t/w: References to suicide
"I should… uh… clean up."
As Mordecai awkwardly turned away from him, Rigby was struck with a tinge of disappointment. The blue jay awkwardly exited the room and shut the door like nothing had happened, leaving the raccoon alone in their bedroom. The space was suddenly chilly, as if his friend had taken all the warmth with him. Rigby now saw the room as it really was; almost completely dark except for the traces of moonlight by the uncovered window. He hadn't noticed how ill-lit the room was because his own attraction to Mordecai seemed like a bright light guiding him, from the moment he asked the blue jay to join him on the bed to the moment the blue jay left. Within this positive state it came across as though everything made sense. Then and there, all the events which unravelled was fate taking its course. Now, the feeling was gone.
Rigby was realising the dramatic implications of what he'd just done. An act that there was no turning away from. An act that would forever affect their relationship. An act with the power to completely change their lives… for the better? Rigby wasn't so sure. Were the drugs unveiling the truth or constructing a charade? The answer wouldn't be clear until they were both sober again, however the raccoon was not satisfied with this fact.
He was sure of his own sentiments toward Mordecai. The blue jay meant everything to him; that was obvious. The vision he had while he was knocked out – watching the entire world break apart – it was telling him it was time to confront the feelings he'd been hiding. Then Mordecai's reaction… he hesitated but then he kissed him. That had to be a good sign, right? And he seemed to enjoy what happened after that, since what followed it was a sudden 'I love you'. That had to be more of a sign than anything. But then him leaving was almost like a sudden realisation of 'wait, what the fuck am I doing? This isn't right'. That's so Mordecai. He probably regrets everything. Our whole friendship is probably done.
Rigby slumped his back down on the trampoline in a sulk, with his arms outstretched staring at the ceiling.
'What's wrong with him?' Rigby thought. 'How's he gonna pull a Mordecai on his best friend! And after I'd already made him cu– …Is it me? Did he suddenly see me in the light and realise I'm a stupid ugly rat! Yeah, that's right. Of course, how could I be so stupid! Mordecai could never love me! Because I'm Rigby, and I'm a piece of shit. Right, Dad?!'
"Well, Rigby. At least you got one thing right today!" shouted an effigy of Rigby's father, that appeared in the ceiling.
"Do you know why Don is so successful?" the face of Sherm continued. "He's smarter than you, taller than you, and he leads his own individual life without being attached to his best friend 24/7. No wonder Mordecai is having second thoughts about whether he loves you because you're always holding him back."
"Stop talking!" Rigby cried in anger. Sherm's face contorted and morphed into a different face, revealing the raccoon's boss, Benson.
"Can you stop whining and listen for once in your miserable life?" Benson's visage groaned, before suddenly popping out of the ceiling and stretching towards Rigby's face like a snake. "You and Mordecai are so bad for one another! You will never get anything done in your lives if you don't split apart."
"Th-that's not t-true!" the feeble raccoon stuttered.
"You think you can just spend eternity working at the park with Mordecai, getting stoned, playing video games and fucking each other on your time off? Do you not have any aspirations?"
"I don't know! I don't know, okay!" Rigby whimpered.
"Do you think Mordecai wants to be stuck at the park his whole life? Do you ever think about what he wants?" the snake-like Benson asked him.
"He said he loved me!" Rigby retorted, bravely trying to defend himself against the intimidating visage. Benson slithered sharply backwards into the ceiling before contorting again, this time turning into Margaret, whose beak appeared twice its normal length.
"What does Mordecai know about love?" the long-beaked Margaret rebuked. "He's never had the guts to ask out any of his so-called 'crushes'. Except that one time he invited me and CJ to the same movie. He's a total idiot when it comes to his feelings."
"But he did have the guts to kiss me. Mordecai has never been confident but… this felt different… it felt like we finally connected on a whole new level…"
Rigby began to replay the images in his head.
"The way we stared at each other… it was like we'd just found the keys to unlock both our hearts. And the way he held me was so… passionate, as if he'd been longing for it. The whole moment we were on the bed together it simply felt as though we were… in sync… Isn't that what love is supposed to be, Margaret? What do you have to say about that, huh?"
When Rigby returned his focus to the ceiling, the face was no longer there.
"Hah! I won! In your face!" Rigby gloated. The raccoon sat up and looked about the room again. "Where's Mordecai? I've gotta find Mordecai!"
But as the raccoon flopped his feet onto the floor, something flew past him and swept across his back. Rigby only caught a glimpse in the corner of his eye of this ghostly orb. The fur on the back of his neck stood on its end with the premonition that something was about to grab him. Rigby took a step forward, however his legs had the weight of tree trunks. It was impossible to run. The raccoon desperately attempted to head for the door at an aggravatingly slow pace while he could sense a dark figure behind him, waiting to strike upon his powerless body. Breaking into a sweat, Rigby heaved himself towards the door, but it looked as though it was stretching further and further away from him.
"I've got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai…" Rigby repeated to himself, trying to find a distraction from the looming fear overtaking him. The raccoon looked down and realised why he was finding it so difficult to move. A long, thin pair of hands gripped around each of his ankles, trying to pull him backwards. They were grotesque, purple and covered in green blisters with jagged, decaying fingernails. Rigby screamed but he could not utter a sound from his mouth. His vocal chords might as well have been completely severed because there was no noise to make but a harsh breath. Rigby continued to repeat his chosen mantra as he dragged his feet forward.
Got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai.
Nothing would stop him. Not after this revelation. Rigby had a chance, and he was going to take it. If only he could make it out of this room alive.
Got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai.
Rigby could feel the uncomfortable sensations, like he was covered in needles inside and out. The saliva in his mouth could be mistaken for blood.
Got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai. Got to find Mordecai.
The frightened raccoon grasped the door handle, but turning it was harder than usual. The device was stiff, and Rigby could barely grip it with his clammy paws. Sensing the monster's damp breath on the back of his neck, the raccoon's nerves went into overdrive and he shoved himself against the door. It flew open on immediate impact and Rigby flew forwards but managed to regain balance before falling on the floor.
Out in the hallway, Rigby's ankles were now free of the monster's clutch. The raccoon stumbled about, feeling slightly nauseous, noticing that his vision was blurry. It almost felt like he was underwater. When Rigby reached the bathroom, the door was locked shut. Consumed with paranoia, he knocked frantically in a panic.
"Mordecai, please come out," he said in distress. "Why did you leave?"
"Dude, give me a moment, I'm just freshening up," Mordecai's muffled voice came from the other side of the door. Rigby couldn't wait a moment, he needed Mordecai now.
"Please, let me in. I don't want to be on my own right now," Rigby pleaded.
As the door was opened and Rigby saw what was on the other side, he froze. Mordecai stood in front of him, covered in blood. The feathers on his face were smeared with the crimson liquid, his beak dripping with the stuff. Rigby could see that his bird's arms were physically gashed and bleeding. That was when he realised that his best friend had slit his wrists. Mordecai had attempted to kill himself because of what Rigby had done. The sight made the raccoon's heart drop a thousand miles.
"Mordecaiiiii!" Rigby screamed. He had made a terrible mistake.
The bloody blue jay knelt down in front of him and gripped the raccoon's hands tightly. Rigby felt all the fur on his body standing on its ends as he watched Mordecai's mouth open, but he couldn't hear anything, all he saw was blood oozing out of his friend's beak. Suddenly, Mordecai convulsed and threw up all over Rigby. The raccoon gasped and backed away into the corridor, his heart pounding with pure terror.
In an effort to come to terms with what was going on, he grabbed at the fur on his face in a flash of panic. But when he brought his hands away, he noticed there was no blood on them. In fact, Rigby did not actually have anything on his body, despite what he had just seen. It finally came to his attention that this was another one of his intense hallucinations, but it had looked so real. Rigby darted his head around the scene to see Mordecai and Pops, who both looked like blurry blobs.
Rigby screamed again, but this time he said "help!"
That one scream took up all the energy Rigby had left in him before he passed out and fell backwards.
"Rigby!"
Mordecai rushed towards his friend as he landed on the hard wood floor. Any further back and his friend may have fallen down the stairs.
"Pops, can you help me carry him?" Mordecai asked.
The lollipop man ran to aid without hesitation. The blue jay brought his hands under the raccoon's arms and hoisted his head up while Pops picked up his legs. They carried Rigby all the way to Skips' house, and were lucky enough that the yeti was, in fact, awake himself. Skips helped them settle the raccoon, who was now half-conscious, on a spare mattress with blankets. After Pops left to return to bed, Mordecai explained the whole situation, excluding the event in the bedroom, and the yeti examined Rigby's condition, inspecting his eyeballs and inside his mouth. Skips hummed pensively.
"I've seen this before," he informed. "That's no normal psychedelic your friend took. Whoever spiked Rigby can't have been human."
"What?" Mordecai said in confusion. Simultaneously, he was interrupted by the sudden sound of a toilet flushing. The blue jay frowned and turned his head to see Skips' bathroom door open and Death himself walk out.
"Oh, what did I miss?" the reaper asked nonchalantly.
"How long have you been in there?" Mordecai asked, startled.
"None of your business, mortal," he retorted. "What happened to your friend, over there? He looks like he had a good night!"
"Skips, why is Death in your house?" the blue jay asked.
"Well, you were having a party, so I… uh… decided to have a little party of my own," Skips explained. "And this is between you and me. Don't tell anyone."
"It wasn't half-bad either!" Death complimented. "I thrashed the Guardians of Eternal Youth at Twister."
"Look. Can we talk in the garage for a second? Give Rigby some silence?" Skips said, changing the subject. Mordecai and the reaper obliged and the three moved to the garage. Death leaned against Skips' Volkswagen and crossed his arms, wondering what this was about.
"You wouldn't happen to have brought any suspicious substances with you?" Skips asked Death. "Not that I'm accusing you of anything, I'm just asking."
"Are you asking me if I've got drugs?" said Death. "What do you think me and Gary were snorting earlier? Flour?"
Mordecai had to suspend his disbelief from hearing about this wild party. Death laughed at his own joke and withdrew something from his jacket pocket.
"I ran out of cocaine, but I do have some of this…" the reaper revealed, holding out a packet with what looked like acid tabs inside.
"LSD?" Mordecai asked.
"This is no average L-S-D, Mordecai," Death said. "This is what my friends in the underworld call Brain Poison."
"Brain Poison?!" the blue jay repeated in concern.
"It's not as bad as it sounds…" Death explained. "You have some killer trips on this stuff. And, you know me, I do not use the word killer lightly."
"Death, is there any chance Rigby here may have taken some by accident?" Skips asked him seriously.
"Well… uh… no?" Death replied hesitantly.
"Come on, Death. If there's anything you remember," Mordecai spoke urgently.
"I'm sure your friend's just tired. Give him a glass of water, he'll be fine," the reaper said.
"Death…" Skips growled, seeing straight through the veil of ignorance. "We need your help."
"Alright, alright… since he's such a good babysitter, I guess I'll confess for his sake," Death muttered. "I did spike a drink–"
"Oh, Death. That is low!" Skips exclaimed.
"Calm your tits. I wasn't going to 'you know what' anyone," he continued, passing it off. "I decided to check out the other party with a completely innocent intent. But then this absolute arsehole spilled his drink on my lovely shirt and doesn't even apologise, he just laughs. Naturally, I wanted to take his soul and be done with it, but I had a change of heart and decided to slip a couple tabs of Brain Poison in his drink instead. However, when they dissolved, they turned the drink entirely purple, so I don't think he drank any of it."
"That was the drink! Rigby dropped the cup on the floor, and it stained the carpet purple," Mordecai confirmed.
"Well, that explains it then, I'll be off now!" Death chirped and began to walk out the garage.
"Death, you need to help us!" Skips demanded.
"Or what?" he asked, turning his head.
The yeti glanced awkwardly at Mordecai.
"Or you won't be invited to my next Big Immortals Bash."
"Fine!" Death whined. "A Brain Poison high usually lasts for about eight hours. But if you really want to end his suffering now, there is a cure which will diminish the effects of the drug but it's completely pointless for me to tell you-"
"What is it?" Skips asked sternly. Death sighed.
"You're not gonna like it."
a/n: Apologies for the three month gap to anyone who's been waiting on this chapter. I haven't had time to focus on the story and I also completely re-wrote this bit but I'm ready to finish this now.