The Narrator spawned at the start of a hallway.
"Huh, I don't remember making this part of the map at all." Walking a bit further, he noticed a sign.
"'The Narrator needs to be present for it to work?' Well, this shouldn't be a problem for us!" He said, laughing. Tap.
The Narrator started up the first staircase, then through a hallway, then another staircase, then a hallway, then a staircase..and a hallway. He looked visibly tired from all of the climbing.
"W..WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY NEED THIS MANY STAIRS FOR ONE DAMN ESCAPE POD?!" He complained aloud. "I mean, its an ESCAPE pod! If there was a bloody fire right now, EVERYONE WOULD BE DEAD!"
Stanley laughed. He had learned to stop questioning the game a long time ago.
Stanley watched The Narrator painfully go up the last flight of stairs. Finally, he reached the door to the launch bay. He stepped inside.
"Alright..where is it?" He looked around. "Stanley, are you sure there's even an escape pod?" Tap.
After walking in complete darkness for a minute, the escape pod appeared a few feet away from him. He gasped and sped for it. Just as he was about to enter, he stopped. Stanley was confused. The Narrator looked up into the pitch black room.
"Stanley," he began, "Do you even know where this escape pod goes? Do you even know if its functional?"
Stanley blinked. He hadn't thought about that. He tapped the microphone twice.
"Oh.." The Narrator said, taking a step away from the pod.
"Stanley.."
The Narrator put a hand to his forehead. He had to make a choice.
Risk it, or turn back?
To others, it would be an easy decision: turn back. But The Narrator was too stubborn.
He wouldn't be able to live, knowing his story was incorrect.
He would rather destroy himself.
He took a shaky breath.
"I..I'm going to try it. I'm going to try the escape pod. But.." He sighed. "If something bad were to happen to me, just remember that it wasn't your fault. Okay? Just promise me that."
Stanley stared at the screen. He wanted to remember what The Narrator looked like, his hair, his glasses, his clothes...everything. Just in case.
He tapped the microphone once.
The Narrator smiled a bit. "Good. Now let's go."
He stepped into the pod.
Inside were rows of buttons and and switches, along with a screen. He pressed the power button. The machine hummed to life. A message appeared on screen.
"Commense Launch?" (-Yes. No.) The Narrator pressed the "yes" option. The pod started shaking.
Stanley watched, terrified, as the escape pod shot up into the dark room, and hearing the passenger inside, screaming. Suddenly, the roof of the room opening, revealing a cloudy sky. The pod continued upwards for a minute, and stopped. Then it started falling.
The escape pod's screen changed to a new message.
"{Engaging landing gear}"
A small parachute dispersed at the top of the pod. It didn't stop it from falling, but it slowed it down.
Stanley couldn't watch. He covered his eyes.
A crashing sound was heard from outside his room.
Stanley's head turned towards the noise, until he saw the monitor.
The pod had seemed to land outside a gray building. The escape pod's door opened and The Narrator weakly stepped out. He made it!
The Narrator dropped to his knees and started laughing. He didn't think it was possible, but he survived! He survived!
"YES!" He exclaimed.
Just as he said this, he noticed the gray building.
"Hm? What's this..?" He walked towards it. He knocked on the door. Stanley heard the knock from inside his room.
"Hello? Is anyone in there?"
Stanley turned towards the monitor. He had already tried to open his door from the inside..what if..?
"Hello? Anyone?"
Stanley clicked the door.
It opened. Stanley turned around.
Standing there, was The Narrator.
They both just stood there, staring at each other. The Narrator walked forward towards Stanley. He stopped right in front of him.
There was a moment of silence.
The Narrator cleared his throat. "Ahem. Well-"
Before he could react, Stanley pulled The Narrator into a hug. Stanley hugged as tight as he could. He wanted to say so many things. "I was so worried!" "I can't believe you're here!" "I'm sorry for almost killing you!" He wanted to scream.
The Narrator was surprised by the hug, but returned it anyway. He was happy that Stanley cared about him. When he pulled back, The Narrator saw that Stanley was crying. Crying tears of joy. He smiled.
"Alright, stop crying." The Narrator said, brushing away a tear from Stanley's face. He gestured towards the computer.
"Come on, help me fix the game."
Hours passed. Then days. Maybe even weeks. Its hard to tell when you're having so much fun.
Stanley and The Narrator have been working on the game for this amount of time. Sure, they fixed it. They did that a few days ago. They even repaired the reset button in that span of time!
No, they had been adding new features in the game. New endings, new abilities, vehicles, skill trees- anything they could think of! Stanley had suggested this while they were fixing the reset button. The Narrator happily accepted the idea.
After that, they were the closest of friends. They rarely fought, and when they did, it was because of a miscommunication. The Narrator no longer thought of Stanley as a troubled individual, and Stanley no longer thought of The Narrator as a pain in the ass.
It was a beautiful friendship. Everyday they would improve the game, point out flaws, and discuss plots for new stories.
And Stanley was happy.
{The Happy Ending}
[Yes, here's the main ending to the story. This was really fun to write!]
[And now, scrapped ideas that were turned into alternate endings!]
[Um.. the first one's pretty sad. You might wanna wait a day before reading them. Just to enjoy the happiness of THIS ending.]
[Its just a suggestion. Continue at your own risk.]
[Please review!]
[On another note, its 4/27 today~! Happy 4/27! xD]