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"I'll be fine, Thomas, it's only the Doctor. I'm just going to get Magic back, okay? While I'm gone, try finding Stella aswell. I haven't seen her around since the hostel. I'm...concerned."
"Okay, Mr. Flux! Bring Magic back safe and take care!"
Flux had merely grunted in response, ignoring the flush creeping up his neck.
"Yeah, yeah. Be careful."
That was the last time Thomas had seen Flux, and it's been a few hours since he's left.
Thomas, ever the worried little guy he was, opted to go out to look for Flux.
It wasn't like him to take almost eight hours just to find the Doctor and Magic, considering how quickly Flux moved on his feet.
He'd finally made it to the lab where Zora told him she'd last seen Saps, and he's fidgeting with his excitement. It's been atleast two days since Magic wandered off and he hasn't seen her since.
Or was it just his nerves? Why would he be nervous? It was only Saps, right? No way he'd killed Magic in that time.
"Uhm...hello? Mr. Flux?" Thomas calls out, walking through the cold corridors of the lab.
"Thomas?" Saps' surprised voice echoes, and he sounds almost worried.
Why would he be worried?
"Uh...I know we left off on a really bad path, but have you seen Mr.Flux?"
"Thomas, get— get out of here," Saps shouts back, sounding even more panicked now.
"I- Are you okay?! Hold on!"
"Thomas, don't—"
...
"Mr.Flux!" Thomas screams, walking into the room he'd heard Saps' voice coming from, seeing Flux's lifeless body on the floor.
No, no, no, please! This can't be happening. He said he would be okay! He always is! Why...Why? How?! There's so much I haven't told him— and...and...This shouldn't be happening! Why, why, why? Who dared to kill Flux out of all people in cold fucking blood? Sure, Flux has made mistakes, but theres no way any of them have added up so much that someone's wanted to kill him. Who...who could've done this? Who?! Do they not know how much he means to me? I've been nothing but nice to people! I should've convinced Mr. Flux to listen to his morals sooner if it meant saving him from whoever—
"Don't. Move." Magic all but snarls, pointing her gun from Flux's body to Thomas.
"Magic?! Did you—"
"Yes, I did, Thomas. The others have told me how selfish you guys are and Flux tried to kill Saps!" Magic snaps.
"Magic, what?! We...We did so much for you! We saved you so many—"
"You think I'm blind?! You don't think I see how you and Stella listen to Flux as if he's some god?!" Magic interrupts. Did she even listen to anything he said?
"...What have you told her?" Thomas looks at Saps in horror, looking betrayed.
One part in Saps' mind decides he deserves it.
"Thomas, I'm sorry. But you know how over the top Flux has gotten these past few days."
"Yeah! To save Magic!"
"What?" Magic asks, almost in disbelief.
"You dont— you don't remember?" Thomas asks, on the verge of tears.
"But— But Saps said I couldn't trust you." She stutters, suddenly looking regretful. "Meagon said you guys have only looked for what would benefit your group,"
"Our group, Magic! You've always been apart of us! We...We almost killed Zora just to try and cure you, we didnt give the cure back to Saps when you didn't take it because we wanted you to drink it, no matter what! We don't want to lose you, Magic!" Thomas cries, the tears finally spilling down.
"I..." Magic stutters, putting her gun away, looking back at Saps and Thomas and the corpse Mr. Flux's body.
"We've been looking for you! Don't you remember? You told us to get out of that...that place with the machine because it was dangerous and you wandered off after that! It's been two days and we've spent every waking minute looking for you!"
"I don't...I don't remember,"
"Her memory has gotten worse, I'm trying to—"
"SHUT UP!" Thomas snaps at Saps, and this is the angriest Saps has seen him.
"Did you take advantage of her short term memory and turn her against is?! Is this some sort of a sick joke?! Did you manipulate everything into murdering Mr. Flux?!" Thomas all but yells, his grief, anger and sadness all melting into one angry slip of his lips.
"Thomas, please! You took the cure from me when I specifically asked for it back!"
"We didn't give it back because we wanted to save Magic's life!" Thomas interrupts.
"We chased her down through the city just to give it to her, and it's only made her worse! She forgot us, and we had to start over just so she could trust us again! And the moment she remembers a part of what our friendship used to be, you turn her against us! What kind of monster are you?" Thomas sobs, dropping to his knees infront of Flux's lifeless body.
"What...What? I don't understand..." Magic looks around confused, overwhelmed with the amount of information she's been fed.
Is Saps really the good guy here? Is Flux bad? Why cant they just tell her the same thing!
She manages to slip away unnoticed, needing to find herself.
Stella. That's one name she hasn't forgotten with each of her "episodes" where she loses her memory. She needs to find Stella.
"Why are you even this pressed because of Flux's death?!" Saps snaps, having had enough of this.
"He's been with me ever since the apocalypse started! For everyone who's left me behind, he's the only one that stayed! No matter what he says, he's there, trying to make due of what he has just so we can stay safe!" Thomas retorts, looking up from where he'd been kneeling next to Flux's body.
"You're saying that as if he's the only person who's done that for you! There's Agustus, who is clearly fond of you, and Stella! They've all done the same for you! What the fuck is so special about Flux?!"
"He's..." Thomas trails off, looking at Saps, then the body. What was so special about Flux?
Saps, ever the observant fellow, notices the hesitation in Thomas' eyes, and comes to the realization that's started to bubble into Thomas' brain at the same time.
"Are you inlove with Flux?"
"I...I'm inlove with Mr. Flux."
Both sentences are said so quietly, but with the tension in the room it's almost as if it was shouted at max volume.
"...What a pity. You've fallen for a man who's actions that consisted of betraying others for his own benefit has finally winded up dead. Does he even think the same about you? What if he's only waiting until you've stopped serving your purpose and finally abandons you like the rest?" Saps says, a manic glint shining in his eyes behind the glasses.
"...No! No! I know he cares, no matter how much he tries to hide it! He wouldn't just do that to me!" Thomas says, but there's a hint of hesitance in his words.
"Oh, no. Poor Thomas, the innocent schoolboy, inlove with a monster like Flux." Saps laughs, almost manic.
"He isn't a monster!"
"And what makes you so sure he isn't? Your tunnel vision for Flux is so pathetic that he's probably an angel in your eyes." Saps goes on, and on, not noticing how Thomas' hands has drifted into his pockets, clutching the gun he'd taken away from the old man earlier.
"Flux isn't innocent, none of us are! You have to understand that he isn't some angel— he is willing to sacrifice anything that gets in his way, no matter the cost!"
"Shut up."
"What? You can't comprehend the fact that Flux was about to get blood on his hands? Before Magic killed him? He would've killed me anyway, and I am this close to perfecting the cure!"
"Bullshit." Thomas mutters, pointing the gun.
"...Thomas." Saps freezes, the manic glint fading from his eyes as he stepped back. "Dont—"
"You don't get to tell me what to do." Is the last thing Saps hears before everything goes black.