Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath-

Another loud bang against the door made Fundy flinch and lose the little composure he had gathered so far. He covered his mouth with his hand, he had to stay quiet, otherwise, the thing outside would never leave!

That was as much as he figured out so far. The strange things outside were attracted by loud noises and they should absolutely not be let inside. No matter how loudly they hit against his door, and no matter how much they still resembled his neighbors.

He spared a glance at the TV, and it still displayed the emergency broadcast. He was lucky he had the presence of mind to mute the thing before it attracted more of those monsters to his door, but the damage was already done. “Evacuate the city as fast as possible, do not approach the infected”, that was the message all over the screen. Given how many of the “infected” were right outside of his door, he’d much rather take his chances inside.

Speaking of those, another one just rammed into his door, and this time the bang was accompanied by a sharp noise of one of the door hinges giving in. Choking down a yelp of fear, Fundy pressed himself against it with more strength. So much for a secure, “break-in-proof” door that his father spent so much on, gone after just a little short of an hour of this struggle.

He could still keep those things outside, though! If he just kept pressing against the door, a new noise would distract them eventually, and they’d leave! Then, he could properly barricade the door, or grab everything important and finally evacuate!

Each time he felt another push against the door, a bit of his hope left him.

Things started to blur together at some point. His power went off, finally shutting off the TV along with all the lights inside the house. The noises outside thinned out, to the point where he even considered trying to back away from the door. He didn’t, though, and a new bang against it always assured him that he made the right choice. The light stopped shining under the curtains covering his windows, meaning that the night had fallen already. A car alarm went off somewhere outside. Then, it was mostly quiet…

He wasn’t sure what came over him, but at some point, he finally dared to move again. He slowly turned, placing his hands against the door and trying to steady it while he slowly got to his feet. Then, he gradually moved back, praying that it wouldn’t fall- By some miracle, it didn’t. Was he… safe?

He quietly made his way over to the window and gently moved the blinds before peeking outside. What he saw wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t good either. He couldn’t see any of those things by his door, or anywhere near the house, but quite a few of them were wandering the street outside. After a moment more of looking, his eyes adjusted to the darkness more and he could spot a couple of splashes of crimson red on the pavement, and- He backed away. He didn’t want to look.

“I’m safe,” he whispered to himself, hoping that hearing this affirmation out loud would soothe him. “I’m safe here, so… now what?” he asked himself.

He should find his phone. He was sure he left it somewhere by the couch, so he quietly approached it and started to pat down the entire area around it. He should find his phone and call someone. Maybe an emergency number? No, no, they were probably all too busy. He should just call someone he knows, he should-

“Dream,” he paused while an entirely new wave of panic hit him. “Oh no, please be okay, please be okay,” he stuttered, still searching for his phone.

His hands finally came across its cool, smooth surface, and he never picked it up so fast. He pressed the button at its side and the second the screen lit up, he already breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn’t forget to charge it, it wasn’t dead!

“Please, please, please be okay,” he muttered while he unlocked it. 

He immediately went to his list of contacts and paused briefly when he saw the profile he was looking for. A picture of him and Dream right next to each other, smiling so brightly… he wished he could feel a fraction of the joy he felt then. He opened that contact and immediately pressed the call button- it didn’t work. It didn’t work? He glanced at the top of his phone and his gut twisted. No connection.

“Come on, come on, come on,” he muttered, starting to pace around the room in an attempt to catch any signal. It didn’t take him long to realize it was pointless, though. “Oh, Goddamnit!” he swore, throwing the device in the couch’s general direction.

Usually, it wasn’t a bad thing to do, his aim was decent and his phone case was nearly indestructible. Now, however, it was dark, his hands were shaking, his head was spinning with all the panic and frustration he felt- He only had enough time to realize that maybe that wasn’t a good idea, actually, before he heard the dreadful sound of his phone hitting against a lamp that stood on a small table by the couch.

….That wasn’t that loud-

A much louder sound of glass shattering split the air as the lamp fell to the floor.

“...Shit.”

He could already hear the things outside walking over to his door. In his panic, he didn’t even bother with trying to retrieve his phone, he immediately turned and ran into his room. He slammed his door shut around the same time the front door gave in, and immediately started to move his dresser in front of it. He just barely managed to block the entrance to his room when the things from outside started to bang against it. They were inside the house.

He took a step back and did his best to calm himself down. He had to think straight and figure out what to do next- He could already hear the wood of his door creaking under the pressure. He wasn’t safe. He wasn’t safe, he had to get out of here now, he had to somehow find a way-

“The window,” he realized. He could go through the window! From there, he could get to the backyard, and after he jumped the fence… he knew the way to Dream’s apartment by heart. “Okay, okay… What can I take from here?”

He looked around his room and tried to recognize anything useful in the darkness. He grabbed his jacket from the headrest of his chair and quickly threw it on. Then, he found his bag and threw out all the useless things that were inside. What wasn’t useless now, though? Was there anything that could be remotely helpful in his room? There was no food, no weapons, nothing that could help him face the end of the world-

A loud cracking sound coming from his door snapped him out of that state. He rushed over to his desk and grabbed a map of the city from one of his drawers, quickly taking a compass from it as well. Next, he ran over to his nightstand and grabbed a flashlight from there, that could always come in handy. Another loud crack reminded him that he had no time to be picky. He grabbed the first thing his hand came across, a blanket from the top of his bed, and stuffed it into his bag.

That was it. He heard his door starting to break, and he wasted no time in getting over to his window and pushing it open. He secured the bag at his side, and the rest came to him almost naturally. In a swift move, he jumped out of his window, managing to partially pull it down to make the opening too small to fit through. He safely landed on the grass outside, made his way over to the fence, and quickly climbed it.

He spent years sneaking out of the house to see Dream, so by now all of this was like a routine. He knew all the back alleys he had to take, knew which turns to make to avoid getting seen from the main streets… he only hoped that the “infected” didn’t know about those paths as well as he did.

He ran most of the way. Sure, his footsteps echoed loudly through the empty alleys, but at least he didn’t have to hear anything else. The eerie silence that filled the city, broken only by groans and growls of the mindless monsters roaming the streets was certainly one of the worst things he could be listening to. Not to mention, running made getting to Dream’s place so much faster. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes before he came to a stop, looking up at a tall block of flats.

He took a second to catch his breath, looking up at the sets of balconies connected to each other with nothing but the fire escape. Second row, sixth floor, he still remembered which one belonged to his boyfriend. He was so close! With all his newfound energy, he climbed the nearby garbage bin and jumped over to the lowest balcony. It was loud, even the smallest movement made the metal clang under his weight, but that didn’t matter anymore. Those stupid things couldn’t jump or climb anyway, could they?

1st ground,

2nd ground,

3rd, 4th, 5th… 

There he was. The balcony on the sixth floor. He looked down and noticed a small group of the “infected” gathered under the balconies. Just as he thought, though, they were useless at climbing. He straightened his back and tried to look in through the glass balcony door, but everything inside Dream’s apartment was dark. He took a step closer, noticing that at least one of the windows was slightly ajar… perfect, that was his way in. He slipped his hand into the gap and pushed the window up, making the opening bigger.

“...Dream?” he called out into the dark house.

A part of him hoped to hear his boyfriend calling out his name in response. A part of him feared he’d hear growling inside, see his boyfriend as one of those… things. Instead, he was answered by silence. Swallowing his fear, he entered the flat through the window.

“Dream?” he repeated. He opened his bag and pulled out the flashlight, using it to light up the apartment. The room he was in was empty. “Dream? Are you here? It’s me, Fundy!”

Dream had to be somewhere inside, Fundy thought while he searched the house. He checked the bedroom first, but there was nothing. All of his boyfriend’s things lay neatly in their places… so he probably didn’t evacuate. He probably would’ve packed some of his things, at the very least, so he couldn’t have evacuated the city! So he was still here.

“Dream? It’s okay, it’s just me, please tell me where you are!” he called out into the house. “Please…”

He checked the bathroom next. It had a lock, so maybe Dream deemed it the safest part of his home to hide in? Unfortunately, no, it was unlocked and empty… but there was still the kitchen! He could be hiding in the kitchen, right? He could be… hiding in the cupboard or something? Ignoring how desperate that thought made him seem, Fundy still took the time to diligently check every single one of them.

“...Fuck,” he swore. Where else could he check, where else could he check? The light of his flashlight shined at the front door, and he felt a lump in his throat. “You’re not… outside, are you?”

He walked closer to it, staying as quiet as he could… he knew how echoey the halls of the building tended to be, so if Dream was outside, he’d only have a split second to get him inside before they’d need to barricade. Once he reached the door, he carefully used the peephole to see the hallway outside, but it was too dark to see anything. That meant that Dream could be inches from the door and Fundy wouldn’t know! He placed his hand on the lock, if he opened the door then he could check-

“...What am I doing?” he scolded himself under his breath.

Anything could be outside- Actually, anything but Dream! What the hell would he be doing in the hall?! He took a deep breath and backed away from the door, not stopping until he was much deeper inside the house. Dream wasn’t here, he realized. His boyfriend wasn’t here, he must’ve been-

“No,” he stopped himself. “There’s no… “infected” him here either, so… he’s just not home,” he realized. He just wasn’t here when this all started! He must’ve been somewhere else, anywhere else! With friends, maybe? Now that he thought about it, Fundy recalled him saying something about a meeting... “Maybe he’s… safe?”

Yeah, he had to be. Dream wasn’t someone who’d just… die like this. No, no, he… he must’ve been with his friends. Maybe he was at Sapnap’s place? That was a decently big house, so it would probably make for a good hiding spot. Or maybe he was at George’s, or Karl’s, or Quackity’s? Or- or he took shelter somewhere else! There had to be some shelters around, right? Yeah. Dream had to be fine.

“...I’ll find him,” he assured himself out loud. “I- I will. I’ll…” his voice trailed off.

He was exhausted, sad, confused, scared, frustrated, drained, lost, and… many other things. “Ready to head out and look for Dream immediately” was not one of them, unfortunately. He should wait until morning for that, so that the “infected” from under the balconies would leave him alone and so that he could see everything better. He should wait until morning and get some rest. He eyed the door to Dream’s bedroom.

“You… wouldn’t mind me staying here for the night, right…?” he asked, as if his boyfriend had any way to hear him.

He quietly entered the room and set down his bag against the nightstand. Just before he sat down on the bed, he spotted one of Dream’s many green hoodies thrown over the computer chair, and… his boyfriend wouldn’t mind that either, would he? He gently lifted the garment up and carried it over to the bed.

He held it until he managed to fall asleep. It certainly wasn’t as helpful as actually being in Dream’s arms, but… it still made him feel safer. Better. It soothed some of his nerves, and while his consciousness slowly slipped away, he could at least pretend that he wasn’t lying alone in the bed. Soon enough, he really wouldn’t be alone… Right?

Chapter Text

He wasn’t sure for how long he stayed asleep, but at some point, Fundy slowly opened his eyes again. He felt dazed for a moment, unsure where he was or how he got there, plagued with a bad feeling that could’ve been caused by just some stupid nightmare- Oh. Oh, wait, no. The moment he realized he was in Dream’s bed, all alone, clutching his boyfriend’s hoodie, all of his memories came flooding back.

He quickly sat up on the bed and just… listened. Listened for any footsteps, groans, or growls inside. Listened for any sign that he wasn’t alone in the house anymore. After a couple of minutes of nothing, he quietly slipped out of the bed and sneaked out towards the door, peeking out into the hallway of the apartment… Luckily, nothing seemed to have changed.

Well, “luckily” was a strange way to put it, he thought. He would’ve considered himself the luckiest man in the world if he found his boyfriend somewhere in the house, sleeping on the couch or preparing breakfast, but… with the bloodthirsty monsters roaming the streets, no visible changes still seemed like a good sign.

He stepped out of the room, trying to decide what his next course of action should be… it was then that it hit him just how hungry he was. He… didn’t think he ate anything since yesterday before noon, and judging by how bright it was outside, yeah, that was probably at least 24 hours before.

“You… won’t be coming back here, right? Into this flat?” he asked quietly, and the universe didn’t humor him with a response. “I can… take some food then, right? I’ll eat some, and then pack more, so we can share when I find you.”

He should probably stop talking to himself, he thought while he made his way into the kitchen. It wouldn’t do him any good, he added while opening the fridge. With the power gone since last evening, he doubted anything from inside would still be edible, though. Well, maybe it’d be? But he certainly trusted a bowl of dry cereal more, he decided while moving to check the nearest cupboard.

He kept that in mind while he packed more food into his bag, too. He made sure to take the things that would take the longest to spoil and that didn’t need to be refrigerated. He… hoped that their long-expiration dates weren’t something he’d actually need, that somehow things would return to normal soon! He could already tell that it was very unlikely, though. The fact that he hadn’t seen any other living person in a little over a day made that painfully obvious.

“Okay… Where could he be staying?” he asked himself while he dug through the bag he just finished packing, searching for the map he remembered throwing into it. “...Here we are!” he exclaimed.

He paused after that, checking if anything would start trying to get into the flat. He… might’ve said that a bit too loud.

“Okay, okay,” he muttered when no new noise appeared. He straightened the map on the floor and found the street he was on almost instantly. Next, he used a pencil he found in Dream’s room to mark it. “...Now, where else can he be?”

He marked Sapnap’s house, as well as the flats that belonged to Dream’s other friends. Next, he marked the nearest hospitals, schools, and any places that seemed like they’d make for a decent shelter. After a brief pause, he marked his father’s current flat too, maybe Dream came looking for him there and was forced to stay? Yeah, yeah… and he probably should check that place either way, finding his family would also be a good thing. Family, or friends, he realized. He started marking his friends’ houses next. He needed to check everywhere! Hell, he even marked the local museum, people he knew worked there, and maybe they’d gotten stuck there?

“...I have to find someone this way,” he assured himself. The map was covered in marks, he had to have been right about at least one of those places! Yeah, he just had to be.

 He picked the mark closest to Dream’s flat, a hospital just a couple of streets away, and carefully studied the map in search of the safest way to get there. If he climbed back down the fire escape and used a couple of back alleys, he’d only need to walk down the main street for a minute or so, he realized. That seemed safe enough. Satisfied with his plan, he put the map back into his bag along with the pen, and secured it over his shoulder. Then, he paused.

“...Should I… take the hoodie for you?” he asked, looking back at the bedroom. It wasn’t that he really wanted a reminder of Dream, just… a nice gesture. Something to give once they reunite. “...Yeah, I think I’ll do that,” he decided. And if he decided to hold it while falling asleep a couple more times… Just an added benefit.

He gently packed the hoodie into his bag, and finally, he felt ready to go. He had some food, water, a “gift” for his boyfriend, and countless other useful things, he was well rested and ate something already… And he only had a short distance to walk. What could possibly go wrong?

He got his answer as soon as his safe route of back alleys ended and he peeked out onto the main street.

There were so many…

It was like looking at an army, the “infected” were flooding the street, going as far as he could see… just a sea of what once was people, now mindlessly moving along with the group, covered in blood and searching for- for those who still weren’t dead. For those like Fundy. It was… a horrid picture to look at. The hospital wasn’t a shelter either, judging by how many of the “infected” kept moving in and out of it through its wide-open doors.

He should leave.

Fundy should just go back into his alley before they’d spot him, he knew. Rework his route, find a different spot to look in… but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. He looked out at the swarm of monsters that could easily take his life and searched for any familiar faces within the crowd.

He just wanted to know. He wanted to know if a friend of his, or a family member… he wanted to know if they sought shelter at the hospital as well. He… wasn’t sure why he wanted to know. Maybe he just wanted to mourn them properly, maybe he wanted to make sure that all the houses he marked on the map were still worth checking…

Whatever it was, he snapped out of it when he realized that the monsters grew louder. Their growls filled the air, and before he knew it, they were heading his way. They… noticed him, or heard him, or smelled him- whatever. They were going after him.

“Shit,” he swore, finally moving from his spot and starting to run back into the alley. “Shit, shit, shit-”

He ran. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him, taking any turn he came across, hoping to somehow lose the monster’s in the maze of back alleys. Judging by the consistent noise behind him, it wasn’t working, but… maybe he could outrun them? Or find some good hiding spot to wait them out from? Or-

He stopped in his tracks, almost out of breath already, when he realized that he must’ve taken one turn too many. The alley he was in led out straight to the main road again, and he doubted he had time to turn and change directions. No, the swarm was right behind him… maybe the street would be a bit clearer then, at least?

He decided to take that chance and ran out of the alley, right into the open space of the main street. He took a brief glance around, trying to figure out which direction had less of the “infected” in it, and took a turn to the left. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need to go far, he could run into some new back alley the second he spotted it-

Instead of one of those, a different thing stood out to him.

A… store. A small store between two relatively tall blocks of flats. It looked… surprisingly secure, with brick walls, bars in the window, and a sturdy-looking door. A door that was ever so slightly ajar, he could get in! He should, he realized when an attempt to take a deep breath caused his ribcage to sting. This could be his last chance at survival.

After looking over his shoulder and affirming that the giant army of the “infected” didn’t leave the alley yet, he sprinted towards the store. Sure, some more of those monsters had already spotted him on the street and they were following him, but they could get swept into the bigger group once it showed up, right? It was much louder than Fundy, so it should distract them enough to not give away his position!

“Is anybody- here-?” he asked as he pulled the door open. No monster jumped out at him immediately, so he made his way in and slammed the door behind himself. “...Anybody…? I’m friendly!” he called out, but it soon became apparent that he was alone in the building.

He certainly wasn’t the first one to enter it since the chaos outside started, judging by how most of the shelves were almost picked clean. That was fine, he thought as he leaned against the door, slowly catching his breath. If it wasn’t so cool to the touch, he probably would’ve felt as hopeless as he did back in his own home, but he could tell that this door was actually secure. He slowly slid down to the ground, taking deep breaths and waiting to hear the army of the monsters again.

As he expected, a couple of the “infected” from the street tried to follow him long before the swarm of the others could join them. They banged against the door and one tried the window instead, but… to Fundy’s relief, their attempts brought them nothing. The door almost didn’t shake when they tried to get past it, to the point where he could probably move away from it already- if that didn’t risk being visible in the window, of course.

After a couple of minutes, he almost started to feel safe again.

He could be stuck here, yes. If the army outside decided to join the few “infected” already trying to follow him, he’d have no way of leaving, sure. They’d have no way of getting in either, though, only so many of them could reach the door and windows at the same time… and who knew, maybe they’d get bored after a day or two? He could spend that long in the store, even if he’d prefer to use that time for searching for Dream.

When the army of the undead finally left the alley and flooded the street, he was sure he would get to do that soon. Their loud growls drowned out the banging against the door, and after just some time, the few persistent monsters seemed to forget about him.

Maybe they all had? Maybe they were all just following each other now, searching for someone who wasn’t even there? He… liked the idea of them being that dumb. He had no clue how accurate his assumption was, but he really wanted to think that they forgot about him already. The idea that if he found somewhere safe to hide in, the monsters could lose interest in him within minutes... he loved the bigger chance of survival that entailed.

For now, he should probably stay inside, though. Since this part of the city had been plagued by constant break-ins for ages, the store was probably one of the most secure places around. Not to mention, there were probably some useful things still left lying around, and there could be a back door leading into some safe back alley… Yeah, staying inside made sense.

He’d have a look around as soon as he could finally catch his breath again.

Chapter Text

When the noises outside mostly died down, Fundy finally moved away from the door and took a better look at it. It was very obviously reinforced with some metal and it had a sturdy-looking lock… he’d need a key to properly use it, though. That wasn’t too bad, he doubted that the “infected” knew how to use doorknobs and, who knows, maybe there was a key somewhere in the store? He needed to check it for any dangers anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt to look.

First things first, he slipped his bag off his shoulder and snuck around the checkout counter to gain access to the window and the blinds. It was probably better to stay hidden from the things outside, and covering the window seemed like a logical step to take. The blinds certainly weren’t new, but after they were set in place, they looked good enough. Somewhat satisfied, he turned around and got a better look at the checkout counter. The first thing he spotted were some drawers.

Maybe the key to the main door was hidden in one of them? It was worth checking, he decided.

Some of the drawers were locked, and some others were empty, but the 7th one he checked sure had some keys inside. A metal ring with a whole stack of keys, to be exact, none of them labeled. They certainly didn’t look like house keys, though, so he figured they had to open some things inside the store. The cash register? Sure, but money didn’t really seem useful now… Maybe the staff room? Or the supply room? If either was inside? Yeah, maybe.

One of the keys was significantly bigger than all the others, though, and its color resembled the lock on the main door. It was worth checking if it fit, Fundy figured while he brought it over to the entrance. Putting it in and trying to turn it without making too much noise was tricky, but the soft “click” it made wasn’t nearly loud enough to attract anyone’s attention… he knew that the store just became much safer, though.

Finally, Fundy could breathe a sigh of relief.

He decided to get a better look around the store itself next. Most of the shelves were empty, but it soon became apparent that the place wasn’t exactly picked clean either. Whoever decided to take supplies from here must’ve been in a rush… that wasn’t too surprising, though. They missed some food and a bunch of water, which was a great relief. Fundy’s bag didn’t fit much of those, but now he could get some extra bags and gather all the supplies he’d ever need.

In the back of the store, he spotted a door with a “supply room” sign hanging on it, but he didn’t think he should enter that yet. Who knew, maybe one of the “infected” was on the other side? Unlikely, but he still didn’t want to take the risk. He wasn’t planning to stay in the store for long anyway, so why should he go poking around in all the dark and suspicious corners? He could just grab everything useful and go!

It wasn’t until he came across a pinboard hung deeper inside of the store that he started to rethink his plan. It currently didn’t have much on it, just a couple of job offerings, ads, and a missing pet poster or two… However, it also had a bunch of extra pins, and Fundy had just the thing that could fit on it. He carefully took off all the papers pinned to it so far, placing them neatly on the checkout counter before crouching down next to his bag.

His map would just about fit onto the board, and having it hanging somewhere visible would make everything easier to keep track of, he thought. He could use different colored pins to mark which places he’s checked and what he found there… and now that he thought about it, the store wasn’t all that far from some of his friends’ places. It could really make for a good shelter, and he wouldn’t waste all the water and food he couldn’t carry…!

In order to find the map quickly, he dumped all of his things onto the floor, shaking his bag for good measure. From the small pile of keepsakes, supplies, and things packed in a panic, he quickly picked up Dream’s hoodie and moved it to the checkout counter too, he wasn’t letting it lay on the floor. When he got back to the rest of his things, intending to find the map this time, something else caught his attention. A small piece of white-and-orange garment…

“Oh,” he muttered to himself, gently picking it up and getting a better look at it. “Oh, I must’ve missed this when grabbing my bag back home…” he realized.

It was a gift. A gift he received… it must’ve been months ago, and a gift he received from Dream. It was a simple, fox-themed facemask, a callback to a joke about him looking like one because of the unique colors appearing in his hair… he quietly stuffed it into the pocket of his pants. He was certainly going to wear it, but right now he still had to set up the map.

He finally retrieved it from the pile of all the other things from his bag and carried it over to the pinboard. He wasted no time before pinning it to the surface and picking out the biggest green pin he could find and using it to mark the store he was in, once he finally found it. Then, he started to mark all the other places he needed to check with some plain gray pins. Now he had only one more color to pick - the color for places he checked and found nothing. For some reason, he really struggled with that…

Maybe he should try getting into the supply room instead? That sounded more… relaxing, even if one of the “infected” could be inside.

He had to try quite a few keys before he found one that fit into the lock, but after his third or fourth try, he finally got the door open. The room on the other side seemed… fine, surprisingly. There was no blood, no suspicious smells, no rustling in the corners… it was just dark, nothing his eyes couldn’t adjust to. Forgetting about his flashlight somewhere in the pile by the main door, he entered the room.

It looked like a normal supply room, albeit somewhat empty… the store was expecting a delivery soon, he assumed. The shelves inside weren’t all barren, though, and thanks to the lock, the place wasn’t ransacked like the main part of the store. There was some more food and water, as well as some things he hadn’t found any trace of in the main part of the store. Some… special delivery items, maybe? Or personal items of someone from the staff? Or just things the people who entered the store before him really wanted to keep.

To be honest, most of them seemed useless. Some toys, figures, electronic parts, clothes... It wasn’t long before he spotted one that really grabbed his attention, though. Right there, resting against one of the shelves, was a baseball bat. A good one, from the looks of it. Not some… piece of wood that would break easily, but made of metal…? Some metal for sure, it was silver and the little amount of light that was still coming through the door reflected on it nicely. Curiously, he picked it up only to find out just how it’d feel.

Cool to the touch, and light but sturdy. It could make for a decent… a decent weapon, he admitted to himself after a moment of hesitation. There was no hiding the fact that he would need something to protect himself with, and the bat could really work in that role… Given how bad things seemed, he doubted anyone would be playing baseball anytime soon anyway.

To get a better feel of it, he decided to give it a couple of swings-

Bang!

The bat hit against something above Fundy’s head, and he instinctively pulled it closer to himself and held his breath. The dreadful noise of the “infected” trying to get in… never came, though. After a moment, he dared to move again, and instantly looked up. What did he hit? It looked like a… ladder, maybe? The top of it, at least… Yeah, while it was hard to make out the shape in the darkness, it sure looked like a ladder.

“...What?” he asked himself quietly, encouraged to speak by the fact that no monsters reacted to the much louder noise he had just caused.

He slowly walked around the shelf and sure enough, he found a ladder propped up against it. What was it… oh, he realized. Oh, it was a supply room with tall shelves, it was no wonder there was a ladder there. Sure, it didn’t need to be so tall it stuck out on the other side, but still, it made sense.

It did make him feel curious, though. How many things was he unable to see from the ground? Maybe if he climbed it, he’d come across some better supplies? It was far too tempting not to try, so he gently grabbed the ladder and checked if it felt sturdy. It did, so with no other worries holding him back, he started to climb.

The tops of the shelves were empty, disappointingly. He even brought the bat with him to nudge any possible finds closer to him, all for nothing! He could just reach the ceiling now, what a great- he paused when his eyes finally made out a new shape in the dark. Right in front of him, stuck to the ceiling…

“...Is that a padlock?”

He reached up and sure enough, it seemed to be one. It had the keyhole and everything… Why was it there, though? Suddenly, he remembered he still had all the keys, and hadn’t found the locks they all opened yet. He could check! Sure, it was hard to get any of them into the lock with how dark everything was, but he was far too curious to just let it go. After just a couple of tries, a satisfying “click” reached his ears and the padlock almost fell down.

He carefully removed it from what it was attached to and started to feel around the ceiling. There were some lines up there, with a few deeper ones creating a shape of a square. After a moment of trying to figure out what that could mean, he finally placed his hands in the middle of the square and tried to push. The next thing he knew, he was almost blinded by the bright light coming from the outside.

“Oh, no way-” he started, but quickly cut himself off.

This was a trapdoor leading to the roof. That was… great, he thought! He could use it as an escape route, or to get a better look around the streets before he’d try going anywhere! All he had to do was stay quiet and keep as close to the ground as possible so that nothing could spot him. Oh, the store seemed like a better shelter with every new thing he discovered about it!

He didn’t want to get onto the rooftop just yet, though. He’d feel safer doing that at night, when it’d be harder to spot him. He looked back down, intending to get off the ladder when he saw his new bat. With it lying on top of the shelf now, the light coming in through the trapdoor made it much more visible… and finally, he spotted a piece of paper attached to the bottom of the handle.

It was a price tag for an amount of money he’d never pay for something like this. He was quick to rip it off, but just before he got rid of it, he spotted the “product name” on it. “An aluminum baseball bat”... so that was what it was made of. Alright, he thought while he threw the prize tag onto the roof. It was nice to know what his “weapon” really was, he figured while he carefully closed the trapdoor and made his way down the ladder.

He should quickly finish looking around and start organizing his things, he realized once he was back on the floor. He needed to mark places on his map with pins, gather all of his food and water into one place to make sure he doesn’t miss any… and he could probably work on covering the windows a bit better in the meantime. Then, he could start planning out routes to places he needed to check in order to find Dream, or anyone else… and if it got dark before he was done, he could check for any lights in the nearby buildings from the roof!

Yeah, that seemed like a good plan. A plan that would lead to him finding his boyfriend very soon, he was sure.

Chapter Text

Fundy’s first venture out of the shop was really just… unsuccessful.

He did manage to get out of it through a backdoor he discovered after he finally brought his flashlight into the supply room and he had no trouble navigating his way through the back alleys. He didn’t even run into any of the "infected"! He didn’t run into anyone in Karl’s flat either, though.

The place didn’t look any different from the few times he visited it before, with no signs of anyone leaving it in a rush to evacuate. At first, Fundy felt bitterly disappointed with that discovery, a part of him really hoped he’d find a whole group of people inside, including Dream… He did manage to find an upside to the news, though. Since there was no sign of Karl packing his things, he must’ve been away from his home when everything started, just like Fundy’s boyfriend. That meant they could’ve been together, right? And having a reliable group sounded like the safest bet to survive.

Well, Fundy didn’t have a group and he was still okay. Having someone else to rely on really sounded better than having to survive alone, though.

Without spending too much time sulking in the flat, Fundy left for the next place he planned to check: George’s. It wasn’t too far from where he was, and he already had a plan of getting there in case Karl’s home was empty… And there was a big chance that Dream and his friends would be hiding there. It was on a higher floor than Karl’s, so if they had the time to choose, it probably seemed safer…

Nope.

After a dangerous climb up some fire escapes and just barely managing to get one of the windows open, Fundy was greeted by nothing but silence again. Another flat looking so nice and untouched that he could almost pretend that the streets outside weren’t filled with undead monsters. He… really hoped that he’d find someone here.

The third time’s the charm, though, right? He didn’t have a plan of getting to a third apartment the same day, he really didn’t want to push his luck, but… he’d probably find someone the next day, and hopefully, that someone would be his boyfriend. That was the thought that helped him keep calm while he climbed down all the fire escapes and quietly made his way back to the store.

Yeah, he kept telling himself while he ate a late-dinner inside of the store, he’d most likely find Dream tomorrow. The same thought accompanied him while he replaced two gray pins on his map with black ones… The third time would absolutely be the charm! Even when he fell asleep on the store’s floor for the second night in a row, trying to ignore the groans outside of the window and holding his boyfriend’s hoodie close… This was probably the last time he was doing that. He’d find Dream before he’d need to fall asleep again, most likely.

He started with Quackity’s flat the next day. It was a bit further from the store than the last two he checked, so he really hoped he wasn’t going all that way for nothing… Not to mention how high up the building his flat was! 11th floor, to be exact, and there wasn’t even a fire escape connecting the balconies… not that he’d want to climb 11 stories up like that, of course. Still, that left him with only one way up - the staircase.

He didn’t feel safe there. Sure, he had his bat to protect himself with, but he never got to use it before, and… what if it wouldn’t work? He tried to ignore that worry, but he still cringed at every louder noise the echo carried throughout the building. About halfway up, he started hearing quiet growling a couple of floors down, which… certainly motivated him to move faster. By the time he reached the 11th floor, he was practically out of breath- Well, at least he knew which door was Quackity’s.

“Hello?” he whisper-yelled after reaching it. He tried the doorknob, but it was locked. “Is anyone inside?” he added, and only silence answered. “...Come on, come on,” he muttered, looking back at the stairs. The growls seemed to be getting closer.

In desperation, he started to struggle against the doorknob, pushing and pulling on it as hard as he could. Despite its impressive size, the building wasn’t all that fancy and he doubted the door was too secure… as if to prove him right, the lock suddenly snapped and he stumbled into the flat. As soon as he realized he actually broke it, he regretted that.

“Sorry, sorry, I can-” he started, as if there was a whole group of people in the flat, upset that he just broke their main barrier from the monsters outside. “...Oh,” 

There was no one. Again. No sign of leaving either, so Quackity must’ve been out just like everyone else whose homes Fundy checked. That was… fine, yeah, he still had one more place to check today! Sapnap’s house wasn’t too far from here, and if Dream was ever “hanging out with friends”, that usually meant him, Quackity, Karl, George, and Sapnap! So if he was with them, they had to be at Sapnap’s place! Oh, he was absolutely finding him today-

The growling on the stairs got close enough to become less than “background noise” again, and Fundy immediately slammed the door shut and blocked it with his back. Right, one of those things was following him, and while he had his bat, he’d much rather wait it out. Let it… wander off or something. He wasn’t sure how much the “infected” had in common with their previous human selves, but he’d definitely feel bad about hurting them.

Well, the thing outside certainly didn’t care about his good intentions. He did his best to stay quiet, and it must’ve been at least two floors away when he stopped moving, and yet for some reason it picked the 11th floor to roam around. He wanted to be patient, to wait it out and move only once it climbed higher, but he needed to get moving again soon. He wanted to reach Sapnap’s place before it got dark, and maybe even get himself and all the people he’d find there back into the store… so waiting for too long wasn’t an option.

About five minutes later, he lost his patience. He needed to go, and if that thing wasn’t planning on moving, he’d move it with his bat. In the end, he’d put finding Dream above the life of- well, he’d… he’d aim somewhere where it won’t hurt that much. He’s not killing anyone, just… clearing the way. After a couple of deep breaths, he got up, fixed his grip on the bat, and rushed out of the door.

“I’m sorry!” he declared while swinging the bat at the almost-person in the hall. In that short moment, they didn’t even flinch and already started to make their way towards him, so he felt only a bit bad when his bat hit against their side and sent them scrambling- Something cracked inside of the “infected” person, and they immediately started going for him again. “What the-”

He ran. That unfortunate swing must’ve broken something and the thing was chasing him with as much determination as before, he was Not messing with that, no thank you. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could, just hoping that there wouldn’t be any more of those monsters in his way, in the building or on his way to Sapnap’s place. He expected the infected to be more… human at least, but whatever that thing was, it- He did his best to erase the utter lack of reaction to pain it had from his mind.

By some miracle, he made it over to Sapnap’s place in one piece and with the attention of only a couple of the monsters. The low number of them in the streets probably should've been more concerning, but maybe they were just closer to the city center? He was fine with believing anything, honestly, as long as it let him ignore this. That ignorance was probably the reason he still decided to use the main staircase to get to the flat Sapnap's family owned. It'd be worth it, he told himself… Sapnap, Dream, and like four or five more people should all be up there, after all! They’d let him in for sure! He’d just say it’s him, and since the monsters didn’t speak, that would already be proof of him being safe to let inside, so-

…The door was wide open.

The second he made it to the right floor, that was the first thing he noticed. The door was open and there was no sign of anyone inside… Hell, the flat was ransacked. Holding his bat closer, Fundy carefully made his way inside, not even daring to call out anyone’s name in case it’d alert a monster of his presence.

It was a horrible mess. Clothes lying here and there, the kitchen devoid of any food or water, all the doors into the other rooms open and showing even more of a mess- What even happened here? The place was ransacked, obviously left in a hurry… Did someone break in? Why would they break into some flat for supplies, why this flat of all places? Who would even-

“...Oh,” he realized. He tilted his head back and fell silent for a moment. “...They took their things and left. They- they evacuated. Maybe Dream’s with them? He could be, he-” the strangely-bitter relief made him pause. “He could be out of the city, safe and…”

That was good news. The state of the flat was good news. This meant that Dream could really be safe somewhere out there, and… honestly, anywhere but the city seemed safe now. This was wonderful news, just a tiny bit worse than finding him here would be… But again, this was fine! Now he just had to figure out which way they went and follow. Or… finish looking around the city, then follow. That’d be the better thing to do, just in case he was wrong in this assumption. That, and some of his friends could still be stuck somewhere!

Something caught his eye just as he was about to leave. In a tiny pile of clothes no one wanted to take, he spotted something else. It looked like a knife, but… smoother? Not duller, just… oh! Was that one of those… throwing knives Sapnap mentioned a while back? It must’ve been, so they probably left it here by accident…

Well, no one was coming back for it, were they? After a moment of hesitation, he picked it up. Yeah, he could use something sharp, that could always be helpful, he decided. Besides, it’d make a nice keepsake! Nice and useful, so why shouldn’t he take it? Sure, he didn’t know how to use it yet, but he could learn! With that in mind, he forced himself to leave the flat… he still needed to make it back to the store before it got too dark.

He… might’ve spent most of the next day lying on the floor, but at least by the time the night fell again, he had already decided to stay in the city for now. He wanted to find Dream, he really wanted to find Dream, but he doubted that leaving the city would be easy. Yeah, there were probably cars blocking all the exits and even more of those monsters hanging around those places, and he still felt the need to check all the other spots he had marked on his map. The more people he found, the easier it’d be to escape, right?

He tried his dad’s current flat next. Well, his dad’s and Tommy’s, he supposed, but… it’s not like the second one was paying rent. No, his father just decided to rent a flat close to the school so that Tommy actually had somewhere to stay while studying… It was a nice arrangement! It let Fundy have their previous home all to himself, and made it more believable that the two of them were okay, too!

Well, the flat was empty too. It was in a similar state to Sapnap’s, though, and that was… still a good sign, he supposed. Sure, getting out of the city when they lived so close to its center must’ve been hard, but… he was sure they managed! He still had places to check, so he tried not to linger around there for too long- Well, he might’ve “borrowed” his father’s yellow sweater. It was just… comfortable and thicker than his previous shirt, so harder to bite through… and again, it was also a keepsake.

The next place he checked was… strange. It was the flat Niki and Jack shared, and it was, well… It wasn’t a mess like the past two places he’s checked before, but it wasn’t spotless either. Niki and Jack must’ve left in a rush, but… without taking anything? He didn’t want to think about what made them do that for too long, so he left fast too. Not before taking a deck of cards and a spare lighter he spotted in the kitchen as two new “keepsakes”, of course.

He hoped that maybe, just maybe, he’d have more luck while checking the apartment Tubbo and Ranboo started sharing recently. Yeah, maybe they barricaded themselves inside of the flat and waited- nope. Their door wasn’t even locked and their house was possibly the biggest mess yet, with things scattered all around the place. Well… that just meant they evacuated too, of course! He didn’t bother looking for keepsakes in the mess, though. He should stop taking his friends’ things.

The next day he went all the way out to Eret’s flat. They lived just by the museum they worked in, so if they weren’t home, they probably took shelter there. Still, finding their apartment empty and untouched made him feel worried. What if the museum got overrun by the “infected”? No, no, it had “great security”, from what he was told- Just one glance out of the window proved that wrong. The door was open wide and the monsters were freely walking in and out of it.

Well… it was still a big building, so maybe there was a whole group of survivors inside? Maybe they blocked off a part of the building for themselves? That was his reasoning when he returned the next day, barely slipping past the “infected” to get into the museum by the back entrance. He wasn’t… wrong, in a way, a part of the building was blocked off from the monsters. Some displays were moved to block the doors and there wasn’t a sign of a monster inside, but… there was no sign of humans either.

The “barricade” was probably set up by someone who believed that the “infected” would disappear within a day, judging by the state of some exhibitions. Block the doors, steal all the exponents you can carry, and then sell them once the panic dies down. The robbers didn’t take everything, though, and Fundy was 90% sure all of the alarms were down by now, so… he decided to take some things too.

Not much! Just some really cool black fingerless gloves from a temporary “fashion through the years” exhibition, as well as some potions from the “alchemy then and now” exhibit and one of those “enchantment books” from the exhibit about weapons and tools. Unfortunately, the actual weapons and tools were either stolen or weak props, but hey, a book listing all the great ways to upgrade the things he finds was good enough. That was all he took, nothing more! He… knew that both Eret and Hbomb would probably still kill him for it but until he found them, he didn’t need to care about what they thought.

Speaking of, his next destination was Hbomb’s place. Even if he’d get told to return the “keepsakes” he took from the museum or something, he really hoped that he’d find at least one person after… What was it, a week? Probably longer. Unfortunately, the flat was an absolute mess when he finally arrived. Another person who probably, most likely, hopefully successfully left the city before that became essentially impossible. Not that he didn’t want to find his friends hiding in some other shelter! He’d love to see them again, but… if leaving the city meant that they were safe, it was fine. He… didn’t bother taking any “keepsakes” from H’s place either, though. With him working as a guard in the museum, it was like he stole borrowed something of his already.

That was… the last home he had marked on his map, he realized while he switched out the gray pin for a black one. The last place where…

“...There’s other places!” he told himself, stopping that thought process. There were big buildings like schools, hospitals, and other museums… There had to be other survivors hiding in some of those! Hell, maybe even in a mall? Or a store as small as the one he was in?

Infinite places to check. If he kept looking, he’d find someone eventually. It was logical.

A few more days into his search, he was losing hope. Every single place he checked was overrun by the “infected” and it was harder to avoid them on the streets. Some even started to roam the back alleys he frequented, which, combined with their resistance to his bat, made those unusable. He still had “some” hope, though…

He still had a lot of hope, actually! He just… wasn’t showing it! Sure, his “searches” were turning more and more into wandering the back streets while sulking, and sure, he could feel himself becoming more and more reckless by the day of his fruitless struggles, but… there was still hope. He still had hope.

One thing seemingly changed, though. The noises of the “infected” were becoming much less scary and more… annoying, honestly. Frustrating, even! They were nothing but background noise by now, reminding him how horrible everything around him was. Nothing but groans, and growls, and now these coughs, too- He paused.

He… didn’t recall those monsters coughing, but now that noise seemed so much louder than all the growling and alike.

It was coming from just around the corner, which should still be a back alley. It was… easy to get surrounded in one, and he knew he really shouldn’t be doing this, but Fundy still dared to sneak towards the source of the noise. He should run the other way, he knew, but… his bat was still enough to slow down the monsters, and he didn’t know if he’d ever live down just leaving without checking the other alley-

As soon as he peeked his head around the corner, he froze. There was… something on the ground, and it looked human. Yeah, they looked like a human keeling over from exhaustion, not a mindless “infected” monster. No, no, that was absolutely a living, breathing person, a person, a person- A person with at least 30 infected not all that far behind them, but again, a Person!

He didn't know if he should come any closer, though. They seemed so… out of place, he realized. Sure, Fundy’s been looking for other survivors for what must’ve been at least 2 weeks by now but… was that person really there? They didn’t seem like they belonged here, didn’t look like someone who survived for so long in the city, they looked…

…Oh. Oh, wait.

“...Ranboo?”

Why the fuck was he wearing a suit?

Chapter Text

Fundy still wasn’t sure if he should believe his eyes. There was absolutely no way Ranboo had survived for who-knows-how-long while running around in a suit, but… That wasn’t enough of a reason to believe this wasn’t real. Not when he was so desperate to believe it. Even if trying to understand how this could truly happen made him feel dizzy, he was desperate to believe it.

The next thing he knew, he was already sprinting in Ranboo’s direction, getting to him just before the monsters could.

“Come on, get up,” he urged, helping Ranboo to his feet while already dragging him away from the small swarm of the “infected”.

“...Fundy?” Ranboo asked, just barely managing to stumble along. Hearing his voice immediately made the situation feel so much more real.

“Yeah! I’m getting you somewhere safe, just keep going!” he answered, sparing one look at the swarm behind them and immediately going faster.

Ranboo didn’t say anything after that. It was probably because he was out of breath, as would be anyone running in a suit, but there was no time to stop and change now. Figuring they’d handle this later, Fundy just continued to run through the maze of back alleys to the small store he’s been staying in, helping his friend to stumble along as much as he could.

Somehow, they reached the backdoor before the “infected” caught up with them.

“Get in, get in!” Fundy yelled while pulling the door open. 

Ranboo complied with his order with no hesitation, which gave him more than enough time to close the door behind them and lock it. He stepped back, watched it for a moment in anticipation, and then reality hit him again. He spun around and sure enough, Ranboo was still there, sitting on the floor and catching his breath.

Fundy had… a lot of questions.

“...Are you okay?” was the first one he went with. Ranboo looked up at him, still aghast, and nodded. “Okay. Good. I… Here, have some water,” he offered, grabbing one of the bottles off the shelf and handing it over.

“Thanks,” the teen answered while taking it. Again, just hearing him made this feel so much more real… he probably would’ve hugged him now, just to cement this as ‘100% actually happening’, but he didn’t want to spill the water or scare Ranboo more…

“...It’s good to see you,” he said after a brief pause. It seemed like a decent reaction to settle for. “I… didn’t think I’d find anyone in the city at this point,” he admitted after a moment. He wasn't convinced he wouldn't find anyone, but it still seemed unlikely. Until now, that was.

“Same,” Ranboo nodded, setting down the bottle and taking a couple of deep breaths. So he was alone for the past few weeks too, Fundy realized. “Thanks for… getting me out of there, I didn’t…” he tried to say, but still had to take pauses. “...Didn’t really know where to go.”

“Do you have a base somewhere?” Fundy asked. Was it somewhere far? Did he go on a supply run and get lost? Why would he be on a supply run with no bags and in a suit? “I checked your flat and it was empty.”

“Yeah, it’s- You checked my flat?” Ranboo asked. He didn’t sound upset, just surprised. “How did you even get there?”

“Oh, you know, the back alleys… I’ve been checking a lot of places,” Fundy admitted. “Actually, why don’t we get out of the supply room? I can show you the map.”

“Okay, yeah,” Ranboo nodded, grabbing the bottle again and getting to his feet. Fundy quickly walked over to the door and opened it, revealing the main part of the store.

“Do you want any food? I have a couple of things open already,” he offered while stepping through. Ranboo shook his head at first, but paused when he got to the other side of the door.

“...What is this place?” he asked after a moment of silence, looking over the small set-up Fundy put together to make the store safer.

“It’s… well, it was a store. Now it’s… a base, I guess? I live here,” he explained. Ranboo hummed quietly in understanding. “And here’s the map,” Fundy added, pointing to the pinboard.

“That’s a lot of pins,” Ranboo muttered, staring at the minefield of gray, black, and red pins littering the map.

“I checked a lot of places,” Fundy shrugged before stepping closer to the board.

“...Is there a reason for the colors?” Ranboo asked, and Fundy nodded.

“Yeah. I marked unchecked places with the gray ones, this store is the big green one, the black ones are the places I checked and found nothing… and the red ones are for the places I found filled with the infected. Those are mostly places like stores or hospitals, not our friends-” he paused.

He turned around and found Ranboo looking at him with a strange mix of… confusion, and maybe pity? After a second, the teen spoke.

“You still call them the infected?” he asked. Fundy shrugged with a frown.

“Or just monsters,” he answered, but the strange look didn’t disappear. “What else am I supposed to call them?”

“Zombies,” Ranboo suggested.

Zombies. Zombies. Right. Right, of course, call the possibly-immortal murderous monsters that roam the streets and try to kill him “Zombies”. Isn’t it underwhelming? Calling the “infected” zombies instead felt… wrong, almost.

“What?” Fundy laughed quietly at the ridiculousness of the idea. “Zombies? You call them zombies?” he asked, and Ranboo seemed to realize how strange it sounded.

“I mean, I know it sounds dumb,” he admitted with a sheepish grin. “But that’s what those Gods said, apparently, and I’m not arguing with that.”

…Huh. “What those Gods said” sure was a strange thing to casually throw into the conversation, Fundy thought with a frown on his face. Ranboo just continued talking, though.

“They’re also pretty similar, I guess. With the brain thing, and-”

“Can you go back for a second?” Fundy interrupted. He could ask about the ‘brain thing’ in a minute, but now… “What Gods?” he asked, and now Ranboo seemed confused.

“Uh… The ones that showed up to help some-” he started, but paused briefly while his eyes widened. “Wait, do you mean that no one showed up to explain this to you?” he asked.

Fundy was starting to have a feeling that they had wildly different experiences in the last couple of weeks.

“No. No, I’ve been alone all this time,” he clarified. Ranboo took a moment to look around the store before turning his attention back to Fundy, looking even more confused.

“You… Set all this up with no advice? Without knowing what…” he tried to clarify, and Fundy nodded.

“Yeah. Can you explain what you mean by Gods?” Fundy asked. He felt like he was just about to make a breakthrough, like any second now he would finally understand why the world was the way it was...

“Okay, yeah, sure,” Ranboo nodded. “So… Some Gods came down to help, uh… Eret and Jack, I think? And others, but that could be anybody. So the Gods told them about the zombies, and then gave them some… gifts? Like blessings? To make things easier for them-”

Yeah, no, Fundy was most likely further from understanding anything than he had ever been in his life.

“...And I know how this sounds like!” Ranboo assured. “I wouldn’t believe that either, but… the things they told us seem to be true. That and, I mean, Eret’s eyes are… white now… and they glow in the dark. Jack’s changed color too, they say it’s like a mark from the Gods, and…”

“Wait,” Fundy interrupted him before he’d lose track of everything. “So… Gods came down here, told some people about the… zombies, or whatever they’re supposed to be called, and then changed their eye colors….?” he recapped, and Ranboo stayed silent for a moment.

“...I know how that sounds,” he assured again, “But I promise it’s real,” he claimed. Very… convincing.

“You know what? Sure,” he sighed after a moment. “That makes sense! The world… ended, and now there’s Gods… I could believe anything at this point,” he declared. Forget any logic he’s been holding onto, there’s Gods in the equation now. “...Can you tell me more about the inf- About the zombies, then?” he requested.

“...Yeah,” Ranboo nodded after a brief pause. “They’re… like zombies, really. If someone dies, they turn and then try to kill others… they bite, and the bite makes you sick… they survive… a lot of things if you don’t damage their brain…”

“Oh,” Fundy came to a realization, and Ranboo paused. “I… Yeah, that makes sense. I hit one with a bat and it just kept going, but… okay, yeah,” he muttered. He wasn’t sure if he liked how much everything seemed to fit together.

“Exactly, you need to hit their head if you… yeah,” he cut himself off. “They also follow loud noises and can see some things… so it’s good you have the window covered,” he added… and he was clearly running out of ‘zombie facts’ to share.

“Question,” Fundy started. He… wasn’t sure if he’d like the answer, but it was still something that was plaguing his mind for a while. “Are we sure they’re dead?”

“Oh, yeah, totally!” Ranboo assured. “They- Well, the Gods apparently knew what was happening because there were suddenly a lot of dead people on Earth, so they’re dead,” he confirmed, and that was… a relief of sorts. That meant those things only looked human.

“Good,” Fundy nodded… then, another realization hit him. “Wait, you were talking about Eret and Jack? Do you know where they are?!” he asked, and Ranboo seemed surprised by the question.

“Yeah, we’ve been staying together in the camp,” he confirmed. “Oh, wait, the camp- yeah, there’s a camp!”

“Where?” Fundy asked instantly, but Ranboo didn’t seem sure.

“It’s… East of the city, I think…? Wait, I have a map too!” he remembered.

Fundy watched him reach into his suit from the top and carefully retrieve an entire hard-back notebook in stunned silence. He shouldn’t be asking too many questions at the same time, and the camp sure seemed more important, but… what? Ranboo obviously noticed his confused frown, though.

“Oh, Niki helped me sew this… pocket-thing into the suit,” he explained while he opened the notebook and started to flip through it.

“Niki’s there, too?” Fundy asked, and Ranboo nodded.

“Yeah! There’s me, Niki, Jack, Eret, Hbomb, and Tubbo!” he named while flipping through the book.

Fundy looked at the pinboard and felt… a wave of relief. That was, what, four places he’s checked? Yeah, four homes he found empty whose owners were actually okay. Six people who left the city successfully. Six! It was- Wait, just six, and… there came the slight ping of bitter disappointment.

“...You… hadn’t seen Dream, though, right?” he asked after a moment. Ranboo stopped looking through the notebook to look up at him instead.

“...No. Sorry,” he admitted, and Fundy nodded.

“Alright, I’m sure he’s fine somewhere… ” he answered. Now he knew that people were actually able to leave the city. That was… good news, he told himself. After a moment of silence, Ranboo nodded.

“Yeah,” he agreed before going back to his notebook. Within seconds, he pulled out a piece of paper from it. “Here, the map,” he offered.

“Thanks,” Fundy said, taking it off his hands and taking a look at it. It was a proper map with a “camp” spot marked on it, but he had a feeling it’d take him a moment to put it together with the city map. Not wanting to wait in silence, he decided to change the subject. “So, is there a reason you’re in a suit?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah, actually!” Ranboo nodded. “When we were first leaving the city, one of the zombies grabbed me, but it couldn’t get me through the suit! It still keeps me from getting bitten!” he explained, and Fundy nodded along while trying to make sense of the map.

“...It keeps you from running too, huh?” he pointed out. For a moment, Ranboo looked like he was about to retaliate, but he fell silent.

“Well…” he hesitated, looking Fundy over. “What about your clothes? Doesn’t that… mask make it harder to run?” he asked.

“No,” Fundy shook his head. “It makes things easier, actually. You can’t smell the dead that much when you’re covering your face,” he clarified, and Ranboo nodded.

“I should try that,” he muttered to himself. “What about the gloves? Do they help?” he asked. At this point, he clearly wasn’t looking for retaliation, probably just curious.

“Yeah! They make it easier to climb up fire escapes, and, hmm…” he hummed quietly. “They were free,” he shrugged eventually.

“Really?” Ranboo asked, and Fundy nodded.

“Everything’s free right now,” he shrugged. Ranboo instantly went from surprise to holding back laughter, and then to shaking his head with a smile.

“Of course,” he sighed. Then, he looked back up at the map Fundy was standing by. “Did you… put that together yet?” he asked.

“Not yet,” Fundy responded. He had the area pretty narrowed down, but this had to be precise. “...Hm, how did you get back into the city, again?”

“Well… I and Tubbo wanted to check the city out because Eret has this… power, I guess? They can track people, and everyone seemed to be in the city's direction, but we’re not sure how it works and the city looked overrun, so… We decided to check if it was better from a different side,” he explained.

“It wasn’t,” Fundy guessed, and Ranboo nodded. They wouldn’t be talking if that wasn’t the case, most likely.

“Yeah. We got separated by this… swarm of zombies, and I could only run deeper into the city. Tubbo got luckier, though… I hope,” he added, and Fundy hummed in agreement.

“I hope so too,” he answered. Then, he finally grabbed some extra pins and pinned Ranboo’s map right by his own. “...And this should fit here! It’s a bit off-scale, but it’s fine.”

“Oh, perfect!” Ranboo perked up. “You said you checked a lot of places around the city, right? Do you think you can find us a way back to the camp?” he asked. For a split second, Fundy already started to look over all the back alleys they could take, but then…

“Us?” he repeated, and Ranboo frowned.

“...Yeah? I mean, the people at the camp would love to see you again, and… I don’t know if I can get there on my own, I don’t know which routes are safe to take…” he started to explain, and Fundy sighed.

“There’s not many,” he agreed. “I was just… hoping to stick around for a bit longer, you know? Do you see all the gray pins on the map? Dream could be in any of them! Other survivors, too…” he paused.

He wanted to keep looking, no matter how desperate it made him look. On the other hand, though… He could always come back to the city, and he didn’t think it’d be safe for Ranboo to make his way back alone, either… Oh, and if that thing about Eret having a “power” to track people down was true, then… that’d be helpful too, so…

“But….yeah, I think I’ll go with you, actually,” he decided, and Ranboo seemed visibly relieved. “Let’s go into the storage room and pack some stuff. You must be low on food and water after… What, two weeks?” he pointed out. Ranboo flipped his notebook to the first page.

“...It’s 16 days, at this point,” he corrected, and Fundy shuddered. That was over half a month already.

“...Right,” he nodded. “Get that bag from over there and pack the water, I’ll get food,” he instructed, trying to keep his mind off of what he just learned.

“Mhm, on it,” Ranboo agreed, immediately getting to work.

“And let’s hurry, we should leave before it gets dark,” Fundy added, already looking through the food he had gathered in the store. They couldn’t take too much, they had to move fast, but too little wasn’t an option either... He was sure it'd be fine, though.

Chapter Text

After making sure that the back alley was safe to enter again by checking at it from the store’s rooftop, Fundy climbed back down and took a look around the storage room. This could be his last time seeing it and he didn’t want to leave anything important behind. He spotted some batteries on one of the shelves and quickly pocketed them before walking back into the main part of the store.

“It’s clear. Ready to go?” he asked. Ranboo looked up at him from the backpack he was closing and nodded.

“Yeah, I think I am,” he confirmed, patting the top of the bag. “No more food will fit into this one.”

“Alright,” Fundy nodded. He made his way to the other backpack they prepared, the one filled with water bottles, and picked it up. “I’ll carry this one and my bag, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Ranboo agreed, taking the bag with food to carry. “So… how are we going to leave the city again?”

“Through the back alleys, mostly. We just need to stay quiet and keep moving, I know the way,” he claimed. “...Are you sure you don’t want any clothes from here? We might need to run at some point,” he reminded, but Ranboo shook his head.

“Nah, I’m good with the suit,” he assured. Fundy still didn’t feel fully convinced, but he decided to just accept the answer.

“Alright. So, let’s get going, we don’t want to still be outside by the time it’s dark, right?” he reminded, and Ranboo nodded in agreement.

Just like that, they left the store through the back door and started to make their way through the back alleys. Fundy walked in front, making sure they didn’t get lost and tightly clutching his bat just in case some zombie decided to jump out at them while Ranboo kept checking if they weren’t getting followed. They weren’t, luckily, and their venture seemed to be going… surprisingly well. Sure, they had to cross a couple of larger streets, but by some miracle, those weren’t completely full of the undead yet, and they had little trouble losing them in the next alley they entered.

The only thing that seemed to be against them making it out of the city safely was time.

By the time the buildings seemed to be getting smaller and further apart, the sky was already starting to grow darker. That wasn’t good, they were really hoping to reach the camp before it got too dark, if just to avoid getting lost in the forest… Not to mention, it’d probably be harder to spot a zombie in total darkness. Neither of them mentioned any of that, but they didn’t mention anything about how they were gradually speeding up either, not for quite a while.

“...Do you think it’s safe to talk now?” Ranboo asked eventually. By that point, the sun was almost entirely gone beyond the horizon, but at least the houses were becoming rarer and rarer.

“...Yeah, I think it is,” Fundy agreed after a brief moment of listening for any zombie noises. “It’s… getting dark,” he pointed out finally.

“Oh, yeah,” Ranboo nodded. “Do you… think we should stop somewhere for the night?” he asked. For a moment, Fundy wanted to agree. It probably wouldn’t be hard to break into one of the houses they were passing and take shelter there…

“I don’t know,” he shrugged eventually, ignoring the way the straps of his backpack dug into his shoulders. “Do you have a campfire at the camp?”

“Yeah, we do,” Ranboo confirmed after just a second of thought. “It helps with keeping warm in the evenings and we can use it to cook food… Why?”

“Well, fire is easy to spot in the dark,” Fundy pointed out. “I have a flashlight too, so I think we should keep going,” he decided, and Ranboo nodded in agreement.

“Right.”

By the time they reached the treeline of the forest, it was almost pitch dark. Finally, Fundy opened his bag and dug through it until he found the flashlight buried under all his other things. He switched it on, shined it around just to make sure no dangers were lurking nearby, and finally stepped into the forest. Ranboo followed right in his tracks.

Going through the woods with just a small flashlight felt… unsettling. No forest is ever truly silent, they both knew that, but that didn’t stop them from flinching at any nearby noise they heard. Who knew, maybe this time instead of some animal they’d suddenly spot a zombie walking right at them? They had to check, it was always better than making a stupid mistake.

“...Is that it?” Fundy asked eventually, stopping in his tracks. There was a small, distant light in front of them.

“Is what…?” Ranboo cut himself off when he caught a glimpse of it too. “...I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Fundy repeated, looking back at the teen.

“Look, I don’t… This is a dense forest, and I don’t remember what it looks like around the camp, and… It could be it, I’m just not… sure,” he explained. After a moment of hesitation, Fundy turned off the flashlight.

“Let’s get a closer look then, yeah?” he suggested. If it wasn’t the camp they were looking for, if it was full of strangers or something… they shouldn’t get spotted with no light giving away their position.

“...Yeah,” Ranboo agreed hesitantly.

Even if the lack of light left them stumbling over some short bushes and roots, it still felt safer to approach the possible camp that way. If something were to grab them in the darkness, Fundy still had his bat ready, and not holding a flashlight just made his grip on it steadier. They made it much closer to the light before daring to stop, and at this point, it was very obviously a campfire with some figures around it. Not zombies, most likely, they were moving around too much.

“...Do you recognize it now?” Fundy asked in a low whisper. Ranboo squinted in the camp’s direction.

“...Maybe? It’s dark, but that… it does kinda look like it…” he muttered, still unsure.

“Do you want to get closer?”

“Sure,” Ranboo agreed. “...Is that safe, though?”

“Yeah,” Fundy assured him so confidently he almost convinced himself, too. “...If they try anything, I’ll have the bat ready,” he added, tightening his grip on it. Ranboo let out a quiet, nervous laugh.

“...Is that necessary…?” he asked after a moment. Right, maybe suggesting that whoever was by the fire was so dangerous he’d need to beat them with a baseball bat to survive the encounter wasn’t too reassuring.

“Alright, yeah, it’s not,” he answered, but still kept a tight grip on the weapon.

They walked closer, to the point where they could hear some chatter by the campfire. It wasn’t loud, and there certainly wasn’t a lot of it, but it was still a new reason to believe they weren’t walking into some nest of zombies. They both tried to make out the voices, or at least the words being spoken in the camp, but it was pointless. Suddenly, Ranboo gasped.

“Is that a car?” he pointed out, motioning to a shape on the other side of the campfire. Fundy took a careful step forward, but that didn't help with finding an answer to that question.

Ranboo, unlike him, took two steps forward to get a better look. Apparently, one step was the limit, and the next thing either of them knew, Ranboo tripped over something and fell face-forward into the bushes they were currently using for cover. In an attempt to catch him and limit the noise, Fundy made the same mistake and before he realized, he had already tripped over something thin. The... line, or rope, or whatever it was... was certainly there on purpose. It made a loud, rattling noise that resembled cans hitting against each other. Yeah, those were definitely cans tied to a rope, a way of alerting the group by the fire that something was approaching their camp.

They hit the ground, both letting out quiet grunts of pain, and as if to ensure that they were at a disadvantage, Fundy's bat slipped out of his hand and rolled in the direction of the fire. Great.

Immediately, the chatter in the camp went quiet.

For a moment, the forest was seemingly silent. Then, a couple of slow footsteps came from the campfire’s direction. Whoever tried to approach them didn’t dare to leave the light, though.

“...Hello? Who’s there?”

Normally, the voice would be intimidating. It would be frightening, given how hostile its owner sounded… if only that same voice wasn’t so familiar. After a second of shock, Fundy rested his head on the grass and breathed a sigh of relief, quickly making the connection. Meanwhile, Ranboo immediately started to scramble to his feet.

“It’s me, it’s me!” he answered, trying to catch his balance again. “Eret, it’s me!”

“...Ranboo!” they responded, and while they started out surprised, by the end of saying his name, their voice was already full of relief.

Immediately, the camp was filled with noises.

“Ranboo?” some other familiar voice repeated.

“Is he back?!” someone else asked, audibly getting up from their seat by the fire.

“Are you okay?” yet another familiar person asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” Ranboo responded quickly. By that point, Fundy already started to feel around for his bat, not wanting to lose it or trip over it…

“Wait, Tubbo said you got trapped in the city,” Eret realized suddenly. “How did you get out of there?”

Ranboo looked slightly caught off-guard by the question, so it took him a moment to form a response. Having already found his bat, Fundy decided to take the silence as an opportunity to alert everyone of his presence. Carefully, he got to his feet.

“I got him out,” he answered, and the realization of that made him feel somewhat… proud. Sure, he failed miserably at finding almost anyone in the city, but at least his efforts were still useful.

“Yeah, he did,” Ranboo nodded in agreement.

“...Fundy?” asked the figure closest to them. They sounded bewildered, and also… still sounded like Eret.

Last time Fundy checked, Eret didn’t have white glowing eyes, though.

Well. The last time he heard, she did. Ranboo mentioned this, sure, but Fundy really didn’t expect it to look like… this. He expected a faint glow at best, maybe, if Ranboo wasn’t just making things up or… Yeah, he definitely didn’t expect to see them with pure-white eyes giving off a strong light. He… supposed he just had to accept that for now, though.

“Yeah,” Fundy confirmed.

“Wait, what?” someone by the fire asked, but at this point, he didn’t bother recognizing the voices.

“...Hi,” he said instead, cautiously approaching the camp with Ranboo following right behind him. “Yeah, it’s me,” he confirmed again.

He got closer to the figure with glowing eyes and had no more doubt that it was Eret. Even if his eyes looked different and the clothes he was wearing were surprising at best, it was him without a doubt. By just glancing behind him, Fundy could also see Hbomb, Niki, Jack, and Tubbo by the fire.

Seeing, what was it, six now? Seeing six of his friends alive and well made him feel much more relief than he imagined possible.

“...It’s nice to see-” he tried to continue, but he already made the ‘mistake’ of getting within Eret’s arm's reach.

“You’re okay!” they exclaimed before pulling him into a hug.

He… really needed that, actually.

He took a moment to enjoy this, and allowed himself to feel almost at peace… He couldn’t just stay there forever, though.

“...Oh, we… we also brought some food and water,” he said, taking a tiny step back. “We figured you’d need it.”

“Oh yeah, we did,” Ranboo confirmed. “Where can we set that down?”

“...By the fire, maybe?” Eret suggested after a second. She spoke like she was in somewhat of a daze, which would be understandable… this all certainly was surprising. “Let’s get closer to the fire,” she decided with more certainty.

By that time, everyone was on their feet already, and even before Fundy and Ranboo got to set down their bags, they were already buried in questions. Tons of “Are you okay?”s, “Where were you?”s, “How did you get here?”s… As well as statements, “We missed you!”s, “We thought you were dead”s… Not to mention all the hugs, pats on the backs…

Fundy expected this to feel more overwhelming, but while the “Welcome” left him feeling slightly lost, it made him… happy, most of all. Relieved, at peace. He was finally starting to comprehend that all those people around him were alive

“Can I sit down?” he managed to cut in between everything else around him. “We had to walk for hours, we-” before he finished, someone had already helped him to a folding chair by the fire. “Thanks.”

He was safe.

This was so, so far from what he had planned to reach, this was so far from finding his boyfriend… but he was safe. He took a look at all the other people gathering around the fire, starting to pass along some food between each other, and…

For once, he felt truly safe, and it was enough.

For now, it was enough.

Chapter Text

“So… were you just in the city before you ran into Ranboo?” Jack asked, successfully snapping Fundy out of his thoughts.

He took a look at the six people sitting around the campfire with him, all watching him intently, and nodded.

“...Yeah,” he confirmed. “I set up a little base in some abandoned shop and stayed there until he convinced me to go here with him.”

“You wanted to stay there?” Eret asked shortly after Fundy’s elaboration. “Why?”

“I was searching for people,” he answered. “I still had… some places to check. They were probably empty, but I still wanted to make sure, you know? But it’s fine. I lost most hope after every single house I checked was empty anyway,” he added with a shrug.

In the weak light the fire gave off, he spotted some people squinting at him and looking him over. Oh, right.

“...Yeah, I checked your houses. Sorry. I checked a lot of houses,” he apologized. He didn’t really expect to end up in a position like this before. Should he mention the ‘keepsakes’ he ‘borrowed’ too, or was that too risky?

“That’s nice,” Tubbo responded. “Did you find anyone?”

“No,” Fundy shook his head. Well… if there was a good time to bring up those ‘keepsakes’, it was probably now rather than later, actually. “Just some things. I… might've taken a couple, but I can give them back!” he assured.

“What things?” Niki asked. Fundy looked himself over while he tried to find an example.

“Uhh… Well, I took this knife from Sapnap’s place,” he started, getting out the throwing knife he ‘borrowed’. “I also have, uh… Oh, my dad’s sweater, and… I took Dream’s hoodie, too, and… I think some cards, I just don’t know where…” he started naming. “I just wanted to have some things in case I never…” his voice trailed off. “I can give them back,” he assured again.

“Well… if you took something I had, you can keep it,” Jack shrugged after a moment of silence. “I packed before leaving my place, if I left something, I don’t need it,” he declared.

“Oh, yeah, we packed too,” Tubbo realized, turning to look at Ranboo. “Did we forget anything?” he asked, and the taller teen shook his head. Tubbo looked at Fundy again. “Whatever you took, it’s yours now.”

“I took everything that was important,” Hbomb declared.

“I don’t think I’m missing anything either,” Niki agreed with the others.

“I… didn’t really make it home, but I’m alright with what I have here, too,” Eret assured, and Fundy breathed a sigh of relief. 

Everyone… took it better than he expected. He gave them a grateful nod, and his gaze came across his gloves. Right.

“Uh, one more thing,” he started, glancing between Eret and Hbomb. “I… might’ve taken some things from the museum too,” he started.

That was it, he thought, that museum was so important to them, they’d be so upset- Hbomb didn’t even seem to react, and Eret… nodded? Unsure what to make of their reactions, Fundy stayed quiet.

“...Oh, wait!” Hbomb realized after a couple of seconds. He seemed amused. “Fundy… do you think me and Eret just had historically accurate things lying around?” he asked.

Fundy took a long look at the fancy spear rested by Hbomb’s legs. Next, he took an even longer look at Eret’s very-accurate royal attire, complete with a red coat with white fur around the neck and a golden crown, as well as the sword stuck into the ground within their reach… and he slowly buried his head in his hands. The things they had matched with the missing displays at the museum.

“...Right,” he muttered quietly, and some people chuckled. Of course, he had nothing to worry about! “...Sorry, I’m just tired,” he admitted. 

He was sure he would’ve noticed that they had taken things from the museum earlier, if only he hadn’t walked with two bags for hours, and if he wasn’t still coming down from the high of seeing his friends again. He should rest.

“Do you want to sleep in the car or the tent?” Eret asked, motioning to a tent set up not far from the campfire and the two cars parked by its sides. Hesitantly, Fundy shrugged.

“I’m taking the car,” Hbomb declared, walking over to the car that, as Fundy quickly recognized, was his even before the apocalypse.

“Can I and Ranboo take the other car?” Tubbo asked, looking at Jack.

“...Sure,” Jack agreed, though he didn’t look very happy. “Sure, yeah… H, does your car have a lot of room left?” he asked after a moment.

“Yeah!” Hbomb confirmed from the distance, and Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

“Is there something wrong with the tent?” Fundy asked, noticing how absolutely no one wanted it.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Eret assured him. "The car seats are just softer than the grass at this point," she explained, and Fundy nodded. 

"Oh. I can take the tent, then," he decided. "I spent the past two weeks sleeping on the floor with a single blanket for warmth, it'll be like staying in a five-star hotel," he explained his reasoning. Some people, presumably those more familiar with the wonders of sleeping in that tent, laughed quietly. 

"Do you mind sharing?" Eret asked. "The cars sound pretty packed at this point."

"No problem, I… I think it'll be nice to not sleep alone," he admitted. Eret nodded in understanding before motioning for him to follow and walking up to the tent. 

Just before going inside, Fundy took one more look at everyone else. They were all quickly disappearing into the two cars, save for Niki, who stuck around by the fire for a moment longer, putting it out. Then, he finally went inside and glanced around the tent. It looked… cozy. There were a couple of sleeping bags and blankets on the ground, as well as pillows and a single flashlight lying somewhere in the mess of comfortable garments. Without a second thought, Fundy lied down. 

"This is much better than the floor," he declared. He dropped his bat at his side and let it roll away from him while he enjoyed the soft surface under him.

“Really?” Eret asked while they took off their royal coat and folded it neatly in the corner, placing the crown on top of it. Fundy took a moment to relish the moment before answering.

“Oh, for sure,” he nodded, sitting back up and pulling off his own jacket before carelessly throwing it aside. “This is so much warmer, and it’s so comfortable, and…” he took a moment to enjoy the quiet sounds of the forest around them. “I finally can’t hear those things growling outside.”

“I can’t imagine falling asleep with that in the background,” Eret sighed, using the gentle light his eyes gave off to locate a sleeping bag on the floor and unzipping it. “Out here, it’s mostly quiet.”

As if on cue, a series of loud bangs cut through the silence, making Fundy jump. 

“What was that?!” he asked, instantly lowering his voice to a whisper. Eret waved his hand dismissively.

“Oh, that was just Niki,” she assured him. “It sounds like she already climbed H’s car.”

“...Okay, and… why would she do that?” Fundy asked, his worry quickly replaced by confusion.

“We keep watch from up there,” Eret explained. “It’s easier to see something approaching the camp when you’re higher, nothing can block your view,” they added, and Fundy had to admit that it made sense.

“Okay,” he hummed. “And… H allows that?” he asked, and Eret stifled a laugh.

“He does,” he confirmed. “His car was already covered in… blood and all by the time we made it out of the city, and he decided he didn’t mind adding some dirt and possible dents into the mess.”

“Oh, right,” Fundy nodded. He took the moment of silence that followed to find his way into a second sleeping bag and make himself comfortable, but…

By the time they got out, the car was covered in blood. That sentence kept replaying in his mind. Maybe leaving the city wasn’t as easy as he hoped it was.

“How… how did leaving go, if that’s… okay to ask?” he asked after a moment of silence. “How did you get out?”

“...It's okay. I… was still in the museum when the zombies swarmed the streets,” Eret started after a moment of silence. “I tried blocking the doors to keep them out, but those displays are heavier than they look. I got lucky, though, and a… God showed up right then.”

“Oh, right, the Gods,” Fundy nodded. Right, that was also happening.

“Yeah. He helped me to block the door and explained everything I didn’t know. Then, he also gave me that… blessing, to track people. Ranboo mentioned it, didn’t he?” Eret asked, and Fundy nodded.

“He did.”

“Yeah. The thing with my eyes happened too, but… that was an accident,” Eret continued, not bothering to explain how could having white, glowing eyes be an accident. “He had to leave then, and I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just… collected things,” she explained, turning her head to face the golden crown again.

“It’s not… actual gold, right?” Fundy asked, and Eret laughed quietly.

“It’s not, that’d be too heavy,” they confirmed before clearing their throat and continuing the story. “Well… After I got most of the things I wanted, I heard a car horn outside, so I looked out the window, and… H’s car was already a mess, but he didn’t drive off until I made it inside, too. We tried leaving the city, but by then almost all the roads were blocked, so we did the next best thing and tried tracking someone. It was… Niki, I think?”

“...The roads were blocked?” Fundy repeated that part, and Eret nodded.

“Mostly by abandoned cars and the zombies,” he confirmed. “But we managed to find Niki, and she had Ranboo and Tubbo with her. They joined us in the car and she helped us to find some less-known road to get us to this forest.”

“...And how did Jack get here?” Fundy asked, realizing that the man was the only one missing from the story.

“He was already here when we found this place, he was camping,” Eret clarified… that would explain the amount of camping gear, Fundy realized. “We were actually looking for him, but… it still took us a day to get here.”

“With your… blessing, it still took a day?”

“I can track people once a day, so we needed to wait… and that blessing isn’t very accurate, either. It just tells me the direction, and it only works half the time. We don’t even know if it tracks people who are… you know, not people anymore,” she complained, and Fundy nodded.

“Alright,” he answered before falling silent for a moment. “Have you… tried to track down Dream, maybe?” he asked eventually.

“I… Might’ve, but I don’t think anything came of that,” they admitted after a short pause. “Every time I check someone, they’re either in the direction of the city, or… not trackable at all. I can try him again tomorrow, though, if you’d like me to.”

“Okay, yeah,” Fundy nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that. Thanks,” he added. Then, he took a moment to take a deep breath. “He… could’ve just gotten out of the city, right?”

“Of course,” Eret agreed, and hearing that from anyone but himself made him feel better… even now that he knew how hard getting out was.

“...Thanks, I… I should really get some sleep now. Goodnight,” he ended the conversation right there, before he’d get too caught up in worrying again.

“Goodnight, Fundy.”

Again, it was nice to hear that from anyone but himself.

When Fundy opened his eyes again, the tent was already full of light coming from outside. The air getting inside was cool and refreshing, and the silence around him was… peaceful. Yeah, peaceful. Somehow, he felt safer protected by the thin material of the tent than he ever did in the city, and he took a moment to enjoy that sense of security.

After a couple of minutes, he felt ready to go stretch his legs, though.

He quietly got out of his sleeping bag, put on his jacket, and unzipped the entrance to the tent. He stepped outside and took a deep breath of the morning air before turning back and zipping up the tent again. Then, he finally took a moment to see the camp when it was lit up by more than just a campfire. It was… nice.

It was set up in a pretty spacious clearing, and he could see some wires and ropes running along the treeline, presumably there to trip over any zombies that dared to come any closer. Which also worked on survivors, as he found out last night. Next, he turned to get a look at Hbomb’s car and, well… Eret certainly wasn’t exaggerating. It had blood stains all over it, and while there was clearly an attempt to wash it, it only seemed to smudge them further. There was a noticeable dent in the car’s hood, too, and judging by the dirt around it, it was currently used as a stepping point to get to the car’s roof.

Speaking of, he quickly spotted Jack sitting on top of the car, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

“Hey,” Fundy greeted him after a moment.

“Morning,” the man answered. He took one last look at the treeline before moving to the edge of the car and jumping to the ground. “How was the tent?”

“It was great. I… don’t think I felt this safe sleeping in the past two weeks,” he admitted with a nervous laugh. “Are you doing the watch right now?” he asked, and Jack nodded.

“Yup. With how bright it is, I don’t need to sit up there, though,” he explained, motioning to the top of the car he just jumped off of. “I can just walk around, maybe clean up a bit after the campfire…”

“Makes sense,” Fundy nodded. It was probably easier to do that when it wasn’t dark outside.

“Do you want to come along? You won’t believe the things that get left over there,” Jack exclaimed with a smile.

“Sure,” Fundy shrugged. He couldn’t help but doubt the second part of his statement, though… What could they have possibly left by the campfire? Trash? Some half-eaten food? Or- He squinted in the direction of the campfire. “...Is that my bag?”

“Probably,” Jack confirmed, and Fundy immediately sped up.

He quickly arrived by the campfire and opened his bag, briefly checking on its contents before breathing a sigh of relief. It was fine, nothing was damaged, its outside was just slightly damped by the morning dew. The things inside were okay, and he was sure he’d remember to keep it close to himself now. He was just… really tired last night, and also caught up in the moment…

He felt safe last night, for the first time in weeks, and… he wouldn’t blame himself for letting his guard down.

“Is it okay?” Jack asked when he caught up to him. He sounded concerned, and admittedly, Fundy’s reaction was probably worrying.

“Oh, yeah, it’s alright,” he confirmed, picking it up and slinging it over his shoulder. “See? Not even wet. I just can’t believe I left it out here,” he explained. Jack looked into the bag for a moment before looking back up at Fundy.

“...Is that Dream’s?” he asked. Fundy glanced down and sure enough, his boyfriend’s hoodie was currently on top of everything else.

“Yeah, I’ll… give it back to him when I find him,” he explained, and Jack nodded in understanding.

“Oh, alright,” he answered. “You should probably talk to Eret about that. They could help with… tracking him down, you know?”

“I mentioned it to her already, she said she’d try today,” Fundy responded. He really hoped it’d work…

“Great!” Jack nodded. “If you need to convince him to hurry, here’s a bargaining chip,” he added, motioning behind Fundy. When he turned to follow his gesture, he spotted Eret’s sword still stuck into the ground. He stifled a laugh.

“Huh, if I didn’t have my bat with me, we would be defenseless in that tent,” he pointed out. He walked over to the sword and looked it over.

“Speaking of, where’s your bat?” Jack asked, and Fundy motioned to the tent.

“It’s more needed over there, I think… We have a sword here,” he pointed out. He poked its handle gently to check how well it was stuck.

“True, true,” Jack nodded. “I’m sure Eret will be willing to trade back,” he added before taking a seat on one of the sitting logs. “Sit down, it’ll probably be a bit before anyone else wakes up.”

“Right,” Fundy nodded. He sat down by Jack’s side and glanced at him briefly, only for something to catch his attention.

Jack’s eye was… red? Oh, right. Ranboo did mention that Jack went through a similar thing to Eret, with meeting a God and something happening to his eyes… Since they didn’t glow, it wasn’t as noticeable, but yeah… his eye was definitely red.

“Question,” he started, getting Jack’s attention. “Ranboo mentioned that Eret wasn’t the only one who got, uh… picked? Let’s say picked, by a God, right? That it happened to you, too?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jack confirmed. He seemed happy about that, so Fundy assumed it was okay to take the topic further.

“So… if Eret can track people down, what ability did you get?” he asked. Jack’s enthusiasm seemed to vanish while he sighed.

“...I’ll be honest, it’s not much,” he admitted finally. “They weren’t… exactly Gods, the ones that picked me, so they could only give me…” he hesitated for a moment, drumming his fingers on the log he sat on. “...Stronger will and persistence,” he quoted. “It’d be cooler to have something… useful, but at least they explained what was happening.”

Fundy could ask… at least two or three questions about what he just heard. He decided to take in what was happening much more slowly, though.

“...Alright,” he nodded.

Jack nodded too, and they both fell silent, waiting for others to wake up. It shouldn’t take long, Fundy hoped.

Chapter Text

It luckily didn’t take a long time for most people to wake up. It was Eret who emerged out of the tent first, looking around the camp with a confused frown and holding Fundy’s bat. Once they spotted Fundy and Jack by the currently-extinguished campfire, they were quick to join them, and even quicker to exchange weapons to get their sword back. Not even five minutes of occasional small talk later, Hbomb’s car opened and he stepped out of it, shortly followed by Niki. Apparently, them closing the car doors behind them was enough to wake up Tubbo, too, so before the two joined the main group, he was already following their example.

“Ranboo’s sleeping in a bit today,” he informed the group when he caught up with them. “He said he needs that after yesterday,” he explained, and some people nodded in acknowledgment.

“That’s funny, Fundy was the first one up,” Jack pointed out. It wasn’t an accusation towards Ranboo, though, just… an observation. Fundy shrugged.

“I wanted to see the camp,” he explained himself. “It’s… nice. It looks safe.”

“Ooh, would you like to see its surroundings, too?” Hbomb perked up. “I usually check around it for zombies after breakfast, I could use some company!”

“...Sure,” Fundy agreed after a moment of hesitation. Sure, it’d be nice to get to know his surroundings even better.

“I’ll go get some food for everyone then, alright?” Eret offered. When no one objected, he got up from his seat and made his way back to the cars. Fundy assumed that was where they kept the food for the night.

It couldn’t have been 20 minutes before Fundy was already stepping over a rope and following Hbomb into the forest. Almost immediately, he realized they were following a manmade path marked by some extra string, cuts in the nearby trees, as well as some broken branches that would normally make it harder to travel. It was good to know they were on a set path, the last thing Fundy wanted was to get lost.

He tried to stay wary of their surroundings, still. There must’ve been a reason for the group to keep watch at night and check the forest in the mornings, and even if that reason was just “It’s technically possible for a zombie to get this far into the forest”, he sure wasn’t going to let his guard down.

“...Do you find a lot of zombies during these?” he asked eventually, just to check how highly alert he had to stay.

“Not really,” Hbomb admitted with a shrug. “I think I found… six? Maybe seven? And I’ve been doing this more or less since we got here,” he elaborated. That sounded like good news.

“Alright, that’s not… bad,” Fundy nodded. “And how-”

He fell silent as soon as Hbomb stopped in his tracks and blocked Fundy’s path with his hand. For a moment, they both stood there in silence… soon enough, Fundy realized he could hear something other than the rustling of the nearby leaves and some distant birds.

“...Looks like we’re up to eight,” Hbomb sighed once he was sure that what he was hearing was a zombie. He cautiously continued on his way, keeping his spear ready. “Here it is.”

Fundy caught up to him and spotted a zombie lying on the ground, with their legs tangled with some rope. Hbomb observed it for a moment before glancing at him.

“Do they look familiar to you?” he asked. After a moment of dreadful consideration, Fundy shook his head.

“No.”

“Good. Then let’s just kill it and get it off the path,” Hbomb decided, cautiously trying to approach the zombie. After a moment of hesitation, Fundy caught up to him.

“Can I do it?” he asked. Hbomb paused before looking at him with a frown.

“You want to?” he questioned.

“Well, uh…” Fundy hesitated. “Not really, but… I don’t think I actually did that yet. And I… should, right? Just to be ready,” he explained, and Hbomb nodded.

“Oh, yeah,” he agreed. “Do you want to borrow my spear for that? It’s sharper.”

“No, thanks,” he declined, it was better to familiarize himself with his own weapon. He took a step closer to the zombie, careful to stay out of its reach, and readied his bat. “I just… aim for the head, right?” he asked. After a quiet hum of approval, he took a deep breath and swung.

He…. did not like the noise that came from the impact.

Luckily, that one swing seemed to be enough to end that zombie’s misery. Just to be sure, Fundy poked it with the bat, but it didn’t react. After a moment of silence, Hbomb joined him and used his spear to push it off the path. Clearly, neither of them wanted to touch it with their bare hands.

“...I used to think they were immortal or something,” Fundy admitted when they started to walk again. Hbomb glanced over his shoulder to look at him,

“Really?” he asked, and Fundy nodded.

“I never thought to go for the head before, and they would just… survive everything else I tried,” he explained. He briefly glanced behind himself to make sure that the zombie he just hit wasn’t getting up, just in case… it was fine, though. “How did you figure out that worked?”

“Eret let me know as soon as I got her from the museum,” he explained. Right. And Eret knew because of those… Gods. Of course. “Hitting them with a car worked fine before that, too.”

“Is that how it got so dirty?” Fundy asked, and Hbomb nodded.

“...Yeah, that’s how it started,” he admitted. “I had to get through a lot of zombies to reach the museum, and I didn’t really care about how messy it’d get then.”

“Well… I’m pretty sure there was more of them there by the time I checked,” Fundy informed. He couldn’t imagine driving for more than a couple of feet before getting stuck.

“I figured,” Hbomb nodded. “Actually, how was the museum?” he asked after a brief pause. Fundy took a moment to think back to the state he found it in…

“Not bad,” he decided. “A part of it was blocked off, and I think Eret mentioned setting that up… And I don’t think anyone entered it between us, so not much was missing,” he recalled, and Hbomb nodded along.

“Was the cannon still there, on the display?” he asked. “We could use a cannon,” he added with a laugh.

“I didn’t think it still worked?” Fundy hummed quietly. “It’d be hard to get it out here, too.”

“I know, I know… It would be a good line of defense, though,” Hbomb remarked, and… sure. If they had all the things they needed to use it, sure. “A lot of things from the city could be useful,” he realized after a brief pause. “I’m not going anywhere near that place, though.”

“Me neither,” Fundy shook his head. “Unless Eret tells me that Dream’s right there, I am staying far away from there… too many zombies,” he declared. If Dream was there, he’d run back into that death-ridden place in a heartbeat, but… not now.

“Makes sense,” Hbomb nodded. For a moment, they continued walking in silence. 

“...So, if you could have one thing from the city, just… blink and have it, what would you want?” Fundy asked. Hbomb hummed to himself in wonder.

“I don’t know… maybe an extra tent, or a grill… Actually, no, definitely a tent, but a good one! Big, comfortable, with separate rooms and all… almost like having a house out here,” he decided after a moment of thought. “What about you?”

“Hmm…” Fundy hesitated. Despite asking the question, he didn’t really think his own answer through… “Maybe…”

Something to get, something to get…

“Oh, maybe one of those… instant cameras, you know? And a lot of photo paper for them, yeah,” he decided. Hbomb seemed surprised at best by his choice, so he decided to elaborate. “It’d be nice to… keep memories, you know? And… Dream mentioned wanting one a couple of times, so when I find him, I could give it to him as a gift, you know? Man, I should’ve looked harder for one when I was in the city…”

“...You think about him a lot, huh?” Hbomb noticed.

Right. This was… yeah, probably the 2nd or 3rd time he’s mentioned his boyfriend during this walk alone. Right. But he missed him, he was worried, how could anyone blame him for it?! The sympathetic look on Hbomb’s face reassured him that at least his current companion didn’t.

“I… guess I do,” he admitted. “Do you think he’d like a gift like that? I mean, I also have his hoodie for him, so I’ll definitely have something to give when we meet again, but…”

“I think he’ll be happy with just seeing you,” Hbomb said. Fundy… had to admit, that was reassuring to hear.

“Okay, yeah… Thanks.”

He started to focus on their surroundings again, looking out for any dangers and trying to remember any landmarks. He also finally let himself realize how pretty the forest was. With tall, strong trees that still let some sunlight through, and the soft mixture of moss and grass, and some flowers and mushrooms here and there… yeah, it was a nice place. Hell, it even had some berry bushes not far from the path they were taking!

He wondered if those were edible

It was nice to see the camp again, Fundy figured when he was finally stepping over some protective rope again. The walk was fine, and they didn’t run into any trouble other than that first zombie, but it was just… long. A bit too long for his liking, he wanted to be back before dinner, to make sure he could get Eret to track down Dream as soon as that was possible! To his relief, it seemed like the others still hadn’t gotten started on as much as making the food.

“We’re back!” Hbomb called out, waving to a small group of people hanging around the unlit campfire. With a brief glance, Fundy recognized Niki, Jack, and Tubbo.

“How was the search?” Tubbo asked once the two made it closer to the small group.

“Good. We found only one zombie, not anyone we knew… and Fundy took care of that,” Hbomb summarized, and the others seemed relieved.

“Oh, we got some berries, too,” Fundy chimed in. It was his idea, and it did take them a while to collect, but to be fair, he expected their walk to be almost over at that point.

“They don’t look poisonous,” Jack hummed, noticing a small bag of them in Fundy’s hands. “I can get my survivalist handbook to make sure, though,” he decided.

“You can start bringing the dinner ingredients over here, too!” Niki called after him.

“What are we making?” Fundy asked curiously. So far, he wasn’t eating actual ‘meals’, just… simple foods, not things that required separate ingredients.

“Pasta, I think?” Tubbo responded. “With some sauce, probably… Do you think the berries could work as that?”

“Maybe,” Hbomb shrugged. He turned around to get a better look at Jack and sighed. “I’ll help him carry everything… we don’t want him to drop the stove.”

“The stove?” Fundy repeated. An entire stove?

“Yeah, Jack has this little gas stove for camping… it works well enough, though,” Niki explained and yeah, that made more sense. He nodded.

The pasta seemed like a smart choice of meal, too. Just… boil some water, throw it in, make some sauce or whatever… and there, a decent amount of food for seven people, assuming they had enough pasta for that. He never really considered how preparing food for an entire group was a challenge on its own, and he was glad that his friends had already found a way to make that easier.

Soon enough, Hbomb and Jack returned with a considerably big pot with all the ingredients needed inside of it, as well as a camping stove that Fundy honestly expected to be smaller. They placed all of those things near the campfire and slowly set them all out to make them easier to use. Fundy couldn’t help but notice one thing.

“...Don’t we need water, too?” he asked. They would need a lot of water, probably.

“Eret and Ranboo are getting that,” Jack responded. “There’s a stream not far from here, we get most of our water from there,” he added, motioning into the forest before grabbing a bowl and slowly getting started on what Fundy assumed would become the sauce soon.

“Okay,” he nodded briefly. “Do you want some help with that?” he offered.

He did end up helping with the food. It was… a good distraction, he supposed, something to finally get his mind off of everything that worried him. He deemed it even more important after Ranboo and Eret returned, and the latter told him that it’d probably be a bit short of an hour before they could track Dream. He just had to stay distracted for some more time, then he could focus on his original objective of finding his boyfriend.

“...Just ten more minutes, I think,” Eret said, glancing down at a watch after putting away their now-empty plate.

“That’s… good,” Fundy nodded, his own plate long-forgotten on the pile of dirty dishes already.

“Well, I’ll take care of these, alright?” Jack suggested, motioning to the plates. “Niki, do you want to come along and watch my back?”

“Sure,” Niki agreed. She got up to join him but spared a sympathetic glance at Fundy. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” he answered. For a moment, things were quiet while the two collected the dishes and left.

“...I think we’ll need more wood for the night,” Tubbo pointed out after a brief moment of silence, motioning to the small pile of firewood they had left.

“Yeah,” Ranboo agreed. “...Do you think we should start collecting it now, or wait…?”

“You three go ahead,” Eret answered, looking between the two teens and Hbomb. “I and Fundy will…” he paused, “Well, I suppose it depends on what I find, but… we’ll let you know.”

Just like that, they were left alone by the unlit campfire.

Ten minutes have never felt more like an eternity, Fundy thought while he silently clutched at his bat. Eret kept glancing at her watch but never said anything about it, so he assumed the time was truly dragging on for them both and just… waited. He tried to prepare himself for anything, for getting up and running all the way back to the city if he had to-

“We still have a moment… Can we talk?” Eret asked eventually. Fundy didn’t like how serious their voice was, but he nodded. “I just want to… understand your approach to this, okay? What… will you do if this works?”

“I’ll immediately go find him,” Fundy replied, perhaps just a moment too quickly for that not to sound desperate. Eret nodded.

“Just so you know, that… probably won’t be too easy. I can only tell the direction someone is in, they could be feet or miles away,” he explained, and Fundy was pretty sure he heard him mention that before.

“I know,” he confirmed. “I’m planning to walk in that direction until I find him,” he declared, and yeah, he absolutely sounded desperate.

“...There’s a chance-” Eret cut herself off, collecting her words again. “Well, I think I told you this before, too, but… I’m not sure if I can only track those who are alive, so there’s a chance you might find him…” she didn’t finish, and she didn’t have to. If anything, Fundy was grateful that he didn’t have to hear about that possibility directly.

“...Well… If that’s how I find him, then I’ll just… Bury him, I guess,” he shrugged, and that was it on the topic for him. He forced himself to forget that it was a possibility instantly.

“Okay,” Eret nodded. “...One last thing, sometimes… nothing shows up, no direction at all. I don’t know if that means that the person I’m tracking is… dead, or too far away, or if it’s just an…. error or something, but it happens.”

“Alright,” Fundy nodded… he hadn’t really put too much thought into that being a possibility. “...If that happens, do you think I could just stay here?”

“Of course,” Eret agreed instantly. “You’re always welcome to stay here… And if you leave to go look for him, you’re welcome to return,” she assured him.

“Thanks,” Fundy smiled faintly. Find Dream and return to this safe camp with friends, that was his current plan.

“...Looks like it’s time,” Eret announced, glancing down at their watch one last time.

“Okay,” Fundy nodded.

He was nervous, obviously. He watched as Eret muttered something under his breath, catching his boyfriend’s name somewhere within the jumble of words, and watched as his eyes’ glow seemed to grow stronger. Any moment now, he’d finally have his answer, a direct instruction for how to find Dream after weeks of nothing!

He hoped his boyfriend was in the same forest, somehow. In another safe camp so close to theirs that it was a miracle that the two groups hadn’t found each other yet. Getting pointed in the city’s direction wouldn’t be too bad either, though… he survived there for a good while, so he was sure he’d manage one more run into it just to reunite with Dream and-

His heart dropped when he realized how Eret’s face fell.

Something wasn’t right.

“...Nothing,” that simple word seemed to crush him. “It’s… there’s no direction,” Eret informed him with a saddened expression and Fundy automatically buried his head in his hands.

“...Are you sure?” he asked, holding on to that small slither of hope…

“I am,” Eret responded, and the hope vanished. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he answered, definitely too fast for it not to sound fake. “He… has to be somewhere, right?”

“Sure,” Eret agreed, but at this point, Fundy was certain they said that only to make him feel better. “Do you need a moment alone? To… clear your head?”

“...Yeah,” he nodded. “You can go… help with the wood, I’ll catch up in a minute. Just… clear my head, right.”

He hoped this was an “error”, or that Dream was far, far away- Well, that felt wrong to say. Still, if the alternative was “dead”, then… Yeah, he had to go with “too far to track” for now. He wasn’t entirely sure when he left the camping chair he was sitting in and walked over to where he slept before and found himself a decently big map in one of the cars, but there he was now… If he was Dream, where would he have gone?

North, maybe? There was a city up there, maybe things were better inside it. Maybe Dream hoped they were. It was far, so that would explain Eret’s power not working…

“Fundy?” he almost jumped at the sudden voice, spinning around to find Tubbo standing there with a big bag in his hands.

“...Hey,” he greeted him, putting back the map and looking at the bag. The uneasy look on his face must've given away that things with Eret didn't go as he hoped.

“I’m… assuming it didn’t work?” Tubbo asked hesitantly, and Fundy answered with a bitter nod.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “...Eret found nothing, just… nothing.”

“Oh… At least it wasn’t the city?” Tubbo tried to cheer him up and, well, Fundy appreciated that.

“Sure,” he shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind going back there for him, but… I guess this is better than him being stuck somewhere in there,” he added. “...Also, Eret said that this could’ve been an error, or that he’s just… too far or something, so maybe I can get them to try again later?”

He purposely didn’t mention the 3rd theory he was presented with, the one about Dream being dead.

“Is the bag for the firewood?” he asked after a brief moment of silence. Tubbo looked down at the item in his hands and nodded.

“Oh, yeah, I should probably go back to collecting it,” he admitted. “Do you want to… join me?”

“...Sure,” Fundy agreed. Making himself useful was better than sulking around in the camp for the rest of the day. “Sure, lead the way.”

He didn’t have to ask twice, Tubbo instantly nodded and started to walk towards the forest. Fundy followed close behind, trying to keep an eye out for any dangers lurking behind the trees and bushes… the forest was an awfully safe place, though. For a moment, they walked in silence, but eventually, Tubbo was the one to break it.

“...I think the second option is more likely,” he declared suddenly. He glanced behind himself to see the confused expression on Fundy’s face and decided to elaborate. “Why Eret couldn’t find anything,” he clarified. “I think it’s about the distance.”

“Huh. Why?” Fundy asked, somewhat intrigued.

“Well, whenever we tried tracking someone from our group, it worked. In the beginning, Eret found me, Ranboo, and Niki, and we were all in the same part of the city. Then, we found Jack, and he was pretty close to us when we checked. Whenever we tracked you, you were in the city, and when Eret tried to find Ranboo yesterday… Well, she could tell he was there, too. She doesn’t find much when tracking other people… so it could really be about the distance.”

“Alright,” Fundy nodded. That was… reassuring. “...Actually, I was thinking, he could’ve headed north,” he admitted after a brief pause. Tubbo looked back at him again, and he seemed curious. “There’s a big city up there. I know it’s far from ours, but… Well, I used to talk about wanting to visit it a lot, so maybe… maybe he figured I’d be there too?” he explained his reasoning and Tubbo nodded.

“Maybe he could be there,” he agreed. “Though… there’s a lot of other cities around. The one to the West is the closest one, I think… then there’s the one in the South, it’s almost as big as the North one…” he started to name.

“I know, I know,” Fundy sighed. “That’s why I won’t just head North to check… there are too many other options, and I hope they just… narrow themselves down, or something.”

With that said, they both fell silent again. It was probably best to drop the topic for now.

Eventually, they found a clearing with a relatively good amount of wood lying around, so they stopped there and started to collect some of it. They focused on grabbing the bigger pieces of wood, the ones they could use to keep the fire going for as long as it needed to be going for. The small sticks were useful only for starting it, after all, and just putting a fistful or two of brushwood into their pockets would probably be enough.

For a while, they worked in silence, and this time it was Fundy who ended it.

“...Hey, Tubbo?” he said to get the teen’s attention. “How… hard was it to get out of the city?” he asked. He knew it wasn’t very subtle, but he wanted to figure out how much of a chance Dream stood when it came to getting out.

“...It was… possible,” Tubbo answered after a moment. I didn’t see many people succeeding, and Ranboo did have that one close call… But I mean, his suit saved him and then Eret and H picked us up, and the car was safe… I think we got decently close to getting out without it, though. I’m sure it was possible,” he declared.

Possible. Fundy would have to hold onto that thought for now.

“Alright,” he nodded. “And… did you have a lot of time to prepare before leaving? Your flat sure looked like you were in a rush.”

“We had a little bit of time,” Tubbo shrugged. “Niki showed up to help us pack long before we even heard about the zombies flooding the city, and we got out of there while the streets were mostly clear of them,” he recalled, and Fundy nodded along. He… couldn’t find any more ‘subtle’ questions. “...Do you know if Dream had any time to prepare?” Tubbo asked.

Well… apparently, he was even less subtle than he thought.

“...I don’t,” he admitted. “Well… he wasn’t home when this started, I think… his flat was locked and it was untouched…”

He paused. Dream was outside, he remembered. Tubbo called getting out of the city “possible”, but he lived far from the center, and he had time to prepare and left early, and the streets were apparently “mostly clear” back then… If Dream was out with his friends, there was a big chance they were in the middle of it all. Hell, Hbomb mentioned an “army” of zombies by the museum, and it was far from the center too, so…

“...I- I think he could’ve been with his friends, though,” he continued, pushing that train of thought out of his mind. “Oh, and- and Sapnap’s place was a giant mess, so… they all could’ve gone there, packed, and… left. He had to have gone there,” he insisted, simply because he refused to consider any other possibility.

“Yeah, for sure,” Tubbo nodded in agreement.

Fundy had a feeling that neither of them truly believed him.

He didn’t want to think about that either, though. He didn’t want to think about anything that didn’t align with his single hope-fueled assumption. Dream was somewhere out there, safe, and… Fundy would find him eventually. Maybe he could ask Eret for help again, after a couple of days? To make sure it wasn’t just an error, to check if something would turn up this time… If not, he could probably check which paths out of the city were blocked and look for further clues in the clear ones...

He had a lot of things he could do before he’d have to consider the possibility of... a sadder scenario taking place.

Before he knew it, he was struggling to push any more sticks into the bag that was now full of them. He… should probably stop getting lost in his thoughts so much, that was dangerous these days. Tubbo noticed how full the bag was not long after and, after a moment of consideration, suggested that one of them should bring it back to the camp while the other one would go check on the other people still collecting the wood nearby.

Without much hesitation, Fundy volunteered to head back first. It was the smarter choice, really, he was still very new to the area and one walk with Hbomb wouldn’t make him less prone to getting lost than Tubbo, so it was safer for him to head back the way he knew instead of searching their surroundings alone.

By the time he reached the camp again, it wasn’t empty anymore. The small pile of wood wasn’t all that small anymore, so other people must’ve been steadily dropping off everything they’d collected. More importantly, though, some of the wood was already set up in the firepit and Niki was crouched down next to it, possibly trying to start the fire already.

“Hey!” he called out to her, making his presence known before she’d assume he was a zombie. “I’m bringing more wood!”

“That’s good,” Niki nodded. He finally reached the pile of firewood and added what he and Tubbo managed to collect before turning his attention to her again. “...Do you have a lighter or something? I think this one is out of gas,” she complained. Fundy insistently patted down his pockets.

“Oh, yeah, I do!” he realized. He fished out the item from his pocket and crouched down by Niki’s side before handing it to her. He noticed her looking at it for a moment and then realization struck him. “...Oh, I think I took it from your house. Sorry.”

“...So that’s why it looks so familiar,” she muttered before taking it off his hands.

Fundy had no doubts it was hers when he watched just how easily she used it. Lighters weren’t complicated, sure, but once it was in her hand, the fire was lit within a blink of an eye, as if she practiced using it for years now. She could’ve. He was so impressed by her skill with it that he barely realized it when she tried to hand it back to him.

“...It’s yours,” he reminded her, but she shook her head.

“I have the second one,” she responded, motioning to it. “Once I get Jack to fill it with some gas, it’ll be good as new… and having a lighter is always useful. Just… try not to burn your hair,” she teased him.

“Right,” Fundy stifled a laugh as he took it back from her. Don’t burn your hair. The last time he saw her, her hair was much longer than his, but… she must've cut it when this all started. It was still somewhat uneven from that, but it was definitely shorter than his.

“...Do you want some hair clips?” she offered after a moment, apparently just as caught up in the comment she made. “I have a couple of extra ones and I don’t need them that much, so you can have some,” she offered. Fundy considered it for a moment, and, well… he didn’t quite notice how his hair was starting to fall into his face before, but now he was certain it’d be better to keep a clear vision.

“Sure,” he nodded. “I… guess I could use that.”

With a nod, she made sure that the fire managed to catch on to the rest of the wood in the campfire before getting up and heading towards the cars and the tent, gesturing for Fundy to follow. He did, and after a moment, he watched her pull out a small box from somewhere in the backseat of Jack’s car. She opened it and showed him its contents… it was a lot of hair clips in many shapes and colors.

“Here, pick some out!” she encouraged him.

He… found it surprisingly hard to do so. It wasn’t an important choice, he knew… and still, he found himself at an absolute loss as to which ones to take. Eventually, he made up his mind and reached into the box, pulling out two hair clips. The first one was orange, the right shade to almost blend in with his hair if he wanted it to… the other one was green. It made him feel better. It also made him cringe. It was stupid-

“...I’m sure Dream will love these on you,” Niki offered him a reassuring smile, and it was as if a small weight was lifted off his shoulders.

“...Thanks,” he smiled back. He kind of expected her to judge him for the choice, but no, of course she didn’t.

He… really appreciated that.

He appreciated her help with actually using them to clip the right parts of his hair to stop it from getting into his eyes, too. After they were done with that, they quickly headed back to the campfire to watch the flames, ensuring they didn't die out or get onto something other than the firewood. Not long after, some people started to turn up at the camp to join them, Ranboo being the first one of them.

“Hey, guys!” he called out from the forest, standing by the rope that stretched around the camp. “Can you help me with this wood?”

Apparently, he decided to bring some branches that, to be honest, looked like they could all be actual trees too, and were too long, heavy, and branched out to safely be carried over the rope. Luckily, involving two more people made that a more reasonable goal, and soon enough, they managed to bring the dry branches over to the pile of the other wood. Niki volunteered to grab Jack’s saw in order to cut the branches into smaller pieces, which left the other two to keep an eye on the fire alone.

Fundy could swear he saw Ranboo looking at the hair clips he got from Niki, but he made no comment on them. That was nice, not having to think about-

“So… Did Eret find anything…?” the teen asked. Well. It was nice while it lasted, Fundy supposed. Before he could share his painful news, Ranboo continued. “Because I was thinking, and uh… Well, if he’s in the city and you want an extra set of hands, I could maybe head there with you…?” he offered.

Okay, that was nice too, Fundy admitted to himself. It was a kind offer.

“If we found anything, I would already be halfway there,” he responded with a bitter sigh. “...Thanks, though. I appreciate that.”

Ranboo nodded, and they fell silent again.

They were probably both getting lost in their thoughts, which, again, was not very safe… But at least in Fundy’s case, he had some things to sort out in his head, like coming to terms with the fact that those two hair clips would probably be his newest source of comfort for a while…

He should try to fit into the group more, he decided. Maybe volunteer for the watch once everyone else returned, to get a better hang of it sooner. That, and… it’d give him more time to think everything through without anyone distracting him, he’d only need to keep an eye out for any zombies, which must’ve been rare to find…

Yeah, volunteering for the watch seemed like a good step to take.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take much to get the first shift of the watch.

He just had to ask, and the next thing he knew he was already getting a rundown on all the things he had to know for the task. It wasn’t too complicated, really, just three rules: If you see a zombie, you kill it, if you start getting drowsy, you wake the next person up to ensure you don’t leave the camp unprotected, and if you need help, wake up as many people as you need. Simple enough, wasn’t it?

So there he was now, sitting on top of Hbomb’s car with his bat in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Everyone else was already in the cars and the tent and they must’ve been long asleep by now, so that left him to his own devices… and he enjoyed the relative peace. The darkness around him felt dense, but comforting, and the quiet sounds of the forest made for a great background noise. Perfect to let him focus on his thoughts with the knowledge that any noise a zombie could make would be jarring enough to snap him out of those… and well, he had a lot to think about.

What should he do now? What could he do?

He had to find a way to find Dream, obviously. Assuming that everywhere outside of their city was as safe as this camp, he didn't need to be in too much of a hurry, but he still wanted to find him soon. He'd probably need to wait a couple of days before asking Eret for help again, though, and if it was about the distance, then it'd be useless anyway.

That was why he needed a way to narrow down where Dream could be. The idea of checking which roads out of the city were clear crossed his mind already, but he'd need a good excuse to go anywhere near them... and it wasn't that hard to come up with one. There were supplies in the city, so he could volunteer to go there to collect them. "Oh, are we low on food? I know this nice store at the edge of the city, I can get it from there!", or "Do you think we need more sleeping bags? I saw some while exploring the city, I can go back for them", and there, he'd be in the city before he knew it!

That was what he'd do while he waited for enough time to pass before he could ask Eret to use her power again. If he found something that looked like a serious hint of the direction Dream could've headed in, he would probably ask her to come along to that spot, to ensure that distance would be less of an issue. Then, he'd finally have the answer! Or... not. Or there would still be nothing. And then...

He wasn't sure. He wasn't sure if he'd leave to search further or if he'd do the same thing all over again. He wasn't sure how many times he'd be fine with hearing "nothing" if he stayed. He wasn't sure how patient he was, or rather, how good he was at trying to stay reasonable. At least he was sure that the camp was safe.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a quiet groan, how ironic. He pointed his flashlight in the direction of the noise just in time to see a zombie stumbling over the rope and starting to crawl instead of trying to get up. For a split second, he froze, but he was fast to jump off the car with his bat in hand and cautiously approached the zombie.

He took a moment to tighten his grip on his weapon and took aim before bringing it down, successfully ending the zombie's tour of their camp early. He'd never get used to the noise of his bat meeting with a head, he shuddered before looking down at it again. He... wasn't told what to do with it after he killed it. For a moment, he considered leaving it there and heading back to the car, but… it didn’t feel right. He should drag it back into the forest, he decided, at least until someone told him what he was actually supposed to do.

Just to be safe, he shined the flashlight into the forest to check if anything else was lurking in the dark. It was a nonchalant decision, something he did without really thinking about it, something he easily could’ve not done. That was probably why it took him blinking a few times to realize that what he was looking at wasn’t the peaceful forest he expected. There were… a lot of zombies, at least 10 from what he could’ve quickly counted.

This seemed like an emergency. Like a good enough reason to wake everyone up.

“Shit,” he swore before turning around and sprinting back to the camp, he would not survive fighting all of them alone. “Wake up! Wake up, I need help- There’s so many!” he exclaimed. 

He stopped before he reached the cars and the tent, looking back just to make sure that the zombies were actually there. His flashlight’s light revealed them making it over the rope, some of them not even tripping over it. For a moment, he couldn’t help but stare at them, and by the time he regained control of himself, he already heard one of the car doors opening.

“Oh, what? ” Eret exclaimed, joining his side first. “Where did these come from?!”

“I don’t know!” Fundy responded. He was nearly certain there were more than 10 zombies approaching, actually. “I- I just shined the light into the forest and they were there!”

“Okay, okay- Let’s just,” Eret glanced around, looking for anything that could help.

Usually, when he was up against so many zombies, Fundy could just… run, or maybe hide, but this was very different. This time he was supposed to fight all of them off in order to protect his camp, even though he only got, what, 2 zombies so far? That was…

“Look, the rope’s splitting them up, let’s just keep them away from the camp! Tubbo said he has something for groups!” Eret decided finally. Right, Fundy realized, since some of the zombies tripped over the rope and the others didn’t, they now formed two groups instead of one. What was that about Tubbo, though…?

“Okay, we can do that,” Fundy nodded, deciding not to question the second part. 

He followed Eret’s lead as they made her way to the side of the first group of zombies, occasionally clapping her hands to keep their attention on her. When the first zombie from that group stumbled forward one time too many and got too close, she easily took it down with a single swing of her sword. Fundy got the second zombie that tried that, and the noise still made him shudder.

After taking down around four of them, a jarringly loud noise tore through the night, making Fundy nearly drop his bat and grabbing the attention of all the zombies. It was like… an explosion, he realized as he looked around for the source of it. Before he found anything, Eret grabbed his arm.

“Get back!” they urged, pulling him away from the group of zombies they were distracting. He soon realized they were pulling him back to the camp, where everyone else was already wide awake and armed.

“What was-” he tried to ask, but the exact same noise rang out right behind them.

For a moment, the forest went truly… quiet.

He turned around and saw the zombies that were just chasing them on the ground, silent and unmoving. He spent a moment trying to comprehend what happened, what just happened… then, a cheer came from the camp. He turned back to see Tubbo trophically lifting a rather big slingshot up while some people patted him on the back, congratulating him on… something. Finally, Eret let go of Fundy’s arm.

“...What was that?” Fundy asked finally. Eret shook his head slightly as he started to make his way back to the camp.

“Tubbo’s been making these… bombs?” she started, and that was not something Fundy expected to hear. He expected hundreds of other things before he’d start suspecting anything close to… that. “Well, they’re not exactly bombs, more like… firecrackers? Just with a lot more… range?”

“So bombs,” Fundy clarified. After a moment of silence, Eret nodded.

“Bombs,” they confirmed. “At least they worked…?”

“Yeah,” Fundy sighed.

Bombs, of course. With the way the past few weeks had been going, he shouldn’t even be surprised at this point. Why not add “making bombs with who-knows-what in the forest during the apocalypse” into the mix? Why not?! He took a deep breath. He was tired. By the time they reached the others, they were already done congratulating Tubbo for solving the zombie problem and were starting to wonder why was there a zombie problem in the first place.

“Fundy said they just simply came out of the forest,” Eret clarified before looking back at him. “Right?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I spotted one, took care of it, and I wanted to drag it back into the forest until morning, but they were all just… there,” he sighed. He wished he could tell them more, about why the zombies were there, but… he just didn’t know. “...Does anyone want to take over the watch? I’m not feeling… great after that.”

“I can do that,” Tubbo offered. “Then I’ll already be up if more zombies turn up!”

“...Actually, I feel like we should put two people on watch,” Jack chimed in after a moment of silence. “I don’t know about you, but I think the explosions could lure even more zombies to our camp, from any direction.”

“Oh,” Tubbo realized before turning around. “...Ranboo?”

“Sure,” the other teen nodded. “Yeah, I can join,” he agreed.

“And that leaves the tent empty for Fundy!” Hbomb realized. “...Well, maybe no one should be sleeping in the tent, actually. Its walls are thin, and we can probably make some space in the car…”

“I’m fine with the tent,” Fundy cut him off. “If the walls are thin, I’ll wake up before anything gets close to them… and I like it. It’s cozy.”

He did get to sleep in the tent. Well… sleep was an overstatement, of course. He just lay down in the pile of blankets and sleeping bags, maybe rested his eyes for a bit… but that was about it for sleeping. He kept his boots and jacket on in case he’d need to run, and he kept his bat close to himself… all to convince himself he was relatively safe.

He wasn’t.

The camp wasn’t safe. It had the rope around it, and people were keeping watch, and it was so far from the city, but it still wasn’t safe. It wasn’t safe, and if it wasn’t safe, then… then nowhere was safe. Suddenly, it felt as though his time was running out. As though if he didn’t start looking for Dream now, he’d never find him. As though-

He needed to leave. He needed to leave, and he needed to do it soon.

Things were quiet the next morning.

More zombies must’ve shown up during the night, judging by the noises that would occasionally startle Fundy, but they weren’t arriving in groups too big for two people to handle. Still, by the time it was bright outside again, they had a new issue on their hands. They had to actually clean the aftermath of their attempts of protecting their camp, and they had to do that before that awful smell would seep into everything they owned.

Every time he had to drag another zombie into the woods, he was becoming more and more certain that he couldn’t stay in the camp for much longer. He’d much rather take his chances traveling, at least doing something to find Dream, instead of sitting here, waiting for more zombies to turn up until eventually, they wouldn’t be able to hold them back anymore. Until eventually, someone got hurt.

He was almost certain that others must’ve noticed how antsy he was growing. The way he seemed even more lost in his thoughts than usual, trying to visualize a map in his head in order to decide which way he should head first, the way he stared into the forest almost.. longingly. No one brought it up, though, which he was somewhat grateful for. It gave him time to figure out what to tell them and to collect his nerves. Time to plan-

“...I want to leave,” he said absentmindedly during breakfast.

The silence that followed made him realize what he just shared. He immediately straightened his back and spared a few uneasy glances at everyone else. Apparently, they did the same.

“...Well, I mean…” he broke the silence, trying to recall the few words he strung together in his mind before. “I… Look, I don’t think this place is very safe and… and that means nowhere is safe, probably. So I just… want to go look for Dream while I can .”

For a moment, he expected serious backlash. That, or for the silence to continue, forcing him to stumble over his words as he’d try to elaborate his explanation.

“...The rope’s not really helping with safety anymore,” Tubbo pointed out after a moment. Was that… agreement?

“Where were you thinking about going?” Hbomb asked after a moment. That sounded awfully unlike backlash.

“Well… there’s this city north of here. I know it’ll take me… a long time to get there if I walk, but… it seems promising, I think,” Fundy explained. He glanced at Tubbo and could tell that the teen recognized that idea from their last talk. Surprisingly, he just nodded along.

“I mean, as you can see, we have two cars,” Jack said, even more surprisingly. “We could probably… split up or something.”

“Oh, yeah! So… who else would want to go?” Hbomb asked.

Well… the mess of quiet, uncertain answers was hard to make sense of, but… Fundy couldn’t tell if he heard a single “not me” in it. He certainly wasn’t the only one to notice.

“Okay, wait,” Eret was the one to speak up about that. “Am I… Does anyone prefer staying here after last night?”

That question was followed by silence while everyone glanced at each other, expecting at least one person to nod, or say they’d rather stay… Apparently, 20 zombies were enough to convince everyone.

“Well,” Jack set his empty plate down and stood up. “Looks like it’s time for me to take down that tent.”

And that was… that.

Fundy really expected this to go much worse. He expected the others to be sad to see him go, at the very least, but they just... agreed to go? That was good, of course! They’d travel much faster in cars, and they could take all of their supplies with them, and it was certainly safer to travel in groups! He was just… surprised, that was all.

That feeling almost wore off by the time he squeezed himself into the backseat of Hbomb’s car, too. He didn’t have too much space for himself there, crammed between the door and a small pile of supplies that didn’t fit into the trunks, but that was more than okay with him. He simply fastened his seatbelt and tried to make himself comfortable while Hbomb turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life.

By the time they reached an actual road instead of slowly moving between the trees for what felt like forever, Fundy found himself feeling… truly hopeful. Sure, just because he wasn’t sitting in the camp anymore didn’t mean he’d run into Dream within minutes, but it was a huge step in the direction of finding him, he thought. He didn’t mention that, he had a feeling neither Hbomb nor Eret were interested in a long monologue about how much he missed Dream and he was grateful for a spot in their car… but that didn’t stop him from looking out the window, and almost half-expecting to see his boyfriend on the roadside any moment now.

That didn’t happen, of course, and life on the road clearly had some downsides, but his hope almost didn’t waver. 

Sure, sleeping in the cars felt cramped when almost everyone had a single seat for themselves and keeping watch became more of a burden when there was no rope to cover their “camp”. Sure, they had no time for campfires and only used Jack’s gas stove to heat up food in the evenings. Sure, they often had to stop the cars to let everyone stretch their legs, make sure they were on the right road, and switch drivers.

Still, it was good to be moving. Good, just… tiring.

After two days spent on the road, another problem arose. Gas.

They had extra gas, of course, but… it was running out much faster than they anticipated, and with how slowly they were driving and how often they had to stop, they weren’t even halfway there. If things were to carry on like this, they’d need to ditch the cars soon. Leave their cars, lose the safety they provided, and carry as many supplies as they could for who-knew-how-long.

Everyone knew that much already, so that was probably why Fundy couldn’t quite believe his eyes the first time he spotted the building in the distance.

“...Is that a gas station…?” he asked, leaning closer to the window.

“What? Where?!” Hbomb, who was currently sentenced to sitting in the backseat, immediately perked up and poked his head between the front seats. When he spotted Fundy looking to the side, he followed his example. “...Eret, take the next right turn.”

“Are you-” Eret asked, but before she finished, she quickly glanced to her side. 

She returned her gaze to the road almost instantly, but apparently, she saw enough. Instead of finishing her question, she turned on the blinker of the car, signalizing a right turn. After a moment of it blinking, Jack’s car honked behind them to get their attention.

“I’m showing them,” Hbomb decided after a second, rolling down his window and sticking his hand out, pointing at the building Fundy spotted. “...And they turned on the signal light too!” he declared gleefully after a moment. 

Just in time for the nearest right turn to come up, too. After taking it, there was no doubt left as to what they were heading towards.

“Good find, Fundy,” Eret patted his shoulder, and Fundy grinned. For once, his hopeless habit of staring out of the windows paid off.

They stopped their car on the street, a bit further from the gas station just in case it’d be dangerous, but… it seemed safe enough. Some of the windows were boarded up, but it didn’t look like anyone was taking shelter inside, and they saw no signs of zombies roaming around either. Cautiously, they all got out of the car, and even before they could take a step towards the building, the second car pulled over.

“Ayy!” Jack cheered as he jumped out of the driver’s seat of his car. “This is brilliant!”

Everyone nodded along, but before they could even start to suggest who would be checking the gas station first, someone else brought up an entirely new idea.

“...Do you think we could sleep in there tonight?” Ranboo asked, eyeing the building. It was big, and they still had all their blankets and sleeping bags…

“Oh, we have to!” Fundy agreed instantly. “I want to finally sleep without waking up all… curled up and sore!” he declared, and general noise of agreement followed. “I can even go check out the inside! Make sure it’s safe and all…”

“I’ll come with you, then,” Eret decided. “I don’t think it’d be safe to go alone,” they added, and Fundy nodded. Still, it’d be an easy check, probably!

“Alright, who wants to check the gas pumps with me?” Jack asked.

While the rest of their group started to settle that, Fundy and Eret already made their way toward the building. They reached the door and gave it a gentle knock to alert anyone who could possibly be inside… only for it to give way. Well… that was easy. It genuinely looked abandoned. The shelves of the small gas station store were mostly picked clean, but that must’ve been done a long time ago, given the fact that the dust settled on them already. Fundy shined his flashlight around the building, keeping an eye out for any dangers… until something else grabbed his attention.

A small box in a glass case on the counter. It… almost made sense for it to be there, an easy money grab meant to tempt clueless tourists with a promise of preserving their memories, or… something. A small box so overpriced that Fundy would normally avoid as much as looking at it, but… it was free now, and ever since he talked with H about that, he really wished he had that Instant Camera…

“Look at that! I wanted one for ages!” he exclaimed, making his way to the counter.

“Stay focused,” Eret reminded him, diligently checking every single shelf for dangers. Fundy rolled his eyes.

“Oh, come on… I think I deserve something for spotting this place,” he hummed. After a moment of hesitation, he swung his bat at the glass case. It shattered loudly before its remains fell to the other side of the counter. “Shit-”

“Fundy!” Eret hushed him. Sure, loud was usually bad, but they were alone here.

“It’s fine, it’s fine…” he brushed him off once again, walking around the counter and looking through the glass shards until he finally spotted the box with the Instant Camera inside again. “Here it is, how about that?” he grinned, picking it up. “This better still work…”

He heard a soft noise behind him, but he didn’t quite pay attention to it. It had to be Eret, even if he was sure that they were just on a different side of the building. He probably got turned around or something. Then, there was the quiet crunching of the glass, almost too low to register…

Then, something firmly grabbed his arms. He yelped in surprise, tensing his shoulders… the touch almost felt like hands, but… wrong. As if despite the strength they gripped him with, they felt… weak. Soft. As if they were supposed to come apart any moment now.

Then, finally, there came the pain in his neck.

A sharp, burning pain lounging into his skin, drawing a scream from his lungs… and possibly blood from what could've been a wound now, too. He dropped the box and his bat to the ground, starting to struggle against the grip that held him firmly in place.

“Fundy!”

It probably took Eret only a moment to run from the other side of the store to him, but it still felt like forever. Finally, the noise of something sharp cutting through the air reached Fundy’s ears and the grip on his shoulders loosened. The teeth sharp needles were finally out of his neck and he stumbled forward, catching himself on the counter. He struggled for his breath even though whatever attacked him didn’t get his throat… It was probably because of the shock.

He reached up to the part of his neck that still hurt, intending to massage it or… something, but the second his fingers brushed against it, his hand recoiled back. It hurt!

He looked down at his hand and spotted fresh blood on his fingertips.

He turned around and looked down at the ground. There was one more thing there, on top of the glass and right by his bat and the box he risked his life for. A zombie.

He looked up and caught eye contact with Eret. They stared at him with their mouth slightly agape, clearly in shock, and…

Fuck.

The realization finally hit him like a truck.

He just got bit.

Chapter Text

This was bad.

This was so, so bad.

Fundy’s legs gave in under him from the shock, but Eret found it in herself to move and catch him before he’d tumble to the floor. He immediately leaned against her, trying to breathe, to just ignore the sharp pain in his neck and breathe- Eret helped him take a step back and sat him down on a chair he hadn’t quite noticed before. He leaned against the backrest, trying to keep himself steady, but every wave of pain that came from the bite pushed him further into despair... and Eret seemed to be at a loss, too.

“Are you okay?!” Hbomb burst through the door to the gas station. Silence followed. Eret took a long look at Fundy, and he couldn't quite tell what she was thinking...

“...We’re fine!” they responded after a moment. For a second, Fundy wanted to disagree, he was certainly not fine, but... he quickly realized he'd rather lie about this, too.

"...Yeah!" he gave a short confirmation. He didn't trust his voice not to break with any longer answer.

"That's good!" Hbomb responded, and he sounded relieved. "We're almost done with the gas, do you need any help?"

"...No, just... fill up the cars, alright?" Eret answered after a brief pause. Soon after, the door closed already. "Fundy?"

For a moment, he had no idea how to respond. It was hard to think when all he could focus on was the pain in his-

"...That's a bite, right?" he asked after a moment. Eret nodded slowly. "That's not good."

"It's not," Eret agreed. Well, now that he thought about it, 'not good' was probably an understatement.

"Doesn't that… kill?” he recalled. For a moment, he really hoped to hear 'No, who told you that?' as an answer, but... he knew that wouldn't happen.

“It…” Eret hesitated, looking away from Fundy as if not seeing the bite would make it disappear. “Maybe it’s…” he tried again, but his hesitance was honestly enough of an answer.

“...I’m going to die,” Fundy realized. He couldn't quite tell if the expression that appeared on his face after was closer to a horrified smile or a grimace, and he had no idea whether the next noise that left his throat resembled a laugh or a sob more. “That’s… it? I’m just going to die, I’m…!”

“Fundy,” Eret interrupted him. That stopped him from raising his voice, which was... good, he supposed. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself.

“That’s… what a bite does, isn’t it?” he asked, and the lack of immediate ‘of course it’s not’ as an answer was enough to tell him all he needed. “I survive for over two weeks, I let my guard down once, and then I just…? Get bitten!” he still wasn't sure if the noise he let out after was a sob or a laugh. “And it’s over, and I’m dead-”

“You’re not dead,” Eret cut him off again, still not looking at him. “Not yet, and it’s still…”

“...How long does it take?” Fundy asked despite dreading the answer. “A week? A day? An hour?”

He stopped himself before he'd suggest even less time, but it didn't stop his mind from wandering. How long did he have left...?

“...Between two and three days,” Eret responded finally in defeat. “Maybe… four, if you’re lucky.”

“Lucky,” Fundy repeated, and this time he was almost entirely sure he laughed at that. He didn’t feel very lucky right now. He felt scared. “Great! Because I’m so… lucky, I just…!” his voice died in his throat. After struggling against that for a moment, he reached up to his face and buried it in his hands in a desperate attempt to keep himself from panicking too badly.

“I’m… so sorry,” Eret said softly, cautiously placing their hand on Fundy’s shoulder. A trembling hand, he soon realized… maybe he wasn’t the only one scared by this situation, at least. “I… should’ve done… something, I…” her voice trailed off, too.

“No, it’s… it’s o-” Fundy tried to shake his head only for the wound on his neck to remind him of its existence. He winced in pain. “Ow, that… It hurts,” he admitted.

“Right,” Eret responded instantly. “Let’s get that covered up, alright? Cleaned and bandaged. We need to stop the bleeding,” they decided, apparently jumping at the opportunity to make this sound… normal. Like the wound on Fundy’s neck was just a scratch or a cut, not a… death sentence.

He didn’t want to go outside. He didn’t want anyone else to see him like this. Could he get Eret to lie, tell others he was… dead already, or something? No, no, of course he wouldn’t agree to that. Still… he needed some reason to stay inside for at least a moment longer, to collect his thoughts.

“...Do we have to clean it?” he asked finally. If he refused help, he could stay. “It’d just… hurt. I’m already infected, it wouldn’t help… I’d just waste our medicine.”

“You’re not dead yet, so it’s not a waste,” Eret disagreed instantly. “It could help with the pain, and buy you some more time… It’s not a waste at all,” she continued. Well, excuses wouldn’t work too well, apparently.

“I’m…” Fundy hesitated. Finally, he decided to be honest. “I just don’t want them to see this,” he admitted, and Eret’s face fell. “What do I say? This isn’t… I don’t want them to know… I know they need to, but…”

“I… get that,” Eret assured him. “Will it help if… I tell them? You just need to come along and we’ll stop the bleeding, then…. we can decide what comes next after that.”

“...Okay,” he nodded. He still hated this entire situation, but… the sooner the blood stopped soaking his jacket, the better, probably. “...Can you give me my bat… and the camera?” he requested.

“Sure,” Eret nodded, leaning down and picking both of the items up from the floor.

Fundy silently slipped the box he died for into his pocket before trying to stand back up. Apparently, his legs were still a bit too shaky to hold him up, but Eret was quick enough to catch him again. Leaning against him for support, Fundy started to make his way to the door, hoping that the others would be too busy to notice the state he was in.

They weren’t, of course. Long before Eret got him closer to the cars, they all seemed to notice that he was struggling to walk and stained with his own blood. It wasn’t a bad thing that they noticed, of course, without knowing the severity of his injury, they were all more or less eager to help. They got a folding chair out of the car for him to sit on, they helped him to it, they kept an eye on the gas station in case any danger was still lurking near it… and no one looked too closely at his neck, giving Eret more time to collect her words.

That lasted until Jack brought out the medkit, at least.

“Alright, it’s here- Wait,” he paused. It certainly wasn’t the first thing anyone said since Fundy left the building, but the tone of Jack’s voice was what finally got his attention. “That looks like a… bite,” he noticed.

Uh oh. So now he… knew. He must’ve known, it was obvious on his face.

“Well, it’s…” Eret started, glancing between everyone else gathered around the car. A heavy silence fell… maybe it would’ve been better if the two of them left the building screaming that Fundy got bit. It would’ve saved them from this.

“...It is,” Fundy confirmed when he realized that Eret still wasn’t done picking nicer words to inform everyone of the doom that loomed over him. “I- I did something stupid, and it- It snuck up on me, I didn’t notice, I was…” 

He hated the silence his confession was met with, the glances and looks at his neck, at him, at what was left of him- It wasn’t unexpected, it made sense for them to be shocked and speechless… He should probably give them all a moment to wrap their heads around the problem but no, he just had to keep rambling on and on about how-

“It wasn’t your fault, it was just… an accident,” Eret cut him off, much to his relief. “We can… talk about this in a minute, let’s stop the bleeding first,” they decided. They looked at Jack expectedly and after a moment, the man seemed to remember the medkit in his hand.

“Oh, yeah- Okay,” he nodded, opening it and quickly going through it in search of everything they’d need.

Everyone else was still silent, and… that was probably better than being bombarded with questions, Fundy tried to convince himself.

While he got the bite cleaned and bandaged, he also got briefed on how checking the rest of the gas station went, and… apparently, it all went well. Other than him getting bitten, of course, everything seemed to be perfect. They found a bunch of gas and didn’t catch a single glimpse of anything even seemingly dangerous. Fundy was glad they got something out of him spotting this building, even if…

He tried not to think much about what the bite meant for him, honestly. It probably wasn’t the smartest decision, since Eret mentioned “talking about this later”, he probably expected Fundy to have something more about his situation to say than just “I’m scared” and “My neck hurts”. He really didn’t like thinking about how little time he probably had left, though.

It was clearly not enough time to get to the city up North, though… clearly not enough time to find Dream. That wasn’t a nice thought either. He spent so long holding on to the hope that he’d actually manage to navigate this world just enough to find him again, that since he had nothing but time, they’d just have to run into each other eventually… and now he was all out of hope, and almost all out of time. Now he was only scared and disappointed… and, well, really bad at not letting his thoughts wander.

He wondered if it was the fever that would apparently follow the bite setting in already. He hoped it wasn’t, because he was not asking anyone to take his temperature yet. That’d make this feel too real for them all, he thought.

No one really talked to him after he got his neck bandaged, save for the occasional “I’m so sorry”s he received. He appreciated them, of course, but getting told to just sit on a folding chair and “rest” while everyone seemed to be busy with something made him feel very… alone. He couldn’t blame them for not wanting to spend all their time standing next to him, he wouldn’t want to spend all his time like that… but a longer conversation would’ve been nice, probably.

It wasn’t like he was helping his case much, to be honest. When Ranboo came over to say sorry for suggesting sleeping in the gas station, he was very quick to end that interaction himself. That suggestion wasn't what got him bitten, after all, not really… No, he "owed" that to how easily he got distracted, probably. Besides, he most likely would’ve suggested searching the building himself if no one else did, too… and after he said those things, the conversation between them died down.

They stayed by that gas station for longer than Fundy expected, though.

He wasn’t sure if it was because they didn’t want him to spend his possibly-last moments crammed between a car door and a pile of supplies or if they were scared about being in an enclosed space with him, but… sitting outside was nicer than driving anyway. Besides, it gave them an opportunity to prepare some decent food for dinner, which hadn’t happened ever since they left the camp. That was nice, he supposed.

“...Fundy?” Eret was the one to come up to him eventually. “How… are you feeling?” she asked.

“...Still good, I think,” he answered after a brief pause. “I don’t think I’m getting the fever yet,” he added. At the mention of that, Eret slowly reached out to check his forehead… and he didn’t really feel like stopping them would help his case. After a moment, they nodded.

“Doesn’t feel hot,” he confirmed, and Fundy couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. “We’re almost done making the food,” he said after a moment. “How… would you feel about talking about all this over dinner?” he asked.

“Could we… wait?” Fundy suggested. “Just… do that after we’re done eating…?” he asked. One more ‘normal’ meal would be nice.

“Sure,” Eret nodded. She looked at him, and she seemed… uneasy. For a moment, Fundy just thought that she didn’t like his answer, but… “One more question,” she started. “Do you know… what you want us to do about this?”

Oh.

Right, he… there were a few routes he could take from here. Deciding how he wants to actually go and what he wants after… right. Slowly, he shook his head.

“Not… yet,” he admitted, and Eret nodded.

“That’s okay,” they assured him. “You still have time to think everything through… Do you want to talk about it?” they asked. If this was about anything else, Fundy would love to, but now… he slowly shook his head.

“Thanks, but… I think it’s better if I just…”

“Okay,” Eret nodded, offering a reassuring smile. “I’ll… go help with the food. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Sure.”

What did he want?

It was cruel to let him decide that, and he knew that whatever he’d settle on, it’d hurt. It’d hurt him, and it’d hurt his friends. He could ask them to kill him before he turns and… what, have them do it while he’s still there? He could ask them to kill him after he turns, he supposed… but that barely made a difference. It’d still look like him, and they’d still have to…

He hated having a choice almost as much as he’d hate not getting one at all.

He did have one idea that wouldn’t involve hurting everyone around him more than necessary… but he doubted anyone would like it. He didn’t like it, and he spent every second he had trying to find a magically-perfect 4th option, but… Well, he had to settle for something, and before he knew it, he was already setting down an empty plate. Well… so much for a normal meal during which he could ignore his impending doom.

If he asked, they’d probably let him have a moment longer to think, but… he’d rather have this behind himself already.

The plates were quickly put away and everyone gathered in a small circle, with a few people sitting on the ground or suitcases and the rest on folding chairs. Apparently, no one wanted to start the conversation, so they spent a moment in suffocating silence, all pretending to gather their thoughts. That lasted until Fundy caught Eret looking at him as if asking “Are you ready?”. All it took was a small nod, and the silence ended.

“Let’s… start with one of the tougher things,” he said, getting everyone’s attention. “Fundy… have you decided what you’d… prefer to happen next?”

“...Yeah,” he nodded, and now all eyes were on him. He took a deep breath, and… “...I think I’ll just leave.”

Silence. He was met with silence and confused glances.

“...Fundy, I don’t think that’s what Eret-”

“It is,” he interrupted. “It’s about what I want to do with this, right?” he asked, pointing to his neck. “Whether I want to wait until I turn, or… end this early, or… well, I just want to walk away! This is… a horrible situation and it’ll hurt no matter what we do… But if I leave, then at least… at least no one will have to see me like that,” he forced a smile, and all of his friends looked mortified.

“Fundy, you don’t have to do that,” Eret was the one to finally break the silence. Right. He could stay, and he could watch as everyone around him mourned him as if he wasn’t still there. He’d… rather not.

“I want to,” he claimed. “I… really thought this through, and… I really want to leave. It sounds… almost nice, you know? I can just… pick a direction and walk until I… you know,” he trailed off. He didn’t think anyone would appreciate him using the word ‘die’.

“You… know you’d turn then, right?” Jack asked. Of course he knew, he wasn’t stupid- He nodded.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. Turning sounded horrible, but it was a price he was willing to pay. “I’ll turn, and then I’ll… walk more, until I get in somebody’s way,” he laughed, collecting his thoughts. “That’s all they do when they’re not after something, right? Walk.”

“So… which direction do you want to… walk in?” Niki asked when no one else did. The question made Fundy feel as if he was still at the camp, discussing leaving for the first time… but this time, they were actually separating.

“West, maybe?” he shrugged. “We didn’t try that one yet,” he added, and a naive part of him hoped that by some miracle, that happened to be the direction that could lead to finding Dream. He didn’t believe that much, but it was… a nice thought.

“...Are you sure about this?” Hbomb asked after a moment. “I mean, going through that alone doesn’t sound… good…”

“It won’t be that bad,” Fundy claimed with a dismissive shrug. “The fever should knock me out fast, and… I probably won’t feel a thing after that,” he assured, as if that thought was comforting at all.

“It won’t if you take some medicine with you… and you are taking medicine with you,” Eret cut in. That… didn’t sound like a question, Fundy realized. Just a statement. “We have more than enough food and water, too.”

“...Are you sure?” Fundy asked. “I don’t want to make things… worse for you, I’m…”

“I was actually keeping an eye on the supplies,” Jack cut in. “We have enough for about two weeks, and… the city can’t be that far,” he pointed out. After thinking about it for a moment, Fundy nodded.

“...Okay, I… I guess I’ll take some things with me, then,” he agreed before a thought struck him. “Actually, does anyone want anything from me? I’ve been… collecting things, you know… I can give something away as a… keepsake, or something,” he suggested.

No one jumped at the opportunity. No “Since you’re dying, can I have my things back?”s, no “Could you give me something to remember you by?”s… Maybe he was the only one who enjoyed having keepsakes these days. After that thought got to him, he nodded.

“Okay. I’ll just be the… coolest-looking zombie, I guess,” he forced a laugh, and was apparently the only one capable of doing that. “....Does anyone know where my bag is? I guess I’ll need it.”

“It should be in the car,” Hbomb remembered. “Do you want me to… get it for you?”

What a subtle way of asking if he was leaving already.

“...Yeah,” he nodded. “Thanks.”

He might’ve as well told them he was leaving already. Regardless, everyone seemed to understand that, he realized when he glanced between the people still gathered in the circle. It hurt to look at them, really, but… well, it’d stop hurting soon, Fundy hoped.

“...Do you want to pick out some food for yourself?” Eret offered after a moment of silence.

He nodded. That’d be nice. He carefully got up from his seat and followed Eret to Jack’s car, where most of their food was kept. The others stayed behind, probably collecting their thoughts after the entire exchange. Now that not everyone was there to listen to everything he said, he… figured this would be as good a time as any to bring up one last thing he wanted to be settled.

“...Eret, can I ask you something?” he started. They paused their search for extra bags of food and turned to look at him.

“Of course. What is it?” he asked after a moment, and Fundy took a deep breath. He was putting this off before, but now…

“...I was wondering… Could you try using your… power to just check for- him every once in a while…?” he asked. Eret… didn’t even look surprised, honestly.

“For Dream?” she clarified, and Fundy nodded. “Sure. And if I do find him… I’ll be sure to let him know you never stopped looking, okay?” she assured him.

Well. Leaving now did feel kind of like stopping… But maybe he was just in West of here.

“Okay,” he nodded. “Thank you. If… I somehow run into him on the road, I’ll… send him your way too, alright?”

“Sure,” they nodded, and they sounded so earnest that Fundy thought they might've actually believed that he'd manage that. Or maybe his mind was just starting to play tricks on him already, he couldn't quite tell. "...Here, pick something out for yourself."

Eret's words brought him back to reality, and he looked into the car. Right, he was getting to choose his food now. He didn't like the feeling of picking what would probably be his last meal, but he'd need to settle on something... That didn't stop him from giving himself a moment to feel nothing but despair as he took the situation in.

In the end, he couldn't even see the food he pointed at with how blurry his vision had gotten. That was fine, though... one last surprise from this world, he supposed.

Chapter Text

He couldn’t recall the actual goodbye, Fundy realized a little while into his walk.

There was a goodbye, he remembered hugs and good wishes and everyone being there… but the memory was already blurry. All the words exchanged seemed to mix together in his mind until they were incomprehensible… and all he was certain he remembered was the direction he was supposed to be walking.

He was going west, and he would keep going until there’d be nothing left of him. Until his vision faded and he finally collapsed. He was not stopping.

He… clearly got feverish much sooner than he expected. Eret told him it’d take two to four days for him to be gone, but it couldn’t have been more than a few hours since he got bitten and he had already lost his focus. He stumbled aimlessly along the road and couldn’t find a single coherent thought in his mind for what felt like ages…

The thing that finally snapped him out of his trance-like state was a sudden growl right under his feet. Even though his mind was still quite hazy, he didn’t hesitate before jumping away from the noise, and even tumbling to the ground didn’t stop him from gaining more distance from its source. Finally, he took a moment to look around and spotted a zombie lying on the pavement not too far from him… mostly stuck under a car.

When… did he pass a car, again?

Well, that didn’t really matter, he decided when he spotted something moving in the corner of his eye. That was probably more important. He didn’t have to look for long to realize that that zombie had no trouble moving, and that just taking a couple of steps away wouldn’t save him this time. The car could, though.

He got himself off the ground and stumbled over to it, trying the door and breathing a sigh of relief when it opened. It wasn’t locked! He didn’t have the time to question why it wasn’t, or why it was parked in the middle of nowhere with a zombie under it, he simply got in and slammed the door shut behind himself.

He took a moment to observe the zombie that tried to follow him just to make sure it wouldn’t find a way into the car, but the concept of a car door handle seemed to be unfathomable to it. Good. After a moment, he finally let himself relax, leaning back in his seat and catching a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror that should not be at this angle.

He… looked very sick already.

He didn’t like what he saw. He hated it, even… but at least it made him reach up to his forehead and try to check his temperature. That, in turn, made him open his bag and search it for the medicine he was given. No one else would get any use of it, probably, so he might as well take it. It didn’t take him long to find the bottle of pills and, after double-checking the label, he took two of them and put the rest back into the bag.

He looked out of the windshield at the open road and for a moment, he could've almost forgotten that he wasn't still traveling with his group. He wondered if whoever was driving their cars was seeing the same thing as him... he wouldn't be surprised, all roads looked the same these days. He... missed driving, he realized. He missed driving, no matter how crammed the cars were. He missed being with his friends and...

He leaned his head against the window in thought... and then the zombie on the other side of it snapped him out of it.

He jumped away, startled, and found a sudden clarity in his head... apparently, the meds were enough to keep the fever down at this point. Now that his mind wasn't so hazy, the situation finally hit him... oh, he was stuck, wasn't he? Unless he found a way to kill the zombie outside, he couldn't really leave the car, and he didn't trust himself to face it with nothing but his bat. He looked around the car in search of something else he could use for a weapon, something sharp... and spotted something much, much better.

The keys were still in the ignition.

He couldn't believe his eyes at first, especially when a glance at the fuel gauge told him that there was still some gas in the car, too. He took a moment to blink a couple of times, carefully reached for the keys and, when they felt real enough in his hand, he turned them.

The engine rumbled to life and just like that... he wasn't stuck anymore. It was quite the opposite, really, he was suddenly able to get much, much further from that horrible gas station, to drive far away... He laughed in relief. He knew he claimed he'd walk, but driving sounded much better now.

He moved his bag to the seat next to him, fixed the rearview mirror so it'd actually show him what was behind, fastened the seatbelt, and finally put his hands on a wheel. He could just drive away, as far as the leftover gas would get him... and then he could do that little bit of walking he promised himself. For now, he had just one objective: drive.

He backed the car up to make sure that the zombie from under it wouldn't cut his trip very short, and went around it and its standing "friend"... and the open road in front of him was just that, open and empty. With the zombies far behind, it looked almost normal.

He continued on his way, quietly hoping he wouldn't forget to take the medicine again before the fever would make his driving too sloppy.

The car got him much further than he expected.

He really didn’t anticipate this. When the night fell and he felt too tired to continue driving, when he pulled over at the side of the road and found a decent spot for sleep in the car… he just expected to rest. To curl up in the backseat with Dream’s hoodie in his arms and wake up feeling a bit less tired. To continue his drive into nothing after that.

Instead, when he woke up in the morning, he couldn’t help but notice the shape of a city on the horizon.

He blamed it on the fever at first, but the silhouette of tall buildings didn’t waver long after he took some of the medicine he had left. Next, he started to wonder if his group took the wrong turn somewhere, landing them further west than they thought they were, but no, they were using a map to navigate the roads…

He had no idea how he could’ve ended up so close to this city, but after staring at it from a distance for far too long, he decided that it’d be a waste not to at least check it. See if there was something there, even if he wasn’t sure what that something would be… other survivors? A cure for a bite, by some miracle?

Without a single actual goal in mind, he silently fastened his seatbelt and eyed the fuel gauge... it was pretty low now, but it should get him at least a bit further, he figured. With a quiet sigh, he turned the keys and slowly got the car back on the road.

He must’ve been driving for a bit less than an hour when the car’s occasional shaking became too frequent to ignore, and no more than five more minutes before the gas finally ran out and it finally came to a slow stop. Well, that was as far as he was getting, apparently. He tried to turn it back on a couple of times, but that did nothing but cause unnecessary noise, and that was always bad.

With a sigh, he took his bag from the seat next to him and threw it over his shoulder before opening the door and stepping outside. He was close to the city at this point, so he wouldn’t have to walk much further to check how things were inside. From a distance, it was still hard to tell. He wouldn’t find it in a shape as good as ever, he knew that much, he would’ve spotted some lights in the night if that was the case… but other than that, anything was possible. Well... that "anything" almost equated to "empty or overrun with zombies", but he was still curious.

The walk started to feel exhausting not long after he left the safety of the car behind. Now he had to actually pay attention to his surroundings, not to mention keeping track of his own state - was he getting tired? Was the fever getting worse? Did he need food or water? He soon realized that the size of the buildings ahead of him threw him off quite a bit, and that the city was further than he thought at first...

But he kept walking. With breaks in the meantime, of course, but he kept walking until he finally found himself surrounded by taller and taller buildings, by damaged and seemingly forgotten remains of the people that once lived there. No matter how far he walked, the only noise that seemed to follow him were his own footsteps... so the city was empty, he figured. He wouldn't have made it nearly as far into it if it wasn't, after all! It was empty and safe, letting him just wander around and look at all the things left behind...

He didn't realize when his mind became hazy again.

He was too lost in grasping the brief, blurry memories all the small things around him reminded him of, that he failed to notice all of his thoughts becoming just as foggy. His slow walk almost became a subconscious action at this point, so having to keep track of his own feet didn't snap him out of that state, and neither did the pain in his neck, which had become nothing but dull at that point... No, the thing to finally get him to acknowledge his surroundings was... a zombie. Again.

This time, it was right in front of him, almost within arm's reach of him-

He jumped back with a loud yelp just before it could grab him, barely keeping his balance as his hand tried to aimlessly find the bat at his side. He finally found his weapon and, despite still not fully trusting his own ability to use it, took a swing. He... didn't miss the head, and it was forceful enough to make the zombie stumble away from him, but it certainly didn't kill it. It did, however, do something with his hand, he must've gripped it too tightly, or too lightly, or-

Whatever went wrong with his swing, it caused him to drop the bat and hiss in pain.

He quickly looked his hand over, trying to figure out what hurt him, and by the time he looked back up, the zombie was already stumbling in his direction again. He glanced around the ground, trying to figure out where his bat had rolled to while he backed away from the danger... only to stumble over it just a few steps later. This time, he couldn't keep his balance and fell to the ground. He tried to use that as an opportunity to grab his weapon and put up more of a fight, but he was still feeling so disoriented, and the zombie was so close-

BANG!

He winced at the loud noise that cut through the air, instinctively reaching up to cover his ears... but the only noise that followed was the sound of the zombie falling to the ground in front of him, not moving anymore. He looked at it and once he noticed all the blood, his brain finally connected the noise he just heard to a gunshot- That was a gunshot, someone had just shot a gun in his general direction-

"Don't shoot!" he yelled, putting his hands up long before he could find the owner of the gun. He didn't know how dead he looked, and he had to make sure he wasn't getting the next-

At that point, he turned his head in the direction the noise came from and, well... he found the man who saved him. He was standing not that far from a street corner, with a small gun still raised but not pointed in Fundy's exact direction... and he seemed familiar. His clothes, ripped and damaged as they were, looked like ones he's seen before, and...

Fundy's first reaction was to blame this on the fever, too. He forgot to take the medicine, or it stopped working, or... something, anything that would explain why the man looked just like... no, no, he didn't look like anything, it was just the fever!

It could not, by any logical means, be Dream. Despite having nothing but hope left, Fundy refused to believe in such a cruel miracle. He couldn't-

"...Fundy?"

Suddenly, he didn't feel feverish at all. He felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice-cold water over him, making him awake and aware of everything around him and most definitely gasping for air. That voice sounded far too real for him to convince himself he was seeing things.

"Dream?" he answered once his throat finally let him make any noise at all. Apparently, that response was enough to ensure the man that he wasn't imagining this either, because the next thing Fundy knew, he had already lowered his gun and started to run in his direction.

He tried to scramble back to his feet, but long before he was even close to standing back up, the man was already right there, arms outstretched and running so fast they both probably would've ended up on the ground either way.

"You're-"

Fundy didn't finish that, because the moment he could actually feel Dream's arms around him, the moment he could grasp at the back of his clothes himself, the feeling that hit him was too overwhelming.

Overwhelmingly good, that was. Any trace of doubt disappeared from his mind, along with all the negative emotions that had been brewing within him since the very beginning... It was as if the world never ended, as though he was safe, he was okay... He forgot about the dead zombie just a couple of feet away from him, about all that he had to endure- Hell, even the bite on his neck seemed to slip from his mind.

This was Dream.

He found him. Or he- They found each other!

They were reunited, and that was all that mattered to him now that he was finally holding him again.

Chapter Text

Fundy absolutely refused to let go.

A small part of his brain tried to remind him how dangerous it was to sit in the middle of the street, unarmed, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. The only thing that mattered to him was holding onto Dream while he pretended that it made up for all the time they were apart from one another. Someone would have to pry him off for him to let go-

All it took was Dream gently placing his hands on Fundy's shoulders and moving away, he didn't try to resist. Why would he? Now that their heads weren't hidden in each other's shoulders, they could finally look at each other, and that was always a sight Fundy loved. 

Just like him, Dream seemed to have picked up quite an amount of cool accessories since the world ended, and they probably did a decent job of making him look like he knew what he was doing on any other day. Now, though, all the things that were supposed to cover his face were pushed off to the side, failing to drive the attention away from his eyes, now already red from the happy tears that seemed to flow freely out of them, and the most genuine, relieved smile Fundy's ever seen. 

He was pretty sure his own face wasn't far from that either. 

After a moment of looking at each other, taking in all the small details that had changed in the past few weeks and all the ones they simply missed... They sunk back into each other's arms without exchanging a single word. Fundy wished he could find something to say, of course, but his mind was filled with too many declarations of love and joy to pick from…. eventually, he settled on one, though.

“...I missed you so much,” he admitted. That was a good place to start.

“I missed you, too,” Dream responded after a moment. “...I can’t believe you’re…” his voice trailed off. Alive?

“I’m not that bad at this,” Fundy responded with a chuckle, forgetting about the fact that he was currently dying.

“Oh, no, no, I mean-” Dream stumbled over his words. “I just heard that… oh, nevermind, you’re okay!” he exclaimed, and Fundy didn’t feel like pressing the issue. Instead, he just smiled and nodded. He sure felt okay. For as long as-

“Oh, we should probably get off the street,” he realized. Upon hearing that, Dream ended their embrace again and got to his feet before helping him up.

“Right, right,” he nodded. He didn’t let go of Fundy’s hand even when they were both standing and instead started to lead him somewhere. “Actually, I have something to show you. A little surprise.”

Fundy hummed in wonder while he let Dream lead him with an excited grin. He couldn’t help but wonder what the “surprise” would be, but none of his guesses were anywhere close to the truth, he realized when he spotted the wall. Or the barricade, really. A sturdy-looking pile of what must’ve mostly been cars, but supported by additional stronger materials, was blocking the street, save for a little “gate”.

“It’s safe on the other side,” Dream explained as they walked towards the gate. “I blocked off four blocks in total and cleared them,” he added. Fundy looked at the four buildings in question with awe.

“Really? That’s… crazy!” he exclaimed while Dream finally led him through the gate, closing it behind them.

It actually looked safe.

If only Fundy looked past the bloodstains on the street, it looked absolutely safe. There were no small nooks and crannies where a zombie could be hiding, no strange noises coming from anywhere around, and the blocks of flat didn’t even look infested by zombies either. After taking in the sight for a moment, he turned to face Dream again.

“...How?” he asked after a moment of trying to collect his words. Dream laughed, and Fundy’s heart melted at the sound.

“I had a lot of time,” the man shrugged, but even if the answer would’ve been ‘I sold my soul for this place’, Fundy probably would’ve nodded along while gazing into his boyfriend’s eyes the same way he did. It was almost as if they were back to-

“Wait, I have a surprise for you, too!” he remembered suddenly. He opened his bag and quickly dug through it while Dream watched curiously. After a moment, he triumphantly took out the green hoodie he took from Dream’s house. “Here, I thought you’d like to have it back.”

“Oh, what?” Dream grinned, taking it from him and looking it over. “Thank you! How long have you been carrying this around?”

“Almost since the beginning, I think,” Fundy shrugged. “It made my bag feel less empty,” he joked, but Dream’s face fell almost instantly.

“You didn’t have… a lot of supplies, then?” he realized. “What time is it?” he glanced at the sun. “You know what? I’m treating you to a nice… late breakfast, I think? Right now,” he declared, taking Fundy’s hand again and starting to lead him towards one of the buildings. “What would you like?”

“What do you have?” Fundy asked, and Dream laughed again.

“How much food do you think I found while searching all these flats?” Dream asked. Fundy glanced at the four buildings around him, and was stunned by the sheer number of separate apartments they must’ve contained. He couldn’t imagine how much food Dream got from them. “Whatever you want, I probably have it.”

“Alright, maybe some, uh…” he hesitated. It was a nice feeling to have so many food choices that he struggled to make up his mind, he supposed, but he was still trying to come up with something.

“You don’t have to pick now,” Dream assured him while they made it through the door. “I keep all the food in one of the apartments, you can just make up your mind when you see it.”

“That sounds good,” Fundy nodded.

They started their way up the stairs, and Fundy conveniently turned a blind eye to all the blood that stained the steps. They weren’t smeared with it, just slightly stained, probably from moving bodies out of the flats… but it was still more convenient to ignore it, he thought.

That way, he could pretend that he was suddenly back to the time when he didn’t have to worry about zombies. He could pretend they were visiting someone, or maybe that they were checking out apartments that they could rent… it was nice to imagine that.

“Here we are,” Dream announced, stopping in front of a door to one of the apartments and gently opening it.

Fundy did not expect this much food. All of the rooms he could see at the first glance were already full of it, nicely grouped together in the cupboards, on the counters, and on the countless tables that Dream must’ve borrowed from other homes. For a moment, he was speechless, glancing between his boyfriend and the door.

“How is there so much?” he asked finally, and Dream chuckled.

“There was a lot of apartments I could… check,” he explained, motioning for Fundy to go inside.

“...And I can just… pick something?” he asked after crossing the threshold and seeing even more food inside.

“Anything you want,” Dream confirmed.

Fundy stepped deeper into the apartment and started to look around. After glancing through countless things until his eyes finally landed on a bag of pre-made waffles. They were nowhere near as fancy as half of the meals they could make with all the things Dream had, but… they’d be ready fast, and he was starving. Not to mention, he couldn’t even recall the last time he had those!

“Do you have something to heat these up with?” he asked, showing the bag to Dream. The man nodded.

“Oh, yeah, there’s one of those… flat toasters on the top floor. Whoever lived there before installed a solar panel, so there’s still some power up there,” he explained.

“That's perfect!”

Fundy joined his side again and they left the flat full of food, starting to head higher up the stairs. Even before Fundy knew it, they finally made it up to the top floor and Dream motioned to one of the doors there before opening it for them. That apartment looked much nicer than the average one, and Fundy could absolutely imagine the person owning it deciding they wanted a solar panel to top it all off.

“The kitchen’s this way,” Dream informed. He went into one of the rooms and sure enough, he was right. 

He carefully pulled out the toaster he mentioned and plugged it into an extension cord that he must’ve installed himself. Immediately, a small light lit up on top of the device. Fundy handed him the bag of waffles and he grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer to open it.

“This flat didn’t have these at first, you know?” he commented. “All this fancy stuff and I had to get scissors from another apartment,” he added while placing the waffles inside the toaster. While that sounded ridiculous, it did make Fundy realize something.

“Wait, so… for the past few weeks, you were just… rearranging things in all these apartments?” he asked, and Dream paused. Fundy didn’t mean for it to sound like an accusation, of course, but the man still seemed to take it that way.

“...I can explain,” he declared after a short pause. “I would not be doing this if I didn’t… well… Okay, let’s start with this… There’s… Gods.”

Oh. This again.

“...The ones that did that… picking people to help thing?” Fundy asked, and Dream seemed taken aback. “I know about those.”

“Alright,” he nodded. “That makes things easier,” he sighed with relief. “So… one of those Gods decided to help me, and he got me out of the city and left me here,” he explained, and Fundy nodded along. “Then he told me that everyone else there was dead… but that’s not true, you’re here,” he paused.

“Yeah, well… I think I was the only one in the city for a long time, so… I wouldn’t be surprised if he just missed me,” he admitted. “The others left as soon as everything began.”

“There’s others?” Dream repeated. Fundy nodded eagerly.

“Oh, yeah! I ran into Ranboo, and he took me to his group! I think it was… Eret, H, Jack, Niki, and Tubbo there?” he recalled. He watched with a smile as Dream tilted his head back in relief.

“I thought they…” he took a deep breath and looked back at Fundy. “You have no idea how good that is to hear.”

Having spent two weeks without finding a trace of anybody else, Fundy was pretty sure he knew the feeling, but saw no reason to take the conversation in that direction. Instead, he decided to bring it back to the part where Dream casually informed him that he was chosen by a God.

“So, about that God… Did he give you a… gift, or whatever they’re called?” he asked and Dream smiled proudly.

“Yeah. I don’t get hurt,” he declared after a moment of silence to build up the tension. “Well, I do, sometimes… but I don’t stay hurt. If I… cut myself with those scissors while I opened the bag, I don’t think any blood would get on the food. The cut would just… close.”

“Oh, what?” Fundy laughed. That sounded so amazing it seemed unreal! “Is there a… limit to that, or are you just immortal?”

“I mean… it’s supposed to stop working when I stop wanting to keep going, but other than that, no. I accidentally fall off a balcony on… what, the 6th floor, I think? And I was just fine!” he exclaimed proudly. “I mean, even the zombies can’t get me!”

Fundy froze upon hearing that.

The wound on his neck seemingly started to ache again while he was reminded that it wasn’t the case with him.

That the zombies got him already, and that he was dying.

“...I think at least 20 of them tried, but it just never works!” Dream continued. “They can bite all they want, it’s gone before they-” he paused, and Fundy realized he was looking at him. “...What’s wrong?”

“I need to tell you something,” Fundy revealed before he could stop himself. As soon as he said that, the weight of what he was hiding hit him. “I- I’m so sorry, I should’ve told you sooner, it’s… I’m so sorry-”

He could see the immediate concern on Dream’s face while he rambled, trying to build up the courage to tell him what happened, why he wasn’t with his group anymore.

“...What… should you have told me?” Dream asked cautiously.

Still at a loss for words, Fundy pointed at the bandage around his neck. He could see the realization hitting his boyfriend, and he could see him trying to ignore it, to stop drawing any "unnecessary conclusions" and making assumptions.

“...I… I was going to ask, what… happened?” he asked after a heavy pause. Fundy took a deep breath before answering.

“...I got bit,” he admitted. He watched Dream’s face fall and instantly regretted saying anything. Almost regretted finding him, really… What was the point if it’d only leave him hurting more, what- “...I’m so sorry, I…”

“No, no, don’t-” Dream interrupted him. He stepped closer, putting his hands on Fundy’s shoulders and trying to collect his thoughts. “Don’t be sorry, this is… we can…” he shook his head. “Okay…. What happened?”

“I… was checking this Gas station, but I saw something, and I got distracted, and a zombie just… got me before I could…” his voice trailed off. After a moment, he reached into his bag and frantically searched it for the little box he died for. “...Here. I… I tried to get this as a gift for you. So it's a... gift to die for, I gue-”

“You’re not dead,” Dream interrupted him. He took the box from him and placed it on the counter. “You’ll be okay.”

Fundy couldn’t put into words how much he wished that was true. He knew it wasn't.

“...Did the God that got you here not tell you what a bite does?” he asked instead of trying, but Dream shook his head.

“He also told me everyone else was dead. He could’ve been wrong about this, too!” he suggested. He lifted one of his hands to touch Fundy’s forehead, and visibly winced as soon as he felt it. “You have a fever, so you need some medicine. That’s our first step.”

“I tried that already,” Fundy sighed. He reached into his bag again and retrieved the bottle of pills his group left him with. “They helped at first, but… it’s getting worse,” he admitted. For a moment, Dream was at a loss.

“...Okay, then let’s try-”

He didn’t finish his next suggestion, instead settling for a cough. He turned to look at the toaster he left the waffles in, and they were clearly not very edible anymore. He let go of Fundy’s arms and opened the toaster, quickly pulling both of the waffles out of it with his bare hand. After dropping them on the counter, he took a step back, covered his face, and took a moment to collect himself.

For a moment, Fundy considered offering to just… move along, continue walking in the name of making this a bit less painful.

“How… long ago did it happen?” Dream asked before he could make that offer. He had lowered his hands already, looking at Fundy with an almost unreadable expression.

“...Yesterday? Around noon, maybe?” he recalled, watching his boyfriend in search of any change in his expression. “According to Eret, that gives me… anywhere from a second and two or three days left to live,” he added, and Dream nodded.

“Okay,” he sighed. He put his hands on Fundy’s arms again, but the gesture felt more… delicate this time. “If that’s… the case then I promise to make those… seconds-to-days good for you,” he declared. “I’ll make you as happy as I can.”

Fundy couldn’t help but smile at that. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to say anything without his voice breaking, so he just nodded. Seemingly understanding that completely, Dream simply stepped closer and pulled him into a gentle hug.

Fundy couldn’t find the words to tell him that he was already happy. That for as long as they were together, he was satisfied.

He hoped that deep down, Dream knew that.

Chapter Text

The second batch of waffles wasn’t burned.

That was nice. Very insignificant, but nice, so Fundy tried to focus on that. Tried to forget about the conversation he’s just had with Dream while he watched his boyfriend take the food out, put it on two plates, and set it down on the table. Tried to smile while they sat down next to each other and started to eat in silence.

The silence. It didn’t feel suffocating per se, it wasn’t bitter… just full of sorrow. That still made it too heavy to put up with for too long, apparently, as Dream broke it moments later.

“...What do you want to do?” he asked. That was… a good question. Fundy shrugged, he didn’t really think about filling his last moments with… anything, really.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “We could start by catching up?” he suggested after a moment.

“That’s not…” Dream started, and oh. He probably wanted to know what Fundy wanted to happen after his time ran out. Before Fundy could correct himself, the man shook his head. “Okay, okay, you’re right. Let’s start with that,” he agreed, and Fundy nodded with a thankful smile.

“...So, how did you end up here, again?” Fundy asked. “Your… God took you here?”

“Yeah,” Dream nodded. “I was stuck in the city center with Quackity and Karl, they were both hurt and I was looking for help… and he just showed up. He didn’t even explain anything to me, just… grabbed me, told me to close my eyes, and then we were here. Then he finally told me everything about the zombies, gave me that blessing, and… told me everyone else was dead. I didn’t want to believe him, but… at the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to question him back then…”

“And now?” Fundy asked. Dream frowned while he thought over his answer before sitting up straight.

“Well, now… XD!” he yelled. “Can you come here and tell me why you lied?!”

For a moment, the kitchen was silent while they both waited for a God to arrive. Well, Fundy had no idea what that God would even look like, but… probably a little different than the air or the furniture.

“...So his name is XD?” he asked after a pause. Dream nodded, but he didn’t seem certain.

“That’s what he told me,” he confirmed. “Who knows how honest he was being about that one, though? At least I don’t think he lied to me about the apocalypse,” he added with a frown, and Fundy nodded along. “So, how about you? What were you up to?”

“I was looking for you,” Fundy answered with a shrug. “You, or… anyone, really. I had this entire map of our city, I checked every house and flat I could think of, schools, hospitals, museums… And I don’t think anyone but me was in the city. Then I ran into Ranboo in a backstreet, and he took me to this camp he and a couple of others set up.”

“Who was there, again?” Dream asked.

“He, Tubbo, Niki, Eret, Hbomb, and Jack,” Fundy named. “Actually, did you know that Eret and Jack were picked by Gods, too?” he remembered, and Dream seemed genuinely surprised.

“Oh, what? What blessings did they get?” he asked curiously.

“Eret can track people, but it doesn’t work, and Jack got… Bravery or something? He said his God couldn’t give him anything better, but the information was useful either way,” he recalled, and Dream seemed baffled by the answer. “What? They can’t just make everyone immortal,” he reminded, and the man nodded.

“Yeah, I guess… But bravery? What does that give someone?” he asked, and Fundy shrugged.

“Not much, I guess. And I don’t think he said bravery, just… something close enough,” he recalled before falling silent for a moment. “Anyway, I was there for about a day… and then I got too antsy, and I wanted to leave, to look for you again. Zombies started to turn up at the camp, too, so others agreed that we should leave and head North.”

“...This city is West of ours,” Dream pointed out, and Fundy nodded.

“Yeah. We stopped at a gas station, trying to get fuel and hoping to stay the night… and I got a bit too reckless,” he sighed, pointing at his bandaged neck again. He refused to repeat what exactly happened. “I decided to leave so they wouldn’t worry about me, found a car after walking West for a while… and drove all the way here,” he finished his story, and Dream nodded.

“I’m sorry,” he answered quietly, and Fundy forced a smile onto his face again. “...About what I meant with that question, do you… know what you want to happen?” he asked after a moment, and Fundy frowned.

“...I could keep walking, but that’s…” his voice trailed off and he looked up to see Dream’s expression. He seemed revolted. “Yeah. So… I don’t know,” he shrugged.

“...If you want me to, I could… you know,” his boyfriend cut himself off. “Make sure you don't turn. It's up to you.”

“Thanks,” Fundy muttered in spite of how much he hated that. “Can I… think about it for some time?” he asked, and Dream nodded. 

“Of course,” he agreed before the heavy silence fell over them again. Fundy didn't like that. 

“...While I'm thinking, do you think you could show me around here?” he asked, and Dream immediately seemed to perk up.

“Oh, of course!” he agreed instantly. “It's gonna be great… Let's just finish the food first, okay?”

“Okay,” Fundy agreed. He looked down at his plate. “That sounds fair,” he nodded. He picked the waffle back up while he tried to find Dream's hand with his free one. 

He felt it hand brush against his moments after he started to look, and gently intertwined them. A good source of comfort for them both, he figured. They made eye contact, and Dream offered him a reassuring smile while he squeezed his hand. It felt good to return both of those gestures. 

Dream's little fortress was quite a thing to explore. He had an entire notebook listing all the flats he was using for storage or for their furniture, then another list for where to find almost anything he could need… but the rest of the apartments were just that, apartments. They looked almost untouched for the most part, but that was what made them so… pleasant to see. It was a good feeling to just step inside and forget about the world’s actual state for a moment. That was probably why Fundy kept asking to see them.

“...That’s a big map,” he said while Dream was showing him what must’ve been the 30th flat. “I think we had one like that in our camp,” he recalled.

He stepped closer to the map hanging on the wall. It almost looked like the one he used to pick the direction he’d head in after he would leave the camp, or at least it basically showed the same area. He spent a moment tracking where he’d been so far with his eyes before pausing.

“...Do you want me to show you how I got here?” he offered, looking back at Dream. His boyfriend nodded before joining him at his side.

“Sure,” he agreed before placing his finger on their home city. “You started here, right?”

“Yeah. More or less, I… looked all around the city for people,” he confirmed. “I ran into Ranboo around here…” he put his own finger as close as possible to where he found him before slowly moving it to where they went after. “...And here was the camp. Around here.”

A part of him wished that was where he’d stop his finger. Another part reminded him that if that was the case, he’d probably never end up in this city.

“...We agreed to leave and head North, and I think I made it up to here?” he recalled, tracing the roads leading North on the map. “...I got 'hurt' around there somewhere, and… then I headed straight West, to here,” he finished while his finger finally reached the city they were in now.

“...And everyone else kept going north?” Dream asked, his gaze still stuck in the spot Fundy assigned his bite to.

“Yeah. It made sense…” he confirmed before falling silent. They were still heading North. “...Dream, I have a question.”

“Yeah?” his boyfriend encouraged him.

“...After I’m… you know. After that happens, do you think you could try to find them?” he asked. “This place is lovely, but… it won’t fall apart if you leave for a moment, right? And I asked them to keep looking for you, and now I’m worried they could get… hurt doing that or something, and…”

“It’s a good idea,” Dream agreed with him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll find them, and I’ll offer them a place to stay here, I think. This place was made with a bigger group of people in mind,” he declared and Fundy turned to look at him.

“Didn’t you say you thought you were the only one left?” he recalled, and Dream sighed.

“Well, first of all, XD told me that everyone I knew was dead, and I hoped that this wording implied… strangers, you know? And besides that, I still wanted to keep hope,” he explained.

Fundy silently stepped closer to him, resting his head on his shoulder. He felt a bit too tired to keep speaking, as if a strange wave of dizziness just came over him… Dream held him closer.

“Do you want to go get dinner yet? We’ve been exploring for a while,” the man offered, and Fundy nodded against his shoulder. “Alright.”

He took Fundy’s hand into his and started to lead him out of the apartment. Just as they were leaving, he used his free hand to check Fundy’s forehead for his temperature. His face seemed to fall, but he didn’t immediately take his palm back.

“...And while we’re eating, you should take some of that medicine you brought,” he added, finally taking his hand back. “It didn’t run out yet, did it?”

“No. I’ll take it,” Fundy agreed. Maybe it’d make his head feel less blurry.

Chapter Text

“It looks like it’s working,” Fundy remarked quietly, looking at the oven he and Dream were currently trying to use.

“Yeah,” the man agreed. Then, he reached out to touch its glass, checking if it was hot... and immediately recoiled back with a hiss.

“Are you okay?!” Fundy asked, moving closer and trying to see his hand. His boyfriend nodded and showed his palm to him… it had no mark.

“Like it never happened,” he assured. So his blessing worked on burns too. “...It looks like we can throw the pizza in already,” he added. 

He got off the floor and went over to the box of pre-made pizza they picked out, and Fundy followed him with his gaze. There were probably hundreds of better things he could’ve picked as his possibly-last meal, but unfortunately, his mind was still too hazy to come up with even one of those, and his boyfriend insisted “it should be his choice”... So now they were having pre-made pizza. Assuming they won’t burn it.

“Alright, move back a bit,” Dream requested, returning to the oven with the frozen pizza in hand.

Fundy shuffled away with no objections and Dream opened the door. He placed the pizza on the middle layer and closed the oven behind it before he started to fumble with the timer. Figuring it was okay to return to his previous spot, Fundy moved closer to him again and watched him struggle against the built-in clock the oven had. Eventually, his boyfriend gave up with a sigh.

“Do you want me to try?” Fundy offered, but Dream shook his head.

“Not a good idea,” he dismissed him. “It’s hot, you’ll burn your fingers… I hope this thing won’t start a fire before the food’s done. It shouldn't be this hot on the outside.”

“...Don’t your fingers hurt, then?” he asked, trying to put the fire hazard he was sitting by aside. He wanted to make sure that Dream’s power didn’t leave him with the pain a normal person would’ve felt.

“They’re fine,” Dream assured, showing him his hand for closer inspection. It wasn’t even red. “As soon as the injury is gone, I feel fine, and the injury’s gone as soon as it appears.”

In spite of that assurance, Fundy still took his hand into his and moved closer to see it better… and even after he was sure it was fine, he didn’t let go. He liked holding Dream’s hand, and his boyfriend didn’t pull away even after he was certain the “examination” was over.

“...Are you feeling better?” Dream asked eventually, and Fundy shrugged. Not satisfied with that response, he used his other hand to check his boyfriend’s forehead. “...Do you want me to find some stronger medicine for you?”

“No, it’s okay,” he assured him. “Maybe it's still… kicking in,” he suggested. It wasn’t that long since he took his own, after all. Dream nodded along, albeit reluctantly. 

“Yeah, maybe,” he muttered. “...Once we’re done eating, do you want to continue our tour?” he asked. Before Fundy could say ‘of course, as long as I can walk, I want to see everything here’, he continued. “...Because if not, there’s one more thing I think you’d like here.”

That certainly piqued Fundy’s interest.

“Oh?” he hummed, and Dream nodded.

“I found a movie projector, and I’m pretty sure the solar panel in that other flat can let us run it… and, well, I’ve been collecting all the DVDs with movies I could find,” he explained, and there was a certain glint in his eye while he said the last part.

“Did you find anything good?” Fundy asked, and his boyfriend smiled warmly.

“...Well… I did find ‘Treasure Planet’ in one…” he informed, feigning casualty. When Fundy couldn’t help the excitement on his face, Dream gave in and smiled again. “We can just sit down together and watch it over and over, if you want to…?”

“I want that,” Fundy agreed instantly.

He stopped himself from adding “I want Treasure Planet to be the last movie I see in my life”, he figured… that remark wouldn’t help the situation.

“Do you have popcorn here?” he asked instead, and Dream nodded.

“Yeah, we can pick it up on our way… and there should be a working microwave in that flat, too,” Dream assured him. “...But how about deciding if we want that after we have dinner?”

“Right,” Fundy nodded. After a slight pause, he moved closer to Dream and leaned against him, absentmindedly looking at the oven with their pizza inside. “...This is almost like sitting by a fireplace,” he joked, and Dream laughed quietly before putting an arm over his shoulders. “...Do any of the flats have a fireplace?”

“No,” Dream shook his head. “Unless this oven catches on fire,” he remarked, and Fundy smiled. He’d rather get the food out of it first, though. “...Yeah. The heat has to suffice.”

“It’s still nice,” Fundy sighed.

They stayed on the floor, snuggled together like a couple in a rented cottage in the woods would sit by the fireplace after a long day of winter adventures. It was almost just as romantic.

As much as Fundy wanted to keep his mind off of his current situation, he couldn’t help but feel like this was simply right. That if this was his last day, which it could be, he truly wanted to spend it like this. Cuddling with his boyfriend on some expensive couch they didn’t own, watching his favorite movie on loop, and forgetting about the state the world was in.

He’d almost be fine with passing away right there, he realized.

Almost. If not for the fact that while he would be comfortable with that, he couldn’t imagine a worse way to watch a loved one die, and Dream was right there! That was why he decided that if it came to that, he’d make sure to alert his boyfriend… and until then, or until they had to do something else, he would just sit by his side and hold his hand.

“...Fundy?” Dream got his attention while they were already watching the movie for the 2nd time.

“Yeah?” he looked away from the movie projector only for Dream to look away.

“Did you…” he hesitated before looking back at him. “...Did you figure out what you want me to do if you… you know,” he asked, and Fundy tensed up before nodding slowly.

If he gets worse, or if he dies was a funny way of describing something so certain.

“...Yeah,” he confirmed. He didn’t put much thought into it, but he did come up with an answer. “...I… If that’s okay with you, can we… wait until the fever wins? I don’t want to be a zombie, but… don’t want to cut my time with you short,” he explained, and Dream nodded.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Okay, we can do that,” he added. For a moment, they both fell silent. “...I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too,” Fundy answered before leaning into Dream’s shoulder. “...And I love you.”

Instead of answering, Dream placed a gentle kiss on his forehead… and it meant just as much as those three words. They both knew that.

They returned to watching the movie feeling equally comforted and devastated. Fundy, additionally felt like he had just sealed his fate, and he wouldn’t wish the hopelessness it brought him on anybody.

They sat through that movie three times before the popcorn was deemed an unsustainable food and they had to turn it off and start to think about supper. That was the only reason, nothing to do with how Fundy’s head began to hurt from all the bright images and loud noises that made up the movie he loved for almost his entire life. He refused to acknowledge that.

Even though the popcorn was absolutely the only thing to blame, they weren’t in that much of a rush to make that supper, so when Fundy spotted a box of cake mix in Dream’s storage room, they agreed it was the perfect thing to make. They even had an oven ready, just a couple of flats away!

Baking together was always fun, even if a lot of the cake mix ended up everywhere but in the bowl they prepared for it, the kitchen was full of laughs and friendly banter. They could always grab another box and increase all the other ingredients to what they probably should amount to… it didn’t matter if the cake would come out imperfect, not really… just making it together was enough.

Eventually, they finally poured the hopefully-edible mass into a form and Dream carefully placed it in the oven. Then, he fished a watch out of his pocket and fumbled with it for a moment before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

“At least one timer works here,” he muttered before turning to look at Fundy. “Can you read how long it needs to stay there?”

“Sure,” he answered, taking the box of cake mix and looking over the instructions again. “...An hour, probably a bit more with how much we added.”

“Alright… got it,” Dream nodded, putting the watch on his wrist to keep a better eye on it.

“...So, what do we do for an hour?” Fundy hummed. He would’ve suggested watching 2/3s of Treasure Planet again, but his totally-unacknowledged headache discouraged him. Dream looked out of the window in thought.

“Oh, I know,” he said after a moment. “It looks like the sun's about to set, and I got the door to the rooftop to open, so… do you want to go watch the sunset from up there?” he suggested, and Fundy’s face lit up.

“That sounds great,” he agreed, setting the box aside and joining his boyfriend by the door.

Dream grabbed a blanket from a nearby closet before taking him by the hand and leading him out of the flat, up the stairs, and to a big, sturdy-looking door at the top. Fundy expected it to be locked, but apparently, Dream handled that a while back, and now he could simply push it open. Judging by the state of the lock, he never found the keys.

They walked out onto a big, spacious rooftop with a clear view of the city. The sky was just starting to turn blue, pink, orange, and all the other pretty colors it usually went through before turning dark, Fundy noted… but it somehow felt more special this time. More beautiful. He couldn’t help but smile while Dream walked him closer to the ledge before stopping and setting down the blanket, inviting him to sit down.

“Do you watch them here often?” he asked while he settled down by his side, and Dream shrugged.

“Sometimes,” he admitted. “I’m usually so busy clearing out the buildings that I miss the sunset, but… I’ve seen them enough times to know that this is the best spot for that,” he explained, putting his arm over Fundy’s shoulder.

Fundy nodded along with a smile, but his mind started to feel more and more hazy while he waited for the sun to disappear.

“...Do you think this is the last sunset I'll see?” he asked after a moment, and felt his boyfriend tense up at the question.

“...No,” he answered after just a moment too long to sound confident. “...No, no, I’m sure you have… three, or maybe even four of them left in you,” he declared with a bit more insistence this time.

Well… He was supposed to have “two, three days left, four if he was lucky” and it’s been two, so… clearly, that wasn’t true. He laughed under his breath.

“Last sunset it is,” he settled with a sigh.

“Don’t say that,” Dream answered a bit too fast this time. He sounded stern.

“...Sorry,” Fundy muttered, he shouldn’t be ruining this moment, but… he really wasn’t feeling well.

“It’s okay,” Dream responded. He placed another kiss on Fundy’s forehead, and that was enough to make him lean deeper into Dream’s arms.

“...I love you,” he muttered, reaching for one of Dream's hands.

“I love you, too,” Dream answered this time.

The sunset was beautiful. Fundy didn't even realize when he lay down, resting his head on Dream's lap, and he had no idea when his boyfriend started to play with his hair, but… he liked that. He wanted this to last. 

“Can we stay here for a while longer?” he asked, and the gentle hand in his hair paused. “I like it here.”

“...Sure, we can stay,” Dream answered after a slight pause. His voice sounded strained, but Fundy couldn't imagine why. It was so beautiful, after all.

Dream's hand continued to comb through his hair, carefully brushing them off his face every once in a while, and Fundy had never felt so safe and cozy. He wanted to sink deeper into his boyfriend's touch and not move from his spot in Dream's lap ever again while the sweet nothingness slowly claimed him. As the peace crawled all over him and his consciousness slowly faded along with the beautiful colors in the sky… Now if only his head would stop hurting-

His head. The fever. The bite. Oh God. 

He suddenly became very aware of his own heavy breathing as panic came over him. He had to warn Dream.

“Dream- Dream, I'm- I think-” he stuttered out, trying to lift himself up. His boyfriend stopped him by putting a hand on his forehead and gently pushing him back down. His hand felt ice-cold against his face, but Fundy was certain that wasn't the reason it was trembling.

“...I know,” Dream said after a moment, and Fundy completely understood why his voice was so strained this time. “Just… lie back down. We can stay here for as long as you'd like. I'm… here, okay? I'll take care of everything,” he promised, and Fundy didn’t try to get back up.

“...Okay,” he responded quietly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Dream answered, taking Fundy's hand back into his own and lifting it up to place a gentle kiss on it. “Just rest now. You're okay,” he promised, and Fundy nodded slowly.

“Thank you.”

Dream shuddered and didn't respond, but that was okay. Fundy just found comfort in his presence and his gentle touch. He might've been dying, but at least he wasn't alone… and that was enough for him.

When the world around him started to go from blurry to dark, much darker than any night could be, he… wasn’t scared. He should’ve been, he could tell, but he just wasn’t. He focused on forcing himself to breathe and on the gentle, now truly shaking, hand running through his hair… and he felt okay. He felt at peace. He almost felt ready.

The labored breathing stopped abruptly, and the night was silent. For a moment, Dream refused to move, but he eventually looked down at where his boyfriend was lying. He removed his hand from his hair and put it on his shoulder, shaking him gently.

“...Fundy?”

There was no answer.

Fuck.

He turned Fundy onto his back, trying to ignore the expression his face was stuck in and checking his pulse. Nothing. Or maybe he was checking wrong? He moved his hand to Fundy’s chest, hoping to find it slowly rising and falling, hoping to feel a heartbeat… still nothing. He shivered.

“...Okay,” he breathed quietly. He moved away from him and reached into his pocket, searching it for a pocket knife he picked up a while back. It was over, now he just had to follow through with what he promised to do.

He hissed in pain when his fingers came across the blade first, but he pushed through it with practiced ease. Knowing where the knife was now, he finally fished it out of his pocket… the stinging pain in his hand didn’t disappear as it should have, though.

“...Oh.”

The cut was still there. The blood continued to trickle down his hand. A pit opened in his stomach and his eyes started to sting with tears more than they already had.

He understood now.

He understood why XD lied. If he believed that everyone he knew was dead, he wouldn’t look for them. If he didn’t look for them, he should never find them, and he should never go through… this.

Because how was he meant to keep going as if he didn’t just hold his dying boyfriend in his arms? How was he…?

The alarm in his watch went off, and he scrambled to make it stop. The night felt even quieter when he finally managed that.

“..I’ll be right back, okay?” he asked quietly. He couldn't deal with this now, he just... well, at least he had excuses he could give to the corpse in front of him. “I'll get the… food out, cover this cut… then I’ll handle this.”

It felt like lying. He wasn't sure if he'd find it in himself to go back up to the rooftop after he left, and that would make it a lie. He still walked away.

He couldn't bare looking at this anymore.

Chapter Text

Fundy sits up.

He's sitting in the middle of a familiar room, on a fuzzy carpet he knows well, and everything is quiet. It's... his own room. It's the room he's lived in since he could remember. It hadn't looked like this in years, he should probably realize, but frankly... he doesn't care about that.

What he cares about is, it's not safe.

Weren't there zombies in his house? Any moment now, they could burst into his room and tear him apart, so he tries to save himself. He stumbles onto his feet and promptly slams into the door, pressing against it with all his might. He awaits the impact from the other side, listens for sloppy footsteps and loud groans, prepares himself for the heavy banging against the wood and the horrid smell... It's quiet.

He's not alone, though.

He turns to face the room and he's not alone inside. There is a person standing by his bed, much taller than a person should be. She's wearing a long, dark gown, a hat with a wide brim and a net that covers her face, and she's not a person. She's a God, he can tell. He might've not seen a God before, but this must be it. She's powerful and intimidating, but she is also kind. She watches him patiently while he trembles by the door.

"Would you like to be somewhere else?" she asks him. Her voice is loud and booming, it fills the entire room... but it is soft and reassuring. It doesn't strike fear into his heart.

He's too intimidated to speak, still. He nods instead, and she... she doesn't step closer, but she's suddenly right in front of him, holding out a hand. He's frozen.

"Go ahead," Death encourages him, and he knows two things now. One, he knows that she's Death. The... name, or is it a title...? Death and she are like synonyms, once he realizes that, he can't bring himself to call her anything else. She is Death and two, she wants him to take her hand.

So he does, he gingerly reaches out and carefully puts his hand over hers, and the world around them swirls and changes, shifting into something new.

Before he knows it, they're sitting in an endless field, no room and no zombies in sight. Just him and Death, and the soft grass under him, occasionally adorned with flowers. It's beautiful, and safer than his room... but he's still not at peace.

He looks around, searching for any signs of danger. Any zombies in the distance, any places they could lurk in. He doesn't find anything, which does provide some security. With nothing obscuring his view of this unending plane, he could easily spot a new danger if it arose... but then what? Run? Unsatisfied and just as desperate for survival as always, he searches for a weapon, for something to protect himself with while Death watches patiently.

There's nothing, he realizes and anxiety washes over him. He's unarmed, anything could-

"You're okay," Death tells him, placing a hand on his shoulder and immediately gaining his full attention. "It's safe here. You're okay, Fundy."

Her words flood his senses with relief and he collapses back onto the grass. He's safe. He's okay.

He can rest.

By the time he sat up again, his head became much clearer. He wasn't sure if it was the fever still affecting him, or if he was still in shock, but he felt better now. That was, until he realized that he was still sitting in an endless field, that he was still dead, and that Death was still sitting by his side.

"Do you feel better?" she asked him, and he still found himself speechless. She sighed. "It's okay. I'm sure you have questions," she encouraged him to say something, and by some miracle, it worked.

"...Am I dead?"

She didn't shudder at the question, she must've expected it... and to Fundy's horror, she nodded.

"Unfortunately, yes," she confirmed his suspicions. "You've survived much longer than most people," she tried to... cheer him up? Congratulate him? He didn't know what she was attempting, but it didn't evoke any positive feelings.

Most people. Other people.

"Is Dream okay?" he asked with all of his reluctance and denial gone. He needed to know.

Death didn't look surprised, she was probably prepared for anything he could ever ask her, but she clearly wasn't eager to answer. She still did, of course.

"...For now, yes," she confirmed, but didn't sound very sure of herself. Something in Fundy's gut twisted.

"For now?" he repeated against his better judgment, and Death nodded.

"You... might reunite with him sooner than you think," she admitted, and as much as Fundy loved Dream, as much as he wanted to devote every second of his existence to his boyfriend, he didn't like that. He didn't want him to die.

"What?" he asked, trying to convince himself that for some reason, Death would lie. Maybe she thought it'd make him happier to know he wouldn't be alone for too long. "But his... his power, his... blessing, it makes him...!"

"Not anymore," Death interrupted him, and he froze again. What did that mean? "It doesn't work if he doesn't have the will to keep pushing further, and now..."

Oh no.

"How do I fix that? I- I need to fix that, he can't just-!" he started, but his mind was completely blank. He had to do something but what could he do while he was dead?! Especially when his death was the reason- Oh. "Can you bring me back?"

"Fundy..." Death sighed, but that didn't stop him. That was the only idea he had and he was willing to go all in on it.

"Just for a moment! Bring me back so I can talk to him, I need to talk to him! I'll help him, and then you can...!"

"Fundy," Death interrupted him, and he fell silent this time. Of course. Of course, it was a horrible idea, she would never bring him back. Why would she? "Listen, I can..."

"Death!" another booming voice filled the entirety of the endless field they were in, and a new silhouette appeared.

His voice was sharper, angrier, but it had a hint of... desperation, maybe? No, that wasn't true, a God couldn't be desperate, and he clearly was one. His voice held the same authority as Death's, and his clothes were nothing short of befitting a God. His face, or the place a face should be, at least, was covered just like Death's, showing just a small glimpse of the void kept beneath his mask. A void full of eyes, something Fundy would usually turn his head away in fear from, but...

The mark on his mask felt familiar, or at least like something he was supposed to know. Two cracks resembling an 'X' and the opening resembling a 'D'... XD. What did Dream say his God was called, again...?

"Give me a moment," Death raised her hand in Fundy's direction before the other God reached them. "I will handle him quickly."

"Death, I need you to revive a mortal," XD demanded as soon as he finally joined her side. His voice was demanding, but it seemed to have no effect on Death.

"Why do you need that?" she asked patiently, and the other God sighed slowly, apparently calming himself.

"Because mine broke," he stated matter-of-factly, and Fundy was sure that if Death had eyebrows, she'd be raising them. "It was fine, it was healthy, and then it watched someone die and it broke. So I need you to revive that other mortal-" his eyes darted in Fundy's direction, and he did a double take.

"He broke," Death corrected him, and it looked like she was about to say more, but fell silent when she noticed XD staring.

“...That’s the one I need you to revive,” he said after a moment, and Fundy got all the confirmation he needed. This was the God that picked his boyfriend and… possibly his one chance at going back to earth. So as much as he was conflicted, he had to agree-

“I see,” Death nodded. Fundy would’ve cut in, expressed how much he wanted to go back, but… he found himself unable to speak. “What would you offer me in return?” she asked.

XD, who seemed rather agitated so far, settled down.

“What would you expect?” he asked cautiously. This time, Fundy could clearly picture Death smiling.

“I want a 2nd mortal,” she answered with such certainty that it was obvious she’s thought this through, and that she would not relent. That was probably why XD didn’t object. He didn’t agree either, though.

“That’s…” he paused, searching for the right words. “Do you have one in mind?”

“The one I'm reviving,” Death motioned to Fundy, and with that, he was very tempted to lie down and stay still for a few days, letting just that sink in. He didn’t have a few days, though, and he still didn’t have the confidence to say anything… Luckily, XD seemed just as confused by the idea.

“That’s… No. You can’t. That way I still couldn’t win.”

Win. Fundy was almost tempted to ask, but he got all he needed from that alone. Whatever XD’s reason for disagreeing was, it was not Fundy’s best interest. It was… some game, apparently?

Death sighed.

“We can keep him out of this game, then,” she offered, and XD seemed… tempted. “I won’t get any benefits from him surviving… I’m just hoping to not have to revive him twice.”

So… he didn’t need to worry about that “game”, or rather, he could worry about it later. Not yet. For now, he should be fine. As long as XD-

“I can accept that,” he agreed, and Fundy breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

“Good. Can you ensure other Gods agree?” Death asked, and that was enough to make XD agitated again.

“What?” he asked, looking at her with what must’ve been disbelief. “This is a very time-sensitive situation, that’s four Gods I need to convince-”

“You better hurry, then,” Death responded.

XD stayed still for a moment, as if waiting for her to change her mind, but eventually relented. He turned and left, vanishing into the thin air in front of Fundy’s eyes. The moment there was only one God within his sight, he felt a pressure lift and he was certain that now, if he only tried, he’d manage to speak again. He still hadn’t decided what to say, though.

“...Please don’t mind his behavior. XD is… not very knowledgeable when it comes to humans,” Death explained with a sigh. “And don’t worry, he won’t take too long. Time works… differently here.”

“Okay,” Fundy nodded in acknowledgment, and felt relieved to know that he was truly free to speak. “So... you'll revive me?”

“As long as the other Gods agree. It's not my choice alone,” she explained, and that made sense, probably. It was enough to stop Fundy from trying to push that topic and turn his attention elsewhere.

“What… Game were you talking about?” he asked after a brief pause.

“XD's idea,” Death sighed, and she sounded somewhat… disappointed. “As I think you know, all Gods chose a person to support, and… he insisted on checking which mortal would survive the longest. He’s the only one who takes that seriously,” she explained.

“And you want to…” he paused. He wasn’t sure how to ask about what Death requested from XD as a reward for reviving him. Apparently, that was enough to convey his question.

“Offer you a blessing,” she confirmed. “Do you have any requests?”

“...No,” he shook his head after a moment of thought. Something to keep him safe would be too vague, and… he wasn’t sure what to expect after he’d be brought back, and-

“That zombie caught you off guard, hadn’t it?” Death reminded him after a moment of silence. “The one that bit you,” she clarified, and he nodded. If he had only paid more attention- “We can focus on that, then. Heighten some of your senses, make you more alert…”

“That sounds good,” he agreed. Well, no matter what she’d suggested, he would still probably agree, but becoming more alert truly sounded helpful.

Death nodded, but she stayed silent, probably trying to settle on the details of that blessing. Fundy didn’t want to interrupt her, and it wasn’t like he had any more questions he could put into words, so he didn’t say anything either. He just sat on the grass and watched the horizon while he tried to forget about what must’ve been happening down… or up, or whatever direction Earth was in. He didn’t want to think about it now.

Eventually, the silence they sat in was disrupted by loud, heavy footsteps as someone new appeared. Undoubtedly another God, Fundy was quick to notice. Well, it probably wasn’t usual for anyone but Gods to be around this place, but… the golden skin seemed to convey the message just right even if he were to disregard where he was. The golden skin and the fact that the new God was infinitely taller than him.

“Death? XD said you…” his voice trailed off while he looked around. Eventually, he looked down and spotted the two of them sitting on the grass. “Oh, give me a moment.”

It was hard to describe the motion that followed, but Fundy supposed that the closest word he could find was “shrinking”, the God just… shrunk down. That sounded wrong, though… but there wasn’t really a word for “shrunk in a Godly way”, so Fundy had to settle with that.

“It’s good to see you,” Death greeted him, and he nodded with a smile on his face. His face, Fundy noticed, he actually wasn’t covering his face like all the Gods he saw before. That was new. He wondered if there was a reason.

“Oh, hello,” the God noticed his staring and extended a hand to greet him. “I’m Foolish.”

The pressure that made it too hard to speak when in presence of two Gods returned, but it wasn’t as severe this time. In spite of it, Fundy still managed to reach out and shake the God’s hand, it just… took him a moment.

“I’m Fundy,” he responded, and he had to admit his voice sounded somewhat strained. Apparently, that must’ve been a usual occurrence, because Foolish didn’t seem concerned.

“Oh, are you the one getting revived?” he asked before turning to face Death again. “XD said you’d be reviving someone if everyone agrees.”

“That’s correct,” she confirmed, and Foolish nodded.

“...He also mentioned that I could ask for something too, if you agree,” he continued after a short pause.

“Of course he did,” Death sighed before turning to Fundy. At this point, the pressure became almost overwhelming for him again. “You don’t look well. I think it’d be better if we continued this further from you,” she suggested.

After a moment of hesitation, he nodded stiffly. There were things he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t bring himself to mention any of them.

“I promise this won’t take long. You’ll be back on Earth before your body will have the time to turn,” she assured him, and… that answered most of the questions he had, actually. “Now, Foolish, is there anything in particular you want?”

Fundy had to admit he hadn’t quite noticed when the two Gods left. One minute they were right next to him, and the next thing he knew, they were just barely visible in the distance. Along with them, the strange pressure also seemed to disappear, though… so he supposed it was okay.

He just had to wait.

More silhouettes joined them in the distance, and while Fundy wasn’t particularly trying to keep track of them, he couldn’t help but look in their direction every once in a while. Death, Foolish, and XD were all there, accompanied by 3, or 4, other Gods. One of them resembled XD, but seemed much shorter than him, one (or two) wore warm cloaks and seemed to be fading in and out, leaving Fundy to wonder if they were one or two of them… And, well, the other God looked awfully like the father of one of Dream’s friends, but he was not going to even try and comprehend that.

No, he was very content just sitting away from them and slowly getting consumed by the worry that this was taking too long. He was just fine.

“Fundy,” Death snapped him out of whatever spiraling thoughts he was stuck in at the moment. 

He was admittedly startled by her booming voice at first, but he was quick to settle down. He glanced at the spot he last saw all the Gods conversing in and found it empty. Finally, he looked back at Death. He should prepare for the worst, shouldn’t he?

“Are you ready to return?” she asked. He shouldn’t jump to any conclusions, but… “You are being revived.”

“...Thank you…?” he answered after a brief moment of surprise. He wasn’t sure what else he could say.

He was going back. He was going to see Dream again. He’d be fine. They’d both be fine. This was-

“Are you ready?” the question was repeated, but not by Death.

Fundy wasn’t sure how he failed to notice XD before, but it probably had something to do with how the God seemed to be almost hiding behind Death.

“...It’s only been an hour, XD,” she reminded with a sigh. An hour? It sure felt like he’s been here much longer, Fundy thought. “On Earth, it’s been an hour. I told you time works differently here,” Death explained. “Now, do you have any questions before I send you back?”

He should ask about that blessing he’s about to get, probably. Or if coming back is going to hurt. Or even if his other friends or family are dead. There were a lot of good questions he could ask.

“...No,” he shook his head. 

There was no time. XD seemed pleased with his answer, Death… not upset, but not very happy either.

“Okay then, I will… walk you through everything when I need to. For now, just close your eyes and try to breathe,” she instructed.

He did just that. He closed his eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, tried to relax, and just… waited.

It did hurt.

It burned.

But only for a moment.

Chapter Text

The silence after the pain had ended felt dull and endless, but eventually, Fundy sat up.

His back hurt, his nose and eyes stung, and it felt strange to inhale that first breath into his lungs… but he still managed to take the air in, and the action became much easier after that. He disregarded the strange smell of smoke that seemed to surround him.

He felt warm. For a moment, he found comfort in that. He felt warm and the world around him was bright and peaceful- Then, he remembered it was not supposed to be like that. He looked around before finally looking down at himself.

He was still on that rooftop he watched the sunset from, but it must’ve been a while since that took place. He was also sitting in a small pile of what looked like… ash, and it was still warm. He shuddered at that.

Finally, he looked up, hoping to find out how long it had been since he died. Sure, Death had told him it’s only been an hour, but that clearly wasn’t right, the world was bright, and he had to check the sun to know how many hours had passed, more or less.

Seeing only the moon and countless stars above his head baffled him.

It was still bright.

He looked around again, and finally found something that could mean getting any answers. He wasn’t alone on the rooftop anymore, Death seemed to have followed him. She sat not far from him, waiting patiently and looking strangely… proud? Content, at the very least.

“Do you want me to explain this?” she offered after a long pause. Her voice seemed much louder than it previously was. “As I told you, I had… heightened your senses. It might take you a while to get used to them and… I should’ve warned you, it did leave a mark.”

A mark.

He remembered Eret’s eyes, and Jack’s, and wondered if Dream had a mark of his own that he never had the time to share… and wondered what it looked like on him. Were his eyes black? Or did they have little skulls in them, to symbolize death? Or was it something else entirely? His ears flickered while he tried to wrangle his thoughts.

They… didn’t usually do that.

He reached up to his head and, among his now-clean hair, he found what must’ve been ears. They felt like ears, his own ears, just… not human ears. They were long and thin, covered in something soft and very fur-like… they were certainly not that before.

“That’s it,” Death nodded. “You might notice some more changes, but I promise, they will be helpful,” she assured.

He couldn’t tell how putting animalistic ears on his head would help him, and his confusion was apparently clear in his expression. Luckily, Death didn’t seem upset by him not simply accepting that as an explanation.

“I try to make my marks useful,” she continued. “My… first champion, he gained some characteristics of a bird, and for you… I figured a fox would be more fitting.”

A fox.

Of course. Why not?

Either Death knew about the old inside jokes his friend group had before the world ended, or they were really onto something all that time. A fox.

“Are you feeling okay?” Death asked.

He wasn’t sure if it was a simple pleasantry or if there was a way to mess up bringing him back to life, but decided to take a moment to think about it either way. When he couldn’t find anything alarming, no pain he could suddenly feel, no… wrongness, he nodded.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. His voice was hoarse, and he fought off the urge to cough. He cleared his throat instead. “Yeah, I’m… okay,” he repeated, and it sounded more like himself.

A faint noise that didn’t come from Death caught his attention, and there came the strange feeling of his ears moving again. This time, he found them straightening themselves upwards and the noise immediately seemed clearer. It sounded like slow footsteps echoing in the stairwell.

“Do you hear something?” Death asked, and she sounded somewhat… curious? Not the surprised kind of curious, though, more… interested.

“...Footsteps,” he confirmed. The footsteps sounded almost familiar, he noticed.

“I should probably leave, then,” Death decided, and Fundy turned his head to look at her. “I’ll return if you need any explanations, but… you seem to know enough about the zombies, and I think this blessing should be intuitive.”

Before Fundy could say anything about that, or even make up his mind on whether he wanted an elaboration about that or not, there was a knock on the door leading to the rooftop. A single, sharp knock followed by a heavy silence. Then the door slowly creaked open.

“...I’m so sorry, this is probably… I hope you’ll forgive me,” Dream’s voice was quiet, unsure… and then he opened the door wide enough to see the rooftop.

More silence.

Fundy wasn’t sure what to say, so he just waited while Dream looked between him and the spot he recalled Death last standing in. Apparently, she didn’t leave yet. That didn’t matter, though, the only thing at least vaguely important was his boyfriend, so Fundy waited while the man seemed to assess the situation. Based on his reaction, he could take this… somewhere. He could explain.

“I think I’ll leave you two to speak,” Death declared, and Fundy glanced in her direction just in time to see her simply… fade out of existence. For a moment, he thought she left some dark smoke behind her, but no, there was nothing.

He looked at Dream again, and his boyfriend still had no visible reaction to… everything. He just stood in the doorway and stared. That meant that Fundy would have to take the lead here. Too bad that his mind was somehow simultaneously racing and empty.

“...They… didn’t want me down there?” he started nervously. “...Or up there. I’m not sure where it was.”

Dream dropped a knife Fundy didn’t notice him holding before. Was that… a good sign?

Next, his boyfriend started to slowly approach, squinting slightly. Fundy still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. He wasn’t even sure if Dream was squinting to see better in the darkness or because whatever other features Death’s blessing left him with were that hard to look at.

He decided to take the safer route.

“...I know this is a lot,” he started, looking down at himself. He quickly realized there was something off about his fingers, his fingernails seemed just a bit too sharp, and… a problem for some other time. “I know. But- it’s not as bad as it looks, I’m sure I can… we could… Well…”

Before he came up with anything truly reassuring, Dream stopped right in front of him and silently sank to his knees. From that close up, Fundy was certain that they both could see each other clearly, and he took a moment to truly look at his boyfriend.

Dream’s eyes were opened wide and finally, Fundy noticed tears running down his face. Then, his boyfriend lifted his hands, and the small bandage wrapped around one of his fingers didn’t escape Fundy’s notice. Before he could question it, Dream was already cupping his face, hands trembling slightly while he looked at Fundy in such an intense way…

It was almost like a question. An “Is this real?” that he was too scared to properly voice.

“...It’s me. I’m okay,” Fundy said.

Apparently, that was the thing Dream was looking for, more than enough of an explanation.

Dream’s hands slipped from Fundy’s face and pulled him into a hug, easily one of the fastest hugs he had ever reciprocated. A long, soft hug that made everything happening feel so much more real. It was grounding. It could’ve, should’ve lasted forever.

Fundy almost didn’t notice Dream’s left hand lifting from his back and slowly finding its way to his neck, but he shuddered when he felt his boyfriend’s fingers carefully caressing his skin. Checking for the bite. For a moment, he felt dumb for not doing that himself earlier, but that wasn’t important anymore.

He could feel his own skin under Dream’s touch, smooth as it’s been for most of his life. He was certain there wasn’t even a scar there. 

That revelation seemed to fill them both with relief, and Dream’s hand dropped back down while they both melted into the hug. The bite wasn’t there, and it left no trace of itself. Fundy was okay, he was alive… and that should stick this time.

It was like the hug they shared when they first found each other, except that now they weren’t in the middle of those dangerous, open streets. They were safe, far away from any zombies, and well aware that even if that weren’t the case, they’d probably be fine. That meant they had no reason to move away from each other. That was why they didn’t.

“...I love you,” Dream broke the silence between them at some point. He sounded so relieved, but there was a hint of tiredness hidden under that. Actual, physical exhaustion Fundy couldn’t blame him for.

It was nice to hear that now, without Fundy’s then-upcoming death looming over him. If it was possible to melt deeper into their embrace, he did so.

“I love you too,” he murmured into Dream's shoulder. For a moment, he was worried it was too quiet, but his boyfriend let out a barely coherent noise of… acknowledgment, probably? “...Do you want to go back inside? We can… talk about this tomorrow,” he offered. He'd hate for the hug to end, but Dream seemed barely awake at that point, and he wasn't sure if sleeping on the rooftop was a good idea. 

“...Yeah,” Dream agreed. He slowly moved away, but kept his hands on Fundy's shoulders. “Yeah, I can show you… there's a bedroom. One floor down,” he offered, and Fundy nodded.

He was the first one to get up, assisting Dream with catching his own balance and helping him walk back to the staircase. They stumbled over each other a fair few times, something they probably could avoid if they stopped trying to keep their embrace and settled for simply holding each other’s hands, but… they didn’t mind stumbling nearly enough to do that.

By the time they reached the stairs, they more or less got the hang of walking together, and somehow managed to climb a floor down without tripping and tumbling down the steps. Well, Dream’s legs did skip a step or two occasionally, but Fundy somehow managed to keep both himself and his boyfriend upright. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t feel tired, not physically. His legs were still a bit stiff from something that felt close to shock, and he did feel tempted to lie down on the floor and stay there for a while, but other than that, it was as if he had just gotten up from the best nap of his life. That certainly helped with getting to the bed Dream mentioned without breaking any bones.

In spite of his lack of tiredness, he still collapsed onto the mattress along with his boyfriend, of course. Even if he wouldn’t be able to sleep, he still wanted to stay as close to Dream as possible for as long as he could. Besides, him being at least vaguely more aware of their surroundings helped, he thought while he pulled the covers of the bed over them. Before they settled down under the blanket for good, still moving around in search of the most comfortable position, Dream’s hand found its way into Fundy’s hair. That was more than okay, of course, and he wouldn’t have given that a second thought, if only his boyfriend’s fingers didn’t come across one of his… new ears.

For a moment, Fundy felt worried. What if Dream hadn’t spotted them before? Was he just making the discovery that-

“...They’re soft,” Dream muttered tiredly, and Fundy was once again washed over with relief. He smiled and buried his own hand in his boyfriend’s hair.

“I love you,” he answered quietly.

Dream murmured something in response, but his muttering was mostly incompressible at that point. Fundy had no issues guessing what the response was, though.

This was nice, he thought while he closed his eyes. He still wouldn’t sleep, but he wanted to give his eyes a rest and focus on simply enjoying the moment. His now-sharper hearing made it easy to hear Dream’s breath slowly going steady as he fell asleep at his side, and it was almost like a melody he could listen to on a loop. He probably could, now.

…He should probably be more worried about his heightened senses. About how, while helpful, they could make some normal things seem like literal hell.

But no, not now. Right now he was too comfortable to worry about anything. He could just relax, gently run his hand through Dream’s hair, and ignore everything he’d have to face in the morning.

He wondered if he’d manage to fall asleep before the sun rose. He doubted that. It’d still be nice.

It’s been a while since he felt so safe sleeping anywhere, after all.