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Tord sits on the edge of the cliff, staring down at the quaint little English town he once called home. Parts of it are rubble and ash now, light smoke rising into the air. He sighs. Paul and Patryk are still trying to salvage parts of his now destroyed robot behind him, cramming the parts into the car they drove up there in.
"Me and Patryk are going to try and find boxes we can put these in. Are you coming with us?" Paul asks, standing behind Tord.
Tord doesn't reply, or react, as if he wasn't listening at all. Paul and Patryk softly mumble to each other, and Tord listens to their footsteps get farther away as they walk back to the car. The engine sputters, and in a few seconds Tord finds himself completely alone. He feels a tightness in his chest, as well as a dampness in his hand as he bleeds through the bandages on his arm. He stares off into the distance, empty minded, for what feels like an eternity.
He's suddenly snapped back into reality when he hears footsteps again, slowly approaching him. At first he doesn't react, thinking it must be Paul again. But, he was sure the car engine would get his attention before footsteps, so it couldn't be Paul or Patryk. He turns his head to look and is greeted with neither Paul or Patryk, but Edd. He's looking down at Tord with his hands in his hoodie pockets. He still has ash and grass stains on his hoodie, and dirt on his face which dawns a sternly disappointed look.
"...Edd?" Tord says softly, half with shock and half with confusion.
"I've been able to see you from my house for the past half hour. Or, what's left of my house anyway." He says.
"Oh, right…" Tord says, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Well, I'll be leaving soon anyway, so-"
"I just wanna know why." Edd interrupts him. "I mean, you were one of the first friends I made here, and I know for a fact I was your only friend for a while. And now what, you decide to use me and throw that all away as if it meant nothing to you?". He's beginning to raise his voice and gesticulate his words, taking a few steps closer to Tord. "Were you using me the whole time, or only now? Was our friendship a lie from the start? I've considered you my best friend for a long time Tord. And I really thought it was mutual. I really, really did."
Tord is completely unsure what to say for a moment. He looks at Edd, who is now visibly furious, which is really a rare thing to see. He feels like an arrow has just pierced his chest, the gravity of his actions only now reaching his thoughts. Tord stands up to face Edd.
"It… is mutual, Edd, I-"
Edd cuts him off again, with a very sarcastic "Oh, it is? That's great!" He throws his hands in the air, then crosses his arms. "I'm so glad my best friend decided to come back and destroy my house. What are friends for, right? If not for using you and trying to kill you. Well Tord, congratulations, you win the best friend of the year award for this one. I'm sure you're really proud of yourself."
Tord turns to look at Edd's house in the distance, now a pile of ash and debris on the ground. He looks back at Edd, who's still crossing his arms and holding a very angry expression. He doesn't know what to do. He feels his eyes start to shake and water, and he looks down at his feet. He can't stop himself, and covers his eyes with his forearm and starts stifling gentle sobs. He's feeling too many things at once to have one coherent thought or reaction. Mainly, though, it's embarrassing. He'd never cried in front of anyone before, especially not Edd. Each sob makes his chest feel a little more tight, and his head a little more heavy.
The two of them stand like this for a while. Edd standing with his arms crossed while Tord cries. He doesn't want to comfort him, and Tord isn't sure he wants to be comforted anyway. Neither of them are sure he deserves it.
"Do you have anything you actually want to say?" Edd says.
Tord wipes his eyes with his arm and sniffles. "I… I don't know. I don't know what came over me, or why I did it. I guess I thought that you wouldn't want anything to do with me now that you found out, so maybe it would be easier on me if I ruined our friendship myself." he says. It sounds stupid to him when he puts it into words. "It made sense in the moment. I didn't have much time to think it through."
"Found out what, that you had a big robot under my house this whole time?"
"No, the-… didn't Tom show you the wanted poster?"
"No." Edd says, and uncrosses his arms. "So you went out of your way to make me hate you over something I never even saw."
"I…" Tord isn't sure what to say. He looks away again and wipes his face with his palm. "Yeah, I guess I did."
"Did you really think anyone other than Tom would care about that anyway?"
"I mean… yeah. I thought you would never talk to me again." Tord looks back up at Edd. "So, I thought, I might as well make it for a good reason."
"So you tried to kill me?"
"I wasn't actually gonna do it…" Tord said softly, hanging his head and avoiding eye contact. It wasn't a long silence before Tord felt Edd's arms wrap around him.
"You're an idiot." Edd mumbled, pulling Tord into a hug. "You just want to be in control of everything. But I'll always be your friend, and you can't control that."
Tord gently hugs him back with his uninjured arm, resting his face on Edd's shoulder. "Even though I destroyed your house?"
"I can be mad that you destroyed my house and still be your friend."
Tord doesn't say anything. He holds onto Edd as if it's the last time he ever will. He sniffles again, feeling tears coming back.
"I'm really sorry, Edd."
"I know you are."
Tord sighs softly. "And what if I'm lying? How do you know?"
Edd starts to chuckle and pulls away from the hug. He keeps his hands on Tord's shoulders while Tord's hands rest around his waist.
"Really? Tord, I've never in my life seen you cry. I think if you could fake tears this good, you'd be an actor instead of a weirdo who builds robots and draws hentai." he says, and wipes tears off of Tord's uninjured cheek with his thumb. Tord sheepishly smiles at him.
"So... we're still friends?" Tord asks nervously.
"Are you kidding? Of course; Tom has destroyed my house more times than you have."
"...I'm getting blood on your hoodie."
"...Yeah, I know."