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Multi wakes up and like usual he goes to check on Katie, but today is different.
Because unlike every day previous to this one Katie is not there.
He panics for only a moment before he remembers.
She’s gone, they took her.
His chest burns as he tries desperately to calm the erratic patterns in his breathing.
As he stares at her vacant bed he regrets every vile word he spat at her, about how she was greedy… and a traitor after Nacho was taken.
How he hissed that she was no better than Ewron.
He regrets every touch he pulled away from and every hug he refused to reciprocate.
Right now he truly believes that he would give anything to wrap his arms around her and pull her close to his chest.
To hold her tight and never let her go.
It’s like he can almost imagine how he would dig his nails into her arms and cling to her like she would disappear if she were to drift any further from him.
Usually Multi prided himself on how he could keep a firm lock on his emotions, but right now the steady stream of tears rolling down his face he can tell it’s all been for not.
Even if he emotionally distanced himself from everyone else on this goddamn island her shouldn’t have pushed away from her.
He’d tried so hard to keep her at arms length and even though he’d failed on most fronts, she’d still deserved more.
Multi should’ve given her more of himself.
Katie played into apathy and confidence, but when she was alone she’d scream, sob, and degrade herself for her weakness.
He regrets every night he’d sneak in and listen to her cave entirely into herself without stepping in to give her any comfort.
Maybe at one point he’d naively believed his presence was enough, but Katie had never known he was even there.
Any comfort his presence would’ve given was forfeit by his resolve to stay hidden and feign ignorance.
His feet took him away from the place Katie should’ve been and to Nacho’s room instead.
When he sees Nacho snoozing peacefully Multi’s shoulders drop almost imperceptibly.
Then an image pops into his head and they raise back to attention just as quick.
Multi remembers the form of a breathtaking woman, elegant and tall, dawning a pink suit, hair askew, sitting on the edge of their son’s bed.
He remembers the way her hand brushed the hair on Nacho’s face back with so much care.
The way her head tilted ever so slightly as she lean down to press a gentle kiss to the forehead of their beloved son.
The way her soft words curled dangerously around Multi’s heart as she whispered in Nacho’s little ear.
The earnest promises to never again scare the child like she had that day.
The sweet melody that followed as she sang their little boy to sleep.
Multi bit his lip.
“They didn’t even let her say goodbye” Multi gritted out, the words spoken out loud to nobody in particular.
They just didn’t have anywhere else to go it seemed. Too much space had been taken up in Multi’s head for him to fit any other thoughts inside, so naturally they had to come out.
“It’s not fair.” And it came out choked as a sob forced itself upon his throat.
“Dada?” A little voice rang in his ears. It sounded dazed and confused as a result of being at a stage just between slumber and consciousness.
At the sound of his name Multi startles to attention and his eyes snap towards his son who’s now starting to sit up on his bed. “Yes, Nacho?”
The child blinks blearily as he tries to collect all the big thoughts running through his head. “Where’s mama? Is she okay now?” He asks what he thinks is the most important one.
Nacho’s heart sinks as he watches his father’s face crumble. “Mama isn’t coming back for a while, but— but it’s okay Nacho. Dada is going to fix this.”
Immediately Nacho throws off his blanket and scoots closer to where his dad is standing with clenched fists. “No, no, no. Dada. I want mama. Mama promised. Mama promised that she would protect me. Mama can’t protect me if she’s not here.”
The little boy shakes his head frantically as he tries to will his dad to understand.
When another sob rips itself from Multi Nacho stops. He’d never seen his father so distraught before, he’d never even seen him cry.
“I don’t expect you to understand Nacho, but mama did this to protect you.” He thought of the words the dark federation had uttered to Katie before they’d taken her. ‘Why are you protecting them?’ “She’s always been trying to protect you even if sometimes the way she did it was- was fucked up.”
“She always loved you Nacho. Your mama loves you so, so much.” Multi cried.
When he was finished Nacho hopped off of his bed and toddled over to his father, the child took two fist fulls of Multi’s pants and hugged the man’s leg as what was supposed to be a comforting gesture.
It served its purpose, Multi supposes, because he can already feel the erratic pumping of his heart slow till it’s calmed to something of a normal and rhythmic pace.
Subconsciously one of his hands reaches down and cradles his son’s head as he tries to reciprocate the comfort being given.
“It’s okay dada. We’ll rescue mama. Just like you and mama rescued me.”
“Yes, yes Nacho. We will get mama so you don’t need to worry.” Multi’s head lowers to look into his son’s tearful eyes. “Do you want to visit mama’s house? Maybe she left something behind to help us.”
Nacho brightens straight away at the suggestion and beams up at his dad. “Yes, yes, yes, yes!” He shouts as he hops up and down excitedly, his little hands still fisted in Multi’s pant leg.
“Okay! Okay!” Multi chuckles. “We’ll go there right now just keep holding on, okay Nacho?”
In response the little boy bobs his head up and down excitedly while still pulling himself impossibly closer to Multi.
The aforementioned man pulls out his teleported and inputs the destination as Schlatt and Co.
In a flurry of purple particles they arrive in front of Jschlatt’s home. Gently Multi guides Nacho to the lighthouse and they quickly descend the staircase down to Katie’s personal abode.
Once they reach the long hall Nacho peels himself away from his father and darts down the corridor. Multi chuckles fondly as he watches.
He can almost imagine himself taking Nacho here to meet Katie, he imagines himself throwing an arm around her shoulder while her arms held their son.
He imagines teleporting them to spawn and Katie laying a blanket down on the ground. The way she would pass Nacho a slice of cake when she believed he was not looking.
He imagines a picnic where everything is okay. A picnic where they can just be a family basking in the sunlight together.
Unfortunately it’s not a reality, it’s all in his head and Katie won’t be waiting for him at the end of the hall.
When he finally walks into the main room Nacho is already clambering onto Katie’s pink couch and making himself comfortable.
Katie would’ve cooed adoringly at the sight. Maybe she would’ve even stopped to take a picture, but she can’t. She can’t because she’s not here.
Multi’s lips press together into a firm line. Instead of dwelling on it too much he pulls out his camera.
The shutter goes off, and Nacho’s head whips over towards Multi in surprise before a sudden burst of giggles erupt from the child.
“Yes Nacho, mama is going to love that one. I’m sure she’ll even put it in her family album.” Multi grins as he puffs out his chest with self satisfaction even with his subpar photography skills.
Tucking the photo into his pocket, Multi starts to search through the base. He opens drawers and sifts through the belongings meticulously.
He pulls out sticks, wool, extra unused concrete mix, and dye.
Just when he begins to think that it was useless to keep up his desperate efforts to find anything that could be of use when it came to tracking down the mother of his son, he picks up a book.
The first page had plans scribbled all over it. Well they seemed less like plans and more akin to a step by step list. The ideas seemed more conceptual than they were fleshed out at all.
It was so like Katie, too impatient to make a real plan yet too scared not to go in without some semblance of one at all.
The small smile that had worked its way onto his face as he read fell once more as he replayed for the hundredth time the harsh words he’d shouted, how his fists had clenched, and he how he’d swung at her till she lay limp on the ground.
There had been real fear in her eyes as she stared at him that day, no matter how desperate she’d been trying to hide it, like Katie had truly believed he would end her in that moment.
Yet still she had not fought back, and strangely that was what had finally snapped him out of it.
Her refusal to harm him, even while fearing for her life.
Before he could dwell on it any further he flips the page.
Suddenly any other thoughts that had been swirling through his head were purged as he stared down at the messy rushed scrawl written across the page, in what was without a doubt Katie’s hand writing, and it gained his complete attention.
It was a goodbye.
Eerily similar to the one Juan had left behind before his death, however hers was in written form whereas his had been a video message.
Multi thinks he would’ve preferred a video. Then at least he would be able to see her face.
‘Dear Multi, or Mr Schlatt if you end up finding this first. If you do though please hand it over to Multi as soon as possible and I’m sorry for not being a very good neighbor to you.’
He has to stop reading for a moment so he can slow his breathing back to an acceptable pace.
Nacho is still in the room after all, and if Multi panics his son will undoubtedly start to panic too.
‘Back to you Multi. I managed to escape the feds for a moment, but they’re expecting me to teleport to my prison cell any moment now. I might just have to make up an excuse about accidentally teleporting here instead and not having enough levels to get anywhere else.’
As he feels his lips press together he risks a glance back up at Nacho. The little boy isn’t focused on him, instead staring intently at a plush of himself. Multi goes back to reading.
‘Sorry if this isn’t too long by the way, I don’t have much time and I’m bleeding a lot so I may be slightly delirious. I’m okay though they just took my DNA for experimentation and then waterboarded me with buckets of blood. Not sure what purpose that last part served, but it happened.’
“Kurwa, Katie.” Multi hissed as he brought one hand up to cover his mouth. Nacho was definitely looking over now.
‘I’ll get to the point since I’m not sure I have much time, but they’re planning to take me somewhere for more testing. I’m not sure whether that entails they’ll be studying me dead or alive. I’m hoping alive since it would be a shame for Nacho to lose his mama, but really that’s not up to me right now. Right now Multi I just need you to do some things for me alright?’
It’s stupid that she phrased it as a question, as if he’d ever say no.
‘First off I need you to tell Nacho that this isn’t his fault, there was no world where I wasn’t found out eventually. Secondly, and you won’t like it but I might be dead Multi just remember that, I need you to tell Don I’m sorry for being a bad sister and that I’m sorry I can’t help him save Ash.’
In response to the mention of her brother’s Multi’s nose wrinkles, it won’t be pleasant, but for her anything. Especially in this situation where these may very well be her last dying wishes.
‘I hope you can do this for me even though I haven’t been the best co-parent or most trustworthy best friend. Please tell Nacho mama loves him and that she’s so sorry. I can’t stall anymore. Goodbye Multi. I’ll miss you.’
Multi bites the inside of his cheek as he desperately flicks through the pages to see if she left anything else behind.
Nothing. Theres nothing else. It’s all blank.
Multi stands and slams the book down onto the floor. His shoulders hike up and he can feel himself trembling.
“Dada?” Nacho squeaks. A thin veil of fear and concern lacing the word.
Multi’s shoulders drop and he stumbles over his words as he tries to find the right thing to say.
He drops to his knees and shuffles a little closer to his baby boy. “Kurwa, Nacho it’s okay. Dada is- is just very upset… right now. Not with you! O-or with mama, I swear.”
“Mama? You found something. The book is about mama?” Nacho presses, alarmingly insightful for his age.
When Multi can’t find anything to say in response the answer has already made itself clear.
“Mama won’t be coming back for a while.”
Nacho goes rigid at the words.
“She wants you to know that it isn’t your fault.”
The child shifts at the words. A little hiccup escaping before another follows and then another in quick succession.
Instinctively Multi reaches forward and cups Nacho’s face in his hands as he looks to soothe his son.
Hesitantly little hands soon rise up and place themselves on top of his larger ones.
“I need you to listen to me Nacho. Can you do that?” Multi puts in as much care as he possibly can into forcing his words to come out calm and collected, like he was certain that his words were nothing but truth.
A few more soft hiccups escape from Nacho, but despite that he manages a firm a nod as his hands slide down to grip at Multi’s wrists.
“Mama is right, it’s not your fault, and it’s-uh… it’s not… not my fault either.” He momentarily fumbles with the words, he himself not entirely believing them… at least when it came to his part in this whole mess.
“Even when we think that way we have to push past it okay? Because if we’re too busy doubting ourselves we can’t save mama.”
“Okay dada. It’s not my fault, we can save mama.” Nacho smiles and while it’s still wobbly, he can tell it’s genuine.
“Good, because we have to come up with a really good plan now Nacho.” Multi sighs.
“But first I have to go see someone.”
“Who dada?”
“Don.”