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The last minutes of Multi’s life were quite distant, vague pictures flickering in front of his eyes, as if he was watching past memories through a thick mist. It felt chaotic, with one situation forcing itself onto another, creating something that in fact never took place, confusing Multi's head even more.
Nacho. Katie. Quackity.
The faces of people, whom Multi adored with so much care, no matter how heartless he seemed to be for the others on the island, were now melting into something unrecognizable, striking him with fear. He forced his heavy eyelids to blink a few more times, hoping the image of his loved ones would clear up and return to normal, but it only made his headache worse.
Feeling his limbs go limp, he didn't even notice the moment his hand slipped from the wound he had been pressing so hard against, leaving it to further bleed out. The ringing sound in his ears kept getting louder, causing Multi to choke on last, quiet pleas to make this madness come to an end.
It seemed as if he was balancing on the edge of life, each of the desperate gasps for air stretching the suffering for one second longer. Perhaps it was better to give up, Multi seemed to not want to do it, hopeless that someone from his found family would come for a rescue, or at least be here when he takes his last breath.
Until it was over and no one ever came.
His own clone; the greatest work of Doctor Multi, leaving behind his creator, with the knife in his back.
The unbearable pain crawling under his skin faded within some time, as his figure started to get colder, the silence counting off the following seconds. Quiet cries of Multi ceased, and even the crows in the forest near the desert had stopped cawing, almost as if they knew a person was found dead this night.
Multi's body seemed to no longer belong to him, the weight of it still holding ground when his soul ascended. Lost and lonely, wandering in the depths of darkness, with the dull sound following him in this void.
But somewhere far away, his heart still felt heavy against his chest, and his faint heartbeat hadn’t stopped yet.
“Multi…?”
A voice echoed off the back of his skull, drifting off somewhere into the distance, before disappearing into the ocean of the Multi’s subconscious. Somehow, it was enough to trigger a small spark in the back of his mind, but the sound of his name was still too faint to trigger any physical response.
All of a sudden, a warm hand touched one of Multi’s cheeks, a subtle brush with a finger against his skin sending a jolt of electricity through his entire body, “Multi, do you hear me?”
A ragged breath tore from Multi's mouth as he gasped awake, the tightness in his lungs as painful as if they were filled with water. It felt as if the hand had just pulled Multi out from some sort of ocean, saving him from drowning under the thick surface of dead vanity.
He blinked at the person sitting next to him, his blurry sight becoming clearer each time a heavy breath escaped his mouth.
Multi made it alive. Barely.
“Quackity…”
Glancing down, did Multi only now notice that Quackity was holding his hand, circling small patterns on his palm the entire time he was waiting for him to wake up.
It was the moment something broke in Multi, as if he just now fully shook off the last of unconsciousness and started to connect dots about what just might’ve happened.
Multi threw herself into Quackity's arms, pressing him to the ground with the weight of his body as his hands wrapped around his waist. His fists clenched around the soft fabric of Quackity’s blue sweatshirt, trying to pull him even closer, afraid that one second more and he would disappear.
Hiding his face in the crook of Quackity's neck, Multi murmured into his skin, “I'm so fucking sorry I didn't hug you back the last time.”
His heart sank somewhere in the middle of regret and genuine relief, emotions crashing into one another, as Multi couldn't believe he was with Quackity again. Because, in fact, it was all he always needed, to have Quackity right by his side.
Multi had missed it so much.
He couldn't even tell how much time had passed since their last conversation on the bench, but whatever the answer was, Multi was sure it had been far too long ago.
Feeling Multi tighten the embrace, a delicate smile ghosted across Quackity’s lips, as he placed both palms on his back. He cuddled up to him even closer, breathing in the raw scent of the household soap Multi always used to wash himself with.
It smelled like home.
Quackity lifted his eyelids as he let out a quiet sigh, his stare fixed on a wave of purple aurora shimmering in the dark sky above them, “There's one thing I want to show you before I tell you the rest,” He whispered.
So Multi got to know Pepito and his past, heard all the details about the mission Quackity had been given by Dark Cucurucho that put him in there, and learned who El Quackity was. There was no reason to lie anymore, and Quackity confessed everything he had previously kept hidden from Multi.
Once the two of them told each other everything that they had left earlier unspoken, Quackity took Multi to a bench on the edge of the floating ground that he had built together with Pepito. A place to sit that was just like the one Multi had set up not far from his private island, for no one else but Quackity.
Sitting hand in hand with their feet hanging over the void and faces tilting towards the black ocean of emptiness embracing the unknown island in the middle of nowhere, a comforting silence fell between them.
Here, in the limbo, there wasn't such a thing as The Federation nor the Dark Cucurucho. None of these sickening creatures that made an actual hell on earth for the people of the island could've touched their broken souls in this dimension.
It almost felt like the two of them were finally free. From all the pain, countless lies being told straight into Multi’s face, and the experiments that pushed Quackity's life into the abyss of misery.
“So, is this… The End?”
A low hum scratched the back of Multi's throat, as his gaze travelled around the obsidian pillars before pausing at Quackity's face.
But he didn't answer.
Instead, his lashes fluttered shut, and one of his fingers took a better hold on Multi's hand, as if hoping to find some comfort in the touch of his. He leaned a bit closer until their arms brushed against each other, resting his head on Multi's shoulder.
“Multi…” He inhaled through his nose, “Promise me you won't come looking for me when you wake up,” Quackity muttered under his breath, his voice faltering before the plea had fully left his lips.
“What?”
“You deserve someone who isn't being made a fool of all the time,” Quackity couldn't help but force a muffled snort out of his mouth, just now realising how pitiful the entire thing sounded. But what could he do when it all was the truth?
An ugly truth wrapped up in a beautiful soul.
“I don't understand…”
Multi wasn't that stupid not to understand what Quackity was talking about. He knew, too well, but deep down he still wished to be naive, avoiding the harsh reality. Because pushing painful truths aside was better than facing up to just how tragic Quackity’s life was, and how it affected Multi himself, shattering into even more pieces his already scarred heart.
“I keep getting passed back and forth between The Federation and Dark Cucurucho. You must be tired of always having to search for me, and worry about what the hell is happening to me.”
Perhaps there was a lot of pain behind it, but despite that, Multi could still find a small smile at the mere thought of Quackity, knowing he would forever be his number one, willing to protect him at his own expense. There was something in it that made Multi’s heart flutter, the simple realization that Quackity saw him as someone he can always count on.
“What if this fucked-up dimension is just another trap Cucurucho threw me into, to brainwash me again? I wake up, and it turns out that my egg child from the previous island has been living here this whole time,” Quackity shook his head as he still couldn't believe how unreal the entire thing sounded, despite experiencing those exact events firsthand not long ago.
Because it just felt too good to be true, and he stopped being naive a long time ago.
“And now, out of nowhere, you show up…” Quackity finally looked back at Multi, only to see the colour slowly drain from his already pale face.
Multi blinked hard, all of a sudden feeling a strange wave of dizziness hit him with its intensity. The dull ringing in his ears slowly began to creep back in, making it even harder to understand Quackity as he continued to speak.
There was something bad happening with him.
“I thought we would never see each other again, but somehow you keep finding me in every universe.”
And Multi listened to him as if he was behind some kind of a glass wall, only half of what was happening right now reaching his subconscious, which once again blurred the lines between the two different worlds.
He felt the end stone start collapsing beneath his feet, bringing the bench he was sitting on down along with it. The darkness forced itself onto the edges of his sight, slowly consuming the last of Multi’s consciousness, as he felt his body go numb.
“Quackity, I'll get you out of here…” Before it was too late, Multi mumbled through clenched teeth, soon after falling asleep in his arms.
The void swallowed Multi once again, without warning, stealing from the place that he could’ve called his new home, only to spit him back out into a rotten world without the warmth he had longed for so badly.
The starry night in the desert still hadn't even quite settled yet before Multi found himself waking up there again.
Blood flooded Multi's mouth, causing him to choke on the disgusting taste clinging to his tongue as he gasped awake. He spat out trace amounts of uranium acid along with the metallic taste, taking in another deep breath and coughing midway through.
For a moment, he couldn’t tell where he was. His heart thumped against his ribs, blood rushed in his ears and his head spun as he struggled to steady his breathing. Then Multi remembered why he was there and what had actually happened.
Fingers digging into the sand and putting the last of his strength into his arms, Multi sat himself up. His entire face felt hot as he rubbed it with his hands, the earlier desperate gasping for breath now leaving his cheeks flushed with bright redness.
He brought an open palm to his stomach and pressed against the place the deep wound was, just now realizing it was gone. There was no trace of the sword cut, not even the slightest scar, suggesting that his skin might’ve been harmed there at some point.
Was it all just a dream? Or did Multi really talk with Quackity in a place so strange that even Multi couldn't find the right words to describe it?
Multi took a deep breath, blinking at the night stretching out above his head, the ocean of stars shining bright, as he started to count each of them.
Perhaps somewhere up there was the place he had just fallen from, the dimension that hung high in the clouds, keeping Quackity for itself. Or was it all just a dream? A brief moment of unconsciousness that played with Multi's mind, until he started imagining someone he had missed far more than anyone could've even guessed.
Knowing Quackity would be taken good care of and untouchable for all the dirty hands of The Federation, Multi wouldn't mind letting him stay there so he could find the peace he sought for so long.
But it wasn't granted, and Quackity made it clear that none of this was accidental. The sense of protection was an illusion, and, in truth, Quackity was still suffering under a cruel delusion that was made to convince him otherwise.
The limbo wasn't the safest at all, yet Quackity chose to stay there for some reason.
Promise me you won't come looking for me.
It felt almost as if Quackity knew that Multi would come for him sooner or later, and wanted to prevent this, at the sacrifice of their precious relationship. Begging Multi to give up on him, to move on, and to come to terms with the fact they were never meant to live a life they were both happy and free from pain.
The thing was, that Multi would never think of leaving Quackity somewhere behind. There was no universe in which such an option would exist.
He could’ve been half-dead, his body being eaten alive by uranium and his soul rotten to its fullest. Multi's stomach could’ve stopped bleeding, but his heart would still ache for Quackity, the wound he has carved there too deep to be ever healed.
If Quackity was still trapped inside the Limbo simulation, Multi would tear each of The Federation's offices and labs apart just to save him.