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It was an awfully pretty night for the end of the world,
Karen thought absentmindedly. In fact if she looked out across the town and the sprawling dunes surrounding it, it was almost as if there was no trouble at all. The water swirled around them in gorgeous shades of orange and pink, the stench of sulfur still kept at bay.
It was pretty, she'd give it that.
Below them Spongebob had climbed atop his soapbox and was spewing some sort of nonsense. She was sure the advice was good but in this particular moment she really couldn't find the motivation to tune into his preaching. Truth be told despite the pleasant surroundings Karen was altogether more frightened than she'd ever been before. It hadn't really dawned on her until this moment. That this was the end.
Of course she'd known at the back of her mind that it was coming. She'd been one of the first to suggest leaving while they still could. But between committing attempted manslaughter and falling back in love with her husband of 2 decades it was more of an after thought than anything.
The end was coming. Sure, why not? They still had time.
She wished more than anything that they had more of it.
How many minutes did they have left? How many minutes until everything she'd ever known was suffocated and swarmed in blankets of fire and ash. How many more minutes until she'd look upon her husband's face for the final time. How long until she'll never heard his stupid godawful laugh again, how long until the final time she gets to feel his calloused hands against her own.
She'd just gotten him back. Not just him but HIM, the man she'd fallen in love with. He was finally back within arms reach and now she had to lose him. She couldn't, she couldn't lose him now. Not so soon after he'd won her over.
Her chest was tight.
It took all of her strength to look at him. To look over his weather worn features all drawn together in focus. At his furrowed brows and the smeared lipstick mark on his cheek that he hadn't quite yet wiped off.
It hasn't hit him yet
She thought, scanning his face for any signs of doubt or fear. But there was none, and if there was he was doing a damn good job of hiding it.
Their eyes met briefly and with an awkward slanted smile he turned to face her better.
She could barely stand to meet his gaze.
His expression fell, then, into a confused frown. His eyebrows furrowed together in concern as he scanned her up and down.
If she had a heart it would have been pounding. Artificial tissue striking against steel ribs. Blue blood rushing to her head and clouding her vision.
"Honey are you-"
"Tell me that you're okay, and that I'm fine."
"W-what?" He breathed out, his eye widening as she grasped his arm with desperation.
" I need you to tell me that you're okay t-that you're going to be okay, I need you to tell me that I'll be fine that we'll both be fine I-"
She couldn't breath. Her words were rising up and spilling out like stomach bile and she just couldn't seem to stop. She couldn't stop herself from standing there and pouring herself out to the man who hurt her time and time again. She couldn't stop herself from begging.
She felt his hand cupping her face before she truly processed it and she'd felt his gaze on her before she could meet it.
"I promise Karen. I'm fine, see? I'm right in front of you and you're right in front of me. We're going to be okay I promise you."
She couldn't do much but stare.
"Do you hear me?"
Karen laughed softly through shaking gasps and turned her face away from his.
"And why should I trust you? What promises have you ever kept…"
"I'm keeping this one now aren't I?"
At that she laughed again, looking back at his slightly disgruntled expression.
"I suppose there's no way to tell until it's too late.." she murmured and he nodded, slowly and deliberately.
"I suppose so…"
The two looked out again at the scene below them. It looked almost joyous, there was even an air of contentment abuzz. She almost gasped at the lack of previous anger.
She began rushing down the stairs before she could properly begin to tell herself why she was doing it. Perhaps it was because she couldn't bear to die as isolated as she was in life. But more than likely it was because she wanted more than anything to be perfect one last night. To hold onto him and dance like they always used to. To pretend like this wasn't very possibly their last moments left.
She reached the crowd before she knew it and after cautiously scanning the crowd glanced back to make sure Plankton was coming, reaching her arms out in a beckoning embrace. And much to her surprise he was already there. Flinging himself onto her and swinging straight into dance. Oh, oh she missed dancing with him.
It was rusty and stiff and oh so brief but it was something.
But it could only last for so long and as the rowdiness of the crowd died down Squidward's voice rung out over the crowd "there's only one minute left.."
and there it was… the end.
Ever so slowly she turned to face him again and there he was with an arm silently outstretched. She almost wept at the sight of it. But she didn't grab it, at least not at first, and she could see the awkward desperation in his eye. She could see the doubt and uncertainty settling into him. She wanted to grab it, oh how she wanted to latch on and never move again. Why couldn't she do it? She'd had him pinned and flustered against a wall just hours ago why couldn't she do something as simple as hold his hand.
She was going to regret it if she didn't move now.
And so with a precise careful hand she reached out and the two of them met half way. She latched onto him near immediately, threading her other arm around his. She could feel the tension drain out of his shoulders.
The rest came easier she supposed. Reaching out to the townsfolk and standing hand in hand with them as the countdown began. It was nice to feel accepted… It was nice to pretend. And then for one brief moment there was hope.
She screamed, she hadn't meant to but the fear was suffocating. The water once so clear and colorful had already started flooding with ash. It was hot; overwhelmingly so. She felt Plankton bury himself into the crook of her neck and tried to ignore the feeling of his tears against her exposed skin and the blood trickling out of his ears. The explosion had been louder than anything she'd ever heard before and a loud static rang throughout her head. The screams and wails of the townsfolk loomed over what remained of the town like the haunting voices of the damned. Children begged for their parents, people screamed out the names of their loved ones, Spongebob's voice cracked mid reassuring statement and devolved slowly into defeated sobs.
They weren't going to survive this.
"Sheldon I need to tell you something-"
"You're going to be fine."
She paused momentarily at the sound of his muffled voice and watched as he pulled himself away and began to stare up at her.
'I'm going to be okay and you're fine, we're both going to be okay, You will be fine."
Tears and smoke stung her eyes "You don't need to lie to me I'm not stupid I know that you know that-"
"NO" he shouted his cry trailing off into a defeated wheeze "No you're going to be fine we're going to live through this…."
He didn't sound as confident as he used to. His voice was cracking, his tone was strained, every other word cut off by a desperate gasp for clean air that no longer existed. At some point his eye patch had flown off (how hadn't she noticed?) and in its place the scarred eye socket stood out like a sore thumb, the healed scar tissue already collecting grime in its crevices. He had begun to squeeze his other eye shut as a last ditch attempt to repel the shower of soot. She couldn't help but selfishly feel a bit disappointed that his last moments wouldn't be spent looking at her.
"Sheldon PLEASE"
But he had long since stopped listening. Dear Neptune he was stubborn, she'd always hated that about him…. she'd always loved it too.
The heat was becoming unbearable, the surrounding sobs of despair were overwhelming, she could barely see through the dark shadowy haze of ruin.
He'd buried himself into her side once again. She tried to not focus on how much he was shaking.
"Y'know uh" he murmured "this isn't because we're dying… its not It's just well um… I just love you is all…"
She tried to work up the strength to respond. He sounded so weak, he wasn't going to last much longer.
Through the haze of smoke she could just barely make out the flayed burnt skin on his exposed hands and face. If she could puke she would have.
At some point his shaky breaths had devolved into strained sobs and the sound of them hurt her more than she liked to admit . She didn't want to die. She really didn't. She'd just gotten him back she couldn't lose him now.
The heat had become unbearable and from the intense amount of ash in her system she knew his lungs weren't going to hold up much longer. He was going to suffocate and she was going to watch.
"Karen?"
"yes Sheldon?"
He stirred slightly in her arms.
"when this is all over do you think we can go home?"
It took everything within her to not break down.
"Sure we can big guy"
He laughed weakly, sounding just as small as he looked "Okay then, thank you I- I love you"
Her voice was too choked up to say it back.
He was awfully limp now. she stumbled slightly at the sudden increase of dead weight and a sense of dread settled deep within her stomach.
"oh no nononononono Sheldon?? Sheldon?? Wake up big guy you said we'd be fine remember?"
There was no response from the body in her arms.
For a moment an intense sense of anger overtook her as she shook him with an increasing sense of desperation.
"FUCKING COME ON GODDAMNIT YOU MADE A PROMISE YOU FUCKING PROMISED ME." She sobbed and her tears felt like hot oil against her silicon skin.
"Y-you fucking promised."
It was then she realized the cries had stopped. The anguished wails had ceased.
She was alone. She was alone surrounded by the mass grave of the only people she'd ever known.
She could barely see but she knew the bodies had already been covered by the snowfall.
She hugged her husband closer.
huh... he still had that lipstick stain on his cheek.
…
It really had been an awfully pretty night for the end of the world.