Bad End...Friends?¿

Right Under Our Feet

Wirt stalked the halls, his lantern hanging on his antler and both hands holding Stanford's gun ahead of him.

The man had heeded his warnings and was nowhere to be found.

Bipper was bounding down the halls enthusiastically behind Wirt. Able to see him in his peripheral Wirt noted that boy's leg movements were anything but natural, in fact they seemed quite painful.

The kid caught up to his companion and looked up at him. Wirt glared down at Bill who started praising him as soon as he saw that he hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Y'know I just love the detail of a human sacrifice! Cliché -a little bit- but a great solution!" Bipper remarked with a grin, putting his arm around Wirt as though they were friends. He had to stand on the tips of his heeled shoes to be tall enough, but the Lantern Bearer's height was so great that it was still awkward.

"What?"

Human sacrifice?

Solution?

"I said I'm proud of you, kid! You're usually all bark and no bite but this time-" He laughed up at the Beast.

"You really showed where your loyalties lie." Bill gave the lantern a flick and it rocked back and forth hypnotically.

Wirt raised an eyebrow, still rather confused.

"Don't act all humble! I know you sacrificed Finn to The Blue Widower -we're off the hook thanks to you, hero!"

The gun in Wirt's hands hit the floor.

"I suppose you'd prefer the term villain~" Bill suggested, picking up the weapon and handing it to Wirt, whose wild eyes were unfocused as he stared into nothingness.

"I...knew what I was doing." He whispered steadily.

"He knew what we were doing!" Wirt raised his multilayered voice, banging on the wall next to him.

"No friends and no family. Alone. Alone and worthless but not alone, never alone. Never alone again." He sounded distant and sad but there was an air of pure hatred in his voice that couldn't go unnoticed.

Bill had a hard time following along no matter how hard he tried to understand -the boy was mumbling paradoxically and acting like it made perfect sense!

Wirt met Bipper's bright yellow eyes, searching desperately for...something.

Comfort.

Humanity.

In all honesty, it wasn't losing Finn that hurt Wirt. It was the fact that the Beast knew what he was doing. The Beast saw all of Wirt's thoughts, but he didn't allow the boy into his own, he was smarter than that.

He should have told me.
What else does he realize before I do?
What other choices have I made that aren't even mine?

Bipper slowly and reluctantly put his hand on Wirt's shoulder and returned his look. He stood there for a while, trying to decipher Wirt's nonsensical babbling.

He wasn't smiling like he usually did. Wirt couldn't remember the last time they had both been conscious without Bipper talking a mile a minute. The boy looked down for a moment before looking back into the eyes of the Lantern Bearer.