The Eternal Algebra Class Withfour was quiet.
When Match was first thrown into the classroom without a chance to enact an elimination prevention plan, she spent a whole lot of time sulking. Not for the reason most would feel grumpy about, though; being eliminated from the Battle for Battle for Dream Island was a bummer and all, but after having been subjected to that pain *three* times now, the novelty of the pain starts to really wear off. With enough repetition, agony just becomes a part of life. After all, how else would she be able to put up with everyone else?
Now, speaking *of* everyone else...
That was what the matchstick was so bothered about; she could have remained in the EXIT for the rest of eternity for all she cared, so long as she was able to tie up all the loose ends. If she *had* to go away and effectively disappear from relevance because some algebralian said so, she'd like to do it on her own terms, at least. She may not have a chance to win the BFDI, or whatever, but at the very least she wanted to be allowed to make amends with whoever she had offended, upset everyone who wronged her one last time, and in general just complete every last thing in her checklist before she said goodbye for good. That can't *possibly* be too much to ask, can it?
Apparently, it was.
The moment she realized what a grave error she had made, the instant she decided to turn things around and give back to Bubble after all her wrongdoings, Four randomly decided that it was her time to go. Of *all* times. Not much time was given whatsoever for eloquent, substantial last words; all she could muster at that time was a quiet acceptance of what was before her, trying to hold onto her dignity even as she was basically about to die.
*That* would come to torment her for those first days of being stuck in that dull, boring classroom. Really, death seemed like a far better punishment; even if she were to go on into the afterlife (or whatever else awaited them) with no possible chance for recovery, at the very least she could console herself with the fact that all those things were over now, that she couldn't possibly go back to it. It would hurt, yes, but odds are that she'd have other things to worry about by then. But here? In the EXIT? She was still alive, just... barely. They were all stuck in this strange realm in-between, with seemingly no possible way of escape or relief, and they were fully conscious for all of it. They were confined here with all of their regrets, forced to constantly confront their past mistakes and blunders in a desperate attempt to find some refuge from the sheer quantity of math Four makes them do.
If Bubble did end up here, if she got eliminated, what would Match do? What would she say? She could say she was sorry again (and *really* mean it), but she already *did* that. She could come up with some sort of kind gesture, some action that'd prove that she'd no longer be such a burden on her, but what could she even do in this cramped room?
Really, what was she even *thinking*? For her to do *any* of those things, she either had to claw her way out of here (which seemed highly unlikely), or she had to wait for Bubble to get the boot herself. The latter... that was just *unthinkable*. She'd *wish* for her elimination just for a chance to apologize? What sort of...
Match kept on beating herself up about it; all the homework (well, the EXIT *is* their home now) she'd turn in at first would have no correct answers, only long-winded essays about her regrets written in the margins. It preoccupied every waking moment of her life, preventing her from doing even the most basic equations. It all seemed like common sense, now that she actually had time to reflect. Why did she spend so much time pretending to be someone she isn't? Why did she want to emulate Pencil so badly? Was her earlier elimination not indicative of just how bad of an idea it was to
Wait.
Match finally lifted her head up after burying it into her desk, not wanting to let the bright lights and other nobodies bother her while she was, like, *super* sad. Her eyes took a moment to adjust, but after she returned to her senses, she'd see what she had just completely missed this entire time; sitting nearby was her Pence-Pence, her closest, bestest friend, her trusted confidant. She was just absentmindedly doodling with her mini-me, going about without a care in the world. She was just sitting there.
