||FINISHED|| Pink Roses (JSAB Fresh x Reader)

Quartet - The Big Three

"An' dat's how I lost me eye." Neptune concluded his narrative. Skye sat crosslegged across the Merman, staring at him intently. Her lips were parted slightly at the awesome story he just told. Her wings were folded tightly against her back. Trist was sitting next to her, also listening intently to his story. He rested on his haunches as he silently nodded to himself as he fiddled with the ends of his oversized sleeves. It had been at least half an hour since The four shapes disappeared into the void.

Neptune's sole blue eye scanned across Trist's face.

"You got any interestin' stories, Trist?" He smiled warmly at the quiet boy. Trist just looked down and shook his head. Neptune rose an eyebrow.

"Wassup with him?" He asked Skye.

'Doesn't like talking to people, this guy.' Skye smiled as she pet Trist's shoulder. Neptune doesn't really understand human psychology, while Skye herself empathises with and relates to the extremely socially anxious Trist. 'He's cute and an amazing listener, he's just not much of a talker. I think he's mute, actually. Wait, Trist, are you mute?'

Trist shook his head.

"Ah. Aye then, so wut yer sayin' is that he got a fear of them humans?"

'...Guess you can say that?'

"Goddit then. Ain't forcin' 'im to do somethin' he ain't wantin' to do. This guy's no siren, aye Trist?"

Trist nodded.

Suddenly, Skye perked up. Her back straightened as her eyes lit up. "Oh, have I told you about that time this guy tried to kill me during duck hunting season because he thought I was a duck?"

'He WHAT?'

Skye smirked. 'Well, we only met, what, half an hour ago? So I probably haven't.'

It was at her mentioning of how long the Quartet have been gone for that a sudden silence spread through the three of them. They had been gone for half an hour and still no sign of them returning. They spent 15 minutes in total getting Neptune out of his confines. 20 freeing Skye and 5 for Close to Me. If they spent 15 to 20 minutes for three voids, that would be around 5 or 6 minutes per void. But this particular level had been housing them for almost half an hour. They should be done with all three by now, but instead they haven't even left the first one. Did something happen? Did they perish inside the level? What's going on? The three of them glanced at the hexagonal black hole they all disappeared into. They all looked back at each other. This is not good. Until all of a sudden, they saw a bright light come out from the entrance to the void. Their hearts all lit up, smiles widening themselves to greet the four of them. Finally! Took them enough time! It's been half an hour, they should've completed it by now! And suddenly, a series of yells filled the air as the four of them collapsed on top of each other. Trist ran up to them, helped them up and squeezed them. Skye waited for a triangle to appear, but was confused when nothing of the sort showed up. Not even a white light. And looking at the four of them, they all looked absolutely drained of both physical and emotional energy. Trist's body was large enough to hug all four of them at the same time, and they all closed their eyes as they rested in his embrace. They didn't look happy. They look absolutely horrible.
"Hey, Quin?" Skye called out. "What's wrong? Why is nothing happening?"

'I don't know.' The green figure scowled. 'Well, first off, we found out what'll happen if we took more than three hits and don't get saved in time. You just disappear. We thought we lost Pi for good, until a while later and she was back. I remember dying some time later I saw the shape of a glowing white girl take my hand and the next thing I know I'm alive. The moment the four of us were all dead at once, it rewound itself to a certain point in time, and when that happened three times, well... I dunno, we got pushed out?'