Mirai SMP (SMP Live AU x Future Diary)

➸ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 34: how could you let him die, daddy?

✧༝┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉༝✧

NUMBER 11 — COOPER

His heart rips in half, watching the screen in horror as Travis' demise is sealed.

"No! Travis, no!" he cries, clasping a hand to his mouth, jotting up from his seat. He feels a hand rest on his shoulder, and it calms him down a little.

"It's okay, Cooper." Wilbur tells him with a gentle tone in voice, ushering him to sit back down. "He'll be joining us, remember? We should be proud, the kid lasted a long time out there."

The other deceased players in the Dead People Hangout nod in agreement, except SneegSnag.

"I'm just wondering how that guy outlasted a pirate."
"Shut the fuck up Sneeg," Poke comments.

Cooper slowly sits back down in his seat, clenching strands of his dirty blonde hair in his hands.

"That's not fair, god dammit! It wasn't hit fault he died!"

He feels like bursting into tears, but he doesn't want to make a fool of himself— so instead, he bites his lip. After all, Travis would be joining them soon.

Wilbur puts a comforting arm around him, reassuring him that it will be okay.

The Dead People Hangout is a void the dead were forced to stay until the game ends. It consists of a large, plain round dark wood table (which sat low to the floor under a light source you couldn't see) a few couches with pillows of their numbers, and a large TV screen. The Dead cannot eat, or sleep, or feel any physical pain. 

Ultimately, they are dead.

They take the shape of their regular human form, however the scars from their deaths are engraved into their bodies.
At the other side of the room, is a large door. It can only ever be opened from the outside, and it's where the new dead are introduced.

In other words, it opens every time a new player dies.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. Everybody turns to their attention to the door, waiting for Travis to walk in.
Slowly, the it creaks open; a bright ray of white light seeps through the crevices of the opening door. In emerges a small boy with dog-like ears, and a dirty pink sweater painted with blood.

Cooper stands up from his seat, unable to take his gaze away from Travis. It's been so long, since he's seen him.

The boy smiles at him.

And Cooper runs faster than he's ever ran before, colliding into Travis as he wraps his arms tightly around his reunited friend.

"Travis, I hate you so much," he laughs, tears pouring down his cheeks as his head rests on his shoulders. He doesn't know whether he should feel happy or devastated.
"You shouldn't be here, I wanted you to win."

Travis hugs him back, unable to help the large smile stretch along his face. His eyes flutter shut, spilling of salt tears as he laughs with him. "I- I missed you so much, Coop."

"I missed you too," Cooper's cries, stifling his wracks into half-sobs, and half-laughs. Finally seeing him face-to-face again after all this time couldn't possibly make him happier.

But it also means that he couldn't make it. And the thought of Travis being dead with him sets a hole in his vacant heart.

His shoulders shake as he cries in his shoulders, and the two bask in each others companionship for a few moments, before Cooper finally pulls away.
"You did so well out there bud," he smiles, wiping his bloodshot eyes. "You did so much better than all of us. I'm.. I'm proud."