A Gamer's Guide To Beating The Tutorial

They entered, and within minutes, they had Mole on one bed, and Plus in the next.

“Well?” Jazz asked. “Didn’t you say you had an ability to save anyone?”

“I do,” Benevil said. “However—”

“So use it then!” Jarne snapped. “They could be breathing their last breath while you’re talking about details and shit! Just do it!”

Benevil gave him a disappointed look that took the wind clean out of Jarne’s sails. “I do, however… Doing so will cost me my life. It’s the same as my dear brother’s skill, though it only works with me as donor. If I were to use this ability, I could save one of your friends. Unfortunately, doing so might not be in your best interest—assuming you still care about the continued survival of this city.”

“I’m starting to wonder about that,” Jarne grumbled.

Either Benevil didn’t hear him, or he pretended not to. “Either way, your choice is still the same. Either you choose to save one, or you save both at the cost of myself and Kitty.”

Jarne felt a smile coming on. “Well, that’s an easy choice!” Jazz glowered at him. He snorted at her. “What? Get rid of the apostle of cruelty and a literal mass murderer? It’s literally two birds with one stone! Not making this choice would be dumber than letting baby Hitler live.”

“Do you think Mole would like that?”

“Who gives a shit? What matters is—”

“All that matters,” Kitty said smoothly, “is that Moleman survives. It’s a shame if I have to die to do that, ‘cause then I can’t hang out with him anymore, but I’ve got a feeling he likes Plus better than me anyways. It’s a win-win, basically.”

Benevil, his expression and feelings as elusive as always, simply smiled. “Whatever choice you make, brother, I shall subordinate myself to it.”

Kitty made a disgusted face. “Um, no thank you. I’d rather not—”

There was a rasping breath. Everyone turned to look at Plus where he laid, bleeding and dying. He was smiling. “I’m glad,” he said, wheezing slightly, “that I could die surrounded by friends.”

Jarne puffed up. “You’re not going to die! We’re not going to let you, so you won’t. Besides, Kitty kind of deserves to die, doesn’t he? If he hadn’t ran out on us, Mole wouldn’t have followed, and none of this would have happened!”

It took a few seconds for Plus to breathe enough to speak again. Hoarsely, he said, “He also… haah… saved us. Without him… we’d be dead.”

Leaning on the bedframe, Jarne gripped the wooden frame so hard his knuckles turned white. “That doesn’t matter. Hypothetical what-ifs… It’s all bullshit. All that matters is that you live, and Mole too, and then we’ll get out of here, and…”

“And leave everyone else to die?” Jazz asked. There was a deep power in her voice. “Is that your grand plan?”

“Yeah, it is,” Jarne sneered. “Because, let’s face it… We’re fucked. A bunch of people literally raided our house! How the hell are we coming back from this? Will you be able to sleep well after this? I won’t. If we let it, this city will be the death of us. Is that really what Mole would have wanted? To die for the sake of a bunch of ungrateful goblins? Because I sure don’t!”

“Gratefulness or race has nothing to do with it! What matters is that we’re trying to save lives, to make the world a better place—”

“Because a king told us to do it to prove that humans are moral creatures. And you’re saying race has nothing to do with it? Hah! Race has everything to do with it! If we’d been goblins, then—”

A hand grabbed his. It was sticky, and warm. Jarne looked down to find Plus’ large hand encapsulating his, holding it tightly. He was crying. “It’s okay,” Plus said. “We’ll meet again, eventually.” Everything turned blurry. Face hot with anger, Jarne tried to wipe at his face, but it wouldn’t go away.

“Fuck. Fuck. No, no, I don’t want you to… You can’t! You…” He sunk to his knees. “How are we going to beat the tutorial without you…?”

Plus chuckled weakly. “You’ll figure it out. You always do. You’re… you’re clever, Rat. You’ll make it, even if you’re on your own. But… you don’t want that.”

“Please…” Jarne heaved. He couldn’t control his own lungs anymore. How fucking pathetic could he be? He wasn’t the one on the chopping block! “Please, don’t leave me. Don’t go.”

A hand reached out and ruffled his hair, big and strong. It felt like when he was a kid, and his dad ruffled his hair. He sniffled.

“It won’t be so bad. I’ll still be around, inside Mole. Always there. Dying for one's friends… That’s the greatest sacrifice a man can make. Let me make it, Rat. Let me do the right thing.”

Jarne hiccuped, wiped his face, and stood up. Leaning down and over Plus, he gave him a big hug. “Okay. Okay, I’ll… I’ll let you.” He smiled down at him. “Mole might not like it. Might never forgive you. But…”

“He can kiss my fat ass,” Plus said.

Jarne chuckled. “Yeah. I’ll tell that to him.”

“Do so. Now…” His expression turned grim. “I have a feeling Doctor Benevil and Kitty, M.D. might not be too keen on you being in here while it… While I…”

Jarne straightened back out. “Yeah, I understand. Jazz? Do you—”

She leaned down and kissed Plus on the forehead, before hugging him tightly. “We’ll meet aga—” She choked on the word. “Again. Sometime.” Her lips battled, almost frowning only to be formed into the proper expression—a smile. “When we do, I want… I want to get to know you better.”

“I’d like that… too…” Plus breathed.

Shoulders trembling, her face fell to the floor, chest heaving weakly. “G—g—goodbye, P—Plus…” Each syllable undercut by a heaving, shivering breath.

Jarne put a hand on Plus’ shoulder. “Goodbye. Thank you for these years.”

Plus squeezed his hand. “Thank you too, Rat… Goodbye.”

Only moving on conscious orders, Jarne went over to Jazz, took her shoulders, and led her out of the room. But before he closed the door behind him, he turned to Kitty, and mustering every inch of willpower in his body, he asked, “Please… don’t make him suffer.”

Kitty nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Smiling, Jarne and Jazz waved to Plus, and then they closed the door, knowing very well it would be the last time they saw him alive.

Well out in the corridor, Jarne slid to the floor, and Jazz slid into his arms, where she promptly began to wail. It was impressive she’d kept it in so long. He held her tighter, a whimper leaving his lips. He supposed, in a sense, his own restraint was a little impressive, too.

Sitting there, Jazz in his arms, Jarne tried to figure out what they’d say to Mole when he woke up. What could they say? Plus had wanted it. But they also knew how opposed Mole was to the whole notion. He might never forgive them. He might ask to be put down. He might kill himse—

Jarne shook his head. No, he would feel too guilty about Plus’ sacrifice to do something like that. If anything, he might try to live on purely by guilt. As healthy as that would be…

“Do you think…” Jazz said, sniffing to clear her nose, “that Doctor Benevil will crystallize him? You know, so we won’t have to see…?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. If he did it without asking for Sully, then… Yeah. I can see him doing that.”

“You don’t sound very upset.”

“I don’t feel very upset,” he said, touching a hand to the pendant around his neck. “I mean… it sucked at the time, not getting to see her die, not getting to say goodbye, but… This time is different. This time, we know what’s happening.”

“Mole won’t,” she whispered. “Mole won’t get to say goodbye.”

Jarne was quiet for a while. “Yeah. I guess not. But… That’s just how it is, isn’t it?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe…” Now, she fell silent. And for a while, they simply sat there, in silence, trying not to listen to the sounds of sawing coming from the room beside them. “Were you serious in there?”

“About what?”

“Leaving the city. Running away. Giving up on the mission.”

A long moment spanned between them. “Yeah, I was.”

“Oh,” she said. “Okay.”

“You’re not going to criticize me for being a selfish coward or whatever?”

“No,” she said, rising from his arms to sit next to him instead. She sighed slightly. “Mole will do that once he wakes up.”

“That’s true,” Jarne replied, not bothering to argue. “But I don’t have to listen to him.”

“Yeah, you do. He’s our party leader.”

“Well, what if I—”

The door opened. Kitty looked around for a moment before finding them on the floor. He blinked at their odd expressions. “Um… It’s done,” he said. “You can come back in now.”

Sharing a look, Jarne and Jazz stood up and followed Kitty inside.