive our self. In the meantime there is always VR."

"After Better Than Life I don't think I want to ever go into a VR game again," Arn admitted. He didn't even think he could go into VR again without the fear of getting stuck forever.

"How strange is it that I was able to go into VR within VR." Dave laughed.

His laughter put a smile onto Arns' face. "It's nice to hear you laugh again. You should go to sleep now and focus on getting better. Especially if we are going to spend another lifetime with one another."

Arn took a seat, watching Dave as he slept.

Chapter Text

It was three weeks before Lister was well enough to leave the medibay. Both men found it strange not to have Kryten around and fussing over them. It was also strange to be returning to their original rooms and that the rooms they had been using didn't actually exist. It felt like a century since they'd last been in their original room when it reality it was only two years.

Arn lectured Dave. "While you may be recovered enough to leave the medibay, you still aren't recovered. You'll have my bed until you can climb the ladder."

Dave sat on the lower bunk not having the energy to attempt to climb the ladder. "Once I am well enough I would like us to move rooms. Different rooms. Different to what we had in Better Than Life."

Arn looked thoughtful for a moment. "Different is good."

"A new start."

A new start to try and distance reality from Better Than Life. Arn sat beside the portal looking out onto space. A new room with a window would be preferable. He loved seeing the stars from the comfort of his own room.

It didn't take long to get settled back in. Unreality pockets, VR games and other situations over the years had prepared them for being young again and being thrown back to the past. It was like Better Than Life had been preparing them for entering reality once again.

Dave had taken over one of the engineer's office. He'd been tinkering and attempting to improve the ship. Seeing what skills he'd learnt in Better Than Life applied to real life. It turned out that the knowledge he was provided had been genuine and accurate. So much of Better Than Life had foundations of reality even with its unreal situations.

"Hol," Dave called out, looking at the computer monitor for the AI to appear.

"Yes, Dave," Holly replied in his monotone voice. He'd missed Holly so much after he'd been taken out of the game. He still felt guilty about the fact that it was him running a bath and forgetting to that had killed Holly. He needed to be careful, both he and Arn that they didn't accidentally destroy the ship.

"Is it possible to convert Arn over to a hardlight lightbee? They do exist, don't they?" It was something he'd been wondering about for a long time. Was the lighbee just an excuse for Arn to get a real body back while still remaining a digital life form?

"Hardlight drives are real. The Space Corps use them for the ones they consider the best of the best. As you've already come to realise the information and skills that you've learnt and developed during your time in Better Than Life is in fact actuate and true. I made sure that you were getting real information even if you were experiencing events that were not real. That information was provided to you in the form of myself to a certain extent, Kryten and Kristine."

"I still miss them both. They felt like they were so real. Why did Kochanski get sent away if she was a program to feed us real information?" Dave looked directly at Holly's monitor. Losing Kochanski still felt so painful.

"Because you were starting to realise she wasn't real."

Holly had been correct, she'd seemed too good to be true and had changed to be a little more like Rimmer and Holly put into one.

"It's going to take a lot of work for a hardlight drive to work on the Red Dwarf systems. We are only capable of running class one holograms while most softlight holograms from our time are class three, which take up less server space and less processing resources. With the Red Dwarf requiring less power with only the two of you around I should've been able to run more than one hologram.

"Arn is such a complicated person with emotions running from one extreme to the other that he takes up all the power that would've been saved. I never would've been able to keep him running full term if the crew had still been around."

Holly brought up the statistics and diagrams for exactly how the holographic system ran the Rimmer Program compared it to how it was supposed to run a hologram.

Dave looked over the information with much interest, Arn from when they were young would be offended at him looking at his medical information. He really was different his Arn. "Hol, can you keep this a secret from Arn? I don't want him being disappointed if I fail at upgrading him. I want this to be a surprise."

Dave smiled thinking of how surprised Arn would be if he succeeded in making him a hardlight drive.

"Will do Dave, last thing we need is Arn to build his hopes up." Holly agreed.

Meanwhile, in one of the science rooms Arn had his own project in mind.

"Holly," the hologram called out.

Holly popped up on the screen. "Be with you in a mo, just finishing up with Dave," Holly answered the hologram. While he could not split his focus to every single computer screen on the Red Dwarf and have the processing power to spare like he once had, Holly could split herself between two screens, but only for a very short while. Just enough to tell one of the people he was talking with that he was busy.

Holly had learnt a lot about the hologram from Better Than Life play through of how to deal with Arn. The hologram would take it personally even if it wasn't something person in not being answered. If he was acknowledged with a legitimate reason he was happy to wait. Especially if you got back to him within a reasonable time or informed him if it was going to be a while at regular intervals. As fun as Arn was to stir up, there was a time and a place to do just that.

"You have my attention now, Arn," Holly informed the hologram who had been examining a machine from every single angle possible, including through it.

"Is Dave alright?" Arn asked, concerned about his partner despite the fact that there was no reason to be concerned. It still amused Holly that the pair had managed to remain together as a couple once they exited the game. Especially Arn and how homophobic he'd been before Better Than Life.

"Just getting him some entertainment. He wanted some books and didn't have the first clue where to look. I never thought I'd see the day that Dave would borrow out books on engineering."

Arn smiled, glad to know that Dave was pursuing an education. After he'd collected himself and cleared his throat, Arn looked around the room in all directions making sure they were alone before talking to the computer. "You need to promise to keep this a secret from Dave. I was it to be a surprise. I don't want him to be disappointed if it doesn't work."

Holly was intrigued to see that both humans were keeping secrets from each other and was curious to know what Arn's was. What was he doing for Dave? Dave was easy to guess what he was doing before he spoke to him. Arn was unpredictable, and Holly had given up trying to figure out what Arn's surprises were going to be. They could be something small and insignificant or something hugely impossible.

"I can keep a secret. I will only tell if you do something that is jeopardising your health." Holly informed Arn. He had to know that there was a point when he would tell secrets. Arn raised an eyebrow, but seemed happy enough with that response.

Arn turned around to the equipment he'd been examining moments earlier.

"This is an artificial uterus, isn't it?" Arn asked.

"Yes, it is. It was for emergencies only. If a woman went into labour before she was transferred off the ship and the baby was too small for an humidicrib. It should still be operational."

Despite three million years, most things on the ship were still operational. "It can be used to grow a baby from a fertilised egg if that is what you are intending."

"Not a human baby. At least not yet. That is something that Dave and I will need to discuss together. I'm not going to just lump a baby on him. He needs to grow up a bit more first. I also don't want to get his hopes up if it didn't work. Which is why I want to test the machine first, with kittens. Dave has always loved cats. I know he still wishes he could have a proper cat and not our evolved moggy. Will it work on animals?"

"I don't see why it shouldn't. The settings will need to be changed slightly."

"Just like an automatic incubator depending if you want to use it to hatch chickens or ducks."

"Yes."

"You know we used to hatch out our own poultry to eat. I loved watching the eggs hatch and the chicks growing up. My brothers used to chase me around with the heads or make the headless chickens chase after me. I always hated that part."

"Dave has always wanted a cat. A proper cat, not the Cat who is your friend." Holly told Arn to get him out of his story about the past. He could go on for hours if he was allowed. "That would be a nice gift for him that he will love. Only problem, where are you going to get the DNA?"

Arn light up, explaining that he already had the DNA and how he got it.

For six months Holly watched the two humans work. Both of them dedicating a few hours every day to working on the projects alone. Arn had ended up frustrated that he didn't have immediate success with the incubator. And that the scutters didn't always listen. Dave was taking things slow, learning as much as he could about holograms. Building drive after drive, running simulations and updating equipment within the holosuite which Arn didn't even notice. Dave always worried he was going to give the surprise away whenever he fiddled with the holosuite.

Holly watched in amusement as they both went to different rooms, making themselves look their best. Being a hologram Arn didn't need to go through all the fuss, and yet he did anyway.

When the time came for their date, Arn walked to the restaurant followed by a scutter that was pulling a trolley with a box. Dave was already waiting.

"You can leave now," Arn instructed the scutter who was all too happy to make his escape.

The box was very plain with holes poked through it.

Arn walked towards Dave, taking in his done up appearance. Smiling with approval. "I have a present for you, I wish that I could give it to you myself. It's something special."

"Maybe you can," Dave flirted. "I have something special for you as well. I've been working on it ever since I left the medibay." Lister held out a small boxed, wrapped in a ribbon. It was blue, Arn's current favourite colour.

"I love it," Arn exclaimed.

"You don't even know what it is yet."

Dave opened the box slowly, revealing the small piece of tech that he'd spent the last few months building.

"Is that what I think it is?" Arn looked at the lightbee in Dave's palm.

"I don't know if it will work. The final test is to transfer your memory over, if you want that is. I understand if you don't want to try it out. It's not a delicate as the lightbee that Legion made you, but it's a start. Over time I should be able to improve it so you feel human again."

Arn was overwhelmed at what Dave done for him. "You really did all that for me?"

"Yeah, I'd do anything for you. Even get that education I never wanted. I passed the Engineers exam. I wasn't able to access some of the rooms and equipment if I wasn't an officer. Is that going to be a  problem?" Arn had always been sensitive about the ranking on the ship.

"Not at all. I'm really proud of you Dave, I can't believe you became an Engineer Officer for me." Arn was moved at what Dave was willing to do for him. "I'd do the same for you if our positions were reversed and it was something that I was capable of. So what do you need to do to activate the bee?"

It took several minutes for the light bee to activate and upload Arn's memory. Dave was worried that he'd done something wrong or Arn's memory had burnt out the drive. He'd actually burnt out several processors in the holosuite because of his memories and emotions were almost too much for the computer to handle. It took even longer for Arn to get his bearings once he was activated. Moving slowly as and looking around at everything.

Once he was steady on his feet he walked towards Dave, took his hand, looking his partner in the eye and kissing the other man. The man that he loved. It was incredible, more amazing than Better Than Life.

"Love you so much," Arn whispered making Dave wish he could take him to bed and finish testing out the hard light drive entirely.

"Love you too," Dave whispered. "So what is this present you have for me?"

"Oh right," Arn let him go, fussing with the box. "It's not as amazing as what you gave me. But I'm sure that you are going to like it all the same."

He stood up and turned around, handing over the two kittens, one ginger and the other black.

"Where did you get these cuties?" Dave asked, fussing over the two additions to their family.

"There's an artificial uterus in the science room next to the hospital bay. The kittens were a test run so that we knew the machine would work when we were ready to extend our family and become parents."

Dave almost dropped the kittens. "Are you kidding me? We can really have kids together?"

"Well, they will be biologically yours. We don't have any of my DNA material." Arn had looked everywhere for his DNA, but had nothing.

"That is an amazing present. You are the best. As soon as we get your hard light drive adjusted and know that everything is working all tickety boo, will have all the kids that we want. I love you. Love you so much."

Dave kissed Arn, surprised that he was pushed away.

"I want to eat before we get too carried away," Arn smiled, looking at the prepared dinner that was waiting for them.

Chapter Text

Arnold Rimmer held his dying husband in his arms, looking up at the stars above the observation deck.

"I still don't think we got to spend enough time together," Arn said, stroking his husband's cheek. Trying not to cry. He wanted Dave to have a happy final memory of him. Not one of him mourning before he'd lost his soul mate.

"We won't be separated long. Hol's got the lightbee ready to go. After my funeral, I'll be booted and around to give our family all smeg. You love are stuck with me for eternity."

"An eternity with you does sound nice." Arn smiled, placing a kiss on Dave's forehead. "We had a good life this time. We got to be parents. Grandparents and even great-great grandparents. You are no longer the last human. These years together have been wonderful. I didn't know that real life could be better than Better Than Life. Thank you for loving a smeghead like me. Helping me understand what it is like to be truly happy."

When he finished talking, Dave was already gone. Arnold kissed his husband's forehead again. He spent several moments alone, holding his cooling life partner before he opened the door, finding his children waiting.

He opened his arms for his oldest granddaughter. While her father and uncle went over, seeing for themselves that their dad was indeed gone. The twins paying their respects before the rest of the family came in to say goodbye.

"Granddad, why are you smiling? Grandpa just died." His granddaughter asked. Kristine, named after the woman Dave had loved so long ago.

"It's because your grandpa and I had a good life together. The most important thing he didn't have to suffer before he died."

He looked at the pram with her son. His children and grandchildren never had a partner to experience life with, he dreamed that one day they would come across other people so they could experience love from someone other than blood family.

Arn threw his arms around the new hologram. "Welcome to the land of the living dead."

"So, now that we're both dead, wanna play Better Than Life?" Dave asked.

"Really, only online for a few minutes and you want to play an immersive video game."

"Come on it will be fun. As much as I love our family, I don't think it is healthy for them to have both of us around anymore. Death is a natural part of life. They have to learn how to live without us. We had to learn to live without our parents and grandparents. We've raised them well, they'll be all right without us."

"I guess, we have raised them well," Arn said after a moment. "As long as I'm with you, I don't mind where we are. If it's here or in a game, as long as I am with you."

Before either man, mainly Arn could change their minds, Holly booted them both into the game. Not even giving them a chance to say goodbye to the family. Making sure their memories stayed in tacked this time and that they knew how to get out if they needed to. Their session of the game had never ended, running in the background for years.

A familiar face was waiting for the two men. "Oh Mister Lister, Mister Rimmer. I don't know how it happened, but you're both alive and young again."

"Kryten," Dave hugged the mechanoid at least in this form who only existed in the game. "I didn't know you would still be here. It's so good to see you again."

"Good to see you bud," another familiar voice said. "Did you really have to bring him?" The man pointed to Arn.

"Cat, how? What? I had no clue that you would be here. Are you real?" Dave exclaimed.

"Floating head put me in here when my body died." Cat greeted them.

"So now that we're all dead, what do we do now?" Dave asked.

"How about a holiday to Fiji? You never did get to go there. This is Better Than Life, our afterlife. We can do anything we want." Arn suggested.