Work Text:
Pippick thumbed the ring on his finger.
Carefully so too. The wretched ring that used to be a symbol of their partnership, now finally made him realize how awful the idea is. It felt almost romantic to trust someone to lodge a torture device —he realized, finally— and to do it to the other tenfold. Though only one of them had a ring for reasons that may have been made up.
44 didn't feel cruel. She did not feel malicious nor evil. She felt like her, like herself. They might be misguided at times, had a weird way of thinking and experiencing life but that felt like quirks. Endearing quirks.
Which in the end had hurt him. Physically and mentally.
Pippick felt like he was healing, finally. A life in TV World, A partner and some friends. He found joy at the fact that he had found other people that liked him. He hoped 44 was also happy for him too. Happy that he felt good after a while.
Apparently, 44 thought about it differently.
One thing led to another and there was a time he mourned for the pippin he loved.
All that grief, all that pain. Was for something so stupid.
44 came back.
44 explained.
She didn't like that he had made friends.
That, alongside with other reasons, was the reason he wanted to be away from her.
It was hard. Made harder by 44 herself. When he tried to run away she followed. She followed like an overwhelming guilt of a mother mourning the loss of her child. Bright eyes that they once stared at, lovingly, creeped at corners and windows.
He did decide it was enough and called for a divorce.
That made 44 upset.
44 seemed to spiral, muttering nonsense on how they were supposed to be together. Meant to be.
It scared him, even now, remembering it just caused a thrill of fear crawling up his spine. They seemed to not understand the reason why dying because he had made a friend was traumatizing. Especially to him.
44 still didn’t get it.
They apologized for dying.
It didn’t feel honest.
But she still pushed. Pushed hard. Climbing up his windows, staying in his apartment even if he tried to forcefully remove her. She didn't just budge. She rambled on how their relationship still could be fixed! How it will be normal again!
They were anything but normal.
Their divorce was anything but normal too.
Her end was anything but normal. Thrown into dice jail.
Pippick felt anything but normal.
He wanted to feel normal again.
It felt impossible now.
He flinches, thumb accidentally getting caught on a protruding thorn. His eyes lay upon the dreadful thing.
His whole body sags. His HP lessens. Lower than it has been ever since he had slid the ring on his fingers.
Pippick felt so tired.
Tired of everything.
Maybe it was better if he was forgotten
Maybe it was better if he had never climbed back
Maybe it was better if he was just forgotten, rotting deep in the depths of the cliffs