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Roier wasn’t dumb.
He knew that this whole situation was way too chaotic for anyone to keep track on how many people were inside the nether and how many were outside. It was hard to even think straight with the sirens blasting in everyone’s ears and screams coming from all sides in attempts of communication.
He can’t even blame the others because he also didn’t notice at first that his dad was missing. In his defense, the nether affected him a lot more than he expected. They all experienced dizziness and vertigo the moment that they entered the other dimension. It was really dangerous with all of the monsters around them but most of them were fine after a few seconds. Roier wasn’t. While everyone slowly got back on their feet, Roier started to have his usual headaches.
Roier and Jaiden were the ones on the island to frequently experience massive headaches and migraines just randomly in the day to the point where they couldn’t move. Other members of the island had experienced them as well but Jaiden and him had them more frequently than others. It’s safe to say that Roier cursed heaven and hell the moment the headache fully set in. Of course he’d get a headache in this very dangerous situation.
He immediately sat back down on the ground, holding his head. Cellbit was right next to him, his dizziness hadn’t stopped yet. People around them were fighting of the monsters to protect them and he could hear Forever yelling for everyone to get back to the train. Roier took a deep breath and forced himself to slowly stand up. He needed to force his body through this or else he wouldn’t make it out in time. Once he was standing and feeling more or less stable on his feet, he reached down for Cellbit and tugged at his hands.
“Come on Gatinho, we have to go”
He couldn’t hear what Cellbit was saying because the sirens were too loud, but his husband was moving again so that was all that mattered to him. He helped Cellbit to standing up and didn’t let him go once they were both standing. They both were holding onto each other while making their way over to the train. His headache slowly faded and so did Cellbit’s dizziness apparently because they were starting to move faster.
Everyone around them was screaming for each other to get onto the train as quickly as possible. Both him and Cellbit let out a sigh of relief when they sat down on the train. The screaming around them got louder, everyone was now yelling for Maximus, who still hadn’t made it onto the train. He was also one of the people whose dizziness had lasted a bit longer. In that moment Roier was glad that everyone was looking out for each other, no one was left behind.
Roier had the feeling like something was off, something was missing. But he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly was wrong. It was way too hard to think straight with all the noise and the heat around him. The adrenaline in his veins had his mind and body set on survival mode, making it impossible to think logically.
When Maximus finally it onto the train, Forever tried to start it but nothing happened. They weren’t moving. Panic broke out in Roier and apparently also everyone else. The train wasn’t working. What were they supposed to do? Luckily Cellbit kept a cool head and suggested everyone to go through the portal by foot.
They had to fight more monsters this way but there was no other option. The kids were the first ones to leave, everyone else leaving quickly afterwards. On the other side of the portal were more monsters to fight but they were back at the order. His whole body was still shaking from the adrenaline as he fought the monsters that had made it to their dimension.
People started to cheer when Maximus and Bad came through, declaring that they were the last ones. Everyone made it through with barely any injuries. Sure they had some bruises and scratches but none of them had any major injuries so they were at least successful with that. Roier watched as his husband immediately tried to gather all the evidence of life he found in the nether.
Just as Roier’s mind finally calmed down, another wave of dizziness hit the island. The third one in the past 10 minutes. They all went down with a collective groan, some holding onto the person next to them, others just trying to brace themselves from falling onto the ground. Roier was standing on the stairs, trying to hold himself up on the railing. Luckily the wave didn’t last as long as the others and most of them were up standing again pretty quickly.
Of course it wasn’t the same for Roier. With the dizziness another headache set in and his ears were ringing. He couldn’t do anything apart from sitting on the ground for a few minutes and hold his head in pain. People around him were moving and talking but he couldn’t hear anything they were saying. Everything was muffled as if he was wrapped in cotton. He looked up to see a few people standing in front of the portal. They were laughing and throwing stuff at it.
He looked down again as his headache intensified. When his headache eased up and his hearing came back to normal, he looked up to the portal. It was broken now and the people that were standing in front of the portal, were now standing above Forever.
He could hear Phil yelling at him. Something about “trying to safe him but he broke the portal”. He didn’t really understand the context until he heard Forever’s reply.
“Wait Foolish didn’t come back?”
Roier froze. Finally the realization set in. He hadn’t seen his dad since the first wave of dizziness. He had just vanished. Normally he would’ve at least heard him from somewhere since he was usually making little noises but he also couldn’t remember hearing one noise since the first wave. He had really forgotten his father in the nether and now the portal was broken.
He heard the others coming to a similar conclusion as him. Foolish must’ve not gotten up again after the first wave. Maybe he went down further away which is why no one saw him. Maybe he also had some additional problems. Leo had told him yesterday that their dad was having some health issues in the past weeks, which was why Roier had to take care of her. He was apparently so weak that he couldn’t even leave the house.
The crowd moved to the portal again, Roier couldn’t really hear what they were saying, this time not because of a headache but out of shock. His dad was trapped. It felt like he was in a trance, just imagining the worst scenarios possible.
“No problem, he is working with the federation”, was the sentence that pulled Roier out of his trance. The tone in Maximus voice was light, he was joking. Roier forced out a laugh but told him to leave it. His father wasn’t working with the federation and even if he was, they still needed to safe him. He didn’t say that but his friend seemed to get his point. Maximus nodded at him and then told Forever to redo the portal.
Forever was still laughing, Roier didn’t know what he was laughing at. Maybe at Maxo’s comment, maybe at the situation. His dad has a tendency to laugh in tense situations. Maybe it was one of those moments.
Then the president stood in front of them, trying to hold back a laugh.
“What are you talking about? Who is Foolish?”
Again Roier forced out a laugh but started to pace around when Forever said that he didn’t think that Foolish could come back. Apparently some Obsidian was missing. The others around them started to laugh at Forever’s comment. While still trying to force out a laugh, Roier told them off again. How could they laugh right now when one of their friends was trapped alone in a different dimension that was incredibly dangerous?
Luckily someone found the obsidian and they lit the portal again. Roier was ready for round two and so were a few of the others to they immediately tried to use the portal to go back to the nether.
The portal wasn’t working.
Now Roier really started to panic. The portal wasn’t working and Foolish was stuck on the other side. He still hadn’t sent a message over his communicator. What if he was unconscious? What if he was injured? What if he was dead?
Roier started to pace up and down the bridge that lead to the portal. He kept on mumbling to himself. No way this was happening. This couldn’t be real. They didn’t just forget his dad in another dimension and were now unable to go back to find him. This couldn’t be happening right now.
He tried to keep his breathing steady as he watched people message via their communicator. Some of them were asking if Foolish was okay, others were joking around, saying that he was dead. Roier chose to ignore those comments for now. He knew that his dad had a weird dynamic with a few people on the island. Like Bad who was just saying that they successfully got rid of Foolish. He knew that the two of them made weird jokes like that all the time, so he didn’t say anything.
What did shock him however was when he saw his husband talk about a funeral for Foolish on Wednesday. Obviously, he was joking but Roier couldn’t help but feel shocked at how quickly even his own husband moved on. Not even five minutes since his dad was confirmed to be stuck in another dimension and his friend and husband were talking about him as if he was dead.
Still he didn’t say anything. He just continued to smile nervously while pacing around. He looked at his husband in silence as he was laughing. Maybe he just didn’t get the joke. Maybe he just wasn’t meant to understand since his connection to Foolish was different compared to everyone else on the island. He was his dad after all. Roier was still surprised because he always thought that everyone liked his father. He was a friendly, funny and loving person, at least in Roier’s opinion.
Obviously he knew that recently his dad had been getting in some trouble but he understood his reasons for it. He still loved his dad. Yes, Vegetta was the one who adopted him but he has been spending time with Foolish and really started to see him as a father figure as well.
Maybe the recent stuff had made people feel more negatively about Foolish.? They’d all been very happy when ElQuackity died for the first time. Not that those two would ever come close but who knows, maybe the past was enough for some people.
On the other side Roier knew that this behavior has been going on for a while. His dad was always used as a punching bag, quite literally as well. They would hit him just for fun sometimes, they even let their kids hit him over and over.
And he knew that his dad was okay with it most of the time, sometimes he would even initiate it. But he could also see the times where he wasn’t okay with it anymore. When everyone kept on hitting him, when he would tell them to stop it but they would just ignore it. And yet he’d never genuinely get angry or try to seek revenge. He was too nice to them in his opinion.
Roier didn’t understand so he just kept quiet.
His dad was trapped in the nether and his other dad was still away on one of his many journeys. Vegetta wouldn’t come back for a while. So he had to take care of Leonarda for now. He nodded to himself while trying to take a deep breath to calm himself down. That’s fine, he could do that. He could take care of Leo together with Cellbit while they try to get Foolish back. They had to try to save him.
He kept on pacing back and forth, looking at the portal as if his dad would just magically show up there. And then the forth wave of dizziness hit them all. Again everyone went down on the ground. Groaning could be heard throughout the whole room. This time Roier had made it into the little office next to the big room with the train tracks and he managed to sit down on a chair when he started feeling dizzy.
Fortunately this wave was even shorter, even for Roier. They all recovered quickly and Cellbit started to get back into investigating and analyzing the stuff he found in the other dimension. They all went up to the meeting room of the order. Cellbit gave out a copy of the book he found to everyone. Roier was still silent. He seemed to be the only one that hadn’t moved on from what just happened. He tried to put a smile on his face, not wanting to let the others know how upset he was. He was just going to keep pretending like everything was fine.
He sat down on his chair next to his husband while everyone started to gather in the meeting room. Cellbit explained to everyone what he had found and afterwards Forever talked a little bit about how everything went. Badboyhalo also piped in.
“I’m just glad that we didn’t loose anyone.”
Everyone agreed and Forever asked them to clap for their successful mission. When Aypierre argued that they lost Foolish, Baghera was quick to correct them. They didn’t loose anyone.
Roier was shocked. Everyone was clapping and laughing around him. Even his husband was agreeing with them. He didn’t move, the smile wiped from his face. He couldn’t understand. Just before they went into the nether, he saw Cellbit and Foolish talking a little bit away from everyone. They were both smiling and even overheard a bit of what they were saying. Cellbit said that he still liked Foolish because he was there for him when he was alone. Why was his husband acting like this then?
“Foolish funeral party on Wednesday”, Cellbit said while laughing and also typed it into the global chat.
Roier took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and not yell at his husband.
“Hey Cellbit. Foolish is my dad, man . Come on”, he really tried to be calm about this. Normally he would talk to Cellbit in Spanish but with how he was acting right now, Roier couldn’t help but feel hurt as well. How could they do this? Especially in front of him? Talking about the funeral of his father in front of him? Did they not realize how cruel that it? How much they are hurting him?
Cellbit just grinned silently and typed another message.
“Roier cannot go. He is sad”
Another deep breath. Don’t get angry. He mumbled “okay” before turning away from his husband, he couldn’t bear to look at him right now. He tried to distract himself to calm down and listened to what Forever was saying about the mission. They talked again about the everything that they found but at some point the topic of Foolish came up again. The others were talking about organizing a funeral again when Foolish send a message in the global chat. He was still alive.
Roier sighed in relief but immediately inhaled sharply when he heard what the others were saying and also read the messages on his communicator. He heard someone say that they were already excited about the funeral party. He couldn’t believe it.
He turned his head to his husband when he saw him asking Foolish if he wanted to come to his own funeral. He slightly kicked Cellbit’s shin under the table so that he would look at him. He shook his head silently. Cellbit tried to explain himself but he just continued to shake his head. The anger and disappointment growing more and more inside him. But he didn’t want to argue with him right now, not in front of Richarlyson, not in front of everyone, not when he hadn’t made sure that his father was okay.
“IM ALIVE”, Foolish said in the global chat and Roier smiled relieved. He ignored it when people were making disappointed noises and messaging in the chat about the “funeral party”. He could deal with that later, right now his dad was first priority. Everyone stood up to get Foolish from the portal.
When they arrived there, Foolish was sitting on the ground, head in hands and yelling in pain. His clothes were torn up and dirty, there was blood on his hands and bruises along his arms and legs. He must have gone through a lot. He slowly stood up while everyone was gathering around him, the pain seemingly fading from his head.
It didn’t last long though as Dapper and Aypierre swung their weapons at him, causing him to stumble around disorientated. Everyone else was cheering. Foolish continued to yell about not being able to see and not knowing where he was.
“Stop! Please! I- I can’t see anything! Stop hitting me!”, his voice got louder towards the end. He tried to run away but ended up falling down at the edge of the portal. A few of the people started to chase after them with their weapons raised and a smile on their face.
And that’s when Roier’s patience found it’s end. Again he knew the dynamics his dad had with some people on the island were weird but this went too far. He stood in between his dad and everyone else, trying to protect him from any more harm. He took out his axe and held it up, ready to fight anyone that dared to hit his dad again.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? With all of you? He asked you to stop. Stop fucking hitting him!”, he angrily spat out, looking at them with disgust. Suddenly everyone stopped moving to look at him, they went completely silent. He could hear Foolish calm down slightly behind him, still breathing heavily.
“We forgot him in the nether, you guys immediately declare him dead and plan his ‘funeral party’ ”, he added in air quotes, “and now that he’s back and obviously in pain, you’re disappointed and start to hit him?”
They were all still silent, staring at him in shock. This was the first time he’d actually gotten angry in front of them. He was always known as a happy guy that never took things too seriously, just like his dad. His husband started to approach him, seemingly in an attempt to calm him down. He was the only one who had seen him be angry before.
“Guapito-“
Roier pushed him back, not too hard, he didn’t want to hurt him, even though he was so angry that he wanted to punch something. But he knew violence wasn’t going to do anything right now.
“No fuck off. I’m so disappointed in you. Is this how you treat your friends Cellbit?”, said man looked at him in shock, he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but he closed it again.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”, Roier muttered.
“Come on, it was just a joke”, someone else piped in, he couldn’t see who it was. Roier took a deep breath and turned into the direction where the voice had come from.
“Oh really? Do you see him laughing? Is he laughing with you? Because I’m pretty sure he was screaming in pain just now. And you were still hitting him”
“Foolish has never complained about it.”, he didn’t know who said it but that didn’t matter. It just made him even more angry.
“Really? That’s your excuse to treat him like shit? To use him as your punching bag? To hit him over and over when he clearly asked you to stop? Is that what you tell your kids as well? ‘It’s okay to hit him over and over again because he never complains’. Yeah, is that it?”
Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder from behind him. “Roier it’s fine, I can take it.”, he heard his father say in a soft voice. Roier turned around to him and looked him in the eyes. Most of his anger vanished and he immediately calmed down when he saw his dad’s bruised face, streaks of tears on his face. He had obviously been suffering a lot. Seeing his dad like this almost made him tear up. He was the one who was affected by this and obviously still in pain but he was still the one who was smiling at him and calming him down.
“No it’s not dad. That is so fucked up.”, he replied as calm as he could before turning around once more and looking at the people in front of them, all of them still frozen in shock from what they’d just witnessed. He took a deep breath and started at them angrily.
“You guys disgust me. The way you treat my dad is actually disgusting. He has done nothing to deserve this. I know we don't agree on his recent actions but you guys wouldn't even hear him out about his reasons. And you've been treating him like this for months. For some reason you guys think it's fine to just hit him over and over. And to let you children hit him over and over.", he shot Bad an angry glare at that. "But what you've done today is a new low even for you guys. Celebrating his death and planning a funeral when you are the reason why he could actually be dead. Not even five minutes after he got trapped. And all of this right in front of me.", he paused for a second and looked at everyone around him before continiung. "You guys are lucky that my dad is such a nice person. And you better hope my other dad doesn’t find out about this.”, he spoke calmly but loud enough for everyone to hear, before turning around again to his father, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “Let’s go home dad”.
Before anyone could say anything, the two of them warped away.
Again, Roier wasn’t dumb, he knew that they didn’t leave his dad on purpose. It was way too chaotic to keep track of everyone. But everything else was done on purpose and Roier didn’t know if he was ever going to forgive them for that.