Paper Mario

"I'm sorry, guys.'

Steven and Madelyn looked at me from across the couch.

"What do you mean? Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for fucking things up for you guys... just, for generally ruining your lives."

Steven got up and kicked me. It was a very weak kick, but I said ow anyway.

"You're an idiot. Like, honestly. Do you think we resent you? Dude, you've done everything you can to save us. You've genuinely tried. Why would we be mad at you for that?"

"Yeah. You never had to help us. You could have left us out to dry, you could have said goodbye to it all and run away. But you didn't. You came back to us to help."

I looked away from them.

"But. But listen. Think about it. If I never made the stupid Mythos..."

"Are you serious right now?"

Madelyn sounded actually angry. She moved over on the couch and grabbed me by the chin. She looked into my eyes.

"None of this is your fault, okay?"

"...Okay."

I wanted to cry. But I couldn't. I actually couldn't. I tried but I could not conjure a single tear. So instead, I hugged her. Steven put his hand on my shoulder.

And in that moment I realized that I had friends again, and that maybe, we had a fighting chance against everything else out there. After that, we continued playing on Steven's nintendo 64. We fell asleep one by one on that couch afterwards. I was the last one to go.

I felt so safe and warm. I wished it could last forever.