Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The light is supposed to be supportive of humans, but this… this was not something they could condone wholeheartedly.

They’ve seen the way this human gawks at the Figure; they didn’t notice at first, assuming that they were sitting and waiting for the right moment to move. They started to notice the little things now: the way that their stares linger, how unnecessarily close they get from time to time, the way they just can’t seem to steady their heartbeat around the entity…

This unnatural infatuation has been the cause of most of their deaths. Yet every time they come back, they run straight back to it. An unending cycle of insanity, except it is Guiding Light who seems to be the only one being driven insane by it.

Guiding Light has tried to discourage them. Over and over, the angel has told them the things that they need to hear, even if they don’t want to hear them.

“It’s a monster”
“It’s not right”
“It will not return your affections”
“I hear there are billions of humans to choose from, why settle on them?”
“You’re only setting yourself up for heartbreak”

Yet still they dismiss their guides' attempts to aid them. The one time they ever do.

“Maybe one day… you’ll see!” the human would say, heading back into the hotel, each death only making them more determined to succeed. The only thing Guiding Light sees is their head getting ripped off by the Figure once more.

The light does wonder sometimes if the Figure recognises the human, if their scent is familiar, if their taste is familiar… Does it know that they are the same human, over and over? What would such a creature think- if it can even think- about that? Does it think their racing heart is the fear of its prey? Could it- would it one day realise that it is anything but? Is there a possibility- even if just slight- that the human’s affections could be returned?

These questions don’t matter. The light has only one job to perform, and that is to guide the human to safety.

And for now, that means guiding them away from the Figure.

Chapter Text

A hushed voice within a wardrobe means one of two things: there’s a human in there or Hide has some company to keep. Considering that Rush put an end to the last lot of humans not too long ago, it could only be the latter.

Which was all the reason for Jack to do some not-so-subtle snooping around.

“Soooooo, what you guys doing?” Jack joyfully calls out as they burst into the wardrobe. The very first thing to hit Jack was Hide’s fist. He was punched in the face. The second was that he could not see who Hide was talking to. For all it would seem, Hide was on their own in here. A shocked (and exaggerated) gasp leaves Jack. “Hide!? Talking to yourself are you!? You know that is the first sign of madness!” Jack exclaims as he rubs his sore face. “And owwww!”

“You nearly stepped on Timothy!” Hide whisper-yells, angrily shoving Jack towards the door again, though Jack is able to hold his ground well enough.

“Timothy?” Jack asks, finally looking down. Lo and behold, a tiny angry spider, waving two legs angrily up at him, on the floor of the wardrobe. “Oh hi Tim! Didn’t see you there!”

“Obviously,” Hide murmurs to themselves. “Now get out!” Hide tries shoving Jack again.

“But why!? There’s plenty of room in here for three!” Jack exclaims, before rubbing themselves up against Hide. “Nice and snug and all!”

There’s a tiny disgusted squeak from the spider, and Hide seems even more annoyed now.

“Get. Out.” Hide snaps, as quiet as ever but just able to get the forceful intent across.

“Make me” Jack taunts.

And so Hide does, shoving Jack out harder than they had ever shoved a human out before. Jack skidded halfway across the corridor before the wardrobe doors slammed shut again.

Not one to be deterred, Jack tried to reenter the wardrobe.

Hide and Timothy were nowhere to be seen.

“Here should be a bit more private…” Hide says as they arrive in a wardrobe situated in the library. Both they and Timothy are quiet enough to not disturb the Figure, so it should have no qualms with them lingering in its haunt.

Timothy stumbled about on its legs a little; fast-travel via Hide was often a dizzying affair. The little spider was quick enough to regain its balance.

“Now, as I was saying…” Hide began, lowering its head down closer to Timothy once more. “The main trick is to find an entity who you work well with. For someone so small, it would be very unlikely for you to be able to kill a human by yourself.

Timothy looked slightly dejected by that.

“I’m… not sure who you could work with though…” Hide rubs their side awkwardly. They said they’d help Tim perform better at eliminating intruders, but all they had been doing up until this point was telling the little spider that they were completely useless! “Perhaps… we should practise some sneaking capabilities? Maybe you could sneak up on humans, you could attack them more often?”

Timothy seemed to like the sound of that, nodding enthusiastically.

“Um, perhaps we could convince Figure to help…” Hide mumbles, before silently vacating the wardrobe in search of the flesh monster. Hide doesn’t like leaving the sanctity of their hiding spots… but Figure can’t see them regardless, so the library is an overall safe place for Hide to stretch their limbs without prying eyes.

After much, much convincing, Figure agreed to be spider bait. Hide was going to watch from the wardrobe as Timothy tried to skuttle over to Figure undetected before going in for the pounce.

Somehow, it was harder than both Timothy and Hide had expected, because Figure just always seemed to know which direction Timothy was coming from.

“Too noisy” Figure grumbles when asked for an explanation as to what Timothy is doing wrong.

“Perhaps try approaching slower?” Hide suggests.

So Timothy does, trying to subtly shimmy his way across the library floor, eyes firmly on his target. The spider was almost there, and Figure had given no indications that they heard Tim coming. Now was Tim’s chance to-

-Aaaand Figure walked off.

Being slow and stealthy is good and all, but much like the Figure did just then, humans will just walk off before Timothy could reach them. Hide needed to come up with another plan.

“Traps!” Hide exclaims quietly. “Maybe you could build traps into webs to disorient the humans with? Like the way the Snares work with Rush!”

So Timothy does just that. After carefully observing Figure’s movement patterns, it sets up a nice big spider web in a place Figure would usually walk through. The only issue was: what to actually put into the web trap? Poison maybe? Hide had to wonder if Timothy was a poisonous variety of spider, because if so Tim could just supply their own poison for their web trap.

Eh, too late for that now, Figure just walked into the unloaded web trap… Well, at least they could work on that idea another time. For now, Tim deserved a bit of a break; that’s a lot of running around for someone with such tiny legs.

Chapter Text

The halls of the hotel were unusually quiet today. Whilst the thunderous roar of Rush running around was still prevalent, there was a certain noise that was notably absent today.

So the little human decided to investigate.

Their search did not take that long, they found what- who they were looking for in the very first place that they decided to search.

“Ambush! What’s wrong!?” the human exclaims as they enter the room.

Ambush is not known for sitting still for long- in fact, there is rarely a moment where it isn’t running, pacing or otherwise moving its feet about. It’s a wonder why they even decided to build themselves a nest in the first place, it doesn’t spend a lot of time in it at all. So, to see Ambush, curled up in its nest, head buried in its front paws, there has to be something deeply wrong with the creature.

Ambush lets out a small, high pitched whine, but does not look up at the human.

“Unwell…” a muffled voice mumbles into its paws. “...Need… ‘bed rest’... according to light…”

Oh no! Bed rest! To be confined to the very nest you made for the very purpose of resting; a fate worse than death for a speedy, runner boy! The human could see it in Ambush’s whole demeanour; if they slumped any further into the ground they may as well become a big green puddle!

“Oh, Ambush! Is there anything I can do to help?” the human offers as they slowly approach the downtrodden entity.

“Achy…” is all Ambush responds.

“You know what will help with that?” the human says coyly, nudging Ambush’s side as they do. “Belly rubs!” Ambush certainly perks up a little at the sound of that- well, as much as an unwell entity could do anyway, it more just lifts its head up slightly, interested. “You know what to do: roll over and show me the good stuff”

Ambush complies, if a bit slowly; the green entity rolls onto its side so that its underbelly could be exposed to the human. Kneeling down close, the human lays their hands atop of Ambush’s underbelly, roughly where its heart would be. It’s racing as fast as this entity usually runs.

“Ok, I’m gonna give you a good rub” and hopefully it’ll make Ambush feel better, if even just a little.

The human starts slowly, carefully kneading their palms into Ambush’s underbelly.

“...Lower…” Ambush mumbles; the human follows through. “...Lower…” Again, they comply, moving their handing to rest on top of where its stomach would be. A happy little rumble leaves its chest, so they can only assume that it is appreciative of their endeavours. A few of its likes kick out as well, but that might just be because they are a little antsy from lying still longer than they are used to. “...Lower…” This time, the human does not comply.

“Ambush, I am not doing that” the human chides, not looking up to face the entity and keeping their attention solely on its massive belly.

“Awwwwwh…” it groans, but no longer attempts to make them rub it any lower, instead enjoying the nice tummy massage it is being blessed with.

With Ambush so happy with their efforts, the human was trapped giving Ambush a big belly rub for quite some time. They only stopped when their arms began to ache to the point of being actually painful.

“Any better?” they ask when they stop, shaking and flexing their arms slightly to try and bring life back to them.

“A little…” Ambush mumbles. “Could you… do my feet too…?” Ambush then asks, flexing and stretching its claws, presenting its poor and achy toes.

“I guess…” they respond, moving over to one pair of legs. “Wait- when was the last time you washed your feet?” There were actually quite a bit of random bits sticking out from between its toes and in the claws. It was a little disgusting, actually.

“Dunno…” Ambush mutters, seemingly unbothered by the state its feet had been left in. But the human was very much bothered.

“Well, I think you’re due a little foot clean. Wait here” They don’t know why they said to wait, Ambush was condemned to bed rest, so they weren’t going anywhere. Oh well. The human quickly gets up and leaves the room, leaving a very forlorn Ambush by themselves.

Ambush only perks up again when they return; bucket and tools in hand, it was time to give Ambush a little manicure.

“Ok, spread your toes!” the human requests, kneeling back down next to one of Ambush’s legs. It stares at them for a few seconds, as if judging whether they were willing to let this happen, but they eventually do so. “The water might be a bit cold, but it has to be done”

Ambush flinches slightly when the wet cloth is brought between its toes, but it does not verbally protest. Taking that as a go ahead to start, the human gives Ambush’s foot a much needed wash. Little bits of debris, splinters of wood, dark red stains, they were all washed away by the power of collected rainwater. Anything caught in the claws were pried free and discarded into a bag for later disposal.

When they are done with the first, the human inspects their work.

“I’m no manicurist and pedicurist, but I’d like to think this is good,” they say, turning the paw over a few times, lifting the claws to check for missed debris. “Shame we don’t have any nail varnish in this hotel; think Seek’ll let us use its slime?” they add on jokingly. Ambush grunts disapprovingly of that idea. “Oh well, on to the next one”

Ambush’s pedicure treatment took a lot longer than the belly rub, but at least the human wasn’t trapped doing one thing. Their arms weren’t completely dead by the time Ambush’s feet no longer looked like they had seen a war zone.

It stretches all its legs and looks over the human’s work.

“Well? What do you think?” the human asks, taking the bucket and tools to a corner of the room so it is out of the way.

“...Fine…” Ambush states. Not a surprising response. “...Thanks…”

“You’re welcome,” they say, returning to Ambush’s side and given it a light pat on the side. “Now, I better get going-”

“-No…” Ambush may be unwell, but its limbs are still as swift as ever. The human finds themselves abruptly being encircled by two, large legs and pulled flush into the entity's chest. They lost their balance on the way and fell.

“Ambush?” they ask, squirming to break free of the limbs tangling them, to no avail.

“Sleepy… cold… human warm… stay…” it mumbles, curling its long body around to lie in a more comfortable position.

After a few more seconds of futile resistance, the human eventually relents with a huff.

“I’m not a hot water bottle…” the human protests meekly.

“Yes you are…” Ambush responds, closing its eyes and pulling them in even tighter. “Sleep now…”

They would protest more, but given how quickly Ambush seems to be drifting off, it would only serve to delay their freedom longer. The human was just going to have to settle in for the night.

Chapter Text

After a long day of lying about, waiting for humans to stand on them, there was only one thing left to do: lie about and not be stepped on.

A small group of downtrodden and miserable Snares lay in the middle of a greenhouse room. These Snares in particular have been having some awful luck as of late; every human that reaches the greenhouse seems to be near magnetised to their location! So many feet have fallen on their tiny heads! So many boo-boos for them to nurse! They’ve been struck by a terrible case of the big sad!

And the only cure for the big sad is to find a big entity to snuggle up to.

The first entity they came upon was Dupe, who had only recently decided to start setting up in the greenhouse. They were interrupted from… whatever they were doing (it’s none of your business!) by the sound of scraping at their door. With a loud growl, they fling it open to see the small horde of tiny plants.

“What do you lot want!?” snapped the irritable entity. The Snares all squeaked pitifully at the creature, hoping to pull at its heartstrings. There were none to pull at. “I’m not a charity case, get out!” Dupe shouts, slamming the door on the Snares. They turn to leave quickly, but not before Dupe opens the door again and grabs one particularly small and depressed looking Snare. “Not you, you can stay” And then the door slammed shut once more. At least one Snare was able to find a snuggle buddy.

They next saw Eyes, and Eyes saw them, waddling up to the eyeball mass in their pathetic shamble.

“We do apologise, little Snares,” Eyes said with great sadness. “But we do not think our body is capable of providing for you the comfort that you desire”

The Snares acknowledge this sadly, moving on once more.

They next came upon Screech, an entity who, whilst still bigger than the Snares themselves, was quite small.

“Snuggles? I love snuggles!” Screech exclaimed. After a hard day of chomping down on humans, one could only want to curl up somewhere cosy with some good company. There was just a slight issue though… “Oh, but I don’t think I have enough tentacles for all of you…”

First come, first serve; Screech snatched up two of the Snares, That left the rest to search for an entity they could snuggle with.

At last! They found the one entity they could always count on for their snuggles! The one, the only, their supreme overlord Rush! The small gaggle of Snares rushed (ha ha) over to the entity quickly, squeaking joyfully at the sight of it.

“Hmm, what do you lot want?” Rush asked, already getting settled down for sleep themselves. A cacophony of more squeaks emitted from the plant creatures. “Snuggles? You lot do look hurt… but have you been good enough to snuggle with me?” Rush teased. The Snares frantically squeak some more, pleading for the comfort that they were seeking. “Oh, alright then…” Rush easily concedes, allowing the little creatures to press right up against it.

By morning, Rush had somehow acquired a few dozen more Snares.

Chapter Text

The door to the cell was slammed open and the human could hear the heavy footfalls of boots behind their back, entering the room. They did not flinch, nor did they speak, not until the new occupant of their holding cell had rounded the table and pulled themselves out the chair on the opposite side.

“Detective Ninety! How wonderful of you to pay me a visit! I’ve missed you so much!” they

say as if the two of them were old friends. They are anything but.

“Cut the crap,” the detective snaps, they pull out a file and heavily place it down on the table in front of them. From within, it extracts a few photographs, each one depicting a more grotesque and horrific scene than the last. “I think you know why I am here”

“Detective! Such foul pictures, put them away!” the human cries out, dramatically shielding their eyes. It is all theatrics and serves only to get on detective Ninety’s nerves, though ever the calm and rational detective, they do not let it be seen.

“These pictures were taken from the scene of the latest gang attack. You need to tell me everything you know” Detective Ninety replies simply, folding their arms in front of them.

“And why on earth would I do that? What makes you think I’ll turn my back on the family?” The human snaps angrily.

“The gang left you behind at your last heist, did they not?” Detective Ninety points out. That ‘family’ is said to have one of the greatest getaway drivers known to the criminal underworld, so for them to leave someone behind…

“What makes you think I didn’t tell the getaway driver to leave without me? Better only one gets caught than all” Yes, that did make sense to the detective. Acceptable losses and all that. It is a little surprising that the human was so willing to let themselves be considered an acceptable loss.

“Listen, if you cooperate- help us get him behind bars, we can get your sentence reduced” Detective Ninety’s offer is met only by a short, sharp laugh.

“Pfft! You having a laugh? That big fancy detective coat you love wearing frying your brain?” The human leans in closer to the detective. “If I snitch, I’m a dead fucker, you here me?”

“The Happy can’t get to you in prison” The detective tries to reason.

“Ha! Oh, Ninety, you think Happy can’t get me in prison? Please!” The human returns to their laxed position in their chair. “I’d much rather take the full sentence, and be respected still by the gang than to die a snitch”

“Such loyalty… to a monster who would kill you for even the slightest misgivings?” Ninety asks.

The human shrugs lazily. “Loyal like a dog”

“Is there-”

Ninety’s next inquiry was interrupted when the door to the holding cell was slammed open once more; this time, the human did jump slightly, not expecting there to be another visitor.

“I’ve had enough of you!” The angry voice snaps.

“Chief Curious?” Detective Ninety exclaims, stunned. The police chief ignores them.

“How many lives must be lost due to the whims of that deranged mad monster!? Human, monster, young, old, it doesn’t matter to the Happy; they’re all meat for the grinder to them” The police chief shouts, slamming their fists down onto the table, causing the photos on top to bounce slightly.

“The boss is not a mad monster! You just mad you’ll never catch them!” The human replies defensively.

“This city is infested by crime, and it all stems from them; so you are going to give us something- names, locations, anything, and you are going to give it to us now!”

“Cheif, please calm down-” Ninety tries.

“-No! This human is going to tell us what we need!” Chief Curious yells.

“Am I now?” The human replies, seemingly unfazed by the angry being in front of them.

“Listen,” Ninety interjects, trying to cut through the anger of its boss. “If you cooperate, we could help you, get you a deal that gets you out of prison- gets you a safehouse!”

“Nowhere is safe from the Happy. Nowhere” The human replies, voice low and filled with a deadly seriousness. Somewhere inside, the detective knew it to be true. It was only a matter of time before the Happy turned its attention to this police department, and themselves…

“Well,” Chief Curious says a little more calmly than before- but only a little. “Is there anything- anything at all- that would convince you to spill your secrets?”

“Hmm, I don’t know…” the human replies coyly. “Maybe if you’re detective would be so inclined to take their shirt off I might consider-”

“-Absolutely not” Ninety snaps out. Everytime this human sees them out in the streets, they always make these weird passes. A ploy to get them to hesitate in their line of duty.

“Shame… guess I won’t be considering anything…” They grumble, slumping down in their seat. The detective doubted they were even going to consider giving up information anyway.

“Then you won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” Chief Curious replies coldly before turning to the detective. “Detective, a word outside please” The police chief briskly leaves the room, with Ninety slowly following along behind them.

“Don’t take too long detective, I’m getting awfully lonely in here and simply can’t stand to be without your company” The human calls after them.

Ninety just frowns down at them as they leave the room, joining their boss in the corridor.

“They have to know something, and we need to know what” Chief Curious says as soon as the door is shut behind the detective.

“I understand that, and I fully intend to keep grilling them for information, but chief? Is something the matter? I’ve never seen you so angry?”

The chief lets out a heavy sigh, one laced with the exhaustion of someone suffering the weight of the world. Chief Curious makes their way over to a nearby window, staring out into the city streets.

“The mayor has been on my ass about the surge in gang violence, especially after… last night's incident” They rub their temple warily. “I understand their frustration, we need to put an end to the Happy’s reign. Now. But… urgh, sometimes it feels like nothing we do brings us any closer to bringing them down…”

“I know that feeling…” The detective admits. “...But we must keep trying, for the sake of everyone, human and monster, in this city. I’ll continue my interrogation shortly.

“Alright, if you need anything, just let me know. For now, let’s get a nice hot drink and collect our thoughts”

“Sure, I could go for a nice stiff coffee” Ninety replies.

“I’m more of a hot chocolate person myself”

“And, scene!” Curious Light declares. “Good job guys, I think that went pretty well!”

“Can I take this ridiculous costume off now?” A-90 grumbles, already removing the coat that definitely did not fit them at all.

“I’ve already taken my shirt off” A-60 replies from the corner of the room where they had been watching the scene unfurl from.

“Yeah, and it ruined my immersion completely!” Curious Light complains dramatically.

“But I wasn’t even in this scene!” A-60 protests.

“Oh, who cares!” The human exclaims, abruptly standing from their seat. “I’m thirsty, and Curious mentioning hot chocolate got me real in the mood for one, so I’m gonna brb”

“Be quick, because we got A-120’s villain monologue next” Curious shouts after the swiftly escaping human.

“Oh, goody…” A-120 mumbles sarcastically.

Chapter Text

You knew this day would come, there was no denying that, you simply wished it would take even the slightest bit longer to arrive.

But no, today was the day. The Grumble queen was going to have a visitor in her court, one that neither you nor she was looking forward to meeting with.

The large tunnel was cramped; all the Grumbles and a wide variety of Giggles were there to serve their queen. They lined the walls and ceiling, beady little eyes and wide large ones all focused on the undesired guest. The queen herself sat proud at the far end from the guest, staring down upon them. There was an air of dignity about her, of pride as well; she would not so easily cower before the one before her, as many others might have considered doing so.

And then, of course, there was you: the reason the guest from above had come all the way down into these tunnels in the first place. The queen had insisted- demanded- that you stay seated close to her. How close? Oh, she just decided to pull you right on top of one of her massive tentacles and situate you there. ‘Sit, and look pretty’ she had said with a rumbling laugh. At least you’ve been permitted to hold a little Giggle throughout this meeting, for emotional support of course.

“Queen Grumble,” Guiding Light announces with much forced politeness. “I am… honoured to have been granted this audience with you” You want to look up at the architect, stare them in the face with as much defiance as the queen you sit upon, but you simply could not.

“Oh please, the honour’s all mine” Grumble queen replies, courteous, polite and entirely untrue. “But may I ask: what brings you down into my home?”

“I think you know why; that human needs to come with me, you can’t hold them prisoner here” Guiding Light says, still the epitome of calmness.

“Prisoner? Such a ghastly word. I think ‘my ward’ is a better term, don’t you agree?” There’s a light (at least, for the Grumble queen) patting against your back, prompting you to respond; that question was directed to you.

“Oh, uh, yeah!” you quickly mumble out. You try looking up at the queen’s face for a second when you speak, only to instantly regret it and want to look literally anywhere else, where not even a limb of the queen could be seen. Fidgety fingers begin to pet the Giggle in your lap rather aggressively, not that it minded.

“See? So what is your problem?” The Grumble queen asks, returning their attention back to the light, grin wider than ever.

“Calling them a ward implies you are protecting them from something; they have no need for your protection”

“Don’t they?” There’s an evident- if small- annoyance in the Grumble queen’s tone, and you can feel the muscles in the limb you are perched on getting tense. “From what I have heard, this little thing needs some serious minding, and you, oh protector, have done anything but”

“You know nothing as to what is going on in the hotel” Guiding Light’s response is curt, suppressed emotions threatening to bubble over.

“I know enough to know” The queen responds.

“If you do, then you know why they must be returned to the hotel immediately”

“Why don’t they come down here themselves? If they want to accuse me of stealing what they think is rightfully theirs, then please, let them come. We can see if they are as powerful as you fear them to be for ourselves, and see if their strength is enough to best my children and I” The Grumble queen declares loudly, a rallying cry for her warriors- her children. The tunnel erupts into rumbling laughter and mocking snickers from the big and small entities respectively.

“That would not be in your- or your children’s- best interests” Guiding Light tries to reason, voice almost drowned out by the Grumbles and Giggles, but loud enough for the queen to still hear.

“Do you dare to threaten my nest?” The Grumble queen snaps loudly, voice striking through the cacophony of noise, silencing it immediately.

“No, I am advising you to think carefully about the risks you take keeping that human here. You may not be privy to all that goes on above, but the risk that hostilities from above will find their way down here increases each day that human is not returned” Guiding Light pauses for a second, before asking “Why, may I inquire, do you keep them here?” Whilst Guiding Light wouldn’t say it allowed, lest they risk angering the queen furthermore, they highly doubted the Grumble queen was doing all this out of mercy, or the kindness of her heart.

“They keep my berth warm and my nights pleasant” The Grumble queen replies casually. You nearly choke on your own spit.

“What!?” Guiding Light exclaims, disgusted by how nonchalant the queen was with that admittance.

Even if you weren’t caught in a stupor by the queen’s words yourself, you weren’t about to admit that the queen was lying; you’d set up your own sleeping arrangements in a small side room. Regardless, the queen got what she wanted with that little white lie: Guiding Light was clearly shaken by the revelation, and the assumption that the Grumble queen found you too valuable to give up so willingly.

“Yes, I believe it was a fair deal: protection and sanctuary in exchange for some nightly submission. Wouldn’t you agree?”

It was rare to see Guiding Light at a loss for words, but then again, you could barely look at them yourself to be able to relish in that.

“If you have nothing left to say: leave us now, your presence has stained our domain enough today” Grumble Queen growls out.

“I-” Guiding Light finally found their voice once again. “-Would like it that you would still consider my request” Guiding Light says before turning to leave the tunnel, defeated and unsure of how to proceed. “I’ll show myself out then”

“Please do” Grumble queen replies, not caring to wave them goodbye.

The tunnel was angel-less once more; you could finally breathe again, if just a little.

“You… you didn’t have to lie to them- you know- about-” you stammer out, face hot and nerves ablaze.

“You accuse your queen of lying?” The Grumble Queen says lowly, eyes firmly on you.

“Er- No! I mean-”

“Silence” You comply immediately. “All this talking is such a nuisance and is rather exhausting, let us go take our leave for somewhere warmer”

“Us?” you ask, but considering the Grumble queen began to move, without putting you down, there was no need for an answer. Perhaps the night would be pleasant indeed.

Chapter Text

Guiding Light had been sitting inside room 51 for quite awhile now. The human had found the code page, had found all of the code books and now all that remained was for them to solve and input the code in the lock on the door and leave.

Except that was not going to happen.

They knew the human was going to drag their feet with escaping; instead of a swift getaway, they were going to leisurely take their time so they could continue to do… whatever it was they were trying to do. ‘Seduce’ the Figure was what they had called it, but from the architect's perspective all they could see was a foolish human throwing away their life time and time again with little gained from doing so. Insanity was what it was.

They almost cheered when the library exit opened up. It meant that the human had finally decided to give up on their foolish endeavour before it caused them to meet their untimely demi-

“Look Light! I pulled a baddie!” the human called out as they came waddling out of the library. It was both their words and who- what accompanied them that had the angel freezing in their spot.

The Figure’s hand engulfed the smaller beings one as they pulled it along behind them, not that it was actually being dragged along; it came with them willingly, hunched over slightly so that its face was nearer to theirs. A low, almost inaudible grow left its throat at the mention of the Light, and its limbs did seem to tense up slightly, but other than that it did not seem to have any hostile intention.

“How did you…?” Guiding Light begins, baffled by what they were seeing.

“And you said it couldn’t be done!” The human says almost in a goading manner towards the angel. “Anyway, I got a super hot date to go on, so I’m gonna head out”

“Wait, where are you going?” Guiding Light asks as the human, with Figure in tow, moves past them.

“Courtyard. Best place for it. Plus Figure knows a shortcut that will get us past Seek without a chase” Guiding Light was going to ask how they got that information out of the Figure, but the human quickly leans in closer to the light and adds in a low whisper (but wouldn’t Figure be able to hear anyway?) “I’m hoping to get a nice, hot kiss in the rain!” They then continue out of the room together before the light can ask.

Guiding Light watches them leave the room. Jeff and El Goblino, understandably, freak out as the two of them pass by; they’re not used to the Figure passing through the shop without attacking and destroying the place.

How… Could this happen? The architect had to wonder. How could a creature like the Figure return the affections- or at least be willing to give it a go- of a human it once hunted, killed and consumed the remains of? How could a human decide they want something like that as a life partner?

Perhaps when the human was next free of the Figure’s company, they could ask them their questions themselves.

For now, they had to maintain their duty, and guide them.

Whilst not very conventional for the angel, they elected to leave the human and the Figure alone for a while, so they could enjoy their ‘super hot date’ in privacy. It’s not like Guiding Light wouldn’t know if it ended badly, what with the human meeting them after death and all.

Still, with no other humans currently around, all they could do was sit and wait, listening to the ticking of the clock until it drove them mad enough to decide it was time to go check on them.

When Guiding Light arrived at the courtyard, they decided to keep their distance from the… potentially blossoming couple. The human and the Figure were sitting on a large sheet that they had obviously stolen from a room under the shelter. A single, small barrel sat next to them, cracked open and its contents being avidly consumed out a glass by the human as they chattered away beside the beast.

The human reaches for the barrel again, but finds that it no longer has any contents left to consume.

“Ah, shit, we ran out of wine…” they lament briefly before hopping to their feet. “I’ll just run to the Snare cellar and get some more real quick”

Quickly, they make their way over to the already opened cellar (where they got the original barrel, if the discarded shears next to the entrance are anything to go by). With the human away from the Figure, Guiding Light could afford to have a moment to speak with them in private.

“How goes the date?” Guiding Light asks, manifesting behind the human as they extract the desired barrel. The human startles slightly, obviously not expecting them to show up.

“Ah! Light!” They regain their composure. “I think it is going well”

“Oh?” The guide hums out. “How so? Have you gotten your… kiss in the rain yet?” Guiding Light wanted their probs to sound curious, like a friend, and not interrogative, like a parent.

“Ahaha…” They laugh nervously. “Not yet…” That wasn’t too much of a surprise to Guiding Light; how would a kiss with Figure even work…? “But, there’s still time! We’ve been drinking wine, chatting- well, I’ve been chatting- and, best of all, my head is still on my shoulders!”

“I’ve noticed that,” Guiding Light replies, a small half-humoured chuckle. “The Figure’s been drinking wine?”

“Kinda. Holding a glass seems to confuse it so I’ve been standing on its lap to pour some in its mouth-hole” The human explains, adjusting the barrel to better fit into their grip as they do.

“And it lets you stand on it?” Guiding Light asks, evidently shocked that the entity would be so willing to let a human clamber on top of it.

“Er, yeah? Why wouldn’t it?” The human responds, a quirk to their brow.

“I suppose you are right…” Guiding Light felt that any more questions would stray too far into interrogation territory. “Well, I suppose I’ve taken up enough of your time. You’ve got a date waiting for you to return”

“Hell yeah I do!” The human calls out as they swiftly make their exit from the cellar.

The angel didn’t linger in the courtyard much longer, only long enough to watch the human climb atop of the Figure and pour wine down its mouth. The human seems to have this all under control, shockingly. They’ll just have to check in on them after their date has finished.

Chapter Text

“Go away!” The human yells out of their hiding space.

The entity outside did not in fact go away; it had been sitting patiently outside the door for a good while now. The green-turned-red glow of its body and the wide grin being the only thing they could see beyond the doors of their sanctuary.

“Why would We? We know you are in there” it calls out tauntingly, pressing its face right up against the door. It creaks a little under the pressure, and wisps of what looks to be smoke or miasma slips in through the crack. The human… wasn’t originally aware this thing- or any of the monsters that hunted them- could speak.

“Because it’s not fair?” The human complains.

“And?” It replies, wide grin getting ever so slightly wider.

“My timer’s gonna run out!” Curse this entity, the one that eats the time bank more than anything.

“Oh please! We heard Curious Light set Haste’s timer to 59:59 earlier! You’ve got plenty of time!” Blitz responds, dismissive of their timer concerns.

“What!?” The human exclaims, shocked by that revelation. “Wait. You know the light of this place?”

“Mhm. We’re their favourite!” Blitz announces smugly before its face returns to resolute. How this one could be the light’s favourite, they would not understand. The human chooses to believe it is lying on that front. “Now, come on out here already!”

“Fine” The human seemingly concedes, much to Blitz’s delight.

They only hopped out of their hidey-hole for a second, but it was long enough for Blitz to rend their existence from this mortal plane.

Except Blitz’s strike proved less fatal than it was expecting.

“Hey, wait a-!”

Slam! The cupboard was shut once more, with a highly injured (but very much still alive) human back inside. The human in question is very thankful they stacked up on those curious vials before this awful encounter with the entity started.

“There, I did what you asked?” The human responded, smugness mirroring that of the entity’s former demeanour. The smile that usually adorns this beast is no longer there.

“You little-!” It seethes. “Get back out here!”

“No, I did exactly what you asked, now leave” The human barks back.

“No,” Blitz spun around on the spot for a few seconds before lowering itself down onto the ground. “In fact, we think we’ll stay right here. You may have time, but it’ll run out eventually”

“This isn’t fair…” The human grumbles between swigs of their curious vials (gotta get their health back up to full). “Isn’t this against the rules or something?”

“Rules? What do you think this is? A game? There are no rules to the hunt!” Blitz shouts back.

“Urgh…” The human groans, still trying to find a way they could possibly get out of this one. They should have just gone in the hotel through the main entrance… but they just had to notice that the yellow barrier that was usually up was gone and decide to investigate.

Now they’re stuck here; every ticking second like a needle to the gut, pain slowly building. They had no idea what would happen when the timer ran out, but much like everything in this place, it couldn’t be good (especially if it related to that ‘Haste’ it mentioned earlier).

“So… what’s your name?” The human asks after a few minutes have passed. The entity perks up at the sudden sound, having drooped low to the floor. Evidently it wasn’t used to trying to wait out its victims.

“What’s it to you?”

“I want to know the name of the beast who’ll kill me”

“You’ll know it when you die,” There’s a brief pause. “It’s Blitz”

“Blitz? What a stupid name” The human exclaims.

“Hey! It’s not like we chose it. Besides, we think it’s better than ‘Lookman’ and ‘Haste’. What’s yours anyway?”

The human gave their name, begrudgingly. Blitz almost immediately let out a loud roar.

“And you said our name was stupid!” Blitz chortles out.

“Hey! It’s not like I chose it!” you mirror back to Blitz.

“Still stupid”

“Fine, give me a new name”

“What?”

“You heard me; give me a new name”

“Why would we give you a name?”

“Because you think mine is stupid, so change it”

“Fine. From here on out, you will forever be known as ‘Food’!”

“Creative” The human groans. “Fine. Hi, I’m Food, pleased to meet you”

“Nice to meet you Food, we are Blitz” The entity plays along. “Would you please come out of that cupboard; we promise not to attack you this time”

“But isn’t a cupboard where you are supposed to keep your food?”

“What if we just want to hold our food?”

“Just hold?”

“Maaaaybe”

“Reassuring” The human says sarcastically.

“Pretty please?” Blitz begs. The human looks at their former vial stash, reduced down to just one. It was cramped in this cupboard; and they could afford to briefly exit.

“Fine” The human seemingly concedes, making Blitz much more alert once more.

They only hopped out of their hidey-hole for a second, but it was long enough for Blitz to-

“Hey! Wait a-!” The human exclaims. Rather than attempt to kill the human, the entity pounces on top of them, using their front limbs to pin them to the ground before they can return into their hiding spot.

“Yes! We got you!” The entity cheers triumphantly.

“Get off me!” The human cries out, flailing their limbs pathetically.

“Nope!” Blitz cheerily announces, lowering its body down on top of them, restraining them further to the ground. “We think the two of us should stay riiiiight here. We still got time”

The human hisses out as Blitz begins to mess around with the fabric on their back. It pushes and pulls its front paws against their back with both of its front limbs, with the claws occasionally (accidentally) snagging on the human's shirt, especially whenever it flexes its claws against the material.

“Can you get off me?” The human tries asking nicely this time. “I’m begin to ache and the floor is uncomfortable”

“Oh? You want to go somewhere more comfortable, Food?” Blitz asks, not ceasing the weird kneading motion it was doing against their back. “Perhaps you’d like to come back to our nest?”

“Not real-”

Their rebuff was interrupted by the pressure on their back abruptly leaving; they didn’t, however, have the time to react and go back into hiding, for the entity was quick to snatch the back of their shirt up in its mouth and hoist them in the air.

“Hey! Put me down!” They exclaim, flailing out once more, but it is just as futile as the last time.

“Nope!” Blitz says through gritted teeth, still holding the back of the human’s shirt firm. “You wanted to be more comfortable, our nest is more comfortable, so that is where we shall go!” The body of the entity finally turns back to that green that it was when the human first laid eyes on it, and it proceeded to charge off deeply into the backdoor.

Hopefully the human can figure out a way to escape its nest before the clock runs out…

Chapter Text

The first victim was a lonesome Snare. When there are no humans about, the Snares laze about. This lonesome Snare had found itself a nice quiet spot in which to sleep.

All that ended when it heard a noise from a nearby flower bed. Not wanting the flowers to be disturbed, the Snare went to investigate. Everything looked normal in the flower bed, but it was what was above that truly awaited the poor Snare.

A bucket full of cold water was dropped down onto the Snare, drenching it fully; impact from the blow causing it to deploy its spikes immediately. Once it fully understood what had just happened to it- and how the top of it was hurting again- it ran off in search of a larger entity to snuggle for comfort. All the while, three smaller entities snickered happily at a successful prank, before leaving in search of a new victim.

The second victim was Window. She was so used to jumping out at others, it was about time she got a taste of her own medicine.

Sally observed Screech hanging around in a dark room and thought it would be such a delight to jump out at them, not knowing that Screech was only the bait.

When Window got into position by the glass, she waited for her moment until-

Bang!

A little pale creature she had never seen before threw itself against the window, giving Sally quite the startle; she fell off the ledge she had been holding on to and was soon to be unseen in the dark. The three pranksters just laughed. Window would have her revenge when she returned.

Onwards to new prospects.

The third victim was Jack. He’s always jumping out at others, and has apparently been annoying Hide a lot lately. Everyone loves Hide, so it is time Jack got some of his own medicine.

Screech collected the broken glass, Timothy built a nice big web to put it in, Giggle distracted Hide long enough for the other two to properly set up their trap. It had to be in a corner where it wouldn’t bump against Hide, but most definitely would be triggered by Jack if he manifested in the wardrobe. All that was left to do was wait…

And waiting didn’t last long; Jack is so very predictable. A lonesome Hide is just ripe for the teasing. Except this time, the moment Jack manifested in the wardrobe to start his fun, he accidentally shattered a fragile sack of broken glass, small shards raining down upon him.

“Serves you right” Hide grumbles with a huff, leaving that wardrobe for a quieter space.

Jack was just left in shock; he knew Hide wouldn’t have done such a thing, so who-

-Ah! There’s the culprits! Screech, Tim and a Giggle all stood outside of the wardrobe, laughing at his misery. Jack swore his bloody revenge that day.

Chapter Text

Growling, but not from the throat. Lower. It hungers immensely.

Meat, a scarce resource, scarcer by the day. Haven’t eaten for a few hours- a few days- a few weeks…

Prey too wise, never open the door anymore. When they do, they throw their wooden weapon in. Blue chains wrap around an already frail body, threatening to tear it apart again and again. Claw, cling, grasp at freedom, only to fail and fall. The return is just as painful.

Others pass by. They’re bigger than it, healthier looking. They’re able to secure food much easier. It hates them all.

Fingers so thin, barely any flesh on them, barely any fat on the body too. Slowly wasting away into nothing. Makes its home uncomfortable and cold. It needs to eat something soon. Who needs a lower half anyway? It can just grow it back when it is able to secure more food.

Day or night, there is no way to tell when this dark space is all that remains. Time keeps passing by, and the hunger persists, getting heavier and heavier. Who needs both arms anyway? Only one is needed to grab ahold of prey.

Thud! Something touched its door, but that noise could not have been its prey. Sounded more like something had been thrown against the door. Had to check to be certain…

It was prey. Dead prey. The remains fell heavily in front of the door. A bounty for the starving entity, it almost didn’t notice the obsidian eyes staring back.

That smoke beast is staring back at it, but it can not tell the intention behind their eyes. It would lunge for them if it could, the orchestrator of its hunger, the one who takes most of the prey, but it could not. It would not show the smoke beast the sorry state it had rotted away into.

So the two just stared at each other, an unflinching standoff, until the smoke beast decided to leave. It watched and waited for a few seconds, before snatching up the meat and taking shelter behind its door once more. It wasn’t long until only bones remained.

Thud! The smoke beast had returned a few days later, bringing more meat with it. They settled themselves down on the ground next to their prey and pulled a chunk out to eat, before pushing the rest towards the lurker. It eyed the meat hungrily, before slowly reaching out to retrieve it.

The smoke beast did not lunge for it, as it had expected them to. They simply watched it. When they had finished their own food, they left it alone once more.

At least it now had both arms once more.

Thud! Here comes the smoke beast once more. It slowly crawls out of its safe space, cautious and uneasy on its new legs. The two stare at each other silently before eating the meat. Meat tastes better out here, but it can’t understand why.

The smoke beast lingers after it finishes, watching it eat its own share of the meat. They leave only after it has finished.

Finally there might be some fat growing on its bones.

Thud! It is time for food. The smoke beast has brought quite the big pile today. The two eat in silence out in the corridor. The smoke beast finishes first, as they always do. It finishes not long after.

The smoke beast lets out a loud yawn, the big meal making it want to sleep. It is nervous, but it returns to its door, letting the smoke beast follow it inside.

The two curl up in the dark, foreheads pressed gently together and drift to sleep: warm, comfortable and very much alive.

Chapter Text

There are many mysteries in this world of monsters that have yet to be solved, but the biggest by far has to be this: how is there a curfew in place for an adult human?

When Guiding Light said it was ‘prohibited’ for the human to go out after dark, they almost laughed in the architect's face. They withheld from doing so by the sheer seriousness that adorned both their tone and face.

For a while, they abided by that rule, they never left their designated bedroom the moment nightfell, and summoned Dread to escort them if they needed to go out for any reason (usually bathroom).

Overtime, they began to question the reasoning for that ruling. Nothing looked out of the ordinary whilst Dread was walking them to and fro; what was the big deal?

The next time they needed a night time pee, they didn’t bother summoning Dread.

Aside from the hotel being darker than usual, they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Heck, they even made it to the nearest toilet without incident, enjoying a blissful piss without Dread telling them to hurry up.

“What are you doing here?”

The human had started on their return when they suddenly found themselves frozen in place, a cold voice cutting through the darkness. Apparently it was much hard to notice the way Dread distorts the world around in the after hours. Good to know.

“Going toilet?” The human replies nervously as the entity enters their vision. “Is that a crime?”

“You require an escort after hours. You know this” Dread replies curtly, releasing the human from its hold. It gestures down the corridor. The human slowly starts to walk in that direction, the way to their room.

“But why though?” The human mumbles as they walk. “There’s no reason to it”

“It’s the rule” Dread states, and that’s the end of that.

Of course, with there being pitifully few things to do here once you’ve been around for a while, the human was undeterred. They just had to find out what was so important- dangerous- that they had to have Dread escort them everywhere if they wanted to go out late. They kept going out at night, alone.

And of course, Dread had to keep retrieving them. The human could see the frustration plastering its many eyes and mouths, ever mounting with their every attempt.

The human got better at avoiding Dread’s grasp; they could even distinguish when the world gained a grey tinge, even in the darkness. Dread, in turn, had to become more relentless in its pursuits, chasing them far and wide through the hotel.

“Aren’t you persistent?” Dread grumbles as it grabs them once again.

“Maybe I just like seeing your be-au-ti-ful face” The human replies, before shaking themselves out of Dread’s grasp. “Don’t you have better things to be doing than chasing me?”

“Yes, but they can wait” Dread replies.

The human was back at it the very next day. They bolted as soon as Dread made its appearance. They were a little alarmed by the fact that it did not give chase; it had to have something up its sleeve…

Or someone. The world around them dyed a crimson hue. The shock in the sudden atmosphere change alone made them skid to a halt. This couldn’t be right! This kind of thing doesn’t happen! It only ever happens in the backdoor when-!

“No time left”

The human nearly screamed when skeletal fingers grabbed them by the shoulder, preventing them from making any further escape. They were spun around to face the owner of said fingers.

“Haste!?” They exclaimed. “What are you doing here!?”

“Haste” Dread says calmly, having leisurely made their way over to where the two of you were. “Pleased to see you”

“Dread” The skull nodded, before addressing the human in their grasp. “I am here visiting… a friend”

The human looks between the two entities in shock. They didn’t expect it, but it made sense: chasing humans who take too long, changing the colour of the world around you, near unavoidable once they appear… yeah, these two have a few more similarities than expected.

“So, what? You call in backup or something?” The human asks, turning their attention back to Dread.

“Correct. Back to bed with you” Dread orders. Haste lets go of their shoulders.

“I’m not a child” They groan, but otherwise comply. This time, they are tailed back to their room by both Dread and Haste; definitely no way to make another break for it.

“Stop acting like one then” Haste says.

When they enter their room, they turn back to look at the two entities. They decide to test their luck a bit.

“Well, if you want to treat me like a child, how about one of you tuck me into bed?”

“No” Dread replies shortly.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Haste replies, leaning in close, challenging.

“Two big, powerful entities: what’s not to like?” The human leans in closer to Haste, trying to match their energy. There’s a brief stare down between the two of them; Dread just sighs, tired and exasperated.

“Don’t encourage them” Dread says, pulling Haste away from the doorway.

“Aww…” The human groans dramatically. “Well, goodnight you two” The human bids them before shutting the door on the two of them.

Double trouble was going to make finding out what was so dangerous about going out at night very hard… but not impossible! The human was just going to have to play it smart and stealthy if they were to avoid both Dread and Haste. Shame there were no convenient levers to chase Haste away with (they did consider asking Curious the next time they were in the backdoor, but they weren’t sure whether Curious would condone their activities or not).

The human started letting themselves be caught early; prior they would give up after they got caught, but they now considered making a second attempt an hour or so after Dread and Haste had left them alone. It went well, at first. Unfortunately, they were quick to catch on to that line of thinking.

“You know, we have more enjoyable things to be doing then chasing after you all night” Haste groans, as they catch the human once again.

“Then don’t, surely you’ve got other things to be doing, other late night wanderers to catch” The human replies, squirming in Haste’s grasp.

“You’re literally the only one” Dread announces when they finally catch up to the slippery rat of a human.

“Oh sweet. Nice to know I’m keeping you two on your toes” They whistle out as they get shoved back towards their room.

“Are you going to stay this time?” Dread asks when they arrive.

“Yes” The human lies, smiling up at the two of them.

“They’re lying” Haste states, staring back down at them, seeing right through them.

“No I’m not” The human protests. “Besides, it’s not like the two of you can just sit around all night and find out”

“Actually,” Haste suddenly grabs them by their waist. “That’s a wonderful idea”

“Hey! What are you- wah!” The human protests, only to lose their voice as Haste lifts them into the air.

The entity strides across the human’s room, trailed shortly by Dread, before dropping the human down onto the bed they were supposed to be in this entire time. After throwing the blanket back over them, Haste takes a seat on top of the bed next to the human. Dread sits on the opposite side. The human had been effectively surrounded.

The human’s eyes dart between the two entities with manic desperation, trying to concoct a plot that could break them free of the two of them, but falling short.

“What are you two doing?” they eventually ask, still in disbelief.

“Sitting around” Dread responds curtly.

“All night long,” Haste adds. Twisting their own words against them, how cruel! “Like we said, you’re the only problem Dread has to deal with anyway”

The human glares between the two of them before slowly slumping down into their bed.

“This is over, mark my words” They mumble under their breath, trying to not let the presence of the two entities stop them from going to sleep.

It might be over for them.

Dread and Haste do not let them get far on their little midnight excursions anymore, and whenever they catch them, they join the human in their room to make sure that they don’t try sneaking off at night. Really, all this just to make sure they don’t go out at night? What’s the big deal with going out anyway? No one ever says! No one ever will!

“What do you two even do after I fall asleep anyway?” The human asks, currently tucked snuggly between Dread and Haste.

“Talk” Dread replies shortly.

“Unlike you, we can be very quiet” Haste adds, smirking down at the human. They glare back up at the entity.

“What do you guys talk about?” The moody human eventually inquires.

“Things” Is all Dread says.

“Such as what to do with a persistent little human” Haste continues, patting the human on the head a couple of times. The human huffs to themselves.

The human can think about things too, such as how they can get back at the two of them for being such a hassle. They have very limited options when they’re confined to a bed, stuck between the two of them.

“Soooo…” The human began, trying to concoct something that would make one or either of them suffer. “Am I gonna get a bedtime kiss?” They eventually ask.

“You want a bedtime kiss? I thought you weren’t a child” Haste muses. Dread doesn’t say anything, but all its mouths fall into frowns.

“Yeah, well, you two seem to want to act like my parents, so… bedtime kiss?” They press. It’s not like either of them would-

“Suit yourself” Haste responds, before leaning down to press its mouth against the top of the human’s head. It was… nothing special. What was to be expected from a skeleton with no lips anyway? “There, all better little one?”

The human flushes in both embarrassment and indignation at the nickname for a few seconds, before regaining their composure just enough to retort.

“Terrible. Should have expected that from you” They turn over so that they are now facing Dread. “Dread, can I have a bedtime kiss?”

“No” Dread replies.

“Why not?” The human asks in turn.

“You don’t deserve one”

“Why not?” The human asks anew.

“You’ve been naughty” Dread states.

“But I haven’t; I’ve been very good” Haste quips in, smiling over at Dread. Dread’s many mouths have a small smile to them too; the human has never seen Dread smile.

“Indeed you have” Dread responds.

The human was not prepared for what happened next. Dread and Haste leaned over where they lay, pressing their mouths (well, Dread’s central mouth) together in a short, but tender kiss. The display above them left them slightly agasp.

“What the actual fuck” Came out of their mouth without them even really thinking about the words. They- they just- they are more than just friends, evidently.

“Jealous?” Haste asks teasingly.

“No” The human snaps out.

“Don’t be, I don’t mind sharing…” Haste's face leans in close to the human’s ear, so that the following words can be whispered carefully. A skeletal arm also rests on their abdomen. “With a good little human”

“So,” The human didn’t realise that Dread had also gotten very close to their other ear, and placed one of their cold hands atop of Haste’s one; the human’s eyes have never been more focused on the ceiling in their entire life. “Do you think you can be good?”

The human can’t find it in themselves to respond at that moment, but just stares silently- nervously up at the ceiling.

Chapter Text

The lone wanderer was deeply regretting coming to a place like this; that hotel was a terrible, awful place, but this! This was something else entirely.

“Should have just stuck to the path” They grumble under their breath. “Why the fuck did I go wandering off?”

They thought that smoke beast or that weird green thing was fast… they hadn't truly seen speed until they narrowly escaped the little red sprite with a rocket up its arse. There were other usual creatures too: a humanoid one with weird body proportions, a mass of glowing eyeballs, that smiley thing that always looks straight at them…

Ah! The eyeballs are back. At least they are easy to avoid, all you have to do is look aw-

The humanoid one with weird body proportions suddenly entered the room; usually they only appear when the red sprite or smiley is around! The human knew they had to stop moving- to not even move an inch. But their eyes… their eyes could still see the many dimly glowing ones of the eyeball mass.

It only takes a couple of seconds before blood trickles out from behind the eyes, down the nostrils. A lifeless body collapses to the floor before the two entities.

“How was that?” The humanoid asks, slowly stalking over to the mass of meat in the middle of the floor. Its larger arm feels around in front of it, shoving debris out the walk until it finally makes contact with the remains.

“Delicious” The eyeball mass responds. “We thank you for your help”

“There is no need” The humanoid one rips into the carcass and proceeds to feast. Flesh, bone, blood, all is consumed, nothing is spared, not until the humanoid monster has been satisfied with its meal.

The eyeball mass would disagree with that statement, though they would not say it. It is such a struggle to get prey to look at them in a place like this… It’s easier to find and horde food when you eat the meat of your prey, less so when you feed off brainwaves. It had long been starving before it joined with the humanoid… Because it turns out, if you can only see prey when they’re moving, forcing them to stop moving, it's very convenient for forcing them to look in a certain direction for long enough for one monster to feed on their brainwaves until they die, and have leftover meat for the other. A two for one deal.

The eyeballs lingered by the side of their companion until it finished eating.

“If you have leftovers, we can store them away” The eyeballs state.

“Mhm…” The humanoid agrees, slowly feeling over the remains; a meal for another day. It turns its head towards the eyeball mass. “And what of you? Are you still hungry?”

“No, we are not” The eyeball mass tells some truth; they are not hungry, they are starving. With so few prey around, and high competition for food, they do not get to eat as often as they need to. Unlike the humanoid, who can loot carrion they find on the floor if they get desperate, the eyeball mass needs to find its prey alive.

“Hmph,” There’s an air of disbelief from its partner as it gets to its feet, having bundled the remaining meat and bone into a carriable shape the best it could. “Inform me when you do get hungry, and we’ll go hunting again” It proceeds to walk out the room, in the direction of their nest.

“We shall,” The eyeball mass says, trailing along behind it. “But we regret imposing on you so much”

“Don’t” It says, tilting its head a little in the eyeball mass’ direction. “It’s better this way. For you, for us” The eyeball mass can’t disagree with that.

“Stay with me, and neither of us shall go hungry again”

.

..

…

….

…..

“Ah!” Eyes murmurs to itself, having lost itself to its own thoughts. Not a good thing, especially when there is prey to be had.

The human who just opened the door only looked at Eyes for a split second, before averting their eyes in pain.

“Fuck!” The human exclaims as they shuffle their way through the room, looking for the exit.

In that split second, Eyes was able to feed on the crumbs of their mind; it felt their confusion, their pain, their fear… it was so addicting.

But that was all that it was: crumbs. Not enough to sustain an entity such as itself, not enough to make the pain of hunger leave its body. Eyes can barely remember the last time its body felt no hunger…

The human left the room, and so too did Eyes. They’d have to find a new location to set up in, and hope whoever came next was stupid enough to stare at them long enough to feed deeply from.

‘Sometimes… I wish I never left that place…’ It thinks solemnly to itself, lamenting the things it lost in exchange for being a step closer to freedom.

Chapter Text

The human sits, arms folded across their chest, in an infirmary bed. The scowl across their face was set so heavily you could think it was a permanent feature.

Sat by the foot of the bed, was a very large smoke monster.

“I don’t want to talk to you” The human grits out, hard glare boring into the entity, though it does nothing to make the entity consider leaving.

“Why not? I said sorry!” Rush winges.

“Fuck you, that’s why” The human snaps out, throwing the nearest item (a glass of water they were meant to be drinking) at the entity’s large head. Rush doesn’t even flinch when the glass shatters against them.

"Are you really that pissed off? It's just a little love bite" Rush protests.

"I have stitches!" They yell, gesturing to the side of their neck with one of their hands. The wound had to be sealed to stem the bleeding until they were able to get the proper medical treatment, and whilst they have taken some herbs and begun to recover, it still stings like a bitch.

Chapter Text

This was a survivor's worst nightmare; surrounded by a gaggle of Giggles, there was no way for the human to possibly escape from them. Time seems to slow down as one of the many little creatures descended upon the human from above, grinning widely and eyes full of childish delight.

The human caught them in their arms, before flinging it back into the air, all the while the little Giggle was squealing happily.

Up and down, up and down, the little Giggle was enjoying the adrenaline of the constant rise and fall. So exhilarating!

“Ok, you’ve had your share” The human says, putting down the Giggle on a nearby rock. It pouts moodily, fun over, before waddling off into the dark of the mines once more. “Who’s next?”

The human had barely gotten the question out when another Giggle had already hopped into their arms, babbling excitedly, demanding to be thrown. The human complies happily, tossing the little creature into the air and catching it in their arms again.

Some Giggles had been dropped- accidentally, of course- but none of them seemed to mind. They were all too enthralled by the new game that they had just discovered.

Maybe being on good terms with the Giggles would make the Grumble queen more merciful the next time they have to stray through the nest…

Chapter Text

“Oh, Loooookie!” A voice shrills into the dusty room, formerly inhabited by only one occupant. It seems that Lookman’s peace was only to be temporary.

They don’t even respond to Blitz as it comes barreling into the room. Instead, it opts to silently teleport to another nearby room; it fully knows that it won’t deter the determined Blitz, but they can dream.

“Hey! Where’d you go!?” Blitz calls out from a now-distant room.

It doesn’t, unfortunately, take them long to find Lookman again.

“There you are!” Blitz exclaims, racing over to Lookman’s side. The floating entity’s cold stare meets the excitable one of the other. “How you doooooing?”

“Fine. At least, I was” Lookman replies harshly, though their evident foul mood does nothing to dampen Blitz’s good one.

“Why? What happened?” Blitz inquires thoughtfully. It’s almost like they don’t realise that they are the problem…

“My peace got disturbed” Lookman says, hoping that Blitz would finally catch the hint and piss off.

“Oh no! That’s terrible! Can we help?” It would appear that Blitz does not in fact want to catch a hint. The groan that Lookman lets out is long and loud, causing Blitz to bounce back slightly, eyes wide.

“You can help,” Lookman snaps, pointing accusatively at Blitz. “By leaving me alone!”

“Alone? But we like being with you!” Blitz complains, rubbing (or attempting to) its long, furry body up against Lookman’s; the affectionate gesture is not received well by Lookman in the slightest.

“Frankly,” Lookman moves away from Blitz. “I find you intolerable. Go harass Haste if you want some company”

“We don’t like Haste like we like you!” Blitz explains. “Besides, we hear Curious gave them a long timer so they can nap undisturbed” Oh, if only Lookman could afford such a luxury… To be able to isolate themselves when needed, no noise, no people, just silence Alas, they had to deal with a very persistent and noisy admirer.

“Maybe I want to nap undisturbed” Lookman grits out, turning away from Blitz with the full intention of trying to find a new spot to sit in silence.

“Oh!? You do!? That’s great! Maybe you could, um-” Blitz’s cheery bravado suddenly dies down significantly. “Come sleep in our nest for a bit? If you want?”

Lookman turns to face the other monster once again, to see the pathetically meek state it has suddenly taken. Like a school boy trying to ask out its crush. How heartbreaking.

“No thank you” Lookman says dismissively.

“Wha- Why?” Blitz cries out, scooching a little close to Lookman.

“Because I want peace and quiet, and you are anything but” Lookman grits out, staring down at the notoriously noisy entity.

“You want quiet? We can be quiet! Just give us a chance, pleeeeease!” Blitz begs; Lookman is a little surprised that Blitz would be so desperate for their company, that it would result to such unsightly displays.

“If I give you a chance, and you fail, you are never to bother me again. Understood?” If Blitz was willing to lower itself to begging, then Lookman could lower itself (begrudgingly) to giving Blitz their company.

“Yes!” Blitz cheers, only to suddenly change its tune to a low whisper. “I mean, yes!” It whispers out, just as excited.

“Urgh…” Lookman groans, already regretting agreeing to this.

“We’ll show you the way- unless you want to ride on our back?”

“No. I know where it is”

“Oh…” Blitz’s face went a little red- not from changing forms.

Whilst Lookman knew roughly where it was, they had never actually gone to Blitz’s nest. It was the one place in the whole backdoor that they actively tried to avoid. The nest was exactly how Lookman pictured it to be: a mess of various fabrics thrown haphazardly into a small pile. Blitz would definitely find it comfortable, Lookman on the other hand…

“This it?” Lookman asks, gesturing to the pile.

“Yep!” Blitz says happily, making their way over and settling into the nest. “You gonna join us?”

“Remember what I said: you be quiet, or you never bother me again” Lookman warns. It is hesitant as it approaches the pile, noting how the excitement behind Blitz’s eyes only seems to mount the closer it gets to the. As Lookman sets itself down, Blitz wraps its long body closer to Lookman’s form.

“Right. Quiet. We can be quiet” Blitz whispers out.

Shockingly, Blitz was able to remain quiet the entire time. However, Lookman really should have also added a rule against Blitz snuggling up against their back.

Chapter Text

The human bolted up the long, spiralling staircase as fast as their legs could possibly carry them. Other humans and monsters were shoved out their way in their haste; their idling around was nowhere near as important as them reaching their destination in a timely manner.

They were going to be late. They were going to be late, and they were rapidly running out of time.

No! They could still make it in time! The door to the boss’ office was right-

“Boss! I’m here!” They almost scream out as they come skidding into the office; the small crowd of associates turned their gaze to the hunched over and panting human.

“Damn, almost late for a meeting? Could never be me” The red monster leaning against the wall whistled out lazily.

“Can it Multi!” The human snaps back, half tempted to throw the nearest heavy item at its stupid, annoying fa-

“It’s you” The voice that cuts through the air has every bicker, every murmur immediately hushed. Tension ripples through the air as everyone strives to not move a single muscle.

From behind its desk, the Happy brings itself to its feet and makes its way towards the human; every footfall echoes throughout the otherwise silent room, causing small flinches from the various attendees.

“Er, boss?” The human says nervously, shrinking in the spot that they stood. The firm gaze of their boss did not leave their form.

A hand seizes them tightly around their neck and lifts them into the air, legs flailing pathetically; any noise that would have left their throat is strangled out of them.

“I was informed by Multi a few days back that you were caught by the police. So tell me, little human, how is it that you are here?” The happy asks calmly, before throwing the human to the ground. The pain that ripped through them from the impact was enough to make anyone scream out, but they had to stifle away such noise whilst in this esteemed company. They hastily scramble to their knees.

“T-they tried to get me to cut a deal with them! But I would never!” The human quickly starts to explain.

The Happy eyes furrow down into a glare. A swift hit from their heavy boot knocks the human down onto the ground, before laying firmly on top of it. If it puts any more wait into it, the human’s head would be crushed in an instant.

“That did not answer my question. How. Are. You. Here?” Each word has them flinching, the silent wrath in their eyes juxtaposes the joyful smile on its face.

“Please! Just let me explain!” The boot is removed from their head, and they quickly resume their kneeling position. “I lied to them! I pretended to cave so that I would get an opportunity to escape!”

“And you expect me to believe you?” It asks.

“Please! I would never betray you! I’d kiss at your feet!”

“Then do so”

The human is quick to collapse to the ground before the Happy, quite literally kissing their boots.

“Alright, enough,” The Happy turns away and returns to their desk, kicking up dust into the human’s face as they do. “I tire of your pathetic displays” The human gets to their feet, keeping their head bowed respectfully. “How did you escape from police escort, if you are to be believed?”

“Oh, you, I used my good old feminine wiles on detective Ninety. Works every time!” The human boasts, puffed up chest and all.

“‘Feminine wiles’?” Multi exclaims from a corner. It grabs the nearest person to them and pulls them close, pointing a finger towards the human. In a low voice, it asks them “That’s a woman?”

“Hey!” The human shouts, having heard Multi despite its attempt at being subtle. “I don’t necessarily need tits to be able to deploy feminine wiles!”

“I wouldn’t say there’s a feminine bone in your body!” Multi shouts back tauntingly.

“Why you-!” And the two of them were bickering again.

“Urgh. Imbeciles…” The Happy grunts to itself.

Had Multi not been one of its best getaway drivers, it would have had them killed long ago.

“Silence!” Happy shouts, commanding the room once more. Every voice is hushed once again. “Human,” They flinch at being addressed once more. “Did you learn anything from your little… detainment”

“Well,” They take a quick gulp. “Mayor Guiding is putting pressure on the police department to crack down on our operations; you can really feel the desperation on the police department. Pathetic, really”

“Hmm…” Happy responds, eyes still firm on the human. They need to give it more if they want their absence from work to be excused.

“Um, the police department is also desperate for insiders,” They continue. “I don’t think they’ve been able to get any of our people to crack”

The Happy does inspire loyalty, after all…

“Is that all” Happy asks, gaze still firmly on the human.

“I-I’m sorry; I couldn’t really get anything. I was, you know, in a cell… I’m sorry boss…” The human’s voice falters and gets smaller with each word that passes through their lips. They should have done better, and they know it.

“I expected better from you,” Happy says, voice laced with disappointment. “Get out” The human all but bolts out the door, a string of meaningless apologies leaving them as they do. “All of you” The rest quickly follow suit. Useless, the lot of them.

Happy grunts and rises to its feet, turning to the large window that overlooks the city below. It all belonged to them; the mayor and the police department may think otherwise, but it was the Happy that controlled the economy, controlled the businesses, controlled the law. By the time they realised it, it would be too late for them.

The thought of having mayor Guiding, chief Curious and detective Ninety in the palm of its hands, before crushing the life out of their eyes, made a little warm, fuzzy feeling well up inside the Happy.

It was only a matter of time.

“And, scene!” Curious Light declares. “Good job guys, I think that went pretty well!”

“Urgh, I’m getting some water; I think I got grime in my mouth” The human says, heading over to a nearby sink to wash out their mouth.

“Oh stop complaining” Curious says dismissively, before turning their attention to another. “A-120, could you put a bit more energy into your performances next time? You’re a crime boss, act like it!”

“Urgh…” A-120 groans.

“And A-60, why are you shirtless again?” Curious snaps, turning to the red entity.

“Human clothes are so uncomfortable! Why do we have to wear these ridiculous costumes anyway!” A-60 shouts, in the process of removing more pieces.

“For the immersion of course! We need our audience to really feel like they’re in the scene with us!”

“What audience? There’s only us five?” A-120 asks.

“For now, but when we’ve properly rehearsed, we’ll take our crime drama to the hotel and show them all what we got!” Curious cheers. Everyone else in attendance does not look impressed.

Chapter Text

“Don’t you have work to be doing?” The human asks, squirming to get free from Haste’s skeletal grasp. They’d been effectively caged on top of Haste’s lap for quite some time now, arms encircling their smaller form.

“I’m off the clock” Haste responds, a small chuckle following shortly. It runs their boney fingers across the top of the human’s scalp, occasionally patting a few times.

“Really? And what if intruders come wandering into the backdoor?” The human gives a few more defiant squirms, before finally conceding defeat.

“Blitz and Lookman can handle it,” Haste’s hands lower down from the human’s head, settling at the small of their back; it absently traces small circles onto them through their clothes. “Besides, Curious has given me a nice, long timer to catch a break with”

“Lucky you” The human replies. They shift slightly in Haste’s lap, trying to get comfortable. It was difficult when the person you are sitting on is all bone and no skin; perhaps next time they’ll ask Haste to bring a cushion for them to sit on?

They can feel Haste lightly dabbing its mouth against the top of their head, an imitation of a kiss. Haste could never give good kisses; a real tragedy that was.

Chapter Text

Door cracked open ajar, eyes darting side to side, the coast looked clear. The human slowly slips into the room, carefully closing the door behind them.

The long, dark dining hall laid before them; dust covered tables and furniture spread from one end of the room to the other. It was a fairly typical sight, with one exception: Halt didn’t appear to be here right now.

This was perfect! El Goblino was pretty sure the spectre had to hoard all the good food in here somewhere, and this human was determined to find some. They and the other human survivors had been struggling with food supplies for some time now, and they’d be a fucking hero if they were able to bring something- anything back from this place.

They crept through the hallway with practised finesse (thanks Figure…); just because Halt wasn’t here, didn’t mean they felt comfortable making a ruckus. First they checked the tables, but all the plates were either covered in nought but cobwebs or had mouldy food, which… None of them were desperate enough to try.

And none of them needed to be! They found a little serving chart pressed up against the wall, in the middle of the dining hall which had some edible- if stale looking- food under some of the domes. This’ll be a great morale booster for all the survivors!

The human quickly drops their backpack down onto the ground and carefully starts loading food into containers to put in it. It might not be enough to last them more than a couple of days, but it’ll certainly beat the vegetables they had looted from the greenhouse.

Soon they were fully loaded up with everything the serving cart had to offer. If they got lucky, they might be able to find another one with some similar quality food on it. They reach down to scoop up their backpack once more.

“Turn around”

The human lets out a startled scream, almost dropping their bag in their shock; they do just as said. Perhaps they had been too distracted with stashing food to notice the sudden chill to the air, or the dim blue glow that now encased the entire dining hall.

Halt had returned, and was now right in front of them. Any other time, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but they weren’t exactly on the centre of the path through the dining hall, and Halt seemed to stand- or float- right between them and their quickest way out. The human’s eyes darted left to right manically, hoping to see a way out, but coming up short.

“It would seem I have a little rat in my domain” Halt states, eyes shining down on the human’s form. They hold their backpack close to their chest, clinging tightly, like it could shield them from any harm the spectre could cause. It couldn’t though.

It was a little strange to hear it say something other than its usual catchphrase, but that thought was a distant memory compared to the more pressing ones.

“I- I- I-” The human stammers, trying to come up with something to say, words to defend themselves with, but falling woefully short.

“A little, thieving rat at that…” Halt adds, eyes momentarily falling to the back full of food that the human was holding. The human’s eyes look down at it too, if only for the briefest of moments. “How… bothersome…”

“Please!” The human begs. It’s extremely undignifying and embarrassing, but in their current position it might be the only thing they can do to avoid an untimely demise. “I- We’re hungry! I just wanted to get food for us!”

“And you would steal from me?” Halt asks, voice laced with an accusatory tone. It inches a little closer to the human, intention to snuff their life out becoming more and more evident.

“I- I didn’t think you needed it? And we need it badly…” The human babbles, trying to justify their apparent crimes against the entity.

“What makes you think I should care for you little, insignificant vermin?” Halt snaps, getting dangerously close now.

“I…” The human mumbles, barely able to come up with another argument as fear creeps through their every thought.

“I’ve had enough of vermin like you” Halt announces, ready to give the human a swift, cold death, to leave them as yet another rotting corpse inside the hotel.

“Wait! Please! I’ll- I’ll do anything! Just don’t kill me, please!” The human begs feverishly, near ready to collapse to their knees before the entity if they thought it would do anything to increase their prospects of survival.

Halt stops moving, mere inches away from them.

“...Anything?” It asks slowly, dangerously. It was contemplating something. The human didn’t care what; it was their one chance of getting out of here alive.

“I- Yes!” They say quickly.

“Then sell your soul to me” Halt bluntly states. The human is a little taken back by the demand.

“W-what?” They exclaim, unable to tell if this is some weird, sick joke or not.

“Are you deaf all of a sudden? Sell. Your. Soul. To. Me” Halt snaps, anger by the human’s dumbstruck state.

“Is… Is that even possible? What would happen if I did?” The human questions, still carrying a fair amount of surprise in them.

“Yes, it is even possible. You would be bound to me forever, as a slave. You so badly want to bring food back to your little nest of rats, that is the price you’d have to pay”

“O-ok. I’ll do it”

The human doesn’t remember leaving the dining room, nor do they remember bringing three bags of food rather than just the one. What they do remember is the looks on everyone's faces when they returned, bags full of food. They were the hero they all needed.

Now they just needed to find out if it was worth the price.

Chapter Text

“Why hello there tall, dark and handsome! Fancy seeing you in this corridor!” Jack announces, hanging out of a wardrobe.

Rush, who had been passing by, slowed to a stop. Jack is the kind of person to only give compliments when he wants something…

“What do you want, Jack?” Rush asks in a low growl. They had better things to be doing than entertaining… whatever Jack had planned.

“Right to the point? I like it!” Jack responds with a small laugh. “Well, I was trying my hand at cooking-”

“-It’ll be disgusting” Rush interjects, not that Jack was going to let it get him down.

“-And I was thinking to myself: ‘Oh no! I made far too much for little old me! If only I had someone to share it with!’ And here you are!” Jack explains, dramatically at that, with hand gestures, fake fainting and everything. Rush is not impressed.

“As much as I love free food, I think I’ll pass” Rush grunts out, loving to continue along their way.

“What! You don’t even know what I tried making!” Jack protests, a large pout across his features.

“Like I said, It’ll be disgusting” Rush groans, wishing it could just shake itself free of Jack already.

“At least come and see what I prepared!” Jack bargains.

“If I do, will you leave me alone?” Rush asks, annoyed. It’ll entertain this one thing and then, hopefully, Jack will leave it in peace.

“Yes! Alright! Follow me!”

Jack dragged the begrudging Rush through a few short corridors, eventually finding one of those rooms with a large table in the centre. The table was adorned with the food that Jack had tried to cook for dinner.

“Jack, what the fuck is this?” Rush asks, pointing to the spread before him.

Whatever the main dish was, it certainly wasn’t the usual meat you’d find around the hotel. It had to be some kind of poultry, but not the common kind. The tender meat was wafting a delectable smell which would get anyones stomach grown. The leaf greens that accompanied it were served fully dressed and seasoned; you’d only see salads like that in a fine dining restaurant for goodness sake, not in a hotel like this! There was also a fair serving of sugary delights- likely for after the main course- which had one begging the question: how did Jack acquire all the ingredients for this?

"What? It's just a quick dinner" Jack protests, standing beside his fine creation.

"Meat stew is a quick dinner. This is 'I wanna get laid tonight' dinner" Rush states, gesturing to the generous bounty that was spread across the table.

“I mean, is it working?” Jack asks, a quirk to his brow.

Rush just stared down at Jack unspeaking.

Chapter Text

The human fucked up. They thought they had seen everything in their overstay at this hotel, thought they knew how to avoid all the entities by now, thought they had adapted their behaviours enough to survive.

Turns out the entities can adapt their behaviours too.

They just wanted to get to Jeff’s shop, buy more supplies for their group, and weren’t expecting any issues. They knew what they were doing, could make it through anything; Rush, Eyes, Seek, they knew what to do against them all.

Until Seek decided to play dirty.

There were way more hands than usual in the final corridor; between them and the burning flames from the fallen chandeliers, it was basically impossible to get past uncaught.

Now they hang here, caught in its slimy grasp, waiting to be flung out the window to their demise, as they had seen happen to a few poor newcomers in the past. They struggled and squirmed, not like they expected the effort to do anything. It was all base instinct, the will to survive- but even that was slowly dwindling as hope began to die and melt away.

So what was taking it so long?

“Finally,” it drawled out, voice oozing with malice and ill-intent. It brings the human close to the singular eye on its humanoid body. “I caught myself a little rat”

The human does not respond, but stops squirming. Meeting its eye was difficult, but they refused to cower before this creature.

“You’re one of them. One of the rats that have overstayed their welcome” Its grip tightens significantly, if only for a moment, but it is enough to instantly squeeze all of the oxygen out of the human’s lungs. They’re left gasping for air. “Took me long enough to get just one of you. Perhaps I should commend you for that struggle?”

The slime from the hand holding the human is dripping; an ichorous substance stains their clothes, their skin, everything it touches. Deeply unpleasant, but the least of their concerns right now.

The human still refuses to speak.

“Nothing to say? No matter.” A second hand grabs the human’s head in the tips of its fingers, with the original one letting go. Somehow, being left dangling there evokes more primal fear than being held firmly in its fist; they begin to struggle anew, but that only seems to delight the entity. The prolonged silence allows for it to relish in their despair, their desperation. “With you, I will finally find where the nest of rats have been hiding”

The world goes black; the hand which was holding them in the air closes around their head, engulfing it completely. They must scream, but the sludge seeps in and blocks their throat, suffocating their voice and their oxygen. All sound is muffled in their ears, as the sludge blocks it heavier than when you submerge your head in bath water. Body twists and convulses as they try to break free, to surface from this deep black and return to the light, to escape from the entity's grasp. Hands grasp at the slime encasing their head, try futilely to rip it off, but there's nothing they can do to save themselves. Nothing at all.

The torture finally ends as they are thrown to the ground, like a discarded piece of litter; they do not have the energy to run, left gasping for air, trying to wipe the remaining sludge clear of their face.

“Sit up” Seek orders, standing cross-armed above the human. They do not, still reeling and gasping from their ordeal.

“I said. Sit. Up” This time the human complies, shakily pushing themselves up into a sitting position in front of the entity, body still trembling slightly. They didn’t want to do this.

“Hmph,” Seek grunts out. It continues to stare down with a complentative eye at the human for a few more seconds before giving its next order. “Kneel”

“What? No!” The human finally speaks.

“I said. Kneel”

The human was going to give Seek another rebuff, but their body lurched forwards involuntarily before they could even begin to get the words out of them. They told their legs to stop moving, put every effort into doing literally anything else, but the seconds that it took for their legs to crumple them down onto the ground before the entity, on their knees, kneeling before it, was near unbearable.

“Good” Seek states, continuing to eye over the human.

“What… What did you do to me?” The human mumbles out in disbelief, no longer able to meet Seek’s smug gaze, turning their own to the floor beneath them.

“I think you know,” It says, but it doesn't really speak, does it? Its voice, its orders, they all seem to come from- “Do you feel that? Deep within? Beneath your skin?” Something moves. Something moves inside your body. There’s something squirming through your veins, like a parasite, latching onto every fibre of your being; nerves, muscles, brain, it’s all in there. “Don’t fight it; there’s no point”

‘It's inside of me!’ The human concludes, the horrific realisation setting in quick.

“Yes,” The entity responds, their mind no longer a sanctuary from the horrors before them. “You now serve as an extension of myself. Where you go, I go. What you see, I see”

‘No. No. No. No. No’ The human thinks to themselves, shaking their head violently, as if it could shake them free from the parasite sitting on their brain. A laugh rips through their mind, mocking and cruel.

“I think the little rat is upset,” Seek muses to itself. “Perhaps the little rat would like to… Go home”

‘No!’ The human thinks, but their legs are already pushing themselves up off the ground and beginning to walk away, caught in a trance they cannot break. They want to stop walking, they want to claw out their own veins, they want to throw themselves out the nearest window… But their body will not adhere to their own wants anymore; they exist to be a puppet for a singular master.

Chapter Text

A human finally escapes the library, only to be met with a bizarre sight (bizarre in relation to how this hotel usually is).

There’s an open casket on the table where El Goblino and Bob usually sit; it has been surrounded by flowers. On the floor, El Goblino sits on his knees, crying before it whilst Jeff reaches over and pats him solemnly on the back.

“What is going on here?” The human asks, a little confused.

“Bob’s dead!” El Goblino wails to the sky, before crying harder into his tiny hands.

“Oh… My condolences…” The human says, walking over to reassuringly rub El Goblino’s tiny back. They look down at the poor, little skeleton, lying peacefully in the casket. “If it is ok with you two… I would like to have a moment alone with the deceased”

“Mhm…” El Goblino mumbles out between sobs, before slowly being ushered out the room by Jeff (who in turn, shuts his corridor off not long after).

The human, now alone with Bob, lays their hands on the side of the casket, staring down at the skeleton. With a deep sigh, they lean into the casket so that their head comes up next to Bob’s skull.

“Now, listen here you little shit, I know you're faking” The human whisper-yells into the side of Bob’s skull, before standing up straight, crossing their arms in annoyance.

Miraculously, the skeleton springs to life, sitting up abruptly in the coffin.

“Well, no shit” Bob responds.

Chapter Text

There are two things that Window loves more than anything else in the world: scaring others and eavesdropping on conversations. Both are such delights; one gets Sally a good laugh, the other gets her some good gossip to share. And with Window being such a quiet, unassuming entity… very few ever notice her when she starts doing her rounds.

Sally peered into one of the library’s massives windows; the only person she could spy was the library’s usual occupant. The Figure was standing, unmoving in the centre of the room, so Window waited for a minute to see if it would move. It did not, so Sally came to the conclusion that Figure was having a quick power nap. Any normal person would silently pass by, leaving the giant, terrifying meat monster undisturbed-

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Window hit the, er, window as hard as she could a few times, starling the large entity awake immediately. On instinct, it charged towards the window until it hit the wall. The roar it let out shook the pane violently. Sally made her swift exit, cackling silently to herself as she did.

The next window that she looked into brought her upon a large corridor, where Seek was standing around doing… something. The details didn’t matter. What did matter was that Seek had yet to notice she was out here, so she had plenty of time to come up with something to spook Seek with.

Sally had been sitting there contemplating what she was going to do for only a few seconds before something large snatched her up by around the waist. She squealed slightly as it lifted her away from the wall for a few seconds, before depositing her down on it again later, further down and away from where Seek was. She spun around to see what had just grabbed her, only to be met by one of Seek’s large, slimy hands. It pats her on the head a couple of times before disappearing into the darkness once more.

Window scowls to herself for a few moments, but does not let this set back interfere with her day's activities. She moves on to find other stuff to do.

Scuttling along the outside wall, she stopped by a greenhouse window. She was expecting to see Rush doing Rush things, but the room was devoid of any entities other than the Snares. Sally loves Snares! She should get inside and give a few of them a cuddle! But first, she was gonna eavesdrop a bit. Window was an expert in decoding the language of the Snares, and they do say some interesting things sometimes when no one else is around.

The following translations are brought to you by Sally herself.

“I’m hungry” Snare one.

“I hope the boss gives me lots of belly rubs later” Snare two.

“That new guy’s room is nice and warm” Snare three.

“I actually prefer the green one over boss… I hope boss isn’t listening…” Snare four.

“I got stood on twice by the same human earlier” Snare five.

“When is bath time again?” Snare six.

“I tried to go to the library earlier but fell asleep on the way there… and somehow woke up back here!” Snare seven.

“Oh boy, I almost have enough money to buy that contraband I wanted!” Snare eight.

“Contraband?” Snare nine.

“The new guy found some interesting stuff, and is gonna sell it to me!” Snare eight, again.

“What is it?” Snare nine, again.

“Dunno, but I want it!” Snare eight, again.

There was definitely some interesting stuff in there, perhaps Window will share her Snare based gossip with some relevant entities and watch the whole thing unfurl… But first! Snare cuddles!

Chapter Text

Hide, as one of the few entities who actually goes into the library, has begun to notice something as of late: Figure seems to be very down. It made sense, Figure has not been having much luck catching any of the humans that enter its domain recently, so it is likely having some hard feelings.

Now, Hide wasn’t one to leave other entities in such sorry states and was quick to start thinking of a way to perk the massive meat monster back up. A good snack should do the trick! And Hide knows what’s Figure's most favourite snack of all.

All they had to do was go down into the mines and collect some…

With a lot of effort (and aid from Ambush), Hide was able to extract the tasty little goodies from the mines; the noisy little creatures were crammed into a box for Hide to drag back into the hotel.

Upon arriving back in the library, Hide noticed that Figure was just as downtrodden as when they left.

Hide crept out of the wardrobe; with only Figure present, Hide didn’t have to worry about being visually perceived by another. The only real noise made to indicate that Hide was around was the dragging of the box (and the slight clattering from within). Figure didn’t even look in Hide’s direction as they approached.

“Go away Hide” it snaps out, not wishing for its sorry state to be acknowledged by the other.

“I have a gift for you” Hide whispers in response. It leaves the box by Figure as it scampers to find the switch to turn off the library lights. Doesn’t want to have damages caused, after all.

“A gift? I don’t need your gifts” Figure snaps again, though Hide does not let it deter them. It scampers back to where it left the box, next to Figure.

“You’ll like this one,” Hide says softly. “I got it just for you”

“Why…?” Figure asks sceptically, finally turning its attention towards the smaller entity.

“You seem upset. I wouldn’t want that” Hide whispers.

“I don’t need your sympathy” Figure grumbles. Hide sure was persistent.

“You may not need it, but I want to give it,” Hide responds quietly. “Will you open it?” Hide taps the lid of the box a few times, both to allow Figure to know exactly where it was and to agitate the contents of the box a bit, getting them riled up.

“Fine” Figure eventually concedes. It gets to its feet and moves over to where Hide was, feeling around until its claws made contact with the wooden box. The buzzing was faint, but it was very familiar to Figure. They flip open the lid.

A giant swarm of Gloombats immediately fled their cramped prison, swarming the library in an instance. Many of them collided with the bookcases and other furniture, disoriented in this unfamiliar environment, but fortunately they didn’t have enough force to cause any damage.

“Gloombats” Figure states.

“Yes, I know they’re your favourite” Hide replies softly, staring up at the swarming insect-creatures.

The two stand in the dark library in silence for a few seconds, before Figure finally decides to light up its maw. It is only a few seconds before a Gloombat is drawn to the single light in this dark room, drawn like a fly being enticed by a flytrap’s sweet scent. It charged down the giant entity, only to be swiftly caught in the hand of the meat monster. It had no time to even consider trying to wriggle free before Figure was crunching down on its small body.

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Hide says, darting back to the nearest wardrobe. “Enjoy!” Hide announces, before using the wardrobe to vacate the library.

Figure stands alone in the library, with nothing but the buzzing of the Gloombats.

“Thank you, Hide” Figure murmurs to itself eventually, before luring in more of the Gloombats.

Chapter Text

The hotel has eyes and ears all over the place; there is no such thing as true privacy. From Hide in the wardrobes to the many eyes of Seek, there is not a single place that is not covered. Every whisper is heard. Every gesture is seen.

But when it comes to holding information, there is but one who stands above them all.

The Shadow is but a fly on the wall; soundless, formless and rarely seen, they are often forgotten about by entities and humans alike. Some have never seen them, some have never even heard of them, but they are there nonetheless. The briefest glimpses caught by the lucky few to catch them in their sights are the only confirmation of their existence.

It’s funny the things people will say and do when they think that they are alone.

People whisper. People scheme. People tell their darkest secrets. All the while, a shadow with no object casting it lingers unperceived. Caught in the corner of the eye, they are gone before the observee can even turn to try and face them.

Shadow’s intentions are completely unknown; do they serve themselves, or an unseen master? What do they intend to do with all the information they have collected? Perhaps it will forever be a mystery.

Chapter Text

It was in times like these that they were glad that Hide was nowhere to be found in the Rooms.

The human had come here to do a scavenging run; there were goodies to be found here that were sparse or non-existent in the hotel after all. Supplies, filtered water and fresh warm hot chocolates (with little marshmallows too!) were scattered around the varying office spaces, just ripe for the taking.

Provided you could avoid the entities that stalked the dark, of course.

The human had lined their bag with supplies, bottled up some water and poured hot chocolates into thermoses; all that was left to do was to find the nearest exit and bail back to the hotel. Easily, right?

Yeah, not so easily when one of the entities just won’t leave…

“I can stand here all day, so why don’t you cut the shit and come out already?”

The monster they had come to know as A-60 had been lingering outside of their hiding space for a good few minutes now, staring in through the bars of the locker. The human had squatted down, cradling their bag in front of them, hoping to avoid being seen by the monster. Useless if it actually saw them get in.

Hopefully it will get bored soon and leave.

“Urgh!” It groans. There’s creaking from the metal above the human’s head; A-60 was leaned against the locker as it continued to stare into the tight space. “Had Curious not said it was prohibited to pluck you out of hiding, I would have done so already” A-60 lamented, but still very much willing to wait them out.

The human was a little surprised that one of the monsters knew the name of the Light that supposedly lingered in this area (they had never met them personally). For what purpose would they interact? They could be glad, at least, that it seemed that ‘Curious’ is keeping them safe in one way or another. Shame they couldn’t make themselves more useful.

The human was starting to get deeply uncomfortable in there, and A-60 was making no signs of getting bored and leaving. The entity continued to coo and coerce them into leaving, only intermittently stopping to yell at someone- something over its shoulders.

The choice was quickly becoming one of choosing between a slow death or a fast death, and unfortunately the human knew which option was more preferable. Perhaps, if they were lucky, they could shove the entity out the way with the locker door, startle it a bit, giving them enough time to run to another- to lose its track maybe?

It was wishful thinking, but it was the only logic they could come up with to explain to themselves why they shock perform such a suicidal action as trying to leave the locker.

“Ha, finally!” A-60 exclaims. The human has barely emerged from where they are hiding when it has both hands seizing them by under the armpits and lifted into the air. Their back is pressed up against the wall before they even have a moment to think.

“Put me down!” The human shouts, fight reaction having them flailing their limbs in an attempt to wriggle free of A-60’s grip. It is completely futile.

“Hmm, no. I think I’ll keep ahold of you,” The entity, if to emphasise the point, leans forwards so that its chest is pressed into their own, pinning them against the wall. “You’re the perfect size to be held like this, aren’t you?” It says, wide grin to their face. The human scowls back, staring defiantly into its eyes; bright and unpredictable, the human could not discern the intentions behind them.

If past experience with other entities were to be any indication, the intention wasn’t to kill them. It would have done so already, no talk, no show, just death. Perhaps they’ll walk out of the Rooms yet?

“Right,” they reply curtly. “What do you want?”

“To catch a human, of course!” A-60 says, as if it was obvious. Under normal circumstances, it would be, but this whole interaction was anything other than normal.

“And you did that. Congratulations! What now?” The human presses.

“I could kill you…” Its tone feels dangerous, but then again, everything about it is dangerous. “But then again, we so rarely get humans here”

A-60 leans back so it is no longer pressed up against the human; without letting go of them, it turns around, bringing the dangling human away from the wall.

“What are you…?”

The entity strides over to a nearby table where it sets itself down, table creaking slightly under A-60’s weight. The human is roughly deposited down, facing the entity and stradling its waist. They are only released from its hold momentarily before both hands find themselves holding the human down firmly by their waist. That answered that question, at least, but the human still had many more.

“There, isn’t this more comfortable?” A-60 asks rhetorically, moving one hand to rub up and down the human’s back; they can’t help but squirm slightly under its touch. “Don’t try to run now” While it says it fairly cheerily, there’s a thinly veiled threat behind it. The human has no intention of testing whether it would follow through with it.

“...Ok” The human eventually replies. They continue to stare up into the face of the entity, even if they really, really want to look anywhere else.

“Good,” A-60 returns, before its eye gets drawn into something across the room. “Oh? It would seem I’ve caught myself a little, naughty thief”

The human briefly looks over their shoulder; whilst this part of the Rooms is dark, the red glow of the entity holding them illuminates enough for them to see what it had noticed. Their bag had dropped to the floor when it initially grabbed them, and a few of the contents had spilled onto the floor. They return their look back to A-60.

“I need that stuff” they explain quickly.

“That’s quite a lot for little ol’ you” It states with a hum.

“Resources are scarce; I got to stock up” It raises a brow at the human. It knows that they are only telling a half-truth, that there is more to it. There’s a hard squeeze to their waist, pressuring them for more answers. “And it’s not just for me anyway” The human eventually, begrudgingly, adds on.

“There more of you?” A-60 asks.

“Not here,” The human replies quickly. “I came alone”

“Shame…” A-60 responds. There’s a period of silence between the two of them; the human, not liking the awkward silence, decides to break it once more.

“So, what do you want?” The human asks once more.

“You keep asking that” A-60 huffs out, evidently annoyed by the persistent questioning.

“You avoid answering” The human fires back.

“Why should I answer?” It snaps back; it doesn’t seem to be angry, just irritated.

“To stop me from asking again” The human suggests.

“Well, if you really must know,” The human startles slightly as warm fingers from the hand holding their waist slip under the hem of their shirt and starts tracing small circles into their waist. “It can get awfully boring in here: few humans to chase, few of us who live here, such a fucking bore”

“...Ok…?” The human says warily, hoping to get more out of them.

“So why not stay a while?” A-60 poses, smiling down widely at the human. They stare back up, a little baffled.

“Stay a while?” The human repeats before frowning slightly. “Do I even get to have a say in this?”

“I won’t kill you if you say no… but I won’t let the naughty little thief get away with their goods” Oh. Is this blackmail? Make the human do what they want or else they won’t be able to escape with the resources they worked so hard to get.

“What… would we even do?” The human asks cautiously. They do so desperately need to get more stuff back to the base.

A-60 grins widely as it stares back down at them.

“I got a few ideas”

It was a lot later than the human- or anyone else in their group- were expecting when they finally came stumbling back to the hideaway, but they were still alive at least, and only a little sore. But, hey! They had a fresh back of supplies!

“Where’ve you been! Everyone thought you were dead!” One girl asked.

“The Rooms,” The human replies, evident exhaustion, as they drop their back down onto the ground. Someone else can sort out the goods for them. “Lots of great stuff there. I’m supposed to go back tomorrow”

Chapter Text

Another year had passed, only this year there was to be something different going on in the hotel. The humans have been such good sports as of late, it was only fair that Nefarious Light was to reward them for their efforts.

The red light had been toiling hard in the kitchen, aided by her two most beloved entities, Seek and Figure, to make a reward the humans would simply love. It was a hot, sweaty endeavour but they were just about done in time.

“I’m certain those humans will simply love these” Nefarious remarks, inspecting the little red candy she had finished neatly wrapping up.

“These are safe for human consumption, correct?” Seek asks, loading the last batch of sweets into a bucket held by Figure. “I’m quite fond of some of those humans”

“Only… some?” Figure asks.

“Don’t pretend you don’t play favourites” Seek says, side-eyeing Figure.

“There’s no need to fret; these are… perfectly safe!” Nefarious says, tossing the little red sweet into the bucket. “All we need to do is find a little human to test them for us!”

“I don’t trust it” Dian says, turning the red sweet over in her hands. Between the fact Nefarious had decided to brand it herself and she directly handed this sweet over to her, there were red (incidentally) flags all over this.

“Why not?” Nefarious quizzes. “We made these candies for all you little humans to enjoy! I made these ones myself!”

“Exactly” Dian responds curtly, still turning a suspicious gaze towards the sweet.

“They’re absolutely delicious! A real burst of flavour; it’ll blow your mind!” Nefarious continues. At this point, even Seek was giving the red light a suspicious side-eye.

“Nef, what did you-?” Seek begins to ask, though Nefarious just continues her persuasion attempts, ignoring the entity.

“And Figure helped me make them! You wouldn’t want to make them sad, would you?” Nefarious grabs Figure by the arm to reiterate her point.

“You let a blind guy in the kitchen?” Dian asks.

“I supervised” Was all Seek could really add to justify that decision. When Nefarious had initially asked the two of them to help, Seek had thought Figure would mostly be doing taste testing and not actual cooking.

“It was… fun” Figure eventually adds on, still holding the bucket of candies.

“So, you gonna try it, dear? I put my very being into making those sweets for you!” Nefarious continues.

Dian looked down at the red sweet in her hand. There was no way in hell she was actually going to eat this thing; it had danger written all over it! But… Nefarious certainly wasn’t going to let up, not until a candy was eaten.

Without saying a word, Dian plunged her hand into the bucket Figure was holding. The red sweet was deposited back into the mass, and replaced with a little green one.

“Wait-!?” Nefarious began, but by that point Dian had already unwrapped the new sweet and popped it into her mouth.

“Hm” Dian remarks, unimpressed. “I thought that one would be mint or apple or something”

“What does it taste like?” Seek asks, a little relieved that the green sweet didn’t seem to do any immediate harm. Perhaps it should observe Dian for a bit though, in case she just got a dose of poison.

“It tastes like… nothing? Like there’s no real flavour to it?” Dian says, disappointed.

“Oh…” Figure mumbles. “Perhaps we… messed up on that one…”

“Oh, no, no, no!” Nefarious exclaims. “It’s meant to be a lucky dip! Some taste amazing, some taste… mid. That one-” She points into Figure’s bucket, where Dian had put the red sweet. “-Was a good one!”

“...Right” Dian says, still not believing a word the light was saying. “Well, if we’re done here. I’m gonna head off” Dian proceeds to leave the room, without incident.

“Alright. Take care of yourself” Seek calls after her, making a note to have a piece of itself follow along.

“Yes… take care of yourself, dear!” Nefarious calls after, waving a hand dramatically. Once the small human was out of sight, she turned back to Seek and Figure. “And now, let’s distribute these candies!”

Elsewhere in the hotel, Jack bolts up from bed. They’ve suddenly found themselves with a surge of productive energy! They’re gonna get so much work done today!