Work Text:
"Mephone4.
You have two days.
Surrender yourself, or your show, contestants, and that hotel will all be destroyed.
Meeple has the bombs, and we will not hesitate. Any attempts to run away will be futile. We are watching.
-Steve Cobs."
Mephone4's eyes scanned over the note for the hundredth time. 48 hours and he'd already spent 24 of them planning. There was no way out of this.
They couldn't evacuate the hotel all at once, they'd see that. But there wasn't enough time to escape in small, less detectable groups.
It was either Cobs gets his way, or everyone dies. Either way the show gets destroyed. Mephone4 cared about his contestants, they where all he had. Even if he ran away and survived the explosion, he'd have nothing left.
No matter what choice he made he'd lose everything. But his decision still mattered. Lives where on the line.
He stood up, clutching the note in his palm. Mephone left his hotel room for the last time.
Down the hall, just down the hall was OJs room. He knocked on the door.
OJ answered, his tired eyes looking Mephone up and down. "What is it?" He murmured, leaning against the doorframe. "Put the hotel on lockdown." Mephone demanded.
OJ furrowed his eyebrows in response. "Why?"
Mephone4 handed the hotel manager the note, watching as he read it, his eyes widened. "Mephone... you need to tell me what this means." OJ didn't look up from the note when he spoke.
"I can't tell you what it means, all I can tell you is that you need to lockdown the hotel until further notice." OJ handed the slip of paper back to Mephone4, nodding. With a grave expression on his face, he turned around, peaking back into his room. "Paper, can you let the residents know the hotel is on lockdown."
"Do what you have to do." OJ turned back to the host. "I guess I'll see you."
Mephone shook his head. "You wont." He replied.
"I know."
With that, Mephone4 turned away, marching down the hall, past rooms where his contestants lay unaware, past framed photos of sunsets, starry skies and challenges. Past the bright orange walls.
A shade of orange he'd never see again.
He made it to the lobby, Pickel and Knife sat on the couch playing video games, unaware of his presence. It was better that way.
Mephone pushed past the large, wooden doors, sunlight hitting his screen. He stepped out onto the grass, feeling it brush against his legs. He looked up at the orange trees, the fruit was ripe. The taller contestants would probably go out and pick them for the residents to eat.
He wouldn't be there to have a bite.
He closed his eyes, focusing. He clenched his fists and scrunched up his face, his screen turning a bright shade of green. In a flash a hot air balloon had appeared.
He climbed into the basket, it was big enough for two, but he went alone.
It ignited, the balloon slowly lifting off the ground, Mephone looked back at the hotel, seeing contestants through their windows, being told of the lockdown. They didn't seem too bothered.
They where all unaware. It was better that way.
The clouds grew closer, and with that so did his demise. But he had finally come to accept it.
A younger him would've erased his memories, hoping to die blissfully unaware. But Mephone4 didn't. He wanted to remember.
The balloon approached Mecloud, Mephone4 opened the basket and jumped out, landing safely on the pathway. The balloon, untethered, kept floating away, Mephone didn't bother to stop it.
He wouldn't need it anyway.
With heavy steps, he dragged himself down the path, to the front entrance. The automatic doors opened for him, like they would any other object. There was a map near the entrance but he didn't need it. Mephone4 knew exactly where to go.
He didn't think about anything other than the direction he was going, there was no point. There was no point in being scared, or reminiscing, it would all be over soon. But despite that, when he reached the elevator, he stopped.
Mephone4 felt his hands tremble and his throat close, despite not having a heart he could feel it beating in his chest. He was scared.
All these years, everything... gone.
Mephone closed his eyes, focusing, his screen flashed green. He held what he generated in his right hand, using the left to press the elevator buttons. The door opened immediately and he stepped inside.
Top floor, he was going to the top floor. Thats where it would all end.
Years of running, just to end up back here.
Mechanical whirring filled the elevator as it rose, up and up. The pristine white walls of the small box taunted him, it felt cold and unwelcoming. His mind was painted in that same warm orange, the one that felt like home.
The orange he wished he could see again.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened, revealing a large, empty room. The back wall was just one large, glass panel, with a view of the sun lowering.
"Cobs." Mephone4's voice reverberated through the room, alerting Cobs of his presence.
"Greetings..." Cobs turned around in his chair, placing his hands on his desk. "Mephone4." His smile was sickening, an unsettling smirk that sent chills through Mephone. "I'm surprised you decided to show up."
Mephone stepped out of the elevator and into the room, approaching his tormentor. "It wasn't a decision." He hissed.
"You're right, and you know I'm such a horrible person for threatening you like that." He said with false sympathy, clasping his hands together. Mephone4 didn't say a word, but took a step closer.
Cobs watched as the his creation approached him, finally listening. Mephone was now in arm's length of his desk, eyes glued to the floor.
"Well, I see this issue has finally been solved." The taller man stood up, his eyes beaming daggers into Mephone. "That wasn't so hard now was it?"
Cobs reached over his desk and placed a hand on Mephones power button. The robots eyes snapped away from the ground, staring directly into his.
"Welcome home Mephone4."
Those words rung through his head, spinning like a whirlpool. Meeple wasn't home. With the plain white walls, shiny floors and automatic doors. This didn't feel like home.
Home felt like warm walls with pictures framed, comfortable carpeted floors, and wooden doors that open differently each time. Meeple was not home.
He raised his right hand, where the item he generated was. Cobs didn't even have time to react before...
BANG!
Mephone4 placed the gun on his desk, looking over at the lifeless body of his creator.
The orange sunset seemed to be perfectly reflected in the pool of his crimson blood, it was like art. Belonging in a picture frame.
The framed pictures on the wall represent the pleasant memories of a home, which explains why the walls here are so empty. He wanted to change that.
Mephone4 walked around the desk, kneeling down next to Cobs and placing his hand in the pool of blood, disturbing and warping the sunset. The blood coated his hand like paint, only the art made from this would be much more beautiful.
It took a while, but soon the glass wall had been turned into a canvas. And on it, was a masterpiece.
Mephone decided it was time to go home. So he took the elevator down, the walls where plain. He left through the automatic door, which opened and closed the exact same as when he'd arrived.
The hot air balloon was gone, but when he closed his eyes, a new one appeared, and he stepped in it.
He was slowly lowered to the ground, back home. He thought about Cobs, maybe he could've made a home, if the situation wasn't so desperate.
Mecloud got smaller and smaller as the ground got bigger and bigger, until the basket touched the grass, leaving the balloon to deflate. Mephone4 stood in front of the hotel, it's walls a bright orange, an orange that felt like home.
He slowly walked along the grass, grabbing the door handle and pulling it open. The wooden door creaked, as if welcoming him personally.
He stepped inside, onto the carpet. It felt soft and gentle, like a warm embrace.
Knife and Pickle where playing video games on the couch, unaware of his presence. Their laughter made the lobby alive.
There was the smell of fresh oranges coming from the kitchen, Soap, Mic and Paper could be heard making desserts together.
And walking out from the hall was OJ, who didn't seem to notice Mephone at first, until he turned to the door.
Mephone4 smiled at him, watching the managers eyes tear up and his mouth twist into a warm smile. He rushed over and wrapped his arms around the other, letting out a soft chuckle. "Mephone," he whispered, "welcome home."
Mephone wrapped his arms around OJ as well, his body was warm. He decided not to tell him about Cobs, right now wasn't the time to explain things.
OJ was a shade of orange that radiated comfort and safety. Mephone knew for certain now.
This was definitely home.