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A fire blazed man stands before a lighting city. The colors of it nearly blind him, flashes of yellow, purple, red, and blue burning into his brain.
It’s a sight for sore eyes, he believes. There are many buildings, many tall, cap-reaching skyscrapers. They all carry the same type of theme, bold. He wonders if the owner had built it all himself.
He makes his way through the ever glowing city, exploring it’s bands. Aside from the high-rises and the superstructures, there’s builds that seem as if they carry meaning, as if there’s something behind.
He encounters an extreme, colossal build of something he recognizes before. There’s a strong sense of familiarity to it.
It’s a replica of the Eiffel Tower, a better one for sure of the one he’d made before. It’s more structured, foundated, just so much better than what he had done before. It brings him fond memories. He doesn’t question the meaning behind it. He moves along.
By trouvaille, he finds a smaller, but pleasant building. It’s a tiny, columned water side made with quartz. There’s a small wood bridge to cross the pond. In the water, it’s adorned with patches of grass, roses, and lily pads to set the scene. A few lanterns are placed, assumed to be for romantic purposes.
These things place a warm sense of belonging in his mind. It was much fancier compared to his grassy Kinoko, but homely, soft in some way.
He moves along, going to the heart of the province, the casino. The building is larger than anything there. Immense and white, the lights bursting through tinted windows. It would have been the main source of all the eyestrain, the man thought, but the streetlights and every other location of the realm deflected his answer.
Just on time, a figure opens the door to the grand construction. The figure looks tired, slumping against the door and looking down. He stills, not wanting to seem like an outsider to this place, which he definitely, definitely was.
The figure is clad in a white button up, equipped with a red tie, brown suspenders and trousers, and black shoes that clack with the stone floor of the entrance. It made him feel small, dressed in his normal, grass dirtied looking attire.
The figure before him also appears to be wearing a beanie. A...beanie, he realizes. It hits him.
It’s him.
“Quackity?” He half yells.
The man before him takes a slight flinch and the words, then looks up at him. His face is tired, eyebags stronger than anything else the fire-blaze has ever seen. There’s a scar running down his right eye. He looks broken.
He’s even more broken at the sight of whoever's in front of him. His face is mixed with surprise, anger, and yearning.
“S...Sapnap?” The man nearly whispers. He looks too shocked, too worried for his own handlement.
“Yeah..yeah that’s me.” Sapnap chuckles, a small smile forming on his lips. He had come here in anger, yes, but he couldn’t help feeling a desire for his lover, fiance, after so much time apart.
They’re both stuck in time at this exact moment, both being too infatuated with each other’s presence to move, let alone speak.
Sapnap decides to break the silence another way. He climbs the steps of the stone stairway, walks over to Quackity, and gives him a big, good ol’ nice hug.
He can feel the other flinch under his weight, but eventually giving into the weak intimacy, wrapping his arms around the taller’s body. Sapnap grips tighter, knowing both of them missed this.
He can hear sobs from below, feeling his shirt being gripped by it’s seams. The duck-hybrid is crying into his chest. The taller rubbing circles in the smaller’s back.
They stay like that for a while, Sapnap trying to comfort him as best as possible. He doesn’t know how long it’s really been since they had last seen each other, but all he knew is he wanted his lover to be okay.
Quackity tears through the tensed silence.
“Why’d you leave?” he says, voice extremely small.
“I should be asking you the same thing.” It comes off more bitter than intended.
Quackity didn’t seem to be very fond of those words, pushing away from the hug a bit.
“I came to a home of nothing. No note, no nothing. Shit, what did you want me to expect?”
“We thought you already knew. Karl told me he told you.”
“Well Karl’s a fucking liar.” Sapnap scoffs at the words.
“You know him. You know how he can be.”
“Well “how he can be” should have made him memorable to remember me. His fucking fiance.” Every word Quackity says reeks and drips of sourness. It tastes of dry, old bitter candies.
He continues on his emptyless rant. “I know you guys don’t fucking care-Hell, probably love me anymore.” He dryly laughs. “I’ve seen how happy you little shits are in your little mushroom kingdom. You guys are fine without me, you can leave.” Sapnap queries on his knowledge of their wellbeing in Kinoko.
“Don’t say that. You know we care.” Sapnap really doesn’t know what to say, how to comfort him. He doesn’t know how to express his love in anything other than physicalities. He’s just grasping at simple words.
“No. No you don’t.” Quackity pushes him away in full, putting a good amount of distance between their bodies.
“Why the hell would I come here then?” Sapnap chuckles in anger. “I’d have no other reason to anyway.”
“I don’t fuckin’ know, to anger me, tease me of your damn happiness with Mr. Forget Me Nots over there.”
“Do you even know what those flowers mean?”
“Does that fucking matter right now?”
They both practically yelling at each other at this point. They’re both trying to get their point across to each other, trying to convince each other of their caring, but talking to blank, stone walls. Both their faces are red and flushy, nearing to stain in tears. They’re breaking tense and cold. It’s getting nasty.
“Look. Just fucking leave man. You guys don’t need me anymore, and I have Las Nevadas to take care of. Hell, I probably have customers and clients right now to take care of. We can go our separate ways officially, and it’ll all be okay. You can go enjoy your life in your fairyland over there, and I can stay here, home. ” The words come feverish to Sapnap’s ears. There’s a hot, stinging sensation boiling in his chest.
He’d like to think the man in front of him is lying through his goddamn teeth with the words said, but he can’t tell at all. He wants to believe that this is all a dream, that he’ll wake up, both lovers beside him, but it’s really, really not.
“So you just...don’t care about us anymore?” The fire-hybrid pauses. “Is that what you’re saying?”
It seems to completely stop Quackity of any argument. His eyes go wide and glossy, mouth quickly closed at the statement.
“W-Well that’s not what I meant’-”
An anger boils inside of Sapnap suddenly, stronger than any other emotion in this current moment. “You gonna’ find some other lovers? Find some other winter lovers to drag along your ass for months and leave behind too? Dude, you’re becoming fucking Schlatt at this point!”
He knows he’s crossing boundaries at this point. He knows how crushing it is to Quackity at the words bulletting out his mouth. He’s too drowned in his own anger to care.
“You look like shit, and act like it too! You’ve been nothing but a total fucking ass the whole time I’ve been here. You don’t look happy no matter what you say to me! This place seems like a fucking palace to you, maybe I should just listen to whatever the fuck you’re saying.” He’s boiling hot, displeastion coming out in full.
“Sapnap wait-”
Sapnap breaks. “What did you want? What could have possibly made you any fuckin’ happier than it is for you? You have all the money in the world, the most powerful people on the goddamn server, what more could you possibly need?”
“What would have made you happy?” There's an extreme sense of malice behind his words.
The face of the man in front of him is indescribable. His mouth is agape, nearly angry, but not quite. Saddened, to an extreme.
“You. You and Karl.” He says. “That’s all I really wanted.”
The tension in the air is palpable. It’s a force greater than any motion. Ineffable, in all words.
Sapnap takes a step forward. It’s an act of desperation, one last call out. He’s shaking, his action buckling beneath his weight.
It’s a strained melody, Sapnap, the instrumentalist on his giving breath, and his lover, his poor poor lover, the conductor.
Quackity takes a step back.
His face is full of saddened disgust, even after such warm, kindling words from moments before. Sapnap stares into his eyes, searching for just a seap of recognition. All he sees is himself in those eyes, all a reflection.
He’s clearly so full of pain, pain caused by him, him and Karl. He would do nothing less, hell, give the entire world to walk up to his lover and reassure him it was all okay. But it wasn’t. They had both ruined it.
“Sam!” He calls out. Sapnap stills.
The near to tall creeper immediately arrives at the scene. Sapnap questions his knowledge of the situation. Was he watching?
“Sam, escort this visitor out of Las Nevadas. Immediately.”
The hybrid pauses for a moment.
“Yes sir.”
Sam grabs his arm, harder than he wants it to be, and drags him to the entrance of the place.
As Sapnap is forced out of the casino, he takes one more glimpse of his former fiance.
And he’s staring right back.
But, there isn’t anything behind it.
Nothing behind those tired scarred eyes, the small sag of his beanie, or the tight grip of the chained rings on his neck. It’s just him.
There’s nothing left to say. No words of anger, bitterness, or love to utter. They’re going their separate ways, and will do so, forever.
The duck-hybrid’s silhouette gets fainter and blurrier as he’s pulled to leave.
They finally reach the leaving entrance to the build. Sam pushes him to the outside entryway, beckoning to close the fencing door slowly before stilling with a pause.
The creeper-hybrid leans slightly forward.
“I’m sorry.” It’s all he says, with pained eyes. Sapnap can’t tell what he’s bargaining that towards. It doesn’t matter.
He slams the door with a harsh slam, leaving the wind breeze to fill into the fire-hyrbrid’s face.
It’s cold. Very, very cold.