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I don't care.
I don't care about you.
I DON'T. Care about you.
She stared from the whiteboard. A silly blue scribble, not expressing one deep emotion besides a stupid smile and two big, round eyes.
You look stupid.
Sprawled out on your bed like a...
She paused in her head, searching for words. To monologue her frustrations in her head.
...a dim, helpless, idiot... green starfish.
Her eyes pierced through what was a weakened green lump in the bed, pale limbs akimbo and unmoving. Like they were trying to melt into the covers. Forever wallow in their grief. Forever rot on the lightless planet.
It's you who made this mistake
It's you and your idiot cowardice.
It's YOU who made me do this.
It's YOU who made me like this.
She accused. Word after word, it was all accusations. Venom. Unchecked resentment. All pointed towards the wrecked prime. Towards their tired, lidded eyes. Towards the eyes that were staring back at her. At the board. Like they knew.
It's YOUR fault.
And she blamed them for everything.
Your airheaded decision...
Your... stupid fears...
Stupid... stupid you...
...and...
The scribble twitched, like it was alive.
...and...
It was hard to stay still. It was hard for her not to burst right there, with how much pent-up anger she had for Two. For the stupid Two.
I still...
I still come back to you.
"It took her..." They whispered brokenly, "Didn't it?"
It was dark. The room was dark. The outside was dark. The rift didn't matter anymore. Their contestants? Forgotten. Thought—out the window.
But she said nothing. Like Two addressed a brick wall.
"The moment she was out of my sight... it just..." Their eyes trailed sideways, "...s-she just whoosh... and gone."
Just as gone was the perpetually optimistic lilt in their voice. The happy cheer that was able to rouse something deep inside her before. A feeling that would mirror theirs. But it was back then. Now they made her feel hollow. Hollow, despite overflowing with vibrating power. More than she expected at once, but not nearly enough to mend what had frayed. The blue doodle trembled slightly. Still smiling big, still staring wide.
"It's on me, innit..." Hands rose to hover before their eyes, wobbly. Pale green painted in dark hues. "Should've... kept her close. She wasn't just..." A stifled sob left them. And it was as if she heard something inside Two break. Their voice cracked. "She wasn't just someone."
I wasn't just someone, either, was I?
"She did more than..." Their breath hitched, palming at their face desultorily.
I wasn't someone to forget, was I?
I was the closest you've ever been to...
"Anyone." Another fractured sob. So soft and feeble. So suppressed. Their hands clutched over their expression.
The cool wind pulled the curtains into a sway. Slow, gentle. A noisily quiet backdrop to Two's silent sounds of hurt. Of utter anguish and guilt.
"I miss her..." Their voice was small, only coming out in weak mutters between tears and tears cascading down their green cheeks, washing over the dark circles beneath the sore eyes. The arm fell aside again, tired from barely moving around. They turned sideways, face mussed with faint, moist lines as they looked at the board again.
"I could talk to her... about anything." Their hand clawed at the sheets lamely. "Could... talk my mind out..." Pulled a fistful of fabric close to their chest, hugging themself to it lightly, eyes sliding shut again. "Could be friends... without judgement." Salty drops seeped into the bedclothes, leaving damp patches.
"I could be myself... I could have figured everything... everything out." The frail whines melted into the soft linen that lay across their bed, crumpled and in need of change. "...could have everything..."
"...'m a tosser..." Another pained whimper left them. Pained by how all of it weighed on them, how they could do nothing about it. "And she's gone..." Wet dots stamped into the pillow as they burrowed the side of their face into it. "She stopped... existing..." They suddenly inhaled through their mouth before falling back down with a shuddering sigh, pillow providing little comfort, no matter how much they tried to hide in it. "Entirely... Gaty..."
I hate you.
I hate seeing you like this.
Pathetic.
They didn't even open their eyes when the drawing suddenly pushed forth from the board like something was pulling through the white matter, trying to get out before popping into an apparition of a soothing, cornflower color. White twinkling motes dissipated into thin air as One stepped through the room like an owner, approaching until the mattress was resisting pressure that was her knees digging in.
And she shoved them sideways with an angry, green-blue swing of her magic, earning a startled yelp from the frozen prime who looked up at her with wide, tear-stricken eyes. "All you do is whine-whine-whine for what you will never get back." She hissed under her breath, eyes narrowed and brows brought tight together. "You never. NEVER think about what you can still have."
Thump.
She sat beside them, in the place she freed up by force. Because they wouldn't move otherwise. Disregarding their deep mourning state, from which Two couldn't move on. They tried for a sound, but One cut them short. "And you do nothing to get it. Nothing." A leg kicked at the murky floor with simmering frustration.
"I was there for you before. But you decide to leave... ALL of what we've built together." One was looking at the wall, rumbling her thoughts out. "You could've been of help then. Could've saved Three, me, with just a word of..." She swallowed, voice wavering, "of contradiction. Could've stood up to Four, but no..."
She wasn't looking at Two. Wasn't looking at how their arm reached slowly to rest next to where she was settled, tentative. Speaking her mind. Disregarding Gaty's situation. Disregarding. "You're a fraidy-snail... retreating into your shell the moment something... something just a little scary HAPPENS!"
One was boiling, barely registering how an arm wrapped around her waist entirely, pulling her close with an unsteady force. She fell backwards with an 'oof', right next to Two's rippling body. And One wanted to kick against them, to pull back and zap them in the face because of how overwhelmed she felt herself, but hot tears smeared across her back. Scalding, repelling her anger, and she stalled.
"'M sorry..." They whispered into her back. "Sorry..." Pressed closer, both arms finding purchase in vining around her.
They messed up. They both messed up. And when One looked down at them, so vigorless and inside what looked like the deepest of the deepest sadness pits, she... didn't have the heart to push them away. To push away a face they once pressed close to her side with a fond laughter that brought her to higher spirits. To push away what she longed for, in the back of her mind.
She looked once at the whiteboard, eyes flicking back to the grounding wetness that rubbed off on her back as Two pressed their face squarely against the blue expanse. Both hands found her empty space on her flanks, holding weakly despite nuzzling so close. "I can't... I'm..." Two breathed muffledly against her as One leaned back, sinking into the mattress, next to where they had already left a dent from how long they've been lying, facing away. "I just... It's been so long."
"So long since I've had anybody to..." One heard them sniffle. You brought this on yourself—she scrunched up at the thought bitterly, looking back down at where their feet rested. Together. "...to... to just sit next to. And not... feel like I owe them... for every word they say." And they clung to her like she were their lifeline. One looked ahead blankly, but said nothing. Lay mute. Dead silent.
The wind gently caressed the curtains, making them rustle again. Two sniffled at her back, feeble and exhausted. A faint surge of blue energy—electric and shimmering—wiped the remaining scribbles off the whiteboard. Swept the photos away, let them flutter southward. Rubbed the evidence of her antics away.
"I never said you owe me." She rasped into the distance, "or Three."
And they lay silent. Two breathed against her spine in deep, warm puffs, face still wet and pitiful. The blue integer softened just a tad, but didn't repeat what was left of her coiling anger vocally—the resentment just... dissolved. In Two's tears, in the hopelessly grim look they wore on their face. She didn't turn to look at them. One felt their expression print itself out on her back.
"You're pathetic." Her brows knitted to a crease as she rolled her eyes. Another hitched sniffle left them. But Two only nuzzled closer—into the one-sided grasp, into somebody who was threatening to bite. And she sighed incredulously, squirming to turn onto her back. Glimpsing their shadowed face.
Her foot prodded its way underneath Two's sluggish body, digging into the covers until she could hook her leg around them and pull the twitching prime close to her side. She said nothing to comfort them. There was no soothing their pain with words, and while she saw no gain in sitting here, next to a husk of somebody powerful... it felt peaceful. In its own twisted, bizarre way, it felt peaceful.
"...I missed you." Two's words were barely audible against her side, eyes not opening. They didn't ask why she was here, since when and for how long; now they were motionless together, in an unbound, sunless world, with whispering zephyrs raking outside.
Shimmering blue and white specks brushed across their face, swiping the stray tears away. One's gaze was absent when she looked sideways to catch their expression, not blinking when equally big eyes opened to look at her. Dilated pupils made them look hopeful. Distracted. Their hand clutched at her side, mouth opening like they were gonna say something—but the sound aborted quickly and settled into a sort of slow sigh.
Then these eyes trailed down, back to their feet. Contemplating with a guilty glint in them. One looked at their bloated, dark eyebags as her breath evened out.
"I missed you, too." She muttered, following the path their eyes traced with her own.
They didn't resolve anything. Didn't get into a loud fight, didn't bring up what really coiled inside. Feelings. Raw, in equal measure ecstatic and devastating. Nobody said a word. The only sound cutting through the silence was breathing, barely audible. One didn't bother fix what she'd done. Sort of helped her get the revenge she was thinking of. But Two... looked like he could care less.
"I thought... they exiled you." Two rolled out in a quiet breath, looking back at the blue face. But One bucked, nudging away from them—like it struck a nerve. Shattering the hug she initiated herself. The brief closeness she signaled green light for. Their eyes widened, confused and chasing as they trailed after her. Pale arms faltered around her, still holding, even if not as securely.
"They did." She said, turning her head away again. But that didn't explain much. Two elbowed the mattress as they propped themself upright, catching her face briefly. With a grunt, they pulled closer insistently. But their hands stayed still, not smothering.
"...And you got out?" They continued.
"Yeah, it's..." It wasn't a long story. The anticipation was. But she didn't have a good excuse to cover it up. "...It's whatever. Don't remind me."
Two watched her for a split second, chewing on the inside of their cheek awkwardly. Then spoke up: "Well... How long has it been since... then?"
They probably knew by now who caused all the problems. Unless the green algebralien didn't have enough connections in their brain to put two plus two together. Was it worth lying? One drilled holes in the wall a couple of feet away from her.
"It's been... long enough." Not exactly a lie. Just vague.
"Really?" Two muttered, laying their head back down next to hers. "And you never paid me a visit?"
"Didn't know you were here."
"You didn't?" They parroted, almost incredulous. But their voice was still hoarse and weak, the tone hardly distinguishable. "Then how did you find me?"
It was a coincidence. It was unplanned, but absolutely convenient. One's eyes wandered. Or was it, really? She got what she wanted, no matter that question. But she never really thought about it.
"One?"
"It was a coincidence."
The room dropped into silence for another second. Two didn't reply out loud, but their rigid hand moved, wrapping back around her. Their eyes lidded again, and One felt a deep, weary sigh fan across her back. And something gnawed at the back of her heart, making One regret her cold behavior. Her leg reached back, brushing against theirs penitently.
"I'm glad that... You did." They scraped against the blue expanse verbally. But their eyes were growing wet again. "Found me, I mean."
And she thought they were clingy. Needy, shameless. Not so dependent, usually. One squirmed, but gradually settled down as their face pressed into the back of her upper half, rubbing. She stiffened at another sobbing sigh. The emotions she experienced right then simultaneously were above conflicting.
"...Are you angry?" They whispered tensely, as if afraid of assuming, even when they were tearing up. "At me?"
One looked to the side. The inquiry was loaded. Was she angry? A little. At them? The sad, half-baked, and shamefully endearing prime? They lay silent, waiting for her to say something, face still buried into her back.
"No." Her eyes lidded. Let the grudge go down the drain; it didn't matter anymore. A tiny sorry did little to help, but she accepted it. Only this time, just from them. Now, she'd make them help her find the lost one third of what their group used to be.
But she staggered again as their lips pressed against her skin. Soft, not urgent. Bewildering in the suddenness. Pecked once, twice. Her eyelids fluttered, but didn't open. One let out a breath she didn't notice she was holding. Let herself sink further into the bed, into their weakened arms. Rest, just for today. So they lay together, practically immobile, near the edge of the bed.