The End is Just the Beginning (a Bad End Friends story)

Chapter 28

Morty fiddled with the red tie at his neck. It was the last thing he needed to tie before he was ready to step through a portal and to a boring but highly important meeting.

He sighed heavily when he messed it up for a third time.

"Sharp," a voice said from behind him.

Morty turned his head to see Bipper slowly come towards him.

The priest-suited boy stopped in front of him with a weary look. He looked Morty over with what should have been humor but looked to be more pained.

Morty went back to knotting his damnable tie until next thing he knew, Bipper was shooing his hands away and tying it himself carefully.

"When are you getting back?" Bipper asked just as deliberately as his hands were on the silk, which Morty let him fix.

"I don't know. Late," Morty said.

Bipper tightened the tie, sliding one hand down the red, lingering halfway. He wouldn't meet Morty's eye. "Be back by tomorrow morning," he commanded.

"Why?" Morty asked and as an afterthought, added, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Bipper said quickly, snatching his hands from Morty, who still hadn't moved. "Be back, though." He poked Morty's chest playfully to enunciate every word, but there was an odd twist at the end of the sentence.

Suddenly, Morty grabbed Bipper's hand that was still pressed forcefully to his chest and held it to Bipper with a point. "You're shaking. What's wrong?"

Bipper sighed and finally looked up at Morty, though he still didn't completely meet his eye. "We are having a team meeting tomorrow. Something... important is about to go down, and I need everyone here. I need you. You-"

Bipper hastily broke off and drew away, pulling hand from Morty's warm grasp. He backed up a few steps with a sad grin.

"I'll be there," Morty said, offering a small smile back.

"Thanks," Bipper choked, his grin turning to a grimace as he disappeared back upstairs, leaving Morty to open a portal and head to word with his properly tied tie.

___

Wirt sat on his couch bed reading his book. The evening sounds outside mixed with the steady sounds of Finn's breathing beside him, the boy sound asleep.

Wirt idly played with a stranded of the younger's pale blond hair as he lightly skimmed the book in his hand, nodding off in the process.

A soft knock at the door woke him up.

Carefully, as to not stir Finn, Wirt stood to check the knock. He opened the door to see Bipper waiting impatiently on the other side.

Wirt slipped out into the storage room with a small nod. "What's up?" he asked after he shut the door.

"It's happening," Bipper said simply and seriously.

Wirt's head snapped up. Their conversation about the future of the group was nearly two months prior, but the words still echoed around his mind.

"When?" Wirt asked simply.

"Tomorrow," Bipper answered. "We start with a team meeting."

Wirt nodded. "What happened to the Disco Girl wakeup call? You haven't used it in a while," he inquired, trying to lighten the distressed look on his – amatively – friend's face.

It seemed to work because Bipper let out a snort. "Morty threw it out the first time he heard it." The smile faded from his face quickly. "I should go tell the others. Can you tell Finn?"

Wirt nodded again and went to head back into his room.

"And, thank you, again... for-for everything," Bipper said.

The older one turned and looked him dead in the eye. "You're welcome, and, for the record, I don't think you're plotting to kill us or burn down the town anymore."

Bipper nodded numbly at that and turned, leaving Wirt to go into his room and shake Finn awake to warn him of the coming day.

___

Frisk sat wrapped in a blanket on the armchair, half-asleep, when Bipper came up and sat on the floor facing the TV.

"You're a good kid, Frisk," he said slowly, closing his eyes. "You don't talk much, but we still all get along with you." He let out a small humorous laugh. "No one else gets along with everyone."

Frisk leaned their head back and just let Bipper talk. They could tell this is what he needed.

"I like hanging out with you too. I like doing our little knife challenges. I like spending time with you and Morty, like our own little family," he ranted on.

"I thought all of us were a family?" Frisk mumbled tiredly.

Bipper paused to think. "Yes, we are, but with us three it's more like playing house again, like we're five in a playground completely oblivious to the fact that caring for others, being in a family is the worst pain that could be inflicted on you."

"Why do we do it if it hurts?" Frisk asked.

A light smile spread across his face. With his eyes still closed, he almost looked like what Frisk remembered as a normal, happy boy.

"Just look around at all of us, at Morty, at how we act. We-we loved each other. It may hurt but everything else about it – each smile, each laugh, every calm and every chaotic moment – those make life worth living. A-and these people around us, Frisk, they taught me that." Bipper buried his face in his hands.

No more words were spoken for a bit until Bipper took a deep breath and stood up. He turned to Frisk with a watery smile.

"Thanks, kid. I don't feel great, and I'll probably break down in front of Mabel, but talking to you helped. I know you don't really care but that's the point." He added as an afterthought, "Stay in here tomorrow morning; we have a meeting."

Bipper left to head up stairs, leaving Frisk to finally nod off into a quiet sleep.

___

Mabel had just stretched out on her bed to go to sleep when Bipper came into the room. "Hey, bro-bro!" she exclaimed happily despite the fact she had been almost asleep moments before.

"Hey," Bipper responded mildly. He didn't look happy, but he also didn't look angry or sad.

Mabel sat up in her bed, adjusting the collar of her nightgown. "What's wrong?"

Bipper flinched at the question, obviously not wanting to have heard it. He flopped down face first into his mattress.

He turned his head so he could breathe and talk to Mabel. "We have a team meeting in the morning."

"Why? Has something happened to the town?" Mabel asked.

Bipper hesitated, contemplating whether he should tell her something. "We been found out. Powerful people will be coming here tomorrow, and we need to be ready."

Mabel took in her twin's deflated boy and his weary face. Something in his eyes made her doubt something. "We're all gonna be okay, right?"

Bipper turned to face the wall. He ran his hand through his hair. "Someone is not going to make it," he said ominously.

"Who?" Mabel asked hurriedly, mind flashing to all the possible people. "Bipper, who is going to get hurt?"

Bipper curled in on himself. "Morty will not survive tomorrow."