Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After Jeff had leapt over the Snow Wood gates and landed on the freshly fallen snow, Tony had reached out a hand through the bars, and Jeff had taken it.

“Well… I’ll say goodbye for now. I don’t know where you’re going or why, but remember, we’re best friends forever.”

Jeff had nodded, smiled, then pulled out the pop gun he’d taken from the locker room and begun his trek in the cold night air. Tony watched until Jeff was a dot that slowly disappeared over the horizon. He almost considered going back in several times, but each time he was worried that Jeff would collapse, or maybe hoped that his best friend would return to his senses and run right back to the gate.

-

Jeff sometimes woke up suddenly in the middle of the night due to some kind of bad dream; it had been happening as long as he and Tony had known each other. But this time was different.

“…Jeff? I’d had a dream that you and I were taking a walk…” Tony had muttered, still half-asleep, when he’d heard a loud clattering coming from the other side of the room, but he sat up straight in bed when he’d seen Jeff himself. He was still in his uniform, with his tie undone, no jacket, and no glasses, fumbling around trying to find the door. “Jeff? Where are you going in the middle of the night?”

“I have to head south. They need me.” Jeff had replied in a half-whisper by way of explanation, as if that was any kind of answer.

“What? Who needs you?”

“Paula. Paula and Ness, they-they need me, they’re in Threed and I have to go help them.”

It was a rumor around the older Snow Wood boys that Dr. Andonuts, Jeff’s father, had finally cracked. Not too long after that rumor started, they started placing bets on when Jeff would follow suit. Tony shook that thought out of his head.

“You know the dorm rules, right?” Tony asked him, polishing his glasses before handing them to him, “If you get caught, you’ll get punished big time.”

When Jeff put his glasses back on and looked over at him, Tony was shocked to see how terrified he looked.

“W… What’s wrong, Jeff.”

“Tony, I can’t explain it, they’re people I haven’t met before, but th-they’re stuck in a cave in Threed and… and they’ll starve to death if I don’t do anything. If I don’t go, the world could end.”

The redhead tried his best to read Jeff’s face. Jeff was never the type of person to play tricks like this, and he looked dead serious. Tony was always much more willing those types of “sixth sense” things than his best friend, so he was tempted to believe it. After all, there were news stories about people sensing danger nearby and helping people in need. But in another country…? Jeff had given him a pleading look, as if begging Tony to believe him. And Tony was surprised to feel, that when he thought about it.. he did.

“…All right. There must be some reason I don’t understand. I won’t stop you.”

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief, but Tony held up a hand to stop him from replying, then handed Jeff his uniform’s blazer.

“But it’s dangerous to leave without taking anything along.” He was worried that he was feeding into whatever bad dream or delusion Jeff was having, but Tony couldn’t shake the feeling that Jeff was right. What Jeff was about to do was bigger than the two of them, and he had to help in any way he could. He smiled.

“Hey, I think there’s some stuff in the locker room that you should get. I’ll help you get out of here…”

Relief washed over his best friend’s face. “Thank you, Tony.”

-

Now that Jeff had gone, Tony waited so long that he thought he’d frozen to his spot on the ground. But he felt like he couldn’t leave, like he needed to stay there and make sure Jeff or someone else didn’t return.

Please be right, Jeff, he pleaded to whatever was listening. Please let Jeff be right and okay and that he’ll call and that he won’t freeze to death out there and that his pitiful excuse of a father actually believes him and–

“Antonio Coppola!” The voice of one of the faculty finally caused Tony to turn around. “What on earth are you doing out past curfew? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’re in?!”

It didn’t really matter, he told himself as the professor dragged Tony back in by his arm. As long as Jeff - and those kids trapped in Threed - were okay. He’d done his part, now Jeff could go stop the world from ending.

Chapter Text

The inside of the Sky Runner was small, with buttons and switches and controls taking up nearly half of the inside of the little machine, but there was more than enough room for Jeff. The size of the Sky Runner device wasn’t really a problem, except for the fact that he couldn’t get up and pace around. Occasionally, what Jeff hoped was just turbulence would shake the Sky Runner and Jeff would grip onto the sides of the control panel to keep himself steady, so he took to sitting on the floor of the device and holding onto one of the sides of the console. 

After a rather shaky takeoff from his fath– from Doctor Andonuts’ lab, Jeff had familiarized himself with the controls, and after about five minutes of messing around with the unlabeled buttons and switches - nearly dropping him out of the sky once in the process - he’d found the Sky Runner’s autopilot mechanism. He’d also found the satellite navigation device the Sky Runner had. He’d had a little experience working with navigation devices: he remembered that the geography professor at Snow Wood had just purchased a Magellan NAV 1000 around the time he’d officially started as a student, and as soon as the professor had left it out of his sight Jeff had taken it apart to see how it worked. He’d been in detention for a while, but got out when he showed the professor that he could put it back together. The inside of the navigation system in his father’s machine wasn’t much different, so he put in the closest thing he had to the coordinates of Threed and waited. 

The adrenaline Jeff had been feeling since he broke out of Snow Wood had worn off, but he was still anxious. He hoped he hadn’t wasted too much time, and who knows how long it could take him in this? Were Paula and Ness going to be okay? Were Paula and Ness even real? The dream he’d had, the message he’d heard in his head, had shaken his core so badly that when he woke up, he was entirely convinced it was real. He’d had the same sort of dream again when he’d taken a nap in that tent by Lake Tess, so that convinced him more that he was actually helping someone instead of having finally flipped his lid. He’d never believed in things like magic or telepathy before - and he still didn’t, not without proof, but the messages from Paula felt like telepathy. 

Jeff looked out one of the little windows of the Sky Runner. Judging by the glare and the position of the sun, it had to be getting close to afternoon. Maybe he’d crossed the ocean already. He looked out, and there was the ocean beneath him - nothing too interesting to look at, but… but much higher than he’d anticipated. 

Jeff hadn’t thought he was scared of heights before - he lived on the second floor of the boarding house, and he’d spent time on the roof of it, too. But the Sky Runner was so high up that Jeff couldn’t help but think about the fact that if the Sky Runner were to fail, hitting the water from this height would be like crashing onto concrete. He shuddered and didn’t look outside anymore. 

He instead fiddled with the pop gun he’d taken from his locker in Snow Wood, then when that got boring, took apart Maxwell’s Bad Key Machine and put it back together over and over like it was a jigsaw puzzle. There wasn’t much he could do now but wait for his chance to be useful, but he was getting there to help as fast as he could.

Hang on, Paula and Ness, he thought to himself. I’m on my way.

Chapter Text

Jeff hadn’t known much about Eagleland before he’d crash-landed in Threed. He knew a little from television and books and movies, though it was probably mostly stereotypical, but one thing he’d never really thought about was the weather. Threed had a nice fall breeze and a little sun (when it hadn’t been, well, overrun by zombies), and Grapefruit Falls had been a little warmer than Jeff was used to, but nothing worth complaining about. 

But this was his first time experiencing a desert.

And yes, he knew that the two biggest deserts were on the poles, and thus weren’t hot and that hot wasn’t a prerequisite for a biome to identify as a desert, but he meant the hot kind.

Jeff, Ness, and Paula were the only ones on the bus to Fourside now passing through what the driver referred to as Dusty Dunes Desert, and Jeff had his head in his hand as he rested his elbow on the windowsill, watching the arid landscape fly by as he tried to ignore the headache he was getting. Even with the bus’ air conditioning lightly blowing his hair out of his face, it was still hot and sticky and Jeff wished he’d brought the shorts that came with his uniform. Ness was sitting next to him, reading a comic book he’d picked up from the Threed drugstore, and Paula was asleep in the row across from them. 

The heat was making him sleepy, but he didn’t want to fall asleep with their destination so soon, so to distract himself, he looks over Ness’ shoulder to see what he’s reading. Next to the superhero comic was a full-page advertisement for a video game he hadn’t heard of, the illustration featuring a boy with spiky red hair, a blonde girl, and a girl with glasses and a helmet in a large spaceship. Ness notices him looking and turns the comic so he can look, too.

“Do you think you could make something like that?” He pointed at the spaceship.

Jeff smiled a little. 

“I could try. What’s the ad for? ”

“It’s this new game for the Super Nintendo. I think you’re this guy with a sword, and you go through time, or something? It looked cool, I saw an ad for it when I went to Blockbuster with my sister a few months ago, but it doesn’t come out for a while. My neighbor made fun of it, though. He says Nintendo’s for babies.”

Okay, now Jeff was interested. He and the other boys on his floor have had this argument about once every two weeks. “Everyone who has a Mega Drive says that, but even though Sega had 16-bit first, I still like Nintendo games better–”

He was cut off by Ness dropping the comic book and furiously shaking his shoulders. “Dude, no way! Why didn’t you tell me you liked video games sooner?! What games do you have?”

Ness and Jeff were halfway through an excited discussion about Super Star Wars when the bus came to a screeching halt. Both boys scrambled to look out the window, and besides the bright desert sands and the dusty highway, there were more cars than Jeff had ever seen in his life. That had to be the world’s-longest traffic jam.

After twenty minutes of not moving, Ness woke up Paula and they got off of the bus, and the heat of Dusty Dunes Desert hit Jeff for the first time.

 He immediately regretted agreeing to walk the rest of the way to Fourside.

Because Jeff had spent his entire life in a place where it snowed year-round, he’d never felt heat like this before. It beat down on you, and his cheeks, though usually rosy to contrast his pale face anyway, were bright red. He’d already folded up the jacket to his uniform and kept it in his bag, but as he followed behind Ness and Paula, weaving through the stopped cars on the highway, he unbuttoned his sleeves of his dress shirt and rolled them up. That didn’t do anything at all. 

The headache he’d gotten while on the bus had intensified, and he felt a little nauseated, and every time he looked at the sunlight reflecting off of the desert sands he had to close his eyes. He could vaguely hear Ness and Paula mentioning some kind of… slot machine… but he was more focused on putting one foot in front of the other. He was starting to get a little dizzy, now that he thought about it. Jeff closed his eyes one more time, trying to ignore his throbbing head.

When he woke up, he was on the wood floor of a cabin.

He tried to immediately sit up, his head throbbed in protest and he groaned, laying back down. The fuzzy figure of who could only be a sunburned Paula was above him. She probably took off his glasses. 

“Morning, sleepyhead.” She joked lightly, clutching tightly to her teddy bear.

“What.. what happened?” Jeff slurred slightly, his accent thick with sleep. He put a hand over his face to find it was hot.

“You passed out big time. The guy who owns this house says it was sunstroke.”

Jeff made a noise and turned his head away from Paula, feeling guilty. “Sorry… I probably wasted a lot of time. We could’ve been in Fourside by now–”

“Jeff.” That was the tone that Paula used to reprimand any enemies or Jeff and Ness whenever they were being unreasonable. The tone of someone who had to handle rowdy preschoolers every day and not get paid for it.“You’re from a place that snows all the time! You probably haven’t been to a place where the temperature was above, like, 80.”

Jeff was too tired to convert that to Celsius. Paula got on her hands and knees and leaned over so Jeff was forced to look at her. “Am I right?”

“…Yeah. But I’m still sorry, anyway.” Jeff squinted up at Paula, and she handed him his glasses. He poked himself in the eye trying to put them on, rubbing his eye as he finally sat up straight. “Where’s Ness?”

As if on cue, the rickety door to the cabin opened and Ness walked in, carrying two large paper sacks. 

“You both’re redder than a lobster!” He laughed, tossing Jeff something and he fumbled to catch it. It was a wet towel, which he gratefully put on his head. Much better. Ness also grabbed three Skip Sandwiches out of the bag, passing them out, then three bottles of water. He then sat in front of Jeff, crissed-crossed.

“And I have a special surprise for you, Jeff!” He said lightly, handing Jeff the bag. Confused, Jeff pulled out its contents: a red tee shirt with a pocket on the chest, and a pair of black shorts. “Your outfit totally sucks for the heat, and I saw some clothes in the drugstore, so I thought that’d be better. Maybe you won’t pass out on us again, huh?”

“Ness.” Paula had that tone again.

“Sorry.” Ness snickered, and Jeff stood up, thanking Ness, and quickly found the cabin’s bathroom to change. The clothes were a little big for his gangly frame, but he appreciated the thought too much to say anything. When he returned, Ness gave him a thumbs-up, and that was the end of it. Jeff still felt a little guilty for slowing them down, but he had to admit, it was nice to take a break and eat lunch together, even if they were on the splintery wooden floor of an old shack in the desert. If he had to get sunstroke and pass out in front of anyone, Ness and Paula were pretty good options.

Chapter Text

Jeff stuck close behind Ness as they opened the door to Jackie’s Café, the old door squeaking and a little bell above them jingled when they walked in. A man with an eyepatch and a dated suit stood behind the well-scrubbed counter, cleaning a chipped porcelain mug. Some old swing tune Jeff didn’t recognize was playing through the muffled speakers of the café’s jukebox.

“You kids are a little young to be here.” the man behind the counter, presumably Jackie, muttered, giving Ness and Jeff a once-over. Ness, for once, was quiet, biting his lip. Right. The man outside the café, who was… dying. Ness had known him. Maybe he should do the talking for now.

“Um, right. Sorry. We just wanted to… t-to check behind the counter..” Jeff trailed off, adjusting his glasses.

“Not a chance.”

“But a man named Mr. Everdred said we’d–”

At that, Jackie looked up at Jeff sharply. “Not so loud.” He snapped in a harsh whisper, and Jeff jumped. The bartender looked at Ness. “The King of Burglin’ Park, huh? He’d said to look out for a boy in a red cap. Said he’d be able to keep the lookout for any shady business of Monotoli’s.”

“That’s me.” Ness muttered, finally looking up. “We’re going to try and get into Monotoli’s office. And stop his corruption and everything.” Jeff nodded.

“Well, fine. The counter’s back there. If you die, we never met.” Jackie looked pointedly at one of the panels in the wall behind the counter, where it was obviously sticking out. Ness noticed and scurried to push it in, but as soon as he did everything suddenly went black.

When Jeff came to, he shook his head and realized he was still standing up. When he looked around, he almost thought something had knocked him silly. It was a mirror image of Jackie’s Café, but the every surface was now pitch black and all the borders were a bright neon that kept changing colors and made Jeff’s head hurt. He was really glad to see Ness still next to him. They were already incomplete without Paula with them, but if Ness had gone too, especially in a strange place like this…

Speaking of Ness, there was something off when Jeff looked at the other.

“Ness, look at me, and then look at the bartender.” Jeff muttered. “Isn’t that odd? We have shadows, but nothing else here does.”

“I knew something was off…” Ness replied. “Where are we? What happened to Fourside?”

As if on cue, the Jackie behind the bar slowly turned his head towards them, his too-large grin remaining on his face, and Jeff could feel himself shrinking back. 

“Fourside? Are you still dreaming? This is Moonside.”

Then, automatically, everyone in the mirror-Café turned to look at them and said in tandem:

“Welcome to Moonside.”

“Thanks.” Ness said quickly, voice rising in pitch and grabbing his bat tighter. “I’m gonna talk to… someone else. Not that.”

While Ness asked around the creepy customers, who moved stiltedly like marionettes and were drinking something that was definitely not coffee, Jeff turned his attention over to the jukebox in the corner of the room. A song was starting, and Jeff felt like he’d heard it before.

When he was younger, Maxwell had leant him one of his homemade mix tapes after Jeff had taken a liking to one of the songs on it (and looking back on it, it was embarrassing how many times he’d listened to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band over and over, but he’d been eight and had just figured out who the Beatles were). He felt like the song was on that cassette. Let’s see, first there was Sgt. Pepper, Jeff thought, trying to remember the tracks in order, then was Strawberry Fields Forever, then Dierdre by the Beach Boys but the first five seconds had always creeped me out, then Won’t Be Fooled Again…

Jeff was disturbed from his thoughts when the puppet of a person by the jukebox suddenly swung their fist and slammed it onto the side of the jukebox, but was even more confused when the song started over. He glanced back over at Ness, then jumped when he saw that Ness had tried to move past something on the pitch black flooring and it moved back. That looked like an abstract painting, just floating in midair, and Jeff fired his gun at it as it swooped towards Ness’ head like a bat. Ness ducked as the man hit the jukebox and the song started over again.

“Try paralysis!” Jeff called out and Ness nodded, touching his hand to his temple and staring the painting down. It stopped moving and hit the floor as soon as the song on the jukebox started again. It was every 41 seconds. Why did they start the song over every 41 seconds? Or, more accurately, why were they only letting everyone hear only the first 41 seconds of the song?

“Isn’t it lovely that the children are finding something productive to do while the adults talk?” One of the patrons asked. Jeff caught the rest of the conversations as he and Ness bumped into the table, weaving their way around chairs trying to get away from the painting. The woman who had just been conversing with her friend then broke off a section of her glass like tearing a piece out of a loaf of bread, then began to eat it.

“Oh no, the painting is leaking…. what a shameemahs a tahw ….gnikael si gnitniap eht ,on hO’’ her friend replied, her voice sounding tinny and unnatural. Jeff shuddered, staring as Ness pulled him towards the door. He hated it here.

As they were about to leave another one of the Moonsidians shoved into Jeff unnaturally, moving his arms in steps rather than one fluid motion, but Jeff still slammed into the jukebox all the same. Even though it hadn’t been 41 seconds, the jukebox stopped, and another song started. And Jeff didn’t like this new song at all. 

Ness reached out his hand and Jeff took it, and when he stood, the painting prepared to swoop on them, and everyone in the not-café was staring at them with the same eerie smiles.

“We need to leave.” Jeff whispered.

“Right behind you, dude.” 

Jeff gripped Ness’ hand and pushed the door open, then spun around to look at the Café. The sign above the door now read, in flickering neon letters, BAR instead of CAFE.

The new song from inside was still playing at the same volume, and Jeff wasn’t sure why, but that gave him goosebumps.

“Jeff, what’s the plan?” Ness was looking around. Aside from a few… contained neon fires, the street looked deserted. 

“Uh, we should find the M-Monotoli Building. Maybe Paula’s there.” Jeff kept turning himself around, trying to make sense of the roads. They always seemed to change course every time Jeff looked away from them.

The two boys stuck close to each other, and after the new song reached its abrupt end, the old song from earlier started again, and Jeff didn’t expect to welcome it back with open arms. And finally the song’s name came to him after being on the tip of his tongue.

“Keep on Laughin.’” Jeff smiled to himself as the two of them snuck past some more laughing not-people.

“What?”

“That’s the name of the song. I didn’t recognize it at first because they’re only playing the beginning, and it sounds so different from the rest.”

“Well, then how’s the rest of it go?”

“It’s like–” Jeff started, about to start humming the song, then goes red and stops himself. “Don’t make me sing. I’m not any good at it.”

“Dude, I think after everything we’ve seen and heard, it’d sound angelic right now.”

Jeff laughed but shook his head, but after a little more cajoling from Ness, Jeff hummed a few bars. “The chorus goes like, You gotta keep on Laughin’ - laughin’ in the dark,” Jeff tried, face burning. “Don’t make me do any more.”

“You’re right, that was terrible.” Ness snickered, and Jeff punched his arm, and for a second it was like everything was back to normal. 

Jeff smiled as Ness kept messing with him as they slowly made their way towards the tallest building in Moonside, now marked MANITOLI in shining gold letters.

They’d make it out together. For Paula. 

Chapter Text

It was hard to remain calm when you knew the world was ending.

When Tony had helped Jeff break out of Snow Wood Boarding House in the middle of the night, Jeff had told him that he had to leave or the world was going to end. For whatever reason, maybe it was because he could tell that Jeff really meant it when he said it, Tony believed him. Now he had proof.

The changes came slowly, but they were noticeable to those looking out for them. The sun always set early in Winters, but the sky seemed to get darker and darker by the day until it felt like everything outside was drenched in darkness. There were things outside that no one could really describe. Curfews were set and windows to every building in a five-mile radius were boarded. 

It had an effect on people, too. Tony had always thought he was good at telling when people were upset, and the tension everywhere was palpable. The professors - most adults Tony spoke to, actually, including his parents - seemed irritable. A couple concerned mothers had even pulled some strings and had their boys sent home until whatever those robotic things outside were sent away for good.

Tony was tired, tense, but most of all, worried about Jeff. He hadn’t heard from him since he’d called Ness when they were in Summers - and that had been by chance. Knowing how things had changed back home, he hoped Jeff was okay. He knew it was impossible to want his friend safe when he was out there saving the world, but Tony wanted Jeff to at least know that there were people out there rooting for him and his friends. That people believed in what they were doing.

So Tony went to his desk, got out a pen and some paper, and began to write a letter.

An hour later, Tony walked up a couple flights of stairs until he got to the floor where the senior students lived, then knocked on a door marked with sticky notes detailing chemical equations. 

“Maxwell?”

There was a muffled reply, then the sound of something hitting the floor and breaking, then a much louder muffled string of expletives, then the door swung open. Maxwell Labs peered out at him, chemical goggles on his head and looking, like always, as if he’d lost a fight with a bunsen burner.

“Tony? What’s up, buddy?”

Tony started fiddling with the letter in his hands. “I need help breaking out. Like how you helped Jeff.”

“…I’m guessing you know that if you got caught, you’d be in a hell of a lot more trouble than Jeff would have been, but you don’t care?”

Tony nodded.

Maxwell grinned. “I hoped you’d say that.”

Maxwell had really wanted to steal supplies from the chemistry lab and make a few Molotov cocktails, but Tony turned that idea down quickly, partly because all signs would have pointed to Maxwell, as a chemistry prodigy, helping him, and partially because he was a lot less used to things that explode than Maxwell or Jeff. So they’d snuck into the shop classroom and Maxwell had handed Tony a sledgehammer, then his coat.

When they were out in the Winters air, by the big iron gates, Maxwell boosted him over and then handed him the sledgehammer through the bars. 

“Okay, go mail your letter and then call me as soon as you get to the drugstore, alright? If you don’t and you get eaten by those creatures, I’m gonna find you, bring you back to life like Frankenstein’s monster, and then kill you again.”

“Then you’d have to cope with the moral ramifications of playing god.” Tony chuckled. “Thanks, Maxwell.”

Maxwell stuck his hand through the bars and gave him a fist bump. “Go for it, bad boy.”

The hammer heavy in his hands, Tony started to walk towards the drugstore. Maxwell’s coat was much too big for him and smelled like sulfur, but it kept him warm and kept his mind off the fact that he was terrified. But Jeff had to do this too, and he made it, and he’s still making it, he told himself. If he can do it without a coat on and while wearing a stupid Sherlock Holmes hat, you can. 

It was he’d almost reached the drugstore when something phased into existence right in front of him, like magic. The creature in front of him toward over Tony and didn’t move, it just… teleported closer and closer, like a kid trying to make a stopmotion movie and not moving the clay figure’s limbs. Tony’s breathing quickened and his heart dropped into his stomach as it got closer, and he could hear it humming and whirring like one of Jeff’s robots. Then he heard a boy’s voice coming from the creature like it was coming from a radio.

“Nah, that’s not one of them, just kill him.”

One of them? Did he mean this thing was looking for Jeff and his friends? Tony scowled and gripped tighter on the hammer, then closed his eyes and swung it over his head at the creature, hitting it with a loud metallic CLANG. 

“You’re not gonna get Jeff! Now get out of my way, I’ve got a letter to mail!”

When he opened his eyes tentatively, they widened in shock. He hadn’t even left a dent in it, and the boy’s voice from the radio had started to laugh in a way that made shivers run down Tony’s spine.

“I changed my mind, I changed my mind, this one’s a friend of the Chosen Four! You’d draw them like Belch to Fly Honey if you kept him alive!”

The creature in front of him fired a beam that hit him square in the chest, and then everything went black.

Chapter Text

As long as they had been on their adventure, Jeff had never seen Ness sit still. He was always pacing around, drumming his fingers on the table, messing with his bat, singing and playing an imaginary electric guitar like when he performed PSI Rockin’. Right now was no different. 

“And they say, ‘you don’t tug on Superman’s cape,’” Ness was singing softly to himself softly and slowly, swinging his legs as the four of them sat on the cold white bench, “‘you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Jim,’”

Even though he was singing, it was sad and tentative, as if Ness was trying in some way to fill the stilted silence in the room, or to make each weighty second tick by faster. Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo were all sitting in an empty house in Saturn Valley, each wearing mismatched hospital gowns and not looking at each other. Jeff held his head in his hands, not wanting to think about what had just happened or what was to come. 

“In order to defeat Giygas, who is attacking from the past, you must warp to the past,” Doctor An– no, his dad had said before they’d agreed to the procedure. “This can be done by way of the Phase Distorter 3.

However, the machine cannot warp living things, I mean, lifeforms. Life is demolished in the process of warping.”

His father had looked nervous, and Jeff had felt frozen to the spot, numb and horrified and not wanting to hear what he thought he was going to hear. 

“The only way to accomplish the time travel is to transfer your brain “program” into a robot, and send the robot into the past. …The transfer means that your spirit will go with the robot while your body is left behind…”

All of a sudden, Jeff’s insides turned upside down and his limbs felt like lead, and though he wasn’t really paying attention to his friends, they all tensed in the same way. There was so much uncertainty when it came to Giygas. No one knew what he looked like, what his powers would be like, if the Apple of Enlightenment really did have the power of prophecy and if they could even stand a fighting chance against an alien force that oppressed their planet like fog. But the fact that he’d have to have what was essentially his soul placed inside a robot to even reach Giygas…

“…I cannot promise that your spirit will come back after the battle in the past.” His father continued. 

“We’ve accepted that.” Paula responded, and the rest of them nodded faintly.

“Yes, you must understand that you four are the chosen ones… Do you still wish to face Giygas by traveling to the past?”

When the idea was first presented to the four of them that they may die or be lost to time after defeating Giygas several weeks beforehand, Jeff had spent that night on the roof of their hotel, looking out at the night sky and debating with himself. He hated that he’d never be able to return to Snow Wood, and see Maxwell and Tony. That he’d never get the chance to try and reconnect with Doctor Andonuts. He hated that this was even a question for him, but people were stupid and hateful and there was so much wrong with the world that didn’t even know they were trying to save it.

But Jeff had met three of the most amazing friends he’d ever thought he’d make in his life. He’d seen a good chunk of the world and met people who helped them out of the kindness of their hearts. All things considered, when Jeff thought about it, the Earth wasn’t perfect and humanity could be cruel. But for all the goodness it contained, it was worth at least fighting to save them. 

So when Doctor Andonuts had asked if they were prepared to go through with the robotonomy procedure and fight Giygas in the past, Jeff agreed without a second thought. 

Jeff was jerked out of his thoughts by the door opening and Ness abruptly stopped singing. Dr. Andonuts entered the room, looking just as tired and terrified as Jeff felt. “I see… you all really have set your minds on this…”

They all nodded silently, Jeff not looking his father in the eye and pulling idly on the shoulder of his too-large hospital gown, which felt like he was drowning in it. Dr. Andonuts took a deep breath.

“Ness, please give me that red cap. We’re ready for you.”

Ness stood up and took off his baseball cap, handing it to the doctor before turning back to his friends, smiling shakily. “Aw, c’mon guys, you can smile, it’s not like it’s goodbye or anything.”

Paula stood up and threw her arms around him. “It feels like it.” Jeff and Poo immediately followed suit until the four of them were hugging each other more tightly than they’d ever had before. Ness sniffed a little. “Guys, we’re gonna make it, I promise, we’re gonna make it and then we’re all having a big sleepover at my house and we’re gonna watch movies and play video games and my mom can make us dinner and we can eat steak until we explode– even you, Poo.”

“I’ll try my hardest,” Poo managed through his watery smile. 

When they finally untangled themselves from the hug and Ness left with Dr. Andonuts, Jeff finally felt that he was crying. 

He covered his ears when he started to hear the sound of the drill. 

Soon after, his father returned to collect Paula, and she kissed Jeff and Poo on the forehead and told them that if anything happened to them, she’d set everything on fire until it was okay again, which got Jeff to laugh, and then there were two and the drill started again.

Finally, his father returned for him. 

Dr. Andonuts didn’t address him like he had Ness and Paula, but Jeff knew it was his turn anyway. He stood up, adjusted his glasses, and held out his hand for Poo to shake. They shook hands, smiling sadly, and Jeff promised that he’d always be there for him, and then he left with his father.

The walk over to Doctor Saturn’s was mostly silent. After a few seconds, his father finally piped up, “So.. how old are you again, son?”

“Thirteen.” Jeff replied automatically, his heart sinking. They didn’t say anything else until he made it to Doctor Saturn’s and sat down on the operating table. 

Apple Kid and his little gray mouse were there, and he had taken Jeff’s glasses and shaken Jeff’s hand and said through a lisp that “Though the odds of you winning and returning are astronomically low, I want to work on something with you if you return, Lemon-Lime Kid,” and Jeff had managed a shaky laugh and agreed.

His father had Jeff lie back on the operating table, then carefully untied the strings of the hospital gown on his shoulder. He took a permanent marker and drew a vertical line on Jeff’s chest over his heart, and Jeff swallowed thickly, trying to stop himself from shaking.

“I’m… I’m terribly sorry, my boy…” Doctor Andonuts had muttered before placing an anesthesia mask over Jeff’s nose and mouth.

The world is worth saving. The world is worth saving. The world is worth saving.

Jeff repeated that to himself as his eyes fluttered closed.

Chapter Text

Jeff now knew why Pokey Minch had called it the Devil’s Machine.

He’d never been religious. It was never something he really thought he needed to put thought into, what happened when you died. Everyone was going to die anyway, and the body you lived in would cease to exist, he’d always thought, before he’d been put in a literal war.

But if hell existed, this was it. 

Pokey (that conniving, traitorous, evil bastard, Pokey) had turned off the machine, then that hideous spider contraption he hid himself in retreated into the darkness. The dim light from the inside of the spider mech and the throbbing red glow from between the intestine-like pipes that contained whatever Giygas was had faded into infinite blackness. Not for long, though. The vision had cut briefly into complete darkness, probably due to the robotic shell he was in, but when it finally returned he couldn’t believe what he saw. 

Giygas wasn’t a being. Not anymore, anyway. Jeff was in a body that couldn’t feel, or sense, but he felt it anyway. 

Giygas was a force.

 It surrounded him and was there, omnipresent, everywhere he looked like a fog. His vision was bombarded by swirling reds and blacks as far as he could see, and though he couldn’t touch or breathe, being surrounded by the force that was the Universal Cosmic Destroyer made him feel like he was choking on Giygas. Drowning. The only thing keeping him grounded was that he could see the robots representing his three friends. He shook off his fear and set his gaze directly in front of the four of them. Pokey was a distraction, and Pokey was gone, though for how long remained to be seen. Now it was time to put his all into the thing that they had come there to do. The thing… that they were sacrificing their lives to destroy.

Terror didn’t even begin to describe how he felt. 

Jeff fired his Heavy Bazooka, hoping that a force like this could be hit with physical attacks, and judging by the low moan of pain that seemed to come faintly from everywhere, it worked. Ness immediately followed suit, the bright colors of PSI Rockin’ illuminating his robotic body and his familiar red cap. So did Poo, adding to the light with PSI Starstorm, then Paula with PSI Fire. Jeff lit one of his last Multi-Bottle Rockets, adding to the colored light with a fiery explosion. They weren’t really making a dent, though, Jeff could tell. But they had hit Giygas with their most powerful attacks. He shuddered thinking about what would happen if they continued to when they ran out of Bottle Rockets and psychic ability.

He could hear Pokey’s voice again, and the clicking, screeching noise of metal legs scraping against the pipes that made Jeff shudder, but no matter where he looked, he couldn’t see what was making the noise.

“Do you see him?” he heard Paula whisper. 

Jeff shook his metal head, and Paula nodded gravely. 

Pokey was laughing. It came from everywhere. “You must really be at the end of your rope,” he snickered, voice raised over the scraping of metal on metal. “In this bizarre dimension, you four are the only force fighting for justice… And here you stand! Waiting to be burned up with all the rest of the garbage of this universe! Hah! That’s so sad. I can’t help but shed a tear.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Jeff heard Poo say from his right. If Jeff were in his normal body, he knew he’d be shaking with rage. It took all he had from shooting every inch of the darkness until he hit a target, but he remained still and focused on the swirling mass of red and black before him, artificial hands curled into tight fists.

“You know, my heart is beating incredibly fast.” Jeff couldn’t tell if Pokey’s was a voice he could hear from outside or in his head anymore. Without any sense of feeling and nothing physical to ground him besides the three machines next to him, it was hard to determine if anything was really there, particularly sound, with the ambient, eerie noise of the Cave of the Past gone and muffled into nothing. “I must be experiencing absolute terror!”

“Do you want to scream for help, here in the dark?!” The skittering noise got closer, ringing in his nonexistent ears, and he heard something sharp pierce a light piece of metal with a shunk and a cry of pain that had to have come from-

“NESS!” Paula screamed and hurried to his side with clanking footsteps until Jeff heard the same piercing noise and a scream from Paula. He kept looking around, but like he was in a nightmare, all he could see were the others, Ness and Paula now with large, gaping holes in their robotic chests. 

Pokey was laughing again. “Why not call your mommy, Ness! Say ‘Mommy! Daddy! I’m so frightened! I think I’m gonna wet my pants!’” He heard Ness make a noise of pain, clutching at his chest, and Jeff saw red. He fired his gun wildly near Ness and Paula, trying to hit Pokey. Trying to get him to shut up without being able to see him through the immense fog that was Giygas. But judging by the fact that Pokey, the traitor of humanity, kept taunting them with an obvious gleeful, crazed smile in his voice, Jeff had missed.

“I know you have telepathy or something, so why don’t you try calling for help or something, you pathetically weak heroes of so-called justice! No one will help you now!” And with that, the sound of the spider mech began to fade again. “Don’t worry, your pitiful suffering will be over soon!”

Pokey was gone. Pokey was gone, but Giygas was closer. Jeff was grateful for the first time that he wasn’t in his normal body, or he’d be terrified to open his mouth, be afraid to breathe, or else Giygas would enter his body like air and choke him out from the inside. Like a Rorschach test, Jeff could almost see a face amidst the nauseating, ever-melting colors. Like something was smiling unnaturally back at him. He fired again, focusing on anger instead of fear, and he could hear Ness struggle to get up and hit whatever was in front of him with his bat. But though Giygas seemed closer, nothing seemed to hit. Whatever low groans Giygas had made previously were gone. 

Jeff was struggling to stay calm, struggling to think clearly. It felt like the force that was Giygas was creeping closer and there was nothing Jeff could do about it, like he was caught in a mousetrap. He could make out PSI Thunder from Poo next to him, but there wasn’t the familiar crackle of it crashing on an enemy. 

Nothing was working. They could only stand there as Giygas overwhelmed them.

…friends…Ness…. NESS…

Jeff could hear a murmur. Not from outside. From inside of his head, like Paula when she had first contacted him through a dream. But though he could feel Paula’s fear and hope then, the feelings he could glean from the voice - Giygas’ voice - weren’t like anything he’d felt before. Heartbreak. Sadness. The feeling of betrayal, and the feeling that you’d never see someone you’d loved again. But there was another feeling Jeff couldn’t recognize that shook him to his core. Before he knew it, Jeff had collapsed to his knees, robotic hands gripping the sides of his head, and his robotic husk was shaking. 

NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS

Pain. Pain like he’d never felt in his life seared through him. It started from his head and coursed through him like he was being electrocuted, but he didn’t feel anything physically. It was his mind. His mind hurt so badly he couldn’t think. Whatever attack Giygas had delivered, it was designed to hurt his mind. To be beyond human comprehension. To kill human beings and tear them from the inside out.

..I.. feel good…

After several agonizing seconds, the ringing in his ears finally died out, and that’s when Jeff heard he was screaming.

All four of them were.

He’d been with the other three far too long in far too many perilous situations to have not heard his friends yell before. But this was different. 

The screams were visceral. Guttural. Like wounded animals.

…H…A…P…P…Y…

Poo’s was there, but more contained, probably due to his training. Paula’s was a high-pitched wail. And Ness clutched at his hat and screamed for his mother.

It hit Jeff for the first time how young they all were. Their screams were children’s screams. Cries of agony that made him shudder.

All four of them had fallen to their knees. He could hear Paula next to him, her voice hoarse as if she were back in her normal body, but her crumpled metal form was bent over and trembling and her clawed hands clasped in prayer.

“Please… “ he could hear her over Ness and Poo and his own cries of pain. “Give us strength…if.. If it’s possible… please… somebody.. Help us..”

It was deadly silent for several seconds following Paula’s plea, the four of them collapsed and too tired to continue screaming after Giygas’ incomprehensible attack had ceased. Then, faintly, Jeff could hear something.

“The… Mr. Saturn…?” Poo asked faintly, next to him. Jeff nodded. It sounded like all of them, muttering something he couldn’t hear, along with the faint voices of Apple Kid.. and his father. Then Jeff heard thundering, deafening rumble under his knees and somehow he knew that they had a chance.

It hurts, Ness….

“That’s it. Emotions. Emotions are what weaken his defenses.” He said to himself. He felt Poo suddenly grab his hand, then Jeff grabbed Paula’s, and Paula’s hand met Ness’. And Paula kept praying as the four of them held each other’s hands and braced themselves. His fake vision was growing thick with static, so he kept his eyes closed and listened to Paula pray. After a while, he could hear other voices, each growing and volume and becoming clearer. Paula’s parents. A member of the Runaway Five, and Jeff could finally catch a few words (‘Okay, big guy, I know it’s been a while since we’ve…’). Then a voice that made his nonexistent heart leap.

“…now until the hour of our death. Amen. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy…”

Tony. He squeezed Poo’s and Paula’s hands tighter and just focused on Tony’s voice, refusing to even think about whatever nonsensical attack Giygas would send his way.

“… thee do we cry, poor, banished, children of Eve…”

He had no idea what his friend was saying, and it soon got mixed amongst the cacophony of noise coming from the growing number of people praying for them. But Tony was one of the people that was wishing for their safety, and that was enough for Jeff. The number of people kept growing, and loudest of all was Ness’ mother.

“…They are, all four of them, amazing, beautiful, courageous, and thoughtful young people, and they deserve more than anyone to come back and enjoy the land they saved. So… so you better make sure they come back. Or else!”

Giygas tried attacking them again, screaming Ness’ name, but this time, Jeff couldn’t feel anything. And though he couldn’t really smile, he felt like beaming. They had a chance. 

Paula fell silent, and finally admitted after several seconds of just listening to the crowd surrounding them, “I… I can’t think of anyone else… someone, anyone.. Please help us.” 

Nothing.

Jeff opened his eyes, and looked back at Giygas’ incomprehensible form as Paula’s voice got more desperate.

“Someone… can you hear me?! Please, give us strength!”

Jeff silently pleaded alongside her, starting to feel a fuzz in his brain again and he was terrified Giygas was going to attack again. He could also hear taunting laughter that had to belong to Pokey, and Jeff was so desperate to prove them both wrong and to avoid ever feeling that kind of pain again that he shut everything else out and begged for help. Begged to have a reason to hold onto the chance that they could survive.

Then there was a crack like a bullwhip and an inhuman screech, and the intensity of the fog that was Giygas began to die down.

“..W-who was that?!” Jeff cried. 

“I don’t know! But whoever you are, please help us!” Paula pleaded, yelling over Giygas’ wails, and then there was another crack. Then a third. Then… he could hear Pokey say something, then the sound of the spider retreating, and he heaved a sigh of relief. Then the static in front of Jeff’s vision intensified, but Giygas… 

Giygas was gone.

The static turned to complete garbled snow, and Jeff finally fell backwards. We did it, we really, actually did it, he grinned to himself, letting himself fall into a strange, dreamlike sleep. 

The War Against Giygas is over…

-

Jeff awoke slowly, blinking up at the expanse of blue above him. Once he realized that what he was looking at was the sky, he bolted upright. He was lying on a grass field, several Mr. Saturns not too far away. He wasn’t wearing his glasses and was in his uncomfortable uniform, but that meant.. 

He quickly looks at his arms, then feels his face and his hair, and he can feel himself smiling. He immediately turned to see Ness sit up next to him, groggily rubbing his face, and Jeff launched himself at him, hugging him with all his strength. 

“We’re okay!” 

He manages, tears running down his face, and soon he can feel someone else attaching themselves to the hug, and Ness and Jeff pull Poo into the embrace. Paula wakes up not even seconds after, and they hug her too, all four of them clinging to the fabric of the other’s clothing and holding each other as tightly as they could. 

To Jeff, it didn’t matter that he could barely see, or that his father was there and could see him sobbing as he clutched at his friends. All four of them were crying as they laughed until their faces hurt, clinging to each other, and that feeling was the closest thing to a heaven Jeff ever needed.