Chapter Text
Bdubs crawls from his grave. His skin is grey and rotten, his clothes desaturated, and he doesn't have a smell. As if he didn't truly exist. You'd expect a zombie to reek, but that is not what he is.
"Etho?"
His husband doesn't reply.
"Eefers, I came back. I- I remembered how. From Demise. Just like Demise."
Etho tenses, hands shaking. He pulls Bdubs' moss hoodie tight around himself. He's mumbling something that Bdubs can't hear.
Bdubs stumbles closer. Moss has grown through his skin, reforming the hoodie that Etho now clings to. Blackened roses scratch at him, thorned and painful even as they are a part of him.
"It's not real, he's gone, you need to let go... let go, let go, breathe.. count your breaths, it'll leave, it always leaves..."
Bdubs collapses, hugging Etho from behind, wheezing in breath he doesn't need.
"Hey, Etho."
"...Bdubs?"
"It's me, I promise."
Etho stares ahead blankly, shaking.
"You always say that."
"I'm sorry."
Etho's arm spasms, and he cries out, holding it to his chest.
"Etho!?"
"I- ow- fuck, Bdubs, why- why the wither roses?"
"THEY'RE WHAT NOW!?"
"Hey, hey, it's fine- I'm fine, you're-"
Etho turns his head, leaning it against Bdubs' with a sigh.
"It means you're real, doesn't it?"
"That it does, Eefers."
They breathe together. Bdubs doesn't need to. He wants to, though.
Etho's heartbeat sounds wrong. He's slumping forward, out of Bdubs' grip.
"Etho? Et- ETHO!"
His veins are pulsing black, and it's far too late already. Etho falls forward, splayed acrossed the half-repaired floor of the snow castle. Shivering wrecks him, and Bdubs can't even provide the warmth of a person, only kneel beside him and beg. He has no warmth when made of nothing.
Etho grabs his hand, grip loose and cold. Colder, even, than the walls around them.
"M-mms'k?"
His speech is slurred, incoherent, but Bdubs gets the point. He's gentle in pulling Etho's mask away, revealing an enderman's jaw, curved into a smile.
"Oh, please don't- don't do that. Please."
Etho squeezes his hand. His eyes search through Bdubs' expression, begging for something that hurts to give. He can't, but... it's for Etho.
Bdubs smiles.
The hand in his falls limp.
Ping!
Ethoslab withered away