Chapter Text
You’ve been to some desperately unpleasant places. A cabin with blood at the foot of the table that screamed you were about to be murdered by a maniac wielding an axe, a bar that was so thick with smoke you could barely breathe that took an hour to serve your fries, and your older brother’s apartment when he was in college, which he shared with four other boys that seemed to think hygiene was optional.
The world on the other side of the portal was that times ten thousand, and somehow worse all on its own.
It defied explanation. Colors popped into existence that your eyes couldn’t comprehend, creating only a buzzing roar in your ears, and lighting crackled, the smell of burnt popcorn and fresh yarn sinking into your skull. Your blood hummed under your skin, as if you were at the moment before the big bang, before reality asserted itself to make sense.
You were frozen, however, by the sight of something gold and black, a dozen times your height and sitting upon a throne of shifting forms and hues that made your head spin.
“Well, well, well!” It took a moment to recognize that it was Bill, not wearing Ford and somehow even worse than you’d ever feared. “Nice to see you, Curly! Take a seat, pull up an asteroid, let’s have a chat!”
You gasped in the thin air. “You- you- you asshole!”
He laughed. Actually laughed, the sound vibrating the air and plucking your lungs like cello strings even though there was nothing for it to bounce off except for asteroids. Something very black and very sharp next to him lunged at you, batting you back like a pet with a chew toy.
You slammed into an asteroid with a CRACK, gravel spiraling out around you. It took precious seconds to shake off before coming to your senses and fleeing, swimming through the air until you could find a large enough rock with a ledge to cling to. You squeezed your eyes shut for a moment, clutching your sweater and breathing hard.
Evaluate. Think. Process. You’d been pushed through the portal, to the dimension where Bill lived. You had a swiss army knife, a few classes on self-defense from two years ago, and a desire to not die.
It was going to have to be enough.
Bill’s laughter sunk into your skin and raised the hair on your arms. You sucked in a breath.
“Come on, can’t we talk? We got off on the wrong foot, and we both share Fordsy, so we’ve got something in common! If you come out willingly, I’ll even leave your limbs the way they are!” Your chest heaved and you clung to the asteroid. “Don’t want to play, huh? All right, hide and seek it is, then!” A cacophony erupted behind you, of gnashing teeth and flapping leathery wings and sounds you couldn’t identify if you had a hundred years but that made your skin crawl anyways.
Something pink lit up on your skirt and you bit back a yelp, launching up and swimming through the air as a laser blasted the asteroid apart where you’d been standing and leaving the pieces in flames.
“Nice shot, Py!” You didn’t look back to see what it was, heading for a cluster of asteroids in hopes of losing the creatures. You were battered from side to side, the stitch in your side only increasing. They were all cackling behind you, and fire hit the rocks, knocking them-and you- around like pinballs until you were knocked into a particularly large hole in one of the asteroids and you scooted back as far as you could, eyes wide.
You swallowed and wiped your eyes.
Crying could wait until you weren’t going to die.
Outside, rainbows of fire danced, and you held a hand over your mouth to muffle your breathing. The back wall of the small cavern was cool and slightly damp- good, that meant there had to be water somewhere. It soaked into your thick sweater and a chill dripped up your spine.
A cloud of foamy lavender broke apart and disappeared entirely, as if it was a glitch that had never been there at all, and you hoped that couldn’t happen to you. You’d never been very religious but began to murmur prayer inside your head anyways, to any god that might be listening. You had the feeling gods had abandoned this place, but what else was there to do?
“If someone catches her alive, you’ll get her as a pet!” Bill cackled, and you swallowed.
You really hoped Ford had a back-up plan to get you out.