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The birds are chirping as they flutter about the lush oak trees. Squirrels dart around the borders of the worn path, digging into the dirt to bury acorns for a winter that may never come. Cedric’s dust-covered boots stomp along the ground as he wanders through the forest, a determined smile tugging at his lips. Yes, this is a living nightmare and, yes, he could easily dive into his fear. But there’s no point in that when all that would do is let the monsters win.
The sun trickles down through the canopy of green leaves, causing gleaming shapes to dance on the ground. It’s beautiful. Cedric chooses to believe it’s beautiful despite where it comes from. A bluebird flutters into view, twirling around before him. Cedric grins and holds out his finger, allowing the bird to settle itself on his digit. A few feet in front of Cedric, a familiar face steps out of the bushes with one hand resting on the hilt of the sword hanging from his hip.
“Sky!” Cedric exclaims, rushing forward with his arms outstretched.
Sky, inked flows of air drifting along the back of his hands and twisting around to his inner arms, pushes Cedric away with fear locked in his sky blue eyes. “Cedric, you know we can’t.” Fear consumes his gaze as he glances around them like something or someone will come after them.
Cedric’s arms drop to hang beside him and his face falls. “But… I thought we were friends.”
Immediately, the fear in Sky’s eyes is intensified into panic and he reaches out to Cedric, pulling his hands back before he touches the taller man’s tan skin. “We are friends. But… but we can’t be here. Do you understand?” he asks worriedly.
Cedric’s green eyes glance up to the bright sun. He understands, but… no. He will not play into their awful truths. “So, where should we set up our base of operations?” he asks, placing his hands on his hips and drawing a big smile to his face.
Sky sighs, his shoulders slumping. “Cedric-”
“Listen.” Cedric claps his hands together and points his fingers at Sky. “I have created a list of reasons why you should base with me.”
Sky snorts. “Wow, you’ve come up with a whole list in the last five seconds. That’s so impressive.”
Cedric grins. “Thanks! Okay. Number one: I can walk now. I’ve already figured out that I’m pretty fast when I was running away from one of the zombies. Number two: I’m good at creating things, so I can make us some cool stuff. Number three: I’m a good negotiator. I’m sure I can convince plenty of people to give us stuff in some pretty great deals. Number four: we already know each other pretty well, so we’ll get along great!”
Sky sighs and holds his hand up. “Cedric, we can’t be teammates in this. I’m sorry, but I’m going to go now. Bye.”
Cedric’s face falls when Sky turns around and walks away. No. No, this is not going to happen. Their friendship is not going to dissolve like this. So, he follows after his Topaz friend. “I’m also really strong. You know how much I like to work out. So, I can carry heavy stuff.”
While they head along the path with Cedric constantly coming up with new reasons, silly as they may be, a mountain begins to peek over the treeline. Sky veers them towards it and Cedric doesn’t fight the change in direction considering Sky probably wouldn’t follow him. The Topaz is silent the entire time, eyes glancing around the woods but so far none of the monsters Cedric came across earlier have approached them. The zombie that attacked him before was not fun to deal with.
When they reach the bottom of the mountain, Sky propels himself up to a ledge above and glances below him like he’s waiting for Cedric. Unfortunately, Cedric is a Silver, so an element to assist him is not an option. But he’s quite strong, so it isn’t too difficult to pull himself up behind his friend.
“I can also pop my back in quite an impressive fashion,” Cedric grunts while he pushes up to drag himself onto the rocky ledge. That draws a soft chuckle out of Sky, bringing a wide grin to the Silver’s lips. “You’ve heard that on a couple of occasions.”
While they journey up the rocky terrain, Cedric never stops talking. Sky doesn’t respond, but that doesn’t dissuade him in the slightest. Cedric won’t stop until Sky has agreed to be teammates with him. There’s not a chance that Cedric will go through these horrors without his best friend at his side. He can’t do this without the man he loves.
Eventually, when they’re so high up that a fall would certainly kill them, Cedric decides to bring out his number one move. The thing that will definitely make Sky want to team up with him. No one could say no to this.
“Okay, okay. Hear me out.” Cedric rushes past Sky and walks backwards while Sky continues forward. “I have something that will knock your socks off.” Sky snorts and shakes his head fondly. “Okay, look.” Cedric picks up a tiny rock from the side of the ledge and holds it out. He closes his hand, making it seem as though it disappeared, before reaching behind Sky’s ear to reveal it again. But before he has a chance to complete the move…
“Cedric, no!” Sky reaches out to grab hold of Cedric’s shirt, but he’s too late.
Cedric’s foot slips and he plummets down, down, down until… thump .
Cedric died.
Two lives remaining.
When green eyes open again, he finds himself not at the bottom of a sharp cliff, but instead in the clearing from before. The sun is shining from directly above, glinting off the bright leaves circling the patch of worn dirt Cedric finds himself standing on. Birds are singing from the brown branches and creatures are skittering along the edges of the open space. Blinking in an effort to process what just happened, Cedric turns in a circle.
“Ced!” Charlie, brilliant red hair shining in the light of the sun, calls. She and Bo come rushing out of the treeline to stand beside him. “What happened?”
Cedric scratches the back of his head and squints his eyes. “I- I don’t know. I was on the mountain and then I… wasn’t…”
“You died!” Bo throws his arms up in emphasis. “We saw the message on the holograms from our watches!”
The wisps in the shapes of souls along Bo’s neck seem to glow the longer that Cedric stares at them. Like they’re beckoning him. He died? But then… how is he here? The sun suddenly looks so much brighter than it had before. It’s nearly blinding him.
Charlie crosses her arms over her chest and shifts her weight to her back foot. “Apparently we have three lives. You’ve only got two now based on the message in the Announcement tab.” She scoffs. “They just had to make it last longer, didn’t they?”
Cedric exhales sharply through his mouth. “I feel so weird. I have to say, dying isn’t the best sensation I’ve ever had.”
“Ced!” Sky’s voice can only be heard distantly, but it’s enough to jog Cedric out of any turmoil he’d been feeling. Especially, when Sky leaps over the trees with a harsh gust of wind that causes the branches and leaves to shake dramatically.
“Sky?” Cedric’s face lights up while he watches Sky drift down carefully to land in front of him. “You’re here?” He isn’t sure what he was expecting, but very near the surface he was hoping that Sky would run to him.
Sky pants heavily like he’d been running a marathon and bends over to rest his hands on his knees. Cedric’s heart pounds hopefully in his chest, but he doesn’t say a word while Sky gathers himself. When he straightens to look Cedric in the eyes, Sky frantically says, “Ced, I am so sorry. If- if I had just teamed up with you from the start, you wouldn’t have fallen.”
Cedric smiles gently and shakes his head. “No. No, Sky, it’s not your fault. You know me; I’m clumsy.”
But Sky doesn’t back down. Instead, he takes it a step further. “No, Ced, let me do this.” He kneels before Cedric and places a hand over his heart. “I will protect you. I vow that I will get you through this no matter the cost.”