"You're awake! Oh, thank Prime."
Your eyes fluttered open to see Niki's concerned face.
"Gosh, I was so scared that was your last life," she rambled. "I was able to patch up most of the wounds, but you, um... you might want to see for yourself."
Niki helped you up, quickly supporting your back when you winced heavily. She guided you to the bathroom with a gentle hand.
"There's a clean change of clothes in there," she informed, "I, uh, didn't think you'd be comfortable with me changing you."
"The mark is on your left shoulder." Niki left to let you examine it closer. You removed your shirt and turned, gasping slightly.
A huge, red scar covered your shoulder, reaching onto your back and spreading out in small branches. You gently traced over the edges, cringing when the pain hit.
With a long sigh, you changed into the loose tee and cargo pants you'd been given. You then met back up with Niki, who was placing plates of pancakes down on the table. She grinned, gesturing for you to take a seat.
"Your bag is also here, by the way. I figured you wouldn't want to leave it."
"I can't remember the last time I properly cooked a meal for myself," you smiled, cutting up your pancakes. "Thanks, Niki."
Her expression turned slightly bittersweet as she sat down with you.
"Today's the day that I leave for Pogtopia," she said quietly. "I asked Wilbur for the coordinates after the festival, and I've packed up everything I should need."
"Oh." The room was quiet save for the sounds of silverware clinking against plates.
Suddenly, Niki paused and looked at you. "Come with me," she urged. "I mean- there's barely anything left to stay for. Tubbo's probably already there, Fundy and Quackity shouldn't be far behind. And I'm sure they'd all want you there."
"I'm not- I'm not sure."
"Why not?"
You were silent for a while, trying to think of an answer yourself. Niki's face suddenly turned knowing.
"You think there's still hope left, don't you?" she said softly. "For Schlatt."
"I hate that I do." You bit your lip. "All proper logic tells me that I shouldn't think that way, but- but- I just- fuck."
The blonde girl gave you a comforting hug.
"Your feelings aren't something that you can control," she told you. "Neither are your emotions. But you can do your best not to listen to them. It's your own heart, but there's other people you have to think about."
Niki had a thoughtful look in her eye as she talked, but she blinked and quickly turned her attention fully on you.
"So, from one girl to another, go confront that ram-horned idiot and tell him you don't need him at all!" she pronounced, shaking you by the shoulders.
"Yeah, ok," you nodded, energy rising. "Okay."
"You don't need him!"
"I don't!"
"Go tell him!"
"I will!" you shouted excitedly, "Thanks Niki!"
"No problem!" she yelled after you, waving as you went out of the door.
In your high-energy state, it took you less than ten minutes to run to the White House. You slammed the door of Schlatt's office open with a loud bang and borderline psychopathic grin. "We need to talk, motherfucker."
The male turned, cocky smirk ever so set on his face. "Why the mood? On your period or something?"
Your smile dropped.
"You'll wish that was all it was when I'm done with you," you snarled. "Now, what the fuck was that stunt at the festival?"
"What stunt?" he questioned, a nervous laugh following the sentence. "Gotta be more specific, madamoiselle."
"Maybe I haven't told you to stop with the pet names, doesn't change the fact that they're stupid and so are you. You know what I'm talking about."
"Look, sweetheart-" You glared at him. "-Y/n. Sure, whatever. What happened with Tubbo, the old Tubs, it was necessary. To further the growth of this nation-"
"Further the growth this, further the growth that," you chuckled. "Cut the bullshit. You're a power-hungry dickhead who cares more about his daily drink than his people. And I'm done dealing with it."
"Y/n, that's not it," he denied. "You're just overreacting."
"Don't even," you said lowly. "You lost the privilege of 'overreacting' when you killed a sixteen-year-old for trying to help his friend."
"And his friend so happens to be this nation's enemy. What happened to patriotism? Being proud of your country?" he mocked.
"This isn't my country," you shot back. "The moment you exiled Wilbur and Tommy, it wasn't."
"I was doing what was right-"
"No, no, no. You don't get to judge what's 'right' or what's 'wrong'. Not after all the things you've done."
You opened the door to the hallway and left the room, making your way down to the White House's entrance.
"Oh, and Alex," you said lightly. "No, come out, I want to you to look me in the eyes when I say this."
The ravenette cautiously peeked his head out from around a corner before standing fully in your view. Judging by the utterly terrified look on his face, you guessed that he had heard your whole discussion with Schlatt.
"Think about whose side you want to be on. And know I'm not going to hold back if you choose the wrong one."
With that, you exited the White House for the final time.
-----
"How'd it go?"
"I don't think I've ever felt better in my whole life," you declared, a bounce in your step as you walked with Niki.
"I'm glad." Niki gave you a smile. "I've pinged Wilbur, told him we're walking now."
You nodded, eyes drifting around the forest. The nighttime view reminded you of your life before L'manberg. Though it was certainly not ideal, you almost envied past you. She didn't have to think about relationships. Or, y'know, wars.
"So, um, what do you think you're going to do when you see them again?" Niki asked.
"If I were a normal person, I'd hug them and ramble about how much I missed them. But - knowing me - I'd probably just stand awkwardly there." You two shared a small laugh. "How 'bout you?"
"Gosh, I don't know," she said wistfully. "I'd just be so excited, I wouldn't know what to do. It'll be weird living with them again."
"Yeah," you agreed, "especially with Tommy."
Niki giggled. "Wait, have I ever told you about the carrot incident?"
"Carrot incident?"
"Oh my gosh, ok, I have to tell you then. So, one day, I asked him to help me with harvesting carrots for the bakery. But obviously, Tommy being Tommy, he fools around the whole time and barely gets any harvesting done. I get kinda fed up, and I tell him to be quiet or I would stick a carrot in his mouth. He says, and I quote, 'Watch me bitch!' and shoves a whole carrot right down his throat."
"No," you gaped.
Niki nodded with a laugh. "He started to choke after that. I really don't know what he was expecting."
"That lowkey reminds me. This one time..."
You and Niki joked together for the whole walk there, making up for lost time. She jumped slightly when she realized where you were.
"Let me check one more time... yup! These should be the coordinates of the entrance, but I can't see anything much."
You ran a hand along the surface of the hilly area before finding an almost unnoticeable bump in the ground. Curiously, you tugged at it and heard a loud scratch of rock against rock. It was too heavy for you to lift up fully.
"Niki, mind giving me a hand?" The female went over to you, grabbing near the same spot you did. "Thanks."
The two of you, together, lifted the heavy thing out of place and to the side, revealing a cavernous tunnel.
"Well, this is it," you said. "Be my guest."
Niki nervously took a step into the tunnel, almost tripping and holding her free arm out for balance. She carefully went down into it, almost disappearing from your view.
"C'mon! I think I see something," she called, turning back for a second.
You followed her into the darkness, her lantern the only thing illuminating the walls around you. Soon enough, you came across a door carved into the stone and stood in front of it, hesitating slightly.
"You ready?" you asked.
"As ever." Niki pushed the door open.
-----
1414 words (without a/n)
Header by @/calwasfound on Tumblr
I'm posting this way too late to be good for my health but hush hush stable sleep schedules are overrated. Soooo, anyways, thank you all for reading! I hope you liked all the chaos this chapter, if you did, please drop a vote! I'll see you soon, goooooodbye!
-Partially Human