Here's Day 4 of Panprice Week, on time! This one is a very sharp turn away from Day 3's prompt, so where you saw fluff and sweets last time... well. The prompt for today is "Separation", so if that doesn't tell you everything you need to know, then maybe this will: be prepared for angst! And a little bit of a hopeful ending, as a treat. Anyway, I won't keep you. See you at the bottom of the page!

Henry Stickmin had been something of a special catch for the West Mesa Penitentiary. Aside from the one murderer they had in their custody, most of their prisoners were made up of drunk drivers and people who refused to pay their parking tickets. So when a thief with lofty goals like Stickmin had been brought in, his imprisonment was something of a point of pride for the officers there. Playing such a big role in preventing the robbery of an entire bank vault was something to be very proud of, and they planned to make certain that the criminal never saw the light of day again.

So, you can imagine just how much trouble Dave Panpa was in after his error in judgment led to Henry Stickmin escaping the prison.

"How did you forget to check the package?!" The police chief slammed his fists onto the desk (again), making Dave leap in fright (again). "We've only hammered the protocol into your thick skull a hundred times! Any and all packages have to be searched before being given to the prisoners, and what did you forget to do?" Dave trembled, near tears. "Answer me!"

"I-I forgot to ch-check the package…"

"'I forgot to check the package, sir."

"Y-yes, sir," Dave forced out. "I'm sorry, sir-"

"Sorry doesn't fix things, does it?"

"N-no, sir-"

"Exactly! We had a perfect chance of proving to headquarters that we were worth the scraps of funding that keep us afloat, and now look at what you've done: we're the laughing stock of the entire county, and it's all your fault!"

Tears were streaming down Dave's cheeks, and he was trying desperately to reign them in. Crying wouldn't fix anything; maybe nothing could.

In fact, that seemed to be the case as the chief finally announced his punishment: "Dave Panpa, I'm stripping you of your rank and position at this facility, and every other police facility that exists. You will never work in another police station for as long as you live; you're fired!"

A part of Dave knew this was coming, but that didn't make it hurt any less. "P-please, sir!" He begged, "It was an honest mistake, I swear! I can do better! Just please-"

"I don't want to hear any more excuses, Panpa!" The chief threw his arm towards the door, as if he could psychically throw him outside. "Pack your things and get out of my-!"

"Hold it, sir!"

Dave jumped in surprise. With all the yelling and fear, he'd nearly forgotten that his best friend, Rupert Price, was also in the room. And he just yelled at the chief.

The chief waved him off. "I'll get to you in a second, Price-"

"No," Rupert snapped. "You can't fire Dave. It's not fair."

Dave couldn't help but gawk at Rupert. What was he saying?

"Yes, I can fire him, and I will. Dave screwed up, royally, and he should consider this an act of mercy that I end his career right now, before he screws anything else that's important!"

"But that's not fair!" Rupert insisted, raising his voice. "If you're going to fire Dave, then you have to fire me, too!"

"Huh?" Dave squeaked. How could Rupert insist on being fired, too? Being a police officer had been his dream since they were kids; why would he give it up for Dave?

"Price," the chief groaned, dragging his hands down his face. "I'm not going to fire you-"

"Well maybe you should!" Rupert brought a hand to his chest. "I was the one supervising Dave, and I'm the one who forgot to remind him to check the package, and I'm the one who got him hired in the first place! If you're going to fire Dave, then you have to fire me, too!"

"Don't be an idiot, Price," the chief said, waving his hands in what was probably supposed to be a placating gesture. "I can't fire you; you're the best officer I've got!"

Rupert smirked. "Then I guess you can't fire Dave."

It clicked for Dave, in that moment, what Rupert was trying to do. Rupert was the best officer on the force here, and he and the chief both knew it. Letting Rupert go would look bad on the whole force, and it would be bad, too; the prisoners and ne'er do wells of the area could see this power imbalance as a way to do more crime, and without Rupert there to round them all up, it could be difficult to get it all under control. It was a power play, a very dangerous one, and if the chief decided to push the matter…

"Be reasonable, Price," the chief said. "You've been working here for eight years! You can't really just throw it all away for this schmuck, can you-?"

Dave threw his entire body weight onto Rupert just as he leapt for the officer's throat, and only barely managed to catch him before blood was drawn. "Don't call him a schmuck-!" Rupert roared.

"Rupert, please!" Dave screamed, wrapping himself tightly around Rupert to throw off his balance. "Please don't! It's not worth it! PLEASE!"

Slowly, painfully slowly, Rupert stopped fighting, breathing haggardly as Dave continued to cling to him like a parasite.

The police chief was staring at the two of them. He probably hadn't expected Rupert to actually attack him, but now… "You want to be punished?" He said quietly. "Well, here it is: I'm reassigning you to the force in the city, where you'll be signed up for anger management and the emergency-only night crew. You can keep your rank, but you're on thin ice." The chief glanced at Dave. "Your punishment still stands, Panpa. You'll be dismissed summarily, and the two of you will never work together again. Your careers are separated from this day forth. Now leave."

…

It was very quiet in the car as they drove away from West Mesa. The desert was empty, with no sign of life aside from the occasional cactus or distant building. Dave held all of his things in a small box in his lap, while Rupert had tossed most of his things haphazardly into the back seat. Dave tried not to breathe too much, in case the smallest sound or proof of his existence would send Rupert into another rage. He certainly looked to be on the edge, if his set jaw and white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel were anything to go by. Unfortunately, Dave had never been any good at staying silent for long.

"You're above the speed limit," he said quietly.

Rupert responded by careening off the road and slamming on the breaks. When Dave stopped screaming and could see again, he stared at Rupert, who was glaring at the horizon with the key torn out of the ignition. "...Why…?" Dave wheezed.

"I didn't want to crash the car," Rupert replied shortly.

"Okay," Dave squeaked.

Rupert smacked his head against the steering wheel, then lay still for a minute, not saying a word. Dave was starting to worry that Rupert might have hit his head too hard when Rupert slowly peeked up at him. "It's not your fault, Dave," he said hoarsely.

"...It's not yours, Rupert," Dave whispered back. Then, after a pause, "I'm sorry I ruined our dream." Rupert blinked at that. "I know you wanted the two of us to be police partners, like we played when we were kids, but I… I ruined it. The chief was right; I-I'm just a-"

"Don't," Rupert said darkly. "Whatever horrible thing you're about to call yourself, don't. The chief is wrong; you're not a bad person just because you made a mistake."

"But my mistake nearly cost you your job!" Dave cried. "I nearly made you lose everything you worked so hard for! I couldn't live with myself if I ruined your life-!"

Rupert sat up and pulled Dave into a hug. "Don't say that," he whispered in his ear. "Don't ever say things like that. I chose to put everything on the line for you. And I'd do it again, too."

"...Why?" Dave's voice cracked. "Why would you do any of this for me?"

Rupert trembled. His mouth was open, Dave could feel little gasps of air against his ear, but Rupert didn't say anything. As if whatever he wanted to say, he simply… couldn't. Like saying it would break something in him, or in Dave, or in both of them.

Dave hugged back tightly, pressing his head against Rupert's in the vague hope that he'd understand. Whatever reason Rupert had for being so kind to him, so patient… Dave could wait until Rupert was ready to tell him.

"Even if we aren't police partners anymore," Dave said hesitantly, "that doesn't mean we can't still be friends… right?"

Rupert sighed shakily, and Dave felt him smile into his shoulder. "Yeah… yeah. Of course we're still friends."

"...I will need to find a new job, though."

Rupert breathed a laugh, patting Dave once on the shoulder before pulling away. "You know, I heard the museum in the city always needs more security guards. Safest place in the city, discount on tickets and the gift shop…"

Dave smiled. "That sounds nice… maybe we could hang out there sometime when we're not working… i-if you wanted…"

"I want to," Rupert said instantly. "I mean, uh, I'd love to. Spend time with you, I mean."

"Sounds like a plan," Dave laughed. Rupert chuckled a little, then turned the car back on so he could drop Dave off at his apartment before heading home himself.

...Is it weird that my throat hurts as if I've been screaming, but I haven't opened my mouth in the few hours I've been writing this? That's a little weird, right?

Most people would probably have done something for when Dave gets kidnapped by the Toppats with a prompt like "separation", but I wanted to be a little different. Dave got fired for his mistake, probably to the point of not being allowed to be a police officer anymore, so how would the separation of careers affect these two? Admittedly, being separated career-wise isn't the end of all things, but it's the start, and sometimes the moment before the big fall is worse than the fall itself, because things seem so hopeful, like things can be fixed... but then something happens that takes that all away when the wound is still fresh.

Speaking of fresh wounds, I think we all know the general idea of what Rupert wanted to say to Dave in the car, right? Poor man just can't get the words out, though. But don't forget this moment! I'll be bringing it back again in a later prompt! And speaking of prompts...

I should be back for tomorrow's prompt on time, so don't miss out! Leave a review and tell me what you thought of this one, and I'll see you tomorrow! Until then!