Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Charlie wouldn’t believe that he’s a bad gift-getter, he means, everything he’s gotten he’s grateful for! Even his kind of small living space he’s grateful for!

And sure, more than once has a few of his friends told him to go to therapy and even tried tricking him into going at times but why would he go and talk to someone else about his problems when someone who was there for at least 70% of them is with him constantly?

So he has no idea why they basically dragged him to just outside the therapy office, basically all but saying to sign up for a session.

‘Dude look, I’m ok! I’ve told you this hundreds of times! If I need anyone to talk to, I can talk to you! It’s a cheaper and faster alternative!’ Charlie pleaded to his skeleton as he stood to the side so he didn’t have anyone bump into him on the sidewalk.

‘You know better than anyone else that I can’t give anything constructive back to you, now you will walk into that building and talk to the lady at the front desk to set up that appointment!’ They replied, taking a few steps for him towards the door.

‘No really I’m fine! I don’t need to-!’ Charlie was about to rebuttal when he got hit hard in the shoulder causing him to slightly stumble back to the wall he was leaning against, when he looked up to see who he hit into, he quickly realized that the person had already walked off, disappearing in the small crowd that just passed by.

When he looked down he saw he was stepping on a small folded up paper, he quickly bent down to pick it up and take a small peek at what was going on inside of the paper when he felt his own hand lightly hit him on the cheek.

‘You can look at whatever the paper says later, get that session scheduled now, or I’ll do it for you.’ They said in his head, annoyed beyond belief.

‘Ok! Ok! Fine, I'll do it!’ Charlie put the paper in the pocket of his jacket, swiftly walking into the office to get one session set for in a few weeks.

When he walked out of the thankfully quick setup of the session, he quickly made his way back to his own home, feeling pretty peopled out after that kind of stressful situation, when he stuck his hands into the jacket pockets, one of his hands landed on the paper from earlier that he picked up. His brief moment of surprise was smothered by his curiosity as he took out the paper and began to unfold it, when he did a quick surroundings check to make sure he wouldn’t run into anyone or anything, he completely unfolded it and was surprised by the vibrant colors that covered the apparent poster.

The “You’ve been invited to a once in a lifetime all-expenses paid vacation!” Was bolded and highlighted in white, similar to the number and email that was below the statement, he hoped that the person who dropped this at least had this info somewhere written down because an all-expenses paid vacation is something he would take in a heartbeat if he didn’t have so much to do.

He kept on reading what was on the poster, one side was filled with little fun facts like, “Enjoy the beautiful sights of Quesadilla Island!” Or “So perfect you’d never want to leave!” While the other side had what were reviews he assumed considering there was a line like “Me and my family moved here after one visit to the Island because of how good it was!” Though the lack of a name on any of the reviews was able to set off another red flag in his head with the many others that this poster did.

‘What do you think? Should I call and see what they’re about?’ Charlie half jokingly asked, wanting to see what this Quesadilla Island stuff was about.

‘I’m not sure Slime, the thing wasn’t originally for you, what if you take their position by accident?’ They spoke, quickly mumbling ‘¿Están intentando tenderme una trampa?’

‘Still no hablo Español, but yeah you’re right, I don’t even deserve a vacation right now.’ Charlie replied as he folded back up the paper and put it back in his pocket.

He would say it was just a simple accident that he found that poster but the fact that he got a letter from Quackity, a guy who he doesn’t normally talk to, to the same island as that poster is when he started giving it a bit of an eyebrow raise.

He was half tempted to message Quackity through Discord as he read through the apparent invitation. But the more he read the more tempted he was to give a call to the number at the bottom.

‘Slime, don’t call that number.’ They spoke up as Charlie finished reading the letter.

“But why?” Charlie pouted, “The thing sounds interesting and it says right here that everything at home will be taken care of, both house and work!” He said while pointing at one of the paragraphs, none of his previous suspicions had been calmed but there was something about this invitation that just felt different. More… welcoming?

‘Slime, what if it’s like a cult or something? Would you rather deal with a cult than be comfy at home?’

“Yeah but-” a drawn out sigh, “Fine, but if I get a third thing about this I will give one call.” Charlie folded back up the invitation and set it on a side table, just wanting to know what was about this mystery island that has got them so against it. And why he’s hearing about it for a second time in his life.

The more days that passed towards his dreaded therapy session the less he thought about the island and poster and invitation, as his normal days resumed.

Charlie had decided to take a bit of a longer walk that evening, passing through a bit of the park that he lived next to, now did he have a slight paranoia that he should just go straight home? Yes he did, but he wasn’t planning for longer than maybe 20 minutes through, he took the shortest trail after all.

Didn’t shake anything of the feeling of being watched, but he could live with it, he just had to start speed walking, shorten that time to like 15 minutes he hoped.

He took out his phone and started talking to Wilbur, the first person to show up in his contacts, thankfully the separate time zones were able to let them talk to each other when they’re both fully conscious. Apparently he just got an invitation to the exact same island he did? 

Maybe if he-

…

Charlie had been knocked out. They quickly commanded his slime to continue holding up its form as they ducked under the second hit, probably intended to knock them out.

They were able to catch a glimpse of who knocked out Charlie but couldn’t see much as the black cloak covered them, the white hand gave it away to them though.

The pawed white hand holding a metal bat was able to send a distinct note of terror through them as they backed up from the hooded figure who lowered the bat. They knew a smile would be there to twist its features if they could see beyond the shadows.

Before they could do much about it, a haunting crack of bone happened, a phone screen broke, and a slimes body and bones collapsed on the ground.

Increasingly frantic messages to said slime come from the phone, but it would fall on blinded eyes.

Chapter Text

They came to, feeling like the world was turning without even opening their eyes, they knew that they got hit by something hard as a throbbing headache came from the left side of their head.

When it felt like everything calmed down and wasn’t shaking they opened their eyes, and were met with a glass wall without the green filter from Charlie that they had grown accustomed to. That set them on high alert as they stood up, taking note of the lack of the slime anywhere on them and they were stuck in a relatively small glass box. They could stand but not to their full height, making them crouch uncomfortably.

“Slime? ¿Eres consciente? Can you hear me?” They asked vocally and attempted mentally, if Charlie did hear them, then his extended silence better have a reason behind it, as their concern for the slime rose.

Just concern not the fear or worry that made their imaginary heart beat faster and stomach twist, making them take more frantic glances around.

When they caught sight of a smaller box just to the side of their own filled with a transparent green substance, they almost jumped forward to see if it actually was Charlie.

QUACK.

The sound stopped their movement, the sound was muffled by the airtight seal on the glass but they heard the dreadful sound from the malicious sounding creature, they whipped around to be met with a short yellow duck. It was unnerving to say the least to feel the dark aura that practically radiated off of it.

To them it was unfamiliar as it was familiar, making uneasiness rise up in their bubbling of other emotions.

QUACK QUACK.

They gave it a slightly confused look as they picked up a defensive stance, the slight bone cracking sounds that came from their horns extending sounded out in the box, they were even tempted to grab and use their tail as a whip as it lightly lashed behind them.

The duck seemed to realize that they couldn’t understand it as a screen came down beside it from outside the box.

QUACK QUACK.

The screen translated what the duck said into both English and Spanish.

‘YOU'RE THE GOD KILLER?’

‘¿TÚ ERES EL ASESINO DE DIOSES?’

A hesitant nod from them, “Una vez lo fui, sí.”

QUACK QUACK, QUACK?

‘THEN YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE, YES?’

‘ENTONCES SABES QUIÉNES SOMOS, ¿VERDAD?’

Another nod.

QUACK QUACK, QUACK QUACK QUACK.

‘THEN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW, YOU CAN'T LEAVE WITHOUT US SAYING SO.’

'ENTONCES ENTIENDES QUE DONDE ESTÁS AHORA, NO PUEDES IRTE SIN QUE TE LO DIGAMOS'.

They tensed as a mechanical claw came from a small opening on the roof of the box, it held out a paper to them written in Spanish, it took them a quick second to look over the paper and the realization that it lined out rules of a deal dawned on them.

QUACK, QUACK QUACK QUACK.

‘WE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE YOUR HESITATIONS AND DOUBTS, BUT WE WOULD LIKE SLIMECICLE ON THIS ISLAND MORE THAN WE DON’T WANT YOU.’

'ENTENDEMOS QUE TENGAS TUS VACILACIONES Y DUDAS, PERO NOS GUSTARÍA MÁS TENER A SLIMECICLE EN ESTA ISLA QUE A TI’.

QUACK QUACK QUACK.

‘SO WE ASK YOU TO FOLLOW SOME EXTRA RULES IF YOU WISH TO STAY WITH HIM DURING THE EXPERIENCE.’

'POR LO QUE LE PEDIMOS QUE SIGA ALGUNAS NORMAS ADICIONALES SI DESEA PERMANECER CON ÉL DURANTE LA EXPERIENCIA'.

They look over the deal over and over again, it’s obvious it's been planning this for a long time as there we’re barely any loopholes they could catch with how short of time they’ve looked at it, they looked back up at the duck as it stood eerily still watching them.

“¿Y si me niego?”

… QUACK QUACK.

‘…WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE IF ANYTHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO SLIMECICLE.’

'...NO SEREMOS RESPONSABLES SI ALGO LE OCURRIERA A SLIMECICLE.'

A threat.

A plain and obvious one, but still a threat.

And in their situation and their short history with it, they know that it could do so much worse than just potentially kill Charlie.

Their tail lashed harder both in thought and in slight protectiveness for the only person they could actually trust.

QUACK QUACK .

‘WE COULD ALSO DO MORE THAN JUST THAT .’

‘TAMBIÉN PODRÍAMOS HACER ALGO MÁS QUE ESO’.

It pointed to the left side of their head, subconsciously their hand reached up to see what they were talking about and their breath hitched.

There were solid cracks along their skull, giving a sinking feeling, they didn’t know it got strong enough to dent their body let alone crack it . They felt sick as they quietly traced the more apparent cracks that covered the left side of their skull, largely being where they were hit.

A brief sigh, “Bien, bien. I’ll do it but with a few conditions.”

The duck gave a quick nod of acknowledgement and for them to continue.

“Uno, you can limit my abilities, not completely remove them. Dos, you are not to harm Slime in any form, if you do so, I will be able to hunt whoever did down and kill them. Tres..” They listed the things they wanted to change from the list, they could see in their peripheral that the contract was updating in real time, with some minor edits to their demands so that it was beneficial to both sides.

When they finished their listing, the duck nodded.

QUACK QUACK.

‘WE HAVE UPDATED IT TO YOUR DEMANDS.’

'LO HEMOS ACTUALIZADO SEGÚN SUS EXIGENCIAS'.

They gave it a quick look over, seeing that it wasn’t ideal but they could live with the additions and subtractions. When they went to sign it, the lack of a pen told them what type of paper they wrote it on, Blood Wood.

They honestly thought the tree went extinct a long time ago, but now wasn’t the time to think about how it somehow got its hands on the unique paper that tells the other when and where exactly the other is when the contract is broken.

The thought that this paper was chosen so that it could immediately punish them when they inevitably broke it did pass in their head but was followed by the fact that they could also take advantage of it for using this paper.

After a few moments they took a finger and placed it on the paper, writing out their name as the paper's namesake happened just below the tip of it.

When they finished writing the mechanics quickly retracted, taking the signed paper with it, they hoped it wouldn’t get shredded or something even though they knew it could never shred Blood Wood paper.

QUACK.

‘THANK YOU FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH US.’

'GRACIAS POR HACER NEGOCIOS CON NOSOTROS'.

The duck walked back into the surrounding darkness. Before they could do any reply an electrical current coursed through them, strong enough for their consciousness to start fading and was definitely going to leave a mark and hurt for a while , but they let themselves slip into it as the part that was hit started to ache.

They hoped that they could reach the end of this without too many sacrifices considering Charlie’s record.

—

Charlie woke up slowly as the comforting motion from the train and the surrounding heat urged him to stay asleep.

Wait, train? When did he?-

Conflicting memories fought in his head as he slowly sat up, pressing a bit on his head as a headache formed. He’s glad that his body isolates the majority of hurts into one place, but this is one of the times that he wishes they didn’t go to his head, he could live with an arm feeling terrible but the head hurting really makes it hard to do anything.

Especially with the fact that there’s no bones in the way to prevent movement.

Wait no bones?!

He whips his head around the small cabin he’s in when opens his eyes at the revelation that they’re not there with him.

He’s able to quickly lay his eyes on a box next to the foldable bed filled with very distinct bones, a sigh of relief leaves Charlie as his senses calm back down. As he looked around the room though no recollection of how he got there specifically never hit him, just a bunch of static, so he focused on that static. They once told him that if he ever feels like there’s a large gap in his memory and it’s hard to even tell what’s going on, he should focus on it till it clears.

Did they ever tell him it would hurt this much though?

He feels like he’s ripping his own body to shreds a thousand times over and it’s terrible, when he feels like he’s getting somewhere another wave of pain hits him harder. If this is how it felt to have a nervous system, then he would rather not have it again!

Maybe if he-

Searing white hot pain flashes over him as he somehow focuses harder and he feels like he’s going to faint for a second.

He’s able to retrieve a small fragment of a memory that almost got swallowed back into the static.

- He fidgeted with the small invitation to Quesadilla Island in his hands, reading its contents over and over again, rehearsing to himself about what he was about to say.

‘Could I please do one call? Send a text? Even e-mail??’ He mentally asked, pleading to whatever could hear him that they would give some form of confirmation of yes to him, he’s been asking for days at this point.

They sighed audibly and gave him the biggest inwards eye roll they could give him from their position.

‘Slime, you know my answer and it’s-

It stopped right there, it’s as open ended as it is infuriating, but it’s the best he’s got for the situation.

As the headache began to quickly subside he began to stand up, only to stumble onto his face, not realizing that from that sheer amount of pain that would’ve made a human immediately pass out, his body would’ve melted at least a little, making him reform a solid amount of his body before he stood again.

He would’ve stretched a bit before walking around but feeling like an accordion right now wasn’t doing him any favors so he opted to see if he had a mirror anywhere in the small cabin, or even an open tap, he was feeling more liquid than gelatinous right now.

The look around the cabin was quick but had resulted in him being unable to find either of the things he wanted, but he did find a drawer with a few extra clothes and a communicator, he couldn’t find his phone anywhere so he opted to holding on to the communicator instead, even though it sat kind of uncomfortably in his hands.

He quickly changed his clothes into new ones considering he felt terrible in the ones he woke up with.

He approached the slightly concerning still box that held them. But when he picked them up their skull a small groan left their jaw as they woke up.

It wasn’t long till they were looking at Charlie as they were making sure he wasn’t hurt or something similar. He let out a small chuckle as they sighed in apparent relief, still not saying anything to him even though they’re connected right now.

Charlie put their skull into his own head, talking to them without needing to speak even though he could feel a quiet dread when he spoke.

“So fun island adventure time?”