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The floor disappears into thin air.
The first thing Mariana notices (or rather feels it’s missing) after spending mere seconds in the room Flippa (?) beckoned him to explore. The breeze slides in from the endless world beyond the bedrock line of the Overworld and hits him hard in the face.
The situation unfurls hastily, at such speed that it’s impossible to take in all the details in the few seconds before her body is gravitating down, down, down and far away out of the reach of the Overworld.
The Void.
Mariana never cared what was beneath the world of theirs, partially because he wasn’t interested enough to go and dig around to find more about the Void and also because why would he go look up the information on the topic, which would never concern him in his lifetime?
Ever. Until now.
Truthfully, there was little to no interest, no curiosity to push him over the edge to, at least, get the basic knowledge about the Void. He never stumbled over it during his talks with his friends, and even if he brought it up, eventually, it wasn’t like someone would be insightful enough to get him the answers.
She guesses the Federation might know more. Especially when they brought a code to her vicinity.
Mariana lifts his gaze one last time as his body helplessly gets engulfed in the darkness, diving back first. He feels the shadows around him caress his limbs, his face, until finally, his eyes land on the code before she gets enveloped whole.
It’s not her sweet daughter. Never has been to begin with. She knew the moment he saw “her” , a fake memory to keep her illusions up, that something was up, that something was not as it should be. He got reminded whenever he glanced at her statue that she was no longer walking on the same ground as them—Mariana and Slime, her parents. He remembered putting her pliant body down and letting go of the last string of some kind of real connection, one that connects only living people, that broke once he left the funeral.
Mariana believes the code sneers at him as he gets lost in the nothingness.
“Ahora tu nombre es azul y por su victoria pelearás.”
His mind goes blank.
Death is a crazy concept.
Mariana would believe he would forever wander in the dark. He feels it digging into his body, searching for a way to get inside and then deeper and settle down in the pit of his stomach. She chokes on nothing, coughs on nothing, sees nothing, and feels nothing, but the endless darkness around her is capable of making him suffer nevertheless, somehow. It’s exhausting and frustrating to be under pressure but helpless to not escape it.
“What would Slime think if he found out I fell out of the Overwolrd?”
The endless groping in the dark (ha! get it, the dark?) is killing Mariana. There’s not much to do but be overcome with ten tons of possible scenarios, what-if stories, and what could have gone differently.
The Void is a strange place. He expected it to be more lively but in a we’ll-hunt-you-down-for-your-worst-decisions sense. Instead, he only reminisces on his own. No self-pity to be found. Sure, he regrets a bunch of things, but that’s only because he doesn’t have anything else to think about. Plus, who lives carelessly without spiraling back to the past and calling yourself out?
For a second, she feels the situation shift around him.
Something has changed.
Less irritating, less gut-wrenching, less deathly.
Full of care and love.
Mariana must have lost it. After all, he’s dead, no? Who has ever made it out of the Void alive? Actually, who has ever found a way to jump into the Void? Mariana refuses to believe that even if he knew better and went around to look for that information, nobody would be able to answer the question.
Not even Cellbit, who locked himself in a room full of books, nor Phil, who lived long enough to witness many situations in his life.
Maybe after all, this was nothing but planned.
Her eyes, which got accustomed to the dark environment, spot a source of light in the distance. Maybe this is how people die in the Void. They swim around in nothing; their thoughts wander back to the best memories they carry, then get ruined by their worst choices, and then they accept their fate.
The idea of wandering in nothing is depressing enough; not alone experiencing it. To think that forever, Mariana will only be here is crude. His head is tired of blocking away the bad stuff that happened to him, tired of rewinding the very few good memories he has, and reminds herself that she could have lived a totally different life if only she were more straightforward and fair with Slime.
This is where the regret part comes into play to join the fun. After Flippa’s death, Mariana disappeared, after all. A selfish act on her part, to be fair. She wouldn’t be mad if she were never forgiven for picking herself up and leaving her life behind.
After all, what kind of a spouse would vanish because the self-pity got the best of them?
An ignorant.
What kind of a person is he that he didn’t even have the strength to properly say sorry and stand by Slime’s side after they went through the worst time of their lives?
A massive , emotionless dickhead.
What kind of a person would push their husband away in worry they would hurt him too?
Well, he hurt him anyway, no? He killed their daughter and then left without an explanation to let Slime drown in the consequences.
Mariana doesn’t remember the last time when she called Slime by his given name, when he told him he loved him, when she ran his hand through his curls and called him pretty, when they slept in one bed without worrying by the next morning, the one side of the bed will be cold. Mariana doesn’t remember the last time they spent a moment together that lasted for hours without arguing.
The light gets further with every regret and desire, and Mariana shuts his eyes close. He suppresses a whimper, which is very much pathetic, but at this state, Mariana can’t bring himself to care and worry twice.
Hands get a hold of his limp, weak body. It’s a different sensation from swimming in the nothing. It feels real, as if it’s happening in reality and not only in her head.
“Look at you, in all your beauty.”
Mariana scrunches his nose. The voice doesn’t belong to anyone he knows. Not Slime, not Quackity, not Roier. He gets utterly confused. Was the Void a gate to the afterlife?
He peeks his left eye open, taking in that the scenery has rapidly changed. He’s no longer plunged into the dead night. The air is warmer, caressing his cheeks with tenderness, which has a soothing effect on him.
The atmosphere is a total opposite of the Void, and it brings him a piece of quiet in his mind.
Instantly, he forgets about everything.
“I told Kristin you’re special, and she didn’t believe me, but look at you.”
That piques his curiosity.
Slowly and hesitantly, Mariana opens his eyes. He’s lying on two large hands of an unknown figure. She has a wide smile on her face that reads kindness and everything good that collides in him. Mariana lolls his head to the side and looks around.
Cotton as clouds. The sky is purely pink, hints of red and orange playing a big part in the scenery as well. A complete contrast from the Void. No misery is seeping into his belly, no anxiety is spiking in his bones, and no fear is growing in its side inside him. Mariana feels lighter, full of energy suddenly, and the contrast between nothing and everything is huge, he can tell.
The vibrant colors are piercing his eyes, and he can’t tell for sure that he won’t go fully blind if he keeps observing the surroundings after spending some time in the Void.
“¿–Qué? ¿Qué ha pasado?”
The giant (is it rude to call her a giant if Mariana is not sure whether he has shrunk or everything is immensely big for his size?) has a soft look on her face. He sits up, feeling petite in her hands. And that is coming from him, yeah?
He looks down at his body. Her suit is ruined: the right sleeve is missing along with a bunch of buttons; some parts are literally shredded into pieces, which are scattered around him, and his skin is visible, though it’s unscarred. His boots are as well ruined, and he misses both of his gloves.
There’s a strange weight on his back, pulling him back as he slowly sits up in the hands of the creature. Back pain, great.
He runs his hand over his thigh down to his knee and then up to his hip, feeling for any kind of injury, and cradles his fingers at the front of his suit.
Nothing.
“Where am I?”
The giant snickers. “You don’t know? I thought better of your brother-in-law.”
“Brother-in-law...? What, what has– Okay, I don’t know if I understand. I don’t think I know what’s going on. I, I–” Mariana pauses and takes a look around him again. He starts to panic because he’s not sure if he’s dreaming, and honestly, this is a very weird dream. Or, or he’s finally lost it and his head is making up its own story in the afterlife.
“Am I dead?”
The giant hesitates for a split second. They study Mariana with a fixed look. The light brown eyes bore on his figure, and Mariana feels bad for asking. Does she know? She must be of higher power, no? The appearance tells him very much so—silk robe hangs from her pale frame, covering her shoulders and sliding down their body, cheeks tinted pink and a ribbon of the same color tied in the long, lavish hair.
Finally, she shakes their head. “Not fully.”
“Fully? So, am I on the way to? Is this a gate to heaven? Will you give me three questions that decide my fate? Three strikes and you’re out once I’m in?”
They snicker once more in amusement, and Mariana feels his cheeks get heated up in embarrassment. The laughter is genuine, and no trace of mocking is hiding behind the gesture, which he’s relieved for. “No, you’re not. I’m Mine. I don’t know if you’ve heard of me, and if you haven’t, then that’s a big problem,” she says in a playful manner. Mariana relaxes when she breaks into snickering again. “I’ll guess I must have a talk with Mike later.” Mariana hears her complain under her breath.
Mine sighs, clears her throat, and her eyes linger on Mariana for another second. The smile they are giving him is so sincere that she wants to tear up on the spot. Whoa, the Void probably ruined his feelings and made him much more emotional than before.
“Kristin wanted to cut your wings. I saved you. Well, a lot happened.”
“My wings?”
“Hm, yes.” They nod. “It’s rare to grow wings during life, but I guess you’re practically not alive anymore, but that’s hard to say. Plus, even during life, it’s abnormal to grow them, and so is while traveling between the dimensions.”
Grow wings? Mariana needs a rewind. From before he fell into the Void. Was it minutes, hours, or months?
Gosh, it felt as if he had been born there, honestly.
“What, what are you talking about?” Mariana’s voice lacks the joy Mine is drowning him in.
The weight on his back, he reminds himself. He turns his head to get a better look if the words are adding up, and to his surprise, she does have two gigantic wings tucked behind her, neatly. His eyebrows arch together as he glues her brown eyes at them. His hand comes behind him to comb through the snow-like feathers—soft and delicate.
“Kristin thought you’d go with her, but I could sense that wasn’t going to be the case. The moment I saw you growing the wings, I knew you were special,” Mine explains in a gentle manner. They keep her voice down, probably not to startle Mariana, but the confusion lingers just the same. “See, Kristin is a, you could say, an Angel of Death. You usually die when you fall into the Void the second you get in, but you lingered for so much more. I’m an angel as well or better, Goddess of Creation, so you could say I did have a part in that, somehow.”
“You, uhm, resurrected me from the dead, and now I am an angel?”
She shakes her head. Mariana’s shoulders slump down. Mine is patient with him, he notices. They take another breath, ready to explain to the brim of the detail what has happened.
“I think you were born that way, the angel part. As I said, it’s hard to tell if you’re dead. Usually, once you die, your soul enters the afterlife before the physical body, but yours has stayed back, at home. And I think that was the main part, why you grew wings. To return back. It’s rare, and honestly, I thought it was impossible to become an angel and not be born as one. I never saw anyone grow wings before.”
Mariana narrows his eyes at them in realization. “I’m an angel?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Another snicker follows. Mariana dips in pink. She leans in close and repeats her words from earlier. “You’re special, Mari. Your heart is so unique; I found there a lot of thoughts, a lot of lies, a lot of regrets, and a lot of good intentions as well. I think that was the main reason why Kristin wanted to spare you and give you the deserved rest, but I couldn’t help myself. I looked deeper and found so, so, so many sincere thoughts that I knew you were not a simple creature. That this was not your end.”
Mariana lowers her head down. She looks at her hands, and for a split second, she can see blood. The familiar crimson red is sinking into his skin. “I’m not a good person. I’ve made bad decisions and many mistakes. I can’t possibly become an angel,” he growls out the last part. “I’m not pure.”
“That makes you human, Mari. But you know you did wrong, and the world is giving you a second chance. That’s what’s written in your heart.” Mariana freezes on the spot and chews his bottom lip. “You don’t want to?”
“I don’t think I can face him again.” The ring on his left hand stings to remind her. Instead, Mariana ignores it and continues, “Why did I become an angel?”
“I am not sure.” They hum in thought. “But I guess the wings wanted to shield you from the Void, wanted to take you away and back to who you truly love. The Void is a terrible place. It oozes with your darkest secrets, memories, and unpleasant things, and it gets awfully lonely there, no? It’s a pit of nothing, but the more time you spend there, alone with your thoughts, the more you start to lose sanity. That’s why it’s the worst death. It lasts long enough to fall into despair and self-pity before you actually get your end.”
“It happened all too quickly. The moment you were falling, your wings grew, and before you got fully plucked into the bottom of the Void, I pulled you out. You shone so hard it wasn’t hard to not notice you.”
“Shone? Like a light?” Mariana asks, an idea popping up in his head.
“I’d say so, yeah.”
“I noticed a source of light when I was there,” Mariana blurts out. He refuses to look Mine in the eyes and instead settles his gaze in the distance to recall the moment better. “Was that, was that really me? Or did I just see you?”
Now, it’s Mine’s turn to visibly stop for a moment. Mariana heaves a sigh. “That’s weird,” she mumbles. They lift their head and look around with a frown.
“What? Is it bad?”
“No, not at all. Just, I... I think your soul got separated from your physical form, and what you saw was your physical form while your soul wandered back to the Overworld.”
“So, I am dead!” Mariana yells out and covers his mouth at the harsh tone, apologizing immediately for raising his voice.
Mine abruptly shakes their head and props Mariana up on one of her hands and brings her second one close to his face. It’s awkward, to say the least, but Mariana understands they want to calm him down and nuzzles into her finger with his face to ground himself down. The kindness oozes from them so easily, it takes Mariana by surprise. “No, silly, no, you’re not. Mari, hey, listen to me. This whole souls, hearts, and angels topic is really hard to explain and even harder to grasp, yeah? And exceptions happen all the time. Basically, you’re here, but your place is not here. And I don’t really get why you are capable of talking when your soul is most likely not here with you.”
Mariana nods his head. That explains a lot. Well, not a lot. Actually, it’s the perfect opposite of a lot, but he gets the situation he’s in. In his head, another bunch of questions spawns. Will he stay here? Is he allowed to leave? Why did his soul get separated?
His thoughts spiral to absurd visions, his imagination bringing up the weirdest scenarios.
But then again...
Did his soul get separated because it craved to look at Slime for the last time and say goodbye?
That’s, that’s not possible, no?
(Yes.)
Mine looks beneath themselves and frowns harder. “But for now, I can’t let you down.”
“Why not?” Mariana furrows his eyebrows and looks beneath him as well, mimicking Mine’s doing. He sees nothing but clouds and doesn’t understand what Mine is looking at. They seem to be focused on some doing, on a random situation, but Mariana is not able to catch it.
“Normally, it’d send you down the second I would get you here so you wouldn’t ever remember being here and you’d fall down, but Purgatory is a terrible place for your weak body.”
Then he spots it. It’s a weird perspective to have on the world beneath him. He always had a hunch there was a greater power above the world that was looking out for them, but he never thought he’d be the one on the observant end.
The Purgatory.
The event is just at the beginning, and Mariana is able to see more of the picture than he would be able to if he were down with the rest of the members. Thought, the additional information is blurred from his sight. Is it Fate? What will happen written in bullet points? Are his glasses smudged, and is he reading a bit too much into the situation?
“You’re too weak. If I send you now, it can deeply hurt you, and I’m not sure that you’re ready for that. Pulling apart a soul from its holder is a painful thing, and so is colliding back,” Mine explains with caution. Mariana picks up on the sadness in their voice, and it sounds so wrong. “Though, once you get your soul back, you can wander back and forth between the Overworld and here.”
Mariana hums and hangs his head low again.
Then, he spots Slime. He is laughing hard with Cellbit, breaking a joke after a joke, meanwhile Jaiden is listening to them. He can clearly see every feature of his. And most importantly, his eyes, which don’t match the mood he’s giving away.
He’s sad, upset mostly. Mariana has always been great at reading Slime. It was easy to read his thoughts when they were all written in those green perky eyes, but sometimes, Mariana wished Slime would say it instead of keeping it to himself. And worst of all, Mariana had to stay silent as well, because he didn’t want him to know that Mariana was observant of him. That she cares.
“I know it’s frustrating, but right now, there’s anarchy going down there,” Mine winces and points down below her. “And I don’t want you to be all... all broken down once you come down.”
Mariana nods in understanding but hides his frown from them on his shoulder. He shifts on the goddess’ hand to get a better look at Slime and studies her husband for a couple of minutes.
“I miss him,” Mariana mutters as he watches Slime calm down from the fit of giggles and take a deep breath to ground himself down. He plays with his ring idly, running his fingertips across the gold accessory, just as Mariana does when she’s uncomfortable. She didn’t think Slime would wear it after everything that had gone south, after everything that had happened between them.
“I know you do. Patience, Mari, and you’ll get to him,” Mine affirms him. “For now, you’ll spend some time with me. How does that sound?”
“Why are you so kind?” Mariana finds himself asking and lifts his gaze at Mine.
“Oh, trust me. I’m not all that kind all the time. It’s just, just... I know the look you wear. Even when I gathered you here, you had this look on your face, and I know what is going on in that head of yours,” Mine explains and flashes him a grin.
“What look?”
Mine’s grin widens. “Oh, Mari, I know love is seizing you up, but never choke on it.”
Mariana blushes. Is he that obvious? Sure, he said he missed Slime because it’s what he feels, deep inside him, and slowly the emotions are getting the better of him, but he didn’t realize it was showing. It’s true that he loves to shower Slime with compliments along with the insults and tease him a lot, but he never thought he would find himself missing Slime to the point where he would crave him.
Mine pats his head gently. “Don’t worry, you’ll get to see him soon, I promise.” A pause. “Would you want me to show you how you can protect him from afar? I believe it will come in handy while Charlie stays in the Purgatory.”
Even Mine is able to call Slime Charlie.
Mariana nods his head firmly and looks back down at Slime.
Far, far away below them, on the lands of cursed Purgatory, Slime feels his skin burn on his back. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion and stirs as he’s lying on the ground, watching the starry sky above him. He feels it staring back at him.
Purgatory really does play with people’s minds.
“What?” Cellbit asks when he sees the uncomfortable look Slime is wearing. He stifles a yawn into his hand and blinks away the last ounce of sleep.
“I, I don’t know. I’ve got a bad feeling, but I mean, in this shithole, what do you expect?” Slime plays it off as a joke, and he succeeds when Cellbit chokes out a laugh. “Just can’t sleep, that’s all.”
By the next day, Slime has golden patterns carved into his back, matching the ones on Mariana’s hands, which shine deeply at night whenever Mariana feels hopeless and lonely without him by his side despite watching every move he makes in the Purgatory, Mariana later finds out.