Work Text:
.11/08.
"Knife.. what are you doing?"
Suitcase asked curiously, trying to peer over Knife's shoulder as he turned his back to her.
"I'm not doing anything, Suits."
"..Yes, you are? What is it, show me."
Knife pressed a piece of paper to his chest, shaking his head.
"Nope." He said, his gruff voice taking on a tone of sweetness. "You'll see soon enough. I promise."
Suitcase sighed, gave him a small, tired smile, and then turned on her heel.
"Okay, then. I'll let you get on with it. I'll be talking to Baseball, if you need me."
Knife grinned and shot her a thumbs up, causing her to giggle and then walk over to Baseball before the last elimination ceremony of season 2. Knife watched her as she went, until he continued writing on the piece of lined paper that sat on the cold grass.
"Last elimination starts in.. 3 hours? I better make these quick."
He mumbled under his breath.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
Suitcase stared at MePhone in complete shock. She'd have to choose? Between Knife and Baseball? ..Fuck.
She stood, completely still, the sound of MePhone's annoying, grating voice becoming background noise.
She had chosen to take Knife to the final two with her. While Baseball was loyal to her, it was clear Nickel and that toxic, no-good alliance were more important. That made it somewhat easier to choose.
Knife, although they had gotten off to a rocky start, had proven worthy of being with her in the final two. She had grown to love h̶i̶m̶ his company, and he had helped her far more than Baseball or that entire alliance combined.
She was forever thankful for that.
She was forever thankful for 𝘩𝘪𝘮.
As she watched Baseball look away, her heart hurt a little. But she couldn't deny Knife deserved it more. He had 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.
So, Knife and Suitcase went to the finale.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.15/08.
"He 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
Suitcase couldn't get his voice out of her head. It was ringing, a reminder, a taunt that she couldn't turn off. It was exasperating. Even as she 'fought' with Knife, Suitcase couldn't help but feel unsettled. Watching Toilet pull the plug was even 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 unsettling, though when Knife's arms were wrapped firmly around her waist, she felt the slightest bit better. Knife helped to ground her, she clung onto him as tightly as she could possibly manage.
She was about to be deleted forever.
But at least she had Knife by her side.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.16/08.
MePhone's void was... interesting, to say the least. So many blues and teals and weird new things Suitcase could only reason were from Season 1.
Box was here too, the alive Box. That was even more interesting. Suitcase's heart ached slightly knowing what Box had to go through, but even still she tried to make her feel better about it somehow.
She wanted to find Knife. So, 𝘴𝘰 badly.
Maybe that was selfish of her, but Knife was one of the only things keeping her comfortable at this point. Especially with everything that had been happening.
After finding a few other people and running around for a while, Suitcase finally found Knife. She ran over to him and pulled him into a hug instantly, arms wrapping around his back.
"Knife! Oh my gosh, I thought we'd be deleted forever. I- ..I'm really glad I found you.."
Knife smiled, pulling Suitcase against him.
"I'm glad I found you too, Suits. Now, c'mon, I found a way out of here."
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
Everyone was lined up at the start of the race, nervously looking around or grabbing onto people's hands apprehensively. Suitcase glanced up to Knife, who returned it with a smile. He squeezed her hand, before turning back to the ticking clock.
3
2
1.
And then everyone started running. No looking back, no wasting time. They barely had time to waste, the red line was creeping up behind their feet quicker than anyone had anticipated.
A few stopped, only to be dragged to the finish line by their friends. They wouldn't make it back otherwise and they knew it.
Suitcase and Knife stood near the end, watching out for anyone else.
"Do we have everyone?"
Suitcase asked, and Knife's eyes flicked back to her own.
"I think so."
"We need to be sure!"
"I got it, okay?! Don't you trust me?"
Knife asked, gesturing nowhere specific. Suitcase looked up at him, before smiling a little.
"I do."
And with that, she turned and crossed the finish line, leaving Knife to scan the horizon. Just as he was about to cross the line too, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
Marsh.
He completely paused, then stepped forwards. Then he ran forwards. He picked Marshmallow up almost instantly, carrying her towards the finish line. Every step made it more apparent.
Only one of them would cross this line.
...
Knife saw the red line creeping up on them. He knew they had around ten seconds, maybe less. He grabbed for something in his pocket. A small-ish box that looked like it had been sealed shut with duct tape a million times.
"Give this to Suitcase for me.." He pleaded quietly, though his whole voice echoed as he pressed the box into Marshmallow's hands. "Now go, hurry!"
Marshmallow stared at him, completely frozen. Then she looked down at the line. And she ran.
Knife watched her, his feet feeling stuck to the floor. Marsh turned around to look at him one last time, before squeezing her eyes shut.
"Thank you..!"
She called out, running across the finish line. Knife watched her go, then watched the red line right by his feet. He stood right above it, until it passed him. His hands started glitching out, then his legs, then everything.
Then he disappeared.
"..bye Suitcase."
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
Suitcase stared at Cobs' dead body. He was dead. She let the tiniest, smallest smile creep onto her face, she couldn't help it. He deserved it after all the trauma he put them through.
She spun around, grinning at everyone. Everyone was either completely stunned or smiling just as much as she was. Or, almost everyone. One person wasn't there.
Suitcase's smile faded almost instantly. Knife, where was he?
"..Where's Knife?"
She asked, her shaky voice cutting straight through everyone's nervous-excited chatter. Everyone's smiles faded as Suitcase looked around again, growing more frantic.
"Where's Knife?!"
Marshmallow stood frozen, until she cleared her throat slightly. Suitcase turned to her, her whole heart dropping as she saw the look on Marshmallow's face. A mix of dread, guilt and something else she couldn't quite place.
"He wanted me to give this to you."
She said quietly, passing Suitcase the box.
"I'm sorry Suitcase. I'm so sorry. I-"
...
"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬."
Suitcase stared at her, hands already beginning to shake. No, this was a hallucination. It 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to be. Knife couldn't be gone, much less forever. It couldn't be possible. There was no way. He would walk out now, a stupid grin on his face and ask what he had missed. He would wipe Suitcase's teary eyes and smirk at her and ask "Jeez, Suits, do you really love me that much?" and she would pull him into a hug and never let go of him, ever.
..No she wouldn't.
He wasn't here.
He was gone.
Forever.
"..I- no.."
Suitcase's knees buckled, she fell onto the cold grass as tears spilled from her eyes. How could he be gone so quickly? How could he just leave like that? How could he 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 like that?
She wouldn't have been able to stop her tears if she tried. She was a sniffling, sobbing mess, she had to cover her face with her hands as she continued to cry. OJ walked over and kneeled down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She glanced over at him, before bursting into tears again. She buried her head into his shoulder, her chest feeling so tight she could barely breathe properly.
"There- I can't, he can't be g-gone, there's no- no way he's gone-"
She only sobbed harder. Knife was gone forever, she knew he was. She was never getting Knife back. Her best friend. The guy who had been there for her through everything. The guy who held her hand through hallucinations. The guy who gave her advice. The guy she knew she could talk to about anything. The guy she loved so much.
He
was
gone.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.02/02.
Suitcase checked the clock, 12:23. That gave her half an hour to clean out her room before she met up with Cabby and OJ to discuss future plans regarding the OSC.
She reorganised her drawers in 4 minutes, 12:27. She restacked her bookshelf in 2 minutes, 12:29. She reorganised her wardrobe in 5 minutes, 12:34. Then she looked under her desk. A small step for reaching high things, a stack of paper from goodness knows how long ago. And then a small-ish box. Her heart leapt in her chest. She grabbed it and pulled it out from under her desk, her hands shaking as she stared at it for a few seconds. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 box.
The one Knife had given her.
She held it in her hands, treating it with so much care. She ran her fingers over the cardboard, thinking about Knife again. Gosh, she missed him so much. Then she stared at it for at least 5 minutes, before she slowly tore off the duct tape that sealed the box shut.
She didn't know what to expect when she opened the box, but what she saw shocked her anyways.
Letters.
Around maybe 15 of them, all stacked together tightly in the box. And then a note on top of them all.
She picked it up with trembling hands, head feeling fuzzy as she read it
'Hey Suits.
I'm sure you've been curious as to what I've been writing for, like, ages. I would never tell you because this was supposed to be a birthday gift (or gifts) but I can't wait that long. So, I'm giving them to you now. You better read them at the right times, trust me, I'll know.
Have fun Suits. (Happy early birthday).'
Suitcase's heart was pounding in her ears. She looked up at the ceiling, then reread 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 sentence.
'You better read them at the right times, trust me, I'll know.'
Maybe Knife 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 know. Maybe he was watching over her right now. She hoped so.
"..Knife?"
She asked, then shook her head with a saddened laugh. He wouldn't respond, obviously. She didn't know why she tried in the first place. Still. Maybe. She had some sort of stupid, stupid hope.
She read through all of the titles, her eyes feeling slightly damp. She wondered how she had forgotten to open this sooner, maybe when she had first gotten it. Then again, she had just found out Knife had disappeared forever.
12:49, she probably needed to start heading over to OJ and Cabby now. She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes, then pushed the box back under her desk. She'd act normal for OJ and Cabby. She'd act normal for everyone else. But, who knows, Knife could be watching her right now. She shivered slightly, glancing up at the ceiling again.
"..I miss you."
She whispered, before standing up and walking out of her room. She was definitely going insane, but she swore she heard his voice, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, say that he missed her too.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
"Okay, that's this meeting over! I'm very happy with how things are turning out here!"
OJ said happily, clasping his hands together with a small smile on his face. Cabby nodded in agreement, giving a little smile too.
"I agree! The OSC is doing this society wonders! Don't you agree, Suitcase?"
Suitcase stared off to the wall, a concentrated stare on her face.
"Suitcase..?"
OJ asked, before sighing.
"Suitcase!"
She basically jumped when OJ snapped his fingers near her, a somewhat concerned look on his face.
"Are you okay, Suitcase?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry, what were you talking about?"
OJ and Cabby glanced at eachother, before Cabby placed a hand on Suitcase's shoulder.
"Something up?"
"..."
Suitcase looked away, biting her lip.
"It's.. uh-" She fiddled with her fingers, staring down at the floor. She felt a lump in her throat like it was physically stopping her from talking. "It's about Knife."
OJ and Cabby practically both froze at the same time.
"Uh- I found the box he left me when he.. you know. Inside were.. letters. I can't open them yet because there's, like, specific times to open them. But, uh. Yeah, I don't know, I've felt really odd since then."
Suitcase sighed, before smiling just a little.
"It's okay, though. No biggie."
"You can always talk to us about him, though, you know that right? We'll always be here for you Suitcase. As will everyone else here.."
Cabby said reassuringly, and Suitcase nodded.
"Yeah..! Thank you, really. I.. you guys have made this a lot easier on me. Especially with everything going on."
"Of course... we know how hard it's been." OJ said whilst Cabby nodded. "I'm just glad we can help in some way."
Suitcase smiled, and OJ and Cabby did the same.
"Yeah.. thank you. Seriously."
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.13/02
Suitcase opened the letter in her hands shakily, not even daring to breathe. This, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 was what Knife had been working on when she had asked. She read the title, 'Open when you're feeling guilty.' and then began reading the letter.
She almost immediately broke down as she started, and by the end she was most 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 sobbing. She knew she was getting better, at least 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵, but this letter was making her 𝘤𝘳𝘺. She was crying so hard she could barely see straight, but she wasn't even sure it was from sadness or not. But, seeing his handwriting again, seeing his genuine words being put into writing?
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵.
She cried a lot that night, not necessarily in a bad way, just a lot of tears and a lot of thoughts about Knife. She missed him so much, but it was getting more bearable. She didn't know how, but it was.
Somehow.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.15/02.
'Open when you're frustrated'
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.16/02.
'Open when you're proud of yourself'
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.19/02.
'Open when you're feeling lonely.'
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.26/02.
'Open when you're burnt out'
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.28/02.
Suitcase stared at the last letter in her hands.
'Open when you miss me'
Her heart jumped. If she had seen this letter before, it would've already been opened. It would've been opened twenty times over, probably.
She reread the last title.
'Open when you miss me'
She missed him so much right now. She glanced down at the actual letter, then immediately looked away, tears welling in her brown eyes. Just hearing his nickname for her anymore was enough to set her off completely.
She sniffed a little, sitting up properly. Her heart ached, but she forced herself to read it. For him.
'Hey, Suits.
Miss me, eh? I don't blame you, I'm pretty awesome.
Kidding, kidding. But, seriously, it gets easier. I promise it does, it wont be as hard one day. You'll get over me, I know you will. You've got at least a million friends to surround yourself with, try not to feel upset because I'm not with you anymore. Trust me, Suitcase. It gets better.
I know it does.'
She was fully sobbing by the end of the letter. She couldn't help it, seeing Knife tell her it gets better made her want to throw up. She felt the tears roll down her face, she didn't bother to dry them.
"..Fuck, Knife, I miss you so much."
She placed the letter on her desk and collapsed onto her bed, turning on her side to face the two cabinets she had next to it. She pulled out a photo from the top drawer, one of her and Knife just a little bit before the final elimination of season 2. His hand was around her waist and they were both grinning at the camera.
She still clearly remembered that night as if it had happened a few days ago. The night of her and Knife's first kiss. She would never ever forget it.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
.16/08.
"..So. It's been a year, huh?"
OJ whispered quietly, and Suitcase noded in agreement. It was bittersweet, honestly. She was still devastated, but she knew Knife would be happy for her.
Cabby gently placed her hand on Suitcase's shoulder, before pulling her into a tight hug.
"I know this has been hard on you. You've handled this whole thing so well. You know that, right?"
Suitcase just smiled, glancing off to the side. She wasn't sure how well she had actually handled everything, but if mental breakdowns and countless nights of bawling her eyes out counted as handling it well, she supposed she wasn't doing so bad.
"..I suppose so."
"He'd be proud of you."
"....Thank you."
Her hands found the picture she kept in her pocket, studying it. Her and Knife together like they had all the time in the world. She felt like she had accepted it properly, after a whole year.
"I feel like he would be proud of me.. I think he would."
She was sure he would be. Her eyes flicked down to the picture. His smile, 𝘩𝘪𝘴.
And she knew.
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦