I Remember You

Chapter 1

TWs: Mild swearing, mentions of possible character death, memories of abandonment

"Once we rebuild L'manburg, this will be the first festival we hold together as a country. The first event they watch together as a country is us getting married," Karl said proudly.

"Wait, Karl, I don't know if we have the clout to get everyone together," Sapnap said, looking down.

"Sapnap, c'mon, you're undermining yourself!" Quackity exclaimed.

"You think so?" Sapnap asked shyly, not believing him.

"Yeah," Quackity starts but is cut off by Karl.

"Sapnap, take off your helmet," he instructs, stepping closer to Sapnap, who does as he's told.

"You look dashing," he tells Sapnap, his eyes sparkling as Sapnap blushes. "And so do you Q," he adds, turning towards his other fiancé, who blushes just as hard.

"And with that, I think we can get enough people to gather a good wedding," Karl says confidently, smiling at his fiancés with his signature grin.

"Or we could just tell them it's a war," Sapnap jokes, earning a laugh from Quackity and a faint scowl from Karl, along with a smile that says "you're so dumb but I love you so much."

A knock at his door causes Quackity to jump, pulling him away from his paperwork. Mumbling to himself, he pushes himself away from his desk and makes his way to the door. He opens it to find Foolish stood in the doorway, towering in front of him.

"Let me guess," Quackity says. "Slime broke something again."

"No, no, not this time," Foolish jokes, cautiously stepping into the office. He hands Quackity a mug of coffee, which he quickly accepts, sipping on it immediately. The two relocate to some chairs in Quackity's office, making small talk about the happenings in Las Nevadas. Quackity tells him about his plans for expansion and his worries about Tubbo and Ranboo's so called "cookie outpost". Foolish tells him about his adventures in wrangling their slime friend and teaching him more about human customs.

After a while the two fall into silence, the soft sounds of the casinos below them floating through the room. "Foolish," Quackity starts, sitting his coffee down on the table next to him. "I know you didn't come in here just to give me a cup of coffee and chat. What's up?"

Foolish shifts nervously in his seat, glancing out the window at the bright lights of Las Nevadas. Letting out a breath, Foolish answers him. "I actually came to deliver a message."

"What? From who?" Quackity asks, raising an eyebrow at Foolish. Normally when somebody wanted to talk to Quackity, they'd go to the man himself, not one of his associates. This was odd.

Foolish glances away again, now looking at his feet, which moved around on the ground anxiously. "Well, it was from Sapnap," Foolish replied almost in a whisper.

"Sapnap?" Quackity muttered, coldness filling his voice. He stood up quickly, heading back towards his desk. "I don't want to hear what he has to say Foolish."

"Are you sure Quackity, it's kind of important," Foolish tells him.

"I said I didn't want to hear it," Quackity spat, anger lacing his tone. "Now, I've got some paperwork to finish up, so I suggest you head out Foolish."

"Karl's sick," Foolish blurted out, looking up at Quackity hesitantly.

Quackity stood dead in his tracks at the mention of Karl. Worry began to race through his head at the thought of Karl being so sick that Sapnap reached out to Quackity. Quickly, Quackity pushed these thoughts away, telling himself he didn't care, that he had more important matters to tend to.

"I don't care," Quackity said bitterly, sitting down at his desk.

"But Sapnap seemed really worried. He really wanted you to go out, it doesn't sound like Karl is doing too well and..." Foolish rambles, before stopping himself.

"I said I don't care," Quackity grumbles, staring back at Foolish with heat growing in his tone.

Foolish looks back at him nervously before continuing to try to convince him to go. "But Quackity I really think you should go see him, I'm kind of worried..."

"Foolish, enough! I'm not going! They never wanted me there in the first place, so there's no reason I should be going there now," Quackity snapped, picking up a stack of papers. "You should really go," he adds bitterly.

Foolish makes his way over to the door, his towering frame feeling small compared to the argument that hung in the air. On his way out the door, Foolish turned around, looking back at Quackity once more, who was now deep into his paperwork. "If you change your mind, I'm still planning on going to Kinoko tomorrow. I'd be glad to have you tag along," Foolish offered as he stepped out the door. Quackity just grunted in reply, getting back to his paperwork.

The rest of the day is filled with piles of paperwork, which don't do much to help distract Quackity from what Foolish had told him. Maybe they really did want to see him or they missed him. Or maybe Sapnap was lying about Karl being sick, just to mess with Quackity, play a sick joke on him. He just wanted Quackity to come over just to remind him of everything he was missing out on.

Quackity continued to toss these thoughts around in his head, quickly finding himself diving back into his anger with the two. I don't care how sick he is, Quackity thought to himself. He abandoned me. They both did. Me, El Rapids, everything, they just up and left one day. They didn't even come looking for me, asking me to come with them. They didn't care enough to even invite me to their new country.

Quackity's fiery anger was quickly put out as a new thought crashed through all of the others. Maybe Karl was deathly ill, wanting to make his final amends with me before he lost a life. Maybe he wanted me by his side as he died. Quackity's breath hitches at this thought, his heart aching. As much as he doesn't want to see the two, doesn't want to be reminded of the past, he can't bring himself to leave Karl to die without him, knowing how much it hurts to lose a life alone and afraid. Even if Sapnap was with him, he reached out to Quackity to have him there too, which seems important. And Quackity, as much as he hated the two for what they had done to him, would be damned if he let Karl die without him there.

Silently, Quackity pulls his communicator out of his shirt pocket, sending a quick message to Foolish.

Quackity whispers to FoolishG: I'll be ready tomorrow morning at 8

Foolish responds quickly as if he had been awaiting a message from Quackity.

FoolishG whispers to Quackity: I'll see you then

Quackity closes his communicator, placing it back into his pocket. He lets out a sigh, worried about what tomorrow will bring. Pushing everything aside, Quackity turns back to his stack of papers, busing himself with his work once more.

Notes: Welp, there's the first chapter. It's a bit boring, I know, but I pinky promise it'll pick up by the next chapter! Again, I'm so so so excited for you all to read this story, I've been sitting on this idea for months and, after my first fic, I've finally got the confidence to share it with you all! Thank you for reading!!