Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(Ranboo PoV)

"And the votes are in. The viewers have voted for you to. . .STAY!, isn't this just amazing my little puppet" Hatch's wide grin twisting up his face.

"NO, PLEASE, JUST KILL ME I DON'T WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS. THOSE DEATHS WERE ACCIDENTS IT WASN'T MY FAULT, JUST LET ME DIE NOW I CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS NO" I screamed and screamed but he just stood there, with his twisted smile.

"Oh no, it looks like our new friend here is a bit too loud, why don't we fix that. Afterall that is one of our rules here on set, no speaking unless it's in the script." He pressed a button on his control panel.

suddenly I felt the mask tighten around my face and I almost couldn't breath, it was restricting my breath and just as I tried to speak it started to burn, as I screamed it came out a muffled  whisper. I started to cry more than I already was. Hot tears pouring out my bloodshot eyes.

"I said no talking, yet you continue to try to speak, I think we are going to need to do something about this."

as soon as he finished his sentence a horrible burning sensation overcame me, the mask began to glow a faint orange, white hot pain overtaking me  and I eventually passed out from the pain but as I was losing my vision I saw some blurry figures come in and start to unstrap me. That was the last thing I remembered, until now. . .

Chapter Text

(Levi PoV)

Today marks the anniversary of my favourite content creator disappearing, I was eleven when they disappeared. The night before they vanished they announced that they had some sort of exiting project coming up, that we would all hopefully love. The next morning after that he was gone, didn't show up for his live stream, didn't communicate on twitter or discord.  Fans messaged him approximately 49,683 times but still no answers, he wasn't online anywhere. We thought they might be sick and hadn't gone online to announce the cancelation of the stream, but that wasn't true.

After a few days it was announced on the news that he was deemed missing with trace to where he had went. Now no one seems to remember them, their mask and funny jokes, the twitch streams and the silly videos. No one seems to recognise the name. . .my memories of them started to fade slowly a few days after they were announced, it started after a company that he had supposedly partnered with for a project had gone live from his account to say their goodbyes. the next day many were struggling to remember their name.

I did some digging and found their official social media accounts. they had one on twitch which felt weird. It was live at the very moment. I found it strange that a sophisticated company was streaming on twitch to millions of viewers, but when I clicked on it. . . 

I saw them, with a metal mask clung to their face, with wires attaching it to the back of their head, they were stuck in some sort of contraption, like an iron maiden, but just for your head People were voting for him to die from this spiked box or to live and become brainwashed for eternity. I felt sick to the stomach and wanted to scream. . .then I realised. This was his announcement. Apparently he made this interactive horror show and we could decide. It wasn't real and so I voted thinking nothing more of it. I voted for him to live. The screams felt so real and we were all applauding the acting, thinking it was truly incredible that someone could fake this. . .

then I realised.

This was not a recording. . .

this was real. . .

I had doomed my role model, my mentor, we had forced upon him eternal suffering. No one else noticed what we did to them, no one else knew. 

No one seemed to realise it was real

No one realised we changed the course of someone very life causing them to be tortured relentlessly. 

After that stream people's memories of them dropped like flies, no one could remember their name or their face. Their socials were wiped, as if they never existed. We had failed them, their last wish was to die, and we didn't listen

we had failed them. . .

we had failed Ranboo.

Chapter Text

(before this chapter begins Levi is based off of me who has autism)

also there will be language such as neurotypical. Neurotypical is when someone is born without a disorder affecting their brain  (not a defective brain if you have a disorder, it's just like it's been wired in a different way, does all the same stuff just differently) and a neurological disorder is a disorder effecting the brain. Science/psychology lesson over. Now enjoy the chapter.

(Levi's pov)

I was the only person it seemed who remembered them. It hurt my very soul and people called me insane or crazy after I told them about this creator they knew them before that stream, they also loved his content, the funny jokes, the lore streams. Now they laugh and mock me, calling him nothing more than an imaginary friend. Was I going crazy?

No, No they were real, very very real. I know it. I have one of their jackets so it must be real. I need to remember them.

Luckily I had downloaded some of my favourites of their videos and livestreams, every time I felt like I was forgetting, I would rewatch those and remember, seeing my username pop up im his chat. He even said happy birthday to me once. I swirled around in my spin chair and decided to go take a walk. I popped in my earbuds, turned on some lemon demon music and went on my way. I walked for about two hours when I heard it.

Because of my autism I have heightened senses. Neurotypicals can't hear the sounds of outside with these earbuds but I can. It hurts my head so much on a usual day. Headaches are chronic and my ears ringing is a constant. However, my dialled to 11 senses help occasionally. In times such as this I heard the sound of heavy work boots following me, new work boots judging by the loudness of the sound. I decided to pick up the pace of my walk a bit.

The person behind me matched the tempo.

I felt a little unsettled. I walked faster and it continued. O decided it was high time I saw who thought I was worth following. I turned around sharply and suddenly a hand was on my neck and face blocking my screams. A metal mask was in the hand of another person. I fought and screamed in a feeble escape effort. I bit down on the person covering my mouths hand. I ran but they latched onto my arms pulling me back towards them like a boomerang. At some point in the struggle a needle had been stabbed in my neck and the plunger pushed the liquid into my veins. I slowly collapsed to the ground in the arms of this stranger. The other picked up the mask and said in a muffled voice before the world turned an inky black.

"This should fit nicely. . ."

Chapter Text

(Levi pov)

I hadn't fully awoken from my slumber but I could hear voices, my eyes glued firmly shut but my ears ready to listen.

"Are you sure we should have them accompany the hero, it's dangerous"

"they need to keep the mask on otherwise our grip on them is lost, the hero also needs this mask to keep the control. It allows hatch to communicate with them. It doesn't hold as firm grip as it does hetch's friend but it should suffice. Since they need to keep the mask on it won't look suspicious that they both are the only ones wearing it."

"if you insist then. . .wake them up soon, get the camera's ready and let the show begin."

"Wha. . .what happened. . .hello?hello?is anyone there?can anyone hear me?where am I?HELLO?SOMEONE PLEASE RESPOND?! " I clutched my head and started screaming, the mask on it was so tight and there were camera's everywhere making buzzing noises and flashing bright lights. I tried to stand up but I fell to the ground and collapsed.

"wake them up, I don't care how, shock them or something!"

I felt a jolt of electricity go from the back of my neck and spread up my nerves into my head and I awoke. I could see a log cabin living room with a tv. It was where the first episode of Generation Loss was held. The episodes were still uploaded but people thought it was staged, I watched the episodes back memorising everything. I spent so long and I still do trying to find out what happened, how did it work. He appeared to have no idea of it being a show, the reality of that being broken at the end of the second episode and beginning of the third. I knew in this moment that I was experiencing the same thing. I was playing the simulation. I needed to play along acting and putting on a mask.

When I looked over to the side there was an armchair that wasn't there before and on it resided a familiar looking person. On that chair sat none other than Ranboo themself. They were chained to the chair around their waist and their wrists and ankles were cuffed with thick metal bands. Wires all around them and A weird looking wire stuck inside their temple on their head. The mask still on their face, now repaired, the same grey jacket with red accents. The same creepy symbol on it. It was Ranboo in the flesh

They were alive. . .