Coroyakuza

Thirty Nine|| But He Wasn't There

If Eging were still here, he would be the one to help everyone cope. He would help them swallow the fat lump in their throats.

If Eging were still here, he'd probably attempt to cheer Prince up. He would let Prince soak his Milky Eminence Coat until the young boy ran out of tears to cry.

If Eging were still here, he would probably be chilling in N-Pacer's room and eating chips while trying to assure her that everything is fine when it really wasn't. Everything was falling apart and he would have known that and understood that.

If Eging were still here, he and Emperor would still be together and perhaps Emperor missed that. His warm arms would wrap around him and whisper sweet nothings into his ear to calm him down. He'd say, "It's okay. You don't need the title of Oyabun to be happy because you have me. Your sister is gone but she lived a good life and you should be proud of her. She left because too much shit was going on and that fact that she went through it all for that long is amazing. Now, Marina will make the future better. For Inkopolis. For us."

If Eging were still here, he would probably have a meltdown of his own. He would lock himself in the bathroom so Emperor didn't have to see his tears. He would slide down the door and cry. He'd bite down on his hand to keep him from sobbing too loud.

Eging never wanted things to fall apart. If he were still alive, he wouldn't know how to react to Pearl's death. It would be quite the emotional roller coaster. He'd want to keep it together for the sake of his teammates but if he kept that act up for too long, he'd be sure to break.

But no. Eging wasn't there. He was very much dead.

Instead of having a shoulder to cry on, Prince cried into his teddy bear. He kicked off his Milky Enperrials and slipped his feet into Eging's favorite pair of shoes. "Yo, these shoes are kinda too small for me. You should wear them, they would look totally badass on you," he had said. Prince kept it on a shelf instead and cleaned them when they got dusty. He regretted not wearing them until now.

Instead of having a moron eating in her room while she sobbed, N-Pacer was alone. Headphones wasn't able to come over because she started working at a café that Cap'n Cuttlefish decided to open. "Eging, I thought I told you not to eat food in here. It'll bring your friends," she once said. "My friends?" he asked with a mouthful of chips. "Yeah, the roaches."

Instead of those warm arms wrapped around him, Emperor's head rested on Gloves' lap. His beautiful sharp eyes were puffy and he could barely keep them open. Gloves hummed some songs to him but the green inkling's voice wasn't all that soothing (he wasn't necessarily a bad singer, his voice just didn't go well with the song he tried to hum).

Everyone was falling apart.

If Eging were still here, maybe they wouldn't be. But if Eging were here, he definitely would be falling apart as well. He was just better at covering it up.

But he wasn't there.

N-Pacer stares up at the ceiling. It took her a long time just to make a decision; hang out at Headphones' new work place or hang out with Prince and Emperor for a bit. It was just the three of them now, and that fact was what made N-Pacer choose her brother-like companions.

She got up, not bothering to put on her coat like usual and decided to just wear a yellow sweater and her usual leggings and shoes . She tightened her bun and knocked on Prince's door. "It's open," Prince said. She opened the door and there he was, sitting on his bed hugging his teddy bear, his toes touched each other like they did when he was younger. "I want to do something. Just me, you, and Emperor," she said bluntly. Prince nodded, "What about Gloves?" She shrugged, "I'm sure he can wait."