10 months ago...

It's two weeks after running from Ren when Cub tells me his plan. I'm sat in the small kitchen Keralis the landlord warned us of  - the whole place just a bedroom, kitchen/living room and bathroom. But it's enough. We have money, food, and now a plan.

'I have an idea.' He puts the bag of stuff on the table.

'Go on.'

'Revenge. On Ren and Impulse.' I frown. He continues. 'We share stories of victims and set pranks as reminders. Let people know.' I consider.

'Won't people recognise us?'

Cub pulls an object from his shopping, hand it to me. It's a blue mask.

'We can return them if you don't like the idea.' Offers Cub. For a moment I don't reply.

'Name?'

''vex' as your nickname. And the con of concorp for mine. Put them together...'

I blink.

'...Vexcon?'

'Convex.' Cub corrects with a laugh.

'Love it... Now let's cause some chaos.'

We do. A week of progress passes. We send out cryptic fliers with a phone number on and find  voice-changing transceivers to hide our identities.
At first replies are mild but news spread fast and soon find a story and prank for our debut. We're in the news the next day. More stories come in and  we gain infamy.

As we continue on, the stories grow worse until it's almost common for one or both of us to be kept up by horror stories of murder, imprisonment, forced work and worse. And with worse stories, we make worse pranks. Bigger, bolder, harder to clean up. We get thanks, heartfelt, positive stories donations we get, but the hate grows too until we're scaling the rooftops or working at night to avoid guards or unintended victims of pranks.

And then it goes wrong.

As I walk home to grab resources for a huge prank, I catch sight of something in the window of the flat.

Someone.

No, two someones.

I run, scaling the side of the building until I'm at the window to spy.

I recognize the landlord Keralis instantly. And then I realize who he's talking to. The endless fur collars and tiny crown.

'Ren.' I mutter, panting for breath as I reach Cub again. 'Ren- he's in our house.'

'What?'

'Keralis must've told him about us... or realized who we were...' Cub stares down at the unfinished prank for a moment. 

'Then let's make sure this even better than we planned.' I nod, realizing immediately what he's going to suggest.

This is going to be the last time.

Unaware passers by watch as we leave the building torn between bloody fake propaganda for Ren and for Impulse. But we don't have time to admire our handiwork ourselves, running for the flat.

The figures in the window are gone as we enter, climbing the stairs, tearing off the masks as we go. Cub grabs my hand as we reach the floor, pushing me aside as he realizes we've come at the exact worst time.

'It's a pleasure doing business with you, man.' Ren beams, leaving our apartment. 'And thanks for telling me your thoughts. It's nice to see the citizens of the town helping stop crime.' 

'What will the punishment be?'

'Double execution.'

They enter the elevator and Cub finally relaxes. Silence follows.

'Cub, what do we do?' I ask as I enter the house after him. 'Cub?'

'We need to pack up and go.'

'Together.'

He doesn't reply.

'Cub, we're leaving together aren't we?'

A jolt of terror fills me. He's crying. Actually crying. I walk over.

'It's not safe enough.'

'Cub?'

He's barely able to look at me.

'They'll be after us. Both of us. They know we won't separate so... We have to. And stay apart. We can't know where each other are.'

He turns to me. Tears fill his eyes until he suddenly hugs me, sobbing. I hug back, breaking down as much, if not more. I don't know how long we sit there, but it feels nowhere near long enough.

'You've saved my life again and again...' I murmur. 'You're the only reason I'm still here... There's nothing I can do to repay you.'

'I know what you can do.' He replies. 'You find friends and safety and live the life you deserve, Scar, because you are the kindness, happiest and most loving person I know.' He starts crying again.  I try to speak back, but every time I end up crying.

It's too short a time later we have to step apart, pack our stuff. Cub blinks, tears down his cheeks, and says simply.

'I have something for you.' He pulls a piece of paper from the kitchen surface and hands it to me.

Cub's Scar-safe, Jellie-approved cake recipe

'Make it for your friends one day and remember me.'

'I will never forget you.'

'Go and grab your stuff. We'll be leaving as
... As soon as we can.'

I go to pack, and pause. The classic cowboy hat I wear whenever I can is sitting on the floor. I pick it up, smiling, then focus again, opening my box of memories with shaking hands, and put both the vex mask and new recipe in it.' Jellie meows as she walks over. I stuff a set of clothes in another bag, but before I can grab anything else, Cub calls my name. I run through.

'Don't open the door!' He calls. A snaking line of electronics crosses it, leading to a small pile of explosives. 'I have rigged it to explode. Open the door and you, us and everyone in the storeys above die.' As calm as he tries to speak, I hear Cub's voice shaking and take his hand.

'Take this.' I mutter, handing him the hat. He pauses. 'To remember me.' He hugs me again. But this time there's no time to cry as the guard hammers on the door.

'OPEN THE DOOR!'

'It'll kill you!' Cub shouts. 'It'll kill so many people!'

'Then deactivate it!'

'Why? WHY WOULD I LET YOU WIN?' Silence follows. Cub's shaking, near tears again. I want to hug him, comfort him, do anything.

'Cub...'

'Scar... Get out.'

'I'm not leaving you here.'

'They're going to open the door and you won't be able to escape.'

'What about you?'

No reply.

'YOU'RE GOING TO OPEN THE DOOR.'

'Cub you're getting out too.' Still nothing. 'Cub, please. Seriously. You're not going to stay and-'

'Scar get out or I force you to.' He snaps. A pause 'I'm sorry. But you have to go.' I blink tears.

'10... 9... 8...' We hear from outside.

'Go.'

'I'll miss you. Forever.'

'Just go.'

'5... 4...'

I run. Back into the bedroom, grabbing Jellie. Cub's gone, hopefully out the other window, as I hear a slam, and a hiss. I vault through the window, Jellie on my shoulder, the box of stuff in my hand. I know how to climb down, but slip, dropping the box. Jellie's claws dig into my shoulders as I slide down the water pipe and the apartment holding everything I have left explodes.

Angst.