Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He really did it now.

The once chance he had of a proper redo, to start back off with a clean state and he completely fucking ruined it.

It was just a simple miss click.

How ironic.

The very thing Mariana used to justify the murdering of their child; Slime now uses to justify his own murder of Tilin. He knew from the moment that he couldn’t revive the small egg that it was all over. He was too caught up in the moment, too caught up in protecting the eggs that instead he ended up killing one of them.

And worse, it was by his own sword.

All it took was single hit and Tilin was down.

It was all too much. Juanaflippa’s sign bearing the words ‘you killed my cousin!’, Roier’s fury and Bobby’s taser whipped out and ready. They all hated him, and he didn’t blame them, he wasn’t fit to look after anyone let alone his own child. He knew what had to be done; he had to let go of his family once and for all. The universe couldn’t have been clearer in their message, couldn’t have been more cruel in their deliverance. Only he with his shit luck could’ve possibly killed another child after just getting his own one back.

A life for a life except it wasn’t with him or wife, but rather with Tilin’s.

Quackity would fucking kill him once he found out.

And he doesn’t blame him in the slightest, in fact he gladly welcomes it if the winged parent would kill him right now. He deserved to rot in hell and be punished for everything that he’s ever done, to be held accountable for his inexcusable actions. Not even Mariana would take him back after this, after all their efforts to fix things, Slime still fucks it all up.

Everything was ruined.

And it was all his fault.

But he promised his daughter he would correct things and fuck it all he would!

Throughout his exile in the desert, Slime gathered all the ingredients he would need for this particular ritual. It was simple, all he needed to do was trade his soul for Tilin’s and everything could be perfect again. Nothing else mattered.

He placed the torches around him, previously clearing out the sand around him so that the ground was even. He had waited till nightfall and the moon was full, hoping to increase his chances of a successful ritual. Closing his eyes, the slime began chanting the words loudly across the desert plains, echoing through the silent night. He could feel the torches start to burn brighter, increasing in size as the flames reached towards the stars almost as if they were grabbing them. The warmth surrounded him, suffocating him and taking all the breath from out his lungs; he was almost there, he could feel the otherworldly presence around him.

“Hmph, calling so soon? Was my present not good enough for Juanaflippa, she is alive again, right?”

Oh, how he fucking hated this guy.

There he floated proudly above him, clasping his hands behind his back mockingly, in all his red burning glory with his sharp grin that promised pain and black soulless eyes that knew all the sins of the world.

Slime didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to, Satan always knew what a person desired, it was his ‘power’. Glaring up at the horned creature, Charlie could feel himself slowly losing grasp over his own body, could feel himself start to slowly drip into the sand, could feel himself turning less into a human and more into a slime.

His original form. 

“Ah I see now, you are not here as the ‘Slimecicle’, but as the ‘Dios del Limo’ correct?”

God of Slime.

An old name that meant nothing to him.

He was only Mother Nature’s favourite child, her favourite creation and as such was granted the gifts of a God. He didn’t earn it, he didn’t win any battles or create kingdoms under his name, he only had a small village that cherished him like a king, but they were all long dead now. No one ever referred to him as a god of anything anymore. It was an empty name to match an empty being.

“You know what I want.”

“Unfortunate what happened to them, Tilin, I thought you didn’t like child sacrifices?”

“Shut the fuck up! Just fucking bring her back, it was my mistake, and I can deal with the consequences.”

“Mother Nature must be so disappointed in you.”

“Shut up!”

“I didn’t even ask you to kill this one.”

The slimy God clenched his fists tightly watching as his once human hands melted into each other, joining the rest of his body. Every passing moment was becoming harder and harder for the new God to maintain his form, he was only seconds away from just letting go. Though he doesn’t know why he even tries in the first place, there’s no one else around for him to worry about anyway. Slime just needed to feel in control of something, everything was slipping from his grasp. So lost in agony the pour soul didn’t realise how close the Satanic God was getting towards him, not until he felt his hot breath across the back of his neck.

“Tu agonía huele delicioso.”

Charlie stiffened up, it was times like these that reminded the slime of this powerful being in front of him and how easily the man could kill him. Satan’s flames were a definite weakness for the Slime God and they both knew it. Already, he could feel the fire from the torches start to affect his liquid body; he was suddenly filled with the thought that Satan could just kill him right now. But he knew that he wouldn’t, the God of Hell liked to play with his prey and right now Slimecicle was his.

A clawed hand quickly reached out and grasped Slime’s chin, forcing him back to make eye contact with the flamed prince, who’s eyes revealed the pits of hell itself.

This was it.

“I want to bring Tilin back alive in exchange for my life.”

“Gods do not die.”

“Then I will no longer be one.”

“¿Ya no serás qué?”

Charlie swore to his daughter that he would do anything to make things right, he promised at Tilin’s grave that he would help him, he promised he wouldn’t even backflip until he undid everything. He would give up anything for his nephew and everything for his daughter. Nothing else mattered to him anymore.

He’s lived long enough.

“I will no longer be a God.”

“Trato.”

It all happened too quickly for Slimecicle to comprehend, with Satan still gripping his chin, his other hand reached out towards Slime’s chest.

Agony.

It was all agony.

The flames coated his body from the inside and out, burning away his immortality and taking away all the lives he’s lived. He tried to pry himself away from the demon, tugging at the arm inside his chest but there was no hope, no escape. He could feel himself spasming, jolting from the pain, scream after scream was ripped from his throat. His own body couldn’t decide on his human form or his slime one, shifting between the two rapidly.

His lives were flashing before his eyes, all his countless deaths slamming into him, forcing him to relive everything once again. Impalement, burning, shot wounds, poison, falling, the pain swirled inside his body, clouding him in unbearable pain.

It went on throughout the night and the next day and the next, three straight days of back-to-back torture that only seemed to stop once Slime finally blacked out.

The last thing he remembers was the sound of Satan’s voice.

“Fuiste un buen padre.”

He sounded almost regretful. 

Chapter Text

Everything felt numb.

Charlie felt numb.

His body was still going through the aftereffects of his torture, nerves alight and twitching every second. His brain was seemingly stuck on a loop, his only coherent thought was that of the pain, the pain that still swirled around his body. Sluggishly, Charlie slowly lifted his left hand up towards the blistering sun, squinting through his lenses as he tried to comprehend the world around him.

His hand was human, his body felt human.

He couldn’t feel a single bit of slime inside him, it was an almost strange feeling and in all honestly, he felt a bit emptier.

He was stripped completely of who he once was, no longer a God nor slime, he was just Charlie.

Closing his eyes, Charlie mustered up the strength to push himself up into a sitting position, taking note of the searing pain in his chest as he moved. Taking a deep breath, he slowly lifted his hands to the source of pain, lowering the collar of his shirt he froze.

“Holy fuck.”

It was like looking at cracked stone, his chest had literal fucking cracks that surrounded where his heart would be. The marks stretched across the entirety of his front body, with small markings noticeably training up to his next. Charlie then proceeded to spend the next few minutes mapping out the marks along his body, it appeared that some marks stretched towards the back, and he could only assume that the opposite side of his back would have similar cracks.

It only confirmed what he already knew.

He was officially just a human.

No more second chances for him.

But that must mean that the deal was fulfilled! Tilin had to be alive.

The question only remained how the rest of the people would react to his return, he doesn’t even want to imagine Quackity’s reaction, though justified it would be. The last thing he did was leave his daughter in Roier’s care and now he must return to prove to her that he indeed filled his promise.

Filled with a mixture of determination and trepidation, Charles made his way back through the desert towards civilisation.

He didn’t do all of this just to not follow through on his own promise.

By the time he reached the edge of the forest, he instantly knew he was fucked.

There was smoke billowing up into the sky and it didn’t take an idiot to guess where it would lead, Quackity definitely found out about his son and knew exactly who to blame. Charlie moved through the trees, using them to hide himself in case he was spotted by the angry father. But then he turned his head and froze, suddenly filled with dread and grief.

There just behind a few more bushes was the grave of Tilin.

He shot from the trees, forcing his aching legs to push him towards the grave, he needed to see for himself if he truly brought her back. Collapsing to his knees, Charles began digging up the dirt recklessly, trying to find any evidence of his nephew.

It was empty.

They weren’t in there.

That could only mean one thing, he fucking did it!

Tears started flowing from his eyes, sobs wracking his body as he began shaking in overwhelming happiness. He did it, he finally did something right for once, he wasn’t a complete fuck up anymore!

“Slime?”

“What the fuck are you doing!?”

Two voices broke out from the trees, Charlie turned his head and was met by Foolish and BadBoyHalo. The pair looked just as shocked as Charles’ felt, no one moved until Bad reached for his sword and lunged towards the crazed being. Foolish started yelling, reaching out towards his friend to stop him from killing Slime, shouting that they should ask about what Slime’s been doing. Whereas the target himself was ducking behind bushes and shrubs to outmaneuver the angered demon.

He slipped, his own legs giving out under him, closing his eyes Charlie lifted his arms to brace for Bad’s sword.

The swing never came, but the sound of crackling thunder echoed throughout the forest. Opening his eyes, Charles stared in shock; Bad had both hands on his sword swinging upwards, yet Foolish had stepped in front of him last second, one hand pushing back the sword and the other by his side cracking with lightening.

“Bad! We need to at least hear what he has to say-”

“He’s a fucking child murderer! After all we did for him, he fucking goes and kills another egg!”

“Look at him, look at him Bad!”

A tense silence followed, Bad lowered his sword and Foolish slowly stepped away from him once he no longer looked like a threat. Both turned their heads towards the cowering person in front of them, Charlie looking back at them with wide panic filled eyes. His body hadn’t stopped shaking since the appearance of the duo and right now he felt two seconds away from throwing up, just from sheer fear alone.

In only a matter of minutes Charlie was already confronted with his new mortality, he could’ve died right then and there; the thought terrifies him.

Foolish slowly crouched in front of him having de-summoned his lightning, bring them eye to eye.

“What’d you do Slime?”

And he told them, he told them of how he accidentally hit Tilin when he was trying to protect the eggs from a skeleton, how he gave Juanaflippa up to Roier and made a promise to his daughter to come back once everything’s fixed. Lost in his summary, the human failed to notice the look Foolish and Bad gave each other, particularly when he mentioned the deal.

“What deal Slimecicle?”

Foolish cut in, his emerald eyes were honed onto the once slimed person, he looked almost fearful of his answer. And Charlie didn’t answer, he simply stared straight back.

He knew that Foolish knew.

There were only so many Gods after all.

“What did you do?”

Foolish’s voice wobbled as he maintained eye contact with the former God, the pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together in his mind. He knew Slime wasn’t stupid, he did have the conversation with him about sacrificing Mariana to swap over with Flippa after all. But there was just no way that Slimecicle was implying what he thought he was implying.

Charlie smiled at him hauntingly, his own eyes betraying him as they started watering up once more.

“Looks like you’re the only God left here, Foolish.”

Something snapped in him, like the reality of what he did came crashing down on him all at once; Charlie started laughing as the tears streamed down his face. He kept laughing as he rocked back in forth, he kept laughing as Foolish tackled him into a hug; clutching onto him like a lifeline, and he kept laughing as Bad simply stared at him from afar, in absolute horror.

It soon became unclear who was more distressed at the news of Charlie stripping himself of his Godhood, Foolish or Charlie himself. Both were clinging to each other tightly, neither one seemed to be in a hurry anytime soon; to go from immortal to mortal would be shocking news to anyone. Yet, it seemed that it was really affecting Foolish, his sharp claws were digging into Slime’s already sensitive back.

“What are you gonna do now?”

“I’m going to fulfill my promise.”

Charlie untangled himself from the Totem’s arms and reached out towards his face, wiping away his tears as he looked at his old friend with a small smile.

“Will you join me, Foolish Gamers from long ago?”

“Whatever you need, Slimecicle from Las Nevadas.”

Chapter Text

The sight of his burning house was something Charlie would never unsee, granted he did blow it up during his grieving of Juanaflippa, but this was something else entirely.

This was Quackity’s rage, and it burned hotter than the fires of hell, if Charlie was still part slime, he’d for sure be melting away into the ground. But that’s not who he is anymore, now he is someone who refuses to run away from his problems and instead moves straight on towards them. Though watching the bird scream and yell while throwing explosives at his house, Charles is slightly glad that he had Foolish and Bad by his side.

Just from watching the raging parent, he could feel the anguish that Quackity felt, it wasn’t that long ago when he was doing the same thing to Philza’s egg. But this just felt different, Charlie gave up fairly easily, his once jelly body couldn’t handle such intense emotions for so long and yet Quackity showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. He was currently circling around the wall, wings flapping violently as he dropped TNT after TNT into what was once his and Mariana’s little home.

“¡Vete a la mierda Quackity!”

Speaking of his loving wife, a bright yellow blur jumped down seemingly from the top of the wall directly on top of Quackity. The pair collided instantly, though it was hard to make out from a distance, Charlie could spot his wife from anywhere. And right now, he was currently attempting to beat the shit out of a duck hybrid who is loaded with explosives and mines.

Holy shit he needed to rescue his wife.

And possibly figure out where the fuck his kid and niece were as well.

Turning around quickly he faced Halo and Foolish, directing them both to look for Tilin while he goes to help Mariana. Halo nods once and is off back into the forest, whereas Foolish refuses and instead grabs Slime’s arm and starts heading straight towards the chaos.

“You’re mortal now dumbass, I’m not leaving you to fend for yourself!”

The pair ran together towards the fight, avoiding the falling mines and massive craters left from Quackity’s destruction. The closer they got to the fight; the more people seemed to appear. Philza had taken flight and looked to be attempting to pry Mariana off Quackity with little success, while Missa was yelling from the wall.  

And yet throughout it all, Charlie’s eyes would not leave Mariana’s fighting figure, he looked almost as furious as Quackity himself. But it would not last long, Philza had finally got his grip on Mariana and managed to separate the pair.

However, one thing led to another, Quackity’s wings collided with Philza’s hands swatting them away, the pair locking into a fight of their own.

Charlie watched as his wife fell.

“Mariana!”

He practically screamed in pure terror, voice shattering through all the chaos and destruction as he ran towards his falling partner. He knew he didn’t have much time left, he had to act fast or risk watching his wife die in front of him.

And that was just not an option.

Moving faster than he’s ever been before, Charlie thanked the Gods that there was a nearby lake. He just needed to open it up more for Mariana to safely fall in. He slid down to his knees, shifting the dirt and digging dip, ignoring the bleeding of his fingertips as he continued to shovel the ground. Rapid footsteps made their ways towards him, Charlie was too focused to notice before he was shoved violently back.

“Do it, Bobby!”

Jaiden’s triumphant voice broke through his mind, Bobby had set up bombs around the lake and immediately set them off at his mother’s call. The water quickly flooded up the new open space, almost doubling in size with the help of Roier’s water bucket, levelling out the lake.

Mariana landed almost immediately after.

He was safe.

Charlie moved to the edge of the lake, not thinking as he quickly dived in after his partner, all he could think about was making sure he was okay. He followed the trail of bubbles that surrounded Mariana, using all his strength he wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist and began swimming towards the surface.

Together they both broke to the surface, Charlie’s arms still wrapped tightly around Mariana as they stared at each other, both gasping for oxygen.

“Mariana what the fuck were you thinking!?”

“¿A mí? Te escapaste, ¿qué pasó con la familia que se quedó junta?”

“I was looking after the family, cabrón!”

“Where? ¡No es conmigo!”

“Can’t you be thankful that I fucking saved you!?”

“Motherfucker, luché solo!”

Their faces were only inches apart, the push of the water tugging them together throughout the argument. Charlie found himself momentarily lost in his wife’s eyes, like a moth to a flame he couldn’t help but be drawn in closer. It was moments like these that reminded the former God of why he loved Mariana in the first place, it was the passion, the fury, the addictiveness that was delicious to him.

Oh, how he loved this man.

If Charlie was still slime, there was no doubt that he would’ve melted.

Mariana was safe now and that’s what was important.

Suddenly, struck by the sudden thought of their daughter, Charlie opened his mouth to ask on Flippa’s whereabouts.

“YOU!”

He never got a chance to.

A blur of black feathers hurled towards him at lightning speed, talons latching onto his shoulders as Charlie felt himself get lifted out of the water and into the sky. Everything was a blur; he could feel the wind rushing past him, his body being swung around like a ragdoll.

Quackity had him at his mercy.

The man was ferocious, screeching and howling at him as his talons continued shredding into his shoulder blades, blood trickling down from the wounds. Just when he thought the torment was over, Quackity threw him against the great wall, before pinning him into place with his iron sword through his shoulder. Distantly, Charlie could hear the yells of others from below, looking down he saw some of them huddled by the base of the wall; some even attempting to climb the vines to reach them.

The sword in his shoulder was dug further into him before being pulled out torturously slow. His body was dragged up along the concrete wall, where he was then thrown into the remains of his old home. Quackity’s body was shrouded in smoke as he landed in front of him, clutching at his bloodied sword; eyes reflecting the burning surrounding.

It felt like he was looking at Satan all over again.

It except this time, Charlie might not survive this encounter.

He tried to open his mouth to speak, but any words he tried to say were swallowed once Quackity plunged his weapon into Charlie’s chest.

This was really it for him.

He’ll never get to see Juanaflippa again, never get find out if his niece was ever found, never get to be the parent he wanted to be.

It was an odd feeling to die, he expected the pain and grief to swallow him whole or at the very least watch his life flash before his eyes. And yet, none of that happened, instead it was just silence, the only sounds being his ragged gasping.

All he could taste was his own blood, feeling it slowly drip down from his mouth.

Quackity looked horrified.

Almost as if his actions came down crashing down on him, Charlie knew that feeling very well.

He didn’t blame him of course. When Juanaflippa died, Charlie had felt a part of him died with her; his first instinct was to kill everyone. He let himself be swallowed in his grief and he lost sight of everything around him. It was almost poetic how he dies at the hands of someone so much like him, someone who was only grieving the loss of their child.

If this was his punishment then so be it, he didn’t deserve a long life anyway. He enjoyed what little time he had with his family, the only regret being that he never got to see his daughter and say goodbye. He never got to kiss Mariana’s lips for a final time, already he missed that man.

He’ll miss them all.

Charlie could feel his conscious start to drift away, his eyelids drooping ever so slowly. He watched as Quackity dropped to his knees in front of him, sobs racking his body violently. It really was like looking into a mirror, just two grieving fathers trying to do right by their child, trying to do their best despite what everyone else may say.

With his final breathe, Charlie rasped out his final words towards his close friend.

Something he wished someone told him. 

“You are a good father.” 

Chapter Text

When Slimecicle was first born he remembered being bored.

Everything was dirt.

Wet dirt, course dirt, dry dirt, everything was dirt and dirt was everything. This would be his life for hundreds of years. Until a bright light would find him in the soil and change everything, she called herself ‘Mother’, a being made of unknown power. She loved him for some reason, carrying him with her as she wandered the empty plains of the relatively new ‘Earth’ as she called it. Together the two of them watched the creation of Earth, watched the dinosaurs, the new civilisations, and the falling of empires. They watched it all together and that would be his life for a hundred more years.

When Slime could first talk it was to ask Mother about the world. He was curious, all he knew was the dirt and now he was being shown things that were much bigger than the dirt. These new things never scared him, but rather intrigued him; he never knew life could be so much more than the dirt. Though, he would eventually learn that everything would return to the dirt once again, Mother would always remind him that dirt was very important to her creations, it was where things started and ended, she would say.

When Slimecicle first felt emotion, he was crying to Mother. He was watching over a little village; one Mother had gifted him to care for. He became their God and was cherished by all, yet for some reason he would feel tiny knives stabbing him whenever he watched the village kids. He wasn’t allowed to play with them, they viewed him so noble and above all that no one ever went too near him in fear of his wraith. Slime was never angry; he didn’t even know what that was. So, he ran to Mother, liquid pouring out of his gooey eyes as he asked her why he felt so much pain.

She told him it meant he was lonely.

And that saddened Mother more than anything.

She began telling him a story of a lonely Goddess who was looked down upon by the other Gods, her family. Each member had their own gifts, and she was the only one who could create, who could feel, and who was the only one that grew attached to her own creations. She would plead and cry for her siblings to stop killing the things she made but they never listened, no one ever listened to her. 

No matter how many things she created, she would always feel lonely, for not even her own creations listened to her.

But one day things changed, she had found a hidden creature in one of her planets left untouched from her sibling’s destruction. They were small and tiny, but she could tell that this small being had been hidden away for many years.

When she reached out towards her creation, she suddenly felt a sense of joy! This was one of her first creations, a small slime with a green ectoplasmic body and two beautiful green eyes that held all the curiosity of the world. He was the only one of his kind and thus the once lonely Goddess soon found herself a child to take care of. She would teach him everything she knew and show him all in which the world had to offer, the highs and the lows.

Except she taught him too well, the two had become so alike that it didn’t take long for her little son to want what she wanted. He wanted to play with the mortals, eat like the mortals and soon she feared that she would lose her little creation all together.

Slime remembered watching Mother cry rivers as she told him this tale, and understanding washed over him as he realised that this was about him. He was the son that wanted more, and she was the mother who couldn’t give it to him.

Slimecicle remembers when he left his mother. He was tired of feeling lonely all the time and he didn’t feel like himself anymore; he cried lots to his mother. It was all becoming too much for his little body, every day was painful, and the loneliness was swallowing him whole.

He wanted to go back to the dirt.

And so, he begged his mother to send him back, to become what he once was instead of what he is now. Mother listened to his words and granted him his wish, she gently picked up her child for the last time and kissed his little face, granting him Godhood as he was once again returned to the dirt. Hundreds of more years would pass again without his mother and yet he was not alone, for he would find other slime creatures living in the dirt with him; Mother’s final parting gift to him. They would teach him how to be a slime and become the family that Slime desperately craved.

More years would pass until Slime later learns to shapeshift, changing his form into something more humanoid to finally interact with the creatures he’s been watching over.

He latched onto a human; Quackity from Las Nevadas had become his first friend. He taught him all there was to know about humans and their ways. He learned all the rules and got to meet so many different kinds of humans.

He even met another God, Foolish from long time ago, he remembered watching over him when he first went into exile.

He watched everything.

Slime remembers when he first became Charlie. His best friend had named him, given him a purpose and tried to save him when he died. In more ways than one, Quackity from Las Nevadas reminded him of his mother, they both raised him in some way. And yet in some way, Slime had betrayed them both, leaving them both to journey to a new world. Always going back to the dirt, just like he was taught.

Except there would be no dirt for him this time, no more waking up in the comfort of the soil; this was it for him.

Dying at the hands of his once best-friend and possibly closest father figure he’s ever had, all because he was a fool.

A sweet melody filled his slowly dying mind, taking him away once and for all as he felt his body finally succumb to his own demise. Everything was turning dark, soon there would be nothing left of him, and he will finally become one with the earth again.

“Hello again, my little son.”

A gentle voice washed over him, causing him to open his eyes and grin widely, his mother had arrived to see him off. Together floating in the void; she was just as he remembered her, a being made of pure light. With her large crystal wings that reflected the many worlds she’s created and pure white eyes that have seen the birth and death of a thousand stars.

Her form towered over his, cupping him gently in her palms as she brought him closer to her face. Instinctively, Charlie kissed her cheek in greeting, enjoying the chuckle she let out; he missed this, missed his mother’s love. She brought him closer and repaid the kiss by gently pecking the top of his head, a gesture she had done so many times before.

“You’ve certainly been on a long journey, haven’t you?”

Slime felt himself nodding to her words, not yet ready to speak for he still felt raw from his sudden death, he felt too exposed and yet in his mother’s hold he could not help but feel safe. Her warmth soothed every part of his aching body, her love was so strong it was like floating on Cloud 9.

This was what his life used to be, just sitting in the void with his mother as they watched the world go by.

“My small child, how you grieve pains me, what can I do for you?”

“I’m not your son anymore, I’m no God.”

“But you are still my child, let me help you.”

Charlie shook his head, his tears landing on his mother’s hand, there was nothing she could do for him. There was nothing else for him in that world anymore, it was all hopeless in the end despite all his best efforts. He’ll never get to see Juanaflippa again or his wife, he died and that was it, no more second chances for him.

“There’s nothing you can do, I ruined it.”

“I will burn the whole world for you my son, do not doubt my power.”

“Why? What worth am I if I keep failing everyone?”

“You did not fail me.”

“Then you are liar.”

Suddenly, Slime was whipped around the dark void with Mother holding him he tightly against her chest. She was moving fast through the empty abyss seemingly searching for something, before eventually stopping in front of what looked to be a large screen.

“I have seen many things my son and I’ve yet to see you fail me.”

She gestured grandly to the screen with one hand, the other slowly raising Charlie closer to the large projection. It flickered to life, showcasing an empty world.

“I have seen your mistakes.”

The screen flashed changing the scene to one of Slimecicle playing with the other Gods when he was younger. They were learning how to create a world together, but one of the God’s had created killer cows that followed you everywhere, another had created a dangerous sickle, whereas Slime himself made crafting a nightmare. Together all four of them had created an unlivable world that ended with them all being sent to timeout and never seeing their world again.

“I have seen your struggles.”

Once again, the screen zoomed past memories, this time stopping at the time he met the God of Luck. A purple cloaked individual who used a die to decide his and his friend’s fate; all of them trying to survive different disasters. Slime remembered this vividly, he remembers falling from great heights and watching as each of his friends struggled to breath after their house was flooded one multiple occasions. Sometimes he still got nightmares about the turtles that were set on fire. 

“I have seen your regrets.”

This time the screen froze, stuck on an image that tore Slimecicle apart.

It was of Tilin’s grave.

Him, Roier, Bobby and Juanaflippa all gathered around it as Slime made his last promise to his daughter forever.

“But I have never seen you fail.”

“I killed Tilin.”

“You brought them back.”

Slime whipped his head back to his mother.

“What?”

“She is reunited with her father as we speak, my dear child.”

“Can I see?”

Mother nodded in acceptance and waved her hand, the screen automatically speeding through the time before finally stopping. It showed Quackity sobbing hysterically over Slime’s still body, but suddenly he turned around after hearing a noise.

The sound of tiny footsteps.

Tilin bounded through the large entrance of the cave, looking to have run up the steps with her red ribbon still secure as if nothing happened. They ran straight to their father’s awaiting arms as the two cuddled close together. Quackity was mouthing the words ‘my son, my son’ over and over like a prayer. It didn’t long then for the rest of the server to arrive at the scene with all of them having followed after Tilin.

Everyone was at least somewhat injured with Philza having the worst ones, considering he went up against a raging duck hybrid.

Slime watched everyone’s reaction, they all seemed to be in different states of shock and horror. But nothing could have prepared him for his wife. He pushed through the crowd, completely ignoring the reunion of Tilin and his father as he collapsed next to Slime’s corpse.

“Mi amor?”

His voice was but a silent whisper, hands reaching out towards Charlie’s bloodied face as he cradled him to his chest. His blood curdling scream echoed around the cave, cutting through all the chatter and whispers from the others. Mariana was losing his mind and Slime couldn’t do anything to help him.

Then Juanaflippa pushed through the crowd.

And suddenly it got worse.

Like her mother, she immediately ran straight towards her other parent. Except this time, she tried to desperately wriggle underneath Slime’s limp arm, almost like she was trying to seek comfort from him one more time.

“No.” Charlie whispered as he reached towards the screen, attempting to reach his own family despite knowing its useless.

His family was grieving for him.

“You motherfucker!”

“Aye Mariana-”

“Volaste mi casa, y mataste a mi amor maldito bastardo!”

Mariana gently put down his husband’s body, standing up and turning his full attention onto Quackity who still had Tilin in his arms. He moved to come closer to the duo, only to be stopped by Roier attempting to hold him back.

“Felicidades por tener todo lo que querías!”

He screamed, struggling in Roier’s arms as he attempted to swing at Quackity.

It was an uproar.

People were moving, getting in between both the families as they tried to calm Mariana down.

“Grief is such a poisonous thing, look at how it spreads little one.” Mother pointed towards another figure on the screen, it was Foolish and he looked angry. His hands were twitching by his side with little sparks crackling between his fingers. His breathing was laboured, eyes focusing on the one dead corpse in the room.

And then it was his turn to snap.

“I can’t fucking believe you Quackity!”

And the room erupted once more into chaos with everyone yelling and screaming, seemingly divided on what Quackity had done.

“This isn’t what I wanted.”

“Well fuck me, what was it huh!? Was it for your son to see her father become a murder?!”

“Don’t talk about my son!”

“I’ll do what I want!”

Thunder started crackling outside the cave, Quackity flared up his wings in challenge, Mariana stood in front of his daughter and husband ready to attack. Both Jaiden and Fit had drawn their swords the moment Mariana started yelling, while Philza and Missa were both by the cave entrance looking ready to leave the moment things go south.   

Charlie could feel himself start to panic a little, the tension was slowly starting to rise with every passing second and he soon feared that there might be another death. The egg children certainly all looked panicked based upon all their shaking and rapid movements near their guardians.

Foolish moved straight in front of Quackity, ignoring all the warning yells and even threatening chirps that escaped the bird hybrid.

But once again Mariana’s powerful voice cut through.

“Mi amor, ¿¡qué te está pasando!?”

Slime watched his body on screen as his skin started turning paler; usually when someone dies it’s instant. Particularly with Slime’s body as it’s known across the island that he’s a hybrid and thus harder to kill then most. His liquid body gave him an advantage and whatever injury he sustained would he healed in mere moments.

But not this time.

Charlie had to watch as more blood starting pooling from underneath his body, he had to watch as Mariana desperately tried to save him, and he had to watch as his daughter frantically shake him like she was trying to wake him up.

It was a horrifying thing to watch yourself die, the only bright side being that he couldn’t feel the pain and yet it still hurt watching his family suffer because of him. Suddenly, the screen switched off as his mother carefully turned him away from the rest of the viewing.

“My son, your turmoil is festering inside of you, tell me what you need.”

“I just want them to be happy, even if it’s without me, I don’t care!”

“They are happy with you.”

“Well, too fucking bad cause I’m dead, my body is literally dying as we speak!”

“I thought I told you not to doubt me, little one. My power has no limits, not even against a certain deal that was struck.”

Slimecicle looked at his mother with wide eyes, jumping up in her palm as her words registered in his mind. If his mother could truly reverse the deal, then there’s a chance he could come back and finally fulfill his promise to Juanaflippa.

“How?”

“I shall talk with my siblings, though I doubt it will be a complex issue.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means little one that as long as your family loves you very much, you will have no problem going back home.”

She once again brough him closer to her face, placing a gentle kiss atop his head filled with all the love of the world.

“I love you my little Slime.”

“I love you too, Mother.”

Chapter Text

If someone had told Slime that he was about to attend a meeting with the God of Death and his mother, he would have gotten Juanaflippa to shoot them point blank. And yet here he was, still cupped in his mother’s hands as they travelled through worlds in hopes of finding her brother, The God of Death. Mother had told him the tales of her family’s disputes; worlds would end up destroyed and nothing ever got settled. Apparently, her brother was more focused on maintaining order and more often than not ended up fixing whatever his mother created.

It was certainly an interesting family, they didn’t have any parents and only had to rely on each other for help and keeping balance between worlds. According to mother, she found herself fighting with the Death God the most, he was the oldest after all and she was the youngest.

They were made to battle each other at every turn and Charlie had a feeling that this meeting would be no different.

He could only hope that his mother would contain her taunting for his sake.

“My dear brother, where are you?” Mother’s voice echoed around the void as she glided through the different universes, eventually stopping at one that had caught her eye. It was a screen shrouded in smoke with small wisps of fire tracing the edges of the portal, it looked almost to be melting the void itself considering the heat that was emanating from it. Mother let out a small noise of interest, she carefully looked over Charlie once more before entering the screen, casting a small shield of light around them to protect from the heat.

Now, Slime had never been in hell before, but if he had than this place would definitely be it. Firstly, there was no ground, only lava, which is probably due to the random lavafalls that were scattered around. Secondly, the red mountains and terrains all around were covered in weird mushrooms with strange demonic creatures that walked across the plains. It was all unsettling for Charlie who was silently grateful he wasn’t in hybrid form, for somehow the oppressive heat of the environment managed to penetrate his mother’s shield and she was a God.

It was all starting to worry him.

As they passed through the brimstone hills and floating islands, Mother eventually stopped at what appeared to be a castle made of netherite. Grand in its appearance with skulls decorating the ground and blood red stained windows that revealed nothing of what’s inside. The aura alone of the towering castle appeared to keep away all the creatures, even making Mother herself pause, before placing Charlie on her shoulder as if she wanted to keep her hands free in case anything should happen.

Mother gently floated down in front of the palace, placing herself in front of the entrance as she waited. It didn’t take long for the drawbridge to open and soon stepped out the God of Death himself.

He was terrifying.

The complete opposite of Slime’s mother, unlike she who was made of light, he was pure darkness; body made of the empty void and the shadows that linger at night. Both shared pure white eyes, but his had no warmth, rather a certain coldness that almost drains away your soul. The most intimidating feature of this man was his horns, coated in the souls of his victims as it stretched to the skies. They curled and twisted into each other like tree branches strangling themselves. Mother once told him that his branches represent the end of each life, hence why the horns always grow, he feeds of the dead and thus nurtures his own.

The siblings bowed to each other a common courtesy, “My brother, I have come for a favour.” Mother spoke as she straightened herself, looking towards her brother with a small smile on her face. Slime wished he had the same strength as her, for he was currently shitting himself just staring at the other God, he didn’t know if he was sweating cause of the heat or cause of the man in front of him.

Probably a mixture of both.

“I imagine this is about the deal struck between our sons?”

“Indeed.”

“Very well, come Rubius!”

With a snap of his fingers, the Deathly God summoned his child as they all watched a large flame burst from his fingers before the arrival of the one and only. 

Satan.

Charlie stared aghast at who was before him, if he wasn’t so intimidated of possibly being incinerated, he would laugh.

Fuck it.

“Holy fucking shit your name is Rubius?”

“¿Qué es tan gracioso, pequeño sacrificio?”

“I can’t believe I sacrificed myself to someone called Rubius!”

He wheezed, one hand clutching at his stomach while the other was holding onto his mother’s neck for balance. Slime ignored the piercing glare he could feel from both the God of Death and his son and continued cackling wildly. Tears were in the corners of his eyes as he struggled to compose himself from the absurdity.

“It’s good to see you laugh again my child.”

“At my son?”

“It’s merely a jest, let kids be kids.”

“Then perhaps I should let your kid deal with the consequences of his actions, rather than let him live again.”

“You are no fun; Slime please behave for me.”

 At his mother’s words, Charlie wiped away the rest of his tears and began taking deep breathes to slow down his laughing fit. It probably was in his best interest to not piss off the person that could resurrect him, though he had a strong feeling he failed that task.

Rubius or Satan was still glaring at him from where he floated next to his father, teeth bared and a low growl emitting from him. Slime took a closer step towards his own mother, tucking himself into her neck in an attempt to hide himself.

“He has not yet finished his journey yet; all I ask is that he may be returned to his world again.”

“His body is gone, there is nothing left of him there.”

“There is always something.”

“I disagree.”

The God of Death took a step forward, his horns creaking as they spread themselves out.

“Your son made a deal.”

He moved closer.

“He died.”

His pure white eyes glowed.

“I will not use my powers, because your son failed.”

“Then so be it.”

Quick as a flash, Mother spread her shining wings and took flight but not before aiming an attack towards her brother’s face. Charlie watched as her hand made contact with her brother’s left eye before lighting it up.

One moment the Death God had a face.

Then half his face was missing.

His resounding wail echoed throughout hell, shortly followed by the yelling of Satan as they both attempted to shoot down Mother and him. Thankfully, she had already taken flight the moment she fired and was now maneuvering through the lava falls once again. And as she reached for the portal out of her brother’s world, she was soon violently yanked by her foot and was slammed into the ground below her.

Slime felt himself floating before being grabbed by his mother and tucked into her chest as she summoned a shield last second to protect themselves from the impact.

“You always were so fucking naïve!”

There stood the Deathly God with his half-melted face and furious son staring them down from atop a nether hill, face slowly healing itself back up.

Mother growled in frustration as she stood up once again, “Am I to be blamed for wanting to look after my son!?” Her voice was filled with unbridled emotion, almost as if she’s had this argument before many times before. Her heaving breath and shaking hands as she stood her ground against her brother, “Am I at fault for wanting him to be happy!?”

“You can’t protect him from everything!”

“It is my duty to do so!”

“And what is my duty-”

Their voices were soon overlapping the other, fighting for dominance in an argument that soon lost all meaning. It was at this moment that Charlie understood something.

This family was broken, broken just like his own family. His mother just wanted to protect him, and her brother just wanted to teach her lesson. The Death God didn’t actually care about him, but maybe more so about how his little sister kept getting away with things. For at least a second, it looked like Death would’ve actually granted Mother’s favour, things only soured cause of his reaction towards Rubius’ name.

Oh. 

“Lo lamento!” He shouted towards the younger demon, stumbling over his words as he tried to explain himself. Out of everyone here, Slime knew the importance of being given a name, especially if it’s given by someone you loved. “I didn’t mean to be rude honest! Fue un error, I’ll own up to it and I’m sorry.”

Charlie bowed his head, still balancing on his mother’s shoulder.

Silence filled the air, it seemed he took everyone back by surprise. With his head still lowered, he couldn’t make out the words being whispered over him, but he could tell it was a quick conversation in rapid Spanish. He only lifted his head when he felt a presence over him, looking up he froze.

The God of Death had moved closer, face revealing nothing as he stretched out his hand towards Slime. Mother went to intercept but something must have caught her eye as she too stood still and watched instead.

Charlie slowly stepped into Death’s hand, sitting down hesitantly as he was brought up to the man’s face where Satan was also perched atop his shoulder.

“Names hold power little slime, to mock one is an insult of itself. If you were not the child of my sister, I would’ve had you tortured for the rest of your existence.”

“I really am sorry.”

“So, it appears Slime.”

A low sigh escaped the giant God, his blank eyes had yet to leave Slime’s, the God was sizing him up for something and he didn’t know what. More hushed whispers between the father and his son before some sort of decision was made.

“I have a question for you Slime, why did you make the deal with my son?”

“I made a grave mistake, I tried to protect something for once in my life and I ended up killing them instead.”

“What would you do if I brought you back to your world? Would you not run away again?”

“I already tried that and clearly it didn’t solve anything, I brought back my niece and yet my wife and child still suffer because of me. I just want their suffering to end, I can’t be another reason for someone else to be in pain!”

Charlie clutched at his chest as tears started flowing from his eyes, his breath raggedly as the images of his family grieving his death filled his mind. He’d truly never seen them look so miserable before and the last thing he heard was his wife screaming out his name in panic. He could almost still feel the blood gurgling in his throat, choking him and stealing away his last breath.

Suddenly he felt a small peck atop his head, looking behind him, he smiled as his mother looked down upon him. Slime watched as she whispered something to her brother, before lowering herself and making her eye-to-eye with him.

“I shall see you again my little son, remember to not let your grief swallow you but instead let it guide you.” She bid farewell to him, gently stroking his face as she gave him one last time. Mother then turned away from him and took flight back into the portal to the empty void. “Wait-”

Charlie whipped around back towards the God of death, “Does that mean what I think it means?” he asked hopefully, joy filling up his body.

“Indeed, however like most things it comes with consequences.”

“Anything, I’ll do anything!”

“No one will remember you little Slime.”

That made him pause.

“What does that mean?”

“It will be the same world; however, life will be different, as you would’ve never existed and must start fresh once again.”

It was a second chance.

A completely clean slate.

This is exactly what he wanted, it was the perfect opportunity to finally create the family he always wanted and create the family that Juanaflippa deserved. But, at the same time who’s to say that it will end that way, what would it even look like if he’d never adopted Juanaflippa with Marianna?

Who’s to say things would even get better, knowing him, he’d probably fuck it up again and end up in a world that didn’t even care for him. But he saw the devastation in his wife’s eyes when he passed away, so surely that meant that there was at least some connection there. And Flippa looked absolutely traumatised after having to watch him die, so therefore he must’ve done something right for her to still care for him.

He was loved, wasn’t he?

“Oye idiota, ¿recuerdas lo que dije?”

Satan had floated down from his father’s shoulder and brought himself in front of the conflicted slime. His piercing eyes snapped Charlie from his turmoil and directed his attention to the prince of hell.

“Sorry, I’m not sure-”

“Fuiste un buen padre.”

The demon poked Charlie in his chest, directly over his heart and glared at him with a hidden meaning behind his eyes.

“Eres un buen padre.”

He kept poking Slime in the chest more insistently, almost trying to force his words into his heart. Charlie looked at him confused, before he felt a sudden blinding light behind him, feeling a slight tug from his stomach.

It was the portal.

The portal back home.

To a world that doesn’t remember him.

Slime turned back towards the father and son duo, he felt like he should say something to them, like a final goodbye or a thanks for all that they’ve done for him and his mother. There were too many emotions swirling inside him to even figure out how to express what he wanted towards his new saviours.

He could feel the tugging from the portal, practically begging him to hurry up and enter. He opened his mouth attempting to force the words out.

“I just wanna say-”

He never got to finish his sentence, Rubius with a mischievous grin shoved the man through the portal. Charlie let out a yelp of surprise before he was swallowed by the vortex and thus taken back to his own world.

“Buena suerte, dios del limo.”

Chapter Text

Slime’s whole body ached.

Turns out being pushed through a portal hurt a lot more than one would think, all the tossing and turning as he was violently thrown into his new world. The Death God’s words echoed throughout his mind, no one knows who he is anymore. He was almost curious to see how the world changed without him.

A loud groan escaped his mouth as he heaved his body upright from faceplanting into the sand, it appeared he had landed back where he made his sacrifice; body tingling as he remembered that fateful night.

At least he knew where to go, his old house wasn’t too far from the desert, and he could also check Tilin’s grave just to make sure that everything was okay. With a plan in mind, Charlie determinedly started off on his journey, silently glad that it was night-time so as to not get spotted by the others.

“What the fuck?”

Not even a few steps into his trek, Slime had frozen in disbelief.

Since when had the creatures looked like that?

Zombies were suddenly towering in size, he spotted another on a horse, some were even sprinting at full speed! Things were definitely different in this world, but he hadn’t expected the changes to effect to the other mobs as well. Throughout his walk, he spotted more and more bizarre sightings of horrific creatures wandering the same plains as he was.

Something latched onto his ankle and looking down, he let out a yelp at the sight of a small red zombie-like creature that appeared to be gnawing at his ankle.

Or at least attempting to.

For Slimecicle’s ankle soon dissolved into a familiar gooey material, causing the small mob to struggle as it tried to get the slime out of its mouth, further entangling it. With a grin, Charlie used his ability to capture the mob, wrapping it around his goop and watching in small glee as it disintegrated into his body. Oh, how he loved being a slime.

He silently thanked both the Gods for returning him back to his hybrid form, no doubt they knew that he needed it to survive the sudden new and violent world. It also gave him an idea, he couldn’t possibly return as his current form, the risk would be too high for someone to recognise him as familiar. Regardless of if it was a new world, Foolish would definitely know who he was, and that could ruin his whole plan of starting over. He just couldn’t risk it.

Habit made him look around the deserted area for any signs of his friends before allowing himself to sink into the sand. It was much cooler underground; it’s been so long since he’s buried himself that he almost forgot about the comforting feeling of returning to the ground. He allowed himself one more moment of satisfaction before reforming himself.

He remembered distantly in a past world where he once utilised his full slime form, thanks to the help of an old friend from Las Nevadas; he wanted to be that version of himself, one that was so curious and naive about the world. He reformed his old overalls, dark green to match his gooey complexion and long white sleeved top that mixed into his skin. And just in case, he also formed a small green scarf that sat snugly around his neck as well as his familiar glass that rested on his face.

And yet, as he looked down at his hands watching as they slowly dripped into the sand, he couldn’t help but feel that this wasn’t right. Slime couldn’t be that person he was anymore, and no pretending could ever change that.

He felt wrong in his own body, like no matter what form he took, it wouldn’t matter and maybe it didn’t. No one would care anyway, no one knew he even existed anymore, there’s no point in trying to impress anyone.

In fact, he probably didn’t even need a new form anyway.

Mind made up, Charlie succumbed to the sand once more, before popping back up in his true form.

The simple form of a slime.

It was perfect.

With his original form, Slime was slightly bigger than usual and could hop around much faster than that of a regular person. Sludging through the sand was much easier than walking and no mobs bothered him for they thought he was one of them. It didn’t stop him from feeling terrified at the sight of floating eyes or the withering skeletons, but it helped a little.

Still, it was strange to see such dangerous creatures wandering around, this couldn’t be good for the eggs or anyone else for that matter.

As he drifted along, he finally reached the ends of the forest, a thankful break from the sand that stuck to his body. As he followed the familiar path to the grave, he couldn’t help but notice that there appeared to be even more mobs wandering around. Slime turned around quickly at the sound of a hissing noise and watched in horror as a creeper appeared to be glowing brightly as it blew up near him; fighting a skeleton that had shot it and taking them both out.

Now he was really concerned, he didn’t remember the mobs being this aggressive before and he certainly didn’t remember the creepers glowing. He started picking up his pace, hopping over whatever was in his way to reach the grave.

And when he finally did reach it, there was nothing.

No large bow, no grave, nothing.

Relief flooded his body, of course he knew logically Tilin wouldn’t be dead in this world, but he needed that visual confirmation to be sure.

With a small nod to himself, Charlie began his trek to his home and was slightly thankful that there appeared to be no smoke trail leading to it. In fact, when he got there, it was a similar situation to the grave, nothing was there. Or more actually, his home wasn’t there.

For some reason it hadn’t occurred to the slime that his home simply wouldn’t exist anymore, there was no tree entangling itself into his hole in the wall or even the large gap in general where he lived. He could see Jaiden’s stairs and Wilbur’s little ramps into his part of the wall, even Philza’s little house atop the wall but that was it.

For some reason it hurt to look at, to look at what once was.  

Moving out of the forest, Slime tried to look around for where possibly Marianna and Flippa moved to. Further down the side of the wall, he noticed a little dirt and wooden house built not too far away. Quick as he could, he bounced towards it while being mindfully of all the new creatures walking around as well.

He didn’t want to accidentally fight one and alerting the others of his presence. Which was another thing he had to worry about, when someone died it triggered their communicators to tell everyone, it was a protocol used to keep track of the eggs and everyone else.

Slimecicle himself didn’t have one, he threw it in the water after Tilin’s death so that no one could track him. But he was starting to regret that decision now, as he couldn’t track his partner to figure out where he was.

Though if he died would the others be alerted?

He technically wasn’t a mob, but at the same time he didn’t exist. Either way he didn’t want to find out the answers, if he got caught now, it was guaranteed that everyone would try and locate him, and he didn’t need that kind of attention right now.

He needed to focus on that small house that he was steadily heading towards, noticing that there appeared to be multiple signs scattered around it. As he jumped in the lake to reach the dwelling, he temporarily enjoyed the feeling of the water absorbing into his slimy body, rejuvenating him.

Charlie noticed all the signs placed around the house and moved closer, reading over each message carefully to gather information.

“I hope I can be like you one day to protect the people I love.” He mumbled to himself, studying the sign carefully, it definitely wasn’t Flippa’s writing but it made him curious as to who it belonged to. Looking over, he stared at the wooden door, noticing that it had another sign about it with the words etched into it, “El casa de Tallullah.”

Yup, he was going to go see who lived here.

Shrinking down into his smaller and goopier form, Slime slid underneath the door and was met with disappointment. It appeared that whoever was here had travelled somewhere else, so with a sigh he gathered himself up and returned to his original size. However, a photo caught his eye in the corner of the room. It appeared to be an image of Quackity, Tilin, Wilbur and an egg with a beanie all huddled together with Chayanne jumping in the background.

Philza must’ve taken the photo and that would make Tallullah the mysterious new egg.

A lot of things have definitely changed compared to his old world, but at least Quackity looked happy and Tilin was back with their father. It warmed Slime to know that Quackity would never feel the pain of losing his child; never succumbing to the grief that would swallow him whole and leave nothing behind.

He didn’t deserve it.

After one final look around the room, Charlie decided to leave and continue his search for his family, however before he could leave, the sound of footsteps reached him.

“C’mon darling, it’s time to sleep, okay? Say goodbye to Abulito and Chayanne.”

“See ya Will, bye little Tallullah!”

The voices got closer towards the door, Slime’s time was running out and without thinking he shrunk down and hid underneath the bed. No sooner did the door open to reveal the owners of the house, Wilbur and his daughter, Tallulah.

Charlie tucked himself further underneath the bed, before eventually sinking down into the dirt and making plans to quietly return back to the forest. As he sunk into the dirt, voices faded out, and he quietly resurfaced outside of the house to begin making his way towards the lake once more.

Now, the unfortunate thing about slimes was that they made lots of noises when moving around and Slimecicle wasn’t immune to this unlucky downside. He also physically couldn’t sink into the water to cover said sounds as he was naturally buoyant. Now with the water having previously soaked into his body from the last swim and the water now currently being absorbed, it was safe to say that Slime was slightly bigger and slightly louder.

A very unfortunate combination for him.

As he moved out of the water, reforming his body slightly to manage the new water, he didn’t hear the quiet gasp and hushed whisper of “Chayanne!” coming from the distance. Instead, he continued his way towards the forest, bouncing with speed to get there before daybreak. Too focused on trying to find his own family, he failed to recognise that he was being followed closely by another different family.

It was only when he felt a rope wrap around his gooey body did, he realise what happened. Charlie turned around and panicked when he was met with both Philza and Chayanne, the most protected and stacked family in the server.

His non-existent blood froze, and he quickly began hopping away in fear, those two could probably kill him in an instant; he’d already died from Philza’s blade once and didn’t want a repeat.

He could feel Chayanne tugging on the leash to get him to come back, but Slime persisted in his movement, feeling the rope stretch between the two.

The leash broke.

Slime made a run for it, squelching noises giving away his position as he maneuvered through the trees at a rapid pace. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the only hybrid that existed on the island and picked up his speed when he heard the sounds of wings fluttering in the distance.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Get back here!”

Charlie didn’t know where to go, the desert would only reveal him more and he couldn’t keep hiding in the forest, it wouldn’t take long for Phil to catch up to him.

There was only one option left, the dirt. Slime stopped abruptly, letting his form melt into the ground beneath him.

Then another leash wrapped around him, tugging him back upwards and preventing him from fully sinking. He struggled and thrashed around, attempting to break another leash when another one soon latched onto his body. Both Philza and Chayanne were pulling him back up towards the surface and preventing him from escape.

And because Charlie was still human, his stamina was gradually running out from all the movement and pulling.

Fighting them was certainly off the table, he couldn’t bring himself to even pretend to threaten them, they were still his friends and Phil did try and save his wife after all.

And he’d rather melt in lava than even think about hurting another egg.

“Holy shit, he’s massive! How do we even get him home?”

Well, that was rude. Slime tried to wiggle around but soon discovered that somehow more leashes had been attached around his body, almost trapping him in place. He tried to focus, zoning in on the feeling of becoming mush to try and slip out of the ropes. If he could just liquefy himself a bit more, he could escape.

“Feed him? I don’t think-”

Just as Slime was about to wriggle out, he felt something solid get thrown into his body.

He paused his wiggling, allowing the item to dissolve inside of him.

Holy shit.

It was avocado toast.

He slowly turned to face the smaller egg.

“Oh. My. God.”

Chayanne broke the leashes, placing another piece of toast slightly in front of Charlie before moving slightly back.

He stared at the toast for a moment, on one hand he was free and could make a break for it, but on the other hand he was really hungry. And that avocado toast just looked so delicious, surely, he could just nibble on it a little. He slowly moved forward, jumping over towards the toast, and swallowing it whole in his body.

Another toast soon appeared in front of him and just like before he jumped on top of it and wriggled happily as he ingested it once more.

Philza then moved towards him, cooing noises and little chirps coming from his throat as the bird man held out a slice of avocado toast. And like a simple creature, Slime followed after him, letting his guard down completely as he followed the bird and his small child.

All thoughts left his mind, all he could focus on was that singular piece of toast and imagining himself eating another one.

He did not think twice about where he was being lead nor did he question why he swam up a waterfall, all he could focus on was the toast in Philza’s hand. Only once it was fed to him did he finally come back to his senses.

He was surrounded by glass panes and concrete with no gaps in sight, how very inconvenient. There was a small trap door placed in the middle of the area, yet it was reenforced and thus impossible for Slime to squeeze through. Philza must’ve built him the enclosure while he was distracted and trapped him in it, at least he had some windows to look out of. He could see their family home, the garden, and the sprouting trees that seemed to have stayed the same as his old world.

“Well slime, looks like this is your new home now.”

Charlie tried really hard not to cry.

“Chayanne really wanted you for some reason.”

Slimes don’t cry.

“Guess that makes you part of the family then, see you in morning strange slime mob!”

Charlie’s former friend waved a farewell as he guided his daughter to their home that he was built across from.

He still needed to find Marianna and Juanaflippa, but he allowed himself this small break. There was no way he was getting out of this enclosure by himself, he just needed to get Chayanne to let him out or hope that he could find another gap somewhere. But for now, he let himself relax slightly, the family had been nice enough to replace the concrete floor with some soft carpet and even left some avocado toast for him.

Just for now he could pretend to be a mob and let himself be taken care of.

Just for now he could pretend.

Just for now.   

Chapter Text

“C’mon slime, this way, this way.”

Charlie watched amused as Philza attempted to try lead him out of his enclosure, he had already broken down the trap door and even knocked down a few blocks to widen the entry.

But Slime felt like being a little shit.

If he was gonna pretend to be a mob, then he might as well have some fun with it and enjoy the little moments he got. He rather preferred focusing on the now than the inevitable future where he’d have to figure everything out. For example, he still has yet to even think about how he’s going to reunite with his daughter and wife, they could be anywhere on the island.

He could only hope that wherever they are, they’re safe and well looked after, though that would be a given considering he’s not in their life anymore.

Snapping himself out his thoughts, Slime refocused on the avian who had piled more toast in front of him. With slight enthusiasm, he hopped out of his cage and finally pounced on the food, dissolving the toast almost instantly due to his hunger. Charlie watched as Philza cheered loudly while he ate, he had no idea why the hybrid would want him out of his enclosure, and it made him anxious.

When Slime finished absorbing his breakfast, Chayanne soon made his appearance covered in his signature armour and hopping around energetically. The small egg was waving around a sign, almost colliding into Charlie himself before Philza reacted quickly and picked up his son.

“Wow there-” the older man chuckled, hugging the egg to his chest before gently placing him back on the ground.

“I get you’re excited to show off your new friend here, but maybe don’t run into a mob that can dissolve things pretty quickly huh?”

What.

Charlie was so glad that he hadn’t formed himself a mouth, because in that moment without thinking he shouted out in surprise. Luckily for him, slimes couldn’t talk or really form sounds that even remotely sounded like words, so all that escaped him was small clicking noises.

Regardless, it garnered the attention of the father-son duo who both turned to face him. Almost out of habit, Slime went to apologise by letting out more clicking noises from his gloopy body and was met with bewilderment. Philza was watching him with something like interest in his eyes, wings slightly outstretched as the avian moved closer while making chirping noises back. Charlie wobbled, clicking more insistently as he wriggled: there was simply no way Phil could understand him, right?

Chayanne placed down a sign, snapping both hybrids out of their little discussion, allowing Slime a moment to contemplate.

He really couldn’t talk to anyone in his current form and yet the thought that maybe Philza could’ve understood him, made him really happy for some reason. He didn’t even know what he’d tell the other hybrid, it’s not like he’d remember anything anyway and besides no one would believe him even if he told his story. It was cruel in a way.

But this was the deal that he struck and must now see it through to its completion. Though he was curious in what Philza meant by showing him off to Chayanne’s friends, something must be going on for all the eggs to be gathered together.

This could be his chance to see his daughter and hopefully maybe his wife again. How he craved to see them, to see if they’d change and how they’re doing without him.

Slime hopped away from the pair, moving himself towards the wooden fences along the edge of the wall. He stared down below at the land, noticing the familiar hut of Wilbur’s home and a few more buildings that looked to have been built recently. It was strange to him how familiar yet different this world was to his old one. It’s been a long time since Charlie’s ever had to restart again and for once he didn’t get to see how it ended, only the knowledge that his family had grieved for him in his past life.

If there was one thing he never wanted to see, it would be watching his wife and daughter screaming at him to wake up.

He never wanted to see that again.

He would do anything in his power to prevent it.

No matter what form he took.

A familiar tugging sensation forced Charlie to turn away from the scenery and towards Chayanne who once again managed to latch him onto a leash. The little egg started gently tugging at it, a stark contrast from the first attempt and with a small clicking noise, Slime slowly gooped his way towards whatever direction he was pulled to.

He didn’t feel like being an asshole towards the smaller one, he still remembers the night that he killed him. He remembers suffocating the egg, watching as he struggled against his slime before succumbing towards his inevitable fate. All for his daughter to get a toy.

It seemed like only yesterday where everything went to shit for him, even though his wife killed their daughter twice, Charlie himself was no saint and killed two eggs, one on purpose and one on accident.

And yet as he looked down at Chayanne, he couldn’t imagine ever hurting the poor thing. It was clear Chayanne was well looked after, blooming under Philza’s and Missa’s love. Maybe if Slime had been even half the parent they were, maybe Flippa wouldn’t have had to be revived so often, wouldn’t have known the fires of hell or know what it was like to be impaled by someone that was supposed to take care of you.

Tilin could probably relate as well.

Like two peas in a pod.

Practically inseparable.

Almost the complete opposite of Tilin’s eggshell when it cracked into millions of pieces and the yolk was spilling out and they were bleeding into the grass and there was static in his ears as he stared at his niece who was slowly sinking into ground without a single word cause they couldn’t talk but if they could then surely they’d be crying out to him about his betrayal and what a horrible fucking person he was. But it’s okay because he made that deal and now everything should be fine and if it isn’t he will literally die and never get back up again, that’ll be his final straw cause why the fuck would he go through all that and not even get a fucking second chance to fix shit.

He made that deal, and everything was fine, so he doesn’t really know why he’s freaking out cause everything is fine now yet he feels like he’ll throw up his insides in one second. He can feel every material that passes through his body and all the noises are swallowing him and for some reason he’s vibrating but really slow and fast. All at the same time.

He’s losing control but he doesn’t know why, all he’s thinking about is how everything’s his fault and could’ve been avoidable if he was just a decent person and yet somehow, he’s just fucked everything up and it’s just really bothering him. It’s getting to him; it’s all getting to him, and he can’t make it stop cause it’ll probably make it worse.

He’s melting.

He’s melting.

He’s melting.

Back to the earth he must go. The dirt is always warm and comforting, it will protect him from all these confusing thoughts that hurt him.

He’s melting.

He’s melting.

He’s melting.

But the dirt doesn’t feel like dirt, it feels different and gross. The dirt is not dirt, and it confuses him; the dirt is grey and hardened like a mountain, it’s that weird stale texture that feels suddenly uncomfortable underneath him.

He’s melting.

He’s melting.

He needs to leave.

Now.

Slime wiggles violently against the leash, snapping it instantly and starts erratically hopping around the place.

A voice is shouting at him, but he can’t understand it, he doesn’t understand anything, and it all hurts him.

He’s melting.

He’s crying.

He’s melting.

Charlie starts clicking loudly, attempting to call out to his family, the slimes, his slimes, he needs his slimes, he needs his family.

But the fence, the fence is stopping him, and he can’t get passed the fence in his sludge body. He needed some limbs.

Wings were fluttering in the background, the sound of shouting getting closer with each passing second and without thought or regard, Slime began forming his human body. He gripped the fence with his newly acquired hands, feeling it break underneath his touch.

And jumped.

The wind rushed past him with his arms stretched out and newly formed face grinning in excitement as he plummeted towards the water below. The few seconds of freedom granted him clarity from his own thoughts, welcoming the feeling of the water swallowing him whole. He let himself naturally float to the surface after soaking up more of the fresh lake, using his excess goop to form legs and began running.

He had no direction, no destination, only that he had to run far away.

All he could think of was his family. His slimes. He hadn’t seen them in so long, just the thought of them made his insides ache.

He was still melting.

He didn’t need to look back to tell that he was leaving a slimy trail behind him, but he couldn’t stop, he needed to find his family. Slime needed them like he needed dirt.

He needed their comfort.

He needed and he ached.

He’s melting.

He’s crying.

He’s grieving.

He wants to go home, back to the dirt that kept him safe and back to his family that would sludge around with him. Charlie knew he would eventually go back to Mariana and his daughter, but he wasn’t ready; it didn’t feel like he deserved to see them again. He couldn’t even look at Chayanne without remembering what he did, couldn’t even think about the eggs without remembering what he did to Dapper or what he had planned to do at the courthouse.  

He could’ve killed them all.

He didn’t deserve this; he didn’t deserve this second chance at life.

Charlie paused, sinking down to his knees as he heaved, struggling to concentrate enough to form the rest of his body. He gripped his hair, feeling the strands start to form under his hand as he began pulling at it. His body was full of unexplainable tension like he was seconds away from snapping and just becoming part of the dirt.

Dirt.

The dirt underneath him was soft, the blades of grass were much more comforting than compared to the grey dirt from before. It was soothing in its own way with every brush against his gooey body, he could feel himself calming down. The trees rustling from above providing both safety from any prying eyes and shade from the sun.

Slime closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds of the environment around him, feeling a tugging sensation from his chest.

A cave. There was a cave nearby somewhere and it was calling to him.

He stood up, body on autopilot as he allowed his slime instincts to take a hold of his mind.

This is what he was good at, being a slime and moving.

Moving to wherever he needed to and not worrying about anything or anyone else.

But he did make a promise to his daughter, and she will always take priority no matter what. He’ll check on Tilin, he’ll check on Mariana and Juanaflippa and only then will he return back to the dirt. If they were truly happy without him then he won’t interfere, he won’t risk endangering his child or anyone else ever again.

He’s melting.

He’s melting.

He’s melting.

And no one can help him.

Chapter Text

Slimes are very curious creatures from birth, they follow whatever sparks their interest and dedicate their little lives to understanding all the things around them. The babies will watch from the dirt or from their swamps and fixate on whatever catches their eye, waiting till they are old enough to finally leave their parent’s care. Slimes also have multiple siblings, occasionally spanning to over 100 as the parent does not need to reproduce with another slime partner; it’s assumed that every slime born will instinctually find a home and create their children underground like their parent.

There is very little knowledge on slimes as whole due to their long-life spans and their homes underground, the parents are also very protective of their children and will kill any creature on sight that appears to be a threat.

Charlie’s parent was very overprotective of him – his slime one that is – for they knew of his true identity, all slimes knew of his godly status and his story. And yet, they didn’t treat him as a god or a higher being, they treated him like he was a fresh baby slime that had just emerged from the ground. And in some ways, he was, he had emerged from the ground and was founded by Mother, which he will always be thankful for, but she couldn’t teach him how to be a slime. His other family could, and they did, they taught him how to be himself and how to be a slime. He was taught how to speak their language, how to absorb materials, how to observe and most importantly how to be part of a family.

So, when the years passed and Charlie was dubbed old enough to leave the dirt with the rest of his siblings, he knew instantly who he was going to observe.

The humans.

It had always been his favourite thing to watch, he loved how they changed and shifted their own appearances through non-slime means. Everything they did sparked his interest; he was enchanted by their very presence and all the backward things they would do.

And just like that, Slime moved away from his gloopy family and started his own journey on learning how to be a human.

That was around a few hundred years ago and he hasn’t seen his family since.

It was normal for slimes to eventually return back to their families, at least that’s what he remembers being told from his parent when he left. Charlie couldn’t help but feel anxious over the fact that he hadn’t visited his family in so long, at least by slime standards.

At least he managed to find a cave to temporarily hide in; Philza had been circling the forest for a few days looking for him, even attempting to lure him out with avocado toast. But Slime already had quite the collection of back-up toast and thus resided in his little home until nightfall, when he was sure the bird hybrid had disappeared for the evening. Ever so slowly, he sludged his way out of the cave entrance and made his way through the trees.

His instincts were telling him that there slimes somewhere nearby on the island, most likely pushed further away due to the even more dangerous mobs occupying the area. He made sure to stay clear from the strange reaper-like enemies and quickened his hopping when he spotted another pair of glowing floating eyes drifting around the treetops. Logically, he knew they wouldn’t target him in the form that he’s currently in, however he didn’t want to trigger any territorial instincts and risk getting killed. With how different the land looks, Charlie almost wishes he could’ve observed how the ecosystem changed to accommodate these new creatures.

But then that would mean he’d also have to witness his family most likely fighting the mobs and running away in fear; that didn’t really sound great.

Slimes were very territorial of their homes; they travel for years looking for the perfect spot to nest. So, if these new creatures were powerful enough to send multiple slime families packing, then that speaks volumes on what kind of carnage took place. Charlie grimaced at the thought, momentarily shrinking down his form to appear less obvious to the other mobs.

It was times like these that really reminded him of how different this world was to his other one honestly, he still couldn’t get over the fact that Tilin was alive. All his murders and attempted murders were just wiped from the board, no one else remembered them except for him. There was no egg-cracking or yolk spillage, only happy parents raising their kids without the classic fuck up ruining it all for them.

He had to see how Mariana and Juanaflippa were doing; needing to see if it’s really worth it to reconnect with them, if they’re already happy without him.

But he couldn’t.

Deep down inside his goopey heart, Charlie didn’t want to see is family happy without him. If his presence in the family was causing more harm than good, then it really confirmed that he was a shitty parent. It almost felt like a joke, Slime does everything in his power to make his daughter happy when in reality he could just disappear, and she’d end up being better off without him.

His wife would certainly be much better without him, their whole relationship was based on mandatory adoption – not that he’d ever be upset about having Juanaflippa enter their lives – and a speed wedding to make it official.

It didn’t matter what Satan said or what Mother told him, he was a bad parent, he made mistakes, he failed. His own slime family would be ashamed of the way he raised his daughter, he’s basically a disappointment to the whole species and he’s the original!

It’s a wonder how any of the parent slimes managed to look after all they kids and yet Slime himself couldn’t look after one dragon egg with a partner.  

Swallowed in his own thoughts, Charlie could feel his body start to drip once more, his movements becoming sluggish as he struggled to persevere. It was all becoming too much for him like the first time he was overwhelmed when he was younger because he wasn’t allowed to play with the village kids. Everything was swirling in his mind, all the things he did wrong, all his mistakes, his failures, everything.

He did this all for his family.

But what if his own family didn’t want to see him?

They don’t remember him after all, would it even be worth it to see them again only to pushed aside because he’ll be a total stranger to them?

They’ll never know what he did for them, what he did for Tilin.

He’ll be a nobody.

He is a nobody.

Slime’s form shrunk even smaller, more gooey mess trailing behind him as he fought with himself to keep his body stable. Only once he reached the edge of the forest did he allow himself to partly sink into the ground, he wasn’t tired, just stuck.

He didn’t know where to go anymore.

His precious daughter, Juanaflippa, his little pride and joy, who fought Satan and won. She was his whole world; her energetic nature and skilful gun wielding was known across the island. He cherished the days were the two of them would kill mobs together and sing late into the night, waking up Mariana, thus resulting in an all-out wrestle match.

Juanaflippa would remember none of it.

His lovely wife, Mariana, a relationship which had started rocky was slowly developing into something more. Those long nights where they would seek each other for comfort, the shared whispers between the two, and the taste of each other’s lips as they entangled themselves together under the moonlight.

Mariana would remember none of it.

His little nephew, Tilin, who only recently confessed to wanting a father like Slime, who only wanted to be part of their little family. A shy egg who was still discovering themselves and the world around them, left with an absentee father but surrounded by multiple caring relatives that would come to their beck and call.

Tilin would remember none of it.

But they also wouldn’t remember their own Tio Slime stabbing them. They wouldn’t remember all the crying, screaming and the pain that surrounded their own death. They would never know and that’s what Charlie wanted.

That’s what he got.

Everyone else will be happy and only he would be in pain.

Its what he deserves.

Its what’s best.

Slime finally sunk into the dirt, letting go of his form and just enjoying the texture of the soil intermingle with his own gooey body, absorbing all the nutrients.

He really didn’t know what to do.

A fuzzy feeling soon overtook his disformed body, like tiny zaps surrounding him and the dirt that he occupied. He felt like he was being suffocated, he tried to wriggle out of the dirt, but something was pinning him in place. Charlie was unable to reform and escape from the sudden dirt prison he had unknowingly trapped himself in.

But just as quick as the feeling arrived, it disappeared.

Wasting no time, Slime quickly gathered his body and ejected himself from the soil, throwing his body back out into the surface world. He looked around wildly, noting with slight apprehension that the environment was drastically different from before. He was no longer by the edge of the forest, but rather in the middle of an open field, covered in sunflowers with hills scattered around the area. There was a lake in the centre of the plain, glowing under the moonlight making it almost magical in appearance.

A slight mumbled sound from behind Charlie made him whirl around in panic, he had no weapons to defend himself and was wholly unprepared if a fight did occur.

Turns out he was unprepared for a whole different reason; it appears that his would be assailant was none other than an Enderman. The mob was towering over him, purple eyes staring into his soul as the creature tilted their head left and right, sizing him up for some unknown reason.

Ah.

Slime just had the unfortunate luck of choosing the one dirt pile that this Enderman wanted to move, the strange sensation he felt had to have been the teleportation magic at work. And now here he is stranded in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by flowers and still no closer to figuring out what to do.

“You are very loud, strange slime.”

Charlie froze.

During his time as a human, he would often shut down or quieten certain slime traits that he had, in order to be more human and less mob. As he’s been human for so long, he’s almost forgot about the ways in which mobs communicate, especially the ender species, who he hasn’t seen in forever.

Looking up at the tall individual, illuminated by their purple particles that appears around them, Slime could only stare in fear. Enderman as a whole were terrifying, and he did not want to find out what this creature would do to him if he fucked up. He just had to pray to the Gods that he doesn’t fuck up. It’s a miracle that he wasn’t just killed for inhabiting the very dirt that the Enderman was moving.

“Strange slime, you are very far from your pack.” The Enderman leaned closer towards Slime, almost bending itself in half to be levelled with the smaller mob. Charlie on the other hand was trying not to shit himself as he could now see up close the creature’s sharp jagged teeth that protruded from their mouth. “I don’t know where my pack is?”

“Strange slime becomes even stranger. Every slime knows where their pack is.”

“My pack moved without me; they were chased off by bigger mobs.”

“Wrong. Go to your pack.”

Before Slime could even began to question the being, he was suffocated once more as the Enderman picked him with his glowing purple limbs and teleported them closer to the lake. Slime couldn’t fight off the magic if he tried and was stuck in the grasp of the Enderman until the mob deemed that they were in the right place. The Enderman appeared to be looking for something, small noises escaping their throat as they scanned the surface of the lake.

Charlie could feel his insides moving around his slimy body and wanted nothing more than to be put down. Magic and Slime didn’t mix very well, and he would know, considering how much it hurt to get pushed through a portal. Several minutes passed before the Enderman teleported somewhere else, this time on top of one of the many hills overlooking the valley. From high up, Slime could see a few waterfalls in the distance and the sighting of an ocean a few miles back.

“Your pack is loud like you. Go to them.”

The Enderman finally released Charlie who wobbled and melted into the ground as he waited for the magic’s effect to leave his body. His insides were still churning, and he was struggling to piece back his slime after the sudden teleportation. Without another word, the Enderman nodded towards Slime, purple eyes glowing brightly before vanishing once again.

Charlie huffed at their departure, Enderman were always straight to the point with their conversations and even more so when on their journeys. They were similar to slimes in the way that both species observed their surroundings and would wander around aimlessly rather than start fights with humans, disregarding the whole staring issue which was mainly an issue with humans rather than other mobs.

Still, Slime was curious in what the Enderman had meant by being too loud and finding his pack who were supposedly equally loud. He wasn’t in tune with his instincts as much, thus it could be possible he alerted the mob of his presence accidently or it really was just a coincidence. Either way, the Enderman said he should go to his ‘pack’, so that’s where he’ll go.

His first guess was that they were hiding behind the falls, after gathering up his body he made his way to the rushing water. He could feel the holes in the caves, an echoing sound shaking the walls of the surrounding rocks.

There was definitely something behind those waterfalls. And if the Enderman was right, it would most likely be other slimes and that made him all the bit more excited. He bounded over the grass and latched himself onto the gritty surface of the rock waterfall, pushing his body against the wall to not get pulled from the water rushing down.

He pushed his form to it’s limits, minimizing and stretching parts of his slime body to manoeuvre himself over the larger boulders.

By the time he reached the cave in the middle of the waterfall, the sun had started to rise slightly, illuminating the cave from through the watery curtains.

And what a sight it was.

The entire inside of the cave was covered in beautiful, majestic, green goopy slime that reached from the roof to the walls and was glistening against the sun.

Slime could feel the tears in his eyes.

He watched in awe as the slimes began to move, almost in perfect harmony with each other as they all tried to reform their bodies for the day. There had to be over 200 little babies all cosied up together, keeping each other warm throughout the night. His instincts were screaming at him to protect the little slimes, to wrap them up in his own goop and carry them somewhere warmer, but alas he knew they weren’t his.

He knew he couldn’t be trusted with kids after his failure with Tilin and consequently Juanaflippa.

So instead, he allowed himself to watch from the entrance.

And he watched with glee as all the little bodies began wrestling with each other, merging and unmerging as the babies confused themselves.

So carefree.

It reminded him of his younger years when he first unearthed as a slime with his siblings, and mother had just said goodbye to him. They all tussled with each other, attempting to merge into a big slime and not knowing how. They didn’t have to worry about dangerous mobs, or dealing with Satan or accidentally killing your own relative cause you can’t aim for shit apparently.

Oh, how he missed those days.  

“Holy shit, Slimecicle?”

Chapter Text

Slime went by many names.

Slime was his default; it was who he is and was the name given to him by Mother.

The God of Slimes was his higher name, bestowed upon him by his mortal followers and lowly Gods that feared his creation.

Charlie was his human name, gifted from his closest friend and symbolised all that he had learnt from humans.

But Slimecicle was an old name, one he hadn’t heard of in a while, that was the name he had given himself. Very few people knew of his old name, rarely did he even refer to himself as such a name for it harboured many memories.

He could still remember the stench of burning trees around him, the deafening sound of silence that swallowed him for years and the blackened sky that followed him everywhere with no sun in sight.

His home was on fire, and he had no idea why.

His home was on fire, and he was all alone.

His home was on fire, and he was scared.

He was melting.

He was melting and he would continue to melt until Mother entered his life, floating down and rescuing him from the rot of his own world. Slime would bloom under his mother’s love; Slime would become The God of Slime and then Charlie. And yet, Slimecicle would drift between them all, never surfacing or ever being acknowledged.

It wouldn’t be until he met the other slimes that Mother had created for him, did he ever bring that name back out. Slimecicle was a name that carried grief, longing, and a distantness so cold, not even hell’s fire could keep him warm. And it was tearing him apart, all the memories that Slimecicle carried would haunt him for millions of years, it would haunt, Slime, Charlie and even the God of Slime.

That’s why all the slime mobs were created, they were created for Slimecicle.

Slimecicle wanted what they all wanted.

A family.

Thus, when he resurfaced from the earth’s dirt, he had to make a decision on who he wanted to be. He couldn’t be Slime, he wasn’t his mother’s son in this world, and he defiantly didn’t want to be known by his Godly status, he had enough of that from the other worlds. Charlie was a good name and always made mortals more open with him, but he wasn’t focused on watching the humans just yet. He needed to connect with the other slimes.

Slimecicle was brought out once again.

And ever so slowly, the memories that were once attached to that name shifted. No longer did he carry grief, instead he carried joy, the joy of being taken care of and caring for all the other younger slimes. No longer did he long for his old world, but rather he longed for his siblings, cherishing everyday with them until they rested. No longer was he distant, in fact he couldn’t get enough of his slime families and would often find himself travelling from family to family, soaking up all the love they had to offer. His happiness only growing when the slimes would watch the earth with him, each one curious about different things as time moved on.

Slimes just loved with all their being.

So, Slimecicle did the same, opening up his heart to the wonders of the world.

Slimecicle became Charlie, became Slime, became a God, became him.

For once in his life, Slime felt complete and at peace with the world around him.

Slime would later create a new alter ego by the name El Backflipo who would follow his heart’s desires and act purely on instinct alone. El Backflipo was not hesitant on inviting people to his bed, spending his first night on Quesadilla Island between the bodies of Roier and Mariana under the darkness of the cave. Looking back, there was no way Fit couldn’t have not heard them with how loud Mariana was and the sound of slime on skin definitely wasn’t quiet.

And yet, that was the night Slime first noticed Mariana, he couldn’t help but notice his pullable dark hair, the small tattoos that were hidden underneath his suit and his eyes that lured him in until their lips reunited once again. Roier was a close second with his charming grin and confident aura that was just begging for a round two.

It was a long night for the trio.

Regardless, Charlie noticed Mariana and Mariana noticed him, it was the start of their addiction to one another. And it would only get worse once their daughter entered their lives, Juanaflippa was their entire world, she held all the power over them. But sometimes things get worse before it gets better, sometimes Slime didn’t want to talk to his wife and sometimes Mariana would ignore his husband and leave the house late in the night.

It was a pattern that they were both stuck in and Juanaflippa suffered the ultimate price because of it.

She died.

Charlie didn’t think twice before suing his own wife, the pair both lost to their own grief and later would reunite under the stars once again. Their relationship would slowly repair itself with Slime being gentler in his parental approach and Mariana being more cautious of his daughter.

Then Slime killed Tilin and the world went right back to chaos.

He exiled himself, banishing himself from the rest of the group and dedicating his life to his daughter’s happiness and his niece’s revival.

Slime was no longer a happy name, neither was Charlie, both tarnished with the blood of Tilin and the tears of his wife and daughter. He didn’t who he was anymore, only that he had failed.

And then he returned.

Returned to a world that didn’t know either of his names or his face, no one knew who he was, and he could be who wanted to be. Yet, the none of the names fitted him, so he went back to Slime, back to who he was before he failed his daughter.

He was Slime.

He. Was. Slime.

So why did someone refer to him as Slimecicle?

Who could possibly remember his old name from long time ago and be completely unaffected by the powers of the God of Death?

“I can’t actually believe it’s you, I’ve been looking for you!”

And just like that, Slime felt like he had been punched in the face. 

Slimes weren't people. 

Slimes weren't just anybody. 

Their memories wouldn't be wiped because unlike the rest of world that grew naturally, slimes like other mobs were directly made from the Goddess of Nature herself which granted its own benefits and thus they would remain untouched by Death's powers, only dying the way she wanted them to. 

Naturally, which in turn caused a lot of problems with her and the God of Death down the road. 

But regardless, there could be no one else that knew of his old name. 

No one else but his first ever brother, Sludge, the first slime who had noticed him when he emerged and subsequently wrapped him up into his family.

Slime was the oldest God amongst the earth and so the slimes fittingly were the first mobs ever created to live in the earth’s soil with him. He remembers his mother's paranoia about the possibility that her brother of death would use his powers for destruction once again. So, not only did she create a whole species for him specifically for them to look after him, but she also granted them the knowledge of who and what Charlie was, her son. Nothing he said could get his mother to change her mind and so he had to accept her decision with great reluctance. Yet, despite Charlie’s reputation being known by every single slime created including his godly status being shared, not one of them cared at all. To them he was just another slime.  

Especially Sludge.

Sludge was the biggest of the bunch, often climbing over the rest of his siblings to eat first and steal all the nutrients. Their parent frequently scolded him, but Sludge never listened, for he wasn’t just stealing for himself, he was stealing for his newest younger sibling, Slimecicle.

Slimecicle looked up to Sludge both literally and metaphorically, they were two peas in a pod or rather two slimes in the dirt. It was only fitting then that Sludge was the most devastated when Slimecicle left the family pack, it was no secret to the other siblings that Slimecicle was different to them and yet Sludge didn’t want him to leave.

The two would argue and wrestle their way throughout the years with Sludge trying to convince him to join together and explore caves, whereas Slime would rather continue his tradition of watching the humans and how they interact. It never bothered him how protective his older brother was to him, but at the same time it would irk him whenever Sludge tried to parent him like he was baby. Sludge was always like this, definitely following in their parent’s slime trail.

The only reason they separated after so long was due to Charlie spotting a nearby civilisation, gooping his way silently through the night to secretly test out his human form.

After that he never saw Sludge or any of his slime family again.

And as Slime took a glance around the cave, it was evident that his older brother had spent his years making his own little family, he never changed.

Sludge himself still looked the same with his large gooey size almost doubling since their dirt emergence, nearly taking up the whole cave entrance. The other noticeable difference between the two would be the colour, though not visible by the naked human eye, Sludge’s skin was more leaning towards a green teal than in comparison to Slime’s vibrant colouring. There were so different and yet Sludge despite all this time, could still recognize him from a mile away.

Oh, how he had missed his brother.

Slime turned to fully face Sludge, taking in his eyes full of sadness that reflected in his own, he couldn’t help but let his tears fall.

But Slimes don’t cry.

Slimes melt.

And as Charlie once again succumbed to his feelings of grief, letting his body melt into the ground, he could feel the warmth of his brother wrapping around him. Their gooey bodies mixing as Slime felt himself crumbling. Like how Mother would kiss his head, slimes would join together as a sign of comfort or as protection from danger.

Human hugs were nothing in comparison to a slime hug, your whole presence was swallowed by another, like being wrapped tightly in a little blanket filled with love. His brother encompassed him, making small chittering noises in comfort as he nuzzled against him. Charlie could feel Sludge’s silent question, being so wrapped together, he could feel all his brother’s emotions as his brother could feel his.

No words needed to be passed between the two, only the emotions that swirled inside them.

He was so lonely.

‘I’ll care for you.’

He misses his family.

‘I’ll find them.’

He failed.

‘Never.’

Slime wailed, he wailed and wailed and wailed. He tried to wriggle from his brother’s grasps, crying out and chirping loudly in distress.

He was angry.

‘Calm.’

He was sad.

‘I am here.’

He was melting.

‘I’ve got you.’

He was broken.

So lost in his turmoil, Charlie didn’t notice when Sludge signaled to his children to come closer. Slowly, one by one the hundreds of babies rolled their way towards their uncle and parent, each of them adding themselves to the slime pile. More and more little voices made their presence known inside Slimecicle’s head, comforting him, and projecting their love for him towards the forefront of his internal mind.

They didn’t even know him and already these tiny kids were trying to help him, he didn’t even need to say anything to his brother and yet here he was protecting him against the world. This is what it meant to be a slime, to love with their entire being. And all Slime could do was cry, cry as he was embraced by a family, he hadn’t even properly introduced himself to yet.

It all just made him cry harder.

He did not deserve this and yet he couldn’t even speak the words of what he had done to his own brother. His inner turmoil was destroying him, and he didn’t know what to do, he was lost, hurt, he was everything and nothing at all. There were no words that could truly encapsulate all the emotions he felt, and he didn’t even know where to start.

And yet Sludge did not once rush him, not once forced him to reform and not once pulled away from their embrace. And as the sun set across the cave, and Slimecicle still had yet to even move, the family simply all nestled on top of him.

Slimes would always protect one another and if Slimecicle needed a bit more time than they would wait for him until he was ready. Because Slime was a part of their family and Sludge refused to leave his brother behind a second time.

‘Let me help you.’

‘Please.’

Chapter Text

Charlie didn’t know how to feel anymore.

He doesn’t know what to do anymore.

Everything he’s been through to finally reunite with his daughter and wife, yet here he is being smothered by his brother and his family. He gave up his godhood for Tilin, he gave up his entire world just so that Mariana and Flippa would be able to live happily without him.

He left his family only to reunite with another.

His slime family.

It took him four more days for Slime to finally reform his ectoplasmic body, with help from the younger ones who gathered up his extra slime that trailed behind him from his journey. It made him nostalgic of the times when he’d do the same for Sludge when they were babies. All those happy memories that he nearly forgot.

He really owed everything to the slimes, without them he would have never learnt how to live, how to cherish, how to love all the small things in the world. Yet still he had left them to satiate his own curiosities over the humans, he had to know more and disappeared from their lives, almost forgetting everything they had taught him.

And look how he ended up.

Charlie had the blood of his nephew on his hands forever, and the knowledge of his old world ending in destruction.

He really fucked it up.

He didn’t deserve to see his old family again; how could he see them again when he couldn’t even stay reformed for longer than 10 minutes?

He was melting every second, his own mind turning against him when he needed it most and no one would ever know the pain he had succumbed to. Every movement he made was a reminder that not too long ago, his slime was ripped from his body and burnt into the ground. Every twitch, reminded him of the blade that plunged into his stomach, pinning him to the floor of his own home as he bled out in front of his family. And nothing could ever come close to the feeling of losing one’s immortality, the constant onslaught of death after death as your body is forced to relive the pain it went through.

Three whole days of continuous torture was not something Slime could ever forget.

But he wouldn’t dare change a thing, despite how much the pain lingered across his body, he would never go back on his promise to his daughter. Even if it meant that Slime would never be able to hug his daughter again or hear her giggling or watch her shoot down skeletons. Because despite it all, he still wanted to do good by her and if being forgotten in her life was what it took to make Flippa happy, then he would do it and he would accept his fate.

He would allow himself to become a wallflower, to watch from afar and imagine what life would be like if they were all together again.

Too bad he’ll never know.

With great reluctance, Charlie squeezed himself out of the slime pile, gathering his slime from the younger ones before moving his way through their home. The cave itself was nice, dark enough in the daylight for perfect naps and even had a small ravine towards the end that ran deeper into the cavern.

“Pretty good spot huh?”

“You always did have a good eye for these types of caves.”

Slime chuckled as he watched his brother puff up at his words, the pair taking in a moment of peace together as they surveyed the water. Though the silence didn’t last long as the sound of small chirps increased in volume, clearly the babies were all restless after waiting for their uncle to reform. Charlie watched in awe as Sludge began talking to them, rapidly making clicking noises before wiggling towards the water. Almost immediately, the babies followed his command, and they all began bouncing towards the ravine, each one gently nudging Charlie before jumping into the refreshing water.

“I can’t believe you just got all two hundred of your kids in the water like it was nothing.”

“It’s not that hard, I’m sure you’ve got your own way to get your babies to do things.”

“Only one actually.” He whispered quietly, images of Flippa flashing through his mind as he gazed at all the little slimes. Imagining what it would be like to introduce his daughter to her new cousins, no doubt she’d be overjoyed, probably shooting the cave walls in happiness. She always liked socialising with the other eggs, her, Bobby and Tilin were practically an inseparable trio. Idly, Charlie wonders if it’s still the same in this world.

“Only one?”

“Only one.”

“And you are okay with that? I always imagined you’d have dozens of slimes by now.”

“She’s all I ever needed.”

“Tell me about her.”

And he did.

He told his brother all about his daughter, about their bond, about all the memories they shared together. How Juanaflippa killed her first skeleton through her incredible aiming skills and how proud he was of her. He told stories about her home, the cave that he and his wife had made for her and how she would run around the room in excitement. He talked of Juanaflippa’s allergies to grass, detergent, and many other small things like bees; including their failed attempt at trying to feed her eggs, before they found out she was vegan.

And with a warm heart, talked to Sludge about their daughter’s coming out. News had spread around the island that many of the eggs were gender diverse or were non-binary like Tilin, even Bad was raising his own egg gender neutral for Dapper to decide themselves on what they wanted. So, the next day Mariana had decided to ask their child, previously named Juanflippo on what they wanted to be. Low and behold, Juanflippo was Juanaflippa, and the pair welcomed their new daughter with open arms.

She was perfect.

And she even beat Satan himself.

She was truly an incredible kid.

“Was?”

Was.

Because Juanaflippa didn’t exist anymore or more accurately he didn’t exist to her. She would only exist in memories to him, and Slime had to accept that he may never see his daughter again, that there would be no new memories made together. He would be alone.

“Slimecicle, what’s going on?”

He wouldn’t get to watch in anticipation as she scribbled in her little notebook or get to fawn over her little dance moves. He would never get to hug her or hold her in her arms like he used to, spinning her around her little room as she wriggled in excitement.

Slimes wiggle too.

Slimes wiggle and move around to communicate. And it was in those little movements that Charlie would fall a little bit more in love with her because she was his little slime.

She was his little slime.

She was his baby.

Was.

Was.

Was.

Was.

Was.

Was. 

“Slimecicle!”

Juanaflippa was his baby and he cherished her like the princess she was, every day with her was filled with excitement and he could pretend that he was a decent father. Instead of the harsh reality that his relationship with Mariana was crumbling at the seams, that the two couldn’t stop fighting around her. That his own wife didn’t realise their daughter was vegan and neither of them could agree on how to raise their daughter.

Yet, despite it all he still cared deeply for that man. Mariana was another unexpected surprise in his life that he didn’t realise he needed. Always so quick to correct anyone about their daughter’s pronouns and protected her with his life.

Then he took hers.

Twice. 

What a pair they were.

Mariana kills their daughter, and he kills their niece, how romantic.

Truly a match made in hell.

Of course, it only makes sense that his punishment would be him getting removed from both of their lives. They deserved better.

He wasn’t good enough for them.

‘Slimecicle!’

He was wrapped back up in Sludge’s body, he could feel his concern in waves, felt as his emotions brushed over his mind. Slime felt like a mess, so quickly did he succumb to his feelings of worthlessness the moment he got even a second of peace. His mistakes haunted him, following him around like a parasite and infecting his mind. He understands now why Mother warned him about the feelings of grief, it really can suffocate ones entire being and he was letting it.

He needed to move on from his mistakes.

But it was hard.

‘Let me help you, please.’

Sludge’s words echoed around him, grounding him back into reality and away from his own poisonous thoughts. Once again Slime prepared himself and slowly reformed himself outside his brother’s embrace, noticing that Sludge had moved closer to him in case he melted suddenly.

He couldn’t keep doing this, he couldn’t keep falling apart at the seams and relying on someone else to pick him up.

‘I’m your brother-’

“And I’m a murderer.” He rasped, the words ripped out of his mouth and laid bare for his brother to judge him. Silence hanged in the air between them; the babies were still playing in the river, oblivious to the sudden tension. Sludge stared at him, but Slime didn’t want to see his eyes, he didn’t want to see the horror reflected back at him. He didn’t want to know how much his brother hated him right now, how much he feared him.

“I killed them. They died in my arms, and I couldn’t do anything. Tilin, little Tilin just wanted to protect us. They died on the edge of my blade, and I couldn’t do anything!”

Charlie heaved, body quivering as the vivid images of Tilin’s cracked shell entered his mind, it was like he was back there, that fatal moment when Tilin dropped to the ground and their shell broke, scattered across the ground.

“But they weren’t the only one! No, no, no, I killed another! Chayanne, the strong warrior Chayanne who couldn’t fight against my slime. He tried so hard and yet he cracked too!”

His mind was spiralling, he remembers Chayanne’s struggling, remembers how easy it was to convince Philza to leave his house. The poor egg had no chance against him, his fragile shell was no match against his slime, suffocating and melting the unfortunate child.

“I did it all for my daughter too! Got her a precious new toy and in the end it didn’t even matter! She doesn’t love me anymore, said it herself after I killed her cousin, isn’t that funny? Can you believe that Sludge!?!”

Slime cackled, an unknown emotion swirling around him as he laughed loudly, his voice echoing around the cavern. It was all he could hear, all he could focus on, just the sound of his own laughter surrounding him.

His laughter as Tilin’s body crumbled in front of him.

His laughter as Chayanne struggled against his slime.

His laughter as Juanaflippa wrote that she hated him.

His laughter as he felt his body start to heat up. Slimecicle wasn’t melting this time, he was solidifying, his once green skin was hardening into charcoal. He could feel his core warming up to extreme temperatures, his goop was crackling.

His slime was turning magma.

He was burning, but it didn’t hurt this time. Charlie watched enraptured as his magma seeped from his body, escaping from the hardened crevasses of his new form. The lave inched its way towards the inner lake; steam rising in the air as it reached the edges of the water. Distantly, Sludge had made urgent chittering noises and the baby slimes had begun climbing the walls of the cave to avoid touching the rapidly heating water.

As Charlie continued to let his magma spread throughout the lake, the water beginning increasing in temperature before eventually changing the once liquid into hardened stone. He was entranced by the transformation, lost in his own creation, he didn’t hear the distressed calls of the slime babies; all too scared to move by the sudden appearance of a magma cube. He moved closer to the blackened stone, his heat bearing down on the baby slimes unconsciously, still unaware of his effect as the distressed sounds continued getting louder.

One of the babies dropped from the roof of the cave, their slime not strong enough to hold them. Charlie moved towards them instinctively, his creaking body heaving himself towards the baby. His body on autopilot towards their sounds, he moved closer, not noticing that the baby was slightly melting from his presence.  

“Slimecicle, you killed them!”

Charlie jerked back, body aching as he turned around to the sound of the familiar voice.

Roier.

He was standing at the cave entrance, arm outstretched, and horror written on his face as he stared at him in fear. Bobby was hiding between his knees as the small egg was shaking in terror as well, hiding himself away from Slime.

Oh no.

If that was Roier and Bobby over there, then that must mean one thing.

Slowly, Charlie turned back around towards the baby slime, except it wasn’t a baby anymore.

It was Tilin’s dead body.

And their shell was dripping yolk all over the cave floors.

Charlie screamed.

His agonised wailing coming out as smoke erupted from his mouth, lava pouring out from around the edges of his charcoal body. The scenery was changing all around him, from the cave to the grass fields to Tilin’s grave. Even the body was switching out from Tilin, to Chayanne to Flippa.

This was wrong, he knew this was wrong.

Something wasn’t right, he wasn’t magma, he was goop.

He was slime, he wasn’t lava.

He didn’t mean to hurt them, but he did, he hurt everyone. He paid the price and yet still his mistakes follow him around everywhere. This wasn’t right.

Nothing was making sense.

Charlie didn’t know how to feel anymore.

Chapter Text

He was in a cage.

It was metal and rotting, creaking every second as if to taunt him of his own imprisonment. It was cold, everything was cold against his magma body, his own heat permeating from his lava core in waves and yet it wasn’t hot enough to affect the metal bars.

He was trapped and he was stuck.

Except sometimes the metal bars would waver, sometimes the metal bars would talk to him, and sometimes the metal bars would disappear. But they would always return, always come back to remind him, and trap him against the cold cave walls.

The bars wouldn’t always creak, occasionally it would chirp at him but most days the bars would just stare at him. It’s eyes showing a pain unknown to him, Charlie didn’t know what to think of the strange metal poles.

The last thing he remembered was staring at Tilin’s dead body as Roier screamed at him.

He killed them.

And then he felt warm and burning, he burned and burned and burned until that was all he could feel. He was on fire with no way to be put out, his once gloopy skin forging together to create his darkened stone body that coiled around his now magma insides. Slime felt different, this wasn’t what he usually looked like, this was wrong.

But he didn’t know what to do.

Sludge had disappeared, with Roier in his place and then suddenly Tilin was in front of him lying dead on the stone floor. This was wrong, something was wrong here, Charlie didn’t feel right anymore. With a pained click, he hopped over towards the metal bars once again, noticing that the bars appeared to merge together as he got closer. The colours started shifting, what was once grey and dull, transformed into a multitude of green shades.

He watched as the bars become liquid, melting into the cave floor before reappearing as fully formed slimes.

Slimes.

He was a slime.

Yet, his body was crackling and splintering at the seams while theirs appeared to be more stable.

The slimes soon started multiplying, splitting off into different forms, essentially barricading the entrance of his cell. They were all chittering amongst each other, staring at Charlie as they all wiggled and moved slowly closer towards him. Slime backed away from them, body aching in protest at his sudden change in movement.

It’s been like this for a few days, whenever he gained enough strength to finally move away from the cave’s walls, the slimes would always push him back. Sludge must’ve told them about his transgressions, how he murdered his own family and now they were deciding his fate. He broke the one rule of not harming your own kind, he must now pay the price.

Slimes never killed, they only exiled. Since the beginning of Earth and the start of their creation, no slime has ever harmed another slime, not purposefully. They would all look after each other and care for every little slime that had surfaced. Only once did a slime go against its creation and Charlie recalls the memory with bitterness, it was over a million years ago and yet it’s a tale that every slime is told.

The creation of the magma cubes.

Slime was still a young mobling when it had happened, only just beginning to explore the world with his older siblings when the word had spread. Lava had begun appearing in strange places, bubbling up from the surface and setting fire to all nearby nature. It had spread throughout the lands with more and more sightings of lava taking over the area. Soon, the situation would only worsen once the slimes began to realise that all the water was disappearing too.

Slimes needed water like humans needed air without it, millions of slimes could lose their family and homes. However, it wasn’t only the slimes in danger as hordes of humans would soon migrate to the mountains to avoid such destruction; other mobs would also perish under the lava’s wrath or be forced to leave.

Charlie remembered watching a village burn to the ground after sudden lava erupted from the centre of the town, encasing all the humans that once lived there, leaving their homes in ruins. It was all too eerily similar to his old world, the devastation, the destruction and the cruelty of death surrounding him. All it was missing was the soul crushing silence that was left after such an event, the kind of silence that reminded you of how alone you were; no matter how hard you cried, no one would hear you.

He feared that silence.

And he feared for the fate of this world should the sudden lava not be stopped.

It only got worse as time when on, more chatter between the slimes as reports of missing water and lack of surrounding trees began to spread. They couldn’t even go into caves either for lava had begun pooling into the caverns as well, making it unlivable for the families. The slimes had to relocate, and they had to do it fast, the heat was becoming unbearable for their poor babies.

And then suddenly a slime had an idea, her name was Gunk, and she was one of the oldest slimes around or most notably she was the first slime to raise Slimecicle. When the news had reached her about the increasing danger for the young slimes, she knew she had to do something to protect them.

The story goes that she gathered up all the surrounding slimes in her area and began ‘The great Journey’. The journey was a perilous quest that involved following the destruction of the lava and tracing it back to it’s first sighting. It was said that she managed to change her appearance in order to blend in with humans, learned their language and their culture to further her own journey; eventually teaching it to her travelling pack. Slimes shifting forms was unheard of, yet Gunk did the impossible and changed the world for her kind.

Finally, there was hope for the slimes and with that hope, Gunk continued her journey, more determined than ever to protect the future of her slimes.

With her and her new packs human forms, they were able to locate the source of their problems in the form of a volcano. Except this volcano wasn’t erupting upwards, it was erupting downwards; it was strange sight for the group to behold. There was smoke billowing out from the mountain, but no lava, instead it appeared to have multiple red cracks along it’s body that was slowly dripping out lava.

It didn’t make sense.

Something was wrong.

The group moved closer towards the strange sight, the volcano itself didn’t even look like it was going to erupt and yet this mountain was the proclaimed reason for such destruction.

Now the story differs on whether or not Gunk and her crew entered the volcano or were just standing outside but the event itself stays the same.

Gunk found a creature emerging from the bubbling lava. Its body was coiled around a lave core with dripping lava, glowing yellow eyes that could melt you from a glance and body movement so stiff that it creaked and groaned with every hop it took. The creature was slowly making its way towards the group, broken noises escaping its body as it emerged from the lava.

They were shocked, none of them had seen a creature like this and they’ve been around for eons.

The creature stopped a few feet away from them, eyeing them up and standing eerily still.

The tension was rising.

Gunk ordered her group to run.

 All hell broke loose.

Lava erupted from the ground beneath them, throwing them all in separate directions, Gunk herself narrowly avoiding her own death. She shifted into her human form in an effort to avoid the heat’s effect on her slime body, she cried to the others to do the same. A broken wail echoed across the field and as Gunk looked over, she froze in terror.

More creatures were popping out of the lava, and they were on the move.

One had managed to grab her sister, Moss, who was half shifted into her human form when she was suddenly attacked. Moss was crying out as she was burned to ash, struggling against the lava creature as it coiled its broken body around her.

More cries followed soon after, more slimes succumbing to the heat of the magma creatures until only one remained standing.

Gunk.

Gunk who watched the entirety of her pack die in front of her eyes, Gunk who watched her own sister burn to ashes, Gunk who was suddenly filled with unimaginable anger. Her body cracked, it splintered, and she was burning, burning, burning. Her grief and rage consumed her, encapsulating her whole being. Her slime was melting off her body, but she was not melting with it, she was changing.

She became them.

And she killed them all.

With nothing but revenge as her guide, she coiled around the other magma creatures, stealing their warmth like they stole her sister’s life. She was burning, burning, burning and she needed more, needed to avenge the death of her pack.

All that was left was that first creature that had erupted from the lava, who stood impassively off to the side, having watched the battle rather than participate. Gunk turned towards the creature, rage swirling around her body as she neared towards her enemy.

‘You burn now too.’

The creature wriggled stiffly, body creaking as the magma chittered, sounding oddly pleased.

Gunk paused, ‘Why.. why would you do this!?!’

‘They took from me as I have taken from you.’

‘I will kill you. You had no right!’

‘I have every right! Soon you will understand, they all will.’

The pair collided, both attempting to steal each other’s lava core as their coils wrapped around one another.

They were burning, burning each other, burning the surroundings, burning everything and everyone. But Gunk was victorious, her rage was more vicious and thus was the winner in the end.

As she gazed around the battlefield, her anger died out, the flame in her body felt dim in the aftermath of the battle.

She did everything for the slime younglings and yet when she tried to return back to her family, they rejected her. She lost her pack, her sister and she lost herself, all for her slimes.

She did everything for them, and they rejected her, for they didn’t see her as Gunk anymore, this was a new dangerous creature. A creature that had sent their pack to their death and killed all who stood in her way. Her heat was a danger to them.

She was a danger to them.

Gunk was exiled, banished away from them to the ends of the desert where she couldn’t harm any of the remaining slimes.

With her gone, the lava followed soon after, absorbing back into the ground and out of sight. It would take million years for the earth to be restored back to its beauty and the tale of Gunk would spread far and wide between the slimes. Her heroic ventures shifting to one of terror, of how a slime became magma.

It was tale of caution, to never succumb to such intense emotions, to never become what you fear.

Slimes don’t kill, they love and cherish.

Magmas burn, they burn and burn until nothing remains.

Gunk was a hero but then she got burnt, she became the enemy when she burned.

No one ever found out what happened to Gunk, she remained a mystery after her exile.

Yet, Slime remembered viscerally when the news of her exile reached him. He mourned for months, refusing to play with his siblings and instead hiding away in the dirt. His own parent couldn’t get him to come out. Slime loved Gunk, she had raised him early on during his emergence and was always supportive of his journey to watch the humans. He likes to think that she changed forms to show him how to become human in his slime form. Afterall without her discovery, he may have never made human friends in the first place. He truly owed a lot to her.

Then she was gone, cast away because the slimes believed she was evil.

She gave up everything for her kind, only to be pushed away.

Slimecicle gave up everything for his family, only to be forgotten anyway.

And as Charlie looked down at himself, his crackling body and oozing magma insides, he came to a decision.

He would find Gunk.

If anyone could understand him, it would be her, his first caretaker.

He couldn’t be trapped here any longer in this cold dark cave.

He couldn't be trapped by the slimes.

He was burning, burning, burning.

He wanted to burn the world.

Chapter Text

Slimes as a mob were very aloof, always wandering and never seeming to stay in one place for long. Unsurprisingly, there was very little knowledge about the small gooey creatures; humans still had yet to discover that most mobs were sentient after all. Due to this lack of knowledge, many researchers have tried to hunt and capture slimes for answers, but they never got any results.

Slimes don’t act, they observe.

Slimes don’t talk, they observe.

Slimes don’t attack, they observe.

Slimes are always watching, listening, and absorbing everything they come across. And unfortunately for Charlie, he was the focus for these particular slimes. They watched him silently, always chittering far away from him as they watched impassively.

If he proved he was a threat then he would be exiled, technically he should've been exiled right now due to his less than slimy appearance. However, his over-protective brother Sludge, was adamant on his recovery, constantly arguing with the other slimes about his punishment. He was the only one that believed Slime could be fixed, even despite the near close call with his youngling. Supposedly, there had been stories of magma cubes converting back to slimes, but no one could confirm the tale.

Sludge was determined to help his younger brother, but Charlie didn’t want to be saved anymore.

He was angry.

Angry at the world, angry at himself, and angry at the situation he finds himself in. He was getting sick of it, every day he had to fight with his mind over his mistakes and every day he suffered because of it. His own slime was rejected from his body, hardened to nothing but blackened stone and a lava core that burned brightly against the cave walls.

The one time he’s finally put back together and finally stable, he almost kills another family member simply from his presence alone. Clearly, he wasn’t meant to be a parent, not like the rest of his family and especially not like his older brother.

Glancing back up the other slimes, it occurred to Charlie that they appeared to have been waiting for someone. They wouldn’t allow him to leave and were certainly keeping a close eye on him, something was going on. The slimes chittering grew in volume, some split into duplicates while others melted into the cave walls.

They were preparing.

Slimecicle’s core burned, if they were going to exile him, they would’ve done it sooner rather than later. The chittering, the preparing, Sludge’s arguments, these were all signs of something bigger going on or rather someone.

Slimes have lots of rules, unbeknownst to most humans and mobs alike, slimes have had traditions and rules passed down from each family, all differing from each pack. Gunk’s punishment for becoming a magma cube was decided by her own family, specifically her parent and thus was banished far into the desert for her crimes.

And that’s when it hit him, they were waiting for his parent.

His parent who would decide what to do with him.

A shout from Sludge was the only warning he got before water was suddenly dumped on top of him from the ceiling. Slime groaned loudly, his burning core emitting steam that flooded his cage as the rest of his body coiled inwards to maintain his heat. He could feel his skin start to harden, aching in protest as his coils were locked in place.

Much like how a slime’s body hardens underneath heat, magma cubes tend to lock up when too much water enters their body. And since Charlie’s core was almost directly impacted by said water, he is forced to temporarily still his coils while his magma goes back to full health. He is at the mercy of his slime brethren until they decide his fate.

He watches impassively as the slimes surround him, each one grabbing a different part of his stone body and tugging him out the cell. They are all chittering around him, gossiping about his fate and the outcome of his actions. All Slime could think about was that poor baby that he almost killed, how scared they must’ve been to see their relatives become a threat.

Tilin probably felt the same way.

And Juanaflippa.

He never got either of their forgiveness, and he never will.

How ironic that immediately after he gets his second chance, he almost kills another family member upon meeting.

A sharp tug from one of the slimes jolted him out of his thoughts, it seemed they were out of the cave entirely and had moved him to the edge of the cave’s entrance, overlooking the river below and hidden behind the rushing waterfall.

One push into that waterfall could kill him instantly, especially in his current from now.

Movement from the side caught his attention, his parent had finally made their appearance. They were large, larger than Sludge himself and yet moved with ease towards him. Charlie had gone through many different parents, all of them taking care of him throughout his journey; Gunk was his first parent, but Ooze was his last. Ooze was just like his name literally and metaphorically; his presence filled any room he entered.

The larger slime taught him how to be tough, how to move against the world and most importantly how to move on. Charlie never followed that lesson; he would always get attached to the littlest things only to cry later when he inevitably lived past them, and Ooze would always be there pick him back up again. Except, he wasn’t there when Slime lost his kid three times in a row and definitely wasn’t there when he killed his own nephew.

Charlie burned just remembering it all. His skin crackling in warning to the other slimes that he was slowly heating up. He could feel the steam escaping through his coils, his magma core was pulsing from the inside, aching, and demanding to be rekindled.

He needed to run.

He needed to burn.

With a mighty roar Slime released the lava swirling inside him, stone skin splintering as the heat broke free from his coils. The slimes holding him all screeched away in fear, removing their slime from his body at risk of being melted away into nothing. Charlie growled at them all, fog surrounding the area in a threatening display of dominance. His heat was a danger to the slimes and now he could decide to what to do, now nobody could control him.

Suddenly, a gooey body was thrown at him or more accurately lunged at him, the pair struggled against one another, it was a battle of absorption. There were only two outcomes, either Charlie manages to entangle the slime into his coils and turns them to ash or the slime cools down his core and absorbs his body. More screeching, more chittering and soon more goopey bodies joined in the battle, all trying to subdue Slime and prevent him from releasing more unwanted heat.

But Charlie needed to burn.

He hissed angrily, his thoughts roaring at him to burn all those that stood in his way, to kill all those that prevented him from his new mission. He would find Gunk and fix everything, no matter the cost, nothing could ever hurt him than in comparison to the previous world. Slimecicle could still remember it, could still feel Tilin’s yolk on his hands, could still feel the gap in his stomach from Quackity’s sword, could still feel his world shatter when he heard of Juanaflippa’s final death.

It was all wrong.

He couldn’t keep getting stuck in his grief, he needed to fix his mistakes regardless of if his family remembered him or not. The only thing in his way was the slimes.

Steam erupted from his body, the result of slime making contact with his lava insides as he began coiling around the slimes trying to capture him. His body was emitting intense heat, melting all gooey substance that touched his body. His magma core reached critical levels as it scorched the cave floors, leaving nothing but charred remains.

He was lost in his anger, too deep in his emotions that it didn’t faze him when he absorbed the slimes, not even noticing the ashes of what slimes remained. Distantly, he could hear his older brother chittering for him, but nothing could get through.

All Slimecicle cared about was the promise he made to his daughter; no more would he allow his sadness to control his life. Slime after slime that tried to hold him down were met with the same fate as the others, burnt to ashes and left as nothing. Creatures that were made to nurture and care for Charlie were soon being erased by the very slime that they had raised.

He was no longer a slime, but a magma.

He was a traitor to their kind, and he couldn’t be stopped.

The slimes evacuated the cave, all of them grabbing their babies and melting into the ground for safety.

‘Slimecicle!’

A deep chitter reverberated against the cave walls as Charlie looked up from the ash pile, he had created of his fellow slimes. There wobbled proudly was his last creator, Ooze, the only slime bold enough to stay behind. The pair stared at each other, neither moving with only the sounds of Slime’s crackling body to cut through the rising tension.

Ooze slowly gooped forward.

‘What are you doing? You are killing us, your own family!’

Briefly, Charlie is shot back to a distant memory, one filled with happiness and laughter as Juanaflippa shoots down her first skeleton. The memory shifts with Flippa being replaced with a younger Slimecicle who learns to absorb his first mob with his slime family watching proudly.

They taught him everything.

And he killed them.

Why was he angry again?

‘Sludge told me about your child, you lost her.’

Juanaflippa, his precious baby.

‘But loss is a natural part of life, every parent must say goodbye to their youngling.’

No, no, no, that’s not right.

‘Remember what I taught you? Slimes will always outlive others, your daughter was not a slime, you would have outlived her just like all your other friends.’

No.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

He hated that, hated outliving the things he loved. It happened too often for him; he watched too many planets die without getting to keep a friend. He refused to believe that he would outlive his daughter, no matter how true that statement may be.

Slimes were very single-minded and though they taught Slime useful things, he could never understand their reluctance with bonding with other creatures. Slimes were the oldest mobs after all and one of the first created with Charlie, yet he was the only slime that was curious about the other creatures that inhabited the planet. In every pack he was in, they all taught him to be an observer, to watch and not react.

Particularly with their young.

Slimes will raise and nurture their babies for years only to let them go once they reach age to venture on their own. Once a slime leaves the nest, they never return, hence why younger slimes leave in smaller packs to watch over each other. Yet the parent will remain in their homes and simply continue life until they decide to have more younglings.

Younglings were replaceable to slimes, once they left the nest then they were no longer a priority for the parent.

Charlie couldn’t even imagine doing that to Juanaflippa, the very idea makes him sick. All that time he spent with her, none of that could ever be replaced and for his very own parent to suggest such a thing was disgusting. It didn’t matter if he outlived her, all that mattered was that he made her life as perfect as possible for his little daughter; Tilin included.

‘You need to let her go; she is poisoning you!’

His skin crackled, magma core burning brightly, he roared as he lunged towards his former parent. Rage clouded his mind swirling around and consuming every thought in his body, he coiled around Ooze, wrapping their slime tightly against his burning core. Ooze screeched in pain, struggling against the coils as his body was turned to ash in seconds.

Slime was burning, he was burning, and he refused to stop; letting his heat envelop him and swallow his parent whole. The fire was raging inside him, devouring what little slime was left and leaving it to nothing but tiny specks of dust.

Ooze was no more.

And Charlie felt nothing.

His core continued to pulse, glowing luminously at being fed and once again burning brightly from inside his coils. Turning to look around at his carnage, he watched the ashes of his fellow slimes fall to the ground peacefully, drifting into the air where they would return to the soil once more; no slime would emerge this time. Their journey has finally ended, but his has just begun.

He turned away from the cave, manoeuvring his coils to grip onto the side of the mountain and slowly make his down. Upon reaching the familiar clearing of flowers and spacious valley, Charlie found himself idly hopping around.

He knew he needed to find Gunk, so that she could help him with his situation and possibly aid him in finding his family. She would never suggest to just abandon him; the memory of having burned Ooze fills him with unbridled happiness. Just the thought of them made Charlie growl deeply, magma dripping from his coils as it burned the fauna around him.

A strange sensation rippled through his body, causing Slime to glance up at the sky and freeze.

What was once a bright cloudless sky, soon rapidly changed to darkness. He watched clouds suddenly zip past him, reaching to the ends of the horizon as the was quickly pulled down.

This was definitely not normal, but Charlie couldn’t think of a single reason why the sky would act like this, not even Foolish’s powers allowed him to speed up time. Yet, nothing else changed, it appeared that only the sky was being pushed through time, while everything else was just simply untouched.

The moon glowed, casting its light upon the grounds below and signaling to the other mobs that it was time to wake-up.

Slime lost in his confusion of the sky, failed to notice the familiar presence of another creature appearing right behind him. The only warning, he got was the feeling of his core being squeezed before he was violently transported to another location.

A more warmer location.

The Nether.

Except this was certainly different from the previous nether, unlike the other one that was just covered in netherrack, this one appeared to have strange blue forests that intermingled with the rest of the environment. Noticeably, the ground was cooler with the neon grass brushing up against his body while the sprouted trees swayed to a non-existent wind.

“-didn’t listen.”

Charlie snapped upwards towards the voice, raising himself up with his coils as he stared in bewilderment to the sudden change.

It was the Enderman again. The creature was looking down on him, purple eyes narrowed in displeasure and a gaping jaw that looked painful to open. It simply stared at him, not moving an inch, and making Slime more nervous by the second, he even bounced slightly away at the close proximity they shared.

“Sorry?”

“Strange. Slime. Return. To. Pack.”

The being snarled; eyes glowing brighter as the end of it’s sentence turned glitchier by the second. Clearly the mob was pissed, presumably about Slime not staying with his so called ‘pack’, but it made no sense as to why the Enderman would be bothered in the first place.

The silence seemed to stretch between the two and the Enderman was not happy about it, wordlessly the being grabbed a hold of Charlie once more and activated it’s magic instantly.

They were teleported inside what looked to be a castle with long halls and the sounds of other mobs echoing throughout the building. Slime recognised the far away charred smell of the Blazes and distant creaking from the Wither skeletons. Though he’s never personally visited the Nether before, he knows the treacherous tales of the adventurers that have travelled here before and returned with their treasures. Still, he’s curious as to where the Enderman is taking him; it’s magic is going to mess too much with his internal body, and he might accidentally start a fight with said being.

And he didn’t want to risk that.

The Enderman turned a sharp corner, pulling them into a seemingly empty room coveted in darkness. Charlie hesitated to ask where they were, his magma core flicking in the darkness as he tried to make out the insides of the room.

He didn’t have to wait long.

The sounds of moving rock echoed around the room with the walls starting to shake violently and yet still, Slime could not escape the Enderman’s grip. The noise only increased in volume as the smell of fire soon invaded Charlie’s senses.

What was once a dark room erupted into light with the noises being revealed to be none other than the very creatures Slime was looking for.

The Magma Cubes.

It appears that they melted their way through the nether fortress as evident by the sudden prominent holes in the brick walls. Each of them varied in different sizes, all staring at Charlie with an intensity that made him uncomfortable. Unlike slimes, these creatures might not know everything about him, for all he knew about these mobs were that they were changed slimes. Though, just from looking, nothing about them were similar, from their glowing eyes, burning cores and crackled skin, they were entirely different.

And Slime would know, he was one of them now.

The burning rage he felt, no doubt also followed them.

The Enderman finally dropped him, hissing out words in static to the other cubes before turning it’s attention back to Charlie.

“Listen.”

It snarled at him as it’s purple particles danced around it’s body dangerously almost in a threat of another teleportation. Thankfully, the being simply disappeared, likely going back to it’s own journey and hopefully leaving him alone. However, it’s word lingered in his mind.

Listen?

Isn’t that what he did?

Though looking back, maybe he did miss something, but he just didn’t know what, and it was bothering him. Slimes were usually observant, but he wasn’t a slime anymore, he was a magma cube.

Listen?

He turned to face the other magma cubes, all of them surrounding him and seemingly watching him as much as he was watching them. One of them bounced forward, eyes glowing bright as the creature got closer.

“Took you long enough, Slimecicle.”

What.

Chapter Text

Charlie stared, he stared, and he tried to get his brain to comprehend the things around him. First, it was the Enderman that had just kidnapped him again to return him with his pack, but apparently it wasn’t the right pack. He ends up killing his parent and many other members of said pack to just escape from them before being kidnapped again, taken by the same Enderman from before to reunite him with an entirely different pack.

The magma cubes.

Who resided in a nether fortress away from the surface and were now surrounding him in a throne room that had the one and only legendary Gunk front and centre of the group.

It was just all too much for him to understand at once.

He hadn’t seen his parent in so long, separated after he had to leave to migrate to somewhere else. It was just the way life was and he hadn’t thought about her until the news spread of Gunk leaving her own pack behind as well to help some of the other slimes. It was confronting to see her like this, her magma coils were wound tightly around her bright core. Her burning eyes were locked onto his and he couldn’t read any emotion from them, much like an Enderman.

He couldn’t help but feel slightly scared.

“Gunk.” He croaked, shifting his coils underneath her intense stare as he slowly lowered himself to the ground in case things went south. She wasn’t exactly known for her kindness and as much as Slime respected her, he couldn’t fully trust her just yet.

For a moment no one spoke, he could feel the weighted looks from the other magma cubes, clearly something was going on around him.

“Follow us Slimecicle, we have much to discuss.”

And then she shifted.

Her coils wound tight around her core before shifting and expanding to create something vaguely resembling a human body. It was like looking at a statue except it had lava dripping from it’s eyes and multiple cracks along the body that had magma oozing out of them. Charlie watched stunned as the rest of the magma cubes followed their leader, all shifting into more human forms as lava started escaping from their bodies too.

It was reminiscent of when he was a slime and his goop would unconsciously start dripping from his skin, despite him being in human form. This must’ve been their version.

At the risk of embarrassing himself in front of the pack, Slime closed his eyes and focused on his new form. He needn’t worry about forming glasses anymore and instead concentrated on making his body as human as possible to mimic the others. He could feel his coils curling inwards, wrapping itself around his core in protecting before expanding outwards to create the necessary limbs. Already, he could feel himself grow taller and the cracking of his form alerted him that the rest of his appendages were finished too.

As he reopened his eyes, he made eye contact with Gunk who gave him a nod in approval before exiting back out through the wall. Charlie followed closely behind with the rest of the magma pack surrounding him on all sides as they walked through the nether.

“I imagine you have a few questions?”

“Just a few, yeah.”

“Then let’s trade, I’ll go first. Why did you die?”

Slime jerked to a stop, opening, and closing his mouth as he tried to figure out how to answer.

“I did it for my daughter.”

“Really.”

Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.

“How interesting, your turn then.”

“What did you mean when you said I ‘took long enough’?”

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

At no further explanation he huffed, looks like he wouldn’t be getting clear answers any time soon. Not that he was too surprised, Gunk was never chatty to begin with.

Charlie looked around his environment, he didn’t know where the group was leading him, but it had to be quite far. They had walked past a lot of lava falls and even past some of the new forests he hadn’t seen before. Everything in the Nether was still a bit new to him, it really was nothing like the surface.

“Slime, answer me honestly. What do you think happened to me?”

“You burned too brightly, right? Did something you weren’t supposed to, made the wrong choice kinda thing and now this is your punishment?”

“Well, I wouldn’t really consider this a punishment.”

A few of the magma chuckled at her answer, their laughter sounded like crackling fireworks.

“What would you consider it?”

“Freedom.”

They stopped at the edge of a high cliff, Gunk turned to face him, and the other magma moved to stand beside her. She spread her arms out wide.

“Welcome to our world, little one.”

And as she dropped her hands down, the ground started to shake.

Charlie struggled to stabilize himself, staring up at Gunk with wide eyes as the vibrations got worse. It wasn’t until he noticed a large pillar appearing behind her that Slime finally saw what she was talking about. Rising from the lava depths was a large castle made from Netherite blocks and Nether bricks that decorated the rooftops. It loomed over the entirety of the cliff itself, almost reaching the next ground above them.

His legs moved him closer to the edge, neck craning upwards at the sight before him. Clearly, the magmas must’ve been working on this for a long time, the size itself was just insane, taking up the whole lava lake from just appearing. And as he looked closer, Charlie could see hundreds of other magma cubes navigating their way, over, around and through the castle. This must’ve been where they’ve hiding all these years.

“Impressive?”

“How the fuck, how did you do this and why?”

“There are a lot more of us than you think and the why part is easy, it's because of you.”

He whirled around to face Gunk.

“What!?”

She grinned at his confusion, wrapping her arm around his shoulders, she began guiding him down towards the castle.

“You don’t understand the chaos you left after your death. The island was in shambles, blood was shed, anger was rampant and most importantly-”

She grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around to face the entrance of the daunting creation.

“The rise of the magma cubes!”

“The what-”

“Our rise, Slimecicle! The world was burning and we were there to burn with it!”

Her grin was sharp, eyes glowing in madness as if to persuade him. She kept gesturing to the castle, pointing out magma cubes and the various events that led up to the destruction of Quesadilla Island. Supposedly, after his grand death it triggered a lot of events to happen at once.

“First it was the man dressed in red and yellow.”

Mariana could only stare at where his husband once was.

He was gone.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

His body had melted, completely sinking into the stone-cold ground. Mariana still had pieces of his husband’s slime on his hands, it soaked through his gloves like how his husband soaked through the ground. Almost desperately he clawed at the stone, gathering up as much as he could. He could fix it; he could piece back his husband. It would all be okay.

They’ll live as a happy family again.

Because there was just no other option, he couldn’t raise Flippa on his own and Slime would hate to miss out on raising their daughter together. He always remembered her little allergies and Mariana just couldn’t do it by himself. He just couldn’t and he refused to; he just needs his husband back.

Slime always came back, that’s why he loved him.

That’s why he loves him because there’s no way he’s just gone like that. There was no goodbye, so it didn’t even count. He’s seen his partner survive much more than a simple stabbing, he’s jumped on fucking mines and walked it off the very next day! He was slime and slimes don’t fucking die because they can just absorb shit and move on.

His husband didn’t die.

Slime didn’t die.

He didn’t die.

Cause if he did, then Tilin was about to lose their fucking parent.

“Then there was that little egg with glasses.”

Flippa felt empty.

Days had passed since the death of her dad and yet she still hadn’t felt a thing, no tears escaped her shell as she stared out her bedroom window. Her mum and her relocated far, far away from the others to a place surrounded by large cliffs and palm trees. It was quiet, most days were quiet for her now. Not even her mum talked much, and when he did, it was about bringing back dad.

He was never coming back, Flippa knew that.

She knew it the moment she saw the blood pooling underneath him, even then she felt nothing. She cuddled up close to his corpse and watched as his body melted into the floor and far, far away from them.

Her hands twitched suddenly, they felt gross and sticky.

She needed to wash the dried blood of her talons before her mum noticed.

“No, no, no, Flippa wouldn’t-”

“Oh, but she did, and she did it wonderfully!”

She was standing over Mr. Quackity’s bed, the warp stone still warm in her hands as she approached beside him quietly. It was easy stealing from her mum, he was so lost in his head that Flippa simply took it out of his chest and used it immediately.

She was empty.

She was empty and needed something to fill her up.

Mr. Quackity stole her dad, so he must’ve stolen all her feelings too. It was all his fault; he took away everything from her and broke their family. So, she was gonna do something much, much more worse to him, something that’s been swirling on her mind lately.

Respawns.

Respawns and healing potions.

If you injure someone bad enough and then heal them to fix the injury, that state of their body becomes permanent and respawn won’t be able to put the body back together perfectly ever again. It also worked backwards too!

Say for example, if Flippa splashed a certain hybrid with a regeneration potion that numbed all pain and then snapped his left wing back and held it in place as the potion healed it incorrectly until it was dangling uselessly off the side of the bed. Then hypothetically every time he respawned, their wing would always be broken and had no choice but to chop it off.

But Flippa would never do that.

She snapped both his wings.

And yet she still felt empty.

It was only once she warped home and saw the blood covering her clothes and fingers that she felt herself smile. Her dad would be so proud!

“Stop!”

“Oh, but that’s not even the best part!”

Foolish was screaming.

Images of his dead friend plaguing his mind as he stared at the seas before him.

He was gone.

He was never going to see Slime ever again.

He screamed.

He screamed, and screamed and screamed, clutching at his chest as he fell to his knees in the sand. The roar of his voice shook the ocean, thunder was rolling in overhead, and he could feel the electricity dance across his skin.

Quackity took away his friend, but he also lost his wings.

Mariana and Flippa had disappeared shortly after.

The island was going to shit.

Not even the gods were answering his prayers, no one higher up wanted to listen to his wails, to his pleading, to his begging. They had left him, and he had no one.

He screamed at the ocean and the sky roared back, the crackling of lighting shaking the earth below. All he had was his pain and the members of the once former god that was slaughtered by a mere mortal. He’d kill the hybrid himself if he didn’t already convince Dapper to sacrifice the bird for Slime. It wouldn’t work, not at all, but Foolish wanted the man gone. Bad wouldn’t listen to his words but Dapper was just too easy to convince, the poor baby demon, mourning the loss of an uncle he didn’t get to properly understand.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Foolish could smell the end, he could smell the grief that swallowed the island and the smell of desperation. The island was going to sink, and he would be there to bring it under water. If the gods won’t restart the world, then he’ll end it himself.

Leo and Vegetta would reincarnate in the next life, but not Slime, not Charlie.

Not his friend.

The demi-god slammed his hands into the earth, pure electricity pulsing directly into the ground as the waves continued to build up.

He was taking the whole fucking island under.

“Stop, just stop! Why are you telling me this!?”

“So, you understand!”

Charlie looked at her to the castle entrance, none of it made any sense in his mind.

“You need to see; you need to understand!”

Gunk grabbed him tightly, pulling him into the castle’s long hallways and winding passages, moving past all the other magma cubes towards an unknown location. She eventually stopped in front of a large metal door, pushing it open with a flick of her wrist and shoved him inside.

The room was decorated in paintings, covered head to toe in various images that looked to be depicting Quesadilla Island itself. Except everything was covered in flames, there was very little he actually recognised due to how destroyed it looked.

“It was a catalyst event! An island filled with ticking timebombs that all exploded at the same time, there was nothing left. No one could possibly live on a land filled with fire, but we could, and we did! Everything was perfect for us, but then the world reset, and we were left underground once again. Slime, join us! You can lead us back to the surface-”

“Why the fuck would I do that!?”

He blurted out, images of his old home flashing through his mind as he turned to face Gunk. He never wanted to live in a place like that and especially not at the cost of his family and friend’s lives, it went against everything he stood for and was just beyond fucked up.

He didn’t want his wife to go insane or for his daughter to become a fucking psycho!

“You are one of us now, Slime-”

“No, the fuck I am not! You went batshit insane but I’m trying to protect my family!”

“So. Am. I.”

She moved closer to him.

“You are not the only one that suffered. We have all suffered! Suffered from the bullshit rules that slimes live by – I wasn’t allowed to grieve the death of my kids because I just had to accept that humans were going to kill them anyway! I became what I am because I wasn’t allowed to protect my family but now, I can protect this one and you can help me. We are the same, consumed by grief and angry at the world!”

“You became what you are because you killed your family, you killed other slimes! You broke the rules!”

“Like you did? Tell me little one, where’s that parent slime that told you not to grieve Flippa? Where are the slimes that trapped you in that cave because you were dangerous to the others?”

Charlie froze. He did kill them, didn’t he? He absorbed their ashes into his core to keep himself warm and went on his way without any sense of regret. In his head it was justified, they told him to move on, but he couldn’t, he had so much for his daughter that he wouldn’t just let her go now. He made a promise.

But so had Gunk, she promised to the other slimes that she’d protect them, and she did – at the cost of killing other slimes. Yet no one even knew that magma cubes were former slimes until Gunk’s transformation and then she was punished for it.

Both of them had wanted to protect their families and lost everything because of it but that’s where the similarities end. She wanted to spread her poisonous grief to the surface and make everyone suffer like she had; Charlie just wanted to see his family happy again.

“You’re right Gunk, I killed slimes but I’m not joining whatever plan this is. It’s not right, its wrong to drag other people into your grief!”

“Even if we’re all suffering from the same thing? It is the fault of the slime’s ruling in the first place that made us like this, we should be allowed to grieve and feel angry!”

“You’re right but holding onto it for so long can be dangerous to yourself.”

Slime gestured to himself, over the leaking lava and cracks that littered his stone body.

“I’m not a saint, anyone can see that. I wanted to burn the world and I did fucked up things, but I’d never wish that pain of losing a child on anyone else. I wouldn’t wish that pain on my greatest enemy and I’d never wish it on my friends and family.”

‘Remember to not let your grief swallow you but instead let it guide you.’

“I can’t do this anymore.”

This isn’t what he wanted, not anymore. He wanted to burn the world, wanted to meet Gunk to understand why he was angry and yet standing in front of her, he wanted to be anywhere else but here.  He wasn’t angry anymore, just tired.

He wanted to see his family again.

He missed them.

Too much time Charlie spent wallowing in his grief that he was blinded by his true purpose of being given this second chance. He was going to reunite with his family and protect them the way he should’ve from the start. He would love his daughter, teaching her the wonders of the world and he would love his wife, never letting him doubt for a second their wedding vows.

And as he looked at Gunk, all he could see was his potential future, what he would become if he kept letting grief control him and he refused.

He needed to heal. He needed his family.

His skin didn’t feel painful anymore, his internal core cooling down as he felt himself start to break apart from his stone encasing. Charlie’s green goop was escaping from the cracks, steaming surrounding him as his lava began to cool down.

Charlie wasn’t a magma cube, but a slime and he had the goo to back it up. It felt right to be back in his slime form once again, like this was who he was supposed to be from the start. The grief would never truly leave him from the old world and the new knowledge he gained about how it ended would haunt him. But he would let it guide him like his mother taught him instead of letting it rule him.

“How disappointing.”

Gunk hissed at his slimy body, face wrinkling up in disgust.

“C’mon Gunk, just let it go, this grief will kill you.”

He outstretched his hand in offering, smiling gently at her like all the times she’d smile at him. Back when she was his parent and things were different.

But she didn’t take his hand, instead she let out a loud hiss.

The castle vibrated.

Magma cubes began pouring out through the door behind them, bursting open as they all surrounded him. Their eyes were hungry, magma oozing out of their coils as they waited for a signal.

He stared into the eyes of his former parent.

“Don’t.”

But she turned away.

“You should’ve stayed dead, Slime.”

The magma cubes lunged at him.

Chapter Text

Let it be known that Charlie was not a fighter, quite the opposite actually.

He’s the first person to turn tail in the face of danger, running away to the safety of the dirt rather than face whatever threat was in front of him. In fairness it wasn’t his fault, he was birthed into a world that was already ruined from destruction. He saw the fire, the scorched earth, the overwhelming silence that strangled him when he was alone.

And he was alone.

For thousands and thousands of years.

So, no, he wasn’t a fighter, he was a mourner. Slime mourned and mourned as it was the only thing he could do until Mother had found him.

Even as a God, he was hesitant to act out, often going to his mother for comfort in times of need and stress. He always doublechecked with her about what to do with the powers she had granted him with. Being the child of the Goddess of Nature allowed him to see the beauty in all things living and even in destruction itself for it allowed the rebirth of new life.

Slime would always mourn his old planet, born into a world that was already destroyed before he could even live in it and yet it gave him a new life in the form of a God.

But he still couldn’t fight, couldn’t find the reason to ever battle the other powerful beings that threatened his mother’s creations. His job was to merely watch over the different worlds and report back to Mother, she was very clear in telling him not to interfere. Mother always handled the more dangerous aspects of being a God, protecting her worlds against her siblings while also raising him.

He remembers being introduced to the other Gods, all of them eager and naïve to create a world of their own together like their parents. It all went horribly wrong in only a matter of minutes, neither of them understanding how to balance out each other’s powers and creating a world so unliveable that it swallowed itself in its destruction.

And then there was Grizzly, but no one talks about Grizzly.

His banishment drove them all apart, separated by their parents and taken to the ends of the universe as punishment. Charlie missed his old friends sometimes, but the destruction they caused together serves as a reminder to never lose control of one’s abilities. Occasionally they would reunite in other dimensions, not as Gods but as mere mortals that had to fight powerful beings or to suffer underneath their rule.

It was one of the few times he had to fight for his survival, and he hated it. He still hates it.

Every swipe of the sword, every shot from a bow, everything reminded him of his old home. The possibility that it could happen to any planet, that all it took was one wrong bad move and suddenly the world was destroyed. He’s seen it too many times and every time he mourns.

He couldn’t fight, didn’t have that natural instinct to defend himself and until recently never had a reason to. But then he was blessed with a perfect family, then he was giving a second chance at life and only then did he have a reason to fight. He needed them as much as he needed the air to breathe and the water to hydrate himself.

He needed to get to his family.

And if that meant fighting a fuckton of magma cubes obsessed with destruction, then so be it.

He would slaughter them all if it meant he could pick up Flippa in his arms again or to just have one last kiss from his wife; he’d do anything for them.

“You should’ve stayed dead, Slime.”

Charlie looked around the room, more magma cubes were pouring in from every angle imaginable. He hissed as lava landed on his shoulder, looking up only to be met with dozens of molten eyes staring right back at him from the ceiling. He was surrounded.

Let it be known that Slime hated fighting.

He took in a deep breath, taking one last long around the room at all the magma cubes crowding him in. He wouldn’t be trapped down here any longer, he had a family to get to.

Charlie knew he couldn’t take them all on, there was just too many and they had the advantage of the heat and fire that could easily burn him to a crisp. So, he did the next best thing, he melted underground. He heard the growls of the magmas and knew he didn’t have a lot of time, he ignored the burning sensation as he went underground, as long as he didn’t go too far under, he would be fine. He couldn’t risk his slime spreading as much on the off chance that it would touch the lava beneath, it wasn’t like the surface which had infinite dirt, no, it was all lava here.

He slithered through the bricks of the castle, narrowly avoiding the magma cubes that pressed themselves against the walls. They couldn’t squeeze themselves into tiny places like a slime could, their coils preventing them from getting any smaller and he planned to use that to his advantage. But they could spread their heat through the gaps of the wall, effectively trying to push him out.

Slime could already feel pieces of himself start to drip off the longer it was exposed to the high temperatures of the magma cubes.

And then he was grabbed.

A swelting, burning, blistering hand wrapped its rotten fingers around his slimy body and disintegrated his goop in mere seconds. Charlie screamed, struggling underneath the bricks as more molten hands joined in, burning away his slime and leaving nothing but ash. If he didn’t act fast, he would perish in the walls of the castle and Gunk would win. He couldn’t let that happen, couldn’t let that murderous traitor destroy the one world where he finally had everything.

His wife, his daughter, his friends were all waiting for him on the surface, and he would do anything to get to them. Even if it meant doing the one thing he hated doing.

Charlie wasn’t a fighter; he was a mourner that mourned all that he lost, but these magma cubes didn’t deserve his tears. They made their choice, and he made his.

Another magma hand entangled itself in his slime and Charlie forced his body to wrap itself around the entirety of the arm. Swallowing down the pain that sparked across his liquid body and fought against the heat, spreading his slime along the limb. The magma shrieked loudly, pulling their arm out the wall, and giving Slime the chance, he needed to expand himself around the humanoid body.

Just like the castle wall with its many cracks, Slime entered inside the magma cube’s body by flowing through its own breakages. The creature screamed in pain, steam erupting from its cracked skin as its magma core was swallowed up by Charlie’s slime. It didn’t take long for the being to collapse into dust, and he absorbed that too; slime building up from the extra material.

Slimes could take any material and convert it into the necessary nutrients needed to reproduce their own slime and that was something Charlie could use.

The magma cubes lunged for him once more, all crackling and hissing as they all tried to reduce him to ash.

“Dad?”

Flippa looked up at him sleepily, she was resting on his chest as they both huddled up together in her bed. She had been experiencing nightmares recently, so Charlie came up with the great idea of becoming her pillow until she fell asleep. He would chase aware her night terrors and keep her safe from the dangers of the night.

“Yeah, my little Flippa?”

“You won’t leave us, right? I had this nightmare where-”

“Hey, hey, hey, let me stop you right there and remind you that not even the deepest depths of hell could ever separate me from you or our family. I would destroy the world before even the possibility of us being apart happens.”

He squeezed her in comfort, wrapping his slime around her for extra security. Recently, she had expressed that she felt safe around his slime and if he cried to himself about it then no one had to know. He would do anything to make sure his precious little daughter felt safe, nothing would change that.

As Flippa finally closed her eyes, satisfied with her dad’s answer, Mariana slowly climbed into the room. His armour was off, and he was left in a white singlet and pajama bottoms that just screamed comfort. Charlie signalled for his partner to join them in the bed, and he complied easily.

“More nightmares?” He whispered quietly, lifting the covers, and scooping up both him and Flippa into his arms. Charlie let himself sink into his wife slightly, loosening his hold on his humanoid appearance to enjoy the full warmth coming from Mariana.

“Yeah, she just needs some extra comfort tonight.”

“Tomorrow we can go and pick some flowers with her? She likes making the flower jewellery.”

Slime hummed in agreement, feeling his own eyes start to close as he too succumbed to the safety of sleep. He could feel his wife shift closer, pressing light kisses along his neck and snuggling into his slime like Flippa had done.

It was moments like these that Charlie loved his family, they were both so comfortable with his goopy self and not once did he feel insecure about it when he was around them. He promised to himself that night that he would cherish his wife and their darling daughter for the rest of his life. Out of all the worlds he’d travelled to, this one was by far his favourite. This was where he belonged.

“GET HIM!”

Gunk’s enraged voice echoed throughout the castle’s war. She was glaring at him with a burning hatred in her eyes and Charlie returned the look, he was really getting sick of her.

With a growl, Slime split himself into multitudes, throwing his clones at the hoard of magma cubes surrounding him. He aimed for their magma cores, extinguishing them as quick as he could while he made his way towards Gunk. His slime was devouring the cubes one by one, his clones growing bigger as they too absorbed the entirety of the creatures that threatened to stand in his way. Jaw unhinged, he lunged and enveloped a nearby magma cube, feeling its coils give way under his weight and crumble to the ground.

As he glared into the eyes of his former parent, he didn’t look away as he slowly tore apart the cube right in front of her. Charlie could feel the magma core flicker out inside of his body and took satisfaction in watching Gunk take a step back. Never had he felt so powerful in such a mortal form before, he could feel his clones growing stronger with each passing second. It wouldn’t be long until they feasted on the entirety of the magma cubes under Gunk’s control, stripping her of everything she had built.

“It didn’t have to be like this!” He yelled at her, walking towards his former parent slowly but with confidence. He watched as she backed away, hissing at him in warning as her skin crackled loudly.

Then she smiled, a dangerous look in her eyes.

He paused.

“No, it didn’t.”

A sudden bang had Charlie whipping around to face the noise and shock ran through his body as a hoard of piglins burst through the castle’s door.

Their armour gleamed under the light with their weapons raised and at the ready.

“You see, little slime, I am not an idiot.” Gunk’s voice was sharp.

“I didn’t just twiddle my thumbs down here, no, I planned for your betrayal, and I planned for your death!”

Charlie turned to face her, narrowly avoiding her attack as she swung a golden sword towards him. Too quick the battle had changed tides and he could feel his clone selves struggle under the pressure of both mobs attacking from all sides. His mind was in panic mode, focusing on both Gunk’s aggression and the nether creatures that threatened to kill him right then and there.

His slime ached at the sudden loss of his other gooey pieces, feeling each and every one of them get torn to pieces and then burnt to ashes. He faltered slightly and that was all Gunk needed to pierce her sword into his chest and pin him to the ground. Charlie prepared to melt into the floor when Gunk used her magma to heat up her weapon and he struggled against the onslaught of the blistering hot metal. His slime was in too much pain to even move.

He groaned, feeling his body start to weaken.

He didn’t want to die like this, not before he saw his family, not before he could fulfill his promise to his daughter. He tried to fight against the sudden tiredness that threatened to overtake him, knowing that if he closed his eyes, he would never open them back up again. This couldn’t be it; he couldn’t accept that this was his fate. He didn’t even get to see his family yet.

Mariana.

Juanaflippa.

“SLIMECICLE!”

A body slammed into Gunk violently or more accurately a slime.

He would recognise that familiar blue-green hue anywhere, even when close to death.

It was Sludge, he had returned for him. And he wasn’t alone.

Loud chittering filled the castle and Slime watched with wide eyes as the castle ceiling started dripping. There was slime leaking from the roof and dropping down onto the floor, all rushing to help him. He could feel them gathering up his remaining slime, all moving to piece him back together while the others tugged at the heated sword.

Distantly he could hear Sludge battling with Gunk in the background, his former parent was screaming in rage.

“What?” He tried to speak, looking at all the slimes that surrounded his vision, seeing nothing but love and worry in their eyes. Never before had he seen so many different hues of slimes gather together like this, honestly, he had tears in his eyes from just the sight alone.

“C’mon little brother, we’d never abandon you, not now, not ever.”

A smooth voice caught his attention, it was a slime that he recognised all too well. His big sister from a different pack, one that was raised near the edge of a beach and had the colour of seafoam in their slime.

“Moss?”

“The one and only.”

Charlie sobbed, his slime instinctively reaching out for her now that he was free from the heated weapon, and she reciprocated in kind.

“Yeah, look at you go!”

“I’m doing it!”

Slimecicle was floating in a little pond, finally beating his fear of the water, and lightly bobbing along in the shallow area. Moss was cheering him on and stayed close to him, spreading her slime out to match his as the two of them floated together. He couldn’t stop his giggling, feeling so proud of himself for beating his fear as well as having his sister cheer for him.

The rest of his siblings could already float in the water, but he had never been raised near the water before. This was the first pack he had migrated to that was surrounded by lots of water and Moss was in charge of teaching him their ways. She was youngest in her pack, however now that Slime had joined, he had taken her spot and thus now she had to help him out. Though he’s never seen her complain about it, in fact she was ecstatic.

She had spent days and nights with him to help with his fears of the water, comforting him when he needed it most. He’s never had a sister like her before and he was so glad that he had met her.

A gentle nudge from Moss had him focusing back on her, watching in awe as her slime glistened under the sun. His slime didn’t do that, but one day he would learn and fit in with his new family!

“See, this isn’t too scary, is it?”

“No, it’s a lot more calmer than the beach.”

Moss laughed at his answer, gathering him up in her slime and lifting them both out of the water. The sun was starting to set which meant they both had to return back home and to their pack.

“Just know that I always got you, okay? I’ll protect you from those scary waves and together we’ll beat up the entire ocean!”

“How can you beat up all that water?”

“Like this!”

Slime squealed as Moss spun him around dramatically, jumping and hopping all over the place while she carried him the entire trip back home. Not once did he feel fear in his sister’s slime, soaking up all her warmth and allowing his fears to leave his mind. Moss would protect him; he had no reason to be afraid, not with her by his side.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. Now come on, let’s get you back to the surface.”

And just like when they were babies, Moss wrapped him up in her slime and carried him carefully through the battlefield that was the castle halls. Hidden in his sister’s goop, he watched in amazement at the hundreds of slimes that joined the fight, all working together and using their abilities to not only absorb the magma cubes but to also defeat the piglins. It was almost like looking at a renaissance painting with all the different coloured slimes that merged together to take down the enemies.

And they were all there for him.

After everything he had done, the slimes he had killed and endangered, they still all rallied behind him when he needed them most.

‘Sludge had talked to us about what happened to you.’ Moss’s voice entered his mind, their merged bodies allowing her to talk to him through a special connection, much like Sludge had done.

‘Slimes shouldn’t leave each other, not when one of us need help and especially not you. You were right to be mad and angry, it was us that reacted wrongly.’

Oh, no one’s ever said that to him before; confirmation that his feelings were valid.

‘Let us make it up to you.’

Moss jerked to the left, narrowly avoiding the swinging axe of one of the piglins before shooting out her slime to absorb the creature quickly. As the two of them were merged, she split the nutrients between them, and Charlie could feel himself grow back his own slime. His sister always looked after him, from making sure he was safe from the water to being safe from the piglin monsters; she would always keep him safe.

More slimes oozed their way through the cracks from the walls, absorbing all what was in their path and leaving nothing behind. He noticed that some of the castle itself was being torn away, getting enveloped by the very slimes that emerged from it. That’s when he realised what was happening, they were going to take down the whole structure and all the creatures inside it.

This was the power of the slimes.

As they finally reached the doors to the castle, Moss let out a loud chitter to summon help. It was answered quickly with more chirping and soon olive-coloured slimes began the process of tearing down the large doors. Each of them working quickly to dissolve the netherite gates and creating an opening for them to escape. Moss chirruped her thanks and glided easily through the gap, moving to the edge of the cliff.

The castle was surrounded with lava meaning any chance of leaving would have a high risk in them both melting from the pure heat alone.

‘Now what?’

‘Just you wait.’

The ground underneath them started shaking, even the castle was violently rumbling from the sudden movement.

Something was emerging from the lava.

It was the magma cubes.

‘Hang on, no need to be scared.’

Moss assured him, but Slime was still weary.

‘Turns out not every magma wants Gunk as their ruler, a lot of them are quite happy to stay in the nether. So long as we stay on the surface, they’ll stay here.’

Charlie noticed as these magma cubes didn’t advance on them like the others had but rather seemed to be carrying something in their coils. He watched as they all began placing piles of nether together, using their magma to stick the materials to each other. They were building a bridge for them; it was a safe way for them to leave the castle!

‘Holy shit, and they won’t attack us?’

‘They just want Gunk gone.’

And with that Moss hopped quickly over the magma-built bridge, chirping to all the magma cubes as she passed them and receiving crackles in reply. Only once did they safely cross, did the cubes began descending on the nether castle.

‘They’ll finish off what we started, and you can go back to focusing on reuniting with your family.’

‘Thank you, all of you, so much.’

‘Family help each other out, I’m only sorry we didn’t help out sooner.’

Moss moved quickly through the nether, it seemed that she knew exactly where to go and once again Charlie was taken by surprise from how thought out their plan was. There was a nether portal hidden amongst the blue trees of the warped forest. Ever so carefully, Moss separated him from her slime, letting go of him.

Slime reformed himself, staring at the purple particles of the portal entrance before looking back at his big sister.

Words could not describe the gratitude he felt from her and the rest of the slimes that came to help him. He leaned towards her, about to tell her how much she meant to him when she nudged him back towards the portal.

“Go Slime! You need to go to the surface.”

“What about you and the others-”

“Don’t worry about us, we’ve got this and truthfully, I want to give Gunk a piece of my mind. No one hurts my baby brother and gets away with it!”

She growled, slime wriggling around in anger at just the thought of Gunk. Then their eyes met, and he watched as she softened.

“Seriously, go back to the surface. You’re needed up there and if you ever need help again?”

Moss swallowed him up in her embrace once more, spinning them both around for good measure.

“You know how to call us, and we’ll come for you. Always.”

Then she threw him in the portal.

“Introduce your family to us one day!”

Chapter Text

Magic sucked, it always sucked and sometimes Charlie forgot about how bad warp magic affected him until he goes through a portal. It was like getting sucker punched in the stomach over and over again but just when you think it’s over, all of a sudden, they’ve grabbed your organs and are now shaking them around. Maybe it was a ‘him’ thing or maybe a slime thing, either way it was painful, and all Slime wanted to do was throw up.

He felt his body get tossed around violently, his slime wriggling underneath his skin as he was thrown out the other end of the portal. A groan escaped his throat once he finally hit the ground, being met with sand that stung at his sensitive skin. His slime was still recovering itself and he would need to find a nearby water source to be at pique form once again. Looking around where he landed, he froze at what he saw.

The portal.

The portal had thrown him back where it all started.

The symbols in the sand, the smell of burnt skin that invaded his nose, he was back where he first asked Rubius to take his godhood. This was where everything happened, where he gave up everything for his family and for them to get a second chance at life without him. His heart ached just thinking of them again, Tilin, Juanaflippa and Mariana, all of them living a life where he wasn’t there anymore. But he had to see them, he made a promise to his daughter, and he would never go back on a promise, not now, not ever.

Taking a deep breath to centre himself, Charlie pushed himself up off the sand and slowly rose to his full height. At least he knew where to go from here, it didn’t appear that the desert changed much since he last left. His eyes scanned over the area, taking it all in and just absorbing the environment around him as he came to terms with his journey. He gave up so much for his family on this island and his slime siblings were doing the same for him, holding off an entire war just for him to fix his mistakes.

And he wasn’t going to fuck it up this time.

He was going to face whatever came at him because he couldn’t risk losing it all again. Slime wasn’t even sure he’d be able to survive if he had to do it all over again.

Pushing himself forward, Charlie walked through the desert while being mindful of the mobs surrounding him. He still remembered how dangerous this place was as night and thus kept his full slime form so as to not get targeted by the other creatures. The sand itched uncomfortably against his goop and had to keep wriggling to get all the tiny particles off of him, sand was ridiculously inconvenient for any slime and Charlie hated it. Out of everything in the world, sand just had to be the one thing that annoyed him the most, everything about it just pissed him off. It shouldn’t even exist.

As Slime finally reached the end of the desert, he paused as water suddenly appeared in the distance. His instincts were overjoyed at the sight of precious water and couldn’t help but bounce faster as he got closer. It was calling to him, never mind that it was randomly placed in the middle of nowhere, all that mattered was that he jumped in and absorbed as much as he could. Which is exactly what he did, chittering in happiness as his slime started taking in the water that surrounded him. Already, he could feel himself getting stronger and more slimier while the water did its magic. It was a welcome change from the constant heat of the nether; his slime was definitely happy about it.

He was slightly curious about the sudden water source and as he looked around, he noticed it was a lot bigger than what he had initially thought. It was almost like a second ocean; he would’ve thought it was natural had he not been here before. Someone purposefully created this large lake, and he was curious as to why.

Then he heard it, distant but there.

Voices.

There were voices beyond the lake and a spark of hope filled his chest, this was his chance! Regathering his slime form, Charlie hurriedly glided over the water as he heard the voices get louder and louder. Then there were palm trees and large buildings coming into view, clearly, he had underestimated how much time had passed but it was shocking to see the amount of construction that had been going on. As he reached the shoreline, he shrunk himself down, not yet fully prepared to see the others. Not when they wouldn’t remember him.

But as he got closer to the voices, a slight vibration went through his body. It was a warning; his instincts were telling him something was wrong, and he stilled as he tried to figure out what it was.

“-said someone was there!”

“That’s strange, maybe a new visitor?”

“It is probably the federation, who you both work for!”

Max’s voice overtook the others, echoing across the shore while Slime slowly pulled himself out the water. He kept himself close to the sand for once, moving closer but not taking the risk of getting found. One of the other voices he recognised was Bad’s but there was a third that he knew he’s never heard before. He could vaguely make out the three figures standing near the palm trees and seemingly trying to look at something from across the water, in the same direction he had just come from.

He spotted Bad and Max standing close to one another while the other figure was looking at something on their wrist, the glowing object revealing itself to be a communicator. The mysterious person had short brown hair with a streak of white running through it, they were also wearing an interesting getup, looking like some sort of explorer. Even the goggles they had on told Slime that this person was an adventurer of some kind. But he’s never seen them before on the island, which begged the question of how they got here. Hesitantly, he gooped his way over to the trio, taking note that none of them could see him in the darkness and praying his slime wasn’t too loud.

“C’mon Max, you’d do the same if it got you a free question.”

Maximus huffed, crossing his arms, and looking away from Bad. The demon’s eyes glowed in mischief before looking out at the water with the rest of them.

“Still, I will admit it’s weird that something popped up on the map like that.”

“Not something, someone!”

The stranger proclaimed; blue slitted eyes hyper focused on the device in front of them. He only now just noticed that the person was also displaying cat ears that twitched against the wind and a tail swishing back and forth.

“Cellbit, we don’t know if it’s a person-”

“But you saw the message Bad, someone has joined the island and now they’re gone.”

That stupid communicator, how could he have forgotten about the communicator. It was such a small item, and he completely overlooked it after having destroyed his own. Of course, the little device had picked up on his arrival immediately, its whole purpose was for everyone to keep track of each other. Though, he had arrived on the island much earlier and no one took notice of it before, this Cellbit person might be a danger to him. If he figured out his identity or searched too hard into him then Slime could be in big trouble. He’ll need to stay clear of the cat hybrid and hopefully not get caught.

He sunk into the sand having heard enough and moved himself underground for his own safety. It appeared that there was a new person on the island, and he was already a danger to him. Lovely.

Manoeuvring through the sand, Charlie stretched out his senses to locate a possible new home. He might as well stick to his instincts and find a temporary house until he can figure out what to do. Not noticing that the trio had split up and going their own separate ways. 

A hand suddenly reached out, specifically one with long black talons that cupped him in their hands. He wriggled around rapidly, fear gripping him at the thought of an Enderman picking him up once again.

“Slime?”

He paused in his frantic movements.

“Slime, holy fudge is that really you!?”

Pure white eyes stared at him unblinking, the hands that were holding him were shaking and soon he was brought up to a familiar face. Charlie stared at the demon, unmoving and not knowing what to do. One could never tell when a being would recognise another especially after a world reset and Bad was never close with him anyway. Yet, the demon looked at him like he hung the stars, bringing him closer to his face and if Slime looked close enough, he could see tears start to pool in his eyes.

He chittered to the taller demon, pressing his slime up against the demon’s fingers to portray his lack of energy. Even in his smaller form, Slime was struggling to maintain his body while the water was fully accepted into his goop. He still needed to regenerate most of the slime he lost in his battle with Gunk as well as hopefully finding a cave to rest up in.

“Shoot! Sorry, I don’t understand mob language.” Bad whispered dejectedly, turning away to look at something before whipping his head back around. No doubt his little ghost friends were helping him. 

“Of course, we gotta get you to Foolish!”

And with that, Slime braced himself once more for the uncomfortable feeling of magic to consume him. Bad moved him to one hand and with the other, pulled out a warp stone and the two were off to another location. Charlie closed his eyes tightly as he felt the particles absorb into his body, magic really just didn’t mix well with his body.

Only once the tinglingly sensation disappeared did Slime open his eyes and was greeted with the mighty dragon. Foolish always was a great builder, no matter what world he was in, and it made Slime feel happy to know that at least that hadn't changed. Bad continued carrying him closer towards the structure, talking lowly but Charlie wasn’t processing a word. He kept silent as the demon entered the home and stepped onto an elevator block, sending them upstairs.

“Look who I found!”

Bad yelled suddenly, lifting up Slime and giving him a good view of the new room, they were in. It was decorated in handmade drawings and chests that looked to be full to the brim of different items. He noticed a strange purple creature roaming around along with a tied-up raccoon that looked strangely aggressive. His viewing was suddenly interrupted when a loud clattering sound echoed throughout the room with Bad spinning him around to face the source of the noise.

Making direct eye contact with a pair of big bright emerald eyes.

“This better not be a fucking joke.”

“Language!”

But the demi-god made no indication that he heard Bad, ignoring the pickaxe that he dropped and rushing straight towards them.

He cupped his hands around Bad’s, staring down at Charlie with the same look that Bad had given him upon his discovery.

“Slime, I’m Foolish from a long time ago, you remember me still, right?”

Charlie leaned forward, stretching a tiny piece of himself towards Foolish’s fingers and chittering at him as the demi-god let out a sob.

“Yeah, of course you do. I knew you wouldn’t leave me; I knew it.”

He pressed his hands closer into his slime and Charlie chirped.

“Obviously I’d be fucking sad! You gave up your life and then you fucking died, do you even know what I did!? Do you know even-”

“Foolish.”

Bad’s voice cut in, soft but stern as he reached out his hand towards the shark hybrid, squeezing his forearm in comfort.

“He’s back now.”

“And how much longer until he leaves again.”

Slime had no words.

There was nothing he could say to the demi-god that would make it better. He couldn’t promise him that they had immortality together when Charlie had proven he could leave just like anyone else. He’d seen firsthand the grief that swept the island and Foolish’s anguish was nothing like he had seen before from the hybrid. They had a close friendship from their previous life, but he never would’ve expected Foolish to have mourned for him in such a way that he had done.

Slowly, Slime climbed up the arm of his friend, wrapping himself around his neck in comfort and chittering quietly.

“What’s he saying?”

But Foolish didn’t say anything, didn’t translate his words. The demi-god just cried.

Slime couldn’t say much, but he could tell his friend how much he loved him, how proud he was that he found his soulmate after searching for so long and how honoured he was in meeting the half-god. He chirped how amazing his building skills were, how artistic and patient he was. Charlie comforted Foolish in the only way he knew how, by simply talking and telling the other all the things he admired about the hybrid. Foolish was a once in a million find and he deserved to live a life that reflected all the love he gave into the world. And that Slime was sorry he ruined it, that he took it all away and didn’t realise the consequences of his own actions before it was too late.

Because he’s not used to people caring for him let alone caring for others, but he’d try for him and all the other people that needed him. He saw how the world tore itself apart after his departure and he never wanted to see that again. Slime was going to fix it all, he was going to do better this time and he would start by helping the people that needed him when he disappeared. The memories of his family grieving for him would haunt him forever, but he would use it to keep going forward.

He was going to fight for this world, and he was going to live in it like how he should’ve from the beginning.  

A gentle golden hand stroked his tiny body, only the sounds of Foolish’s sobs could be heard in the otherwise quiet room. Even Bad, the demon who poked fun at the hybrid at every turn, stayed quiet and stared at the two of them with a small smile on his face. Charlie nudged against the demi-god’s hand, offering what little comfort he could.

The sound of an elevator being used broke the peacefulness.

And soon the pattering noise of feet followed right after.

It was Leo, she looked different from when Slime had last seen them. She was wearing a dog mask over the top of her shell and was sporting some large fractures across their tiny body. He wondered what had happened to the poor egg and became concerned at what state Juanaflippa would be in. But Leo looked happy, dancing around the room before coming to stop at her father’s feet. She placed a sign down.

‘PAAAA ESTAS BIEN?????’

“Estoy bien. I was thinking of an old friend.”

Charlie watched as Leo nudged their body against Foolish’s, something that Flippa would do for him whenever he felt sad. It was the last thing his daughter did for him as he died right in front of her. Everything still felt surreal about that day, fighting together with his wife against Quackity and the inevitable end of his own life in his old home. To think that all of that came down to this, reuniting with his fellow immortal beings and watching as a small egg comforted their father.

Would he get chances like this again? Would he get to see the growth of the different families on the island, or would he remain anonymous to all those that forgot him? It was daunting to just think about.

“-let me show you.”

“Foolish, wait-”

“It’s fine, Bad.”

Charlie felt himself get picked up once more, getting lifted off Foolish’s shoulders and lowered closer to Leo. The two stared at each other, Leo tilting their head to one side and Slime copying her motions, she giggled.

‘Eso tiene un nombre?’

“I was thinking Slimecicle was a good name.”

‘¡¡ME ENCANTA!!’

Slime could hear Bad sigh softly in the background, he could understand why the demon was reluctant. No mortal could ever know about the resetting worlds or the infinite universes out there, it was just too dangerous and for Foolish to blatantly say his name, well it caused some complications. He couldn’t just form back into his human body as now it would look too suspicious and that Cellbit fellow was also an important factor. If that cat hybrid miraculously figured out his joining to this world and his name given to him by Foolish, then he was doomed. Though it was hard to be too concerned watching little Leo dance around in joy at his naming from their father. He always had a soft spot for her, and he idly wandered what Bobby was like in this world, he hoped he still hung out with his daughter. Really, he just couldn’t wait to his daughter and his family again, he wanted to catch up on everything he had missed when he was in the nether.  

“Actually, where’s Dapper? We should introduce him to our new friend as well.”

“Foolish.”

The demon swished his tail in warning, subtly shaking his head behind Leo. Foolish growled, his own eyes shining dangerously with his fangs on display. The always did have opposing ideas and Slime didn’t want them to argue over him, it didn’t matter if he was shown to the whole island or not. They wouldn’t know him, not unless they were like them. He knew what Foolish was trying to do, the demi-god wanted to see who remembered him and who didn’t. And Bad didn’t want that because he was looking out for Slime and if people discovered the truth, then things could get really troublesome for all of them.

Slime chirped loudly, getting both his friend’s attentions before jumping on top of Leo and balancing himself on her shell. She squealed loudly, bouncing around the room while taking out her camera to presumably get a picture of them both. He heard the whispers of the demon and the retorts from Foolish, but his only focus was getting Leo distracted. She didn’t need to see her family fighting and Charlie had enough of arguments for one day. And listening to Leo’s laughter calmed something inside of him.

It was a nice reminder of why he was here in the first place, he wanted to be better. He was going to be better.

Slime, The Slime God, Charlie, Slimecicle, El Backflippo, he would use all the experiences he gained to be the father that Flippa needed, to be the husband that Mariana needed and to be the slime that the island needed.

He was going to be himself and everything would be okay.

He would make sure of it.

Chapter Text

When Slime awoke from his slumber, the first thing he did was look around his surroundings. He remembered playing with Leo for most of the day before she got sleepy and went to bed while carrying him. Naturally, he decided to join her in naptime and secured a place on their pillow while Leo slept peacefully.

He didn’t need to look far to spot Foolish lying the on the floor next to their bed, hand thrown over his face as he snored loudly into the night. It seems the demi-god was protective of his child even in his own sleep. Charlie wasn’t too surprised about that, Foolish loved with his whole heart and it warmed his own to know that this father-daughter duo was still inseparable. He however noticed the lack of Vegetta around the dragon and made a mental note to ask later about the body pillow of said Spanish speaker for another time.

Slime wriggled off the bed, sliding across the ground as he made his way towards the elevator down. If memory served him right, then his family had since moved somewhere else after his last visit on the surface. There weren’t many areas on the island for his wife and daughter to have moved to, he hoped they didn’t travel too far away. Idly, he pondered over the various places his family could be as he left Foolish’s dragon home. He sludged up the stairs, manoeuvring over the stone before continuing his journey across the island.

Charlie took in all the details he had previously missed since his last visit, there were a lot more buildings torn down and rebuilt with different structures. The island was definitely different than what he last remembered, carefully making his way towards something that caught his eye.

There was a large white building that looked to have sprouted from the ground with large pillars and a small lake that surrounded it. He was taken aback by how odd it looked in comparison to all the greenery that decorated the area. Slime didn’t know much about the federation, but this looked to be related to them. The slime creature stared at the building silently, contemplating if he should go near when he saw figures heading towards it.

They looked to be in a heated argument and instantly Charlie was intrigued.

Thinking quickly, he melted into the ground and slithered his way to the building; moving underground was always faster than the surface. He moved through the dirt with ease and efficiency as the voices became easier to hear.

“And I’m just saying Forever-”

“Bad please, I cannot argue about this.”

“Then let’s not argue, let’s talk!”

“Your issue is with Cellbit, go to him not me.”

Slime didn’t recognise the person Bad was talking with. He looked to be a sort of hybrid, judging by the elongated ears and the long braided blonde hair that looked like it came straight from a Disney movie. He also took note of the Brazilian flag that draped over the man’s shoulder and the black suit that made him stand out even more. Bad on the other hand looked frustrated, tugging on his hoodie to cover his face as his tail thrashed behind him.

It wasn’t until the ‘Forever’ character left that Slime decided to make his appearance, popping up from the dirt and wrapping his slime around the demon’s leg. When Bad didn’t move, Slime climbed atop his shoulders much like what he had done to Foolish and rested against his neck.

“So, this guy is called Forever?”

“Yup and he’s the most frustrating person on this island. He’s also the president.”

“How long have I have been gone?”

“You have no idea.”

Slime felt himself shift as Bad spun away from the building and headed towards spawn, walking leisurely despite the fact that he could feel the tension in the demon’s body.

“How many more people are on this island?”

“We got five Brazilians and five French, but the only one you really need to lookout for is Cellbit.”

“How dangerous is he?”

“Dangerous enough that he’s convinced the president that a new person entered this the island without anyone noticing.”

“Fuck.”

“Language.”

Charlie rolled his eyes, letting himself relax on Bad’s shoulders as he thought over the new information. He already knew Cellbit was someone he had to be weary of, but he didn’t think the hybrid had already notified other people. This wasn’t his first rodeo with mortals trying to discover his identity and it certainly won’t be the last, but he’d definitely have to be a lot more careful about where he goes or who he’s around. At least Bad was helping out, probably was arguing to the president about the legitimacy of Cellbit’s claims. He'd be on the lookout for the cat hybrid in the meantime, content to lay on the demon’s shoulders as they approached the different way stones in the wall.  He took note of the various signs and different coloured stones as they displayed their locations.

Slime chirped in displeasure at the idea of using teleportation magic and wriggled angrily when he could feel Bad’s silent chuckle in response.

“Don’t worry, it’s only for a quick trip.”

The demon reached out towards the stone and Slime clung tightly to the demon’s cloak, making sure to keep all his goopiness intact for the unpleasant trip. He shrunk himself down as he felt the magic wash over his body, unhappily absorbing the small particles as it entered through him. His slime squirmed around internally, protesting against the teleportation magic and the resulting sickness that came with it. 

Magic really did just suck.

A gentle pat from Bad gave him the confirmation he needed to start resizing himself back to normal along the demon’s shoulders. Of course, Bad was left unaffected by the magic as a demon and only Slime was the one that was constantly punished. He remembered being told by the magical being that he was only affected due to his heritage from a different planet, and it made sense. Charlie’s old world had nothing like what this world had or any other world. Magic wasn’t as prominent and only because he was granted godhood from Mother, he could even stand to bare it. How ironic that he could travel worlds and dimensions, but basic earthly magic could kill him. Everyone had their weaknesses after all.

Charlie stretched out slightly and took in the new environment around him. It was covered head to toe in colourful flowers, buildings, and vibrant imagery everywhere.

“Look, when you left, things went into complete chaos.” Bad’s voice was soft, his fingers idly stroking along his slimy body like Foolish did for comfort.

“I watched everyone kill themselves over your death and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t join them. It really fudging sucked when you left, Slime, like I don’t think you understand the impact you left on that world and on everyone. So, this is my gift to you because I really missed you.”

Slime felt himself get picked up and cupped gently in the demon’s hand as Bad walked down some stone stairs. He could hear voices in the distant, some that were familiar and some that were not.

“Just be cautious, please.”

He was placed on the dirt ground.

“And welcome back.”

Bad’s voice drifted off as he suddenly disappeared after placing Slime down. He stared as the purple particles faded away before exploring where the demon dropped him off, taking in all the bright colours. It was all so beautiful and full of life; he was happy just looking at it all. He sunk into the ground and manoeuvred around all the different buildings, taking note of the ones that were based on some of the eggs. There was a Ramon’s barber shop that piqued his interest and closely followed was Tallulah’s karaoke. He hadn’t met the young one yet, only seeing her in pictures from Wilbur’s house from his last visit. It was interesting to see how long time passed and what the people had done to the island.

He moved closer to the karaoke building as the sun began to set across the beach, it felt like he was being guided towards that area in particular. Bad had wanted to bring him here for a reason and he was anxious to figure out why. He attached himself to the side of the building and began climbing, feeling the vibrations of music run through him. People seemed to be enjoying themselves as he heard the various off tune singing mixed together with those that had talent and it made him laugh. Everyone was happy and enjoying themselves, just like he wanted.

Charlie brought himself closer to one of the windows, watching as alcohol was passed around and bodies swaying to the music. He struggled to clearly see anyone as the colourful lights messed with his already terrible vison.

Then he saw it.

It was only a glance, but Slime found himself pressing against the glass to see further into the room. He knew what he saw, and he didn’t want to lose it, not again.

That flash of yellow could only belong to one individual and one individual alone, he knew that shade from anywhere. His heart pounded loudly in his tiny body as he watched his wife dance drunkenly around the room, holding up a can of beer as he mouthed to the words of an unknown song. Charlie watched with fondness as Mariana moved so carefree. The man never failed to take his breathe away and this was no exception, no words could describe the beauty of his wife. Words alone wouldn’t do enough justice to accurately convey how the stars were created from Mariana’s laughter or the way the sun followed after him in envy, because of how bright the man shined across the world.

There were no words for Slime to describe how much he loved Mariana.

It was taking everything in him to just not break down the window and run to the man he loved, but he knew he couldn’t. Mariana wouldn’t remember him, wouldn’t remember the nights they spent together or how they got married wearing matching wedding dresses because their daughter wanted them to and Flippa always got what she wanted. Everything they ever did together would mean nothing in this world and it would mean nothing to his family.

Slime withdrew from the window.

He wasn’t ready. He thought he was, but he wasn’t.

It felt wrong to watch his former lover living so freely and the idea that he might ruin it with his presence, twisted something inside of him. This Mariana didn’t have to worry about anything and could live the life Charle wanted him to have with their daughter. Except, Flippa wasn’t even his daughter anymore and for all he knew, Mariana might’ve moved on with someone else. There were more people on the island now, more better people for him to end up with.

Someone else could be raising Juanaflippa and it wouldn’t be him.

He let go of the window, letting himself completely fall to the ground and regather himself at the bottom. All he could think about was his daughter and finding her as quickly as possible, he needed to see her with his own eyes. He just needed that confirmation that she was alright and to see if there really was another person in his family’s life that wasn’t him.

Then he remembered, his wife had a house before moving in with him. It was surrounded by mines at the time of Flippa’s adoption and thus the hole in the wall was the next best option for their little family. That old house was the only option for them to have moved to if in this world they never remembered him.

With newfound determination, Slime set to work and navigated underground towards his former wife’s house. He still had the pathway memorised despite the amount of time that had passed and was met with relief after locating the deep slate home. He recalls the other neighbours making fun of Mariana’s simple house, at least when it was uncompleted and had the entire second floor exposed to the elements. Now, it looked completed with even a little garden at the front. He moved closer to the house, anticipation slowly building inside of him at what he might find inside.

The door was as he remembered it, simple sliding glass that Mariana was transfixed on when he installed them in his house. Flippa never got to see the finished house in the old world but now she must be used to seeing it every day. Just another reminder that this world wasn’t really his, but rather a slightly altered version of it.

He couldn’t wait a second longer and melted underneath the doors, being extra careful to make sure no sound escaped him. Charlie took in the interior, noting how the dishes in the kitchen looked to be piled up, the lounge was filled with drawings and photos that lined the walls. He moved closer to images, keeping his slime close to him as he looked over each one. There were various pictures of his wife and daughter standing side by side, both of them looked to have explored all over the island together. He even noticed that Flippa seemed to be playing with some new eggs he didn’t recognise, one with paint and a beret and another with what looked to be wearing a sports jersey. But most importantly, she looked happy in every photo and that’s all he cared about.

Though he did feel a tiny bit of relief when no wedding photo was shown amongst the rest.

Charlie turned towards the wooden stairs that would lead to the bedrooms and paused, after all this time, he was finally home. Carefully, he climbed the stairs, making sure to listen in close for any sudden noise that might give him away. He made it to the top and saw how the upstairs was more expanded than last time. There was a bookshelf door to his right and open space on his left that would take him to Mariana’s room. It was almost amusing how his wife didn’t make his own bedroom but rather have it in the corner with a bedside table to accompany it, very much like back in his old world.

Taking in a deep breath to steady himself, Slime shrunk himself down once more and slid underneath the bookshelf door. He stayed low to the floorboards, cautiously moving forward as the rest of the room came into sight. The room was dark with only a single candle to provide very minimal light, Slime could make out a bed, pictures along the wall and what looked to be a collection of potted plants on the floor. As he moved closer to the fauna, he couldn’t help but melt in the inside as he saw the little tags on the pots. There were presents from some of the egg children, all having different scribbled messages on them that expressed their friendship towards his daughter.

He couldn’t see the pictures clearly with the dim lighting and instead focused on the little egg resting in a small yellow bed. Slime crawled up the bedside table, moving to the edge as he stared silently at his very much alive child. Flippa looked peaceful, all snug in her blanket with her glasses no doubt under her pillow like he knew she used to do. For only a second, he could pretend that this was his life, that this was the reality he had been living in for all his life. This is what he wanted for his family, for his wife and for his precious daughter. This serenity and calmness that they deserved, rather than living in a world surrounded by chaos.

Charlie wanted to lean forward, to reach out and tempt fate with the idea that she’ll wake up, that she’ll recognise him. It was like when he was looking at his wife; how badly he wanted to reach them and slot himself back into their lives once more. And then the regret came slamming back inside him, the reality that he might not have a place with them any longer, the reality that he wasn’t needed as much as he needed them.

Mariana was the happiest he’d ever seen him and Flippa was safe. They were both living and that was enough for him.

Slime moved away.

He’d been here too long, he needed to leave.

With great sorrow, he pulled himself away from his daughter’s bed and slowly climbed off the table. Charlie took once last look back at his daughter, his whole reason of living and left from underneath the door. He made his way down the stairs quickly, no longer feeling the desire to explore the rest of the house. There was no point in making himself familiar when he’d never get a chance to re-enter again, he didn’t plan to. It would only make things more difficult for him to leave afterwards.

“El hijo de puta!”

Slime paused at the distant sound of Mariana’s voice, only jolting into action once he processed the panic in his wife’s voice. Quickly, he gooped out the house, heading directly to where he heard Mariana’s shout and lunged into action.

Mariana was swinging his battle-axe haphazardly, clearly still partly intoxicated and struggling against an influx of mobs. Charlie recognised the floating white eyes and pale ghosts that surrounded the man he loved. He wasted no time and threw himself into battle, duplicating himself as he started absorbing them into his slime.

The taste of spectre mobs was unique, like eating dust except the dust fights back against your throat and tries to escape. He expanded the multitudes of himself, which was easier in slime form than in human as he worked quick to rid of the creatures. Mariana was in his peripheral, still swinging his axe as the yellow-suited man miraculously took down one of the reapers.

Charlie could feel the mobs deteriorating underneath his slime, happy that he could still be of some use to his family when he noted something strange appearing from above the trees.

It wasn’t like any mob he had ever seen, a strange mixture of green and black numbers that swirled together. He watched as it got closer to his wife, seeing its metallic wings spread out from behind like a bird about to attack its prey.

And its prey was Mariana.

The strange being swooped down, heading on a clear path towards Mariana and Slime reacted on pure instinct alone.

He lunged towards the code like creature just as he dissolved the last ghost underneath him.

His slime shifted accordingly and latched onto the monster, screeching loudly in anger that something tried to attack his beloved. Secrecy be damned, he wasn’t letting anything hurt his wife while he was here. He growled, digging his slime deep into the creature and taking sadistic pleasure as the being attempted to throw him off, but it was too late. Once a slime has locked onto its prey then all that’s left is the inevitable, Charlie was going to kill this pathetic creature and he would do it with no remorse. If only he still had his mines, then he could do some real damage.

He spread his goop to the metallic wings, melting them down to nothing and sending them both spiralling to the ground. The creature screamed loudly, its numbers being coated and absorbed into his slime as they both made hard impact into the dirt.

As if the creature knew it was too late, it stopped moving and Slime finally finished it off. His slime wriggled around happily as it dissolved the last of the danger and only then, did he finally turn towards his wife.

Mariana looked to have been knocked down and Slime hurried over to him, pulling him up by his arms and instinctively correcting the placement of his lover’s glasses. They didn’t look to be too damaged, and Charlie could stop himself from smiling at finally being able to look into Mariana’s brown eyes. He missed just existing next to his partner, not really knowing how much he needed it until it was gone, like most things in his current life.

Slime could feel himself start to slip, spiralling into a world of familiarity as if he was transported back to the time where everything was fine. In this moment, he felt at home.

“¿Quién eres?” His wife mumbled, looking up at him dazedly and Slime remembered that he was drunk, he remembered that this was not his old home and that this man was not really the man he had married, at least not yet. Charlie blinked away the tears that threatened to spill over and never end, instead helping Mariana to stand as the man stumbled slightly.

This wasn’t the right moment and while he’d never regret defending his partner, he should’ve stayed in his slime form instead of exposing himself. He’d could only hope that Mariana was too drunk to even recall this battle and what he looked like.

Charlie called for the rest of his slime to return to his body and began gently guiding his hopeless lover towards his own house, leaving the question unanswered.

The trip back to the house was quiet save for the drunk mumblings from Mariana and his constant questioning of who he was. Slime just stayed silent, focusing on getting his wife to safety while keeping a lookout for anymore sudden mob attacks. That code monster was certainly something he had to ask either Bad or Foolish about, he doesn’t remember anything like that from before. It also had a strange vengeance for his wife, so that was another thing to worry about.

He'd have to hunt for a new home later, right now he’d focus on keeping his family safe.

Mariana tripped over a root and Slime hurriedly pulled him into his chest, wrapping an arm around the man as they got closer to the house. The sun was starting to rise, and Charlie realised he needed to move faster to get them back in time.

Juanaflippa had a thing about waking up, always wanting to run into their bedroom and jumping on top of them as some sort of morning wake up call. He had a feeling that Flippa still did that with Mariana and therefore he needed to make sure that her mum was in bed before she did her usual routine. Thinking on his feet, he quickly manoeuvred his wife into his arms resembling a bridal style position as he sped walked to the house.

By the time they made it, Mariana had fallen asleep in his arms and Slime was beginning his climb up the stairs. He distantly heard the sound of soft footsteps jumping off a bed and rushed towards his partner’s bed, pausing slightly when he saw it was green. It was a small detail, but Charlie felt oddly taken with it. He lowered Mariana onto the sheets and began tucking him in, taking off the slightly crooked glasses and placing them beside the table. How tempted he was to run his fingers through those brown locks he loved or to place a kiss against his wife’s forehead, but he had no time. And he could hear Flippa rushing towards her door in preparation for her wakeup call.  

Charlie shifted into his slime form once more and instead went to the balcony to make his exit. He watched from the windows as his little daughter jumped onto Mariana’s stomach and the resulting groan that came with it.

This was the life he wanted for them. This was the life he was going to protect and cherish with all his heart.

And maybe if he was lucky, he’d get to be a part of it too.