[Discontinued] The Things Left

2. Sent Away

» Word count: 3,085 «

Now that he looked, Eret looked very tired as if years had passed since he had last seen him. It felt that way, he couldn’t pinpoint the last time he had seen him. He vaguely remembered their talk, before he burnt the flag down. Niki’s screams still echoed in his head, a ghost to remind of the things he did. He had promised to take Schlatt down from the inside, and all the things he did in between his promise and then. Eret looked much older now, a face he’d never seen on him before. The shades covering his eyes, but not the bags under them.

He took a step to him, stopping himself from running to him. His body wanted to run to him, feel someone else’s touch. There was something very wrong, like he was missing a big part of everything. But he didn’t, because he was scared to break that paradise his head was making.

“What are you… Where have you been?” Eret asked.

“What are you doing here?” Fundy asked, ignoring his question. He saw him raise his brow, a tiny grin on his lips. His tail was swaying slowly, synchronized with the wind.

Eret chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

“We’re just passing by-”

“Eret!”

Fundy narrowed his eyes at the voice, then saw her running to Eret. Their eyes met briefly, and soon he was frozen as her arms wrapped around his body. He couldn’t say anything, just listening to the wind and her sobbing. Unsure, he hugged her as she pulled them to the ground. He heard footsteps coming to them, looking up to see Eret kneel beside them. There were so many words, none made sense.

“Where have you been?” Niki asked, her voice so soft and muffled in her sobs. She pulled away, seeing him again. Her hand caressed his cheek, convincing herself that it was him. His skin, the warmth and everything of him, it was Fundy. She was sure, and scared to lose him again. She didn’t care that her tears were making a mess of her face, she had what she cared about in her arms; that’s all.

Fundy narrowed his eyes to her question, same as Eret’s question. He looked at her, it surely was her. There was no one who could ever match her. There was no one who’s cry could ever break his heart like that. He looked at Eret, just barely catching him turn away as he wiped the corner of his eyes with the back of his hands. Now he was shaking, still no words to explain their questions. Before he realized, he too was crying and he didn’t know why.

“I… I have… I’ve only been gone for two days… Schatt sent me on a mission… I just came back…” He spoke, in between the sobs and hiccups. To his answer, Niki and Eret exchanged a confused look; his clue that it hadn't been two days as he remembered. He opened his mouth to ask, scared to hear the answer. “How… How long have I been gone for?”

“It’s been two years, Fundy. You’ve been gone for two years.”

The instances where his body completely turned off were rare and far in between, now was one of those times. Niki and Eret were silent too, waiting for a reaction perhaps. That wasn’t something he could give at that moment as his brain tried to process what he learnt. He opened his mouth, nothing coming out. Niki hugged him tight, only making him cry harder. Then Eret hugged them too. He didn’t really have a reason to cry, since he didn’t know what was going on. But it was the only thing he could think of.

After some minutes, Fundy finally calmed down enough to explain what went on.

It had been a week after the festival, tensions were high as ever and everything was falling apart; not literally but their sanity were crumbling like the walls not long before. He hadn’t had the chance to talk to anyone yet, not like he wanted to after everything that went on. Tubbo left to go join Pogtopia, and so did Quackity. He never knew George. He tried talking to him about it when they went to do Hbomb’s challenge, but didn’t get any concrete answer. So, in a way, he was the only one left by Schlatt’s side.