𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧. - 𝙍𝙌/𝙎𝙇 𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 ✔︎

༒ 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝘄𝗼: 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙞𝙘 ༒

𝙄𝙩𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙠𝙚, 𝙨𝙤-

𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚! ^^ (𝘽𝙘 𝙄'𝙢 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧-)

𝙎𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩, 𝙄 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 1 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙇. (𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 1 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣'𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙪𝙥) 𝙄𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙨𝙤 𝙏𝙒 𝙄 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚.

𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨!

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱: 𝟭𝟬/𝟮/𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀

𝗔𝗨: 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗲

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲, 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗳, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽 (𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴)

𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 𝟵𝟱𝟯

『••✎••』

The fight went by too fast. For Colle, at least.

First Forest Steve sacrificed himself to place Goggles' device on The Last Inferno.

Then part of the arena collapsed on the Obsidian Captain. Even if he came out alright, it worried Colle quite a bit.

Next the machine trapping The Last Inferno began to malfunction, and Desert Apprentice, who was told to be in the bunker, played the hero and reset it. The cost of that was The Last Inferno targeting him and turning the poor steve into glass.

In the end, the steves won, but at the cost of two of their friends.

To say this wasn't taking a bit of a toll on Colle was an understatement. After all, those two were the first friends he made when he started his journey. Sure, he had other friends, like Winter Steve, Beef, Sharp and the Obsidian Captain, but none of them could replace Desert Apprentice and Forest Steve.

Forest Steve, despite being wary of Colle, was quite kind after some time. He showed the red steve his village, and even let him have a vacant house there, with the approval of the Forest Leader. Yet even after Colle was about to leave, Forest Steve showed him to Desert Apprentice, Desert Steve at the time, and helped the red steve continue his journey of exploration and collection of new objects.

Desert Apprentice was the second steve to help Colle along his journey. While not the brightest of minds, he made up for it with his friendship with the red steve. Once again, Colle was given a vacant house in the village of Desert Steves, which became more permanent after his unjust banishment from the Red Kingdom some time later.

However, just before that happening was Colle's discovery of The Last Inferno, and the toll it took on the Desert Steves and their population each week. With help from Desert Apprentice and Colle's red steve friends, the group worked together to find a solution to defeat this beast, as well as improve the desert village as a whole.

But now, with everything taken care of with The Last Inferno, Colle had time to grieve the loss of his two friends. The friends that helped him kickstart his adventure to meet new steves and friends alike, and even strengthen already existing friendships from before he left the Red Kingdom.

All the memories came back to Colle as he sat in his home in the desert village. Each brought a fresh tear to his eyes, until he was laid on his back on his bed, sobbing from the pain and grief the red steve felt.

He hoped no one could hear his cries; he knew it would be embarrassing if someone caught him like this.

Unfortunately for him, luck wasn't on his side. Or so he thought.

"Colle?" The red steve recognized the voice as Beef's, along with his familiar knocking pattern.

Colle hurriedly wiped his tears away, then jumped up to answer the door. As he expected, Beef was there, with Sharp just behind him.

"Oh, hey guys!" Colle attempted to give them a cheerful smile. "What brings you both here?"

Beef frowned, not buying his friend's enthusiasm. "You were thinking about Forest Steve and Desert Apprentice, weren't you?"

"N-"

"And don't lie to us, Colle. You don't have to act optimistic when we know you aren't feeling it."

Colle sighed in defeat, knowing there wasn't a way out of this situation. "How'd you know...?"

"We were just passing by, and we could hear sobbing from inside your house." Sharp explained, sympathy in his eyes. "Plus your eyes look bloodshot."

Colle looked down, knowing Beef and Sharp had figured him out, which he should've expected. The three of them spent quite a bit of time together when they trained to become elites, so naturally they knew each other quite well.

Beef sighed. "Come on, lets go inside and talk about it, alright?"

Colle gave a feeble nod, then lead the other red steves in. Taking a seat on the bed, Colle hid his face in his hands, Sharp and Beef sitting on either side of him.

"I just...I want them back..." Colle admitted, his face still hidden. "They shouldn't have had to die to defeat The Last Inferno. I shouldn't have put Forest Steve up to that, and I should've been more strict with Desert Apprentice about staying in the bunker. So I guess their deaths are my fault..."

Tears began to leak from Colle's eyes again, staining his cheeks and hands when they fell. This grief was too much for him to handle, and Sharp and Beef could tell.

Sharp gently placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Colle, their deaths are not your fault. Forest Steve could've easily said no to placing the device on The Last Inferno, but he did anyways. And Desert Apprentice willing gave his life for the mission to succeed. Don't blame yourself for things you couldn't control."

"Yeah!" Beef voiced his own agreement, placing a hand on Colle's other shoulder. "If it weren't for them, The Last Inferno would still be terrorizing the Desert and Forest Steves. It's thanks to them that it's gone."

Colle looked down for a minute, taking in his friend's words. They were right; he couldn't keep Forest Steve and Desert Apprentice from sacrificing themselves. They did that of their own accord. It wasn't his fault.

When he looked up, a small smile was on his face.

"Yeah, I guess it isn't my fault then," he murmured, "thanks, guys, for giving me that talk."

Sharp grinned. "Anytime, Colle. You're like a brother to us; we're always there for each other, yeah?"

"Yeah, always."