Clearing his throat, Basil said, "I've been stuck in here for weeks now, Jace, and I know that Dad would never let me, but...would you be willing to take me out? Please? We don't have to go too far out past the walls, but I never got to see much, and..." He clenched the fabric of the bed sheets underneath his fingertips. "I hate that I couldn't experience more of the world. How Mom described it, it always sounded so pretty, when you got past the gore and such. I understand if you won't take me, but I thought I'd ask, anyhow. I don't have much left to lose, after all."

Basil smiled, and was about to climb onto his back when he hesitated. He hadn't expected Jace to actually agree to this risky, absolutely ridiculous request of his; Jace was about as worrisome as his dad, and that was saying a lot. Not only that, he'd imagined this to play out...differently.
For the last couple of years, Jace had been that friend that he'd thought he'd been okay without; before him, there were only chores and books. He'd embraced the knowledge of the old, without realizing that there was so much to be learned from the people around him. Perhaps it hadn't been entirely his fault. After all, most here weren't willing to accept him. In the last few weeks, a few had dropped off baskets of food or even spoken with him, urging him to get well soon. But that was only the conjuration of guilt. It wasn't genuine concern for his health and happiness. It wasn't anything like the misery that his dad and Jace felt. Not that he wanted them to be sad, but...he wanted to be missed, however selfish that sounded.
Jace was deserving of a greater title than "best friend," one that had been secretly bestowed upon him a long time ago. But he wasn't going to mention that now, for it wouldn't serve, well, anything. It'd be empty. No, it'd be hollow. It'd be there, but it'd only ever be a void for Jace to look into after he was gone, wondering why in the world he had waited only until it was too late to mention such things. Or, in a worse situation, he'd hate him for it. No, if it was only to pretend, then Basil would take this single night and treasure it for all and more than it was worth. It'd be their special night, just the two of them and the stars and other romantic things that he wasn't good at thinking up.
Finally, he sighed softly and situated himself upon Jace's back, wrapping his arms around him in as tight a grasp as he could muster. He then asked, "Are you sure about this, Jace?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Basil replied, glancing around at the town. Honestly, it wasn't much; it had started out as little more than a bar with a couple of beds thrown in, so that people on their trade routes could have a place to bed down for a couple of nights. Still, despite the houses being made of patchwork tin and building blocks, and all of the stores crooked, it was more than most had. It was home. "So, um, I actually had a particular place in mind. If you don't mind a little bit of a walk. It's really not far from here, I promise, but..." He trailed off, not really knowing how to explain himself.

Basil laughed, flushing lightly as he said, "It's an aquarium. Well, it was an aquarium, at least; of course, there aren't fish and whatnot there anymore. But I've heard visitors in the town talking about it for years now, but never got the chance to actually go there, so...I don't know, I thought it might be a neat sight to see. I mean, if it seems too dangerous, then we should definitely go back. I don't want you getting hurt or killed over it."

"That's fine. Take as many breaks as you need," Basil said. He was quiet for a long moment, enjoying the silence of the mid-afternoon; if they were lucky, they wouldn't experience any encounters with the local wildlife. Due to all of the human activity in these parts, they tended to steer clear of the trails and the remnants of the paved road system, but it was wise to expect the unexpected. He then said, "Thank you, Jace, for doing this for me. I know that it's a lot to ask for and that it's...well, it's pretty stupid. I won't sugarcoat it or anything. But nevertheless, thanks."

Basil laughed, and flicked the back of his head lightly as he said, "Oh, come on, don't be that way. There's enough sadness between the two of us to knit a sweater made of tears." He shook his head. "Besides, I'm being manipulative right now. I am playing one of the most horrible cards in existence just to get something that I want. Multiple things that I want, actually. And I'm not even ashamed of it, either. That makes me, like, a double horrible person. So just...don't feel bad right now. This isn't supposed to be karma coming back to bite you in the ass or anything."

Basil was quiet for a long moment, but then gently took Jace by the hand. Briefly, he hesitated, but then said, "I know that you don't really believe me, Jace, but it'll be okay. I promise. Everything happens for a reason, remember? We just don't know why this happened yet, but someday, the realization will just dawn on you and you'll think, 'Basil would...he would have been really happy to see things turned out this way.' I'm certain of it." He stared at the ground, lips pursed. But then he said, "Even if you don't really believe that, say that you do. That you will. Because you said that I have every right to ask for whatever I want, and that's what I'm asking for more than anything else. I need to know that you will be okay after I'm gone."

"You're a good person, though. I'm sure that you'll find other people will care about you just as much as I do, if not more," Basil said. He placed his other hand around Jace's. "And you have my dad. He practically views you as another son at this point, you know. He's not going to just kick you to the curb because he lost me." He sighed softly. "Look, I'm not saying that you have to be okay with me...passing away. I'm not okay with it, either, of course. Do you think that I like that all of this has happened? No, of course I don't. It sucks. It really does. But...there's nothing that any of us can do about it, either. It happened, and now there are the consequences of what happened, and we just have to deal with that. But it was my mistake in the first place. I wasn't paying attention. I messed up. I'm mostly grateful that others didn't get hurt, too."
Silence lapsed between the two of them, before he finally said, "I just need to know that, eventually, you'll be okay again. That you'll move on. I mean...keep me around in your head somewhere, of course. Like, I'm just that disembodied voice that bounces around the back of your skull and reminds you to, like...I don't know, brush your teeth and change your underwear and to not eat the yellow snow, no matter how curious you are about what pre-war ice cream might have tasted like. You know, that sort of disembodied voice that often makes you contemplate your sanity."

Even through the tears Jace still managed to chuckle slightly, but it only made him feel better for a moment. He clenched both of Basil's hands tightly as if he was going to disappear in front of him while they spoke to one another. He held onto him as if he was the only thing still anchoring him to this world.
"I promise," he said, his voice cracking. "I promise I will try to live as happily to your expectations as I can...for the both of us." Finally, he looked up at him, staring intently. "No one will ever replace you. Not for as long as I live."
Jace bit his bottom lip as he stared at Basil while he gave the explanation and when he was finished, Jace shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about? Who have you taken from? Would you just quit talking in riddles and tell me already? I've been with you for half your life and I've never seen you act this weird, even when you were lying on your death bed!" That last statement lingered in the air like a plague and he wished he hadn't said it at all. Suddenly, he grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him towards him, though gently. "You're freaking me out, Basil, and I don't like it. I think you owe an explanation. Please."

Basil flinched when Jace grabbed him, but forced himself to calm down before he said, "Basil...Basil died, Jace. I am him, but I'm...not him, at the same time." He averted his gaze, wrenching himself out of his grasp before he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you, I...I swear, but I only just put everything together a few months ago myself and I just didn't know how to tell you, much less my dad. Or...his dad? I don't know."

Jace's heart fell upon hearing those words although he didn't know why and took a few steps away from Basil. "What...what are you talking about, Basil? You ain't dead!" he asked in a soft voice. "You're not making any sense, you idiot! You're standing right in front of me!" The explanation given was just too farfetched to believe, yet the feeling it created in Jace's chest scared him witless.

Basil shook his head as he said, "Jace, someone can't just come back from the brink of death like I did. We were all more than willing to accept it at the time, considering that we'd all been so scared. But...miracles like that just don't exist out here, not without someone else deliberately making them happen--and bringing someone practically back to life? That's not possible." He paused, but then continued, "I'm a synth, Jace. A few months ago, only a couple of weeks after we started this whole journey of ours, I found some notes in one of the vaults that we were excavating. They weren't from the vault, but they were once someone's old research. It sounded like a pet project of theirs. Anyhow, I read through them, and...I couldn't get it out of my head, so I looked into it even more. And then it just, I don't know, fell together. I must be a synth. And that's when everything started coming back to me. It was as if I'd broken some sort of failsafe or something, even when that's another thing that should be impossible."

"You're crazy, Basil." Jace shook his head in disbelief though deep down he knew he was telling the truth. "Quit lying to me! I don't know what a synth is, but you are not one of them. You're right in front of me...flesh and blood. Unless I really am insane and you're only a figment of my imagination like you said before you..." he gulped and didn't dare bother saying what he was thinking. "You're not just the voice in the back of my mind. I can hear you, see you, feel you!" He wiped away furiously the few tears that streaked down his cheeks and pointed accusingly at him. "Do not dare tease me like this. If you don't feel the same way towards me like I feel for you, then just tell me. But do not try making up bullshit like this just to push me away."