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Since he started becoming closer to Cellbit, Phil has been spending more time in the Order. He hates it there, honestly. It’s dark and he can’t feel the sky. And yet, Phil stays, because at least it tricks him into thinking he’s actually getting somewhere.
It is when Phil is pacing, thinking these thoughts and not really getting much of anywhere, that the Order’s nether portal starts to buzz and flicker. The disturbance catches Phil’s sharp ears immediately. His hand hovers at his sword hilt, ready to draw at a moment’s notice. He waits, coiled and tense as a spring.
A dark figure imprints on the shimmering purple flame, slowly growing more defined as they escape the fold between dimensions. His subconscious catches on far before his waking mind is willing to, but once Phil sees that braided hair, blustered by the winds of a different world, it is indisputable.
Forever is back. And something is deeply wrong.
Phil knows better than anyone that Forever is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. So when he sees his expression carefully culled into neutrality, Phil feels dread start to coil in his stomach.
And then Forever emerges fully from the portal, revealing the small figure held bridal-style in his arms. And Phil sees its stillness, and the blood, and the limp hang of its — of his arm.
“Forever?” Phil says, barely more than a whisper. “What is…?”
As though all his strength had drained the second he was released from that violet light, Forever drops to his knees. He curls over the form in his arms, holding it close, and begins to shake.
“Philza,” he croaks. “I have to… I’m so… please, help him.”
Only with this last declaration does Forever raise his head and meet Philza’s eyes.
Phil sees one stutter of a breath drag out of Richarlyson’s chest, and he turns all his emotions off. He types out a message on his comm at lightning speed — “EMERGENCY at Order bring all healing Forever is back with Richas HELP”
Then he tosses the device aside like it’s trash and dives to support Forever with an arm under his shoulder.
“Help is coming, Forever,” Phil says. Forever stares at him with just a sliver of hope. “It’s going to be okay.”
"No…" Forever mutters. "I was too slow… it's been too long."
"And it won't be much longer," Phil tells him sternly. He reaches over and grasps Forever's hand by the wrist, lifting it up to Richarlyson's nose, where the barest hint of breath still remains.
"Feel that? Your son is alive," Phil tells him. And as he hears the first of many warp stones pop into the Order, he continues:
"And he's going to stay that way."