Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After a long series of incomprehensible dreams, you jolted awake completely drenched in cold sweat.

You look around you, trying to recollect your consciousness.

Whitish sand-colored walls. The morning sunlight seeping through the gaps of the large, unopened blinds. Training dummies scattered all over the expansive room. Photos in the walls that you don't recall taking at all. Other stuff on the sides of the room that you overlooked.

And the low hanging net hammock that you are sitting on right now.

Wait a minute this isn't your room

..eh, must just be an effect of drowsiness, right??

Hell, your head felt heavy too, which seems to prove the point further..

You immediately went to check the time on your phone.. Wherever it is.

Could've sworn you put it right beside the pillow.. Oh there it is, on the desk. Huh. Could've sworn your phone wallpaper didn't look different too but whatever, gonna check time first.

6:45 AM, Sunday at December 15th. Cool. That basically only meant no college or anything so time to just be alive then. There seems to be some notifications on the phone too but you're too lazy to actually check whatever it is, so you put it down on the desk again and hopped off the hammock instead.

Your head still felt reeeeal heavier than usual, but again, must just be because of getting up the bed so just gonna find the bathroom, wash your face, and everything goes back to normal.. 

What the.

Why are even the halls different too.

Why is it so clean and tidy.

Is the drowsiness really that bad.

Ehhhh gotta find the bathroom first wherever it is supposed to be so that you can finally wash that damn face of yours and refresh your really cloudy mind plus wonky vision-

Okay this room isn't it, too empty. Suspicious.

This isn't it either, must be a storage room.

More empty rooms, the heck. Well, not exactly that empty either with a buncha dummies and sandbags and other physical training items around but eh

More rooms, definitely not the bathroom but you don't feel like actually checking in the smaller details.

Okay there we go you finally found the bathroom, now time to just do the thing and-

What the hell.

Literal white skin with a slight red tint. Pitch black eyes. Teeth that belongs to a vicious predator. Blunt claws in place of flat nails. That scar right below your right eye. And let's not forget the two damn red horns right on your forehead and the..... Other horn.. Thing... that reaches all way to the back of your head added with the absolute lack of hair, all stacked on a creature that could likely mangle you up like a bear would had it not been your own reflection!

The sink mirror's playing tricks on you too right now, you thought. You leaned closer to wash your face, it'll go away definitely and there'll be no more of these bizarre stuff and life will continue as normal, you reassured yourself.

It didn't.

The creature is still there.

Everything else still looks the same as they were when you woke up.

Fear and panic and confusion and other unnamed emotions began to erratically ricochet in your mind more as you try to process out everything that has happened to you this hectic morning; How the hell why the hell what kind of sick twisted joke is this who in their right mind would do this-

..Waaaait wait wait wait. This is all just a dream! Why didn't you think that sooner?!

You chuckle to yourself awkwardly. Could've avoided minutes of anxiety earlier, silly you. Now that you've realized this is all just a weird dream, you decided to wake up.

You then yanked one of your horns as hard as you can.

Ow.

Didn't work. Gotta try something else.

Another face washing? Also didn't work. Sinking a claw down the cheeks? Unfortunately no as well.

Biting your own hands? Also negative??

......what. Why. This is getting concerning again. Was your gut right at the first time and this was actually real the entire time? Are you gonna be stuck here for longer? Forever perhaps?? 

While you were aimlessly wandering around the halls, you noticed a flight of stairs that lead down below. You immediately walked down, hoping that in case you somehow trip you'll wake up instantly.

It all felt too real. Everything felt too real. Every. Single. Thing. Why are you here? How did you end up here? Why do you even look like... that, anyways? Speaking of, why does that horned beast look familiar to you, as if you've actually seen it before...?

Step. 

Oh darn it, you're right on the bottom now. No slipping and tripping for you it seems like. Too bad so sad, you gotta stick around for a good while now-

You quickly noticed you're not the only living creature anymore. Another horned figure noticed you glancing at them.

"Hello, Sword."

Chapter Text

This isn't right.

Nothing is right.

That is not your name and this is not your body.

"Did you have a good sleep last night?" The figure inquired in a gentle manner, despite their intimidating figure. Well, your sleep wasn't really the best one but that is the least of your concern right now considering everything else that has happened earlier. Still, you replied nonetheless - while having to act normal of course. "Nnot really... But good morning!" You internally panic over having to talk to someone else in this situation but kept it inside thankfully.

"..If you have any problems that plague your mind, do not feel afraid to talk your heart out. I'll be here for you." The figure reassured you. If only they knew.

"Breakfast is on the table if you're hungry." They gestured towards a room. Oh, it's the kitchen. Uh huh, got it.

So, the figure. Curly ram-like horns of sickly green color, really tall, really intimidating yet awestriking like a big incoming death plague. The fact that they have a plague mask didn't help reducing the vibes either.

They also looked somewhat familiar to you, just like "your" body right now. You wonder why, like have you ever actually seen someone like them before all this madness-

Oh. Wait. You remember now.

"You" and the figure, characters of a video game. Specifically a Roblox game that you unfortunately haven't played for months.

Phighting.

You, or more like your body, is Sword, one of the playable characters. Your favorite. And the other figure, Venomshank. A freaking deity of plague and decay commanding an entire zombie army who wields one of the classic legendary blades from Roblox itself.

..So that's why.

Wait wouldn't that mean this place is where "you" actually canonically live in-

Oh sweet whole steamed carp, did Darkheart caught em?

All of a sudden you felt hungry... All that panic from earlier must've distracted you from the basic internal fact that you haven't eaten anything at all today. Wait, what time is it now? How long has time passed? ...Eh, gotta think about it later, hafta focus on fish first

...How in utter hell did all this happen? How did we end up here? Possession? Reincarnation? Body swap? Freaky sci-fi experiment gone wrong?? Why in a Roblox game of all things? One that you don't play much anymore at that? Does this mean the multiverse theory is real?? Wait if this is really a dream then why does everything feel so damn real; the running water, the horns, the hunger, this fish? Speaking of fish, damn this fish is so good can't believe Venomshank himself made this if he did- Also since we're talking about Venom now how are you able to understand him does every demon phighter whatever in-universe canonically speak English or are you just somehow able to understand him oh wait he's a deity forgot that whoops but anyways if we're gonna be here for a while fortunately you're a veteran roleplayer and theatre kid but don't this game currently not have much canon lore revealed during your gaming hiatus so in other words we might've missed few pieces of important aspects of this body's life also unfortunately this is sorta real life now so what if you mess up and oH GOD HOW ARE WE GONNA GET BACK LIKE THIS--

"..Sword?"

Huh?

"Are you alright, young one..?" Venom looked over you, visibly concerned despite how his entire face is hidden away within the mask."I heard a slight distress back here."

Oh scheisse, did you panic out loud again? ..Goddamn it.

"Ah- uhh it's nothing dad! Im fine, haha! It's just.... Been thinking about stuff." Sheeeeeeit. Day one and you messed up already. Great job!

"......."

He stared blankly at you. Wuh oh.

Youuu areee super duper phucked double triple phucked-

"Alright then. Though please don't stress yourself much, it isn't gonna be good for you in the long run."

P h e w !

Internal panic instantly vanished.

Venomshank's gone.

You might've dodged a bullet there but not sure about the next one.

Please do not mess this up. Please.

Time to finish the fish.

~~~~~

You stared at "yourself" for the second time on the bathroom sink mirror. The panic from earlier morning must've made you not take a closer inspection of this body.

Alongside the more obvious stuff you began to notice... Many, many old scars across your skin. Stabs? Yep. Cuts and lacerations? Yuh uh. Burns, bites, and other miscellaneous types? Absolutely. Damn. Imagine how hard this mofo trains everyday...

And then there's that you're still wearing the same old white shirt and black shorts you wore before going to sleep.. before all this. Buttttt then again it could've been just a coincidence-

Speaking of, better get yourself dressed.

You're about to go outside to take a little walk around the city. You know, to refresh your mind and stuff. And also to learn more about this world since the devs haven't revealed much of the lore yet back when you weren't.... Literally in the game.

At least when you're on that off chance of getting back into your actual life you'd have more knowledge maybe.

Amongst the things you're foraging in the surprisingly spacious closet you see.... A red sleeveless shirt, dirt brown pants and gloves, chocolate-colored combat boots, brown belt and sheath, a pauldron piece, a slightly worn down cape with a clip on the side, lastly a metallic helmet, with modifications to fit the horns in of course. Aka, "your" phight outfit. 

Wait. Phight. 

You remember those times you actually had the time and guts to play the game, you activated idiot mode and fell down the map to your death so many times in a consecutive row.

Well, you haven't had a phight for quite a long time, in the gaming sense. Imagine how a *real* one would've felt like... Yeesh-

So anyway you took the helmet. Ooh, real cool. Too bad you don't actually look this cool in real life!- okay maybe it's time to stop with the negative comments for a while we have a much bigger problem right on us right now

Coral jacket, dust gray sweatpants. Phone? Duh. In the pocket it goes.

You're ready. 

"I'm going for a walk dad" You said to Venomshank, standing in front of the door to outside. It honestly feels weird to call him your dad but alas, you had to.

"Oh, stay safe Sword." He walked over to you. His tall posture and emotionless mask would be very scary had he not shown genuine love for his child, oh if only. "Be careful out there, young one. I love you." He patted the area in between your horns and the other thing, whatever it is. 

You nodded, giving the best Sword Phighting type grin you can. And then you finally went outside.

Can't believe Sword's house is in the other side of an alley. Not the darkest, most grim alley out there considering Earth's ones but still.

It's surprisingly quiet out here. Isn't Sunday supposed to be full of people going on vacation and shopping or something? Does it work differently for demons? Whatever, not a big concern right now. In fact... This only means you can take a closer look at houses and other buildings without weird looks all over you. 

Several blocks from the alley is one dirty apartment, trash of many kinds littered around the yard. Reminds you of home. Maybe that's why you somehow felt dejavu seeing it. Eh.

In the other distance, a bluish figure.

Wait, could that be...?!

[[End of chapter]]

Chapter Text

It was peaceful midnight in Crossroads. Awfully, unnaturally peaceful even. Though that means Venomshank won't have to deal with too much stuff right now, as the deity of decay stood atop an abandoned three-story apartment watching over one part of the city, mask off since there's one else beside him alone.

He has sent Sisyphus to scout over the other parts in case of anything interesting, well he can actually do it himself but he... Just wants to take an off hour from the usual stuff for now.

It was unnaturally peaceful.

Then. A force of darkness, monarch of mischief and mayhem. Darkheart silently slinked towards his lighter green fellow, blade always by his side as always. Of course, the other god noticed his sibling coming so he wasn't really surprised.

"Oi." Darkheart greeted his close sibling, with a mischievous tone as usual. Venomshank turned his head around slightly. "Hmm?" He looked into the other sword's eyes, if he even had any in the first place. "What do you want, Darkheart?"

A bucket suddenly popped up in Darkheart's hands, "We caught fish"

"Oh, that's nice but why-"

*Bam!* Bucket right in the face.

"...Out of all things you can do and you decide on this one." He said to his sibling, slightly annoyed by him as the other giggles a bit seeing what just happened.

He looked inside the bucket. Whole carp. "Give it to Sword. He'd like it we bet~!" Darkheart chirped. "Plus we're not in the mood for having that all for ourselves, so.."

Venoshank looked away from the bucket aaaand Darkheart is gone. Typical.

Oh well, better get going before this fish fully decays, Venomshank thinks, his beloved child is gonna get real hungry tomorrow morning. Mortals are strange, but whatever, he'll do anything for him.

He put on his mask again, and summoned his wings, decaying it looks like with displaced skin and bone though still work because gods do not care about the word "how", and flew away.

Chapter Text

Oh god.

Oh god oh my god no this couldn't be in any way real it cannot be real blue four horns blue shirt blue goggles blue everything else minus skin and prosthetics it's,

Phucking.

Rocket.

Phighting.

Another playable character, Sword's best friend, inventor of demon internal racism. Okay, the last part was sorta a joke but still- oh and child of a legendary soldier as well.

And he's approaching.

Well scheisse.

Dodge a nuclear bomb once, dead by a plastic bullet next-

"Ooooooi Sword!!"

••

Rocket mad dashed towards his buddy and straight up tackled him to the point of almost making him tumble over like a bowling pin. "Was about to visit you earlier dude!"

"Eyy, Rocket!! Nice to see ya! Why are you visiting me if i may ask?" Sword greeted back.

"Eh?" The blue-horned one tiled his head slightly. "Did you not look at your phone? You wanted us to do some stuff yesterday, dontcha remember? plus you didn't even respond to my messages..." He murmured the last part very quietly, almost inaudible.

The red-horned one put his left hand on the back of his head, embarrassed. "Oh right forgot that, sorry.."

"So what are we going now?" The rocketeer asked the swordsmon, surely he has some ideas on where to spend the day. "Ehh.... Dunno, had nothing!" said Sword. Oh. Sword, oh Sword, always impulsive he is since forever, he never changed did he? Welp.

"Welp! Guess I'll be the one who decides then. Follow me if you can!" Rocket then immediately runs off, pulls off his namesake, and pogo'd his way with the explosions. The silhouette of his best bud then disappears, him seemingly getting left behind. Damn, can't catch him this time eh? 

Rocket thought to himself for a moment. Why does his friend feel... Off?

He shrugged it off. Must just be paranoia. Gotta think about it later he suppose.

••

Meanwhile.

Venomshank sat inside his house, pondering. Why does his child feel off? Like, something is not right about him? He said he's fine earlier, right? He's real honest, dangerously honest even, and he knows it. Though he did say he was thinking about stuff too...

Better watch him from afar just in case something happens to his beloved mentee.

He whistled, in a tone that a certain avian takes as a call from the commander. Not long after, a crow flew from a window, feathers dark like midnight, with a shining sheen of the dim stars, eyes undead just like the day they were brought back from untimely death as a zombie yet still full of spirit. "Sisyphus." Venomshank, the crow's commander called them. "Can you watch him for me? I just want him to be okay."

Sisyphus nodded and cawed lightly, affirming that the bird will carry on the task to the best of their ability. "Thank you." They were then immediately met with a pat pat in the head.

Soon the black bird flew off, seeking the commander's child's current whereabouts somewhere...

~~

Why do you feel watched?

Chapter Text

While we all wait for the actual chapter 4 (kinda struggling tbh) here's what our protag looks like!

okay im joking

partially

Tho here's what their outfit is atm (outfits r pain ngl)

ok that's it see ya, until next time, stay tuned, adios, sayonara, hasta la vista, every other farewell message im both too lazy and don't have much time left to type em all-

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Soda just posted the first pages of Death In The Family (an official phighting comic if you don't know) today on the Discord and uh

Im not okay💔

Felt like fixing some stuff in the prev chapters sometime main or not but i think this'll only enhance the fic further >:]

Can't wait for more \o/

Chapter Text

Why do you feel watched?

You think to yourself, all while chasing Rocket. Where? You don't know, can't ask, he's gone, that's why you're chasing him.

Is this the correct way of how Sword runs? Are your steps completely in character? Is whoever watching you currently judging your very suspicious move? What the hell is character? What?

.....

Alleys. More of them. Holy hell. Trash cans, trash cans, boxes. Of all roads Rocket could've took this is what he made his trails be, oh man. You think you accidentally went back to the same spot again. And again. Who in hell decided to turn the place into one humongous maze- oh that's just Earth cities in a nutshell. You notice some windows and balconies up above. There seems to be silhouettes of other demons doing their own business. Hm. Wonder if there's gonna be some activities down here anytime soon. By the way, are people watching? Are they thinking that Sword from the hit Roblox game Phighting has hit his head that hard? Are they??

Light and dark and light and dark. Neon lighting jumpscare, then dark and dark again. Oops almost tripped on some empty spraypaint cans, embarrassing, especially in this body. Speaking of.... Who knew that demon body would be quite full of stamina holy scheisse- you felt little fatigue at all even though you're essentially just doing parkour in these alleys! Could it be Sword just being a fit guy in general..? Well, we mean he was trained by a freaking god anyway, sooo.

No more alleys, finally freedom! But.... Hello splitting roads that branch like the roots of mangrove, zillion towering buildings poking the skies akin to a forest of sequoia, and many many huge colorful signs plus billboards plastered all over... And this is not even the center yet you're sure. Crossroads is so damn enormous holy phucking scheisse the devs really didn't lie about it, wonder how's game development going right now-

Oh hey no more feeling of being watched, why not stop for a while. You dash back into an alley, wanting to check the time since the time this whole thing happened.

You pull out "your" phone. 10:56 AM. Did time really flew that fast here? How odd. Oh look, notifs. Hm.... Chat. So creative of an app name. From the looks of it it seems like yesterday Sword wanted to invite Rocket to go somewhere, probs to train, but better not mess with someone's phone.

......This is trippy. Ain't no way all this is real this is absurd

Scheisse. The feeling, it came back again. Darn it. Better get going now, better not make Rocket nor the other presence feel suspicious.

..You think you just saw a trail of gunpowder right there. Perfect.

[ Now playing: Jet Set Sonic - Running the Bassline ]

Yep. You're out at last. Out of those darn alleys and so many confusing roads. You also saw a few other demons going about their business here and there but fortunately, you're an expert at avoiding people since forever ago so no need for unnecessary interactions at all.

There you saw Rocket, sitting around on a bench in an empty parking lot near an abandoned 5-story building. He looks a bit annoyed.. Whoops. How are you gonna explain..

"Oi dude, what took you so long??"

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Uhhh hi phans and non phans reading this dumb little fix

So uh yk that i haven't updated in a while

Well just to let you know, i have -5 ideas on what to write at all

so the point is

You🫵 can help give me ideas and stuff today! Ofc not like, the whole chapter and all, but a few snips of scenes and situations and atmosphere could help kickstart the process, so helping hands is very appreciated!

Thank you for taking your tume to read tjis, sry for the inconvenience OTL