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Days on the noob layer are cold, nights even colder.
Seawatt curses this fact as he shuffles back into the stone house he calls his own, the fabric that covers him from chest to knees doing little to keep his meager body heat in.
He stares down at the raw meat, chicken, cradled in his hands and feels the twinge of pain in his stomach. He tears chunks of the slimy meat off the bone with his teeth - trying his best to remain composed even if no one can see.
He discards the bones, throwing them into the hole in his house, and jumps over it, climbs the stairs to his bedroom and does a second jump - then he settles below the thin purple blanket.
There's little to do, here, and what he can do takes up energy he can barely bring himself to spend.
This means he's left in bed with his thoughts more often than not.
They frequently wander to what little he can remember before he was here.
A grassy field, sun warming his skin and wind brushing through his long hair a little. He turns to see his… friend, diamond armour strapped over a thin striped shirt and pants. The helmet is conspicuously missing, he recalls, as if removed purposefully to show off that idiotic headband that keeps blond hair out of green eyes.
Evbo smiles and his eyes crinkle at the corners, speaking in a warm tone - suggesting affection in a way that always makes Seawatt's chest ache.
“C'mon, man, I'm just saying I know it seems impossible but if you get good enough at parkour you could make so much. Look, I'll prove it, here.”
Evbo pulls out planks, and builds a simple enough set of two jumps - easy to do with the energy Seawatt has in the memory.
“Do that, and I'll give you a diamond.”
Seawatt knows he succeeds, knows what happens next.
The way Evbo increases the difficulty with an at ease smile and shrug, in return for more of the precious ore.
The way Seawatt does it without hesitation, the way he receives a soft smile and the brush of Evbo's fingers against his as more of the cool blue rock is shoved into his palms.
He sighs as he hits the end, that parkour damned gap in his memories that concludes with him gasping a frantic inhale at the entrance of the parkour temple, looking around the unfamiliar area.
It's a delusion that keeps him going most days, but he is well accustomed to lying to himself now. If he can just find Evbo, if he can just rank up, then his friend will explain what happened that he can't recall and they'll be together again.
Yeah.
That's what will happen. (He knows it won’t. Something is off, but he can't find it in himself to care between the hungry haze and need for something better than this lifestyle.)
Seawatt jolts awake to the harsh rapping on wood, and the speed at which he reaches the door would almost be impressive if he didn't nearly teeter back into the void on his second jump.
The pro looks impatient, Seawatt curbs the urge to roll his eyes as they begin the usual spiel, only tuning back in when they mention a ticket being on offer.
A beef day, it'll have to be then. Seawatt sucks in a sharp inhale and braces to jump.
His feet hit the solid wood of the log. He picks up the beef, and hops down wordlessly, already making his way back into his house to avoid a condescending comment from the pro.
(As much as it pains him, his snarky comments in response only ever get him punished - in parkour, of course - and it's not worth the extra effort.)
The beef goes down faster, and the taste is miles more tolerable than the chicken he is used to.
Stomach as full as it can be, he turns his mind to the ticket. The course shouldn't be too far, he hopes.
His feet and knees seem to protest that notion when he guesses he's maybe halfway there. Turning back now would be a waste of well earned beef, so he continues with a vague feeling of reluctance.
Ignoring the ache of his legs, he stands now in the line of noobs to do the course.
Whoever is holding up the line he swears to parkour, he peers around the side of the person in front of him and manages to catch the exact moment the noob on the course slips off the block and falls down into the void.
Well.
One less competitor.
…
What? They're hardly the first, nor will they be the last.
You're in no position to judge.
The person in front hesitates to step forward.
“For parkour's sake, just go already or leave-” he hisses at them, tired of standing around.
He doesn't miss a beat to analyse the jumps after the player botches their landing.
He squints at the blocks, seeing the multiple two block jumps, and glances to the indifferent pro.
“If I did a one block with my eyes closed, would you change a two block jump into a one block?” Seawatt asks, disguising what he wished was a demand as a bribe.
The pro scoffed, disbelieving, but accepted.
It took everything in Seawatt to act unbothered and just do the jump.
His eyes were screwed shut as he tried to get just the right momentum, he launched off the block and he felt the moment his leather boots made contact with grassy soil.
He stumbled a little, caught his balance, and then opened purple eyes to grin smugly at the pro.
They quickly hid their surprise and muttered under their breath something about “cocky noobs-” while placing a block at the end of the course.
“Deal’s a deal, there.” They say, turning to face Seawatt.
He hops dutifully back to the start of the course and jumps across towards the ticket.
The two block jump was nerve wracking, but he made it by the skin of his teeth.
Seconds later, he was clutching the ticket in his hand with an iron grip and jumping in the direction of the parkour temple.
He stands inside the temple for a moment, in front of the one block jump floating above the void.
He wasn't going to be in a position like this again for a while, so he has to take the chance.
He takes a deep breath.
He jumps.
He falls.
Seawatt has had a terrible week.
Let it be known, for all his complaints about the cold - he is not made for standing and constantly jumping in a cell above lava, either.
No one is, but that's not the point. The point is that he reeks of sweat and is relishing the cool air of the noob layer as he stands in the temple, finally free of that damned place.
He never thought he'd miss the noob layer.
That feeling lasts for a minute, followed by a sinking dread that buries itself deep in his stomach.
He's trapped here now.
He can never get another ticket.
He shoves it off. That's not important.
He fixes his hair, ignoring the unfortunately familiar greasy feeling of the strands and focusing on making it look presentable. Ish.
His old house has surely been taken, there's no use going back now.
He makes his way to the shop where he bought his house for the first time, balks at the prices (how have they gone up so much in such a short time?) and quickly leaves.
He finds a new neighbourhood not far, populated with wooden structures that are thankfully cheaper.
Seawatt is less than impressed when his new house came with a freeloader behind a hidden entrance in the wall.
He scoffs at the strange figure in the small room. (Dressed like a jester, of all things. Ridiculous.)
“What are you doing in my house?” Seawatt demands, already tired of this newfound complication.
“Wait-” The man says. “I've been keeping an eye on you.”
Seawatt looks at him, even ignoring the odd nature of that statement, the guy is unsettling. Trusting him is probably out of the question, illogical.
Seawatt is, unfortunately, tired of logic at this point. It has hardly got him anywhere - save for prison.
“Weird.” Seawatt comments. “You're not doing yourself any favours.”
“I think you could rank up.”
Seawatt furrows his brow, and rolls his eyes.
“If you were paying any attention, you would know I can't anymore.” He sighs sharply and mutters. “Way to rub it in.”
“Just listen. I have a ticket, I stored it away somewhere safe for someone who could use it.” The stranger states.
Seawatt squints at him.
“And why should I even trust that? I don't even know your name, you're just some homeless guy in my walls.”
“Clownpierce.” He responds. “Clown is fine."
Seawatt is silent for a moment, unsure.
“Whatever, where have you put the ticket?”
Clownpierce divulges the location and settles to sit back down on the red bed, watching as Seawatt hurries to leave.
“Not even going to grace me with your name in return?” Clown says, tone unreadable.
Seawatt stands with one hand on the ladder's rung. He frowns.
“Seawatt.” He eventually says, and climbs up the ladder wordlessly.
Seawatt curses that man - Clownpierce, he reminds himself - as he jumps back in the direction of his house.
His inventory is pointedly empty of a ticket.
All he found was some… block? If it was even one. He's not sure, actually.
It was useful to have but its not like he can do anything with it without the parkour damned ticket he was promised.
All that - rationing his food for days, nearly starving, trying to bribe a pro and lying to another - on top of jumping for hours for *nothing*.
He reaches the wooden structure with a sour expression, stomping with what little steps he does make between jumps.
He climbs down the ladder, immediately planning to let loose some harsh words to the idiot that had tried to trick him.
He didn't see Clown.
All he sees is a ticket discarded on the floor, and a hole.
Seawatt stares for a few seconds.
He shoves down the unpleasant feeling and ignores the tightness in his chest. He picks up the ticket while being careful to avoid the hole.
He's out of the room before he can think.
Seawatt takes stock of the situation now.
One beef left, a ticket he probably shouldn't have and a block he definitely shouldn't.
Well, he'll certainly gain nothing by putting it off.
A ticket shoved in a hopper, a one block jump that he didn't fail and one too many close calls later he was standing at the top of stairs staring at a 3 block jump.
Ranking up be damned, he nearly turns on his heel and jumps back into the void then and there.
Why wouldn't it be impossible! Why not? Why did he expect anything different, he knows how it goes by now.
It's seconds later that he remembers.
The block.
He buries his face in both hands, sighs loudly, and looks back up at the 3 block jump.
He places the block, nose wrinkling at how it was effectively invisible.
He knows it's there, but jumping is still downright terrifying.
Seawatt grits his teeth, and launches himself into the air. He feels the vibrations in his legs as he lands on the block.
Standing on what looks like nothing is unnerving.
He steps forward.
The moments between losing his leather boots and gaining the iron ones is more of a blur than anything, feeling unreal.
His stomach feels heavy with the steak he’d eaten, he almost feels ill because of the sensation.
Everything becomes much more real when his gaze settles on the statues in the pro temple.
Gold boots. He's not at the top.
His gaze flicks to the next statue.
Diamond.
Seawatt can't help how fast his mind strays to Evbo.
The pro layer was… an adjustment.
Working every day was exhausting, but at least he has consistent access to food.
Seawatt isn't sure that was all it was cracked up to be really, though, he still wasn't used to the feeling of being full and flip flopped between the sensation making him feel sick or barely noticing it at all as he resisted the urge to eat *more*. (He didn't always succeed at stopping himself)
It's one of those days when he wakes up feeling ill again when he decides he really just cannot be bothered with the work today. He tells his neighbour as such through a barely concealed air of irritation. He can tell he's receiving a glare despite the sunglasses.
He ignores the mumbled “your funeral” he hears as the pro jumps away.
He slams the door, and retreats to his bed to curl up and wallow.
He must have fallen asleep because later he jerks awake to an obtrusive sound ringing out and he groans.
Whatever that was, it can't be good. He reluctantly gets out of the bed, smoothing the purple blanket reflexively before making his way downstairs, peeking out the door and seeing his neighbour jumping past his house.
They stop, sigh and make a gesture to suggest he should follow.
Seawatt huffs but it seems important so he jumps after him wordlessly, joining the group of pros standing around.
His eyebrow twitches as a player falls from above, landing with a splashing sound and a water pooling on the block a few jumps away in front of the group.
Purple eyes observe the figure, clad in golden armour from head to toe, expression concealed but whoever this person is they cut an intimidating figure regardless. He catches a glimpse of an all black tail tipped with sharp barbs between their legs before looking away to avoid being caught staring.
Seawatt schools his expression and body language as the armoured man moves through the pro, interrogating each of them about their task.
When he stops next to Seawatt, the lie is already prepared on the tip of his tongue and he delivers it with a carefully crafted mix of respect and a mostly false representation of nerves.
He gets the distinct feeling that an eyebrow has been raised behind the helmet, somehow.
“You're a convincing liar.” He eventually says. “I almost believed you, but that task has already been done. Come with me.”
Seawatt frowns and disregards any need for pretending he at all respects the man.
“Why?” He questions demandingly.
“Your punishment, a parkour battle.” He answers in a short tone.
Seawatt grabs blocks from the chest (slowly, to delay the battle) in the practice area as he tries to figure out some way out of this - with little success.
Unsurprisingly, the battle was tilted immensely not in Seawatt's favour. He’s already been hit by two attacks, he can't afford to take a third.
He lands the jump, successfully defending.
He attacks next with sweaty hands, eyes screwed shut as he jumps the one block and doesn't miss despite being unable to see.
The master (he'd learnt that tidbit during some boasting between attacks) missed the landing.
Seawatt can't resist the smirk that creeps up his face, and the mocking statement that leaves his mouth.
The genuine growl slipping out of the master's mouth is unexpected, but he can't say he's complaining as he watches the tail lash and imagines the hidden face scowling.
Seawatt attacks again, a two block jump with his eyes closed this time.
The master misses the landing again, misjudging the distance and jumping too far.
Seawatt sets up his third attack, and the master seems to panic.
“I give up! You win.” He calls out from the stone platform he stands on.
Seawatt grins through the relief. His pride would normally insist on doing this to completion but his survival unfortunately takes priority at the moment.
They both step down from the stone platforms. Seawatt is already turning to leave.
“Wait!” The master calls out. Seawatt turns around, his brows pinch into a confused frown. Amethyst eyes hover on the gold object in his hand.
A closer look reveals an object still unfamiliar to Seawatt, solid gold embedded with two… emeralds? It was shaped oddly, as well, two small wings and a large nose.
“You should take this.” He says, grabbing one of Seawatt's hands and forcing it into his palm - armour covered fingers brush against skin. “It’ll help you rank up. You could be a master if you beat the impossible course.”
Seawatt looks down at the item, and back up at the retreating master. He notices the (also golden) chain attached to it pooling in the crook of his hand. Huh. He smiles and puts it around his neck, tucking the totem carefully below white robes.
Getting to the Master layer was, for lack of a better explanation, a pain really. Using up the totem the master gave him was already annoying, not to mention the weeks of practice and then being ambushed by some pro that he had to kill in a parkour battle.
Honestly, could nothing be simple? Evbo better be grateful when he finally finds him.
Thankfully, he stands now surrounded by skyscrapers and golden boots that match the leftover chain necklace adorning his neck on his feet.
He sighs. He needs that water bucket the house seller mentioned. And food.
This was going to take forever to get used to. And he still needs to find Evbo.
Still he has no leads on where Evbo is, but he has a water bucket and one friend on this layer now.
He had run into the master who gave him the totem - Aj, his name is, Seawatt reminds himself.
Aj couldn't tell him anything about Evbo either but there was a weird stiffness to his response that made Seawatt suspicious.
But apparently he didn't have time to worry about that because they're “at war”, whatever that means.
Seawatt stares at the map of civilization hidden in the diamond blue boots (a shade he inexplicably associates with Evbo no matter how hard he tries) of the champion statue in silence for a moment when Aj finishes speaking.
Don't get him wrong, Seawatt admires Aj's conviction in looking out for society or whatever he is doing - but he is so tired of this, how did he get to this point. He expresses as much.
“I didn't even- ugh.” Seawatt frowns and paces in the small confines of the room. “Why should I bother with all this? Saving civilization or whatever, that’s never why I even ranked up in the first place!”
“Finding the truth, at least?” Aj says. “You can't prove to me you aren't curious, or don't think it would benefit you even a bit to know why everything is the way it is.”
Seawatt squints at Aj, displeased with the smug attitude he can tell the man carries.
“Ugh, fine. Whatever. Remind me where this place is?”
Jumping across quartz in the dead of night, Seawatt finally sees the building take shape in the distance.
He curses at the ice jump at the entrance. Seriously? Aj wasn’t kidding when he said it was difficult to get into, this far out and not even an easy jump to get in.
Seawatt takes a moment on the stairs to inhale and exhale at an even pace. That was far too close for comfort.
He walks up and into the building, and is greeted with a large empty room, one half off the floor gone to reveal the void underneath and holes in the ceiling. The only other noticeable feature was a staircase.
May as well get this over with, god, he hates glass panes.
Jumping up the final step, Seawatt observes the room carefully.
An odd pedestal, dark glass, stone and… purple crystals? Sits in the center of the room.
Ominous.
He flicks his eyes to the screen, and the lectern that sits below it. Huh.
Pedestal first, screen later. He walks over, the sound of gold boots clinking against quartz loudly making him cringe slightly.
Seawatt squints at it, frowns and admires the crystals for a moment. They’re pretty. Something he’d wear if he was rich enough, he thinks.
Whatever, not what you’re here to do Seawatt. He steps onto the stone, intending to look at the mechanisms of whatever this is.
His head spins.
The feeling of warm hands on his, diamonds, parkour, grassy meadows and emerald green eyes.
“What in-” Seawatt mutters, regaining balance and steps out of the machine quickly.
Filing that away to deal with later, Seawatt moves to the lectern and flips the book open.
“Enter user.” He mumbles aloud, reading the page. Curiosity gets the better of him and he enters his own name - wrinkling his nose when “Noob” comes up.
Seawatt nearly jumps out of his skin when a player appears on the pedestal, with no boots he realises.
Then he hears footsteps and incoherent muttering below him.
A quick sweep reveals nothing to hide behind but a transparent bush. A stupid hiding spot.
He postures instead, standing confidently in front of the lectern and trying to make it seem like he at least intended to get caught by whoever has entered the building.
Any pretense of this nearly disappears completely as he sees a familiar blond figure jump up the stairs and pause when they see him.
Seawatt blinks and purple eyes widen, feeling his hands sweat as he sees that stupid headband pushing up blond hair and green eyes staring at him with a bored expression.
“Dude.” Evbo says, in an exasperated voice. “What are you doing here?”
Seawatt feels like he’s buffering.
Evbo.
His eyes flick to gold boots.
He’s been here this entire time?
His mouth feels dry as he speaks.
“Evbo?” Seawatt says and Evbo sighs.
The silence is too heavy and Seawatt interrupts it.
“What are you doing here? The uh. The machine? What’s that? Why did I see you when I stepped into it?”
Seawatt half knew the answers to these questions already. It was kind of obvious from the look on Evbo’s face.
It didn’t stop the pain in his chest when the words “It’s fake.” Left Evbo’s mouth.
The rest of the explanation he listens to but doesn't fully process as he stares at dull eyes that he remembers as a sparkling green, lips that bend around uncaring words that he wishes would give him that same fond smile.
He only snaps out of it when Evbo has two brewing stands placed three blocks apart on the floor.
Brewing stand parkour?
Evbo rambles on saying something about potion effects and the champion and then he jumps, throwing in a spin for… some reason? Show off.
Seawatt can’t defend, and feels the dizziness hit as he passes out.
When Seawatt wakes up in an unfamiliar area filled with chests with an impatient master staring at him, he almost feels like a noob again.
He grabs the blocks he needs to fight the champion, and he doesn’t bother with any false veneer of respect during what little interaction they have.
Seawatt’s irritation only grows as he realises the champion sent people into the arena ahead of them to whittle down his supply of blocks.
One pro and two masters, the battles leave him uncomfortably low on blocks.
When the champion finally appears in the arena, Seawatt stares at the figure. They’re somehow not what he expected, dressed entirely in black save for the blue boots on their feet - a golden crown sits atop their head and pure white eyes sit just above cheeks speckled with stars. A tail flicks absently behind them and Seawatt can’t help but think of Aj for a moment.
They don’t say anything as they place two planks down, a tame start all things considered- oh.
Oh he’s fucked.
That’s a five block jump those aren’t- they just aren’t possible.
The champion stands on the block and they speak.
“If you beat me in this battle, you will become the parkour champion.” A simple sentence.
And then they jump, soaring through the air and somehow landing on the other block without a hair out of place.
Seawatt’s vision goes black for the second time in a day. He’s getting tired of this.
Seawatt shivers and groans as he wakes up, staring up at a stone ceiling and-
Oh you have got to be kidding.
He’s back on the noob layer.
Seawatt’s not really proud of his self pitying spiral that led to him considering going back to prison.
He nearly jumps out of his skin when a voice speaks suddenly.
“Down at the bottom again, are we?”
A man that looks… more like a cookie than man speaks again as Seawatt looks at them with a borderline murderous expression.
“Maybe I was wrong about you.”
Seawatt only notices the purple-black shade of their boots after they say this and-
“Who are you?” He utters because surely not. No way.
“Something tells me you already know the answer.” Is all they say.
A minor freak out from Seawatt (god was real. Like, actually real. What in parkour?) followed by something akin to an explanation and a pair of diamond boots being discarded on the ground later, Seawatt is uh. Well. A champion kind of? He isn’t officially but he had the boots of one.
Seawatt ranks up again, and again.
When he’s back on the master level, he equips the golden boots he was given again and tries to find Aj.
He does a stupidly risky jump into Aj’s skyscraper and explains everything to him. Aj is a bit disbelieving but provides blocks nonetheless.
Then he’s at the bank rummaging through a vault, he spies an unfamiliar pair of boots in the corner. Odd, but not worth thinking about right now. In the end he finds brewing stands, a water bucket and more planks. It’ll have to do.
Threatening Evbo was more effective than he thought, some slowness and a three block jump was all it took for the information needed to defeat the champion to be let loose.
Deja vu strikes Seawatt as he wakes up in that same area full of chests, grabs an assortment of blocks and sees the champion standing there as he jumps onto the platform.
Pushing aside his own surprise as the champion mentions that the champion boots he possesses belonged to Clownpierce, he builds a harder attack than the fake five block jump and doesn’t bother suppressing his smug expression as it disappears.
It swiftly disappears when the champion pulls out barrier blocks and builds a jump Seawatt couldn’t see, one that erases his attack.
The battle drags on for a few more attacks, before the champion builds a neo above the void. Seawatt and the champion prepare to jump. Only Seawatt lands.
Being the champion isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But Seawatt deals, he has everything he wants now, and Aj had a few ideas on how to improve things that Seawatt puts in place.
It’s only when Aj discovers a bridge of planks at the far edge of civilization that things go from soul crushingly boring to somewhat interesting again.
Seawatt visits Clown a few days after they discover the bridge, and he tells Seawatt of a fifth layer of civilization that had been hidden away (then shortly after asks Seawatt to kill him in a parkour battle to end his suffering of like, being old or whatever. Seawatt doesn’t have time to think about that, though.)
He’s back on the bridge with Aj, and he explains what Clown told him - and tells Aj in no uncertain terms to take care of things while he’s gone. Aj is, apparently, an idiot because he disregards everything he was told and jumps off the edge of the bridge before Seawatt can stop him.
Seawatt pauses. He groans loudly and curses the god he knows to be real now before jumping after Aj.
This… layer or place or whatever was weird.
Stressful, too.
The water jumps when he first showed up were difficult enough, then he can’t find Aj anywhere and after finding his way into a building (made of some yellowish stone he’d never seen before) he gets attacked by someone wearing a pair of boots he only recognises from that vault a while ago.
He’s very grateful for the totem attached to that same gold chain he’d received from Aj when the person does some strange version of a parkour battle that almost kills him in one hit.
Seawatt is unsure of his feelings towards this place just yet despite the close call that ended in an actual parkour battle, but when he returns to that original building and hears a familiar voice speak, he decides he hates it.
He turns to see (a marginally more dishevelled) Evbo who says something or other about he’s happy to see another face, Seawatt builds an attack immediately.
Evbo seems to panic a little.
“Dude, I know we ended on less than great terms but I’m not here to fight you!”
Seawatt wrinkles his nose and takes a step back as Evbo approaches the centre platform he was standing on.
“I’m just tryna survive.”
Seawatt frowns.
“Yeah, sure you are.” He pauses. “How did you get here? Were you the one who built that bridge?”
“Uh, obviously.” Evbo states. “Didn’t want to stick around to deal with whatever you were gonna do to civilization so I came here, intended to start a new life or something but apparently everyone here is insane.”
“They’re not the only ones.” Seawatt mutters and he can tell Evbo heard him from the expression on his face but brushes it off.
“Sure, bro, whatever. At least I’m not on a mission to destroy the entirety of parkour civilization - which, oh, includes me.” Evbo retorts, crossing his arms. “Whatever feelings you have towards me there’s more important stuff going on.”
“Ugh.” Seawatt doesn’t like it, but Evbo is right. Finding Aj and getting out of here is his priority.
He destroys the attack, takes the chain boots Evbo hands him and hesitantly swaps the champion boots out for them.
Some long winded (and filled with a few unnecessary pointed remarks) explanations from Evbo later, Seawatt got the gist of it. Find some… discs with the totally not suspiciously sourced compasses, use the discs to battle parkour legends and escape.
And somehow find Aj along the way despite Evbo being entirely unhelpful in that regard.
It’d already been late in the day when Seawatt jumped over here, and the sky was turning a pinkish purple outside the structure he and Evbo were in together after all of that explaining.
Evbo was sitting in the corner, fidgeting with the ends of that stupid headband and Seawatt frowns.
“So, what’s the uh, sleeping situation?” He asks.
Evbo looks at Seawatt with an unimpressed expression and gestures to the floor.
“That is.” Evbo says, and scoffs at Seawatt’s displeased expression. “You jumped over here, man, you’re gonna have to deal without a bed.”
Seawatt rolls over on the hard floor again, trying to find some patch of stone that was miraculously comfortable and he hears Evbo hiss out.
“Stop tossing and turning and just sleep, you’re keeping me awake.”
Seawatt huffs and shifts to face Evbo.
Evbo’s on his side, cushioning his head with an arm and despite the glare on his face something about the way the dim moonlight shines on his face through the small window makes him look- no. Nope. Not doing that, Seawatt. Not the time.
Seawatt forces a frown.
“It’s not easy to sleep on whatever stupid rock this floor is made of-” Seawatt begins to complain. “Seriously, it's making my back ache.”
“I don’t care.” Evbo groans.
“You should.” Seawatt protests. “You need my help to get out of here. Is there seriously not, I don’t know, literally anything to put over the ground.”
“Oh my parkour, shut up.” Evbo grumbles, Seawatt strangely relishes in the scraps of an actual emotional reaction he’s managed to provoke. Evbo shuffles across the floor and opens the chest he’d grabbed the first compass from. He procures a moth-eaten, dusty dark green blanket and throws it straight at Seawatt's face.
“There. Now leave me alone.” He bites out.
Seawatt pulls it off his face, sneezes and brushes the dust out of his hair. He folds the excuse for a blanket in half and tries his best to fit as much of his body on top of it.
For all his complaining, Seawatt’s out like a light.
Parkour damned ice jumps, Seawatt thinks as he slips on the blocks a little. His frown deepens when he spots the fighter on the course ahead of him.
A well-executed lie slips out of his mouth when he finally catches up to the fighter, but it quickly becomes redundant when Seawatt slides off the edge of a block and barely manages to land a water bucket clutch on another block.
Great, now he’s cold and wet and he has to fight this guy. He doesn’t hesitate to place a plank down and do a backwards jump, sighing with relief (however fucked up that feels) when the fighter jumps into the void rather than lose to him.
Back to completing the course, Seawatt thinks reluctantly.
It takes longer than he’d like, but eventually he’s standing in front of a dispenser - shivering and tired as he slams a fist into the button and picks up the disc with a slightly shaky hand.
When he’s finally back at the small house, Seawatt’s mostly no longer damp from the water bucket clutch but he’s still cold - and the layer’s temperature was doing him no favours.
Evbo smiles when Seawatt shows him the disc, and if Seawatt tries hard enough he can almost pretend they’re actually friends.
Evbo tries to hand him the second compass and Seawatt frowns.
“No way, I’m not doing another course today. I almost died like twice and I’m still freezing. You’ll have to wait.”
Evbo tries to look unbothered.
“Your loss.” He mutters, clearly upset by the stalling if the tense body language is any indication.
Seawatt ignores him and rummages through the chests.
Evbo straightens and looks at Seawatt.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for something to start a fire. I just spent all day jumping on ice, I’m not dealing with cold any longer than I gotta.” Seawatt responds.
Evbo has stood and come over, shoving the lid of the chest closed with a hand forcibly. Seawatt barely pulls his hands out of the way in time.
“You’re not gonna find anything in here.” Evbo snaps. “There’s a chest in that room, go look there.” He jabs a thumb in the direction of one of the four rooms on the corner of the structure.
“Jeez, okay. No need to nearly take my hands off in the process.” Seawatt responds. “You know there’s this thing called talking to me, right?”
Evbo doesn’t reply.
Seawatt returns in a few ticks with a pile of sticks, and a piece of flint.
It takes some time, but there’s a small fire crackling in the centre of the room. Seawatt’s sitting in front of it, champion boots back on to replenish his hunger. Seawatt frowns and looks at Evbo.
“How are you… getting food down here?” He asks.
Evbo sits on the other side of the fire and looks up at the question.
“Scavenging. Mostly. Sometimes there’s mushrooms growing too.” Evbo answers, short and simple. “Still gotta ration it though. Not everyone has the luxury of boots that fill them up.”
Figures, can’t even answer a question without jabbing at Seawatt. It doesn’t sting and more so just amuses him though.
Seawatt lets out a quiet snort.
Evbo pulls a face, almost like he’s confused.
Seawatt stares into the void that the fighter he was battling had just fell in and groans. Parkour, everything hurts, poison sucks.
After a brief break to use his champion boots to replenish his hunger and recover, the blistering pain fades to a dull ache and he looks at the glass he’ll need to jump to for this course and feels the will to live drain out of him.
Glass jumps, his nemesis.
Finding the course much faster than the first time now that he knew what sort of structure he was looking for, he wastes little time and carefully but quickly jumps across the course.
The panes were nerve inducing, frankly, and Seawatt could have sworn he heard one or two crack as he jumped off/on them but he couldn’t afford to think about that now.
Finally making it back to Evbo (a brief detour to the library he found delaying him slightly), it’s early evening and Seawatt walks into the room to see Evbo in the same corner he usually sat in - but notably with the green blanket he’d given to Seawatt on the first night folded into a square and shoved between his head and the wall. His eyes shut, and his face looks the most relaxed Seawatt had frankly ever seen it outside the fake memory.
Seawatt freezes for a minute, staring. He knows he shouldn’t but he catches himself admiring the other - eyes lingering on his lips for a minute before he shakes his head.
He allows Evbo another 5 minutes before nudging him with the tip of his boot and Evbo jerks awake, blinking sleep out of his eyes and face morphing into a frown.
“Dude, did you have to wake me up? I was tired.” He complains.
Seawatt sighs.
“So am I.” He huffs. “Whatever, got your stupid disc.” He thrusts it in Evbo’s direction, unsure why he’s suddenly annoyed.
The night was colder than it had been prior, and maybe it was just in Seawatt’s head, but he was even more freezing than when he returned from the ice course.
Evbo had commandeered the blanket, which left Seawatt shivering on the stone floor.
Eventually, Seawatt rolls over and looks at Evbo. Green eyes open when they feel Seawatt’s staring.
“What?” He grumbles in a sleepy voice.
“I’m cold.” Seawatt snaps.
“So?” Evbo rolls his eyes. “Not much I can do about it.”
“You have a blanket.” Seawatt points out.
“I’m not freezing to death for your sake.”
“Would it kill you to share?” Seawatt shuffles a little closer. Evbo frowns.
“Not happening.” Evbo snaps.
“These courses are only getting harder.” Seawatt pauses. “I need to be able to sleep properly if you want me to actually complete them. I’m not pleased at the notion either, bro, but I’m also so cold I’ll take anything at this point.”
Evbo sighs loudly.
“Fine. But if you get touchy I don’t care if I’m stuck here forever I’m killing you in a parkour battle.”
“Okay, sure you are.” Seawatt laughs a little.
Evbo lifts the blanket to allow Seawatt to slide under. Seawatt does so silently, Evbo turns to face him away from Seawatt.
He stares at Evbo’s back for a moment, and the headband tied evenly around the man’s head even now when he’s supposed to be sleeping and rolls to face away from Evbo too.
When Seawatt wakes, the first thing he notices is he’s blessedly warm. The second is a hint of warm breath hitting his neck. He freezes, face darkening when he remembers Evbo’s presence.
He tries to shift forward and becomes suddenly very aware of the arm that’s been tossed over his torso limply.
Evbo grumbles quietly.
Seawatt stares at the wall and focuses on the pattern for a few minutes.
Eventually, he gently moves Evbo’s arm, keeping a close eye on the other’s face. His eyebrows twitch and he almost looks upset. Seawatt brushes it off and sits up.
Seawatt stands a few blocks away from the structure he and Evbo were staying in. He thinks about the discussion he and the fighter who’d betrayed Evbo had, and puffs out a breath,
He shouldn't have been surprised, really.
(That didn’t mean it hurt any less.)
Whatever, he had to act like he knew nothing or this would all be pointless.
He jumps inside and plays dumb.
The neo course went about as well as it could have, and Seawatt stands with Evbo in the temple now.
He just had to do this, defeat the legends and then he can save Aj and (hopefully) get home.
Each time Seawatt defeats a legend, he gets another ominous warning and he knows something is off but it’s not as if he can do anything about it so he shoves it off, and continues on.
Eventually, he defeats the final legend, the neo legend forfeiting the battle.
Seawatt follows Evbo somewhat reluctantly up the stairs, to the top of the temple.
“You know,” Evbo starts before they reach the top. “I never said I was going to be the one to destroy civilization."
Seawatt looks at Evbo, mostly confused, and follows him up the stairs to the top.
He pauses as he sees the gaunt frame of a man, suspended above lava with chains.
Oh.
Evbo briefly (well, brief, for him) monologues, explains. Seawatt regrets trusting him for even a second.
Evbo frees the old man, a simple block placed in lava allowing him to jump over it.
Seawatt turns to see the attack Evbo had built behind him, and Evbo promises that he’ll free Aj if Seawatt lets Evbo hit him with the parkour attack.
Seawatt knows there’s ulterior motives, but he can’t risk Aj dying, he cooperates.
When the attack hits, he notices immediately his boots vanishing.
Evbo gave them to the old man without hesitation, alongside blocks.
He looks at Seawatt.
“Just one last loose end to clear up.” He says, a rasp in his voice, then builds a course, no - a race.
Seawatt stares as the villain moves his gaze off him, and onto Evbo.
Dread burns deep in his stomach like he swallowed some of the lava bubbling a few feet away as the wood blocks are placed.
For all Evbo has done, Seawatt can't say he doesn't deserve this.
He watches as the fighter tries his best to keep up, fingers desperately scrabble and grip onto blocks, chain boots scuff against planks.
Evbo slips.
He falls from the course onto the quartz floor, as the old man lands onto the final jump.
Seawatt wishes he ran over, he thinks he would grab his hand and lie through his teeth that Evbo would be okay.
Seawatt doesn't process what the villain said as he leaves with the champion boots, staring at the crumpled figure as he stops breathing.
A tear slides down Seawatt's cheek.
Grief fills him for a moment despite every thought saying it shouldn’t.
After all, for what it's worth, he enjoyed working with Evbo.