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Foolish loved sleep. He loved sleep, plain and simple.
Especially after the day he had, working on the relocation of certain members of Las Nevadas, after trying to finish up some builds, having a tense talk with both Sam and Ponk when he ran into them-
Today had been rough.
He had been asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, sleeping hard as soon as the sun had set. But the communicator had been his undoing.
He apparently forgot to turn off the ringer, and at exactly four am on the dot, it let out its annoying screeches. And he really tried to ignore it, really truly, but the damn thing kept ringing and ringing and ringing.
So, with a groan, he moved the pillow off his head and grabbed the communicator off his bedside table. He flipped onto his back, scratching his chest and groaning sleepily before clicking to answer.
He put it to his ear, taking a moment before speaking, voice thick from sleep. “Helloooo…?”
On the other line, he hears a familiar voice. “Foolish! Hi, um. I need you?”
A small smile came to Foolish’s face, and he chuckled in confusion. “Ert? What?”
She sighed through her nose and he could hear the rustling of sheets. “I need you. Here. At the castle.”
Foolish sat up then, squinting at his own sheets. “Did something happen?” His voice became serious, sleepiness gone. He heard Eret take a breath, and it was a minute before she spoke again.
“...No. I just need you.” She sounded nervous, and he heard a minute shift. “I don’t want to explain over the call. Just… can you come here, please?”
Foolish took a moment, moving the comm from his ear and cringing at the time on his screen. After he put it back to his ear, he lifted his knees and nodded. He draped his right arm over his knee and looked down at the sheets. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be over soon. Just wait for me.”
He sighed after they hung up, groaning as he got off the bed. He stood and lifted his arms above his head, back popping with another breath.
He grabbed the shark wrap and made sure his shendyt was tied and neat before leaving the temple. He used his trident to hop to the portal, and was quiet on his trip through the nether. It seemed as though no mobs even wanted to come out, away in their beds or on their hunts.
Going through the portal, he barely noticed how quiet the server was. Foolish expected people to still be running about like him, but it was eerily silent. A shiver went down his spine as he passed through the community house, and he ignored it again.
It wasn’t long before he was at the castle, nodding to the knights at the entrance before moving inside.
He remembered where Eret’s room was easily, it wasn’t his first time being called there, and he memorized the path the first time she led him there.
He knocked once, waited a moment, then opened the door.
Eret sat neatly on her bed, hands folded in her lap as if she had been waiting. She smiled at Foolish, and he stepped in further and closed the door behind him.
“You okay?” He asked, moving forward and sitting next to her on the bed.
Eret just stared for a moment, which honestly worried Foolish, but then she smiled brightly and nodded. “Yes uh.” She looked away and around the room, looking for something, but then she looked at Foolish and grabbed his hand. “Can we get a bowl of cereal?”
Foolish squinted in confusion. “What?”
“Can we get a bowl of cereal?” She repeated. Her hand held his a little bit tighter. She looked scared in a way, and Foolish just nodded.
If she needed cereal, then she needed cereal.
“Whatever you need, star.”
He was the first to leave the bed, holding her hand as she climbed off and stood next to him. He tried to ignore how close she was, how clingy she started to seem.
Something happened and she wasn’t telling him. He wouldn’t push, of course, he’d wait as long as she needed.
They didn’t let go on the way to the kitchens. Eret only held onto Foolish’s hand and arm, quiet. Eret would usually chatter away about plans she had, the museum - something. But Eret was just quiet and holding onto him.
Did Dream come back? Did someone leave? Did she-
Eret let go when they got to the kitchen, quickly going to the pantry for the cereal while Foolish managed to find two clean bowls. Eret poured the cereal and put the rest away as Foolish grabbed and poured the milk.
The entire time, Eret didn’t make a sound. Not even as she put stuff away. Dream had to have come back-
She was back on his arm, her own looped around his as she dropped the spoons into their bowls. She put on that smile again, and Foolish couldn’t help but stare in worry. She seemed happy, but there was fear and he just watched as she ate some bites.
He cleared his throat and started eating his own, waiting for her.
Some twisted feeling in his gut reminded him he waited years to find her again, and here he was fighting to wait minutes for her to speak up-
“Eret, what’s going on?”
Eret paused, waited a moment, and then gently placed the spoon back in the bowl. She looked down, making sure to not look at Foolish. Her voice was small. “Can we not do this?”
Foolish looked at Eret. “You’re worrying me. There's-” He looked around the two for a moment. “Did Dream come here?”
Eret just shook her head silently.
“He didn’t.”
“He didn’t.”
Foolish let out a frustrated breath. He was tired and Eret was worrying him, and he wasn’t getting what was happening-
“You said you knew me before. Before the banquet, when you asked to go together. You said you knew me.”
Her hand on his arm tightened as she pressed herself closer. She still didn’t look at him. Maybe she was nervous, maybe she was just more interested in the bits of cereal left floating in the milk.
“I did know you, yes.” His voice was cool, nonchalant. He knew Eret, he knew the Wither Queen.
“...How? How did you know me?”
Foolish took a moment. How could he put it simply? How could he not lament and bring about poetry and simplify their years of history, of despair, of devotion, of love and hatred, into one simple sentence?
“You were my… Everything. And I was your nothing. All at once.”
Her head turns then, looking up at him. “That explains nothing.”
Foolish smiles and laughs, shrugging. “Yeah, I know. But, that's the best way I can describe it.”
“Tell me more then?” Foolish looked down to Eret, who looked intrigued. Her hands held onto his arm, and he missed the weight.
“I called you here because I thought I remembered- something. But just- please? I want to know.”
Foolish could only stare back. Everything he wanted right in front of him, Eret was asking for him again, and all the pieces were falling into place.
He nods, swallows, and nods more. “Yeah. We can just talk about it. So.” He takes a breath. “What did you remember?”