Chapter Text
The heat of the mantle beats relentlessly upon his metal body. Sweat paints his ridged edges.
The labor is arduous.
His shovel plunges deeper and deeper into the hole he has made for himself.
It is entirely too much. He surrenders to the magma.
His shape is gone; he is pure and yielding now. The liquid state alleviates his aching shoulders.
Drop by drop, he seeps through to the underworld.
She is there in a truly monstrous form. Her facial features bulge from her head as if they are trying to break free from her altogether. Her frosty breath engulfs him, freezing him in time.
She is nearly unrecognizable, but her mind is her own.
His determination to restore her original body trumps his disgust at what the compactor has transformed her into. With hesitation, he takes her sharp point in his hand.
His grappling hook clings to the rim of the pit. He looks skyward, prepared to take her home.
The hole leads through a buried forest, through walls of packed earth, through miles of nothing but darkness. Soon, a pinprick of light shines through to them, invoking a glimmer of hope in his chest. He clenches his teeth and squints as the tunnel brightens.
The surface is a dream. It becomes a reality.
When he is finally above ground, fresh air grazes his limbs. The sunshine warmly greets him.
He is more concerned about his partner. She is struggling to break through the barrier. He yanks furiously at her arm, hard enough to dislocate it. She must be freed.
What will he do without her?
Her body contorts and glitches with each pull. Each brush against the forcefield leaves her warbling incoherently. He catches fleeting glimpses of her original body, the body he has been vying to recover for what seems like an eternity.
IGNORE
DENY
FREE
BELIEVE
Suddenly, he is bathed in a white light, all the colors around him warping as he bends reality for her. He knows she is almost there.
With one final tug, he is blasted straight into the air. It feels as if he has been punched in the gut. He plummets to the ground ungracefully. Frantically, he scrambles to check on her.
The sight of the scene crumbles him.
Coiny jolts awake, startled by the sudden beeps of his alarm clock.
A weird dream. Not like those things didn't happen, but still weird.
He'd tried to bring Pin back. He really had.
Coiny stretches, sitting upright on his mattress. A ray of sunlight knocks on his window through the gap between his curtains, and he rolls off his bed to let it in. When he does, its warmth is quick to brush against his cheeks.
Since his elimination from The Power of Two, Coiny has lived in Two's pocket dimension with the other eliminated contestants. His personal room is comfortable and definitely his style, but being here is nowhere near as fun as being on the show.
He thinks of everyone still competing. Pin, Needle, and Donut, his old W.O.A.H. Bunchers! Mint, he's still so proud of that name. His boys—Eraser, Pen, and Snowball—haven't been eliminated yet, either. He misses everyone.
It's a selfish thought for sure, but he wants a little company here.
Coiny slides the window pane up with a grunt and sits on the sill. At least he has the livestream on his tablet, so it's like they're still here.
When the show comes on, Pin's the first one he sees. She's relaxing on the grass and hanging out with Gaty. A playful smile is tugging at the corners of her mouth. Longing thoughts hit Coiny's mind before he can block them out.
Does Pin even think about him anymore? Hopefully, she does, if only every once in a while. He frowns deeply. They've had a special bond ever since BFDIA. And if there was more time for them, maybe he and Pin could've become more than best friends.
What could have been... Well, it's all water under the bridge now. She's gone. Lost to him.
Should he just stop watching now? Probably. He turns the tablet off and blankly stares out his open window, grasping the ledge more firmly than he'd expected to. He lurches over, gasping faintly, before forcing himself upright.
Why are his legs shaking so much?
The air is hot—almost sweltering—but the chill down Coiny's spine overpowers the heat of the summer morning.
His body trembles in the sun.