TW // blood, death
"Skeppy ?"
"A6d, a6d look, I'm sorry. I didn't know all this would happen!"
"I don't care, Skeppy. I know what kind of person you are."
Skeppy inhaled sharply, a6d was just glaring at him.
"You remember me?"
"You don't actually care about anyone but yourself, and that's why you're so lonely. You drive everyone away. It's your fault."
"No, no." Skeppy covered his ears and shut his eyes. "I'm not listening to you. You're lying."
He could still hear a6d's voice perfectly, saying his worst fears. "It's your fault Skeppy. It's your fault I died. You could have saved me, and him too. Isn't that right... Bad?"
"No!" Skeppy opened his eyes. Bad was standing next to a6d, they were both bloody.
"No, Bad, no." Skeppy was heartbroken and desperate. "Please. He's lying."
Bad stared at him sadly. "He's not, Geppy. It was your fault. Why did you let us leave? You knew it was dangerous to finish the game. You could have at least tried."
The air left Skeppy's lungs. He shut his eyes again, in pure denial. "NO! You're wrong! You're both... just lying. It's not true, it's not!"
"SHUT UP SKEPPY!" Bad yelled.
Skeppy opened his eyes, Bad pushed him down angrily. "I am so done with your bullshit! You're a COWARD!"
Skeppy backed away on the floor, staring up at him in fear.
"You're selfish! You're-"
Bad stopped dead. He coughed and blood came out of his mouth. He fell over next to Skeppy.
"No, no NO!" Skeppy scrambled to him, pressing down on his chest to try and stop the bleeding. "NO! BAD!"
Bad coughed up blood again, it came gushing out of his wounds. There was so much blood. Skeppy couldn't stop it.
Bad was drowning in his own blood; he was dying fast.
He looked at Skeppy.
"Bad, Bad. You're gonna be ok Bad, It's fine." Skeppy felt tears on his face as Bad bled out on him. "I got you, it's okay."
"Skeppy." Bad stared up at the sky.
"It's all your fault, Skeppy."
"Bad-"
"I hate you."
BadBoyHalo died.
He went still, but the blood was still coming out. So much blood.
"No. No, no nononono, Bad, Bad please. I'm sorry I'm sorry BAD! BAD! NO, come on, Bad, please. Bad no... Bad."
He disappeared in Skeppy's arms. He sobbed and hugged himself. His hands were bloody.
Skeppy gasped and Bad was standing in front of him again, clean and fresh.
"BAD!" Skeppy stumbled to his feet.
He was bleeding again, there was a gash in his chest, he fell over.
"NO!" Skeppy yelled.
Bad bled out and died all over again.
"Nooooooo," Skeppy cried. He curled into a ball to hide and covered his ears with his bloody hands. "No, not again, not again, please, please. I hate this, I hate this, please no."
He heard Bad choking next to him and gasped for air, sobbing.
Skeppy lurched up in bed, gasping to fill his lungs. He panicked for a second, not recognizing anything, then he realized.
It was a nightmare. It wasn't real. It w
It was nighttime. They were in the house. He could see Bad, asleep. And a6d, asleep. They were both alive.
Skeppy clutched at the blankets and tried to calm down. He forced his head back on the pillow. He was still breathing heavily.
It was all
He tried to calm down, forget it.
He already couldn't remember the beginning.
He wanted to just go ahead into tomorrow, and forget the whole thing.
Skeppy smiled, Bad looked so cute humming in his little garden.
"Hey muffinhead, stop staring and actually help," Bad scolded.
He had tricked a6d into planting the potatoes, and at the minute a6d noticed a pig that had wandered against the fence and wouldn't stop staring at him.
"Hey guys?" He asked cautiously. "What is this thing doing?"
Bad looked up. "Oh it's just a piggy, don't worry. They eat potatoes and that's how you, uh, breed them. It's ok, he'll leave when you stop holding the potato."
They were growing and multiplying the crops with bone meal. Skeppy was on the wheat.
Bad paused, taking in his garden. "Hey I'm gonna go try to find some sugarcane, ok?"
Skeppy was panicked for a second. "Wait- by yourself?!"
A6d stopped what he was doing and watched.
"Yeeeeeeeees," Bad answered. "There should be some near the river where we were yesterday. It's okay, I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? All your armor is good and your shield- you have that?"
"Yeah but I don't think the sugarcane will attack me." Bad rolled his eyes.
Skeppy tried to relax and let him go.
"You don't know."
"What's a sugar cane?" a6d asked.
"A plant," Bad answered. "Skeppy, I'll be right back. It's fine. You can come with me if you really want to."
Skeppy did really want to, but he didn't want to seem clingy.
"Nah, I'll stay with a6d."
"Ok. See you guys in like a couple minutes."
Bad went through the little fence gate and left to find sugarcane.
Skeppy wondered for the first time why he wanted it. Is he making a cake? Oh wait no we need paper for books. Oh ok.
A6d ran out of bone meal so he went to put the extra potatoes in a chest and came back, putting torches on the fence.
Skeppy heard him humming or singing something lightly.
Skeppy likewise ran out of bone meal. He quieted to listen, placing tiny green seeds in the soil.
A6d was singing something different than Bad had been.
Skeppy realized with a shock that he remembered it. It was a French song a6d sang to Skeppy's stream one time... what was it called...
A6d got to the end of the second verse and sang the title again. Mistral Gagnant.
That's it.
Skeppy just listened to the gentle singing. He tried to remember what he knew about the song. He had looked it up after the stream, all that time ago.
Mistral Gagnants were an old type of candy, and they stopped making them decades ago.
The song was a sad one. It was nostalgic about how time passes.
The last verse was about sitting on a bench together and watching the sunset and celebrating good memories.
It went something like:
To sit on a bench 5 minutes alongside you,
And to watch the sun as it leaves,
To talk about the good times that are gone and I don't care,
To tell you the bad guys aren't us,
That if I am crazy it is only because of your eyes,
And they benefit from being two,
To hear your laugh rise up so high,
That away the bird's cry flies,
To tell you to love life,
Love it even if, time is a murderer
That takes away children's laughter,
And the Mistral Gagnants
And the Mistral Gagnants.
A6d finished the song with gentle slowness, and Skeppy was surprised to find tears in his eyes.
He wiped them quickly, rationalizing his emotions.
"How did you know that song?" he asked a6d quietly.
A6d was calm, and there was this kind of... feeling. Like he had a small sense of what he lost, but he didn't understand it, and it was sad.
He shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I just thought of the sound and I knew it in pieces.
Are you okay?"
Skeppy nodded, keeping his eyes on the ground. "I heard you sing it one time. You're a very good singer."
"Thanks," a6d said softly.
"Do you know what it means?" Skeppy asked carefully.
"Some of it. I probably used to know all of it, didn't I?"
"Yeah, probably," Skeppy was still reserved.
"Can you tell me more?" a6d asked. "About what it was like before?"
Skeppy hesitated. "In here before you lost your memory, or like outside the game?"
"Either, both."
"Well," Skeppy didn't know what to say. "We were all happy."
He talked about life before. "We all had fun making videos and trolling, especially me and you trolling Bad. None of us met in real life but we knew each other really well. We all... had a lot of fun."
Skeppy got sad and trailed off.
"What else?" A6d asked.
"Nothing else." Skeppy shook his head. "It was great." He forced a smile.
"I am sorry it's not like that now," a6d said, watching him with quietly despairing eyes.
"It's not your fault." Skeppy lowered his eyes.
He was back in the cave, in the dark. He tried to pull Bad back up on the platform. A skeleton shot him, then Bad helped Skeppy hide behind his shield. He thought he had the lowest health. He remembered the faint crack of a6d's shield breaking, but he didn't even see him fall.
"It wasn't your fault."
Then he was gone, and they went down, and there he was, hanging in the webs. Bleeding. Staring. Dead.
"I should have paid more attention. I should've done something."
Maybe if he gave him his shield, or forced him to make armor instead of that stupid crossbow. Or they could have turned around and left the caves, before they even got to the witch.
He should have helped a6d fight the monsters, and maybe Bad could've gotten up himself, but he didn't. And a6d paid the price. And Skeppy couldn't take it back.
A6d was gone.
"Skeppy?" A6d asked.
A6d's in front of you.
"Yeah? Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking." Skeppy caught himself crying again, and quickly wiped the tears off. When did I become such a crybaby.
"Maybe we can do that again," a6d said. "Have fun. How do you... troll Bad?"
Skeppy actually smiled. "I'll show you sometime, it's easy."
A6d half-smiled. "Okay."
Skeppy sniffed and went to put the extra seeds in a chest. A6d followed him.
"Hey Skeppy, I... I have a question still."
"What is it?"
"What happened to me? I know Bad answered about the game and stuff, but why, um, what happened?"
"Oh... well..."
You died.
"Um."
Do I tell him?
"You... uh..."
He's waiting for an answer.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about it." Skeppy averted his eyes with guilt.
A6d looked down.
Skeppy stepped back, he didn't want to be the cause of his disappointment.
"...Please?" A6d swallowed. "I don't... I hate not knowing. Please. I want to know."
Skeppy closed his eyes and mentally sighed.
"You... died. We were fighting the monsters and you died. We didn't have armor yet, and your shield broke and you died."
A6d lowered his gaze.
Skeppy pitied him.
A6d looked up at him again. "Are you sure?"
Am I sure, wow. "Yes."
"How, then, am I here?"
"It's a game; you respawned. You came back at the bed."
"But you were surprised to see me." He was distracted. "So it makes sense, that's why Bad said I was dead. But you thought I knew you."
"We didn't know if you were dead for good, or if respawning was working. And when you were alive we thought you were the same. I was so happy to see you, I didn't realize you didn't recognize us."
Skeppy remembered the way his heart stopped when he finally realized.
"...until I told you." A6d ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
"Okay."
Skeppy watched him pace as he took it in.
"Okay. So I died... wow. So if anyone else dies, they forget everything."
Skeppy bit his lip and nodded. " I guess."
"What if you die, or Bad dies? What if no one knows how to escape then?"
Skeppy pushed that thought away with all his might. "No one else is going to die. Especially not Bad. We aren't going anywhere dangerous again."
I can't lose Bad.
"What about the big monster, the dragon?"
"We'll deal with that later." Maybe never.
"Okay, so for now we're staying here?"
Skeppy nodded. "Yeah." And also maybe forever.
"What if the dragon comes to us?"
"It can't do that."
"Okay. So we're safe here then, except for night time."
"Yeah, and we can just sleep through that, so we'll always be safe."
"Okay." A6d exhaled relief. "That is comforting."
"Yeah." Skeppy went back outside. "Bad should be back by now."
"So when can we make the magic fire arrows?" a6d asked excitedly. "I want to do that."
Skeppy craned his neck in the direction Bad had disappeared. "Uhhhh, yeah, we need a special block for that, an enchantment table and bookshelves to put around it."
"But you said it's easy to make things, right?"
"Yeah, really easy. But some things you have to collect all the materials for and that takes time if they're rare. And the materials for an enchantment table are the hardest stuff to get in the game."
"Oh, I see." A6d noticed Skeppy was nervous about Bad.
"Yep." Skeppy was still not looking at him. "But actually it's fine because we already have all the stuff."
"Oh! That's good then, why haven't we already done it?"
"Because we've been busy doing other stuff- OH THERE HE IS!" Skeppy sighed with relief. "What a muffin, I can't believe he took that long. Oh my god he's on a horse too."
"A horse?"
"Yeah it's a pet you can ride, they go faster than running. BAAAAAD!!!!"
"EEEEYYYYYY!" Bad yelled as he got close enough. "HIIIIIII!!! GUYS LOOK WHAT I GOT!!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOOK SO LONG!!!" Skeppy yelled at him.
Bad got to them and hopped down off his horse. "Look! New Roberto!"
Skeppy facepalmed. "You're naming it Roberto?"
"Yep." Bad happily pet the horse. It neighed.
"Wow, cool!" A6d had never seen a horse before. He pulled himself up into the saddle and sat up.
"Wow it's so tall! Skeppy you're even shorter now."
Bad laughed and Skeppy glared.
New Roberto started walking with a6d on its back.
"Whoa-" a6d grabbed at the reins. Bad gasped. "Oh my gosh, a6d get down!"
Roberto started running, and a6d steered him back and forth around the house. "Wow it's so fast!"
His voice came and went as he passed them.
Bad cupped his hands around his mouth. "Be careful! You can get really hurt if you fall off!!"
"Not in Minecraft," Skeppy said from next to him.
"Oh. Well, just in case."
"Also is that what took you so long?!!"
"Yes!! Why are you mad at me? I just had to tame him and it took a couple tries. There's more back where I found him, we can all get one!"
"How many saddles do you have?" Skeppy asked skeptically. They didn't need horses now that they had settled down. They weren't going anywhere.
"There's only one other one, remember? HOHHH maybe it works with two people on one!"
Skeppy was doubtful; he made the appropriate face for that. "Yeah maybe."
We don't need horses, we're staying. "How about we get them tomorrow because of how late it is?"
"But it's not that-"
A6d pulled the horse up next to them and dismounted by sliding off the saddle. "This new animal is great. It does much more than the other ones."
Skeppy was amused by that statement, while Bad said, "Hey don't say that about the doggies. I love them equally!"
"But the doggies just bark and follow us around." A6d pat the horse. "I respect that this one doesn't follow us around."
He backed up from it and clicked his tongue. "Come here."
The horse, obviously, did nothing.
"See?"
"I'm not surprised you're a cat person." Skeppy shook his head.
A6d blinked at him. "I don't know what a cat is."
"Well Bad and I are dog people." Skeppy gestured at himself and Bad.
"But what's a cat though?"
"Okay okay!" Bad cut in, getting on Roberto again. "I'm taking this guy since we don't have a lead, I guess I can just fence him in next to the house. Skeppy, are you sure you don't wanna get the other horsie today?"
Skeppy was staring at a6d, thinking about Ian. "What- oh yeah, yeah."
Bad rode Roberto next to the house and blocked him in there to make some fences, then he broke the bottom blocks and placed the fences before breaking the top ones to make sure he stayed put. The horse didn't seem to really care. Bad petted him happily.
While he was doing that, a6d noticed something was up with Skeppy. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Why?"
"Oh, uh, never mind, I guess. Did you want to try the new pet?"
"I will sometime," Skeppy watched Bad singing to himself as he worked and smiled at the sight.
"Are we doing the fire arrows now that Bad is here?"
"Oh yeah. HEY BAD!! A6d wants to set up the enchantment table."
"Okie." Bad brushed his hands together after he finished with Roberto. "I got some sugarcane so I can start growing that while you make the bookshelves, if you want Skeppy."
"Yeah." Bad gave him his books from the village, which was only fourteen.
Skeppy laughed. "Wait Bad-"
Bad sighed. "I know Skeppy. Just make the bookshelves, ok?"
Still chuckling, Skeppy said sure and went inside to show a6d how to make bookshelves with the crafting bench.
"What's the joke?" a6d asked as Skeppy set the books and logs on the checkered wood.
"Oh this'll be great for trolling him. Ok, so. The number fourteen is special to us, it's a meme. It annoys Bad a lot."
"Ok," a6d said slowly. "Why is it special to us?"
Skeppy felt another stab in his heart that was now becoming regular.
"It's a long story, but it just is."
A6d nodded and looked down. "So you troll Bad by saying fourteen over and over?"
"Kinda," Skeppy rocked his hand in that halfway motion. "You have to be careful with it."
"I don't really get it."
"You will. I'll show you. It's fine."
A6d just nodded as Skeppy made four bookshelves.
"Hey Bad," Skeppy asked as Bad came in the house, "can we make more books?"
"Yeah, if you have leather, but we need one for the enchanting table. Hand me a book and I'll give you the sugarcane."
"K. A6d can you hand me any leather you have?"
"This?"
"No, that's feathers, from the cows, it looks like this."
"Oh that, yeah. Here."
"Thanks."
"Where should we put the enchanting stuff? In here?" Bad hummed and looked around.
"Some people make another building for it," Skeppy suggested, still making books now that he had the paper.
The magical crafting was really cool. Now that the menu was gone, the stuff just floated together into a new thing; Skeppy enjoyed watching it.
"Then we would have to go outside if we need something from there, like at night," Bad pointed out.
"We could make a tunnel," Skeppy said.
"Oooo that would be cool!"
"There's space over there," a6d pointed next to the stairs.
"We need a certain amount of space." Bad studied it.
"Oh ok, sorry." A6d lowered his arm.
"Well maybe this'll be ok..." Bad 'hmmmm'ed. "Geppy, how do you think we should set it up?"
"I dunno, Bad, I've never done one before."
"I can move the stairs like this... and then there's... one two three... four five! Yeah! Ok-" Bad pulled out his axe.
He placed the enchantment table. The book spun around and opened, fluttering its pages. A6d let out a soft 'wow.'
"Imma make it like the one at the SMP," Bad decided.
"What's the SMP?" a6d asked.
Skeppy paused.
"It was a thing we played," Bad said. "A Minecraft server. So we streamed and made videos on it, there was a whole storyline, it's complicated."
Skeppy laughed thinking of the Eggpire stuff.
"Oh wait wait wait-" he started digging through his backpack- "Bad Bad look at this." He found a chicken egg and laughed, showing him.
"OOOOO the egg Bad! Oh no! The Egg! AAAA it's controlling me oh my god! AAA bow to the Egg!!"
He lowered his voice dramatically. "I have no desires."
Bad rolled his eyes as Skeppy cracked himself up.
"Haha," Bad said sarcastically. "You're sooooo funny Skeppy. Wow, you're really the funniest person on earth."
"Is this an inside joke?" A6d asked over the sound of Skeppy proudly chuckling to himself.
"Yeah sorta," Bad said.
What isn't an inside joke to you?
"Hey Bad, Bad, what about this," Skeppy partially recovered.
"Egg. Mouth. OHM."
Bad cracked a little smile and Skeppy grinned, choking on the egg, it was impossible to actually eat so he just threw it away.
"So tell me, what did we play on the SMP?" A6d seemed excited at all their laughing and joking.
"Oh, uh, it was just Skeppy and me," Bad said.
"Oh, ok. So what did you guys play?"
"We just messed around," Skeppy said. "It wasn't really important, Bad did it more than me."
"Okay, so the server means it was a Minecraft world like this?" a6d asked.
"It means it was a world shared with a lot of people," Bad said. "Actually Skeppy, I wanted to bring up-"
"Why don't we start enchanting! Here Bad put the bookshelves in the right place and I'll get the lapis! A6d, tell him how excited you are about the magic fire arrows."
Skeppy busied himself with the chests as a6d talked to Bad. He was relieved that worked.
Skeppy knew what Bad wanted to talk about, and he didn't want to get into it.
He glanced up, especially with a6d here.
It would probably take them away, and he didn't want to go anywhere.
We're all safe here, so why would we leave at all. We're fine. It's fine. We can just stay.
He actually looked into the chest he had opened and saw the lapis. Good.
"Here I got it!"
"Ok, we should make some wooden shovels to use up the bad enchantments," Bad said, putting some wood on the crafting table.
"But what about XP?" Skeppy asked. "We don't have that much already."
"What's an XP?" A6d asked.
"It's okay, we can get more," Bad told Skeppy. "A6d when you and Skeppy were killing the animals, it was that green stuff when they died."
"Ohhhhhh okay, and with your wolves?"
Skeppy laughed. "Yeah, with that haHA! Bad your face was so good."
Bad rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, I feel like we're getting off track here."
They enchanted until the sun went down.
(3.8k words)
Melancholy angst