Chapter Text
Twigs crushed under Ze’s feet. Him and Regect were walking through the forest, trying to find some specific flowers for Moe.
She needed some dye to replenish her clown makeup stash, in return for them collecting the dye, she would feed them dinner. Fair trade.
The oak trees with scratches from the trio exploring and marking areas served as a good enough map for them.
“Ughhhh. How much farther.” Reject groaned, kicking a rock through the forest floor.
“Not too much you whiny bitch, keep walkin’.” Ze stretched his arms up, it was getting fairly dark so he wanted to finish up soon. “We just need like, a blue orchid and then we can dip.”
Regect scoffed, picking up his pace to pass Ze and shove him. Ze stumbled a back but didn’t fall.
“Okay, rude.” He brushed his sweater off, giving a dirty look to the entity.
The trees started getting more spaced apart as the ground turned to a mushy mud. Ze had to lift up his long jeans so they didn’t get too muddy, he felt like a little princess whenever he did that.
Regect kicked back some muddy grime at Ze, laughing when some landed on his cheek.
“Blue orchids are in swamps right?” Ignoring the pissed off look in the man’s mud splattered face.
Ze nodded, wiping some off with his white sleeve and peaking around the trees to find the familiar light blue flower.
Regect’s feet squished in the mud, he really didn’t want to be out any longer than needed so he started flying around. Ze scoffed at that, internally jealous he couldn’t fly like the entity.
A few minutes of looking, Ze spotted a patch of blue orchids, picking up a few and stuffing them in his messenger bag carefully, he looked up to find Regect standing in front of him.
His invisible face showed no emotion, but Ze knew him long enough to recognize the stance he had. Reget was up to something.
“What do you want.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes.
“I found a witch’s hut.” Regect’s voice sounded like he was grinning ear to ear.
“Okay? And?” Ze questioned.
“There’s a potion in the cauldron.”
Ze looked around, spotting the spruce structure fairly quickly but no witch around.
“Cmonnnn Ze, let’s go take some shit.” Regect motioned for the man to follow him.
“Fine. This better be quick.”
The structure looked long abandoned, cobwebs and spiders all around the door, the wall on the other side of the hut looked broken, probably how Regect got in.
Sure enough, Ze spotted a purple liquid sitting in a cauldron in the far left corner.
“Do you have bottles?” He asked, opening the door required some effort from how old this place looked.
“This chest does.” Regect picked up a bottle and tossed it to Ze, who almost dropped it.
“Jesus, holy bad hand eye coordination.” Regect remarked.
“Shut up.” Ze fiddled with the bottle in his hands.
Regect picked up a dusty book sitting on the counter next to the cauldron, wiping the grime off the cover he skimmed a couple recipes.
“I think she was making this one.” Regect pointed towards a purple-ish potion. The name was scratched out.
Ze snatched the book and skimmed it.
“I’ve never seen this one before.” He murmured. “I wonder if Fante knows.”
“That old hag probably forgot how to boil water.” Reject paused, an idea formed in his head. “We could find out what it does though, you should drink it, I'm sure you’ll be fine.” He waved his hand and scooped some of the liquid into a bottle with the other.
Regect held out the potion to Ze, grinning.
“Ew, no.” He pushed the bottle back.
“Bro just drink it, it’ll be funny.”
“Hell no I’m not taking a random potion found in the forest.”
“It’s a swamp but okay, I wasn’t aware you were such a pussy, Ze.” Regect knew he touched a nerve, he saw it the second the words left his mouth. Ze’s posture straightened up, and he slowly reached for it.
“Ah ah ah!” Regect pulled the bottle back. “Because you declined it at first, if you want to drink it, you have to drink it with uh, this!” He grabbed the first ingredient he saw, a midnight black crow feather.
Regect dropped it in, and watched as the purple liquid turned to a sickly green.
Ze looked hesitant, obviously nervous.
“Awh, somebody scared?” Regect teased, swirling the potion around.
Ze huffed out a breath and shakily grabbed the bottle, he touched the rim to his lips and downed it in one go.
It tasted sour and rotten, he coughed instantly from the taste, flipping off Regect and leaning against the wall.
“Soooo, what do you feel?” The rumble of Regect’s deep voice irritated a headache in Ze.
He shrugged. “Might be a dud, I don’t feel anything. Tastes like shit though.”
Regect sighed dramatically like a cartoon and grabbed Ze’s arm to drag him outside.
The walk back was uneventful at first, until Ze started getting a mix of shivering and sweating.
After the third time of Ze taking off his hoodie and putting it back on, Regect called him out on it.
“Dude, are you good? You’re being weird.”
Ze didn’t respond, he just nodded and trudged along.
“Bro-“ Regect grabbed him by his shoulders. “-what is up.”
Ze blinked slowly. His eyes were very heavily dilated.
“Hello? Earth to Ze?” Regect snapped his fingers on either side of the man’s ears.
Suddenly, Ze flinched, and stared at something behind the trees.
Regect started getting uneasy, he crouched forward, quietly looking where Ze was.
“Bro, what did you see?” The entity had better vision in the dark than the human, safe to say he was very confused. There was nothing in the forest, that was clear as day.
Ze stayed completely still while staring. Then without warning, started running toward the house.
“Dude wait up!” Regect remembered he could fly and jumped off the ground, quickly maneuvering around trees with quick speed.
He spotted Ze, sprinting like his life depended on it.
Regect flew right in front of him, causing the man to stop in his tracks.
“Okay what is up with you, is it the potion?”
Ze shook his head, not in a “No” response, but similar to a donkey trying to get bugs away from their ears. He stepped back and tripped over a root sticking out of the ground, falling flat on his ass.
“Dumbass, I’m not helping you.” Regect crossed his arms as Ze wriggled around the ground, trying to stand up.
“You got it buddy.” Regect leaned over Ze’s struggling form. His worry from earlier slowly melted away.
Ze groaned painfully, before holding up his hand. Regect sighed and reached out, as soon as their fingers made contact, Ze retracted his hand and held it close against his chest.
Regect looked around their environment, noting that while it was very dark, they weren’t far from the house. Ze’s behavior was starting to piss him off.
“Dude, c'mon get up, home is like two minutes away.” Regect leaned down, picking up a very shaky Ze. Setting the man on his feet.
He pressed his palm against Ze’s chest, feeling a rapid heart rate.
Pity ate at his body, but he pushed it aside. Regect put an arm below Ze’s and helped him walk back home.
Moe was humming while cooking dinner, it smelled like chicken. Even though Regect didn't technically need to eat, he still liked to.
“Hey Moe, we’re back!”
She honked a greeting, her smile dropping seeing Ze look half dead.
“Oh he, he uh drank a potion from a witch's hut.”
She honked an accusation at Regect, to which he brushed off.
“He’s fine, well he’s gonna be fine tomorrow, probably just needs to eat and flush it out.” He waved his hands and sat Ze down on the table.
Mo grabbed a couple plates, setting them down on the table. She told them food was almost ready and made sure Ze got the bigger cut of meat along with multiple glasses of milk.
Ze stared down at his plate, seemingly more calm than earlier, the milk didn’t appear to affect him much though. He eventually, with enough coaxing from Moe, started eating.
She asked about the full story, so Regect obliged, setting his food in the microwave to eat later.
Ze mumbled a few responses here and there, before about halfway through the story, his body went slack and his head dropped down into his plate.
Moe jumped up immediately and lifted Ze up by his arm pits, away from the table.
He groaned, but his eyes remained closed.
Regect whispered a thousand curses, wincing at Ze’s flinching body when he felt around for any signs of anything.
No physical injuries, probably the potion. Regect didn’t like the guilt that worked itself into his chest.
Moe carefully lifted Ze up bridal style and set his head to rest against her shoulder. Honking that she was gonna set him in bed and look after him.
“Okay yeah, he’s more comfortable with you than me” Regect winced at his voice wavering and began to clean up the mess. He felt a pang of fear wrap around his body like a wire but pushed that away too.
When he finished up, he found Moe worriedly pacing the room, biting her nails.
“Hey, he’s gonna be fine. It’s Ze, he’s gonna be up tomorrow threatening to blow a bullet hole through me soon.” He comforted, not really believing in the words, but Moe could believe for the both of them.
She honked a simple question. What exactly did Ze drink?
“I-, Moe, I don’t know. I can go look tomorrow, okay?”
Moe honked something between a sound of anger and a sound of agreement. Regect took that as his hint to leave.
————
Ze felt like he was floating between awake and asleep, hearing snippets of Moe and Regect talk before he was brought back under.
Eventually he gained enough consciousness to notice that his body felt like he had been hit with 30 different cars, followed by being pushed out of a plane. His back felt like a cave dweller ran its claws along it and then did it again.
A weak groan escaped his throat, he ran a hand across his forehead, feeling cold wet cloth.
Two gentle gloved hands pulled his wrist back, and a familiar honk warned him that the cloth needed to stay.
“Mm-, Moe?” He whispered, cracking an eye open.
The sun was rising faintly, just enough light to see the smile of his clown roommate.
“Hey Moe.” He greeted, turned to lay on his side. A faint pulse of pain radiated from his back, shoulders and head.
She honked a hello and urged him to sit up slowly.
A cold glass was pressed against his lips, Ze felt water flow down into his mouth and he swallowed. The coolness eased the ache in his throat.
Moe asked if he wanted some soup, he shook his head.
“I’ll throw up.” He mumbled, settling back down into the pillow against the headboard, wincing when his back touched the pillow. The thought of food made nausea spike up in his stomach.
She nodded, passing him another blanket which he gratefully accepted.
Moe hesitated before giving Ze a hug, he gripped her as tight as he could before speaking again.
“Do you think I could take a bath and get a change of clothes? I think I smell like shit.”
Moe nodded again, digging around in his closet and presenting multiple different articles of clothing, letting Ze pick which ones he wanted.
They decided on a simple t-shirt with a Z, and some long basketball shorts.
Regect knocked on the door before entering, setting a pill bottle full of rust red pills on the desk by Ze’s bed.
“Painkillers and fever reducers.” He informed before leaving again.
“What’s up with him?” Ze snorted, noticing that Regect didn’t threaten him. His head hurt from his own remarks.
Moe honked, asking how much Ze remembered.
“Uhhh, we were at a swamp and Regect had some bottle full of somethin’, oh yeah and then I think I drank it.” A basic clipnotes version.
Regect peaked back in the room, as if he was listening to their conversation. “I uh, challenged you that you wouldn’t drink a random potion we found in an abandoned witch’s hut.”
Ze blinked. “Huh.”
“Yeahhh.” Regect rubbed the back of his neck, obviously embarrassed.
“I’m too tired to give a fuck right now, I just want to not feel all stinky and sweaty.” Ze motioned for Moe to come over and assist him to stand.
He ended up sitting on the toilet lid while Moe ran a bath. She asked if he wanted her to stay, he shook his head.
“Can you just leave the door cracked and unlocked?”
Moe nodded, honking a “Feel better soon!” and left the bathroom.
Ze sighed, lifting up his shirt, the ache in his back felt harsher. He slipped his muddy pants off and kicked them to the corner of the bathroom.
Slipping into the water, the pain eased a little bit, he ran shampoo into his hair, the smell of vanilla soap calmed his mind.
The water turned soapy and he messed with the bubbles for a bit. Sharp, pinpricks of pain lightly stabbed at his sides.
Eventually he had to step out of the bath, mourning the loss of the warm water, he faced himself in the mirror while trying to grab a shirt set on the counter.
Jet black feathers spotted with white flecks were poking out beside his ribs.
Ze had never screamed louder in his life.