Chapter Text
Contrary to popular belief, Pico's partners aren't complete idiots. They're bullheaded, overconfident, and dense as all get out, but they aren't always stupid, not when it counts, at least. They smile in the face of death not because they don't understand what it means to die but because they believe the second they admit that they're shaken, they've lost. Pico knows that mentality all too well. He can't call himself exempt from it.
So he's not surprised to see them grinning like fools, practically dancing, as they fight what he can only describe as a bloody monstrosity --- tall and lanky with bones bent every which way and too many arms, each affixed haphazardly on its spindly torso. The thing is beyond human or demon, that's for sure. Pico doesn't know what the fuck it is, and frankly, he doesn't want to. If he thought it'd actually work, Pico would've already shot the damn beast in the face a dozen times by now. The only thing stopping him is the knowledge that no matter what the monster actually is, it's far too resilient to be taken out by a few haphazard bullets. Pico needs to figure out where it's weakest and strike effectively. It's not like he has infinite bullets. He catches his breath, letting Boyfriend finish his verse before joining him and Girlfriend in the fight.
Boyfriend and Girlfriend --- Blue and Red --- have already lost to this damn thing once, and everyone in this hellscape knows it. If Pico hadn't managed to find them quickly, just after Boyfriend's body went completely limp, and secure a CONTINUE for the three of them to take another shot at the monster, his partners would still be dead. Red would still be viciously mutilated and tied up on puppet's strings, and Blue would still be skewered like a goddamn kebab. Pico swallows the nausea that comes with the recurring mental images of... that. He's familiar with blood --- obviously, considering his line of work --- but damnit, he never wanted to be familiar with theirs.
They're smiling not because they know that they're invincible --- far from it. They're smiling because they're willing to fight. This time though, there's foresight in their movements that Pico doubts was there before. Red and Blue look to one another as they sing with a shared understanding and reliance, knowing that they fight for their lives in this moment. The foresight itself is more obvious in looking at Red. Even from afar, the demonic purple tinge to her skin is stark, and Pico can see the tips of violet horns poking out from between her bangs. A red glow emanates from her eyes, and Pico wonders what she's doing with those enigmatic demon abilities she actually has. Red hardly ever mentions --- never mind uses --- them unless she's truly in danger, and with Pico and Boyfriend around, (plus her parents' status and all) that's especially rare. Her tail sways behind her: a weapon in and of itself. When it comes to Blue, the most obvious change in his demeanor is his white-knuckled grip on his mic and the way his left hand seems to preemptively grasp at anything that the monster could throw at the duo out of nowhere. Otherwise, he's as determined as ever with a bold voice to match. He hops around more as he sings, resting solely on the balls of his feet, never firmly planted on the ground.
Pico triple checks that his guns are fully loaded just before he sprints toward the pipe on which his partners stand. He grabs Boyfriend by the arm to pull himself to a stop. Boyfriend's smile at that point is infectious, lighting his face with a resolute glow that Pico can't help but feel radiate through his chest as he glances back at him. Pico lets go of Boyfriend's forearm to aim and shoot once at the monster's bulging nose, and Girlfriend's voice seems to bend around the sound, weaving it into her rhythm like percussion.
Pico will readily admit that his voice isn't half as smooth as either Red or Blue's. Theirs were made for the stage. His breaks at the edges, stuck within a much smaller range. It doesn't have a pretty sound, as much as Red and Blue argue with him on that point. When Pico tries to sing, his voice doesn't adapt half as well as theirs do. Still, Red and Blue weave his rapid and familiar melodies into theirs with practiced ease, even in a situation that's more than unprecedented.
As this verse feels like it's coming to an end, Red and Blue share another knowing look. Pico may have their little ticks memorized like the back of his hand, but he can't tell much of what they're thinking as they take and hold each other's hand for the last couple measures. Too caught up in keeping up with the monster's melody, Pico doesn't have a second to ask his partners much of anything by the time the verse stops.
Soon enough, the pipe beneath Boyfriend and Girlfriend shifts. Red shoots Pico a knowing look as she braces herself, and he nearly screams when she falls. She's gone in an instant, alone in the unknown void. Pico's blood runs cold. Things can't be going wrong already, could they?
Just after Girlfriend disappears into the darkness, Boyfriend is quick to grab Pico by the shoulders and haul him onto the pipe's thin green ledge. He holds him close with one arm, eyes scanning the shifting world around him with familiarity. Pico's eyes fixate on the endless void within the pipe, even as everything around him darkens. He hopes that Red's about to hop right back out, smirking as if she hadn't just scared the ever-loving shit out of him. She doesn't though, even as the pipe settles once more.
There's hardly a break between the past verse and the next, but Pico feels his heart freeze, even as Boyfriend starts singing again. It's only when Blue shakes him by the shoulder that Pico can tear his gaze away from the void. He swallows whatever words he'd been about to yell when he meets Blue's eyes.
Boyfriend says nothing, but the look on his face does enough. It's the same look that he and Red had shared before. They saw this coming, Pico puts together. They have to have a plan. He can only hope that it's a good one.
Again, there isn't enough time for Boyfriend to explain anything to Pico. An array of blocky white teeth shines in the distance, and after squeezing Pico's shoulder once more, Boyfriend turns to face it, bringing his mic back to his face as he takes a deep breath. Pico grimaces as the monster's uncanny, soulless eyes twitch. He shoots another bullet at its face, just before the next verse can begin. He doesn't expect it to do much, but he has few other means of saying fuck you to the thing after what it's done to Red already.
Pico hopes that Red, wherever the fuck she is, knows what she's doing. Pico trusts her, obviously, but she's died to this thing at least once, and he can't shake the feeling that it'll happen again. This is their last chance. They can't afford mistakes.
The rhythm Pico and Boyfriend share is different when it's just the two of them. It works --- they hold their own just fine --- but Pico can't help but feel like a third melody should fit where the two of theirs instinctively leave gaps. A trio of opponents stands before them, towering over Pico and Boyfriend even when the pipes line up. It only highlights the emptiness at their side. Pico and Boyfriend have known each other longer than either of them have known Girlfriend, but the three of them fit together so perfectly that Pico can't imagine them being without her. As the two-v-three battle rages on on, the main monster disappears to god knows where. Pico can hardly register that fact among the rapid-fire verses and looming non-presence beside him.
Boyfriend's voice is one that captures an audience like no other. It's a bright thing, like a beam of light to the face. When he's singing, Boyfriend shines with the might of years' worth of passion, a heart of gold, and enough dense dumbassery to create a cacophony of sight and sound. He admits that he sometimes struggles as a songwriter, but he can adapt his voice to any melody in a way that feels so uniquely his that it's easy to forget that most of his famous rap-battles are of simple call-and-response. In the moment, he takes whatever his foes throw at him and instantly manages to blend it with the melodies he's familiar with. Standing on a slim green pipe, armed with nothing but a microphone, Boyfriend finds his footing and sings with everything he's got, never hesitating. It's that brazen confidence that gives Pico the sense that they really have a chance, even if it's small, because there's no way in hell Blue's going down without a fight to the end.
The stage shifts yet again, and Pico is hardly any more prepared for it this time. He's even less prepared for who meets him and Boyfriend on the other end.
He expects another monster --- another crude mimicry of a human form. He's used to those, really --- has been for much of his life. Monsters aren't hard to fight, not like people are. They're hard to feel anything other than hate toward. Pico can and will shoot a person, but it's still easier to fire at a something, not a someone.
This however--
What the fuck is he --- is that?
That can't be her.
Pico curses, staggering backward because it was one thing to see it when the blood had dried and the strings had fallen, but to see red hot blood drip down Girlfriend's forehead and pool all over her midsection is a whole new level of fucked up. Clenching his jaw, he stares in horror, taking in the blood and guts spilling from the girl's body.
She starts to sing, and all the life and energy that her voice once carried is gone, replaced by a cold mockery of the craft she always poured her heart and soul into. Her arms and legs are jerked around by strings in freakish ways, spewing spurts of blood from her torn joints. Gigantic wings protrude from her back, and Pico can't tell whether they're her actual demon wings or ones that the monster crudely affixed to her flesh for the hell of it. They twitch and writhe as the dangling body is flung from side to side.
Pico wants to vomit. He's seen death a million times --- it's a constant presence that hangs around his neck like a noose at this point. The fact that the body was hers though, that she --- and Blue by extension --- could be broken apart like that... that was what shook Pico in a way he hadn't experienced in ages. He looks to Boyfriend to, if nothing else, get the wretched sight out of his brain for a moment. He's genuinely surprised to see that Boyfriend looks almost... relieved? He wants to remind the idiot that their Girlfriend was literally torn to shreds --- that her arms hang on by threads and that one of her eyes is literally missing entirely. He doesn't, as words yet again die on his tongue. Pico wonders if what happened to Girlfriend last time was even worse than this and feels another surge of nausea course through him.
Had she given up this time? Died quickly and quietly despite everything? Knowing Red, Pico finds the idea hard to believe, but he has no other explanations and is largely at a loss.
Boyfriend starts to sing again, much slower this time, and Pico forces himself to look back at what has become of their partner. His eyes linger on every gash marring her body, noticing that there do seem to be fewer of them this time than he'd seen in his brief glimpse of her first death. Her intestines are also (mostly) still inside her. (Pico takes whatever small victory he can get.) Then his gaze trails up her torso, to her neck, and finally to her face, where he truly meets her eye.
That's when he sees it. The spark that people see in her and Boyfriend and assume is one born of stupidity.
It's defiance, really.
It's the will to brave whatever hell the world has in store for them without letting that hell consume them.
She's still alive. Barely, but that's still her in that broken shell. The demonic red glow is gone from her irises, but her eyes still glisten with shreds of life. She hadn't given up. Pico has no idea how anyone could hold onto life by the time their body had been mangled like this, but his partners were nothing if not stubborn. Of course she'd keep fighting. Even if the damage dealt to her this time around wasn't as severe as before, her resilience was baffling.
The monster's massive elongated face comes into view to the side, and the ghastly thing sings, its voice dripping with arrogance. Pico tightens his grip on his gun, trying not to let show that he knows Girlfriend is still alive.
What Pico now also notices, looking at Girlfriend properly and swallowing his dread again, is that the movement of her hands changes between when the monster is and isn't watching her. When the monster's eyes are trained on her body as if its a trophy it's won, the demon's limp hands point in whatever direction her body is yanked by the strings. As the monster begins to sing and entrances itself with its own grandiose verse, her fingers change course. She points straight up no matter where the rest of her body leans, still staring Pico down with that one glistening eye. Realizing that she has to be asking something of him, Pico's gaze darts above her head in search of... something. He doesn't know what he's looking for, just that there has to be something.
It takes a few more movements, including Red adding in a subtle tug on the strings when the monster's face briefly tilts upward, for Pico to realize what she's really trying to get across.
The strings tying Girlfriend up are decently thick. They're essentially long pieces of rope that connect her limbs to the monster's gloved fingers. They're big enough to see, and they're just big enough to shoot from this distance.
It's risky --- maybe even near impossible --- but Pico figures he has to at least try to do what Red asks of him. Knowing that he has one chance to get this right, he raises his gun as Boyfriend continues to sing with everything he has. Pico fights to keep his hand steady as he takes aim, narrowing his eyes as he focuses on the slim targets.
Shifting his hand to the side for half of them, well aware that he can't afford to let the monster know what he's doing until it's too late for it to stop him, Pico shoots a total of four bullets, two per cord. Thankfully, three strike true, and the ropes dangling the demon's body in the air snap just as her chilling verse comes to an end. The red light reignites in Girlfriend's eye, and the wings on her back jerk violently as she falls. The monster lets out a startled grunt, its haunting white irises snapping toward the broken ropes. Pico and Boyfriend look at each other again with a shared sense of hope. The sentiment is intoxicating, and Pico instinctively spins the hot gun around his finger with a snarling grin as the pipe rumbles at his feet. The demon disappears yet again into the depths below, but this time of her own accord.
The world shifts, and it is at its absolute darkest. Boyfriend and Pico stand on their small green pipes in the middle of an endless void, surrounded by a constant current of distorted items as their foe looms before them. The wretched thing's maw hangs low as blood drips from its irregular teeth. Its eyes gleam with malice, and the movement of its massive bony frame grows increasingly erratic. This, Pico thinks, is the monster at its strongest. If we hold out against it now, we're guaranteed to win.
The inhuman voices from before --- from when the trio was split --- ebb and flow in the surrounding hellscape. A mangled bloody arm tries to grab Boyfriend's leg but is promptly whacked by a giant yellow block. Boyfriend cheers as Girlfriend soars past it, kicking it in the face for good measure. The thing flies backward with the force, and Girlfriend smiles with her bloody fanged mouth. She still winces as blood drips down her thigh and pools at the back of her knee. The giant outstretched wings don't work perfectly, leaving Girlfriend's trajectory visibly unstable, but the demon races in ellipses around her partners' platforms to fend off attacks from the monster's underlings. Her protection lets Pico and Boyfriend focus all their efforts on their greatest foe.
Sensing its disadvantage, the monster tries his tactic of dividing the trio yet again. Pico feels the pipe at his feet give out completely, and despite his attempt to latch onto Boyfriend's remaining platform, he finds himself falling rapidly into the dark expanse below. He hears the great flap of draconic wings, followed by a sharp crack as his stomach lurches.
Pico's fall breaks, coming to a sudden stop as Girlfriend's bloody hand latches onto the front of Pico's shirt. She slows him just enough to scoop him into her other arm and flap her wings again. She hisses with pain as she zips backward, toward a horizontal pipe. Just before her arms can give out, she sets Pico and herself down shakily, apologizing for the rough landing. Usually, she's quite a bit taller than him, but as she slouches painfully with the weight of her bloody wings yanking the flesh along her back, Pico's eye level hovers just above hers.
Hearing the sound of a mic being thrown, Pico's gaze shoots upward, where Boyfriend still has the fight with the main monster going on his own. Pico feels his heart stall once more. He has to get back up there before Boyfriend gets himself shanked again. Eyes sweeping the void, he tries to find items he could jump to as stepping stones in the long trek back up to the metaphorical stage, but Girlfriend reaches for his cheek and pulls his focus back to her. Pico bites his tongue as he tries not to focus on the bloody socket carved out next to her remaining eye.
"What's your plan?" he grits out, figuring he has a right to know what the hell is going on.
"We're buying time," Girlfriend whispers in a raspy voice, breathing heavily. "I was able to fill my dad in on what's going on right before you showed up, so we're letting that thing up there play out its script again to wear itself down. We need it to think it's won, and we've gotta to buy time for my dad to figure out how to restore lives to us from outside the cartridge." She licks a trail of blood from across her lips as her arm twitches uncomfortably.
Pico scowls. "How long's that gonna take?"
The demon shakes her head, though doing so clearly shoots a burst of pain through her. "Not much longer. It's almost done with its routine."
Pico takes a moment to look back up at Boyfriend. "And that routine ends with..?" Pico trails off, and he swallows thickly, stubbornly ignoring the way his voice shakes as he speaks.
Already knowing full well that Pico won't like her answer, Girlfriend grimaces, biting her lip. "It'll kill Bee again. That's the last thing it planned out. You showin' up was unexpected, so I doubt it knows what it's gonna do when dealing with you. That's what we need: uncertainty. Once that happens, we'll use the extra lives from my dad and kick its ass for good. It won't know what to do. We just need that thing to tire itself out a little more --- to buy ourselves more time." She's shockingly eloquent for someone drained of so much blood, but she still seems to have to force herself to stay conscious despite the pain.
Pico curses under his breath. "We're letting him die? Seriously?" He listens to the singing way above him and hears the way Blue's voice begins to strain.
"Boyfriend knows what he's doing. It'll be quick," Girlfriend says, in equal parts to Pico and to herself.
As if on cue, that's when a guttural squelching sound rings out. Boyfriend's voice fizzles out in an instant. Girlfriend's grip on Pico's face tightens for a split second, and her knees seem to buckle beneath her. Pico does all he can to suppress the shiver that races down his spine.
"Go to 'im," Pico tells her in a terse voice, patting the back of the demon's ice-cold hand. "I'll be fine down here."
Girlfriend hesitates but soon nods, giving Pico's cheek a final squeeze. She pulls back, flapping her wings once more to send herself flying into the air. Blood squirts from her back, splattering across Pico's face as she soars over him. He doesn't bother to wipe it, simply tightening his grip on his gun and hoping that that Dearest son of a fuck would hurry.
He aims the weapon upward at the gigantic gaping jaw looming near his partners. He fires a flurry of bullets, feeling the recoil grind the bones at his elbow. If time had to be bought, then he'd be its greatest fucking investor. As bullets pelt the roof of its mouth, the thing lets out what sounds half like a scream and half like a manic cackle.
"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?" it bellows as more blood trails down its strikingly white teeth. Its gaze snaps down to the lower part of the void, landing on Pico as he stands tall despite everything.
Pico forces a grin. "Get down here and find out!" He tries not to think about the sight that Red has flown up to. He tries to quiet the small part of him that dreads his demise being the next. All in all: he tries to be as brave as his partners need him to be.
Pico only has to hold out for another short verse before an odd twinkling sound fills the air. Like with everything so far, he has no time to question it. The pipe beneath Pico's feet shoots upward, and Pico falls atop it, his knee slamming against its side as he balances for dear life. When it reaches its peak, Pico looks to the side to see both his partners standing on uninjured feet, with gleaming eyes and microphones in hand. They're wholly uninjured, reinvigorated with new life. Upon seeing Pico, Boyfriend cheers again, holding out his hand. Pico takes it as he closes the gap, leaping to their side on the vertical pipes.
Boyfriend beeps, Let's end this already.
With the three of their voices working together yet again, there's no room for the monster to break them down. Where Pico and Girlfriend catch their breath, Boyfriend fills the silence to cover for them. Where Boyfriend and Pico sing low, Girlfriend's voice rings high. When a massive gloved hand desperately reaches toward them in a final attempt to nab and crush the trio, Pico's the one to fill it with bullets. Their persistence is their greatest strength, but having one another in the first place is equally powerful.
Since the three of them actually got together, Pico had thought of them as three halves of a whole. When all together, each able to give their all to each other and to whatever they face, they're an unstoppable behemoth of energy. But nobody is at their best all the time. All three of them have their moments --- times where they need help back onto their feet --- and in those moments, they each have two people there to back them up. Where one falls, the others are there to fill the space and give them time to build themself back up. Where they all stand strong, they're unstoppable. Blue once suggested that the three of them are like a set of batteries working together to power a lightbulb. Combined, they have more than enough power to keep the bulb burning, but when one battery needs to recharge, the others make up the energy difference and help the first battery recover. Pico thought it was a silly analogy at first, but as he stands with Red and Blue against the unimaginable, he can't help but feel electricity surge through him.
The monster soon shrivels before their eyes, all its strength finally sapped, and before the trio can stand around to celebrate, a sudden surge of white light envelops them. In a panic, Pico reaches forward to wrap his arms around Red and Blue, and in the blink of an eye, the three of them tumble to the floor --- the floor in the Dearests' living room. Girlfriend's fist clenches around the fabric of Pico's shirt, and Boyfriend grabs his shoulder with a vice grip.
Pico groans. His head feels like mush after all that, and he can already feel the beginning of a migraine start to prick at his brain as the adrenaline dies down. It takes him a solid minute to really process much of anything. He's on his knees, and although Girlfriend has wiggled out of his grasp, Pico feels Boyfriend lean heavily against him, breathing heavily. Even then, it takes a few more exceptionally long seconds for sound to register in Pico's head. He soon makes out Red's voice. She's beeping something out that Pico doesn't feel like deciphering, and though her voice sounds a bit strained, she's nothing if not enthusiastic.
Girlfriend bounces across the room toward a shadowy figure standing beside the TV. Pico lifts his head just enough to see her father's face. It's kinder than he's ever seen it as he wraps Red in a firm embrace, kissing the top of her head. When he pulls away, Dearest (which is a stupid name, by the way,) locks eyes with Pico, who tries to give what he hopes looks like a grin. (It doesn't.)
Pico can't help but be a bit surprised at the tone the man uses in talking to him and Blue.
"Are you boys still in one piece?" Dearest asks what is probably the most genuine question he's ever posed his daughter's partners, looking the tired pile of limbs that is Pico and Boyfriend up and down. For once, there's no malice in his expression. It's almost jarring, but Pico's too tired to think about it much.
Boyfriend lets out a much more subdued beep than usual as the adrenaline seems to leave him completely. Pico just nods in response, not trusting his voice anymore. From at her father's side, Girlfriend coos sympathetically.
Of course, Dearest chuckles at the lackluster response. Girlfriend is quick to rush back toward her partners on the floor, kneeling beside them and reaching for their faces. Her tail, which Pico is surprised to see at all considering how often she hides it, winds around Boyfriend's waist, pulling him against her. That gives Pico enough space to stretch his arms, so he puts his gun on the floor beside him and does so. Just as he drops his hands back down, Red licks her thumb and gestures for him to lean closer to her. Obediently, he does. She wipes the remnants of dried blood from Pico's cheek, and he thanks her in a near-incoherent mutter. Girlfriend giggles and nods, running her hand up to push Pico's messy hair out of his face.
"Don't go pulling that shit again, alright?" Dearest says, looking pointedly at Boyfriend. There's still hardly any bite to his voice.
"For once," Pico starts, his voice feeling like nails on a chalkboard, "this one actually wasn't Blue's fault. Shockingly." Boyfriend pouts at the tacked-on clarification but doesn't do much to argue against it.
Girlfriend nods again, sheepishly tucking some of her hair behind her pointed ears as a blush spreads across her soft cheeks. "We both put that weird cartridge in the console --- didn't think about it much."
"I still don't get why you would do that," Pico grumbles. He looks up to see that her father can't help but agree with him on that.
Boyfriend beeps sheepishly in response as Girlfriend shrugs. Seemed like fun, the idiot says succinctly.
Dearest rolls his eyes with a low grumble. "Every day you survive on this earth is another mark against humanity's overall progress."
"Ouch," Boyfriend drawls. Again, he doesn't have much to say to refute the point.
Dearest reaches toward the console next to the TV and removes the cursed cartridge that started this whole mess. He promptly snaps it in two before tossing the pieces onto the coffee table. They land anticlimactically. Still, Pico sighs in relief at the sight as one of Red's hands drifts toward his. He outstretches his fingers for her to intertwine with hers in a gentle hold. Girlfriend's other hand rests at the nape of Boyfriend's neck, and her long nails dance along his skin as she gently scratches it. Blue hums contentedly against her shoulder, burrowing against it. Dearest pointedly looks away --- at the far end of the room --- as Girlfriend holds her boyfriend close.
Pico drags his head up and looks toward the imposing demon standing stiffly by the console. "Thanks for savin' our asses," he says, figuring that he owes as much to the man who dragged them out of that hell, no matter how much he personally dislikes him.
Dearest nods in response, arms crossed. "You're welcome." He looks toward the TV, and begrudgingly, he adds, "From out here, I watched that whole fight. I saw the way you three fought together, and..." He grumbles, already regretting what he's about to say. "I have to admit that you all showed quite the courage in there. You did well. All of you."
Boyfriend's head shoots upright, his eyes glittering like diamonds. He starts beeping energetically, grinning ear to ear and grabbing Girlfriend by the shoulders as if to check that he's not hallucinating the fact that her father --- the man who just last week threatened yet again to put Boyfriend's head on a pike --- just praised all three of them. Girlfriend beams at Boyfriend's enthusiasm, resting one hand on his waist as her other hand squeezes Pico's palm. Boyfriend kisses her fiercely, almost slamming his nose into her cheek. She's spluttering out a laugh as she pulls him closer, pressing her lips against his with a hum.
When they pull apart, Boyfriend echoes Dearest's last few sentences again in eager beeps and boops, much to the old man's chagrin. Pico manages by the skin of his teeth not to laugh his ass off at the dead-inside expression on Dearest's grumpy old face. The man seriously looks like he's about to rip his eyes out. Part of Pico wants to see how much it'd take to make him do it. Unfortunately (well, fortunately for Dearest), the other, louder part of Pico is way too tired to do much other than squeeze Girlfriend's hand again. She lolls her head to the side to give him a big dumb grin.
We did well! All of us! Boyfriend repeats in his usual tongue, still reeling from the praise.
Pico snickers, looking to his giddy pair of idiots. "We sure fuckin' did." They'll probably give him a heart attack some day, flopping into yet another hellscape for the fucking fun of it, but Pico genuinely adores them too much to even be that mad about it. Besides, his life was already dangerous before he was hired to kill Boyfriend.
He knows that they're by his side no matter what and that he's not going anywhere either.