The hall split at one point going two different ways but Stephano pulled Felix down one way without hesitating. Past several doors before he stopped in front of one and yanked the door open; he shoved Felix inside and shut the door behind him. After a moment of listening to the door, he sighed and turned back to the other.
"Where are we?" Felix stared around the seemingly ordinary room.
"Just what it looks like." Stephano crossed the room, removing his hat and throwing it to the bed. A surprisingly long ponytail fell from beneath reaching to the middle of his back. "A room."
"Why here? You seemed like you knew where you were going." Felix got up to move to the bed and sat down.
Stephano sat in a chair at the desk, flipping through a notebook there. He didn't answer. The man remained quiet, reading whatever was in the journal before grabbing up a pen and writing in it. "It shouldn't be long."
"Until what?" Felix was surprised with how soft the bed was. They always looked so hard in Amnesia. It was also around this time that he began to realize that everything looked like the objects from Amnesia. Even the walls were familiar looking, but that just might be his mind playing tricks on him.
Again Stephano ignored him. He continued to scribble in the book.
"What are you doing?"
"Writing. We use this book to talk. Anything that happens of importance." He stopped and left the book opened to where he had it. "If they don't show up then they can read this and catch up to us."
"You mean Mr. Chair and Piggeh?"
"No. They always show up. I mean Skully and Jennifer. We haven't seen them for a long while. They're still alive though." Stephano stood again, pacing the room.
Felix blinked several times. "Skully too…?"
"Everyone you've named in Amnesia is here." He continued pacing.
"You… uh… come sit down. Stop pacing around." Felix patted the empty space beside him.
After a moment, Stephano's shoulders relaxed and he came over to the empty spot. "We've all missed you, ya know."
Felix nodded.
"Piggeh might try to punch you though."
He flinched. "Wha-?"
Stephano laughed lightly for a moment. "I thought I'd warn you. He is kind of pissed."
Then the door flew open and a shorter man rushed in, slamming it behind him. The guy leaned heavily on the door, head back and breathing deeply. Slowly he slid down to the floor, the beret on his head falling to the ground. He was dressed in mostly green and white, pale skinned, and brown hair.
Felix didn't need to ask for a name. One look told him exactly who it was.
"Mr. Chair, you made it." Stephano stood and crossed to him, hand out to help the other up.
Gratefully the smaller male took the hand and was pulled to his feet; a soft thunk from the wood extending from his right knee. For a moment he stumbled, needing the other's help to stay up.
"You shouldn't push yourself."
The brunette nodded, gritting his teeth. His eyes lifted to the other but suddenly drew away to stare at Felix. They widened, mouth open and just staring. "Is… it… Is it really…?" he finally spoke, his voice surprisingly quiet.
Stephano patted the other's back. "Yes. It's him."
Tears welled up in his eyes. Mr. Chair threw himself from the safety of the statue's presence and into Felix's arms. He didn't say anything. No 'hello's or even anything negative. The slightly smaller male just cried into Felix's lap.
Felix didn't know what else to do so just rubbed his back and let him continue to cry. He felt sorry. He was so sorry but he didn't know how to express it. He wanted to cry with his bro but the tears wouldn't come no matter how badly he felt and how much he wished none of this had happened to them. "I'm sorry," he finally said, feeling even worse when Mr. Chair flinched at his words. "I'm so sorry.."
Stephano looked into the hall, stepping aside just as someone else flew into the room. He shut the door then, turning to the pink haired male.
The new person in the room noticed Felix immediately. Seeing the cuts, scars, and scratches all over his body – and especially the large strip of skin missing from his face – Felix knew this person right away as well and understood Stephano's aggressive stance.
His teeth grit and nothing but pure anger showed on his face. He opened his mouth, but then shut it just as fast as he raised a fist.
Stephano was on him instantly. "Stop it!"
The other still didn't say anything, struggling in the statue's grasp. He finally settled down, eyes falling to the floor in an angry glare. As Stephano released his arms, they fell to his sides. He spit and left to the opposite corner of the room to lean on the closet.
"That's Piggeh… right?" Felix asked when Stephano came closer.
He nodded.
Mr. Chair looked up then, big brown eyes still filled with tears. "You finally came back…" he muttered. "You didn't leave us…"
Felix flinched and couldn't bring himself to look at the other.
"PewDie needs our help escaping," Stephano started, receiving a lout snort from Piggeh. "He fell from above and is stuck down here. We need to get him back to the upper levels of the castle."
Mr. Chair looked saddened. "You…w-want to leave again…?"
"He said that if we can get him out that we'd all get out."
The brunette turned to look at Stephano then. "What do you mean?"
"The real world, Mr. Chair. We could go live with PewDie in the real world."
His eyes lit up, but not in a hopeful way. This look was… different. Almost scary. Mr. Chair sat up to look over at the pink haired male still standing in the corner. Carefully he stood and limped across the room to Piggeh who acknowledged him warmly and came to help the other stay standing. "We can leave… We can leave and never deal with the Bro again…"
Piggeh glared their way before returning a kind glance to the smaller male.
Felix hated how uneasy this was making them all. Mr. Chair seemed like he had given up on hoping, Piggeh hadn't uttered anything qualified as words, and Stephano seemed hoping but at the same time it was almost as if he depended on that hope. All in all, the only rational one among them was Piggeh. The other two were desperate for something.
"Yeah, we could all leave. Together. I feel really bad that… Well, I never knew you were all alive." Felix scratched the back of his head. "I want to make it up to you; so let's all leave this place as a team." He stood and cautiously came over to the two, extending his hand to them. "What do you say?"
Mr. Chair would have grabbed his hand without a second thought but Piggeh wrapped him in a tight, protective hug and pulled him away. The look in his eyes was anything but friendly. He growled, squaring his shoulders to make himself look threatening.
Felix yanked his hand away. He didn't like this Piggeh.
"Stop it, Piggeh. He really means it." Stephano put himself between the two. "You know Mr. Chair is going to follow PewDie to the end no matter what you do. Either you agree to come with us or so help me I will break both of your legs."
Piggeh's narrowed eyes widened in surprise.
"You want to hurt him," Stephano pointed. "I'll do whatever I can to protect him, even if that means hurting a friend."
Hesitantly, and finally all at once, the man's arms fell as well as his gaze.
Mr. Chair fumbled forward and into Stephano's arms, looking back at Piggeh. "Come with us."
The pink haired man's eyes found them for a moment but then he looked away and stepped back.
Felix really didn't like this. He found himself reaching out to the other. Grabbing his shoulder it was almost painful the way Piggeh flinched and pulled away from him, fear and anger easily readable in his red eyes. "Piggeh…" He smiled faintly. "When did you stop being so pumped, huh? You were always so fun… Heh heh… I know I've done something really bad if you won't talk anymore."
Piggeh backed away more looking more and more frightened and angry by the second.
"Please just say something. Tell me you hate me. Tell me I'm an ass hat for leaving you guys. Tell me I'm terrible. Tell me how much you wa-"
"STOP!"
And then pain shot through the left side of his face as Felix was thrown back onto the floor. He stared up at the other, shocked that he had just been punched.
Piggeh was shaking, fist still raised and eyes burning with so many mixed emotions that he began to cry. He opened his mouth again but no words came out. Instead he reached up with his other hand and pulled his fist to his side and turned completely away from them.
"We can get out of here… but we need all of us." Felix rubbed his sore cheek. "Please."
He glared at the floor for a long moment. Eventually he looked over and finally he reached out a hand to Felix. There was no smile on his face, but something about his expression told Felix he was in.
Felix grabbed his hand and let the other help him up. "Nice to have you with us, bro."
Piggeh still didn't smile and looked away.
It wasn't the happiest of reunions – still technically a first meeting for Felix – but at least he had the walking corpse on his side. Maybe it was the fact that they had been bros that made this seem so simple. "So what's the plan?" he asked of Stephano, sitting back down in the middle of the floor.
The statue thought for a moment. He joined the blonde on the floor before replying, "The best way to go is through the sewers and go around the entire castle. There is a staircase on the other end that goes straight up to the top." He breathed. "We never go up there because the light shows the creatures where we are. We have to stay in the dark."
Silence took over.
Mr. Chair was visibly shaking. Piggeh had his hand on the other's shoulder for comfort. Stephano was just staring at the ground with a hollow look in his eyes.
"You haven't been up top in a long time," Felix pointed out more to himself than to ask them.
"No." Stephano sighed once more. "The only candle left down here is in Piggeh's room."
Felix blinked. "Candle…? Uh… You mean in that room that smells fucking gross?"
Piggeh looked his way with a shocked expression.
"You were in Piggeh's room?" Stephano asked for him.
"Not really. I looked in. It smelled too fucking nasty though."
Piggeh grunted and looked away.
"Yeah. He uses that to keep the Bro away from our last candle." The golden man took a deep breath. "But we need that candle if we want to get out. We need to get it so that we can go deeper and get the lantern from the lab."
"The lab?"
"It's the last place Piggeh left it."
"Why are you leaving him in charge of all the lights?"
"Because he always followed Mr. Chair so he needed the light to see. He left it in the lab because the Bro found him. If he hadn't of lost the light then I'm sure he'd of been caught."
Piggeh shivered then but it was only for a moment.
Felix didn't know what to say. Anything he could have said would have probably made things more awkward and anything uplifting to him would probably make them angry. These guys had been stuck in the dark for so long that it seemed almost any trace of light had completely drained from them. Even in the pale light that naturally illuminated just enough to see them, Felix was able to see exactly how pale the three of them were. Stephano's skin was a much lighter yellow than the rest of his clothing making him almost ghostlike under the fabrics.
"Piggeh, do you think you can get that candle?" Felix asked. It was too strong of a smell for himself to go in there and he guessed Stephano and Mr. Chair didn't particularly like it either.
The pink haired man glared at him, and then nodded. He turned to leave but Stephano grabbed him.
"Be careful."
Piggeh blinked and left the room. Still strange that he wasn't talking. Felix almost wanted to talk for him just for old times but then again… he didn't feel like getting punched for a second time.
He let out a loud sigh.
Mr. Chair was suddenly very close, sitting beside him and leaning on his shoulder. "You're scared."
Felix nodded after a moment. "Very." He let the other lean into his shoulder sighing again. "This isn't anything like when I played Amnesia. I'm actually here. This is the real world. If I get attacked here… I could die."
The brown haired man shuddered. "Any of us could die."
Unconsciously Felix's eyes found the shaft of wood sticking out of his friend's leg. Torn, dark brown pants covered the area where the wood attached to him. His curiosity had him wanting to pull it back and yet at the same time he didn't want to make Mr. Chair feel self-conscious. Deep within himself he felt a churning of uneasiness. It was a feeling in his chest that made him feel cold all over. "I'm sorry," almost slipped past his lips but something had it catch in his throat.
"It's okay," Mr. Chair muttered. "I've gotten use to it." His hand felt on his leg through his pants, rubbing the area where his own leg ended. "I've gotten use to it."
You shouldn't of had to, Felix thought and the cold feeling in his chest pulsed before moving to the pit of his stomach. He felt sick. "Fan…" he cursed silently.
An awkward silence found them all then. It was a scary quiet as they listened to the darkness for anything. As it persisted, Stephano stood and moved to the door to lean on the neighboring wall. The look on his face was lifeless as he listened to the shadows. Mr. Chair slowly moved away from Felix and got to his feet as well to sit on the bed. Felix was left on the cold floor.
The sound he was dreading echoed around them then. Felix felt a cold shiver race up his spine and spread across his entire body.
A low grumble that grew into a gargled roar. The one noise in Amnesia that always jumpscared you into letting you know that danger was just around the corner. A single sound that forced you to hide in the nearest closet for the next ten minutes until you guessed it had passed.
"The Bro…" Stephano muttered angrily. "Bastard." He moved from the door to grab the chair from the desk and wedged it under the handle. "Don't make a noise," he then muttered to them, Felix almost laughing at the memories of that saying. "I'm serious, PewDie. Not one noise."
Another growl had him zip his lip.
It was right outside the door. The damned monster was out there listening.
Hopefully Piggeh wasn't anywhere nearby.
Felix felt his breath catch in his throat when the door shook violently. A hand grabbed him and yanked him to his feet.
"To the closet- NOW!" Stephano barked in his ear, shoving him toward the closet.
"Wait-! Mr. Chair!"
"He'll chairmode. Don't worry about him." Stephano gave one more shove once the door was open and shammed it behind them locking them in the dark. Looking to the blonde, Stephano put his finger to his mouth. "Not… a noise."
Then it broke in. A solid crash of the door shattering to pieces. The Bro stumbled into the room. It fumbled over toward the closet, knocking several things over in a tizzy. Loud crashes and, in one instance, a muffled yelp let them know that the Bro wasn't having any luck in finding them.
Felix felt his heart in his throat. The throbbing of it made it almost impossible to breathe. All he could do was attempt to listen to how close that monster was from finding their hiding place. So much time had passed and yet he appeared to still show no interest in the closet. Hard to believe from what sounded like the entire room being ripped apart.
One more crash up against the closet had Felix yelp.
All went silent.
His heartbeat sped up. Felix could have sworn every one of them could hear it clear as day through the quiet. In his panic the Swed held his breath. Now his rapid pulse rang out in his head. His held breath made him lightheaded but luckily they heard the monster leaving. Felix took a much needed gulp of air relieved at how much it helped to calm him down.
Stephano pushed on the closet door. It didn't budge. He moved himself and slammed his shoulder into the door knocking a now broken chair out of their way. "Mr. Chair?"
"Over here." The brunette was beside the closet in a daze. "I'm okay." With help from the golden man he got to his feet. "PewDie? You okay?"
His breath caught and he looked away. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." This was all so wrong. Every second that these two looked at him there was a feeling of guilt deep within himself that Felix just felt like breaking down and letting it all out. But why? Why exactly did he feel like this? This feeling was completely new to him and had the blonde confused. He didn't know what to do with himself. The sooner he could get out of here the sooner he could feel normal again.
A hand rested on his shoulder. "We can't stay here," Stephano muttered. His grip tightened just briefly before releasing and he started toward the door.
Mr. Chair limped after him, glancing back to the other and beckoning for him to follow.
Felix felt the feeling still bubbling inside. It was slowly becoming a cramp the more he pushed it down. Whatever he did he couldn't break down. Not now. It wasn't the right time to be emotional. Once they were out then he could really apologize to all of them. But only then.