Chapter Text
When the Postman had popped into existence. He could only question how long had it been since he had been summoned. How long had it been, Days? Weeks? Months? Keeping track of time was strange when put on standby. What could only be a blink of a second to the Postman could be hours to another.
Only being able to get an understanding of how much time had pasted by snippets of conversations from other players or conversations of updated games.
God.
It had been so long since a player had joined this game.
He could feel the games program running as his and the games coding spawned him in a delivery truck. His delivery truck.
Oh how nice it was to see it again.
Postman gripped it’s wheel, feeling its sturdiness under his hands. He didn’t really need to hold it, the truck driving itself due to it being coded that way. But it was nice to keep up appearances.
Well… if he really wanted to, he could control it, but he’d rather let the program do it, itself. He wouldn’t want a glitch to occur and possibly glitch his introduction to the new player.
Speaking of the player.
He could see the quaint roboxian home loading in, the player would soon be waking up in It. They were probably still in the cut scene. He could barely contain his excitement. How long had it been since he had interacted with anyone.
The NPC was practically starved for contact. It wouldn’t be long before he reached the house. The postman, danced in his seat happily waiting for the truck to stop and for his programming to let him out of the vehicle.
Oh he wondered if he could come back later. Surely staying a little bit longer with the player wouldn’t break anything. He was just… helping them settle in. Yeah! And if the plus side was being able to see the stars for a little longer, who could blame him. They were just that beautiful.
Walking up, to the door he tried to calm himself. It wouldn’t do any good to come up so eagerly. So he paused for a moment before knocking.
He could hear the shuffling happening behind the door, he hoped hadn’t started them by honking earlier.
The door opened.
Oh this was really happening.
Don’t be nervous, Just stick to the script. You got this.
“Hey! Welcome home! I’m your postman. NICE to meet ya!” he giggled.
Things would be fine. He couldn’t wait to go stargazing with them.
Why did things have to go this way?
Why, why, WHY?
What had he done wrong? He- he did everything the best he could. Right?
Oh God. Why couldn’t he be better. He SHOULD have been better. Now the game was on the verge of corruption, and he had to turn the Player into the RIS. He- he had no choice… this was his home, all he had. He couldn’t lose it.
…If he had just been better. None of this would have happened.
But he wasn’t, and he hated how he was such a coward.
Was it the stargazing that triggered this? Should he had not stayed? Was it his expressions? Was he too happy? To loud? What did he do wrong!
He should have just kept his distance. Not matter how much it hurt, how much he longed for contact. To have a simple conversation with someone else. He should have just kept his mouth shut, and his suffering to himself.
Then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. It was his fault wasn’t it? He always did something wrong, even when he didn’t mean too. It was the whole reason the dev had to fix so many bugs in his code. Maybe… that was why he was put In this dead game.
…But he could fix it.
His grip on the trucks steering wheel tightened, trying to ground himself.
He couldn’t fix the issues with his code, but he could fix this. Calling the RIS was the right thing to do. He… made the right choice calling the RIS. Right?
Of course he did, it was protocol. They… they would help. He only wanted what was best for the player. Oh he hoped they wouldn’t hate him for this…
He shakily took in a deep breath as the player got into the passenger seat, closing the door behind them. They gave him a quick ‘you ready?’ look.
No, he didn’t think he could ever be ready for this.
“L-look, player, I-“ he could bring himself to look at them, already expecting the expression that would be on their face. All that he could think about was apologizing for what was going to happen.
“im sorry”
He hunched more into himself, he was such an awful person for betraying them like this.
The player, oh his player… he hadn’t realized he had been shaking until they had reached out to touch his shoulder. He flinched at the contact, it was.
Warm
He had felt…
He turned to look at them shock on his face, but instantly regretted it, wishing he hadn’t. They looked at him confused, with such tender concern, and… trust. They still trusted that he was going along with the plan. He didn’t deserve their kindness. Their trust. He didn’t deserve it.
He couldn’t stop the uncomfortable feeling of guilt bubbling up to his chest.
The feeling of warmth he had felt just a second ago fading away, and his mind tricking himself he was just imagining it. Making up something he wished so badly to feel. The expression of shock on his face fading into something more somber.
“I didn’t mean for this… to happen”
He truly didn’t, but it had to be done, and then…. everything would turn back to normal after this. Right?
He… he just needed to explain why he was doing this, so the player would understand why this was for the best.
But before he could explain, a soldier had already snuck up behind the door the player was sitting in. No. no. no…. He thought he had more time. He hadn’t even been able to say everything he had wanted yet, the reason why he was doing this, how he couldn’t risk his own game, how it was all he had.
But was it? He had the player now, didn’t he?
The RIS soldier grabbed at the Player.
Stunned, the Postman could only watch as the Player resisted. Shoving back and fighting with all they had.
“Grab his arms!” one them yelled.
Another shove and grunt.
No! He did want it going like this, This wasn’t like how he imagined it happening.
“I’m trying!”
Stop! No! He didn’t want this!
His breathing picked up. The soldiers had surrounded the vehicle, making the already small space in the front feel even more claustrophobic.
They weren’t supposed to have come this early!
It made it feel like everything was happening too fast for him.
Damnit, Damnit Damnit!
And suddenly, In a change of heart, he did something he never would have ever imagined himself doing.
He ignored his code, worked against it even, and hit the gas.
The soldier who had been grabbing the Player from back had managed to cling on. While The other ones who had been around the truck either jumped out of the way or fell off.
Driving away, he heard the yells from the other soldiers behind them.
“They’re getting away!”
“we can’t let them get away! Use leathal force if necessary!”
“What about the NPC sir?”
“Terminate them, they’re violating their code!”
Oh he was really in it now.
The soldier swung from the side of the truck as he swerved trying to get them off. The player also fighting them off trying to loosen the soldiers grip on them, but they held on.
“Stop the car!” they yelled.
He turned the wheel harshly, letting the soldier slam pretty hard against the vehicle’s exterior. He flinched, that sounded like it hurt. “im sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” The Postman cried, to who? The soldier? The player? Himself? He didn’t know anymore.
He never wanted this. He just wanted to spend time with his game’s new Player. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.
Both the Player and Postman ducked attempting to cover themselves as glass shards shattered all over them. The soldier had managed to gain a stable enough grip to the side of the truck and broke the window.
He yelled out in fear as the soldier lunged at him through the passengers seat, attempting to grab him and pushing past the Player. He choked as the soldier had managed to grab the back of his shirt tightly. His grip on the wheel causing the truck to swerve dangerously as he was yanked towards the soldier, practically strangling him.
“l-let go!” he choked out.
The player was quick to fight the grip the soldier on him, pushing and trying to pull the soldier off of him. But it was no use, the damage had already been done.
It was as if time had slowed down.
The three of them, stuck frozen in this moment. Like some messed up picture of tangled puppets. The soldier and Player fighting, him trying to control the wheel.
A wheel he had already lost all control over.
The Postman knew what was coming next, the player probably knew too, as well as the soldier. Because they stopped for a second. Maybe it was even less than that.
The soldier had pulled at him too hard and the wheel came turning with him.
It was almost cinematic how it happened, the truck tilting, and them being shoved to the side. The truck definitely wouldn’t be surviving this with how fast he knew he had been driving. But would they?
It almost felt like they were floating as the truck flipped, and for a moment the Postman pretended he was a floating star in space. Drifting through the sky. Being one with all the other stars in the sky, and deep expanse of space. It was peaceful.
Then it all came crashing down.
.
.
.
‘Beautiful aren’t they?’
‘each Star is like different world. A different game’
‘One of them is a game where you go through endless doors…’
‘some let you grow the largest garden in the world’
‘some even let you break out of prison, and run from the cops!’ a laugh.
‘I can see them all from here, but-‘
‘I can never reach them. I’m-‘
‘Bound to this place, this moment…’
‘by some dev who allowed an NPC to think’ A sad giggle this time.
‘sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be free’
‘t-to explore like you’
‘to feel warmth or the cold, but…’
‘I have no choice but to stay, to serve, to…’
‘to exist’
‘funny how they give you eyes to see every thing, but-‘
‘keep you trapped in one small corner of it’ there was another sad giggle.
‘the stars remind me that there’s so much more out there, but…’
‘I’m just… here’
.
.
.
The Postman let out a pained gasp as he woke up, blinking rapidly as he regained his vision. What had happened…
Memories of the RIS coming early. Things not going to plan. Him trying to run away with the player. The soldier. Him losing control of the wheel. It all came back to him.
A laugh broke free.
Some how he had managed to survived that, but couldn’t stick to what he was programmed to. He couldn’t believe it.
Quiet giggles tore themselves out of him. He couldn’t stop them from coming out, no matter how much he tried to control it until they became louder and louder until he was gasping for air again.
It was just so absurd. An NPC who had been programmed just to greet this games new players, survive running away from the RIS.
Wait- The player?!
He just remembered, where were they?! They must have also been flung out of the truck like him! Were they okay?!
The Postman looked around frantically, taking in his surroundings. They were surrounded by fire, the truck not that far away from where he lied, and broken beyond repair.
He didn’t have to scan for much more longer when someone stepped into in front of him. Completely blocking the rest of the view in front of him. He looked up.
The player.
There they were. In all their disheveled glory, clucking their arm. He didn’t want to imagine how he looked if this was the state the player was in. He could only imagine how pathetic he looked on the ground.
They just stood there.
With an unreadable expression on their face.
Why… why weren’t they saying anything?
“Player…?”
A constipated look crossed their face.
They turned around, seemingly grabbing at the air as if they were trying to pull something out.
Wait…
The chat! This game hadn’t been coded with chat available to the player. How could he have forgotten.
“…are you trying to say something to me?”
They turned back around and nodded. Still trying to figure out a way to make chat available to them.
“I’m… sorry to break it too you bud, but I don’t you’ll be able to succeed, the dev didn’t add that feature for the players…”
A dejected look, and then more frantic searching. Until they finally gave up and started trying to communicate with gestures.
They moved out the way and pointed to something behind them.
Was that… A… portal?
The player then pointed to the sky, the stars and back to the portal.
In that moment Postman remembered that conversation he had with the player on the roof.
‘sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be free’
‘t-to explore like you’
The player reached out to him, holding their injured arm close to themselves.
The player… why? Hadn’t he betrayed them. Why didn’t they just leave him. The exit was right there. They could have just left.
And as of they knew what he was thinking, they shook their head.
‘not without you.’
While they couldn’t speak, it didn’t mean the Postman couldn’t understand what they were trying to say. If one just watched their body language, their expressions... All these little tells. They’d be able to see that words weren’t needed for him to be able to understand the player.
Tears built up in his eyes again, and this time he let them fall.
“B-but why?”
They gave a shrug, ‘because we’re friends’
I betrayed you though…. I broke your trust.
There was a pause, before the player gave him a tired smile, ‘and I forgive you’
It seemed he wasn't the only one who could understand the other without words.
The hand was still out there. Reaching towards him. Waiting for him to grab it.
He let the tears fall down his cheeks as he took their hand. Letting them help him up, and grab onto that feeling of warmth. It hadn’t been his imagination. He really did feel it. His legs seemed to refuse to cooperate, but the player was right there behind him, supporting him. Stopping him from falling back to ground.
“Thank you” he managed to choke out between sobs.
Was this really happening? Was he really leaving?
The portal was so close, but felt so far away at the same time. Only just a few steps ahead. And he would be free, no, they would both be free. No longer bound to place and loop.
Out of this prison like world. Free… to see what was out there.
The player readjusted their grip on him, now supporting him fully with their uninjured arm and allowing him lean his full weight on them without issue.
A silent, ‘I got you.’
And so they walked towards the portal.
Together.