Chapter Text
Your time is not over. Love is your savior.
———————————
Mikey’s head hurt. Bad. And now that he thought about it, his shoulder was killing him too. And his throat was too dry and he didn’t know where he was and…
He opened his eyes for what felt like the first time in centuries only to be met by the brutal desert sun beating down on him. Shit. His shoulder feels worse now, like opening his eyes somehow also punched him in the arm. His other hand instinctively moved to comfort the shoulder when he felt something. There was a hole in his jacket, but not just any hole. A blaster hole. What the fuck? He couldn’t feel any bleeding or anything. All he had was a ruined jacket and a fucked up feeling shoulder. He was too out of it to think about it right now.
That’s when he heard a rumbling and a faint shouting. Uh oh. Mikey tried to start moving away from the sound, but his legs seemed to be giving up on him and his arms hurt too bad to crawl. What happened to him?
The yelling grew closer and Mikey’s head just spun more. Were they on foot now? The Kobra Kid was going to die from being shot by a Scarecrow in the middle of the desert because he was dumb and decided to just lay there. Fucking great. Mikey could feel his eyes start to well up. He didn’t want to die. Not like this at least. Every time he left the diner he promised everyone he would come back. He promised.
As he opened his eyes to the sky again all his throat could muster was a breath, with the ghost of an I’m sorry on it.
The yelling got closer, but- Scarecrows don’t usually talk like that? Neither do dracs.
“Who are you?” He heard from what was now to close for comfort.
“Ko…” Mikeys voice broke, his throat too dry to allow a response. All Mikey felt like he could do was send out a prayer to the witch that these people would be kind enough to put his mask in the mailbox.
“Wait. Kobra?” Kobra. This person- no, people. He heard multiple pairs of feet. The voices. They were familiar.
“Holy shit Mikey!” Mikey? How do they know his name? Only 2 of the people that know his name really use it. Gerard and…
Pete?
He felt his body get scooped up into the arm that felt familiar. Pete.
He heard strangled sobs from above him as Pete wrapped his arms around and buried his head into the crook of Mikey’s neck, whispering you’re alive. Thank you Phoenix Witch. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
————————
Mikey’s eyes cracked open and everything still hurt. Only, a little less now, and by the looks of it he was in Pete’s room at the suiteheart’s base. He was alive. He couldn’t quite remember why that was a relief, but he just knew it was.
“Pat, I just- Dr.D said he died. Hell, so did you. And he’s here, in the flesh.”
“I know Sandman, I do.”
“You don’t have to call me that, you know. We’re in the diner.”
God he was so confused. “Pete?”
“Oh shit Kobra! Hi! Good morning!” Pete rushed in with a can of food and some water, “Thank Destroya, you had me worried”
“Worried? Why? What… happened?” Mikey rubbed his eyes as if it would cause all of his memories to rush back to him.
“You don’t remember?” Pete asked, concern washing over his face. That definitely wasn’t reassuring.
“No? The last thing I remember is being in the car with the killjoys and going to save the kid and-“ Pete seemed to flinch at the mention of the Killjoy’s mission. They were saving the kid. That’s a good thing. The only thing that could elicit that is if something went… wrong, “Did we… Pete what happened…”
“I don’t… I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry? About what. What happened Pete?” All of a sudden Mikey felt consumed by a feeling too big for his tired body to process. Where was his brother? Where are his friends? Where is the kid? Why is he here? Why is Pete sorry? It was all too confusing and his head still fucking hurt.
“Mikey…”
“Don’t do that. Just tell me. I can- fucking hell my chest!” A sharp pang shot through his whole arm causing his body to seize up, “God it feels like I got shot in the chest too.”
“Well… you uh…” Pete was being weird. He was never this hesitant with telling people stuff. Especially Mikey. “We think… We think you were.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” A blaster shot like that is fatal. Mikey’s hand tightened on his shirt. Pete knows that. Hell everyone in the zone knows that. A blaster shot to the shoulder and chest is something only the phoenix witch could save someone from-
“Oh fuck my head!” Mikey’s vision blurred as the pounding in his head got louder and louder. His chest and shoulder pulsed with pain as his head felt like it was falling apart. His vision wobbled as the room closed in around him, black starting at the edges of his vision and closing in closer and closer until it all went black. Everything hurt so bad he couldn't pick a sensation to focus on. Until it went absolutely silent. Until it all went white. Everything around him was still. He felt like he was floating. He felt like he was falling. And he heard a whisper in his ear.
Your time is not over. Love is your savior.
A figure with bandaged hands went just out of sight. Mikey reached out for whatever it was, but before he was able to get to it he was slammed back down into reality.
“Mikey. Mikey, I'm right here. It’s okay. Shit… uhm… Benz, can you bring some water?”
Suddenly, he was seeing again. The pounding stopped, this time replaced by a nauseating feeling in his throat. He returned to his body, but this time he felt sick and his skin tingled.
“No no, don’t trouble Benzedrine.” Was that the… “It’s… I’m okay…” If he was just visited by the phoenix witch what happened to everyone else?
Fuck.
He reached forward and shoved Pete to the side as respectfully as he could before throwing up the meager contents of his stomach all over the floor in front of him.
If the witch visited him and told him his time isn’t over… Party. Fuck. Everything started to close in again, like he was waking up in the desert in reverse. It was worse this time. It was consuming his whole body. Was he crying? He couldn’t tell. It was all too muddy. He was shaking. Probably. Pete’s voice was just an echo now. Everything was both closing in and so far away
“Party’s… and ghoul and jet… fuck Pete… I- I can’t- this isn’t-“
———————-
It had been three weeks since Mikey had been found in the desert and things were finally starting to go back to normal… well, as normal as they could be all considered. Donnie had finally told him the whole story once Pete decided he couldn’t. Mikey still felt an overwhelming sense of grey almost constantly. Everything reminded him of them. A can of food? Ghoul that one time he said he could stack twenty on top of each other causing a ton of cans to fall and split his lip open. A piece of paper? All of Jet’s meticulously planned raids where he would always leave time for Mikey to refill his bike. Either that or Gerard. But he tried not to think about that. Everything was Gee. Every color, every song, every inch of the desert. Every inch of the desert screamed at him reminders that his brother was dead. And somehow against all odds he wasn’t. Why the fuck did it have to be Gerard? He was the leader. If only Mikey had died instead then-
“Woah there Kobra- breathing a little fast don’t you think?”
Mikey’s eyes found Horseshoe in the doorway and he tried to force out a response, but what good would his talking be anyway? All he really did anymore was sit and replay Donnie saying “They’re all dead.” in his head over and over, like if he remembered it enough times it would change something. Like one day he would wake up and remember it like “They all lived.” and then he would look up to see Party standing in the doorway instead.
“I’ll uh… I’ll go get Sandman okay?” Horseshoe said distantly, before backing out the door and yelling for Pete.
God he hates this. Hates feeling like this. Hates being hurt. Hates burdening Pete with his existence.
“Kobra?”
The concern in Pete’s voice was like getting a hug when you really needed one. And he needed one. It felt like everything that had been piling up for the last three weeks all found its way to his eyes at that moment and before he could send Pete away he was crying.
“Hey hey hey hey woah. It’s okay. I’m here.”
“Sorry, I just-“ he fought his tears with the heel of his hand, praying that they would stop. He didn’t know who taught Pete to be so good at handling emotionally fragile people, but whoever they were deserved a trophy or something.
“Don’t apologize to me, okay? This is a lot. I get it.” And all of a sudden Pete was hugging him. It shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise considering that Pete was quite fond of things like that, but still Mikey felt himself tense for a second, before fully relaxing into the touch.
“There you go. I’m gonna be gone for a little while with the rest of the gang to talk to Dr. D. See if the kid is okay.”
“Yeah sure…” Mikey sat in the warmth of Pete, not fully processing what he had just said until, “Wait the kid is alive?”
He broke away from Pete’s arms slightly. No way.
“Well yeah I just…”
No. Way.
“So the kid is fucking alive? And you didn’t tell me” He stood up now, fully dropping Pete’s arms now. The kid was out there. His last piece of family was alive. And Pete didn’t think to tell him?
“Pete what the fuck?” Was it best practice to yell real names? No, but right now that was the last thing on Mikey’s mind.
“Kobra! I was just… We don’t know… it’s just that…” God, having Pete at a loss for words felt weird, but he couldn't bring himself to care right now.
“No one knows I’m alive? The Kid. The kid thinks I'm dead? Do you know how good it would be for the kid to know that I’m out here?” And all of a sudden he was crying again. Only this time he was just angry.
“Mikey, it's not safe to do that. People have been saying that the kid might have been infected by BLI or something, I don’t know. The amount of raids have been going up recently. Benzadrine told me. It’s just… It’s too dangerous for anyone to know you’re alive. Okay?”
“No. It’s not fucking okay. Don’t Mikey me. Don't even think about blaming the kid for BLI raids. Don’t do anything. Okay? The fuck do you mean infected? The only infection here is the one that told you guys keeping me a secret was a good idea. I’m going to find the kid.” He began to storm out which, fuck, it’s hard to grab a jacket angrily when your shoulder doesn’t work well.
“Joe! Joe, don’t let Kobra leave!”
If there was an Okay yelled from the front of the base Mikey was too angry to hear it.
“Joe?” He scoffed. “So we’re just using first names now, huh? Yeah, fuck anonimity right? Oh wait-”
“Mi- Kobra I can’t lose you again without trying my hardest to-” Was Pete crying? How fucking dare he. He’s okay. His friends are alive. And Joe-
“Joe fucking knows too? About the kid?” That was it. Mikey started to bolt to the door.
How dare they keep him away from everyone.
How dare they let the kid think her whole family died.
How dare-
———————-
Everything was spinning. His head hurt. It was just like the desert. But there was no sand, so it wasn’t the desert. It wasn’t hot. It was just- ow.
“Kobra? Kobra? Joe, I said stop him from leaving, not tackle him to the floor, holy shit man.”
“To be fair that wasn’t the plan. He was moving really fast and I panicked and… his eyes are open. Thank destroya. I think Benz would’ve dusted me if I killed him.”
”I don’t know if Donnie would’ve given him the chance.” Pete chuckled lightly over him.
“Let me see the kid.” Mikey let out weakly.
“You know I can’t Mikes.”
“I know.”
——————————-
“Okay so I talked to Dr. D and he knows you’re alive. The kid is doing fine, so that’s another plus.” Pete said, standing in the doorway of their base.
“And we got some stuff from Showpony to hopefully make you look less Kobra Kid.” Donnie added, dumping a pile of supplies and paint onto a table.
Oh. Yeah.
That was part of their big plan to add him to the suitehearts. While nobody saw his face very often due to his helmet he was always wearing the kid knew what he looked like. She hasn’t forgotten his face. Not yet at least. They were going to make him a new mask and jacket, a little more typical Killjoy looking than he liked, but who was he to complain? If BLI knew an original Killjoy was alive there was no saying what they’d do to the desert to find him. The next step was dying his hair. The last step was for Mikey to stay quiet. People knew his voice better than his face. BLI hearing him was too risky so they decided that he wouldn’t talk to people outside the suitehearts unless absolutely necessary.
“Thanks guys…”
“I know this is a shitty situation, but at least we can have some fun with it.” Pete smiled weakly, grabbing Mikey’s wrist to pull him over to their haul. “So we got this grey jacket, but we were thinking we could paint it all cool and stuff. Same with the mask… Oh! And we got this blue hair dye from Showpony!”
“Thanks Pete. Thanks Donnie.” It wasn’t that he meant to sound ungrateful, he was so thankful that they were trying, it just hurt to let go. He was the last remnant he had of the Killjoys. The Fab 4. Party would have never hid like this.
But he wasn’t Party.
“Where do we start?”
“Well I was thinking…” Pete grabbed one final thing from the back, “Showpony had a little bit of extra red and I thought that maybe you could have a little streak in your hair? Just as like… an homage to Party? If it’s stupid we don’t have to I just thought maybe-“
“It’s perfect.”
“Horseshoe! Donnie! You guys get to work on the mask and jacket. I’ll take care of Kobra.” Pete smiled. Maybe this was the fresh start he needed. Being called Kobra didn’t feel right. Not anymore at least.
—-----------------------
“Okay… How do you feel…” Pete stepped back, adjusting his mask one last time before turning Mikey to face the rest of the crew.
“Dude! That looks sick!” Horseshoe exclaimed, high fiving Donnie who nodded in agreement.
Benzedrine nodded, but in his usual fashion had a concern to bring up. “Kobra you look awesome, but all of this is for nothing if we still call you Kobra. You need a new name.”
“I actually thought of that already.” Pitching Killjoy names always felt a little cringey to Mikey, but he also didn’t trust Pete to come up with a serious name for him after he had spent a week trying to convince everyone to name the kid Sandman 2, “When I was a kid, before all of this shit, Party and I were always really into fighter jets and stuff. I really liked the game Star Fox. Everytime you started a level the game would tell you ‘good luck’ and that just stuck with me. That’s why my helmet said that on it. Anyway, it always felt like good luck meant something more to me because of Star Fox… and I always thought that would’ve been a cool name…”
“Hell yeah man.” Horseshoe nodded.
“Well then Star fox… Welcome to the Suitehearts.” Benzedrine shook his hand firmly and it stung with a finality that Mikey wasn’t ready for, “Also, You probably know this already, but my name is Patrick. If you’re in the group you deserve to know our real names.”
“I agree.” Said Donnie, stepping forward to shake Star Fox’s hand, “I’m Andy. Welcome to the team.”
“And I’m Joe” Horseshoe, or Joe, said giving Mikey a pat on the shoulder.
“Shit. Thanks guys. I’m Mikey.” He didn’t expect to be getting misty eyed from something like this, but this was the most normal he had felt in weeks. He ran his fingers through his hair. Gerard was always with him, one way or another. He wouldn't have wanted Mikey to give up on the desert altogether, so he wasn’t. Star Fox wasn’t.
“Oh wait! I almost forgot!” Joe moved to point at his jacket, a big grin on his face, one sleeve had stars running down the side and one with two black stripes on it. “The stars are a little homage to Jet and the stripes are like the ones Ghoul had, so they can be with you.”
Phoenix Witch, what type of Saint was I in another life to deserve this?
—-----------------------------
“We need to recover first. The girl is still very fragile. Many of us knew the Killjoys, but they’re with the witch now.” Dr. D explained, bowing his head.
“Oh come on. We all know the Killjoys died because you all gave them some god complex. You convinced them they were invincible and pew pew, they weren’t!” SnakeEye laughed, motioning finger guns to the rest of their crew, who were laughing and nodding behind him.
Mikey felt like he shouldn’t be here. At least SnakeEye proved that no one knew it was him, but still, it hurt. He was told this was supposed to be a meeting to decide how to move on, but all that had happened so far was Mikey pretending to mourn himself and watching the amount of moral that his family's death had ghosted. They knew it was a suicide mission. God, he all he wanted to do right now was scream. They weren’t like that. He wanted to tell that to someone. Pete, at least. He’s a good person. He’s standing here. That has to count for something right?
“The Killjoys knew what they were doing. They knew that they had to save the kid because she would have died if a crash queen like you tried to do it.”
Scratch that last thought. That sounded like him being alive made him better than the other killjoys and he sure as hell wasn’t. He was just the kid with the bike.
“Sandman.” Patrick said curtly, “Not now.”
‘Really?”, SnakeEye laughed, “I bet you couldn’t even name the other 2… or 3? I don’t even remember anything besides Party Poison because they were all forgettable scum that you all put up on a pedestal.”
Go fuck yourself was the last thing Mikey heard from Pete before he had launched himself at Snake, landing a punch directly on his jaw.
“Boys! Boys! Break it up!” Cherry Cola yelled, leaving Dr. D’s side and pulling SnakeEye back. He nodded at Benzedrine who got the message and pulled a seething Sandman back into the Suitehearts. “This is the last place in all the zones we should be fighting. You all know this. Act like it.”
SnakeEye huffed before shaking Cola’s grip off and stalking back to his gang
“Hey Pete,” Mikey whispered, “I never liked that guy anyway.”
Pete giggled in response before Benzedrine smacked them both to shut them up. Phoenix Witch, if you’re listening Mikey thought, Keep Pete safe. Please. He deserves it. He deserves something nice for all he’s done so fucking badly.
“Fine. Since you all are gonna be pussies about it we’re going into Bat City and at least killing Koarse since Party Poison and his gang were too weak to do it.”
Pete stepped closer to Mikey, grabbing his hand. A gesture that felt like a mix of it’s okay, I’m here and hold me back so I don’t punch this guy again. Mikey squeezed his hand in response, watching a singular black feather blow across their feet from seemingly nowhere.
“Don’t do that.” Benzedrine said firmly, earning solely a scoff from the other group.
“Fine. Die then.” Patrick muttered, turning and walking back to the suitehearts car.
Holy shit Pete mouthed at Mikey, who nodded solemnly.
Holy shit.
—————————
“Mind if I join you?” Pete cracked open the door to his room where Mikey had taken up all of his bed. It wasn’t a particularly unusual occurrence, as they didn’t have a room for Mikey in the usual base, so Mikey got delegated to Pete’s floor. Something he quickly found out though is when your roommate is the nicest person in the desert and having something to hug at night is the only thing stopping nightmares you don’t end up on the floor very often.
Mikey scooched over and Pete sat down on the mattress next to Mikey, laying his head on his shoulder.
“Sorry if this is like, totally overstepping,” Pete started, “But how did you survive the whole BLI thing?”
“I uh… I don’t really know. All I remember is that I know I saw her.”
A soft smile crossed Pete’s face.
“Always knew she was real. From the first time I heard about it.” He sighed, sinking further into Mikey’s side, “I never stopped writing my mom letters. Every piece of paper I found went straight into the mailbox.”
“Guys.” Patrick called from the other room. He didn’t seem happy either. Pete probably forgot to lock something up.
“The fuck does benz want right now?”
“Guys!”
“What did you forget this time?” Mikey asked, giggling.
“Nothing, you bitch” Pete pushed Mikey to the side lightly as he stood up, lazily walking into the main room.
Mikey’s response died on his lips as he saw what Patrick was yelling about. 5 masks lie on the table, edges burnt or splattered red and brown.
“Holy shit.” Pete took the words straight from his mouth. The masks were basically tie dyed with desert.
“They tried to do what you guys wanted to,” Patrick said, motioning weakly to Mikey. “It uh… it didn’t work…”
“Sequels are never better than the original, huh?” Pete laughed, but with no real emotion behind it. God, you would think things like this would get easier each time it happens, but it never does. It never. Fucking. Does.
“Why do we have the masks though?”
Thank god for Pete never being able to shut up because he was curious of the same thing.
“They didn’t have anyone else, but everyone deserves a proper send off. Even the bad ones. Even the ones who take meetings meant for recouping as times to be jerks.”
And so they set off for the mailbox. Somewhere Mikey hadn’t been since before everything happened.
Maybe that was selfish of him, not giving his family the proper send off he could’ve and all, but they didn’t have any of their masks so what was the use? To be fair Mikey knew why he should, he just hadn’t been able to make himself go, but this time when Patrick gave the usual ‘you don’t have to come with’ speech he decided he would rip the bandaid off. However much it hurt.
The time spent at the box itself was silent, it usually was. People don’t like to talk much when sending off the dead. Mikey, however, really wished Pete would say something funny right now so he didn’t have to sit with his own thoughts. The air felt heavy. Mikey was taking in too many deaths at once, he thought. Nobody he was there to grieve died at a time they should’ve. That was the thing about the desert. It was a cruel home, but a home nonetheless.
He fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve. On his old jacket the right cuff had been worn down from years of nervous fidgeting, but now it felt wrong. A reminder of everyone that he had lost. A reminder of the version of himself he had lost. A fresh start Mikey didn’t ask for.
He felt Pete’s hand slip into his as they watched the masks get placed into the box. Mikey squeezed his hand and Pete squeezed back. An inadvertent I get it. That was what did it for Mikey. He couldn’t help it honestly. The tears just started rolling down his face and the look of pure pity Pete gave him only made it worse.
“We’re gonna go wait in the car… okay Pat?” Pete asked, not waiting for an answer before herding Mikey back to their car.
“Okay c'mere” Pete dragged Mikey into the back seat and wrapped his arms around him. “Do you want to talk about it at all or…”
Mikey just shook his head, sinking into Pete’s hold.
“Yknow, if it helps… I found this bottle cap in my drawer and I’m 90% sure I found it on a patrol with ghoul. I put it in the box, so just in case the witch is confused she’ll have something to work off of.”
“What did I do to deserve you?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
The lowering desert sun painted all of the sand a soft golden color. It had been a while since Mikey had found the desert beautiful. It tends to lose its charm when all the time spent there is life or death, yet something about this moment made the desert look different. New again. Like it was his first time seeing this picture instead of a nightly occurrence he passed off. Jet always like to talk about sunsets. Pete did too. He never really took the time to look at them though. Well, Kobra Kid didn’t. Maybe Star Fox did.
Kobra Kid died fighting BLI anyway.