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When consciousness returned to him, he was laying slumped in the corner of one of the holds. From his position, he must have hit his head on the wall behind him hard enough to black out, and it sure felt like it. Whatever had happened, he'd lost his helmet in the fight. Raz must've been practicing his teleki- wait. RAZ.
The memories of their battle made him jolt upright. Raz had to get off this ship - if the others found him he might not be so lucky. Picturing all the terrible things that could happen should the kid run into Elaine, or Sam and Max, or even just Nelson made him panic. He had to find him, had to convince him to leave.
Stepping out into the dark hallways of the lower deck, Eddie stood still for a moment and listened. If Raz was nearby, maybe he could hear him, and if anyone else was nearby, he'd probably hear them too. Standing, alone, in the shadowy corridor, a creeping unease started to come over him. It was quiet. Too quiet. There was nothing and no one in the immediate area, which was strange. Usually there'd be at least one of Elaine's spiders, or the barest flicker of movement from one of Nelson's little helpers. Heck, no matter where you were you could probably catch the sound of Sam and Max thundering around, chasing some poor quarry through the ship. Something was off. Something was wrong. Where was everyone?
Opening a few of the doors he passed to peek inside, Eddie found no trace of anyone as he made his way towards the main deck. Something had definitely happened while he was out, there was evidence of a struggle near where Elaine had set up a nursery. His stomach sank. What if he was too late? What if she'd already gotten Raz? Or worse.... what if Raz hadn't been alone? What if everyone was gone because the Psychonauts had come for them - and put an end to them??
Breaking into a run, skidding around corners and thundering up the stairs, Eddie made for the topside like the ship was going to capsize. As he turned the doorknob he finally heard the first sign of life; Engines. Not combustion engines, no, this was some kind of turbine, and it was powerful. Throwing open the door, the sight of the Psychonauts' high-tech jet plane in the pale moonlight shocked him. Not least, because Milla was here. Levitating herself and Nelson into it.
For a moment, he was locked in place. In the next, he was charging forward at full speed to try and reach-
The pain hit him like a truck. For the first time since he'd been turned- no, for maybe the first time ever, he thought he knew what it was like to be burned. He'd been so preoccupied with the plane he hadn't noticed Sasha standing on the deck, and the blast had taken him by surprise.
When his ears had stopped ringing, and the pain receded enough to let him see something other than pure white, he put a hand to his face to inspect the damage. Anyone else might be dead, or at least seriously wounded, but his current state of being meant the blast had done little more than send him to his hands and knees for a spell. Still, the flesh of his face felt warm to the touch, and pliant enough to tell him what he already knew. He was way past due for a proper feeding.
Gingerly, he got to his feet. Walking to the railing, watching the jet speed off toward the horizon, Eddie felt like the floor had fallen out from under him.
They left me.
I'm unsalvageable.
I'm alone.
I can't do this alone.
I won't do this alone.
The impact on the surface of the ocean never came. He had jumped, to be sure, but he'd stopped falling almost immediately.
"EddDiiieEeee...."
Looking up, he came almost face to face with Guybrush's bruised and saddened face. Looking further, Eddie could see Guybrush's legs wrapped around the ship's railing like thin blue ropes, coiling and shifting to find the best position for anchoring. Trailing down, Guybrush had his slinky arms wrapped three times each around Eddie's torso to act as a fall-arrest. Slowly, gently, so carefully it felt like Eddie was floating of his own accord, Guybrush pulled him back up onto the deck and away from the railing as far as he could in his weakened state.
When he felt Guybrush cocoon him even further in his limbs, meant perhaps to be a comfort to him, or a reassurance that he wasn't going anywhere, Eddie broke into full on sobbing. Softly cooing his name, Eddie could feel Guybrush start to cry as well. After a while, long enough for the sun to rise, when the pair had long since run out of tears to shed, he sat up. Without breaking the embrace, Eddie took a moment to take stock of the situation.
Everyone was gone, it seemed, except for him and Guybrush. He had seen Nelson with his own two eyes, so it was most likely that they weren't dead. He hadn't sensed anything off Nelson, not the Eye, not the Spiral, and Guybrush was more formless than usual. Someone had found a way to break the curse on Nelson. Did that mean everyone else was free as well? Everyone but the two of them...
Before he could spiral too far back into despair, a thought occurred to him - if he had succeeded, what would have come of Guybrush? Could Guybrush even die in this form? What would Guybrush do all on his own?
He could keep going, he decided, if only just for Guybrush.