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Quackity walks towards the direction of the prison while his fingers brush the smooth surface of a poker chip, flicking it back and forth absentmindedly.
“Alex!” someone calls out, causing Quackity to freeze in his tracks. Almost reluctantly, he turns around to face the man with the familiar voice.
“Karl,” Quackity greets flatly.
He watches with mild displeasure as Karl runs forward and embraces him. “It’s been so long since we’ve talked!” Karl beams. “How have you been? How’s your… um… business?”
Quackity presses a hand against Karl’s shoulder, gently pushing him away. “I’m fine,” he answers, shrugging half-heartedly. “Las Nevadas is fine, thanks for asking.”
An awkward silence hangs in the air, since neither of them speaks for a while, both not knowing what to say.
“Have you visited Kinoko Kingdom?” Karl blurts out.
His face twisting into a sour expression, Quackity hesitates. “No,” he mutters.
“I have to go,” he adds hastily, his eyes darting away from Karl’s face. “Sorry.”
“Why?” Karl interjects, a small frown appearing on his face. “It’s been so long since we’ve last talked. I’m sure you could just spare 5 minutes for us to chat.”
“I have shit to do,” Quackity lies again, turning his attention to the poker chip in his hand. “My client’s waiting for me.”
Karl follows Quackity’s gaze and glares at the poker chip with an irritated look. “Sure, since your stupid business is more important now,” he snaps, his face contorting into disgust. “Me, George and Sapnap wanted to come and visit you but you don’t even want to see us.”
Quackity looks stunned for a moment but lifts his head to look behind Karl, where Sapnap and George have wordlessly appeared.
“Quackity!” George grins but his smile freezes when he senses the tension in the air.
“You don’t look excited to see us,” Sapnap adds unblinkingly.
“He was just telling me that his client is waiting for him. I don’t think we should interrupt his business opportunity, right?” Karl forces a laugh, his voice oozing with sarcasm.
“You don’t understand,” Quackity says softly as his eyes meet Karl’s.
“What do I not understand?” Karl’s wide brown eyes stare back and he feels himself crumble.
“I mean, if you really don’t want to talk to us, we can just leave,” George continues. “We get that your business is more important.”
“Shut up,” Quackity yells, catching himself by surprise. “I’m surprised you wanted to speak to me at all.”
“What do you mean?” George asks, his eyes shining with confusion. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Every single time I go to Kinoko Kingdom.” His lips part and spits the name like its venom. “Karl’s never there, while you and Sapnap are forever busy.” Quackity pauses before continuing, “And I thought I’d be welcomed.”
“You’re being petty?” Sapnap forces a laugh. “We didn’t even know you came.”
“I’m sure I deserve a right to be ‘petty’ since you all left me for Kinoko Kingdom,” Quackity counters, his eyes narrowing when he looks at the three startled faces in front of him.
“That’s not true!” Karl cries out indignantly, his eyes welling with tears. “We never left you! We even asked you to join us-”
“Really?” Quackity interrupts, his voice suddenly low and nonchalant. “Please, we all know that’s not true. Not once did any of you ask me to join your stupid kingdom.”
“I bet you all never considered it,” he huffs. “The past me spent weeks wondering if I wasn’t good enough to join your country, to join my friends.”
“That’s not even the worst part,” he continues before anyone could respond, choking out a bitter laugh. “I built Mexican L’Manberg with just the four of us and when Dream destroyed it, we rebuilt El Rapids together.”
“It was my heart and soul, one of my biggest attachments to this server,” Quackity says lightly, despite feeling his heart shatter a bit more. “And when you all left El Rapids to create Kinoko Kingdom without me, it felt like everything was ripped away from me.”
“El Rapids probably meant nothing to you but it meant everything to me.” His eyes flicked away from the trio. “And you just took it away without even wanting to.”
“Did it feel good?” He shuts his eyes, only to open them a second later — either to blink back tears or to stop himself from looking into their shocked teary eyes. Admittedly, it would be both.
“I’m sorry,” Karl chokes out, his voice reeking of guilt and regret.
Quackity watches tears run down Karl’s cheeks for a moment before speaking again. “I don’t need you to apologise. Apologies do nothing. They change nothing.” He clears his throat. “They can’t change what has already happened. El Rapids can’t be fixed. It’s destroyed. And I have no intent to rebuild it again.”
The words spill out of his mouth without even wanting to. Quackity knows he said too much, but it didn’t matter to him anymore.
“Destroyed?” Sapnap cuts in, horrified. “By who?”
Quackity smiles painfully but doesn’t say a word for a long while. “I mean, El Rapids was destroyed by all of us, wasn’t it?” he finally says. “You guys destroyed it metaphorically, I guess, while I destroyed it physically.” He goes silent, letting the new information sink in. “Block by block.”
“Why?” George asks, pained and confused. “There was no need.”
“Oh George, there was,” Quackity murmurs, his face masked in a wide grin. “El Rapids isn’t a place, it’s a people. With its important citizens gone, there’s no need for a useless nation to stay.”
Quackity flicks the poker chip in his hand. “Like I said, it used to be my attachment to this server. It used to be important to me,” he says, spinning the poker chip on his finger comfortably. “It doesn’t matter to me anymore, so it’s gone now.”
“Besides, I have Las Nevadas,” Quackity presses a finger against the poker chip, stopping it mid-spin. He nudges the poker chip using his thumb and lets it rest on his palm. “That’s all I need.”
Quackity stretches his hand out, his fingers gently squeezing the poker chip. “Come here Karlos,” he whispers, his nickname for Karl slipping out of his mouth before he could stop it. Yet, a faint smile appears on his face.
Karl steps forward, his eyes red and puffy from crying. Quackity gently presses the poker chip into Karl’s hands and scans his tear-stricken face. “Don’t cry,” he whispers softly.
“You all should come over some time,” he raises his head and says, “anytime.”
“Las Nevadas welcomes you.”