"Mar?"

Wide brown eyes lit up in recognition, turning to face the child. Mar stared in awe for a moment, unable to accept the reality that Dane was here, really here, right in front of him. Only hours ago Mar had presumed he was dead, and now here he was, alive and well. Tears blurred Mar's eyes as he broke into a run. Dane took a half step back, confused as to what exactly was happening, but when Mar threw his arms around the sandy-haired boy, he returned his embrace.

"Mar?" Dane repeated. "What are you doing here? How did you-"

"I'm so glad you're alive!" Mar interrupted, his voice coming out high-pitched and shaky between the sobs.

Dane pulled back when he heard the tone in his friend's voice, surprised to find him crying. "Are you alright? What happened to you? Why-" Dane paused a moment, eyes traveling to the side of Mar's head. "Mar, why are you bleeding?"

This time it was Mar's turn to be surprised. He reached up to touch the back of his head and, sure enough, drying blood clung to his hair. A swollen bump occupied the back of his head as well. It must've been from where he'd crashed into the wooden bridge while being swept downstream. The painful migraine had disappeared so quickly that he hadn't thought to check his head for any wounds. In fact, he felt perfectly fine, except for when he put pressure on the bump.

"This," Mar smiled through his tears. "This is nothing."

"It's not nothing," Dane frowned. "It must really hurt. You're crying!"

Mar laughed at the boy's comment. "That's not why I'm crying." He clung to Dane as though he were afraid his friend would vanish if he let go, pushing his forehead into Dane's shoulder.

"What is it then?" Dane was sounding more concerned by the moment. "What happened?"

"I thought you were dead!" Mar sobbed, trembling all over.

"What? Why?"

"You climbed the mountain and you didn't come down for days."

"Days?" Dane exclaimed. "I've only been here a few hours!"

"No," Mar shook his head, face still buried in the taller boy's shoulder. "It was days. They sent search parties to look for you on the mountain, but no one ever found you. I thought you'd fallen off a cliff or were eaten by bears or got lost and-"

"Hey," Dane cut him off, pulling back once more so that he could look Mar in the eye. He placed a firm hand on each of Mar's shoulders and bent down a bit, since Mar was hanging his head to try and hide his tear stained face. "I'm okay, alright?"

Mar nodded slowly and Dane pulled the smaller boy against him once more, holding on to Mar tightly to reassure him. This action caused a fresh wave of sobs to pour from Mar's eyes and mouth. He clutched Dane's faded old shirt for dear life, ecstatic at the feeling of his friend's real, solid form beneath his arms once more. One of Dane's hands was holding the back of Mar's head, causing a fresh sting of pain to wash over him from where his fingers touched the swollen lump. Mar didn't care.

"I think you hit your head pretty hard," Dane spoke up worriedly. He let out a low laugh before adding, "Maybe we both did. I still can't believe what I see half the time down here."

Mar returned his laugh. "I know what you mean. Oh!" he cried out, the bitter memory of the spear slicing through his guts once again resurfacing. "Are you alright?" Mar pulled away to inspect his friend closely. "Did you run into trouble? You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?"

"No," Dane smiled reassuringly. "There was this one creepy skeleton, but he didn't try to start a fight or anything. He just threatened me and showed me the way out of that snowy place. I could've taken him. However, I did run into another monster a while back who said she was going to kill me, but I got rid of her easily. Turns out having to fight off all those bullies at school payed off after all."

Mar shivered as he remembered Sans' dark, empty eyes. Maybe Dane could've taken him. His friend was very strong. But then again, there was something very sinister about that skeleton. Either way, Mar was just glad that Dane hadn't had to fight him.

"There was another monster that chased me for a while after I took care of that other one. It was wearing a bunch of armor like those medieval knights. But I just doubled back for a bit and eventually lost it."

Mar sucked in an unsteady breath as he thought of the dull, unfeeling glint concealed within the shadows of that monster's helmet. He could remember those cold, monotonous words as he lay there dying; "This was necessary." He still didn't understand exactly what had happened back there after he'd been stabbed by the spear.

"Mar?" Dane spoke up, concerned by the far off look in his friend's eyes. "Is everything alright?"

Mar shook himself to clear his head. He didn't usually keep secrets from Dane but there was no point in telling him something that even Mar couldn't explain. "Yeah, of course," Mar smiled, wiping away his old tears on his arm. "You're here."

"Don't be such a sap," Dane grinned, ruffling Mar's hair. The smaller boy winced as Dane's fingers brushed the lump on his head once more, but he didn't mind. A little pain was well worth it so long as Dane was beside him. Mar playfully punched his friend in the arm in return. "Think you can take me on, do you?" Dane laughed. He easily lifted the smaller boy off the ground and pretended to throw him onto his stomach, though in reality he just gently lowered him back down. Dane pressed a knee lightly to Mar's back and pinned his hands behind him, Mar laughing the whole time. He'd missed being able to roughhouse with Dane like this.

"I give up," Mar smiled. "Please spare me, oh great and powerful Dane."

"Just don't forget who's boss next time," Dane grinned, ruffling Mar's hair once more before helping him up. "Okay," Dane suddenly became serious. "We better get going. We still need to get out of here."

"Get out of here?" Mar repeated. "There's a way out?"

"You didn't even bother asking anyone where the exit was?" Dane sounded surprised.

"I was busy tracking you down."

"Man, kid. It's a good thing you got me looking out for you! If I wasn't down here you'd probably be trapped underground forever." Dane paused a moment, something seeming to cross his mind. "How did you get down here anyways?"

Mar looked away, trying to think of something to tell him. "I, um, I fell."

"Well no duh," Dane snorted. "But what were you even doing up on the mountain?"

"I went to look for you," Mar spoke quickly. "Then there was this big hole and I tripped and fell."

Dane studied his friend carefully, Mar shifting uncomfortably under his gaze. "You're lying, Mar," the sandy-haired boy finally spoke up.

"No I'm not!" Mar protested, though he felt guilty in doing so.

"Are too," Dane frowned. "You've always been a terrible liar. If you're telling the truth, why can't you look me in the eye?"

Mar didn't answer him, unable to come up with a good response. He still didn't meet his gaze, either.

"Mar," Dane's voice was very grave. "Did you jump?"

The boy remained silent.

"Mar," Dane sighed. "We talked about this. You can't just try and throw your life away like that!"

"Why not?" Mar mumbled bitterly. "I thought you were dead. What was the point in me being alive when you're not?"

"Everything! Giving those bullies some hell for me. Showing your parents that they were wrong to abandon you. Taking the world for everything its got and returning every punch it ever tried to throw at you. You can't just give up! What about everything you talked about? You wanted to travel the world and help people, didn't you? You wanted to write books and become famous and build a mansion made out of chocolate!"

"But that's the point!" Mar exclaimed. "I don't want to do any of that stuff without you!"

"And I don't want you to die, Mar!" Dane shouted back at him. "You promised me you wouldn't die, not ever! Remember when we made that deal? You said no matter what, you wouldn't die. You promised! What do you think I'd do if you ever died? I don't care if I was dead already, I'd come back from the grave and haunt you every day!"

"What if you couldn't come back? What if I never saw you again? I can't live without you, Dane, I need you!"

There was a long silence. Finally Dane let out a sigh. He threw an arm around Mar's shoulder and pulled him close. "I know," he whispered. "I need you too. And that's why you can't ever die, Mar. Promise me. Promise me that, even if I die, you won't."

"But I-"

"Promise me." Dane was pleading with him now, a sad, desperate look clouding his eyes.

Mar had never heard Dane beg for anything before. He had too much pride to do something like that. The boy stared into his brown eyes for a long while before finally letting out a sigh of his own. "Okay."

"Say I promise."

"I promise."

"to not," Dane continued.

"to not," Mar echoed him.

"ever die."

"ever die."

"Even if my best friend,-"

"Even if my best friend,-"

"Dane,-"

"Dane,-"

"the coolest guy ever,-"

"Really?" Mar rolled his eyes, though he couldn't disguise his smile.

"Say it!" Dane insisted.

"Fine," Mar caved in. "The coolest guy-"

"Ever," Dane reminded him.

"ever-"

"dies."

Here Mar paused, swallowing back the painful lump that rose in his throat. He was very aware of Dane's eyes on him, waiting patiently. "Dies," the boy finally choked out. He turned his face away quickly so that Dane wouldn't see the tears welling up in his eyes yet again.

However, Dane didn't need to see to know. He wrapped his arms tightly around Mar, leaning down a bit to rest his chin on Mar's shoulder. The smaller boy returned his embrace gratefully, resting his own head on Dane's shoulder as the tears fell from his eyes. "Thank you," Dane whispered to him. Mar let out a quiet cry in response, his voice muffled by Dane's shirt. In that moment, if he let go he felt certain the sandy-haired boy would be torn from him forever.

Eventually though, he did have to let go, and the two stood apart, facing each other. "Now," Dane broke the silence. "About that escape plan."

Mar nodded as Dane reached out to help wipe away his tears.

"It all starts with the king."