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Quackity walked back from the trap that Purpled laid on the floor outside of the Las Nevadas casino. He towered up from the lava that scorched his skin, while grasping onto remains of slime that fell down to the lava floor. It hurt. His skin was practically melting, as he broke the roof of the trap. It was raining in the artificial desert which allowed his skin to cool, but it still hurt when it was raining pellets of water that stung. The Hispanic made his way into his apartment home in Las Nevadas and heard the ghost from hell’s gym chirp from inside as he swung the door open.
“GLATT! Hey, sugar pumpki-” When his iris-less eyes looked back at Quackity, alarm bells rang into his ears as the Mexican looked up from his slumped posture. His arms hung with angry red welts and broken skin. “-what the fuck, Quackity what happened to you?!” the ghost exclaimed, gliding down to the man trying to help him up but Quacktiy pushed past him.
“I’m not in the mood to deal with your shit, Schlatt” He mumbled tiredly as he made his way through his living area. “Today isn’t a good day.” He stalked through the hallway and made his way to the bathroom. From there, he took out a first aid kit and sat down on the toilet.
The ghost looked at him sadly while leaning against the door frame with his arm crossed. “What?” Quackity snapped, causing the ghost ram to sigh, “I just want to help you.”
“Wanna know how you can help?”
“Yes!”
“You can help by staying put in the living room.”
Quackity’s clothes weren’t as tattered due to the netherite he wore, but despite all that, his skin still burned. So when Glatt was about to go to the sofas, he decided to turn his head back. From there, he saw the damage the lava did to him when his trousers and shirt were off and exposed his burnt-up body from the foot to the edge of his chest.
“Quackity-”
“I said in the living room. Did I not?”
“You know what?” Glatt turned around and leaned back against the door frame, “No. I’m gonna stay here.” Quackity shot a glare at him before looking back down at his legs and torso. Sighing he finally gave in, “ fine. ”
Glatt took the chance and floated down, “You need to clean up a bit.” He turned on the shower tap for lukewarm water. When the tub was filled, Glatt picked him up and gently placed the burnt man into the water. He stifled a hiss as he was submerged while the ghost muttered “sorry”.
Quiet settled in and the only sounds that were heard were the sloshing of water in the tub and the occasional drip from the faucet. Glatt leaned back, sitting on the floor, and looked up at the man who had a pensive look on his face, his eyes trained on his limbs under the water. “You didn’t answer my question earlier.” The duck remained silent. Unlike any other hybrid who wore their features, Quackity was able to materialize his wings in and out of existence. One second his back can be bare and then the next, there could be small wings attached to them. Thankfully, he chose not to materialize them in the lava. He remained silent, but Glatt poked at his side causing him to flinch and smack his hand, “That fucking hurts, asshole.”
“I know. So can you please answer my question? You can’t just keep avoiding me you know? I’m right fuckin’ here.”
Quackity remained quiet, making Glatt get up and begin walking to the door. But when he heard a quiet sob, he stopped in his tracks and turned back around to see Quackity holding his head in his hands. He murmured something, but the ghost couldn’t catch it. “What?”
“I said he’s fucking gone!” Quackity’s voice trailed quieter, but he could hear it. “Who?” Glatt asked, his voice careful.
“Slime… god, why did it have to be him? Of all people it had to be him…” The duck sniffled. “Do you…” Glatt came back by the tub and hovered just above the floor with his legs crossed, “wanna talk about it?”
Quackity turned his head, his eyes puffy and red with tears. His voice shaking and spat out with venom in his words, “Why would I tell you ”
“Well, there’s no one else here and I’m the only one around. So… I think I should know.” The Mexican squinted at him accusingly which made him put his hands up, “Hey, I won’t tell. It’s not like I talk to anyone in this fuckin’ server. They all hate me out there for some reason.”
Sighing once more, his shoulders that were once tense faltered just a bit. “Purpled betrayed me”
“Of course you don’t.”
“I DON’T HAVE THE FUCKING BOOK”
“He wanted the revival book. I didn’t have it and he thought I was lying.”
“Even if I did have the fucking book. I wouldn’t give it to you.”
“So…” he sucked in a breath and shuddered, reliving the memory of moments ago.
Purpled ender pearled in front of Slime and pushed him off the ledge of the hanging platform. Quackity jumped from the ledge and swam in the molten hot liquid while placing down the sand in an attempt to save him.
“GET IN THE SAND! GET IN THE SAND. SLIME!”
“Thank you for showing me what it’s like to be human…”
“NO! GET IN THE SAND! GET IN THE SAND-”
“Maybe I almost was…!”
The days were finally catching up to him and he realized that he didn’t exactly have anyone left. He visited Kinoko, but found out that his fiance (if he would even consider that, at this point) called him a murderer. He thought Techno and Dream escaped when the first-ever alarm blared from the prison, and not only that, just a few hours ago he lost the last person he could trust. Quackity shut his eyes and with a shuddering breath, he cried, “he pushed him off the ledge and I tried so hard to save him but he just… he just couldn’t… I- I tried. I jumped off the ledge and I tried to save him but I couldn’t and now he’s fucking gone and it’s all my fault…”
“Why does this always happen to me…?” he choked out, as a fresh set of tears streamed down his scarred face. “Can’t it just… be somebody else’s turn?” He pleaded to the universe and sure, Schlatt wasn’t always the best at… things. But watching Quackity from afar and build up this whole nation of economic prosperity, he was so proud of him. He agreed that he shouldn’t be going through all this.
“It’s not your fault that he’s gone. You tried your best, and he still has two more lives, right? This isn’t the end for him.”
“He’s slime! He’s a literal fucking slime! At the end of the day… he’s not human…”
“Don’t say that shit. He sounds just as human as any of us. Albeit a bit of a dumbass, but he sounds like he’s got a good heart.”
Quackity laughed, though it was a weak attempt, “yeah…”
After spending 10 or 15 minutes or so in the now room temperature water, Glatt got up and picked the duck up, sort of glad that he didn’t protest. Despite being dead, he felt warm and Quackity didn’t mind the dead cold touch of the ghost. He did fall into lava to save a friend, after all. “Let’s get you wrapped up. Regen potions and all that.” Quackity nodded as he allowed himself to be carried to the bed where he laid there motionless. Staring up at the ceiling with a blank stare and a tear coming down his right eye. Glatt looked at him sadly and made his way to a nearby ender chest and brought it by the bed. “I don’t think I have any shit in my ender chest. Can you open yours?”
Silently, Quackity reached an arm out and opened the chest, bringing out two regeneration potions and lazily placed them on the bed. The potions glowed a soft pink, the corks of the bottles closed shut. Dragging the chest back to its original spot, the ghost twisted the corks off and began applying some to the burns. The Hispanic hissed at certain parts, but overall he remained unmoving. When the front of his body was finished, the ghost asked for the other to lay down on his stomach. Sure enough, he did and Glatt opened the second bottle of regen and applied the potion on his backside. Tossing the empty potion bottles to the side, he announced, “I’m going to get you some bandages. Wrap that all up and shit.”
Receiving a hum, he went back into the bathroom to get a roll of bandages and scissors from the mirror cabinet. Taking a close look at himself, half of hisface was scarred by a firework, and his neck had a mark. He didn’t know why he had those marks, it might’ve been how he died, so he thought nothing of them. The blue sweater ghost came back and silently worked and wrapped Quackity’s arms and legs, and then asked him to sit up so he could wrap his torso. By the time he finished, Glatt took a step back to admire his handiwork.
After a moment of silence, Quackity uttered out, “thank you…”
“Anytime flatty—“
The man shot him a glare which made Glatt laugh, “I’m only joking, sugar. You know I don’t mean it.” Which was true. Before the dreaded election, they genuinely did love each other. All those teasing names like JShit or Flatty Patty were nothing but jokes and for shits and giggles. Afterward? Those jokes hurt. It seemed that Glatt was like Ghostbur. Only more like the person he was before Manberg.
The ghost’s laughter died when he didn’t hear the other say Jshit or even laugh. If he had a heart, it would’ve sunk. “Was I… really that much of a piece of shit…?”
Quackity huffed out a yes which made Glatt swallow any other remark. Sitting down beside him, the bed dipped and his hand crawled it’s way to Quackity’s left hand. A finger not even remotely close to touching his hand, the Mexican recoiled just slightly before allowing the cold hand to lace their fingers together.
“Schlatt, please. Not today it’s already too much-“ his voice quivered, overwhelmed with everything that has been happening.
“Alex, please. I don’t know what I did to you back in Manberg, just let me in please…” his grip tightened, but it was gentle and his voice sounded… desperate. “I’m sorry for whatever I did, please. I love you. ”
Quackity’s grip on his hand tightened, a sort of reassurance that maybe, just maybe. After all this time, he did still love him back. “I have work to do.” He said, trying to get up from the bed, but Glatt placed a hand on his chest, preventing him from going up any further. “No. Take a rest. You’ve had a really… really long day. You can do what you want tomorrow, and I can help you. Just as long as I don’t get into the sun.” He laughed close to the end which made Quackity smile. Just a bit. The first ever smile that was genuine the entire day. Or maybe it was the week. The shorter of the two laid back down on the bed, bringing the ghost with him. He didn’t lay on his side since it hurt, so looking up counted for something.
“Thank you, again. Sorry for being an ass.”
“I get it. After a long day, you just want to stop everything. It’s common sense after all.” He didn’t know what came over him, but the ram raised his head and placed a kiss on his forehead to which Quackity leaned into and that was enough of a surprise for him. “I love you. Tomorrow we’ll figure it out. Sleep tight.”
When the lights were shut, and the two closed their eyes, Glatt was about to fall asleep when Quackity spoke, “Schlatt?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you too.”
----
“Hey,” said Quackity, looking down at his desk, trousers on; his torso exposed with bandages. Books towered over him, and some were threatening to fall over and spill to the floor. All the books were about slimes and other creatures. Some books were about how Quackity found slime and how he shaped him into a better person, one that can possibly trust people again.
“What is it?” Glatt answered back. He’s been helping Quackity out though in reality, he’s just been checking on him making sure he hasn’t lost his sanity, seeing that his appearance didn’t call for sane, it was more of a mess. His hair was definitely longer and it stuck out of his beanie.
“I don’t want to call him slime anymore…”
“Oh? Then… what do you wanna call him?”
“I think… I think I want to call him Charlie. I-It sounds stupid, but… I guess it fits him”
“Charlie” Glatt repeated, trying to get a feel for the name. It rolled off the tongue he thought. “I like it, it has a nice ring to it.” He agreed, floating just behind the man at the desk, placing his hands on his shoulders and gently headbutting him so he wouldn’t hurt him.
Quackity smiled and shut the book he was writing on the desk, “Okay, then.
Let’s bring back Charlie.”