Bonus Level: Space and Time

On the fourth day, Craig and Clyde picked up the pieces of their fallen domain.

It wasn't something they necessarily had to do, it just felt appropriate. Clyde's dad actually offered to take care of most of it – something he went ahead and did anyway despite Clyde's initial refusal – but there were still a lot of things to clean up so they were doing their part. Clyde had a hammer and worked on most of the structural tearing down, while Craig focused on everything that wasn't nailed down with only a small screwdriver for various prying as needed.

They'd heard the news earlier that morning through Twitter, for that's what it was back to now; no more carrier ravens, no more game, no more Stick of Truth. Oh sure they'd contemplated searching for it anyway in the hopes that it would find its way back to them One Ring style, but the more they talked about it, the more pointless it seemed to try so they just put their costumes away and worked on fixing Clyde's backyard. It didn't sit well with either of them, but what else was there to do? At the very least, there were some good things to reminisce over.

"I still can't believe you thought I was talking about a girl," Craig said from inside the ground floor of the fortress where he stood on a shelf and pulled down the Orb of Destruction banner.

"I told you, I didn't know!" Clyde insisted from the above as he pulled out another section of floor two's chain railing. "What if you were? What if you knew how I felt and were messing with me? What if you were talking about a Hershey's kiss?"

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Maybe. I dunno… it just seemed way too good to be true, you know? Everything was going so well. I had a right to be suspicious."

"I take it back. That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Well what about you?" Clyde asked, switching from defensive to accusing. "It's not like you clarified. Do you know how long I spent just trying to figure the whole thing out? And then I did, so I figured I'd hit you with the tried and true Donovan Charm-"

"Eugh."

"-and you completely shut me out!"

"Your 'charm' needs a lot of work." Craig got down from his shelf and set the Orb on top of one of the crates, right next to the rolled up armory sign. "But I guess I probably should have figured out what you were trying to do sooner," he allowed.

"See?" Clyde said, bundling up his collection of black poles and chains once he had gotten them all down. "We're even."

"Sure, okay."

That seemed to satisfy him, and they fell back into a comfortable working silence. Clyde went about tearing down all of the wall decorations on the second level, and Craig dragged the metal sheets and wood that they'd used in their barricades to the entrance, propping them neatly against the wall. That was the last of what wasn't nailed in, but Clyde was still working up above, so Craig looked around for something else in the meantime. He ended up pulling the screwdriver from his belt and taking it to the evil shield that was mounted to the base of the tree.

It took some effort, but he succeeded. Just in time, too, as he had no sooner pulled it free than Clyde started to unceremoniously drop all of the things he'd torn from the second floor down to the first over the ledge by the entrance. Craig quickly tossed his shield at the pile and climbed the ladder to help him. Together they had the second level completely cleared out within minutes. Of course, everything was now a complete mess below, but progress was progress.

Clyde sighed, exhausted, and maybe a little forlorn. "Break?" he suggested, though he was already slumping to a seat on the floor where the railing used to be and letting his feet hang over the edge.

"Sure," Craig said, taking a seat next to him. "Something up?"

"Nothing… it just," he hesitated. "It just kind of sucks, you know? That it ended how it did."

"What, that we kissed?"

"No!" Clyde protested immediately, looking over at him with wide eyes and pink cheeks. "C'mon, no way." As if to make a point of it, he edged closer to Craig and leaned his head on his shoulder. It used to make Craig tense up in conflict; now he could only smile. "I'm talking about the game," Clyde went on. "It just sucks that we lost like that, and it sucks that the guys got rid of the Stick and quit playing, and… I dunno."

Craig understood well enough. "I don't like ending on a loss either."

"Yeah, that's it." Clyde sighed. "I just wish there was a way we could keep playing."

Craig put a hand on Clyde's back and nodded in understanding. He knew. That's all he wanted, too.

Then it occurred to him. "Why don't we?"

Clyde snorted. "Oh yeah, cause it's totally that easy."

Craig thought about it a little more. "It could be."

"Are you serious?" Clyde asked, just as he seemed to realize that he was. He pulled away from Craig to look over at him. "I got banished, and you're like the only one left on Zaron. Without the Stick of Truth-"

"It was just a normal stick before it became the Stick. We'd just need our own relic," he reasoned. "Something way more powerful and also better in every way," he added, because fuck those guys.

"Like what?" Clyde asked skeptically.

Oh, right. He needed a thing first. "Something like…" Craig looked around. The complete emptiness of the floor around them was suddenly not very helpful. He turned his efforts down, hoping to spy something it the mass of junk below, but didn't get that far before he found himself fixing his attention on his belt. Hm. That could work.

"Something like this." He took his hand off of Clyde to pull the tool free. "The Stick may have controlled the universe, but this can control space and time," he decided.

"Craig… it's a screwdriver. That's kind of lame."

"Maybe it's – I don't know, sonic or laser or something – will you just work with me here? We can still play, and instead of being stuck with stupid fantasy turn-based crap on Earth we can go on cool sci-fi time travel adventures to anywhere. What do you think?" He held it out to him.

Clyde looked down, skepticism slowly fading until finally he reached out to take the new relic, turning it over in his hand thoughtfully. "I could still be the dark and terrible master…"

"And I could still be an awesome traitor," Craig said, relishing the thought.

Clyde's grip on the Screwdriver tightened as his face twisted into a sinister smile. "Get your cloak, Craig, and maybe your spaceman suit," he stood, "for it is time now for a new era of evil. One where we reunite, spread darkness throughout time and space, and once and for all KILL THE E-"

"Boys?" Mr. Donovan knocked on the door frame, looking in. "I brought home Taco Bell, if you'd like to come inside."

Craig stood in alarm. Clyde paused. "It's not the new one, right? Did you get any green sauce?" he asked carefully.

"No, and no. Why?" He raised an eyebrow while the two of them relaxed.

"No reason. Thanks Dad, we'll be there in a minute!" Clyde grinned, and when his dad left, looked back over at Craig. "After lunch?"

"Yeah," Craig agreed, "let's kill the Earth after lunch."

And as far as they were concerned, that's exactly what they did.