Surprisingly, nothing terrible happened to him in the dark.
The carpets were as soft as one could expect from a rotted old apartment, laced by the same vines and creeping mold that covered the rest of this grey world. He watched Danny unlock an apartment with some keys he fished out of a pocket, and followed the ushering hand gesture without protest.
Stepping inside, he didn't expect…
Will turned around as he shuffled in, looking at every corner of clean, white walls.
He found a couch and lifted a pillow, astonished to see a complete lack of rotting whatever that was that coated the rest of this world. It still smelled a little musty, but more like an old basement than the weird sour taint that he'd found in every other man-made building.
He whipped around to find the black-haired teen fumbling with something on a banged-up kitchen table, before a red glow flickered to life in his hands.
Mouth dry, Will found himself drawn to the flame, reaching his hands out to cup it in awe.
It felt….
Pure.
Unbroken by whatever had eaten away at this world.
He didn't see Danny's face soften with understanding, nor did he notice the steady, patient way he kept the little candle held out for him. He didn't notice when his hands stopped shaking, or when the color bled back into purple-tinged fingertips.
"….how?"
Will finally looked up at the other boy, relieved to find he looked a lot more human with the warm glow lighting his features. White teeth flashed in a proud grin, and Danny carefully transferred the candle into the younger boy's hands.
"You probably found out already, most technology doesn't survive long in this place." Will nodded, watching as a rusty-looking battery and a length of coiled wire was lifted up from the mess of…stuff… scattered across the table.
"But normal physics still works, for the most part. Metal still conducts electricity, and even though they're weak, a lot of batteries still have a charge. Enough to slap together a lighter, anyway."
Will nodded, remembering the cherry glow of a live wire from his science class. He looked back up at the walls, and the spatter of white paint on the edges of some of the carpet. Danny was ushering him toward the couch again, letting him keep the candle.
Another three were lit from the one he held, and he watched with no small amount of curiosity as the teen set them up under a cast-iron skillet that itself was perched on what looked like twisted scrap metal.
A dented can was pulled out from a small stack in what was once a kitchenette before it was piled high with random junk. Or maybe it all had a purpose, but Will couldn't figure it out.
He DID know that his mouth started watering as soon as Danny broke the can's seal with a rusty opener, and the salty tang of tomato soup drifted across the small room.
"Don't eat anything with meat in it."
Will looked up to the teen's face, but he seemed to be concentrating on shaking the semisolid contents into the skillet.
"Something about this world makes it rot, even if it's in a sealed can. Don't eat anything that's perishable, even if it still looks nice. Pickled things are fine, as long as they're not meat. Pretend you're vegetarian. Water's fine if you boil it first."
Will swallowed the saliva he felt building up, taking another look around the junk-filled, white-walled room again.
"How…. Long have you been here?"
Black bangs fell in front of the teen's face, and he didn't answer.