Chapter Text
ALL DIALOGUE FOR FAKE PEPPINO IS IN A NOTE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.
A year and a half, that's how long it had been since the tower collapsed.
Peppino worked tirelessly in his restaurant, prepping before opening time as always. The restaurant had been doing much better financially ever since that event unfolded, so he found himself able to calm his nerves just a little more than usual, which for him honestly said a lot.
However, needless to say it wasn't easy to forget the whole event, it was terrifying, and that was putting it lightly. He didn't think he'd ever be able to shake the memory of it, or the several unanswered questions he had about just what the hell was even going on inside that multidimensional hell.
A humming sound soon hit his ears, one of a soft and familiar tune. He tensed up before relaxing once he remembered, speaking of those unanswered questions…
Peppino turned his head left, resting his eyes upon the dripping, goopy doppelganger of himself, prepping some dough and humming a little tune to itself. He and this clone had their first meeting within the tower, a terrifying one at that. It was a few months after the towers collapse that he even let them into the Pizzeria, and that was mostly Gustavo’s idea, seeing as they otherwise had nowhere to live aside from the alleyway that laid behind it.
It certainly took some time for him to warm up to the guy, but after some time to know each other, Peppino had to admit he’d begun to see the clone as an acquaintance, he was a great help in the kitchen as well despite what the building He found him in made him assume. Seeing as both him and this clone quite obviously shared the same name, he and Gustavo had taken to using the nickname Pep for them, a nickname that they had graciously accepted.
Hm, that building…
Peppino hadn’t thought about it in quite a while now, seeing as he didn’t spend much time there in the first place, but now that he was thinking about it again, it began to feel almost familiar… had he seen the place before? The place was clearly deserted by the time he got there, but even then he could remember the weird sense of nostalgia the interior gave him, a sense he could not pinpoint to a specific memory. The place was all boarded up from the inside too, so unless Pep had done it to himself…
Peppino placed a hand on his chin, thinking for a moment. Gus was out getting more ingredients for the two at the moment, so this would be a good chance to ask Pep a question he'd been thinking about for ages now.
Peppino cleared his throat.
"Hey, Pep?"
"mH?" Pep turned to look at Peppino too.
"I assume you'd be the best-a person to ask about-a this so…" He trailed off for a moment. "That-a Pizzeria you were living in before. I couldn't help but notice the sign when I left."
Pep thought back to it as well, he never really left the Pizzeria before,
Peppino continued.
"That-a Bruno guy it mentioned… Did you-a ever meet him? The name did sound familiar to me, but I can't-a remember from where…"
Pep pondered for a second…Bruno…That name DID sound really familiar, but they couldn't put their finger on why. His memory was already pretty foggy, but they remembered vividly that there was never anyone else in the pizzeria with him, so where…
Pep shook his head.
"yrros m'I…"
It sighed.
"rebmemer yllaer t'nac I…"
Though he had to process it for a moment, Peppino found it easier to understand Pep’s backwards speech. The year of practice definitely helped, that was for sure. Processing the answer, Peppino simply shrugged.
“Ah, don’t-a worry about it then… It probably isn’t too important, we-a shouldn’t stress over it.” He said, before casually going back to the ingredient preparation.
Pep nodded back, before going back to the dough they’d been working on as well, it made him happy to be able to cook with proper ingredients like this, that restaurant… it never did have anything fresh, the smell of rot that filled the place was still embedded deep in their mind.
…He stopped kneading the dough, becoming lost in his thoughts. Why was he in that restaurant anyways? He couldn’t really pin-point when or how he ended up in there, the door was boarded up, he knew that, and as many times as he tried, eager to see what was outside, he was simply unable to pry the boards off himself.
So how? How would he have even gotten in there? There were no signs that he broke in somehow, and despite how easy going through small spaces was, nothing he remembered there was small enough to slip through. As far as he could remember he was effectively trapped alone in the place, never seeing another face aside from failed clones before Peppino came along. That and that “Pizzahead” guy, if he was remembering that name correctly… That man, he seemed oddly familiar when he first saw him, but the two didn’t get to speak much. All he did was slip a photo of Peppino through the cracks in the boards, informed him of the chef, then once again left him on his own. He only returned hours later to drag him to the top of the tower, and then the tower collapsed not long after.
So why…That was the only question going through their head at that point, why… why…
"Pep? Are-a you feeling alright?"
Peppino's voice snapped the clone out of the trance he found himself in. He looked towards the chef before a sheepish, albeit distorted smile flashed across his face.
"yrroS…" He mumbled. "lla si gnikniht tsuJ…"
Peppino raised an eyebrow.
"You-a seemed to be getting kind of distressed…Are you-a sure you're alright?"
Pep nodded before a frown stretched over their face, and he began to stare off into space again.
"...ti tuoba yrrow t'ndluohs ew erus uoy erA?..." He asked, almost whispering now.
Peppino turned to him, a concerned expression on his face, he thought for a moment, turning his back to the clone as he pondered to himself.
“Well I…I mean…” The chef trailed off. “Even if-a there was anything to worry about before, that-a place is nothing but rubble now, whatever was in-a there is long gone…”
He looked back at Pep. The clone was silent now, resting its hands on the counter and losing itself in a trance again. Peppino sighed worriedly, walking over to the clone and putting a comforting yet hesitant hand on their shoulder. They looked up at him confused and still a little lost in thought. Peppino cleared his throat.
“You-a seem really upset… was there-a anything you forgot in-a there? Is-a that's what’s wrong?” He said softly, he wasn’t all that good at comfort but at this point he had to try his best.
Pep shook his head, falling silent for a minute before speaking again.
“
tub ,ereht gnihtyna esol t'ndid I…
” He stopped for a moment, before placing his hands on his head. “
...erehw morf rebmemer t'nac I tub eman taht rebmemer I ...onurB
”
There was another short silence, before Pep grabbed Peppino back and turned to him.
“ereht kcab og ot deen eW!!
” He yelped, before softening his tone again. “
...ti wonk tsuj I ,ereht er'yeht wonk I dna srewsna deen I ,I …”
Peppino tensed up.
“GO BACK-A THERE?!” He shrieked. “P-Pep I- Oh
mio Dio
…
No-
No no no I’m sorry but I-a
can’t
!”
Pep let go of him, allowing Peppino to slump onto the counter himself, head in one of his hands and sweating profusely. Mumbling to himself.
“With-a everything that happened I… I couldn’t do it… I-a already suffered so much there, I can’t-a revisit that place…”
He turned back to Pep, the clone nodded somberly, and went back to kneading the dough with a sad and worried expression. Peppino thought for a moment, whatever they needed there, it did seem really important to them…
Well, Peppino definitely wouldn’t step another foot near that place, but maybe…
“Hey, Pep, do you uh… have-a any trauma relating to that place?” He asked.
Pep stopped for a second, thinking before responding.
“fo wonk I taht toN…”
Peppino sighed in relief before nodding.
“Well then you won’t-a need me, right?” He asked. “I mean it’s-a not like there’s-a anywhere to get lost in there anymore…”
Pep perked up, right, he hadn’t thought of that, but even then…
“
won ffo depat lla ti t'nsI ...tuB? em sees enoemos fi tahW? taht nialpxe I dluow woh oiD oiM?…
” It asked, melting a bit more intensely from the worry.
Peppino hesitated for a minute, before exhaling and chuckling a little.
“Well, if-a you promise not to tell Gus this..” He spoke. “From my experience back when-a I was a little rascal myself…nights-a
usually
the best time to do things like this. Don’t get-a any ideas after this though..”
Pep paused for a second, before smiling and letting out a slightly distorted chuckle as well.
“neht kcab ot pu teg uoy did sgniht fo dnik tahW?”
“Oh, if-a I went through everything we’d-a be here all day…” Peppino snickered, before clearing his throat.
“Well, enough about me, we should-a really get back to work before Gus is-a back,” He grinned. If he-a catches us slacking off he’ll-a never let us hear the end of if…”
He began to walk back to his station before he turned to Pep one more time.
“I’ll-a leave the keys on the counter for you, don’t-a forget to lock the door before you-a go searching that place.
Please,
I can’t-a have that gremlin bastard breaking in again…”
Pep grinned back and nodded, going back to the dough it’d been neglecting before.
That tower… he did wonder if there’d be anything left to find, with how broken it was now, but maybe, maybe if he was lucky or just looked hard enough… maybe he would get his answers, maybe it would remember who Bruno was, maybe…
They continued to knead the dough, letting out a confused sigh.
Well, they would have all night to look, they just had to hope…