CWD: GA ~ Twenty

Brie paced back and forth across the top of the limestone overhang. It was dark, with a cold moon rising, giving them plenty of light but no heat. With the fire under the stone ledge which they sat atop, the chill of the evening was starting to seep into their bones. “I am not, nor have I ever been, a girly-girl. Even so, I wanted a wedding. I was going to be an amazing bride, and I wanted my family there to see me getting married to this man so they’d know I’d never need them again! Abyss it, Nacho, I wanted to show them what real love looked like!”

“She means me.” Reuben nudged Nacho with a warm smile on his face. “I’m the real love.”

Brie didn’t pause to bother with his interruption. “Fine, the world ended! I don’t get a wedding, but on the plus side I don’t get killed. I was killed in whatever weird vision Nacho had of this, right? Yeah, we’ve been over it, but still. This is good, right? I'm not dead. I even have to admit, I like this fighting stuff. It’s like lacrosse, but with higher stakes and a lot more blood.”

“It’s all very bloody, yes,” Reuben agreed soothingly, earning a sharp glare to keep him quiet.

Brie turned and jabbed a finger into Nacho’s chest. “My family probably didn’t make it. If I would have died, they’re dead for certain. I know that on some level, and I feel bad. I don’t want to feel bad. My parents made it clear right from the get-go that if I didn’t live by their rules—if I didn’t go to their country clubs and act the way a proper young lady should—they’d disown me and not think twice about it. The wedding was going to be me cutting them off. I haven’t had a family in a long time, so why do I feel so crappy that they’re gone?”

She huffed angrily, pushed her fists to her hips, and wheeled on the man that had saved them. “This is the part where you give me all your wisdom about death.”

“Death.” Surprisingly, Reuben was the one that spoke. “I know about death. Firsthand. Four times.”

Nacho had shared in two of those deaths. It had hurt, but even before his three years in the Juxtaposition, he had been able to compartmentalize his feelings. Just as demonstrated when Reuben and Brie had unsuccessfully tried to get his attention while he was inspecting the recipes and cookbooks, Nacho had learned to shut out the world. It was a survival skill that the System didn’t give him credit for.

Brie made a face, the rising moon bright enough to reveal her features. Reuben’s parents had died when he was in elementary school in a car accident. It had been their date night, and they’d left Reuben with his grandparents on his mother’s side. Reuben never got to go back to his own home again. He’d been in fifth grade, old enough to know exactly what had happened.

Then his grandfather died when he was a senior in high school. It had been a blow for both of the young men, because by that time, Nacho was basically living with them as well. Reuben’s grandparents’ house had become the only sanctuary Nacho had ever known. Death had kicked in the door of the sanctuary and smashed all the windows. Grandpa Colby had died of a heart attack, and only two years later, Grandma Colby had followed.

Nacho had given up on people until he’d met Reuben his sophomore year in high school, and the two had been best buds ever since. Reuben had started dating Brie behind her family's back during their freshman year, so the cook had always known them as a couple. They’d become family for each other.

Remembering that they had been together forever, and they were tackling this as a team was enough to shake Nacho out of his funk. “This is the last time I’ll bring this up… back then, I knew you were gone, right? But I’d hear someone that sounded like you, or hear someone laugh at one of my dumb jokes-”

Reuben cut him off, pretending to be affronted. “Hold up, cowboy. Dumb jokes are my thing. You can try, but stay outta my way.”

Nacho shook his head at his friend. “I’ll never have such dumb jokes as yours, Reuben. I am sorry that getting information out of me has been like pulling teeth; I'm just so used to doing this alone and needing to hoard knowledge. Trusting people… I kind of need to relearn how to do that.”

“Yeah, but you love us.” Brie exhaled, and the tension seemed to flow out of her. “Even if you got us ready for this in the absolute worst way possible, we love you too. That should make it all easier. We'll figure everything out.”

The cook had to clear his throat to be able to speak again, and he smiled through his pain. “Do I love you guys, Brie? Pretty sure I just needed you to hit things for me, and Reuben for comic relief, so that I could learn how to make a proper barbecue during the Apocalypse.”

“A true citizen of Kansas.” Reuben slapped Nacho on the back. “That’s all I needed to know. Off to bed, then.”

Brie groaned at their antics. “Fine, Nacho. I understand you might need more time to tell us the worst parts of what is coming, so just make sure to tell us everything we need to know, and should know, in time for it to be useful. One thing for both of you to remember… I’m keeping that wedding dress in one of my Storage Slots until I’m forced to give it up. At some point, we are going to be married officially. We looked too good in those outfits to just throw them away.”

“Present tense,” Reuben admonished her, taking her hand and giving it a kiss. “You look good. Right now. I’d marry you right this moment.”

Nacho abruptly stood up. “Who’s taking the first watch?”

Brie was too full of shifting emotions to sleep, so she volunteered to go, on the condition that she would not be the first person to eat a meal that Nacho created in the future. Nacho grumbled about the stipulation as he lit yet another fire outside the overhang. He eventually took the second watch and left the little home after throwing a good-sized log into the fire. He stayed out of the light so that it would not impact his night vision, constantly scanning the surroundings while thinking about Reuben and Brie in their little almost-cave.

He did love them. They weren’t just his friends. Even if he were not going to marry in, he would always consider them to be his family.

Nacho inhaled the cold air, smelling the strange scents of this foreign world. Taking a turn to scan the sky, he wondered again how similar the constellations were to his old world. Even the moon seemed the same. Most people in the Juxtaposition just assumed it was one more way the Patrons taunted the players—give the Earthlings a few things that were familiar: the sky, the stars, the moons, the seasons—but change literally every other facet of life. It would’ve been easier if there had been two moons, or three suns, or even a ring like Saturn.

Introspection aside, the nice thing about taking watch was that Nacho had a ton of time to think about the food situation. He had to learn how to cook; that would let him change the entire landscape of the game, especially as people got to a higher Tier.

More importantly, he could keep his friends safe and powerful. The powerful part was even more important than safe—no matter how much Reuben would fight against it. The rest of The Dinner Party had no idea how dangerous this world could get, and he hadn’t even told them about the CrossHumans yet; just one more twist in an already twisted game.

He would learn how to use his class properly, despite the fact that it would cost them a hefty sum even when making something as seemingly ordinary as pancakes. If he needed to do it, Nacho would perfect a single recipe and force feed it to people for the next decade. If he had to reduce the entire game down to simple breakfast food to keep people alive, he’d do it and eat that meal a countless number of times.

“Maybe I should try to figure out a great omelet recipe? It doesn't get much easier than that, and I can always change what I put in them to add some variety. Good. I have my plan: Omelet Endgame.”