Burr: anyways bungalows

Zoey: I think we're past that

Mina: yes I think we're past that too

Burr: you're borriiinggg

Zoey: can I just talk to Elijah already

Burr: booRRRIIINNNNGNNg

Zoey: TTwTT

Mina: Burr shut up -slaps his arm-

Burr: buhhhh

For Reference:
Her refers to Zoey's girlfriend who didn't die like Zoey did
The monster and him refer to the guy Zoey died to save, who killed Elijah as well as a bunch of other people but eventually got over himself, became a better person, and fell in love with Zoey's girlfriend while at it basically

Two: Oasis

And there I am. Standing on clouds, making my way toward that fountain, my feet feeling like they're slipping through holes that aren't there. If clouds are so movable then can't, with enough digging, I end up back... down there? But I guess that would mess a lot of things up, I mean my girlfriend's pretty much lost to me by now.

Laughing awkwardly, I swallow and go on. Elijah's noticed me, but he's pretending he didn't because extended eye contact can get really gauche really fast, and then you're just staring at each other but I'm walking at such a pace and I'm still faraway enough that to try and greet me would be either a yell or misheard.

So by the time I reach the fountain and plop myself beside him, smiling weakly, the emolga's had a lot of thought in what to say to me. "So Zoey. I guess you've decided to join us now." A disapproving lip has slightly curled.

"Uhhh, h-hiii, Elijah..." I mumble. Okay I'm sorry, I just got here, how in the heck is that enough time to tick you off? What, did I do something disagreeing with you when I was still alive? Did you just happen to catch me at a wrong moment?

Oh. Then I remember.

She was my friend when we met.
And he was her first love interest. Before me. Before anything else, it was Elijah.

My face reddens as I nod it off toward the ground. "Ummm... sh-should I apologize? Did I... like... disgrace your honor or... or something? Um... I-I'm sorry..."

Oh, gosh, this is getting really gauche really fast.

Maybe I should get up and leave. Yeah. He was the first one and I came after—he doesn't look down on me, does he? Am I some useless plaything to pass the time with? Am I—Am I—Am I—

"Ah—sorry. You don't... need to apologize. I mean... she was pretty happy, being around you. And that's... a good thing. Plus, I was dead. It was over for me the moment I was killed... heh. It's—that's not what I was trying to—I—sorry."

Now we're both staring at the ground. A fog of embarrassment weighs heavy on me. Darn, this was a bad idea. Turning, I manage to lift my head and look over at Elijah, and I tell him, "How do you do it? I-I mean you've been gone the longest... h-how do you manage with all of it?"

"Well. I'll be honest, at first I just kind of looked for as many loopholes in this whole situation as I could manage. And I did a lot of this-sucks and everything-sucks and... I guess I was just... sad. Hahaah... That's pathetic, I know... but it's how it was until I learned how to be at peace with it." He shrugs, wiping at his lip a little bit.

I blink. Wow. I mean—yeah—I guess it makes sense. He was the first one. He was the only one for a good while who knew that there was a monster among us... a monster who was planning, if he got his way, to kill every last one of us except for her. Heh—right? Doesn't that sound like the story out of a frantic creator's mind?

He killed Mina... and he killed Burr. And he killed Elijah, and he killed Elijah's family. I guess in a way he killed me too. The others were lost by the overreaching extent of his actions, but they weren't actually killed by him.

Deep breath. Swallow. I don't like thinking about that. It's... ugly. Our past is so... so... ugly.

Because I'm not good at thinking on the spot, I shove Elijah with my shoulder and send him into the fountain's water. KER-PLOOOOOOOOOSH!

He cries out, head plopping in and out of shallow waves. "Eeww! Maaan, Zoey! You can't stay serious for a second, can you?!" Elijah's big ears flick at the water, but it comes off in sparkles instead of droplets. Watching, transfixed, I dip my own hand in the water and watch as my fingers swirl round in liquid that I can't feel.

My chest slams together. It's hard to breathe. I suck in a few breaths and shove my paw into my forehead and try really, really hard to breathe, but my palm is warm and dry, and that makes it harder.

"Um... Zoey! Hey... Zoey, are you—uhhh..." He draws off, watching as I shake my head in recession. A few steps back, a few more forward, and I trip over the edge of the fountain, slipping into its wake.

Null and void, null and void. I don't even need to breathe anymore—finally the thought resurfaces—so there I am, sucking water into my mouth that bounces right off of me. A blanket of blue has fallen upon me, and the weight is insufferable. When I toss my head out of the water, Elijah's watching, his big, dark eyes afraid.

And it's not even that that kills me. It's the fear over me, fear for me, that causes me to shake.

"I'm not crying," I mutter.

He shakes his head, as if from a dream. "No. Of course not. That's the water on your face."

"E-Exactly."

My voice does this awful pule-screech thing that I decide to leave alone and instead get the heck away from Elijah and the heck out of that fountain. He emerges, slowly, eyes following my stupid, jerky, every move, and I have no idea when he finally looks away because I turn first, and I move off in a bit of a huff, wiping at my eyes.

Oh no. Water can't stain you but tears still exist. Or maybe it's sparkles, dribbling from my face; or maybe it's the way I heaved as I shifted inside of that stupid fountain, my hiccups, my sobs obvious. I-I hate this.

My lips form into a frown as I stalk off and away. Hiccuping, I step off and wipe at my face again, thinking, or trying, about who it was I had left. There's still a few of my friends I have yet to encounter. Thankfully, just off from one of the bungalows, one of them spots me and quickly sprints over. A creature I can't begin to recognize chases after her, but whatever, he's not the one I'm looking for.

The victini stops in front of me. Her eyes, big skies, are welcoming, and her warm creamy fur meets my blue-and-white as she stuffs me into a hug, her big velvety ears lighting up like fireworks.

"Zoeeyyyyyy! Oh my gawwwsh, it's been, like, aaaaages! Yeaaahaaahh, maaan, I never thought you were gonna do the thing until you heckin' did, gurrrl! You show them! Yehaaa, you show 'em, you show 'em who's boss!" Her name is F, and she is probably the greatest combination of only the most top-tier of goals incarnate.

Basically both an inspiration and a role model and a real, existing creature all in one breath.

Well. She was real.
We didn't know legends could actually die until she did. I struggle to remember the occurrences around what exactly became of her, but it's hard to live in the past when she's right up in my face, so in the end I don't worry about it. All excited and feisty, she yanks the creature behind her toward me, scoots him closer. "Zoey, meet my also dead boyfriend! I knew him in reality and junk but he had to go and get himself killed, but, like, I'm dead too, so whatever." She scoots him nearer, muttering, "Introduce yourself..."

"Yeah so anyways, I'm E, that's F," he goes on, batting a stray hand in the—wait that's not a hand. His body, a glimmering orange, in fact is smaller than F's, and mine for that matter, and he has these strange, bluish purple eyes, and these strange electromagnetic hands also very bluish and very much not hands.

I decide not to offer shaking said hand in fear of shocking myself... well, then again, I doubt I'd feel that, too... ahhh, this is too much for me...

F and I go through idle chitchat about being dead and how weird it is while her boyfriend prattles on about how oh, you think your poor Eli was the first—well he lied, I've been gone longer. Though I'd rather not, my curiosity gets the best of me and I ask him how that's like, being dead for a long time, and he mentions that he's not sure, he thinks... he thinks that one day, maybe he won't be in this afterlife any longer, and we'll all pass away into an intermingling eternity... or something, I'll have to get back on him about that.

I decide that E is worthy of my attention, but not for as long as I would've liked—because man, this guy—as another creature works his way up toward me, his dark fur and green hood about his head making the chespin's identity obvious. Those amber eyes watch me a little nervously before I toss myself into him next.

"Ahhh! Roland—how are—how is—aahhhhhh! It's youuuuuuuuu!"

He makes awkward noises as I cling to him, eventually managing, "Yehh, uh, 's me, yeh? 'How is', y'say? Euhhh, I'm alright. I saw that my li'l bro found his way to all of y'all, so that's good."

Then I pause, eyes glassy. I take in a breath that I don't need, because, that's right. Roland died trying to save his younger brother. He eventually found the lot of us, and I guess in the end he was safe... but it wasn't something his big brother got to do, yet he died from it anyways, never got to see him again. It's... ugh. Shaking my head, I pretend that this hasn't hurt me at all and I'm completely functional.

"Yee-Yeaaaaaahaha... tha-that's great.. I-I-It's great to see you again."

Oh curse me. I couldn't fake a thing to save my life—oh, that I already lost. Haaaaah... Shaking my head, smiling weakly, I pat Roland's soft, fuzzy shoulder and go on from the rest of them. I can hear them muttering something involving my name, but I don't focus very well on it, and soon enough the voices disperse.

It's not far off from the bungalows that I find the last of those who have died over us. A froslass, her snowy white body turned around her, dark purple hue tilted over her head, as if in scheming. She used to have a ribbon—though I don't even know if it would pass over with her—but even so, she gave the ribbon to one of our friends before said passing.

Awkwardly I sit by her, trying to draw attention by waving in her face.

"Heeeeeey. Ummm... Frigid Outsprriiiiing... it's, uh, it's been a little while, huh? Well. I guess not that much of a while... you didn't die that long before me, di-did you? Hahaha..." I continue laughing at my own joke as it becomes more and more obvious that she isn't going to join me.

I should've seen that coming. Oh, geez, I should've seen that coming.

She mutters, her face in a grimace, "Damn, Zoey. You can stop now," shaking her head.

"Heey. Um... did you get to see your family again now that you've died?"

Another lull. She takes her time talking. I don't think it's because it's hard to speak, or she's not sure how to say it. She just likes to wait. Finally muttering in that frosty tone, "Ah, no, I didn't. It's fine, though, I didn't really expect to be so lucky as that emolga... thing... you're all friends with. Although... damn. I didn't know you had so many little friends of yours dead before you even met me."

That's right. We found Frigid Outspring after a lot of things had already happened. She didn't understand how the monster was trying to kill everyone for oh, so long until he finally gave into the pleas of my girlfriend and instead decided to get... better. For her. Swallowing, I nod toward her. She never met Roland, or Mina, Burr, Gaurdio, or Elijah, most especially: that is, not until she died.

"You're a lot stronger than I thought you were. I looked at this lot of fluff-brained ditzes when I first met you and I thought, shit, that's a lost cause if I've ever seen one."

Slowly shaking her head, a titter on her lips.

"Anyways." She gets up, pulling a hand toward me. "Hey Zoey. You wanna see something fucked up? It's gonna blow your brain open but I bet you totally wanna see it."

I watch her with big, awkward eyes.

Then I shrug, taking her hand, lifting up. "Eeeh, why not. I got nothin' better to do, yeaaah?"

"You seriously need to stop." A smirk replaces the grimace, her eyes rolling in her head. "You're not gonna make me laugh, Zoey. You actually aren't, I promise you."

Quietly I decide to try her. And with my frigid friend, we go on to find the thing that'll blow my brain open.

I guess it's kind of a cliffhanger but whateverrrr I thought it was a good place to ennndddd

Oh if anyone's wondering why the heck I don't just tell you the names of the characters who Zoey loved and Zoey died for, I like the kind of symbol you get from being detached about past lives. Like I talk about their past lives, but the only actual names and things-going-on mentioned fully and concrete come from The Afterlife or whatever it's called... heheh.

E: man I wasn't in the other stories this is kind of cool

F: alright alriiiiiight -finger guns-

E: eyooooo