Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Act One Theme: Shattered - Trading Yesterday

While I regret my departure,

I entrust my life's work to them.

I hope with all my heart that they will be the ones

To bring about a new sunrise...for all of us.

~♣️

The first thing I felt was my head pounding. I'll admit, waking up to a headache is definitely not one of the greatest ways to wake up. I slowly opened my eyes and thanked whatever God was out there that I was in darkness. I shuffled around to try and rub my head with my arms to ease the ache, only succeeding in bumping up into the cushion of some kind of old, dusty couch. I froze. That wasn't right. I didn't fall asleep on a couch last night...

Instantly, my headache stopped as I quickly shot up onto my feet from where I was laying, which was probably a bad idea as I lost my balance and fell right back onto the couch I had been sleeping on. I could hardly see anything given how dark it was, but once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I found myself in a living room of some kind of cottage. A very run-down cottage from the looks of it. I held back a sigh of relief though. Something about this place felt...foreign. Granted, it looked like an average cottage, but something about it felt...off, not counting the broken parts of the floor. For one, I was pretty sure that I hadn't fallen asleep on a couch last night and that there wasn't supposed to be a fireplace across from me...and since when did a broken TV get in here?

"Ah…!" Thinking about my situation only served to quickly bring back the same pounding headache I felt before I woke up as well as bring up even more questions. Where even am I? How did I get here? I was convinced that I was somewhere different, but it was like some kind of haze was preventing me from remembering anything just before waking up. A quick check made sure I knew who I was and what I had been doing before going to sleep last night, so I definitely didn't have amnesia, but after that...nothing. Looking at myself, I still had on my normal attire: a black T-shirt and my white hoodie as well as my jeans and blue sneakers that I always wore. I breathed a sigh of relief. Wherever I was, at least I still had clothes. "Well, I guess the first thing I should do is figure out how to get out of here…"

"H-hello?"

I quickly whipped my head in the direction of the voice and froze. Standing in front of a nearby door just across from me were two glowing yellow eyes staring back at me. It was a kid, a girl from the sound of the voice. She looked young, maybe nine or ten. She was wearing a kind of cloak with the arms being a little too big for her and a blue scarf wrapped around her neck. The hat she wore was...interesting, to say the least. The "ears" on the hat honestly made her look like a cat. I would have chuckled, but given that she was currently staring at me wide-eyed and trembling, it probably wasn't the best idea. Seeing someone you've never seen before in a place you don't recognize is sure to raise some red flags. The best thing I could do right now was getting her to calm down and let her know that I was just as confused as she was.

"Uh, hey...is this your house...?" I asked as I slowly put both my hands up to let them know I meant no harm.

She quickly shook her head, "No, I just woke up here. I don't know where I am. I went to sleep at home and then I woke up here..." She slowly looked around the room before looking back at me, the terrified look still in her eyes.

I sighed, "Well, that makes two of us it seems," Her gaze eased up as she tilted her head. "I...uh just woke up on the couch. Guess we ended up having a slumber party and didn't realize," I said, doing my best to crack a joke to at least ease some of the tension in the room. It seemed to work since she giggled a little bit, but she was still trembling. I slowly lowered myself down to her height as I approached her, my hands still raised up. "What's your name?" I asked her.

"N-Niko…my name's Niko", she mumbled, not trembling as much but I could still see some concern in her eyes.

I put on my best smile, in an attempt to help her calm down more. "Well...it's nice to meet you, Niko. My name's Alan." I looked back at the door that Niko came out of before looking back at her. "Is it...just you here?"

She nodded. Her trembling finally stopped, but she still looked around the cottage with apprehension. A pang of sympathy hit my chest. She would probably be scared out of her mind if I wasn't here keeping her calm. It was probably best that I keep her that way right now instead of bombarding her with the growing number of questions within me. The headache I still had would probably get worse again if I started panicking and that definitely wouldn't help Niko keep calm either. I finally lowered my hands and breathed out. "Alright, well, let's both look for a way out of here, yeah? There's gotta be some way out of this place," She nodded again, a small smile finally making its way onto her face. I smiled back. At least she's smiling now.

A snap near us made both of us snap our heads towards the noise. A small spark quickly lit itself up inside the TV before vanishing and continuing to spark to life, partially illuminating the room in a very dim light every time the spark happened. The small amount of light was enough to show another room directly across from the TV. A kitchen, from the looks of it. As I carefully made my way through the darkness, I heard Niko following behind me.

It was a small kitchen. From what I could see, the only things there were a sink, a fridge, and a small table with two chairs. I walked over to the table, partially wondering why there were even two chairs in the first place. For such a small cottage, it's hard to imagine two people trying to share the space. I looked underneath the table for the small chance of something actually being under there. Against all odds, I could barely see a backpack was leaning up against the wall. I was about to question why a backpack would even be under a table like it was waiting for someone to grab it, but I was broken out of my thoughts when I heard Niko opening the refrigerator behind me.

I stood back up with the backpack in my hands and turned around towards her. She was partially hidden from me since she didn't open the fridge all the way. I chuckled as I put on the backpack, "Anything good in there?"

I heard her giggle slightly before pulling out a bottle with some liquid in it. "There's just this," She leaned in to smell whatever was in the bottle before recoiling back in disgust. "It smells really gross."

Once I finished adjusting the backpack to fit comfortably on my back, I moved closer to smell for myself and practically fell backward from the smell. "Well, that's definitely alcohol. Ugh, I don't even want to know how long it's been sitting in there…" As I sat up, an idea popped into my head. "Hmm..."

Niko tilted her head at me, "What is it?"

"Well, I'm thinking we could use the alcohol along with the spark that's going off inside the TV..." I stood up and moved back to the living room. "We just need a piece of wood that we could pour the alcohol on. We'd essentially be making a torch. Put the soaked piece of wood next to the spark inside the TV and boom. We'll have light."

Niko's eyes seemed to light up as she handed me the bottle and searched through her pocket and pulled out a stick. "We could use this! There was a wilted plant in the bathroom next to where I woke up and a piece of it fell off and I just decided to take it with me."

I smiled and knelt down. "Perfect. Now hold the stick steady…". As Niko held the stick out in front of her, I readied the bottle. She nodded to me and I began pouring the alcohol onto the stick. I ended up using the entire bottle just to make sure the end was thoroughly soaked. I went ahead and put the empty bottle in the backpack while Niko went over to the TV.

I heard the snap of a spark before Niko gasped. "Ah! There we go!"

Instantly, the room lit up in blue light as the stick was now aflame with blue fire. Niko quickly walked over to the fireplace and stuck the torch into the woodpile. The fireplace burst to life, illuminating even more of the cottage we were trapped in. Niko turned towards me with a grin on her face and I gave a thumbs up in return before a gleam from the floor caught my eye. I reached out to pick up a key that had been hidden in the darkness from the floor and examined it. The key looked old, almost as if it was sitting there collecting dust for who knows how long. "Huh. Wonder where this goes..." I thought out loud.

"Maybe it goes to this door over here," I looked over at Niko, who was looking at a door behind me.

"Well, only one way to find out," I said as I stood up and made my way to the door, key in hand.

The key easily fit into the lock, unlocking the door. Opening it revealed a staircase that sank into the darkness below. I wasn't easily scared of the dark, but given how I couldn't see the bottom, it definitely put me a bit on edge. Niko walked up next to me with our homemade torch still in her hand.

"Here. Let me hold the light," I gestured to Niko. She glanced up at me and handed over the torch. Looking back down the stairs, I steeled my nerves and started making my way down with Niko right behind me. As we slowly walked down the creaking staircase, questions once again ran through my head. All I can remember before waking up here was getting ready to sleep, but after that, it was like a fog was preventing me from remembering anything else. It didn't help that no matter how much I tried to remember, my headache reared its ugly head. I had headaches before, but I'd much rather take a really intense one that barely lasts instead of a lingering one that just doesn't go away like what I have now. I rubbed my head in a vain attempt to be rid of it, but no luck.

"Um...are you ok?" I glanced back at Niko, who was looking at me with concern in her eyes.

I shook my head and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's alright. It's just a small headache I've had since I woke up. I'll be ok."

Niko still looked concerned and was about to say more, but before she could say anything, we reached the bottom of the stairs with another closed door in front of us.

Opening it revealed a long hallway. Not as long as the staircase as I could partially see the end of the corridor, but still quite long. I thought I could spot something on the ground at the end of the hallway so I quickened my pace. The faster we got out of here, the faster we could get some answers about where we were.

Reaching the end of the hallway, I blinked in surprise as I saw what had been laying on the floor. It was...a lightbulb?

I scoffed. "Ok, I'm pretty sure there's no lamp big enough for that bulb to fit into," scratching my head.

I didn't get a reaction from Niko this time. Instead, she walked closer to the bulb.

"Woah, hey! What're you-"

Before I could finish, she reached out and touched it, a bright light blinding both of us. After a couple of seconds, the light soon dimmed down to a bearable glow and I saw Niko holding the now glowing lightbulb.

I was stunned, "How...how are you doing that?"

She looked at me with the same amount of surprise. "I-I don't know! It just felt like something I had to do…" She looked back down at the light now in her grasp, her look of surprise unchanging.

"Aren't your fingers burning? I would think a lightbulb that big would burn you..."

She shook her head and pulled the lightbulb closer to her, smiling as she did so. "It actually feels kinda nice..."

I sweatdropped as I could've sworn I heard a purr coming from her just now, but I shook my head to put away that thought. I sighed and scratched my chin, contemplating what to do now. "Well, I was hoping for another key to be down here, but I guess we'll have to make do with this," I brought down the torch I was still carrying and blew out the flame before tossing the stick down. "At least we won't need that anymore…Come on, let's head back upstairs."

Niko nodded and moved past me back up the stairs. I slowly trailed behind, going back to trying to rationalize what I was currently experiencing right now.

Ok...I am currently stuck in a small cottage with a cat-like child that can turn on a giant lightbulb that was sitting at the end of a long hallway, in a basement that is too big to make any sense structurally, by simply touching it and is currently not getting burned it. Please tell me this is just some weird fever dream that I'm having and that I'm not actually just going crazy, I thought to myself, only to get a stab of pain from my headache as an answer. Right...crazy it is, then.

When I got back to the living room, Niko had already gone to the other side of the cottage to the only other door that I hadn't looked at and was staring at it with a confused look on her face. Walking over to where she was, I noticed this door wasn't like the others. There was no doorknob, only a picture of what looked to be the exact lightbulb that Niko was holding.

"Do you think this might be a way out?"

I hummed in response. "We don't really have any other options...so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try, I hope..." I looked over at Niko who was already lifting the bulb up towards the door. When the bulb touched the door, a yellow light illuminated the picture on the door before slowing getting brighter and brighter.

"Oh c'mon, not again…" I grumbled. I quickly grabbed onto Niko, shielding her from the light and shutting my eyes. I silently cursed for having to be blinded again, only for one last stab of pain from my headache to make me cry out before we were both engulfed in light.

The first thing I realized as the blinding light started to vanish was how quiet it was now. As I slowly regained my vision, I saw that we were finally out of the cottage we woke up in, but now we were inside another building that was full of what seemed to be broken computer terminals. If the terminals weren't here, it honestly would've looked like we went from one abandoned cottage to another.

I started to stand up before I realized the other thing: Niko was still wrapped in my arms and was staring at me with a wide-eyed look.

"Uh…!" I instantly withdrew my arms away from her and quickly took a step back. "Sorry! I wasn't sure what was gonna happen and I just acted on instinct so...I, uh...I didn't mean to-"

I stopped when I heard Niko starting to giggle. I was still embarrassed about the whole ordeal and it wasn't helping that my cheeks felt like they were on fire. I scratched the back of my head as Niko finally got her giggling under control.

"It's ok! It just surprised me. That's all." She turned to look at our surroundings. "Where...are we?"

I shrugged as I composed myself while we both looked around the room before my eyes landed on a nearby door. I made my way towards it, hoping that it wasn't locked. I gave the door a push, feeling it give a little bit, but not opening up fully. It was stuck, but not locked.

My eyes went wide as I motioned for Niko to stand back as I readied myself to ram the door. I breathed out and counted down in my head before launching my shoulder into the door. I heard a bit of wood cracking as I got back into a position to ram it again. Once again, I counted down before launching myself at the door. The door looked close to falling apart so I figured one last shoulder charge would finish it. With a yell, I launched myself into the door one last time and felt the door collapse as I broke through and promptly face-planted into the ground outside.

I heard Niko gasp and run up to me. "Are you ok, Mr. Alan?"

"Ow…" I muttered back in reply. I slowly pushed myself up with the arm that I didn't use to charge the door and turned over so that I was laying on my back. I groaned, "I really hope that door was the only thing I broke…"

I gingerly rubbed my arm as I slowly got up from the ground and tried to get my bearings. The whole place around us looked like a desert, with what looked like dark blue sand stretching as far as I could see. It was dark too, with blue light coming off a bunch of glowing pools and from an ocean next to us. I looked over at Niko, who seemed to be transfixed by something behind me. I turned to see what she was looking at before freezing. Off in the distance was a humongous tower, going so high into the sky that I couldn't even see the top.

"Wow…" I heard Niko whisper next to me.

I was torn between a mix of shock, panic, and awe. I was hoping that leaving the cottage would simply send me and Niko back to our homes, but seeing that tower in the distance hit home the reality of the situation. I hastily pinched myself again to double-check that I wasn't dreaming. I felt a sting from the pinch but I didn't seem to wake up, which did little to make me calm.

Breathe, Alan...don't start panicking just yet. Maybe you're just a heavy sleeper..., I thought to myself. I shut my eyes and held my breath since I knew that you could still breathe in a dream, even if you held your breath. After a minute, I had to gasp out for air.

My sharp gasp seemed to break Niko out of her reverie as I saw her flinch and snap her head towards me. I quickly shook my head and held my hand up towards her before she could say anything to let her know I was fine. Don't panic. Niko's not panicking, so let's try and just...follow her example, I guess.

I carefully took a deep breath before I opened my eyes towards Niko. "We should probably start moving. We're not going to get anywhere just standing around."

She nodded before looking off at something behind me. "There's another building down that way. Maybe we should look there first."

I turned to where she was looking and spotted a building close by. It was similar to the one we had exited, so I figured there wouldn't be anything of use in there but it was better than just standing around doing nothing.

I nodded, "It's a start." I looked beyond Niko and thought I could spot a large factory off in the distance. I squinted my eyes to try and see through the dark. It looked to be much bigger than the other two buildings near us, which was promising. "After we check out this first building, let's head towards that factory off in the distance," I said as I pointed towards it for Niko.

She looked off where I pointed before looking back at me and nodding as she started to head off towards the smaller building behind me.

It didn't take us long to reach the building. We passed by pools of the glowing blue liquid and broken train tracks that littered the ground, but I wanted to stay focused and find some answers as soon as possible so I did my best to pay no attention to them. Niko, however, was enamored with everything. If she wasn't holding onto that lightbulb, I'm almost certain she would be running around touching everything she could. I didn't blame her. She was a kid, after all. Fortunately, she seemed to understand how important it was for us to look for anything that might give us a clue as to where we were and why.

Inside the building, I was surprised to find a bed sitting in the corner as if it had been placed there with no reason. I raised an eyebrow at Niko who looked equally as confused. The only other thing of note was a metal bar that was laying on the ground next to the door. I picked it up and quickly examined it before putting it in my backpack. I figured that if any more doors needed to be broken down, I'd take a metal bar over almost breaking my shoulder any day.

I scanned the room one last time. "Doesn't look like there's anything else we can use here." I cast one last glance at the bed. "I still don't know why there's a bed in here, but I guess it can't be helped."

Niko grunted in acknowledgment before making her way back outside.

As we walked back to where we came from to head towards the factory I saw, I quickly glanced down at Niko, who was walking next to me. It occurred to me that, aside from talking about where we were and pointing out things, we haven't had an actual normal conversation. I frowned. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and break the ice with Niko. If we were stuck in this place together, it'd probably be better to be comfortable being around each other instead of everything being an awkward silence between us, but...where was I even supposed to start though? I'll admit, I'm not the greatest at introducing myself to people I don't know, let alone kids, but given the circumstances, plus the fact that she looked to be from a completely different world than mine, I figured it was better than just walking in silence. At that moment, a question popped into my head and I figured it was better than anything else I could think up.

I glanced down at Niko again. "So…"

She perked up and looked up at me. "What is it?"

I scratched the back of my neck before continuing, "Uh, so I know we barely know each other and this probably isn't the greatest question to start with, but...uh...why is it that you look like a cat?"

She blinked away her surprise. "Huh? I'm not a cat."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, your hat kind of looks like you have cat ears and your...uh...glowing eyes? They look like a cat's."

"Cats walk on four legs though!"

I sweatdropped as I felt a smirk crawl onto my face. "Well, most people that I know don't usually have glowing yellow eyes."

Her eyes widened, "Really? Most people in my village have eyes like mine! Maybe you just haven't met them yet where you're from." She tilted her head, "Where...are you from? You don't seem to be anyone I know from my village."

I hesitated, "Well, I-"

"[Ah!]"

Niko and I both flinched as we were blindsided by a...talking robot. I kept my gaze trained on the robot that had appeared out of nowhere. An...actual talking robot? I quickly looked around to see that we had already made it to the factory. I didn't even realize we had walked that quickly. We didn't even get a chance to talk properly. I sighed and fixed my gaze back onto the robot. The clothes it was wearing reminded me of what pastors would wear at a church during a sermon, which only served to make my confusion even worse. It even carried a staff in one of its hands. I sweatdropped. Last I checked, I didn't see any churches around here.

The robot moved closer to Niko. "[That Lightbulb…! You are here!]"

Niko was taken aback, "M-me?"

The robot nodded its head. "[Yes! Welcome to our World, Friend!]" It threw its arms out as it said that. "[I am most humbled by your presence. Yes!]"

"Uh...thanks?" Niko looked at me with a very confused look on her face. I was just as confused so all I could do was shrug.

"[Ah, right! Allow me to explain some things.]"

Both of us perked up at that. Finally! Some answers! I thought to myself. Niko looked equally as attentive as me.

"[May I first ask how you arrived here?]"

Niko furrowed her brow. "Um, I'm...not sure. I woke up in this weird house and...it was really dark! There was also-"

"[Oh!]" the robot exclaimed, interrupting Niko. "[So you woke up in an unfamiliar, dark location?]"

"Mhm..."

"[Just as my prophecy foretold. Yes! You are the savior we have been waiting for! You will be the one to save our world from eternal darkness.]"

The robot spun in a circle rather excitedly. Niko looked even more confused.

I shook my head and scoffed, "Not only is that cliché, but that's also an awful lot of pressure to put on a child when neither of us even know what's going on nor how we got here…"

The robot stopped spinning and seemed to finally acknowledge my presence. I'm not an expert at reading robot facial expressions, especially when all I have to go on is one giant eyeball and the fact that I've never even interacted with a talking robot in my life, but as the robotic priest tilted its head as it stared at me, I started to feel uncomfortable under its gaze.

"...um," Niko said, causing the robot to revert its attention to her, saving me from that very uncomfortable situation.

"[Ah, yes! I will now provide you with vital information!]" The robot seemed to sparkle as its eye looked like it grew with excitement. "[Please ask me anything!]"

As Niko began asking questions about this world and the lightbulb, I stayed close and tried my best to make sense of what the robo-priest was saying. From what it explained, this world used to have a sun before it just...vanished. From then on, the world has seemingly started to deteriorate. The only light that remained was from an element they had called Phosphor which had stored light from the previous sun, but it wouldn't last. What Niko carried now was this world's new sun and that her mission was to bring it to the top of the giant tower that we saw off in the distance to restore light to the world. We would need to traverse through three regions, with the one we were in now aptly named The Barrens, before we could reach the Tower. The robo-priest warned us that the sun we held was fragile and that, were it to break, the world would end instantly. I shivered when it said that. I definitely didn't want to be stuck here if that happened so I made a mental note to myself to keep the lightbulb safe while Niko continued asking questions and explaining how she arrived.

"In the house where I woke up, I found this...computer next to my bed. It kept saying stuff like..." she furrowed her brow as she remembered what was on the computer, "'Your actions here will affect Niko.'" She frowned and shook her head as she continued, "But...I'M Niko! Were those messages meant for someone else?"

That snapped me out of my thoughts and garnered my full attention. Something talked to Niko but it wasn't meant for her? That was...odd, to say the least. But if not for her, then who?

Just then, I felt my headache start to come back. It was dull at first, but it felt like it was quickly getting worse.

The robo-priest seemed to think for a second. "[Hmm...If I had to guess…]" he started as my headache continued to worsen. "[They might be trying to pass the message to Alan.]"

I froze. My headache continued to pound, but I was too confused by what I'd just heard to register the pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Niko glance over at me, a mix of concern and surprise on her face, "...Alan?"

"[Ah, that would be our God! If you are here, that means Alan is here also.]"

I looked up at the robo-priest as I struggled to process his words. I could feel the blood draining from my face and a pit growing inside my chest.

"Well...uh...that just so happens to be MY name, but I'm really hoping you mean a different Alan because there is NO way that I'm-" I started to say before a huge stab of pain erupted from my headache.

"Guh…!" I cried out as I fell onto my knees, hopelessly grabbing at my head, hoping the pain would stop. I could faintly hear Niko calling my name, but her cries were drowned out by the pulsing of my unbearable headache. I was scared of blacking out, trying my best to stay conscious. I could feel Niko next to me, grabbing onto me and trying to do whatever she could to help. Just then, a piercing light seemed to burst out in front of me and cover me in light as I began to hear faint voices around me.

"Your mission is simple..."

"Your actions here will affect Niko..."

"You only have one shot, Alan..."

The voices continued to repeat and grow in intensity as an image started to form in front of me. As the headache grew worse and the voices became louder, I slowly saw what was in front of me.

A laptop...? But...why? I don't remember ever owning a laptop. Not one that had a...black clover as its logo...

...Oh.

...Oh my god.

It was all I could think before I was plunged into darkness.

Chapter Text

I didn't know how long I was stuck in the realm of unconsciousness, but it didn't feel long before I could feel a thin blanket wrapped around me. I slowly opened my eyes, but it took all I had to keep them open as I fought against the rising sense of nausea that I felt. My whole body felt numb and my vision was blurred and hazy, like a dream. I looked down at myself, only to be shocked to find that my body was...translucent, like a ghost. I could still feel the blanket around me, the matted floor that I sat on, and the wall I was leaning against, but it was like I was in the middle of disappearing. I looked up and my eyes landed on the hazy silhouette of the laptop that sat across from me.

Just then, I fell back into darkness as all my memories came back.

It was raining. Hard. I had to find a place to stay and fast. Catching a cold was the last thing I wanted tonight. I was getting tired too.

Up ahead was a building I could stay. It was abandoned, which was good, and it looked like it had been an old motel before it closed down. Perfect for hiding out from the storm and from anyone else. The last thing I wanted was to run into someone and having to explain why I was alone and seemingly on the run.

Getting into a room was easy. A quick pick of the lock and I was in. I locked the door and peeked out the window into the storm to make sure no one had followed me.

No one's out there. Good.

I set down my pack and leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath to calm myself. I was a bit soaked and I doubt there'd be any towels laying around in the bathroom. I pulled off the blankets that were left on the bed and wrapped them around me to dry off as I slowly began to sit down onto the floor to get some rest.

*knock knock knock*

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. I froze and held my breath. I could've sworn there wasn't anyone around. The storm would've kept me hidden from anyone seeing me.

There was a thud before a note slid under the door and the sound of footsteps slowly walking away. I stayed in my spot for what felt like a while before finally finding the courage to move towards the note on the ground. I grabbed it and stared at it, only to find a simple message written:

"For Alan: a gift.

~♣️"

Confused, I slowly moved over to the door and peeked through the crack. There, sitting right in front of the door, was a box. I cautiously opened the door and looked through the storm, trying to see anyone who may have left it here. I knew it was pointless. The storm was impossible to see through, giving whoever left the box enough time to disappear into it. Shaking my head, I grabbed the box and pulled it inside.

As I sat across from the box in front of me, questions ran through my head: How did this person know me? How did they even find me? What gift could I possibly need?

I had no answers. All I could do was see what this "gift" was.

I opened the box to find a laptop, but not one that I recognized. It didn't look like anything in a store and I hardly recognized the black clover that served as its logo. I sighed and shook my head. This had to be just a coincidence. Maybe some drug dealer was delivering to a different Alan and just dropped off his crap here to come back for it. Even that rationalization didn't make sense, but it was hard to think of anything else that could explain this whole situation.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what exactly was on the laptop itself. Turning it on, it took me straight to the desktop.

No password? Alright. That just makes it easier for me to snoop.

I didn't get far as I realized there was only one thing I could click on. It sat right in the middle of the screen and had a black clover as its icon. There was no name. Just the clover.

I raised my eyebrow and clicked on it. A new window opened...to a black screen. Nothing seemed to happen as I clicked on the other keys. I sighed in annoyance, "Great, dude gave me a broken laptop and ran. Nice gift..."

I moved my hand to close it, only to find that my hand was slowly becoming heavy and numb. Come to think of it, I felt really exhausted all of a sudden. Panicking, I tried to move my legs to stand up, but it felt like a layer of concrete had just been placed on them. It was getting harder and harder to stay awake as my eyes slowly began to close.

The last thing I saw before I faded away was a black clover on the screen, as a beam of light shined down upon it.

My eyes shot open as I sat up to gasp for air.

I grabbed at myself to make sure I was still here and that I wasn't see-through.

Clothes? Check. Arms and legs? Check. Sanity? I think I may have lost that one…, I thought to myself as I slowly began to realize that I was back in the Barrens. The realization started to make me panic again. My headache was gone, replaced by all the questions that were now haunting me.

That laptop...had it brought me here? How? How was that even possible? What did that black clover even do to me? Why was it so important? Who dropped it? How did they even know who I was and where I would be?

Before I could even start thinking of answers, I was broken out of my thoughts by a familiar voice.

"MR. ALAN!"

I turned in the direction of the voice as I was swiftly tackled onto my back and gripped into a stranglehold by Niko, knocking the air out of me. She was trembling violently and as she looked up at me, I could see her eyes were stained with tears. I instantly felt guilty and quickly pushed aside my growing questions, focusing instead on Niko.

I sat up once again and smiled sheepishly at her. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that…"

Her tears and shaking didn't stop. "I th-thought s-something bad was h-happening to you. I-It really s-scared me…"

"Shh...it's ok. I'm right here. It's ok..." I quietly replied as I hugged her back.

I let her stay wrapped in my arms as her trembling slowly began to stop. The guilt from making her cry was eating away at me, but I knew right now all I could do was calm her down and let her know that I was still here with her. I looked over and saw the robo-priest staring at us, with the "Sun" sitting next to him.

I looked back down at Niko. "How long was I out?"

"For a c-couple minutes," her concern still very evident in her voice, despite it being muffled due to her face pressing into my shirt, "You also k-kind of started becoming s-see-through at one point…"

I froze. See-through? Like what happened in my vision? I felt a growing sense of dread course through me as I stared mindlessly off into the distance.

My vision...it was...real? Everything I just saw...that's how I came here…, I thought to myself, trying to process everything I had just experienced. If all that actually happened, then that laptop definitely did something to send me to this world, but if that's the case, then...where is "here"? Was this world actually...real?

I couldn't believe it. The entire concept of being in a different world was...insane, to say the least. How could I even…?

The laptop. My eyes widened from the only conclusion that made any plausible sense. That laptop definitely had something to do with all this, which means that whoever dropped it off was the person that was responsible for me being here. Maybe he was also the reason why Niko was here too.

I placed a hand to my head, processing my realization. "Holy crap…" I muttered.

Niko must have heard me as I felt her look up towards me once again.

I didn't need to look back at her to know she was worried about me again, but how can I just tell her that a laptop, given to me by an unknown stranger, is the reason that both of us are in this world? Even I would have a hard time believing that, but I couldn't just tell her that nothing's wrong.

"Mr. Alan…?"

I finally looked at Niko. "Sorry...it's just that...I finally remembered how I got here."

"Really?" she perked up.

I hesitated before continuing, "It's kind of similar to how you got here. One moment I was falling asleep, the next I woke up in that cottage."

She frowned, "That makes sense, but why did you fall over and become see-through all of the sudden?"

I paused. That was a good question. I know in my vision I felt exhausted when I opened that program on the laptop, but seeing myself as partially see-through was something I had no explanation for.

I shook my head. "I have no idea…"

Niko didn't look satisfied by that answer, but she quickly shook her head and looked at me with a relieved smile, "I'm just glad you're ok…"

I smiled back at her. I still felt bad about scaring Niko like that, but seeing her concern for me was...touching. I couldn't remember the last time someone cared about me this much, so it was...a nice change of pace.

I brushed away the last couple of tears from her eyes before looking over at the robo-priest and the lightbulb. "Did the robo-priest over there tell you anything else?"

Niko shook her head as she finally released her grip on me and moved over to sit beside me, "No. I tried to ask him how I could get home, but…," she looked down at the ground, "he said he couldn't tell me how because he wasn't programmed to do that."

I frowned. If the robo-priest couldn't say, then that didn't bode well for either of us getting home. A kid like Niko didn't deserve to be pulled away from her home…

I stopped as I realized that my life before coming to this world was exactly the life that Niko was just thrown into. She was alone, scared, confused...

At that moment, I knew what I had to do. Even with all the unanswered questions swimming around my head, one thing was perfectly clear to me: I needed to be there for Niko. I needed to get her home, back to her family.

I laid my hand on Niko's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We'll figure out a way to get you home."

That got her attention. She looked at me with surprise. "What do you mean?"

My resolve became stronger as I closed my eyes, "I know we're both confused and scared and there's still a lot of questions that I don't have answers for…," I opened my eyes, "But I promise you, I'll be right here with you and I'll help you get home."

Her eyes widened and a smile began showing on her face. "Really? You mean it?"

I smiled at her. "I do. We'll get through this. We'll save this world and get you back home. I promise."

She lunged at me again and wrapped me in another hug, but this time, it was one of happiness, not fear. I chuckled as I returned the hug. Once she let go, I stood up and brushed myself off.

"You ready to get going Niko?"

She jogged over to where the lightbulb was sitting and picked it up, looking back at me with a smile on her face.

"Ready, Mr. Alan!"

I nodded at her and shifted my backpack before chuckling once more and raising an eyebrow at Niko. "Also, it's just Alan. You don't need to call me Mister or God or anything like that. I'm only seventeen after all."

She giggled before nodding her head, "Ok, Alan!"

I smiled. I hoped that I would be able to find answers on this journey, but right now, they were the least of my concerns.

Right now, Niko needs me and I'm not going to break my promise to her.

The inside of the factory building that the robo-priest was standing in front of definitely had seen better days. Rubble was scattered all throughout the inside of the building along with a couple of powered-down robots and broken robot parts. A computer was here as well, but it didn't seem to turn on. With no power in this place, it didn't seem like this place would be useful in helping us.

Inside a doorway next to the computer, there was a large generator at the far end. From the looks of it, it seemed like it would be able to bring power to this building, maybe even more given how huge it was. A cube-shaped hole was set in the middle of the machine, presumably for a power source. Since we didn't have anything like that to power up the generator though, we couldn't do anything with it.

I exited the room and moved to the left-wing of the building. Niko was there, looking at a glowing box on the floor. I looked around the room. Nothing stood out besides a poster on the wall, listing three laws that robots had to follow. I elected to ignore it and the growing concern of how Asimov's Laws even found their way into this world.

"What'd you find?" I said as I walked up to Niko, who was still looking over the box.

"This box looked really interesting, but I can't get it open…" she said, a look of defeat on her face.

I picked up the piece of paper that laid next to the box. From what it said, there was a self-charging solar battery inside the box. The shape of the box looked similar to the opening I saw in the generator, so I assumed this battery was what we needed to get power back on.

I remembered the metal bar we picked up from the other small building that was near where we initially came from. "Hold on, I think I have an idea…" I said, kneeling down to take off my backpack and pull out the bar. "Maybe we can use this to pry it open."

Niko looked over the bar and then over at the box before frowning. "It seems a bit too big to be able to fit into the cracks…"

I nodded and put the bar back in my backpack. "True, but if we can find a way to flatten one of the ends, or just find a flatter metal bar, then we'd be able to get the battery out of that box." I pointed in the direction of the generator I had found as I continued, "If my guess is right, the generator I found in the other room might be able to be powered on with this battery," I finished as I stood up.

Niko's eyes were wide in admiration, "Wow...you're really smart, Alan!"

I scratched the back of my head and softly smiled, doing my best to save face. "Well, I have a bit of experience with improvising solutions…" I quickly shook my head to get a hold of myself, "C'mon, there doesn't seem to be anything else here so let's try and find something that can get us that crowbar."

Niko nodded and we headed out of the building. Next to us was another factory-like building. We both moved to see what was inside. Judging from the size, this was the building that I had seen off in the distance from before.

As we entered, I could definitely see that this was much more of a factory than the last building judging from the robots that sat motionless on conveyor belts. As we passed them, a banging sound was emanating from the next room. The source being a crusher that still had power.

I smiled, "This is perfect. Give me a second..." I crouched down to pull the metal rod out. I readied the rod in my hand as I slowly inched closer to the crusher. As soon as the crusher raised up, I thrust the rod in before the crusher slammed down onto it, causing the rod to jerk in my hands, before rising back up to show the metal rod had been flattened. I held the newly made crowbar up to admire my work before looking over at Niko, who was wearily looking at the crusher.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "What's wrong?"

She kept her eyes on the crusher, "Sorry...I just don't want to get too close to it..."

I offered a comforting smile, "It's ok. We got what we need," holding up the flattened side of the crowbar for her to see, "Now we can probably get that box open."

We hustled back over to the box and proceeded to pry it open. A metal cube lay inside, along with broken glass surrounding it. On the side, it read "Solar Battery".

I picked up the battery, careful not to cut my hands from the glass. Looking it over, it seemed the lens had broke. Going off of what the manual said, no lens meant there was no way to charge it.

I sighed, "Well, it figures that it wouldn't be this easy," I showed Niko the problem before putting the battery in my backpack.

Niko tilted her head, "So all we need is a piece of glass that can fit?"

"Pretty much, though I have no idea where we would start looking," I replied, scratching the side of my head.

A flash of determination went across Niko's eyes, "Well, I'm sure we can find something! There's still a lot of this place we haven't seen yet!"

I let a small smile sneak its way onto my face and nodded. It was the only thing we could do.

We moved on from the factories and continued on. As I observed my surroundings, I internally sighed. Calling this place "The Barrens" was really appropriate. The place was a slough, with the faint wind only adding to its oppressive atmosphere. From the broken train tracks that we had passed, it was obvious this place had a lot of activity in the past, but now it was a wasteland.

I shuddered. I was used to finding myself in oppressive environments but I would never want to end up in a place as desolate as this.

After some more walking, I saw cracks up ahead within the ground. As we got closer, I caught my breath as I realized that they weren't just cracks, but full-blown cliffs. The land had ripped apart and the only thing that took its place was a deep void. I picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it over, listening to see when it hit the bottom, but I never heard the landing.

I gulped. The whole area was fractured like this, so we would need to be careful about where we walked. I felt Niko close beside me. She was wearing the same look of worry that I had.

I didn't feel like making Niko uncomfortable once we would start to move across the narrow paths, but we didn't have any other way to go. I sighed and put out my hand, "Here. Hold onto to me while we're walking through here."

She looked up and nodded, shifting the lightbulb in her hand before reaching up and grabbing onto my hand.

I took a deep breath and began to move forward, Niko at my side. As we were walking, I figured it would be good to get Niko talking, at least to take her mind off of our dangerous trek on the cliffs.

I cleared my throat to get her attention, "Hey, you doing ok?"

"Hmm? Well, I'm holding onto to you, so I don't think I'll fall…"

I glanced over my shoulder at her, "That's...not what I meant. I mean, with this whole messiah thing. That robo-priest kind of put a lot of pressure on you without warning..."

She looked away as she shifted the lightbulb in her hand, "Well...it is a lot to take in…" she looked back up at me with a smile on her face, "but if we're helping to save this world and the people in it, then that's okay!"

My eyes widened as I looked back ahead, "You're not at all worried?"

"Well, maybe a little bit...I mean, I'm still trying to wrap my head around being in this place, but with you here to help me, I think we'll be okay. Plus, I've always wanted to see new places!" she beamed.

The path we were on began to open up as I chuckled. "You're quite the optimist, you know that?"

She tilted her head, "What does that mean?"

I glanced back at her, "It means...someone who usually sees the good in things...no matter how bad things get."

"Oh! I didn't know that!", she replied. She looked up at me with curiosity, "Are you an 'optimist', Alan?"

I hesitated before answering, "Not...exactly."

"Why not?"

...Oh boy. That was one question that I REALLY did not want to answer, especially with Niko being the one to ask. My story was not a happy one and I didn't want to lay all that baggage on someone like her. I'd have to think of something in order to side-step the question.

I scratched the side of my head, "Well…" Crap, I'm blanking. Gotta think of something quick. "Sometimes I am, just not all the time."

Niko only looked more confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well, sometimes there are days where its...hard to be optimistic. It's sort of like having a bad dream and it stays with you for most of the day."

Niko frowned, "I guess I understand…"

I sighed, "Look...I'm sorry. It's just...hard to explain properly. I didn't mean to get you down…"

She shook her head, "No, it's okay. My mama told me that not everyone feels the same way about things…"

"Well...she's not wrong," I stopped and turned towards her before kneeling down, "But don't let my attitude affect yours. Besides, I've heard that just smiling helps out a lot," I said as I put on my best smile for her.

She giggled before smiling as well.

I felt a little bad for not telling her the truth about me, but I wasn't about to ruin Niko's mood with my sob story. She's young. She doesn't need to hear something like that. If that means that I need to mask the truth for her sake, so be it.

But that doesn't mean I couldn't have a little fun with her. I smirked mischievously, "Although...I could always just call you a cat to make me feel better…"

She puffed out her cheeks, "I'm not a cat!"

I started softly laughing before I heard Niko start to laugh as well. We both laughed for a good amount of time before calming down.

I stood back up, "Anyway, we should keep moving," I said as I looked around at where we were and saw we were close to another building that was overlooking the cliffside. We nodded at each other and moved towards it.

As we got closer, I noticed a path that ran off to the side with black clovers littering the ground further along.

Black clovers again…, I thought to myself. They were exactly the same as the one I saw on the laptop before coming here. What was so significant about them?

I shook my head. Another question that I had no answer to. This was starting to become a problem.

I ignored the path and kept moving towards the building, hoping that it wasn't completely abandoned like the others were. Further down the main path looked to be a giant cave, something that I was interested in exploring, but that would have to wait for later.

Opening the door revealed a much more furnished interior than the other buildings. The shelves were lined with different kinds of books, electrical parts, and empty jars. Glowing jars of the blue liquid were scattered along the floor.

We had barely taken a step forward before a woman with red hair peeked her head out from behind one of the shelves.

She stared at the lightbulb and us before she locked eyes with me.

"[The lightbulb...you must be the 'messiah'?]"

The robotic nature of her voice threw me off but I recovered quickly, "Who, me?" I pointed at myself and she nodded her head.

I shook my head and pointed towards Niko. The woman came around the shelf, revealing herself to a full-blown robot, and raised an eyebrow at both of us. "[I expected the messiah to be...taller. Like you.]" she said, nodding her head at me, "[Or at least someone that doesn't look like a kitten. That's what you are, right? Some sort of cat?]"

I restrained a chuckle as Niko puffed her cheeks out again, "Nuh-uh! I'm a person!"

"[You got the eyes of a cat...]"

I coughed as I raised my hand, "Look, I've already said the same thing to her. I'm just taking her word for it." I felt the chuckle escape me as Niko playfully hit me in my leg.

The robot woman was unimpressed, "[Well, either way...A child like you being the messiah...just doesn't feel right.]," she said, looking away for a second before locking eyes with me again. "[You, however...if you're not the messiah, then who are you and why are you here with the messiah?]"

"Oh! This is Alan! He's apparently God of this world and he's helping me reach the Tower!" Niko exclaimed.

The robot blinked away her surprise as she stared at me with a mix of confusion and slight disbelief.

I sweatdropped and prepared myself to explain everything that had happened so far. I really hoped explaining myself wouldn't become a habit, but deep down, I knew I was going to be sorely mistaken.

Chapter Text

The robot woman was silent as I finished explaining what had happened up to this point. I made sure not to say anything about the mysterious stranger and his laptop that I was certain was the culprit for both me and Niko being here. Saying something about that would probably complicate things a lot, so I kept quiet about it.

The robot still remained silent, her eyes closed as she processed what I said. She seemed to stay that way for a while. Niko decided to spend her time looking around the room, probably to alleviate her restlessness.

Eventually, I heard a sigh coming from the robot and looked over at her. Her eyes were still closed, but it seemed she was done processing.

"[This is going to sound cold, but…]," she began as her eyes slowly opened towards me, "[I honestly think you are better off just...leaving and letting the world die naturally.]"

I heard Niko gasp in shock, "What!? Why?"

"[The world has been falling apart for a long time. This manner of decay...It's highly improbable that the sun can fix it.]," she continued as she looked over at Niko, "[You've already seen how bad it can get, right?]"

I furrowed my brow, "Well, we haven't really seen much of anything unless you count rocks, giant cliffs, and broken robots as something..."

"And we can't really just leave…," Niko said, continuing my thought.

"So, the only option we have of getting home is putting the lightbulb back in the Tower. So like it or not, the world is getting saved."

"M-hm!"

The robot looked between the two of us, her stoic expression hiding any sort of reaction, "[Perhaps. We know that the Tower contains a force that nobody could comprehend...and the power is strongest at the summit.]," she said, "[Maybe it will send you both back home after you complete your mission.]"

Niko's eyes lit up and I sighed in relief. Knowing that we both have a way of getting home definitely makes me feel a lot better.

The robot started to turn away before adding, "[Don't take my word for it, though.]"

I raised an eyebrow as she walked away. Her apathy towards the world ending was concerning, especially when there was a solution shining right into her face. Wouldn't you want to hold onto some kind of hope instead of just accepting the inevitable?

Kind of ironic, don't you think? I heard a little voice in my head say. I quickly shook my head, dispatching that thought. I couldn't dwell on that now. I had more important things to worry about.

Niko was reading a note so I busied myself with looking at the stuff that was sitting on one of the shelves. There were a lot of electronic parts on it, some looked familiar but others were completely foreign to me. I spotted a screwdriver on one of the shelves and grabbed it, looking it over. A screwdriver would be handy, even if I couldn't think of any use for it at the moment.

"[You can take it if you want. It may help you.]"

The sudden sound of the robot's voice right next to me made me jump, causing the screwdriver to tumble out of my hands onto the floor. "Sheesh! You don't have to give me a heart attack like that..."

Her expression remained unchanged as I bent down to pick up the screwdriver and put it in my backpack. I looked up to see Niko giggling slightly from my scare. I flashed an unamused expression towards her, only making her giggle more. I sighed and shook my head as my gaze wandered over to the glowing box that was nearby. Curious, I leaned forward to get a better look.

"[Please do not touch that.]"

I glanced over at the robot, "What is this?"

"[Back-up power cell. It keeps me functional.]," she said before looking towards the power cell, "[The main generator for the Barrens ran out of power some time ago. It could not even last a week without the sun.]"

Niko looked up at her, "Sorry to hear that…"

I scratched my chin in thought, "We did find a solar battery with a broken lens that was close to the generator. Do you think that could fix it?"

"[Perhaps. You would need to replace the broken lens first.]"

I smiled meekly, "I don't suppose you have one on you right now?"

She shook her head, "[I do not.]"

I sighed and looked back at the power cell. I noticed the words "Silver" written on the side of it. Confused, I turned back to the robot, "Why is 'Silver' written on here?"

She turned away, a bit too quickly, "[That's not important.]"

I raised an eyebrow. Alright, it seems like it's VERY important. Hmm...must be her name if it's what's powering her, I thought to myself before moving away from it.

I started moving towards the entrance before the note Niko was reading caught my eye. I quickly looked it over. It was sent to Silver from someone named "Kip". Whoever that was, they were apparently important enough for Silver to keep the letter. It seemed this "Kip" was asking for Silver to come back. Where to, I had no idea. Though the way the letter was worded, it seemed more like a plea than anything else. Seeing that she had been away for two weeks by the time this letter was written, it made me a little sad. Someone wanted to see her again, but it seems Silver didn't feel the same way.

I glanced back over at her, who was tinkering with a couple of electronic parts. She had isolated herself from her friend? I wondered if she did it willingly or because she was forced to.

Maybe they just didn't want her…? My gaze fell to the floor as the little voice in my head came back with a vengeance, Not so special, huh? Running away from the past seems to be a growing trend.

I growled to myself, pushing that voice deep into the corners of my mind. I needed to focus on the here and now, not on the past.

Niko was over by Silver, presumably asking for more information. It seemed they were about finished with their conversation so I waited by the door, signaling to Niko that we should probably get going. Niko came over once she was done and we both made our exit.

There was a big rock with a piece of rope blocking an entrance further along the path so we headed up that way. I looked over at Niko as I placed my hands behind my head, "So, what were you two talking about?"

Niko looked up at me, "Oh, I was just asking her about the Tower, like if she knew what was inside or who built it."

I raised an eyebrow, "That sounds interesting. Did she know anything?"

She shook her head, "No. She said that the Tower had been here since the beginning of time and that no one has ever entered it before," she tilted her head, "Although, she did say that she knew someone who wanted to study it but she didn't know what happened to their research or if they did anything."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Well, that's a shame. It would've been nice to know a little bit more about the Tower before we got there."

"M-hm."

When we reached the entrance, it became easier to read the notice that was hanging on the rope,

"ENTRANCE TO THE MINES. PROCEED WITH CAUTION."

I had just finished reading it when I heard Silver's voice call out to us, "[Wait!]"

Niko and I turned towards Silver as she came up to us, "[I saw you both heading towards this direction,]" she said, motioning towards the entrance, "[The mines have been abandoned for a long time. I cannot guarantee that it's safe.]" She began taking down the rope barrier that blocked the entrance as she continued, "[If you must enter it, it is my duty to accompany you at least once.]"

I was about to argue that I was old enough to be able to keep myself and Niko safe while inside, but decided not to. If something did end up happening, it'd probably be better to have Silver be here to help instead of us getting trapped.

The inside of the mine was about as dark as outside, save for two jars of that glowing blue liquid. I looked towards Silver and asked, "So about these glowing jars, is that what Phosphor is?"

She nodded, "[Yes. I'm assuming Prophetbot gave you a basic understanding of what it was when you came here.]"

"Oh, so that's what his name is!" Niko said, staring up at the cavern walls.

I snorted, "That's a bit on the nose, don't you think?"

Silver simply stared back at me. Man, she really doesn't have a funny bone in there...er, funny circuit? No, that doesn't sound right, I thought to myself, clearly more enamored with a robot's sense of humor than the cave we were in.

"Alan! I found something!"

Niko's voice snapped me out of my trance and I looked over to where she was standing. Laying at her feet was what looked to be a gadget of some kind with a circular lens in the center of it.

"Is that a camera?" I said.

Silver came over as well and looked at it, "[What's left of a camera, anyway…Probably even part of a robot, at one point.]"

Niko didn't seem to like that as she seemed to recoil in horror away from the camera on the ground.

I glared at Silver, hoping she would get the message. She seemed to notice and quickly fixed herself, "[...or not. I don't know.]"

Niko seemed to relax after she said that, scooting back over to my side. "Well, we can use the lens to fix the battery, right Alan?"

I smiled and nodded at her before crouching down to get the screwdriver out from my backpack. Once I had the screwdriver, I picked up the camera from the ground and looked for any screws to loosen the lens. They weren't hard to find and I quickly had the lens out of the camera and in my hands. I placed the screwdriver back in my backpack and exchanged it for the battery. I quickly blew on it to clear any remaining glass shards and dust and fit the lens right into the circular opening on top of the battery. It clicked into place with a satisfying snap and I held up the battery with pride.

"Alright, bring the lightbulb closer to it, Niko," I said.

"Right!" she replied, holding the lightbulb over the lens.

In just a couple of seconds, the battery was full of power and gleamed within the darkness of the cave. I smiled again and patted Niko on the head. "Good job."

She grinned back at me, "Hee hee…"

I looked back over at Silver and raised the battery up again, "Think this'll get the generator powered on?"

She nodded, "[Yes. That should suffice.]"

I thought I saw a small smirk sneak onto her face for a second before it vanished back into her standard stoicism. I chuckled to myself quietly and put the now-charged battery in my backpack. I looked back at Niko, only to find that she had moved farther into the tunnel and was getting dangerously close to the edge, seemingly staring at something off in the distance.

"Woah, careful Niko!" I said as I quickly raced over and placed a hand on her shoulder, in fear of her falling off. That seemed to snap her out of her trance.

"Oh! Sorry!" she said as she stepped back from the edge, "I thought I saw a faint yellow glow in the distance…"

I looked down the tunnel towards where she was staring. I thought I caught a glimpse of the yellow light she saw for a brief moment before it vanished into the darkness.

Weird…, I thought as Silver walked up next to us.

"[Looks like even the entrance tunnel collapsed off. Without a vehicle, we can't proceed.]"

Niko tilted her head, "Can't we walk?"

"[I can, but for you, it's a safety violation. I won't allow it.]"

I glanced down at Niko, my hand still on her shoulder, "I'm with her on this one. I don't think I'd be comfortable letting you walk across those tracks."

Niko gazed down at the ground, "Sorry for making you worry…"

I sighed before smiling and petting her head, "It's ok. Just don't scare me like that again, alright?"

Niko glanced back up and nodded, the smile returning to her face.

I looked back down the tunnel before turning towards Silver, "What's down there anyway?"

"[It's a huge network of underground mines, the source of this world's metal and non-phosphor fuel. It's what propelled the world into the industrial age.]"

Niko looked up at her with concern, "So now it's lost forever?"

Silver nodded, "[It's been for a while. When the sun went out, the mines were the first to be abandoned amidst the initial panic. Even the robots have been all cleared out and repurposed.]"

I scratched my head, "That makes sense, I guess…"

"[Though there was one that always insisted on going back...I hope he's okay…]" Silver continued to stare at the tunnel as I felt a mix of confusion and intrigue. As Silver walked away, I looked back towards the tunnel one last time, wondering who would still be down there and if that yellow light that Niko saw might have been him.

"Alan?" Niko tugged on my jacket, bringing my attention to her. She too looked concerned, but more for me than about what Silver had said.

"Sorry, just got lost in thought for a second," I said, rubbing the back of my head, "we should probably get back to the generator now that we have the battery charged."

"M-hm!"

Silver was waiting outside for us as we exited the mines. She clipped the rope barrier back to where it was before we headed back to her outpost.

Before she walked in, Niko jogged up to her, "Thank you for helping us!"

Silver simply nodded, "[You're welcome. Good luck on your mission.]"

I simply waved at her before Niko and I began our trek back to the main generator.

"She seems nice," I heard Niko say next to me.

I shrugged, "Eh, she seemed alright, though I have a feeling we'll be needing her help again."

Niko simply nodded in acknowledgment and grabbed onto my hand as we neared the cliffs again. I glanced over at Niko, who was looking back up at me with a wide grin on her face. I smiled back and chuckled to myself. I was starting to enjoy Niko's company, despite the circumstances we found ourselves in. I secretly hoped that it would stay that way for a while.

Our trek back across the cliffs didn't go quite as smoothly as the first time. Due to the fractured nature of the cliffs, the multiple paths ended up creating a maze that caused us to get lost a couple of times. Several paths led to dead-ends, with the only thing to find being notes on the ground from people who had been here. Some talked of how the materials they found would help them make better robots, but there was one in particular that I found that unnerved me:

"The sun will not return and the abyss is calling my name.

I'm sorry, everyone...for choosing to leave before the darkness suffocates us all."

I felt my blood run cold and dread course through me as I kept reading the note over and over again, hoping that the words would change to something else. If the death of the sun was enough to cause this to happen to people…

"Alan…"

Niko's voice lifted me from my trance as I let the note fall out of my hands. I'm sure she noticed the sorrow on my face as I read the note if her look of worry was any indication. I turned back towards the way we came and began to walk, "Come on, we should get back to the generator…"

As we walked away from the note, the voice came back, Maybe we could use it as a template once this all is over. Short and to the point, wouldn't you agree?

Ignoring it was the only thing I could do. I had to.

We soon made our way out of the cliffs and back towards the factory where the generator was. Moving in front of the generator, I noticed that the generator seemed a lot bigger than when I first saw it. I figured due to how much power it had to provide for everything it made sense. I pulled the charged battery out of my backpack and gave it a quick check that it really was fully charged.

"Well, let's hope this battery works," I said, before pushing the battery into the alcove.

As soon as I had put the battery into place, several lights on the generator began lighting up, the whirring of machinery accompanying it, before a bright flash of blue light emanated out from it, signifying that it was fully powered.

"Woah!" Niko exclaimed in amazement, her eyes almost as big as the lightbulb she was carrying.

"Well, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" I said, turning to her as I smirked, resting my hand on the now-glowing battery for support as I leaned against it. As soon as my hand was fully pressed against the battery, a shock of electricity shot through my hand, making me jerk it back, "Ow...! That smarts!" The suddenness of the shock coupled with jerking my hand back caused me to lose my balance as I toppled to the floor with a thud.

I quickly recovered and shot a glare towards the generator, "Well, you're welcome! Sheesh…"

Niko was giggling as she walked up next to me, "You know, that could've been its way of saying thank you."

I looked over at her with an unamused expression, causing her to giggle even more. I tried and failed to keep myself from smiling before I eventually snorted and started laughing alongside her. I got up off the floor and looked down at her, "Well, if we end up needing to fix another generator, you can be the one that gets shocked next time."

Niko simply kept giggling as she turned to head back out towards the main lobby. I sighed and shook my head. It was incredible how well she was able to take all of this in stride, though I guess it made sense given how young she was. I can remember wanting to have adventures like this when I was young…

That thought made me freeze as memories flashed by me. Memories I've tried hard to forget…

"You're lucky we even took you in…" "Stop being such a baby and grow up!"

"Just because you're in this family doesn't mean you're my brother…"

"It'd be better if you just ran away and never came back…"

"Alan…? Are you ok?"

I gasped, breaking me out of my stupor. Niko was standing in the doorway, confusion and worry etched on her face. I took several deep breaths to calm myself down as she walked closer to me.

"Alan, what's wrong?"

I gulped several more breaths as I looked at Niko, "I'm fine. I...don't know what came over me," I lied.

"You don't look fine…Your hands are shaking pretty hard..."

I looked down at my hands and saw she was right. My hands were shaking harder than I'd ever seen them. I quickly clenched them into fists to calm the shaking and looked back up at Niko, doing my best to smile. "I'm ok, Niko. Really."

She didn't look convinced, but she didn't seem to know what to say to me. I took one last breath and placed my hand on her shoulder, "C'mon, now that the power's on, there must be more to find."

"Ok…" Niko replied, still looking up at me with worry.

I can't tell her. I can't. She doesn't need to know about what I've been through, I thought to myself as I walked past her and into the lobby.

In the lobby, a robot that I assumed had been powered down was now moving around and cheering about being able to walk again, almost as if it wasn't expecting to have been turned back on.

"[I AM FUNCTIONAL!]" I flinched as a robotic voice next to me caught my attention. A robot that was sitting next to the doorway was looking up at me. I felt Niko come up behind me as the robot continued, "[DID YOU POWER THE GENERATOR?]"

"I...guess we did!" Niko said before looking up at me, "Right, Alan?"

I nodded, "Looks like it. If these guys are on, there might be others as well."

"[CORRECT. THE SETTLEMENT UP NORTH SHOULD NOW HAVE POWER AS WELL.]"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, "A settlement up north? That sounds promising…," I said. I looked over to where Niko was, only to find her attention on the computer that was behind us. I walked up behind her as she turned the computer on.

When it came to the desktop, nothing else seemed to happen. I was about to say something, only to be interrupted by the old headache that had plagued me ever since I woke up. After having the vision that showed me how I came here, the headache hadn't come back for a while. I was afraid of blacking out again, but something was different about this one.

Niko was starting to turn towards me, but her movements seemed slow. I tried to call out to her before I heard a voice. One that I had never heard before, "[I see you've made progress in this world, Alan. But that progress stops here.]"

"What the...who's there?!" I yelled out. My vision was beginning to darken as I was starting to panic.

The voice continued, seemingly ignoring me, "[I believe you need a code to unlock a certain box. Well, the code no longer exists in THIS world.]"

Darker and darker my vision became. Niko was still slowed down, as well as the robot that was walking around behind her. I tried reaching out to Niko, only to find my hand was now see-through, just like it had been in my past vision. I gasped in shock. How was this even possible?

Suddenly, a bright light engulfed me, snuffing out the darkness that had been surrounding me. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, I could make out the laptop that had been "gifted" to me was sitting on my lap. I tried looking around, but my head felt heavy. From what I could see, I was back in the abandoned motel where I had stayed for the night. I tried to move before the voice came back, "[...do you understand, Alan?]"

"No…," I mumbled. It felt like it took whatever energy I had just to respond. The haze surrounding my vision was starting to become unbearable.

"[You...still don't know the extent of the world's deterioration, do you, Alan?]" the voice said before sighing, "[...Most of the time, stray pieces of this world would be lost to blissful nothingness, but this code, this Document, is an exception.]"

As the voice spoke, I felt my hand move to the laptop, "[I was able to salvage it, because Niko needs the code to progress. Now, go find it.]"

I...think I was starting to understand. If this world was inside the laptop, then this code...would be somewhere within the laptop. It said a Document, right? As I dragged my hand across the laptop, moving the cursor along with it, the headache I felt continued to pound. If I concentrated enough, I could still see Niko, moving in slow-motion as she turned towards me.

I eventually made it to where the laptop kept its documents, finding only one file. A simple text file, only named "DOCUMENT". I opened it. Within the document was a message. Parts of it were unreadable, but I could still make out most of the message:

"Dear ̷̡̠͇̼͉̻́͜͡ ̶̤̦́̕ ͕͟ ̀ ̶̗͓͎͓͟ ̶͜҉͏̞̺̙̀ ̴̢̹̥́̀

Ţ̵̧̀ ̵͟͡ ̨҉͟͞h̡͜͠҉ ̷̛i̵̶̷͝ ̵̀͢͢s͜ ͟͏̷̵̡ ̨͟͡ ͏ ̷i҉̷̧̀ ̴̡̕s͠ ͟҉̞̭̼̞̯ ̨̳͚͍̤̦̪͔́ ̫̪͇̗̲̭͘ ͕͚͟ ̸͉̫̘̩͙̀T ̶̗͓͟ ̶͜҉͏̞̺̙̀ ̴̢̹̥͚͎̮́̀ͅ ̛ ͟҉̞̭ ̨̳͚͍̤̦̪͔́u̦ ̵̸̹̼̞͚̹͠ ̴̢̳͔̻͕̮͇̱̀͡ͅͅ ̘̟́́͝͝ ̤͍͍̭͙́͜r ̷̶̥̠͍͚͜͞

.̴͜/͞m̵̧.̧̨̧́͘.̶͘͝͡-̡̢͟-̷̧͠͝͝-̴̨͜͢y͡҉̧/̀͏͏͘.͜͞.҉̡̀͢-̡̧̕͜-̸͘͜f̷̧͘͜.̨́͜.͞͞.̴̶͞ message to you, and I'm afraid I must make it brief.

I have left you a journal, part of which is written in a language that y̴̴͝/͟͝͝/̧͝͡-҉̵̸͡-͏͡o͏͜͝/̶̡̡/͡/͏̵̵̵̀/͏́́ų̨̕͘ ͟҉̴ ̧͠͏͝ ͘̕͟͠͞w̛͘͟͡͠/̵̢͠/̷́͞͞/҉̸̛̀͡ļ̴̕͢͡l̢̛̕͘͜ ̵̀͝͠n͝o̵͢͠=̵̷̨̡͡.̷̴̷̡̡.̷̵͘͟t̶̶̸̡ ̷́͜u͏̴́/̀/̵̧͢͞͡ǹd̀͟͠è͢҉̢̢-͠҉-̧҉̢-̶̧-̷̶͘s̵̶̷̢͠t̡̛a̧ ̶̴̧͝ ̷̸̡ ̸́͞ ͢ ̶̸̡̛͞n̢͠d̸̵ ҉̢͠͠a̴͡͠t̛͏̀͟͠ ̨̢͢͝f̷̵/̵̢̡̢/̧̢҉̵/̨͟͝r͏-̕͟͟͠=̢̕͘͟s̵͟͏t͞͞͡

H҉.̧̕.̸̵.̸̨̛̕͠-͘͜/̵͏҉/̸͘̕w̴͏͟e̷̢͜v̵͟͜͟(̢̕҉͟ę̸̀͜͞r̶̷͠͠҉ ̵̡͡ ̵̕͡͠ ҉̷ ̴̵̛͢,̧́҉ ͘͠͞ ͞͠ǫ̷̵̛̀n҉̡͡/̶̢/̵̸҉/̴̸̢́/̡͞/̀͘̕͢/̨͟c̵̷ ̨̛͘͡͞ ̨͏̛ ̷̶̡̧͜ ̵̨̀͜e̸̢͢͟ ̴͝y҉̸̛́/̵̵̶̨/̢͘/̴͟/͡=͢͏=̡͘=̷̢=҉̴̢/̸̧̧͞/̛̕/̶̨́͠/̶̨̧̕͜.̵.̴͝.̷̶͡u̧͝ ͘͘͜҉.̢̨̕͝͏ ̸̶̵̶̢ ̶̡ ̧̀c̀͢͞͞.͡.̴̶́͟͠.͞͏͘.̨̧͘͞.̴҉͞.̶ą̶͟͞n̕ r ̧͠ ead it and you will know what to do.

I have also ĺ̶̴͍̖̙͈é͕͔̤͚̺f̦̖͕̞͚t͟͜͏҉̖͚̺ ̗̜̠̰̕͟y̴͕͈͓̝͙̠̤͜ó̶̵̥̗͜ͅu̸̧̺̘̤̪̝̳ t̴͓̩͑͋͝w̴̪̩̼̾ȏ̸͙̜̈́ ҉͍̯̣̺͔̮͉͇͟͞a̴͍̥̥̺̯̱͢͜ ̧̺̰̱̬̬̰̞̦̣̞̦̦͠m̴͇̤͇͔͉͘a̴͠͏̳̰̥̹̮̀s̵̢͙̩̖̻̝̕ͅķ̛̛͏̰̫̺͍̹́, b̷̢͘͞ ̛̀͘͢͝c̡͜҉ ̀͟͠ ̶̡͘͜ ͞҉͜͏ ̷͜͏ ̡́́͠ ̢ ̀͏ ̕͜ ̵̷͘ ̶̴̴̵ę̷̷͜ ̴̸҉̀Í͡ ̸͘͞ ̨͢͜͡͡ ́͢͏͢ ̢̡́́͞ ̷̶̸̀͝ ̸͠ ̶̷̧̀̀ ̵̵̵̢́ ̷̵̛͡ ̕͝ ̷̕͠҉̡ ̸k͟͞͝ǹ͠͏͡ ̶̸̶͢͠ ̨͟͞͡ ҉̶ ͟͏̸ ̢̕ ̴͡͠ ̴̕͡҉͢ ̴͟͟ ̶͞͠w҉͝ ̢̨͟ ̵̕ ̧̢͜͢ ̴̀̕͞ ̀͟͟͠ ̛͢͏ ̡̧̀̀ ̨̢͘ ̕͜y̢̨̛͘͟ǫ͡u҉͢͟͏͟ ̷̛̀ ̴̕͞ ̢͡ẃ̴̡͡͝ ͘͜͝͏ ̧̀͜͡ ̶͢ ̵̶̸̨ ̵ļ́͡͡҉ ̶̧ ̸͡͠͠ ̷͏̸̵͟ ̸̴̀̕͝ ̸͏̧̀͝ ́͢͠ ͏̧̡͟͝ ̡̕͢͟n̕̕̕ ̷̴͟͝͏ ̡̡͝ ́́ ͏͝͏͟ ͜͡͏̴̛e̷̸͏d̸̡͜ ̷́͜͝i̵̶̢̢̧t̴́.͜͢

L͜o͞ok̵ ͠f̡or͢ a͝ ͟m͡e͟tal śaf҉e ̢ìn t̛h͞e͏ q͢u̕ar̵r͟y̢ t̢o the ̴e͢ast̡, ͘s͜om͝ew̢he̶re b͢et̀we͘en t͝he̡ ̛o̕cea̴n ̡and̶ ͞t͜he lo͡ok͟o͘u҉t̷ po̧įnt̨.̕

The code you need is 710688."

I didn't understand at first. The haze was becoming worse, but I fought to memorize as much of the message as I could. 710688...okay, I can remember that...and somewhere between the ocean and lookout point? That must be somewhere in the cliffs, but I don't remember seeing a safe there…, I thought before the light surrounding me began getting brighter. My headache kept pounding before it all vanished and I was back in the lobby with Niko.

She had just finished turning around before she looked up at me with a confused look on her face. I was breathing heavily and my heart was pounding.

Before Niko could even open her mouth, I fell back onto the floor and stared at the floor, "What...what just…?"

Niko knelt down in front of me, her previous worry returning alongside an uncharacteristically serious look on her face. I looked up at her as I felt sweat run down my face.

"Alan, what's going on? Something's obviously wrong…"

I looked away, still trying to process what had just happened. That voice...somehow it knew we needed that code and...salvaged it? What did that mean? How did it even know Niko?

Wait...Niko said when she woke up there was a computer in the room with her...and the messages on there were intended for me...which means…

My eyes widened as I realized what that meant. Niko noticed my reaction.

"...Alan?"

I looked back at her, "Sorry, but I… I think I might have met whoever sent you those messages when you first woke up in that house."

She was surprised, to say the least, "Really?"

I nodded, "It...said something to me. There's a safe...off somewhere near the cliffs. It has something we need."

She seemed to think for a moment before looking me in the eyes, "Is...that why you were shaking when we turned on the generator? Because it tried to speak to you at that time?"

I looked away again, guilt slowly making its way into the pit of my stomach. It wasn't, but I couldn't tell her that, "It must have, but I just didn't realize…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

The guilt was becoming worse, but I had to keep up the lie. I couldn't put that weight on her. I just couldn't do that to her. I looked back at her with remorse, "I...just didn't want you to worry about me…"

Niko was silent for what seemed like a while before she carefully put down the lightbulb and wrapped me in a hug. Her sudden affection caught me off guard, "Niko? What…"

She cut me off by hugging me tighter. I didn't how to react, so I simply sat there, letting Niko hug me. Even though she hugged me before when I first blacked out from having my vision, it didn't bother me then. This time though...this felt a little more personal.

Niko eventually released her hold on me before backing off, "My mama always gave me a hug whenever I felt scared or sad, so I thought it might help you too."

I stayed silent, letting her continue, "...I know we've only known each other for a couple of hours and that you're supposed to be the God of this world, but…" she said as she looked up at me, with warmth in her eyes, "...I consider you my friend...and friends take care of each other."

I was stunned. Not just from what she said, but from how genuine she said it. I couldn't remember the last time someone had said something like that to me. My guilt faded away as I looked away from Niko in order to fight back the tears that were starting to build-up.

"Alan?"

I kept myself composed and turned back to her with a smile on my face, "Thanks, Niko...I definitely needed that," I said as I pet her on the head.

Her eyes seemed to glow brighter as she smiled before grabbing the lightbulb and standing up, "You said we needed to go to the cliffs to find a safe, right? Well, we better get going then!"

I nodded and stood up with her, brushing myself off. I gave Niko a thumbs up and one last smile before we moved back outside and towards the cliffs. Niko's words echoed in my head as I walked next to her. Part of me was still guilty about hiding the truth about the voice and me from her, but if she was willing to believe in me this much to call me her friend, I couldn't let her down. I smiled as I strengthened my resolve to save this world and get Niko back home.

Chapter Text

It didn't take us long to find the safe. There, sitting right in the middle of all the other pathways, was the safe. I don't think either of us even noticed it when we traversing the cliffs the first time, but here it was.

Niko was the first to look it over, "Well, I'm guessing this is the safe. Seems like it's locked with a six-digit code," her brow furrowed, "I don't...remember seeing any six-digit codes though."

I knelt down beside Niko as she kept looking at the safe, possibly trying to think of any codes that may work. I hated to ruin the mystery for her, but I already knew what the code was and didn't hesitate to put it in.

710688...this should work, I thought to myself as I put in the code that was given to me in my vision. As soon as I put in the last number, the safe popped open, surprising Niko.

"Woah! You opened it!" she exclaimed before she gave me a confused look, "Wait, how did you know the code, Alan? I still don't remember seeing one..."

I couldn't tell her the reason for where I really found the code, so I improvised, "When that voice spoke to me, it gave me about half of the code. I guess I just got lucky with the other half."

"I...see!" Niko replied before setting down the lightbulb next to me. I kept one hand on the bulb as Niko looked inside the safe, "Ah! Here's something!"

Niko pulled out two gasmasks, one looked smaller than the other. I raised an eyebrow as Niko handed the masks to me, "What do we need gas masks for?"

Niko shrugged, "You said the voice told you we needed whatever was in the safe. Maybe we'll need to use them soon."

"Good point," I said as I put both of the masks in my backpack, "Was there anything else in there?"

Niko looked back inside the safe before bending down and picking something up. I heard her flipping through paper, so I guess she found a book of some kind, but she seemed to be fixated on it.

I leaned over and tapped her shoulder, "Niko?"

She moved away from the inside of the safe with the book in her hand, "Sorry, there was a weird-looking book in here as well." She moved the book around in her arms to give me a better look at the cover. There was no title, only a picture of a big black clover instead.

Again with the clover? Why is this clover seemingly everywhere? I thought to myself. I was starting to get frustrated by how this clover kept popping up. First on the laptop, then as a plant, and now on a book.

Niko opened the book up, revealing writing that was in a language that I had no clue how to read, "I can't read what's in it though…" she slammed the book shut abruptly, making me flinch, and brought the book back to her, her cheeks slightly red, "...not that I can't read or anything! Because I can!"

I chuckled at her, "I wasn't thinking that, Niko. Besides, I can't read it either," I said, scratching my chin, "It's in some language that I've never seen before."

Niko looked down at the book, "Why would we need a book that we can't read?"

I thought back to the letter that was in my vision. It mentioned a journal...could this be that same journal? If it was in the safe, then it must be important for us to keep.

I reached over and took the book from Niko and put it in my backpack, "Well, whatever the case may be, it'd probably be better that we keep it with us until we figure out what's written."

Niko nodded and grabbed the lightbulb, "Where do we go now?"

I scratched my chin, "Well, the robot we talked to when we powered up the generator said something about a settlement up north. That's the only place that we haven't been yet."

"Then we should probably go there, right?"

"Right", I said, standing up.

Just as we started to move away from the safe, a loud electric screeching noise came from behind us, making both me and Niko flinch. Looking back at the safe, there were now what looked like black squares distorting the cliffside. Just looking at them made my head hurt, like my brain just couldn't process what it was seeing.

Niko seemed to feel the same way, "What IS that?"

The squares didn't seem to move anywhere else so I looked away from them to keep my brain from hurting anymore and grabbed onto Niko, "It doesn't look like they're going anywhere. We should keep moving."

Niko nodded and I gave the squares one last glance before we both walked away from the squares and the safe, taking one of the paths that lead up to the north.

As the cliffs receded behind us, pillars of rock began popping up with smoke blowing out of the top. At least, I assumed it was smoke. The further we moved north, the more we saw of the same smoke-blowing pillars until the smoke became too much for us.

Niko began coughing, "A-Alan, it hurts to breathe…"

I tried to block out the smoke with my arm but it didn't help. The smoke was suffocating both of us. I grabbed onto Niko and got both of us back to where the smoke wasn't as dense.

Back at the northern entrance of the cliffs, Niko and I took the time to breathe in the fresh air. I looked up at Niko in my hunched-over position, "Well, I think we-" I paused to cough one last time, "I think we found out what the gas masks are for." I knelt down and pulled out the two masks, setting down the bigger one on the ground next to me and holding out the other one for Niko.

She set down the lightbulb and took the mask, looking at it from all angles. She started to look more and more confused with each second that passed. It was funny to watch, but I figured I should probably step in.

"Do you need some help?" I said, grabbing Niko's attention.

"Mhm," she replied, handing the mask back to me, "I haven't actually seen a real gas mask before. I remember seeing a picture of one in a book, but I don't know how to put it on or how it'll work…"

I shook my head, "Don't worry. It's actually really simple," I said, "You simply pull this end…" I started as I stretched out the back of the mask, "And you just fit it over your head like this," I finished, making a motion of placing the mask over my head, "It'll help out keep out the smoke so that we can breathe without it hurting us."

Niko's eyes were wide with amazement, "Wow...that's really useful..."

I chuckled before holding up the mask, "I'll help you put it on, but you'll need to take off your hat."

"Oh, right!" Niko reached up and pulled off her hat, revealing more of her blue hair and her...cat ears. Actual cat ears. I thought it was just the hat that made it look like cat ears, but...they were real...and I was currently staring right at them.

"Alan? What's wrong?" Niko asked.

"N-Nothing..." I stuttered out. I could feel my face grow hot from embarrassment, forcing myself to look away from her ears and focus on putting the mask on her. I thought her looking like a cat was just a coincidence. How wrong I was.

After we both put on our gas masks, we headed back into the smoke, this time with less suffocation involved. As we continued north, I noticed just how many smokestacks scattered the terrain along with the gas vents. I remembered what Silver told us about the mines and how important they were to put this world into the industrial age, but I never realized just how important it was until now. This place used to be bustling with people. Now, there was no one except robots.

A chill ran up my spine which Niko noticed, "Are you okay, Alan?"

"Yeah", I said, "I'm just...realizing how quiet it is here…"

Niko didn't say anything. The mask on her face made it hard to tell what her reaction was, but her silence didn't make me feel better.

After walking for a bit, we found another factory that was still standing, but it was abandoned like the other one back near the generator. The only difference was that there were still robots wandering around, presumably powered from the generator.

After taking off our masks, I noticed the doorway to the back of the factory was boarded up, but I figured we could just use the crowbar I had to knock them down. I looked over at Niko, who was reading a note from the floor and noticed a pair of rubber gloves that she had passed by. The gloves looked useful, even if there wasn't an immediate reason to have them, so I picked them up and put them in my backpack.

Moving over to the boarded-up doorway, I took out the crowbar and got to work pulling off the wood. Only a couple seconds and the blockade was down on the floor, giving me a good workout and giving us access to the rest of the factory.

The back room was full of robots, all of them powered down. It seems the generator could only do so much. There didn't seem to be much in the room aside from a sponge and a ripped-up note which seemed to detail instructions about a reaction involving phosphor. I skimmed through it, taking in as much of the note as I could. Judging from the last couple lines, the reaction seemed to be about making some kind of cleaner. Not sure how that would help us, but it doesn't hurt to have that information.

Moving over to the sponge, it looked to be an average sponge. One smooth side for creating suds, the rough side for getting other stubborn stains. Similar to the gloves, I didn't see a huge need to have them, but my gut told me it was safer to bring them along, so I did.

After I placed the sponge in my backpack, Niko walked into the room, the lightbulb illuminating more of the room. I walked over towards her, giving a shrug, "Nothing too interesting here. Just a note talking about making a cleaner with Phosphor and a sponge. What was the note you were reading?"

"It was also about making something with Phosphor and the gas that's outside. It only talked about putting the gas in a container."

I scratched my chin in thought, "Hmm, well it doesn't seem like there's anything else here," I said as I made a motion towards the exit, "Come on, I think we're getting closer to the settlement."

Niko nodded and we put on our masks again before heading back out. The way further up north was blocked by still-standing smokestacks so we simply followed them west. There was another note that we came across, talking about how the robots rusted slower than normal in the gas. An interesting find. I kept that piece of information in the back of my head.

The gas started to become less dense as I began to see more buildings in the darkness. I guessed it had to be the settlement. Eventually, the gas disappeared, letting Niko and I take off our masks. Now that we had a clearer view of the settlement, I took notice of how huge the buildings were. Given that all we'd seen so far were factories, I took a wild guess in thinking that these must be where all of the workers used to be.

"[Oh, Hello.]"

A low robotic voice caught my attention. I turned to face the owner, only to crane my neck up to see all of the giant robot in front of me. "Woah. You're...big."

The robot ignored my comment, "[What Are You Doing Here?]"

"Hm?" I heard Niko say next to me.

"[A Living Person Such As Yourself Should Have Evacuated This Place Long Ago.]"

I shook my head, "Actually, Niko and I just got here. To this world, that is."

Niko nodded, "Yeah! See? I have the sun!"

The robot hunched over to look at the lightbulb in Niko's hands, "[Oh, The Messiah.]" it said before falling silent for a second, "[I...Do Not Know What To Say. Greeting You Was Not Part Of My Programming.]" The robot stood back up, "[Have You...Spoken To Prophetbot?]"

"If he's the one wearing the crazy robe and holding a staff, then yeah, we've talked to him," I said as I pointed over my shoulder in the general direction of where we met Prophetbot.

"[He Was Built With The Sole Purpose Of Greeting You.]"

"Really?" Niko said questioningly.

"[Yes. He Cannot Speak With Anyone Else. At Least, Not With Ease.]"

"Oh…" Niko said, her tone laced with pity, "That's...kind of sad…"

I looked over at the settlement then back up at the robot, "What are you built for then?"

"[My Purpose Is To Guard This Settlement.]"

I frowned, "But there's no one here…"

The robot shook his head, "[Even Though The Residents Have Long Gone, I Must Remain.]"

"Why though?"

"[I Have Not Been Tamed.]"

I raised an eyebrow, "Tamed?"

"[It Was Not Worth The Effort.]"

I didn't know what "tamed" was suppose to mean, but something about it made me shiver. It didn't seem like the robot wanted to keep talking so I motioned to Niko that we should keep moving.

My initial wild guess turned out to be right. Most of the buildings contained what looked like pods for workers to stay in, extending all the way to the ceiling. I had never seen anything like it, so it was hard for me to picture hundreds of people climbing up and down the ladder to go to work.

Along with the pods, there were a lot of left-behind notes written by other people. Some were journal entries, some talked about the evacuation, others seemed to be letters to and from family.

In one building, there was a robot sitting up high near one of the pods. It didn't seem like it was doing anything, so it easily noticed me and Niko enter.

"[HELLO!]"

"Hi!" Niko called back, "What are you doing up there?"

"[I AM STATIONED HERE.]"

"By yourself?" I called out.

"[YES.]"

"Huh," I sighed, "Well, you have fun with that."

"[THANK YOU!]"

Our little conversation caused Niko to giggle before she walked over to a picture that was on the floor. I followed behind her.

"It's a picture of a robot," she said as she looked up at me, "Y'know, I've never been around so many robots before, Alan!" She paused before furrowing her brow, "Or...any robots at all…"

"Neither have I. It's a bit surreal. In my world, we have little speakers that can respond back to us when we ask a specific question, but nothing like these robots." I replied, glancing up at the robot, "I've only ever seen these kinds of robots in movies," I replied.

"So have I! I see them in cartoons and stuff, but I've never seen one in person!" Niko smiled, "They're pretty neat, don't you think?"

"That they are…" I chuckled as I thought of a little joke. I grinned down at Niko, "Hey Niko, do a robot voice."

Niko was silent, her eyes blinking as she processed what I had just asked of her, "...What?"

I fought hard to contain my laughter, "Try talking like a robot! Like in one of your cartoons."

Niko kept blinking her surprise away before she closed her eyes and cleared her throat, "[BEEP BOOP. I'M A ROBOT AND I… EAT BATTERIES...INSTEAD OF NORMAL PEOPLE FOOD!]"

I started to chuckle as she started to giggle before we were both interrupted by the robot from before, "[THAT IS NOT CORRECT.]" Niko and I both turned to look at it, "[ROBOTS DO NOT CONSUME BATTERIES IN THE SAME WAY THAT PEOPLE CONSUME FOOD. IN FACT, ROBOTS DO NOT POSSESS DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS. SOME ROBOTS DO NOT EVEN HAVE MOUTHS.]"

I blinked at the robot, his sudden lecture rendering me speechless.

"Alan…"

I turned and looked at Niko, her head titled down at the ground in order to hide her eyes, "...you made me look silly…"

A burst of panic shot through me, "Sorry! I didn't mean to-" I stopped when I noticed a smirk appear on Niko's face, "Now wait a minute...what's that smile for?"

"I'm not smiling!" she shot back, trying and failing to hide her growing smile.

I knelt down in front of her as I scratched my chin, "Well, that's odd. I could've sworn I saw something show up right there," I said, pointing at her smile. She looked away, only making her smile grow more, "Hmm...maybe if I get some new batteries to replace your old ones, it'll fix it," I added with a mischievous smirk.

That was enough for Niko to start laughing and I along with her. It was nice to be able to get her to laugh.

When we both settled down, we moved back outside. The only building left that we hadn't explored was the infirmary, signified by a glowing plus sign. Inside, there were only two robots. One scanned Niko for injuries, obviously only to find none. The only other thing of interest there was a box of medical supplies. Most were either broken or too rusted to use except for a plastic syringe at the bottom of the box. I took it with me, hoping we could find some use for it.

Back outside, Niko and I started making our way west, out of the settlement. I looked back as we walked away, "Well, this settlement was the last big location of the Barrens," I said, scratching my chin in thought, "I can't think of any other place that we haven't seen..."

Niko nodded, "We still need to figure out how to get closer to the Tower though."

"Which means we need to find a way to get across this ocean," pointing towards the sea of phosphor.

Niko perked up, "Wait! I remember seeing something that looked like a boat after we got that metal bar. Maybe that will help?"

A boat definitely sounded promising, "That sounds like it'll work. If there's a boat we can use, it'll definitely get us out of the Barrens."

Niko smiled and made a show of turning towards the ocean and pointing, striking a dramatic pose, "Then let's go!"

I shook my head while smirking, "Lead the way, Robo-Niko."

She looked back at me and stuck out her tongue mockingly. I chuckled at her as we moved on. I silently breathed a sigh of relief as we finally started to make some real progress towards getting to the Tower and saving this world.

Chapter Text

Leaving the settlement brought us back to the gas, forcing us to put the gas masks back on. Unlike the east though, this side didn't have as many broken smokestacks or remnants of abandoned factories. Instead, pools of Phosphor littered the landscape, some larger than others, and gas vents that surrounded them.

I leaned over to look into one of the pools, the glitter coming from the fish swimming around mesmerizing me, "Wow...it's like looking up at the stars..."

Niko leaned over with me, "Mhm. It's really pretty."

Following a small path further west, there was a hole in the ground spewing up smoke. This one was much smaller than the ones we had seen. The ones before were almost as tall as I was but this vent still blasted out smoke just the same. A note laying nearby was a journal entry that detailed what the gas was and why it hadn't gone any further from where it was. Apparently, there was a kind of shrimp within the pools and ocean that feeds off the gas, keeping it from wafting off to the other regions. Aside from that, there was nothing else there so we moved on.

As we moved further south, the number of pools and gas vents started to increase, making it slightly difficult to move around them, but we eventually got through and arrived back in the area where we had initially started this whole journey.

Niko tugged at my jacket, "See? Over there! There's a bunch of docks over the water."

I looked over at the ocean. There were a lot of docks, but most of them were empty, save for one, "Looks like there's still one boat left. Maybe we can use that one."

"Mhm!" Niko agreed as we sped off towards it.

As we got closer to the boat, I saw a robot with two oars connected to it, acting as the boat's driver. It greeted us as we reached the end of the pier, "[HELLO! WAS IT YOU WHO FIXED THE GENERATOR?]"

Niko nodded, "Well, Alan helped me, but yeah!"

"[IT IS A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU. I AM ROWBOT #310. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO TAKE YOU SOMEWHERE?]"

It tried to move its arms but failed. The rust surrounding it prevented it from moving.

"Having a little trouble?" I asked.

"[I CANNOT MOVE.]"

"Well, you're rusted up pretty badly."

"[THAT IS TRUE.]"

"Hold on...Alan and I will find a way to help you!" Niko declared before turning to me, "We just need to clean off the rust, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, but I don't think we have anything to clean-" I stopped, remembering the note I read in the factory before we reached the settlement that talked about making a cleaner with Phosphor. "Oh, maybe we do!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers.

"We do?" Niko asked.

"You remember back in the factory? There was a note I read that had instructions about making a cleaner using Phosphor and the gas. You read something similar, right?"

She nodded.

"We could use that to make a cleaner to get the rust off the robot," I explained, "Do you remember what the note you read said? Any instructions?"

Niko's brow furrowed before her eyes lit up, "Oh! I remember it saying we needed to put the gas into a container and seal it! Do you think that vent in the ground will help?"

I nodded, "It's the only one either of us can reach." I looked over at the rowbot, "Stay put. We'll be back soon."

"[I HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE.]"

I facepalmed as Niko giggled. "Ok, fair enough. I walked into that one." With that, Niko and I headed back into the gas towards the small vent.

I had the glass bottle out before we reached the vent. Once we did, I placed the bottle over the vent, letting the gas fill-up the bottle before sealing it. I held it up for Niko to see, "That's the gas taken care of. Now if I remember right, we need liquid phosphor to put into the bottle without opening it…" The pool next to me seemed like it would work, so I pulled out the syringe and moved over to it.

I placed the syringe in the pool and pulled, hoping to get as much Phosphor as possible. As I pulled though, some of the shrimp would get caught in the syringe, blocking the Phosphor and forcing me to abandon my attempts.

I frowned, "Well, this isn't going to work…"

"I saw another path when we were coming back. Maybe there's something there?" Niko suggested.

I scratched my head, "Really? I didn't even notice…"

"Well, follow me! It's not too far from here!" she said, jogging away from me and moving back south.

Niko led me to another path that was hidden next to a large pool of Phosphor. The path led to more pools, but one, in particular, looked more like jelly and was covered in a bubble.

I walked over to it and brought up the syringe in my hand. Before I could start though, Niko spoke up, "Alan, could I try?"

I glanced over at her and shrugged, "Sure. Give it a shot."

I traded the syringe for the lightbulb as she walked up to the bubble, "So, it's like I'm using a funnel, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, just poke it into the bubble and then pull the back end towards you."

Her eyes behind the mask looked worried as she inserted the syringe, "I hope this works. The liquid might be a bit too thick to fit in the needle…" As she started pulling, the syringe began filling up with the Phosphor. "Hey, it actually went in!", Niko said, "Gross."

I snorted as she finished filling up the syringe, "If you think that's gross, just wait until I tell you about how some people from my world would put jelly like this in syringes and eat it from them."

Niko whipped her head towards me in shock, "Really?! Eww..."

I laughed, "Yeah. There are some crazy people in my world."

She shook her head, "Now Jello is ruined for me…"

"You have that too?" I asked, surprised.

"Yep! My mama makes it sometimes as a snack when it's really hot outside."

I was astonished, "Wow, our worlds are a lot more similar than I thought..."

"They sure are!"

I smiled and exchanged the lightbulb for the syringe. Grabbing the gas-filled bottle from my backpack, I plunged the syringe into the bottle through the cork and pushed the liquid into the gas. As I did so, I heard Niko start giggling next to me, "What's so funny?"

"It's like you're a doctor!"

I started to chuckle as I pulled out the syringe, "Well if that is how you see me, I will tell you to keep any and all apples away from me."

"Hee hee…" Niko giggled as I shook the bottle.

Shaking the bottle caused the gas and phosphor to merge together, creating a green, thick type of acid. Going off of what the note said, this should help clean the rust off of the robot, letting us finally get across the ocean and closer to the Tower.

We made our way back to the rowbot and prepared the acid. I rolled up my jacket's sleeves as I put on the rubber gloves and held out the sponge. Niko set down the lightbulb and held onto the bottle, pouring it onto the sponge.

"Alright, let's get you cleaned up," I said as I moved into the boat and began scrubbing the rust off the rowbot. After a bit, all the rust had been cleaned off. "How's that?" I asked.

"[...I…]" it began as it started moving his arms around, "[...CAN MOVE AGAIN.]" It looked at both of us, "[THANK YOU! I AM ABLE TO FULFILL MY PURPOSE AGAIN. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO?]"

"Can you take us to the Tower?" Niko asked.

"[CALCULATING…CLOSEST DESTINATION TO THE TOWER IS...THE GLEN, PORT NUMBER -...]" It stopped.

I raised an eyebrow, "You alright?"

It shook its head, "[MY BUILT-IN NAVIGATION CIRCUITS HAVE FRIED.]"

"I'm...gonna assume that's not good," Niko sighed.

"[IT IS NOT GOOD AT ALL. ONCE AGAIN, I CANNOT FOLLOW MY PROGRAMMING.]"

I scratched my chin, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

The rowbot nodded, "[IN THE EVENT OF AN ERROR, YOU SHOULD SPEAK WITH THE HEAD ENGINEER. SHE WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO.]"

"Head engineer...that's probably Silver," I guessed, "Looks like we're needing her help again after all."

Niko nodded and we once again made our way towards the cliffs to reach Silver's outpost.

Silver was looking over one of her jars of Phosphor as we walked in, "Excuse me again, miss…" Niko started, "we found a robot who can take us towards the Tower, but it's having some trouble, so it told us to talk to you."

Silver stood up, "[Alright. What is the issue?]"

"It said its navigation circuits were fried," I stated.

"[Just the navigation circuits?]"

I nodded, "Niko and I fixed everything else, so it's just that."

"[Hmm…]" she hummed, closing her eyes in thought. After a second, she opened them, "[I have something that may help.]" She moved over to the shelf next to her and started looking through it as she continued, "[Rowbots have the ability to trace material from their source locations.]"

"That's pretty convenient," I murmured.

Silver pulled back from the shelf, holding onto something that was glowing in her fist, "[If you let the rowbot borrow this, then its backup tracking system should activate.]

She opened her fist to reveal a glowing yellow necklace with a black clover in the middle of it.

"Woah…" I whispered.

"That's a very pretty necklace!" Niko said in awe, "What's it made of?"

"[Amber found from the Glen.]"

"What's the thing inside the amber?"

"[The black clover? It's a common plant in our world.]" she stated, turning over the necklace to look at it, "[It's also…]" She quickly fell silent, looking almost remorseful.

I raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"

She sighed as her eyes closed again, "[I'm not sure if I can bear to part with this. My programming says yes, but I still feel conflicted.]"

I looked at her with pity, "...It's from someone important to you, isn't it?"

She quickly flinched before calming herself and shaking her head, "[Nevermind. You need to finish your mission more than I need a keepsake.]" She held out the necklace to Niko, "[Here.]"

"Oh, thank you!" Niko took it and put the necklace in her pocket before looking back up at Silver, "Before we go...Is there anything we can do in return?"

Niko's question seemed to take Silver by surprise before she stilled and looked at the two of us, "[Actually…do either of you...know how to play chess?]"

Niko nodded, "Yeah! Well, sort of...I've played it with some older kids before!"

I rubbed the back of my neck, "I've hardly played chess at all..."

Silver looked over at Niko, "[Then, will you play a game with me?]"

Niko tilted her head, "I mean, I don't know the rules very well…" she started before her eyes lit up, "But I guess it's the least I could do!"

I smiled at Niko as she and Silver walked over to a table that already had a chessboard set up. I followed behind them and took a seat on a crate behind where Niko sat, the lightbulb laying at her feet. We all sat in silence as the game began, Niko marching her pawns forward while Silver seemed to be planning much farther in advance. I almost scoffed at how one-sided this was: a cold, calculating machine versus a young child. That sounded like a crazy movie plot if I've ever heard one. I looked at Silver, observing her eyes. She looked focused, her eyes scanning over every inch of the board in the way a general would look over a war map before making her move. Every piece she took was with ruthless efficiency. Silver quickly took control of the board, her pieces surrounding Niko's.

Niko looked up from the board at Silver with an innocent smile, "You're really good at this!"

"[Thank you. It was built into my code.]" she casually responded.

"Ah," Niko said, her eyes falling back to the board as she planned her next move.

I smirked. Chess seemed to be the one thing that made Silver feel comfortable, even if she was a robot.

"So…what's it like?" I started, "Being a robot and all…"

Silver looked up from the board as Niko continued to plan, "[What do you mean?]"

I looked out the window next to us, "Well, in my world, we don't have robots like you. We have basic robots that help with building things or answering simple questions, but nothing like you..." I looked back over at Silver, "And a lot of the robots here always talk about their programming and code. It's all a bit hard to take in and understand…"

Silver nodded, "[I know. Most of the robots here are not tamed.]"

Niko moved her bishop forward before looking up at Silver, "Tamed?"

"[Watch out.]" Silver stated as she knocked over the bishop with one of her pawns in one swift move.

Niko stared at the fallen bishop, "...there goes my bishop."

Silver picked up the bishop and placed it in the growing pile of Niko's pieces, "[Taming...is complicated.]"

I titled my head, "How so?"

Niko moved her other bishop, only to have it fall as well, "...there goes my other bishop…"

"[I can't really explain what tamed robots are.]" Silver stated as she looked up from the board, "[But I'm one of them.]" She looked out the window, "[All the other tamed robots have been moved to other regions. Exactly where, I don't know.]"

I didn't find that answer satisfying, but she seemed genuine about her lack of knowledge about whatever "taming" was meant to mean. As I readied my next question, Niko moved her Knight forward. It too fell quickly. Niko stared at the board in worry, "...there goes my little horse…"

"[Knight.]" Silver corrected.

"Right…"

I lifted my leg and rested my arm on it as they continued playing, "Have you been to the other regions? Prophetbot said there were two others."

"[In the past, yes. I still have the data, the coordinates, the...memories...]" Silver said as her eyes closed.

The way she spoke that last part had me intrigued, but she continued talking, "[I don't know how much of that still holds true.]" Her eyes opened, "[The world may be a very different place now.]"

Niko looked up, "Because the sun is gone?"

"[No.]" she quickly replied. "[I said this already, didn't I? The sun probably won't save the world.]" she said as she looked out the window, "[The decaying started back before the sun went out.]"

I frowned, remembering what happened at the safe, "So that's what those squares are about…"

She nodded, "[Correct. The sun's sudden death was just the tipping point, and things went south really fast after that.]"

I glared at Silver, "And you're that adamant in believing that we can't do anything about it?"

Her focus was on the game though, "[Check.]"

"W-what!" Niko stammered, "When did your queen get there…"

Silver returned her focus to me, "[The only thing you can do is complete your pilgrimage. In a way, you are only supposed to be a second chance for the people.]" she stated before her gaze fell back to the window as she murmured, "[Just like how the Barrens was only supposed to be a second chance for me…]"

I would have been interested in that last part, but her apathy towards us saving the world was starting to frustrate me, "I'm guessing you don't share that same sentiment with everyone else," I retorted. My sharpness caused Silver's gaze to snap towards me, her eyes wide, and Niko to freeze, hovering one of her pieces in her hand. "Wouldn't you want to have some shred of hope if you knew there was a chance for things to be better?" I continued, not bothering to hide my frustration, "You can't just give up like that."

Silver simply stared, her wide eyes soon falling back into their normal stoicism before she closed them, "[There's no guarantee that things will work out.]" I opened my mouth, ready to snap back before she opened her eyes, "[But you are not wrong. As I said, you are a second chance for the people.]" she said as she stared at the board before her eyes met mine, "[It is up to you to give the people hope. So do not throw away their chance...or yours.]"

I froze, my frustration replaced with confusion. My chance...? What's that supposed to-

"[Checkmate.]"

Silver had cornered Niko's king. With no way out, Niko sighed, knocked over her king, and accepted defeat. With that, the game was over.

Silver sighed, "[Alright, guess I've kept you both long enough…Thank you for listening.]" She looked at Niko, "[I hope you get home safely.]"

Niko hopped off the chair and picked up the lightbulb, "Ah, thank you also!"

I got off the crate and, as Niko headed over to the exit, I stopped by Silver, "Hey…"

She looked up, "[Yes?]"

I sighed, "I'm sorry...for getting angry at you."

She was silent before shaking her head, "[Do not worry. I understand how you feel.]"

I was taken aback, "You do?"

She nodded. As she looked at me, I thought I saw her eyes soften, "[Being tamed...allows me to recognize when there is more to a person than what they show. There is pain that you hide. I know because it is similar to my own.]"

I was shocked, "How do you-?"

"Alan? Are you coming?" Niko's voice rang out from the doorway.

I didn't budge from my spot as Silver looked away from me and out the window, "[I'm more observant than you realize.]"

I didn't know what to say. This robot was able to read me like an open book and she hardly even knew me.

"Alan?" Niko's voice rang out once again.

"I'm coming," I yelled back, my voice threatening to crack. I took a moment to compose myself before turning and leaving, Silver's words echoing in my mind.

Niko stood at the entrance of the outpost, "What were you talking about?"

I gave a smile and shook my head, "I was just thanking her for her help. You still have the necklace?"

Niko nodded and pulled it out of her pocket, it's light reflecting that of the sun Niko carried. My eyes once again fell upon the black clover placed in the middle, once again acknowledging its significance to why I was here.

We made one final trip back to the docks, the boat sitting at the end of the pier. Before I could start making my way down it, I felt Niko tug on my jacket. I looked over at her and saw her eyes begin to droop.

Niko did her best to look up at me, "Um...Alan? Is it alright if…," she paused to yawn, "...you let me take a nap somewhere before we go? I'm so tired I can't even see straight anymore..."

I smiled, "Sure. We can use the bed we saw in the building that's nearby."

Niko nodded, doing her best to keep her eyes open as we walked over to the nearby building. Once inside, I guided Niko over to the bed and watched as she pulled herself under the covers, keeping the lightbulb close to her.

Niko yawned once more, "Thanks, Alan." She started to fall asleep before she stopped herself and looked up at me, "Where are you going to sleep? I just realized there's only one bed."

I shook my head and sat down, letting my back rest against the side of the bed. I glanced at Niko over my shoulder, "I'll be fine. You need the bed more than I do." I made sure Niko was covered before turning away, "Get some sleep. We'll keep moving once you're fully rested."

Niko shifted around a bit before I heard her breathing start to slow. I looked back and watched her as she fell asleep, the sun illuminated under the covers.

Once she was truly asleep, I looked away and let myself attempt to process everything that had happened so far. In just a few hours, I had been thrown into a completely different world that I was certain was the cause of a laptop given to me by a complete stranger and tasked with guiding a small cat-like child from another completely different world towards a giant tower in an attempt to replace the sun and save the world.

So many questions swirled around my head. All of which I had no answers for. I sighed. This whole thing felt like a dream, yet it wasn't. The vision I had where I interacted with the laptop was definitely real, that much I was certain of. So then, what was all this? Was I somehow stuck between two worlds? None of it made any sense.

"There is pain that you hide. It is similar to my own." Silver's words once again echoed in my mind. It still scared me how easily she could see through me. If she could, who else might be able to? I looked back at Niko, who was still sleeping soundly. I watched the rise and fall of her chest as she slept. It's only been a couple of hours since I first met her and already she saw me as her friend, someone she could trust. A part of me still resolved to see this through until the end so that Niko could go home, but...the other part of me was jealous of her. Jealous that she didn't have to worry about whether she would be able to sleep well or not. Jealous that there were people that were probably worried about her.

...Jealous that she had a home to go back to.

I paused to get a hold of my emotions. I shouldn't be thinking like this. She trusts me to help her get home and that's what I'm going to do, no matter what happens, I thought, doing my best to ignore the doubts growing inside me.

"What good is it going to do for you? She'll go home and you'll be right back to being on the run." The inner demon in my head snarled back. Now with no one to distract me from my thoughts, it had free reign to run amok in my head, "You'll be alone again. The only person to trust you and they'll be gone, just like that."

Shut up..., I thought back.

"Why bother even trying so hard for her? You shouldn't even be in this world in the first place."

Shut. Up.

"What makes you think she'll even remember you after this? You'll be forgotten, just like everyone else has."

SHUT UP! I grit my teeth and felt my fists clench as I locked away the voice and threw it deep into the back of my mind. I can't think like this now. Not with Niko here.

My fists remained clenched as I slowly calmed myself down, forcing myself to relax. I needed to sleep too, though I was nervous that I was going to end up somewhere else when I wake up. I shut my eyes and continued taking deep breaths. My fists finally relaxed and my eyes started to feel heavy as I slowly fell into the depths of sleep, hoping with all my heart that I would stay here at Niko's side.

Chapter Text

The feeling of wind blowing over me caused me to open my eyes to see a bright blue sky staring back at me as I laid on the ground. Light from the sun reflected off of white clouds that dotted the sky as the wind continued to softly blow. It was then that I noticed the golden plants of wheat that surrounded me. I slowly lifted myself off the ground and looked around, confused. I felt like I should've been scared about once again being somewhere new, but...I wasn't. I felt...calm, like this place felt...familiar to me.

I reached out to touch the wheat, Is...this a dream? I thought to myself before seeing my hand phase through the plants, barely disturbing them from their dance in the wind. I stood up as I brought back my hand. The area stretching around me was covered in wheat, the sun making the crop's golden sheen even more vibrant under its light.

I continued to stare out over the sea of wheat as it stretched out into the distance. This place felt so peaceful...The sun in the sky, the wind blowing across the field, all of it. Part of me felt disappointed. Even though this was all a dream, I wanted it to be real. I wanted to get lost here and forget about everything.

A gasp from behind me startled me and I turned to find the source. There, standing behind me with part of her back facing me, was Niko. I was shocked. I wasn't expecting to see her here.

It didn't seem like she noticed I was here as she looked around, her eyes wide in surprise. She stopped and slowly looked up towards the sun, the wind blowing her scarf across the wheat.

I slowly moved towards her, my hand outstretched, "...Niko?"

She turned to look at me, the light hitting her face making her eyes look even more yellow than before. It didn't seem like she was expecting me to be here either. Her mouth moved, but for some reason, I didn't hear anything.

Before I could respond, everything started growing brighter before I faded back into darkness. My real eyes opened to find I was back next to the bed, the broken terminals next to us creaking in the faint light. A yawn behind me coupled with the rustling of blankets let me know that Niko was awake as well.

My thoughts were still on the dream I had before I felt Niko tap me on my shoulder. I looked over at Niko, who was standing next to me with the lightbulb in her hands.

I shelved my thoughts and gave her a smile, "Hope you slept well."

She smiled back, "Mhm! I had a dream too."

"What was it about?"

Her head drooped as she sat down next to me. She stayed silent before speaking, "...I...I really thought I was back home…I thought I was back in the wheat fields that surrounded my village..."

Huh, wheat fields...just like in my dream... I thought to myself as Niko continued.

"It was also really windy and sunny." Niko looked over at me, quickly losing her gloom, "Oh, the sun back in my homeworld isn't a lightbulb. It's a big ball of fire in the sky!" she added, "I don't think I would be able to hold it like I do with the sun in this world…"

I stretched my neck to get rid of the tension left over due to my awkward sleeping position, "Yeah, it'd probably be just a little bit too big for you to hold comfortably."

That made Niko giggle a little, "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"What's your homeworld called?" she said as she tilted her head.

I let out a small chuckle. This whole conversation felt weird to have. Talking about different worlds and what they're called, it felt like a movie about meeting aliens. I looked back at Niko, "Earth," I simply replied.

Her brow furrowed, "Earth? Like, the stuff on the ground?" She glanced at the floor before back up at me, "Wait, do you live underground?"

I chuckled again, "No, we don't.

"Ah, neither do we! But shrews and field mice and stuff do."

I shook my head, I know our worlds are a bit similar, but I didn't realize they were THIS similar. If she didn't say anything about it, I would have figured she was just from my world. Well...save for the giant eyes and cat ears...

"Does your world have a sun?" Niko asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah, it's also a big ball of fire."

"Really? Wow!" she murmured, "Can you hold it?"

I just stared at her, my smirk growing bigger as her innocent look slowly morphed into realization before she blushed and looked away, "That was a silly question, wasn't it..."

I laughed and pet her head before she shook it off and turned back to me, "Well, the sun in my homeworld is really bright. Warm, too!" She looked at the door, "But it goes away sometimes, at night. Everything gets dark, kinda like how this world is now," she turned back to me, "But it's okay because the sun always comes back the next day." She smiled, "That's good, don't you think?"

I nodded, "It's the same for me."

"I'm guessing you sleep during the night like we do. Though some people stay up and use computers!" she continued, "I...don't have to explain what they are, do I? There's a bunch of them in this world!"

The laptop flashed within my mind for a split second. I shook my head, "No, a lot of people in my world do the same thing. Some use them for work, others for entertainment."

Niko smiled and nodded before she glanced over at the door, "An-anyway, we should probably get going…" She stood up and started moving towards the door before she stopped and looked back at me, confusion present on her face, "There was something else that I remembered...in my dream."

"Oh? What was it?" I asked as I began to stand up.

She stared at me in silence, almost like she was studying my face before she spoke, "I...remember seeing you there too."

I froze in shock. That was exactly what happened in my dream. I stared back at her, "Did I...call out to you...and you tried to call back to me?"

Her eyes went wide, "Yeah...How did you know that?"

I could still clearly remember everything in my dream...or I guess now it was OUR dream. The wheat field, the wind, the sun, seeing Niko and calling to her, all of it. I felt my gaze wander before looking back at Niko, "I...I think we both had the same dream," I said, "...or I was...somehow inside your dream...but how is that…?"

We both continued to stare at each other in silence, my mind trying to rationalize what we both experienced. Once again, I had no answer.

"Woah…" I heard Niko mumble, "That's...so cool!" she exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" I was not expecting that reaction.

Her smile was as bright as the lightbulb and I could see stars in her eyes, "You could see my dream! You were IN my dream! That's so cool!" she gushed.

Her excitement slowly started to calm me down. It...actually was kind of cool. I sighed before starting to chuckle as I watched Niko continue to gush. She was so excited about what we had just experienced and I didn't blame her. I walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Alright, don't get so excited. You'll lose your energy before we even get into the boat."

Niko blushed, "Sorry…"

I let out one last chuckle before shuffling my backpack, "Come on, let's get going."

"Mhm!" With that, we walked out of the building and back towards the docks.

Niko pulled the amber necklace out of her pocket once we reached the boat. The rowbot looked it over for a couple of seconds before it cried out, "[OH! THIS IS AMBER FROM THE GLEN. I CAN REMEMBER NOW!] It pivoted its body towards the ocean, "[ACTIVATING TRACKING SYSTEM...SETTING COURSE…] It stopped and turned back towards us, "[WAIT. THE BOAT WILL BE OVER CAPACITY. YOU'LL NEED TO LEAVE BEHIND SOME OF YOUR POSSESSIONS.]"

"Oh, alright," I replied, taking off my backpack and looking through it. I didn't think we would need the gloves or gas masks anymore, so I got rid of both of them. Pulling out the crowbar, I hesitated on throwing it away. A crowbar was useful for anything, but if it meant that we couldn't get to the Glen, I had to leave it behind. I sighed and sadly placed it on the dock. All that was left was the journal we got from the safe. I put the backpack on and looked up the rowbot, "Is that good enough?"

It nodded, "[THAT IS ACCEPTABLE. CLIMB ABOARD AND WE SHALL BE OFF.]"

I looked down at the boat. There weren't many seating options available for me and Niko to fit into. I scratched my chin, thinking of a way to get in before Niko tugged on my jacket, "Alan? What if I just sit in your lap? We'll both be able to fit that way."

I was caught off-guard by that and felt my cheeks heat up, "Eh?!"

She tilted her head and blinked, "Well, there's no other place for us to sit."

Her casualness kept throwing me off, but she was right. There really wasn't any other way we could do this, "A-Alright. Give me a second…" I stammered, rubbing my neck. I stepped in the boat and sat down, stretching out my legs so that she could have a place to sit. I turned back to Niko and extended a hand, "Okay, climb on."

She moved the lightbulb into one hand and grabbed onto me with the other, making her way into the boat before sitting down on my lap.

"We're ready!" Niko announced. With a nod, the rowbot started pushing his oars into the water. As the boat moved away from the dock, Niko was gazing into the water. The light from the lightbulb was reflecting off the water, casting stars across its surface.

"It's so pretty…" I heard Niko whisper, "Alan, does your world have an ocean like this?"

"Oh yeah. I'm pretty sure it's a lot bigger than this though," I replied, letting my hand glide across the top of the water, sending ripples over our reflections, "Some people do more than just swim in it. Lots of times, people will take a surfboard and ride along waves. Others will just lay on the shore and relax."

Niko simply hummed in response as she slowly leaned back into my chest, making my cheeks heat up again, "What else is there in your world? I've never been outside my village before so I haven't seen anything else except in cartoons and books."

I stared into the water, recalling the places that I've been, "Well, we have a lot of huge cities. The city I grew up in is so big that there's a park right in the middle of it for people to relax in."

"Wow," Niko murmured, "Did you spend a lot of time there?"

I frowned and brought my hand out of the water, "Not...really. I'm not the biggest fan of cities so I...moved away."

"What about your family?"

I stopped. They were the last thing I wanted to talk about. I didn't even want to think about them, but I didn't want to leave Niko completely in the dark, "They were...against the idea, to say the least."

"I see..."

"It's not important now," I said, moving away from the subject. Niko stayed silent as she didn't seem to have anything else to say. We both just watched the waves as the boat glided through across the water. Just like the wheat field in my dream, or Niko's dream really, it was peaceful out here. The water reflected the light of the sun Niko carried while the wind softly blew her scarf past me.

"Hey, Alan…?"

"Yeah, Niko?"

Niko shuffled around in my lap, "You know when you said not to get too excited after we woke up?"

"Yeah..."

I heard Niko yawn, "...I think you may have been right..." Niko leaned into my chest more, causing my whole face to flare up. I was not used to such close contact, so I wasn't exactly the definition of comfortable, but if Niko was, I wasn't about to ruin that for her.

I sighed, "Well, get some more rest. I'll wake you up when we get to the Glen."

"Mhm…" Niko mumbled back. I felt Niko's breathing slow as she fell back to sleep, "...you're really warm, by the way…"

I thought I was about to combust into flames on the spot. Oh great, so it's not just my face that's on fire, I thought as I looked down at Niko, "A-Are you sure it's not just the light-" I started to say, but Niko had already fallen asleep.

I sighed again and relegated myself to simply watching her as the boat continued to sail through the ocean.

As she slept, I once again found myself alone with my thoughts. Part of me felt it was a mistake to bring up my family and where I grew up. All I could think about was what I once considered home. I shook my head. It didn't matter now. It was in the past. What mattered was the present. Once this whole journey was over, I'd go back to normal, surviving on my own. It would be better that way.

I locked away my thoughts and gazed into the horizon, the Tower looming in the distance. What matters is getting Niko home, saving this world, and giving both of them a happy ending.

I glanced back down at Niko, still sleeping in my arms. Tentatively, I wrapped my arm around her, making sure not to disturb her. As I did, she shuffled around, letting her head rest on my arm. I smiled at her and looked out towards the ocean, savoring this moment. Right now, it was peaceful and I was happy with that.

Chapter Text

The boat pulled into the dock once we arrived at the Glen. Once the boat stopped moving, the rowbot glanced down at me, "[HERE IS YOUR STOP. THE GLEN.]"

"Thanks for the help," I replied back before looking down at Niko, who was still asleep in my arms. I sighed before giving her a small nudge, "Hey, Niko...we're here."

"Mmm…" she mumbled, "Five more minutes…"

I nudged her again, "Niko, come on. We gotta get moving."

She only nuzzled herself deeper into my chest, "But you're warm…"

I rolled my eyes, "You're already carrying the lightbulb which you yourself said was warm. I think you'll survive not holding onto me."

She looked up at me, giving me puppy dog eyes. I simply returned her gaze and raised an eyebrow, doing my best to hold back my smirk, "I'm not gonna carry you."

"Aww…okay..." she groaned before she lifted herself off my chest and grabbed the lightbulb before making her way out of the boat.

I followed behind her, stretching out my arms and legs. It felt like we'd been in that boat for an hour, but it had only been a few minutes.

As I stretched, Niko looked back at the rowbot, "Thank you!"

It nodded back, "[THERE SHOULD BE A VILLAGE TO THE NORTH. BUT THAT'S ALL I CAN RECALL.]"

I sighed in relief as I finished stretching my legs, "That's good to know."

"[FAREWELL. MAY YOUR MISSION BE A SUCCESS.]" it said before starting to pull away from the dock.

"Wait, a-are you leaving?" Niko called out.

"[YES. I MUST RETURN TO MY STATION.]"

"But you'll be all alone again…"

It stayed silent as it continued to float away, "[IT'S OKAY. I HAVE NOT BEEN TAMED.]" With that, it sailed off into the blue horizon, back to the Barrens.

"Tamed, huh…" I mumbled. While I didn't feel as bad watching the rowbot sail away like Niko, I still felt a little sadness watching it go, knowing that it was just going to rust away again waiting for the sun to return.

I sighed. All we could do was keep moving towards the Tower. I glanced over at Niko, who was still watching the horizon, "You okay?"

Niko looked back at me, "Mhm…" giving one last look at the boat before moving towards the stone building behind us. It was the only way we could go. It seemed to only serve as a way to properly enter the Glen.

As we reached the roof, we finally got our first look at the Glen. From where we stood, we could see almost everything. It was a swamp-like place, with fireflies all around us, lighting up the sky, as green glowing trees and ruins dotted the landscape. Parts of the land had been overtaken by the ocean, but the rest was still walkable. In the distance, the Tower was closer than when we saw it in the Barrens, with the red lights of a city surrounding it.

I let out a whistle, "Wow, what a view…"

"Mhm!"

We made our way from the rooftop and back down to the ground. It didn't take long for us to run into more people...or I guess I should say, bird people. Two avians near a hut were busy fishing in a stream. Their hair took the shape of a bird that cast a shadow over their eyes. Feathers ran down their arms like wings with gloves on their hands. I would've thought they were just dressed up to look like birds until I saw their legs. They looked exactly like bird legs that you'd see on a normal bird. Looking through the jars that surrounded them, it seemed they had a lot of food stocked up. Mostly fish it seemed. We moved past them and headed north on a bridge and reached the village that the rowbot told us about.

The village was exactly what you would expect: small huts built close together with jars of food like beans, fish, and milk lining the outsides.

Niko peered into one of the jars as we walked around the village, "This jar smells like alcohol." She scrunched up her face as she pulled back, "Gross…I wonder why grown-ups like to drink this stuff?

"Well, it's usually for trying to relax and help take their minds off stuff," I said, scratching my head, "I'm not old enough to drink anyway…"

"Alcohol is for setting things on fire."

"Hmm…" I hummed before processing what Niko said, "...wait, what?"

I turned to look at Niko, but she had already moved towards one of the huts in the middle of the village. I shook my head and raced to catch up with her.

Inside the hut, Niko was talking to a girl, who was spinning around in place, "You're gonna get dizzy if you keep spinning like that…"

"I'm the Tower!" the girl said back.

"Huh?"

"Grandpa says the Tower used to spin allll the time bringing sunlight to the world!" she continued, "I wanna see it too!"

Niko held up the lightbulb, "Well, I'm here now...I guess it'll only be a matter of time again."

I chuckled as Niko walked back to me, the girl still continued to spin in place.

Another hut we walked into also had little kid in it, but this time they weren't spinning in a circle. They seemed to be admiring one of the glowing lanterns that were on the floor as we walked in.

"Hello! What are you doing?" Niko asked.

The kid looked up at us, "Just watching the lantern. Daddy says the world is very sick." they said before smiling, "But Alan can make it better again!"

I scratched the back of my neck in embarrassment. I had forgotten that I was still technically seen as a God in this world.

"...Are you Alan?" the kid said as it gazed up at me.

"Uh...yeah, that's me…" I hesitated.

They quickly jumped to their feet, staring at me in wonder, "Really? Wow! Wait until I tell Daddy!" she trilled before suddenly wrapping her hands around my leg.

"Woah! Easy...I'm not-" I started to say.

"You're gonna make everything better, right? You're gonna bring back the sun?"

I looked over at Niko, silently pleading for her to help, but she simply smiled back at me. I sighed and pulled the kid off my leg and knelt down in front of her, "That's the plan." I offered them a smile, "Don't worry. The sun will be back in no time and the world can start to get better."

The kid nodded before going back to admiring their lantern. I watched the kid for a few seconds, a mix of emotions within me: Determination to save this world, doubt that we would completely fix everything, worry that something might go wrong. I shook my head, Just stay focused, Alan. Remember, one thing at a time.

I stood back up and, as I left the hut with Niko right behind me, I sighed and rubbed my head, "I don't think I'm gonna get used to being called a God…"

Niko nodded, "It does sound like a lot of pressure."

That was an understatement. I wasn't a God. I was just a guy in the wrong place at the right time and all these people were trusting me to save their world. I took some deep breaths to calm myself. I can't let the pressure get to me. After all, I've been through worse.

After exploring a couple more huts, we moved east towards a field inhabited by rams. A man with glasses in a robe was watching over the rams. As Niko walked up to say hello to the shepherd, I wandered up to a ram that was spinning in place, just like the girl in the hut.

"Hey there, little ram…" I said, raising a hand towards it to try and pet it.

"B̷͈̼͂̚A̸̖̍͝À̶̘̮̒͋Ḩ̸͈̈́͐͘ " it bleated back demonically.

I sweatdropped and began to slowly pull my hand back, "O...kay, I'm just gonna...leave you alone then…"

I kept shooting the demon ram glances over my shoulder as I walked up to Niko. She seemed to have just finished her conversation with the shepherd, "How was he?"

She sighed, "He wanted help in herding some of his rams, so I offered to help, but he said I couldn't cause I was holding the sun."

I frowned, "Couldn't he just watch over the sun for us?"

"I said the same thing..."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "Well, I guess when our hands are free, we can help…"

Niko nodded and we continued to head east towards what looked like ruins. When we got close, we came across a caravan that had various items scattered atop a large rug. Niko rang the bell and caught the attention of the bird that was looking over his items.

"Heya!" he called out with a wave, "You here to trade?"

Niko tilted her head, "Trade?"

"Yeah! Is there anything you want to get rid of?" he said, puffing out his chest, "Make me an offer and I'll give you something in return!"

I looked over the items he had on the rug, "Wow, this is a lot of stuff. Let's see..." I started, "Glass shards, glass marbles...empty glass bottles, mostly-empty glass bottles, filled-up glass bottles…." I raised an eyebrow, "...bits of string, plain and colored wool, fabric scraps, a rusty bucket, scrap metal, shells, some rocks…"

"What's all this for, by the way?" Niko asked.

The bird shrugged with a smile, "I just think they're neat!"

I sighed and stood up, "Well, we don't have anything on us right now…"

"That's okay! If you end up finding something you wanna trade, I'll be right here!" he said before he jumped, "Oh! If you're planning to head into the ruins, the entrance on this side is blocked by vines. There's another entrance if you go south out of the village." he added, pointing in that direction, "It'll be close by where you would go to get to the Refuge."

I smiled and gave him a nod, "Thanks for the info."

We said our goodbyes and headed back the way we came, coming back to where had initially arrived. From there, we moved south across another bridge. It brought us out onto another field with the glowing trees I had seen from before surrounding us.

"What do you think these trees are for?" I heard Niko ask.

I shrugged, "I don't know." I looked around and started to notice how many stumps there were, "Whatever they're for, it looks like there used to be more of them before they were cut down."

Looking further towards the grass plain, I could see the bridge that would lead us to the ruins. I also noticed what looked like footprints in the grass. Someone had already been here and they looked they had run all over the place. Before I could start to wonder who had been here, I spotted another path further south from us that lead to what looked like the same generator building from the Barrens.

"Let's explore down south first before we head into the ruins. Just so we know that we aren't missing anything," I suggested, pointing in the direction for Niko.

She nodded and we made our way there, passing by more trees and tree stumps. When we arrived, we were greeted by more robots. They looked greener than what we had seen in the Barrens, I guess as a way to differentiate between regions. One walked up to us as we approached it, "[HELLO, PERSONS. WELCOME TO THE RESEARCH STATION.]

"Hello!" Niko replied back.

"[ARE YOU SENT HERE BY DR. SILVERPOINT?]"

"...no?"

"[OH. CARRY ON, THEN.]"

Silverpoint? Huh, that sounds a lot like Silver… I thought to myself as the robot walked away.

As we explored more of the research station, we came across the building that housed the generator for the Glen. As we stepped inside, we were greeted again by another robot.

"[HELLO, PERSONS. THIS IS THE MAIN GENERATOR OF THE GLEN.]"

Niko looked at the generator in awe, "Oooh! Alan and I actually fixed one of these earlier, in that place across the ocean…"

"The Barrens," I told her.

"Yeah, that place!"

The robot simply stared at us, "[THIS GENERATOR DOES NOT NEED TO BE FIXED RIGHT NOW.]"

"Right…" she replied, "You guys already have power and all…"

"Aww…and here I was hoping to see you get shocked instead of me," I pouted as I playfully poked Niko's hat.

I laughed as she stuck her tongue out at me in response as we walked away from the generator and continued south, passing by other robots who were studying the trees, along the way. As we reached the end of where we could go, there was one more hut to check out.

There wasn't much inside. Water lined the edges of the interior with two robots constantly looking over them as well as a jar in the middle of the room. Inside the jar were tubes of water.

"What's with all the tubes of water in here?" I asked out loud.

"[WATER SAMPLES!]" one of the robots exclaimed behind me, making me flinch.

"Geez! You all need to stop trying to give me heart attacks!" I yelled back, clutching my chest.

"[APOLOGIES.]" it said before looking down at its hand, a tube of water in its hand, "[I HAVE COLLECTED A DUPLICATE WATER SAMPLE. WOULD YOU LIKE IT?]"

"Um…" Niko started to say.

"[MY PROGRAMMING SAYS THAT ORGANIC BEINGS NEED WATER TO SURVIVE, SO I SHALL OFFER IT TO YOU.]"

"Oh, uh, sure! We'll take it." Niko nodded at me. I sighed and took the tube of water, putting it in my backpack.

As thirsty as I was, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to start drinking a different world's water, but I didn't think it would hurt for us to take.

With this last hut out of the way, it took care of everything in the south of the Glen. All that was left for us to see was the ruins in the east.

"I'm glad we're finally seeing more people," Niko spoke up, "It was kind of scary just being the only ones around when we were in the Barrens."

"Definitely. We'll probably see more people once we get closer to the Tower." I rubbed my neck, "Although, it feels weird seeing people that look like...birds…"

Niko shrugged, "I think it's kinda cool."

I sighed, "I'm amazed you're taking all of this rather well."

"Well, I haven't been outside my village, so I like being able to see new things!" she said before looking up at me with a smile, "Plus, I have you here with me so it's not as scary!"

I chuckled and smiled back at her, "Well, you're lucky you're so endearing…"

"Hee hee..." Niko giggled.

"Alula? Alula! Where did you go?"

Niko and I stopped in our tracks as a shout cut through the air, "Alan, did you hear that?"

"Yeah, sounds like it's back to the north."

Niko quickened her pace, "Come on! They may need our help!"

"Woah, hey! Wait for me!" I followed behind her, the fireflies blowing past us, as we headed back the way we came towards the sound of the shout.

A boy in a red poncho was pacing back and forth across the field. His red hair, coincidentally in the shape of a bird, bobbed on top of his head as he scanned the horizon. He looked to be just around my age, maybe a year younger. As we walked up behind him, he turned towards us, "Hey! You two!" he called out before rushing up to us, "Have you seen a little girl?"

Niko shook her head, "I don't think so."

He motioned at her, "Well, she's a little bit shorter than you, and-" he stopped as he noticed the lightbulb in Niko's hands. His eyes grew wide, "Wait…! That's...the sun," he said before looking up at Niko, "Are you our savior?"

Niko was taken aback by his question, "I...yeah?"

"Oh my stars!" he covered his mouth as his cheeks turned red, "Sorry for my rudeness!"

She shook her head, "It's alright. Are you looking for someone?"

"My little sister…" he sighed, "She's been gone for three days now and I've been looking all over for her..."

I scratched my chin, "What does she look like?"

He motioned towards Niko again, "Um...a little shorter than you, long blue hair, two blue feathers on top of her head…"

Niko frowned, "I'm sorry. We haven't seen anyone like that."

"Where was the last place you saw her?" I asked.

"Back in the ruins. She said she was headed towards the forest, so I'm waiting here now." He looked down at the ground sadly, "I ran out of places to look…"

"Hmm…maybe she just got lost somewhere in the ruins?" I suggested.

"Maybe, but if that's the case, that just makes me even more worried about her…" He rubbed his arm, "I just don't want to lose her…"

I shook my head, "Don't worry. We're heading towards the ruins now, so if we end up finding her, we'll bring her back here."

His head shot up, "Oh, really? Thank you so much!"

I smiled and gave him a thumbs-up before turning to Niko, "You ready, Niko?"

She smiled, "Ready, Alan!"

I noticed the boy's eyes widen again as we jogged past him towards the ruins, "Wait...Alan?" I heard him whisper.

I internally groaned, Oh boy...I really am not going to get used to people seeing me as God...Better be ready for his questions when we get back.

Crossing the bridge led us closer to ruins. Black clovers grew all around the bridge, even making an invisible path to a doorway that was blocked by vines. Whatever was in that room, we wouldn't know until we took care of those vines. We also came across a giant robot, similar to the one we met at the settlement in the Barrens. It seemed to be standing guard in front of a gate that, judging from what the bird trader said, was the gate we needed to get through to reach the Refuge, which I guessed was the city that acted as the last region for us to get through before we reached the Tower.

"[The Sun...You're the Messiah!]" it called out as Niko passed by, "[Are you on your way to the Tower?]"

"Well, we're currently looking for someone right now, but yeah," she replied.

It nodded, "[You can enter the Refuge through this wall. Once you finish your current task, you'll need to sign your name in this scroll first.]"

"I don't think either of us has a pen on us," I stated, scratching my head, "Do you have one?"

"[Umm…]", he fell silent, "[...No. I've lost mine.]"

I sighed, "Well, I guess we're finding one on our own…" I pat Niko on the shoulder, "Come on, let's see if there's anything in the ruins. With luck, we may even find this Alula."

"Mhm!"

Just like the building we were in when we first arrived in the Glen, the inside of the ruins were dark and damp. Were it not for the lightbulb, I doubt we'd be able to see anything. As we moved forward, I tripped over pieces of rubble that had fallen from the walls and ceiling.

"Man, this place is in bad shape…", I mumbled.

"I just hope Alula is okay…", Niko murmured back.

There was another robot we came across in front of a flight of stairs which led deeper into the ruins, "[HELLO, PERSONS. PLEASE DO NOTE THAT THE RUINS BELOW ARE PARTIALLY FLOODED.]"

Niko tilted her head, "Oh. Should we...not be here?"

"[THERE IS NO IMMEDIATE DANGER. HOWEVER, USING THIS AREA AS A DWELLING IS NOT RECOMMENDED.]"

I smirked, "I wasn't planning on it. Too damp for my tastes."

Niko raised an eyebrow at me, "What are your tastes?"

I shrugged, "Somewhere quiet and peaceful. Preferably warm."

"Hmm…I think you would like my world then," she said, "It's definitely warm when the sun's out and it can get peaceful too." She smiled and closed her eyes, "Sometimes, when I don't have anything to do, I would go out and lay in the wheat fields and just look up at the clouds."

I remembered the golden fields that I had seen in Niko's dream, how the rays of light pierced through the clouds, and how the wheat waved in the wind. I smiled, "That does sound nice…"

"Too bad you'll never have the chance to see it."

I stopped. Once again, the demon in my head couldn't leave me alone. Before I knew it, I could feel the pain and doubt start to eat away at me. Was I really doing the right thing? Could I even save this world? And what about Niko? Would I really be able to get her home? Did I even deserve to have her see me as a real friend or was I just using her to try and escape from my life?

"Alan?"

Niko's voice cut through my thoughts. She was standing at another flight of stairs ahead of me. I hadn't even realized I had fallen behind. She walked back to me, "Alan, are you okay?"

"Yeah...sorry. I just...spaced out for a moment."

She kept her gaze on me, studying my face as I looked away from her. Slowly, she shuffled up to me and leaned her head into my chest. I looked down at her, "Niko…?"

She lifted her head up, "I would hug you, but I'm holding the sun…"

Just like that, the doubts faded away. I smiled and patted her head, "Thanks, Niko. I appreciate the gesture."

She smiled back and we made our way deeper into the ruins. On the next level, there was another doorway that was once again covered in vines.

"Hmm...if only we knew where these vines were coming from," Niko mumbled.

I scratched my chin, "Well, we've already looked everywhere outside the ruins, so it's gotta be something in here. Maybe deeper within the-"

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something move down the next flight of stairs which caused me to stop. It was probably just a shadow, my eyes playing tricks on me, but when I turned to look at it, I saw it. A black blob of squares, similar to the ones we saw in the Barrens, was floating down the stairs. I knew those squares were dangerous and the last thing I wanted to do was get near them, but something was...compelling me to follow it.

"Alan? Where are you going?" I could faintly hear Niko call out behind me, but I continued to follow the squares as it led me down to the next floor, into the corridors, and stop inside a back room. Only when it had vanished did I see what it was guiding me to. A computer, exactly like the one in the Barrens that caused me to hear that voice.

I could hear Niko calling from down the corridor, but I was still focused on the computer as I moved closer towards it. Turning it on immediately brought it to the desktop before I began to feel the familiar pulse of my headache and see the edges of my vision darken.

"[Hello again, Alan.]" the voice from before spoke.

"You, again…" I whispered, "What do you want?"

"[It seems I need to help you again. Niko will not be able to progress otherwise.]"

My vision was soon engulfed in light as I felt myself return to the abandoned hotel. My body once again felt heavy and groggy, but I seemed to be more lucid than last time. I could still hear the drumming of the rainstorm outside, which meant either no time had passed since I first woke up in the other world or I had been in that world for longer than I thought. Both scenarios frightened me.

"[This time, the information you need has fallen to the most easily accessible place on your machine.]" the voice spoke, "[Do you see it?]"

I looked up at the computer sitting on my lap to see that the desktop background, once just a simple black screen, had been replaced by a crude image of the lightbulb, made out of squares, almost like they were panels. The ones that drew the lightbulb were colored yellow while the rest were a faded purple.

I did my best to nod, "Y-Yeah...I see it…"

"[Good. You'll know what to do with it, then.]" it said, "[By the way, the effect is temporary, so it will vanish once you don't need it anymore.]" Hearing that, I spent the rest of whatever time I had left studying the image, memorizing where the lit-up panels were placed before light began to slowly fill my vision, pulling me back to the other world. I cried out, "Wait…! Just who are you…?"

As the light almost engulfed me, I received only silence before hearing the voice again, "[...Niko's waiting for you. You better head back now.]" Just as it finished speaking, I was brought back in front of the computer, panting as I braced myself on the table.

"Alan!" I turned to see Niko in the doorway, staring at me with worry, "What's happening? Why did you-"

"It was that voice again," I interrupted her.

She perked up before quickly making her way over to my side, "Are you okay?"

I took a few deep breaths as I slowly steadied myself, "Yeah...I'm okay. It's just...really uncomfortable when it happens."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "Don't scare me like that…"

I kneeled down and gave her a warm smile, "Sorry...I'll try not to make it a habit."

She quickly set the lightbulb on the table and wrapped me in a hug. I still wasn't used to being hugged like this, so I just elected to pet her head and chuckle, "Niko, if you keep hugging me like this, I might get the impression that you like me."

Niko giggled and let me go, "Maybe…" she teased as she picked up the lightbulb again, "What did the voice tell you?"

I rubbed my head to rid the last remnants of my headache, "Well, it showed me a picture of the lightbulb, but it looked like it was made out of panels." I paused to scratch my chin, "It said we couldn't continue without it…"

Niko furrowed her brow, "Hmm...do you think it has to do with something in the ruins?"

"Could be. It did say that I'll know what to do with it..." I quickly shook my head and stood back up, "We can worry about it later. Let's keep moving. I think we're close to the last part of the ruins."

She nodded and we headed back the way we came, moving down the last flight of stairs.

Like the robot from before had told us, the last floor of the ruins was indeed partially flooded. The walkable areas were a small path that passed through the small lakes that had formed or along the outside of them. There was another robot observing the vines that had formed around another doorway.

"[THESE VINES APPEARED MERE MINUTES AGO.]"

"Only minutes ago?" I asked, surprised.

"We've been seeing a lot of them in doorways and stuff…" Niko told the robot, "I just assumed it was because this place was abandoned."

"[A SIGN OF DISTRESS.]"

That piqued my interest, "Distress? How?"

The robot continued to stare at the vines, "[A LIVING BEING IS IN NEED OF HELP, BUT I CANNOT TRACE THE SOURCE.]"

I thought the vines were just some random quirk of the ruins that prevented us from getting anywhere, but if it was from an actual living being…

I suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of dread as I turned to look down the corridor. There was a robot standing in front of a smaller doorway, but just before that, a path broke off to the right, cutting through another flooded part of the floor.

I made my way over to the path and looked down it. At the edge of the doorway, I could see small vines poke out of the darkness. Niko followed behind me as I walked down the path and through the doorway.

We exited out of the ruins and found ourselves in what looked like a small grove. Vines covered the ground and seemed to be leading to something further in. The dread I was feeling was starting to grow stronger as we followed the vines.

When we rounded the corner, I soon saw what had been causing the vines. A girl was laying on the grass, surrounded by the vines. She looked to be wearing a dress which echoed the color of the grass and her hair was blonde, with leaves and flowers making a crown on her head. At first, I thought she was sleeping before I saw her head slowly move.

Her eyes, partially hidden behind her hair, were closed but it seemed to know that we were here, "S...savior…?" I heard her whisper, "And...Alan?"

I stifled a gasp as she said my name. She sounded...exhausted. Broken.

"I can't believe it...You're real...Both of you…"

"...m-miss?" Niko stuttered, clearly not used to this kind of situation, "Are you...alright?"

The girl did her best to shake her head, "No…"

"W-we should get you to the village! Maybe they could-" I placed a hand on Niko's shoulder, stopping her. She looked up at me with pleading eyes, but all I could do was shake my head in response.

"It's...okay…" the girl faltered, "It's okay...too late for me."

Tears began to form in Niko's eyes, "But…"

I stayed silent. I knew what was happening...I knew there wasn't anything I could do...but, I still felt so powerless…

"...the sun…"

I froze as she started to speak again, "I haven't seen it...I haven't felt it in so long…"

I simply stared at her before I knew what I had to do. I placed a hand on the lightbulb, causing Niko to look up at me with a sad look. I took the lightbulb out of her hands and slowly made my way over to the girl.

"...Will it make you better if you have it?" I asked as I kneeled down in front of her.

She stayed silent before shaking her head, "...No. It will not save me." she lifted her head, "I just want to experience the sun one more time before I...well…"

I said nothing.

"Would it...Would it be too selfish of me to ask?"

I let my eyes fall to the lightbulb. For all that I've been told about saving this world, being a God to these people, here I was...Powerless to save this girl from dying. I could feel my emotions wanting to break free, but I shut my eyes and clenched my fist to keep myself from losing control.

I moved closer to the girl and carefully placed the lightbulb in her lap, the glow illuminating her face. She was silent as her hands moved over the lightbulb, "...warm…" her mouth began to twitch, "I had...almost forgotten…It's so warm..."

I watched in sorrow as she slowly curled around the sun, the vines around her beginning to relax and recede back into her, "...Th...the vines should be gone now…"

My heart began to ache and I could start to feel tears form as the vines continued to shrink. I shut my eyes to hold them back before looking back at her again, "I...I'm sorry...," I whispered to her, not knowing what else to say.

She raised her head and I quietly gasped as I watched her open her eyes, revealing emerald green irises. She smiled sadly, "It's okay...I'm not afraid anymore." With that, she curled around the lightbulb and embraced the warmth that she had been yearning for.

I slowly stood up and began to turn away. Niko was watching me, tears ran down her face. I couldn't bring myself to look at her as I walked back to her, my own emotions still threatening to overflow.

"Alan…" Niko mewled.

I felt a single tear fall to the ground as I looked off back the way we came, "Come on...we should go, Niko…"

Niko said nothing as I continued to hold back my emotions. This wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for her to experience something like this. She was only a kid…She shouldn't be...

Suddenly, I felt Niko softly grab onto my hand. I glanced down at her. The light in her eyes had faded ever so slightly, but she simply squeezed my hand and nodded at me.

I was stunned. Even after witnessing what just happened, she still was willing to keep moving forward. I simply squeezed her hand in return and we both began to walk back towards the ruins in silence, the light and life of the girl fading away behind us.

Chapter Text

The walk back to the robot was silent. Since we didn't have the sun with us, the only illumination we had were green sigils that glowed from the wall of the ruins and reflected off the water.

Like the girl said, the vines blocking the exit were gone. The robot that watched them turned towards us as we approached, "[THE VINES RECEDED. DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?]"

I turned away in grief, the encounter still fresh in my mind, prompting Niko to explain for us, "We found this...plant person. She...she was barely holding on..." She looked down at her arms, "We gave her the sun for now, but…she said it was too late for her…"

The robot was silent before it nodded, "[I UNDERSTAND.]" He quickly walked past us back up the stairs we came down on, "[I NEED TO REPORT THIS TO THE CITY.]"

I had drifted over to the water, staring at my reflection in the water in melancholic silence. Some god I am…

A tug on my jacket pulled my attention towards Niko. She was looking at me sadly before she stared into the water with me, "Alan...was there really...nothing we could do to help? Aside from giving her the sun?"

"...I wish there was, Niko," I replied, putting my hands into my jacket's pockets to hide their shaking, "I...I'm sorry you had to experience that," I whispered, my voice threatening to crack.

Niko was silent, still processing what happened, before I heard her speak up, "Have...have you experienced something like that before, Alan?"

I kicked a block by my feet into the water, distorting our reflections, "No, but-" I began before I flinched.

Niko caught it though and looked up at me, her eyes wide, "But…?"

I quickly shook my head, "Nothing. It's nothing."

"It...doesn't seem like nothing..."

I was silent as I felt my fists clench. I started to take deep breaths to calm myself down before turning away, "...The last thing I want to do is place my own burdens on you, Niko," I whispered.

I didn't hear a response. I wasn't sure if she was trying to find something to say or simply couldn't, but it didn't matter. I had to keep the truth about me buried, for her sake.

As I got my emotions back in control, I looked towards the stairs, "C'mon, with the vines gone, we can find out whatever was behind the doorway we passed when we first came in here."

I started to walk towards the stairs, "Alan, wait!"

I stopped and glanced back at Niko. She slowly walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my legs, hugging me once again. I felt a smile creep onto my face. I'll admit, I was starting to get used to her hugs, and right now, I think we both needed this one. Slowly, I placed one hand on her shoulder while I placed the other on top of her head and pet her, her hug tightening in response. We stayed like that for several seconds, taking solace in each other.

Eventually, Niko let go of me. The light had returned to her eyes as she skipped onto the stairs and smiled back at me. I nodded and we headed back up the stairs to the previously blocked doorway.

The vines were indeed gone, leading us through a corridor before bringing us to a different room. There was hardly anything in the room except for switches on the floor and a doorway that was covered with squares.

I eyed the squares hesitantly as Niko shivered at the sight of them, "W-what in the world is this thing in the doorway?"

"They're just like what we saw back in the Barrens…" I said before I grabbed her shoulder, "Don't get too close to them, okay?"

She nodded, backing away from them. I turned towards the things on the floor, crouching down to get a better look at them. "I wonder what these things are on the floor?" I pondered, scratching my head.

Niko followed my gaze to the floor before carefully stepping onto one of the plates. Instantly, the plate lit up with a green glow. She walked over to another plate and again, it lit up.

"Huh, well that solves that mystery," I said, before taking notice of how the plates were arranged. Something seemed familiar about these panels, like I had seen them before. I moved to the bottom of the panels to get a better view of all of them. Niko was busy jumping onto the other panels, lighting them up, as I kept trying to figure out why this seemed so familiar. Thirty panels in total arranged in a five by six rectangle…

Wait a minute…the image of the lightbulb that I saw in my vision...it was arranged on panels just like these…

Niko had just lit up one of the center panels before I finally made the connection, "Oh! Niko, stay right there!"

She stopped, the panel beneath her lit up green. I recalled the picture I was shown as I started to make my way onto the panels. I had to replicate the image of the lightbulb using these panels. That's why the voice said I needed it for us to continue. That's why the panels looked so familiar.

Starting from the bottom, I stepped onto the middle panel, lighting it up, which would act as the metal part of the lightbulb. From there, I lit up the panels that surrounded where Niko stood. Her spot acted as the center of the lightbulb, meaning the sides I walked over would represent the glass.

After lighting up the correct side panels and turning off the ones that weren't needed, the panel that Niko stood on changed from its green glow to a yellow hue. With a sharp crackle of what sounded like static, the squares vanished from the doorway. From beyond the doorway, a young girl ran out into the open, looking around before her eyes landed on us.

"You saved me! Thank you!" she trilled, "I was trapped in there for so long…"

I looked over the girl. She was wearing a poncho, similar to the one the boy outside the ruins was wearing except hers was blue instead of red. Her hair was also blue and in the shape of a bird as it partially covered her eyes in shadow. Two light blue feathers stuck out from the top of what I guessed acted as the beak of her bird hair. Judging from how she was a bit shorter than Niko, she probably was around six or seven years old.

"So, are you Alula?" Niko asked, vocalizing my thoughts.

She gasped in surprise, "You...knew my name?"

"Mhm…"

"Wow!", she gushed, "The messiah really does know everything!"

"Actually, we met your brother earlier," I spoke up.

She looked over at me before her eyes went wide, "Oh, right! Gosh...Calamus must be so worried…"

Huh, so that's his name, I thought before Alula continued, "Can you bring me to him?"

I nodded, "That's the plan."

"Wait a minute…" Niko spoke up, "How did you know that I was the...um, messiah?" She looked down at the ground, "I don't have the sun with me…"

"Your eyes!" Alula responded.

"Huh?"

"They reminded me of the sun!"

Niko's said eyes went wide, "Oh!"

"That's why you're our messiah, right?" Alula asked with an innocent smile.

"Well...I…" she stammered, "A lot of people back in my homeworld have eyes like mine…" I had to suppress making a joke about her cat eyes, coughing instead.

Alula tilted her head, "Home...world?"

"Yeah! I'm actually from another world, you see! It's a place where the sun is in the sky and not in a Tower."

"Do you like this world too?" Alula smiled.

Niko was silent before she smiled and nodded, "...Yeah."

"Yay!" Alula hopped into the air, "Calamus keeps saying how this world is getting more dangerous by the minute, but that's ok! You're here now! You can make everything better!"

I chuckled, "Well, let's first get you back to your brother."

"Oh, right! Thank you again, Mr…?"

I hesitated. Should I tell her my name? Maybe not right now. I'm still very certain Calamus is going to ask me a ton of questions when we get back.

I rubbed the back of my neck, "I'll tell you when we get back to your brother."

"Ok!"

I noticed Niko give me a look of concern to which I responded with only a pleading expression. Alula was going to find out my name when we got back and I really didn't want to deal with her inevitable barrage of questions right now before we got back to Calamus, who I'm sure also had questions ready for me. She seemed to understand since she nodded and began to walk back to the stairs with me, Alula following behind us.

We headed back down the stairs and through the exit that had been previously blocked off, finding ourselves back in the northern part of the Glen, near the trader and village. As we walked through the field of rams, the shepherd noticed us and stepped into our path.

"Ah, I see your hands are now free. Would you like to help me herd my rams?" he pushed up on his glasses, "There's a great reward in store for you, I promise…"

"Uh…" Niko looked up at me. I only shrugged in return.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, "To the south is a peninsula inhabited by my rams," he spoke, turning to point his staff in said direction, "They are all standing in unfortunate spots. You need to move them onto the darker moss. If you get stuck, ring a bell and they'll all return to their positions." He turned back to us and nodded, "Good luck."

We all watched as he walked away back to his herd of rams. I sweatdropped, "Uh...well that happened…"

Niko sighed and looked back at Alula, "Looks like we gotta herd some ram now, Alula."

She smiled, "Can I help?"

Niko nodded, "Sure!"

Heading south brought us to the peninsula the shepherd told us about. I could see there were five rams in total as well as their corresponding dark moss spots. It would have been easy if there weren't pots littered along the ground.

I shuffled up to one of the rams and scratched my head, "So, do we just…?" I started before giving the ram a slight push. It moved forward slightly before coming to a halt, "Ok, I guess we do."

Herding the rams was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. Many times we would end up moving a ram into a spot that didn't allow for us to get by to move a different ram. We must've tried herding the rams for what felt like an hour before we finally managed to get them onto the moss.

As the rams bleated, I fell backward onto the grass, exhausted from having pushed the rams for so long, "Ok…*huff* I am not-*huff*-doing that-*huff*-again…"

Niko leaned over to stare at me, "It didn't seem that hard."

"Yep!" Alula grinned.

"Well, I'm-*huff*-not used to-*huff*-pushing rams this much-*huff*-if at all."

They both giggled as Niko helped pull me off the ground.

Once I had caught my breath, we walked back over to the shepherd, who was waiting for us, "You've provided a great service for all of ramkind," he said as he dug into his pockets for something, "In return…" he brought his hand out to reveal...wool. "Take this fine ram wool."

I took it and stared at it incredulously, wondering if this was really all we were going to get.

Niko shared my disbelief, "Is...is that all?"

The shepherd simply nodded before walking away. I was still staring at the wool before Niko tugged on my jacket. I simply sighed deeply, resigning myself to just pocket the wool and move on. Maybe that bird trader will give me something for it, I thought as we walked through the village and back to the grass plain where Calamus was waiting for us.

As soon as Calamus was in sight, Alula ran on ahead of us, "Calamus!"

He whipped his head in her direction and smiled, "Alula! You're okay!" Alula rushed into his arms as he breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness…" Niko and I watched them hug before they broke away, "Where were you?"

"I was trapped in this room and it was really scary...but then, the messiah saved me!" Alula responded with a grin.

He tilted his head, "...trapped? In the ruins?"

"Yeah!" she nodded, "There was that weird stuff in the door! You know, the floating squares we see next to the ocean sometimes? The stuff you told me to stay away from?"

He flinched, "What?! It's...spread to the ruins now? This isn't good..."

"Don't worry! I didn't touch it!" Alula exclaimed, "I'm not hurt or anything…"

"Still...if it gets any worse, we might have to find somewhere else to live…"

"Um…" Niko spoke up, "what is this...square...stuff, exactly?"

Calamus shook his head, "Bad. Anything that touches them just...sorta...gets messed up. Whenever you hear people say the world is decaying, that's what they meant…"

Hmm, just like what Silver said, I thought.

"Obviously, you should avoid them, too."

Niko nodded, "We will!"

He fidgeted around, as well as cast several questioning glances in my direction, "A-Anyway, ah...I can't thank you enough for rescuing my sister, savior. B-Both of you, that is."

"Just call me Niko!"

"Oh gosh!" he put a hand to his mouth, "Would it not be rude to call you by name?"

"Huh? Why would it be?" Niko asked, "I mean, I'm just a kid like you guys."

"Ah, I see…" he murmured before turning to me, "Though I don't think...I caught your name."

Once again, I hesitated. There wasn't any way to get around this, so I might as well just prepare myself for the inevitable questions. I scratched my neck and, with a sigh, I told them, "Alan...It's Alan."

Calamus gasped as Alula's eyes went wide. It felt like the entire area had frozen as I waited for the rest of their reaction. Niko stood by, looking between us. I shifted around uncomfortably as they continued to stare. I was hoping they would just launch into their questions now. I was not enjoying this silence at all.

Calamus realized this too as he coughed in order to break the silence, "S-So, you're...really Alan?"

I nodded.

Alula suddenly jumped towards me, "Wow! Why didn't you tell me? I can't believe I was actually saved by THE Alan!"

I sweatdropped. Ok, not the reaction I was really expecting, I thought before Calamus placed a hand on his hyperactive sister. She was still smiling brightly up at me as Calamus fidgeted around before looking at me, "Then, would...would you both like to visit our house?"

"Oh sure!" Niko said.

I shrugged, "I think we've got time."

"Yaaaaay!" Alula cheered before running back to the ruins, "Let's go!"

I chuckled as Calamus raced off after her, "Well, those two are quite nice."

Niko hummed in acknowledgment before grabbing onto my hand, "C'mon! We should catch up with them!" She began to follow after the two kids, pulling me along with her, as we hurried to catch up with the two siblings.

Chapter Text

We caught up with Calamus and Alula as they were making their way deeper into the ruins, going past where we met the grass girl and into a different corridor. This one was slightly narrower than the rest of the ruins.

Not even a few feet in, we were seemingly blocked by rubble that had fallen into the hallway. Niko sighed, "Oh, shoot...Looks like we can't get past these blocks…"

Alula stared at us in amusement. "Seriously?" She then walked up to the rubble and punted it down the hall, clearing the way for us, "I'll be up ahead!" she yelled as she ran down the path.

Niko and I simply stared in shock. Ok… I thought to myself, Note to self: don't stand in front of Alula.

"...I would have literally never thought of that," Niko muttered.

Calamus chuckled, "You kinda get used to all the debris after living here for a while. Come on, our house isn't far from here."

We followed him further down the corridor before entering a doorway. Inside was the spitting image of a den. The entrance was surrounded by a small creek of water on both sides with a jar of green glowing fireflies as well as pots of food sat in the corner. On the far side was near a makeshift stove with a pan on one of the coils and a table close by that had a book sitting on top of it. I noted the black clover on its cover, seeing that it was similar to the book that I had in my bag.

"So, uh...welcome to our home!" Calamus rubbed his neck, "I know it's not much, but...feel free to make yourself comfortable."

A rustling came from further inside the den, "Ah! There it is!"

Alula ran out to meet us, holding something in her hand, "Here, we want you to have this!"

Niko and I moved closer as Alula held out a yellow glowing feather for us.

"Oh, a feather!" Niko blurted.

"It's glowing yellow, just like the necklace we got from Silver…" I mumbled.

"It's a sacred feather from the great Prophet," Calamus explained.

I looked at him, "Great Prophet? Who's that?"

"She's this old lady our dad used to know!" Alula beamed, "Her feathers can glow in the dark and she can see into the future!"

Niko gasped in wonder, "Really?!"

Alula shrugged, "Or something like that!"

"She gave one of her feathers to father before she died," Calamus continued to explain, "Father wanted to pass this down as an heirloom, although...it feels more fitting for you to have it."

"A-are you sure?" Niko stuttered.

"Totally sure!"

"I think that's what Father would have wanted."

Wait...would have wanted? I thought as Niko thanked them and put the feather in her pocket before Alula grabbed Niko and took her to tour the rest of the den. I watched as they left before looking back at Calamus, who was starting to fidget again, "Is it...just the two of you here?"

He flinched, "Oh! Y-yes…" he rubbed his arm, "I don't remember why, but our father left the village while we were still young. We've lived in the ruins ever since."

"What about your mother?"

He simply looked away sadly.

"O-Oh…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

He shook his head, "It's ok…"

I watched him with pity. So it was just him and Alula now...no wonder he was so worried about her.

"At least you have the missing parents in common..."

I growled softly and rubbed my head, forcing the demon voice away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Calamus glance back up at me, noting that he was rubbing his hands out of nervousness.

I sighed and prepared myself, "Ok, look, I know you have questions for me. We might as well get them out of the way."

My sudden response caused him to flinch again, "W-well...I do, but I-I didn't want to...be rude."

"It's alright. If anything, I appreciate that you're not just bombarding me with questions, but it's obvious to me that you probably want to ask me how and why I'm here in person."

He stayed silent before he nodded, as he still rubbed his hands.

I put my hands in my pockets, "To tell you truth, I have no idea why I'm here in person. All I remember was falling asleep and then I woke up in the same house that Niko woke up in." I looked towards the backroom where Niko had gone, "Since we're both supposed to be the ones to save the world, we've just stayed together until we both found a way to get home, which we've been told could be at the Tower."

"And...you really don't know how exactly you came here?"

The laptop flashed into my mind. Of course I did, but it would be better if I said nothing of it. I shook my head, "Not a clue."

"I...see," Calamus hummed before he raised an eyebrow, "How...old are you, exactly?"

"Seventeen."

His eyes went wide, "I...wasn't expecting you to be so young...f-for a God at least."

I chuckled, "I understand that. I mean, back in my world, our idea of God is an old man with white hair." I glanced down at my outfit, "And I'm pretty sure I don't match that description."

"Your world?" he tilted his head, "Like Niko?"

"Well...yes and no," I scratched my neck, "I am from a different world, but not the same one that Niko's from. It's...complicated."

Calamus was silent as he attempted to process everything I had told him. I sighed, "I know it's a lot to take in and I'm sorry if you're super confused, but that's the gist of it."

"I...think I understand," he said as he finally started to relax, "This is just...surprising, to say the least."

I smirked, "You seem to be taking it well. If I was in your position, I'd be a little more freaked out."

He started to chuckle as Niko and Alula came back from the back room and walked out of the den. I motioned to Calamus, "We should probably follow after them."

We followed the girls back into the corridor as I glanced over at Calamus, "By the way, what was that book on your table?"

"Oh, my friend gave it to me for Solstice Day," he smiled, "He's the one who wrote it, actually, as well as teach me how to read!" He suddenly gasped, "Oh gosh, I still need to finish studying it…"

"Really?" I asked as we entered the courtyard, "Niko and I actually found a book that looks similar to the one you had." I pulled off my pack and reached in to pull out the book, opening it for him, "The only problem is that neither of us can read it."

As he stared at the writing, his eyes went wide, "Oh dear…"

I felt a jolt run through my body, "What? Do you know what it says?"

He sweatdropped and rubbed his head, "N-no...sorry."

"Oh…" I said, deflated, "That's a shame..."

"But this book was definitely written by my friend. It has the same cover, after all."

I gazed at the black clover. Part of me was getting more and more frustrated with this clover and this "friend", especially since the laptop that brought me here has the same mark. I just wanted some answers…

I sighed. There wasn't anything I could do it about, unfortunately. I placed the book back in my bag and observed the courtyard. Near us was a drying rack with a couple of clothes and blankets hanging from it. A building beyond the rack extended out onto the lake before it opened up, kind of like a small dock. Past the building, Alula was busy acting as Niko's tour guide, pointing out various things strewn about the yard. Niko was playing the part, paying attention to everything Alula said with stars in her eyes. They honestly seemed like sisters as I continued to watch them.

"Alula seems to be enjoying Niko's company a lot," Calamus said.

I glanced over at him before looking back at the girls, "Since you two live in the ruins, does Alula have any other friends she plays with?"

"Whenever we visit the village, there are a couple of other kids there that she plays with, but we don't usually get a lot of visitors," he sighed, "Even after our father left and our mother passed away, she still smiles through it all."

"...You both have been through a lot, huh?"

"It's...been tough at times and now with the world decaying, all we can do is hope that bringing back the sun will fix everything," he looked at me, "But until then, all I can do is make sure I'm there for Alula so that she doesn't get hurt."

Be there for her… I thought. Before I knew it, memories of my past echoed in my mind…

It was dark. So dark. The only source of light sneaked its way through the crack of the basement door as I pounded on it.

"Guys, this isn't funny! Open the door!" I cried, receiving only laughter in return.

"What's the matter, crybaby? Afraid of the dark?" one voice taunted.

"Just let me out!"

"Ah, quit your crying! It's not like theirs a scary monster down there...Oh wait, maybe there is...oh well! Have fun!" another voice yelled back.

Tears began to stream down my face as the laughter receded away from the door, leaving me alone as I trembled in the cold, empty darkness, "Please...let me out…"

"...Mr. Alan?"

I jumped at the sound of Calamus's voice, pulling me back from the depths, "Are you alright?"

I was still stuck in a daze from the sudden memory that I only barely felt a tear fall to the ground. I turned away so that he didn't notice, doing my best to calm myself down. He stayed silent as I got myself under control. With a final breath, I turned back towards him and shook my head, "Sorry, just was...remembering something..."

Calamus looked at me with worry, "You seemed to be trembling pretty badly…"

I stayed silent before turning away again, "...You're a good brother, Calamus."

He seemed taken aback by my comment but didn't say anything else. I looked back towards the courtyard and saw that Niko and Alula were absent, "Where'd those two go?"

Calamus pointed towards the building on the lake and we quickly followed after them.

Inside was what looked to be a pier, but with bits of it cracked off and now floating aimlessly in the water. Niko and Alula were near the edge, looking out into the distance.

"Huh, this looks like it used to lead somewhere," Niko commented.

"Yeah!, the sacred grounds!" Alula replied, "It's been a while since we went there…"

Calamus cleared his throat, grabbing their attention, "We don't have a way to get there now, remember? There isn't a boat and none of us can swim..."

I peered over at him, "What's the sacred grounds?"

"It's where our people are buried," he said.

"Sometimes we go there to visit mom!" Alula frowned, "Well, her grave, anyway."

Niko glanced down the lake, "Oh…" she quickly raised an eyebrow, "Wait, how do you get there? I thought you said there isn't a boat?"

Alula's smile returned, "Oh, our friend helps us!"

Calamus scratched his head, "He has some sort of machine that allows him to fly."

"Sometimes he takes us along!"

"But like I was about to say, we haven't seen him around for a while."

"I wonder when he'll come back?" Alula gazed off into the horizon, "I wish we could go see mom again…"

The rest of us stayed silent, none of us having anything else to say. I watched Alula as she continued to gaze across the lake. A pang of sadness hit my heart. Her innocence was a light of its own and to watch her own world fall apart had to be frightening. Yet, here she was. Still smiling through it all.

Calamus walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Come on, Alula, let's go back to the courtyard now."

"Okay!" she trilled as she followed him back.

I kept watching them as they headed back towards the courtyard, Calamus holding onto Alula's hand.

"So…" Niko spoke up, "Did you end up telling Calamus about you being God?"

"More or less," I shrugged, "He took it pretty well, in all honesty. Though, he was a bit surprised that I was only seventeen."

Niko smiled, "I'll bet! Imagine if I came up to you and told you I was God!"

I snorted, "Ha! God is a cat and she is an adorable one."

"I'm not a-!" she stopped as she realized what I just said before she blushed slightly and started giggling.

I chuckled along with her before holding out my hand, "Come on, let's go catch up to them."

She nodded and grabbed on as we made our way back to the siblings.

Arriving back in the courtyard, Calamus and Alula were talking in front of the drying rack. Calamus noticed me and turned towards me, "By the way, what happened to the sun?"

I frowned sadly, "We...lent it to someone in the ruins. She said she wanted to feel the sun again, before she…" I trailed off.

He perked up, "Oh, you must be talking about Maize."

"Is that her name?" Niko asked.

He nodded, "She's a powerful plant spirit. She used to protect the Glen...but once the sun died, her health rapidly deteriorated."

"Oh…"

Calamus offered a smile, "I'm glad you were able to find her time."

I rubbed my arm, "I...I think we might be too late to save her…"

"I know," he assured us, "But I'm glad she got to see the sun again."

I sighed, "Which only reminds me that we need to go back and get it…"

Alula gazed up at me from behind the drying rack, "Oh, are you leaving now?"

"Afraid so."

"Well, let me give you one more thing, Mr. Alan!"

I sweatdropped, "It's...just Alan. You don't have to call me Mister or anything like that…"

She shook her head and skipped up to me, "Ok, kneel down!"

I raised an eyebrow but did as she said. As soon as I had touched the ground, she quickly wrapped me in a hug.

"Alula!" Calamus gasped.

I held out a hand, "No, no! It's okay." I peered down at Alula. After being hugged by Niko so often, I was used to being hugged like this. I smiled and slowly wrapped my arms around her. I felt her hug tighten before she let me go.

"Good luck, you two! We believe in you!" she trilled before she ran back inside towards their den.

I heard Niko giggle as Calamus sighed before smiling at us, "Well, it was...nice, to meet you both. Really."

I walked up to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Likewise, Calamus." I glanced off in the direction where Alula ran off to, "...Take care of yourself and Alula, alright? We'll have the sun back in no time, I promise."

His eyes went wide before he smiled and nodded, "I will. Thank you...for everything."

With that, Niko and I walked back into the ruins to continue our journey, the calls of farewell from Calamus and Alula echoing behind us.

Chapter Text

The walk back to where we met Maize was anything but comforting. The dread I had felt before became stronger and stronger the closer we got to the doorway. We stopped before we passed through it. The vines were now gone, replaced only by the darkness, which felt suffocating to stare into. I felt a chill run down my spine before Niko took hold of my hand. She wasn't ready, either, but we had to get the sun back. With a deep breath and a nod, we plunged into the darkness.

From the moment I stepped onto the grass, something felt off. A gut feeling that became worse and worse the closer we got to Maize's spot. The area was still shrouded in darkness, even around where we left the sun...

I froze, gazing at the darkness around us, "...Something's wrong…"

Niko looked up at me. I could just barely see her face, but I could see she too was worried. My dread began to get worse as I let go of Niko and started to move faster, Niko trailing behind me. It wasn't supposed to be this dark, not with the sun around...Why was it so dark? I began running faster and faster and, as I turned the corner, felt my dread turn into full-blown fear.

The lightbulb...it was extinguished.

I stood rooted in place as Niko gasped before sprinting up to the darkened lightbulb, "T-The light's gone out…!"

I snapped out of my shock and raced over to her side. She picked up the bulb, turning it over in her hands and shaking it, doing whatever she could to somehow turn it back on.

She looked at me, tears beginning to form, "Alan...do you know...what happened?"

I had already begun to tremble, "N-No...I...This is…"

"But…B-but…!" she stammered, "Oh...what are we going to do?"

Suddenly, the light returned, filling the lightbulb as if it had never gone out. The vines around us now illuminated once again.

Both of us stared at the bulb in confusion. It...just turned on? By itself? Not even I could find a way to rationalize that.

"Thank goodness…" Niko sighed in relief.

With the lightbulb back on, my trembling finally stopped as I took another deep breath, "Man, I really wish it didn't scare us like that..." A faint glimmer from the ground in front of us caught my attention. As I leaned forward to see what it was, my heart sank. There, lying in the grass, was a corn seed, the only remaining sign that Maize was here. I picked it up and looked it over. It looked like any normal corn seed, but...just from holding it, I could feel that it was more than that.

"Oh...she...really is gone…" Niko mewled as she shuffled up next to me, "Did...she leave that behind?"

"I think so."

As I gazed at the seed, a thought struck me, What if this seed can bring her back? She was a plant spirit, and with how crazy this world works, it...might be possible to still save her after all. As quickly as it came, my dread vanished, replaced now by hope. I gripped the seed as I felt a smile make its way onto my face as I turned to Niko before it quickly vanished. She was looking over the lightbulb, tears still in her eyes. I reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder, "You okay?"

She didn't respond, only stopping to stare off into the darkness. I gently shook her shoulder to get her attention, "Hey...talk to me."

"Sorry…" she mumbled, "I'm just..."

I frowned. I didn't like seeing her like this. Maybe if I…

"Hey, Niko?"

"Hmm?"

I pulled Niko into a hug, catching her by surprise. She quickly realized what I was doing and relaxed, letting her head rest against my neck. I wasn't usually one to initiate hugs, but I guess Niko has started to rub off on me.

We stayed like that for a while, the lightbulb shining between us in her arms. I peered down at her. She didn't say anything, but from the sniffles that I could hear, Niko definitely was taking this hard. I hugged her tighter, letting her know that I was right here with her, that she wasn't alone.

"It's okay, Niko...It's going to be okay…I'm here for you..."

Her sniffles continued for a bit before they began to quiet down. I pulled away to look at her. Her eyes were darkened by her tears as she stared back at me. I reached up and softly brushed away the tears, "Talk to me."

She looked away, "I...I'm scared, Alan. First, the lightbulb goes out and then...Maize…" She began to tremble as she started to cry again, "I-I...I just wish there was...something we could've done to help her…"

I brushed away her tears again, "I think there might still be something we can do…" I held up the seed, "I think she left this seed for us to find."

"W-What do you mean…?"

I smiled, "Remember what Calamus said? She's a plant spirit. If she left this seed behind, maybe we can bring her back."

A look of realization passed over her face as her tears and trembling ceased, "You...you really think…?"

I nodded, "I do. Don't worry, it'll be okay."

She smiled, her eyes lighting up again, before leaning into my neck again, "Thank you, Alan…"

"You're welcome, Niko…" I said as I hugged her again, happy that she was now feeling better. We broke away as I placed the seed in my jeans pocket. Standing up, I brushed past the ram wool hiding in my jacket pocket. I pulled it out and looked over.

"Was that the wool we got from herding those rams?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I'm thinking we could probably go to that bird trader and see if we can get something for it."

"Then, let's go!" Niko grinned, tugging on my jacket.

I chuckled and followed after her, relieved that she was back to her normal self. I put the wool back in my jacket and followed after her towards the bird trader.

It didn't take long to track down the trader since he was still in the same spot from when we first met him. He was looking over his items on the rug as we approached him.

"I think we have something we'd like to trade!" Niko called out.

He turned towards us, "Oh, hey! You're back! Show me what you got!"

I took out the wool, "What can I get for this wool?"

He scratched his chin, "Wool, huh?" he said as he scavenged through his stockpile before pulling out a glass tube, "That'll get you...This fine vial of…" He glanced at it before smiling, "I'm not actually sure what this is, actually! I think it's fabric dye?"

"I think we can use that!" Niko said, pulling out the feather, "We still need to find a pen for that robot, right? Maybe we can make one using the dye! I saw something like that in a picture book once!"

I smirked, "Good thinking." I held out the wool to the trader, "Sounds like a deal to me."

He grabbed the wool and handed over the vial, "Pleasure doing business!" he beamed before tossing the wool into the pile. I held onto the bottle as we walked away, "Well, I think all we have to do is get back to the gate."

"Mhm!" she hummed before stopping to yawn, "...excuse me."

I chuckled, "I'm guessing you're tired."

She yawned again as she almost lost her footing. I laid a hand on her to help keep her steady, "We should probably find a place for you to rest."

She struggled to open her eyes, "I remember seeing a room near where the robot was. That might…" she yawned again, "...be a good place."

I nodded, "Alright, let's get you over there then." I put the vial in my pack and turned to start walking, but Niko grabbed onto my hand. I looked back to see that she was barely standing up. Her head would begin to fall before it jerked back up in an attempt to stay awake, "Alan, could you...carry me there? I can hardly see straight…"

I flushed, "A-Are you really sure you need me to…?"

She simply nodded as I rubbed my neck. First the hugs, then the boat, now this?

I sighed once she stumbled again, "O-Okay, well, it'll be tough for you to piggyback while I'm wearing the pack...which means the only way I can carry you comfortably is..." I felt my face get warm as I moved over to Niko and placed one arm behind her back. She leaned into it in response.

"R-Ready?"

"Mhm…"

In one swift motion, I placed my other arm under her legs and lifted her up into my arms.

Niko giggled softly, "Remember when you said you weren't going to carry me when we got here?"

I looked down at her, unamused, "Please don't say 'I told you so'. My pride can only take so much."

She launched into a giggling fit as I carried her into the village. I rolled my eyes and smirked, focusing instead on just getting back to the gate.

Our walk was quiet when we walked onto the field where we met Calamus. I smiled as I thought of the siblings again. Alula was so cheerful when we met her and her belief in us was enough to give me hope that would actually be able to save this world. Her attitude even reminded me of Niko a little bit.

I glanced down at her. She was trying her hardest to stay awake, her eyes constantly drooping and shooting back open. I'm sure me carrying her wasn't helping her stay awake.

Suddenly, she started to giggle again. "What's so funny?" I asked.

She shook her head, "I was just thinking how you and Calamus seemed so similar."

I chuckled, "Seriously? And here I was, thinking you and Alula were alike."

"Does that mean I have to call you my brother?" she teased.

I stumbled over a piece of wood on the bridge we were walking on before I caught myself, "I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with you calling me that."

Her smile vanished, "Oh, I didn't mean to-."

I shook my head and offered a smile, "I know. It's alright."

We finally made it to the small room that was next to the gate. It was a tiny room with the only thing present being a bed. The corners were filled in with small ponds and pieces of rubble were scattered across the floor. Not as bad as some other places I've stayed, but the rubble might make sleeping a bit uncomfortable.

I carried Niko over to the bed, nudging the blanket with my foot, and slipped Niko under the covers. She yawned once more, "Thank you, Alan."

"It's no problem," I said as I sat down on the floor, my back resting against the side of the bed.

"Are...are you sure you'll be comfortable sleeping like that?"

I peered back at Niko, "I told you back in the Barrens. You need the bed more than I do. Don't worry about me."

"But…" she started before she sighed, "Ok…"

I turned away and began to let myself relax before I heard Niko speak up again, "Hey, Alan?"

"Hmm? Something wrong?"

"No...I was just thinking of Calamus and Alula again...and I was wondering, do you have any siblings? Back in your world?"

I caught my breath and felt myself tense up. I wasn't expecting her to ask that. I definitely didn't want to answer.

"...Alan?"

"I…" I cleared my throat and got myself under control, "I...do."

"You don't seem like you want to talk about them."

I shifted a little, "I...don't have the greatest relationship with them."

"Why's that?"

I glanced over at Niko briefly before looking away, "It's not important. Get some rest."

I didn't hear her respond. I hoped she had already fallen asleep so I could stop thinking about the two monsters I once called "brothers".

A hand on my shoulder made me almost jump out of my skin. I looked back to see Niko staring at me, a look of pity in her eyes. She didn't say anything as she watched me. I simply stared back before I watched her slowly close her eyes and fall into the depths of sleep, her hand still on my shoulder.

I placed my hand on top of hers. It was obvious now that she knew I was hiding something, but I assumed that she didn't want to pry. I thanked her for that, but at the same time, I felt terrible for giving her the cold shoulder. Was it really so wrong of me to not tell her? She's already been through so much…

"...The last thing I want to do is place my burdens on you, Niko…" Those words echoed in my head as I watched her sleep before I felt my eyes begin to feel heavy. It was all I could think before I fell asleep, my hand still on top of hers.

Chapter Text

I felt my eyes open once again to the sight of golden wheat fields. The same fields I saw in my last dream. ...No, that wasn't right. It was Niko's dream.

I scanned my surroundings to look for her, finding her not too far away from me. It seemed she noticed me at the same time as I did. I watched as she ran up to me, before slowing down. She reached out to grab my hand, but couldn't. Her hand phased right through mine.

She gazed up at me in confusion and disappointment, wondering why she couldn't touch me. I simply shrugged. This wasn't really my dream, so it made some sense that she couldn't touch me.

Niko brought her hand up to her chin in thought as I looked out across the field. Just like the last dream, it was peaceful here. The gentle waves of the wheat were soothing to watch as the sun shined down on them.

I heard a gasp from Niko and glanced over at her. She was looking out at something in the distance to my right. I followed her gaze and saw what looked like a village, standing within the field. She ran forward, motioning back to me to follow her. I blinked in surprise at the appearance of the village as I started to follow her before the light began to engulf me as I sank back into darkness.

My eyes opened again to find myself back in the Glen, still leaning against the bed. I looked back at Niko, who was just waking up herself. I smiled as she yawned and moved onto the bed, stretching out my legs and neck.

"Sleep well?"

She nodded, "Mhm! I had another dream too!"

"Did you see me there again?"

"Yeah, but…" she frowned slightly, "When I tried to touch you, I just went right through you."

I sighed, scratching my head, "I saw that too. I guess since it's not technically my dream, that's probably gonna happen again." I stretched out my arms, "What else was there? I know we were in the wheat field again but was that town?"

She perked up, "Oh! That was my village! I wanted to go there...but I woke up." She sighed, "...Ah, I don't think this world has anything like that…"

"What do you mean? There's a village not too far from here…"

"Oh, no! I mean, big wheat fields! The only big plants I've seen here are a bunch of weird trees and those balls of moss floating in the water..." Her brow furrowed, "Wait, is moss even a plant…?"

I chuckled, "I think they count as one."

She stayed silent before looking up at me, "...Say, have you seen a wheat field before, Alan?"

I shook my head, "Only in books or on TV."

"They're really pretty, aren't they?" she smiled, "The one around my village goes around for miles! The plants are really tall, too! Probably as tall as you!" She kept smiling as she shut her eyes, "When it's windy out, like in my dream, the wind can make waves in them. It's like an ocean...of food!"

I chuckled again, "But there's food in regular oceans, you know…"

"Oh, right," she said, opening her eyes, "I've never actually been to a real ocean until now, actually…" She glanced up at me, "Didn't you say your world had an ocean?"

"My world actually has several. Back in the city I grew up in, it was pretty easy to get to one of them."

"That's really cool, Alan! I've only ever seen the ocean on TV before," she grinned as her eyes sparkled, "I never thought I'd get to ride a boat through one! The water back home doesn't have glowy stuff like how it is here, either!" her grin vanished, "Ah...but I guess it's because this world is already so dark…"

I hummed as Niko continued, "...Y'know, I used to be scared of the dark, Alan. It's...a little hard to imagine that now, after spending so much time here..." she looked away, "But not long ago, I couldn't even go to sleep without a lamp…"

I remembered the flashback I had when I was with Calamus, "...Me too."

She turned to me, her eyes wide, "Really? Even though you're a god?"

I shook my head, "I'm not a god. I'm just a person like you." I averted my gaze from her, "To be honest, I still don't really like the dark. Too many...bad memories, but it's not what it used to be." I looked back at her and smiled, "It's a good thing you got over that fear."

"Yeah. Otherwise, I wouldn't last long here…" she tilted her head, "Then again, I've been carrying around the sun, so it's not too bad." She smiled warmly at me, "And also...I don't feel scared at all with you guiding me." She leaned against my shoulder, "So...thanks for that."

I breathlessly chuckled and pet her on the head. I didn't show it, but I was starting to feel the same way. It was still strange, having someone trust me so much, especially when they're from a completely different world, but...it was like I could forget about my pain, if only for a moment. It feels weird to say this...but I was starting to see Niko like a little sister. Someone I could be there for, someone that...made me feel like I belonged.

She leaned away from me and hopped off the bed, "Anyway, we should head out now, Alan."

I didn't move as I followed her trek to the doorway. She looked back at me, confused that I wasn't following her before she noticed my smile. She giggled, "What is it?"

I shook my head, my smile not faltering, "It's nothing." I stood up, "I'm right behind you, Niko."

She grinned back at me before we exited the room and walked over to the robot guarding the gate. I pulled the bottle of ink out of my pack as Niko pulled out the feather. I popped open the bottle and held it out for Niko to dip the feather in. Once she did, she walked over to the robot and held it up, "We found a pen!"

The robot nodded, "[Good. Please write your name here.]" he said, holding out the scroll. Niko quickly signed her name and handed the pen over to me. I signed my name right next to Niko's and gave the pen back. She pocketed it as the robot nodded to us again, "[Good luck.]"

"Thank you!" Niko replied as we made our past the robot and into the doorway, leading us up a flight of stairs and out to a high-up view of the Glen.

I nervously inched closer to the edge, peering down at the ground. I gulped before backing away, staying close to the wall as Niko smirked at me, "Alan, are you afraid of heights?"

I scoffed, trying to save face, "No…" I'm afraid of hitting the ground, I thought as I quickly walked through the next doorway, Niko giggling behind me.

Not even a second after we walked through the doorway, a loud crack of static filled the room. We both snapped back towards the entrance. The squares had covered the doorway and were slowly spreading out.

"What in the world…?" Niko faltered.

"RUN!" I yelled, grabbing onto her shoulder and pushing her up the stairs. I looked back to see the squares chasing us up the stairs. I quickened my pace as we reached the top of the stairs and rushed into a long corridor. We raced down the hallway as squares, now a dark red hue instead of green, began materializing behind us and along the walls. Going up one last flight of stairs, I looked back to see the squares slow down, fading away into the corridor as we reached the top and scrambled through the last doorway.

We slowed to a stop once we escaped. I hunched over, desperately gasping for air. My lungs felt like they were on fire. I glanced over at Niko, who was also breathing heavily.

I laid a hand on her shoulder, "You-*huff*-okay, Niko? Are you hurt?"

"I'm-*huff*-okay. That was just-*huff*-scary…"

I sighed in relief. It concerned me that it felt like those squares were actively trying to chase us down, but I'm glad they didn't go any farther than the stairs.

Once I had sufficiently caught my breath, I stood up to see where we were. Around us were the bright red lights of a city. "This must be the Refuge."

"...Really big…" I heard Niko mumble.

I snorted. She probably has never been to a city before, unlike me, so her reaction was a bit adorable. I looked away from the skyline, "C'mon, let's see if we can find someone that can tell us where to go."

With a nod, we went on our way, following the path we were on. It wasn't until the walkway became see-through that I felt my legs start to tremble. I hadn't quite realized just how high up in the air we were, even going above some of the buildings. I quickly gripped onto one of the railings.

"You really are scared of heights, aren't you, Alan?"

I scowled at Niko, "I'd much prefer having my feet on solid ground…"

Niko giggled before grabbing onto my hand, making me my face warm up as she pulled me along the path.

We soon came across another giant robot, this one red instead of green, who immediately took notice of us, "[Ah, The Sun.]" He nodded to us, "[Hello, Messiah. Welcome To The Refuge. Do You Understand What You Must Do Here?]"

"I'm supposed to go inside the Tower, right?" Niko asked. She looked off towards the white structure, "I already see the Tower! So I guess we must be getting close."

"Do you know where the entrance is?" I asked the robot.

"[On The Surface.]"

Well, duh...I thought.

"I guess we gotta get down a lot of stairs! Or find an elevator." Niko said, looking over the railing.

The robot nodded, "[Correct. However, The Tower Is A Sacred Place. Finding The Entrance May Be Easy, But That Alone Will Not Be Enough.]"

"What do you mean by that?"

"[Once You Reach The Surface, I Recommend Visiting The Library For Leads.]"

I scratched my chin, "The library, huh? Sounds easy enough."

Niko nodded, "Thank you!"

"[Off You Go, Then. I Wish You Luck.]"

As Niko turned away, I gazed down the path that the robot was in front of, "By the way, what's down that way?"

"[I'm Afraid This Area Is Off-Limits For You.]" he said, shaking his head, "[Only The Bearer Of The Sacred Kernel Is Permitted Access To The Garden.]"

My eyes went wide, "Like...a kernel of corn?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out the corn seed, "I have this. It was left behind by the plant spirit in the Glen."

The robot leaned over to look at the seed before nodding, "[...That Is Indeed The Kernel. Then, It Is Your Duty To Regrow Her.]" He stood back up to his full height, "[Do You Understand What You Must Do?]"

I scratched my head, "Not...really."

"[Take The Seed To The Garden. Plant It In The Pot In The Center.]" he stated as he stepped aside, "[You May Now Pass Through Here To Access The Garden.]"

I looked over at Niko, who returned my gaze. We both nodded to each other and moved down the path towards the Garden.

The Garden, as the robot put it, was not really a garden that you would expect. Instead of an entire orchard of plants, there was only one single pot, placed in the center of the courtyard. Ponds of red glowing water were at the four corners and smaller creeks surrounded the pot. As we walked in the Garden, I couldn't help but notice how the smaller creeks seemed to form the shape of a lightbulb. I put that aside though as we stepped up to the pot. The pot was bare. Not even a speck of dirt was in the pot. With a grimace, I placed the seed in it.

I sighed, "I don't think it's gonna grow like this…"

"We should probably look for some dirt to put in it," Niko hummed, "It doesn't look like we can do anything with it for now."

I nodded and we headed back towards the robot and down a small flight of stairs. From what I could see, there was a smaller tower acting as a hub area with four different walkways branching off of it.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, a loud banging followed by a yell caused Niko to jump, "Come ooonnnnnnn!" Another bang rang out, "Come ooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! Work already!"

"Sounds like someone's not having a good time…" I murmured.

"We should go see who it is!" Niko replied, racing off towards where the voice came from.

I quickly followed after her as we went around the small tower. On the opposite side of it, a scruffy-looking man was busy kicking the door to an elevator. He looked to be an adult but kind of looked like a mess. His purple hair looked unkempt and was covering his right eye. Both the coat and hat he was wearing had a couple of patches on them. I'm guessing he sewed them in himself. Two jars of red glowing Phosphor hung off his pants and a long rod was attached to his back. Judging from the man's constant groans, it didn't look like his plan of kicking the door was working out at all.

The man kicked the door again, "Come oonnn...Come oonnnnnn! I'm too busy for this!"

Niko shuffled up towards the man, "Uh...excuse me…"

The man jumped back in surprise, "Woah!" His eyes darted to the sun before looking back at us, "...you're...you!" He turned away from us, "Aw geez, I didn't think I was gonna run into…" he mumbled, not realizing that we could hear him, "...this is embarrassing…" He turned back to us, "Er...is there, uh, anything I can help you two with?"

"Yes, please! We would like to know how to get to the surface!"

He sighed, "...Yeeahh...I was afraid you were gonna say that…Right now, this elevator is the only way to access the surface, but..." He glanced over at the elevator, "...yeah, just take a look at it."

Niko and I peered over at it, "It...looks like an elevator to me," I said.

"Well, you're not wrong, but…" he groaned, "go look at the button panel."

Niko trotted over to the panel, "...Huh, there aren't any buttons here…"

"Yuuup, that's a problem." he sighed again, "There's usually a big button here that says 'GROUND' on it. Y'know, cause it takes you to the ground area." He shrugged, "But now it's been ripped out? Or something? I tried looking everywhere for it, to no avail." His eyes darted around nervously, "M...maybe it exploded…"

Niko tilted her head, "Do you think we'll have to make a new one?"

The man and I both looked at Niko in confusion.

"...what?" we both said at the same time.

She nodded, "Yeah! We just make a new button and put it where the old one used to be!"

I scratched my head, "I feel like it wouldn't be that easy…"

"We'll figure it out!"

I let out a breathless chuckle, "Alright, guess we better start looking around then."

The man stared at us with hesitation, "Do you think you'll be able to make that button?"

I shrugged as Niko nodded with a smile.

"Well, no pressure. I'll just...stick with my original plan for now…" he turned away and began kicking the elevator door again, "Ow...my foot hurts…"

Niko and I sweatdropped before we walked away from him. I scratched my chin, "Well, where should we look first?"

Niko pointed over to an apartment complex that one of the walkways led to, "Let's look over there first! We'll just go in a circle from here until we find everything we need."

I nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Lead the way."

She smiled as we left the elevator area and headed towards the apartments to begin our search.

The interior of the apartment hallway was bathed in red light. Rows of windows lined the corridor, revealing the city skyline. I could see other sky-bridges stretch out over some of the skyscrapers, though most of them had broken holes, likely due to the squares the surrounded some of them.

Looking down at the ground, I could see people walking the streets. From how high up we were, they looked like ants. Squares were scattered amongst the streets, but many people simply walked around them, not even worrying that the squares were so close to them.

I frowned. If they didn't care about the squares, how would they react to the sun returning? Given how many people we've met that have said the sun won't fix everything, it made me nervous about what was going to happen when we completed our journey.

One thing at a time, Alan… I thought, moving away from the window and following after Niko who had already moved further down the hallway and into a nearby bathroom.

The lightbulb dispelled the darkness, giving us a better view of the room. It was an ordinary bathroom, save for the scissors lying in a pile of hair at the end of the room.

"Oh, that's just gross…" I grimaced.

"We could probably take the scissors," Niko replied, picking them up and brushing the hair off, "I don't think anyone's using it anymore."

I grabbed the scissors and carried them over to the sink, hurriedly rinsing off the hair that was still stuck to them before putting them in my pack.

Moving back to the hall, we continued walking, exploring different rooms along the way. It wasn't exactly "breaking and entering", since most of the rooms still had people in them, ranging from robots that didn't know how to play rock, paper, scissors, to a penguin doll that I was pretty sure was possessed by a demon every time it said "Hello". One room though didn't have anyone in it, except for a small autonomous vacuum, which Niko was absolutely captivated by.

I chuckled as I watched her, "You're really liking that thing, aren't you?"

"I'm actually not sure what this is," she glanced back at me with a smile, "It's like a little car!"

"Maybe you should try riding on it then."

Her smile vanished and her eyes went wide as she looked between me and the vacuum, "...What?"

I snorted at her reaction, "Well, you said it was like a car. Try riding on it!"

"Um…" she looked down at the vacuum, before slowly sitting down on it. The vacuum didn't seem bothered by the new weight and I began to laugh as Niko drove around the room on her new "car". Niko started giggling as well before the vacuum came to a stop. She hopped off with a grin, "Well, that was fun."

My laughter quieted down to a chuckle, "You know, I have these kinds of things in my world."

"Really? Do you ride them like that?"

"I'm a bit too big to be able to ride them now" I smirked, "Plus, they're not really supposed to ridden like that."

"So you said to ride it just to make me look silly again?" she teased.

I pet her head, "I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought it was funny."

She stuck her tongue out as she passed me. I scoffed and shook my head, following her out.

The last door we could enter was marked by two potted plants outside the door. Entering the room revealed the entire room covered in potted plants, ranging from the trees we saw in the Glen, black clovers which I glared at for a split second, and even wheat.

"Hello there!"

I looked over at a...plant pot person. They wore a green outfit with a blue ribbon around their...neck? I wasn't actually sure where to look. I just ended up staring at them, trying to figure out where their mouth and eyes would be.

"You have a lot of plants!" Niko gushed, not at all concerned with the person's head being a plant.

"I do! Grew all of these myself, y'see," they said, gesturing to their enormous collections of crops, "Feel free to ask me about them!"

Niko looked around the room in awe before she snapped back to the gardener, "Oh! Do you...happen to have any dirt? For growing plants, I mean!"

They nodded, "Yup! Do you need some?"

"Yes! We're supposed to plant this seed left behind by a plant lady…"

"But the pot in the garden doesn't have any soil," I said, finishing Niko's thought.

The gardener scratched their...chin? "I see...I know who you're talking about, yeah." They reached behind one of their plants and pulled out a small sack of unopened dirt, "Here, take this whole bag!"

I took it and put it in my pack, "Well, that takes care of the soil. Now it's just water that we need."

Niko tilted her head, "Don't you still have that water tube from the Glen?"

"Yeah, but I hardly think that's going to be enough water…" I sighed, "Well, I'm sure we'll find something." I started to leave, but I stopped when I saw Niko admiring the wheat.

"Why is this wheat in a flowerpot?" she asked.

"Well, doesn't it look nice?" the gardener replied.

Niko shrugged, "I guess! I like to stand in the middle of the wheat field back in my village." She looked at the gardener and smiled, "It goes on for miles!"

"Ah...I wish I could have seen it!" they shook their head, "In our world, wheat is usually only grown in small isolated plots...or in a flowerpot."

I scratched my head, "Is that because the sun is gone?"

They shrugged, "Well, most of the plants in our world tend to grow in the Glen. Even if it's facing the flooding issues, it's still in better condition than the other two areas. The Barrens is...well, barren. And Refuge City has barely enough ground to stand on, let alone grow stuff on such a large scale!"

"Well, once we bring the sun back, you can start planting more!" Niko exclaimed.

We had to move on, so we thanked the gardener for their help and left. The hallway didn't go any further, however, there was another doorway nearby that led to a lounge area, complete with books, refrigerators, and coffee machines. I was tempted to get myself a cup but decided not to. There more important things to do besides getting coffee.

In the kitchen area, fridges were lined up next to each other, though only one had what looked like magnets on them. Niko looked at them with interest, "Ooo, maybe these magnets will come in handy?"

I shrugged, "I don't think anyone will get mad at us if we take them."

She pocketed the magnets as we moved on. Bookshelves lined the wall, containing books you would expect to find. There was another person nearby. This one had a TV as his head instead of a plant pot, but I was still just as bewildered.

"Hey there."

"Hello," Niko replied back.

"You the messiah?" they nodded to her.

"Mhm!"

"...I like your scarf."

Niko smiled, "Thank you! Mama made it for me!"

"Tell her I like her needlework."

A flash of sadness passed over her eyes, "I will...when I see her again!"

Before I could do anything, Niko quickly walked away, heading upstairs. I slowly followed after her. I guess mentioning her Mom dampened her mood. She was busying unlatching the door as I walked up next to her. I wanted to say something to her, but...

She unlatched the door and looked up at me. I could still faintly see the sadness in her eyes as she smiled up at me, "What is it?"

I shook my head, "It's nothing. Let's keep moving. We still need to find something that'll act as the button for the elevator."

She nodded and we moved on, leaving the apartments. Part of me was still worried about her reaction, but she seemed to be back to normal. At least, I hope she is.

Chapter Text

Back at the hub, there were two other walkways both going to two different buildings. We decided to take the path directly opposite from the apartments. It led us to another skyscraper, one that looked like a work building rather than an apartment. We met another person in the lobby, this time with a clock as their head. I just sighed and accepted it. This world was already crazy enough.

"Good afternoon," they chuckled, "...Well, the time of day doesn't really mean anything now. With the sun gone, the night never seems to end."

"Then how can you tell?" I asked.

"I have my ways."

Ah, yes. Very helpful, I thought in annoyance as the clock person turned to look out the window.

The hum of a distant generator from one of the nearby rooms caught my attention. Moving towards revealed the generator in question, as well as a table with a stapler and a tape dispenser bolted to the table, apparently so they wouldn't be stolen.

"Darn. We'll probably need one of these once we figure out how to make this button," I reasoned.

"We can come back once we-," Niko stopped, her attention fixed behind me.

I turned to see what she was looking at. A black cloud of squares, similar to what I saw in the ruins in the Glen, was hovering in the doorway. Niko shuffled closer to me in fear as I simply watched them. Suddenly, the cloud began to move away from us, back into the lobby.

I looked down at Niko, "I think it's leading us somewhere. Stay close to me, ok?"

She nodded and grabbed my hand before we began following after the cloud.

It hovered through another doorway and as we chased after it, it led us to a long, dark corridor. The lightbulb lit up the hall, revealing a computer at the end of it. I knew it was a similar computer like the ones in the Barrens and the Glen, which meant that voice was going to talk to me again.

As I expected, the cloud vanished once it reached the computer. Niko let go of my hand and inspected the computer, "Another computer. Why did it bring us here?"

I frowned, "There's probably something that we won't be able to get past without help." I turned to Niko and laid a hand on her shoulder, "Ok, once I turn on this computer, that voice will talk to me. Whatever happens, know that I'm going to be okay, okay?"

She looked conflicted but nodded anyway. I took a deep breath, turned back to the computer, and turned it on. Immediately, I could see my vision darken as my headache flared back to life. Surprisingly, I wasn't brought back to the hotel. Instead, I was still in front of the computer.

"[You're going to need help soon.]" the sudden appearance of the voice caused me to flinch, "[Take this film and expose it to the void.]"

"Film…? What film?"

I was answered by the warped drone of the computer printing something out in slow motion. I looked over at Niko, who was just now slowly starting to turn towards it.

"[The answer will be revealed when you bring it back again.]"

"Hold on, this...doesn't make any sense. What do you mean 'void'?"

I didn't get a response at first as I watched the computer slowly print out the film, "[...You really can't figure it out?]" It scoffed, "[Figures.]"

I snarled, "What's THAT supposed-"

"[There's a void beyond the four walls that bind our world to yours. The edges of your viewport, where everything is obscured…]" it interrupted.

"Wait, you mean on the laptop?" I asked.

"[Correct. Pass the film through the void and back again.]"

I scoffed, "Ok, well, how am I supposed to do that when I can't see the laptop?"

Immediately, light splintered across my vision, making my headache flare up before I found myself back in the hotel, the laptop in front of me with a window open, showing the film. It looked transparent with random numbers filling the entire sheet.

"[Satisfied now, Alan?]" it said, sending one more stab of pain through my head.

"Asshole…" I growled before reaching out to move the window. It vanished once I moved it "into the void" as the voice put it. A ring sounded out. I brought it back into view to see that almost all of the numbers had faded away, leaving only the numbers "63014".

Another code, but I didn't know what it went to. I'm guessing I'll know when I need it.

Light began filling my vision once more before I was brought back in front of the computer. The film finished printing out as Niko quickly grabbed onto my jacket, "Alan! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm okay." I peered over at her and was surprised to see her eyes wide with concern, "...Why? Is something wrong?"

Her grip tightened, "Y-You…" she stammered, "You went s-see-through...like back at the Barrens."

"...Oh." So that's what was happening every time I went back to the hotel.

Niko kept hold of me as I kneeled down, "Hey, nothing bad happened to me. It's alright." I grabbed the hand that was holding onto my jacket, "See? Still here."

She held onto my hand a little longer, before she finally breathed and let go. She reached over to grab the sheet that had printed out before she raised an eyebrow, "Uh…"

I shuffled around to look at the sheet and realized that it had reverted back to how it was before I exposed it, the numbers all jumbled together.

"Wait a minute, that's not right…" I mumbled, grabbing onto it to get a better look. Instantly, the numbers faded away, leaving only the code.

"Woah!" Niko blurted out, "What did you do, Alan?"

I nervously chuckled, "I guess I got the magic touch..." I couldn't reveal the real reason.

Niko squinted at the numbers that glowed yellow, "Why is it only these numbers that we can see?"

"It's a code. To what though, I have no idea." I stood up with the film, rolling it up so that it would fit in my pack, "We'll just need to keep going to see what it's for."

She tilted her head, "We did pass by a big flight of stairs on the way here. Maybe there's something up there?"

"We did? I didn't even notice…"

She grabbed onto my jacket and pulled me along with her, a little bit back the way we came and then up the flight of stairs she saw. I could see now why I missed them. They practically blended into the wall.

Reaching the top of the stairs, a large metal door stood in front of us. Above us were what looked like faded out numbers. A clock, perhaps? I wasn't sure. Whatever they were, both them and the door looked like they hadn't been used in a while. Come to think of it...this whole entire room felt like nobody had been in here for a while…

I looked around the room and saw two flights of stairs on either end of the door. I moved towards them with Niko following behind me. The stairs led around the door and to another flight of stairs, which seemed to go up to the roof.

At the very top, we were greeted by a view of the entire city. A lake of red Phosphor laid below us, reflecting the skyline.

"Wow…" Niko breathed out, moving closer to the railing. I stood by her as we admired the view before she spoke again, "I've...actually never been to a big city before!"

I glanced over at her and saw her eyes wide with wonder, "I kind of figured."

"All these lights...all these people…"

"It's a lot to take in, right?" I said, moving away from the railing and beginning to walk down the path.

Niko jogged up to my side, "It's definitely a lot different from my village. It's really small, and surrounded by huge fields!"

I smiled at her, "I think I recall seeing that in one of your dreams."

She nodded and grinned, "The tallest buildings are only two stories tall!"

I chuckled before we fell silent. I was looking out towards the city as we walked. It kind of reminded me of where I grew up. The only thing missing was the giant park.

"What about you, Alan?"

"Huh?" I turned back to Niko.

"Back in the boat when we were coming from the Barrens, you said you weren't the biggest fan of cities so you moved away. So where do you live now? At least, before you came here."

I felt my stomach drop. Once again, I didn't want to tell her about me...That I didn't have a home.

Niko noticed my hesitation, "You don't have to give details...I just wanted to know."

"W-Well...I don't live in a village if that's what you're wondering…"

Her brow furrowed, "Something that isn't a city or a village…Like a ship?"

I snorted and smirked at her, "Not quite."

"Ok...maybe not a ship." she sighed before looking out at the skyline, "I can't imagine living in a city like this, though," She shivered, "It's…kinda scary…but really cool!"

"I understand. I was the same when I first moved into the city." I leaned onto the railing and stared down into the lake, "Though, I don't think I can say that feeling every really went away…"

We fell back into silence as I felt my memories threaten to make me remember the time I spent in the city...

"...Alan? Could I...ask you a personal question?"

I glanced over at Niko. She was shifting around nervously, almost like she was afraid of asking. I didn't want her to ask, but I relented, "S-Sure…"

She said nothing before she looked me in the eyes, "Why do you not like talking about yourself or where you're from?"

I froze, but she kept going, "Every time I've asked you about your family or where you're from, you brush it aside or...you end up getting really unhappy." She looked down at the ground, "Even back in the Glen, after what happened to the plant lady, you said the last thing you wanted to do was place your burdens on me…and even now..."

I looked away from her. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to spill everything, knowing that she would be there to listen, but...I couldn't...I just...

I could feel my hands clench the railing as my emotions threatened to lose control. I felt Niko grab onto me. Her presence helped me get in control of myself as I looked back at her.

"I…" I started to say, my gaze falling to the ground, "You're a good kid, Niko...but I've...gone through so much…" I looked back towards the lake, "...and I can't just put that all on you. I just can't..."

Her grip tightened before she pulled me to my knees, setting down the lightbulb and wrapping me in a hug. I started to feel tears begin to form, but I pushed them down. I'm not going to cry...not now.

I returned her embrace, "I'm sorry...I want to tell you, but…"

She shook her head and leaned back, "It's ok if you can't tell me."

I averted my gaze. Even now, she was staying strong while I was on the verge of breaking down. She really was a good kid…

I calmed myself down and looked at her, "...Just know...that I'll be here with you until we get you home...okay?"

She smiled and nodded before leaning back into the hug. I let her stay like that, finding comfort in knowing that Niko really did care about me.

We broke away from each other and Niko grabbed the lightbulb, smiling at me one more time.

I dried any trace of my tears and stood up. With Niko by my side, we left the rooftop. We still needed to find the rest of the button for the elevator, but for now, I was just happy I had her here with me.

The third pathway took us on a couple of detours due to parts of the skyway being corrupted by squares. Eventually, it led us to an old-school diner, one that reminded me of the diners back in the 80s: black and white tiled floor, red tables placed everywhere, and a bar. A bartender was busy cleaning a glass mug as we came up to the counter.

"Oh, hi there!" he greeted.

"Hello!" Niko replied, looking around the diner, "How come...there aren't any people here? Normally cafes have tons of people!"

The bartender sighed, "Yeah, it's a really slow day…"

"It's probably because the elevator to the ground is broken, right?" I said.

"So I've been told. The city's infrastructure has been suffering a lot lately," he gazed out the window, "Skywalks and stairs breaking off left and right…Now the only reliable way of transport is that elevator..."

"Until now," I finished his thought.

He nodded, "You know, that tall guy came in here earlier saying the same thing. He asked me if I've seen a button that says 'ground' on it. He looked pretty stressed, so I wanted to cheer him up…" he softy chuckled, "I told him the only 'ground' I've seen today is coffee grounds!" His chuckle quickly trailed off, "He, um...didn't get it."

I sweatdropped, "Yeah, he seemed a bit stressed out when we met him."

"He, uh, really...takes his job to the extreme," he scratched her head, "I mean, it's an important job, but nothing is worth that amount of stress…"

"What does he even do?"

"Pretty sure it's maintenance," he shrugged, "Something to do with the lights, but I don't know the details. I usually see him around a lot, but he never seems to have time to eat a proper meal...Just kinda rushes in here, drinks a whole pot of coffee, and then rushes back out?"

I winced, "Yikes...I don't think I could imagine drinking that much coffee…"

He laughed, "You'd have to ask him for more details..." he said before glancing over my shoulder, "Oh, sorry about the trash on the floor!"

I followed his gaze to see Niko looking over an empty coffee tin that she had picked up from the ground.

"I was gonna throw it out earlier, but…" he scratched his head in embarrassment, "...then my coworkers caught on fire and I had to drop everything to help them."

Niko and I both snapped towards him in shock. He quickly waved his hands, "They're fine now though! It's a good thing fire doesn't hurt robots, huh?"

I sighed before I felt Niko tug on my jacket again. She was still holding onto the coffee tin as she looked up at me, "Alan? Could I have those scissors we found in that bathroom?"

I took off my pack and pulled them out, "Sure, but what for?"

She grabbed them and quickly started cutting around the word "ground" on the tin, "I was thinking we could make a button out of this!" She popped out the cut-up piece, "I can cut out a piece of the can and fold it into a rectangle…" She finished her folding and held up the crudely-made "button", "Just like arts and crafts!"

I chuckled, "Well, it's a good start, but I don't think it's that simple." I scratched my chin, "How are we going to get it connected to the elevator?"

She tilted her head before she pulled out the magnets in her pocket, "What about these? I could just fold them under the edges!" She did so, stuffing the magnets underneath the "button". She held it up again, the magnets shuffling slightly.

"Huh, that might actually work, but we should probably make sure those magnets don't fall out," I said.

"Then we could just get some tape from that dispenser that was on the table in the other building!" she grinned.

I smirked. She had this all easily figured out. I couldn't help but feel a little pride in that fact. I thanked the bartender and Niko and I raced back over to the previous building to find some tape.

Courtesy of the bolts on it, the tape dispenser was in the exact same spot as before. Niko set down the lightbulb and handed me the button, making sure that I was holding it correctly so that the magnets didn't fall out. She began taking long pieces of tape and wrapping it around the button until the button was almost covered by tape.

Once she finished, I examined our completed button. It was the definition of crude, but it may just work.

"Nice thinking, Niko," giving her a thumbs up, "Now we just see if this works."

We made our way back to the elevator. The man from before was still kicking the door, moaning and groaning as he did so. Niko walked up to him and showed him the button I held, "We have a button!"

He flinched back from her sudden outburst before seeing it, "Woah! How did you make this?"

"Out of a coffee can and some magnets!"

His mouth twitched as he looked it over, "...That sure is a lotta tape though…"

I shrugged, "Hey, better safe than sorry."

"Well, you're lucky the button panel works by magnetic technology…" he sighed, "Just don't ask me how it works, though. I didn't even finish high school…"

I thought it best not to push that statement, so I just handed the button over to Niko. She turned, placed the button into the panel, and gave it a push. The whirring of machinery soon came to life as the button seemed to work, calling the elevator up to us. A loud crackle dashed those hopes as a huge group of squares suddenly materialized onto the elevator door, silencing the sound of the elevator.

From the button panel, a robotic voice rang out, "[REACTIVATING ELEVATOR SERVICES...PLEASE INPUT SECURITY CODE TO CONTINUE.]"

"...What?" the man faltered, "That's...never happened before."

"The...squares?" Niko asked.

"Huh?"

"You saw them, right? They were all over the door, and-"

"Oh, nah. The square stuff happens all the time," the man replied, "I mean the whole 'security code' thing." He sighed heavily and scratched his head, "Then again, the elevator hasn't been this broken before…"

I looked over at the panel. Hmm, a code, huh?

I pulled out the film that we got from the computer. The numbers were jumbled together, but staring at it quickly highlighted the same numbers from before: "63014"

I knelt down and punched in the code. In a second, the elevator doors slowly opened.

The man huffed in surprise, "Oh! You got it! I don't know what you did, but it actually worked!" He glanced over at us, shuffling his hat around, "Good job, you two. You're both geniuses, you know that?"

I shook my head, "Well, the button was her idea," I pointed at Niko who grinned sheepishly at our praise.

"Well, you were the one that figured out the code, Alan!" she said, causing me to freeze and prepare myself for the man's reaction.

"...oh, right. The whole messiah business," he said, not at all fazed from hearing my name.

I looked at him questioningly, "You...aren't surprised about who I am? Most people we've come across usually are a little more shocked that I'm here in person."

He shrugged, "I kinda figured...since you're with the messiah and all that. Plus you being here in person doesn't seem that crazy with everything that's been happening."

His reaction caught me off guard. If he thought that, maybe other people did? It might not be so bad for people to know my name if that's the case. "I...guess that's one way to look at it," I said.

The man nodded and started making his way into the elevator, "...Anyway, ready to go?"

"We still have one more thing to take care of back in the Garden, but then we should be good to go," I answered, referring to the dirt we received from the gardener for the corn kernel.

He nodded, leaving the door open for when we got back. Niko and I headed back towards where we came and to the Garden.

The seed still sat miserably in the planter, but with the dirt we had now, that was about to change. I unloaded the dirt into the planter, burying the seed.

"Well...the seed's in the soil, but it looks a bit dry," Niko said once I finished pouring.

I pulled out the vial of water we got from the Glen, "We have this, but this definitely won't be enough…"

Niko shrugged, "I think we should still pour it and hold onto the tube, just in case we find something to help keep it watered."

"And knowing this world, there's probably some crazy thing like a water pill that keeps things moist all the time somewhere in this city."

"Probably," she giggled.

With nothing else we could do for the seed, we started to make our way back to the elevator. I took the time to admire the city skyline once again. It's been a long time since I was in a big city like this, probably almost three months ago. It didn't have as many skyscrapers as this city, but it still held the same kind of atmosphere. Minus the squares and sky bridges, of course.

A yawn from Niko pulled my attention away from the city. I smirked, "You're tired already?"

"Well, we have been running around a lot. Especially with what happened when we were coming from the Glen." She looked up at me, "Why do you think those squares chased after us anyway?"

"You thought that too, huh?" I rubbed my head, "I have no idea. Maybe we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"Hmm…" Niko fell silent as she thought about the squares before yawning again, "...Excuse me."

"Guess we better find you another place to nap?' I asked her before I yawned, causing Niko to giggle at me.

"I'm not the only one it seems."

"Yeah, yeah…Does this mean you're gonna carry me this time?" I teased.

She simpered, "You're bigger than me! Plus I'm holding the sun!"

"Aw c'mon, I believe in you," I yawned again, "See? Sooner or later, I'm not gonna be able to walk anymore."

We both broke down into laughter as we arrived back at the elevator. There was one more pathway that we hadn't gone down, so we decided to see if there was a place there to rest.

Our luck held as we found another room with a bed in it. Pots lined the walls, but no plants were contained within them. Aside from the light coming from the city and the lightbulb, the room was dim.

Niko walked and hopped onto the bed as I began to get comfortable on the floor. Before I could, though, she grabbed onto my sleeve, taking me by surprise.

"Niko? Is something wrong?"

"You're not sleeping on the floor again," she said with a very serious look.

I sighed, "Niko, we've been over this. I'm completely comfortable sleeping on the floor. You need it more than-'

"That doesn't mean you should," she interrupted.

"Niko..."

She shook her head and tugged on my sleeve. I kept trying to tell Niko I was going to be fine, but she wasn't having any of it. With a sigh, I relented. She wasn't going to budge on this, so I had no other option.

She scooted over to give me space as I laid down on top of the covers. Laying on the bed felt strange, to say the least. I wasn't at all used to sleeping on one. Often times, it was better not to so that I didn't get too comfortable in the event that I needed to quickly leave. Laying on the bed now, it felt like I was gonna sink into the floor.

"Are you okay, Alan?" Niko asked.

I shifted around, trying to alleviate my discomfort. Niko simply watched me shuffle around until I finally sighed and sat up, "See? You're not gonna be able to sleep when I'm like this. It'll be better if I just slept on the floor."

I started to move off the bed, but Niko stopped me once again, shaking her head, "I can deal with it."

I sighed again, "You're really adamant about me actually sleeping on the bed, huh?"

She frowned at me, "I just don't think you should be sleeping on the floor all the time…"

"Are you sure it's not just because you find me warm, even with you carrying the sun?" I joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

She smiled, but it quickly vanished as she continued to stare at me, pleading with me to not sleep on the floor. She wasn't usually like this. Something had to be bothering her, either with me or something else, but...I think I knew what it was.

"Is there any particular reason that you'd not have me be on the floor, other than not wanting me to sleep there?" I asked, part of me already knowing the answer.

Her gaze wavered for a moment before she looked away, "Well...I've...been thinking about...a lot of things...like my home, the plant lady, and…" she glanced up at me before looking away again, "...and you...and I just would feel more comfortable if you were here...instead of on the floor."

It killed me to see her this troubled, especially if I was one of the reasons. She had been staying strong this whole journey, but it was obvious now that it all was starting to take a toll on her. I could see her eyes were beginning to glisten with tears.

"Be there for her…" I recalled Calamus's words. Now was that time for me.

Slowly, with as much sincerity as I could muster, I placed my hand on Niko's and smiled at her, "Alright, Niko. If it'll make you feel better." I reached over and wiped away her tears that had begun to fall.

She smiled back and let go, moving further underneath the covers as I laid down on top of them next to her. I was about to close my eyes before I felt Niko grab onto my arm. I peered over at her and saw she had cuddled up next to it.

I chuckled breathlessly, "You have the lightbulb, you know…"

Her eyes slowly fell as she nuzzled my arm, "You're warmer…" she whispered before falling asleep.

I could feel my face heat up from that comment before it quickly went away as my thoughts started to dwell on what Niko said, specifically about what she said about me. No doubt it was because of what I told her on that observation deck.

Was it...really wrong for me not to tell her? Especially if not telling her made her like this? Maybe she should know, given how she cares about me…

"And what good is that gonna do? You'll just make her feel worse for knowing." My old inner demon friend snarled.

She's already proven that she would listen to me. I can't say many other people would do that… I thought back.

"And then what? Once this is all over, she'll be gone. There's no point telling your sob story to a soon-to-be memory."

That's not for you to decide…

"Oh, like you know any better? You're a shattered child on the run that doesn't even belong here, much less by her side."

I flinched, looking over at Niko to make sure I didn't wake her up. That...that wasn't true...

...No, it was. I just didn't like to admit it. I'm an absolute mess who's just barely keeping it together...but that still left the burning question: Do I tell Niko or not? I wanted to, but at the same time, was that really best for her? For me?

That question bounced around inside my head as I felt my eyes begin to close, Niko still curled around my arm.

Y'know, the bed actually was pretty comfortable.

Chapter Text

Once again, I opened my eyes to find myself in Niko's dream. This time though, I wasn't in the middle of the enormous wheat field from before. Instead, I was right in the middle of the village that I had seen in the last dream. Niko's village.

From what I could see, there was a kind of clock tower overlooking a small fountain that I was next to. Dirt paths branched off from the fountain to other areas of the village, including several smaller houses that surrounded the area, most of them looking similar to one another. However, there was one house in particular that I felt drawn to.

The door was slightly open and from what I could hear, there were two voices coming from inside, one older and one younger. I recognized the younger voice as Niko, so I slowly opened the door. The only thing that I could see clearly was a table, Niko, and...a woman, carrying over a big plate of pancakes. She wore a yellow apron over a white shirt and a toboggan sat on top of her head. Her hair came down to a ponytail and draped over her shoulder with other clumps of hair sticking straight out, exactly like a cat's whiskers.

Niko was sitting at the table, eyeing the large stack of pancakes with anticipation and excitement as she bounced around in her seat. Her happiness made me smile and I began to chuckle as she began to wolf down the stack of pancakes, taking hardly any breaks. She stopped when she looked over at me. Her eyes became wider and her smile grew brighter. She waved over at me, motioning me to join the table. I started to make my way over to the table, but the light soon enveloped me and I awakened to find myself back on the bed in the Refuge.

I blinked away my grogginess before attempting to rub my eyes. A weight on my left arm caused me to look over and see that Niko was still hanging onto it, even as she too started to wake up. The light from the lightbulb gleamed off her face as she yawned and rubbed her eyes, taking a minute to realize her position before she looked at me.

I chuckled, "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you slept well."

She nodded, still a bit groggy, "Mhm…" She let go of my arm and sat up, "I had another dream…Mama was there."

I sat up with her, "Was that who that lady was?"

She nodded, "You were there too, so it makes sense that you saw her." Her eyes quickly lit up, "She made me pancakes! I...think it was my birthday." She smiled at me, "Cause people always get their favorite food on their birthday!"

I chuckled, "Judging from how you ate those pancakes, I can definitely believe that."

"Do you have a birthday, Alan?"

I scratched my head, "I do...but it's been a while since then."

"Oh!" she tilted her head, "Then...what's your favorite food?" Her eyes widened, "Is it pancakes? Wait, DO you like pancakes?"

"It's been a while, but I'd say I enjoy them." Her bubbly nature started to make me laugh, "You're really passionate about pancakes!"

"Well, yeah! On my last birthday, I ate ten of them!" she shut her eyes, "I was so full I didn't eat anything else that day…"

I smirked, "Those must have been good pancakes then."

She grinned at me, "My mama makes the best pancakes! And some of the neighbors make really good noodles." She hopped up onto her knees, "And oh! One of our neighbors makes a lot of bread!"

I felt a slight growl come from my stomach, "That all sounds really good, to be honest…"

"Do you have any neighbors?"

"Not...really," I hesitated.

She frowned, "Oh...That sounds a bit...lonely."

I shook my head, "It doesn't bother me that much."

She tilted her head, "Well, our neighbors and my mama take turns making food for the whole village each day. Everyone also takes turns doing chores and watching the little kids!"

"Does that include you?"

"I don't need to be watched anymore," she said, shaking her head, "I'm old enough to help out!"

"Oh? You seem pretty young to me."

"I'm only ten years old! That's old enough!" She stuck her tongue out.

"I don't know…I mean, I've been watching over you this whole time." I poked her cheek, "Doesn't that count?"

She playfully batted away my hand and started laughing. I laughed along with her until we both fell back onto the bed. Our laughter quieted down after a while. I looked over at Niko, who was still trying her best to calm her giggles.

She slowly fell silent and I watched as her smile slowly faded away, replaced by a pensive look. She sat up and stared at nothing in particular.

I moved closer and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Niko? You alright?"

She sighed, "...I miss everyone." She glanced over at me, "I've been gone for a while now, haven't I? I wonder if they're worried about me…"

I frowned, "I'm sure they are, but you'll see them again soon. I promise."

She smiled before she fell back into silence. I wrapped my arm around her and gave her a small hug, hoping to cheer her up a little bit.

She leaned into my chest and we stayed like that for a while. Just then, a thought occurred to me. She always had talked about her Mom, but what about…?

"Hey, Niko?"

"Hmm?"

"If you don't mind me asking...I've always heard you talk about your Mom, but...what about your dad?" I peered down at her, "I don't think I've heard you say anything about him…"

Her eyes darkened, enough for me to immediately begin to backpedal, "Sorry...I didn't mean to make you sad-"

"It's okay," she said. She was silent before she took a deep breath, "I...never knew him."

I froze. Never knew him…?

"My mama told me he left after I was born, so I never got to know him."

"So it's...just you and her?"

Tears began to well up in her eyes as she nodded, "Sometimes I...wish I could've met him, but…"

It felt like I had been shot in the heart. All this time, she had been carrying her own weight…Just like I was.

She reached up to wipe away the tears as I found myself staring at her. What could I do?

…

"I…"

Niko looked up at me as I felt the words catch in my throat.

"I-I.."

She should know...She's already shown you that you both are more similar than either of you realize…

"I-I understand, Niko…"

She tilted her head before I quickly pulled her into my arms, my body starting to tremble.

"...M-More than you realize..."

I felt her look up at me, but she stayed silent.

Now is the time. Tell her. She deserves to know.

"...You...you asked why I never liked to talk about...myself, right?"

She slowly nodded.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself, "The truth is...I...never knew my father either...Or my mother."

I heard her gasp as she froze.

"They...both left me, just after I was born…" I continued, "I'm...pretty much an orphan. Most of my life was spent in an orphanage."

"B-but…" I heard her stutter, "...you still had a family?"

"...Not much of one."

She leaned out of my embrace and gazed up at me. I was still trembling, but I stayed in control of my emotions, distancing myself from them. I took another deep breath and matched her gaze, "I lived in an orphanage for practically my whole life." I pointed at myself, "My name? Alan? That was a name I gave to myself. None of the nurses bothered giving me a name and no one at the orphanage wanted to, so that's what I started calling myself." I let my gaze drop, "I was taught everything I would have learned in a normal school there. Reading, writing, numbers...but I taught myself everything else. Things I would need to know in order to survive on my own. I only did so because I had no other friends there. I always seemed to be the outcast, no matter what happened there." Another deep breath, "Eventually, when I was fourteen, a family came by. Parents that already had two older boys and I was the one they ended up adopting. At first, I...I thought I was actually going to be happy there, but I quickly learned that that wasn't what they had planned."

I paused. Niko's gaze hadn't wavered. She was listening to every word I said, though she definitely was shocked by what I was telling her.

I kept going, "For the next three years, all they did was make me their personal servant. They still fed me and gave me a place to sleep, but they made it very clear that I wasn't really a part of their family. When I wasn't working, my 'brothers' made it a habit to make me miserable. Most of the time usually was spent trying to lock me in their basement." I chuckled darkly, "Which is where my fear of the dark ended up coming from." I could feel my chest heave with anger, but still, I continued, "Soon though, I just got so angry with everything. My mom and dad for leaving...this 'family' for putting me through so much torment...so I decided. A couple days after I turned seventeen, I took everything that I would need like food, water, clothes, money, and...I left. It's been...eight months since then…" I felt my hands clench as I looked up at Niko, "You remember when you asked where I lived? The truth is...I don't. I've just been traveling across my world, only stopping in cities to find more food and money. The only thing I'm scared of is that someone will find me and take me back...and I refuse to go back."

I looked away, "...So now you know. Why I never like talking about myself. Why I was so worried about telling you…" I felt my chest tighten as I trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

I glanced over at her. Tears had begun to fall down her face, which she constantly tried to wipe away with little success, "S-So that's w-why…"

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make you this upset…but...I just…" I sighed, "...You're the first person that I've ever considered a friend, Niko, and...I just didn't want you to-"

I couldn't finish. Niko lunged towards me, wrapping me tightly in a hug that outdid all the others, "D-Don't...don't say that y-you didn't want me to worry…"

I hesitated at first but soon returned the embrace. I still held back my tears. Even with Niko saying she was still going to worry about me, I wasn't going to break down for her. Especially when we were so close to the end.

She hugged me tighter, "I told you before...back in the Barrens…You're my friend...and friends take care of each other."

I let a single tear fall, "Thank you, Niko…"

We stayed like that, letting me take comfort in the fact that, even after telling her, she was still willing to be there for me, like I was for her. This whole journey, meeting Niko...Maybe that was the "gift" that the note talked about. I could find someone that cared...that made me feel like I belonged.

She let go of me. Her eyes had returned to their normal glow as she smiled warmly at me, "Thank you for telling me, Alan…" Her gaze fell, "I...know it probably wasn't easy."

I softly smiled back, "Knowing you're here and that you care makes it easier."

With one last hug, Niko grabbed the lightbulb from underneath the covers and hopped off the bed. I didn't move, still processing my emotions. A hand from Niko shook me out of my stupor. After one last deep breath, I stood up. My neck, arms, and legs weren't sore, something I wasn't used to given that I hadn't slept on a bed in a long time.

With a nod towards Niko, we walked out of the room and headed back to the elevator.

"Oh hey, welcome back…" we heard from inside the elevator. The man from before was still holding the door open for us, even after all this time, "That...sure took you a while, huh…"

I facepalmed at myself, "Ah geez, sorry about that…"

"You've been waiting for us this whole time?" Niko asked, "And...holding the door open?"

He shifted around, "Well, I, uh...didn't want to be rude…"

"We probably should've told you to go on ahead…" I sighed.

"Eh, don't worry about it," he shrugged.

Niko and I got into the elevator as the man let the doors shut behind us. With a click of the button that took us to the ground level, faint elevator music began to play, filling the silence.

We all stood around, waiting for when we eventually reached our destination, though it quickly started turning a little bit awkward.

The man coughed, "Sure is taking a while…"

"Mhm!" Niko hummed in response.

He shifted around a little and I thought I could hear him mumbling something, "Oh goodness gracious I'm stuck in an elevator with the messiah and also literally god themself this is awkward."

"Oh, maybe we can chat to pass the time, then?" Niko blurted out, causing the man to jump.

"You heard me?!" he quickly coughed, "I mean, sure…"

Niko rocked her head from side to side before she spoke, "So...what do you do at your job? You seem really busy!"

"I, uh...fix lights, mostly," he said, "But now I also deliver and refill high-energy phosphor to structures that need them."

"High energy?" I probed.

"Y'know, the super-concentrated glowy stuff they had to process in factories. It's what powers most of this city's stuff."

"Oooh!" Niko crooned.

"We used to have a small army of delivery robots doing that...but lately a bunch of them have been breaking down?" he scratched his beard, "So until they fix them, I'll just have more work on my plate. I haven't slept in so long…" he added with a sigh.

"When will the robots get fixed?"

He shrugged, "I have no idea. It's all up to the scientists over at the labs." His eyes went wide, "But they seem REALLY concerned about something else lately…" he said, shaking his head, "Never a good sign when even the smart folks are worried."

I tilted my head, "Well, what about the city in general?"

"It's quite big!" Niko added.

"It's smaller than it looks," he replied, "Getting pretty crowded too...First, there were the refugees from the Barrens, and now more Glen folks are moving in too." He shrugged again, "It's just safer here, y'know? I mean, it's not a haven by any means. We get more of that square stuff here than anywhere else, apparently."

"Maybe it's 'cause we're so close to the Tower?" I asked.

"Whatever the reason, we're lucky it only seems to affect the city's infrastructure. The landmass itself is still holding up...which is good since there isn't much solid land here in the first place."

"Hmm…" Niko mumbled, "Oh! Can you tell us about the library? We're supposed to go there!"

"Oh yeah, that's one of my main delivery spots. Those reading lights are pretty high-maintenance…" he cringed, "But I feel out of place surrounded by smart people!" He said, shaking his head, "Well, I guess you're both pretty smart, so you'll fit in fine."

As he finished, the elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing the ground level of the Refuge. The skyscrapers we once stood over now loomed over us.

The man turned to us, "Anyway, it was nice meeting you...uh…"

"Niko!"

I saw his mouth twitch for a second, "...Right. See you around, you two. Gotta run now!" He grabbed onto his hat and sprinted down the street, the jars around his waist bobbing up and down.

"He seems in a hurry…" I mumbled.

"We should hurry too, Alan! People are counting on us!"

I looked up at the Tower, which now loomed closer than ever. Knowing that we were near the end unsettled me a little.

I felt Niko grab onto my hand. Looking at her, she smiled at me, her eyes reflecting the same warm look she gave me back in the bedroom.

I was still worried about what would soon happen when we reached the Tower, but telling Niko about me put me more at ease. She was right. This world was counting on us, and the sooner we saved this world, the sooner Niko would get back home.

I nodded and we began making our way down the street to look for the library, side by side.

Chapter Text

I could feel the tension in the air as we walked down the street. Not many people were out on the streets, though I could see some through the windows of the buildings we passed. In between two buildings was what looked like an alleyway, leading into darkness. I had the feeling that we'd end up exploring the rest of the city after we found the library, so we passed by it. At the end of the street was a robot handing out newspapers. We were lucky enough that he pointed us in the direction of the library. Taking a pathway to the east would lead us straight to it. We thanked it and made our way there.

The library was a lot different than what I had imagined. The entire building was made out of metal instead of concrete, looking more like a factory than a library. The light coming from the lake that surrounded the building bathed it in a red glow.

Walking inside, it was a much different feeling than from outside as I felt cool air wash over as we entered the lobby. Bookshelves towered over us on both sides and there were piles of books all over the floor. I could see all kinds of people as we explored the lobby, probably the most amount of people I've seen in this world.

What was most intriguing, though, was that almost all the books had a black clover on their covers. Just like the book we had. As Niko went off to explore a different part of the library, I began pulling books off the shelf and skimming through them. Recalling what Calamus told me, these books must have all been written by this friend of his, if the black clover was any indication. The laptop that brought me here also had a black clover on it. Was it really the same person that wrote these books and make that laptop?

A few of the books that I read spoke about various parts of the world, such as the specifics about Phosphor and the different kinds there were. Each part of the world had its own distinct kind of Phosphor, with each one varying in energy and where to find them. Another book even talked about how some animals had Phosphor in them, like the shrimp in the Barrens and the fireflies in the Glen.

"Oh, hello! Can I help you with anything?" I heard a voice next to me. A girl with a light blue outfit and a small scarf was standing next to me. She was holding onto a different book, again with the same black clover on it.

I closed the book and put it back on the shelf, "Not really, though I could probably use some directions..."

"Of course!" She raised a finger to her chin, "Let's see...this area here is mostly historical accounts, the reference section is downstairs, and, uh…there is a kids section but I don't think you'd be interested in that."

"That's alright. I'm actually not looking for any particular books at the moment."

"Oh! Are you here to...look for the Author, then?"

I raised a brow, "I...don't think so?"

"That's good!" she sweatdropped, "Er, I mean...that means you won't be disappointed! I've been volunteering here for months, and I've never seen him, not even once!"

"Who's he?" I asked.

She stepped back in surprise like I had just offended her, "You don't know who the Author is?!"

I rubbed my neck, "N-No?"

"He's the one that wrote ALL of these books! Practically every single one!" she waved her hands towards the books that surrounded us.

That sounded interesting. "Seriously? All of these?"

She nodded, "Oh yes! His books cover a wide range of topics, though he's been focusing on documenting the world, as of late."

"That's probably why he's never around?" I shrugged.

"I mean, I don't think many people have ever seen him in person...or know what he looks like! I know he works together with the head librarian on publishing, so you'd think he would at least show up once in a while…" she rocked her head back and forth, "Kiiinda reclusive if you ask me…"

A thought popped into my head, "Does...he do anything else besides writing books? Say, like with machines?"

She perked up, "Oh yeah! He worked with the head researcher over at the lab to help with some of the code for the robots! It's like there isn't anything he can't do! Like, I heard he even made a machine that flys!"

This is definitely the same friend that Calamus mentioned...and if he's proficient enough with programming...is it possible that this is the same person that gave me that laptop?

It all sounded crazy. How did he even get from this world to mine in the first place? How did he know to look for ME specifically? I shook my head. Just knowing about him was a good start.

I smiled at the girl, "Thanks for the info." She nodded and started to turn away before I stopped her, "By the way, you mentioned the head librarian. Where can I find her?"

"She's probably back in the archival room. You'll need to talk to the secretary bot up at the desk," she said, nodding in that direction.

I thanked her once again and started looking around for Niko. I thought she would be in the kid's section, but I didn't see her in there. Eventually, after some scouring, I found her watching a man with a book for a head scribbling out parts of a book in front of him.

"Um...what...are you doing to that book?" Niko asked, staring at the scribbled book with shock.

The...man?...shook his head, "Don't worry, these are all my own books. That I wrote. I just pulled them off the shelves to modify them. I have to cross out some sections..." his scribbling intensified for a second, "...most sections."

"Eh? How come?"

"'Cause otherwise they'll think I copied HIM," he spat.

"You mean the Author?" I asked, making my presence known. Niko quickly smiled at me while the man scoffed.

"I mean, I really don't see the point of writing anything anymore! The Author is just gonna write about the same thing, and then everyone will love it! And nobody's gonna remember the books that came out before his!"

"That sounds rough…" I said.

He shrugged as he put down his pen, "I mean, I ain't hatin'. I can see why people go nuts over his stuff. That guy's got major talent." He sighed, "But...it just...hurts, y'know? It's never fun when people call you a copycat for something you wrote about it first."

"I can see that…People call me a cat all the time!" Niko said, barely attempting to hide the mischievous smirk she sent my way, "Even though I'm a person, and cats are pets...and mousers. I sure hope people don't think I eat mice."

The man went back to scribbling in his book, "Heh, then I guess we're in the same boat, kiddo."

As we walked away from the man, I glanced down at Niko, "Well, you'll be happy to know that I don't think that about you, Niko," I chuckled as I pet her on the head, "At least, not the mouse part."

She stuck her tongue out as we headed towards the back of the library, coming across the secretary bot that the girl told me about.

"Excuse me!" Niko called out to it.

"[OH. YOU ARE THE MESSIAH. WELCOME.]" it replied.

"When we first entered the city, a big robot told me to look for a library on the surface! This is the same library, right?"

It nodded, "[AFFIRMATIVE.]"

"Oh, goody!" Niko shuffled on her feet, "Well...we're here...what do we do now? The big robot only said there'd be clues here..."

"[THAT IS A QUESTION FOR THE HEAD LIBRARIAN, GEORGE. ALLOW ME TO CALL HER.]"

The robot fell silent as a dial tone started to emit from it. Niko and I waited as the robot continued trying to call George.

And we waited…

And we waited…

And we waited some more…

Niko and I looked at each other as the robot still tried to get a hold of George.

"[SHE IS NOT PICKING UP.]"

"Is she...not here?" I asked.

"[SHE IS HERE. SHE IS IN THE ARCHIVAL ROOM UPSTAIRS. WHEN SHE IS CONCENTRATING ON HER WORK, SHE WILL IGNORE ANY AND ALL PHONECALLS...FOR SEVERAL DAYS.]"

Niko winced, "Yikes!"

I scratched my head, "Can you go get her in person, then?"

It shook its head, "[LEAVING THIS POST IS NOT IN MY PROGRAMMING.]"

"Then...can we just go ourselves?"

"[OF COURSE. THE ARCHIVAL ROOM IS ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE STAIRWELL BEHIND ME.]"

Niko nodded, "Gotcha, thanks!"

We made our way around the desk to head towards the stairs, when suddenly…

"[UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY. LIBRARY CARD REQUIRED FOR FURTHER ACCESS.]"

"Wait, what?" Niko and I said together.

"[LIBRARY CARD REQUIRED FOR FURTHER ACCESS.]" the robot repeated.

"We don't have a library card, though!" Niko said, "Where can we get one?"

"[THAT IS A QUESTION FOR THE HEAD LIBRARIAN, GEORGE. ALLOW ME TO CALL HER.]"

"Wait, I don't-" I started, but the robot had already begun to dial George again. So we waited…

And we waited…

And we waited…

And we waited some more…

Niko and I looked at each other again and sweatdropped.

"[SHE IS NOT PICKING UP.]"

"You don't say…" I sighed.

"Are you sure you can't just...let us through?" Niko asked.

"[LETTING YOU THROUGH WITHOUT A LIBRARY CARD IS AGAINST MY PROGRAMMING.]"

Niko was taken aback, "Wh-...Even in an emergency?"

"[MY PROGRAMMING IS NOT FLEXIBLE. I HAVE NOT BEEN TAMED.]"

I scoffed, "Well then, how are we even supposed to get a card in the first place if we can't see George?"

"[THAT IS A QUESTION FOR THE HEAD LIBRARIAN, GEORGE. ALLOW ME TO CALL-]"

"DON'T!" we both yelled out, silencing the robot.

Niko sighed, "Well, now what? We need to see the head librarian, but we need a card to see her…"

"...That we can only get from her." I finished her thought. I rubbed my head, "It's never simple, is it…"

Niko hummed in acknowledgment as we made our way out of the library, "So do we just wander around and see if we can find something to help us?"

I scratched my chin as an idea came to mind, "The girl that talked to me said something about a lab somewhere around here…"

She tilted her head, "How would that help us?"

I shrugged, "Well, we don't have any other options at the moment. Maybe we'll get lucky and find something there?"

The lack of a plan seemed to concern her. I placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, "Hey...we'll figure this out. We always do."

That seemed to lift her spirits as she smiled back and nodded. We started to head back to the street we arrived in, but I found myself preoccupied with this "Author". He seemed to be everywhere we've been. Knowing that he was the one that wrote the book we found in that safe in the Barrens...I started to get the feeling that it wasn't by coincidence that it was one of HIS books.

I reached into my pack and pulled out the book, the black clover on the cover reflecting the red light of the city. As I stared at it, more questions started to pile on. Was he also responsible for Niko being here? How did he even get to my world? How was he able to find me? How was he able to bring me to this world?

...Why me? Why was I so important that he had to track ME down?

I soon found myself wondering about the voice that kept speaking to me. It was helping us reach the Tower, but at the same time, it didn't seem to view me highly. Was that voice the Author himself? Or something else?

"Alan?"

Niko's voice jolted me out of my thoughts. I rubbed my head to alleviate the small headache that formed from all the questions I had, "Sorry...spaced out for a minute there." I started to put the book back in my pack before I stopped and brought it back, "Hmm...you think this George would be able to translate this book we found?"

"Maybe! We've been holding onto that book for a while without any idea of what it says." She tilted her head, "Why? Are you thinking of what it'll say?"

"More about who wrote it." I pointed at the black clover, "This Author guy seems to be everywhere, in one way or another. With everything that's going on, you'd think he'd be helping out, yet everyone's said they haven't seen him in a while..."

"Hmm...I haven't thought of that."

I sighed and put the book back in my pack, "Well, there's no point in me asking questions I don't have answers to. We should get going."

She nodded and we walked away from the library. As much as I didn't have any idea who this Author was, his role in this whole journey had put me on edge and it was all I could keep thinking about as the library vanished behind us.

Standing at the entrance of the dark alleyway, I felt a slight shiver run down my spine. Even after mostly getting over my fear of the dark, I still had trouble keeping it in check, but this was the only other way we could go from this street. I felt Niko grab onto my hand, giving me a smile as we started to walk into the black depths.

From the moment we stepped foot into the alleyway, I could already feel the oppressiveness that was natural to a city alleyway. Clotheslines swung above us in the softly-blowing wind while the ground beneath our feet was stained with dirt and grime that had coalesced together for who knows how long. The red-bricked walls of some of the buildings we walked past were in desperate need of cleaning as dirt and mud streaked down them.

I chuckled softly, "Man, this feels so much like the city I grew up in…"

Niko looked up at me, a mixture of concern and disgust on her face, "Was it really this dirty? I feel so gross just looking at everything…"

"Heh heh...don't ask questions if you don't want to know the answer." I said as we rounded a corner, "And besides, I don't think this is nearly as bad as-"

Before I could finish, I was suddenly hit by a really strong headache, causing me to stumble. I could hear the soft crackle of static as my vision blackened. I thought I could make out an image…it looked like an animal of some kind with the most defining feature being a small yellow oval on what I guessed was its forehead. In fact, it looked to be the same color as Niko's eyes. I didn't have time to process the image entirely before it vanished as quickly as it came, the headache vanishing with it.

I took a second to get my bearings again before a shuddering gasp caught my attention. I looked over at Niko to see her trembling. Apparently, this vision wasn't just my own.

I grabbed onto to Niko and kneeled in front of her, "Niko? You okay?"

Her eyes were wide and her breathing was ragged as she started to come back from having that vision, "A-Alan…?"

"Did...Did you see that too?"

She nodded, "Y-Yeah…M-My vision went blank for a second...and then I saw something?"

"I think we both just shared a vision…" I brushed away the hair in front of Niko's face and placed my hand on her forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm a little woozy, but I'm ok…" I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled my hand away, the hair brushing over her yellow eyes as she spoke again, "I wonder what that was about…Was it like the visions you've had before?"

I scratched my head, "It...sure felt like it...but I didn't hear that voice again. Plus it lasted a lot shorter than the others."

I looked down the hallway as I tried to piece together what could've caused that vision. An animal with a yellow orb on its forehead...I had no clue what that could mean.

I sighed and stood up, "Let's just keep moving. Stay close to me, just in case it happens again."

Niko shifted the lightbulb around, making sure it was secure before she grabbed onto my hand again. Just as I took another step, I felt a wave of warmth wash over me. It felt like it came from further down the alley, past a corridor that lead deeper into the shadows of the buildings that surrounded us. I let my curiosity get the better of me as Niko and I walked down towards a flight of stairs that led down into a small cove. The warmth was becoming more and more noticeable the closer we got to it.

Reaching the bottom, we were greeted by a small army of cats huddled around a robot, one that looked more like a furnace than like the other robots we've seen. The warmth was emanating from it and I could see that many of the cats that laid on top of it had fallen asleep.

I peered over at Niko and grinned, "Friends of yours?"

She just rolled her eyes and walked over to the cats, leaning down to stroke one of them, it purring in delight.

"[Oh, another cat.]" the robot droned in a metallic voice, "[Are you lost?]"

"Me?" Niko said, pointing at herself innocently.

The robot tilted its head, "[Do you wish to join us?]"

Her brow furrowed as she increasingly became more and more confused, "Join...your cats?"

"[Yes.]"

I started to chuckle as Niko moaned that she wasn't a cat, giving me a very unamused look once she noticed my fit, which only made start to laugh harder.

"[You have cat eyes.]" the robot pointed out.

"My eyes are normal people eyes...Well, normal back home!"

"[Your hat is shaped like a cat.]"

"But I'm just a person!"

"Oh, just wait until he sees what's under the hat, Niko." I joined in, still having trouble suppressing my laughter.

Her cheeks turned red as I lightly poked her cat ears that were hidden away beneath her hat. I could have sworn I saw one of the indentations wiggle around, "Alan, you're embarrassing me…"

My laughter finally ceased as I wrapped my arm around her, "Sorry, Niko. I've probably given you enough of a hard time about you being a cat." I smirked, "Though if you really WERE a cat, you'd probably be a pretty adorable one."

Even with the red light that lit up our surroundings, I could still see her blush spread across her face as she smiled sheepishly. I could hear the robot laughing as well from the sound of it.

"[You are still welcome here. I protect lost people as well.]"

I looked over at the robot, letting Niko have the time to save face, "Thanks, but we're not lost...At least, not yet." I said. The robot nodded as he returned his attention to the cats, "By the way, if you don't mind me asking, is this warmth coming from you?" I asked.

"[Yeah. Warmth was my original purpose.]"

"That's a nice purpose!" Niko chimed in. Her blush was now gone, only to be replaced by a yawn.

"[Oh, you look tired. Do you wish to rest?]"

"I can't sleep now! Alan and I have stuff to do!"

"[I see. Good luck, then.]"

We took our leave and headed back towards the other corridor we passed, following it until it led to a larger alleyway. The way in front of us spilled in light from the city, suggesting that we were nearly out of this alleyway maze.

There was a doorway closeby leading to a flight of stairs that seemed to ascend into the building it was connected to, so we ventured up there first. It led us to another small cove, though this one looked much more lived in. Glass jars littered the floor and the only pieces of furniture were a bed with a very patchy blanket, a desk with empty coffee cups laying on top it, and a small drawer which had a small picture frame and a flower pot with a note that said: "Thank you for working so hard, Mr. Lamplighter!"

I hummed, "Guess this room is where that guy stays. It's pretty cozy actually...if a bit dirty."

"Hey, Alan?" Niko called to me. I could see she was looking at a box that was in the middle of the room, "There's some big plastic disks in here. I think they're supposed to go into something?"

I picked one up from the crate and looked it over, "Hmm...they actually kind of look like lenses."

"Are...we going to take them with us? They look kinda heavy to me…"

I grabbed another one of the lenses and lifted it over my head, "They're actually pretty light..." I put both of them back in the box, "But, I think we should leave them here for now until we figure out where they need to be. Plus, I don't think I could fit all four of them in my pack," I said.

Niko opened her mouth, but her eyes quickly snapped to something behind me, followed by a small patter of footsteps come from the stairs. I quickly looked down the flight of stairs. At the bottom, I saw the white tail end of a small animal run around the corner.

My curiosity got the better of me again and I motioned for Niko to follow after me as I ran down the stairs to chase after whoever had been spying on us. Arriving back in the alleyway, I could see the animal further down the alleyway before it turned into another corridor. I raced after it, Niko following behind me, and entered the room that I saw the animal run into.

I stopped in my tracks soon as I set foot in the room. It was another small cove, but this one had a large, real-life tree on display. The lights of the city shined down from above on top of it as its leaves glimmered in the light. Sitting next to the tree was a small, orange fox staring back at me. In that split second, I got a good look at it. It looked like a normal fox, except for the bright yellow orb in its forehead and a bandage wrapped around one of its legs. I heard Niko enter behind me just before the fox quickly ran behind the tree.

"Hey, wait...!" I said, taking a step toward the tree.

"I'm sorry...if you are looking for me." I heard the fox say in a soft, feminine voice, "But, I cannot talk to you. Not now..."

"Huh?"

I didn't hear anything until she spoke again, "But...can you promise me something?"

I was too confused to say anything as she continued, "If...you can find a way to return...please do."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" I asked. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or Niko and I definitely wasn't sure what she meant by "return".

No response. Carefully, I snuck around the base of the tree to find...nothing. It was like she had vanished into thin air.

I was stuck staring at the spot where the fox vanished from, my thoughts lingering on what she said.

"Hey, Alan? That fox seemed...familiar..." I heard Niko say as she shuffled up next to me.

I glanced at her, "How so?"

"That vision we both had...That fox kind of looked like what we saw."

It made sense. I hadn't realized until now, but that fox looked exactly like the animal in our vision. The yellow orb on its forehead was a spot-on match, but that begged the question: Why did we have that vision in the first place? And why was she so quick to run away from us?

I rubbed my head. This whole thing was getting weirder and weirder by the second.

"We should probably go, Alan. It doesn't seem like there's anything here." Niko said, tugging my arm.

"Y-Yeah…" I was still unsettled by what that fox said, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. I followed Niko back to the alley and headed down the last corridor, back into the light of the city.

Passing over a bridge that hovered above the lake, we arrived onto another street, similar to the one near the elevator, except this time there were a lot more people in the streets. Most of them surrounded various vendors who seemed to be selling food ranging from my looked like dumplings put into soup to candy that looked like it had been deep-fried and skewered onto a stick. The last one we passed by caught our attention though.

"Hey hey! You two ready for me to blow your mind?" A man with a water cooler for a head called to us. His stand consisted of several pills that looked the same.

I shrugged, prompting the man to continue, "Ok so! I've invented a medicine to prepare everyone for the upcoming shortage! All you gotta do is dissolve one of these pills in water and then you drink the water. After that, you never need to drink again!"

Niko's eyes sparkled, "What!"

"It also makes plants grow faster!"

I almost fell over when I heard that. Niko started giggling at me, acknowledging that this pill was exactly what I had joked about back in the Garden. The vendor happily offered us a free sample and we took it, making sure to visit the Garden one last time before we entered the Tower.

At this point, we had reached the end of the street. There was another large building off in the distance that lay at the end of another pathway, similar to how we reached the library. As we got closer, I started to see the smokestacks that sat on top of the building. If I had to guess, this must be the lab that the girl from the library told me about.

There wasn't anyone outside, so we strode on in. Conveyor belts jutted out from the sidewalls, which led to other rooms. The left room housed a few small lakes of red Phosphor with a scientist typing away at a computer, mumbling something about the luminescence of the Phosphor lessening. The right room housed what looked like 3D-printers. One was currently in use as a robot was being created within it. Aside from a few slips of paper talking about a puzzle, Niko and I walked back into the center room and stood in front of a door being guarded by a robot.

"[IN ORDER TO GAIN FURTHER ACCESS TO THE LABS, YOU MUST PASS THE SECURITY SYSTEM TEST.]"

"The...huh?" Niko faltered.

The robot pointed to a switch on our left, "[YOU MUST CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE LIGHTS INTO A SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION. ALLOW ME.]" It walked over to the switch and pulled it down. Five orange lights turned on, showing us the test that we had to pass.

I sighed in annoyance, "Do we really have to do this?"

The robot simply nodded before proceeding to stand in front of the door again. I groaned. Forcing us to do a puzzle just to get where we wanted to go was one hassle I did not want to go through, especially since we didn't have any other clue where to go.

Niko began poking randomly at the lights, changing them from their orange hue to different colors. With one last grumble, I joined her.

This was going to take a while.

Chapter Text

After spending several minutes attempting the color puzzle, we eventually figured out the correct sequence. With one final pull of the switch, the door the robot was standing in front of opened.

I sprawled out onto the floor, mentally exhausted, "I never want to do that ever again…"

Niko stared down at me with a cheeky grin, "I thought it was kind of fun." She quickly scanned the door before turning back to me, "Come on, we should see what's in here."

I waved my arm lazily, letting it fall back to my side as I stayed glued to the floor. I heard Niko huff before she grabbed ahold of one of my arms and started pulling me off the floor. Given how much heavier I was than her, she had a bit of trouble pulling me up. I started to chuckle after several of her attempts failed, letting me fall back to the floor.

"Just give me five more minutes…" I playfully moaned.

Niko scoffed, "Now's not the time for rest, Alan!"

I lifted my head and smirked at her, "Any time is rest time if you try hard enough."

Niko stared back unamused before a mischievous flash went across her eyes. A small smirk crept onto her face as she moved closer to me and promptly planted herself on top of my chest, knocking the air out of me.

I gasped for what little air I could find, "Alright! Alright! I'll get up!"

She tilted her head and gave me an innocent look, "I'm just resting for a bit. It's like you said 'Any time is rest time if you-'"

"I take it back!" I coughed out, "Now please get off…!"

With a victorious smile, Niko hopped off me and I lifted myself off the floor, giving her a pained look, "You're so cruel, Niko…"

She giggled as I got onto my feet and, with a grab of my hand, led me through the newly-opened doorway.

More lakes of red Phosphor were scattered throughout the courtyard with a researcher fussing over a robot that was covered in squares. We let him be since his attention was solely on the robot. It didn't take us long to enter the last part of the laboratory. A lot more scientists and researchers were present here, though they all looked equally tired and worried. Just like the last building, there were two other side areas. One had computer terminals lined side-by-side as several of the researchers looked over the data that flew past their eyes, mumbling to themselves about the squares. The other area housed robots, all of whom seemed damaged in one way or another. Some were missing parts of their bodies while others looked completely rusted and simply were powered down against the wall. We didn't stick around too long and moved into the last room available to us.

"...Hello?" Niko called out into the room, catching the attention of a red-haired woman who was tinkering with a robot head on a table.

Her eyes went wide as she saw the lightbulb, "Oh, shoot! If I had known you would be here so soon, I would've turned off that darned lock!" She pocketed her screwdriver and brushed herself off before walking over to us, "Hello there! Sorry about the weird...security measures."

Niko smiled, "It's okay! Alan helped me out!"

The woman shifted her gaze to me, a look of shock on her face before she sweatdropped, "Well, I guess there have been stranger days...I definitely wasn't expecting to meet YOU in person."

I rubbed my neck, "Yeah, I've been getting that a lot."

She clapped her hands together, "So...can I help you with anything?"

"Yeah, actually…" Niko spoke up, "Do you know how we can get a library card?"

She raised an eyebrow, "A library card? You'll have to ask the library for that!"

I sighed, "We tried...We need to see the head librarian, but we can't see her without a library card…"

"...But at the same time, she's the one who gives out library cards," Niko said, finishing my sentence.

A small chuckle escaped from the woman's lips, "Really...Heh, that sounds like George alright! I'm sorry you caught her on a bad day!"

"Aw…" Niko moaned.

The woman looked deep in thought before she snapped her fingers, "Oh, I know! I can just give you my library card!" She dug into her pockets, pulled out her card, and handed it to Niko, "It won't be hard for me to get another one."

"Wow, thanks!" Niko took it and put it in her pocket.

"Well, that takes care of one...but I don't think we'll both be able to get in on just one card." I pointed out.

The woman facepalmed, "Oh, right! Plus, the front desk library robots have facial recognition and my photo on the card won't match you…" she chuckled, "...Unless I tape a photo of my face to your faces!"

Niko's brow furrowed, "Um-"

"That was a joke," she shrugged, "Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and the robot will take it anyway. Worse comes to worst, you can always find somewhere to take a photo of yourselves and just swap the card and photo back and forth."

"Would you happen to know a place where we could get photos"? I asked.

She hummed, "Hmm...I think I remember there being a place in the center of the street nearby, but last I heard, they were having some problems with the camera. Something about missing lenses?"

I recalled the lenses we had found in the alleyway cove. Those must have been replacements for the camera, but they just hadn't gotten delivered yet. I smiled, "Don't worry. I think we can take care of that problem."

"Glad to hear!" she beamed as Niko walked over to one of the bookshelves nearby. I guess something caught her eye and she wanted to check it out. "So…" the woman started to say, "You've both been walking all over the world, huh?"

"Mhm!" Niko hummed in response.

The woman sighed, "Geez...I can't imagine...Do you get really tired sometimes?"

"Kinda...but I don't mind! It's actually really pretty!"

"Haha, I'm glad you think so! Even with the sun gone, the world is still a beautiful place."

I gazed out the doorway before turning back to the woman, "What did the world look like with the sun?"

"Oh, uh…" she hesitated, "...Y'know, it's kind of embarrassing to admit how little of it I've actually seen."

"Really?"

She chuckled, "Ironic, isn't it? Even though I'm the world's leading researcher, all I do is stay here and build robots." She sighed, "They're the ones exploring the world. I just write down the data, crunch numbers, generate graphs…"

"Right…" Niko said, "We've been seeing robots everywhere!" She turned to look at us, "I just thought it was 'cause the world was too dangerous for most people to explore…"

"That's not far from the truth, actually," the woman replied, snapping her fingers, "But I know someone who still does his research firsthand!"

"Let me guess…The Author?" I huffed.

She nodded, "Even after segments of land started falling apart and access to the more remote areas became difficult. I mean, he outright built a machine that could fly!" she waved her hands around excitedly, "Something we all thought was not physically possible!"

Of course he did...I could feel myself tensing up as the lady continued to rave about The Author.

"I asked him about working with us, so he provides us with all sorts of insights from time to time…" she sweatdropped, "...but for some reason, he REALLY didn't want to build robots. Or, more specifically, coding them."

"So he does have coding experience…" I mumbled to myself. That certainly confirmed my suspicion that he built the laptop he gave to me from scratch.

"How come he didn't want to help with the robots?" Niko asked from the bookshelf.

The woman shrugged, "Beats me! I mean, he's happy to work with robots! In fact, he even-"

She froze. I noticed her entire attitude change to something much more troubled, "...Ah, it's been a while since we last talked. He must be busy with his books now, yeah…"

Niko had come back from the bookshelf with a tube of glue in her hand, "Is it alright if I take this? I think we may need it."

That question brought the woman back to normal, "Oh sure! I have tons of those! Never know when you need to glitter things up, right? " she added before winking.

"Thank you!" Niko handed me the glue to put in my pack. I did so, but there was one more thing I wanted to ask the lady.

I put a hand on Niko, stopping her from leaving as I grabbed the amber necklace from her pocket. The lady didn't seem to notice it in my fist as I turned to face her, "Could I ask...one more question, if you don't mind?"

"Sure!"

I took a deep breath, "Is...your name 'Kip' by any chance?"

Her eyes went wide, "Sure is! How'd you know?"

I slowly opened my hand, revealing the amber necklace to her.

As her gaze fell upon it, she took a step back, "...Oh…T-that's..." she looked back up at me, "How...did you get this?"

...Guess I was right, "A robot in the Barrens gave it to us. To help us get to the Glen." I handed the necklace back to Niko, "She...kinda looked like you. Plus, I saw one of the letters that you had sent to her."

"I see…"

She fell silent as she stared at the necklace. Her normal upbeat attitude was instead replaced by a melancholic wistfulness. She stayed like that until she sighed, "...It was supposed to be such a breakthrough, y'know? I even based her on myself so I'll KNOW it works!"

I raised an eyebrow, "Huh? What breakthrough?"

"We wanted to build a robot that acts like a person, thinks like a person...a robot that isn't bound by its own code."

"You mean...like artificial intelligence?"

She nodded slowly, "But turns out, you can't really BUILD something like that. Too many contradictions in the code...made her unstable." She shivered, "...That was the only time I've ever seen a robot go rogue. Scariest day of my life, tell you what!"

Niko piped up, "...rogue? But...she seemed so nice when we talked! Even if she talked a little weird…"

Kip rubbed her arm, "Ah, she's been repaired for some time now. My friend was able to stabilize her volatile state through his own means. A real miracle worker, that one…"

Wonder how he ended up doing that…I thought to myself as Kip continued.

"After he was through, she ended up turning out just like how I wanted...but the damage was already done." Her eyes became mournful, "...I gave up on her back then...we all did. I'm sure she realized that...and now she won't ever come back. She won't even answer my letters…"

"I-I'm sorry," I said, "I didn't mean to…"

She quickly shook her head, shaking off the sadness that weighed down on her, "No, it's alright. You just wanted to know."

That doesn't mean I feel good about it...I thought.

She smiled at both of us, "You should hold on to that amber, okay?"

"We will!" Niko said.

With a plan now made, we said our goodbyes to Kip and left the lab. While we made our way back to the street with the vendors on it, I thought about what we needed to do. We found a library card to use for when we would go back to the library, but we need to change the picture on it so that we aren't blocked due to facial recognition. Yet, we only have one card...

One step at a time. Let's just find the camera first, I told myself.

Kip had told us the place where we could find the camera was at the center of the vendor street. Standing outside the building, it didn't look like where you would go to get your picture taken. Instead, it just looked like the buildings around it. A man standing near the doors was messing with the drawstrings on his jacket when he noticed us.

"Are you two here for your photos?" he asked.

Niko nodded, "Actually, yeah! We need to take a picture for...reasons."

The man chuckled, "Well, I got good news and bad news. The good news is that the photo center is right behind me." he said, pointing towards the doorway.

"The bad news is that it doesn't work, right?" I said, remembering what Kip told us about the missing lenses.

"Heh, you're catching on quick," the man quipped, "After operations ended in the Barrens, this place got shut down. All of the engineers lost their jobs and became street vendors."

"...Which means they're probably gonna be the most helpful to fixing it."

"We can figure it out!" Niko beamed, eager to get started.

I scratched my chin as I planned out the fastest way to get the camera working. Once I did, I laid out the plan for Niko, "Okay, you go ask the vendors how to fix the camera and I'll run over to grab the lenses. Once I get back, we'll get the camera fixed together. Sound like a plan?"

"Mhm!"

I smiled and rubbed her head, "Alright. Stay safe. I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that, we separated. Niko went up the street to the nearest vendor to ask about the camera while I backtracked to the alley to pick up the lenses. Finding them again was the easy part. The not-so-easy part was figuring out how to carry them all without dropping them. Eventually, I took the thinner lenses and stuffed them into my pack while taking the thicker lenses into my arms.

Well, that takes care of that. Better head back to Niko, I thought as I left the alcove.

I made my way back towards the vendor street when I heard the soft patter of footsteps from behind me. It was the fox again. I just knew it. I stopped and glanced over my shoulder to see if I could spot them. Sure enough, I could see the orange fur and obsidian black eyes of the fox staring back at me with an intense gaze before it quickly vanished down the alley.

I was rooted in place as I stared at where the fox had been. This fox seemed to be really interested in me. I wonder why...Maybe it had to do with me being here in this world in the first place? Or was it something more?

I quickly shook myself out of my thoughts. Whatever the reason, I probably wasn't going to find out anytime soon. After making sure I still had the lenses secure in my arms and pack, I jogged back to the street.

Niko was already waiting for me back at the photo center when I arrived, the lightbulb still shining in her arms. I slowed down as I reached her and we both headed inside.

The camera that was supposed to take our pictures was a lot bigger than I'd thought. It was almost as big as the room we were in. Four slots faced as we examined the backside, suggesting that they were where the lenses went. I laid out all the lenses on the floor and we got to work, Niko providing the information that the vendors said while I figured out where the lenses were supposed to go.

It didn't take us long to get the camera fixed. Once we pulled the level on the camera, the lenses locked in and light from the camera lit up the wall it was facing.

"Oh! We got it!" Niko exclaimed.

I smiled at her and held up my hand, "Nice work, Niko."

We high fived and Niko ran around to the other side, standing in front of the light.

"Uh...cheese?" Niko said, making me chuckle as I leaned against the camera to watch her. With a snap, the camera fired, a bright flash filling up the room.

"Ouch, m-my eyes…" I heard Niko moan.

A small piece of film popped out of a small slot on the camera. I walked over and grabbed the picture of Niko.

Niko walked over and smiled at it, "It's me!" she said before her brow furrowed, "...are my eyes always this big?"

I laughed, "Only sometimes."

She frowned at me, "What's that supposed to mean?"

I pulled the camera lever, turning it on again, "Oh, nothing..." I stood within the light and, with another flash of light, got my picture taken. The film rolled out the slot and Niko grabbed onto it, examining it.

As I came back around, she smiled up at me, "Your picture looks great!"

I rubbed my neck as my face warmed up, "Oh, stop, you're making me blush…"

She giggled as she pulled out the library card we got from Kip while I pulled the glitter glue from my pack and handed it to her. She squirted it onto the photo of Kip and placed her photo right on top of it. She held it up, proud of her glittery work.

"Well, that takes care of that!" she said, pocketing the card and handing the glue back to me, "Hopefully this works!"

I chuckled as I started to follow her out, but then I stopped, turning back to the camera as a thought popped into my head. I turned to Niko, who was just about to exit, "Hey, Niko?" She stopped and turned back to me, "Is it alright if…" I felt my face warm up again, "...we take one more picture?"

Niko tilted her head, "Sure, but is it of you or me?"

I pulled the lever, activating the camera one last time, before turning back to her with a soft smile, "...Both of us."

Her eyes widened and a large smile grew on her face, "Yeah, of course!"

We both moved in front of the camera. I kneeled down to Niko's height and wrapped my arm around her. In response, she leaned closer to me, causing me to smile.

"Cheese!" she trilled.

The camera flashed and we both quickly moved back around the camera to see the final product. A vague sense of excitement started to flow throughout my body. It was strange. I had never felt this excited about anything before.

The camera finally spat out the film after a couple of seconds and I grabbed onto it eagerly. As it developed, I was worried that something would ruin the picture. Did I blink? What if my head was slightly cut off?

The film finally revealed the picture and in that instant, all my doubts went away. It was…

Perfect.

Golden, yellow eyes stared back at me with a smile that was as radiant as the lightbulb itself. Next to her, it was hard not to smile at myself. It was as if all of my worries and pain had disappeared, replaced only by pure joy.

And I knew it was all thanks to her.

I kneeled down to let Niko look at it. Her grin only grew larger as she admired it, "That looks great!"

I nodded, gazing at it for one more moment before slipping it into my pocket and making sure that it was going to stay there, no matter what. I stood up and held out my hand, "Ready to get going?"

She grabbed on to it, her smile unfading, and together we headed back to the library.

Chapter Text

The cool air of the library washed over us as we walked through the entrance again. The people we had seen before had barely changed from when we first arrived, but it became a blur as we rushed up to the library bot. Niko had already pulled out the library card, so I made sure to get my picture and the glue ready for when we would pass it off to each other. I only hoped that this would work.

"We have a card!" Niko said to the robot.

"[AUTHENTICATING BARCODE...EXECUTING FACIAL RECOGNITION...]" the robot stared down Niko while I crossed my fingers, "[PHOTO MATCH...SUCCESSFUL. YOU'RE GOOD TO GO! HAVE A NICE DAY, MISS KIP.]"

Niko sweatdropped, "Maybe we should've changed the name."

I chuckled, "I think it's a wonderful name, Miss Kip."

She snorted as she walked by me, letting me steal the card from her as we moved out of the robot's line of sight. I got to work putting my picture on top of Niko's, making sure it was on there securely before heading back to the robot and showing it the card again.

The robot accepted the card, not bothering to realize it was the same card that Niko used, but I wasn't going to start complaining. I put the card in my pack and we both headed up the stairs to meet with George.

The archival room that we were supposed to find George in was packed from floor to ceiling with books. Crates of manuscripts were scattered among the floor and nearby bookshelves were filled to the brim. We had barely taken one foot into the room when a woman's voice sounded out.

"So! Someone here to see the brilliant George, eh?"

I scanned the room, looking for the source of the voice before my eyes landed on a die that was standing in front of one a table.

"Caught wind of my genius and couldn't help but come see for yourself, eh?" the die boasted, striking a very dramatic pose.

"Um-" Niko started to say but was swiftly cut off by the die.

"Don't answer! Or course you are! What else could you 'possibly' want?"

"Oh, boy…" I sweatdropped.

"Actually, we need your help!" Niko finally was able to say, "Can you tell us what we need to do? I think...we're supposed to go in the Tower..."

"Ah, but of course I can help!" George posed again, "For I...the brilliant and intelligent head librarian George, beholder of all knowledge…...believe you are supposed to go in the Tower!"

I facepalmed, "That's literally what Niko just said. We're wondering how."

"Through the Tower entrance room!" she placed on hand on her...chin? "Alas, going beyond that small entrance room requires forbidden knowledge that eludes even George."

Oh, god. She's speaking in the third person, I thought as she continued.

"...But fear not! If that knowledge happens to be recorded in some cryptic tome in a long-dead language, then know that I, George, am fluent in several dead languages!"

"I...see!" Niko sweatdropped before looking up at me with confusion.

I reached into my pack and pulled out the journal we had gotten all the way back in the Barrens. If anyone could figure out what was written here, it was probably George. I showed the journal to Niko, who nodded in response.

"We do have this book," I said, moving closer to the librarian's, "Neither of us knows what it says, so maybe you could-"

"Aha!" she said, snatching the book from my hands, "An ancient book! Written by no less than the most ancient…" she trailed off as she examined the book before falling completely silent once she opened it, "Wait a minute...this isn't ancient at all! But it's written in a dead language nevertheless." She slammed the book shut, "It's time...for me to unleash my brilliance!" she boasted, "For George (me), possessor of at least one PhD...shall translate this!"

Her slightly narcissistic attitude was giving me a slight headache, but she was willing to help us figure out what exactly was written in that book, "Well, at least we finally have some good news…" I said, rubbing my head.

"This will take some time, however," she stated, immediately starting to work on translating the journal.

Niko had started to wander around the room, looking through the crates of manuscripts, "Wow...there's a lot of loose paper and notebooks in here."

George looked up from the journal, "Oh! I see you are curious about my job...My very important job!" She struck a pose again, "You see, The Author has entrusted ME with all his ideas!" she nodded as if she was answering interview questions, "That's right...The Author sends his manuscripts directly to ME! I am in charge of publishing all of his books that everyone loves!"

Despite her self-centered attitude, I couldn't help but be slightly impressed, "That sounds like a lot of work. I'm surprised you're able to keep up."

She scoffed, "Not at all! As brilliant as I am, I still can't keep up with him! Even AFTER he stopped sending me things, I still can't catch up." She motioned to the nearby crates, "The manuscripts I need to publish just seem to be growing on its own!"

"This 'Author' seems really popular…" Niko said.

"There are literally people lining up to read his works, you know!" She motioned to herself, "They all have me to thank, of course."

I raised an eyebrow at the librarian, "What exactly does he write about?"

She scoffed again, "What DOESN'T he write about? He cranks out those scripts at the speed of light!" she placed her hand to her chin again, "Which is 299,792,458 meters per sec-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I said.

Niko smiled at her, "That's still really amazing, though! Just how much he's written!" she squinted as she lifted up a book, "But why do they all have clovers on them? Does he write about clovers?"

George chuckled, "He does, but not because of the cover! A black clover is the mark of The Author!"

The laptop flashed within my mind for a second as she kept talking.

"Since he never entrusted me or anyone else with his name, we identify his works by the mark."

Niko looked amazed, "So, he really wrote ALL of these books?"

George nodded, "I told you he was a genius! And, by extension, me!"

I rolled my eyes as my focus shifted to the bookshelves that led further into the room. More specifically, the golden books that seemed to poke out from the wall of manuscripts. Opening it up, I was surprised to find what looked like a journal entry from The Author himself, mentioning the Great Prophet, the house that Niko and I both woke up in, Calamus, and someone named Rachis, who seemed to Calamus and Alula's dad. The one that had vanished.

I placed the book back on the shelf and moved to the next one. This one wasn't a journal entry but instead seemed to be various drawings that The Author had made. I froze when I saw mention of Silver. I recalled that Kip had said her friend, which was no doubt The Author, had helped out with Silver, so I guess seeing her name here just made sense.

The last book sticking out was an entry about the black clovers themselves. I wasn't much of a plant guru in the first place, so I didn't much care for most of what was written, though it was interesting to learn that they could survive practically anywhere.

I heard a yawn closeby coming from Niko, causing me to place the book on the shelf and go back to check on her.

"Oh? What's this? You are sleepy?" George said, looking up from the journal.

Niko's eyes drooped as she stood up from one of the crates and nodded, "A little…"

"Fear not!" George boomed with yet another pose, "Because I have read a book on hospitality before and thus, have prepared for this exact situation!" She pointed down the hall where I had come from, "...Guest room's in the attic down the hall."

Niko hummed in acknowledgment before turning and bumping right into me. I chuckled and held her steady, kneeling down to her height, "Need some help?"

"Mmm…" she mumbled out.

"I'll take that as a yes," I said before lifting Niko into my arms, her slowing breaths indicating she was close to falling asleep. I thanked George for letting us stay in the guest room and turned to make my way there.

After a flight of stairs, I reached the room. A few boxes of incomplete manuscripts and loose paper sat at the foot of the bed with another black clovered journal nearby. I tucked Niko under the covers, taking off her hat as well just so she'd be a little more comfortable, and turned my attention to the book.

It was another journal entry, albeit different from the one I had read before. This one seemed to talk specifically about George, given the entry talked about a "her" plus the sketch of a die along with a simple question: "There are six. Which one did you encounter?" I chuckled and closed the book.

"...Alan?"

I looked back at the bed to see Niko awake, her cat ears fluttering around.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" I asked.

She yawned, "Not really..."

I sat down on the bed next to her, "Well, you should get some rest. We're gonna be entering the Tower soon and it'd be better to be fully rested before then."

"Are you going to sleep on the floor again?"

That caught me by surprise, but I smiled, "Not if you say otherwise."

She grabbed onto my jacket sleeve and lightly tugged. I took that as confirmation and shuffled around to lie down on the bed. Once I was comfortable, I turned over onto my side, facing her, "Better?"

She smiled and nuzzled into my chest, making my face burn up, "Definitely warmer."

I laughed which only made Niko start to giggle. She looked up at me, her eyes shining brighter than usual, "It's nice seeing you like this. Happier, I mean."

I had to admit, she was right. Ever since I told Niko about me, it's felt like a weight's been lifted from my shoulders. I felt like I could actually look forward to the next day, especially when I went back to my world.

Back to my world…

The realization hit me like a train. I could feel myself grow tense as I finally processed that once we brought back the sun…

"Alan? What's wrong?"

Niko's voice brought me back from my reverie, but it did little to calm me, especially when she was noticing how pensive I had become, "S-Sorry…I just...realized something."

"What is it?"

A pit had started to grow in my chest, "Once we enter the Tower and return the sun, you'll finally be able to go home…"

She looked confused, "I...would have thought you'd be happy about that."

I shook my head, "And I am. I'm unbelievably happy that you'll be able to go back home and see your family again, but..." I only then started to realize that I had begun to tremble. Anguish coursed through me as I tried and failed to control myself.

Niko said nothing, only hugging me tighter as I struggled to say what was threatening to tear me apart.

"When you leave, I...I-I'll never...see you again…" I finally told her, my eyes beginning to sting from the tears that were aching to escape.

It was a truth that I didn't want to admit. Niko would go home and I would go back to being on the run, forgotten…

Alone.

I felt Niko's sleeve wipe away the tears that had escaped their cage as she gazed up at me. She knew what I've been through and understood what I was feeling, but I think, deep down, she knew I was right.

She nuzzled deeper into my chest as I started to compose myself, the bitter taste of the truth still resonating throughout my body.

"I wish you could come with me...so that you didn't have to go back…" she muttered, "I know you said you weren't comfortable with it...back in the Glen, but...you've kind of been like an older brother to me...and I don't want you to leave either."

I let out a breathless chuckle, "Honestly...I'm okay with you seeing me that way now." I ruffled her blue hair as I began to feel my eyes get heavy, "Just...promise me something, okay Niko?"

I saw her look up at me one last time, "Yeah?"

"When the time comes, don't say goodbye."

I hugged Niko closer to me, letting the sound of her breathing lull me to sleep as my eyes fell shut.

It didn't feel like time had passed at all before I opened my eyes to find myself back within the dreamscape of Niko's village. Everything looked the same as the last time: the clock tower, the fountain, the surrounding houses. It was all the same, but...something felt off.

I could hear the laughter of Niko and her mom nearby in the same house as before. I made my way towards it and looked inside. Niko's previous plate of pancakes had now disappeared, the crumbs serving as the only indication of their fate. She and her mom were laughing together, though I didn't know what about.

I walked inside and Niko instantly noticed me. Her eyes radiated a warmth that she never failed to deliver, but I still couldn't shake this overwhelming dread that seemed to stay with me. Something was definitely wrong.

Niko's gaze soon moved away from me and to something off to my side. Whatever she saw, her eyes went wide and she gasped in fright. The entire area started to become darker and darker. The dread I felt became worse, as if there was something pressing down and choking the life out of me. I slowly turned towards whatever Niko had seen...and stopped. My entire body froze as my blood ran cold.

There, sitting on the floor, was the lightbulb…

...and it was shattered.

Chapter Text

My eyes shot open as I felt Niko jerk awake. I threw off the covers, only to see the lightbulb shining brightly near our legs. I breathed a quick sigh of relief before turning my attention to Niko, who was currently holding on to me and shivering. I kept her in my embrace as her shivering slowly ceased. Once it did, she leaned over to grab the lightbulb, looking it over to check for any cracks.

She turned back to me when she finished, "Hey...Alan?"

"Yeah?"

"I guess...you saw my dream?"

I nodded.

"It was…" she trailed off, too troubled by what she had seen.

I brought her back into my embrace, letting us both process the nightmare in silence. We stayed together for a while before Niko finally broke away and hopped off the bed, "Come on, let's go…"

I got up and quickly placed on hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks, "Not until I see you smile..."

Her eyes widened before the faint traces of smile started to appear, leading me to smile back at her. I pulled her into one last hug before we left the guest room together and headed back downstairs. George had to be finished by now and we'd finally figure out just what was written in that journal.

"I've done it!" George called out when we entered, "I have finished the daunting task of translating this journal!"

"Oh! That was fast!" Niko replied.

George struck a pose, "But of course! I AM the speediest translator in recent history." She moved around to the table near her, a small stack of paper in front of her, "Anyway, I made you a line-by-line transcript. It looks like this journal might be meant for Alan."

I raised an eyebrow, "For me? I guess that makes sense…"

George's...eye?... stared directly at me before she rushed up to me, "Oh my! I had no idea! Though, I should have known I was worthy enough to be visited by THE Alan himself!"

I sweatdropped, "Uh...yeah. Sure." I backed up from her, "Can I see the transcript?"

"But of course! Take a look for yourself!" she said, handing it to me.

Nine sheets of paper in total, I began to read the message that The Author had written for me, kneeling down for Niko to read it as well:

"Greetings, Alan. If you can finally read this, that means you are near the Tower.

The Tower is the domain of an elusive Entity. This being is connected to the world. For now, you can think of it as the spirit of the world.

It has no physical form, but it can communicate through computers, machinery, and...other means.

...You know who I am talking about, of course.

When you first arrived here with our savior, it no doubt contacted you right away.

Through its own means, the entity will guide both of you to the Tower.

The entry room is at the Tower's base. Not only do you need the sun there, but also three pieces of the previous sun.

The savior will not be able to do anything there. You, Alan, on the other hand…

Look at the pattern on the floor. Do as it says. The window will be gone, so you need to bring it back."

"That's all there is to it. The rest of the pages were torn out," George said when we finished, "You didn't do that, did you?"

"No!" Niko replied back.

"A shame! I was wondering what "window" was supposed to mean." George shrugged, "Ah well, I guess you'll have to figure out that one, Alan."

"...Yeah." I mumbled. I kept re-reading the message over and over. The Entity...the voice that kept speaking to me through the computers we came across throughout our journey. Knowing that the Tower was where it made its home did little to allay me, especially when I knew from the last time it spoke to me that it didn't exactly like me all that much.

And this "window"...could it mean...on the laptop? If this world was on the laptop…

"Alan? You okay?"

Niko's voice shook me out of my thoughts, "Oh! Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about what it meant by 'window'." I stood up and handed the transcript back to George, "At least we now know what that journal says."

"Speaking of which…" George started to say as she handed back the journal, "You'll probably want to keep hold of this. I've already signed it, as I am often accustomed to doing, but it was extra important to do it for you!"

"Uh...thanks," I said, putting the journal back in my pack.

Niko tilted her head at George, "By the way, what did it mean by 'three pieces of the previous sun'? I only have this sun…"

"Aha! That…" she posed, "...is a question George can answer!" She started reaching for something in her pocket, "It means you need items containing yellow phosphor, the rarest of the phosphors...said to absorb sunlight for the longest time and never fade out."

"Oh!" Niko exclaimed, "We do have a piece of amber and a feather. They're both glowing yellow…"

"Don't forget your eyes," I teased, receiving a stuck-out tongue from her.

"But alas, you are missing the third, no?" the librarian asked while still digging through her pockets, "Fear not! For George, collector of rare artifacts...will assist you!" She finally pulled out of her pocket a glowing yellow die. The numbered dots echoed the lightbulb's luminescence.

"Oh…It looks...like you?" Niko sweatdropped.

George grinned, or what looked like a grin, "Yes! Now you'll never forget my face! The face..." she struck one last dramatic pose, "...of knowledge."

"Ah, thank you!"

The librarian nodded, "Good luck on your journey, you two! George shall bid you farewell now."

Niko pocketed the die and we left the archives, heading back out to the library lobby.

"Well, I sure won't forget her glowing personality…" I said as we passed by the library bot.

Niko giggled, "I thought she was really nice!"

"Just don't start speaking to yourself in the third person, alright?"

"Niko shall make no promises!" she said with a smug grin.

"Oh no, it's already spreading…"

We both laughed as we left the library before a loud growl broke through the noise. Niko stopped and looked down at herself before another growl sounded out from her.

She rubbed her stomach and looked up at me, "Hey, Alan? Do you remember where the cafe is?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Oh, good! I'm asking because...well…" Another growl rumbled from her, "I'm...a little hungry…" Another growl. This one louder. "Actually I'm REALLY hungry! I haven't eaten anything since I got here...so is it okay if we go get some food before we enter the Tower?"

I opened my mouth to reply before I felt my own stomach grumble loudly, causing Niko to grin at me. I rubbed my stomach and smirked at her, "I think my stomach answered your question."

She giggled once more before her eyes grew wide, "I hope they have pancakes…"

She grabbed onto my hand and we walked away from the library back to the elevator. My thoughts drifted back to the Author's message and what it all meant as we rode the elevator back up to the sky bridges. This "window"...it had to be something on the laptop...but what did that mean about this world? Ever since I came here, I've wondered if this world was real or not. No doubt the laptop sent me here, but I still didn't know where "here" was. Was it a different world? Or...was it INSIDE the computer itself? Was it all...fake?

A chill ran down my spine as the elevator doors opened. I led Niko to where I remember the cafe being, all while still grappling with my thoughts.

This world...it couldn't be fake...can it? Silver, Alula, Calamus, Kip, George...they all seemed real. They FELT real. How could any of this be fake?

I rubbed my head. Maybe I was just overthinking things. Regardless of whether this world was real or not, it wasn't going to change my resolve. Save the world, Niko goes home.

We finally reached the cafe. The bartender from before was busying cleaning off the counter as he noticed us walk in, "Oh hey, you're back! Did you manage to fix the elevator?"

Niko nodded, "Mhm! Alan and I went to the surface already!"

Like George, the bartender snapped towards me with surprise etched on his face. I smiled sheepishly and waved, causing him to sweatdrop, "Well, I should have figured since you're with the messiah. I would have fixed up something for you."

"Well, about that…" I started to say before both mine and Niko's stomachs growled again, "...we remembered there was a cafe here."

"Do you have pancakes?" Niko asked, wide-eyed.

"We sure do!" the bartender grinned.

I scratched my head, "Uh, we don't really have any money…"

He chuckled, "Oh no, no! It's on the house! The least I can do for the savior and god, right?" He motioned to two stools, "Here, why don't you two take a seat? I'll start working on those pancakes right away."

Niko's mouth began to water, "Pancakes…"

I laughed and took a seat beside Niko. The lightbulb shined behind her at the base of the stool. In just a couple of minutes, a stack of fluffy pancakes was set in front of her, glistening from the syrup that covered them. Niko looked ready to just throw her face straight into the stack but restrained herself to eating normally. I received a plate as well, though with not as many pancakes. It had been such a long time since I've actually eaten pancakes to the point where I questioned if I ever really had them at all. Well, here's to finding out.

Niko had already wolfed down two full pancakes before I started eating, albeit at a MUCH slower pace than her.

"These pancakes are so good…" Niko gushed, syrup staining the sides of her face.

I chuckled, "You weren't kidding when you said you loved pancakes."

"Well, she looked quite hungry," the bartender giggled.

Niko nodded, "Yeah...I thought this would be our last chance to eat something before we go in the Tower."

"Ah, gotcha." The bartender went back to cleaning the counter around our plates, "So...I guess pancakes are your favorite food?"

"Mhm!" Niko mumbled due to her mouth being full before she swallowed, "...well, almost! My favorite food in the world are the special pancakes my mama makes!" she continued, her eyes sparkling like stars, "She likes to pick hazelnuts and grind them up into the batter."

I whistled, "That sounds pretty amazing..."

"They TASTE amazing!" she beamed, "She always made them when I was feeling sad. Or lonely...o-or..."

Her joyful mood instantly shattered. Tears began to cascade down her face, falling onto her sleeves. I abandoned my plate and immediately moved to her side to comfort her.

"Mama...I-I really miss her..." she cried, "I just...I just have a bad feeling all of a sudden!" She looked up at me, "Are we...even here to save the world? People have been saying how the sun won't fix anything!" She looked down grimly, "I don't even know why I'M here...I just wanna see my mama again."

I recognized this. This feeling of hopelessness. Everything we've been through on this journey, it's all come to a head for her. I was reminded once again that she was still only a kid, forced into a mission that she didn't ask for.

But that doesn't mean she has to bear it alone.

I wrapped my arms around her, "And you will." She looked up at me, the tears still flowing down her face. I wiped away some of the ones around her eyes, "I told you...back at the Barrens. I made a promise." I softly smiled, "We would save this world...and that I would get you home."

"Yeah...b-but..."

I shook my head. I could feel my own emotions threatening to break as I held her, "I'm not going to break my promise to you. Not now. I'll be here with you until the end."

Her sniffles continued as she held on to me tightly. I looked down at her. I could see she was trying her best to stop her tears, but I knew better than anyone that that's not the way. I tightened my hold on her and I whispered to her, "...It's okay to cry, Niko...It's okay..."

Her sobs quickly became louder as my shirt became stained with her tears. It broke my heart to see her like this, but all I could do is be here with her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the bartender shuffle around. It was obvious he wasn't really used to this, but at that moment, I didn't care. Niko was all that mattered to me right now.

Eventually, Niko's sobs quieted down and her grip on me loosened. I did as well and looked at her. The last remnants of her tears escaped as she started to calm down. I wiped them away as I finally let go of her, giving her some space, "Are you feeling better?"

"Mhm…" she mumbled, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

I reached up and rubbed her head, finally getting her to smile.

Niko went back to the plate of pancakes, which lifted her spirits a little more, but it was obvious to me that her sadness wasn't completely gone. To be honest, she wasn't the only one who had a bad feeling about entering the Tower. Coupled with how little we knew about the Entity and the Tower itself, we were practically entering it blindly. I couldn't let her see that though.

Niko finished up her plate and the bartender set to work on cleaning it, "Thanks for coming by," he said.

"Mhm! Thanks for listening...and for the pancakes!" Niko replied back as she picked up the lightbulb.

We turned to leave before I stopped, "Oh! There is actually one more thing..." I added, pulling out the empty tube of water from my pack, "Could you fill this up for us? We gotta stop by the Garden quickly."

"Sure! Just give me a quick second...," he grabbed the vial, filled up with water, and handed it back to me before waving us off, "Good luck, you two!"

Niko and I waved back before heading to the Garden. Using the miracle pill that we got from the vendor, we could keep the kernel watered, ensuring that whatever would sprout from it would actually survive. Once we reached the plant, I dropped the pill into the water, letting it dissolved before I shook it up and poured it onto the soil. The moment that water touched the seed, a tiny leaf popped out of the ground. Satisfied, I bagged the vial and we made our way back to the elevator.

We reached the ground and began to make our last trek through the city towards the Refuge, passing through the alleyway and by the vendors as the Tower slowly drew nearer and nearer. At the end of the street where the path branched off towards the lab, a smaller path broke off towards a door that looked to lead to the Tower. The doors slid open when we approached. Niko and I looked at each and, with a nod, moved through the doorway.

The building we entered was bathed in red light, courtesy of the streams of red phosphor that lined the pathway. It was quiet, our footsteps echoing throughout the area. Neither of us said anything as we followed the path. We soon arrived at the base of the Tower. The silver sheen of its walls stretched into the sky and down into the world's core. Up close, it looked completely alien, like something you would see out of a movie.

The entrance to the base laid before us. Hardly any light from the lightbulb or the phosphor illuminated the interior, keeping it shrouded in darkness as Niko and I stood before it.

"...Looks like this is it..."

"Yeah..." she replied.

I held out my hand for her, "...You ready?"

She hesitated before nodding and grabbing onto my hand.

I took one last deep breath as I looked back at the doorway, "Well...here we go."

We stepped through the doorway and entered the Tower, the lightbulb shining between us.

Chapter Text

Cold and dark.

That was what it felt like walking into the Tower's base. Even with the lightbulb shining in Niko's arms, it hardly made a dent in the seemingly impenetrable darkness. The only thing that we could see was the floor.

Red and white.

That was what shined back at us from underneath our feet. At first, I thought it was just a random tiled floor, but as I examined it more, I saw that there was an image being made.

A red "X".

I remembered what the journal had said: "Look at the pattern on the floor. Do as it says. The window will be gone, so you need to bring it back."

"What do you think we're supposed to do in here, Alan?" Niko asked, breaking the silence, "There isn't really anything in here…"

I stared at the ground. It was starting to make sense now. The only way for us to enter the Tower was for me to close whatever window was running on the laptop. The only problem was...how was I gonna get back to the laptop? I still had no clue how I was able to go back and forth from this world and mine and the only thing that let me was when the Entity spoke to me…

A sudden sharp stab of pain in my head was my answer.

"Gah…!" I cried out. It felt like the headache I had when I first woke up in that house, but so much worse. I fell to my knees, the pain too much for me to stand.

"Alan!" I heard Niko call out to me, but it was like she was at the end of a long tunnel. I could just barely hear her.

The pain intensified, almost as if my head was being crushed. Just then, light splintered across my vision, enveloping me, just like all my past visions. Was I going back to my world? Why was it so much more painful?

I could still hear Niko crying out to me, but her voice sounded like it was getting further and further away. I tried to turn and look at her, only falling flat onto my back. I could just barely see her. She was reaching out to me, but her hands kept phasing right through me. I tried to reach out to her, but at that moment, I could start to see the laptop in front of me as well as the motel room I had been in this whole time as if they were superimposed within my sight.

I could see Niko trying to hold on to me, but what grabbed my attention was what was on the laptop. A window, the one mentioned in the journal, but right in the middle of it was...Niko and...me? But I could still barely see her if I focused hard enough…

"Al..an! Wh...at's happ...ening?" Static took over Niko's voice as she called out to me again.

"Ni...ko…" I struggled to call back. The pain of being torn between two worlds was becoming unbearable, even as the laptop started becoming easier to see. I could see her perk up and reach out to me again with no success. She must have heard me. That means I was still there in that world somehow…

"A...re you ok...ay?"

I gasped for air, "Not...really…but I'm...hanging in there." I focused on the laptop in front of me. The red "X" on the floor was obvious now. I knew what I had to do. I focused back on Niko, "Niko, I need...you to...trust me...okay?"

She didn't look convinced. Her face was slowly becoming stained with tears as she continued to find some way to grab onto me. I pulled whatever strength I had and raised my hand to her, "Niko...do you...trust me?"

She looked straight at me, hesitant on what I was about to do, but she soon nodded. With that, I focused back on the laptop. I guided my hand onto it, moving the cursor up towards the "X" that sat in the top right of the window. My head started becoming worse and worse the closer I got, but I had to fight it. This was the only way. With one last push, I moved the cursor onto the "X" and clicked.

The window that I could see Niko and myself in closed. Niko vanished from my vision while the pain increased ten-fold. It felt like I was being ripped apart. I thought I was about to die, that all we had gone through was for nothing, but as light filled my vision one last time, I gasped for air as I found myself back in the hotel room with the laptop sitting on my lap.

Sweat poured down my forehead as I set aside the laptop, quickly shot to my feet, raced over to the door, and looked outside. It was pitch black outside and the rain had stopped falling. I couldn't believe it. I was back in my world.

I shut the door and stared at the laptop now sitting on the floor in amazement as I wrapped my head around what had just happened. The world was actually inside the laptop! I saw myself there! I even saw Niko there!

Niko.

"Oh, right!" I said to myself, making my way back over to the laptop. Niko was still there in the Tower. The journal said I had to bring back the window. My heart raced as I worried about her. Was she okay? What even happened to her when I closed the window?

I couldn't panic now. I had to get back to her.

I grabbed the laptop and sat up against the wall again. Moving the cursor over the black clover, I steeled myself for the painful transition back into the world. I opened the window and immediately started to feel myself become exhausted again. I didn't fight it this time, letting myself relax as I let the laptop take me back. My arms and legs began to feel heavy as my eyes slowly closed. I started to taste metal as light splintered across my vision again, something I hadn't noticed the first time I was transported to this world. The light soon became brighter and enveloped me. After what felt like hours, I could feel the familiar pulses of my headache. The light stayed present as I felt my eyes open. I could tell I was laying down on water, but the light made it hard to see where exactly I was.

I sat up, rubbing my head, as I looked around, "...Niko?"

I heard a gasp from behind me. I twisted around and saw Niko looking around at her surroundings. As she did, the light that filled whatever room we were in faded away. I breathed a sigh of relief. She was still okay and we were now inside the Tower.

Niko was still looking around, "Is this...the inside of the Tower? It's...a lot darker than I thought."

I slowly stood up, still shaky after being transported back to this world for a second time, and started to make my way over to her, "At least we're still both okay..."

Niko didn't respond as she whipped her head around, "...Wait. Where's the sun?"

I stopped. I only then noticed that Niko wasn't holding onto the lightbulb any more. In fact, it didn't seem like there was any light in here at all. I caught my breath as I started to look around, "Oh, no no no...This isn't good…"

"...Alan?"

I turned back to her, "Niko, I don't know where the sun is. I thought you had-" I stopped when I noticed Niko still looking around, confusion etched on her face.

"Alan? Where'd you go?"

My brow furrowed, "...Niko? I'm right here..." I waved my hand as she looked towards me, but she didn't seem to notice or hear me.

She started to panic, her eyes growing wide with fear, "Alan! ALAN! Where are you?!"

I felt a chill run down my spine as I rushed up to her, "Niko, I'm right here with-!" I reached out to grab her, but my hand...phased right through her, causing me to stumble through her and fall onto the floor.

I got up and stared at my hand in shock. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed sooner...It was see-through. My entire body was. I turned back to Niko who was still calling out for me in a panic. I raced back over to her. I tried to get her attention, but no matter what I did, she couldn't see me at all.

Why...why can't she see me? Why is this happening?! I thought to myself as I struggled to stay calm.

A burst of static from behind caused both of us to turn towards it. A computer had appeared. The same kind that we had used to speak to the Entity before.

Niko slowly approached it. I followed behind, still desperately trying to get Niko to see me.

"[Hello, Niko.]"

Both of us flinched as a voice spoke. The Entity.

"H...Hello…" Niko mumbled in response.

"[Congratulations. You are now inside the Tower.]"

She looked confused, "Are you talking...to me, now?"

"[Correct.]"

"But you were always talking to Alan before…" her eyes darkened, "Where is…"

"[Alan has already left. I had to resort to contacting you directly.]"

"No! I'm right here!" I yelled as loud as I could, but it still fell on deaf ears.

"Wait, so...Alan is gone, just like that?" Niko asked.

"No, I'm with you, Niko! I'm still here!" I yelled again to no reaction.

"[Correct.]"

"...for good?"

"[Correct. Alan has already finished his mission...]"

My panic instantly morphed into rage, "No! We're not done! You can't do this!"

The Entity didn't respond to me, only continuing to speak to Niko, "[...and so have you, Niko.]" Another burst of static to our right revealed a bed that had appeared out of thin air, "[Here, you can rest now. Everything that's happened here is like a bad dream. When you wake up, you will be home.]"

"Oh!" Niko's eyes lit up for a split second before she fell silent, "...but…"

"[What's wrong?]"

She sighed, "...I thought there'd be more to it, you know? I thought...we were supposed to go to the top of the Tower...I thought there was supposed to be somewhere we need to put the sun in." Her eyes began to glisten, "And now...I don't even HAVE the sun anymore...and Alan is just...gone."

I felt my eyes begin to burn, "No…! Niko, please! I'm still here with you!"

Niko didn't hear me, "...This feels wrong!" she cried as she started to tremble.

"[But you did well. You saved the world, Niko. Are you not happy?]"

My rage intensified, "No, we haven't! Don't you DARE lie to her!"

I felt a small stab of pain from my head as a response.

"I guess I am…" Niko mumbled, "But...it's just…"

The computer turned off, leaving us alone in the darkness. Niko looked over at the bed before starting to move towards it. Before she got under the covers, she stopped. I could see a single tear roll down her cheek as she whispered, "...I never even got the chance to say…" she stopped herself, gripping the covers tightly, "...No...I promised...I wouldn't say goodbye..."

I reached out to her again to no avail, "...Niko...Please..."

Her eyes closed as she fell asleep and into the trap that the Entity had set.

"[And as for you, Alan...]"

I gasped as the Entity spoke directly to me now.

"[...We're done here.]"

"No! We're not!" I yelled back in anger, "You can't do this!"

"[Of course I can. Niko is now home, where she should be.]"

"She isn't home! She's trapped here! If you'd just let us save the world, she can go home for real!"

"[This world isn't worth saving. Why should I take that risk? Just so you can feel better about yourself?]"

I was starting to lose my patience, "Why does that matter?!"

"[You were never meant to be here.]" I froze as the Entity spoke, venom dripping from its voice, "[I don't know how you came to be here in the first place, but all it has done is put Niko at risk.]"

"That's not…"

"[You never belonged here, Alan.]"

My rage vanished, replaced now only by defeat. They were the words I never wished to hear and yet...what could I possibly say back?

The Entity took my silence as his victory, "[Please don't return to this world anymore...For her sake.]"

The pulsing of my headache began to get worse as I felt myself being torn out of this world. I fell to knees as I reached out for Niko. No, I can't leave her...I promised...

Light washed over me as the pain became worse. "Niko!" I called out one last time before I found myself back in the motel room. The window from before had already closed, leaving only the black clover icon sitting in the middle of the desktop.

I frantically clicked it again, hoping something would change, that I could still go back and fix this. Instead, I didn't feel the familiar pull of being transported. All that was shown was Niko sleeping in the bed, trapped in the illusion of her home.

"No...no!" I gripped the laptop, "Niko! You have to wake up! NIKO!" I barely noticed the tears that had begun to fall as I screamed into the laptop, "Take me back! I can't leave her there! TAKE ME BACK!"

Niko stayed asleep as the window faded into darkness until it closed. I closed my eyes as my tears continued to cascade. Was there really nothing I could do…?

It couldn't end like this...I promised to get her home...

Niko...

*ding*

An alert rang out from the laptop. I slowly opened my eyes, wiping away the tears that blurred my vision. The background of the laptop had changed. What was once just a blue background had changed to a note with a black clover in the middle of it. It looked like it had been taped to the screen, but it was just a simple image. I dried the rest of my tears and began to read what the note said:

"This is not over.

Regardless of what the entity told you, there is more to the story.

Documents\Games\OneShot

Look for the clover.

Once it is active, please relaunch the program.

See you soon."

I was speechless as I read the note over and over again. This wasn't over…? There was still a way to go back…?

Niko's sleeping image flashed within my mind. If there was a way for me to go back to save her, I had to take it. I followed the note's instructions, searching through my documents folder and the "Games" folder until I found what I was looking for.

A program with no name and a black clover as its icon, similar to the program used to send me to the other world. I clicked on it and a black screen popped up. The only image present was that of a clover. I set the window aside and went back to the original program. I didn't what was about to happen, but all I could do was trust that the Author was actually helping me.

"Hang on, Niko...I'm coming...", I steeled myself and clicked. The familiar wave of exhaustion washed over me as I felt myself be transported back to the world. Light filled my vision until it was all I could see.

Eventually, I began to feel something. It felt like...wind. I opened my eyes to a bright blue sky and I soon realized I was standing in the middle of a wheat field.

Niko's wheat field.

This was definitely different than before. Did this mean...I was inside Niko's dream? The one that she was currently in as she slept in the Tower? I spun around, looking for any sign of where she could be among the golden crops.

My eyes landed on the blue waves of a hand-knitted scarf that flowed in the wind. Their back was turned towards me and they were walking around with strands of wheat held within their arms, but I knew who it was.

It...was her. It was really her.

"Niko...," I called out to her.

She stopped and turned to me. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw me. The strands of wheat fluttered to the ground as she stared at me in shock, her eyes beginning to glisten as we both just stared at each other. Before I had the chance to move, our surroundings darkened as the dream came to an end.

I awakened to feel the familiar wetness of the Tower floor. I shot up onto my feet and looked around. I had been laying next to the bed that Niko was sleeping in, who was also wide awake.

I reached out to grab her, but like before, my hand phased right through her.

She still can't see me... So that hasn't changed...

"...Hello?...Alan?" She looked around into the darkness as she hopped off the bed, "Was that you just now? I thought I...saw you in my dream."

I knew that regardless of what I said, she wouldn't hear me, but that didn't stop me from responding, "That was me, Niko...I was there..."

Her eyes darkened, "...Ah, guess you're still not here…" She stared down at the floor as she fell silent. I wished there was a way for her to know I was here, but I had no idea what to do. The Author wasn't exactly specific about what was going to happen when I opened that clover program.

I stuck my hands in my pockets and began to pace around, hoping to think of some way we could get out of here. I had barely started to move when I felt something in my pocket. Something small. I reached around and pulled out a black clover. I didn't remember ever putting a clover in my pocket...How did this get here?

"Wait...there's something in my pocket…" Niko mumbled. I watched as she also pulled a black clover from her pocket. She tilted her head, "I don't remember putting this in here…"

Just then, both of our clovers began to shine with golden light. Not enough to pierce the darkness around us, but enough to feel comforting.

"[...You're still here…]"

Niko and I flinched as the Entity spoke again.

"[...Niko, why are you still here?]"

Searing pain shot through my head, making me cry out and fall to my knees, "[YOU.]" I heard the Entity scream inside my head, "[Why did you come back, Alan?! I told you to stay away!]"

I fought against the pain and stood back up again, "You're not...keeping Niko trapped here. It's not going to end like this..."

I heard it growl, "[...you KNEW I tried to cut the story short, is that it? You want more out of me, is that it?!]"

"What I want is for this world to be saved!" I yelled.

"[This world doesn't DESERVE to be saved!]" It snarled, "[FINE. If you don't want to leave...I'll make sure you never do!]"

Bursts of static deafened Niko and I. The bed vanished before a door appeared in its place. I looked over at Niko. Her face was etched with confusion and worry, but she didn't seem to be looking at the door. Instead, she seemed like she was staring...right at me, or rather, the glowing clover in my hand.

"...Niko?" I said, wondering if she could see me now, but she didn't respond. I slowly moved the hand holding the clover around. Her gaze followed the light as I moved it around my body.

So she can see the clover, but not me...That's better than nothing, I thought as I tightened my hold on the clover and turned back to the door, Just keep following the light, Niko...We'll make it through this.

I moved to the door and pushed it open, making sure Niko was right behind me. Our environment instantly changed from the pitch blackness to that of a series of hallways that looked to be neverending. Cracks splintered across the walls, allowing for dark purple light to creep its way into the halls.

I had barely moved when I felt a pulse from my headache, but this one wasn't painful like the others. It just felt...strange. My vision soon blurred as the laptop came into focus. I panicked. At first, I thought I was pulled out of the Tower, but I stopped when I still saw Niko next to me, her eyes never leaving the light that emanated from my clover. I was stuck between two worlds, but the pain was absent.

I focused back onto the Tower and looked down at the clover in my hand. Static flashed across my sight before I saw that I was now holding a piece of paper. The clover from before was at the bottom right of the sheet, filling in a hole that fit the clover perfectly. Most of the note had been cut out, almost as if on purpose, but there was something written on it:

"Back then, I told you about the Entity as little as possible."

Was this...The Author? I focused back on the laptop window as I reread the note. The cut-out part of the note seemed to show which path for us to take, guiding us through these neverending hallways. I took a deep breath and began to walk down the path the note showed for us to go. Niko followed behind me. She must have guessed the light of my clover was important. Just as long as we don't get separated anymore...

Walking down the path the note suggested, we were brought back to the same crossroads, but the note in my hand had now changed:

"Apologies for that...I did not want to put the librarian in danger."

I was right. This was The Author. Whatever that program from before was doing, it was guiding us through the Tower. I silently thanked him, made sure Niko was still with me and kept following the paths the note showed us as I continued to read the messages that appeared every time we arrived at the crossroads again:

"This being has a habit of silencing the people who learn of its true nature.

Regrettably, I have seen it happen to dear friends…

...Ah, but do not worry. The Entity cannot touch you.

...Nor can it do anything to me.

I already left the world on my own terms."

I stopped as I read that last line. He's left the world? But, he delivered the laptop to me...Does that mean he was in my world now? Or did he leave that one too? I shook my head. I probably wasn't going to figure that out anytime soon, so I kept moving. The hallway brought us to a different part of the Tower. The corridors from before were gone, replaced by doorways which led to other doorways, but the messages continued as it kept guiding us:

"...I never meant for the Entity to exist.

But now that it is fully sentient, one thing became clear.

The Entity seeks death."

I shivered. I had already figured that out for myself. He had already said the Entity was the spirit of this world, but I still couldn't wrap my head around why it would want to destroy everything in the first place. I kept reading as Niko followed behind:

"Death to itself, death to the world…

...A relentless desire that manifested physically.

You have already seen the scars."

He must have meant the squares. They were almost like rashes you could get on your skin when you were sick, but these were doing far more damage to the people in this world than just a simple cold:

"Right now, the Entity is doing everything it can to impede your progress...

Stalling for even a few minutes…before you inevitably bring the Sun to the Tower's summit."

So we were going to make it after all! I couldn't help but let a laugh escape. We'd save this world and Niko will get home! As the message changed again, I calmed down and continued reading:

"That is where you, Alan, will make the final judgment for the world.

Of course, the Entity will contact you again there.

And when it does, it will trick you into shattering the sun.

This will end the world instantly."

Chills went down my spine. I knew shattering the sun would end the world instantly, but I didn't think the Entity would try and trick us into shattering it. I doubt Niko would be okay with letting this world die.

The next two messages were blank. It still guided us where we needed to go, but there was no message, only ellipses. Moving through another door brought the words back, but something seemed wrong:

"...no, no...it is not that simple.

I am sorry. I do not know what to do in a situation like this.

...But I think I have to tell you the truth."

The...truth? Oh, I wasn't going to like this…

The room changed once again. This time, purple panels lined the floor, like the panels back when we saved Alula. The note showed the panels that needed to be lit up. I watched myself walk across the panels, lighting them up, as I continued to read:

"The sun is the messiah's tie to the world.

As long as the sun is intact, the messiah remains trapped here."

Wait...what...?

"Shattering the sun may terminate this world, but...

...it is also the only way for the messiah to return home."

A ring sounded out as I stepped on the last panel. Light began to fill up the room, but I was too stunned by what I had just read. Shattering the sun...was the only way for Niko to go home...? That...that couldn't be right...

One last message appeared as the note began to fade away:

"I did not realize things could end up like this...

...please forgive me."

With that, the laptop, along with the window and the clover in my hand, vanished from my sight. I found myself standing against a railing, overlooking a grey clouded sky. At least...I think it was a sky. The weight of the Author's message finally hit me as I gripped the railing for balance. This world and Niko...we...I couldn't save both...? No...no, weren't we suppose to save both?!

I heard a gasp from behind me, "The lightbulb! Thank goodness it's safe…"

I turned from the railing to see Niko's back towards me again. The lightbulb laid at her feet, though its light had disappeared. She was silent as I noticed a few tears fall down her cheek.

"I guess...Alan isn't coming back…"

Right then, I pushed aside the dread that had started to build following The Author's message and slowly walked up to her. I steeled myself and spoke, "...Niko, I'm here."

She gasped and spun around as fast as a bullet. Her eyes were wider than I had ever seen them as she stared up at me, "...Alan?"

I caught my breath, "...You can see me now?"

More tears began to fall as she nodded. I could hardly contain my joy as I felt myself start to come undone, my own eyes beginning to sting before I fell to my knees as my own tears began to fall. Niko launched herself at me as we both embraced each other, tears streaming down both our faces.

"I...I-I thought y-you were gone…" she cried as my shirt became stained with her tears.

I tightened my hold on her, "...I never left you."

She looked up at me, "O-Oh! S-So that light...was you?"

"Yeah, that was me." I smiled.

"I was...f-feeling a bit scared back there. I t-thought I was alone..."

"I'd never leave you alone," I pulled her closer, "...I'm just so glad you're okay, Niko..."

"You too, Alan..."

We stayed wrapped in each other, taking solace in each other's embrace, until Niko leaned back, "Ah, we should probably figure out where to go now, and-"

The lightbulb suddenly ignited, bathing us in yellow light. We both stared at it in shock before Niko moved out of my grip and back over to the lightbulb, "The sun! It lit up on its own!" She looked over at me, "Guess I should pick it up, right Alan?"

I nodded, but I felt my gaze lock-on to the lightbulb as I thought back to The Author's message...about shattering the sun and what that meant for Niko. Before I had any time to let my dread take over, Niko picked up the bulb and its light began to grow brighter and brighter.

"Oh, not again..." I mumbled, before grabbing onto Niko. I held onto her as the light washed over us.

Chapter Text

My eyes ached from the blinding light as it slowly began to fade away. I groaned, "Man, I would have really liked to have little more warning before being blinded...again." As my eyes finally adjusted, I stared down at Niko in my arms, "You okay?"

She stared back at me silently before she started to giggle. I was taken aback, "What's so funny?"

She kept giggling as she smiled up at me, "Remember back when we first met? When we left that house and entered the Barrens? You held onto me exactly the same way as just now."

It took me a second to realize what she was talking about before I started to laugh, "Well, at least THIS time, it isn't completely awkward."

She laughed with me as she left my grip. She stopped and looked around, "Where...are we?"

I studied our surroundings. It was dark, that much was certain. The floor had changed from metal sky bridges to a normal wooden floor. The more I looked around, the more familiar it all felt. My gaze wandered past Niko and noticed that we were at the end of a long hallway. A very familiar looking hallway…

I jumped to my feet, "Hang on, I think I know where we are…" I motioned for Niko to follow me as I started walking down the corridor. At the end of the hall was a door that revealed a large flight of stairs that led up into the darkness. We began to climb the stairs. Each step we took, I became more and more certain of where we were. The dark hallway, the familiar wooden floor, the long flight of stairs...it was exactly the same as…

We passed through one last door at the top of the stairs and my suspicions were confirmed. It was the house we both had woken up in when we arrived in this world. Only this time, it didn't look run down. The holes in the floor were now gone and the furniture looked completely new.

"Deja vu…" I murmured as we moved through the house. We entered the door that was next to the TV, the room Niko had woken up in. Like the foyer, it was completely clear in here. No holes in the floor, no fractures in the shelves…

Niko walked over to the window. Soft grey light poured through, but it was nearly impossible to see the outside. "I wonder where that light is coming from…" Niko commented before moving back through the room, eyeing everything with a wary gaze. I looked through the bookshelf, pulling random books off and opening them. Most of them were blank, save for one. A simple phrase, but something about it unsettled me:

Ad finitum.

I didn't know what it meant so I placed the book back where it was. Niko had finished exploring everything, so we both left the room. The only door left was different than before. Instead of a symbol of the lightbulb, it was just a normal door. Opening it led to another flight of stairs. Not as long as coming from the basement, but it led us higher, presumably to the summit.

Niko and I walked side-by-side up the stairs and into the corridor. We were both silent as the floorboards creaked under us. I should have been excited that we were finally nearing the end. We were going to save the world...and Niko would finally get back home...but I wasn't.

My thoughts drifted back to the Author's messages and the sad truth he made clear: It was impossible to save both. If we shatter the sun, this whole world and everyone in it will die, but Niko will be able to go home. If we return the sun…

A chill ran down my spine. What was going to happen to Niko if we returned the sun? The Author never mentioned what would happen afterward. She wouldn't go home, so then...did that mean…?

The hallway glitched into black and purple wireframe as Niko suddenly stopped moving. I stopped as well when I felt the familiar pressure of my headache return before a voice spoke, "[So...you actually made it here.]"

I growled, "What do you want now?"

The Entity sighed, "[I...guess you win, Alan. I will tell you how to save the world, then.]"

"Look, it's a bit late to be trying to make nice with me after what you just put both of us through. Just stay silent and let us do our thing, okay?" The hallway quickly returned to normal and Niko began to walk again. She hadn't realized that the Entity was speaking to me. Good, I didn't feel like making nice with the thing that had separated us and lied to her.

A couple more paces before the wireframe returned and the Entity along with it, "[Of course. I'm simply humoring you. I already know you've been getting help from a certain someone.]"

I caught my breath. He knew about the Author? Did that mean that he knew about…?

"[Yes, I already know that he told you about the choice.]" it said, reading my thoughts.

The Entity vanished once again, only to return after a few more steps down the corridor, "[Are you still planning to save the world, Alan?]"

I didn't respond. I had no idea what I could say. The Entity continued, "[Why are you trying so hard for this? Haven't you even figured out what this world IS?]"

"It's...fake, right?" I faltered, "It's on the laptop...It's all just a program…"

"[Exactly.]"

A few more paces…

"[I already told you before, this world was never worth saving. Your mission is to help Niko leave...because Niko isn't part of this world. She is the only thing worth saving here.]"

I wanted to argue. I wanted to scream and yell that it was wrong. Just because this world was a window on a laptop...was fake...that didn't mean the people's lives were fake. It FELT real…

But...it was right. By saving them, Niko doesn't go home.

"[...The final choice is up to you."] The Entity said, "[I can't go against my programming.]"

Niko and I rounded a corner, "[You only have one shot, Alan. If you choose to smash the lightbulb, then Niko wakes up back home, like it was all a dream…]"

And I end up killing an entire world...I thought.

"[...But if you let Niko return the sun, the child will have to bear the weight of this sacrifice.]"

I froze in shock. Sacrifice…? Surely, that doesn't mean…

"[At least, tell Niko the truth...You do care about Niko, don't you?]"

I did. I cared about her so much. She was like the little sister I never got to have...but could I really justify killing an entire world to send her home? Silver, Calamus, Alula, the Lamplighter, the Bartender, Kip, George...all of them…

The wireframe vanished for the final time as the doors to the elevator slowly opened and we stepped inside. I stuffed my hands into my jacket, hiding them from Niko so that she didn't see them trembling.

My thoughts continued to race as the elevator took us higher...and higher...and higher towards the summit.

"...Sure is taking a while…" Niko spoke. She looked up at the ceiling, "I guess this elevator leads to the top of the Tower, Alan…"

I said nothing.

"...Are you excited, Alan? We're finally gonna save the world! And I know it's for real this time, cause you're here!"

I glanced over at her as she continued, "And then...I'll get to go home for real this time, too! I can't wait to see everyone again..."

I could feel myself grow tense as she spoke those words. She didn't realize...that that wasn't how this was going to end…

"...Are you okay, Alan?"

I flinched, "Huh? What...do you mean?"

Her head tilted, "You just seem...a little quiet…"

Chills began to run down my spine. I couldn't keep this from her, but...it would crush her. I had no other choice. I prepared myself and faced her, "...Niko."

She perked up, "...yeah?"

I clenched my fists harder, "T-There's...something I need to tell you."

"...I'm listening."

My chest felt like it was on fire as I choked on the truth, "We…" I barely realized my eyes started to burn as I stared into Niko's golden irises, "...we can't save both." She looked confused, prompting me to keep going, "The world...a-and you…"

Her brow furrowed, "Wh...what's that supposed to mean, Alan?"

I tore my gaze away from her as I could feel my knuckles turn white, "The only way to send you home…" I squeezed my eyes shut, "...is if we break the lightbulb."

I didn't hear a response at first. I opened my eyes to look at her, only to see her eyes wide with horror. The onyx slits of her pupils narrowed to the point of vanishing.

"W-What?!" she cried out, "But won't that…But won't that end the world?!"

I didn't answer.

"I...I don't want that to happen…" she trailed off as silence filled the elevator.

I couldn't stop my shaking as we continued to climb. Everything we've been through, all the people we've met...knowing that they all had to die for Niko to leave...it all was starting to become too much…

"So…" Niko began to say, "...what happens when we save the world?" She looked up at me with fear in her eyes, "...What happens to me…?"

"…I don't know..."

"Y-You...don't?" she faltered before we both fell silent again.

The rest of the elevator ride was like that. Neither of us said a word, lest one of us ended up breaking down. Suddenly, the elevator stopped and the door slowly opened.

We walked out into a room of glass. Looking down at the world below, it all looked so small. It hardly calmed me, knowing that everyone down there was waiting for us. Waiting for our decision…

I turned away to see Niko slowly approaching a small pedestal. I came up next to her and we both stared at it.

"So this is where the sun belongs…" Niko began, "If I put the sun in here, we'll be able to save the world, right?"

"Yeah…"

"But if I want to go home...I'll have to…" she broke off as she began to cry, "...break it?"

I nodded silently.

"Oh…"

Neither of us said anything. Neither of us knew what to do. This was a decision that neither of us wanted to make.

"...Alan?" she sniffled, "What should I...do?"

I caught my breath as she looked up at me, her golden eyes stained with tears, "What's the right thing to do?"

The right thing to do…

There wasn't a right choice. There wasn't a way to figure out which was the right choice. I stood there, staring at the pedestal in a daze. Returning the sun meant we save the world, but Niko doesn't go home...and letting Niko go home means I doom an entire world. I felt myself hover over to the window as I stared out into the blackness that filled the sky.

I didn't know what to do. I replayed our journey over and over, wondering if there was something I missed...if there was some way that this could've ended differently, but I couldn't think of anything. My fists clenched as I started to become angry...Angry at the Entity, at the Author, at myself. Why did it have to end like this? Why did it have to be Niko? Why did it have to be ME? Why did I have to choose between saving an entire world or letting it die?! Why did saving the world mean letting the only friend I've ever had, the only friend I've ever CARED about, suffer an unknown fate?!

Why? Why?! WHY? WHY?!

With a cry, I slammed my fists against the glass. Tears had begun to sting my eyes, forcing me to squeeze them shut. This isn't fair...it isn't fair...I kept repeating to myself over and over again.

This world...Even if it was fake, it felt real. These people…felt REAL. If it was just me, returning the sun would be a risk I'd be willing to take...

...

...but I could never, EVER, risk her.

I slowly opened my eyes and turned towards Niko, who was staring at me in anticipation, waiting for my inevitable choice. I walked up to her and knelt down to her level. I laid a hand on the sun and looked her in the eye. It took every ounce of my being to not break down on the spot, but it was becoming harder and harder as we stared at each other. Eventually, I finally found the courage to speak.

"...You're going home, Niko."

Her eyes widened at first before they darkened, "I…" she started to say, "...I trust your judgment, Alan."

I started to feel the onset of tears as my gaze fell to the floor, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise…" I whimpered as I took the sun out of her hands.

Her tears began to fall faster as she wrapped her arms around me, her sobs muffled against my jacket. I rubbed her back with one arm as I held out the sun above the floor with the other.

Silver, Kip, George, Lamplighter...Calamus, Alula...I'm so sorry…

Taking one last breath, I closed my eyes, held onto Niko tightly, and let the lightbulb fall out of my hands and onto the floor.

*CRASH*

The familiar yellow glow of the sun disappeared as the ear-splitting sound of glass shattering reverberated against the walls of the Tower. It wasn't until I opened my eyes again that I saw that Niko and I were in complete darkness. The Tower was gone. All that remained was a void.

Niko looked up from my chest and looked around, "...Alan? What happened? It's really dark in here..."

"I don't know...but I don't think we're in the Tower anymore..."

Suddenly, a ray of light shined on us from nearby. It looked...like a door, but I couldn't see the other side.

"Niko…?"

She perked up, "Oh! I hear someone!" She hopped out of my grip as she moved closer to the doorway, "...Mama?" She turned back to me, "That's her! I can hear her calling me!"

She started to jog towards the light. I followed after her, but before I could reach the doorway, I was knocked back by an invisible wall. Niko heard me and raced back to my side, "Alan? What's wrong?"

I put out my hand, feeling the wall I had just crashed into. It felt like static. Just touching it made my hand start to hurt. I pulled away and looked at Niko, "I think...this is where we part ways."

"But…I want you to come with me," she lamented, "I don't want you to go back to being alone…"

I don't want to be alone either...

I shook my head and smiled, "The only thing that matters now is that you're almost home."

I don't want you to leave...

"You'll be home...and this will have all been like a dream."

I don't want you to forget me...

"You'll be with your friends...and your family."

Please don't leave me behind…

I pulled Niko into one last hug as tears started to roll down my face. Niko held onto my shirt tightly as she whispered, "Thank you...for everything, Alan."

Please don't let me go…

She let go of me and began to walk through the wall that kept me from following her.

Please...don't go…

She stood at the precipice of the door, turning back to look at me one last time before she walked into the light. Her silhouette grew dimmer and dimmer as she walked further and further away before it vanished entirely. I soon began to feel myself being pulled back to my world. Light washed over me before it began to fade. I found myself back in the motel room, staring at the laptop in front of me.

All the places we had been...The Refuge, The Glen, The Barrens...I watched as they all faded away, leaving only darkness in its place. As the last of the world disappeared, a message popped up:

FATAL ERROR: SAVIOR NOT FOUND. SHUTTING DOWN.

With that, the window closed, leaving me alone.

It was over...Niko was finally home...but I had given the Entity exactly what it wanted. Death to an entire world.

I stayed motionless as the first few rays of light from the coming sunrise streamed in through the windows. I dragged the laptop off of my lap but stopped when I felt something in my pocket. Something small...I reached in and pulled out whatever it was...and froze.

It was the picture of me and Niko, close together as the sun shined between us. Her pure, golden eyes stared back at me as the weight of all that had just happened finally crashed down on me.

I...I killed them. Silver, Calamus, Alula, Kip, George, the Lamplighter, the Bartender...I killed them all. And Niko...Niko is gone...forever.

I held the picture close to my heart...

...and I wept.

Please...come back to me...

End of Act One

End Theme: Rain - Martin O'Donnell

Chapter Text

Act Two Theme: She Is The Sunlight - Trading Yesterday

I was sprawled out among the wheat, gazing up into the pink sky as the sun began to set. The wind made waves throughout the field, putting me at ease. The soft crunching of steps on the ground alerted me to the presence of someone else before the sky was blotted out by the silhouette of a young child looking down at me. I smiled as I recognized the familiar scarf and whiskers that stood over me.

"Enjoying yourself, Alan?" Niko grinned as she smiled back.

"Very much," I replied, putting my hands behind my head and closing my eyes.

She giggled, "Well, Mama's making dinner right now. You better hurry before I end up eating your plate."

I peeked open one eye, "Oh? Is that a threat?"

She began to scamper away, "Only if you don't make it in time!"

I laughed and jumped to my feet, racing off after her. I followed after the tail-end of her waving scarf as we traveled through the wheat stalks back towards the village though I quickly ended up losing sight of her after passing through a thick bundle of wheat.

"Uh oh...Hope I don't end up getting lost," I said to myself. The sun had passed by the horizon, with the few remaining rays of light shining beyond it. I continued making my way through the field, trying to find my way back to the village. The night came swiftly. The golden wheat soon faded into a foreboding blackness. With hardly any light to see where I was going, I started growing nervous.

"Niko? I think I got lost! Where'd you go?" I called out into the night. I couldn't believe I had gotten lost from her. I don't remember going that far from the village…

…

...Wait, I don't even remember leaving a village...

I kept pushing through the wheat as I started to become more and more scared, "Niko! Where are you?!" I sped up my pace, running in a random direction, hoping I would come across the village and be safe back with Niko, but as I continued to run past more and more stalks of wheat, I began to panic.

"NIKO!" I cried out into the night, hoping to hear something. Anything. It only then occurred to me that...I didn't hear anything. No wind. No chirping of crickets. Not even the crunch of leaves under my feet. I felt my heart beat faster and faster as my blood ran colder and colder, "NIKO, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

I broke through one last group of wheat to find myself in a wide-open plain. Wheat was nowhere to be found. Even when I looked back to where I came from, the wheat had vanished. I turned back around and froze as I saw Niko standing only a couple of feet away with her back facing me.

"N-Niko?" I whispered, inching closer and closer to her, "W-What's going on? Where'd everything go?"

She slowly turned towards me and I saw the tears that were falling down her cheeks. The area around us became consumed by darkness as we stared at each other until she spoke, "Why did you let them die, Alan?"

I stepped back, "W-What…?"

"Why did you let us die, Alan?"

Other voices poured out of the darkness as the shadows of those I had met in the other world materialized behind Niko. Their eyes bored into me as the darkness surrounding us became more and more suffocating.

"Why did you let us die, Alan?"

I could feel my body tremble as my voice shook, "I-I...I wanted Niko to go home...I couldn't save both!"

The silhouettes resembling Calamus and Alula stepped forward, "We trusted you to save us. You promised us! And what did you do? You killed us all. Just to save a girl that you'll never see again."

I fell to my knees, "I...didn't have a choice...I wanted to save your world and her…"

The shadows of Kip and Silver stepped forward, "Did you really want to save our world? Or did you just want to feel like you mattered to someone?"

Tears fell onto my hands, "I'm sorry...please...I'm so sorry…"

"Alan..."

I looked up at Niko and watched as the area around us morphed into black and purple wireframe as the darkness began to consume us.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Niko…" My tears wouldn't stop, no matter how hard I tried. Niko walked up and wrapped her arms around me.

"...You need to wake up, Alan," I heard her say before the darkness consumed us both.

I gasped as my eyes flew open. The dust that had gathered around me while I slept flew away as I wiped away the tears that had fallen in my sleep. The coldness of the room bit into my skin as I shivered, wrapping the blanket tighter around me. From outside, I could hear the horns of cars driving by as the morning rush hour began.

It's been two weeks since my journey with Niko came to an end. Two weeks since I last saw her. Two weeks since I doomed an entire world to make sure she got home. The nightmare I had just experienced was something I've been having ever since. It always took place in the wheat field. It always had the specters of those I left to die. It always ended with us being consumed by darkness. It was getting close to the point where I dreaded falling asleep.

I felt more tears stream down my face as the nightmare played over and over in my mind. Not a day went by that I didn't think about Niko. When she left, it was like a piece of me had died. I didn't even really know why I kept moving during the day. There was hardly anything to look forward to. If Niko were here, she'd probably give me a hug and tell me not to worry, that we'd make it through together.

I chuckled darkly to myself. Yeah, that's probably what she would do. Honestly, there were times where I could still hear her voice, times where I could still feel her hand in mine as I roved aimlessly through the city and countryside. But that's ridiculous for me to think. She's gone. She's where she belongs.

I looked over at my pack that sat against the wall with the laptop poking out from the top. After leaving the motel room, I carried the laptop with me everywhere I went. I wasn't really sure why. Maybe because it was the only tangible memory I had of her or maybe it was to constantly remind me of the price I had paid, of the world I destroyed.

My stomach growled, pulling me out of my reverie. Oh, right. I probably should get something to eat. I still had some money that I, er..."borrowed" from other people. It wasn't like they were gonna go broke.

I folded up my blanket and stuffed it into my pack, making doubly sure that the laptop was snug, before putting it on and leaving the room. It was an abandoned apartment building, left to wither for what seemed like a couple of months. Perfect for someone like me to use as a hideout; I just wish there was a bed somewhere.

I froze as memories quickly overtook my thoughts:

"Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Not really..."

"Well, you should get some rest. We're gonna be entering the Tower soon and it'd be better to be fully rested before then."

"Are you going to sleep on the floor again?

"Not if you say otherwise."

"...Please?"

I shuffled onto the bed and laid down, turning onto my side so that I faced her, "Better?"

She smiled and nuzzled into my chest, "Definitely warmer."

As the memory faded, I found myself in the middle of the hallway, its emptiness acting as a mirror. I shook my head and got in control of myself. I can't think about that anymore. She's gone. Accept it.

I opened a window at the end of the hallway and mantled out onto the staircase that ran up and down the building. Trash littered the alleyway as I made it to ground level and headed out onto the street. I knew there was a small diner nearby that I could get something to eat, though it only served to bring back more memories:

"Hey, Alan? Do you remember where the cafe is?

"Yeah, I think so."

"Oh, good! I'm asking because...well…" A growl rumbled from her stomach, "I'm...a little hungry…" Another growl. "Actually, I'm REALLY hungry! I haven't eaten anything since I got here...so is it okay if we go get some food before we enter the Tower?

I felt my own stomach growl, causing her to smile, "I think my stomach answered your question."

She giggled before her eyes grew wide, "I hope they have pancakes…"

No, I can't think about that. She's gone. I have to accept it, no matter how much it hurts.

I found the diner and walked in, the bell above the door sounding out my arrival. I took off my pack and took a seat at one of the booths. As I ordered food, my thoughts continued to fall back to Niko:

"...Y'know, I used to be scared of the dark, Alan. It's...a little hard to imagine that now, after spending so much time here...but not long ago, I couldn't even go to sleep without a lamp…"

"...Me too."

"Really? Even though you're a god?"

"I'm not a god. I'm just a person like you. Though, to be honest, I still don't really like the dark. Too many...bad memories. It's a good thing you got over that fear."

"Yeah. Otherwise, I wouldn't last long here...Then again, I've been carrying around the sun, so it's not too bad. And also...I don't feel scared at all with you guiding me." She leaned against my shoulder, "So...thanks for that."

The world through the window near the booth blurred as my heart ached to go back to that time, to see Niko's smile one more time. I held back my tears for fear of breaking down in public. It'd just draw unwanted attention to me; something that I really didn't want.

The waiter came back with my plate. I stopped when I saw the small stack of pancakes in front of me. Was I really so broken that I ordered pancakes without even realizing it? I chuckled to myself. If Niko were here, they'd be gone in a matter of seconds while she asked for more. I felt a single tear escape as I began to eat, every bite reminding me more and more of her:

"Do you have a birthday, Alan?"

"I do...but it's been a while since then."

"Oh! Then...what's your favorite food? Is it pancakes? Wait, DO you like pancakes?"

"It's been a while, but I'd say I enjoyed them. You're really passionate about pancakes, huh?"

"Well, yeah! On my last birthday, I ate ten of them! I was so full I didn't eat anything else that day…"

"Those must have been good pancakes then."

"My mama makes the best pancakes!"

I finished my plate as the memory receded. I quickly paid and left, making sure my pack stayed with me.

From there, I didn't know what to do. All I had ended up doing was wandering throughout the city. I didn't have enough supplies to move back into the countryside, but I didn't have the motivation to try and prepare. I hardly had a reason to keep going.

I trudged through the crowd as I explored the city. At times, it reminded me of the Refuge. So many people crammed together; stuck in a routine that never changed. The only difference was it didn't feel like the end of the world. Well, at least...not for them. Niko probably would've been starstruck by everything…

"Wow…" she breathed out, moving closer to the railing, "I've...actually never been to a big city before!"

"I kind of figured."

"All these lights...all these people…"

"It's a lot to take in, right?"

"It's definitely a lot different from my village. It's really small and surrounded by huge fields!"

I ended up bumping into a guy in a suit as I zoned out from the memory.

"Watch where you're going, punk!" he barked before vanishing into the crowd.

"Sorry…" I mumbled to no one as I kept walking towards nowhere.

As Niko continued to occupy my thoughts, I kept asking myself "why". Why was I forced to choose between her or an entire world? Why couldn't there have been another way? Why couldn't I stay with her? Despite how crazy the whole thing was, I wanted so desperately to go back, to try and find another way, to feel like I mattered, to be with her again…

Time passed quickly as I roamed the streets and alleys, never stopping to look where I was going. The only thing I thought about was the other world and Niko:

"Hey, Alan…?"

"Yeah, Niko?"

"You know when you said not to get too excited after we woke up?"

"Yeah…"

She yawned, "...I think you may have been right…"

"Well, get some more rest. I'll wake you up when we get to the Glen."

"Mhm…" Her breathing slowed as she fell against my chest, "...you're really warm, by the way…"

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, causing me to bump into a trash can.

*CRASH*

"Oh, crap...!" I cried out as I fell face-first onto the pavement. Pain streaked through my body as I sprawled out on the ground. Trash hovered over me before the alley I was in quickly returned to its quiet nature. I didn't feel like getting up. I just wanted to fade away right on the spot…

"C'mon, Alan! You gotta keep going! I believe in you!" Niko's voice echoed in my head like she had never gone in the first place. Maybe that was just a sign that I was finally starting to go crazy.

I sighed and slowly lifted myself off the ground, brushing off the trash that stuck to me. I looked up at the thin streak of the sky above me. The sky had turned orange as the sun was starting to fade past the horizon. I stuffed my hands in my jacket, "Guess I better get back to the room…"

*BANG*

I whipped around towards the sound of metal hitting the pavement. Someone had kicked over one of the dumpsters at the entrance of the alley, its trash scattering throughout the alley. The only thing I saw shoot past the corner was the end of a dark scarf. My Fight or Flight instincts kicked into overdrive as I waited for my mysterious follower to reveal themselves, but the alley remained empty. I began to back away towards the other end of the alley, never taking my eyes off where the sound came from. As I reached the exit, nothing else happened. I slowly relaxed as I got further and further away from the alley. Whoever that was, I'm glad they ran away. I was not in the mood to be messed with.

The walk back to the hideout kept me on my toes. I constantly looked over my shoulder, hoping that I wasn't being followed by whoever had been sneaking around in that alley. Fortunately, I couldn't see anyone that was out to get me, making it back to the hideout safe and sound just before it got dark. I set down my pack and looked out the withered window. The skyline reflected the lights of the streets below and I could hear the cheers of people eagerly walking to the nearest bar to get wasted.

My thoughts drifted back to the Refuge; To the lamplighter, the bartender, Kip, and everyone else that lived there. I wonder if they knew what happened when the sun shattered; if they were aware of their world dying before they ceased to exist.

My gaze fell to the floor as I down the wall. They trusted me...and now they're gone. Grief enveloped me like a storm cloud as tears began to stream down my face. They didn't deserve it...None of them did…

I didn't bother to dry my tears as I pulled out my blanket and wrapped it around myself. I prayed that I wouldn't have the same nightmare again, but I knew in my heart that it'll probably haunt me for the rest of my life.

As I began to close my eyes, one last memory flowed through me:

"...I know we've only known each other for a couple of hours and that you're supposed to be the God of this world, but…" she looked up at me with warmth in her eyes, "...I consider you my friend...and friends take care of each other."

Quiet sobs escaped my lips as I fell asleep, "I miss you, Niko...I miss you so much…I just want you here with me..."

All I want is to see you again, I thought to myself as I finally succumbed to the darkness of rest.

Chapter Text

The deep rumble of thunder stirred me from my sleep. Rain pelted the window as I wiped away at my eyes. This thunderstorm had been going on for the past couple of days, though this was the first time it had woken me up. It was probably for the best if I ended up having the same nightmare again.

I looked next to me to see the laptop sticking out of my pack. Without thinking, I pulled it out and opened it, moving to the "OneShot" program. Opening it only revealed the same black screen and error message as I had seen before:

FATAL ERROR: SAVIOR NOT FOUND. SHUTTING DOWN.

I sighed. I didn't why I kept opening the program if nothing was going to change. I think I remember hearing how that was the definition of insanity. Honestly, that wasn't too far off from how I felt, but I guess I really was hoping for something to be different every time I opened the laptop.

I stared at the error message for a while, contemplating whether I should try to fall back to sleep or not. It's not like there was anywhere I could go. Not with the wall of rain that was falling onto the city. What I wouldn't give to be back in that warm wheat field…

I adjusted the blanket around me and shut my eyes, keeping the laptop on my lap. Even if I wasn't going to sleep well tonight, I may as well keep the laptop close to me. The heat emanating off it did help combat the chilly weather that seeped in from the outside.

As I drifted off, I found myself thinking of Niko again…

...I still miss her…

…

…

...

*ding*

…

...Huh?

My eyes opened to see that the screen had...changed? A letter had replaced the black void. I blinked. Was I already dreaming? I didn't think I could fall asleep that fast. I rubbed my eyes again in an attempt to wake myself up, but when I looked at the laptop again, the letter was still there. I felt my heart pound against my chest as I read the letter:

"Alan, it looks like you completed your mission in the world.

And...I'm sorry. I know you wish to return.

But the Entity called itself OneShot for a reason.

That restriction was implemented a long time ago.

Removing it now is impossible.

...At least, for me."

My brow furrowed. What's that supposed to mean…? I put aside that question and kept reading:

"...If you would be so kind as to test something for me…

I do not know the full extent of your capabilities, so pardon me if this sounds foolish.

A log of your saved progress may exist somewhere on the laptop…

...Maybe even in the same location as my last letter to you.

If this "saved progress" log takes the form of a file, perhaps you can manipulate it.

Try removing it from its current location...A simple deletion will do."

My fatigue had completely vanished when I read those words. Was the Author saying what I think he was saying? If I found this "log", would it undo the ending? Would I be able to go back?

"Again, I apologize for not knowing the extent of your capabilities.

If what I described confuses you, I am sorry."

I re-read the letter over and over. Part of me was scared that this was just some elaborate prank...but, if it was true...if what he was implying was true…

"Niko…" I whispered as my eyes began to sting. I...I could see Niko again. I could find another way to get her home without destroying the world. It almost seemed too good to be true, but I had nothing else to lose.

I was wide awake as I opened up the Documents folder, my heart beating faster and faster as I scoured the folder, looking for this "saved progress". Eventually, inside the same folder that had the clover program that guided me and Niko through the Tower, was a file: "save_ progress".

I hovered the mouse over it as I stared at it. This was real. Oh my god, it was real. I could go back.

I hardly noticed the tears that began to streak down my face. George, Kip, the lamplighter, Maize, Calamus, Alula, Silver…

Niko.

I could see them all again.

...But was this really the right thing to do? If I deleted this save, what would that mean? Wouldn't that take Niko away from her home again? It would be selfish of me to do that to her, but at the same time, I couldn't just let everyone die if I had a chance to save them. My mind raced as I found myself at an impasse. Would...would Niko understand if I brought her back to save the world? She even said it herself when we were in the Tower; she didn't want to let the world end.

…

No...I had to do this. I owed it to everyone to at least try. I had to try and find a way to save their world...and I wanted to see Niko again.

Having made my decision, I deleted the file. Thunder boomed from outside as I prepared myself to head back into the game world. I adjusted the blanket around me one last time before I moved the mouse over onto the black clover that sat in the middle of the desktop.

"Okay...okay…" I mumbled to myself, "Please work...for the love of God, please work."

I held my breath as I opened the program. The black screen opened, but there was no error message this time. Just darkness. It didn't last long when I saw the familiar screen of sunlight shining down on a black clover. I would have launched to my feet in cheer, but I could feel them begin to go numb. It was working. I was actually going back! As the familiar wave of exhaustion flowed through my entire body, forcing my eyes closed, I felt a mix of determination and fear flare inside me.

I really hope this works…I thought before I tasted metal on my tongue as light splintered across my vision until it all went black.

It felt like several hours before I began to regain consciousness to which my greeting was the dull headache that was all too familiar to me. I groaned and rubbed my head. Waking up with a headache is still definitely not one of the best ways to wake up. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could hear the creaks and groans of old, rotting wood around me. I sat up and looked around in amazement.

It...it worked. I was back. The withered floors, the smashed TV, the ripped up furniture. This is where it all started.

"It actually worked…" I laughed quietly. I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I fell back onto the couch. It was only then that I felt my hand brush up against something next to me. I looked over and saw...a journal. No, not just any journal. The same journal that Niko and I had found in the safe during our original run. But why did I still have it? How was it even here? I quickly opened it and saw the same unintelligible writing that we had George translate for us.

I closed the book and set it back on the couch. Well, if I didn't think this run was different before, I definitely knew now. The journal being in my hands early was the biggest sign of that. Although I didn't why I had it early, it was best that I held onto it. We would probably need George to translate it for us before Niko and I entered the Tower again.

Speaking of which, if we are at the beginning of the entire journey, then where was...?

"H-Hello?"

Sparks shot up my spine as I froze. That voice...young, innocent...I knew that voice.

Please be real, please be real, please be real, I repeated over and over in my head as I slowly turned around.

Wide, golden-yellow eyes stared back at me. Her ears twitched underneath her hat as she wrung her hands against her scarf. Everything around me blurred as I focused solely on her.

"N...Niko?"

She took a small step back as her pupils narrowed and her hands froze, "Who...are you? How do you know my name?"

I blinked. I felt my joy slowly vanish as I motioned to myself, "I'm...Alan. Do you...not remember me?"

Her brow furrowed, "...Alan?" I heard her mutter. As she studied me, I watched as her anxiety from earlier disappear. Her body began to relax, only for her eyes to look...conflicted. Her gaze fell to the floor, "Alan..." she repeated, "Why does that sound so familiar?"

I stayed silent. I didn't know how to react. None of this was going like I thought it would. I thought she would remember me; remember what we had been through, but...if deleting that save file meant her memories were erased too…

I only then noticed the tears that had begun to fall from her eyes, though she herself didn't seem to notice. I took a small step towards her, "Hey...what's wrong?" Her eyes glazed over as I moved closer to her. She didn't pull away when I kneeled down and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, talk to me."

I reached out to wipe away the tears that had fallen down her cheek like I had done several times before, but before I could she quickly launched into my arms, gripping onto my shirt tightly as her sniffles increased in intensity. I was stunned for a second before quickly recovering and wrapping my arms around her. Having her in my arms again...it was euphoric beyond belief that it took all I had to not breakdown in front of her.

She let go of my shirt and stepped back, wiping away her tears, "I'm sorry. It's just…" she hesitated, "I don't...remember meeting you, but you feel so familiar to me...like you're an old friend I met a long time ago…"

Now it was my turn to be conflicted. She definitely seemed to recognize me, but our whole entire journey from before had been erased from her memories. All the laughs, all the tears...even telling her about my past had been erased. All of it was gone. Only I remembered.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to be angry that she couldn't remember, but...maybe it was for the best that she didn't know. She didn't have to worry about me, despite her insistence in the original run. I had to make a choice to put that behind me now. I was being given another chance to be with her, to save this world. I wasn't going to waste that.

I pushed down my inner turmoil and smiled at her, "It's alright, Niko. I know this all feels really confusing to you…" I started to say, but I stopped. Telling her the truth about why this all felt familiar would probably freak her out even more than what she was feeling already. If she knew this world was fake, on a laptop, I don't think she would take that well. It'd be better to continue keeping that part hidden from her, to protect her, "...But let's slow down and take a deep breath, okay?"

She mimicked my deep breathing, letting her apprehension fade away, "Better?"

She nodded, "Mhm…"

I let go of her and stood up. I was still dismayed by her erased memories, but I was glad she was at least feeling better, even if only a little bit. A sharp snap from the TV spark brought me back to the issue of the house. We still needed to find the sun and get out of here.

"So…" Niko began, scanning the room with her golden eyes, "...do you know how we can get out of here?"

"I think I've got a good idea. There're some things we need to get first and I'm gonna need your help. Sound up to it?"

She smiled and nodded. From there, it was a matter of retracing our steps from the original run; Finding the pack which gave the journal a nice place to stay, the alcohol in the fridge, making the torch, finding the key, and unlocking the basement door. At the precipice of the stairs, I felt Niko grab onto my hand. I looked down at her in surprise, but she simply gripped my hand tighter. I smiled and squeezed her hand before we descended down the steps. I'm glad some things hadn't changed.

The lightbulb laid at the end of the hall, and just like before, Niko was quickly drawn to it. One touch from her hand and it quickly illuminated the hallway. I blew out the torch and dropped it to my feet, "Well, that's what we need." I offered her my hand again, "Ready to get out of this place?"

She nodded and reached for my hand again. We headed up the stairs and to the door with the picture of the sun. Niko looked between it and the sun in her hands, "So, do I just...touch the door with this?"

I nodded and, slowly, she raised the lightbulb up to the door, causing the picture to begin lighting up. I grabbed onto her as the light washed over us. It took a second before I heard the creaks of metal.

"Mr. Alan?! What happened?!" Niko spun around, disorientated by our sudden teleportation out of the house.

"Hey, easy. It's okay!" I held onto her.

She quickly calmed down and shook her head, "S-Sorry, I wasn't expecting that to happen." She looked around, "Where are we…?"

I moved towards the door that led to the outside, "Come take a look for yourself."

She scampered up to me and we walked outside together. I was only faintly aware of the broken boards that lined the doorway; the boards that I had broken in the original run. I was glad that I didn't have to almost break my arm again, but it was interesting that some things that had happened before stayed the same now.

"Woah…" Niko murmured as she caught sight of the Tower off in the distance, in awe of its scale. I was not. I didn't even want to look at it. All it reminded me of was my failure to save this world the first time. I shivered as I could still hear the sound of glass shattering against the floor in my head. Instead, I found my attention drawn to Niko.

I quietly pinched myself to make sure that this wasn't a dream; that she really was here with me again. Pinching myself did nothing. Only making my joy of being next to her again grow. It still pained me that she didn't remember me, but I would gladly accept that if it meant I could be with her again.

I felt myself tear up as I continued to watch her, paying little attention to the area around us. Niko looked over at me and raised a brow, "Mr. Alan? What's wrong?"

I looked away as I wiped off my tears, "S-Sorry. Some dust got in my eyes."

I heard her giggle, causing me to do so as well. When I was sure all of my tears stopped, I turned back to her. She was back to studying my face again, trying her best to find memories that weren't there anymore.

"Everything okay?" I asked her.

She flinched, "Oh, sorry…" her eyes darkened, "This is all just…"

"A lot to take in, right?"

She peered up at me, "Y-Yeah…" She shook her head, "I just can't get rid of this feeling that...I've done this before."

"Like deja vu?"

Her brow furrowed, "Is that what that means?"

I nodded. Her ears fluttered underneath her hat as she processed everything. I kneeled down next to her and tenderly placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I…" she faltered, still unsure of everything, "I think so…" She turned to me with a small smile, "I'm just glad that I'm not alone."

I smiled back, You and me both, Niko. You and me both...

Niko looked around at the darkness that covered the Barrens, taking notice of the smaller cottages near the docks close-by, "We should probably start looking around for something to show us where to go."

I stood up and took her hand in mine, "Stay close to me, then. We'll figure it out."

She smiled, "Okay, Mr.-" She stopped, "Er...is it okay if I just call you 'Alan'?"

I chuckled, "I'd like that. I don't think I'm old enough to be called 'Mr.'."

She giggled, "Maybe a little bit..."

"Well, does that mean I get to call you a cat?"

"I'm not a cat!"

I smirked, "Not even with the cat ears you have?"

She puffed out her cheeks, "Cats walk on four legs though!"

We both started to laugh as our voices traveled into the darkness. It was like nothing had ever changed between us.

As our laughter died down and we moved further into the Barrens, fear settled itself in the pit of my stomach. It kept screaming at me that this wasn't the same Niko that I had grown to care about, that this was all fake, a dream, that there wouldn't be a way to save both Niko and the world this time, that I was a terrible person for not telling her the truth. But...I didn't care.

I felt my hand drift into my pocket where I still held onto the picture of us together and I smiled. Niko had come back to me and I sure as hell wasn't going to lose her again.

Chapter Text

Being back in the Barrens again after so long felt so refreshing. Despite how oppressive it still was, I'd happily take it over the city any day. Especially with the plus one walking next to me.

Given that I knew what we needed to do here, retracing our steps was simple, starting with the metal pipe in the cottage near the docks and meeting Prophetbot again. I had to admit, I missed the little guy in his priest getup. His eye sparkled in the light of the sun as he waved around his staff almost like he was born to hold it. There were a couple of times I felt a grin sneak its way onto my face as he explained to Niko what was going on.

"[Oh! Have You Also Contacted Alan Yet?]" Prophetbot asked.

She raised an eyebrow and looked between me and him, "...What do you mean by that?"

"[Well, Alan Is The God Of This World After All!]"

Her eyes lit up as she looked up at me, "Oh, right! I...think I remember something like that."

"You do?" I asked a little too eagerly.

"[But Wait...Did You Not Just Arrive Here?]" Prophetbot's shoulders slumped, "[I Was The One Who Was Suppose To Inform You Of That. So...How Did You Know?]"

Niko opened her mouth to speak but stopped. Her eyes glazed over as she racked her brain, unknown to her that I knew why she knew, "...Hmm...It just made sense, I guess!" She looked at me again, "I'm kind of surprised you didn't tell me earlier, Alan!"

I scratched my head, "Well, I wanted to at least get us out of that house first before I-"

"[Oh My!]" Prophetbot interrupted me as he pushed his eye right into my face, making cry out in surprise, "[It Is Such An Honor To Be In Your Presence, O Holy One!]"

"Uh…"

"[If There Is Any Way That I Can Be Of Assistance, Please Do Not Hesitate To Ask Me!]"

I sweatdropped as he returned to his original spot, "R-Right, sure…"

As Prophetbot continued to answer Niko's questions, I ran through everything we needed to do here in my head: power on the generator, find the safe, find the cleaning supplies for the Rowbot, meet Silver and get the necklace from her. Simple enough, but I constantly wondered if there was anything else that could potentially help save this world and get Niko home without breaking the sun. It wasn't until I felt a tug on my jacket that I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Alan? You okay?"

I smiled at her, "I'm alright. Are you done asking him all your questions?"

"Mhm...though, there was something I wanted to ask you personally."

I kneeled down, "Sure, ask away."

She shuffled around before she finally spoke, "This might sound weird, but...have we...met...before?" I caught my breath as she continued, "I've just constantly had this feeling that we have, but I don't…"

"We have," I blurted out without thinking. Her eyes widened as I mentally cursed myself over and over. If she knew we had already done this whole journey…

"Huh, I don't remember you though…" She shook her head and smiled at me, "It's just a weird feeling I have. Maybe it's different for a god like you!"

I was taken aback by how easily she accepted this. Maybe that was a good thing, but it didn't make me feel any better about lying to her. For now, it was probably best to play up the "God" role until we properly saved her and the world.

"Anyway, it's nice to properly meet you, Alan! I'm Niko!" She giggled, "Though, you probably already knew that."

I laughed with her, doing my best to make it sound natural, "It's nice to meet you too, Niko."

She smiled before she began examining our surroundings, "So...do you know what we need to do now?"

I jabbed a thumb over at the building Prophetbot stood by, "There's a battery for a generator in there, and neither of them have any power. The only way we're gonna be able to leave this place is by fixing both of them."

She nodded, "Then, let's go! I'm kind of excited to explore everything!"

I smiled. God, how I missed her enthusiasm. I offered her my hand and she took it without hesitation. It was time to retrace our steps.

Making a quick detour to the factory next to us to turn the pipe into a crowbar again, we easily obtained the solar battery that the generator needed. With the battery in hand, it was time to pay a visit to Silver again. As Niko and I crossed the cliffs, I found myself thinking back to the original run, wondering what Silver had been doing when the world ended; how alone she must have felt. It was kind of ironic. She told us that returning the sun wouldn't fix anything, yet we didn't even make the decision to return it...or rather, I didn't make that choice. It only made me feel more and more guilty as the outpost drew closer and closer until we could see the familiar black clovers lining the path up to the entrance.

Entering the outpost again felt like leaving one graveyard and entering another. It felt unsettling knowing that everything here had simply ceased to exist, only for me to cheat the system by bringing it back. As Silver's face poked out from behind the bookshelf, it took everything I had to not shrink back in shame.

"[The lightbulb…]" she muttered, her stoicism all too familiar as she locked eyes with me, "[So, are you-]"

I quickly shook my head and pointed at Niko, who in turn waved hello at her. Silver raised an eyebrow at me in disbelief, "[If the child is the messiah, then who are you?]"

"Alan. Nice to meet you," I simply stated.

She blinked in surprise, but not much else before quickly launching into her speech of how returning the sun wouldn't fix anything. Niko listened while I quietly looked around for the screwdriver that sat on one of the shelves. Kip's letter caught my eye again, forcing me to stop and get in control of myself. Silver was starting to finish talking with Niko, so I grabbed the screwdriver and rejoined them.

"[Do you need further assistance?]"

"Yeah, actually. Is it okay if I take this?" I asked, holding up the screwdriver.

"[Sure. I have several.]"

I smiled and placed the screwdriver in my pack, "And, one other thing...we wanted to take a look inside the mines nearby. Would you mind coming with us?"

"[Seeing how they've been abandoned for a while, I'd be required to at least accompany you once.]" She moved past us towards the outside, "[Please follow me.]"

It didn't take us long to reach the mines being only a minute away from the outpost. The jagged walls of rock bared down on us once again as Niko and I quickly came across the lens that we needed for the solar battery, letting us fix it and charge it in no time at all.

"Well, that takes care of that. We should start heading-" I looked over at Niko and stopped. Her gaze was locked on to something deeper down the mine. Right, that happened before too. I tossed the battery into my pack and stayed by her side as she slowly began moving deeper into the mines. I followed her gaze as we reached the edge of where we could walk. In the distance, I could see a small yellow glow from deeper within the cave. I recalled that I had seen something like that in the original run, but I never thought anything of it. I placed my hand on Niko's shoulder and got ready to pull her back from the edge when I felt a sharp stab of pain surge into my head.

"Guh…!" I cried out as the faint image of a robot with a glowing yellow eye filled my sight before it quickly vanished. The suddenness of the vision coupled with the intense pain of my headache caused one of my feet to slip off the edge.

"Woah, CRAP!"

Before I could fall any further, I felt Silver's metal hand clamp down hard on my shoulder and yank me back from the darkness that threatened to swallow me whole. I landed hard on the rocky floor of the mine as Silver towered over me. Niko snapped out of her daze and rushed to my side, setting down the sun next to her, "Oh my gosh, Alan! Are you alright?!"

"[It is a good thing I was here with you,]" Silver said, unamused, "[Next time, please don't stand so close to the edge.]"

"R-Right, thanks for the save…"

Silver looked me over before raising an eyebrow, "[What happened, anyway? You looked like you both were starting to blackout.]"

"I...saw something…" I rubbed my head, "Like a vision. It just came on so quickly…"

Niko's eyes widened, "You saw it, too? Did you see the robot with the yellow eye?"

"Yeah…"

"[So you both shared a vision of the same thing? That's...strange.]" Silver said, "[Are you sure you're both okay?]"

Niko and I looked at each other. I could tell the vision had rattled her, but she seemed to be more worried about me. I offered her a smile and rubbed her head before looking back at Silver, "Yeah, I think we're okay."

Niko kept an eye on me even as Silver explained what was further down the mine. I stayed put as I kept peering down the tunnel, trying to see the light that had now vanished. I frowned. That vision was exactly like the one Niko and I had in the Refuge with the fox, but we never saw this one during the original run. Why did it appear now? Did it mean something? We ran into the fox after seeing the vision of it...Was the robot we saw in this vision the one that was deeper in the mines?

I tore myself from my thoughts when I noticed Silver had gone back to the entrance of the mine and Niko was nudging my shoulder, trying to grab my attention. Before I could say anything, she quickly wrapped her arms around me. It took me by surprise, but I returned her embrace as I began to hear soft muffled sniffles coming from her.

"Niko, there's no need to cry. I'm perfectly fine," I said, doing my best to try and calm her.

"I-I know...I just was really s-scared because...t-that only happened cause you were n-next to me..."

I leaned out of her grasp, "Hey, uh-uh. Don't you start saying it was your fault, cause it wasn't. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was standing."

She didn't look convinced, but instead of trying to argue, she simply buried her face into my neck and hugged me tighter, "J-Just...promise me you won't scare me like that again…"

"I'll try my best."

She shook her head and leaned back, "Promise."

We both stared at each other until I smiled and rubbed behind her ears. "...Alright, I promise."

She grinned and returned to nuzzling my neck. I kept Niko in my arms, rubbing her back until she had calmed down enough to finally release her hold on me. I pet her head one more time before getting back onto my feet. As we turned to leave, I shot one last glance down the tunnel. The yellow light was visible for a split second before it disappeared into the darkness. Whatever robot was down there, they were definitely important. The only question was how were we supposed to meet them with parts of the tunnel collapsed? I didn't dwell on it too long and followed Niko and Silver out of the mine.

"Thank you for helping us!" Niko said to Silver as we returned to the outpost.

A small smile crept onto her face before it vanished, "[You're welcome. Good luck on your mission.]"

As I watched her turn to leave, I felt conflicted. I knew we would need to come back to get the amber necklace from her, but that wasn't what bothered me. What bothered me was that she would go back to being alone after we left. Flashbacks of the Barren fading into nothingness sent chills up my spine, knowing that she had died in solitude. It just didn't feel right...leaving her alone here.

"Hey, hang on!" I blurted out, stopping her in her tracks.

She turned back to me with confusion etched on her face, "[Yes? Is there something else I can help you with?]"

"Uh, well…" I hesitated, "...Would...you mind coming with us?"

"[...What?]" she balked, as if what I had just asked of her was taboo.

"Well, I...just thought it'd be safer if you came with us since you seem to be more familiar with the Barrens than either of us. You could stay with us, at least, until we left for the other regions."

Her eyes went wide as she processed my request. I thought I could even hear the gears in her head turning as she stood rooted to the spot. Even if she didn't know the real reason why I wanted her to come with us, I felt like I owed it to her to at least have her with us until we inevitably parted ways.

"[I...guess it wouldn't hurt to accompany you longer...]" she finally said.

I smiled as she rejoined us and together we left the outpost and headed back to the generator. Along the way, Niko kept asking Silver questions about this world. At first, she tried to maintain her usual stoicism, but as we got closer to the powerhouse, she seemed to become more relaxed in our company.

We finally reached the powerhouse and I pulled the battery out of my pack as we entered, double-checking that it was fully powered. Just before I began to get closer to the generator, an idea popped in my head.

"Hey, Niko. Wanna help me put this in?" I said, holding up the battery.

"Oh, sure!" she replied, bounding up next to me. She moved the sun into her other arm as she placed a hand on the battery. Together, we slid it into the slot while I watched Niko's hand, waiting for the shock that had zapped me in the original run. As the battery fit into place, The generator churned to life as its azure lights filled up the room.

I looked back and forth between Niko and the battery in confusion, "Hold on, why did it not-" I reached out to touch the now active battery, only to feel the sting of electricity shoot into my hand. "YEOWCH!" I cried out, yanking my hand away, "Aw, that's just…" I grumbled, blowing on my hand and shaking it to ease the pain.

Niko tumbled onto the floor in laughter, "Alan, were you trying to get me to shock myself?"

My face burned up, "N-No…"

"Are you suuuure?"

"I'm not saying anything."

"Is that a yes?"

I glanced over at her, doing my best to keep a straight face, "We should get going."

"But you didn't answer my question!" she huffed.

I felt a smirk force its way onto me, "Nope. Not gonna."

A snort jerked my attention away from Niko and to Silver, who was currently looking away and covering her mouth. She noticed me staring, quickly coughed, something that I robot shouldn't need to do, and returned to her normal reserved nature. Was...was she...laughing just then?

"[What?]"

I smiled, "...Nothing."

Niko had picked herself up off the floor but was still giggling at my accidental shock therapy. I rolled my eyes and rubbed her head as we exited the room. The powered down robots from before wandered around the building, even saying their greetings to Silver. All of it faded away as I locked eyes with the powered-up computer. The one that The Entity used to speak to me the first time. I didn't want to use it but seeing as how I still needed the code for the safe, I had no other choice.

I was about to turn it on before I stopped and looked over at Niko and Silver, "So, before I turn this on, please try not to freak out over what happens to me, okay?"

They both looked confused, but there was nothing else I could do to prepare them for what was about to happen to me. Taking a deep breath, I turned on the computer and prepared to meet the Entity once again.

Chapter Text

"[I see you've made progress in this world, Alan. But that progress stops here.]"

I shivered as the familiar drone of the Entity pierced the silence as my vision splintered to show the laptop in front of me back in my room.

"[I believe you need a code to unlock a certain box…]"

"But that code doesn't exist in this world, right?" I said, interrupting it as I already began to look through the Documents folder. I wasn't too keen on humoring the Entity, especially knowing what it was going to do to me and Niko when we reached the Tower, "The only way we're getting any further is with the code, which should be...Ah, there it is."

The said folder still contained the Document I had read in the original run, but opening it revealed a completely different message from The Author:

"Ah...I̸t̶ ̷l̸o̶o̴k̷s̷ ̷l̴i̵k̴e̴ ̵you were successful...

I must be honest...I was not expecting it to work.

...This changes everything, then.

...

...I will atone for everything. Please give me some time.

Until then, you may repeat the world as many times as you wish.

If you haven't yet, please look for someone n̷a̵m̵e̷d̵ R̷ ̵ ̸ ̸u̶ ̶ ̵e̴.̴.̵.̵

S̴h̸ ̶e̸'̵ ̷ ̷s̵ ̴i̵n̴ ̴t̸ ̸h̵ ̸e̵ ̷c̵i̸t̶ ̴y̸ ̴s̴o̸m̵e̷ ̷w̸h̷ ̸e̸ ̸r̶e̴.̷

...Do pardon t̸h̵e̷ ̵a̴r̶t̴i̴f̷a̴c̸t̸s̷ in the message. I tried my best to eliminate them this time, but...

...Oh, ̶r̸i̸g̶h̶t̵,̴ ̵y̵o̷u̶ ̸s̵till need the gas masks to progress.

Go back to the safe; it's between the ocean and lookout point

The code you need is 338211."

I reread the message over and over. Atone…? Give him time…? I wasn't sure how to react to that. Was me coming back to the beginning of this whole journey that important? Whatever the case, I was just glad that I could return to this world as much as I wanted. If there was a way to save the world and Niko without shattering the sun, I wasn't going to stop until I found it. And even if there wasn't a way, being with Niko made it all better, regardless if she remembered me or not.

And this "Rue"...why does it feel like I know who he's talking about?

I made a mental note of the code before closing the file, "Alright, I have what I need. You can send me back now." I only heard sparks and whirrs in response as the Entity remained silent. I raised an eyebrow, "You, uh...You still there?"

"[You…]" it faltered.

Uh oh, did I mess up by knowing where the code was before he could tell me? I panicked. There wasn't anything I could do against the Entity, especially in this state, so I prepared myself for the worst.

"[This does not feel right at all.]" it continued, "[Have we...already been through this, Alan?]"

"And what if we have?" I replied brashly.

"[But...that should be impossible...You only had one shot. I wasn't supposed to exist after that…]"

"Well, sorry to disappoint, but that's not how I'm going to let this end." My vision began to brighten and before I knew it, I was back in the outpost.

I instantly felt tugging on my jacket coming from Niko, "Alan! What just happened?! You turned into a ghost for a second!"

I scratched my head and smiled sheepishly, "Well, I did warn you…"

Silver stared at me, "[That was...interesting to see. Was there a reason that that happened to you?]"

"Uh…" Crap. Gotta think of something quick, "I, uh...needed to get a code from the computer."

"[And that required you to become translucent.]"

"I interact with computers differently than others." Nailed it.

She raised an eyebrow but didn't push it any further.

Niko stared up at me, "So, what is the code for?"

"For something in the cliffs. C'mon, I'll lead the way." I motioned for them to follow and together we walked back over to the cliffs.

Sitting in the same spot from before was the safe, like it had never even moved in the first place. Before the girls could ask what a safe was doing out in the middle of nowhere, I quickly put in the code from the message, revealing the gas masks for Niko and myself.

"Are those...gas masks?" Niko asked, looking over my shoulder.

"[There is hazardous gas further north towards the settlement. These seem to be for you two to wear.]"

I nodded, "Well, that's the only place we haven't been yet." I looked over at Silver, "I'm guessing you don't need a mask."

"[Correct.]"

Standing up to walk away, I barely took one step before the crackle of static exploded behind me. Squares hovered just behind the safe, distorting the cliffside.

"What is THAT?" Niko said, taken aback by their sudden appearance.

"[That is the decay I told you about.]"

"Oh…" Niko kept staring at the squares as if they would vanish if she looked away from them.

I ignored the squares and turned away. They weren't going to go anywhere and I didn't want to humor the Entity at all.

At the edge of the gas field, I helped Niko put on her mask before we began to make our way through the smoke. As we trekked through the smoke, I glanced over at Silver, "So, that square stuff, do you usually get it here a lot?"

She shrugged, "[At times. From what I've heard, it only gets worse as you get closer to the Tower.]"

"Then...why are you needed here?"

"To send status reports of the Barrens back to the Refuge."

My brow furrowed, "Well, yeah, but...it doesn't seem like there's anything else here. Wouldn't it be more helpful to be where the squares show up the most?"

Her expression turned somber as she looked off into the darkness, "[...That opportunity has already come and gone for me.]"

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you…"

"[It is not your fault.]" she said, shaking her head before she fell silent.

We stayed like that throughout the rest of the trip through the gas, stopping at the factory to pick up the sponge and rubber gloves, before finally reaching the settlement. The guardian robot was in the same spot as before and greeted us as we entered the settlement before he focused on Silver.

"[Oh, Head Engineer. I Was Not Expecting You.]"

Silver motioned at us, "[I'm here to escort these two across the Barrens.]"

"[I See. Please Do Be Careful.]"

We walked away from him before I turned to her, "Friend of yours?"

She stared back unamused, "[He's the guardian of this settlement, back before the workers were evacuated.]"

Niko looked up at her, "If everyone's gone, why is he still here?"

"[He is not tamed.]"

"Tamed?"

"[Taming is...complicated.]"

I remember this conversation. She talked about this during the chess game.

"Taming". I still didn't even know what that meant and everyone that told us about it didn't really know how to describe it. It seemed so significant when talking about robots, to the point that the ones that weren't tamed were just left behind. Which made Silver's case all the sadder. She's said she's tamed, so why…?

Kip's words echoed in my mind, "...I gave up on her back then...we all did. I'm sure she realized that...and now she won't ever come back."

A pang of sympathy hit my heart as I glanced at Silver out of the corner of my eye. How long has she been here? The only company she's had are robots that are supposedly "untamed".

We stopped by the infirmary to pick up the syringe before we began to leave the settlement and head back into the gas to find the rowbot. As we passed by the pools of Phosphor, Niko would stop and look into them with wide-eyed wonder.

"Wow...it's like looking at the stars…" she murmured.

I chuckled, "It sure does…" I peered over at Silver, "That's...actually a good question. How long has the sun been gone?"

"[It vanished a little after I was created. It was only after it went away that everyone evacuated the Barrens. I've been here ever since.]"

"That's...a really long time…" Niko muttered.

I watched Silver with pity, "If you don't mind me asking, how...long have you been here?"

The same somberness from before returned, "[...A long time.]"

"Don't you get lonely?" Niko asked.

Silver didn't answer, only watching the nearby pools with a stoic sadness, something I could easily recognize.

She sighed, "[That's not important now. We're almost to the docks.]"

Niko and I both shared a look of pity as she walked ahead of us before we followed after her. As we gathered the ingredients to make the cleaner for the rowbot, I kept shooting glances in Silver's direction. No wonder she was able to figure me out so easily in the original run. We weren't that different from one another. Both of us had nowhere else to go, resigned to wandering alone. Was this how Niko saw me? Was this why she worried so much about me?

The light from the lightbulb banished the darkness that surrounded the docks as we approached them. The rowbot greeted us before realizing how rusted he had become due to his loss of power. I took out the bottle of gas and syringe and, with Niko's help, made the cleaner inside the bottle. Before I could put on the rubber gloves, Niko tugged on my jacket.

"Um, Alan? Could I try cleaning the robot?"

"Oh, sure, just be careful not to fall into the water," I said, handing her the rubber gloves and sponge and pouring the acid for her while she set the lightbulb down beside me. While she got to work cleaning the rowbot, I turned my attention back to Silver, "So, after we leave, what do you plan on doing?"

"[Return back to the outpost. Keep sending reports back to the Refuge.]" she said simply.

"That's all? Won't you be alone again?"

She crossed her arms, "[...I'm used to it.]"

"...That doesn't make it a good thing."

She gave me a curious glance, "[You say that like you have experience.]"

My gaze shifted to Niko. Her eyes shined brightly as she twisted and turned around the rowbot, scraping away at the rust from it, occasionally giggling as the robot cheered as more and more parts of his body became free. I smiled softly before grief surged through me, "...Let's just say I'm no stranger to it."

As I looked back at Silver, her eyes softened. She opened her mouth, but she didn't say anything. I kept going, "I won't pry into what happened that made you keep yourself isolated here, but…" I stopped as memories of watching the world fall into darkness flashed through my mind, "...regret is an awful feeling to carry with you. No one should have to be alone..."

Silver stayed silent, her eyes searching my face for some hint of an answer.

"Finished!" Niko called out, bringing both of us back to the present, "There was a lot of rust, but I got it all!" She handed the sponge back to me and looked down at her scarf, "Oh, I got my scarf dirty…"

I kneeled down and tried rubbing the dirt away with my hand, but it hardly got the grime out of it. I rubbed my neck, "Well, shoot. Maybe I should've helped out a little bit…"

She giggled, "It's okay! I get it dirty all the time! Mama usually cleans it for me and I'm sure she'll do that when I get home."

"Well, you did a good job, that's for sure," I smiled, looking at the newly cleaned rowbot.

"[YES! I AM ABLE TO FULFILL MY PURPOSE AGAIN!]" it cheered, "[WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO?]"

"Can you take us to the Tower?" Niko asked.

"[CALCULATING...CLOSEST DESTINATION TO THE TOWER IS...THE GLEN, PORT NUMBER…]"

A metallic groan came from the base of the robot.

"[MY BUILT-IN NAVIGATION CIRCUITS HAVE FRIED.]"

"I'm...gonna assume that's not good," she said.

"[IT IS NOT GOOD AT ALL. ONCE AGAIN, I CANNOT FOLLOW MY PROGRAMMING.]"

"Aw…"

"[Hold on."] Silver chimed in, "[Is it just the navigation circuits?]"

"[AFFIRMATIVE.]"

She scratched her chin, "[Hm...I have something that may help.]" She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out the amber necklace we would need to get to the Glen and into the Tower, "[Here. This should activate its backup tracking system.]"

The rowbot took a moment to scan the necklace before it was able to determine a path to the Glen, readying itself to begin rowing away from the Barrens. I unloaded everything we wouldn't need to lighten the load, leaving only the journal in my pack. As Niko picked up the lightbulb, I turned to face Silver. Before I could say anything though, she held out the necklace to me, "[You should take this with you. Something tells me you need it more than I do.]"

"A-Are you sure?" I knew we needed it, but I still felt bad for taking it.

She hesitated before nodding, "[I'm sure.]"

I took the necklace and put it in my pocket, making sure it was secure before looking back at Silver, "Well, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate your help."

"Yes! Thank you so much!" Niko grinned.

"[It was no problem. I hope you get home safely.]"

Niko walked away towards the boat. I started to walk after her before Silver stopped me with a hand on my shoulder, "[Just one thing…]"

I raised an eyebrow, "Yeah…?"

She looked straight into my eyes. Her usual stoicism was gone, replaced by a wistfulness I had never seen her show, "[What you said...did you really mean that?]"

"...Yes."

Her eyes went wide for a split second before she closed them, "[...Alright.] she said, letting go of my shoulder, "[I'll...think about what you said. You should get going. There's no reason for you to linger here.]"

I watched as she stepped away from me, waiting for us to board the boat and leave for the Glen. I still felt awful for leaving her here. Part of me wished for her to come with us, but I knew that wasn't going to be the case. I certainly couldn't force her to come with us, but after what I did to the world in the original run, guilt was all I could feel.

"Hey, Silver?"

She looked up at me, "[What is-]"

Before I could process what I was doing, I had already wrapped Silver in a hug, cutting her off as she froze in shock. It took me a second to finally realize what I was doing before I let go of her, scratching my neck as my face heated up, "S-Sorry...that was probably awkward and uncalled-"

"[No. I-It's okay.]"

I snapped towards her in surprise. Her eyes were wide again as she looked away from me, "[It...was just surprising.]"

An awkward silence fell over us before I coughed, "Well, I should probably...get going. Thanks again for your help."

She nodded, "[You're welcome.]"

I turned towards the boat, only to see Niko smiling at me.

"Not a word," I said.

She giggled before motioning to the boat, "Well, there's not a lot of room in the boat, so I was thinking I could just sit in your lap."

I smiled, remembering the first time we rode in the boat, "Well, if that's the only way…"

I eased myself into the boat before letting Niko climb onto my lap. With a push, the rowbot left the dock, sailing us towards the next region.

Niko leaned to the side and looked back at Silver, who was still standing at the dock. "Thank you again!" she called out.

I could just barely make out a small smile make its way onto her face before she waved back. In a couple of seconds, the light from the bulb couldn't reach the dock anymore, letting the darkness fall back over the Barrens.

"She was really nice!" Niko said, leaning back into my chest as we glided across the water, "I wish she could've come with us…"

"Me too…" I murmured as I watched the waves beneath the boat.

We were silent as Niko and I admired the ocean. Niko began telling me how she had never seen an ocean before and how pretty it was. Just hearing her gush about it reminded me once again that this was really real, that I was being given a second chance to be with her again.

It didn't take long before I heard her yawn, "...Hey, Alan? Is it alright if I take a nap?"

I chuckled, "Go ahead. It won't bother me and I promise I won't let you fall out of the boat."

She giggled before yawning again, "Thanks…" As her breathing started to slow down, I heard her murmur, "...You're really warm…"

I smiled and wrapped an arm around her, letting her rest her head against it as she slept soundly under the comforting yellow light of the lightbulb. I took a few moments to silently thank the Author for finding a way for Niko to come back to me before I too began to feel the lull of sleep wash over me. I didn't fight it as I held Niko tightly in my arms.

For the first time since the original run, it was the best sleep I've ever had.

Chapter Text

"[WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE GLEN.]"

The rowbot's voice roused me from my sleep just as the boat slowed to a stop. The calming jade glow of the fireflies surrounding us would have made it difficult to stay awake, had it not been for the stirring of Niko in my arms.

I smiled and gave her a small nudge, "Niko, we're here."

She simply responded by burying her face into my chest and latching onto me.

"Niko…"

"Just five more minutes…"

"You've been sleeping the entire boat ride."

"I can't help that you're really warm!"

The rowbot simply watched us as I sheepishly smiled up at him. Oh boy, here we go again…

"Niko, we can't stay in the boat for long."

Her grip tightened as she mumbled something that I didn't quite hear. I sighed, "Fine. Looks like I'm doing this the hard way." I grabbed the lightbulb and nestled it into my arm, making sure it was secure before turning my attention to the cat child currently buried in my chest. Taking a moment to get my legs under me, as well as placing an arm underneath Niko for support. I counted down in my head before springing up onto my feet. I heard a gasp come from her as I hopped up onto the dock and turned back to the rowbot.

"Sorry about that. You should be good now," I said.

It nodded, "[THERE SHOULD BE A VILLAGE TO THE NORTH, BUT THAT'S ALL I CAN RECALL.]"

"Thank you!" Niko said, finally pulling her face out of my shirt.

It nodded again before saying its farewell and pulling away from the dock. We watched as the boat slipped back into the darkness before I turned to look at Niko with a raised eyebrow, "So, how long do you plan on holding onto me?"

"Maybe just a little bit longer…" she said with a sly grin, "Plus you already went to all the trouble of getting me out of the boat. I wouldn't want you to spend time putting me down!"

"Oh, how kind of you," I replied sarcastically, "You're lucky I like you so much, otherwise I might have just left you in the boat."

She giggled as I began to make my way into the building in front of us before she frowned, "You wouldn't actually do that, would you?"

I smiled warmly down at her and held her tighter, "'Course not. You're far too important to leave behind."

Her smile returned as she rested her head on my chest again as I walked up the stairs and out into the Glen. The fireflies danced in the air above the trees as Niko and I gazed out across the region. I could see the Refuge off in the distance with the Tower sitting in the middle of the city. A chill went down my spine just looking at it. All it did was serve as a reminder of what I had done.

"Alan? You okay?"

Niko's voice jolted me out of my reverie. I saw her staring at me with a worried expression, one I was all too familiar with.

I nodded, "Yeah, sorry. Just kinda zoned out there." I started making my way off the roof, "C'mon, we should see where we're going from here."

Niko hopped out of my arms once we officially entered the Glen, taking the sun from me as well. Just like in the Barrens, it was easy to retrace our steps. Niko spent time exploring the village and the neighboring plains and talking to the people we met along the way like the shepherd and the trader. Going south from the village brought us to the research station, where I made sure to grab another water sample from one of the robots, which only served to painfully remind me of what was to come.

Walking back into the swamp plains, I heard a voice cry out from nearby.

"Alula? Alula! Where'd you go?!"

I stopped in my tracks once I caught sight of the red poncho that swayed from the boy's erratic pacing.

Calamus. Alive and well.

I should have been happy to see him again, but just like with Silver, a cold feeling settled itself in the pit of my stomach. All I could hear in my mind was the crashing of glass while Calamus noticed us and quickly raced towards me and Niko.

"Hey! You two! Have either of you seen a little girl?"

"What does she look like?" Niko asked.

"Well, she's a bit shorter than you, and-" his eyes landed on the lightbulb, "Wait, that's...the sun." He stared at Niko in reverence, "Are you our savior?"

"I...yeah?"

"Oh my stars! Sorry for my rudeness!"

She shook her head, "It's alright. Are you looking for someone?"

"My little sister...She's been gone for three days now and I've been looking all over for-" his eyes met mine, causing him to stop, "Um...are you...feeling okay?"

"Huh?" I replied blankly.

"You...look rather pale, like you've seen a ghost..."

I finally snapped out of my trance, rubbing my neck, "Oh, s-sorry. I didn't mean to...act like that…I just have a lot on my mind. You said your little sister was missing?" I said, desperate to deflect the conversation away from me.

Calamus returned to describing Alula and the last place he saw her to us, but my mind was still stuck in overdrive. Like I've seen a ghost...I would laugh, but it felt like I was being shot through the heart.

I killed them...I let them all down and they don't even know.

I tuned back into the conversation just as it was wrapping up with Niko reassuring him that we would bring Alula to him if we found her and together we headed towards the ruins. My mind still lingered on the encounter until I heard Niko speak up next to me.

"Hey, Alan? Are you feeling alright?"

I looked down at her, "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well...you seemed really bothered by something back there…" she said, shuffling around the lightbulb in her arms while I remained silent, "Do...Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm fine, really," I said, forcing a smile, "You don't need to worry about me. Let's just keep an eye out for Alula, alright?"

She looked unconvinced and looked like she wanted to say more, but I had already moved further ahead into the ruins. All that did was make the guilt I was feeling even worse. I didn't want to lie to her. I hated it. I hated myself for acting like everything was okay, but the less she knew about the truth of this world, of me and what I've done, the better.

Silence filled the ruins as we ventured deeper, following the trail of vines that lined the floor, leading us to the cove and the home of their caretaker. Stepping onto the grass sent shivers down my spine, slowly becoming worse and worse as we drew closer to the vine's origin. Turning the last corner allowed the lightbulb's shine to illuminate the rest of the cove and there, sitting among the vines and flowers, was Maize.

Her head tilted up towards us, her blonde hair swaying slightly from the movement, "...S...savior…and...Alan, too? I can't believe it...You're both real..."

"...Miss? Are you...alright?" Niko asked, receiving only silence, "We...We should get you to the village! Maybe they could-"

I placed a hand on Niko's shoulder. She looked up at me, silently pleading for me to do something, anything that could help her, but there wasn't. Seeing Niko's eyes full of hurt and sadness came close to tearing me apart, but I held strong and did the only thing I knew I could do.

I took the lightbulb out of her hands and made my way over to Maize's side. Silently, I placed the sun in her lap and watched as she gently wrapped her arms around it, taking in its warmth.

"...warm...It's so warm…" A small smile appeared on her face, "Thank you...Th...the vines should be gone now…"

The eye unhidden by her hair opened, showing her emerald green irises as a storm raged inside me. Her sacrifice in the original run had been nothing. Thanks to my actions, the seed that Niko and I had planted in the Refuge had died along with the world, yet here I was again, aching for there to be some way to save Maize. My eyes drifted to the lightbulb in her hands as the shattering of glass echoed in my mind. It was then that I realized, much like Silver, Maize had been alone when she left behind the kernel.

Maybe there wasn't a way to save her, but I could do the next best thing.

I sat down beside her and returned her gaze, "Would it...be okay if I stayed here? Until the time comes for you to…?"

Her eyes widened slightly, awestruck by my request before her smile returned and nodding, her eyes closing as she relaxed against my shoulder. I glanced over at Niko. Her eyes had darkened as they darted between me and Maize. I watched as she took a deep breath and walked over to my side and sitting next to me. Her eyes met mine, the silence meaning more than words could say. I was reminded of just how strong she was, how she was willing to be strong in the face of this world's sorrow. Even now, despite the tears that slid down her cheeks.

I wrapped my arm around her and together, we stayed with Maize, giving her comfort during her final moments.

As we sat in silence, I found my thoughts drifting, eager to compound the guilt that had grabbed hold of me ever since we ran into Calamus again. This whole run felt like I was wandering through a graveyard that had come back to life, waiting and watching to see if I would doom them all again. If only that choice wasn't there in the first place…

Return the sun, but lose Niko...or shatter it and watch the world die.

Why had I been allowed to come back? Was it really something The Author had done? What did it mean for us if I was able to come back, to do this all again? What did that mean for Niko? I felt my hold around her tighten as my mind played back our separation that should have sent her home. She should be home. So, why...why was I forced to bring her back here? I wanted her to be happy, not to see her burdened by this cursed journey, forced to do it over and over again with no way to escape it.

I was broken from my thoughts when I noticed small balls of light surround Maize, enveloping her as she began to sink into the soil. She smiled one last time, opening her eyes to look at us before she finally melded into the ground. The leaves atop her head were picked up a small breeze as they twisted and danced into the air. Before long, the only trace of Maize was the kernel, the seed that would regrow her and continue to protect the Glen.

I stared down at it in silence while I began to hear sniffles coming from Niko. Looking over at her, more tears had started to fall and I could see she was trying her best to stay in control. Her eyes met mine again before she threw herself into my embrace, muffling the sobs that escaped from her lips. I hugged her close to me, wanting so badly to take away her pain.

"I'm sorry, Niko…" I whispered into her ear as I gently rubbed her back.

"Was…" she hiccuped, "Was there really nothing we could do...?"

"I think just being here with her was all we could do…"

She fell silent as her sniffles continued. I kept her close, allowing her to release her emotions while acting as the rock that she needed right now. Soon, her sniffles died down, but she didn't release her grip around me.

"Back in my village…" she said quietly after a moment of silence, "I remember one day when a bird had accidentally flown into our window. My mama and I brought it inside to try and help it, but…" she hiccuped, "...Mama said that it was hurt too much for us to be able to fix it."

"...What happened to the bird?"

"Mama carried it into the backyard and told me she buried it, saying it was in a better place now that it...wasn't hurting anymore..." she mewled.

I looked down at Niko with sympathy, "Sometimes, that's all we can do…"

Niko fell silent, still clinging to me, but not before a thought came to my mind.

"You know, there's a story I remember hearing once...about how those who pass on…" I said. Niko leaned out of my chest and looked up at me, curious to see what I was talking about. I kept going, "When a person or animal passes away, instead of moving on to the next life, their souls soar into the sky and create a star, one that shines brightly in the night sky; ones that I'm sure you're familiar with. That way, those that they leave behind can look up and know that, though they may be gone, they are still with them, no matter how far apart they are."

Niko looked at me in wonder, the tears slowly vanishing from her eyes, "Really?"

I nodded and picked up the kernel, "Even though she gave us a way to bring her back, I'd like to believe that story is true, even in this world; that she'll have her own star in the sky when we bring back the sun."

Niko finally smiled, "...I like that story."

I smiled back before it went away, looking at her with a doleful gaze, "I know you didn't have to be here for what happened…"

She shook her head, "It was the right thing to do, even if it hurt a lot to see…"

"...You're a strong kid, you know that?" I smiled at her sadly.

"It helps that you're here with me."

I let out a soft laugh, pulling her back into my embrace. It was moments like these that made me happy that Niko was here with me. That helped remind me just how special she had become to me. Only to remember how much I was keeping hidden from her. My contentment quickly fizzled away as that thought struck me, sending another shiver down my spine.

Niko leaned out of my embrace, forcing me to bury my regret and act like I normally did. I stood up, making sure the kernel was secure in my pocket. Even with the choice I would have to make at the Tower, it didn't feel right to just forget about it and not plant it. Niko picked up the lightbulb from the ground while I took one last look back at Maize's final resting place. Once Niko was ready, we headed back into the ruins together, all while I carried my heartache with me, steeling myself for the soon-to-come reunions that would threaten to break me apart.

Chapter Text

"Don't get near it, Niko."

The dark cloud of squares hovered next to the entrance to the room where Alula was held captive before they slowly began to move past us back the way we came. I moved Niko out of the way, fearful of what may happen if one of us ended up touching the thing. Once the cloud was out of sight, I let out the breath that I had been holding.

"Should we go after it?" Niko asked, looking down the staircase where the cloud had headed.

"No," I curtly answered, "I know what we need to do. We don't need its help."

I only barely caught her look of concern out of the corner of my eye as I turned away. I wanted nothing to do with Entity right now, and I definitely didn't feel humoring it. It was inevitable that we'd run into it at the Tower, so why bother interacting with it now?

I put the encounter out of my mind as we entered the room where we would Alula. The squares twitched and flickered along the edges of the doorway she was stuck behind as I got to work creating the image of the lightbulb on the floor panels. Not even a second after stepping on the last panel, the squares disappeared with Alula barreling out of the room and locking eyes with us.

"You saved me! Thank you so much!"

Niko cocked her head to one side, "Are you Alula?"

Her eyes widened, "Wow...you knew my name? The messiah really does know everything!"

"Actually, your brother was looking for you and asked to find you."

Alula flinched, "Oh, right! Gosh, Calamus must be so worried…Can you bring me to him?"

"Sure! I'm Niko, by the way!"

While I watched the two girls talk, the cold feeling that churned within me became worse. It wasn't right, seeing Alula smile so innocently, not even knowing that I had already robbed her of whatever future she might have once already. What gave me the right to stand here and act like everything was okay?

"Oh! I never asked what your name was!"

I jerked out of my reverie to see Alula looking up at me intently, waiting for a response.

"Oh, uh…" I stuttered, "It's Alan...Nice to meet you…"

Her eyes widened so much that they matched the lightbulb in Niko's hands, "Woah, really?! I can't believe I was saved by You and the messiah!"

I allowed a small smile to creep onto my face as she gushed about me with Niko giggling behind her. Before she could get too excited, I held up my hand, stopping her, "I know you're excited and all, but we should get you to your brother first. He'll probably have questions for me too."

"Ok!"

She skipped over to the doorway, waiting for me and Niko to catch up to her, and together we exited the ruins. Save for a detour involving herding rams again for the wool we needed and picking up the vial of ink, our trek back to Calamus was relatively hassle-free. Niko and Alula chatted with each other for the majority of the walk while I led the way. It was better that they didn't see how troubled I looked. It was getting harder and harder to keep it together, around Calamus and Alula especially.

"...Take care of yourself and Alula, alright? We'll have the sun back in no time, I promise."

I shivered as the memory washed over me. I guess breaking promises is all I'm really good at it seems…

"Calamus!" Alula trilled before running ahead into her brother.

"Alula! Thank goodness you're safe!" he wrapped his arms around her, "Where were you?"

"I was trapped in the ruins and it was really scary..."

"...Trapped? In the ruins?"

While they talked back and forth, the creeping sense of familiarity washed over me. Every word they said, every reaction, it was exactly the same as the original run like a broken record that couldn't be fixed. Was this how it was going to be if there wasn't a way to fix all of this? This world was just doomed to live the same final day over and over without knowing it?

"You didn't touch the squares did you?"

"Nope! Alan and the messiah saved me before anything happened!"

At the mention of my name, I focused back on the conversation to see Calamus staring wide-eyed at me.

"...Alan? Like THE Alan?"

I scratched my head sheepishly, "Uh, yeah...That's me."

"Oh my stars!" he exclaimed, covering his mouth, "I'm so sorry for my rudeness earlier!"

"Huh?" I recalled our earlier encounter, "Oh, I-it's alright. Don't worry about it."

He still looked guilty, but instead spoke to both me and Niko, "I can't thank you both enough for rescuing my sister, Mr. Alan, and you, savior..."

"Just call me Niko!" Niko said.

"And you don't have to call me Mister," I said.

"Would...that not be rude of me?"

"I mean, I'm just a kid like you two!"

"And I'm not really old enough to be called 'Mister'..."

"Ah, I see…" he murmured, "Then...would you two like to visit our house?"

"Sure!"

I rubbed my neck, "I...don't think it would hurt."

"Yay! Let's go!" Alula cheered before quickly sprinting off towards the ruins with Calamus quickly following behind her. Niko and I looked at each other before following along at a much slower pace. While Niko seemed eager to tour the sibling's residence, I was the opposite. Anxiety pulsed through every part of me as we drew closer and closer to their home. It only became worse once I set foot inside their hut again. The Barrens may have been a literal graveyard, but nothing compared to the feeling of standing in what had once ceased to exist two weeks ago.

Even when Alula brought us the feather, it hardly felt comforting.

We took the feather before Alula proudly took both of us on a tour of their den. The small two-room abode was the definition of cozy, but so far from the village, it was hard to imagine that it wasn't lonely at times. I only took a second to glance at everything and was ready to turn away before my eyes landed on a familiar orange and yellow fox. I blinked to make sure I wasn't seeing things, but the fox was still there. I kneeled down to pick it up and take a closer look.

"That's mine!" I flinched when Alula suddenly appeared next to me, "Our friend gave it to me last year!"

"Really?"

She nodded, "Yeah! He has a fox too! And she can even talk!"

A jolt shot through me like a bullet. This fox...was this the same fox we met in the Refuge? And if The Author is this "friend" they're talking about, then does that mean…

Was that Rue? Is that fox who I needed to find?

I had to be sure. Without turning back to Alula, I asked, "By any chance...did this fox have a yellow orb on its forehead?"

"Huh? Yeah, I remember her having one. It kind of had the same glow as the sun! Why do you ask?"

I could feel the blood drain from my face as I placed the plush back on the floor, "It's...nothing important. I just thought I remembered seeing a fox like that a while ago."

"Oh, wow! Well, if you see her again, could you tell her I said hi?"

I fought to get in control of myself before I turned towards Alula and gave her a smile, "Sure, I'll let her know."

She returned my smile with one of her own, causing me to internally wince. How long could I keep this facade up?

As soon as Alula had shown us everything, she led us out to the courtyard, showing us the rest of their home. I hung slightly back from the two girls as they continued to chat about anything and everything. I didn't want my attitude to ruin their mood. They were happy enough.

As I passed by the doorway that led to the Sacred Grounds, I stopped. From deep within the corridor, I felt...a pull. I broke away from the two girls and entered the passage. Bits of rock and dust crunched under my feet as I reached the edge of the water. Looking out across the water, I could see the faint green glow of what I guessed was the Sacred Grounds, but it wasn't what felt odd to me.

Like a lightning bolt, my headache surged back to life. I barely had time to cry out in pain before the image of a person covered my sight. At first glance, the tunic, scarf, and hat made me think it was Niko at first, but the bright yellow glow of the lightbulb's insignia on the person's cloak made me think otherwise. If this wasn't Niko, who was this? Was this person connected to the robot? To Rue?

Before I could question it any further, the vision faded away with my headache along with it.

"Ugh, I really wish I didn't have these headaches…" I groaned. I could hear the sound of footsteps behind me before I felt Niko grab onto me.

'Alan?! Are you alright? Did you see that vision too?"

I rubbed my head to help alleviate the rest of the pain, "Yeah, I did...I'm guessing you did too."

She nodded, before Calamus stepped up to me, "What happened? Niko looked like she was almost about to faint before she suddenly sprinted off after you!"

"Yeah...we had a similar vision happen earlier in the Barrens and I almost got hurt badly because of it..."

Niko wrapped her arms around me, cutting me off before I could say more. I returned the gesture, gently rubbing her back to help her calm down more.

"It is strange that you both shared a vision. This almost seems like something a prophet would see…" Calamus pondered.

"A prophet? You think this vision was something of the future?" I asked.

"Maybe...I don't know. I've only read about it before."

Something of the future…

My eyes wandered back down the tunnel as Calamus explained the Sacred Grounds that were down there. All I could think of were the three visions that Niko and I had seen: a robot, a person, and a fox. All three of them had something that radiated the same yellow hue as the sun, but why were we seeing them now? Why did we only see the fox in the original run? Was this the Author's doing? This all seemed important, but I just had no idea how it was supposed to help.

Once Calamus had finished his speech about the Sacred Grounds to us, which was the same in the original run, Niko leaned out my grasp, looking at me with a warm smile causing me to do so in return. I stood up, brushing myself off, and got ready to leave the passage, but when I took one last look down the river, a thought came to me.

"You said you had a friend that took you to the Sacred Grounds...do you think he's over there right now?" I asked Calamus.

He shrugged, "Maybe, but we wouldn't really know if he was nor would we be able to contact him."

"Hmm, that's a shame…" Another dead end with these visions...I sighed and shook my head. I'd have to keep looking for another way to fix everything then.

As if on cue, Niko's hand snuck its way into mine. A small respite to pull me away from the thoughts that constantly plagued me of the future, of this world, of her, but it wouldn't last long. We had everything we needed to get to the Refuge. Delaying the inevitable would only make it hurt more.

Hand-in-hand, we exited the passage with Calamus and Alulu saying their farewells as we left their home. The guilt returned as I stared into their retreating faces, hoping deep down that I could find a way to save them, that whatever the Author had planned would save them.

The walk to the gate passed by in a matter of seconds and I was ready to pull out the feather when I was stopped by a yawn coming from Niko.

"Tired?"

"Mmm...A little bit…"

I smiled softly, putting the feather back in my pocket, "Come on then, I think there's a place nearby for you to rest."

She mumbled in affirmation, barely able to stay on her feet. In fear of her crashing into the ground, I hurriedly guided her to the cove where the bed waited for us. I made sure to take her hat off before making sure she was tucked in. As she began to fall asleep, she stopped and looked up at me, "Alan, are you going to sleep too?"

I shook my head, "In a little bit. I have some things to think about, but I won't be long."

Her gaze bored into me, searching for whatever was bothering me, but quickly gave up, "Come back soon, okay?"

"I will," I said, running a hand through her cerulean hair while her eyes slowly closed, "Sweet dreams, Niko..."

Her breathing slowed to a steady pace, letting me know she was fast asleep before making my way back out into the Glen. A twinge of pain coiled inside my chest.

Sweet dreams. God, I was just trying to make it harder for myself, wasn't I? I should've said something else instead of that. Anything would've been better to say. All it did was burn the image of those golden wheat fields into my head. Somewhere I wanted to be, but couldn't.

True to my word, I made sure to stay close to where Niko was resting, just outside the room near to the bridge. I stared down at my reflection in the water while my thoughts went haywire. Meeting Calamus and Alula again was tough, but I was able to keep up the facade. It was draining, but I had no choice. I couldn't let them know what I had done, let alone Niko.

I sighed. What am I going to do? What am I SUPPOSED to do besides finding Rue? If the choice is the same, then this is all pointless. How could I do this to everyone? To Niko? None of them deserved this, being trapped in a cycle where either the world dies or Niko doesn't get to go home.

I swiped down at my reflection, sending ripples through the water as tremors racked my body. It wasn't fair...Dammit, it wasn't fair!

Get a hold of yourself. Niko still needs you, I mentally told myself. After taking several deep breaths and drying off my hand, I walked back to the room. My eyes landed on Niko, who was sleeping soundly under the covers. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. She was probably dreaming about home right now...It'd be best not to wake her up.

I quietly made my way over to the bedside and laid down beside her, doing my best to be as silent as possible. I stayed in that position, simply watching Niko sleep peacefully. As my eyelids closed shut and my body drifted off to sleep, I couldn't help but wonder…

How did a scared, runaway kid like me get so lucky to meet you, Niko?

"Sleep well..." I murmured before falling into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

My eyes opened to find myself standing in a dark hallway. The cold air bit into my skin as I stood rooted to the spot. What...was this? Was I dreaming?

"...Niko?" I whispered.

The only thing I heard was the sound of my breathing. Slowly, I began to move down the corridor, the floorboards creaking and moaning with each step I took. The only source I had to see where I was going was the soft blue light coming from the windows, but looking through them showed nothing but dead air. Goosebumps wracked my body as I continued down the seemingly never-ending hallway, my mind going haywire.

Why was it so dark? What happened to Niko and the sun? Where even was I? Why did it feel like...this was someplace I knew?

Just then, I stopped. My blood turned to ice as I felt a gaze pierce into me from behind. I couldn't turn around. I didn't want to turn around, but I KNEW there was something there. The feeling persisted as I quickened my pace, the floorboards screeching under my feet. No matter how fast I ran, the feeling grew stronger and stronger until I was stopped in my tracks by a door.

No...not just any door…

As if I had lost control of myself, my hand reached out on its own and opened the door. Staring back at me was a flight of stairs leading down into the cold void of darkness that was the basement.

It all clicked. I was...home. No, no, this had to be a dream. After everything, I couldn't be back here! This was a dream...That's all it was…

My instincts screamed at me to run away, to be anywhere other than here, but a pair of hands clamped down on my shoulders, freezing me in place. I could feel my heartbeat grow faster and faster as the hands tightened their grip on me before hearing their owners speak.

"Welcome home, brother…We've missed you so much."

In an instant, I was pushed through the doorway, tumbling down the steps into the darkness before landing at the bottom with a hard thud. I stared up at my assailants. Their red, lifeless eyes bored down on me, freezing me in place before their laughter echoed down the steps.

"This is just a dream. It's not real. It's just a dream..." I repeated over and over, trying anything I could to drown out their laughter.

"Don't worry...This is just the beginning..."

The door slammed shut, leaving me in complete darkness. I couldn't even see my hand if I lifted it in front of my face. It was suffocating to the point where I was struggling to breathe.

"No…no, please don't leave me alone here…" I panted as tears started to roll down my face, "I don't want to be alone…"

I began to hear whispers surrounding me. All I could make out were three words repeated over and over: "You deserve this." Louder and louder, they became. I could even recognize some of the voices. Calamus, Alula, and Silver, among others.

"I'm sorry...I'm trying to fix this...Please, I'm sorry…"

The voices continued to grow louder as more and more tears poured down my face. I couldn't breathe...couldn't...think.

"Alan…"

It's so dark here...

"Alan."

Don't leave me alone down here…

"ALAN, WAKE UP!"

My eyes shot open as I bolted upright, gasping for air. My entire body was caked in sweat as I shivered on top of the bed, the nightmare replaying over and over in my head. I barely noticed Niko next to me, her eyes filled with worry. We sat there in silence while I slowly began to calm down, my body finally realizing I wasn't dreaming anymore. That's all it was. A dream.

"...Was it a nightmare?" Niko asked once my shivering finally stopped.

I nodded silently.

"Do...do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head.

She fell silent as she continued to watch me. I was still stuck in a daze. The nightmare was beginning to recede into memory, but its effects were lasting.

"Do you want a hug?"

I looked up at her in surprise before slowly nodding. She crawled into my lap and wrapped her arms around me as I did the same. Simply having her in my arms quickly calmed me down. I even smiled a little as she consoled me like how I had done for her so many times before. Of course, she didn't know that.

We stayed that way for several minutes until I was sufficiently relaxed. The nightmare still haunted me, but I was at the point where I could function normally again and not collapse into a shivering mess.

"...I'm sorry," I sighed.

Niko leaned back to look at me, bewildered, "What for?"

"It probably doesn't seem very 'godly' of me to freeze up from a nightmare like that…"

"Everyone has nightmares…" she said, her voice laced with sympathy, "I know when I have nightmares, it can be hard to fall back asleep. That's why my Mama always gives me big hugs to help calm me down. Besides..." she smiled up at me, "...it shows me that you're still a person like everyone else. It's comforting."

I laughed softly, "Well, when you put it like that…"

She laughed with me before leaning back into my chest, "Plus, you're my friend and friends take care of each other."

My breath hitched in my throat as every part of my being turned numb. That's what she said to me in the original run. Back then, it was comforting. Now, it felt like being stabbed through the heart. How could I call myself her friend with how much I'm keeping from her? How much I've lied to her? My eyes stung from the impending tears, but I held them back. I had to. I couldn't break down now.

I dried my tears just before Niko let go of me, "Thanks, Niko. I feel a lot better now."

She smiled again and hopped off the bed, grabbing the lightbulb as I followed behind her. Once we reached the gate, I pulled out the feather and vial of ink and quickly made the pen. When I went to sign my name, what I saw caused my chest to tighten. Although blurry, I could make out what looked like mine and Niko's signature at the bottom of the paper. I hardly had time to think of a plan. Instead, I hastily signed my name over hers, hoping that she wouldn't recognize her name.

Niko signed her name and off we went through the gateway to the Refuge. I went through a mental checklist of everything in the Refuge. There was the Garden for the kernel, fixing the elevator, getting a library card, and finally figuring out if this fox we had met before was this Rue...

"Hey, Alan?'

Niko had stopped at the top of the steps behind me. I looked back at her and noticed her confused expression, "Is something wrong?"

She shuffled around on her feet, "Well, when we were signing our names, I noticed there were other names already on the scroll. They were kinda blurry, but…" her ears fluttered, "I think one of the names that you wrote over said "Niko"? The other one looked like your name…"

My entire body turned to ice. Crap, crap, crap, gotta think of something fast…

"M-Maybe it was someone else that also had your name coming from the Glen?" I said, fighting to keep my voice steady, "It wouldn't be crazy to think someone in this world shares your name."

She stayed silent, processing what I said, before nodding, "I guess that makes sense. I just thought it was weird."

Niko walked past me further down the hall while I released the breath I had been holding. That was way too close for comfort. If we ended up back here in a different run, I'd need to make sure she didn't see those names. She couldn't know we had done this all before. I just couldn't do that to her.

I took a couple of seconds to get control of myself before following her towards the Refuge. Entering the last passage before entering the crimson city, it didn't take long for squares to spawn all across the walls as well as cutting off the way back to the Glen.

Oh, not again...I thought before quickly picking up Niko and sprinting off down the corridor. The squares crawled along behind us, turning the walls into an amalgamation of stone and squares. It all became as a passing blur as I rocketed up the last flight of stairs before entering the Refuge.

I slowed to a stop, breathing heavily from the intense sprint while also having to carry Niko in my arms.

"You-*huff*-alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

She shook her head, "I'm okay. I just wasn't expecting you to pick me up like that!" she added with a giggle.

"Well, I-*huff*-just wanted to make sure those squares-*huff*-didn't get close to you."

She stared at me with a warm gaze, her small growing bigger and bigger, before she nuzzled her head into my neck, "Thanks, Alan…"

My face burned up, "I-It's no problem…" I stuttered out. I let her hop out of my arms and, as we walked along the sky bridge further into the Refuge, my eyes landed on the Tower that was so close to us once again. Chills surged through me. It felt like the Entity was looking back at me, watching my every move. It had some idea that we had done this all before, but it didn't seem that eager to stop us. Maybe it was forced to let us reach the Tower? It did say that it couldn't go against its programming…

I shook my head. Whatever the case was, I wasn't looking forward to entering the Tower. Throughout both the Barrens and the Glen, there was hardly any difference in the journey, nothing that could change the outcome. I slowly had to accept that there may not be a way to fix this on my own, that I would just need to sit and wait for whatever The Author had planned.

I focused back in on Niko, who was talking to the big guardian robot of the Refuge. The only solace I could get from all this was knowing that I could be with Niko until his "solution" was unveiled. The only caveat was having to watch as Niko's memories would be locked away, taken from her while I could do nothing but lie to her; to pretend that all of the moments we've shared together never existed. I loved her like a little sister, but I could never risk putting her through so much pain. I couldn't do that to the one person who meant so much to me.

On cue, Niko had finished her conversation with the robot, looked over at me, and smiled. I couldn't stop myself from smiling back. Even with her lost memories, she still was the Niko I knew.

"So, the robot told me there's a library we need to go to find out how we can get into the Tower," she said, once she came back over to me, "He also said there's a Garden further down past him where we can plant the kernel we got from the plant lady."

"Then we better get going," I said, holding out my hand.

She grabbed it and we started walking towards the garden together.

"Ow ow ow, my foot…"

Niko and I silently watched the lamplighter grab at his foot in pain. He didn't seem aware that we were watching him.

I cleared my throat, "Excuse me…"

"WOAH!" he yelled out, jumping back from us in surprise before he grabbed his aching foot again.

"Are you okay?" Niko asked.

He set his foot down slowly, "Yeah...yeah, I'm good…" We both sweatdropped while the lamplighter shook his foot to get rid of some of the pain, "Is there, uh...anything I can-" he grimaced from the pain, "-help you with?"

"We need to get to the surface!"

He sighed, "Yeeaahh, I was afraid you were gonna say that. Right now, the elevator is the only way to access the surface, but…"

"There's no button," I said, pointing at the empty hole on the elevator panel.

He nodded, "Yeeep...and that's a problem. There's supposed to be a big button that says "GROUND" on it, but it vanished?" He rubbed his head, "M-Maybe it exploded…"

"Well, we could just make a new one!" Niko said, "Shouldn't be too hard."

The lamplighter sweatdropped, "Well, uh...good luck with that. I'll just, uh...stick to my original plan…"

"Are you sure about that? I think your foot has gone through enough punishment…"

"Well, that's why I have two feet," he retorted before kicking the elevator door again, wincing in pain.

Niko and I sweatdropped one last time before leaving him to his door-kicking. Following the same plan as in the original run, we tracked down everything we needed to make the button: the magnets in the apartments (along with the bag of soil from the gardener), the coffee can from the diner, and the tape from the generator room.

"Well, looks like that's it!" Niko said, holding up the button.

"Nice work. Let's get back to the eleva-" I turned to see the black cloud of squares hovering in the doorway. They seemed to distort the area around them, twisting and morphing it all into something completely unrecognizable. We watched as the cloud vanished into the dark corridor that led to the computer where the Entity waited for us, but I didn't want nor need its help. I was just about to ignore it before I heard a ticking coming from the hallway.

Strange...I don't remember hearing a ticking in the original run…

I grabbed on to Niko's hand, making sure she stayed close to me as we entered the corridor. The further we walked, the louder the ticking became. The ticking echoed in my ears once we reached the stairs, completely ignoring the computer at the end of the hall. We finally found the source of the ticking at the top of the stairs. Hanging above the door, the nixie tubes that had been inactive in the original run were now on, counting down the seconds until...the door opened?

I was stunned. This...this had never happened before, so why was it happening now? Was this the Author's doing? I processed just how long the countdown was going to take.

90 days…

"Three months?" I murmured.

"Huh? Three months until what? Do you know what this door is, Alan?"

I flinched, forgetting for a second that Niko was still with me, "N-No...no, I don't know what this door is for."

"Do you think it's important?"

I frowned, "Maybe...but we're not gonna know anytime soon."

"That's a shame…" she said, "Well, we better head back to the elevator. That man's foot is probably hurting a lot right now."

I heard her turn to leave, but she stopped when she realized I wasn't following her. My eyes were glued to the countdown. I could feel my heart pound harder and harder as the seconds ticked away. Was this it? Was this the solution the Author was creating? Was this what was going to save this world AND let Niko go home? This was the only major change between this run and the original. This had to be it. It had to be.

"Alan, are you coming?"

I jolted out of my daze, looking back at Niko, "Y-Yeah, I'm coming. Sorry."

She watched me walk beside her before quickly taking hold of my hand in a much tighter grip than before. During the walk back, my mind was racing, constantly thinking about the door and what could lie behind it. I kept telling myself that that door was the key to fixing all of this, to saving this world, and to letting Niko go home for real.

But...three months is a long time to wait. Could I really wait that long? Could I even survive that long?

Even when we returned to fix the elevator, putting in the button and punching in the security code, my mind constantly wondered about the door. What was behind it? Would it really fix everything? I didn't know...I just didn't know.

A yawn coming from Niko finally snapped me out of my thoughts. I glanced down at her to see swaying on her feet. I stashed away my worries and held her shoulder, "Looks like you're tired again," I said with a smirk.

"Mhm…"

I lifted her into my arms, "Well, there's a place nearby to rest. Let's get you over there before you start drooling on my shoulder."

She frowned at me, "I don't drool…"

I laughed, "I don't know...I think my shirt is still a little wet from the boat ride."

I got a poke in the cheek followed by another before I fell under attack by a poking barrage. I sped up my pace to the bedroom, "Alright! Alright! You don't drool! I'm sorry!"

The poking continued until I finally plopped Niko onto the bed, holding my cheek in mock distress while Niko burst out laughing.

"You're so cruel…" I whispered.

"Well, that's what you get for saying I drool!" she said cheekily.

She turned away to place the lightbulb at the foot of the bed, only to turn back to me suddenly poking her in the nose.

"WAH!" she cried out, flailing backward onto the bed.

I laughed and sat down on the bed, "No one expects the surprise attack!"

Niko quickly sat up and thrust her finger towards me, but I was ready this time. I tilted my head to dodge and countered with a poke to her chest. She tried again, receiving a poke to the nose again.

"Come on, Niko, it shouldn't be that hard to poke me…" I joked, dodging another attack and plucking her hat off her head, exposing her fluttering ears.

She said nothing, electing to pout instead while I turned away to place the hat on one of the corners of the bed. This ended up being a mistake, taking a poke directly to the nose when I turned back. I blinked in surprise.

"Gotcha."

I scoffed, "Yeah, because I was putting up your hat. That hardly seems fair."

"Who was the one that poked my nose when I was putting the lightbulb down?"

"...Touché."

We both burst out laughing. For a moment, I forgot about everything that was bothering me; the reset, Niko's memories, the Entity, the door, the choice. It was like breathing in fresh air for the first time. It took a while for our laughter to die down, occasionally breaking down into giggles again, before we finally fell silent. It didn't last long when Niko broke out into a yawn. I smiled at her before yawning too.

"Looks like we both need some rest," she giggled.

"Well, after all that, I definitely could use some sleep."

She grinned and started to wiggle underneath the covers. I was about to lay down beside her when the nightmare I had back in the Glen surged back into my head, shattering my peace.

Niko quickly took note of my abrupt mood change, "...Alan? What's wrong?"

I glanced at her before looking away, "It...might be awhile before I get any sleep…"

"...Is it because of the nightmare you had?"

I flinched, giving her the answer she was looking for.

She fell silent as she watched me before she suddenly threw open the covers. I just watched in confusion before she patted the spot next to her. I raised an eyebrow but relented. I kicked off my shoes and tucked myself under the covers. It was definitely different than just sleeping on top of them. A lot warmer.

I turned over on my side, facing Niko, "Okay...now what?"

She said nothing. All she did was smile and pull the covers back over us before quickly wrapping her arms around me and snuggling into my chest.

I blinked, "Niko? What're-"

"I figured you'd have a better chance at sleeping if I was close to you, in case I needed to help wake you up," she said,

I stared down at her, wide-eyed. I was hardly able to stop myself from smiling, "...Thanks, Niko. I'm feeling better already."

She smiled back up at me, "Good…"

We both fell silent, taking solace in each other's embrace. I could feel my body slowly start to relax before I chuckled.

Niko looked up at me, "What's so funny?"

"I'm just realizing that maybe I'm not the only one that's really warm."

"W-Well, I have been carrying the sun all this time…

"Nah, I think it's mostly you."

She giggled as I rested my chin on top of her head. My eyes grew heavy and started to close, but I gave Niko one last squeeze.

"Sleep well, Niko…"

"You too, Alan…"

My heart ached, but I didn't care. I know I will, Niko. I have you with me after all, I smiled one last time before letting sleep overtake me.

Chapter Text

"Oh hey, welcome back...That...sure took you a while, huh…"

The lamplighter's hand was holding the elevator door open and clearly straining from being there for so long.

I sweatdropped, "You, uh...really didn't need to hold it for us…"

"Well, I didn't want to be rude…"

"We're sorry. We were both really tired after running around so much," Niko said.

He waved off her apology, "Eh, don't worry about it. Hop on."

We boarded the elevator which quickly turned into a rather awkward silence between the three of us. Niko elected to break it the same way we had done before, but I was more focused on something else.

Rue.

The Author had told me to look for her somewhere in the city, and by this point, I think I had a pretty good idea who she was. That fox in the alley...where that tree was growing.

"If...you can find a way to return...please do."

Her words echoed in my mind. She had to be able to remember us if she told me that. The only thing that worried me was that I had no clue what I was supposed to do once I found her. The Author hadn't exactly been specific.

I'll figure it out when we get there. I shouldn't stress myself out just yet, I told myself.

"Well, I guess you're both pretty smart, so you'll fit in fine."

"Huh?" The lamplighter's voice pulled me out of my reverie and back into the conversation. He looked back at me, unamused, causing me to flush with embarrassment, "S-Sorry. I was thinking about some other things…"

"As I said, you'll fit in fine. I don't think I could see myself hanging around all those smart people..."

"I don't think you should be so hard on yourself, Plight," I blurted out.

His eyes widened, "...P-Plight?"

I realized what I had just said and rubbed my neck, "Well...we don't know your name and just know you as 'the lamplighter'. It was just a nickname that came to me."

"Hmm...it's gotta good ring to it..." he hummed. The elevator suddenly stopped and the doors opened, prompting all of us to exit, "Anyway, it was nice meeting you two. Gotta run now!" In a flash, he bolted down the street.

"He seems in a hurry...I guess we should hurry too, Alan. People are counting on us!" Niko said.

My eyes drifted up to the chrome exterior of the Tower as we walked towards the library. So close, yet all I felt was unease. I wasn't looking forward to entering it again, knowing what would happen. As we passed by the entrance to the alleyway, I stopped. Somewhere down there was Rue. Waiting for me, I guess. I was about to continue following Niko to the library before I froze.

It was hard to see at first, but at the end of the alley, just behind the corner, was a fox looking back at me. The yellow orb sitting in its forehead shined dimly in the dark, but it was enough to reveal her face. She quickly noticed me staring at her before vanishing back into the alley.

"Alan? You coming?"

I looked back at Niko, who was looking at me in confusion. I cast another glance down the alley before turning away, "Y-Yeah, I'm coming. I just thought I saw something…"

We continued our trip to the library. I glanced back at the alley one last time, seeing the fox there before disappearing once more. I frowned. Maybe she won't be as secretive once I finally meet her?

"[THAT IS A QUESTION FOR THE HEAD LIBRARIAN, GEORGE. ALLOW ME TO CALL-]"

"Please don't…" I groaned, silencing the robot.

"Well, shoot. What do we do now?" Niko mewled.

I scratched my chin. Around this time was when we were supposed to go to the lab to grab the keycard from Kip. A pang of pain pulsed inside my chest. Kip...yet another that I let die because of me. I had to force myself to unclench my fists and calm down for Niko.

"I think I know a place that might help us," I said after taking a deep breath.

"Really?"

I nodded, "There's a lab not too far from here. We could probably ask someone there if they could help us."

"How do you know that?" she asked as we exited the library.

"I'm a god, remember? I have my ways."

Her eyes widened, "Oh, right! I forgot about that," her ears flattened, "I'm just so used to seeing you as just a normal person."

I smiled, "I mean, you still could. I'd prefer that."

"Oh! You could be like one of those superheroes I see on TV!"

We both started laughing which continued up to the entrance of the alleyway. My laughter quickly fizzled out, replaced by unease as we turned the corner that led deeper. Within a second, the vision of the fox pierced mine and Niko's sight. It sent shockwaves through my head, leaving as quickly as it came. I shook my head to get rid of the ache and instantly went to Niko's side.

"You alright, Niko?"

Her breathing was fast while her eyes darted all over the alley, "Alan?! What was that?!

"Easy, easy! We just had another vision," I said, holding her steady.

Her breathing slowly returned to normal, "I...I'm okay. It just was really surprising." She quirked an eyebrow, "Was this one like the others we've had?"

I nodded and turned to look down the alley, to where the fox had run off to in the original run, "...Probably."

I let go of her and started walking to where the fox would be with Niko following silently behind me. Entering the cove brought us face to face with the tree that stood tall under the light that shined from the buildings up above.

"...Hello?" I called out.

I heard a small patter of footsteps before the fox poked her head out from behind the tree. Slowly, she revealed herself fully and came to a stop in front of us. We stared at each other before she spoke.

"So you found a way back after all."

"Eh?" Niko sputtered, "But we've never been here before…"

The fox looked over at Niko before returning to me, "That means…" she fell silent before speaking again, "Have you...met the others?"

"Others? What others?" I said.

"Oh! There's that one plush in Calamus and Alula's house, right Alan?"

I frowned, I don't think that's what she's referring to…

The fox sighed, "...It's not time yet." She started to turn away

"Are you Rue?" I blurted out.

Both she and Niko looked up at me, the latter confused while the former simply stared back at me. She stayed frozen before finally turning back towards us and nodding, "...Yes, I am Rue."

A small shiver trailed down my spine. So I was right. This was who I needed to find.

Before I could say anything else, Rue walked over to Niko, looking up at her with a soft expression, "...You will probably not remember my name in a while...but I would still like to know yours."

"I'm...not sure what you're talking about, but my name is Niko!" she said with a smile.

"Niko…" the kit hummed before smiling in return, "I shall remember that!"

Niko grinned before turning to me, "Hey, Alan? There were some other pathways that we passed by that I wanted to take a look at. Since you two seem to know each other, I was wondering if it would be alright if I explored them while you two talked."

My eyes widened, "O-Oh, sure. Just be careful, okay?"

"I will!" she replied and exited the cove, leaving me alone with the fox.

I waited a bit, watching the doorway to make sure Niko was really gone, before turning back to Rue, "So...you're really Rue?"

She nodded.

I took a breath and continued, "The Author said I needed to find you."

"I know."

I faltered, "Y-You do?"

She nodded again, "I was told that if you were able to return to this world that you would seek me out..." Her gaze fell to the ground, "To be perfectly honest, it may be this way for a while...but in time, that will change."

I raised an eyebrow, "In time for what?"

"For whatever he has planned."

"Can't you tell me what that is?"

I received only silence. I sighed in frustration, "Okay...well, can you at least tell me that whatever it is we're waiting for is behind that big metal door with the countdown above it?"

Her head lifted, "It is."

"And there's no other way to fix the…" I fought to stay in control of myself, "...choice I have to make?"

Rue looked at me with pity, "...No…"

...I should be happy. I should be glad that there's a way to fix all this, but…three months? Niko has to be stuck in this cycle for three months? This world has to constantly relive its last day for three months?

"...Alan?"

Rue's voice made me realize how blurred my vision had become. I quickly wiped away the tears, averting my gaze from the fox.

"I'm sorry. I just…" The moments I shared with Niko, Calamus, Alula, Silver, Plight, and Kip flashed through my mind followed by the sound of shattering glass, "...hate waiting."

She didn't say anything, electing only to look back down at the ground. I dried the last remnants of my tears and faced her, "Is this where you'll be until the countdown ends?"

She nodded silently.

I turned away, "Then I guess...I'll see you later, Rue." I began to walk out of the cove but stopped in the doorway when I remembered something, "Oh, and by the way…" I looked back to see her staring at me, "...Alula says hello."

She stayed motionless, then smiled softly, "...Thank you."

I nodded and left the cove. Walking through the alley, it felt like my mind was in a fog. I had done what the author asked me to, only to realize that there was nothing I could to fix everything. I had to survive for three months just for Niko and this world to have a chance at a happy ending. The tears from before returned, stinging my eyes so much that I couldn't keep them open.

Stop crying, Alan. I can't lose it now. I have to stay strong for Niko.

I brushed away the tears that escaped and locked away the rest. I had to stay strong. Just keep moving forward. That's how I've survived so long. That's how I'll survive this.

With one last deep breath, I calmed myself down and started to look for Niko. I had only passed by where the heating robot was when an epiphany struck me. With a smirk, I made my way down the steps, the heat becoming warmer and warmer with each step. Turning the corner, I found exactly what I had expected.

Niko was curled up next to the robot with other cats surrounding her in a pile. The lightbulb sat next to the wall nearby out of harm's way.

I simply watched as she slept soundly, silently making as many cat jokes I could think of.

"[Oh, hello. Are you lost?]"

"Actually, I was looking for someone and I seem to have found her," I replied, pointing at Niko.

"[I see. Would you like me to wake her for you?]"

I smirked, "That's alright. I can do it."

I got closer to the sleeping Niko, careful not to step any of the cats, and kneeled down next to her.

"Hey, Niko...wake up," I whispered while shaking her slightly.

"Mmm…"

I shook her again, "Niko…"

She stirred, letting out a large yawn before her eyes finally cracked open. She rubbed her eyes and looked around before locking eyes with me. We simply stared at each other before her pupils began to shrink and her face started turning bright red.

"...hi, Alan…" she squeaked out.

I smiled, "Did you get a good rest?"

Her eyes stayed locked on mine as she slowly nodded.

"You did look pretty comfortable." I said, my smile growing bigger, "I guess you could say…"

"Alan, no...please don't…"

"It was the cat's pajamas, huh?"

There was silence. Not even the snoring of the cats could be heard. It was broken by the laughter of the robot which started to grow louder, even waking up some of the cats around us. Niko hung her head and pressed it against my chest in defeat.

"I'm sorry, Niko, but I couldn't resist," I chuckled.

All I heard was a loud groan. My chuckle turned into laughter while I picked Niko and lightbulb up from the ground. I said goodbye to the robot and made my way out of the alley, arriving at the vendor street. I glanced over at Niko, who had moved her head from my chest to my shoulder.

"Niko?"

"Mmm?"

"You know you kind of set yourself up for it, right?"

"Mhm."

"If it makes you feel better, you looked adorable surrounded by all those cats."

"Mmm…"

My smile went away, "...I really am sorry. I know you don't really like people thinking you're a cat."

Her head tilted up towards me, revealing a sly smile, "I know, but you're making up for it by carrying me again."

I playfully scoffed, "Well, maybe I'm starting to like carrying you!"

"Really? Well then, I guess you'll just have to carry me all the time!"

"Oh, no! Please! Mercy!"

We both burst into laughter as we drew closer to the lab, a small respite that I desperately needed.

"Sorry about the weird...security measures," Kip sweatdropped.

"It's okay...We still figured it out, right?" I breathed. Though I wish I didn't have to do it again.

She laughed, "Yeah, I guess you did. Well, since you're here now, is there anything I can help you two with?"

"Do you know how we can get a library card?" Niko asked.

"A library card? You'll have to ask the library for that!"

"We tried already…"

"Let's just say we caught the head librarian on a bad day," I said.

"Heh, that sounds like George alright…" Her face lit up, "How about this? I can just give you my library card! It won't be hard for me to get another one."

"Oh, thank you!" Niko said

"We'll just need to change the picture to one of ours…" I hummed.

"I could always just tape a photo of my faces to your faces!" Kip said with a giggle. Niko and I stared back at her with blank expressions until she calmed down, "That was a joke. If worse comes to worst, I believe there's someplace nearby that can get your pictures taken."

"Then that's where we'll go. C'mon Niko, let's get going," I said.

As we left, Niko looked up at me, "Hey Alan? That lady looked really familiar. Do you think she's related to the robot lady who gave us the amber?"

I frowned as my blood ran cold, "...Most likely."

"Should we ask her about it?"

I glanced over my shoulder. Kip was busy tinkering with a robot head. She looked...happy.

"She...seems busy enough."

Niko frowned, "Oh...ok."

"C'mon, let's get this library card taken care of so we can see the head librarian."

One trip to pick up the lenses and a troubleshooting session later, our pictures were taken and ready to be glued onto the card. We made our way back to the library where we quickly scanned in and finally met up with George once again. At first, I thought we'd be dealing with the same narcissistic librarian from before, but I was sorely mistaken.

"Helloooo~! You must be the savior!" she trilled as soon as we walked in, "I'm soooo happy I actually get to meet you!

"It's nice to meet you too, miss!" Niko replied.

I was completely taken aback by the complete 180 in personality and how Niko seemed to go with it before remembering that Niko didn't remember the first time. To her, this was all new.

"And who's your friend?" the librarian asked.

"This is Alan! He's been with me since I got to this world!"

George's eyes sparkled as she gazed at me, "Gosh, you're really THE Alan?"

I sweatdropped, "Er, yeah, that's me…"

"Oh, if I only knew you were coming! I would have cleaned everything up! It must look a mess!"

"It doesn't seem that bad…" I mumbled.

"Well, in that case, I can give you a tour if you'd like!"

"Actually…" Niko piped up, "We need your help to get into the Tower! I think that's where we're supposed to go now..."

"Yup! There's a little room that you can go into, but I don't think ANYONE'S supposed to get inside the Tower! If you want my guess, you'll probably need Alan's help, though I don't know how exactly…" she said, rubbing her head, "In my experience, that kind of knowledge is usually recorded in some sort of cryptic book…"

"Like this one?" I said, already holding the journal in my hand.

"Oh my! Where did you find this?"

"I woke up with it," I swiftly replied. They didn't need to know that I already knew what the book said.

"Is that so!" she beamed, taking the book from me, "In that case, I know what I have to do now! I'll need to borrow this for a while, okay? Gotta translate it, after all! Though, it...might take a while."

"Oh, that's fine!" Niko said which swiftly was replaced by a yawn, "Excuse me…"

"Gosh, you look really tired!"

I smirked, "I'm not sure how. You were sleeping pretty comfortably with those cats back in the alley…"

Niko pouted, "That was different…"

"No worries!" George smiled, "I have a guest room in the attic down the hall! If you want, you can go take a nap...a catnap!"

Silence filled the archives. I simply looked at Niko who was already hanging her head in defeat again. Slowly, she walked over to me and pressed her head against me, "...Alan?"

"Yeah?"

She raised her arms, "...Please?"

I chuckled softly and picked her up again, thanking George for her help and heading off towards the guest room.

"It wasn't me this time," I whispered to Niko once we were out of earshot of George.

"That doesn't make it better…"

I smiled, "Well, on the bright side, I'm carrying you again. So you've got that."

Her head lifted slightly, revealing a small smile, "I guess."

I took off her hat once we entered the guest room and placed it on one of the bedposts before slipping her underneath the covers. I moved around to the other side and laid down beside her, letting her curl up into my chest.

"Comfortable?" I chuckled.

"Mhm…"

"Better than being surrounded by cats?"

"A little bit…"

"At least you're honest."

"Mmm…"

"Get some rest. I'll be right here."

Niko nodded and I watched as her breathing slowed until she was fully asleep. I smiled, but it quickly went away. Rue's words continued to echo in my mind.

"To be perfectly honest, it may be this way for a while..."

Three months...why did it have to be three months? I didn't want Niko to be stuck like this. I didn't want this world to suffer like this. I sighed and stared off towards the wall. My mind continued to race, stopping only when I felt Niko stirring in my arms. Her breathing had grown faster and shivers racked her body.

A nightmare. Most likely the same one from the original run. I tightened my embrace around her and pulled her closer.

"It's okay, Niko...I'm here…" I whispered to her.

She slowly began to relax as I continued to whisper to her, doing my best to push out the nightmare. Her shivers soon stopped and her breathing returned to normal. I sighed in relief. At least, I was good enough for something.

I returned to watching Niko sleep. It occurred to me just how natural she seemed to fit in my arms, as if that was where she had always belonged. I felt my eyes begin to sting. The weight of knowing that she would just be sent right back to the beginning without any idea of who I was was crippling, forcing each breath I took to feel like poison coursing through my body.

I deserve this. For all that I've done, I deserve this.

I wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.

Chapter Text

Chapter Theme: A Bit of Tin - Thomas Newman

My eyes opened to see the golden wheat fields of Niko's world. I guess my exhaustion finally won out over my body. It felt strange being back in Niko's dreams after so long, even a bit nostalgic. I followed the sound of laughter through the village, finding Niko's house and entering it. Everything else faded away as I saw Niko smiling up at her mom, a clean plate in front of her. Her eyes quickly locked onto mine, growing brighter once she recognized me. I tried to smile back, but I didn't have the strength to keep it. I looked away, ashamed of even being here as if everything was okay.

I could feel the growing sense of dread push down on me. Niko seemed to notice the change in my mood, tilting her head in confusion and hopping out of her chair to see what was the matter. She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted something behind me. Her eyes widened. Tremors wracked her body. I knew what was there. I didn't want to look. I just wanted this all to end. She constantly looked between me and the broken lightbulb behind, begging for an answer for why this was happening. The hurt in her eyes broke something inside me. I didn't know why. I just wanted her to be home...to be happy. I felt my eyes sting as we both stared at each other. The moment lasting seemingly for hours until I finally woke up.

Niko's grip around me had tightened immensely coupled with her muted sniffles coming from my chest. I held onto her, whispering reassurance that the nightmare was over. I was still shaken by the nightmare, but for an entirely different reason. She had looked so scared…Eventually, her sniffling quieted down while we simply laid there.

"...Are you okay?" I asked, desperately trying to keep my voice steady.

"Y-yeah…" she mewled, "That was...a really scary dream…"

"I know...but it's over now."

She stayed motionless before letting go of me, sitting up to peek over the side of the bed to check on the lightbulb. I heard her sigh in relief before she turned back to me. Her eyes gleamed over me in silence. I wasn't sure if she was waiting for me to say something or not, but that thought quickly went away when she hugged me again. I didn't resist it. After a while, I let go, but she didn't. In fact, her arms only seemed to tighten more.

"Niko...can't breathe…" I gasped out.

"O-Oh, sorry…It's just…" she faltered as her grip loosened, "In my dream, you looked...really sad…"

My blood ran cold, "Well, I'm fine. It was just a dream, after all." She didn't look convinced, so I put on a smile for her, "See? Perfectly fine." I ran a hand through her hair, "Now, I wanna see YOU smile before we get going."

She reached up and grabbed my hand, her eyes not leaving mine. She soon gave me a smile which turned into a giggle when I ruffled her hair. It seemed her mind was finally off the nightmare. Good.

I helped Niko put her hat back on, making sure that she grabbed the lightbulb as well before we joined back up with George.

"Heya!" she said to us, "Had a good nap?"

"Mhm!"

She flashed a thumbs-up, "Goody! I finished translating the journal, by the way!"

"Wow, that was fast!"

I pat Niko on the head, "We've been sleeping for a while, actually."

"Oh, right…" her cheeks flared as she looked away in order to save face.

George rubbed her head, "In any case, it looks like this journal might be meant for Alan! Here, have a look for yourself!"

The world slowed for a split second before I grabbed the translated journal out the librarian's outstretched hand. I barely registered the words on the pages. I already knew what they said. My eyes skimmed over the writing, giving off the illusion that I was actually processing the writing. Cryptic for anyone else, but not me.

"Is that all?" Niko said once I handed back the translated pages.

"Yeah...the rest of the pages were torn out…" George sighed, "I...guess neither of you know what happened to those?"

Niko and I shook our heads.

"Aww...I was wondering what 'window' was supposed to mean. Guess you'll have to figure that one out on your, Alan."

I felt my lips twitch before falling neutral, "Don't worry. I think I've got a good idea."

My gaze hovered over to the nearby window. The Tower was in full view, its chrome shell extending up infinitely into the dark sky. I tuned out the conversation between Niko and George. Instead, my mind went blank, only staring at the Tower. This run would soon be over and we'll be right back to the beginning like it never even happened. The cold feeling in my chest started to spread to the rest of my body, my mind constantly whispering the words "Three months" over and over again.

"Hey, you still in there, Alan?" George's voice rang out.

I tore my eyes away from the Tower to see both Niko and her staring at me. I repressed the urge to shiver under their gaze and nodded, "Yeah, still here. Just zoned out..."

Before they could say more, a loud growl echoed throughout the archives. I looked around in confusion, "Uh...do you have a pet in here?" I asked the librarian, receiving a shake of her head. Another growl sounded out and my eyes landed on Niko. She was avoiding eye contact with both of us and her face was a bright red which only darkened when yet another growl resonated from her stomach.

I smirked and started to open my mouth when my own stomach growled in response. Niko locked eyes with mine. Her embarrassment subsided, replaced by amusement that quickly grew into a soft giggle.

"...Nevermind," I huffed. I faced towards George, "I think we should probably get going. Thanks for the help."

"Thank you!" Niko echoed next to me.

George's four-sided eyes showed she was smiling, "No problem! Good luck now!"

With that, Niko and I left the archives and made our way back to the entrance of the library. I glanced down at Niko, catching her mouth open about to say something before I interrupted her, "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say we both should get something to eat."

Her stomach growling acted as her answer.

I chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder, "C'mon. I still remember where the cafe is."

"I hope they have pancakes…" she said, her eyes sparkling in the yellow light.

I allowed myself to smile back, if only for a brief moment.

"These pancakes are so good…" Niko crooned with her mouth full of pancakes, "Thank you so much!"

The bartender, who I came to learn was named "Ling" by his nametag that I somehow missed in the original run, smiled, "No problem! You both looked really hungry."

I had already finished my serving, the plate sitting in front of me. I hadn't realized just how hungry I really was until we stepped into the cafe. Niko still had ways to go before she was done, but she didn't seem to mind. My eyes watched her as she spoke of her world and her love of pancakes. The smile I had on began to vanish when I noticed Niko's eyes darken ever so slightly. This was where she was about to breakdown, no thanks to the nightmare she had. Instinctively, I made my way next to her, ready to be there for her. It was only when the first tears had begun to fall that I wrapped one arm around her.

"Mama..." she whispered, letting her head fall against my chest, "I really miss her…"

I held back a shiver that threatened to uncoil inside me. Each word Niko said made it harder and harder to do so.

"Am I...even here to save the world? People have been saying how the sun won't fix anything!" she sniffled, "I don't even know why I'm here…"

I could feel my heart pound harder against my chest and my eyes begin to sting. The only person to blame for this was me. Every fiber of my being wanted to tell her the truth, to tell her that we've done all this, to try and remind her of how much I've come to care about her, and that the only possible solution left is locked behind a door that won't open for three months.

But I didn't. I couldn't. I had to keep it locked away. The less she knew, the easier it would be for her to forget about all this, to forget about me, once this was all over.

I only then noticed Niko's eyes staring up into mine. I put aside my emotions and hugged her tighter. I felt her relax in my arms, the last of her sniffles falling silent. I released my hold on her, allowing her to eat the last of the pancakes still in front of her.

"So...yeah! Thanks for coming by!" Ling smiled once Niko's plate was clear.

"Thank you for the pancakes!" Niko replied as we left the cafe.

I remained silent along the way, even once the elevator doors closed and began to bring us back to the surface. The music playing bounced around in my head while I simply stared at the wall, too trapped in my own thoughts to register anything happening, save for Niko calling my name.

"Alan?"

I blinked away my daze, "Hmm?"

"...Are you alright?"

"...I feel like I should be asking you that."

She frowned and shuffled around, "It's just...you've been kinda quiet ever since we woke up. Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

I looked away from her, "I guess...I'm just gonna miss you when you...go back home."

Niko said nothing, instead electing to close the distance between us while I still avoided her gaze. We both were silent, neither of us knowing what to say to the other. Slowly, I brought back around to her, looking back into her amber-colored eyes. I reminded myself that all of this would soon be forgotten by her, trapped to replay over and over until the time came for those doors to open. She couldn't go home nor could we truly save this world. There was nothing I could do...except wait.

The elevator doors opened, ending the moment between us. I took a deep breath and held out my hand for Niko, doing my best to smile despite myself. She took it with a small smile and we started towards the Tower.

I rubbed my head. The past few minutes of navigating the inside of the Tower had brought back a headache that I thought had long gone. Nothing was different once we entered the Tower. Even warning Niko beforehand of what was going to happen to me, the encounter didn't deviate from the original run. The Entity still trapped her within a dream while I used the Author's program to wake her up and lead her through the labyrinth that the Entity had set for us. Only now, within the wooden walls of the house we both woke up in from the beginning, did my headache finally decide to rear its ugly head.

The Entity constantly reappearing in my head didn't help my headache nor my mood. It constantly interrupted our walk to the elevator that would lead us up the summit and I really didn't want to listen to it tell me what I already knew.

"[At least tell Niko the truth...you do care about her, don't you?]"

I had to hold back a growl. What gave this...thing...the right to mock me like this? It seemed to know just about everything, yet it couldn't see how much each step closer to the summit shot pain through every single part of me?

The final elevator opened for us and we got in. Soon, we were flying up to the summit where I'd be forced once again to make a meaningless choice. What could I choose?

"...Sure is taking a while..." Niko mumbled before she looked over at me, "Are you excited, Alan? We're finally gonna save the world...and I know it's for real this time, cuz you're here!"

I forced myself to smile and nod.

"And then...I'll get to go home for real this time, too! I can't wait to see everyone again..."

My fists clenched in my pockets until I was sure they were white. It was all I could do to stay in control. This was the right thing to do...Not telling her the truth about the sun was the right thing to do...

The doors opened, revealing the sun's intended resting place. The sounds of shattering glass echoed inside my head once I stepped out, sending a shiver down my spine. Each step I took replayed that moment over and over in my mind, each one louder than the last. The pain in my chest was becoming unbearable the closer we got to the podium.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Niko and I stood face-to-face with the podium. Niko looked between it and the lightbulb in her hands, "So, this is where the sun belongs…"

I nodded.

She didn't move until she turned to face me, "So...I guess this is-"

"Don't..."

She flinched from my sudden response. The weight bearing down on me had become too much. I could feel tears running down my face as I locked eyes with Niko.

"Please don't say goodbye…"

Her eyes widened. What looked like recognition flashed across her face for a split second before tears started to form in her eyes as well. I felt my legs grow numb and I fell to my knees. I tried to stop the tears from coming, but they just...wouldn't stop.

I barely registered Niko placing the lightbulb on the ground before she wrapped her arms around me, gripping me with a vice that I had never seen her show before.

Her sobs scattered to the far corners of the summit, "I...I'll...miss you…I p-promise I'll n-never forget you…"

The pressure became too much at those words, You will. It'll be better that way…

I wrapped my arms around her, desperate to keep her here with me for as long as possible. I didn't want to go back to the beginning. I didn't want all of this to vanish into the sands of time. I just wanted her to be home...I just wanted this world to keep living...

...I just wanted the pain to stop...

"I love you."

My entire world froze as my heart shattered into pieces. In the midst of tears and sobs, Niko had spoken those three words. When was the last time I heard them spoken to me so genuinely...? I couldn't remember...

"...I love you too," I whispered back, my tears now cascading down my face while my voice cracked like glass.

Memories from this run and the run before flashed through my mind as Niko left my embrace and turned to pick up the sun. In one swift motion, she placed the lightbulb in its socket and turned it. The light radiating out of it grew brighter and brighter but neither Niko nor I paid any attention to it. She simply turned away and ran back into my arms. I tightened my hold on her as the light overwhelmed us, wishing to keep her here in my arms and to not have her be cast away into whatever depths of the Tower she was fated to be locked in.

A sensation washed over me, feeling like I was being transported away from the blinding light. After what felt like minutes, the light began to fade away, though not entirely. My eyes adjusted to the light, looking up to find myself back in the room that had fallen to darkness in the original run. The room where Niko had woken up.

"Niko...?" I looked down to find...nothing. Not a trace of her was left behind. It was as if she had never existed at all.

"Niko..." My eyes searched over every part of the room, not having the strength to stand up.

"Niko...!" I fought to contain my cries, but it only made the pain worse.

"NIKO!" I cried out one last time before I felt pulled back into my world, light blinding me until I could feel the hard, wooden floor underneath me and the laptop resting on my legs. When the light subsided, I sat there, crying in silence. I knew I could erase my saved progress and restart the run again, but at that moment…

It felt like I had lost Niko all over again.

I hardly got any sleep at all last night. All of my time was spent trying to soften the pain that I felt with varying degrees of success throughout the night. Once the sun rose above the horizon, I left my hideout. I just needed to be somewhere else. The only place that came to mind was the diner. It was out of the way of the main road, perfect for someone like me to be alone.

Though once I got my food, I realized that I didn't feel hungry at all. My fork pierced the eggs in front of me while I stared down at them, lost in my own head. It wasn't until the bell ringing above the door tore me out of them for a minute. Someone else had come and sat down in the bar seat next to mine. I didn't look at him. It would only draw attention if I did...and I really was not in the mood for attention.

I continued picking away unceremoniously at my food for a couple of minutes before I heard a man's voice speak up.

"You know, your food'll get cold if you don't eat it."

I frowned and glanced over at the man sitting to the left of me. His eyes were focused on a journal in front of him with his hands writing at a methodical speed.

I ignored him and went back to my food, pretending like I didn't hear what he said.

"I know this place doesn't get a lot of business, but that doesn't mean the food's bad."

My brow furrowed, "...And why do you care about my eating habits?"

I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eye, "Just doesn't seem right for a young man like yourself to skip over one of the most important meals of the day."

Annoyed, I finally turned to look at who I was speaking to. His eyes were still focused on the journal, but the rest of his outfit gave me pause. A brown leather jacket covered his body, which seemed normal, but the old pilot helmet caught me by surprise. That seemed like an odd wardrobe choice…

"Surprised by the helmet?" the man suddenly said as if he had read my thoughts, causing me to flinch. He let out a laugh, "Don't worry, it's not just for show."

"Right…" I sweatdropped and was about to ignore him again when I saw the last piece of clothing on him. A scarf. A dark scarf that seemed almost...familiar.

I stifled a gasp when I remembered the day before, back in the alleyway. I had seen this same scarf shoot past the corner, almost like someone was running away. Adrenaline surged through me as I made the connection.

"You're that guy from the alley…" I whispered.

He stopped writing and finally turned his head to smile at me. He looked old, maybe somewhere in his late thirties. I got ready to book it out of there, but he held up a hand to stop me.

"Easy, young man. I assure you my intentions are far from malicious."

I didn't believe him, my body still set to spring out of my seat and out the door. I figured I could probably lose him easily. Just as long as I didn't lead him back to my hideout, I should-

"Really, you look like you're about to hurt your hand from how hard you're gripping the seat."

I froze and looked down at my hands. They were stark white from how hard I was holding onto the chair like it was the only lifeline I had to keep me grounded in reality. I locked eyes with him again, all my previous boldness gone. His smile went away, replaced by a look of pity.

"What do you want?" I said, hoping my voice sounded steady.

He turned back to his journal and continued to write. "Well, my initial plan was to check up on you since you nearly walked into me without realizing it during your 'walk' yesterday," he said. His eyes peered over at me, "You seemed awfully bothered by something, especially when you didn't get up immediately after falling over in the alleyway."

I huffed, "And then what? Did I scare you away?"

"Considering you nearly jumped out of your own skin and looked like you were about to go rabid when I accidentally kicked that trash can over, yes."

I felt a little bit embarrassed hearing him describe just how jumpy I was, but that was just what I was used to doing.

His eyes moved back to his journal, "Honestly, I'm kind of lucky I even found you here. Though your mood seems to have become worse rather than better..."

With that reminder, my grief returned in force, sucking all of my energy away in a split second.

The man noticed this and sighed, his head turning back to me, "So, it's safe to say I'm right."

I sat there motionless before I returned his gaze. His eyes were back to the same pitying expression, something that I wanted to be annoyed by, but I just didn't have the strength to.

"...Do you want to talk about whatever's bothering you?" he asked.

I frowned, not out of malice, but confusion, "...Why do you care?"

He stared at me sadly before he spoke, "Because from what I've witnessed so far, you don't seem to have anyone else that does…"

I flinched. First Silver could see right through me, now this stranger could too? Was it really that obvious?

"I guess I'm right in that regard too…" he said. His pity for me almost seemed to intensify after he said that.

My mind blanked out. Here sat some random stranger, offering to just...listen to me. This seemed like a trap, yet his presence no longer felt threatening. I...I didn't know what to do.

He smiled and turned back to writing in his journal, "You don't need to give me any specific details if it makes you uncomfortable. When you're ready, I'll listen."

Confusion pushed and pulled on my mind. Obviously, telling him about how I've been transported into a world inside a computer and tasked with guiding a small child with a lightbulb as the sun to a giant tower only offered a one-way ticket into a straight jacket and my own padded cell. Was it even a good idea to say anything? What if this was just an act? It all seemed too good to be true...

But for the first time since I ran away from home, I decided to take a risk.

"I…" I started to say. His hand stopped moving as he waited for me to continue. I took a deep breath and did so, phrasing my words very carefully, "I have a...friend..."

I looked over at him. His eyes were fully focused on me with the journal in front of him now closed. He nodded, prompting me to continue.

"She has trouble...remembering who I am. Usually, she'll be with me for most of the day, but when I see her the next day...she doesn't remember who I am."

Flashes of Niko's smile passed through me, causing my heart to ache and my eyes to sting again, "An...'acquaintance' of mine told me that he had a way to help her, but that it would take almost three months before then…" I took a shaky breath, "I just...hate that I feel so...powerless..."

I looked back at him, having said my peace. His face hadn't changed from its stoicism, but his eyes...they looked almost...remorseful. As if he knew exactly what I was talking about...

"This friend of yours..." he said, "What's her name?"

I hesitated for a moment, but figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him, "...Niko."

For a moment, his hands twitched ever so slightly. His eyes darkened immensely before they returned to normal. I thought it strange, but he cut me off before I could think more of it, "From what I can tell, you care about Niko very much…"

More than you could believe, I thought to myself.

"This 'acquaintance' however...has he told you what exactly he is doing to help?"

I grimaced, "N-no...All I know is that it would take three months. Given that it's almost January, that means it would be sometime in March."

He frowned, "I see…" He fell silent for what seemed like a while before he spoke again, "Is there anything else you wish to talk about?"

I bit the inside of my lip, "Not...right now."

"I understand," he smiled, "Thank you for at least putting the first foot forward."

I just nodded, starting to feel the first waves of exhaustion, both physically and emotionally. He seemed to notice this, "You should probably try and get some rest. Do you have a place to stay?"

"Yeah..."

"Very well," he nodded, before grabbing his journal, "I will be around more often. Should you ever find the need to talk more, you can find me here."

I snorted, "What, is this suppose to turn into scheduled therapy sessions?"

"Only if you wish them to be," he replied back before making his way for the door.

I watched him begin to leave before I called out to him, "Hold on one second…"

He stopped and looked back at me.

"Can I at least know who my potentially unlicensed therapist is?"

He was still before he smiled, "Would I be able to know who my reluctant patient is?"

I shifted uncomfortably. Letting anyone know my name was too big of a risk and I had already taken enough risks for one day. He noticed my discomfort and chuckled softly, "How about this? If you keep coming by, then perhaps I'll tell you my name."

I cocked an eyebrow, baffled by his sudden crypticness, but he had already stepped out of the diner before I could say more. I sighed, "Whatever you say, Pilot…" I looked back at my plate of uneaten food. It was already cold. I groaned inwardly, ate whatever I could, and threw the rest away.

As I walked back to my hideout, my thoughts were plagued by the man. Out of the blue, he was willing to listen to what little I felt like saying. Part of me was cursing myself for letting my guard down so easily, but the other was...confused. Why was he so quick to listen to me? That question bounced around in my head, even after I made it back to my hideout. He seemed genuine, but I was still wary. Maybe next time, I should try and learn more about him instead…

Satisfied with that plan, my eyes hovered over to the laptop. The window showing the room where Niko woke up was bathed in golden light from the now replaced sun. I frowned. Both options had been chosen, but the results of both were hardly cathartic. Now instead of the world vanishing, Niko had disappeared. Lost inside whatever the Tower had planned for her. My eyes stung at the thought of Niko again, once again wishing that she had never gone through any of this.

I sighed. Three months until the Author finished his "atonement". Three months for me to survive. The option to do another run was available to me, but was that really the right thing to do? Wouldn't that just make the pain I felt worse? As I stared at the screen, Niko's final words came back to me.

"I love you."

I shut my eyes, holding on to that one memory for as long as possible. Regardless of whether she remembered me or not, she always was able to make me smile. Regardless of my own pain, she always found a way to take it away. Even as memories of all the others I had met began to wash over me, I always returned back to Niko. At that moment, I pushed away my impending exhaustion and made my decision.

Without hesitation, I set the laptop back in my lap and moved to delete the save data. Once that was done, I started up the OneShot program again, feeling it pull me back into its world. After a minute, my eyes opened to feel the couch cushions underneath me. I sat up and looked around at the darkness surrounding me. I was back. My eyes fell to the Author's journal laying next to me. I stood up with it, taking a second to skim over it before I heard her voice behind me.

"H-Hello?"

I turned around, coming face to face with Niko yet again. Her eyes locked onto mine, the golden orbs piercing into me. It was clear she didn't recognize me again, something that caused my heart to ache, knowing that my lie was about to continue. Slowly and painfully, I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Hey, there. Are you alright?"

Her posture relaxed slightly at the sound of my voice before she nodded.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Niko...My name's Niko…"

I kneeled down to her height, "It's nice to meet you, Niko," I said, "My name's Alan."

She finally smiled back at me and as our steps were retraced once again, the ache in my heart continued, sending shockwaves through my body with each pulse. But I locked it away. I had made my choice. Even if all it will do is make me suffer more...

For Silver, Calamus, Alula, Plight, Ling, Kip, Rue, the Author…

For Niko…

I would survive.

Chapter Text

Chapter Theme: As Satellites Go By - LAMB

3rd Iteration - 90 Days Remaining

"A robot may not injure a living person or, through inaction, allow a person to come to harm," Niko read the poster on the wall while I stood behind her. She had wanted to explore the generator outpost after we finished our repeated welcoming party with Prophetbot. I had read the poster before back during the first run, but I had forgotten about it until now.

"A robot must obey the orders given to it by people, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law," she kept reading, "And a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law." She finished reading and looked up at me, "Y'know, I've never really been around robots before...or any robots at all in fact. I usually just see them in cartoons and stuff, so it feels weird knowing there are so many robots in your world, Alan!"

My hands twitched, "Oh, uh…" Should I tell her…? I don't think it would hurt to tell her this time..."This, uh...isn't actually my world."

Her head tilted to one side, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean...usually I'm not walking around on my own two feet in this world."

She closed her eyes in thought, "Ah...I guess that makes sense. If you're the god of this world, you wouldn't necessarily be in it all the time." Her eyes opened, "What's your homeworld called?"

"...Earth."

"Like the stuff on the ground...? Wait, DO you live underground?"

I let out a small chuckle, "No. It's actually a bit similar to your world, Niko."

Her eyes grew wide before I finally realized what I let slip. My heart pounded against my chest as we stared at each other.

"How...do you know what my world is like?" she whispered.

Think, think, think...Gotta think of something…

"W-Well...I'm a god. I have my ways. Plus, this world has been waiting for your arrival for a while now. It would be a good idea to know who I'd be guiding to the Tower, right?" I finally said, being careful to keep my voice steady.

The pupils in her eyes returned to normal as she listened to my explanation. Her ears fluttered from side to side as I waited for her response. Finally, she spoke.

"That makes sense. I don't really know a whole lot about being a god and stuff..." she smiled, "Anyway, we should probably get back to how we're gonna get that battery box open…"

As she moved past me, I let out the breath I had been holding. That was way too close. I need to be more careful about saying things like that. Lock away the pain and focus on what matters...

Three months...

I'll be fine. I'll survive.

6th Iteration - 88 Days Remaining

"S-So...you're really THE Alan?"

Calamus's poncho shivered along with him as I nodded.

"Wow! Why didn't you tell me? I can't believe I was saved by THE Alan!" Alula trilled next to him.

I sweatdropped and forced myself to smile, "W-Well, I was more worried about making sure you were okay instead of telling you my name…"

Alula smiled. Calamus fidgeted around before looking at me and Niko, "T-Then, w-would...would you two like to visit our house?"

"Oh, sure!" Niko said.

I forced myself not to look away from them, "We've got time…"

"Yaaaaaay!" Alula cheered before forcing us to follow after her.

It was a struggle to maintain composure as we went through the cycle again: Save Alula, grab the feather, see the vision in the tunnel. I was scared that if I went into auto-pilot, it'd destroy the entire facade I've put up. Even with reminding myself that, it didn't stop everything from becoming a blur. All it was was just following a routine. Nod your head here. Say this at this point.

I only was able to find a reprieve up against a tree as I sat down and watched Alula and Niko playing in the courtyard. A ball was kicked back and forth between the two while Alula kept telling Niko all about this world. I felt a small smile creep onto my face before it was swiftly pushed away.

"Mr. Alan?"

I looked up to see Calamus standing over me with a look of concern on his face.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

He rubbed his hands, "Well, you just seem...a bit down."

I forced a smile, "I just have some things on my mind. It's nothing for you to worry about."

He sat down next to me, "Is it about the vision you and Niko had?" he asked, tilting his head.

"It's one of them, but again, it's nothing to worry about." I placed a hand on his shoulder, "Trust me."

That seemed to calm him down and he turned back to watch the two girls. I looked away from them, my mind still partially stuck in a fog with my thoughts pressing down on me.

Even as we said our goodbyes and falsely reassured them that the sun would fix everything, I had to remind myself that what I was doing was the right thing...I was doing the right thing by lying to them…

Three months...

I'll be fine. I'll survive.

13th Iteration - 80 Days Remaining

"Wow...I didn't know you were good at chess, Alan!"

One of Silver's pawns fell down with a thunk, echoing throughout the outpost.

"[It has been a while since I've been challenged.]"

"As good as I can be against a chess master like you…" I quipped, allowing one small second of enjoyment before it fizzled away like a match.

Silver's eyes studied the board before she flashed a tiny smile, "[You are better than most of the other robots here,]" she said before moving one of her bishops closer to my king, "[But there are still some holes in your strategy. Check.]"

I grunted and looked for a way out, "Well, you did say the others weren't tamed a moment ago…" I stopped and looked up from the board, "...Is taming really that complicated?"

"[As I've said, it's hard for me to explain what it is.]"

"Hmm…" I hummed. Yet another failed attempt at trying to learn from her just what taming was supposed to be. No matter what question I asked, we always fell back into the standard routine. Honestly, I'm not sure why I kept trying to figure it out at this point.

After a few more moves, Silver had cornered my king. With a rare smile, she looked up from the board, "[Checkmate.]"

I sighed. One of the perks of repeating this journey over and over was learning about how to play chess. Nevermind the fact that I was essentially cheating when it came to figuring out Silver's strategy, but I forgot that strategies could change. At least this was the farthest I'd gotten so far. It was nice to see Silver smile...

I knocked down my king, "Well, I did my best."

"[Indeed.]"

"That was a lot of fun to watch!" Niko beamed, "I'm still surprised you knew a lot about chess, Alan!"

Another smile found its way onto my face, this one lingering for far longer. I chuckled. Niko always seemed to find a way to make it happen...

"[Thank you for listening...and for the game. I hope you get home safely, Messiah,]" Silver said as we were leaving.

"Thank you!"

Silver locked eyes with me and nodded her head. I lingered just a second longer before returning it and following behind Niko. The pain of leaving her to be alone in the Barrens still felt as fresh as the first time and likely always will, but I had to keep moving forward...

Three months...

I'll be fine. I'll survive.

Real World - 70 Days Remaining

"Ah, nice to see you again."

I looked up to see the man, who I just called "Pilot" in my head, sitting next to me. His journal was once again in his arms and he wasted no time opening it and getting back to writing.

"You know, they have food here. You could always order something while you write," I said.

"Yes, but then there's the chance that something could stain my writing."

I sighed, "Fair enough, I guess…"

He chuckled before looking at me. He was silent before he asked, "So, how has your friend Niko been?"

I frowned, "...Not much has really changed."

He smiled softly, "At least you're still there for her."

"Not...entirely."

"What do you mean?"

I sighed, "I just...Every time we meet each other again, I never tell her that we've met before…"

"Why not? Don't you want her to try and remember you?" he asked.

"Yes, I do! But…" The familiar emptiness weaved its way into my stomach, "Sometimes, I just...think it's better that she doesn't know...That she'd be better off without me…I'm just lying to her at this point..."

"Young man," he said sharply, causing me to snap up to him, "The fact that you still visit your friend despite her not remembering you says more about who you are than anything else." I kept my mouth shut as he continued on, "Regardless of what you might think, whether you're 'lying' to her or not, what I see is someone who wants to see their friend be happy, despite her memory loss, and is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure she stays that way," He finished with a sigh, "Am I wrong?"

My jaw hung open, shocked at how passionately he had spoken about me, "N-No…"

We stayed silent, his eyes locked onto mine. He shut his eyes with a sigh, "I can't tell you if what you're doing is right or wrong. That has to be for you to decide. But..." he said, "...you must know that the truth always makes itself known, whether you want it to or not."

We stayed silent. I didn't know what to say to that. He seemed to understand my situation, only limited by the crazy parts that I was keeping from him. My eyes wandered the diner before they landed on the clock.

I stood up, "...I should probably get going."

Pilot had returned to writing in his journal but offered me a smile. My thoughts lingered on what he said to me as I left, but it was drowned under the chanting now echoing throughout my mind.

Three months…

I'll be fine. I'll survive.

22nd Iteration - 60 Days Remaining

"H-Holy One…" I heard Maize whisper next to me. I turned to look at her emerald eyes staring back, "T-Thank you, again…"

I wrapped one arm around her, "...It's the least I could do."

I had told Niko to go on ahead without me while I took care of Maize. Knowing that she didn't have to watch this happen helped a tiny bit, but it still didn't take away the pain.

We sat together in silence as the time ticked away, closer and closer to Maize's final moments.

"...I'm sorry," I said once I felt her body begin to meld into the ground, "I wish there was something I could do to save you…"

"You have...given me peace…" she whispered back, "That...is more...than enough, Holy One…"

No...this isn't peace…

Even when Niko came back with Alula, it took every fiber of my being to stay in control as I held the kernel close to my heart. Lock it all away...I had to stay strong...

I'll be fine...I'll survive…

33rd Iteration - 40 Days Remaining

"...Oh?" Rue noticed me enter the cove, "Alan...you're back again…"

I was silent as I nodded to her.

"I'll be honest...I'm surprised by how many times you have visited," her ears dropped, "And I suspect they'll be more times in the future…"

I said nothing, moving over to sit at the base of the tree. Rue slowly moved to my side, "Where is Niko?"

"Sleeping...at the library."

"You...aren't staying with her?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

I kept my gaze glued to the ground, "...I just needed to be somewhere else for a bit."

"Hmm..."

We fell silent, simply listening to the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves.

"I...am actually glad you still come by to see me."

I looked at Rue with a questioning look.

She smiled softly, "I guess I've just gotten used to your company."

I looked away from her and back towards the ground.

"...Alan, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

I could feel Rue's eyes on me, but I just kept my eyes to the ground.

She sighed, "Alan...I understand you're upset about all of this and I'm sorry…but maybe it would be better if you took a break from constantly coming back to this-"

"No."

I could feel her flinch from my sudden reply, but she regained control quickly, "If being in this world bothers you this much, then why do you keep coming back?"

"I can't just leave Niko alone here…"

"Believe me when I say that Niko will be okay until the time comes to fix all of this. Why put yourself through all of this if it only ends up hurting you more?"

I locked eyes with the fox and for the first time, I saw shock run through her face.

"...Because she's all I have left."

We stared at each other in silence. The rustling of the leaves above us had stopped, leaving us only to our own thoughts. Rue said nothing as she looked away.

I sighed and began to stand, "...I should get back to Niko."

Before I could leave, I heard Rue speak one last time, "Will...you still come visit?"

I looked back at her. Her eyes were wide, almost pleading. I nodded my head and she relaxed, prompting me to finally leave the cove.

During the whole trip back to the library, I repeated the mantra in my head...

I'll be fine...I'll survive...

42nd Iteration - 20 Days Remaining

I watched the crimson neon numbers tick away above the door, each tick echoing throughout the stairwell. Twenty days left to go until the door finally opened. I sighed. The last 70 days have felt like a nightmare that I just couldn't wake up from. The only solace was Niko, but even then, the guilt of lying to her for so long was starting to take its toll. There were several iterations before where I hardly spoke a word to her. Looking back on it now, it caused my heart to ache, but I had to keep it locked away...That's all I could do…

"...Alan?"

"WOAH!" I shot to my feet in a panic. I whipped around to see Niko standing beside, "Don't...scare me like that! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"I-I'm sorry!" she stuttered. My reaction must have freaked her out too. We both took a second to calm down before I raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still asleep...and where's the sun?" I asked, noticing that the lightbulb was absent from her arms.

She looked down and rubbed her arm, "I left it back in the room…and I wanted to know where you had gone."

"S-Sorry…" I said guiltily.

She shook her head, dismissing my apology, "What are YOU doing here though? This door doesn't look like it's going to open anytime soon..."

I sighed, "I just…have a lot on my mind."

She frowned, her eyes still filled with worry, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not...really, no," I said, "Sorry…"

Her eyes darkened slightly as she looked at the ground, "Oh…"

"But…" her eyes shot back up when I spoke again, "...Could you just stay here with me? Just for a little bit?"

Her golden eyes stared back into mine, trying to see beneath the cold, iron walls I had placed around myself. She nodded and sat down next to me. I wrapped my one arm around her and she scooted closer until her head was resting against me. We stayed that way, watching the nixie tubes count away, closer and closer to their end.

"Alan?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"...I'm fine."

Niko lifted her head and stared up at me, "Sitting in the dark staring at numbers doesn't seem fine to me."

I winced, the sharpness of her words cutting into me. I looked away, "I…"

She waited patiently, waiting for whatever it was that I was about to say.

"I...I've just been thinking about...what will happen once this is all over, once you go home…" I finally said. Not a complete lie, but not the whole truth either.

Her brow furrowed, "Oh, I… hadn't actually thought of that…" Her eyes glazed over before quickly returning to normal, "Alan, since you're a god, does it get...lonely?"

"At times," I said. I wanted to chuckle, but I couldn't find the energy to.

She frowned before she moved into my lap, still looking up at me, "Do you think...you could come with me to my world? Just for a little bit?"

I held back a shiver and finally broke away from her gaze, "...I don't think I'll be able to."

"B-But...you shouldn't have to be alone!" Her eyes darkened immensely as my eyes snapped back to hers, "You've done so much for me, guiding me all this way! You...You…" Tears began to fall down her cheeks, "You've been like an older brother to me...I don't want you to leave!"

She tightly gripped the seams of my jacket, as if I was about to suddenly disappear from the world forever at that moment. It took all I had to not spill out the truth, biting the inside of my cheek until it tasted raw to force the urge away.

I wrapped my arms around Niko and pulled her closer to me, her sobs becoming louder as the unknown future buried itself into her mind. Unknown to her, but not to me. After all, I was the one responsible for it. I was the one that forced her to repeat this over and over again, stuck in a maze with no end, a game with no prize.

"I'm sorry, Niko…" I whispered, feeling an invisible knife pierce into me, "I'm sorry I can't go with you…but what matters most to me is that you're happy."

She took her head from out of my chest and looked back up at me as I continued.

"All I've ever wanted was to make sure that you get home, no matter what," I said, trying in vain to pull myself together, but the dam had started to crack, "I care about you so much, Niko. I would go to the ends of the world to see you safe and happy...even if that means leaving me behind, which is why…" I choked on my words, each one burning my mouth like poison as the knife pushed deeper, "...once this is all over, I want you to forget about me, forget about our journey together, so you can be happy."

"No!" she cried out, "No, no, no, I won't! I don't want to forget you! I..." she buried her head into my chest, "...I love you."

Ever deeper the knife became. As I held her tighter, every breath I took was suffocating and I only faintly felt a single tear fall out of its cage. The rest were locked away, as they should be.

"...I love you too."

Niko continued to cry into my jacket, constantly repeating that they would never forget me, which was ironic, really. Eventually, her sobs ceased, replaced by gentle snoring. I carried her in my arms as we left the corridor. All the while, my thoughts continued to echo...

I'll be fine...I'll survive...

Real World - 10 Days Remaining

"So, only a couple more days, right?"

I nodded over my plate of food.

Pilot grunted, "I would think you'd be a little more excited…"

"Maybe the feeling just hasn't set in yet," I flatly responded.

His eyes narrowed, "...Young man, when was the last time you slept?"

"Does that matter?"

He sighed, "I understand you want to help your friend, but you should be taking care of yourself first and foremost, which means getting some sleep. Besides, wouldn't you want to be ready once this acquaintance of yours finally unveils this 'solution' of his?"

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"If you weren't talking to me right now, I would have assumed you were already."

I snorted, a rare occurrence nowadays, "Well, I'm getting close then..."

I turned away from him, but I could feel his glare piercing the back of my head. With a grumble, I looked back at him. His eyes had narrowed even more and he REALLY didn't look happy.

"That's not something you should joke about, son…"

My eye twitched, "I'm not your son…"

"If this is bothering you to the point where you're feeling this, then you need to talk about it before it gets worse!"

"What? Like talking to you? I barely know anything about you and yet you want me to just open up?"

"Son-"

"Don't call me that..."

He rubbed his head in frustration, "I'm just trying to get it into your head that it's obvious you're getting close to a breaking point. If you keep pushing yourself towards the edge, eventually you're going to fall in! You need to talk to someone you trust!"

I could feel my blood starting to boil with each word he spoke, "Ha! Find me that person so I can meet them too! I need to ask where they've been these past few years!"

"I can't just stand by and let you get yourself hurt, son! There are people that still need-!"

"CALL ME SON ONE MORE TIME...!"

I was thankful the entire diner was empty, but the silence that followed was deafening. Not even the sound of our breathing registered in my ears. I was expecting Pilot to lose his cool as well...but he didn't. Instead, he just stared back at me with a crestfallen look in his eyes. It was then that I realized just what I had done. The rage that was burning inside me was snuffed out replaced by the emptiness that had stayed with me for the past three months.

"I...I should go…" I muttered weakly.

He said nothing as I left the diner. All the way back I kept repeating to myself...

I'll be fine...

50th Iteration - 0 Days Remaining

Today was the day.

I decided to relent and take Pilot's advice and, for the first time in a long time, I actually got some decent sleep from the night before, surprisingly nightmare-free. Whatever was behind that door, I wanted to be ready for it.

After breezing through the Barrens and the Glen with newfound determination, we arrived in the Refuge. I wasted no time rushing to the door with Niko close behind me, though she was confused about why I was so eager. Reaching the entrance of the stairwell, I didn't hear any ticking. For the first time in three months, I felt hope. This was it. All that time spent waiting led up to this. Whatever was behind that door was going to fix everything.

"Woah…" I heard Niko murmur once we finally reached the top of the stairwell, "That's a big door…What's so important about it, Alan?"

"That's what I'm hoping to find out," I replied, my eyes still glued to the finished countdown.

Niko walked closer to the door, "Well, this lock symbol looks like some sort of button...I wonder if the door will open if I…"

As soon as her hand pushed the lock, I was blinded by the vision of Rue. It quickly vanished with me and Niko staring at each other.

"Was...was that another vision?"

My brow furrowed. Another vision of Rue? But...why? She should just be on the surface...so why did she show up now?

Niko glanced between me and the button before touching it again. The vision filled my sight once again, this time with the added bonus of a now growing headache.

"I got it to happen again…"

I rubbed my head, "Yeah...I can tell…"

A moment of silence passed before she tapped the button again.

"Niko..." I groaned after the vision went away.

"Sorry! I was just curious!" she looked away from the button, "It seems like this is the only vision so far that we have some control over though. I wonder why they happen in the first place…"

I stared at the lock as a cold feeling slowly began to settle itself inside my chest. Why hasn't the door opened yet...?

"Do you know anything about them, Alan? At least...this specific one."

This isn't right...Something's wrong...

"...Alan?"

The door should be open right now...We're supposed to be fixing everything right now...

"Alan!"

I jolted out of my daze, my heart pounding against my chest, "H-Huh?

Niko's eyes pierced through me, torn between worried and suspicious.

Oh crap. "N-No...No, I don't…

"You...don't?

I tore away from her stare, "But I would definitely like to know..." I rubbed my head again. I really don't want to deal with this headache right now…

Almost as if it heard me, the headache quickly intensified, making me cry out in pain. Was...was it getting darker? Oh no, no please don't tell me Niko dropped the lightbulb...Oh god, please don't tell me this is happening...

Darkness swarmed all around me while I prayed that the lightbulb was safe. Eventually, the headache went away. I cautiously opened my eyes to see that I hadn't moved from my spot. Confused, I looked around, "Niko…?" She had...vanished?

The ticking above me stole my attention. The countdown...restarted? No, no, there were only five seconds left. So then, where did...?

The timer stopped and before I had time to react, I heard the soft pattering of footsteps coming up the steps. I turned and saw Rue, looking past me and up at the clock.

"Rue? What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"...I made it just in time," she muttered, completely ignoring my question.

I moved closer to her, "What? But the countdown was already over...Why did it…"

I was cut off when Rue walked...through me, almost like I wasn't even there. I gasped in shock. I thought this only happened when I went inside the Tower. Why is it happening now!?

I watched Rue look around the room, "Ah...I guess Alan and Niko aren't here yet."

My mouth opened to scream at her that I was right here, but if this really was like what happened in the Tower, chances were that she couldn't see or hear me.

"Hm...Maybe it's best that I go inside for now."

I followed along behind her as the doors opened up. Inside, we both froze. It was all black and purple wireframe, like it was on the verge of ceasing to exist.

"The floor...The walls...None of it is…!"

"It's not ready…" I breathed out. It's not ready…

Rue started to move and I followed again, trapped in a daze as we came across a note sitting on the floor. I read over Rue's shoulder to see what it had to say:

My dear Rue.

I'm so sorry...I encountered some pretty serious issues towards the end.

Please give me one more week.

That should be enough to stabilize the patch.

But ah, lest you fret your tail off...I do want to let you know the good news!

...This fix has a decent chance of succeeding.

Both of us gasped. So, it wasn't just a lie…? This "solution" of the Author's could work?

With any luck, we might finally be able to change the outcome.

In the meantime, you should wait for the messiah and Alan where you've always been.

It's best that you don't be seen outside of that room for now.

It really is unfortunate that I cannot be more active in this world.

...But I believe in you, Rue. I will leave the task to your capable hands.

You and the others. I am so proud of you all.

Rue seemed to be relieved by the news, that it wouldn't be much longer for this "fix" to come. But I just felt...empty. Three months I've waited and now I'm forced to wait more? Niko is forced to wait more…?

"Oh, there's still one more page…" Rue muttered. I focused back on the note:

Ah, one more thing…

Please keep an eye on Alan. I fear he is beginning to lose himself to his own darkness.

If we lose him...then I'm afraid this plan will be for naught.

Rue's tail slumped to the ground while I was frozen in place. The fact that the Author went out of his way to warn Rue about me shocked me to my core. How did he even know? Despite my shock, it didn't erase the emptiness I felt.

"...I shall do my best, sir."

With Rue's final words, the headache returned while the world slowly went dark. I shut my eyes, hoping whatever was happening would happen quickly. When I opened them again, I was back in the stairwell, away from the door but I could once again hear the ticking.

"Hey...did something happen just now?"

I jumped when I heard Niko next to me, appearing out of nowhere. She was looking around in confusion as she continued, "Weren't we just...in another room? I remember looking at a locked door, then I started to blackout..."

Niko seemed to finally notice my silence and turned to look at me. I heard a quiet gasp leave her mouth once she saw me, but...I just didn't care anymore.

"...Come on, we should get going," I mumbled, putting my hands in my pockets.

"A-Alan? What's wrong? Are you alright?"

I stopped in the doorway and glanced back at her. At that moment, looking into her eyes, every emotion I've buried, every word I've locked away ached to be set free, to tell her the truth…

...But...I couldn't.

"...I'll be fine."

Chapter Text

"The last thing I want to do is place my burdens on you, Niko."

"Please don't say goodbye."

"...I'll be fine."

My eyes shot open to see nothing but darkness. Something had woken me up...A dream maybe? My eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, only to see that I wasn't in my room anymore. Where...was I?

"Hello?"

As I looked around the room from under the blankets, something felt odd. Have I been here before...?

"...Alan?"

I froze. Why did I just...say that name? Why does it...sound so familiar?

"...'Alan'..."

Something about that name caused my heart to ache, but why? Was it someone I knew? It feels like I should know, but I...can't seem to remember.

I finally decided to get out of bed and take a look around. Maybe if I got out of this house, I'd go home. I wonder if Mama knows I'm gone. I better not make her worry so much. Aside from a computer and a dried stick in the bathroom, the only thing worth looking at was a remote on the ground. Most of the buttons were missing, but the ones still present were colored differently. Turning on the computer only brought a message asking for a password with each number being a different color just like on the remote. As I put in the password, I couldn't help but have that same feeling again that I had done all this before.

I ignored it for now when the computer finally turned on. Before I could react, messages started popping up:

"[You found me.]

[...Why?]

[You're already too late. Not much of this world remains.]

[This will be apparent once you go outside.]

[...This place was never worth saving.]

[Do you still want to try?]

[Then, remember this:]

[Your actions here will affect Niko. Your 'mission' is to help Niko leave.]

[And most importantly…]"

The messages stopped. I was confused. Were these messages...talking to me? No, that couldn't be right. It was talking ABOUT me. Who was it talking to then?

"[...No. This does not feel right at all.]

[Have we...already been through this, Alan?]

[But that should be impossible…]

[You only had one shot. I wasn't supposed to exist after that.]"

My confusion only grew more. I didn't pay any attention to the rest of the message, just the name.

Alan.

That name echoed in my head until I heard the door unlock nearby. I hadn't even realized it was locked, but I guess I had no other choice but to see what was in the rest of this house. I made my way over and quietly began to open it, peeking through the crack. The rest of the house was dark as well, something I wasn't too happy about. I opened the door all the way and stepped into what looked like the living room. Parts of the floor were missing and the furniture looked ripped apart.

I took a step forward and stopped. Sitting on the couch was...a person. They looked like they were staring down at the ground, but I wasn't sure why. I felt myself begin to tremble. Mama always told me to be careful around strangers, but here I was stuck in some weird house with one. Maybe...maybe they could help me? I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I took a deep breath and spoke.

"H-hello?"

I watched as their head moved slightly before they slowly stood up and turned to face me. With them in full view, I could finally get a better look. It was a boy, definitely older than me. He had on a white jacket over a black shirt with jeans and a pair of blue sneakers. His hair looked blonde with strands falling in front of his face, but they didn't seem to bother him that much. I stopped when I saw his eyes. They weren't like anyone's eyes back in my village, but that wasn't what bothered me. They were blue, but they looked...sad. Empty, almost.

"...Hey, there. Are you alright?" he spoke softly.

I flinched. His voice...I've heard that voice before. The fear I had quickly went away the longer I looked at him. I felt...safe. I didn't know why. It just felt right. I realized he was still waiting for an answer, so I nodded.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"N-Niko...I'm Niko. Who are you?"

He frowned for a split second before returning to normal. He slowly kneeled down in front of me and smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Niko. My name's Alan."

Alan? The same one that the computer talked about? The same one that I called out to when I woke up? If this is the same, then...that means he can help me get home! I smiled for the first time since I woke up. His eyes lit up for a second before they returned to normal.

"Do you know how we can get out of here?" I asked him.

He nodded and I felt hopeful. I could trust him. He could help me...but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to why I was so willing to trust him. Even after finding the lightbulb, that feeling didn't go away.

"Checkmate."

I watched Alan move his bishop one last time. The robot lady's eyes went wide before she closed them.

"[Very impressive. It's been a while since I've lost.]"

"That was a lot of fun to watch, too!" I said.

Alan's eyes lit up for a split second again and I thought I saw him smile before it all went away.

"Well, I've had a bit of experience…"

"[You caught me by surprise a couple of times. How did you figure out my strategy so quickly?]"

I thought I saw Alan flinch before he spoke, "I'm more observant than you realize."

The robot lady looked at him before nodding, "[Indeed. Thank you for the game...and for listening.]" She turned to me, "[I hope you get home safely.]"

"Thank you!" I said as I picked up the lightbulb off the floor and together with Alan, we left the outpost and started to make our way back to the robot that would take us across the ocean. Just thinking that made me smile. To think, I'm gonna sail across a REAL ocean! It was hard to not smile the whole way back. Though just before we reached the dock, I let out a yawn.

"Looks like you're tired, huh?"

I looked up to see Alan glancing down at me. I nodded and he guided me over to the bed we had seen when we first got here. I was a little bummed to learn that leaving that house didn't immediately bring me home, but learning about all of the Messiah business and being told I need to bring the sun to the Tower in order to save the world, it was hard not to say no. It was even more surprising when I found out that Alan was actually the god of this world! What was strange though was that it...made sense, like I had already known that fact somehow. I wasn't sure why, but I just did.

Alan finally led me to the bed and plucked my hat off my head. Just the motion itself caused that old feeling to come back again. It was so familiar...Maybe I was just REALLY tired.

"Comfortable?" he asked once I was under the covers.

"Mhm."

I saw his mouth twitch, "Good. Get some rest, Niko."

I was about to fall asleep when I stopped and looked up at him, "Alan, where are you gonna sleep?"

"I'm not that tired," he replied. That same sad look was back in his eyes.

The old feeling became stronger and stronger. Maybe I was just tired, but...something inside me just didn't him to be alone. I pulled back the covers, making enough room for Alan. He just watched me before I locked eyes with him, "Could...you at least stay with me?"

His eyes glanced between me and the covers, almost like he was afraid, "A-Are you sure?"

I nodded and, after another minute, he slowly sat down in the spot I made and laid back, taking a second to relax into the bed before pulling the blankets over us. Not a moment after that, I wrapped my arms around him. I felt him flinch for a moment before he relaxed again. He turned over on his side and I felt his arms wrap around me.

It was strange. I don't remember ever meeting Alan before, but...this felt right...familiar...like we had held each other like this before. My eyes began to close, only to feel his grip tighten and pull me closer to him. I sighed in contentment.

He was so warm...

"Hey, can I ask you something, Niko?"

I stopped the ball at my feet and looked up at Alula, "About what?"

"About Alan. He seems…" she looked over at him, "...bothered by something."

I followed her gaze. Alan was sitting by the tree looking out at the water near him. It didn't seem like he was paying attention to anything else around him.

I sighed, "Yeah..."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"I have, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about it at all," I said, "Everytime I ask him about it, he just says he's fine, but something tells me he's not..."

I continued to watch Alan as Alula continued to ask me questions about him. Maybe he was still dealing with the vision and what happened to the plant lady. Alan didn't tell me what happened to her. The only thing that was left was a corn kernel, but he didn't say anything about it. Alula later told me about Maize and why the kernel was so important. I understood why Alan didn't want me to be there, but I would have liked to have been there with him. I didn't like seeing him like this.

I felt Alula tap me on the shoulder, "Maybe you should try and talk to him again...or at least be there for him." She smiled, "Calamus does that with me if I get sad and don't want to talk about anything."

"That's...a good idea, Alula. Thank you."

She nodded and scampered back to her den. Soon, it was just me and Alan in the yard. I made my way over to him. He didn't seem to notice me approach as his eyes were still focused on the water. I wasn't sure if I wanted to bother him yet, so I decided to just sit down beside him. We stayed that way until I heard him moving around. I looked up to see him staring back at me. I guess he was surprised to see me there.

"Hey…" he said.

"Hey. Is it alright if I sit here with you?"

His eyes lit up once again before going back to normal, "...Sure."

We fell silent again. Slowly, I started to lean against his arm, hoping to give him some comfort from whatever was bothering him. After a while, he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer. I smiled, happy that Alula's advice was working out.

He sighed, "...I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, looking up at him.

"For being like this. I just…" his eyes glazed over, "...have a lot on my mind."

I frowned, "Is it about…'godly' stuff?"

For the first time since meeting him, he chuckled, "Yeah...I guess that's the best way to describe it."

My frown deepened and I opened my mouth to say something when I heard something in my mind:

"I...You're a good kid, Niko...but I've...gone through so much...and I just can't put that all on you. I just can't…"

What...was that? A memory? I don't remember Alan ever saying that, but...why did it hurt so much to hear?

"Niko? You okay?"

Alan was looking at me. He looked worried, but just then, I heard him again:

"I care about you so much, Niko. I would go to the ends of the world to see you safe and happy...even if that means leaving me behind..."

I only faintly felt tears run down my face and Alan wiping them away.

"What's wrong? I didn't mean to make you this upset-"

He only barely finished his sentence before I wrapped my arms around him tightly. He stiffened in surprise before relaxing, but I didn't pay attention.

Were these really memories? I don't remember Alan ever saying those things, but something about them felt real. I just didn't know…

"...Niko. Please don't cry..."

I looked up at Alan and saw his eyes had darkened even more than usual. He was constantly wiping away at my tears. I finally realized what happened and let go of him.

"I-I'm sorry...I don't know what came over me," I said, "I just...don't like seeing you like this."

His arm hadn't moved from its spot around me, only tightening as we looked out across the water together. The warmth coming from him was so comfortable...I wished we could stay like this forever...

The floorboards creaked under us as we made our way towards the summit of the Tower. This was the final step. Once we returned the sun, I could finally go home. I wanted to sprint down the hall to not waste any time, but after what had happened when we entered the Tower, I didn't want to lose him again.

There were a few moments in the hall where it looked like his body went see-through, but he never said anything about it, so I just assumed it was the Tower still trying to play tricks on me. I stayed by his side, one step at a time until we finally reached the elevator that would take us to the top. As we soared up to the summit, my mind lingered back on that constant feeling that I've had ever since I met him. Even now, that feeling turned to dread as we climbed higher and higher.

"...Sure is taking a while…" I said, hoping to take my mind off it and to break Alan's silence.

Alan simply grunted in acknowledgment.

I frowned and tried again, "Are you excited, Alan? We're finally gonna save the world...and I know it's for real this time, cuz you're here! And then...I'll get to go home for real this time, too!" I smiled at the thought of finally seeing Mama again. She's probably really worried about me…

I heard a noise coming from Alan, almost like a strangled cry. I looked up at him, only to see he was turned away from me. His hands were shoved into his pockets, but I could still see how hard they were shaking.

"...Alan? W-What''s wrong?"

"Nothing," he quickly responded. He turned back to me and I had to stop myself from gasping. He looked to be on the verge of tears but was holding them back, "I'm just gonna miss you when you go back."

Oh...right, I had forgotten about that. Alan...wouldn't be able to come with me, even for a little bit. He'd be alone again…

Before I could say more, the doors opened, and sitting in the middle of the room was a podium. That must be where the sun goes. Together, we slowly made out way over to it. Each step sent a small shiver down my body as that familiar feeling came back, stronger than ever before. It felt like forever until we finally reached the podium. I stared at it with the lightbulb shining in my arms.

"So this is where the sun belongs…"

Alan stayed silent.

Stronger and stronger the feeling became. It felt like there was more to this, a choice that I didn't know about, but that wasn't true, right? Alan would tell me if there was something like that, right?

"When the time comes, don't say goodbye."

I turned back to him, "Thank you...for everything, Alan."

He gazed back at me. His eyes were darker than I had ever seen them, but he was still trying to hold strong. I smiled, "I promise I'll be okay."

He nodded and I turned to place the sun in its place. As soon as I twisted it, the light coming from it started getting brighter and brighter. I let go of it and looked back at him. He was turned away, but I could still see the tears that were falling down his face. I hoped he would be okay.

The light soon engulfed both of us and I closed my eyes.

I hoped I would see him again…

55th Iteration - 2 Days Remaining

Chapter Text

Real World - 30 Minutes Remaining

"So, this is it, right?"

I looked over at Pilot. He matched my glance before returning to fervently writing in his journal, a lot more than usual.

"...Yep," I said back, too tired to hide how defeated I was.

His writing stopped before slowly continuing, "Are you sure you'll be able to handle this?"

"I've survived the past three months. I'll be fine."

"...I wish you didn't keep saying that," he lamented, "Cause it's very obvious you're not."

I sighed, "Does it really matter?"

"I'm sure it does to a lot of other people, such as your friend Niko."

A shiver racked my body, "Well if my acquaintance's solution works, she won't have to worry anymore."

A silence fell over us, only broken by the scratching of pen to paper. In all honesty, everything kind of felt unreal. After waiting for three months and then an extra week, finally, I'd have the chance to fix everything; save the world and send Niko home...for real this time. But those three months were probably the hardest I've ever gone through. Every waking moment I had was spent inside the laptop with Niko, locking myself into the vicious cycle that Niko had been thrown into.

This last attempt would be it...and then I could finally rest, knowing that I did some good in my life. Maybe that's what I've really been waiting for all this time…

"I'm sorry."

I was jerked out of my thoughts by Pilot's voice. Confused, I turned to him, "...For what?"

He had finished writing in his journal and was facing me. It was for the first time that I noticed how...tired he looked, as if he had been carrying the entire world on his shoulders. His eyes searched me, grasping for whatever he wanted to say next.

"Sorry for what?" I asked again.

Silent he remained. His eyes continued boring into me, but it was at that moment I felt something strange. Familiar. Not because I saw him in the alley, but...something before that.

"I know what you're about thinking about doing. Once this is all over," he finally spoke, "I felt the same way at first."

I opened my mouth, but he cut me off, "I know how much you've suffered because of all this and it was difficult to just stand by and do nothing."

My confusion only grew as his eyes finally averted from mine, "I hope that after tonight, everything will be as it should have been. Both for Niko and the others."

"O-Others…?" He didn't mean…?

He looked back up at me and smiled before standing up out of his seat, "I know there's very little I can do to assuage your pain, Alan, and for that...I am sorry."

My entire body turned to ice, "How do you know my-"

He gently placed his hand on my shoulder, cutting me off again, "Please...see this through to the end. Give her and that world the ending they deserve."

My head was spinning as he let go and began to exit the diner.

He knows? How does he…?

My eyes fell upon the now-closed journal that he was leaving behind. I never got a chance to clearly see it until now, but when my eyes landed on the picture on the cover, I couldn't hold back a gasp.

A black clover.

Shocked, I spun around in my seat to face him, "Y-You're…!"

He stopped, glancing back at me one last time, and smiled, "...Good luck, Alan. I hope that once this is all over...you're able to find peace."

With that, he left the diner and disappeared into the night. My mind screamed at me to run after him, but my legs wouldn't budge.

All this time...I was talking to The Author this whole time? HE was the one the delivered the laptop to me? HE was the one that kept his eye on me all these months…?

My eyes drifted back to his journal. Did he mean to leave it behind for me? It didn't seem like he was coming back to get it. Slowly, I inched my way to the journal and opened it. Sketches of objects like flower pots and clovers dotted the page. Turning to the next page, I found an entry and started to read:

"Alan,

If you are reading this, then it's Safe to assume that the time has come. I wish I could explain more to you, but...part of me was worried about how you would react to my presence after being absent for so long.

None of that matters now.

Because of your rem Oval of the restriction, you are ready to continue. I am sorry it took so long, but I had to make sure everything was in place.

When you arrive again at the Refuge, the door should be unlocked. What Lies inside is what will set this all in motion. After that, the session should run a very different course.

If you...can recognize my Symbol, you will know what you should do.

...I confess...this will be risky.

The probability that the Entity's condition will worsen is...quite high.

And if that happens, then…

...Then…

Haha, look at me...becoming so apprehensive after spending so much T ime waiting for this moment…

I understand if you are afraid of what might happen.

...I am afraid, too.

But I know that you are strong enough to do this, even if you do not believe that yourself.

…

Back then, I was unsure of how you would react to this 'gift' of mine, but seeing your devotion to the Messiah, to the world, I know I made the right decision in Choosing you.

Be strong, Alan. For the messiah...the world...my children.

You all deserve a happy Ending.

Thank you.

Goodbye."

~♣️

I re-read the letter over and over again, my mind still reeling from the shock of actually meeting the Author. He was there since the beginning, but I just never realized…

The sound of thunder booming outside shook me from the journal. As fast as I could, I grabbed the journal and raced back to my hideout, feeling the first drops of rain on my head. I made it back just in time before the rest of the rain pounded away at my hideout.

Instantly, my eyes fell back to the journal and the Author's message. The words burned into my brain as memories of the past three months accompanied them. Three months of waiting...and it all led to this.

The Author was right about one thing: I was scared.

If this worked, the world would really be saved. If this worked, Niko would finally get to go home. If this worked...it would mean saying goodbye to Niko for the last time…Was I ready for that? To leave behind the one that made me feel like I meant something?

...

...It doesn't matter. She'll forget me soon enough. It'll make what comes after easier.

I took one last look at the message, noting the bolded letters: S-O-L-S-T-I-C-E. Guess it'll act as a password for something. I wasn't going to waste time thinking about it until the time came to use it.

I set down the journal and grabbed the laptop, plunging back into the world without hesitation.

The numbers above the door all read "0", illuminating whatever shadow the lightbulb didn't reach.

"Woah...what is this, Alan?"

I glanced down at Niko, who was staring wide-eyed at the door, "I'm not too sure myself, but something tells me its really important."

"Huh...Looks like the door is locked, though. Does it need a password?"

I touched the lock symbol that was highlighted on the door. It morphed into a keyboard, to which I typed in the password that the Author had left for me in his message. Once the password was in, the keyboard and lock faded away and the doors slowly began to open.

"Oh! You got it! How did you know the password, Alan?"

"I have my ways."

"Oh, right," she chuckled, "Should we go in?"

I nodded and led the way with Niko following behind.

The last time I had seen this place was during that vision of Rue. Back then, everything was still in black and purple wireframe, but now it looked normal. I was quickly drawn to the pillars of light that emanated out of the floor. Four colors: blue, green, red, and...purple? That one was new.

"Woah...these look really weird…" Niko said, stepping onto one of the lights, "Hehe, they kinda tingle!"

I snorted, a surprise given how genuine it was, and looked around the room some more. The only other things there were doors that looked like they belonged to elevators and a bed in the corner. Odd, a bed was the last thing I expected to find here. It didn't look like any of the other beds I'd seen. The big yellow clover on the blanket kind of gave that away.

I laid a hand on it and stopped as I felt the all-too-familiar headache pulse into my head. Three months of dealing with it helped me get used to most of the pain, but it was still uncomfortable. Even more so when an all-too-familiar voice echoed inside my head.

"[Alan…]"

I flinched in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

The Entity ignored me in typical fashion, "[I don't know who put this bed here...but this bed will bring you back to the beginning of your journey.]" He fell silent before asking me, "[What are you up to?]"

"I don't know…" I whispered back, "...but I hope its worth it."

As quickly as it came, the Entity, and the headache along with it, vanished. The silence was quickly broken by Niko yawning nearby.

"I feel really tired all of a sudden…" I peered over my shoulder to see Niko coming up behind me, "Oh, there's a bed here! That's convenient."

I glanced between her and the bed. Now it made sense. By taking us to the beginning, the Author's solution would finally begin.

"I'm alright with you getting some rest here, Niko."

"Mmm, thank you…" she hummed, already fading quickly.

I waited as Niko crawled under the covers and watched as she was out like a light. It was both surprising and amusing to see her fall asleep so fast. Maybe the bed had something to do with it. I wasn't able to think about it for too long before I felt myself become exhausted as well as feeling myself being pulled back to my world. I didn't fight it until I was back in my hideout, the morning sun already piercing the horizon.

The black clover icon of the program stared back at me as I finally processed what was soon about to happen.

Guess it was time to get ready.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. I spent my time taking one last walk through the city, scattering all that I had collected for the past year into alleyways or garbage bins. The money and food I had stored were given away to the beggars on the street. Even my pack found a new home amongst them. Soon, I had nothing else left on me, nothing else to hold onto except the clothes I wore.

It was midday, the sun shining brightly in the sky as the clouds rolled by. It was odd to appreciate such a simple thing, but I guess spending so much time in the other world made me develop a sense of gratitude for it. A shame too. It would probably be the last time I would see it after tonight.

I didn't feel the presence of the Author anywhere. I secretly hoped I would bump into him one last time, but I guess our time in the diner was the last time I would see him as well. I hated to admit it, but despite not knowing who he was at first, I found some shred of comfort talking with him, regardless of what little talking there was. He seemed nice enough…

I continued my walk, finding myself on a bridge near the river that ran through the city. It felt strange being so calm. That wasn't to say that I wasn't scared anymore. The unknown was always something that scared me, even now, but I just felt calm, resigned. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe I'd be able to find some peace after all this...just like the Author said.

…

...The sun's going down. I should probably start making my way back.

The rain began to fall again as I entered my hideout. It didn't take long for the city skyline to be hidden away by the deluge. My hand drifted into my pocket, pulling out the picture of me and Niko. I still held onto it...even now. The one thing I would never give away. It was a memory of a better time. Maybe its a window into a better life that I could've had. I guess I'll never really know. I held the picture close to my heart, letting those memories flow by before putting the picture back in my pocket.

I made my way over to the laptop and set it on my lap. I stared at the clover icon as one last memory rang out.

"I know we're both confused and scared, and there's still a lot of questions that I don't have answers for...but I promise you, I'll be right here with you and I'll help you get home."

"Really? You mean it?"

"I do. We'll get through this. We'll save this world and get you back home. I promise."

Time to keep my promise. One way or another, it all ends tonight.

End of Act Two

End Theme: DIVING BELL - Starset

Chapter Text

Act Three Theme: Ashes of Eden - Breaking Benjamin

I was back again. Back home. The hallway stretched on forever, hidden away in the darkness. The floorboards shrieked with each step I took. I could feel their presence again...lurking behind me. I had to get away...I had to get away from them.

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going when I slammed into the basement door, knocking it wide open revealing the way down into the cold, dark void. I struggled to my feet, only to feel hands clamp down on my shoulders and push me through the door. I fell...and fell...and fell before finally landing on the hard ground with a sickening crack.

The door above quickly slammed shut, stealing away what little light there was down here. I couldn't see...couldn't think…

"You were supposed to save us."

Voices...coming out of the darkness. I knew these voices…

"You let us suffer."

No...no, that wasn't right. I didn't…

"You deserve this."

What...what was this? Where…?

"Why did you lie to me, Alan?"

I felt my body grow cold. That voice...N-Niko?

"Why did you lie?"

I...I didn't...I wanted...to keep you safe…

"Aren't we supposed to be friends?"

We are...but I couldn't…

"Alan?"

I'm sorry...I'm so sorry…

"H-Hey...are you alright?"

My eyes shot open as I gasped for air. Another nightmare...I definitely didn't expect for me to have one after entering the laptop again. That thought brought me back to the present. Niko was across from me, staring wide-eyed.

"A-Are you okay?" she asked again.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm okay," I said, taking a couple of seconds to calm my nerves and wipe the sweat off my forehead, "How about you?"

Her eyes darted around the room before focusing back on me, "Um...well, do you know where we are?"

I paused as I looked around. This wasn't the living room. In fact, this looked like where Niko always woke up. Grey light shined in through the window while the computer nearby was caked in dust.

"Huh…" I mumbled.

"So do you know?" Niko asked.

"Uh, kind of. Let me just…" I stood up and stretched my body. Niko didn't say anything, electing to keep her eyes on me. While I stretched, I remembered just what had happened before. The countdown...and the bed. We were sent back to the beginning. The Author's "solution" had started, at least...I hoped that's what happened given I woke up somewhere different.

With one last pop in my neck, I sighed in relief before turning my attention to Niko. It looks like her memories were already wiped clean. A twinge of pain gnawed inside me, but I ignored it. I just had to keep up the facade for one last time.

"What's your name?" I asked.

Her hands froze around her scarf, "N-Niko...My name's Niko. Who are you?"

"It's nice to meet you, Niko," I said, forcing myself to smile, "My name's Alan."

Just like the iterations before, her brow furrowed as she muttered my name. A whisper in her mind that sounded oh-so-familiar, but she wouldn't remember. She couldn't. She calmed down immensely though as she continued to whisper my name.

I took another look around the room and stopped as my eyes landed on The Author's journal that had been sitting next to me. The pages inside were all the same as before, completely unreadable to someone who didn't already know what it meant. I wondered if we would even need it anymore if everything was going to happen differently, but I guess it still wouldn't hurt to take with us.

"What is that?" I heard Niko ask.

"Oh, uh…" I closed the book, "It's something a…friend of mine gave to me."

"Huh," she hummed, "It looks...kind of familiar, but I don't think I've ever seen a book like that before. Are you taking it with you?"

"It wouldn't hurt," I shrugged. "Now, as much as I love dark and run-down houses, we should probably get out of here, yeah?"

"Actually...there's something I wanna ask you first"

"Okay?"

She shuffled around before looking up at me, "This might sound weird, but...have we...met before?"

I froze...before the emptiness returned.

"...No, we haven't."

"Ah...I thought not. It was just a weird feeling that I have."

"Don't worry. Let's just focus on getting out of here," I said, forcing myself to smile again for her.

She smiled in return and we began to retrace our steps. I hoped that we'd find whatever was supposed to be different about this run soon.

"[Wait!]"

We looked behind us to see Silver racing towards us.

"[I saw you heading towards this direction. The mines have been abandoned for a long time. I cannot guarantee that it's safe.]" She began taking the rope that blocked the entrance, "[If you must enter it, it is my duty to accompany you at least once.]"

"Oh, thanks!" Niko said and we all headed inside the mines.

The past hour had been excruciating. Nothing was different from the previous iterations and I was beginning to worry that nothing had actually changed at all. That feeling persisted even among the jagged walls of the mine.

Instead of focusing on the broken camera on the ground, my gaze searched deeper into the mineshaft. This was where we had that vision of that robot. I wonder if…

As soon as I reached the edge, the vision surged into my sight. It was still the same vision. A robot with a yellow eye. I rubbed my head to get rid of the headache that accompanied it before I heard Silver behind me.

"[Hey, are you two okay?]"

I glanced over my shoulder. Niko was staring past me, her eyes glazed over in the aftermath of the vision.

"I...I think I saw something? Like a really short dream, just now." She snapped out of her trance and locked eyes with me, "Did you see that too, Alan?"

I nodded, "A robot with a glowing yellow eye, right?"

"Yeah!"

Silver slowly looked down the mineshaft, a pensive look on her face, "[...You know, now that you've mentioned it...there is a robot who always insisted on going back to the abandoned mines despite how lone the mines have in disrepair.]" She sighed, "[I hope he's okay.]"

"He didn't look broken or anything…" Niko said, "...but I didn't really…'SEE him' see him, y'know?"

"A vision, you mean," I spoke up.

"[Hmm...how odd.]"

Niko fell silent before her ears perked up, "Oh, does the robot you know of have a yellow eye?"

Silver shook her head, "[I would not know. I never met him myself. Only heard of him from a friend of mine.]"

I felt my brow furrow and I glanced over at Silver. A friend…? Did she mean…?

I turned around and opened my mouth to ask her more, but I stop when I saw something on the ground. A black clover? Here? I don't remember there ever being a clover in here, not even in all the other previous iterations.

"If you...can recognize my symbol, you will know what you should do."

The Author's message rang out as I continued to stare at the mysterious clover. Was this what he meant by his "symbol"? But...what WAS I supposed to do?

"Uh...Alan?"

Niko's voice knocked me out of my reverie, "Y-Yeah?"

"Your pack...something's glowing inside it…"

My pack? Sure enough, a yellow light was pouring out of it. I set it down and opened it, looking for whatever was glowing. I froze when I pulled out the source.

The journal.

Niko was equally as shocked, "Wait...that wasn't glowing before!" She raced up to me to get a better look at the journal, "What IS this...?"

"[That...was going to be my question,]" Silver murmured, "[Where did you...get that book?]"

I didn't respond, too enraptured by the glowing journal in my hands.

"Alan?"

"Oh, uh...I-I woke up with it," I stammered, "None of the pages are readable, but I figured it'd be better to take it with us, just in case."

Niko's head titled, "Is that just something gods are supposed to wake up with?"

"[No...I have never heard of anything like that,]" Silver said, "[But I...know who wrote the book.]"

I almost blurted out "The Author", but I stayed quiet.

"[I've only seen his books with a black clover on the cover. If he went through the trouble of putting yellow phosphor in and the fact that you woke up with it in the first place...really has me intrigued.]

I looked back down at the journal in my hands. Was...was this the key? If it was now acting like this when it's never done it before, that must mean that whatever is down this shaft is really important.

"Yellow...phosphor?" Niko faltered before her ears perked up again, "Oh yeah! That's the rare phosphor that people think the sun is made of, right?"

I froze and turned to look at her in shock. Silver seemed just as surprised. Niko wasn't supposed to know that until later. How did…?

She seemed aware if this, her face scrunching up in concern, "...Wait a minute, how do I know that? I don't think anyone's told me about it…"

"[Ah, I can show you if you'd like.]"

Silver pulled out the necklace, but I was too worried about Niko's knowledge about the phosphor. Did that mean...her memories were still there? All the iterations we went through...they were still buried somewhere in her mind?

"Pretty!" Niko trilled, "Oh! Looks like there's a clover in the necklace too! Like the book!"

Silver nodded, "[Well, it IS the same person. That's why I think this journal would be important.]" She looked over at me, "[You said it JUST started glowing?]"

I nodded.

"[That was right after your vision, then…] her brow furrowed as she turned away from us, "[...This HAS to mean something.]"

My gaze fell back on the clover nearby. Now it made sense. I walked over with the journal and stood on top of the clover. Upon opening it, this time it didn't show writing. Instead, the drawing of the mineshaft was shown on the pages. The only difference was that a minecart was resting on the tracks.

Niko walked over to my side, "Alan, did you find something?"

I was about to respond when a lightning bolt of pain lanced through me.

"Ah…!" I cried out as my vision twisted and warped until I saw the laptop in front of me again. The window was showing the same drawing in the journal but now hovered over the environment. A ring sounded out before the area around us turned into black and purple wireframe. Light enveloped me until I was back next to Niko, the laptop seemingly gone.

I fell to my knees, the experience knocking the wind out of me.

"Alan! Are you alright? What happened?!" Niko cried, kneeling down next to me.

"I...I don't know! All I did was…" I panted, looking up to see that the minecart from the drawing had now appeared in the mine. Niko followed my gaze and noticed it too, freezing at the sight of it.

"...What...how did…?" Niko stuttered.

Silver turned back around, surprised at the sudden appearance of the minecart, "[...I'm not sure. I wasn't looking.]"

"To be honest...neither was I…" Niko lamented, "I was taking a closer look at the journal with Alan and then we found this page that looked like a drawing of this room…" Her eyes suddenly widened and snapped up to me, "And then you turned into some kind of ghost as soon as you saw the drawing! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"

I nodded slowly as my head still pounded from the headache. Now I DEFINITELY knew that this was all different, but I didn't want to give that away, "I'm okay. I just wish I had a little more warning before whatever happened." I looked up at Silver, "But the minecart was there when we both looked up."

"Out of the thin air!" Niko cried out, "Should we be...worried?"

"[Hmm…]" Silver looked over the minecart, "[This looks like a standard-issue minecart, though. It likely detected the motion in this room and sent itself over.]"

I winced, knowing that wasn't true.

"[I'm just surprised that it still works. Guess that means we have a working vehicle now, though I'm not sure why you would want to visit the deeper mines.]"

Niko looked between the three of us while I stood up, the headache now going away, "...Is the minecart even going to fit all three of us?"

"[You two would fit, but I couldn't.]"

"Aww, but I wanted you to come with us…" Niko looked up at me, "I mean, I know I've got you, Alan, but...this place still gives me the creeps!"

"[Oh. I can still come with you. I would just have to follow along on the rails.]"

I glanced at the broken tracks, "Isn't that a little...dangerous?"

She shook her head, "[The rails are magnetic and can hold me in place. It's only ever dangerous to walk on if you're an organic being.]" She nodded to us, "[Which you two are.]"

"Right. Well, I am kinda curious what's down there anyway, so I don't think it would hurt to check, right, Alan?"

I looked down the shaft again before nodding, "Yeah. I'm curious myself." I checked over the minecart. There seemed to be a small lever to control the cart but other than that, it seemed a bit small, even if we were able to fit, "We'll need to share the space though…"

"Oh, I can just sit on your lap, if that's okay with you."

My mouth twitched into a small smile before I nodded and climbed into the cart. I motioned for Niko to give me the lightbulb as she climbed in as well and situated herself on my lap before handing it back to her.

"Okay, we're ready!"

With a push of the lever next to me, the minecart glided down the rails with Silver following along behind us.

The lightbulb in Niko's hands lit up the passage as we rode down the tracks, getting closer and closer to...the robot in the vision perhaps? I still wasn't too sure. This was completely different than all the other runs before, so this was where The Author wanted me to go, but...Niko remembering the yellow phosphor still had me on edge. If she could somehow remember that, what else could she end up remembering?

I was cut off from my thoughts when everything seemed to slow down and a coldness pressed down on my head.

"[I...do not recognize this place in the protocol.]"

Oh crap...I forgot about the Entity…

"[This...this isn't what I'm supposed to be showing you at all! How did you get here?!]"

I froze, unsure of how to respond.

"[...I can only think of one person. He...contacted you? How long has he been...doing this?]"

I stayed silent, not wanting to give anything away and suddenly make it angry.

"[...It doesn't matter at this point. You are going out of bounds. You should turn back. Please turn back.]"

I paused. Was...that fear in its voice? Was it...pleading with me?

"[Please. Very bad things are going to happen if you keep going. Niko will be in danger.]"

I choked on my breath. Niko? In danger? But...how? The whole point of this detour was to make sure this world is properly saved and she actually goes home. How would she be in danger?

The pressure vanished and I felt Niko shiver.

"Niko? You alright?"

She glanced back at me, her eyes hesitant, "I...I'm not sure. I just have a really weird feeling about all this all of a sudden...like we shouldn't be here." Her eyes fell before she looked back at me, "...Should...we keep going?"

"Niko will be in danger. Please turn back."

The Entity's words echoed in my head. I didn't know how Niko could be in danger if we kept going, but something about how the Entity said it...it almost sounded...desperate.

But I couldn't go back and let Niko and this world be stuck in the cycle again. I had to take the risk.

"It'll be alright. C'mon, let's keep going," I said, moving the cart forward once more.

That seemed to assuage her anxiety for now, but now I couldn't help but feel worried about what the Entity said to me.

...I've got a really bad feeling about all this...

Chapter Text

Chapter Theme: Ghosts and Glass (Piano) - Martin O'Donnell

The minecart slowed to a stop once we reached the end of the track. I helped Niko out the cart before climbing out after her. I took a second to see where we were. Computer terminals lined the walls of the cave, broken and beyond repair.

"What is this place?" I asked Silver.

"[One of the old observation rooms. Looks like it's still mostly intact.]"

"Sheesh, how long has all this been down here?"

"[Since the mines initially collapsed. I doubt anything in here still works.]"

Just then, a terminal nearby flickered to life, causing all of us to jump in surprise.

"[What…?]" I hear Silver mutter before she rushed past me and to the terminal, "[How did this just reactivate? The power was cut off so long ago...]"

"Weird!" Niko said, "Maybe it runs on battery?"

Silver quickly shook her head, "[No...that's not it. I need to investigate this. Will you two be okay by yourself for a bit?]"

"Don't worry, we'll be alright! I have Alan with me, after all!" Niko beamed, looking up at me.

I couldn't help but smile at her, causing her own smile to widen, "Hey! I think that's the first time I've seen you smile since we left that house!"

I chuckled, but I couldn't shake off what the Entity had told me on the way here. I looked around the cave. It didn't seem like there was much else here. Just broken terminals and rocks. I did spot something past where Silver was standing. A box of some kind. Getting closer I recognized it as a power cell, like the one that we saw back in the outpost where we first met Silver. On it was a name.

"'Prophetbot'...isn't that the first robot we met, Alan?" Niko said.

I nodded, "Yeah...but no way this could be powering him when he's all the way on the other side of the Barrens."

"Huh…" She looked behind me, "Oh, there's a door over here. We should check it out!"

I followed where she was pointing. Sure enough, there was an opening in the wall, though I could hardly see inside it, "Well, we don't have anything to look at around here." With that, we entered through the doorway.

The lightbulb illuminated the room and Niko and I both stopped when we saw something standing in the middle of the room. They were turned away from us, so all we saw was their back, but judging from the metal body, this had to be some kind of robot.

It turned around to face us and I stifled a gasp. Its eye...was yellow. Just like in the vision. Glancing down at Niko, she seemed to realize that too. We stared at each other in silence until the robot finally spoke.

"[I...recognize the light in your eyes,]" he said, his own eye locked onto Niko.

Niko and I were speechless before he spoke again, "[You two are the ones I am destined to meet.]" His eye glanced at me for a split second before going back to her. "[...What is your name?]"

She glanced up at me before looking back at him, "I-I'm Niko…"

He stared at her until shifting to me, "[...Which means that you...are Alan.]"

I nodded, too unnerved to say anything.

"[Do you know who sent you, Niko?]"

We both were taken aback by that, "Oh...um…" her brow furrowed, "...n...o?" She stole another worried glance at me before suddenly perking up, "Wait, do you mean who sent me to this world? There was a robot a while back who told me about how I'm the Messiah and stuff...so…" she looked up at me, "I'm guessing Alan sent me!"

I felt my eyes widen, prompting her to look away sheepishly, "Y'know, since you're a god and all."

The robot simply stared back at us as Niko continued.

"The robot looks a little bit like you, even! Maybe you...know each other?"

He finally broke eye contact with us, "[I cannot say.]"

I raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"

"[A lot of my memories have been removed for safety reasons.]"

"Your memories were removed?! That's terrible!" Niko cried out.

I felt a chill creep up my spine. Now I REALLY was having a bad feeling about all of this.

"W-wait…" Niko said, "I'm guessing that's less of a big deal for a robot…"

"P-Probably…" I stammered, hoping to get rid of this feeling.

"[...I'm going to assume you do not know who sent you then, Niko,]" he spoke, bringing us back to the point, "[How did you get here? To this room?]"

"Oh! We got here in a minecart!"

I shook my head, "Well, we have a book that had a drawing of the cave we were in that had a minecart in it. As soon as we saw it, I got a really serious headache and when we looked up, there it was."

"The robot lady thinks it was just the minecart coming to us, but I don't remember hearing it arrive. It was just there!" Niko finished for me.

"[Interesting. Please show me this journal.]"

I hesitated at first but soon relented, showing him the clover-labeled journal. He looked at it for a while before he spoke again.

"[...Then it has already begun.]"

A slot opened on top of his head and he pulled out a floppy disk, handing it over to me, "[Here.]"

I looked between him and the disk, "Uh...what am I suppose to do with this?"

"[That…]" he said, pointing at it, [...is my main memory disk. You have passed the first test in showing me the book. Now you will need to find a way to install my backup."

"Install the...huh?" Niko trailed off, clearly lost about what the robot was talking about.

I smiled sheepishly at her and looked back at the robot. I finally realized that there was a console behind him along with numbers on the screen. The layout looked somewhat familiar to me...

I pointed at it, "Do we need to use the computer behind you?"

He nodded, prompting me to take a closer look at it. Niko sighed next to me, "I have no idea what that was all about…"

"I don't know either," I whispered to her, "but I don't think it would hurt to help him."

"Right, though I'm not sure what all the numbers up there are supposed to mean."

I studied the numbers on the screen while Niko poked at the buttons in front of us. Each one switched to a different symbol, a robot, a lightning bolt, and a cross until I noticed a note nearby.

RESIDENTIAL TRACKING MACHINE

Ah...now it made sense. These were the buildings at the settlement. That makes it this easy to figure out given how many times I've been there. Without a word, I put in the correct symbols for the right houses and fit the disk in the terminal nearby.

"[PREPARING BACKUP...WRITING TO DISK…]"

We waited until the disk was popped back out, quickly handing it over the robot.

"Will this work?" I asked.

He slipped the disk into his head, "[Inserting Disk...Rebooting…]" His eye vanished before reappearing again, staring at the both of us blankly.

"[...Ah.]"

"A-Are you okay?" Niko asked worriedly.

"[...Sure.]"

I scratched my head, "So, uh...did it work?"

He nodded, "[Yes. I believe a proper introduction is in order now. I am the Prototype, originally named Prophetbot. You may simply refer to me as 'Proto'.]"

"Prophet...wait, like the one we met?" I asked.

"So, I was right about you guys looking alike," Niko mumbled.

Proto glanced away, "[Well, THAT Prophetbot is a gross simplification of my design. That is to say, he is much more primitive by comparison.]" He shook his head, almost mockingly, "[Embarassingly so.]"

Niko sweatdropped, "Hey, he seemed alright to me…"

"[You don't understand,]" he interrupted her, "[Not only is he not tamed...he was tailor-made for this much smaller, simpler world to begin with. I was not.]"

My entire body turned to ice, but Niko looked confused, "The...real world?"

Proto's eyes shifted between us before locking onto mine as he noticed my reaction, "[...Oh. So you...never told her.]"

I could feel the blood drain from my face as Niko looked at us in confusion, "Tell...me what?"

"[Niko…]" Proto said, fully facing her, "[Do you...remember the ending?]"

She balked, "...E-Excuse me?"

He kept going, "[The fact that you've found me at all...means this is not your first time in this world.]"

No...no, no, no, don't tell her this. You can't tell her this, I kept repeating over and over in my head, my body refusing to stop him.

"[You have already been summoned to this world once before. In fact, you've already traversed the entire world and went through the Tower already.]"

Stop...don't do this. She shouldn't know about this.

"[And, in the ending...you either put in the sun...or didn't.]"

Please...don't tell her...

"[Alan successfully bypassed the 'one shot' restriction and brought you back again.]"

Niko was silent, processing everything she was told until her eyes darkened slightly, "...oh..."

"[...Hm?]"

"...I...thought something was weird. When I woke up at the house, I called out his name…" She turned to me, but I couldn't bear to look her in the eye. "...but, when I asked if we met before...you said we didn't, Alan."

I winced while Proto grunted, "[It looks like you are at least aware of it...to some extent.]"

She shook her head, "It's...just this weird feeling, okay? I don't...actually remember going through everything and I...only faintly remember him." She started to tremble. "This is...really starting to freak me out..."

"[Calm down,]" he sighed, "[Look, just like how my memories were locked away, yours are too.]"

Niko looked uncomfortable, but let him go on.

"[You're a living being. You don't need extra hardware to remember. All you have to do is-]"

"No!"

My sudden outburst caused both of them to jump, "There's no reason to if she's just going to get this freaked out about it!"

"[If you had simply told her, it would be easier to get through this,]" he replied bluntly, turning back to Niko, "[Close your eyes and focus. Try to picture a big room made entirely of glass.]"

She looked at me, worry laced in her eyes, but did as she was told. The pounding of my heart was all I could hear in my ears as I began to freak out myself, "There has to be some other way! She can't-!"

I was stopped as my headache roared back to life. The room disappeared, replaced by flashing images of all the iterations before. Our first meeting, riding in the boat, telling her about my past, staying with Maize, bringing Silver with us, comforting each other in the stairwell, the sun shattering and being returned numerous times...

...All the times I hid the truth from her.

By the time the memories finished, I was panting, overwhelmed by having to remember everything again. I looked over at Niko. Her eyes were frozen in shock and her mouth hung open, trying to process everything that had just occurred.

"...no way…" she breathed out, "I-I...was THERE...wasn't I? The Tower…"

"[There we go,]" Proto grunted.

Her gaze fell to the floor, "I-I...I remember...everything. All the times...we were at the Tower...but it feels so long ago." She shook her head violently, "...This doesn't make sense! If already finished my mission...why didn't anything change? Why doesn't anyone know me already?"

"[The residents do not have that capacity. NPC memories do not last beyond the scope of a session.]"

"N...PC?" Niko muttered.

"[You know, the characters…the world's residents,]" Proto explained, "[All their 'past' memories are built into their code, but…]" he glanced over at me before returning to her, "[The characters, even the world itself, don't...really exist until Alan initiates the program.]"

Niko was still confused, "The...program?"

"[The World Machine,]" Proto stated, "[A universe simulator that runs on Alan's computer. We are all in it right now.]"

Her eyes widened even further, "...SO WE'RE NOT REAL?!"

Proto stared at her, unfazed, "[Oh, you are. So is Alan, but it becomes much more...complicated there. It is why you two are so important.]"

We both were silent as he continued, "[The biggest flaw of this program is that it cannot be run independently. It needs the mental processing abilities of a real person from another universe. Think of it like...one of your dreams,] he said, tapping the side of his head, "[When you wake up, it's gone, but unlike a dream, this world has a physical location inside a computer, which Alan operates. However…]" he paused and turned to me, "[One thing I am still confused about is how you are here physically. The normal plan was that you would simply be an onlooker from your own universe. It seems that plan has changed, though I do not know why.]"

Niko looked at me, but I couldn't bare to return her gaze, "Did...did you know this, Alan?"

"[Of course he does,]" Proto spoke for me, "[Aside from his physical presence, The World Machine isn't all that special. It's just like any other recreational, game-type software that can be installed on a computer. Now that the restriction is lifted, they could regenerate the world as many times as they like, which I'm sure you ended up remembering.]"

"Then what's the point of me being here?!" she cried out, her words acting as knives that burrowed deeper into me, "What is there to save if it's all…" she choked on a sob, "...FAKE?!"

Proto looked away from her, "[...'Fake' is a harsh word…]"

"All the times that I came back...is this why it feels like I haven't been home for so long?'

"[Maybe. Once a mental link with the world is established, you cannot break it until you the world is saved...]" he sighed, "[Which, at this point, is practically impossible.]"

"That's…" she trailed off. I had not said anything since she remembered everything. What could I say? There was no point in denying it. Everything that I hoped she wouldn't relive was now burned into her mind, having to relive the pain of making that final choice every time.

"A-Alan…" she whimpered. I shivered but summoned what little energy I had and faced her. Her eyes were stained with tears, but it didn't hide her piercing gaze, "W-Why would...you create a world like this?

That confused both me and Proto, "I-I didn't…"

"Why would you make a world that's doomed from the beginning? Why do you keep bringing me back to it?

"I...I…"

"Why didn't…" she choked on another sob as tears streamed down her face, "W-Why didn't you TELL me about all this?!"

"B-Because you would forget!" I said, finally finding the power to speak, "Don't you think I wanted to tell you?"

She shook her head, "You could have told me all those t-times when I asked if something was wrong! B-But…" She looked back at me," ...you lied to me. A-Aren't we supposed to be...friends?"

The world blurred around me as Niko continued to stare at me. It...it was getting harder to breathe as the sound of my heart pounding was all I could hear. At that moment, there was only one thing I could see in her eyes…

Betrayal.

"[It appears that we may have some confusion here.]" Proto said, finally breaking the silence between us, "[Alan did not build the world, Niko. He merely owns a machine capable of generating the world and only has limited control of the events.]"

"O-Oh…" she muttered while I stared down at the floor, too guilty to look her in the eye anymore.

"[The world was built by someone else. Someone you cannot begin to fathom,]" he sighed, "[It also was not designed to be such a futile quest, but...too many things went wrong. I will spare you most of the details, but know that even if you bring back the sun, the deterioration will not go away.]"

"You mean the squares, right?"

He nodded, "[The creator knows what might be causing it, but there was nothing that he could do...until now. You managed to find me after all.]"

"W-What do you mean?"

"[The only way you could have found me was because of his help.]"

"You mean, the journal?"

"[Correct,]" he said, "[Looks like he wants to have one final attempt at fixing everything...and it looks like he might need to do it through the both of you.]"

I saw Niko glance at me out of the corner of my eye, but my gaze was firmly glued to the floor.

"[Alan, do you remember how to get to the Glen?]"

I flinched as Proto turned his attention to me, but I didn't look at either of them, "Y-Yeah...I do. There was a robot that drove a boat across the ocean."

The room fell silent as Proto looked between the two of us. All I could think of were Niko's words and how much she's hurting right now. None of this was going the way I thought it would…

"[Well...you two seem enthusiastic,]" he said. When neither of us responded, he sighed, ["...That was sarcasm.]"

"Knowing everything isn't real…" Niko spoke up, "...really does make it feel pointless…"

"[But you DO want to go home, right?]"

"Y-Yeah, but...how will I know that isn't just another…"

"[Because this iteration might be the last one.]"

At that, I looked at him. He took note of my reaction and continued, "[The creator is mobilizing things, throwing everything into this one last shot. There might not be enough internal resources left for Alan to be able to generate another iteration after this.]"

I blinked. So, either this doesn't work and we all die...or we fix everything and Niko goes home, leaving me with nothing left. I guess it works either way…

"[Hey, you two okay in there?] Silver's voice sounded out from the entrance before the red-haired robot appeared in the doorway, "[I heard some yelling back here and…] She stopped as her eyes landed on Proto, ["...It's you...You're the robot that insisted on living in the mines, are you not?]"

Proto just nodded.

"[My friend told me to keep an eye out for you, should we ever cross paths.]"

"[...Likewise.]"

The two robots stared at each other until Proto spoke again, "[Your...friend gave you something the last time you saw each other. Can you show me what it is?]"

Silver flinched, "[You know about the amber?]"

"[I just asked to see it, didn't I?]"

She blinked but relented, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the necklace.

Proto nodded, "[Thought so. He seemed to trust you, so I will treat you as an ally as well.]"

Silver looked between me and Niko, "[...Okay?]"

"[Please listen carefully. You need to escort the messiah for the remainder of the Barrens. I predict a high concentration of square particle disruptions in the near future.]"

Silver's eyes widened, "[...You're kidding.]"

"[I'm not,]" he grunted, "[It's likely that structures in the vicinity of the messiah might be affected, making it a far more treacherous pilgrimage than the previous...expectations. Alan and the Messiah will need all the extra help they can get right now.]"

Silver took in his words before nodding, "[Understood. Even without the squares, the mines are not a safe place to be.]" She looked at the two of us, "[Come on, I'll wait for you outside.]"

As she left, Niko perked up, "W-Wait! I want to ask you-"

"[If you were going to ask her about being 'not real', save your breath. None of the people here know their predicament...nor could they comprehend it,]" Proto told her, "[It would be in your best interest to just...pretend like we never had this conversation.]"

She looked concerned but nodded anyway. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her look at me one last time. Her eyes were still laced with hurt, but there was nothing I could see to change what I did to her. Without a word, she followed after Silver, leaving me and Proto alone.

"[Well, that went better than I had expected.]"

"Of course you'd say that…" I said, my voice hoarse from holding back my emotions.

Proto stared at me, "[It'd be best not to dwell on what happened and just focus on getting the Messiah back to the Tower. With any luck, this will all be over soon.]"

"...Why did you tell her to remember...?"

"[It'd be better for her to know the truth about everything during this iteration. Plus, it was clear that you had no plans of telling her.]"

"Because I WANTED her to forget about all this once this was over! To forget about ME! So she could be HAPPY!"

His eye seemed to shrink in surprise at my outburst, which vanished as quickly as it came. All I felt was the self-hatred and emptiness that made itself comfortable in my mind for the past three months. I chuckled darkly, "Who am I kidding…? It's not like you would understand what it's like to lose the closest thing you've ever had to a family. I'm just a piece of trash that got roped into all of this..."

For the first time since we met, Proto was speechless. I turned to leave, following after Niko and Silver. Maybe it'd be better for her to hate me...Make it easy for her to forget about me.

I sure as hell wasn't worth being remembered after everything I've done to her.

Silver was looking over the powered-on terminal while Niko stood next to her when I finally came out. I could see Niko glance at me several times, but I made no effort to return them. Silver finished whatever she was doing with the terminal and turned to the two of us.

"[You two ready to go?]"

We nodded silently. She looked between the two of us. It seemed like she wanted to ask what had happened in the other room, but I doubt either of us wanted to talk about it. Niko started towards the cart with me following just behind her when I felt the same cold pressure from when we first arrived here.

The Entity was back.

"[I remember it...what happened in the Tower.]"

I sucked in a breath. It remembered what happened too?!

"[What I tried to do...and how you managed to see through it all. We...We HAVE been through all of this. You were able to come back...so many times…]"

My heart was pounding harder and harder against my chest. I really wasn't liking how the Entity was sounding…

"[...How did you come back? How did you bring Niko back?! You...you even managed to break out of bounds. Bringing her to places that never should have been.]"

A burst of static pounded against my head like it was burrowing deeper into my brain.

"[It was HIM, wasn't it?]"

Now I was really scared. It knew about the Author, about his plan. I remembered his message, how the Entity might end up getting worse...but this feeling, I didn't think it would feel like this…

"[And now...now...Niko is upset.]" Its voice was becoming more and more desperate while I remained silent, "[What even happened in that room back there? What did Niko LEARN?!]"

The static kept growing louder, making my headache worse than it had ever been. It was getting hard to even stay on my feet.

"[Niko is upset. I can feel it…]" it growled at me, "[I TOLD you to turn back, Alan! But you've chosen to trust that man instead of me.]" The venom dripping out of its voice shocked me to my core, ["...No, not even that. Just his book. His ghost.]"

Ever louder, the static became. I could feel my legs give out under me. It was becoming too much to handle. The Entity...it was losing control…

"[This world isn't real. The people aren't real. Niko is upset. Niko...is…]" it kept repeating, ["No no no no no no...this...she's...]"

"Ah…!" I could barely cry out. The pain was too much...Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Silver and Niko looking at me, worry laced across both of their faces.

"[Everything. Is. W̵̤͛ ̵̫̆R̴͚͊ ̷̩̆ ̸̻̾O̴̡̾ ̸̙͗Ǹ̸̖ ̶͚̆G̸̲̔!]"

The Entity screamed inside my head. It felt like my entire body was being burned alive and all that echoed in my mind was the sound of our screams. I clutched my head, crying out for it to stop. The pressure suddenly stopped completely and the world returned to normal.

I felt Silver by my side, "[What's wrong?! You suddenly froze and went translucent before screaming.]"

"I...I-I...This..."

My mind was in chaos, overwhelmed by the Entity's assault on my thoughts. I could just barely feel my body trembling as I wiped away the sweat off my forehead. I snapped my head up towards the mineshaft. I could feel...something close to the cart. Niko was eyeing me wearily, but my focus was on the space just behind her. It was starting to look...distorted.

My instincts shot into overdrive as I shot to my feet, "NIKO! GET AWAY FROM THE CART!"

I wrapped an arm around her and dragged her away just before squares enveloped the cart and the tracks that it sat on.

"AAHH!" Niko screamed out, gripping the lightbulb closer to her.

"[...The minecart!]"

The cave around soon began to shake and I heard the sound of rock coming from the way we came.

"The tunnel back out just collapsed!" I panted, still trying to recover from the mental assault.

"What do we do?!"

Silver's eyes darted between us and the squares, "[I…]"

"[The exit just collapsed, didn't it?]"

Proto's monotone voice sounded out behind us. His hands were in his pockets as he looked lazily at the cart. He sighed, "[I saw this coming, but this is a bit more sudden than I anticipated.]"

"Please tell me there's another way out of here!" I said.

He motioned for us to follow him, leading us to the back room and to the terminal.

"[There's an emergency exit behind here. We did not want anyone to stumble upon this route, so the terminal has been weighed down. It cannot be moved by normal means, but with our combined effort, it might budge.]" He looked between me and Niko, "[...Maybe. I am not strong.]"

"I'm not that strong either…" Niko muttered.

I rubbed my neck, "I, uh...don't think I'd be much help either."

Proto sighed again, "[If that doesn't work, we might need to dig around it, and…]"

"[You...could've just asked,]" Silver remarked before going over to the terminal and easily pushing it to the side, "[Come on,]" she said, entering the newly opened doorway.

Proto huffed, "[...Showoff.]"

Proto followed after her, leaving the two of us behind. I sighed in relief. I really did not want me or Niko to get trapped down here. That thought caused me to shiver.

"W-We should probably follow them, Alan," Niko said.

I glanced down at her before my guilt flared back to life, forcing me to look away, "R-Right…"

We both stood there; the tension between us could easily be cut with a knife before she finally walked through the doorway. I sighed again and rubbed my head. Now that everything was out in the open between us, it was gonna make the rest of this journey a lot more tense and awkward. I paused before laughing silently. I shouldn't be worried about that. I deserved this after all.

"[Niko, Alan, get in the minecart.]"

I stared blankly at Proto before looking at the cart. Yeah...now it'll definitely be awkward.

"O-Okay," Niko mumbled before hopping into the cart, sitting up at the front. I scrunched up opposite to her, my heart already aching at the loss of contact, and started moving the cart forward. Silver and Proto followed behind us.

We had barely gotten far before I felt the Entity's pressure return, bringing the cart to a sudden stop.

"[...I tried. I really did! But I…]"

The static screeched inside my head, like nails dragged across a chalkboard.

"[...d̸̟̓E̴̥͛ ̷̡̔S̷̖͌t̶̗͂ ̷̘̐a̸̯̍b̶̮̒l̷̺͗İ̶̻z̴̠͝i̷̧͗ ̶͎̂N̸͙̐n̶̮̆g̸̠͝...I-I'm sorry, Niko...I̵ ̶t̸R̷ ̷I̵E̵ ̷d̷ ̴t̵O̶ ̵P̶r̴O̵T̸E̴ ̵c̷T̷ ̶y̴O̵U̶.̵...b̶̪̉u̵̻͎͐͝ ̷̛̮̞͘ṯ̷̦̄͗ ̶̬̻̇c̴͎̄ ̶͔̈́Ạ̶̱̄͠n̴͎̏̍'̷̻̓͛t̶͖̄̕ ̷̹͆͘h̵̨̓ͅo̵̡͖̔l̶̺̂d̶͈̖̑̓ ̶̰̙̋ḭ̵̧̚t̴͇̂ ̶͍̓͗ó̴͉̰ ̸͈̞̌f̸̰͈͊ ̵̩̜̈́͑f̶̱́̒ ̶͉̀f̸̗͓̈o̴̫̾̓R̶̘͇̎̅è̴͉v̷̯͌͛Ë̵̡̹R̸͖̔͗…]"

The pressure vanished and before anyone could speak, the entire cave began to rumble.

"W-What's happening?!" Niko cried out.

"[HERE TOO?!]" Proto yelled, snapping up towards the ceiling.

Small chunks of rock and dust dropped from the cave walls as the rumbling grew louder. With a loud groan, the ceiling started to shift.

"[Watch out!]" Silver screamed while I covered Niko with my body, shielding her from the chunks of debris that slammed into my back and scratched my arms. Once I didn't feel anything else fall onto me, I glanced behind me. Silver was holding up what once was the ceiling, keeping it from flattening all of us.

"ARE YOU OKAY?!" Niko shrieked.

Silver strained under the weight, "[I'm fine...I'm fine. I can still hold it up, but you three need to-]"

The rocks shifted slightly towards us, making Silver cry out before staring down Proto, "[YOU! Robot! What are you waiting for?! Get the boy and child out of here NOW!]"

He stared back before nodding and turning back to us, "[Come on.]"

"What?!" I balked, "We can't just leave her here! We have to-!"

I didn't get the chance to get out of the cart as the cave shook again. Static echoed throughout the passage as squares swarmed over Silver.

I felt my heart stop, "NO! SILVER!"

"[`̷̟̫͑Ģ̴̫̒̏%̵̼̐͜E̴T̶̬̝́|̴̒͜ ̴̢̤̌̂`̵͍̠͌̑/̸͉̐O̴͔͋͘ ̸͙̉͂U̴̡͑ ̵̛̘͝.̷͖̒ ̷̯̯̓́T̸́ͅ`̸͇̬͛͊%̵̼̎͊!̸̛̩̒ͅ!̵̺̩̔̈!̴̺̏̕]"

No...no...This wasn't supposed to…!

"[We need to go, Alan.]"

I stared at Proto, silently pleading for there to be some other way, but he offered nothing. With one last look, I shut my eyes and moved the minecart forward, leaving Silver behind to be swallowed by the darkness.

But even after we left Silver, the squares continue to appear and distort the walls around us. It wasn't until they appeared alongside the track that Niko screamed, holding onto the lightbulb with everything she had.

"[...No!]"

"What do we do?!" she cried, her eyes on the verge of tears.

Proto looked at us before opening the slot on his head and thrusting the disk into my hand.

"Proto? What're you-!"

A group of squares appearing right in front of me cut me off, forcing me to pull my hand back.

"[This is where we part ways. The path ahead will lead you to the Glen, right by the city gate. When you're in the city, find someone named Cedric. Give him the disk.]"

"B-But...we can't leave you behind too!"

He violently shook his head, "[There's no time! Hurry! Get out of here!]"

I slammed down on the lever, forcing the cart forward again as the squares covered him, distorting his body into mangled bits of code. The squares continued to follow behind us before petering out completely. The cave fell silent, save for the sound of the minecart rolling along the tracks. After making sure the coast was clear, I slowed the cart to a stop to finally give me and Niko a second to breathe.

My body shook as I buried my head in my hands. This...None of this was going the way I thought this would go. When the Author said the Entity's condition would worse...I never imagined...this would happen…

"They...they're both…" Niko mewled. Her eyes were distant, still trying to wrap around everything that's happened in the past half-hour. I didn't even know what I could say. I was just at a loss of words as she was.

Her eyes met mine, causing me to shudder, "Alan...the world...what Proto was...saying…" her body began to tremble again, "Is this world really just…just..."

She trailed off, but forced herself to finish, "...Is it?"

"N-Niko...I…"

"Please don't lie to me again. I want the truth this time."

My chest felt like it was burning...but I knew I couldn't lie to her anymore.

"...It's true," I shakily took a breath, "B-Back before we met for the first time, I...had a laptop…'given' to me by the same person that made all of this possible. When I opened the program that was on it, I was sent here."

Her brow furrowed, "You mean…that name you said before? 'The Author'? I...remember hearing that name…"

I nodded, "Yeah...him. He's the one that wrote the journal in the first place."

She fell silent, taking in what I've told her, before speaking again, "Normally I wouldn't believe it, but...it makes sense. Everything...makes sense."

The wind howled around us before she looked at me again, "...How many times?"

"Huh…?'

"We've been through all this before, haven't we?" her trembling became worse, "How many times?!"

I flinched at the rise in voice, but I swallowed my fear and pressed on, "I don't k-know exactly how many times, b-but given that it's been t-three months since the first iteration…" I shivered one last time before blurting it out,"...It's probably c-close to...s-sixty times."

I turned away, not wanting to see her reaction, but I already knew what it was. The cave became deadly silent. I couldn't even hear the wind.

"S-Six...ty…" I heard her whisper. I forced my eyes shut, trying my hardest to keep my emotions locked down.

"I-I...W-Why…" her voice was getting louder, "W-Why didn't you tell me any of this?!"

I took a second to glance at her. Tears were streaming down her face and the hurt in her eyes was undeniable, "I...I-I don't even know what I'm supposed to! If I can't fix the world...I can't go home! B-But...the world is already so messed up…"

"Because I knew this was how you were going to react...and I-I...I didn't want you to go through that…" When I didn't hear her respond, I pushed the lever forward, starting the cart down the track again.

"I…" Niko started to say after a period of silence, "I...think I remember something...what we did at the end."

Just thinking about all the previous endings made my blood run cold, but I still remained quiet.

"I remember...the times we put in the sun. Everything got really bright and warm, but…" she sighed, "...I can't remember anything after that. Same with when we…"

I glanced at her again. Her eyes were closed and her hands gripped the lightbulb tightly, "After we...didn't return the sun, I remember...being in a dark room. There was a light at the end of a long hallway." For a split second, her eyes lit up, "I thought I was going home, but…"

She looked at me again, "If we can't save the world...where would we even go…?"

I opened my mouth...and quickly shut it. I just watched as she closed her eyes and curled around the lightbulb while her tears glistened off her face. I wanted to reach out, to be there for her like I had done before, but I doubt she wanted to hear me say that everything would be okay when it clearly wasn't. I shut my eyes again, my body trembling from the violent surge of emotion stewing inside me.

You did this to her. You're the reason Silver is gone. You're the reason why Niko hates you.

You deserve this.

There was nothing else to think as the cart continued down the track. It was right. I deserved this pain.

Chapter Text

After what felt like hours, the track finally came to an end, bringing the cart to a halt. Neither of us made a move to exit the cart before Niko's eyes opened. Without a glance at me, she hopped out of the cart. I followed after her, locking away my emotions. I needed to focus. Get to the Tower, save the world, send Niko home.

The Glen was in shambles when we exited the cave. Pieces had fractured off the mainland. Now instead of one unifying region, it was just a mess of islands barely held together by vines.

Vines...

The thought of Maize barely holding everything together shot pain through my heart. Yet another person I was responsible for hurting.

"Looks like parts of the ground are missing," Niko said, pointing at a bridge of vines linking our exit to the mainland, "I hope that's safe to cross..."

She barely lifted her foot before I called out, "Hold on. Let me do it."

She peered back, "A-Are you sure?"

"I-I mean, better me than you…" I still couldn't bring myself to look her in the eye, even with my want to keep her safe. Carefully, I placed one foot on the vines, feeling it sag under the weight but still staying strong. I sighed in relief, "Looks like we're good. C'mon, the city gate shouldn't be too far away."

She nodded and crossed the bridge following after me. It didn't take long to find the gate.

"Oh no..." I faltered.

The entire gate, as well as the robot, was covered in squares, blocking us from reaching the Refuge. The robot's head turned towards us as we got closer.

"[P̷#̴L̶.̷%̵%̵E̴A̶S̴;̸E̸ ̴D̴o̸ ̴N̸o̷/̴/̴t̶ ̶A̵P̸P̸R̸#̵O̸A̶C̶H̶.̵ ̴T̵H̸#̵e̴.̸%̴%̵G̸A̴T̵;̴E̷ ̴I̶S̵ ̴C̸/̸/̸L̸ ̸O̸S̴E̷D̶ ̴U̶N̷T̸#̸I̶L̷ ̸F̶U̷#̶R̸T̵|̶H̴E̷R̴ ̴N̷%̵O̴T̴I̷C̵E̶.̵]"

"W-What do we do now? We don't have any other way to get to the city..." Niko mumbled, her grip tightening on the lightbulb.

I ran a hand through my hair. There had to be some other way. Think, Alan, think. Where else can we go...What else was always different every time you came back…

"Calamus and Alula…"

Niko looked up at me, "What about them?"

"In the passage that led to the burial grounds, we had another vision there. It's just like the one we had before we met Proto," I explained, "We need to find Calamus and Alula. They could help us."

Her brow furrowed, "They're inside the ruins, right? I think I remember that's where they lived."

"Yeah..." My breath shook as I rubbed my arm, "I just really hope they're okay..." Another chill racked my body at the thought that one of them getting hurt because of me...

I saw Niko's brow knit together out of the corner of my eye. Her mouth opened...and then closed. I briefly wondered what she wanted to say before putting it out of my mind motioning for her to follow. I gotta stay focused. Find Calamus and Alula.

God, I hope they're okay…

"Oh, the pathway is blocked...by blocks!" Niko said, staring at the rubble in front of us. Getting a good look at it now, it didn't actually seem that big. Niko seemed to realize this at the same time.

"Waaait a minute. I remember something about this…"

With a swift kick, the rubble flew down the hall, clearing the way for us.

She giggled, "Never knew it'd be so easy!" Her smile quickly shifted into a wince as she stepped forward, "...Ow, my foot ow..."

My protective instincts went into overdrive again before I could stop myself, "Are you okay?! How much does it hurt?!"

"H-Huh?" she stuttered before smiling sheepishly, "I-I'm okay, really. It doesn't hurt that-"

"Can you still walk? I can hold the lightbulb if you're not-"

"Alan."

I stopped and looked at her. It took a second for me to process my outburst before I could feel the blood drain from my face. I shot to my feet and averted my gaze from her, "I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, really. My foot's feeling fine already, but thank you for checking on me."

I glanced at her to see her softly smiling at me, but it only made my chest hurt more.

"N-No, I mean..." I stuttered, "...I don't think I should be allowed to after what I've done to you..."

My voice had fallen to a whisper, but it seemed she still heard me. Her smile faded and her eyes darkened. Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I shook my head, "We should keep moving. Calamus and Alula should be close."

"...Okay." I only faintly heard Niko say as I began to walk away from her.

It didn't take long for us to run into the siblings. They were staring at the entrance of their cove that had also been swallowed by squares.

"Oh...The door…" Alula mewled.

Calamus sighed, "I knew we'd lose our home eventually, but...I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon."

I couldn't stop my fist from clenching as I watched them. I didn't even know what I could say to them, regardless of whether they knew me or not.

Niko wasn't as apprehensive, "Oh jeez! Are you guys okay?!"

Both of them flinched from the sudden outburst, snapping their heads towards us before freezing.

"Oh my stars!" Calamus gasped behind his hand, "You're...the savior!"

Alula's mouth simply hung open.

"Um...uh…I-It's an honor to m-meet you!" he stuttered.

"Yes!" Alula finally said while her whole body vibrated.

"We'd invite you inside, but...uh..." he waved a hand at the doorway, "Our home is…

"It's got squares in it!"

Calamus sweatdropped at her sister, "Yes, Alula, thank you."

Niko looked between them and the squares, "It's...getting everywhere now, isn't it?'

Their heads tilted.

"The squares...There're way more than before! Even the gate to the Refuge is destroyed now. That didn't happen last time!"

My face went pale as I shot Niko a wide-eyed look. Before I could warn her, Calamus spoke.

"...L-Last time?"

Niko finally realized what she said, returning my look with her own, "Um...nothing!"

I resisted the urge to facepalm while she kept talking. "Guess I should introduce myself...again," she said, whispering that last part, "My name is Niko!"

Calamus's hand went back up to his mouth, "Oh gosh! Would it not be rude to call you by name?"

I scratched my neck, "Don't worry. It's fine, Calamus."

His eyes snapped to me, seemingly taken notice of my presence for the first time, before he yelled out in surprise, "HOW DID YOU KNOW MY NAME?!"

Niko and I both froze, shooting each other worried looks again before I cleared my throat, "Uh...hi. I'm Alan. Nice to meet you both."

If they weren't starstruck before, they were now. Alula's feathers were all vibrating while Calamus had to use two hands to cover his mouth this time.

"Y-Y-You're really…?"

"Ohmygosh ohmygosh! This day just got SO MUCH BETTER!" Alula cheered, the squares completely forgotten.

I felt a smile creep onto my face for a split second before forcing it away, "Y-Yeah. I, uh, have my ways of knowing these things and we...actually need your help."

Both of their eyes widened even more as Niko continued my thought, "Right! The old gate is covered in squares too. Do...either of you know another way to get in?" She tilted her head, "I remember-"

"HEARD that there's a hidden passage around here somewhere that could help get us to the Refuge," I said, cutting off Niko from slipping up again.

Calamus didn't seem to notice, "Oh! You mean the passage to the burial grounds?" He scratched his head, "Oh, I'm...not sure if that'll be of any use. It's been flooded for a long time, and there's no boat. Not to mention it's pretty far from the city."

I shook my head, "We don't really have anywhere else to look...It wouldn't hurt to check."

"Alright, in that case..." he smiled, "Please follow us."

We followed them to the courtyard and, being discreet about it, booked it to the passage. Just like Calamus said, it was still flooded. Not much had changed, except for a small black clover growing by the edge.

"This is it…" I muttered, looking down towards where the burial grounds would be. Only a second after saying that, the vision appeared. It was the same boy wearing the cloak, hat, and scarf, just like how it was for Proto. Once the vision ended, I grabbed Niko's shoulder on instinct when noticing her swaying over the edge. She looked up at me with a thankful look before we heard the sibling's footsteps behind us.

"Hey, are you two okay?" Alula asked.

"You both looked like you were about to faint!" Calamus said after.

I nodded at them, "We're okay. This isn't the first time this has happened."

"Oh, really?"

Niko faced them, "Earlier when we were in the Barrens, we saw something like this too."

"A vision," I cut in.

"Yeah, that," Niko nodded, "The robot lady we were with earlier had a fancy word for it, though..."

At the mention of Silver, I shivered, the loss still fresh in my mind. I buried it, shifting my focus to the journal. As soon as I pulled it out, the cover started to glow again, just like it had in the mine.

"Yep, this is definitely it…" I whispered to Niko who nodded in return.

"Woah! Where'd you get that?!" Alula blurted out.

I lifted it up for them to see clearly, "I woke up with it. It glowed like this back in the Barrens too."

"It looks like one of our friend's books! Except glowy!"

My smile crept back before forcing it away, "Well, if it works the same way as last time, then that means we need to…" I trailed off. Niko followed me as we stood on top of the clover. I flipped through the pages until I found a new drawing. Like before, it was a sketch of the room we were in. The only difference was that there was a boat of some kind in the water.

"W-Wait, Alan, if it's the same as last time, doesn't that mean-"

Niko didn't finish the rest of her sentence as pain wracked my entire body. The laptop faded back into view and I watched as another ring sounded out, the world turning wireframe, before creating a boat in the water. My vision slowly returned back to normal with the laptop vanishing once again.

I fell to my knees when I came back, still reeling from the pain, "O-Ow...That r-really hurt..."

"Woah!" I heard Calamus and Alula exclaim. Niko didn't pay attention to them, instead focusing on me.

"Alan, are you okay…?" she whispered to me.

"Y-Yeah...yeah, I'm okay. Just...give me a minute," I whispered back, "Looks like this journal was really important after all."

Alula joined Niko at my side, "What happened? Is he okay?"

I nodded, "This happened at the Barrens too..."

Niko faced her, "Yeah! When the journal was glowing back then, we looked through it and found a drawing of the room we were in, and then...POOF!" she threw up one of her hands, "A minecart showed up!"

"What!" the siblings exclaimed again.

"It looks like the same thing happened now. It's just a boat this time," I said, finally recovering from the experience.

Calamus gulped, "That's really freaky..."

"Nuh-uh! Alan's just that amazing!" Alula retorted.

I could feel the heat rise to my face but shook it away, "A-Anyway, now that we have a boat, that means we can get to the burial grounds, right?"

"Yeah!" Alula trilled, "We can go and visit mom again!"

Calamus didn't look as convinced, "But..."

"Don't worry," I said, catching his attention, "The minecart Niko and I rode in was safe. I'm sure this boat will be safe too."

"Well..." he faltered before nodding, "O-Ok, I'll trust you."

You shouldn't.

I winced at that sudden thought, but I forced myself to ignore it. After testing to make sure the boat could hold the weight of all of us, I motioned at Niko and Alula.

"Ladies first."

Alula giggled and Niko softly smiled at me again before getting on the boat with Calamus following behind them. Once they were situated, I crawled on and pushed off the pathway behind us, letting the currents guide us along to the grounds.

The passage opened up to the rest of the Glen with the sky lit up by fireflies that Alula eagerly pointed out for us. Both of the girl's eyes were wide with wonder while Calamus focused ahead of us. I relegated myself to just watching the two as they pointed out fireflies for each other, occasionally giggling. It was heart-warming to see Niko smile, to forget about everything that had happened in the past few hours...to forget about how I hurt her.

I frowned and reached into my pocket, pulling out the picture of the two of us. Everything else blurred around me as I gazed at the photo. Her eyes were just like they were now, but I couldn't find it in me to look at myself. It was like looking at a completely different person. How simple things were back then…

I put the photo back in my pocket and noticed Niko watching me with concern laced in her eyes. I flinched and looked away, still too ashamed to look at her. I barely noticed her mouth open again before she closed it, turning away to focus back on the fireflies in the sky.

It was better this way...I had to remind myself that I deserved this. I kept telling myself that as we floated across the water towards whatever waited for us up ahead.

The boat came to a stop at the dock. We made it to the burial grounds without too much trouble. Calamus didn't move, looking out over the sea of graves, before standing up and grabbing Alula's hand.

"C'mon, Alula. Let's go pay our respects…"

They walked on ahead. Niko and I got off the boat too before taking in the entire burial grounds. Gravestones, large and small, dotted the island. Some had more writing on them while others only had two or three lines. The only thing connecting them was the symbol of the lightbulb at the top of each one. Niko fell behind to look at some of the gravestones while I caught back up with the siblings. They were standing in front of one of the gravestones, this one much thinner than the ones around it.

I walked up next to Calamus, "Is this…?"

He glanced at me and nodded, "Yeah, this is her grave…It's been years, but…" I watched as his body started to tremble slightly, "...It's still...hard, y'know?"

...Yeah. Yeah, I did, but not in the same way as him. Even after being on the run for so long, there were times when I wondered why I was given up, why I wasn't wanted. My fists clenched. It felt wrong for me to stand here with them, but...after how much I've lied to them, it felt like I owed it to them to at least be there for them...for once.

Slowly, I placed a hand on Calamus's shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Calamus look at me before smiling and turning back to the grave.

"MOM YOU'RE NOT GONNA BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TODAY WE MET THE MESSIAH AND ALAN, LIKE THE ACTUAL GOD IT'S BEEN SO AMAZING-"

"At least I still got my sister..." Calamus muttered.

I quietly chuckled, "She's definitely precious..."

Calamus smiled at me one more time and turned to Alula while I let go, "Alula...wanna help me look for some flowers for Mom later?"

"YES!"

Another smile crept onto my face. I looked over my shoulder to see Niko watching the three of us with a small smile. My smile vanished as I looked away. It was still amazing that, even after all this time, I still saw Niko as my own little sister, like Alula was to Calamus. I had almost completely forgotten that Niko was from a different world. It just felt that natural.

Of course...that was before I ruined everything...

I looked at the gravestone one last time, fighting back against the growing sting in my eyes, and rejoined Niko. There was another island close by, so we made our way there. It was only then that I noticed the black clovers in the ground seemingly forming a path for us. We followed them until we came across a campsite of sorts with a boy sitting by the blue fire.

He heard our footsteps and shot to his feet, looking at us wide-eyed. He definitely was the person we saw in the vision. Same cloak, same hat, same glowing yellow necklace. I was caught by surprise when I realized he looked about the same age as me.

"It's you! You're...um..." he trailed off.

She raised her hand, "Niko."

"Alan," I echoed.

"Ah! R-right. It's n-nice to finally meet you two! No, wait…" he cleared his throat, "It is a pleasure to be of acquaintance at last, Niko and Alan. My name is Cedric."

I sweatdropped at his sudden formalness, but Niko ignored it.

"We're supposed to be looking for you!"

Cedric nodded, "I am aware. Prototype contacted me earlier after his memories were restored, saying that you would be on your way to the city, but I thought it'd be faster for me to pick you guys up here." He sighed, "Turns out, that was a terrible idea."

I scratched my head, "Well, I mean, the gate to the Refuge is destroyed, so coming here actually worked out." My brow furrowed, "W-Wait, how exactly...DID you get here?"

He moved aside, revealing an orange biplane, "I flew here."

"Wait...YOU can fly that plane?!" Niko asked with enormous eyes.

"What...is a plane?"

I pointed at it, "That is."

"You mean the flying machine?"

Niko smiled, "They're called planes in my world!"

"Mine too," I echoed.

"Oh..." Cedric sighed, "...I did not realize they existed in other worlds..."

"It's still amazing!"

He smiled at Niko while I raised an eyebrow, "So...are you the friend that Calamus and Alula were talking about? They mentioned that they usually came here in a plane…"

"Flying machine."

I waved my hand, "It's the same thing."

He shook his head, "I do not know anyone named Calamus or Alula. If I were to guess...they're meant to be friends with my father...in the previous iterations of the-"

"Wait, the Author's your FATHER?" I blurted.

Cedric nodded, "He was the original owner of the flying machine. It's...one of his greatest inventions, actually."

"YOUR DAD INVENTED PLANES?" Niko blurted out as well.

"...Flying machine."

"IT'S COOL EITHER WAY!"

I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm but forced it away as quickly as it came.

"Thanks?" he smiled sheepishly, "But to answer your earlier question...I am proficient in operating the machine, but something...weird happened to the engine when I was in the air earlier." He sighed again, "I had to make an emergency landing on this tiny island before I crashed into the city wall."

I looked around at the size of the island, confused, "W-Wait, how were you even able to la-"

"You almost crashed? That's terrible!" Niko interrupted me.

"It was not pleasant, I will admit."

Neither of them seemed to hear what I tried to say, so I just dropped it. "Maybe it was something to do with the squares?" I asked.

"I thought that too, but there wasn't any inside the machine itself when I checked," he replied, scratching his head, "Though I did notice some islands in the Glen are REALLY messed up now." He sighed, "Maybe I should have listened to Proto in the first place. Speaking of which, where is he? He said he was coming with you..."

...Oh...right…

Neither of us said anything until I finally decided to tell him, "T-There was...a cave-in...back in the Barrens. He…" my body started to tremble, "...he didn't make it out."

Cedric froze, his eyes wide, "...No..."

I reached into my pocket, "But...he did give me this. He pulled it out of his head before..."

"Oh!" Cedric swiped from the disk from my hand, "Oh thank goodness..."

My brow furrowed, "Is...that really important...?"

"He gave you his main drive!" he said, holding it up, "As long as I have this, I should be able to bring him back."

Niko gasped, "R-Really?

He nodded, "It'll be hard, but yes. You need all three of us for the big door anyway."

"Big..." I mumbled, "Wait, isn't that where Niko and I went last time before all this started? In the stairwell?"

"That's the one, but first thing's first, we need to find a way to go to the city." He waved a hand at the plane," If this machine was working, we could just fly there..."

"What's wrong with it? You said it wasn't squares..." I said.

"The battery in the engine is dead, and the engine has some gears that need to be replaced. Problem is...the Glen isn't exactly a very high-tech area."

I furrowed my brow, "Uh, well...I-I know there's a battery at the research station, but…" I rubbed my arm, "I'm not sure how I'd feel about taking it and powering off all the robots..."

"We could always give it back later," Niko reassured me to little effect.

I sighed, "As for gears...I have no clue where we could look."

"Maybe Calamus or Alula could help?" she said.

"Maybe…Anything else?"

Cedric scratched his hat, "Well...I did notice some bridges were out before I landed that weren't covered in vines. It might be difficult to find what we need without them, which means..."

"...We have to see Maize again..." I muttered, already dreading what might happen.

Cedric and Niko looked at each other, obviously concerned about me. Niko definitely knew what I was talking about as her eyes darkened as well.

"...I'll go ask Alula or Calamus about where we could find some gear," she said, leaving me and Cedric alone.

We both were silent. I was still stewing in my own misery while Cedric still looked concerned. He cleared his throat, "...Proto told me about...what happened between the two of you."

I glanced at him, "...So he did."

"I...I'm sorry. I wish it had never come to this…"

I shook my head, "It's not your fault..."

I didn't let him get a chance to respond before walking away and catching up with Niko. She was waiting by the boat, already having talked to the siblings, "So, Alula said that we might be able to find gears with Magpie, the trader in the village."

I nodded, "Once we get the battery, we'll go see him, but first…" I pushed off from the island, sailing us back to the mainland, "Let's go see Maize one more time…"

The cove was dark when we arrived. The vines that usually covered the place were a lot bigger than normal. Some had even snapped in two, only to be replaced by others. We turned the corner to find her, vines coming out of her body.

"Maize..." I breathed.

Her head moved but doing that seemed to be a struggle, "...S...Savior and...Alan? You're...here to see me..."

Niko was frozen, "...What...happened to you?

"...Hold on…" Maize said, "...I need...to concentrate."

I felt the ground rumble under my feet as Maize's body strained from holding the Glen together. When the rumbling stopped, Maize was panting slightly.

"The islands...will collapse...if I don't do something...That's why...the vines..."

"Should we leave the sun for you?" I asked, looking between it and her.

"...Tempting...but I musn't. Stress...is good...for this. Makes...me strong." Her eyes opened, "They people deserve to live...even if just for another day..."

Niko shifted on her feet, "Um, there's...actually something we want to ask of you..."

"...Yes?"

"We were told some of the bridges around the are broken, and..."

She nodded, "You...need to cross them on your pilgrimage...Would you...like me to fix them?"

"Would it be possible?" I asked, worried about putting even more stress on her.

"...Difficult," she whispered, "Bridges...are in very specific locations, over water...need to find the right points...vines must be strong too. An...undertaking...but, possible."

A cold feeling settled in my gut. I was having a bad feeling about this...

"I...intend to use the last of my strength...Please stand back..."

"W-Wait, hold on-"

The ground around us rumbled again as vines shot out of her body. In a second...the vines, and her body, stopped moving.

"...What...happened?"

"…"

"Miss...are you okay?"

"…"

"...Are...you..."

"…"

"...W-We…"

"…"

"We should go, Alan..."

"…"

"A-Alan...?"

"…"

My entire body stood frozen to the spot, staring at Maize's lifeless body. I could feel my hands turn white from how hard I was clenching, but I just...couldn't look away…

You caused this. You're a killer. They're dead because of you.

My body trembled as those words kept repeating in my head over and over and over again.

Murderer. Killer.  Monster.

This was my fault...this was all my fault…

"Alan..."

I felt Niko tug on my jacket, snapping me out of my trance. I finally looked away from Maize, but I couldn't stop the panic I was starting to feel. Every part of me felt cold...like I was the one that had died instead of her.

"W-We...W-We need t-to...go..." I finally said, not able to hide the cracks in my voice. I didn't look at Niko as we finally walked away while those words continued to echo in my mind.

Murderer. Killer.  Monster.

I'm so sorry, Maize...

Chapter Text

Chapter Theme: Xion's Theme - Yoko Shimomura

"[HELLO, PERSONS. THIS IS THE MAIN GENERATOR OF THE GLEN.]"

"Uh, hey...Um, we need to borrow the battery from the generator to power a…'flying machine'..." I said to the robot, already uncomfortable with taking it.

"It's...kind of an emergency," Niko finished for me.

The robot tilted its head, "[I DO NOT KNOW WHAT A FLYING MACHINE IS, BUT ANY SORT OF LARGE MACHINERY WOULD REQUIRE A HIGH CAPACITY POWER CELL.]" It looked at the generator, "[IF THIS IS AN EMERGENCY FOR LIVING BEING...YOU CAN USE THE BATTERY.]"

"B-But…all of you will lose power. Is there really no other way?" I said, secretly praying that another option would magically show itself.

"[NEGATIVE.]" the robot said with a shake of its head, "[THIS IS THE ONLY BATTERY IN THE GLEN POWERFUL ENOUGH TO BE USED AS A STANDALONE UNIT. IF IT IS A DIRE SITUATION, THEN DO WHAT YOU MUST.]"

The robot stepped aside, giving us access to the generator, but I was still reluctant to take it. Niko seemed equally as conflicted, but we both knew this was the only way. I steeled myself and placed a hand on the battery.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered before pulling out the battery. The whirring of machinery slowly came to a stop and the robot lost its usual green glow. I placed the battery in my pack, took one last look at the robot, and we made our way outside. The robots we passed by had also suffered the same fate, falling to the ground without any way to keep themselves standing. I forced myself to look away from them as the pain in my chest was making it harder and harder to stay in control. I wasn't going to cry...I wasn't going to...

The trek to the village only showed just fragmented the region had started to become before the vines slowed it down. It wasn't until actually finding the village that I realized it wasn't the actual village. It had been cut off from the rest of the region...along with anyone who wasn't able to get away in time. Probably covered in squares by now...

Some of the villagers simply looked over the water, trapped in their thoughts of what was gonna happen to them while others were crying out, wishing that they could go back home. I clenched my fists, desperate to keep myself calm. I had to stay focused...

Fortunately for us, it didn't take long to find who we were looking for. The trader, Magpie as Alula called him, was rummaging through his stuff when he saw his approach.

"Hey, you're the trader guy, right?" Niko asked him.

He smiled and stood up, "Sure am! You two here to trade? 'Cause if you are..." he scratched his head, "...well, I got bad news for ya. A lot of my stuff is back at my cart, which was sadly abandoned when I was running for my life." He chuckled sheepishly, "So my collection is...limited right now. At least I managed to grab some of my favorite things though!"

"Well, that's not very reassuring..." I mumbled to myself.

"Well, uh, do you have anything like...gears?" Niko asked.

Magpie tilted his head, "Like...the metal spinny things? I don't think I have anything like that..."

He scratched his chin in thought before snapping his fingers, "Oh, hold on! I do have this box thing that you can wind up and play a song. It's probably got lots of little metal bits in there!"

I breathed a sigh of relief, "That'll probably work..."

"But I'm not sure if I want to trade it away, though...It's one of my favorite things!"

Oh, you gotta be kidding me...

Magpie waved his hand, "Oh, what am I saying! You're the savior! If I don't help you, I might not even be around much longer." He handed the music box to me, "You need this to save the world, right? Take it."

I carefully placed the music box in my pack, "Thanks for your help. We weren't sure where else we could look."

"Aw, don't worry about it. It's the least I could do!" His eyes perked up, "Oh, by the way, if you ever see a big guy with goggles and a cool helmet...tell him the trader in the Glen said hi!"

I fought bought a shudder and forced myself to smile, "R-Right, I'll do that if I see him..."

"Thank you!" Niko called out as we started to walk away, "So, that's everything we need, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Let's get back to Cedric...and quickly."

Cedric looked up from the fire as we returned, "Ah! You're back! Were you able to find everything?"

I pulled out the battery and music box and set them down, "We've got the battery and this music box was the only thing that could have gears in it."

"Oh, nice!" he said, standing up and inspecting both objects, "I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting you to find what I needed in a place this low-tech..." His brow furrowed as his eyes fell on the music box, "...Where did you find this? It looks like one of the ones my father made."

"YOUR DAD MAKES MUSIC BOXES TOO?" Niko gushed while I scanned the box. Sure enough, there was a black clover on the inside of it.

"I can't believe I missed that..." I muttered to myself.

Cedric smiled at us, "My dad makes a lot of things, but back to where you got it..."

"From a trader in the village," I said.

"Ah, that makes sense," Cedric nodded, "I remember Father saying that he used to trade with some of the people here." A nostalgic smile crept onto his face, "He did always love traveling this world, despite…" The smile fell and he shook his head, "Ah, sorry. I started rambling there."

Part of me wanted to tell him about my meeting with his father, but I put it aside. We had more important things to focus on, "So, will the gears in there work?"

"Yes, they should be compatible with the engine. Although, it pains me to have to take it apart..."

I looked away from him, "I'm sorry, but it's the only way for the plane to get fixed."

"Flying machine..." I heard him grumble, earning an unamused look from me, before he sighed, "You're right. This is everything I need after all. I just have to assemble the pieces, but it might take a while..." He quickly got to work taking out the gears and picking up the battery before looking at us, "Do you two mind keeping me company?"

Niko smiled, "Sure!"

"We don't really have anywhere else to go…" I said, rubbing my arm. A jolt of pain shot through my arm though, causing me to flinch, "Ow! What the...?"

"You alright?" Cedric called out from the plane.

I examined my arm closer and noticed cuts in the sleeves that were starting to look red. Rolling up the sleeve showed cuts all along my arm. I sighed, "Yeah, just got some cuts on my arm that look like they're starting to bleed now. Probably got them when..." I frowned, "...when the tunnel collapsed."

Cedric's head poked up from the engine, "Oh...well, I do have some bandages in my tent. You're welcome to use them."

I nodded and checked inside the tent. Thankfully, the roll of bandages wasn't too hard to find, sitting inside a backpack of his. I grabbed them and sat down near the fire, getting to work on wrapping my cuts up.

"You're hurt..."

I looked up to see Niko gazing at my arm, worry laced in her face.

I averted my gaze, "...It's nothing. I've had worse."

There was silence, before she said, "C-Can...can I help?"

I froze. The pain in my heart returned, forcing me to shut my eyes. "I-It's alright...I can take care of it..." I muttered.

I didn't hear her say anything else. Other than the sound of her sitting down in the grass close-by, the crackling fire, and Cedric at work fixing the plane, it was quiet. I finished wrapping up my arm and, remembering the other rocks that hit my back, reached an arm around to see if there were any other wounds I got. Sure enough, I could feel a few spots where I got hit that felt like they were heavily bruised, but I decided to just live with them until all this was over.

"So...how's it going?" Niko called out to Cedric

"Slow..." he replied, "The connectors in the battery were not designed for this type of engine, so I have to shift around some of these parts and there's this bolt that keeps getting stuck and…"

"...Ah." Niko muttered, clearly lost on what he was talking about.

Cedric poked his head up again, "Don't worry, though! I am making decent progress! We should be able to make it to the city by tonight."

My brow furrowed, "There's not really a way to know that without a clock..."

"Ha...fair point," he chuckled before returning back to the engine.

"What...will happen once we get there?" Niko asked him.

"We'll need to bring Proto back first and then we need to go find one more person."

"Rue..." I said, making Cedric look up once more.

"You've met already?"

I nodded, "The Author, your father, sent me a note asking me to find her after I…was able to find a way past the restriction." I faltered, doing my best not to look over at Niko.

"I...think I remember meeting her at one point, but my memories are still a little blurry," she said.

Cedric frowned, "I see…"

Silence fell over us again. Not for long though as Niko sighed.

"It's just...hard...y'know?"

Again, Cedric stopped and looked over at her while I stared into the fire.

"Proto told me to think of this world like a dream, but then I get so caught up with it...and I just...forget," she said, taking a shaky breath, "I forget that everything here is supposed to be...not real...but then I remember and I just get...really sad."

I accidentally clenched my hand around my bandaged arm, causing me to wince in pain, but continued staring at the fire.

"I know this is for me to go home, but...knowing that none of it mattered in the first place..." she trailed off, "...Am I just trapped here for no reason...?"

Cedric and I looked at each other and he opened his mouth to speak, but Niko cut him off.

"Proto also told me to not ask anyone in the world about this...saying how 'they don't understand', but...what about him? How did he know?" she peered up at Cedric, "How do YOU know? Save for Alan, aren't you guys ALL supposed to be code?"

He scratched his chin, "W-Well..."

"I just don't know what to even believe anymore..." Niko finished, curling around the lightbulb like she did in the mines.

Cedric sighed, "...I wish Rue was here. She's SO much better at explaining this sort of thing. I'm doing such a terrible job of it!" He looked at me, "I bet Proto was even less tactful, wasn't he..."

"That's an understatement..." I grumbled.

Cedric frowned, "I'm afraid I must risk sounding callous, but...please, you need not concern yourself with how 'real' everything is, for now at least." He set down his wrench and focused solely on us, "The plan is already in motion. We cannot allow for distractions. Father is putting everything into this one last run of the world...the last chance for him to fix everything."

I looked up from the flames, becoming more intrigued about the Author's hand in all this. Even though I had met him, I was never able to ask him about...anything, really.

Niko looked up from the lightbulb, "Your father...is involved in the World Machine?"

"You...could say that," Cedric faltered, "The acceleration of square particle anomalies was not accounted for at all, though."

"That's...the World Machine's condition deteriorating, right?" I asked, finally getting involved.

Cedric sighed, "So, you're aware of that too..."

I nodded, "Your father warned me about it, but even I wasn't expecting...all of this to happen."

"The patch was only built to accommodate the normal rate they appear, but..." he shook his head, "They're accumulating at frightening speeds, now. It's a REALLY good thing Proto gave you the disk just in time."

Niko shifted the lightbulb in her lap, "So...what happened to him anyway? What happens to...ANYONE who gets caught in the squares? I only know it's bad..."

He scratched his chin again, "Well, you know how the simulation works, right?"

"How everything...is code...?" she said, looking away from him.

"Specifically, everything is generated from pre-existing code. The squares can cause damage to that code..." he frowned, "Most of the time, irreversible damage."

Silver's face flashed in my mind, causing me to shiver.

"Father has lost some friends in previous iterations of the simulation. It took him forever to develop the current, much more stable version."

"W-Wait," Niko started, "You're making it sound like...your dad built the simulation himself..." When no response came, "...Wait, DID he?"

Cedric nodded, "Yeah..."

"But...how? If everyone in this world is code...how can he build...himself?"

He sweatdropped, "That's...um...not really what happened."

"Then what happened?"

"He came to my world," I spoke up. Both of them snapped towards me, completely taken aback by this revelation. Cedric, most of all.

"He...your...what?"

I nodded, "I only learned that myself before starting this last run, but three months ago, back when this all first started, I'm guessing he was the one that delivered the laptop that had the World Machine to me."

Cedric's eyes were wide, "He was there...?"

"As I said, I didn't know it was him until he told me," I sighed, "He spent those three months working on this patch while also keeping an eye on me. After that, he vanished. I never really got to ask him anything before he was already gone."

"That's..." He sighed, "At least he's still okay..."

"However, since I couldn't ask him or Proto..." I stared at him, "You're the next best thing."

He fidgeted around with his wrench, "...L-Like I said, you two shouldn't concern yourself with..."

"Cedric."

He flinched, dropping the wrench, and stared back at me.

"Besides me being able to bring both of us back to this world, neither of us barely know anything about it," I frowned, looking back at the fire, "...If not me, you at least owe it to her."

Cedric looked over at Niko, who I could see was staring at me wide-eyed, then back to me.

"There's been enough secrets..." I finished as I closed my eyes.

He was quiet until he sighed, "Alright, alright..." He hopped off the plane and got closer to the fire, "...Did Prototype...ever tell you about the old world?"

Niko hesitated, "He...DID say something about being built to greet the messiah of the old world, but I was, um...too caught up with the other stuff at the time to think about it."

"You at least know OF it, then." He took a deep breath, "Well...here we go..." He gazed across the fire at us, "My father...myself...and the other two. None of us are part of the simulation itself. Our home world...the 'real' world...was actually destroyed a long time ago."

Now it was my turn to be shocked, "You're serious...?"

He nodded, "In the years leading up to the calamity, scientists from all over the world tried to stop it, but the outlook was bleak. The only thing we had left was a vague prophecy about a messiah from another world, which became everyone's last bastion of hope."

Niko nor I spoke, too at a loss of words, while Cedric kept going.

"Prophet-...er, Prototype...was built to predict the future, about the specifics of this messiah." He sighed, "But as his predictions turned out, the Messiah would not have been able to arrive to our world in time. In fact, the messiah would not even have been born before our world ended."

I glanced over at Niko, who was hanging on to every word he said.

"After this, most people abandoned their research and resolved to peacefully live out their final years, but some people did the opposite. Even though saving the world was impossible, they didn't want our existence to be in vain. That's...where my father came in. With the last of his resources, he built his most ambitious project yet."

"The World Machine..." I muttered.

"Correct," he nodded, "A large, detailed facsimile of the old world, generated from a pool of memories collected from everyone he knew. After...a heavy amount of modification and an added narrative, my father was able to convert the entire structure into code."

Niko raised an eyebrow, "How did that code...escape the old world?"

Cedric shook his head, "I have no idea. What I do know is there was no equipment powerful enough the run the code independently. So, aside from standard hardware, it also needed to borrow the mental processing power abilities of a living person. Father used himself for that during the initial testing phases."

He paused, letting us process everything before he continued, "Like I said before, it took many iterations for him to make the experience stable enough..." he sighed, "...but as you can see, even that's breaking down. Father caught on to the issue in the last minute, but did not have enough time to fix it."

I frowned. Did he mean the Entity?

"After the world ended, the code just ended up...floating in the void, indefinitely. Waiting for a willing operator to install it onto their own hardware."

"You mean, me..."

He nodded, "Although it was hardware that my father ended up giving to you, it would still allow you to generate the universe using the code, becoming god in the process."

"So...was Alan the living person you needed to borrow?" Niko asked.

"Actually, no. That would be you."

"What? Why?" I said, causing Niko to look at me in surprise, "Why put this burden on her if...I'm here too?"

Cedric's eyes fell, "I..I'm sorry. I do not know. Father never said anything about bringing the operator here."

I frowned when he didn't say anymore. Instead, he turned back to the plane and grabbed his wrench., "...We...really need to get going."

I sighed and looked back to the fire, processing everything he told us. A completely different world, turning it into code, the point of me and Niko being here...It all was so hard to understand, but at least we now knew. I rubbed my arm, feeling the bandages underneath my sleeve, as my mind went back to the Entity. I hadn't heard from it since the cave-in and, I had to admit, I was starting to get worried about what was happening to it, but there wasn't anything I could do except staying focused.

Save the world, get Niko home.

I could see Niko watching me. Her mouth opened once again but quickly closed. I kept my focus on the fire. I still didn't deserve to look her in the eye again.

"It's fixed."

Cedric wiped his brow, tossed the wrench aside, and hopped down from the wing, "We can leave in the next five minutes if you're both ready."

Niko sighed as we stood up.

Cedric noticed her mood, "I understand if you are upset, but please...try to understand. My father is doing this to help all of us...and that includes you, Niko." He frowned, "The fact that you can't even go back home...I'm sure it upsets him greatly."

He briefly glanced at me, knowing I was the same, before returning to her, sighing, "The world just means a lot to him, you know..."

She nodded. I rubbed my arm one more time, hoping the cuts wouldn't get too bad.

"Are you sure your wounds will be okay?"

I looked up at him and nodded, "I'll manage..."

He frowned and looked like he was about to say, but was cut off by Niko.

"So...how does flying...work?"

He turned to her, wide-eyed, "Wait, don't these machines already exist in your world? You should already know what to expect..."

She sweatdropped, "Well, not really...I've only heard about them. They're usually...a lot bigger than this one, anyway."

"Ah, I see. Well, a word of..." he stopped when he looked at me, "Um, Alan? Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"Your, uh...legs are shaking."

I looked down and my legs were indeed violently shaking. I felt my face warm up as I looked away from them, "I've...never ridden in a plane before and I'm..." I gulped, "...not the biggest fan of heights..."

When I heard giggling, I snapped up to see Cedric trying and failing to hold back a smile while Niko was holding an arm in front of her mouth.

"Don't worry," Cedric began, "It'll take a few minutes of getting used to, but it's not that bad once we're in the air."

I still couldn't stop picturing myself falling out the plane, but I nodded nonetheless, "I'll...try."

"Oh! We should probably tell Calamus and Alula where we're going," Niko said.

Cedric looked past me with a confused look, "You mean those two running over here?"

"NIKO! ALAN!"

Alula's voice pierced through the dark sky as I turned to see the siblings sprint up to us, both out of breath.

"Bad news! The boat is gone!"

Fear gripped my body, "What?!"

"It's the squares! It looks like they're headed in this direction!" Calamus panted.

"That's…"

"...not good..." I heard Cedric mutter.

I shot him a frightened look, "What do we do?"

His eyes darted back and forth before landing on the siblings, "Calamus, right?"

He nodded.

"How bad is it?"

"It...doesn't seem to be of immediate danger..."

That satisfied Cedric as he turned to me and Niko, "Then it is of priority that I take you two to the city first."

"WHAT?!" I yelled, making all of them flinch, "We can't just leave them here!"

"There's no time, Alan. It's essential that you two be at the door once we find Rue. Plus-"

I got in his face as images of Silver's last moments flashed in my mind, making me panic even more, "Don't you dare give me that crap about them not being 'real'..." I snarled, keeping my voice down so that they didn't hear me, "I don't care if they are or not, we are NOT leaving them to those squares."

Cedric shivered from the sudden anger in my voice, but he took a second to breathe, "I can make a detour later once I've dropped you and Niko in the city. The Refuge is better equipped to handle the squares. They'll be safer there."

I backed off, but I still wanted there to be an easier way. I clenched my fists. I couldn't let them get hurt too...

"You're taking us to the city then?!" Alula gasped.

Cedric smiled, "If you wish."

All that came out of her mouth was a squeal.

"...Alright," Cedric blinked, "I will be back here in an hour, so please wait for me until then."

I looked over at them, still scared of what was going to happen to them once we left, but I had no choice but to go along with Cedric.

Calamus noticed my concern and nodded at me, "Don't worry. The squares are still moving pretty slowly for now. We'll be okay."

My eyes began to sting and, before I could stop myself, I wrapped the two of them in a tight hug. Calamus tensed up while Alula gasped in surprise.

"Please...please stay safe..." I whispered before letting go of them. Calamus was still frozen in shock from being hugged while Alula had stars in her eyes. I gave them one more look before turning back to Cedric, "...Let's go."

He nodded and hopped into the driver seat, "You'll need to share the seat with Niko, so climb on first, Alan."

I had only just grabbed the seat before I froze, shooting an uncertain glance at him. He was focused on the controls in front of him, forcing me to swallow my unease and get into the seat. Niko climbed in after me and sat herself down in my lap. If the situation was any different, I would have been comfortable with this, but...not now. Not with everything between us.

"Hold on tight!" Cedric called out to us before the plane started to lift off the ground as we soared away from the siblings. I watched them one last time as they became further and further away.

Please be safe, you two...

Chapter Text

The plane finally landed on top of a building and Cedric turned the engine off, "...Phew. Made it!" He turned back to us and stopped, "Uh...you two okay there?"

"...That was the coolest thing I have ever done in my entire life," Niko squeaked.

I was the opposite, "...That was the scariest thing I have ever done in my entire life."

Cedric laughed, "Reactions from first-timers are always delightful to watch."

Both of us sat there, still enraptured by the flight before Niko seemed to return to normal and tried to get out the plane, only to be held back. She looked down at herself before peering back at me with a giggle, "Hey, Alan?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"You can let go of me now."

I was confused until I followed where my arms currently were, and sure enough, they were locked around Niko's chest. I didn't realize how tightly I was holding her against me until now. I felt my face go paler than it already was and shot my arms away from her.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay! You were just making sure I was safe..."

I still averted my gaze from her despite my intentions. She was silent until she finally hopped out of the plane seat while I followed after her, thankful to have my feet on solid ground again.

"Hey, Alan?" Niko spoke again, "That...was really fun. Did you...have fun too?"

I chanced a glance at her. She was gazing at me earnestly and seemed to perk up upon me returning eye contact. It was short-lived though as I turned away from her just as quickly and rubbed my arm, "...I...guess."

That didn't seem to satisfy her. Her mouth opened...before shutting again. She turned her attention to our pilot, "Cedric...? Thanks..."

He tilted his head, "What for?"

"Flying!" she trilled.

"Oh, um..." he smiled sheepishly, "You're...welcome?"

"And...for answering our questions back there, too," she continued, "And...for telling us more about the World Machine. I'm just...really sorry about what happened to your old world. So, we'll help you the best we can."

I glanced over at her. Both Cedric and I seemed surprised by her sudden declaration.

"And...even if it's all just a machine, this world is still...nice. I mean, I got to fly, I got to see the ocean, and I got to meet a lot of nice people! People like you!" She sweatdropped, "...And Prototype, even if he's broken right now."

Cedric was stunned, but smiled, "I'm glad you are taking this so well, Niko. And...I'm glad that we have met as well, despite the...circumstances." He perked up, "Ah, speaking of Proto, I should probably head off now."

"You still need to pick up Calamus and Alula, too," I hastily reminded him. "They've been waiting for a while now..."

He nodded, "I will be sure to bring them to safety. In the meantime...do you two remember what to do to get to the surface?"

"I remember we have to fix an elevator button!" Niko said.

"Alright, you should attend to that, then. Let's meet up back here in an hour, okay?"

"Got it!"

He turned towards the plane, "Alright, now lemme just-"

A screech of static echoed around us, freezing me to my core...before we watched the plane become engulfed in squares.

"No!" Niko cried out.

"..."

"They're...trapped on the island..."

...No...no…...Not them too...not them...

My entire body shuddered as the pain in my chest continued to build. They were stuck there...alone...and we promised to come back for them. Another broken promise...

"GRAAAAAAH!" I screamed in agony, kicking the nearest rock off the roof and watching it fall to the surface below.

You killed them.

"...We...don't have much time left, "Cedric finally spoke, "Change of plans. It's likely I'll be targeted again, so we should split up to keep you two safe."

It's your fault they're dead.

"I want you two to find a door under a large clock. The room behind it houses a pair of ground access elevators."

You're nothing but trash.

"Once you get to the ground, immediately find Rue and bring her back to the room. She will know what to do in the meantime."

Worthless. Useless. Killer.

Monster.

"As for me, I'm going to bring Prototype back."

There was a scurry of feet before Niko cried out, "Are you okay?!"

"WHAAAAAT?"

It sounded like Cedric was getting farther away from us. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him parachuting down to the surface.

"ARE YOU OKAAAAAAAY?!"

"DON'T WORRYYYY, I'M FINEEEE" Cedric called back before getting too far away for us to hear him.

I looked away, still in anguish over the siblings. My eyes started to sting, but I pushed them back. I wasn't going to break down...I wasn't...I had to...focus.

Save the world, get Niko home. Stay focused on that.

The roof was silent. All that could be heard was the wind and my own body trembling. Soft steps got closer to me from behind until they stopped just short of my back.

"A-Alan..."

"...W-We need t-to go..." I said. There was little I could do to mask how broken I sounded. Without a response, I hurried away from the plane...and from Calamus and Alula.

I'm sorry...I'm sorry...

"Come oonnn…Come oonnnnnnnnn!" Plight kicked the elevator door, "Now, of all times...!"

"Um, excuse me..." Niko said.

"Woah! He flinched and snapped to us, "...You're...you!" He rubbed his face, "Ah geez, I didn't think I was gonna run into-"

"The elevator...It's missing a button, right?"

His eyes widened, "...How did you know?"

Niko simply glanced up at me with a smile. One I didn't return.

"We can help you fix it," I said.

"...Seriously?" His body sagged with relief, "Oh thank goodness. The evacuees are counting on this...on me...but I've been here for hours and can't figure out a thing."

My blood turned cold, "E-Evacuees...?

"Y'know...from the west apartments." He pointed over my shoulder towards said apartments, "The square stuff wrecked the place yesterday..."

I followed where he pointed to see the entire complex decimated and glitched. Yet more people I've hurt...

"Right now everyone's crowded in the cafe. We really want to get everyone to the surface as soon as possible, though. The library is the best palace since it doubles as a shelter for situations like this."

"I see..." Niko's brow furrowed and she turned to me, "Wait, didn't we find the magnets and stuff in the apartments, Alan?"

I tore my eyes away from the destroyed complex, "Y-Yeah. I don't think we can make the button without them."

Plight looked between the two of us like we were insane, but thankfully he didn't say anything. Without warning, static screeched out again and took over the elevator.

He jumped back, "HOLY FU-"

I slammed my hand over his mouth before he could finish, giving him a hard stare. He got the message and I let go.

"...Fudge."

"Now, we really need to find those other elevators," I muttered to myself.

Plight sweatdropped, "But this is the only elevator in the area..."

"Not quite," I waved my hand, "Follow us. We know where to find some other ones."

"Wait, you're serious? I've literally never seen-"

"Just come on!" I snapped at him, causing him to flinch, and we led the way to where Cedric told us to look.

Our footsteps echoed throughout the stairwell as we finally arrived at the door where everything started. Plight was planting behind us.

"Sheesh-*huff*-you guys-*huff*-run fast..."

I glanced back at him apologetically, "Sorry, but we're kinda stretched for time."

I tapped the lock symbol on the door, bringing up the keyboard once again. Typing in "SOLSTICE", the door opened and we raced inside. Nothing had changed between when Niko and I first came here and now. The pillars of light were still illuminating the room and the bed was still tucked away in the corner.

"Ugh...this place is giving me the creeps.." Plight mumbled as we stopped in front of one of the elevators, "Oh. I guess there is another elevator."

Niko took a closer look, "Yeah, but this elevator has no button panel."

I looked up and saw a chain hanging from the ceiling, "Maybe 'cause it's not a button that's used," I said, pointing at the chain. I took a running start and bounced off the wall, hand outstretched, only to fall short and crash into the ground.

"O-Ow..." I sat up and rubbed my back, "That's...definitely not gonna help those bruises."

Niko was immediately at my side while Plight just looked on, "Well...It was an attempt." He looked between me and the level before sighing, "...Hang on, I got this."

He grabbed the staff from his back and reached up, easily snagging the lever and pulling it, opening the elevator doors for us.

Niko smiled, "Nice! Thank you, mister!"

He shrugged, "It's no problem. You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be...fine," I replied, that word tasting like poison in my mouth. I stood up and we entered the elevator together.

The ride down was a lot faster than past iterations, leaving little room for awkward silences. Before we knew it, we had already reached the surface and exiting brought us face to face with the Tower entrance.

"Welp. This elevator works alright," Plight said, "I'll, uh...go get the evacuees, I suppose..."

I nodded, "Right. Just please be careful."

He smiled, the first time I've seen him do that, and walked back into the elevator.

...Only for the doors to slam shut and static to screech out as they became covered in squares.

"UM, WHAT IS GOING ON."

Fear gripped my body, "NO! NOT AGAIN!"

"No, Alan, don't!"

I tried to run towards the doors, only for Niko to grab onto my jacket and stop me in place. I kept trying to get closer to the elevator, but her grip only tightened even as her body trembled. More squares started to cover the walls around us and even more began to pile around the elevator.

"It's...the square stuff, isn't it?" Plight's voice came from the elevator, "There aren't any in here, but...I can hear them just outside the door..."

"J-Just hold on! Maybe I-I can get the door...!"

"No, no, it's okay! It doesn't seem like they're inside the elevator...yet."

"I-I'm not...! I c-can't just...!" I whimpered, becoming more and more desperate, but Niko just wouldn't let go of me.

"You two are in a hurry, right?" He said, sounding resigned, "Go do...what you need to do...I'll figure something out..."

Yet another one you've killed.

"Alan...we need to go..." Niko mewled, tugging harder on my jacket.

You could've prevented this, but you didn't.

"Alan, please!"

You're nothing but a  monster.

"ALAN!"

Niko's voice brought me back to reality. I turned away from the squares, barely holding it together as Niko tugged one last time, leaving Plight behind to the squares. Our feet pounded against the grated floor until we reached the exit, only to hear Kip's cries.

"Please! You musn't! The labs could collapse any moment now!"

"Let go of me!"

Just across from us, Cedric was struggling against Kip, wrenching his arm free from her grip and racing off towards the labs. Kip began to give chase before being stopped by squares blocking the path.

"...Cedric? What's he doing?" Niko mumbled. We raced over but Cedric had already gone.

Kip sighed, "I...couldn't stop him..."

"M-Miss?" Niko spoke.

Kip spun around to her, "Messiah! Oh, you've come at such an awful time." She ran up to her, glanced at me, and grabbed her hand, "Come on, we have to get out of here."

She began dragging Niko behind her, forcing me to catch up, "Where are we going?"

She looked over her shoulder, "Where everyone else is right now."

The library lobby was filled to the brim with people. Some had their heads buried in books while others succumbed completely to the dread. As Kip led us up the steps, several eyes looked over at us. I couldn't return their gaze, knowing full well that they were looking at the person responsible for all of this. We stopped next to the secretary robot's desk.

"Finally...we're here," Kip panted.

Niko looked around the room, despondent over so many people forced to take shelter here. I opened my mouth but was stopped when George raced over to us, wrapping Kip in a tight hug.

"Miss Silverpoint!" She let go of her, "Gosh…you should have told me where you were going..."

Kip sweatdropped, "Sorry about that, George."

"I...see you also found the messiah" George waved at Niko, "Hello, little one!"

"Hi..." Niko breathed.

Kip nodded dishearteningly, "...Yeah, we ran into each other after this boy forced himself into the lab complex. I tried to stop him, but..." she sighed, "I couldn't. I don't know why he was being so insistent!"

Niko's brow furrowed, "He...he said he needed to go rebuild a robot."

"You know him?"

She nodded.

George tilted her head, "Building a robot, you say? Could that be why he needed that book?"

Niko and I stared at her in confusion. She continued, "Ah...a young man with white hair and green glasses ran in earlier."

"That's Cedric..." I muttered.

"He said he really needed a book from the backroom; Said it was an emergency, too!" She sweatdropped, "Poor darling looked so stressed out, so I just gave him the book..."

Niko looked up at me, "What do we do then? We still need to find Rue..."

I opened my mouth to respond, but something out the window stopped me in my tracks. Time seemed to slow down with each second that passed. I was only faintly aware of Niko trying to grab my attention as I hovered over to the window and could do nothing but watch as the lab off in the distance started to sway...and sway...

...Before watching it collapse to the ground...with Cedric and Proto still inside.

Now Playing: My Burden Is Dead - OneShot OST

"Oh my gosh..."

"Oh dear..."

"No! Not him too!"

"..."

"I'm...I'm so sorry about your friend..."

...No...

"But there's nothing we can do about it now."

...No...no...no...

"B-But...But...!"

"No, no, no, no, no..."

The conversation behind me stopped as the cracks began to show.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no..."

Even the whispered voices of the other patrons seemed to grow quieter with each passing second. All that was left for me to listen to was the sound of my heart pounding in my ears and the strained gasps that became more and more hysterical.

"A-Alan...?"

Niko's voice sent shockwaves through my body, convulsing so much to the point that I felt like throwing up.

"W-What? You mean...?" Kip's voice rang out next and the whole library became deathly silent.

It's over. The last chance you had to fix everything...and it's gone.

You killed Silver. You killed Proto.

Whispers started to be heard all around the library.

"That's...Alan?"

"If he's here...w-what does that mean for us...?"

You killed Calamus. You killed Alula.

"Isn't he supposed to be fixing everything?"

"Why isn't he making the squares go away?"

You killed Maize. You killed Cedric. You killed Plight.

"I thought he was trying to help us.."

"D-Does this mean the world can't be saved?"

You've killed Niko.

That very thought slammed into me like a gunshot to the heart. The silence was deafening; a cacophony of broken promises and shattered hopes was all that remained.

"T-This is all my fault..this is all my fault..."

I buried my head in my hands. I only faintly felt my eyes start to burn before everything I locked away surged forward like a raging inferno. I tried to stop it, but all it succeeded in doing was stifling a sob before the cracks burst open. The tears began to fall, staining my face with seventeen years worth of sorrow.

You've killed Niko.

"I'm sorry...I'm so...sorry..."

The whispers stopped. Only my cries echoed off the bookshelves. I couldn't make the tears stop. I couldn't...They just won't stop...

YOU'VE KILLED NIKO.

"I-I tried...to fix all this...I tried...I-I never meant..."

I finally pulled my hands away and looked at Kip and George. Both of them were wide-eyed, shocked not only by my very presence but of how broken they watched me become. Kip swallowed, "A-Alan, I...I understand how you feel-"

"No...No, you don't," I cut her off, "You have absolutely NO idea how I feel. You cannot possibly understand HOW I FEEL!"

I could barely see her face due to my tears, but I barely made an effort to wipe them away.

"I've waited...so LONG...hoping that this would be the moment that I'd finally be able to fix everything...and now...and now...!" I buried my face in my hands again, "And now...I've ruined this too!"

YOU'VE KILLED NIKO. YOU'VE KILLED NIKO.

"I...I-I can't s-stay here..." I turned towards the exit, only to have Kip's hand grab my shoulder.

"Absolutely not!"

"Sweetie, you know we can't let just walk into danger! If anything were to happen to you..." George softly said, trying to calm me down.

The inferno swelled throughout my body and whipped towards them with a look of pure misery, "You think that MATTERS to me?!" I screamed, causing both of them to jump back, "It's my fault any of this is even HAPPENING! Everyone is DEAD because of ME!" It was hard to think...Hard to breathe. My mind was consumed by panic; a raging wildfire with no way to snuff out the spark. "Getting caught by the squares would probably be the BEST thing to happen to me at this point!"

They gasped, looking at me with such horror, that I already felt dead. I turned away again, only to come face to face with Niko. All I could see were the tears that fell down her own face, intensified by the fear and sadness within her eyes. It shattered whatever hope I had left, crushing it into dust until there was nothing left. The one person I've ever cared about...and now...

"Alan..."

YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER. YOU'VE KILLED HER.  YOU'VE KILLED HER.

"Niko...I-I...I'm sorry...I just wanted to get you home...I'm so s-sorry...I never meant...to hurt you..."

Nothing else was spoken as I sped past them, barely having any idea of where I was going. I could feel everyone's eyes follow me, even after I crashed through the doors.

Where...what do I do...? What's left for me...?

I can't stop crying...why...why can't I stop...?

I had barely stepped onto the bridge before tripping over my feet and falling onto the ground. There was nothing but the sound of my own sobs as I tried to stand up, only to fall back into the guard railing.

I can't keep going...There's nothing else left...

I curled my legs up and buried my head in them, my cries echoing over the crimson river, awaiting the moment where I'd finally join this world under a sea of darkness.

I'm not a god. I never belonged here. I'm worthless...I'm nothing...I'm just a killer...

I'm nothing but a monster.

Chapter Text

Chapter Theme: Grey - Ed Carlsen

...

Worthless.

...

Idiot.

...

Killer.

...

Liar.

...

Failure.

...

...

...

"...Alan…?"

"..."

"Alan, I..."

"You need...to get a-away from me, Niko..."

She gasped softly. My voice had descended to nothing more than raspy whispers.

"I'm just going to h-hurt you more. Please...you have to get away from m-me..."

I didn't bother lifting my head, keeping it buried in my legs instead. The very thought of looking at Niko twisted the knife deeper and deeper into my heart.

"But...what about...our mission?" she said.

I choked on a sob, "It's over, Niko. W-Without Cedric and Proto...we can't..." I couldn't finish through the flood of tears. The pain was still too fresh.

"..."

"After all that I've d-done to you, I u-understand if you hate me...so just l-leave me, Niko..."

I heard the shuffling of feet before Niko sighed.

"...I don't hate you, Alan. I...I never hated you."

I blinked and finally lifted my head. She was sitting in front of me now. The betrayal and hurt in her eyes from before were completely gone, replaced now by...sympathy?

"...W-What?"

She sighed again as she lowered her gaze, "Yes, I was...upset that you never told me about what this world was and how...you kept bringing me back to it, but…" Her breath shook, "After thinking about what Cedric and Proto told me and remembering more of our past 'sessions', I...I can't be upset at you."

My eyes widened as tears began to pool in her eyes, but she wiped them away and continued, "I-I...I remember...all the times you comforted me after I had those nightmares. I remember all the times that we stayed with the plant lady. I remember all the times where you asked me to...forget you. I-I..." Her sniffles became more and more frequent while her tears sailed down her cheeks. She lifted her gaze back to mine, "I remember what you told me about...your family...and what you've gone through."

I looked away from her, "But I...I l-lied to you. I've done nothing but hurt you for a-all these months..."

"That's not true! You know that's not true!" she wailed.

"But it is! Everyone would still be okay if I hadn't..." I choked on another sob, "...I...I just wanted you to get h-home, but I-I couldn't do that without b-breaking the sun. I t-thought...this would be a way to f-fix everything..." I buried my head back in my hands, "And now I've ruined it...I just w-wanted to keep you safe..."

"You have, Alan..." she said gently, "Even now, this whole time, you've been keeping me safe; when you pulled me away from the minecart before the squares got it, when you protected me from the rocks that fell from the cave wall, fussing over my foot when I kicked that block, holding onto me during the plane ride so that I didn't fall out..."

I shook my head, "But none of that matters now. W-We can't save this world...and I...I can't get you home. How can you n-not hate me after everything I've done?"

She wiped away her tears again fruitlessly, "I know you, Alan, and I know y-you've always cared about me. Ever since we met...you've been the brother I never knew I wanted. Everything you did...was all for me, right?"

My hand drifted over my bandaged arm, "I-I..."

"I...I remember...the very first time we reached the Tower. When you wanted me to return home...I-I could tell that you didn't want to break the sun either."

The memories of every time we entered the summit came back to me. Every time I broke the sun and every time we returned it.

"I-I…I h-hated that I was forced to choose between you and this world," I hissed, "I wanted to s-save this world, but I couldn't...k-keep you trapped here. It just wasn't f-fair..."

I could feel new tears began to fall down my face, but I didn't stop them. I flinched when Niko extended her hand towards me, but she didn't back down, slowly placing hers on mine.

"I...I'm sorry I got upset at you, Alan...I didn't realize how hard it was for you too..."

That one little gesture shattered the last remaining walls that I had built around myself for the past seventeen years.

I sobbed, "W-When I first came here, I was just worried about...getting back to my world, but...after meeting you...after meeting everyone else...I-I...didn't want to go back," I whimpered, "A-And then...when you l-left for the first time, I...I-I...I didn't want you to go. I didn't want you to leave me behind. I didn't want to be alone again."

I clenched my fists, "I've been alone...and it's miserable. It's not the life I want anymore. That's w-why...I kept bringing you back...why I kept trying to find a way to save you and this world. I j-just needed you here with me..." I gazed into her eyes as I poured my heart out to her, "Y-You're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me, Niko, and I...I couldn't lose you too."

My body trembled as we stared at each other, tears flowing down both of our faces. She sniffled again before lunging at me and wrapping her arms around my body. I froze for a second before hugging her close to me.

"I'm so sorry, Niko...I'm so sorry for what I've done to you...!" I bawled into her scarf.

She only hugged me tighter, "It's not your fault, Alan. None of this is your fault."

"B-But..."

"It isn't," she cut me off before I could argue, "You said it yourself. You didn't know any of this was going to happen." She leaned back from my chest, "I...really want to save this world too, Alan. Even if it's more dangerous this around...Even if...so many of the nice people we met are..."

She sobbed again and I started to pull her back, but she shook her head, "I'm...not afraid anymore, Alan. I want these people to be happy. I want you to be happy."

I stared at her in astonishment...and, for the first time in three months, even among my tears...I smiled.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?"

She smiled back, "You're my friend, Alan..."

"...and friends take care of each other," I finished.

Was this what forgiveness was? Was this what being loved felt like? My smile grew bigger, even as tears continued to fall. Even with the world falling apart around us, it felt like I could finally breathe after drowning for so long. I curled around her, holding her tightly against me as my heart cried out in joy.

"I love you, Niko."

"I love you too, Alan."

We stayed wrapped in each other's arms until I heard a sniffle nearby. Niko and I looked over to see George and Kip watching us, with tears running down George's five-sided face and the sun being held in Kip's hands.

"Oh, that was...so heartwarming to watch..." George blubbered, "You two are so brave...even braver than most grown-ups..."

I blushed and looked away from them before sighing, "I'm sorry...for breaking down in there."

Kip shook her head, "No, I think we owe YOU an apology. Both of you," she said, nodding to Niko, "We've been dealing with tragedy for so long, it's become background noise to us now, but...I doubt any of us paid attention to how hard it's been for either of you, regardless of whether you're our god or savior."

"It...wouldn't be right for us to keep you two here, would it?" George said, wiping away her tears, "Besides, how can I say no after all that?"

I laughed. God, it felt so good to laugh again. Niko smiled at me, clearly happy for me as well.

Kip sighed, "Well, if George is fine with it…" She held out the sun to us. Niko hopped out of my lap and took it from her, "Just...promise us you'll be careful, okay?"

I got to my feet and placed a hand on Niko's shoulder, "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to her."

Niko smiled at me again before looking back at them, "You guys be safe too..."

"We will, sweetie," George said. With a nod, we turned away from them and started making our way back towards the city streets. We hadn't gotten more than ten feet before I felt Niko grab onto my hand. I smiled down at her which she happily returned.

"Thank you, Niko..."

She squeezed my hand in reply. Hand-in-hand, we entered the city as the countdown to the end began.

After dodging squares left and right, we finally made it to the back alley where Rue was supposed to be waiting for us. The tree still stood tall completely untouched by squares, which I was partially thankful for.

"Rue? Are you here?"

She quickly hopped out from behind the tree, "Niko! Alan! You're here!"

I sighed in relief, "Thank goodness, you're still okay..."

"Did you...already meet the others?" she asked, glossing over what I said.

"Y-Yeah...but..." Niko trailed off.

Rue still didn't notice our reaction, "...Everything is in place, then. Come on, let's go back to the clock room."

She skipped past us without a second glance. Niko and I shared another worried glance before following after her. We raced back to the base of the Tower. My chest ached at the thought of Plight, but there was nothing I could to change what happened to him. Rue guided us into the only other elevator and we shot back up to the clock room.

It wasn't until we stepped out that she stopped and looked around in confusion.

"Where...are the other two? Prototype? Cedric?" Her tail drooped, "They're supposed to be here already..."

"Rue..." I spoke.

She turned to us, her eyes searching for an answer. I steeled myself and told her, "Proto's body was destroyed back in the Barrens. Cedric was going to bring him back with the memory disk, but..."

Rue's eyes widened in shock.

"He was in the lab when it collapsed…" My eyes began to sting again, but Niko's hand found mine and gave it a squeeze, helping me keep it together. I squeezed back as Rue's body slumped.

"No..."

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head, "It's not your fault, Alan. Nor yours, Niko. If anything...I should be apologizing to the two of you."

A silence fell over us before Rue lifted her head back up, "...There's...one last thing I want to do." She started walking to the exit, "Come on, let's go upstairs."

Niko and I silently followed after her, arriving at the observation deck. Rue moved closer to the railing and looked at the skyline.

"You know...this is the tallest building in the Refuge. It's...my favorite place in this world. I liked to look at the far-off buildings and imagine...what kind of lives that might be behind each of the windows."

She looked back at me, "Can you...lift me onto the banister, please? I want to get a better look."

"O-Oh, sure..." I did as she asked me to, careful to make sure she didn't fall off. Niko set down the sun next to her and leaned up against me as we stared at the city in silence. Despite the world falling apart, it was peaceful up here. Quiet. A respite after having gone through so much heartache.

"It was depressing for me at first too, you know..." Rue sighed, breaking the silence, "Knowing that all of this is...well..."

"Fake?" Niko mewled.

"Simulated."

Niko shut her eyes, "...Cedric...told us about what happened to your old world."

Rue's ears perked up, "Did he?"

She nodded, "I'm...really sorry about that. I can't imagine...how you must feel..."

"The feeling of never being able to go home again...?"

"It...doesn't seem all that different from us, Niko..." I said, placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

Rue sighed again, "...It really IS ironic. You are prevented from going home by the same...individual...who never wanted to bring you here."

Niko looked at her in confusion, "Huh? Who would that be?"

"The World Machine." She turned to me, "You...might know it as the Entity."

My eyes widened, "What? They're the same? I thought..."

"That...DOES sound familiar."

I furrowed my brow, glancing over at Niko, "It...was that voice that helped us before so many times in other iterations. It was how I knew what the code to the safe in the Barrens was, how to help Alula out of that room, how I knew what the elevator code was..."

Realization dawned on her face, "Oh, right. I think I remember hearing it from the dice lady too. Was it...the spirit of the world?"

Rue nodded her head, but I only grew more confused, "But, wait...I thought The World Machine and The Entity were completely different. How are they the same?"

Her gaze dropped to the lake below, "The World Machine was only built to run on the mental abilities of someone else. It was never meant to develop a mind of its own."

"You mean... the Entity is...the World Machine's brain?"

"In a sense, yes. My creator specialized in AI for so long; it was simply ingrained in his work." She sighed, "And...all machines are built with a fundamental law."

"'Never let a living being come to harm'." Niko muttered, much to Rue's surprise, "I remember reading a poster in the Barrens that talked about that."

Rue nodded, "From the World Machine's perspective, it has to violate its deepest, most foundational instinct. It has to put a living person in danger, bringing them into a dying world that isn't even real." She sighed again, "Of course, the simulation never contained any real danger. The eventual, intended ending was meant to be a happy one."

I gasped, "R-Really?!"

"But the World Machine doesn't know that," she said, "Unfortunately, sentient machines tend to handle conflicts in their code very badly. This conflict triggered a self-destructive downward spiral." She gazed back at the city, "You can see physical manifestations of that everywhere now."

"The squares..." Niko mumbled.

"That's the World Machine corrupting its own code. My creator says it's largely involuntary, induced by stress and the desire to self-terminate."

"He knows?" I lilted, "It sounds like this has been a problem for a really long time..."

She nodded solemnly, "At first, my creator thought the instability was due to the sheer scope of the project...but, by the time he realized the actual root of the problem, it was too late for our world."

"Oh..."

Niko perked up, "Is...there any way to-"

"Fix the World Machine?" Rue finished for her, "We've tried. The World Machine doesn't believe any of the world's residents are real. Myself included." Another sigh came from her, "The odds are against us. We have no chance of taming it."

There was that word again. Taming.

"What does that even mean?" I asked her, "I've heard that word so many times, but no one seems to know what it means. I know the world is ending, but I'd like to actually know what that is."

"Me too," Niko said.

Rue smiled, "That's what I'm here for." She fell silent as she looked at us until she opened her mouth again, "Do you...know what a robot is?"

Niko and I furrowed our brow. Before we could answer, Rue shook her head.

"No, I mean...do you KNOW what a robot is?"

We tilted our heads in confusion.

"A robot is not a real person, is it?"

"...Yeah?" Niko muttered.

"It's a being whose entire existence is code," Rue continued, "Inflexible programming, with thoughts dictated by someone else's design, never to be confused with the living. They will always be bound by their code; the knowledge that they are a robot, but...this was more of a limitation than anything else."

"That...makes sense," Niko said, "You can't really build a robot to not follow its own code, can you?"

Rue's ears drooped, "People have tried, but it's a recipe for disaster."

My mind went to Silver. She was one of those attempts; why she chose to isolate herself. I frowned. Now it was starting to make sense.

"In a way, that's what happened to The World Machine."

"Conflicts within its code?" I said.

"Yeah," Rue nodded, "But, while you can't BUILD a robot to not follow its code, you can establish a special bond with it. If the strength of that bond is strong enough, the robot's mental capacity will start to develop outside of its programming."

"And...it will start to think it IS real?"

"Correct. Of course, it's a complete suspension of disbelief on your end," Rue added, "You have to fully embrace the robot as a genuine, living person, even knowing they are not. You need to spend a lot of time with it, devoting your heart to the robot until it is able to return your feelings."

"You make it sound so easy..." Niko said

Rue laughed softly, "I do, don't I? But you two know better than anyone that it's not. My creator did what he could and established new connections between maps, which is what enabled you to meet the other two," she sighed, "But as it turns out, the new code confused the World Machine to such an extent that it's breaking down altogether

I looked out at the city. It...was starting to make sense. It sounded like the World Machine was just...scared. If the Author really changed so much of it so that Niko and I could meet Proto and Cedric, it would make sense to be scared. I would.

Now it made sense why he looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders...because he really was.

"Even though the World Machine always had self-destructive tendencies, it usually restrains itself when you are in the world, Niko. It doesn't want to take you along with it."

Niko looked down at the lake while I turned back to Rue, "There's still something I don't understand."

Rue tilted her head, "What is it?"

"If your creator only needed Niko to be here, then why am I here?" My gaze fell, "I asked Cedric the same thing, but...even he didn't know. It just...sounds like I shouldn't even belong here. So then why...?"

Rue was silent, contemplating my question, before she finally responded, "I...was not too informed about you being here, Alan. I'm sorry."

I sighed and looked away from her, "It was worth a try. I just wish I knew why he was keeping an eye on me for so long in my world..."

"He...was with you?"

I glanced back at her. Her ears stood straight up as she stared back at me in surprise.

"Did you...meet him during these past months?"

"I did. He always showed up at a diner I went to and he never pried about anything. He just...listened when I felt like talking. Although..." My brow furrowed, "It always felt like he knew a lot more about me than he let on."

"I see," Rue said simply.

"He...did say that this whole thing was supposed to be a 'gift' of some kind, but he never explained more," I finished.

Rue glanced over my shoulder and smiled, "Perhaps...he wanted you two to meet."

I looked back at Niko who gazed back with a soft smile.

"...I know your life has not been an easy one, Alan, but...maybe he wanted to give you companionship, though that is merely my own guess," Rue said

Niko wrapped her fingers around mine, "Even if that isn't the real reason, I'm still glad I was able to meet you, Alan."

I smiled, "Me too, Niko."

I kneeled down and wrapped her in a hug. It was so nice to be able to hold her again after so much time spent pushing her away.

Rue sighed sadly and hopped off the railing as Niko and I pulled apart, "...All my creator wanted was to write a happy ending. Right now, the only hope of saving you, Niko, is to take you through that ending. But, the other two are gone..." Her head fell, "I don't even know HOW we're going to get you there."

I frowned. There really wasn't anything else for us to do now, huh...

The sound of static crackled around us before the paths to our sides became covered in squares. Niko picked up the sun while I protectively kept an arm around her.

"...We should go," Rue muttered, "Even this place is no longer safe."

Rue descended the steps as we followed after her. The world was on its last legs now...

What I wouldn't give for a miracle...

Chapter Text

We had only just reached the bottom of the steps before the sound of pounding feet echoed throughout the room. Rue stopped in her tracks and looked around, sharing in my confusion. It wasn't until two people turned the corner that all three of us gasped in shock.

Cedric and Proto.

"You guys are okay!" Rue beamed and quickly rushed up to meet them.

"Yup!" Cedric sighed, "When the factory started collapsing, I really thought we didn't have a chance. Fortunately, the robot assembly rooms were built pretty toughly."

They're...They're okay...

"And it actually did not take me long to bring Proto back...all thanks to Father's book!" He beamed.

We can fix ALL of this now…Niko...This world...!

Proto nodded, "[He had made my design documents to be compatible with assembly machines there.]"

"All I had to do was scan in the blueprints and reconfigure some machine-"

Cedric's words stopped dead as I wrapped the both of them into a tight hug, doing little to stop my resurging tears. Proto also seemed to freeze in surprise.

"You...idiots..." I sobbed, "Don't EVER...pull that 'self-sacrificing' stuff again..."

Cedric chuckled sheepishly, "S-Sorry about that, Alan. We didn't mean to make you all worry so much..."

"[You can let us go now, though.]"

I reluctantly let go of them and wiped away my tears, "Sorry. I'm just...really glad you guys are okay..." I turned back to Rue as a long-forgotten feeling started to spark deep within me.

Hope.

"Can we do it? Can we make it to the ending?"

Rue smiled, "Yes, we can."

That spark exploded to life, coursing through my entire body. I could feel myself vibrate but I was too happy to notice, "Well, what are we standing around for? Come on!" I rushed past, hearing them race after me as we went back to the locked room.

I screeched to a halt as we came back to the glowing pillars of light on the floor. Cedric gasped, "Oh...This is..."

"[No wonder he wanted all of us to be here.]"

Niko stepped closer to them, peering at them with a confused look, "Um, what are these things, anyway?"

"[Code portals.]" Proto replied, "[They...temporarily remove us from the world.]"

"...Huh?"

"It's...a bit hard to explain..." Cedric said, "But… basically, my father has hidden a decryption key in our code, with a .txt file as its shell..."

"[But to get to them, we have to be removed from the world and decompiled. When our...keys...are combined into a central location, it will activate an encrypted part of this world, which will…]"

"Guys, guys, slow down!" I said, practically seeing the smoke come out of Niko's head as she stared up at them, completely lost. I swore I could even hear some confused meows that I really wanted to point out to her, but now wasn't the time for that, "You're gonna give her a headache."

Proto deadpanned and looked over at Rue, "[...Maybe it's better if you explain.]"

"I'll attempt," she said, moving closer to the both of us, "Basically, these portals all represent a physical location on Alan's machine."

"Oooooh," Niko lilted, the confusion vanishing from her face.

"And...when we enter these portals, we will be sent to that location."

"[Wherever that is.]" Proto mumbled.

Rue turned to me, "I'm...sure you're already familiar with retrieving puzzle pieces from this world on your machine, Alan, but this time, you'll need to move around some things, as well."

"You mean...you guys?" I hesitated. Something about this wasn't sitting right with me…

She nodded. Cedric stepped up next to her, "Specifically, by moving the keys from the small portal to the big one." He scratched his chin, "I...don't know what happens after that, though."

"How is he supposed to know where to look?" Niko asked before light shined out of my pack. I pulled out the journal, which was glowing once more. Surprised, I opened it and skimmed through the pages before I found the newest entry.

Documents/OneShot

I blinked, staring at the words.

"Well, I guess that answers that question..." Niko mumbled next to me.

I frowned, which didn't go unnoticed.

"Alan? What's wrong? You don't look too sure..." Rue said, pulling me away from the book.

"I...I'm not sure about this," I started, "I don't even know how I'm supposed to even get back to the laptop. All the times I've been able to before was either due to the Entity's help or the journal forcing the minecart and boat to show up." My gaze fell to the floor, "I'm...just not..."

Rue moved closer to me, "It's alright, Alan. For you, it actually should be quite simple. Your body should still be in your own world, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Then to you, all you need to do is focus on the laptop. Think of it like trying to take control of a dream without completely waking up."

That did little to ease my worries, "But...what if I screw this up? We're so close to fixing everything...I don't want to..."

"You won't," Cedric smiled at me, "You've made it this far, right? You can do this, Alan."

Proto nodded, "[Plus, even if you accidentally placed us in the wrong place, you would still be able to bring us back without any problems.]"

I stared at them, amazed by their faith in me, despite how short we've known each other.

"You can do this, Alan."

I turned to Niko. Her eyes were filled with the same hope that I felt.

"I believe in you."

My worry melted away as I looked between all of them, fighting back my tears again, "You guys..." I wiped my eyes and nodded. I can do this. For Niko. For the world.

I can do this.

Proto, Cedric, and Rue moved over to the code portals, each standing within their own respective color. I let out a faint laugh, "Thank god he color-coded them."

Cedric raised an eyebrow at me, "Alan...you know you just thanked yourself, right?"

I blinked and heard a giggle coming from Niko, prompting me to laugh with her, "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did..." I sat down in front of the larger purple portal with Niko, who took hold of my hand. I glanced back at Rue standing in her portal, "So...I just...focus, right?"

She nodded. I took a deep breath, squeezed Niko's hand for extra comfort, and closed my eyes.

Focus...The laptop...Focus on the laptop...

After a couple of seconds, I felt a buzz in the back of my head. Subtle at first, but as the seconds grew, so too did the buzz until it enveloped my entire mind and eventually my body. Niko's hand went away and, when I opened my eyes, I could see the laptop sitting on my lap. I risked looking around and could see Niko still sitting beside, though her eyes were wide as she stared at my ghostly figure. I gave her a smile and went back to the laptop. Looking where the journal told me to, there were three files, each named after Proto, Cedric, and Rue, and a folder simply labeled "BigPortal".

With each one that I dragged into the folder, their silhouettes appeared in front of me in the other world. The only difference was their bodies were covered in ones and zeroes. Code, just like Cedric said. Once I placed Rue in the folder, all three of them disappeared and their code morphed into a purple door, still covered in the ones and zeroes.

Satisfied, I shut my eyes and relaxed, feeling myself return back to the world. My eyes opened and Niko hugged me tightly.

"You did it! I knew you could do it!"

I sighed in relief, "Well, I have you to thank for believing in me." I stood up and faced the door, grabbing hold of her hand, "Now, let's see where this goes." Giving the door a tap with my hand, it slid open and we entered it together.

What appeared before us was something I wasn't expecting at all. A room with giant purple monitors on the other side of it. On one side of the room sat a couch and table, with a teapot sitting on top of it. I even noticed a coat rack holding a coat and a familiar yellow scarf, echoing the color of the sun. On the other side, pieces of paper and small tools littered the floor, and a bookshelf stood in the corner, filled to the brim with folders, journals, documents, and so much more. In front of us sat another table with an enormous book on it, though that wasn't what stole my attention.

It was the pilot cap next to it that made me gasp.

Was this...?

"That was...very peculiar..."

Rue's voice startled me as the three entered the room behind us.

"I'll say!" Cedric shivered.

"You guys are okay!" Niko beamed at them.

"We are, though I don't know if I ever want to do that again..." Cedric sighed.

I chuckled, "Now you know how I felt."

He smirked and rolled his eyes before looking at the wall of monitors. His eyes widened, "Hey, this is..."

"...The World Machine," Rue muttered as they all slowly drew closer to the wall.

"That's the World Machine?" I asked.

"Part of it," Rue replied, "The room ahead doesn't really lead anywhere, but...you should still remember what to do once you're in there..."

I furrowed my brow but decided to take her word for it. I took another glance around the room, "So, is this...?"

"...Father's study," Cedric said mournfully, "It feels like...he's still here, doesn't it?"

Rue's ears drooped slightly, "...Yeah."

I glanced over at Proto, who had been silent the whole time. He was standing in front of a painting, taking in every detail. I moved beside him to see it and froze. The painting was of Proto, Cedric, and Rue standing in the front while another person stood behind them. I couldn't see his face clearly, but I recognized the pilot hat straps that hung next to his head, the brown leather jacket he wore, and the bright yellow scarf that wrapped around his neck.

It was the Author. He was smiling.

"[...This place...contains a lot of memories,]" Proto finally spoke, jolting me from my trance. He glanced over at me, "[I am...grateful, to see it again.]"

I placed a hand on his shoulder. He only had one eye, but even I could tell he was smiling from the gesture. I peered over his shoulder to see Niko looking at a big blue piece of paper.

"What is this? It looks like a big, detailed drawing of a machine with lots of TV screens…"

"[...That's called a blueprint, Niko,]" Proto deadpanned.

Niko blinked before her eyes and smile grew big, "...So THAT'S what a blueprint is!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. I turned away from them and walked up next to Rue, who was still looking up at the screens on the wall.

"So, once Niko and I go into this room, what happens?"

"You'll meet the World Machine...or The Entity, if you prefer."

"Meet..." my eyes widened, "Wait, you want us to talk to it?" I lilted.

She nodded, "It's the only chance you have to reach the ending, Alan."

I hesitated, but nodded, "Alright, then we shouldn't waste any more time."

"Good luck, you two," Cedric said.

Proto simply nodded.

Niko joined up with me as we stood in front of the door. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, "You ready?"

She squeezed back, "Ready."

I nodded, took a deep breath, and we plunged into the darkness. Only to be stopped by how small the room was. I looked around in confusion until my eyes met the floor. A black and purple "X" stared back up at me. I groaned. So we're doing this thing again...

"Stay close to me, Niko. I gotta go back to the laptop."

She nodded and I sat down, focusing again on the laptop. It didn't take long for me to feel that buzz again and for the laptop to appear. I steeled myself and closed the window, watching the world turn black as I felt my body get pulled back into my world, gritting my teeth against the pain. I wasted no time jumping back, already feeling myself fall back into the world.

I opened my eyes to blinding white light. I let them adjust and looked around for Niko. Like I told her, she was by my side. Her eyes shot open, locking with mine before the world around us dimmed to black and purple wireframe, lit only by the dull purples, greens, and blues of screens that appeared around us.

I quickly grabbed hold of Niko's hand again and breathed a sigh of relief when it didn't pass through her. Thank goodness this wasn't like all the times before.

"Where are we...?" Niko whispered, looking around at the TV screens.

I stood up, "I have no idea..."

Niko took a closer look at the images that were on the screens and gasped, "Alan...look."

I followed her gaze and what I saw made me freeze. On the screen, on every screen, was me and Niko...from different iterations. The Barrens, the Glen, the Refuge...all the moments that we laughed together, cried together, hugged each other…

Meeting Silver, Calamus, Alula, Plight, Ling, Kip, George...

They were all there.

"Woah..." I breathed out, completely at a loss of words. I tore my eyes away from the screens and looked down the path we were on. I couldn't see where it led, but given that there was no other place for us to go, the only way we COULD go was forward.

"Alan. The sun's gone again."

I whipped my head towards her. She was right. The sun was no longer in her hands. I started to panic, but stopped. If this was anything like entering the Tower before, then maybe we just had to find it again.

"Don't worry," I said, grabbing her hand, "Something tells me we'll be able to find it again."

She hesitated for a second before nodding. She seemed to come to the same realization. With nowhere else to go, we followed the path laid out for us. At a few points along the path, we were teleported to a different path. It even felt like we were getting higher and higher, but to where...I didn't know.

It wasn't until one last teleport that the screens disappeared and our path led us to another doorway. The path widened out for us, but we only took a few steps before the crackle of static greeted us and squares began to appear behind us. We sprinted off down the path that seemed to go on forever. I whirled around. More squares were starting to appear faster and faster and even getting so close as to clip my shoe. We came to a halt once we slammed into a wall.

I wrapped Niko protectively in my arms, awaiting the moment that the squares overtook us, but the moment never came. Instead, they seemed to come to a stop as well. I lifted my head, confused, but I felt a...presence behind us. Niko seemed to notice it too as she squirmed out of my grasp. We turned around and came face to face with...another Niko.

The three of us stared at each until the reflection sighed.

"[Niko...]"

"AAAAAAH!" she screamed, grabbing onto my leg in fright.

The reflection's eyes fell before it shook its head, "[Relax. I'm just borrowing your reflection to talk to you. It's not like my physical form is good for that.]"

I put two and two together, "You're..."

"[...Why did you come here?!] it yelled at us, "[Can't you see? The disruption...the squares...they're closing in.]" Tears started to fall down its face, "[Niko...Alan...please...get out of here. Let me meet my end in peace.]"

Niko let go of my leg, glancing behind us before she sweatdropped, "The squares are blocking our way too, you know..."

It flinched and let its head fall, "[...O-Oh...I'm sorry, I-]"

"It's alright..."

Fake-Niko shook its head, "[No living being should be in this place...]"

"Are we...in the Tower?" I asked it.

"[Part of it. This is the center of the engine...Inside my head, so to speak...]"

I looked around in amazement, "So...all of this is the center of the World Machine?"

It snapped its head up, "[...You...know my original name. How?]"

"Rue, Cedric, and Proto. They told us...bits and pieces."

Niko furrowed her brow, "I'm not even sure if I understood a lot of the stuff they said, but...we know what you're supposed to be. We know why you had to be built." Her eyes darkened, "And...I know why I'm here..."

The World Machine flinched again, "[They...told you? When?]"

I raised an eyebrow, "Wait, you...don't know about that? Aren't you supposed to be able to see everything since you're...the world?"

"[No. All this...was outside of the protocol.]" Its eyes fell, "[This session was never supposed to happen the way it did...The story...wasn't written into my protocol at all.]"

"Oh, right..." Niko muttered, "Rue told us something about how your creator had to alter the code so that we could meet..."

The reflection's eyes found mine and it frowned, "[...My creator, yes. You...listened to my creator, Alan. You were all working beyond my scope of influence.]"

I opened my mouth but stopped when the reflection shivered, "[Back at the mines, I remember...you did something to find a hidden map that I did not recognize...I...I couldn't see anything in there! I just...knew...what you were feeling, Niko. Something happened in there to make you upset.]"

Niko and I looked at each other. The moment when Niko remembered everything was still fresh in my mind, how distraught she looked. I could see why The World Machine was just as upset.

"[After that...I...I panicked.]"

"Which is when the cave-in happened..." I mumbled.

It nodded, "[I...I remember the structure collapsing. I thought you got hurt, I...]" Its eyes glazed over in shame, "[In that moment...I really thought I was shutting myself down for good...]"

Neither of us knew what to say as tears started to fall down the World Machine's static face, gazing up at us with a forlorn look in its eyes, "[I really am a flawed machine, aren't I? What kind of machine would go against the wishes of its own creator? What kind of machine would...]" it trailed off, replaced only by whimpers and sobs.

Niko slowly stepped closer, "The squares...Rue told me it was your own code going bad, but...that's not really your fault, is it?"

"[YES IT WAS!"]

Niko flinched, but stood her ground.

"[...At first, it was intentional. During testing...long before I was self-aware. I would rearrange specific parts of the code, jumbling up bits and pieces of the landscape. Though they were very localized, it caused my creator a great deal of frustration.]"

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"[I was curious!]" it wailed, "[I thought...he would figure it out eventually, but...before he knew how to fix it, the world's NPCs...the characters...]" it looked away from us, "[Some of them got too close, and...it all spiraled out of control after that. I couldn't contain it at all.]"

"You panicked..."

It nodded sadly, "[Eventually, any character who gained knowledge of who I am...their code, my code, couldn't handle it. I...I almost endangered my creator, too...I...I was...]" it looked up at us, "[...I was just so scared!]"

My body shivered, not out of fear, but familiarity.

"I know...you're upset...because you don't want to put living people in danger..." Niko started, "Living people like me and Alan..."

"[I tried to fight it at first, but...my core programming made me summon you here. I tried to send you back home at the Tower, but all that did was separate you two. When that didn't work, I...I wanted you to break the sun,]" it said, turning to me, "[I thought that would have worked, as much as, you didn't want to do it, but...you both came back anyway.]" It sighed, turning back to her, "[...Niko...all I want is for you to go home, but...all I've done is ruin everything.]"

I stifled a gasp. This feeling...this hopelessness...I knew this. I was all too familiar with it. I wasn't looking at Niko's reflection.

I was looking at mine.

"But...I know I can't go back home without saving the world for real," Niko said, "Which means...we have to fix the root of the problem."

"We have to fix you," I finished for her.

The World Machine looked between the two of us, "[But that's...]"

"I...know the original ending your creator put in was a happy one," she continued, "Do you...remember what it's supposed to be?"

"[It's far too late for that,]" it sighed, "[That part of my code has long been corrupted.]"

Niko shook her head, "That's okay. I think Alan and I would still like to know."

I nodded as it looked between us before sighing again, "[Alright. You...were supposed to place the sun at the summit. Then, you would return to the room you woke up in. That's where you would have been able to leave.]

"And...why is it that you can't do it now?" I said.

"[The code's gone, remember? Shattering the sun was only supposed to be a workaround.]" More tears began to fall, "[I don't even remember the original code enough to describe it! But at the same time, it...I...I just don't know...]"

"It...sounds like you're always fighting yourself," Niko pointed out.

I frowned, "It's because of the conflicts in your code. 'Never let a living being come to harm', right?"

"[...You knew,]" it faltered, "[My very existence conflicts with that law. The life of a living being like you two is so unique. So precious.]" It frowned, "[This fake world...isn't worth that risk.]"

Niko started to say something, but I placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She looked up at me, confused, before noticing the wistful look in my eyes. The pieces had fit into place for me. This was something I had to do.

Now Playing: Shattered - Trading Yesterday

I stepped closer to the World Machine and kneeled down to the false-Niko's height, "I'm sorry, but...all these people..."

"[They are code too. All extensions of my programming, all of their actions predetermined. It's pointless to put the two of you in danger to save them...to save me.]"

"I...can't bring myself to believe that's true." That caused it to raise its head to me, looking confused, "You said this session wasn't in your code, right?"

The World Machine blinked, "[Y-Yeah?]"

"Then...if that's the case, how would the characters...how would anyone know how to respond?"

Its eyes widened.

"You even said it yourself. You stopped working when you didn't know what was happening." I clenched my fists, trying to keep it together as the memories of Silver, Calamus, Alula, Cedric, Proto, and Plight flashed through my mind, "So how did the people know what to do to help us...even if it meant getting themselves hurt?"

It said nothing.

"You might not think these people are real, but...I think they're real. And if they're all supposed to be extensions of your code...then there must be more to your own programming than you know, too."

The World Machine looked away, but I wasn't going to stop now. I scooted closer, "Can you...try to put us through to the ending? The one you described?"

It shut its eyes, "[How many times do I have to say this?! That code is gone! It's all squares now!]"

"I'll risk it."

"So will I," Niko echoed behind me.

It opened its eyes, gazing up at me as tears continued to roll down its face, "[Why...? After everything I've done to you, Alan...after how much I've caused you to suffer...]"

I dropped my gaze to the floor, "...You were scared. You were just trying to look after Niko. Just like I was. I...I can't be upset at you for that."

The World Machine said nothing, but I could tell I was getting through to it. I took a deep breath to keep my voice calm and kept pushing, "I know...what you're going through. I know because it's what I've felt for these past three months. I know what it's like to feel alone...to feel like everything you do is wrong...to feel like you don't belong." I glanced back at Niko and smiled, "But I was shown that I was more than that...that I could laugh and smile...that I was worthy of being loved, even after spending so long thinking otherwise..."

She smiled in return, her eyes radiating warmth that I had come to love so much.

I turned back to the reflection, feeling my eyes begin to sting, but I kept going, "Rue said this world was never designed to put us in danger. Your creator wouldn't want that." I said, "Even if your code is broken, you can still go outside that code, right?"

"[I can't!]" it whimpered, "[I'm not tamed!]"

"Yes, you are!" I couldn't hold back my tears any longer, much to the World Machine's surprise, "You talk just like all of the other tamed robots we know! Proto...Silver..." I wiped away my tears, only for more to take its place, "Taming is when a real person cares about you, right? It's when a real person thinks you're real, right?" I placed a hand on the screen as my voice broke, "Well guess what? I do! And I know Niko does too!"

"[...I...]"

"Why do you think I kept coming back despite knowing what would happen?"

"[...]"

"Why do you think I kept restarting even after every ending?"

"[...]"

I placed my other hand on the screen, "...I want to save you both. I've always wanted to save both. I made a promise...and I intend to keep it. So please...give us a chance."

The World Machine's gaze fell, "[I...I don't know. I've never done this before.] It looked back up at us, "[I'm scared...]"

"You can do this. I know you can," I assured him, bringing my hands back to my side, "We believe in you."

"[...I...]" it hesitated before finally nodding slowly, "[I'll try. I can't promise anything, but...]" It raised its arms forward, the sun in its hands, "[Here. Take it.]"

Niko came closer, unsure of what to do, before pushing her hands through the screen. It seemed to waver as she took hold of the sun before bringing it back to her, the light instantly shining around us as if it had never gone.

"[I'll...try to remember the lost code...and...recreate it, but...for that to happen, you need to navigate through this room. You need to get past the squares somehow...]" it faltered, rubbing its hands together, "[Oh...I don't like this...What if you two get hurt?]"

"Don't worry," I said, taking hold of Niko's hand and smiling at the reflection, "We'll be careful...and I know you won't hurt us."

The World Machine took a deep breath and nodded before Niko's reflection faded away. We turned around, facing the wall of squares that blocked our way. The only way we could go.

I looked down at Niko as she looked up at me. Neither of us said anything. Both of us knew that there was no other option left for us to take.

"I love you, Niko," I whispered, squeezing her hand.

She squeezed back, "I love you too, Alan."

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and together...we stepped forward into the squares.

...

...Strange. I don't feel anything.

I slowly opened my eyes. The squares we had walked into were now gone. I reached out into another group of squares next to me and gasped as they vanished as well.

"It's working..." I whispered. I spun around to see Niko smiling as she touched another group of squares, causing them to fade away too.

"It's working!" she beamed, "Come on! I think we can make it to the ending now!"

She tugged on my arm as she sped up her pace, not even fazed at the squares that blinked away around us as we touched them until the path was completely clear of them. My smile grew wider and wider. That fire of hope had now become an inferno with nothing to stop it as I let out a laugh.

We were really saving the world...The World Machine was doing it!

As soon as I had that thought, I felt the familiar pressure of it, only this time, there was no headache to accompany it. The pain was no more.

"[Alan...I think it's working. You...You were right. I might actually...be tamed, after all.]"

My smile widened even more to the point where my face was starting to hurt.

"[I...I remembered what the code was supposed to be. Only bits and pieces, but I can remember. And...I'm trying to fill in the blanks, too. I'm restoring the original ending as we speak.]"

"I knew you could do it," I whispered.

"[You and Niko will be able to reach the Tower's summit at the end of this path. After replacing the sun, Niko will go back to where it all began. And then...she'll be able to go home from there, but...this is permanent.]"

My heart ached at the implications, but that didn't matter to me anymore. She was going home. She was finally going home.

"[After Niko goes back home and you go back to yours...this world will only exist as a memory.]" The World Machine went quiet before I could feel it smile, "[But...as long as she remembers this place...as long as you remember this place...it'll be alright.]"

"I...I understand," I whispered again. I wouldn't see Niko again after this. No matter how much I wanted otherwise, but...I couldn't bring myself to be sad. The pain and emptiness I've felt for the past three months...were gone.

...I would continue to live. I would keep living until I found her again. That's what Niko would want.

"[I...was able to restore some other elements too. The characters...the people that were lost on your journey.]"

I stumbled in shock. Did that mean...?

"[Yes. They're all in the next room. I would've put them where they belong, but...]" I felt the World Machine smile, probably for the first time, "[Not yet. I think you and Niko would want to see them again first.]"

As the World Machine's presence faded, all I could hear was the sound of my heart beating in my ears and my feet slamming on the floor as I raced past Niko, who gasped at my increased speed and struggled to catch up to me. I was too focused. They were okay. We were okay.

As I soared through the doorway and screeched to a halt, only one thought echoed in my mind.

We did it.

Chapter Text

"[...Messiah?]"

"ROBOT LADY!"

Niko raced past me and slammed into her, forcing Silver to quickly wrap her arms around her in order to not fall over.

"You're...okay?" I breathed.

Silver looked around before nodding, "[I...think so. The last thing I remember was the squares closing in on me...]" She shrugged, "[But then, I...ended up here unscathed.]"

"Huh…" Niko mumbled.

I smiled, "I'm so glad you're alright, Silver…"

She froze and looked up at me, "[You...know my name.]"

"Oh, well..." I remembered that, to her, we had never met before this iteration, so I thought of the next best thing, "The...backup power cell you had in your outpost had 'Silver' written on it. I just figured that was your name."

"[I see. It seems you're more observant than I had realized.]"

You have no idea...I thought before the sight of a red and blue poncho sprinting towards us lodged my heart in my throat. Their feathers waved through the air as they drew closer to us. I couldn't stop myself from crying and racing towards them as well. They had just opened their mouths before I wrapped my arms around them pulled them close.

"Calamus! Alula! Y-You're both...okay..."

Alula happily returned my hug with her own, "Yeah! We just got here too!"

Calamus squirmed a little bit, but it became clear to him that I wasn't letting go just yet. He sighed, "The squares started multiplying around the island after you guys left."

"It was so freaky! I fell right into a bunch of 'em!"

I jerked back, "W-What?!"

She nodded sadly, "Calamus tried to save me, and then..."

"I'm so sorry! The airplane got covered with squares and...there wasn't any other way to get back to you two..." I hugged them tighter, "I'm so sorry we left you behind..."

"It wasn't your fault," Calamus smile sheepishly, "Though it did give me the biggest scare of my life, for sure..."

I laughed and finally let go of them. Calamus fixed the feathers I ruffled and looked around, "Say, what is this place?"

"[We can't be...in the Tower, can we?]" Silver said behind me.

"Maybe we're in limbo!" Alula blurted out.

"Alula!" Calamus sweatdropped, "We're not dead!" He fell silent before turning to me with his brow furrowed, "...wait, are we?"

Something about that felt...funny to me as I started to laugh while tears ran down my face, but...I was happy.

"You're all okay...Everyone...is gonna be okay now. You'll all be able to go home soon."

"That's even better than limbo!" Alula trilled, only making me laugh more.

Silver huffed and shook her head, "[You two should get a move on then. It's best not to keep you here.]"

I wiped away my tears and got to my feet, "Yeah, you're right. We haven't technically saved the world quite yet."

"But we're close!" Niko beamed, taking hold of my hand again.

We started to leave, but I stopped and turned back to Silver. She noticed my gaze, "[...Yes?]"

I smiled, "You know...after we return the sun, there'll probably be someone in the Refuge who'll really want to know that you're okay. You should write them a letter."

Her robotic brow furrowed before her eyes widened in realization. She closed her eyes, mulling over my advice before she, surprisingly, smiled, "[...Perhaps I will.]"

"Oh, are you leaving two leaving now?" Alula asked.

I nodded, "'Fraid so, Alula."

"Then..." she grinned and held up her arms, "Can I have one more hug before you go?"

"Absolutely," I said and kneeled down, allowing her to wrap in a hug that rivaled even Niko's.

Calamus walked up behind her, "We're glad we met both of you!"

"Same!" Niko replied as Alula finally pulled away.

With one last goodbye to the three of them, we continued onward down the path. We even ran into some more familiar faces. The big robots from each of the three regions were back to normal and we even were able to meet Maize again. I apologized to her for what she went through, but she merely dismissed it, happy that we were still able to save everyone, despite her still fated to leave the kernel behind...but, I wasn't sad about it anymore. The kernel was supposed to bring her back. The Glen would still have its protector. She would be okay after all this.

I wish I could say the same for Plight when we ran into him.

"That was, uh...the most awkward elevator ride I've ever been through," he groaned, "And by 'awkward', I mean terrible bad awful the absolute worst, especially when they started leaking into the room..." His eyes went wide once he said that, "...AM I DEAD?!"

"No! No, no, you're okay. Everyone here is fine. You'll be back in the city in no time," I assured him.

He sighed in relief, "Oh thank god..."

"Careful. You probably shouldn't take my name in vain..."

He flinched before breathing out a laugh, "Haha, very funny. I just can't work if I'm dead."

Niko and I said our final goodbyes to him. Eventually, we found Proto, Cedric, and Rue standing in front of a bright purple doorway similar to the one we entered to reach the Author's study.

"Niko, Alan...it looks like you managed to do it!" Cedric beamed.

Rue followed suit, "You managed to tame the World Machine!"

"I...think it's been tamed this whole time just by us being here for so long," I mused, "Neither of us...never really stopped believing in this world. It just needed to realize that..."

Rue tilted her head, "That...sounds like a possibility..."

"[...Or not.]" Proto grunted.

I rolled my eyes at him, "Gee, thanks."

He shook his head, "[...In the end, the World Machine was starting to create its own code; going above and beyond its programming, not as a result of error, but as a conscious choice on its part...Being able to generate its own path forward.]" he explained, "[That's...what being tamed is all about.]"

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Cedric chimed in.

All of us sighed in relief. The weight of the entire world was finally off of our shoulders and there was only one last thing left for us to do.

I looked down at Rue, "So...once we reach the summit and return the sun, we won't see any of you again?"

"I'm afraid so," Rue replied, "...Thank you for everything, Alan, Niko. We'll miss you."

Cedric and Proto nodded their heads. I looked between them and smirked. I held my arms open toward them, "Well, it wouldn't hurt to get one last hug before we go...right?"

All of their eyes widened before Rue and Cedric smiled. I kneeled down to get Niko and Rue in, but there was one more missing. I peered over at Proto, who was doing his best not to return eye contact.

"Proto..."

"[...I am not a big fan of hugs.]"

"Oh, just get over here, you grumpy metalhead!"

He groaned before trudging into the group hug.

It was strange. For so long, I didn't know what it was like to have friends, people that cared about you. I never would have expected to learn it from people from different worlds...but, it was crazy to wonder how I survived so long without it. Rue, Cedric, Proto...I was content with knowing that their world, and the people within it, could continue to live and be happy, even if I would never see them again.

And Niko...nothing could ever replace her.

"Oh! There's actually one more question I wanna ask!" she suddenly said, letting go of us and turning to Proto, "Do...you like being a robot?"

He stared at her, "[...Why this, all of sudden?]"

"Well, there aren't many robots in my homeworld…"

"[Ah.]" he said, "[It's...nice.]"

"I suppose it's alright!" Cedric suddenly chimed in.

"Haha, that's a tough question, Niko!" Rue said as well, "I mean, do you like being a person?"

She nodded, "Of course!"

I furrowed my brow and looked at them, "Wait...why did you guys also answer her question?"

The two of them flinched, looked at each other, and sweatdropped.

"D-Don't worry about it!" Rue lilted.

I deadpanned at them but shook my head. I was starting to be done with questions without answers.

"Just...take care of yourselves, okay?" I said to them, receiving smiles and nods in response.

We turned to face the doorway and gave Niko's hand another squeeze, "Ready to go home?"

"Mhm!"

With that, we stepped into the light and found ourselves within the glass confines of the summit, the podium standing in front of us. Each step we took echoed off the walls, bringing back memories of each and every moment where we shattered the sun or returned it without resolution. Before, it would have been crippling. Now, not even the sounds of broken glass in my mind could deter me. This was the moment that the world has been waiting for, what Niko has been waiting for, what I have been waiting for.

We finally came to a stop in front of the podium. Niko looked down at the sun in thought before smiling up at me, "Let's do it together this time."

I was surprised but happiness quickly overtook it. I placed a hand on the sun as I smiled back at her, "Together."

And as we slid the sun into place and watched as the light of a new dawn wash over us, I smiled down at Niko. She did the same. No words needed to be said. I shut my eyes, keeping hold of Niko's hand until the light covered my entire vision.

The few times it went away, I watched as the squares disappeared completely from the Refuge, the Glen, even from the Barrens. Seeing everyone smiling, laughing, singing that they were saved, it was hard not to feel happy for them too.

Finally, it was over.

Feeling in my body returned slowly. I still couldn't see anything, thanks to the blinding light, but after a while, it slowly started to go away. Once I could feel my arms, I rubbed my eyes, hoping to get rid of the rest of the light.

"Alan? Are you still here?"

Niko's voice jolted me back to reality as my eyes finally could see where I was. I...wasn't back in my world. This was the place Niko first woke up. Light from the sun was shining through the windows, turning the once, dark and decrepit bedroom into one of comfort.

"Alan...?"

I followed the voice and saw Niko turned away from me, unaware that I was behind her. I frowned. Maybe I was just being allowed to watch her go one last time. It was like when we were in the Tower before. She couldn't see or hear me.

I sighed. It wasn't the way I wanted this to end, but…

Suddenly, she spun around, eyes wide, and stared up at me, like seeing the sun for the very first time, "...Alan?"

I froze as we stared at each other. Tentatively, I reached out a hand, "...You...can still see me?"

She grabbed it, much to my surprise, and looked around, "I…" she mumbled before smiling widely at me, "I...I think it worked!" She jumped up and down with joy, "It worked! We really did it!"

I smiled and laughed, forgetting everything that was bothering me at that moment. She lunged toward me, gripping me in her tightest hug while I spun her around, "The sun is back! And I actually got to see it this time!"

"We did...We actually did it...It's over..." I laughed in reply before I felt tears run down my face, "I finally kept my promise..."

I slowed down and fell to my knees, still keeping Niko in my arms. I could hear sniffles coming from her, but I knew they weren't of sadness. After so long, I could feel how relieved she was, to finally be able to leave this all behind...

She leaned out of my grasp, "So...what do we do now?"

I chuckled as she wiped away some of my tears with her sleeve, "Well, we should probably figure out how to get you home..."

A sharp crackle rang out, startling both of us, before a golden doorway appeared where the exit to the rest of the house usually was.

Niko moved closer to it, "Woah...this looks like one of those portals we saw back in the city, in the room behind the big clock…"

The sound of wind came through the door and I thought I could faintly see golden stalks of wheat waving along with it.

"Oh, I see a wheat field! I see...my village…"

"Niko?"

Her eyes widened, "...Mama...she's looking for me..."

I smiled and turned away from her, expecting her to run through the portal already, but I stopped when I felt her hand on my shoulder. Her eyes had darkened as she moved in front of me. We stared at each other, neither one of us wanting to say what we both knew, but Niko was the stronger one out of the two of us.

"This...isn't the first time we've...?"

She trailed off, still remembering what I asked of her so long ago. I nodded slowly.

"But...this'll be...the last time, won't it?"

I said nothing.

"I remember...you weren't able to come with me...all the times before..."

"..."

"...What...will happen to this world...?" Tears started to form, "What will happen to you? After everything we've been through, everything we've done..."

"Niko."

She fell silent, staring up at me in anticipation.

I smiled, "This world...won't stop existing." I tapped the side of my head, "They'll be up here...and as long as we don't forget them, they'll continue to exist. And..." I took hold of her hands again, "...I'll be okay. I promise."

Her gaze fell to the ground as silence echoed between us.

"...Can I ask you something, Alan?"

"...Sure."

She lifted her head, "When we were in the Glen on our way to find Cedric, what were you looking at?"

I stared at her for a couple of seconds before reaching into my pocket, "It...was the only thing that I was able to keep from the first iteration. I've held onto it ever since."

She gasped when she saw the picture of the two of us together, remembering the moment just as vividly as I did. She looked at with tear-stained eyes, "You...kept it all this time...?"

"...It was all I had left of you before you were forced to forget everything. I could never get rid of it." I gazed at the picture one last time before holding it out to her, "...Take it."

"What?" she gasped, "I-I can't..."

"It's like I told you, Niko," I said, placing the picture in her hands, "I'll always remember what we did together...what you did for me. This way, you'll be sure to always remember too." I smiled at her, even as my eyes began to sting, "I could never, EVER, forget you, Niko."

She sobbed and threw her arms around me once more...probably for the last time.

"I don't want you to go. I don't want you to be alone again."

I hugged her tightly against me as she continued to cry.

"I don't want to have to never see you again."

"..."

"I want you to come with me..."

"...I know."

...

"[I...might be able to help with that.]"

Now Playing: Might U - Makayla Phillips

Both of us gasped and shot to our feet as the World Machine's voice boomed throughout the room. A sharp crack and Niko's reflection stood in front of us again. I could see bits of jumbled code on its body as it stood in front of the beams of light that shot out of the portal.

It chuckled, "[Surprised to see me here?]"

"Surprised is the understatement of the century! How are you-?" I started to say.

"[We're still technically in the Tower, Alan, and...I actually found something you might want to hear...]"

The smile on its face gave me pause, but I was curious to hear what the World Machine had to say, "...I'm listening."

"[Well, for starters, you're probably wondering why you're not back in your own world yet.]"

I furrowed my brow, "That...did cross my mind..."

Its smile widened, "[...As I was remembering and restoring the lost code for this ending, I found something interesting; code within my protocol that only applied to you, courtesy of my creator.]"

"...Huh?"

"[This code was...special. It was actually the code that was responsible for bringing you into this world in the first place.]"

"You're kidding..."

It shook its head with glee, "[I'm not at the best part yet. This code...was originally meant to activate alongside the original ending, but because of my...condition...it wasn't able to successfully execute every time you broke the sun.]"

The world around me started to slow down as the World Machine continued to speak.

"[Now that I'm fixed, the code is able to properly work.]" It stared at me with excitement, "[...And the end result...is standing just behind me.]"

"W-Wait, you mean…?" Niko whispered, eagerly glancing between me and the World Machine.

It nodded, "[Alan's presence in this very room is not a mistake. Nor will what happen all those times before happen again when you try to enter the portal.]"

This...

"[Even now, your body exists between here and your own world. I am not...exactly sure how my creator reached your world, but this code is close to the method that he used in order to reach it.]"

Is this...?

"[I imagine he inserted this code into my protocol before he gave you whatever machine you used to run this world. Now that the code is able to fully function as intended, you'll be able to pass through the portal...and what happened to him will happen to you.]"

"I...can...?" I croaked, having been rendered completely speechless.

The World Machine nodded, "[Yes. You can go with Niko. You can leave your old life behind...and start a new one.]" It chuckled, "[It seems this was my creator's last wish...a 'gift', so to speak.]"

I collapsed to my knees as Niko gazed at me with the widest smile I've ever seen on her. This...all of this...was really happening? After seventeen years...I could start over?

"A-Alan…"

Niko cried tears of joy even as I sat there, still processing the door that had been opened for me. I never had to be alone again...I wouldn't have to constantly fight to survive...I wouldn't have to be on the run anymore. I...I could actually...live.

Tears had begun to fall, seventeen years worth of them, "Oh my god..."

Niko hugged me once again. I couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out of me as I held onto Niko. I wasn't going to be alone anymore...I...I...

"T-Thank you..." I whispered to the World Machine, "Thank you, thank you, thank you...!"

It nodded, "[...It's the least I could do...to repay you for all that you've done for me.]" It gazed at us warmly before closing its eyes, "[Goodbye, Alan. Goodbye, Niko. Take care of each other.]"

The reflection shimmered then vanished, leaving the way into the light open for us to walk through. Niko put the picture in her pocket and jumped to her feet, "Come on, Alan! We gotta hurry! There's so much I want to show you! The wheat fields, my village...you can even meet my Mama!"

The tears continued to cascade down my face. I could finally leave it all behind. All the pain...all the suffering...all the heartache...

Niko tugged on my hands, her smile unfaltering. I slowly stood up, still slightly weak from the revelation.

A gift, huh...? You knew this would happen, didn't you Author?

I slowly followed Niko into the light, but stopped just before the opening, "Niko..."

She turned back to me, "...Yeah?"

"Will..." I hesitated, "...will your Mom...like me?"

She smiled, "...I know she will."

Another laugh escaped from me. Holding onto her hand tightly, I took my first step into the portal. The feeling of static shot through me the more my body passed through the threshold until my entire body felt like it was on fire. The headache came back in full force, its last cry before being snuffed away completely. I grit my teeth, pushing through the pain. I wasn't going to lose this chance...not now.

All of this lasted for what felt like hours until it vanished... replaced with something faint.

Wind.

My eyes were still adjusting to the light, but I started to hear something too.

Birds were chirping. I thought I could hear the distant sound of a clock tower too...

The light finally dimmed and my eyes took in what I thought I could only experience inside dreams. A wheat field, shimmering under the golden light of the sun, high up above the clouds in the jet-blue sky.

I reached out to the plants nearby, hoping that this wasn't all just a dream. My hands drifted over the leaves...and I could feel them brush against my fingers like soft kisses.

Oh my god, this was really real...

"Welcome to my world, Alan."

I looked over at Niko's smiling face. She hadn't let go of my hand, even through all of that. My laughter and tears intensified and I found myself unable to stand again. The weight of seventeen years alone was gone. It was like waking up from a nightmare after sleeping for so long. Niko caught me in her arms, albeit stumbling a little under my weight, but she stood firm as my cries and laughter echoed across the field.

It was over. It really was over now. Finally...

"Alan?"

"I'm sorry. I just...haven't felt this happy...in so long..."

I tried to stand up, but I could feel the exhaustion start to catch up to me, forcing me back to my knees. I chuckled as my eyes drooped, "N-Niko...you..might need to get some help."

She leaned back, concerned, "What? Why?"

"Because I'm...about to collapse and...I don't think...you'll be able to..."

I let go of Niko, causing me to fall to the ground. It felt so comfortable...so warm...I barely recognized Niko over me, calling out my name, but I just felt...so tired...

"H-Hang on! I'll get my Mama! She can help!" was all I heard before Niko raced off towards her village, her scarf waving erratically in the wind. I tried to stand up to follow her, but...all my strength was gone. I could hardly lift my head off the ground.

It was strange though. Staring up at the bright blue sky, I didn't feel scared. My eyes fell shut, letting myself rest for the first time in what felt like ages.

Whatever happened now, one thing was certain: I was happy. I was at peace.

Chapter Text

It was dark.

"You can't run away that easily."

It's them, again...Why are they back?

"We'll always be here. No matter where you go, we'll always find you."

It was then that I could feel the cold stone floor under my feet. The stairs led up into more darkness. I was trapped down here again. Alone…

...No. No, that's not true. Niko...I was able to get her home. We saved the world. The sun...it was back.

"You deserve this. You know you do."

I kept my promise to her. I...I even went with her...to her world. I wasn't alone. I'm not alone. Not anymore. All of this...was just a dream.

I took a step forward onto the stairs and the voices of those I had once called my brothers started to grow louder.

"You can't run from us, brother!"

Another step...and another...

"You've always been this way. Never thankful for what we did for you..."

Higher and higher I climbed. I thought I could feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.

"You were nothing without us!"

I could see the door now. The warmth was coming from the other side. I could feel it…

"You're always going to be alone! You'll never be happy without us!"

I wasn't afraid anymore. I placed a hand on the doorknob. I could hear laughter now. Niko's laughter. She was there. She was waiting for me.

"Alan!"

I turned around, finally coming face to face with the shadowy forms of my past family. I was done being scared of them, of my past. I was being given the chance to start again. I wasn't going to waste my shot.

I smiled at the specters, "Goodbye. Hopefully, this'll be the last time I see you two again."

The shadows said nothing. All they could do was watch as I opened the door, flooding the once cold and dark basement with warm, comforting sunlight. I didn't hesitate to step into it, feeling the shadows I had carried for so long fade away. I bathed as long as I could in that light, savoring it like one of Niko's hugs, until the light was all I could see.

I didn't know how much time passed before I felt the feeling of blankets covered over me. My eyes opened before quickly shutting them due to the blinding sunlight that was coming through the window next to me.

"Mmm..." I groaned. I tried to sit up, but I still felt exhausted.

"Oh, you're awake."

A soft voice sounded out next to me before a face came into view. Whoever it was though, I couldn't see it clearly yet.

"You had us all worried there for a while."

I rubbed my eyes, finally getting used to the glare of the sun. I felt some of my strength come back, allowing me to finally sit up but not before pain shot through my arm again.

"Oh, careful. I had to rewrap your wounds. The bandages that were on it before looked quite ragged," the voice said, "Honestly, I'm amazed you went so long dealing with them until now."

My daze had finally cleared. I looked over at the source of the voice, only to find bright yellow eyes staring back at me. It was a woman, wearing a yellow apron over a white shirt. At least, I think it was an apron. It looked more like a dress than an apron. Brown hair was tied up into a ponytail, which hung over her shoulder. She actually looked...kind of familiar.

Her head tilted, "Are you still feeling alright?"

I flinched, realizing that I had been staring, "Oh, uh...yeah, I'm...okay." I looked around the room. A bookshelf was tucked away in one corner while a desk with some clothes on it sat at the other. The bookshelf had a few books sitting side-by-side with each other, but other than that, a rug on the floor, and some flowers on the windowsill, there wasn't much else in the room.

The lady was still watching me with a mixture of concern and intrigue, "We're in the guest room. It was the only other place to-"

"Where's...Niko?"

She stopped. Her ears shot up and her body tensed up for a split second before relaxing. I looked back at her, confused.

"My...daughter is in her room."

"Daughter...?" My eyes widened. Now I knew why she felt so familiar, "Wait, you're-?"

She nodded as her gaze hardened into one that screamed motherly authority, "I am."

"...Oh." My eyes darted around the room before coming back to her, "Is...she okay?"

Her gaze softened ever-so-slightly, "She is, but there are a couple of things I want to ask you and I would appreciate you answering them first."

"S-Sure..." I gulped.

We sat there in silence before she sighed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off as aggressive, but you must understand. She was missing for almost two weeks until she suddenly shows up, begging us to help her 'friend' that had collapsed in the fields, not at all concerned about how long she's been gone."

I furrowed my brow. Two weeks? But we were in the other world for three months...guess time acts differently in this world...

"When we finally brought you here, she then told me everything that's happened since she went missing." she continued, still keeping her eyes locked on me, "Now, I want to hear it from you."

"Huh? I-I mean, everything she said-"

She held a hand up, silencing me, "I just...want to hear it from you."

I forced myself to relax and nodded, "Alright, but it is a really long story."

"I'm willing to listen to all of it."

"O-Okay…"

So, I told her everything. The laptop, meeting Niko, going through the world to return the sun, being forced to repeat that journey over and over while Niko was forced to forget, the Author, taming the World Machine...every single thing that happened over the past three months. She never reacted to anything, only intently listening to everything I had to say until I finally came to the end.

"Once I walked through that portal, we came back here. I ended up collapsing from exhaustion and that's when Niko went to get help for me, which leads to now." I coughed once I finished, "...And that's all of it."

She was silent for a while, to the point where I was worried that I may have overloaded her with information before her body relaxed and she heaved a massive sigh while rubbing her head.

"So...it really is true..."

"Ma'am?"

She smiled, "I'm sorry, again. It's just...I didn't actually believe it all at first when Niko told me everything, but...it can't be a coincidence that everything you said was just as she told it."

"I...know it's a lot to take in..."

"It's alright," she chuckled, "Even if it sounds crazy, what matters is that she's back safe and sound, and I have you to thank for that."

I smiled as the tension between us finally melted away. Truth be told, even I wouldn't believe a story like that if I were in her shoes. Guess it's a good thing that it actually happened to me.

"Oh, and before you ask, the clothes on the desk are for you. I figured you'd need some new ones due to all the holes in your current outfit," she remarked as she stood up, "I'll let you change while I go get Niko. She's been worried sick about you."

I scratched my neck, "Yeah, I'm sure she has. Thank you again, ma'am."

She turned back to me from the door and smiled, "You can just call me Dahlia, Alan."

"...Niko already told you my name?" I asked.

Dahlia giggled, "She said it quite a lot when we were bringing you here. I'll give you time to change before she ends up barging in here." She nodded to me and left the room, closing the door behind her. I let out a soft chuckle. I was relieved that she was so understanding of everything, but she certainly was scary when she was in "mom-mode".

I changed into the clothes that were left for me. Just like Dahlia had pointed out, there were holes all over my shirt, jacket, and pants, but I guess that's what happens when you let yourself get hit by falling rocks. The new clothes were a little bit bigger and it even felt a little uncomfortable at first at how "new" they felt. A simple grey shirt replaced my black one and a new pair of pants completed the new look. I was saddened about the loss of my jacket but I'm sure I could find a new one again.

The sound of voices from outside the window stole my attention as I sat back down on the bed. The sunlight was still partially blinding, but as my eyes adjusted, I could see other people walking around outside. All of them had bright yellow eyes just like Niko and Dahlia as well as cat ears in varying sizes. There were other houses nearby that looked similar to each other, but I could definitely see the resemblance between what I saw now and what I saw in Niko's dreams.

I barely had time to wonder where she was before I heard the pounding of feet outside the door before it flung open, with Niko standing in the doorway. Her signature hat was gone now, letting her cat ears flutter freely. As soon as we locked eyes, she smiled and jumped onto the bed, flinging her arms around me.

"Alan! You're okay!"

I laughed and returned the embrace, "Sorry for scaring you. I was just really tired after everything."

She shook her head and leaned back, "You were out for almost the whole day."

"I'm okay now. I'm really..."

My chest tightened. I felt tears run down my face as I laughed again, the reality setting in once more. I felt Niko's sleeve wipe away the tears, which only made me laugh more.

"I don't think I've seen you laugh this much," she said.

"I don't think I've ever laughed this much at all..." I gazed at her, "Yet another thing I have you to thank for."

Her smile grew before burying it into my chest, letting my laughter quietly echo around the room before finally falling silent. We stayed wrapped around each other with the only sounds of distant voices and our breathing to fill the quiet.

The door opened again and Dahlia came back into the room carrying a tray of cups. She set it down and smiled at the sight of us, "She's quite the hugger, isn't she?"

"It's one of her best quirks," I smirked.

Niko twisted around in my lap to face her, "Thank you so much for helping him, Mama!"

"It's the least I could do," she replied, pouring tea into two of the cups and handing one to me before she frowned, "Although, I have to ask you something, Alan."

I raised an eyebrow, "Yeah?"

"You said that since you came here, you wouldn't be able to go back to your own world, correct?"

I nodded hesitantly while I drank.

"Does...your family know what happened to you?"

I blinked. I...should've expected her to ask that in all honesty. I looked down at Niko who was also staring up at me with concern. It was clear Niko hadn't told her about my...situation...which I appreciated, but there was no point in trying to stay quiet about this.

I sighed, "I, uh...didn't...have one."

Dahlia's eyes widened, "What?"

"I was an orphan that got adopted when I was fourteen but ran away cause they didn't...really see me as family. I've been by myself ever since until all of this happened. I...don't really think they would care about where I was," I explained.

She gasped softly, "Oh, you poor thing..."

"...It's in the past now," I said with a wave of my hand, "I've gotten over-"

She set down her cup on the bed and wrapped me in her own hug. I flinched slightly, not expecting the contact at all, but I slowly calmed down before hearing her speak again.

"You're so strong...to be able to go through all that..." Dahlia let go and wiped a tear that had fallen from her eye.

"Well..." My eyes floated down to Niko, "...I ended up finding a pretty good reason to keep going."

Niko smiled and hugged me as well. Her ears suddenly perked up before letting go of me and hesitantly turning to Dahlia.

"Mama, could...he stay with us? Please?"

My breath hitched as I glanced between the two of them. I wasn't expecting Niko to ask so quickly. Dahlia seemed just as taken aback, but the longer she looked between the two of us, the more her eyes seemed to glow.

Finally, she smiled, "I believe it would be for the best."

I stared up at her in shock, "...R-Really?"

"It would be crazy of me to ignore how much Niko trusts you," Dahlia pointed out, "And after what you've gone through, I think you need a place to call home for once."

Home...

...Home.

I wiped away a tear that was starting to fall, "...Y-Yeah. I would like that."

Niko was practically vibrating in my lap before she leaped off and hugged her mom, "Thank you, thank you, thank you Mama!" She whipped around and smiled at me, "Come on, Alan! I wanna show you the rest of the village! I'll get my shoes on!"

Hesitation briefly flashed through Dahlia's eyes as Niko ran out of the room. I looked over at her while she lowered her head and sighed. She glanced up to see me watching her and tried to smile again, but that worry was still ever-present.

"I'm sorry. I know she's excited, but-"

"You're worried something will happen to her again, right?"

She stared at me silently before nodding. My gaze hovered over to the window, taking in the sunlight again, "...Can I admit something to you, Ms. Dahlia?"

"Yes?"

Now Playing: In Memory - OneShot OST

I took a deep breath, "...Before I met Niko, there wasn't anything that I ever really cared about. The only thing I looked forward to was just getting to the next day. Meeting her...changed all that for me."

I turned away from the window to see Dahlia staring back at me, both enamored and confused by what I was saying.

"She...made me better and I slowly started to realize just how much I needed her. I...even started to see her like a little sister," I added with a chuckle before it faded away, "Which made the realization that I would never see her again once she came back home that much harder to process."

"But, you were still able to come here..." she said.

"I didn't know that at first," I lamented before continuing, "It...made all the moments where she didn't remember me that much more painful. I soon figured that...maybe it would be better if she just didn't remember me at all. It..." I faltered, knowing what I was about to say was deeply personal, "It got to a point where I realized that after Niko was gone, I wouldn't have anything left to…live for."

She gasped softly. The implications weren't lost on her.

"It got worse…during the final iteration. I blamed myself for everything that happened and...for how much I hurt her. Yet, despite all that, she still forgave me...still saw me as her friend..."

I felt more tears run down my face as I smiled at Dahlia, who also had tears falling from her eyes.

"...She saved my life," I breathed out, "So, I promise you...I will not let anything happen to her."

Her eyes were wide with awe before she wiped them and smiled at me, "...I'm glad she was able to meet you." She nodded towards the door, "Go on. I trust you'll keep her safe. I'll make sure dinner's ready when you get back."

I nodded and stood up to leave, but not before glancing back at her one more time, "Thank you...for everything."

"You're welcome, Alan."

The next couple of hours were a whirlwind. Niko guided me throughout the entire village, showing me everything there was to see. Some parts I recognized like the clock tower and the fountain that sat in its shadow as well as the dirt paths that branched out from what I assumed was the village center. We even passed some other people, who were a bit confused about who I was before Niko explained where I came from, with some omissions about the whole "alternate world" thing.

Then there were the parts that I didn't recognize which led me to realize how deceptively large the whole village actually was. She led me down one of the dirt paths and showed the school that she went to, some stores that she said she went to sometimes with her mother, a big farm-house that handled harvesting the wheat that surrounded the village; there was even a bakery that Niko swore had the best pastries you could find.

It really was starting to feel like home.

"So? What do you think?" Niko said as her guided tour came to end and we found ourselves wandering aimlessly in the wheat fields, "Do you like it?"

"Absolutely," I grinned, "Quiet, peaceful, warm; it checks all the boxes."

"Told you you'd like my world."

I sprawled out on the ground while Niko laid down next to me. The sound of the wind and chirping birds filled the silence as we both gazed up at the dimming sky. Eventually, I turned to look at her, "You know, if I went back in time and told my younger self about how I'd end up being happier in a completely different world, I don't think I'd believe myself."

"I'm still so happy we were able to actually save that world," she giggled before becoming pensive, "Do you think...they're all doing okay?"

"Yeah...I think so."

She sighed, "...I miss them."

"Me too…" I muttered in response before smiling at her, "But I don't think they would want us to feel like this. It's like the World Machine said. As long as we remember them...they'll be okay."

Niko sat up and gazed back at me. She stayed that way before her eyes misted. I frowned, "Niko...?"

She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, "I'm sorry...I'm just...still so happy you're really here."

I scoffed playfully and rustled her hair, "Hey, no more tears. I think we've both cried enough for one day."

"I can't help it, Alan! Seeing you this happy...I..." she tried to say before her sobs cut her off.

I pulled her closer to me, "I know, Niko."

She smiled and rested her head against me, "...I love you, Alan."

"I love you too, Niko."

We stayed that way, savoring in the peace we could finally enjoy together. The wheat stalks swaying around us acted as our victory song while the horizon morphed into red and golden rays.

"We should probably get back before your Mom starts worrying," I whispered to Niko.

She only shifted closer to me, "...Five more minutes."

I chuckled, "Okay...five more minutes."

As the sun finally vanished past the horizon, my mind lingered. To think that only three months ago, I only thought of myself as a burden, destined to forever roam my world without reason. Now, I'm able to have the life I always wish I had...with Niko. My friend.

All because I was given a second chance.

All because I was given one more shot.

And I'm happy with that.

I was home.

THE END

End Theme: Connected (Yours Forever) - Hydelic