Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Groggily, your eyes pried themselves open, dully observing the blandly familiar landscape around you. You sat up from your rather grimy mattress with a groan, stretching your sore back. Only a few hours of sleep on the rock-hard bed was enough to leave your spine with a dull ache.

You sighed and let your shoulders slump, allowing one hand to reach for your shoes while the other rubbed the sleep from your eyes. Blinking your heavily bagged eyes, you slipped the worn boots on your feet and pulled the laces taught before standing to grab your shabby bag that hung from a chain link fence.

Opening the flap, you sifted through the bag's contents and pulled out your scruffed-up yet reliable leather arm guards, littered with various little dents from biting Zurks.

You donned them and checked that everything else was accounted for in the bag: snacks, barely-drinkable water, first aid, a dingy flashlight, a dull pocket knife, and other essentials.

Nodding, you slipped the straps around your shoulders and made your way over to the creaky door that barely stood on its hinges. You carefully peeked out, looking up, down, and around for any signs of Zurks. Deeming the coast clear, you strolled into the open, abandoning the crumbling building you'd resided in all your life behind me, and set out for the village.

-:¶:-

You crept through the slender pathways, checking behind yourself every so often when you heard a tin roll or a stick break; You can't take any chances out here, especially in The Slums.

You lived far out at the edge of the far-most wall from Midtown, where Zurks were rarely found... but there was that one time you woke up with a Zurk right on your face, so the chances of finding one all the way out here weren't zero.

Though, surviving this far out from the village proved to be a chore. It was about a 30-minute walk from your building to the outskirts of the village, plus a 30-minute walk back. The whole ordeal was very time-consuming.

Since last week, however, you had to promise Guardian to make at least one trip to the village per week after not showing up for two weeks in a row. Apparently, those silly robots were worried, if you can imagine that. The Companions hardly understand organic life; they've only read about how many diseases plagued "the soft-ones" from the ancient books, so it's cute to watch them offer medicine, food, or even oil at a single sneeze.

You shook yourself out of your thoughts just in time as you were about to trip over a pile of stray bricks and raised your guard. You weren't going to let a Zurk sneak up on you when you were halfway to the village.

Nearly there.

-:¶:-

You rounded the corner and... luckily no Zurks in sight. You took Your chance and sped over to the dumpster, hopping on its lid, and jumping to climb up a ventilation pipe. Balancing along the vent, you leaped from the chute and landed on the ground, huffing a breath from your lungs. No matter how long you've lived here, you will never be able to get the hang of climbing and vaulting things.

Making your way down the alley, you greeted one of the Companions, who was currently sweeping away some rubble with a broom, the bristles rubbing against the concrete noisily.

Their digital eyes flickered across their screen before they waved back happily, then back to their work they went as you passed. Walking along the winding streets, past the graffitied and crumbling concrete walls, you ran into more Companions, some busy with work and others lounging around. Most of them acknowledged you with a kind nod, and others waved while you strode through the village to your target.

As you stepped up the stairs to a small clearing, you spotted a familiar crimson cloak paired with a polished gold disk worn as a conical hat belonging to Guardian. The name made their job obvious; they were the guardian of the village.

They were chatting with another robot, waving gestures with their hands to get their points across. They paused, then turned around to notice you while you wandered their way.

"Hey, Guardian." you greeted in their peculiar language. "Know where I can stock up on batteries?"

The Companion Guardian was conversating with excused himself and walked into the meager hang-out in the garage.

"Hello, Y/N." Beeped Guardian. "I'm glad to see you're still in one piece. Anything worth noting happen on your travels?"

You shrugged, a sigh falling from your lips. "Not really. The occasional Zurk, but pretty uneventful-"

Before you could finish your train of thought, a dangerous scarlet light coated the area, flashing in warning. Guardian swiveled on his feet to face the light in alarm, then turned back to you, sirens blaring and echoing throughout the village.

You looked around wildly, brows knitted in confusion. "Uh, what's going on?!"

"A Zurk has made its way into the safe zone. We need to lock down." Guardian answered hurriedly, beckoning other companions inside with one hand as he clenched his bo staff in the other. "Please hide with the others."

"Just one?" You questioned. "Even if it's just a few, I can handle it. Let me help." You stared at Guardian's screen in defiance.

Guardian stuttered to say something then sighed. "Alright. Do not get eaten."

"You can count on it," You assured, drawing the rusted pocket knife from your backpack, and brandishing the sharpest edge.

A few stragglers hurried inside, the last of them barely making it into the confines of the garage as Guardian reached up to bring the metal door down.

Something small approached with flashing green eyes, stalking you. The air grew heavy with anticipation as it prowled up the stairs, out of the shadows, and sat at the top of the stairwell.

You could feel Guardian tense beside yourself as the small thing licked its sharp-toothed maw and flicked its lithe tail. It...

It was a... fluffy, orange quadruped wearing a funny little vest? It was no Zurk. But then what exactly was it? Is it dangerous?

It tilted its diminutive head at you, scrutinizing you both with glittering emerald eyes.

Just what was this creature that caused such a panic? And why was it sort of adorable?

Chapter Text

It was an awkward moment of silence; a stare-down between you and Guardian, and this strange, new creature. The bot next to you stepped toward the quadruped with a few cautious paces, then crouched, balancing their bo staff across their lap.

Your eyes shot between the two warily. "Guardian? What are you doing?!" You whisper-shouted.

Guardian eyed the small beast as it stood. "It doesn't appear hostile." They spoke back.

"Hostile my ass!" You fussed, donning a tenser stance as the furry little thing trotted over to the both of you. "We don't even know what it is!"

"Language." Chastised Guardian. "Surely, if it was anything like a Zurk, it would have attacked us by now."

"You're way too calm about this," You stated. Concluding that the furball isn't a threat, (probably) you slid your pocket knife back into its rightful place in your backpack.

"What are you, strange creature?" Guardian addressed the newcomer.

Startled, you took a staggering step back as a tiny drone with a strangely expressive face popped out of the creature's backpack, hovering over its shoulder.

It shifted its strange rainbow-ombre optics between you and the Companion as if assessing you, then the little bot beeped quietly to the animal, perhaps a translation. Though, whatever it was, you couldn't understand any of the garbled mewing sounds it made.

Guardian tilted their head slightly, nearly unnoticeable. "You're no Zurk. We're not familiar with your kind." Spoke Guardian, then paused, glancing up at you from under the brim of their hat.

You made a face and shrugged, crossing your arms tightly across your chest.

Guardian turned to address the animal once more. "You are welcome in our village as long as you don't eat anyone." They declared, standing from their position.

They thumped their staff against the ground, cupping a hand around their mouth-speaker and echoing a series of distorted breedles throughout the slums. The coast is clear.

Leisurely, Companions emerged from various buildings and hiding places, returning to previous activities and former conversations as if nothing had happened.

Turning around at the rustling of hunky metal behind you, you watched as a few bots materialized from the garage, regarding the new creature with apprehensive curiosity. They then eyed you and Guardian thankfully before continuing with their day.

The furry thing flicked an ear and blinked at you with glittering lime-green eyes.

"It looks a bit lost." You muttered to Guardian.

"Hmm." Thought Guardian before addressing the smallest organic. "Do you need anything, little one?"

The drone beeped and brought up a hologram of a digitized postcard. Pictured were vast crystal-blue waters and some grainy yellowy ground with a palm tree growing from the surface, all under a blue sky littered with white smoke and a bright golden orb.

You recognized a few things in the photograph from books you've read up in Momo's flat a while back. For someone who looked like all he did was fiddle with that router, that Outsider had a surprising amount of books regarding what lay outside the walls. Speaking of, you hadn't seen him in quite a while.

You snapped back into the conversation at hand as Guardian considered the image: "Oh, a picture of the "Outside." Ridiculous." Guardian rolled their metaphorical eyes. "This elevator isn't operational. Everyone knows that it is impossible to leave this place. Well, except the Outsiders." Guardian glimpsed at you for a moment. "But they're all gone now. Except Momo. You can try to talk to him if you want, but he gave up on trying to leave. It's for the best." Guardian then pointed up to one of the tallest flats in the slums, still maintaining eye contact with the little Furball. "He lives high up in that building with the orange neon sign. In fact, I believe that Y/N knows best how to get up there, since they are the one that seems to pester him the most."

"Wha- Hey!" You protested, then containing yourself with a sigh. "I guess Guardian's right. I don't come around here often, but I'm familiar with finding my way up there. If you'd like, I can accompany you, little buddy."

The animal mewed and headbutted my legs, dragging itself along with a purr before walking off, stopping little ways away to glimpse back at me.

A second of a blue smile flashed across Guardian's screen before flickering back to their composed green. "It seems like it likes you." Mused Guardian.

"Yeah, yeah," You dismissed the robed bot with a wave of your hand. "You owe me two double A batteries, Guardian."

Guardian ignored your last statement, waving goodbye at you with a golden arm. "Stay safe."

"I'll try." You waved back.

For some reason, you felt like by meeting this little furball, you'd be getting more than what you came for.