alive, phantom, and a dead man

Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος

'Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος ' or:' the die has been cast ', those were the words Julius Caesar had spoken, and even if you believe Suetonius and his reasoning that it was said in Latin, the meaning stays the same. The die has been cast. All we can do is sit and wait for luck. What kind of luck will it be? Will it be good? Will it be bad? All we can do is sit and wait, minutes feeling like seconds that pass over the period of a year, time not of value. Karl wept in Quackity's arm, mourning for something he had already gone through, he wasn't thinking about any Latin classics or sayings that might make the ache in his heart feel better. He had lost family... again, he had lost a loved one even though that was the first rule he had made for himself. Fuck those goddamn rules. All you do is follow them until you break them and then you're sad about it. But it wasn't just about the rule, it was about Sapnap, Karl was sure he was going to move on. What would Sapnap stay behind for? He didn't have a promise to fulfill, Sapnap used to be alive but he never lived, he never went through major events so big that they would cause his presence to stay on earth after death.

Maybe it was for the better

He had promised himself, no more being sad over alive people's deaths but here he was once more crying over a dead body that paramedics were busy with reviving but it was no use. He had tried to knock it through their thick skulls that, the soul or whatever stays behind on earth was already gone, into the next world. Where there was peace in places you wouldn't find it on earth, or maybe nothing... just peacefulness. Karl sat on the asphalt with Quackity, he was invisible policemen and reporters running about searching for him, and even though he was sitting in the middle of the road only a couple of feet away they weren't going to find him. He was invisible, truly invisible. No one except Quackity saw him, and no one else needed to. The alive world had gotten answers which should have never been given to them in the first place.

"K-Karl" that voice, he sounded like he was in pain, Karl snapped his head, his reality melting into an endless grey box that felt so familiar but also foreign "Sapnap-" He ran to him grabbing the raveonette so he wouldn't suffer as much from the excruciating pain he was in. "I don't- I don't know what's happening why does my head hurt?" Karl looked at Sapnap, his eyes had turned bright orange and from them ran black tears, Sapnap ran a hand through his hair "I don't know Sapnap, I-" Karl stopped and hugged the man "I'm sorry- I shouldn't have pulled you into this and-" Karl said but he kept cutting off his sentence with soft stutters or sobs, "I chose this- honestly Karl" even in a stressful situation like this Sapnap managed to push a subtle laugh across his lips.

Karl shook his head "there must be a way-" but Sapnap cut him off "And what if there isn't?" Karl shook his head "then I'll make one-" Sapnap sighed as a foreign voice was heard, the sound distorted but still understandable "There is a way, that's why you, Karl Jacobs have been brought here" Karl looked around but saw no one "Who are you?" Sapnap asked looking into the grey void "I am of no importance, I am just here to inform you that Karl Jacobs, you as a phantom have the power to turn Sapnap into one, but be warned, there is a chance that in the process, you Karl will cease to exist, and at that point, we won't be able to accept you into the unknown... meaning your presence will be trapped here for eternity".  Karl looked at Sapnap and smiled "Don't you fucking dare-" he said pointing a finger at Karl "Sapnap-" Karl said grabbing him by the shoulder "You've still got so many fucking things to do- I have everything I want but you still got things to reach..." Sapnap shook his head "I'm not going to let you suffer for an eternity" Karl tightened his grip, tears welling in his eyes "please just let me do this for you, James-!" He screamed but then realized his slip up. Sapnap stepped back, confused "Who's James?" He asked, Karl sighed "Just a friend," he said looking at the ground "A friend?" Sapnap asked raising an eyebrow, "Yes Sapnap, a friend... he lived on the farm while I was alive and it's my fault he died", Karl said, "Happy?" He asked

Sapnap went quiet, "Karl- how could it possibly be your fault he died?" Karl looked at him dumbfounded, "He rented a shed on our farm in return he worked with us. When war came, it was me or him... when war was over all that returned was a letter he had written announcing he was dead".  Karl wiped the tears from his eyes "It's crazy how much you look alike-" he smiled softly but then looked at Sapnap "promise me to keep the store going alright? And what if the spell doesn't go wrong? I mean there is a chance it goes... right". Sapnap sighed and looked at Karl, as he did so he embraced the phantom in a hug, "Okay- " Karl said pulling back flapping his hands around, purple sparks glistening at his fingers as he did so "I got this-" he said taking a breath, Sapnap looked at him and said:" do you at least know what you're doing?" Karl looked him straight in the eyes and then said: "No" and held his hands open "grab my hands... so you know I don't accidentally just turn myself into a phantom". Sapnap smiled slightly but looked like he was still slightly troubled with the idea.

Karl closed his eyes as small purple sparks spread around the room then a supernova blast of purple smoke and sparks flew around the room, Sapnap looked around amazed as the purple stars danced about in the room. Then the purple smoke trooped together snaking around both Sapnap and Karl's body. It felt like Sapnap was floating and then like a dream... a very realistic fever dream that was about to come to an end... like your brain is realizing your alarm is about to go off and your brain realises it has to speed up the story and then... your awakened...

Sapnap shot awake a pain going through his entire body slowly subsiding he grabbed onto the pavement as a way of linking with reality he looked around his head spinning and mind foggy. He flopped back hitting the concrete and huffing slightly, too drowsy to even try sitting up again. He rubbed his hands over his face and then remembered what happened, he remembered it clearly. He shot up and ran to the side of the rode, there sat Quackity trying shake a passed out Karl awake "Quackity!" Sapnap said but it was as if he was a ghost... a ghost to a ghost... ironic.

Then he noticed Karl stir softly and open his eyes, he was shocked at first and looked around he was talking to Quackity but his voice became a ringing in his ears as his vision went black again.

"Sapnap! Wake the fuck up please-" he felt shaking and then he could see the birds flying over in the sky "Karl-" the brunette scrabbled to sit by Sapnap "Sapnap-" the raveonette's smile grew "your fucking insane Karl-" he said turning around "oh my God-" Karl laughed flopping over Sapnap's body as Quackity went to sit by them leaning against the both of them. "I'm so tired... How can a honking ghost feel tired!" Karl explained rubbing at the corner of his eyes.

"I just died! How am I going to live that out at my Dad's place-" Sapnap said throwing his hand in the air "You don't Sapnap... your dead you don't live it out" Quackity answered. "Quackity has a crush on you" Karl said laughing softly "ARE YOU SERIOUS KARL!" Quackity screeched "Well cat's out of the fucking bag now... my problem being..."

Quackity stayed silent "You have a crush on Karl too?" Sapnap said and when he didn't get an answer he jumped up "I KNEW IT I FUCKING KNEW IT!" Quackity looked confused "Wait you don't have a problem with it?" Quackity asked as Sapnap looked confused "Nah I'm gay as fuck and y'all sexy".

Karl broke out in laughing "So we're like a thing?" He said between giggles as he hopped around "fuck yeah we are" Sapnap said joining him in his idiotic running around the blarkng headache long forgotten. Yeah they had an entourage of new problems to deal with but that was not a problem for today.

Today was a time to take a break, from the world. From time and maybe from living all together, the problems were for tomorrow... today...

So this is where all the lonely people go.

{I cried... no literally, this idea was one of my first ever fanfiction ideas and I finally got to write it down and the ending was just as perfect as I imagined and aaaaaaah}