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Tango opens his eyes, to see himself and Scott on the edge of a high cliff.
Scott stands in front of him, arms crossed in front of his chest, blue hair blowing in the warm summer wind.
“Scott?” the blazeborn asks.
Scott turns his head, his icy blue eyes staring directly into Tango’s soul before he leans forward, throwing his arms out.
Tango lunges forward to grab Scott.
The blaze hybrid’s finger tips graze the back collar of Scott’s blue jacket before the elf falls.
“SCOTT!” Tango yells, jumping off the cliff after him.
Tango blinks his eyes open again and he is standing on a suburban town street.
across the street he sees a body laying on the top steps of his old high school.
Tango runs across the street to the school steps, seeing fluffy blue hair blowing in the summer wind from where it sits attracted to its body that’s laying on the cement steps..
He races up the stairs, his heart racing in his chest.
He reaches the top, and he sees a terrifying amount of blood.
The crimson liquid is running down the steps, all from the body at the top.
Tango kneels next to the body, and Scott’s eyes move to him.
He reaches up a hand and touches Tango’s chest.
His hand is cold, but isn't the elf always cold to the touch.
Tango brushes a strand of blue hair from Scott’s face.
Blood dribbles out from the corner of Scott’s mouth, joining the pool below him.
Tango reaches down, pulling his boyfriend into his arms, to hold him, tears sliding down the blazeborn’s cheeks.
That’s when Scott’s eyes fly open wide, before they role into the black of his head as his body convulses violently in Tango’s arms, pained noises ripping from his open mouth, as more and more blood, flows from the corner, to join the ever growing pool soaking into Tango’s pants.
“No, no, no.” Tango cries, not knowing what to do.
After an agonizing few minutes Scott’s body stills, a breath escaping his open mouth, releasing into the cold air of Riverdell in a cloud of smoke.
Scott’s body starts to cool quickly. The life gone from his eyes.
Tango cries even harder, and some of his tears side down his face and land on Scott’s pale one.
The tears are a golden orange and the skin near where they hit starts to burn as Tango’s lava tears burn Scott.
Scott screams as his face is burnt off by Tango’s tears.
Tango scrambles back from the horrifying sound, wiping the remaining tears from his face.
His tears never burned his lovers. They used to be just water.
Tango scrambles back, the cold of the snow soaking into his blood stained pants as he stands up and runs away from the screaming into Riverdall.
Tango blinks his eyes again and finds himself in Tumble Town.
He stands on shaky legs looking down at his hands, finding no traces of Scott’s blood on his hands.
He looks back up and sees Jimmy’s house.
He runs to the house of his beloved canary hybrid.
“Jimmy!” he says, running through the house looking for his soulmate.
He finds the avian sitting on his bed, Scott’s bloody and burnt jacket on over his Sheriff outfit. He is staring down at a picture of him and Scott from 3rd life.
“Jimmy?” Tango asks.
“Why did you not save him?” Jimmy says quietly, a tear sliding down his cheek and chin, landing on Scott’s face in the picture.
“What?” Tango asks his boyfriend.
“Why did you not save SCOTT!” Jimmy says, standing up.
“Jimmy-” Tango is cut off as Jimmy lunges at him, smashing their lips together, but it all feels wrong.
Tango blinks his eyes and suddenly it’s Etho, holding the front of his post office uniform shirt, holding him in a kiss.
“Mmffh.” Tango says, planting his hands on Etho’s chest, and separating them.
“Oh my gosh look at him, so pathetic, and in need of kisses since his boyfriend died .” Pearl mocks in a high pitched voice, pouting, as she adjusts the postmaster satchel over her shoulder.
“What-”
Tango is cut off by a hard kick to his back.
He lands face first, and rolls over, blinking up at the sunlight.
“Oh did I hurt you buddy ?” Skizz asks, glaring down at Tango.
“Skizz?”
A kick lands against his ribs on his left side.
Tango gasps in pain as Impulse comes into view.
“Sorry.” Impulse says, grinning, pulling back his leg before slamming another kick to Tango’s ribs.
Zedaph comes into view on his right side.
“Come on.” he says, kicking Tango’s right side with his hoofed foot, “it can’t hurt that bad.” he says, a mean grin on his face.
The three of them start kicking Tango, saying one mean thing after another.
“Stupid.”
“Worthless.”
“Pathetic.”
“Leach.”
“Monster.”
“Waist.”
Tango curls in on himself, putting his arms over his head as his friends kick him, tears sliding down his face.
Then all of a sudden the kicks stop.
Tango hesitantly pulls his head from his hands to see Jimmy and Scott, their backs to him.
They turn around.
“Do you really think we love you?” Jimmy says, glaring at him. How could those brown eyes be so cruel?
Scott looks at him with back eyes, blood pouring out of his mouth as he speaks, “you couldn't even save me .” he says, “why do you think we ever loved you.”
Jimmy and Scott rip off the matching necklaces Tango gave them last Christmas, throwing them at him.
“We hate you.” they say at the same time.
Someone shakes Tango’s arm, and he blinks his eyes open to see the ceiling of his room.
Jimmy’s face appears over Tango’s, “hey.” he says softly, “you okay?”
Tango scrambles back, ready for something like bloody tears to start falling from Jimmy’s eyes.
The blazeborn’s chest is rising and falling in a rapid beat as his eyes fly from Jimmy to Scott, back and forth.
He feels wet tears slide down his face.
“I think he had a really bad nightmare.” Scott says to Jimmy, but Tango does not process the words, his heart racing to face for him to understand.
“Tango, can you hear me?” Scott says, stepping closer to the edge of Tango’s bed.
Tango hesitantly nods as his body trembles.
“Okay, can you copy my breathing.” Scott says, exaggerating his breathing for Tango to follow.
Tango has trouble at first, breathing out, but breathing in, in short gasps.
Events he gets his breathing under control, and he relaxes.
“Can I touch you?” Scott asks, taking a small white device from Jimmy who is behind him.
Tango wordlessly nods.
Scott crawls onto the bed and points the device at Tango’s forehead.
“Jim, what's the normal temperature for a blaze hybrid?” Scott asks, grimacing at the small screen on the device.
Jimmy shows Scott something on his communicator and Scott sighs, “he has a fever.” he says, “can you grab a fire resistance potion.
Jimmy nods leaving the room, before coming back with a potion bottle.
“Can you drink this?” Scott asks, taking the bottle from Jimmy and uncorking it.
Tango nods, taking the bottle, and drinking it. He hands the empty bottle to Scott.
“What’s going on?” Tango asks, shuddering at the tingling feeling from the potion.
“You texted us saying you felt sick and would be missing our date so we decided to make you some soup and come to you.” Scott explains.
“You were crying and whimpering and I got scared.” Jimmy says, “I woke you up and you started panicking.” he says, looking down at his feet, “I’m sorry.”
Tango swallowed the taste of bile on his tongue. His hands feel like they are going to fall off from all the trembling they are doing.
“Is it okay if we stay over and help you get better?” Scott asks.
“Why?” Tango asks, the words from his nightmare ringing in his head in Scott and Jimmy’s voices.
“Because we love you.”