"So... What happened then?" I asked after what felt like minutes of silence. Fresh's story about Circumference was... well, quite interesting to say the least.
'Long story short, Once my own attack backfired, I was severely weakened.' Fresh sighed, sitting up. 'They saw it as the perfect opportunity to get rid of me once and for all, but... well, the couldn't. At this point they realised I was unkillable and decided the best course of action is to just force me into a deep sleep for, I dunno, ever? So they did, but they didn't realise that just because my body was unconscious and out of commission, my mind just had to be as well. Nope. While my body was in a coma, sleeping for the rest of eternity, my mind was still conscious. I could hear everything that happened, feel everything, see everything, but I couldn't do anything about it.'
The look in his eyes was one that I can only be describe as being that of a lonely, isolated child. It ran deep, and I felt sorry for him. He was trapped in his own body.
'They made the mistake of thinking that I was fully unconscious, and, well, after they did make me "comatose", they discussed what they would do next. They weren't sure exactly what to do now, but after a while they found out that I had destroyed most of the world and Corrupted all that didn't get destroyed. So they all agreed that they would restore the world, but doing so would pretty much almost destroy them, only being able to hold their physical forms for 30 minutes tops. So at this point, Radius was practically a god now. His headphones turned white, I saw it, and he created the sun and moon as you know it now. Yellow sun. White moon. But Trinity decided to add a new addition. Guess what it was?'
"What?"
'It was the Tree of Life.'
"Oh. Hey, White Triangle."
'White Triangle indeed.'
"Eeeeeeeeey"
'Anyways, she said that there was a very large chance of me rising from my slumber and wrecking havoc once again, so she created a secret weapon. A secret last line of defence. The tree of life, and The Guardians. They're four shapes that are created from the Tree of Life that will be able to harness the power of the gods themselves to protect the world if necessary. The tree of life will gift anyone with exponential power, but the only people it will willingly give power to without practically ripping the people apart is the Guardians. That's why I can't take in all parts of the tree of life at once, only bit by bit, otherwise it'll kill me.'
My body seemed to do the talking for me, because the moment he finished, I hugged him. He hugged back. Here I thought I was lonely, but Fresh was isolated away from everyone and had no company for what felt like an eternity. Right after he was betrayed by his closest friends as well... Poor him... I just want to hug him and let him know that he's loved and appreciated and will always be welcome.
"Why do you talk about Trinity like she's two different people?"
'I couldn't move, I couldn't talk - What do you think I did during those one thousand years?'
"...Imagine?"
'Imagine?' He scoffed. Not in a condescending way, but like I've just told a joke. 'That's a cute way of putting it. But yeah. In a way. I, well, went over my life, thought of what would happen if things were different, and... Slept. A lot. One of the things I liked to do is relive those happy moments. Eventually I separated the happy moments and shitty moments so much that... well, I guess you can say I think of them as completely different people? It eases the pain, thinking of the Trinity who I proposed to and the Trinity who killed me as two completely different people.'
I can't help but to try to imagine just the levels of loneliness this poor man felt during those years of isolation. Maybe that's why he memorised the names of each and every one of his servants, because he's been starved of the presence from other human beings.
"Is that why you decided to take me here?"
'I wanted a friend.'
"And you didn't corrupt me? Sweetie, It's no secret that you like me, Barracuda's already told me everything."
'Did you just call me Sweetie?'
Silence. Fresh had a shit-eating grin on his face. Slowly, bit by bit, the sensation of ten thousand little spiders made out of fire crawling up my cheeks started to shake me to the core, and my mouth dried up.
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" shouting eased the fire burning in my chest slightly. "YOU'VE CALLED ME SWEETHEART TOO MUCH, IT'S RUBBED OFF ON ME"
Fresh just started laughing that roaring laughter of his. I pointed a finger accusingly at him and he just completely lost it.
Until all of a sudden, he just completely stopped. Frozen. Unmoving. It was like he had run out of batteries.
"What did Barracuda say?"
'She told me everything. You like me, I know, I know.'
I don't even know what colour his face turned. It was completely acceptable for him to turn either white or pink in this situation. What the- HE TURNED BOTH???
'That little- WHAT?' The action he just did was like someone had set firecrackers off under the mattress. He almost fell off the bed in a weird, gyrating dance.
'You are very dense.' I rolled my eyes and sniggered at the extreme reaction. Childish. 'Hey, I know everything now. Question is, why?'
'WHAT DID THAT LITTLE SHIT TELL YOU?'
'Answer the question.' I sighed. This flustered side of Fresh was just like a grade schooler finding out his Best friend told his crush he liked them. If only he was a meter shorter and wearing a cute little uniform. I felt a smile stretch the corners of my lips to my eyelids. He should not be this blind to the fact that his actions betrayed him. He calls me things like Sweetheart, Butterfly and Darling, he saved my life at one point, he even beat up the little shits who bullied me. He may have almost broken one of my ribs or two, but I guess I deserved that after smashing a mug on the side of his head. This guy is adorable.
After a minute of him just trying to process everything (WHAT THE HELL THIS GUY WAS THAT OBLIVIOUS????), he finally talked.
"I decided to give romance a second chance."
'What.'
"Hey, I got lonely, okay? Don't blame me"
'Understandable...'
He snorted.
"Wanted a second chance, but obviously, I had to choose carefully. Cuz, you know, with what happened with Trinity and all? I can see people for who they really are, Darlin', so I used that to my advantage. Considered Barracuda, but nope. In a relationship. Ain't crossing that line. Plus, she had... quite a bit of "darkness" in her. All the other people weren't that great either. I tried giving free will to some people who I thought I would have a chance with, and nope. Found out within the first couple minutes, if not days that they were little shits and took that free will away. Bellâme tried to kill me, Twilight threatened to kill herself, Misty wasn't interested, Demise tried making passes at other dudes, Paprika just wanted me for my body, Amethyst was a bitch, Patrick was a literal psychopath-"
'Patrick?'
Fresh froze up like he just realised he just said someone he wasn't supposed to say. His eyes widened in realisation. Such a dork.
"I TRIED APPROACHING A GUY, I WAS CURIOUS, IT FAILED HORRIBLY, NOW SHUT UP." The shout that roared from deep within his throat was raw with embarrassment. He wasn't mad, he just looked like he wanted to just disappear from existence. Even his pink face was the colour of roses. I can't help but snigger. I wonder how that went. Patrick... Wasn't that the guy who pushed me off the roof? Oh god. Now that made me wonder, did he push me off because he was following orders in his own eccentric way, or because he was jealous?
"MOVING ON - Sometimes I'd join the Corrupted guys out on hunts for the Uncorrupted, and during one, well... I felt a presence. It was deep in a cave, and I dunno about you, but something about it felt... I dunno, unusual, but in a good way." His eyes glazed over me knowingly.
'M-Me?'
"Definitely. Now, here's the thing about you, Sweetheart. When I looked into that soul, I saw an out-of-tune violin."
What. Okay, first of all, WHY? Second of all, I don't even know how to play the violin, and lastly, out of everything in the world, why an out of tune violin? How can he tell that it's out of tune just by looking at it? I guess the look on my face betrayed all the questions running my mind.
A/N: Or, Alternatively - "Second of all, that's pretty accurate, since I play the violin"
"I know, weird, I get some really obscure analogies sometimes, once there was this kid with a dildo, I didn't look into it. I didn't want to."
'What does my out of tune violin mean?' I didn't want to get too deeply into Dildo-soul either.
"If you were to sort the kinds of stuff I see, something like an Out-of-tune violin definitely sits at the top when it comes to... Bah, what's the word, appeal? Interestingness? Is that even a word? I don't fuckin' know. Most other stuff as obscure as that usually belonged to people who were... Malicious. It had me thinking. It interested me enough to think twice about corrupting you. After a while, I realised. An in-tune violin brings beautiful music and happiness to those who know how to work it. Not everyone knows how to play a violin, but those who do can play such beautiful songs. Songs that provide joy, peace and love to the world, colouring it with its beauty. Just like you. Those who don't understand you don't know how truly beautiful you can be."
Once those words had finished piling out of his mouth, I was utterly speechless. Music. Happiness. Beauty. Spoken like a poet. Did he charm Trinity with those words? Those were the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. My cheeks flushed red and my heart started squeezing itself out of the sheer warmth that erupted from those words. But...
'But I'm not in tune. I'm out of tune.'
"I thought about that more. Sometimes, when an instrument is damaged in some way or another, it gets out of tune. Like, if you were to drop a violin, it'll get really out of tune. I dropped my guitar countless times back in the day, tuning it was a pain in the ass. But being out of tune means you've been damaged. Hurt. You've been ruined to the point where you can't play well. But you've still got that potential, you can still play beautifully. You just needed to be tuned up. I got this feeling that it wanted to be played, and if I were to guess, that means that you want to be close to someone, anyone, but don't want to?"
Those words hit me like a brick to the face. It wasn't even okay how true that analogy was. All my mouth had as a response was silence. Taking note of this, Fresh nodded. He must take pride in the fact that all that he had just said was true. "All the other people have pretty boring things. For example, Mordecai has a sparrow. Most people have things like, I dunno, pillows, marshmallows, piles of snow, all the like. Some people have things that reflect bad people. Barracuda has a wounded but hostile venomous snake. Austin has a broken beer bottle. Ryleigh has a Vulture. Sugar has Lipstick that both looks and smells like blood."
'So long story short, the fact that you saw an out-of-tune violin interested you enough to decide "Yup, that's my new girlfriend" or something like that?'
"Wanted to give it a shot. It could've worked, it couldn't have." He shrugged.
Awkward silence.
QUICK (Y/N) THINK OF SOMETHING
"So, uh, (Y/N), do you-"
'Roses!'
Shit I interrupted him.
'Huh?'
"Oh, sorry, uh, you say what you were gonna say..." I shyed away.
'Nononono, you say what you gotta say' He smiled, sitting up. I felt a sudden anxiety. I hate it when this happens. When I'm forced to talk. I twiddled my thumbs as my mind hurriedly brushed over options I could think of. Roses... Why did that thing even pop into my mind? So, something about roses... hm...
"So, Roses, they your favourite flower or something?"
'Yeah.' He smiled, glancing over at the flower vase filled with right on my bedside drawer. Now that he's looking at them, I realise something weird. It's been a week now, and none of the flowers are dying. Not even showing signs of rotting away. I was just about to ask why when it was almost as if Fresh read my mind and straight up told me.
'I quite like them. I guess it's because Trinity liked them too, and it just rubbed off on me no matter how hard I tried to hate it.' He picked one out of the vase. The pink colouration of the rose petals contrasted the metallic, coal black of its stem. It can't be natural. Did he corrupt it? 'The thing with these roses is that they can't die, unless I do.'
"Wait, what?"
'They won't wilt, they won't die, they'll stay like this for the rest of eternity or for as long as I'm alive for.' He eyed the petals almost like he was feeling the texture with his eyes. The look in them was like he was reminiscing good times. 'I remember one day...'
He was about to say something, when all of a sudden his expression freezes and his eyes dart up again.
'Actually... Never mind...' He sighed. He was silent for a few moments. 'I should really start letting go of the past, shouldn't I?'
"If you want?"
He looked at me and smiled.
'So, uh, do you-'
Fresh's sentence was cut short by the door suddenly being forced open and a figure walking in.
"Hey, (Y/N), have you seen Fresh, I haven't-" Silence. Cut short like a knife had been sawed through his words.
'Oh... Hey Mordecai'
Mordecai's wide eyes tried to process everything he saw. A shirtless, one-legged man wearing nothing but black shorts in bed right next to a girl in her underclothes. Telling from the fact that he didn't react very strongly - or even at all - to Fresh's missing limb, Fresh must've already told Mordecai about his amputated leg. Though, something tells me I am the only person he told on exactly how he lost his leg. Mordecai's lips parted slightly, like he wants to say something but had all the words snatched out of his voice.
"Am I interrupting something?"
'No, you're not, what is it?' Fresh smiled with an air of confidence, almost as if there wasn't an awkward, tense silence in the air. He didn't even look embarrassed.
"Oh. Well, uh, that game of Portal isn't gonna finish itself?" Mordecai broke the silence. Portal?
'Wait, Mordecai?' I perked up. 'You introduced him to Portal?'
"Hell yeah he did" Fresh grinned and shifted his weight towards me. Mordecai raised his eyebrows. "I'm still trying to get the hang of the controls and stuff, but it's pretty awesome! Honestly, I'm kinda glad I woke up now and not like, I dunno, a hundred years early or late"
'Oh. Well, have fun!'
"Thanks" He smiled and swung his leg over the side over the bed. He let a pink, corrupted prosthetic form before standing up and following Mordecai out the door, yawning. His muscles glided over each other and tensed when he stretched his arms. Oh god. Right before Mordecai left the room, however, he shot a smug look at me. I tried to respond with a middle finger, but he closed the door before he managed to take a good look at it. I pouted.
Now that I'm left to my lonesome, I realise how quiet and lonely everything is. Fresh radiates a lot of body warmth, I could feel it like a warm, small sun right next to me, so now that that warmth's gone, everything's gone colder somewhat. But oh well. He's spent enough time with me, I don't want to bother him any longer, and besides, I don't know exactly what happened, but the two of them were pretty close now. So much for "If you hurt her I will kill you".
I heard two wandering voices through the wall. They were both familiar. Mordecai and Fresh, no doubt. Talking like a pair of friends. I could only catch the first bit of their conversation before everything became muffled and fuzzy, like white noise.
"Did you guys f-"
'No.'