Find the Markers- Oneshots, Headcanons, and everything else

Crumbling Away

     So today I woke up like a normal person- but then I chose violence soo... introducing: an AU where Foliage is just a figment of Lilac's imagination! Not really, but oh well. Also, they never get together in this thing- how sad is that?

Anyways, this is set in the past once again- they're about 8-9 because don't we love childhood trauma?

Per tradition: Ready! Steady! GO!

~

     "Hey- I found something!" Lilac hollered, waving one hand in the air and using the other to dig something up. "I might've found- oh, it's just another one of those really big rocks."

     "What are we digging for, exactly?" Foliage yelled back.

     "Anything metal! I'm gonna need that, and I can't steal any more from Dad- he's starting to catch on," Lilac called back.

     "Oh, okay! But what's the metal for?"

     "I- don't mind that... I just think they're cool- and I've been experimenting with some simple machines. I've got to get Dad to teach me some Python or Lua, y'know?"

     "I don't know what any of that is..." Foliage's face was almost apologetic, and Lilac stifled a giggle as he looked over.

     "It's coding! I want to be able to make all sorts of cool machines so everyone's life can be easier!"

     "Oh, that's cool! You gotta make one for me too- I mean, if you ever get the chance..." Foliage looked down at the pit he was digging. He looked sad, and his eyelids were half closed as if part of a truth was hidden behind a gaze.

     Lilac shrugged it off. "I'll make one for you whether I get the chance or not- and then I'll give it to you the moment I see you again, how's that?" 

     "Sounds good to me," Foliage replied with a smile.

     For the past ten minutes, Lilac and Foliage had been digging through the forest- they were trying to find scrap pieces of metal as Lilac had heard some rumors and wanted to see if it was true. He'd somehow managed to drag Foliage along without having to bribe him. Only a few months ago, the vine-headed boy would've been reluctant getting his hands in the mud- when did he start getting so agreeable?

     That didn't really matter right now- Lilac had his hands on something- and it was definitetly a lot shinier than the average "shiny rock".

     But it was also harder to dig out- what sort of scrap metal would be this smooth?

     "Fooliage... can you give me a hand here?" Lilac was on all fours, ignoring the amount of dirt that was staining his knees and the ants that were crawling over his hands. He could figure that out later. "I really should've gotten a shovel."

     "Alright!" Foliage bounded over, kneeling next to him and scooping out even more mud. The pair stayed there for a few minutes, complaining about the bugs and accidentally uprooting some grasses along the way- until, finally, Foliage gripped a sharp edge and managed to haul the whole thing out of the earth.

     "Is that- did we just find a helmet? From the Washable Kingdom?" Lilac stared in shock, almost unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "I can't just destroy it for some machines, let's go show it to Dad and Purple!"

     "Yeah- but, here- you hold it," Foliage said, rather quickly and hurriedly, "Who knows the amount of bugs there are on this thing?"

     Lilac hit the large gunk of metal against his knee, dumping out most of the dirt that was trapped inside before tucking it under his arm. "Alright, let's go!"