If You Had One Wish... (Smosh Fanfiction)

40 - Keyboard?

Courtney sat down in the destroyed black fortress. Three of her closest friends... her crush, too... were gone. Olivia came over and tried to cheer her up.

"It's okay," she assured Courtney, wrapping her arms around her.

"That's it?" Courtney muttered.

Olivia shrugged. "Well, I dunno if we're going to pull through and end the wish yet." Thanks for that boost of confidence, Olivia, Courtney scoffed in her mind.

Lasercorn just sat and tapped his foot. He had arrived in the nick of time but felt like he had done nothing to help his friends, repay them for him leaving. He still felt incredibly guilty. He stood up with a sudden determination. "I'm going to go look for them," he announced. "They'd have to have escaped by now; the chess pieces are morons."

Joven caught Lasercorn's arm. "Man, just don't even try." Even Joven had lost his spirit.

"They've definitely escaped," Lasercorn hissed back, tugging on his arm. "I can feel it. Iancorn's calling out to me." The narrator took a moment to awe to themselves and BE STILL MY HEART IANCORN IS AN UNDERRATED SHIP <3

"Dude, just shut up about the 'Iancorn' thing," Wes muttered. Mari jumped to a start.

"YOU SHUT UP!" Lasercorn thundered, yanking his arm away from Joven. He stormed out of the fortress past Keith and Noah, who had both reentered after gathering the only food they could find, a handful of wild berries. Were they poisonous? Only one way to find out.

"What's his deal?" Keith muttered, popping a berry into his mouth. His face twitched; sour.

"He's going out to look for Damien and Ian. Again." Noah said boredly. Keith's body convulsed and he rasped. Noah shrieked, running over to Keith. "Keith?! No, not you, too..." Noah got in position to do the heimlich maneuver but Keith giggled.

"Dude, I'm fine! I'm fine!" Keith said sheepishly. Noah punched him in the arm, hard, but was relieved to see his friend was okay. The two embraced. "Sorry, dude."

"You suck," Noah muttered, pulling away. "Why would you do that?"

Keith shrugged, embarrassed. Noah pulled him back into the hug. Courtney smiled, before getting up and following Lasercorn outside. Olivia fangirled at Koah behind her.

Courtney looked out into the distance. Lasercorn couldn't have gotten far... she looked to the left. Right. Back to the front. She blinked.

And then suddenly she sees an orange flicker in the distance, running toward her. Courtney's eyes widened as she picked up her pace. She saw his reddened face, his cheeks puffed out, immediately out of breath. "What?!" Courtney squeaked.

"I-I-I WAS RIGHT. I WAS FU(bleep)ING RIGHT." Lasercorn took a moment to catch his breath. "I saw them. They're both out cold." He stared at Courtney intensely, who just blinked. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING STANDING AROUND?! GO GET REINFORCEMENTS!" Lasercorn screamed. Courtney yelped, scampering back to base.

She arrived with Wes and Joven moments later, whose jaws dropped. Ian and Damien were passed out over top of each other, exhausted, completely drained of energy.

Lasercorn just towered over their limp bodies, staring.

"Are they dead?" Wes squeaked. Joven shoved Wes, hard, not caring that he had an injured arm.

Damien stirred with a heavy moan. His eyes fluttered, but he clearly couldn't get up. He looked parched, famished... and he was covered in blood. Not just dried blood on his head, but drying blood on his clothing. Lasercorn bent down by Ian, who could be mistaken for the Joker his facial features were so similar. Painted white face, bleeding mouth. Lasercorn grunted, scooping up Ian. Joven came as a second hand. Wes pulled Damien up and slung his arm over his shoulder. Wes was doing well, considering he still had that bullet wound. It wasn't too bad, he had to admit. He was a bit jealous he wasn't getting more sympathy, though.

Damien let out another heavy groan. He was so weak, Wes had to keep hoisting Damien's body up as he stumbled. Ian, on the other hand, was incredibly heavy. It didn't help that they were both trying not to cry (Joven had failed; Lasercorn was trying to stay strong) and were both stumbling. They were reassured by Ian's gentle breathing, although congested. He was still alive.

Courtney could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything. God if only Shayne was here....

They stumbled back to the fortress and everyone else gasped at the sight of them. "I... was right..." Lasercorn hissed, biting his lip to keep the tears from coming. They laid Ian down on the black king's bed. For once, the monarch didn't object.

Damien was in a bit better shape, but his head had started bleeding again. "Do you... have any food...?" Damien rasped. "Water...?"

Courtney thrust some water up to Damien's dry lips. He drained the entire cup, pulling away with a gasp. "Food?!" He asked desperately. "Ian?!"

"Ian will be... fine," Courtney tried to reassure Damien.

"Actually, guys, he's puking up blood right now!" Olivia called. Damien glared at Courtney as Olivia continued. "What do I do?!" Olivia poked her head into the room. Two chess pieces, a rook and a knight, leapt up and made their way to the throne room. The rook waited impatiently for the knight's L-shaped movements to catch up. But the pieces and the squad filed in. Ian was awake, but everyone couldn't help but notice how he looked like he came back as a ghost.. Lasercorn crept in, approaching Ian.

"You... you came back," Ian raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"Yeah. Duh," Lasercorn tried to keep the atmosphere light. He then noticed how pale Ian's face was, his clammy gray skin, and his tired glossy blue eyes and his stature sunk. His friend was already dying... again.

Lasercorn turned to Courtney, Olivia, Noah, Keith, and Damien. "You guys need to end this, now," Lasercorn instructed. "We'll stay here with Ian." He grabbed ahold of Ian's hand and squeezed it. Ian's grip was very weak.

"Dude, we don't even know how!" Keith exclaimed.

Ian stirred with a grunt, sitting up. Everyone jumped in alarm. Lasercorn hurriedly propped his head up with pillows. "The pawn... my interrogation... I know how to stop the king."

The black king cocked his head. "Seriously?" He asked incredulously.

"Put him in a position... where he can't do anything." Ian eyed Noah.

"Checkmate," Noah breathed out. "We have to put him in checkmate!" Ian nodded intently before groaning again.

"Your easiest bet... would be to get the keyboard."

"Keyboard?" Joven, Mari, and Wes asked together. For the first time since the nightmare had begun, Ian smiled. He knew exactly what to do.

***

"So. We're doing this," Damien said uneasily. Mittens rubbed up against his legs. Courtney nodded, a little annoyed everyone kept asking.

"We're getting an... enchanted keyboard?" Olivia asked incredulously.

"Yes," Courtney muttered.

"And we're using that keyboard to 'catch' the king, but not really catch the king-" Noah began.

"YES!" Courtney yelled. "THAT'S WHAT IAN SAID TO DO ON HIS FU(bleep)ING DEATHBED SO WE'RE DOING IT!" Silence.

"Courtney, you good?" Keith asked, laying a hand on her shoulder as they approached the white fortress.

Courtney had the sense to keep her voice down as they were nearing enemy territory. "No, Keith, I'm not. Not with my friends missing, and the odds are we aren't even going to be able to end this fu(bleep)ing nightmare." She dropped down on a conveniently-placed rock.

Noah sat down next to her. "We can do this. If anything, do it for them. Do it for Ian, Anthony... Shayne... " he trailed off, his eyes wide. He stood up, anger coursing through him. He pointed an accusing finger. "What is she doing back here?!"

Damien and Courtney lifted their heads and gasped.

"Red," Courtney growled.

So. Yeah. That happened. Thanks for reading! Leave me comments if you want, or vote if you're enjoying this story. I love talking to people; I'll find any excuse to because I'm an extreme introvert irl.

- RAWT