Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Liam grimaced, his eyes fixated on the screen as they had always been. His eyes constantly scanned over the lines of code over and over. Desperately looking for some sort of leak through, despite there not being any. He’d been trying for at least a few days, each day resulting in the same failure. Liam groaned I’m annoyance as he set his head on the table, this was pointless. He let out a hiss and stood up, pushing himself away from the monitor, moving the moss away from the entrance of the cave as he stared up at the dark sky. The stars used to give Liam a sort of comfort, which now they didn’t. He let out a sigh and begrudgingly trudged towards the lake despite how unpleasant it was to walk anywhere. Liam had also noticed the major lack of food, with there only being reeds, leaves, and fish. It was scarce and dangerous, especially if you were a shifty cook like Liam had been. At least it had gotten easier to fish, even with the wrong tools, and with the fact it was hard to carry the rod all the way over to the lake due to the unbearable pain in his leg. But he managed despite that.

He sat down next to the water, dangling his feet in. He had to give it to them, the water did soothe his leg pain a little even if he was still terrified of falling back in. As much as he hated this place, he had to stay alive and stay here. He has to get everyone else home. Speaking of everyone else, he missed the feeling of someone near, someone to talk to. Someone to actually touch, hug, or even cuddle. God, he hated being her alone. He hated it. At least with Airy, there was someone near. But Airy was dead, gone, and Liam wasn’t sure he even missed him. He did however miss Owen and Bryce, Owen was his best friend, and Liam had lied to him about where he had been. God he felt shitty about that, at least on the bright side Owen would be fine. As for Bryce, Liam figured he still bothered the crap out of Bryce, despite that Bryce had loosened up around him a little. He’s one of the only people who checked up on Liam often, which is nice. Listening to Bryce’s voice, was nice. Even if Liam lied to him all the time, Bryce probably knew he was lying anyways.

Liam let out a quiet noise of discomfort, his body was closer to the water now and he had them further into the water in a desperate attempt to at least sort of ease off the pain from his leg. The water below was dark, plagued with thoughts and tears and worthless mumbo jumbo, and those damn notes that had fallen into the water, leaving himself stranded. This was pathetic, he felt pathetic. Liam made another noise as he flopped to the side, staring down at the water below as it gently lapped up and down the sand. The water was quiet, much like everything else here, but it sounded nice. It was cold, but Liam didn’t have the energy or willpower to stand up but he at least pulled his legs out of the water. He stared up at the sky once again, his legs resting on the sand as he sat. Liam let out a shaky breath, his thoughts were plaguing his mind, filling it with thoughts he wished he wouldn’t have, leading to more shaky breaths. He rolled onto his side, letting out a sort of sob. Holding himself in a ball as the night continued, dragging on. Drowning in his thoughts and memories as he fell into a state of unconsciousness.

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Liam opened his eyes, groaning as he opened his eyes and sat up. The sun had risen and was beating now on him, it seemed to be a lot warmer today. Although that was most likely due to the fact he had fallen asleep on the sandy beaches. His head was pounding, and his leg felt sore, but yet he had a job to do, so he pulled himself back to his feet. He stumbled a little, wobbling back and forth as he attempted to steady himself to prevent falling into the water. Liam steadied himself, letting out a sigh of relief as he did so. He limped back over to the cave, hastily sitting down on the chair. Naturally, his gaze drifted down to the Plane, scanning over the small planet. From what he could tell, mostly everyone was asleep, minus the exception of Scenty and Tray who had become closer over the past few weeks. Liam gently smiled and then turned back to the monitor, staring at the code on the screen in front of him for a hot minute or so. A frown crept back onto his face, it was still disappointing. It had been a week, and he still had no progress, no progress on getting the others home safely back to their lives. Which he was determined to do.

Liam leaned back into his chair, tapping his hands mindlessly on the table as he tried to think of any sort of solution, anything to get the others away from this place. His gaze drifted back down to his legs, grimacing at the sight. He turned away from his legs and looked at the monitor. His eyes widened, he had an idea, but he would inevitably need some sort of help. But who would he be able to get? He leaned back , finally having an idea on who could help.

Texty.

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Liam had hooked Texty up to the computer, sure he may have burnt and stung his hand a few times, but it was worth it. Now, he watched the text box type in the code to send everyone home (well,, sending them to Amelia, Bryce and Charlottes home world), then he watched all the objects disappear off the planet. After so, he watched the kill code slowly get typed in for both Liam and Texty. In a matter of seconds he found himself back at the waiting room. He shivered at the familiar sight, and walked over towards the chairs and the radio.

Radios have always been interesting devices, I mean, aren't they? Some radios have the ability to transport you anywhere you seem. Its a gateway to home, to comfort, and acts as barrier between life and death. Liam sat on the red chair, nothing was there waiting for him. Nothing to take him on to the afterlife. He frowned and folded his arms carefully in front of himself. Following up, Liam closed his eyes, hoping to see something, anything in front of him when he opened his eyes. He reached out and touched the antenna, lifting it slowly.
1..
2..
3..
In a moment, Liam was jolted back to reality by the sound of cars rushing by. Blowing wind and getting dust all over his face. He stumbled back, away from the road. Liam then turned on his heels and began to sprint down the side of the bridge, heading to the one place he knew comfort. He ran until his legs burned, the aching pain etching its way back into his brain. Unfortunately though, he collapsed onto the grass inside of some forest. Alone. There weren't even creatures prowling around like usual.

He groaned into the grass and then sat up. His eyes filtered around the trees and grass that surrounded him. Liam sighed and pulled his legs up. This was stupid. God, he's stupid. He looked around the trees and then laid back onto the grass and raised his hands up to frame the stars. Liam slightly smiled as he watched the stars, putting his hands back down onto the grass. He liked the stars. Familiar things in a land of unknown. It was comforting.

Chapter Text

Liam forced himself to his feet again, hobbling his way a little closer to the sound of movement. Closer to potential danger but potential safety. Closer to—
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Bryce set the bottle back down on the counter of the bar stand. By now his vision had blurred a little, making the letters and words around the bar almost unreadable. But, most like any night, he had to focus, if he even planned on making it home that was. With a slight groan, he forced himself to his feet, taking a moment to regain his balance. Bryce huffed, and pushed open the bar door, making his way up the city streets.

The town looked bland, hundreds of boring old gray buildings lined up next to each other as he walked. Everything was bland in his mind. Like thousands of empty pages, each begging for something, anything to fill up the space. But nothing ever does. So it sits and waits for something to show, something colorful, and bright, like trees in the spring, or the color of life sprouting from the ground, like the smell of mint, someone, who even though they’re annoying, keep wedging themself into your mind, filling up blank spaces with dreams that would never happen. Yet somehow even though it knows that it will never happen, keeps dreaming and hoping. Hoping for that one sign of green. God, what the hell was he even doing? Wasting his life away at some shitty job, at a bar, or in some crappy stuffy apartment void of life.

Everything was better with green around. Shit. What was his name? Bryce shoved open the door to his apartment, slamming the door behind him as he walked inside the dingy and dimly lit room. He collapsed onto the mattress in the corner, letting out an audible groan into his pillow as drowsiness began to overtake him. Lulling him back to sleep no matter how he tried to fight with it.

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Bryce shot up, his entire body was trembling, and his vision was cloudy too. Then, of course, it just had to get worse, his head began to pound, like usual. Nothing new, or out of the ordinary. Bryce forced himself out of bed, and let out a yawn. He walked off to the stove, pulling out a pan and the carton of eggs. He didn’t bother to check the time, it wasn't like he was planning on going back to sleep tonight anyway. No point in checking the time, he didn't have anywhere to be today. He turned on the stove and cracked a few eggs into the pan, listening to the sizzling coming from it. A slight smile came to his face, he turned around on his feet. His eyes quickly shot over to the bed. Almost as if expecting someone to be sitting there smiling at him. There was no one. No Stella. And no green. Just a bed.