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Death had followed sung his whole life, from the deaths of his parents, to the deaths of those on planets he was unable to save.
It motivated him just as much as it saddened him It became his force to keep going, to do better, to be better for others. And with that drive he gained both friends and enemies, and with each one his desire to help and spread groove grew.
Phobos felt it too. From the loss of his planet, he grew anger and sorrow, both of which pushed him to help people in the ways he couldn't help his own. He still held an anger towards Meowch but with time and effort they had become decent enough friends.
Sung was happy to see them grow and adapt to their own experiences and circumstances.
Havve didn't fully understand the grief of the others, but nonetheless, he helped as best he could. He found comfort with the band and His perfect sense of rhythm kept the others in a grove that spread across the planets they traveled, destroying sadness and boredom one note at a time.
The biggest obstacle they faced seemed to be a dark reflection of their own friend, an almost identical copy of doctor sung in many ways, but filled with anger and hate. His only goal seemed to be destroying their plans and de-groovifying the universe, filling it with boredom instead. He seemed to travel in time with them, almost predicting their every move, and challenging their music.
Sung considered him a nuisance at best and a stubborn problem at worst, but never considered how far his shadowed reflection would go to kill the bands dream.
But they weren’t in space and today wasn’t filled with danger and hazardous missions, today was a Tuesday, which meant it was the doctors day to take a walk through town and get some coffee for him and his friends. "fuel for our music" had been Meowches explanation when he first mentioned the idea, it made no difference to the doctor, if it made his crew happy then he was happy.
just another benefit of their current home.
The coffee shop was well lit, smelled like fresh coffee and cake, and was filled with a light swaying ex music. The person at the counter took his usual order: plain coffee with no sugar and extra creme for the Commander, earl grey tea with honey and vanilla for Phobos, black coffee for Hogan, and a Carmel frappe with a few too many shots of espresso for himself, the barista always gave him a wary look for that last one.
Taking the coffees and stepping out of the building, he started his walk home, being brisk while enjoying the sights.
They all loved Toronto, and he recounted some of their less intense adventures in Canada as he walked along the familiar paths.
There was the time Meowch got caught in a group of furrys, he wouldn't have minded so much if they hadn't insisted on petting and 'booping' him. He walked away with a messy mane and a scowl, the others wouldn't let him live it down and insisted on hanging a photo of him with the jovial group in the living room. Meowch avoided that convention center for months after.
Or when Havve found a small fuzzy robot toy in a local shop, a ‘Furby’ if his memory serves him. The robot insisted on bringing it home immediately, leaving the others to pay for his new friend. "Pluto" still lived happily in his room, and though Havve didn't talk directly to it, it ended up learning speech from the others and spent most of its time humming or swearing. Havve seemed to adore the thing and still insisted on bringing to both movie nights and jam sessions, petting and ‘feeding’ it regularly.
Passing by the library reminded him of the time all of them got banned after bringing the Mobile Fun Unit in one day. The only one allowed anymore is Phobos because he doesn't cause a ruckus, or kill anyone. The rest of the team still pester him into renting books on their behalf, unfortunately Phobos learned the hard way not to lend any to Meowch after ‘The Incident’.
The memory's swam over him instilling good vibes and readying him for an epic music session, he couldn't wait to see what they came up with this time.
He placed the key in the lock but found it already unlocked and slightly askew, one of them most likely forgot the door.
He chuckled and bumped the door open with his hip while haphazardly putting his keys away.
Looking around, he could see that the guys weren't in the living room or kitchen. Hoping they hadn't started without him, he raced through kicking off his shoes and throwing his coat onto a nearby chair before making his way to their music room.
He settled into a speedwalk listing for any signs of musical betrayal. "you guys better be waiting for me! otherwise I'm drinking your coffee!" he laughed out while creaking open the door.
Before him sat four faces, all familiar.
Havve Hogan, lay next to his drum kit jaw ripped off and chest cavity open, wires a mess with many components missing, Pluto lay next to him covered in the oil from his open chest.
Phobos sat on the couch leaned awkwardly sideways, mask off and eyes still open, blood trailing out of his mouth and from his neck. His white guitar stained with his own drying blood.
Meowch was hunched forward, bass on the ground and a knife planted firmly in his back, a pained groan emitted from his friend but before he could convince his own body to move towards him, he made eye contact with the final figure.
Doctor boredom stood next to the couch, hand on the blade currently burried in the Commander. An almost twisted grin spread across his face, lop sided and forced.
Bordoms voice was quiet, yet seemed to boom in Sungs ears like a gunshot. "You cant save everone 'Doctor', one of these days youll see how useless it all really is."
And with that, he left Sung frozen in place staring at the shattered remains of the happy life they had worked so hard to build. His closest friends, the family he had built across galaxies, destroyed by the very thing he spent his life trying to eliminate, only this time, in a humanoid form.
Another loss, another death, another failure.
Before he could fall too far into his own despair, he caught the haggard sound of the Commander, barely holding on to his own consciousness. leaving the coffee forgotten and tossed to the ground, he rushed to him and knelt by his side. Leaning him upward by his arms as to not disturb the blade still lodged in his back, sung looked at Meowches half open eyes that seemed unable to focus on him fully.
"...doc?..." his voice came out strained and hoarse.
he assessed the severity of the situation and took a deep breath before speaking "Yeah... I'm here, bud. I got you, you're gonna be okay..."
There was no way Sung could fix this.
"I promise"
Meowch half chuckled before speaking "...I'm not getting out of this one...I know that..." he looked towards sung and the tears that fell from under his visor.
"...its okay...we haven't lost yet..." he reached a hand out to his friend as a reassurance for this unfixable problem.
Sung shook his head, breaking into sobs. he couldn't fix this, he was going to lose the last bit of family he had, and he couldn’t do anything about it.
Pulling his visor off he looked at Meowch, unobscured for a final time. Gaze fixed onto the dying form of his close friend.
"I- I'm so sorry." Meowch slumped further into the doctor's arms looking into his eye one last time before leaning his head on his friend's shoulder.
Meowch went slack, it still hurt but the pain felt farther from him than it did before, like a a burning that just barely grazed his skin. "...don't be like that..." he steadied himself, eyes getting heavy and breathing more difficult. "...I believe in you...we all do..."
His eyes closed as if falling asleep and suddenly it was over. And for the first time doctor sung felt like he understood his counterpart just a bit more, angry at a cruel universe allowing the people he cares for to be ripped from him like that. It wasn't fair, not for any of them.
But he was going to fix it, no matter the cost.