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Absence of light in the ocean's depths is terrifying. Sinking lower and lower beneath the water, you begin to feel the cold seeping through clothes long since soaked. Wifies strains with all his might to keep his eyes open, but the salt water stings his mucous membranes, forcing him to shut them again each time. Yet during those brief seconds of clarity, he can see the serene movement of static on the television screen directly before him. Even with his eyes closed again, he feels Hummer tilt his head slightly to the side, simultaneously drifting a little closer, as though this might help him warm up. It doesn't—it shouldn't work, given all the laws of physics and logic—but for some reason Wifies feels better.
He opens his eyes again, and at the same time releases the last remaining air from his chest. The only thing now visible in the ocean depths, which shouldn't exist in the ordinary world, is the bright glow of the monitor directly before his eyes. Wifies tries by habit to inhale, but instead swallows water, beginning to choke. It hurts. It's incredibly agonizing. But he can't stop and surface, because Hummer...
An unexpected realization comes to mind.
He can't?
Or doesn't want to?
Wifies covers his mouth with his hand to keep from breathing in more water, clutching Hummer's clothes with the other. His lungs burn, though the water around him is absolutely freezing. Sound doesn't travel through water, but he swears he hears Hummer's soft voice.
"Do you believe me?"
Just a few minutes earlier, when he was still on the surface, Wifies might have said something—perhaps he'd have started another argument about how this was a pointless endeavor, that he couldn't believe in something that didn't exist—but now, in the light of the screen before him, Wifies thinks he couldn't utter a single word against it, even if he could breathe again. Instead, he removes his hand from his mouth, grasping Hummer's wrists, sliding down to his palms and intertwining their fingers together. Hummer says nothing, or perhaps Wifies simply can't hear it through the ringing in his ears, yet his screen goes dark for a second, plunging them both into darkness.
This frightens Wifies more than he could have imagined. He himself feels his vision darkening from lack of oxygen, but even the very thought that Hummer's monitor might go out forever drives him to despair. He has already died alongside him before—how is this different now? Wifies can't say, but he feels it inside himself, as though if he lets go of Hummer for even a moment now, he will never see him again.
Pressing the researcher's hands to his chest, he buries his forehead against the flickering screen, trying not to think about how he must look from the outside. He doesn't care—he doesn't want to leave any space between them, and Hummer seems not to object, or at least doesn't find the strength to resist.
He doesn't turn away from Hummer when he feels he has half of his last heart left. He can no longer fight the tears in his eyes, which dissolve immediately in the salt ocean. Time distorts and loses meaning; to Wifies it feels simultaneously as though an hour has passed, and perhaps only a few seconds. All he can do is not tear his gaze from Hummer, afraid to blink lest he vanish right before his eyes, as though he had never existed at all.
Hummer's screen flickers as he leans forward harder, literally pressing against Wifies face. It must look absurd from the outside, but feeling the pressure on his lips, Wifies finally closes his eyes, pulling Hummer by his clothes as close as he can.
For the first time in his life, Wifies thinks that if he dies now and doesn't return, he will regret only that he cannot repeat this moment several hundred more times.
In an instant, everything disappears. Even with his eyes open, Wifies sees only darkness around him.
Gasping sharply, oxygen fills his lungs, making him cough, falling to his knees and literally spitting out the water accumulated in his lungs. Raising his head, he sees bright light, forcing him to squint for a moment.
What the hell?
Before him rises a golden palace with a bridge leading to it, trees growing around, partially obscuring the view.
Oh god, is this heaven?
A hysterical laugh escapes his throat and Wifies dissolves into coughing again.
Oh god. No, no, this can't be... Not after everything he's done. Where... Where is Hummer?
Wifies looks around in panic, but there's no one beside him. Not even sounds can be heard, except his own uneven breathing.
"H-Hummer...?"
Hearing no answer, Wifies raises his gaze to the castle again, simultaneously rising from his knees.
Alright. Fine, he'll do this.
Slowly ascending the steps and looking around, Wifies approaches the main entrance. What is he even doing? Where did common sense go? His lungs still hurt, so he tries not to breathe too deeply, taking shallow breaths in and out. It doesn't help his panic, but at least Wifies moves forward.
Before him stretches a long staircase upward, after climbing which a view opens of a red carpet—mildly put, irritating to the eyes—and... a chest? Biting his lip, he carefully approaches closer, opening it with slightly trembling fingers, though not on the first try. His eyes freeze in place, trying to concentrate on the object inside. His head spins, he feels nauseous, and Wifies is almost certain that only willpower separates him from fainting.
"Surprise?"
The unexpected voice makes Wifies whirl around sharply, releasing the chest's lid. It falls with a deafening sound in the silence of the space, but he doesn't care about that now.
Hummer stands right before him, as if nothing had happened. His appearance gives no indication that he was drowning in the ocean depths a few minutes ago. He looks at him silently, though tilting his head to the left in his usual manner.
And oh god, if Hummer doesn't say something else right now, Wifies will believe he's seeing deathbed hallucinations.
"Wifies?"
Hummer says, as though hearing his thoughts. After a minute of silence, he begins nervously fiddling with his sleeves. "Uhmm..."
"Hummer..." Wifies finally says barely audibly, trying to pull himself together again. What is even happening? He blinks a few more times, drawing air into his lungs, and steps forward.
Hummer flinches and awkwardly spreads his arms to the sides, either opening an embrace or showing that he is completely harmless. Though the static still moves on his monitor, Wifies is ready to swear that he's smiling.
Wifies takes another uneven breath, then crosses the distance and grabs Hummer by the clothes on his chest, squeezing the fabric between his fingers.
"You... You are now going to explain to me everything you should have explained a long time ago, but didn't because of some mysterious considerations, and after that, by some unknown method of yours, I don't even care which, you will teleport us home, understood?" Wifies says in one breath, gasping, burying his forehead against the monitor and not tearing his firm gaze from the bright multicolored lines.
Hummer remains stupefied for a moment, but then a heavy sigh is heard and a short laugh, echoing off the white solemnly decorated walls. He cups Wifies's cheeks with his palms and stretches them slightly with his thumbs, making him look completely absurd.
"Only if you believe me — it's a rather long story."
Wifies doesn't need to answer for Hummer to know the answer.