Pyromaniac[Quacknap]

And in the misconception

"What is to give light, must endure burning,"

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"You've got your.. 'Hobbies', I've got mine." 

And there the conversation ended. Quackity wanted to ask, to pry- He felt he had the slightest bit of a right to. Even through the curiosity, he felt safe enough. Sure enough, that sapnap was honest. In any case, Quackity had a knife fastened to his undershirt. 

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Hours, days maybe, had passed. Quackity had lost track. He was tired. Freedom wasn't as he thought it to be. Finding his breaths between gas-station stops and hands out of the window. When he turned the radio back on and sapnap didn't yell. And that realization was sad. That crammed in a tiny car on an endless road, Quackity was freer than he had been in years.

"Tired?"

Sapnaps head turned toward the other curled almost into the fetal position, his eyes half-lidded.

"What do you think?"

Sapnap huffed, not in anger but content. The car had slowed unnervingly abruptly, and it was then that Quackity saw the houses that had filled roads. The highway was now city streets. Quackity sat up, fixing himself. 

"Few more blocks 'nd we're there."

A wave of relief rushed over the older. He hadn't been away from this god forsaken car in days. Hours, maybe? Hed lost count. He glanced outside, these houses were far nicer than anything back home. Two, three stories, great big balconies on each, and the lawns-the lawns were beautiful. Hed be lying if he wasn't mesmerized by this. Were sapnaps friend rich? Was... wait a minute, who was he coming to see?

And it wasn't a second later that they had stopped. 

"Well, uh, guess we're here. "

Sapnap himself sounded unsure. Quackity hesitated to follow him in the act of exiting the car. He made his way down the pathway, as expected the house was nice- nicer than some of the others he'd seen on the way. 

The journey was unbearably long- a few days in a car he could understand but beyond the gate and through the decorated shrubbery felt to be too much. Funny how the mind can do that. 

Once inside, Quackity was met with two men who stood tall, not, not physically but, they stood in confidence. Well-dressed, steady-spoken. Sapnap greeted the two with no less than a hug, and the men of stone suddenly seemed so juvenile. They weren't scary, a little sad, maybe. Like they'd been waiting for him. Like, sapnap made the world start spinning again.  And even through their joy, Something was noticeably missing. Quackity noticed how the men stood awkwardly apart. Like someone was supposed to be there. Like someone, had. They were jovial, no doubt. But not as they should have been. The brunette boy who welcomed sapnap with open arms still appeared to have just a slight dull in his eye. As did the honey-brown next to him. 

It wasn't until nearly ten minutes after their embraces they noticed the one who stood next to him. 

"Who's this...?"

"Is this the one you spoke about? On the phone?"

This comment was followed by giggles and a quickly muffled hand.

"This, is Quackity. He's accompanied me on this trip."

Quackity shook the others' hands, introducing himself as they did. 

From this interaction he learned the two to be referred as "George". that was the taller, darker-haired man. He was just a little snobbier with his expressions and words. 

He moved further down the line to greet the boy with locks of honey and seemingly endless giggles. Quackity extended his hand and stood in a blank stare. His muscles tensed and his arm fell back to his side. 

"Karl?"

And-oh, wasn't that needed? For him, anyhow. Because, "Karl" hadn't seemed to remember him at all. And then, right Infront of them, two years fizzled into nothing. 

"Yeah.. Howd you know my name? What, are you some kinda Sikich?" Karl giggled as he picked the others hand back up, giving it a brief shake. Quackity was utterly confused.

"No, but- its-"

"Its...?"

Quackity continued to stand there, utterly disappointed. Conflicted- confused. 

"Alright..Let's uh, Let's move on, shall we?"

and like some stoic, unwanted figure, sapnap managed to drag Quackity into the dining hall. 

The three laughed and ate and conversed, Quackity observed. He watched this unfold, watched old friends catch up. It was apparent that he didn't belong here. In this chair, beside this man. 

Quackity didn't know they like they did each other. He wasn't supposed to be here. He'd mistaken some stranger for what once his best friend. Unless he hadn't. Quackity knew, that it was karl. He knew that he could have identified Karl by laugh alone. Something he'd heard several times tonight. Quackity waited. Waited for some definitive sign, for something that told him to go get that boy. But Quackity was clever. Not only was he intelligent enough to get by, he was a bartender. A trick of hand- wasn't that easy? He leaned across the table to grab the butter. He did not, in fact, need butter. He got a good glance at the faded tattoo on the 'strangers' left hand. Thats all he needed, all he had to see. Which didn't help. Karl hadn't remembered. After all of that?

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George had insisted he show sapnap some. 'artifact' he'd acquired. The two scurried off into the foyer. Quackity stayed behind to assist with table cleanup. He had to pretend this was a stranger. And wasn't that a hard pill to swallow. The silence could be cut with a knife. And it was. The second that the footsepts down the hall faded, Karl had dropped the dish in his hands. He rushed over to Quackity, pulling him in an abrupt hug-He looked to be near tears. 

Quackity pulled himself away-how else was he going to react?

"I..holy shit. You look so- different, you-"

Quackity was utterly confused. Karl didn't remember, he-

"That, scar- how'd you get that scar?!"

Karl was in a vigorous rant; only then did he stop t catch his breath. 

"I- You... What?"

"You...Didn't remember me?"

"Alex there is. so. fucking much- that I can't explain to you right now. And- and I'm sorry for that. All of it."

Quackity felt the other trembling in his arms, what had life done this poor boy? He consoled Karl further.