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Tavros can feel his legs and his back and, well, most of his body aching as he walks. He's not really sure how long he's been walking; his perception of time has gotten pretty skewed after all the time he's spent being dead. His physical endurance hasn't really been kept in tiptop shape either. Stupid Dave and his stupid bird-shaped hair and stupid shades and stupid video games.
Tavros feels briefly proud of himself for working up a bit of hate, if he could even call it that, but it fizzles out quickly. He likes Dave, even when he's being all sulky and reclusive and tells him to get lost.
He realizes he's been staring at the ground for most of his walk and looks up. He takes a moment to survey his surroundings, avoiding any panicked feelings by telling himself he's just tired, and it's absolutely fine that he has no idea where he is.
But the truth is that he really does have absolutely no idea where he is or how he got here. Or how he's going to get back to his dream bubble at all ever.
And this place is absolutely nothing like any dream bubble Tavros has ever seen. His surroundings are mostly black and white; strange symbols are scrawled across the sky, or what he thinks is the sky. There's something strangely human about them, but they're possibly the least strange thing in this place. Everything is just so abstract. There are smoky clouds of white mist against red-black nothing. Looking back down, the ground he's standing on is the same white mist as the clouds. He hadn't noticed a change while he was walking, from nice dream bubble grass to this stuff.
He looks up and around again, and his surroundings have changed. Shifted, really. He's no longer even sure which direction he was walking when he arrived.
The bottom line is that he's thoroughly lost in a very, very strange place.
********
It's another perfectly wonderful day in the Yin Yang world.
At least, Good Jack assumes that it's another day. It could be a night, or a morning, or an afternoon. Time works in rather peculiar ways here, and it's not like there's a sun or a moon to tell time with. There are occasionally clocks, but they're not very reliable. Always doing silly things like ringing at the wrong times or working backwards or just spinning their hands around in rapid little circles.
Well, whatever it is, it's perfectly wonderful! And Good Jack can feel that something really fantastic is going to happen. He has no idea what, of course. But he has a Very Strong Feeling, and Very Strong Feelings are usually right!
Humming a decidedly cheerful tune to himself, he begins to make his way through the misty, ever-changing landscape of the Yin Yang World. He's not sure where he's going, and even if he was it wouldn't really matter. When traveling in the Yin Yang World, you're more likely to end up where you need to go, and not necessarily where you want to go.
A sudden swirl of mist, a windless gust, and Good Jack is on a flat stretch of cloud. For the Yin Yang World, this is almost mundane. The ground doesn't undulate, the sky is above him, and there is no sign of the chi creature or of any of the various strange beasts that haunt this plane of existence.
How lovely!
Good Jack clasps his hands together in glee. The last time he'd seen a stretch like this, there had been visitors! His good friends, the Xiaolin monks! And his evil self, as well! It hadn't ended well, of course, but he's not going to dwell on that right now, not when there might be someone else here! Someone he can talk to, someone who won't try to eat him or devour his soul!
He beams to himself and skips into the mist, keeping his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Or what passes as ordinary here, anyway.
It's not long before he sees it, a figure off in the distance. It's rather hard to see it through the mist, so he can't tell who or what it is, but it's far too small and bipedal to be the kind of thing that usually roams the Yin Yang world. So it is a visitor! He picks up his pace, skipping faster and faster until he's practically bounding across the misty landscape, drawing closer and closer to the figure.
When he thinks he's close enough to be within earshot, he waves one arm over his head (though he's not sure the visitor can see it, as they are currently in a thick bank of fog) and calls out a greeting.
"Hellooooooo!"
Through the fog, Good Jack can see the other stiffen and whirl around. Oh, good, they'd heard him! He can't make out any details from where he's standing due to the poor visibility, but the fog will clear soon. Whoever it is seems to be wearing some sort of Viking hat or something - he can see horns sticking out a good foot on either side of what is presumably their head. Who does he know who owns a Viking hat? He slows down to think. Hm. Nobody, really! Jack (that is, his evil self) has one, but he never wears it, and Good Jack can't imagine that he'd wear it into the Yin Yang World, that would just be silly.
So whoever it is...it's someone he doesn't know! YAY!
Good Jack takes a few more steps forward, and suddenly the fog is gone and he can see his visitor standing just about 10 feet away. Closer than he'd thought!
Now that he can see the other, he stops and stares for a minute. This was certainly not what he was expecting! He'd assumed that whoever it was was human, of course. They'd certainly seemed to be shaped that way from a distance. But humans don't usually have skin this color. It's hard to tell, as everything here is some shade of red or black, but it looks like it would be gray under normal circumstances. Gray! That can't be healthy!
And as if the gray skin weren't strange enough this person - if it is a person - is not wearing a Viking hat, as Good Jack had originally thought. He'd been right about the horns, but they're not part of a hat. They're coming right out of this person's head! How unusual.
Apart from the skin and the horns, his visitor appears to be pretty normal. A skinny, awkward boy around the age of 13 or 14, with thick black hair cut in a Mohawk style, dressed in a black jacket over a black shirt and pants and sandals over white socks. There's a symbol on his shirt. Good Jack is pretty sure that it stands for a zodiac sign, but he can't recall which one it is. Scorpio, maybe?
Beyond that, the boy's only other unusual features are his pointed ears, the sharp teeth poking down from his upper lip, and his eyes. His eyes are solid white and glow very faintly. It's rather eerie, and Good Jack can't stop the slight chill that goes down his back.
Oh well. Creepy eyes or no, he has someone to talk to! He offers the strange boy a beaming smile and walks up to him, arms outstretched in preparation for a hug. "Hi there!"
"Oh, uh, h-hi?" The boy backs away a bit, eyeing Good Jack's outstretched arms cautiously - at least, he seems to be. It's kind of hard to tell with his blank white eyes. Well, that won't do! Maybe he doesn't like hugs? No, that's silly. Everyone likes hugs!
Still, maybe the hug is a little much for someone he's just met. Good Jack drops his right arm and continues his approach with his left arm outstretched. A friendly handshake should do, right?
He catches up to the boy and grabs his hand, pumping it up and down enthusiastically. "Hey there! I'm Jack, though most of my friends call me Good Jack. It sure is nice to meet you! What's your name?"
The boy seems to be unable to speak at first, but eventually gets out, "Tavros?" His voice quavers a bit, like he's not totally sure of it.
"Tavros? Wow, that's a beautiful name!" Good Jack gushes, continuing to shake Tavros's arm up and down.
His eyes widen the second Good Jack's words process. "I, uh - Thanks?"
"You're welcome!" Good Jack drops the handshake, though Tavros's arm still swings back and forth a few times. He rocks back on his feet and offers the other boy his most beaming smile. "So, what brings you here to the Yin Yang World? We don't get visitors often!"
The landscape around them changes, the cloudy plain falling away, dissolving into water and washing around them until they stand on a pillar of black rock, with a river of water suspended in the space over their heads.
Good Jack doesn't bat an eyelash, so used is he to the frequent changes of scenery, but Tavros jumps a bit and takes an involuntary step back, nearly falling off the pillar.
Quick as a flash, Good Jack grabs him by the collar and yanks him back. "Whoopsie daisy!"
Tavros makes an embarrassing squeaking sound and is a bit too preoccupied trying to cling to this "Good Jack" guy as tightly as he can to properly thank him.
"Does this place, uh, you know, do this a lot?"
"Do what? Oh, the scenery shifty thing? Yeah, all the time! Neat, huh?" Good Jack grins like it really is the neatest thing ever, and Tavros can't help but give him a small smile. He probably isn't going to hurt him too much, Tavros guesses, not yet.
"What is this place, anyway?" Every chance he gets, Tavros looks around (Good Jack can only really tell by his head moving, his eyes being blank, white slates and all). He's just waiting for the scenery to shift again; the very thought of it is making him more tense than he's used to being when he's nervous.
"The Yin Yang World!" Good Jack throws his arms wide, gesturing to the area around them. "It can be a little scary sometimes and it's really in need of a good cleaning, but it's pretty wonderful once you get used to it!"
Tavros looks skeptical but retains his tiny smile. "That's nice, I guess. But, uh, do you know how to get back to the dream bubbles? I think I sort of accidentally walked out of mine, maybe." His voice sort of falters at the end, unsure and a little embarrassed.
Good Jack blinks. "Dream bubbles? What's a dream bubble?" The pillar they're on shudders and crumbles, plunging them into a canyon surrounded by craggy, oddly shaped dark gray rocks and lit by a dim red glow. Tavros yelps and grabs on to Good Jack again. Good Jack doesn't seem too bothered by it.
It takes Tavros quite a bit longer to recover from this one, but he uses Good Jack to get his bearings. Good Jack's accepting, happy attitude about all of this is actually pretty comforting, in a very weird sort of way. But some of the comfort is lost when Tavros realizes what Good Jack had said. "You don't know what a dream bubble is?" He looks around like his dream bubble, or any dream bubble, really, will just miraculously appear somewhere. He's caught between freaking out and explaining it to Good Jack, and ends up just making some panicked, nonsensical noises.
"Oh, my goodness! Are you all right?" Good Jack asks him, concerned. He places his hands on Tavros's shoulders and leans in slightly to see him better in the dim light.
"I, well. I guess I'm pretty okay. I just really need to get back to my dream bubble." He's not entirely sure why he feels like he absolutely needs to right this moment. He'll be dead forever, after all. But his bubble is the safest place he knows, Good Jack out here with him or not.
"Oh, right, your dream bubble." Good Jack nods sagely. "Yes, we should get you back there lickety-split!" He grabs Tavros's hand and makes as if to run off with him through the dimly lit canyon, but stops short in his tracks. "Wait! I still don't know what a dream bubble is."
"Oh, um." Tavros stops for a moment, thinking. "Well, I guess it's basically just sort of where you go when you die; like, you know, when you aren't alive anymore."
"When you die? You're dead? Oh, you poor thing!" Good Jack grabs Tavros and wraps him into a bone-crushing bear hug, tears welling up in his eyes. "That sounds so horrible!" He sobs.
Tavros tenses up even more from the initial shock of the hug, but relaxes surprisingly fast. "Oh, it's not so bad." He assumes Good Jack means being dead sounds horrible, not dying itself. Because dying was pretty horrible and he doesn't want to think or talk about it much at all, really.
"Not so bad? But you're dead!" His lower lip quivers at the thought and he begins to full-out sob. "You're so young! You had your whole life ahead of you and you're dead! It's just so sa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaad!" he wails, hugging Tavros even tighter.
Tavros, quite awkwardly, attempts to comfort him, patting his head and his back gingerly and making shooshing noises. It doesn't really work. He looks around desperately for something, anything, to stop the nice, happy boy's crying. "Uh. Hey, why don't you tell me more about this place? And, you know, yourself? That is to say, what do you do here and why are you here and, you know, anything you want. I mean, I don't want to pressure you or anything; if you don't want to talk about anything you don't have to, but, uh, you seem really nice and interesting!" He opens his mouth to say more, but cuts himself off, realizing he's sort of rambling again. Some more. Like usual.
Good Jack immediately perks up, releasing Tavros from the hug and beaming. "You want me to tell you about myself? Really? Gosh, nobody's ever asked me about myself before!" He paces back and forth for a few seconds, frowning deeply as he thinks. "Hmmm...I don't know where to begin, honestly! It's a very long and complicated story!"
"Oh, well, I guess, we've got a lot of time, if time here works like time in the bubbles. That is to say, not very, uh, fluidly. And I'm not really sure about you but I think I literally have forever to talk to you!"
"Forever? Wow, that sure is a lot of time!" Good Jack grins, clapping his hands. "Let's get to somewhere a little more comfortable and I'll tell you everything!"
As he speaks, their surroundings shift again. The craggy canyon walls move back a bit, allowing more of the Yin Yang World's light to reach them. The canyon fills with luminous mist, lighting it up even more. Some of the mist solidifies, forming comfortable-looking mounds of softly glowing clouds. Good Jack flounces over to one of the mounds and plops down on it, looking quite content.
"This should do nicely!" he chirps.
Tavros follows and sits next to him, a bit more slow and cautious. "So, uh. Go ahead, I guess. I mean, you know, whenever you're ready."
"Okay!" Good Jack folds his legs up under him and leans back a bit, resting his hands on his knees. "Hmm, where to begin? It really is a long story! I have no clue where to start!"
"I don't know, uh. How about you start when you were-" Tavros stops briefly, the human word for it trapped on the tip of his tongue. "Uh. Born?"
"Well, that would make the story too long! And..well, I guess you could say that I was born twice! So that's a little confusing." Good Jack frowns. "Hmmmm..."
"I mean, you don't have to tell me everything, you know; not, I mean, like, every single detail, unless you really want to. I wouldn't mind that, but you seem to not want to do something of that nature, so. Uh, I suppose you could just skip around to the parts you like best, if that's okay with you." Tavros has no idea what this "born twice" nonsense could mean, but he chalks it up to cultural differences.
"Hmm." Good Jack taps a finger on his chin, considering. "Well...what if I just give you the short version, and then you can ask me about the parts you don't understand?"
"Well, if that's what you think is best, I'd, uh, say that sounds like a plan. I mean, you know, as far as storytelling plans go, that sounds like a rather good one."
"All righty then!" He places his hand back on his knee. "Hmm...well...long story short, I used to be evil, and then I came here and cloned myself to save my friends! And then I was trapped here for a while, and then I didn't exist for a little while, but then," he shrugs, "well, I'm still not sure what happened! But I exist now! And I've been here ever since." He grins.
"You used to be, uh, evil? Did you kill a lot of people? Or, uh, horribly disfigure them? I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but, if you need to get something off your chest, I'm all ears. That is to say, I'm listening and you can tell me basically anything and it will be pretty okay with me, probably."
"Kill people?" Good Jack recoils, eyes wide. "Good heavens, no! No, no, no! I've never killed a soul, not even back when I was evil. Never even wanted to! I'm sure my evil self would tell you otherwise if you asked, but he'd be lying!"
"Have you hurt anyone at all? Even if you did, I don't think either you or your, uh, 'evil' self sounds very evil at all! Unless, of course, your culture deems being whatever your concept is of 'evil' necessary to avoid being culled or whatever the punishment might be, if there's a punishment at all. Actually, I guess I'm probably being pretty presumptuous, I don't really know anything about your culture at all, so." Tavros stops. He just sort of stops and smiles awkward-encouragingly at Good Jack.
"Presumptuous? Oh, no, not at all! Though...I'm not entirely certain what you mean by 'culled.' It doesn't sound like a very good thing!" He frowns slightly. "But being evil certainly isn't necessary in my culture. It's generally considered a bad thing. Not that that ever bothered me. Him. Us. My evil self," he adds in response to Tavros's confused look. "And you're right. He wasn't very evil. Isn't. But he considers himself to be evil. He wants to rule the world." He gets a misty look on his face, gazing into the distance at nothing in particular.
Wow, that's sort of a lot of information to take in. "So, uh. Are you and your 'evil' self two different people? You know, you each have your own bodies and can do things, uh, rather separately?"
"Well, we are now, I guess." Good Jack shrugs. "I'm not entirely sure how this sort of thing works, but I do feel like my own person!"
Tavros smiles a bit at this. "So you wouldn't, I guess, change back? Ever? There's no possibility or anything?"
"Well, there are ways I could turn evil, or become a part of my evil self again, but I don't think they're going to happen!" He gives Tavros a smile of his own. "I definitely don't plan on turning evil any time soon."
"I probably wouldn't like you being evil all of a sudden very much, no matter how not really evil your evil self seems to be. I mean, maybe I would, since he's not so evil and all, even if he tries or wants to be, but uh. Well, I really like you the way you are. You know, 'good.'" He lets his mouth slide into the frankly pretty goofy grin he'd felt coming on, teeth showing a little.
"Aww, thank you!" Good Jack coos, beaming. "That's really sweet of you." He tilts his head to the side slightly, watching Tavros's grin. "Wow, you sure do have a lot of teeth."
Tavros clamps his lips closed, still keeping his smile. He laughs nervously through his lips.
"Oh!" He looks sheepish. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you! I think they're really neat!" An apologetic grin. "You look really nice when you smile like that!"
A brown blush spreads across Tavros's cheeks. He doesn't seem to know what to do with himself. "I, uh- No one." The goofy, teeth-baring grin returns. "No one's ever, um, said I looked nice or anything like that. Uh, before. You know, when I was alive. And definitely not now that I'm dead, I've only met maybe a handful of people and- well." He stops and just smiles. He just smiles and feels pretty okay.
"No one?" Good Jack is shocked, honestly shocked. "Really? Why ever not? I think you look positively adorable!" He grins, then blinks. "Oh! I'm sorry, was that weird? I'm sorry if that was weird! Are you okay?"
Good Jack doesn't get an answer, not a verbal one. Instead, Tavros leans forward and, a bit clumsily but as gently as possible, kisses him.
Good Jack's eyes snap wide open, as far open as they can possibly go, and he makes a noise that sounds very much like "nrrrngh!" He doesn't pull away from the kiss, nor does he lean in. He's frozen, at a loss for what to do. He's not sure he knows what he wants to do.
When Good Jack doesn't really respond to the kiss, Tavros pulls away. His face twitches back and forth between a very nervous smile and a horrified frown. "I, uh. I'm sorry, I just."
Good Jack remains frozen for a few long moments, face void of any expression. Eventually, he seems to notice Tavros's expression and starts, hands flying to his mouth. "Oh! Oh my goodness! I...oh, dear! No, no, it's okay! I...there was nothing wrong with...I just wasn't expecting..." he trails off, at a loss.
"I suppose I could warn you next time if you - well, I mean, that is to say, if there even will be a next time which, if you don't want to be a thing that happens, that's okay, but I sort of do, uh, want that to be a thing that happens, so, I mean, not to-"
This time, it's Good Jack who leans forwards and closes the distance between them. Feeling familiar happy excitement, more intense than usual, bubble up in his chest, he makes a pleased humming sound and wraps his arms around Tavros's shoulders, squeezing him into a hug and deepening their kiss. They're comfortable like this for a bit, until Tavros starts shifting around excitedly, almost bouncing up and down in Good Jacks arms like a little kid on Christmas morning.
Before Good Jack can really process what's going on, Tavros has grabbed his head and tilted it a bit, and wow his tongue is totally in his mouth huh.
Well, things are certainly moving...quickly. Good Jack was not expecting this at all. He decides, however, that he doesn't mind it much. Especially not as he tilts his head slightly and Tavros's tongue goes a little deeper and wow he really doesn't mind this at all.
Tavros only plans to pull away a little to catch his breath, but ends up leaning back and loosening his grip on Good Jack, giving him space to gasp and catch his breath. Whoops.
It takes Good Jack a few minutes to get all his breath back, gulping down air as best he can while still red-faced and breathless. He offers Tavros a shaky smile, his hair in disarray and his necktie askew. "That was...wow! That was really...nifty!"
Tavros returns his smile. His face feels so incredibly flushed and his mind is going crazy. "I also think that was rather, uh, 'nifty.' And also basically pretty perfect."
"Yeah," Good Jack agrees, smile growing into a goofy grin. "It was really perfect." He shifts a little closer to Tavros, leaning against him slightly.
Still feeling extremely confident, Tavros chuckles (it's more of a giggle, but shush) and takes Good Jack's hand, tracing circles on his palm with the pad of his thumb.
Good Jack looks up at the other boy. His goofy grin softens into a content smile as he reaches out his free hand to take Tavros's other hand, and he leans in a little closer, turning to rest his head on Tavros's shoulder.
Tavros doesn't pull away or anything, but eventually, with a twinge of regret, he says, "I think maybe looking around for my dream bubble would be a nice thing to do. If you want. I really like doing this, too, so if looking for my bubble is a thing you don't want to do, that would also be okay. With me."
"Oh!" Good Jack sits up. "I almost forgot about that!" He leaps to his feet, pulling Tavros up with him. He twines their fingers together and sets off at a run, dragging Tavros close behind them. They run though the still-shifting canyon, across the rapidly changing landscape of the Yin Yang World. Good Jack's got no real idea of where they're going, but he knows the rules of this world well enough to trust that they'll get to where they need to go.
They could be running for seconds, for hours, for days, but after a while he begins to tire out and slows to a walk with Tavros's hand still clutched firmly in his own. They're on a long, black path that arches and curves through the red-black void around them, their way lit only by the glowing white symbols above them. Good Jack glances up at them - he knows Chinese well enough to understand most of the symbols here. They don't usually seem to have much significance, but reading them can certainly help to pass the time!
There are a few symbols in front of him that he can understand; one says "fish," and another means "joy." At least, he's pretty sure that's what they mean! It's hard to tell, they're kind of blurry.
He looks away from the symbols and back to Tavros. He's looking around, still wide-eyed about this entire place, less and less startled by every sudden change in their surroundings and more curious, panic giving way to awe.
"It's really beautiful here, huh?" Good Jack smiles slightly as Tavros glances at him. "I thought it was kind of scary at first, but now I think it's absolutely gorgeous! In its own way!" He waves his free arm around, gesturing to the floating symbols, the white mist, the dark void around them.
Tavros smiles and nods, only pulling his eyes away from the scenery to grin at Good Jack. "It's actually pretty nice. You know, uh, once you get used to it and everything."
"Exactly!" Good Jack bounces on his toes. "There's never a dull moment, that's for sure!" He glances back up at the symbols, then blinks. "Huh. That's funny."
Tavros follows his gaze to the symbols and, still unable to decipher their meaning, looks back to Good Jack. "What?"
"Look!" He raises their clasped-together hands, gesturing to the void above them. At first glance, it seems that Good Jack is merely gesturing to the symbols, but after a moment it becomes clears that that is not the case. He's not pointing to the symbols, but to the faint, white specks of light around them.
"Stars!"
"Stars? What about them?" He looks hard, trying to find some pattern or color or something that would make them exciting, but sees nothing.
"There are stars! In the sky!" Good Jack is vibrating with excitement and enthusiasm, bouncing around so spastically that he's in danger of bouncing right off the path.
Good Jack's excitement alone gets Tavros to smile, though he's still unsure what's so special about the stars. "Are stars rare? You know, a rare thing for this particular place, not rare in general. Because I think in general stars are pretty common, but not common everywhere, so."
"Rare? They're unheard of!" Good Jack's dancing around now, pulling Tavros into a twirling, leaping, happy, jiggy sort of dance. "I haven't seen stars in AGES! Oh, they're so BEAUTIFUL!"
Tavros laughs, trying to avoid stepping on Good Jack's feet and just lets the happy boy lead him around. He remembers dancing back when he was alive and his legs worked, mostly with Tinkerbull when he was happy and no one was around. But no one's ever really danced with him, not even Gamzee (he would try, of course, but Gamzee would get smacked in the face with Tavros's horns and they'd step all over each other and usually end up in a pile on the floor; it was fun, but it wasn't dancing). It feels good. No, it feels perfect, like he's flowing on the electrical currents Good Jack's excitement is sending out to him.
When they stop, arms still swinging and Good Jack's eyes glued on the starry sky, Tavros says, "There are a lot of stars where I'm from, usually. In the dream bubbles. In my dream bubble, at least."
"Really?" Good Jack doesn't look away from the stars, but his face lights up even more (if that's even possible). "Ooh! Maybe that means we're close!" He hops up and down. "I bet your dream bubble is nearby! It's probably right at the end of this road!"
Tavros looks ahead. The road before them looks rather endless, winding out into the distance, too far to see any sort of end to, but he finds he doesn't really mind. More time to spend in this scary-pretty place, more time to spend walking with Good Jack.
Good Jack finally pulls his eyes away from the sparkling lights above them and turns his head to look at Tavros, his ever-present smile glowing as bright as the stars. "Well, I guess we should keep going, huh?"
"Hah, yes. That seems like a, uh, good plan."
"All right! Let's go!" He squeezes Tavros's hand tight in his own and takes off running again. This time, Tavros is right next to him; keeping pace with him as they sprint along the curving, arching road.
Good Jack looks up at the stars as they run, not concerned about falling or stumbling as he knows that Tavros will pull him back if he gets too close to the edge. He wonders if this is what flying feels like.
Tavros likes running more than he likes walking. It makes his legs feel more real, more functional. He likes feeling his feet against the ground, likes feeling the muscles in his legs. Good Jack's hand squeezing his own just elevates everything, makes it feel more real. He doesn't mind how long they run, he doesn't mind his skewed perception of time and distance making it seem shorter or longer. He just loves doing it, for as long as he possibly can.
They run and run and run, until Good Jack has to slow down to catch his breath again and he realizes that the path beneath their feet has changed. It's still black, and it's still suspended in the void of the Yin Yang World. That hasn't changed. What has changed is that where it hadn't really seemed to be any specific material before - solid energy, probably, there sure is a lot of that here - it now has the look and feel of cracked - yet solid - rock. Like the kind of rock you'd see on the side of a cliff. There's even - wait, what?
Good Jack drops to his knees suddenly, yanking an unsuspecting Tavros down with him. "Look! Look! Do you see that???"
Tavros does see it. At first all he sees is the smidge of color, green sticking out like a sore thumb among all the red and white and black. But then he really sees it, really sees the little clump of half-dead green grass.
"It's grass!" Good Jack squeals, rather unnecessarily. "GRASS! And it's GREEN! Actually GREEN!" He'd forgotten how pretty the color green is! He's grown so used to the grays and reds and blacks of the Yin Yang World that it actually hurts to look at the grass...but it's so PRETTY that he decides that it's worth it.
"Do you think this means we're closer?" he asks Tavros, plucking one of the blades of grass with his free hand and wrapping it around his index finger.
"It probably does, maybe! Sort of!"
"Fabulous!" Good Jack bounces back to his feet, beaming. "Let's keep going, then!"
This time Tavros is the one to grab his hand and run ahead, excited to be back in his bubble with Good Jack. If a measly clump of grass gets him that happy, Tavros can't even imagine how much Good Jack will love it there.
The path beneath their feet begins to change more and more as they run. The clumps of grass grow more frequent, larger, healthier. The stone begins to change color very slightly, fading from black to gray to blueish gray. The air around them gains atmosphere, the red tinge and the white symbols fade from the sky, and suddenly they're not on a narrow, rocky path, but running along a broad, grassy stretch of ground, and Good Jack lets go of Tavros's hand and throws himself to the ground. He rolls on the grass, laughing and squealing at the feel of it. It's been too long! Far too long! He hadn't realized that it was possible to miss something so simple, but he had missed it! With all his heart!
He rolls to a stop beside Tavros's feet and grins up at him. "This is amazing!"
Tavros laughs and drops to his knees. He likes dropping to his knees, too, feeling them and his lower legs against the ground. He basically really likes it whenever his legs function properly. And now he's dropping down on familiar grass, next to a now familiar boy.
He leans down and kisses Good Jack's forehead, laughing a little into his pale skin and then letting himself roll onto the grass next to him.
Good Jack is grinning like a fool, eyes closed as he laughs and breathes in the air. And it's actual air, too! Not the empty, stale void he'd grown so used to, but real, moving air, with scents and moisture and temperature and form. It's absolutely delightful, and he can't even bring himself to care about the fact that his clothes and hair are possibly ruined beyond repair thanks to all his cavorting about.
And the best part - better than the grass, better than the air, better than the colors around him (green and blue and soft gray, literally a sight for sore eyes) - the best part is that he has someone to share it with. Someone who's nice to him and who doesn't think he's annoying or obnoxious - not that that had ever bothered him before, but it's really nice to have someone who doesn't judge him based on how he "should" act or on how different he is from his evil self.
Good Jack doesn't think he's ever felt this happy before. And it feels really, really, really good.
'But,' a tiny voice pipes up in the back of his mind, 'He's not gonna stick around forever. He's just sticking around because he thinks you can get him home. Once you're back in his dream bubble thing - which you probably are, actually - he's out of here. You'll be on your own again.'
Good Jack shakes his head slightly. No. No, Tavros is nicer than that. He doesn't seem like the kind of person - or whatever he is - to just run off and leave someone like that, especially not after all that wonderful kissing and such they'd been doing earlier.
Still, he doesn't feel quite as happy as he did before. He shifts a bit on the grass, moving to press himself against Tavros's side.
Like he was reading his thoughts, Tavros shifts over to his side and kisses Good Jack's cheek, giving him a toothy grin. Good Jack returns it, just slightly less enthusiastic than Tavros had expected.
Tavros plops back onto his back, his head resting a bit above Good Jack's to avoid any complications with his horns. He sighs happily. "I think you'll like Dave. You know, only if we find him for you to meet him and like him. Or not. You don't have to. I don't like him sometimes, but he's my bubblemate, so I guess we were supposed to share a bubble or, uh, whatever. I think I'm supposed to be around you, and I also think that people I'm supposed to be around are supposed to like each other. Uh, if that makes any sense, which it might not, but, I just like to think that." He stops for a moment to catch his breath and sounds nervous when he speaks again. "You, uh. You want to meet Dave, right? And, uh, do more things with me, right?"
Good Jack is silent for a long moment, focusing only on the feeling of another body so close to his. He doesn't want to lose this. He really, really likes Tavros. But he doesn't know how to tell him! He can't think of the right words to say.
Well...maybe he can hold off on that. Tavros isn't leaving just yet, right?
He realizes that Tavros is still waiting for an answer and jumps a bit. "Oh! Uh. Yes! I'm sure I'd love to meet Dave!" And that's true, too. Another person? Joy of joys! "And...I really would like to do more things with you. A lot of things. I think that would be...really nice." He shifts even closer to Tavros, pressed fully into his side now. "I like doing things with you."
Tavros grins. "I really like that too, doing things with you. And not just things, uh, you know, everything. Is better. When you're doing those things with me." He grasps Good Jack's hand, resting it on his chest and closing his eyes. His grin slides into a blissful smile. "I really would like to keep doing a lot of things with you, for as long as possible. Which should hopefully be a really long time."
"Yeah. I...me too." Good Jack smiles softly, quietly. "I think we have a really long time to do things if we want to."
"That sounds like something I would really love to do."
"Really?" Good Jack sits up a little, head tilted. "You're not just saying that, are you?"
Tavros's eyes pop open, surprised. "Of course I'm not just saying that! That's not something I would say, uh, you know, when I didn't one hundred percent mean it."
And Good Jack's not entirely sure what happens next, but it feels like something's fixed, like a door was opened or something, and a really warm and fuzzy feeling wells up in his chest and spreads throughout his body and suddenly he's on top of Tavros and they're kissing again and this feels really good. And there's grass below them, stars above them, and a guy named Dave somewhere in this bubble that he is going to meet, and he's not alone anymore, and this just feels really, really, really...right. Perfect.
After a while - it could be hours, days, years, lifetimes - he pulls back and they just kind of look at each other, and there are bunnies and rainbows doing cartwheels in his chest, and Good Jack has really never felt more at peace than he does right now in this moment with this strange and probably-not-human boy he's only just met.
Tavros can't really believe that someone so kind, so happy, so optimistic could exist, let alone cross his path, let alone be kissing him and liking him and spending time with him. He's never been more completely and totally happy.
Good Jack pulls himself back off Tavros's chest and gets to his feet, holding a hand out to the other boy to help him up. "So...shall we? Do you think you know the way to your bubble now? Because I'm really excited about seeing where you live and everything! I want to meet this Dave fellow!"
Tavros takes his hand, not letting go once he's up. "We're, uh, kind of already in my bubble. But I'm really super exited to show you the rest of it, including Dave. So, uh. Yes. We shall."
As they start walking, Tavros really doesn't think, he simply feels. He feels his legs, working fine, walking fine; he feels the ground under his feet - solid, grassy earth. He feels Good Jack's hand, his arm, his confidence and happiness just seeping out of every pore, his adorable bouncy, prancing gait. He feels loved and happy and confident.
That is to say, he basically feels pretty great.
The mist of the Yin Yang world spirals around them in one final swirl, and a breeze - a real breeze! - ruffles Good Jack's hair. He stops to glance back, allowing Tavros to go ahead without him for a bit as he does.
He stands still for a moment, watching the empty black and white whirls of smoke, the strange creatures, the disorienting shapes and angles of the dimension he's come to call his own. Finally, he raises his hand in a gesture of farewell before turning to follow his new companion into this strange new world.