643 words!! Now, beware, this has incredible angst due to the feels war I have declared with MakiNishikinooo and a li'l bit of spoilers for Redstoner II because that shit is incredibly easy to create angst out of. Hope you like it! (Good luck Taylor ;))

-

Ross glanced at the red ball in the sky, watching as it glowed. He shivered. He'd realized the endless loop a while ago, and was now going to escape. He knew how to do it. No one would get hurt because of him ever again. Well, excluding himself.

He closed his eyes for a moment, readjusting them to look at the beloved ginger to his left once he reopened them.

"Hey, Ross, you alright? You, uh.. You were kinda just staring." Max questioned, snapping the male back into reality.

"Y-yeah.. Just peachy.." Ross murmured, fidgeting with the object located in his hoodie pocket. He was almost afraid. But he'd do anything for the ones he loved.

"If you say so." The Undertale loving male then went back to messing around with the mod they were looking at. Ross knew he'd miss that man.

Ross sighed, and smiled. He had to do it, now or never. He just hoped no one would miss him too much.

"Max, you can get out of here on your own, right?" He asked. He received a hesitant nod, and a suspicious glance. "Good." He let a shaky breath leave his mouth. A tear rolled down his cheek.

He pulled out the object in his pocket. A knife. Fear and questioning struck Max's eyes. But panic replaced it as he saw Ross bringing it away for him,  shoving it quickly into his abdomen. He made sure it went deep, before pulling it out roughly. Blood soaked the knife and the hoodie, as Ross giggled. He'd finally be free.

"ROSS WHAT THE HELL?!" Max's hurried voice filled Ross' ears, as he stumbled down to the ground, collapsing. Sky's voice filled his ears; he was cursing, yelling at Ross to fix this. He knew it wasn't Sky, though.

Max was quick to scramble to him, taking off his sweater and ripping off a strip of cloth. He lifted Ross' hoodie and shirt, noticing deep carvings of a red circle that he recognized as a sun. The stab wound was in the center of it. He wrapped the cloth around his abdomen, a shaky breathe leaving his mouth.

"D-don't worry Max. You'll n-never get hurt again. I'll make sure of t-that." Max wanted to shout at him how insane he was. He almost did. But he stopped as he noticed the trail of blood leaking from the corner of the boy's mouth. He gasped, leaning the boy over and forcing him to spit out the pooling blood.

Ross coughed, heaving, loads of blood coming out. Max already had his phone out, 9-1-1 dialed and ringing. He held the phone between his ear and his shoulder, trying to find a reasonable answer to all of this. He found he couldn't.

He noticed the red glint in Ross' eyes, and tried to connect it to the situation. His thoughts were shattered as the phone was answered.

He felt, somehow, Ross wouldn't make it.

-

Ross didn't make it.

The ambulance had taken twenty minutes to get there, and in the process gave Ross enough time to lose incredible amounts of blood. Max almost wished he could've switched places with the boy, understand his reasoning. But he couldn't find himself fitting into the boys shoes.

He'd been in the ambulance when Ross, his Narwhal, who he'd planned to confess to with chocolates and flowers the very next day, had passed away.

He'd bled out. They tried to get more blood into him, but only managed to give him a little while longer, if it was even that, rather than Ross' natural instinct telling him to live.

He managed to barely open his eyes, covered in a haze, turn his head to Max, and attempt to speak.

"I... I-I.. L.. L-o.. I-I. lo.."

He never got to finish.