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Color had been silent ever since they found him again.
It wasn't surprising, really, not after he’d been captured by Nightmare during one of his rendezvous with Killer. They didn’t know exactly what happened, all they knew was that they hadn’t been able to locate him for weeks and, once they finally did, they found him tied up in a dark room, completely unresponsive. Killer had been lying on the floor not too far from him, but they never would have spotted him had Delta not literally tripped on his body, because his soul wasn’t with him, so he was just as much of a husk of his usual self as Color was. Nightmare, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen.
With heavy souls, they’d left Killer behind. They didn’t know if pulling him even further away from wherever his soul had been stored would have killed him, and they couldn’t stick around long enough to search the place if they didn’t want to be captured as well. Besides, Color most likely needed some urgent care. His bones were fragile by nature and they couldn't know for sure that he hadn't been hurt. And the longer he stayed there, the longer he would go without the help he most likely needed. They knew Killer would have agreed with their reasoning had he been conscious.
They would come back for him, they promised as much out loud, even if they doubted either of the two monsters there was present enough to understand their words.
Even after they’d gotten Color home in a hurry, however, things didn’t improve. He was still catatonic, he didn’t respond to any sort of stimuli, and they were quickly exhausting their options.
They had tried everything they could think of.
Epic had been on a roll with practical jokes, puns, and every knock-knock joke he had ever rehearsed before with Tori. At one point, when he pulled out his trusty rubber chicken and started spewing one suggestive joke after another, he almost got Delta to laugh, despite his clear worry. And yet, Color remained quiet. Not even a single chuckle escaped his teeth.
He tried tickling him too since that usually at least got an exhausted ‘quit it’ out of his more colorful partner, but even that strategy failed. Color didn’t try to scoot away from him, he didn’t try to grab his hands and move them away from his sides, he didn’t even roll his eye light at him.
It was eerie to see him so silent.
Color had always been so full of life, it was one of the things he loved about the man. He had a thousand passions that he constantly pursued (there was his photography and his scrap-booking on the more creative side, but he also liked to go on hikes, he liked to stargaze and cloud-gaze, and he was never satisfied unless he’d managed to help somebody every few days. He also liked bugs and he was learning to draw just so he could document the ones he found in a new and fun way). No matter how difficult his body made it for him, he was a force to be reckoned with. And he always stood up for what he believed in, ever-unwilling to take anyone’s crap. Not even from a wannabe-god like Nightmare.
Seeing him sit there motionless was simply unnatural.
Delta meanwhile had attempted to do some cooking at first (though he managed to burn the broth. And the tea. And the glass of water he was bringing over. Epic banned him from ever entering the kitchen again after that. He wasn’t great either, but he could at least make some pretty damn great weed brownies and he knew how to heat up a store-bought soup. That had been enough to keep the two of them functional so far) and then, when that failed, he just sat down, shoulder leaning against Color’s side, and he started talking.
He told Color about this cute new cafe that opened in the Omega Timeline, and how, perhaps, they could go there once he was feeling better. The owner, Ccino, seemed very nice if a bit too stressed and overworked, he’d probably need to hire some help soon. He told him how the cafe had a couples' discount every Sunday! They could go and wear cute matching outfits like Color always wanted to do even if they never got around to it, and they could consider it a date. Their first proper one.
And maybe, once they got Killer away from Nightmare for good, they could bring him there too. It was a cat cafe, and that kind of thing was right up his best friend’s alley.
He also mentioned the fact that he and Epic had taken turns sleeping on his side of the bed while he was gone because they missed him and they wanted to keep it warm and welcoming for when he felt up to join them on there again and how the cats Killer had left with them had been inconsolable while he was gone (they’d been sleeping at his feet every time since they’d gotten him back, but they doubted Color was any more aware of the critters’ presence than he was of theirs).
He never got any response either. It was like talking to a wall.
Color just kept staring straight ahead, face completely blank. Even the souls of the humans that usually appeared in a flicker of the flames coming from his head and helped shed a light on how he was feeling even when he tried to act stoic had failed to show up. They were so silent that not even Beta, the bravery soul stuck with Delta, had been able to interact with them.
"... Delta... what do we do if he stays like this?". Epic hated that he’d gotten to the point of asking that, but Color had been back for a week. That worst-case scenario of him never breaking out of that unresponsive state seemed more and more likely as time passed.
Epic just needed... he needed a plan. Something concrete to rely on. He was a scientist, he needed a proper process with feasible steps, short-term and long-term goals, and preferably even some evidence that it had worked in similar cases in the past. And he wasn't in the mental space to come up with something himself.
Delta glared at him. "Don't say that" he snarled.
"But-" he tried again.
He knew he was being selfish, putting way too much responsibility on Delta’s shoulders. He knew he should have tried harder, he should have thought harder, he should have remained more positive. That last one especially was supposed to be his strongest suit. But he couldn’t. It had been a week and he was desperate. He needed something, anything to hold on to.
Delta got up and, without hesitation, punched him in the face. Epic knew that he was holding back greatly despite his anger, because, while it hurt and it made him stumble back a bit, it didn't even send him crashing against the wall behind him. His more fiery partner could have done much worse than that, he had done much worse to those he didn’t love with every fiber of his being.
"We're not giving up on him!" Delta yelled. Angry tears were streaming down his cheeks, staining his bones orange as they went. Epic was pretty sure that was the first time he'd seen him cry. He was always so strong, so sure of himself. He was their rock just as much as Color was. Or used to be.
"But what if he's the one who’s given up?!” he yelled right back, with the same intensity and raw desperation that his partner displayed. “It's been a week! I don't know what to do! I don't know what to say! Nothing's working and I'm- I'm scared, dude!" his breath hitched and he could feel his vision getting blurry as his eye sockets filled up with tears too. "I'm scared...".
He gasped as something touched his hand. Looking down, he found Color looking up at him, hand wrapped around his. He was still silent, but he had moved and his face was twisted in worry instead of that horrible blankness from before. The flames coming out of his skull were also moving far more, they were all spiky due to his worry, and green flickers kept appearing through them, showing a desire to make things better, to help, to be there for them even in his condition.
It was undeniably a response.
"Color!" Epic and Delta yelled in unison.
They hugged him and it was still filled with fear and desperation (they knew that the way to healing was a long and twisted one. And Color would end up undoubtedly going after Killer yet again as soon as he recovered enough to remember his state when he last saw him and notice that he wasn’t there with them). But he felt solid in their arms. He has there. He wasn't gone. And that was enough to let hope bloom in their souls one more time.