Four checked on the contestants currently inside Golfball's lab. They were all crowded around a small thing of wheat.
"Yeesh."
Two grabbed at Four again, so he picked them up. Two grabbed the top of Four's head and forcefully climbed onto his shoulders. Four grumbled, but Two seemed happy, so he let them be.
Four found and teleported Basketball, Tree, Ice Cube, and Liy back to Black Hole. Two started to fall asleep again, and that was putting Four to sleep.
Four felt his weight crushing down on him. Two started to slip off of Four's shoulders as he dragged his feet sluggishly. Trying to stay awake, he started telling the toddler Two about his journey to taking over BfDI. He made a mistake, however, as Two thought the story was boring and fell right to sleep.
Four felt even more tired now, and had to fight harder to keep himself awake. Somehow, Two had some sort of skill that made Four tired whenever they were tired. Two fell off Four's shoulders. Four caught them and pushed them back up.
"Two...we need to keep going..."
"...Four..."
Four staggered a bit, then fought to stay fully awake. His eyes started to shut on their own, gravity increasing drastically. Four's hands practically dragged on the ground.
Two was startled awake a bit by Four's slouching. "Four?"
Four was asleep now, still walking, although quite slow. Two tugged at Four's head, causing Four to fall on his face.
"Four?"
"Mmyeah, X...I wouldn't mind a waffle..." Four mumbled in his sleep.
Two sat in silence for a bit, listening to Four mumble to himself. Two crawled over to Four and placed a hand on his head. They closed their eyes for a second and flinched a bit when they opened them.
They were in the hall of a school building, the walls lined with blue lockers. The lockers stretched far down the hall, the end of the hall invisible in the darkness.
"Four? What is this place?" Two started down the hall. "Four? Where are you, buddy?"
The halls were heavy with an eerie silence. Two could hear their own heartbeat, and the faint sound of a spray-paint can echoing silently as they continued down the hall.
"Four? Is that you? Is this your head?"
The sound stopped suddenly. The can dropped, the metal clinking against the tiled ground.
"Wait, Four! I want to talk!"
They tried to run after Four, but the ground moved the other way. Two ran faster, the treadmill floor speeding up to keep with their speed.
"Four, wait! FOUR!"
The floor stopped suddenly, sending Two flying ahead. Two rolled across the ground, grabbing the end of the floor as it came to a bitter end. Two kicked their feet, holding tightly to the cliff.
A shadow came over them, a faint white glow coming from their eyes. Two tried to pull themself up, still kicking their feet. They reached a hand up to the shadow.
"Could you help me up?"
"What are you doing in here?"
Two blinked. "Four? Oh, great! I wanted to talk to you, actually."
"Answer my question!"
"Could you help me up first?"
Four sighed and grabbed Two's wrist. He pulled the Algebralian back up and picked up something as Two got back to their feet.
"Alright, now that that's out of the way..." They dusted off their knees. "Four, what is this place? Why did you run from me?"
Four walked past them, bumping them as he passed. "This is the E.X.I.T., and that's nothing you should worry about."
Two followed him. "The E.X.I.T.? So this is where the E.X.I. came from?"
"This is where my eliminated contestants went, before they escaped. Eternal Algebra Class WithFour."
"That's not what exit spells-"
"Ya think?" Four picked up the blue can of spray-paint. "How did you get in here? I didn't suck you in."
"I...don't know. I just kind of woke up here. After Golfball's Time-Reversal Ray broke...Did something happen?"
"You...weren't conscious?"
"What are you talking about?"
Four laughed. "Of course you weren't! Why did I ever think you were?" He kicked one of the lockers. "I shouldn't have done any of that..."
"Any of what? Four, is something wrong?"
He shook the can of paint and started painting a four across two lockers, both numbered 4. "It doesn't matter. I can still leave you behind."
Two looked at the painted fours lining the lockers and walls. There were even some on the ground. The paint dripped from the can as Four silently decorated the lockers. He continued once he finished.
"This is personal Four time, so what are you doing here? Leave me alone."
"Four, is something bothering you? I saw when you turned into the sun, and you've been so reclusive lately, and now...this? Wh-what even is this? I'm a little worried for you, Four."
"Why do you care? Even if I was bothered by something, it's not your place to step in."
"Four, you're my pal. If I wasn't worried for you, I'd be a bad friend."
"Friend? You want to call me your friend after you ruined my show?"
"Is this what this is about? Four, I didn't mean to hurt your-"
"No! You've got it all wrong! This isn't about you, this isn't about anyone!"
"Four I-"
"Leave me alone!" Four zapped them, and they crashed into the wall.
"Four, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings or something!"
Four flew off, knocking Two backwards with the takeoff. Two rubbed their head and followed after him. Four fled faster once he saw Two was following him.
"I need to wake him up. I must have put myself in here by accident."
Four opened a locker and pulled out half of a jawbreaker. "Leave me alone, Two!" He tossed it at Two.
It hit Two in the face, forcing them to a stop. "Four, I know how to get out of here! I accidentally entered your dream! I need you to wake up!"
"Leave me alone!" He threw a chair at Two, who ducked this time.
Four ducked into a room and shut the door. Two slowed to a stop and went to knock. They decided against it and went into the next room.
This room was a culinary class, and one of the stoves was on. Two turned the stove off. They picked up a recipe, labeled "Four's favorite cupcakes." They looked over the recipe. It was simple enough, and the image was kind of adorable. Two decided that his favorite cupcake would make him feel better about the current situation, and got to work making them.
Two hadn't made cupcakes before, since they themself loved cakes over cupcakes, but would do anything for a friend. As long as they stuck to the recipe, they should turn out great, at the minimum. They started by preheating the oven.
...
Four locked the door and took deep breaths to calm himself down. He heard Two walk away, sighing softly. He leaned against the door and slid down it.
"This always happens. They don't care about me, so I run away. And then suddenly they act like they care, so I try to get them to stay away! But then they keep bothering and bothering me until I'm at my limit!"
He felt the sandy texture returning, something he hadn't felt since he merged with the desert. He felt every grain shifting as he tucked his legs into his body and covered his head. Each and every grain started the fall away. They would fall away until he was nothing more than a pile of blue sand on the classroom floor. He would be absolutely nothing, just like he always-
Click.
He hopped to his feet. "They're in the culinary classroom. I told them to leave! And they still didn't listen!"
Four sat in silence, listening to Two shuffling around in the kitchen. He wondered what they were doing as pans clanked against each other. Almost an hour later, Two returned to the locked door and knocked on it.
"I asked you to leave me alone!"
"Could you unlock the door?"
"No!"
"I want to give you something. I think you'll like it."
Four unlocked the door and opened it slightly, sticking his arm out of the crack. "Hand it over."
Two put it in his hand. "Here you go, buddy."
Four slammed the door shut and sat with his back against it. He looked at the gift from Two. It was a little cupcake, blue frosting swirled to a perfection. A small candy of Four stuck out the top. It looked like the cupcake he'd made for Pencil's culinary class before Bracelety ruined it.
Two sat against the other side of the door. "Four, I'm really sorry if I made you upset. I was a bit worried because the way you act around me. I was worried I made you upset and didn't know why. I can't help fix it if I didn't know what I did. I should have just left you alone."
"No...You're right. Something is bothering me, but it's not anything you should worry about. I was mad about the forty contestants you stole, but it doesn't matter anymore. They seem a lot happier competing in tPoT anyway."
"Four, I realize I was a bit harsh to you when the shows split. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so-"
Four reached back out the door. "Anymore cupcakes?"
"Oh! Yeah. Here." They grabbed the next cupcake and handed it to him.
Four closed the door most of the way, still leaving a slight crack. "What were you saying?"
"I didn't mean to be so rude when I started tPoT, Four. I think you're a cool host, especially since fourteen people decided to choose you over me. I think that's pretty good hosting."
Four peeled the wrapper off.
"And you're even friends with Purple Face now, I heard? I heard from Yellow Face that Purple Face was a hard nut to crack. That's pretty cool. You're pretty friendly!"
"I like Purply Head. Did you know he hosted BfB at some point?"
Two realized Four changed the subject away from himself rather quickly, and decided to switch it back. "Apparently, you also softened up 'Purply Head.' He used to be really mean."
"So did I..."
"But you're better now!"
"Who says that?"
"I know you, Four. You're a different person than you were before. Gelatin showed me how you were like before. You're so much better now."
"So that's why you're here? Because Gelatin showed you how much of a monster I am?"
"M...Four, that's not-that's not what I meant!"
"Do you have anymore cupcakes...?"
Two handed him another one. "Four...I know I can't get involved if it's personal, but I at least want to be there for you; if you ever do need it..."
Four stopped in the middle of eating the third cupcake. "But you can't."
"Sure I can. Even if you don't see it this way, I still see us as friends. Algebralian Alliance forever, you know?" They stuck their hand through the crack in the door, their hand a fist.
"..."
They pulled their hand back. "Sorry."
"No. It's fine." Four took a bite from the cupcake and closed the door.
Two rested their arms on their knees. "How do I help him...?"
"Two?"
"Huh?"
Four smiled a bit. "You did a nice job with the cupcakes."
"I just followed your recipe. It's your cupcakes that are the good ones, not mine."
"Ya think so?"
"Yep! I haven't actually tried any of your cooking myself, except for that time Snowball stole some of it. It mostly tasted like the bag." They opened the door slightly again to talk to Four more directly. "So maybe, when we get out of here, you could make me something? Your food's always smelt so good and-"
"It's for the hotel guests only!"
"...I thought you were going to say that. It's fine, I don't really care."
"But..."
"...Four?"
"X and I can make an exception for you if you...promise to help with the current predicament..."
"Speaking of which, what's going on? This is your dream, and after Golfball's machine-thing broke, I kind of blacked out for a while there."
Four explained everything that happened so far, including the part where he had to feed Two a liquified cake to get them to stop crying. He left out the part where he started to get a little attached to baby Two, and how they said Four's name as their first word.
"Huh? I wonder why I didn't know about that..."
"This is a dream, huh? I suppose that makes sense. You did put me to sleep in the middle of the Evil Forest."
"We need to wake you up."
"I don't want to go back out there..."
"I get it. The real world sucks! Sometimes it feels better to be trapped in your own mind, where everything can be what you want it to, but even that gets tiring after a while."
"I know..." Four opened the door a bit more, Two finally able to see him. "Let's go face reality, I guess."
Two rose to their feet and held out their hand. "Only if you're ready."
Four stared at their hand for a moment, then looked into Two's eyes. Two smiled.
Four took their hand.