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"What is it, Skeppy?"
Skeppy bounds over to BadBoyHalo with the two coffee cups in hand, just giving Bad a bright smile. The contents spill slightly over the edge with his carelessness but neither pay attention to it.
"I dunno, guess..." Skeppy shrugs, turning to look at the grassy hills before them. "I thought it’d be nice for us to talk just by ourselves."
"... Sure." Bad tilts his head.
"Here." Skeppy hands over one of the cups to Bad, who grabs it immediately. "It’s hot coffee."
"Thanks." Bad holds it in his hands.
"Hot, isn’t it?"
Skeppy watches Bad's expression.
"Yeah." Bad shoots Skeppy a grin. "Really hot."
"It’s actually iced coffee."
Bad's grin flickers. "... What?"
"I had Mega make it cold."
"Oh." Bad coughs. "Hehe, yeah, of course it’s cold."
"I lied. It’s actually hot."
Bad drops the mug of coffee onto the ground and they both step back in instinct, but Skeppy's eyes dart back up with furrowed eyebrows as Bad looks sheepishly away as if he'd rather be anywhere else than here.
"... I knew it." Skeppy's voice trembles. "How long have you been like this?! You can’t feel anything at all, can you?!
Bad flinches. "Th... that’s not true."
"You’re lying! When you fell earlier, you already couldn’t feel anything, could you?!"
Bad looks down at the ground as the memory drifts over both of them. Bad's always been a little clumsy, but... those damages at the temple were...
"W... well," Bad begins, but then his gaze darts away again. "Uh... but... uh..." he trails off.
"You were bleeding like crazy, but you didn’t even flinch when I squeezed your hand!" Skeppy closes his eyes in frustration and sets down his mug.
Bad had brushed them all off, brushed him off too.
"I guess the secret’s out," Bad relents.
Still, Skeppy keeps on pushing. "You haven’t been eating lately either."
"I eat! Hehe..."
"Barely." Skeppy crosses his arms. "You even started eating things you don’t like. And that’s not all. Have you been sleeping?"
"Of course. Hehe... see. My eyes aren’t red or anything."
"Stop lying to me! You always do that fake giggle when you lie."
Bad flinches again, looking down at the spilled coffee.
"Th... that’s not true…"
"Is it that hard for you to trust me?"
Bad looks back up in horror.
"No! ... It’s not like that! I just..." A sigh. "I just didn’t want anyone to worry."
Skeppy's gaze softens as he looks at the expressions on Bad's face. "... What’s happening to you?"
"I don’t know," Bad begins. "I don’t know, but things first got strange when I released the Fire Seal. I suddenly didn’t want to eat anything anymore. Even when I did, it didn’t have any taste."
"... No taste?"
Bad nods.
"I can’t hold anything down when I force myself... so, I haven’t been eating. I never get hungry."
Skeppy gapes. "That’s... that’s..."
"Then when I released the next seal, I stopped getting sleepy. I close my eyes, but I just can’t sleep. I haven’t slept at all since then. Then with this seal, I stopped feeling anything."
"Why... why didn’t you say anything?!"
"Well," Bad looks off into the distance, at the slowly rising sun. "I figured, this is just what it means to become an angel. So I shouldn’t let it get to me."
Skeppy drops to the ground despite Bad's exclamation.
He had come on this journey to protect his childhood best friend, the man who meant so much to him. He was the Chosen one, sure, but someone had to protect him, and better than he? If he was the one who had to save the world, then who was going to save Bad himself? It has to be him, right?
Sure, there was the rest of their ragtag group of friends and that annoying mercenary, but--
It was Skeppy's job to protect Bad.
How had he failed so terribly?
"This is what it means to become an angel?!" Skeppy lets out a hoarse laugh in despair as Bad moves to sit beside him. "Not eating anymore, not sleeping anymore, not feeling anything anymore?!"
"But my eyes have actually gotten better," Bad offers, as he does when he tries to see the silver lining present in every cloud. "I can see really far away now. And my hearing, too. I can hear even the faintest sounds really well. I can hear them so well that... it’s kind of painful sometimes."
As he talks, Skeppy looks back up at him with wide eyes. He can feel his heart breaking, and as he wills his own tears away despite the burning sensation, he pulls Bad into a hug.
Bad lets out a small yelp in surprise, but he quickly returns the hug. It feels just about as natural as the sun rising and setting every day, as natural as it is for people to love each other, as natural as it is for Skeppy and Bad to love each other.
"I’m sorry..." Skeppy offers, his voice cracking. A few tears might have involuntarily escaped from his grasp as he continues, "I didn’t realize what was going on at all. I’m sorry."
Bad bites his lip. "Please don’t tell the others."
"Why?!" Skeppy pulls back, eyes filled with confusion.
"Well, I mean, we’re all on this trip together and I want it to be fun. So, I don’t want you to worry about it either, okay?"
Skeppy pulls him back into a hug. "... You’re so stupid!"
Becoming an angel and saving the world... that was such a heavy burden to place upon a teenager like Bad. And why did it have to be Bad, the most wonderful person Skeppy has ever had the chance to meet? What kind of world did this goddess create, that wanted such a sacrifice to be made from its inhabitants?
How can he protect Bad when he can't ease his burden, this apparent destiny thrust upon them as soon as he was born?
"I’m sorry, Skeppy." Bad holds Skeppy tightly. "Even though you’re crying for me, and I’m happy, so happy I want to cry... but I can’t anymore."
Skeppy lets out a strangled sob into Bad's chest.
"... I'm sorry."