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When the game began, there was some part of Grian that nearly dared to hope. This time, at least, he was certain not to be alone. He would have a partner in crime, someone to fight with and trust in.
They might even be kind.
Give him someone sensible. Someone he worked well with, who made him stronger.
He should have known they were never that benevolent.
It wasn’t like he didn’t like Scar. He definitely enjoyed spending time with the man. They had been destined to be again and again over so many universes that it truly shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him when they were paired once more.
Only this time, Grian had truly hoped for someone, anyone else. Because Scar was... careless. He'd proven this fact so many times that sometimes he wondered if the man knew about the watchers, considering how much of a show he always seemed to be putting on. And yet, there was no way he did, for he greeted Grian with fresh, unwavering enthusiasm each time they met, making it unquestionably clear that he did not remember any of their previous encounters.
This was a game of life and death, a game set for tragedy and loss in all the most cruel ways. And it would not do to have a partner who was that reckless, that much more likely to kill him than most people in the game. It would not do to end early, doomed to exist in that dreaded between state in which he was only ever allowed to watch, truly one of them in every sense of the word, no way to speak, to reach in and to help.
He despised how the games existed for his entertainment every minute they lasted with him dead. He despised that they truly were, sometimes.
Had they met in any other universe, under different circumstances, maybe even just at a different time when he was more well prepared, had armour and food, it might have ended differently. He would have felt safer, possibly safe enough to trust Scar to hold his own. But this way, in this situation, all he felt at the revelation was fear, panic and incredulity. It seemed they were truly destined to be together, looking at how many games they had spent as a duo.
The fact that Scar had taken a whole day to realize they were paired was no help either, the amount of damage he was taking only serving to strengthen Grian’s fear. So it made sense, felt nearly natural when he turned away for his Soulmate, seeking help from a true, chosen partner.
Only Scar knew nothing of the previous games, did not understand the terror in Grian’s voice as he detailed their bond. To him, this was a potential friend, thrown into a new, brutal situation just as he had been. A partner in tragedy if nothing else.
To him, this wasn’t one life in many, this wasn’t the only, hopeless universe out of thousands, a single life in which they had gotten unlucky.
He did not see the reason Grian left.
He simply felt alone.
How ironic, then, that they had been together when Scar was indeed the one to lose their first life. That Grian was there to attempt to save them, and that it could have been either of them, had purely been bad luck.
How ironic, that Grian was the one to cause not only their, but also his secrete soulmate’s final death.
It might have seemed like the wrong time to him, but it had been Grian's partners who had been doomed from the start. Who had ended up paired with the wrong person.
He was just too entertaining for them to watch.