Serendipity (Karlnapity Fantasy AU)

Chapter 21

They had been able to leave the fire behind after some time and the following day was marked by deep, crushing silence and the slow walking through the forest. Even if Quackity had had visible difficulties, he had held out until they had spent the night at a river. Now Sapnap sat in the riverbed, enjoying the water that cleansed his body of the filth of the last hours. He fervently hoped that the water in it did not carry any poisonous substances. Toxic rivers were not likely to be found outside the restricted areas, but they did exist, and it was only too late that one realized the effects that the water had on one.

Quackity was lying not far away next to the fire, which had gone out in the meantime and small faint wisps of smoke rose sporadically into the sky. He was covered by his jacket and slept soundly after it had taken him half an eternity to fall asleep last night.

With a sigh, Sapnap turned his gaze from the sleeping hybrid and washed the dirt from his face. He had gotten up extra early to have some time for himself and also because he wanted to avoid Quackity seeing him naked.

Now that everything was so quiet and for a brief moment all the tension and rush in him had evaporated, the events of the last few days came crashing down on him like a flood. He immediately slapped his hand over his mouth as he felt a tortured sound rising in his throat and squinted his eyes. Maybe it was selfish to think such a thing, but besides the worries he had about Quackity, Karl who had run away and the disappearance of the others had led to suppress his feelings. He only allowed himself the raging anger in his body that made his fire flow and even there he often had to be careful.

Sapnap was afraid of everything that had happened and would happen in the future. He let his feelings run free before he had to suppress everything again later. Instead of bursting into flames, he cried. His body was too soaked and wet anyway. Thousands of tears made their way down his cheeks and he watched as they ebbed and flowed into the river and joined this huge stream of water.

After he had regained his composure, he got out of the water, waited until he was dry enough, and turned to the riverbank. There his clothes, which he had washed before, lay in the sun. Even though they were still a bit clammy, he put them on and walked up the hill to the camp. They had nothing with them, all the things had been destroyed by the fire and the only thing Sapnap had been able to save was Quackity's old jacket and some food from the kitchen.

Quietly, he approached the sleeping pile and almost thought that instead of Quackity, a huddled duck was lying in place, snuggled into his jacket, looking for warmth. The jacket had slight burn holes, but Sapnap didn't dare dispose of it. During the night, Quackity, who sometimes talked rather loudly in his sleep, had muttered something about smelling Karl's scent there. That was hard to believe because Sapnap only smelled the soot, but the duck hybrid had a finer nose than he anyway. Sapnap knelt in front of him and gave him a little pat on the shoulder. An annoyed groan and then a roll to the side. It was a gesture to show Sapnap how unwelcome his presence was.

"Wake up, ducky.", Sapnap cooed and bent over Quackity, whose mention of his new nickname, had woken him up.
"ducky?", he repeated with a yawn and Sapnap had to laugh. He tousled through the black hair of the sleepy boy, whose mouth was adorned with a crooked smile. After the hybrid sat up and rubbed his eyes, he listened to the blaze explain their next course of action.

"Well, you'd best go wash up, because you're covered in soot and forest floor." he stated lovingly as he pulled a leaf out of the smaller one's hair, "Your clothes I can wash. "
Quackity wrinkled his nose as he looked down at himself, and even more so when he saw how to clean Sapnap appeared.

"I was already," he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. In response, Quackity just rolled his eyes and was about to leave, but at the same moment, he noticed how something was missing.
"Sometimes I forget that I need a prosthesis," he muttered, and Sapnap's heart grew heavy.