One Hundred Ways To Leave The Planet

Chapter 17: Going, Going, Gone.

Writers block hit me like a semi. But I'm back with the worst book you've ever read! 

The focus of 100WLP was always supposed to be One and Two, I don't know how or why I worked two other storylines in there-

The Octonaughty X Twenty-Seven story was mostly done a few chapters ago, and I was planning on using it for filler or whatever, but decided not to because yes.

It was no secret where Thirty-Six X Sixty-Four was going, just your typical ship story and I'm not proud of it at all.

I also discovered I have no idea how to write Thirty-Six(or Octonaughty for that matter).

So I've decided I'm leaving those mediocre storylines behind, for the sake of your braincells as well as my own sanity, writing 100WLP is so much more easy and fun now.

So without further ado, I'm shifting 100WLP back to One and Two, the way it was always meant to be.

Here's the chapter-

~

The next months flew by.

Goodbyes were said. Promises were made. Tears were shed.

And before anyone was ready, it was time to go.

~

One sleepily leaned against Two while he sat on the cool grass as he fiddled his hands. His stomach hurt, like someone had dropped a bowling ball on it. He felt like it should be cold, even though it wasn't cold. It was actually a warm summer night with plenty of mosquitoes around.

He shivered anyway.

The tremor woke the dozing block up. "Whattimeisit..." she mumbled.

"Not sure," Two looked up at the pitch-black sky. "But we should probably go. Finish up the last bit of business before we leave."

"Nooo..." One leaned further into Two and wrapped her arms around him. "Not yet..."

Two sighed and wiped away a tear that wasn't even there. "Yes yet. Come on. The longer we take, the more it'll hurt."

"Mm-mmm... No..."

"Yeah. Get up."

"No!" One nearly yelled. "Not yet! I'm not done with you! Please! Don't leave me!"

Two was taken aback at her sudden outburst. "Uh, okay. Yeah, we can wait a little longer."

One, who had been only half awake previously, sat up, fully alert now. "Uhm! No, no, no, it's fine. Let's, uh, go."

One's constant reconsidering baffled Two. He forced a giggle. "Well, choose one, niña tonta!"

"I have," she forced a giggle in return, "Let's go. I'll see you soon anyway.

Terror shot through Two. He didn't know why. Terror did this on a regular basis. It just seemed to like to. Two stopped questioning it long ago.

"Alright." He got up and started walking to Meeting Valley.

"Hey Two?"

"Hmm?" Two spun around just in time to catch One, who had jumped up for a hug. She threw her arms around him, and squeezed. Sobs shook her, and Two kneeled down so she could stand rather than being held.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. No tears, you know I can't stand it."

"Hypocrite." One reached up to his face and dried the tears silently streaming down the dancer's face. They both gave a little laugh, then One's knees buckled. She hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for the past two days, she was so tired. She fell back into Two's arms, and they both continued their crying there.

"You'll come back, won't you...? Please come back..."

"Of course I'm coming back." There was that burst of terror again.

One shook her head but said nothing more. Two placed a hand on her face and rubbed. One closed her eye and placed her own hand on his.

"I love you."

One barely opened her eye and cleared her throat.

"Platonically," Two muttered in mock annoyance. One gave a sigh that barely passed for a laugh and closed her eye once more. She then felt herself being swept up as Two placed her on his back.

"One more round?"

One giggled and sniffled. "Yeah."

Two took off running. He was never a fast runner, but no matter how slow he was, they would always arrive at the tree where One had left her scooter too soon. She slid off and hopped on. Two reached out his hand and she took it one last time.

"Be safe up there, okay, darl?"

"Alright."

Two bent down and removed his left shoe, and held it out to her. "Here. To remember me by."

One shook her head and pushed it back. "No, Two. These are for you. They belong together..."

"...like friends."

"Like friends. Besides, you're not exactly a forgettable kind of guy."

Two bent down for one last hug. One gave a quick squeeze then pulled away. "Come on. The longer we take, the more it's gonna hurt."

Two nodded. "Goodbye, One."

One smiled a sad smile. "See you later."

Two forced himself to walk away, off to the valley.

When he arrived, he found Three through Ten talking about various things. He wiped away the remainder of his tears and walked towards them. He took his place in the numberline, between Three and On-- next to Three.

He felt the strange urge to say something, anything. He didn't quite know why. Maybe to convince the others that he was okay, though they hadn't asked. The reason didn't matter. He just had to speak, so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Ooh, ooh! I'm going dancing on other planets!" He forced another giggle, this one less convincing, he supposed.

Three said something to Four, and Four said something to Five, and Five said something... Two didn't care. He just wanted so badly to go home, talk to One and never think about this stupid "adventure" again.

He didn't even notice One pull up next to him on her scooter, until she yelled, "As soon as everyone's ready! Speaking of which..." She then ran off to duplicate herself in a nearby Mirror, then scooted off, telling the others to wait for the signal. The clone took her place in the numberline, and looked at the orange number next to her.

"Hello Two."

Two scowled and turned away from the little red cube without a word. Anger wasn't an emotion that stirred regularly within Two, but today, after saying goodbye to his best friend, and watching this... thing talk to him as if he had any kind of connection to her at all? Two thought he had good reason to be angry.

Magic Mirror clones had all of the memories of the original, knew who their close friends were, knew their secrets, but had no connection to any of it. No emotions that made anything special to them, no love for the people they called friends.

This wasn't One. It wasn't and never would be One.

Two stared off to the horizon, the rising sun catching his eye.

"The signal," he yelled, tapping his feet with counterfeit joy, "the signal!"

He knew the drill, as the numbers began to add. He called his name when it came his turn, then heard the clone say hers, followed by Zero("Where does she even come from," he thought), and finally the time came to add.

Next thing Two knew, he was in space, feeling more alone than ever.