Chapter Text
Stanley's awareness was slowly coming back to him, feeling groggy and disoriented. His mind was struggling to get through his recent dreams, sorting through a lot of things. From lovely things he had done with his Narrator, to the Parable mixing up who was who, to viruses infecting them. He's even dreamed of their past, he was pretty sure, but everything was sort of hazy and muddled in his mind.
Shifting to rub his eyes, Stanley tried to remember what's been going on in reality. The skip button... comatose Narrator... the Timekeeper... repairing the Parable with dreams... Right. Right. It was slowly coming back to him, though he truthfully still wasn't entirely sure he remembered it all. Considering he's had... god, four or five dreams? More? By now, he was excused if he wasn't quite sure what was real and what not anymore.
Speaking of, Stanley opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times to get used to the darkness of the room. He shifted to sit up a little straighter, which caused him to realize that something was wrong. Looking left and right of himself, Stanley didn't see the Narrator anymore. He was- he had held the entity before going to sleep! Stanley would've never leave his love anywhere else!
Standing up, Stanley looked around the room, heart in his throat. Where was he? Where was-
There. The Narrator was standing in front of the two closed doors, on the right end of the room. Stanley relaxed, before he realized that the Narrator was awake. Immediately Stanley rushed over to him, wrapping his arms around the form of his small lover. He was awake. The Narrator was awake, and up, and walking, and-
[I'm so glad you're awake!]
Stanley sobbed, shaking as he held the Narrator tightly, hiding his face in his hair. He was overwhelmed, he couldn't.. he had missed his Narrator so much. And finally, he was awake again, he was here, with him. Stanley couldn't keep himself from crying, holding his lover tightly to himself. He could barely believe it. That his Narrator was awake, and okay, and- and...
Not.. responding? Stanley sniffled, pulling back a little. The Narrator hadn't said anything yet, but he also hadn't moved. He hadn't done anything yet but stand there. Worried, Stanley gently urged his Narrator to turn around, the entity letting Stanley move him. He wasn't even attempting to look up at Stanley, making the man worry even more. He gently grabbed his Narrator's face, making him face him.
[Narry, love?...]
The Narrator's expression was a relaxed neutral one. There was nothing. He wasn't speaking, he wasn't trying to look at Stanley, he wasn't moving. Something was horribly wrong, and Stanley didn't know what. He sniffed, rubbing his eyes, trying to stop more tears from escaping him. He had to stay positive.
The Narrator was awake. He was moving -capable of moving. That was a lot better than him being comatose! Even though Stanley had no idea what was going on, at the very least his Narrator was starting to get better, right? Even if he wasn't speaking, or... seemingly aware of being a person. If Stanley had to compare it to something, he'd say that the Narrator seemed like an empty vessel, like what Stanley supposedly used to be.
Stanley gently took the Narrator's hand, trying to convince himself everything was okay. He slowly made his way over to the computer, the Narrator silently following, just moving along how Stanley guided him. It was scary, but Stanley chose not to think about it, just bringing his Narrator over to the computer with him. Hopefully Timekeeper would know what was going on, or could help, or something.
[ Timekeeper, are you there? ]
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Stanley! :-D
Yes I'm here. I woke you up! :-)
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Stanley had kind of expected that. While he couldn't remember what the last dream had been about exactly, he was pretty sure it hadn't come to any conclusion. Or had it? He wasn't sure truthfully, but at least it seemed like Timekeeper had woken them up because something had happened. Mainly the Narrator being awake, of course, and they did promise to wake Stanley if the Narrator woke up.
[ The Narrator is awake! But he's not... himself ]
Stanley was immensely worried about his Narrator. He had absolutely no idea what was wrong with him, and it was scaring him. He knew the Narrator was made by the Parable, and that he was part of the Parable, but... he didn't know how that played into anything. The Parable had been dying, and that had meant the Narrator had been dying, because he was a large part of it.
But if the Parable was repairing itself, wouldn't it be repairing the Narrator as well? Was this the beginning of the repairing? Maybe Stanley was worrying over nothing, maybe they just needed to wait a little more and his Narrator would be okay.
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Yes, that's why I woke you up -because he's awake.
The Parable has remade the game, as far as I'm aware of. :-/
It doesn't have either a narrator nor protagonist though, so still no way to keep itself alive.
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That was bad, Stanley was pretty sure. The Parable had been dying because the two of them had been stuck in the skip button room, and while the game itself seemed okay to Timekeeper, the two of them were still missing.
[ So it will take us and put us back in the game, right? ]
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Probably.
If that happens, I don't know if I can help you anymore though. :-(
The Parable does not like me messing with it.
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Stanley figured. Timekeeper had said they had been behind the museum and the escape pod, but the Parable had simply integrated those things into itself. Plus, they had never been able to directly reach out to Stanley before, they had never been able to talk to each other. So the Parable clearly didn't want Timekeeper to mess with it.
That wouldn't be ideal though. Stanley knew the life in the Parable wasn't the worst, all things considered. If he and the Narrator played by the rules and were careful, they could be together, and enjoy themselves. But it wasn't... it wasn't what they wanted. They wanted to experience real freedom, to be their own people, to have no restrictions.
[ The Parable is fixing the Narrator then, right? That's why he's awake but not himself yet? ]
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I... can't tell.
I don't know how the Narrator works like. You said the Parable made him?
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[ Yes. The Narrator is a part of the Parable, he made the story and the game, and then me as an empty vessel ]
Granted, Stanley didn't know a whole lot either. He knew the Narrator had made the story and the game though, and he knew the Narrator hadn't even always been in this human form. He had made it to experience emotions! Stanley wasn't sure why he had wanted to have emotions though, but surely that wasn't important anyways.
Looking at the Narrator, he just stood there, silently, unmoving. Like he wasn't even present. Stanley wondered if he would've preferred if he were still asleep instead, because this? This wasn't really any better.
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Hm...
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Stanley sighed. He didn't like knowing Timekeeper was thinking about something. Them existing outside the Parable meant they knew more than he did about most things, besides whatever was directly related to the Parable itself. He'd say the Narrator knew the most about that, but sadly his Narrator was currently out of commission. At least, Stanley highly doubted that the entity had any capabilities to think right now.
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Can you tell me more about the Narrator's being?
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[ As in? ]
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You said he's a part of the Parable. But he has a body too, unlike the Parable itself.
What do you know about that? And similar things.
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[ Well, he used to be just a voice. Or, whatever he was. A formless entity I guess? ]
[ But he made himself a human form. Because he couldn't feel emotions before, but with it, he can. ]
[ He can detach himself from this form, returning him to the emotionless entity ]
Was there anything else worth mention that Stanley knew about? He never had asked all that much about what the Narrator was and such, since he felt like he knew enough. But why did Timekeeper want to know?
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I'm worrying Stanley... :-(
If the Parable made the Narrator as an emotionless being, him having a body and emotions may be perceived as an anomaly.
And since it's already repairing him....
It may erase those parts.
While the Narrator would be alive and healthy, he wouldn't be the person you know anymore.
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Stanley stared at the white words blinking at him on the dark screen. His Narrator... wouldn't be his Narrator anymore? Looking from the screen back over to his Narrator, he imagined the entity not remembering him anymore. He imagined him returning to the uncaring entity, that doesn't understand emotions or humans, and only wants the story to continue.
He imagined himself losing his lover, his forever companion. The person Stanley would do anything for. The person he had carried through a desert for many many years, in the hopes of helping him wake up again.
[ Is there anything we can do to stop that? ]
Stanley couldn't lose his Narrator. If there was anything he could do, or that Timekeeper could do, they needed to do it. Stanley couldn't lose him. He simply couldn't.
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I may be able to remove him from the Parable, before it puts him back into the game.
But I don't know if he'll survive it. I don't know if you'll survive it either.
Removing him may break the Parable completely, killing you both.
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Stanley swallowed heavily, re-reading the words. This was the only chance they had though, wasn't it? Because if they just stayed here, his Narrator would still die. He'd never be the same person again, the person that Stanley had fallen in love in, the person Stanley had spent literally his entire existence with. He didn't think he could live like that, he wouldn't be able to force himself to go through the game as if he hadn't done it a million times already, as if he hadn't lost the love of his life.
If removing the Narrator killed Stanley, so be it. Stanley would rather be erased than have to live without his Narrator. He knew, if his Narrator survived it all, if he could become his own entity without the Parable, that he'd be distraught to know Stanley was gone. But he'd understand Stanley's reasoning, he was certain.
[ Do it. Whatever it takes, if there's even a small chance that my Narrator can survive, I want you to do it. ]
[ The alternative is worse than death. ]
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...
Stanley....
...
Alright. I'll try my best to keep you both alive, okay?
I want you both to make it.
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[ Thank you ]
Stanley smiled weakly. No matter what would happen, they had at least tried. They had tried to safe themselves, they had tried to leave the Parable, they had tried to get their freedom. Standing, Stanley gently took one of the Narrator's hands, cupping his cheek with the other. The entity stayed as emotionless as he was, making Stanley's heart hurt. He hoped they weren't already too late. That his Narrator not emoting or speaking wasn't a sign that he was already gone.
Stanley leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the Narrator's lips. He loved him, more than anything else in the world. No matter what would happen to them, he'd continue to love his Narrator.
When he pulled back, Stanley eased the Narrator to sit in the chair. He had no idea what Timekeeper may do, or it may look, if it would even work at all. But this was their only chance for things to be okay, even if it would still take time. Even if Stanley may die because of this.