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“Hey! Punz!”
Punz turns to the source of the voice. Behind them, Illumina speeds up his pace a little to catch up, and Punz slows their own speed as well.
“Hey, Illumina.”
“I didn’t realise you were going to be here today,” Illumina says, eyes shining with what’s obviously a smile even though the curve of his mouth is hidden behind his mask.
“Yeah, I just…” Punz pauses. Is there a good way to explain exactly why they’re here - why they’ve already been here for hours, running the Ace Race course until they can barely even hold a trident? Is there a good way for them to blurt out the truth about their nightmares about a mind controlling egg and how their only real friend on their world recently escaped from prison and is on the run once again? To say how they needed a break from it all? They don’t think so. Instead, they just settle on, “I thought I might be rusty.”
“Yeah, me too,” Illumina replies, and Punz feels like they aren’t the only one not telling the whole truth. “You want to do some Battle Box duels? Or is the rest of your team coming?”
Punz swallows slightly. “No, just… It’s just me. Battle Box sounds good.”
The two of them walk over to the arena in silence, entering opposing sides and each selecting a kit. As the timer counts down, Punz sheds their stresses, focusing on the upcoming fight. They load the crossbow, feeling its polished wood heavy in their hand, then raise it, aiming and pulling the trigger right as they’re released from the starting area. Illumina ducks to the left, barely avoiding the arrow heading his way, and Punz does the same to evade the projectile Illumina sends in return. They pull out their sword, dodging another arrow, and head toward Illumina. The two of them are evenly matched, going blow for blow against each other, weaving and parrying attacks. Illumina breaks away from close combat, lunging for a damage potion, but before the round can reach a conclusion, the timer runs out.
Punz feels a tug in their gut as they’re teleported out of the arena, landing on the glass above. The solidity beneath their feet grounds them back in reality. The things they’d let go of for the duration of the fight are already creeping back in and they feel their shoulders beginning to tense again. Just as quickly, Illumina also loses some of his relaxed posture, and it feels strange to Punz to notice the stiffness in his usual lax stance: although it’s hard to tell, given that the difference is minor, the contrast is there. Punz frowns, but it’s clear that Illumina’s noticed the same things, because he speaks quickly.
“Do you want to go again?”
The cycle repeats, and at first the two of them win and lose a fairly even number of matches, first one gaining the upper hand and then the other. Slowly though, first just slightly and then more obviously, the thoughts of everything Punz is trying to ignore seep back into their consciousness. They don’t know how many times they fight before they entirely lose their ability to focus, throwing three matches in a row spectacularly.
“Fuck!” they yell, and it’s venting their frustrations with their circumstances more than any true upset at losing. The crossbow flies across the room with a clatter as they throw it in anger, and Illumina flinches almost imperceptibly. He doesn’t try to approach, instead simply watching from across the lava as Punz buries their face in their hands and fights back hot tears of fury and embarrassment. This time, when the timer runs out, Illumina wordlessly gestures for Punz to follow him until they’re both seated on the steps to the arena and catching their breath. Then, through the silence, Illumina speaks quietly but clearly.
“Do you, uh… Do you want to talk about it?”
Punz isn’t exactly a big talk-it-out kind of person. They don’t know where to start. But… There’s this bubbling pressure inside, as if they’ll explode if they don’t talk to somebody about it all, and if they’re going to talk to anybody, why not Illumina? He’s removed enough from the situation, he’s a good person and a good friend, and even if Punz can’t quite tell if Illumina will stand by their actions, they know he’ll at least listen.
“I…” Once again, words fail them.
“Do you want me to go first?” Illumina offers, awkward but genuine. It’s somehow exactly the right thing to suggest. Punz nods stiffly, and Illumina sighs before he starts speaking. “There’s something wrong with Couri. Couriway, you know?”
Punz does know. For a while, Couriway had boasted the record for the fastest Run, and he’s a prominent member of HBG. They haven’t spoken to Couri as much as they have to some of the others in HBG, but Punz is still very aware of his existence.
“What’s up with him?”
“I… We think it’s something to do with his Runs. He’s been finishing them all. People aren’t… People aren’t meant to go through the Void that many times in a row. We all Run a lot, and it touches us all in different ways” - he gives a gesture that highlights the purple sparks that dance almost imperceptibly around his fingertips, and Punz thinks of his own ever so slightly sharpened nails - “but we don’t even get as far as the End half the time. I mean, you know what it’s like. Couri… He’s finishing Run after Run and… He’s different. The feathers in his wings have changed colour, and his eyes… They used to be gold. But they’re just… They’re filled with stars. He’s acting differently, too, like he doesn’t want to do anything except finish Runs, and I swear… I swear he’s spending longer in the Void every time he finishes. We don’t know what to do.”
Punz shivers almost imperceptibly. They’ve heard the call of the Void when they’ve Run themself, but just as Illumina had said, they don’t finish all of their Runs - they don’t even finish most of them. The thought of a nameless voice snaking through Couriway’s brain, telling him softly what a good idea it would be to do certain things… It’s definitely not the same, but it feels uncomfortably similar to the coldness that had invaded Punz’s own mind and soul not as long ago as they’d like it to have been. They don’t know what to say.
“Shit, dude. That’s…” They trail off.
“Yeah. But I’m just telling you so you don’t have to go first,” Illumina says, the ghost of humour in his voice as he bumps his shoulder against Punz’s.
“Right,” Punz agrees. They take a deep breath, trying to think of where to start. “We… Some stuff’s happened recently. And, uh, I guess less recently, too.”
Once they get started, the story trips off their tongue, springing forth like a waterfall of words. The end of the Disc War, the role Punz had played on Dream’s secret request and the way they’d had to pretend to betray their friend for the money that the others had presumed was most important to them, the seeping intrusion of the Egg into the corners of their very being in ways that had only fully registered as wrong and unsettling once its hold on him had loosened, their reunion with Dream following his escape from prison… Everything. The sun never sets on the MCC practice server, but Punz thinks it probably would have if it could by the time they’ve finished talking. Their mouth feels dry, and they feel tired just from the way they’ve gone through everything once again. Still, it somehow feels like some form of weight has lifted from their shoulders, albeit only slightly.
“Better?” Illumina asks quietly after a moment of silence.
“A bit,” Punz answers honestly, “Thank you for listening.”
“Yeah, of course.”
They sit together wordlessly for a short while. Despite the lack of any distractions, they’re both noticeably less tense than before; although neither of them has had their issue resolved at all, it’s reassuring to have shared it and to simply not be alone.
Eventually, Punz glances at the time. They’ve been here far too long, they know: they’re going to have to go home at some point. Illumina gives a sigh. By some kind of silent agreement, they both stand.
“One last round?”
This time, the fight is balanced once again. It’s a deadly dance of swords, and when the time finally ends they’re both standing, panting, swords simultaneously pressed against each other’s necks, both prepared to land a final blow. The weapons dissolve from their hands as they rematerialise above the glass which had been over their heads moments ago, and as they wander out, Punz feels as though something’s settled inside them.
“Frick,” Illumina laughs softly, “I thought I had it on that one.”
“No shot,” Punz retorts, “I would have got you if I had one more minute.”
As Punz readies themself to depart, Illumina stops them with a hand on their arm.
“Hey, I know I can’t help with whatever’s happening over there with you guys, but… Maybe, if you wanted, we could… Same time next week?”
Punz gives a smile, more genuine than many they’ve felt recently. “Yeah. Same time next week.”
The last thing they see before the world dissolves and they return home is the scrunch of Illumina’s eyes as he smiles back.