#anyway i do hope line!sty kills 4c instead of letting him do it himself. it would be a very nice enrichment

[sharffffff]

Every moment that passed, every second that was spent looking at 4C, at his carefree smile, listening to his cheerful laughter and discussions of tomorrow was like torture to Sty. He couldn't believe that slime would talk so casually about abandoning him, abandoning all of the pirates, his newfound family, and taking his life just for what? For some sick joke? Some excuse at entertainment? Just to be a ghost and have a chance to come back - a chance so impossibly slim that it would be a miracle? Why, why couldn't he just stay alive? Why couldn't he stay with them, keep building the ship, keep with their plans, keep with their team - and not do some stupid trick which would end with dying in the most dumb way possible? Why would he treat death as a joke and not something serious, not something final, not something Sty could not see him go through? Why couldn't he just… hear him out? Why couldn't he listen to what other people tried telling him, for once? Why couldn't he understand just how much he would be missed?

No matter how much Sty kept asking 4C to rethink it, to please not die, to please stay alive - for pirates, for him, - that he wouldn't be able to keep going with 4C gone for good, the blue slime kept dismissing it with a laugh or a smile or just silence. And hell, Sty wanted to hate him for that so much. It would be easier to see him die if he hated him - at least it wouldn't be so painful, at least it wouldn’t be so devastating, at least it would fail to ruin Sty’s life when 4C’s plan to end his own is done. But hate never came. Sty cared too much about every pirate, and he cared too much about 4C to ever be able to hate him, and he hated his inability to hate. What wouldn't he give to make 4C change his course, and he refused to believe that he would actually follow through with his plans. Sty refused to believe, but he knew it would happen. And it hurt the most, that his closest friend wouldn't try living even if it meant hurting everyone who ever cared about him. All for some bit, just to end this arc of his life with a bang. God, he wanted to hate him so much.

What hurt even more was others starting to accept 4C’s death before he even did it. Luanne stopped trying to persuade him to live, Apo encouraged him to make the death more entertaining, even Lincu helped 4C prepare for his final deeds - and Sty couldn't understand why. Why, why would they ever accept him dooming himself? Why would they allow him to go through with this stupid plan? Sty didn't get it, Sty hated not getting it, and Sty hated the very idea that 4C might be gone in just a few days. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing him gone. God, it hurt so much.

“Why do you have to go? Why do you have to leave me?” Sty’s voice was shaking as he asked this question. It wasn't the first time he had asked it, but as both of them looked towards the sun rising over their cove, he felt like 4C would answer truthfully, for once.

4C turned away from the rising sun after a long second, taking a look at Sty, as if seeing him for the first time in a while, and tilted his head slightly, as if thinking over the answer. Usually he just answered with a quip without a second thought, so him pausing only confirmed Sty’s worst fears - it was close. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow - but 4C was going to do it soon. It was terrifying to realize this fact.

“Death is inevitable,” he shrugged, “especially in a world such as this. Would I really be experiencing it fully if I hadn't become a ghost at least once? If I hadn't died at least once? I died before, in other worlds, but never a death as final as this. And I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't die in such a world. Too much wasted potential.”

As rational as 4C tried to sound, it didn't make sense to Sty. Nothing about this made sense, and it only made Sty more mad. What other worlds? What death that wasn't as final? He tried to understand, he tried to at least pretend to understand, because he felt like 4C wasn't lying, but it just wasn't making sense, and it was making Sty desperate.

“But why? Why now? Why so soon? Why can't you wait until this world is close to its doom? You could still be a ghost then, but stay with us for that much longer! Please, 4C. Please don't die.” Sty saw 4C flinch a little at him asking him to stay alive, but as much as he regretted it when the slime had finally opened up, he really didn't want to lose him. He couldn't bear losing him.

“It's easier to die early on. Less things weighing you down, more chances to come back. To experience everything, I would have to experience revival - and the sooner I die, the more chances I’ll get, isn't it right?” 4C smiled, and for the first time in a while, this smile actually brought some relief to Sty. He wasn't planning to just die. He was planning to come back. He would be back. He would be back! He had to be back. Sty needed him to do everything in his power to come back - he needed him back at all and any cost. But he wasn't planning to stay a ghost forever! This was the best thing Sty could've heard from this conversation - because he knew he wasn't going to ever hear 4C changing his mind.

“You have to promise to come back. Please, promise me. Promise you will come back.” Sty grabbed 4C’s shoulders and turned him towards him, staring right into the slime’s unblinking black inkpools of the eyes as he said that. He wasn't going to let go until he got that promise, and his desperate grip onto 4C’s arms made it very clear.

“Sty, I promise. Once I’m ready, I will do everything in my power to come back. Whatever it takes.” 4C nodded and got out of Sty’s grasp, before letting out a brief laugh and patting Sty on the head - something he knew Sty hated, but for whatever reason he was okay with it right now. It could be the last time 4C has a chance to do it, and there was something comforting about it. “I promise I’ll come back.”

Sty sighed heavily, but the burden on his heart felt lighter. Maybe this wasn't the end of the world. Maybe things would turn for the better, once 4C decides to come back. Maybe having to watch his best friend die in front of his eyes would be just a tinge less devastating than before.

But patting on the head had to stop. It started becoming annoying again, and Sty knew just the way to retaliate - pat him back. “Oh, you better come back!” He exclaimed, letting his hand tousle the slime’s “hair”, instantly starting a usual playfight. Everything was back to normal - but a tinge of sadness lingered in the air.

The performance was more torturous than Sty ever expected, and each time 4C got hurt, he flinched more and more, feeling something snap inside him every time. He had a plan for this performance, because despite their conversation, Sty wasn't going to let 4C just end his own life like that. No, no, he would still let him die - he knew there was no stopping this slime once he started, and he believed in his promise to find a way to come back - but he wasn't going to let some random dolphin or, even worse, a cactus, claim 4C’s life. If 4C was going to die, it would only happen one way - by his hand, by his dagger taking the last of his life, with 4C’s death tainting Sty forever, linking them together through the bond of the killer and the killed. 4C would die, and Sty’s emblem would turn yellow, and that was that.

And so Sty waited, and waited, and calculated each bit of damage 4C took, waiting for his moment to enter the stage. He hid behind the curtains, waiting for the slime to jump out towards the cactus to take that final blow - but instead 4C found Sty and his dagger, digging straight into 4C’s heart. The look of surprise and shock on the slime’s face quickly gave way to a wide grin, and he sank deeper onto the dagger, deeper into Sty’s hands, life quickly draining from his eyes. His last breath, his last words were so quiet, Sty thought he had imagined them, but they kept ringing in his ears as the blood dripped down the dagger’s hilt and down his arms, coating his clothes in dark blue and his emblem slowly turning bright yellow, like the shining sun.

Sty kept clutching onto the knife and onto 4C’s body as others tried to pry them from his hands, still trying to fully process what he had just done. He didn know why he had done it, he didn't know what came over him, but he knew it had to be him. And yet 4C’s words kept ringing in his mind, as loud now as quiet they were when he said them.

“I knew you had it in you.”