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Tenna lay flat on his back in the snow at the edge of consciousness, barely able to move. He was aware that his arms were gone – what had happened? Something – someone – had cut them off.
The Knight.
It wasn't the first time he'd made a deal that he'd been let down by – but he thinks this time might be his last.
He looks up at the dark sky of this cold world as snow begins to fall, the flakes becoming thicker and more frequent. This place... it's like the snowglobe that was in the Dreemurr's living room around the holidays. That reindeer girl had brought it over one year. Tenna thinks that the world of the snowglobe is perfect – everything the same, year after year.
He realizes somewhat suddenly that he's not going to be able to cajole his way out this one. He's been damaged so badly that he doesn't even think he could stand, let alone... what, exactly? How could he even be fixed?
“Help,” Tenna calls out hoarsely, but he can feel his voice being carried away on the wind. “Kris? Susie? Ralsei? Anybody?” he tries again, before adding somewhat hesitatingly, “Mike?”
It's so quiet, any noise muffled by the snow. He's so used to surrounding himself with sound – clapping, cheering, music, his own lovely voice – that the silence is unbearable.
Tenna tries crying out for help again, but it's clear that no one is coming.
He's never thought of his ending – TV never ends, after all – but he'd never thought it would be this lonely. Why didn't anyone love him anymore? He'd tried his best.
But it seemed his best wasn't enough anymore.
The snow starts to bury Tenna, and he does nothing to try and stop it.
It covers him until he's no longer visible, just a slight bump in the snow where his body lay still.
---
Tenna is lying on his back in the snow. His immediate instinct is to shove himself upright, to stand tall, but.
His arms. They've been sliced off!
The Knight had managed to cut him down just when things were starting to seem like they'd be okay.
The attack had weakened him so much, but he has to try. Tenna needs so desperately to be wanted again.
He tries to get up, but it's no use. It takes all of his strength to yell out, “Kris! Susie! Ralsei! Please help me!”
It seems like his pleas are getting swallowed by the wind, but he keeps shouting, though his voice gets weaker and weaker. Tenna struggles to sit up. If he could only get his arms back, maybe he could find someone, anyone, who'd be willing to give him a hand.
It doesn't work. His body feels so heavy, like a stone sinking into the earth.
So he lies still in the cold darkness as the snow starts to accumulate on him. A blanket for my grave, he thinks idly, when suddenly he hears what sounds like footsteps and panicked saxphone noises.
“Tenna!” A voice shouts, and hands are brushing all the snow off of him all at once.
“Wow,” he says with a strained chuckle, “I thought I was a goner there for sure.”
Pippins and Shadowguys are pushing him upright, and Tenna can see that Susie is holding his two arms. One of the Pippins is frantically reading through a manual – his manual.
“I told you, I wasn't going to give up on you,” Susie says, as Shadowguys fit his arms back to his shoulder and duct tape it on. “Sorry it's just me. Kris had to go seal the fountain and Ralsei had to go back to Castle Town.”
Susie holds her hands to the duct-taped portions of Tenna's arms. Weak green sparks fly out of her fingers. She attempts this multiple times without prompting, until she appears exhausted. “Are you okay now? Did that work? I can't tell...”
Tenna tentatively lifts one of his arms and flexes his fingers. He doesn't feel one-hundred percent, but he can move a little bit now. “You... did just fine, Susie. I think I'll be okay.” He pulls her into a gentle hug. “Thank you...”
“I'm gonna get you back to Castle Town once I get back to the Light World,” Susie promises. “You're gonna get a new home with someone who'll appreciate you.”
And as she walks away, leaving him with the Pippins and Shadowguys (whose saxophone playing is much less anxious now), Tenna believes her.