Beta eyes shot open. Based on the darkness that surrounded him and the insects chirping outside it was still the middle of the night.
"Did you sleep well Beta?" Beta flinched. That voice. Not again. In the front seat was his brother. More sunken in than last time he saw them. Maggots now coated his head.Senpai was looking at himself in the car mirror combing his hair trying to look better, to no effect.
Fuck, he had to wake up.
"S-Senpai, please stop..."
"Stop what? Making you feel bad? You killed me. I don't care if I'm making you uncomfortable."
"I'm sorry..." he whined. Beta could only see him roll his eyes.
"God, you're pitiful." Beta just stayed silent looking down. He felt tears build up again. Why couldn't he just wake up? -"Hey but at least I accomplished so much more than you ever will. Haha, you're driving this trash pile and you don't even have your license still. Who fails a driving test twice?"
Senpai pretended to move the wheel, giggling to himself.
"Senpai, I would do anything to go back and stop what I did! I would take your place in a heartbeat and die instead."
"Well you can't," Senpai sighed, turning around. Putting his head on his palm. Beta met his gray dead eyes, it shook him to his core. "At least you will join me soon."
"...What?"
"Alpha is going to get you." Senpai smiled, reaching over to bop his nose. Beta recoiled.
Those eyes, those eyes, he then heard a ringing. A horrible ringing.
———
"Beta!" He shook awake. "Someone is calling you!"
Beta looked around the car space, especially the front seat. He then reached inside his bag to pull out Senpai's phone. It wasn't the one ringing...
He reached for his own phone and the name that displayed on the screen made his blood run cold. His mother. Fuck. He hesitantly opened it...
"Hey, mo-"
"BETA WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Beta pulled himself away from the phone and took a deep breath. He debated hanging up but he knew that would just make it worse. His mother would call a swat team if she could ring his neck.
"What do you mean?" He smiled through his teeth. What did she know?
"Wha- WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO I MEAN?" He could only flinch at her tone, she clearly wasn't up to negotiating this time.
"Mom, listen." Beta spoke, running his own hand through his sticky hair, "I'm gonna block your number now. I-I don't want you to get into some danger too, you don't deserve to get hurt."
What followed made Beta's heart crack open slowly - his mother started crying, begging him to explain where he was, so that she could pick him up. It made a weak smile appear on his face, how naive of her...
She mentioned a police investigation and how a lot of Senpai's blood was found in his room. She told him how the police suspected that Beta could have killed him. There was still not enough evidence for them to prove anything but that they were looking for him to bring him in. She said they are searching the area around the campus, so Beta was positive that Senpai would be found sooner or later.
She insisted that all she wanted to do was to see him again, him and Senpai that is... She still doesn't believe that her youngest could have died at his hands. She deemed the whole situation a huge misunderstanding, begging Beta to let Senpai speak to her again as well.
Beta in response took a deep breath; "Mom, I can't do that. Alpha will take care of things soon, okay? I love you a lot, and I just wanted to say sorry for everything that happened. Please stay safe mom, for me."
Before she could get another word out, he quickly ended the call and blocked her number along with Alpha's number before anyone could call him again. He leaned over to grab Senpai's old phone and blocked them there too before she could call him on that one.
An enormous feeling of emptiness washed over him as he thought about the interaction that just occurred. Fred looked at him with eyes filled with worry, but all he could do was smile back.
"One less corpse to deal with," he muttered under his breath, stretching as far as the car allowed him in the process. The plant stared back at him in confusion for a moment.
"Beta... That was... Are you alright?"
"No, hah." Beta chuckled, "I don't know how long I can keep doing this shit, Fred."
"...Please don't say those words."
"Whatever." Beta moved himself to the front seat. He felt a chill go down his spine sitting there remembering the ghost of his younger brother. He moved to turn on the car.
"Where are we going?"
"I have no clue."
"I don't know how much fuel we have left. Pointless driving seems like the most reckless thing we could do right about now."
"Oh, shut the fuck up. What do you want us to do instead?"
"Excuse me? Figure out a better plan, of course. Are you this dense?"
"Fred, you ruined my life."
Fred stayed silent for minute processing what just has been said to him. He then finally said, "And you are going to ruin it even more if you don't listen for once. I do not wish to get arrested because we ran out of fuel in the middle of a highway."
Beta slammed on the brakes and pulled on the side. Thankfully, the cars behind him were far in the distance so they could react to avoid a collision.
"FRED, JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP! NO ONE CARES, YOU UGLY ASS CATERPILLAR!"
The plant froze as the car's tires screeched, Beta's sudden spike in volume made him flinch momentarily. He quickly argued back; "Beta. Do I need to remind you of who I am? Perhaps I have been too easy on you, you ungrateful little brat. All of this would have happened without me as well, only with one difference; you'd be dead long ago!"
"Are you seriously saying I would have killed my brother without you?! Are you insane!?"
"Yes. Since I met you Beta, you have so much anger inside of you!"
"Fuck you."
"SEE!"
"Fred."
"What?"
"I'm going back on the road and I'm going to drive. You will not talk to me. And yes, I still have no idea where I'm going."
Fred just grumbled to himself turning away. He felt the car zoom forward and speed back onto the highway. He glanced over to Beta and saw tears in his eyes with his hands shaking. He wanted to calm him down so they could avoid getting into an accident. The plant felt a little bad about the outburst, he'd definitely lost his cool. Beta was under enormous stress right now, as well as a lot of dread. He should have just let him do as he pleases.
There was nothing he could do now though. He had to remember that Beta had a life before meeting him, even if it was broken, now it was in shambles.
———
The drive continued to be silent for Fred to guess it had been hours. He didn't like it but he knew that there was no point in trying to engage in conversation.
"Fred..." Fred flinched. So Beta was ready now, this was going to be interesting.
"Can you please tell me seriously what is going to happen?"
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb with me and say your "the future doesn't exist". What are you planning to do with humanity? What do you plan to do with me after you are done with me?"
"Beta, please this is-"
"Answer me! What did you do with the other people who were your slaves? Did they suffer this much as I have?"
It has been so long Fred could barely remember the various human names that he controlled. One thing for a fact he knew what Beta and he had was different.
"Everyone has suffered under me Beta. It is the purpose of my existence."
"So you plan to destroy us all?" Beta glanced over. Fred could only tear himself away. "I should just go numb, huh? I don't care about anything. I'm losing every possible family member I have when eventually everyone will be gone."
"Please don't! Caring is what makes you human. I adore that Beta so much, please!"
"Well, I'm tired of caring! It fucking sucks!"
"Beta, please think about this. It's not all completely useless. Remember, once I gain ultimate power I can bring back everyone you love back."
While Fred assumed that the sentence of comfort he spoke would have been a good thing for Beta, all it did was cause him to laugh hysterically instead. The plant hated this, he couldn't understand Beta anymore. This was not how he used to be... He was just so different now.
"Fred! Fred! You're so funny!" he said before laughing again, all the while being stared at by his demon companion. -" You really think I want them back? I DO! But I don't deserve it! Newsflash, they don't want anything to do with me now, Fred!"
Beta saw another road leading into the countryside, turning to drive right into it.
"Besides," he said after a moment of silence, "I wouldn't wanna live in some dystopia with them created by you anyway. They are better off dead than in that hell."
Fred couldn't take this anymore, everything was falling apart. He didn't like what Beta was turning into, he wanted him to go back, back to the dorm where they shared memories. Fred started to shake as he felt something wet drip down on him. It was warm and gross. Beta glanced over again.
"...Fred, what are you doing?" Fred couldn't answer. He was starting to break down. He didn't have anything like this had happened before. Beta sighed and pulled over, this time more carefully... He safely turned off the car he leaned forward.
"Blood is coming out of your eyes? Wait, Fred... are you crying?"
"NO! I don't c-cry!"
"I think you- Oh my god, what is even going on anymore?" The liquids only dripped out of his eyes worse. "Please stop! If anyone looks over it is going to look like a murder scene!"
"I-I'm s-sorry." His inner voice was even cracking.
Beta eyes were starting to get glossy. He quickly wiped away at them. "Fuck... When anyone else cries around me it gets me going. Stop it."
"Y-You cry all the time." Fred sniffed in reply.
"Shush, you pumpkin freak. Ha." Beta reached behind himself to grab a shirt from his bag and used it to dry Fred's body. He tried his best to avoid the spine teeth. "Get yourself together, this isn't you."
Fred pulled a shaky tendon to grab at Beta's hand. He didn't pull away and only raised his eyebrows.
"I wish we met under different circumstances. I wish that I was a human who could have been your friend and made you smile."
"Fred, you don't wanna be a human, trust me." Beta said while eyeing his tendril. He recalled how he cried like a baby when he explained what happened to him in high school that one day. The plant is going through something similar, Beta was pretty much relying on him since the beginning, it must have been hard to always act all-knowing.
He gently squeezed the tendril back, tears filling his eyes again.
"I assume it is better than to live through centuries." Fred sniffed, finally coming back to his senses. "My existence wasn't just happily strolling through life destroying families and servants. It mostly consisted of starvation, loneliness, and isolation."
"I'd rather spend all my days at the bottom of the ocean, rather than be with one of those assholes again." Beta replied.
The heavyweight of the situation, as well as repressed memories coming back, were an unpleasant mix Beta couldn't suppress. He started sobbing as well, remembering all the times his family left him to rot in his room, unknowing of everything that had happened.
"I can assure you, any company is better than none," Fred explained, shaking his body shortly, looking over to Beta. -" There are demons far greater than me and you, Beta. Their punishments are unimaginary in cruelty."
Upon seeing the state his human was in again, he exhaled in thought. - "Beta, let us rest for a while. You are in no condition to drive."
It seemed like their dynamic went back to normal, Fred was giving him smart advice again while he was trying his hardest to breathe properly. Beta remembered last night and shivered at the thought of closing his eyes again.
"I'm afraid to fall asleep..."
"Hmm?"
"I saw Senpai again last night. He hates me so much."
"Beta, he isn't real..."
"I know, it doesn't make me feel any better though..."
"Well, you need to sleep. Please, those perceptions will only get worse without rest."
Beta nodded and moved his way to the back seat. "Fred."
"Yes?"
"Can I hold you again?"
The demon looked at him in confusion, before remembering what he did when Beta was having a really bad panic attack over Alpha. Something inside Fred started to feel fuzzy and warm at the thought of Beta crawling the contact again.
"Yes, of course. I do not wish to spoil the mood, but soon I will need some blood again."
"Ah... Alright." he sniffed, "Do you think you can transform one more time? We're just gonna... relax."
"Yes, that can be arranged," Fred spoke, the ground seemed to shake for a moment as the sun flickered. Huh, Beta never experienced this while he was well and not breaking down awfully. He didn't even notice how Fred seemed to mess with things outside of Earth.
The humanoid demon crawled over to the backseat, trying his best to fit into the small space.
"It is very cramped in here, you are right," he commented, making Beta chuckle momentarily.
Beta crawled over as well, although a lot less gracefully, carefully avoiding to pinch Fred between himself and the seat. He temporarily lost his balance as his knee fell off the seat, hitting the bottom of the car instead. His hands slipped at the loss of solids, making his face slam into Fred's chest without any warning.
Luckily Beta's eyes didn't hit any of his teeth, which he was very grateful for. It didn't help how embarrassing the situation was, he was almost too afraid to meet gazes with the demon. He froze as his companion brought him closer to his face, wrapping his inky arms around him.
The situation started to feel less shameful as Fred squeezed his waist, letting out a deep exhale as his chest rose and fell. It felt like being carried by a wave, which was very comforting in a strange way.
Beta's hands came up to rest on his chest as well as his eyelids grew heavy, he gently tapped at the pink teeth sticking out of the demon, careful not to hurt him.
"I apologize for my behavior today. I do not know what has gotten into me." he heard Fred say after a moment of silence.
"No, Fred... You did nothing wrong. I was just being a little bitch about everything..." Beta whispered, clearly unhappy with his previous reactions. He was behaving like a little child, telling the demon to shut up instead of listening to his advice. It wouldn't have been the first time this has happened as well...
"Nonsense," he spoke in reply, slowly stroking his human's back up and down, "-It was me who acted so foolishly. Your human emotions are starting to affect me as well."
Beta chuckled, wiping his tears with his hand, looking up to meet the demon's pink eyes finally.
"Sorry I called you a caterpillar, it won't happen again." Beta smiled, pushing himself up slightly to place a small kiss on Fred's face, where his cheek would have been if he was more human in anatomy. He could feel the demon's skin flinch as he gently pressed his lips against him.
After he pulled away, Beta rolled over on his back and decided to close his eyes to ignore the demon's reaction. He started mentally yelling at himself, panicking internally as Fred wouldn't move for a few minutes. Why did he do that? WHY?
There was something so wrong with him, he actually couldn't come up with a reason as to why he would have done that, it was so awkward and... weird! He expected Fred to just push him off already, but the collision with the car bottom never came.
Instead, Beta felt his head lean on the crook of Fred's neck, too tired to even keep his eyes open - they stung so bad from his sudden crying. One of his fingers curled around the demon's teeth, securing that he would be there with him as Fred's arms wrapped around him again, crossing at his stomach area.
They didn't exchange another word, instead Beta felt himself fall asleep to the sounds of wind blowing outside, as well as Fred's slow and relaxed breathing. It all just felt so cozy and warm, he couldn't resist the urges to fall into a deep sleep.
Fuck ghost Senpai, this was too comfortable to resist.