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Icarus stared in disbelief, pain seizing their chest as it glitched and moved from the opened portal inside them, tears streaming down their face quickly, meddling in with the eyeblood that seemed to be getting worse from it.
The dimly-lit cave forced everything to echo with the growing night, each sound crackling in the thick air.
Centross was on the floor, his body fading away slowly in a pool of blood, cracked stone directly below him. “DAVID!” Icarus screamed, yelled, cried out for their best friend, running over slowly, wishing so desperately for them to properly run.
He gave them one last pitiful look, although it was struck with pain and sorrow. “The rest is up to you, friend.” Centross breathed weakly, allowing for the majority of his body to fade away into the void that called him. Icarus held Centross in their arms, kneeling on the floor, clutching the remaining parts of their best friend in their hands.
“David- Don’t- don’t leave! You can’t leave me!” Icarus cried–no, sobbed– loudly, voice cracking. Icarus let tears fall as they sobbed, Centross letting out one last tear before fully leaving. One second, he was there. The next, he was nothing but an endless void.
Icarus felt their hands shaking, staring at the now empty space in their arms. They still felt the weight of their best friend, but he wasn’t there. All that was left was his reaver, left on the floor, tempting Icarus to pick it up.
They wanted to. They wanted to so badly . But they couldn’t bring themself to move. They felt glued to the ground, hands beginning to shake more as their breaths that were hitched in their throat became quicker, shallower, more rapid.
They felt like they couldn’t breathe . They tried desperately to get air into their lungs, gasping for it, trying to grasp any sense of reality from it. Their lungs seemed tied, before they finally scrunched their hands in a fist, glaring through tears and blood up to the sky through the cave’s entrance.
“Come back idiot! David! You can’t just leave !” They screamed into the wind that was beginning to pick up, stars shining brightly as they flickered in the dark sky, clear as can be for the circumstances.
They dug their head into their hands, sobbing. Each cry shaked and rattled their body, the wailing of losing one close to them echoed throughout the dead night, the empty cave flickering in light from the torches.
Then they were put somewhere in a dark place. They couldn’t move . They tried, they tried so much to move their feet that seemed to be glued to the emptiness, a starless void. Then, with a large tug from below, the ground they once stood on collapsed. They were falling. They were falling and had no control over their body.
They tried to expand their wings, but they couldn’t. Then it clicked. They didn’t have their wings with them. They felt panic surge through their bones, blood boiling as they fell endlessly through this large void.
Icarus woke up with a jolt, gasping for air in their lungs that seemed to retrieve it with ease. They looked around. They were in their house, in their bed, in the dead of night. They lifted a hand to their chest, feeling their heart racing, thumping loudly behind the untouched skin and clothes. They took a breath, calming.
They went to rub their eyes, realising they had been crying. Their hair was messy, and they looked tired .
Icarus turned to stare out the window, the occasional flickering star able to be seen through a mask of clouds forming and being swept in by the wind. They kept taking breaths. They had never wanted more air than now. Their hands weren’t shaking.
Centross.
Icarus pulled out their communicator, hoping that whatever had happened was simply just a dream . They flicked through the list of names. Most were offline, only a few.
Rae, Easton, Wolf…Icarus scanned the names, until finally landing on the one they were looking for. Centross . They tapped on it, only to now notice the time.
It was 2:34am. Icarus sighed at this fact, going to type on it.
<Sherbertquake> Hey, you up?
Icarus waited. They took a shaky, deep breath when it turned 5 minutes longer, putting away their communicator. Luckily, the message went through properly. No errors occurred like with Arisanna when she was taken.
Icarus tried to convince themself that he was okay. Although a small voice in the back of their mind kept nagging them, saying that he wasn’t. Icarus tried to shake the feeling, repeating over and over again that he was fine. He was alive .
Then they heard a ding from their communicator, opening it up to Centross’ private chat with them.
<Centross> Yeah, why?
Icarus took a breath, calming the shaking hands that had recently developed, sitting on the edge of their bed.
<Sherbertquake> Can you come over?
Icarus stared at the open communicator. Centross was on and off typing, making them worry occasionally.
<Centross> Yeah, coming
Icarus took a breath, putting away their communicator. They placed their head in their hands, running their fingers through their hair, a shaky breath escaping them. Then there was the sound of rockets and someone flying past.
Then knocking was at their door. Icarus pushed themself up, running downstairs to greet Centross. They wanted to make sure he was okay, more for themself rather than anything else.
Centross waited for Icarus to open up the door, which the mangrove door that stood in front of him opened, the messy-haired, frantic gaze of Icarus greeting him. The once panicked friend soon was relieved at the sight of Centross.
Without any warning, Icarus wrapped their arms around Centross, engrossing him in a hug. Centross’ brows furrowed, soon returning the hug. He didn’t mind it, but he was certainly confused.
“You’re okay..” Icarus breathed, a relieved tone lacing their voice. The two unwrapped each other from their hug, Icarus taking a step back. Only now, did Centross realise that they had been crying, eyes slightly red.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Are you?” He asked, allowing himself inside as Icarus shut the door. There was silence that met the question, Icarus standing at the door, gaze on the floor, debating on saying the full thing, or debating if they were okay.
Centross turned around, brows furrowed in confusion. “Icarus?” He asked, which seemed to have them slide their gaze up to Centross slowly, a silent expression.
He blinked, approaching Icarus again. “Ic, what’s up?” He asked, with a shaky breath in return from them.
“I uh- I just…had a bad dream, I guess.” Icarus said, a shaky, wavering voice as they spoke, trying to calm it to be even, but failing.
“You wanna talk about it?” Centross asked, now a look of worry towards his friend.
Icarus fell silent, blinking back the tears that started to form, wiping some away. They bit the inside of their lip, merely nodding, afraid to risk the overspill of salty tears.
“Okay, let’s go to your room.” Centross suggested, and the two walked up the spiral staircase to Icarus’ room.
The two sat on the edge of Icarus’ bed, Icarus taking a shaky breath to steady themself to speak. Centross was silent, allowing Icarus all the time they needed to calm down enough to speak.
“The dream- it-” They took another shaky breath, blinking off the few tears at the ready. “It felt so…so real .” Icarus said, turning their gaze from the floor to Centross.
“We- we were in a cave. I don’t know where- but you-” They paused, shallow and unstable breaths as now they felt tears fall from their eyes, running down their cheeks and meddling with their eyeblood. “You died , David.” Icarus said, eyes flicking between Centross’ concerned gaze.
“You were in my arms- my chest, it- it was glitching, I think. And you were fading away. There was blood- so much of it.” They breathed, trying to keep their even voice, wiping away tears with their sleeve, gaze dropping to the floor again.
“There was cracked stone, and- and-” They choked on their words, breath hitching in their throat. Centross placed a hand on their shoulder, snapping their gaze back to him. Silently, as if mutual agreement, Centross pulled Icarus into a hug.
At this action, Icarus broke. They had everything built up inside them, bottled and boiled, until they finally spilled it. They sobbed, rattling their body as they hugged their best friend, finally feeling safe in his arms.
“You died- You died without saying goodbye ” Icarus sobbed through sniffles and tears, muffled by Centross’ shirt, tears staining it as they fell smoothly from their face. Centross merely hugged Icarus, holding them until they were ready to let go, allowing them to finally spill what they needed to.
“Ic, it’s okay.” He said, a quiet voice. It was clear a few tears had fallen, small drops landing on Icarus’ messy hair. “I’m not going to die.” He breathed, and Icarus seemed to calm at this, their sobbing becoming nothing but a few tears slowly falling.
“Promise me.”
“What?” Centross allowed Icarus to return to their spot, who wiped away the remainder of their tears, swallowing back the lump in their throat.
“Promise me, Centross. Promise that you won’t die without saying goodbye.” Icarus repeated, tone like a fretting child. Centross took a moment, before a small smile formed.
“I promise.” Icarus smiled at this, now yawning. They felt better now.
“Now, I’ll stay with you tonight, to make sure you’re okay. You need your sleep.” Icarus nodded, providing a small smile as they returned to their bed, Centross leaning up against the wall behind them.
“G’night, Centross.” Icarus said, leaning up against their best friend. Centross played with Icarus’ hair, running a hand through it.
“Night, Ic.”
__________________________________________
Icarus held the reaver, staring at it with empty eyes. They had been sobbing like a little kid for ages now, but refused to get help, refusing to leave their room unless to clean up their mess.
In fact, they were a mess. They didn’t eat much. All their dreams had either been nightmares of Centross’ death, or dreams of times before. They hadn’t been willing to sleep for a while, and their hair was messy, as were their clothes.
Every thought of their best friend ached their heart, their heart that hurt the thump beneath the bandages of the glitching wound in their chest. Fable had tried to get them out and about. Heck, even Rae came over once to get them out.
No one but Centross was ever able to get them out of their house. Now that he was gone, it was nearly impossible. Last they went out with Centross was to get the tattoo they wore. Although they barely looked at it anymore, making sure it was always covered.
They twisted the reaver around blankly, blinking as a tear fell.
“You promised.” They spoke out silently, a cracked whisper from a voice that was hoarse from meltdowns or lack of use.
“You promised you’d say goodbye.”