Chapter Text
“The button, Ranboo!” Charlie manages to choke out, pain overwhelming him as the security digs its claws into him, wires meshing under his skin, making his brain feel foggy, almost as if they’re connecting.
The pain is unimaginable, and he can’t even bring himself to scream anymore as his voice dies in his throat. Wires seem to bury themself under his skin, stretching out underneath his muscle until it feels connected to his insides. Half of his mind feels gone, like he can barely remember what he’s doing there. He barely even registers that it’s the words he’s trying to speak coming out of the monster above him, like it’s taking control of his body.
But Charlie needs to get Ranboo out of here, even if that means he’s trapped here for all of eternity. But he can’t get any more words out, and he watches as Ranboo turns and flees, just hoping his friend will make it in time.
Static is eating at the edges of his vision, and he struggles to stay awake, but as the claws suddenly cut even deeper, pain explodes throughout his entire body and he promptly passes out.
<<<<<>>>>>
Consciousness comes slowly. Charlie blinks a few times before reality comes seeping in. He’s struggling to get enough air in his lungs, as the heavy machinery above him is collapsed against his chest.
Charlie gasps for air, struggling beneath it for a second, only to feel its claws move a centimeter further into him. A strangled whine comes out of his throat, and he immediately stills, breathing heavily. He forced himself to calm his racing heart, which thumped madly against his chest as he panicked.
After a minute of breathing, Charlie moved his left arm up from where it was draped across him, and used it to push up against the metal beast. It was stopped abruptly by its claws still dug into Charlie’s side, causing another unbidden whimper to rise out of him.
He gently lowered the machine back down, then used his right arm to grab the metal arm that currently had its hold on him. Charlie felt around until he felt the spot where it connected with his flesh, warm blood pooled around it. He took a deep breath and clenched his eyes shut before quickly tugging the clawed hand out.
Charlie bit his tongue to stifle his scream, so hard until the taste of iron filled his mouth. The hand was now out, but Charlie could still feel something inside. He managed to look down far enough to see wires attached to the hand, leading back up into the wound. His breathing began to pick up once more at the sight. Holy fucking shit, there were fucking wires inside of him.
Charlie pulled at the hand once more, gagging as he felt the wires slither through his body. They kept coming, almost like a magician pulling a handkerchief out of their hat–a visual that Charlie might have laughed at if he hadn’t been experiencing it first hand.
Finally, finally, the last of the wires are pulled out, blood coating them and now pooling out of his wound and onto the floor. Charlie pushes against the security monster on top of him, it now easily falling over with a creak onto the floor.
Charlie lays there for a moment as he catches his breath, closing his eyes as he begins to feel lightheaded. He presses a hand up against his wound, groaning in disgust and pain as he feels blood bubble up between his fingers.
He struggles to even sit up, swearing as his injury sends hot, searing pain throughout his entire body. He feels a little weak as his eyes begin to burn and tears leak out, breath hitching in his chest.
Okay okay okay, it’s okay. Just breathe and stand up, he weakly tried to motivate himself. Easy as that.
Charlie sucked in air sharply and pushed himself up as quickly as possible. He immediately careened to the side, his vision going completely dark in his haste. Somehow, he doesn’t fall completely over on his face, but only stumbles a few steps.
Once Charlie finally gains his bearing, he looks around for the first time since he passed out. A shiver shook his entire body.
There were hundreds of Showfall employees surrounding him, and it only took him a second to realize that they were all frozen in place. Almost as if put on pause. In other words, they couldn’t hurt him.
An idea sparks in Charlie’s head and he limps towards the nearest employee, shrugging off their suit jacket and tying it tightly around his side. He swore as it dug into his wound, but he refused to loosen it. Even if he did escape, he could still easily die from blood loss.
Wait–
Escape.
Ranboo must’ve pressed the button if all of the employees were shut off. They must’ve escaped! And Charlie could still catch up to them if he moved quickly.
He turned, spotting an exit sign hanging from the ceiling and pointing to the ramp, light practically glowing through it. Holy shit. He fucking found the exit. It was right there the entire time.
A disbelieving laugh fell out of his mouth, and he began to stumble forward as quickly as possible. He was gonna make it! He was gonna escape and find Ranboo and everything would be okay!
He was a few feet away when a distant scream pierced the heavy silence that Charlie had gotten used to. Goosebumps travel down his spine. He knew that scream. It echoed through his head on loop. It was Ranboo.
Charlie didn’t even hesitate, turning tail on his one exit and limping as fast as he could towards the source of his friend’s screams.
He left through the same door the two had entered originally, and the blood-curdling screams were immediately louder. They bounced off the walls of the mall, creating a chamber of terrifying shrieks.
Charlie stumbled upon the body of the employee Ranboo had killed, crouching to pick up the small knife. Whatever got Ranboo had to have been worse than the security monster. Charlie needed as much as he could to help them.
Charlie maneuvers through the halls, the screaming getting closer by the second. He goes down the escalator so quickly that he stumbles at the end and hits the ground with a hard smack. He groans, grabbing his side and pulling his hand away, coated with blood. It probably wasn’t a good sign that the jacket was already slick with blood.
Charlie forcefully pushed himself up, ignoring the throbbing pain radiating from his side. He knew that he didn’t have long. He could feel it. A dread creeping down his spine and squeezing his lungs. He kept going.
The screams were ear piercing as he passed by a window filled with frozen Showfall employees. A few more steps and he was met with a sight more chilling than anything he’d ever witnessed.
The masked man who had helped them before–Hetch, stood in front of a desk with computers and cameras. Then, just beyond that was Ranboo, head stuck between two spiked boxes. They were strewn to the wall by wires like a pinned butterfly on display.
Charlie’s gaze zeroed in on the timer, counting down at seven seconds now. He doesn’t question the fact that it’s Hetch manning the computer, only races forward, grabbing his head with one hand to expose his neck, and unsheathing the knife with his other hand and stabs at his throat.
Hetch lets out a choked noise of shock, which turned into gurgles as Charlie pulled the knife out, blood spurting through the air. He can hear Ranboo let out a relieved sob. He pushed Hetch to the floor, not deigning him any of Charlie’s time.
Instead, Charlie ran around the desk, making it to Ranboo’s side in record time. His eyes scanned Ranboo, trying to figure out how he’d get them down.
“Charlie! H-How?” Ranboo’s voice was weak and wet, but no longer scared.
“I have no fucking clue man. I just woke up and heard you! I came as fast as I could,” Charlie explained, out of breath. “I’m gonna get you down now, okay?”
Ranboo nodded weakly, another sob escaping their mouth. Charlie’s heart clenched when he spotted the broken bit of their mask and the blood dripping down their face. He shook his head, forcing himself not to focus on that. All he had to do was get Ranboo free.
Charlie brandished his knife and began to cut away at the wires holding Ranboo up around their abdomen. They were thick, but luckily it only took a minute to saw through them. The timer just seemed to be a visual, and didn’t actually trigger anything. There were buttons on the desk that Charlie had ignored, but hopefully there was one that would release the metal caging Ranboo’s head in.
As soon as the wires were cut, Ranboo slumped a bit, crying out in pain. That’s when Charlie spotted the wires near their hands, also holding them up. He quickly moved over to the side, and upon getting a closer look nearly threw up.
The wires were going through Ranboo’s hands.
“Shit–sorry, I’m sorry, Ranboo,” Charlie spewed out apologies as his friend continued to softly cry, whimpering.
He slashed through the wires, pulling them out of their palm. He leaned over and did the same with their other hand, still spewing out apologies. Once they were all cut, Ranboo sagged forward, nearly falling to the floor if their head hadn’t been caught by the metal bar.
“There you go–you’re okay,” Charlie whispered reassuringly. “I’m gonna cut your feet free then try to figure out how to get you out of that.”
Ranboo nodded weakly, clenching their eyes shut to fight off the pain. They brought their hands up, attempting to pull at the metal encasing, but unable to even bend their fingers. Charlie could only assume the wires had run through their tendons and severed any nerve functions.
Once he freed their feet, he tried his own go at tugging at the metal cage, but it wouldn't give. He reached around the cage to try and find any release mechanism, but it was just smooth rusted metal. He huffed in frustration quickly moving over to the desk with the computers.
On his way over, in a rush a frustration and fury, Charlie pushed over the cameras, watching with satisfaction as they were smashed to bits upon hitting the ground. His blood roared at the knowledge that there were people currently watching his friend be tortured, just for their entertainment. He didn’t want to be advertised any longer.
Charlie scanned the screens and keyboard. The trigger button was made blatantly obvious which he was thankful for. He watched the votes pile up on one screen, and his heart sank at seeing the two options presented. He felt more sick to see most of the people voting for Ranboo’s death.
He tore his gaze away from that, looking around more and finally finding a release button. He only hoped that it wasn’t a trap before hitting it. A click was heard from across the room, and the metal clasp fell away.
Ranboo immediately stumbled away, falling to their knees roughly. Charlie rushed over to their side, pulling his friend into his arms as they both gasp for air.
It’s Ranboo that pulls away after a minute, holding Charlie by his shoulders as they turned their gaze to the room’s exit. “We have to get out of here before any more employees show up.”
Charlie just nodded in response, struggling to stand. Ranboo stood first, allowing Charlie to grab onto their wrists and help pull him up. They both leaned into each other, too weak to stand up straight and stumbled for the exit.
They made it into the empty halls, looking a little lost on where to go. Suddenly, Charlie perked up.
“The exit we tried before! The security monster won’t be in the way anymore, and it’s the closest.” Charlie pointed out, gesturing in the direction of that exit.
Ranboo nodded exhaustingly, and then they were off.
In a couple minutes of practically tripping over each other, they made it to the corridor, empty albeit the dead bodies strawn on the ground. They managed to dodge around them, finally making it close to the exit, closer than they’ve ever been.
Charlie laughs a bit to himself, taking a few steps forward but nearly falls forward as Ranboo seems frozen in his spot. He turns his head to face them, expression screwed up in confusion.
“Ranboo–what…” his voice trails off as he follows his friend's gaze to a body just a couple feet away. His insides grow cold.
“Sneeg–” Ranboo chokes out, letting go of Charlie and stumbling forward until they collapsed next to their friend’s bloodied and limp body. “No–no no no…”
Charlie’s heart squeezed in his chest as he watched Ranboo turn into an incomprehensible mess, sobbing over Sneeg’s dead body. He takes a few tentative steps forward, kneeling down and putting a hand on Ranboo’s shoulder in comfort.
“We—we need to–to help him, Charlie. We have to–” Ranboo stutters out, voice strained as if their throat was closing up. “We gotta get him out of here! He–he can’t just die here, Charlie!”
Charlie swallowed thickly, hand clenching on Ranboo’s shoulder. “He’s already gone, Ranboo. We have to leave him.” Ranboo’s head shot up to look at him, betrayal flashing in their eyes. “If we take him with us, then he’s gone forever. Do you understand, Ranboo?”
Ranboo shook their head angrily, tears running down their face as they began to protest.
Charlie instantly cut them off. “You said it yourself. You’ve seen all of us die multiple times. This fucked up place can obviously bring people back to life! If we take him out of here, well…we’ll be signing off his death warranty.
“Showfall will fix him. Then, we’ll come back and save him. Save everyone,” Charlie stared them dead in the eyes, begging them to understand.
Ranboo looks devastated, face twisting up in pain as they sobbed harder and shook their head, trembling hands grasping at Sneeg’s sleeve. Charlie let out a heavy sigh, wiping his own tears away but hardening his resolve. He’s about to speak again when suddenly the lights flare red and an alarm pierces through the building. Their time is up.
”Ranboo, we have to go!” He shouted, heartbeat spiking.
Charlie grabbed Ranboo by their upper arm and forcefully tugged them upright. Luckily Ranboo seemed to realize the situation they were in and went willingly.
They both stumbled the last couple feet towards the exit and pushed the doors open. They were met with another set of doors, but the glass hadn’t been blacked out this time, only slightly darkened. They could see the sky, it was right there .
Charlie took the lead as he limped forward, the doors sliding open for them. The two immediately winced as the bright light of the sun washed over them, completely blinding. They were finally out of the facility. Of their hell.
Ranboo and Charlie were free.