Chapter Text
Avery could only stare blankly at the screen in front of him. His deadpanned expression was a striking contrast to the tears running down his face. His laptop's blinding light staring right back at him. The letter on the screen—a cruel taunt to his already crumbling psyche.
D3rlord3 – no, that's not right.
Derek was gone.
Dead. His mind warped and fucked to no end by the infinite knowledge and merging with the King. And all of that happened, just to save him. If it weren't for Avery, Derek would still (maybe) be alive and well, happily doing whatever he did before all of this. Before Avery placed himself in a situation he was advised to leave, to ignore, to completely shut out. But did he listen?
No, he didn't. Because he was stubborn. He was foolish. Believed that he and Derek could fix everything if they worked together. A naïve thought that ended up with the one person who deserved to live more than anything dead. It was his fault –
Please don't think you failed, Avery...
But he did fail. He failed in trying to help play the hero for Derek –
When you read this, please don't think you let me down. You didn't...
Avery had already saved both videos in the file. Derek said he didn't want to be forgotten, and Avery would rather die than forget his saviour. It was odd, honestly. Avery knew it was. His entire world suddenly revolved around a man he didn't even know. One who knew everything about him, and he knew only the name of.
And how his world stopped turning since the sun it spun around was dead.
You're capable of great things. You'll do great things...
Derek thought too highly of Avery. What was he supposed to do now? He'd just spent 15 hours of his New Year's Eve on fucking Minecraft of all games, reaching for a star that has just burnt out. Never in his 23 years of life did he expect to be mourning the loss of a stranger on New Year's Eve, bawling his eyes out in such a pathetic way he was so thankful he lived off of his college campus in his own place.
A place he could cry his eyes out in relative peace.
I know that because I know you...
Hah, Avery moved to his tiny twin bed. Crumpling down onto the creaking springs of his mattress as he stared at his wall. Or, well, window. His apartment may be cramped and tiny, but it had a good view of the city. Not too high up, but it looked over a park. Trees sprawling everywhere, folk waiting for the fireworks to start in less than 10 minutes... Avery bought this place for the views and accessibility to his campus.
He wondered if Derek liked New Year's. What his traditions were, if he went out with family or friends to watch fireworks. These thoughts then travelled to what Derek looked like. Was he darker skinned? Tan, or white? Long hair, short hair, curly or straight?
Avery supposed that Derek knew what he looked like. The whole infinite knowledge thing going on and all. He felt kind of embarrassed to know that Derek probably knew what he looked like playing Minecraft for 15 hours straight... Avery, a pale, well-built guy in his early twenties with green eyes, eye bags bigger than Jupiter with shaggy, dirty blonde hair and knuckles littered with more scars than a war veteran with how many fights he got into with friends in high school and middle school.
He wondered how Derek reacted to finding out a guy who looked like he did had a voice sounded like a kid who barely stared puberty half the time, used a goofy slime avatar on Minecraft, and was as stubborn as a beetle that refused to die when you squashed it. It almost brought a smile to his face.
The key word being 'almost'. The night sky outside his window lit up with fireworks as Avery's eyes closed over and sleep took him. He'd pray that tomorrow it would all be revealed as a cruel dream. A very wickedly cruel dream.
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Avery began to regain his bearings, who knows how long later, but something was different. He definitely wasn't in his bed. He definitely wasn't in his room from the grass he could feel... Wait. Grass?
Avery blinked open his eyes with a groan as he rubbed his face groggily. And then he heard it.
"Good morning, Avery. You slept quite peacefully, if I had to say." The voice was light, a bit deep but not too deep. And Avery recognised it so fast he could barely get the words out before the tears started flowing again.
"Derek?" He croaked as he looked up and saw that familiar golden helmet staring down at him. All he got was a nod, and Avery scrambled up to hug the man as he started sobbing into his shoulder.
"Shit... Derek, I thought you were dead..." Avery cried out as he held Derek's shoulders. The knight seemed to tense a little before he hugged Avery back.
"Avery... I am dead." Derek spoke with his voice unwavering, but he looked straight at Avery as he spoke. It took a moment for Avery to register the words but only gave a disbelieving smile.
"What?"
"I'm dead, Avery."
"No... No, you're not... How are you – what?"
"You're dreaming, Avery. I'm 100% dead; there's no real hope for me. But something about how my soul was watching over you and now I'm in your dreams…" Avery listened with his smile slowly becoming more and more faint as he had to sit down again. Derek's voice got drowned out by Avery's thoughts, but he was snapped out of his head by Derek cupping his chin.
He looked at the knight in surprise as a faint blush spread over his cheeks. Derek only smiled down at him as his voice got uncharacteristically soft. "Well, since this is your dream and I'm just a part of it... I suppose my functions are subject to your whims. Imagine me in a banana costume, and it'd probably put me in one. Fun, right Avery?"
Derek seemed to just be trying to lighten Avery's mood, but it was working. Even if just slightly, as the blonde managed a smile. Faint, but definitely there. And Avery hummed before he spoke out loud. "Okay, so, ehem! I wish... that you looked like you did outside of Minecraft!" He joked, hoping it to be more of a comedic bit by saying a wish out loud, until he looked up and Derek wasn't in his armour anymore.
Instead, staring back at him was a tanned man with long, curly, dark brown hair reaching just past his shoulders. Derek now was only wearing a white blouse and grey sweatpants.
"Hmm, hello," Derek awkwardly laughed as he brushed stray strands of hair out of his face and properly sat down beside Avery. Avery himself sat with his mouth agape as he looked at Derek. The man wasn't anything like he'd expected, and an added bonus was that Avery was actually (by the looks of it) the same height as Derek if not even just the slightest bit taller.
But again, Derek had sat at his computer for who knows how long during the incident and it showed. Not too badly but enough to raise concerns, there's no way he he'd be able to go out (if he was still alive) and have someone not question if he was alright. He was a bit pale and slightly malnourished, his eyes bags where pretty prominent and Derek seemed quite underweight actually. Derek seemed to notice his staring; he cupped Avery's jaw and moved the blonde's face to stray from ogling his lack of great health... "Don't mind me, Avery, you don't know how long I sat in my chair for... But, I don't look like what you expected, do I?"
Avery shook his head and tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. Derek was gorgeous. In his eyes, the prettiest man he's ever seen, and he was a college student. Shitty, drunk ideas with hotties at a club on a Friday with a group of frat boys he doesn't know and somehow found himself in a group with and flirting with sorority girls were his weekly. Or, kind of weekly. This week he had the Skywards-ranked matches. So, no, enough of that. Back to Derek.
He tried to speak again, but Derek placed a hand over his mouth and shushed him. He watched Derek's lips move but couldn't hear anything, like he was fading in and out of consciousness.
He managed to read his lips, though... Those rosy lips seemed to say: 'Until next time, my friend, happy New Year's Eve.' He missed the rest.
.
.
.
.
.
And then Avery woke up to his alarm clock blaring the next morning. January 1st, 2026. 8 a.m.