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Egg wakes up to the cold sensation of sweat on his cheeks, wet strands of hair coiling around his neck. His lashes stick to his face, and it's a struggle to even peel his eyes open, but when he does it's...
Nothing.
There's nothing?
Eggchan almost believes that he's still asleep, or maybe still in that obsidian transport cell with that bulky metal door. The phantom pain of a broken wrist, a snapped leg, healed by a throw-it regeneration potion still lingers. When he shifts, he's expecting the pointed obsidian groves to dig into his back, but nothing happens.
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Is he finally dead?
...
Probably not.
He closes his eyes again (or at least feels the sensation of his eyelids shutting), dismissing the feeling of the firm mattress beneath him, and goes back to sleep.
--
The next time he wakes up, it's to someone shaking his shoulder roughly. The chorus of a distant voice bringing him away from his empty, nothingness dreams.
He opens his eyes to darkness. Still in the cell.
Except...
"Eggchan," The voice whisper- or, says? There's this insistent ringing, a headache pressing against his temples, that- now he's aware of it- has gotten worse. Egg almost just goes back to sleep so he doesn't have to deal with.. whatever is going on, but the hand shakes his shoulder harder. "Eggchan." They call again.
When he responds, his words come out rough. Like he hadn't spoken in a long time. A little tired. "Hello? What's going on?"
The hand stills, and when it finally lets go, Egg tries not to feel too relieved.
"Eggchan," The voice says again, a little louder over the headache now, "You've been out for a few days. They took you to the infirmary."
Egg shifts a little, suddenly a lot more aware that his head was laid on a pillow, dampened by sweat.
"Ah." Is what he offers instead of an actual response.
The person- medic? Doctor? Whatever. The medic (presumably) gets up from a chair, its metal legs scraping against stone, and probably gets something. Without the soft sound of their breathing, Egg would've thought that they had left.
The medic returns quickly, and before he realises, theres a hand propping him up, a metal glass pressing at his lip. He tilts his head back, with it comes the sweet sweet nectar of cold water rejuvenating his parched throat. When Egg's done, the cup is taken away and the medic shifts again in their seat.
Egg rubs at his face, fingers catching on his shortened bangs. Hey, wait a minute. Did they cut his hair?
"No," The medic answers, "Just where it covered your eyes, it'd be much, much harder to control the damage with things in the way."
And... Huh?
Eggchan is hesitant when he asks, words a little stilted, "Forgive me, what damage? What happened?"
The medic awkwardly clears their throat.
"When King Wemmbu brought you in here, you were already suffering a deep, untreated slash across both of your eyes. It was severely infected, if we got to it any later, we would've have to perform an enucleation of both of the eyes." Okay, look- Egg knows he should be paying attention to the very serious severe details but... King who now? "However, since the damage on your eyes was still immense, we could not recover your vision."
Huh? "I'm sorry," They say, "You're permanently blind."
Egg blinks. Then blinks faster. Then--
There's still nothing.
He lowers his head, the feeling of longer hair falling over his shoulders, until his forehead is resting on top of his knees. Eggchan feels the kneecap digging into his head. He feels the pain in his head, and the pit in his stomach. Egg knows he's meant to be weak-hearted. He almost lets himself get lost in the tangling storm brewing in his head.
Yet, all he does is shut his eyes tightly, warding off any tears that threatened to slip.
--
The first person he meets after he's discharged is Codmaster. (Though, he's not really surprised. He knows not to be. But he can't help but feel a little disappointed.)
Codmaster is friendly. He offers Egg a place back at his house- still down at the bottom level because, for some reason, Codmaster didn't want to move up. He leans in whispers to Egg that they revamped the pier.
Egg dutifully chooses not to mention how he probably cant fish anymore, and follows the other back to his house.
Along the way, Eggchan trails his hands against the walls of the alleyways, mapping out the bottom level of the Caves in his head. He's been in the bottom section before- but his memory has never been great and he's well... Blind. Blind, now, so Egg supposes he has to start relying on his other senses to stay alive.
The walls are rough and course, pointed stone that scratches his palm, reopening wounds. He feels blood trickling down his hand, but doesn't say a word. Codmaster makes sure to keep a distance, at least, but at arms reach.
It's a little pathetic, Egg thinks, to be cared for like this. He doesn't try to think further on why he feels that way. Just settles on pushing down the shame, gauding the embarrassment- the slight warmth to his cheeks- into a crevice that'll never be touched on again.
Codmaster lives on the further edge of the Bottom, though with a lower view of the castle. Egg knows this, he'd been there for a few days before he'd been taken back. The cold breeze tickles his cheek.
"It's a little late," Codmaster mumurs to himself, though it's loud enough for Egg to hear, "But they already put out the lanterns."
Codmaster sighs, then his steps halt. Egg almost crashes into him.
"This is my beautiful, gracious, amazing, incredible, majestic house," the other says, his voice painfully dripping with utmost affection. A little much, bro. A little much. "I'll show you to a room... I got a lot here, I've been getting so much guests in these past few months. Ha."
Then, a door opens, a few steps retreating into the house.
For some reason, Eggchan stays infront of the house. Unmoving. He's not hesitant, or nervous... Just frozen.
Where does he go after this? What does he do? It just feels like some temporary hiccup that'll go away. Egg doesn't know what he'll do if this doesn't pass. He...
"Eggchan!" Codmaster calls from inside the house, "You coming?"
Whatever. Eggchan takes a deep breath, and steps into the house. His hand trails across the damaged wood before he closes it behind him.
He presumes that Codmaster is somewhere in the room- but who even knows, it's all a mystery. He drags his feet along the cobblestone floor, wishing that'd he accepted the cane they tried to give him back at the infirmary instead of being weirdly stubborn.
This sucks, Eggchan can't help but think. This all sucks.
Though- there's a hand on his shoulder-
"Hey. Hey. Sorry- Wrong way. I'll take you there..." Codmaster starts rambling on as he guides Egg in the opposite direction, "It's good that it's on ground floor... Would you fall down the stairs if the room was on the other floors...? Ok don't answer that- Don't answer that-"
Egg's free shoulder bumps on a doorway, and he jolts.
"Yeesh. My bad, bro."
"... It's fine."
He swears he can feel the look of pity burn into the side of his head.
Egg lifts his hand up to feel for a wall, the contact of dirt and stone surprises him for just a second before he stills himself.
"This used to be Jaden's room," Codmaster tells him, "Before... You know. The purge, and then Wemmbu taking over the civilisation-" Bro, what?! "And then Jaden becoming second-in-command.. Ya know."
He does not know. He didn't know any of this at all. What the--
"Man, I bet Jaden is living the high life in those mansions. They're crazy, bro. I was offering one, but... I don't think I could ever betray my beauty."
Egg coughs too loudly.
"But yeah. Uh- here- here's the bed. I'll get some more sheets later... Uh. Just ask." Codmaster ends sheepishly, his cloak(?) shifting as he turns around, shutting the door and leaving Egg alone.
Eggchan sighs. Feels around for the bed again, and flops down on it.
Even when he's trying to rest, his body stays stubbornly tense. Like he's always awaiting the blade at his neck, waking up bound in the middle of the night.
Chains. Ropes. Civilisations. They all feel the same, Egg thinks.
Just ropeburns and lingering aches and a pressure on his chest.
He groans into the pillow. It smells like the sea. He briefly thinks of the fresh breeze weaving through his hair, the scent of salt lingering on his suit, before he prompty and urgently squashes it down.
When he sleeps, he doesn't dream.
--
Egg spends the next few days in bed. It's as lame as it sounds, but he can't help it, really.
Sometimes, Codmaster asks if he wants anything- food, more water, whatever. He's not that hungry. He'll get water later. He'll get up later.
Later doesn't come, and Codmaster never crosses beyond the doorway.
It doesn't matter if he comes in the room or not; Egg still feels like he's the only one in it, anyway.
Sometimes, Egg's hands move without a will- they trace the edges of his healed wound. He thinks about how long he's been asleep- but he figures he'll never know. The feeling of scarred skin always disturbs him.
When he presses the back of his hand on his eyes, they don't respond.
Of course...
Maybe- okay, he shouldn't kid himself- it's absolutely pathetic, he is. The way he lounges around in bed all day, tangled within sweaty soaked sheets, ignoring everyone.
He doesn't mean... To do it. He thinks.
Sometimes, Egg rests his eyes and thinks of a world where his wrists aren't dented and bruised. It's hopeless, yes, but it warms his heart all the same.
Sometimes, Egg just hopes for something more than this.
And always, it's never enough.
"Ugh," Egg mumbles, turning around again, his back sticking to the thin blanket, "Shut up, shut up..."
"You good, bro?" A voice calls from the doorway, and Egg's soul almost jolts up and ascends to the gates.
Well- it's close enough, Egg just jumps up from bed to realise it's not Codmaster but-
"Yo, Jaden?"
"Hi."
The room is empty, but apprently contains furniture that Egg never knew about, because Jaden presumably drags an old stool, rotten legs screeching on the stone, near the bed and sits down on it. Though, maybe a little
'Eager much?' Egg snarks in his head. Then internally punches himself.
When did he get so...
"So," Jaden starts, "How are you? I know it's been... rough for you. And I know everythings been messy and- yeah."
Jaden sighs. Yeah. Me too, brother.
"It's fine," Egg lies, "I'm alright."
The pirate shifts on his chair, "You sure? I mean, Cod said..." But, seeming to change his mind at the last second, he steers the topic away: "Okay. I know it's hard. It's okay for things to be hard."
Egg's not sure if he believes him. It's a shot nonetheless.
"Uh huh," and, "So, what actually happened?"
Not allowing for Jaden to respond, he adds: "I mean, after the Purge? How long was I gone, out, asleep- whatever. How long has it been?"
He has the right to know. To know what happened to Arachnid and Yungy and freaking Wemmbu- who's apparently a king, now?
Jaden takes a deep breath in, like steadying himself.
"You were out for weeks. Wemmbu, he thought you died until the medics very explicitly confirmed that you were alive. Just in some sort of coma that was caused by... Yeah." When Egg hums thoughtfully, he continues: "After you got stasised again, we got out of the Purge and- well- Wemmbu went up to Arachnid and demanded the pearls. A lot of shit happened after that- which is way too much to explain but- I can tell you this...
Wemmbu killed Arachnid and destroyed the pearls."
It's not as shocking, actually, because Eggchan knew that Wemmbu would murk Arachnid... But...
"And he became King?" Egg asks.
Jaden snorts, "And he became King of the Caves."
He laughs, this time, though it's a little hoarse and weary, "How did he become king? I thought Yungy woulda- you know-"
"Look, I kinda thought Yungy would take the throne too. But since Wemmbu was second-in-command he had to take it, apparently."
"That's stupid." Egg says.
"It is. It really is, bro."
They both fall into a comfortable silence.
Outside, not muffled through the thin walls, is the ringing of a bell and the sing-song voice of a food vendor. Absently, Egg can feel his stomach gnaw at him.
"Jaden? You still there?"
The pirate is quick to answer: "Yeah."
"Can I ask you one last question, bro?"
Jaden shifts again, "Sure, man."
"Is Wemmbu okay?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah?" Egg prompts.
"He's okay."
And always, it's never enough.
--
It's only a day or so before Egg finally gets out of bed. He eats dinner - cooked cod, of course - at the makeshift table with Codmaster.
The conversation is stilted, awkward, and it has Egg wanting to retreat back into his room like a true hermit.
But he knows better. He can't let his woes ruin the image he's been putting up. He can't let the people around him in.
When the two go out, the breeze tickles the back of his neck, Egg is lead through the markets a level above where the noise is almost deafening. At some points, he doesn't know where to go; Codmaster's (kind of annoying) voice fades into the background. The image of a fish, the shape of a player, melting back into the darkness.
It- almost frightens him.
Almost.
Almost.
But Egg makes it out with groceries and a better mental map of the civilsation, memorising each step down and each direction through the alleyways.
Though, on the way the way back to the pier, he gets distracted by the sound of chittering.
"Codmaster."
The other stops a few steps ahead, probably, and backtracks down the alley.
"What? What happened?"
Egg ignores his questions and focuses on the chittering, high pitched though weak.
A little wounded? It's hard to figure it out with this blabbermouth in his face...
"Bro, Codmaster- is that a rat? Do you see it?"
Codmaster shuts up immediately.
"Uh, yeah."
"Is it hurt?"
There's a pause.
"... Yeah."
Egg exhales, but it doesn't do much, the air still tightening his lungs.
"Can you get it?" He asks calmly, "Is it still there?"
There's a longer pause, this time, but the silence is broken by the shifting of denim jeans and that same, weak squeaking. Codmaster huffs from below, seemingly struggling to contain the animal.
"I got it! I got it!" He yells, yelps a bit when the rat screeches in pain again.
Alright. "I think we should get to the pier.. I can probably take care of there."
They do- with much protest, the rat's frantic movement never ceasing even hurt; it's a shock, really. It never relents.
It just keeps squealing and moving and--
While Codmaster wrestles with the rat, Egg feels around for the river. The water graces the tips of his fingers, running through the gaps of them; when he reaches into the depths, further and further, he only finds the jagged edge of a rock. Rocks.
Alright, Egg thinks. He takes one rock and drops it into the pocket of his trousers.
"Egg," Codmaster yelps, out of breath from panicking, "Bro- come over here- I think I got it!"
They both sit down at the edge of the pier, splintered wood digging into his calves. Codmaster laughs, relieved.
"I got it." He says.
Egg tries to reach out for it, but the first contact with matted, damp fur has him pulling back.
He tries again. This time, Codmaster eagerly hands it over without any protest, his giddy sighs fading into the wind.
The rat twitches weakly under his palm.
"So," Codmaster clicks his tongue, "Are you going to try to heal it, or something?"
Well.
It actually happens in less than a second- all a blur, of course. The heavy feeling of the rock in his hand, it's edge pressing against the dip in his palm, to the feeling of air rushing past and the rock raised above his head-
He's not sure where it hits, but it hits. Egg feels the jolt in the rat's body, the rock shuddering with the hit.
He goes again. It shrieks.
Egg thinks of how quick it is- to leave something damaged, irreparably so, just like that. He feels the edge of a blade carving his face.
He goes for it again. His hand pulses.
Isn't that ironic? Isn't everyone just fine?
Goes again. Then again.
Arachnid's dead, but his ghost lives. It's a stupid thought- because Arachnid hasn't done that much to him but-
Again. Again.
Eggchan can't help but hate it. He hates this civilisation; he hates that he's still here; he hates that he can't do anything and he hates that he hates at all.
He's really hopeless... Isn't he?
The rock falls from his hand, skittering away and splashing into the river, water flicking onto his knuckle.
It returns to him.
"What the fuck! You-"
"Is it dead?" Egg asks.
"What?" disbelivingly, "Uh. I... No... No way. It's alive."
Egg slowly stands up. "I'm going to take a nap."
"Wh- What the-" Codmaster's voice dims; Egg crosses into the house.
He dreams of Arachnid's ugly face, twisted into a sneer. When he wakes, he realises that that was the last thing he ever saw.
--
He doesn't want to be depressing, but the days seem to sludge today into a miserable black; the constant queries that plague him and the idol figure far away in his mind, the dreams of spiders and whatever his brain cooks up to haunt him.
It's, frankly, getting annoying now.
Egg's started to get up, dragging his hands along the rough walls of the house, bare feet barely touching the surface of the bottom's river (when he finds it within himself to go out).
He does that, today. Goes to the river and sits, shoes on the side where he knows it is— water threading through the gaps of his fingers. Egg is content for once, but the ideas continue to creep in his head despite it.
It's so hopeless, now.
And it's nice to know that everyone else is okay— but him? What can he do? In his state, he never can be okay, anymore; the spiders, the pressure at his wrists, the idol figure just beyond the royal level—
They all linger in the ugly parts of his soul, threatening to break out and take away the last of what he has.
Ugh—
"Yo, Eggchan," A different voice calls out, now.
Egg jolts, hands shooting out of the river and patting around for his shoes; he haphazardly ties them back on before trying to look in the direction where the voice is, hair getting caught on his cheek as he whips his head around.
"Yo? Hello? Who is this?" He asks, a little frantic, maybe— but don't judge him...
The person laughs, armour clinking as they sit down beside him, saying: "It's Yungy."
Oh.
Hesitantly, "I remember."
Yungy hums noncommittally, "You good, nowadays?"
Egg nods. Or tries his best too, whatever.
"Mhm," and with a sharp whistle, "Man, I haven't been here in a while."
That's right, isn't it? The days where it was all of them, at the bottom, are so long ago, though seem like yesterday.
With the memory, comes with Yungy's past talks of caring for the empire and— Oh.
"Yungy," Egg starts, "What do you think about the current state of the civilisation?"
The other is quiet for a long moment.
"Well, I think it's... Fine. The civilisation is healthy enough, even though the Purge wiped out ninety percent of the population. Up there, we're swarmed with make-up work, so..."
"Okay," Eggchan breathes, "And how about Wemmbu being King of the Caves? How about that?"
The silence drags on even further, now, to the point of actually annoying Egg.
There it is, he's annoyed. Egg rarely was like this, really, he's not sure where it began. Where'll it stop.
He's not sure it'll ever stop.
Boredly, Eggchan runs his hand along the edge of the pier; word and rusted nails against the palm, water splashing on its legs.
The other sighs. Deeply.
"Look, Eggchan, I'm not going to assassinate Wemmbu or anything— and the Caves hasn't gone to absolute shit, so whatever. I truly care for the Caves, bro, I do. I do. But I think's cemented his place as new ruler, now." Yungy replies, a sharp laugh making its way out of his throat.
He feels bad, sort of; but the memory of him next to Arachnid, eyeing him like a trophy, some worthless object, washes over him like a cold wave. Egg clears his throat quickly, fingers gripping the pier's edge.
He can say it, can't he? If Egg ever went up there to see the Royals, the King, and said 'I hate the civilisation, I want to go home,' Wemmbu would definitely drop everything for him. Yungy would gain what he needs.
So, he doesn't know why he keeps his mouth shut. "You guys are doing good work up there, are you well?"
"Yeah, of course," The other says, and thats that.
Long into the later hours, hand curled into the sheets, Egg thinks of the idol beyond his world; he thinks of the bedsheets at the treehouse.
He and Wemmbu have not spoken in a very, very long time.
Without him, really, Egg feels more like an extra thumb trying to fit into what is now 'home'. There's no one to laugh beside, nothing to see, nothing to do; everyone speaks to him as if he were made of glass.
It only angers him, now. He knows he's weak, but at least he used to be patient. Kind. Smart.
What now? A shell of a man, lying in bed. Someone who was once Eggchan, who liked reading and writing, who liked how the rings of TNT arranged themselves in the skies; now what?
Without him, Egg's just a limb.
-
Shaking, sweating; a dull blast sounds from the back of his head, and he's up again.
Again, again, the end of a sword scrapes along the ground. It draws near. He can feel his hands tremble, grappling onto his lapels.
Stuttering, stumbling; he falls down a hole, hot liquid streaking down his cheeks.
There's a crack that echoes throughout the cavern when he hits the ground, but that's it.
Egg wakes.
The bedding is softer than yesterday. There is a dampness at the back of his neck. Someome paces around his room, their heels clotting irritably on the cobble.
It almost sounds like a pattern; a motion to stop one's self from falling into madness.
"Wemmbu," he says, the name getting caught in a choked breath. The rhythmic clattering halts.
"Egg," says Wemmbu, sounding closer to agony than he ever has before. "I'm... I couldn't visit because of—"
"I know." Egg dismisses him; he doesn't feel bad when he hears the ghostly hiss of breath, almost imperceptible.
The silence settles in; Wemmbu brushes sweat-slicked bangs off of his forehead, but too lightly, perhaps afraid to get close. Maybe Eggchan is a little upset, a whole lot more petty— but he hates the unwillingness.
He just wants this whole place to shrivel up. He wants to shrink into a tiny dot, stark against the tip of one's finger; Egg wants to dream of the treehouse again.
It makes his chest swell with unjustified hurt; a anger rooted in a sadness so profound it makes the ends of his fingers tingle, his breath stuttering.
The warmth—that voice— is not Wemmbu anymore, and Egg isn't sure when it stopped being so.
Egg shifts away from the hand, the lingering warmth dissipates all together. It's all gone: the cavern, the sweat-soaked sheets and awkward dinners, the treehouse and the sky, the sun, the sticky blood on his fingers, the warmth in his soul on his—
The Idol figure is back on top of the world, looking down on his people.
Eggchan laughs, the sound of it swallowed by heavy silence.
What a strange thing it is, to be.