This is mostly just a depressing, sob-worthy filler chapter. It's needed, though, so shut up and deal with it. .

Games

Ch 20: I Hate You

I stumble forward a few steps after being teleported back to the Purple building.

"I meant what I said in the Challenge."

"The part where you s-said you couldn't 'say it and mean it?'"

"No. The part where I said I didn't care. The part where I said you meant nothing to me."

The words won't stop replaying in my head. Every time I got a question wrong three times, the video would play for ten minutes, and the more the video played, the more muddled my brain was.

The more questions I got wrong.

The more times I had to watch the stupid video.

"I have no feelings whatsoever for Sky. He means nothing to me."

I let out a sob as I sink down to the floor and lean against the wall. I've lost my best friend, the love of my life. Ty doesn't care about me, not at all. I am nothing to him.

I am nothing.

I close my eyes and let out a shuddering breath. You're okay, Sky, you're okay. It's okay. It's no big deal. You have other friends. You'll be fine.

"I have no feelings whatsoever for Sky. He means nothing to me."

I bang my head against the wall as the words run through my head yet again. They won't stop. Those words, Ty's expression as he said them, I just can't get any of it out of my head.

"I meant what I said in the Challenge. The part where I said I didn't care. The part where I said you meant nothing to me."

My eyes fly open when a loud thud sounds on the other side of the room. "Wha-?"

Oh. It's Ty.

He's just been teleported in, and he's on his hands and knees on the other side of the room. He's breathing heavily and I think he's crying, too, and his eyes are closed as he sits up and hugs his knees, burying his head in them.

"T-Ty? A-Are you okay?" I ask tentatively, standing up and beginning to walk towards him.

"Sky means nothing to me."

I shake my head slightly to clear my thoughts as I rest a hand on his shoulder. "Ty, are you alright? Tell me what happened."

Ty jumps away from me, his eyes instantly shooting open. "N-No! Don't touch me, Sky!"

"Ty, I just-"

"No! Notch, just leave me alone, okay? I don't like you, Sky!" he shouts. I reach toward him again, dying to comfort him, to wipe away his tears. "I hate you!"

"I have no feelings whatsoever for Sky. He means nothing to me."

"I hate you!"

"I meant what I said in the Challenge. The part where I said I didn't care. The part where I said you meant nothing to me."

"I hate you!"

I squeeze my eyes shut and sniff quietly as I back away from Ty. He hates me. He doesn't just not care about me, he hates me.

"I-I'm sorry," I sob, spinning and sprinting out of the Purple Building.

I want to go home.

xXx

"Should we try to get him to come out?"

"Maybe we should give him a few more seconds. Or minutes."

"Or hours."

"He wouldn't listen to us in this state, anyways. He'd just shove us out the door and go back to crying on his bed."

"Now, if we could get Ty to go check on him-"

"But that's not going to happen."

"No, it's not."

I tune out the voices of my friends as I lean back against my bedroom wall. Yeah, they're just trying to help. But I don't want their help right now, because the only help they can give is a hug and an encouraging word or two.

And I need more than that to be okay again.

I let out a shaky breath and close my eyes. I've been sitting here, crying and staring at my bed, for hours now. At this rate, I'll have died of dehydration by morning.

Which wouldn't be all that bad, I suppose. Well, it would be bad if I was sent to the Nether, because ew – life with my father. But if I'm sent to the Aether after death, life'll be- I mean, death'll be good.

Actually, even the Nether is better than this place, where trauma is part of the daily routine and your best friends get into the habit of not caring about you and revealing that they hate you.

Shut up, Sky, you're gonna start hardcore sobbing again. Sniffling is good, sniffling is progress.

"Sky means nothing to me."

Just get used to it, Sky.

"I hate you!"

So what? You have other friends, Sky.

"I have no feelings whatsoever for Sky. He means nothing to me."

"Sky means nothing to me."

I let out a single sob. Okay, so what? So what if my best friend since childhood and crush since age fourteen hates me? It hardly matters in the long run. I'll move on eventually. I'll grow up, get married, have kids, and forget about Ty completely.

Oops, I thought his name.

And, the sob-fest continues.

I glance at my bed again, debating in my head the same thing I've been debating ever since I came in here. Should I take back my Skybrine powers? I was going to wait. I was going to be patient and nail the GameMaster at the Winner's Ceremony.

But I just want out of here so badly.

Of course, going back to the real world wouldn't change Ty's feelings toward me. Ty would remember all the good times we had together before the game show, yes, but that wouldn't change how he feels about me. He hates me, I am nothing to him. Nothing can really change that at this point.

So what would be the point of taking my chances with the GameMaster now instead of later when I have a strategy, a few advantages, and an actual plan during the latter?

I wouldn't have to sleep next door to Ty, for one.

When we get back to the real world, I will probably just collapse in a heap of tears again and cry for a few more years. Be useless for a few more years. Wait for the rest of my friends to admit they all hate me, too.

Wait, what was that, Brain?

The rest of my friends don't hate me, do they? I don't think they do, they don't act like it.

Then again, Ty didn't act like it, either.

Ugh, just shut up, Sky, your friends don't hate you.

Ha, wow. I've been talking to myself for the last few hours while bawling my eyes out and staring at a bed made of budder as I grieve the loss of my best friend.

I think that's an all-time low for me.

I need to fix this. I mean, I know I can't fix my relationship with Ty, but I can at least stop moping around. I'll continue playing on the game show, I'll go through with the original stop-the-GameMaster-during-the-Winner's-Ceremony plan, and I'll get us all out of here safely. That's always been my job in Team Crafted; I'm basically the leader. I'm the one who stays strong when everyone else is falling apart. I'm the one who makes everyone laugh when they feel like it's impossible to smile. I'm the one who never gives up, the one who grins when they'd rather frown and laughs when they'd rather cry. I'm the one who looks out for everyone else, keeps them safe.

What a crappy job I'm doing. I wouldn't be surprised if I got fired soon.

Maybe Seto could take my place. He's pretty good at everything I'm supposed to be good at – well, except for the joke part.

Actually, Seto can be pretty funny when he wants to be.

So, it's settled. Seto will be the new leader of Team Crafted when my friends kick me out-

Sky! Good Notch, focus on your not-moping-around plan and stop imagining depressing scenarios!

I breathe in slowly and then out even more slowly as I haul myself to my feet. No more sitting around and being useless. The whole reason Team Crafted volunteered for "Challenge Times Eight" was to save the world and avoid being bumps on a log, right? I rub the tears off my face with my sleeve and blink several times to stop any more from forming. No more crying. Crying has never gotten anyone anywhere, except this one guy into a mental asylum, but that was a lot of crying. Like, a lot.

I force a smile onto my face and head towards my bedroom door.

"Sky means nothing to me."

But it doesn't matter.

"I hate you!"

But I don't care.