Lionhearts ||Skephalo||

4

The birds are twittering and the early morning light reflects off the dewy grass and leaves. Skeppy takes a deep breath of the damp air, and exhales slowly,

"Here we go, day two. You're positive this is the way to the city?" Sapnap nods.

"Of course. I have a great sense of direction, and," he flourishes dramatically as he pulls out a sheet of paper, "I've got one of those nifty enchanted maps that shows your location."

He spreads it, letting Skeppy examine it. He can see the dot symbolizing Sapnap and the one symbolizing him- and yes, their path would take them to the city.

"...well what do you know? You aren't pulling shit out of a hat."

Skeppy leans back, and admits,

"Okay, so maybe you do know where we're going. But yeah, let's start."

They hit the trail, and this time it's Skeppy who fills the air with tentative chatter, while Sapnap listens. The day is cool, colder than Skeppy is used to for this time of year, but by midday it becomes unbearably warm and the two find themselves faced with a dilemma.

"We should stop and swim so we can travel further without getting heat stroke," Sapnap volunteers. Skeppy looks at him like he's gone mad.

"Stop and swim? Heat stroke?? Sapnap do you have any clue how this area works? Swimming won't save us from getting heat stroke it's just going to make us wet and sticky."

"Water cools down your body!" Sapnap pipes, eyeing a nearby creek; a large one too, two or three feet across and at least over a foot deep. "So surely it would cool us down, then evaporate?"

Skeppy searches for an argument, really not feeling the swimming thing, but sighs and concedes.

"You're probably right. I don't want to get all soaked though so I won't-"

He has all of three seconds to say that before Sapnap ditches his bag, his weapon, his shoes and socks, and dives into it. Not literally; he actually ungracefully plunges in with a sigh.

"-...come into the water," Skeppy finishes sheepishly. He watches his companion paddle around in the shallow water for few minutes, before Sapnap cups his hands and waddles over to Skeppy to throw his pitiful handful of water at him,

"You're gonna get so over...hot, in that sweater!! Ditch it and come take a dip bro," he encourages, and Skeppy shakes wet hair out of his eyes.

"No thank you."

"Your loss! Enjoy the heat!" Sapnap sends a small splatter of water Skeppy's way and then keeps swimming.

Skeppy realizes he's not as playful as usual, and the thought momentarily depresses him; as though taking Bad took away a whole portion of who he usually is.

But he brushes it off when he's hit in the face with more water, thinking,

Sapnap is mischievous enough for six children.

* * *

He's laying in bed still. Someone is stroking his hair and whispering to him, but he's afraid to open his eyes. The burning is going away, but he doesn't know if it's safe or not.

"Hey, are you awake?" The soft voice asks him. They're all alone. He can't hear any other people, so he nods. "Open your eyes, I need to see if you're still out of it."

Reluctantly, he listens to the voice, and peeps open one, then the other. He's looking up at a young man like himself.

He seems relieved. His hair is a lightish color, reminiscent of dried leaves and their transparent, worn away state. At least, that's what he thinks of seeing it. He reaches up slowly to touch it, and the other laughs softly, a chuckle that devolves into a gentle,