Chapter Text
It was a never ending cycle between them. Words of encouragement and love, soon turned into hatred and loathing.
Everything was fine on the cruise, the two weren’t friends back then, and even the first few nights on the island a budding friendship was forming. But the longer they stayed, the worse it got. Something about the island drew out the worst in people, made them lose their minds if they weren’t careful. Katie B and Ewron were no exception to this.
When the two built restaurants right next to each other, that had been the spark to set everything on fire.
One day, it was…
“You are the bestest friend ever!” Ewron grabbed Katie in a tight hug, shaking her from side to side.
“And you are my best friend!” Katie hugged back with as much enthusiasm.
“I will never leave your side! We will be known as Ewron from Poland and Katie from Kentucky! The best duo on the island,”
“Of course! We’re cooler than everyone else!”
The next day…
“Why do you hate me so much! What did I do?” Ewron yelled after Katie as she tried to run away to her house.
She didn’t answer as she ran, more betrayed that Ewron would try to sabotage her business when they were supposed to be friends.
“Katie, please come back! We can talk about this!” He was faster, catching up in time to grab her arm and force her to stop.
“Not this time, Ewron! You just made a powerful enemy! You have no idea what I’m capable of,”
And then again – the cycle continued…
“I’m so sorry bestie! I’m sorry! As a token of our friendship, I want to give you this,” He pulled out a small canvas, handing it over to Katie. “That is us, and I’m giving you a flower. Do you see what’s at the top?”
“It says ‘E + K = Besties’. Aw this is so sweet,” Katie had to remove her sun glasses in order to wipe the tears that were forming in her eyes.
“I don’t like us fighting. We spend too much time apart, and I want to make up,”
“Of course. I’m sorry too, I got so angry and took it out on you,”
“Oh! come here!” The two hugged it out, Katie not trying to hide the tears now.
The arguments, the making up. It was never ending. The other residents of the island saw the beauty of their friendship, but they also saw the destruction they were capable of when provoked.
Anyone else would tell you it was toxic, and they were better apart. But somehow, they couldn’t stay away for long. It was like a silent rule that even after all the fighting, they’d come back again to apologize.
Katie was used to Ewron running back to her, yelling his apologies in some dramatic manner, then promising it would never happen again.
It was just how their dynamic worked.
“I don’t want a friend who lies,” Katie snarled.
“I was honest that day. That your restaurant was being sabotaged, but you don’t believe me! And if you don’t appreciate my honesty, then maybe it’s over. I need a friend to be with me for the good days and the bad days, and you only want me on the good days. Do you know how exhausting that is?” Ewron’s voice dropped low, his frustration growing. He had too much on his plate to handle yet another fight with someone who was supposed to support him.
“I was the only person who believed in you! That was on your side!”
“You're only on my side when it’s convenient! When you get something from it! I can’t keep doing this, Katie. I- I don’t have time for these silly games,”
“Oh, so now our friendship is just a game to you? Did we mean nothing?” Katie’s voice cracked, she couldn’t believe he was really debating leaving her for good. It’s not like it was the first time he’s said he was never coming back, but it still hurts every time he says it.
“I will cry tonight because of how much I already miss you! You are so funny, so kind, so pretty – But this needs to be done,” Ewron went to step away, to really leave this behind and move on with his plans. He had places to be tonight, and what was supposed to be a small chat with Katie had turned into accusations being thrown around for hours. Now he was late for a meeting with Ash.
“I have stood beside you. I have been your bestie, even when people told me to fear you. And it turns out they were right. You are selfish. You destroy everything you don’t like and worst of all you lie and pretend to be my friend!” She knew her words would hurt, but she didn’t care. She wanted to inflict pain that would leave deep scars.
“If you hate me so much maybe I should go! Go away forever! That way I can’t lie to you anymore,”
“Yeah maybe you should! At least it’d be quieter around here without your voice always in my ear!”
“You know- I really cared about you Katie B. We had something special and you ruined it! All you do is push me away and take me for granted. What will you do when I’m gone? Hm? What then, when you can’t crawl back to me for help when you get targeted by the Dutch?”
“I don’t need you, Ewron. I never did. I can do everything on my own,” She said, incredibly stubborn.
“Really? Because to me it looks like you have no friends to come to your aid and all you have to your name is a failing business. I could help you, all you have to say is you need the help,” He was willing to lend a hand, to offer a peace treaty right now and end this silly argument for good. He didn’t want to leave on bad terms.
“Forget it. I’ll never ask for help again,”
“Fine. I hope you don’t miss me when I’m gone then. And when I come back, don’t even talk to me. I won’t be waiting for you,”
“Good. I can’t wait for you to leave,”
“We were good friends, you know that?”
“Best friends. We were best friends,”
“Goodbye, Katie B. I won’t miss you,”
“I hope I never see you again,”
Ewron turned his back, taking out his waystone in order to teleport to his meeting place with Ash. He heard the faint footsteps of Katie walking away, but neither said anything else. He hated leaving her after they fought. Sometimes it would take days to apologize, and this was a particularly bad fight. It could be the longest they’ve ever split. Or maybe, it really was the end of their friendship. They were bad together, Ewron knew it – but didn’t want to accept it.
He teleported to the secret location, Ash already waiting and sitting in a small armchair. “Took you long enough.”
“Sorry, ran into Katie,” Ewron apologized, also taking his seat across from Ash.
“How did that go?”
“Not great,”
“Spare me the story, we have more important things to discuss,” Ash took out a book from his coat, flipping around the pages. “In exactly three hours, you must be in position to assassinate Cucurucho. This could be our only chance – who knows when another opportunity will arise that we can take the bastard out.”
Ewron nodded in understanding. He had been preparing for this mission for weeks, keeping it hidden even from his closest friends. This was his burden to bear, this assination could change everything for the people on the island.
“Do you have everything you need?” Ash asked.
“Yes. I am ready,”
“Perfect. You know what to do from here. I wish you luck, and I’ll see you in the morning,” Ash excused himself, using his waystone to leave Ewron alone.
He got to work right away, grabbing a small backpack that would have everything he needed. His weapons, his waystone and navigation tools. Cucurucho, and the other Federation workers stayed at their facility on a smaller island, only accessible through either swimming to the island or taking a boat. Lucky for them, they had inside info on where Cucurucho would appear tonight.
A new building had shown up on the island, a small hut built on the beach. No one knew who made it or what its purpose was. What Ewron and Ash did know was Cucurucho was expected to make a visit to the hut in order to investigate it after a complaint was filed that it was ruining the beauty of the beach. It was the perfect chance to plant bombs around the perimeter, catching Cucurucho off guard for long enough to finally kill them.
Ewron teleported close to where the hut was, keeping his distance in case something unplanned happened. The bombs were already set, the switch to activate them rested in Ewron’s pocket. He also made sure his wooden boat was far away from sight, as a last second getaway in case he couldn’t grab his waystone. He and Ash had thoroughly planned out the assasination, thinking over every possibility and being prepared for anything.
With everything prepared, Ewron took position in a tall tree. He kept himself concealed in the leaves, just waiting for when Cucurucho would arrive.
Two hours passed, before the familiar figure of a white bear suit appeared. His appearance always freaked Ewron out, but he shook his unease as he moved to get a clearer view of what they were doing by the hut. His hand reached for the detonator, all Cucurucho needed to do was take a few more steps towards the door and he would be in the bomb radius, blown to bits.
His finger stayed on the red tab, so ready to hold down the trigger and watch the beautiful red and orange explosion. Then Cucurucho stopped. Their foot right over where the first bomb was planted. They didn’t take a step, they actually began to back up.
“Bomb. Bomb. Bomb.” Their robotic voice echoed. “Trees. In the trees.”
Ewron felt like his blood stopped flowing, his limbs instantly lost feeling as he stared in horror as Cucurucho turned to face the exact tree he was hiding in. How did they know where he was? How could they notice the bombs that were hidden perfectly beneath the sand?
There was the sound of a boat approaching. Ewron saw it, and read the bold letters ‘Federation’ on the side. It was time to leave.
He used the detonator, barely staying in the tree long enough to watch as the multitude of bombs went off behind him. He didn’t even stay around to see if he had killed Cucurucho or even injured them. He ran fast, making his way to the boat he planted beforehand. There were some Feds behind him, following on foot as others stayed in the boat and followed in the water.
“Ewron. Ewron. Ewron is running.” Cucurucho called out. Fuck they were alive. Not only that, they had seen him. They knew exactly who had just attempted to kill them. He couldn’t simply run away, back to Ash. The Feds knew that Ewron had planned this attack, and if they knew he was alive, they’d hunt him down.
There was only one plan of action available now. Fake his death and go into hiding – the last case scenario he hoped wouldn’t be used.
The plan was risky, but if he’s successful then at least the Feds would be off his tail for a little.
Ewron ran to his hidden boat, getting inside and immediately rowed in the direction of a smaller island off shore. He thought Ash was being overly cautious when he said to plant two boats, but now he was thankful for the suggestion and happy that he had listened. He got halfway to the small island, before getting up from his boat and leaving behind a stick of dynamite. He lit the fuse, leaving behind his backpack, cloak and waystone to make it believable that it was intentional and he was suicide bombing. He only had seconds to haul himself over the edge of the boat without being seen and to get a head start in swimming to his second escape boat. He got a good distance away, when the dynamite went off and set the water ablaze. He dunked his head under, hiding completely in the dark water, not coming up for air despite his lungs begging for the oxygen. He got to the second boat, hurriedly getting in and grabbing the paddles. The Feds had stopped pursuing, instead surrounding where the first boat had been. The explosion was so powerful, there was nothing left of the wood. Maybe that was enough to convince them that his body had also been destroyed in the explosion. Either way, they weren’t watching, so Ewron took off in the direction of the Regime. He knew he could be safely hidden from sight there. It would take a couple of hours to travel by boat and foot, but he had been prepared for this outcome.
What Ewron wasn’t prepared for was to be dead to everyone on the island.
News spread fast that next day. Others had witnessed the explosion from a distance, immediately going to the site in order to find out what happened. The Federation closed off the area quickly, not answering any questions. Ishan, being the great reporter he was, finally got some information from a Fed. They didn’t say anything, just held up a scrap of what remained of Ewron’s white and red cloak. Ishan knew what that meant.
“Are you saying, Ewron is dead?”
The Fed shook their head in confirmation.
“Why was he here?”
The Fed didn’t answer, just walked away with the scrap.
After gaining this information, Ishan was quick to write up an article, putting it on every bulletin board on the island, and airing the news from their studio. Within a day, everyone had heard the news that the beloved Ewron – was deceased. The circumstances were still unknown, and would remain that way until the Federation announced anything.
Katie stared at the television screen, a picture of Ewron in the corner as Spider announced the untimely death of a friend to all.
“It is a shock to see Ewron is no longer with us. His presence, once felt on every corner of the island, now gone. In honor of his memory, Ashswag and Nexe have announced a funeral will be held for him at Prawdziwa polska. His grave will be made beside his son’s. Everyone is invited to attend,” Spider said.
He was gone. Truly gone. Katie had to turn off the TV in order to keep herself from crying. She realized that the last she had spoken to Ewron, she told him she didn’t need him – that she hoped she never saw him again. She got her wish, and lost her best friend.
He said goodbye, and meant it.