Here's a little thing that I wrote that's connected to my current big project. Hope you enjoy!

Cw: mutilation, memory issues

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Joel

Joel heard something click near him. Someone called out his name. They called it out again. Then they shook him. He opened his eyes. Too. Many. Eyes. And looked at the person. It was Scott. Why is Scott here? Scott also had a swarm of Eyes encircling him like bees.

"Why are you here?" he choked out in galactic. His tongue wouldn't speak anything else.

"We're leaving. Jim, Martyn, you, and I are all going back home," Scott answered.

"Home?" Joel asked. He'd forgotten there was anywhere else but here.

"We're going back to Empires," Scott said. Right Empires. That's where my friends are.

"Can you walk?" Scott asked, concern washing over his face. Joel weakly shook his head. "Ok, um, get on my back." Joel obliged.

Scott started talking about something, but weariness pulled Joel back into sleep.

Joel woke up again when Scott set him down.

"We're out now," Scott said gently, "Is it ok if you walk between Martyn and I? We've still got a bit of a way before we can get to a place where we can get on Empires again."

"Yeah," Joel replied, still completely devoid of any energy. Martyn and Scott helped support him on either side as he did his best to walk. He zoned out again.

This time, Jimmy brought him back to awareness, "Hey, we're about to rejoin Empires. You ready?" Joel nodded. He knew he should be excited, but it didn't seem to matter. Nothing seemed to matter.

With the blink of an eye, they were on Empires right at spawn. He leaned against one of the chairs set up there, letting his wings drop uselessly behind him.

People started arriving from the sky. He heard someone calling out his name.

Lizzie

"Joel? Joel? Where's Joel?" Lizzie asked frantically as soon as she landed. She shoved past the other server members. Finally, she saw a familiar form.

The person looked like Joel, but horribly disfigured. There were eyes all over his twisted face like someone had dug holes in it and was planting seeds. One of his hands was a twisted mess and ratty wings came out unevenly from his back. Purple Eyes surrounded him like angry wasps. The only thing that even suggested it might have been Joel was the familiar posture.

"Joel?" she asked hopefully. It'd been so long. He'd been gone for so long. She hoped so hard against all of the nights she'd woken up alone that it was him.

"Lizzie?" he answered in galactic, barely above a whisper.

"Oh, Joel!" she exclaimed, wrapping him tightly in a hug. He hugged her back, to the best of his ability. She could feel the scars and burns all over his back, like an old battlefield fought on again and again, but it was his.

"Hi, Lizzie," he croaked out, like he was choking back tears.

"Are you alright?" asked Lizzie.

"No," he answered. He broke down. His tears soaked through her shirt. He told her everything, about the pain and torment, how he had given up, how he just stopped caring, how everything had blended together, and how he wasn't sure anything was real anymore. He told her how he didn't know what his face looked like, how he didn't remember what normal vision was, and how he couldn't even speak English anymore. The whole time she just held him tight and listened.

When he was done, she said, "You're here now, and that's amazing. I am so glad you are here, even if you're hurt."

He stepped back, holding her hand in his working one, "Yeah, I'm here." He smiled. It was wonky and crooked, like he'd forgotten how to do it, but it was genuine. Then, in forced, slow English, "I'm home."

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