All That's Left ~Yogscast Fanfiction~

Chapter 2 - Rugged

Strife's mouth fell open. He stared helplessly at Xephos, tears welling in his eyes and a few slipping down his cheeks.

This couldn't be true. Parv couldn't be dead. He had blood magic to keep him alive! It's only purpose was to literally keep him alive and powerful. It's just couldn't be... How could he just die?

Several minutes passed in complete silence. Strife sat, practically shaking as he tried to swallow the aching lump in his throat. Xephos stood with a mildly sympathetic expression on his face, though one might see contempt in his gaze.

"Why did you bring me back, then," Strife finally choked, bringing his eyes up to meet Xephos's. They were bloodshot and wet; strained and pained.

"Because we could. Honestly, Strife, we would have brought him back, too if we could. But let's be honest here. He wasn't doing any good for the world. All he did was cause trouble." Xephos cocked his head to the side, trying to give an encouraging smile and failing. "You're better off without him."

Strife's expression shifted from pain to confusion, then to anger. He narrowed his eyes at Xephos, trying to read the spaceman's manufactured expression. "Who are you to decide that for me! He's my best friend, Xephos!"

"Will, calm down. You're still very weak," Xephos tried to calm Strife down, who had started to stand. Though his legs were still shaky, he stepped towards Xephos.

"Calm down?! Calm DOWN?? You brought me back into a world where I had nothing and without the only person I can even fucking remember and you want me to 'calm down'!" Tears slipped from his green eyes, seemingly burning like the anger inside him. But the feeling ebbed quickly and he fell to his knees at Xephos's feet. "Just let me leave, Xephos. If you are or ever were my friend, let me leave," Strife begged, his forehead resting against the cool tile.

"Do you remember being my friend?" Xephos inquired, stepping back to get a better look at the crumpled Will.

"Fuck you," Strife spat, shaking his head. "Is that all you care about? What were you, my secret lover? Are you desperate for me to remember you?" He scoffed, pulling himself up so that he rested on his knees only.

Xephos crossed his arms, suppressing a scowl. Will was just being a menace, now. No help at all. "No. I'm just wondering." He looked around the room briefly, then back to Strife who glared from his place on the floor. "But if you truly want to, I can't keep you here. We weren't able to locate your office building, so you'll have to find new land. Speak to Lalna on your way out and he'll be able to give you your chat log and coordinates for the plot."

Strife shook his head. "Can't I just find it on my own?" His shoulders slumped when he saw the curt shake of a head from Xephos. "Fine." With some difficulty, Strife stood and walked towards the door which swung open before he could even touch it. Lalna stood right behind it, a small device and a slip of paper in hand. He handed them both over with a smile and gestured down a hallway.

"The exit's that way. If you keep going straight for about 10 kilometers then go west for another 30, you should find the plot. If you get lost, just look at this," he pointed at the device, "and it'll tell you where you are and it's got a waypoint for the plot." Strife glanced down at the device's screen and saw the three coordinate values in the top left corner, then watched them change as he shifted his feet. When he looked back up, Lalna looked rather pleased with himself. "I made it m'self."

"Uh... Thanks, Lalna."

"No problem, Strife." Lalna glanced down for a moment, his expression dropping a bit. Strife moved towards the exit, spotting the light filtering in from outside. Before he could get far, though, there was a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," Lalna murmured, looking genuinely upset.

"Sorry for what?" Strife quirked an eyebrow, turning to face Lalna. Lalna was taller, so he had to tilt his head upwards to look him in the eye.

"About Parv... There was nothing we could do." Strife sighed, dropping his eyes to the ground.

"It's not your fault... Besides, what's dead should stay dead, right?" He cracked a slight smile and tried to laugh, but it was just air. He let his expression fall again and turned towards the exit. "Bye, Lalna."

"Bye, Strife."

---

The sun beat down on his back relentlessly, only giving him relief when the moon took its turn in the sky. Though it was night and their time to prowl, no monsters bothered the man as he crossed the land without rest. He couldn't have slept if he wanted to, really. It felt as if he had been sleeping for all life before that.

Just a side effect of being a clone, I suppose.

He walked for hours on end, eventually able to ignore his legs protests as they numbed. If he couldn't see them with his own eyes, he wouldn't have thought they were there.

The coordinate device beeped loudly, showing 12:00 bright on his screen. It was midnight. Thankfully, he was less than a kilometer away from the plot. Actually, he was right on the edge of it.

The plot was set in a plain surrounded on two sides by a forest, the trees just barely going past the edge. Strife could just make out a pond with waters that reflected the moon's light. However, there was nothing already set there for him to rest in or on and his legs felt as though they would collapse at any second. So naturally he did what he could do to stay safe and climbed a tree.

Though the tree had low-hanging branches, exhaustion made the climb more difficult and Strife found himself ready to pass out in the crook of two limbs. The only problem was, these branches are not exactly the most comfortable place to sleep. Nor did he feel like he could even sleep in the first place. That meant he had a long morning ahead of him. He might as well just close his eyes and hope he can fall asleep.

---

"She's the problem, Strife! It's all her!"

"N-now, don't do anything rash, Parv." He extended his hand towards the blood mage, carefully walking forward. "Just hand me the knife. You don't have to do this."

"For us," he muttered.

"NO!"

"No! I can't let her take you! I CAN'T!"

"I said shut up."

"DON'T TELL ME TO SHUT UP! I NEED YOU, STRIFE!"

---

"Parvis!" Strife jerked awake in a cold sweat. His head was pounding and his legs ached, but sunlight shined through the leaves and he could her mobs in the distance. Somehow he had fallen asleep, but he wasn't sure that was a good thing. The nightmare... it felt real. It might be a memory...

Strife swung his legs over so that he could slip down from the branch. He winced as his feet hit the ground, just managing to stay upright. Then he glanced around the field, taking in what he couldn't the previous night.

Sunflowers littered the field and Strife felt a twinge in his mind. They reminded him of something, but what he couldn't remember yet. Beside the sunflowers was some long grass that would need to be cleared to make room for a building... There were also a few sheep and cows that had taken to grazing here. They'll be useful for later.

"Better get to work. I'll need tools, first, so I better knock down some trees." A low rumble sounded from his stomach, and he sighed. "... and kill one of those cows to try and cook up something."

A light breeze ruffled his hair which seemed to be longer than he was used to. Now that he thought about it-- he brought a hand of to rub at his beard-- his facial hair was a little wily, too. He was even getting a stubbly mustache. Rugged was the first word that came to mind, but Strife got the sense rugged wasn't exactly the best look for him.