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'Everyone told me not to look for him... so why am I?' Climber thought to himself as he walked through the now abandoned city Half of the buildings were destroyed in the fights and the few people who had lived here were gone by now Climber sighed, he's been walking for what felt like hours, and still no sign of any life in this city

He thought about giving up, until he heard something from behind him, turning around "Hello?- AH!-" As soon as he began to speak he was tackled down by a figure, they were too fast to be recognized but once Climber opened his eyes he knew who it was "Karl?" Climber questioned, Karl's eyes softened as he spoke "Ah, Climber! I apologize for uh- all of this" Karl stood as he spoke with Arma returning to normal,

He reached out his hand to Climber, he accepted it as he got up, and he let go of his hand as soon as he stood, Karl, wish he didn't "So, what are you doing here?" Karl began to smile "Well actually, I was looking for you" Karl's happy expression turned into a more confused one "Huh? Me? Why?" "Uhm- I-" Climber struggled with a response "Uh- Everyone was really worried about you! And they wanted to make sure you were alright!"

Climber lied, he didn't want to tell him the real reason "Everyone? Everyone who participated? I doubt they would miss me, I mean I'm pretty sure I killed two of them..." "Oh...! Uhm- I was the one who missed you..." Climber said fidgeting with his fingers, Karl's face lit up as he couldn't stop his face from blushing a bit "Really? Awh! You missed me!" He pulled Climber into a hug, his face flushed

"A-Anyways, would you like to come with me some of the people who fought in the tournament are staying at an abandoned house close to here, most of them are trying to find a way to get back to their homes" "Y'know I would like to go with you, but I'm sure they wouldn't be happy to see me," Karl said as he pulled away from the short-lived hug,

"I could tell them to at least give you a chance! I'll explain to them you're not a bad person!" "You'd do that for me?" "Yep! Buuut only if you answer a question first" "Well, what is it?" "Why didn't you return to the park? I mean can't Arma lift you? Why did you stay here?" Climber asked, "Woah- Well, that was three questions" Karl felt overwhelmed by the questions he asked, he can't say why he stayed, could he? "I just stayed here because Arma wouldn't be able to carry me all that way, I would have if I could"

Karl held out a finger as Arma landed on it, I mean it wasn't entirely a lie Arma wasn't strong enough to carry him for long "Oh! Alright then, can you follow me? We should be able to get there before nightfall" Climber began walking in the opposite direction he was before, Karl froze 'Before nightfall? How far away is it?' Karl began to think until he realized Climber was way ahead of him "Hey! Wait up!"

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"So, Climber how much longer until we get there?" Karl asked "Uh- I think we're almost there," Climber thought for a bit before he spoke again "Why? I thought you were dreading going" "Well, I was just wondering since you said we would arrive before nightfall" Karl said as he pointed towards the sky "It's already getting dark" Climber looked up for a second "Sorry, I don't know much about time yet"Climber began to play with his hats strings

"It's fine, don't worry about it" Karl put a hand on Climber's back, he leaned into the touch before he moved away "That's the house right there!" Climber pointed at the 'house' "House? Isn't that a bit big for a house?" "I suppose so, it's big enough for everyone to have a room though" "Does that mean I get one too?" Karl asked, he'd never lived in a house before "If I'm correct I think so" Climber began to mumble and count on his fingers

"Welp looks like we're here" Karl sighed if he could he bet he would feel butterflies in his stomach, Climber looked up "Oh guess we are" Climber rose his hand to the door and tried to knock, but instead of making  noise it made a soft squeak  "Ah..." He looked down at his hand, "Here, let me" Karl walked into the front of the door. knocked this time I made a loud hollow noise

"Thank you" It was a bit before they heard the sound of the door being unlocked, their eyes being met with familiar black ones "Hello!-" Karl was cut off by the slam of the door "Oh! I don't think he likes me very much" Karl said his smile never faded

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"Hello? Heelllooo??" The muffled noises of voice echoed from the other side, Mizuno lay with his back to the door He couldn't help as anxiety ran through his body, and his breathing became erratic, Annie who had heard the door slam ran from upstairs "Mizuno! What's wrong?"

"He's back."

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"What? Mizuno, are you sure you saw him?" Annie questioned but the muffed voice on the other side of the door answered her "Anyone home?" Annie could just hear his smile "back away from the door" She whispered as she took a gun from a holster on her leg "what are you trying to do?" "I'm going to shoot through the door" Annie aimed at the door, she estimated where his chest would be and-

And she shot.

The soft wood door was easily broken through "Did I get him!?" Mizuno slowly inched his way toward the door opening it Karl was the first person their eyes laid on, he was still standing as he looked up at the two, next they saw Climber He was holding his chest "Ow... Annie, was that really necessary?" Annie's face turned from confusion to shock

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry Climber!" She slowly approached him "We should get you fixed up" Climber walked inside, motioning for Karl to come in too but when he stepped inside a gun was pointed at him "You, I don't know why you're here, but you should leave." "No! Actually, Annie, I want him to stay, please" Annie turned towards Climber for a second, she then sighed and faced back at Karl "Fine! He can stay, but I swear if you hurt anyone-"

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning to" He smiled "If you would, could you put the gun down?" Annie lowered her gun, roughly pushing it into her holster Annie walked up the stairs, Climber following after her, Karl was about to begin walking when he felt a pair of eyes on him "Ah, do you need something?" Karl faced the shorter, Mizuno scowled as he looked away

'Seems about right...' Karl thought as he walked upstairs, seeing Annie and Climber in front of a door, he got there just in time to see them knock on the door a minute later a tall blonde opened the door "What is it?" Rellik asked obviously annoyed "We were just wondering if you could uh-" Annie motioned to Climber's chest, exposed cotton seeped out of the bullet wound "Sew him back up? You're like the only person in this house who knows how to sew"

"Uhm! I would do it by myself but it's hard for me to sew upside down" Climber added to Annie's statement "Does this have to do with the gunshot I heard?" "You heard that?" Annie started sweating "Loud and clear" Annie looked down "he's going to be so pissed" Annie mumbled under her breath "Why is he here?" Rellik said as he pointed to a certain statue, his face turning dark, eyes slightly glowing

"Well, maybe I came to see you!~" "He's actually with me!" Climber said as he saved Karl from dying a second time "If Climber's the only one that needs me, then why are you two still here?" "Oh! Uh yes sorry!" Annie said as she hurriedly rushed down the hall, presumably towards her room "And you" "Right, sorry!" Karl walked back down the stairs

Rellik opened the door just enough for Climber to come in, "You can sit on the bed" Rellik said, closing the door with a sigh Climber sat on the edge of the bed, softly bouncing his leg. Rellik moved towards a desk, a small lamp illuminated the room Pulling out a small box, a sewing kit, Rellik sat on his knees in front of Climber, opening it and taking a thin needle and thread

He placed a square piece of cloth on Climber's chest, beginning to silently sew, Climber tried his best to sit still "Thank you, for doing this" "No need to thank me, if I didn't do this you'd probably die" Climber's eyes widened "Oh...- uh- yeah!" He said looking around Rellik's room

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"I'm done" Rellik closed the sewing kit "Wow!! You can't even see the stitches!" Climber ran his fingers over the new patch of cloth "I'll be uh... going now!" Climber stood up, and walked to the door "Oh! uh- bye!" He turned behind him and waved, Rellik slightly waved back Climber closed the door, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding in he was about to walk downstairs when he heard a loud thud

He instantly froze thinking for a minute before he hurried down, staring at the scene in front of him Karl, who his eyes landed on first, was standing in the middle of the living room the other person that caught his eye was Mizuno, he was sitting on Karl's back, trying to strangle him, the last person was Chimbley who was on the floor being stepped on by Karl

"WHAT THE HELL??" Climber blurted out making the three turn toward him, they all quickly try to get to their feet "What happened?!" "Well- uhm- a certain someone... said something to purposely- uh... offended me" Karl started "Well someone tried to kick me to New Jersey," Chimley said in response "Wait you tried to kick him to New Jersey?!" "Not important" "I helped Chimbley not get killed," Mizuno said

"Karl, you've been here for like 10 minutes and already started fighting kids-" "WOaH! I wouldn't even be fighting them if this asshole didn't say that!" Karl tried to defend himself, but Chimbley just scoffed, pulling out a cigarette "Hey! Stop!" Climber snatched it away from the younger "I told you not to smoke anymore! I can really harm you"

Chimbley groaned, "Fine," He said as he scurried off "Now you come with me" Climber motioned to Karl "He's scary when he's mad..." Mizuno said "Yeah, it's kinda hot though-" "What?" "What???" There was an awkward silence between the two "I should go now!" Karl ran upstairs. running up to Climber who was waiting by a door "Oh good you're here, I just wanted to show you your room!" Cimber said, presumably calmer now

"Why can't I sleep with you?~" Climber's face flushed "Ah!- uh!- you- you don't even need to sleep..." Climber faced away from the other male Karl found it cute how easily flustered he got, "So earlier, can we not tell Annie?" "Oh! Of course!" Climber said quickly

"Well I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight Climber" Karl opened his door and went inside, his back to the door He heard soft footsteps walk away, once he knew Climber was gone he couldn't help his face from becoming red, he never thought of Climber like this, so why now?

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Karl found the night boring. He would usually play the violin, but that wasn't an option, so he instead paced around his room until he saw the sunrise

He sat on the surprisingly comfortable bed, and he sighed as he started to hear doors open and all kinds of footsteps

He could make out a few of them. The first ones were obvious, they were Climber's, and you could barely hear them, then Annie's, you could hear her heels

Karl couldn't make out the rest, he leaned back, contemplating if he should greet them, I mean, living in a house full of people you tried to kill isn't that easy

He decided to see at least how Climber's doing, better than rotting away in his room, right? Getting up from his bed with a slight creak, he slowly walked towards his door

He sat his hand on the doorknob, and it slightly shook, 'Why am I so nervous? Can statues even get nervous??'

He thought, finally opening the door and trying his best not to make noise, though it was hard with how old the house was

Since Karl was uh... quite heavy, almost every step he took made the house sequel under his weight

Regretting even coming here, he stopped. Maybe he should go back to his room? Yes, that was the only option

But before he could even move, he saw someone climb up the stairs, Climber,  no wonder Karl couldn't hear him walk

"Oh Karl, you're awake- er- you don't sleep, do you?" Climber stopped. There was an awkward silence between them

"...Do you want to come down? Maybe meet the others??" Climber said, silently begging him

Karl couldn't refuse even if he wanted to "Fine," Karl sighed as he followed Climber down the stairs

As soon as he stepped into the room, Karl felt that everyone's eyes were on him "Well hello everyone!" Karl put on a smile as he waved

But instead of a response, all he got was silence until someone spoke "Ughh why is he still here?" Chimbley said rolling his eyes

"Chimbley!!! What did I say?" Climber glared at the younger male "I mean, hey- uh- Karl?" Chimbley stuttered out his words

"Anyway, what are you all doing?" Karl asked, Rellik was he first to speak "We're coming up with a plan to try and get back to our homes" 

"Oh, is that so?" Karl was thrown off guard by that, and someone noticed that, while everyone else discussed their plans

Chimbley, who had been glaring at Karl, got up from the couch and stood next to Climber "Oh! Hey Chimbley, need anything?"Climber acknowledged the boy 

"I- uh- I need to talk with- him..." Chimbley said, still stuttering over his words, Climber raised an eyebrow at that but then smiled

"Hey, Karl?" Climber said putting a hand on his shoulder "Hm?" Karl hummed "Chimbley would like to talk to you" Chimbley scooted closer to the male

Karl was surprised by this, why would Chimbley out of all people like to talk with him? He tried to kill him two times for fucks sake!!

"Well, would you like to go somewhere private or-?" Karl questioned putting on a smile "Private" Chimbley began to walk off, Karl quickly following him

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"So this is your room? It's a bit bare-" "Cut the shit, Karl" Chimbley furrowed his brows "Huh?" Karl said still smiling

"You might have everyone fooled, but I noticed your little facade" Chimbley was staring right into Karl's eyes making him uncomfortable

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about" Karl struggled to keep a smile on his face "Just tell me why the hell you're acting all happy n' shit when you obviously hiding something"

"You really are persistent, huh?" Karl said, the tone of his voice changing while his smile faded, Chimbley backed away

"Okay I'll give you an answer, but I'll try and keep it simple" Karl looked to his side as Arma flew on his shoulder

"When I first heard of a tournament to get a wish for anything you could imagine, I thought- I thought it was fake but-"

Karl paused as he thought about his next words "I threw away my life to get it- I tried to kill people!! And I didn't even win...!"

Karl became quiet, realizing he was ranting "What- What was going to be our wish...?" Chimbley said his voice shakey

"My wish..?"