Chapter Text
Morton looked around dazed and confused, the rooftop seeming infinite now with all his friends assimilated. All that laid in front of him was wonders, and a shit ton of blood which he couldn’t tell what parts of it belonged to who, most of it was definitely spilling out of his left shoulder though. It was beautiful, but wrong. So was he, he guessed. Pure happenstance he got to live like this, the same would be with his death. Under any other circumstance he would find it poetic, but when that happens to you, it’s just sad.
He looked around, but not up, he wanted to delay any further mutation if that was even possible, going from cricket to human felt wonderful, but humans… didn’t usually enjoy those mutations. He couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the remains of those shells of astronomers. He knew their offerings, but yet, they weren’t correct? Was it his fault? Was it Sam’s? No, no it couldn’t have been Sam, just because he got the offering in a… unconventional way didn’t mean he was at fault, he just got whatever he had suggested. He clutched the dark robes around him, he nabbed them off of Sam, he wasn’t one to wear anything besides his own cloak but this was special, a gift from astronomers, now regifted to who caused their demise.
Besides one. One remained alive.
Aster was still standing, just on far more legs than before. But he wasn’t unchanged mentally, that was evident just by the way he carried himself. Morton was looked down upon, not in malice or pity, but a fondness like he did mere hours before. Curiosity, even, a want- no, a need to understand the bleeding cricket and why he wasn't looking up to the rupturing sky.
Aster gently shoved the cricket in the side, Morton flinched back and raised the Spear of the Word instinctively, although Aster didn’t seem to notice. “What’s wrong? Isn’t it wonderful? Do you not like it?” His tail subconsciously loosely wrapped itself around Morton, which did not help the poor crickets heart.
“Ehhhh, no, not in the smallest amount.” He wrapped the robe around him tighter, wishing the sky's eye would make him disappear. He felt weak and frail, a very new and incredibly upsetting feeling. “I believe this was…a nonperformance, from me.” Aster just stared at him blankly, looking pretty dazed and not entirely there, as his tail closed in on Morton, who decided not to fight it against his better judgement.
“Whattt? No! It’s… it’s all a strange coincidence, Morton! You didn’t cause this-! It was definitely a photograph for the ritual. There’s- There’s no way you were wrong, you’ve never been wrong!” He said, defending his friend like it was the one thing he was able to do. His tail snaked up to Morton’s head, trying to get him to actively look upwards. “Just, look at it!! It was going to appear here no matter what outcome came! Win or lose, it can’t… die or anything!”
But that didn’t make him feel better in the slightest, just because something WAS going to happen, didn’t mean it couldn’t have been stopped, or dealt with. It could have been, should have been gone, but it still loomed up ahead. Nothing of worth had happened. It didn’t care about things depicting humans, it needed to have been shown itself and its own damages. But now, with all said and done, they had no shot.
How was one bug supposed to communicate with a creature from another world itself? For a lack of a better metaphor, he was a bug under its shoe. Meaningless and unknown.
“If it is incapable of… death, you would know this how?”
“Pfft- it told me of course- er, no that’s not right… it, uhm, just kinda came to me? Like instinct!” Aster concluded, of course a vision of the Visitor’s mortality was awfully convenient. Morton didn’t buy it. “Hey why are you still you anyway? Shouldn’t you be screaming in pain ten minutes ago?”
“Err…” Morton paused, pondering the question, in full honesty, he wasn’t sure. He was certainly untouched though, and thank whatever is out there for that. “...Yes I should’ve had. Perhaps I am now immune to this phenomenon..? Possibly it could only affect an individual once, and I have already… gone through it.”
Aster sighed wistfully, looking directly up at the parted cloud Morton kept averting his eyes to, even though it hadn’t and probably wouldn’t change him anymore than he was already altered. “Of course you get to be normal… oh well! Can’t win them all…” He mumbled. It was hard to tell if he was talking about himself or Morton.
Morton gave in and stared up, the swirling colors the same as the last time he looked, about two weeks ago. He didn’t feel himself melting and being reformed brutally with care. He didn’t feel the liberation of knowing he would never have the risk of being eaten by a frog again. He just felt the crushing weight of the fact he was alive in this situation, and that it is rude to speak ill of the dead.
Still within the grasp of the monstrous tail, Morton tried to loosen it around his body. It wasn’t exactly efficient, but he made do, now being able to maneuver enough to grab his bag and pull out some medical supplies. “I do appreciate your… closeness, Aster, but I would prefer if you… took a few many legged steps back?”
Aster’s tail drooped down, not in cooperation, but sadness at the request. He scurried back quickly, allowing Morton to quickly repair himself with the scraps of supplies he still has.
“Well sorry I thought you were going to sleep soon…” He said quietly and with some remorse coating his voice.
“Do not worry, I do not have time to pass out in your tail…” As much as the thought made him feel a warmth which felt foreign to him in this time of sudden loss. “I have… much to do, and not a surplus of time to participate in it.” He stood up, his legs no longer wobbling that much, and made his way to the stairwell. Aster looked incredibly alarmed at this.
“WH- NONONO! What are you doing?! You should stay here, with me! What if you get really tired on the way down and pass out? You don’t look in scavenging state-”
“You could accompany me if you like..?” He replied, surprised at that being his response. Some concern was to be expected, beneath the different appearance was still a very near and dear friend. Aster perked up at the suggestion, moving back towards him, although keeping a distance at his previous request.
The question didn’t even need pondering. “Yes!! Yes, I’ll go with you on your little, uhhh, gamble-filled adventure! …You do know that it’s probably not gonna-”
“Yes.” Morton said, not slowing down as he approached the roof door. “But I will not be standing around knowing nothing will come of it. An attempt will be made.” He swung open the door with his right hand, minding his still injured left shoulder. “We will be heading to apartment 21 now, that is the one thing I can think of. I trust you, ehhh, will be at my side..?”
“Where else would I go?”
“Ehh, I do not know… It’s much appreciated.”
A shadow trailed behind the duo, quietly. Nodding to the corpses of those slaughtered. Gazing over them until it spotted its own. Slowly, it engulfed it into itself. It wasn’t the same, the feeling wasn’t brutally loving, but cold and hateful. It needed to bring itself back to become whole. It’s waited here so long. It could wait for so much longer if it was truly needed.