Work Text:
There were a lot of myths of what death was like - floating in blackness, eternal torture or happiness depending on whatever higher forces decided you were deserving of, many more that likely haven't been mentioned here.
In truth, it was none of these, Seawatt had learned.
He had been at the top of fighter layer's temple, adrenaline and fear thrumming in his veins as he scrambled to race the villain.
He failed, he never was good at parkour anyway.
The last thing Seawatt saw was Evbo with dull green eyes, lips tugged downwards like he was fighting any expression showing on his face at all.
The last thing he had said clawed its way out his throat like a starving, feral animal. The words somehow said in a soft tone despite this.
Then there was, well, not the blackness you think of, not the absence of anything either. He just... was not conscious, there are no memories, no feelings - nothing to suggest an afterlife, at all.
Somehow, that fact is scarier than the eternal torture that he had resigned himself to in his quest for revenge.
The first thing Seawatt saw was Evbo.
The infuriatingly cheerful smile and sparkling eyes of what he later learned was now a god warmed his face somehow even more than the sunlight.
The bright, blinding, biting sunlight shined through the gaps in his fingers as he furrowed his brows and squinted his now shaded eyes.
The first thing he said slid out on instinct, as easy as breathing, and in a far harsher tone than was ever intended.
"Evbo, what the fuck."
A familiar snort made its way to Seawatt's ears.
Despite the layer Seawatt was on, chainmail clung to his feet like a stubborn mule.
Some sort of karmic reminder, or just sheer bad luck. He didn't know which he preferred.
Evbo had tried to give him golden boots, but he turned out to be surprisingly useless in fixing this for a god.
Seawatt didn't know why he had brushed it off and told Evbo not to worry.
He didn't really know why he thought Evbo would worry either but it did seem to actually reassure the guy.
(Wait, why did Evbo need reassuring?)
It surprised precisely no one when Emf was less than favourable to Seawatt's presence in civilization again.
This did not make the consequences of his actions any easier to sit through.
Emf wasn't supposed to be alive, nor was Evbo, or himself.
No one was supposed to deal with the after of his plan.
There wasn't supposed to be an after. Just a civilization that imploded in on itself, because all it did was destroy and take in cycles.
He had expressed as much to Emf. They had done little more than scoff and warned him he was 'on thin ice' before leaving, whatever that had meant.
Seawatt had rolled his eyes and dismissed it.
(He already knew that, after all.)
Evbo shook off the awkward interaction like a dog would rain off it's fur and continued on unfazed.
"So, did you want to practice 360s next or not?"
Seawatt couldn't bring himself to be annoyed by the pestering when Evbo looked at him like that, despite the interaction that had just occurred.
He huffed out a breath of (false) irritation and nodded, ignoring the way his heart seemed to skip a beat as Evbo rambled excitedly about the optimal way to do one of his signature jumps while placing wood blocks down in the empty practice area.
Seawatt's eyes lingered on Evbo's grin for a second too long before jumping.
He regretted that when he was grimacing at the brown and green smudges on white fabric and Evbo picked a strand of grass out of purple-black hair.
He still found it in himself to laugh when Evbo did.
Seawatt hadn't really meant to be doing this with Evbo - honestly, he hadn't.
Evbo, however, was like an impressively likeable leech that was immensely difficult to say no to.
Seawatt bit his tongue as he watched Evbo drop the ghast tear in the water filled bottle before the nether wart again from the corner of his eye.
The potion bubbled in the brewing stand and turned an unappealing shade of grey after a few minutes and Evbo pouted down at it.
"Seawattttttt." He groans, pointing at it. "I messed it up again."
Seawatt glanced up from the book he'd been pretending to be reading.
"Again? Its a regeneration potion, Evbo, its not that hard." Seawatt replied.
Evbo looked like a kicked puppy and Seawatt huffed, ignoring the odd fluttering in his gut as he closed the book without bothering to mark his page.
He took the ungodly concoction Evbo had somehow made and placed it on the side to deal with later, and replaced it with a single bottle of water in the brewing stand.
Evbo brightened a little as Seawatt held the two ingredients.
"Which one goes first, Evbo?"
"The, uh, the netherwart?"
Seawatt nodded, and wrinkled his nose at what felt like pride as Evbo dropped the netherwart into the glass bottle with a goofy grin.
Seawatt had sat down on the end of the parkour highway a few jumps from the small tucked away house he called his own on the master layer when Evbo bounded over and smiled down at Seawatt.
Seawatt huffed fondly and glanced back to the sky as he heard the sound of shuffling as Evbo sat a short distance from him.
The silence was short, but Seawatt didn't expect it to last long considering his companion as he stared at the sun that hung low in the sky.
"Sooooo, uh, why are you out here?" Evbo spoke up.
Seawatt shrugged.
"I was considering stargazing. Just waiting for the sun to go down."
Evbo nodded and turned his head to look at the same view Seawatt was staring at.
Seawatt turned his head to look at Evbo, feeling his stomach do 360s as he saw the golden light paint Evbo's face. His blond hair seemed to almost glow and green eyes reflected the sun in them as Seawatt stared silently.
He felt his cheeks warm and darken slightly as his eyes widened a little in realisation and he whipped his head around to stare back at the sky.
Ah.
Fuck.