Chapter Text
Rain is uncommon out in the desert, but tonight was an uncommon night. The rain pounded against the glass as Quackity sat up at the top of his skyscraper, nursing a glass of wine he'd only taken one sip of and staring out the window. The open doorways meant water was still coming inside, and he was getting slightly damp from it all, but he wasn't particularly paying attention. His mind was elsewhere; the past and the future all at once, just never in the present. The present was the worst time, so he chose not to stay in it.
The rain was thick and heavy, making it near impossible to see any further than a couple paces away from the bottom of the building. Not that Quackity was particularly interested in what was on the grounds of Las Nevadas; he had it memorized. He spent every minute there. And if not there, then Wilbur's shack five minutes away.
Everything stayed the same down there. The crew came and went as they had to, but most of them either betrayed him, never came around or up and fucking died on him.
That's how it always was. He gets attached to someone, then loses them. Often due to his own mistakes.
Speaking of mistakes, not building doors on this skyscraper was one of them. His face was damp with rain flung inwards, he narrowed his eyes to avoid it getting into the one that worked.
And yet, through his narrowed vision he could see something in the rain, down on the ground. Something bright.
Someone he hadn't seen in a long time.
Quackity stood up quickly, suddenly not as bothered by the rain as he ran out to the rail and looked over.
Karl. One of the men he had loved, who loved him before… before what? He didn't even know. But suddenly it had felt like he didn't even exist to Karl.
So why was he sprinting into Las Nevadas in the pouring rain?
Quackity watched for a minute, something not sitting right in his chest.
Before he could let it fester for too long, he ran back inside and took the elevator back down to the ground floor. He stood as calmly as possible in the elevator, but his loafers tapped rapidly against the floor. That lift had never felt so slow.
When he reached the bottom, the door opened painfully slowly. Quackity groaned and pushed it open quicker, running out of the building to find Karl just outside, chest heaving and clothes soaked. His breath was shaky, wavering.
"Karl? What are you- why are you-" he paused. "You're here."
"You- I know that-" Karl was wheezing, still trying to get his breath back. Quackity didn't know what to say. Looking around, he saw a bench nearby. He slowly reached forward and took Karl's shoulder, trying to stand him up straight.
It had been months since he saw him, months since he became nothing to his fiancees. But even now, after all that time, he still couldn't bear to see Karl hurt.
"Hey, look. There's a bench here, let's just sit down and-"
"No!" Karl wrenched away from Quackity. He was shaking.
"Wha-" Quackity didn't even finish that. He sighed and folded his arms. "Why are you here then, Karl? What's the big idea?"
"I don't- look," he finally looked Quackity in the eyes. And even through the rain pouring all around them, Quackity caught a glimpse of tears in his eyes.
"I couldn't find anyone else, I don't know where George, or Tina or anyone else is! It's just- it's like they disappeared!"
Who the fuck was Tina? Karl remembered some new girl he'd never even met, and not him? Wow.
"Alright, and?" Quackity urged, giving him a limp gesture to continue. Karl heaved and finally blurted it out;
"It's Sapnap! Some- some green guy came, I-I can't remember his name, but he came and said that Sapnap didn't help him or something, and he hurt Sapnap! Badly. And- and you're the only person I can find who I think knows him."
It was Quackity's turn for his blood to run cold. 'Some green guy' was code for that bastard. He got out of the prison, and he came for…
"Sapnap?" Quackity gasped, voice escaping him.
"He's hurt! I need help, I can't- I don't know how to save him!"
Millions upon billions of thoughts ran through his head, but the majority were debating his position in all of this. They'd left him ages ago, acted like he didn't even exist. Did he have an obligation to help right now?
But seeing Karl's face, fearful and distraught, any thoughts of leaving him to himself just didn't make sense. For all his attempts to make logical conclusions, he might have to forsake himself this time.
"Show me where he is."
Karl nodded and took his wrist, spinning on his heels and beginning to run again. Quackity looked at Karl, really looked at him. His hair glowed when he felt anything that strongly, and those coloured streaks were like LEDs. Quackity used to think it was beautiful, but in this situation it was just a manifestation of how scared he was.
Of how scared they both were.
Kinoko was a lot closer than he remembered, actually. It was only about five minutes before the large mushrooms became visible in the distance. This place could have been his home too, in some other timeline. One where he, Sapnap and Karl all talked properly, he was told what their plans were, they all said 'I love you' just a little bit more.
But instead, he was being pulled by Karl's iron grip through the trees and mushrooms surrounding the land, rain slightly thinner as the leaves above caught the moisture.
When they reached the kingdom itself, it felt empty, desolate. Like Karl and himself were the only ones there. Quackity looked around desperately, then back to Karl.
"Where is he?" He asked, voice betraying the calm exterior he was so desperately attempting to put on.
"Follow me!"
Karl pulled him through the twisting pathways to one of the largest mushrooms, which seemed to act as a house. Interesting architecture, Kinoko-
Not the time, Quackity.
Karl brought him inside and up a set of stairs, up to where a balcony was evident through the roof of the mushroom. And collapsed in front of that balcony, doubled over on the floor…
"Sapnap!" He screamed, pain lacing his voice as he sprinted over, away from Karl's grasp and dropped to his knees beside him. Sapnap turned his head to look at Quackity, eyes seeming to widen a bit when they saw him.
"Quackity..?"
"Sapnap, hey! Hey, it's gonna be okay, I'm gonna help you!" He told him, looking at him in an attempt to assess the situation. It wasn't easy to avoid the elephant in the room; or rather, the bleeding wound in Sapnap's stomach.
"Q…" Sapnap tried to turn onto his side so he could face Quackity, but winced as the wound stretched. Quackity stopped him, holding him still.
"Don't move! Don't- just stay still, we're gonna save you." He assured him. After a moment of staring in horror at the situation presented to him, Quackity could only lift a hand to Sapnap's face, which had a terrible bruise already forming on the side. He stared at him, stared again. Then, he remembered how dire this situation was.
He spun around to Karl and yelled, "Go get a healing potion! I'm gonna try stop the bleeding, just get a potion of healing!"
Karl, who was just as panicked, nodded frantically and dashed back down the stairs, off to find wherever they kept their potions. Quackity turned back to Sapnap, who was looking at him through narrowed eyes.
"Stay awake, Sap, okay? Just stay awake for me," Quackity begged, reaching up to his own sleeve and tearing at the seams. The material ripped off, and he used it to cover the wound. He hated how quickly the blood seeped through the cotton.
(He wasn't expecting visitors, he was lax with what shirt he chose.)
"Quackity, you need to… you need to know, man…" Sapnap wheezed, coughing into his hand. Quackity shook his head.
"It was Dream, I know. I fucking know," he said, malice in his words. He was only just about willing to stop bothering with Dream, but after Tommy, and now Sapnap…
"No, that's not- there's something else…"
"What is it? Was there someone else? Was it fucking Wilbur or something? Oh, I swear to God I'll kill him-" Quackity was rambling, panic rambling. Sapnap shushed him this time, reaching a hand out. Quackity took it.
"It's about… Karl."
"What? What about him?"
"I don't… know specifically what, but…" Sapnap had to pause to cough again, a tiny trickle of blood coming out, splattering on the wood they were on. Quackity held his hand tighter, nodding to urge him on.
"He can't… remember things? I don't know why, but ever since… a couple months ago, when you came to visit, he's been forgetting things…" he shook his head sadly, looking up at Quackity.
"I think that's why he never told you about Kinoko. That's why… it all went…"
Sapnap trailed off, head leaning back down on the wood. Quackity's heart dropped, he thought Sapnap had really just died, but his chest was still heaving, laboured breaths keeping him going.
Quackity couldn't respond. He'd just been told something that changed… well, everything. Karl was forgetting things? As in, amnesia? That's why he acted like he didn't exist. That's why they never brought him to Kinoko Kingdom.
Did they still love him?
As Quackity knelt over Sapnap's barely living body, the rain began coming through the roof. The piece of cloth over Sapnap's stomach was damp with rain and blood, and judging by the blood staining the rest of Sapnap's top it wasn't doing much good. Quackity could feel himself panicking more and more. Where was Karl? Did he find a potion?
Quackity paused again.
Did Karl even remember what he was looking for?
He couldn't blame Karl if he was struggling with memory loss, but if he forgot he was looking for a potion…
No, he couldn't. He remembered the entire way to Las Nevadas that Sapnap was in danger. Surely he still remembered now.
Sapnap was wheezing. His chest was heaving, there was blood on Quackity's hands, the rain was sticking their hair to their faces and Quackity's tears were mixed with the water pouring down his face.
"Quack… ity…"
"Sapnap, stay with me. Please stay with- just stay alive, please," he begged.
"There's… a letter, for Karl… my bedroom, under my- my pillow… make sure… he sees… it…"
It was clearly a struggle for him to form words, his last message being said in sputtered breaths. Quackity nodded quickly.
"Yeah, I'll get it to him, I swear. Swear on my life, I will."
Sapnap smiled. He actually smiled. There was blood pouring down his chin and he was smiling like he used to after they kissed.
"Mi alma…" Sapnap whispered.
"Mi vida," Quackity said in return, heart wrenching.
My soul. My life.
Quackity hears footsteps.
He turns around to see Karl. Karl, the beautiful man himself, sprinting back over with a potion of healing in his hand.
"I've got it!" He yelled. Quackity sighed in relief and reached for it.
"Give it to me!"
Karl pressed it into his hand, and Quackity pulled off the cork and turned back around to Sapnap.
Sapnap wasn't moving.
Quackity's blood ran cold, but he didn't stop yet. He shook Sapnap a bit, trying to get him to open his eyes again.
"Sap, hey. C'mon, just- we have the potion, we can fix this! Just open your eyes!"
Sapnap's eyes remained firmly shut. And his chest stayed still.
Quackity shook his head, refusing to believe it. No, this wasn't happening.
He reached up to Sapnap's chin, pulling his lips open and tilting the bottle up. The liquid poured inside, but no effort was made to swallow it.
"Why isn't he drinking it?!" Karl exclaimed.
"I-I don't know!"
Quackity knew exactly why. He just didn't believe it. Again, he shook him, harder than before. Karl dropped beside him as well, reaching for Sapnap's wrist. He put two fingers there, feeling around. Karl's face dropped.
"I can't- I can't feel a pulse."
Quackity looked up at him, tears still running. Karl was threatening to burst as well.
"...How many lives did he have?" Quackity asked quietly.
"Lives? I don't- I don't know…"
"Oh God." Quackity murmured. He put down the bottle slowly, turning back to Sapnap. He was totally still.
Karl leaned down and wrapped his arms around Sapnap's corpse (his corpse, his motherfucking corpse) and sobbed.
And in some other universe, Karl might be crying into Quackity's shoulder right now. But Karl was alone now, and so was Quackity.
Alone together. Quackity sobbed too.