Chapter Text
Everything started to become a blur as they reached terminal velocity. They couldn’t make sense of anything around them anymore. They could barely even think about anything.
That only made their imminent demise all the more easier to accept. If they couldn’t see it or feel it, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe they’d just instantly go out and not have to suffer.
That sounded nice. At least then, they wouldn’t have to ever see him again. They wouldn’t have to be a burden anymore.
For the first time in forever, they truly felt at peace.
They also felt incredibly tired too, so they just closed their eyes and let it happen. They actually almost fell asleep until…
They were suddenly jolted awake when their momentum came to a halt. For a moment, they felt incredibly distorted. Once they came to their senses though, they noticed they were no longer falling, but floating.
Wait… floating?
They also suddenly felt warm. Not overbearingly warm, but nice hug warm. Did being close to lava normally feel like that?
They hesitantly opened their eyes and noticed they were suspended just a few feet above the lava. Strangely enough, it didn’t burn them alive. Perhaps the mysterious golden aura around them was the reason for that?
That made no sense though. That was literal magic. How the heck were they doing that? Why were they doing that?
They never got any answers though. They were instead drifted away from the lava and set down gently atop a rock. While the aura did persist, they were finally in full control of their body again.
As much as they just wanted to collapse and cry their heart out, they were also still dangerously close to the lava. They couldn’t just wait for their friends either; they’d likely burn to a crisp doing that.
In spite of their inner turmoil, they did manage to get a quick scan of their surroundings. It was better to at least figure out where to go before they accidentally threw themselves towards the lava again. It was very unlikely they would be saved like that again.
That much was unfortunately confirmed when the aura suddenly dissipated. It seemed like they only had one more chance to get this right.
They did spot the “staircase” they had climbed a while ago, though it was inaccessible from where they were. They also spotted the first bridge they crossed, which meant they were very far down. They looked a little higher than that and saw the bridge they just fell from, but a stray ray of sunlight made it impossible to see if anyone was up there looking for them.
Your “friends” probably forgot about you the second you fell down. You’re nothing more than a burden to them.
Luna froze. They weren’t really expecting to hear his voice again, and yet, there it was. What cruel things would it say this time?
You’re all alone and you don’t know how to do anything on your own! Why not just throw yourself back into the lava and just die already?
They glanced over at the lava briefly, but then jumped back and sat down against the wall. Their breathing started to quicken.
Why were they actually considering that? They didn’t want to die! They had a lot of people waiting for them!
Don’t lie to yourself, kid. Nobody wants you. Nobody would miss you. Not even I would.
Luna involuntarily clenched their fists. Their breathing got even heavier. They weren’t scared by any means… but then, what was that feeling?
Nothing you do will change the fact that you’ll die alone. Your friends left you because you were a dead-weight. You provided nothing to your “troop” other than being a whiny little shit.
They stood up and took a step back from the wall they were just leaning up against. Their fists were still clenched and some kind of bad feeling was really starting to bubble in their chest. They… didn’t like it that much.
Face it. You’re nothing without me. You’re nothing without your pathetic “friends.”
They suddenly imagined one of the rocks was Edmond’s face. An ugly, scruffy, jagged and empty-looking face. A stupid, wrinkly, mean looking face.
And then they suddenly snapped.
“JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!”
They swung at the rock but immediately winced in pain the second their left fist made contact with it.
Any anger they could’ve felt was immediately replaced with both pain and fear. So much pain radiated from their hand unlike any they’ve ever felt before. They took one look at the back of their hand and saw several open wounds across most of their fingers. All of them were bleeding at an alarming rate and the pain continued to burn.
They gripped at their wrist, but they knew well that was placebo at best.
It was then that their primary goal shifted from finding their friends to finding a first aid kit. They really needed to tend to this before it could get much worse.
However, they noticed that both their backpack and their, no, Jade’s hat were missing. They didn’t concern themselves with how their items went missing though. It didn’t matter anyway. It wouldn’t have brought them back.
“J-Just… p-perfect…” they let out through choked sobs.
They had nothing, no one, and no idea where to go. On top of that, they had a hand that was bleeding and probably messed up in some way.
They finally flexed their fingers. The wounds stung as they were stretched out, but being able to flex their fingers was a good thing, right?
“T-That’s reassuring… At least I… d-didn’t break my own h-hand… haha…”
If Jamie were here, they probably would’ve had a much easier time figuring out where to go. Though, at the same time, if Jamie were here, they probably wouldn’t have lashed out the wall out of anger either.
They missed their scouting buddy. Well, they missed all of them, but especially Jamie. It seemed like they understood Jamie the most and vice versa. It probably helped that they were close in age.
They wiped away a stray tear that made its way down their cheek. They really were hurting in a lot of ways now. They just wanted to be back with their friends, but first… finding a first aid kit.
As they discovered earlier, the “staircase” was inaccessible and every other familiar landmark was out of reach. The only other way up then was the rock they attacked earlier. They weren’t entirely sure if there was even a route from there, or if there was even somewhere to stand at the top, but evidently they didn’t have many options.
They approached the rock again, this time with no violent intent, and started to climb. Unfortunately, the spot they hit was the same spot they’d need to set a foot to push themselves up. They cringed almost immediately when they could feel the slight squishing of their blood beneath their sole, so they quickly boosted themselves upwards.
Thankfully, the top wasn’t too far up and it did have a flat area to stand on, so they were at least right about that. It really shouldn’t have been a big deal, but it felt nice to be right about something for once. They had been told their whole life they were wrong, so…
They saw a small platform about ten feet above them, then a larger one a few feet across from that one. The first wasn’t safe to sit on, given how small it was, but they could use it to get to the second one. In spite of their current condition, it was definitely doable, so they decided to go for it.
Once both feet were on the platform, they realized just how small it really was. There was barely enough space for both of their feet to fit, so they imagined it wouldn’t hold their weight for long.
Their suspicion was confirmed when a chunk of the platform suddenly broke off.
They hesitated for a moment before making the jump to the larger platform. The instant they did, the small platform became nothing more than a memory. The remnants crashed down to where they initially started and exploded into dust.
Had they had that kind of reaction time back on the bridge…
It didn’t matter. It already happened. Thinking of alternate outcomes wouldn’t fix the situation they were currently in.
They stopped for a moment to once again scan their surroundings. However, their eyes almost instantly landed on a suitcase, so they abandoned their scouting mission for now. They swung open the suitcase, revealing…
Oh… wow! A granola bar, a sports drink and a first aid kit!? Maybe their luck was starting to turn around for the better!
They instinctively reached for the food and drink, but a sudden stinging pain in their left hand reminded them that they were still injured. Perhaps they could reward themselves with those after taking care of themselves?
They instead grabbed the first aid kit and opened it up. They fished for the bandages and then set the kit back down exactly where they found it. This would be a little more difficult performing first aid on themselves, especially when they weren’t using their dominant hand, but…
Their eyes suddenly welled up as they were reminded that they were completely alone and there was nothing they could do about that. However, they quickly rubbed their eyes with their arm and tried to focus on performing first aid again. The sooner they did it, the sooner they could refuel and get moving again.
They first wrapped the bandage around their wrist then around their palm between their thumb and index finger. After that, they started to weave the bandage between their fingers, making sure to cover up until the knuckles near the tips of their fingers. They then wrapped another layer over everything just to make sure it was all secure, then tore off the remaining bandage.
The tips of their fingers were still covered in dry blood, but at least the wounds were covered up. They could clean those up later when they had an abundance of water to clean with. They didn’t want to spend their sports drink on that when they were becoming increasingly thirsty.
They almost tossed the bandages back into the kit, but they instead decided to pocket them. They remembered that they didn’t have their backpack anymore, so they wouldn’t have been able to take the entire first aid kit with them. Even if they couldn’t bring the entire kit with them, they could at least hold onto the bandages.
Satisfied with their work, they grabbed both the granola bar and sports drink then sat down in front of the suitcase.
However, instead of instantly tearing into either of those things, they instead stared at them. They felt incredibly hesitant to eat them. Any time there was food seemingly left out for them, there was always a catch. Maybe something along the lines of “it’s not only yours” or…
Right… nobody was around to lecture them now. The only people alive on this island were much higher up in the volcano and have already been incredibly generous with their limited food. They wouldn’t care if Luna indulged a bit… maybe.
Then… it’d be okay if they kept this for themselves, right…?
Despite their paranoia, they did eventually start to nibble on the granola bar. Their eyes constantly scanned their surroundings though, just in case anyone decided to jump out from the shadows and harass them about it.
On the bright side, this particular granola bar did have chocolate chips in it. Chocolate chips were their guilty pleasure, so that just made this an even sweeter treat. While the chocolate chips did unfortunately melt from the heat, they at least helped make the granola bar a bit less dry.
After a few minutes of slowly nibbling away at the granola bar, all that was left in their hands was the wrapper. However, crumbs had gotten all over their face and lap, as well as some stray chocolate surrounding their mouth.
They felt a bit foolish being so messy about it, but again, nobody was around to lecture them. It’d be okay this one time… hopefully.
They missed having someone to enjoy a sweet treat with. Even though neither the cookies nor the marshmallows were healthy, they enjoyed being able to share them with Jamie. Just their sheer presence alone made it a nice time.
A stray ray of sunlight somehow struck them directly in the eye, causing them to subconsciously readjust their hat. However, they suddenly felt sad when all they felt was their hair.
Right… their hat was gone.
They sighed then put the wrapper back into the suitcase. As wrong as it felt, it was the closest they were getting to throwing it in a trash can. At least they weren’t just throwing it out in the wild. That would’ve been a big no-no.
They unscrewed the cap on the sports drink and didn’t think twice before guzzling it. They were really craving something to drink, so they didn’t bother to preserve what they had.
In spite of the oddly named “Tryhard Sweat” drink, it actually tasted good! The closest flavor that they could identify it as was grape. While it wasn’t their most favorite flavor, they weren’t exactly in a position to be picky either.
Once finished with their drink, they set the bottle down beside the granola bar wrapper then closed the suitcase.
A random question crossed their mind: What went wrong with rescuing them? They had entrusted Jamie to the rescue claw, so… what happened?
Many possibilities swirled through their mind, and strangely enough, abandonment was the first one they settled on.
That… didn’t really make any sense though. Given how Jamie had opened up and been more friendly towards them, it really didn’t make sense for them to just… let them fall.
They shook their head. Nope, it definitely wasn’t that. It just didn’t make sense.
Maybe the claw failed then? Those things were prone to breaking at the worst time. It would’ve been really unfortunate if that was the case but it was far better, and logical, than the former possibility.
They nodded their head this time. That sounded like a much more reasonable theory.
Why was abandonment their first thought…?
It didn’t matter. What did matter was continuing upwards. Regardless of the reason why they weren’t rescued, they still weren’t rescued. It was on them to rescue themselves.
Out of the corner of their eye, they spotted a strange white and blue rock sitting in the side of the wall. It was pretty big and seemed to block their only path forward, which was rather inconvenient.
Though… if it was white and blue compared to the red hot rocks… maybe it was cold instead? That would be a nice change of pace if that were the case.
They walked up to and grabbed onto the mysterious rock. However, they didn’t feel anything. What was the catch then…?
They continued upwards since any threat didn’t immediately rear its ugly head. Once at the top, they stopped for a moment to catch their breath.
They noticed they were incredibly out of breath after that. Not only that, but they could’ve sworn their muscles started to feel a little more stiff too…
Wait. That was the catch. It wasn’t burning their skin off, it was slowly killing them from within.
As much as their body screamed at them to stop, they knew they’d be worse off if they stayed on that rock any longer. So, they dashed as quick as they could to the next rock, but not without extra aches and pains from their legs.
Unfortunately, whatever effect that rock inflicted on them didn’t go away, unlike the fire rock. Even with a minute to rest, their lungs still felt heavy and their muscles still felt stiff. That was exactly what they needed right now!
This added problem in tandem with their slightly fuller stomach on top of everything else just made them incredibly tired. Their body was inching dangerously close to just collapsing on the spot, but they… were running out of energy to resist that.
They decided to use their last little bout of energy to push onward. They’d only stop whenever their body forced them to. They could only hope it’d happen at a time that wouldn’t greatly inconvenience or harm them.
The rock they stood on seemed to lead into a bunch of other rocks that would at least get them to the next large platform. Maybe if they could make it to there, they could rest for a little bit…
They blinked and another wave of fatigue crashed into them hard. Their body attempted to drop them to their knees, but they quickly latched onto the wall and forced themselves back up.
Not here… please… anywhere but here…
Riley… Jade… Jamie… where are you…?
Their legs felt really wobbly for a moment, but somehow re-stabilized just enough for them to continue.
They reached for the next rock for what would hopefully be a quick climb. However, with their sudden onset of extreme fatigue, it felt like an eternity.
Everything really started to settle in now. Their loneliness, their physical ailments, their horrible life outside of this island. It seemed that everything they had bottled up had nothing in its way now.
They wanted to cry, but they were too tired to even do that.
Instead, they just pushed themselves off the ground… or at least tried to. The first time, they face-planted back into the ground. Subsequent attempts only resulted in the same outcome, and yet, they persisted.
Unfortunately for them though, their determination was superseded by their fatigue. It seemed that it was no longer possible to ignore it. Their body was starting to shut down and they just had to sit there and accept it.
No… please… not… now…
The most that they could do was roll into a small crevice formed by the wall and rock converging. Anything else was simply too strenuous for them now.
Just as they took in one final look of the world around them, they could’ve sworn they saw a ghost floating nearby as stairs started to form, both of which had that same mysterious golden aura from before.
The ghost tried to say something to them, but it seemed that most of their senses had already given up on them to be able to process it.
And then the world went dark.