It had been so, so long since Marc’s head was quiet. If it was actually possible, you could probably hear a fucking pin drop in the headspace.
Even when he had woken up alone in the not-psych-ward, his head was filled with panicked, confused, anguished voices. Where was he? Didn’t they just die? Where were the other two? Was Steven safe?
Now, as Marc stood in a vast golden field of gently swaying reeds, all he could think of was how he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve this eternal peace bullshit, especially now that Steven was out there in the Duat, frozen in sandstone until the end of time.
“Please, enjoy your peace,” a quiet voice spoke from behind him as he gazed across the Field of Reeds. He turned, finding Taweret behind him, hands clasped in front of her.
Marc squeezed his eyes shut, allowing the tears pricking at the edges of his eyes to fall before he swallowed and opened them once more.
“We need to go back for him,” he said, wiping the wetness from his cheeks and the bruises beneath his eyes.
Even with the gentle breeze and the brushing of the reeds he still heard Taweret’s ear’s twitch. “It doesn’t work like that — leave here, and you can’t return. Anyway, you don’t need him anymore, Marc.”
Marc blinks against the silent tears that continue to fall. “So I get to go on to eternal peace, and he just…” He takes a breath. “…stays lost in the sand forever?”
His mind begins to race as he steps backwards, away from the goddess. “No, I’m not good with that.”
He backtracks until the orange sun turns to violet clouds, turns and begins to run across what are now a vast landscape of dunes, clutching his alabaster heart to his chest.
Marc pays no mind to the corpses littering the sand, focused entirely on the ever-reaching hand of Steven, now almost half-buried. Marc slowed to a walk as he neared his alter, falling to his knees in front of his body.
“Oh, Steven,” Marc whispered. A wobbly smile graced his face. “Lookin’ pretty fuckin’ rough, man.” He gave a mirthless laugh, tears threatening to spill again.
His breath stuttered, and he swallowed. “I don’t know if you can hear me. From the moment you arrived, way back then, we were so young.
“You saved me,” he confessed, his smile faltering as he licked his lips. Once more, he could feel the wet tracks down the sides of his face, the irritation of his now most likely red-rimmed eyes. “I survived because I knew I wasn’t alone. You were always there, alive, full of hope — and I tried to protect that, and I failed. I — I couldn’t protect you.” His voice broke as he poured his heart out to his frozen alter. He could feel the Duat begin to overtake him, knees plastered to the ground.
“But — you didn’t abandon me. You — you didn’t abandon me. And although that field back there,” He chuckled wryly as he nodded behind him, “It was lookin’ pretty goddamn good…There’s no way in hell I’m gonna abandon you.”
The sand continued its trek of consuming him, one arm now too heavy to lift any longer. He felt his whole body become weighted, gritty. He swallowed, and gave one last sad smile to Steven, tears spilling down his face to land softly in the sand. “I’m sorry. I love you,” he whispered, putting his last remaining strength into placing the heart into Steven’s outstretched hand and holding it there, dropping his forehead to rest for eternity on Steven’s shoulder.
As Marc fully became sandstone, a blinding light emanated from next to the pair — the doors to the Overworld had opened. A soft orange glow spilled out from the heart held in Marc and Steven’s hands, seemingly melting the sand from their frozen bodies.
Both gasped for air, blinking and sputtering as the Duat’s sand gently fell off of them.
“Marc?” Marc looked up from their now empty hands, eyes meeting with Steven’s, alive and full of hope. Marc stuttered out Steven’s name in response, willing his jaw to work.
They shared a grin as they helped eachother stand, never letting go of the other’s hand.
Steven gave a short, incredulous chuckle, “You came back? What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“Well, I — I did a whole little speech there,” Marc laughed, eyes twinkling as if he weren’t on the verge of tears again.
“It wasn’t that little,” Steven offered before emitting a small ‘oof!’ as he was pulled into a hug by his counterpart.
They allowed themselves this little moment, Marc peppering small kisses across Steven’s hairline, Steven carding his fingers through Marc’s curls as they embraced, laughing and smiling and bumping noses.
They had to move soon, with the world ending and all, but they could have this.
They both deserved it.