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Ze can hear Regect panting behind him. He hates it. Hates that he needed to be rescued like some form of weakling, hates that he wasn’t strong enough to save himself. He hates everything – he hates.
Still, he needs Regect to help push him up, so he doesn’t say anything else.
The caves around them are collapsing, the bedrock falling at such a pace that it’s hard to outpace them, still, they manage it. Regect must be taking the brunt of the rock based on how breathless he sounds, but all Ze can think of is getting up, higher and higher until they were gone far away from this place.
It took them longer than Ze thought it ought to, but eventually, they manage to claw their way to the top, the trees seemingly bending away from the Hole, no animals anywhere to be seen. They collapse into two heaps at the top, both panting as heavy as each other.
“Ze, are you – are you alright?”
“Yeah - yeah, I’m fucking alright.”
“That’s - that’s good,” Regect pants out.
Ze doesn’t fold – he doesn’t, “You managed to beat it that easy?” He spits out, “Lying to me about how weak you are too?”
Regect shakes his head, leans back into the ground, “You - you weakened it for me first. Wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
That doesn’t extinguish the anger – if anything, it makes it burn brighter. “You fucking taking pity on me now?” He demands.
“No. No, I just,” Regect slurs, “Just really glad you’re okay.”
He tries not to melt, tries to keep his anger red hot and sharp, but it’s hard when he can see just hard much the fight tired Regect out, can see the faint outline of his body merging – merging with the background?
“Regect - what – why are you-”
“Oh,” Regect says, looking down at himself, seeming resigned but not at all surprised, “Right. Yeah. This – good we got out of the cave first, right?”
Ze watches as Regect becomes more translucent and then – and then his fucking arm disappears. “What the fuck? Regect, what the fuck is going-”
“It was worth it,” Regect interrupts, tired and shaking. “You’re right, I should have told you, and it was worth it. I wouldn’t change anything about this.”
“Why - what are you going on about? Why are you – where are you going?”
“...The Eyes made me,” Regect explains, despite the toll talking seems to take on him, “The Eyes are dead now.”
“What has that got to do with anything?” Ze asks, but even as he does, the answer comes to him – the Eyes made the caves too, and they were falling, dissipating, destroying. If the Eyes made Regect-
“But - but you’re a person! You’re not – you're not bits of bedrock!” He protests, but Regect just laughs.
“Doesn’t work that way, unfortunately. It still made me.”
“But - but I’m still mad at you! You can’t - you can’t go while I’m still mad at you – you can’t leave Regect! You can’t leave me!”
“It was either that, or you dead,” Regect mumbles, and his legs are gone, and all Ze can see is Regect’s torso, it’s all that’s left. “I couldn’t - I couldn’t let you die.”
“You dying isn’t any better!” He hisses, but there’s no point. He can’t bring back the Eyes, can’t prevent a murder that’s already happened.
“You’re... You’re mad at me. You’ll survive Ze. You’re strong.”
But he doesn’t feel particularly strong. Doesn’t feel in any way victorious. He just feels empty, cold, like the last light of the world had been doused out. There is no room for weakness, but here, he can admit that he had succumb to it. Worse, he had let himself make a friend.
He burns with shame, with upset – with hopelessness. He was worthless here. Here and with the Eyes. Worthless and hopeless and absolutely nothing. He couldn’t help, he realised with a sick twist. His friend was dying and he couldn’t help. Worse even still. His friend was dying, and he had caused it.
“There has to be something we can do – tell me what to do!”
But Regect says nothing. Ze can’t tell but he thinks the entity’s mouth might be gone. He thinks that all that’s left is his heart. He wants to keep that bit, at least, let him keep that bit, at least.
“Regect? Come on – just say something – say anything!”
Desperation is all he can taste; all he can focus on is the ground in front of him – the empty ground in front of him. Regect is... Regect is gone. Regect is gone and Ze is still here. Regect is-
He can’t bear the separation, can’t bear it for longer than a line. It doesn’t make any sense. Regect is dead. Ze is still here. No, no – why is there a break – why is-
Regect is dead. That’s all there is to it. Regect is dead, and Ze is still here. He can’t stomach the notion, can’t swallow the bile that rises up in front of him.
What did he do? Is less a coherent thought and more a desperate plea. Oh, God, what did he do?