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Goggles and Hachi followed through with their promise of staying with Rider at his apartment, and night fell soon enough. Rider insisted on sleeping in his own bed alone, and so Goggles and Hachi agreed to sleep in the living room in sleeping bags.
It took a while for Rider to get to sleep. In fact, nearly half of his night was spent staring at the wall or ceiling in the dark, hands shaking and heart racing.
This had been happening for the last few days, the inability to get to sleep. When it was quiet and dark, it was free reign for Rider's mind to be filled with memories of being controlled, of being violent—as well as guilt and worries that he was a horrible, irredeemable person.
Not to mention that on some days, he felt like he was being watched—that at any second, Tartar would control him again.
Despite the violent memories that plagued Rider's head, however, he did manage to get to sleep eventually. His sleep was peaceful and dreamless for a little while, but then…
"Rider!! Wake up!!"
The blue Inkling's voice was vaguely familiar—but it didn't matter. Two enemies stood before him, and he needed to destroy them.
He was Tartar's puppet, made perfect by the parasite on his head. He needed to fulfill his duty.
"EXTERMINATE."
Tartar's puppet rushed towards the two enemies, slamming his roller into one of them. The pathetic scraps of seafood barely fought back, and soon enough…
Two corpses lay on the ground in front of him.
Cold sweat rolled down his face and back, Rider bolted to a sitting position in bed, yelling in horror. He found himself hyperventilating, clutching his head in pain as the nightmare played over and over again in his mind.
Always that same damn nightmare. The nightmare about Tartar succeeding—succeeding in puppeting Rider to kill Goggles and Hachi. His beloved friends.
Tears began to roll down Rider's face. He tried to slow his breathing, but it was futile—he was panicking far too much. He soon started sobbing right there in the dark bedroom—and after a minute or so, he realized his scar was burning again.
"Fuck," Rider whispered, his tear-choked voice barely audible even to himself. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck—"
This was the worst possible time for his scar to act up. It hurt so much, almost like there was that horrible parasite on his face again—
—was it there again? Fuck, it was back. Rider had to get it off get it off get it off get it off ge
Rider didn't know how long he was scratching at his scar—he only realized he had been doing so when he saw the blood on his hand.
It still stung so badly. The tears rolling down his face, now mixing with his blood, only served to make the pain even worse.
His hands shook as he sat there in the darkness…then a spike of panic rose through him again.
Were Goggles and Hachi still alive?
As soon as this thought occurred to him, Rider rushed out of bed, nearly sprinting down the hall to the living room. On the floor, Goggles and Hachi lay in sleeping bags.
Asleep…or dead. Were they dead? Rider had to check.
Rider pressed two shaky fingers to Hachi's neck, feeling desperately for a pulse. After a couple moments he felt one, but he didn't let himself feel any relief. He had to make sure.
With every passing second, Rider got the creeping feeling that he had killed his friends in his sleep, actually. It took almost two minutes of feeling Hachi's pulse for these thoughts to be proven wrong.
It was then when Rider finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, it was short-lived before it occurred to him that while Hachi was alive, Goggles could be dead. So he went over to Goggles to check his pulse as well—
"Rider?"
Rider's wide eyes darted across the room, before he realized that Hachi had spoken. He looked towards him; the Octoling had just woken up and seemed quite groggy.
"You…you okay?" Hachi muttered.
Rider sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Go back to sleep—"
"Your face is bleeding..."
Right. Through his panic, Rider had nearly forgotten the scratches he had made into his scar. He could feel blood running down his face now, but decided it wasn't important.
"Yeah. I'm aware."
"Rider, did you…"
"Look, just…don't worry about me. I'm fine." Rider frowned as he pressed his fingers to Goggles' neck, he had to make sure or else Goggles would die—
"You're clearly not fine, Rider," Hachi said, sitting up straight in his sleeping bag. "Did you…hurt yourself?"
Rider didn't answer. He furrowed his eyebrows, having trouble detecting a pulse from Goggles. He could feel his own heart racing with panic, what if he killed Goggles he killed Goggles he killed Goggles HE KILLED GOGGLES HE KILLED GOGGLES
"What are you doing, Rider?"
Rider could feel tears coming to his eyes, and he tried his best to hold them back. "Checking his pulse."
"…Why?"
"To make sure he's still alive, obviously."
"Rider, you don't have to—"
"Yes I do!!" Rider exclaimed, turning towards Hachi. He could feel his face heating up—from anger or embarassment or something else, he wasn't entirely sure. "If I d-don't…he'll…"
"He's okay, Rider," Hachi said. "Look, he's breathing."
Rider looked down at Goggles' chest, and indeed, it was rising up and down. He also noticed Goggles' light snoring, and hearing that signal of life calmed him a bit.
Then Rider felt Hachi's hand rest on his. The touch surprised him a bit, and he turned towards Hachi with wide eyes.
"May I ask why you hurt yourself?" Hachi said softly, reaching a hand towards Rider's bloody scar—
—but Rider pushed his hand away. He was failing at holding back those tears now.
"I-I…felt like it was back," Rider muttered.
"Tartar's parasite?" Hachi asked. Rider nodded.
Rider wiped some blood from his cheek, but more of it kept flowing down his face, mixing with his tears. "I felt like I had to get it off…"
Hachi gently squeezed Rider's hand, not saying anything.
"I…didn't mean to. I didn't mean to hurt myself this badly…"
With that, a sob wracked Rider's body, followed by more and more. It was embarrassing, crying in front of Hachi, but Hachi just gently rubbed his hand.
"You'll be okay. We can take care of the scratches, we can bandage them," Hachi said after a minute or so.
"Y-you sure…?" Rider muttered.
"Of course." Hachi gave Rider a soft smile. He then stood up, and helped Rider stand as well before leading him to the bathroom to clean his wound.
—
About ten minutes later, Hachi and Rider came out of the bathroom with Rider's scar cleaned of blood and gently bandaged. They walked to the living room, and soon noticed that Goggles had woken up.
"Uhh…what's goin' on?" Goggles muttered groggily. "Rider…you okay?"
Rider opened his mouth to speak, but Hachi said something before he could.
"He…hasn't been okay. But we'll get through it."
At that, Rider gave Hachi a small smile, and the two of them sat down next to Goggles.
"Hey…sorry if this is weird to ask," Rider said, "but can you two sleep with me for the rest of the night. Not in a weird way, just—"
"No, I understand!" Goggles said. "We could totally do that, right Hachi?"
"Yes, of course," Hachi said. "We want you to be safe, Rider."
Rider sighed. "And…if I have another nightmare—"
"We'll be here for you, Rider," Goggles said. He set his hand on Rider's and gave him a smile.
There was a warm feeling inside of Rider…the feeling of being cared for. Of being loved.
These two people cared about him so much, after all he had done…
"You guys…promise you forgive me?" Rider muttered, averting his eyes from both Goggles and Hachi.
"Of course we do," Hachi said. "You were being mind controlled. That doesn't make you a bad person."
"And you didn't succeed. We're still here," Goggles said. "Now, should we get to bed?"
"Of course," Rider said. He got up, and so did Goggles and Hachi. The three of them then made their way to Rider's bedroom, to spend the rest of the night together.