Project: Neverbound (A Double Life AU fanfic)

27 - ...The Future Doesn't Exist

"I don't think it's a good idea."

That was the first thing that left Shubble's mouth after Impulse opened his eyes to the green-hued afterlife. He, Bdubs and Tango had invited everyone to their house the day that Jimmy got back from the hospital, and they were going to have everyone in on it now. The Watchers, the memories, all of it, they had to spill it, and everyone had to believe it. Because Impulse, more than anyone else, wanted all of them off of the island as soon as they could. He considered everyone here his friends, and right now, his top priority was keeping them safe.

This island was not safe. It never was.

He told Bdubs and Tango that he wanted to rest for a bit, just before the meeting to clear his head, but really, he wanted to tell the ghosts about their plans too. He couldn't just up and leave them after all, he cared about them too, and it would be pretty ironic to suddenly ghost them.

"Wh- what?" He asked, still in a daze as if he had just woken up from a real nap.

"Your plan. It sucks." She said flatly, stepping back as Impulse sat up. Their unusually serious tone caught him off guard enough to shake him out of his foggy head.

"How'd you-" he went to ask, then cut himself off. "You were watching us the whole time, weren't you?"

"You're just going to leave?" Shubble asked, completely ignoring his question. "After everything? I showed you the others because I thought you would help us!"

"Help? What do you mean, help?" Impulse asked, his tone starting to mimic the gnome's frustration. "Shubble, I can't just ask a bunch of people to fight gods and win. And I especially can't ask them to do that for people who are already dead. Why does it matter to you guys anyhow?"

He knew he was being harsh, but he couldn't seem to stop himself before the words left his mouth. His headache returned, and he felt something cool start to run down his face, but he didn't bother to check what was happening.

"Oh, yeah, you're right! Why would it matter to a bunch of ghosts whether the things who killed them and are keeping them TRAPPED here are dead or not?!" Shubble asked sarcastically. "Gee, I wonder why!"

At first, Impulse thought she was just crying out of frustration, but the tears streaming down her face only seemed to be coming from her left side, and had an oddly solid white color to them. Then he noticed that their left wolf ear was drooping unusually low too, almost seeming to stick to their face as if they were melding together.

"Wait, how was I supposed to know that?!" Impulse hissed. "You hardly told me anything about what's going on! You didn't even tell me that the Watchers were evil, Gem had to tell me! I had to find that out from her! Not you!"

Both of them were trembling now, and while Impulse knew his was coming from a mix of pain and anger built on a foundation of stress, he couldn't quite discern whether it was the same for Shubble or not. The coolness falling down his face looked like blood, or whatever form of blood a ghost could have, dripping onto the floor beneath him. It was as if Gem knocking him out left a sort of permanent gash, much like the injuries the other ghosts sustained from their deaths.

Now that he thought about it, Shubble never had any markings from her death. No burns, no scratches, not even an ounce of "blood" visible. It was as if they were perfectly fine. Up until now, at least.

Now it was starting to get grotesque. The left half of her body was more than just drooping, it was melting. Their eye was liquifying out of their socket, the blue of their wolf ear becoming one in the same with the red of their mushroom beanie. Her right side was still solid and quivering, but her left was bubbling, almost as if it were boiling in a vat. Impulse couldn't tell where their hair ended and their shirt and overalls began anymore. To say it made his heart race would've been an understatement. To say he would've been having a heart attack if he were seeing this alive would've been an understatement. Now his shaking was starting to find its roots in fear, and that wasn't making it any better.