Major cw for suicidal ideation in this one (nobody actually does anything but its kinda obvious in someones thought process). It kinda got away from me. Back to silliness tomorrow!
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"Citizen." Worm Man was sitting on top of Zedaph's chests. Zedaph groaned internally. He didn't want to hear it. There was a reason the two of them never spoke these days.
"What?" Maybe it came out a little sharper than Zed had intended, and maybe he'd had a long day and didn't want to deal with anyone, especially not Worm Man.
"I just wanted to make sure you had a way off-world," Worm Man replied. He had no right sounding that concerned.
"A way off-world from what? Nothing's wrong." The lie was bitter in Zedaph's mouth, but the alternative? Truly accepting that he only had a few more days to live? That was worse than anything.
"Zedaph." Worm Man pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. Zed recognised the gesture in himself, and he hated it.
"I don't... it'll be fine, if I don't leave." Zed bit the inside of his cheek, refusing to meet Worm Man's gaze. "I've stolen your life for long enough."
"Zedaph, you know it's not stealing to want to remain yourself, right?" Worm Man sighed. "Besides, I don't think I could go back to being Zedaph, not anymore. You've had years more experience at it now."
"You're so determined to keep me around," Zed shook his head. "You're so determined to save people, but maybe you haven't considered that I'm not worth saving! I'm the evil clone! I stole your identity, pushed you towards a bad influence, and left you in the cold when they pushed you away!" Zed paused to breathe. Getting all of the doubt that had plagued him for the past three seasons out and into the world was actually strangely cathartic. "I'm one bad day away from going the same way as EX, and you know it. So why do you insist on keeping me around?"
"I don't think either of us is the evil one." Worm Man carefully untied his mask, letting his blonde curls fall into a face that, other than the faint scars brought on by years of crime-fighting and redstone-building, was entirely identical to Zed's own. Worm Man hopped down off the chests, and tied the mask around Zed's head instead. "I think our roles would be perfectly reversed if you were in my shoes."
"I would know to leave you behind, If I was in your shoes," Zed disagreed. "Even if I was given another chance at this, you know I'd just run away with it instead of saving everyone."
"That's blatantly untrue, and you know it. You care about the Hermits too much. I remember."
"Look, just... let me go, okay? Say Worm Man died in this world. Be Zedaph. You deserve it more than me."
"I was afraid you'd say that." Worm Man looked so sad, it almost made Zed go back on his decision. Almost. "Tango!" Worm Man called. "He's doing the thing!"
Zed looked around in alarm. "What did you tell him?"
"Everything." Worm Man shrugged. "He deserves to know, especially since you're so determined to sacrifice yourself about it."
Tango glided over to where the two time-clones were standing.
"What's this I'm hearing about you not wanting to make it?" Tango forced himself to ask the question in a light-hearted tone, but Zed had known Tango for too long to miss the fear and grief in his voice.
"Tango, it's not... I've been lying to you this whole time."
"And which one of you helped me with my anvil launchificators last season? Which one of you begged me to come back from working on TekTopia? Which one of you spent hours in the middle of the night a couple months ago texting me about your plans for next season? Plans that you need to be alive for?"
"You deserve the real Zedaph."
"You're both the real you," Tango argued. "You're just two different people."
"I'll end up hurting you."
"Losing you would hurt a lot worse than anything else you could do."
"Tango-" Zed was cut off by Tango pulling him into a hug.
"Promise me you'll make it out of this alive."
"I couldn't even if-"
"Wrong answer." Zed felt something being clipped to his wrist.
"It's connected to a command block." Tango explained. "If my plan to stop the moon doesn't work, it'll pull us both out. You're gonna live, okay?"
"Got it." Zed didn't really wanna believe it, but it seemed he wasn't given much choice in the matter. He felt bad for Worm Man, being denied this shot at getting to have his identity back.
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I was originally going to also do a scene with Zedaph and Worm Man first meeting, but I couldn't get the flow right. Rip in pepperonis.
Also pinky promise that none of this is venting, none of this is coming from my own feelings. I'm doing alright, this Zedaph is not.
I've been Entropy, peace out from the present!
