Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

You were dead.

You were sure you were dead.

But you weren’t sure if the afterlife looked like the underside of a table.

The floor was cold, and you could see that it was tiled upon rolling on your side. There was an annoying, buzzing sound that filled your ears, just like the light that filled the room. A kind of light that reminded you of doctor’s offices, waiting far too long to finally get told something you already knew, and charged an absurd fee.

Slowly, you turned onto your stomach, your right side just barely touching the light while the rest of your body was still obscured by the faint shadow.

There was a pounding in your skull that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much you tried to ignore it. Your first thought was that it had to come from something in your close vicinity.

Nothing around you looked like it could cause this headache, though. There was a giant monkey statue to your closest corner, while a machine with a glowing, green bar sat in the corner on the very left, with an oversized chair sitting closer to you rather than the machine. There was an opening at the center of both corners, leading into a room of dark blues.

Where the hell are you?

That pounding in your head lessened slightly, but you were increasingly becoming aware of a faint ache on the side of your skull. A concussion, maybe? You weren’t sure where you had hit your head, but it probably led to you being knocked out underneath the table.

Just my luck, you thought, pulling yourself out from underneath the table. You turned your head only slightly to the right and-

Oh my God. What was that?

Something large and monstrous sat on top of a plate at the center of the table. It was a dirt brown in color, and you’re pretty sure it has eyes. A skull? Wait, no, there was a skull sitting to the right of that thing on another plate.

A rattling noise rang in your ears, causing your heart to leap. You stood quickly, looking around for the source of the noise, but found nothing.

Another noise met your ears, this one not as loud and not as unfamiliar as a rattle. Metal hitting metal nearby. You took one look around this oddly designed kitchen, glaring at the absurdly sized monkeys near the corner next to a sink, and then began to follow the continuous sounds of machinery.

Thank God the sound was coming from the dark blue room, only a few steps away. It was easy on the eyes, and there weren’t any annoying, buzzing lights. The weirdest thing about this room was the leafless trees and the square well(?) at the center of the room.

And the person building a machine on top of it.

The sounds halted for a moment as you met eyes with the man. He looked stunned to see you standing in the threshold, as if he had never seen another Robloxian before.

“Um… Hi,” you finally say, waving a hand. He blinks and shakes his head, and you watch as he fidgets with the hammer in his hand.

“C'mere, kid,” he sighs, “I can't stop workin’, so you'll just have'ta listen.” He motioned to you.

Kid? You thought, looking down at yourself, then at him. Okay, now that you were getting a closer look at him, he did look older than you. But you weren't about to ask how old a stranger was.

You moved closer since you really didn't have much to do or lose from doing this.

“Yer probably a bit confused. Wonderin’ how ya got here, right?” He spoke while continuing to work on the machine. Pieces were practically materializing out of thin air, connecting and melding together into some sort of turret.

He was either a crazy skilled magician or one hell of a builder.

“Kinda… I, uh, woke up under a table?” You phrased your words more like a question rather than a statement. The man looked over at you, a quizzical look on his face, before realization dawned on him, a realization you supposedly weren't going to know, as he did not share it with you.

“There's a lot to tell ya, but I'm gonna need to keep it short for now, so,” he stood right as the machine whirred to life, “there's a…a killer nearby. Ya gotta avoid it at all costs. There's people too, friendlies, they'll help ya out if yer in trouble.”

You were watching this man's expressions as he spoke, and something told you there was more to what he was saying. Of course, duh! Your mind, ever the cheerleader, chipped in; he literally just said he needed to keep things short!

“Uh, so…heh,” you couldn't help but let out a light laugh, not on purpose, but this was all too…weird, “is this like…a weird skit? Are we LARPing or something?”

He stepped off the square well, stepped to the side of it, and sighed, “no, no, I assure ya this is all real.” He turned to look at each doorway in the blue room, then returned his attention back to you, “trust me fer now. Please? I promise ya a better explanation soon…just…there's a lot at stake here.”

This man was being very…cryptic. You nodded slowly, though, giving him an odd glance. Sure, you'd go along with it for now. He could easily sense your suspicion; you were sure of this.

Yet, there was no chance to make a comment on this as a second rattle reached your ears. You were sure it wasn't just you hearing this noise because the man in front of you reacted as well, taking a few steps back, then forward again after a few seconds.

“That noise there is what the killer makes sometimes. He throws a shockwave of some kind that phases through walls at us,” he visibly shuddered, eyes scrunched, “makes ya feel like yer on fire for a few seconds, and yer vision goes a bit cloudy.”

What? You wanted to say. You've never heard of a monster doing such a thing before. Not that you've seen a monster in the first place.

You picked up the sound of footsteps over the occasional whir of the turret becoming louder, and the man whose name you still haven't caught only heard them a second or two before this newcomer came stumbling into the blue room from a room on your left.

“B-Builderman!” The voice, somewhat panicked, came from a yellow-toned Robloxian, who looked a bit stunned at the sight of you, “a-and…um, company…”

“Hey,” you gave a wave, trying to ignore the sudden name-dropping of the Robloxian you were speaking to. They were…not in good shape, it seemed. They were holding onto a bleeding arm, staggering forward.

“Dispenser 's this way,” Builderman motioned toward another room, this one larger and brighter, “yer comin’ too.”

Well, guess yer comin’ too.

You followed slowly, pursing your lips at the obnoxiously patterned flooring and the use of bright and cheery wallpaper. Dark blue walls and thick, yellow pillars made up the rest of the room's decoration aside from a large stage and a…ball pit.

Much to your disappointment, the ball pit had only a jpeg of colorful, plastic balls on the floor, but you were more interested in the machine at the center of the playpen, and the one that looked just like the boxish machine you saw after crawling out from under a table.

“This'll heal ya up if yer ever injured,” Builderman patted the metal device gently as it whirred quietly. The other Robloxian moved close to it and practically collapsed next to it. There was another cut on their side, ripping their blue shirt.

It looked painful.

Real.

You awkwardly met their eyes, but they were the first to pull their gaze away, “a-are they…new?”

Builderman nodded, humming while crossing his arms, “interestin’ that ya appeared during a match. Usually newcomers pop up near the forest, or we get some sorta warnin’...”

So they weren't expecting you. That didn't bother you much because you were used to things going wrong. Some things in your life you had no control over; it was laughable how Lady Luck seemed to turn away at your pleas for just a normal day.

“Noob, who's distractin’ the killer right now?”

Noob, the one with both a frazzled look and hair, glanced over at Builderman.

“W-well, uh… Last I saw it w-was Guest and Shedletsky. E-Elliot was near them t-too, just in case they got injured..”

There were a lot of names, and only one of them was familiar in the way that everyone knew him. You thought it was odd, because you knew a lot of people where you lived, even the bad ones.

You opted not to bother them at this time and instead investigated the machine that was running near the Dispenser. It was dull and scraped up, but you noticed open hatches on the side of the machine. Wires, tangled and frayed, stuck out of the compartment.

“Ah, yeah, left that generator fer someone else to work on…” Builderman murmured, bringing a hand up to run up his forehead, lifting a bit of his hair and his hat, “guess they never got to it.”

He let out a sigh, looked off to where the three of you came from, then back to you and Noob.

“I'm gonna try to go help the others. If ya get that gen done and we run down time just a lil’ more, we'll be back ‘nd safe.” Builderman met your eyes for a moment, then turned his attention to Noob, “can ya teach ‘em the ropes?”

Noob, who was slowly looking better than before, looked a little surprised. They scrambled to their feet, looking between you, Builderman, and the generator.

“You’ll be fine, jus’ show ‘em how it’s done,” Builderman stepped over and patted a hand on Noob’s shoulder. He gave you a small salute with two fingers, turned, and hurried off.

Noob turned their head quickly to you, eyes once meeting yours, darting down and away, focusing on the generator before quietly walking over to it and kneeling down. You did the same, except at the center of the generator while they knelt on your right.

“So, um… Y-you have to connect the wires… Th-the colors match, so all y-you have to do is make sure they d-don’t overlap with the other wires...” Noob explained, fiddling with a red wire in their left hand, “i-if the combination is too, um, difficult…you can just close the latch and o-open it again.”

You looked down at the wires in the square compartment down in front of you, then over at Noob at the mention of closing and opening the latch. They shrank under your questioning gaze.

“I-it resets the pattern, w-we don’t know why…or how…”

That was definitely a little strange, but nothing you were too concerned about as you pulled a red wire around the node of a yellow one, reaching the other red wire. You felt a small buzz between your fingers as it attached itself in place, leaving you with a small sense of satisfaction.

You did this three more times, the act of rearranging the wires growing a little addicting, and maybe even dulling your senses to what was happening around you, because Noob suddenly grabbed you by the arm and ripped you away from the generator as a rattling sound just made it to your ears.

A flash of green moved straight through the wall you were previously kneeling against, running through the ground until it disappeared far to your left. It, thankfully, did not touch the Dispenser. However, there was a small, tingling feeling that ran up your right leg.

“What was that?” You turned your head to them, blinking quickly at the sight of Noob looking a bit panicked. Their eyes darted from your leg to your eyes, and then away.

“The-, um… The killer knows we're here.”

That sentence left you with a dreadful feeling you hadn't felt in a long time.

There was a strange beating in your heart, which made you think you had a small adrenaline rush, or maybe heartburn. Yet, a quick glance at Noob told you that they, too, were feeling this uneasy tug in their chest.

Then, you could hear it, heavy footfalls just beyond the walls of the fake ballpit, stomping closer.

Closer.

Closer.

Noob grabbed your arm and hurried up the slope on your right, which led to a short flight of stairs that would lead the two of you towards…a stage of some kind. This place was weird.

But what was even weirder was the strange, black, and green figure right on the two of your heels. You had taken a glance behind you, just because that dreadful feeling wasn't going away, and you were feeling as anxious as ever.

Were those fucking swords?!

“R-run!” Noob ushered you to continue on your own, pushing you gently forward as a swing of one of the swords forced the two of you apart.

Was this the monster that Builderman was talking about earlier?

They looked humanoid with a pitch-black head, arms, and legs, and with a somewhat translucent, green torso which showed off a dark ribcage.

You began to move even faster when the sword-wielding person glanced in your direction, his zipper-like mouth curling into what you could only describe as a grin. You don't know what kind of expression you were wearing, but you knew exactly how you felt.

Prey.

Instinctively, you lunged to the side as two swords came flying at your face, slicing at the air, a hair’s length away from your head. You could hear something sizzle, and even though your curiosity begged for a look, you couldn’t be bothered to stay in one place.

Your legs felt heavy as you practically stumbled back into the kitchen, where you first woke up. There was intelligible shouting coming from a close distance behind you, but the pounding in your head muffled all those voices.

Something, no, someone appeared suddenly on your right, knocking you sideways with his body as a screech of metal creaked louder over the sound of your heartbeat.

“Left me for easy pickings, huh?” You glanced back to see a man with brown, curly hair meeting swords with the creature-person that was chasing you. He looked messed up, scratches along his arms, his face, a nasty cut running from his shoulder to the bend of his neck. You were unsure how he was even standing.

“Out of my way,” the dual-wielder growled. You recalled the danger of being chased and hurried off once again into a quick sprint towards the closest opening, which led you into a large courtyard of sorts.

The clangs and cries of swords clashing behind you encouraged you to keep moving, because, realistically, you wouldn’t dare try to fight someone who looked like they could rise from the ground and drag you six feet under.

Although the fear of death was very real, you weren’t prepared for the chime of a grandfather clock to echo in the air, stirring you from your thoughts.

Your eyes began to swim with unfocused colors and shapes, until you felt the need to sit back and ignore the pain in your right leg.

There were people next to you now, of all shapes and colors, leaning back against wooden chairs or forward on the table as if they had just run a full marathon. You sat next to Noob, someone you recognized, and that curly-haired dude with the sword. He looked the most worn out

But you felt it. The warmth running down your leg and the pain it brought as more and more warmth soaked that specific area. Your brows knitted together, and you glanced down, vision growing hazy.

Red. So much red, dripping on the floor underneath you. You mumbled something, and the world tipped, your body colliding backward against something. The floor, probably? Yeah, the floor.

The light above you looked too bright, but shadows crowded you quickly, and voices, too. Too many voices and sounds were muffled. Cotton plugged your ears.

“Elliot!” Someone called for an Elliot.

A blob of blacks and greys muddled together. A pair of warm hands grabbed and lifted you from the floor, at least enough so you could sit up. But it felt so good lying down!

“Hey, hey, stay with me now,” that same hand patted the side of your face, which felt sweaty and cool, but you knew everything felt warm in that moment. Just like the smell of pizza growing closer and the taste of cheese on your tongue.

It tasted good. You felt good. And…and…

Your vision focused very slowly. The ringing in your ears wasn’t as painful, and the cloud in your brain had lifted just enough so you could think rational thoughts.

There were people. You remembered. Builderman knelt on your right, a curly-haired boy next to him, and then a blue-haired man on your left. Others lingered, obviously drawn to the spectacle of your nearly bleeding out at their dinner table, but you weren’t embarrassed by it—you were mortified.

Builderman’s hand came to your shoulder, patting reassuringly, “you alright?” His voice was hushed, and your gaze zeroed in on him. Slowly, you nodded, then swallowed down the remnant taste of cheese that clung to your taste buds. Pizza.

Your eyes slowly drifted to your leg where you swore it was bleeding earlier. Like, you were certain you were dying just a second ago. You had that movie-moment sway and fall and everything!

“What…” You trailed off, not finding it hard to speak, but because heads turned to the stranger in the room, “what happened?”

You wouldn’t say, “where am I?” even though it was killing you not knowing where you were for a second time. You only asked because you truthfully had no idea what the hell was going on.

“You collapsed, bleedin’ from the leg. 1x got ya…somehow,” Builderman glanced sideways, as if he was trying to remember a moment where you could’ve gotten hit that badly.

“B-but, we were just in, like, this giant area one moment and now…” You cursed yourself for stammering, but you couldn’t help it. You believed you were in disbelief, unable to actually wrap your brain around what was happening.

Too much was happening.

“Hey, easy,” the man on your left, the one dressed like he was prepared for war, placed a hand on your upper arm, “breathe. You’re safe here.”

“Nothing’s going to hurt you here,” the boy who stood near Builderman offered a faint smile.

Even though your heart began to relax and your unease started to wash away, you still felt a familiar sense of dread you’d hadn’t felt in a long while.

“C’mon, let’s get you on your feet.” Builderman and the blue-haired stranger looped their arms underneath your shoulders to help you up, keeping their grip steady until you found your footing and were told to take another bite of pizza.

You didn’t deny the free meal.

You tested your weight on your once-injured leg once Builderman and the other man released you. It was as if nothing had happened to it in the first place—save for the blood soaking the area where the skin was cut underneath.

Only now did you notice the many eyes that watched you, most curious, some nervous, a few filled with pity or indiscernible.

“I tried givin’ them a small explanation in the round, but they don’t fully know what’s happenin’ yet,” Builderman said to the general group in the room.

“Wait,” the curly-haired man from earlier—Shedletsky—stopped mid-chew with a chicken leg in hand, “they appeared in the round?”

“D0N’T N3W SURVIV0RS USUALLY SP4WN SOM3WHERE NEAR TH3 CAB1N FIR5T?” A feminine, bit-crushed voice spoke next, which your eyes darted to. A robot girl sat at a booth table, taking up most of the space on one of the booths.

“Which is why that’s so odd…” Builderman murmured, the others sending you glances of confusion, concern, and… Oh. Suspicion.

Even though you didn’t know too much about what was going on, you knew that whatever was the norm here didn’t apply to you.

“I wouldn’t think about it too much,” you said, head lowering, “whatever is ‘supposed to happen’ to me, probably won’t.”

The Admin closest to you gave you an odd look, as did some of the others.

A whistle rang in the air, a tune somewhat familiar to your ears. It scratched at your brain and made your brows tense together in a matter of seconds. That whistle was paired with some footsteps, until they stopped to your far right—a person, but you couldn’t see with the large frame of the blue-haired soldier next to you.

“The round’s over already?”

Your heart sank as the even more familiar voice caused emotions to stir within your stomach, a select few surfacing slowly.

“Ended a while ago, Chance,” Builderman answered his question quickly, then returned his attention to you, “now what’d you mean about—”

Strength returned to your body, and you pushed past the soldier to your left so you could see Chance. Whistle, voice, name, face. It was so clear in front of you.

You saw the flash of surprise, then recognition behind those sunglasses, then- you hit him. A punch on his jaw that made your hand throb with dull pain.

But that pain was nothing to the memories that brought back so much more.