Work Text:
“C’mon, Eric. You and I both know an arcade cabinet can’t house a ‘dangerous ghost’.” Ronald was next to his brother, Eric, walking down the street to the old arcade. “Well, Ron, we get paid to do this,” Eric retorted, rummaging carefully through his backpack to make sure everything was still is his bag, like EVPs and ghost boxes. “And regardless, you’re still helping me, scaredy cat.” He snickered.
“I’m not scared of ghosts! Sure, the dark, but not bloody ghosts! I’m not five. They’re not real, therefore there’s nothing to be scared of.” Ronald crossed his arms, looking stubborn, while Eric was a believer, he wouldn’t push him any further on the subject. Only rolling his eyes. “Anyway, what did the owner keep saying happened?”
Eric quickly zipped up his bag, “The said that glass from the bar kept getting thrown when no one was there, and they also said that whoever played the cabinet, that we have the pleasure of investigating, would be prone to migraines, and even seizures, even though they have no medical history of dealing with epilepsy or anything of the sort-“
“Easy. The thing has a lot of flashing lights, it’s from the 80’s. And the glassware is just on loos shelving, it could have just tiled and dropped a few over a long period of time.
Eric gently punched his arm “let me finish. People also reported that they get scratches and bruises on their body, and even reversed music, disturbing imagery and cryptic messages if the cabinet caught them cheating.” This caught Ronald off guard, rubbing his arm gently, but stood his ground “the scratches and shit could just be from people watching them and grabbing them and hyping them up while they play, and the other stuff could just be protective software. Especially if they’re using third-party hardware to hack the game in their favour, probably to stop all the bloody flashing lights. What was the imagery?”
Eric turned to the entrance of the arcade, wiggling the handle a little before pulling out a set of keys, handed to them by the owner. “Apparently a picture of a decapitated head and organs moving around it? I dunno, that’s the simplest they put it without tmi.” He quickly opened the glass door, motioning Ronald to enter first “ladies first.”
Ronald quickly walked in “men just before.” He chuckled, really not expecting it to be so dark. “There better be a light-“ Ronald looked around quietly, jumping when the lights flickered on, a huff following it when he heard Eric trying not to giggle. “don’t you dare.”
“HOW DID THAT MAKE YOU JUMP-“
“PISS OFF-“ Ronald yelled back, ignoring his brothers sudden burst of laughter “whatever, lets just get this over with, where’s the bar and where’s the arcade cabinet-“ Erics laughter soon died down, “Bar’s near the emergency exit and the cabinet is on the second row against the wall, its called ‘polybius’, in case you weren’t aware” Ronald began to walk off, before quickly stopping in his tracks and turning to Eric “Polybius as in ‘we-came-here-after-school-if-we-had-the-money- Polybius? The Polybius we played with your old partner from your teen years?”
Eric was quick to cut him off there, “yes. Don’t bring that up again.”
“Eric it’s been nearly 20 years. News reports went out and he’s been missing ever since.... I don’t think this is healthy--”
The blonde huffed and brushed past him to get to the bar “find the cabinet. I’ll shout you if I find anything.”
“Eric, don’t walk off--” Ronald groaned quietly, huffing and mentally kicking himself before shaking the thought from his head, carefully taking something out of his pocket and coming to face the arcade cabinet in the store room, just a little something he used to use back in then to cheat the console, he rather preferred to not deal with those flashing lights.