It has been one HOT minute but I will never forget this story... other than where I was going with it. Some of this I got back and cringe at it, but it still holds such a special place in my heart. I really enjoy going back and working on this :)
Along the wall Felix kept his fingers busy to drown out the cockroaches crawling in his ears. Skin touching cold brick and feeling each tiny trail they made. Every shadow that could exist in this pitch black was calling for his attention and he kept his on the man in front of him. Guessing which way Stephano's clothes would shift was helping. Every fold of the fabric was slowly meshing together in the dark and before long, Felix was unable to make out anything but a solid shape.
Skewing his eyes shut for a moment he was able to see more clearly, but that darkness at the edges of his eyes kept him from focusing on it all. His legs shook beneath him threatening to give way, and with every few steps they did. The Swed found himself stumbling for his footing but somehow kept it all quiet. Maybe it was the static crackling within his eardrums that muted it all to him. Could Stephano hear it? His uneven steps? The bugs?
Felix shook his head. This darkness was unending and asking for a sanity potion or even attempting to flicker on the lanturn for a moment's relief was out of the question. This darker than dark could easily take a hold of him again within seconds. He just had to power on.
"Shh," Stephano whispered, stopping Felix with a fright from the sudden sound.
Up ahead he could hear something shuffling. Heavy foot falls crossed an unseen path. It stopped a moment and Felix's spine tightened hearing the low and unmistakable grumble of the Bro. What scared him the most was the fact that he couldn't see it, and still as he looked in the direction of the noises he could feel cold sweat forming on his brow and the shaking in his legs grew worse.
As his stomach tightened and Felix had to fight hard to hold back a gag, he shut his eyes and turned away. Not that closing them made a difference, but knowing the darkness was his own eyelids soothed him. He swallowed against the bile in his throat and listened for anything.
Some moments and the Bro began moving again.
Shots of fear punched the Swed right in the gut and he about doubled over from it, leaning heavily on the wall that was his own point of safety. Cold shot into his limbs and finally after fighting so long, he collapsed against the wall and to his knees on the hard floor. The motion was so sudden he couldn't keep it back as he fell forward and threw up the little bit of food he'd had within him, gagging on the taste of it.
In the distance he could hear the allerted sound of the Bro and that fear shot again through him.
Stephano's hand entered the darkness, grabbing a hold of the fallen blonde. "RUN!" he shouted too loud, pulling Felix to his feet. The golden man ran hard and he yanked the other male behind him.
Felix was fumbling over his feet in the dark unable to keep up even with the adrenaline pulsing through his veins. Even as he could hear the Bro catching up, something about the darkness invading his mind was sapping his strength. He tried hard to keep his feet moving and still they failed him as he got caught up in himself and lost his footing altogether.
Hard brick met the side of his face before he tumbled in the dark and for a moment was left lost. He couldn't move. He didn't know which way the wall was or Stephano or the Bro.
A blur in the dark and Stephano had him by the back of his shirt. "RUN, PEWDIE!" His frantic words fell on buzzing ears and the man had to once again yank the other to his feet and push him on.
After being thrown around a corner, Felix was tugged back and tossed into a room. The door shut quietly behind them. Stephano snatched Felix up once more and proceeded to shove himself and the Swed into a single closet. It wasn't as cramped as it had looked in the game so the two fit side by side comfortably. Or as comfortably as a man could be while not in his right mind. Felix swayed from side to side, vision swimming. He felt like he was going to throw up again.
That quickly went away as the door to the room jostled and banged. Two more loud crunches of wood and bits of the door were everywhere other than where they should have been. The excitement of the hunt had the Bro throw himself into the room. He tossed his head to and fro, looking for his prey. As he made his way around the room, he tossed over a chair. In his anger he threw his claws up and brought them down on the bed opposite them. A piece of the bed's frame shot out and slammed into the closet, cracking the doors inward on the two. Neither made a noise, Stephano trained to do so and Felix scared of losing what little was left inside of him.
When neither made any indications that they were within the room, the Bro finally turned and left.
Minutes passed in the dark - or it could have been seconds - before Stephano began fighting with the broken doors to get them out. A few hard shoves and the door snapped out of its broken place and flew open.
Stephano sighed. "You alright, PewDie?"
Felix didn't answer. His stomach was churning. Felt like his head was doing the same thing. A headache the likes he'd never felt before pounding under his skull pushing outwards and splintering the bone.
"PewDie?" The man laid a hand on him.
Making a loud, uncalled for gag and burp combo, Felix finally said, "Y-Yeah."
"Good. You hit your head earlier. Let's find a room to rest a minute and check that."
He wanted to argue but talking just made everything worse. Listening was fine, but talking didn't agree with anything going on with him. They didn't have time to check on these things. Felix didn't want the chance of anyone reaching the hatch and going back to look for the others when they didn't show up.
Not listening to his body language as Felix pulled against his grip, Stephano gently lead him down the now empty hall and to a different room. This one thankfully had a door that Stephano closed and barricaded. He dug around in a desk and pulled out a silver cylinder - a tinderbox. The man made a pile of fabrics on the floor and snapped some pieces of wood lying around. Messing with the tinderbox, he lit up a fire nearly blinding the both of them. Felix was drawn to the light, sitting near it not caring how hot it was and feeling relief as his vision slowly began fading back to normal.
"Oh thank God," he muttered, regretting the light the moment he began to feel his face hurting.
Stephano's expression didn't change as he looked over Felix's cheek. "You're not bleeding," he mentioned, holding the man's jaw lightly and turning his cheek toward the fire. "Does it hurt to move?"
"Not really."
"Okay, so it's not broken. Doesn't feel loose either." His hand felt inside the lining of his shirt and pulled out another of those tiny bottles with green liquid visible behind a layer of dust. "This should help take the pain away," he said as he held it out.
Felix about took it, but stopped. "I can handle it," he lied as that echo of bugs in his ears reminded him they had to continue on. "Just a little bit longer."
Stephano shook his head. "You can't even walk right let alone run. The Bro almost got to us… At least take another sanity potion." He exchanged that vile for a second one, this time not so dusty… though the contents were a little darker than the first time he'd seen it.
He knew there was no fighting it. Felix grabbed the bottle, popped the top and chugged down the medicine. This one was slightly sweet but didn't go down smooth as a solid chunk of it landed on his tongue and felt wrong in his mouth. The texture alone almost had him gag, but the sweet taste let him swallow it down. The effect wasn't as immediate as before, but moments turned into minutes and Felix was able to see and his sore cheek numbed.
"You're a good friend, Stephano, you know that," Felix started saying, breaking the silence between them. "The others are really lucky to have you here."
Some moments and the statue responded, "We're lucky to have you back."
"I'm a piece of shit friend that didn't even know I left the most amazing people I could ever imagine." He paused. "Pun intended."
Stephano grunted a laugh. "You really didn't know. Doesn't make it okay, but it's okay."
Felix didn't fight his words. He'd already done enough of that. "Thanks. For everything."
"I should be thanking you. Maybe you hadn't meant to, but you did come back for us." His gaze went to the blood still stiffening the Swed's shirt. "That alone proves that you mean business." Then he stood. "Ready?"
"Not really. Do I have a choice?"
"Not really," his old friend responded and helped the other up. "The lab is close by. Hopefully the chemicals are still there or we will have to go back and try one of the other two ways."
Felix crossed his fingers.
They kept the fire going and prayed that it wouldn't go out in case they needed a point to gain some of Felix's sanity back. Weird that a little darkness could mess with the mind so well. Even a completely sane person could lose it down here. Back into the hallway almost immediately the bugs were crawling in his skin again and Felix had to shiver to keep his mind occupied.
"Just hold onto me," Stephano offered, holding out some of his cloak. "If you need it, stare at my cloak in your hand. It will be close enough that you can see it."
Good idea. Felix accepted it without a word, keeping quiet per the usual sneaking around. The rough fabric gave his fingers something to mess with as well so it was a good combo. As the tendrils of black swarmed his mind, the Swed kept his hands busy and took between watching his own feet and the moving clothing in his grasp.
Stephano fearlessly lead the way around a few more corners before finally finding the lab. "Alright." He shut the door behind them and pulled out the tinderbox from the previous room. He lit up a few torches around a workbench and one more near a shelf of books and viles. Most of them were broken while a small bit still had liquids, powders, and cubes of… stuff in them. Stephano was grabbing at some things, sorting them around and pulling out what he needed.
"You actually know what all we need?" Felix was looking at a small beaker that had a single cube of what looked like sugar in it. He didn't think it was sugar though.
"Don't know the names of them, but I know the consistency of the liquids and colors of what we need." He pulled down a glass jar, swished the liquid inside around, and put it back when the surface of it began to bubble. "I need a green one. It's a very thin substance. You move it around and it will let off a steam."
"That doesn't sound good." Felix tried helping but it was still just dark enough that he couldn't tell colors. He grabbed one vile and attempted to swish it but realized it was a powder and quickly put it back before he was found out. "Need me to help with something else? I can't see a thing in this damn dark."
Stephano was still searching the different shelves. "Use the lantern."
"No. I want to save that. I always use up all the oil." Felix found a large, empty jar. "Can we mix the stuff in here?" he asked when he got to Stephano's side.
"Put it on the workbench." Stephano finally found what he was looking for when Felix saw a small puff of white bloom from the tip of a beaker. "Now… I think it was a pink one?"
"You think?" Felix eyed him. "You better not… blow us up or something."
The statue gave him a sideways look. "Trust me," he said, and was back to looking.
Felix crossed the room and sat in a chair beside the workbench, preferably closest to the lit torches. Bright light soothed his headache and his vision became a lot clearer. "Note to self: get a nightlight for the bedroom."
"What was that?" Stephano whispered as he came over with four different jars and beakers.
"Talking to myself."
"Just like the good old days?" Stephano began placing the beakers on wheel-like things and lit the flames beneath them. He also got a soft punch to the shoulder for that remark. Felix was worried about the others, but just having Stephano here was really uplifting. "Okay, you can put the jar at the end where the nozzle is."
He did as he was told and turned the valve open when asked. The mixture's fumes rose through the rusting pipes and spilled into the jar. Somehow it formed back into liquid after having been boiled. The green substance filled the jar mostly before Stephano shut it all off.
"So… now what? Storage? We got some weird goop we gotta throw this shit on?"
"That's the plan. Want to carry it?"
"No-! No thanks! I'll stick with Lampy." He froze. "Please don't tell me I just brought the lamp to life."
Stephano sputtered a laugh. "There's more to just naming it that brings it to life, PewDie."
"Don't tell me what those things are. I don't need to accidentally create more things."
The statue tucked the now closed jar beneath his arm. "Let's go."
Felix followed suit out the door and back down the hall. He grabbed a hold of Stephano's clothes again when the cockroaches were hissing in his head. This time, the gold man's hand reached back and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. The sudden hand out of the dark had spiked Felix's heart rate, but the gentle touch calmed him down more than the start.
Their journey was going good now. The Bro was nowhere to be heard. Stephano only stopped twice to let some lesser monsters struggle on by and Felix was getting better at ignoring the harsh black void around him. He wasn't comfortable knowing he was getting use to it… he made a mental note not to mention it to Stephano.
Within twenty minutes or so they reached a new door. Stephano produced a key and clicked it in the lock. The massive door grinded open, groaning with the effort as if the hinges were about to give but still held enough that the entire weight of the door wasn't on the floor. Felix nearly bolted in when he saw light. It wasn't light as in fire, but more of that normal darkness where the lantern would actually be useful. After being in the unforgivable darkness prior, this was almost like a well lit room. Area. Whatever it was. Storage. That was the word.
"So where to now? Isn't this place going to be huge or something?" Felix began poking through the shelves for oil or even food to make up for what he'd tossed earlier. His stomach still ached from that.
Stephano attempted to close the door but it stuck fast on a ridge in the floor keeping it askew. "Dammit…" he cursed. "Storage is a straight shot," he then said to the blonde. "Jennifer chose the easiest path for us."
Relief, and then Felix huffed. "Easiest?! How dare she…" He finally found a loaf of bread, but groaned when he saw how fluffy with mold it was. "I wish there was something I could eat…" he whined.
"Trust me, I do too." Stephano stepped past him. "I didn't think you'd throw up back there. You alright?"
"It was just the dark getting to me. And the Bro. And stress." Felix blinked at Stephano's worried expression. "It was a lot of stuff. Whatever. It happened and it's done. I feel a lot better now… just hungry." He licked his lips. "And thirsty."
Moving a few boxes out of the way, they found a small path that led back behind the bookshelves blocking their view. "There's a fountain in here somewhere. If it's running then you can drink from it."
"A fountain? Convenient."
"Don't question it. Just accept that it's there." Stephano held his hand back and twitched when Felix put his hand in it. "...No. Lantern."
"OH! Sorry." The Swed held out the metal thing sheepishly.
"You idiot." With a laughing smile, the golden man took it and lit it on a low flame.
Even in this soft darkness, Felix hadn't noticed how low his sanity had dropped until the fire in the lanturn dimmed on. His wavering vision cleaned up and he had to blink several times. Little by little he was beginning to hate the dark. It hadn't been nice before and now it was no fun at all.
They wound their way through the storage pathways, ignoring doors as they went. As the dark was beginning to ebb away, Felix noticed something ahead that almost made his heart stop. From where they were it appeared a giant spider web had strewn itself across the hallway blocking their path. Nearing it he realized it was that red goop from the game. Not nearly as settling as a spider web but at least that meant there was no giant spider. He stepped closer to it to touch it, wincing at the sticky, slimy feeling.
Something dug itself into his shirt, yanking him backwards. As this was happening, a sharp object jutted out of the webbing straight for where Felix's face had been. The shard was long enough that it still made contact and gave a small puncture-like scrape to Felix's cheek.
He fell to the floor and grabbed at his again wounded cheek. The same one that he'd fallen on earlier. "WHY DOES EVERYTHING HATE MY FACE!" he screamed from sudden fear. The adrenaline coursing within him sent a splitting ache into his head and there was a double vision taking over his sight. Felix had to stop himself from moving as the warping sight was making him nauseous.
"You have to be careful!" Stephano scolded him. "Don't you remember anything? This crap can hurt you!"
"I'm sorry! I just always wondered what it felt like." Felix left his cheek be and got back up. "So just throw that gunk at it."
The golden man was already working on uncorking the container. "We have to be sparing with it. There might be more goop." He was able to use the cork to get some of the acid out and fling it on the webbing. With a loud hiss, the red strings broke down and folded into two oozing lines on both walls. "Don't touch it," he growled, sounding more and more like his old self the further they were traveling.
"Got it! Don't touch the nasty gloopy junk." Felix actually had to stop himself from doing just that and left it behind them.
Further on down the corridor was a door only just cracked open. Stephano ignored it, but Felix stopped to peek inside. Loads of boxes, banners, and- "Oil!" he blurted. Hesitantly, he pushed the door open only for it to stutter and halt too suddenly. He could still slip through much to Stephano's dismay as it was too tight for him.
"PewDie, just… hurry up."
He did just that, scrambling over some boxes and an upturned chair and getting a good sized bottle of oil. The glass was dusty and felt slimy. He turned it in his hand, rubbing a thumb over the grime on the outside to reveal the small amount of liquid inside. "Yes!" Getting back to the door, he handed the bottle through and pushed out after Stephano grabbed it. "I thought I was losing my mind when I saw that."
It wasn't much, but it did fill the lanturn up to three fourths full. "Surprised you did. Good find."
That small amount of praise lit up something in him and Felix smiled.
They continued in silence for a while. Everything began blending together even with the dim light of the lanturn. Felix's mind was under control, but he couldn't help thinking that everything looked the same. How did Stephano know which doors went where? And just as the thought came up, he opened a door on the right and they passed through.
Felix hadn't noticed he was holding the statue's sleeve so let go. It wasn't that dark. He didn't need the lifeline.
Finally a broad door came into view. It was red with metal criss crossing over it. Stephano put an ear to it, waited, and easily pushed it open. With how run down everything else was the fact that this door opened without so much as a creak had the both of them stop.
"Someone is down here," Stephano growled. He put his arm out and slowly stepped into the next room. Felix stuck to him making sure to stay behind his arm. "Don't make a noise," came the familiar warning and the Swed watched his every step for fear of kicking anything.
The room was a connecting room, like a small hallway with several doors. A broken down bed lay in ruins blocking one of the doors. The frame was rotten meaning it hadn't broken with force. Against the wall beside it was a broken wardrobe, doors ajar and one snapped in half. Old banners hung on the walls as well as lay in shreds on the floor. Again they seemed to have been worn with time so it made Felix feel more at ease.
He was about to speak when they heard muffled voices from one of the doors. It was distant yet still had the hair on his neck stand on end. The voice had been male, demanding. "Who was that?" Felix whispered, not hiding the fear.
Stephano's stance had changed to one much more protective. His hand was on Gonzalo's blade safely tucked in his fabric belt. "Barrels."
Felix felt the blood drain from his face. The Barrels had guns. That wasn't something you could easily outrun.
"Stay here." And the golden man started toward the door they heard it from.
"No way!" he hissed, grabbing his arm. "You're not about to go out there and get shot!"
"That's where the fountain is."
"Who cares about the water? We're close to getting to the hatch. Right?" Hearing that the fountain was so close, Felix could feel how dry his mouth was. But there was still the chance that it didn't work. "I can drink once we're out of here."
Stephano's stare was threatening. "You haven't had a proper drink since you got down here. It'll start affecting you if you don't get some water." He pulled his hand away and took a breath to relax. "I'm going to stealth my way in there and fill my empty vials. If you hear any kind of commotion, promise me you'll hide. I'll find you."
"Commotion means bad and I'm not going to hide while you're in trouble."
He raised a brow at Felix.
"Don't doubt me."
The man sighed. "I don't, but trust me."
Felix held his breath and let it out. "Fine. Fine! You're not going to drop this." He crossed his arms. "Please be careful?"
He smirked, handing the lanturn to him. "Am I anything but?" Stephano kept his sword sheathed and motioned for the other to step back. Once Felix got himself behind a good portion of the broken bed, Stephano cracked open the door and slipped out.
Everything stayed quiet.
Felix dimmed the lanturn further not wanting to waste anymore oil and soon took to turning it off. Almost instantly the crackling started up. Felix tried to ignore it but now that he was just waiting it made the time stretch and there was no disregarding the sound penetrating the darkness.
He skewed his eyes shut and covered his ears with his hands. Trust in Stephano. That's all he needed to do.