//You won't understand if you haven't read the Mandela catalogue Dessert au lore :]


Word count: 2422

Where is he?
Jonah ran through the Castle hallways, looking for a way to the back garden.
He never really liked running, or any type of sport, but this time he actually relied on it.

His heart felt like it might just fall out of his chest, the only thing keeping him from just leaving is the fact he's somewhere around here.
Hopefully in the Garden like Cesar was going on about, he didn't actually hear a lot of what he say, Jonah spaced out during the middle of it,

The sky was a deep orange, giving the area just enough light to navigate without getting lost.
Perhaps finding his way around this place would be easier if he was given the time to actually explore.
But he wasn't too lucky, things escalated faster he could keep up with and it gave him a huge disadvantage in all this.

He didn't know where he was trying to go, but he would find what he was looking for by brute force if he had to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the sun set, all the surrounding hills were slowly being washed in darkness.
In the dimmer light, the castle looked taller and more menacing than it usually did. Adam couldn't tell if it was always that way.

He was out in the garden with Jonah, contemplating what he should do.
Not a hard decision

"Stay with us, you'll like it here" He said once again. Sounding more desperate each time he repeated that line, it was getting really old.
Adam just stared blankly at the man that resembled his best friend.

"I'll tell you my decision when the sun has set, till then hang on for a moment, will ya?" Adam said, sitting down on a nearby bench.

Jonah followed and stood next to him, hands behind his back.
He was slightly fidgeting, as if he was uncomfortable, or just impatient.

Adam looked up into his eyes, but he saw...

He didn't know what he could see in him, but it certainly wasn't Jonah.
This dessert only resembled him. And he resented Jonah for it.

He wished he could pretend that it was him, even for a moment. But you can't fool yourself when you're self aware.

"Adam-"

"Jonah, shut up. Just shut up. I can't stand you anymore"

Adam was tired of hearing his voice, tired of seeing him and tired of being near him.
He wasn't happy here, nothing about this place was happy.
It was a fake nightmare, he couldn't even call it a dream because at least dreams were joyful and entertaining.
This place was draining him and he was slowly losing it.

Jonah looked at him with a sad expression, but Adam stopped caring days ago.

He looked forward and saw the sun slowly setting, letting the place become darker and more glum.
The sky wasn't as vibrant as it used to be, and he knew it was because of him.
The whole place has just been getting worse since his arrival, but he never asked to be here, so he refuses to take blame.

He sighed into his hands and fought back to urge to say something crude to Jonah again.
He wasn't sure what this place was, he wasn't sure if it was even real.
Perhaps he had died from that pie and this was his punishment, if so this was the most mundane punishment anyone could have thought of for him.
I hate it here, I hate it here, I HATE IT HERE.

He didn't bother to wait anymore, he abruptly got up and said
"No, I'm not staying here, fuck you, and fuck this place."

Jonah froze in place, his expression a mix of shock and horror. It was as if he wasn't capable of understanding why Adam wouldn't wish to stay.
Just so Oblivious

"But Adam-"

"I'm not staying, there isn't any other way I can word it" He turned to face Jonah.
"This place is awful, the only person here that seemed to have any type of sympathy is dead. There's nothing left for me here"

Jonah looked hurt, and frustrated.
Adam wasn't surprised. Everything became bland here, nothing was surprising anymore.

"Fine, do whatever you want. No reason to keep you here if you hate me so much"

Adam rolled his eyes.

"I was never good enough for you anyway, right? Never acted how you wanted me to, never did anything of worth to you." Jonah said, now extremely upset.

He pinched the temples of his nose and waved his hand mockingly.

"Don't start anything. The way you act is not the problem, you are the problem, Jonah.
The only sane life here was Mark, and that alone is a really low standard."

He went to re-enter the castle, with intentions to walk out the front gate and never turn back.
Anywhere but here sounded great to Adam.

Jonah yelled for him to come back.

Jonah gripped Adam by his shoulder, forcefully turning him around.

"What?" Adam threw Jonah's hand off and asked in a louder tone.

Jonah looked angry, and for whatever reason- his skin and his suit seemed to lose color.
It reminded him of the dead, cold and bloody fish they had for dinner.

Jonah just sank his head and started to cry while leaning on adam.

Adam cringed, and pushed him away. Any scrap of patience he had for Jonah was gone.

He could tell that this was a last stitch effort to try and guilt trip Adam into staying at the Madeleine County, this wouldn't be the first stunt they pulled.

Jonah moved forward whenever Adam tried to step back. Clinging to him uncomfortably.

His clothes and his face started to have a muddy appearance and his hair's dye was mixing into his natural hair color, creating this gross gray color.
Jonah reached out to Adam with open arms.

"If you're really leaving and never coming back, give me a hug at least, please?"

Adam refused and tried to walk away.

"Please, Please, Adam, please" He went on for at least a minute before Adam finally snapped and agreed to just one hug.
But he warned Jonah if he tried to follow him after that, something was going to get broken.

Jonah wrapped an arm around his neck and one around his waist. He flinched but Adam relented and awkwardly tapped Jonah on the back.

Adam tried to pull away but the hold on him was firm. He sighed and yanked Jonah by the hair, trying to make him let go.

"Hugs over, you can let me go already."

Jonah ignored him and Adam felt the grip get alarmingly tight, he tried to push him off but Adam had underestimated how strong this Jonah actually was. It felt like trying to move a concrete wall.

His neck was pinned against Jonah's shoulder and he soon realized the pressure from Jonah's arm was preventing him from fully inhaling.

Adam clawed at Jonah's neck, but Jonah just stood firm.
The arm around his waist was trapping his chest from expanding, slowly suffocating him.
Is this what he was trying to do? Fuck

"Jonah-" He croaked out

"You're not leaving."

Adam ripped out strands of Jonah's hair, tried hitting and kicking. No matter how much force he used, Jonah didn't budge.
Fuck, fuck

He coughed and hacked.
Despite his best efforts, he was still stuck and fighting to be let go.
Jonah lent forward slightly, putting Adam at an awkward angle and straining his back.

Adam felt lightheaded, and his breaths were becoming short and staggered.
He fought to keep his eyes open, but the pain was increasing every second he took in less air.
The castle faded out of his view as his vision blurred with black spots appearing.

He didn't know how long he was stuck in Jonah's arms for.
10 minutes, perhaps 15. It wasn't very long, humans can't go long without air.

Adam had long since grown tired and given up, but his body made its own last stitch effort.
His legs gave out and all he could do was weakly grab at Jonah's suit and Collar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Castle was nearly pitch black now.
Jonah picked up a torch propped upon a wall and lit it, wasn't much but it would do.

I'm almost there, I know that I am.

He had found his way to the first floor, and towards the back.
While upstairs he stumbled around in the rooms and found himself a weapon to fight with, which became a nuisance to carry around but he felt like he'd regret not taking it with him.

As he ran, he scanned each section and each door, looking for one that looked big enough to lead outside. The dark made him paranoid, since he was so new here he had no idea how many other freaks could be residing here.

He tried to not think about it, and he pushed aside the fear growing inside him.

As he turned a corner he tripped and dropped both his weapon and the hat he was wearing.
He picked it up and found that the leaves from the hat and the ones in his hair had fallen off, he didn't really care so he left it.
He found his weapon and continued running down the hall.

He turned one last corner and saw a massive door that looked to be at the end of a wall, one that connected outside.
This has to be it

The door was heavier than he expected, he put all his strength to it and pushed it open.
The breeze of air swooshed past him and he was greeted with the night time air- if it even was air.

It was so dark out there, he lifted his torch up into the air and looked around.
He squinted at something he noticed in the far distance. It looked to be 2 people huddled close together, it was so dark that he needed to get closer to be fully sure.

He took long, quiet steps towards them, making sure that he didn't step on anything that would alert them.
His stomach dropped when he heard the weak voice of Adam through the dead silent Garden.
"Help"

He sounded so weak and desperate.
Jonah froze, the color drained from his face and he suddenly felt a sharp stabbing in his chest.
Adam?

The initial shock wore off when someone else responded. Jonah was sure he didn't say anything, but someone else with his voice spoke to Adam.

"It's okay, Adam. I'm not going to kill you.
Just stay with me, with us."

Jonah's anger swept over his whole body, he clenched his weapon tight enough for his fingers to turn white.
He could almost feel his arm shaking.

No longer caring about being sneaky nor quiet, he lunged forward.

The other Jonah saw the light, snapped his head towards him but he reacted too late. The axe was already in the air, swinging towards his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took him a while to realize what had happened.

Adam got knocked out for a brief moment, and when he woke up he found himself on the cold hard ground covered in something dark, wet and vile.
His head pounded and he was having a hard time taking in his surroundings.

He winced and grabbed at his neck from the burning sensation fluttering in around his whole body. His arms, his legs, his entire upper and lower body in strained pain.

His eyes filled with tears, not from emotion, but from brief relief that he could breathe.
He went to stand but when he saw Jonah, he fell back down, making the pain worse.

"No, no Adam's Okay. It's me!" Jonah said.

The light hurt Adam's eyes, he put an out arm to block it.

Adam clenched his chest with his other arm and looked up at Jonah, still fearful of him.
It took a moment or so for his vision to clear, and get a better look at him.
Adam noticed that Jonah looked odd.
He looked...different.

His whole outfit was a different color, and the attire was completely different.
His hair was a darker shade, and despite physically looking the same as the lemon Jonah, this one actually felt... more like Jonah.
What does that actually mean?

As he calmed a bit, he caught a scent in the air. It came from Jonah.
It was familiar but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.

"How-" He winced from his dry throat "Do I know that you aren't one of them?"

The new Jonah had this blank expression. Usually the one the real Jonah would have whenever he had to think.
That alone made him hopeful.

"Ask me something?" He said, as if he found a perfect solution.

Adam slowly sat up, taking deep breaths and finding his composure.

"How are you here?" He asked in a croaky voice.

Jonah shook his head, and admitted:
"I have no fuckin' idea. I smoked something, I got here, met that Cesar guy, I beat his ass and now I've come to save you."

Adam narrowed his eyes, skeptical of Jonah's story.

Jonah sighed and his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"All right. I met that Cesar guy, he beat my ass, but the roof caved in on him.
He ain't dead but I don't wanna be here when he does wake up. Let's get the fuck out of here, this place is quite literally worse than hell."

Something about the way he spoke was refreshing. He hadn't realized until now how different the other Jonah actually was.
The other one... the dessert one.

"Where did...Jonah go? The lemon one, I mean" Adam asked.

Jonah pointed at the ground, and the black liquid he was covered in.

"He uh, turned into that puddle when I axed his head."

"When you what"

"Would you rather that I didn't? You were getting beaten by a fuckin' hug, don't you what me"

Adam slowly got up on his feet, still feeling rather dizzy.

"In my defense, that shit wasn't human." Adam said

Jonah laughed at him.
"His ass turned into black jelly, no shit that it wasn't human! What, did he eat your brain cells while he was hugging you?" He mocked in a light hearted way, trying to ease tension.

Adam looked into Jonah's eyes, and saw a glint of anxiety and fear.
It was the most assuring thing he's felt in weeks.

Adam could hug Jonah in absolute delight, even if he did nearly just die from getting hugged by one.

I missed you

He didn't care if Jonah was mocking him, cursing at him or made fun of him.
The fact that it actually was Jonah is going to make him cry of relief.

Adam for the first time since he's arrived in this Candyland freak show, genuinely smiled and felt the joy- even if a little bit.

He never thought he'd say a sentence like this, but: He's so unreasonably happy that Jonah wasn't a dessert, that he wasn't trapped with a fake version of his best friend for eternity.

As he took in what just transpired and finally returned to his senses, he finally realized what that scent from earlier was.

It was weed.