Young Writers Society

Oh fuck.

Kaz neglected to mention this part. What was Derik supposed to do now? Was there anything that could be done? At the very least, what he was doing seemed bad.

"Hey, stop it," Derik chided, grabbing Kaz's hand. "Let it rest."

He reached his other hand towards the leg and tried to tap into the R'hyk to see if he could help heal it. But he was far too weak from the Transport. And he didn't recognize much about Kaz's body as was. It wasn't worth the risk.

"You're gonna be fine. You hear me? You're the size of a horse, so just buckle up, cowboy. Enjoy your high."

Derik, meanwhile, was going to be fretting for its entirety.

“Buck a wha...” Kazimir repeated, but trailed off as the sky started to turn a million different colors, and then started rolling like a wave. Derik seemed to suddenly snap back into sharp focus, like every detail was sharp and crisp. It felt surreal, and Kazmir let out a faint laugh.

“Oh... you’re green,” he said. He hadn’t realized Derik was green. A green man, with green eyes and green irises and green skin. Derik was as green as a leaf. As green as his shirt. And then Derik turned into Marcus, and Kazimir’s eyes lit up.

“Marcus!” he shouted, shooting up and grabbing him by the neck. But the sudden movement made everything topple over to the side, like the world was on a slant.

“W... woah,” he said as he accidentally leaned all of his weight onto Marcus.

“You... baldy. Took you...”

It was kind of heartbreaking. And, Derik didn't quite know what to do. Now that he was trapped on the ground with a large man lying almost directly on top of him. "Hey, Kaz... can you just lay still, buddy?"

“Okay Marc,” Kaz said agreeably. “If you want me to.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, still hugging Marcus tightly. He was just happy to see him again. He thought he’d lost him forever.

Derik had never felt so conflicted in his whole life. Well, that was an exaggeration. But still. He was conflicted. He felt absolutely horrible about letting Kaz believe that he was Marcus. But he also knew full well that Kaz was going to become a problem if Derik tried to explain the truth.

They'd deal with the eventual wrath later.

"Good job, bud," Derik murmured, returning the hug.

Of all the places he hadn't expected to end up at this evening, laying on the ground in the middle of nowhere hugging a random man was near the top. But, here they were. So they were just gonna ride this trip out together.

Kazimir felt himself drifting as his head did flip after flip. He let out another groan, and his arms loosened their grip on Marcus until they limply flopped to his side. His heart felt like it was racing so fast it could burst. It was thumping so loud into his ears that he could hear every heart beat, and every pump of blood in his veins. He cracked his eyes up to the sky and saw a flock of birds pass over, and they all caught on fire, turning into little chickens that fell out of the air, somewhere far below.

A wave of happy contentedness swept over him, followed by a deep, unsettled fear. The latter seemed to linger longer.

“I didn’t think... this would be how I go,” he whispered in thought. “My mom would be so disappointed.”

But his dad would probably be happy.

"You're not going anywhere," Derik said firmly, not quite sure why he was so adamant -- or cuddling -- with a man he'd just met. But it still broke his heart a bit to listen to Kaz rambling like this. "You're gonna ride this out, then we're gonna go--" Find Marcus. "Get the biggest meal you've ever had in your life."

“That’s a lot of food,” Kazimir drawled out as food seemed to rain from the sky. Specifically fried chicken.

“Hey,” he said suddenly, attempting to reach a chicken leg, but it slipped through his hands. He tried again, flopping his arm to the side, but it was all in vain.

“I can’t... I can’t get it,” he said with a growing frown. For some reason, this made him deeply saddened. He sniffed, letting his arm flop back down to the ground in defeat.

“Marcus,” he said again, this time more earnest. “If I don’t make it back, tell my mom I love her and she’s the baddest bitch there ever was. Okay? So she won’t forget. Not that she ever would. But from me. Okay? Yeah... and tell... give her a hug. Yeah. She’d like that. She always thought of you like you were part of the family too.”

Derik's chest suddenly went so tight he couldn't breathe. This was heartbreaking. And Derik felt so scuzzy for letting Kaz believe that he was his best friend, rather than a random dude he'd met a few hours ago. Still, he needed to keep Kaz calm. "Tell her yourself. You're not gonna give up on me, Kaz. You gotta keep fighting."

Kazimir hummed.

“You always were good with words,” he said softly. “Always said the right thing while I’d run my mouth. Always got me out of trouble like that. Even now...”

He reached up and gave Marcus a pat on the back, holding him again.

“But you know me,” he said. “I always like a good fight. I always keep fighting.”

"That you do," Derik agreed. If Kaz didn't kick his ass by the end of this, Derik would do it for him. He was morally and ethically opposed to literally everything he was doing just then. But he didn't know what else to do. "You're such a good fighter."

Kazimir smiled, and closed his eyes.

“You too,” he said, parting Marcus’s back gently. “In your own way. Fighting with fire...”

He chuckled.

“Fire with fire... hah. Lightning and fire. We make such a mess.”

Derik could barely handle it anymore. He wanted to say that they made a good team instead -- that much was true. But he couldn't bring himself to maintain the facade in that moment. So, instead, he just patted Kaz's back.

”You remem... member when we were kids,” Kaz went on. “And I stuck your hand in warm water while you were sleeping and instead of you peeing your hand went on fire and you boiled the water instantly and I burned my hand and you felt so bad about it you cried for a whole day?”

He chuckled again.

“And then your aunt just healed it and I was fine and you still felt so bad... even though it was my fault. I didn’t know you threw fire hands in your sleep.”

That made him laugh more, but not a loud, obnoxious laugh. A content, sentimental one that sat in his chest, where his heart still raced far too fast.

“And then that one time I almost chopped off my other toe by playing knives with my feet but you distracted me with dancing fire foxes and we played magic outside instead. It feels like forever ago, now...”

He paused.

“I feel like you were happier then. We both were.”

Derik was regretting his choices from this entire day. He wished he would have just Transported away from the guards. The prison, the escape, this -- it was too much. He wanted to just get up and walk away and stop with this hell. But he knew that wouldn't make him feel less guilty. Not even a bit.

Kaz was convinced he was Marcus. And if he left, that would be like Marcus abandoning him. And it was clear Kaz had very, very strong feelings towards Marcus. So, Derik sat put, agonizing over the fact that he was hearing many things he wasn't meant to hear.

"Growing up tends to have that effect on people," Derik murmured softly. "When we lose childish innocence."