ghastybow

[ghastybow]

One Way In, One Way Out: A Sebastian Solace x Reader

-TW: Blood, gore, vomit, guns

Chapter 2

You realized, after finding your way into what looked like a testing center, that you weren’t bound to the usual NAVI path the game forced most players to follow toward the Crystal. By now, you should’ve been at door 89—but once it became clear you could reach places normal expendables couldn’t, you chose to stray from the path, hoping to uncover something—anything—about the Angel you were supposed to free.

That’s when I heard it. Heavy footsteps echoed through the testing chamber, drawing closer. Panic surged in my chest as I looked around desperately for somewhere to hide. Spotting a locker, I dove inside, yanking the door shut just before the sound grew near. Through a small crack, I watched as several Urbanshade operatives entered the area, weapons raised and ready to fire at the slightest provocation. I held my breath, trying to calm the rapid thumping in my chest. If they find me, it will all be over. Soldiers begin to approach and examine the area with caution.

 “Remember, Z-13 is to be killed on sight if we see him, as per Mr. Shade’s orders. Doesn’t matter what else is going on, alright gents?”

A chorus of agreement followed—low murmurs and grunts. My mind is racing to recall the documents I skimmed out in the real world after each run. Z-13... who was that? Eyefestation? The Good People? I can't remember. But if Urbanshade wanted it dead that badly, it had to be something horrifying.

Then a new voice cut through the tension—a voice I recognized all too well from the gauntlets. Painter’s face flickered onto a screen above the operatives, wearing a smug, amused expression.

“Wanna see a magic trick?”

With a chuckle, Painter vanished from the screen. A split second later, ceiling turrets deployed with a sharp mechanical hiss, locking onto the operatives. I turned away just as the barrage began; Gunfire thundered in the chamber, punctuated by screams that bounced off the cold steel walls. Then silence. Unnerving, horrible silence.

The turrets withdrew as suddenly as they had appeared. Slowly, I open my eyes as I peek out of the locker. The sight made my stomach churn. Bodies lay scattered across the blood-slicked floor, as if they had been thrown aside like broken mannequins.

I stepped out of the locker, moving cautiously toward the aftermath. The stench of blood hit me like a freight train. I stumbled backwards, tripping on a gun belonging to one of the descended operatives, landing on the cold ground under me.

“Oh my god…” I scurry back as I tremble at the horrific site before me. My breathing is frantic, my body shaky. I need to calm down; I don't have time for this. There's supplies to find around here, there has to be.

Kneeling beside the corpses, I searched through and retrieved what was left. A flashlight, a handful of ration packs, and a medical kit. The rations went into the oversized pocket of my expendable uniform; the med kit was slung over my shoulder. Then my eyes landed on one of the operatives' guns.

I froze, contemplating.

I stare at the weapon, pulse thundering in my ears. I slowly reach out and pick it up, my hands trembling. Until now, I've never held a gun and the thought of having to use it is enough to make me vomit. Survival comes first. I have to make it through this… I have to get back to my family in the real world. Whatever the cost.

Without wasting another second, I left the room and continue forwards, wandering through dimly lit corridors ahead. Eventually, a door hissed open ahead, revealing what looked to be a small testing chamber, with various documents and drives scattered about. As I begin to scan the documents, I instinctively search for anything that could help me later on. After a few minutes of scanning through documents, I realize nothing in these documents were of any help to me. 

“God dammit Urbanshade…where can someone get any decent information around here huh?”

Though, these might not be useless in their entirety. If I find Sebastian out and about anywhere, maybe I could use these to trade for items. Thank god these pants have insanely large pockets otherwise I wouldn’t be able to bring any of this with me. After I shove whatever files I could find in my pockets, I start scanning up and down the long hallway, and not seeing anything or anyone at the moment, I begin to make my way out of the testing facility. 

??? POV:

I followed Painter’s directions to where he had reportedly killed  a couple of Urbanshades attack dogs. Slithering to the blood stained floors, I let an amused chuckle out as I examined Painter’s work

“Nice job kid, really let them have every bullet in that turret did ya?”

I watch as Painter’s face flickers on to the screen, his sketched out features twisting into a smirk.

“Yea, total wipeout, they didn’t stand a chance. Had some good stuff on them though, good for the shop”

I give him a thumbs up before starting to rifle through the bodies…only to find nothing. My face scrunches a bit in confusion. 

“Hey, kid, are you sure these are the right bodies? They got nothin on em.”

Even Painter looks confused as he scans the bodies.

“Yea these are definitely the right ones. I just killed them a second ago. I don't know what happened.”

I raise myself up, looking around the area. Nothing seems out of the ordinary until I find drips of red down the hallway. I grin ear to ear, feeling that familiar annoyance rise in my chest.

“Looks like we have a little rat skittering around. Let's go catch it.”

Y/N POV:

I end up making it to one of the outer hallways outside the testing facility when I heard it. The familiar screech of one of the Angler variants getting closer and closer. Since the lights remained intact, I could only assume it was Pinkie coming towards me. My legs start sprinting on their own as fight or flight kicks in, cussing up a storm on the way.

“Shit fuck shit fuck where the FUCK is a locker around here?!”

Spotting a side room down the corridor, I quickly dive into it as the door opens, thanking whatever lucky stars I had at the moment. I hide in a corner, chest heaving up and down as the shrieking, grating, pink entity shoots by, leaving behind a trail of pink slime. Letting out a sigh of relief, I feel my body relax after the near death experience. A click of metal against my skull takes me back to reality, and I freeze as I turn to see an operative pointing a gun to my head.

“You're not supposed to be here, expendable. How did you get here?”

I slowly put my hands up in an attempt to show the operatives I mean no harm, 

but I knew that plan was out the window as soon as they saw the gun.

“DROP YOUR WEAPON. NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS UNDERSTAND?!”

I slowly remove the gun from my waistband, placing it on the ground as I speak, hoping to diffuse tensions.

“This is all just a misunderstanding, I mean you no harm. Let’s just all take a minu-“

“Says the one with an operative issued gun on their person. Who’d you kill to steal it huh?”

“I didn’t kill anybody, it was the turrets!-“

“Yea, like we’d believe that. You're coming with us, even if we believed your little story, clearly you’ve tampered with your suit issued to you before you got here. Otherwise, NAVI would have eliminated you by now for straying from the set path. Let’s go expendable.”

My heart thunders loudly in my chest as I step forward, hands trembling as the operative reaches for my wrists, before freezing in place. I’m confused why he stops moving until I hear a sick, twisted laugh emit from behind me as whatever creature just appeared begins to speak.

“Found you; little mouse.”

The End

[ghastybow]

One Way In, One Way Out: A Sebastian Solace x Reader

Chapter 1

“Since when was there a new update?” I ask myself as I load the game that was a wavering obsession of mine ;Pressure. With just a few clicks of my mouse the game begins to load. I reached over and grabbed my VR headset from its stand and carefully put it on my head, adjusting the headgear as the game loaded into view. But something’s…off. It takes me a moment before I realize why it seems so strange. What is wavering? “..Why is the lobby so dead?” I mutter as I look around to see no one in sight, just an empty lobby and a singular submarine. "Weird.” I shrug and ignore the eerie energy of it all. After all, it's just a game. I played for what felt like hours just trying to beat my solo run. I don't even know what time it is anymore, but what I do know is this update is scuffed as hell. Was I doing something wrong? Maybe the game was bugged. ‘It wouldn't be the first time I guess’, I think to myself as I sit on my bed.

I woke up in a cold, dark room. Or is it even a room at all? I can’t seem to make out any walls or the floor. The last thing I remember is going to lay down for a bit. “Fuck…I fell asleep with my headset on again.” I groan as I try taking off my headset to no avail. In fact, there was no headset there to begin with. Then, a voice cuts through the dark.

“Welcome, welcome, I see you've found your way here, Good.”

I whip around to search for the source of the voice, only to find yourself face to face with two green eyes, one half closed. You attempt to walk closer, but no matter how far I walk I can’t seem to catch up to this strange being.

“Who are you? What the hell is going on? I put my headset on for only a second-”

The entity speaks up once more.

“You already know who I am. This isn't the first time you’ve played this game… my game, isn’t it?”

I sat there in bewildered silence, searching my memory for any recollection of an entity like this. Then, it hits me like a brick attached to a pipe bomb.

“Mr. Lopee…Sebastian’s boss or whatever, right?”

A chuckle emerges from where the green eyes light up a bit of the darkness surrounding me, almost as if confirming whatever suspicions I had about this mysterious being's identity.

“Good, good. You're not incompetent. This will serve you well down here.”

“What do you mean “This will serve you well down here”? None of this is real, it’s just a game. You can’t even-”

“I believe we both know that this is more than just a game, and that everything that's happening at this moment is very, very, real, no matter how much your feeble mind denies it.”

I feel my mind and body reel from his words. My knees buckle, and I feel my eyes sting with tears as they fall to non-existent ground. Mr.Lopee clears his throat, and I gaze up at him. If looks could kill, I would have killed this bastard the moment I laid eyes on him.

“This does not have to be as perilous as it seems. I have a…proposition, if you will hear it. Or go on to be stuck in the endless loop of this “game” of course”

This has got to be some type of trap. There’s no way it isn’t. This random, creepy, maybe evil guy offering a deal? This can’t be good. But I don’t have any other choice but to hear what he has to say.

“What’s your proposition?”

Lopee chuckles, eyes gleaming in the darkness.

“I need a task done that the normal expendable can’t accomplish due to the games code. But you are a special case, not bound by binary like this place. So, with that in mind, I'll send you home, back to your world to live your mundane useless life. However, this will only happen after you complete the following tasks. One, acquire the crystal from underneath Urbanshade’s nose, and two, use the crystal to free the Angel that lies in wait in the blacksite. What do you say?”

I stare at Mr.Lopee, as if I could fathom what was going on in his head with just a look. None of this makes sense. “Why do you want it free in the first place? I thought you didn’t care about anything other than your stupid script.” Lopee chuckles, bemused at the question

“My reasonings are none of your concern. You have better things to worry about after all don’t you? Now, answer the question. Will you take my deal, or trap yourself in this hell.”

Think, think damnit. There’s got to be a way to get out of this, a way to leave without making a deal with what is effectively the devil. But, there would be no other way, would there. It'll just loop like the original game. “Before I accept, I have one question.” “What is it?”

I swallow, throat dry and fists clenched. "If I die…is that it? Is there no coming back?”

Silence. Then, he speaks. "If you die here, that would be the end of your life, here and in your reality. Even my powers don’t extend that far. Do you accept the deal?”

I feel my jaw clench, as I feel the adrenaline course through me. I knew that would be the case, but I hoped to be given at least one chance.“Fine…it’s not like I have a choice anyways do I?”

His grin spread ear to ear shining through the darkness. "No, not really. Oh, and a word of advice. I wouldn’t tell anyone where you have come from, or who you really are. We wouldn’t want Urbanshade to spirit you away now would we? Lay low, act as though you belong there. Good luck Y/N.”

With a flash of green, my body feels as if it's disintegrating. Not in a painful way, just, fading. Then, I find myself in room 100. Not only that, but Lopee seems to have found it fitting to dress me as an expendable. A groan escapes my lips, grabbing the keycard and opening the door.

“Well, let’s get going”

The End

Lopee straggles a bit after Y/N leaves, before realizing something, muttering to himself.

“Oh…unless they find a token. I’m sure they’ll figure it out”