Chapter Text
Niko shattered the sun, they felt horrible.
Breaking the very thing they were protecting over the whole journey felt wrong. So many people were relying on the sun to come back.
They were a child, of course they trusted anyone with a high authority. If A grown-up told them to smash the sun, someone Niko trusted. They would have done it. So a higher being telling them to do it was enough to for them to follow their selfish desire to go home.
Niko realised they were in a void, they could see a lush garden with pillars in the centre, positioned to make the shape of a circle. There were pillars along the sides too and paired with the trees and bushes of flowers. The garden looked safe. Inviting even.
Niko wandered into the garden, "________, do you see this?" Niko asked.
There was no response from Niko's guide.
"..." They felt scared, this wasn't home. "________?.."
Niko put on a brave act, "They are gone... But this place looks nice..." Niko then thought to themself, ("This is probably the way home...")
They looked around the garden, The flowers were vibrant and the sky was bright as if the sun was there. This definitely wasn't the dying world Niko was in before.
Niko inspected the flowers, they were as elegant as they remember at their world, ("Maybe I am home... But somewhere else.")
("The trees are different from the ones in the Glen...") Niko wandered around the pillars at the side of the room. They were too busy looking at the hight of the pillars to notice the walls were just screens displaying a lush field.
Some red doors opened, Niko peered around the pillar to see a blue robot. Nothing like they had seen before. ("Is that wings behind them?..")
Niko heard some high-pitched noises, they looked at the source and found multiple human like... things. They were repulsed by the exposed bone and muscles, and before they could think about averting their gaze red spheres were projected from them to the blue robot.
The child looked at the robot, ("Is that... a gun?").
The robot moved out of the way of the projectile and fired their gun.
The deafening gunshot made Niko flinch, and they saw out of the corner of their eye a splatter of blood.
The skeletal thing had fallen. Niko had seen a murder.
There was a horde of more humanoid figures, now with what looked like rotting skin. When they properly examined it, they noticed how there was no arms and the face only consisted of a disproportionally large mouth with razor sharp teeth.
Niko felt like they were going to vomit so they looked back at the robot who was firing serval more gunshots. Niko flinched at every shot while they saw each body go limp.
The robot was moving fast, scarily fast. Niko was struggling to follow the robot as it jumped to seemingly impossible hights.
The robot got close to one of the... things and punched it. Blood sprayed everywhere including the robot.
More humanoid muscles appeared. And the child watched as the robot effortlessly slaughtered them all while bathing in its blood.
Niko was in stunned, there didn't seem to be any more... things. Their eyes were fixed on the robot, following its every move.
Niko realised that the blue robot was looking at them.
Their eyes widened. ("HIDE") Their body wouldn't move.
("MOVE!") Niko's body didn't respond.
("Am- am I gonna die?") Tears started to form.
The robot emotionless lens kept their focus on the child.
The stare continued.
("I should have placed the sun... Then I wouldn't be here.") Tears were now rolling down their face.
The robot kept their focus.
Niko could feel themself start to cry, but they tried to stay silent.
The robot looked away and jumped up to a door Niko hadn't noticed earlier.
The child was no longer frozen. They let out their cry.
While wiping away their tears looked around the red painted garden. They could look at muscle exposed humanoids, they were unpleasant to look at but Niko had seen a slaughterhouse in their village so exposed bone a muscles wasn't too bad.
They couldn't look at the armless rotting flesh though, Niko's body was repulsed at the sight of them.
Niko leaned against the pillar and sat down, they didn't know what to do. They just needed tome time to process everything.
They sat in a fetal position with their head leaning on their knees and closed their eyes. ("I should have returned the sun... I shou-")
Niko felt a burst of heat around them. They looked up and saw everything was ablaze.
They jumped up, ("What is happening?.. I just wanna go home!")
There wasn't time to complain, the blue robot appeared.
Niko froze again.
The robot dashed towards them and scooped up the child with their arm that was also holding a blue skull.
The child was hanging down with the robot's arm under their stomach.
The speed of the robot’s movement nauseated Niko as it continued to jump around at absurd hights.
Niko held on to the arm as tightly as they could, though they couldn't get a good grip on it, they knew fighting back was useless, so they trusted the robot. It was the only thing they could do.
Niko looked up to see other robots holding flamethrowers, Niko was getting uncomfortably close to the flames, but the robot was always just out of reach to be harmed.
("Get away from the flamethrower.") They couldn't understand why the blue robot was so closing the distance with professional arsonists.
Suddenly Nikos face was in front of the nozzle of the flamethrower, before could process their danger they heard a deafening -BANG-
The blue robot had used a shotgun at point blank range. Spilling blood on both V1 and Niko's clothes.
Niko's ears were ringing, too disoriented to think by the sound. There were multiple more shots from the shotgun while they were trying to recover from the first shot.
A few seconds had passed when Niko was regaining awareness.
The blue robot dropped Niko on the floor while it placed the blue skull on a pedestal.
The blood covered child fell on the grass of the garden.
A door opened and the blue robot entered new area.
Niko slowly stood up while the sound of guns firing continued in the next room.
They wiped some warm liquid off their face with their sleeve.
("Blood?") Niko's heart sank. ("Was there... people in the suits?") Killing fleshy monsters felt somewhat fine, but potentially a person?
They looked in the other room and saw the metallic suits chasing after the blue robot.
("That doesn't move like a robot...") They then tried to comfort themself, ("But the blue one also moves fast, maybe it is a robot?") They realised what they were thinking. ("Don't be silly robots don't have blood.")
The blue machine left the room holding the red skull.
Niko braced themselves to be picked up.
The robot completely ignored the child, dashing past them.
They let out a scared "Huh?" They weren't sure what to do. ("I... I can't stay here, the place is burning...")
Niko stood there, the blood weighed down their clothes. They needed someone, anyone to help them.
They were a lost child, alone. They wanted to find a corner to hide. ("What do I do?")
The child saw the robot return without the skull they had in their hand. They had only gone to another side of the garden to open a door with the skull.
Now was their chance, "Umm... Excuse me..." Niko was fighting through their fear to talk to it.
The blue robot approached the small biological being.
"Can I... come with you?" They asked.
The expressionless lens of the robot stared at the child.
"P-Please?.. I..." Niko's eyes started to water, but they didn't let out the tears. "I... just don't wanna die."
The robot, who could easily survive themself continued to stare at Niko.
Within the complex code of the robot, one of the lines of logic was [1 matching mission parameter found.]
Followed by [Error: Can not find matching mission parameter]
Niko stood, trying their best to stop their legs from wobbling.
The robot scooped Niko up like before and headed inside of a building the red skull opened up.
The child let out a sigh of relief, ("It worked...") They trusted the blue robot. ("I didn't get hurt before... I think... it will protect me").
The robot entered the newly opened door, now entering a building with a stone interior, there was a stream of water inside that flowed to a gap under the floor
The robot followed downstream of water, going under the floor.
The child got drenched. ("Why are we going here?") They wondered.
When they turned back and left from under the floor, a giant statue appeared and started attacking the robot.
The blue machine started firing back, and like everything else here, the statue blead.
("What?") This was too much for the child, were too confused about everything that they just... gave up trying to understand everything.
Niko braced themself for the inevitable gunshots that would deafen them. As expected, they came.
The robot’s movements were faster than when they were fighting the suits with flamethrowers.
However, the child gave up trying to balance themself, it took to much energy. They just needed time for their brain to process everything. Too much was happening.
Niko's mind went blank, their brain decided now was the time to process everything.
The child's body was practically limp, the blue robot had the precision to keep Niko from falling.
Eventually, Niko started processing their environment again, they had tears in their eyes but more importantly they were falling down a hole with red metallic walls.
"AHHHHHHHHHH" They screamed, but realised the pointlessness of it after falling for a few seconds, ("We are going to die.")
There was a faint light at the bottom of the hole.
The robot held Niko tightly and slid down the wall.
It slowed them down enough that when they reached the bottom it would not be fatal for biological being.
The machine placed Niko down, relatively gently, then walked up to the terminal.
Niko followed.
The robot used the terminal, first it looked at weapons though Niko didn't pay much attention to what was done.
When the robot looked at the enemies Niko started reading what was shown. The robot was passing through information too quickly for Niko to read.
"Can I see" Niko spoke up.
The blue robot's expressionless face stared at Niko.
The child was getting used to it now. But it was still scary.
The robot lifted Niko up to reach the screen by gripping them by the chest.
"Thank you."
There was no response.
Niko looked through the list while learning the names. They were glad to know that the streetcleaners (the enemies with the flamethrowers) were machines.
They saw the large statue, so they looked to find out more. Cerberus was its name. While Niko was reading they found out that ("They are the protectors of Hell.")
"...I am in hell." They whispered to themself. ("I... killed everyone... I deserve to be here.")
Niko accepted this fact quickly, it made sense to them. ("I shouldn't have broken the sun... Why did I?") They reflected on their regrets. ("I made sure that the seed maize left me was planted, why did I break the sun?.. I should have done what was right, not listen to ________... maybe it was a test from ________ to see if I would kill everyone and I failed so ________ sent me here... I want to see Mama.")
They believed one thing, ("I deserve to be here, I killed everyone.")
Niko's felt their legs were dangling and realised they were still being held up, "Oh sorry." They continued to look at more data on the enemies.
The enemies with exposed muscles were called strays.
The child did not appreciate the visual of the rotting skin and armless enemy called the filth. They tried to avoid looking at it.
They took in all the information they could from the other enemies. It wasn't helpful to them, but it was nice to know.
Niko turned their head to face the robot "All done!" They faked a smile. ("Does that say V1 on the chest?")
The robot placed Niko back on the ground and looked back at the terminal.
"V1?" Niko said out loud, trying to understand what it could mean.
The blue robot focused its lens at the child.
"Oh... nothing." They clarified, ("So they are called V1?")
The lost child stood still, looking up the robot while fidgeting through their long sleeves.
Eventually V1 faced Niko.
Niko lifted their arms for uppies.
V1 lifted the child and placed them on their metallic shoulders.
Niko managed to get a good grip on V1's head without coving the lens by wrapping their arms under the head piece, like a helmet.
V1 dashed out of the metallic room to a stone building then outside into the false garden.
The child's grip was impressive, being able to stay on the robot's shoulders without falling off.
The robot’s movements were unusual, always turning its whole body when looking around, this worked out in Niko's favour they could rest their head on V1's head for comfort.
As expected, multiple enemies appeared and the slaughter began.
Niko watched in both horror and fascination while V1 effortlessly avoided projectiles and started flicking coins and using them to ricochet bullets off it.
The corpses left behind had to be ignored for Niko's sanity, it was for the best they focused on surviving.
THUD- a Cerberus had caught V1 off guard and had clearly damaged the machine.
Niko panicked, ("We won't make it, V1 is badly hurt... I shouldn't ha-")
BANG- V1 had fired their shotgun point blank into the statue, predictably causing blood spray out.
All the blood that sprayed onto V1 had been absorbed into its blue body while also repairing any previous damage.
Niko flinched with the new blood on their clothes and thought that, ("V1 must have even more blood on them.")
The child had full trust in V1, so Niko could freely think with all the chaos around them.
Niko realised that the robot was no longer damaged, before they could question it, they noticed that their clothes felt dryer then it should be.
The red liquid was being absorbed by the metallic body. Niko was acting as a blood sponge.
("The blood is going away?.. Into V1?") Niko noticed that there the robot was blue and clean as before, now with no clear damage. ("That... can't be right?") The idea sounded too absurd to consider.
Niko hugged V1's head tighter, ("I don't know what is going on...")
The room was empty, and the machine headed to the next room, the moment the door opened heat came rushing in. The facade of the garden was breaking, the screen walls showing lush fields were flickering and the ground was lava. This didn't stop more enemies from appearing though.
The child was already getting used to the noise of gunshots watched V1 do its thing.
There was a stone floating face that Niko had only seen at the terminal, ("That is a malicious face.")
The malicious face spewed multiple projectiles, V1 avoided most of them but the last one was going to hit them.
Niko braced for impact but then heard a light Tink, ("They punched the thing back?")
The child wasn't mistaken, V1 had parried the final projectile.
Niko was learning, they started noticing when V1 would parry and when they would go in to collect blood after being damaged.
They also started noticing V1 punching its own gunshots to accelerate the bullets.
The robot continued through the area, entering and exiting buildings, collecting and dropping of skulls. The place felt like a maze.
The rooms were starting to get more cramped, so Niko was getting soaked in blood more often. Only when V1 was damaged would some of the fluid start to drain from their clothes.
Eventually they were in a room where a giant scorpion-like body with human feet, gun arms and a stone face started attacking V1.
("EW EW EW EW.") Niko buried their face on V1's head. ("I don't wanna see at that.")
Once the gunshots stopped and Niko felt they were falling, they lifted their head.
Their clothes felt lighter, it seemed that V1 had a difficult fight, it was like a miracle that Niko was never hurt.
After a lengthy fall, V1 slid on the wall to slow their decent to ground, then approached the terminal.
Niko peered at the terminal from V1's shoulders, it said something about magnets and a nail gun.
When they looked at the enemies section Niko saw the scorpion like enemy, it was called ("Hideous mass.") They couldn't think of a better name.
"Can you put me down please?" The child asked.
V1 lifted Niko up and placed them on the floor.
"Thank you!" They replied. V1's shoulders weren't very comfortable, any time standing would be favourable.
The robot continued to look at the terminal as Niko stretched their limbs. Their arms were a bit tired from the holding onto V1's head and speed they were traveling at didn't help.
The silence let the child reflect, ("Can I get home?.. or am I trapped here?") They had gone with V1 out of survival, they didn't know what was going to happen. ("I should have returned the sun... WHY! WHY DID I SHATTER IT?") Their face was distressed. ("I KILLED everyone, I... deserve this.")
V1 lifted Niko up back on their shoulders.
This caught them off guard "Wai- ... Actually, never mind... lets go." They sighed as they wrapped their hands under V1's head, ready to leave.
The machine started moving again, leaving the metal room to be in a garden now with a false night sky.
The child appreciated the starry sky, it was... peaceful. They were expecting the silence to be broken by more bloodshed... But nobody came.
It was quiet and V1 wasn't moving too fast. Niko could watch the world from on top a grow-up's shoulder... Just like at home.
The speed they were moving at did break the immersion, but it was close enough to let the lost child close their eyes and rest their head on the metallic head.
They heard doors open and close, they could tell they had entered a building. They assumed there were in another labyrinth.
After multiple opening and closing of doors, Niko heard a SHATTER and jolted up.
V1 had jumped through a window into a square room with a very shallow pond of water in the centre.
As they approached the centre of the room, standing in the puddle of water, there was another SHATTER.
Niko looked towards the sound that came from in front, a robot identical to V1 had also entered the room from the window and landed in front of them.
The identical robot created a loud THUD when it landed on the ground, V1 hopped over the ripple created on the water.
("Is that another V1... but it is red?") Niko smiled, loosening their grip on V1, ("This is good, we should be safer now!") They looked at the new robot’s chest ("V2! It must be the same as V1!")
The red robot held their gun out to the side while giving a bow.
("I... Think I should talk to them...") The ignorant child thought.
When V2 lifted their head from the bow Niko introduced themself, "Umm... I am Niko an-"
The red robot started moving to the side, still facing V1. The child continued, "And I am-"
V2 aimed their gun to V1, V1 dashed out of the and fired back.
"WAIT WHY!" Niko nearly lost balance but was able to grab back on to V1's face. ("WHY?") They were losing hope of this world. ("Will no one else help me?")
Niko watched the fast-moving fight, ("Is V1 this scary?.. I can't follow V2.") Multiple bullets passed next to Niko's face, and some others had hit V1.
V1 was chasing its clone to try to recover some blood, it was not an easy fight. A back and forth of offence and defence.
Eventually the red robot fled the room, jumping out from the ceiling.
Niko's clothes storing blood may have been the only reason V1 was alive.
A red arm fell form V2 down onto the puddle of water.
The blue robot attached the new arm to themselves and used it to test a punch. When V1 extended the donated arm, it sent a shockwave by having mini explosion.
("Woah...") The child admired the power.
V1 headed back to leave the square room, as usual falling down a hole with red metallic walls.
V1 slowed their decent at the bottom of the fall and headed to the terminal, looking the V2's data.
Niko read the entry in their head ("The V model was built for war, with V1 boasting a new kind of exterior plating that allowed refueling through contact with blood"), they smirked, ("Knew it. V1 absorbs blood") Before they could read more V1 had moved on to the weapons section and Niko stopped paying attention.
There was some silence before Niko readjusted their arms so that they were hugging the robots head, "Thank you for protecting me." They whispered.
The child didn't get any acknowledgment. They weren't expecting any.
The silence continued.
V1 started moving again, and Niko changed their posture to get ready for another ride.
The doors opened to a corridor with greyish blue metal walls with a small puddle of water along its centre.
V1 moved along it, following its path until they door with a with a green circular light at its centre, when approached it opened up it revealed a large pit with platforms with higher at higher elevations. The robot stared to ascend the room as husks started to spawn.
("This place is weird...") Niko wondered while V1 was shooting away. After V2 enemies like the stray were nothing to worry about.
V1 used their new fist, the shockwave sent blood flying onto Niko's face. ("Why would there be a giant hole here?") Niko let the droplets of blood on their face fall onto V1 head to later be absorbed.
When V1 approached the top of the room and killed all of the husks, A door opened to reveal a blue square on the ground.
The robot approached it and was launched up outside of the building.
Niko looked in awe in at the view, The dark purple sky was the first think they noticed, ("It's beautiful..."). They looked down and saw the lights of a city below them extending to the edges of their view. ("It's like the refuge... But sooo much bigger.")
V1 continued to fight through the groups of enemies, but now on outside platforms held up by thin beams extending miles down towards the city.
Even though Niko had never fallen off V1, they held on tightly every time they jumped between platforms. The drop was to the city below was paralysing.
The child soaked in view while the onslaught was going on. ("There are so many lights, so many buildings... so many people... I... The refuge had less people...") They rejected the self-comfort, ("I still killed everyone in the refuge, and the glen, and the barrens...")
They couldn't enjoy the view. As much as they needed some comfort, they couldn't find it.
V1 entered another building, like before they had to fight up the building before they could leave at the top.
Finally the red metallic door was in view, they just had to clear a drop.
The robot made sure to slow their decent and before entering the doors for a giant fall down the red hole.
Niko had a safe decent down, V1 didn't bother going to the terminal and headed straight out.
There seemed to be in the city they saw from up above, other than the purple hue, it was a very normal collection of houses, you wouldn't think it was hell.
("This feels like the town near my village...") The familiarity made Niko relax a bit. They noticed that V1 seemed to be breaking power boxes while also doing their usual killing. One of the boxes was in a house, with a bed.
("A BED!") it was only now Niko realised that his arms were tired, along with the rest of the body. "Um-"
V1 had left the house.
("Don't be silly, I can't sleep here... It's too dangerous.") Niko stayed quiet and watched V1 as it fought a Cerberus along with whatever else there was.
They watched as they entered a room with a giant blades spinning at the bottom. Niko normally would have pondered about the blade’s existence, but they had given up trying to understand everything.
After they went through a transparent tunnel which still showed a city below them, they hadn't gotten anywhere close to the bottom. There was a long blue gun on display at the end.
Niko saw V1 pick up the gun and aim it down a small path of Strays. The gun shot out a beam piercing through the line of bodies.
("We can kill anything!") A rather disturbing thought for a child, but appropriate in the circumstance. Niko had regained some hope. They weren't sure what the end goal of V1 was, but they had some hope nonetheless.
V1 eventually entered another house, there was a few Filth that had to be disposed however when they went upstairs of the house, there was no immediate danger and there was a bed.
Niko tried their luck, "V1, Can I rest here?" They asked.
V1 ignored the request and continued their job.
("But... I am tired...") They waited till the area was safe. Then pleaded "Pleeeease, my arms are getting tired. Can I go to rest? I- I saw a bed earlier."
The robot headed to the red door.
The child let put a little whimper and accepted defeat. ("It must be for a good reason...")
V1 jumped down the hole.
Niko landed safely at the next room the immediately asked. "Can you put me down?"
V1 placed the tired child on the floor.
They stretched their arms then decided to lay down on their back, it wasn't as good as a bed, but good enough.
The machine browsed the terminal while Niko staired at the celling.
V1 approached the child on the floor and picked them back up.
"I don't wanna gooo..." They whined, ("I am still tired.") Despite their reluctance they still got ready to go, wrapping their arms around V1's head.
V1 headed out into an industrial looking area, metallic walls with a large open area.
Niko closed their eyes, their arms won't be able to rest, but they might. The gunshots and usual splatters of blood could be filtered out. And ("The blood is warm... I don't mind it.")
("I wanna sleep... But I can wait...") A few rooms later they heard flowing water and felt some warm air, Niko opened their eyes, ("Oh, some streetcleaners") and closed them again.
They later heard a splash and suddenly everything was cold, everything sounded muffled, they opened their eyes and let out a muffled "AHH!". Water filled their mouth. They were underwater.
They moved their hand out of reflex, but they remember they were still on V1 and attempted to regrip its head.
V1 was still getting attacked underwater, every move of the robot was heaver and made the child lose more grip of V1.
There wasn't enough time between movement for the child to properly hug V1's head.
Niko couldn't breathe, they were going fall of V1 at this rate.
The struggle continued.
V1 was still dealing with some Strays and Filth. Niko's lungs had some water, they managed to keep their mouth closed as they struggled to position their hands.
The robot dashed backwards, causing the water to push Niko forward.
They manged to wrap their arms around the head. Now they just had to hold that position.
They closed their eyes and held,
and held,
and held,
and held.
Niko felt a push downwards then suddenly everything sounded clear again.
The child stared coughing, they could breathe again.
V1 didn't slow down.
Niko had to both hold on with dear life and simultaneously cough out the water in them.
They passed through what was essentially a waterfall, not helping the situation.
But Niko couldn't think, it was pure survival while their damp clothes kept them cold.
The robot continued fighting, now near pistons that could easily crush V1 and giant industrial shredder that spanned the length of the room.
Through the child's coughing and shivering body, they watched as V1 would pass over the shredder and under the pistons.
This did not make them feel safe, but the coughing interrupted their thoughts.
Eventually the coughing slowed, they were another room with another water fall, Niko noticed a red door behind it.
Through their slowed coughs they thought ("I am gonna get wet again...")
As soon as the last enemy died, Niko held their breath as V1 passed through the waterfall and into the red metallic room.
They jumped in.
During the fall, the air passed through Niko's damp clothes, keeping the child cold. They kept shivering while with the occasional cough.
("My hair is wet... The top of my head is cold... MY HAT!") They had noticed it had gone. ("NO NO NO NO, MY HAT IS LOST!")
They started tearing up. They whispered, "I lost -COUGH- my hat... -COUGH- " they groaned. "I don't like this, I -COUGH- just want to go home."