Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gregory mentally groaned, running his hands down his face and smearing the dirt. He wanted to scream, but he knew that he couldn’t. The heavy footsteps and taunting words that filled the air struck him with that reminder. God, he couldn’t stand that fucking wolf! What a-

His breath hitched, sucking the color out of his face as the footsteps sauntered towards his location. 

“Come out, come out wherever you are! I bet you don’t even have any friends!”

He grimaced, trying to silently catch his breath as Roxy towered above his hiding place. As long as she kept her back turned, he should be fine, right? Right! Right… He mentally sighed. This was going to be a long and VERY cramped night. 

Fan-fucking-tasting.

Just as he started to resign, something fell in the distance. His heart stopped. As Roxy ran away to chase the sound, the pause in heartbeat seems to catch up with his body as he can feel his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. He silently but frantically scrambled out of his hiding spot. Scampering to another one, a blur of red passes his vision.

Roxy? No- no no that wasn’t Roxy. 

Different placement, color, and footstep weight, even in the dark of the Pizzaplex he could see that! 

Monty? Nope, definitely not. Way too short to be Monty!

Then who the hell was it?! 

Time seemed to slow enough for him to catch the noise of breathing. Not the weirdly human sounding breaths of the animatronics, but one of an actual human person. He let himself stop for a second, but only for a second before he began to run after the person. 

————

From the moment that Kairi woke up, she knew that she was in for a long night. She didn’t recognize a single thing around her. From the lights to the illustrations of animal-robots, she didn’t have a clue what was going on. 

She forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to assess whatever situation she happened to get herself into this time. Had she been kidnapped again? If she had been, her kidnapper was doing a lousy job at keeping her there. Nothing binding her, nothing preventing her from just walking away, what kind of idiot wouldn’t even block off the exits?

She was getting off track, she had to figure out where she was. 

A heavy thumping sounded nearby and she held her breath, hiding behind a wall. She cautiously peeked her head around the corner. Someone ran by—they were close enough to see an outline. The thing that stood out to her most was their height. They looked like a toddler! Well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but her point still stands! They dove to hide in…a stroller. A bit of an odd choice, but as she saw that a large wolf-like creature was chasing them she understood their frantic nature.

The creature walked right in front of where the person was hiding, and Kairi bit her bottom lip trying to think of a plan. A distraction! She looked around frantically, spotting a stack of cardboard boxes in the corner. Rushing over, she knocked the bottom one over and the stack toppled. Good, the wolf had its attention on her. 

The wolf turned towards the sound, its ears flicking in her direction. Heavy footsteps thudded towards her and her heart skipped a beat. Her body froze into place. She had known that the wolf was a bit bigger than she was, but she did not expect her to be so tall! As the wolf lunged, she dove out of the way, rolling onto the floor.

She jumped to her feet, scrambling away from the now growling wolf creature. She looked around, running past where the other person was now escaping from their previous hiding spot. She breathed a sigh of relief as well as she could while running from a terrifying monster that was trying to kill her. 

She weaved through and around obstacles, eventually making it to what she could assume was a lost and found. She whipped her head around to slam the door behind her just as someone bumped into her, knocking both of them to the ground. She jumped up, pushing the person off of her as the wolf got closer and closer, finally slamming the door shut right in its stupid face!

All of the exercise suddenly washed over her body in a wave of pain. She leaned on the wall, trying to calm her trembling hands and her wild breathing.

In through the nose, out through the mouth. Breathe, Kairi, breathe!

She glanced over at the person who had followed her in as she calmed her breaths. Well, she was right about them being younger than her. They had shaggy brown hair, darker brown eyes that were filled with so much fear it made her shiver, a blue T-shirt, tan shorts, and red sneakers. Another thing worth noting was just how much dirt was everywhere on their person. Had they ever seen a bath?!

“You,” she finally decided to speak up, not missing how they froze, looking up at her from the ground with those terrified eyes “Who- what’s your name?”

“Gregory.” All of the fear that was present in their body language before vanished in an instant as Gregory pushed themself off of the ground “Who the hell are you, and why did you help me?”

————

If Varian had a nickel for every time he had been kidnapped, he’d have more than one nickel for sure. It was still a bit fuzzy as to what technically counted as a kidnapping. Was he going by the official definition or the more typical definition? Did he have to be unconscious for it to count?

Ach- he was getting ahead of himself, he still had no idea where he was.

Okay! He could figure this out, right? He had to! After all, if he didnt, then he might not be able to see-

Get that stuff out of your head, Varian! You’re distracting yourself!

He went to shake the thoughts out of his head, but the loud thumping from nearby did the job before he could. 

An automaton? Nope, no way! He’d destroyed all of those! Right? Nope, not the time for self doubt, Varian!

He pressed himself further into whatever wall or structure he had awoken against. Whether it was to hide himself from whatever creature was roaming around him or to get more audio input, he wasn’t sure. He tried to investigate his surroundings from his position, noting a few key things mentally.

1: Whoever had taken him wasn’t very bright—not caring to even tie him up in any capacity

2: He couldn’t tell if the place was lit or not. There were bright, neon, fluorescent lights everywhere but the main lights seemed to be off

3: There were 4 characters that seemed to appear everywhere—A bear, a wolf, an alligator, and a chicken

4: The place was absolutely massive

Snap

He jumped, his hand immediately going for his alchemy belt as someone snapped their fingers right in his face. His kidnapper? 

“Were you listening at all?” Varian sheepishly shook his head, the person—someone with a blond ponytail so tight that he himself could feel the headache—groaned “Listen, I don’t know why children keep getting into this place so late at night, so let’s just get you to lost and found so we can wait for your parents”

The person grabbed him by the arm, hoisting him up onto his feet and dragging him along with them before he had the chance to protest in any capacity.

“So, what character are you cosplaying?” Varian paused, taken aback by their words.

“What?”

“Oh c’mon. Don’t think I don’t know about the group of kids that’s constantly filming videos with the animatronics while in costumes. At least they’re well made costumes ” the person dragging him along chuckled, “You dressing as a parts and services worker or something? Because if you are, that’s not what the uniforms look like at all”

“Who- what- huh-“ he stumbled over his words, “What are you talking about?!”

“Don’t play dumb,” they shot him a glare that made all words he wanted to say vanish “Listen, I don’t care about what you and your friends do as long as it doesn’t damage any company property or break any of the major rules. Like breaking into the establishment in the middle of the night” he grit his teeth and tore his arm away from her, holding it close to his chest.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” He cried out “I woke up here and I have no idea where I am! I don’t know how I got here and I don’t know what’s going on!”

“I-“ the person paused, going to grab his arm again but freezing at his words. He took the opportunity and bolted off. He could hear the person calling after him, but he didn’t care.

He screwed his eyes shut, not caring where he was going as long as it was away from- whoever the hell that was! Unfortunately, he should have definitely been paying more attention because he slammed into something with full force.

“Ouf!”

————

Okay, so maybe this wasn’t the first time that Luz had ended up somewhere completely unfamiliar. Maybe it was the third! But—as she learned very quickly—that did not make it any less terrifying. In fact, it might have made it worse.

Well, maybe it wasn’t the fact that she’d been through this before that made it more terrifying, maybe it was the fact that a giant robot was chasing her. She’d been chased by abominations before, but these were definitely not abominations. How did she know? Most abominations didn’t look like alligators.

She dodged around obstacles, throwing down a baby stroller behind her to at least slow the robot down. She cringed as the alligator sidestepped the stroller without even a single second of hesitation. Okay, so that didn’t go as planned and her path was blocked by a wall behind her. Digging through the pockets of Eda’s old letterman jacket, she pulled out a light glyph and slammed her hands together, hoping that the light  might at least stun the beast.

There was no light. She had forgotten that glyphs don’t work in the human realm. 

The robot churned out the same phrase that it’s been repeating for the past few minutes, lunging for her head. She shrieked, rolling out of the way and taking off again. She hurled herself over the railing of a staircase, hitting the ground with a well rehearsed roll and bolting off. She glanced behind her, the robot was still hot on her tail. If she could keep running, she might be able to-

“Ouf!” She cried out as her train of thought was rudely interrupted.

She looked up to see what she assumed was a boy her age. He had goggles that sat on a bed of dark hair—only interrupted by a single streak of electric blue. His equally blue eyes looked at her with concern as he extended a gloved hand to help her up. His lips were parted just enough to see that his two front teeth were slightly larger than the others—it almost made him look like a beaver.

She accepted the hand from beaver-boy (a fabulous nickname she had conjured on the spot) and took off running. As she launched herself onto her feet, a set of claws dug themselves into her back and back out again. She hissed, her face twisting at the pain that shot through her entire body. Much like the rest of her problems, she shoved the injury to the back of her mind and ignored it as she started running—beaver-boy in tow.

And so they ran. And they ran, and they ran, and they ran. Her legs felt seconds away from collapsing right out from under her when she spotted something in the distance—a door! She grinned, using the last of her adrenaline to drag beaver-boy along with her. She flung the door open, rushed in, and slammed it shut.

“How do you people keep getting in here?!”

————

Gregory stared in disbelief at the sight in front of him, groaning. Was he being over dramatic? Nope! Okay, maybe he was- but how could he not?! Someone entirely new had just appeared, and two new people he didn’t know just burst through the door!

“Uhm-“ the person with the black hair started, catching their breath on a cardboard box “Do you know where we are?”

“Wait, you don’t know either?!” The person with the brown hair and the letterman jacket exclaimed from beside them.

“It’s not just me then?” The one with the red hair questioned as well.

“Okay, okay!” He waved his hands into air, “You all probably have a lot of questions so settle the fuck down!”

“How did you all even get here? You’re all saying that you don’t know where we are, but I don’t see how that’s possible”

“I just woke up here and then an alligator started chasing me,” the person with the letterman jacket shrugged.

 “I woke up next to a fountain, then someone with blond hair tried to take me…somewhere and confused me for a…cosplayer? I think that’s what they called it” the one with the black hair scratched at the back of their neck “Then I ran into- wait what’s your name?” 

“Oh, I’m Luz!” The one with the letterman jacket—Luz—grinned “What about you?”

“Me? I’m Varian”

“I’m Kairi,” the red-haired one added.

“And I’m Gregory,” he crossed his arms. 

“So, Gregory,” Kairi put her hands on her hips, “Mind telling us where we are exactly?”

“You’re at the Pizzaplex, duh.” He raised an eyebrow at her “Couldn’t you tell by the bright ass neon lights and the obnoxious advertising that’s literally everywhere?”

“I’ve never heard of this place…” Varian mumbled “The technology here is astounding! If I could just get my hands on-“

“Shut up!” Gregory snapped. Maybe it was a bit harsher than intended, but it worked.

“You’re all at the newest Freddy Fazbear’s place. Why this thing hasn’t been burned to the ground by this point, I don’t know. The animatronics are evil and are trying to kill me,” he glanced towards Varian and Luz “Based on your encounter with Monty earlier, they’re trying to kill you all too”

“Is there a way to stop them?” Luz chimed in.

“I dunno, I’ve just been kinda…trying to survive?”

“I’ve built automatons before,” Varian perked up, “If I could get close enough, I could try to see if they have a loose wire or something?”

“Like Gregory said, they’re trying to kill us,” Kairi added, “ How would you even get close enough without being killed?”

“Actually,” Gregory intervened, “Not all of them are hostile. Freddy crashed on stage so I think that’s what prevented him from turning all murderous”

“So all we gotta do is crash their systems?” Luz tilted her head up at Varian who nodded, “Anybody have a bucket of water?”

“No, that won’t work,” Gregory shook his head, “They’re covered in a plastic coating so water isn’t gonna do shit”

“If you know what caused Freddy to crash, we could use that to crash the rest of them!” Kairi exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Gregory frowned, “Only thing is, I don’t know what made him crash”

 “Oh,” Kairi paused before they all diverted their attention towards Varian.

“Hey, why are you all looking at me?!”

“You’ve built autimons, right?”

“Automatons, but yes. What’s your point?”

“Welllll” Luz sing-songed, “You can figure out what’s wrong with them, right?”

“Uhm-“ he rubbed the back of his neck, “W-well technically yes, but w-we don’t know what’ll happen if- if I mess with something I shouldn’t!” Gregory raised an eyebrow.

“We’ll just force them into safe mode or something” he shrugged.

“Do you- uhm- know how to do that? Without dying?” Gregory noted how much more nervous Varian seemed.

“It can’t be that hard! Let’s go try it out on one of those staff bits” he marched off, leading the group around the Plex. He helped them dodge the main animatronics and looked for a staff bot to snatch.

He noticed the severe lack of them immediately. Usually, they were his worst enemies—even more than those damn animatronics. That was mostly to do with the fact that they were literally everywhere!

“What’s back there?” Luz chimed in, pointing off into the distance. Gregory shined his flashlight towards the area, revealing a doorway blocked off by an absurd amount of caution tape.

“Probably a maintenance area…or something. It could be where all the staff bots are!” Gregory exclaimed, but not very loudly. How stupid would he have to be to shout loudly into the Mega-fucking-Pizzaplex?! The place with the most echoey walls on planet Earth!

“Let’s just go in and go out,” Kairi added before letting Gregory take the lead once again.

So, he led them past the yellow caution tape and into…where the fuck they were going next. 

Chapter Text

Ever since he entered that closed off area, something didn’t quite sit right in his stomach. A faint ringing plagued his ears, but that was probably just due to the uncharacteristic silence of the area. They walked down the eerily silent hallways, winding through and…down? He could’ve sworn that there was the slightest bit of a decline in the floor!

But, he could just be-

What the fuck?!

He stopped in his tracks, sucking in a sharp breath as he stood on the edge. A massive, gaping hole stood where the floor should’ve been. He slammed an arm out on either side, blocking the others from certain doom.

“Uhhh, Gregory? Something wrong?” Luz questioned, leaning over his shoulder.

“No shit, Sherlock! There’s a massive hole in the floor!” He snapped back.

“No there isn’t?”

Gregory looked back at the hole—or where the hole should’ve been.

“I-it was just there! This massive hole- right there in the floor!” He whisper-shouted, pointing at where the hole once was. His teeth grit at the confused, wary, and suspicious faces that his new friends have him.

Some friends they are, right?

“Are you sure you’re getting enough sleep?” Luz questioned him, fidgeting with the ends of her jacket.

“Yes, I’m fucking sure!” He spat, maybe a bit louder than he meant to “Let’s just keep moving”

They probably don’t trust you now.

He grumbled at the voice that wasn’t his own inside of his head.

They probably think you’re dangerous. They probably don't even want to be your friend!

He grit his teeth, shoulders hiking up to meet his earlobes. Why wouldn’t this stupid voice in his head just shut up!

You can shut me out, but are you sure you want to?

His fists clenched.

I can help you, I can lead the way.

Said clenched fists started shaking.

Just let me lead you, we can walk the path together.

Will you accept my help, Gregory?

Gregory?

“Gregory?”

“Gregory, are you okay?” The way that Kairi’s voice grated on his ears like nails in a chalkboard made something inside of his brain snap, and he stopped in his tracks.

He stood there for what felt like hours, but were probably only seconds. His shoulders and fists shook with his teeth gritting against one another, thoughts racing through his brain and overlapping in the worst way possible. They ran into and over one another, clashing and fighting for control over his brain. Until one finally took over.

“Gre-“

“SHUT UP!”

His voice echoed through the hallways, bouncing off of the walls and hanging in the air far longer than they should. His head snapped back to find the horrified faces of the people he had just met. His face slowly morphed to match their horror as he realized what he had done.

Kairi’s hand trembled in the air where she had gone to reach out to him, her face full of tears. Varian looked…haunted. There was something deeper, but Gregory couldn’t decipher it through his own jumbled thoughts. Luz’s face looked panicked. He understood why, but at the same time he didn’t. Something about it…he just couldn't put his trembling finger on.

“I-“ his voice shook as he tried to blink away the tears that pricked at his eyes.

“What…?“ Kairi’s still trembling hand slowly pulled back towards her chest.

Now look at what you’ve done.

Stop it.

They’ll never trust you now.

Stop it.

What would Freddy think if he heard?

Stop it!

He’d hate you. They all must hate you now. No one will ever understand but me.

Stop it!

You’ll never have any real friends, I’m the only one who’d care for you the way you are.

STOP IT!

“Gregory, is something wrong?”

“I-“ he froze, his brain too mushed around to form the words he wanted to say “I’m sorry-“

Not knowing where else to go, he ran.

And he ran.

And he ran.

And he ran.

He ran until his legs physically collapsed from under him, tears running down his face and onto the floor. His brain was a mess of screaming thoughts—thoughts that he wasn’t even sure were his own anymore.

You did it again! You pushed them away! Great fucking job there, Gregory.

His throat started to constrict.

No one could ever love you, did you honestly think they could with you being such a monster?

His hands clasped at his shirt, pulling at it and trying desperately to ground himself.

You don’t deserve to have people care for you. You deserve everything you’ve gotten.

He gasped for any air that he could get, but he was unable to get it into his lungs.

I’m the only one who’d ever consider you as worthy of being a friend. Let me help you.

He considered the decision. His vision flickered with specks of purple, then slowly faded to black.

———

“Shoot- Gregory!” Luz called after the boy, running to catch up before a hand gripping her arm stopped her. She snapped her head back, locking eyes with Varian who was pressing the pointer finger of his free hand to his mouth, shushing her.

A low, mechanical clicking filled the silent air around the now trio. The hallway was too dark to see what monstrosity hid in the shadows, the clicking being the only indicator that they weren’t alone.

The clicking came to an abrupt stop, halting Luz’s heartbeat for a second with it as the silence weighed down on her shoulders. Suddenly, something lunged at them. She barely had the time to react before she was pushed out of the way by Varian. She hit the tiled floor with a thud, cringing at the pain for only a second before jumping back to her feet and rushing towards her friend. The friend who had been knocked against the wall by the creature. He groaned, holding his side as he slumped to the ground. Luz slung his other arm over her shoulder, she was not about to let another one of her friends get hurt! Looking around frantically for their other friend, she grinned as she watched Kairi pick up a chair and hurl it at the creature with all her might!

It was just then that she got a full look at whatever the hell had been attacking them. It didn’t even look like a full robot—even though she knew that’s what it was supposed to be. It looked more like a giant metal centipede with a pink and white fox mask for a head. The thing reeled as its face greeted Kairi’s chair, letting out a broken screech that almost made her drop Varian. It thrashed around wildly, and Luz took the opportunity to bolt. She heard Varian grunt in pain beside her, and she stopped in her tracks.

Sweeping him up onto her back, she resumed the act of saving her own life as the beast gave chase. Kairi appeared in her peripheral vision as they sprinted down the hallway, the space seemed like it was getting smaller with each step. Great, just great! Now she was stuck in a tiny hallway with an injured friend and a terrifying robo-foxipede chasing after them, blocking any chance they had of escaping!

She felt an arm pull her and Varian off to the side, and heard a click behind them. The click was followed by a series of thuds and metallic screams as the creature threw its body against the now locked door. She set Varian down on the ground before her legs collapsed underneath her, and she hit the ground with a soft thump.

“What was that thing?!” She exclaimed, gesturing towards the door.

“No clue, let’s just hope it’s not too strong” Kairi sighed, squatting down next to Varian’s unconscious body “How bad is his injury?”

“I haven’t checked,” she frowned, carefully lifting up his shirt. Her face twisted from a simple frown to a look of absolute disgust as her eyes gazed down on the nasty bruise that was forming on his side. She hesitantly turned him onto his back, and was greeted by the very unpleasant sight of an even darker bruise.

“Do you think he’s gonna be okay?” She looked to Kairi, who was still studying the wound.

“It didn’t break the skin, but I don’t think he should be moving around too much once he wakes up”

“Why not?”

“The impact of the wall plus the running probably jumbled around his insides a lot” she frowned “Plus, we need to watch for concussions”

As if on cue, Varian groaned from underneath them and started to sit up. Well, more like attempted as he immediately lurched over and expelled whatever meal he’d had last. Luz felt like she was about to join him, and she promptly looked away.

“I’m gonna go try and find him some water” she stood up, making her way out of the—what she presumed to be a big storage closet—room with the door that didn’t lead back out to where the creature was.

———

The next time Gregory came to consciousness, his vision was plagued with purple. His body continued onwards against his control, even as he tried to stop himself to look around.

Where am I? Where are the others?

Don’t you remember? You abandoned them, they still haven’t even come looking for you.

He frowned, biting his bottom lip at the memories

I told you that they’d never actually want to be friends with you. No one but me could want that.

His hands subconsciously rubbed over the surface of the item he was-

What the hell?

What was he even holding?

He felt his face pull into a smile against his will, as whatever the hell was controlling his body held up the thing that was being held in his hand. His heart skipped several beats as the shining metal of a kitchen knife glimmered in the dim lighting of the hallway. A surge of adrenaline overtook him, as he forced himself to throw the knife to the side. It clattered to the floor, and the malicious smile that had been present earlier instead shifted into a sly, cheeky grin.

You’re going to regret that, little boy

Make me, creep!

He was force fed his words as the thing controlling him raised his hands up to his throat, clutching it in a tight grasp. He struggled against his own chokehold, but he felt himself losing strength.

Shit- no- not like this! I won’t- I won’t lose to you!

His vision clouded over as tears pricked at his eyes. He knew he would black out soon, he could already feel the tingling in his fingers.

No, I won’t let myself go out like this!

As soon as the thought appeared in his head, a wave of numbness enveloped his entire body and his vision fell back into darkness.

———

Varian had no idea what just happened or how he got into a room with a bunch of boxes. His mind filed through the scrambled memories faster than he could comprehend.

Hurt! I’m hurt. How? Thrown against the wall. What threw me? Giant fox? Centipede? Robot? All three? How did I get here? Carried. Brown hair. Luz! Luz carried me!

He expelled his lunch onto the tiled floor.

“I’m gonna go try and find him some water”

Luz is gone? Went to get water. Who is with me?

He turned his head to face whoever was trying to talk to him

Red hair. White shirt. Kairi!

“Varian, are you okay? Can you hear me?” A blurry Kairi questioned, setting a hand on his shoulder and easing him back to the ground—this time laying on his side. He didn’t trust himself to answer the question audibly, instead just nodding weakly.

His head lolled onto the hard tiled floor, the smell of vomit stinging his nose. His vision settled from its blurry state, slowly coming more into focus. He stared blankly at the stacks of boxes against the wall. Light footsteps hurried over in his direction.

“Is he getting any better?” A concerned voice asked. He recognized the voice as belonging to Luz.

“I think so,” Kairi nodded.

Slowly, Varian started to sit up. A wave of dizziness washed over him, making his stomach churn. But this time, he didn’t end up throwing up whatever remained of his last meal. He took a deep breath, continuing until he was finally sitting upright. His mind was still foggy as he accepted the glass of water.

He took a careful sip, before his stomach started to churn again. He looked down into the water of the glass, staring into his reflection.

“So,” Luz teetered back and forth from her heels to her toes, hands in the pockets of her jacket “We should probably go after Gregory”

“Yeah,” Kairi hummed in agreement “But we don’t know where he went or how long that robot thing is gonna stick around. We need to move carefully”

“I could stay behind and try to distract it?”

“After that thing threw you at a wall?” Kairi raised an eyebrow at his suggestion, Varian pursed his lips in thought.

“What else am I gonna do? I don’t wanna just sit around”

“Well you’re gonna have to, because you’re not running anywhere after being thrown at a wall and barfing all over the place,” the redhead crossed her arms, slightly leaning into her right hip “You can stay behind to try and find supplies around the room”

“But I-“

“You’re staying here. End of story”

Varian sighed in defeat, taking another sip of the water.

———

Luz fiddled with loose threads on her jacket, eyes flickering between the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. Her gaze momentarily landed on the girl speed walking next to her. Kairi looked focused, hands clenched in fists and leaning forwards, brow furrowed in determination. Luz sucked in a breath and picked up her pace.

Okay. If I were Gregory, where would I-

Something clattered in the distance, sending echoes through the long, narrow hallways. Her muscles tensed, freezing her into place.

Silence hung thick in the air like a suffocating blanket as the echoes faded into the distance behind them. There was the sound of faint clicking, accompanied by mechanical whirring. She slowly turned to look behind her at the vast emptiness that loomed behind them. But nothing was there.

There was another click. This time, it hadn’t come from behind her.

She looked up as her eyes widened in horror.

It had come from above her.

Suddenly, she was knocked to the ground as Kairi slammed into her, narrowly dodging the robot from earlier as it slammed into the ground right where she stood just a second before. She gasped for breath as the robot let out an ear piercing screech and lunged again. She managed to roll out of the way and scramble to her feet, Kairi close behind. Instinctually, she reached into her pocket.

No! That doesn’t work here, Luz!

The creature screeched again from behind them as they sprinted for any sort of cover, parts of the walls and ceiling crumbling around them as it tried to attack them over and over again. She risked a glance behind her.

“Luz! Watch out!” Her gaze snapped towards Kairi, who was trying to reach for her. She managed to raise an eyebrow before slamming headfirst into something.

“Ack-” or rather someone.

“Gregory! You’re okay!” She rubbed her forehead as the–whatever it was–crashed into the wall beside them. She let out a yelp, grabbing Gregory’s wrist and bolting for the nearest door “Ooookay! Run now talk later! Good? Good!”

Slamming open the nearest door, she pulled Gregory and Kairi along with her. The pink fox mask of the robot twitched as it roared, bashing itself into the open space between the closing door and its frame over and over again. The deafening thuds of metal on metal rang through her bones as the door started to cave in.

With one final slam, the door swung open again and Luz was knocked to the ground. The breath was shot out of her body and she gasped wildly to get it back. Her vision blotted with dark spots as she fought to stay awake. She couldn’t give up now–not when her friends needed her help!

A flash of blinding light caused her to squint. The light was shortly followed by an ear piercing screech as the robot’s eyes fell out of their sockets, clattering onto the floor. As its now lifeless scramble of metallic parts that could be called a body thumped to the ground.

———

Gregory’s breathing was ragged as he stood in front of the thing–twitching and writhing on the ground. His hands shook as he held the fazer-blaster. A voice echoed through his skull, and it wasn’t his own. He grit his teeth, trying to block it out.

“Gregory,” Kairi turned her head towards him as she helped Luz off of the ground “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” He let out a shaky breath “Yeah, m’ fine”

“Are you sure?” Luz cocked an eyebrow “You’re shaking”

“I said I’m fine.” he snapped, regret instantly boiling in his gut. He noticed a subtle worried glance shared between Luz and Kairi.

“Look, just because I’m younger than you guys doesn’t mean you have to treat me like a baby” he spat out the words, laced with venom.

“Gregory, we didn’t mean to-”

Yes they did,

They hate you, they’re just with you so that they can get out

They’re using you, Gregory

“Admit it,” he shot the others a glare “You’re just with me because I can get you out of here.”

“What? No, no that’s not-”

“Save it!” He clenched his shaking fists. If they noticed the crack in his voice, they at least had the dignity to not mention it.

The voice in his head blocked out the cries of his “friends” as he stormed off. He furiously scrubbed at his eyes as tears threatened to fall. He couldn’t cry. Not after everything.

As the noises faded into deafening silence, he felt his anxiety start to spike. His breathing started to quicken as the lights blinked overhead. The darkness was closing in around him. It was about to consume him like an animal.

Nononononononononono-

He was powerless to stop any of it. The darkness of the hallway seeped into his vision and his head hit the floor.

———

Varian chugged down the last of his water in between his current task of rummaging through the stacks of boxes. What was he looking for? He had…no idea if he were to be completely honest with himself. But, that was besides the point!

If he could just find something that could somehow disable the automatons, everything would be fine! Everyone would like him, and he would be the hero for once!

No, that’s not the point of this. Stop being selfish, Varian.

Teeth ground into the flesh of his cheek, sending a sharp pain through the area and bringing him out of his thoughts. He let out a sigh and continued to dig through the rotting, moldy wooden boxes. He’d never been more grateful for his gloves until now.

Aside from the time he accidentally spilled extremely corrosive acid.

…and the time he accidentally broke a glass beaker he was holding.

…and the time when Rapunzel was healing his dad.

…

Okay so maybe there was more than just this one time that he was grateful for his gloves, so what! All that mattered to him was finding something that he could work with.

He reached his arm further into the pile of musty wood, scrunching his nose in disgust. The smell of rot wafted into his nose, causing him to gag. His hand brushed against something and he seized it just as he burst into a coughing fit.

Whatever he’d just grabbed thumped to the floor with a clang as he banged his grime-covered hand against his chest. Each cough burned as he forced it out of his throat and into the air. An ache throbbed through his head as the coughing finally ceased.

He let out a groan and leaned back on his hands, finally flickering his electric blue eyes over towards the mystery thing he’d just grabbed. The metal glinted in the dull lights overhead. A long rod connected to a sphere, connected to another long metal rod, connected to what looked like a metallic skeleton’s foot. His eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

A metal leg!

He let out a breathy laugh and brushed his tousled black hair off of his face. With a new vigor in his movements and ideas running wildly through his head, he tore through the stack of crates looking for any scrap of metal he could potentially use.

It almost seemed…wrong for him to be so giddy in a situation where he just got thrown against a wall and the rest of his companions were in potentially fatal danger, but he found the seriousness of the situation slipping his mind. Instead, his thoughts were racing with possibilities. New things he could try.

Maybe I could make a claw? Or a grappling hook! If I could find a source of fire, I could meld some of the pieces together and make a weapon or a suit!

A sea of endless choices sat in front of him in the pile of metal scraps. His face stretched with a buck-toothed grin as he dove in and started doing what he did best.

…

Most of the time.

———

SHIT.

Kairi grit her teeth, gently setting Luz down on the cold, tile floor. With Luz as safe as she could’ve been at the moment, Kairi took off. Using all of the strength she had in her body from years of running around on the beach with her friends–fighting to push off of the sandy shore. Fueled by the memories of her friends, she raced down the winding hallways after her new friend.

She was furious. But, not at him.

Something was so clearly wrong, she wasn’t stupid. Stubborn, maybe, but not stupid. Whatever it was, she would get rid of it no matter how much it cost her.

Memories of silver hair and teal eyes flashed through her head, and her feet pounded harder on the floor as she ran faster. She wouldn’t sit around and let another one of her friends get hurt by some malicious sack of shit pulling their strings.

She wouldn’t wait anymore.

She refused.

“GREGORY! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Her voice ripped through the air, bouncing off the walls and echoing through the hall.

No response came.

She grumbled, half from frustration, half from panic, and half from determination. Where did that third half come from? Who knew, at that point. She dashed down the seemingly endless hallway, the sound of her shoes clacking against the tile floor echoed with each increasingly panicked step she took.

“GREGORY?!” She called out again, cringing at the crack that made itself apparent in her voice.

“Over here!” Gregory’s voice finally responded. She felt a relieved grin cross her face

Her breaths heaved as she turned each corner as exhaustion burned through every muscle in her legs. But she kept going. Because, despite everything, Gregory was her friend now. And she’d be damned if she let another one of her friends waste away under someone else’s control. She pushed herself around a corner, finally finding who she was looking for.

Except something was very, very wrong.

Before her undoubtedly stood Gregory, his face stretched into an eerie smile. He swayed from side to side as he stood from where he was presumably sitting before she arrived. The way his body loosely staggered to his feet reminded her of a ragdoll—only held up by the strings operated by the puppeteer. Except, this was a person. This wasn’t just some lifeless doll, this was her friend.

“..,Gregory?” Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper. Kairi reached a hesitant hand out towards him and their eyes locked.

Were his eyes always purple?

A sickening, layered laugh broke free from Gregory’s throat. A chorus of distorted cackling, as though multiple people were laughing at the same time. Gregory’s voice was small in comparison to the others. He swayed back and forth with a manic yet dull look in his now purple eyes. The disturbing choir of laughs echoed off the walls of the endless hallway, sending a shiver down her spine.

“…Are you okay?” There was a tremble to her voice as she took a cautious step back.

Kairi let out a shriek, stumbling backwards and thudding to the ground as Gregory lunged at her with a knife in hand. His face was split with a manic, hungry grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes, clay being stretched over an ill fitting skull. She scrambled to her feet and ducked just in time for the knife to go over her head and send Gregory’s body crashing into the wall.

He coughed weakly–too weakly for the amount of power in his swings, as her years of witnessing fights told her. He staggered off of the wall, head lolling to the side as if his bones had been dissolved from within him, leaving a limp sack of flesh and skin while the invisible puppeteer pulled his strings.

His feet were pigeon-toed and his legs wobbly as they struggled to hold up what little body weight he had. He went to lunge again, she stepped out of the way and gave him a hard shove to the ground. It was hardly a good tactic, but Gregory looked about as stable as a nursing home patient in his current state so it didn’t really have to be.

Sure enough, he crumpled to the ground, knife falling out of his hand and onto the ground with a clatter that echoed off the walls. She kicked the knife away just in time before his hand reached for it weakly. He grabbed hold of her ankle and used seemingly all of his remaining strength to yank her foot out from under her, sending her toppling to the floor with a shriek and a thud, before everything cut to black.

—-----------

Gregory was stuck. He was stuck in his own fucking body, he felt like a coma patient! Or at least, what he assumed coma patients felt like, not that he’d had any experience ever being one himself.

He couldn’t move, why couldn’t he move? It was the worst out of body experience ever, because he was still in his mind! He was still there, he wasn’t even dissociating to make it semi-relaxing, he was just paralyzed while that purple freak moved his limbs! He wasn’t even doing a good job at pretending to be normal. It was rule number one of attacking someone, lure them in or you’ll never get close enough to do the thing you were trying to do.

Pickpocketing, mugging, just needing to get someone that little bit closer to get them before they got you, it didn’t matter. All of them needed trickery to function, which was the one thing this dipshit was not just lacking in, but was completely fucking missing!

And to top it all off, the sour, rotten cherry on top of the also rotting probably moldy trash-cake, this freak was attacking one of the very few people who’d been nice to him! As much as he didn’t trust her or any of the others for that matter, they clearly didn’t want him dead at the very least. Even if they did have ulterior motives, that was a problem for future, non-possessed Gregory to deal with.

So, he sat there, unmoving and wavering on the boundary between being asleep and awake, watching Kairi as she..maybe slept would’ve been the wrong word, but she wasn’t awake by any means anymore.

Regardless, he felt something in his chest. Like his heart was suddenly flooded with a warmth he didn’t understand, yet felt compelled to move towards. It was…her? His heart pulled his arm towards her, and he reached out to hold her hand, the only point of warmth at the end of a cold, dark, purple-filled tunnel.

As the arms of sleep embraced him, his hand went limp on the floor just short of hers. He couldn't reach her just yet, and the tunnel’s unforgiving chill swallowed him once again. Maybe he wouldn’t have to be conscious when she got killed.

—--------

This was absolutely fine! At least, that’s what Luz told herself so she didn’t work herself up into a panic attack as she watched her only companion that wasn’t going insane or concussed ran away, leaving her completely and utterly alone! Terrific! Tremendous! Stupendous! That last one was a word, right?

Denial aside, she decided to stay here for a little while, because Gregory didn’t seem to want company at the moment. Finally given a chance to catch the breath that was knocked out of her lungs, she leaned her head back against the wall behind her, half expecting it to fall out from behind her and result in yet another life threatening chase, with how this night was turning out. Luckily for her, that didn’t happen!

After her breath was sufficiently caught again, she pushed off the wall and onto her feet, deciding right as she went to open her mouth that yelling at the top of her lungs when there was potentially a creature chasing and trying to kill them was not the greatest idea in the world. So, shutting her mouth before yet another disaster could somehow make this night worse than it already was, she decided to just search for them.

WIth no time to waste and who knows what hidden in the darkness of the halls, she cautiously opened the door. When nothing immediately grabbed her and made her into its next meal, she stepped into the hall and ran. What was she running from? Nothing currently, but this place apparently loved to invent new horrors just because it could so she could never have been too careful!

After a little while of definitely not freaking out internally and running for her life from absolutely nothing, she rounded a corner and almost tripped on two bodies. Hooray for Luz! Upon slightly closer inspection, the bodies belonged to Kairi and Gregory, and upon even closer inspection, she determined that they were not dead due to the fact that they were still breathing. Small victories!

A knife laid discarded on the ground a couple feet away from the both of them, and it seemed like Gregory was trying to reach out for Kairi before falling unconscious. That fact would’ve been a lot more wholesome if it weren’t for the fact that Gregory was going insane.

Luz pocketed the knife just in case, and was then struck with the realization that she had no idea what to do from there. In her defense, she thought they both were gonna be conscious! Maybe not both, but at least Kairi!

I could drag them back to where Varian is?

But am I strong enough to do both at the same time?

No DEFINITELY not, who do you think you are Luz!

Okay, one at a time then!

But who should I do first?

I don’t want Gregory to run off again…

Her gaze shifted to the indent of a knife in her pocket.

But I also don’t want him freaking out and attacking Varian, especially not while he’s concussed!

Maybe I could just…

She sat down on the floor, crossing her legs as she faced her two unconscious friends. While her mind was on Varian, the thought passed through that she should probably check on him. It had been a little while and he was concussed.

He’d probably be fine on his own for a little while longer, right?

—-----

Varian was having the time of his life right now, surrounded by metal scraps and unbridled potential! Currently, he was working on a mechanism using some springs, bolts that were holding a couple of the boxes together, a spare metal arm, some rope, and a metal claw. Why these things were down here to begin with was beyond him, but it was definitely coming in handy.

It wasn’t the most sophisticated thing in the world–even within his own personal repertoire of inventions it was pretty elementary–but he didn’t exactly have access to the materials necessary to create anything more complex.

The fingers on the hand were controlled by bits of rope tied to each one, which was connected to the corresponding finger on his own hand. There was a release trigger on the bottom side of the metal hand which involved a metal bolt being wedged in between the coils of the large spring that made up the bulk of the arm itself. When pulled out, the hand would shoot out using the spring and he would then be able to grab things at a much longer distance than his regular human arms allowed.

It was quite a stroke of genius if he were to pat himself on the back. Of course, it did have its flaws; such as the clunky mechanism for retracting the arm–that being having to manually pull the hand back in and re-secure it. It was more of a once-per-battle last resort, but it was impressive given the limited resources.

His head ached as he staggered to his feet, trying to get used to the new mass weighing one side of his body down, but he hadn’t spent his entire life working on a farm just to be a weak little twig, despite what many in his hometown thought. He would certainly be a bit sore the next morning, but a surge in pain in his cranium reminded him that muscle soreness was the least of his concerns.

Speaking of concerns, now that he was out of his creative trance, he realized that it had been a while since he’d last seen any of the other people currently trapped in this maze with checkered floor tiles with him. That was mildly worrying, to say the absolute least, and he turned his attention to that next. Head injury be damned, he wasn’t about to just sit around while the people who helped him got hurt.

He peeked his head out the door and scanned for danger, holding his breath until he was sure that he heard nothing. No clicking, no mechanical whirring or mysterious scuttling noises, just eerie silence and the thoughts in his head. While still loud, they didn’t pose any imminent danger to him, at least not yet. He really hoped it didn’t come to that again, he didn’t want to hurt anyone else–he’d done enough damage. He shook his head, deciding that was enough sulking for the day, he could sulk some more in the privacy of his own room, if and when he got back to it.

He started down the hallway, sticking close to the wall to prevent anything from sneaking up on him from at least one side, given that it couldn’t phase through walls. He didn’t think it could, but it didn’t exactly seem to like the laws of physics or nature, nor did the rest of the building.

He walked for a little while, his only company being the sounds of his breathing, his footsteps, and the existential dread that seemed to follow him around everywhere. Maybe that was for the best–he’d much rather have been alone than with any of the horrors this place created out of the endless corridors.

He eventually reached a set of familiar people; Luz was seated on the ground with a knife shaped object in her pocket with Gregory and Kairi sprawled out on the floor behind her. Before he had the chance to ask questions, she just shrugged. Varian sighed and sat down next to her, feeling her eyes lock onto his new weapon.

“Where’d you get that?”

“I made it”

“Oh really? Out of what? There’s not exactly a lot of stuff to use to make other stuff with around here”

“Just junk from those old storage boxes in the room you left me in” he winced at the unintended harshness of his tone–he didn’t want her to think he was mad at her.

“Oh yeah, aren’t you supposed to be resting?” seeing that she was seemingly unbothered by his unintentional insult, he felt a weight lift from his shoulder–the one without a heavy extendo arm attached to it, that was. That weight was very much still there.

“I’m not just gonna sit around. You guys all disappeared on me and I’m not exactly keen on sitting around crates teeming with mold for an extended period of time”

“Fair point, beaver boy!” his nose crinkled at the nickname.

“Beaver boy?”

“Yeah! Cause of your- wait oh no that’s probably really insulting I’m so sorry!” she waved her arms around wildly as she stammered out frantic apologies, the sight making let out a laugh that was louder than it was really meant to be.

Both of their heads snapped backwards as they heard a familiar groan from behind them. Kairi rubbed her head with one hand and pushed herself to a sitting position with the other, tousling her normally neat red hair. She looked back at Gregory’s still unconscious body and frowned before turning to Varian and Luz in front of her. Luz waved enthusiastically with a bright yet slightly cautious smile adorning her face.

“Good morning! Do you know what happened before I got here?”

“Gregory’s being possessed”

“Ohh, that actually explains- wait he’s WHAT?!”

“Trust me, I know someone else who was being possessed”

“I feel like I should question how that’s possible” Varian interjected. Kairi shook her head.

“His eyes are purple, and he looks like one of those marionette things with a really bad puppeteer”

“Maybe he just has colored contacts?”

“He ran at me with a knife and started laughing maniacally!” Just then, a loud groan sounded from behind them.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear” Varian muttered under his breath, quiet enough for the supposed posessee to not hear.

————-

“What the fuck…” Gregory groaned again and pushed himself up for a brief moment before flopping back onto the ground with a soft thud.

At least he could move his body again.

He lifted his head up just enough to see Kairi, Luz, and Varian in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and go back to sleep, exhaustion clinging to every bone and muscle in his body. But until he could be sure that he would wake up as himself, he had to stay awake.

“Are you sure his eyes were purple? They look pretty brown to me” Luz raised an eyebrow, looking towards Kairi.

“They were purple, I'm not going crazy.” Kairi frowned, Gregory felt very much like an animal in a zoo which he did not appreciate.

He slowly pushed himself to a sitting position with his aching muscles—since when did Varian have a weapon on his arm?

“I…” He had so much he wanted to say, but how much would they even believe? Words scrambled at the back of his throat like an egg, unable to break free and get out of his mouth.

He shuddered a little at the memory of not being able to move, standing by while his body attacked one of the few people who’d shown him kindness. Guilt pooled his gut, like he swallowed a weight as he looked at their skeptical faces. They looked wary, afraid. Of him. And it was deserved.

He attacked Kairi, with a knife no less! He deserved much more than just a few stares. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, he shoved them back down as he staggered to his feet. Kairi tensed, and Gregory’s brain screamed at him to run, if it even was his brain anymore.

“I…I’m sorry-“ He turned to run, but Kairi sprung into action and grabbed hold of his arm. He yelped, whipping around on instinct to try and make her let go.

“I’m not letting you run away again! We are going to sit, and we are going to talk about this!” She grunted through grit teeth, yanking him forward with an amount of strength he didn’t know she had—though he really should’ve realized she was strong by now.

He staggered into her, and she wrapped her arms around him in a vice grip—half embrace and half makeshift strait jacket—before he could push away. His muscles ached, and though the voice in his head was screaming at him to attack her, he went limp in her arms.

“I’m not letting someone else go through that.” He decided not to question that statement for now. He was so so tired, sleep clawing at him and dragging him down as Kairi lowered them both to the floor. She kept a firm hand grasping his, but otherwise let go—he hadn’t realized she had freckles until now.

He looked up at Varian and Luz, who were equally concerned and stunned—Varian’s hand was on what Gregory guessed was a trigger for his new weapon, and Luz’s was in her pocket, which he just now realized had a knife shaped indent in it.

“Tell us what happened, from the beginning” Kairi’s voice noticeably softened and she squeezes his hand. He bit at the inside of his mouth.

They would never believe you

The voice was right, they’d think he was going crazy and report him to the cops! So, he stayed silent. Kairi squeezed his hand again.

“I promise we’ll believe you, I saw the evidence with my own eyes”

He looked up at her from behind a curtain of hair, where his head tilted down. That’s right—Kairi was there when it was at its worst. If anyone, she’d believe him.

No she wo

“It started like, as soon as we stayed walking down the creepy hallway. I started…seeing things? Like the hole in the floor” he paused, gauging their reaction. When they didn’t burst out laughing, he took that as a good sign to continue.

“Then there was this…voice in my head, it told me not to trust you guys, that you were just using me as a guide. I don’t know why I did, but I listened. I-It was so…stupid! Why would I believe a creepy voice over the people literally right in front of me!” His hands curled into fists, tears threatened to spill once again. Kairi squeezed his hand, and he felt his own unfurl. He took a deep breath before continuing.

“When I attacked Kairi, it wasn’t…I-it was like I wasn’t in my body, if that makes sense? Like that thing in my head was moving my limbs while I just had to watch. I know it doesn’t make up for what I did. I-I was being stupid and people got hurt, and…I-I’m sorry” he hung his head in shame, expecting a lecture.

“When people get into your head, it makes it hard to think rationally. That’s why manipulation works so well on so many people”

“I shouldn’t have listened to it”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have. But that doesn’t mean it’s your fault”

“Have you ever heard of something called confirmation bias?” Varian interjected, hand no longer on his weapon trigger. Gregory shook his head, looking up at him but not meeting his eyes.

“It’s when someone believes something to be true, they view the things they find as ‘proof’ of that thing being true, even when it’s not. So if someone came to the conclusion that someone was evil, they might start to see ‘proof’ in things like small mistakes or actions that the perceiver sees as malicious when the person being perceived doesn’t. Such as, seeing someone dropping their fruit as a ploy for sympathy when they might just be clumsy.

Confirmation bias plays a large role in manipulation. The manipulator may point out things in others and twist it to be a ‘red flag’ in order to isolate the person they’re trying to manipulate”

Gregory blinked. That was…a lot of words. He wasn’t quite sure he understood them all, but he got the general gist of it. Nerd.

“Yeah, what that guy said!” Luz added, unhelpfully with a side of finger guns. Gregory snorted out a laugh.

“What if it happens again? It’s not as strong as it was but it’s not like…gone”

“Then I’ll take care of it. You were about as strong as a house of cards when that thing was controlling you” Blood rushed to Gregory’s cheeks, making them turn beet red—he covered them with his hands when Luz started to giggle.

Maybe things would be okay after all. Even if he did get possessed again, all of them would be there to help him snap out of it at the end of the day.

Now that the dust had somewhat settled, he was reminded of something.

“Don’t we still have to find one of the staff bots?”