The balloon stretched overhead, rippling in the strong breeze as technicians rushed around the basket at the base, pulling ropes and checking machinery and preparing the balloon for liftoff.

Now, let it be known that Sausage knew plenty about hot air balloons. It had been years since his first introduction to them and all their dangerously exciting newness, at least back then.

These days, hot air balloons were a common method of transportation within the Grimlands and sometimes even Mythland. He'd been on his fair share of balloons in the past.

So why was this time different?

He tried to imagine it in his head. Just another normal, easy trip, hanging out with fWhip a couple thousand feet in the air, the view of Eastvale and the entire world, the Crystal Cliffs shining in the south and the Lost Empire to the north, Rivendell to the distant east and the Undergrove hidden amongst the thick forests to the northwest.

His chest constricted and he had to turn away from the balloon, tucking himself into a hidden crevice created by some bushes planted against the wall of a nearby building. Hidden, he could let go of his forceful control over his breathing and gasp for air he wasn't getting, one hand pressed against the cool brick behind him and another pressed against his heart, faintly feeling it thundering inside his chest.

The takeoff was soon. He had to get it together.

Another breath. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

He blinked until the bushes in front of him came into focus.

Inhale.

The bush to the right of him was going to flower soon. He could see small rosy buds peeking out amongst the leaves. Early bloomers, it seemed.

Exhale.

The wall was cold behind him. The early-morning sun hadn't had enough time to warm it up yet.

Inhale.

fWhip was going to be here soon.

That thought, out of all the others, was enough to get him to push off the wall, letting out a shaky breath and steeling himself.

He would not panic in front of fWhip. Sausage had caused him enough trouble over the last year, what with the demon and everything. Sausage was not going to ruin the maiden voyage of his largest and latest balloon, fWhip's pride and joy after years of hard work designing and building it.

Running his fingers through his shoulder-length hair, which was supposed to be tied back to keep it from flying in his face. The tug of his hair back had begun to give him a headache, so he undid it and stuck the hair tie on his arm, a pseudo-bracelet. He'd put it back on in a moment. For now, he just twisted his fingers in the warm brown strands, unraveling a few knots here and there that his hairbrush didn't catch when he got ready a few hours prior.

The bob of a bright head of red hair amongst the rest of the crowd galvanized him into stepping out of his little bush sanctuary, hurriedly tying his hair back as fWhip caught his eye and started towards him, reaching Sausage's position on the outskirts of the area that had been cleared for the balloon takeoff just as he finished with his hair and let it drop down into the simple ponytail, a far cry from the elaborate braid he had put it into before he left his guest quarters in the Grimlands Manor.

His best friend hadn't seen him before he had left the manor, too busy with preparations, so at least Sausage knew fWhip couldn't compare his slight unkemptness to his previous neat style.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" fWhip asked idly, eyes caught on his hot air balloon, currently undergoing some sort of final check, not that Sausage was any expert.

"There's too many people in the way to admire it from over there," Sausage replied lightly, instinctively moving to drape an arm over fWhip's shoulder but flinching back before his arm made it more than an inch away from him. Were they close enough for that again? Or was fWhip barely tolerating his presence, the invite to the balloon launching a forced gift to convey the newly minted peace between their empires to their citizens after everything with Xornoth?

He didn't deserve fWhip's forgiveness, he knew that. Not after seeing the look of pure pain in his gaze after Sausage had returned from the dead, a look fWhip had hidden behind rage and uncaring dismissal.

No, he had hurt the Count of the Grimlands too much for forgiveness.

"True, true," fWhip said, a lopsided grin gracing his face as he looked up at the balloon. "Isn't she absolutely gorgeous?"

Sausage nodded, returning the grin fWhip threw his way, ignoring the rock that settled heavily into his stomach as fWhip looped his arm through Sausage's elbow and dragged them both closer, towards the boarding plank for the basket.

He and fWhip would be the only people on board for the maiden voyage. Sausage had been on every first trip for every balloon, since the very first one fWhip had invented, the only person brave (or foolhardy) enough to put his life in the hands of a giant balloon with a oversized picnic basket attached created by the person he trusted the most in the entire world.

The closer they got to the balloon, the more he found it harder and harder to breathe. He forced his breaths into a steady pattern, ignoring the burn in his lungs from not enough oxygen. He wasn't going to freak out in front of fWhip.

"You good, Saus?" fWhip asked, concern (true concern? Or just faked for the nearby people? He needed to get it together-) lacing his tone.

He nodded rapidly, letting himself breathe a bit quicker to keep the black spots dancing in his vision from getting larger as they approached the gangplank, technicians standing by to push it away and let them float away as soon as he and fWhip were on board.

"Are you... sure?"

He couldn't do it. He couldn't get on the balloon. His head was pounding, and he was openly gasping for air, trembling hands unlatching fWhip's arm from his, he had to get away from it, get away from the balloon, he couldn't go up, couldn't be so high, he would fall, fall down to the ground, falling down the Dragon Spire, Gem pushed him but it had to happen, he would fall and hit the ground and feel his bones shatter on impact, feel himself slip away, die, again, and this time he wouldn't come back, he would–

"Sausage– Sausage!"

The world came back in small pieces.

Cold seeping into his body from under and around him. Something warm, warm, warm pressed against his face on both sides, tilting his head up. His hands were full of something, something that slid in and out of his fingers and rippled under his touch.

Pressure against his skin? Sound– someone (who?) was saying something, a lilt of words that rushed over each other like a stream over smooth rocks, burbling and speedy.

More came back into focus, fWhip's familiar face crouched over his. It was fWhip's glove-warmed hands on his face, the fabric of his woolen black jacket clutched in his fists.

fWhip who was talking to him, babbling a stream of words almost too fast for Sausage to understand.

"-gonna be okay, you don't have to fly if you don't want to, gods, why didn't you say something, please be okay, hey, can you hear me, it's gonna be alright, we won't go on the balloon, it's okay–"

He kept talking, and Sausage blinked up at his darting blue eyes, only a little away from his own, similarly shaded azure.

fWhip... cared? Sausage was pretty sure there wasn't anyone nearby, so he wasn't pretending for a crowd. He was genuinely worried for Sausage.

Did... did fWhip not care about everything Sausage had done? Or had he put aside his anger to worry over Sausage, sitting in cold dirt somewhere behind a building, out of sight of the balloon, although he could faintly hear the commotion of the crowd and the whooshing sound of the balloon rippling in the wind.

"Hey, can you hear me? Sausage?"

His wandering gaze focused back on fWhip, and he nodded unsteadily. Words didn't seem ready to happen yet, so he nodded silently, looking up at fWhip, who was normally shorter but leaning over him in their current positions, Sausage collapsed against the wall behind him and fWhip knelt partially over him.

fWhip sighed, relief overtaking the worry-fear that had made his brow furrow and lips pinch even as he babbled about whatever to try and snap Sausage out of his latest panic attack.

Heights... had not been easy for Sausage, since his– fall, he could say. Since his fall from Gem's Dragon Spire in the Crystal Cliffs. He'd never feared them before, but after coming back from the dead, even the thought of anywhere high up was enough to make his breath quicken and his heart pound.

"Are you okay? What happened?" fWhip asked anxiously, nudging aside Sausage's semi-crossed legs to make space for himself to sit properly in between his legs, looking up at Sausage, their chests mere inches apart.

His hands had left Sausage's face at some point, he realized as the cool wind made him shiver involuntarily. They were in fWhip's lap now, fidgeting with his sleeve as he waited for Sausage's response.

"I-" he started, hesitant. How did he explain? How could he get any words out, with fWhip right there, warm and kind and caring about him, in a way he thought he would never deserve again, a way he thought fWhip would never be again.

"Was it me? Did I- was I too– overwhelming?" fWhip asked, and the thought of fWhip ever being too much, being overwhelming, was enough to shock Sausage out of his confused fear.

"What? No!" Sausage said, grabbing fWhip's hands in his before letting go abruptly, pulling back. "I'm sorry, I-"

fWhip grabbed at his hands, pulling them back into his and looking up at Sausage with a worried, confused look. "Sausage... are you– afraid of me?"

Sausage hesitated.

"What?" fWhip breathed, so softly that the word was almost carried away by the wind before it could reach his ears.

"It's not- I'm not scared, of you, I-" he stumbled over his words, trying to put the tangled ball of emotions that always laid heavy in his chest, nestled within the gaping wound that the pain of all his actions, of his betrayal, had caused– "I did so much to hurt you, to hurt everyone, I- you shouldn't care about me, you should- you should hate me, I deserve it–"

"What?" fWhip said, again, this time shocked, mingling with indignance and confusion.

"I hurt you! I hurt everyone! I tried to help, to protect Mythland and everyone else, and all I did was make things worse, I failed- I failed Mythland, I failed my people, I failed you, I-"

"I failed."

He fell silent, staring at the ground, anywhere but at fWhip. He would leave now, confirm everything Sausage had said as true and get up and leave him, exactly as he deserved.

Instead, he felt fWhip's grip tighten on his wrist, prompting him to look back up.

fWhip's face was full of a blend of fiery determination and sparking indignation, a refreshingly alive and familiar combo from his stubborn friend. fWhip hadn't looked so... himself for so long, since the demon had arrived and changed everything between them forever.

"How dare you say something like that about yourself," fWhip said, quietly and yet no less intense for the near-whisper of his voice.

Sausage made a confused noise, about to speak, but was cut off by fWhip dropping his hand over his mouth, silencing him.

"No, no, I'm talking now," fWhip told him petulantly, and continued. "How dare you- you did your best to fight against Xornoth and do something when everyone else was just running around panicking their heads off, myself included, and you fought to free yourself, you went to Pearl for help even while corrupted, you tried, Sausage, you were doing your best, you are not allowed to- gah, what's the word, words aren't wording-" fWhip shook his head briskly, blinking a couple times hard as if rebooting his brain, before talking again.

Moving his hand from over Sausage's mouth to settle on his shoulder, fWhip looked at him, really looked, past his facade of cheerfulness and his pretense at being okay, and he said, softly, "You tried, Sausage. You did your best against impossible odds. You were fighting against a demon. No one can fault you for not being able to resist it."

Sausage let out a breath, a soft, feathery thing, a piece of his soul that has long since rotted and needed to be cut free, finally letting it go from his iron grasp. The knot of pain and shame in his chest lightened, every so slightly.

Healing would take a long time. But he wasn't alone.

"Scott probably doesn't agree with you," Sausage said, a dry laugh accompanying the words.

fWhip snorted. "And who cares about that icy prick? He can take his opinion and bury it in his oh-so-fancy mountains. The Grimlands has much better ones, anyways."

He snickered. Of course fWhip still had a vendetta against the Elvenking for an offhand comment about mountain size. Of course he did. He wouldn't be fWhip if he didn't.

"Hey, don't make fun of me, it was serious," fWhip protested, smacking Sausage's shoulder lightly. "He called my mountains puny! He's puny, is what he is, I bet his mountains are the size of a peanut-"

The snickers turned into a full on laugh, and in between gasps he managed to giggle, "Have you been thinking a lot about how small Scott's... mountain is?"

fWhip spluttered, face reddening. "I- you- Shut up, Sausage!"

Sausage howled with laughter, falling over and almost knocking fWhip down as well, who squawked and shoved at him, disgruntled. He eventually couldn't help falling into snickers as well, though.

It wasn't healthy laughter, mayhaps. Tinged with hysteria, laughing about more than just an innuendo. But it was healing laughter.

They'd heal.