Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Here she was again. In front of a wardrobe. It didn’t matter which one it was, her brother would be in every single one.

It reeked of blood and rot, she wasn’t even too close to it. Concerning… maybe they tried storing some food earlier so he wouldn’t have to leave? Seek sighed, hoping that was the answer. She wouldn’t be too surprised if that were the case.

For a few moments, she just stared at the wardrobe. Her mind was blank. Seek didn’t know if she could bring herself to knock. She closed her eye, still contemplating on it.

She’d have to be careful, as to not startle him. It was… pathetic, really. How he’d flinch at the slightest noise. Always looking over his shoulder. Yet, he was still so arrogant.

Seek opened her eye, staring at the wardrobe just as she did before. She quickly got out of whatever trance she was in, and put her hand near the door. She noticed the edges of the door were stained with blood and whatever black goo they were both made of.

She hesitated for one more moment, before knocking and hoping for the best. “…Hide?”

An annoyed grunt, or whatever noise he made, came from inside. Seek thought she could also hear sounds of a hand clawing onto wood. “What?”

“Oh. Hide, I just wanted to… talk to you for a second.”

“Why?”

“Because I worry about you? I want to know if you’re doing alright.”

There was an awkward silence between them. Rain could be heard softly hitting a window.

Seek was already starting to regret trying to talk with him again. She had a feeling he would just suddenly yell at her and disappear into the wardrobe. Maybe he wouldn’t this time. Maybe he’d listen.

After a few painful seconds, Hide quietly spoke up, “Go away.”

“Hide,” Seek repeated, “Open the door.”

No response. Seek tried pulling on the metal handle to open the wardrobe, but Hide somehow kept it shut. All she wanted to do as of now was help them. She didn’t know what was wrong… but she didn’t just want to leave Hide alone.

“Hide. Hide, are you alright in there?”

Seek continued trying to open the door, getting progressively frustrated with them as he wouldn’t let it go. Eventually, she gave up, turning around and leaning her back against the wardrobe. She could hear Hide moving a bit in the wardrobe as well.

“Need anything?” Seek asked. Hide let out a near silent hum in confusion. “I mean, are you hungry? I could get you something from the Dining Hall.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Seek rolled her eye, “Funny how that’s the question you answer clearly.”

The other scoffed, “Shut up..”

Seek crossed her arms and looked up. “Well, are you s-“

“Yes.”

“…”

“Can you.. leave now?”

“Fine.” Seek stood up, adjusted one of her sleeves, and started slowly walking away. She turned her head to look back once, before deciding it’d be better if she focused on something else. Maybe she’d go see Halt for the time being.

——

Hide repeatedly blinked to stay awake, though his eyes hurt from rubbing them too much. They didn’t want to sleep yet, he wasn’t safe here. Or he just felt like it wasn’t for… whatever reason.

They flinched after hearing a quiet knock, their extra limbs holding him tighter as he tensed up. Hide soon realized it wasn’t anything he had to worry about, but that wouldn’t be enough to calm him down.

He didn’t want help, they didn’t believe they needed it.

Chapter Text

Unintelligible whispers filled Hide’s head as he bit down on their own hand to try and calm down. There wasn’t much that could actually be bitten- just bitter black sludge. The small pieces of rock underneath him didn’t help, only encouraging them to tear themselves apart even more. Not that it would do anything either.

Hide brushed the small pieces of rock out of the sewage drain, turning around so they were laying on their back. They closed their eyes and brought a hand up to rub the space between them. Tired, again.

He opened their eyes and tilted his head back to look outside the grate, several metal bars blocking his view. It was just the same as any other room in the Mines. Mainly stone and dry rotted wood- though there were several lockers up against the walls as well. They could see the opening to a small tunnel- probably dug by… Louie, was it? Whatever that mole was called.

They turned to lay on their side again, bringing their knees up to his chest. Most of his body just merged with the goo lining the vent.

An uneasy feeling washed over them.

Using just their arms to move, he pulled himself to sink into the sludge on the wall. It felt… distressing. It was the only way he could move now, so they would have to suck it up for now.

Eventually, Hide hauled themselves into a locker, taking a moment to catch his breath. Their back pressed against the cold metal uncomfortably.

He got up to eye the place through the louvers. They couldn’t see much, however, they heard the quiet sound of water droplets falling. It was surprisingly calm… but it fogged up his mind almost completely. Each sound being almost exactly the same as the last.

Hide sat down in the locker, silent. His vision became slightly blurred as he stared at nothing.

The sudden noise of stone falling snapped them out of it. They leaned back, tapping their fingers against one of the locker doors, before pushing it open to view the room.

Said room was flooded and most of everything built in it was torn down. It could collapse at any moment. The water was just shallow enough so that none of it got into the locker.

Hide stared into the water, it was too muddy to really see anything. It still intrigued him.

Hesitantly, they put their hand just above the water.

…

A sharp pain in their fingertips as soon as it touched the water. Hide would’ve pulled away, yet he couldn’t bring themselves to. Only leaning in further.

The dirty water swirled and mixed with the black substance in such a mesmerizing way. Hide brought his hand back up, which had no form anymore, just a bunch of dripping liquid.

It stung.

It felt cold, and at the same time, it burned.

There’s something he wouldn’t mind- in fact, something he might’ve liked.

Just sinking into the water and staying there until their “skin” and body dissolved. Or if the layer of slime covering their body dissolved and left the rest of it to rot on its own.

Maybe they’ll be sent to the Void and never sent back to Limbo. Maybe they’d get away from her. From Them.

Would that be worth it? Attempting to leave everything behind for some relief.

There were few things they cared for. Every one of those connected to leaving this poor excuse of a mineshaft— and a hotel.

His thoughts were soon interrupted as they heard something else splashing around in the water, practically whipping their head and body around to see what it was. Hide almost stumbled back at the sight of it.

A… child? It looked like it was about nine to ten years old.

Then, it hit him. It was a Giggle. Not just any Giggle, one of the many Seek had killed under the command of Them. They could tell by the black slime covering its head and tentacles.

How was it.. alive? Hide swore that every Giggle Seek found died, but there was one that was very much alive right in front of him.

The child tilted her head at them expectantly.

Hide couldn’t say anything . Their sight almost completely turned to static. He pushed down the lump in his throat, before punching one of his own arms to gain awareness again.

The Giggle blinked a few times, her two glowing eyes shining through the goo dripping on her face.

They stared at each other for a moment. Hide could easily tell she wasn’t being taken care of too well… Many small injuries and cuts along her skin, her clothing dirtied, and she looked like she hadn’t eaten in a while.

Hide wasn’t the type to help anyone, not even his own family- due to fear and some pride. He’d usually just run away. It was the only thing they really knew how to do.

“Hey-“ They stammered, gesturing to the Giggle. “Wait… wait here for a second..? Don’t move-“

She looked confused for a second, before nodding and going back to kicking around the water and giggling.

Hastily, they once again pulled themselves through a hiding space, this time a wardrobe. In the back of Jeff’s Shop. There were a bunch of other cabinets and storage boxes. The only reason there was a wardrobe in there was because it was there before Jeff moved in, and he never bothered to move it.

They took a second to listen for anything or anyone. It was just about as quiet as a rat. Hide slowly reached into the box near him, grabbing out some bandages. It wasn’t much at all, but they couldn’t do any better as of now. He also grabbed two flashlights.

Again, Hide sunk back into the sludge and hauled themselves into another locker. Yay. How fun.

If only they could at least leave those cramped places.

Luckily, he was right about what locker to go through, as one of those small tunnels was nearby. Just close enough for him to reach.

He took one of the flashlights and gently threw it into the small tunnel. Soon, a piece of bread and a lockpick were pushed out. Not worth it, in Hide’s opinion, but whatever. They grabbed both of the items, shoving the lockpick into his pocket.

Once that was done, they brought himself back to the flooded room. The Giggle stopped kicking up the water and quickly ran up to him, smiling.

Hide sighed, not out of annoyance, surprisingly. He handed the kid the slice of bread, which she almost instantly took and started devouring.

They slowly leaned over and picked her up, sitting her down next to him. Hide tried wiping away the small spots of dried blood before going on to apply the bandages.

While she was eating, Hide noticed the inside of her mouth was also completely covered with that ill slime from Seek. That’s why she didn’t talk, then.

He finished with the bandages, stuffing the extra ones into his pocket as well.

They didn’t know what to do about her… maybe they’d just take care of her until he can find a better person to do that job. Hide knew there wasn’t any way he could keep up with taking care of a child for long.

The Giggle looked up at him, her expression somewhat unreadable to Hide. He soon understood and surprisingly, slightly smiled back at her.