I'm still alive! Sorry for very slow delay but with my job I have not had much motivation to even write lately. Here is a very short update to the AU. Part Three should be longer and with less delay between the parts :) 

Brainy was hungry and tired. He shouldn't have been so tired, he knew he shouldn't have been and yet staying awake for any period of time was just so draining. For the last few days he had hardly left his bed, hadn't left his mushroom at all. He simply did not see the point. What was truly the point of eating a meal if all food tasted bland and was increasingly difficult to even swallow? As long as Brainy couldn't think of a worthwhile answer he was entirely content to hide in his mushroom away from the prying eyes of other smurfs and the far too suffocating presence of sunlight acting as...What was it called in Patrick's world? Ah, yes. A spotlight.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He knew from many draining sessions that it had approximately 24 imperfections. A small spider web was forming in one corner and Brainy absentmindedly wondered how long it would take for even the spider to leave him or end up hating him. Maybe I will get lucky and it will be venomous and bite me... On that thought he turned away from the ceiling, instead opting to face the wall as he pushed his bleak thoughts as far down as he could. That was easier said than done. They were the main focus his thoughts took now. He couldn't erase himself with the potion but erasing himself all together...? That was possible. Terrifyingly easy and simple.

He could hear the usual cluster of noise in the village. Laughing. Singing. Nauseating positivity. Oh Smurf, he really was starting to sound like Grouchy. At least Grouchy had a reason to be...well grouchy. What reason did he have? It was noisier than usual and a part of him considered going to the window to see what was going on. Instead he pulled a blanket over her head and tried to find comfort in the relative darkness. There was none to be found.

His head ached too much to fall back asleep and his joints ached from the lengthy time of inaction. It had definitely been a while with no interaction – the bruises from constantly being thrown out of the village were gone – yet he felt no need to interact with anysmurf. It never ended too well.

He put a pillow over his face, trying to block out the light. It made the banging headache far more painful. The darkness helped. Not much but a bit. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing... The pain at least somewhat distracted him from his thoughts.

Thoughts that said things would be so much better if the next time that he fell asleep he didn't wake up.