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It was finally night. No one was bothering him about a challenge or about what he was doing that day. Not for another month at least. Most of the teams were asleep, a few contestants awake, but that wasn’t his main concern at the moment. X had already made his little burrow in the ground to sleep in, so Four just assumed he was asleep.
Four himself started making his own burrow, scratching his claws at the ground, bringing up dirt, grass, and roots. He then remembered his powers. How could he have forgotten? Maybe it was worry and sleep. He stood back up and raised his hand, his palm glowing as he concentrated. He soon ripped out a chunk of earth, just the perfect height—6 inches deep. He placed the mound over to the side, he would place it back in the hole in the morning when either he woke up himself or X woke him up.
He got comfortable, laying down and shifting a few times. His fur fluffed out to keep him warm. Then he focused again. His pupils dilated bigger before shrinking as his body lost its consciousness. Whenever that happened it was because he entered his pocket dimension. He needed to check on someone.
Every few days Four would check in on Three, making sure she was doing okay and giving her food, no matter if she’d refuse to eat. He always knows she succumbs to her hunger. Even if algebraliens don’t need as much food for energy they STILL need food. Now that he was thinking about it that fact hit him like a sack of rocks. How would One even survive? He really hoped these powers could spawn food like they could inanimate objects. He could do it, but he has more power than One. He tried not to dwell on it too much. It was One’s own fault anyways. She deserved this. Four approached Three’s cage. He didn’t understand why she chose the jail cell out of everywhere in the dimension, but he doesn’t remember asking her about giving her somewhere different. He looked through the bars, looking at the pale-red number on the floor wrapped in the blanket Five had given her, going from staring at nothing in front of her to making eye contact with Four before looking away. He couldn’t help but pity her for what One had done to her.
He slowly opened the door, closing it behind her. Maybe he should put a lock on it to keep other people out in case they somehow get here and find where she is. She’s definitely more vulnerable in this state. He sat down on the cell floor by her, the silence feeling loud as he tried to think of a conversation starter.
“How are you doing?” he asked. Three looked up at him before shrugging. For some reason Three avoiding being verbal always made him angry. He knows it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it always managed to make him feel rejected. But this wasn’t about him. This was about Three.
“Are you hungry? Or thirsty?” He raised his arm a bit, wanting to comfort her somehow but unsure how to go about it. Three, to Four’s surprise, nodded. “Well which one is it? I can’t read minds, y'know!” he said, a small harsh tone seeping into his voice.
“It’s both,” Three responded hoarsely. This gave Four an idea, grabbing Three’s hand, “I know I could just spawn something for you, buuuttt…how about we actually make something, together?” Four asked with a smile, which Three happily returned. She sat up, keeping the blanket around her.
To aid Three, Four helped her stand up, “Do you…need the blanket?” he wondered. “I…guess I could ditch it for now…I mean, it keeps me warm but maybe I don’t need it…” she responded, dropping the blanket.
Four smiled wider at her before taking her outside the cage, their fingers intertwined as they walked. There wasn’t an exact destination…yet. But he just felt relieved that Three was walking and talking, even if it was only a few sentences. Soon they got to an empty hallway. Four snapped his fingers with his free hand, making a door appear. He opened it, a big kitchen appearing behind it, “Here we are!”
Four let go of Three’s hand, and when she felt the pressure against her hand, she let go aswell. Four stepped inside first, looking behind him to make sure Three was following. She closed the door behind her, scanning the area before looking around.
“Sooo..what sounds good? You can have whatever you like” he smiled at her as she looked around the kitchen, “Hm..well…” she thought for a bit. Her last meal was just mashed potatoes with cheese, and it was all cold by the time she ate it. Four easily started getting impatient, but tried his best to let Three take her time. “What about muffins? Maybe…strawberry ones?” she suggested, Four smiled, feeling relieved that she finally responded, “Anything else?” he added, wondering if Three wanted anything else.
She shook her head, which prompted Four to snap his finger, causing a cookbook to appear on the island bar. Three walked over to it from the left while Four walked around the bar to the right. She watched as he opened the books and flipped through the pages, stopping to check what recipe he had landed on. He finally got to the page about how to make strawberry muffins, and skimmed through the ingredients. He spawned all the items they would need for the muffins—an egg, a bowl of strawberries, a bag of flour, sugar, and baking powder, a bottle of vanilla extract, a gallon of milk (which spawned in the fridge), and a stick of butter (which also was in the fridge). “Okay so we start by preheating the oven to 180 degrees..” Three said, which right when he heard “pre”, Four went over to the oven, “Way ahead of ya!” he said as he set the temperature in the oven to 180. Three grabbed a few bowls as Four walked back over to the cookbook to see what they had to do next. When she came back with the bowls, Four put all the ingredients with their respective amount into each bowl.
“Next, we put the sugar, baking soda, and flour together” Four read off as Three grabbed the bowls, pouring them into a larger bowl, “Stir for a bit”
After that, Four grabbed the egg and cracked it into the bowl. Three poured the vanilla extract into the bowl and grabbed the whisk, mixing the ingredients together. While she did that, Four poured in half of the milk that was in the measuring cup as the book instructed. They stopped talking, but could understand what they were doing.
Four realized he forgot the butter when he reached for it, so he went to the fridge. Suddenly, the oven beeped as it reached its temperature, which scared Four so bad as he was opening the fridge that he accidentally slammed it into his foot, “AUGH!” He grabbed his foot with his other hand, but dropped the cup. Three heard the shatter and put down the bowl, turning around to see what had happened. A piece of glass was right by her foot, but luckily hadn’t gotten close enough to cut anyone.
She quickly got behind Four and grabbed him, pulling him away from the mess so he wouldn’t get hurt further. Four processed what had happened when he felt Three, looking at the fridge and what had happened. Three walked near the mess and shut the fridge, and Four used his telekinesis to lift the mess and snap it away.
“Sorry about that…” Four apologized, his hand grabbing onto his other arm. Three smiled, “No need to apologize! You didn’t mean for it to happen, and, hey, no one got seriously injured, right?”
“I..guess so..” Four responded, looking Three in the eyes before smiling back. Three’s eyes suddenly drooped, and her smile faded. Her body started glitching out more harsher again. Four froze, but when he felt Three lose her grip on him he caught her by the wrist, pulling her into him, “Maybe we should do this sometime else…” Four commented with worry, wrapping an arm behind her. He used his free hand to snap all the ingredients and bowls away, before teleporting them back to the cage. Three got back on the floor and wrapped herself in her blanket. Meanwhile, Four just spawned in some strawberry muffins with a few bottles of water for her. He had almost forgotten how weak she had been since the incident. He should really be more careful about her.
Three gave Four an apologetic glance, but didn’t say any “I’m sorry” or “My apologies” because there was no need. They both understood that was bound to happen sooner or later, so she’d rather save her breath. She reached for a muffin and took a bite which made Four let out a sigh of relief that he had no clue was building up. He gave Three a tight hug before whispering, “Please be safe…” The words were more of a beg to the universe than directed to Three. He got up to focus so he could possess his physical form again, but he stooped. He didn’t want to leave Three by herself. X might need to wake him again, but if that meant he could spend more time comforting and keeping close to Three, then so be it. This was the most interaction they’ve had in years, and the happiest Three seemed after what One had done.
Without a word, he stepped over to the side of her that the muffins weren't on, so she could still reach for them if need be. He got under the blanket with her and hugged her, holding her close to him. He closed his eyes and nuzzled the back of her neck. Although Three didn’t have a verbal response, she was grateful that the blue number wanted to stay, even if it was just for the night. She missed interaction with others dearly, even if it seemed like she was pushing Four away when he tried. Her eyes started to droop, and not long after she hadn’t realized she fell asleep