Believe in Me

Stubborn

Blue sat heavily at a table next to Fell, looking around the large room filled with so many of his friends. Red was across the room, joking loudly with Comic, much to Rus's chagrin. He was wearing a red tie with a black dress shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing his heavily scarred forearms. His laughter was loud enough for Blue to hear snatches of it, and it made him smile. He loosened his own tie slightly, feeling a bit overheated from all the dancing he'd been doing.

"Having fun?" Fell asked, grinning at him. Blue had long since gotten used to the friendliness the other showed him, but it still sometimes drew stares from people to see the gruff, angry captain being so happy.

He nodded animatedly. "This is really great! I still can't believe you got Napstabot to DJ!"

Fell waved a hand dismissively. "It's of no concern. I introduced him to his alternate from SwapFell and he apparently thanks me for the new 'edge' he's been able to find with his music. He said he owed me a favor."

Blue smiled at that, knowing full well how much Fell had had to pay to get his idol to come. He did keep the books for the brothers, after all.

"Red certainly seems to be enjoying himself," Fell continued, gesturing at his brother, who was currently shooting finger guns at Comic. The shorter skeleton was doubled over in laughter, drawing stares from many of the people around them, but they all smiled when they saw who it was.

"Yeah, I can't go within ten feet of him when he gets like this, though," Blue groaned good-naturedly. "Getting those two in any close proximity of each other is always a mistake."

Fell laughed aloud, nodding in agreement just as Slim passed by, carrying a pair of drinks in his hand, one of which was undoubtedly for his brother.

Blue watched him go, struck by his similarity to a certain skeleton that was not present.

"He's an idiot."

Blue looked up at Fell, surprised. "Slim? He's a mechanical engineer, I don't think he's--"

"No, no. I'm talking about Stretch," Fell interrupted, waving a hand to silence him.

Blue's gaze dropped to his hands. "No..." he said softly. "He's just stubborn."

Fell snorted loudly, then clapped a hand on Blue's shoulder, who looked up in surprise. "Stubborn is not the right word," he said angrily. "Stubborn is refusing to clear out the dishwasher or get a new job, not skipping out on his own brother's wedding."

Blue sighed silently. He knew Fell was right, but he couldn't help but blame himself. He was the one who had left, after all. And they had sent him an invitation, but Blue hadn't spoken to his brother since their fight. It was always possible that Stretch thought he wouldn't be welcome, and that the invitation was nothing more than courtesy.

Instead of voicing his thoughts, he turned his gaze back to Red, watching him grab an entire tray of drinks and begin to make his way towards them. "I wish he was here," Blue said quietly, but by the way Fell's hand tightened slightly on his shoulder, Blue knew he had heard him.

Then Red was there, and Blue was all smiles again, taking one of the drinks that were being handed to him and waving off a second.

Before Red could answer, Blue's legs collapsed out from under him and he went down with a surprised yelp. Red cursed and quickly put his soul back in his chest before leaning down to try and help him stand back up. Blue's body wasn't having it, and Red could see a few blotches of marrow starting to soak through the bandages again. After a few moments of deliberation, he scooped the little skeleton up and started to carry him back to the stairs.

"Wait, we--" Blue tried to say, but then he started coughing, hard, and Red walked faster, passing his brother on the way. Fell looked at them questioningly, but Red ignored him and kept going. When the coughing abated, Blue tried again. "We need to fix it. We need to make me remember!"

Red shook his head, jogging up the stairs as fast as he could without jostling Blue too much. "Not when you're like this. You're hurt, you need to rest. Missing that much of your soul means you've got less magic running through your body, and you're not going to be healing very well for a while."

"Well then shouldn't we be trying to fix my soul?" Blue asked, coughing again as Red opened his bedroom door and carried Blue to the bed.

"I have no idea how to do that. I'll go talk to my brother, but until we have any sort of solution, you need to rest." Red set him down and pulled the blankets over him, tucking them around him snugly before backing away. Blue's eyelights were already dimming, despite his protests, and Red quietly bid him good night before leaving, shutting the door firmly behind him.

How do we fix this?

Where did they even begin? Why was the part of Blue's soul that had been Red's gone? Why was his universe gone? Why didn't he remember anything about them? He remembered once, when Blue's world had reset and he'd forgotten about them, but that had been before they'd really been friends, and he hadn't really cared all that much. Since then, he hadn't had to worry about it a whole lot because their bond had let him--

Red's steps stuttered as he connected the pieces. Of fucking course... How could he not have thought of that? The bond was gone, he had no way of remembering the resets.

But Fellverse hadn't had a reset since Blue disappeared. They were rarest in his world, where even the most insane of humans didn't have much of a desire to relive meeting the assholes that populated this place. Which meant...

Red cursed and finished walking down the steps, making his way back outside and down into the basement, running down the stairs to the machine. He pushed several buttons, pulling up the travel history and searching for the date Blue disappeared.

Oh, that mother fucker.