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Chapter Text

Tw : Blood

**Somewhere in the Horror World, not far from The River**

Lolbit

In a lush prairie meadow, not far from The River separating the two worlds of Roleplay and Horror, a vixen laughed and flicked her tail as her friends chased her around. She dove down into the long, dry grass and waited as her companions looked around as she had just disappeared. She watched with elation as they turned their heads in confusion, kneading her paws into the soft soil. 

After a few moments, she uncoiled from her hiding spot and sprang at them, letting out an ear-splitting jumpscare noise.

They all screamed and then tumbled over laughing. Mangle shoved her playfully. "Oh my gosh, you got me GOOD, Lolbit!!" Chica squealed through her bloodstained teeth.

"Heck yeah you did," Vanny replied joyfully. Lolbit laughed with them, her hourglass pupils turning over and draining white into black darkness as dusk approached. Their happiness was music to her ears, as it always was.

"You guys had it coming; you weren't even trying to find me, and I didn't even have invisibility on!!"

Turning invisible was one of Lolbit's many different powers. Each person (or animal, hybrid, or something else) had a set of unique and different magic in three categories; Talent, Knowledge and Oblivious. Although she never tried to rub it in anyone's face, Lolbit had to admit that she did have quite a few powers more than everyone else.

Talent Magic is pretty much just something abnormal you can do with your body. Such as, in Lolbit's case, changing the shape of the pupils in her eyes. A person's Talent may also, in rare cases, affect the world around them in some way.

Knowledge Magic gives you the ability to know and do what other people can't, such as know the exact circadian rhythm of the sun and moon, or know when the next disastrous natural disaster will be coming; or maybe you could get a physical Knowledge power, such as being able to cast spells to affect other people (fairly common) or being immune to spells and/or other people's magic (NOT common at all). Sometimes a person's Knowledge even allows them to read minds.

Oblivious Magic is the most powerful out of all the types of magic. Not much is known about it, other than that some cases include being able to move things with your mind, teleportation, killing a random person in either world whenever you sneeze...yeah. It's kind of randomized. More powerful or not, every single entity in the two realms receives an Oblivious. 

But some types of magic, or related types are found specifically on one side of The River or the other. 

The River was the border of both Horror and Roleplay, and as far as anyone knew, no one had ever crossed The River and lived to tell the tale. Because they drowned.

The River wasn't the widest river in the worlds (about the width of a small lake) but it was EXTREMELY deep. If you fell into The River, you were pretty much a goner. Not only that, the water had some sort of crazy tranquilizing spell put on it specifically to keep crazy people from trying to cross over (and drowning them in the process).

So if for some reason you decided to go swimming there, you'd pretty much get all of your energy drained and then sink to the bottom (if it wasn't bottomless, that is) and then your lungs would fill with its icky black water and then you'd die. Not much better than getting spring locked, if you think about it.

Everyone knew about The River and how dangerous it was, even the smallest rabbit knew that. It was one of those things you'd learn as a child before anything else, even magic ("Look, class. Look but don't touch. This is The River That Kills Everything. Stay away from it if you've actually got a semblance of self-preservation.") You'd have to have a death wish to go anywhere near it.

So why didn't Lolbit see through Vanny's trap?

She did find it kind of peculiar when Vanny asked to speak with her, and then proceeded to say, "Let's go next to The River to talk."

Lolbit followed her friend towards The River and it's threatening black water. Her four AI robots, which she had built herself using her Knowledge, followed close behind, the smallest one almost running to keep up with her heels.

"What's on your mind, Vanny?" Lolbit asked.

"Oh, you know. Just random stuff. Actually, I wanted to tell you something. I haven't told anyone this yet, but...I can cast spells. It's part of my Knowledge."

"Oh." Lolbit blinked. That was.. An awfully odd secret to keep. The ability to cast spells wasn't exactly uncommon, and certainly not something you'd normally keep secret from anyone. Why was Vanny telling her this?

"I mean, it's cool but not as cool as your magic. You're probably the most powerful fox in any world." Vanny's eyes glinted, and her paw twitched.

"What are you talking about?" Why was Vanny being so creepy? Lolbit took a step back, the fur on her neck bristling as uneasiness filled her body. The River glistened dangerously behind her. "Vanny, can we talk somewhere further away from The River, please?"

Suddenly, without warning, Vanny shoved a razor blade into Lolbit's neck. It narrowly missed her throat. Almost involuntarily, the vixen collapsed forward onto the grass. She gasped and held a paw to her bleeding neck. It stung painfully as she suddenly glitched from head to tail. What??

"Why-" The question dissolved into convulsing and twitching. Her fur kept flashing different colors and distorting in her eyes.

One of Lolbit's AI's made a move at Vanny, it's sharp teeth bared into a growl but Lolbit stopped it with a piercing look. They may have been built to fight but they were no match for a Horror who could cast spells; and who knew what else Vanny's magic was capable of doing. She couldn't risk that.

So instead, Lolbit turned to her robots and signaled to one of them. It was inaudible to Vanny, but it wasn't to the robot's algorithm; GO GET HELP. All four of them came to a complete halt. Soundlessly, the dragon-shaped AI's snaked away.

"Why?" She finally managed to choke out as her machines left her hazy view. "Why? You're my- you're my best friend. We've been through so much together."

"Oh, please," Vanny scoffed. Her orange eyes flashed dangerously. "I see the way everyone around here looks at you. The way they look at me. You're Lolbit Doe, the most brilliant, powerful, and charming fox ever. And who am I? Your UNDERSTUDY." Her words were stained with bitter jealousy. 

"Do you know what I could DO with power like yours??" Vanny said, circling Lolbit slowly as she tried to get her neck to stop bleeding. "I have a list, actually. Hundreds of possibilities. But as much as I want to, I can't."

Vanny sighed dramatically. "There's no spell that can take away someone's magic. It's unfortunate, really. I could make really good use of yours.

"I can't imagine what it must feel like being the most powerful being in the Horror world. But maybe.. I'll just have to experience it on my own." She came to a halt. "With you out of the way, I'll have your faithful audience wrapped around my paws. That's right, I'm going to kill you. It's time for ME to be the most powerful!!"

Vanny produced a dagger and slashed at Lolbit. Instinctively, and running on pure adrenaline alone, Lolbit leapt to her feet and knocked the knife out of Vanny's paw. She hissed and unsheathed her long black claws. They glimmered like chips of obsidian in the light of the setting sun.

She headed to push the rabbit backwards and drive the pair back towards the prairie, where she had a better chance of holding her ground, but Vanny didn't budge. Instead, she threw a fist that Lolbit barely dodged. Lolbit swiped dangerously at Vanny, a growl rose from her throat. Lolbit was quicker but Vanny was more accurate. The vixen tried not to let her fear show as seconds ticked past and she continued to glitch and bleed out of the deep cut in her neck while fighting with the tattered rabbit.

She didn't realize just how close to The River she was, because one landed blow from Vanny and suddenly she lost her footing and plunged straight into the pitch black waters. The cold hit her like a punch to the face, and icy water instantly filled her mouth and eyes. Lolbit burst to the surface, gasping for air, and just barely seeing Vanny's triumphant grin. "Say hi to Charlotte Emily for me," She giggled before skipping away.

Panic began to seep in as the she-fox thrashed in the black water, its consistency seeming to turn to that of molasses. Her fur felt heavy on her body and her legs began to lose their will to fight.

Lolbit called out desperately to Mangle and Chica's still silhouettes, "HELP!!! HELP ME, GUYS!!!! PLEASE!!!" Through her struggling, she could make out the outline of Vanny talking to both of them intently. They hadn't moved, Lolbit realized, from their spots the entire time she was scuffling with the ragdoll rabbit. 

The white and orange fox sank under the water again and came back up, treading more slowly as the tranquilizing water started to take effect. As her body twitched and shimmered and glitched, she suddenly felt, under her fear, anger. So, so much anger.

Tiring even more, Lolbit gathered her last bit of stubborn strength and padded up to the surface one last time. "Traitors," She hissed, sinking down into the water once again. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Chica and Mangle turning their backs on her, and following Vanny away from The River.

****

Above the surface, in a wavy path towards The River's other shore, a tiny metal dragon beat its wings vigorously in a buzzing motion. It was well aware of the murky black water just below it's little paws, but it didn't come across the robot to feel any kind of repressed fear. 

In its mind, the little dragon was obeying orders. Its Creator had sent him for help, but the other robots had insisted on traveling to the closest sector to The River in their world and that was SOOO FAR AWAY. They didn't have enough time for that! The outline of buildings just beyond the long grasses on the Other Side of The River were, in its opinion, much closer. 

So, when the others had run off on the Creator's orders, the little dragon had buzzed in the exact opposite direction. Right past its Creator, and right past the big scary bunny. 

It was going to get help WAY before any of the other robots could!

It buzzed low enough to reach the shore and landed like a bird on a dead bush. 

It hopped off and scampered on it's tiny legs towards the buildings, which were now much closer. The ground beneath its metal claws changed from springy grass to rough, cracked stone. A road.

The robot looked up towards the sky and saw a figure approaching, carrying a kind of container. It...was a strange thing. It looked to be the equivalent of a two-legged hairless rat, except for the dark brown hair on top of it's head. It was no Horrorian, but it walked and had opposable thumbs. And, cherry on top, this thing had GOGGLES! Smart things wore goggles, right? 

The tiny dragon reared it's head back and wailed. "I NEED HELP!!!"

At once the hairless thing jumped in the air and dropped its box. "Astra's talons!!" It yelled in a strange, slanted accent. Its voice was deep, meaning it was male. And under its now crooked goggles were a pair of strange cloudy blue eyes. 

"I need help," The dragon repeated, widening its eyes to get a better view. "I was sent to get Help. And now that I've found you, I have found Help. Follow me."

The thing blinked. "Excuse me?" 

The robot tilted its head. Was this creature hard of hearing? He heard it fine when it yelled. 

It raised it's voice again. "YOU ARE HELP AND I AM TO RETRIEVE YOU FOR MY CREATOR! PLEASE FOLLOW ME!!" 

The hairless thing jumped again and covered his ears. "What in the name of Clockstrike are you talking about?!" He asked. "Who sent you? What sent you? What are you?!" 

"I am Alyx!" It chirped. "My Creator is in danger. She sent me. She is a Horror."

"...what?"

"I SAID-"

"PLEASE STOP YELLING, I HEARD YOU FINE THE FIRST TIME!" The hairless thing said. He let out a rough laugh. "I've- I've lost it, haven't I? Sapnap was right. Look buddy," He said to Alyx. "I don't know how to help you. You seem a bit confused. There aren't any Horror's here. This is Roleplay."

The gears turned (literally) inside the dragon as he processed the input. It watched the hairless thing gather up its broken box and trot back up the worn, stone path. It tilted its head a bit further.

"Roleplay?" It echoed.

Chapter Text

Tw: Mentions of blood

**Somewhere in the Roleplay world, about half a mile or so from The River**

Karl
It started out like a normal day. Well, at least, Karl's definition of normal. Which was pretty much waking up to George screaming, Quackity shouting something about a zombie or a creeper, and then running outside just in time to see Sapnap behead the monster on the pathway. And he used to ask why there was always blood on the ground around that area.

And now Karl sat under an acacia tree, tapping his pen against his chin as he tried to think of something else to write in his journal.

But he couldn't.

He sighed and set his journal aside, staring up at the clouds. It was an hour until sunset, and the sun was beginning to drift lazily down the west side of the blue expanse that was the sky. It seemed like he never really had anything interesting to write about anymore. Of course, if he wanted to, he could travel to a different timeline; That would guarantee something worthy of writing down.

Time travelling was part of Karl's Oblivious, or magic. It was pretty cool, if you asked him. He'd been to hundreds of different timelines, with thousands of different possible paths and so far, he hadn't found anyone else who was able to do what he could.

However with great power, he thought, comes great responsibility. It always felt to him that he had to be the one to go off and risk the pain of dying over and over and OVER again so that he could make sure that the worlds (or at least the world of Roleplay) didn't take a wrong turn down the path and ultimately lead to death and destruction.

But with time travelling and experiencing agonizing death repeatedly, there was something else, the darker side of his power; every single time Karl died in a different timeline, he lost part of his memory in HIS timeline. At first it wasn't noticeable, but it slowly progressed into him forgetting more and more, to the point where he even nearly completely forgot who George (one of his closest friends) was.

It was at that time that Sapnap, who was another close friend (and his fiancé) made him stop. He said that time travelling was doing more bad to him than it was good for the rest of the world. Karl didn't believe it at the moment, but he agreed to stop after hearing the desperation in his fiancé' s voice.

The truth was, Karl hadn't been fully keeping his promise. He'd actually visited three different timelines in the past two months and was lucky enough to avoid dying in all three. But time travelling couldn't stop the dreams he kept having; he actually thought that they could potentially be visions of what might happen in the future which is why he usually wrote down every last detail.

Sapnap was the only one who knew; the only one Karl couldn't keep secrets from. Because he was a mind reader.

Although Sapnap said he'd keep out of his fiancés mind and let him have his privacy, he knew that wasn't true. Otherwise Sapnap wouldn't have found out about the dreams he kept having so quickly, or that he was still visiting different timelines in an attempt to try and save the future from the bad possibilities.

Which also meant Sapnap wasn't keeping his promise either.

A twisted wire crown on top of a white fox's head-

Wait. Which timeline was that again?
Karl shook his head to clear it. But the image remained. It was important somehow, in the future of some timeline he'd forgotten about; because in his dreams, one wrong choice and the white fox ended up killing a lot of people. Including him.

The vision was blurry and vivid at the same time, as if he couldn't fully grasp what it meant, yet the events and details were always clear and coherent.

Karl hadn't told Quackity (His other fiancé) or George or anyone else yet; The only thing Sapnap knew was that he kept having weird dreams; By now, Karl had managed to learn how to momentarily shield his thoughts from him, long enough to run off before he let down his guard and gave away too much.

He couldn't hide it forever. He was already arousing suspicion in Sapnap, avoiding him and trying to block his thoughts all the time.
It probably wouldn't be long until he confronted him about it.

"Hey, Karl..?" He looked up to see his friend; Black hair with a bandana tied around his head, wearing a sweatshirt with a flame on it. "Can we talk?"

Case in point.

Karl sighed and gazed down at his journal next to him. He couldn't hide it now.

He continued to stare intently at his journal as his mind replayed the dream he'd had every night for nearly a month:

A girl screaming as she fell into The River, her cries ignored.

A vixen hurt by someone she thought she could trust.

Betrayal hidden behind the mask of a rabbit.

A city burning. Someone laughing.

People shrieking in agony as they clawed out their own throats and eyeballs on a palace floor.

A twisted crown on top of a white fox's head.

Blood smearing the walls of a throne room as old friends fight to tear each other to pieces.

A searing pain as a twisted sword impales him and pins him to the ground, leaving him to bleed his life out as the deranged animal sets out to destroy everything he's ever loved or cared about.

Karl blinked and looked up at Sapnap, who was watching him with a blank expression, but the pain clouding his eyes was clearly visible.

"Sorry," Karl said quietly, barely audible.

"It's not your fault," Sapnap replied gently, taking his hand.

"I just wish I knew what it meant so I can keep it from happening." Both of them stared up at the clouds, as white as the fox's fur.

"Maybe...it was just a nightmare. I mean, do you have any proof that it's gonna happen?"

"It's not just a bad dream." Karl's voice wavered slightly. "It's the same dream. Over and over again. Why would I keep having the same dream if it wasn't important?"

"...I don't know."

Silence.

Karl knew what he had to do if he wanted to know the truth; he had to travel to the future, find out what went wrong, and then change the present so it didn't go wrong.

From the look in Sapnap's eyes, he wasn't gonna let him do that; he wasn't gonna let Karl break his promise any further.

I have to, Karl thought desperately. There's a reason I have this power. It's MY responsibility to make sure that this world doesn't get destroyed because no one saw the outcome of their choices. One wrong step, one small twitch of a thread, one detail overlooked and EVERYONE COULD DIE.

"Oh love, the world isn't going to end just because of one person," Sapnap said, gripping Karl's hand a bit tighter.

"You don't know that."

As if on cue, his journal burst open by magic, letters and sentences flying off the pages and listing all the possible ways that the world could end in the next four months.

"Hey, I hate to interrupt your Doomsday planning, but-"

Karl snapped his journal shut with one hand, causing the letters to disintegrate, and then looked up to see Quackity, yellow wings half extended, his black hair partially hidden under a beanie.

"George needs help. Again."

Sapnap let out an exasperated sigh. "If it's another creeper, I swear-"

"It's not. It's something...completely different." Said Quackity.

"Like what?" Karl asked, a bit interested.

"It's a kind of... AI robot of sorts," Quackity shifted slightly. "It flew straight into George's face, and it won't stop telling him that there's someone in trouble and needs our help."

"An AI...?" Sapnap said, sounding puzzled. "There aren't any AI's in this part of Roleplay."

"I don't think it's from anywhere around here."

Karl bolted upwards, his eyes sparking with several different emotions, including surprise, fear and a bit of excitement at what Quackity said next.

"I think...I think it might have come from the Other Side of The River."

Chapter Text

**Somewhere in the Roleplay World, about a quarter mile from The River**

George
"GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!!!!"

George clawed at the tiny metal dragon latched on his forearm, refusing to let go, repeating what it had yelled at him when it first flapped out of the sky and onto his face in it's squeaky, tinny little voice:

"Please help!! My Creator is in trouble!!"

No matter how violently George shook his arm up and down, the robot remained attached to him.

"QUACKITY!!!"

He came running down the stone pathway, followed closely by Sapnap and Karl.

"See? I told you! Crazy AI robot." Quackity flicked one of his wings at the dragon, which was now attacking George's goggles.

"And it's from the other side of The River?" Karl's eyes glinted with interest.

"HELLO?!?! A LITTLE HELP?!?!" George shouted.

"Oh. Right. Um."

Sapnap looked around uneasily. "So...which one of you is pulling that thing off?"

"Not me."

"Yeah, that's gonna be a no."

"OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!" George glared angrily at all three of them.

"Okay, okay!! Look, fine. I'll do it."

Sapnap grabbed the AI by it's wings and begun to pull it off.

At this, the small dragon raised it's head and begun to wail loudly.
"NOOO!!!! YOU HAVE TO HELP US, OUR CREATOR IS IN TROUBLE!!!! DO NOT MAKE ME LEEAAVVVEE!!!!!!!!"

"Us??" Karl echoed. "Who's us?"

Suddenly, another dragon robot, this one slightly larger and with a wider wing span dove out of the trees and sprawled onto the pathway.

"ALYX!!!!" It roared at the other robot, hopping onto it's feet. "QUIT ATTACKING PEOPLE!!! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING HELP!!!!!"

"I AM!!!!" Howled Alyx as Sapnap continued to try and pry him off George's arm. "THEY DON'T WANT TO HELP THOUGH!!!!"

"We never said that!!" Quackity replied indignantly.

"SERIOUSLY, GET OFF!!!" George shouted at Alyx.

"MAKE ME, GOGGLES!!!!" Alyx retorted challengingly.

"LET GO OR I'LL BURN YOU OFF OF HIM!!!" Sapnap yelled, fire sparking at his fingertips. Sometimes it really paid off to have a friend who's Oblivious just happened to be making fire.

Alyx let out a terrified squeak and jumped off of George, skittering on the pathway to stand next to his companion.

George looked down at his arm to see red indentions where the robot dragon had been clutching him. Alyx must've had some form of nails or claws.

"What were you THINKING, Alyx?!?" The bigger dragon rounded on the smaller. "Atlas is going to have our tails when she finds out that we crossed The River when we should have just gone straight back to the city with her and Aegis!!"

"This place was closer!!" Alyx raised his chin defiantly. "And what if no one there would come to help us?? You saw what that rabbit did to our Creator!!"

"The primary directive is TO DO WHAT THE CREATOR TELLS US TO DO, NOT CROSS RIVERS INTO NEW LAND AND ATTACK PEOPLE!!!!"

"WELL I'M GLAD WE LEFT HORROR!!!! MAYBE ANTHROMORPHS HERE WON'T TRY TO KILL US!!!!"

"Horror!!" Karl spoke the name of the land that was said to be the counterpart to Roleplay. "So you really are from the other side of The River?"

The AI bristled with a bit of annoyance. "Yes," she said. "Our Creator's home."

While he was still irritated by Alyx's sudden and random attack, George couldn't help feeling slightly intrigued, as he thought of the stories of the Horror world that was said to house vicious anthropomorphic creatures that hunted and ate live humans, and with magic that nobody would ever dream of finding in Roleplay.

That's why the worlds had been separated in the first place.

Sapnap must've heard his thoughts because he turned to the small metal dragons and asked, "Why are you here?"

"I thought that was obvious by now!!" Alyx hissed indignantly. He was silenced by the AI next to him, who was now sitting calmly on the pathway with her tail curled around her paws.

Karl knelt down in front of her. "We want to try and help, but first we need a few answers. First off, who are you?"

"My name is Atala." Atala flicked her wings. "And my Creator needs your help."

Karl
"Where is she?"

"Follow me."

Atala leapt up and bounded off the stone pathway towards The River, Alyx running beside her.

Karl was about to follow them when he felt a hand on his shoulder stop him.

"Wait, Karl. I don't know if we should trust them." Sapnap said, concern lacing his voice.

"They said somebody needs help. It's probably urgent if they keep repeating it." Karl replied.

"We don't know that. It could be a trap," Quackity said, extending his yellow wings slightly. "For all we know, those things could be jinxed."

"Then it's a good thing I'm immune to spells," Karl looked into his fiancé's eyes. "Listen, I would rather follow them and find a trap set by some crazy Roleplayer that needs therapy than to find out that somebody died down there because we were too ignorant to follow a pair of robot dragons that kept asking for help."

Sapnap and Quackity hesitated. George shifted uncomfortably in the silence.

"Fine. But if we get there and there's no one that needs help, I'm leaving you there." Sapnap said. Quackity just nodded in agreement.

Karl turned and all four of them sprinted after Atala and Alyx, who were already weaving through the thicket of young trees and bushes to get to The River.

"What if there actually IS a Horror down at The River??" George panted behind them.

"A Horror in Roleplay? Doesn't seem likely. No ones even seen one in over two thousand years." Quackity said back.

"The AI's could be telling the truth," Karl protested.

"We've got no way of knowing, because I can't read their minds. They're robots, not humans." Sapnap pointed out. "This could just be some elaborate prank set up by Tommy or something, like last time. I swear, if it really is Tommy behind this, I'm gonna-"

Karl drowned out the rest of Sapnap's threats against the mischievous avian. Actually, there were several timelines way in the future where some of the Horrors DID end up miraculously surviving The River and coming to Roleplay. He'd never gotten the chance to talk to them, but it was quite clear that they were VERY different. The way they acted, the way they looked, their magic...

And then the Roleplayers drove them off. It didn't matter which timeline. The Roleplayers always made it painfully clear that Horrors weren't welcome there.

Karl snapped out of his thoughts when the group burst through the trees and into the clearing next to The River. By now it was nearing dusk, the setting sun casting a reddish glow over the flat terrain.

"She was over that way," Alyx pointed with his muzzle. He and Atala started to trot over to the bank of The River when they both suddenly stopped in their tracks and let out alarmed squeaks of terror.

A huge metal dragon, at least nine times bigger than Atala or Alyx, and with an alarming wingspan stalked out of the trees and towered over the two cowering AI's.

"Where have you two been?!" It growled in a deep voice. "Me and Atlas have been looking all over for you!!!"

"It was Alyx's fault, Aegis!!" Atala cried. "I swear to it!! I saw him fly over The River so I followed him and-"

"The Creator told us to go get help, not cross The River and goof off!!" Another dragon, a little less than a foot shorter than Aegis stepped out of the bushes gracefully.

"Seriously, how many of them are there?!?!" George said, exasperated.

Aegis suddenly turned his head to stare at all four of them standing around six or seven yards away.

"Roleplayers." He hissed in his metallic voice.

George took a step back, looking at the AI with fright. Quackity spread his wings to make him look more threatening.

"Relax Aegis, they're the help me and Atala were asked to get!" Alyx piped up.

"Silence!!" The other robot spat at him.

Suddenly Karl's attention was diverted to the river.

There was something in the water.

It looked like a girl.

A girl screaming as she fell into The River, her cries ignored.

Karl recalled the image from his dream.

Suddenly, without thinking twice or listening to Quackity's voice shouting for him to stop, he ran towards the river and dived in, head first after the thrashing shape.

In the blur of the black water, Karl could faintly make out the tiring person. Or person-like thing, actually. He didn't know what it was.

Well, whatever it was, it was drowning. The tranquilizing spell in The River had clearly taken it's toll on the person-animal thing.

He reached towards the shape and grabbed it's wrist, swimming back up to the surface as fast as he could.

Karl burst out of the water and pulled the limp body up with him.
"I FOUND SOMEONE!!!!" He yelled, fighting to stay afloat.

Strong arms reached down and grabbed him and the girl, pulling them both out of The River.

As soon as the white and orange body fell onto the river bank, she jerked awake, coughing violently and shaking all over.

"DON'T EVER DO THAT EVER AGAIN!!!" Sapnap yelled, pulling Karl into a protective hug despite the fact that he was soaking wet. Quackity joined them. "YOU COULD'VE DIED!!!!!"

"But I didn't," Karl said, shivering from the cold.

It was at that moment that he got the chance to look at the girl-fox thing he had rescued more closely.

She looked NOTHING like a Roleplayer. She was stark white and golden orange with purple/magenta features. Her hair was wet as well as snarled and messy and was tucked partially behind two large fox ears. She had a long white tail and was wearing a dark blue bowtie around her bleeding neck.

But the strangest thing about the foreign fox was her eyes; they were black with white pupils in the shape of hourglasses.

She was a Horror, all right.

After a few moments, the vixen's head bolted upwards.

"What happened? Where am I? Why am I not dead?? Where's Vanny? Oh, I swear to Henry Emily when I find that Glitchtrap-blasted traitor..."

"Woah. Hey, are you okay...?" Karl asked her hesitantly. She seemed extremely out of sorts. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that her neck was bleeding.

The she-fox suddenly whipped to face him, her eyes now glittering white diamonds.

"GET AWAY FROM ME." She snarled malevolently.

Chapter Text

Tw: Mentions of and implied electrocution, angry vixens, and small mentions of blood.

**Roleplay world, practically right next to The River**

Karl

Karl flinched, taken aback by the vixen's vicious response.

The she-fox looked around wildly, her silver pupils darting every which way so rapidly, it looked like they were hardly moving at all.. Then she turned back to stare at him and his friends holding each other.

"You don't look like Horrors." She growled. She suddenly unsheathed what were long, black claws that had been hiding under her white and gold-orange paws.

"What are you doing here in my land??"

"YOUR land?!" Sapnap said indignantly. "What are you talking about? This is Roleplay."

The vixen's eyes widened with sudden panic.

"W-wait. If this is Roleplay, then...that means Horror is-"

She cut off her words and turned slowly towards the water, staring at the land on the other side.

"Good William Afton, I'm on The Wrong Side of The River." She whispered. "Astra help me."

George suddenly appeared beside them, panting hard.

"Karl! Are you okay?!?! I saw you jump into The River and-" He caught glance of the white vixen sitting on the riverbank.

"T-that's a H-Horror. In R-Roleplay." George stammered, his voice wavering.

"What did you expect me to be?? A unicorn?!?!" The she-fox snapped.

George took a small step back.

"Well, if I'm stuck here, then at least tell me your names. It'd be useful to know them before I kill you and engrave your tombstones."

Karl stood up with Sapnap and Quackity, wringing the water out of his still-soaked sweatshirt. "I'm Karl. This is Sapnap and Quackity, and the one over there with the goggles and blue shirt is George."

The vixen stood up and flicked her white tail. "I'm Lolbit. Nice to meet you all, now goodbye. Have a nice life."

"Wait!" Karl burst out as Lolbit (A very odd name, even by Roleplayian standards) started to stalk away. "Where are you going??"

Lolbit whipped around to face him, eyes burning. "I dunno. Anywhere, I guess. As long as it's away from that Afton-blasted river."

"B-but you don't know your way around," Karl pressed on. "Roleplay is a lot bigger than it looks. And there's all sorts of things in the woods, and not to mention the monsters."

"I have a question." The she-fox brought her narrow face close to his. "DO I LOOK LIKE I NEED HELP FROM YOU, OR ANYONE ELSE?!?!"

"Hey, take it easy!!" Quackity said. "He literally just saved your life!"

"By pulling me out on THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RIVER."

"Which would you prefer to be, alive here in Roleplay or dead at the bottom of The River?" George retorted.

"Neither." Lolbit snarled. "I wish I was back in Horror disemboweling the anthromorph that's the enire reason I'm in this mess in the frickin first place!!"

"Fine! Go back to Horror!! Like anyone around here would care." George spat, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh, there is no way in HECK that I'm dipping even a claw into that River again."

Karl looked at Lolbit with a bit of alarm and surprise. He had no idea Horrors could be this...hostile.

When he had travelled to the future, when Horrors had come to Roleplay, they'd been different, yeah, and maybe acted a little more aggressive than necessary, but Lolbit was just straight up truculent.

"Is everyone where you're from like you?!" Sapnap asked, reading Karl's mind.

"What is this, 20 questions?!? JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!" Lolbit shouted.

Her entire body suddenly wavered and glitched out, like a redstone machine after you threw your sword at it because you couldn't get it to work right. It was almost as if the distorted air surrounding her twitching, glitching body was pieces of reality breaking.

"Woah, calm down, okay?" Karl tried to keep his voice level in order to not show his fear as he approached the vixen. "Your neck is bleeding, if you didn't know already. You should probably put something on it."

"I TOLD YOU TO GET AWAY FROM ME." Lolbit growled.

What happened next was a blur; Suddenly there was a blinding light and the sound of static electricity as a sharp burning pain ripped through Karl's body as though he had been struck by lightning.

He woke up a few seconds later, his ears ringing and his vision blurry. He could barely make out Quackity and Sapnap running to his side, George standing in the background saying something inaudibly, and Lolbit a few yards away, looking at him and then down at her paws with unmistakable shock and fear as they sparked with bolts of plasma.

Karl swore he could taste blood in his mouth.

When the ringing finally stopped, George was yelling.

"What the HECK was that?!?! I've NEVER seen an Oblivious like that before!!!"

"I didn't mean t- I-I mean, I don't- that's not how- THIS ISN'T MY MAGIC!!" Lolbit said frenetically.

"What do you mean, NOT YOUR MAGIC?!?" Quackity rounded on her with malice. "YOU JUST FRICKING ELECTROCUTED MY FIANCÉ!!!! I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW HE'S NOT DEAD RIGHT NOW!!!!"

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!! I SWEAR ON HENRY EMILY'S NAME!!!!"

The she-fox glitched out again and shook her head madly.

"I have to get out of here," she muttered.

"CREATOR!!!" Alyx's metallic voice suddenly squeaked from behind the group.

They turned to see all four of the dragon robots padding over to Lolbit without hesitation or fear.

Karl half-expected Lolbit to lash out at them as well, but to his bewilderment, she didn't. "Alyx!!" She exclaimed. "Atala, Atlas Aegis- You're all here!!"

The AI's chorused their greetings to Lolbit, nudging her affectionately. Atala jumped up onto her shoulder and began to purr.

Alyx suddenly pivoted around and prowled up to Karl, who was half-laying half-sitting on the grass, still getting over the searing pain in his chest.

"You saved our Creator." Alyx looked up at him with huge amber eyes. "We are forever in your debt."

"Je- Wha- Hu- th- YOU BUILT THOSE THINGS?!?!" George gawked at Lolbit in disbelief.

An annoyed look crossed her face. "If you must know, yes." She flicked her tail towards the other three robots at her side. "I have a knack for building things. Mechanical engineering is both my Knowledge and my ambition."

"But they're so...human-like." Karl guestured at Alyx, who's attention was now focused on a morpho butterfly flapping in the air. "How did you, like, make or I guess code them to have personalities?"

"I honestly don't know. That's a good question."

Lolbit bristled. "Never mind that. What are you all doing on this side of The River?!? I thought I told you all to go back to the city to get help!!" She narrowed her eyes at the AI's.

The second biggest dragon (Atlas) replied: "It's not my fault; I was following Aegis!"

"I was following Atala!" Aegis chided.

"I was following Alyx!" Atala jeered.

"And I crossed The River to get help!" Alyx announced, giving up his chase on the butterfly to sit up defiantly.

The white she-fox put her face into her paw. "Alyx...you know when I tell you to go and get help, I mean go and get help ON OUR SIDE OF THE RIVER, RIGHT?!?!"

Alyx flared his ruff indignantly. "This place was closer!! And what if no one in the city came to help you, huh?? Maybe they'd betray you like that ragdoll rabbit that stabbed your neck!"

"Wait, what??"

The vixen ignored Sapnap's comment and sighed. "You have a point, Alyx. It seems like everyone there has turned their backs on us."

A dark shadow crossed the she-fox's face and Karl got the feeling that there was more to what had happened to her back in her home land than he had thought.

"So...what now?" Atlas wondered.

Their heads turned to face the Roleplayers.

"We could take them to the SMP," Karl suggested, but then bit his lip, pondering if he was making the right decision bringing a Horror into their city.

George must've been thinking the same thing, because he signaled for all of them to crowd into a circle before hissing fiercely, "Are you mental, Karl?! Bringing her and those AI things into the SMP?? Dream would be livid!!"

"She doesn't have a place to go," Karl pointed out. "And who knows, maybe she can help us. We're short on hunters and Horrors are supposedly good fighters."

"Karl, are you feeling okay? She literally just nearly killed you!" Quackity said.

"She said she didn't mean to!" The brunette argued.

"She's telling the truth, you know," Sapnap put in suddenly. He shifted uncomfortably. "Her mind is really weird and dark and deranged, but she actually had no intention of hurting any of us."

Karl shot him a grateful glance.

Quackity still looked doubtful, and George gazed at The River, lost in thought.

"...She does look like she'd make a good hunter," George said finally. "And maybe those robot things would too."

"Do you think she's ever fought mobs before?" Quackity said.

"I don't think they have things like creepers or skeletons in Horror," Sapnap answered.

"What's a creeper??" Alyx inquired, appearing suddenly within the circle.

"Case in point."

"No, seriously what's a creeper?" Alyx persisted.

"It's a type of monster we have here in Roleplay," George explained. "They run at you and if you let them get too close, they explode in your face."

"That sounds fun."

"It's really...not."

"So, we all agree, then? We take them to the SMP?" Karl asked.

They all looked at each other. After a few moments, they nodded.

"Fine." Sapnap said. "We take them to the SMP."

Chapter Text

Tw : Mentions of blood, fighting, disturbing imagery and violence .

**Roleplay world, about half a mile from The River**

Sapnap

The group walked down a gravel pathway that led up to several different worn down houses and rickety structures. The sun was almost completely set, but the moon had begun to rise to take its place.

"What is that place??" Alyx bleated curiously.

"The Outskirts. It surrounds the entire SMP. People who don't live within the SMP live out here." Quackity said. The refugees that Dream won't let into the city, his mind thought grimly.

"Do you guys live here?"

George nodded. "Our houses are up there," he pointed to the top of a small plateau that jutted out of the ground next to the town of run down huts, separating it from the rest of the Outskirts. The slope had been hollowed out centuries ago, and Karl had even once speculated maybe The River itself had eroded the land, creating this one perfect peninsula in this forsaken world, just for them. Their houses, which were A LOT nicer than the other ones surrounding the plateau, sat on top, overlooking the fields beyond the civilization.

"We live there when we're not working on stuff within the SMP."

"How big is it?" Atlas asked, trotting up beside Sapnap. "The uh- SMP, I mean."

"Huge." George shrugged. "As in, it's so big that at this point no one's even bothered to try and map it. Everyone just finds their way around."

"I bet I could map it."

"I'd like to see you try."

Atlas snorted. "I was built to be used as a navigation system. Mapping things is pretty much my entire purpose. Besides, I like a challenge."

"A navigation system, huh?" George turned to Lolbit.

"Yeah, there's a ton of uncharted territory in Horror, so whenever I go someplace new, I have Atlas go there first and map the area. That way I know what to expect when I explore it for myself." Lolbit replied hastily, her eyes flickering. "She also comes in handy in places like Loretopia. It's literally a labyrinth in there. Not even Ballora can make her way around in there without getting lost and she's lived there for three years."

"I'm guessing Ballora is someone you know from Horror?"

What do YOU think?? Her mind thought irritably, though she said nothing.

"I was built to be a threat neutralizer," Atala said, changing the subject as if she could sense the tension hanging in the air.

"I was built to be a chatbot assistant!" Alyx chirped.

"What about you?" George looked at Aegis curiously. The dragon had been watching his metal comrades with disdainful eyes while staying close to Lolbit's side, carefully shying away from everyone else.

"Go on, tell them Aegis!" Alyx begged.

"I was built to be an attack bot." Aegis said gruffly.

"An attack bot..? Why?"

Sapnap couldn't help but be amused by George's sudden interest in the AI's.

"Aegis was built to be kind of like a guard dog," Atlas stepped in, noticing her friend's discomfort in discussing the topic.

George was clearly skeptical, but the look Atlas gave him told him not to try and request further elaboration.

I don't know what his deal is, Lolbit thought bitterly. I didn't build him to do what he did and he knows it. It was just a glitch. He's NOT dangerous. There's nothing wrong with him.

The she-fox glitched again.

If anything, there's something wrong with me.

I have to find out what Vanny did to my magic.

And when I do, I can go back and find her and tear her eyes out.

The gruesome and vivid concept of a rabbit with blood dripping out of her eye sockets and half of her face missing appeared in Lolbit's mind, and she giggled maniacally. Sapnap grimaced and immediately shut out the rest of her thoughts.

He'd begun to wonder if bringing her into their home was a good idea or not as they reached the edge of the Outskirts and stepped over the boundary (which was a rusted wire attached to two trees).

"Just to warn you, it can get a bit rough in this part of town," Karl told Lolbit. "The locals can be a bit...unwelcoming."

The vixen was clearly unconcerned, but she nodded anyway. Atlas, however, flared her ruff and scraped her claws against the gravel as if she was preparing to strut straight into trouble.

As they walked through the thick fog and the broken down buildings, they passed several people on the streets, standing around fires, playing cards or just sitting on the stone pavement, looking extremely tired and malnourished.

"The Outskirts aren't exactly maintained or governed properly," George said quietly, noticing Alyx's expression.

The moment he said it two men covered in scars and tattoos tumbled out into the streets, cursing and wrestling over what looked like a bar of gold.

"Let's...go a different way." Quackity gestured towards another more decrepit road that led away from the fight.

Sapnap tried to keep his head low to remain as unnoticed as possible. He never liked going through the Outskirts. It was worse during the night, too; you never knew what might happen to you without the comfort of daylight to light your way.

A few moments later, Atlas' head swiveled around. "Where's Atala??"

"She was right next to me just a minute ago." Alyx said, worry lacing his metallic voice.

"HEY, LET GO OF ME!!!"

They all turned to see three people, two men and a woman prodding at Atala.

"What IS this thing??" One of them wondered.

"I think it's some sort of advanced computer robot thingy." The other male said, pushing up his broken glasses. "I thought you could only find these type of things in the SMP!"

"How much d'ya think it would sell for??" The woman rasped, her eyes shining.

"IT??!! I HAVE A GENDER, YOU KNOW!!!!" Atala shouted, offended.

Before anything else could happen, Lolbit had glided over to where the people were sitting.

"She's mine. Give her back." The she-fox growled.

"What's it to ya?" The man with the broken glasses jeered.

"WHAT'S IT TO ME IS THAT I BUILT HER AND SHE'S MINE, SO GIVE HER BACK."

"No way!! Do you have any idea what we could do with the amount of netherite this thing is worth??" The woman lifted her chin challengingly.

Lolbit's gaze was steely. "I AM NOT GOING TO ASK AGAIN. GIVE. HER. BACK."

"Oh, yeah? And what's a freak like you gonna do to us if we don't?" Taunted the other man, smirking.

At the word 'freak', Lolbit lost it.

She lunged at the man, teeth bared and claws unsheathed.

The vixen grabbed the tattered collar of his shirt and pulled it roughly, nearly choking it's owner. "WHAT did you just call me?!?!" She snarled.

"Hey, get off of him!! What are you, crazy?!" The woman shouted, bolting to help her friend.

Lolbit swiveled around and punched her in the face with an alarming amount of force.

The woman fell backwards, her nose bleeding and clearly shocked by the vixens ferocity.

The man with the broken glasses had already scrambled away.

"NOBODY, EXCEPT NOBODY CALLS ME A FREAK. ESPECIALLY NOT SOME LOW DOWN, GLITCHTRAP-BLASTED STREET RAT LIKE YOU." The she-fox seethed, suddenly producing a knife and holding it dangerously close to her victim's throat. He clawed at her paw holding his shirt, trying to get her to release her grip.

"IF YOU'RE FEELING STRONG, MY FRIEND, DO IT AGAIN. CALL ME A FREAK ONE MORE TIME AND I'LL FLAY YOUR FACE FASTER THAN A SPRINGLOCK SUIT WITH WILLIAM AFTON IN IT CAN GO OFF!!!!!" Lolbit roared.

"WOAH, HEY, HEY STOP!!!" Karl jumped in. "There's no need for violence, okay?? We'll just take the AI thing and go. Sorry for...any inconvenience we might have..." He trailed off, noticing the guy's expression.

"Yeah, let's just go."

Lolbit shoved the man to the ground, baring her teeth one last time before storming away with Atala at her side, her metal snout held high and her tail lashing furiously.

"What the heck were you thinking?!?! People have been killed for standing up to other people like that!!" Quackity said when they returned to the rest of the group, who had been watching from a close-ish distance.

"They were going to take Atala. And unlike my friends, I don't just abandon people." Lolbit growled, twirling the knife in her paw.

"Where did you even get that knife??"

The vixen shrugged. "I found it." If found means pickpocketed that man because he was too absentminded to notice that I had stolen something from him.

"Let's just...find Dream and get this over with." Sapnap rushed.

"Agreed."

...

"Flaming moons, he's going to be SO angry."