Nightingale - Dreamnotfound

||A Second Chance||

The stagnant dusty red air was interrupted by the brutal firing of a gun as I approached the apartments. Sometimes I wished they'd give a warning. It was astonishing how none of the Specialty members had gone deaf over the years with all the sudden gunshots constantly heard from the garages. As I passed by one of them, Bad and Skeppy had just walked out, and when Bad saw me, he waved with a wide smile that looked far from one of a killer.

"Hey Dream!" He said. "Back already?"

"Uh yeah, I'm pretty tired," I shrugged. "I assume you guys just completed your mission?"

They both nodded, and Skeppy said, "Too bad we'll never know his last words. They were in French."

"French? What's that sound like?"

"Like... oui oui!" Bad said with what I would have to guess was a French accent.

"What what?"

"It means yes. I found this French book in one of the houses in the slums a few years ago. I can still only say basic phrases. Oh! Skeppy, guess what this one means." He cleared his throat and said, "Je t'aime."

Skeppy furrowed his eyebrows. "What does that mean?"

Bad smiled and dropped his gaze from Skeppy down to the ground between us. Quietly, he said, "It means 'I love you'."

"Oh." Skeppy mumbled before cracking a grin and laughing. "What? Did you learn that just for me?"

Bad laughed softly and nudged the shorter boy. "No, it's basic French, Skeppy."

"So do you know what that guy said?" I asked, getting the strong feeling I wasn't supposed to be there.

"No. Like I said, I only know a few words and phrases, and I have no idea what that guy said. He said it too fast."

"Well it went something like 'tune it back and you pause it,'" Skeppy added.

"What the heck does that mean?" I asked.

He shrugged, "I don't know. Either way it doesn't matter. That's between him and the Heavens above now." He grabbed Bad's wrist and brought him to the apartment, and I followed.

"I'm exhausted," Bad complained as we entered the lobby. "And we have to do night shift again."

My ears perked up and I glanced between the both of them as I said, "Why don't Sapnap and I do it? Are you guys going to the slums?"

"Ohhh no," Bad said, looking over his shoulder to me and giving me a stern look. "Wilbur and Techno would never let you. Not after last night."

I could see the moment a light bulb went off in Skeppy's head. His dark brown eyes widened with a laugh. His face was split into a mischievous grin that only really appeared when he had an idea Bad would never agree to. "What if we don't tell them? They're not going to be awake, they've got Eret and Punz doing night watch over here. We'll check out with Wilbur and Techno at eight and then Dream and Sapnap can take the night shift!"

"Skeppy, we're going to get into huge trouble if we get caught—"

Skeppy held his hand up to stop Bad before he could finish. "Simple solution: Just don't get caught."

"Sounds good to me," I said. "Hopefully it won't be as boring as yesterday."

"Oh it won't be," Skeppy said. "Total chaos out there, man. Just the way you like it."

I nodded, "Alright. I'll go let Sapnap know then."

Their room—room fourteen—was right next door to mine and Sapnap's—room sixteen. Because of that, we didn't actually say goodbye until we got to our rooms.