Tainted Reconciliation (Pt 3)

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The days had flown by, nothing but a blur of planning. It almost made Brett dizzy how fast time had passed since they had gotten engaged. But now, standing in front of Eddy, time seemed to stop. Everything faded into the background. No more officiant and his boring speech, no more burning, almost judgmental gazes of his parents. Nothing mattered besides Eddy. The officiant finally ended his rambling, and Eddy slipped the ring onto his finger. Brett looked down at the matching bands. He marveled at his such a tiny thing could represent his whole world. Eddy's hand slipped around his waist, snapping him back to the present, pulling him in, tightening his arms around his waist, leaning down, lips almost touching...

Brett sighed. How he wished that wasn't all just a daydream. They said the real thing is always better than the dream, too. But it wasn't real. It was far from real. They weren't getting married. They probably never had been. Eddy was just playing with him the whole time, just using him to get through the apocalypse alive. He had had Brett wrapped around his finger the whole time, just to cruelly rip out his heart once he got bored of him. He had never actually loved him: it was just a lie. Right? After all, how could you move on from someone in less than a week if you truly loved them?
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He had been out, trying to find more food for them. The supermarkets and stores had long since been stripped of anything useful, so they had to scavenge and hunt in the forests. Luckily, there wasn't a shortage of food there. He had been following the line of snares, checking if any of them had caught anything, when he heard a noise behind him. He started to turn around, but he wasn't fast enough. The world had already gone dark.

He had woken up lying on a hard mattress, the rough fabric scratching against his back. For some reason, this bed felt familiar. Too familiar.
His eyes flew open and he bolted upright. The light blinded him for a minute, hurting his head, but his eyes soon got used to it. As soon as he saw where he was, his stomach sunk. He was back in the camp. The government run "shelter" camps. His memory slowly came back; he had been checking the snares when the bushes had rustled behind him, and then his vision had gone black and his memory stopped. Someone must have snuck up behind him and knocked him out, then brought him here. And if he was here... Where was Eddy? Was he ok? Had the government done anything to him? Anxiety bubbled in his stomach as he got up and left the room.

Eddy was cleaning up around the house when the knock on the door came. No one ever came around the house; there wasn't even anyone near their camp. He assumed it was Brett; he was a bit puzzled why he was knocking since they lived here, but he didn't think much of it. But when he opened the door, his stomach started sinking. It wasn't Brett. It was a government officer. Their presence at their house was not a good sign. He waited with his heart in his throat while the officer did the usual not quite formal but cold and distant introductions. And then she got down to business. They had taken Brett. There was only one way to keep him alive; date this girl they had found, pretend to be in love with her, get married, make them believe it was real. He couldn't believe they were doing this to them. Yes, the government didn't exactly love same gender marriage. But he never thought they'd go this far... The thought of dating someone else, marrying someone else besides Brett made Eddy want to puke. But the thought of Brett being harmed and killed was even worse. As soon as the officer had closed the door, he sank to the floor, breaking down into sobs.

Brett was back to being a lab assistant. In fact, it was the same doctor he had worked for the first time he'd gotten stuck in one of these camps. But this time, he didn't just help with filing papers and recording experiments. No. This time, he was the experiment.
They had found out that his blood cured the zombie virus. They had drawn so much blood, almost killing him from loss of blood. They tested so many things on him, injected so much into his body. He would have fought back, tried to escape. But they had killed his heart, too.
Around a week after he had been brought to the camp, the head of the camp called Brett into his office. By the time he got there, his hands were clammy and he was sweating. He wasn't looking forward to what the head had to say. Was Eddy alive? Had he been hurt? Had the government done something to him?
Had he been killed?

But when he walked in and saw the pictures of Eddy holding hands with this girl, Eddy's arms wrapped around this girl, Eddy's lips caressing hers, he almost wished they had said Eddy was dead.

A couple days after the officer had come, Eddy had gone on a date with the girl. He learned her name was Bela. She had talked about herself a little, but Eddy didn't remember any of it. She was nice, but she wasn't Brett. The whole time, all he could think about was Brett; Brett should be the one sitting in her place, Brett should be the one here with him, Brett is the one he loves. Which was why he was even on a date with this girl in the first place. He couldn't get Brett killed. He couldn't bear to be in a world without Brett. And he doubted the government said it lightly when they threatened to hurt Brett if he didn't pretend to be in love with this girl. So he did. But it was hell. He was reminded of Brett every second he was with her. He hated being tortured like this. Hell, in fact, would probably be better than this situation he was stuck in. But he couldn't do anything about it. Neither of them could.
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With one's heart locked in ice and the other's locked in desperate grief, they found themselves free four years later. Well, as "free" as they could be. They had released Brett after four long years of being experimented on. Four years of painful, terrible tests. But he didn't feel any of it. Not really. His emotions, his feelings? They disappeared the day he found out that Eddy had proposed to that girl Bela. He didn't understand it, really. Why had Eddy proposed to him if he didn't even love him? But he shook his head, clearing those thoughts. They weren't important. Eddy wasn't important. He was just a part of his past, a distraction. And yet, his heart would not leave his brain alone. His heart would not listen; it still longed for Eddy, still loved Eddy. That demon, it was making things so much harder for Brett. But he was determined to get through his life alone. He didn't need Eddy.

A greater lie could not have been told.

Brett had decided to go for a walk to clear his mind. But it didn't clear his mind. It did the very opposite. It filled his mind with thoughts, the dark thoughts he was trying to avoid. He soon got lost in his head, not paying attention to where his feet were taking him. In fact, he didn't even realize where he was until he was walking the last curve of the path between the trees. The path that led to the grassy, flower dotted clearing. The very same clearing where Eddy had proposed to him. He was turning around to leave, the memories of this place too painful, when he heard something. Something out of place in that soft clearing. Underneath the waves crashing against the cliff far below, there was something else. A soft murmuring. Turning back towards the clearing, he inched forward, moving past the shelter of the trees to see what it was.

He gasped. It was Eddy! He was about to call out his name when he saw the girl sitting next to him. His vision went white hot with rage; Eddy was his! How dare she take him away from Brett! But the white quickly faded, leaving even darker blackness in its place. Eddy was no longer his, and he was obviously happy with this girl; otherwise, he would never have stayed with her for four years. And it was obvious Eddy didn't need him. He never loved Brett. Here he was, sitting in the very place he proposed to Brett at, with the very same picnic basket they had taken that day, the very same quilt they had sat on. But it wasn't Brett at his side. It was Bela. It was clear to Brett how happy they were together from the way they looked at each other. And he finally realized, he wasn't ever going to be able to get over Eddy, to leave him in his past. Because he still loved him, would always love him. His eyes wet, salty tracks running down his cheeks, he turned away and started back the way he came, back to the cover of the trees and down the path, head down and feet dragging, each step ripping out another chunk of his already shattered heart. But before he could reach the shelter of the trees, Eddy's voice stopped him.
"Brett, wait!"
He wished he had the strength to ignore that voice, to ignore the person it came from, but he couldn't. He halted. It was almost as if he wasn't in control of his own body. No, that demon of a heart had taken over again. How he hated his heart. But it could not make him turn around. He would not.
After they had stood there in thick silence for a while, Eddy spoke again.
"Brett, please..."
His voice sounded so sad, so desperate, full of pain. But Brett didn't believe it. He didn't believe one second of it. He would not be played again. He would not allow himself to mess up Eddy's relationship with Bela. He was preparing himself to walk away, to completely destroy his heart, when Eddy spoke again, this time nothing but a whisper.
"Brett, I'm so sorry... I love you."
Brett's stomach was tumultuous, his heart and brain waging a massive war inside. He knew it was just a lie, that Eddy was just playing with him, that he didn't actually love him. But he could find no trace of deceit, no trace of insincerity in Eddy's voice. His heart believed Eddy, but he knew he shouldn't. He'd just screw up Eddy's relationship with Bela, and he wouldn't gain anything besides more pain. But he'd always been weak. He was powerless against his love for Eddy. He knew he would only end up getting hurt. But even so, he found that he didn't care, as long as he had just one more day, one more moment with Eddy. Because no matter what he said, what he told himself, he still hadn't let go of Eddy, hadn't gotten over him. Turning around slowly, he raised his eyes and found him staring straight into the dark, warm eyes he had lost so long ago.


A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this update took so long; I wasn't planning on a part 3 originally, so I was trying to figure out the plot, and once I had, I ended up with a massive case of writers block that lasted a couple of weeks. So yeah, sorry about updating this slow. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed! Thanks for stopping by and reading!
Stay safe
- Horselife

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