Chapter Text
Clang Clang
Clang... Clang Clang
“Would you knock it off already?! The monster is going to hear you!”
He couldn't stop now, it was Finally coming loose. Citrus had found a loose bar in his cage and was trying to break it off, he's been at it for abit but this time he wasn't being quite about it.
Clang Clannngg
Come On! He felt it give more but wouldn't break.
“Hey could you tell your friend to stop? Before he hurts himself or something?”
The kid was talking to Fox, Citrus hesitated for a moment to see if Fox would say anything, but there was nothing, so he continued.
Clang Clang
Of course Fox didn't say anything, because of rule number one, 'trust the other's plan'. Even the crazy ones, Especially the crazy ones. That's how they worked, it's why they were still alive. Granted it was one of those plans that got them Into this situation to begin with, but still. Trust was key with them.
Clang Clang Clang
It gave again but Still wouldn't break. Citrus knew the adrenaline was going to wear off soon and he wouldn't be able to pull harder, so in a last ditch effort he put one foot up and leveraged it against the wall of the cage then pulled back, Hard. It gave alittle more, then more, then...
Clang Snap Bang
Finally... it finally broke off. And with it Citrus fell back and hit his head. For a moment nothing hurt, then everything started to hurt.
“Great! You broke the one loose bar at the back of your cage. Now what? You still can't get out.” The kid who kept telling him to knock it off, seemed like he never had anything nice to say.
“Would you cut it out? It's better than doing literally nothing.” That was the girl, the one with the long hair.
“Is it?” The boy said skeptically. “If the monster tried to grab him he Might of had a chance at getting away. But now he's tired and hurt. Plus what if all that noise draws Mr. Long-Arms back?” Citrus didn't feel like explaining that half the reason he did this was to use Against the monster. He looked at the broken bar he pulled loose. Small enough to hide, big enough to stab into a giant hand. It was perfect.
“He'd be here by now if he heard.” A quiet voice said. It had taken Citrus the longest time to figure out who that voice belonged to, through deduction he found it was the kid with the scarf. She was quiet, and she'd been here the longest out of all them. And well... maybe that's Because she was quiet.
“Uhh guys...” Black haired kid, didn't talk much but he had an easily recognizable voice. “He isn't moving.” Citrus sighed internally, he knew what was coming next.
3... 2... 1 “Citrus..?” He chuckled, predictable as ever.
“I'm okay Fox, just... tired.”
“You just hit your head, you aren't suppose to sleep right after that.” They said getting more worried.
Citrus sighed, someone had told Fox that awhile ago. He wasn't sure he believed it, but Fox did, so... “Okay okay...” He grunted as he went to sit up and made a point to look at Fox. “See? I'm awake, I'm okay.”
Even from a distance Citrus could see the look of relief wash over them before turning to look more sternly. “Okay but no sleeping for abit, got it?” They said that like it was an order. Someone else might have been annoyed by the tone, but Citrus knew better.
He just smiled and rolled his eyes, giving a halfhearted salute. “Aye aye captain.”
After that bit of excitement things went back to the normal boring tense energy. Fox eventually agreed to let Citrus sleep. Mr. Long-Arms came and went. Took and brought kids, Citrus kept wondering if he should try to get the monsters attention, and then stab it. That was the plan, right? That's why he went through all the effort, but every time he went to do it, he lost his nerve or found and excuse.
More time passed, hard to tell how long. It was damn near impossible to keep track of time in this place, Citrus didn't realize how much he took that for granted. How long had they been here? A few weeks? It Had to be right? He'd fallen asleep twelve times. But... what if he was falling asleep multiple times a day... what if he was spending multiple days awake... what if he's been doing Both? Ghaa, he Had to stop thinking about this! It was going to drive him insane!
He looked back at Fox. They were idly running a finger along the bars of their cage, seeming in a daze. He didn't like when Fox was dazed, that was Never a good thing. “Psst, Fox, hey Fooxx!” He whisper-yelled.
They shook their head and looked up. “What?”
Without fully explaining Citrus started looking around. “I spy with my little eye...” He quickly glanced back at Fox for a moment, they went from tired and dazed to excited and expecting, Citrus chuckled to himself. “Something... green.”
Fox hummed for a moment then started looking around. “Is it the book?”
“Nope.”
“Uhh... The bottle?”
“Nu-Uh”
“The... discolored moldy wall?”
“Negative.”
“Oh come on! What else is there?”
“I promise you there is something else.”
“Okay but can I even see it from where I'm at?”
“Yes Fox, I know for a fact you can see it.” He said with a knowing smile.
“I am looking everywhere but I don't...” They trailed off looking down then smirked. “My shorts?”
“Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!” He said with a grin.
Fox tried to contain a laugh and failed miserably. “No Fair! You can't use things the other is wearing! That's cheating!” They said with a smile.
Citrus quirked and eyebrow. “Since when do I give a damn about rules?” He asked with a smug grin.
Fox just chuckled and rolled their eyes. “You're impossible.”
Citrus laughed. “Just go already. It's your turn.”
With that Fox started looking around. “I... spyyyy... with myy little eyyye...” They were taking a notably long time to find something.
“We're not gonna be able to play much if you take forever picking something.”
“Shush you.” Fox said while getting up to get a better view. “Something...” They looked around more but then stopped. “Big...”
“Oh come on, now That's not fair! Everything here is big! And besides we're suppose to use-”
“Rrrr...”
Citrus's complaint was cut short as he realized what Fox meant. Mr. Long-Arms was back. And he had a new cage. Great, another kid. Things always got more glum when a new kid was brought in. Someone who's yet to go through the five stages of grief.
But something was odd about this. He couldn't tell what the kid was saying but it seemed like he was talking to somebody. Surely he wasn't trying to reason with the monster, was he? Maybe someone was in the cage with him? He'd never know as Mr. Long-Arms decided to place them at the top then left. 'Good.' Citrus thought bitterly. As much as he hated himself for thinking like this, he didn't want to see another kid slowly realize they were going to die over a course of a week or longer. It was the worst thing.
It went quiet again, any attempt to lighten the mood like before was lost. Citrus could occasionally hear the kid talking up top but he barely cared enough to bother listening to him. Then he flinched when the tel-tale sound of the door being open came and those damn arms came out. There was a tense moment, Citrus grabbed the broken bar, his hand shook as he went to bang on the cage door. 'Too dangerous, sit down.' Citrus sighed and slumped back as the monster took a different child and the door slammed shut behind him. In frustration he kicked at the cage door, gritting his teeth. He started to wonder if now would be a good time to try to sleep since the monster just left, but right as he was thinking to do that...
Screech Screeech
What the..?
Screech
What the heck was that? It definitely wasn't the screeching sound of the door. It seemed to come from... above him?
Screee-
It was quiet for a moment... then...
BANG
Okay now That woke everyone up! One of the cages had fallen from the top. Must have been the kid who was put up there not long ago. How the heck- Oh! Citrus's question was answered before he could even think it. There Were two of them! One kid wouldn't be able to push the cage from the inside alone, but apparently two kids could. And since they'd been put on top, the cage was smashed open on impact.
Ironic, since being put at the top was basically a death sentence normally, you were more likely to be picked. Half the reason they were still alive was because they were at the bottom. This was great! They were out! They could get the rest of them out too! ...They would right?
The boy approached the cages. “Hey, it's okay.” He said quietly.
As everyone started to get up his... companion..? spoke up. “Mono, we have to go.”
Citrus felt his blood boil for a moment hearing that. 'You're seriously just gonna Leave us here?!' He thought gripping the bars of his cage hard.
The brief moment of fear and anger that they might not help was squashed by what the boy said next. “Do you know how to open this? I could let you out.”
The group quickly started pointing out the locks on their cages. Oh how they'd all fiddled with those locks for Days before excepting that they just couldn't get them open. But the boy had no trouble being that he was outside the cage, he simply slid it up and over and unlocked it, letting the first kid out. “Six, help me get the rest of these open.”
The one in the yellow coat apparently named Six spoke again. “It'll come back and catch us if we don't go now.” Not true, Mr. Long-Arms rarely came back so quick after leaving. And if he heard the crash he'd be here by now. Citrus mentally winced, realizing he'd learned the patterns of the monster much like scarf kid had. How Long Has He Been Here?!
The boy turned to look to his... friend? “We'll leave sooner if you help me. Hurry up, I'm not leaving them stranded here.” He sounded serious and apparently 'Six' picked up on that as they started helping too.
The boy went went to Citrus's cage next. 'Yay! I don't have to deal with the jerk!' He thought to himself. He looked at the boy as he unlocked the cage. He had a long dark coat, dark pants dark hair... Everything about him seemed dark. Even his eyes, they were black where they were suppose to be white, also there we some white rings near the center... his eyes were weird, but Citrus couldn't care less. After all Fox had weird eyes, and they- FOX!
Without a second thought he hastily stepped past the boy, muttering a quick 'Thank you' before rushing over to Fox's cage, casting a quick glance to his friend before unlocking it, they already looked way more like their normal self than they had in the past... however long it's been. A silly excited grin as they quickly got up from the floor of their cage.
The second the door was open he was wrapped in the tightest hug he's had in awhile. “Hey!” He chuckled, returning the embrace with a tight squeeze. God, he really thought he was going to die without being able to hug his best friend again. His breathing hitched for a moment and honestly he might of cried if he wasn't so fucking dehydrated.
After a moment where Fox didn't let go Citrus thought to speak up. He cleared his throat. “Hey, you alright?” He did his best to keep his voice steady.
“I should be asking you that Dum-Dum.” Their voice was muffled since their face was buried in Citrus's shoulder.
Apparently Fox wasn't quite as dehydrated as him, since as they pulled back Citrus saw a few tear tracks on their face. He gave a sad smile and wiped them away. “It's alright, we're out now.”
“I know I just...” They sighed and ran a hand through their hair. They couldn't seem to find the words to explain themself, which was rare for Fox.
Citrus rubbed their arm. “You don't have to explain. I get it, trust me.” They had never been in a situation like this where Both of them were caught. The only exception was when Fox intentionally got caught with a plan to break them out. And even then, they've never been trapped This long.
After the two took a moment to just breathe and realize that Yes this was real and they were out, they turned back to the group. All the cages were open but one of them wouldn't leave the cage. Scarf kid.
“Come on, we won't hurt you.” The long coat boy was crouched down, reaching his hand out, speaking gently.
She just shook her head, she was pressed to the back of the cage. “No no, kids who try to escape are killed.”
“As appose to the kids who stay In the cages?” One of the kids spoke up.
Fox stepped towards the cage. “Come on, you know you aren't going to get another chance like this.”
The kid clenched her fist then after a moment nodded and stepped forward. They looked so tense after stepping out of the cage, knuckles white with how tight they were clenched. One of the girls carefully took her hand and she relaxed abit.
The boy checked all of them over abit to make sure they weren't hurt then stepped back with a smile. “Does anyone want to come with us? We’re escaping too,” He asked as he went to walk over to his friend and took her hand. Citrus felt tense as he approached the door the monster always came through.
'Not if you're going that way!' He thought to himself. The others must of felt the same cause no one stepped forward.
The boy wasn't deterred by this. “Okay. We can do this!” He said enthusiastically raising both his and his friend's hand into the air.
Citrus just chuckled and rolled his eyes. 'You're gonna get yourself killed, but at least you're excited.'
The boy boosted his friend up to the door, and after a failed attempt they both managed to get through. Leaving the group of kids alone in the room. Okay, now They needed to get out. Citrus took a deep breath and looked around. “Okay okay okay... we've gotta find a Different way out of here.” He said walking around, they had time, but not a lot.
“Nome passage.” The kid with the scarf spoke up.
“What?” Citrus asked.
“...Nome passage.” She repeated hesitantly.
“Okay I heard you but like... what do you mean by that? What's a nome?” He asked. She was quiet a moment then made a triangle with her hands. It took Citrus a moment but then he got it. “Oh right! Those little guys!” The 'nomes' were the only reason any of them were still alive. Bringing the kids bits of food and chunks of ice. Citrus once upon a time suspected them of being on the same side as Mr.LongArms since he clearly didn't want the kids dead and them starving was rather counter productive to that. But based on how he chased the nomes out if he ever found them, he figured that wasn't the case.
“Right, great idea! How did they even get in?” Fox asked.
“Yeah they definitely didn't come through the door.” One of the boys spoke up.
“I always saw them come from this way.” Another kid said pointing to the back coroner.
“Well that's as good of a place to start as any. Come on let's go.” Citrus said heading to the corner of the room.
The group headed back and started prodding and checking for lose boards or holes. “Hey over here!” Fox called out. They had found a hole in the wall that was somewhat blocked by a cage, Fox was trying to push it out of the way.
Citrus stifled a laugh. “Fox there is like eight of us. There is no need for you to do that alone.” He said walking up to them. Most of the other kids followed suit and grabbed the cage. “Okay, on three. One, two... Three.” The kids all pushed together and the cage moved fairly easily. After they moved it enough the group stopped and Citrus went to go check the hole, yup, it definitely went down a ways it had to be how the Nomes were getting here. “We're going to have to craw but this is our best bet. Everyone ready?” He asked turning back to the group. All gave confirmations, some speaking, others just nodding, they all wanted to get out of here just as much as him. “Great, I'll go first. Try to keep quiet and if I say stop, then stop alright?” They all nodded and Citrus crouched down to craw though the hole.
-
Ow, okay today would be a great day to have pants instead of shorts. Citrus could already tell at least one of his knees were bleeding. But he'd just have to suck it up, they had to keep moving. They'd traveled down the passage for abit and Citrus nearly had a panic attack when it looked like this led to a dead end but then he noticed the board had abit more light shining around it, like it wasn't properly nailed in place. He hesitantly crawled forward, pushed on the board and... it gave way, thank God! He pushed it up and crawled out, holding the board up for everyone else as they crawled through. They were in a small room, far too small for adults, and Citrus could not be more grateful for that. Citrus took a deep breath and sat down, brushing the dirt off his knees. He was right, one was bleeding, but not too badly. He glanced around at the other kids, some were looking around the room, others were rubbing their just as bloody knees and some were stretching.
Fox glanced at him then back at the kids. “Sooo...” They started walking up to him then turning back to the others. “We should probably introduce ourselves if we're gonna be traveling through this place together. And this is as good of a place as any to do that.” They said with a grin. “I'm Fox, this is Citrus.” They said gesturing to him. Citrus gave a faint grin but said nothing.
“Well we already knew Your names.” One of the girls said with a slight smile.
Fox chuckled and rubbed their head. “Oh right...”
The group of kids glanced around at each other for a moment before the same girl spoke up. “My name's Ray.” She said in a chipper tone putting a hand to her chest.
One of the boys put a hand up. “Wick.” Citrus glanced over to put a face to the name. He had very short dark brown hair that was patchy and uneven, like it'd been pulled out by the clumps.
A girl with black pulled back hair waved. “Hi, I'm Wave, this is my brother Echo.” She said pulling the boy abit closer.
He gave a slight wave too. “Hi...” He said quietly.
“I'm Mix. Uhh... nice to meet you all I guess.” The first thing Citrus noticed about the boy was his eye, singular for a reason as he only had one. Or maybe he technically had two but the other was covered by a bandage wrapping and Citrus could guess the reason why.
That was five... were they missing someone? Oh right! Citrus glanced over at the kid with the scarf, standing slightly behind everyone. “Aye! Scarf Kid!” She flinched back realizing they were being addressed to. “You got a name or am I gonna have to keep calling you Scarf Kid through this whole adventurer?” He asked. He felt alittle bad when she shrank back more, he hadn't meant to scare her or make her feel uncomfortable.
“Aww don't let him scare ya. Citrus likes to act all tough but he's a big softy once you get past the first layer.” Fox smirked at him, the joke based on his name was not lost on Citrus, but he refused to acknowledge it. He'd never hear the end of it otherwise. Fox looked back at the kid. “Are you comfortable telling us your name?” Fox asked.
The kid was quiet for another moment, then came a quiet voice. “...Newt.”
“Newt?” Fox said louder, getting a slight nod from her.
Her name is Newt? Isn't that a lizard or something? 'Your best friend is named after an animal and you are literally named after a category of fruit. You do not get to judge.' Citrus berated himself.
Things went quiet and then Mix spoke up. “So what's the plan here?”
Citrus took a deep breath and smiled. “Okay, we've all spent god knows how long in those cages barely able to sleep, tense and on edge. How about before anything we just take some time to rest and calm down before we get too ahead of ourselves?” Citrus asked.
Everyone looked around at each other again before nodding and giving little confirmations. “Great!” Fox said with a grin as they sat down next to Citrus.
Varies people in the group followed suit, though some just leaned against the wall.
Ray glanced around. “Sooo... how'd you all get caught?” She asked with a grin.
Wick laughed. “That's your big conversation starter?!”
Ray chuckled. “Well what else are we suppose to talk about?!”
He smiled and rolled his eyes. “My story ain't that interesting. I was asleep when the prick got me. I didn't know what the heck was going on then I got dumped into this place.” Wick said.
“Well at least you didn't get chased. The thing found me in a forest and practically hunted me down. Right when I thought I got away he- it... whatever the hell it is grabbed me from behind.” Ray told them.
Wave glanced at her brother and rubbed her head. Echo sighed. “It was my fault. The thing found and caught me and... she got caught trying to get me out.”
Wave put an arm around him. “It's not your fault...” She said quietly.
Mix glanced around and shrugged. “It found me in a building. I was able to avoid it for a few days but that thing is persistent and eventually cornered me.”
Wick glanced at him for a moment. “...Do I wanna ask about the eye?”
“Oh this?” He said pointing to the bandaged eye. “That happened a while ago. I was beaten within an inch of my life. I lived obviously, but yeah this eye is useless now, and I'd like for it to not get infected so I just keep it covered.”
Ray sighed. “Of course, it's always a dark story. Never 'Oh I just got snagged climbing a fence.' and always something like 'Well I was trapped in a room for a week with no food and almost went insane, so I tried to kill a rat but the thing attacked me before I could kill it, so That's why I have this scar.'” She said with a chuckle.
The group glanced around at each other for a moment. Mix looked back at her. “That was very specific, are you okay?”
“Is anyone okay?” Ray asked with a grin.
“...Valid point.” That got a laugh out of the group.
Wick chuckled then looked over at Fox and Citrus. “What about you two? Care to share with the class?” He asked.
Fox slightly tensed at that, so subtle that the others probably didn't even notice, but Citrus did. Little things like their shoulders rising slightly or their fingers curling just abit. So he chose to explain. “We were staying at a lighthouse when it found us.” Suddenly Citrus grinned and sat up abit. “It was dark and stormy, you couldn't even see outside unless the lightning flashed. Then suddenly the power went out and there was a BANG as the door at the bottom slammed open!” He leaned forward and put his hands out slightly. Some of the kids looked engaged, some looked scared. “By the time we got down to check what the noise was there was no sign of it, we didn't even have a clue what had gotten in, all we saw were these big, wet, footprints that led straight into the lighthouse. Then-” He glanced at Fox who was giving him their patented 'Really Citrus?' look, folded arms, one raised brow. Citrus laughed and slumped back against the wall. “Oh come on Fox, at least it's Somewhat based in reality this time!” He said with a grin.
Upon the group realizing what he was doing some of them breathed a sigh of relief, others rolled their eyes and some laughed. Fox was one of the kids who rolled their eyes. “Barely.” They looked back at the others. “We were staying at a lighthouse to wait out a storm. But it wasn't thundering or lightning and the storm was gone by the time the thing even got there. Heck, we weren't even In the lighthouse when it got us!”
Citrus snickered, he noticed however that they were leaving out some details but decided not to push. Fox clearly didn't wanna talk about it right now.
Wick chuckled. “I assume you two were traveling together then?” He asked.
Citrus nodded. “Yeah, have been for awhile.”
“How'd you two meet?” Ray asked curiously.
Citrus shrugged. “Uh, in the forest. It wasn't anything too crazy. I was hungry, they had food.”
“Citrus couldn't find his way out of the forest to save his life, literally.” Fox said with a grin.
Citrus chuckled. “Hey! Shut it you!” He said ruffling their hair.
It really was that simple, there wasn't an epic story of how the two met. Just two kids brought together by the universal need to survive and the safety in strength in numbers. Fox was alittle weary of him at first but that only lasted a few days. Back then Citrus guessed they were just cautious around strangers then but that didn't seem to be the case with other people going forward. It made Citrus wonder if he'd just met Fox on a bad day, cause they had those sometimes, or... maybe he was the problem in some way.
Citrus realized that Newt had once again managed to stay quiet. “Hey Newt!” She flinched back like before. Geez he really needs to find a different way to get her attention. He doesn't enjoy scaring her, he's just use to talking to Fox like that. He tried to give a friendly grin. “So, what's your traumatic backstory on how you got caught?” He said in a joking tone. Newt stayed quiet. “...If you're comfortable with telling of course.” He added hesitantly.
She stared at him. “I wasn't caught.” That confused everyone.
“Did you sneak on?” Fox asked.
Newt shook her head. “I was born here.” Some of the kids flinched back from that. Citrus just widened his eyes.
“B-Born? Born, here?” Mix asked stunned.
Newt shrugged. “Either that or I was caught really young. I don't remember a time before The Maw.”
The Maw? Is that what this place was called? Must be. Citrus was still wrapping his head around what she told them. She was either born here, which created a lot of uncomfortable implications, or she was caught so young that she didn't remember a time before this place. One thing was clear. “You've been here for years.” Newt nodded. “Have you ever been outside?” Citrus asked.
Newt shook her head. “I've seen pictures before.”
Citrus felt like he was going to be sick. While the world outside wasn't exactly the best, the thought of spending Years in a place like this made him feel ill.
Everyone seemed to take a moment to fully register what Newt just told them, then Ray shook her head and forced a smile. “Well hey, we can help you get out of here. Right guys?” Everyone gave little nods and confirmations.
“I mean that was already kinda the plan right? Work together to get out?” Mix said.
“Yeah! And we can help you get use to stuff when we get out!” Wave said with a grin.
“Yeah...” Echo said with a quick nod.
Newt gave a small smile that quickly faded. “You aren't the first to make that promise.” She said quietly.
“Well we'll be the last!” Fox said excitedly raising a fist into the air.
Newt chuckled and rolled her eyes. “You aren't the first to say that either, but okay.”
That got a laugh out of most of the kids, finally releasing the tension.