I am currently in my car, driving home. I  left Red and Ant's house quickly after Quackity basically beat himself up and blamed me for it. I just stared at the road ahead of me with an expressionless look on my face, but with about a thousand thoughts swirling through my head right now. But the closer I got home, the more the depth of the situation dawned on me, making me seemingly hear my heartbeat get louder and louder. My heart seems to ache even more by the second.

By the time that I arrive home, it feels like tears are finally starting to threaten to spill. But somehow, I manage to hold them back, as the emptiness that I feel in my heart right now seems to be greater than my sadness. I achingly move so slowly towards the front door. Once I finally arrive, I unlock the front door and step inside my house before locking the door behind me. I walk, not exactly sure where I'm going. It feels like I'm not even conscientious of my surroundings. I'm walking around like a lifeless doll.

I start passing through the living room, heading to my bedroom- right- where else could I go but my bedroom? But little did I know that Melody was there, watching TV. She immediately notices me, pauses whatever she is watching, and gets up to greet me. Walking towards me, she says, "Zak! You almost scared me. You were so quiet, I didn't even hear you come in- or maybe it was because of the TV- Anyway, you're home early. I thought you weren't gonna come home until much later-"

She cuts herself off once she sees the look on my face. Quickly, cheerful look in her eye changes to one filled with worry. Cautiously, she slowly asks after a moment of silence, "Zak? ...What's wrong?"

And just like that, as if it were the last straw, those two last words were enough to make my long-awaited tears flow out. I just look into space with ugly tears flowing out. Meanwhile, Melody looks at me stunned. She exclaims, "Brother!? Why are you-!"

Before she got a chance to finish asking her question, I let myself lean forward and fall onto her body, with my face buried between her neck and shoulder. Melody immediately catches me, wrapping her arms around my body. I hear her mutter out in a sad tone, "Zak..."

I wrap my own arms around her waist to bury myself deeper into her hold. At the moment, this feels like the only thing that's grounding me, and I really need it right now. I need comfort. And I just know that my sister is able to provide me with that. She quickly places a hand on my back and the other on my head, aiming to console me. She rubs a hand up and down my back gently, and the other hand is stroking my hair consolingly. She whispers in my ear as many words of assurance as she can provide in this situation where she doesn't have any context.

But she doesn't need it right now. All she needs to know is that I'm hurting on the inside, and I need some sort of support. It's always been like this growing up. If I was ever in a very bad state and needed some sort of support, Melody would always unconditionally provide support, no questions asked. At least not at the start, because she knew well that I struggled with explaining my emotions or situation because of how horrible I feel. In those moments, my body would temporarily be overwhelmed by emotions and would only be able to express them, not explain them. Up to date, I still struggle with this issue. But I guess it's fine right now because Melody is used to this, and she knows exactly what to do.

-------------------------------------------------------------

I cried to Melody for what felt like forever, really letting my guts spill out like that, but it was actually just a few minutes. After that, Melody led me to the couch to sit down and gently asked me what the situation was. So, once I felt calmer, I explained exactly what happened. From the details of what happened, to what was said, and the emotions or expressions that seemed to be displayed on everyone's faces. Once I finish, there is a moment of silence around us. I look up to see Melody with an unrecognizable look on her face, but I think I saw her fist from the corner of my eye clench and then unclench. After a moment, she asks in a surprisingly monotone voice, "So... what I'm understanding is that Alex- Quackity- framed you because he is jealous of your relationship with Darryl and doesn't want you to 'steal' Darryl away from him."

I take a moment to process her words before I slowly say, "I guess..."

Melody mutters under her breath, something that sounds like, "How dare he..."

She then looks at me with a sympathetic look and asks, "You're worried that this will affect your relationship with your friends, right?"

I look down and slowly nod. After a moment, Melody says, "...I can't say too sure about the others, since you described that they mostly looked mad or convinced about what Quackity said. But you said that Darryl was the only one who genuinely didn't show any signs of anger towards you and seemed to be conflicted between you and Quackity. With that said, and the fact that you and Darryl have known each other for so long makes me believe that your relationship with Darryl won't be as negatively affected as you would think."

Surprise rushes through me. I quickly look up at Melody and ask,"Really?"

Melody shows me a gentle smile and says, "Of course. ...If Darryl knows you as well as you know him, then there's hope that that's the case. And I firmly believe that that is true."

I take a moment to process that. I then cautiously ask, "But... Quackity is Bad's boyfriend... it's obvious that he'll believe his boyfriend over me, right?"

"Well... regardless of whether Darryl does or does not believe you, if we think through this rationally... whatever happened between you and Quackity is your guys' business, not Darryl's. Therefore, he shouldn't feel obligated to be taking sides since you all have gotten along together before. It wouldn't really be fair to him to have to ignore or cut off contact from one of you because you two had what is seen in his perspective a misunderstanding or quarrel, because at the end of the day that is something that happened between the both of you and had nothing to do with him. So if he truly values the relationship he has with the both of you, then he will be rational enough to continue hanging out with the both of you while you two figure things out like mature adults. And, I do believe that Darryl is rational and understanding enough to make that decision."

I take a moment to process all of this, which I guess does make sense. Though, I still ask, "But... even so, this will still have some sort of effect on my relationship with Bad. We still won't be communicating as much as before, right?"

Melody cautiously says, "Maybe it will be a bit complicated at the start, but I have no doubt that you two will be able to work through it at some point. Barely any time has passed, so it's not really sure yet of what to do. But what I would recommend is staying far away from Quackity as possible."

I let those words settle in before I half-heartedly agree with Melody. I'm now anxious for the future.