The Murdergame-verse: Murder-free AU

"Pixie."

Pixie appears and casts Dia on Stew to heal his leg.

OK, maybe not. It won't work if it's all a mental thing. Just... this crazy nightmare, dude... I'm never going to a doctor's office again.

it’s not about you losing me at this point. I’ve seen enough to know that you’re worth every second of time we’ve ever spent together, every second we will spend together in the future. I won’t hurt you, I won’t throw you away, you deserve so much better than that... but I’m worried I’m going to lose you. I don’t want you to retreat into an impenetrable emotionless shell because your memories have all finally come back. people care for you, Ikei—I care for you. I don’t want to lose you.

-giving it more thought—

"It's not just meh who has to go back and prevent the bad things from happening. It's the others ah remember... like the Meta, and the Ikei, ah spoke to yesterday. They suffer greatly. Just like me. And others too."

-he jumps into the dumpsters- "Please let me find what ahm looking for. Ah've been trying to find such device for so long. Ah don't wanna give up. Ah want justice for everyone."

What she said, Ikei. I care for you, no matter how much my fucking veins hurt, holy shit-

"...Pixie..."

Pixie comes back and casts Dia on Stew once again.

I already said, it won't work. Do you see any visible damage on my body?

   "Shit, you felt the pain too? I...I'm just scared, I'm so sorry about this, I just didn't want Meta to suffer with those memories alone and...all this happened."   

   "I...I want to feel emotion. It terrifies me, and I'm not sure if I can do it, but I still want to feel something. I...want to love you, Cut. Please, let me do this."   

Demi-fiend, can you leave me alone and just let me forcefully injec-

He cringes at that word.

I mean, insert myself into their emotional moment, like I always do?

"...I don't care, do what you want."

His whole body tenses up and he goes into a fetal position.

Oh, god, why was that dream so... real?

-digging through and chucking garbage out of the dumpster left and right- "Come on, come on! There has to be something, anything. After past thousand dumpsters, this might be the lucky one...ahm almost at the bottom."

Ikei... [Cutbug pauses.] I don’t know what you mean by “let you do this”, like—let you do what? but... if you want me to... I’ll let you. I love you.

I saw someone dead... was it... oh, god, who was it? Who was dead? What the hell was going on?

   "I love you too."    He pulls Cutbug in tighter.    "Please don't doubt that for a minute, I won't lie to you or do anything your dad did to fuck with your head, just know that I love you, and I mean it."   

From behind the (now rather broken) door...

Finally, they've stopped tryin'...

It seemed so real... Is my mind trying to block it out? Was it actually real? Did it actually happen to me? I- I DON'T KNOW! AM I EVEN REAL ANYMORE? WHY DOES IT HURT SO BAD?

[Cutbug begins to respond to Ikei’s speech, but when she hears Hydroxyl’s voice from behind the door, her eyes snap open.] was that...

   "Oh yeah. That asshole's back."   

He manages a genuine smile.    "You wanna attack that hydro bitch?"   

-reaching to the bottom and finding nothing-

"Again. What did ah expect?"

-jumps out and sits in front of the dumpster, with his back against it- "Every single time. Sigh." -takes a small bottle of liquor and downs it, and lights a cigarette afterwards-

Stew doesn't even hear Hydroxyl.

He just breaks down, and has tears streaming from his eyes.

Is this what insanity is like? Is this what it's like to completely lose it? I DON'T EVEN FEEL LIKE I BELONG IN THIS BODY ANYMORE!

After hearing Hydroxyl's voice, Demi-fiend's eyes widen as he throws a punch at the door.

My body feels cold... but my blood feels like it's boiling... Please, make it stop...

The door cracks open at last, revealing... What looks like every bit of room furniture not nailed down blocking it.

No No NO! GO AWAY! Ah'm NOT BOTHER'N YOU, AH'M JUS' IN MAH ROOM!

[Cutbug looks at Ikei and smiles back.] hell yeah, I do. he caused the two... no, the three of us a whole lot more grief than you, your lil sib and I deserved. he poisoned me, shot you, drove Meta to suicide... and I heard it from the grapevine that he hosted his own murdergame of sorts, with That Manipulative Asshole’s endorsement, is that true?