Chapter Twelve: Use Your Brain, Mr. Unintentionally Smart Sarcasm

Time: two and a half sobs later

Place: that same cave duh

Sky's POV

The sound of glass shattering breaks us apart, and I sniff and drag my arm across my eyes in an attempt to dry them. "W-What was that?" I ask.

"Sorry," Jason laughs through his tears, "I dropped a potion when we hugged."

"Great, just what we needed," I say sarcastically, and he laughs again, this time much more easily.

"Actually, Sky," says a mystified-sounding Seto, "I think your statement is entirely correct."

"What?" E-Ty asks, standing up and helping me to my feet.

"Look at Ty."

I glance at the pile of blood. "He's gone. Dead. I-I thought we went over this. That's what the whole hug thing was about, remember?"

"Use your brain, Sky."

"... Sorry, I'm confused." I blink a few times to clear the remaining tears from my eyes. Hafta focus.

"The body, Sky," Seto sighs in exasperation, and I frown.

"Um... what? There is no body."

"Exactly."

My eyes go wide and the breath is yanked out of my lungs and I swear my heart just stopped for a few seconds. "He respawned."

E-Ty gasps, Seto nods proudly, and Jason passes out.

"I- I don't get it," E-Ty mumbles while I continue to stare at the blood and lack of body.

"The potion that Jason dropped was just a vial of that purple 'water' from the cauldrons back at my lab. It healed Mitch and E-Ty, and now it's done the best that it can with Ty – it has allowed him to respawn."

"Sky? Ty? Where the Nether are you guys!?" Mitch and Jerome drop through the hole in the ceiling. "Oof."

"Merome!" I shout, jumping out of my trance. "Ty is alive!"

They frown. "We sort of got that," Jerome says.

"No, no, you don't get it! He was dead, Ty was dead, guys! This is E-Ty! But then Jason fixed it on accident and now Ty has respawned so we're going back up to the surface to find him."

"Um... how?" asks Ian, dropping expertly down into our cavern.

"With the Potions of Leaping that I brought tons of," I explain, and then I'm bouncing around the cave and handing out potions and yelling "GOGOGO, LET'S GO, SLOWPOKES!" and people are complaining and telling me to calm down. "I can't calm down!" I exclaim. "Ty is alive!"

"So, wait, he actually died?" Quentin asks with wide eyes.

"Yes. But he's fine now! Come on, let's go, stop taking so long!"

"Hold on, we just got here-" Jerome starts.

E-Ty snorts. "Your point? Drink the Notchdang potion already, idiot!"

I chug my own potion just as E-Ty downs one, and then I grab Jason's hand and E-Ty slings the backpack over his shoulder and we run to the mouth of the cave and jump up, through the water and into the air and over the cliff and then we touch down on the ragged dirt right before jumping all the way to Ty's house.

"Ty, Ty, Ty!" I screech, breaking his front door and then running through the hole in the wall.

"Oh my dear Notch, it was a wooden door! Why didn't you just open it!?" Ty asks incredulously, and I squeal and hug him more tightly than I've ever hugged anyone else. Or anything else. Not even budder gets this much of my attention.

"Ty, y-you were dead," I say, glaring at him, and he winces.

"So, uh, so it worked, then?"

E-Ty nods, flinching back as well, and I stomp my foot and glare at both of them. "Don't go thinking that everything is okay just because it all worked out in the end, you morons. I will never forget this. Ever," I hiss, shoving Ty backwards. He bites his lip. "Never ever. From now on, you two are exactly who you say you are – always, got it? And, E-Ty, I'm dyeing your hair black."

"Fair enough," he replies, shrugging.

"It certainly is. That... We aren't doing that, that thing in the cave ever again."

"Sky, I'm sorry," Ty says quietly, stepping closer to me. "I didn't mean to hurt you, we just- we didn't realize I was so badly injured, and E-Ty means a lot to you-"

"Are you kidding, idiot!? You mean a lot to me! I would give up budder for you – you are my best friend." I sniff, angry at myself when I realize I've started crying again. "I thought you were gone forever."

"Sky," he whispers sadly, and then he's pulling me in for another hug and I'm practically sobbing into his shoulder while repeating the words "I hate crying" over and over.

"Don't worry," Ty promises, "I'm not going anywhere."

I force out a laugh. "You'd better not. I'm not dealing with your crap again."

He pushes me back playfully and smiles. "Hmph. Hey, why is Jason unconscious?"

"Eh, he couldn't handle it. He's not dealing with your crap again, either."

"You are ridiculous," he laughs.

"Not ridiculous enough to convince my best friend I'm dead, though."

"... You did that just recently at-"

"Shhh, shh. No. Shh."