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Run. Run. Run.
Evo was being chased by someone he never wanted to see again. Never wanted to hear again. Never wanted to feel again.
He panted, refusing to slow down.
Why was there nowhere to hide? His eyes were wild, his pupils so big you could barely see the iris. It was so dark..
So dark.
Tick. Tick.
The sound of metal popping, gears ticking, razor wings scraping.
Bedrock came into view in pillar shapes. Evo scrambled behind one of the first ones he saw and put his hand over his mouth. Quiet. Stay quiet.
Tick.. Tick.
Thump.
…
Thump.
Slow, heavy footsteps came into earshot.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Evo’s heart was pounding in his ears, his breathing rapid. It can't be them, it can't be. Not again. Not again.
Clank.
“Evourai.” The scratchy, sparking voice box he recognized. It sounded more human then he remembered.
He held his breath. He didn't want to look.
“Evourai.” Same tone. The same horrors flashed through his mind. The killing of his best friend. The void. Them shoving a sword in his chest.
Click…
Click.
One of the floating pieces of metal for the wings came into view. His eyes widened. He quietly moved around the pillar before they could see him.
“Will it be you? Or him.” The dark tone of a human voice came out this time. No robotic voice box.
Me. It'll be me. It'll always be me.
His lungs tightened. His skin was riddled with goosebumps. The memories of them chasing him relentlessly surfaced. The death of Issac flashed in his head. His own death. Sword… sword in his chest.
His eyes fluttered. Not… enough air.
As he took a breath, the clanking and popping from the shifting metal stopped. He froze, sitting behind the pillar in silence. He wasn't going to move. Don't move.
A cry echoed through the darkness. Was…
Was that Lezy? They promised… it would be him not Lezy. He'd sacrifice himself for Lezy to live. He wasn't supposed to die. His body moved out from behind the pillar involuntarily. He needed to save Lezy.
“Lezy?” He called out, the bedrock pillars sinking into the floor, casting the entire area into complete darkness. His heart skipped a beat. Nowhere to hide anymore. Nowhere to go.
A figure, a person, a machine glitched in and out, holding a limp person in his grasp. Glasses with shattered lenses hit the floor. A sword to the chest. Red. It was a red sweater.
This couldn't be real.
The figure tossed Lezy’s limp body to the side, turning their head to look at him. White glass-like eyes, dark eyes. It kept changing, but he knew it was the same person.
His speech was gone. He was fed up with these people chasing him, people taking his friends just because they could. This was enough. He has had enough.
Something heavy weighed in his hand– his sword? Wherever he was it was strange. The figure stood there waiting, not moving a muscle.
Were they waiting for him to make this first move?
He will take that chance.
—
Supzec laid his back against the endstone wall, not able to sleep. It was always night-like in the End. Stars littering the sky. The cold, stagnant air. The trees of chorus fruit drooping over their island.
Their little makeshift camp was cozy, the campfire burning, the lanterns lighting up the little hidey hole they dug, his sleeping bag on the hard ground not too far from Evo’s. Supzec just couldn't get comfortable.
He saw Evo begin to tremble in his sleeping bag, mumbling incoherent words.
He rubbed his eyes. He was reminded and puzzled by Evo’s reaction to InProper earlier today. They were getting chased by the Council for a while, but he wasn't expecting to see.. fear on Evo’s face. That was one emotion he seemed to cover up with determination weirdly enough.
This time though, he didn't.
Evo didn't talk about his past at all to Supzec, which he wasn't too offended by. They had only met recently, and he hadn't opened up much either. He'd probably seen Proper before they met, and it must've not been good interactions for Evo to act the way he did.
Supzec grunted. Sleep. I just want to sleep.
He glanced at Evo again to see his sleeping bag empty. Instead, he saw him standing, reaching for the sword he had rested against the endstone.
What was he doing? They needed this rest period; being hunted and hunting the Council was grueling enough.
“Evo go back to sleep. We aren't leaving yet.” He said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He lowered his hand to see him staring at him, sword drawn.
His eyes were closed.
Was this idiot sleepwalking? He was going to hurt himself swinging his sword around.
He stood up walking towards the man who had his closed eyes deadset on him. It was creepy, seeing his head follow him with his eyes closed.
“Evo you're creeping me out, put the sword down.” Supzec said, annoyed and tired. He reached out to remove it from his grasp only to be swung at. He took a step back as Evo gripped his sword and attacked him.
“Evo what the fuck are you doing?” Supzec exclaimed, dodging his swings. He sidestepped the sleeping man and grabbed his own blade just in time to block his attack on his head. Evo pushed down relentlessly, his sword making a horrible scraping noise against Supzec’s.
“Evo wake the fuck up.” he said, kicking Evo’s knee, throwing him off balance. He snapped his fingers but Evo kept advancing on him. Supzec wanted to run out into the open above their camp but then remembered Evo had a mace.
If he could sleep swing then he could probably sleep mace. He wasn't taking that chance.
How could he wake him up without dying? Without seriously injuring him?
Evo mumbled something before swinging again, missing Supzec's neck by inches.
He gripped his sword, slicing Evo’s sword arm, making it fall out of his grasp. Supzec dropped his own sword and advanced on the man who was now hyperventilating.
“Mm..No..” Evo mumbled, trying to kick Supzec away from him. “Evo cut it out.” Supzec gritted his teeth after he kicked him in the gut. He grabbed one of his legs mid kick and stepped on the other.
“Stop.. Not again..” he muttered, a tear falling down his cheek.
“I don't want to die again.”
Supzec froze. Die? Again? He died? Who was he talking to?
This was enough, Supzec grabbed one of the buckets of water and dumped it on the shaking man. Evo’s eyes shot open, his pupils restricting from the light. He was gasping, eyes darting around the camp.
“Evo calm down.” Supzec said, sitting down next to him. “W-where am I?!” He demanded. “The End Evo. Remember? With your friend Supzec?” He smiled.
Evo’s breathing slowed as he saw Supzec’s face. “Holy shit Evo. Maybe next time you can alert me that you sleep fight?” Supzec chuckled, relaxing. “What?” He said, confused. “Have you never sleepwalked before?” Supzec asked.
Evo went silent.
“Did I hurt you.?” He asked, ignoring his question and examining his arms and face. “You came this close to slicing my neck but you know I'm the goat.” Supzec flaunted. Evo let out a small smile.
Supzec opened his ender chest and pulled out a bandage. He cleaned the cut he’d made on Evo’s arm then wrapped it in gauze.
“You know you should probably talk to someone about that.”
“About what?”
Supzec sighed, looking Evo directly in the eyes. “You obviously have trauma from that person. You were mumbling that they killed you while you were freaking out.”
Evo went silent.
“You can talk about it with me, you know. I am your friend.”
“Proper chased me and a few of my friends when they were an Admin. Syntax they called them.” Evo said, pulling out a white feather he had in his pocket and fidgeted with it. “They killed one of my best friends after my hesitation to pick myself or him to die. Then killed me when they tried to do it again with another one of my friends.
I was at two hearts.”
Supzec didn't know what to say.
“I thought I had gotten over that encounter but… looks like I haven’t.” Evo mumbled, flexing the feather in his hands.
“Well, something like that can change someone. It isn’t good to bottle it up.” Supzec dropped the joking tone. He was slightly confused on how Evo was back if he’d been banned but he wasn’t going to press him. “Things like that will keep happening if you don’t talk about it.”
“It’s hard. Sometimes you think you can trust someone, and then they backstab you.” Evo put the feather away. “Has this happened before?” Supzec asked.
“A few. Mostly in high stress I’ve noticed.” Evo answered. “Maybe let me know when you think it might happen again.” Supzec said. “Then I can at least prepare.” He joked.
As Supzec went back to his spot against the wall, Evo followed in silence and sat down next to him. He rested his head on his shoulder and in a few minutes he passed out.
The grounding of Evo’s heavy head helped Supzec calm himself. His eyes finally fluttered, exhaustion overtaking him.
Soundless sleep was granted to them both.