Pack [Eddsworld]

EPILOGUE

The boys had spent an extensive amount of time in the hospital after their traumatic experiences. Matt and Patryk had avoided the most injuries and so were the ones who dealt with the media coverage: everyone wanted to know how the notorious Burning Tygers were massacred overnight. The ginger, of course, adored the attention, and often slipped off topic to talk about his good looks.

Edd's worst injury was the hit to the head. He had to go through surgery due to some internal bleeding, but he recovered nicely and was back to his punny self. Paul needed a fair few stitches in his side and had to go for continuous checkups to ensure there was no infection.

There was some worry around Tom after all the injuries he sustained, but doctors were amazed at how fast he healed in comparison to the average human. He refused to disclose why and ended up punching a reporter who had snuck into his private room, temporarily ending the whole discussion until he was at full health again.

The wounds Tord had were varied and some quite dangerous, although none compared to the pain in his chest. He felt like he was constantly drowning, feeling everything and nothing all at once. His brain was telling him to go to the person who would make him feel better, only to remember that she was the reason he was grieving so painfully. It was awful to wake up everyday, in a vaguely content state from sleep, only to be smacked with the reminder of her death.

The only good thing was that he was pardoned of whatever charges that were previously pressed against him because the police were just happy to be rid of the gang.

A few months on, and all of them had fully recovered physically.

Some poor government person had been tasked with the body cleanup around the ground of their residence, but fixing the building was easy enough with Insta-House. Since the boys had seen plenty of corpses before, they were totally unfazed by the idea that hundreds of people had died where they slept.

The only thing that bothered them was the way Tord acted. He rarely bothered to drag himself from his bed and only ate when Edd brought him food. It was difficult for them to watch as he wasted away before their eyes without them being able to help him.

While he'd never told anyone how he felt about the deceased girl, it was pretty obvious by how he acted around her.

Three months on, Edd had decided that enough was enough. He gathered everyone but Tord in the living room and explained his idea, and the four were wholeheartedly on board. It took a few weeks to collect everything they needed, Paul and Patryk even going so far as to contact Ylva's brothers for help.

One evening, Edd knocked on Tord's door quietly. Even though he received no response, he pulled on the handle and entered the room, holding a large book close to his chest. Matt stepped in afterwards with a brush, comb and mirror in hand. Tom carefully followed, balancing several mugs of hot chocolate on a tray.

"Tord? Can we speak with you?" Edd asked hesitantly, lightly touching where he presumed Tord's shoulder to be under the duvet.

A faint grunt was given in response.

"You'll need to come out from under there." He added with a faint smile, prodding at the covers until the Norwegian emerged.

There was no doubt that he was a sight to behold, with bags under his eyes, greasy skin and messy, tangled hair. He scanned the intruding trio with vague interest, finally giving in and sitting up in bed with his back against the wall.

"We're sick of seeing you so depressed, Sunshine." Tom sat down next to him, handing him a mug of the hot beverage without any choice in the matter.

"It's totally understandable, of course." Edd glared at the eyeless man who merely gave a lazy smirk in response.

"We want to see you smile again!" Matt beamed at him, bouncing into bed next to them and almost causing the drinks to spill as he grabbed one.

"Yeah, and we weren't really sure what would make you happy... But, um..." Edd settled next to Tom, passing the book along until it was in Tord's lap. "We tried our best. Sorry if you don't, um, like it..."

Tord stared down at it, handing Tom his mug to hold as he slowly picked up the gift. On the cover read 'Happy Memories' with cartoon drawings of all four of them, obviously done by Edd. He carefully opened it, immediately feeling his chest clench as he saw the familiar ginger girl in a photo.

"What... What is this?" Tord asked in a scratchy, strained voice, his eyes holding great apprehension.

"It's a photo album," Edd explained softly, "to help you remember all of the good times."

The Norwegian returned his attention to the book, running his fingers along the beloved photo. Ylva was mid-laugh, half of her mouth more open than the other and her eyes squeezed shut in pure joy as her wild ginger curls exploded around her sweet, pale face. It was enough to bring a bitter smile to Tord's lips and he forced himself to glance across at the other page.

There was an image of all five of them, pulling stupid faces. He couldn't even remember when that photo was taken. The next page– Ylva glaring playfully at Matt as the two of them had a standoff on each side of the living room. Another picture, with the girl lying upside-down on the sofa, her tongue sticking out as she played some video game with a controller. Then there was Edd and her, showing off their drawings, with the boy's significantly better than hers but both proud nonetheless.

His eyes started to sting as he continued to flick through, seeing photos ranging from when she was just a kid to mere days before her death. He was only halfway through when he slammed it shut, squeezing his eyes shut against the tears that fell anyway.

"Tord?" Tom's voice held an unusual amount of empathy for his friend.

Edd sounded worried, sharing a glance with his companions. "We're sorry, we didn't mean to upse–"

"Thank you." He choked out, wiping away the tears with a sleeve. "Thank you so much."

And somehow, despite the hollow ache in his heart, Tord knew he would be okay. His wonderful, kind and forgiving friends would be there to pick him back up whenever he needed it, and he would do the same in return, because they were better than just friends: they were his family...

They were his Pack.

~

(I was going to end it at "Tord knew he would be okay." because that was a nice, simple round-off to a story, but... I just couldn't resist ending another book with a title reference, haha.)