Chapter Text
One moment, the world was pretty damn close to ending. The infamous gunman, Mr. WPNZ was struggling alongside the showman, Mr. Puzzles, to close the rift for the sake of the universe staying in tact. The next moment that passed, they were able to get the rift closed. But while doing so, they sacrificed themselves for the greater good. There was a noticeable release of tension within the air that made Mr. WPNZ’s tired, weary eyes immediately open. The hitman quickly looked around to see that they were surrounded by beautiful shades of pink, purple and blue swirling round and round.
Okay, that was trippy.
They were floating within the rift, that was obvious based on the circumstances, but...
They couldn’t tell if they were going anywhere.
“What the…?” He murmured only to pause when he felt the showman’s grasp tighten around their interlocked hands. The poor man appeared worried, perhaps even petrified at the idea of letting go and being alone again, or the idea of Mr. WPNZ drifting away because he was the one to let go. Yes, Mr. Puzzles was glad to have the hitman by his side but he felt terrible, truly terrible, for dragging him into this. After all, he had worked so hard to try and regain their trust and friendship only for them to end up floating through a rift together.
Will there ever be an end to this rift?
It seems endless.
Was this their life now?
Were they even alive to begin with?
Was this the afterlife?
Mr. WPNZ looked over at Mr. Puzzles, who immediately turned his gaze to the rift swirling around them. He couldn’t meet the gunman's eyes. He just waited, waited for scolding, for anything to happen. But nothing came.
"I'm sorry..." The showman spoke softly. Of course, he could have said more about how he was sorry for everything, for betraying Mr. WPNZ, the horrible things he said to him, for dragging him into this rift. God, he had so much regret, the things he did to Mr. WPNZ were some of his biggest regrets of all. The soft murmur of an apology didn't fail to hit the gunman's ears. He immediately looked over at Mr. Puzzles once more, the guilt on his screen was undeniably obvious.
"I know you’re sorry, boxhead." Mr. WPNZ stated blatantly in response. "I thought ya made it obvious with that big, dramatic apology of yours back there… I wasn't expectin’ ya to actually say that you were sorry though." The gunman confessed before staring once more at the rift that surrounded them, the different swirls of color were meant to be intimidating due to the circumstances but Mr. WPNZ actually found the environment around them to be surprisingly soothing. He simply stared into the swirls for a moment, admiring the different shapes and colors they made together.
"So… What managed to make you come to that conclusion, huh?" He inquired to Mr. Puzzles, finally turning to look at him once more. "I mean, I know you said that you deserved it but… was that it?" He asked, not exactly able to get a proper answer out of him before due to the fact he was too busy beating the shit out of him. The showman couldn't help but start chuckling softly to himself at the reminder of his dramatic apology.
Frankly, Mr. Puzzles was more than willing to let Mr. WPNZ kill him, especially if it meant he atoned for what he did to the other. But he was most certainly glad that it didn’t come to that. He was then quiet for a few moments, thinking deeply about each moment after their fight, how everything he did leading up to now was to earn Mr. WPNZ's forgiveness. He then thought back to his mistakes, resulting in the showman to sigh heavily.
"After the fight we had, I reflected on everything we went through up until that moment... I realized the grand mistake I made and regretted everything about it." He paused to swallow the lump of nervousness that formed in his throat. "As embarrassing as it is to admit, I went to many lengths to learn about you and what I could do to achieve your forgiveness."
During the explanation, Mr. WPNZ’s eyes widened tremendously at the brief mentions of how many hoops he had to jump through in order to learn about him. "You went to… them?" He asked, knowing damn well that he knew who he was referring to. He was fully aware that Mr. Puzzles knew about his family to an extent, especially since he dangled the idea of erasing them from his memories when they first met. He chuckled softly at the mere thought of them.
God, he was going to miss them, but…
He knew that Karen was strong enough to care for their children.
After all, she had done it for many years before he tried to slither back into the picture so abruptly.
She was a good mother, and he hoped that she got the letter to acknowledge that attribute.
"Hope they didn't give ya much trouble…" He commented. "Oh please! They were good kids, but– and I mean this in the kindest way possible– Zack was a bit of a handful in all honesty." The showman confessed which managed to stifle a soft chuckle out of Mr. WPNZ. But of course, he quieted down so that he could listen to the rest of Mr. Puzzles’ explanation. "Anyways... I settled on the idea that I had to change the past, and well, we saw how that went." A light chuckle of his own slipped out of the speakers of his head.
"Now, I couldn’t force you to forgive me, I realized that. So I let you beat me up, give me what I deserve for what I did to you. I simply couldn’t keep running from my mistakes I had to own up to what I did." He took a breath. "And even after what I did... I just, I felt I needed to verbalize an apology too." He confessed, "You…you and that little blob, Toomp were the first real friends I ever had."
Yes, Mr. Puzzles cared about Le–
Nope, try again.
He cared about Meggy, he truly did, but they weren’t friends, not real friends. But with Toomp and Mr. WPNZ, he had a genuine friendship with them that he never had.
He just didn’t notice it until it was gone.
Of course, by the end of it, Mr. WPNZ was baffled into silence. He took a moment to process his words before he had finally spoken up. "Huh…" Mr. WPNZ began, "That’s some pretty deep stuff, boxhead… Can't believe ya had the balls to come to that decision, to just let me beat down on ya like that." He confessed softly before taking a small pause to think about what he wanted to say next.
"Most people would back down and beg for the pain to stop but you honestly took it like a champ… Pretty admirable if you ask me, man." He added on to his previous confession before gazing up to look at the rift once more. He wasn't sure whether he would consider Mr. Puzzles a friend at this point in time but the fact that he apologized to him for what he had done was a step in the right direction.
"Well I can’t fight against something I brought onto myself, now can I? Honestly, I thought you were going to kill me." Mr. Puzzles confessed with a dry chuckle. No, he didn’t find it funny that he might’ve died. But even then, he still couldn’t help but chuckle at the situation he got himself into.
He knew it would take time if they were going to be considered friends again, but he was most certainly hoping to rebuild what he had broken and go from there.
"So, where do you think the rift is gonna take us?" Mr. WPNZ asked. "Well... I’m not sure! We could be going to the past, a different timeline… Or we could even be here for the rest of our lives.” The showman confessed before turning and looking down either end of the rift only to see no signs of an exit. Though after a few moments, there was a small glint from behind them, one that the reflection of his screen managed to catch.
That was when he spotted it.
A light behind them.
It drew closer to them.
Was it an end to the rift they were stuck in?
Maybe, maybe not.
"Though something tells me that we’re about to find out soon..." Mr. Puzzles confessed, grip instinctively tightening around Mr. WPNZ's metal hand as they approached, what appeared to be, the end of the tunnel of lights they were in. When he had mentioned them finding out soon, Mr. WPNZ looked over and saw the light behind them coming closer. He stared at it for a moment, expression softening slightly before speaking up on the matter.
"Well, whatever is beyond that weird light… I wanna say something just in case I don't see ya on the other side." Mr. WPNZ mentioned before turning to look at Mr. Puzzles, gazing into his screen as a glimpse of vulnerability managed to peek through his tough guy exterior.
"I was ready to kill ya, I ain't afraid to admit that. But the reason why I didn't kill ya… was because I was tired and I’d know that I would miss ya too much if I went through with it. I felt as if I’d be haunted by your laugh, your goofy expressions, your witty remarks, your stupid show tunes… everything." He confessed blatantly, a soft blush creeping onto his cheeks when he realized how mushy that sounded. But nonetheless, he continued to speak.
A thin red line moved across his screen as he felt a blush of his own creep onto his digital face. The vulnerability in WPNZ eyes caught him off guard not having expected to see that in his expression. It left him with an unfamiliar feeling within his chest.
"So, I guess… I dunno, I guess I was giving you a chance by sparing you right then and there, huh? It was like part of me was hoping you would right your wrongs… I just wasn't expecting ya to do it so soon." He added on to his previous confession.
And here comes the guilt, right on schedule!
He couldn't believe he had dragged Mr. WPNZ into this.
Mr. WPNZ didn’t have to be here right now if Puzzles had reached the other side of the rift.
But even then... Mr. WPNZ chose to help him, he didn’t have to but he chose to.
He didn't deserve it.
With a heavy sigh, Mr. WPNZ gently squeezed the showman’s hand while his metallic thumb brushed over his knuckles to try and soothe his nerves. "I ain't complaining one bit, boxhead." He confessed only to then turn his head once he noticed the light at the end of the tunnel was coming in fast. "Welp, hope to see ya on the other side." With that, he closed his eyes and braced for whatever was yet to come.
Mr. Puzzles blushed a bit more at the feeling of Mr. WPNZ's hand brushing his knuckles, his display face softening at the honesty from him. He then looked as the light approached closer and closer, his hand squeezing WPNZ one last time as they approached.
"I hope to see you on the other side too."
Everything after that went white and then faded to black.