Chapter 1: Introduction/Disclaimers
Chapter Text
Hello.
If the title and the summary didn't already clue you in, "The Supplementary Material" is intended to be read in conjunction with Squadron Six (and it's standalone prequel Countdown To Rebellion when noted in A/Ns). I highly recommend you to read Squadron Six to get the appropriate context, otherwise you'll be very, very confused (I swear the writing gets better after chapter 3 in that fanfic please TRUST ME ON THIS ONE). But if you don't want to, that's perfectly fine by me because I can't really stop you.
The placement of the chapters in the canon of the AU (if applicable) is noted in the beginning A/Ns. Because I often reference music in my chapter titles, the ending A/Ns contain the name of the song and the artist who made it in case you feel like giving the song a listen yourself. Just be aware my music palette may be a bit... *different* than what most of the fandom is used to. Not all chapters in this (or Countdown To Rebellion) are named after song titles like in Squadron Six, so a title isn't a reference unless the A/N says otherwise.
Lastly, the same general content warnings from Squadron Six (violence, vulgar language, and mental health issues) apply here as well. I'll mention chapter-specific content warnings in the beginning A/N, mainly because not every chapter is going to be heavy or a gut punch... because this is a place where some of the stuff (both silly and otherwise) that doesn't really "fit" the pacing of the main fic or the prequel goes. I mean this AU has Book suffering from a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Gaty being a rapper with a podcast coexisting in the mainfic lmao.
So in all, think of this as like an AU expansion of sorts. With all this out of the way, I hope you enjoy the stuff here.
Chapter 2: Chapter 12.5: Land Of Confusion
Summary:
In which the Squadron’s worm thing does strange things and the Squadron gets the brunt of it.
Notes:
So this was originally gonna be the 13th chapter, but I ended up excising it from the main story because I couldn't get a good start on it and it felt like wayyy too much of my energy was spent on figuring out how to write what amounted to a goofy ass filler chapter. That being said, this is canon to the main story, and takes place during "An Eagle In Your Mind" (Arc 1 chapter 12). Tragically, that crime scene-esque position wasn’t because they were bad at Just Dance (although I AM open to doing a chapter about that lmao)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sometime before...
Three objects: 8-Ball, Book, and Fanny, were outside trying to figure out the strange warm thing that had only been discovered by Fanny just a few hours before.
The worm itself was strange. Besides the fact it resembled the old Algebralien hosts, it also looked like one of those cheap-o worm on a string toys at the same time.
Donut didn't show up; he opted to stay behind and watch the base, and Saw was always busy at her hitman job, so she couldn't even go.
"Okay, so, my hypothesis is that the worm powers the gun that we saw Clock hold."
"Just because it looks like an Algebralien, does not mean it's necessarily an Algebralien." Book was holding the pieces of the gun that Fanny had yoinked from her hours ago.
They weren't too far from their base, only a brisk, five minute walk. But at least it would be enough, just in case things went sideways.
Fanny held out the worm in her hand. "'What kind of things can this thing even do?' is what I'm trying to figure out. If my theory about it powering a gun is correct, then I may have stumbled something that might be like the old hosts."
8-Ball looked at Fanny. "If it powers the gun, then how would you even try and get it to shoot is the question."
"All I know is that it teleported. That's what we all saw."
"So was it, like, a teleportation device? Because even if it was, the old algebraliens could teleport. Then again, causation does not equal correlation."
Book shook her head. "I have my doubts if this thing is even algebralien-related at all."
8-Ball moved his eyes over to Book. "I mean, it kind of has your pattern, though." He teased.
"Just because I look like this goofy worm doesn't mean I am the goofy worm. If that was true, then I probably would have been the one in your hands. And that worm must have been a thing I quote-unquote "callously" abandoned in the war, or something sad like that in the movies."
"You're saying you'd be a deadbeat parent!?"
"No? I never said I was. I was cracking a joke." She glared at Fanny. "You need to loosen up a little bit more, Fanny."
"How about you try putting in the worm in the gun? This is a gun that's apparently powered by a worm you theorized as being connected to the Algebraliens, so we should stop dilly dallying and get something done."
"That's enough, I guess." Book pulled out the old parts of the gun that had been broken apart beforehand and gave them to Fanny.
The worm crawled back in.
"We're not gonna hurt you. I promise."
"So how about you try aiming at the ground? See what it does." 8-Ball pointed over to the ground that was beside him.
Fanny aimed at the ground. It created a hole.
"Oh, so it creates a hole. How about you try making another hole?"
A different hole. Not too far from the old one.
"Wonder what this does..." 8-Ball rolled inside one of the holes. He was flung out the other hole with a surprised yell.
"I don't know who this Bricko bastard is, but... an innocent thing was being used to power this weapon, and that's low. Already makes me hate him." She shook her head, voice low.
Fanny opened up the gun again and hooked the worm on one of her fingers, helping it climb out. "I'm sorry you had to go through that again. I promise that won't happen ever."
"Okay. Well, it's settled. It does power that teleportation thing, but it's still inconclusive if it's an algebralien or not." 8-Ball turned around to face the other two objects. "Follow me back to base."
The group started making their way back to base.
8-Ball slowed his rolling to catch up with Fanny. "Psshh. Imagine it just randomly teleports us to, like, some spooky place or whatever."
Fanny glanced over at 8-Ball. "You mean that weird playground? What about that one dimension with the flower fields or whatever?"
"I have no clue what you two are talking about." Book said, not even bothering to look behind her.
"Book, you probably missed a lot during TPOT."
"I was still in the game." She shot back. "I just never got involved in the One shit. I'm surprised she didn't actually go after me, 'cause I was the one with a basket-case of problems."
-
Afternoon.
Saw was home from work, cleaning her weapons.
Donut still sat on the couch, like he was in deep thought. The Sqaudron just excused as him trying to be a cool philosopher.
Fanny set the worm down on the table. "We've come to the conclusion that this weird worm thing may or may not be an Algebralien. Definitely powers that gun, yes, but we're not sure if it's connected or not. Like 8-Ball said, causation does not equal correlation."
8-Ball shrugged. "Who knows? It could be some weird Frankenstein thing, or something else entirely. I dunno."
The worm sat on the table like it was a cat. On the side, there was a canister of the gray tuna-like substance that the Squadron would eat; beforehand, they were trying to see if the worm would even eat it. It ate only a little bit, but that must have been enough.
Book sighed. "Frustrating. Where'd this thing even come from? And if that bastard Clock said it was from his boss, Bricko, where did this Bricko person even get this worm from?"
"That is the million dollar question. A question that we probably won't even know the answers to."
The worm started to move again. But the Squadron didn't notice, they were too busy chatting away. The worm crawled its way to the floor, heading towards the couch, where Saw sat next to Donut.
"With your job and your boss, has he considered asking one of us to join in on your job?" Donut glanced at Saw.
"He's considered it. I don't think he'll actually go through with it, though. He said bringing one of you or all of you would be like 'taking a fish out of water', that was the justification he gave me."
"Bit funny to me. We've been living alone for a while, so I don't blame him for thinking we're weird."
"Well I did have to explain to him that, yeah, I still live in the old Squadron Grounds that everybody else left or died in. Why would you want to come out and bother me if we all live amongst ghosts, you know?"
"Do you know where the worm went?" Book asked Fanny, her eyes looking at the empty part of the table.
"Well, it's crawling up the couch. Like, look at this..." Fanny walked over to worm.
"Look at this little thing. This little thing, apparently, powered a teleportation gun. This Bricko person was using a harmless thing to power his gun. That's fucked up, right?"
Saw and Donut nodded. "It is fucked up."
"Hey 8-Ball, I have a question for you. You've done maintenance on your own stuff recently, right?" Book spoke to 8-Ball, who sat across from her at the table.
"I did, yeah. I did a few hours ago before we left."
"Oh, good. I was just wondering if–"
"HOLY SHIT THE WORM IS GLOWING!" Donut said, panicked.
They didn't even have enough time to comprehend what the worm was about to do.
It just glowed.
And then, darkness.
-
The greenish grass could almost fool someone into thinking that nothing had happened aside from teleporting to a different part of Goiky.
Until they looked to the orange, smog covered sky. The sun was blocked out, but the presence of its light still was evident regardless.
8-Ball was the first to notice the changes to the environment around him. His head pounded like he was thrown into a brick wall.
I can't feel my head. Come on limbs, make me feel something.
Normally, all of his mechanical limbs would come out, but this time, they seemed to be stuck.
"Well shit." He mumbled under his breath before rolling upwards slightly. If he couldn't feel or do anything his limbs, he could always do what he did best: rolling.
"Alright, it's okay, I've done this before. I gotta make sure nothing happened to any of us-" He was cut off by the screaming of one of his comrades.
Donut was on the ground, his cherry filling was seemingly leaking out of his body, and yet strangely he had no holes or cuts to trace where it could have come from. His eyes were frazzled and full of panic.
Donut's eyes darted over to 8-Ball's. "8-Ball! I-I-I don't know what's going on! All I remember was that I was on the floor trying to clutch my arm guns and now I'm here in this hellscape bleeding and having no idea what's going on!"
"Donut, please try to calm down. Do you know if you can try standing up?" He rolled over to him.
He started by putting his feet on the ground, followed by sitting up. Despite the cherry filling, he felt no pain at all.
"Hm. Maybe I'm fine after all."
"Donut, I'm gonna go and try to find the others. You should stay here to see if any of them come to you."
"What do you mean about the others?" A familiar voice spoke to them, coming ever closer to them.
"Oh, hey Book."
"Your head's on backwards." 8-Ball said bluntly.
"Don't screw with me right now 8-Ball! I've got all of my body in perfect order! See?" She pointed to her eyes. "Eyes, mouth, and my limbs!"
"You aren't pointing anything in our direction."
"Yes I am! Eyes..." Her eyes opened and glanced downwards.
Hold on.
"Why is my head on backwards?"
"So you finally figured it out. Looks like whatever happened stole some of your intelligence too."
"THIS IS BULLSHIT!" They all glanced over to Fanny. She seemed to be the least affected by whatever had happened to all of them, as aside from her mechanical arms not working, her head was connected by a string that extended from her "neck". No blood seemed to be coming out of her.
Saw, meanwhile, was covered in rust, and her weapons had been grotesquely fused with her arms. Some blood trickled out of where the handle of the hand saws would normally be.
"How are all of you except for Fanny bleeding? That doesn't make any sense!"
"Nothing is making sense here! I can't even see properly!" Book sputtered from the ground, trying to cope with the predicament they all had found themselves in.
"Come on, how about we try and find a way out?"
...
The entire place was an empty wasteland of green grass, with no signs of life that indicated some kind of presence. It was almost maddening, like what the definition of insanity would be according to a certain Squadron member.
It was just... walking. It felt like they were in some kind of purgatory where they, the sinners that were soldiers, stayed aimless until they redeemed themselves... whatever that meant.
It was like this for what seemed like hours. Just walking, silence, trying to figure out this strange landscape that seemed vaguely familiar, but none of them had ever been to before. It was like a strange sense of déjà vu that engulfed the entire group.
Eventually, they managed to make their way over to some bit of actual structure that seemed to exist in this strange place... a playground. The few structures that remained seemed to be made up of mathematical symbols; Omega for a swing set, for example. It was one of the things that stood out to them the most.
"If I was the Alpha and I was also the Omega..." 8-Ball said as he stared at the swing-set. "...What would that mean?"
Book glanced over at him. "Well, obviously you'd be a rare leader."
He rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Captain Obvious." Flat, but still had affection to it.
"We've walked for who knows how long, and the only thing that's here is a playground. Have any of you actually been here before?" Saw asked innocently.
"Saw, does it look like we ever get a chance to leave Goiky?" Donut said bluntly.
"Sorry, I was just curious. I wasn't trying to offend you all." Saw put her foot up on a seesaw.
The only other person that was there actually did that with her was Fanny. "Heh. swee-swa." She put a foot on the other end of the seesaw, and they both moved the see-saw up and down.
"This is like some weirdo Yoyle City reflection almost. At least I remember it had like no smog."
Fanny didn't lift her eyes, she kept them at ground level. "This is like an environmentalist's worst nightmare or something. Grass is fine but the air is fucked."
Book went to go sit on one of the swing-sets. "What even is the point of this place?"
"Trying to be a philosopher again, like me?"
"How come you and 8-Ball somehow got out of this perfectly fine, but Fanny doesn't even have a proper neck anymore, my head's on backwards, and Saw doesn't even have hands."
"I don't know, beats me. I all know was that we were bleeding when we came in here."
She looked over at Donut. "Were you bleeding?"
"A little bit. Not much, though."
"Did your blood actually taste delicious like Ruby said once?"
"Why are you asking these questions now?"
"Just curious, because we're on the topic of blood. Oh and by the way, the blood weapons are never gonna work. Just wanted to shut that down before it came back up."
"We weren't talking about blood weapons, though!"
"Okay, but I think most of us would rather talk about what our blood looks like or blood weapon shit that we know isn't gonna work."
8-Ball rolled into the conversation. "Oh, it's only 'not gonna work' because you said so. Blood is thicker than water."
Donut looked at 8-Ball. "So is chip liquid."
"Same thing. They're both thicker than water and it's not gonna work unless we did some magic scientific technology that would even make that even remotely accomplishable."
At this point, the Squadron had actually given up going forward — if only for the sole reason that this old playground seemed to be the only thing that resembled anything resembling sanity, like an island in the middle of a vast ocean of nonsense. It still worked perfectly fine. Just old.
8-Ball was put on a free swing next to Book by Donut.
"I can't believe the single place that we found, and it's just this playground. Was this used by the Algebraliens?"
"It might have been. I don't know about you, but it's like, what I remember it sounded like it was almost a fall from grace."
Book raised an eyebrow at Donut. "Have you been reading those Algebraic fairytales again?"
"Not really. Just going off of memory." Donut pushed the swing to make 8-Ball, well, swing because his arms and legs don't work.
"I'm curious though. Donut, do your gun weapons still work? I mean, with the way that we came in, some of our technology must have stopped working."
"That's why you use melee weapons as well!" Saw said, turning to face the objects on the swing-set.
Fanny's eyes looked (as much as a dangling head held with a string could anyways) at Saw. "The only people that actually use melee weapons that aren't tied to some form of technology are you and Book, and Book's fucking obsessed with the crowbar."
Book held up her crowbar. "This, mind you, helped me get out of some real tough shit a while ago."
"What, is that your baby?"
"No, it's not my baby. You think that's my other kid along with the worm?"
8-Ball sighed. "Are you two seriously still on about that worm deadbeat parent thing from before?"
"It is kind of a stupid subject, I'm not gonna lie."
"Yeah." Book looked at her crowbar. Still the same crowbar she was carrying, somehow.
"My glorious fierce rivals!" A voice shouted in the distance.
"Oh God..." Saw groaned.
The object that came in front of them, was Taco. "Since we are no longer at the Squadron Grounds, I believe that I am able to have a rematch with you about the terms of our situation."
"Can we not? I mean, if you want to do a sword fight right now, you'd probably be at a loss, because my friends' hands actually are saws right now." Donut turned around and pointed over to Saw, who did indeed still have her saws fused to her hands.
Taco just ignored Donut and looked at Book. "Oh, so do you want to fight me with your crowbar?"
"God no! I can't even see properly!"
"Anybody else? Because if one of you wins this fight..." She pulled out something from her sash. It was the worm. "Then I will be able to give you this worm."
"That's our worm, asshole! Why'd you take it from us!?" Fanny got off of the see-saw and readied herself to fight.
"I found this worm while I was wandering around the area for your information. I had no clue that it was supposedly yours. Finder's keepers, I guess. But I am an honorable person, and if you win the duel, I will give it back to you."
"Give us back that fuckin' worm!" Book yelled, getting off of the swing but almost getting herself entangled in the swing-set.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Squadron quickly stepped in. Saw, in particular, jumped at the opportunity to fight with Taco again.
She ran up to Taco speedily. She aimed at Taco, but Taco only responded by me in the spot in a split second by pulling out her sword. They were back to sword fighting again.
CLANG!
The ritualistic sound of metal echoed from the empty landscape, where the only thing even remotely muted the sound was the fact that the playground even existed. At this point, the sword fight had taken them away from the playground, Not to any of the actual structures, but just on the outskirts.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Squadron trying to figure out what to do. "The last time I stopped her, I used my gun, and I shot at her leg. At least it didn't hurt her that much."
"Were you tryin' to kill her?"
"Well, I wasn't trying to kill her or anything. That would be irresponsible for me to do."
Book started pacing around the group. "Saw's fighting with her saw-hands, though. I can't use my... I mean, Donut could probably still use his arms. He just can't fire his weapons, I think."
Donut nodded. "Right. I can't really use them."
"I can't even sword fight, because my head's on backwards."
"What, so we're fighting with people with your crowbar?"
"It's still sword fighting because it's melee weapons. Fanny's arms, though, don't even work, and you don't have any arms right now."
"What, are you just gonna roll up to Taco, bite her arm, and then somehow we're gonna win?" As Book said this, 8-Ball rolled over to the side, the side where the two fighting objects were about to collide with 8-Ball.
As soon as Saw saw 8-Ball, she jumped out of the way. There was a short moment in time where he would have that opportunity to strike.
8-Ball opened his mouth and chomped on Taco's arms. The amount of pain that Taco had was almost monumental; it was like her arms were singed in flames. The force of the chomp shocked her system with pain also caused her to fling the worm out of her satchel.
The worm started to glow again.
"Is that thing trying to... Wait, if it's going again, that means we might be able to go back home!"
Everybody scrambled to get close to the worm.
And then it was darkness again.
-
Taco was back at base. Bricko's headquarters. The pain in her arms was gone, and she still had her stuff. She just didn't have the worm.
She looked over to a slab of Yoylite, one that wasn't a piece of Refined Yoylite, so it still had some time traveling powers associated.
"Oh, wow. I am never doing that again."
She kicked the Yoylite into the garbage.
-
The Squadron meanwhile, were all on the floor back at their base, twitching.
"Oh, my sheet metal, we're back! I actually have hands again!" Saw said excitedly.
"That's great for you. I... I... boss man has his limbs back, so does Fanny, and Book's head's on right. That's good."
8-Ball sighed. "I don't know where the worm went."
"Ugh, it probably snuck away into a crevice or something."
Book put a hand to her face. "Could y'all just give me a few minutes to stop twitching? I feel like I got shredded all over again."
That's when the door to their base opened.
Notes:
Song: Land of Confusion - Genesis.
This thing has sat unfinished in my notes for months and I only now decided "hey I think people might like it if I did one-shots in here too." This probably is going to update less consistently than Squadron Six, but... you never know if I'll drop a reveal here first before the main fanfic!
Chapter 3: BRICS Chip Report 1
Summary:
A scientific document(?), thought to be forgotten, rediscovered and released to the public.
Notes:
Possible TW for blood, I tried to make this like science notes and not like overly ridiculous but yeah, YMMV if that improves things or not.
This chapter does not have any of the main characters as this is more of a lore chapter, but they will be back starting with the next two chapters.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
In compliance with Goiky Court Order 1528, it has been determined that all of the files discussing the Bio Recovery Intermediary Chip System, henceforth the "BRICS System", have been cleared to be released and declassified to the public with minor redactions.
The following file was dated to the 5th year of the 15 year long 1st Object War.
———
Written by ████ Ball
Testing Log 001.
Recently, there have been several reports that, for whatever reason, strange liquid has been appearing every time those connected to the BRICS System have been on the end of bodily harm. Additionally, concerns have been raised about potentially affecting them from a health standpoint.
I have gathered three subjects today as a way to test, to verify, and to document for historical reference, and if possible (albeit if it may be slim) chance of fixing this issue.
Subject One was from Unit ██ of my faction, the Northern Faction. A tall, thin object. His name was ████████. He was somebody that willingly volunteered due to his fragile nature.
I was unable to successfully pop his head, and his head did not seem to have any of the liquid. It appeared that the remainder of his body, his limbs, so to speak, had liquid inside, as discovered by my partner ██████ Ball when he used a small dagger to create an small incision in Subject One's arm for collection. The liquid was translucent and clear, almost seeming like sludge. My partner had made additional notes stating that it also seemed to him that it had the consistency of glue.
We took in a sample of this mysterious liquid into my laboratory. Here, we noticed that there seemed to be molecules that were not unlike our very own, ones that made up an object. When compared to an untouched sample of the BRICS chip that I had as a backup, we noticed something very peculiar. While designed to mimic an object's biology for ease of use, it also appeared that they also may have had parasitic qualities to them as well with the liquid part. Further research will need to be determined about the parasite part.
Unusual, given ████████ has no liquid state of matter that is in his biological make-up. His body is made up of helium, a gas.
Subject Two: █████ of the Eastern Faction.
[Information about them was redacted for privacy concerns.]
Nevertheless, it is probably important that there is now definitive evidence that an object that was already known to bleed otherwise without the use of the BRICS chip could probably help to come to this conclusion.
The very first thing we did was that I had, that I had somebody, ██, lightly poke them with a syringe, like doing simple medical bloodwork. A tiny amount of liquid cascaded inside of it, as if it was actual water.
We took in a sample of the liquid. I noticed that, like the last time, it seemed to match up with, what I can only assume is the inside of the object. However, this time, compared to Test Subject One sample, this seemed to be closely aligned to their general body structure as well as their DNA, which was found inside of their body. The most interesting question is this: are there any others that are affected by this? Or is it just only a small portion of our population? Further research is needed to come to a conclusion.
Subject Three: █████ of the Western Faction. This person was captured by our forces, and brought to our unit, after somebody claimed that they saw him fighting, and did not bleed. I was curious. So, I specifically asked my partner, T █████ [the data here with the piece of paper here was scribbled and unable to be made out, and was hastily covered up with the black redact marks.] to go grab water to test this.
The object, █████, was sensitive to water, and could quickly die in it. I had my partner pour water a molecule over him. █████ fled our facility quickly. However, we were able to get a sample, and the results were surprising. When we grabbed the sample, and compared it to both of our previous scientific examples, we noticed something particularly strange. It melded itself to fit the DNA of the body, but there was no liquid, nothing. We don't even know how he survived, much less still existed because of the BRICS chip.
I spent a few hours trying to debate possibilities with other people in my unit: ██████ Ball, ██████████, ██████ (shoved into the unit despite being woefully unfit for it, might I add), and Robot ██████, we could not come up with anything conclusive. But the most common thing that we have is this: For some unexplainable reason, this chip liquid, this "blood" as ██████, called it, only seemed to affect certain objects. The theory that I brought up was that there must have been some sort of biological conditions that needed to permit the existence of this "Chip Liquid", as we call it.
When comparing the oxygen-based Subject One, the water-based Subject Two and the water sensitivity of Subject Three, it appears that anything that seems to be unfit, as in too warm, too airy, for a specific object, could not have this mysterious "chip liquid" appear. In situations like the water in Test Subject 2, it could allow for these conditions to be met. I believe that one of my own deceased bodies in the Goiky Canal is still fresh. I am going to check it tomorrow to see if myself, which I know does not have any liquid inside, as I am, solid object. I'll cut it to see if there is, in fact, any chip liquid inside of it. For now, its the mystery of the BRICS chip and it's possibly parasitic endgame.
For a piece of technology developed by me, ██████ Ball, and ██████████, this is unusual, to say the least. I will continue to look into this further to see if there could be a cure. But if there isn't a cure, perhaps the enemy: the Western, Southern, and Eastern, especially the Eastern Faction will try and use these to create horrific biological weapons.
Therefore, it is imperative that I find a solution to prevent another zombie apocalypse scenario, quickly and efficiently, as I humanly can.
Any
———
The rest of the log was cut off. Attempts to locate the second part of this research document, including consulting archives, as well as the original notes the subject wrote, have so far been unsuccessful.
Notes:
No song this time. I don’t think these kinds of chapters will have song-related titles unless I find something I think fits REALLY well.
Chapter 4: Chapter 22.5: Now Or Never (You and Me)
Summary:
In which Saw and Book get wasted and somehow become slightly less bad at feelings.
Notes:
TW for emotionally heavy conversation (as in: gets existential mid-way) and alcohol use. Don’t worry, this ends on a wholesome note so not everything is heavy. Takes place after "My Heart Is Wavering". Yes I saw BFDIA 23 and it was a good episode.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The walk to Gaty's was largely quiet, save for the sound of breathing with the occasional squeak or murmur from two objects.
A normally roughly five minute walk would turn into a ten minute one because of how slowly Book was walking. Of course, Saw did not blame Book; She had a rough day, not helped by the fact that she willingly left her two other hearts, her gun and her crowbar, back at base. Probably not to get in trouble with the authorities and to have them assume the worst, especially of Saw.
"...Saw?" Her eyes found themselves looking at the bladed object. Book was fully grounded, but she was still shaken and more pressingly exhausted by the events of that day.
Saw quietly exchanged the look. "Did you want me to answer something for you?"
Book made a small noise, an unreadable one. "Did you tell them before they come back tomorrow to grab my stuff from back at base and drop it off?"
Saw nodded. "I'll do that as soon as we get to a phone. Don't worry about it, nobody is stealing that away from you when they go, especially if they're dealing with somebody like Fanny." Saw looked overhead at the moon for a brief moment before returning to look straight. "She'd probably flail them alive if somebody tried taking your stuff."
The two started climbing up the hill to Gaty's.
"eughhh... I don't like feeling like this, Saw..." Book's voice was still small, and she was trying so hard to not fold into Saw like a blanket.
It was almost somewhat surreal to Saw —although not exactly surprising seeing how long they knew each other— that Book would willingly allow herself to be this vulnerable. Maybe the idea of keeping the Squadron intact seemed to override any selfish gene that was inside of her.
Book made a weird noise, one that sounded like a mixture of exhaustion and a whine, as she leaned into Saw's flat side.
"You're okay. We're at Gaty's now." Saw knocked the door, while Book hid her face as if the idea that she didn't have her crowbar or gun with her was the most embarrassing thing ever in the world.
Gaty opened the door. "It's you two, you're back. Long day?"
"Yeah, went down to the police station, told them my side of the story. I had a couple others backing me up, so fingers crossed they accept the truth." She glanced over at the dictionary with the two tone cover, who was now holding onto Saw's wrist.
Gaty nodded. "I can tell. Out of curiosity, were there any others that were with you?"
"Besides Book and myself, it was just Fanny."
The two objects were guided inside by Gaty, and gestured for them to sit down on the couch.
"As far as I'm aware, Donut or 8-Ball...actually Clock too now that I think about it, haven't given out their testimony. They're going to be doing it tomorrow. Speaking of which, Gaty..." Saw turned towards the picket. "Do you mind if I use your phone to call Clock?"
"Go ahead. Do you know his number?"
"He told me it the other day. Hopefully, it won't be too weird if it's coming from your house or whatever." She sat up and walked over to the phone that was in the kitchen.
Some ringing, before Clock was on the line. "Uh, hello. This is Clock speaking. Who is this?"
"Oh, hey, Clock, it's Saw. Um, I'm gonna need you to meet the Squadron tomorrow in Yoyle City. Um... You know where on the outskirts of the town, there's a little, like, shack?"
"Uh-huh."
"I'm gonna need you to meet them there at around 8 or 9 in the morning. We're gonna need you as a witness and stuff about my innocence."
"Got that. Anything else I need to know?"
"The group's probably gonna run back up to Gaty's house before they go to the police station. They need to drop off something, so, um, you're welcome to tag along with them, if you want, uh... just to keep everything nice and smooth, but you can also just go down to the station if you want. All right?"
"That's fine with me. Uh, anything else you want me to do?"
"No, not particularly. That's all I just want for you to do. Just wanted to let you know an idea what's on the itinerary for tomorrow."
"All right, got it. See you tomorrow, then."
"Goodbye." Clock hung up the phone, but the dial noise could barely start as Saw was already calling the Squadron.
Another voice on the line: 8-Ball. "Hello?"
"It's Saw. Can you do me a huge favor before you guys leave tomorrow? Get Book's things, she left them on her bed."
"We were already planning on doing that, Saw. Leader's orders."
"I know you're fist pumping on the other side of the line."
"Whatever. See you tomorrow morning."
"Goodnight." She hung up the phone and walked back out to where the couch was. Gaty was sitting on the couch with Book, keeping her distance. Book meanwhile was curled upwards in a little ball, or as much as a ball a flat dictionary could possibly muster.
"All right, Clock's aware now, and I let the Squadron know, so... I should be all set for tomorrow."
Gaty looked up at Saw. "You guys need any drinks or something? Like, water or...?"
"Probably couldn't hurt to drink some water. Do you want me to go back in and, like, grab a bottle of water?"
"It's fine. You can do that."
Saw walked over to the kitchen's fridge to grab a water bottle. While she was looking in the fridge, something caught her eye.
Spiked bubble pop. That's new.
If it was actually spiked, it probably wouldn't hurt to get a little tipsy, right?
She ended up walking out with both.
Saw first gave the water to Book, and she shakily grabbed the water with one of her hands, before taking a small sip. "...Thanks." she mumbled quietly.
Gaty moved over to the end of the couch to make room for Saw to sit next to Book. "Why'd you grab one of the spiked alcohol drinks, though?" She looked over towards to Saw, who held said canister.
"Well, I didn't quite know what it was. I mean, it's like, uh, you know, a drink. I mean, it probably wouldn't hurt to get drunk-"
"Saw, you'd still be hungover. You don't want to end up like Book over there."
Book leaned back into the couch, her previous upright fetal position replaced with her shooting an annoyed look at Gaty. "I'm not that same drunkard from the competition, all right?" She drank another sip of the water. This time, a bit more than beforehand.
"I'm not saying that you are now. I just don't want you to, like, end up that way again.
You know?"
Book slowly nodded. "Oh, yeah."
Book looked over at the can that Saw was holding. "Saw, do you know if that thing tastes any good?" Her voice picked up. "Because if it's shit, I'm not drinking it."
"Well, it's probably bubble pop, but spiked. I dont know what you want out of that."
"I mean, you could probably mix it with the other stuff if you wanted it, like, extra hard. Just do it at your own discretion."
Saw took a shot. "Okay, not bad."
"Not bad as in it's good, or not bad as in it's mediocre?"
"It's just bubble pop, I guess. I don't drink a whole lot."
"Was there only one in the fridge?"
"I could probably go check for you, actually." Gaty got up from the couch. A few seconds later, she came back with some more canisters of the thing, and another bottle: Hard liquor.
"I mean, if you want to try it, I'm not gonna, you know... there's about one for each of us, unless you want one extra. I got a bottle of some harder stuff here too, just in case you want to mix it." Gaty set them on the floor because they didn't have a table in the room.
Book grabbed a can of the bubble pop and set her water off to the side. She took a small sip of the drink. "Yeah, it's not bad, agree with Saw right there. Is that why you brought out the harder stuff?"
"I felt like it. I don't really do the extra oomf stuff, anyways." Gaty opened her can of the drink. "It's whatever. I got stuff to do in the morning."
"What, like cleaning the table again?"
"I did that earlier today. Twice."
"What happened that made you have to do it twice?"
"Basketball and Barf Bag, they went back to arguing about CS:Goiky knife skins again." Gaty facepalmed. "At this rate, if they somehow keep making a mess while arguing I'm actually just gonna straight up prohibit them from talking about it on the show."
"Sounds like those are pretty intense." Saw said while looking over at Gaty.
"Truth. It's probably like nine-ish or something right now, gonna go to bed in a few minutes."
Book grabbed some of the harder stuff, popping the cork off of it and pouring a fraction of it into her drink.
Gaty got up and turned towards Saw. "Saw, you're here. I'm assuming you could probably handle her while drunk and hung over and stuff, right?"
"Yeah, I really wouldn't worry if I were you. We know each other." Saw gave a bit of a small smile towards Gaty.
"All right, keeping watch. I'm counting on you not to have her, you know, do anything stupid while drunk."
"I promise I won't!" Book said as she poured another tiny fraction of the hard liquor in her can, and then set the liquor back on the floor.
"For some reason, I've got a strong doubt in my mind that you're actually somehow not going to do something stupid."
"But I've got a hand-drawn rulebook in my pages!"
"All right, then. Heading to bed, just be careful, you two." She waved.
"Night, Gaty."
"Bye Gaty." They both waved on way back at Gaty as she disappeared to her room.
Now, it was just the two objects, Saw and Book. Book covered the open part of her can with one of her hands and shook it like she was readying a spray can.
"Do you want some of the harder stuff?"
"I guess it couldn't hurt a little bit." Saw grabbed some of the liquor, pouring it into her own can.
Book took a sip from her own can. A longer and faster sip. "Much better."
"So... are you just gonna sleep outside on the couch again? Or...?"
"I don't really care, actually. It's not like I sleep well anyway. Well besides you and your chainsaw snoring." Book looked over at Saw.
Saw looked back at her. "Tsk, tsk, right on the money."
Book narrowed her eyes. "You don't need to say 'tsk, tsk' out loud. Just makes it sound funny."
"You're doing the same thing."
"In my case, it's because I'm more intellectual. So I get a right to say it and you don't."
"Pssh. You're putting yourself up on that... pedestal again."
"Yeah, it's..." Book put one of her hands to her temple. "It's just, uh... you did shit. In the field. I mean, so did I, but..."
"I just told you what to do half the time, buddy." Another sip.
"Yep. Can I ask you a little personal question?"
Saw nodded.
"Do you, still... think about it? Even though, you might be done with your actual hitman work now."
Saw sighed. "To be honest, sometimes I do, and sometimes I find myself thinking more about the hitman stuff than I do anything about the war. Yeah." One sharper drink.
Silence, before Book spoke. "IIII don't know what totalk a'bout anymore... hehehe..."
"You giggling over there?"
"Shut up Saw I'm tryingto tthhink over 'ere!"
"You're telling me, putting yer hands over your 'ead, and you're nowhere near your chin, dumbass."
"I am thinking, though. Stop being a meanie to me."
"Okay, promise to stop being a meanie."
"Yayyyhahahahehe..." Book was already starting to get pretty intoxicated, and so was Saw.
Goikian physiology, when it came to drunkenness, varied differently depending on what kind of Goikian was drinking; if it was a Davidian, it would often take a little bit longer, roughly an hour or two for drunkenness to occur. But if it was an object, depending on their makeup, drunkenness could take less time; with some of the stronger stuff, it can be less than 15 minutes.
Book finished her can, holding it up like a trophy she'd won. "...Do youshink... If this can, was apart of us... it'dbe friends with the wormy?"
"Is 'wormy' what'chur callin the worm now?"
"What? It's a cute name... teally, really cute. Looks cute 'cuz he has those cute little eyes. 8-Ball probably said it looked like me...hehehehe..."
"You tried to denyhim as yer child infront of everybody."
Book put a finger up. "Just my croupbar... it'ss not my child, though. I miss it... a lot..."
"You'll get to see it tomorrow morning."
More silence as Saw sipped some more of her drink.
"Book, do you think that there is a loving Algebralien besides Two?" Saw asked curiously.
Book gave her a look that was like she had seen some horrible things. "Well, no, 'cuz if there wasa loving Algebralien besides Two, then first of all... I would've won BFDIA 'n TPOT, and secondoffal, then the funky shit durin' TPOT would've never happened and things would've beeeen a lot better!" She said, before tossing her can to the ground with a yell. "Shit! We might'vee never had that godforsaken war if things were all ...pppeachy!"
"Damn, you're still salty over not winning BFDIA or TPOT like 20 years ago?"
Book put her hands on her head again, her eyes watering. "...No?"
"Stop lying, Ican clearly see it on your face. You act like that when your face is all scrunched up like that."
Tears still pricked at Book's eyes, threatening to give out. "Sssshouldn't you say the same thing about you with yor hitmen work?
"Whenever nnneedss tobe done, neeeeds tobe done for him and stuff. 'Kay?"
"So did the warrrr..."
"Do youuu sthink... when we die, we goto hell?"
"I don't even know if there is a hell. We don't know." Silence again, thick and unmoving.
"Do you think we both deserve to go there? Or is it just one of us?"
"...I probably deserve tooo go."
"Whuzzat?"
"I probably deserve to go... I left you all behind *hic* in the war... I was stuck there for five years. Five years of my life wasted, because... of... because...." She started crying. "...my own actions. I think I deserve to!"
"Book, what? You didn't deserve that! Nobody deserves that! If anything, I'm the one that's going to hell!"
"Why you?"
"You deserve it less than I doooo! Book, I killed people... there's blood on my hands from my *hic* fucking job!"
"Sooo itss decided, we *hic* don't deserve to goo for different reasons?"
"...Because we don't want to leave each other *hic* tonight, or ever." Saw's can was finally empty.
"It soundss likea good compromise, honestly." Book smiled. "Dooo youuu think the gate to hell would *hic* be in Yoyle City, Saw?"
"...mmmmaybe... heh..."
"whhoo doyou think you should throw in there first..."
"...sssponggy? Hehehehe... maybeee throw lolllipop in there too..." Saw cracked up at her own joke.
Book leaned on the arm of the couch, her posture slouched. "OOOkay. Whwatt *hic* doyou think about... the existence of another season?"
Saw's tone shifted. "You're not going back. I don't want tooogo *hic* down that pathhh again."
"No, what? I was askingg a serious questionnnn. I wasn't trying to get myself killed ask'n a question about hypotheticals!" She put her hands to her face.
"What? I wasn't denying your credentials."
"I never said anything about fucking credentials, *hic* stupid fucking bastard."
"woAHHH!!! You called me *hic* a bastard?" Saw cackled.
"Oh, gosh, I... I did. I'm sorry..."
Saw slouched. "S'okay, *hic* I forgive youuu..."
"Good... hands too nice, too steady." Book said under her breath, before finally getting slightly louder. "You think that the court case might be going welll with that testimonyyy?" She looked over at Saw again.
Saw's grip on her empty can tightened, as if it was instinctual. "...hope so..." she said sadly. "...i dont know what they're gonna do with me... don't know what they're gonna do if they find out the *hic* hitman work... I did it to atone... I'm...so... scared..." Saw's voice started to crack. "Just... scared of losing you all... you've been so nice to me, even if I didn't deserve it, then I..."
There was a heavy silence in the room. Thick, like an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force. Both just colliding into nothing.
Book looked worriedly at Saw, silent tears coming down Saw's face, trying and failing to cover her face to hide the fact she was sobbing uncontrollably.
The silence was still heavy, before Book took a breath, hands shaky, but now filled with determination.
"...Saw. Look at me. Please." She put her hand on Saw's shoulder, catching the other object's attention. "...I need you to know one thing... Saw, I want you to look at me in the face. *hic*"
Saw turned to look at Book, who had gotten closer to her. The sobbing had stopped, but the marks of tears still lingered like dust.
"If you say that, you're not worthy of the love and kindness that we show you as a squad-mate..." She lifted up Saw's headband, just enough to where Saw's forehead was exposed. "If you tell yourself that you don't deserve us, or the kindness we show you, even after all this time... I just want to say... your thoughts are all... wrong."
She leaned in to Saw more. She intentionally pecked her on the forehead with a grounding gesture, something that begged "Please stop spiraling." But because they were drunk, it was a pretty sloppy one. So hey, E for Effort.
"...dont talk about yourself like that."
Saw started laughing. Book started laughing, too, a grin stretched out on her face against Saw's forehead. "Oh, my God, we're being fuckin' *hic* ridiculous!"
"We are, Bookie! We went from talking 'bout dumb shit tooo moreee dumb shit and this!"
Book moved herself away from Saw's forehead and collapsed on the couch in a giggle fit. "Oookayyy! You wanna talk about putting more people inn.... eegghhkk..."
"Does that mean you're tired?" Saw looked back at Book, after she made that weird throat noise. Like Book was trying to come up with something, but she couldn't quite articulate what she wanted to say.
"I'll think I'lljust... hehehe... nap here..."
Saw's voice softened. "No, no. I don't want you to be sleeping alone like that." Saw wobbled as she got up, reaching her hand out for Book to hold. "C'mon."
Book slowly but surely got herself up from the couch, standing with unsteadiness. Saw had to guide the both of them gently while they both stumbled and Book drunkenly mumbled nonsense.
They headed over to the guest bedroom. Saw had to try and smother a giggle at what Book sputtered out while feeling the wall to the bedroom for support.
They both sat down on the bed in the room. "'S where we're sleeping tonight, Bookie...Okay."
"...'kay... lyingdown now..." Book lay down on her side.
"Just get under the covers, please..."
"mmmm... noooo... 'cuz I got you Saw!"
Saw half-scoffed. "Well, heh... It's stupid..."
"Bullshit... we're both stupid, Saw. Don't doubt yourself..."
Saw pulled the blanket over both of them.
"Saw..." Book moved closer towards Saw, stretching her arms around her.
"Yeah, Book?"
"...don'tletgo... please..." Before she knew it, Book had slipped off into sleep, her grip tightening a little.
Saw put a hand over Book. "I won't. I promise..." she looked over at the now sleeping object one last time before she felt her eyes close. "...sleep well..."
Notes:
Song: Now or Never (You and Me) - Dan Mason ダン·メイソン
See chapters like these are super fun because of the whole "interpret the Squadron's dynamic as you wish" thing I've got going on and then there's chapters like this. Is it platonic, QPR, romantic, poly subtext or an unlabeled bond that blurs the lines? Yes.