Chapter Text
Ainalrami woke up in a place he didn’t recognize. He sat up from where he was lying. It was a large grassy field. The sky was dark and full of stars and constellations. Despite there being no Sun, it was still bright.
Surrounding him, were little houses and cabins coated in purple and navy blue, matching with the dark blue grass and trees. He stood up slowly. “Hello?” He called out, hoping someone would be around to hear him. It seemed like he was really the only one there.
“Ainalrami!” A voice called out behind him. One that he felt he should recognize, but doesn’t. He turned around to see a tall woman floating from the sky. She landed gracefully on the ground, her cape pushed back from the wind. “Ugh your name is waaaay too long. Hmm how about Aina? As a nickname!”
Aina just stared in confusion. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking at or what was going on. He only woke up around five minutes ago, give him a break! “Who…are you?” He asked nervously.
The lady only laughed. “Oh Aina. It’s been so long.” She smiled softly and walked closer to him, comforting ruffling his hair. “My name is Moon, silly!” She presented herself. “I’m your queen. Your ruler. Your protector. You were lost in the universe. But I’m here. I brought you back to me. Everyone else is gone too…but I’ll bring them back. That way, we can all be together again!”
Moon. Doesn’t sound familiar. But also does at the same time? Aina put a hand to his head. This was all too much to take in. “You seem very confused,” Moon chuckled. “And tired. I can tell! Just go into you designated cabin and take a nap. I’m sure your other friends will come shortly. I just need to find them.”
And like that, she left, launched herself into the sky. Aina stared at where she left for a while before turning to face the cabins. He slowly started walking towards them. They all had golden plates with names engraved on them. All names that made him feel the same way about Moon. Both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
He could recognize the names. But couldn’t picture their faces. Rigel. Sirius. Antares. Arcturus. Ainalrami! That was him. He walked into the cabin. It was nice and cozy.
There was a collection of skateboards hung on the walls. Pictures of him and other people he didn’t know framed on desks and tables. Those must be those friends Moon was talking about. He kept walking. Past the kitchen, the living room, into a bedroom.
He sat down on the bed, feeling its warmth and softness. He hummed in satisfaction, already feeling comfortable. He slowly pushed off his shoes and laid down. He had a horrible headache. Hardly had any memory of anything. Hopefully this nap would help him remember.
—————————
Once One left her little fake world, she regained her size and was back in the castle she made herself. Perfect. One number down. Six more to go. Soon, they’ll all return to her. They’ll see her as their queen. They’ll all worship her. They’ll all know who she is. They’ll all love her.
She had herself a to-do-list. Find her old “friends” and take them to her little world. Then, find HIM. Wouldn’t be too hard. She kept him in one place. Inside the moon. He would be useful once she had all her little servants. Lastly, get Three. She’ll erase her memory of everything she did. Everything that happened. Stay with her. Keep her. Have her as her own.
They’ll all be happy again. Together. She’s doing them a favor. She’s sure they were miserable being separated for so long. She’s bringing them together. She’s saving them.
It’ll be just like it was before. Of course, with a few changes. But it’s all for good reason. It’s what pleases her most. It’s how it should be.
Any moment now, everyone will be together. In the palm of her hand. Following her every word. Doing as she says. Living perfectly.
Just the way she wants it. The right way.
The perfect way.
—————————
//Six months later//
Two hummed their own little song as they swept the floor of the hotel. It was a mess. Dead bodies and trash splattered all over the place. They know Grassy tried cleaning up most of it so they appreciate him a lot for that.
They needed something to do. This would be easier with their powers, but, they didn’t have any. The last thing they knew was that Four had them. But now he’s gone….
They swallowed the lump in their throat that formed from that thought and kept sweeping. Anyways. They can only assume that One has it now, considering the flowy green substance that was surrounding her when they saw her. Assuming that’s their powers. No doubt about it though.
They needed to get Four back. They also needed to find X. But they also needed to fix the hotel. They also needed to host the show. They also needed to do Cake at Stake. They also needed to figure out what the hell was going on outside.
Weird black goo falling from the sky and morphing things into giant monsters? This was all WAY too much. They just got out of bed after over a year. And now they have to deal with the consequences. This was their fault.
They should’ve done something. They shouldn’t have moped around like that after she disappeared. They should’ve just… something! SOMETHING!
They gripped the broom tightly, almost grabbing it and throwing it on the ground. They steadied their breath. As they did, they could feel slight tears flowing from their eyes. They quickly wiped them away and got back to what they were doing.
Or…what they weren’t doing. The floor was already cleaned. It was shining even! How? They had just started…TEN HOURS AGO? They looked at the clock and realized they had been sweeping the same floor for ten hours. They were way too lost in thought to even realize it.
They sighed tiredly and set the broom against a corner they found. “Two! You finally finished?” They heard a voice call out to them. They turned around to see Price Tag and Book running toward them. They smiled.
“Yeah haha” they laughed nervously and scratched the back of their head. “Uhm. What have you all been doing?” They were silently pleading that none of the contestants saw what they were doing before.
“Well I tidied up your room a bit while you were down here,” Price Tag said with a smile. Thought it slowly faltered after saying that. “If that’s okay with you? I wasn’t sure if you wanted to yourself.”
Two was a little surprised hearing that they did all that for them. They smiled. “Yeah. I really appreciate that. Thank you, Price Tag.”
They smiled back. “After all of that,” Book continued for them. “We just went around trying to revive any other dead contestants that we remembered. Though, there was a problem.”
Two tilted their head in confusion. They were about to ask what she meant before the front doors were slammed open. In came X, panting with wide eyes. The moment his eyes land on Two, they irrupted into tears and threw themselves on them in a hug.
“TWOOO!!!” They practically tackled them onto the ground.
It took Two a second to realize who it was from how fast it was. They smiled widely, their own tears showing. “X!!!” They hugged him tightly, lifting themselves so they were sitting up with X in between their legs. “IM SO GLAD YOU’RE OKAY!”
“BARELY!” X pulled away and wiped all of his tears. “FOUR! ONE TOOK HIM!”
Two frowned and looked to the side. “I know…I watched it happen. She put him in the moon…” X gasped, causing Two to panic and try to reassure them the best they could. “B-BUT WE CAN GET HIM BACK!”
“Wait wait wait wait” Book said, waving her hands and shaking her head. The algebraliens turned to look at her. “Four is WHERE?”
Two slapped their forehead. “Gah I didn’t tell you guys!?”
“NO!” The two objects yelled at them.
“Four is inside the moon? NOW? RIGHT NOW? WHEN WE NEED HIM MOST?” Price Tag asked with genuine panic in their voice.
They did have a point. Four is probably the strongest out of the two aliens. He would’ve totally been able to help with what’s going on. It’s all he’s been trying to do…oh math.
Two pressed their hand deeper into their forehead. “I’m just realizing how big of a problem that is.” Book and Price Tag narrowed their eyes at them. “Wait a minute.” Two looked to X. “You still have your powers don’t you?”
“I do! Don’t think it’s as powerful as your’s or Four’s though. Not sure how much help I could be in getting Four out of the moon.” They admitted shyly.
“Maybe not that but you COULD help with the weird mutant monsters outside.” They said way too casually, standing up and walking towards the doors.
X raised a brow and stood up as well. “Mutant…what?”
As if on cue, screaming could be heard outside the hotel. The four of them looked outside to see Match, Bubble, and Ruby running for their lives and screaming at the top of their lungs. Behind them; a gigantic monster-looking bush chasing them down.
The four of them screamed as well. X used their powers to teleport the three inside and Book and Price Tag slammed the door shut. “X!!” Match yelled once she was inside, shaking X violently. “LIKE WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!”
“Weird mysterious goo falling from the sky and turning things into monsters?” Two shrugged with a nervous smile.
“Oh okay thanks for the warning BEFORE IT CAME HURDLING TOWARDS US!!” Ruby yelled in their face.
“I didn’t even know you guys were here!!” Two crossed their arms offendedly.
“Where did that even come from!?” X asked.
“I just got out of bed like two days ago, X” Two admitted shamefully. They really should’ve been more attentive to what was happening outside the hotel.
“It was the rift,” Book answered X’s question. “It did all of…that.”
“Hmm” Two hummed loudly in thought, their hand on their chin. Everyone else turned to look at them, hoping they came up with something logical to help with the situation. “All of this seems so stressful! You know what I think it’s time for?” They paused thinking someone would answer. All they did was exchange confused glances. “A Cake at Stake!” They exclaimed excitedly and raised their hands in the air.
“WHAT!?” Everyone else yelled at the same time.
.
.
.
.
.
.
After the Cake at Stake, Two sent off the contestants for a challenge: fighting off as much of the monsters as possible. Whichever two teams that kill off the least amount of mutants were up for elimination. They were all able to receive help from Match, Bubble and Ruby.
Once everyone was off Two turned to X. “Alright silly boy, what are we doing?”
“What are WE doing?” X asked, looking at them like they had just blabbered the most insane statement ever said. “What are YOU doing? A challenge doing all of this? Most of the contestants aren’t even here!”
That was true. Some of them were missing. BlackHole, Pencil, and Fanny seemed to be gone. Everyone else who died were already brought back. But they were still gone. It was odd. Price Tag claimed that the recovery center just said error when they tried putting in their names.
“Well then Ruby, Match, and Bubble will take their place.” Their tone quickly turned to a more serious one. “This is just a distraction. We have our own things we need to take care of and having them all over us isn’t going to help.”
“We need to find Four,” X mumbled, finally realizing where Two was getting at. It was quite smart for them to do. Their own partner was missing somewhere in space and they needed to get him back. X is sure that’s their priority at the moment.
Two shot them a finger gun with a wink. “Exactly!” They ran up to their room and dragged back down their whiteboard. They erased everything on it and pulled out a blue marker. “Alright. What do we know?”
“One is back. She’s super powerful now. She put Four in the moon and kicked it into space. She could be the cause of so many contestants going missing.” X listed as Two jotted everything they said down.
Two drew a line across the middle of the board and moved to the empty side of it. “Okay and what can we do?”
“Uuuuhhhhhhhh” That was a question they couldn’t really answer. “What CAN we do? You don’t have your powers, I hardly know how to use mine, Four is gone.”
Two tensed slightly but did their best to hide it, tapping the marker on their chin. “That’s not an idea X.”
“Panic.” She said blankly before screaming and running around in circles.
“WHAT?” Two yelled in confusion, covering their ears to block out the screaming. “THIS ISN’T HELPING!”
Two sighed and turned to the board, more specifically the empty spot under the words “what we can do:” They sighed staring at the blue ink. They’ll find him. They’ll get him back. They’ll get her back. They can’t give up. They won’t.
—————————
Four’s grunts and panting echoed around the moon. Blood falling him his knuckles from the force he put into his punches against the wall. He was trying to make a hole in the moon. But also trying to get ride of the crossed around drawing of X One had made when she was in here.
He’s been at it for a week already. Or, that’s what he thinks. He doesn’t know how long it’s been. Nor is it something he’s really focused on.
All he cares about is getting out of the moon. And getting back to X. Back to Two.
Oh…Two…
His punches halted with his fist pressed against the wall. He looked up at the rocky surface in front of him. He’s hardly made any progress.
He groaned out loudly and turned around so he leaned against the wall and he slid down to his feet. What was he even doing? Why did he even try? What was the point?
Gosh. He’s starting to sound like Two now. Dear math. Two’s still on Earth. He doesn’t even know if they’ve left their bed yet. Or saw what happened to him.
He doesn’t know what they’re doing right now. If One got to them. He stopped on the floor aggressively at that thought. He wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face in them. His tail wrapped around his legs as he could feel himself about to cry again.
He’s pathetic. If this is all he can do in here then what good is he? He just needs someone. He just needs to hear their voice again. Anyone’s voice at this point. He’s so desperate for comfort.
Anything to help him feel better.
“Oh Foury!!” An annoyingly familiar voice called out. Anything but that. He grumbled and turned his head to look up but didn’t part his face from his arms. One proofed up in front of him with a happy and jolly-looking smile. Way too jolly-looking.
She floated around in the air in front of him and cross her legs over the other as if she was sitting on something. “Four? What’s wrong? You look depressed?” She teased him with a face of fake concern before bursting out laughing.
“You having fun in here? I doubt it.” She said after she calmed herself down. He never responded to anything she said. He didn’t want to entertain her.
What could she possibly want from him? She has everything she wanted. So why is she back here?
“I won’t lie,” she said. “I’ve kinda missed seeing your ugly little face.” Is she serious? “And now that I have what I need, I could really use your help.”
Four scoffed. “Are you serious?” He finally responded to her, lifting his head entirely. “You take my powers, destroy my planet, torture my partner by taking their best friend away from them, trap me in the moon, and you seriously think I would be willing to help you with anything?”
“Willing? Of course not.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not stupid Four. I know you’d never let me do anything to you either your consent.”
Four raised a brow. “So then what do you want from me?”
A transparent, glittery blue arm appeared next to her with a little sun floating above it. “I want to test something.” She said vaguely before bringing it closer to him.
Oh he was not liking this.