Archive of Our Own

The first problem was Blue trying to keep it to themselves.

Once they all got home, they just about collapsed on the spot– the only reason they didn't was because Green had his arm around their shoulder. Nobody was in good shape, so it was met with concern, but not surprise. 

“B? Hey, don't die on me,” Green said it like a joke, but it .. really didn't feel like it was out of the question. Blue felt like death for the past few hours.

“Sorry,” Blue muttered, lightheaded and in easily the worst pain they'd ever felt– did the others feel this way? They trotted like they were allergic to walking, because it fucking hurt. They tried to hide the limp they did unwillingly to avoid putting pressure on their worse leg, it went first into the lava and got bitten, but– it was likely too late, someone had probably already noticed it..

Everyone was out of breath. Every time they spoke it felt like they needed a random break to speak, and thus, repeated themself.

“Don't apologize, man, I've got you.”

“Yeah..yeah, I know, th-thank you..” 

Blue saw Yellow and Orange flop onto the couch. Red didn't even give herself such grace– she chose the floor. 

Green tried to lead them to the couch too, but they pushed at him– despite one arm not being burned, it hurt just like everything else, probably from strain.

“No, I– I have to go to my room.. health potions.” 

“We can..we can both go?”

“No,” fear escaped into their tone, “no, it's okay.” 

Green gave them a look Blue couldn't ever truly describe in a way that mattered– he seemed suspicious, exhausted, sorrowful, confused, the weight of everything that just happened obviously still holding him down from being anything like he usually is.

“I'm sure,” Blue made sure to make it sound like there was no room for questions. “I'll be back. I'll, bring you all some.”

They couldn't look at the damage if he was there.

He nodded once, thoughtful and quiet, before letting Blue go, and sculking towards the couch with the rest of them.

Blue quickly found walking to be hell, let alone climbing the stairs. The adrenaline had run thin, and they felt all of it. Every shift, every step, waged war against them– they fell on the front stairs despite there only being one block's worth. They pushed the front door open with their fall, trying to catch themselves with their hands.. Only now in this struggle did Blue properly recall and register the more minor burn that spanned nearly their whole right arm. Which, literally could not be minor due to size, but it's.. less intense.

‘Great,’ the sarcastic thought was the only one they could muster.

…It was pathetic.

Either way, Blue continued that way into their room, and they wasted no time throwing the chest right beside their door open– full of health potions and medical things, in case anyone ever needed it. 

They downed an entire health potion in 2 seconds. They had to slam another one. Holy shit, the burning. 

With the strength reinstilled from the drinks, Blue put their hands on the top of the chest and hoisted themselves up. From their feet to their neck felt like jello, every step felt shaky as they panted with great effort, hand against the wall, over to the chest of other potions. They'd discovered a lot of things by just messing around– but one of the first things they'd ever figured out was Fire Resistance, and they wanted a bottle more than anything right about now.

They lugged themselves over there eventually– the minute felt like five years, but still. Hopelessly, they fell to their knees and started sifting through again– found it quick enough, and they uncapped it, and slammed it just as fast as the other two.

For the shortest second, they relaxed.

Then they remembered there was work to do. Right. Blue pulled themselves off the planked floor, back to the door and into the hallway of their rooms, all in a line next to each other.

The carpet got stained with the soot of their boots, etched from walking back and forth.

Blue winced at the bright lights of the bathroom. They shut the door quickly– the hallway was dark already, it'd cause a scene. They probably should've waited to close the door before turning on the lights, but oh well.

.  .  . Slowly, and uncomfortably, Blue pulled off their shirt. They cringed again. Not only were their shirt and pants absolutely ruined with ash and char, but unsurprisingly, their skin was seared. They gagged, fuck– what were they going to do about this?! 

Despite their revolt, they peeled off their pants as well. They sighed deeply. They had a lot of work to do.

Against their own wishes, Blue looked at their burns for a bit– it was the darkest and harshest at their feet, of course. It got lighter closer to their neck, but really not by much. Their arm was the lightest burn, because it only went under for a moment. Maybe that one would heal better. Fully, even.

In perfect silence, Blue dressed their wounds– only the animators knew how long that took– and pulled back on their clothes. What a miracle that Minecraft lava didn't weld their clothes to their body, that was appreciated, at the bare minimum. And what a blessing they already had a lot of burn-safe dressing..

They stared at their bandaged reflection like it'd move first. This was… they were disgusting. 

In a near frenzy, they pulled their ruined clothes back on. Just to try and hide it. It felt so odd.. so wrong, intrinsically.

They stalked back to their bedroom to change into normal clothes. They had to throw these away. Damn it.

It's going to go away.

What are they going to do if it doesn't go away?

It was a slow and lazy day into night after coming home. Everyone felt frankly blessed for the fact that Minecraft food was so simple to prepare, and if it wasn't, they were probably all willing to just starve. …Maybe a respawn would be refreshing ..

Everyone sat on the couch and cuddled, in spite of their injuries. Maybe they weren't even cuddling, and were just sharing the couch– Blue wasn't actually sure, but either way, they couldn't attend. They were a little too preoccupied bawling about how this was all their fault while digging a Google rabbit-hole about burns and how to care for them.

The problem– they are a digital being. Things don't seem to work the same way for people as it does them. A person would be beyond dead. And yet here they stood– actually, that was an overstatement, they were not standing in the slightest. 

And thus, the information they were finding was less helpful. They uncorked another health potion and took a swig.

The best conclusions they were coming to included ‘since I am an anomaly to the game, both the game and my code have no idea how to handle this’, ‘my injuries are more akin to being doused in boiling hot water than being melted like lava actually would’, and ‘I am so fucked.’ 

As you could assume, the last one did not exactly give them much hope.

The white screens of health websites continued to blind them as the tears on their pillow grew cold.

“You may be transferred to a burn center if your burn covers more than 10% of your total body surface area, is very deep, is on the face, feet or groin, or meets other criteria established by the American Burn Association.”

The fact that they checked off most of that list could not be a good sign.

… It felt harder to breathe, and they couldn't tell if it was their anxiety spiking from just how much was hanging over their head, or if that had something to do with the fact the burn surrounded their neck, too. It wasn't by much. They could ignore it.

Fuck, it was probably so obvious to the others. The ruined clothes, the burned edges of their hair, their neck and right arm were a visibly darker shade. Even after they'd rolled the sleeve down, their hand was still obviously noticable.. they were so tired. 

..they were curled up in bed alone sobbing (despite the pain of the position) when all they really wanted was to be with the others. And maybe some netherwart. ...They decided that was a luxury out of reach for now. They couldn't, not when the burns were all so fresh, so tender, that could literally only go poorly. How could they tell them? Everyone was in pain, they couldn't– Blue couldn't dare make this about themself. It'd get everyone riled up and worried when this would go away in a week, maybe 2 at most! Nothing ever lingered longer than a week, but they understood this scale of an injury was unventured territory. So.. who knew. But it'd pass. It would pass. 

They had to figure this out first.

Blue had brought the group as many healing potions as they could spare a while ago. They all sat in front of the TV, but saying they were all watching it would be a stretch. They were all snug under blankets, injuries managed and bandaged with the help of each other. Blue had brought that, too, but they shuffled away uncomfortably after.

“... they're acting weird,” Red whispered, as if there was any chance of Blue overhearing him.

“Yeah. But I mean.. a lot just happened. I think it's fair they want a bit of time to themselves.” Yellow shrugged.

Green scratched his chin. “We can get concerned if it goes on for like, three days.”

“Three days?!” Orange whisper-yelled. “If they're still acting off tomorrow, I'm going to ask them about it.”

“That's fair also. But I wouldn't recommend forcing them to try to talk…” Yellow warned.

Orange huffed, and it was quiet again.

Blue fell asleep with two pillows underneath them, and their right hand on top of another. Because multiple websites told them to raise the burns above the rest of you, but what about when it's all of you? … Either way, Blue was finally thankful they were mostly left handed. (Mostly, because they're ambidextrous, but they're more used to their left.)

They'd done more research. Specifically about injuries on stick figures. They'd been mostly on the right path– using healing items from whatever game they'd gotten injured in would fix it. The only problem was you kind of had to act fast. And only getting to drink a health potion after at least 2 hours was not acting fast.

There was not much what happened to stick figures who didn't get access to the stuff very quick. Just scars and such, but those were for gashes, cuts, minor burns. What would it mean for them? …Blue deeply hoped that didn't mean they'd die, but if that was the case, surely someone would've posted about their grief, right?

Blue was dreaming about still looking at those health websites, but then they heard him scream–

“RED?!” Orange stared at her, frozen in panic. The others stood around the unconscious Red as well, similarly shocked– Green couldn’t even look. Purple and Orange were horrified and already in grief, Yellow was staring down at her with a desperation in her eyes that Blue hadn't seen until this moment, and Green tried so hard to keep his head up, and keep fighting.

Obviously, Blue's phone was quickly discarded. Why the hell did they even have it out right now?!

Then Red coughed. Orange and Yellow raced to help him. Green didn't realize. Purple supported her to stand– 

…Why was Blue so far away? They tried to get up, to walk forward, but they stumbled and fell and suddenly they were in the lava again, and–

Blue gasped awake. It was so loud they slapped a hand to their mouth with embarrassment. Their chest heaved with effort to breathe– fuck, both their neck and chest were burned, that was what was making it so hard to breathe, wasn't it? And– Red– he wasn't, he was fine, but in that moment– Blue just, couldn't bear the thought of looking at him.

They felt themselves shaking. They were the opposite of cold, they were burning, they were–

Trying to get out of bed, their phone fell off their chest and then they hit an empty bottle off of their sheets. Great. Glass everywhere. They still couldn't fucking breathe, they didn't need this– why was the sheet wet? Damn it. They fell asleep with the bottle uncapped on it, they could tell by the fact their bedsheet looked suspiciously purple…

They held back making a noise of anger, firmly planting their phone on the nightstand in front of the alarm clock.

Blue picked up both of their slippers and shook them over the floor to make sure no glass got in them, and shoved their bandaged feet inside when the coast was clear. Still, they tip toed around the glass they could see due to the faint light of the monitor glinting off of it.

They knelt by the chest with all their potions again– almost falling as they brushed their feet across the floor to make sure nothing was there. 

They uncorked a half-drank fire resistance potion and downed it in a single long sip. That maybe wasn't the best idea for the whole ‘unable to breathe’ thing– leaving themselves choking on nothing as they fought for something as simple as air. They honestly thought they were going to throw up. 

They pulled yet another health potion from their hoard and, as expected, drank it like it would save them. … And, well, it.. did. Breathing got easier.

… It was the middle of the night. They only noticed once they were going back to their bed and saw the digital clock shout 2:43 AM at them. But their bandaged hand was covered in the health potion … should they… change that? God, they didn't feel like messing with the sheets right now. And their mattress.. they groaned and fetched a towel. Just another thing to lay on. Oh well. They probably wouldn't even notice it. 

They knew they needed sleep. Badly. But it was just so unappetizing.. another nightmare. Back in the awkward position. 

Still, Blue knew what was good for them, and thus, chose that.

The brewing stand occasionally dripped quietly, having finished a while ago. They had to keep the chest full somehow.

Blue didn't tell the others the full truth. 

Blue couldn't tell them.

They wouldn't dream of it, it was only day two. 

They confessed to the obvious the next day when Yellow was trying to piece together what exactly everyone was struggling with. And so, when it's Blue's turn, the only burn they fessed up to was along their arm.

Yellow almost seemed embarrassed she got off so … fine. The worst that happened to her was that she got hit by the weird white beam, but so did everyone else. 

Generally, none of what happened to any of them seemed like something they couldn't bounce back from. So Blue was right for not wanting to worry them. It was just the waiting game, now.

And thus, despite it being summer, Blue wore exclusively pants. Their shorts were gathering dust. At least they could wear short sleeves now. … And cover their neck, somehow. Maybe get some of those sleeveless turtle necks. Green had one, right? ..it'd never fit them, but it was the idea that counted. They were pretty sure they had one, at least.

Blue wasn't exactly sure when the rest left and it was just them and Yellow.

“...Bluescreen, are you okay?”

“Wh– hm? Of course. Why?”

“I don't know. Does staring blankly for ten minutes sound worrying to you or not?”

“.....oh,” Blue muttered stupidly. “I didn't.. realize. Sorry. I guess I was just thinking about stuff.”

“Can I pry? What kind of ‘stuff’?”

“Nothing, just–” they picked their hands up to gesture, but sucked in a breath at how uncomfortable it was to bend it. They needed lotion or something… “I mean, it was a lot. Are you really surprised?”

“No,” Yellow replied quickly, but it really felt like she was trying to hold back saying more. “I'm just.. worried about you. We all are.”

“What? Why?” Blue tried not to panic. “Why, nothing's wrong? I told you the truth, the whole truth, I'm alright.”

“Well.. yes. I just… curses, I don't know. It's hard to explain.” She rubbed at her temples. 

‘... she wants to blame me,’ Blue thought with horror. ‘She knows what I did. Everything. She knows I started it all, doesn't she.’

“You don't seem .. like yourself anymore.” She confessed.

‘She knows it's my fault we ever went out there, she knows it's my fault everyone's hurt because I–’

“..Blue. You're doing it again.”

“I– I'm sorry, uh, just…” the gap of space did not fill itself with an excuse. “I should go– go back to my room–”

“No,” Yellow grabbed Blue's wrist– with great care, but firmly. “I can't let you disappear again. Something is wrong. Please– let me find out what.”

Blue willed themselves to not breathe any harder. 

“I don't want you to blame yourself, Blue.”

Who the hell told her. Actually– admittedly, Yellow was scarily good at picking up on things that were plaguing the others whether they ever meant to leave a breadcrumb trail or not. She was the first to realize Red was having constant nightmares despite his refusal to admit it, somehow always seemed to be able to tell when Green was wearing thin, was the first to piece together Orange’s narcolepsy symptoms. She was always noticing things and– damn it, they weren't supposed to be next! 

They just bit the inside of their mouth. “..but it really was my fault this time.”

“No. It wasn't.”

“How else would Purple have led us there?”

“They could've just gone straight here. They were both planning it. They could've dragged us out there a million different ways. It was just.. a catalyst. It's not inherently your fault, you just sped up the reaction. Made it take less energy to make it all unfold.”

That both was and was not comforting. Blue held their arm and squeezed it gently. 

They wanted to yell. Yell at her to leave them alone. Or just burst into tears. Something to get out of the most uncomfortable staring match.

“...I'm tired.” They whispered. “Can we talk about this later?”

“But–” Yellow stopped, looking at something behind them. Probably another stick? She shook her head slowly, and–

Red grabbed them in a hug from behind, and they had to bite back from flat out screaming. They could feel themselves stiffen in his hold. …They wondered if he noticed. If Yellow noticed.

“Hii Blue!” He smiled, despite it all. And still the greeting seemed like he was restraining himself.

Blue took in a sharp gasp of pain. It was like poking a bad bruise… but the bruise was everywhere. And then make that ten times worse.

“Heyy, Red.. uh.” They wiggled their arm out of the hug. At least they could salvage that. “Good to see you too…”

“O-oh! Sorry, I, uh, forgot…” he seemed to notice the pain they tried to hide in their face, “I just, I dunno. I wanna hug you guys..”

“I understand, Red.” They pat his head. “But we're, y'know…trying to heal. So just hug mindfully, yeah?”

“Yeah…did I hurt your arm?”

“Nno,” Blue shrugged. “It's fine. But .. I'd like to go back to my room now that we're done, so .. maybe you can stay with Yellow?”

“He already clung to me like a leech last night,” Yellow said with fondness. “I think you're next. ..and we really aren't done. But I'll let you sleep.”

“Ah.” Blue said dumbly. “Well … that's fine, thank you,” they turned to Red, “you can come and stay with me.”

It was so hard to look at him and not think of her half-dead on the nether bricks. 

Blue took a long, deep breath. “Come with me to my room, yeah?”

Red nodded eagerly.

Blue had to avoid Yellow. This was going to go away. They couldn't speak a second before that was true.

Red laid on Blue's left, to avoid hurting their arm. They'd tossed the towel off the bed hurriedly before he came in and just threw it underneath. Thank the animators the spot had dried. … They still wanted netherwart.

“.. Red?”

“Yeah, B?”

“You.. and Orange…you've been getting enough to eat, right?”

“Oh! Yeah, we have.” She smiled at them. Cursors, how was Red so happy? She fell through 3 floors, passed out so badly they all thought she died, nearly starved to death with Orange. Red took so many hits, and– that beam– Herobrine– she must've been doing horribly. 

“I'm glad to hear that.”

“Minecraft food’s honestly been getting less good lately, but I know better than to try to cook right now.” She tried to laugh. “I've had a migraine…I can hardly think. I think I'd put plastic over the oven and ruin my whole meal..and then pass out again.” 

“Mmmaybe it's better you don't, then.” 

“Glad we agree,” she rolled onto her back, like Blue had been. She chuckled. “I'm surprised that you and Yellow got off .. so fine? Obviously, we're all in pain, but .. I dunno, I guess I’m jealous.” 

Blue forced a snicker. “..yyyeah. I'm pretty lucky. I mean..look, I'm just happy we're all alive.”

“Of course, I just.. this is gonna be a weird week.”

“...yeah. I just hope Orange doesn't lose his mind over it.”

Red nodded quietly, the small sound of the pillow against her head being the only noise of the motion. Blue was pretty certain he frowned for a moment? 

…She rolled onto her side again and gently moved to hold Blue, to which they stretched their arm around her. 

“I’m tired too,” Red muttered like a confession, “so I get what you were talking about with Yellow. But I just… I want to be with you guys. I think I can avoid the nightmares a little better if I do.”

Blue brought their hand up to his face. “I understand. Let's just . . Let's just sleep, yeah?”

“Yeah..”

“We should eat after we wake up again.”

Red pulled in closer to them, pushing his head into them.

He gave them a gentle, loving nibble on the side of the neck. Despite it being so small, it hurt. Tears pricked their eyes. Fuck.

Just like that, Red, despite it being the middle of the day, went right back to sleep.

Blue fell asleep as the pain began to numb.

Blue woke up as Red yawned. He brushed Blue's stomach as he picked his arms up for where they were laid to stretch them, sitting up in bed afterward.

Blue just groaned. “Aaaagh, how long did we sleep for…?” They twisted to look at the clock and couldn't hold back a pained “Ack–”

They cleared their throat like it'd absolve them. “… it's, uh, three twenty five. I have no idea when we fell asleep.”

“About one, I think?” Red looked down at Blue and gasped softly.

Panic shot through them and all exhaustion threatened to vanish. They instantly sat up to face him.

No, it couldn't be falling apart so soon. Had their shirt rolled up? No, no no no– “What? What, what's wrong?”

“I thought it was just your arm,” Red whispered, apparently similarly panicked. “Blue, you said it was just your arm!” He shouted in a whisper. 

“I– I have it under control,” lie of the century. Blue felt awful saying it. “It's not as bad as my arm, it's a minor burn– AH?!”

Red pulled up their shirt further, from where it had already bunched up, terrified. He saw the bandages span their whole side, across their stomach. He saw it. Even if Blue yanked their shirt back down as soon as he'd done it up. He saw the same burn-safe bandages on their arm on the rest of them.  

And Red was not a moron by any means. 

That was the long way of saying Blue was fucked. They just .. didn't expect it to happen so soon.

“Blue,” he sounded like he was going to cry, “Blue, why didn't you– oh my animators, why did you lie..? I.. that's why you.."

“Please– please, you can't tell anyone, please don't tell them,” they held his arms. “It's going to be fine, I'm going to be fine! It's nothing that won't get better, I swear!” They could feel their hands shaking. 

He gently reached out to touch their shoulder. “It's up to your neck, Blue, I– what happened?!”

“I can't– I can't, I can't tell you,” Blue practically threw themselves off the bed. “You're just going to get more worried, and– it's nothing! I won't let you all get worked up over nothing!”

He just stared, scanning their face like he'd find some sort of proof that they were joking.

“..let's go .. eat lunch. Please…please, Red, don't tell them.” Blue hated how their voice broke. How frail they sounded .

“...can we– talk about this more?” 

“Later.. I promise. After lunch.”

“...okay.”

This had to go away.

Blue knew very well that ‘lunch’ was no longer a very structured activity at the moment. As long as everyone ate well, it didn't exactly matter when.

And so Blue led the way out onto the main PC. The house had their rooms all in a line, across a single floor. It used to be just one long room, but they decided they wanted some privacy.. they expanded backwards, away from the monitor. There was a proper hallway that led into a kitchen and living room; it was overall a very open floorplan.

And great. Orange and Yellow were there.

“.. where's Green?” Blue raised an eyebrow.

“Oh. He's fine, I checked on him earlier,” Yellow confirmed. “He ate before he fell asleep.”

“Okay, good to hear.” Blue put all of their energy into walking normally to the fridge for something.

“Red, what do you want?”

Red looked like he was going to pop with the force it was taking to sit there quietly. She just looked so troubled and worried. Surely Yellow was going to catch on.

“Huh? Oh, uhm, I dunno. Whatever you're having is fine.” 

Blue didn't miss how Orange and Red seemed to refuse to make eye contact.

It was .. an awkward lunch of cooked steak and bread. Orange sighed at them.. they thought? For what???

Red finished and stood up, trying to walk away.. but Yellow took her aside. They felt their heart sink.

She whispered, “Red? Is everything okay?”

“...yeah, just, I feel really weak today..”

Somehow, him lying hurt them, knowing they forced him to keep quiet.

Days went by. Red and Orange continued to be awkward, even if now, nothing seemed to hang over them. Red seemed distant overall. Yellow grew more suspicious, quietly, and yet still they could tell they were bound to be bothered soon. Green was, truthfully, doing alright– but they refused to let themselves be with any of them wholly.

Blue tried a lot of things, in desperation.

Pouring health potion directly onto the skin (was impressively effective, but wasteful), intensely testing the difference between instant health and regeneration (which was that health potions hit harder and helped more, but the effect lasted for less– and regeneration potions did the opposite. A little weaker, but held out longer), had a bath and poured one of each potion into the water. … Which actually felt pretty good, as long as they didn't look at themselves much.

And so … much.. research. They started to wish they had compression stuff, a wheelchair or some other mobility aid and every time they realized they were thinking about it, they tried to push it away. It filled them with shame, of all things. They weren't disabled. They didn't need those things. This would go away. 

Plus, the only way they could get all that was through Google on the PC. They'd all see the search history. And they couldn't ask Orange to draw it. They could– try to do it themselves? But they'd never done that before.. 

Blue kept their mouth shut and let it slide.

This was going to end soon, right?

Blue had been experimenting even before the … string of events that led them here. Just, with different things. They'd been growing their hair out, only to lose it all at the same time they lost the sense of normalcy their life had. 

..Well, not all of their hair. But most of it. 

Blue quietly cut their losses along with the edges of burnt hair, trying to shrug this off like the rest of it all. Whether it'd work was impossible to tell from here, but they supposed it was .. a smaller problem in the face of everything else that had happened.

Despite their insistence, that didn't really make it hurt much less to do.

Blue felt even less like themselves with each snip of the scissors.

‘People are not kidding when they say that the hardest part of recovery is asking for help.’

Blue said it in their mind as a comfort, as if they were even remotely trying to ask for help.

It was 9 pm. Usually, nobody would be already asleep other than Orange some nights, but with the obvious state of everyone, it was unsurprising.

… Slowly, Blue crawled up to the Google page, bright white against the night.

‘how to delete search history’

‘compression garments for burns’

Blue spent longer than they'd like to admit scrolling . At the very least, they wanted something for their hand and arm– sources said it was recommended to do such even when the scars are still fresh to retain better mobility.

The health potions had gotten them impressively far, though, so they'd probably be able to wear the rest soon.

Blue, once again, despite exhaustion … could not sleep. They messed around with potions, trying to find a way to hide the particle effects. The healing and regeneration potion effects were a relatively common sight, but the rest were already mostly leaned off of them.. but Blue very much still needed it. And what could they say if the rest asked? 

Everyone would accuse them of being addicted to it– as a joke or not, it still kind of stung.

Fermented spider eyes. Fermented spider eyes hid the particles. Blue supposed it made sense, in a way, but it still took longer than they'd like to admit. 

…The lack of sleep was wearing them thin. They couldn't just sleep the day away, the others would get worried– even if that was an entirely reasonable response, Blue refused to elicit it in them. But how could they sleep when it hurt so badly? When there were so many answers they still needed? 

Blue sighed. 

They went down and made a sandwich, but not before drinking a whole potion and applying some lotion.

They wore the compression glove around the house with little care. Nobody asked.

Red and Orange seemed to have smoothed over whatever was wrong. 

This would be over soon .

It'd been officially 3 weeks.

Everyone was okay. Had been okay. As Blue expected. Except for themselves. Maybe they just needed another week, even if the damage didn't seem to meaningfully diminish at all.

Orange suggested a day out in Stick City. Get some lunch, some ice cream, maybe go to the arcade. Red had been staring at the ground for a while, and only perked up when Orange was nearly done talking. And it was entirely possible he only did that because Green elbowed him.

“..what? Sorry, uh, repeat that?”

Blue spent an hour preparing for what was bound to be agonizing. Potion bath, pulling on compression garments, hiding them, toiling over clothes to cover it all but not overheat. Putting on the compression glove and trying not to feel ashamed of knowing people would see it.. 

The final outfit was a light blue t-shirt with a tiny silk scarf and loose white pants finished with black slip on shoes they'd recently scoured Google for. They snuck two potion bottles in their bag. Only the animators knew the excuses they'd have to make to get away and drink them if it got bad.

They walked with Orange and Green at the front, and then Yellow, Blue, and Red at the back. Blue was.. naturally falling behind, so it became just Yellow and Red with Blue tailing them.

Red kept checking behind at them. They tried not to limp. 

Blue stared at the back of Red's overalls and Yellow's tank top and shorts and tried not to shut their eyes against the sun, even with sunglasses on.

They had no idea when they actually got to the place and how long that walk was, but they had to excuse themselves to the bathroom the second they got seated.

Blue gripped the sink and stared at themselves in the mirror. They could feel themselves trembling– god, they looked awful. 

They twisted the sink knob and splashed their face with cold water. It ached. Now that they weren't moving, it was catching up. They tried to breathe quietly.

Blue uncorked one of the potions and had half of it in a panic. They had to calm down. They had to– this was supposed to be a nice day. They couldn't let their stupid mistake keep haunting them. .. it was surprisingly quiet in here? For the better…

They took a deep breath. Let go of the sink. Dried off their face. Drank more, but not all of it. And walked out of the bathroom.

Blue slotted themself into the booth and smiled forcibly. 

Red was still debating on what to pick– she liked all ice cream, and there were so many fun flavors .. Green was having a smaller debate between mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream.

Blue just went with rocky road.

Unsurprisingly, the rest had picked easily; Orange had neapolitan, Yellow had chocolate, Green decided on mint chocolate chip due to flipping a coin. He did the same for Red, which settled on a coconut flavor. 

When the ice cream came, it was cool and satisfying.. it was such a nice change from the heat of the summer and the ache … 

Blue enjoyed themselves for the time being.

They paid, left, and got back to walking. Well.. after Orange woke up.

The group bickered about what to do next. 

Blue watched the concrete and fought the urge to melt into it from the sun.

Red waved her arms. “I wanna go to the arcade!”

Blue's feet ached horribly.

Orange sighed. “I dunno, I'm tired..”

“I'm so sweaty…” Green complained.

“It'd be cold in the arcade,” Yellow reminded.

Red nodded. “Yeah!! And we could have pizza!”

Blue's ears started ringing.

Yellow blinked. “.  .  . The pizza there is awful.”

Red shrugged. “..yeeeaaah, but in the good way.” 

They realized all too late the world was spinning. Fuck, it was hot out, and worse yet, they were in so much pain and they couldn't keep biting their tongue to make it seem lesser. They could feel themselves breathing harder, trying to stay upright–

They weren't sure when exactly they actually shut their eyes. 

The Colorgang, obviously, noticed that. Yellow had just glanced behind herself, and then she heard glass break, and– and Blue was face down on the concrete. 

Red, in front of Yellow, had seemed absent-minded– but he looked to be rather present, now.

Both had froze in pure shock. To be fair, everyone did– but Green acted first, picking Blue up and continuing to walk, faster now. Red picked up their bag that had slouched off their shoulder. 

The bubble of collective confusion popped as they speed walked after him and noticed an empty bench ahead.

He set Blue on it with great care. Yellow undid their small scarf, despite their head covering it– it wasn't actually knotted.

Orange looked at it with a similar version of fear he had when Red had passed out  in the nether. Yellow could tell.

Red set their oddly heavy bag next to them. Then the bench started wicking moisture from it…?

“...we should go home after this.” Orange mumbled, to which everyone shook their head in agreement. “We can .. get pizza later. Or just at home.” 

Yellow noticed the wetness under the bag also. This time, she reacted faster than Green– grabbing the strap of it and undoing the clasp to open it and finding a broken bottle. A small hole completely busted into it, glass tearing into the lining– what..what did Blue have potions for?

Due to the fact the bag was black, he couldn't tell what color it'd been, that whole potion was broken– but a second one, similarly cracked badly, still held some liquid in it– it was red? 

Damnit. Yellow didn't know enough about potions to identify it.

They smelled sweet.

Yellow mentally added it to the list of oddities.

Blue came to and was embarrassed. They could feel everyone's eyes on them, both their friends and all the strangers. They'd blinked their eyes open slowly, progressively..

“Thank Alan,” Orange said under his breath. Oh, no, how long were they out? They worried him, and everyone, damnit!

“Sorry, ah..” Blue rubbed their eyes, keeping their head low. “I-I don't know what happened..!”

“. . . Can we talk?” Red sounded so sad. God, no, they made her sad..

“I–”

Yellow made an addendum. “All of us. Can we all talk?”

“I-I don't know, I–! It's not that big of a deal..”

The crowd's eyes were watching them. They felt it, felt every stranger's eyes, burning–

“...let's just go home,” Yellow whispered. 

Blue covered their eyes and tried to stand up from the bench. …They stumbled, and hated themselves for doing so. Green and Red put their arms around Blue. A horrified pit formed in their stomach.

“..yeah.” 

Orange and Red sat on the couch. Yellow and Green stood– the former was pacing.

Blue felt they were being crushed between the two, and while on a physical level it was comforting, mentally they were petrified.

Orange started, uncomfortable. “..so, uh, Blue. What.. happened?”

“. . . Probably heat exhaustion. I just– wasn't feeling my best, I guess.”

“That's what I thought– so I took off your neck scarf.” Yellow held up the fabric.

Blue's eyes widened, hands flying to their neck– it was bare. 

“. . .” Yellow squinted. “Why are you scared.”

“Uh–”

“Blue. Show me your neck.”

“I– no, no thank you!” 

Blue stood and instantly regretted it, falling into Green– they yelped and tears pricked their eyes.

Green caught them with care. They tried not to cry. They didn't deserve that.

Orange approached. “...it's okay, Blue. You can tell us.” 

They gripped at their shirt, shaking their head in a panic. “I can't, I really can't… not yet. Please…”

Green held Blue's arms gently. “It's fine. You're fine..” 

Red and Yellow surrounded them, too. 

They resisted hyperventilating, pulling away from Green. “I'm serious! I can't tell you yet, I'm not ready..”

Blue stumbled back. “I– I'm going to my room.” 

They left, making sure there was no time for a rebuttal. They dreaded the inevitable conversation with Yellow twice as much, now.

The moment they were alone, sinking against their door, they bawled. Why wasn't this all going away? It was going to, right? They embarrassed themselves so horribly. Fuck. 

They didn't leave their room the rest of the day. They just couldn't. They did more research– it wasn't helping. 

Late that night, Blue found themselves crying in the bathroom in just their underwear, curled up against the wall as they rubbed potion into their skin. Why couldn't they stop crying? They hated it. What was this doing to them? 

This had to go away. It was making them a horrible person. This wasn't them. Why? Why couldn't they just be normal?

They missed who they were a month ago.

They forced themselves to go out and interact with their friends again a day later after a potion and some netherwart. They didn't want to hide, but they didn't know how to escape the shroud they'd made, now..

Red near immediately pulled them aside to speak the second they'd shown themselves.

“...Why didn't you tell them?” 

Their heart stopped.

“I-I, don't want to talk about that. I have to go–”

“No!” Red clung to their hand desperately. “I'm not letting you just– run away anymore! Please, talk to me!” 

Red held them there, and Blue didn't want to leave.

He stared at them the same sad way he did when they went out.

“You're still hurting. Please, blueberry, just– just tell them. If it's eating me alive, it has to be killing you.”

“I'm fine,” Blue put their other hand over the one Red held them in place with. “I promise.”

“No, you're not.” Red's eyes were shiny. “You're not okay. I get it if it's hard to talk about, but you have to. Please. Please, Blue, tell the rest. I can't keep letting you live life this!”

“I'm fine!” Blue pushed Red away.

He nearly fell, but caught himself. She stood in shock, staring with big eyes.

Blue stepped back, terrified. 

“I'm– no, no, I'm sorry–..”

“. . . It's okay, Blue. But this is what I mean, this– this thing, it's hurting you, it's changing you. We can all tell. Just– tell them! I respect you enough to listen to your wishes, but…We can help you, but I can't do that on my own.. I can't help if you want me to keep my head down and pretend nothing's wrong! We all see it!!”

Blue opened their mouth–

“Red, what's wrong?” 

Yellow. 

Both sticks looked at her, panicked. 

“Blue's–” 

They jumped at him, hands to his mouth. 

“. . .” Yellow looked at them, suspicious. It made Blue feel equally guilty. 

“Blue?”

They stared down at Red, eyebrows furrowed. They glanced up at Yellow, eyes watching cautiously and curiously.

“. . . Nothing,” Blue said simply, coolly. “I'll be going now.”

“...okay,” Yellow replied, similarly clearly forcing her level-headness, “I'll see you later.”

“Of course.”

Red left the interaction fuming.

3 weeks and 5 days. Blue tried so desperately to think, it was just running in circles! It hadn't really been getting much better. The metaphorical steps that had been getting taken weren't large by any means. Why couldn't they walk this all off? They'd made Red's good-natured worry into frustration. Could they do anything right?! They were running themselves up the wall. Red said everyone else knew. Was she bullshitting? And Yellow–

Knock knock knock. Knock-knock.

It was Green.  

“Come in?”

Every moment he made was slow and cautious. … Blue had the feeling immediately that something was wrong. 

They scooted to the side to let him sit on the edge of the bed with them.

“..I miss you.”

Green gave them a little kiss. 

“I'm worried about you.” 

Then another, “Okay. We're all worried about you.”

And another, 

“And we all miss you.”

And one more– “Do you think we haven't noticed you making yourself scarce?”

Each stretched on for longer and longer. They kissed him back each time, easily, needily– it'd been so long since they'd let themselves engage with the others like this, and– good animators, they needed this, they needed him to be closer and–

“I'm sorry,” Blue spat. Anything for forgiveness. “I've just, had things on my mind. I won't hide anymore. … Kiss me again, please, Green–”

He obliged. Once he pulled away again, he spoke once more.

“That's fair. A lot of crazy shit happened back there. But, we're alive, so I think we're good.”

Blue's stomach twisted. 

Yes, they were alive, everyone, but they'd felt hollow for the past month. Like they died back there, and this was the repercussion.

“Plus, we're all okay now. ..Please don't tell me you're blaming yourself, B.”

“No, no, I'm–” damn it, who told him? But that wasn't even the main problem! “It's .. it's over now. I know. Thank you. It's just been a lot to process. I'm okay now.”

Blue wanted to punch themselves for just how big of a lie that was.

He gently leaned forward, giving them a peck on the bridge of their nose. “I think I know you a bit better than that.”

Their stomach dropped. “..So what, if I'm still a little caught on it. Maybe I'll stop if you stop baiting me with a make out session and just give it to me,” they forcibly chuckled.

God, they wanted to kiss his stupid, smug face off. The inevitable downside of running from yourself..

“Ah, you're right. Sure. It's Yellow’s job to be reasonable, anyways. You're too pretty for me to say no.”

He scooted closer so they were pressing together gently. He held their face and back while Blue threw both their arms around his neck, and the time disappeared.

They kept having to stop to breathe and it was honestly embarrassing .. they pulled away for breath once more at least 30 minutes in and just had to sit back, and Green copied it. The sudden loss of body heat made Blue quietly mourn, but then Green pulled off his shirt. Made enough sense. It was hot in here. Or maybe that was just how intense the make out session was getting..?

“Can I?” Green touched Blue's waist, pointer fingers under the hem. He didn't do anything, but they felt his hands brush the compression stuff under it and–

Their breath caught in their throat.

“N-no! U-uhm, sorry, I have to– I have to go to the bathroom,” Blue forced out the words, shoving away from him in a panic. 

Blue had been unused to running very quickly for weeks– and yet suddenly, under duress, they could do it just fine.

Blue ran out into the hallway and into the bathroom, slamming the door harder than they meant to. 

They gripped the sink and tried to breathe. No. This was bad. He knew. He knew something was wrong. He had to. Why couldn't they be normal? If he– if they let him, let him take their shirt off, he wouldn't think they were pretty anymore.

They couldn't spend forever in here. He'd know, for sure, if he didn't already. 

...

Blue turned on the faucet and splashed it in their face. Cupped some in their hands and drank it, trying to ignore how the movement hurt, trying to ignore how their legs cried out.

They tore themself away and trudged down the hall again. The carpet was still a little stained.

When Blue came back in, his eyes on them felt like they were boring into them, burning. Standing in the doorway made their feet ache horribly.

“Hey,” he started, quiet. “You can just tell me if you don't want me to do something. You don't have to run away.” 

“..yeah, sorry.” They debated on locking the door. It wasn't locked before, and this most assuredly wasn't going any further, not if Blue had anything to say about it. Which– they did. But it'd still be kind of awkward for one of the others to walk in while they made out sloppy style, polycule or not. Polycule be damned, even. 

…that was impressively less of a problem right now. 

“Why.. uh, question. Is this…a ploy?”

“A ploy?” Green repeated, visibly confuzzled. “A ploy for what?”

“... nevermind,” Blue crossed their arms and glanced away. They stood just beside the bed. “I’ll.. leave.”

He squinted.

“Dude–? It's literally your room, but okay.”

Blue walked out, stiff. 

A month, 7 days. Blue went to make breakfast; just some eggs and bacon for everyone. They had to crack extra eggs for Red (to make up for his lack of interest in bacon) and it was honestly torturous to just stand there in front of the oven over the hot pan…

They said nothing of it. 

Once they were done cooking, they removed the pan-holder and left the pan on the stovetop to cool down while they ate.

Blue ate quickly and quietly. They wanted to lay down … 

They walked back to the kitchen with their dish, rinsing it off and placing it in the dishwasher. They spun around to the oven and grabbed the pan–

Blue yelped. 

“Wh–?! Blue, what's wrong??” Orange called. 

“N-nothing! Just accidentally touched the pan while it was still hot!”

“Oh.. you okay?”

“Yeah, it's alright!” 

Realistically, yes– it was nothing that'd cause much long term trouble. Blue knew, but they still had to push the memories away.

They sped walked to their room in a distilled panic that they repressed. 

Once there, they shut the door and locked it. Probably suspicious if anyone came by and wanted to check on them, but still. 

They stared at their hands and hated it. One hand mauled by flame and the other, the usual shade of blue. Untouched by hell. 

They hugged their knees to their chest. The burns were so unappealing.. it was petrifying, to know that someday, Blue would take them off. And people would have to see the ruined skin. … Did this make them ugly now? Would the rest even like them anymore for it? It'd be weird to hold their hand anymore. Or for them to ever wear shorts again. They'd be too exposed. 

Abruptly, Blue remembered they were going to doodle with Orange later. ..they chewed on some netherwart to try and relieve anxiety, but it made their gut twist with guilt of what it took to get it. 

Blue sighed and shoved it away, too.

They both stared at their sheets of paper– Orange was sketching easily, but Blue didn't know where to start. They tapped their pencil against it, the graphite leaving specks upon the surface.

“.. Orange, can I.. ask you something?”

“Of course.” He glanced up for a second, laying on his stomach while being prepped up by his elbows. 

“Would you still like me if I was–. . .”

An uncomfortable pause was drawn.

“If you .. what?” Orange pressed, hesitant.

“.. nevermind. Sorry. Forget I said anything. I forgot what I was going to say.”

“..no.” He decided. 

“No,” he repeated, more firmly this time. “You don't get to just, keep shrugging things off.”

“What can you even do about it?” Blue challenged, raising their voice just enough so suddenly. “What can you all even do if I do?”

“...scribbles, I don't know, Blue. But we don't want you to.”

Blue didn't say anything. They couldn't, really. What could they say in reply? They just.. took a slow breath.

“ . . . I'm tired. I want to go to my room.”

 Blue stood. Orange stood faster, standing defensively. 

“I'm not letting you walk away. You've been saying you're tired all the time.”

“Because I am??” Blue threw their hands out at the side. “Why would I lie about that?! To you, especially! Wouldn't you get it?"

“I never said you were lying, I was just– I'm worried!”

“Everyone's worried! I don't get why!” 

He was blocking the general direction to the door. 

“... Please, Orange. I'm only a room over.”

“It's not about that, and we both know that.”

“It's not about anything!” Blue's voice broke.

“Then why are you so desperate to get away from me?” He frowned deeply. “Did I do something to make you uncomfortable? Did someone else?? What's going on? I just, we want you to be happy.”

“. . . I am happy.” 

The words were flat and hollow.

“Please. Is.. is this about the nether? You can tell me. You can tell us. You don't have to hide and–”

“Nothing happened,” Blue said, on the verge of yelling. “There's nothing to say. I promise.”

Orange looked at them, terrified. Why? Why was he scared? It was just…them.

“Then why.. are you acting like this? Like you've been haunted? You don't.. you don't seem happy. You don't smile anymore. You just want to sleep. You don't talk to us anymore. I get being upset, but shutting us out won't fix anything, isolating yourself won't fix anything.” 

Orange looked like he wanted to cry. That felt.. wrong. Orange rarely ever cried.

..what had they done?

“. . .” Blue sighed internally, taking slow steps towards him. He didn't react to them. 

Blue hugged him, almost scared to touch him, but hugged him firm. He didn't move. “..I'm sorry, Orange. I just... have a lot on my mind. I didn't mean to .. to talk so abrasively. I care about you. All of you. Thank you. I'm just not ready to talk about it.”

“.....okay,” he mumbled, defeated. 

“I'm.. I'll be in my room.”

Orange huffed. “That's what you said before.”

“.  . What?”

“You said you weren't ready to talk about it before. I just… I don't want this to fester. I didn't want to push you away, I just.. I care. So much. Too much. Just.. tell us. When you are. I didn't mean to argue. Please?”

“I already promised that,” Blue smiled, small and pained. “I will. I swear.”

Orange just barely hung his head. “Okay. I love you.”

“.. I love you too,” they nodded, leaving the room with no further movement from Orange.

A month, 9 days. Blue went to Yellow's room to try and forget it all and just listen to the clicking of the keys. They didn't feel like being productive today, even if they felt a bit better. Yellow hadn't approached them and pestered them in all this time, so maybe she forgot..? Maybe that was just wishful thinking. But ever since they kissed Green, they realized how badly they missed the others. So.. they'd take the shot. They drank a regeneration potion and went to Yellow's room.

It was near silent, for a while; just the sound of the laptop, small noises Yellow made while she worked, it.. it was nice. Blue almost fell asleep.

“So. What brings you here?”

“Huh? Pfft. You act like it's a long walk. You're right next to me.”

“Of course. I just meant why you decided to show.”

“I dunno, I just.. felt like it?”

“Fair enough.”

The talking ceased once more, and again, Blue felt like they could fall asleep right there. 

“..would you like to tell me what the ‘something’ is that's weighing on you?”

“..what? There's nothi–”

“Blue, we all know something's up. You told us, but kept refusing the details. There's no real point in lying about its existence.”

“. . .” they sat up, now.

“I hope you know.. this won't really change anything? The only change is how you've felt like you needed to act to keep this from us. Red said it's killing him. Orange said you were driving him nuts. Green said you pushed him away while you were making out.”

“H-he..why did Green tell you that??” Blue blushed.

“I don't know,” Yellow said, truthfully. “But I do know that whatever this is, it's impacted you in an extreme way. And I kind of think if you had confessed it sooner, none of us would be having this problem. You're turning your pain into anger at us.”

“...since when did you become a therapist?”

“I never did. I'm just good at noticing things.”

Blue knew that. Damn it. They shouldn't have taken this shot.

“..so you should have me all figured out, then.” Blue laid their hands in their lap, uncomfortable.

“I have ideas. But I think it'd be better if you told me. Because telling you to your face what I think is wrong with you seems like a bad idea.”

“. . . I want to.” Blue sighed. “God, that's what I told Red. I want to. I just don't know how.”

“..maybe you just need a push?”

Blue tried to keep their tone flat. “I don't know what it'd be.”

“.  .  . Hm.”

“Let me walk through it all, then.”

Blue held their own hand tightly.

“You snuck past us to go to the nether for netherwart. We go in, some piglins tell us where you were, we go where they said, you're not there.” 

Blue's frown got tighter, too. Yellow probably noticed. Fuck.

“A witch tricked us, split us, we found each other then you again. We saw Purple. Got tricked and split, again… then, uh, y'know. Whole big fight got us broken up, came back together, prevented Minecraft from imploding, Purple and the King guy become friends for some reason. We go home. You got your netherwart. We rest. A week passes. Everyone's fine. More time. We go on a–”

“...Everyone's okay.” They repeated.

Yellow nodded. Blue continued.

“Everyone's fine, and I'm just– not, cursors, I'm not– I'm not..okay.”

Blue sat beside him on the bed. Yellow stopped typing on their computer. 

“..everyone but me has just, moved on. I. I don't know, but I can't.. I can't, I can't keep doing this..!”

“Do you mean mentally or physically?”

Blue cast their eyes away. 

“Blue, talk to me.”

“...both,” they fessed. 

“It’s okay. I swear.” Yellow folded her computer and placed it on the side table to make space. She held her arms out subtly, an easy in or out for a hug.

Blue leaned into him, not actually hugging him. He laid his arms around them lazily.

“...does, this, have … anything to do with the walk around Stick City?”

Blue bit the inside of their mouth.

“A little.”

“. . . Did something happen back in the nether?”

The silence stretched on. He placed a hand on their shoulder.

“Blue?”

“..yes,” they choked. “Yes.”

She was quiet and patient. 

“You don't have to tell me what it was. I can, run my theories by you, and–”

“I want to,” Blue confessed, gripping Yellow's shirt. “I need to get it off my chest, b-but, I .. I don't know how. I've dug this hole, a-and I can't get out!”

Blue was audibly in distress.

“Uhm– hey, hey, deep breaths. Yeah? Look. Breathe in, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5. Breathe out, 2, 3, 4, 5.”

Yellow had to repeat herself a few times for it to make an impact.

“. . . I feel so irrational.” Blue sniffled, curled into his chest. 

“I can tell. But it's okay. I don't know who you'd be if you weren't, sometimes.” Yellow tried to snicker, but the comment sent them further into silence. .. temporarily, of course. 

Blue took a breath.

“It … started with a baby piglin. I went out looking for netherwart, and I met it. It and its family helped me find some. It… the family, got into a fight. I helped them get away, we were on these red things in the lava, and–..” 

Blue's breath hitched. They wondered if it was obvious from here.

“...the zombie piglins grabbed it and tried to pull it into lava. I–.. I jumped after it. I just, jumped in, and… they only got me out once it was up to my neck. My left foot went first, and then it just kept going. My arm went under for a moment. It still hurts, I'm covered in burns and it's been driving me fucking crazy. I don't– know why I lied. I just, I didn't want to worry anyone. But all I've done is make it worse..”

Yellow sat quietly.

“...No, you were scared. …Do you, uhm..feel better? Now that you told me?”

“. . . I think so?” Blue was shaking. “I.. I feel so stupid. Like I've been treading water and.. nevermind, I don't know what I'm saying.”

“Take your time.”

“I don't know if I'll ever find the words.”

“That's fair enough as well.”

The hug came a little tighter this time. Usually, the others indulged them in their love of a crushing hug, but it didn't feel very heavy.

“...I'm sorry we didn't really … notice? Or understand.”

Blue shook their head, pressed against him. “It … was something I couldn't even whisper when it needed to be shouted. How could I blame you?” 

“But we still.. we know so much about each other. We're good at being able to tell, usually. But you got away with it for…for so long.”

Blue had nothing to say. They bit the inside of their mouth.

“...Red knew, didn't he? You two haven't been talking much lately. And.. I've had a feeling about it all. I saw you limp back then, and Green helped you. He's been confused because he thought it was solved. One night I heard you yelp and glass broke?... Then Orange said– well, I already told you. That walk– the potions in your bag smelled sweet, and you smell sweet now. And other times. I had no idea why. ..But you've, uhm, basically, been leaving quite a few breadcrumbs. Whether you meant to or not.”

Blue was honestly not expecting a list of their fumbles to be posted, but okay.

“...he did,” Blue confessed it like a sin. “I told him not to tell. And now he hates me.”

“He doesn't hate you. None of us ever could.”

“. . . Yeah.” 

“...I can tell them.” Yellow said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “Do you want me to?”

Blue made an uncertain sound. “I-I don't know. I.. I'd want to think about it.”

“Sure. Don't be scared to tell me the verdict. .. but also please make the verdict before you leave my room. You have a severe fleeing problem.”

“..heh, uh, yeah.. sorry. I just . . Didn't want everything to change.”

“That's fair. I guess that's why you didn't say anything?”

They nodded.

“...I thought it'd go away. I really did. I wanted to handle it by myself– I thought I could, and I didn't want to bother you guys, not with so much on your plates. It just . . It seemed like too much to pile up.”

“I'm sorry we made you feel like you couldn't say–”

“No, no, that's not it..! It wasn't on you at all.  I genuinely thought I could just, walk it off. And I couldn't. I was mad, once..now I'm just tired.”

Yellow and Blue both watched the floor as if it was interesting.

“So.. you're covered in burn scarring from lava. It's causing you a lot of pain, physically and emotionally. And you.. do you have something to help? Anything?”

“...potions. The instant health and regen. They're the ones that smell sweet.”

“Then– where's the particles?”

“I got rid of them.”

“..wh. How– you know what, actually, not important. Anything else?”

“Ah.. I got compression stuff.”

Yellow nodded.

“We'll.. figure out more ways to help.”

“I just…I-I don't know where to start.” They spoke weak and hushed, quieter than they meant to be.

The weight of the past month clung to them, like they were only now realizing it. Or maybe it was because some of the pressure was finally coming off. They didn't know.

"Well," He said it just as quiet, clearly thoughtful. "That's never stopped us before.”

Blue laughed as tears welled up in their eyes. They looked at the tile a little longer, before wrapping Yellow into a hug.

A month, 10 days.

Yellow had assembled the rest of the colorgang, seating them on the couch. Blue had a separate chair, to sit in front of them and tell them.

Blue took a deep breath. 

“...I have to tell you all something. Er– I'm ready to tell you all something.”

Yellow nodded encouragingly. Red perked up, surprise written on his face.

“..back in the nether, before you all came… I befriended the piglins. There was a fight between them and zombie piglins. In trying to run away, we got on the lava, there were these little– lava walker creatures? We were riding on top of them. A-and..”

Blue swallowed, hard. 

“One of the zombies tried to pull the baby piglin into the lava, and– and I just– I just jumped in. I held it up, away from them, but.. I.. they dragged me under, and, the piglins only got me out once it was up to my neck.. it still hurts. I've been running myself up the wall about it since, and… I.. I'm sorry. For how I've been acting, I know there's no excuse, but–”

Red jumped up and hugged them. He nuzzled their shoulder, smiling with tears in the corners of his eyes.

“Wh– uh?”

The others stood and went to hug them, also.

“..It's alright, Blue.” Orange said. “I'm just.. happy you told us.”

“It's.. really not. I was stupid.”

“You were brave.” Red corrected, before pulling back. “Why didn't you tell us, though?? I know you said you weren't ready, but– we could've helped!”

“I-I know, I'm sorry, I.. I don't know. I didn't want to make it.. real? I thought I could take it on by myself. I didn't want to make you all scared.”

“. . . Well. We know now. N’ that's what's important. Cause we can help you now, right?”

Blue nodded.

“...guess this explains why you ran away when we were making out,” Green giggled.

Blue blushed, hugging themselves. “...yeaaah.. Uhm. Thought you'd think I was ugly now if you . . Saw. … Do you still think I'm pretty?”

“You are not ugly,” he said, instant and certain. He seemed to realize there was more to address. “And of course, Blue. Nothing could make me stop thinking that. You're unbelievably pretty. Honestly?It's frustrating how pretty you are." He joked.

Blue pat his shoulder, fighting for words past the emotion. “..thank you.”

Orange hand a fist pressed to his mouth in thought.

“I, um, I'm still concerned, though. What all does “it still hurts” mean for you?”

Yellow nodded. “..I was wondering the same. I meant to ask you what it entailed previously, but, oh well.”

“Ah. Uhm… well, everything affected just .. aches? All the time. It used to be more of a burning, but… that went away? Mostly.”

Orange’s face twisted up, sad. “..jeez. How can we help?? Can we?”

“I’m sure there's something,” Yellow comforted. “Blue, do you think mobility aids would be of assistance?”

Blue's mouth hung open slightly in surprise.

“I-.. I'm not, but I'm not disabled?”

“. . .” Yellow squinted at them. Sighed. “..Okay. Blue. Uh. Be straight with me. What exactly would you classify this as, then…?”

Blue paused for horribly long.

“I.. dunno, but, I'm not, I can't be, because– I'm .. I'm not.”

Yellow just gave them an unimpressed look.

The silence stretched on, long and uncomfortable.

“I'm.. I'm not disabled.”

“And the sky is green. Disability is a spectrum, you know…?”

“I-I'm not on it!” Blue threw their hands out. “I can't be, I can't, I'm not…”

“Blue, do I have to pull up like, Brittanica or…?”

“Wha– no! No, I know what it is! And I'm not, I'm not, because.. I, it's not that bad!”

Yellow muttered ‘for the love of the animators’ under her breath.

“. . . Look . I get that this is a big and scary thing. But it doesn't make you less capable or lesser than overall. The burns affect your day to day, do they not?”

With such palpable hesitance, Blue nodded.

“And they make you function differently, yes?”

“. . . I .. no. No…Shit.” 

Blue took a long, shaking breath.

“.. it's okay, Blue.” Orange spoke up. “It doesn't change how we see you at all. You're still you. And we love you. All of you.”

Blue hugged themselves again, more tense. They looked down at the taskbar, haunted. “...what if I can't spar with you guys anymore? Or– I can't go on adventures, o-or…”

“That doesn't change how much we love you!!” Red instantly reassured, passionately ranting further. “I'm happy just being with you. That stuff is fun, but, you come first! I don't care what it takes, I-I don't care if you could never walk again, we'd draw you a wheelchair or wings or something. Because.. that's what we do for people we love, we do anything!”

He moved to hold both their hands. Blue shook slightly with the force it took not to cry. “...o-oh.”

“Yeah, man, he's right.” Green slung an arm around Blue's shoulder. “He really is.”

Orange went to their other side to give them a side-hug.

Yellow walked a little closer and placed a hand on Blue's arm. “..so, uh..would you like mobility aids?”

“...” Blue sniffled, but they smiled. “..yeah.”

Yellow tried not to beam in response. “Let's go test stuff and see what fits you best, yeah?”

Blue nodded once more, tearfully. 

Blue would be the first one to admit using the aid felt .. odd? They felt a little wrong, knowing they'd made it so long without any. They tried to remind themselves that the time without it, they spent suffering, so the wheelchair was probably the better option. … It still felt weird being visible about it. But oh well. 

To be fair, that wasn't the only thing they decided on; they got arm crutches and a cane as well. Yellow wasn't kidding, it was a spectrum..even within one itself. They were all dark blue and hand drawn by Orange. It was for the fluctuating nature of their pain.. and sometimes it sucked. Really badly. Well. At least it made their hand to hand combat even deadlier with all the self-propelling.

Blue snickered under their breath at their own joke.

It'd been a bit, since the truth had been let free. The others treated them the same– if not slightly more attention every now and again, to make sure they were doing okay. They could usually notice when they needed a bit of extra help and happily gave it. And if they didn't, well, Blue did their best to communicate. It'd.. it'd be okay. Blue was going to be okay. 

..Yeah…