Chapter Text
It was a quiet Thursday, and as always, the weather on the island was perfect. Surprisingly, all the members of the hussars were in their cave, sitting at a makeshift table. This was a rather unusual occurrence as of late, after all, everyone was doing their own thing usually. Multi was in the basement doing god knows what, Nexe was off somewhere, enjoying exploring the new land in sunny weather, Graf slowly started to plan how to expand their cave into an actual home for them, and Ewron was on his typical daily bullshit, they still hung out with each other, but it was rare for them all to be in the same place. That day, however, everyone gathered at Philza's request, who asked for a meeting with them. The traveler's message surprised them, after all, they had barely exchanged more than a few words with him, but out of curiosity, they agreed. He mentioned he had important business with them regarding Quackiti, which immediately piqued their interest. He was, after all, the honorary Pole in their small group.
"Isn't it a little bit weird that he suddenly wants to talk to us?" Multi complained again, always suspicious of the other island members. "What could he possibly want to tell us about Quackity? Alex never even mentioned talking to him. What if he aims to tell us some bullshit about him? He can't possibly think we're that stupid."
"Yeah," agreed Ewron, also unhappy about having to sit here, he has much better things to do, thank you very much. "But we know you just want to go back to your evil dark lair- OI! DON'T FUCKING THROW SHIT AT ME!"
“Shut up then, bitch.” he replied, rolling his eyes and tragically trying to hide his smirk.
"If he does, we will just throw him out. We already heard tons of rumors about Quackity, there's not much he can say to make us hate him just because he said some shit" spoke Nexe, looking at Graf both of them ignoring the ongoing argument.
“I think it's worth hearing him out,” Graf interjected. “From what I heard, he was also on the previous island. Maybe we can learn something from him. Quackity seems very averse to speaking about it, after all, if we don't want to pressure him about this again, we have to get information on it from somewhere else.”
Nexe nodded. "Yeah, they probably know each other." After a moment, he continued. "And well... maybe he knows what's been bothering Quackity lately. He's been acting all riled up lately. Where is he anyway? I haven't seen him lately at all."
"He went to the Dutch to check out new cards, apparently." the scientist replied, displeased that the boy had been avoiding him lately.
"Dredy w góre Multi! Your duck will surely come back to you someday." Ewron teased the boy.
"Shut the hell up, you bitch," the vampire huffed. Damn him, the stupid duck can avoid him all he wants, he doesn't care. Glancing at Nexe, who suddenly perked towards the entrance of their cave, their guest must be close then.
"Hello, mates!" Philza appeared from behind the rocks just as they suspected he would. "How are you doing?" the smiling man asked the group.
"We're doing fine."
“Let's just skip this part and get to the point. What do you want to tell us about Quackity?” Multi asked, finally wanting to return to his reactor. The others didn't object, clearly sharing the same sentiment for a direct approach. “What do you even want to tell us?” he glared at him. It was very suspicious in his eyes.
The older man just sighed with a smile, seeming pleased with the other's direct approach. “Don't worry, this won't take long.” The guys exchanged glances and shrugged, that's alright with them.
"I'm not entirely sure how to start. I'm worried about Quackity, and from what I've seen, you're close to him, so I'm sure if you truly care about him, you'll listen to me and show him some support," he began, a little hesitantly.
"I didn't want to go behind his back." The older man sighed. The others narrowed their eyes at him. What a suspicious way to start this conversation. "I won't tell you his biggest secrets, don't worry haha, I just want to give you some advice…we were never really that close, but we go way back. I can't watch him do this. No matter how well he hides his pain, I can see that some things still haunt him, and it worries me how that might end after everything." Avian looked each of them deeply in the eyes for a moment.
"Have you noticed Quackity's been acting a bit different lately?" he asked after a moment.
"Well, actually, yeah." Nexe replied, feeling a bit embarrassed by the whole situation. "Are we sure we should listen to him? The guy's clearly telling us he's going to tell us something Quackity doesn't want to tell us himself. I'd probably kill you bastards if one of you did that to me. But what if it's really for his own good? It might be important." The hussars exchange looks, he of course, has a point. Eventually they nod, they worry about their friend, he's been acting weird, they can all tell something is wrong. If Philza starts crossing some lines beyond it being simple advice, they'll throw hands before they learn anything too groundbreaking.
"Well, he's a bit tense lately, and it's clear he's not as happy as he's been pretending to be for the last few days." Graf added to what Nexe said before their quiet exchange.
"But that's normal, everyone has bad days." Ewon said, earning a nod from Multi. The guy was right after all. Philza nodded as well, causing Multi to raise a suspicious eyebrow.
"Of course he is. I think he's going through them now, that's probably the only reason we see something's up. Quackity… he's always been surprisingly good at hiding when something is wrong," the man sighed, looking away for a moment. "He exaggerates small things and situations, but when something really is up… he distances himself from most people and masks the pain, pretending everything is okay. He's clearly stopped trusting others with his pain."
They sat in silence for a while. To be honest, all this information was easy to believe, they have seen how he behaves in certain situations when someone seems a bit too worried about him or asks too many questions about the past. Multi is honestly a bit jealous about how well he can pull off steering the conversation away from whatever he doesn't want to talk about, or well, just quite literally run away from it at times.
"That makes sense yea"
"That being said, this is my advice, so listen closely, alright?" Philza gave them a firm look, yet it softened after a moment, and he exhaled a quick breath before continuing again, "Don't let him fool you with his theatrics, just be there for him, y'know? I know you already are, i wouldn't be coming to you if i didn't believe you care about him deeply i can see he's slowly becoming a part of the family. Show him your trust in him, and he will do the same over time, he cares deeply no matter what he says. Show him patience and how much you care and that he can trust you, stop him from running away, pull him back when he needs it, he needs it even if he's not aware. I'm sure all of you know his value in your family, but does he know that?" The man hummed softly, looking hesitant for a moment before seemingly making his mind up and standing up.
"You're going already? Is that all you wanted to tell us?" Noted, Graf, that admittedly was a lot more tame than he expected it to be. Philza made it seem like he's about to tell them some unforgiving intel about Quackity that would only ever be right to know if he himself has told them. Well, he's not complaining, they don't need anyone telling them such secrets.
"Yes it is all. I could tell you much more, but it isn't my place to do that. Just as i said before, I won't reveal to you such things." The old man smiled at them. "I think my duty as an old friend has been completed, see you all around the island." A lone raven follows the man outside and away from slightly dumbfounded hussars.
"Well that was...interesting to say the least."
"It was such a nothing burger, lowkey. " Complained Ewron who was already out of his chair to pace around, irritated he had declined to meet up with Ash over such a trivial thing. What kind of advice is to simply care more? Goddamn they already do that
"Kind of, yeah," murmured Multi, already on his way back to the reactor, mind rolling with new revelations.
'You know his value in your family, but does he know it?'
He does, right?
'Pull him back when he needs it'
Does he need it now? Maybe he should try texting him again.
Quackity is a whirlwind of emotions, one moment he's okay and the next he's not, even if he tries to hide it, it's always going to be unsuccessful against multi.
He knows hi-
He knows quackity, he'll take it step by step.
In the north
In the middle of the king size bed is lying a single duck, already asleep for many hours, with a clear mind and not a single thought about federation he sleeps soundly, it's a shame it won't last long this way.
In a dream a figure in the shade of trees is hiding and observing a duck swimming in the ocean on a sunny beach, a storm in their head brewing.