Chapter Text
“So, is that all we need?”
Grian and Pearl were standing in front one of the abandoned factory’s fire exits, an array of scrap gathered at their feet. Pearl illuminated the pile with her flashlight, turning her head this way and that in search of any danger, and Grian was crouched down, sifting through the scrap with little fanfare. Eventually, he stored away some of the tinier trinkets into his inventory, then he grabbed the crate filled with bottles – the heaviest item of the bunch – and straightened with a grunt.
“I’d say so, yeah.” He nodded. “We already have some stuff back at the ship, remember? I think, like... three hundred credits worth.”
“And how much are the things we have on us?”
Grian adjusted his hold on the crate, and the bottles clinked noisily together as he pulled out his scanner. He pointed it at the coagulated items, studied the amount it was all worth, and hummed.
“Exactly one hundred and six,” announced Grian, pocketing his scanner, and he hastily fixed his grip on the crate before any bottles could fall out. “If I don’t drop anything, that is.”
“Well over quota, then. Even without Impulse’s body.” Pearl smiled underneath her gas mask. She leaned down and put the rest of the items into her inventory. “We better hurry back,” she said. “Bet Mumbo’ll leave us if we don’t.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t. I’m sure he wouldn’t.”
“Surely.”
Grian snickered, and he was about to say something more, yet he was cut off by a distant scuttling sound coming from across him and Pearl. They both whipped their heads to the source. Neither did anything for multiple, tense seconds, only listening as the scuttling got closer and closer. Grian, holding his breath, motioned to the doorway leading down a pitch-black corridor. That was where the noises were originating from. Pearl momentarily hesitated, and then, she pointed her flashlight towards the hall.
Doing so revealed a singular loot bug making its way over to them, its legs loudly clacking on the grate floor, its wide and soulless eyes staring straight at them. The loot bug halted a good hundred metres away from the two. A second afterwards, it began moving side to side jerkily, as though it was strafing in a video game.
Grian and Pearl simply stared at the loot bug, and they exchanged a questioning glance as it continued its stiff movements. Grian blinked and brought the crate of bottles closer to himself.
He whispered into the silence, “Do you... think it’s friendly?”
The loot bug made a clicking sound, and it came a few steps closer, then went a few steps back. It looked like it was dancing, albeit caught in a strange and ungainly one. “Maybe,” replied Pearl. “I think so.” She still had her flashlight trained on the entity, but her shoulders were a bit less stiff.
They watched the loot bug for a minute more. But it stopped its side-to-side movements abruptly, and the air was once again still. Grian raised an eyebrow, looking at Pearl.
Not even half a second later, the loot bug screeched ear-piercingly loud, and it flew at them as fast as a bullet. Grian and Pearl let out dual screams; they practically tripped over each other to open the exit and get away.
“Never mind, I don’t think so!”
“Not friendly, not friendly!”
“Go, go, go, go, go!”
The door almost crushed Grian and his crate on the way out, and he started to pant after it slammed shut behind him, hunching over and sighing with relief. He looked to the side and met eyes with Pearl, who had more or less been doing the exact same thing as him, even putting a hand over her no-doubt racing heart.
They paused. Then, they burst into laughter.
“My Gods,” said Pearl between giggles. “I think my heart stopped for a second there. Geez.” She shook her head, a smile evident in her tone, and turned to her brother. “I haven’t heard you scream like that in a long time!”
Grian’s face flushed in chagrin, but the laughs ripping through him caused him not to care much.
“You’re one to talk!” he retorted. He bumped his elbow against Pearl. “I didn’t even know your voice could get that loud!”
She shook her head again, putting a hand to her forehead, laughter causing her shoulders to shake. “Oh, my heart, my heart.”
“Your heart, your heart?” echoed Grian mischievously. “What’s wrong? Loot bug too scary for you?”
“Shut up.” The eyeroll Pearl gave him could be felt on a metaphysical level. She muttered, “Forgot how teasing you can be sometimes.”
Grian’s laughter dimmed to nothing. It left only the ambience of the outside to keep his ears from ringing with silence. A gust of wind blew past the, which Grian could only tell was there by it rustling the loose, orange fabric of their suits. His watch told him it was going to be an Eclipse Night. He looked away from Pearl and at the sky, a sensation of guilt stirring at his insides. By now, he had grown accustomed to it. But his stomach still hurt at its intensity.
He pretended her playful words didn’t sting.
“Right,” he said, far too awkwardly, shaking the crate some, “well. We’re safe now. Let’s head off.”
Pearl sounded suspicious when she responded, “All right.”
Grian looked at the in-game time on his watch. It was six P.M., signalled by the sun dipping below the horizon in the distance and painting the sky various hues of many colours. The minutes moved by rapidly, but still, they had plenty of time to get back to the ship. That’s what he hoped, at least.
Grian nodded at Pearl, then he gestured for her to follow him as he headed off into the forest. “The ship must be nearby,” he said.
He heard soft rustling, and he knew Pearl was walking behind. He sent her a grin over his shoulder, though she couldn’t see it behind his gas mask. He corrected his hold on the crate of bottles, hearing them clink together as though giving themselves a toast.
Grian and Pearl weaved their way through the dark expanse of the forest. The ambience of the wind and slight tweets from non-existent birds was all that could be heard. So far, there wasn’t a monster in sight. Grian made sure he was regularly scanning for their ship, and he grunted as he clambered up a particularly steep hill. He glanced behind him to make sure Pearl got up it safe. Once she did, he looked all around them, attempting to recall if they had been here before.
“Hey, Pearl, do you recognize this place,” started Grian, his eyes landing on his sister, “or do I just have short-term memory loss?”
Pearl huffed out a laugh. “You’re not experiencing dementia yet, don’t worry,” she responded. “I also don’t know where we are. Like, in the slightest.”
There was a hefty pause before Grian spoke again. “Okay, so what you’re telling me, is that I potentially just led us the completely wrong way?” His voice was filled his barely held back dejection.
Pearl shrugged in answer. Grian groaned, feeling the need to rub his temples or slap himself for being so stupid, but he couldn’t unless he wanted to drop the bottles. He instead settled on breaking his neck to look up at the sky, breathing in deeply.
“Gods above,” he murmured. “That’s lovely, isn’t it?”
“Mm-hm.” Pearl’s smile was audible, and gently, she punched Grian’s shoulder. “Typical you, Gri. How about I lead the way this time? Since I actually know where the ship is.”
Grian rolled his eyes, and when Pearl wasn’t looking, he sent a not-very-nice face her direction.
“Not fair,” he countered. “You only know because I went the wrong way; it doesn’t count.”
“Whatever you say, Grian.”
Pearl began to saunter away, and Grian shook his head. Despite that, he trailed close behind her as though he was her shadow. He has to have faith that she was leading them in the correct direction. That’s what he told himself: Trust her. Like he had before.
The forest wasn’t dense per se, but it was thick, foggy, and dark enough for Grian to fear being separated from Pearl if they weren’t close together. They weaved through the trees, and they made sure to steer clear of a beehive on the ground. And by the time they passed by a lake Grian had never seen before, seeds of doubt were taking hold of him.
“I might be wrong,” said Grian to Pearl as they walked into a field-like area, “but I don’t think this is the right way, either.”
“We’re just taking the scenic route,” replied Pearl.
Grian laughed and tilted his head. “Somehow, I don’ t believe that’s true.”
“Well, it is.” Pearl sent him a fleeting glance. “Have a little faith, why don’t you?”
Just then, heavy thumps started making the ground vibrate, like a miniature earthquake was heading steadily closer to the pair. They had to pause and regain their balance, Grian stifling a gasp and Pearl holding onto a nearby tree for dear life. Grian’s heart hammered in his chest, and he swivelled his head around. He had a feeling he knew what those footsteps were coming from. But obviously, Pearl didn’t.
“Oh, what the--” She was cut off by Grian shushing her, and she furrowed her brows. “What?” she whispered.
“I think it’s a giant,” muttered Grian. He looked past her, at the pitch-black sky, and squinted. “It’ll eat us if we’re too loud, so.”
“Oh. I see.”
They looked at each other for a second more, Grian’s gaze mildly worried and Pearl’s undetectable. But they eventually gained the courage to begin walking again, much slower and more cautious in their movements.
Every now and then, Grian would look over his shoulder at the giant. It was wandering for now without direction nor rhyme. He felt a bit better at that. Still, his steps quickened until he was all but jogging behind Pearl, the glass bottles clashing against each other and the sides of the crate, making Grian cringe at the ruckus they were causing. Yet he didn’t slow, and neither did Pearl. She also looked periodically over at the giant, and her strides were long and controlled but rigid. She was squeezing the scrap in her hands so hard it looked like it would snap. Grian had half a mind to remark on such, but he remembered he didn’t particularly fancy being giant food, so he kept his jaw set.
Grian scanned the area. The ship was nowhere to be found, and it was getting dangerously close to the take-off time.
A few metres later, he scanned the area again: Nothing.
Another couple steps. There was still nothing.
He wondered to himself, did it disappear? Is it a bug or something, that they can’t find the ship? Are they just going the wrong way? He didn’t remember it being so far.
He was reminded of the server glitches. A shiver raked through him like a snake.
The rumbling footsteps of the giant stomped closer to Grian and Pearl, too close for comfort. Grian held his breath, and he silently motioned to Pearl to sneak. They both crouched down, and though their speed was hindered a substantial amount, neither cared that much. As long as they didn’t lose their valuables.... Or got their heads bit clean off, that, too.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the giant’s footsteps became distant once again, blending into the background of the forest. Grian and Pearl let out silent sighs, straightening from their crouching positions.
“We’re not getting anywhere going like this,” whispered Grian, so quiet he had trouble hearing himself. He watched as Pearl shook her head.
“We’ll go a different way.” Her voice was just as, if not more hushed than Grian’s. She jerked her head to the left. “C’mon.”
Grian swallowed, nodded, and followed carefully along. A dull ache was springing up in his shoulders – he assumed it was from carrying the crate for so long –, but he pushed the pain to the back of his mid. He knew it would pass. It always did, even before he was stuck in the server.
They walked for a minute or so, only pausing once when the giant thundered near them then away, but it had felt like an entire month to Grian. The pains in his body were all trying to be the centre of attention, and he was wincing with every step he took. He could keel over any second. That was how bad it was. He’d thought that they weren’t able to feel any pain in the server or the games they played, yet here he was, everything down to the soles of his feet burning him.
Just power through it, he told himself. It’s fine. Just a part of the game.
A small headache made itself known in his temple, and he had to resist hissing out in pain. Just power through it.
Then, half a minute later, he took a step, and the sores in his body ceased completely. It almost threw him off balance, confused him enough to make him halt in his tracks. He rolled his shoulders back, and not even a phantom ache seized hold of him. His migraine was gone too, he noticed.
How... odd.
With him no longer needing to suppress groans every time he moved, Grian realized he hadn’t scanned their surroundings for a bit, and he hastily did so. For a moment, he thought nothing had come up on the radar. But there, faint and in the distance, his scanner had picked up an object. And once he and Pearl came a few more strides closer, he saw it was marked as their ship. An eager smile split his face, and he nudged Pearl on her backside.
“Ship’s straight ahead,” whispered Grian, indicating in said direction with his crate of bottles. His grin turned more teasing. “Nice job leading us there, Miss ‘Human Compass’.”
Pearl seemed about to respond, yet the giant decided to stomp near them at that moment, causing the siblings to freeze and go quiet. They waited until the entity was further away, and then, they wasted no time in booking it towards the ship.
Uneven terrain made it difficult to quickly and efficiently get to the ship, which was already a fair distance away. The combination of that and the heavy crate Grian was carrying made him lose stamina. And fast. In not even a minute, his energy bar was at zero.
Pearl hadn’t run too far ahead, and she was stopped on a hill, motioning dramatically for him to get a move on. Grian, sucking in a breath, willed his artificially tired legs to carry him over to her and trudge up the hill.
We don’t have all day, he told himself. The darkness of the sky made it hard to see, but he squinted, which made it a little easier. After a second or more, he made it up the hill, still heaving slightly.
And somewhere behind them, the giant’s heavy footfalls caused the ground to shake.
He watched as Pearl carefully stepped down the hill. He tightened his grip on the crate, and he followed her. He placed his feet carefully, making sure he wouldn’t roll or slide on his ankles, yet he couldn’t see much in front of him, blocked by the clinking bottles. Despite this, he tried to keep pace with Pearl. He thought he was doing well enough at both: Staying close to his sister and not taking a tumble down the hill. But he couldn’t have predicted the small obstacle in his path.
The grass on the hill came up to Grian’s mid-calf, so even if his vision was clear, the rock he stepped on would still be rendered invisible to him. And to his detriment, he’d stepped on it wrong.
Grian couldn’t help the startled noise that escaped him, and he fell all the way to the bottom of the hill. Losing his grip on the crate. Dismayed, he watched as the bottles rolled in every which direction.
Biting back a curse, Grian quickly sat up and began gathering all the bottles he could to put them back in their crate, muttering, “No, no, no, no,” to himself. He counted his lucky stars that none had broken. But there was a different concern:
Footsteps were hastily making their way over to Grian and Pearl. Grian knew the giant was coming for him. Pearl seemed to know it, too, as she paused in the middle of putting back a handful of bottles into the crate. She looked at Grian, yet he couldn’t pinpoint her exact emotion. If he was being honest with himself, he would say he didn’t want to.
He instead stood, and he threw every item in his inventory onto the ground. Not caring anymore about being quiet, he said to Pearl, “Just get to the ship first – grab this stuff after you drop your things off. Or just leave it, if you have to.”
“Why aren’t you run--?”
A particularly intense rumble nearly made them lose their balance, and Grian took a look over his shoulder. He saw the outline of the monster, distant, jogging every nearer to them. He picked up the crate again and practically shoved it into Pearl’s arms.
“Go,” he said. “I’ll lead it away, if I can. You go make us rich.”
Pearl hesitated. That split second was all it took for the giant to draw up a dozen feet behind them, and it let out a low croon. Grian gave Pearl one last look – a plea of sorts. Then, adrenaline rushed through him, and he sprinted to the left, as far away from Pearl and the ship as possible.
He was fortunate; with him no longer having hold of the crate, his stamina would last much longer than before. But even then, he knew the giant was quicker. He was really only causing a minor distraction. And prolonging his death, it felt like. It didn’t matter.
In the end, the giant was so close behind Grian that it’s setting its foot down almost crushed him. He gasped when a leviathan hand wrapped around him and squeezed, as though it were wringing him out like a cloth. Grian was lifted high into the air; a wave of vertigo hit him because of the sudden movement, but it didn’t have time to take full effect. Either that or his body had subconsciously chosen to ignore it.
Grian braced himself, squeezed his eyes shut as he was brought nearer and nearer to the giant. Then, it opened its mouth, and he screamed.
His head was bitten off. And it felt like his eardrums popped. He couldn’t hear anything for a few moments, and his vision was of pure darkness.
When he finally came to, he was greeted with two sets of loud and hysterical laughter: One from Impulse, one from Mumbo.
“Oh, my Gods!” said Mumbo, and Grian could imagine him wiping a tear from his eye. “Grian, that was just about the most dramatic sequence of events I’ve seen, like, ever.”
“It was like some action movie!” Impulse chimed in, “I can’t lie, that was sick.”
Grian laughed along with them, and he at last opened his eyes. He was spectating Pearl, who was now climbing up the ladder to the ship and softly muttering to herself. Impulse and Mumbo’s voices didn’t sound too far away, although Grian knew he wouldn’t be able to see them.
“What can I say?” replied Grian with a smile. “I did do theatre briefly in Year Eleven.”
Somewhere to Grian’s right, Impulse snorted and said, “How could I tell?”
“Is that supposed to mean something, Impulse?”
“No, no, of course not, Grian. Not at all!”
“Better not have.”
“Woah, Mumbo, mate, what in the world happened to you?”
Pearl had spoken, and Grian noticed she was inside the ship stowing away all scrap in her inventory, looking over near the terminal. Mumbo’s dead body was slumped over the computer keyboard, arms bent like they were made of rubber. The carcass didn’t have any visible wounds, but a small puddle of blood was still underneath it. As though just now realizing Mumbo was also dead, Grian raised a brow, and an amused smile spread across his face.
“Yeah, Mumbo,” he said, crossing his arms, “what did happen? We thought you’d be safe on the ship.”
“Okay, right, so.” Grian heard Mumbo clap his hands together, and a short chuckle came from Impulse. “So, I was just... chilling out in the ship, right?”
“Mm-hm.” Grian nodded.
“And then, the doors opened randomly, and I look out, and I see this little girl standing outside looking at me.”
Impulse began chuckling again. Grian had trouble keeping his own laughter out of his voice as he said, “Yep. Go on, continue,” tone trembling slightly.
“And-- and I’ll admit, this was rather stupid of me,” said Mumbo, his words gaining a snicker from Grian, “but I thought she was friendly! Like how that little bug creature is sometimes, you know? The loot bug?”
Grian rolled his eyes. “Not to us, the loot bug wasn’t.” He watched Pearl step out of the ship, braving the outside once more.
“Yeah, we saw,” said Impulse, amusedly.
“Very entertaining, I must say. Anyways, where was I?”
Grian supplied, “You thought the little girl was friendly.”
“Ah, right. And since I thought that, I wasn’t really worried about avoiding her when she eventually came onto the ship.” He paused. “Uhh. Needless to say, that was a mistake.”
“I can tell.” Grian shook his head. “No offense, but that’s just about how I’d expect you to die.”
“Oh, none taken.”
“I still can’t believe you tripped and fell, Grian,” mentioned Impulse, and Grian scoffed. “What? I’m just sayin’! I’ve never seen someone do that before. It just makes you very, very special, that's all."
“Sure do love tripping and falling and then getting my head bitten off. It’s my favourite afternoon activity.”
“Well, you wouldn’t have died if you hadn’t made a noise.”
“I was practically falling off a mountain, what do you expect?”
Mumbo hummed. “You probably would’ve done the exact same thing, Impulse. You really don’t have room to talk.”
Impulse let out an offended gasp. “Mumbo, you died to a literal child, I don’t wanna hear it!”
“But it wasn’t a centipede, like what you died to!”
As Mumbo and Impulse started to banter, Grian tuned out their verbal equivalent of a tennis match and focused on Pearl’s second journey back to the ship. He was relieved to see that his ploy on leading the giant away had worked somewhat well, since no longer did the ground shake with its footsteps, and Pearl’s path was a clear shot. The vessel was nudged into the only tree-free area for miles. As Pearl climbed the ladder into it, Grian took note, not for the first time, just how strange the entire round had been. From the entities’ behaviours to the ship seemingly teleporting from place to place, it was bizarre to him.
“At the very least, Pearl survived,” said Mumbo, cutting through Grian’s thoughts. He looked to the left as though he’d be able to see the man.
“She came in clutch,” agreed Impulse. “Shame she didn’t collect our bodies, though. I would’ve liked to keep all the money we earned.”
“We still made quota.” Mumbo dithered then added, “I think.”
Grian tittered. “If we didn’t, then we’re screwed,” he said. “I don’t know about you two, but I don’t really enjoy getting thrown into the vacuum of space, even if it’s not real.” He shivered just at the thought. It had felt like getting flung off a roller coaster, which already wasn’t the most pleasant mental image.
“It’s terrifying,” said Impulse simply.
It was at that moment that Pearl started the ship. This time around, instead of storing away and organizing all the items, she had placed them haphazardly on the floor. Grian really couldn’t blame her. After all, it was close to take-off time, and they were going to give all the stuff to the Company, anyways.
The three of them started cheering as a cutscene of the ship lifting off played, and a second later, they spawned back inside the ship. Grian’s cheer turned into a slight yawn as a wave of sluggishness crashed over him, and he heard similar noises from Impulse and Mumbo.
Pearl laughed at them and questioned, “Wow, was my gameplay that boring for you guys?”
“It sure was,” joked Grian. His respawn-induced exhaustion was already fading, and he rolled his head around, wincing as his neck popped. Afterwards, he bumped his shoulder against his sister’s. “Good stuff, Pearl.”
“Thank you.”
After half a second, the penalty for two lost bodies popped up on screen, then it switched to the employee report card. “Hey, ‘Most profitable employee’!” said Pearl, reading off what the report said about her.
“How in the world did I get ‘Laziest employee’?” There was a brief pause as Mumbo continued reading his own. “And most paranoid! What?!”
Impulse poked at him with a chuckle. “Well, I mean....”
“Nope. For my own sake, do not say that to me, please.”
Grian rolled his eyes at them, and he made his way over to the terminal computer. He powered it on. “Hey, can one of you check how much everything we have is worth really quick?” he asked over his shoulder, eyes focused on the screen.
As he typed the Company Building into the location, he heard someone take in a breath through their teeth and a plain old “Oh, come on!” from Impulse.
“Uhm, bad news, everybody,” said Mumbo, waving his scanner into the air, “we didn’t make quota.”
Grian and Pearl simultaneously groaned.
“Are you serious?” asked Grian, pushing away from the computer to raise an eyebrow at the man.
“He is,” said Impulse with a defeated sigh. He had his arms crossed, and he shook his head like an annoyed parent. “We’re, like, just under it too! How much are.... We’re fifteen credits away from the quota!”
“Why does this always happen to us?” muttered Pearl. She shrugged. “Might as well turn in what he have.”
Grian nodded before going back to the terminal. He hit Enter on their destination of the Company Building, and then he said to Pearl, “We should be good to land.”
Pearl walked a step closer to the lever and pulled it.
Turning in their scrap was a task that provided little fanfare. Besides Pearl almost getting eaten by the Company monster and Mumbo going insane trying to hit them all with a stop sign, talking about how they could make some extra money, it was a routine trip. And after getting back on the ship, still just that little bit away from meeting quota, they stood in a circle and prepared to be flung into space.
“It was an honour working with you guys,” said Impulse, dramatically, sounding like he was about to burst into tears any second. He saluted to Grian, Pearl, and Mumbo. “'Til next time, gentlemen and gentle-woman!”
“’Til next time,” they echoed, though not exactly at the same time.
A tick or so passed by. Then, one of them breathed in deeply.
“Before we die, I’d just like to say something.”
Immediately after Mumbo spoke, the lights in the ship turned red, and sirens began to blare loudly in the background. The doors to the ship opened; the four of them started to be pulled towards it.
Mumbo’s voice turned frantic as he said, “I am not at all sorry for trying to kill you guys to meet quota, and I will probably do it aga--!”
His audio cut out as the four of them were flung in different directions. Although Grian could feel his stomach flipping around from the sensation of free-falling, he laughed to himself, vision going dark as he fell through space leisurely. Game resets always took a minute, he’d found, so he simply waited for the menu to pop up.
It didn’t.
Instead, small green patches popped up in the corners of his eyes. They reminded him of those little stars a person would see when closing their eyes hard enough, and the patches flickered like static on a TV screen. Grian furrowed his brows as he observed the spots. And after a few moments, they expanded into the middle of his vision. That caused him to become even more confused, and he brought up his hand to touch where he saw one of the green patches. When he did, a sharp jolt of electricity bit his fingertip, causing him to yelp.
The patches grew even more. Some pink and black bars were even entering the fray. Around him, Grian could hear the other three conversing about how they had time for one more round. He wondered to himself, Were they already loaded in?
The green, pink, and black patches then invaded his entire vision, and a shrill, continuous noise began splitting his eardrums open. It was loud; he couldn’t stand it for long. His hands instinctively went to the sides of the headset, and he tugged it off.
The ear-shattering drone was gone now, and Grian blinked his eyes open, looking down at the headset in his hands. Slight exhaustion gripped him then fled seconds later. The headset had come off without any hint of resistance. But it wasn’t time for the game to end, was it? He looked around, and he saw Mumbo, Pearl, and Impulse with their headsets still on. And when he glanced outside of the glass box, he saw everyone still in the game, too.
Or... almost everyone. From what Grian could see, three or four others had their headsets off, looking confusedly around just as he was. The one he recognized instantly was Scar.
For a brief moment, his and Scar’s eyes met. And in the back of his mind, Grian knew they both were wondering the same thing.
“Wait, where’s Grian?”
Grian turned at the mention of his name. Pearl was the one who’d asked, and her head turned from side the side as though she’d be able to spot her brother that way. Mumbo and Impulse seemed similarly bewildered.
“I’m here,” replied Grian, taking a step closer to the three. “I think my headset’s busted, so I--”
“Y’know, I’m not sure,” said Impulse. “Maybe he’s still loading in?”
Grian’s mouth closed with a clack of his teeth. Oh. They couldn’t hear him.
He came closer to Pearl, and gingerly, he placed a hand on her shoulder. She gave no indication that she felt him, and eventually, his hand fell away. He fidgeted with the headset before putting it down. Pearl, Mumbo, and Impulse continued to talk, but Grian wasn’t listening fully to them. A sinkhole made itself known inside his stomach.
At that moment, the air seemed to stop, the others’ conversation ceasing abruptly. Then, the three pulled their headsets off. Instantly, they whipped their heads towards Grian, and they began talking over each other questioning him.
“Where were you?”
“What happened?”
“How did you disconnect early?”
“Are you okay?”
Grian put his hands up. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he soothed. “I’m good. Don’t worry about me, it’s okay.” Rather reluctantly, the three nodded and seemed to hold back their questions. But as Grian’s eyes trained on Pearl, he could see she just couldn’t help herself.
“Why weren’t you in game?” she questioned, smoothing down her hair. Grian shrugged.
“My headset just... malfunctioned, I guess. I don’t know.”
“Malfunctioned how?”
“Well--”
He was cut off by everyone’s comm dinging at the same time. That sinkhole he felt deepened, and he swallowed, taking the device out and checking it. An unwelcome sense of familiarity washed over him as he read the message sent to global chat.
<Xisuma> sorry everyone for taking you all out of the game so early! and for not being there again...!! ^^”
<Xisuma> i just couldn’t wait to surprise you guys :-)
<Xisuma> it’s waiting for you on the first floor
<Xisuma> i'll join you guys as soon as i can, so enjoy!
“I’ll tell you later,” said Grian, faintly.
He looked out past the glass, only to see Cleo slam open the door to the area she’d been in, a furious and worried look on her face. Keralis followed out behind her, then Scar, who looked considerably less agitated than the two others and more confused. Grian and him shared another look.
“We should go,” said Impulse. Grian, not straying his gaze from Cleo practically punching the elevator button down, nodded.
He followed numbly along as the others exited the glass area, and after only a second of being outside it, he saw Scar coming up to him from the corner of his eye. Scar looked him seriously in the eye.
“Your headset glitched out, too?” he asked, his voice hushed, omitting any form of greeting. Grian drew his lips back and nodded.
“Did you see stuff when it did?” questioned Grian.
“Yeah, like green and pink stuff. It was... really weird.”
“Yeah. It was.”
There was another question Grian wanted to ask. But because he knew neither him nor Scar would be able to come with an answer, it was left unsaid. The two men looked at each other for a handful of seconds more. Then, Scar inclined his head, patted Grian twice on the shoulder with an indecipherable gleam in his eyes, and turned away to head towards the lifts. Grian thought to himself, but the words and concepts were indistinct. He shook his head. His feet started to carry him over to the last open elevator.
Luckily, the lift he walked into wasn’t very crowded, and Grian squeezed into the spot next to Pearl and False. Now that he was still, he finally took notice of the cautious apprehension building up inside him. He glanced at Pearl from the corner of his eye, instantly looking away once her gaze flicked to him. She’d only been on the server for half a week. The so-called surprise couldn’t have been what he was thinking. He was simply being paranoid.
Grian’s eyes strayed to the other occupants of the elevator. All of them looked either neutral or confused, with quick looks and murmured words shared between them, impatient taps of a foot and idle, low humming. It seemed like the lift was taking a lot more time than normal to go down. Or did it only feel longer because Grian was aware of every second ticking by, like a countdown to doomsday? It was hard to tell. All he knew was that he could still feel Pearl’s eyes drilling into the side of his head.
Finally, the lift let out a small ding, and the doors slid open to reveal the rest of the server gathered around something. Their surprise.
Grian watched with furrowed brows as people began to exit the elevator. It was like he was stuck in a dream, feeling that he was inside his body yet also having the strangest sensation that he was merely a ghostly observer. He felt his fingers tighten their grip on his arms, but he didn’t register it. It was only when he and Pearl were the last two inside the lift did this suffocating veil lift from where it’d been covering his face, brought about by his sister’s question:
“Are you coming, Gri?”
Grian lifted his head. Pearl was standing right near the lift’s exit, holding the doors open, a gleam akin to concern in her eyes. He didn’t deserve it.
“Mm-hm.” Grian peeled himself off the wall. “I’m coming.”
Pearl watched his every move; he could feel it. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked, her words making Grian halt in his tracks. “You’re acting like you’re worried about something. It’s weird.”
Grian pursed his lips and looked somewhere off to the side. He couldn’t tell her – what if it was just a false alarm? She didn’t deserve to be stressed about something that may not even be true. But who’s to say she would be stressed or worried in the first place?
“You’ll see.”
With that, Grian and Pearl exited the lift. Grian’s ears picked up on numerous people talking over one another, as though each person was fighting to be the voice that stuck out. He couldn’t glance at the centre of the commotion without feeling sick to his stomach, so he planted his gaze elsewhere.
A few feet or so away from the crowd, Cleo was looking the most overwhelmed Grian had ever seen them, practically pulling chunks of their hair out and knocking themself in the head. He faintly heard them say: “Gods, I’m such an idiot. Damn it, damn it!” Keralis was beside them, seemingly trying to comfort them, but he looked no less tense than they were.
Grian’s heart sank further into his chest, like it was an anchor being thrown into the sea. He let out a shaky breath.
Then, he heard Pearl’s voice, quiet and tremulous.
“Grian. Look.”
No more could Grian delay the inevitable. With a repulsive feeling gripping him like a vice, he looked into the middle of the fray. And his eyes met with another, familiar pair.
Not just a pair. Two.
His breath was punched out of him, and his throat tightened. He must have been having a nightmare. He must have. But as he saw the two sets of eyes widen, reality set in, and he sucked in a startled breath.
A beat ticked by. Then two, then three. Grian opened his mouth.
“Timmy? Joel?”
And suddenly, as though he had just screamed the names of his childhood best friends instead of whispered them, the entire room went silent.