Work Text:
Aimsey was always afraid of the dark. That’s why when they left their home village to make a new life for themself, they made sure to bring plenty of light to make sure they were never left in the dark. This light always kept them safe, until they discovered a secret trapdoor hidden underneath Angel’s haystack.
Curiosity got the better of Aimsey as they began to climb down the ladder, to investigate. A chilling fear began to clamp around Aimsey’s stomach as they climbed deeper into the darkness. The only form of safety they had was a flickering torch clutched in their hand. Aimsey reached the bottom of the ladder with a soft clunk, they realised that there was nothing but a small path of unlight red stone lamps and darkness.
”Huh?”
Regret swirled around Aimsey and as they were just about to leave they heard a soft woosh that filled the air with a strange sort of vibration and energy. Turning back around, Aimsey saw an odd looking red portal.
“I don’t like this, it’s dark down here.”
Aimsey could feel some sort of magnetic pull towards this portal begging them to touch it. Curiosity once again won over Aimsey as they let the magnetic pull lead them towards the portal. The closer they got the louder the hum grew in the air. The portal was tall, easily taller than Aimsey. Aimsey looked up, standing in front of the portal before brushing a finger over the rippling red glow. Goosebumps erupted over their arm as they were pulled into the portal by an unseen force and teleported to a new room. Aimsey stepped into this room, engulfed by the same darkness as before and was greeted by two steel gates. Cautiously pushing the gates open Aimsey found themselves in not so surprisingly yet another room engulfed by darkness.
“The fuck is this!? What the fuck is this and why is it so dark!?”
They asked as panic began to sink further in.The wall was lined with five identical buttons.
”Hello? Oh my god and why are there buttons?”
They asked the air, trying to mask their panic with laughter. Aimsey ran to the end of the room where another set of steel gates stood to hopefully get out of wherever it was they found themself trapped. They desperately shook the gates but they refused to budge, Aimsey could see nothing but more pitch black rooms.
“The fuck is down there…?”
they questioned as they could make out a faint glow in the distance. Aimsey backed away from the gate, utterly confused and scared. In a panic, they went up to the first button and pressed it hoping to find answers. A chill ran down their back as a cold voice whispered in their ear
‘Welcome, Aimsey. You don’t know me, but I know you. Congratulations, and welcome to the final test.’
Aimsey whipped their head around to try and find who said that but there was no one there besides them.
“Who was that..?”
Aimsey trailed off whispering to themself as they pressed the next button. The same voice whispered to them
‘This is a dog. This is your dog, Aimsey. Your pet.’
Aimsey heard a soft vwoop behind them and when they turned around there was suddenly a dog with a shaggy chocolate coloured coat standing there, looking very confused.
“That’s not, that’s, That’s not my dog. That’s not my dog I know my own dog, That’s not Bug”
They awkwardly laughed as the dog sniffed out the room. Aimsey pressed the third button and the voice whispered again
‘See? You should name it! Give it a name Aimsey'
The voice commanded.
“Fine, I’ll name them Bug 2.”
They decided
“Hey do you know what’s going on here little buddy?”
Aimsey asked, ruffling the dog's fur, it was soft and comforting. Just like how Bug’s fur is. Bug 2 only panted, looking up at them.
“No? Me neither”
Aimsey went to the fourth button, pressing it. A new voice whispered to Aimsey this time, a cold soul-less unforgiving voice.
‘Kill it. Kill the dog, Aimsey. You don’t need it.’
“Kill it? K-Kill the dog?”
Aimsey stuttered to themself.
“Okay, well it’s not my dog anyway.”
Aimsey tried to reassure themself. Ignoring that command, Aimsey pressed the fifth button. Dozens of voices whispered to Aimsey simultaneously.
‘Come on, do it. Do it. Do it.’
They commanded. Aimsey gently approached the dog, guilt riddling them for what they were about to do.
“Hey, I'm sorry buddy, okay? I’m sorry”
They whispered to the dog as they pulled their axe from their belt.
“No hard feelings right? This isn’t real anyway, this isn’t real anyway okay? You’re not the real dog so it’s fine.”
They assured themself before plunging it into the dog's neck. A pained whimper came from the dog as Aimsey swung again, killing the dog. Aimsey blinked back tears as they whipped the warm crimson splatters off their hands onto their pants. The gate swung open, grating against the ground in an awful way. Aimsey refused to look at the dog's body as they left that awful room. The next room they entered was an exact replica of the one before.
‘Congratulations, Aimsey. You passed the first test. Please move forward.’
A new voice whispered to them. This voice sounded a lot friendlier, a false sense of security.
“I have, I have moved forward!”
Aimsey exclaimed to the darkness. Aimsey pressed the first button in the new room and the voice returned, whispering to them.
‘Do you know what it’s like to love, Aimsey? To love someone so much, it consumes you?’
Aimsey could feel their unease growing as the voice continued
‘You were never a fan of the dark, were you Aimsey?’
“Well no of course not.”
Aimsey laughed, masking their fear once again.
“I’ve always hated the dark, it’s, it’s just..”
Aimsey was cut off by a new medley of voices whispering to them.
‘Do you remember?’
Aimsey’s fear and confusion grew larger as a muddle of ones and zeros was then whispered into their ear
‘01000001 00100000 01001101 01001111 01010100 01001000 00100000 01010100 01001111 00100000 01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01000110 01001100 0100000101001101 01000101’
“The fuck is this!? Okay I don’t like umm. I’m actually, I’m actually done ummm. I don’t want to do this anymore. Yeah I'm actually okay.”
Aimsey was panicking and looking for a way to leave, pacing the room.
‘Have you ever taken a life?’
The chorus of voices whispered. Aimsey stopped pacing.
“No! I haven’t! I-I-I-I-I don’t, I don’t need to take a life either. There’s no one here and I-”
Aimsey was cut off by a new softer voice.
‘This is Guqqie. Say hi Guqqie!’
Another vwoop as a woman suddenly appeared in front of Aimsey. The woman had short blond hair scattered with little pink and purple flowers, and wore a slightly too big yellow Jumper. Aimsey could see the fear on their face as she tried to stop their shaking hands.
“Hello!?”
Aimsey asked, panicked
“Hello, can you hear me!?”
Guqqie looked around the room before looking back at Aimsey and timidly nodding.
“Wha-what, what’re you doing wh-wh-wh.
Do you know what’s going on here?!”
Aimsey gestured to the room wildly
“You can hear me, yo-you can hear me?”
Guqqie nodded again, trying to hide away against the wall.
“Okay umm, Nod if you know what’s happening”
Aimsey told Guqqie, in hope one of them knew what the fuck was going on. Guqqie shook their head no. Aimsey ignored the disappointment they felt. They were in the same position, with no clue what to do. Aimsey began looking around before looking back to Guqqie.
“Ummm press the button?”
Aimsey asked, looking at the final button on the wall. With shaky steps, Guqqie approached the button before pressing it, instead of the normal whispering voice a louder one layered upon all the other voices echoed around the room with a simple message,
‘KILL NOW’
Aimsey and Guqqie both physically paled after hearing this. Aimsey couldn’t hear anything besides their pounding heart as they tried to think of a way to get out of this without having to hurt Guqqie.
“No umm we can, we can figure out a different way! We don’t have to do that.”
Guqqie backed further away from Aimsey, as far into the wall as they could manage. Fear glinted in their eyes.
“No no no no no, I’m not gonna hurt you! I’m not gonna hurt you! We’re not, we’re not doing that today. Listen umm down here down here.”
Aimsey gestured for Guqqie to follow them as the previous gates were now open again and They could lead Guqqie into the first room.
“Down here down here down here.”
Aimsey noticed a button on the wall they hadn’t noticed before in the first room. The sign next to it read
‘If you wish to leave’
“This, this, this, if you wish to leave. We can leave, see! We can just go! We can just- we can just go! Okay you can just come with me, I have a little cabin!”
Aimsey tried to reassure the trembling Guqqie. They desperately pressed the button and a small voice whispered in their ear.
‘You want to leave? Please say YES or NO’
The voice instructed.
“YES! Yes yes we would like to leave!”
Aimsey yelled out, pressing the button next to it.
‘You picked NO.’
A cruel voice taunted.
“I would like to leave!!”
Aimsey yelled, pulling the button off the wall in frustration.
“Fucking hell man.”
They cursed to themself. With an ugly screech the gate opened on its own, Aimsey and Guqqie turned to run.
“Okay go! Let’s just go….”
They trailed off as the portal flicked and the red glow faded, leaving an empty shell. Aimsey’s face dropped as Guqqie began slowly backing away from them.
“I-I’m not gonna kill you, umm. Listen, listen, listen, th-there’s probably another way out or something. Did you hit your head? D-Do you know how, how we can get out of here? Do you know how you got here!?”
Annoyance, panic and fear was seeping into their tone as the severity of their situation settled. Guqqie slowly looked down at Aimsey and their tone immediately softened.
”No we don’t, we don’t have to hurt each other. We don’t have to do that, come on.”
Aimsey tried to lead Guqqie away,
“come one, come on we can find another place.”
Aimsey pleaded. As they began to walk away Guqqie snapped. She realised they weren't getting out without killing each other and she didn’t want to die. So she hit Aimsey, fully intending to beat them to death if she had to. Aimsey instantly understood what they were trying to do.
“Please, no no, please, we don’t have to-”
Guqqie started punching
“WE DON’T HAVE TO HURT EACH OTHER!”
Aimsey yelled, pleading for Guqqie to understand. Another hit
“we don’t have to hurt each other!”
Another hit.
“Stop!”
Another hit.
“I told you to stop hitting me!”
Aimsey hit back.
“I told you to stop hitting me!!”
Aimsey pushed Guqqie away and pulled out their axe, still stained with blood from the dog.
“We don’t have to hurt each other!”
A swing from the axe connected, creating a large gash on Guqqie’s arm.
“I told you to fucking stop!!”
Aimsey screamed, swing after swing connecting from the axe. Guqqie was bleeding badly. They were covered in cuts and gashes, blood stained their once sunshine jumper,
“I TOLD YOU TO FUCKING STOP!”
The final hit lands in Guqqie’s head, cracking the skull with an awful crack and then a wet squelch as she grows limp, blood pools from the wound in their head, turning their hair from blond to a tangled crimson. Blood is splattered on Aimsey’s face as they yell at Guqqie’s limp form.
”Why the fuck would you hit me!?! I told you to stop hitting me! Why would you do that?! I didn't want to hurt you! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?”
Angry tears freely flowed down their face as they stare at Guqqie’s now lifeless body. The reality of what just happened, what they had just done sinking in. They turned and they rushed out the room, through the second room and into the final room. This room has buttons like the first and second room, but on the opposite wall is a fake sky and grass display with a chest
“This isn’t real, none of this is real.”
Aimsey repeats this over again, trying to trick themself into believing it. The voice whispers once more to Aimsey
‘Congratulations, Aimsey. You passed the second test. Please move forward.’
Another voice begins whispering.
‘Was that really necessary?’
It taunts.
‘Isn’t it so easy to create life, only to destroy it in a matter of seconds?'
“I didn’t destroy anything! That wasn’t me!”
They yell into the darkness.
'How easy was it, Aimsey? Quickly.’
“It wasn't, it wasn’t easy. I didn’t want to.”
They try to reason, voice cracking with emotion.
‘You have one last task. All things in life must be balanced. Plant a tree. Return the peace. Restore the balance. Bring life into the world to replace what is lost.’
Aimsey reaches into the chest and pulls out a single oak sapling and a huge pile of bone meal. They planted the tree into the dirt.
“I just fucking murdered, I just fucking killed someone with my own hands and now i’m planting a, growing a tree. What is this!? WHAT IS THIS!?”
They yelled again, placing the bone meal around the tree. They run out of bone meal and realise the tree won’t grow, the balance can’t be returned.
“It’s not enough, it’s not gonna grow.”
They mutter to themself. They press the final button in the room and one last voice whispers to them,
‘Move forward.’
They walk through the final gate as it silently opens.
‘You tested well, Lepidoptera.’
The gate slams behind Aimsey, leaving them trapped in a pitch black corridor. They curl in on themself, trying to hide from the dark. The one thing that scares them most in this world. There was a faint red light glowing through the darkness so Aimsey headed towards that.
“Please, I'm afraid of the dark.”
They sobbed
“I just want to go home. Please just let me go.”
They begged the darkness. As they reached the red glow they were teleported to a small box made of a burning red stone, there were patches of fire and Aimsey instantly felt woozy, like they’d passed out.
“I’d like to go home.”
They begged, voice growing weaker. The last thing they saw before they passed out was a floating yellow eye, that held a radioactive symbol instead of a pupil.