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The grass was cold tonight. Dave shivered a little, but here he remained.
Everyone else always seemed to be off doing their own thing without him, but that was alright. He didn’t need them, and he liked having time to himself. The sound of wind rushing through the grass was relaxing, and the stars above glimmered in a way that he’d grown familiar with. Sometimes he’d think that he could make out a constellation or two, but he was never quite sure. Was the solar system here the same as the one he’d known before? Dave didn’t know, and there was nobody to really ask. His thoughts were often kept to himself, and he wanted to say he was fine with that. It was… weird. Dave had grown so used to having someone by his side to ramble to, that without him… The man gripped at the grass a little and closed his eyes, focusing instead on the cool breeze of the night. Blackjack wasn’t with him tonight; Dave had asked the mutt to go along with Dee and the phone-heads to… wherever it was they were going.
This place was confusing, but it was scenic enough, and Dave tended to stay out of the other’s affairs. Dee was nice enough, but guilt for what he had done came back to haunt him from time to time. All of the others were a constant reminder of before; of Freddy’s…. Of Jack.
There they were; the tears.
Dave sucked in a small, shaky breath through his mouth, unable to keep his emotions under wraps any longer. Nobody was around to see, it was just him and his demons.
Out of all of them, Sportsy had been the most deserving of moving on. He’d spent years working to fix everyone else’s mistakes, and yet he wasn’t here. There was no happy ending for Jack, and there never would be. He had saved everyone but himself; yet Dave, the kiddie strangler, had been able to move on to whatever afterlife this was. It was better than the Flipside; it was peaceful and mostly quiet, and it would have been somewhere that Jack could have found refuge. Jack should have come along, and Dave damned whatever forces had prevented him from doing so. What part of Jack could have possibly followed, though?
Dave hated himself for ever agreeing to move on without him. Part of him had believed that Jack had been mistaken, that somehow, some way, he’d find his way back to him.
Jack always came back to him, and yet, Dave was coming to realize that this was an exception. If only he’d refused to take that damn collar… They could have stayed in the Flipside and made some sort of life there. It wouldn’t have been Vegas, and it wouldn’t have been Colorado, but it would have been home. With Jack there, Dave could have made it a home.
Tears rolled down the man’s face, and he sucked in another small breath, still attempting to be quiet despite his seclusion. After everything he and Jack had been through, and after every bad thing Dave had gotten him to do, Jack was the one that had paid for it. Jack should have been here, not him. Jack should have been here with his siblings and that weird mutt.
Blackjack was his parting gift to Dave, though. Blackjack was the final gift Jack ever gave him. And… for what? Everyone had someone here, yet Dave found himself completely and utterly alone. It didn’t matter how many smiles he faked, or how many jokes he cracked. This was supposed to be their happy ending, so why wasn’t he happy?
A noise pulled Dave from his thoughts, and he sat up with a miserable sniffle, wiping his eyes on the back of his arm. He knew who it was, but he refused to look back at them.
“I’m not in the mood, Blackjack,” he hissed in a stubborn tone.
“What’s wrong?” Came that deceitful voice that mimicked Jack’s perfectly. Blackjack had taken to taking the form of his old vessel in an attempt to comfort Dave, but it often hurt the purple man more than it comforted him. It was just a pleasant lie, and even though Dave was tempted to go along with it and lull himself into some sort of fucked up fictitious reality, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Trying to convince himself that this was Jack when it wasn’t would only lead to more heartache. Jack wasn’t coming. He tried to tell himself that, he really did, but it was something that he simply couldn’t fully accept, nevermind the fact that he knew it was the truth.
Dave took a moment to reply, but as he felt Blackjack sit down behind him and wrap him in a hug, he relaxed just a little. Blackjack knew what was wrong; it was the only thing that ever made Dave cry anymore. Why did the mutt continue to ask what was wrong? Dave supposed that he was just doing his best to comfort him. He wanted Dave to talk to him, yet Dave didn’t feel like going over it all again.
‘Jack is never coming back. I miss him. Why don’t you believe that he’s going to come back? He’s coming back, Blackjack… Tell me that he’s coming back.’
Blackjack’s arms wrapped tightly around Dave’s midsection, holding him close as he rested his head on his back. Dave sucked in a small breath and sniffled.
“You know what’s wrong…” Dave muttered softly. Another cold breeze made both of them shiver, and Dave’s hands came up to hold onto Blackjack’s arms. Both of their bodies had a warmth that they had lacked before, one that their dead bodies simply couldn’t produce.
They weren’t alive here, yet they held a warmth that they had previously lacked. It was a comfort to feel Blackjack’s bodily warmth against him, yet he couldn’t stop the tears flowing down his face. His heart, or whatever was in its place, felt heavy. Dave shivered and gripped onto Blackjack’s arms a little tighter, staring off at the stars that shone brightly in the black of the night sky. Still in his human form, Blackjack pressed his cheek against Dave’s back a little harder, pulling him close as he felt the man’s tears fall onto and run down his arms.
“J-ack.” Dave croaked out in a broken sob. Blackjack remained silent, just hugging Dave close as the tears fell. The sound of Dave’s sobs were audible over the rustling grass, and the cold wind made his wet face cold. “What about him?” The man clinging to Dave asked.
Dave sniffled and struggled to suck in a breath through his sobs. There was another long pause before Dave continued. “It’s not fair…” Dave curled in on himself, tightening his grip on Blackjack’s arms.
“He’s coming back,” Dave began, lying to himself yet again. Blackjack shifted to his knees and wrapped himself around Dave. “I know.” He replied.
Dave paused and slowly opened his eyes. Blackjack had never agreed with him. Blackjack had never sugarcoated the truth. He had never lied to him.
“ W-What? ” Dave choked out. He tensed a little and moved away from the hug, clearly confused and taken back. Dave slipped out of the hug without any trouble, and when he finally turned to face Blackjack, his heart sank.
There, in the grass in front of him, sat Jack. His orange skin and gap-toothed smile made Dave’s chest flutter, and tears began to slip down his face yet again. Jack didn’t have a chance to say anything before he was pushed to the ground in a bone-shattering hug.
“Jack- Sportsy-”
Jack’s arms wrapped around Dave, and the two clung to each other with wide smiles. Dave was a mess, but Jack couldn’t tell Dave’s tears from his own. Both of them were clutching onto each other tightly, refusing to let go. “How- how did you…” Dave went silent as Jack’s hands cupped his damp cheeks. Jack was smiling and tears of joy were streaming down his face.
“Does it matter?” Jack asked with a small laugh.
Dave smiled back, and for once since arriving here, it wasn’t a fake smile.
Jack let out a series of happy laughs as Dave buried his face into his neck, crying uncontrollably. It was a pleasant change from the last time he had seen Dave cry as he held Blackjack, completely miserable as he left Jack behind. That didn’t matter now, though. Jack’s fingers ran through the mess of purple locks that Dave called hair, and he closed his eyes.
He’d answer all of Dave’s questions later, but for now, he just wanted to hold Dave and be held.
There was a lot he had to tell Dave about golden bears and promises fulfilled, but tonight, here, in wherever this place was, he just wanted to lie under this tree, cling to Dave, and feel alright.
Even though the breeze was cold, they were both warm. It was a warmth that they had lacked for a long time, but together, right now, they were comfortable and content, if not a little wet.