Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The elevator doors creaked open to reveal a long hall with a narrow purple carpet, beige walls and mahogany flooring. You, the only elevator user right now, stepped out into the office. As you walked, the hall thinned and two giant pictures on the walls came into view, you recognize the floors depicted on them, but can’t recall their names. Then finally, the hall ended with the office itself. It’s quite large, along with tall gothic-style windows and pedestals between them holding various items. You noticed the huge hammers displayed on the walls, but didn’t pay much mind to them.

You stop a few feet away from the desk…

A tall lady in a purple suit and top hat sat in a chair on the other side of the desk. Her red glowing eyes reflected on her snow-white skin and her dark brown hair. “What brings you here?” She flatly asked.

You hesitate after recovering from admiring her beauty. “…I came here to ask you… if you’d want to go on a date with me.” You cringe at the words that come out of your mouth, they sound so desperate when aimed at such a powerful woman that probably would never want to have anything with a random stranger like you. A stranger that saw her in the floor with the spinning wheel and thought that she was really pretty. You even bought a petal cone for her, and now it’s all scrunched up from you holding it so tightly out of fear.

“Hm.” She hummed after a moment that felt like forever. “Very well then.”

You raised your head from the ground, feeling hopeful.

“If you manage to survive Wall Of Fire and Hall Of Plasma, I’ll consider your offer.”

You suddenly find yourself back in the elevator, and you get one last look at Mach before the doors close.

Chapter Text

OH GOD THE FIRE IT BURNS IT BURNS OW OW-

Your body goes limp and falls to its demise as you die and respawn again.

You’ve been using up all your tickets that you have been saving up ever since you started riding the Regretevator. You were never an athlete, but you also never were a quitter. You know that you will beat this floor eventually. With some practice. And luck. You step into the elevator once more, and hope for the best as you sacrifice yet another ticket.

“Do you think this… ‘player’ will actually accomplish your challenge?” Pilby asked Mach before she entered the viewing room of Wall Of Fire.

Mach paused to think for a moment. “It’s possible, but unlikely. Only a few players have managed to survive those two floors.”

“B-But what will you do if they do?” Pilby stammered.

“…I’ll keep my promise, I’m a woman of my word.”

You are once again in the industrial building, behind the chain-link fence with the incinerator starting up behind you, and the red sky above you. This is it, this is the one, you can feel it in your bones. The moment the gate opens, you sprint and jump onto the spinning platforms like you’re in a goddamn parkour race. You manage to reach the checkpoint without falling, and proceed to climb the ladders on the tall walls. But once you got to the top, you pause. You noticed that Mach was in the viewing room above the end of the obstacle course. She’s watching you.

You feel a shiver running up your spine as her eyes bore into you. But you also feel warmth approaching behind you. Shit, you can’t get distracted and fail while she’s watching!

You jump off the wall and climb another ladder to get to the next checkpoint. In front of you are the cubes that randomly shoot out flames. You’re nearly at the end, so it doesn’t matter if you get a little bit burnt. You jump across the cubes, somehow lucky enough to not get set ablaze. You finally jump on the final platform… and the incinerator stopped.

Once you catch your breath, you look up at the window with a smile, Mach’s expression unreadable from this distance.

But it’s not over yet. You still need to finish Hall Of Plasma.

You’ve rarely got this floor before. This long hallway with tilted panels and hexagonal hoops. You never liked this floor, because the speed made you sick every single time.

So you braced yourself for the worst as the incinerator started up, and you began to run for your life.

The wind blows onto your face, and you feel like you’re flying everytime you jump. You pass multiple gates in your path in rapid succession. You barely feel anything as you run through the fiery obstacles. You don’t dare to look back, not even sparing a glance to the plasma chasing you. You just simply go left and right as you dodge the red glass. You can’t even register what’s happening when you jump again and again until-

You run headfirst into the door at the end of the hallway. Stars spin around your vision as you stumble backwards to the ground. Before you lose consciousness, you see something purple coming up to you…

Chapter Text

You’re surprised when you wake up. You’re sitting at a fancy table with empty plates, lit candles and a rose in a tall glass cup.

You don’t remember how you got here, or where you even are because of the surrounding darkness. But you tense up when you realize that you’re not alone.

Red eyes approach you from the dark, and Mach comes to sit opposite you. Given the situation, and occasion, you feel underdressed compared to her, although she’s wearing the same outfit as always.

“So. Here we are. At the date you wanted.” She says calmly.

Your hands fiddle with their sleeves in your lap. “How… how did I-”

“I carried you here. You hit your head pretty hard.”

You start wondering whether or not this is a dream.

“Sorry for not preparing any food. I didn’t expect you to actually finish my challenge. And I didn’t know when you would wake up.” She looks down at her plate, and readjusts the cutlery next to it.

There’s a quiet moment before you speak up. “So… what do we do now?”

She looks back at you, and rests her chin on her hands. “Talk.”

“Just talk? About what?”

“About you. I prefer to get to know someone before deciding to date them.”

“I’m.. I’m just a nobody…-”

“No.” Mach says sharply. “That’s such a stupid thing to say. Everyone is a someone. Tell me, what makes you you.”

You hesitate, but you begin to talk about yourself. Your name. Your personality. Your hobbies and interests. It’s not much, but it’s something, and it doesn’t seem to bore her.

“I know that it’s such a basic question, but what’s your favorite color?” She cuts in the middle of your rambling.

“I love purple.”

“Are you just saying that or do you mean it?”

“Specifically, I like lavender.” You grin as you bring the glass of water to your mouth. And she smiles back.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Huh?”

“So I know what to make for our next date.”

“…it’s not exactly fitting for a dinner date though.”

“Doesn’t matter to me.”

“It’s… chocolate.”

“Just that?”

“…and chips.”

“Everyone likes that.”

“…chicken nuggets…?”

She huffs amusingly. “You don’t like pizza?” She motions to the shirt you’re wearing, it has a picture of a pizza on it.

You giggle. “I’ve… actually never had pizza-”

A phone starts ringing. And Mach pulls it out from her pocket. “Ah, we’re out of time.” She stands up from the table, the phone vibrating in her hand before being turned off. “It has been a pleasure to know you. But I’m afraid that I still need time to decide. However, you may stay in my living quarters if you desire.”

To be fair, you’ve been napping on the floor of the elevator for what, a week? A month? It’d be nice to sleep in an actual bed for once. “Sure!” You enthusiastically respond.

“Very well then, I’ll show you around.”

Chapter Text

Mach showed you around the facility yesterday, and let you sleep in one of the guest rooms.

You’re eating breakfast in her kitchen now. And you can’t stop thinking about the fact that there are a lot of apples in the fridge. Like, A LOT. She must really like apples if she has so many-

Your train of thought is cut off when someone enters, but it’s not who you’ve been expecting. It’s Pilby.

You met Pilby a few times in the past, but they don’t seem to recognize you. You don’t blame them though, there are countless people going in and out of the elevator on a daily basis.

“D’oh!” Pilby honked. “You scared me…” They walked over to the fridge to grab an apple. “…are you the player that completed Mach’s challenge?”

“Yep, that’s me!”

“It’s very nice to see that Mach finally won’t be so lonely :O)” They sat down at the table with you. “Besides me, and now you, no one is really spending time with her…”

“Maybe she just likes keeping to herself…?”

“…maybe…”

You two sit in comfortable silence, eating away at your breakfasts.

“Does… this makes us roommates?” You ask.

“Hm…” Pilby thinks for a moment. “Don’t tell anyone, but I kinda view Mach as my second mom… and if you’re dating her… I think that would make you-”

“Good morning.” Another voice chimes in, you turn to the source to see that Mach is suddenly sitting next to you. “I see that you’ve met Pilby.” She smiles and places a hand atop your own. “I’m something of a… guardian to them, for the time being.” She lowered her voice, but not exactly whispering.

You notice that she has her hammer with her, and she follows your gaze. “Oh. This? Just a precaution, that’s all.”

Suddenly you’re very aware that she could easily demolish you.

And that somehow, it doesn’t frighten you, and think that it’s hot how powerful she is instead.

“Anyways, duty calls, love.” She disappears as quickly as she appeared earlier.

And you’re flustered for some reason.

Chapter Text

You wander around the facility until you find some sort of living room with a window. When you look out of it, you see Mach’s office from above. She is sitting at her desk as always, with the other players examining her wares. She looks up at you, and smiles.

Once the players return to the elevator, she teleports to you. “Hello my love.” She towers over you for a moment before picking you up and giving you a little kiss.

You and Carolina have been together for a while now. After a few more dates, you two became official. You went back to the elevator and happily announced it to your elevator friends.

Some were happy for you, and some didn’t even believe it. Like Bive. But that’s fine.

As long as you and Mach are together, there is nothing you can’t do.