Almost But Not Quite Human

Crystals

Tw for swearing
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"Hey um. What's going on?" Skeppy looked at the alarming scene in front of him, as Dream came to stand by a highly distressed Sapnap and almost as worried George. He looked confused, if not a little angry.

No one responded for a moment. He darted a look towards the two siblings on the sofa but they had no more answers for him. They seemed confused too, and Niki looked a little pale.

Standing almost protectively in front of George and Sapnap, Dream said, "Skeppy. How do you know Halo?"

Halo?

They were asking about Halo?

"I don't- how do you-"

"I-I'm sorry Skeppy I shouldn't have looked at the letter but i-it was open already I didn't m-mean to see-" Sapnap interrupted. Despite the profound stutter he didn't sound scared per say, but definitely on edge.

"Wait but... How do you know Halo?"

Dream frowned, "I belive I asked first Skeppy-"

"Dream don't." Geeoge interrupted sternly. There was no need to esculate the situation without getting to the bottom of this. "We - well me and Sapnap - we were friends of Halo's."

Skeppy's glare softened as George continued, "We're from the same village - we were friends for years - but he never mentioned you."

"He didn't? I- I've been his penpal for forever." Skeppy frowned.

"Wait fuck!" Sapnap yelled, "He did mention you! I knew I recognised your name! Halo did mention you a few times- Oh shit."

"What?"

"O-oh nothing nothing." Sapnap quickly cut himself off, clearly hiding something.

Skeppy squinted in confusion then a horrible realisation dawned on him.

"You said 'were'"

"Huh?"

"You said you 'were' his friend and 'were' from the same village. He hasn't answered any of my letters for almost half a year. That's... That's why I stopped sending them."

The other roommates watched as hairline cracks sprung up all over the diamonds embedded in Skeppy's skin. He winced but evidently this was something that'd happened before, to judge by his lack of alarm.

"Sapnap... Is Halo okay?"

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"Sapnap why the fuck did you tell him Halo's dead?"

Sapnap shifted uncomfortably under George's glare.

"Well?" the brunet demanded. With a twinge of guilt he saw Sapnap flinch a little, and he backed off.

"I just... I thought to myself 'what would it be like to be in Skeppy' s position right now?' and," He laughed bitterly, "Imagine being told a close friend of yours went crazy months ago and has been trying to kill people ever since!"

George frowned and was about to interrupt but Sapnap quickly continued, "Listen! We... we both agreed our Halo died a long time ago George - 'it's not him anymore' - remember?"

"Okay. I get where you're coming from Sap but it just feels wrong. Skeppy and Halo were obviously close-"

"-and so we're doing him a favour. That's all."

With a look that carried the weight of this lie George paused. Then reluctantly he agreed. Sapnap was smart; if he thought this was the best way to handle things then George would go along with it. The others too.

Everyone was used to hearing about death in the cities. Everyone had someone who'd died - multiple people even. When Sapnap had said that Halo died, Skeppy didn't even bat an eye.

In fact, his only reaction was in the crystals, where a thunk and clink sound signified a deepening of the cracks running through them.

In response to everyone's concerned looks, Skeppy told them all he'd be fine with a few hours sleep, and left the living room probably to do just that.
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Yeah yeah it's a super short chapter I know. Didn't want to clog the narrative cause there's going to be a little bit of a time jump in the next chapter.

Sincerely, the musical and mellow mellohi melody