They realize - Outsders SMP - Reunion Arc - Completed

~ 2 ~ Don't let your freinds go into a maze alone, kids! They might get stabbed!

TW: mentions of death, blood, vomiting (?)

A/n Okay, so far this has just been my interpretation of the reunion, mainly from Apo's POV. Luckily for all you little raindrops, this fanfic isn't just me putting Osmp into my own words like a collage essay-writer who definitely didn't just copy/paste off of Wikipedia  and change a few things. I want to be original! So from this point on, there is a small change in the events that causes quite the large narrative change. Also, I'm having a slight technical issue, the fact that I actuallydon't know C!Apo's pronouns or cc!Apo's pronouns, so if you do, please let me know! I'm trying my best to just use they/them for now.

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Apo was in so much pain.

They were in pain?

They were... feeling something?

That couldn't be right. But as Apo groaned and vomited onto the floor next to them, they figured it probably was.

So... they weren't dead?

Or were they simply in hell?

They looked down at their chest and thought, nope, not dead! What looked like several torn up clothing items and tons of bandages were wrapped around a point just under their ribcage and above their gut, a place they knew to be a pressure point. Their mouth tasted faintly of melon as well as vomit.

Most of all, they were surprised at their location.

Apo was lying in a bed in Soup's basement.

Suddenly, they heard someone climbing down a ladder and sat up, startled. They were relived to see it was only Red, at least for the three seconds they could see before their vision yellowed and they collapsed back onto bed.

"Whoa, slow down there buddy, you're lucky to be alive right now, and are definitely in no condition to be sitting up for a little bit. Wait until some of that very limited blood reaches your brain!"

"R-red... Owen, h-he..." Apo started, before letting out a coughing fit, in which blood and vomit spewed out.

Red cut him off, handing them a water bottle, which Apo finished quickly, and leaning against the far wall as he began to explain.  "Apo. Please, I know you probably have a lot to say, but Soup and I have been been just barley keeping you alive for about five days since I found you on the verge of death with a hole in your chest, and I have so much I have to tell you, but right now I need you to relax here for a bit. Soup said you should be okay to walk in about a day, but only if you rest. She's coming down to check on you soon. I'm so glad you are alive."

Apo shook their head as Soup started coming sown the ladder, holding a few more water bottles and some strange stew. She offered them to Apo, and after eating and drinking Apo felt a bit better, so they forced out what they could.

"Red, he's g-gone ma-mad... he's tried... tried... to get rid of m-me... I need to w-warn them all..." despite his trembling lips and shaky hands, Apo managed to force themselves into a semi-seated position by leaning against the wall the bed was pushed up against, a position that only made them a little nauseous, contrary to the fully seated position of before. Red nodded solemnly as he watched Apo force themselves up and finish their third water bottle.

"I was there Apo. I felt terrible leaving you to go back to the clearing alone, even if you'd left me... so I got to the exit just in time to see that... man... drive a spear into you and for me to take you here. I swore to never return but..." Red turned away.

Soup smiled faintly, but her eyes were nothing but serious. "Red brought you here and told me what happened. If it hadn't been for him being there, you would have died. As it was, you were probably only about a minute from bleeding out. Luckily I had a few potions I had been saving for an emergency, as well as a whole lot of bandages, though with the amount of blood, even those weren't enough. Not the worst thing I've treated, but it took much more precaution to keep you secret. In order to protect you..." Soup trailed off, looking over at Red.

He sighed and continued on. "Soup has been taking care of you down here while I keep an eye on Owen. I've... been trying to understand him in a way, wondering why he wanted you gone so badly, and making sure he's not coming down here. I have no idea why he stabbed you, but I figured you deserved a chance to explain what you did to make him so angry. I refuse to follow Krow's 'killing people is the best thing ever' mentality, although Owen seemed to always disagree with it too, which really confused me."

"Even if you have done something so bad you deserved to die, that should be a group decision, not one for Owen himself to make." Soup cut in.

"But even if we do decide to kill you, it was at least worth knowing why. So I've been down here for a while, just trying to keep you stable. You should be good to remove the bandages, at least for now..."

Soup's voice seemed to trail away as Apo suddenly noticed her eyebags, drooping and large,  and felt a wave of gratitude wash over them. But just sitting upright had taken a lot out if them, and they could barley say anything.

As per Soup's request, they laid back down in the bed and tried to ignore the acidic smell of their own digestive contents lying on the floor as she pulled out a small dagger and gently began hacking the layers of blood-caked bandages off of Apo, calmly explaining to them that the wound should've mostly healed and scabbed by now with the help of the potions and stews, but Apo barely heard any of it.

They felt themselves drifting away to sleep, glad that despite their freinds not knowing what they could have done to deserve to die in Owen's eyes, they cared enough to keep them safe and alive. Soup's calm words explaining what she was doing as she cleaned the wound and Red's replies to her, despite being almost pure gibbirish to Apo's half-conscious mind, was the most comforting thing he had heard in a while.