*Horseshoe and @jrask-stranger have escaped Oceania and are now in a forest outside any major ideological control. Horse has stopped running and has collapsed onto the ground, completely and utterly exhausted from both the running and overchanneling of telekinesis*
The person kneels down next to Horseshoe, and makes sure that he's okay.
"It'll be okay to stop here. We're safe now. We're safe now."
*he gasps for breath* "how-how'd'ya know?"
"It's okay, this place isn't controlled by anyone. You can rest here, I'll keep an eye out. It'll be alright, I promise."
They sit down next to the cowboy. The sun is hanging low in the west, they figure they can stay here for the night. They reach into an inner pocket of their jacket, where they feel the outline of a bottle of water and an envelope. They take out the bottle of water and set it in front of Horseshoe.
*Horseshoe takes the bottle and drinks a little bit of the water* "thank you..."
"so, uh, didn't rlly catch whoya are....like ta know my savior, heh"
The person's breath hitched a bit in their throat. They thought to themself,
[Oh gods, not this question already.]
"I'm, um... I can explain it all when we're both less tired. Yeah."
They once again felt the letter in their pocket. The thought of telling him... It still broke their heart. If he wanted them to leave... Well, they couldn't leave him alone out here, in this state. Then, maybe they were just being a coward.
"m'kay, y'just seem like someone's all. manners or smthn, simlar to m'partner, dunno," *he mumbles, resting his head and eyes*
They look Horseshoe, lying in the grass. Did he say partner? No, they must have misheard. There was no way he'd be thinking of them right now, after what they had done. They slowly stand up, careful not to disturb the cowboy, and walk a bit away, far enough that any sound they make won't wake him. They kneel down in the fallen leaves and begin to cry.
*a few minutes pass before Horseshoe wakes up briefly* "hey, d'ya think we should make a fire or---"
*his eyes snap open as he realizes his savior isn't there. He frantically looks around for them....and sees a figure in a patch of leaves, good. He stumbles to get up and walks over* "Hey, buddy, ya doin' alri---" *he walks directly into a tree and falls over*
They look behind them to the cowboy laying on his back in the leaves.
"Oh, shit, are you alright?"
They scuttle over to him.
*he gives a thumbs-down* "I'm fine. Are you okay? Why were ya cryin'? ...or I think ya were?" *he looks at them, concern evident*
They wipe at their eyes with their sleeve and compose themself.
"Thank you, I'll be fine. I, I have to be. Are you sure you're alright, it sounded like you hit that tree pretty hard."
They check him over, then stand up to examine the tree. A pair of triangle-shaped sunglasses are visible in their back pocket.
*Horseshoe stares at the outline of the glasses, the glasses that exactly resembled what RadCen wears. When did they start wearing them again? They've worn them sporadically as long as he's known, but there was this point where they started wearing them more and more often. He tried to remember when it was, and couldn't really get a time, but he thought it was around the time of Noodle Incident #27 and
Oh.
Oh.
He had told them about his deep aversion to eye contact around that time (aside from it being generally uncomfortable, INGSOC used a lot of eye symbols and made a lot of eye contact, so it made him even more nervous), and that was when they started wearing the obscuring eyewear regularly. Holy shit, they really cared that much about him*
*And he let them go over an atrocity smaller than what he himself has done, and it was an accident no less. He missed them so much, for or against his own interests, and the far-too-similar stranger wasn't helping. His eyes burned, though no tears would fall. However, he could not keep himself from expressing this completely*
"y'know ya 'scaped a fool 'n' a hypocrite, right?" he said bitterly.
"Huh?"
They left the tree and knelt back down next to Horseshoe. They could feel tears starting again, but they took a breath and tried to hold them back. They had to be strong for him.
*he sighs*
"...i just, i miss them so much, and frankly i'm just an awful person for, for....i don't, i broke up with them, they committed...." *he struggles but can't get the word out* "...it was an accident. they, e'en if they lied, but they din't e'en mean to do it, it was just..." *his fist connects with the ground* "I'm Such An Idiot! At least they've always b-been well intentioned, d-don't mean to, but meanwhile what I've done? Completely intentional! I, i can't e'en remember how much blood is on my hands, lives that, and i threw 'em out, wi'out a thought, j-just to save my own tail!"
*he flops back down onto the grass*
"s'pose there's literally no difference between it all, is there," *he spits bitterly*
They try to stay composed. They really do. But seeing Horseshoe there, laying in the grass, so distraught, they simply can't.
They grab Horseshoe and wrap him in a tight hug.
"It's okay, it's okay. You did what you had to to survive. You're out now and they can't hurt you ever again. They can't make you do anything like that again. You are nothing like him."
There are tears running down their face. They can feel the outline of the envelope pressed against their chest. They don't know if they can let him go again. They know that he deserves to know who they are, and even more he deserves to move on. But he had missed them, and they had missed him too.
They whisper "I love you," head buried in his shoulder, almost hoping he didn't hear them.
