You had no idea how you could've let this happen.

Hermes suddenly gave out, and you fell through the air. You land on your arm and there is a loud pop. You hear a creaking and a loud thud. It is followed by horrendous screaming. Afterwards, you black out. Hazily you go in and out of unconsciousness, until you finally fully wake up.

Memories flash through your head as you register the pain from your shoulder. You attempt to move your arm, but your efforts are useless. You come to conclusion that it was pulled out of its socket. You shift yourself to sit up, and notice that you're not injured in any other way. Aside from a few bruises, cuts, and the arm, you were fine.

Then where was all the blood coming from?

You cough a bit and look around. You see that Hermes has crashed and his screen is shattered. Nothing else about him was damage aside from a few scratches. He didn't seem to be active. You notice the tree that fell over, rotten and falling apart, yet the branches were stiff. You assume that is what caused the loud thud.

You look for the source of the blood, and you see Clayton laying on their side. You turn him over and cover your mouth in horror. A branch had impaled his gut, tangling itself with their intestines. It was absolutely sickening. You turn away and vomit.

The smell of blood, the throbbing in your arm, and the disgusting taste of bile assault your senses. You look away from both scenes so you didn't lose your stomach again. You hear hard and heavy breathing from behind.

"C'mon, that's no way to treat a good friend, Eli." They heaved out through the unquestionable pain. You turn and see Clayton looking at you, crying in pain.

"Clayton! I thought you were dead!" You scramble over to him, ignoring the blood and dirt you got on yourself. "Oh my god, oh my god."

"Almost am. And same to you." He let out a forced, painful laugh. "Oh man, are those my intestines."

"I think so, but I'm not going to double check." You close your eyes, the messy scene still being too much for you. "How are you alive?"

"N-no idea. Fuck, I didn't think it was possible for someone small like me to have so much blood inside. I know that the body reproduces it quickly but damn."

"Clayton, please stop." You gag at the strong coppery smell and cover your mouth. "You don't need to describe it, I saw."

"Sorry." You hear their head lightly thump against the grass. "It's just that I get chatty and talk about the issue I'm scared about."

"The great Clayton Mentauser, scared of death?" You manage to joke. It causes a sharp ache in your chest.

"I know. Stunning." Clayton exhaled sharply. "Medical help, please?"

"I-I-I don't know what to do!" You exclaimed, shaking your head.

"Eli, give me the phone." They said, sternly.

"What?"

"Give me the phone, texting our online pals will make sure I stay conscious." You grab that phone that miraculously had only one crack and gave it to him. "Now get the Gods."

You run off, looking for the said Gods. You cough a bit, assuming that you are mildly allergic to some of the plants. You stumble your way, calling for help. Athena nearly crashes into you. You flinch badly as a reaction, nearly falling over.

"Eli! You're covered in blood!" Athena grabs you roughly by the shoulders and you yelp in pain.

"It's nothing. My arm is just dislocated, and the blood isn't mine." You groan. "Clayton, Clayton's hurt, badly."

"Oh no. No no no no no." You nod, confirming it. "Okay, first things first. I'm going to pop your arm back in."

"Athena I don't think that's-"

"Eli, I'm not going just let you walk around with a deadmeat arm. Now let me see it." You turn and let her see your arm. Instantly he grabs it roughly and you almost scream.

"Athena!" Helios shouts. She drops your arm and looks at the normally quiet robot. "Your way of doing it will cause more damage than help. You must allow the muscles to relax before slipping the humerus back into the socket."

You thank Helios quietly. Athena forcefully sits you down and tells you that she's going to find Clayton. You use your arm to massage the muscles and nearly retract when you felt your arm. But you take a beep breath and decide not to focus on that, instead you begin to work on the tightened muscles.

"That can't be easy." Helios stated.

"Well, for a robot you sure know a lot about human anatomy." You cough. You noticed the cough was getting worse.

"Well, it's very similar to Notails. Bone structure, the muscles, the placement of the organs. The producers of Fortuna must've been wanting to create a species that over exaggerates the negative aspects of humanity."

You nod, beginning to hack at this point. You realize that you may be sick. This is only confirmed when you wipe your face and see that you have runny nose.

"Well, unlike Notails we don't have a big immunity to getting sick." You stand up, holding your arm.

"Eli, what are you doing?"

"Getting to Clayton. I can't just leave him there for that long." You stagger through the forest and Helios follows along. You wonder how despite the terrain Helios still follows you with ease. 

You hear screaming. It was too inhuman and immediately you know it's Athena's. You run over, ignoring the pain. You leave Helios behind and rush ahead, faster than you thought you could be. You see Athena, standing about ten feet away from Clayton.

"How did this-"

"Athena. Stop." You said, rasping at this point. You even began to lose your voice. "Please, stress isn't going to help anybody. I'd know."

She takes your advice and stepped back. You go over to Clayton again, who put down the phone.

"Queenos said that using a cloth could help." They coughed. You rip the sleeve of your hoodie and wrap it around his gut carefully. "Ow."

"I'm doing the best I can." You wipe your brow and realize that you've either been sweating or crying a lot, because you're drenched. "Christ."

"I know, right?" Clayton coughed again and covered his mouth. "I think I'm about to faint."

"No no. You're not. I'll keep you up. Tell me what happened." You faintly recalled how to keep someone from losing consciousness. Letting them tell stories or answering questions were what you remembered.

"Well, it was this morning. You woke up in a cold sweat, terrified. You told us about a nightmare you had. A ship that was huge, you were an Oomn, and then the Neo came and attacked it."

"Good, you still remember that." You try to rack your memory for that, yet it came to no avail. This morning was just a big hazy blur. "Anything more?"

"Well, I suggested a walk. So we did. You asked how far we were to leaving the country, not much, sadly. We talked about which countries were the best to run to, we decided to go to another continent, and decided that Asia was our best bet." They broke into a fit of coughing and looked at their hand. "I'm coughing up blood."

"How can you remember all this?" You ignore what Clayton had last said, just trying to keep him awake.

"Well, we decided to use Hermes to make up for lost ground. You hung on his neck, I sat on his head. To make it interesting Athena decided on a race. Hermes, you, and I, vs her and Helios." Clayton laughed forcibly, as if it was killing them to. "I was an idiot. Sitting on Hermes' head when I should've just hid in your inventory."

"Keep going."

"Hermes have have been fast, but he didn't have much energy. The trees made sure he couldn't use the sun for power, and it's not like we could just hook him up to a car battery." They looked down, shaking their head. "We crashed. It was awful, Eli. I hear your arm go pop, a loud cracking, and would you know it? A tree landed on me."

You realized that you were holding their head when Clayton nudged into it. Clayton was using their energy to make sure you didn't carry the full weight of their head. They were crying as well, frowning.

"It hurt. It hurt a lot. I screamed and on instinct I almost, almost attempted to rip the branch out. I went in and out of consciousness and I didn't know if you snapped your neck or something." Coughing once again interrupted them. "So much blood..."

"Clayton, Clayton don't focus on that." You begged.

"When I saw that you were alive, I can't say how happy I was. It made my entire life worth living. Really. You were standing over me, injured but alright. I wasn't even scared for that moment." You feel something inside your heart as more tear pour. You had no idea you meant so much to Clayton.

"Clayton.."

"Eli, I don't fucking care if our world is fake. You are real to me. This moment is real to me. For once in my life things matter and you are one of them. You're a real person. Don't let any-fucking-thing else say or decide otherwise. You hear me?" You nod. "Say it."

"Yes. I know. I know I'm real, and even if you didn't say do, I would've kicked anyone's ass that tried to tell me I'm not." You smile at that.

"That's the Eli I know and love." They leaned their head back a bit. "I am so sorry I lead you on this wild goose chase."

"W-What?"

"We were making plans, fighting, preparing ourselves. But I just led you into a rut, a dead end."

"Clayton don't say that."

"Eli, I'm right and you know it." You look down, pretending to agree. "I know you'll never think it's my fault. So I'm not going to try and change your mind. But I just want to say sorry for that and more."

"What do you mean by 'and more'?"

"I'm going to end this adventure. I'm ditching you. You're going to be stranded with the Gods. I'm sorry for dying."

"Clayton you're not-"

"I'm know that at some point, you lose enough blood that your body can't take it. The puddle I'm laying in is pretty big for someone so tiny. I don't think I have much time left." They heaved. "I'm even coughing up my own blood."

"You aren't going to die." You yell, sobbing. "You can't because you're my friend! I love you because you notice me, you see who I am, and you don't have any judgement! You're someone who sees AIs, loser kids, geniuses, celebrities and Gods as equals! You can't just die!"

Clayton just looked at you in the eye. They barely chuckle as they reach their hand up to your chest.

"You're the best person in the world, and I'm sorry you got stuck with a shit person like me. Please stay like that for me."

You feel Clayton fall limp in your arms and close their eyes. Never could you have thought that human being could lay so still.