Week three hurts.
Schlatt came back a couple times, deep bruise on the side of his chin, unsteady, red rimmed eyes. He smelled of cheap alcohol, and then cigarettes, and a noxious mixture of both. It's many gloating, some drunken ramblings, but thankfully he never gets that close again. Sometimes I can feel his fingers dragging across my skin, and it makes me want to rip half my face off.
Or his hand. Whichever comes first.
George hasn't been back again, not that I expected him too. Punz told me he talks to Dream and Sapnap a lot more now and I'm glad, he shouldn't have to feel alone because of me. Quackity came and gave me lunch once, but it was more of the same, guilt trips and silly little emotional pleas about how I'm better than 'this', whatever 'this' means. I told him to leave and not let Tubbo see me either.
It's better that way. We're all different now, and they can't seem to accept that.
Punz is nice. He listens, he gives me space, he leaves me alone when I need him to. He constantly reminds me that he's getting paid to babysit me, but judging by the amount of times he brings me onto the roof, and the little things he smuggles in for me, he secretly enjoys my company too.
Despite all of this, life in jail is endlessly boring. Making it to week three felt like dragging myself through broken glass, like years of dull, repetitive days, the same routine, over and over and over again. I've started working out, one of Punz's suggestions, something about funnelling the 'homicidal rage' he thinks I have, into something productive.
Also to stop my legs feeling like jelly all the time.
I grunt, arching out my back on the floor, pushing my chest up, stretching out my sore muscles.
In through the nose. Out through the mouth.
I bend my arms, my chest meeting the ground, and lean my weight back onto my knees, opening my shoulders to the ground.
In through the nose. Out through the mouth.
It's calming. I like to think of emerald green tree tops, whistling wind with the slightest icy chill, clear water ponds and schools of tiny silver fish, the way the undergrowth feels like a velvety damp carpet underneath bare feet. A world away from the Greater SMP, and L'manburg, and Schlatt and Dream and everything.
I told Punz this, while we were both sitting on the rooftop, watching the sun dip below the horizon, caress the fluffy yellow-washed tops of the forest. He said he was relieved that I wasn't picturing cutting someone's throat out.
I'm starting to feel like Punz thinks I'm a little crazy.
"Tense in your stomach, your form sucks."
Speak of the devil.
"Welcome back, weren't you supposed to be making sure I didn't escape or something?" I laugh, pushing myself fully upright onto my knees.
"I had to talk to the President himself." Punz says, and I turn around, looking at the handcuffs dangling in his hand.
"Oh fuck off." I say, scrambling to my feet. "No way."
"Schlatt wants to speak to you." He explains. "Please do not make this difficult."
I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah? What are you going to do?"
"You know I'll just handcuff you and drag you to his office."
"Why can't he just come and talk to me?"
"You think I know? I just get my orders, which you know I have to follow so I don't blow my cover."
I roll my head back in exasperation. "Why do you have to be so right all the time." I whine.
He grins. "'cause I'm awesome as fuck."
"Shut up, as if you don't just follow whatever Dream tells you." I say, holding my hands out, wrists pushed together. He clips the metal over my wrists.
"Yeah and I get paid a shit load for it, come on let's go." He says leading me out of the door. I follow him down long winded, dark hallways, too narrow and too empty for my liking. I can hear every footstep echo, every heart beat, every nervous breath.
We reach a lobby, mixture of marble and quartz and bright warm light. Far too glamorous for anything that should be in L'manburg. I stop looking up with wide eyes at the huge space, only to be tugged along by Punz.
We go down a much wider, much lighter hallway, stopping at double dark wooden doors, polished to mirrors with a shiny brass handle. I take a deep breath, and Punz turns it to push us both inside.
I walk inside. There's floor to ceiling windows, swathed by thick royal blue drops tied back by twisted golden cords. The overlook the edge of the forest, open patches of green grass leading up to the thick grey-brown trunks of trees. Cabinets line the far wall, everything clad in dark oak wooden panelling, and delicate decorated glass, lined with heavy red, green and black books, crystal bottles of amber and clear liquid.
A plush red rug is lain on the floor, flag poles with neatly pressed flags attached the the columns of the beige walls. The flags are wrong, purple instead of blue. On the other side of the room sits Schlatt. Arrogantly behind a shining desk, carved crystal glass in his hand. He grins.
"Thank you Punz, hopefully she wasn't too resistant."
"Nothing I couldn't handle sir." Punz responds stiffly, hand on my forearm that pulls me down into a seat on the other side of Schlatt's desk, and marching out, door shutting behind him.
Schlatt sets the glass down, leaning on his elbows to look over me. I stare back, clenching my still cuffed hands.
"I need your help." He says abruptly, breaking the tense silence.
I blink, then burst into laughter.
He needs my help? Has he gone insane?
"Wait-" I squeeze out in between laughs. "You want me to help you?"
"Something like that." He says gruffly.
"Why? Out of the goodness of my heart?" I almost shriek, still stifling giggles.
"I have a deal you might be interested in." He replies, leaning back in the black leather chair. I shift in my seat, waiting for him to elaborate.
He looks really terrible. Mussed hair and unshaven beard, far cry from his sleazy salesman look. His shirt is stained, un-ironed and ruffled out of place, and he looks drained, like something's sucked the literal life out of him.
"Something's wrong with me, and I need you to fix it. If you do, I'll let you out."
Well that is interesting.
"You're sick?"
Schlatt grabs the glass, throwing his head back as he downs the rest of what is very obviously some kind of liquor, letting out a sigh. "Dying. Well, maybe falling apart would be a more accurate description."
I let the smile curl at my lips, satisfied and smug. "And you need my medical expertise to help you. In exchange for letting me go free."
"Yes, that's the deal I'm offering."
"No."
"We're letting you-"
"You think I'm not willing to sit in jail for four months just to get to watch you whither away?" I ask. "You actually think I would help save your life? I want you to fucking die, and I really don't care how that gets done. I'm getting out either way Schlatt, and you collapsing like some weak pathetic dog makes my job a lot easier."
"Yeah we figured you'd say that." Schlatt groans, rubbing above his eyebrow. "See Rosie-"
"Rosemary."
"You see Rosie, Quackity doesn't exactly want me to die, and quite frankly, neither do I, so you're going to have to cooperate."
"Or what? You jail me more?" I chuckle, resting my hands in my lap.
Schlatt stares at me for a moment, before turning to a door in the wall behind him.
"You can bring him out now!" He barks the order.
The door opens, and an armoured guard shuffles out, dragging a terrified Tubbo along with him, axe poised directly at his throat.
"Help me, or he dies."
I turn my attention onto Schlatt. "He is a fucking child." I hiss. Tubbo whimpers in the background.
Schlatt shrugs. "Help, or he dies."
"Rosie- Rosie I know you hate me, I'm so sorry, please, please-" Tubbo pleads, wide eyes and pale face, and it's like a knife to my heart.
"Fine! Fine I'll fucking help you." I snap, lunging out of my chair and slamming my hands on the desk. "Get him out of here. Now."
Schlatt nods at the guard, who releases his grip from Tubbo and shoves him out the door, closing it behind them swiftly, gone in the blink of an eye. I press my lips together, leaning in.
"First, get these things off me. Second, I help, I go free."
"Great! I'm so glad you've decided to cooperate!" Schlatt beams, pulling a key out of a draw and unlocking the handcuffs. I pull back, rubbing my wrists.
"So what's wrong?"
"I feel like crap."
I narrow my eyes. "No shit dumbass, do you want to cut to the chase or do you want me to speed up the whole dying process?" I look over at him, noting the way his cheekbones cut into his cheeks, the way the skin sags slightly, unnatural gauntness to his features.
"You've lost weight." I comment.
"I feel sick as shit and I throw anything up that I eat."
"Anything else?"
"My stomach hurts."
I walk around the desk, leaning down to study his face. His sinking skin has the sickening yellow tint to it, along with the whites of his eyes. He does truly look like he's on the verge of death.
I straighten up, humming under my breath. "Fatigued? Dry mouth?"
"Yes."
"How much do you drink?"
"Enough to keep me sane dealing with this country and all of you and your fucking friends' shit."
I huff. "So a lot then?"
"Who cares? Why are you judging what I do in my spare time?"
I roll my eyes. "Any confusion recently? Feeling disoriented?"
"How the fuck would I know?"
"Hm irritability and-" I look over the faint marks on his jaw. Punz had barely hit him, but it had been a nasty bruise. "Bruises easily."
He scowls, reaching down and pulling a bottle out of his draw, then uncorking it. I snatch it out of his hands, and put it out of his reach.
"You fucking bi-"
"Liver disease." I say, sitting back down across from him. "More specifically, alcoholic hepatitis. We called it drunk man's gut. That's what you have."
He scoffs. "And how do we fix it?"
"It's quite easy really, drink water, eat healthy, maybe some anabolic steroid pills." I tick them off on my fingers. "Oh, and stop fucking drinking."
"Fuck you."
"You're the one that wanted help. That's what you have and that's how to fix it. The not drinking one is the most important, just so you know."
"And what happens if I don't?"
"Your liver swells up and you die."
"Fuck." He swears under his breath. "This is fucking bullshit."
"Maybe you shouldn't have been such a useless sack of shit your whole life then you'd be in a lot better shape."
"Yeah if you'd gone through what I did you'd be drinking too."
"Schlatt, the one person in this whole godforsaken country that you can't say that too, is me."
He laughs bitterly, swirling his empty glass on its edge. "Touché Rosemary, touché." He reaches down to another draw, pulling out an empty glass and a bottle of clear liquid this time, not amber. He fills both of the glasses, sliding one to me, and raising his.
"A toast to our terrible lives." He chuckles darkly, slamming the shot back. I tilt my glass in acknowledgment, doing the same. The burn is welcome, lingering in my nose.
"You're not going to tell me off Doc?"
"You really think I care if you drink your self to death? Go ahead."
"How long do you think I've got, if I don't stop?" He asks quietly, staring down the bottom of the glass, eyes glazed over. A tiny bit human.
I shrug, setting my glass down. "A couple years, maybe. A couple months if we're lucky."
"Quackity's going to throw all my stuff out." He bemoans, running his hands through his scraggly hair.
"Boohoo, you'll cope." I say standing up and brushing off my legs. "Well, nice chat, I'll see you around town."
"Stop."
I freeze with my back turned, taking in a deep breath.
"What Schlatt? We had a deal, and I was even nice enough not to immediately try and stab you with the neck of a broken glass bottle, so I'm going."
"You'll remain a citizen of Manburg, but you won't be living there."
My eyes narrow into slits, lips pressing back into a firm line. "What?"
"Dream came to see me, and we have an arrangement for your early release! I had to make sure you weren't going to try and murder me in my sleep or something, you know I need my beauty rest."
"Dream did?" I snap, pressing my nails into my pants, tense enough to snap.
"You'll be released into his custody for the time being."
That mother fucking, conniving, asshole.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
---------
A/N And we have come full circle.
Very exciting and very interesting to explore! I thought this was a fun and chill chapter to have, because Rose and Schlatt's interactions are so funny. There's just something about an unhinged person constantly threatening death and the other being so unbothered that really makes me laugh. Anyway, a cool dynamic to set up (dream and Rosie back to the basics), as well as some heavier stuff coming our way.
I hope you enjoyed!
Oopsies x