I don't know if there are any other amnesiaXhomestuck character stories out there or anything, but this is something I wrote on a whim while drawing a picture of XXXX holding a lantern. My point is, if this is in any way related to anyone else's work, just know I had no intention of copying you. I've only read Homestuck fanfiction like…twice…yeah, wake me up. It's pretty obvious who XXXX is considering story quirks and well…that tag up there. I'm not sure why I even bother except that well, he doesn't know, and technically he is you cuz 2nd person, but whatever.

Cover Art: me. It's the only fully colored picture of Dave I had finished, so it was the only one I could use. It really has nothing to do with this story though.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Homestuck characters referenced in this little story, but I doubt there is a problem with using them considering it's Homestuck.

[?]: Wake up.

Your name is…who are you?

The air is musty and heavy, and it's so dark, you can't tell if your eyes are open or closed. You try to recall anything about what's happening to you or where you are, but all you are getting is a migraine powerful enough to make you cringe in on yourself. Instinctively, you reach up to adjust a pair of sunglasses you assume are on your face, but your arms won't move. Nothing is coming into focus and the world is refusing to stand still.

A nagging fear begins to overtake you and you quickly start to struggle and pull at whatever is holding you back. You hear the sound of jingling chains and a jabbing pain suddenly shoots down both your arms. You can feel a hot liquid slowly running down your arms and panic settles in. You can't help but cry out in pain and anxiety despite an inner feeling that that's not like you.

You try to calm yourself and take your time taking slow wavering breaths…but it stings. You might as well be breathing in acid. You gag a few times at the nauseating taste of the air and try to lift your head in the direction you believe is up. A drop of a different liquid falls on your face and you twitch a little at the contact. Normally, panic might have taken over, but the coolness and familiar feeling of the droplet of water now gently sliding down your face actually calms you. As your head begins to settle, you realize that you are propped against a wall with your arms chained above you. That took you long enough you think. How in the heck did you get here?

The hot liquid suddenly reaches your shoulders and the smell of metal and something sickeningly sweet begins to waft into your nose. Blood? That little bit of struggling shouldn't have been enough to already draw blood. What is wrong with you? You pause for a little and it hits you. It's not just you. That smell that nearly choked you…that smell that seemed to permeate the air with pain…that smell is everywhere, but there is something else. Something sour? No…not exactly…it's something rotting. You already know what it is, but you don't want to think about it. Where are you? Why are you here? Who ARE you?

You attempt to calm your mind by focusing on remembering who you are at least. You cannot shake the feeling that finding out who you are might not be as easy as you'd hope, but you need answers.

Your name is…f*ck…It's no use. It's not coming to you.

You think you are 21…at least, that's what you were as recently as you can remember. You were a transfer student at a university in California. Which one was it…you can't remember. Your best friend was your roommate…JOHN! Oh SHIT! He better not have gotten dragged into whatever the hell is happening with you.

Now that you think about it, what made you think you were by yourself? If this sour smell wasn't coming from you, or at least, you hoped it wasn't, who else was down here?

Suddenly, a sharp pain rivets up your body and you realize you are sitting in a puddle of some kind of goopy liquid.

Why can't you feel your legs?

No, that's not…come on…that's going a little far isn't it. A dread you thought could never fall over you overtakes your entire consciousness and whatever happened next, you can't remember. There is the sound of shattering metal and then frantic clawing. Flashes of snaking corridors and spiraling staircases swirl around your vision like a kaleidoscope. Darkness blankets your mind and body and somewhere as if stifled by layers of cloth, a deep howling growl permeates the air around you. All you know is that when pain finally overtook fear, you woke up lying, face-down on a cold, damp floor. All you can hear is your rasping, uneven breaths, driving arrhythmia, and a gentle consistent drip. The same smell of decay lingers in the air, but it is a little easier to breathe here. You groggily attempt to turn your head and figure out your surroundings, but the pain holds fast and nothing will listen to you. You try your arms next, but it's no better.

You lie there with your face against the floor listening to the sounds of your breath stirring the dirt stuck in the cracks in the stonework and concentrating on the feeling of your head against the ground.

The pain recedes a little and you sluggishly roll yourself over to stare at…

Holy fuck.

You can feel your body heave a little and your hands instinctually snap to cover your mouth. As far as you can see, bodies…at least you think they are human bodies…are dangling like ragdolls from hooks scattered across the ceiling. Their blood trickles down their mangled bodies onto the blood-stained floor, revealing the source of the rhythmic dripping noise. Without thinking, your legs push you back against a wall where you struggle just to keep from screaming.

As you sit there rocking back and forth, you realize you still have legs to rock you back and forth. You manage to rip your eyes away from the gruesome scene in front of you and get a good look at yourself for the first time. Your hands are still in one piece, torn and bleeding, but in one piece. Your wrists have seen better days, and the cuffs are still stuck fast, but a set of chains dangles from both and you realize you must have snapped the chains clean in half back in wherever you were. Even if it was adrenaline pumped, not bad. Maybe those lessons from that horse-obsessed guy at school weren't all a giant waste of your time.

A horse-obsessed guy? You're not sure, but seems typical of you to remember some useless memories such as those and not the important stuff about who you are.

You move your hands to your face. Your face is still intact, though still missing the particularly righteous pair of shades you had habitually tried to adjust earlier…yeah, that's how you'd describe them…a surprisingly ironic present from John. You probably look like crap, but at least you don't look like…well there are a lot of examples around you.

You breathe a sigh of relief as you look over your perfectly attached legs, still completely capable of taking you out of this hell hole. They're pretty scratched up, but nothing seems broken. And…thank whatever gods…you're wearing something. Everything's in tatters and you'll definitely be on the lookout for some new duds, but at least you're not naked. It looks like the remains of what used to be lose-fitting brown cotton pants and a casual red collared jacket. What were you doing before this happened to you? Going out for a midnight snack? If John is somewhere down here, you would've hated to run into him stark naked…although…irony? Why are you thinking about this right now?

Despite the disturbing scene around you, you lean back against the wall and casually take a look around you. Now that you've cleared your head a little, the world has stopped spinning and you find that you finally have full control of all parts of your body.

You are in a dimly lit large hall that appears to be some kind of underground prison or torture chamber…or both; you really think it's both. The walls are covered in blood and water stains, and it is dead silent save for the sluggish dripping sound of the blood falling all around. There is another hallway in front of you, but you can't see more than a couple feet down it. Beyond the haze of light from your current hallway, all you can see is darkness darker than black. It somehow feels heavy…like if you were to take one step into it, you'd be crushed by the sheer force of its immersion.

You can't help but push up against the wall a little more, retracting your feet as far away from the darkness as possible. That must have been where you came from, and you have no intention of going back there.

Gathering your strength, you pull yourself off the ground, sliding cautiously and tentatively up the wall, making sure your legs don't give out on you half way. You manage to stand up as straight as you can and take a few hobbling steps towards the nearest light source. It is a small candle, barely lit and almost completely out of wax, but seeing as none of the others are any better, you might as well take this one.

How long were you down here anyways? You realize you have no idea. For all you know, you might not be 21 anymore; though you have a feeling it's only been a couple of days tops. Whatever the case is, you need to get out of here.

Other than the dark hallway from whence you assume you came, the hallway branches in two directions. The way to your left is lit by more fading candles, but the right side is completely black save for a small light way off in the distance. At the end of the left tunnel, there is a spiral staircase leading upwards. You can't tell what is at the end of the right tunnel. Under these circumstances, you would normally head straight for the spiral staircase, but there was something about the way the air smelled in that direction that screamed and yanked at you to run in the other direction.

Smell…all these smells which reveal information, stories, and warnings. When did your sense of smell get this good? You can't remember who it was that taught you, but you'll be sure to thank her if you get through this ordeal alive. Her skill might come in handy here…her? Yes, a girl from school probably.

You take a steadying breath and silently begin moving down the hallway to your right. You trail your right hand against the wall while holding the candle in your left, making sure that you never lose track of the light at the far end of the tunnel. Every sense in your body is on high alert and you can feel every hair stiffening and rising as you head further and further into the darkness.

Your candle provides just enough light to see the ground you are walking on, but you can barely see a few feet in either direction. This is almost more frightening to you than walking in pitch blackness because if something does appear in your little space of light, it might as well be right in your face.

You are making good progress and you can see the light getting closer, but you can't help but feel something is off. Why were candles lighting up that passageway? Doesn't that mean someone had to be using it? Would someone really just leave you there without any guards or any other prisoners? Shouldn't there be someone else here? Assuming that is so, where are they?

Suddenly, your hand brushes up against something freezing cold and slimy, and you instantly recoil and smother your candle. The darkness envelopes you as you jam yourself down against the floor devoting all your energy towards suppressing your scream. You wait for a few seconds, straining your ears for any signs of movement, but nothing happens; even the drips of blood are distant and barely audible.

Since the coast seems to be clear and you've calmed down a little bit, you wearily take out your candle.

Great, good fucking job you colossal masterpiece of intelligence.

Now what are you going to use for light?

Even if you wanted to see what your hand brushed up against, you can't see anything now. You glance back at the candles still burning behind you but figure if you don't press on now, you're never going to get going. You'll hold onto the candle, maybe you'll come across another light source, and it doesn't hurt to have extra. Gathering the broken pieces of your courage together, you place your hand back against the wall and gingerly push yourself back up, continuing towards the light. Your hand meets the slimy substance for a second time, and you can't help but snap away from the wall again. There's something not right about this stuff. It was freezing cold before, cold to the point where if it had been made of metal, you'd probably have ripped your stuck fingertips off in your recoil. Now, however, it was boiling hot. You can still feel the tips of your fingers throb a little as the burning sensation slowly fades.

As much as you hate to put yourself in the open, you doubt the wall is any safer at this point. Silently and cautiously, you slink your way down the center of the pathway, your vision fixed on the light at the other end.

As you inch along, your mind begins to wander. What kind of person would do this to you and all those people back there? Is it even a person? Is John ok? Did any of your other friends get involved? Do you have any family? Will they worry? What's your favorite food? Did you like pizza? You could really go for some pizza.

Oh god you're hungry.

Your stomach lets out a low growl and the noise startles you. You instantly recoil and crouch down on the ground clutching at your stomach in a vain attempt to shut it up. The noise subsides, but you remain pressed against the cold ground straining your ears for any sounds that don't belong to you.

What seems like several minutes goes by before you decide it's safe to get up. You slowly drag yourself off the ground and glance around nervously, but nothing stirs. You let a long sigh escape your mouth.

At this rate, you are never going to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Wait, what did you just think? Worst saying ever, you think. You grip the unlit candle close to your chest like a protective charm and take a step forward, but that's when you hear it.

A low guttural growl like a hungry beast choking on its own saliva echoes down the hallway from behind you. Every hair on your body begins to stand on end and you slowly turn to face the hall of candles now a ways off. You feel your heart freeze in your chest as a hobbling shadow appears on the spiral staircase at the end of that hall. You want to run, but your body won't move. You can feel your legs quivering beneath you and your hands moistening with a cold sweat as you watch the creature slowly move into the light.

You don't think you've ever wanted to scream before in your life, but right now, it is taking everything in your power to keep yourself from exploding in fear. It is not the giant claw that is its left hand, the multiple sections of its body that are rotting away where flesh should've been, its misshapen eyes, or even its dilapidated jaw. It is its humanoid appearance. It looks like a person that caved in on themselves and then began to fall apart.

It sluggishly begins hobbling down the hall but suddenly stops and faces straight in your direction. You feel the rest of the color drain out of your body and the world begins to spin around you.

No…don't pass out…you won't get up again…No…stop…

It lets out another low growl but slowly turns and makes its way down the dark hallway you escaped from.

You stand there frozen in fear and shock as you listen to its dragging footsteps slowly fading into the distance, but then your legs finally give out on you and you feel your consciousness blink out. You're only out for a moment as your face collides with the ground and the impact snaps you back awake.

The pain rings out just for a second as you quickly gather yourself back together. You can't be like this. You can't stay here this time. There is no longer any time for apprehension or freezing up. If you don't get away now, if you don't press forward, you are going to die.

Gritting your teeth, you launch yourself back on your feet and, without looking back, sprint towards the faint light at the end of the hall. You quickly reach the end and burst into a sea of orange light, almost falling straight into the pit where the light was coming from. Swaying on the edge of the pathway, you quickly lean backwards and grab onto the wall. Taking a deep breath, the same sour, acid-like smell from the room you were chained in rushes into your lungs and you gag and splutter as you glance over the edge.

Bodies…There are bodies piled haphazardly covering the bottom of the pit which is lit by a couple torches burning steadily along the walls. The bodies' limbs are contorted and those with discernable faces are drained and blank with expressions of fear and pain the likes of which you could only liken to an encounter with that creature from before. Some of them are mangled beyond recognition of being human. Others are burned, their skin bubbled-looking and peeling off in sections. Some are whole but are sickly inhuman colors of yellows, greens, and rotting purples.

You can't help it; you fall to your knees, turn around, and heave. What is this place? What is going on here? Why were you brought here? If you hadn't escaped, is this what that creature would have done with you? Is it the one doing all this or is something controlling it?

You take only a minute to collect yourself. You have to keep moving. That creature is still back there and even if it is not coming this way right now, who's to say it won't. You have to find a way around this pit but there are no ledges around the rim of it. You can see another hallway directly across from you but there are no paths leading there. Every immediate thought in your head is urging you to give it up, but you look closer down into the pit and notice a couple stones jutting out on the other side which you could use to reach the other hallway.

As much as you do not want to walk down there, you need to press on, and at least this way, you can get one of those torches too. Personal morals aside, you have to walk on those people. You muster your courage and jump down.

It is so much worse than you'd thought it'd be.

The stench is overwhelming your senses and the moment your hand makes contact with one of the bodies, you can feel your stomach lurch in response. You can feel what was left of the people beneath you sag and crack as your bare feet roll over their withering corpses. You don't know how you did it and most of the journey is foggy at best as your mind was so numb by the time you even got half-way that most of it was done in a daze. Several times, as you made your way across the pile, the bodies would slip to the side in response and you'd fall knee-deep in corpses. It felt like zombies grabbing at your ankles and rubbing against your legs trying to pull you down into their midst. You'd struggle and yank yourself out only to roll across more of them and end up face to face with blank stares of horror.

Somehow, you make it to a wall, pull down a torch, dazedly hold it in your mouth, and quickly struggle up the jutting-out stones and into the archway of the other hallway. You can't think. Your mind refuses to feel. The only thing you can think of is to move forward.

You absently hold the torch up in front of you and sluggishly drag your body forward. There is a door with no windows on the side of the hallway a little ways in and without a thought, you simply open it and walk inside. It is a closed off room with nothing in it save for a work desk in one corner and a bookshelf bereft of books in another.

Stone-eyed, you close the door behind you, stick the torch in a socket on the wall, and pass out on the floor.