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skephalo-week · 3 years

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Alea iacta est

Part of Skephalo week! → Day 5 – Sacrifice

Read on Ao3!

Word Count: 1,941

Characters:BadBoyHalo, Skeppy, Puffy, Sam, Foolish. (minor/mentioned: Punz, Ponk, Ant and Hannah)

Pairing(s): Skephalo (you know the deal by now)

Warning(s):Angst, apparent(?) character death (it's up to interpretation), crying, war mention

Summary:The red banquet has come, and with it also discoveries. Because if people really wanted to know why Bad was so inclined to make the Crimson bloodvines thrive, then he was finally going to tell them.

A/N:Alternatively: how Bad snaps, deserved ♥. You know, reading the word sacrifice it's normal to always think of Skeppy. Decided to switch that connection in my mind :] you will see. Hope you enjoy!

✾

❝ Lean in, let go.

I feel fear for the very last time. ❞

« I- Just- Stop! »

Punz rose from his seat, flashing a threatening red-eyed look at Puffy, his hands pressing down on the table to sustain his body as he slightly leaned forwards. « I suggest you sit down, Puffy. » he brushed the handle of the only weapon he had kept at his side, one of the ones Bad had let them carry for the so-called security reasons.

She slowly shook her head, eyes lightly narrowed, disbelieving how far people she had known for so long had gone mad with …

With what, actually? There was no way they would all be doing this just to cause chaos, just for power. She knew it, to a certain extent, how the Crimson could attract you to it, but she knew if they had wanted it, they could've come to get that same power by themselves.

So there had to be a sort of light switch, something that just clicked and made it right in their brains to let it control them.

She looked at Foolish, who had a hand on her arm, expression somewhat sour, yet with no sign of malevolent intent. Foolish had always been the one to preach for peace: humans went and called for wars, shed blood and tears, hurt and grieved and solved little to nothing, only protracting those same wars for centuries. The world had become a war fought throughout the years with only a couple of moments of peace in between.

And Foolish? Well, he decided to learn the exact opposite. Problem solving without hurting people; that was why he had stated multiple times how the components of the Eggpire needed help.

With a single look that read “it's okay, it's not needed”, the god watched Puffy moving to slowly sit down.

« Stop, you say? »

Not noticing because of their silent conversation, the two snapped their heads towards the reserved table for the Eggpire members, placed in front of the other ones, so they could have a panoramic view on everyone: Bad had just spoken, hushing Punz to stay put as well the same way Foolish had done with Puffy.

The latter got back to her feet, her head tilted in both curiosity and carefulness.

« Now, why would you ever want to leave a party, my friend? » he left the table, aware of every guest's eyes on him, to stand on the opposite side of where the woman was seated. He crossed his arms, and Puffy swore she could've seen his eyes glow a brighter white than before for a moment. « You're not having fun, maybe? » he shifted his weight. « Or perhaps you'd like to say something? Remember … this is a bury the hatchet kind of deal, mh? »

« What are you hinting at, Bad? » Sam had been looking between the two, reading between the lines with uneasiness growing in his guts.

Bad glanced at him one moment. « Oh, I'm just saying … well, if you cross the Rubicon with armour and weapons on, it's only natural that you get attacked as well. »

Sam breathed out with effort, quickly scanning the room: Puffy and Bad were staring intently at each other, ready for either of them to make a move. Ant and Punz were both brandishing swords at their sides, standing at opposite borders of their table, eyes locked towards his direction. He met eyes for a second a little too long with Ponk, who was sitting still at the table, expression dull: he looked away when he saw him fiddling with the sleeve he had cut off since-

Hannah was also sitting with them, poor Hannah he had failed to save from the sting of the vines.

Guilt choked his breath before he could dwell in his failures longer. Looking away, he only shared confused and agitated glances with the other guests present.

Puffy brought a hand to her forehead. « I just- » she sighed deeply, then looked straight ahead of herself and directly into Bad's eyes with determination to fill in that little question mark in her head. « I've asked you before and you've deflected the question every time. You just talked about the Egg and how it's going to thrive and all of that, but all I ever asked out of you was knowing the reason why it should be so appealing to you. Why do you even need it, Bad? » as he made to talk, she pointed a finger towards him and cut him off one last time. « And don't even try to deviate by talking about the egg. I want to know about you. »

There was a moment in which he blinked rapidly, before his eyes settled on an undefined spot on the tablecloth beneath his fingertips. He didn't remember gripping at it. His vision had blurred a little, darkening, blending the objects' outlines together.

Everyone was waiting for his response.

He grinned, chuckled and looked back up at his long time friend. « Okay, Puffy. You want to know why I need it? » he took a step back, releasing the tablecloth. « That's funny, didn't you see it for yourself already? I could've sworn … I could've sworn you were there, how curious. » he brought a hand to his lips, sarcastically pensive, before he started walking closer towards the Crimson's side of the room. He motioned for his friends and guests to follow him.

« You see, everyone, there's actually one more reason why we wanted all of you here. Or, rather, a reason why I did. » he stood in front of the egg-shaped being before chewing the side of his cheek and bowing his head slightly downwards. « Puffy. I have tried. I have tried so many times to get him back. »

The way his voice started breaking the more he spoke brought back memories into her mind, memories of a friend that wasn't quite the same anymore. She didn't need clarification to know who he was talking about.

« But he wouldn't give a single sign of getting better, if not getting worse by the day. » he turned to face her again and she could now notice he did not only sound broken. « Skeppy would barely even recognize me, Puffy. How do you think that made me feel? »

As she tried to look for words, too shaken by how Bad had started to break and display his doleful reality for the first time, Sam stepped in. « Bad, that doesn't- that doesn't mean you needed to rely on this … thing to cure him! »

Bad shook his head, an uneasy smile settling on his face. « Oh Sam, no, surely not. But you know it, it speaks to you. It spoke to me. And you know what it told me, Sam? It told me it could get him back. » he took a shaky breath in. « Because it was what took him away from me. » he let out a grim laugh. « And it knew … it knew I would do anything to get him back to normal. And I just let it. » he shrugged, then opened his arms. « Because I tried by myself already. So, so many times. What else do I have to lose now? »

Shell shock.

« I appreciate any of you who tried to help. I appreciate who wanted to and didn't get to, yet. » he spared a glance to Foolish, who found himself conflicted about intervening already or not. « It's been … an interesting time. »

« Bad. » Foolish arched an eyebrow. « Why does this sound like a farewell? »

Bad chuckled under his breath. « Perceptive, as expected by someone with your experience. » he took some steps backwards, the vines practically touching his back. « You see, the Crimson has required sustenance throughout its life here. And sometimes what we bring … it's just not enough. »

Puffy widened her eyes. « Are you- »

« It's okay, Puffy. » he smiled sadly, leaning against the vines completely as they started making their way through his body. « As I said, I would do anything to get him back. »

And I have nothing left to lose.

The vines had a firm grip on his body already, when-

« Bad? » there Skeppy stood, right behind the crowd of people watching in horror as the Crimson dug its claws in his best friend's body.

Too late, too late, too- why would it release him now? Why would he give him the sweetness of certainty only to leave him with his panicked expression as his last memory of him?

His breath ran short, his lungs filled with everything but air, as he simply watched Skeppy, the real Skeppy try to run closer, to get to him, to save him again.

Bad reached for him, one arm extended towards him: barely able to breathe his name out, fingertips not even met one last time with the other, he disappeared beneath the vines, until there was nothing left of his form but a tear dropped to the ground.

« What ... » Skeppy's disbelief echoed in the silent room. « Where. Where did he go? » he turned towards the guests group. « Where did he go?! » he started yelling, fingers in fists so he could dig his nails in his palms instead of trying to tear the vines apart already.

He would've done that, surely, if they didn't ... scare him so much.

Antfrost took a step forward, visibly shaken, as though he had just woken up with a terrible headache. « He ... he didn't. Tell me he didn't. » his eyes, his blue eyes, only stared at the Crimson behind Skeppy.

« He didn't what?! »

« Give himself up. The Egg had wanted ... something more substantial. He ... he gave himself up. Instead of letting it harm any of you. »

Skeppy blinked twice, staring at Ant until his vision became spacey, were it for tears forming in his eyes or not he couldn't tell. He turned his back to everyone in the room and slowly lowered himself to sit on the ground, cautiously raising a hand to cover his mouth. He stared ahead of himself, barely blinking.

He was soon joined by Sam and Ant at his sides, their initial shock quietly fading as it was replaced by an overwhelming amount of distraught dolence.

Had they been asked afterwards, they wouldn't have been able to tell which had started sobbing first.

It was like a chain reaction, bit by bit, person by person, everyone either started crying or leaving, unable to bear another of the countless lost fights.

Bad wouldn't have blamed them.

Puffy felt herself being tugged away, finding Foolish at her side, surprisingly calm, an anchor she could have used right then.

She had no idea how he seemed so ... unaffected.

The truth was Foolish was just thinking and he really had just wanted to stop. Because he had looked at Bad's friends and recognized the hurt that he had witnessed so many times and how, if only he had known what was about to happen, he could've prevented it.

He had reached for Skeppy's arm, to try and comfort him, and had noticed how badly he was shaking, trying to keep the worst emotions inside.

And really, he just wished he could have helped more.

He really hoped Bad had held the totem he had given him tight.

#day 5 sacrifice #fanfic

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