Fragments of Four

Prologue: The Last Flicker of Xyla

I’m Xyla. Once, I was whole, flesh and bone, light and laughter. Now, I am a letter.

Bright canary yellow arms, legs that twitch with nervous energy. My body is a small letter X, RYB yellow, outlined in black, eyes white and staring, pupils lined in sharp black.

I remember Fae. My best friend. She tried to hold me, but I slipped through her fingers like smoke. I’m not sure where I am now. Somewhere between light and shadow, shape and silence.

I want her to remember me. To see me as I was, not this fragment of color and lines.

A whisper in the dark calls my name.

“Xyla…”

I twitch.

I’m gone now.

---

Four Weeks Later - Fae’s Descent

I’m named Fae. My friend was named Xyla, but she’s gone now. Four weeks. Twenty-eight endless days of silence.

I haven’t slept. I haven’t stopped drawing her, no, drawing it. The letter X that she became. The RYB yellow X with canary yellow arms and legs. Small, sharp, and wrong.

Every sketch morphs before my eyes, changing shape and form like a fever dream. I hate it. I want my friend back. I need my friend back.

Instead of rest, I drink energy drinks by the dozen, my only refuge from the creeping emptiness.

---

The Package

One evening, as the shadows lengthened and the city lights flickered to life, a small package arrived.

No sender’s name.

Inside: a can of soda labeled Host Coke.

I pop the tab open. The scent is electric, a sharp blueberry sweetness that dances on my tongue. I drink it all.

It tastes like hope.

I want more.

---

The First Changes

Days blur. I chase the taste, the buzz, the fleeting calm.

44 cans later, a tingle spreads through my left hand.

My ring and middle fingers fuse together, growing sharper like daggers, they glint in the dim light.

A Picton blue stain creeps up my arm.

I stare, entranced.

I need more.

Another 44 cans.

My left arm is fully Picton blue now.

My right arm follows.

Then my legs.

My toes vanish.

My skin blooms in impossible blue.

---

The Body Transforms

My body stretches, twisting, shifting.

A curious blue spreads up my torso.

My hair falls out, leaving three strange nubs, two on top, one on the side.

I grow taller. 5 feet 7 inches.

My body bends into an open number four.

I keep drinking.

---

Screeching into Being

The urge rises from deep inside, raw, primal.

I inhale deeply, lungs no longer there and screech.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The sound is electric, freeing.

I screech again.

“EEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYAAAH!”

Over and over.

Until…

My mind fogs.

Pain blossoms in my head.

“EEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYAAAH! Make it stop! EYAH!” I scream to no one.

---

The Dream

A voice, distant and fragile, answers.

“Hello?”

“H-hello?” I whisper.

“W-where are you?”

“Who… who’s there?”

“My friend. Two plus two…”

“Two plus two is four…” I mutter.

“I know…” it whimpers.

Silence. Then a whisper:

“Where are you, Four?”

The word loops.

A blurry figure appears.

A small RYB yellow X with canary yellow arms and legs, black outline, white eyes with black pupils.

I recognize it.

“E- EE…”

The figure sharpens, losing its blur.

“It’s me!” it giggles, innocent and sweet.

I need to protect him.

“EEEEEEEECCCCCCKKKSSS…”

I try to stand, reach for his hand but he fades.

“EEECCCKKKSSS?”

No sign.

Frustrated, I search.

“EEECCCKKKSS! Where did you go?”

A voice cuts through my rage.

“Who?”

“EEECCCKKKSS!”

“Don’t you mean X?”

“What?”

“His name’s X. Not whatever you said.”

“Who are you?”

“Name’s Pillagerslay3r 64. Slay3r for short. Female.”

“Where’s X?!” I demand.

“In the real world.”

“What?”

“He’s been stolen by Two. Cohost-napped.”

Two? My rage boils.

“They’re tearing off X’s limbs.”

I screech again.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAH!”

Then…

I wake.

---

Awakening

My nonexistent lungs ache.

The fog clears.

But then a scream, high-pitched and desperate.

“My cohost! I’m coming!”

I bolt.

Faster than light.

“Outta my way!”

“HEEEEEEEELLLLPP!!”

The voice closer.

“Two plus two… please… help…”

I find him.

My poor cohost, torn and broken.

Charging my power:

“ZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPP!”

Ash falls where Two stood.

“I’m here.”

Behind my cohost, I appear.

“T- Two plus two! I mean… FFFOOOUUURRRRYYY!!!” he cries, hugging me with his one arm.

“You’re safe now.”

“Thank you…”

“No need. It’s what I do.”

---

Rebuilding and Moving Forward

Seven minutes and four seconds later, he walks out.

New left arm in place.

Two lollipops, blue for him, yellow for me.

“Who’s the other one for?”

“You! Silly!”

His smile, bright, warm.

“I’d kill to see that smile,” I think.

“So, now I have my arm back. What next?”

“Whatever you want, bud.”

“OOOO! So many things!”

“Well, do away, true yellow friend.”

“But not alone…”

“That’s why I, Four, am joining you!”

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!”

Together, we step forward.

---

End.