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Skeppy leans back on the Egg, feeling its vines wrap around him playfully. His eyes burn, struggling to keep themselves open. He lets them close, the vibrations of the Egg almost lulling him to sleep.
He’s been lonely for quite some time now. He’s sure many of the other Egg followers are working together, bonding in their love for the egg. But the Egg has only torn him apart from his true only and one, his friend Bad.
He is so alone, and it hurts. But Skeppy can’t go back now; he has neither the will nor the determination to stand up against the Egg when the Egg is so… comforting, is there for him when nobody else is.
In the beginning, it had been a hard choice to sacrifice himself for the Egg, and even now, he still wonders if it was the right decision. He had pressed on despite the risks, despite everything, knowing that the end result would be just in reach, a comfort to dull the pain.
He predicts it’s dusk now. The room the Egg is enclosed in is cold and dark, and the little heat he feels is from the vines. Skeppy remembers when he used to sleep in the comforts of a mansion, of a home.
He’s not even sure if Bad sleeps there anymore. What he does know is that he’s not welcome there.
Skeppy’s told himself that he doesn’t mind it, really. What else could he need beside the Egg?
He’s lost in the musings where he hears the padding of feet along the floor, the Egg almost tensing up on his back. But he feels the Egg exhale, relaxing back, and Skeppy follows those movements, as one with the being. “Skeppy?”
The voice is unmistakably Bad’s. He can hear it in the shaky breath before he says the words, and the way he says his name with a smile, not just an assertive, inquisitive ‘Skeppy?’, but rather an excited ‘Skeppy!’. He wishes he didn’t know the difference and wishes Bad had chosen the former, but when has Bad ever looked at him with anything but love and affection, even when he didn’t deserve it?
The reminder of it makes him shut his eyes, exhaling. He hears Bad sit down beside him, the Egg reaching out toward him.
For a few moments, it’s quiet between them. Skeppy makes no acknowledgement of his presence, tells himself he doesn’t want to. Skeppy’s never been a good liar.
“I got you something,” Bad says aloud, his words growing desperate. “It’s not anything crazy, I just thought it would… help. I’ve talked about it with the Egg.”
He didn’t used to have to explain it like that, but both know this is the only way Skeppy will accept the gift.
“Will you… take it?”
Then, Skeppy opens his eyes, turning his face to look at his old friend. Bad is looking at him earnestly, and in his hands is a bucket of water. When he examines it closer, stepping into Bad’s space, he can see the fish swimming within the water; the fish is beautiful, several different colors all in one, and it swims unaware of the world around it, unaware of the chaos and the loss.
He recognizes his gift for what it is. Companionship, for when Bad cannot be there. A promise for the future, and a memory of their shared past. All of that in just a simple gift.
Skeppy imagines an aquarium, and his first thought is of his old mansion. This is the exact kind of gift he would’ve loved back then, and he and Bad would have argued about the name. But the two would treasure the fish, would give the fish a life of luxury, would give the fish anything they need.
When he thinks of it, really, he thinks Bad would still give him anything and everything.
While he watches the fish swim, he thinks of the logistics. He does not have a home for this fish and cannot promise to love it the way he would’ve back then. He does not even ponder a name.
His hand wraps around the bucket’s handle, gently taking it from Bad. “Thank you,” he says.
That is all he says. Bad nods, expecting this.
They still sit by each other for a while, and Skeppy reflects on what it all means. The gift would not be feasible if Bad did not believe they would get through this. In fact, if he didn’t have that hope, that promise for the future, Skeppy would find the gift to be cruel, a reminder of all he had lost.
As he watches the fish swim, he thinks of new beginnings. Bad has never been cruel, and in the silence between them, he thinks he never will be.
Soon, with the Egg pulsing behind them, growing hungrier and hungrier, his sacrifices will not be in vain. Soon, they can raise this fish together, the Egg having taken over and taking everyone’s lives except for them. Soon, it would be worth it, worth the distance between them.
Skeppy leaves the Egg behind that night, leaving Bad behind, to journey through the lands to find a proper place for the fish’s new home.
He ends up at the mansion, where it started and where it will all end. In the ruins, he builds the aquarium into the wall of their mansion, building with a fervor he has not possessed in many months.
It is not as lavish as it could be, but it’s big, giving the fish room to swim and room to do laps, circles even. The inside of the aquarium is decorated with seaweed and some glowstone to light it all up.
When he focuses really hard, really pictures it, he can feel Bad’s shoulder against his, their bodies leaning in towards the other without thought, naturally. He hears the two arguing playfully about the name; Skeppy offers Cornelius just to make Bad furious, laughing at his indignation.
Maybe they will be lonely as the only two left on the server, but Skeppy would rather the option that leaves them together rather than apart.