NON Sam and max stories (mostly THSC)

Broken red headphones (burt and charles)

(art by MiloMorgan on reddit) 

After the station exploded, the toppats were in a pretty rough spot.

The station was destroyed, so that was billions of dollars and so much effort to build the thing wasted.

And sure, most of the members escaped and survived, but not everyone was so lucky... there were a few who got left behind, rest their poor unfortunate souls...

And now, it was about a month later, and the toppats were trying to pull themselves back together the best they could.

On this day, Sven (who was still the current leader) was having a meeting with Burt and Carol, who were his two closest friends in the clan. They were discussing what to do next since the rocket was destroyed.

Sven holds up some documents he'd been given.

"So I've received some intel from our government spies..." he says, holding up a piece of paper.

"Apparently, the explosion was caused by none other than our old friend Henry stickmin." Sven said, anger in his voice.

Carol's eyes widened. "The same guy who got Reg and Right captured...?" she asks.

"The very same..." Sven says, groaning. "but apparently he survived, since the soldiers found him in the last escape pod."

Burt thinks. "Hmm... we'll have to keep an eye out for him..." he says.

Carol nods. "Indeed... the little scamp could be planning an all out attack against us as we speak..."

Sven nods as well, then looks back to the paper. "It says here that Henry had worked together with his friend Charles Calvin to take it down, and Charles didn't make it." he read. "He got left behind on the rocket when it blew up."

Burt's spine goes cold and his eyes go wide.

Charles was dead....?

His distress wasn't unnoticed, as Sven got a worried look on his face and gently placed a hand on his arm. "Burt? A-are you ok...?"

Carol raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, dude, you look like you just saw a ghost."

Burt stayed still, then nodded. "Y-yes, i'm fine."

He then stands up. "I-i need a moment to myself." he says. "I'll be right back."

Sven nods. "Ok... take all the time you need, dear."

Burt leaves the room, going out into the hallway, leaning against the wall.

He stares blankly at the ground.

He honestly couldn't remember the last time he felt truly... empty... like this.

Sure, he acted uninterested in anything most of the time, but now... he felt truly despondent...

Charles, his brother, his twin... was dead.

He didn't know what to do, or even know how to feel.

Suddenly, his phone buzzes.

He slowly looks at it, seeing it's from an unknown number.

He sighs shakily. Might as well answer.

He presses the button then lifts it to his ear.

"Hello...?"

"Oh hey! I found you!"

That voice.

Burt's eyes widened, and his heart filled with hope.

He knew that voice!

But wait, the owner of that voice was...

'C-charles...?' he whispers.

"Yeah, it's me bro. I finally found your number, haha."

Burt's heart beat fast.

"Soooo, I just wanted to let you know, I'm alive! Surprise!" Charles says with a giggle.

"Oh my god!" Burt says, sinking against the wall and placing his hand on his chest in a huge sigh of relief. "Don't do that! Dude I just found out what happened to you, and I was about to cry."

"Haha, sorry for scaring you." Charles responds. "But yeah, I made it out, contrary to popular belief."

Burt smiles a bit. "H-how the heck did you make it?"

Charles giggles. "Well, let's just say a friend of mine has a really neat device that can teleport people."

"Huh, that checks out." Burt responds.

He then sniffles a little.

"Burt? You ok?" Charles asked, worried.

"Y-yeah i'm fine just..." he shakily laughs. "I.. I really thought you were gone, man..."

"Aww... I wish you were here right now so I could hug you!"

Burt smirks sadly. "Same..."

"Well, I gotta get back to work now, hope to see you soon!"

"You too bro. And... thanks for letting me know you're alright."

"No problem! Ok bye!" Charles says, hanging up.

Burt smiles, taking some deep breaths before going back to the meeting room.

His brother was a living mystery.

But he was glad he was still around.